It took me a bunch of times to write this whole chapter, but its done

---

“Heisui snuck out again!” Aori sang cheerfully, currently sitting next to Kaijin on the bobbing dock that all three had dubbed their own personal hang out over 10 years ago. It was just a branch of beach outside the village and behind some trees. Heisui and Kaijin had cleaned it up over that time. It was no longer seaweed infested and the old over turned boat had an amateur’s fix up job, but it did float. A small shelter was even fashioned under some bent trees and covered with planks of wood. They would sit there when it started to rain or if they needed to stash something from home. Heisui would even find Kaijin there some mornings if things weren’t going well at home.

Aori was now 13 and she visited every season that her father was. She was still a bubbling entity of pure energy. She wore clothes similar to the water tribes, but she didn’t wear her coat or sleeves; especially not in Fire Nation weather. Her skin was dark like her cousin Heisui’s, but her eyes were grey like her father’s, and her mother’s hair, cut short and let free. She lifted off the dock to her feet with a gust of wind and ran to her approaching cousin. She had gotten her air bending from her father, of course, and was quite talented with it; Aang had taught her everything he knew about his original element. Heisui smiled as his cousin ran towards him; she latched onto his arm as soon as she was in range to tackle him, but she was too light to knock him down.

“Hey Aori.” He greeted, still walking towards the dock. He was wearing normal Fire Nation clothes, grey long sleeves with a red sleeveless over it and black pants. Kaijin stood from the dock and brushed off her clothes from sand to wait for her friend; she wore a red sleeveless shirt and pants. When they were all together by the dock, Aori let go of Heisui’s arm and ran back to the dock where a long stick rested.

“My dad let me borrow the glider for the day!” the young air bender said cheerfully and she used some bending to trigger two long orange wings and a tail popping out from the sides. Kaijin blinked at the strange contraption.

“What is it?” she asked and prodded the orange cloth, feeling it was strong but soft from being weathered and worn. Aori grinned.

“A glider, it catches the wind current and lets you fly!” she eagerly bounced up and down. “You’ve got to see!” she swung the glider behind her and jumped off the dock, scaring both fire benders. They thought she was going to dive into the salt water of the ocean, but instead she veered up ward, flying around the area, grinning and waving at them. Kaijin clapped and cheered while Heisui just smiled some, folding his arms and watching his cousin loop around in the sky. It was a truly sight, seeing someone flying free as a bird. Aori had such a cheerful spirit and so much of it. The two fire benders watched her tricks and Kaijin leaned over, touching his arm with her shoulder; he had a few inches on her.

“So are your advisors hunting you down again?” she asked teasingly.

“Maybe,” Heisui answered, “I didn’t stick around long enough to find out.” He sighed, “Why can’t I just walk around town like I used to? It sucks being a prince.”

“It can’t be that bad.” Kaijin said.

“I can’t leave the palace without an escort,” Heisui complained, “At least I’m not supposed to. And even then the advisors have a problem with anyone seeing me, because I’m only ‘half’ Fire Nation.” Kaijin tore her eye away from Aori’s flying to look at her friend.

“Heisui, that doesn’t matter.” She said sincerely, “You’re a full fledged Fire Nation native to me.” Heisui was quiet a minute, yellow eyes focused on his cousin, but his mind wasn’t.

“I’m part Water Tribe.” He said, not wanting his other heritage to be forgotten. He’d been raised as a Water Tribe native since his birth; it was still a part of him, despite being a fire bender.

“Yeah.” Kaijin agreed and looked back at Aori’s flying, thinking. She wondered if all Water Tribe natives were like Heisui. He definitely wasn’t as vicious as all the others, though he did have his delinquent and rebellious streak, “But you’re not just Water tribe and Fire Nation; you’re my friend too.” Heisui only nodded slightly, it was nice to remember that fact.

“I’m thinking of going to the North Pole.” Heisui announced and Kaijin blinked, confused.

“Is your dad going to let you?” she asked, “I mean Lord Zuko.”

“I’m not going to ask,” Heisui stressed the last word, “I could always sneak aboard a ship to the Earth Kingdom and work from there.” Kaijin’s eye’s budged, staring at him.

“What?!” she exclaimed, “the Earth Kingdom is dangerous, not everyone is on peaceful terms with the Fire Nation yet!”

“It doesn’t look like the Fire Nation is completely at peace with everyone you know.” Heisui mumbled but Kaijin heard him.

“That’s crazy, Heisui. Why would you want to leave the Fire Nation? You’ve got everything here.”

“But I can’t do anything here,” Heisui stressed, meeting eyes with Kaijin, “I’m stuck here in that palace while the old people go over repetitive information, and not they’re starting to bug me about finding a fiancé; a royal kind of fiancé. I want out. I want to find out what the world is like before I’m stuck here forever like my parents are.” Kaijin bit her bottom lip firmly, glancing back at the air bender and pondering the situation.

“I suppose is does make sense.” She said and Heisui was quiet again, watching his friend; who was watching Aori with unmoving eyes, “You’re the only friend I’ve ever had, Heisui.” She murmured, “I don’t wan you do get hurt.”

“Come with me.” Heisui offered and Kaijin looked at him with surprise.

“Go with you?” she asked, “To the North Pole?”

“Why not? You said it yourself you can’t stand anyone here besides me.”

Kaijin looked at the ground, hands folding behind her back. She had never really fit in with the other Fire Nation people. Heisui liked that about her, but he also knew her parents ha driven her to it. He’d heard them yelling at her, mocking her weak bending an she was a disgrace for not marrying young; she never even had a date before. They hated Heisui, and Kaijin kept him away from her parents as much as she could. She didn’t even let Heisui come to the house, he always met her at their beach.

“But I’ve never left the fire Nation before.” She said.

So come with me, we’ll see what it’s like together,” he urged and after a tense silence, Kaijin suddenly let loose a giggle, “What?” Heisui was bewildered.

“Sounds like one of those tragic romance stories.” She commented while smiling and Heisui rolled his eyes.

“You read too much,” Heisui said and kicked a rock off the dock and into the water. There was no romantic relationship between them. He’d thought there would be, since she was the only fire bender around his age and the only girl he really liked; but he couldn’t seem to like her in the same way as most girls and boys did. They had attempted kissing once though, but they hadn’t had any magical spark they often heard about when people kissed. It was just very awkward afterwards.

Aori landed afterwards with elegant swirl of wind, the glider snapping back into a pole.

“Ta-da!” she cheered and Heisui and Kaijin clapped for her performance, or what they had seen of it. They stayed around that area for a good while, talking and Aori ran around the beach, chasing and being chased by the ocean waves that washed ashore. Heisui found if peaceful, but he still wondered what was on the other side of that endless sea.

---

Review please