When we finally got off the ship I breathed in relief. That was one of the most cramped spaces I'd been in since that boat ride with Zuko. I really hated cramped spaces. Especially when there were criminals on board.
Once we were far enough from the ship Aang questioned Katara. "What was that all about Katara?"
Sokka added, "Yeah, I was just starting to browse through their boomerang collection."
Katara looked around nervously. "I'll just feel a lot better once we get away from here."
"Agree with you there," I said, crossing my arms and wishing we'd never got on the ship in the first place.
Suddenly a voice from the pirate ship yelled, "Hey you! Get back here!"
We all turned back in surprise to see the same skinny pirate from earlier running down the ship ramp. Katara began to back away nervously and Sokka and I watched her with suspicion.
Aang smirked and crossed his arms. "Well well, look who's come to their senses. Told ya the haggling would pay off."
Suddenly ten other pirates ran down the ramp too wielding weapons, and I gasped in terror. What did we do to them? Or had they decided to take my bracelet and Momo by force?"
Katara suddenly cried, "I don't think these pirates are here to trade with us!"
We all decided she was right, and then turned and ran.
"Hey! Get back here!" the pirate shouted. We took off faster, rushing through the crowd to escape. As we ran I heard the pirates begin to run after us, shoving other pedestrians out of the way and earning shouts of protest. We made our way quickly through the town, down a dark ally, and rushed toward the gate that led to our safety. The pirates stuck behind us, and I shot a few hard fire balls back at them trying to hit one of them. My fire was able to knock only one down, so the rest kept coming.
A moment later we rounded a corner and Katara yanked water from some barrels and froze it on the ground. Looking back I saw the first two pirates slip and fall, while three others jumped over them and kept chasing us.
When we thought we had a chance, we found to our horror, we'd come to a dead end. The greedy pirates gathered around behind us with harsh laughter, glad to see we were cornered. The pirate we first met stepped forward with a knife. "Now who gets to take the steel of my blade first?" he hissed, holding the blade up.
"No thanks," Aang cried, then shot a gust of wind shooting dust everywhere and blinding the pirates. Aang then rushed forward and we ran with him. "Hold on tight!" he ordered opening his glider.
"What! You can't fly with all of us!" I cried, but grabbed onto his leg anyway. The other two grabbed onto his other leg holding on for dear life. A moment later all four of us were flying through the air, over the pirates heads, and away from danger. Aang had a hard time flying with so much weight on his leg, but eventually he managed to land outside of the town by flying us over the gate.
Once we were on the other side of the town gate, we all sighed with relief. We were safe.
When we go back to camp, we all stood and stared back toward the direction of town.
"I used to kinda look up to pirates, but those guys are terrible," Aang muttered.
Katara smirked. "I know. That's why I took... This!" She suddenly held up the scroll from earlier and I slapped my forehead in disbelief.
"No way," Aang said unhappily.
"Katara!" I whined, knowing immediately everything that transpired was her doing.
"Isn't it great?" Katara exclaimed, not understanding how annoyed we all were with her.
Sokka stepped forward holding his hands up in frustration. "No wonder they were trying to hack us up! You stole their water bending scroll!"
Katara smirked getting cocky. "I prefer to think of it as high risk trading."
Aang laughed while I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes at her. "Ha ha... Good one Katara!" Aang said.
Sokka glared at her in irritation. She immediately defended herself. "Where do you think they got it? They stole it from a waterbender!"
I ran a hand through my hair a bit frustrated. "You still didn't have to almost get us killed!"
"Yeah! You put all of our lives in danger just so you could learn some stupid, fancy splashes!" Sokka cried.
As Katara continued to speak, I decided I'd heard enough and walked off. I was frustrated that none of them had listened to me in the first place. Also I was tired, and I really didn't feel like hearing anyone bicker anymore. What was done was done. There was nothing I could do about it.
Sighing,I sat against a tree and stared out toward the river hugging my knees to me. The others finally stopped bickering and I watched as Katara and Aang began to practice the moves on the scroll. Sokka, who looked annoyed, came over and sat beside me.
"She can be so stubborn at times," Sokka muttered.
Nodding, I closed my eyes and began to feel exhaustion take me over. My days of no sleep were taking their toll on me, and before I could stop myself I let exhaustion overcome me. Sokka was saying something else, but his voice faded as I fell asleep. As soon as my eyes closed I began to dream. My dreams took me back to the past again.
"Just a few more days till we reach the south pole. How are you enjoying your trip?" Zhao asked, walking over to where I cowered in the corner of my dark cell. Whimpering, I curled into the tightest ball I could and looked away from him wishing I could go home. Wishing I could see my mommy again. My back was in searing pain from being burned and whipped.
Zhao's hand suddenly grabbed my chin and I screamed as he forced me to look into his cruel gold eyes. I scratched at his hand trying to get him off of me.
"Scream all you want. You might want to save your breath though for when you're thrown into the ocean. You'll want to hold your breath as long as you can. Of course you'll you'll die pretty fast." When he finished speaking he broke out into hard laughter.
A sob escaped me and I cried, "No! I don't want to die!" Shutting my eyes tightly, I tried to block out the horror. "Mommy! Zuko!"
Zhao released my chin and slapped me hard across the cheek. I winced from the very familiar pain. He slapped me a lot, and my body was starting to get used to it.
"Keep your mouth shut! You should know by now no one's coming to save you!" Another slap sounded in my ear, then he hissed, "You're a stupid rejected princess who no one loves anymore. You ugly, bratty, no good swine!" He kicked me and I heard a crack in my already broken ribs.
The pain was so intense, that I let out a cry of pain falling on my side. Zhao left me, slamming my cell door behind. Darkness consumed me.
With a gasp, I flew up and clutched my ribs where they had once pulsed in agony. My breathing was hard as I tried to grasp on reality. My heart rate pounded in my ear from fear. Taking a moment, I shut my eyes tight trying to calm down. When I calmed some I opened my eyes and tried to push the dream away. I saw once I had calmed that it was later in the day, and someone had moved me to a bedroll. Looking around for my family, I found Sokka was cooking some fish stew but had turned to look at me when I gasped.
"You okay?" He asked, starting to stand and come over to me. Nodding weakly, I lied back down and turned over so he couldn't see me cry.
The dream... or more like the memories... raced through my mind. No one had come to save me... Had mom even tried to send someone after me. Zuko was too young to help, but mom had some power didn't she? Why hadn't she sent someone to stop Zhao? Of course she probably didn't know Zhao had taken me, but she could have sent someone to find me. They obviously stopped their search before they even started, because no one had even thought to question the southern water tribe about my whereabouts.
Unless... unless father lied about the search to everyone. He might have told the Fire Nation he had sent search parties to find me. What if he never did though? In truth he may have made it so no search parties were ever sent. If my mom tried to send out a search, there was a high possibility dad had stopped it. The Fire Lord had wanted me dead, so he wouldn't risk anyone finding me alive.
How could I be hated so much? What had I done to deserve his hate?
Sokka had approached without me realizing it, and I felt him touch my shoulder in a comforting way. "Hey... Everything will be okay in the end, sis. We'll stop the Fire Lord so that he can never hurt you again."
Sitting up I threw my arms around Sokka and broke into sobs. He quickly wrapped his arms around me and held me as I cried. I could tell he didn't mind. He used to always comfort me when I was sad back at the south pole. This time was no different. As I continued to cry, I heard Katara and Aang enter the campsite. Looking over at them with blurry eyes, I saw they had some berries in their hands. When Katara saw my tear stained face her blue eyes filled with worry. I looked away again pressing my face into Sokka's shirt once more.
Katara worriedly asked, "What happened?"
Sokka answered, "I don't know... She had a nightmare that woke her up pretty startled. Then when I came over to her she started crying."
Pressing my face into Sokka's shirt harder, I tried to block out everything. It wasn't fair... I just wanted to be Kaya. I didn't want to be Amber. Why couldn't I have just been born in the southern water tribe? Then I wouldn't have to be plagued by these constant nightmares.
Eventually I calmed down and managed to pull away from Sokka. Katara handed me a rag to wipe my face, and tried to brush away the tear stains that were there. Aang cracked a joke once the atmosphere had lightened and I managed to laugh. We ate some fish for dinner, and no one brought up my nightmare because they knew I didn't want to talk about it. That night, as everyone went to sleep I tried to calm my mind but couldn't. My fathers hatred toward me, and the fear that I'd be tortured more by Zhao kept me awake.
As midnight steadily approached, I suddenly heard Katara get out of her bedroll and make her way over to Sokka's bag. Watching her in the moonlight, I don't think she noticed I was awake and saw her every move. As quietly as she could, she pulled out the same scroll from earlier and started to walk the small trek toward the river. As she went I heard her tell Momo to go back to sleep, and then she disappeared into the forest.
Sighing, I decided I 'd better go after her before she got into trouble. It wasn't like I had anything better to do. It wasn't like I was going to sleep.
Getting out of the bedroll, I made my way across the forest following the path I hoped led me toward the river. It took me a while to find it, since my sense of direction was terrible. I was prone to getting lost, and it wasn't until I started traveling across the world that I realized just how horrible I was with direction.
When I got to the river bank, I was about to step into the clearing but froze. Glancing through the trees, I saw two ships settled on the bank. One was Zuko's small metal vessel I'd hitched a ride on once, and the other was the pirates ship. My sister could've been captured by either of the two. I had to find her.
"Katara..."
Worried, I turned and inched more toward the river to see if I could find her. I froze once I got closer to the ships and rushed behind a bush to hide. On the bank of the river I saw Zuko with about ten of his soldiers, Uncle Iroh, and the pirates. Tied to a tree was my sister and she didn't look happy. Zuko stood in front of her, and he didn't look too pleased.
"Go jump in a river!" Katara shouted. Her body was tense as if she were afraid Zuko would lash at her.
Zuko looked slightly aggravated, but kept his cool. Walking up to my sister he tried to contain himself. "Try to understand... I need to capture him to restore something I've lost. My honor... Perhaps in exchange I can restore something you've lost." He pulled something out of his armor and it was then I saw it was Katara's necklace. The one she'd lost back at the prison. The one that she received after mom died. The last thing we had that belonged to our mom. I gasped and covered my mouth, shocked that Zuko had it somehow.
"My mothers necklace! How did you get that?" Katara ordered.
Zuko smirked. "I didn't steal it if that's what you're wondering. Tell me where he is."
"No!" Katara shouted defiantly.
The pirate captain suddenly stepped forward annoyed. "Enough of this necklace garbage! You promised the scroll!"
Zuko glared at the captain and then pulled the scroll out of his shirt pocket. Lighting a flame below it he said, "I wonder how much this is worth?" A few pirates inched toward him shouting no. "A lot apparently. Now you help me find what I want, you'll get this back and everyone goes home happy. Search the woods for the boy and girl, and meet back here."
The pirate captain sneered. "Fine." Then the pirates left and I inched closer.
If I could just sneak to the tree, I could untie Katara and we could get out of here.
"Don't even think about hurting Aang or Kaya," Katara suddenly hissed. While she spoke to Zuko I inched around the greenery to try and get closer.
Zuko glared at her and snapped, "Don't you dare call her that! Her name's Amber, peasant!"
At the mention of my true name, I cringed a bit. No... Kaya... My names Kaya... I tried to to stay focused on my goal and push the conversation to the side.
Katara scoffed. "Like she wants to be. After everything your family did to her, it's no wonder she keeps coming back to Sokka and I."
I stopped walking, my body crouching behind another bush. My breathing hitched as I waited for him to retaliate. Zuko lit a flame with pain and I covered my mouth in terror. Would he really burn her? Uncle took a step, getting ready to intervene, but Zuko extinguished the flame getting control of himself. He wasn't going to hurt her. I sighed with relief and made my way closer to the tree Katara was at staying in the darkest of the forest.
"You can't keep making her believe she can be both," Zuko tried to calmly say. "She's probably tearing up on the inside because she doesn't want to choose. She needs to stop living as someone she is not. Whether you like it or not, Amber is her real name. She's my sister, and I love her. You can't expect me to give up on her and let you win."
Zuko's words surprised me and I froze again. He loved me? I'd never expected Zuko to say something like that to another person. Katara hadn't either, because she stared at Zuko amazed.
Uncle stepped forward then, and said to my sister, "I think what my nephew is trying to say, is that until Amber accepts who she truly is, she will never be at peace. You can't go on calling her Kaya because she'll keep fighting her other half. I'm sure she's restless most nights because she is fighting against her true self."
Katara looked between my uncle, and my brother, and I saw her hang her head in defeat. I got behind another bush listening to what she had to say.
"I'm not going to lie," she began. "I do admit she's going through a lot of inner emotional battles right now, but I don't think just changing her name is going to help."
Zuko looked at her with worry and question. "What do you mean inner emotional battles?"
Katara immediately shut her mouth, and I wondered what she meant to. Then after a moment she answered, "She's having a lot of nightmares... Nightmares about Zhao. Others about her father. Whenever she falls asleep, she wakes up a few hours later screaming. She doesn't realize it sometimes, but Sokka and I are getting worried. She hasn't been sleeping good since we left Roku's temple."
Zuko turned away, and I could just catch a glimpse of his expression. He looked worried. Terribly worried about me.
Uncle suddenly glanced my way, and I ducked behind my bush praying he hadn't seen. To my luck, he didn't say anything to Zuko. Looking back over my bush, I saw Zuko still not meeting my sisters eyes.
"Look Zuko," Katara spoke again. "Even if you take Kay-" Zuko glared at her. "Amber back to the Fire Nation, what do you think will happen? You're dad's not just going to welcome her back with open arms. He tried to kill her."
Zuko went to argue but stopped. The pirates were back, and they had Sokka and Aang in their grasp. He looked at Sokka and Aang with satisfaction. It all vanished though. His smile turned into a frown, and a look of worry. "Where's the girl?" he asked the pirates. They only shrugged and I smiled.
Making my way closer, I heard Katara say to Aang, "Aang. This is all my fault."
"No, Katara it isn't," Aang answered.
Katara held her head down as my uncle said, "Yeh... It kind of is."
Rolling my eyes, I managed to get to the tree where I lit a small flame to burn the ropes. As I worked on the ropes, Zuko said, "We'll find her later. She couldn't have gotten far. Give me the boy."
The pirate captain scowled and stepped in front of his plunder. "Give us the scroll."
Sokka scoffed. "You're really going to hand over the Avatar for some stupid piece of parchment."
The Captain's eyes widened, while Zuko yelled, "Don't listen to him. He's trying to turn us against each other."
The rope around Katara suddenly fell, and she gasped, turning and glancing over at me. Dropping the rope, I smiled and backed up again into the bushes to stay hidden. I pressed my finger to my lips telling her to stay silent. Katara smiled and inched from the tree.
"Your friend is the Avatar?" the pirate captain asked with amazement.
Sokka smirked at Zuko. "Sure is. And I'll bet he'll fetch a lot more on the black market than that fancy scroll."
Zuko growled, "Shut your mouth you water tribe peasant!"
"Or you'll what," Sokka snapped, leaning forward a bit. He was the same age as Zuko, so I knew he wasn't scared of him. "I really don't think your sister would like it if you burned her brother."
Zuko suddenly lit a flame and I had to resist the urge to jump from my hiding spot. "You are not her brother! Be silent!"
"Prince Zuko! Stop!" Iroh ordered, and Zuko extinguished his flame stepping back from Sokka. I relaxed.
Sighing with relief, I went to back away from my bush, but something grabbed me from behind by the hair. Screaming, I was suddenly yanked up from my hiding and shoved forward by the skinny pirate with the earring. The one I didn't like at all.
"Look who I found," he said, dragging me out into the open by my hair. Lighting a flame, I tried to hit him but he grabbed my hand and twisted it around my body. Crying out in pain, I struggled as I was forced in front of everyone. I was shoved to my knees on the dirt.
Both Zuko and Sokka's eyes filled with surprise.
"Kaya!"
"Amber!"
They both shouted my name at the same time, and I watched as they glared at one another. "Her name's Amber you filthy peasant!" Zuko yelled.
The pirate holding me looked at me with surprise. "Wait a moment... You remember that old flyer captain? Wasn't the fire lords daughter named Amber?"
Another beefy pirate cried, "Yeah! I heard rumors at our last port that she may have never died!"
The pirate captain, who was still standing beside Sokka and Aang, looked over at me with a smirk. "Really... Well that explains where you got that fine bracelet. A royal princess in the flesh." He looked at Zuko with a smirk. "Keep the scroll! We can buy a hundred with the reward we will get for the kid and the girl."
From where I knelt on the ground, I could see Zuko was outraged by this. The skinny pirate yanked me up from the ground, and I was shoved toward the ship. Katara gasped stepping forward, and Iroh looked like he wanted to intervene quickly. Zuko beat them both to the punch. Stepping toward us, he snapped, "You'll regret breaking a deal with me!"
Before any of us knew it the whole river bank became a battle ground. The pirate holding me released me, and I ran toward Zuko who was fighting the pirate captain. Just as I was about to run in and help him a smoke screen appeared and I couldn't see a thing. Left and right I bumped into pirates, and once or twice I felt a blade slice across my skin.
Falling to the ground to try and get out of the fight, I tried to crawl out of the smokey battle. When I finally got out I saw Sokka, Katara, and Aang were out too. "Run!" Aang shouted, grabbing my hand when he saw me and pulling me away from the battle. He yanked me toward the enormous pirate ship where Katara was showing against it. Looking back, I wondered if Zuko and uncle were alright.
"I have to help them," I said.
Aang grabbed my hand harder. "No! You're not going back there!"
"Come on! Help me get this boat back in the water so we can get out of here!" Katara said, trying to shove the pirates enormous ship.
Sokka stared at it in disbelief. "We'd need a team rhinos to budge this ship."
Aang released my hand and walked over to Katara smiling. "A team of rhinos... or two water benders." Katara smiled back at Aang, then the two of them began to use their bending to pull the tide in to lift the ship into the river.
As they did this I glanced back at the smokey battle. The sound of swords clashing and the fire blasts made me anxious for my brother. Would he be alright? I know he had soldiers to protect him, but I still longed to know he was safe from harm. I took a step back toward the battle, but Sokka grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back.
"No," he ordered.
"Bu-"
"No! You're staying right here!"
I sighed with defeat.
"Everybody in!" Katara suddenly shouted, and I looked over at her in surprise. They'd managed to get the ship floating without me realizing it. Sokka gestured for me to follow and took off toward the floating ship. Running to catch up, I managed to follow the others as they climbed up the ship ladder. When I got on deck, I rushed to help Sokka drop the sails so we could set off. We untied the ropes and the sails dropped quickly forcing the ship forward.
As I pulled on more ropes, I saw the severity of my injuries. There was a bloody slash on my right arm, and a small slice on my face, but other than that I was in one piece. I was a bit relieved I got out of the battle alive, but at the same time I was worried about Zuko. Was he okay?
As we began to float more down the river, I watched as Sokka stood at the wheel steering the large vessel. Then a few moments later, I saw Zuko's steam boat gaining on us and noticed the pirate captain had stolen it. Where was Zuko and Uncle?
"Sokka! Can't you make it go any faster?!" Aang shouted, looking at the pirates anxiously.
"I don't know. This thing wasn't made by the water tribe!" Sokka shouted back, holding onto the wheel for dear life.
The pirates were on our tail now, and I knew I had to give us more time. Running across the deck, I stood at the back of the ship where the pirates could be seen. Then I lit a flame and fired at the pirates making them scramble on the boat they had stolen. They returned their fire by throwing knives and spears at me. Luckily none of them had good aim so the weapons went right by me. Shooting more flames I hit a few off board the small boat, the others managed to stay on board. The pirate captain glared daggers at me, and shouted orders.
Eventually they managed to get beside us and grab on to the side of the ship pulling themselves up. Then we had no choice but to fight the pirates on deck. As Katara and the others fought, I took on three pirates. One of them was beefy, another was short, and the last was bald. As they tried to hit me with their knives and swords, I heard the pirate captain shout, "The Avatar and girl can't be harmed. Their worth way too much."
"Do you honestly think I'm worth anything? My dad will probably kill all of you after he deals with me," I said, backing away from the sneering pirates.
"The fire lord's gonna pay us for our services," the bald pirate spat. He then jumped forward throwing his hand at me to grab me. Lighting a flame, I fired at him sending him flying off the ship. A splash was heard a second later, cutting off the pirates shouts.
The other two pirates ran forward when they saw their comrade in the water, and a second later they ended up in the water as well from my hot at my hands in shock, I was amazed my flames were able to hit them hard enough to shoot them off the boat. How was I so powerful? Dropping my hands, I turned only to dodge quickly when the pirate captain came out of no where with his sword. Ducking, I heard his sword whiz past my head as he swung hard.
"Yer not escaping us," he growled, going for another swing. A water whip came out of no where and hit the pirate captain on the head making him turn in rage.
My sister stood looking at the pirate captain with fury. "Stay away from her! She doesn't belong to you!" As the pirate captain turned to attack Katara, I hit him with a flame forcing him to fall to the deck unconscious. It was then I looked up and saw something terrifying. We were coming upon a huge waterfall.
"Guys! We're in trouble!"
Katara and Aang looked over at the falls, while Sokka continued to fight the pirates that had approached him at the helm. Aang took out the whistle he bought earlier today and blew on it.
"Aang!" I snapped. "This is no time to be blowing whistles!"
A pirate suddenly grabbed me from behind, and I gasped as he locked my arms to my side. Thinking quickly, I threw my head back hitting him in the chin. He howled in pain and released me. Taking my freedom, I ran over to Sokka who was at the helm of the ship.
Sokka watched anxiously as Katara and Aang were using their water bending to stop the boat. Looking at the falls, I saw with terror that their bending was only slowing down our coming deaths. The ship began to turn sideways, and if we were to move one more inch we'd be lost in the falls.
"We have to get off this thing before we end up dead!" I cried, looking around for anything that might help us get to land.
Aang smiled at me as they continued bending, "Relax Kaya... We've stopped the boat!"
Sokka's anxious voice responded, "Yeah... But we have another problem!" Turning to follow his gaze, I saw with terror the pirates still on Zuko's boat were gaining on us, and in a flash their boat hit ours. The impact sent us all flying, and we screamed as air whizzed past us and we fell to our deaths.
Something hard hit me from below, and my fall was cut short as Appa caught me in his saddle. Then only moments later we were flying through the air, and I heard my family sigh with relief. Sokka sat up then and rubbed his sore arm.
"I knew a bison whistle would come in handy," Aang exclaimed, sitting up and holding his whistle in the air. "Thanks, Appa."
Sokka added, "Yeah. We owe you one."
Sitting up, I groaned and rubbed my shoulder which had hit the saddle pretty hard. "Yeah... Good catch boy." Momo chattered landing beside me, and I smiled a bit glad to see he was okay. Leaning back on the saddle, I saw Katara was seated against the saddle as well frowning. As she began to apologize to Aang for putting our lives in danger I turned and looked down below us. Just as we were entering the clouds, I saw Zuko look up at me from the waterfall cliff with pain filled eyes. I felt pain in my heart, and I turned back hanging my head. Why did I feel so guilty?
Of course I knew why... Because deep down I knew Zuko was definitely my brother, and I cared about him.
"Besides... Who needs a stupid scroll anyway," I heard Katara suddenly say.
Looking back over, I saw Sokka smirk at my sister. "Is that really how you feel?" He then took the scroll out of his shirt pocket.
"The scroll!" Katara exclaimed excitedly.
Sokka held up a finger to stop her from grabbing it. "First, what did you learn?"
Katara sighed and hung her head in shame. "Stealing is wrong." Sokka seemed satisfied and handed it over. She took the scroll with a smirk, "Unless it's from pirates."
Aang laughed and I smiled. Then after a moment, I saw Katara look over at me. Smiling at her, I watched with shock as she looked away. That was odd.
After a few more hours of flying, and watching quietly as Aang and the others spoke among one another in whispers, I grew suspicious that something was going on. So I asked, "Why are you guys whispering? If you have something to say then I want to hear it."
Sokka, Katara, and Aang looked over at me for a moment, then at one another with contemplating eyes. Katara nodded then, and I watched as Sokka sighed and Aang smiled weakly. Turning back to me, Sokka said, "Sorry... Amber."
My eyes widened. Did he just...? Amber...? I felt totally and utterly lost. Why was Sokka calling me Amber?
Shifting in my seat, I crossed my arms self-consciously and grimaced. "Why are you calling me Amber?"
Katara managed to slide over to me and sat on her knees in front of me. "It's my idea... I think that the only way you're ever going to come to peace with yourself, is if we call you by your true name."
Looking down at the saddle, I asked, "What's wrong with being Kaya?"
My sister grabbed my hands to pull them from me, and I stared into her blue eyes with confusion. She smiled weakly. "Nothing... You'll always be Kaya to us, but it's time to face the facts. You're real name is Amber. Zuko is right. You can't keep living as two... You have to accept who you truly are."
Pulling from her, I felt tears pull into my eyes. "Accept who I am? I can't! I'm a monsters child! I was rejected by my own nation! My true father kills countless people everyday and is the reason for this war! I'm a monster myself for being tainted with the enemies blood! How can I accept that?"
Katara grabbed my shoulders and her blue eyes pierced through my gold. "No! You are not a monster Amber! You may be fire nation but you are fighting on the good side. You're fighting against the Fire Lord to defeat this war! You will always be Kaya of the southern water tribe to us, but you are also Amber of the Fire Nation! You will always be our sister, but you have to accept that you're Zuko's too. If you don't accept it your just going to keep fighting yourself, and I can't stand to see you struggle anymore. We need you to be focused, and help us fight this war! So stop fighting yourself!"
Katara's rant ended, and I stared at her with surprise. Sokka and Aang stared at the water bender with amazement.
Katara took a moment and calmed down. Loosening her hold on my shoulders, she relaxed and smiled at me with that loving sisterly smile I knew so well. "You may be Amber, Princess of the Fire Nation, but you are not a monster. You are kind, loving, and strong. All the things the Fire Lord is not. Stop hating you're past and focus on the now. Show this world who you really are. You have the chance to make your own decisions."
Katara was finished then, and I felt as if every ounce of energy within me faded. Jumping forward I threw my arms around Katara and hugged her close as I cried. She hugged me back in comfort saying softly. "I love you sis. Always have and always will."