Book One: The Avatar's Guardian/Winter
Chapter Two: The Return
When Xena first met Aang, she knew that she would protect him even if it wasn't her duty to. His kindness and innocence shone as bright as a light in the dark and she couldn't help wanting to make sure that light never went out. Keeping him safe wasn't an easy task when the boy attracted and caused so much trouble without even meaning to. One time Aang and his friend Kuzon stole a dragon egg from a band of poachers in order to return it to its parents. The adult dragon would have burnt them to a crisp if it weren't for Xena and her friends. After finally returning the egg, the poachers came after the two younger boys for revenge and one of Xena's friends, a firebender named Drake, ended up with a broken arm in the ensuing fight. Drake's father had not been happy and quickly used the influence of his noble blood to not only have the poachers fined double the usual amount, but managed to have them placed in jail for an entire year.
The repercussions for Aang's actions, this time, had the potential to be far worse than the dragon egg incident. The flare had barely fallen out of sight before Sokka found and started yelling at Xena. Gran Gran tried to calm the boy down, but by that point, Sokka had already made it perfectly clear that he wanted Xena and Aang to leave their village. Xena offered no argument as she dusted the flour off her hands and went to retrieve her pack. The Water Tribe boy followed her, ranting all the while.
"Are you even listening to me?!" He demanded after pausing to catch his breath.
"Not really," She answered, tossing her pack up into Appa's saddle.
The bison let out a soft rumbling sound without lifting his head. She gently scratched at the soft fur above his nose before climbing up to tie the reins to his horns. The cheering of children informed them of Aang and Katara's return a few minuted later. Sokka stormed towards them, the rest of the villagers gathering behind him. Xena finished tying the reins and jumped down from Appa's head.
"I knew it, you signaled the Fire Navy with that flare! You're going to lead them straight to us!"
Katara stepped between her brother and Aang. "Aang didn't mean to do anything. It was an accident."
"Yeah, we were on the ship and there was this booby trap and well, we . . . we boobied right into it," Aang replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
"What ship?" Xena asked curiously.
"A Fire Navy icebreaker. It's been trapped in the ice for decades," Sokka answered.
"Katara, you knew you shouldn't have gone on that ship. Now we could all be in danger," Gran Gran told her.
Aang stepped forward as Katara looked down guiltily. "Don't blame, Katara. I brought her there . . . It's my fault."
"Ah-ha, the traitor confesses. Warriors, away from the enemy. The foreigners are banished from our village."
"You can't banish them," Katara protested.
Xena led Appa around the group of bystanders and to a clearer area where Appa could potentially take off from. She could point out so many idiotic things in their argument, but she also knew that Sokka had a point. It was in her best interest to stay out of it. There was absolutely no need for her to acknowledge the loud voice in the back of her head - that sounded strangely like her old friend Temari - chastising her for being afraid that Aang would get angry at her for protecting him again.
"I can and I am," Sokka replied and then pointed at Aang. "I promised Dad that I would protect you from threats like him."
"Aang's not a threat. Can't you see that he's brought us something we haven't had in awhile? Fun.
"Fun!" Sokka repeated. "You can't fight firebenders with fun."
Stay out of it, Xena. Just stay out of-
"You can't fight without good troop morale and 'fun' does happen to be one way of keeping morale high."
Monkey feathers.
Sokka opened his mouth argumentatively and then closed it a second later unable to come up with a good retort. Instead, he pointed out towards the expanse of white leading from the village. "You're still banished!"
"Gran Gran, will you please help me talk some sense into him?" Katara begged, turning to her grandmother.
The elder glanced briefly at Xena and then Aang before replying to her granddaughter. "Katara, you know that going on that ship was off limits. I don't often get the chance to say that Sokka is right-"
"Hey!"
"-But in this case, he is. The airbender and his friend need to leave."
"Fine!" Katara shouted and grabbed Aang by the arm. "If they're banished then I'm banished too! Come on, Aang."
"Where do you think you're going?" Sokka demanded as Katara pulled Aang towards Xena and Appa.
"To find a waterbender. Aang and Xena are taking me to the North Pole."
"We are? Gre-"
"No! I am not going to the North Pole."
Everyone turned to stare at Xena in surprise that she had cut Aang off in firm denial. There was a haunted look in her brown eyes, and her already pale skin had somehow become even paler.
"Would you really choose them over your own tribe? Your own family?" Sokka said after a moment's pause.
Aang glanced at Xena and then the villagers before turning fully to Katara. "Katara, I don't want to come between you and your family."
"So this is goodbye?"
"Not a goodbye," Xena started, tension draining from her body in her relief.
"Only a see you later," Aang finished with her.
It was a saying that they and their mutual friends had adopted from one of their more eccentric friends. Using it now, Xena realized that it was the last thing she had said to the people she had cared for most and now a hundred years and some months later, it became clear to her that most of those friends she would never see again. How long did they search before they realized that "see you later" was instead a "goodbye forever?"
"Where will you go?" Katara asked, pulling Xena out of her dark thoughts.
"I guess we should go back home and look for the airbenders." A horrified look appeared on Aang's face. "I haven't cleaned my room in over a hundred years. Not looking forward to that."
He jumped onto Appa's head with help from some airbending and turned back to the villagers as Xena quickly climbed into the saddle. "It was nice meeting everyone."
"Let's see your buffalo fly now, Airboy," Sokka taunted.
"C'mon, Appa. I know you can do it," Aang encouraged, not bothering to correct the Water Tribe boy. "Yip yip."
Appa growled tiredly and proceeded to walk away from the village with a slow lumbering gait.
"That's what I thought!" Sokka shouted after them, provoking a frown from Xena.
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Aang slid off Appa's head as soon as the bison collapsed into the snow with a quiet grumble. He didn't turn as Xena jumped down behind him, but instead kicked at the snow silently.
"Aang-"
"I know I messed up," He cut her off. "I don't need the lecture."
"Shut up," She ordered and he turned to face her in surprise. "This time, I get to speak and you get to listen."
Xena didn't get angry often, but when she did it was always a quiet anger. The only time Aang had ever seen her raise her voice was when she argued with Temari. Her quiet anger always seemed scarier to Aang than when she yelled because it was impossible to tell just how angry she really was. Seeing Xena's restrained anger directed at him for the first time in what seemed like forever, Aang forced himself to bite his tongue and let her speak.
"I never asked for Avatar Roku to save my life and I never asked to become your Guardian. That role was decided by the spirits and backed by the chief of the Northern Water Tribe. I was forced to give up my childhood in order to be trained and to become the Sword that would protect you. I have gone through things that you couldn't even imagine. Suffered pain, that you couldn't even imagine. Moving to the Earth Kingdom and later the Fire Nation are two of the best things that have ever happened to me. Meeting my friends was another.
"Kaori was my first real friend and one of the strongest links I had to the Water Tribes. Tanvi helped me rebuild my confidence when I lost it and Temari pushed me to be more than just a sword. Raiden showed me the stars and told me myths when I felt as fragile as glass. And Drake . . . Drake taught me how to be free. Everything I learned from them Aang, led me to realize that I didn't want to be your Guardian. I wanted to have my own life and a destiny of my own choosing. Before I ever met you, I had already decided that I wanted nothing to do with you. In fact, I decided that I was going to run away."
Aang's hands clenched at his sides as Xena seemed to confirm his worst fears. She had only been his friend because it was her duty.
"But then I met you, Aang and everything changed. You asked me earlier if I came with you because it was my duty, the answer is yes. However, it's not because I am your Guardian or the Sword or whatever titles I have been given in the hundred years we've been in that iceberg. I came with you because you're like a little brother to me, Aang."
Aang hands relaxed as he gaped at her in shock. Xena's expression had shifted from angry to endearing and the tension had drained from her.
"And it's the duty of an older sister to always protect their younger brothers. And believe me, when I say that you don't make it easy. Your curiosity is something I have always found endearing; however, it does often lead you into troublesome situations - usually, because you don't think things through or because you ignore other people's counsel. Did Katara tell you the icebreaker was off limits?"
"Yes," He replied guiltily.
"So you ignored her and decided to go aboard anyway?"
"Yes."
"Did you fire the flare by messing with the machinery?"
"No. I was in a hurry and I wasn't looking where I was walking and I ended up tripping over a trip wire.
"Why were you in a hurry?"
"Katara told me about this war and I wanted to tell you. Xena, do you really think all the Air Nomads are dead?"
"I don't know, Aang. I hope not, but I really don't know."
The young monk took a seat in the snow by Appa's head with a quiet sigh. Xena stared out over the ice and snow in silence, shoving her hands into the pockets of her parka. Each of her breaths created a cloud of condensation in the air. When she was younger, she used to enjoy being able to see her breath in the air. It had lost its novelty a long time ago, though.
"If I go on a short walk will I have to worry about you running off and getting into trouble." Aang shook his head. "Good. I shouldn't be too long. I just want to change my shirt and find some running water to get rid of this concealer."
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Xena had only been able to wash away the concealer covering her upper arms and change into a Water Tribe blue short-sleeved shirt before Aang had run off back to the Southern Water Tribe village. She had sensed his fear for the villagers and his determination to protect them automatically, but by the time she had gotten back to Appa, he was already gone. Cursing vibrantly, she dropped her parka onto the snowy ground. There's was only one way she was going to catch up to him and it was going to require her to do something she hated to do. Waterbending.
Sliding one foot back, she thrust her hands forward and created a trail of ice. Ice skating was a fine pastime for waterbenders and nonbenders alike in the Tribes, but it was also an excellent mode of transportation for waterbenders in a hurry. Xena was out of practice, but this particular move was one that she had practiced until it became muscle memory. She pushed off the ice hard, extending the icy path ahead of her as she went.
She understood Aang's desire to protect the Southern Water Tribe, but he was by no means a fighter which was why he should have waited for Xena, or at the very least came to get her. Like it or not, Xena was a trained fighter who knew the sword fighting styles of all four nations and - while loathing to - she knew how to bend.
Xena slid to a stop in the snow, staring out across the unfrozen bay towards the village. A Fire Navy icebreaker had plowed right through the thick land-fast ice and into the village's wall, collapsing it and Sokka's unsteady watchtower. It would be easier to stay on the frozen ice and snow to get back to the village, but going straight across the bay would be faster. She shuffled her feet in split second indecision before the worry she sensed from Aang pushed her to action. Straight across, it was.
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"Man, I wish we could have gone ashore with the others. It's been ages since I've had any shore leave and I'm sick of this ship."
"Oh, give it a rest, Ryu. It's not they're down there visiting with the locals. We're here for the Avatar. You know, the master of all four elements. Do you really want to be fighting that powerful of a man? Personally, I'm quite happy to stay here, where it's nice and safe."
The two soldiers leaned on the spears as they talked. The slimmer of the two who was glad to have been left aboard the ship was the first to hear the crackling of rapidly freezing ice.
"What in tarnation?" He questioned and stepped towards the ship railing to stare out at the bay, Ryu following closely behind.
Their jaws dropped in astonishment at the sight of a girl rapidly skating across the bay, water freezing in a path only a few inches in front of her feet. The waterbender dropped into a crouch for balance as she skated, holding her hands out flat above the water. The water responded as she straightened, following her motions to create an icy ramp in front of her. Frozen in disbelief, the soldiers made no movement as she shot past them, water droplets flying from the speed at which she moved. The droplets froze in the low temperature and pinged off their armor and the sides of the ship as she slid up the ramp and launched herself into the air and over the wall.
"We don't get paid enough," Ryu complained and his companion could only nod his head weakly.
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Split second decisions in a life or death situation were one of the many things that Xena had learned and learned well in her training. It took her half a second after she had launched herself over the wall to analyze the situation. Ten Fire Nation soldiers stood behind what appeared to be their commanding officer, watching as he punched fireballs at Aang. The young pacifist monk stood between the firebender and the villagers, spinning his staff to disperse the fire with airbending. Katara was helping a rather beat up looking Sokka to his feet off to the side while watching Aang worriedly. The young monk could barely keep up with the firebender and flames were beginning to fly off the edges of his staff, making the villagers cower away in fear.
With a ferocious battle cry, Xena spun in midair and formed a ramp of ice that led her down and around the Fire Nation soldiers to put her between Aang and the firebender. As she slid between them, she raised a wall of ice with one hand to block the barrage of fire before melting the ramp with the other hand, changing it into several wickedly sharp ice spikes.
"Xenia?!" "Xena?!"
The Guardian ignored the simultaneous shouts from Aang and the Water Tribe siblings, attention solely focused on the firebenders and keeping the ice spikes levitating around her. The firebender standing across from her wore his hair up in a topknot and there was a vicious looking burn scar covering his left eye. However, neither of those was what she noticed first. She saw that he was just a teenager only a few years older than her.
"Only a coward picks on women and children who can't fight back. If you want a fight, then I'll be your opponent."
In that brief moment when everyone awaited his response to Xena's challenge, he glanced briefly at the villagers behind her and she could see regret in his amber eyes. But then his gaze shifted back to her and he shifted into a battle stance and created dual fire daggers in his hands. Xena matched his stance with one of her own, dropping control over the ice spikes before creating her own weapons with bending.
Gasps come not only from the villagers behind her but from the disciplined soldiers as well at the sight of her own fire daggers. They were shorter than their commander's daggers, but the flame was much more controlled than his. The scarred firebender's stance faltered in surprise.
"You're the Avatar?! But I thought the airbender-"
"Oh, please," She cut him off with an eye roll. "Just because he's an airbender doesn't make him the Avatar. If you're assuming he is because he's the first airbender seen since the genocide, then I find great pleasure in telling you, that the Air Nomads are - as their name suggests - nomadic. There's probably a lot of them that escaped the attempted genocide and are scattered throughout the other three nations." To everyone's surprise, she relaxed and released her hold on both the daggers and the ice spikes. "If you want proof of someone being the Avatar, there's no better proof than seeing someone bend two elements."
Xena had never tried such a risky bluff before. Fighting was almost preferable to her, but she knew that this village was not a decent battleground and that the villagers could get caught in the crossfire if a fight broke out. She would never forgive herself if an innocent got hurt because of a fight she instigated. Aang was a sharp kid when he wanted to be and she felt the spike of fear and worry when he realized her plan.
"All you want is the Avatar, right? If I come with you, will you promise to leave this village and its occupants alone?"
"Xena, no!" Aang shouted, reaching forward to grab the back of her shirt.
"You'd give yourself up, just like that?"
"I would in order to protect those I care for."
The firebender released his daggers and straightened up. "Then I accept your terms."
"Xenia, you can't!" Katara shouted from behind her and Aang's grip on her shirt tightened even more as the soldiers stepped towards her with restraints and their spears held at the ready.
"I'll be fine, Katara," Xena assured. "Just make sure Aang stays out of trouble for me. Ok?"
She then pulled herself free from Aang and turned to face the young monk. He stared up at her teary eyed and concerned. "Listen to Katara and Sokka, alright? No more running onto boobytrapped ships."
He nodded and she lowered her voice so only he could hear what she said next. He nodded again sadly, but determination shined in his gray eyes and radiated through their bond as she stepped back and turned herself over to the Fire Nation soldiers. She didn't glance back as they tied her hands behind her back and marched her onto the ship.
"This time, I'm counting on you to do the saving."
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With all of her training, nothing could prepare Xena for the jovial, old, and overweight man who greeted the returning firebenders on the deck of the ship.
"I must admit, Prince Zuko, that in all the years we've been on this voyage, I never thought you'd find yourself a girl. And quite a beautiful girl she is."
Xena didn't know if she should be flattered or creeped out by that, so instead, she kept her face free of emotion
"She's the Avatar, Uncle," The scarred firebender, Zuko, replied irritably before shouting at one of his men to set sail for the Fire Nation.
"That doesn't make her any less of a girl," His uncle replied and for a moment, Xena could have sworn there was a knowing gleam in his eyes as noticed her tribal tattoos. "Those are quite some interesting tattoos you have, dear. What do they mean if you don't mind me asking?"
"They're wolf warrior tattoos," She answered, eyes narrowing in recognition of the sharp intelligence in this man's eyes.
His eyes briefly shift to glance at her brow as if searching for something hidden by her bangs. She can tell that he knew - or at least suspected the truth. Shifting her bound hands, she touched the knife hidden by her long blue tunic.
"I wasn't aware that there were still wolf warriors in the South. I thought they all fled to the North when the raids started."
"The pack may flee their territory, but there's always a lone wolf who is too stubborn to leave. They are not difficult to find if you know where to look," She replied to the old man cryptically.
"Enough talking! You two, take the Avatar to the prison hold." Zuko snapped.
"Right away, your Highness."
As the soldiers began to lead her away, Xena could hear the prince's uncle make a complaint.
"Come now, Zuko. You could have at least let me ask her for her name."
Xena smiled to herself for a second in relief that her ruse had worked. She made no move to resist as the two guards escorted her into the depths of the ship, each with a tight grip on her shoulder. Unbeknownst to them, she didn't plan on allowing them to take her to a cell.
"You know I can tell that you're not used to taking prisoners," She said nonchalantly, a small spark appearing as she quietly snapped her fingers. "For one, you haven't blindfolded me and it'll be quite easy for me to remember the path back to the deck." With minute motions of her fingers, she guides the spark down to the ropes. "Secondly, you didn't pat me down for weapons. I can see why you would make that mistake, though. I mean how many benders know how to use a weapon?"
"Silence," One of the guards ordered, his grip tightening on her shoulder in warning.
A sly smile appeared on the girl's face as she ignored his order. "Thirdly, you used a rope to tie a firebender's hands."
Having burned halfway through the ropes, it was a simple matter for Xena to break them with a harsh jerk of her hands. Following that action, she twisted free of their grip and brought her elbow crashing into the side of one soldier's side where it was only protected by a thin piece of hide armor instead of hard steel while simultaneously hooking her ankle around the other soldier's ankle to pull him off balance. Taken by surprise, they staggered away from her and she was quick to jump back a few steps to give herself more distance while she drew her whalebone knife and held it in a reverse grip.
The one she had tripped recovered first and rushed towards her. She slashed at him with the knife and he leaned back to avoid the blade before punching a ball of fire at her, falling for her feint. She ducked beneath his extended arm and brought her knee crashing into his groin. He hunched over with a high pitched squeal of pain and she used the new position to her advantage to knee him in the nose. He dropped like a stone and she stepped over him to face the other soldier who had recovered by then.
She wasted no time in attacking, punching a ball of fire with her knife hand and closing the distance between them as he made the mistake of splitting her flames instead of sidestepping them. Her shoulders slammed into his ribs as she tackled him into the hall wall. For a girl, she was surprisingly strong and the last thing he saw before she slammed his armored head into the wall was a pair of unnatural silver eyes that he could have sworn were brown just a few minutes ago.
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Xena let out an irritable sigh and tried to shrug off the pain from tackling a fully armored opponent. While effective, the move had not been one of her better ideas. To reduce further injury it would be best that she didn't get into any prolonged fights until she had made it to the top deck. Hopefully, Aang would have caught up with the ship by that time, so that she wouldn't have to engage in combat that required any use of her bending. She picked up her pace in an effort to distract herself and clear her head of the negative emotions surrounding the subject of her bending.
She rounded the corner of the hall in a sprint, A group of seven soldiers cut off their conversation in astonishment. Without slowing her momentum, she nimbly slipped around and between them. They quickly overcame their shock and made to grab her, but the narrow corridor and Xena's dexterity did not work in their favor. A small smile formed on the female warrior's face as she broke free from the packed group. The soldiers cursed and tried to reorient themselves in the narrow hall so they could give chase through the many twists and turns of the ship. Xena's smile was quick to fade as she turned another corner into a dead end.
"Damn it, I must have made a wrong turn somewhere."
Hearing her pursuers closing in on her, she ducked into an unlocked room and closed the door quietly behind her.
"Where did she go?"
"She must have turned onto a different hallway."
"We have to find her quick. The prince will have our heads if we let the Avatar escape."
Xena sighed and relaxed as their footsteps retreated, turning to investigate the room she ended up in. The good news was that should combat take place the room was more than spacious enough. The bad news was that it was the prince's bedroom and she had interrupted him in the process of changing clothes.
Face aflame, she purposefully kept her eyes from drifting below his waist as she stated as calmly as she could. "Well, this is a bit awkward."
The sound of her voice snapped the Fire Nation prince out of his shock. "How did you escape?!"
"Rope doesn't make for the best restraints when dealing with a firebender," She replied. "Uh, would you perhaps mind putting on some-" Her voice cracked as her gaze briefly flickered down and she let out an embarrassed cough. "Putting on some pants."
For a moment, it appeared the prince's anger over her escape would overpower his mortification at being caught in such a state of undress. To Xena's immense relief, he chose to cover up instead of attack. As he was distracted with pulling on some pants, she quickly slipped back into the hall and fled.
"Hey! Get back here!"
"This is not going to plan," Xena grumbled under her breath. "Please hurry, Aang."
After what seemed like a lifetime, but was in fact only a few minutes, Xena finally made it back to the deck with Zuko hot on her heels. Literally. Dodging to the left to avoid the prince's fireballs, she crashed into the back of a distracted soldier, sending him stumbling forward into a table where several men - including Zuko's uncle - were playing a card game.
An irritated noise escaped Xena's throat at her unusual clumsiness. She staggered away from the soldiers before sliding her left foot back and bringing her right hand up in front of her with the whalebone knife. A slight bend of the knees and she had regained a more solid stance to face the enraged - and still shirtless - prince. Outnumbered, with only a knife for a weapon, and unwilling to use her bending, Xena knew she was at a disadvantage. But disadvantage or not, she wouldn't be anybody's prisoner.
"I was under the impression that you had turned yourself over willingly," The prince's uncle said as he calmly sipped a cup of tea and ignored his ruined game.
"I did, but I never said I'd stay," Xena replied without looking away from Zuko.
The air shimmered around Zuko's hands and Xena was quick to react, dodging the fireballs he shot at her. Her Inner Fire surged at her silent urging and with it came the use of the only bending ability she never turned away from. The dark gray metal deck and the snowy cliffs on either side took on a bluish cast while Zuko and his men took on a more reddish hue. Without having to turn, an image of her surroundings in all direction began to form in Xena's mind to match the varying levels of heat she could sense with her firebending.
Heat sensing was an ability most firebenders learned early on, but the advanced version that she used was something that only a few handful of firebending masters had ever achieved. Those that did learn this ability, that some called heat vision, normally had to sit in a meditative state to even achieve it. To Xena, it was as easy as breathing and an unexpected gift given to her by the Avatar who had saved her life. With this gift, she was able to predict the attack from the soldiers behind her as their core temperature rose. And more importantly, from above she could sense . . .
"Xena!"
Aang's shout startled the attacking soldiers and Xena used the distraction to her advantage. She jabbed one in the throat with the back end of her knife, then feinted a slash at another before tripping him when he leaned back away from the sharp blade, and finally, in a display of acrobatics worthy of her Air Nomad teachers, she flipped over the head of a third. Aang jumped off of Appa's head with his glider as Xena ran towards the edge of the ship. He let go of the glider with one hand to grab the extended arm Xena held up to him, but before he could grab her, a fireball punctured one of the rice paper wings. Aang let out a startled shout as he lost control of the glider and plummeted into the freezing ocean.
"Aang!" Xena's cry was echoed by two others.
Anger, sharp and hot, raced through the female warrior as Aang failed to resurface. She spun on her heels to face the responsible firebender as an almost animalistic snarl tore from her throat. Her eyes, once a warm brown, were now silver and cold as she glared at Zuko. She took a single menacing step forward when the ship rocked violently as the ocean exploded upward.
Aang rose high above the ship for a moment atop a spinning mass of water, both his eyes and arrow tattoos glowing. He landed on the ship and swung his staff with both hands, sending a large wave of water crashing across the deck in a breathtaking display of waterbending. The water split around Xena's furious form before it crashed into the soldiers and sent them colliding with the ship's railing. In a show of karmic justice, Zuko was the only one to be knocked over the railing.
The young Avatar staggered as the power of the Avatar State left him as quickly as it came. Concern overriding her anger, Xena quickly rushed to his side and caught him as his legs gave out.
"Are you alright?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" He asked with a weak smile. "I'm fine, Xena."
Appa landed on the ship's deck beside them and the two Water Tribe siblings on his back rushed to Aang and Xena's side.
"Are you two ok-"
"How did you do that?" Sokka blurted out in awe, cutting off his sister to her annoyance.
"He's the Avatar," Xena said by way of explanation, helping Aang back to his feet.
"But I thought you were the Avatar."
"I don't recall ever saying I was the Avatar."
"But you used both waterbending and firebending."
"Well, you see, Sokka, I'm that myth that protects the Avatar." He backed down at her obvious irritation and Xena passed Aang's care off to Katara. "Get him on Appa."
"Where are you going?" The younger girl asked in surprise as Xena walked away from them.
Instead of responding, Xena grabbed a spear that one of the soldiers had dropped. Breaking the tip off with a quick stomp of her booted foot, she spun the makeshift staff and beckoned to the recovered soldiers.
"Who's first?"
The combat is fast and brutal, and by the end of it, Xena stood mostly untouched with a relaxed grip on two halves of the broken and scorched spear. Stepping over the bodies of concussed and unconscious soldiers, she made her way to the side of the ship where the prince had finally managed to pull himself back aboard. She pressed the sharp splintered end of one of the spear halves against his throat. For a moment, silver and amber eyes locked together in dual threats and promises of harm. To the outside observer, it might look like she was about to kill him or seriously maim him. However, that was not Xena's style; with a derisive - and very unladylike - snort, she knocked him out with a swift blow to the temple.
She dropped the broken spear to the deck and turned her back to him almost nonchalantly, offering a brief nod to the prince's uncle who was still calmly sitting and drinking tea.
"I never did get your name," He suddenly said.
"Nor I yours." She paused and glanced over her shoulder with an almost pleasant smile. "The name's Xenia Sky Dragon."
Recognition shone in the man's wise amber eyes as he tilted his head to her. "Iroh, Dragon of the West."
And with that strange but brief exchange, Xena quickly joined Aang and the Water Tribe siblings on Appa's back. All was quiet for several seconds as Aang directed Appa into the air and away from the ship.
"Has anyone ever told you that you're kind of scary?" Sokka asked.
"I've been informed that I can be a bit intimidating at times."
"Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar and his Guardian?" Katara finally asked after a few more minutes of flight.
"Because I never wanted to be the Avatar," Aang replied, resting his chin on his knees.
Xena shrugged when Katara glanced at her. "I was following his lead."
"The world has been waiting for nearly a century for the Avatar to return and put an end to the war."
Aang shook his head. "I'm just one kid and I wouldn't even know where to start."
"Legend says you have to learn waterbending, then earth, and then fire," Katara replied, a hopeful gleam in her blue eyes.
Aang straightened and glanced at Xena. "That's what the monks told me."
Katara turned towards Xena, her optimism growing. "Xenia, you could teach him water-"
"Not happening," Xena cut her off.
"Why not?"
"I don't bend."
"But we saw you-"
"I don't bend unless I absolutely have to and that's not up for discussion."
The Water Tribe siblings exchanged surprised glances at her adamant refusal. Aang hesitated for a moment before offering the solution that Xena had shot down earlier that day.
"We could go to the North Pole."
Xena's jaw clenched and she nodded after a brief hesitation. "I don't like it, but we don't have much of a choice."
"Katara, you could learn with me?" Aang said with a bright smile.
Katara returned the smile. "And Sokka, you can knock some Fire Nation heads in along the way."
"I'd like that. I'd really like that," Sokka replied eagerly, stroking an imaginary beard as he thought.
"Then we're in this together!'
"Yay, go, team," Xena replied dryly before smiling. "Bet I'll beat more soldiers than you, Sokka."
"We'll see about that, Xenia," Sokka said challengingly.
blackcat711: I'm glad you find Xena more relatable. Character development is something I plan to do a lot of in this story. Making Xena a badass without being too overpowered will be a challenge, but it's a challenge I'm ready for.
Momochan77: I am very hopeful as well.
Brittany the Vampire: I'm glad you find this unique because that's exactly what I'm going for. Personally, I think rewriting one of your beginning fanfictions is always a good idea as you not only get to realize how much your writing skill has improved, but you can also make a good idea even better. I've read your Avatar fanfiction and can easily see the potential in it. If you do decide to do a rewrite let me know and I'll gladly give it a read.
lizy2000: Aang is still the airbending Avatar. Did I confuse you with the mention of a prophecy? Because I was actually referring to the Legend of Korra and the fact that Korra was born in the Southern Water Tribe.
I changed the names of Xena's friends to fit better with the actual show. Kaori=Korra, Tamsin=Tanvi, Temari=Tami, Raiden=Rivon. Drake's name is the only one that has not changed.
I also forget to explain Xena's name. As you've probably noticed by now I changed her name to Xenia (Ze-nee-ah) but kept Xena as a nickname. I'm aware that this is a Greek name, but at the time I named her, my fourteen-year-old mind decided I needed a badass name that started with a 'z' sound. I recalled that Xena from Xena: Warrior Princess was supposedly a badass fighter and decided it would work perfectly. Ironically, I had not and have not to this day ever watched Xena: Warrior Princess.
Edit of 11/2/17- Beta'd and Edited by friend IRL, Lily.
