Kya Maiden of the Sea Book 1 ATLA

Chapter 29

We followed the men to the edge of a river. The man ordered Chey to talk to Jeong Jeong in private. I was unsure how to feel about all the hostility around us. We were led to a hut where we all just waited. I tried to calm my thoughts by continuing to work out. After a while I slumped looking to the roof of the hut. On the inside I was anything but calm. The others slept while I hummed. Chey walked into the hut with a defeated look.

"What happened?" Aang said getting up,"Can I see Jeong Jeong now?"

"He won't see you," Chey said sitting against the wall,"He's very angry that I brought you here. He wants you to leave immediately,"

"Finally. Let's hit the road," Sokka said, sitting up.

"Why won't he see me?" Aang asked, making Sokka lay back down stretching his arms.

"He says you're not ready. Says you haven't mastered water bending and earth bending yet,"

"There's an order for the Avatar to learn the four elements?" I asked mostly to myself.

"Wait, how does he know that?" Aang asked.

"He saw the way you walked into camp. He can tell," Chey said.

"I'm going in anyway!" Aang announced leaving the hut.

"Something tells me we won't be leaving as soon as we want to," I whispered to Sokka who was already asleep again. I shook my head laying down next to him. 

>>>

Once morning came, we all got up early. Along the river Sokka fished while Katara and I practiced out bending. I let the water swirl around me, separating them into smaller streams as I circled them in the air. Jeong Jeong had agreed to teach Aang fire bending, so Aang was on a rock in the river.

"Silence! Talking is not concentrating!" Jeong Jeong yelled out, loud enough for me to hear through the trance I was. I usually zone out while practicing. It helped me focus, "Look at your friends, are they talking?"

I turned the thin streams of water into ice.

"Even that oaf knows to concentrate on what he's doing!" Jeong Jeong continued to scold.

I snickered.

"Hey!" Sokka yelled out.

Jeong Jeong continued to scold Aang on his lack of concentration. My siblings laughed once Jeong Jeong left but I just rolled my eyes. Maybe this order thing actually is important. Aang whipped his head back, making Sokka and Katara stop laughing. Aang probably felt embarrassed that he couldn't do as he was told.

After a while Jeong Jeong took Aang away from the river. We stayed behind. I started to make waves in the river. It was nice and calming. The air around me became colder as the river started to freeze in ripples of the waves. I snapped out of it when Sokka yelled out that he caught a fish. I ran over to him as he reeled it in.

"Dinner," Sokka said, almost drooling.

We heard Katara scream in the background. Sokka dropped the fish as we ran over.

"Katara, what's wrong?" I asked, seeing my sister crying holding her hands to her stomach.

"What did you do?!" Sokka asked angrily

"It was an accident!" Aang said in defense,"I was,,,uh! Katara I'm so-"

Sokka threw Aang down before he could get closer to Katara, pressing against his back.

"I told you! You shouldn't mess around with this!" He yelled, "Look what you did! You burned my sister!"

"Jeong Jeong was right to say you weren't ready," I said, trying to pull Katara up and getting her to the water. She started running away sobbing.

"Katara," I said, running after her. She crouched down winching again,"You need to put your hands in the water,"

She looked at her hands before placing them under the water. She winched but her hands began to glow. She pulled her hands back out to see that the burn marks were gone. I gasped, creating a shard of ice slicing a bit at my palm. I tried healing it myself.

"What are you doing?!" Katara asked

"Trying to figure out what you just did," I said. The cut glowed a bright blue almost white color then healed. I touched where the cut was once present.

"You have healing abilities," Jeong Jeong said from behind,"Both of you do. The great benders of the Water Tribe sometimes have this ability," He sat down next to us, "I've always wished I were blessed like you, free from this burning curse,"

"But you're a great master. You have powers we'll never know," Katara said.

"Water brings healing and life, but fire brings only destruction and pain. It forces those of us burden of its care to walk a razor's edge between humanity and savagery. Eventually we're torn apart,"

"Is that really the fate of every fire bender?" I asked, thinking of Zuko.

Zuko was always angry, but I don't think just anger is what fueled him. His anger seemed to stem from pain. The image of his scar saddened me for a moment. Fire began splashing against the water. Scaring us, we jumped up but a large stream of fire came our way. Jeong Jeong stopped it.

"Go get your friends and flee!" Jeong Jeong ordered. We ran off, leaving Jeong Jeong behind, "Do not come back here or you will all be destroyed! Hurry!"

I looked back to see Zhao in the leading ship. I swore under my breath before speeding up pulling Katara with me. We saw Sokka who was packing Appa, ready to leave.

We stopped running, I tried catching my breath.

"Katara! Are you all right?!" Sokka asked, still concerned about the burning incident.

"I'm fine. We gotta get out of here, where's Aang?" She asked before running to the hut to find him.

"What's going on?" Sokka asked

"I'll explain later but Zhao found us, Jeong Jeong's holding him back,'

"Come on," Sokka said jumping onto Appa and pulling me up.

Katara ran back to us. I leaned over and helped her onto the saddle.

"Aang went to help Jeong Jeong," Katara said.

Sokka led Appa to where we left Jeong Jeong. Zhao's ships were destroyed, being engulfed in flames and sinking into the river.

"Aang come on. We gotta go," I called out as Aang jumped onto Appa.

"Wait, where's Jeong Jeong?" Aang asked as we flew off.

"He disappeared," Sokka said as we all looked down,"They all did,"

The entire camp was gone. As if no one was even there to begin with. We sat in a circle heading north again.

"Aang, you're burned. Let me help you," Katara said, pulling the water out.

"Some water benders are healers too," I said leaning over to Sokka.

"Wow, that's good water," Aang joked.

"When did you guys learn how to do that?" Sokka asked.

"I guess we always knew," Katara said.

"Oh well, then thanks for all the first aid over the years," Sokka complained leaning back,"Like when I fell into the greaseberry ramble and that time I had two fish hooks in my thumb!" He said, showing his thumb to us with emphasis.

"Two?" Aang asked, concerned.

"He tried getting the first one out with another fishhook," I said with a judging face.

Sokka kept complaining about all the incidents that happened over the years. I sighed shaking my head, leaning back into the saddle next to him.

"Kya could even heal her scar," Sokka said, making me turn to him.

"I'm good," I said rubbing my left arm, I didn't mind my scar,"And I don't think you can heal a scar,"

"What about that time I got bit by that arctic spider," Sokka was about to complain again.

"We agreed we would never talk about that evil thing again," I said, shaking the memory of that day out of my mind.