Chapter 3: An Agni Kai
The next two days flew by. Kitaah would come out and watch Prince Zuko practice firebending. If she wasn't found watching him practice, then she was found at the front of the ship, with the wind blowing in her face. Her hair always managed to hide the arrow on her forehead. The few times it did show, nobody was around. She was very careful about hiding it. Kitaah new what could happen if someone new what or who she was. But Uncle Iroh saw the arrow once, even though it was just for a second. It reminded him of his dream.
On the third day, the ship arrived at the Fire Nation Camp. Before Prince Zuko and Uncle Iroh got off, Zuko turned to Kitaah. "I want you to stay on the ship," he whispered, "and don't let anyone see you. It is too dangerous for you to come with us." Kitaah nodded. Prince Zuko and Uncle Iroh then got off of the ship. Kitaah saw someone walking towards them and quickly ran back to her room. It was Commander Zhao come to say 'hello' to Prince Zuko.
Kitaah didn't think Zuko would be long so after about an hour, she came out of her room. She closed the door behind her and turned around. At the other end of the hall, there was a group of five Firebenders that she hadn't seen on the ship before. Startled, she didn't move. They saw her and sent a fireball (that was slightly bigger than the size of a baseball) at her. The fireball struck Kitaah just below the left collarbone. On impact, Kitaah had closed her eyes from the pain. She opened them again and stared at the wound. It stung. Her clothes, where the fireball had hit, had burned away and she was bleeding badly. These were not Firebenders from Prince Zuko's crew.
Kitaah ran down the hall, away from the Firebenders. They ran after her and yelled, "Halt!" She ran around corner after corner, down hall after hall and finally, she lost them. When she thought it was safe, she went back to her room and closed the door. Her shirt was a mess and the wound was still bleeding badly. She changed her clothes and decided that she would worry about the wound when Prince Zuko got back. Kitaah opened her room door again only to discover that the Firebenders were waiting for her outside her room. They grabbed her arm and took her as prisoner.
Kitaah and the Firebenders got off of the ship and went into the Fire Nation Camp. She was in the center of the group so nobody saw her. They went past rows and rows of tents and into one fairly large one. She saw that Prince Zuko and Uncle Iroh were inside, along with Commander Zhao. Zuko had tried to leave when the group of Firebenders that had captured Kitaah came in and blocked his path. "We've interrogated the crew like you asked, Commander Zhao. They claim that they had captured the avatar." Said the head Firebender of the group. Commander Zhao replied, "Good." He walked over to Prince Zuko and bent over to talk in Prince Zuko's ear. "Now what, exactly, happened to your ship?" he said. Prince Zuko sighed and walked back over to where Uncle Iroh was sitting in a chair. "One more thing." The head Firebender said. "What!" Commander Zhao replied, annoyed that the Firebenders were still there. "We found this girl on their ship." The Firebender shoved her forward. Prince Zuko froze.
"Well, what have we here?" Zhao said. Surprised that there was a girl on their ship. "You look familiar..." Kitaah didn't move as Zhao went to touch her on the face. She was too scared. Before he did, Zuko got in his path. "Don't you touch her!" He yelled. He was in front of Kitaah and had his hand held out protectively to the side. "And what are you going to do about it?" Commander Zhao threatened. At this point, Zuko was ticked. "An Agni Kai at sunset!" He said. "Fine. Guards, take the girl into one of the prison tents and guard her. If you want her back, you'll have to win." Zhao answered. When he left, Uncle Iroh spoke to Prince Zuko. "What are you thinking Prince Zuko? Do you not remember the last time you challenged a master?" "I will never forget." Prince Zuko stated.
Kitaah was taken to a small tent twenty-five tents away from the one where Prince Zuko was. The entrance was guarded by four Firebenders. Kitaah sat in the middle of the tent, on the floor, with her arms wrapped around her knees. Being surrounded by Firebenders in this place was too much. She began to have a memory that had been long forgotten since she woke up atop the snowy mountain before Zuko had found her. It had happened eight years ago, when Kitaah was seven. She was at the Northern Air Temple when an army of Firebenders had attacked. Kitaah and her friends were in their beds when an older Airbender had slammed open their door. "Girls! You must get out of here! We' re under attack! Get to safety!" Kitaah and the five other girls, Miyra and Tarya- the five year old twins, Samia- the oldest and supervisor (fourteen), Ri- the nine year old, and Fali- eight and Kitaah's best friend, jumped out of bed and put their clothes on in a flash. They went outside and turned right, to go to the top of the tower. Samia and Ri were carrying the twins to go faster and Kitaah and Fali were after them. They were going to where the giant birds were. They were going to fly to safety.
When they got to the top, they were exhausted. The many flights of stairs were too much when running. And when they got to the first place where the giant birds were kept, there was only one. The rest had escaped. Samia turned to Kitaah, "You have to get out of here!" She yelled over the noise below. "I can't without you guys!" Kitaah told her. Ri said, "There are more, higher up. We'll go there! You have to go now! We can't let the Fire Nation capture you!" Fali told Kitaah, "Ride Gray away from here. He is the most trusted. He'll take you to safety." They 'saddled' Grey up and helped Kitaah get on. The Firebenders weren't far behind now and they could all see the flames that they were creating. "Get out of here NOW!" Samia demanded. "I will not let them capture the avatar!" Kitaah looked back at them. They were all crying now. They knew that they would not make it to the next place where the other giant birds were. Kitaah was crying, too. She didn't know what she would do without them.
Fali yelled up to Kitaah, "We'll be fine! You have to get out of here!" Fali then slapped Grey to get him to fly. The twins waved good-bye as Ri and Samia picked them up again and started to run to the next hall entrance. Grey took off and the others started running to the next place. They turned the corner just as a Firebender came to the spot that they were at. Kitaah looked back. The Firebender stared at her. It was Uncle Iroh. He watched her fly away as more Firebenders ran past him and down the hallway that Kitaah's friends were running through. She heard screams. She closed her eyes for a moment and cried. Grey descended down the side of the tower and at one point went too close, too slow to where another group of Firebenders were. One saw her fly by. It was Commander Zhao. She stared back at him. She kicked Gray to make him go faster. She shut her eyes. The screams of the Airbenders back at the tower were making her cry again. She looked back one more time to see her home in flames.
Kitaah didn't remember the rest because as she was getting sadder and sadder and mad at the Fire Nation, her Avatar Spirit was awakened (meanwhile, Aang's was too, at the Southern Air Temple). The arrows on her forehead and hands turned white and glowed, and her hair was blowing around. The guards on the outside of the tent poked their head in. They were shocked at what they were seeing. One said, "You're...another avatar!" Kitaah opened her eyes which were glowing and the same color as her arrows. The guards jumped back from surprise. Kitaah started to rise off of the ground with a powerful globe of air around her. The tent ripped at the top and things were being destroyed around her. Some objects went flying around and whacked the guards in the head, knocking them out. Kitaah went higher into the air. And then, as quickly as it started, it stopped and she fainted and fell 8 feet, to the ground. She stayed there. Still knocked out.
A little while later, Zuko and Uncle Iroh went where the tent that Kitaah used to be in, only to discover her fainted, looking like she was dead, and lying on the ground in the middle of a giant mess. The guards were still knocked out. Uncle Iroh went over to her and bent down. "She is still breathing but barely." he said. Prince Zuko had been frozen. He thought she was dead. Relieved, he walked over and gently picked her up in his arms. They walked back to the ship. Still worried, he spoke to Uncle Iroh, "You can sleep in your own room again, tonight Uncle. I want to keep a close eye on her." He stared down at Kitaah. By the time they reached the ship, it was dark out. Zuko went into his room and gently placed Kitaah on his bed. He then sat in a chair at the other end of the room.
The next morning, Kitaah opened her eyes to reveal a room she hadn't seen before. She looked around and saw Prince Zuko in a chair near her. He was just starting to wake up. She smiled at him and he smiled back. "I'm glad your ok." He said. She replied back by teasing him. He tried to catch her but she ran and stood in the doorway, smiling back at him. Then, she ran out into the hall. He jumped up and started running after her. They ran around corners and down halls and eventually got to the outside. Kitaah ran around boxes of supplies and Zuko was closing in behind her. They were having fun. They were smiling and laughing. But, Kitaah turned, to see how far behind Prince Zuko was, too fast. Her hair blew out of her face and Zuko saw the arrow on her head. He stopped running. He had a shocked look on his face. She knew what had happened. She slowly walked back to him. She was staring at the ground as she walked. Kitaah stood in front of Zuko, prepared to get hurt. She saw his hand move from his side and she tensed up, prepared for a blow. Instead, he put his hand under her chin and lifted up her head so she was staring at him and kissed her.
She was shocked at what he did and didn't want the moment to end. Zuko didn't want that moment to end either. They stopped after what seemed like an eternity and stared at each other again with smiles on their faces. Then, all of a sudden, Kitaah had a look of pain in her eyes and she stopped smiling. She started to fall to the ground. Zuko put his arms under her back to prevent her from falling to the ground too hard and gently laid her down. He kneeled next to her. "What is the matter?" He said with a worried look in his eyes. He looked over her and saw that under her left collarbone, the orange was slightly darker than the rest. Kitaah was turning a pale color and was starting to faint. He gently put his finger down her shirt to where the darker color was and brought it back up. It was covered in blood. He looked up and said in an angry tone, "Commander Zhao." Uncle walked over to where Zuko was. He had just come out of his room to get some fresh air when he had seen Prince Zuko kneeling next to Kitaah with his fingers covered in blood. Prince Zuko looked up at Uncle Iroh and in an angry tone said, "Commander Zhao did this." He turned back to Kitaah and right before she fainted, said "Everything will be ok."