Hello all! Just a warning, this is a longer chapter. =) Read, review.
I don't own Avatar or it's characters. Just the OC that is mine.
Thanks :3

~VanillaReSu

Book One : Water
Chapter Two : So Many Meetings

My hair had always been unruly. Thick, curly, and unruly, a stark difference compared to the rest of the fire nation's beautifully straight and perfect hair. My mother loved it. She always loved how different I look compared to the rest of the nation. My skin was kissed by the sun lightly. Mother said it was because I loved the sun as much as it loved me. She could never keep me indoors. My eyes were also vastly different, a mix of red and gold, but mainly red. I used to hate them, until my father told me that I had the eyes of the sun. He said that my eyes held fire in them. Not angry fire, but passion. The fire of the sun. My parents always knew how to make me feel better. I stared at my reflection, hoping to see either my mother or father in it. In me. But no avail.

I honestly don't remember how I ended up here. I didn't know why, either. But something in me told me, that I had to be here. It was freezing of course. What else would you expect, being in the South Pole. I hated it here, it wasn't natural. I felt like I was walking in a circle. It scared me, because it reminded me of my life at this moment in time. I felt so lost, and hurt, only following my instincts. I felt the sting of my tears, remembering what my parents had said.

"No matter what happens, no matter what is going on at the moment in time, you must follow what you feel is right. Always follow what your body tells you, what your heart says. Do no stray from that, and you will live."
"We love you."

The tears were flowing freely now. "We love you"Those words echoed in my mind. I felt my heart tearing a little. I wondered if I'd ever see them again. A knot formed in my throat as I thought about it. I might never see them again. I shook my head, banishing the thought. I had to keep track of where I was going. I had to pay attention. I trudged on, hoping that my heart was right. I didn't want to be lost.

As I kept walking, the sun began to rise. I sighed in relief, silently thanking the dragon spirits. I felt my chi's energy increase. I warmed my body, blowing some fire out onto my hands. Now that I was warm, my pace quickened. I felt amazing. Every firebender felt a connection with the sun, but I always felt closer to it. I assumed it was because my parents always called me the sun's child. I stopped walking, spotting something in the distance.

'A tribe.' I thought. It looked strange. There was a giant black object in the middle of it. A giant black object that looked oddly...comforting. I began to run towards it. On closer inspection, I realized what it was. 'A ship! Fire Nation ship! Oh thank you dragons, thank you sun.' Came my silent prayers and thank yous as I ran even faster towards it. There were people standing around, wearing thick cloaks and hoods. Water tribe.

"Just my luck" I murmured.

I felt torn. If they saw me, they'd probably attack. But if I don't get on that ship, I may never get out of here. Plus, my body screamed at me to get on that ship. I decided to take my chances, flying past the people. I noted that most of them were women, except for one man. He didn't look much older than I. In fact, he looked only about 16. I frowned, he should be in battle with the rest of his people.

'Pay attention!' I mentally kicked myself.

The ship was leaving. I willed myself to go faster as the panic set in. I finally made it, just as the ship began to set sail. I threw myself towards, my fingers grasping the chains of the anchor near the back. As I sat myself down on the actual anchor, I turned to look back at the Water Tribe, locking eyes with a young girl and that strange boy. They both looked shocked. I shrugged. They probably thought it strange for some random girl to suddenly show up out of no where and suicidally grab onto a raising anchor that was probably freezing. I grinned, thinking about how much of an earful my father would've given me if he saw what I did. Another pang of pain shot through my heart.

I shook my head, pushing the thought of my loving parents out of my mind. Right now, I needed to figure out how to get fully on this ship. I couldn't stay sitting on this anchor forever. I blew some more fire on my hands, and took another firm grasp of the chains and began to pull myself up. I struggled a bit, my arms tired from the cold and the sudden workout they were getting. I finally managed to get a good grip on the side railing of the ship, and with a mighty effort, pulled myself aboard.

"Well well well, looks like we have a guest aboard" came a voice.

I smiled to myself, turning around as I thought about how nice that voice sounded. Boy oh boy, was I ever wrong. There must've been 15 guards surrounding me, arms out and ready. I silently cursed myself. I clearly didn't think this through at all.

"...Hi?" I spluttered out, offering a sheepish smile as I placed my hand behind my head. How was I going to explain this one.

"Take her to one of the prison cells. We'll get the Captain to deal with her later" one of the men sneered. He must've been the ring leader. My smile faded when I heard the way he said 'captain'.

What, in all of the world, did I get myself into? I ran a hand down my face as I sighed at the thought. I placed my arms behind and turned. I decided that cooperating would be the best thing at this point.

But, before the guard could place me in chains, a shadow fell upon us, along with a shout of anger. We all looked up to see a small boy flying hurling towards us along with another fire nation military man. Everyone dispersed, and threw myself out of the way just as they landed.

They both took their stance, ready to strike. I gazed at both of them, wondering why they were fighting in the first place when I realized what I was looking at. The smaller boy had on air nomads clothing. Arrows formed on his head and arms. My jaw fell slack as I realized..

"The Avatar" I breathed.

A loud roar ripped the air. Once again, we all looked up to see a...flying bison? I was shocked as ever.

"What is that?" the fire nation boy said. He sounded just as shocked as I did.

"APPA" the Avatar shouted. He really shouldn't have looked up. Flames flew at him at a high speed, he just barely managed to twirl his staff to save himself. Blast after blast was tossed at him, finally knocking him into the water.

"AANG,NO." screamed the girl from earlier. I didn't realize it at the moment, how significant she would be in my journey, but my heart did. "AANG. AANG. AAAANNNGG" she screamed, over and over again.

I felt the water shift. Something was about to happen. I braced myself, but nothing could prepare me for what as about to take place. The Avatar flew above us, water swirling all about him. He landed on the deck, still making the water flow faster and faster around everyone. It hit the boy he was initially fighting with, knocking him over board.

The Avatar fell to the ground. He looked exhausted. The girl and boy and bison landed, grabbing him. A few of the guards managed to stand up. The girl picked up some water. I wasn't very surprised. She did come from the Southern Water Tribe after all. She attempted to shoot the water at the guards but ended up freezing what I assumed was her brother, judging from the similar facial structures.

"KATARA" He yelped, frozen in his place. I couldn't help but go into a fit of giggles. It just looked so funny, and her brother's reaction didn't help either. She attempted again, this time succeeding in freezing the guards.

They climbed aboard the bison, and took off. A much older man was standing in the doorway to the bottom of the ship. He rubbed his eyes, obviously confused. He realized that the other boy was off the ship, and he hurried to help him.

"SHOOT THEM DOWN" he snarled. Him and the older man shot flames towards the bison. "NO DON'T DO IT" I tried to tell them to stop, my instincts were screaming it was a bad idea.

Lo and behold, I was right. At the moment I spoke up, the boy took his first glance at me. But I didn't take notice, I was too busy watching the disaster before Avatar redirected the flames to the iceberg beside us. Snow and ice cascaded down upon the ship. I sighed irritably, nose in the air, pinching the bridge with my thumb and pointer, the rest of my fingers in the air. I knew they wouldn't listen, but it still was annoying.

"Good news for the Fire Lord. The Fire Nation's greatest threat, is just a little kid" the old man spoke, lifting his weight upwards to stand.

"That kid, Uncle just did all this" the boy seethed."I won't underestimate him again" he turned to the guards, still frozen. I tried to stifle my giggles again. Something about seeing the great fire nation in ice was just terribly amusing.

"Dig this ship out and follow them" He snarled, then paused, realizing what the guards were doing. "After you finish that" he finished. I couldn't hold it in any longer. I burst out laughing, leaning against the cabin for support. The boy must've remembered me by then, turning his attention to me.

"Who are you? A spy from my father? A spy from another nation?" came a snarl. I looked at the owner of the voice, and immediately felt my heart beat out of rhythm.

I felt my jaw drop a little as I stared at the boy in front of me. No, this was no boy, he clearly was a young man. I couldn't stop my gaze. He was just so..handsome. He had a beautifully structured face, high cheek bones, a strong firm jaw, gorgeous topaz irises. One had a scar around it, extending to his ear. His hair was in a war styled pony tail.. Wait, scar?

My eyes flashed back to his scar. Then to his eyes. Only then, did I realize who I was looking at. His eyes were so very different than Azula's, but at the same time, so very similar.

"Prince Zuko.." escaped my lips. I immediately dropped to my knees. I extended my arms out, my fingertips touching the floor of the ship, head bowed. I didn't put weight on my hands. My mother had raised me better.

I didn't see it, but I felt it. He was staring at me. I felt my heart still beating funny. I knew what it was telling me.

I had finally reached where my journey would finally start.