PARADOX

Chapter six: Women Warriors

(A/N: (first one in the whole story) There is some minor mental swearing.) (This chapter is dedicated to nicky122 because she's the only one who reviewed my last chapter.)

"Are we there yet?" Sokka whined irritably from where he was sitting his torso draped over the side of the saddle looking down.

"Yes, we're there. That's why we landed." I said sarcastically watching the clouds float by. Why was Sokka so stupid?

"I'm hungry." Sokka whined.

I sighed. "Get over it." I muttered nearly inaudably under my breath.

Katara was hunched over her brother's torn pants trying to sew a huge hole back together. How Sokka had gotten a hole that big in the butt of his pants I will never know.

"Momo, marble please." Aang requested. Momo instantly reached into Aang's clothes and pulled out a marble dropping it in Aang's palm.

"Hey, Katara watch this." Aang ordered cheerfully as he made the marble spin clockwise rapidly around in a circle above his palm.

"That's great Aang." Katara said not looking up from her work.

"You didn't even look." Aang protested looking for all intents and purposes like a dog that got kicked. Or rather a polar bear dog, they don't have normal dogs here.

"That's great!" Katara blurted with fake enthusiasm as she looked up from her work for just a second before going back to it.

"I wasn't doing it anymore." Aang mutter dejectedly.

"Leave her alone, Airhead. You need to leave women alone when they're doing women work." Sokka said.

I instantly glared at him, followed shortly by Katara.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Katara demanded throwing her work down.

"Nothing, women are just better at cooking, cleaning, and sewing. Men are better at hunting and fighting and stuff, its the natural order of things." Sokka said and I felt like punching the sexist bastard.

Katara threw his pants back at him. "I'm done with your pants, and look what a good job I did." Katara said sarcastically.

"Katara!" Sokka whined sticking his hand through the large hole that still remained in his pants. "I can't wear these like this."

"Not until you say girls can do anything boys can do better." I interjected. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the person providing for the village for the past two years me?" I asked sharply.

Sokka looked at a loss for words.

"That's doesn't count. You were doing it under the name of a spirit, and you probably used your bending." Sokka protested.

"Excuse me?" I protested. "I spent a year and a half without even knowing I could bend. I caught all the food I had with my own hands and what weapons that were suited for hunting." I objected hotly.

"That's okay Sokka, where we're going you won't need pants." Aang said cheerfully from Appa's head.

"I suddenly don't want to go where we're going." I muttered sarcastically.

"Where are we going anyway? And why is it taking so long?" Sokka asked.

"We're going to Kyoshi. The bay there has Giant Koi fish. They're fun to ride." Aang said cheerfully ignoring the second question.

"You don't know where we're going do you?" Sokka asked sceptically looking over the map.

"I know its near water." Aang said cheerfully.

Which was an obvious yes. We had been flying over the ocean for the past three hours or so.

"We must be close." I said sarcastically looking at the ocean below us.

"There it is!" Aang cheered when he saw the cove of the small island take shape out of the surrounding ocean.

Appa landed and I instantly slid off of his back.

"Hey Aang?" I asked watching him pull down his pants leaving him in a pair of burnt orange underwear as he hopped around taking his shirt off as he tried to kick his pants away from around his ankles.

"Yeah," Aang asked giving me half of his attention. The other half still focused on removing his garments.

"Can you teach me airbending?" I asked. "I can teach you and Katara what I know about waterbending." I bargained.

"Sure!" Aang chirped cheerfully. "After I ride the Elephant Koi." Aang bargained as he jumped into the cold water in a perfect dive.

"Cold!" He shrieked jumping out of the water like one of the fish he was hoping to ride.

Cold? No kidding? Water close to the South Pole is cold? Who would have thought? I thought sarcastically. I was in a sarcastic mood today.

Aang swam out a good distance before diving under and coming back up on the back of an orange and white fish. He held onto the spin and rode it like a surfer rides a surf board.

Appa started eating some strange looking red and green plant and Katara quickly went to stop him. Aang looked over just as Katara left and held a disappointed look on his face.

A large black spiked fin came out from underneath the water behind Aang's mount. It acted just like a sharks dorsal fin.

All that was need was the Jaws theme song and we had the makings of a horror movie.

We instantly began waving and yelling for Aang to get out of the water. He thought we were just waving and waved back as he continued riding the currently in danger fish.

He was knocked off of the fish and into the water. The monster loomed over Aang, Aang looked up at the creature that had cast him into shadow and his mouth fell open in horror. He immediately began running on top of the water sending a spray on either side of him.

He ran right onto the beach and into me. I hit a tree hard with my back, Aang pinned to my front.

I whimpered at the pain. "Ow, Aang please get off." I pleaded as tears of pain collected in the corners of my eyes.

Aang hops up worriedly. "Are you okay, Kiara?" Aang asked apprehensively.

I twitched each of my limbs before attempting to get up. "I think s-ow!" I shouted as I collapsed into Aang's arms which had snapped up instinctively to catch me.

I whimpered in pain as I leaned heavily against Aang's chest. He was a couple inches shorter than me so it was awkward to say the least.

Aang maneuvered me around so I was sitting with my back to his chest as he leaned against the tree he had smashed me into.

"What was that thing?" Aang asked as soon as he was sure I was as comfortable as I could get.

"I don't know, but I don't want to find out. I think we should leave." Sokka said as he began to pack what little they had taken off of Appa's saddle.

Before we knew what was happening we were all bound and blindfolded.

I yelped in pain as the warriors didn't bother being gentle.

"Don't hurt her!" Aang demanded from somewhere on my left.

The warriors didn't say anything but I was picked up more gently, bridal style instead of being tossed over one their shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

I felt myself set down lightly on my stomach not on my sore back. I twitched to see how much maneuverability I had. The had tied my wrists and elbows together behind my back. I twitched my fingers to see if I could then concentrated mentally on finding liquid around me.

I focused on the moist air and tried to force the molecules of water to bind together.

I paid half of my attention to that task and the rest on the warriors who were standing in front of us if my instincts were to be believed.

"Or we could stay awhile." Sokka sighed.

I felt myself lifted up and tied to a pole. I squirmed uncomfortably as my sore back rubbed against the wood of whatever we were tied against.

"You four have a lot of explaining to do." An old man's voice said, it was deep and reverbrated with authority.

"And if you don't answer our questions, we'll throw you back to the Unagi." A woman's voice continued.

They named the damned monster?

"Show yourself cowards!" Sokka yelled out bravely (coughstupidlycough).

The blindfolds were torn away and light instantly blinded me for a second. Then I blinked the tears clear and we were facing a crowd of green adorned women with make-up and armor on. There was also a crowd of civilians behind the women and one man that stood beside the obvious leader of the women.

"Who are you? Where are the men that ambushed us?" Sokka demanded stupidly.

"Idiot." I muttered. "They're wearing armor and the civilians are a safe distance behind them. Its obvious they are the warriors." I said.

"There is no way a bunch of girls beat us." Sokka said his macho pride choosing the wrong moment to assert itself.

"A bunch of girls, huh." The leader of the warriors said grabbing Sokka by the front of his shirt. "The Unagi will eat well tonight." She said.

"No! Don't hurt him, my brother's an idiot sometimes." Katara pleaded.

"Sometimes?" I mutter just loud enough for the crowd to hear me. Some of them broke into giggles.

"Its my fault." Aang instantly took the blame. "I wanted to ride the elephant koi." he explained.

"How do we know you're not Fire Nation spies?" The old man demanded. "Kyoshi's stayed out of the war so far and we plan to keep it that way."

"Because we haven't burnt the ropes off of us and escaped yet? Because we have a flying bison which are air nomad animals? Because we look nothing like Fire Nation citizens? Because Aang has airbender tattoos? Because..." A hand was placed over my mouth keeping me from adding anymore reasons.

"This island is named after Kyoshi? I know Kyoshi!" Aang said eagerly.

"Impossible, Avatar Kyoshi was born here nearly four hundred years ago. She's been dead for centuries." The man said.

"I know here because I was her. I'm the Avatar." Aang said reverting to the trump card.

"Impossible," The woman claimed. "The last Avatar was an airbender who disappeared a hundred years ago."

"That's me." Aang said cheerfully.

"Throw the imposters to the Unagi." the man ordered.

"Aang do some airbending." Katara hissed at him from where she was tied.

Aang jumped up enhancing his jump with airbending cutting the ropes that held him to the statue of Kyoshi we were tied to.

The crowd instantly gasps and Aang uses this opportunity to show off his marble trick.

One man in the crowd instantly began to spaz out and fell to the ground with foam coming out of his mouth.

We were untied and led to a place to stay for a while.

"You wouldn't happen to have a doctor?" I asked the warrior who had escorted us to our sleeping quarters.

"Of course, follow me." The woman said helpfully.

She led me to a small healing hut near the edge of the village. She explained that I needed medical care and that I was with the Avatar and he fell over himself to help.

I explained about my back injury and he put a cream on it to sooth the pain and carefully wrapped my back so it wouldn't get infected.

I thanked him for his help and went back to the place we were given.

I fell asleep on my stomach instead of my side like I usually did. The next morning I woke in pain and realized I must've rolled onto my sore back.

I grumbled irritably as I sat up trying not to strain my back too much. I finally managed to get up and walk to the dining area. There was a long table set up with all sorts of dessert-type foods. Pastries, tarts, cookies, cakes, and a lot of other stuff I couldn't even name.

Aang was cheerfully eating a pastry with yellow frosting and Katara had helped herself to one with pink frosting. Sokka was sulking in a corner and not eating anything.

"What's wrong, Sokka?"Aang demanded. "Eat." He ordered cheerfully. Sokka merely slid farther down in his seat.

"I'm not hungry." He muttered sullenly.

"But you're always hungry." I pointed out helpfully from where I was leaning against the door frame.

"He's upset a bunch of girls kicked his butt yesterday." Katara said smugly.

"They snuck up on me." Sokka protested loudly.

"And then kicked your butt." I inserted.

"Sneak attacks don't count," He countered before getting to his feet and storming out the door. Only to come back in a minute later and grabbing a whole tray of desserts.

"What's he so angry about? They're giving us the royal treatment." Aang asked

"Don't get too comfortable. We have to leave soon." Katara cautioned.

"We'll be fine. Look how happy I'm making the town. They're even cleaning up Kyoshi's statue." Aang pointed out.

It was true. They had put a fresh coat of paint on the statue just this morning.

"Aang, don't let the attention go to your head." I warned.

"Aw, Kiara you know me better than that. I'm just a simple monk." Aang said.

A fan girl squeal broke us out of our conversation.

"Go and play with your fans." Katara encouraged.

"Thanks!" Aang shouted back at her as he ran out the door.

I plopped myself in the seat he had vacated and grabbed a few of the familiar looking pastries ignoring the more exotic ones for now.

"I'm going out for a bit." Katara said.

I nodded. And continued with my breakfast.

I finished eating and sighed. Where was Aang? He said he'd teach me airbending.

I decided to walk around while I waited for Aang to return. Maybe I could get some waterbending practice in and try to use earth and air bending without guidance.

I wrote a quick note in the characters of the local written language, it was Chinese or something close to it. I had managed to learn it through sheer luck and necessity. Going out to practice, see you later. It was short and to the point.

I left the house. Momo chirped inquisitively and then laid back down for a nap after his meal.

I walked out towards the Unagi's bay and stood on the beach. I had discarded my shoes a few feet back on the drier sand and had dug my toes in the cold wet sand that was lapped with a fresh wave every so often.

I closed my eyes concentrating on my other senses. I could feel the clumps of wet sand, much bigger than individual grains, between my toes. The chilly breeze that carried the scent of sea water and pine to my face. My hair which I had in a low ponytail, with my bangs free blew in the light wind. The soft lapping sounds as the water scrapped the beach with eager waves only to draw back when it lost its momentum and had to try again.

I took several deep breaths focusing on each element I could feel. The sun's warm poured down on me, the source of firebending. The sand shifted under my feet as I shifted my weight but there was an underlying sturdiness to it, earth. The waves brushed against my toes, pushing and pulling itself up and down the shore, water. The breeze caressed my face like a gentle touch of a child's curious fingers, air. And there was an underlying connection. I could feel the water jump up every so often with the waves, the air would catch some of the spray spreading it farther so it landed higher up on the beach, and as soon as the water would land it would be evaporated just as quickly as it had appeared.

I opened my eyes and my connection dulled until I almost couldn't feel it, but I did.

I took a stance I had seen Aang take during the fight with Zuko on his ship. I took a deep breath and started to follow the motions I had seen. I concentrated on getting the motions right ignoring the bending aspect of the practice until I was more comfortable with the physical movement required.

I practiced the movement until it was nearly instinctual. When I finally looked up I noticed the sun had risen nearly to the top of its course. It had been a few hours, two or three. That should be enough practice with the movements. Now to test if I could actually use the element. I took a deep breath and visualized the result I wanted as I pushed my arm forward.

A small burst of air pulsed from my outstretched hand before dissipating only six inches away.

Well, at least I could do it. Even if it would be useless at its current strength.

I took a seat on the beach letting my feet get wet with the bay's water. I made a swirling gesture with my hand collecting some water out of the atmosphere and taking a small sip out of the globe that hovered just above my palm.

It looked the the one YouTube video I watched about eating in zero gravity. It was actually really cool.

I stared out at the bay, the elephant koi were jumping out of the water every so often racing each other. The Unagi wasn't visible but I knew it was there and waiting for someone stupid enough to get close.

That's when I saw Aang with his fan club cheering him on. He was swimming out into the bay. And I nearly slapped my forehead with exasperation. That's right, Aang tries to show off to Katara. I ran to the portion of the beach where Aang's fan club stood.

"Aang! Get out of there!" I yelled.

"Aang!" Katara called.

"Katara! You came." Aang said cheerfully.

"What am I chopped liver?" I muttered under my breath.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay." Katara continued, she hadn't heard me.

"Back there you acted like you didn't care." Aang said.

"I'm sorry." Katara said simply.

"Me too, I let all the attention get to my head, I was acting like a jerk." Aang replied.

"Well get out of the water before you catch a cold, you big jerk." Katara called jokingly.

"I'm coming." Aang replied as he began swimming back to shore.

The Unagi's fin appeared behind Aang and I couldn't hold back a gasp. The Unagi got under Aang then came above the water. It was a giant black eel like creature. It looked down at Aang and shot a blast of water from its mouth at Aang trying to dislodge him from its back.

Aang was holding onto the fin of the Unagi for dear life and it lunged at him trying to eat him. Aang grabbed hold of one of the creatures whiskers and held on screaming as the Unagi shook its head trying to dislodge him.

Aang flew off of the Unagi's head and landed several yards from where we stood still in the water.

"Aang!" Katara called worriedly.

I shucked off my upper coat and pants leaving me in a two piece swimsuit I had made with extra cloth from the ship. I dove into the water and swam towards Aang with large powerful strokes. As soon as I grabbed him I used my waterbending to make us a raft out of ice. I then used waterbending to push the craft to shore at double quick pace.

We reached the shallow waters and the Unagi glared from where it had stopped in the still deep water.

I drove the raft right onto the beach and pulled Aang onto the sand.

"Aang, wake up." Katara begged from where she kneeled on the other side of Aang.

I thought of something and opened Aang's mouth gently and coaxed the water from his lungs with waterbending.

Aang woke up groggily after he took his first gasp of air.

"Kiara, Katara, don't ride the Unagi, not fun." He muttered weakly.

Katara laughed weakly with relief.

I looked away as they had their romantic moment and spotted Zuko's small war ship.

"Guys, Zuko's here." I warned.

They instantly looked up at me then where I was staring.

"We need to get back to the village." Katara said.

Both Aang and I nodded and followed Katara back to the village.

When we reached the village it was on fire. Zuko was in the main square.

"Where are you, Avatar?" Zuko called. "These little girls can't protect you." He said.

"Here I am!" Aang called jumping down so he landed in front of Zuko.

Katara ran to retrieve Appa and our supplies. I jumped down next to Aang calling water straight from the air to collect in a bubble around my hands. I froze the water into claws and stood in a defensive position next to Aang.

"Kiara, I'll handle it." Aang said.

I hesitantly took as few steps to the side so I was out of the way but close enough to help if they needed it.

I watched with apprehension as Aang fought Zuko, I was worried he would get hurt. I almost didn't notice the firebender sneak up behind me. I whipped around slashing my hand at him. It screeched loudly as it scrapped across the metal of his armor.

I jumped back to give myself some breathing room. He shot a fire ball at me and I dodged to the side. I melted the ice around my hands and flung it in a whip at the soldier's head. He was caught by surprise and fell backwards knocking his head against the wall of the house we were next to.

He stayed down.

I crept closer putting my fingers over his vein in his wrist. The pulse was weak but it was still there.

I sighed with relief. I didn't want to be a killer.

Aang blasted Zuko through a house with airbending then we were on Appa flying over the bay.

Aang looked back at the burning village sadly and before we could stop him dived into the water below us. He came back up on top of the Unagi and forced it to spray the village with water, thus putting out the fires.

Aang landed back on the saddle and got scolded then kissed on the cheek by Katara.

I sighed. I didn't have anyone. I wish I could find someone for me. Sokka belonged with Suki and Aang with Katara. So I was going to be the odd one out.

"Hey Aang, you promised you would teach me airbending." I reminded.

Aang cheerfully showed me how to do his marble trick and several other small bending exercise I could do on Appa's back.

And we sat quietly all the way to where ever Aang was taking us next.

A/N: I believe this is my longest chapter to date. I changed the summary tell me if you like this one better. Please review. It let's me know people like the story. Even if its just a word. Please?