Book 1: Water

*Peeks out from rock* Ummm… Hi? I'm so sorry about the hiatus, so much just came up and I'm so sorry! Please don't hate me.
First there was the holiday, then I got a new computer, then I had to move all my files to the new computer, then they weren't compatible and I had to get the right programs. Plus, I found out, if you want to write fanfiction, don't read fanfiction, because it's addictive and gets into your head and cuts into writing time, and I got super obsessed with Supernatural, so that's all I could think about for a while. Anyway, I'm making excuses. :(

I have some chapters written again, so I can start posting again. Yay! :D …please accept this chapter as an apology. I hope you like it. (I love all of you!)

Still own nothing, and this is still un-betaed. Please point out any mistakes. :)

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Book 1: Chapter 10

Crescent Island was beautiful. Awe inspiring, if you liked volcanos, which Rhian did. The temple was built into the volcano, lava spilling down and around it. Rhian stared at the Island, unable to tear her eyes away until Zuko brought the ship to land.

"He'll already be here and the temple isn't small. We'll have to hurry and spilt up to search when we get inside."

"Split up and find him? That's the plan?" Rhian said, jumping from the boat.

"As far as I've gotten." Zuko answered, striding ahead of her, towards the temple.

"And when one of us finds him, how will we contact the other?" Zuko paused and she raised her eyebrow. "Did you think about that?"

"No."

"Do you ever think about anything before you do it?" She asked, exasperated.

"Do you have a better plan?" He snapped.

"How about not splitting up and thinking logically?" She said, scrambling over some rocks. It was really, really hot here. "Why would the Avatar come here in the first place?"

Zuko shrugged. "Avatar Roku was said to have spent a lot of his time here."

"But why would Aang come here? The Fire Nation has to be the most dangerous place for him at the moment, why would he willingly come here?" She was barely talking to Zuko anymore, more musing to herself. Thinking.

"Nostalgia?" Zuko said sarcastically. Rhian shot a glare at him.

"Seriously, do you ever think?" She rolled her eyes. By that time they'd reached the temple. Pushing open the doors, they crept towards the stairs. There was yelling in the distance and the sound of running feet.

"Let's just follow the voices, then." Zuko said.

"Why would he come here?" Rhian whispered to herself.

Aang had an agenda, he had to. He wasn't just travelling around randomly, there had to be something, some reason for everything he was doing. Why come here?

Okay, she calmed her mind, creeping behind Zuko. The noises where getting closer. This is an Avatar temple. The Avatar before Aang spent a lot of time here. Aang obviously needs something from here. He ran a Fire Nation blockade to get here! What does he need?

She thought about everything she knew about him, which wasn't all that much really. He was a twelve year old boy, an airbender and the Avatar. He had two friends, Katara and Sokka, both from the water tribe where they'd first found him. One of them was a waterbender, but not a master. She had only seen Aang airbend, except on the ship where his tattoos had glowed, and he'd seemed exhausted after that. Like he wasn't used to any other bending. So, Aang was a young kid, who could master all the elements, but so far only had one. He had huge responsibility on his shoulders and no one to help him, as the Avatar hadn't been seen in over a hundred years. He was travelling with a novice waterbender. What he needs is… "A teacher." Rhian whispered, eyes wide in realisation. Aang needed a teacher. A waterbending teacher first, if his company was any indication.

But that still didn't explain why they were here. If they were looking for a waterbending master, the last place they would go is the Fire Nation. So there was another reason why they'd come to the temple. She thought back to her lessons. Eveything Iroh had told her about the Avatar.

A part of her wondered if this was really the place she should have been thinking about it, as Zuko grabbed her arm and pulled her around a corner, but her mind was working now. Too late to stop it.

So, the Avatar is the master of all elements, the peace-keeper and the bridge between the worlds. He had a huge destiny and responsibility. Aang had come back from wherever he'd been to find a world at war. It was his duty to end it. Bring the world back to peace. And, as Aang was all alone, without anyone to guide him… "He needs to talk to Roku!"

"What did you say?" Zuko asked, distracted. While she was lost in thought, following blindly, Zuko was actually watching where they were going.

"Aang, the Avatar. He's here because he needs to talk to Roku!"

Zuko stopped, turning to face her. "How do you figure that?"

"Because he's young, and alone, with no idea what he's doing, a lot of stuff on his shoulders and no one to tell him what to do. And he can contact the spirit world. He's trying to find someone who can help him, tell him what to do. And who better then a fully realised Avatar? Obviously, he had to come here to do it, for some reason."

Zuko grunted and shrugged. "It doesn't matter. He's here now, and we have to catch him."

Rhian stuck her tongue out at his back. Personally, she thought she was rather brilliant.

There was a sound in the distance, back the way they had come, and she cocked her head to listen to it. Zuko stopped again. "What are you doing?"

"I hear something." She said.

"Ignore it, we've got to hurry." Zuko snapped.

"You go ahead." Rhian whispered, eyes locked on the corridor behind them. "I'll check it out and catch up. Look for an Avatar chamber or something. Someplace… mystical, I guess."

Zuko didn't have to be asked twice, hurrying off towards the muffled yells in the distance. Later, Rhian would wonder about his willingness to leave her behind, but right then she had other things on her mind. Creeping back down the corridor, she kept close to the wall, trailing her hand along it. Another sound, a muffled voice, reached her ears and she turned left. Poking her head slowly around the corner, she saw movement at the end of the corridor. Formatted movement. A group of people, marching. As they got closer, Rhian recognised the man leading and gasped, ducking her head back around the corner. Zhao. Their plan hadn't worked. He'd followed them.

Panicked, she rushed down the corridor, running to warn Zuko. She ran so fast, she didn't even notice her feet barely touched the floor as her power took over, pushing her forward. Once she flew past an open doorway, catching a fleeting glance into a large room. A large room with people in it. Firebenders. Who were firebending. Her mind took a second to process things, and she skidded to a stop, running back to the door in time to see a lemur-bat jump from a large, important looking doorway and onto a sage's face. She stopped in her tracks, momentarily forgetting what she had been doing in order to stare at the sight when Katara and Sokka ran out from behind large, ornate pillars and took down two other sages. And the fourth was taken down by the fifth. Yeah, she was feeling a little out of the loop here, but there wasn't time for that now.

"Now, Aang!" The fifth sage called as Rhian ran further into the room.
Zuko. Gotta find Zuko.
"Aang, now's your chance!" Katara yelled.

"Zuko!" Rhian shouted, turning everyone's gaze to her. Sokka's eyes widened and Katara gasped, their grip slackening on their captives. Rhian didn't pay them any notice, looking around for her friend.

"You?" Katara said. "How did–?" Her words cut off when, with a slight scuffle, Zuko and Aang emerged from behind one of the dragon ordained pillars, the fire prince holding Aang's hands ruthlessly behind his back.

"The Avatar is coming with me." Zuko said. The sages took advantage of their captors shock to slip out of their hands, grabbing hold of the young teens and their fellow sage.

"There you are." Rhian breathed. "Zuko –"

"Close the doors, quickly." Zuko snapped, dragging Aang towards a set of stairs. "Rhian, come on."

She spared an apologetic glance at the water tribe teens, but hurried after him. "Zuko, Zhao is here. He followed us." She said, quickly.

"What?!" Zuko turned to look at her and the Avatar twisted out of his distracted grip, ducking behind him and, with one kick, knocked them both down the stairs. Rhian cushioned their fall reflexively, but she wasn't fast enough to stop them hitting the ground all together. Shaking her head to clear it, she heard Katara say, "He made it." A second before the whole chamber lit up with a bright blue light.

"Ow." Rhian groaned, holding her eyes. She'd softened the fall, but she had still hit the ground. And her body did not appreciate it.

Zuko didn't wait around, scrambling to his feet and rushing up the stairs again. Rhian moved more slowly. If Aang had made it into the room, chances where they weren't going anywhere until he decided to come out.

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