Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar or the characters, but I do own Roselynn and Metaru.
Author's Note: This has been really fun writing, and I hope it's just as much fun reading!
Roselynn's POV
(It's hard to tell your mind to stop loving someone when your heart still does)
I inspected the red object, and upon confirming it as an unmarred apple, dropped it into my scratchy canvas bag. I scoped the immediate area around me, and found I had picked all the good apples off of a large portion of the tree. There were some above me, though, so I climbed higher, biting back a curse as I felt the rough bark dig into my knees.
"Note to self: Always buy proper traveling clothes before running away to the middle of nowhere," I muttered, staring down at my pink miniskirt in disgust.
I pulled myself up onto a branch, and once successfully perched, returned to my apple-picking. I spied a particularly red apple and reached up to grab it, but instead gave a little yelp as I fell backwards onto the unmerciful ground.
"Who's there?" A voice shouted during the rustling of some underbrush.
I stood up quickly, suddenly forgetting my hard fall, and hid quietly behind a tree.
They've already figured out where I am!
"You can't hide forever, firebender!" the voice called out again while a boy my age donned in blue finally untangled himself from the foliage.
Finding this boy as no threat, even though he was armed with a boomerang, I showed myself.
"Firebender?" I inquired.
What the hell's a firebender?
"Oh, it's just a girl…" he said, seemingly disappointed; I could tell he was relieved.
"I have a name, you know," I retaliated.
"Well, what is it?" he questioned.
"It's chivalrous to give your own name before asking anyone for theirs."
"My name's Sokka. Happy?"
"I'm Roselynn."
Sokka's eyes made polite scan up and down my being before crying out.
"Is that bag full of food? I've been trying to find something to eat for hours!" he shouted.
I raised my eyebrow and pointed one finger up to the tree leaves. He gave a "hm?" before looking up to see a canopy of green furiously dotted with red. He obviously got angry with himself, and gave a little yelp before tightly clasping his head in-between his hands.
"Are you some kind of miracle worker?" the boy wondered aloud.
If everyone around here is as stupid as you, then I guess I am.
"I guess I have a knack for that sort of thing," I expertly lied.
"You're coming with me!" Sokka demanded, grabbing my arm and pulling me forward.
I landed awkwardly and hissed my breath through my teeth as pain shot up my leg starting at my knee. I looked down, and to my horror, saw thick chunks of bark wedged into my knees.
"Are you OK?" he asked.
His kindness caught me off guard and left me speechless.
Is everybody here that nice?
"O-oh, I'll be fine. I'm just not used to this sort of thing," I answered after regaining control over my simple functions.
Sokka gave me another quick scan before saying, "I can tell."
Metaru's POV
(Always take out the switch knife before the girl takes out half of your gang)
I dodged yet another blow, and landed one of my own, taking out the seventh of the fourteen bandits.
Seven down and seven to go.
That's when one of them finally decided me a worthy opponent, and pulled a switch knife out of the pocket in his baggy tunic. The bandit used a wrist-trick to slice my face to stun me before hitting the back side of the knife upside my head.
Roselynn's POV
(Lemurs have sharp claws)
"What the freak is that!" I asked rather loudly.
"That's Appa, my flying bison," Aang explained.
"A flying bison?" I asked, unbelieving. "Last time I checked, bison didn't fly."
"Well, Appa does."
Appa gave me a lick and left at least a gallon of translucent goop all over the front side of my body. Sokka started laughing hysterically, and I gave him a flash of my eyes to unleash my deadly weapon. Sokka immediately stopped laughing and ran to go pick up Momo. He squeezed the poor thing until Momo had to scratch Sokka's face to avoid suffocation, and then Momo bounded off. Now it was I who was laughing hysterically.
"What did you do to him?" Katara asked.
"I lovebended him," I explained.
"There's no such thing as lovebending," she stated.
"Well, technically, I can't manipulate true love, but it's still along the lines of creating and disbanding infatuations."
"Come on Katara, maybe she's like me: Benders made almost extinct by the war," Aang suggested.
"Well, you should probably put Sokka back to normal before he causes any permanent damage to Momo," Katara suggested; I glanced over my shoulder to see Sokka chasing after Momo and Momo squealing in desperation.
I gave Sokka yet another flash of my eyes and stumbled a bit. Lovebending was difficult at all, and even more complicated when it came to bonding two different species. Lovebending is easier for those who have fallen in love.
Why, oh why, must I fall in love to use my lovebending easily?
"Roselynn!" Sokka shouted, kneeling next to me. I gave a groan in reply. "It's about time. I've been trying to knock you out of your trance for four minutes. It was really creepy."
I found I was on my stomach on the floor. I pushed myself up to a kneeling position, and then tried to get up, but to my embarrassment, fell backwards onto Sokka. To my surprise, he was able to support my 110 pounds and keep us both from falling onto the ground.
He's a lot stronger than his figure seems to allow.
I shot up after completing that thought and immediately felt better.
"Sorry for the scare, lovebending's a little complicated," I said.
"There's no such thing as lovebending!" Sokka shouted close-mindedly.
"Well last time I checked, there was no such thing as firebending," I retaliated.
Everyone went silent and froze.
"Uh, did I say something funny?" I questioned.
"Are you feeling OK?" Aang inquired, sincerely worried.
"Well, there is ONE firebender that I know of…" I offered, shifting my weight back and forth to try and suppress the crushing discomfort everyone's stares were giving me.
"Well last time I checked, there were enough firebenders to start a major war," Sokka said, contradicting my remarks about firebenders.
I tucked my hand under my chin and gave a thoughtful "hm…" After nothing came to me, I said, "I think I'm going to sleep on this."
Metaru's POV
(If love is supposed to be bliss then why, when I look at you, all I feel is pain?)
I woke up and was thankful for the few moments before my head started pounding.
"How are you feeling?" a kind looking man to my left asked.
I was lying on a cot-like bed covered only in thin sheets.
"Like I was hit by a whole freaking caravan…" I muttered, propping myself onto my elbows.
I immediately wished I hadn't as an extremely powerful wave of pain coursed throughout my entire body. I hissed air through my teeth in a desperate attempt to regulate my breathing.
"Oh my," the kind-looking one stated.
"Stupid girl. You shouldn't try to get up after the beating you took," a boy with a scar covering his face said rather rudely. He was sitting on my right, donned in armor and in an uncomfortable looking chair.
I rolled my eyes an unconsciously reached for my neck. As my hand did not come in contact with the object I was reaching for, I frantically patted around my neck and chest.
"Looking for this?" the one with the scar asked, smirking and tossing me my necklace.
It was a strip of black leather with a very valuable purple amethyst hanging about an inch down by a silver chain. The black leather fit snugly around my neck. The amethyst was set in silver and had gold lettering on the back of it. What was so valuable about the necklace was not the extremely high cost of the black leather, amethyst, silver, and gold, but what the inscription on the back of the amethyst said: Let's go together; in fancy calligraphy.
"By the way, I am Iroh; avoid using terms such as sir with me. And this is Prince Zuko, call him Zuko," the kind looking one informed me.
"I'm Metaru," I told them, clasping the necklace around my neck.
I pushed off the sheets and was surprised that it caused me no pain. I reached out for the edge of the bandage around my leg.
"I would not advise doing that," Iroh warned.
Ignoring his warning, I peeled away at the bandage until my leg was exposed. Iroh and Zuko gasped before staring in wonder and absolute awe at my unmarred limb. I started working at the other bandages.
"I, uh, know shapebending is kinda rare… but, uh, you're starting to make me a little uncomfortable," I informed them.
Are you feeling uncomfortable because they are staring at you in general, or because that boy that has to be only one year older than you is staring at your legs?
I felt a blush come to my face along with the unexpected and certainly unwelcome thoughts. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately) they seemed more interested in my previous statement.
"Shapebending?" Zuko inquired.
"Uh, yeah. I can change into anything living, even imaginary creatures. I can use it to heal myself, which is easy. But changing into other creatures, or using it to disguise myself is extremely difficult," I explained.
My stomach growled.
"Let me get some food and jasmine tea," Iroh said, leaving the room.
Saved by the bell.
I turning my head away from the door and accidentally met two golden eyes with my ocean-like ones.
Or not…