Book 1: Water

And so it begins…

I'm a little behind on my writing schedule, as a heads up, but I've gotten enough done it shouldn't affect the updates. Hopefully. Just thought I'd mention it, just in case there's a delay. But probably not.

Hope you like it.

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Book 1: Chapter 1

Eyes wide, Rhian stared at the light as it pierced the sky.

"Wow." She muttered.

"Uncle!" Zuko said, spinning to face them. "Do you realise what this means?"

"I won't get to finish my game?" Iroh said, uninterested.

"It means my search, it's about to come to an end." Zuko turned to look at the light.

With a groan, Rhian flopped down to lie on the floor. Here we go.

Iroh sighed heavily.

"That light came from an incredibly powerful source. It has to be him!"

"Or it's just the celestial lights." Iroh gestured to the sky.

"To be fair, that didn't look like the celestial lights, Iroh." Rhian waved her hand around without sitting up.

"We've been down this road before, Prince Zuko. I don't want you to get too excited over nothing." Well, they agreed on that at least. When Zuko got too worked up about the mission and then was disappointed, he was not pleasant to live with. "Why don't you enjoy a cup of calming jasmine tea?"

"I don't need any calming tea! I need to capture the Avatar!" Rhian snorted, stifling a laugh. "Helmsmen! Head a course for the light" Zuko shouted.

Iroh glanced at Rhian and she rolled her eyes with a shrug, grinning slightly. What were you gonna do? He was as he was.

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Hours passed and Rhian went back to floating things around her head, spinning some faster and some slower, some in patterns, trying to get better at moving them without thought. The stronger she got, the more she could do. Plus it was fun. After a while Zuko moved to the Observation deck at the top of the ship. He barely even twitched when she threw a writing brush at him, and she sighed.

The longer they spent looking for the Avatar, the angrier and more frustrated Zuko got. These days, she was lucky to coax much more then a smile from him. He wanted to go home. She understood, though she couldn't say she felt the same. She'd had nothing and no one back in her world, it wasn't home and she had no desire to go back there. This ship, Zuko and Iroh, they were home to her. She hadn't thought about it much in the beginning, but lately it had been nagging at her. What would happen to her when Zuko found the Avatar and went back to the Fire Nation?

She would go with them, of course. It didn't even occur to her to think Iroh and Zuko would abandon her, but how would she like the Fire Nation? The stories they'd told her about Ozai and Azula made her think that she might not be welcome there. That she might not even want to be there, with Zuko's sister and father.

She knew it was selfish, but she had to admit to herself that some part of her didn't want Zuko to find the Avatar. But then, sometimes he'd talk about the Fire Nation, and his eyes would light up. He'd tell her all about the hot springs and the volcanic gardens, the museums and the architecture and all the things he wanted her to see. 'When we go home', he'd say.
She couldn't begrudge him that. It was his home, and she couldn't doubt that someday it would be hers too.

"Is he still up there?" Iroh said, coming to stand next to her.

"Yeah." Rhian crossed her arms and shivered against the cold. Iroh noticed.

"It's getting late. Why don't you go to bed? I'll talk to Zuko."

"Alright, Iroh." She said. With one last glance up at Zuko, Rhian went to bed. Who knew what the morrow held, after all?

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"Again." Iroh ordered and Zuko repeated the firebending move he was practicing. With an aggravated sigh, Iroh stood up, moving to demonstrate. "No! Power in firebending comes from the breath, not the muscles. The breath becomes energy in the body. The energy extends past your limbs and becomes" He threw out his fist, a burst of flame shooting through the air, "fire. Get it right this time."

"Enough." Zuko strode forward. "I've been drilling this sequence all day. Teach me the next set, I'm more then ready."

Rhian sighed from the side of the ship, levitating a coin quickly through her fingers without touching them, working on her precision and control. It was harder then it looked, but it was a standard practice she'd set for herself when she realised that no one was going to be able to teach her to use her power. It was all trial and error. After years of practicing, it was almost subconscious, so she was easily listening to the conversation across the deck.

"No, you are impatient. You have yet to master your basics." Iroh said, sitting back down. "Drill it again!"

With a shout, Zuko spun around, kicking fire at one of his sparing partners and knocking him to the ground before rounding on Iroh again. She could see where this was going. Biting her lip, she snatched her coin out of the air and walked away, blocking out the rest of Zuko's argument.

Impatient was an understatement. She thought

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Not even an hour later there was a flash in the distance and both Zuko and Rhian ran for the mounted telescope.

"Get out of the way!" Zuko yelled.

"You get out of the way, I want to look!"

"Rhian!" he complained.

"Zuko!" she mocked his tone.

Growling, he snatched the eyepiece from her, following the trail of the old Fire Nation flare.

"The last airbender." He muttered.

Rhian's eyes flew wide. "You're kidding…"

"Quite agile for his old age."

"No way. No way…"

Zuko turned quickly to yell at a nearby crewman. "Wake my uncle! Tell him, I've found the Avatar." He adjusted the telescope, stopping at a point not far away. "As well as his hiding place."

Eyes wide and mouth hanging open, Rhian lent both arms against the rail, staring over the water.

"Wow…"

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