Fireproof

Snow falls onto Kelani’s cheeks as she walks through her village. Chief Arnook and Master Pakku are standing with her friends, bidding them farewell. 

“Kelani!” Katara calls, waving with a smile. 

Kelani rushes over to her friends, being careful not to fall in the snow. Being home and being in the snow is something she would have to get used to. She reaches Katara and wraps her in a tight hug. Katara hugs her just as tight, until Kelani hisses in pain. 

Katara has been doing some great work healing the tender burn, but now the other healers of the Northern Tribe would have to take over. Her skin would have a permanent pink mark, but at least they could ease the pain as it heals. 

“You really aren’t coming?” Sokka asks, looking at her sadly as she hugs his sister. 

Kelani frowns slightly, and pulls away from Katara. Sokka immediately scoops her up in a hug, holding her even tighter than Katara. 

“I want to, but… I just got home. I’m not ready to leave just yet.” Sokka nods, his arms holding her in place against him. “Maybe I’ll find you guys in the Earth Kingdom.” 

“You better.” Sokka demands with a pointed finger and a smile. 

Aang hugs her next, tightly and quickly. Master Pakku then presents them with parting gifts. They mount Appa and fly off, Katara waving the whole way. 

Chief Arnook turns his attention to Kelani, patting her good shoulder. 

“We have a lot to catch up on.” 

He takes her back to the palace where they hold a meeting with other high ranking members of the tribe. They discuss the future of the tribe for hours. 

“Then it’s settled, Kelani will take over Yue’s duties as Princess and heir.” 

Kelani’s breath catches in her throat. 

Heir?  

She can almost feel Zuko’s smug smirk on her back, as if he’s still in the North. The chief as well as the other members of her tribe look at her for a response. She gulps. 

“But I’m not a blood relative.” Kelani argues. 

Truthfully, that argument doesn’t mean much to begin with, since even Yue wouldn’t have become chief. It’s a matter of finding a suitable husband who will one day take Arnook’s place as chief. 

“But you are the closest thing Chief Arnook has to an heir. You must carry on Yue’s duties.” One of the higher ranking men of the tribe explains. 

She turns to Chief Arnook with pleading eyes. 

“It’s the only option. Yue was engaged, but never married, so we have no one else to turn to.” 

Kelani sighs, slumping in her chair. She can’t be Princess of the Northern Water Tribe. It’s not in her destiny. If it is, Aunt Wu would have mentioned something about it, she’s sure. 

“You will start training to be the Princess, and be counseled on the things you will need to know.” Another high ranking member of the tribe explains. 

Yagoda smiles at her from across the table of ice. 

After the meeting, Kelani walks around the village to get some air. The snow under her boots crunches, and she pulls her coat tighter to herself. Even after weeks of wearing it, it still smells like Yue. A tear glides down her cheek and falls into the snow. 

She can hear the crunching of someone walking behind her. She turns to see Hahn, Yue’s fiance, walking towards her, smiling. 

“Ah, Princess Kelani, just the lady I wanted to see.” 

Kelani rolls her eyes with a scowl. 

“What could you possibly want, Hahn?” 

He grins at her. 

“Well, you know Yue and I were engaged-” 

Kelani scoffs. She still can’t believe Yue was engaged to Hahn, of all people. Sure, he ranks high in their army, but he’s insufferable to be around. He has no human decency, and is extremely self-absorbed. Although, she assumes Yue felt pressured to marry him for the good of the tribe. 

“Yeah, so?” 

“So, since you’re taking over for Yue, I think that means we are engaged.” 

Kelani’s blood runs cold. Colder than the snow and ice around her. Instantly, anger fills her body, and her blood boils within her veins. 

“What? You can’t be serious?” 

Hahn grins at her, but she glares at him with another scowl. 

“Serious as ever, babe.” 

Her skin crawls. 

“Don’t call me that.” She warns through gritted teeth. 

She storms off, leaving Hahn behind her. Once she’s back at the palace, she searches everywhere for Chief Arnook. She needs answers. 

Someone tells her that he’s in his study, preparing for her first lesson tomorrow. She thanks them and rushes to his study, barging in. 

“Chief-” She huffs, her lungs begging for air. 

She slumps with her hands on her knees, catching her breath. Her windburned cheeks start to heat up. 

“Kelani?” 

She takes a seat across from his desk. 

“Do I have to marry Hahn?” She asks, worry pooling in her stomach, overflowing up to her chest. 

The Chief’s eyebrows quirk up, and he looks at her, confused. 

“Where did you hear that?” 

“Hahn.” Kelani groans, rolling her eyes. 

“Well, it was arranged for him to marry Yue… But, I won’t force any more on you right now. Perhaps another worthy young man of our tribe will propose marriage.” 

Kelani breathes a sigh of relief. 

“Thank you.” She bows to him and leaves his study, feeling slightly better about today’s events. 

Word gets around about Kelani’s availability, and dozens of men within the tribe start vying for her attention. For the next week, everywhere she goes, someone new is intruding on her alone time walking through the village, her healing lessons with Yugoda, or even her royal training. 

It disgusts her. Men can be so desperate and needy. Not a single one interests her. It gets to the point where Chief Arnook must put together a task force to urge her to choose a fiance. Hours upon hours of her time are devoted to discussing betrothal. 

“Can’t this wait until after the war?” Kelani groans. 

The members of her marriage council halt their current discussion. 

“It’s not like the chief is dying and in desperate need of someone to take over.” 

This comment earns her scowls from everyone in the room. 

“But we need to be prepared in the event that Chief Arnook does die. We could be attacked by another Fire Nation fleet. It would be best to have these matters settled for when the time comes.” Says one of the advisors. 

“They’re not going to attack again. They were only after the Avatar.” Kelani counters, squeezing the bridge of her nose. 

Her new responsibilities as Princess are weighing on her more and more. And trying to push her into a marriage is the last thing Kelani wants. The way everyone acts like Yue never existed, or that her death wasn’t sad, doesn’t sit right with her either. Sure, members of the tribe are encouraged to mourn in private, but it feels more like no one is actually mourning, and are more concerned with the political turmoil her death brought on them. 

Before any of her advisors can respond, she storms out of the meeting room. She runs to her bed chambers and falls onto her bed. The fire burning in the hearth crackles. She lets out a sigh, staring at the ceiling. 

“How did you do it, Yue?” 

Kelani lets herself cry, memories of her childhood with Yue flashing in her mind. Her chest rises and falls rapidly as she cries, tears sliding past her temples and onto the Polar Leopard pelt covering her bed. 

Being home after so long doesn’t feel like she thought it would. Everything is completely different from what she expected. Yue is gone, so they don’t even get to catch up on what they’ve missed in the last eight years, and Kelani barely got to enjoy the little time with Yue she had. 

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. They were supposed to goof off together and sneak around the palace, and go into the village markets to shop for whatever they wanted. Yue was going to joke about cute boys, and Kelani was going to smile and nod, keeping her love for Yue to herself. 

She had come to terms with it soon after she realized her own feelings. They loved each other in different ways, and that was okay as long as they were together at all. 

But now they aren’t, and nothing feels okay. 

“I can’t do this…” Kelani whispers to herself, wiping her face free of tears. 

She walks over to her closet, now filled with Yue’s old clothes, and finds a large tiger seal skin bag. She pulls two sets of robes off of their bone hangers and stuffs them into the bag. She grabs an extra coat, and extra sarashi before walking over to the fireplace. The mantle of the fireplace holds a portrait of Yue that was done for her birthday and was just finished last week, and a whale tooth comb that also belonged to Yue. She takes them and tucks them between folds of the robes to keep them safe, but leaves Yue’s Princess headpieces and jewelry on the mantle. She won’t need anything like that where she’s going. Under the bed, Kelani finds the box she hid, stashed with her pouch of gold pieces, and her pink robes from Makapu Village, tucking both in the confines of the tiger seal skin. 

“I’m sorry,” She says to no one, but directed at Yue, closing the bag, and hauling herself out of the window of her bed chambers. 

The stars glimmer in the sky, and as she walks, she can’t help but stare up at the moon.