Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender.
Water, earth, fire, air... Long ago the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the fire nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed, and the Avatar was at last discovered. He now travels with his newfound companions Katara, Sokka, and Ashlynn.... Ashlynn being the childhood best friend of the well known fire prince Zuko...
"You have no idea where you're going, do you?" Sokka questioned Aang after observing the map they had. "Well it's near water..." Aang replied uneasily.
Ashlynn smirked as she took note that they were already completely surrounded by water.
A full day had passed since they had left the Southern Air Temple. They'd made few stops, and it was usually on Appa's account. A flying bison obviously couldn't fly consistently, all day long. Currently, it was midday. As far as Ashlynn knew, Aang was just looking for an island where its neighboring waters beheld a kind of fish he wanted to play with. Ashlynn and Katara both agreed on the fact that Aang shouldn't waste his time playing games, but neither of them could take an eager kid away from his few happy things in life.
As usual, Katara and Sokka picked on one another; like any ordinary pair of siblings. However, recently, Aang had taken up trying to impress Katara with different tricks of his. Each trick was a feeble attempt, and Katara hardly ever noticed, nor did she take into account that Aang was trying to impress her.
"Just ignore her Aang. I know she's ignoring you and all, but she's just busy sewing my pants. You need to give girls space when they do these things. You could easily irritate a working woman," Sokka said with a drowsy yawn at the end of his comment.
"Does it seem like I'm irritated...?" Katara said, and stopped her sewing to look at Sokka. "Sure. I mean, it's quite obvious Aang's tricks are irritating you..."
"If anything's irritating me, it's you. Here, fix your pants on your own," Katara fumed and chucked her brother's pants at him. "Katara! I can't sew..."
"Don't worry about your pants Sokka. We're going to go swim with some Koi fish, so you won't need them anyways!" Aang laughed. Ashlynn was rather surprised that Aang, out of everyone in the group, was the one least irritated.
"Aang, we can't afford to go fishing... We stopped yesterday... It'll take us ages to get to the North Pole," Katara argued. "Oh come on Katara, it won't take that long!" Aang said, and had Appa descend towards a small island in the middle of the water of their surroundings.
--------------------------------------------------------
Immediately after Appa landed Aang slid off his bison and scanned the horizon for the fish he wished to play with. He gasped when a monstrous fish way out at sea leapt from the water and created a tremendous splash as it went back down. The look of Sokka and Katara's faces were enough to make Ashlynn bite her lip to keep from cracking up. Apparently, they hadn't a clue of the size of an elephant koi fish.
Aang began to undress, and as soon as he did so he leapt into the ocean. "I'm going off to ride it, you gotta watch me Katara!"
Ashlynn sat down as he said this, and watched him swim out to sea.
When one of the fish emerged from the sea, Ashlynn saw that Aang had mounted upon its back and was now grasping onto its dorsal fin. As Katara noticed this she finally seemed impressed, and even cheered him on. However, she abruptly stopped her cheering as the dark fin of a much larger sea creature emerged from the water.
"Aang needs to get out of there!" Sokka said aloud as the predator sucked one of the few koi fish back into the water, never to be seen again.
"Aang! Get out! Aang!" Katara shouted and waved at him. Aang merely took this as a sign that he'd successfully impressed her, and just waved back. Ashlynn hopped up and began to shout warnings too. When Aang saw her waves of warning, he finally understood, and looked behind him to see the enemy slinking towards him and his koi fish.
As soon as he noticed this he leapt off his fish (which, luckily for him, was then dragged into the sea by its hunter) and used his air bending skills to quickly evade the monster and even help him run over the water back to the safe shoreline.
--------------------------------------------------------
"Alright, my vote is that we leave immediately, before that thing comes back to reclaim what it already lost," Ashlynn said, and glanced over at Aang, who was putting his clothes back on.
"I agree, we--"
But before Sokka could finish what he was going to say, a group of unknown people jumped from the top of the trees, and landed beside the Avatar and his companions. Before Ashlynn could see the ambushers she was blindfolded, and then her wrists were bound. She could hear the same being done to the others.
--------------------------------------------------------
The blindfold was not pulled from Ashlynn's face till' she, and the others, were tied up around a tree, so as to make sure they couldn't fight back. When the blindfold was removed, the first thing she noticed was a group of women, clad in green armor, and decorated with white make-up. She recognized them as the Kioshi Warriors.
"No way... a bunch of women ambushed us?" Sokka said in disbelief. The female who appeared to be the leader of the group stepped forward, and threatened to throw him a punch to the face, obviously insulted.
"Don't hurt him!" Ashlynn and Katara both shouted as the woman grabbed hold of Sokka's shirt, and raised her fist as she prepared to give him what she thought he deserved. She paused as they said this to eye them both with curiosity and confusion.
"He's just an idiot, pay no attention to what he says," Katara pleaded.
"Listen, this is my fault," Aang said, and the woman released her grip on Sokka's collar. He let out a breath of relief as she did this. "I wanted to ride the Koi Fish, I'm sorry."
"How do we know you aren't fire nation spies?!" an elderly man shouted at him.
"We Kioshi have managed to keep away from the war. We want nothing to do with it! And I intend to keep it that way," the old man spoke again after the moment of silence the Avatar's team provided.
"Kioshi? I know her! I mean, I know it sounds unlikely because she lived hundreds of years ago... But I know her, because I am the Avatar."
Before the people present could accuse him of lying, he air bended his way out of his bonds and slowly floated back to the ground, to prove that he was in fact the air-bending avatar.
"It's true! You are the Avatar!" murmured the crowd before them.
--------------------------------------------------------
When the people amongst the village realized that the Avatar had come to their island, rooms were immediately set up for the each of them. They were given a large table of food, and the citizens even began to repaint their statue of Avatar Kioshi in honor of Aang.
As exciting as it was to visit the island of Kioshi, Ashlynn had no desire to associate with anyone for the remainder of the day. She retreated to her new room, and collapsed on the bed that was provided for her. She brought it to her attention that Aang's arrival at Kioshi Island wouldn't stay quiet for long. She'd have to warn them that Zuko would come looking for them in no time.
Ashlynn smiled slightly as she recalled a memory of hers.
"Ready or not, here I come!"
Ashlynn pulled her face away from the cold stone wall, and browsed the court yard before her. Zuko was no where in plain sight that she could see. "You can't hide for long Zuko!" she laughed, and ran down the stone steps to further examine the smaller spots of the court yard.
First, behind a tree; second, under a stone bench; third, inside a large crevice. Ashlynn nearly gave up when she heard the movement of something in the bushes. "Aha! You're hiding in the bushes this time!" Ashlynn cried out, triumphant in her positive discovery of her friends hiding spot.
"Aw man and I was so sure you wouldn't find it this time," Zuko whined as he emerged from the bushes. "Maybe you shouldn't make so much noise while hiding!" Ashlynn teased.
"Only eight... we were only eight..." Ashlynn whispered to herself, half asleep now. She fell into a deep sleep, missing the innocence of her childhood days.
--------------------------------------------------------
In the morning Ashlynn found Aang, Sokka, and Katara sitting at the large, food-covered table. "What's for breakfast?" Ashlynn asked as she sat down, across from Katara and Aang.
"Dessert! Man they're giving me anything I want!" Aang exclaimed as he stuffed his mouth with a kind of pastry.
Ashlynn examined the food before her, and confirmed that it was indeed all dessert. It was then that she lost her appetite, not really wanting dessert for the most important meal of the day.
She looked over at Sokka, who wasn't even eating, but rather sulking.
"What's eating him?" Ashlynn pondered aloud. "Oh he's just upset, still, about being ambushed by a bunch of girls."
At this remark, Sokka removed himself from the room murmuring things about "not being scared of girls." Ashlynn raised her eyebrows in wonderment as he did this, and Aang and Katara started laughing.
--------------------------------------------------------
For the remainder of the afternoon, (as far as Ashlynn knew) Aang merely tried to impress the little girls of the town, and Sokka tried to learn fighting techniques from the Kioshi Warriors. Katara, irritated with Aang letting his popularity get to his head, tried to pack up plenty of provisions for when the group left.
Ashlynn took the free time given to wash herself, as well as her only outfit. When she realized she had no other clothes, she went and got herself a small travel bag, a new pair of clothes, and some new travel shoes. Satisfied with her new robe and clean body, she went for a walk around town to observe the habits and lifestyles of the people. Having grown up behind palace walls all her childhood, she never got the chance to understand other cultures. So, she had decided to take the opportunity while she could.
Outside the sun was low in the sky, leaving an orange tint to the blue mass above. Sunset was Ashlynn's favorite time of the day, for, in her opinion, there was nothing more beautiful. However, this beauty was disrupted as one of the elderly men of the village ran, in panic, to the cabin in which the Kioshi Warriors could be found. Ashlynn didn't have to ask what was wrong, for the look on his face said it all.
"Fire nation..." Ashlynn said, and began a fast walk towards the front of town.
Ashlynn observed the scene from the front of a shop near the entrance to the town. Sure, enough, as she had anticipated, there was Zuko and some fellow fire benders. "I want the Avatar!" Zuko shouted to the village that lay before him.
When no one made the move to hand over the currently absent Avatar, Zuko spoke again. "Come out Avatar! You can't hide forever!"
When Aang failed to make an appearance again, Zuko sent his fellow fire nation soldiers to rummage through the town. Ashlynn didn't leave the front of the shop where she stood, and only watched the soldiers walk down through the village.
She quivered a bit as the first pair of soldiers, mounted upon rhinos, passed her. Neither of the two recognized her, though. One of the soldiers of the second group, whom were also mounted upon rhinos, paused to get a better look at Ashlynn. Ashlynn gasped and stepped back as she saw the look of recognition in the soldier's eyes.
"Prince Zuko isn't this..." the soldier shouted, but was unable to finish as the Kioshi Warriors leapt upon them from above, and knocked each soldier off his rhino. Ashlynn took this opportunity to run to the shop next to her.
Sokka was with the warriors, and although she did not laugh, Ashlynn took note of how oddly funny it was that Sokka had been dressed up to look like the warriors.
The head of the Kioshi warriors, Suki, ran right towards Zuko. His rhino, however, knocked her off to the side as if she wasn't a real threat at all. When Zuko went to finish her off with his fire bending, Sokka stepped in and blocked the flames with a fan weapon he'd been given.
As Zuko was thrown off guard, one of the other warriors jumped in and knocked him off his mount. Then, as he was on the ground, the warriors closed in on him.
Ashlynn gasped as he began to shoot fire at each warrior that now surrounded him. Each of them retreated, so as to avoid being burned. Ashlynn ran after him, passing the fleeing warriors.
"Zuko, stop!" Ashlynn shouted as she ran at him, and then purposely ran right into Zuko, knocking him to the floor. She lost her balance, and fell with him. Before she could react, Zuko regained his standing posture and grabbed hold of her wrist, and forced her to look up at him. "Ashlynn?" he growled in disbelief. Ashlynn winced as the hand that grabbed her wrist began to heat up in anger. Before he could do anything else, Aang shouted at him.
Zuko released his grip on Ashlynn, and turned around to face the avatar.
"Finally!" Zuko shouted, and did not hesitate to fire flames off at Aang.
Aang was slow to react, and could not fully dodge every flame thrown. Therefore, he flew up in the air and landed in close range of Zuko. Ashlynn stood up wearily and turned away from the fight scene. She took the moment to run away from them, towards where Katara was protecting the children of the town.
Moments after Ashlynn reached Katara, Aang flew in too. "I can't beat him, I'm not ready. He's too quick!" Aang said, and hung his head, defeated. "I think we need to leave. Zuko will follow us away from this village and stop wreaking havoc upon these people if we guide him away," Ashlynn suggested, explaining an effective strategy.
Aang nodded, and called Appa to them. As Appa landed near them, Sokka came running after. The group of them climbed onto Appa's back, and took off.
Ashlynn could hear Zuko ordering his men to abandon the now burning village to follow the Avatar. However, she didn't look down at him.
As they flew away from the scene, Katara tried to reassure Aang that running was the right thing to do. "We saved them by leaving, because now Zuko will leave them alone..." Katara said, and glanced angrily at Ashlynn when Zuko was mentioned. Ashlynn gave her a confused look in return, indicating that Zuko's behavior wasn't her fault.
As Katara said this, Aang suddenly hopped off Appa and fell into the sea below them.
"What did he do that for?!" Katara cried. Ashlynn looked down below them, and saw that Aang had grabbed hold of the menacing water monster, and was now using it as a type of hose.... using its water-spraying mouth to put out the fires of the village.
After he had finished his sudden task the creature tossed him into the air, where he conveniently landed upon Appa's back. Katara hugged him, and no one said anything. They were all aware of how dangerous that was, but they were all indeed glad that he had helped the village in the process.
Ashlynn laid out upon Appa's back, and looked up at the ever-darkening sky. She thought to herself, that even though Zuko had appeared angry with her, she was still glad to have seen him again...