𝙒𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙁𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙨 ⚠ slow updates ⚠ *editing*

The Avatar

*edited 2/2/2023*

Hestia paced her room, gnawing her fingernails until there was nothing but stings of pain. She worried for the boy even if he were the avatar. Zuko wasn't the most...easiest person to understand or even deal with, and perhaps that was what made her worry. And like the fool she was, she was put in her room like a child.

It was her understanding that Zuko didn't want her to "get in the way", if anyone was acting childish, it would be him. Sending her to her room — what was he thinking he was doing, exactly? It wouldn't prevent her from taking another peek at the airbender.

The thought of punishment stopped her as her hand made contact with her door. Zuko truly hated when his subordinates disobeyed his orders.

Unfortunately for Zuko, Hestia was not one of his subordinates. She would deal with the consequences later.

The heavy door creaked as it swung open and she stepped into the metal corridor. If there was an advantage she had against the soldiers it was that she didn't have all that bulky armor. Then again, those men were trained to endure the strenuous weight of their armor, so maybe it was she who'd have the disadvantage. She hurried down the halls. She heard the commotion, despite it being so muffled by the metal vessel's maze.

Light and frozen air stung her eyes and lungs. She was quick to climb onto the deck. Once again, her breath caught in her throat. A giant beast glided through the air, its growl bounced off the glaciers and waters. It was something she'd never seen before, there were a lot of odd animals, but this particular animal had six legs and a giant arrow on its head.

"What is that?" Zuko's shocked voice entered her ears.

"Appa!" The bald boy beamed.

Hestia climbed onto the deck only to step on the hem of her dress and toppled forward, crashing on her knees and palms.

"Zuko, don't!" She yelled out, watching her friend attack the boy again with firebending. Thankfully enough, the boy was ready for the attack, but just barely. He spun his staff around like a baton, and then he suddenly propelled himself in the air, landing on the ledge of the deck. He unsteadily balanced himself, barely managing so, and when he did regain his balance, Zuko unfairly shot another fire blast at him. The boy hurriedly deflected the attacks; two more blasts fired at him, causing him to lose his grip on the staff. It clanked away, sliding far from him.

It happened quickly. Zuko cast more fire at the young avatar. He threw his arms up to protect himself; the blast caused him to fall backward off the ledge and into the arctic waters.

"Aang! No!" A scream pierced the tundra's frozen atmosphere.

The sound of rushing water droned into her ears, and then she saw it: a geyser of swirling water towered over the deck, controlled by the airbender, his tattoos and eyes brightly aglow. The massive current lowered him onto the deck, controlled to shove away the approaching guards and Zuko. She watched in awe, almost unable to comprehend the reality that Zuko went overboard and that the beast she saw in the sky landed on the deck and its passengers jumping out the large saddle to aid the boy — Aang. It didn't occur to her that she didn't know the young avatar's name.

"Aang! Are you okay?" The girl rushed to the collasped boy after the water returned to the sea.

"Hey, Katara, hey Sokka." He smiled weakly at the two.

"I'm glad you're alright," said the girl. "We have to get out of here!"

Aang nodded, agreeing with her and pointed over to his fallen staff that poked halfway off the deck. "My staff."

"I got it!" The wolf-tail hair styled boy took off for it.

"You really are the avatar." Hestia stood, her eyes focused on Aang as she approached them.

"Who are you?" The girl, Katara, demanded and protectively tried to hide Aang from Hestia's view. Her distrustful glare softened, her blue eyes widening slightly. "You—"

"Ha! That's from the Water Tribe!" A triumph cheer came from behind them, catching their attention. The boy, Sokka, stood near the ledge of the deck, smirking down at the water while wagging the staff at someone. He hurried back toward the large beast.

"Who's this? Never mind that — we gotta get out of here!" He squeaked at the sight of three soldiers advancing on them.

It was an odd sound, like a stepping on ice, how it would crunch or squeal under slight weight. She gaped at suddenly finding herself witnessing the girl waterbend; she controlled a stream of water to attack the soldiers, who also were stunned, but fortunately for them, when Katara swung her arms to try and attack, the water on the deck froze. The only person caught was the boy, Sokka.

"Katara!" He yelled out, his feet trapped by the ice.

"Get over here, girl!" One of the soldiers, who Hestia didn't recognize, probably because of his helmet, reached for her.

The crunching and ice squealing sound entered her ears again. A gasp left her, the three soldiers suddenly engulfed in ice.

"I don't know why I was cursed with a sister with weird magic water powers!" Sokka complained while hacking the ice at his feet. "I'm just a normal guy with a boomerang!"

"C'mon!!" Katara grabbed Hestia's arm, dragging her to the bison-looking creature.

"Wa-wait! What're you doing—!" She squealed out, the girl's grip unusually strong.

"I'm helping you to escape!"

Without another word, she's forced up the creature's tail and onto the saddle, where Sokka followed them onto.

"Wait, wait, wait!" She fearfully squeaked. "This is all a big misunderstandiiiii—eeeeeiiiii!!!"

The beast groaned out as Aang called out a few words. Gravity forced her on her hands and knees, her stomach jumped right into her throat. Wind weaved through her hair and clothes as the avatar's bison beast rose higher and higher into the air. She pressed herself onto the saddle, squeezed her eyes shut and held her palms over her ears.

"No! Hestia!" She barely heard over her panicking.

"Hah!" Aang yelled out and then there was a large and powerful gust of wind. She refused to look. She didn't want to look. They were off the ground. Her heart thudded with pure fear, only one thought on her mind.

Alright. Two thoughts on her mind.

One, the fear of falling from a dangerously dangerous height. And two, she was kidnapped by the avatar and his friends.