I woke up to the sound of a key being turned in a lock, and I opened my drowsy eyes, quickly snapping to attention when I realised I was in a cold metal cell. I tried to get up from the floor where the guards had thrown me, but I felt that my hands were bound together by metal cuffs.
As I was struggling on the floor the door opened, and a pleasant looking elderly man entered the room carrying a tray with what looked like food, and red cloth in the other hand.
He walked over to my poor excuse of a bed, my eyes silently following his every move. He placed the items down and sat on the bed, pouring hot liquid into two cups, and took a sip out of one of them. With a sigh of satisfaction he then turned his warm amber eyes on me, humour twinkling in them.
'I know the bed isn't very welcoming, but surely you would be more comfortable sitting here than on the floor?' he said with an amused tone. His voice was deep and full, and he sounded kind. I instantly trusted him. I didn't say anything as I managed to lift myself off the floor.
'Who are you?' I said apprehensively.
'Ah, how rude of me, I did not introduce myself. My name is Iroh, but you may call me Uncle,' he said with a smile. I smiled tentatively back.
'My name is Amelia,' I said, this time in a more confidant voice. Iroh smiled again.
'An honour to meet you, Miss Amelia. Will you do me the pleasure of having some soup and tea with me?' he said, gesturing to the tray. My stomach rumbled silently; I was suddenly starving, so I nodded my head and went to sit down. Then remembered my cuffs.
'Oh, uh, you wouldn't mind...' I said, gesturing with my bound hands.
'Of course! Come closer and I will take them off.' Iroh quickly pulled a key out of nowhere and opened my cuffs. I rubbed my wrists unconsciously and sat down beside him. He offered me some tea, which I drank gratefully. He said nothing as he handed me the soup and allowed me to eat it without distractions, slowly sipping his tea. When I had finished, he then handed me the red clothes he had brought in, which turned out to be an oversized tunic, oversized pants, rather large black boots and a heavy warm cloak.
'I am sorry that they are too big for you, but we do not have any women on board, and I had noticed that you were a little underdressed for the weather,' he said, gesturing to my shorts and tee shirt. I quickly put the new clothes over my old ones, and soaked up the warmth they provided.
'You guys really like red,' I commented drily.
Iroh chuckled. 'It is the colour of my nation, the Fire Nation.'
'The Fire Nation?'
Iroh quickly took out a roll of parchment and unrolled it on the bed, revealing a map.
'It appears to me that you do not come from this world. The fact that you arrived coming from a massive hole in the air makes that rather obvious,' he said, looking me dead in the eyes. I frowned, searched them for any lies, but found none. I had postponed the time when I would have to try and figure out what exactly had happened, but it just seemed...impossible. I knew I hadn't been drugged, so it wasn't a hallucination. But then I remembered the way my body felt going through the portal, and the constant feeling of not belonging here.
'Eliminate the impossible, and whatever you have left, however improbably, must be the truth,' I whisper.
'An excellent saying, Miss Amelia. If you would allow me, I would like to teach you about my world,' Iroh said, gesturing to the map. I took a deep breath and nodded. Good thing I had always been good at history and geography, I thought drily to myself.
Iroh dove straight into it, telling me about the four nations and the element each one controlled. He had to show me a little bit of firebending, because I was still a bit skeptical about it. He then told me about the Avatar, the Spirits, the war. I was absolutely horrified about it, from the genocide of the Air Nomads to the raids on the Water Tribes. I also learnt that he was Zuko's uncle, which I didn't believe at first.
'How can you be related to that beet-faced angry teenager who calls himself a prince?! You're both so different!' I said in a shocked voice. Iroh just laughed, slapping a hand on his belly. I was also interested to find out that each nation's people had a strict set of physical and mental characteristics that echoed the ones of their element. The Fire Nation, I had already noticed, had pale skin like me, black hair and gold or amber eyes. They also were very passionate, and seemed to get frustrated and angry easily. Or that may have just been a certain prince. The Water Tribe people, Iroh told me, had tanned skin, brown hair and blue eyes like mine, and were often very kind and forgiving, though not to be underestimated. The Earth Kingdom people were stubborn, and had medium to tanned skin and had hazel, green or dark brown eyes as well as dark brown hair, sometimes with a bit of curl to it, which I had. The Air Nomads, Iroh had said, had a quick mind and a great sense of humour, with grey eyes and long limbs for airbending. I looked down at my arms and legs, and admitted that they were rather long.
'You are rather unusual, because you do not seem to conform to any of the stereotypes,' Iroh said to me.
Eventually, a soldier came and stuck his head in the cell, saying that Prince Zuko demanded Iroh to come up to dinner at once, since it was served half an hour ago and he is hungry. Iroh chuckled at this, saying something about teenage boys and their food. He bid me goodnight and promised to return tomorrow. When the door closed behind him I flopped onto my bed, my thoughts running around my head in a jumble of chaos and noise. People who could bend the elements, spirits who controlled the world, the 100 year war. This is going to take some getting used to, I thought to myself as I closed my eyes.
oOo
I found myself floating in nothingness. It was odd, but not as freaky as I thought it would be strangely enough. It felt a bit like being in a warm pool, but without the water and I could breath just fine. My fingers grasped for something, but only got air. I couldn't see anything so I just closed my eyes and focused on my surroundings. Am I alone? For once in my life, am I totally alone?
'I hope you know what you are doing.' A furious, arrogant and undoubtedly masculine voice of flame resonated through the darkness. Whelp, not alone then.
'I hope I do too.' Another voice joined the first, this time it was a light, humourous voice full of wisdom.
Now that I could hear the voices, I could also sense their ancient presence, and I knew there were more of...whatever these things were.
'Well, at least she passed through the portal safely. The other mortal did his job well.' This was a soft, yet hard voice of a woman, and what she said perked my interest. She? Other mortal? Portal? Hey, that rhymed. No, Amelia, stay focused. Who are these people? Or...things.
'Yes, the Prince will be particularly useful, I think,' said the smug voice of flame.
'Yes, of course the Prince of your people will be useful,' said a new voice full of sarcasm. This voice reminded me of the calm lakes and the stormy seas, although he didn't sound very calm at the moment....
'What is that supposed to mean?!' the voice of flame growled out. Hmm, I don't know why, but that voice reminded me of someone.
'Oh, nothing, I just hope you have not forgotten that it is your people that have gotten us in this mess in the first place!'
I could feel the anger of the two beings fill the space around me, and I felt a tremour of fear go through my body.
'How dare you-'
'Enough!' The voice of earth shouted, silencing the other.
'This is no time for fighting, you both should know better. We are trying to save this world from destruction, not harm it even more by your petty squabbles!'
There was a heavy silence, suppressed anger simmering in the nothingness.
'I apologise, I spoke out of place,' the voice of water said smoothly, all trace of emotion gone.
'I, too, apologise for my words,' the voice of flame said, with a little more emotion.
'Good. Now, where were we?' said the motherly voice.
'We were discussing the girl Amelia. You chose well, she has a strong soul, although the next few weeks will be hard for her,' the voice of air said lightly.
What? They're talking about me? I felt a frown form on my face as I tried to focus on the beings.
'Wait,' a voice of the moon spoke, 'she is here. I feel her spirit.'
Uh oh...
'How is that possible?' said the voice of air. I could feel them reaching out to me, coming closer as I scramble in the nothingness to get away....
oOo
My eyes snapped open and I sat bolt upright in my small bed. Gasping for breath I looked wildly around my room, searching for the ancient beings that I had listened to. My heart calmed down when I realised they weren't here, and that it had just been a dream. I fell back into bed, releasing a shaky breath I didn't know I was holding. It had just seemed so real....
I got up out of bed and I walked towards the door to tell my brother about my dream. My hand was on the handle when I realised that I was on the ship, and I could never see my family again.
The pain hit me like a sledgehammer, knocking me to the ground and tearing the breath from my lungs. I had pushed the reality to one side, and now it rushed over me like a tidal wave.
My mum and dad laughing as Gabe and I splashed each other in the water....
I gasped for air as the tears ran down my face, feeling like liquid flame against my skin. I crouched on the ground clutching my body as I curled up into a ball, trying to protect myself from the tumult of memories and pain shaking me.
I won't ever see them again.
I sobbed and gasped for breath; I felt like I was drowning, falling into darkness. Then a pair of golden eyes came to my mind, and my eyes snapped open, pure hatred and anger rushing through my body.
My mum softly singing me to sleep, my dad holding me in his arms when I was scared of the monsters in my dreams.
I rested my head against the cold floor as I screamed. I screamed and screamed, the sound tearing my throat, filling my ears as my fingernails bit into my palm.
The arguments, the laughter, the tears, the love.
Then I stood up, the anger still pulsing through my veins. I lashed out, pulling my blankets from my bed and hurling them against the opposite wall. I kicked and punched, throwing anything I could get my hands onto, screaming as I felt like I was losing my mind.
Gabe hugging me and saying softly,'I love you, Mia.'
I whirled around as I heard the door open, and I saw the object of all my pain. I didn't hesitate. I lunged at the prince, punching and kicking him in a frenzy as I screamed and spat out curses, not caring as my hands started to bleed. He pinned my arms to my side, never taking his cold, unnatural golden eyes off mine. I thrashed in his arms, screaming at him to let me go, to not touch me with his filthy hands.
He seemed to have finally had enough of my screaming and cursing, because he twisted me around and pushed me up against the wall, pressing my face against the cold metal. I could feel his powerful body at my back, holding me there as I struggled.
'Are you going to calm down and start acting a little bit more human? Or do I have to knock you out?' he whispered into my ear. I suppressed a shudder at the feeling, but I stopped struggling. I suddenly felt drained; exhausted.
'That's better,' Prince Zuko said in a smug voice. He released me and stepped back. I turned around, meeting his eyes and scowled at him, which he returned.
'The guards thought a witch had conjured up a monster to kill them,' he said. 'Of course, I told them that no little girl could touch them.'
I threw him a disgusted look, and turned my back to the golden eyed monster, and walked towards my bed.
'Get out, Prince Zuko,' I said in a soft voice.
'You don't order me around, witch. I am in charge here,' he said in a condescending tone.
'I SAID, GET OUT!' I screamed at him, whirling around. Zuko looked at me for a second, then deemed it wise to hastily retreat. The girl standing before him looked absolutely crazy, bloodshot eyes glaring at him and hands shaking from anger.
'Do not start screaming again, witch, or I will throw you overboard,' Zuko said as he slammed the door.
I collapsed to the floor in a daze, feeling absolutely drained and empty. I felt something warm and wet on my hands, and I was surprised to see blood on my knuckles. I closed my eyes and leaned my head against my bed, my hands finding the necklace around my neck.
My mother used to tell me a story about my family, my ancestors. She said that I was descended from a line of strong, powerful Celtic women, often called witches or druidesses. She used to say I had the power of my ancestors, and if I was ever needing strength or guidance I should ask them for help. When I grew up I stopped believing in magic, thinking it was stupid, but sometimes I still talked to my maternal ancestors and ask them for strength when I needed it, even if I sometimes felt a bit silly doing it. I did so now.
Please, Mum, Nana, ancestors, give me strength. Please. Prince Zuko is an absolutely arrogant, spoiled, pest infested, bad tempered some of a bitch- I paused before I could run away with myself. Well, you get the idea. It is...hard, so hard being torn from my family but please, please help me.
I opened my eyes and looked down at the ancient pendant in my hand. My mum had given it to me for my birthday, saying it had been given to her on her sixteenth birthday by her mother and so on, going back for generations. We had taken it to a museum once to get it looked at, and they had said it dated back to over two thousand years ago. My mum and I had been shocked to hear that, and we turned down the museum's offer to buy it. To this day I still can't work out how it had stayed in my family for so long, but I wore it wherever I went, never letting it out of my sight.
I gazed down at it. It was beautiful, made out of pure silver set with a deep blue diamond and shaped like a circle, with a simple Celtic knot carved on one side.
I don't know how long I stayed like that, just gazing at my necklace, but after a while I felt I sense of peace come over me. I may not be able to go back and see my family ever again, but I have to make the most of my situation. My thoughts turned to the war. Maybe I could help? If I managed to escape this ship, I could go and find one of the armies fighting the Fire Nation and offer my assistance. Yes, I thought with resolution. I am going to fight the Fire Nation.
oOo
The ancient beings nodded in satisfaction.
'Good, she will fight.'
'It will soon be time for the Avatar to wake from his sleep and save the world.'
oOo
So, here is the second chapter! Please comment any thoughts :)
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