AVATAR

The Young Lady Of Legends

She was a shy, self-centered and overall lazy dreamer from our world, transported to the world of Avatar where she's the stuff of some sort of legend. She also can't continue being lazy, not if a certain agitated prince gets his way. ZukoXOcc

O~O~O~O

CHAPTER FIFTY

The Priestess And The Fire Princess

What had happened? What had my Father said to her, to make her so upset? Why wouldn't she talk to me about it?

Unaccustomed tears formed in my eyes, and I blinked hastily to stop them from falling.

Then, on the other side of the door, I heard soft sobbing, and envisioned Emma sitting with her back leaning against the other side.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked softly.

"I'm sorry, Zuko…it's killing me, too…" She replied, but she still wouldn't tell me what was going on.

O~O~O~O

Aang's P.O.V:

Through the flames, Avatar Roku appeared, and he spoke to me.

"Aang," He said. "It is time you learned my history with Fire Lord Sozin. You need to understand how the war began, if you want to know how to end it."

I blinked. This sounded almost like it was going to be a revalation...like it might be the most important thing I had ever heard.

"Meet me on my home island on the day of the summer solstice." Avatar Roku went on, showing me an image of an island with two volcanoes. I guessed this was the island where Avatar Roku had once lived.

"Okay, Roku." I mumbled in my sleep.

I didn't realise that I'd spoken out-loud until I heard either Toph or Katara (probably Katara) mutter: "I am not a boy..."

I know, Katara...I know...

O~O~O~O

Zuko's P.O.V:

I walked through the mist, which seemed a lot thicker than it should be, and was glittering silver. Through the haze, I saw the shadowy figure of my Mother, reaching out to me, and I began to run towards her.

The image then shifted, and became Emma, as the fog cleared. We were standing in a land of ankle-high water, and she was wearing a long white dress.

"Zuko!" She called out to me, reaching out desperately as a shadow crept up behind her in the water and began to wrap around her. Where it touched her, her skin turned red. "Zuko, help me!" She cried.

I began running, trying to reach out to her, but she was being pulled away from me into the depths of nothingness.

"Zuko!" She cried, her voice choked with tears.

"Emma!" I shouted.

I sat bolt upright in bed, breathing heavily...and that was when I heard footsteps outside my door. Jumping up to investigate, I rushed into the hall to see a cloaked figure disappearing down the hallway.

I started to go after him (her?), but was then distracted by a scroll placed deliberately upright in the hall.

I picked it up, surprised, and opened it to read: You need to know the story of your Great-Grandfather's demise. It will reveal your own destiny.

I had to read this through three times (once out-loud) to fully comprehend it. My Great-Grandfather's demise? Was the note referring to Fire Lord Sozin? Why did I need to know what had happened? Come tot think of it...what had happened to him?

I glanced down the hallway again, but there was no one...

O~O~O~O

Emma's P.O.V:

I blinked, and glanced down at my cards. I had a Queen Of Hearts, a King Of Diamonds, a Jack Of Clubs, and the special Ace Of Spades. I glanced back up at the German Sheppard, who was wearing a suit and tie, and said: "Umm...I don't play Poker...sorry..."

The dog pulled out a rifle, and shot multiple holes in me, before I fell through the floor and saw Atlas.

"Die!" He cried, and began rolling towards me in his sphere.

"Augh!" I cried, and turned to run, stumbling over a soup can and falling through a bright orange and yellow void.

When I landed, I found myself standing amidst a rather melted-looking setting. "What the...?" I wondered, just as something wet dripped onto my shoulder. "Eww..." I complained, looking up and seeing a clock melting all over a tree branch. It splashed all over me suddenly, and I screamed.

Just then, I saw my reflection in the puddle, and said: "What happened to my eyebrows?" I looked around me. "Get me out of here!" I cried, flailing as I lay on my back in a desert, and a lion came along and started scratching at my forehead. "Don't eat me!"

I opened my eyes, and saw myself looking upside-down into the bright blue eyes of Yang-Chong.

I glared at him. "Thanks to you, I had nightmares about art!"

He hopped off of my head, and onto the bedside table.

"Don't you walk away from me while I'm lecturing you, Mister!" I got up, and he squawked and half-hopped, half-fluttered onto a nearby dressing table, tearing down a red drapery and knocking over an unlit candle in the process. "Oh, come on, that was an antique!" I complained, as a glass statue of a woman shattered into a million pieces on the floor.

I stopped and stared at it, suddenly, not actually recognizing it. Had it been in my room before?

Just as I was drawing this conclusion, wisps of blue and silver sparkles floated upwards from the shards of glass, swirling around to form the shape of the woman whose image had been carved into the now shattered statue.

I gaped at the spirit, as she said, in a voice far too heavenly to be heard on earth: "Young Priestess Of Wudang...visit the golden-haired Priestess Of Zyr...she will be able to tell you how you are tied to the Royal Family...and what your destiny is..."

"Hold on a minute!" I exclaimed, but just then sunlight streamed in through the window, and the spirit disappeared as suddenly as she had appeared. I stared at the pile of broken glass on the floor. "Well, that's just great...why do spirits keep following me around?" I asked Yang-Chong, who just shrugged (as best a baby bird can...).

The golden-haired Priestess Of Zyr...wait, isn't that Zhu? Can she really tell me about my destiny? ! I wanted to investigate this more thoroughly...

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and a middle-aged attendant poked her head into the room. "Milady, are you...?" She trailed off when she saw the state of my room. She gaped.

"It wasn't my fault!" I protested, in response to her unspoken question. "It was him!" I looked at Yang-Chong, darn him he was acting all innocent now! "Go on, tell her!"

"Uh...phoenixes are supposed to be...quiet...peaceful birds...I'm sorry, Milady..." The attendant stammered, backing out of the room respectfully.

I glared at Yang-Chong. "Watch out you don't start blinding people with your halo, bird-features." I told him, and then ducked as he shot a row of fire balls at me, which hit the landscape painting of Crescent Moon Island. "It's on fire!" I gasped. "Yang-Chong, do something!"

He hid under the fallen drapery.

O~O~O~O

Aang's P.O.V:

As we landed on the seemingly deserted island that Roku had shown me in my dream, Katara voiced all of our confusion. "But...there's nothing here..."

I watched as Toph jumped from Appa's saddle. The second the Earthbender's bare feet hit the ground, her expression changed. "Yes...there is...an entire village...hundreds of houses..." A slight breeze blew the ash around her. "All completely buried in ash..."

This just got stranger and stranger...

O~O~O~O

Zuko's P.O.V:

I stood in a hallway with walls lined with paintings on either side, contemplating one of the portraits.

My sister, who just happened to be walking by, made a suggestion. "It's never too early for a sitting with the court painter, Zuko." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. "Make sure he gets your good side. People like Father, Emma and I don't have that problem, of course."

"What?" I turned around to look at her. "Emma had her portrait painted? Why?"

Azula shrugged. "Who knows? I just saw her and Father entering the painter's studio earlier on this morning. Why don't you ask him?" She suggested, waving at me over her shoulder as she continued off down the hallway.

Why would Emma be spending time with my Father, after he upset her like that? Unless she hasn't got a choice...what is going on her nowadays?

"Wait!" I had a sudden flash of inspiration. "What do you remember about our Great-Grandfather's history?" I called to my sister.

She sighed. "Ah, Zuko." She waited for me to catch up to her, and added: "It's so strange how your mind works." She gazed up at the portrait of our Great-Grandfather, which came complete with a comet painted into the background (whether from a reference or from the artist's own imagination, I knew not). "Fire Lord Sozin began the war, of course. He spent his early years secretly preparing for it, but he was as patient as he was clever. He famously waited for the comet, later renamed Sozin's Comet, and used its power to launch his full-scale invasion of the world. In the end, he died a very old and successful man." She sounded like she was reciting from a text-book or something.

We already knew all of this...but...

"But, how did he die?" I wanted to know.

"Didn't you pay attention in school, Zuko?" Azula rolled her eyes, before turning and walking away. "He died peacefully, in his sleep. He was ancient..."

In the end, I'd gotten no new answers at all...oh, except the news that Emma's portrait had been painted, ah but why...?

O~O~O~O

Emma's P.O.V:

I sat stock-still, hardly daring to even breathe, as the only sound was the painter's quick brush strokes on the canvas. Behind him, Fire Lord Ozai stood, his presence making both the painter and I sweat. I was wearing heavy dark red robes, which didn't help, and the scratch on my forehead was suddenly itching...oh God, was it itching...I longed to scratch it, but didn't dare raise my hand...

"I will ask you to wait," Ozai told the painter quietly. "To paint the phoenix, until he has fully developed his plumage."

"Very good, Milord." The painter agreed. "I believe this shall be one of the most exquisite pieces I have ever produced."

"Yes, I agree." Ozai nodded, and then looked up at me. "However..." He suddenly walked towards me, and I froze up, my heart nearly stopping. When he reached me, he carefully adjusted the golden hair-piece I wore in my hair, and tucked a stray strand of hair behind my left ear. "Breathe, Emma." He reminded me.

I gulped. "Y-yes, Milord..."

He raised an eyebrow slightly. His look was suddenly intense, commanding even...

"I mean...yes...O-Ozai..." I corrected myself, sighing in defeat.

The Fire Lord nodded his approval, and went back to stand behind the painter who, if he noticed this exchange, either chose to ignore it or didn't care...

But I did.

O~O~O~O

Aang's P.O.V:

My friends and I sat on the tip of a hardened wave of lava. It was so hard to imagine that an entire village was buried beneath here but, then again, I knew how devastating volcanoes could be...

I faced the gold and orange of the water, compliments of the setting sun, but I had my eyes closed, for I was deep in meditation. I needed to talk to Avatar Roku...or...he needed to talk to me. Either way, we needed to get in contact with each other...somehow...

As I felt my spirit slide out of the mortal world, I experienced the same mix of euphoria and terror that usually accompanied such journeys, but I couldn't be afraid...

I was surrounded by an ocean of clouds, as I sat atop a mountain in the Spirit World.

Avatar Roku appeared before me, on the back of his dragon, Fang.

I stood up, as Roku smiled at me in welcome...

O~O~O~O

Zuko's P.O.V:

The Fire Sages keep the secret history in the Dragon Bone Catacombs.

The message had been hidden on the scroll from before, to be able to be seen only when there was light behind it.

I had read it, and that was why I was now hiding behind a pillar of the dark and ominous temple that I knew well, but had no idea housed a secret place. However, a Fire Sage had just used Firebending to open up a secret passage beneath a large, flower-shaped medallion.

I followed the sage's example, which led me to an underground cavern...to the catacombs. My sister had once believed that places like this were haunted, and had been deathly afraid of ghosts and spirits after I'd told her that there were 'see-through' people. She'd hung onto my hand at night, and been afraid to sleep in her own bed. Now, I doubted she would harbour such fears.

A metal sculpture of Fire Lord Sozin decorated an ornate door at the end of a hall, and I placed my hand on the Fire Nation emblem on his chest and used my Firebending to open up the door.

I entered the room, letting my hood slide down to reveal my face as I raised my lantern and looked around. Under the head of a large dragon statue, I found what I was looking for...

"The final testament of Fire Lord Sozin..."

O~O~O~O

Emma's P.O.V:

"Sleepy Yang-Chong..." I cooed. "Time to go to sleep..."

Yang-Chong chirped tiredly, his eyelids drooping as he nestled into the blanket I had created with a sheet in my arms.

"You're so angelic when you're asleep, yet you're a terror from the moment you wake up..." I smiled, and then looked around me. "Now...where am I?" I was walking through the halls of the Fire Nation palace and, despite having been here for weeks, I was lost. Everything looked so different at night...

Now, the halls looked even more ominous and spooky, and there weren't nearly enough candles lit for my liking. This is exactly how it happens in horror movies, and I wasn't feeling very brave at the moment...

As if on cue, I heard a sound from behind me. I gasped. "W-Walking Japanese Doll?" I guessed, turning around and seeing (to my complete relief) not a horror movie scene, but something equally as confounding...an orb of golden light glittered at the T-Junction, hovering towards the path I could have taken.

It moved more into that section of the hallway as I approached, and I asked it: "D...do you want me to follow you?"

It flitted off down the hallway suddenly, and I took off running after it.

It led me on a wild-goose-chase (wild-phoenix-chase?) outside the palace, and along a pathway lined with trees and Fire Flies. The path wound throughout the trees, until it finally reached an open area with a lake. Fire Flies and stars glittered on the water's reflection, and I stopped and stared in awe, as the golden orb flitted over to a figure, who opened her arms wide to embrace the light. As it lit up her entire body briefly before being drawn into her, I recognized her face...and her hair.

"Zhu?" I asked her, walking forwards.

The Priestess turned to me, smiling, as she raised a hand to beckon me closer. "Welcome, Emma. I have been expecting you..."

O~O~O~O

Nobody's P.O.V:

In the lush grounds of a Fire Nation Courtyard, two Firebenders spared, Both were young and handsome, and strong. When Prince Sozin noticed that Roku's feet were too close to a tree branch, he smiled and stepped forward. Roku stepped back and tripped. Sozin grabbed the front of Roku's shirt to stop him from falling. He raised his hand as if to deliver the final blast, but instead let his best friend fall to the ground.

"Looks like I win again, Roku." Sozin said, still smiling, as he extended his hand to help Roku to his feet.

"Are you kidding?" Roku raised an eyebrow, and allowed himself to be helped up. "The tree root did all the work." He patted Sozin's shoulder in praise. "Nice one, Sozin."

The two friends left the courtyard together.

A beautiful Fire Nation citizen of the same age as the two boys walked past them on her way to an engagement, and Sozin noticed how his best friend blushed at the woman's presence.

Sozin nudged Roku. "Say something to her..." He urged.

Roku hurried after the young woman, and raised his hand in an attempt to greet her.

"Uh...ahhh..." Roku was too love-struck to be able to string a sentence together, and gave up, putting his hands on his head and falling back onto the ground. As Sozin knelt beside him and sprinkled grass blades onto Roku's face, neither of them saw the smile on the face of the young woman with the beauty spot beneath her left eye...

O~O~O~O

A young Ta-Min knelt on a cushion. Next to her was her best friend, a slightly plump girl with her dark brown hair tied up in an ox-horns hairstyle, and a cute pug-nose. At the table across from them sat two older women, who were completely identical.

"Ta-Min," Luo-Luo intoned, as her twin poured the tea. "And Hotaru...now is the time to tell you that your Priestess training will commence in a few years, and that the time to start preparing is now."

Ta-Min and Hotaru exchanged confused glances.

"Your parents have entrusted us with training you," Lia-Lia added, handing Hotaru a purple cup. "Despite us not being Priestesses ourselves, we will be able to help you to nurture your respective powers and grow."

"The life of a Priestess, from her birth is well-defined." Luo-Luo nodded.

"Like a Princess, she must humbly serve her country," Lia-Lia said.

"And play the part she's been assigned." The twins said in unison.

Ta-Min and Hotaru exchanged another glance, and then glanced back at the twins, seeming surprised...

O~O~O~O

A few years later, the two Priestesses had begun their training, and both trained hard, although they also took many breaks. One such break was for Prince Sozin and Roku's shared birthday.

Both girls wore pink robes, and Hotaru wore her favourite ruby sunburst earrings.

"Hey, Ta-Min," The young Priestess Of Ying Hoy Chong whispered. "Look, it's Roku..."

The Priestess Of Huo blushed, and looked down. I always thought I would marry a member of the royal family, but...Roku sure is a cutie... She smiled.

Upon seeing this, Roku blushed as well, losing his concentration then and falling. Sozin grabbed the back of Roku's robes to stop that from happening, as usual...

Just then, the Fire Sages walked towards them, and Sozin became concerned that something had happened to his Father.

However, the Sages were not here for Sozin. They were here to announce the identity of the new Avatar.

They announced that it would be an honour to serve him...Avatar Roku...

O~O~O~O

When the day came for Roku to leave to begin his Avatar training, Sozin came to see him. Roku was depressed because he'd been told he wouldn't need worldly possessions, and that because it had all happened to fast (finding out he was the Avatar, being told he'd have to leave home) everything was going to change.

"Here." Sozin said suddenly, removing his royal head dress and holding it out to Roku. "I hope you're at least allowed to have this."

"But this is a royal artefact." Sozin protested. "It's supposed to be worn by the crown prince."

"I want you to have it." Sozin replied, like that made it all okay...

O~O~O~O

In another part of the palace, Ta-Min was telling Hotaru how she had been summoned to train with Priestesses abroad, and that she would be leaving the next day.

"Oh." Hotaru wasn't upset about Ta-Min being chosen and not her. She was just going to miss her friend, and wanted to give her something special to remember her by. Just then, a sudden thought struck her. "Here!" She reached out and slid out the earrings from her ears. "I want you to have these, Ta-Min."

"But you love these earrings!" Ta-Min protested.

Hotaru shook her head. "I love you more. You're the best friend I've ever had." She smiled, even though she felt a stabbing pain inside of her chest.

Ta-Min smiled, and accepted the earrings. "Thank you, Hotaru..." She looked down at the jewels in her palm, and held one up to the light. "They're lovely. But...I don't have pierced ears..."

"Not yet, you don't..."

O~O~O~O

Avatar Roku and Priestess Ta-Min travelled all around the world.

Roku trained with the monks of the Southern Air Temple, and befriended monk Gyatso for the first out of so far two times in the Avatar's existence.

Ta-Min travelled to the Eastern Air Temple, where she was persuaded by a group of female Airbenders to shave her head, much to her Mother's dismay when she wrote home about it.

Roku then headed North, where he eventually mastered his opposing element of water after causing twenty-five percent of the pole's ice caps to melt.

Ta-Min was met with many warm welcomes in the tiny South Pole Water Tribe Village, with the exception of a particularly cold individual named Nini whom no one else could see.

Roku's Earthbending Master was a stubborn man named Sud, who became a lifelong friend after sharing many training sessions and cups of tea with his pupil.

Ta-Min appreciated the splendour of Omashu, although she was reprimanded for acting like a child and sledding down the delivery chutes at high-speed.

Twelve long years passed like this, where Roku became a fully realised Avatar, Sozin became Fire Lord, and Ta-Min and Hotaru came into their full Priestess powers.

Another change had occurred, in that Roku and Ta-Min were reunited, and were to be wedded. Sozin was the best man, and Hotaru was the maid of honour, as she was almost like a sister to Ta-Min.

Unfortunately, that day was to change everything between the four friends, as emotions were clouded by the earliest onsets of avarice, and tests were faced...

O~O~O~O

One night, many years after Sozin and Roku's friendship fell apart and the Fire Nation began setting its sights on the Earth Kingdom, Hotaru was found dead, the result of a stressful and painful childbirth. The golden-eyed child's Father was unknown, though Ta-Min and Roku immediately took the baby boy in and raised him as their own, along with their own three children. They named him Zuan-Shi, after the diamond...

Ta-Min, mourning the loss of her almost-sister, began to pray, and her prayers were answered by her friend.

"Ta-Min," Hotaru said, glowing in the dimness of the candle-lit room like fireflies. "Please, take care of my son for me and, should he conceive any daughters in the future, train them as Priestesses. Please...tell no one this, but...after you left, I was feeling lonely, and so was Sozin...without Roku...things led to things, and before I knew it I was pregnant...please, he does not know this...he cannot know that Zuan-Shi is his son...please...my sister...thank you..."

O~O~O~O

Years passed, and Zuan-Shi grew strong...as did his Father's plans to increase the Fire Nation's prosperity. After betraying Roku, and leaving him to die in the eruption of a volcano, Sozin was free to begin conquering the world, though he was old. By using the power of a comet, he was able to destroy the Air Nomads, a deadly first strike that taught the world to fear the Fire Nation.

Meanwhile, Zuan-Shi married young, a Fire Nation noblewoman who gave birth to a daughter. However, she was still-born, and Grandmother Ta-Min prayed to the Sun Spirits and Hotaru to save the baby girl. The comet passed overhead then, and the baby's hair became golden, like the sun's rays, and she began to cry.

Zhu grew up in the palace, and became best friends with another young noble named Ursa. Nobody knew that Zhu was the Fire Lord's granddaughter. Sozin never found out, and neither did his son, although Zhu became an important member of the Fire Nation court, rising to her full powers of a Priestess early, due to the comet's influence. Zhu became the Spirit Mother of both Ursa's children, and would be Azula's Priestess Mentor should anything happen to Ursa, and that Azula must become a powerful Priestess Of Shaolin...

O~O~O~O

Aang's P.O.V:

"You mean, after all Roku and Sozin went through together...even after Roku showed him mercy, Sozin betrayed him like that?" Katara asked in disbelief, after I finished telling my friends about the past.

"It's like these people are born bad." Toph mused, but I disagreed with her, and said that everyone deserves a chance, and that the story had taught me about friendship (and love, but I didn't say it, because Katara was there).

"Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?" Toph wanted to know.

I took her hand. "I don't see why not." I smiled.

Katara took Toph's other hand, also smiling.

"Well," Sokka said. "Scientifically speaking, there's no way to prove that..."

"Oh Sokka, just hold hands." Katara scolded her brother, to which he complied.

O~O~O~O

Zuko's P.O.V:

"You sent this, didn't you? !" I shouted, throwing the scroll down onto the prison cell floor. My uncle didn't answer. "I found the secret history which, by the way, should be renamed "the history most people already know"!" I was furious, and my Uncle's calmness only added to that anger, that is until he spoke to me for the first time in weeks.

He told me the six scariest words I have ever heard. "Your Mother's Grandfather was Avatar Roku."

He told me that I alone had the power to cleanse the sins of our family and the Fire Nation, and restore balance to the world. He gave me the same royal head-piece I had read about, and I felt my heart thud in my chest.

What should I do?

O~O~O~O

Emma's P.O.V:

"Zuko?" I said from the doorway, and he jumped, dropping the head-piece onto the floor. I hurried to pick it up, and my earrings swung out from behind my hair.

"Emma, where did you get those from?" Zuko asked me, as I straightened up. "They're Zhu's, aren't they?"

I nodded. "She gave them to me...she told me the story of Fire Lord Sozin...she told me that..." I gulped. "Her Grandmother, Hotaru, was Ta-Min's best friend, and that she accidentally conceived a child with Sozin..."

Zuko's face remained expressionless, but his eyes glittered slightly.

"Zuko, hearing this story gave me courage." I told him, looking down at the head-piece in my hands. "It gave me clarity and...well, I've made a decision." I took a deep breath, and then looked him straight in the eye. "I'm leaving the Fire Nation."

"What?" I gasped. "Why?"

"Because my place is helping Aang and the others, and also telling Katara about her own powers as a priestess as well." I replied, in a shaky voice. "Also...I can't...stay here...after the eclipse..." My left hand shook, and the golden ring I wore around my fourth finger seemed twice as heavy. "Zuko...I need to tell you something...Uncle and Zhu already know this and now...now I need to tell you, too..."

O~O~O~O

Ozai's P.O.V:

I looked at the portrait that had been painted of the young girl, the candlelight dancing off the perfect representation of her. Even though the portrait was unfinished, it was clear it was going to be a magnificent sight.

I traced the shape of her face, letting my hand rest on the side of it.

"You look exactly like her..." I whispered. "You act exactly like her...Emma...I've decided...I'll love you in Ursa's place...you will rise to my side...as the Phoenix Queen..."