A/N: Wow, I can't believe we're already this far into the story! Book 1 is going to be wrapping up in three weeks! That's crazy to think about.Thank you all for your continued support. It means the world to me. And as always, enjoy!
Responses from chapter 16:
Vapor23: I'm glad that you liked last chapter, considering your feelings about the source material. Akira's flaws are one of the many enjoyable things about her, in my opinion. I wanted her to be on Aang's side, but to also be frustrated with him since he made a dumb decision. I also liked Akira's threat to Jun. When I was reading your story and saw Aang's threat to The Earth King, it reminded me of that. I'm happy you liked the extra scenes with Aang and Akira, as those are my favorites to write. Thank you for your support, happy reading!
We were in a forest. Momo was chirping and flying through the sky. We came across a bulletin board, and Katara walked over to it.
"This should give us a good idea of what's around here," She stated.
"See if you can find a menu," Sokka said, "I'm starving,"
"I'll bet we'll find something to eat here," Aang replied, pointing to a poster on the board, "The Fire Days Festival,"
"That does sound promising," I stated, walking up to Katara and Aang as I began to read from the poster, "It's got Fire Nation cultural exhibits, jugglers, benders, magicians…"
"This would be a great place for me to study some real firebenders," Aang said excitedly.
"You might wanna rethink that," Sokka said, "Look at this," We all walked over to the other side of the board. I gasped when I saw two of the wanted posters. One for me, and one for Aang.
"Hey, posters of Kiri and I!" Aang exclaimed.
"Wanted posters," I corrected.
"This is bad," Sokka stated. Aang and I both took our wanted posters from the board and looked at them.
"They did draw a pretty accurate picture of me," I said.
"I think we better keep moving," Katara stated, worry evident in her tone.
"But I have to learn firebending at some point, and this could be my only chance to watch some masters up close," Aang protested. Katara looked down for a moment, seemingly pondering whether or not we should go to the festival. She sighed before speaking.
"I guess we could go check it out," She said, worry evident in her tone. Aang grinned happily at this.
"What?!" Sokka asked in disbelief, "You want to walk into a Fire Nation town when they're all fired up with all their, you know, fire?"
"We can wear disguises?" I suggested.
"Great idea," Katara replied, "And if it looks like trouble, we'll leave," I nodded and Katara walked away, Aang following her close behind.
"Yeah, because we always leave before we get into trouble," Sokka grumbled. I gave him a look of sympathy before talking.
"Look on the bright side, Sokka," I said, "I'm sure that there will be lots of good food at the festival," Sokka looked at me, a slight smile coming to his face.
"Alright, I have to admit, I am hungry," He replied. I beamed and we walked over to Appa.
We landed near the festival area, but not too close, as we didn't want anyone to see Appa.
"You guys stay out of sight here while we go to the festival," Aang instructed, turning to Appa and Momo. Momo dived into a small bush in response while Appa attempted to hide behind it. I giggled at the sight of the large bison behind the tiny bush.
"Ready disguises," Aang said. Sokka dramatically pulled a black hood over his head, and Katara did the same. Aang pulled his shawl over his head while I put the straw hat he received for nuts on.
"It's like you're a whole different person," Sokka stated sarcastically, causing Katara and I to both snort.
"Let's go!" Aang exclaimed. We all began to walk toward the town where the festival was taking place.
As we walked around, I couldn't help but feel nostalgic. Two- well 102 years ago, Aang and I had came to a Fire Nation festival with Aang's friend, Kuzon. I gaped when I saw a giant dragon puppet racing past us. When I looked around at the people, I noticed that they were all wearing masks.
"I think we need some new disguises," I stated.
"Where are we gonna get masks like that?" Sokka asked.
"Get your genuine fire festival masks here!" A man called out, making my attention turn to him. I saw that he had a stand with a whole bunch of masks at it and smiled.
"There," I replied. Aang, Katara, and I ran over to the stand.
"Four masks, please," Katara said. The man pulled out four masks from behind the stand and handed them to her.
"Thank you," She responded. We all put our masks on. Mine was a purple spirit-looking thing that was smiling. When I looked to my friends, they all had their masks on as well. Katara was wearing a mask that looked the face of a doll. Sokka was also wearing a smiling mask, and Aang was wearing a frowning one. Obviously thinking that this wasn't very fitting, Katara took off their masks, revealing Sokka's frowning face and Aang's grinning one. She then switched the two masks around.
"That's better," I stated. We then proceeded to continue walking around the festival.
"Hey, there's some food," Aang announced, pointing to a stand in the distance.
"Finally!" Sokka exclaimed, racing ahead of us.
"What do you have?" He asked as he ran up to the vendor.
"Flaming fire flakes," The vendor replied, "Best in town,"
"I'll take 'em," Sokka said, snatching the fire flakes and quickly shoveling them into his mouth. He began to cough and sputter.
"Oh, hot, hot!" He exclaimed.
"Flaming fire flakes, hot," Katara repeated sarcastically.
"What do you know?" Sokka asked monotonously.
"Hey, look at this!" Aang exclaimed, turning toward something in the distance. There were puppets and a stage, and the children there seemed to really be enjoying it. We walked over to the puppet show. When we got there, a puppet version of what looked to be Fire Lord emerged from the curtains.
"Don't worry, loyal citizens," The puppet said, its voice low, "No one can surprise the Fire Lord!" Then, a puppet of an Earth Kingdom solider came up behind the Fire Lord, and the children in the audience began to gasp. Fire blew from the puppet Fire Lord's mouth, burning the puppet soldier. The children began cheering, and I slowly backed away, being completely creeped out by the whole situation. Once we had left that nightmare, Aang started racing ahead of us again.
"Aang, hold on," Katara said, "Where are we going?"
"I don't know, but there's a big crowd, so it must be good," My brother replied.
"Knowing the Fire Nation, it's probably an execution," Sokka stated. When we got close enough to the stage, I saw that we were not in fact coming upon an execution, but instead some kind of firebending magician stuff. The guy on stage was doing all sorts of crazy firebending moves, and I watched in awe. Suddenly, the guy firebent pigeons!
"I gotta learn that trick," Aang stated excitedly. I noticed that his mask was up, and a worried look came to my face.
"Aang, your mask!" I warned in a hushed tone, my voice urgent. Aang sighed and put the mask down, and I let out a sigh of relief when I realized nobody had seen him.
"Thank you!" The magician guy called out to the cheers of the crowd, "For my next trick, I need a volunteer from the audience,"
"Ooh, ooh! Me! Me!" Aang exclaimed, hopping up and down with his hand in the air.
"What do you think you're doing?" Sokka asked in a hushed tone.
"I want to get a closer look," Aang stated.
"It's better that we don't attract any attention to ourselves," Katara said.
"Yeah, especially because we're literally wanted here," I added.
"How about you, little lady?" The magician asked, pointing to me.
"Uh…" I started, backing away slowly as I shook my head.
"Aww, she's shy," The magician said jokingly, "Let's give her some encouragement, folks," Suddenly, everyone around me began to cheer and I was pushed forward. The magician grabbed me by arm and I looked back at my friends. Although they couldn't see it, I gave them a pleading look.
"Please, help me," I thought. Suddenly, the magician pulled me up onto the stage. I stared at the crowd in front of me, embarrassment turning my cheeks pink. The magician dragged a chair to the middle of the stage.
"This next trick is called taming the dragon!" He announced. He grabbed me by the shoulders and sat me down on the chair.
"You will be my captured princess," He stated, wrapping red rope around my body so I would be tied to the chair. I gulped, the feeling of anxiety creeping into me. He then bent the fire from the torches around him, creating a dragon shape with the flames.
"Don't worry, young maiden, I will tame this fiery beast!" The magician announced. He then whipped out more fire from his fist, using it as a guide for the other fire.
"It's too strong!" He exclaimed, the strength of his hold on the fire dragon wavering, "I can't hold it!"
"Please try harder!" I shouted, fear coursing through my body. I turned my attention away from the fire dragon to see that Aang was trying to get closer to the stage, but Sokka and Katara were stopping him.
"No, don't stop him!" I thought, "Help me!"
"The rope, it's breaking!" The magician exclaimed as the fire separated from the dragon. He then proceeded to start bending the fire dragon toward my face. Panic overtook all other emotions and I screamed, breaking free from the ropes and jumping high into the air with airbending. When I descended, I saw that confetti was flying through the air, and noticed that Aang was in front of me. I let out a large sigh of relief.
"Hey, you trying to upstage me, kid?" The magician asked bitterly. Everyone started booing and I noticed we had both lost our masks. As I frantically searched for my mask, Aang started to dance. Sokka and Katara walked onto the stage and began their own searches for Aang and I's masks.
"Hey! Those kids are the avatar and the last airbender!" Someone shouted from the crowd. I paused my search for my mask and looked up to see a bunch of soldiers coming toward us.
"Uh oh," I said worriedly.
"I think it's time to go," Sokka stated as he took off his mask. Katara did the same.
"Follow me!" Someone shouted from behind us. I turned around to see a man behind the broken stage wall.
"I can get you out of here!" He exclaimed.
"There they are!" One of the soldiers called out. I turned to see that they were inching closer and quickly began running behind the wall. We ran throughout the festival, the soldiers following close behind.
"I'm calling Appa," Aang stated, pulling out the bison whistle and blowing into it.
"I hope he can really hear that bison whistle!" Sokka exclaimed.
"This way!" The man said, leading us into an alleyway. When we reached the end, more soldiers appeared.
"Okay, not this way," The man corrected. He threw an explosive at the soldiers as we ran the other way. We ran into a dead end going the other way, though. The soldiers came over to us, pointing their spears. As they came closer, Appa swooped in.
"Appa, down here!" Aang called out. The bison scared the soldiers away and landed on the ground. We quickly hopped onto his saddle and took off. The man set off another explosive and threw it at some fireworks for a big finish.
"Nice touch setting off the fireworks," Aang complimented.
"You seem to really know your explosives," Sokka added.
"I'm familiar," The man replied, turning around to face us.
"You're a Fire Nation soldier," Sokka gasped in disbelief.
"Was," The man stated, "My name's Chey,"
Later…
We were camping out in the woods, the chilly air hitting our faces.
"I serve a man," Chey explained, "More than a man, really, he's a myth, but he's real, a living legend,"
"Jeong Jeong the Deserter," He said, his voice carrying a mysterious aura, "He was a Fire Nation general, or wait…was he an admiral?"
"He was very highly ranked, we get it," Sokka groaned annoyedly.
"Yeah! Way up there!" Chey exclaimed, "But he couldn't take the madness anymore, he's the first person to ever leave the army and live,"
"I'm the second, but you don't get to be a legend for that," He added, "It's okay, though,"
"Jeong Jeong's a firebending genius," Chey continued, "Some say he's mad, but he's not, he's enlightened,"
"You mean there's a firebender out here who's not with the Fire Lord?" Aang asked excitedly, "We've gotta go see him, he can train me!"
"We're not gonna go find some crazy firebender," Sokka said.
"He's not crazy!" Chey protested, "He's a genius! And he's the perfect person to train the avatar,"
"That's why I followed you into the festival," He added.
"You followed us to the festival?" I repeated, a puzzled look on my face.
"Yep, I was right behind you the whole time!" Chey replied.
"That's not creepy at all…" I thought.
"Look, thanks for all the help, but we're leaving for the North Pole in the morning," Sokka stated, standing up.
"Sokka, this could be my only chance to meet a firebending master who would actually be willing to teach me," Aang said.
"It can't hurt just to talk to him," Katara chimed in.
"That's what you said about going to the festival!" Sokka exclaimed, "Why doesn't anyone ever listen to me?!" He then proceeded to attempt to walk away, but was stopped by a spear pointing at him. Tons of weird looking people dropped from the trees, pointing their spears at us. Two came behind me and I turned around, backing up with my hands in the air to show I meant no harm.
"Don't move," One of the weird people commanded, causing me to stop backing up.
We were walking through the woods with the weird people.
"Jeong Jeong told you not to look for avatar," One of them said bitterly to Chey.
"Hold on, you know these guys?" Sokka asked.
"Oh, yeah, Lin Ye's an old buddy," Chey replied sarcastically, "Right, Lin Ye?"
"Shut up, keep moving," Lin Ye commanded harshly. We continued to trudge along until we made our way to a camp area.
"Go on, he sees you only," Lin Ye said to Chey, pointing to a metal hut in the distance.
"Oh, that's okay, we can chat later," Chey replied.
"Is that where Jeong Jeong is?" Aang asked, "I need to talk to him right away," My brother was suddenly stopped by Lin Ye putting his spear in front of him.
"No, you wait there," Lin Ye replied, "Go, now!" He pushed Chey forward.
"Don't worry, everything will be fine," Chey said reassuringly. I didn't know exactly who he was talking to, but I still nodded.
"He's a great man," Chey continued as he walked toward the metal hut, "A great man!" Lin Ye then led us over to our own hut.
"Here's where you will stay," He said before walking away.
Later…
"Remember guys, we're leaving this place first thing in the morning," Sokka stated.
"Come on, Sokka," Aang groaned, "Jeong Jeong's here, we're here, why not take the opportunity?"
"Because we need to get a move on to the North Pole," Sokka replied curtly, "Plus, aren't you supposed to be learning fire last?" Aang sighed before responding.
"Yeah, but this is the only firebender we know of that isn't out to get me," He stated, "Please?"
"We don't even know if Jeong Jeong is willing to teach you," Sokka protested.
"How about we all just get some sleep," I suggested, "In the morning, we'll figure out the situation with Jeong Jeong and then decide where to go from there," Aang and Sokka nodded.
"Good idea, Kiri," Aang stated. I smiled and lied down on the ground, drifting off to sleep.
The next morning…
We were all by the river. Katara was practicing her waterbending, Sokka was attempting to catch a fish, and I was practicing airbending. Aang was training with Jeong Jeong, as it had been decided that he would teach him. As I practiced, I focused all of my attention on the air around me, not hearing or seeing anything anyone else was doing.
"Silence!" I heard Jeong Jeong exclaim, causing me to slightly break concentration, "Talking is not concentrating, Look at your friend and sister, are they talking? Even that oaf knows how to concentrate on what he's doing," I shifted my focus on the air around me again and continued my practice, tuning out everything else. I got a glance at Aang, who was in a weird stance and began to laugh. Sokka and Katara did so as well. Aang glared at us, blush forming on his cheeks.
Later…
I was practicing airbending. Suddenly, I saw Aang stomp into Jeong Jeong's hut, and wondered what was up with him. About a minute later, he walked out again, his expression a mixture of frustration and glumness. He hopped onto a rock in the river and sat down, beginning to meditate. A few minutes later, Jeong Jeong walked out.
"I thought about what you said," Aang stated calmly, "I promise I'll be more patient,"
"We're going to work with fire now," Jeong Jeong stated. Aang's eyes lit up and a grin came to his face.
"Oh, yeah!" He exclaimed, flipping up into the air. I noticed that Jeong Jeong was giving him an exasperated look.
"I mean, let us begin," Aang corrected his calm tone returning. Jeong Jeong grabbed a leaf that was blowing in the wind and made it emit smoke.
"Concentrate on the fire," He instructed, handing the leaf to my brother as he lit a tiny flame on it, "I want you to keep this flame from reaching the edges if the leaf for as long as you can," Aang groaned frustratedly. Suddenly, one of the weird guys appeared.
"Master, there is trouble!" He announced.
"What's going on?!" Aang asked.
"Concentrate on your leaf," Jeong Jeong instructed as he ran away.
"This is the worst firebending instruction ever," Aang complained, "All he ever does is leave me alone for hours to concentrate or breathe,"
"I'm sure there's a good reason," Katara stated.
"But I'm ready to do so much more," Aang protested. He then shifted his stance and began to take deep breaths, and the leaf set on fire.
"I did it, I made fire!" Aang exclaimed happily.
"That's great and all, but didn't Jeong Jeong tell you to keep the flame controlled?" I asked.
"Yeah, but like I said, I can do so much more than controlling it," Aang replied.
"Well, you should take it slow," Katara stated. Aang, obviously not listening, made the fire bigger and brighter.
"Whoa!" He gasped, almost falling off of the rock he was standing on.
"Careful!" Katara called out. As Aang struggled to keep balance, I lightly pushed him back onto the rock with airbending.
"Thanks," He said before looking at his fire, "Now, that's firebending," He then proceeded to start blasting the fire in different directions, and I was worried he would get hurt.
"Aang, slow down," I said.
"Relax, Kiri, I've got this," My brother replied, juggling the fire, "I wonder how that juggler did it," He then proceeded to spread the fire all around. As the flames danced close to my face, I jumped back, avoiding getting burned. I heard a scream and realized that Katara hadn't gotten the luxury of not getting burned.
"Katara!" Aang exclaimed, jumping from the rock over to us, "I'm so sorry!" I ran over to her.
"Are you okay? Are the burns bad?" I asked worriedly. Katara didn't answer, she only continued to cry into her hands.
"Katara, what's wrong?" Sokka asked, running up to us.
"What did you do?" He asked Aang coldly.
"It was an accident!" Aang exclaimed, "I was-uh! Katara, I'm so-" Suddenly, my brother was interrupted by Sokka tackling him and pinning him to the ground. I gasped in shock.
"I told you we shouldn't mess around with this!" Sokka yelled angrily, "Look what you did, you burned my sister!" I saw that he still had Aang pinned and decided to speak.
"Get off of him!" I exclaimed. Sokka took his hands off of my brother. I heard sobbing and turned to see Katara running away.
"You burned my sister!" Sokka reprimanded.
"Sokka, it was an accident!" I shouted. He ignored me, continuing to yell at Aang.
"How would you feel if I burned Akira?" Sokka asked angrily. Suddenly, Jeong Jeong walked over.
"This is all your fault!" Sokka yelled at him.
"I know!" Jeong Jeong shouted back, "Now, pack your things, you must leave immediately,"
"I'm sorry," Aang said quietly, sadness evident in his tone, "I didn't-" Sokka walked away, hatred in his expression.
"I'm sorry!" My brother exclaimed.
"There's no use, he's not gonna forgive you," I sighed glumly, "He shouldn't have tackled you like that, though,"
"He had every reason to," Aang responded, "I burned his sister, I'd probably do the same if someone burned you,"
Jeong Jeong then walked over, his look that of disgust, and stared at him for a moment. He then walked away. Aang's eyes filled with tears and he ran to Jeong Jeong's hut, me following closely behind. When I got into the hut, Aang was sitting by some candles, facing away from me.
"Kiri, please," He whispered, the strength in his voice wavering, "I need some time to think about this alone," I nodded and promptly left, leaving him to think about what had happened.
Later…
I was sitting near the river, drawing in the dirt with a stick, when I saw Katara coming from the trees behind me.
"Katara!" I exclaimed, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," She replied, showing me her unburned hands.
"Woah," I gasped in amazement, "How did you get them healed so fast?"
"I'll explain later," She said, "I need to talk to Aang, Zhao and his soldiers are here and they're going to attack," She then ran into the hut. My expression turned into a scowl as I thought about Zhao, the stupid admiral that made my blood boil. Suddenly, Aang ran out of the hut.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"Zhao's got Jeong Jeong, I'm going to save him," My brother stated.
"I'm coming too," I said, standing up. Aang nodded and we ran off together.
"Jeong Jeong!" Aang called out as we made our way over to them. Zhao and his soldiers were all standing across from Jeong Jeong, and Zhao was staring at him menacingly. Zhao ordered something, and the soldiers began to surround Jeong Jeong, who put flames around himself and disappeared along with them.
"It's a trick!" Zhao exclaimed, "He's run off into the woods, find him!" The soldiers then ran off, leaving Aang and I to fight Zhao.
"Let's find out what my old master has taught you," Zhao said to Aang.
"You were Jeong Jeong's student?" I asked.
"Until I got bored," Zhao replied before blasting fire at me. I quickly hopped over it while Aang knocked Zhao to the ground. The admiral grunted and got back up, anger etched onto his ugly features. He blasted more fire, this time aimed at Aang, who narrowly dodged it.
"I see he has taught you how to duck and run like a coward, avatar, but I doubt he showed you a firebender is truly capable of!" He then made two fire blasts aimed at us. Aang did some weird thing with the sand below him, while I jumped out of the way.
"Whoa, wild shot!" Aang yelled enthusiastically.
"I'll show you wild!" Zhao yelled, blasting uncontrolled and repeated fire at both of us. I dodged and ducked in every way.
"Are you saying these blasts are 'wild' because you're moving like a wild animal?" I asked. Zhao gritted his teeth in anger.
"No self control," I heard Aang mutter to himself. He then looked over at the boats, and I knew what he was thinking. We smirked at each other before initiating the plan.
"Stand and fight, children!" Zhao shouted.
"Oh, were we fighting?" Aang asked sassily, "I thought you were just getting warmed up,"
"I was," Zhao replied coldly. He then blasted more fire at us, to which we effortlessly avoided.
"Is that all you can do?" I asked, "Man, who made you an admiral?" Zhao growled and blasted more fire at us. I hopped onto one boat, while Aang hopped onto another.
"Ahoy! I'm admiral Zhao!" My brother exclaimed, shaking his butt.
"No, I'm admiral Zhao! Fight me, avatar!" I said in a low voice before pretending to blast fire at Aang. He pretended to doge my "fire" and I fell to the ground, fake sobbing.
"N-nobody l-loves me!" I yelled through fake sobs.
"Enough of this childish nonsense," Zhao growled before blasting fire at us. We both dodged, and I laughed as I jumped out of the way. The boats lit on fire, causing Aang and I to go to the final boat together.
"Missed me!" I called out.
"I don't know why, but I thought you would be better than Zuko," Aang said, an exasperated look coming to his face. Zhao blasted fire directly at him, and my brother quickly ducked.
"Sloppy, very sloppy," Aang stated before jumping to the top of the boat alongside me. Zhao sent many fire blasts at us, but each one missed. I felt a slight tingle on my left leg, but ignored it. Aang and I hid, but Zhao jumped and landed in front of us.
"Nowhere to run now, you little brats," He said. He then sent more fire at us, and we both flipped over him. On my way down I pushed Zhao's head, causing him to stumble.
"You've lost this battle," Aang stated. Zhao sent another blast at us, to which we both dodged. Aang landed on a tall part of the boat, while I landed behind Zhao.
"Are you crazy? Neither of you have even thrown a single blow," Zhao responded.
"No," I said, causing him to turn around, "But you have," Zhao looked around to see that he had burned his own boats.
"Jeong Jeong said you had no restraint," Aang stated.
"Bye bye!" I exclaimed, hopping away. Zhao screamed, causing the boat he was on to light on fire completely. Aang and I came out of the water, laughing.
"Have a nice walk home!" Aang called out, causing me to laugh hard.
"Guys, come on!" Sokka called. He and Katara were on Appa. Aang and I sprinted out of the water and hopped onto the bison.
"Wait, where's Jeong Jeong?" Aang asked.
"He disappeared," Sokka admitted, "They all did," I looked down at the river below to see that there was nobody there, as if they never were there in the first place.
Later…
We were all sitting on Appa's saddle. I had my legs sprawled out in front of me.
"Aang, Akira, you're burned!" Katara gasped. I looked down at my leg to see that I had a small burn on it.
"How did I never notice that?" I asked.
"Let me help you," She said before opening her water skin and putting some water over my leg. The water began to glow and my burn healed.
"Woah," I gasped, "So that's how you fixed your hands," Katara then turned to Aang and put the water of his arm. It glowed, and the burn was gone.
"Wow, thats good water!" Aang stated.
"When did you learn how to do that?" Sokka asked.
"I guess I always knew," Katara replied.
"Oh, well then, thanks for all the first aid over the years," Sokka said annoyedly, "Like when I fell into the greaseberry bramble, and that time I had two fishhooks in my thumb!"
"Two?" I repeated.
"He tried to get the first fishhook out with another fishhook," Katara explained.
"Oh, and that time that Ming snake bit me," Sokka added, "Thanks for healing that up, that's great, really helpful,"
A/N: Sorry if the writing for this chapter isn't the best, I was saving my skills for something else ;) As always, make sure to review!
