Avatar Rose: Dawn

Ch. 4: Nathan

"NATHAN LI FOR GOODNESS SAKE!!" Annia screams storming into the basement. "IT ALWAYS SEEMS LIKE YOU'LL NEVER GET PUNISHED! FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO! NOT THIS TIME!" She whips up fist and points it uncomfortably close to my face.

"What the hell did I do to deserve this?" I ask sleepily.

"Boy." Annia growls, "I can make a marking on your face with one fire blast. You better cooperate. Stand up and walk upstairs. To the attic."

"I was just heading there," I say, getting up groggily. She follows close behind. When we get there, she pulls out a length of rope, tying my hands to the bed.

"There." She says, satisfied. "You can look out the window to see your friends walk around free, while you're up here. See you in 4 hours."

4 hours... Sheesh, I think. Time for a little rest.

For the first hour or so, I sit around trying to sleep. I just can't find a proper sleeping position. It is very annoying. After a while, I give up, and stare out of the window. A few of my friends pass by and knock on my door, but I can't answer.

I think a lot. About what my friends in the Southern Water Tribe are doing, about what they thought when the Council of Elders banished me and my father. I think about Mom. Boy, do I miss her...

A ruckus on the street interrupts my thoughts. A gang of people rams into my house, one of them being my best friend, Kelvin. He's carrying this blond-haired girl, and he looks worried. They all knock at my door. I wave my head around, try to get their attention when a man scans the line of windows, his eyes stopping on me. He starts to yell in my general direction. 'I CANT' I mouth back. Kelvin stares at me, then nods. Handing the girl over to another person, he jets fire out of his hands, pushing himself to the level of the attic, then gives the window a stong kick, and he dives in as the glass shatters. He runs to me and quickly burns my ropes.

"She needs healing," he quickly explains as we clobber down the stairs. "We found her just inside town, she's severely malnourished, and has no strength, and there's a big cut in her leg. Looks like she's been bleeding for hours."

We swing the door open, and I bend some water from out of my satchel, and heal the cut first. Luckily, it hasn't been infected. "Bring her inside", I tell Kelvin, and I get the others to grab buckets of water. Kelvin brings her to the tub, and starts to run the water. It only takes 3 buckets to fill up the tub. Soon, I'm healing the girl all over. Warn you, I'm not very good at healing, so it takes me half an hour to bring her to consciousness. Katara, the greatest healer to ever walk the earth, would be able to perform the same feat in seconds. After moments of tedious waiting, the girl's eyes snap open.

A simple word escapes her lips.

"Food."