So, I'm gonna skip the Zuko alone episode, because A) I have an idea to replace it (This chapter) and B) I want this book to focus on Asha's journey, both with and without the romantic attributes. That's a big part in why most chapters are missing parts from the actual episode; because Asha wouldn't have know what was going on since she wasn't there. I assume that most people reading have/ currently are watching the actual show, so I it feels kinda perfunctory to write things that are already known.  Another thing is that with Asha's arrows, I reference ones on her hands, and I realize when she talks to Pakku, he says she'll earn her arrows. What I really meant was a stripe connecting the arrows on her hands to the ones on her neck and back This chapter will go in depth with Asha's character, her past; possibly future, so if your not into that, please move onto the next chapter (When it's released)- though, I wouldn't suggest it since there will be context in this chapter for future chapters. Thanks for reading, enjoy the chapter. P.S. I'm super sorry for the short chapter. 

-Nikki, with love, XoXo.

___

The water splashed around Asha as she stomped her foot in frustration, the orb of water she had previously been using burst around her, splashing all over the once dry air bender.

"You're doing great, Asha." Katara smiles at the girl who only glares to girl as she stomps out.

"I don't care about that! I care about what I'm doing wrong!" She yells, thankful that the boys (and Toph) had gone to the nearby village. They were in need of supplies, so they took the smaller animals and walked to the village while Katara and Asha stayed back, practicing the water bending that the Onsra had avoiding for much too long.

"Asha, this stuff takes years of practice and discipline-" 

"I know! But I don't have years! I have months!" Reaching land, Asha air bends the water out of her clothing, turning to face Katara. "Look, I appreciate everything your doing, I really do, but your too...Nice. Back at the Northern temple, training was harsh. It may just be the frustrations talking but, I may need someone else." 

She's shocked as Katara smiles, walking over to the girl. "Then we'll find you that other person." 

"Wait. What?" Asha air bends herself to her feet as Katara makes her way over to Gumi, the dragon raising his head as the water bender nears. 

"You said it yourself; your used to harder, more strict training. I'm used to training the way Aang likes- positive reinforcement. If it's not working, it's better to fix it now rather than in months, when it's too late. "  

"Okay, but what about the others? What will they say if they come back and we're not here?" Asha stumbles over her feet as she tries to catch up to Katara.  

The water bender rolls her eyes, walking over to her satchel- that laid nearly forgotten by her sleeping bag. Taking out a piece of paper and pencil, she scribbles a few things before rolling it up; tying it with a peice of red thread, then placing it on her pillow. 

"There. Now if they come back before we do, we'll be fine." Katara walks back over to Gumi, jumping up to the saddle, holding the reigns. 

Sighing, finding no more ways to stall, Asha jumps onto Gumi's saddle, pushing Katara out of the way. 

"If we're going I'm driving." 

___

"What do you think the others are doing?" Asha asks, leaning on the front of the saddle, reigns in hang. 

"Do you want my honest opinion?" 

The air bender nods, turning to Katara.

"Aang is most likely looking for you, Sokka is either making fun of him, or helping him and Toph is probably laying on Appa, mocking them."  The water bender laid on her back, facing the sky above. The sun was still up high and the clouds were no where in sight. 

"Good. Good." Asha laughed out, Katara laughing with her.

The rode Gumi with a peaceful silence, until Katara broke it.  "What's it like being the Onsra?" 

"What do you mean?"  Asha turns again, brow raised.

"Well, when Gran Gran told me stories of Onsra's passed, she said they all had a teleconnectic connection with their Avatar, yet you and Aang don't seem to have it."  Katara turns to her stomach, sitting up to face the air bender.

"There's a lot that goes into the connection. There's a whole ceremony that we'd have to go through, not to mention it's not just about communicating. That connection bonds our very souls. Once we've connected, that's it. From there on, everything becomes a lot more...intimate." Asha pauses, looking for her next words. "Think of it as us becoming soulmates. We would feel each others pain, hear each others thoughts, know what the other is doing 24/7." 

"Don't you want that?" Katara tilts her head.

"Absolutely. To be connected to my Avatar in that way, to know what he thinks, loves and hates, but it's a huge commitment. It's pledging your life to the other person, and I think that between the Fire lord, the elements and everything else. Maybe...Maybe Aang wouldn't want that." Asha gives a sad smile. 

"He likes you a lot, though. He would follow you to the moon and back. Trust me, when we found him in that iceberg, the first words out of his mouth were 'Where is Asha?'" Katara snickers at the memory.  Asha laughing with her. 

"Yeah, we were always really close growing up." Asha settles down, looking to Gumi's side, patting it. 

___

"I don't know, Aang. It seems awfully high."  The six year old girl quivered, looking to the rocky steep below her.  She had just recently gotten a glider and her best friend was determined on teaching her how to use it. 

"I know it seems high now, but wait until you soaring over it,"  The boy wraps an arm around her shoulder, using the other arm to gesture to the space below them. 

Frowning, the girl unfolds her glider; beautiful lavender wings sprouting from it.  The boy beside her doing the same, only his was a trillium blue.   

"If anything happens to you Asha, I'll catch you. I promise."  Aang smiles at the girl. She returns it with a shaky version of her own before taking a deep breath. 

Leaping off the cliff, the girl clutches her jaw. The wind whips at her from all sides, catching the wings of her glider before moving it in a horizontal way.  The glider flows effortlessly as Asha remains like a stick, clutching her hands around the handlebars. 

"See! I told you, you could do it!" Aang soars next to her, laughing at her stiffness.  

The two fly effortlessly, Asha eventually loosening up, laughing at the thought of Gravity.   They don't pay mind to anything around them as they glide in a dance of the nomads. They fly around each other, laughing as they do, the Monks just watching as the young children do. 

___

"Katara, look out!" Asha tackles the water bender as a flaming rock passes over them.  They had only flown for a few hours more when the attack started. A fire nation battleship had spotted them, and continued pursuing them up until now. 

"How do we lose them?!" Katara whips her head to the ship below them. It wasn't one of Zuko's ships, so it must've been directly from the fire nation.  

Gumi had been able to avoid most of the fireballs by himself, those he couldn't either Asha or Katara destroyed before they made contact. 

"A sprinkle of fairy dust?! I don't know!" Asha snaps, destroying another fireball with a wave of air. Grabbing Gumi's reigns, Asha weaves the reptile threw more projectiles, helping the reptile avoids the hit; forgetting about herself. A lucky chunk of (thankfully not lit) rock had hit the girl right in the side, throwing her off of her dragon. 

She quickly tries to grab at Gumi, who gently roars at his rider, her hands come up empty though. Katara tries to reach her but it's too late. 

___

Boulders fired at the young girl, who clung to her dragon. She wasn't sure what was happening. 

Why was the fire nation attacking? Weren't all nations supposed to live in harmony?  That's what sister Ashuna told her.  Her dragon yelped as a fiery rock flew just past his snout.  Reeling back, the dragon hadn't realized that it had thrown his rider right into the line of fire of another boulder.  

The boulder collided with the girls gut, forcing her to loose any grip she had.  

As the girl landed in the water, an overwhelming sense of power rolled over her. Pushing her hands together, her legs folding into a meditative pose, she crushed her eyes closed. Holding her breath, she snapped her eyes open, the glowing white quickly being covered by a thick casing of ice and snow. 

___

Asha's back hits the icy cold water first. She's dragged further into the water by the force of gravity. She lays in the freezing serenity for a minute, only to shoot open her eyes and kick her feet to the surface. 

"Asha!" Katara yells, looking to the soaking girl who struggles to remain afloat. 

"Go! Go get the others!" Asha looks around, quickly drawing in a deep breath and diving as a fire nation ship zooms over her. 

"I can water bend you out, just...just give me a sec-" Katara begins, readying herself as the air bender resurfaces. 

"No! No! You don't have time! I'll be fine! Go!" Said air bender spits out water, snapping on the water bender- who looks conflicted before ultimately leaving to go collect the others, Gumi reluctantly flying away. 

The same overwhelming sense, she now knew as the Avatar state, came over her, but Asha simply pushes the feeling away. She'd rather not be frozen for another hundred years. 

"There she is men! Grab her!" Whipping her head, Asha faces a giant fire nation ship, men already climbing down the side with ropes.  

The men are halted as their thrown off the battleship, which now has a large shard of ice impaling it's side.  Asha stares amazed at the sheer size of it, her amazement going from the icicle to the large tidal wave that passes over the capsizing boat. Perched at the top of the wave is blonde male, his face like stone as he brings his foot up and around, stomping it on the ice stage he's perched himself on.  As his foot makes contact with the ice, the Icicle grows in size, cutting the ship completely in half. Asha watches in adoration until she realizes a large chunk of metal comes flying toward her. Throwing her arms in front of her face, Asha lets out a yelp as the back of her shirt is grabbed, dragging her onto a sheet of ice. 

Laying on her back, she looks up and behind her at the blonde. He gives a glance to her, his green eyes piercing her own blue ones.  Looking to his outfit, Asha gasps as her eyes trace the dark blue trench coat, the same furry shoulders. 

"Your the guy!" She squeals. 

"Excuse me?" His voice is deep and reminds Asha of her fathers. 

"Your the guys I saw at the swamp!" She uses air bending to hoist herself up, stepping closer to the male who gives her a warning look. 

"I assure you I have never set foot in a filthy swamp." He looks down, almost as if he's counting. 

"No, you weren't actually there, I mea-" 

"Hold you breath." The boy grabs her arm, leaping into the water once again. This time however, a bubble is created as they fall, encasing the two in a dry solitude. Their shelter moves quickly, the boy beside Asha crouched as his arms move in an accurate way. 

Asha continues holding her breath, barely peeking open an eye as the bubble raises. She falls with a thud as the bubble pops, the boy landing on his feet. 

"I'm sorry," He doesn't sound the least bit sorry, mocking her. "What kind of drugs were you saying you were on?" 

"I'm not on any drugs, thank you. I was saying you weren't actually at the swamp, but you were in my vision." Asha sits up slowly, glaring at the boy who smirks back. 

"Right. Whatever you say princess." He walks away, facing a makeshift camp. 

"My name's not princess. Especially not to you." Asha snarks, water bending the remaining water from her outfit and hair into a small orb. Throwing her foot forward, she launches the water at the boy, whose quick to react as he deflects it into a nearby wall. The orb creating a small explosion. 

"Careful princess, you might hurt yourself." He smirks at her again, laughing as Asha stomps a foot with a yell. 

"My names not princess! It's Asha! A-S-H-A! It's not that hard!" Asha yells out. 

"It kinda is that hard when you don't tell me your name in the first place." He laughs again at Asha's beet red face. The girl reeling back at the fact. "I'm still gonna call you princess though."  

Rubbing her temples, Asha groans. "Alright, fine. What's you name then, Mr. I live in a water cave?" She snaps. 

"Raiko."  Crouching down, the blonde, Raiko,  rolls up his sleeping bag; an idea coming to his mind.  "How about we play a game? I ask a question, and for every answer you give, you get to ask a question." He doesn't look to the girl, taking her snort as an answer.

When he finally does turn, he lays back on his rolled up sleeping bag. "I'll go first. What were you doing fighting the fire nation, princess?"  He gestures for her to sit next to him, the girl begrudgingly doing so. 

"It wasn't on purpose. My friend and I were trying to find a water bending teacher."  Pausing, Asha thinks of a question. "What were you doing fighting the fire nation?" 

"I was trying to pass peacefully, but I saw you drop. Figured I'd step in before someone innocent got seriously hurt. Why were you trying to find a water bending teacher?"  He shrugs before jumping right to the next question.

"I need a master to teach me. " Asha huffs, falling to her back, only to jump right back up.

"I forgot about Aang!" 

___

"Walk us through what happened Katara." Toph held the girls hand as she faced the water bender. 

"We went off to look for a water bending teacher for Asha, cause she wasn't getting it when I was teaching her, and the fire nation attacked.  She was thrown off and she told me to find you guys...And I listened!" Katara yells, not looking in the direction of Aang. 

"Which way did you guys go?" Sokka asks next, the sun was setting and if they were going to find the fellow air bender, they had to act fast. Katara points. 

"Then we can't waste anytime. We have no idea which way the fire nation went." Aang steps up, walking to Appa. 

There was no way Asha could've fought off a whole battleship on her own, without the air advantage of Gumi. 

___

Asha sat on top of a rock, the roof of the cave that miraculously was above water.  Her head is craned toward the sky, watching for any signs of her friends. The sunset was beautiful, oranges and pinks covering the sky.

"Wait. Wait. So lemme get this straight. Your friend-" Raiko starts, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Aang." 

"Right. Anyway, so this Aang is the supposed Avatar, making you the Onsra, and you travel the world looking for master to teach you the elements? And you think I'm supposed to teach you because of some hallucinations you had in a swamp?" 

"Pretty much." 

"That sounds insane." He chuckles, laying back onto his arms. 

"That's not even the half of it. I mean, we've seen crazy fortunetellers, stopped villages from being destroyed by volcanoes, saved the North pole and the moon, and even met a blind earth bender."  Asha gives a weak smile, looking to the sky in search of any sight of Gumi or Appa. 

"Sounds like fun." 

"You can travel with us, join in on the fun." Asha turns to the boy who looks at her with a brow raised. 

"I might take you up on that offer. I mean, I got nothing here so I might as well try to do something useful."   Raiko sits up, going to collect his things. He stops in his tracks at the responding silence. 

"Aren't you gonna ask about my family or some stupid shit like that?" 

"If your comfortable with telling me you would've, but sometimes you need to get to know someone before anything." Asha leans onto her back, smiling up at Raiko. 

"Thanks."  He gives her a genuine smile, turning to gather his stuff once more. 

___ 

"Oh no." 

Aang jumps down to the ship wreck, ice and snow covering most of  the destroyed metal.  Reaching down, the air bender takes a peice of metal in his hands. Scratches litter the sides, Aang frowning at the sight. 

"Is there anyway we can find her?" Sokka asks from Appa. 

"I mean, there's one way but  it's kinda..." Aang stops, looking to the wreck around him. 

"Intimate." Katara finishes, looking over Gumi's saddle

"Yeah, how did you-"

"Asha filled me in. Earlier when we went out." Katara smiles at Aang. 

"Someone wanna fill in the rest of us?" Toph snarks, leaning on Appa's saddle.

"Well, it's kinda like...Marriage. Just more. It's a connection between an Avatar and their Onsra, one that allows us to talk through our thoughts. Feel each others emotions, feel each others pain." Aang looks up to the other three. 

"So can't you just connect with her and locate her?" Toph asks exasperated. 

"What part of like marriage? It's not that simple. There's an entire ceremony that goes with this, not to mention the fact that once we do it, there's no going back. I don't wanna force that on Asha." The air bender looks down.  "It's a lot to put on not only the Avatar, but the Onsra as well."  He continues. 

"Then, I guess... we keep looking?" Sokka asks, turning to Toph who shrugs.

___

"So, what's this whole ceremony thing like?"  Raiko asks, sliding his foot in front of him.  The two had gotten tired of waiting, so he suggested they find them themselves. Raiko leading the ice chunk on the tidal wave. 

"From what little information I was told, it's kinda like a wedding. Only, more private and...power-y I guess. I'm told that there's a certain incantation we have to recite, at the same time, and that'll put us in the Avatar state. From there, it's up to us to unlock each others Chakras.  It's different for every nation, but in the air nomads it's traditionally with few people and in a secluded area."  Asha copies the boys move as she explains. 

"So, it's relatively important then." Looking over, he rolls his eyes, fixing her form. "Your too open, close yourself off from the attacker." 

"Yeah, it's crucial for our next step in the Avatar sense." Holding her arms closer to herself, Asha looks ahead. 

"Then I say talk to him about it. Who knows, he may be down for it?" Raiko looks ahead, gesturing to the large black shape in front of him, his eyes widening as he does. "What is that!?" 

"Gumi!" Asha squeals. Raiko almost turns back then and there as the black dragon turns his head, his red eyes shining against the night.  The creature speeds towards the two, Raiko falling back as it approaches, hovering before them. 

"Asha!"  Katara cheers, peeping over Gumi's head. Grabbing Raiko's hand, Asha air bends the two onto Gumi's saddle, a raptor squeaking at their arrival. 

Picking up the raptor, Asha places Zulu onto Raiko's lap before taking the reigns from Katara, who hugs the girl as she commands Gumi into flight. 

"Where are the others?" Asha turns, still holding onto the reigns. 

"Keep heading this way, they went back to camp." Katara gestures to the blonde behind her, the boy currently rubbing Zulu's stomach. "Who's he?"

"Raiko, Katara. Katara meet Raiko, my new water bending teacher."

The boy gives a nervous smile to Katara, the girl giving him a bright smile in return. 

"Welcome to the team! I'm Katara, though you knew that. I teach Aang water bending."  She sounds cheerful, which is a good sign to Asha. 

"Pleasure."  Raiko holds a hand out, shaking Katara's hand. 

___

"I've lost my Onsra." Aang buries his head into his hands. They had been searching for hours, deeming it useless and returning to camp, hoping Katara had better luck.

"I wouldn't say that." Sokka looks up, a smile growing on his face as he watches the incoming dragon. 

"And why n-" Aang trails off after he shoots his head up, looking in the same direction as the water tribe boy. 

There he see's the familiar black dragon quickly landing, Katara and a blonde teenager jumping off. His brows furrow as he frowns, not seeing his Onsra. He's surprised as he's tackled from above however. His view is obstructed by the familiar auburn hair he's grown to love. 

Wrapping his arms around the girl, he smiles as the other two (Sokka and Toph) join in on the hug. They stay like that moments more, separating with a laugh. Aang quickly grabs Asha's face turning it in all directions before deeming she was fine. She only laughs, leaning her forehead against his.

___

"So you told them about the ceremony, huh?"  Aang sits beside the girl, her knees folded against her chest. 

"I know. I'm really sorry, just I thought they should know and-" Asha begins, a blush arising on her cheeks.

"I think we should go through with it." Aang cuts her off.  She looks at him flabbergasted.  "I mean if you think we should, it's just a thought." He tries saving it. 

She only laughs, "I was thinking the same thing, to be honest. I know we're young, but let's be honest, we're faced with one of the biggest challenges any Avatar and Onsra have had to go through." 

"Oh thank the spirits." Aang breathes out, Asha laughing even harder at him. "So, you know more then me, what do we need?" 

"Well, for starters, we need the incantation of Shougani. The legend says it can be found at Wan shi Tong's library. Then all we need is a secluded space, and a few people of our choosing. If we get the scroll, I'll explain from there." Asha sits back on her palms. 

"Sounds like a plan." Aang wraps an arm around the girl, pulling her in closer.