CHAPTER 1

The next morning, I woke up alone in the large bed. I got up and went to my own quarters to get dressed in my normal Fire Nation clothes. But I still had blue eyes and tan skin. It's funny, actually. Everyone except General Iroh and Zuko, and the crew of the ship, call me 'Water Tribe Girl.' They can distinguish me from anyone on the ship. Mainly because I'm the only girl.

I went out to the deck, wrapped in a blanket, to find Zuko sparring with his crew. He and General Iroh then argued about something until General Iroh pulled out a bowl of roast duck. Zuko glared at him, then turned away.

Looking off into the distance, I spotted the Southern Water Tribe. My home. I smiled to myself. Zuko came up beside me and stood there, leaning over the rail.

"This is your home?" he asked. I nodded. "It's beautiful..." he whispered. "But it's cold. All the ice around here... Did you have a family?"

I nodded again. "Parents, a brother and sister. I don't remember much about them though. I was taken away from them when I was five," I explained. I sighed then. "I wonder if they still remember me..." I spotted a Fire Navy ship's flare in the distance. "Prince Zuko, look!" I said, pointing it out.

But he was already climbing the ladder to the watchtower. "Wake my uncle!" I heard him shout. How long had we been standing there? "Tell him... I've found the Avatar. As well as his hiding place." Did this mean the Avatar was in my village? What was Zuko gonna do?

Before I knew it, Zuko was fully dressed, and the ship was colliding with the ice the village was on. When the ship stopped, everyone in the tribe stood there, shocked. The ramp was let down, and Zuko and some of his men walked down onto the ice. Being Zuko's servant, I was ordered to go with him, and I did.

One of the tribe's warriors tried to attack Zuko, but he was just knocked out of the way. We reached the ice, and Zuko stepped forward, asking for the hiding place of the Avatar. No one answered, and Zuko reached out and grabbed the hood of a familiar woman's parka. I gasped when I realized it was my grandmother.

The girl who was standing next to her was Katara. My sister... I stayed where I was, not wanting to upset Zuko as he continued asking where the Avatar was. Then the same warrior tried to attack Zuko again, but flew over his head. Wait! That was Sokka! Zuko shot fire at him, and was almost hit by Sokka's boomerang. A little kid tossed Sokka a spear, and he ran at Zuko, only to have it broken twice and himself hit in the head three times, then the rest of the spear snapped in half and thrown to the ground.

The boomerang came back and hit Zuko in the back of the head, making him angrier than he already was. A penguin came out of nowhere...with a boy on it? The boy knocked Zuko's feet out from under him, making his helmet fly off, and he landed on his face in the snow. Weirdly, his helmet landed on his butt. I let out a small giggle at the sight, but stopped when he glared up at me. He got up, breathed in, and got in a battle stance.

Snow was then thrown at Zuko and his crew while I stood to the side, watching the whole thing. Zuko had ordered two of his men to stay with me, only to make sure I didn't escape.

The boy who'd been on the penguin asked, "Looking for me?"

Zuko was astonished. "You're the Airbender?" he asked the boy. "You're the Avatar?!" They started circling each other. "I've spent years preparing for this encounter. Training, meditating... You're just a child."

The boy stopped and looked at Zuko, puzzled. "Well, you're just a teenager," he said. Then the battled. More like, Zuko shot fire, the boy blocked it. Then he stopped and held out his staff. "If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?"

Zuko stood straight and nodded once. His men escorted the boy to the ship.

"No, Aang, don't do this," Katara said.

"Don't worry, Katara. It'll be okay," the boy replied.

My brother and sister stood there, shocked and worried. Zuko headed back to the ship and I followed, giving one last look to my siblings. "Prince Zuko," I whispered to him, stopping him halfway up the ramp.

"What?" he snapped.

"Can I say goodbye?" I asked him.

"You have two minutes," he said, then crossed his arms, watching me.

I ran back down the ramp and to my family. Sokka and Katara were shocked when I hugged them, but then they hugged me back. "Kiara," I heard Sokka whisper. "We thought you were dead. Like Mom..."

"Mom's dead?" I asked, pulling back to look at them.

Katara and Sokka nodded, tears filling their eyes. "They killed her the day they took you," Katara said. "She said she was the last Waterbender, but she lied." I looked at her, confused. "Don't tell him," she said, referring to Zuko. I nodded. "I'm the last Waterbender, Ki." I gasped.

"Kiara!" Zuko called. I hugged Sokka and Katara again, then went back to Zuko, who led me up the ramp with his hand on my shoulder. "Head a course to the Fire Nation!" he shouted. "I'm going home." We headed up to the deck, where Zuko confiscated the boy's staff. "This staff will make and excellent gift for my father. I suppose you wouldn't know of fathers, being raised by monks." Was he going to be this bitter? "Take the Avatar to the prison hold. And take this to my quarters," he ordered, handing the staff to his uncle.

General Iroh looked at the staff, then handed it to the man beside him. "Hey, you mind taking this to his quarters for me?" I couldn't help but giggle. Then he headed inside. I followed the man down the hall until I reached my own quarters.

I wasn't going to bother Zuko when he was like this. Exhausted, I fell on my bed and immediately went to sleep.

The ship suddenly stopped, waking me. I got up and ran out onto the deck, only to find it halfway covered in snow. "What happened?" I asked.

"Good news for the Fire Lord: the Fire Nation's biggest threat is just a little kid," General Iroh said, trying to lighten the mood.

"That kid, Uncle, just did this," Zuko replied. The boy covered the ship in snow? "I won't underestimate him again. Dig the ship out and follow them!" he barked. I looked and saw three of his men frozen. Now I was even more confused. "As soon as you're done with that," he added, seeing that three others were busy thawing them out. What in the world happened?