Princess of the Fire Nation

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

Lian sat in front of the camp fire, her eyes closed as she focuses. As she breathes in, the fire shrank but as she breathed out, the fired grew. She continued peacefully with her meditation while the others around her slept.

After a day of travelling, Appa finally landed on a large cliff with beautiful views on the shore below. Lian tried to sleep like the others but struggled. She wasn't used to sleeping on the ground, nor was she used to sleeping out in the open. She could really do with a visit to the Fire Nation Royal Palace spa for a massage. While her hair was still in its traditional half up, half down do, it wasn't as neat as it could be and Lian gave up after trying to pull all the strands back. Her dress had been cleaned but the red had begun to fade, no longer giving off its desired look.

Lian opened her eyes and looked around to the others sleeping peacefully. Aang slept comfortably next to a snoring Appa while Sokka and Katara slept near each other below a tree. Momo, the Avatar's lemur, stared intently at Sokka watching a spider crawl onto his face. Amused, Lian watched as Momo sprang towards Sokka, knocking him in the face as he caught the spider.

Lian laughed loudly as a startled Sokka quickly sat up, startled. "What are you doing in my mouth!" he pointed accusingly as the lemur who sat innocently eating the spider. "Momo, you need to be a little more sensitive to my boundaries."

As Sokka speaks, Lian sits up hearing something from the trees behind Sokka. She quickly gets up, confusing Sokka as she started intently at the trees. Suddenly, a massive fireball headed towards her making Sokka shout, waking the others. Lian 'catches' the fire ball before easily throwing it back in the direction that it came from.

From the trees emerged a muscular, cruel looking Fire Nation soldier sitting on a war rhino.

"Colonel Mongke" gasps Lian, assuming a firebending stance. More soldiers sitting on top of rhinos emerge from the trees.

"Princess Lian" replies the Colonel with a mock bow. "Give up! You're all completely surrounded!"

Another long-haired Fire Nation archer, a former Yu Yan archer, shoots three flaming arrows towards Aang who avoids them as he runs onto Apa, followed by Katara and Sokka. Lian throws a fireball towards the archer, before producing a whip not allowing the rhinos to come closer.

"Come on, come on, come on!" shouts Sokka to Lian who was still keeping the rhinos at bay.

"My scrolls!" shouts Katara, staring in fear at her scrolls by the fire. Lian walked backwards quickly, keeping an eye on the rhinos before picking up the box of scrolls and climbing onto the bison.

"My staff!" shouts Aang leaping of Appa towards his staff. As he jumped for it, another soldier on a rhino threw a chain at the Avatar but Katara managed to use waterbending to knock it aside. Closing her eyes, Lian raised her arms creating a wall of flames – with Appa and Aang on one side and the rhinos on the other – giving Aang enough time to collect his staff and climb back onto Appa.

"Yip, yip!" shouts Aang to Appa while the rhinos were distacted.

"Wait, my boomerang!" shouts Sokka as the bison flies away.

"There's no time!" shouts Katara back as Appa flies away.

"Oh, I see. There's time to get your scrolls and time to get your staff, but no time for my boomerang?" sulks Sokka.

Katara just responds cheerfully: "That's correct!" causing Lian to roll her eyes in amusement.

"They were the Rough Rhinos" states Lian. "An elite group of Fire Nation warriors loyal to my uncle. They destroy Earth Kingdom villages and claim them in the name of the Fire Lord."