Chapter Four: The Blue Spirit and the Burning House

Kaya sat in the damp sand while the tiny waves tickled her bare feet softly. It was around midnight, and the town was asleep. The beach was clear and she was alone; by herself to enjoy the stars which were entertaining her by dancing across the inky black sky. Her eyes sparkled with joy, seeing that everything was all worth it.

She heard someone's footsteps walking towards her down the grassy knoll. She stood up immediately, ready to fight. But she rested her arms when she saw who it was.

"Oh, hi, Zuko," she said, sitting back down in the sand. "You scared me."

He didn't answer, but he sat down next to her and searched his mind for the right words to say.

"Thank you very much for what you're doing for us," he said. "I remember when I was staying in this one town and I defended a boy and his family from harm. But I told them who I was and made me leave anyway." He hung his head. "They all hate me. They all think I'm some kind of monster."

Kaya placed her hand on his lightly. "Then they haven't seen the side of you that I have."

For the first time in what seemed like ages, Zuko smiled. Not a forced smile or a small grin, but a real genuine smile. But all the while he was telling himself, I've never opened up to anyone like this. What's wrong with me?

"Come on, we better go to bed," she suggested, standing up and leading the way to the house through the back door.

Zuko walked into the guest bedroom silently, being careful not to wake up Iroh. But as he sat down on his bed, he heard someone knock on the door. It was opened by Kaya. He listened intently.

"Are you Kaya, daughter of Gatu and Hayashi?" a cold voice asked.

"I am," she said hesitantly.

"By order of Admiral Haku, you are hereby put under arrest."

Zuko's eyes widened and he strained his ears to listen harder.

"My brother wants me arrested? Under what charges?"

"For leaving the Fire Nation without permission from a guardian."

"You can't arrest me for this! I'm in the Earth Kingdom now!"

"Sorry, ma'am, but you're coming with us."

Zuko heard her struggle and jumped to get up and help her, but realized that he was wanted by the Fire Nation too. He would expose himself and Iroh. But he had to save Kaya.

Without thinking much, he rushed to his bag and pulled out two swords and a blue and white mask.

It was time for the Blue Spirit to come to the rescue.

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The Blue Spirit stood stiffly atop the roof of the cart in which they were transporting Kaya. It rolled down to a dark steel boat parked in the dock. When they stopped, he climbed down swiftly and stood behind the cart, back pressed against the wet wood. Two Fire Nation officers walked out with Kaya in front of them, still trying to free herself from their grip. The driver climbed down and joined them, shoving the girl onto the ship and down into the brigs. As soon as the engines started to steam, the Blue Spirit hopped into a small lifeboat and started to row alongside the boat. It was difficult work rowing near side an engine powered Fire Nation ship and his arms were growing tired. But after many attempts, he tied the boat securely to a hook on the side of it. He climbed up it stealthily and jumped onto the deck, careful not to make a sound in the process. The three officers were in the galley judging by the noise being made from underneath him. He took out his swords just in case and ran below deck, trying to find the brigs.

Kaya was sitting down and leaning against the hard cement wall the whole time. She was stuck in a cage again. It was like nothing had changed since she escaped from her previous prison miles away. She hugged her legs and pressed her face against her knees. Everything was going so well. How did her brother find out where she was? Why was her family so determined to make her life miserable? Just because she rejected the ways of the Fire Lord? She scoffed. That was typical Gatu and Haku for you. She looked around her. Escaping from this cage would be a piece of cake, but then where would she go? She would still be stuck in the middle of the ocean with the three Fire Nation officers. She sighed and bit her lip. Don't cry, she thought to herself. You've made it this far without giving up on your hopes and spirit. You can't lose them now.

She heard footsteps coming from the small staircase at the end of the corridor. Probably one of the scumbags come to torment me, she thought. But it wasn't.

It was the Blue Spirit himself.

Her hope rose once more as he ran to the bars of her cage. She did the same, waiting for his plan. First he tapped on the bars, asking if she could get out. She nodded and gripped the bars firmly. The bars turned a bright red, and then melted beneath her fingers slowly. She fanned her hands and slipped through the gap. The Blue Spirit led the way back up the deck and towards the edge of the boat where he showed her where he had roped the longboat. She hesitated, but finally agreed to climb down first. She grabbed the rope tightly and inched down carefully. It took a few minutes, but she was safely inside the boat soon enough. Her savior did the same, but more speedily and easily. Once they were both in the boat, he took one of his swords and cut the rope, releasing them from the Fire Nation ship.

They both watched the soldiers sail away, unaware that their prisoner had escaped. Kaya said nothing until she was sure that it had disappeared into the horizon. She sighed and looked at the mysterious, masked fugitive with admiration.

"Thank you so much," she said gratefully.

He said nothing, but he nodded his head.

"Why did you do it though?" she asked.

He was silent for a minute, but after a while, he did his best to disguise voice and said, "Because you didn't deserve to be arrested."

Kaya looked at him suspiciously. "And how would you know that?"

He shouldn't have said that. He sifted through his mind for an excuse, but nothing sounded reasonable enough.

"Who are you?" Kaya asked him for the second time.

He looked up at her. She wasn't going to get off his back about it from the looks of it. He argued against himself not to do it, but after one last look into her glowing amber eyes, he slowly began to take off his mask, and finally revealed the face of Prince Zuko.

Kaya was dumbfounded. "Zuko?"

He nodded solemnly and looked down at his gloved hands. "I had to rescue you, but I couldn't do it as Prince Zuko, or else I'd expose not only myself, but also my uncle."

Kaya looked at him, her insides aflutter. Never had she met such a dedicated or determined young man. She embraced him suddenly, with much gratitude and thanks. He didn't know what to do after a while, but hug back. She let go after a half a minute and sat back down in the boat.

"Thank you, Zuko," she said.

He put his mask on to hide the pink shade that had spread across his face. "It's no trouble."

Sure it wasn't, Kaya thought sarcastically. She looked behind him, seeing the shore starting to approach. Ten minutes or so and they would be back.

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As soon as Kaya opened the door Zuko took off the mask and said immediately, "Go pack your things while I go wake Uncle."

Kaya was confused. "What?"

Zuko stopped in his tracks and looked at her seriously. "They're going to come back, Kaya. They'll find out that you escaped and they'll come back for you."

She didn't move. "But I can't just leave! I just settled in two weeks ago! This was supposed to be my home."

He softened his gaze and said sympathetically, "I'm sorry, but you can't just stay here to be arrested again."

Kaya felt her eyes finally begin to swell up with tears. Lost for words and excuses, she turned away from him and ran to her room. She took out the knapsack she had used before and started to fold her clothes, which were soon sprinkled with her tears. She sobbed as she gathered some food and threw the bag over her shoulder.

Iroh woke up with difficulty, muttering and complaining about not having tea before they left. He walked into the kitchen to gather up some food as well and found Kaya sitting on the floor with her back to the wall. Her face was hidden behind her hands and her hands were leaking waterworks. His heart softened by the pitiful sight, he crouched down next to her and rubbed her back soothingly.

"Kaya, what is the matter?" he asked gently.

She removed her hands from her face and combed her hair away from her face, not looking at Iroh. "I was only here for two weeks and already I have to flee."

Iroh frowned and sighed. He picked her chin up in his finger. "Listen to me, young lady," He looked straight into her eyes. "I know things are not going as you planned and it must be terrible for you to leave so soon. But sometimes, you must try to move along as best as you can, no matter how heavy the burden. And no matter what, do not give up hope."

Kaya was moved by his small speech and forced a tiny smile. "Thank you, Iroh."

She gave him a quick hug and got up off the floor. Zuko came back, from the guest room. "Are we ready to go?"

"Just let me pack some tea and some food," Iroh said, opening a cupboard.

At the worst possible moment, the door opened.

"Sorry for the intrusion, Kaya, but I- "

Kao halted instantly at the sight of the two fugitives. He pointed at them with a shaky finger.

"Y-you two are Iroh and Z-Zuko," he stuttered, backing away out of the doorway.

Kaya walked towards him slowly, holding her hands out in a gesture that asked him to please calm down. "Kao, I can explain. . ."

That was a lie though. She couldn't wriggle her way out of this pickle no matter how hard she would try to explain to Kao who was now beginning to pick up his pace towards the village.

"Kaya! How could you?" he exclaimed, still looking at her. "I'm going to have to turn all three of you in!"

"Kao, no!" Kaya pleaded. But he was already running towards the main square of Kaihen. Kaya clenched her fists and turned to face the other two.

"We have to leave quickly," she said plainly.

Iroh picked up the pace and filled up the remaining space of his bag with fruit and tea bags within two minutes. They were running towards the forest when Kaya stopped in her tracks suddenly. She had forgotten something.

Her music box.

"Happy birthday, Kaya. Close your eyes."

The eager new five-year-old did so while making little jumps up and down out of sheer excitement. Her mother took her hands gently and gave her what felt like a small, cold circular-shaped box. Kaya opened her eyes and looked in awe at the silver box engraved with small flames that curled around the edges. She opened the top of the box slowly and tiny tinkling tune started to play. It was the lullaby that her mother would sing to her every night before kissing her forehead and telling her how much she loved her. Kaya hugged her mother.

"Thank you, Mother!" she squealed with delight.

Hayashi laughed softly and picked up the small child in her arms, cradling her like a delicate glass figure.

"I want you to take good care of it," she whispered into Kaya's ear.

Kaya nodded obediently. "I will!" she exclaimed. "I will. . . "

"My music box," she muttered to herself. Zuko looked at her over his shoulder.

"What?"

She turned around quickly. "I forgot something. I have to go back." She was ready to take off when Zuko's hand took her wrist before she could take another step.

"It's too dangerous," he said. "You'll just have to leave it."

She didn't listen to him. She shook her hand from his grasp and ran down the hill back towards her house.

She smelt smoke in the air. Her eyes widened and she ran faster. She heard crackling that reached her ears like small fireworks. She ran faster. She felt a rising heat that singed her soul as she got closer. And finally, she saw the flames rising high and the house burning to a crisp.

Three Fire Nation soldiers were burning it to the ground. The embers grew fiercer as she watched longer. She could not move an inch more. But her rage burned inside her and threw daggers at each of the soldiers.

The sun was starting to rise and was revealing itself above the surface of the water. You would've looked at that horizon and thought that it was another peaceful day. You wouldn't have thought that there was a perfectly good house being burned to ashes at that very moment. You wouldn't have thought that a young girl was running into the forest with tears rushing to her eyes. You wouldn't have thought that she had just lost what she had left to remember of her mother. You wouldn't have thought of any of it. It was just another day.

But not in the sobbing eyes of Kaya.

Zuko and Iroh were searching the entrance of the forest for their new companion. They had stopped a quarter of the way of their trudge in the wood to wait for her, but she didn't show up. They called her name and looked behind trees until finally, they heard someone entering the forest with them. Kaya was walking towards them with her head hung in sadness. Her tears dropped to the ground with each step and her hands were gripping the straps of her knapsack so hard that her knuckles were white. She walked past them without a word. They watched her go further for a few seconds before catching up with her and trying to comfort her.

Zuko patted her back and tried his best to soothe her. But this was difficult for someone who had not done such a thing in a long time. He searched his mind for the right words, but nothing seemed right. He finally said to her gently, "It's going to be okay, Kaya."

She looked at him with bright, watery eyes. "How is it okay, Zuko? I've gone from the flames and straight into the volcano."

He thought for a second and said, "You're not alone in that volcano pit."

Kaya stared at him for a little while and, for the second time, she hugged him, but with more gratefulness than before. It was so nice knowing that someone in the world cared about you; a feeling she hadn't had in years. He allowed her to cry on his shoulder for a minute or two and broke the embrace.

"We have to move on," he said.

Kaya nodded and gripped her knapsack once more.

And then they wandered through the forest, not knowing where it would take them, but not concerned at all at the current time.