I don't have much to say this time, 'cause its late and I just finished this chapter. I'm sorry it took so long, but I have gotten new motivation and inspiration to write since summer has started so we'll see what happens.

I hope to post links to pictures of characters and what they wear soon, so keep an eye out for that.

So until the next update...enjoy!

The Prince of the Fire Nation

Avaa lead her ostrich horse across the rocky desert. She looked up at the sky, toward the sun and squinted angrily. Because she had been raised in the extreme south of the Earth Kingdom she was used to cooler weather. Now that she had gone further north and closer to the center it had gotten a lot warmer which was something she wasn't used to. While scowling at it, she realized that it was starting to sink in the sky.

"I guess it's about that time to settle down." She sighed, lowering her gaze and blinking stars from her eyes. She could've kept riding if she wanted to but she was hot and tired. The heat not only annoyed her but it slowed her down considerably. A few days ago she decided that she was going to Ba Sing Se but with the progress she was making she'd never get there.

Avaa let out a breath and began leading the ostrich horse to a patch of sparse trees.

Oh well, I'll get there eventually. She told herself. There was no sense getting all frustrated. She had plenty of time.

She dismounted under the speckled shade of the trees and removed her pack from the ostrich horse. The ostrich horse shook out her feathers and gave a grateful squawk. Avaa smiled and pet the animal's neck.

"Good girl," she said. She was about to turn around and begin setting up camp when she saw movement in the corner of her eye. Avaa turned toward it and ducked behind a bush. When she peeked through the slim branches and leaves she saw something that made her face lose its color. Well, someone would be more accurate. She saw a boy walking around an abandoned house, picking up sticks. A boy with a scar on the left side of his face.

Prince Zuko? Avaa thought. What's he doing here?

The sun beat down on Avaa relentlessly, making her mood even worse than it already was. All around her pig animals oinked, squawked, or whatever it was they did at her. She glared at them, but they continued to assault her with noise.

She had been traveling for two days straight without any food and hardly any sleep. She was about to pass out on her ostrich horse, but so far no one was willing to let her stay at least one night. She had no idea what she'd do if she was refused here too.

Avaa looked up and saw a woman standing up the path, a farm house behind her. She dismounted and walked toward the woman. She was pretty, but painfully thin. Despite that she smiled warmly at Avaa. Avaa bowed and said,

"I'm sorry to bother you, but could I please stay here at least for one night? I'll even earn my keep." She knew she sounded desperate, but in all honesty she was. The woman must have noticed because she said in a gentle voice,

"Of course you can. You can help me around the house, but I'm afraid you'll only be able for tonight." Avaa brightened and smiled.

"Thank you." The woman smiled back kindly.

"Come on, we need to start dinner before my husband's done working." Avaa nodded and followed the woman into the house.

Avaa had just taken the pot of tea from the fire when she heard the front door open. The woman, Sela, greeted the people walking in.

"Did you finish working on the barn?" she heard Sela ask.

"Yup that roof is sealed tighter than a drum. It shouldn't leak anymore." A man replied, "Oh! Who is this?" Avaa turned around and bowed to the man standing with his arm around Sela.

"I'm Avaa, thank you for letting me stay in your home." The man smiled.

"You're quite welcome." He turned around when the front door opened again, and stepped back so a small scrawny boy could enter. He had big, bright green eyes and scruffy brown hair. He was absolutely adorable, and had obviously recently lost a tooth.

"Oh!" the boy said, "We have another guest?"

"Yes," Sela answered," Speaking of guests, where is our first one?"

"Right here," the boy answered, stepping aside. A tall teenage boy stepped into Avaa's sight. He had very dark, almost black hair, sharp golden eyes, and a large, painful looking scar over the left side of his face. Avaa almost gasped to see him. She could hardly believe what her eyes were telling her.

It's him! It's the scarred boy from my vision!

Avaa was frozen behind the bush, partly from fear and partly from shock. She wanted to turn around, get on her ostrich horse, and run like the wind, but something stopped her. Instead of fleeing, she continued to kneel behind the bush, carefully watching the prince of the Fire Nation gather twigs. For some reason or another, Prince Zuko was able to hypnotize her into just observing his movements. She noticed things on him that she wouldn't on other people.

Like the fact he had a worried expression on his face, which rather puzzled Avaa. She couldn't think of any reason why he would be worried. She waited until he went back around the corner and into the house before slowly creeping out of the bush, careful not to make a lot of noise.

Avaa quickly gathered her senses and calmly sat at the table with Sela, her family, and their other guest. Although she had stopped staring, her mind was still racing. No one seemed to notice though, and she and the guest were introduced.

"I'm afraid there isn't enough room in the house for you two," Sela said, "But now that the barn's roof is fixed you can stay there." The mysterious scarred boy merely nodded, but Avaa bowed deeply and said,

"Thank you again for letting me stay."

"It's no trouble," Gansu assured her, "We're happy to help when we can." Avaa smiled at him, and turned her gaze back to the scarred boy.

He said nothing, but was quietly eating rice from his bowl. He looked tired, and not just from working on a barn either. From the dirt caked on his clothes and his gaunt look she could tell he had been traveling for some time. It surprised her that she noticed these things. She also had the suspicion that he wasn't just traveling. It seemed like he would look over his shoulder every once in a awhile, to see if he was being followed. She wondered what he was running from.

"Here you are." Gansu said, after opening the barn doors. It was a rectangular building with rather high ceiling. Like any other barn it had stalls on both sides. In the stalls slept the pig animals Avaa had met earlier. Now that the sun had gone down and she had been fed, the creatures were much less annoying.

They're actually kinda cute. She thought when she noticed a few sleeping cow-piglets.

"There's a loft up there, if anyone wants to sleep there." Avaa and the scarred boy both turned to Gansu and bowed.

"Thank you again," the scarred boy said, finally speaking. Avaa liked his voice immediately. Gansu smiled, bowed back, and shut the barn door, leaving the two strangers alone together.

"Do you mind if I sleep in the loft?" Avaa asked the scarred boy.

"Go ahead," he said, making his way toward a large pile of hay. Avaa hesitated climbing the ladder into the loft above her. This was probably the only time she'd ever see this boy, and there was obviously something special about him. Otherwise, Tsubame wouldn't have shown him to her. She had to know who he was.

Avaa turned around and approached him as he made a bed out of the hay. He looked up at her and asked,

"What?" Avaa hesitated. The scarred boy frowned at her, obviously getting impatient.

"What do you want?"

"I never caught your name earlier," she said, "I was just wondering who you were." The scarred boy turned his gaze away from Avaa and back to the hay pile beside him.

"I could ask you the same question." He replied.

"Didn't you hear earlier? My name's Avaa." She told him. She lowered her gaze, "As for who I am, I'm someone without a place to go…or anyone to turn to."

The scarred boy was silent for a moment before simply saying,

"Then that makes two of us."

Avaa kept low to the ground as she tip-toed her way across the open space between her grove and the house. She watched carefully for twigs and pebbles that could give away her position. Her eyes constantly swept the area in front of her, looking for the return of the prince. But he never came back out.

Avaa made it undetected to the abandoned house. The walls were still mostly intact, save for a few large holes. She scooted as close to the one on the back wall as she dared and barely looked through it. When she looked through the hole she saw something that took her completely off guard.

Prince Zuko knelt beside an unconscious older man, dressing a wound on his chest. What was really surprising to her was that he hadn't noticed her yet. He must have been so worried about this man, he couldn't think about anything else. Avaa had no idea what to make of it. She was so puzzled all she could do was watch as Prince Zuko continued to care for the old man's wounds.

But he must have sensed that someone was watching him, because he glanced at the back wall. Avaa ducked down quickly and wasted no time in scurrying back to her campsite. From behind the bushes, she watched the prince run back around the corner of the house and look for the interloper.

Prince Zuko only searched the area for a minute or two, before going back into the house. With a sigh of relief, Avaa pulled herself out of the bushes. He may have been out of sight, but he defiantly wasn't out of mind. Who was that man? How did he get hurt? And why was Zuko caring for him?

Even though Avaa had stayed her one night already, she planned staying for at least half the day helping Sela to repay her. The scarred boy, however, did not. He was packing his bags as Avaa followed Sela to the barn to milk the pig-cows. Lee and Gansu were standing with him, ready to say their farewells.

"You're leaving already?" Avaa asked.

"I have to be moving on." He replied as he mounted his ostrich-horse.

"Here, this ought to get you through a few meals," Sela said, holding out a package of food. He reached down to take it, but was stopped by the sudden burst of noise from the pig-animals. Everyone turned toward the road, where a dust cloud was quickly approaching them. Inside it, Avaa could see a handful of brutish Earth Kingdom soldiers.

"What do you think they want?" Gansu asked.

"Trouble," the scarred boy said grimly.

When the soldiers stopped in front of them Avaa noticed the hateful looks that Sela, Gansu, Lee, and the scarred boy were giving them. All of the soldiers were smiling smugly.

"What do you want Gow?" Gansu asked the man in front sharply. He chuckled to himself before saying,

"Just thought someone ought to tell you, your son's battalion got captured. You boys hear what the Fire Nation did to their last group of Earth Kingdom prisoners?" He turned to the other men behind him. The palest one, with a scraggly beard answered.

"Dressed them up in Fire Nation uniforms and put them on the frontline, unarmed," the man paused to spit on the ground, "Then they just watched."

Avaa's eyes widened at the terrible thought. She had no idea that Sela and Gansu had an older son in the war. And he had gotten captured.

"You watch your mouth!" Gansu snapped. Gow scowled and tried to move towards Gansu, but the scarred boy rode his ostrich horse in front of him. The two men stared at each other for a moment before Gow turned away.

"Why bother rooting around in the mud with these pigs?" he asked his men before riding off in another dust cloud. Sela looked like she was near tears. Gansu noticed this and quickly brought her into his arms.

"What's gonna happen to my brother?" Lee asked his parents.

"I'm going to the front," Gansu told Sela, as he let go of their embrace, "I'm going to find Sen Su and bring him back." Sela just nodded, unable to hold back tears any longer. Gansu put an arm around her and led her back to the house.

Lee ran up to the scarred boy, looked up at him and asked,

"When my dad goes…will you stay?"

"No," the scarred boy said simply, "I need to move on." He reached into his bag behind him and pulled out a slender wooden case. It was made of beautiful lacquered wood, and he held it out to Lee.

"Here. I want you to have this. Read the inscription." Lee took the case and pulled out a pearly bladed knife. He squinted as he read the characters etched into the blade.

"Made in Earth Kingdom." He recited. The scarred boy looked away, almost like he was embarrassed.

"The other one."

"Never give up without a fight." Lee looked back up at the scarred boy who nodded. He then turned his eyes on Avaa. He gave her a different look than he had the previous day. He looked just as curious about her as she was about him. Abruptly, he turned and rode off without another word.

After Avaa had repaid Sela and her family she rode back into town to buy food. Sela had tried to give Avaa food for a few days as well, but she refused it. They had done enough for her as it was. Now she stood in front of one of the few merchants in the town. The sun was setting and she was anxious to get moving on as well. She put a few coins on the stand.

"How much will this get me?" she asked. The man quickly calculated and determined,

"Only about a day's worth of food." Avaa sighed.

"I'll take it." The man nodded and turned around to gather up the food she paid for. Of course, something was bothering her again. She felt certain that not only was there more to the scarred boy than she knew, but she felt that she and the boy weren't finished seeing each other.

Avaa waited patiently until she heard the sound of an ostrich horse galloping. She turned around and got her eyes full of dust, but she also saw the scarred boy riding as fast as he could.

"He's back." Avaa said to herself. She wasted no time and leaped back onto her ostrich horse.

"Wait! What about your food?" the merchant said.

"Keep it. The money too." She called back as she rode after the scarred boy.

She almost missed him. He had slowed his ostrich horse and dismounted in front of the Earth Kingdom thugs. They were in the middle of a street with a wooden watch tower at the end. Tied to the watch tower, was Lee. Avaa dismounted her ostrich horse and joined the crowd that had gathered in the allies leading to the main street.

"Hey, there he is! I told you he'd come!" Lee cried out happily.

He's come to rescue Lee. Avaa realized.

The scarred boy gave the men a venomous glare and said.

"Let the kid go." The thugs just laughed at him. Gow stepped forward with a devilish grin on his face.

"Who do you think you are? Telling us what to do." He asked in an equally threatening tone.

"It doesn't matter who I am, but I know who you are. You're not soldiers, you're bullies. Freeloaders, abusing your power mostly over women and kids," the scarred boy said,"You don't want Lee in your army. You're sick cowards messing with a family who's already lost one son to the war."

The soldiers were silent for a small moment. Clearly, they had never been shot down like this before and they didn't know what to think. Unfortunately, they snapped out of it quickly.

"Are you gonna let this stranger stand there and insult you like this?" Gow asked his men. Avaa's jaw dropped in shock.

Really? You're gonna prove that boy right by sending your men to attack instead of going after him yourself? Really?

"Damn coward," Avaa muttered as one of Gow's men walked towards the scarred boy with a spear in hand. As the soldier lunged forward to stab him, the scarred boy drew his swords, jamming the hilt in the soldier's stomach. The soldier let out a grunt of pain and fell to the ground.

Like the coward he was, he immediately fled after getting back to his feet. Another solider growled and charged at the boy, meaning to impale him. But the scarred boy knocked the spear away and brought the man down with a palm to his head.

When the last soldier charged, the scarred boy broke the spear cleanly in half with a kick. As the frightened man ran away Avaa could hear Lee laugh in delight. She found herself smiling as well. The scarred boy was a more impressive fighter than she had expected.

Avaa glanced back at Gow. He was a short but muscular and very sturdy looking man. There was no doubt in her mind that he was an earthbender She knew from her fighting experience that he wouldn't be as easy to dispatch as the others. Especially since the boy was only armed with duel swords. But Avaa had faith in her newfound hero.

Gow drew two hammers from his belt and took on a stance Avaa was very familiar with. Further down the street, the new hero assumed his own stance. Gow raised a rather large rock from the ground with a mighty slam with one hammer, and sent it to the boy with the other.

Avaa grimaced as the rock flew toward Hero's face, but before it made impact, he shattered it with his blades. She gasped at his feat, and then again as two more rocks sailed towards Hero in rapid succession. He was able to deflect one, but was hit solidly in the gut with the other. He stumbled backward, but quickly recovered and charged towards Gow.

"Give him a left!" an old man beside Avaa yelled," A left!" The old woman beside him, who Avaa assumed was his wife, gave him a funny look and said,

"It's not a fist fight."

"He's got a left sword don't he?" the man said, continuing to cheer Hero on as he deflected rock after rock. He shattered most of the rocks, but one got through and hit him in the same spot the pervious rock did.

"Look out!" the old man cried out.

"Behind you!" said Lee.

Hero was steadily being driven backward by Gow. He smashed the ground with alternating hammers, each time, sending a rock Hero's way. Suddenly, Gow hit the earth much harder than he had been previously. Avaa could feel the shock wave through her feet, and gasped at the ripple of rock coming right towards Hero. The rock hit him squarely in the chest, and he fell to the ground with an expression of pain. The crowd collectively gasped.

For a long time, no one moved. Everyone was waiting for Hero to get back up and defeat the earthbending bully, but he didn't move. Avaa could just barely see his chest moving up and down, so he was still alive.

"No," Avaa whispered," Come on Hero, get up."

Gow began walking slowly towards Hero's fallen form but before he could get far, there was a scream of fury and a sudden blast of fire. Avaa shielded her face from the heat. When she turned back she saw Hero standing in the middle of the flames, and Gow picking himself up off the ground.

It can't be… Avaa thought.

Hero charged at Gow, sending arcs of flames at him as he did. One of them met its target and sent Gow flying into the building behind him. Part of the building collapsed on him, burying him to his head in rubble. Hero walked towards him calmly, swords steaming.

"Who…who are you?" Gow asked weakly.

"My name is Zuko. Son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai. Prince of the Fire Nation and heir to the throne," Hero said strongly. The crowd began to murmur among themselves. Avaa just stared at her Hero in disbelief.

"Liar!" the old man cried," I heard of you! You're not a prince, you're an outcast! His own father burned and disowned him!"

Avaa didn't know what to think. On one hand, this boy had helped rid this town of thugs and rescued a boy in the process. But on the other hand, this was the son of Fire Lord Ozai. From the time they were able to understand speech Earth Kingdom children feared and hated the Fire Nation and its ruler. With that came a hatred of his family as well. The Prince was supposed to be evil and ruthless, but…

Prince Zuko approached Gow, who cowered at the sight of him. Prince Zuko reached down and took the knife he gave to Lee earlier that day from him. He then walked to Lee and Sela. Once Sela freed Lee she stepped in front of him, protectively. The face that had given him a kind smile earlier that day, now gave him a look of hate.

"Not a step closer," Sela told him. Prince Zuko heeded this and kneeled where he stood. He offered the knife to Lee, who still stood behind his mother.

"It's yours, you should have it," he said. Lee scowled at the prince.

"No, I hate you!" he spat as his mother lead him away from Prince Zuko. He got back on his feet and looked towards Avaa, who still stood in the crowd. She felt strangely betrayed, her hero turned out to be her enemy. The prince of the Fire Nation. She felt hurt and mislead.

What do you think of me now? He seemed to be asking. Avaa shook her head and turned her eyes away from him.

You mislead us. I hate you. She replied.

Prince Zuko showed no emotion to this response, but calmly looked at her for a moment. Then he walked to his ostrich horse. The villagers watched him as he donned his hat, mounted his ostrich horse, and rode away into the bloody orange sunset.

Avaa sat back against a tree, looking up at the sky and thinking very hard. So the son of practically the world's enemy had a soft spot for saving people. No big deal, nothing earth shattering. Avaa groaned in frustration.

"Argh! It doesn't make any sense!" Of course, Prince Zuko didn't seem every nice when you first saw him. He looked cold, distant, and mean; no one would expect him to save a boy or an old man. So why did he do it?

She thought about this for quite a while until she saw another movement coming from the derelict house. When she turned towards it, not only did she see Prince Zuko, but the old man. They were speaking to each other and walking further out the mesa. Avaa wondered why the man was behaving so calmly in the presence of his enemy.

Of course he doesn't recognize Prince Zuko. I have to warn him somehow.

Luckily for her, the sprinkling of trees stretched to a reasonable distance behind the two men. Avaa began carefully slinking through them, getting closer and closer to the prince and the unknowing old man. They were facing away from her, and they were talking so they hopefully wouldn't notice her presence. Or at least Prince Zuko. She intended on warning the old man somehow.

As she got closer, she started to hear their conversation. The old man was actually doing most of the talking.

"…can separate these energies. This creates an imbalance. The energy wants to restore balance and in a moment the positive and negative energies come crashing together. You provide release and guidance, creating lightning."

Lightning? Avaa wondered. What on earth is he talking about? Why is everything so crazy now?

Avaa narrowed her eyes, and furrowed her brow in confusion as she watched the old man tell Prince Zuko to step back. She carefully followed the fluid, circle movements of his arms. She barely noticed the small arcs of electricity around his fingers. And she didn't realize what was happening until a huge bolt of lightning erupted from the old man.

It only lasted for a second, but the intense light, sound, and electrical charge all frightened Avaa beyond belief. She desperately tried to blink stars from her eyes, and tried not to cry out as static electricity shocked her with her every motion. Her ears rang from the deafening boom. She had never been so startled or helpless as she did at that moment. She sat behind the shrubbery, shaking violently, but at the same time frozen with fear.

WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE SPIRITS HAS THE WORLD COME TO?

*sings* Cliff-hanger, hanging from a cliff! And that's why he's called cliff hanger!

Muwahahaha! Don't worry the next chapter will be out before you guys know it. Until then review please! :)