Hey guys! That you for all the favs and the 4 lovely reviews I got on the last chapter! I really appreciate it and they really do encourage me write more! Well... I won't keep you any longer, here's the next chapter...
Enjoy!
"Kei... Kei... Wake up." Katara said patting her lightly. She had never met someone who was as deep a sleeper as Sokka and found it funny when Kei swatted her hand away.
"Leave me alone Kenai, I'm still sleeping." Kyla grumbled groggily. She was in no mood for her brother's games, she had had the weirdest dream and had only just fallen asleep, at least, that's what she thought.
"Kei, wake up. You'll miss breakfast." Katara repeated a little more forcefully.
"Go away, I'll tell Mom..."
"Kei!" Katara shouted.
"Wha...What?" Kyla said waking abruptly to find Katara's chuckling lightly. "I'm still here... I thought... Well, nevermind." She said yawning. "Good morning Katara."
"Morning. You're a very deep sleeper; I've been calling you for a while now."
"Sorry." Kyla said sitting at the edge of her bed. She looked around at her surroundings, disappointed that what she thought was a weird dream was actually reality. She was still here, in the past and had no idea what she was meant to do and how she was going to get back to her time.
"Are you alright Kei? You look a bit sad." Katara asked, joining Kei on her bed.
"No, I'm fine. Just still half asleep that's all. Is there a bathroom I could use to freshen up or something?" Kyla said rubbing her eyes. She needed time to think and create a plan. It's what her Dad would be telling her to do, if he didn't hate her guts at the moment that is.
"Yes, just through that door." Katara said pointing to a door just beside her bed. "You pull the lever and water comes through the pipes into the basin. It's cold, but it's fresh and will help wake you up. I usually get Aang to help me warm it but he's already started his training with Zuko. I left you some breakfast in a bowl near the fire outside. It should still be there seeing as Sokka isn't awake yet. I'll see you there when you're done."
"Thanks Katara. For everything." Kyla said placing her hands over Katara's. It was weird seeing her mom at this age. She saw aspects of herself in her but yet could tell that she was the Katara and mother she knew through and through. Kyla had always wondered what her parents had been like during the war and found it comforting to see that her mother had changed very little.
"That's ok. I better go and wake Sokka and Toph. They'll sleep till midday if I don't."
"Bye." Kyla said waving to Katara as she left. After the door had closed, Kyla got up and made her way into the bathroom. Like the majority of the rooms at the air temple, it looked old and in need of refurbishment. If it wasn't for the small containers and the bar of soap at the edge of the medium sized basin, Kyla would never have guessed that that the water pipes that stuck out of the wall still worked. The walls were discoloured and a smell of dust seemed to linger within the room in ways that only old rooms can. Kyla sighed and looked in the cracked mirror. She looked tired. She was not a morning person and her odd new settings didn't help matters. Her hair was messy and in need of comb and her clothes had begun to smell a bit worse for wear due to her sleeping in them the night before. "Clothes." She thought to herself. "I need a change of clothes. I would love to wash and re-wear these, but I don't think anyone would appreciate me walking around naked." Kyla re entered the bedroom and had a look for something she could wear. While rummaging through Katara's bags, something she truly hated herself for doing, she found a Fire Nation outfit consisting of a one sleeved short top and a medium length red skit. "So this is what they wore back in the day." She said holding up the items in question. "And Dad thinks I show too much skin!"
With clothes to wear afterwards, Kyla made her way back into the bathroom, freshened up quickly and tried her hardest to finger comb her hair grateful that it was not as curly as her brother's. Now more awake than before, she sat on her bed and began to try and come up with both answers as to why she was here and a plan to get her back home. "The lady said I needed to push things forward. " She thought to herself. "Maybe that means I have to help them with plans for when the comet comes. But that makes no sense. It's too early. We're still at the Air Temple and they would only ask me how I knew so much." Kyla got up and started to pace back and forth, a habit she had picked up from her father. "Think... She said that they are hard headed." Well the only people she would described as hard headed was her parents Zuko and Katara from the way they clashed so easily the night before. "That's it!" She said out loud causing a strange echo to resonate within the room. "That's what she wants me to do. That's why she said I'm proof that it would work, she wants me to help my parents fall for each other. Then I can go back home"
With her plan in mind and a new positive outlook on her situation, Kyla made her way towards the opening where the rest of the group were having breakfast. Her newly found optimism was soon dashed at the sight of Zuko and Katara arguing again. Not wanting to make matters worse, Kyla quickly took her bowl from the fire and went and sat beside Toph. "What happened? Why are they arguing?" Kyla asked.
"Katara thinks that Zuko pushed Aang to hard today during practice. Zuko thinks she is being too protective." Toph replied.
"Well that's Katara for you." Kyla said taking in another mouthful.
"How would you know? You've only been with us for a day..." Toph asked suspiciously.
"Errr... Well. From the little I saw yesterday, she seems like the motherly type." Kyla replied quickly. She needed to stop making slip ups like that if she didn't want to have to answer unwanted questions. As she continued to eat her breakfast, the loudness of Zuko and Katara's argument began to overtake the peaceful tranquillity of the Air Temple surroundings and it became almost impossible not to get caught up in what they were saying.
"I'm just saying Zuko, it would be in everyone's best interests if you didn't burn Aang to a crisp while teaching him Firebending." Katara said sarcastically.
"For the last time, I didn't burn him. Aang wasn't being careful and burned himself. It isn't even a major burn, and you've already healed it so what's the problem?" Zuko replied. He was becoming more and more frustrated with his lack of understanding when it came to something he called 'Katara's logic'.
"The point is Zuko, is that you are his teacher, if you were teaching him correctly he wouldn't have made the mistake of burning himself." Katara said loudly.
"If he hadn't of made the mistake he would never have learnt from it." Zuko retorted angrily. Tensions were running high. Kyla could swear that the flames of the fire were corresponding with Zuko's feelings at the moment.
"Err... I don't think they're talking about Aang anymore." Toph whispered to Kyla.
"Ladies and Gents!" Sokka said loudly emerging from the doorway that led onto the opening and thus bringing a complete stop to the argument. "After eating all of the fire candies, for your benefit of course, I have concluded that they are not poisonous. There is no need to thank me. I was only doing my duty." He continued whilst taking a bowl of food and seating himself next to Kyla. "You're all right with me Kei." Sokka said smiling widely.
"Thanks Sokka. I'm glad you don't think I'm a spy anymore." Kyla said grinning.
"So...Kei...You wouldn't happen to have any more of those Fire Candies would you?" Sokka whispered.
"Sorry, I'm all out." Kyla replied chuckling. Zuko and Katara had parted ways since Sokka had entered, both having had enough of each other's company. Katara came and sat beside Sokka with a scowl on her face and an all around annoyed demeanour whilst Zuko went to his room.
"You should give Zuko a break Katara. He's trying his best and if he wanted to hurt Aang, he would have done so already when they went and saw the dragons." Sokka said nudging Katara playfully. He hated it when Zuko and Katara fought. It put a real downer on the group's dynamic.
"I don't trust him." Katara said flatly as she stared into the fire intensely.
"But you have to admit that you are being a bit hard on him sweetness."
"He burnt Aang!" Katara said exaggerating each word in the hope that someone would understand the enormity of the situation
"Aang burnt himself. And besides, you weren't that hard on me when I first taught Aang earthbending and I gave Aang bruises that still cause him pain" Toph said laughing.
"She does have a point Katara." Sokka added grinning at Katara's inevitable defeat.
"Can't you guys see that..."
"It's laundry day!" Aang shouted excitedly while holding a bag of clothes. Kyla had wondered where he had wisely gone off too during the argument.
"Oh yeah it is!" Sokka said excitedly. Even Toph perked up and rushed to her room.
"Ugh...Not again." Katara mumbled to herself.
"Laundry day? What's so great about laundry day?" Kyla asked confused.
"Well, these guys use it as an excuse to play in the river which means that I usually end up having to wash their clothes. That's why they get so excited while I just see it as an extra chore day." Katara said rising to her feet. She didn't mind Laundry day as much as she made out, and her waterbending did help speed things along.
"That doesn't seem fair, oh and sorry for borrowing your outfit without asking first. I didn't have any other outfits. I'll return it as soon as possible." Kyla replied slightly embarrassed. She too stood to her feet, her legs being slightly tiff from sitting for so long.
"That's all right. It suits you. And your right, it's not fair, but I don't mind. It's one of the things we look forward to as a group. "
"I'm guessing that's why everyone's gone, to get their clothes ready." Kyla said grinning.
"Yeah. We usually meet wherever Appa is by about midmorning and then head over to the river. It's not far from here and is pretty secluded so there isn't a chance that's we'll get spotted." Katara replied walking into her room. The two of them began collecting clothes and items that needed to be washed. Even things like blankets and towels were brought along.
o0o0o
The trip to the river was awkward at best. With Haru, The Duke and Teo deciding to stay behind to watch over the temple, the group consisted of Sokka, Aang, Toph, Katara, Zuko and Kyla. Sokka and Toph chatted mindlessly about who would win their annual "Hold your breath underwater" contest, with Sokka enthusiastically saying that he had practiced a lot so would beat Toph easily. Aang sat ahead steering Appa while playing with Momo, which left Zuko, Kyla and Katara. Kyla had tried on several occasions to make conversation with Zuko who was sitting opposite her, but only seemed to be rewarded with one or two word answers if anything at all.
"Why is this so hard?" She thought to herself. "I have a hard time getting Dad to stop talking to me when I'm back home." It wasn't until she saw how tightly Zuko was holding onto Appa's saddle that she realised. "He hasn't ridden Appa as often as everyone else. He's still a bit shaky." She concluded. His knuckles were white and his jaw was tightly locked in place. "Perhaps on the back of Appa isn't the best place to try and build bridges." Kyla decided silently.
Katara on the other hand seemed lost in her own world. She gazed out towards the surrounding and hardly stirred during the whole journey.
"What are you thinking about?" Kyla asked.
"Nothing much really. I was just enjoying the view. You know, for your first time riding Appa, you're doing pretty well." Katara said chuckling. She didn't know why but she found it really easy to talk to Kei. Zuko glared at Kei suspiciously.
"Great." Kyla thought to herself. "Another reason for Dad not to trust me."
"I remember my first time on Appa. I was so scared. Now, it's just like second nature I guess." Katara said shrugging.
"I guess I'm just a natural..." Kyla said trying her hardest to make it sound genuine. It wasn't like she could say that she had actually ridden on Appa hundreds of times and has been doing so since she could walk.
"Are we there yet? I hate being in the air!" Toph groaned loudly.
"Yes. We are!" Aang replied bringing Appa down to land. As soon as Appa was safely on the ground, the group dismounted and ran to the river, conveniently leaving the clothes for Zuko, Katara and Kei to carry. Zuko took a bag and walked upstream, placed himself near the edge of the river and began scrubbing. He was use to washing his clothes by hand due to his time travelling with his Uncle. Katara and Kyla on the other hand went to sit downstream of the group. As they made themselves comfortable, Kyla tried her hardest to copy what Katara was doing. She had never washed clothes before and seemed to be incredibly clumsy when it came to it. If she wasn't holding the clothes incorrectly she was losing the soap. If it wasn't for Katara's quick thinking, it would have floated downstream many times already.
"You're not use to washing clothes are you Kei?" Katara asked.
"Errr... No. Not really." Kyla replied sheepishly. Katara had washed and rinsed three items of clothing while she was still on her first shirt.
"That's ok. I'll wash, you rinse and then you pass them back to me so I can dry them with waterbending."
"That's ok, I can do that." Kyla said drawing the water out using her own waterbending skills.
"You're a waterbeder!" Katara exclaimed excitedly. If it wasn't for all the noise that Toph, Aang and Sokka were making, they would have heard her too.
"Great..." Kyla thought to herself. "Another dumb way in which I've almost blown my cover. Way to go stupid."
"But, I thought you said that you were Fire Nation?" Katara asked confused. Suddenly, Kei had become a whole lot more interesting than Sokka's dirty socks.
"Well...I am... You see..." Kyla tried to think quickly. The cat was out of the bag but she didn't want to give too much away. "My dad is Fire Nation. My mom, Watertribe." Kyla said hoping that would sate Katara's curiosity.
"Hmmm...So that would mean..." Katara said placing her finger to her chin in a thinking pose.
"Oh no... Don't say it mom." Kyla thought to herself.
"I guess it's like..."
"No mom pleeeease don't say it..."
"I guess you're like a STEAM BABY!" Katara said grinning widely at Kei. Kyla on the other hand placed her hand over her face in a defeated manner. She hated it when her mom called her and her brother her "steam babies". Not because she found it particularly offensive or anything, just because she seemed to do it ALL THE TIME. It seemed like even in the past, her mother had a liking for that phrase.
"I guess..." Kyla replied.
"So how did they meet?" Katara asked staring widely at Kei. She loved romantic stories and could tell that she was in for one. Kyla on the other hand looked slight worried. What could she say? That her parents fell in love while helping the Avatar. Not likely. Instead she decided to keep it simple.
"Errr... They met during the war and fell in love." Kei replied not taking her eyes off the trousers she was rinsing.
"But how?" Katara asked, insisting that Kei continue her story. "Did he write poetry? Did he..."
"WATER SNEAK ATTACK!" Sokka screamed loudly soaking Katara and Kyla. "Wow Katara, you must have been having some conversation, my sneak attacks don't usually work. What are you guys talking about?" He continued, swimming over to them.
"Kei here is a waterbender. She was just going to tell me how her parents met." Katara replied waterbending off her and Kyla's soaked clothes.
"Really..." Sokka said suspiciously. A thought seems to enter his mind quickly but just as soon as it came, he shrugged it off. "So how are the clothes going?"
"Well it would go a lot faster if someone decided to help." Katara replied sarcastically.
"That's a real shame. Well... I'm off to defend my title. I just beat Toph at holding your breath underwater. She's been practicing with Aang saying that she'll beat me during the rematch. Enjoy the clothes washing!" Sokka said waving goodbye before splashing them again.
"Ugh. Why would he ask if he wasn't going to help?" Katara said frustratedly. Kyla shrugged.
"I guess, it just all older brother's jobs to annoy their sisters."
"I guess..." Katara eyes wondered across the river to where Zuko was sat. "Look, he doesn't even try to be a part of the group." Kyla was confused at first about who Katara was talking about until she saw where her eyes were focussed.
"He's probably scared to." Kyla replied sympathetically.
"Scared. Why would he be scared?"
"Well, I've only been here just over a day and I can see that you haven't been giving him the easiest time. Besides, He probably thinks that if he gets too close you'll probably shout at him again." Kyla said shrugging.
"That's just silly." Katara replied "He the one with problem not me."
"That might be true, but the way I see it. Zuko doesn't really like me; he distrusts me and so pushes me away."
"What? Why do you think that?"
"He told me. Anyway, even though he doesn't trust me, I still tried to talk to him on Appa, as you saw, but he still kind of ignored me. It becomes hurtful after a while when you try to build a bridge between yourself and someone else and then constantly break it down." Katara placed her hand on Kyla's shoulder sympathetically.
"I'll have a talk with him...It's..."
"No!" Kyla shouted. "Please, don't. Zuko will warm to me in his own time..."
"But it's not fair. Yes we don't know that much about you but you done nothing but good since you've joined us. You've even been helping out so I don't know why he can't give you a chance."
"Exactly..." Kyla said staring deep in Katara eyes hoping she would understand. There was no way she was going to get her parents to like each other if they couldn't even be civil to each other first. Katara opened her mouth as if to say something but then closed it abruptly. She had been caught out by her own logic and didn't know what to say. Zuko had done nothing but good since he was here, he was even washing The Duke's shorts at this very moment, something she thought she would never see him do, but she still felt as if something was there, something unresolved.
"I understand what you're saying Kei, I really do, it's just with Zuko, there's a history there that isn't too easy to just forget like that. I will try though, for your sake. Hopefully he'll pick up on that and treat you a bit better." Katara said playfully nudging Kei.
"Thanks." Kyla replied. As the day went on the two continued to wash clothes while talking about nothing particularly important. Eventually, they finished and began to reload Appa's saddle before jumping into the river themselves. Seeing as Sokka and Katara now knew about her waterbending, Kyla saw no reason to continue hiding it and so with Katara, got sweet revenge on Sokka for soaking them earlier. An hour or so into the "Everyone against the waterbenders" game, Zuko came around and said that they should leave before it got any darker. As they each got out and Katara or Kyla dried them off with waterbending, something Sokka said he would "never get use too" Zuko packed his load of clothes onto Appa. Soon afterwards, the rest of the gang got on and quickly made their way home all of them tired from their fun activities during the day.
o0o0o
By the time they reached the Air Temple, it was early evening and the sky had turned a light purple colour. Sokka, Toph and Aang helped to unload the bags while Katara, Zuko and Kyla made their way to the kitchen area. Thankfully, Haru had cooked and left for them so at least that was one thing Katara didn't have to worry about. Kyla looked between Zuko and Katara as they walked to the kitchen. It was odd how different they were now to how she knew them. She knew that they didn't start off as friends but to actually see it before her was surreal. Katara coughed nervously bringing Kyla back to the present. She could tell that Katara wanted to tell Zuko something but just needed a little push.
"I'm going to check if the guys need any help with the clothes." Kyla said leaving the two alone, hoping that something, anything would happen to push their relationship in the right direction. Katara glared at Kei knowing full well what she was up too. But it was wasted on her; Kei simply smiled back and left the two of them alone. Katara sighed in defeat. As they got to the kitchen, Katara served out two bowls of what she assumed was soup (Haru was not the best of cooks) and passed the large spoon to Zuko. She did say she would try.
"Zuko." She said so quietly that if they hadn't been beside each other he might not have heard it. Zuko stopped and turn to look at Katara, wondering what she was going to shout at him for now. "I just..." Katara continued facing downwards, unable to look him in the eye. "I just wanted to say thank you, for helping with the clothes today. It would have taken a lot longer if it was just Kei and I doing it." Zuko was dumbstruck. Out of all the things he expected Katara to say this was the least likely.
"Errr...You're welcome." He replied, unsure of what else to say. Katara smiled slightly and left with the two bowls to find Kei. Kyla was helping the rest of the group distribute the clean clothes to those that stayed behind when Katara came over handing her a bowl. She noted that Katara looked a bit happier than how she left her.
"Great. Something good must have happened. " She thought to herself.
"Hey! Where's our bowls!" Sokka moaned.
"That's for not helping with the clothes. You can serve yourselves." Katara replied snootly. Kyla tried her hardest to keep a straight face at Sokka's plight but couldn't help but giggle slightly. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that Zuko had started a fire and sat beside it. He seemed to be reluctantly eating his food which made Kyla worry about the contents of her own bowl. Leaving Katara and the rest of the group to playfully argue about how 'carrying the clothes of Appa was helping', Kyla made her way to sit next to Zuko.
As she approached and sat down, she could see Zuko almost instantaneously tense up. Kyla sighed quietly. She had made progress with her mom, now it was time to try and do the same with her hard headed dad.
"How's the food?" She asked trying to break the ice.
"Bad." Zuko replied flatly.
"Look Zuko, I know you don't trust me, but I am trying my best and I honestly don't mean you or anyone else in the group any harm. I'm not a bad guy." Kyla said curiously playing with her food. It did look awful.
"You're hiding something." Zuko replied turning to face her. It was then that he realised that this was the first time he had actually looked at her. She did look Fire Nation but there was something off about her. She also reminded him of someone but he couldn't quite work out who.
"We all have secrets." Kyla said staring at him point blank. Zuko looked at her slightly defeated but not enough to give it away. She was right. Everyone had their secrets, even he had a few that he would rather keep to himself.
"Look, I'm not saying that we should become best friends or anything like that, but can we at least try to be civil around each other?" Kyla asked hopefully. Zuko looked to his food. If Katara was being nicer to him, then perhaps he could give this girl a chance. Slowly, he nodded. "Great." Kyla said smiling before taking in her first mouthful of the soup. To her surprise, it wasn't too bad.
"So, how's the food?" Katara asked seating herself down beside Kyla, the rest of the group followed. Kyla was so caught up in her conversation with Zuko that she didn't even hear them coming.
"It's not too bad actually." She replied.
"That's what I've been saying but no one believes me!" Sokka whined.
"That's because you'll eat anything." Toph joked causing the rest of the group to start laughing.
"Well, it's going to be a nice night." Katara said looking at the clear sky. Stars had already started to show and a cooling breeze seemed to flow through even so often.
"Wooo! We can sleep outside!" Toph cheered. Kyla on the other hand squirmed in her seat.
"Have you never slept outside before?" Aang asked. Kyla shook her head. Even when travelling from the palace she had slept on a ship.
"Never been camping?" Sokka asked.
"Nope."
"Then this, if you are able to drown out Sokka snoring..."
"Hey!" Sokka whined.
"Shall be an experience for you." Katara added. Kyla simply smiled.
"Sleeping outside." She thought to herself. "What would her parents say..."
FloraIrmaTylee: I'm so happy that you liked it! Yeah, I really tried my hardest to make Mi Yiun not sound pervy...I hope I succeeded. I'm also glad that you like Zuko's reaction to Kyla. To me, Zuko seems like the type of person that wouldn't be so trusting when it came to strangers...^_^
stardustlife: Thanks for reading, especially since it's not the type of story you are into. I'm glad you like it!
BROWNeyes: Hopefully this update is soon enough for you! ^_^ I'm glad you enjoyed the first chapter!
Boogum: Thanks! Hopefully you'll like this chapter.