I Will Burn Brighter~ Avatar the Last Airbender OC

The Renegade Firemaster

As Aang, Katara, and Sokka walked through the Fire Nation Festival the noticed someone familiar watching them. Now sporting a hood, there was a masked woman trailing behind them. A few small strands of white hair slipped from the hood. They were unnoticeable if one wasn't looking for them. After a while she disappeared, but Aang still got the feeling he was being watched.

It was only when they met Master Zhoug Zhoug that they had realized why. She was sitting in the corner of his small hut focusing on a candle. He explained he had asked a favor of her that she had obliged. Aang watched as she focused on it. It was a fresh candle, but more surprisingly it was unlit. Just a sad little wick peeking out.

"Watch her breathing." Zhoug Zhoug advised. Aang noticed how her body rose and fell very slowly. "You see how she has slowed it down. It is allowing her to maintain a sense of calm while bending. Apparently she learned it from watching Earthbenders. They are always steady and calm."

The girl finally took one last deep breath, and the candle ignited without her moving a muscle.

"How?" Aang wondered as the girl continued to meditate.

"It is an advanced technique to transfer the flow of your Chi to another source, but it is the basis of what you do in your body when you firebend. Firebending is an extension of your Chi, but you must control it." Zhoug Zhoug explained.

Aang found the next few days of training boring, but one day he walked into Zhoug Zhoug's hut to se the girl sitting with candles.

"Please sit. I will be teaching you today." she said, Aang sat down.

"Ask me any question." she said.

"Who are you?" Aang asked.

"Wrong question." she replied.

"What? But you said I could ask you any question!" Aang said, a but annoyed.

"I did not say I would answer it." she replied.

"Then what's the point!" Aang was now exasperated. She was worse than Zhoug Zhoug.

"That is the point." she said, finally looking up at him through her mask.

"Huh?" Aang said, anger now turning to curiosity.

"To the Fire Nation, fire is power. What is it to you Aang?" she said.

"I-I don't know. I never thought of that. I guess it's just another element I need to learn by ne-" Aang began.

"That is the point." the girl interrupted.

"What is fire to you?" Aang said, rather confused.

"Wrong question." she replied.

"I dont get it!" Aang yelled. "Why are you asking me all these questions!"

"That is the correct question to ask." the girl replied softly. "Fire is a particular element. It can burn people alive from the inside out. Those who do not respect it receive the consequences. Fire needs time and patience. Fire, when curated and controlled breath life into the world, not destruction."

"I think I understand now." Aang said with a smile. "I-I'm sorry for yelling." Aang was quite certain he girl smiled under the mask.

"It wouldn't be the first time."

After a few more days of training Zhoug Zhoug gave Aang a leaf, instructing him to stop it from burning. Just then the girl rushed towards the two. 

"You must come at once." she said, trying to maintain calm. Aang just looked at the worriedly as the two firebenders rushed away. He decided to forget the leaf and follow them. He watched as they entered a clearing, and to his horror he saw Fire Nation boats and Admiral Zhou. Zhoug Zhoug put up a wall of fire, guiding the soldiers to shore.

"Well this is a pleasant surprise." Zhou commented. "And it seems you have a new student."

"Not a student, but a fellow master." Zhoug Zhoug replied, much to Zhou's surprise. 

"Oh really, then let's test her." he said.

"You should go Zhoug Zhoug. He's no match for me anyway." the girl said to Zhoug Zhoug.

"Excuse me?" Zhou said as Zhoug Zhoug ran off into the woods. "Not good enough for you? I'll show you not good enough!" 

Zhou shot a huge sweep of flame at the girl, but it was split in half as it approached her.  He continued shooting at her as Aang noticed she was slowly shifting their stances so she was in front of Zhou's ships. He flung a fireball at her, only for her to smoothly take it and send it flying back at him.

"That all you got?" the girl said. "The army seems to have gotten weaker than it was in my day."

"In your day?" Zhou said angrily, shooting out and arc of flames than began to torch his ships. "What are you 12?"

"What I am is bored. This fight is over." she said nonchalantly.

"Oh really? Take this!" Zhou yelled, throwing a large streak of flame towards her, only for it to be batted away like a fly. Aang watched as her pointer and middle finger lined up side by side and the rest tucked away. The girl concentrated momentarily before drawing hot white lightning around her body.

"No way..." Zhous said in disbelief. He began to back away. Only a small piece of the lightning hit him. It rendered the man unconscious. The girl shot the rest straight up into the sky.

"Wow! That was cool!" Aang said, walking out from his hiding place.

"I would like to accompany you to the North Pole if you don't mind." the girl said to him. "I know a few of the people there. They took me in when very few would."

"Well watcha waiting for? Let's go!" Aang said cheerfully, glad to have made a new friend.