After that day, Omi's mother was more frequently sent to town for errands, of course, she would bring her child along with her. Some days they won't even go shopping for food ingredients, the princess herself would send letters relying only Omi's mother, to deliver for her. Omi sometimes wonder if this was a sign that the princess already knew she was a slave, and that she doesn't want her near her or her son, she felt alone once again, but what made the market really nice was the people, the food, the smell, and best of all, the school were she would catch a sight at the fire bending students practice and learn new skills.

Whenever her mother told her to wait while she searched through a fruit stand, Omi would run up to the crates and peek through the high window on the wall to observe the class. When she'd came home, she would sneak into the secret garden, and practice everything she learned by watching them.

And every morning she would pass a hall where she peeked outside, watching Zuko and Azula learn their fire bending with the master, only this time, she was much more careful onto never getting caught again.

A year passed, It was long ago when Omi realized that she was never been able to talk to Zuko. She's seen him around of course, especially on his birthday, while she was helping everyone prepare for a banquet in his honor, her mother told her to keep herself from making an eye contact or speaking unless spoken to.

But when she noticed Zuko entering the hall, she couldn't help it, she needed to talk to him, at least congratulate him and wish him well. All the other servants and maids were doing it. Why couldn't she?

Zuko remembered that morning as well, when he wondered through the banquet hall, all the servants and maids were kind enough to bow and congratulate him on his birthday, well, maybe they were paid to do that.
But then he spotted one person that he knew she wouldn't lie. Omi was carrying a vase full of pink flowers to her mother. He cocked his head, Omi was older as well, just like him today, how could he had miss it? He wanted to run up to her, but his mother came in before he could move another muscle.

"What are you doing here, birthday boy?" His mother asked,
"Come, I have a surprise for you," She said, taking him away before he could say anything else.
He looked back at Omi, she had a bored and yet saddened face while she handed the flowers to her mother.
He regretted not talking to her.

One afternoon, Omi practiced all that she ever learned from watching the Masters of fire bending from the market place, never forgetting her basics. She focused, breathed and balanced, then she would leap, kick and striked, punched and blow, not letting one piece of grass, leaf nor petal singed. Suddenly, she remembered what master Oashi once said to his pupils:

~... you will present a choreography to the fire lord, everything you have learn up till now...~

So that's what she decided to do.

She breathed and relaxed, then she balanced her stance onto one perfect pose, enough to amaze any fire bending teacher, she striked firmly yet softly letting her fire flow like fiery snake tongues, spinning once and fiercely, she made her fiery snake tongues dissapeared as she exhaled, she pulled her arms close to her body and breathed once more, then she striked everywhere sending discs of fire everywhere, she did a bridge bend and back kicked, drawing fire like drawing drawing a circle. She jumped up with her fists on fire, landing on her feet, and body crouched down.

The wind picked up, allowing her to breath in the air, she was controlled, she was burning inside, and yet, she was calm.

She clenched her fists, allowing fire to blow up once again, she twirled and spinned, doing a fabulous dance that made fire blow all around, stopping slowly into a poised and firmly balanced position as the flames went out.

Smiling to herself, she realized that she is capable of taking care of herself from any enemy who tried to defeat her. She can even take down Azula if she wanted to... but wait, what was she thinking? doing an act like that could sentence her family into death, how could she be so foolish! she must be mature, there's no good being fighter if you're the one looking for a fight, for trouble. big trouble. Shaking the idea off her head, she reminded herself to be discreet if she wanted her family to stay safe.

A month passed, she hasn't grown so physically but she was more matured then before. She was heading down the hallways, towards the kitchen one day. Until she noticed and spotted Azula and her friends, one of them splashed into the fountain because of Zuko, she stopped and watched, forgetting about the fact that she could be seen.

"Aww, they're so cute together!" Ty Lee exclaimed, Omi's breathing stopped immediately and felt her nerves riling inside. Zuko noticed her eyes watching, his cheeks burned and he felt completely embarrassed. This was all Azula's fault! he stood up and marched out of the fountain.

"Omi," A voice behind made Omi jumped, she turned to see the princess,
"Please return to your duties,"
Omi stood there, never in her life has the princess ever spoken to her so... cold, what Omi could do was bow respectfully, as always.

"Yes, your highness," She said quietly, she turned her heel, hearing the princess say to Zuko as he yelled:
"girls are crazy!" He said as he stomped off, Omi turned to see a soaking wet Zuko marching away the opposite direction, before she closed the kitchen door.

The following day, Omi decided to practice her newly made choreography, she was once again, creating and bending perfect fire, when she ended the way she planned, she stood up and turned to leave.

"You..." Zuko said,
"you..."
Omi stood wide eyed, heart-raced and panicked, she was caught! her family will suffer for sure!
"Zuko, I..." She said, nervously, she finally gave up. She fell onto her knees and cried,

"Don't do anything to my family, please!" She cried.
Zuko's amazement dissapeared and went back into reality; she was a slave, her family is as well, and they can get hurt...
"Wait," He said as he approached her,
"Don't cry, Omi" He said as he knelted down to her, Omi looked up his eyes, remembering that a year and a month passed without seeing nor talking to each other and yet he still remembered her name.

"Nothing is going to happen to your family," he said as he sat down across from her,
"Wh-what?" Omi began to say,
"I said; Nothing's going to happen, come on, Omi, you know me better than that," Zuko said smiling, For Omi it has been a long while since someone ever smiled at her,
"But Zuko, you caught me fire bending," She said quietly,
"And it was amazing!" he exclaimed,
"I didn't know you were a fire bender! why didn't you tell me?" He said, leaning in closely.
"I... didn't know it myself," She replied, looking away,
"You mean you never knew you were a fire bender and yet you fire bend perfectly?" Zuko asked, wide eyed.
"That's... interesting,"

Omi casted her eyes down, giving him the "don't-make-any-eye-contact" treatment again. Zuko started hating that. Remembering that it was a long time since they even seen each other, she felt guilty that probably her being a slave was the cause.
"Zuko, I'm sorry that we haven't been hanging out together," Omi started to say, Zuko also had just remembered that the first time he saw her in a long while was when Azula made that stupid prank the other day, he bit his lip in embarrassment, knowing that she saw everything. Not to mention that she heard everything.

"And, I'm sorry that I said: girls are crazy," Zuko apologized immediately, Omi glanced at him,
"When I said that, I didn't mean you," He said, she finally smiled,
"Don't worry about it," She said,
"So you really forgive me?" He asked her with hopeful eyes,
"Yeah, course I do,"
"Good, because I really want to ask you a favor," he said.
"Could you please teach me that fire bending!" He knelted down onto his knees, begging,

"Um... me?" Omi asked in confusion,
"Yes!" Zuko exclaimed, Omi couldn't understand, Zuko was also a fire bender, he learns and practices all the time, formally with his master, why would he need help from her?
"I need to learn a fire bending choreography to present to my Grandfather," Zuko continued, Her eyebrows shot up her forehead. But she doubted that he would learn in a short while.

"How do you do it!" Zuko said as he rubbed his head after he fell,
"I don't know why you can't, that's my curiosity," Omi said, leaning to help him up.
"Are you mocking me?" He asked defensively,
"No!" Omi immediately said,
"Of course not, it's just..." She paused,
"Maybe this is just not right for you, I guess you still haven't learned-"
"Of course I've learned! I'm a fire bender!" Zuko shouted,
"Zuko calm down," She said soothingly, (gee louis)
"Let's just try again, from the top," She said as she helped him balanced his stance.

After awhile, he wanted to have a break, She accepted it, in fact she was relieved that he decided that. She couldn't take more of his frustration, never in her days had she seen him so down on himself.
They sat in silence underneath the shade of the tree, Omi was hoping that this could happen often, it's better than being in the kitchen all day, bringing food, washing bowls, putting them away, cleaning the kitchen, etc.

"So..." Zuko started to say,
"How do you know all that stuff?"
"What, fire-bending? I only watched other benders do it," She said, Zuko arched an eyebrow,
"You mean you never actually had a lesson? but... you're so good at it!" Zuko said, feeling ashamed and embarrassed once again.

~great, another girl is better at fire-bending than me!~ he thought.
"Well, at first it wasn't easy..." She said, trying to soothe his embarrassment,
"I just practice a lot, that's all," She said folding her arms. Another silent moment passed, only the birds were heard.
"Omi... are we still friends?" Zuko said, afraid to look at her,
"I... I'm not sure, how long has it been since we last talk to each other?" She asked him innocently,

"Um... Forever? I guess" He replied, Omi giggled lightly.
"Come on, don't exaggerate, it must've been a year?"
"Really? I felt it much more longer than that," he replied,
~Yeah, it did.~ she thought, now it's time to be sincere,
"You know, I-" Zuko and Omi said in unison,

"I missed you," She said,
"I missed you too," He said back. He smiled and crossed his heart and held out a pinkie,
"Let's never stop talking nor stop seeing each other,"
Omi looked at it, she then smiled and crossed her heart and entwined pinkies,

"Deal," She said firmly,
"But on one condition," She said, leaning close,
"Promise me you won't say a word to anybody that I am a fire bender,"
Zuko understood it right away, Though she was a perfect fire-bender, she should have her own private lessons with a master, keeping that a secret would be a shame, but he promised that he would always keep his mouth shut.

"Good, because sometimes you talk too much," She said giggling,
"Hey!" He said, playfully nudging her,
"Okay, okay, who talks too much could be either Oashi or Azula," She said smiling,
"Ugh! Azula is the worst, Oashi... well, you can easily ignore him," Omi laughed full-heartedly, Zuko joined in.
"You know, My Uncle will be coming home soon," He said after awhile,

"Uncle?" Omi asked,
"Yeah, General Iroh, he's my uncle," Zuko replied joyfully,
"He gave me this cool knife as a gift," Zuko pulled out from his boot a sharp looking knife, there was some writing in it that Omi couldn't read, (she never really learned how to read or write).
"It says 'Never give up without a fight' " Zuko said,
"Oh, that's cool!" She replied,
Zuko thought of an idea, he took his knife and began carving his name and Omi's on the tree behind them,

"What are you doing?" She asked,
"It's your name and mine's," He said pointing at them, Omi squinted to see better, though she couldn't read, she was sure that it was her name besides Zuko's.
"You like that, don't you?" Zuko said, hoping that it would please her,
"Well, we are friends, so... Yeah, it's cool," She said sincerely, stroking the carved lettering.

"Okay then, shall we practice some more?" Zuko said, anxiously waiting for her to say yes,
"Fine, okay," She sighed.

Wassup! Back with another chapter to enjoy! Let's be honest, I am in love with Zuko and Omi's friendship, to me it rings like 'The fox and the Hound' or a Bambi-thumper-flower relationship. Well, those friendly relationships are just reminders of the exquisite little human beings we used to be, children with no mental judgement, play with whoever we like, not caring about any one's differences, easy to forgive and forget, life was humbler, simple and harmonious. Don't you agree?

FUN FACT!: Yes, Omi is related to the Avatar, from her dad's side of course, and has a long line of Air bender ancestry, pretty cool huh?

I wonder if she will ever get to meet Aang, wouldn't that be fun? tell me what you think and I'll see if I got any tricks up my sleeve.

(I probably do. *.* )