Lotus Flower: Book One|ZukoxOC(Avatar the Last Airbender Fanfic)

Days of the Past: Prologue-ish(Li's Early Years)

Liena poked her father for maybe the hundredth time on his wrinkled face, making it twitch, as he tried to remain calm. "Please come play with me papa! I'm bored!" Liena pouts.

"Dear, I'm busy, I'm about to sharpen all the weapons. Please go play with some other kids, you shouldn't be over here when I'm doing it." Sukano pleads with his daughter who has been annoying him for the last hour.

"Do you think Luli, Benji, Sokka and Katara can play?" Liena asks excitedly.

"You'll have to go ask,"

Liena stumbles over her feet as she gets up to go find the other kids. There weren't many people outside of her tent and was instantly confused. The one person she did see was her uncle Gui so she ran up to him to find out what was going on. "Well little one, Luli was put down for a nap, Benji is off on a hunting trip, and Sokka and Katara are with their parents doing some family thing,"

"Aw man, but I wanted to play." Liena says sadly.

She was about to go bother her father some more but then Gui stopped her, "where do you think you're going missy? We need our quality uncle and niece time! You know I'm the best uncle ever, what do you say kiddo?"

"You're my only uncle," she points out in confusion.

"Right you are. Let's go fish!" Uncle Gui says excitedly.

"Okay!" Liena says just as excited.

••
They sat in their boat, Uncle Gui with a spear in hand and Liena looking around at the waves bouncing up onto the canoe. Feeling the spray of the icy water, the little girl let out a squeak, making her uncle laugh at her—and she of course stuck out her tongue in retaliation.

He went back to look into the deep blue. Gui knew if he didn't hurry it up, Liena would get impatient and start to get noisy—diminishing any chance of capturing the yummy food. "Sometimes I wish I were a waterbender like your father, it would make fishing a lot easier."

"I think you're both perfect just the way you are," Liena smiles and Gui smiles back.

You see, Liena's father, Sukano, was a waterbender, and her uncle was a nonbender. But, that's not the only noteworthy thing about this family, oh no.. definitely not the only thing.

Just then a fish splashed up out of the churning waters, looking for revenge, and sprayed water all over them, making them both shiver a bunch. "Wow, that's cold!" Uncle Gui exclaimed and Liena nodded in agreement.

When Gui gestured to their wet clothes, Liena quickly got to her feet and stretched out her little arms, "don't worry, Uncle! I got this," Liena makes a determined face, and Gui's eyes looked on in their usual admiration, because with a few sways of her hands; Liena uses her bending to dry them off. The two of them had hair sticking out on their heads, but they laughed it off.

You see, it's not like regular bending, I'm sure you've figured out that it definitely isn't earthbending. It wasn't firebending, or even waterbending.. oh no, this form of bending was nearly wiped out a whole century ago.

This form was practiced only by the most spiritual of people, the most enlightened of those who have walked this world— "It's pretty nice having an airbender around." Gui ruffled her hair and they both grinned at each other. Yeah, being an airbender was pretty cool.

Unfortunately, the sweet moment was cut short: "What's that?" Liena points to a black dot in the distance.

Uncle Gui leaned forward and squinted his eyes to try to make out what it was, his eyes widened once he realized, "oh my Avatar.. It's the Fire Nation."

•••
"Do you have to leave papa? I'll miss you.." A six year old Liena whispered, her father enveloped her in a hug.

"My lotus flower, I will return again soon. You will go with your uncle where it is safest, Kyoshi Island. There, you will learn so much. You will bloom into the beautiful flower you're meant to be. I'll be with you always." He promised.

"Please don't go! I need you," tears gathered in her eyes, she was too young to understand. She was confused and hurt that her father was leaving her.

As his ship sailed away into the distance, Liena looked on in sadness. Why would he leave her? Didn't he love her?

As Liena grew older, she came to be proud of her father's bravery. She was still sad, but she now understands why he did what he did.

Liena misses him to this day, as Sukano was killed six years later, leaving Liena and her uncle heartbroken. They would miss him greatly. Ever since the day they found out about Sukano, Gui began to call Liena Lotus Flower, carrying on Liena's nickname.

Liena began her training on Kyoshi Island at the age of eight. Gui wanted his niece to be able to defend herself in case he isn't there for her someday.

Gui needed Liena, as much as Liena needed Gui. The Kyoshi warriors took her in and taught her everything they knew. Liena was quick to befriend these warriors and even became friends with the young warriors to be, she became best friends with a girl her age, her name was Suki.

Suki and Liena became quite competitive throughout the years, trying to best one another during training. They were the top of their class. It was all in good fun, of course, and even though both started training around the same time, Suki pulled farther ahead in their sessions. Liena focused most of her time and energy on meditation, her studies and airbending while Suki focused more on the Kyoshi Warrior training.

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A/N: YAY!!!! Second chapter up! It's only going to get better from here. Keep reading on, folks.

Vote, comment, add to library and follow:D

Much love for all you<3

xoxo, Mir

12/8/21