Coco (ATLA) (Book 1)- Major Editing Coming SOON

Li

Word update: 1,601

Life can be so unpredictable.

I was just your regular Fire Nation citizen, poor as dirt with a regular family, just living life. Then I was just a girl with her mother, running away from the war that took my brother away from me, and forced me to leave my father behind- which is actually pretty common for folks who flee like myself. Then I was a loner. A 15 year old girl who was living from village to village because of a mother who abandoned her, found by an old pudgy man and his nephew, who just so happened to be the banished Prince of the Fire Nation- which is not so common. Fast forward to the present, I am 16 years old, and a Fire Nation fugitive. Only, I'm still living with that pudgy old man and his nephew, who is still the banished Prince of the Fire Nation, and also a fugitive.

I know I seem ok, but my mother leaving not just me, but my dad, too, really hurts. I'm confused, I'm mad... And I feel an overwhelming amount of guilt for being mad! I feel like I'm a complete mess. I can't tell uncle because I don't want him to think I'm a mess even though I know I'm a mess!

I remember the day my parents told me the news about my brother. The night he left, I begged for him not to go, that it wouldn't end well, and I was right, it didn't. I know he had no choice but to go, it was the law, but the law is stupid, and it's unfair. I also remember the heartache and pain I felt after his departure. I refused to adjust to this new life we were forced to live. A life without Li was a life I never wanted.

...

"Kimi, come in here, please!"

I was deep in my studies when I hear my mother call me from our living room. I look up from my brother's small wooden desk, and I head down the corridor to see what I am needed for. My brother left to fight in the war 7 months ago, and I haven't seen him since, so I've been staying in his room. He's written me twice, his last letter he seemed a little frantic. His handwriting was not neat, he wrote in short sentences, and the paper was smudged. He said everything was ok, but I don't know if that's true.

My home isn't very big, none of the houses in this part of the Fire Nation are. I'm not complaining though, I enjoy it down here. The upper class citizens are surrounded by grand architecture and are introduced to the newest technologies, which is fine, but down here, we're surrounded by nature. Beautiful trees and all sorts of plant life, like the fire lillys that bloom every spring, and the creatures that come out after winter. Teacher says that's called hibernation. I love the wildlife and the nature that surrounds us, I've read a lot of books on the topic alone, and learned so much already. I love my home, my towns people, everything... I just hate that the war that's been going on. I mean, 100 years of fighting? Ridiculous! Other nations deserve to live in peace and harmony. I don't know why Firelord Ozai wants to ruin that. I don't understand what he's doing, really. And now, it seems like they've forgotten us people down here, too. I'm afraid that they're going to push us all out of our homes. They're forcing our men to fight in the war, they're ruining our wildlife, and we're low on resources. Not to mention the airbenders were the first to go! Those poor people.

"Yes, mother?"

"Honey, sit dow. Your father and I have something to tell you."

"Ok."

I sit down on the an old leather seat that my father bought at the secondhand shop down the way. I work there during the summers. It was torn in places and not to comfortable since the padding is worn down, but at least it's doing the job.

I look at my parents and observe their faces. I thought something might've been wrong when my mother called me Kimi instead of Coco, but looking at their faces, I know foresure something's wrong. Uh oh, did the headmasters say something?