Book 1: Water : Prologue

Thought I'd upload this now, because I'm going to be busy most of the next week, though I'll be spending as much time as I can working on Book 1.

Just wanted to say too, this story disregards the comics and anything learned in them, mainly because I've yet to find and read them myself, so I'm sorry about that.

Also, this is un-betaed, so any and all mistakes are mine, and please feel free to point them out. :)

I do not own anything to do with Avatar: The Last Airbender, I'm just playing in the world for a bit.

oO0.0Oo

Prologue: Part 2

Cold. Cold and dark. Everything was dark, dark blue, pressure pushing in from all sides. Her eyes stung, but she kept them open, searching, until she finally saw a glimmer of light. She fought her way towards it. That way lay life. Everywhere else was death. Her lungs where on fire, fighting her, screaming for air, but she refused to breathe. Suddenly, her head broke the surface and she fed her starving lungs, drawing in shuddering, gasping breaths. Air. Sweet, glorious air.

She blinked her stinging eyes furiously until she could see again to confirm her suspicion. She was hovering, treading water in the middle of the ocean. As far as she could see on all sides was nothing but endless water.

That, certainly, did not bode well. She was tired, struggling for breath and to stay afloat.

Okay. Okay, she thought, trying to calm her frazzled mind. Okay, I just have to stay calm. Panicking will not, cannot, help. Just stay calm and try to remember what to do.

But what could she do? She was stranded in the middle of the ocean! There was literally nothing she could do but fight to stay afloat! And eventually, her muscles would give out, or she'd fall asleep, or something and sink to her watery doom!

No! Those thoughts are not helping!

Hours past and she drifted in and out, focusing everything on just staying alive. Every muscle ached and she shivered. It was so cold. What could she possibly do?

She was so tired, so close to giving up she couldn't be blamed for not seeing the ship as it came up behind her. She barely felt the changing pull of the water, until a higher wave forced her back under.

She was so tired. But still her mind refused to let her body give up and she clawed her way back to the surface.

"Hey!" She tried to scream at the passing ship. Her voice was so low and cracked, her throat ached. But she tried again.

"Hey! Someone! Please help! Help me…" And that was it. She drifted off into the dark.

oO0.0Oo

Rough hands where pulling at her, dragging her over something hard and dropping her onto a solid surface. She was so cold, her whole body shook and she groaned, swatting at the hands.

"I think she's waking up. Someone fetch the ship physician. Go! Hurry!" the voice sounded young and very close by. Maybe he was the one who was dragging her around. With a moan, she made herself open her stinging eyes. Leaning above her was an eye. A golden yellow brown. Really pretty now she thought about it. She blinked and more came into focus. A face. Sharp precise lines. A boy's face, around her own age. One eye was looking at her, the golden yellow eye, but the other was covered in bandages, a grey band wrapping around his head to keep them there. His head was mostly shaved except for a single black ponytail. He was saying something again, or at least his lips were moving, but she couldn't hear what it was. Thinking took a lot of energy, so she stopped and let herself pass out again.

oO0.0Oo

"How is she?"

"She'll be fine. She's exhausted, slightly dehydrated, hypothermic, but nothing we can't treat. She'll be alright in a day or so, if not sooner."

"Good, good. Will she be waking up soon?"

"It looks like she already is."

Blinking herself into consciousness, Rhian tried to make sense of where she was. It was some metal room, the lighting was red, throwing a lot of shadows everywhere. Long banners hung on the walls with a picture of a flame. She was covered in piles and piles of blankets, but she was still cold. Moving her head, she spotted who had been talking. A man, dressed in some kind of armour was standing with a shorter, older man with grey hair, spiked sideburns and a beard. They were both looking at her. Groaning, she rolled over away from them. She was too tired to deal with this.

"Hello, young lady." The older man came over to her bedside and she pulled the covers over her head. He laughed, settling down into a chair by the bed. "I know you're very tired, but I'd just like to ask you some questions."

Fine, she guessed that was fair, if she had too. The more she woke up, the better her head felt. The memories of the cold ocean water were coming back to her. The water and the ship. Getting dragged out of the sea. Slowly, it occurred to her that she was on the strange ship that had saved her life.

Slowly, she sat up, shifting until she was sitting cross-legged on the bed, her back against the wall and the blankets wrapped in a cocoon around her.

"Okay." She said.

The man smiled kindly, drawing a smile from her in response. "My name is Iroh. What's your name?"

"Rhian." She said. Talking still hurt her throat and Iroh, noticing the crack to her voice, passed her a glass of water.

"Thank you." she said.

"Rhian is a very nice name."

"Thank you." She said again.

"Rhian, how did you get to the middle of the ocean? There wasn't another ship for miles."

"I don't know."

"Well, what happened to you? What do you remember?"

"You'll think I'm crazy. Hell, I kinda think I'm crazy." She laughed, mockingly.

"I've heard some very crazy things in my time. Why don't you tell me? If nothing else, it sounds like it could be an interesting story."

He seemed very kind. And she was so tired. She didn't see the harm in telling him everything. And he was being so nice to her. Nobody paid this much attention to her. It was nice for once, but she didn't think she'd like it all the time. She wasn't used to it.

"Okay. I'll tell you then." She said.

Iroh listened to her tell her story. She spoke of living in the orphanage, hearing voices and going out looking for them, waking up in the Ether. She told him about Devi and Kabria and Amandala. What they had said to her and how Kabria had pushed her and she fell. She told him about the ocean and thinking she was going to die, then seeing the ship and calling for help then passing out.

All in all, it didn't take very long to tell, but by the end, she was exhausted. Iroh listened to every word, nodding and taking in everything.

"I think that's it." She finally said.

"That is indeed an interesting story." Iroh said, looking deep in thought.

"I told you, you'd think I was crazy." Rhian blinked. She really wanted to sleep.

"I don't think you're crazy, Rhian. Your story is fascinating, but not insane. You should sleep now, though. You look as though you're fighting just to stay awake."

She laughed. "Maybe I am, a bit."

"Then get some rest. We'll talk more in the morning." Iroh said, refilling her glass of water from a pitcher and leaving it by her bed. He blew out the candles as he left the room and Rhian didn't have time to wonder how he did that without being near them. She was already fast asleep.

oO0.0Oo

The next morning, Rhian woke up to a boy sitting by her bed. Slouched in the chair Iroh had sat in the night before, he had his arms crossed and his legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles. He was just staring at her. Scrambling back and away from him, she didn't register that she was feeling worlds better then the night before.

"What the hell are you doing? How long have you been there?!" She demanded.

The boy jumped a bit too, but settled back when he realised she wasn't going to attack him.

"You can't just watch people sleep. That's weird!" she yelled, her heart slowly coming back to its normal pace, getting over her shock.

"You're on my ship, I can do what I want." He said, glaring at her with his one eye. Looking at him as she calmed down, she realised she'd seen him before. "Hey, you're that boy from yesterday. The one that pulled me out of the sea."

He looked surprised. "You were awake?"

"For a minute, maybe. I blacked out again real quick, but I'm sure it was you I saw." She said, settling back to sit on the bed and pulling the blankets around her again. The boy noticed.

"Are you still cold?"

"Only a little. I'm feeling a lot better now." She looked down at the floor. "Thank you, by the way. You saved my life."

"Yeah." The boy looked away too. "I guess. It's okay. You're welcome." He coughed slightly, clearing his throat. "What were you doing in the ocean?"

"I was dumped there by some really weird women."

"Why?"

"I don't know. They wouldn't tell me. All I got was, a few 'words of advice' a 'good luck' and a shove to the forehead."

"You're talking nonsense."

"So where they. Maybe it rubbed off on me." She shrugged. "What's your name, anyway?"

"I'm Zuko, Prince of the Fire Nation. This is my ship."

"Prince of the what?!"

"The Fire Nation. Where are you from?"

"No, really, the what?!"

"Prince Zuko, there you are." Iroh walked into the room, smiling broadly at the two young teenagers. "I see you've officially met our young guest."

"Iroh," Rhian said, trying to stay calm, betrayed by her shaking limbs and wide eyes. "Where am I?"

oO0.0Oo

One last thing, the Prologue, will mainly be a collection of little scenes, hopefully showing how Rhain's relationship with Zuko and Iroh progressed in the first few weeks and months of her arrival.

I hope it isn't too confusing, my mind does strange things that don't make sense, and I apologise.