Fireproof

Kelani takes a deep, pulling the Fire Nation Navy helmet off of her head, and tosses it to the floor of the ship with a loud clang. She does the same with the armor over her torso and shoulders. She stands towards the edge of the ship mustering up the courage to form herself a block of ice and jump. 

Zhao halted the invasion for the night, leaving her with plenty of time to safely jump ship and make her way on land. The moon is close to full, making her feel powerful enough to accomplish her personal iceberg. 

Footsteps pad against the metal deck, and for a second Kelani thinks she’s been caught. Then she notices that it’s Zuko running towards her. She frowns and rolls her eyes. They haven’t spoken since yesterday, and she doesn’t know what she might say to him now. 

“Stop! Kelani, don’t go!” He tries, finally reaching her. Her expression chills him. She’s never looked at him like that before. He hates it. His heart hurts. 

“Why not, Zuko? So I can sit on the sidelines and watch your people ambush my people again? No, thanks.” 

He’s taken aback. She never addresses him like this. It was like she knew from the start that even though he’s from the Fire Nation, he’s not like the rest of them somehow. But now she sees him as just another pathetic cog in the Fire Lord’s machine. He can’t believe that just last night she was clinging to him for dear life, afraid to be anywhere else. He’s too focused on trying to comprehend her words that he doesn’t notice the pain in her eyes, or the tears. 

“It doesn’t have to be like that.” He tries again, wanting to reach out and grab her hand to show her he’s there, but he can’t bring himself to do it. He’s afraid. 

She bites the inside of her cheek, trying to keep her tears at bay. 

“You told me that we’re friends!” He continues, letting himself get upset. The hurt in his voice is enough to propel her tears forward, spilling out of her eyes and down her cheeks, practically freezing in the cold air. 

“Well, I can’t just let one of my friends capture and kill one of my other friends.” 

He watches her hands fly up past her ears, building an ice block for her to float on. She gives him one last hard look before jumping off the side of the ship, and narrowly landing on the block of bent ice. She bends the waves around her, creating a current that will take her to the mainland soon enough. She already looks too cold for her own good. He wants to jump in after her, float with her and warm her up. 

His heart sinks. He had a lot more he wanted to say to her. He planned on asking her to leave with him on the lifeboat Uncle Iroh was preparing for him to escape on in the morning. He thought they could work through their anger at each other for misunderstanding the other, and fight Zhao as friends. She just proved that they couldn’t. She left him and glared at him like he’s the enemy. 

He knows this is what she has to do for herself, but it still hurts. He feels stupid for believing her when she said they’re friends, and even stupider for letting her get ot him so quickly. This is why he doesn’t let people in. They only hurt or betray him and make him feel like an idiot, and the butt of some sick joke. 

And even though he’s angry at her, and hurt by her, he hopes she makes it to land safely and doesn’t freeze. 

Kelani drifts along in the water, feeling tired as she bends it to her favor. The moon hangs high, and makes her feel more powerful, but she’s still drained, physically and emotionally. She overestimated how close she was to shore before she jumped ship, and now she’s unbelievably cold. 

She lets herself lie across the block of ice, aimlessly float towards the shore. She knows she’ll get there eventually, she just needs to rest for a bit. Her body aches from the cold, and her teeth feel like they could break from chattering. 

The sun starts to peek over the horizon, and Kelani breathes a sigh of relief. The warmth from the sun helps her feel energized enough to keep going, but she knows Zhao will be on the attack soon. 

She wonders about Zuko and Iroh. What are they going to do? Do they have a plan, or are they going to side with Zhao for their own safety? Her chest feels heavy as she thinks about the words she exchanged with Zuko. They both got too vulnerable too fast with one another, and now that they’re on opposite sides, it hurts. She really does see him and Iroh as friends, even allies, but this battle is something that she can’t stand with them for. She knows Iroh will understand, and maybe even stand with her, but Zuko seems extremely hurt by her, and she doubts he’ll forgive her so quickly. 

If he truly wants to capture Aang and leave him to die, she can’t forgive him either. She knows that his father is a terrible, evil man, and she knows that he knows that about his father, probably better than anyone. But she understands that he thinks he has to prove himself to his father, and to his nation. 

She knows nothing about being royalty, or heir to a throne of a terrifyingly evil nation. Even so, she can empathize with his pain, and his compulsion to fix everything for what he thinks is best. She can tell he doesn’t really want to hurt Aang, it’s just part of the price he has to pay, and he’s willing to do it. And she can tell by the way he spoke to her during their fight that he knows it seems ridiculous, and might not make sense to those on the outside, and is probably the wrong thing. 

He has to figure it out for himself. She can try and pull him to her side, but she can tell he wouldn’t go without hesitation, and self-doubt, and guilt for betraying his father and his nation, so she let him go, hoping he will figure it out. 

Soot mixes with the snow falling from the sky. Kelani stands, alert. Then she notices something familiar in the sky. 

“Appa?” She yells, hoping she might catch his attention. He starts to swoop lower in the sky, and she can see Sokka on his back. “Sokka?” She yells again, using all of her force. He hears something below him and looks, but she isn’t sure if he can make out that it’s her floating on a stray block of ice. 

He directs Appa to fly lower, and then he can see her. 

“Kelani?” 

“Yue?” 

Kelani’s heart stops. She hasn’t seen Yue in half of their lifetime. She looks different, more beautiful than Kelani remembers, although they've both changed so much. Sokka steadies Appa close to her ice block, and offers her his hand. She takes it, and he jolts at the contact. 

“You’re freezing, Kel.” Sokka scolds, lifting her onto Appa’s back. 

Yue opens up her fur lined coat and slides the left half off of her shoulder. Kelani slides into the coat without skipping a beat. The two girls giggle at each other. It feels like old times. 

“How did you get here?” Yue asks, ready to cry at the sight of her best friend. 

“You don’t even want to know.” Kelani decides, wrapping her arms around Yue. “I’ve missed you so much.” 

Both girls hold each other like they’re afraid the other will disappear when they let go. Kelani breathes in Yue’s musky, warm scent, letting her tears fall off of her cheekbone and onto Yue’s shoulder. Sokka watches the reunion, beaming. 

Kelani notices the betrothal necklace around Yue’s neck, gawking. 

“Happy Birthday,” She tells Yue, the biggest smile on her face. 

“Same to you,” Yue laughs, pulling Kelani in for another hug. 

Even though Kelani knows Yue is engaged, she can’t help the warmth that 

spreads throughout her body, and the fireflies that erupt in her stomach. Yue’s her safe space, and she couldn’t be happier to be with her on the back of a flying sky bison. 

“Hold up,” Sokka starts, glancing between his friend and his almost-girlfriend. “What do you mean? When’s Kelani’s birthday?” 

Yue giggles at him, and Kelani notices the blush that rises to her cheeks. Even though she loves Yue, she always knew that Yue only saw her as a best friend. She never would have imagined, though, that Yue would fall for a guy like Sokka. 

The more she thinks about it, the more it makes sense. Sokka’s protective, and easy going at the same time, and he loves to make jokes. His presence must be a nice break from Yue’s stresses of being the Princess of the North. Kelani grinned, watching her two friends exchange amorous glances.  

But she knows there’s no way Sokka was the one to give Yue that necklace, and her grin drops. 

“We share a birthday,” Yue explains, grabbing Kelani’s hand and lacing their fingers. “We used to have a joint party every year. Father still asks everyone to celebrate you.” 

Kelani blushes thinking about her home and her Tribe, and the idea of them remembering her after almost a decade. 

Sokka thinks back to the festive dinner the night before. He was distracted by Yue’s presence for most of the night, but remembers a brief moment where everyone sat in silence. He had no idea it was to remember Kelani. 

“So I was right then,” Sokka starts, making both girls look at him confused. “You are an Ice Princess.” 

Kelani laughs at this, remembering the last thing he said to her in the cave before her and Aang went to find medicine. She never thought of herself as a Princess, considering she was only adopted by the Chief, but maybe Sokka’s right. 

“Yeah, I guess so.” 

Yue watches her long lost best friend banter with the sweet Southern Tribe boy, smiling at them. 

“How do you know each other?” She asks, looking between them both with warmth and love. 

“We hijacked her pirate ship!” Sokka shouts, seeming proud. “And then I taught her how to fight, and Katara taught her waterbending.” Yue’s face changes into shock, looking at Kelani. 

“You’re a bender?” 

Kelani nods, resting her head on Yue’s shoulder. Her body temperature is almost normal again, but she can’t get enough of Yue. She can hardly believe they’re finally together again, and that she’s home. 

“Katara’s a great teacher, I didn’t even know I could bend until she encouraged me to try.” Yue looks at her best friend in awe. “But this guy,” She continues, punching Sokka on the arm. “He’s a great teacher too. Taught me how to handle myself.” 

Sokka beams at her, and makes a mental note to thank her later for making him look good in front of Yue. 

The Fire Nation smog comes into view, and the reunion is cut short. Sokka quickly turns Appa around and lands just in time to find Master Pakku and the Chief. Everyone has stern, worried looks on their faces. Then they spot Kelani. 

Chief Arnook looks at her in disbelief as she steps off of Appa with Yue, the two of them still sharing her coat. 

“Kelani?” He breathes, rushing to her. For the first time in her life, he hugs her. The left half of Yue’s coat falls off of her shoulder, and Yue slides her arm through, quickly buttoning it to remain properly groomed in front of her Tribe. 

Kelani lets out a breath, carefully returning Chief Arnook’s hug. He pulls her back to look at her, tears in his eyes. 

“It’s really you? You’re really home?” He looks at her and holds her by her shoulders as if she might vanish into thin air again. 

Kelani’s heart swells at the word home. 

Then she realizes why Zuko wants to do his father’s bidding so badly. He wants this, a family, a home, acceptance. He wants to feel at peace and feel like he belongs. Their circumstances aren’t the same, but they want the same things. 

“You must be freezing, let’s get you a coat.” Master Yugoda says, warmly smiling at the long lost Water Tribe girl. 

Kelani nods, following the elder back to the palace. She finds her way to Yue’s room where they keep a large closet of royal robes and fur lined coats. Kelani beams at them, taking the one she likes best, and slipping it over her arms. The pink sleeves of her robes disappear under the fur, and Kelani feels warm. She pulls the neckline up to her face, breathing in Yue’s scent. This feels like home. 

Her happiness is cut short as the front wall shakes on impact from a fire bomb. Aang rushes off to attack the fleet. The Chief, his army, and Master Pakku stand, ready to defend their Tribe. 

Her homecoming is anything but perfect, but she’s home.