Chapter 2

I-I

Ava continued her daily life as if nothing had happened. Even though the information the spirits had given her was crucial, she had no idea what to do with it.

Jun and Hiroshi, other worthless children, met Ava outside her house the next day. Worthless people didn't wear colours, their clothes were a dull brown-grey. Jun usually wore a flowing skirt that was beautiful, even in such a dull colour. Hiroshi always wore a long vest that showed off his muscled arms. Ava usually wore a long shirt over tight pants, which made her look pretty scruffy. Worthless people didn't have extra clothes. They had one outfit to live and sleep and die in.

Jun waved to Ava from her spot on the road as Ava closed the front gate to her house. Jun's long brown hair whipped and flowed with the wind, while Ava's short hair just got poofy. Hiroshi's hair was a dull black and never looked natural.

"Hey Ava, watch this!" Jun yelled, before doing a cartwheel that made her run into Hiroshi. "Okay," Ava said from beneath Hiroshi. "Still needs some work."

Ava rolled her eyes. "Why are you doing that stuff anyway? You know we don't learn things."

Hiroshi shot Ava a look while getting up. He'd never agreed with the whole "worthless" thing. Only Ava and Jun's pleading had kept him quiet about it. Worthless people didn't talk out of turn.

"Can I tell her? Can I tell her?" Jun jumped up and down next to Hiroshi, grabbing his sleeve.

He sighed. "Fine, go ahead."

"THERE'S A GROUP OF FIRE NATION PEOPLE HERE!" Jun yelled in Ava's face, clearly excited about this occurrence.

Ava grabbed Jun's arm and held her away at arms length in case she decided to yell again. "Great. Fantastic. Remind me why this is so cool?"

"I dunno, I thought it might be cool to meet other people like us," Jun said with a smile. Hiroshi grunted his disapproval at the word usage.

Ava followed her friends to the middle of town and was greeted with a large procession coming down the main street. All dressed in red, the firebenders put on a show for everyone watching. They juggled fire, spewed fire, jumped through fire rings. Jun clapped and smiled, tugging on Ava's sleeve to get her attention. Hiroshi leaned against a building next to them, staying in the shadows.

'He'll never get over it,' Ava thought to herself. Her mind flashed and she remembered the bison saying, "Even if you cannot bend, you are still mighty." …wait….or was it the fish that said it… She twitched thinking about the fish. It was definitely high on the creepy scale.

After all of the firebenders had passed, the crowd started to leave. Ava took a few steps towards the market but Jun grabbed her sleeve again.

"Not YET!" Jun squeaked. "Look," she said with a pointing finger. Ava followed Jun's gaze and saw a group of about twenty teenagers and children, all dressed in dull brown and carrying luggage, no doubt the belongings of their party and not their own. They looked dirty and like they hadn't eaten in days. Jun approached them with a smile, but they shied away from her.

"The world is out of balance." The dragon's voice echoed in her mind as she watched Jun trying to get the worthless fire children to talk to her. Hiroshi kicked the wall a few times, mumbling a rant about equalism. With a sigh, Ava left her friends and went to the marketplace.

Worthless people didn't have money. Like ever. If you were worthless and had money, people knew you had stolen it. Ava liked to walk through the marketplace and see what was for sale, even if she couldn't buy anything. Everything had the symbol of the Earth Nation on it and everything was in earth tones. Green, brown, tan. Some colours get old after a while.

She kept going after she'd passed the normal shops, and eagerly browsed through the temporary shops that the Fire Nation had brought. Everything was red and black and gold. So many bright colours. She ached to buy at least one thing, just so she could remember the colours.

"There's something in my shop for every budget."

Ava gasped and almost fell over a bucket. The voice had come from a young man, not even 20, who was sitting at one of the Fire Nation booths. He grinned at her while she righted herself and walked up to him. His hair was black and his skin pale, like most Fire Nation people. Ava's hair was dirt brown, just like the Earth Kingdom, and her skin was dusted with a natural tan. His body was coated with taunt muscles just aching to be flexed. Ava was, in her mind, dumpy and chubby.

"I have no money, I'm sorry." She looked with longing at a necklace, bursting with Fire Nation colours. Red, black and gold alternating beads, with a shiny Fire Nation emblem for the charm.

"I said I have something for every budget." He took the necklace down and held it in front of her.

Ava bit her lip, but the words got out anyway. "I don't deserve something so pretty." She started to walk away, but he grabbed her sleeve.

"Oh I think you do," he said with another grin. "I'm Kenji of the Fire Nation, and this will cost you two things."

Ava looked at the necklace again, remembering the words of the spirits. She slowly brought her eyes up to meet Kenji's. "What two things?"

He smiled. "Nothing much. Just your name." Ava's hand moved towards the necklace, but Kenji pulled it back. "Name first."

She scowled at him. She wanted that necklace! "I'm Ava." His face darkened. She hadn't added, "Of the Earth Kingdom," which was a dead give away that she wasn't a bender.

He pulled away when she reached for the necklace again. "I said two things, little sprite," he said with a smile.

She narrowed her eyes. "Fine. What's the second."

He shrugged. "Oh, nothing much. Just…..a kiss." His grin could've been seen from the moon.

Ava moved her jaw around in thought. All I have to do is kiss him once and he'll give me that necklace. "Just ONE kiss?"

Kenji leaned against the counter while swinging the necklace on his finger. "Just one."

"You have a deal, Kenji of the Fire Nation." He smiled and leaned forward to get his kiss, but Ava's hand stopped him. "Necklace first, tall boy."

He lifted his right eyebrow in frustration for her calling him that. "How do I know you won't just take it and run and not give me my payment?"

Ava looked him straight in the eye. "You have my word as a worthless no one." He didn't say anything for a minute, just studied her face. His hand slowly dipped and the necklace fell into her hands.

Well, a deal's a deal.

Ava leaned up to be level with his face, which was difficult because he was a foot taller than her. She reached up and ran a finger up his neck muscles, before gently putting her lips to his. His lips were moist, soft and just the right size. The heat from him moved from her lips and down to her spine, where it stayed and felt like an itch. She pulled away and opened her eyes to see him still standing there like she hadn't moved and was still kissing him. His lips were too tempting, so she shut her eyes again and planted five more long kisses on them.

"Th….." she swallowed, a mere breath away from his mouth. "Thank you, Kenji."

His golden eyes opened and he grinned at her, with a slight stunned look on his face. "No. Thank you, little sprite. And since that was more than the promised price…"

Gently, he reached down to his neck and in one movement, slipped a necklace from his neck to hers. She straightened, moving away from him and his wonderful lips, and lifted the necklace. The emblem on the round charm was the same on both sides: a fire nation symbol with a dragon wrapped around it.

She looked up at him, brought her hands together in front of her and bowed slightly at the waist. "Thank you, Kenji of the Fire Nation."

He grinned again, something she could tell he did a lot. "If your currency was kisses, every peddler in the market would let you buy from their stand."

She grinned back. "Who says I'd offer it to anyone but you?" In her mind, she wondered when she had learned how to flirt.

I-I