The sun shined brightly as we continued our flight north. Aang was getting very restless as each day passed and was actually beginning to irritate me. It had been a week since we'd left Roku's temple, and every day that passed he was getting worse. He wouldn't sit down for more than five minutes, and he was jumpy and impatient about everything. We were still a long ways from the North Pole, and I wasn't sure how much of this Aang I could take.
As I sat on the saddle, I watched him pace back and forth in front of me, muttering something under his breath. Katara was watching with worry, while Sokka was guiding Appa through the sky and not paying attention.
"Hey Aang," I tried, my arms crossed as I watched him continue his pacing. Back and forth... Back and forth... He didn't respond to me, too deep in his thought. Sighing, I yelled, "Aang!"
Aang jumped and looked at me in surprise.
"Will you please sit down? I'm about to jump up and knock you out," I said, though I didn't really mean it. Momo, who was curled up in my lap, sat up and chattered at this. He then left my lap and jumped up on Aang's shoulder to soothe his friend.
"I'm sorry," Aang snapped at me. "I just don't have time to sit down!" He continued on with his pacing and I rolled my eyes.
"Well forgive me for caring about your safety," I muttered. Aang didn't hear me, and for some reason this irritated me more.
Groaning, I turned around and looked out watching the passing clouds. I didn't feel like being snapped at, so I decided I was done speaking.
"Kaya's right Aang. You should sit down," Sokka said, turning his head to look back at Aang. "If we hit a bump you'll go flying off! What's bugging you anyway?"
As Aang spoke about some comet and how he was supposed to master all four elements before it arrived, I sat back and tried to listen. The irritation I had with Aang had slowly seeped away. I was more tired than annoyed at the moment. I felt exhaustion try to pull me under as my eyes slowly closed. It had been a week since I'd truly gotten any sleep. Every night I was plagued with memories, most of them about being Zhao's prisoner. They always revolved around me in a cell, either chained up or tied with rope. Then Zhao would come in with either fire in his hands or a whip that already had my blood on it. Whenever he'd go to strike me, I'd wake up.
Deep down I felt I should tell Sokka or Katara about my sleepless nights, but every time I wanted to I shut down. Katara would worry too much and Sokka would go looking for a fight with Zhao for causing me so much fear. The last thing I wanted was for something in my past to burden the others. They didn't need to worry about Zhao... They didn't need to worry about me.
"Calm down," Katara suddenly said, bringing me back to present. She'd stood and grabbed Aang's hands trying to stop his pace. She forced him to sit in front of her on his knees. "If you want I can try and teach you some of the stuff I know."
"You'd do that?" Aang asked with surprise.
She nodded and the two crawled over to me and looked over my side of the saddle. "We'll need to find a good source of water," Katara stated.
"Maybe we can find a puddle for you to splash in," Sokka joked.
"That's good. I think we all need a break from flying, even Appa," I added. Appa groaned in agreement.
In the end we found a large stream with a waterfall. The waterfall stretched a good thirty feet and the stream flowed downhill. It looked like a good enough spot to me. Once we landed Sokka, Katara, and Aang walked over to the water to get ready for Aang's training. As they did this I took down all of our supplies from Appa's saddle and started to set up camp. Sokka came over after a few minutes to help me. Once we had the sleeping bags out, Sokka went off to go get some kindle for the fire. While he did that I walked over to the water to see how many fish I could catch. Kneeling beside it, I rested my hand in it's cool liquid and watched as it flowed past my fingers. Then I tried to remember when the last time was that I'd had a good wash.
The fish could wait. I wanted to clean up some.
Since I had my chest bindings on underneath, I took my shirt off and left my pants on. The pants were still from my prisoner days, so they probably needed a good soak too. It was sad I'd never actually been able to claim my water tribe clothes back from the prison. I supposed I wasn't even water tribe anyway, so it didn't matter.
Stepping into the water, I could tell already that the dirt and grime was getting off my body. Then after a moment of getting use to the water cold water, I dived in. The current wasn't too strong, so it wasn't that hard to swim against it. The water became lukewarm on my skin, the perfect temperature for me to relax in.
When I resurfaced a moment later, I heard Aang shout, "Yehh! Don't start without me Kaya!" He began to pull off his robes, but Katara stopped him by grabbing his shoulder.
"Remember the reason we're here," she said.
Aang pouted, put his clothes back on, and then followed her to a spot a little ways from me where they stood on the bank. Katara started to do some moves and Aang watched her with disappointment. After Katara lifted some water in the air though, Aang became attentive.
Sighing, I ducked back under and let the water rush past me. It was as I did this that a memory came to my mind. Another memory I didn't want.
"Azula!" I cried, sitting up from my bed and shoving my sister away. She smirked and poked me in the face again. "Stop it," I cried, shoving her hand away. "Or I'll go get mommy."
We were at our summer home on ember island, and mommy and daddy were in bed asleep. Azula had decided to sneak through the hall into my room to mess with me. She smirked and crossed her arms. "Here's the deal, Amber. You go fetch me and Zuko both ten seashells and I leave you alone the rest of our stay here. Deal."
Through the rest of vacation? She wouldn't mess with me for two weeks! That would be a miracle!
Glaring at her, I climbed out of bed and yelled, "Deal!"
"Fine. You have ten minutes. I expect you back here by then."
"Fine!" Turning, I left my room and stealthily made my way through the hall. The guards, who were positioned outside our summer home, were talking in a circle, so when I walked past them they didn't see. Running toward the ocean ahead, I began to search for shells. The majority of the shells could only be found where the water hit the land, so that's where I went.
As I gathered seashells by the lapping waves, I didn't realize I was stepping into the deeper part of the warm water until it became too let. Without expecting it, a giant wave suddenly came crashing down on me. Immediately I fell to the sand as the water threw me down, and all of my seashells were taken back into the ocean. Then as I tried to stand again, another wave knocked me down and pulled me back into the deeper waters. When I came out of the water for air, I let out a hoarse scream. My scream was cut off as another wave brought me under.
Fighting against the rushing water, I noticed I was being dragged further back into ocean. My body tried to kick and thrash to get back above the surface, but I wasn't strong enough. It was then that I began to panic. No one had taught me how to swim, so as I tried to thrash through the water to get to air, I felt I was getting no where. It was then my lungs began to tighten and my strength began to give.
The last thing I remember was a warm body wrapping around my own and pulling me up.
When I suddenly came back to reality, I found I was still under water and my lungs were bursting. Quickly, I swam to the surface and gasped when air could fill my lungs once more.
"You alright?" Aang shouted from where he and Katara stood by the river bank.
Continuing to cough, I managed to get to the shallow part of the river. When I could stand, I managed to say through hard breaths, "I'm okay... Sorry."
Katara looked relieved to see I hadn't drowned. Aang looked unsure if he believed me.
Not wanting my memories to try and kill me again I decided I'd been in the water long enough. The swim had made me exhausted too, and I felt as if I'd pass out any moment. After using my bending to evaporate the water on my skin, and then pulling back on my prisoner clothes, I began to head toward the edge of the forest beside us.
Walking over to a large branch, I sat on it and placed my face in my hands. These memories wouldn't stop. They just kept coming and I hated it so much. I just wanted to be Kaya again... I was tired of seeing a life I felt no connection toward. Trying to calm my racing heart, I stared over at Aang and my sister as they began to practice bending. Sokka walked over to me suddenly and I felt him drop a blanket onto my shoulders. The sudden warmth almost put me to sleep from exhaustion.
Sokka stood in front of me with narrowed but concerned eyes. "What happened to you under there? It was like you went under and something was keeping you down."
Looking down at my hands I shrugged. "I don't know. I just lost track of time I guess."
"Yeah right," Sokka muttered, crossing his arms and seeing right through my lies. "I know exactly what's going on."
Sighing, I whispered, "No you don't."
"Oh yeah..." He leaned forward. "I know you haven't been sleeping, Kaya. I've watched you for the last five days. You begin to mutter in your sleep, then you jump up from your bedroll in terror. I've even followed you once or twice to see you fire bend for the rest of the night. What's going on with you? Back home you slept like a rock and it took both Katara and I to get you out of bed."
Looking away from him, I stared past at the river. "I just have a lot on my mind."
He went to say something else but was cut off. For at that moment, a huge wave suddenly shot up and hit the campsite washing our supplies into the river. All of the food we bought and gathered was gone in a flash.
"Aang!" Sokka cried.
Aang still had his hands up in the air but quickly dropped them. Then oblivious to the supplies he'd just destroyed, he said to my speechless sister, "Looks like I got the hang of that move. What else you got?"
Katara said crossly, "That's enough practice for today."
"You think," I muttered.
Sokka marched over to Katara and Aang then. "I'll say. You just practiced our supplies down the river."
Aang was surprised by this, then looked at the river where the supplies were long gone. "Uhh... Sorry. I'm sure we can find somewhere to replace all this stuff."
"It was hard enough when you were just an air bender," Sokka muttered, then walked off to go get the money bag which survived the wave.
Katara sighed, and walked over to me. "Are you sure you're okay?" She seemed to still be fretting over me almost drowning.
"Peachy," I said with a weak smile, but truthfully I was exhausted. From not having any sleep all week, to almost drowning in the river, I could feel my body begin to shut down.
"I saw a port not too far from here when we were flying over. We can go there for supplies," Aang suddenly said.
Sokka walked over to us with a bag of coins King Bumi had given us. "We have enough money to buy some food and other small things. I suggest we buy what we need and then use the rest to get Kaya some clothes."
Looking down at my clothes, I frowned, "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"
He answered, "You look like you're an escaped convict." Then he turned and walked in the direction toward town. Sighing, I followed him and the other two toward town. Momo came with us, mostly riding on Aang's shoulder, but sometimes jumping onto my shoulder. I'd pat him on the head and he'd lick me on the cheek.
When we reached the town and entered I really felt out of place. It was a port full of sailors, merchants, and pirates. The place made me very uneasy and I wanted to go back to Appa in the woods.
Walking through the crowded streets of the town, Sokka gave each of us some money to go separate and buy supplies. Leaving the group I went into a clothing shop to see if they had anything that would make me look less like a convict.
There was a middle aged Earth Kingdom woman in the shop who was very kind in helping me find a cheap affordable outfit. She could tell I was Fire Nation based on my gold eyes and dark hair, and started to pick out some red outfits. I declined and went over to the blue fabrics. She gave me a puzzled look but followed me. She threw some clothes at me, and eventually I decided what I wanted. I ended up getting a dark blue skirt that split on the side with blue trousers underneath. For my shirt I found a light blue one that hugged the curves I'd started to form. The outfit was close to water tribe so I couldn't complain. It felt good to be wearing familiar colors. After I paid the confused lady, I left and began to head toward the middle of the town where I assumed my family was.
As I walked past different groups of men, women, and children I reached a part of the town by the docks that seemed very busy. When I got there, I saw a large vessel that had massive sails. At the gangplank there was a really skinny scraggly man in front of it. He was trying to get people to come on board and buy stuff. At first glance I could immediately tell he was a pirate. I didn't know much about pirates, but from what I knew they were greedy conniving thieves.
As I made my way past the ship not daring to even glance over at him, I heard him shout, "Hey you! You look like a lady who values her jewels. We have plenty on board!"
Looking over at him, I glared and he shrunk away when he saw my golden eyes. A lot of people seemed to shrink away when they saw my gold eyes. He quickly turned from me and went on to bother another woman and man.
Reaching the center of the town, I searched for the others wanting to leave. Eventually I found Katara and Aang sitting on a shop window looking out into the crowd. Aang saw me approach first and his eyes widened. "Wow Kaya! You look great!"
Smiling weakly, I muttered my thanks when I got close enough to the two. They scooted over to give me space on the window sill and I took a spot beside Katara. "How are we on supplies?" I asked.
Katara look in the cloth bag on her lap. "We have some fruit and vegetables to last us for a week. After that we'll have to either get a job or gather food."
"Maybe we'll be at the Northern Water Tribe by that point," Aang said.
I felt some what uneasy by his words. "Yeah... Great."
They both looked at me with question. "You don't want to go?" Aang asked slightly dismayed.
Sighing, I looked down at my hands. "No... I'm just scared. I don't want them to see me as a monster. Our tribe only accepted me because dad's the leader and they respect him. The northern tribe may not be so happy to have an enemy spawn on their icy land. They'll probably hate me."
"Oh hush! You're not enemy spawn!" Katara defended. "And besides, the northern water tribe was sent word about you nine years ago. They know your story and they've never once told our tribe we were wrong for keeping you."
Looking over at her, I smiled weakly. "Yeah... Maybe you're right."
Katara smiled back.
"Okay..." Sokka suddenly said coming out of the shop and stopping in front of us. "We have exactly three copper pieces left-" Sokka stopped when he saw me. "What are you wearing!"
Looking down at my clothing, I wondered what was wrong with it.
"No sister of mine is wearing clothing like that!" Sokka said, pointing at my shirt which was tighter than I normally wore. "I don't have time to fight guys off your shoulders!"
Rolling my eyes, I said, "It's a shirt Sokka. At least everything's covered."
He looked like he wanted to argue, but Katara intrrupted. "How much money did you say we have again?"
Sokka composed himself and answered. "Three copper pieces. That's all we have left from the money King Bumi gave us. Let's spend it wisely."
"Uh, make it two copper pieces, Sokka. I couldn't say no to this whistle," Aang said holding up a whistle in the shape of Appa. He then blew into it but no sound escaped.
"Great purchase Aang," I said sarcastically.
"You have no room to talk!" Sokka snapped gesturing toward my shirt again. Oh come on... Katara wore tight shirts all the time.
Sighing, I muttered under my breath, "Way too overprotective."
Sokka ignored me and went back to scolding Aang, then Katara took the two coins from Aang so he wouldn't spend anymore. "Come on... Let's get back," Katara said. She began to lead us toward the direction of the forest, and I was relieved we were leaving the town.
The town was still busy with merchants and traders as we walked through it, and I received a few cold stares for my fire nation blood. If I could change my eye and hair color then everything would be so much easier.
"Earth Nation! Fire Nation! Water Nation! So long as bargains are your inclination, you're welcome here! Don't be shy, come on by!" The same pirate from earlier suddenly shouted over at us, and I couldn't believe I was crossing paths with the scraggly fellow again. Rolling my eyes I kept on walking hoping the others would follow.
"Oh! You there! I can see by your clothing that you're world traveling types! Perhaps I can interest you in some exotic curios?" The pirate said, stepping in front of us so we couldn't leave.
I stopped so I wouldn't run into the man. Frowning, I crossed my arms and snapped, "We don't have any money haggling pirate!"
The man tried to remain composed, saying to me, "Pirate. No miss. I'm just a humble trader." He looked at the others then to see what they thought about his invitation.
Aang must have been really oblivious, because he asked, "What are curios?"
The pirate thought about it for a moment. "I'm not entirely sure, but we got them!" The man grabbed Aang by the shoulders and began to lead him on the ship. Momo hissed at the man holding onto Aang's shoulder hard. It felt good knowing Momo was on my side.
Looking at Katara and Sokka, I said, "We have to stop him! Does he have any clue what he's doing?"
Katara shrugged. "They seem harmless to me. Stop worrying so much." Then she too turned and made her way on the ship. Sokka sighed, but followed Katara and Aang. With my own heavy sigh, I dropped my arms to my side and followed them all, mostly to keep my family safe. When we got on board the vessel I followed as the pirate led us through the ship, down some stairs, and into the cargo hold.
In the cargo hold we found tons of shelves loaded with stolen goods. There were items from every nation and as I stared at each item I wondered if they killed anyone for each of the treasures.
Looking back over at the others, I saw they were engrossed in some of the treasures. Katara was busy staring at a strange looking monkey statue. Sokka looked a little bored, but scanned the shelves to see if something caught his eye. Aang was too excited by everything in the room to just look at one item. Stepping up to a bowl painted with fire lilies, I wondered what the story was behind it.
"I've never seen such a fine specimen of lemur," a cold voice suddenly echoed through the room. "That beast would fetch me a hefty sum,if you'd be interested in bartering." We all turned to see a man in his early fifties, with long gray hair, cold dark eyes, and a strange parrot on his shoulder. He must've entered only a second earlier, and he was staring at Momo with greed.
Quickly I stepped in front of Momo and Aang, not wanting this man to come anywhere near the flying lemur or the kid. "He's not for sell."
"Yeah... What she said," Aang snapped too, coming around and stepping beside me.
The pirate captain leered at me, then went to say something else. Katara cut him off however. "Look at this Aang! It's a water bending scroll. Check out these crazy moves!"
We all looked at Katara who held in her hands a very ancient looking scroll. There was no way we could afford it with two copper pieces. The only possible way we could afford it is if I was still living as a princess. Zuko could probably buy it with Uncle's money, but who knew where he was at the moment. At the thought of Zuko I felt a bit uneasy. I hoped he was okay.
"Where did you get a water bending scroll?" Aang asked suspiciously bringing me back to present.
The captain walked over to us and snatched it from my sister's hand. He rolled it back up and put it in the belt on his side. "Let's just say I got it up north at a reasonable price. Free!"
The way he said free made me sick. With a scowl, I snapped,"Of course you did! You're filthy pirates! You probably killed someone for it!"
Sokka's eyes widened. "Wow! Kaya's right! Sea loving traders... with suspiciously acquired merchandise... and pet reptile birds. You guys are pirates!"
The first pirate from before put his skinny arm around Sokka's shoulders. "We prefer to think of ourselves as high risk traders."
"So how much for the, uh, "traded" scroll?" Katara asked, slightly annoyed.
The pirate captain smirked. "I've already got a buyer, a nobleman in the Earth Kingdom. Unless, of course, you kids have 200 gold pieces on ya right now?"
Aang suddenly pulled Katara aside. "I know how to deal with these guys, Katara, pirates love to haggle." Katara handed him the two coins we had left, then Aang walked up to the pirate captain. "What say to the price of... One copper piece!"
The pirate captain laughed hard,and then narrowed his eyes at him. "The price is 200 gold pieces. I don't haggle on items this rare."
"No. You just steal," I muttered.
The Captain glared at me, then his eyes widened when he noticed the gold bracelet around my wrist. "Now that I'd be willing to trade it for," he said, reaching for my wrist.
Pulling back, I hissed, "Not in your life!"
Aang inched in front of me again then said, "What about two copper pieces?"
The Captain still looked at my wrist with greed. "It's not a amusing the second time." Then he looked into my eyes. "How does a girl like you come across something of such value?"
"None of your business," I snapped. narrowing my eyes at him.
Katara suddenly said, "Aang, can we get out of here. I feel like we're getting weird looks."
"Aye... We be casting off now," Aang joked, then grabbed his staff which he'd placed against the wall. Backing away from the pirate captain, I saw him continue to watch me with burning curiosity. He probably could tell there was something different about me, and that made me anxious. With one final glare, I turned and ran to catch back up with the others.