Book 1: Water

I'm out of things to say. Posting this later then I'd intended, both in days and hours. It's late, I'm tired. Good night, Lovelies.

Un-betaed, I own nothing, yadda yadda.

…zzzzzz….

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Book 1: Chapter 1

The sound of fire bending flitted down to her as she climbed the stairs to see Zuko and the sages shooting fire at the door. With a sigh, she wandered over to the pillar where Sokka and Katara had been chained up, sitting down heavily next to Katara's feet and rubbing her eyes. The water tribe girl glared down at her disdainfully.

"Hi." Rhian said, jerking her hand in a rough wave.

"Get away from me." Katara sneered.

"Yeah!" Sokka said from around the pillar.

Rhian sighed, choosing to ignore their dislike for now. It was understandable anyway. "Zuko!" She called, not moving from her spot on the floor. "We really have to go!"

"Not until I capture the Avatar!" Zuko yelled, shooting another blast at the door in frustration.

Rhian lent her head back against the pillar and closed her eyes. "Noooo, that's fine, Zuko." She muttered to herself in agitation. "Let's just sit here and get captured. It's not like Zhao hates our guts and has been looking for an excuse to arrest you and throw you in prison. Or burn you alive. And, of course, I'll be perfectly safe too. Helping a banished prince cross the border is just a minor offence. One that'll be easy to brush off, considering I'm barely a citizen of the Fire Nation myself and all. And only then, through association with Iroh and the aforementioned banished prince. This is a great plan…" She didn't open her eyes during her quiet tirade, so she missed the way Katara looked down at her in confusion.

"Rhian, what are you doing?" Zuko yelled, finally looking around and spotting her next to the prisoners.

"Resting for all the running for our lives we're about to have to do." She replied, dryly.

"Get over here and try and open these doors!"

With a grumble, she climbed to her feet and walked over to the firebenders by the huge door. "There is no way I'm going to try and force open a door to a spiritual chamber that has been sealed shut by the spirit of an Avatar." She said, crossing her arms.

"Just do it."

"We have no idea what could happen. To Aang, to this whole temple, to this plane of existence or to me, if Roku just decides to slap me down for trying. No way, no how."

"Rhian…" Zuko growled.
"Zuko…" She mocked.

Ignoring his death glare, Rhian looked behind him to the sages, one kneeling on the floor. The one who had tried to help Aang and the others.

"Why did you try and help the Avatar?" She asked gently.

He looked her in the eye. "Because it was once the sages duty. It is still our duty."

Rhian felt a swell of pride, right before her heart deflated. Some one was clapping mockingly behind them. Zuko and Rhian spun to see Zhao and his men striding towards them, a smug grin pasted on his evil face. Rhian may have been a little bias, but his face just seemed really evil to her.

"What a moving and heartfelt performance." He said. "I'm certain the Fire Lord will understand, when you explain why you betrayed him."

"Commander Zhao." One of the sages said, bowing. Rhian rolled her eyes, cautiously taking a step closer to Zuko.

"Prince Zuko, and Lady Rhian. It was a noble effort, but your little smokescreen didn't work. Two traitors, in one day. The Fire Lord will be pleased."

Two soldiers stepped up and grabbed Zuko's arms, pulling him back when he stepped towards Zhao. Rhian moved to help him when one of her arms was grabbed and twisted behind her back.

"Get off me!" She snarled, gasping in pain. They didn't.

"You're too late Zhao!" Zuko said. "The Avatar's inside and the doors are sealed."

"No matter." Zhao said, glancing unconcerned at the doors. "Sooner or later, he has to come out."

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They were chained to a pillar while Zhao's soldiers took up stances at the temple door. There where carved dragon scales digging into her back. All in all, Rhian was not a fan of this situation. She and Zuko pulled uselessly at the chains until Zhao raised a fist in their direction and they stilled. But chains were just chains. The trick was getting out of them without alerting anyone else. That was the thought on Rhians mind as she silently pulled at the links with her mind, trying to force them to snap. It took more focus then she thought it would.

"What's taking so long?" Zuko sneered.

"It takes concentration, Zuko, shut up." Rhian snapped back. "What's the plan?"

"We get out of this."

"Yeah, and then?" She rolled her eyes.

"The Avatar's still here, we can snatch him and get out of here before Zhao can catch us."

"You are kidding right now, aren't you?" She turned to stare at him, abandoning the chains for the moment. "Can you please, please forget the Avatar, just this once? We need to get out of here and away from Zhao. Live to fight another day, and all that. Please?"

"If Zhao captures the Avatar –"

"Zuko!"

He glared at her. "Just get us out of these chains."

Rhian went back to work, chanting in her head, I will not kill my best friend, I will not kill my best friend, I will not kill my best friend…

Moments later, she felt the chain snap. Gently, she loosened it but held it in place. It wouldn't be good if anyone saw they were free. Zuko, of course, had no such thought and made to step towards the soldiers, but Rhian grabbed his arm.

"At least wait for Aang to come out." She whispered, moving her attention to Katara and Sokka's pillar, starting to pull on their chains. Zuko glared at her, but stayed still.

He followed her gaze. "What areyou doing?" he growled.

"We can't just leave them at Zhao's mercy." Rhian snapped.

The other teens, thankfully, hadn't noticed the exchange at the other pillar, whispering something between themselves, when suddenly the huge doors creaked open, a blinding blue light flooding the room. Rhian let the chains drop as they cringed away, the firebenders striking with lethal force. Their fire twisted away, forging a burning sphere around the figure in the doorway. A figure that certainly did not belong to a twelve year old boy.

"Oh my god." Rhian said, staring wide eyed at the swirling fire ball surrounding the tall man with glowing eyes.

"Avatar Roku." The prisoner sage said in awe.

That was Avatar Roku?

The fire flew out in a wave over the fire benders and to the pillars, the chains binding the others simply melting away. Zuko took that as an invitation to leave and bolted for the stairs, but Rhian didn't move, staring in shock at Roku.

"Rhian!" Something pulled at her arm, yanking her out of her daze. Zuko had come back. "Run!"

She glanced around, seeing Katara and Sokka hadn't moved.

"Wait! What about –"

"Just run!" Zuko yelled, pulling her along behind him. She ran, looking over her shoulder, to see Katara and Sokka helping an exhausted Aang to his feet. Another vicious pull and she just concentrated on running.

"How do we get out of here?!" She yelled.

He didn't answer. They sprinted down stairs, jumping puddles of lava and dodging falling rocks. It was through a hole in a wall that Rhian spotted their boat. Far away, over rivers of lava and shaking earth, but it was there.

"Zuko!" She yanked back on his hand, almost toppling him over. "Look!" She pointed.

"We don't have time –"

"Trust me." She said. "I can do this."

Zuko didn't say anything, just stared at her for a moment. Finally, with a growl, he nodded.

Rhian wrapped her arms tightly around him, "Thank you." She whispered, before leaping out into empty space.

They fell straight down, for maybe ten feet, before Rhian caught them. All her focus had to be on keeping them up and shooting forward. She watched the ground and the air, searching for flame and rocks, needing to know how to move them, if she had to. Dodging plumes of smoke and steam and rocketing towards their ship. Her head began to ache.

Minutes later, their feet landed hard on the deck of the boat and they fell to the floor, Zuko quickly rolling to his feet.

"Don't ever do that again." He snarled, starting to steer the boat away from the island.

"It worked, so I'll make no promises." Rhian said, rubbing her head and climbing to her feet.

Zuko snatched up a spy glass and looked to the sky, watching the path of the flying bison. She didn't bother to look.

"Let's get back to the ship and out of Fire Nation waters, agreed?"

Zuko just nodded, his eyes locked on the sky.

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