.20 The Deserter

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6 years later
Present day

Iskra woke up in a sweat, clutching her heart as she panted in fear. Hands cupped her head in an attempt to calm down.

"I'm okay, I'm not in the fire nation anymore, I'm safe and others are safe from me," she reassured her self time and time again.

Standing up and stumbling slightly, she rubbed her forehead to release the intense pain she felt. Walking out of the hut she realised it was day time, how long was she asleep for?

Seeing Katara and Aang by the water she made her way down, putting a smile on her face to conceal the nightmare she just had.

"Hey Iskra," Katara returned her smile.

"How, um, how long was I asleep for?" Iskra asked with a scratch to the back of her head.

"Not too long, you haven't been getting much sleep lately so we thought we'd let you be," Katara explained. "Aangs learning how to firebend."

"Who's teaching you?" I ask, walking closer to them.

"Jeong Jeong, he's a real hog monkey," Aang rolls his eyes. "All he wants me to do is breathe and be patient."

"Jeong Jeong sounds wise," Iskra says. "You should listen to him."

"I'm sure there's a good reason," Katara suggests.

"But I'm ready to do so much more," Aang replies, huffing.

He looks down at his feet, moving them outwards and settling into a position familiar to Iskra. He exhaled and inhaled as the leaf he held turned into fire and he melded it in his hands.

"I did it, I made fire!" Aang smiled.

"Aang that's great but you should take it slow," Katara worries for her friend.

Aang tries to make it bigger and stumbles, almost falling back into the water but regains his balance.

"Now that's fire bending," Aang laughs, shooting fire from his palms into the air.

Iskra garbs Katara, moving her behind so she was blocked by Iskra's body and out of harms way. Out of Aangs way.

"Aang stop, you could hurt someone," Iskra warns.

Aang began to move the fire from one hand to another, attempting to juggle it. "I wonder how that juggler did it."

He spins around, letting the fire expand off his body and it heads straight for Iskra and Katara. Iskra quickly deflected the fire but due to it being a lot some of it attacked her and Katara.

Katara cried, holding her brunt hands as she sat down in pain. Iskra's entire forearm was burnt through the sleeve of her shirt.

"Aang your suppose to listen to Jeong Jeong." Iskra scolded him as he ran towards them.

"Katara are you okay?" Sokka asks, kneeling next to his sister.

"I didn't mean to I'm sorry," Aang apologises, trying to reach for Katara but Sokka tackles him to the ground.

"You burnt my sister!" Sokka yells.

Katara runs off sobbing, clutching her hands in pain and Iskra's torn on whether or not to follow her.

"This is all your fault!" Sokka points to a white haired man with scars over his eye.

Iskra turned to face him, eyes widening in remembrance of who he is. His face is something she couldn't forget.

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