The Fire bender, the Avatar, and the Deity, oh my

Not so different afterall

Lynn sighed as she leaned against the railing of Zuko's ship. She was heavily guarded at all times, but she had hatched quite the deal with the future firelord. "You know," Zuko stated as he approached her, "I never took you to be a thief."

Lynn shrugged as she gaze shifted to him. "I'm not. Katara stole it, but she gave it to me."

Zuko shifted to copy her position. "The young water tribe girl, correct?"

Lynn nodded, her unbraided hair whipping her face. "Correct." Smiling suddenly, she turned her face towards him. "Besides, it was an excellent early birthday present."

He once again mirrored her body language. "How old are you?"

She shrugged. "115. 116 next week, give or take a couple of years. Of course, I'm not sure if being frozen for 100 of those years counts."

His eyes widened. "So you two weren't in hiding."

Her eyes darkened. "We might as well have been. We were young and foolish. Still are, technically speaking."

He eyed her carefully as if she was about to jump overboard and try to make a break for it. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened?"

She shrugged and turned around so that she was facing him completely, arms crossed over her chest. "If I tell you, will you finally tell me why you were banished? We never got to finish that conversation."

He hesitated slightly before his curiosity got the better of him. "Fine."

Lynn pushed some of her hair out of her face. "I was at the southern air temple for around two months before they told Aang he was the Avatar." Her face had fallen as her story began.

"There's a reason why they wait until we're 16 to tell us, you know. Some say it's because that's how old Avatar Wan and Deity Shēn were, but I know better. It's because they want us to be mature enough to carry the burden of maintaining the balance."

"You said you're 15."

Her mouth twitched slightly. "Getting there. Now, where was I?"

"Maintaining the balance and maturity."

Lynn nodded. "Right. Anyways, after it was revealed that Aang was the Avatar, everyone started to treat him differently. They stopped treating him like a kid and instead acted like he was some sort of soldier." Lynn sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. "And I know that's what the world needed, I know that. But that doesn't change the fact that he's just ..."

"A kid." Zuko cut her off. His careful gaze had softened into something akin to sympathetic before it hardened again.

As she finished her story and he started his, Lynn couldn't help but notice the parallels. She turned back around so that she was facing the water. "Maybe we're not so different after all."

Zuko turned back towards the water as well. "Hmm, maybe."