Book 1: Water : Prologue

I added a bit to the Prologue, so it's going to be six parts now, instead of five. So, this is the second to last bit, before jumping into the episodes! Yay?

I hope you like it. I'm not really sure what it is or how I feel about it… Anyway, enjoy! :)

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Prologue: Part 5

"Iroh, something weird happened to me. The night of the storm, when the wave was coming, I felt something, like, surge through me. Something that separated the water. I don't know what it was." Three days after the storm, Rhian sat down, watching Zuko practice bending again. She didn't know what had happened to her, and she wanted answers.

"Hmm…" Iroh said, stroking his beard. "Could you have bent the water away from you?"

"I thought that too, but one of the things the Keepers said to me before they sent me here was that I wasn't a bender. That was important, they said. And I wasn't born here. I have no connection to this world before I arrived, that I know of."

"Well, is there anything in your world that could have done that?"

Rhian thought hard about it. There was probably some kind of power, psychic or magical, that she'd never considered before coming to another world. Maybe…

"The Keepers said 'concentrate'…" she muttered, focusing her mind on an empty barrel across the deck. She tried to remember the feeling that had hit her when the wave was coming, tried to focus everything on that feeling. Concentrating hard on the barrel.

Slowly, so slowly, the barrel rose up off the deck, wobbling and shaking until it hovered about three feet off the floor, before she lost it and it crashed back down. A wave of fatigue washed over her and she slumped to the deck, managing a weak smile at Iroh.

"I think, I might be telekinetic."

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Moving things with her mind wasn't really that complicated, she found. But it took a lot of energy. The bigger the object was or the longer she tried to hold it for, the harder it was. She started small at first. Little things like brushes or coins. Even those tired her out in the beginning but, it didn't take long to build up her strength. Soon, she was speeding all kinds of things through the air. Barrels and helmets and spare armour whizzing high above the deck, faster and faster. Later, she'd admit, she got cocky and arrogant. This power was hers, and she believed herself in perfect control of it. So she showed it off, which led to knowing what her limits could bring. She was only a child after all.

"Rhian, I think you should calm down. You'll wear yourself out." Iroh cautioned.

"I'm fine, Iroh. Look at this!" She called. Slowly, her feet rose off the ground, floating higher and higher, until she was level with Zuko on the observation deck. He glared at her.

"Get down." He snapped.

Laughing, she raised her arms. "Wait! Wait, I want to try something."

She spun in the air, stretching out her power to cover the entire ship. With a grunt of exertion, she lifted… and the whole ship shifted with an ear-splitting creak.

"Rhian, stop!" Iroh yelled.

"I can do this. I can do this…" She whispered. Her head started to hurt. Something shifted in her power. She didn't understand what, but something clicked and her whole body convulsed in mid-air. The ship moved again, slowly, slowly lifting up from the water.

Rhian screamed, her head feeling split in two, blood leaking from her nose.

"Rhian, you have to stop." She couldn't hear Iroh yelling. Couldn't feel anything but the burn of the power pulsing through her body. She couldn't stop it. She couldn't hear Iroh.

But she heard Zuko. "Rhian! Stop!"

And she did. The power stopped, the ship crashed back into the waves and Rhian still screamed.

Falling from the air, she didn't feel Iroh catch her. She just fell away into unconsciousness.

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When Rhian finally woke up, a day and a half later, Zuko and Iroh were waiting for her. It was the worst lecture and she'd ever received from anyone and she was made to scrub the entire ship, from top to bottom, without her powers. Not that she could use them yet. It took a whole week of recovering before she could move so much as a coin without a splitting headache kicking in. That was how they learned of the consequences of her telekinesis. She was not limitless and using too much at a time could easily kill her. Rhian never wanted to feel that way again. So much pain, and so out of control. She vowed to get stronger, slowly and properly, so she would never loose it like that. Ever again.

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Weeks after the incident, Zuko and Rhian lent against the railing of the observation deck, looking out at the horizon.

"Zhao doesn't think you'll find him, does he? The Avatar, I mean." Rhian said, not looking away from the water.

"No." Zuko said. "No one does. My father, and grandfather and great-grandfather all spent years looking for the Avatar without even a rumour along the way. Everyone thinks it's a fool's errand. But I'll find him."

"I believe in you." Zuko looked at her in surprise. She smirked. "Zuko, I've seen you practice a single firebending move for days on end until you got it perfect. I've seen the way you look when you talk about your mission. Even with all the lessons and history and classes Iroh is teaching me, what I'm learning most here is your determination. It's an almost frightening thing. I'm almost worried for you, but one thing I don't doubt is that you'll find him. I believe in you."

Rhian didn't see the way Zuko looked away from her to stare back out over the ocean.

"We're still looking for a place for you to go, you know."

"I know." She said with a sigh.

"But, I don't think we're going to find a better place for you. Somewhere you'll be safe."

Rhian glanced at him, surprised. "You don't?"

"No. And, really, you're already more like family to me and Uncle Iroh then my own sister ever was." Zuko, scratched absently at the back of his neck. "So I figured, you could stay here. With us. Uncle Iroh would make you his ward, and that'd give you all the protection you need. You'd be as good as family to us. And you could stay here."

"Really? You want me to stay?" She whispered, awestruck.

"Well, yes, that's what I'm saying, if you want to –" He cut off as Rhian tackle hugged him.

"I'd love too! Of course I'll stay!"

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Three days later, Iroh was disturbed from his Pai Sho game by raised voices on deck.

"You're acting like a spoiled brat, Zuko!"

"I was a spoiled brat! What's your excuse?!"

"Ahhh!"

Iroh arrived in time to see Rhian tackle Zuko to the ground, rolling across the floor, in their usual wrestling match. No one paid the pair any mind. They were only children after all. Though he did wonder where those two were picking up such colourful language from.

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