It was a ridiculously hot day, scorching heat that blazed through the atmosphere, forcing even the residents of the fire nation to admit this fact.
Of course scorching heat wasn't uncommon in the many regions of the fire nation and many of its residents saw heat as a good sign from the fire God himself, that prosperity was coming or at least that's what the citizens believed.
On Crescent Island, an island where the temple dedicated to Avatar Roku was located, just a little below the sanctuary to Avatar Roku, there was a small commotion and a little unrest a group of people gathered outside a small house, five men, dressed in red and black robes with tall pointed hats, were inside assisting with perhaps one of the most painful births a woman has ever gone through.
Her screams of agony resounded throughout the room as the baby she's giving birth to scorched her insides.
They pierced the ears and made those who heard wince in pain, they could only imagine what she was going through. Luckily for the woman, the sages were present, doing their best with fire bending techniques to reduce the temperature of the baby.
"Push my lady, push!"
Fire sage Ryujin commanded the black haired woman as he saw the baby's head peek through her opening.
There were small wisps of fire on its head that swayed side to side as it slowly and painfully exited the opening. One of the helpers, a midwife, quickly came with a bucket of cold water and started pouring over the mother's stomach. It sizzled as it made contact with her skin.
Under normal circumstances this was something done by women, however Ranka had sought the help of the fire sages because during her pregnancy she had felt a painful burst of searing pain, she described it as feeling like she was being burned on the inside.
At first the sages were dismissive but she was persistent and eventually got the attention of Fire sage Shyu who examined her and confirmed her words to be true, in his words he described as
"It's like there is a fire in her belly".
With his urging, the rest of the sages took the matter seriously, and as the pregnancy progressed, Ranka felt longer bursts of hot pain.The sages came up with the genius idea of pouring water on her stomach to help ease the pain, and it worked and still continued to work.
"We're almost done, Miss Ranka, endure"
Ryujin told the woman who was definitely not listening to him because her insides were quite literally on fire, but she continued to push anyway.
Despite the rest of the sages doing their best to contain and reduce the temperature, it still burned her greatly, which only proved that if they were not here, the mother would have died long ago.
After a few long and grueling hours that drained all the energy out of the mother, the baby's cries echoed in the room as fire sage Ryujin held it in his arms, he could feel the heat the baby was radiating, had he not been a master fire bender, his arms and chest would have been burned.
"Quickly bring in the healers and doctors, treat Lady Ranka's injuries"
Fire sage Shyu commanded and the room flooded with the necessary people to help the mother survive this ordeal, Ranka was of common birth however Fire sage Shayu felt her giving birth to a baby already capable of bending was an achievement worthy of reward.
It was unfortunate that Ranka could not hold her own child, she passed out as soon as her job was done, her birth canal was practically fried and it would not be surprising if her womb and stomach suffered a similar fate, if she doesn't die it will be a miracle.
"It's a shame there's isn't a father to name him"
Shyu stated as he looked at the child, wisps of flame dancing on his head, there was no doubt the fire God Agni had blessed this child, the fact he came out on fire made that abundantly clear.
"Honourless fool who ran from responsibility, the fact he is a member of our nation is shameful"
Fire sage Arka stated in displeasure and disappointment. The man was elderly with wrinkles on his face and a greying beard. A stark contrast to his colleagues, although they were not much younger themselves, the one who looked the youngest was Shyu.
"Send word to the fire lord, a child born of fire and blessed by Agni has been born, this marks a prosperous day for the fire nation!"
Fire sage Arka ordered, The fire nation had been blessed on this day whether that was a good thing was only known to fate and Agni himself, this new born child would be a great asset to the fire nation or became something else entirely
....
[10 years later]
Kaen was at the age of 10 and was aware of who he was, or rather he was aware of information about himself that did not belong to this world, information about a world before he was born, it was incomplete information, and it only made him slightly smarter than most children his age but aside from that he had nothing else, just the awareness of another world and other weird concepts, like the television etc.
He didn't really think it was something that would ultimately matter to him, he was in this world now, information about another world was not going to help him much but at the same time, this world felt familiar and strange at the same time.
The words Fire nation and Fire lord were terms he felt he had heard before not from this world but from another world, he couldn't really put it into words, but instead it's just this vague feeling he can't describe properly.
"Now ancient philosophy is quite deep and profound. It's the ancients that give us our earliest understanding of fire and its ties to life. However, our understanding of fire Philosophically doesn't end there. It goes deeper"
Fire sage Shyu explained to the young man seated before him. However, he could tell the lad's head was somewhere else and was not exactly focused on the lesson.
"Kaen, are you listening?"
Fire sage Shyu asked, his voice gentle and soft, amongst his teachers Kaen preferred Shyu the most, he didn't seem to have a stick up his ass and talked to him without being demanding or impatient.
"No"
The child answered honestly, Kaen was appreciative that sages took time out of their days to guide him, the supposed blessed child of fire, however the young lad felt no love for the overly philosophical style of teaching and spirituality.
He wouldn't say it's bad, but it was not something that excited him. He much preferred his firebending training over everything else. Although when it came to bending, he didn't just bend but commanded the very flames themselves he wasn't limited like a normal firebender.
"Is something on your mind? Perhaps I can help"
"No it's nothing sage, Shyu. I apologize for my lack of attentiveness"
Shyu gave the boy an appraising look, at 10 years old he spoke like an adult, perhaps it's the teachings of the sages but even if that's true the boy was always above his peers, he began talking quite early and rarely cried as a baby. It was strange yet fascinating.He couldn't tell if this was part of the blessing by Agni or if Kaen was naturally talented.
"How about we pause the lesson and continue tomorrow? trying to wrestle away your attention from whatever you're thinking about will not be help, so you're free to go"
"Thank you, sage"
The boy gave him a bow of his head before standing up from the floor and left.
At present, the two had been in the backyard of the fire temple in the capital of the fire nation near the fire palace. It was the only location that was quiet and wasn't filled with visitors.After news of the boy's birth, Ranka, his mother, was made head priestess of the temple Agni and both of them moved to the temple in the capital.
The temple was renovated so that it would be suitable for people to live in I for a long period of time.Shyu was aware that this wasn't a reward but a prison.
The fire lord wanted the boy blessed by fire to stay close to him so that he could keep a keen eye on the boy to prevent anyone from attempting to use Kaen against him.
There's many families who'd love nothing more than to claim the seat of fire lord.
Kaen had stood up and walked towards the building, his step showed his eagerness at getting away from all the spiritual/ philosophical talk.
The robes he wore fluttered as he walked, and their color was primarily red, with different shades of red layered over them along with golden and yellow accents on their edges and sleeves.
They were heavy and stuffy in Kaen's opinion however they were made in a special silk of a scorpion-spider, that had some resistance to heat, and thus the young lad could wear them without worry of burning them should he lose control.Even now, his temperature was incredibly high. The average person would be surprised when touching his skin. it's not scalding hot–thanks to the teachings of the sage–but it is advised not to touch the young boy carelessly.
"Fire is life, fire is warmth, fire is yada yada yada"
He mocked as he walked, Kaen was grateful to the sages, truly however nothing was as boring as hearing them drone on about the significance of fire and its spiritual meaning, it wasn't just boring, they tried way too hard to be deep and philosophical to the point he felt they were phoning it in just for the sake of it.He didn't know what was out there, but he felt the need to go.
His body was fire in a literal sense and that excited him. He wanted to do something with that, anything that wasn't spending all his days surrounded by religious people, starry eyes amazed at his existence
"Kaen!"
Just as he was about to round a corner, he found himself assaulted by a woman wearing similar and heavy robes as him. She pulled him into a tight hug and squeezed
"Kaen! Your mother missed you"
...