Suddenly a pain Ikari did not expect hits her instead of the flames, a stabbing pain like claws hitting her chest and then a splash of cold running up her back. She hits the ground hard enough for the wind to be completely knocked out of her, the back of Ikari's head is also slammed down causing her teeth to knock together. Shockwaves radiate from her jaw through the rest of her head causing an almost instant headache, It all happens in the blink of an eye. All Ikari can do is take a deep breath when the wind returns. The feeling of claws on her chest is gone and replaced when she inhales water instead of air causing her body to jerk and her limbs to thrash. Ikari coughs and takes an actual breath of air after being lifted from the surprisingly deep fountain she had fallen into. She takes in all of the air she can manage, feeling water drip down her face and body. It takes a moment for Ikari to realize she is neither standing nor is she sitting in the fountain, Instead she looks up coming face to face with the fire lord's oldest son. Ikari is sitting in the Prince's arms, her finest clothes completely soaked. The shock is almost enough to make her fall back in the fountain, but one of them manages to hang on.
"A-am I dead?" Ikari stutters as the wind blows causing her to shiver slightly, Zukon can't help chuckling slightly at the younger girl's question before setting her down on her feet and climbing out of the fountain. Ikari has barely enough time to bow to the prince in thanks before she's pulled by her mother away from the fountain.
"What were you thinking?! You're completely soaked Ikari Min you know better! Look at your clothes!" as Ikari was quietly scolded, to not make a scene, Jukon was openly yelled at by his own mother.
"I told you to keep that thing under control or we're giving it to the chef to cook!" The "thing" the young prince's mother was referring to was a baby raven eagle perched on a branch near the fountain. He had muted colors, a gray head with rusty brown down feathers from his eyes to his chest. He was watching Ikari closely, observing her movements as if he was curious of what the girl would do next.
"It hurt one of our guests, it's getting put into a stew." The fire lady puts her foot down causing Jukon to start protesting, Ikari was barely listening to her own mother's rants. The woman's words only get farther away when the older Prince leans down and inspects her clothes. Ikari realizes she has claw marks on her best dress, she can't help the blush that takes over her face when Zukon looks into her eyes.
"Are you ok?" He asks, his voice is filled with concern and it makes Ikari let out a surprised noise before nodding her head.
"What.. happened?" She asks but before the prince can answer Lai speaks up, her arms are crossed and she looks half as winded as everyone else in the yard.
"The youngest prince's pet Raven eagle pushed you into the fountain, Zukon ran out almost instantly." Her face cracks into a mocking smile once everyone realizes Ikari is ok slowly heading back inside.
"You didn't get back up, you were drowning in like two feet of water!" Lai snorts with laughter and Ikari can feel her face burning once again this time with shame, it only gets worse when she turns to see how shallow the fountain really is.
"Lai, your sister could have died." Their mother scolds again causing the older girl to roll her eyes.
"She wasn't going to die mom! The fountain's two fucking feet deep!" Lai gestures to her sister as their mother stands.
"Language young lady! Remember where we are." Lai huffs gesturing to Ikari as she turns away from the fountain.
"Stop babying her, she's fine! Kari tell mom you're fine." What else could Ikari do besides feign dizziness and dramatically place her hand on her head.
"Sister… i-is that you? I've gone blind!" Lai huffs rolling her eyes and their mother stands once again wiping off her skirts.
"I'm going to find your father, I want you both in the car by the time I get back." She looks to Ikari, who drops her hand instantly.
"This conversation isn't over young lady." after she walks off Ikari feels something hit her shoulder lightly, she looks up to realize her oldest sister had punched her playfully.
"You alright kid?" she asks and Ikari nods, smiling at the ground. she wrings out her skirt's water dripping onto the ground.
"My head hurts a little, other than that I think i'm ok" she chuckles, Lai wraps her arm around Ikari's shoulders as they start to walk.
"Please, you were fine as soon as you realized who had rescued you" Lai was teasing, she saw how flushed Ikari got around the prince. Before she can retaliate, a soft bird caw sounds behind the pair, Ikari flinches when the raven eagle flaps his wings in the tree while staring down at the two.
"Are they really going to kill him?" Ikari asks her sister, Lai shrugs, also looking up at the bird. He couldn't be more than a few weeks old, he preens his downy feathers seeming to not have a care in the world.
"The royal family's word is usually final." Lai shrugs, picking at her nails. Ikari is terrified of animals, but she can't help feeling sorry for the creature.
"Should I tell them he saved me?" She asks again only getting another shrug from Lai, the older girl's indifference was ceaseless. Ikari couldn't just leave him there to die despite her intense fear, besides he looked… kind of cuddly.
"We should take him." The words tumble from Ikari's lips almost like her body did it on her own, like she had no choice. She turns to Lai expecting a disapproving look strikingly similar to their mother, instead Lai is looking at the bird brows furrowed hands on her hips.
"I'm in but how do we get it down, let alone in the car and home without mom noticing." Ikari hadn't thought that far ahead, despite being so young the bird wasn't exactly small. Its claws hurt, Ikari knew that for a fact.
"What about my dress?" Ikari lifts up her skirts, it was still soaked making all the layers heavy on her body.
"Yeah because mom won't scold you for taking off half your clothes even if they're already ruined." she processes Lai's words thinking to herself, Ikari weighs the options carefully in her mind before deciding and reaching untie one of the layers under her dress.
"I'm going to get scolded anyway, I'll just take the last one off… maybe she won't notice?" She looks up at her sister again who smirks,
"Mom not noticing something out of place? Sure sounds just like her." Lai shakes her head, Ikari is incredibly jealous of how cool Lai is as well as how she's willing to go with just about anything.
"So how are you gunna get it down?" Lai asks, staring up at the bird while taking the skirt from Ikari, Ikari looks between her sister and the bird.
"Why do I have to do it, you do it." Lai scoffs while waving the large fabric piece in an attempt to dry it out.
"No way it was your idea, and you better hurry, we're supposed to be in the car by now." Ikari didn't have time to argue, she moves closer to the tree cautiously.
"Here… pretty… birdy?" Ikari is terrified, she can feel her heart beating almost completely out of her chest. She can hear it hammering it in her ears, it turns cold when the bird looks at her again. He stares at Ikari almost like he's looking for something, Ikari swallows hard before calling out again.
"H-here… pretty pretty b-bird-" suddenly, the raven eagle takes off. Everything moves so fast, due to his young age he must not be able to fly very far. He swoops at her but is suddenly caught in her skirt by a Lai due to her battle-ready reflexes. The bird flaps in the makeshift net, claws starting to rip through. Without thinking Ikari takes the bird in the skirts holding him to her chest, the bird stops after a minute and Ikari sighs in relief. Ikari's mother appears back into the courtyard, she looks furious in that moment,
"Ikari! Did you take off your under skirt?! Girls, in the car now you have brought shame upon this family today!" She leads Ikari and Lai back to the car lecturing them the entire way, the reprimands don't stop for Ikari until hours later. By the end of it her siblings are in bed and her mother's voice is hoarse. Ikari's father brings her mother some tea before turning to his youngest daughter.
"That's enough for today, go to bed." Ikari doesn't argue, also exhausted from the yelling. She feels completely embarrassed, her mother had brought up things she had done that she was too young to remember. Something her mother said in the car really had stuck in her brain. It made her chest hurt although she doubted her mother meant it to be so incredibly demeaning, But she still couldn't let it go.
"Ikari, your father and I already have to work so much harder to not bring shame on this family because not all of us can bend, we don't need your antics making it harder." Ikari knew she was the only non-bender in the family, it had been getting to her more and more recently. She had been having such strange dreams about bending and expected they were due to how much she desperately wants to bend, maybe then she'd fit in with her family.
On her way to her bedroom Ikari hears someone calling her name softly, she looks over to see Lai waving her over. Ikari walks to her oldest sister who grabs her and drags her into the back yard.
"Your bird is being stubborn" Lai points at her workout gear, the raven eagle is perched on her punching bag sinking his claws into the expensive equipment.
"He's not my bird he's just a bird what am I supposed to do?" Ikari asks the older girl who chuckles while shaking her head.
"Well he won't leave and it was your idea, therefore… your bird. Now get it off my stuff." Ikari doesn't move from her place, she doesn't want to cause a commotion for her parents to hear. She's too afraid to walk towards it directly.
"Try calling it, maybe it'll come to you if you give it a name." Lai shrugs half joking, Ikari swallows hard, feeling antsy as if someone will walk in on them any second.
"Well… what do I call him?" she asks, causing her sister to laugh at her once again while crossing her arms. Lai takes out her high ponytail letting her hair fall down her back in dark inky waves, she yawns before answering.
"Something like Deja vu because I swear we were just here a few hours ago." Ikari rolls her eyes,
"In this house? Yeah we live here…" Lai facepalms walking over and punching Ikari in the arm lightly.
"Don't be stupid. I mean In this situation, you and me, staring at a bird, wondering what you're going to do." Ikari didn't know what she was going to do, what if her parents or a servant came back here tomorrow.
"I'm not naming him just, shoo him away!" Lai scoffs, shaking her head in disapproval and huffing softly.
"Nah Kari, I may have watched you do your thing but you got yourself into this. You gotta shoo it yourself, I'm like five seconds away from going to bed." Ikari furrows her eyebrows, she felt Lai was being unfair.
"I would have never done it if you weren't on board!" she accuses her sister who only shrugs in response.
"I believe in encouraging the youth, not my fault if you do dumb shit." Ikari growls softly, feeling anger bubble up in her chest.
"Fine, just go to bed then I'll figure it out for myself." Lai shakes her head again running a hand through her hair,
"Nah I wanna watch you shoo him away. You thought of that plan all by yourself. No one could ever try such a thing before you suggest it." Sarcasm dripped from her words, showing that shooing the bird wasn't going to work. Ikari expected naming the bird to not work either, but she couldn't think of anything else,
"Lychee…c-come here Lychee." not surprisingly the bird did not move despite the name given to him, Ikari felt stupid and embarrassed. The feeling got worse when she heard her sister laughing hysterically next to her.
"Holy crap! You thought that was actually going to work?!" Ikari huffs glaring at Lai before walking back to the house,
"That's it! Save your own damn gear!" She can hear Lai's protests but doesn't turn around. Ikari needs to go to bed before her parents found her, she decided to figure out the bird tomorrow.
When Ikari finally got into bed, Her little brother was sitting on her bed instead of laying asleep in his own.
"Szeto it's late, you should be in bed." Ikari had changed from her wet clothes and was now feeling exhaustion take over her body, she sits on her bed letting her hair down and grabbing a brush from on top of her headboard.
"I saw that bird hit you, are you ok?" Szeto asks moving closer as Ikari starts to brush the tangles from her still damp hair, She can't help smiling at his concern.
"Yeah, it was scary but only a scratch. Those clothes are pretty thick, you know?" Ikari chuckles remembering how there seemed to barely be evidence of the bird's claws on her body despite her almost shredded top layer of clothing.
"You're going to be tired if you don't get some sleep soon." Ikari warns, she feels the younger boy's weight shift as she puts her brush away. She expected him to move to his own bed across the room but is surprised to see him getting under her covers.
"No Szeto, we're too old now it's weird." Ikari moves the blankets off her brother who pulls them back.
"It's only weird if it's a regular thing, you almost drowned today! Forgive me if I'm a little protective." Ikari is too exhausted to argue with him, she pulls the blankets off him again.
"I'm supposed to be the protective one. I'm the older sister! But if you insist then sleep with your head at the foot of the bed. I don't need any surprise spooning when I wake up tomorrow." Szeto sticks his tongue out in response to her grumbling only to be met with a pillow to the face.
After ignoring her brother's kicking enough to fall asleep, Ikari wakes up in a place she doesn't recognize. She recognizes the feel of her dreams almost instantly but the scenery was different, Ikari was laying on the ground soft grass licking at her ears. She sits up and sees a building in the distance, many spirits floating around playing on mushroom looking trees and frolicking through the tall grass. Ikari doesn't need to be led this time after standing, she walks towards the building realizing it's bigger than she thought. Ikari follows some other cute spirits into the building and sees an old man pouring tea for large and small spirits alike. Ikari felt like she was interrupting but as she turned to leave the man notices her,
"Oh hello there," The man is kind, Ikari feels embarrassment rush through her body and bows instantly to him.
"I-i'm sorry I don't know what I was thinking barging in here please forgive me." She didn't recognize the man but a shine in his eye seemed like he knew who she was.
"There is no need to worry, I knew you would be coming. I told the Guru Pathik, that perhaps you would feel more comfortable with your transition if you had someone to offer you a warm cup of tea." The man holds a tray to Ikari, on it is an intricate looking tea set. The man motions for the girl to sit, and after hearing her mother's voice in her head telling her it would be rude to refuse she does.
"If you don't mind sir, can I ask who you are?" she stares into her cup as the older man sits across from her and pours her some tea, he chuckles at her while pouring himself some tea.
"You're so polite this time around, you must have been raised right. My name is Iroh."
Ikari blushes in embarrassment for a moment before realizing what he said.
"Hold on, you mean General Iroh who fought alongside Avatar Korra?!" Ikari had read about all of the past avatar adventures, it was a different story every time so one always matched her mood. Iroh chuckles again while taking a sip from his cup,
"Not quite, I believe the man you're referring to is my great grand nephew." Iroh smiles wistfully, and Ikari thinks for a moment trying to remember where else he heard that name.
"You're general Iroh… the one who tried to overate Ba Sing Se?" The man nods, his smile is peaceful as he remembers his time there.
"Such a beautiful city." Ikari thinks back to the stories she had read about Iroh, what little ones there were.
"Well, you've been dead for years, so there's no way these dreams can be real." Ikari shakes her head feeling relief was over her. Iroh takes a moment to sip his tea, pausing in thought.
"Oh I didn't mean to offend you." Ikari feels awkward and scratches the back of her head realizing her hair is down and she is in her pajamas. Iroh chuckles again at her concern, Ikari can't help finding it strange Iroh looked different then what he was described in the texts she had read. His hair was longer, whiter, and he wore green earth kingdom robes instead of his described fire nation formal clothes.
"Sometimes dreams tell more than we realize, it is only when we are ready to see the truth that it is revealed." Ikari thinks on Iroh's words for a while sipping her tea, she tastes the warm beverage in her mouth. The tea is delicious and prepared perfectly with the right amount of heat, but also tastes vivid despite the subconscious of the dream world Ikari found herself in.
"I don't see what that has to do with me right now" Ikari shakes her head while laughing nervously. Iroh smiles again shaking his head,
"Just an old man's ramblings, nothing to worry about." a familiar feeling spreads through Ikari's chest, around her solar plexus. The familiar shame buried into her brain from years of her mother telling her to respect her elders, and she had just insulted the man in front of her even if he was only a figment of her imagination. Ikari looks at the shop, it seems to be incredibly old fashioned, Iroh writes on a scroll with a paintbrush and ink, wearing earth nation clothes that seem to come from almost 80 years ago. It was almost impressive how her mind could conjure such things when she only read about them, Ikari is brought out of her thoughts when a small bell rings signaling the tea shop's door has opened. Guru Pathik floats through the door with a smile, looking at the two, Iroh smiles back, motioning to Ikari.
"This seemed to make the transition smoother although what you told me before seems to be true." Ikari is confused and then blushes with shame assuming they mean her rudeness from before, there is only one way to make this right after all he was still technically a part of the royal family still. She bows deeply to Iroh taking a deep breath,
"I want to apologize for what I said to you, I'm deeply sorry for the things I said to you. They were frankly rude and I understand if you never want me to come back to your… tea shop?" Iroh blinks with a confused expression before chuckling and wrapping his arm around her shoulders in a half hug, an almost familial expression.
"What are you even talking about! Gosh the other two weren't nearly as polite. I wonder if the one before you was so proper or if he was as stubborn as the rest." He slaps her on the back pushing her to the Guru who laughs as well. Ikari's face burns again, feeling she misread the room. What were these others they were always comparing her to? Ikari shakes her head trying to gather her thoughts,
"Wait, what are you talking about?" The men look at her as their chuckles die down and Iroh answers wiping a tear from his eye,
"The other avatars of course, I've only met two, not including you." He smiles and Ikari's mouth goes dry, which is weird for a dream. She steps away from them running into a table, The Guru moves past this revelation as if it's common knowledge.
"We are almost out of time, I must explain to you about your chakras because the avatar state will be much harder to master with them in their current state." Ikari starts breathing heavily looking between them both, her brain starts to cloud with loud thoughts not even words screaming at her clouding her judgment making it hard to hear anything being said to her as the concept of chakras is being explained. Her stomach turns and her ragged breath causes her head to feel light headed, can you pass out in a dream? Iroh notices her anxious nature first pulling out a chair for her to sit in. Ikari does sit down, but her body doesn't listen to her, moving in ways she isn't telling it to. Her leg bounces and her hands squeeze and wring the loose fabric of her nightgown dress desperately trying to let out the anxious energy that her spike of adrenaline has caused. Eventually she can't take the loud noises in her head and the way her body feels sick and terrible and just… bad. She stands again with a specific spike of energy her knuckles clenching so hard they turn white,
"You're wrong! You're wrong, you're… you can't you're wrong ok? Ok I just I…." She runs a hand through her hair causing it to become unruly still breathing hard but starting to relax, what felt like an eternity was only a few moments. She feels like her mouth is made of cotton and her throat is ragged as her breathing slows, Iroh rubs her back comfortingly and Pathik finally stops talking, looking over to her with a concerned expression.
"I can't bend ok?" Ikari's eyes water as the statement slips from her lips, she's embarrassed by her small existential crisis but also at admitting such a thing, even when she's awake she barely utters the words it's just a given in her life almost a handicap. She is looked down upon in her family, something that needs to be protected and watched. It's incredibly frustrating to have twice as many guards as even her youngest sibling, tears slip down her cheeks and the Guru speaks again.
"Well have you tried?" Ikari's brows furrow and she looks up at him, her tears have stopped and she is in sheer disbelief.
"Yes, I've tried! Are you kidding me!" she asks what kind of a question was that? She was born into a prestigious all-bending fire nation family. Her family tried everything for YEARS to get her to bend, Iroh stands and puts his hands together,
"Ikari do you know a fire bender's defining traits?" He asks her out of curiosity and Ikari sighs, wiping her face on the back of her hand.
"They're quite stereotypical… but fire benders are defined as dedicated, focused and goal oriented." Iroh smiles nodding.
"That's very good, do any of these things describe you?" He asks and Ikari shakes her head slowly, of course Fire benders aren't all cut out of these traits like cookie cutters. Ikari didn't have any of these traits, she wasn't dedicated enough her herself to stand up to her parents, and she wasn't dedicated enough to her parents to not disappoint them, she's not focused on anything just a robot who follows orders to try and be perfect, and she has no goals but the ones set for her by others. The realization causes tears to prick the corners of her eyes again,
"Is that the reason? Is that why I can't I can't…" Iroh rubs her back tenderly once again shaking his head,
"No of course not…" he tries to make her feel better as Pathik folds most of his arms behind his back using two to scratch his bald head and his beard,
"This is a touch messier than I thought, perhaps we should regroup and continue at a better time." Iroh moves and pours another cup of tea,
"Calming Jasmine… my favorite" He smiles at the girl as she sniffs taking it from him and bowing her head in thanks,
"Ikari, you mustn't doubt yourself like this. Everything we think of ourselves whether we can or can not do something is true once we make it so. You must decide which path you wish to take." Ikari furrows her brows standing and wiping her face again.
"I'm pretty sure that isn't the case with my bending." She clicks her tongue a little in distaste, completely forgetting her manners and growing bitter, the Guru moves his wands walking towards her and rests them on her shoulders.
"I have it! When you go back, ask the people around you how their bending feels when they use it. How they feel when they use it, get a better understanding of it then just the basics on how it's done until you feel connected with it as if you are the energy itself." Ikari didn't understand what he meant, mulling over the task quietly. She takes a sip of the tea only to wake up suddenly to Szeto shaking her and yelling her name, she could still taste the tea in her mouth while pushing him away and sitting up.
"What! What! Szeto what?!" she yells back looking to see tears in her brother's large brown eyes.
"What did… Did you have a nightmare?" Ikari rubs her tired eyes feeling as if she hadn't slept at all but instead ran a marathon,
"No you did! You were crying and then, then you wouldn't get up and I called mom-" Ikari's eyes widened and she struggles out of bed hearing footsteps rush down the hall,
"You did what?" She stands straightening her clothes just as her father opens the door. Ikari is relieved and bows to the man already in his day attire as he looks over her,
"Everything alright here?" he asks and Ikari nods wiping her wet face on her sleeve feeling her brother clutch to her nightgown slightly,
"You gave your brother quite the scare, be mindful of him, he is only a child." He scolds lightly and Ikari nods,
"Yes sir, sorry sir." Her father sighs stepping to her and moving some of her unkempt hair from her face,
"Your mother is going to the palace again today, i'll be in my study if you need anything ok dearest?" Ikari relaxes slightly nodding,
"Yes father." The man smiles and leans down to press his lips to her head softly, before leaving the room and the two children alone.
"I'm starting to think I need my own room." Ikari huffs softly and her brother tears up again,
"I-i'm sorry Ikari! I thought you might be dying. I didn't mean to really!" she chuckles softly tussling his hair.
"I'll forgive you little brother but first I need you to tell me something." She sits back on her bed sighing deeply as the boy sits next to her she stares blankly at the wall.
"Szeto what does… bending feel like?"
Jasmine tea;
Jasmine leaves
hot water
milk and sugar as needed