Of Fire
Chapter 16
Detia looked down at her left arm for what had to be the hundredth time since she woke. The girl set eating, something she hadn't stopped doing, lunch with everyone in the mansion. She hadn't expected the Avatar and his peasant to be at the mansion nor did she expect Yue and Gyatso. When Katara had first entered the kitchen earlier that morning – where Detia set eating, her parents watching her like a hawk (they still couldn't believe she was awake better less acting like nothing had changed) – she had stopped in her tracks at the little white-hair child. In returned Detia turned to stare the woman down, her eyes occasionally flicking back to her food. Katara's gaze turned to the arm and leg, left un-bandage, then back to the child's clear golden eyes.
After a while Detia turned to her parents and silently asked why Katara was staring at her like she was looking at a ghost. Azula told her not to worry about it and to continue eating. The lightning bender did as she was told easily and ignored that water bender as Ty Lee lead her out of the kitchen to explain what happened as she knew it – which wasn't much. The Avatar reacted much the same way, stopping in his tracks and staring. Detia didn't even bother to look at him, not with the freshly made meal in front of her – salivating just by looking at it. Yue and Gyatso, on the other hand, reacted much differently. The instant Yue saw Detia the young Earth bender charged her friend like a wild rhino, Detia almost didn't see it coming. Thankfully Ty Lee intervened faster than anyone had ever seen her react, swiftly picking her child up and out of the way just as Yue was about to jump on her. Shortly after, Katara explained to her niece that she needed to be careful because Detia was in a fragile state. Yue nodded that she understood and hugged her friend lightly, completely ignoring the charred arm and leg. Gyatso wasn't quite so hyper and expressed his happiness that his friend was okay by handing her a get well soon card he'd been working on. The gift surprised her and she thanked him lightly, making him blush slightly – something Detia couldn't really understand.
And now she set, listening to the rain pouring over the mansion, a half-empty bowl of noodles in front of her, and staring at her left arm. It didn't look any different than the days before, she concluded from everyone's memories. But it didn't hurt, in fact she couldn't feel it at all. Though, Katara did say that burns of this magnitude usually killed all nerve endings so she wouldn't feel anything. She could lift it and turn it at her elbow but everything below that was stiff and hard, not like she'd imagine the kind of burn Katara was talking about to feel like. Not that she would know, but whatever. Her leg was the same way, but she had to do some odd maneuvering to see it and she didn't really have the desire for that. Besides, her parents seemed quite adamant about not letting her move too much. Whenever she wanted to go somewhere one of her parents would carry her to that place. She had suggested that she could try to walk by herself, that she did know how, but they shot that idea down faster than lightning, agreeing that the idea was the worst idea they had ever heard and that included the time they let Sokka talk Ty Lee into drinking the cactus juice.
The lightning bender had tried touching her arm, just to see if it would hurt but once her right hand got into the vicinity of her left arm Azula promptly slapped the hand away. The hit did not hurt, but the sound surprised the little girl and she jumped, turning to her mother with a classic 'puppy-dog' look. "Don't touch it." Azula said firmly, ignoring the look with practiced ease.
So, Detia looked around the room, Gyatso looked like he was about to fall asleep, Katara was talking with Aang, Yue was staring off into space minding her own business and painting on a piece of paper. The two other children were keeping their distance for fear of accidentally hurting the lightning bender, which made Detia sigh. She understood, of course, but it still annoyed her. Her parents were across the room talking to each other in hushed tones. If she wanted to she could eavesdrop on them and she had for about three seconds before deciding that listening to them talk about her was not something she wanted to hear about. However, they seemed to be distracted by the conversation, so Detia lowered her right hand under the table she was sitting at and touched her leg. The skin was hard and rough, similar to the feeling of dried mud, but she didn't feel anything from her leg. "Detia," Azula warned, not even looking at the girl. "What did I tell you?"
Detia frowned, glaring at her mother as she moved her right hand back to the tabletop. The lightning bender looked down at her bowl, finding that she wasn't hungry anymore and pushing the bowl away from her. Thunder rolled outside, drawing her attention to the only window in the room, seeing her thunderbird fly around in the distance – but not too far away she noticed. He could make it back to the mansion in less than a second if the need arose. She looked to her parents, 'Can I go outside?' she asked.
"No." They chorused sternly, wondering why she even asked.
Detia frowned, resting her head against the table – already bored. Restlessly, the lightning bender drummed the fingers of her right hand against the table. They weren't letting her do anything. A devious thought came to mind, causing a devious smirk to cross her lips. Her parents telling her 'no' had never really stopped her from doing anything. She simply chose not to out of respect for them but now they were just being overprotective, in her opinion anyways. Using her right arm as a lever she pushed herself to her feet. She could feel both of her parent's eyes on her; both too shocked to reprimand her. Ignoring their stares, Detia placed a bit of weight on her right leg, the cracking sound woke her parents from their shocked state, but Detia felt no pain. Looking down she could see where the cracks came from, thick black lines spiked across her skin, oozing a thick light yellow liquid, but again there was no pain.
"Detia," Ty Lee called hesitantly walking towards her child. The lightning bender looked up at her Mommy. "What are you doing?"
Detia looked back down at her leg, 'Trying something.'
She may not have remember what had caused her leg and arm to look like they did but she very clearly remembered her conversation with, well, herself. There was no doubt in her mind of her goddess status but she knew each god healed differently and seeing as her former self had never really been injured like this she didn't know exactly how it worked. However, she was not an unintelligent person and was fairly certain she knew what was going on. "Excuse me?" Azula intoned, her worry showing more than her anger.
Detia smirked at her mother and slammed her right foot into the ground, a long crack spiking up her entire lower leg – from her big toe to her knee – allowing more of the yellow liquid to ooze out. Ty Lee gasped loudly, fear clearly evident in her entire being. Just as the acrobat started to run to her child, to make her stop, Detia grabbed her chop sticks and stuck them into the crack, finally feeling the touch against her leg. Before the little goddess could use the chopsticks as a pry her mommy wrapped her arms around her, taking the chopsticks from her leg – throwing them somewhere across the room – and held her daughter tightly. "Detia stop, you could hurt yourself."
'No.' Detia countered, struggling against her mommy. 'I know what I'm doing.' She thought to the older woman, even though it was a half lie.
"Detia!" Azula's stern voice yelled, causing all motion to stop. "That's enough."
Detia frowned, but went limp against Ty Lee. Azula walked over to her child with every intention of punishing her for going against their wishes. Even though she had never done it before she was sure she could think of something. That was her intention at least, until something hard and fragile, like an eggshell cracked under her foot. Leaning over, she picked up a piece of whatever it was she had stepped on and examined it. It was yellow with specks of red and the edges were black. It took only a second for her to realize what it was and she looked at her daughter's right leg, where the girl had shoved in the chopsticks, finding a piece of it missing – the yellow liquid covering the small entrance.
Azula stood, approaching her daughter sternly. The little girl met her eyes without flinching, proving that she was not afraid of whatever her mother was going to do to her. Though that fact blossomed the pride within her, Azula had other matters to attend to. "Sit." She demanded. Ty Lee gently set her child onto the ground, making sure that her right leg was straight. Azula knelt and suddenly grabbed Detia's right leg, putting her hand up to stop Ty Lee from protesting. "Does that hurt?"
The lightning bender shook her head in the negative – she didn't feel a thing. "Azula?" Katara questioned.
Azula looked over to the water bender and her husband and the two children they had brought, having honestly forgotten they were there. "I'll need towels." She informed the water peasant and turned back to her little monster. "Alright, Ty Lee," she addressed her wife. "Don't panic."
"Why, what do you have planned?" she asked but before Azula answered the princess struck her daughter's leg, creating a crack parallel to the other one – from the little monster's small toe to knee. "Azula, what the hell?"
"Hush," Azula commanded, forgetting who she was talking to, as she struck the girl's leg twice more, once at her toes and once at her knee – creating a rectangle of black cracks on the girl's leg.
Detia did not so much as flinch as this was happening, which confused the acrobat more than anything. So she watched silently, vaguely noticing the other two children and Aang approach, as Azula stuck her hands into the cracks – one at her knee and the other at her toes – ignoring the yellow liquid pooling onto the floor and more importantly under her fingernails. It took some doing, more than Azula would have liked, to pull the piece of burn flesh from her daughter's leg. Ty Lee gasped, along with Katara and Yue, at what she saw under the flesh. Under the piece of flesh, surrounded by a protective yellow substance was Detia's right leg, absolutely pristine in appearance. Post haste, Azula tore off the rest of the shell like damaged flesh.
"How does that feel?" The princess asked, taking a towel Katara had brought and whipping off the remaining yellow liquid.
Detia smiled, wiggling her toes and bringing her right knee to her chest before pushing her left hand towards her mother.
~x~
The lightning bender touched her left hand to the toes of her right foot. It was an easy enough stretch to do. Though, the water peasant still had no idea how that even happened –a fact that made Azula smile smugly, though she didn't really know either. Detia had refused to answer any of their questions, claiming that she didn't know – which was only partially true. She was a goddess was the answer she would have given if she was being honest.
They had returned to the Capital the very next day, Katara and her family opting to go home. Having given no advanced notice, no one knew they were coming. It was Ty Lee's idea, to surprise everyone. And it did. They arrived at the palace around dinner time, telling the guards to remain silent about their arrival. Dinner was a somewhat traditional affair for the royal family. They all set quietly in the room, eating whatever they had that day. Usually, Ursa or Lu Ten or Iroh if he was there would start chatting about something or another half way through. But when Detia walked into the dining room – unnoticed by anyone and alone – everyone was eerily silent.
'Wow, what a party.' She had said, breaking the ice and causing everyone to look her.
The lightning bender didn't know how she got there, but she found herself on the floor all three of her cousin on top of her. Ty Lee had giggled when she and Azula entered the room, taking their normal seats. After that the cousins whisked Detia away to inform her of everything she missed while the adults discussed what had happened.
Detia was mildly shocked and disappointed to learn that most of their summer was almost over and ran off to grumble about it to her parents, trying to convince them to let her skip like the first couple of months. Azula denied the request quickly, telling her that she only had two more years before she finished and she should just suck it up and deal with it. Unfortunately, Ty Lee was in the room so Detia couldn't go behind Azula's back and ask her Mommy, who probably would have let her stay out.
That was the whole reason she was sitting outside under a tree in front of her school, wishing she had burnt it to the ground her first year. Class was about to start, not that she really cared, Ezra and Ursa had long since left to their classrooms. Neither wanting to be late and both wanting to talk to their friends before class started. Detia sighed as she stood and walked casually to her classroom before sitting in her assigned seat at the back corner of the class, vaguely wondering why the two seats beside her were never filled. Her attention was pulled from the empty seats to the teacher as he walked in. As instructed, everyone stood, bowed to the teacher, turned and bowed to the picture of the Fire lord, reciting some pledge or something that Detia had long since forgotten. When that was all finished and everyone was seated a ruckus was clearly heard outside the classroom.
The door opened, another male teacher entered, dragging one girl while another followed in swiftly after. He pulled the girl in front of him, setting her on her feet, her arms crossed with a scowl on her face. "These are your new students. Good luck." The teacher bowed and quickly left the room, causing the one girl to smirk.
The instant Detia laid eyes on these girls it seemed like she knew them. She didn't know from where or even how but she did recognize them. "Um, okay." The teacher hesitated. "Girls." He said addressing the two new students. "Do you want to introduce yourself?"
They remained silent, "Um." The one who wasn't dragged in said, fidgeting with the hem of her turquoise uniform. It was a regular looking academy uniform for girls, only it was turquoise with sky blue trimming and a matching belt. The girl opted to wear the outfit without the customary armbands, instead wearing cerulean gloves that only came to her middle of her hand and those were hidden under her long sleeves. Detia identified her as water tribe despite the fact that her skin was as white as a snow. Nervously, she flicked a strand of her thick light brown hair behind her shoulder, which just returned to its original position in the front. The thing that struck Detia the most was the choker around her neck. It was sky blue, the same as her belt, but hanging from it was a single red stone the old character for fire carved into it. If she remembered correctly, which she did, Yue had informed her that to the water tribe a necklace like that was a sign of engagement or marriage. Instead of wondering why someone who looked her age was engaged, Detia wondered who she was promised to. "My name is Yuna." The girl finally said her voice smooth and flowing like the water in a lake on a calm day. "This is Angi."
She gestured to the other girl beside her, whose arms were still crossed and looking more annoyed than anything. Half the class was wondering if she even belonged in this school because she was wearing a dark red, almost maroon, boy's uniform, and the bright yellow of the gi she wore under her tunic contrasting dramatically against the darker color. Angi turned to one of the girls sitting in the class, her red eyes – that almost looked brown in the right light – glaring at the girl. Apparently, the girl had asked a question but Detia had missed that part as she was busy examining the girls in the front of the class. "The colonies," Angi answered the question, flicking her wild uneven short jet black hair – the tips dyed a deep red – out of her eyes with a flick of her head.
Her skin was tanned, Detia noticed. Not like a member of the water tribe but actually tan, like she had spent way too much time outside in the sun, an even golden brown. Also around her neck was a choker, this one black with a blue gem hanging from it, the ancient character for water carved smoothly into its surface, like grooves created by the flow of water in a river. "Which colonies?" someone asked, causing Angi to roll her eyes.
"I'm from the colonies in the Water Tribe." Yuna answered but no one said anything even though they all knew there weren't colonies in the Water Tribe. "Angi is from the colonies in the Earth Kingdom." That could have been true but given her appearance Detia suspected she was from one of the small islands of the Fire Nation. "We are part of the exchange student program that Fire Lord Zuko set up in order to further the peace of our nations. It's a pleasure to meet all of you. I hope we become good friends."
The statement seemed false and hallow to Detia, only said because that's what everyone expected you to say. But there were a lot of false and shallow people in this classroom so most of them probably believed it. "Alight then." The teacher said with a smile. "Please take the two empty seats in back."
Angi walked back first, sitting in the seat right next to Detia's, crossing her arms and making sure to look bored. Yuna followed her companion closely, sitting in the seat in front of Angi. The water tribe girl turned and waved at Detia and the girl in front of Detia. And class continued. Aside from Angi making a poor attempt to cheat, which the teacher caught her at, everything was uneventful. The odd thing was that Detia couldn't read their minds and she actively tried. The second time she tried, she tried on Angi and the dark skinned girl turned to her slightly and smirked.
Detia actually blushed at being caught and turned away without trying again. At lunch, Detia was sitting by herself under the tree far enough away from everyone else so that she wouldn't be bothered, the same tree she'd been sitting under for five years. Ezra and Ursa didn't have the same lunch time so she was alone, like always. Until she heard, "Angi, that's not very creative."
"Shut up. Where are we going to sit?" Came the annoyed reply. The lightning bender looked up to find the two new students nearly right in front of her. "Can we sit with you?" Angi asked, her black eyebrow lifted, the lunches in her hand balanced with practiced ease.
"Didn't you hear what the others girls said about her? She might not want us to bother her." Yuna remarked.
"Those snobs? I don't listen to people like that. All I heard was blah, blah, blah doesn't conform to my wishes blah, blah, blah, something about something stupid. She sounds like my kind of person, honestly." Angi replied.
'I'm sitting right here.' Detia replied, not sure if either of them could hear her because she couldn't get into their minds.
"We know." Angi said and rolled her eyes at the surprised look on Detia's face. "So can we sit here or not?" Detia gestured to the empty space around her and the two set in front of her. "As you probably know, I am Angi and this is Yuna."
'Detia.' Detia informed. Angi looked at her suspiciously, an eyebrow lifted, as she handed her water tribe companion one of the box lunches. 'What?'
"Nothin'." Angi replied, "It's just that everyone said that you can't communicate. I knew they were just losers."
Yuna rolled her eyes. "Don't mind her, she's a bitch."
"It's true." Angi agreed, making Detia chuckle. "And I have a short fuse and will find just about any excuse to start a fight. Speaking of which, someone said that you were in the advanced Fire Bending class next period." Detia nodded. "I'm in that class too. So is she but she's a water bender."
'So we'll be learning different forms from you?' Detia inquired, looking to Yuna who was eating properly.
Yuna nodded, "Probably. I don't know what else I'd be doing there."
"Except, you know, show the Fire Nation what kind of power the Water Tribe really has."
The water bender sighed. "That's your forte not mine."
"Yeah, whatever." Was Angi's reply as she looked up at the sky. "Look at the sky, let's go to class."
"We still have ten minutes." Yuna argued even though she stood up.
"So?" The tanned girl remarked, making her companion sigh. "Come on, Detia! I want to challenge you. I hear you're good." Angi said as she grabbed Detia's hand and pulled her towards the boy's school.
"Sorry." Yuna whispered, when she finally caught up to them.
~x~
Detia set mediating in her room. The moon was high in the sky and most everyone was sleep. Her candle was barely lit, the flame low, casting the single room into a soft glow. "Detia!" the door to her room burst open, the sudden loud sound so out of the ordinary and unexpected the white-hair child jumped. "Did I scare you?"
The lightning bender turned to glare at the girl standing in her door, wearing only a baggy pair of red shorts and tight black tank top. 'Angi.' Detia questioned in a statement.
"Sup." The fire bender stated, closing the door behind her and promptly flopping down on Detia's perfectly made bed. "How come you get a single? And your bed is bigger? That's so unfair."
'Princess.' Detia answered simply, trying very hard to get back to her meditating.
"Yeah whatever. Lucky." Angi declared, grabbing the young royal's silk pillow. "Damn, and silk pillows, I feel so cheated."
'Your language is terrible.'
"Thank you." Angi thanked. "You were awesome today at training by the way. I don't think I've seen anyone defeat Yuna so fast. It was like watching the greatest show ever."
'Shouldn't you be with her?' Detia inquired, still in meditation form. 'In your room sleeping.'
"Na. She's off somewhere. You know how the moon affects the water benders. Besides I couldn't go to sleep. Why you want me gone?"
'Yes.' Detia answered without hesitation, making Angi chuckle.
"Blunt." Angi replied. "I like it. We're going to be good friends."
Detia's eyes popped open, pupils widened at the sound of that one word. She looked over to Angi, who despite being told to leave was still laying the bed, fiddling with the blue and red tassels of the silk pillow. 'Can I ask you something?'
"Shoot."
'That chocker around your neck, are you engaged?' Detia asked, turning to face her bed.
Angi instinctively touched the pendant on her chocker and smile thoughtfully. "No. I'm married." The tanned girl chuckled at the surprised look on Detia's face. "I know. I often think the same thing."
'But you're so young.'
"Oh, I forgot, crap." She said under her breathe, blushing slightly. "I'm not as young as I look?"
"That sounded lame even to me." Yuna's voice echoed over the empty space, causing both girls to turn to look at her.
"You're back from…whatever you were doing." Angi replied happily, patting the space on the bed beside her.
"Yes, I am back and that's awfully rude." The pale girl remarked as she walked into the room.
'It's alright, go ahead.' Detia offered before Angi could say something rude.
Yuna set on the bed as a noble woman would, folding her turquoise nightgown as she set. Angi moved to wrap her arm around the other girl's waist, completely ignoring the strange look Detia was giving them. "Detia and I were just talking about the chokers."
"Oh, is that where that excuse came from?" Angi only chuckled. "She doesn't think things through. It's an engagement necklace. We haven't been married off yet."
Detia chuckled, decided to leave the subject alone for now. 'What are you two doing over the winter holiday?'
"Why?" they chorused.
'When school ends we usually have a banquet at the palace would you two like to come?'
The two looked at each other before Yuna sighed. "We can't."
"But it has absolutely nothing to do you with you." Angi added quickly.
'Oh.' Detia exhaled heavily.
"If you want," Yuna started. "We can come over to the palace after the day of the solstice."
"Yeah!" Angi agreed happily.
Yuna lifted a perfectly manicured eyebrow. "You don't think these things through very often do you?"
"Not my style, I'm spontaneous." Detia and Yuna both rolled their eyes.
"Obviously."
Angi ignored them both. "You could totally show us around the palace."
'I could do that.' Detia agreed.
"Princess." A voice from behind the door called as a knock resonated in the room.
"Make her think we're not here." Angi whispered harshly.
'What?' Detia had never even heard of something like that.
"Just get into her mind and make her think we're not here." Angi nearly growled.
'I can't do that!' The lightning bender argued back.
"Yes you can," Yuna offered quietly. "Just try."
"I'm coming in." the voice from outside the door replied as the doorknob turned.
"Do it." Angi prompted.
Detia sighed heavily, 'I'll try.'
TBC