Fireproof

Sokka was sick, and he got Katara sick too. 

Now, Kelani and Aang have to go searching for a cure. 

“Take that, you rock!” Sokka shouts, pretending he’s an earthbender. Kelani can’t help but laugh at her delusional friend. 

“So, you have a map? Let’s get going.” 

Aang nods, and the two head out to find something to help Sokka and Katara get over their illness. He grabs Kelani’s hand so that they can use his airbending to save time and keep the same pace. 

They make it to the herbalist, and find her tending to an array of plants within her stone temple greenhouse. The rain persists outside, Kelani undoes her braid, running her hands through her wet hair, and begins to rebraid it. Again, she wishes she had dry clothes. 

The herbalist, Gyanon, ignores their presence and goes around in circles looking for something specific. 

“Oh, sandalwood ... oh, er, uh, that won't do, banana leaf? Ah, nope, uh, ginger root, uh uh, oh where is that pesky little plant?” She mumbles. 

Kelani chuckles, watching the cat in the corner. She admires the variety of shrubbery, herbs, and flowers all growing around them. 

“May I?” She asks, plucking a plum blossom off of it’s branch and putting it in her hair. 

“Oh, plum blossom!” Gyanon rushes over, plucking one herself and dropping it in the bowl she’s carrying around. 

Aang reaches for the mixture, but Gyanon swats him away. 

“This is Miyuki’s dinner!” She scolds. 

Kelani watches as Gyanon gives the bowl to the cat, who purrs and immediately starts to eat. 

“What about my friends?” Aang asks, his patience waning. 

Kelani walks over and pets Miyuki as she eats. She lifts her head from the bowl and rubs her face against Kelani’s torso, still purring. Kealni can overhear Gyanon tell Aang about special frozen frogs that work as a cure for Katara and Sokka. 

Aang walks over, quickly grabbing Kelani by the wrist, and rushing back out into the rain, determined to find these frogs. Once they procure the frogs, they start to head back to the cave that’s kept them sheltered through the storm, and kept their friends warm and dry throughout their illness. 

Arrows come flying at the pair, trapping Aang by the excess fabric of his pant legs and sleeves. Kelani tries to bend rain in the direction of the shooters, but more arrows come flying. The Yuyan Archers step forward, ready to take Aang. They notice Kelani and stop for a second before deciding they better capture her too. 

“Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck!” Kelani tries to dodge arrows coming right at her, and Aang tries to free himself and airbend them away from her. The Archers have the upperhand, trapping both Aang and Kelani. 

All they want are some frozen frogs... 

“So this is the Avatar!” A large man taunts, coming out from the shadows of the storm, smuggly watching Aang and Kelani struggle to break free. 

He continues to taunt Aang, an evil grin on his face. Kelani gets a good look at him. He’s a Fire Nation General. She grits her teeth and tries harder to free herself from the arrows. If she can break free and try to fight him or the Archers, she could free Aang, and they could get back to their sick friends. 

But she’s not strong enough to break out of the trap. 

The General notices her for the first time, and a terrifying spark flashes in his eyes. 

“And who’s this?” He muses, walking over to Kelani and eyeing her. 

The weight of his gaze made her feel sick. She knew this look, it was the same look she got dozens of times when Captain Aimo needed her to be a distraction. But this time, it terrifies her. 

Mustering up enough courage, Kelani spits at him, hitting him in the eye. He snarls at her, wiping his face, and gripping her jaw in his hand. 

“Easy.” He threatens. 

“Leave her alone!” Aang shouts, also trying his hardest to break free. 

To no avail, the two are captured and carried off. The Yuyan Archers drag them back to the Pohuai Stronghold, a daunting Fire Nation fortress surrounded by a ring of walls. The Archers lock them in a cell. Aang is shackled in the middle of the room, and Kelani is tossed to the side of the room, her hands and feet bound. The only thing she can’t complain about is the fire keeping the room warm, and drying her and Aang from the rain. Unfortunately, the heat warms up the frozen frogs and they leap out of Aang’s clothes, and waddle their way across the floor. 

“What? No! Don't leave, frogs! My friends are sick and they need you! Please go back to being frozen!” Aang begs, struggling in the shackles. 

Kelani can hear loud banging, and what sounds like a scream. Then the lock to their cell door is picked, and a masked man walks in. Aang tenses up as the man unsheathes his dual broadswords and starts to swing. 

“No!” Kelani yells, closing her eyes as she fears the worst. 

She can hear the clanging of metal, and she opens her eyes to find Aang free from his shackles. He looks confused. The swordsman walks over to her and slices the bindings around her wrists and ankles, and offers her a hand. Cautious, she takes it and he pulls her to her feet. She rubs her wrists, and Aang starts to follow the intruder out the door of their cell. 

Kelani follows behind, jogging to catch up. Aang sees some of the thawed frogs and calls after them, but the swordsman pulls him towards an escape route. They make it to the sewers and climb through one of the grates. She gorans. The masked man glares back at her, and she slumps her shoulders and continues on. 

“The Avatar has escaped! Close all of the gates!” They hear the General call just as they were starting to climb the first wall barrier. 

“Oh, fuck.” Kelani whispers, and the rope they’re climbing is cut. 

The three teens fall to the ground, and stand quickly, running. 

“Stay close!” Aang orders as they run. 

Their savior gets caught up with one of the guards and Aang pauses to save him. Kelani stops, not sure what to do or how to help. Aang grabs the masked man and pulls him towards the gate. He grabs Kelani by the wrist and the three are pushed up over the wall thanks to Aang’s airbending. More guards start scaling up the other side of the wall, trapping them. Aang shoves gusts of air towards the guards, shaking them off of their ladders. He takes the free ladders and starts using them to propel the three forward over the remaining walls. One more gate stands in their way, and more soldiers have them surrounded. Aang shields them from the fire. 

“Hold your fire! The Avatar must be alive.” The General commands. 

This gives the swordsman an idea, and he holds his broadswords over Aang’s throat. 

“Open the gate.” The General continues. His men look at him, dumbfounded. “Let them out, now!” 

The guards and soldiers scramble to follow orders. The swordsman backs up, through the open gate, and Kelani follows, looking over her shoulder at the Fire Nation General. He still has a cocky sneer across his face. She turns around and continues running farther from the fortress. 

An arrow whizzes through the air and hits the masked man square in the forehead. The arrow clangs off of the mask, but he falls to the ground. Part of his face is visible behind the mask. Aang notices too, and removes his mask. He cowers back in fear. 

It’s Zuko, the Fire Nation boy who was after Aang, and whose ship Kelani nearly snuck onto with the help of his uncle. Aang hesitates, but blows up a gust of wind to shield them from the view of the Archers. He starts to lift Zuko by the arm, and Kelani follows suit. They drag him along, each with one of Zuko’s arms over their shoulder. 

Kelani stirs awake when she hears Zuko yell. She sits up, and rubs her eyes. 

“Huh? Where’s Aang?” 

“The Avatar just took off without you, guess you’re stuck with me now.” Zuko grumbles. 

Kelani sits back, hoping that Aang gets back to Katara and Sokka with the frozen frogs. If Zuko plans on chasing after them anyway, she knows she’ll see her friends again. 

Zuko leads Kelani back to his ship. Iroh sits by the side, watching the waves and playing the Tsungi horn. Zuko scowls at the sound. 

“Where have you been, Prince Zuko? You missed music night!” Iroh gushes about the wonderful time the crew had on the ship, but Kelani’s ears start to ring. 

Prince Zuko. 

So, despite his uncle’s friendly nature and his obvious disinterest in the Fire Nation’s goals, his nephew is Crown Prince of the Fire Nation. She feels like she could faint. 

“Oh, you’ve brought a souvenir!” Iroh turns his attention to her. She starts to breathe heavily. “Is she alright?” 

“I’m going to bed. No disturbances.” Zuko says, ignoring Kelani and his uncle. 

Iroh stands, offering himself as a way to steady Kelani. He leads her over to where he was sitting. 

“What happened to you? One minute I was with you, and the next you were gone.” 

Kelani labors over her breath. She tries to count her breaths as a way to calm herself. Iroh shouts to someone to bring over fresh calming tea. In less than a minute a piping hot pot of tea is brought over on a tray, with two matching cups around the tray to distribute the weight. Iroh pours a cup and hands it to Kelani, and then pours one for himself. 

“Thank you,” she says with a weak smile. “I went back to get my very few belongings, and then the Avatar and his friends were on the ship, and it went over the waterfall.” 

Iroh nods. 

“Zuko was disappointed to lose his smaller boat that day. Though I noticed that the pirates didn’t care about losing you, just their ship.” 

Kelani mirrors his nod, taking another sip of her tea. 

“They only cared about the artifacts and stolen goods that were on that ship.” She says, though she supposes she could be considered stolen as well. But she didn’t care about them, so why should they care about her? All they did was use her to get what they wanted. 

“So,” she continues. “Prince Zuko, huh?” Iroh freezes for half a second and then sets down his tea. 

“Yes, I’m surprised you did not know. Those pirates mostly hailed from the Fire Nation.” 

“Yeah, you’re right. I think they may have whispered about him at some point, but I didn’t remember any names, and I never knew what he looked like.” Kelani shrugs. 

“Well, welcome to the ship, you’ll fit right in.” Iroh smiles. 

He makes sure she feels strong enough to walk and shows her to an empty cabin they have. He explains that he had it set up when they planned her original escape from Captain Aimo. His admission makes her smile. The room is dark, with lanterns lit in the corners by the bed. Fire Nation decor adds to the room, but unsettles Kelani. Though Captain Aimo is from the Fire Nation, their ship was nondescript enough to have a variety of decor and make her feel like her own. Suddenly she grasps at her neck, noticing she doesn’t have her necklace. 

Luckily, she remembered her coin pouch and her Water Tribe ring. The pouch in case her and Aang had to buy medicine, and she never goes anywhere without the ring. Maybe Katara will hold onto the necklace for her. She thanks Iroh, and asks for any fresh robes. He leaves to retrieve the smallest size they have. All of the members of the ship’s crew are men, so she’ll swim in them regardless. 

She takes a minute to look around, the map of the Fire Nation and its colonies catching her eye. They had clearly gained control over a good portion of the Earth Kingdom. When Iroh comes back with fresh robes, he explains that they’ll find somewhere to take their laundry when they next dock the ship.

“Lunch is in a few hours, I will come find you by then.” Iroh smiles, leaving her to her chamber. 

Kelani hesitates before peeling off her usual pirating attire. Despite its need to be cleaned, she keeps her sarashi wrapped around her chest and waist. She carefully slips on the pale red robe, and ties it with the black waist belt. The robe is at least two sizes too big for her, so the sleeves fall past her fingers, and the hem is far too long. She thought maybe the smallest size would fit her decently, considering she isn’t the thinnest of girls. Her thighs are bigger than most girls, and her stomach surely isn’t flat like Katara’s. Without her pirate corset, she feels her stomach bulge slightly more than she’s used to. It feels nice, having ample extra room, but it also feels extremely unflattering. The large men’s robes make her feel anything but feminine. She usually doesn’t care about feeling feminine, but she’s never felt so unfamiliar with herself before. 

Kelani collapses onto the bed, twirling her ring around her finger. She hopes that Aang makes it back to their friends, and that Katara and Sokka can get over their illness. And, maybe, they would worry about her being gone. 

Kelani was thrown into a bunk with a cot and no windows. The door locked behind her, and the only thing she could do was cry. Eventually, she felt the ship start to move, and she felt her spirit drifting father and farther away from her home. She curled her knees to her chest, and cried into them. Her purple robes stained with her tears. She stayed like that for hours, afraid to move. She hoped that maybe she would cry herself to sleep, and wake up, and it all would have been a dream. A terrifying, horrible, heartbreaking dream. 

Rustling from the other side of the ship could be heard. Loud, burly men laughed and sang and belched and told stories of their recent successes. 

She lied on the floor, sobbing into herself, begging the Spirits to let her friends and her Tribe be safe. She begged for them to spare Yue and her father. And she begged for her Tribe to come looking for her, too.