When I woke up, I was in a bath tub, where the water was more than hot. I'm pretty sure all of my pores on my body were open. I don't remember the last time I took a bath. I looked around, saw the gold-and-red painted walls. A robe and a towel on a hook behind a door. I got out of the tub and dried myself off. Put the robe on. Walked out the door. There were people in big, colorful wigs standing outside, sitting on chairs. They were sleeping. I tip toed away, but one of them snored, waking up everyone. One man that too big for his chair walked over to me, said, "Where are you going, young lady? We have to get you ready for your match!" My what? My match?
Then I thought about General Long. Before I could say anything, the prep team took me in the bathroom, waxed all of my body parts except my head, and put on this insane costume on me: a gold skirt that looks like something used by Egyptians back when Pharaohs still ruled. As for the top, a dark-red bralette decorated with gold accents. They put gold cuffs on my wrists and ankles, making the gold on my top pop. After they did my make-up, they handed me a mask. "Good luck, sweety," The woman with the bright-red wig said. The mask itself looked older than dirt, and the gold was chipping away. "Princess Karina will be wearing the exact same thing!"
"General Long sent me here to be punished, not to be prepped," I said. Not complaining, I actually like this, but something didn't seem right. No one answered. Then, it hit me. Long is trying to get me to feel like a princess, until the actual princess of the Fire Nation burns me in the match. What was it called again? Agni Kai? Yep, I knew I was going to lose. And I was going to get burned badly. If there's one person I'm terribly afraid of, it has to be Princess Karina. She's feisty, like her father, and has his strength, too. All of what her father is, she has inherited. And it's scary. She's scary. She's about my age, too. Which makes it ten times worse.
I was escorted into the arena, where I saw Princess Karina in the other end of. I gulped. The seats around the arena was packed, and I felt my heart pounding in my chest. I wanted out. But I knew there was no way out unless I got burned. The drums started playing, and Karina pulled her mask over her face. I did the same. The drums stopped for a second, and then started playing, and that's when the princess took off towards me. Fire literally traced her footsteps. She jumped at me, her fist lunging for my face, and I dodged it. Thanks, Dad. I thought in my head. For teaching me how to do this. Every punch or kick she threw it me, I dodged. Her fire had licked my arm and I stepped back, suddenly frightened. I checked my arm to see if she had actually burned me. But as I distracted myself, she kicked my legs from under me and stood on top of me, with an arm extended backwards. With the other, she lifted her mask from her face. She took mine off for me, too.
"What a pretty face," She said. "It'd be a shame if someone BURNED IT!" She swung her arm down, and I caught it in my palm just inches from my face.
"What pretty eyes you have," I grunted from the force under her. Without her looking, I grabbed a handful of dirt from under me. "It'd be a shame if you COULDN'T SEE!" I threw the dirt in her face and she fumbled off me as I kicked from under her. Our masks fell off our heads and we didn't bother picking them back up. Karina pulled a dagger from under her skirt and threw it at me. It cut my thigh and my knee buckled at the pain. I shrieked at the jolts of pain that were surging through my leg, and she kicked me to the ground. I inhaled, breathed in all the oxygen I could, and felt the fire accumulating in the back of my throat. I exhaled, and the fire exploded out of my mouth like a bomb. Princess Karina hit the ceiling and landed beside me, bleeding form the back of her head. She grunted, rolled to her side and grabbed my forearm. I felt my arm getting hotter. She was burning me! I bit her hard and she pulled away. I got up, limping on my good leg, and dropped my body on top of her. She spit fire on my bare shoulder, leaving patches of burned skin behind. I felt it burning like lava on my skin. I knew that would become a scar.
I shook my head, whispered, "Sorry," And blew fire on the side of her face and down her neck. She screamed, and as she screamed, I felt a horrible jolt of electricity run through my body, and all of a sudden, I could breathe. I fell off her, twitching and then - I stopped breathing. My eyes were still open but all I saw was white. Around me, were clouds, and people. Different people. Water benders, earth benders, fire benders, air benders. All of them, crowded around me. In unison, all of them said, "You cannot die." And their eyes glowed blue-white. Then, I was back at the arena. Some guy in fire nation armor was over me, holding my head up as he pulled away from what I'm sure was CPR. I turned my head. Fire Lord Zi was hunched over, holding his daughter who was severely burned. By me.
"You electrocuted me," I murmured to Karina. "You tried . . . to kill me." I gasped for air, and pulled away from the guy who was holding me. "I wanna go home. Where's my family?"
"Take it easy," the guy said. "You must be very dizzy."
"There can only be one winner," Princess Karina said, as she blew fire at me. It exploded beside me like a bomb once more, and I blacked out. Again. Twice in a day. How splendid.
