i am... | zuko

chapter 1 ♕ a sister

I am Mizumi and I have a twin sister—Yue. Our father is the chief of the Northern Water Tribe, which practically means that we were considered as the princesses. Now, back to reality.

I rolled my eyes the moment I heard the drum roll, slightly groaning at the publicity. I glanced at my sister beside me and frowned, causing her to giggle and gently patted my head. She looked like she was about to say something when we heard our father spoke.

"Tonight, we celebrate the arrival of our brother and sister from the Southern Tribe, and they have brought with them someone very special, someone whom many of us believed disappeared from the world until now." we our father turned slightly to his side and pointed at the bald boy sitting beside him. "The Avatar!" who waved awkwardly as the people cheered.

"We also celebrate my daughters' 16th birthday." father step aside as me and Yue walked forward and slightly bowed down. "Princess Mizumi and Yue are now of marrying age." he added, sounding pleased, however my public facade masked the opposite of my father's feelings.

"Thank you, father." both of us said—as we had memorized—as we turned to him for a second before averting back to the people.

"May the great Ocean" I spoke. "and Moon Spirits watch over us during these troubled times." and Yue continued.

"Now, Master Pakku and his students will perform!" father suddenly announced as the drums played and three waterbenders performed on the stage—one which I could recognize, their skills awing everyone especially the Avatar and the girl—who was his friend beside him—base on what I saw since they were clapping in awe.

I then turned to her sister and waved with a grin. Yue was about to stop me from running away but she was too late for I had already ran back to my headquarters to change my clothes—I am not that fond of dresses. As much as I'd like to fulfill my duty, it was still my right to wear the clothes I wanted.

When I came back with much comfortable clothes, I saw my father introducing the Avatar to Master Pakku—the waterbending master in my tribe. I couldn't hear what they were talking about so I pretended to pass by them, making sure my ears were sharp. "If you want to relax, then I suggest visiting a tropical island." I heard Master Pakku reprimanded, causing me to stifle a laugh. Good thing, I wasn't noticed by the three for I heard Master Pakku added, "If not, I'll see you both at sunrise."

I smiled and walked away, a plan starting form in the depths of my brain.

♕

I escaped from my "supposedly" morning routine—which was to continue having a "beauty" sleep and woke up before sunrise. I cautiously walked down the halls as I went to the training ground Master Pakku and the Avatar will be at. I was going to watch them train just for the sake of entertainment. Don't be mistaken, I know training to be a waterbender was no joke. But seeing someone waterbending just amuses me. I was born without that gift, after all. Both my mother and father were not waterbenders. Thus, it was no doubt that neither I nor Yue weren't too.

"Princess Mizumi!"

I halted from my tracks and gulped, slowly turning around to the source of the call. I heave out a relieved sigh once I saw who it was that called me.

"Hahn!" I chirped not too loud, just enough for him to hear. He jogged towards me and grinned, his hair swaying as he did. I blushed at the close proximity of him to me. He's a soldier in our tribe, one of the best. And I've been having a crush on him since the day he became a soldier. I adored him for being so confident in himself—a personality I've never had. I secretly wish that father will marry me to Hahn—especially now that I'm of marrying age.

"Is your sister awake?" he inquired and I smiled before shaking my head no. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing I will just give her this." he brought up a hand and it held a necklace.

A necklace that indicates engagement.

He's engaged with Yue?

My eyes widened as I looked at him in shock, my mouth falling agape for a bit. No, this is not happening.

"You know what, of all the young maidens I've pursued, your sister was the hmm... what's that word?" he pondered as he brought a hand under his chin. After a few seconds, he clicked his fingers and exclaimed. "Finest. That's the word. She's the finest one of all, I tell you."

I casted my eyes down and pursed my lips, trying to avoid his eyes, his face even. Hearing him talk about my twin sister makes me feel—

"And she comes with the most perks too." he added in a voice I've never heard him with—not that I knew him well.. My head snapped back up to look at him in disbelief. I only liked him with his outer appearance that I didn't bothered to look in the inside. Silly me.

"I know you're also the Chief's daughter but you're just not good enough for me, no offense." my hands formed into fists as I glared at him, aching to punch him right in that face of his. "What did you just said?" Well, I was about to punch him with all I've got when someone pulled me back.

I growled and turned to the person who pulled me. "Please don't fight. Let's settle this in a nice way." a bald kid awkwardly tried to calm me down, going in between me and Hahn. I was about to yell at him when I hadn't felt that sense of familiarity once I saw who it was.

"You're the Avatar, right?" I questioned, raising a brow. Wasn't he supposed to be training with Master Pakku right now?

"Yeah! My name is Aang." he grinned, offering a handshake. I took it and shook his hand gracefully like any other princess would do—like what Yue would do. "I'm—"

"Wait, aren't you Princess Mizumi?" a voice chimed in, cutting me off. Apparently, the voice came from the girl who was beside Aang. Ah, I can remember her. She's that girl who came from our sister tribe. And I don't know her name.

I smiled sweetly at her like what I believed Yue will do and nodded. "Yes, I am. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh! I'm Katara! It's really my pleasure to meet you. You're so beautiful." she took my hands and shook it gleefully. I only awkwardly laughed.

"Uh, excuse me, I'm still here." I heard Hahn interjected but I completely ignored him. "Pardon me for asking but why are you two awake so early?" I tried to get them to realize that they were already late for their training with Master Pakku. Oh wait. Don't tell me the friend Aang was talking about to Master Pakku was Katara? But—

"Oh! That's right! We have to go, Aang. Master Pakku is waiting for us!" Katara pulled Aang and when I looked at him, he was staring straight at me and he looked like he came out of his daydream before slowly blushing despite of the cold.

"You can ask your father for you to marry the Avatar instead. He seems to like you." Hahn wiggled his brows and I glared at him before huffing, walking away. Once I knew I was out of his sight, I quickly ran towards the way Aang and Katara went to.  I wanted to see how Master Pakku will tell Katara about the Northern Water Tribe culture. That should be fun.

♕

In the end, Katara became Master Pakku's student. How? Well, Katara's grandmother turned out to be the woman Master Pakku was engaged with and they all found it out when Master Pakku saw Katara's necklace.

To be honest, I am envious of Katara. Good for her, she has the talent of being a good waterbender. She's even better than Aang—well, maybe because he was kind of gooding off the entire time. I'm not a waterbender nor a healer and yet here I am still desiring I would be one. At least I could still do that in my dreams.

I stood up and was about to walk away from my hiding place—the place I was hiding in to watch waterbenders—when something black fell in front of me. It was not that big—maybe as big as a fly but it was not an insect or anything. I haven't seen it before. I looked up and saw that there are a lot coming from the skies. I held up my hand and captured a few.

It was all I remembered before the news spread that we were going to have an attack from the Fire Nation.