Chapter Text
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Two years ago.
Ilvane was shivering as she carefully crawled out of the crate that she had hidden herself in. She didn't have much choice as she had seen Fire Nation soldiers looking around at her previous stop and a wanted poster with her face on it. She had ripped it from the pole it was on and had climbed into the nearest wooden crate she could find, only for that crate to be taken up and out of the town with her still in it
She had been in the dark for at least a day or so with nothing but bananas around her. At hearing the owners say that there were guards ahead for inspection, she had quickly buried herself into the bananas, the fruit thankfully covering her completely when the soldiers inspected the crate. Once she was inside the city and she heard the owners walk away to get a drink, she hurriedly climbed out and walked away
It was that she had heard the owners say that they were in Omashu, otherwise she'd have absolutely no idea where on earth she was. Looking around, the mood that had been successfully drilled into taking a soldier's perspective by her father in the past few years, immediately looked for the best possible scenarios what she could do. Seeing a "help wanted" sign at a tea shop, she hesitantly walked towards it. "Excuse me, I saw that you needed help." She said in her small tone. "Have you ever worked in a tea shop?" The owner asked and she shook her head.
"No, sir. I just arrived here after running away from my unsafe home and I desperately need money." She answered honestly and he hummed. "Well, let's first see if you can heat up a kettle." He said, giving her two stones to start a fire. Supressing a smile at the irony of asking a firebender to heat up something, she hit the stones together. At the right moment, she briefly extended her finger and a tiny flame shot out of it
"Very good. Step one complete." The owner, Moni, commented with a chuckle and she smiled as he instructed her and helped her through the rest of the steps of making tea. Her first attempt wasn't exactly bad, but it wasn't very good either. Still, she tried her best and it was either that or the need for help was high as she was hired "You'll learn, little one. What's your name?" Moni asked. "Ilvane." She answered.
"Well, Ilvane. Here's the deal I've got for you right now: you work for me and you can live in the rooms upstairs. It is originally supposed to be for the owner of this shop, but with my wife and seven kids, it doesn't have enough room for all of us. I'll help you make tea and give you a salary based on how hard you work, deal?" He asked with a warm smile, holding out his hand. She shook it, knowing our was fair enough, desperate to have some money and knowing there were worse deals out there. "Great. Let me give you the tour." He said, leading her upstairs to the empty apartment
That's how Ilvane quickly came to work for Moni for quite a while and she eventually got much better in making tea. She also met Moni's wife and seven kids one day, who accepted her almost absurdly quickly and always talked her into a hug. Many cups of tea were almost spilled by her that way. Still, she was kinda content with this. She was safe and Omashu was one of the few free cities in the Earth Kingdom
However, it went wrong after a few weeks. Moni's youngest children had come to visit, when a robber burst in and held one of them hostage, a knife at her throat. "Give me all your money or this girl's life will be ended very short." He threatened as Moni dropped his kettle in utter shock. Ilvane was in a pinch. Either risk this girl's life or reveal what she really was. Seeing a drop of blood trickle down, she made her decision
A few seconds later, many people outside gasped in shock as a man was thrown out of a shop, a red hot flame following him. "You threaten that little girl's life again and you'll regret it!" Ilvane shouted as she threw a fist into his face, her threat clear. "Firebender!" He screamed and soldiers immediately arrested her. "Soldier, that man tried to rob my store and threatened the life of my children!" Moni called and the robber was arrested as well. After assuring himself that his daughter was okay and that his children would ne date with his wife, Moni followed the soldiers to give his statement
Ilvane was forced to kneel in front of the King with the robber and the soldier told the old man that she was a firebender. "And what's your opinion, Mr. Moni." The King asked and Moni looked at Ilvane, who looked down at the ground. "Your Majesty, she may be a Firebender, but she saved the life of my daughter and prevented a robbery from happening. She's not a monster." He replied as he bowed his head
Ilvane immediately looked up in surprise, before giving him a small smile. "Are you kidding me! She's a firebender! They're all evil! I bet she's the daughter of a Fire Nation captain or something" The robber protested and Ilvane made a face as he was kinda right. The King hummed at seeing her face and held up a hand. "Make her..." He began and they looked up. "An advisor." He continued and they all stared at him
That's how Ilvane became the advisor of King Bumi, telling him and the soldiers everything she knew from the plans she remembered seeing, even if it had been a few months since she had seen them. After a while, she and the King became pretty good friends once he was certain she didn't mean any harm. "Wait, wait! You knew the Avatar?" Ilvane asked in shock. "Well, we didn't know it at the time. I only learned it later... just before the air nomads were killed." He said, getting a bit sad and she patted his back. "What did you do with him?" She asked and he smiled. A few minutes later, they were sliding down.
After three months, a soldier came in with the news that fire Nation troops were seen and that they were looking for Ilvane, giving the King the same wanted poster that Ilvane had torn up. ""Traitor to the Fire Nation?" Ilvane, what have you done?" Bumi asked as he looked at the poster. "I ran away from home. Who was leading them?" She asked. At hearing the name of the man leading them, she closed her eyes and lowered her head.
"That's my father. He won't rest until he found me. I need to go, before it's too late." She said, looking at Bumi and he nodded, ordering his captain to lead her through the mountains. "Just remember: you're always welcome here." He said. "Thank you, Bumi. May your rocks be stronger than the bones of your enemies." She said. He greeted back, before she had to leave. She said goodbye to Moni before she left the city
Present
Aang was woken up by the guards early the next day to see Sokka and Katara were already gone from the room and demanded to know where they were, but they didn't tell him and ordered him to give them his staff. When he met the King, he showed the boy that the two Southern water tribe members got rings forced on their fingers that slowly grew into crystal prisons. "And ilvane?" Aang asked with a glare to the old man. "The firebender will stay in her cell for now as punishment for abusing my hospitality twice. Now, are you ready?" Bumi asked with a smirk
After having to get a key from a waterfall, having to save the King's pet from a huge beast that turned out to be the pet itself and having to fight the King himself, Aang had to guess his name and figured it out, hugging his old and only remaining friend from a hundred years ago. As promised, Katara and Sokka were freed and it turned out that the crystal was sugar. "What about Ilvane?" Aang asked and Bumi smirked
"Moni! Three cups of jasmine tea for table 4!" Ilvane called, having decided to help her old boss for the day. "You got it, Ilvane!" Moni called back, just as Sokka, Katara and Aang ran in. "Ilvane! Oh, thank the spirits. We were so worried." Katara breathes in relief as she hugged her friend. "I'm fine. Bumi is that old friend I talked about. I said that he had a high position in the court. I just didn't say it was the highest." She chuckled
Katara quickly hit her on the arm and she immediately grinned with no regret whatsoever as she then happily introduced her friends to Moni. "Glad to see the lady Ilvane had found true friends who support her through thick and thin." He said with a small bow and they smiled at him. Thanking him for everything as they left, Aang wanted to slide down the chute with Bumi like in the good old days. "Aren't you worried he'll get in trouble again?" Katara asked. "What are they going to do? Arrest their king?" Ilvane asked, just as they heard a crash and the cabbage guy shouting once more.
Climbing on Appa, Bumi, his soldiers and Moni and his family waved them out and wished them luck on the rest of the journey. "I hope we'll see each other again, my friend." Ilvane said and Bumi smiled as he ruffled her hair. "Me too." He said "Lady Ilvane, we got this report from a fire nation scout we defeated. Be careful." Bumi's captain said, giving her a roll of parchment and she thanked him before Appa grunted and flew off
"What's that parchment, Ilvane?" Sokka asked curiously and she unrolled it. "Commander Zhao of the fire nation has been asking for info about the avatar. He's looking for us. I know him from my time there. He's the worst." She explained as she read it. "Well, I can't wait to teach him a lesson when he meets us." Katara commented as she bended some water and they nodded with chuckles as they continued on again
Adventure was waiting for them.