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A Kindred Spirit	By : Demonic_Host Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > General Views: 6129 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Blanket disclaimer - I do not own any intellectual properties of the Avatar series or its sequel nor do I make any money from this work.

Chapter List
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A Kindred Spirit
Chapter Three

You lingered in the throne room as Azula got up to leave. By the way that her two companions followed behind her you got the distinct impression that it was for something important. However, you weren't sure that you'd be welcome with that group. It was surprising how warm you felt upon hearing Azula say that you were welcome back into anything much less into a whole nation. Sure you knew that the fire nation was at war with everyone else but they hadn't been the ones that locked you up. They might be trying to conquer the world but who said that was a bad thing?

Your hesitation meant that another one of the servants got your attention. She had blood on a very wet apron and she kept looking around nervously. You looked around as well to see if there was any sort of dangerous looking man or threat going on. There was nothing that you could see, by now all the Dai Li agents had cleared out along with the fact that Azula and her posse were gone. The only one in the room was you but that barely made any sense. It wasn't just fear she was portraying; it was almost a sense of reverence. Like you were someone who should be respected and feared all at the same time. That was not a sensation you were used to. And for that switch to have happened so fast? Your mind couldn't keep up.

"Your mother is having troubles delivering her child," the lady dressed in faded green robes said.

The blood and water all over her clothes made sense now. Your breath caught in your throat; you hadn't even known she'd gone into labor. Without another word you followed behind what you presumed was a midwife. She led you to a small wing of the palace that didn't seem as ornate as the main part, however it also looked like it would have been comfortable enough. Inside your mother lay weakly on the bed with blood and sweat practically everywhere. You moved to her side without hesitation to try and get a feel for what was happening. Even in her weakened state she turned over to look at you and that recognition made you choke on a sob despite the smile.

"Water," you called out softly before realizing that no one understood what you were talking about. "I need lots and lots of water. Please. And get Long Feng."

The midwife hurried out of the room which left you along with your mom. You grabbed the closest rag that you could and started wiping at the brow, pushing her hair away from her face. She grasped your hand, the appendage slippery from all of the exertion that had gone on before you got there.

"You look so beautiful," your mother says in a weak, pained voice.

You smiled at her, moving the rag aside and helped her sit up. The only thing laying down was good for while giving birth was resting between the contractions. You might not have helped too many times but you knew enough about the human body from all your mother's teaching to realize that lying down was the worst possible position to give birth from. The human hips and muscular structure weren't formed to give birth that way naturally. It would be better if she stood up. It would be even better if the midwife and Long Feng returned.

She nearly broke your hand when the next contraction hit. You tried not to let the pain show as your mother weakly fell back into the bled with blood leaking out of her body.

Nothing about this situation was good. You did what little you could to try and help her but you felt like a small child at that moment. Without access to more water you couldn't do very much. You were using what little you could find to try and make sure she wasn't tearing too much down below. It didn't feel like enough and your mother was only getting weaker.

Contraction after contraction passed in a relatively short time. You felt like crying and screaming but you knew that there was no time for that. Your mother needed you focused and on task. That didn't stop you from breathing in a nearly panicked way, nor did it stop from your breath intakes to sound a little like sobs. You helped your mom sit up and stand up to move around as often as you dared but nothing seemed to help. The child, your half sibling, seemed to refuse to want to come out.

Where was the midwife? Where was Long Feng?

You hated the man and everything he stood for but at the very least he should be there and be helpful. Your mother was laboring with his bastard child after all. Yet there wasn't a sign of him. You didn't care if Azula had overthrown him and hurt his pride. Your mother was more important.

"They'll be here soon," you tried to say in a stronger voice than you felt.

You doubted that anyone was coming. It was already getting dark outside. When you'd first gotten into this room it had been four hours after mid day. There had been plenty of sun left. Yet despite what you thought was some reasonable requests they were denied. If your mother died you were never going to forgive them. Any of them.

"Just a little longer," you encouraged.

She looked white as a ghost. Then suddenly your entire body shuddered as she gave one powerful push as she stayed in a squat. You remained immobilized as you felt like the world had a white, almost smoke like film over it. That sensation passed as you helped to cushion the head of the child your mother was delivering into this world. You were careful to avoid the soft spot on the head as with one last push they shoulders finally made it through. Your mother fell back onto the bed, too tired to do anything else.

You slowly and carefully pulled the child out, moving as slow as you could as you tried to work with the natural rhythm of the body. You knew that it was hurting her beyond belief, that what you were doing was potentially damaging her. But you also knew that as soon as you got some water you could help fix that. What you wouldn't be able to fix was if the child and she died in delivery because she'd gotten too weak to successfully push them out.

"It's a girl," you said as you went to tie off part of the umbilical cord with some torn fabric. "Mom, it's a girl."

Even as you were trying to get the child to give its first cry to kickstart the lungs into working, you were moving back up to her. She looked so pale and her eyes were closed. Your breath caught in your chest as you saw her face. There was a sort of peace mixed with pain on there that was haunting. What was worse was the moment the child opened their eyes they were glowing.

Like, white light. Spiritual. You swallowed thickly as you looked at the child in your arms. You looked back to your mom as fear started to rise up.

"Mom? Mom?" you called out, trying to nudge her.

You held the child tighter.

She wasn't breathing. Your mother wasn't breathing.

Goosebumps raced up and down your arms as you finally let the tears take over. Your eyes burned as you stared down at your mother. Then you heard the baby cry softly as they finally expelled the mucus plug. Your heart dropped.

You had a sister but you'd lost your mother.

You sunk down to the floor, blood and other fluids all but forgotten as it sunk in. She'd died. She had died giving birth. You weren't aware of what was happening at that point but as you held the child in your arms, an aura started to whip about you.

They had let your mother die. They hadn't even brought you a single thing of water or the fucking bastard who had gotten her pregnant in the first place. If you had both you probably could have saved her. Giving birth while half submerged into the water would have made for the ideal environment. You could have been constantly healing her body, she could have helped to heal herself too. And how would you have gotten a tub full of water in the room? ...well, creating a stone tub would have been no problem for an Earth bender. Which Long Feng was. It was his fault.

It was all his fault.

Tears streamed down your face as you let out a scream. Your mother was dead. Dead.

Even though you couldn't see it or feel it, all the water around you froze. It burst through the pipes, stabbing into the air in a frozen state. People all around the castle had to stop what they were doing in horror as the palace practically froze over all at once.

Yet the only thing you noticed was the child in your arms, your little sister, got weaker and weaker. You watched as the glow faded from her eyes bit by bit as her breathing slowed. Whatever had been inside of her was leaving, taking her life force with it.

You didn't even realize what you were doing as you latched on to her, your soul clinging to her. All the liquid in the room swirled around you and the baby. It glowed and formed a sort of spiritual barrier as you fought to keep the child alive.

You weren't strong enough to stop the spiritual pull, not in time. The weakened spirit left your sister. As it did she died in your arms.

The sphere of liquid around you glowed brighter as your emotions got the best of you. You didn't know it (how could you?) but you'd managed to trap a small portion of the spirit within the orb with you. Without the ability to return to the original host nor the intended secondary one it settled on you - not that it had that much sentience.

You lit up with a silver flame for the briefest of seconds. And when it faded you fell to your knees, the liquid bubble that you'd created fell down with you.

Your mother was dead. Your sister was dead. Your father had been dead for years.

You were alone.

And it was all his fault.
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A Kindred Spirit