When Aang and Katara came into sight, chatting happily, Sokka clenched his jaw. He knew the boy couldn't be trusted in any way. Glancing at Jasmine by his side, who still held onto his sleeve, he took a breath. Sokka knew he had to protect his baby sister and the villagers. That's my job.
Jasmine only averted her eyes from the two teenagers in the distance when she felt Sokka get out of her grasp. She looked at him as he stepped in front of the villagers.
The children cheered and ran up to Aang when he was close enough. However, the villagers didn't look as happy as their children. Jasmine knew they wouldn't want Aang around anymore. After all, he was the only one who could have sent the signal. But the youngest just knew that he wasn't with the Fire Nation.
"I knew it. You signalled the Fire Navy with that flare. You're leading them straight to us, aren't you?!" Sokka took another step forward and glared at the bald boy.
"Aang didn't do anything. It was an accident," Katara spoke up for the first time and took a step closer to Aang. She had an innocent look in her eyes which had Jasmine sigh; Katara didn't understand the severity of the situation.
"Yeah, we were on the ship and there was this booby trap." Aang nodded and scratched his neck avoiding looking at the village. "And we, well... we boobied right into it."
Jasmine's heart threatened to stop as she held her breath. She knew he didn't want this to happen but Katara knew that it was forbidden to go on that ship. The Fire Nation was nothing to be taken lightly. Still, the boy made a mistake and they could have to pay with their lives.
"Katara, you shouldn't have gone on that ship. Now we could all be in danger," the grandmother said, not hiding her worried and disappointed tone. Katara's face dropped slightly and she looked at the ground.
Aang glanced at her and didn't want her to take the blame. He stepped forward and shook his head. "Don't blame Katara. I brought her there, it's my fault." He put a hand on his chest and lowered his head a bit.
"Aha! The traitor confessed. Warriors get away from the enemy." Sokka ushered the kids away immediately before turning to glare at Aang. "The foreigner is banished from our village."
Katara's eyes widened, not believing the words that came out of her brother's mouth. "Sokka, you're making a mistake." She couldn't suppress the scolding tone in her voice and put her hands on her sides.
Shaking head, Jasmine took a breath. Her siblings would always start an argument in situations in which someone should try to stay calm and collected.
Sokka shook his head and knitted his eyebrows when he looked at the older twin. "No, I'm keeping my promise to dad. I'm protecting you from threats like him."
"Aang is not our enemy!" Katara snapped in a high tone and stepped in front of the said boy. "Don't you see? Aang brought us something we haven't had in a long time. Fun." Her features softened and she looked over her shoulder at Aang who shot her a smile.
Even though she had a point, Sokka wouldn't budge. It was right that the children were happy for the first time since their fathers had left the village.
"Fun?" Sokka scoffed and crossed his arms. "You can't fight firebenders with fun!"
"You should try it some time," Aang spoke up from behind Katara and smiled sheepishly. His attempt to ease the tension backfired completely.
Sokka balled his fists and clenched his teeth, his jawline getting sharper. "Get out of our village. Now!"
Jasmine took a step forward as well in order to prevent Sokka from doing anything stupid. She grabbed his arm softly and pulled him back a bit.
"Grandmother, please don't let Sokka do this," Katara addressed the old woman directly with big eyes.
The said woman only shook her head. "Katara, you knew going on that ship was forbidden. Sokka is right, I think it's best if the airbender leaves."
Anger flashed in Katara's eyes and she shot Sokka a glare and balled her fists. "Fine, then I'm banished too!" She grabbed Aang's arm and walked towards Appa who was only a few metres away from the village. "Come on Aang, let's go."
Jasmine froze completely. The Katara she knew would never leave behind her family like this.
"Where do you think you're going!?" Sokka yelled and shook his arm free from Jasmine's grip before taking a step forward
Katara turned around with knitted eyebrows, her hand around Aang's wrist tightening. "To find a waterbender. Aang is taking me to the North Pole."
Jasmine got herself together before looking directly at her sister. "Katara, come on, please calm down." She hoped that Katara wouldn't make such an impulsive decision.
Katara's now cold eyes found her dark ones. "Oh now you're talking and trying to help?! Sorry that I'm not so uninterested, unhelpful and lazy like you!" Katara threw her hands in the air, her gaze and tone getting even colder. "You didn't even try to help even once in your life, even not to save mom or get dad!"
Tears welled up in Jasmine's eyes as she took a step back. She gulped down the lump in her throat, anger quickly overtaking her. "Fine then leave your family behind for something stupid like bending, the reason why mom died in the first place!" she yelled and pointed at Katara.
Her body grew hot and Jasmine pulled her ever hotter growing hand away before smoke or fire could come out. Taking a breath, she turned on her heels and pushed through the crowd before stomping away into her tent. The youngest needed to cool off or she would burn her tent to ashes.
Taking a breath, she peeked out of her tent to see if Aang would leave. Jasmine's face fell when she realised that she didn't even get to say goodbye to the cute boy. From the distance she saw that Aang and Appa left and the villagers came back.
The youngest huffed before disappearing in her tent. She needed to release all the energy before she went up in flames and firebending was the perfect thing to do that. The girl waited for a few minutes until everyone went back to their tents before she made her way to Sokka's tent. She wanted to tell him that she would walk around a bit but when she heard her sister's voice she froze.
After Aang left, Katara followed an angry Sokka. He wanted to check on his baby sister but Katara held him up saying that she needed to tell him something despite being angry at each other. Sokka huffed and entered his tent, Katara following him. She told him how the airbender had been frozen in the iceberg for a hundred years and that he didn't know about the war.
The oldest sibling couldn't care less about the bald boy and told Katara that she should apologise to Jasmine as she said some mean things to her.
With a sigh Katara nodded, knowing that the anger got the better of her and that she shouldn't have been so mean to the youngest. Jasmine tried to help wherever she could but it wasn't easy for her to be so different so she isolated herself sometimes.
As soon as Jasmine heard this, she quickly rushed out of the village before Katara could see her. The place she trained or just spent time thinking, was farther away and near the shore. Since her mother had died she went to that place and no one has ever found her there. There was a huge iceberg with two circular holes above each other, Jasmine always sat or laid in.
When the iceberg came into sight, she squinted her eyes. There were two familiar figures in the distance. A smile grew on her face as she still got a chance to say goodbye. "Kiddo! Appa!" She called out and waved both of her arms around as she walked up to them.
Aang turned around upon hearing the familiar voice and his sad expression turned into a bright one as he waved back at the youngest sibling. He couldn't help but feel happy in her presence. Even though she had something intimidating about her, she also had a peaceful aura.
Jasmine climbed up to the highest hole before sitting beside the airbender. "I'm glad to see you here," she said and shot him a smile before nudging his side playfully, "I thought you left without saying goodbye to me."
Aang smiled sheepishly and scratched his neck before looking at the horizon. This place was great to think as the only thing to see was the ocean and the sky. The airbender took a breath and sadly smiled. He thought that Jasmine would hate him as Katara only said these things because she defended him. But there she was smiling at him.
The youngest smiled and looked at the horizon. The boy had a calming effect probably due to being raised by monks. She enjoyed his presence and felt an immediate connection to him. She suddenly wanted to protect this boy from the outside world and when she glanced at him warmth spread through her chest. Is that how you feel about a younger sibling?
"You don't hate me?" Aang interrupted the comfortable silence.
Jasmine chuckled lightly and shook her head. "Of course not. Accidents can happen, four elements." She sent him a reassuring smile. How could someone hate this kid?
His features relaxed and a relieved smile grew on his lips. But when he processed the nickname she gave him, he knitted his eyebrows and tilted his head. "Four elements?" He asked no one specific. Realisation hit him and he snapped his head to her with wide eyes. "Wait, you know?!"
Glancing at him, Jasmine smiled before turning back to the horizon. "It wasn't that hard to figure out. I'm actually surprised Katara still doesn't know, after all you told her that you've been frozen for a hundred years." She turned to the boy and winked. "Your secret's safe with me."
"Thanks." Aang lowered his head and let out a sigh. He needed and wanted to talk about what had happened or about what was in his mind at that moment. And he wanted to tell her. Fiddling with his fingers, he spoke up, "I never wanted to be the Avatar. When they told me that I was the Avatar and the world needed me, I ran away from home."
Jasmine felt bad for him. She put a hand on his shoulder making him look up at her with his big grey eyes. She smiled warmly and tilted her head to the side. "I'm not good at comforting people, that's kinda Katara's job, but I can tell you this: everything happens for a reason, remember that."
"Thanks," Aang said sincerely and nodded. "You remind me of a friend I had in the Fire Nation. Before this whole war started. She looked a lot like you and she was also nice."
Jasmine tensed. Never had anyone dared to tell her directly that she looked like a Fire Nation citizen. Even though she had told herself that countless times, it still felt like a punch in the face to hear it from someone else. She forced a smile on her face before looking at her lap. Letting out a defeated sigh, she shook her head slightly. "You know, I actually don't feel like I belong here."
"What do you mean?" Aang slowly asked. He was afraid that he might overstepped any boundaries or asked for something too personal.
Jasmine let out a sad chuckle. "I mean, besides that I don't look like any of my family, I am just weird. I'm pretty sure I'm actually from the Fire Nation and they just found me here randomly when I was a baby." She shrugged and looked at the horizon. Gulping, she intertwined her hands tightly. "I can bend water and fire," she whispered.
A heavy burden fell from her chest and she took a breath. It felt good and freeing to finally get it off her chest but she didn't dare to look at Aang. She was afraid of his reaction even though she had hoped he knew why and how. Jasmine had done enough research about people being able to bend two elements only to find that no one beside the Avatar was able to bend more than one element. That's why she had initially believed that she was the Avatar when she was little.
Jasmine dared to take a glance at Aang and was surprised to see he was only listening carefully. There were no thoughts or judgement visible in his eyes.
Aang was surprised when he heard about the two elements she could bend. It was the first time he ever heard about someone other than the Avatar himself bending more than one element. He had no idea how or why she was able to do it but in his eyes it didn't make her weird or strange. It was a special gift given by the spirits.
Jasmine was different that was clear but Aang didn't have the feeling that she was more or less adopted. She had Sokka's goofy grin and smile and even if she didn't see it, she was similar to Katara. Both of them cared deeply for their loved ones; the only difference was that Jasmine was not as open with her feelings but everyone could see that she had a big heart.
"You're the first one to know about this weirdness," Jasmine whispered and looked at the airbender.
He snapped out of his thoughts and tilted his head to the side slightly. "That's the first time I've heard about something like this," he said before smiling warmly at her. "You're not weird, I think you're a pretty strong girl."
Aang knew how it felt being different. After it was revealed that he was the Avatar, no one wanted to include him anymore in any games or fun activities. His fellow airbender children always said it would be unfair to put the Avatar in one of the teams. They, including the monks, started to treat him as something special and different. He admired her for still keeping a genuine happy attitude; he hadn't been able to do that.
"Thanks," she whispered. Tears welled up in Jasmine's eyes and she quickly looked away from Aang and took a breath. She didn't want him to see her cry and that was when she spotted dark smoke in the distance. All the feelings put aside, she straightened her posture and watched the metal Fire Navy ship nearing the village with wide eyes. Sokka, Katara.
Turning to Aang, she grabbed both of his shoulders. His eyes widened as he looked at her face. "Listen kid, you need to leave. Right now." Jasmine let go of his shoulders and jumped down the iceberg leaving a frozen Aang behind.
The youngest looked up at Aang one last time. "Don't come back and don't ever let the Fire Nation catch you. The world needs you. Leave and don't look back." Without another word, she ran back to her village.