Story Arc: New Allies

Part: One- The Lutdeo

Chapter: Twenty Six- A Story of Childhood

Author: Fritters-4-Psi

Disclaimer: I do not own the show Avatar: The Last Air Bender or the related characters. Nor do I profit from this fanfiction. The only things of my creation in this fanfiction are the Koertan, Kashi, Risha, the concept of the grith coin, Vioniza, Raven's Watch, Kali, the Nai, Shian-Nai the Nai, Kaza the Koi Fish, and the Red Sand Gulf. Other possible things to come in later chapters.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Everyone gathered around the table with plates in front of them. The plates had some left over Koertan meant from the night before. For Aang, there was some left over vegetables. The fight earlier that morning had prevented anyone from having a decent breakfast. Once Risha had announced that she was going to finish her tale, there was a general agreement to have refreshments while listening.

"Yesterday I told you all about how my mother and father met. Basically, I gave you some general background information on my family. I mentioned myself very little," Risha stated, "Today I will be telling you about myself."

With a preparative sigh, she began. "As you all know, I was born in the Fire Nation. My mother, Vioniza, was the sister to the Fire Lord. My father, was an Earth Nation soldier. Eleven years after my parents married, I was born. From what I've heard others say, I was a very healthy baby. To others' knowledge, all Fire Nation citizens are Fire Benders. Judging from my lineage, everyone guessed that I would be a very powerful Bender. At the age of five, most Fire Nation children begin showing signs of Fire Bending. When I turned five, there was nothing. My mother insisted that I was just a late bloomer; that in a few months, I would start showing signs of Bending. Still, there was nothing."

"At six, Fire Nation children are sent to school to help them learn Fire Bending and, sometimes, academics. Even though I couldn't Fire Bend yet, I was sent to school. My parents thought that being around other Fire Bending children my age would influence me to Bend. It didn't work," she explained, "The other kids at school were meanspirited. They were all noble born children so they were brought up knowing nothing but the best, therefore, they were all sort of snobs. They teased me constantly, not only for my lack of Fire Bending abilities, but also for my light-colored hair. All of them had dark, Fire Nation hair. I had light brown, Earth Nation hair and weird colored eyes. If my mother hadn't been in line to the throne, I'm sure the insults would have been worse."

"It was three months after I started school that my mother and brother died. I felt so miserable that I stopped eating. I got so sick that my father pulled me from school for a week. He tried to make me eat, but I refused. After a few days, I ended up getting very sick. Doctors came to see how I was every day. I heard them talk quietly amongst themselves. They said that it was doubtful that I would make it," Risha stated, "To everyone's surprise, I pulled through, and after a week, I was back to normal."

Risha stopped for a second and drank from the cup of water in front of her. All this talking was drying her mouth and throat. Iroh noticed that his niece's voice sounded raspy. He knew some of Risha's childhood. She could take a break while he spoke for a while. "After that little spell, shockingly, Risha began showing signs of Fire Bending," Iroh stated.

With an annoyed tone in her voice, the Fauna Bender added, "Now, whenever I become better at Fire Bending, by any great amount, I get deathly sick. Isn't that fun?"

"She was sent back to school around the same time that Prince Zuko started. Immediately, the two cousins became very close and soon the other children ceased teasing Risha. Although, she was almost a year older than Zuko, Risha wasn't as advanced in Fire Bending. Often, I wondered what was preventing her from becoming far better," Iroh stated.

"It was when Zula, Zuko's younger sister, began school that I found out why. I was half a year over seven. Suddenly, I started having painful headaches and something was pulling at my heart. I mentioned it to my father and he took me to one of the doctors at the palace. The doctor looked me over, but found nothing wrong with me. He did suggest that maybe I had spent too much time in the palace. That, perhaps, I should spend some time by the sea," Risha said, "My father took a week off from his work at a smithy and pulled me out of school. We went to the Red Sand Gulf. It was amazing there. It was named as such because the sand is truly red."

"For the first few days, I still had headaches and that feeling in my heart. While at the sea was when I first realized my connection to animals. The dunes by the sea were a home to a small family of nai," Risha was interrupted.

"What are nai?" Aang questioned.

Zuko turned to the Avatar, a being he so wished to capture. This moment of curiosity from the boy reminded the Prince that the Avatar was nothing but a child. He knew what would happen if he captured Aang. Or, Zuko thought he did. What would really happen to this boy? Perhaps, his love of life would die. Maybe, he would give up. That was a saddening thought, even for Zuko. "A nai is a serpent-like creature," Zuko explained, "They live only in the Fire Nation because of the heat. They have leathery wings, small hind legs, and a whip-like tail."

Aang's face showed a look of understanding. Almost as if a memory had clicked in his mind. Roku, a past Avatar, had been from the Fire Nation. Maybe Roku had seen nai before and now, those sights were being rethought by Aang. "Exactly. So, I stumbled across a family of nai. All of a sudden, my headache disappeared and my heart was at ease. I was so shocked and happy. I became scared when I heard voices. Voices that sounded like they were inside my mind. I asked who was there. The voice asked the same thing. I responded, 'My name was Risha. I'm the niece of the Fire Lord.'The voice laughed and said, 'Ah! A Fauna Bender.' I asked, 'What's a Fauna Bender?' It replied, 'Why, you are! Pleased to make your acquaintance, milady. My name is Shian-Nai. If you look down, you shall see me.' I looked down and all I saw was a family of nai. Then, a thought dawned on me and I hurried away."

The Prince of the Fire Nation gave a questioning look to his cousin, asking if it was all right if he continued with the story. Risha complied. "When my cousin returned to the palace, she told me what had happened. Together, we decided that we would go to the library and find out more about Fauna Benders, as soon as possible. We were delayed, however, when Risha's headaches returned, but she brushed them aside and we hurried to the library," Zuko elaborated, "At the library, we found a large, leather-bound book that told us of all types of different Benders. Most had died out thousands of years past, but the four types of Element Benders and Fauna Benders were in there."

"The book said that Fauna Benders could Bend one of the Elements as well, but only to a small degree. They had to remain in contact with an animal or else they would get terrible headaches and something in their heart would feel empty," Zuko continued, "Once they train, Fauna Benders can talk to animals either verbally or mentally. They can control what animals do by touching them or, once they become more advanced, by thought. Some of the most powerful Fauna Benders can even change their shape to that of an animal. The book said they could do that and more that hadn't been discovered yet."

"Then I had to convince my father that I was responsible enough that I could take care of an animal. I mean, I wanted these headaches to stop and there were no animals I could come in contact within the palace. It took a bit of convincing, but he agreed after I said that my mother would have let me. The next day, he went out and bought me koi fish, whom I named Kaza," Risha said, "We would talk for hours. She told me that she had originally lived out in the ocean and that she missed living there. Apparently, she had been taken from her family. Sometimes, Zuko would come and I would translate what she was saying. He was pretty amazed by the whole concept."

Risha laughed, remembering the past. It had been so much fun back then. Well, after her headaches had stopped anyway. She had been so ignorant to the war that had been going on and she liked it that way. Naturally, she had known there was a war going on, but, for children, what happened at war was extremely dulled down. "One day, when I was still ten, but almost eleven, and Zuko was nine, we decided that we would go down to the stables and see what the Komodo rhinos had to say. The guard wasn't too pleased at having us in there, but changed his mind when Zuko said he would be taking this up with his father," Risha laughed.

"We approached some of the rhinos. When we first saw them, they were uneasy and were pawing the ground. As soon as they saw me, they began to calm. 'Who is she?' one of them asked, 'I've never seen her before.' I told them that my name was Risha. That is when a second one spoke, 'Did she just answer us? She must be a Fauna Bender. That's the only possibility.' Zuko asked what they were saying and I told him," Risha continued, "This shocked the rhinos very much. 'She is a Fauna Bender,' the first one said, 'What is she doing in the Fire Nation? I'm sure they would just love to use her as a weapon in the war.' Then, again, I told Zuko what they had said."

Once more, Zuko took over in telling the story. "She told them that she lived in the Fire Nation. No one else knew that she was a Fauna Bender, so she was safe," Zuko said, "Or we thought so then. As it turned out, the guard had been listening in on us. As soon as he had everything figured out, he ran off to my father. In our ignorance, we sat there, having a lovely conversation with the komodo rhinos."

"After an hour passed, there was a flourish of horns. They announced the presence of the Fire Lord. My father came striding into the stable. Behind him, trailed Zula with a smirk on her face. 'What are you doing, here of all places,' he demanded, 'Someone of our status does not belong in the stables, talking to the beasts like they can actually understand them!' Then he turned on Risha, 'So, niece, I hear that you are a Fauna Bender, a race of Benders that can talk to animals. They haven't been heard from in years. I quite believe they have died out. Probably all killed themselves because their precious beasts are slaving away for the war. I say we're better for that too. And you. You are a part of the most powerful family in the whole Fire Nation. Yet, you can barely hold a flame. You are a shame not only to your mother, your family, but your entire country. Stay here with your beasts until I can decide what should be done with you.' Then he left. I wanted to stay with Risha, but he forced me to go with him. All the while, Zula had still been smirking."

A sigh came from Risha's direction. She had always disliked the Fire Lord. Talking about him rekindled her anger. She wished there was someone she could yell at, to get her frustrations out, but there wasn't. She would just have to remain calm. "The guard was instructed to not let me out, no matter what the circumstances. I was brought food, but just barely enough to keep me going. I asked the Komodo rhinos if they could smash through the wall, but they feared for their lives. Every day my father came and saw me. He told me that the Fire Lord might be forgiving because I was family. That wasn't so. It was two weeks before I was told my sentence. 'You are banished, weakling. You can only return over my dead body. That is very unlikely, though. In a few years, Sozen's comet will be coming. Then, I shall become immortal. You have until sunset to leave. If you are not out of the capital by then, I will have you killed.' That was when Zuko gave me the grith coins. I told him that we would see each other again. After tearful good-byes to my father, Uncle Iroh, Zuko, Kali, Kaza the koi fish, and a few others, I left as fast as I could. And that was my childhood."

Aang, Katara, and Sokka sat there pondering Risha's life. On one hand, she had been living at a palace. On the other hand, her childhood had been riddled with loss and despair. They each had their separate thoughts, though. Aang wished that he was able to talk to Appa and Momo. He was the Avatar after all. If he could learn to Bend all the Elements, why couldn't he Fauna Bend? Katara thought it was sweet how Zuko had been so close to his cousin. Risha may not have mentioned it, but she could tell that there had been several occasions where Zuko had been looking out for Risha. He may have his moments of anger, but all in all, Zuko didn't seem like that bad a guy. Sokka felt pity and awe. Perhaps why they were so drawn to each other was because they could relate. Both of their lives had been difficult so far and it didn't seem like life was about to get any easier. When they left, Sokka would greatly miss Risha. She could be a great asset to them. Maybe, he could convince her to come with them.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

I was so distracted while writing this! (Yet it turned out to be the longest chapter, so far.) First, my muse was having a field day with a story I'm writing for school. Then I was listening to a 'Learn to Speak German' CD. Then I kept getting interupted. And I know how Risha feels with the voices inside her head thing. Today I was helping cutting steel and I had to hold the steel in place. It was vibrating like crazy from the saw and I had a vibrating sound inside of my head. It was crazy.

An Ozai cameo! Grr! I hate Ozai so much. I made him come off as a real jerk in this, didn't I? Well, he's supposed to be the really bad guy in the show. Zuko isn't the bad guy, he's just confused. He's good. He just doesn't know it yet.

Reviews

25, SovereignxXxBrunette: Naked Zukos? I suppose I can put in some Zutara fluff next chapter... Actually, I was planning on it anyway.