Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters. I only own Arra. Any of the story line that doesn't seem familiar, I most likely do not own.

Arra POV

I had been with the Avatar and his friends for a week now. When I lived there, I was ready to leave. Ready for adventure. But now that I was with the Avatar, I kind of missed Omashu. Don't get me wrong, I was amazed by the sights I had seen. I had never seen so much, not since before I had taken refuge in Omashu.

"So, Arra. I was thinking. We don't really know much about one another." the water tribe girl, who's name I learned was Katara, announced.

"No. I guess not." I replied quietly.

"Where did you come from before Omashu? Just, how did you find King Bumi?"

"Yeah. And how did you stay hidden from all of the Firebenders?" Sokka, the water tribe boy, narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Not all of the Airbenders were completely wiped out after the Fire Nation's attack. There were three who survived. My grandma and her two friends. They travelled in secret, although very difficult since they were master Airbenders. My grandma eventually met my grandfather. A non bender who just wanted to help. He didn't believe in what the Fire Nation had done. So he helped hide both my grandmother and her friends. A few years later, my father was born. Once they found out that he was an Airbender as well, they decided to train him. It would do no good to travel with an Airbender that couldn't control their powers. My father met my mother, a young girl in the village they had resided in. Once they grew older, they had me. But I wasn't supposed to happen. I was an accident. So my parents fled from the village. My grandparents had died of disease by that time, along with my grandmothers friends. I grew up learning from my father. Then, when I was eleven, someone tipped off the Fire Nation. My parents were killed. And they left me with this."

I pulled up my shirt to show them my torso, covered in old, ugly white and red burn scars. Sokka, Katara, and Aang gasped.

"I was severely injured, not knowing what to do, I continued on. I found Omashu one day. The guards caught me thieving from a stand and took me to King Bumi. He knew what I was, so he asked his guards to leave him be. It was then that he offered me sanctuary. As long as I had stayed as his advisor, he'd let me stay in Omashu."

"King Bumi saved your life." Katara added in awe.

"He did. For that, I can never repay him enough. He took me in even though I was a fugitive. Even though I could've brought on the destruction of Omashu. He still believed in me."

Katara, Sokka, and Aang were silent. I tried not to fidget under their intense stares. Being the center of attention wasn't something I was fond of. I was a fugitive after all.

"I mean, I figured King Bumi was a great leader, but I never expected that." Sokka awed.

Katara elbowed him in the side.

"Ow! What?" he whined.

I let a small smile of amusement slip.

"Well, I'm sorry for what happened to you, but I'm happy you're safe and that you've decided to join us on our mission." Katara composed herself after silently scolding her brother.

"Thank you Katara." I murmured.

The next part of our journey was continued in heavy silence. Aang had been silent, and from the stories I had heard, from how I had seen him act, that was unlike the airbender. But it wasn't my place to question him. Bumi would be very unhappy with me if I had ended up returning to Omashu, only a few days into my trip. So despite my growing worry, I kept silent. Aang was the Avatar after all.

"Alright. So we're stopping here." Sokka suddenly announced.

Aang steered Appa towards the ground. The giant flying bison let out a grunt of relief once he hit the ground. After Aang had hit the ground, I got up off of Appa myself. I stroked the majestic beast lightly and absentmindedly. There was a lot on my mind, I usually don't talk much about my past. I missed my family. Quite a bit actually. It was weird that I had willingly, and so openly, talked about my family to the Avatar and his friends. I usually didn't do things like that.

"Let's set up camp." Katara announced, breaking the silence that had fallen over all of us, "Sokka, you get the firewood. Arra and I will get the things off of Appa. Aang, you help Sokka."

Once we all had our designated rolls, with a bit of protest from Sokka, we began to set up camp. I airbendered myself up to Appa's saddle to toss our things down into Katara's waiting arms. After being with the group for a week, we had developed our own little system. It was nice knowing that I finally had a purpose. I mean, being the King's "supervisor" had its perks, but for the first time in my life, I didn't have to hide from what I was. I didn't feel as if I had to act like I was a nonbender. It was a great feeling, something I had never truly felt before.

"This is the last bag Katara." I called, dropping down our last pack.

"Thanks Arra. Will you go herb and berry hunting? We're almost out of food and we won't be near another town until tomorrow." Katara answered, an easy going smile on her face.

"Yeah, of course. I'll be back."

I made sure I had my staff and a small satchel to collect my findings in. Walking into the forest, I took note of how dead and saddened everything looked.

"What happened here?" I whispered, carefully touching a blackened tree.

Pulling my hand away, I glanced at my palm, and noticed the charred skin of the tree had been transfered to my hand.

"Firebenders."