A lovers burn

Chapter Five: The southern Air Temple

I sat in the far end of the saddle, Sokka defensively holding his boomerang out to shield him and who I assumed is his sister. "She's Fire Nation! She just wants to lead you back to that psycho!" He argued, glaring at me.

"I promise I'm not! Just let me explain. Please." I begged, holding my hands up to show I was unarmed. I needed them to believe me. Because now, now I have nothing. My uncle would never leave Zuko, I knew that. He loved me just like he did Zuko, but he was lost and needed Uncle's guidance. I glanced to Aang, he nodded skeptically. I took a deep breath, trying to ease my nerves. "I'm the princess of the Fire Nation, but... I'm also the duel bender. My destiny is to protect the Avatar from whatever harm may come." Aang's face dropped while the girl looked confused, and Sokka just laughed, like it was some prank. "I'm telling the truth! I've known about it for the last three years. I can fire bend and water bend.I've hated this war since I was old enough to understand it. I've hated this country and everything it has done to me!"

"There's no such thing as the duel bender! It's only a myth." Sokka countered, his eyes narrowing. "And as for hating your country, how could you? You don't even know how it is to live outside of a palace." He gripped his boomerang tighter, begging to throw it at me.

"Sokka, stop." The girl warned, smacking the brother on the back of his head.

"It's not a myth." Aang and I both said at the same time. I looked to him, nodding for him to continue. "The monks, when they told me that I was the Avatar; they also mentioned that there was a possibility that the duel bender would be born in my life time...Can you prove it?" Their eyes reverted back to me. I stiffened.

"Y-yeah." I said before lifting my arm and creating flame in one hand before diminishing it. "Do you have any water up here?" I asked the group. The girl's nodded, and she pulled out a water skin, opened it, and passed it to me. I placed the skin in my left hand and focused on the water, the movement. It's power. I moved my hand up, and the water followed; it was weak, barely lifting six inches out of the pouch, but it was enough to earn a collective gasp. I dropped the water and looked back to the group. "Do you believe me now?" I questioned Sokka, passing the skin back to Katara.

"Wow, that's so cool! You could teach Katara and I how to bend!" Aang jumped in the air, quickly having Airbend back down so he didn't fly away. My face dropped. "What, what is it?"

"That's actually the most I can do... I've been trying to master it for the past three years, but I can only perform the basics. My uncle said-"

"Of course, another excuse. So what? She can bend two elements. What's the big deal? She could still be on their side." This guy was starting to piss me off. I huffed, sitting back in the saddle.

"No one except you three and my uncle even knows about it! How can I prove I'm on your side? What do you suggest?" I interrogated, genuinely curious. The other two looked at him as well, wondering what he could possibly come up with. It was like a flame went off in his head, and he began to dig through his bag before pulling out the rope.

"Tie yourself up." I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

"I'm a fire bender; I could just burn through them. Anyone else have a genius idea?" I looked around the group, the other two stayed silent, but Sokka kept the rope out.

"Well, you don't burn through them. You want my trust; keep your wrist bound until you prove to me you're on our side." My eyes widened.

"Sokka, no! That's barbaric, even for you." His sister hounded, I sat back up, shaking my head and chuckling.

"You know what, fine. Do it. I want the avatar to trust me. If that means you need to trust me too then so be it." I scooted forward, holding out my wrist. Sokka sat frozen. "Well, come on. I can't tie myself up." He shook his head before wrapping the rope tightly over my skin. I hissed as the rope dug into my skin but didn't make my complaints further known. Once he was done, he tapped the rope, signaling I was good. I tried to separate my wrists, but they were completely bound. I examined the knot, which I learned during my war training, an effective way to keep someone tied up. "There, we good now?" The group stayed quiet, and I smiled and sat back down.