Fire and Ice

Reunited at last (?)

A week after the event of Klare receiving her mark, it was finally time for her to rid herself off the bandages.
The unveiling was something that they chose to do in the banquet hall so that anyone in the shrine could see it if they wished.
Klare stood with a blank expression next to her brother as she silently let Brisa unwrap the slightly stained cloth from her neck.

Everyone gasped as they saw the mark. It was black, unlike what many of them had suspected. In a way, it was snowflake-like but it looked broken and had four dagger shapes pointing towards the center. Such a mark both confused and concerned Ira, Brisa, and Rin, especially Rin.

Klare sighed as she looks at the fairly bold mark in a mirror that Ira hands her. She was the only one not phased by the sight and just closed her eyes.

As the days went by, Klare's expression range decreased to one, a blank almost lifeless look. She practically followed the same routine day after day without stray and rarely voiced her thoughts or concerns. No one could grasp a reason as to why she started acting like that, but one day a couple weeks later, near midsummer, something seemed to change.

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"I heard something interesting earlier." Ira commented as the Sisters ate their lunch together like they've done for the past few weeks. Brisa and Klare looked up from their food, as if telling her to continue so she did. "It seems that the avatar is going to the Western Air Temple." "The one under a cliff?" Ira nods to Brisa before noticing that the mention of the avatar seemed to catch Klare's interest.

Ira continued to tell them why she brought the matter up. "So I was thinking, maybe Klare should go there. I mean, she's already experienced life outside of the shrine, plus she's supposedly the strongest of us." The trio froze at the sound of metal hitting the ground. They turned to see Rin standing there with a bewildered look. He stepped over the tray and spilt tea and marched right up to where Ira was seated.

"Don't you dare think for a second that I'm letting Klare leave this shrine alone again. Especially not after everything I went through to get her back!"
Ira smiled at his outburst and retorted. "I never said she'd go alone. After all, you've also been out there, so if both of you went it would be much easier to be assured of Klare's safety."

Rin gazed back at Klare for approval, though it was obvious that her mind was somewhere else. However, she absentmindedly nodded at him in agreement and Rin immediately ran off to start gathering things for the travel.

In two hours they were gone, heading off towards the Western Air Temple. It took them about two weeks before they made it, but sure enough they ended up standing at the top of a cliff side. "I don't think I thought this part through or else I would've grabbed some rope. So... Got any ideas, Chilam?" Klare looked around, eyeing the vegetation nearby. "Yes, but there's one thing I need you to do." "What is it?"

"Outside of the shrine, I'm only to be called Klare, not Chilam. Understood?" Rin paused, thinking over what she said before wordlessly giving in to her command. "What's your plan, ...Klare?" "Draw some moisture from the plants around here and then use that to bring us down, but only use a portion no greater than half as not to kill distort any lifeforms in the area." Rin's eyes widened. He'd have never thought of that... It was clever.

As they seemed to come to an agreement, both teens use their ability to draw out the amount of water they needed and created little orbs large enough for each of them to stand on. With that, they controlled the water orbs to safely help them down next to where an air-bison was laying. Once both of them landed safely, Klare turned some of the water into an ice bowl and let the rest fill it so that the creature had something cool to drink.

The pair peaked out from behind the bison to see quite a few people talking. From what Klare could tell, there were two wearing the colors of a water tribe, four in earth colored clothes one of which was in some kind of wheelchair. As for the two that had their backs to her and Rin, one was dressed in fire nation colors and the other one was simply a straight up airbender based off of the tattoos that she could see very clearly.

The earth girl said something that caused all of them to defensively stand and turn towards where Klare and Rin were hidden. "Who's there?" The black haired boy in fire nation colors called out to them. Klare gasped, instantly recognizing not only the scar but the voice as well. "Zuko?" She said, stepping out of the bison's shadow. Zuko quickly relaxed, jaw dropping in shock. "Klare?" He whispered, but the only one close enough to hear it was the airbender. Said boy glanced questioningly at Zuko. "Zuko, do you know her?" He hesitated but nodded. "Ye-Yeah. Everyone can relax. She's not a threat."

Klare's brow twitched in slight irritation at his comment, though at least the airbender seemed to relax as he had said. "I'll take that in the way that you mean I come in piece, since if you meant that I'm weak I'd have to come up with a way to get back at you for it." She pouted before jumping forward to dodge a smack to the back of the head. Rin sighed and waved at Zuko and the others. "Allow me to introduce us. I am Rin. As for her, this is my twin sister... Klare. We're here to assist the avatar in any way necessary. In other words, we mean no harm." Klare nodded in agreement.

All but the water tribe pair seemed to accept their words and relaxed, but the pair narrowed their eyes sceptically. "Why would strangers like you two come all the way here to help the avatar, who you haven't even met?" The girl inquired. Rin was about to answer when Klare held a hand up to silence him. They shared a nod and Klare stepped forward and bowed deeply to the whole group.

"My brother here failed to introduce me properly. My name is Klare and I... am the Ice Phoenix. See, we come from the Grand Shrine of the Phoenix. Once we heard that you'd be coming here and that I was ready to control the phoenix within me, we decided it was time to come and aid the avatar as best we can." They were shocked and suspicious of her claim as they used to hear stories of the ancient Phoenix of ice from their mother. "Nice try. The phoenix is just an old bedtime story for little kids." The boy scoffed. Klare raised a brow at them and drew some water from the fountain, creating a water orb in one hand and summoning fire to the other. "Then explain this." She wrapped the the orb around the fire and froze it so that the fire couldn't even melt it. It became a stunning light which she carefully tossed the now speechless boy.

"Okay, one more question." "Go right ahead." "How do you know Zuko?" Klare was a bit thrown off by the water tribe girl's question, but hesitantly responded. "I... was a servant girl at the palace when we were much younger before Fire Lord Ozai took power." She seemed to reluctantly accept Klare's answer and both relaxed, the boy still amazed by the ball of ice.

Klare turned to face Zuko, their hot and cold eyes clashing as they stared at each other without speaking.

'This is going to be a long night...'

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Published: Feb. 15, 2017    6:30 pm

Heya, lovelies! I told you I'd update again and I've followed my word! I hope you enjoyed it! I can't wait for the next part!!
You know the drill: Vote, Comment, Comment, Vote
And now, the closing you've all been waiting for!!!!
As always,

Until next time!~

Ali🌹