Mercedes Jones strode down the hallways of the Fire Nation palace with a purpose. She was tired of all the dancing around this matter that the soldiers and even the Fire Lord had been doing since that morning. She rounded a corner and whizzed past a frightened guard. That in itself spoke volumes of her determination. The Fire Nation soldiers were scared of few things.

She knew the palace like the back of her hand so it took no big amount of time to reach her destination. The door that hastily came into view was one of the more grandiose and decorated doors with two golden dragons lining the frame on either side. The guard that stood watch could not have moved faster away if a live dragon was chasing him. The royal advisor stopped now and took a deep breath, preparing herself for the battle that was about to commence. She then knocked firmly on the door.

It was about to go down.

"Go away!" A female voice yelled from inside the room, choking on tears from the sound of it. Mercedes' expression immidiately changed from fierce to sympathetic. It was like seeing a fire suddenly just stop and die down to a few sadly glowing embers.

"Babydoll? It's me. Can I come in?" She asked gently. There was some sniffling from inside the room and the sound of fabrics rubbing against eachother. A few moments of silence followed and she waited patiently.

"Don't bring anyone else." The voice said weakly. Mercedes allowed herself a sad little smile and opened the door slowly. She stepped in and closed it behind her, locking it just for good measure. She then turned and looked at the sorroundings.

Nothing was out of the ordinary. Everything was in its place, as it had always been in this immaculate room. The only thing that indicated something was wrong was the person on the bed. The Fire Princess sat on the edge of her king size bed, tears having left long trails down her cheeks since long before now. Neither said anything as the advisor went over and sat down next to the princess. For a few moments, the only sound in the room was that of the princess' sniffling. Then the girl spoke up.

"I don't want this, you know." She punctuated this by wiping at her cheek with the back of her hand. The effort was lost as more tears just continued to run down her face. Mercedes looked at her, saying nothing.

"I mean it. I didn't want any of this and to have it forced on me is certinly not on my priority list." A broken sob escaped her lips and she ducked her head. Mercedes sighed, the sympathetic look never leaving her face.

"Well you wouldn't be the first to have this kind of thing forced on you." She said sadly. This caused the princess to release another sob and she put her face in her hands for a moment. She willed herself to calm down and looked at her inofficial caretaker of six years. Another long moment of silence followed. Then Mercedes reached over and put her hand on the princess'.

"I didn't want this for you either." She said quietly. The next part was spoken more loudly. "And may the Sun scorch my ass if I let you go through this alone." This earned a weak chuckle from the girl and she smiled, happy to have broken through that crushed state her princess was in. It wasn't much but it was a start. It was short lived though.

"But that's just the thing." The girl said, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. "The point of being... what I am, is being alone." Both their hearts sunk as she said this but Mercedes shook her head.

"Dragoncrap. If I have stayed with you this long then I will follow you through this. Ain't no cosmic mumbo jumbo going to stop me from that." She took both the princess' hands in hers and looked into tearful eyes.

"Quinn," the princess almost flinched, no one ever used her real name. It was always 'your highness' or 'princess'. "You listen to me right now. I. Will. Not. Go. Anywhere. You inderstand me? I'll stay with you." She chuckled a little. "If nothing else then just to keep an eye on you." Another smile from Quinn and Mercedes smiled back despite her firm speech. "You understand?"

"I don't-"

"Do. You. Understand?" Quinn almost grinned. Mercedes was the only one in the whole palace besides her parents that spoke to her like she was a normal teenager sometimes. She nodded her head.

"Yes ma'am. I understand." Mercedes grinned and pulled her into a hug which she happily returned. Her nanny's smile gave way to a serious expression when they pulled away.

"Now I will go and talk to your father and tell him that I am going with you on this trip and the Sun be merciful on him if he dares object." Now she was smiling again, indicating the last part as a joke. Quinn giggled as Mercedes stood up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. Quinn waited until the sound of footsteps disappeared before sighing deeply. She stared at the ground for a few moments, contemplating whether or not to pack anything with her for her journey. She was pretty sure her mother had said she shouldn't at some point. That meant she would have to leave all her clothes behind.

Another deep sigh. It was hard to be the Avatar.

It did take some convincing but after an explanation from Mercedes, some desperate begging from Quinn and a final round of argumenting from the queen, the Fire Lord finally agreed to let Quinn bring the royal advisor with her on her travel. This development served to lighten both Quinn's mood and the general mood of the palace considerably for the next three days spent preparing for her journey. Plans were laid out, people convinced the princess that she couldn't bring all her jewelry with her on their trip and when everything was set up and ready, Fire Lord Fabray and his wife pulled Mercedes aside as Quinn said goodbye to everyone.

"I want you to take good care of her." The Fire Lady said. Her husband nodded in agreement with her words. Mercedes smiled.

"It is an honour that I will not take lightly my lord." She looked them both in the eye as she said this. Sufficiently reassured, the pair nodded and said their heartfelt thanks. They knew they could trust her and she knew she couldn't abandon Quinn if she wanted to. She smiled at that thought. After six years of taking care of her young master they were practically joined at the hip and Mercedes loved the girl as her own daughter. She snorted - now that love had sent her packing out of the Fire Nation. She bowed to the royal couple and turned around to look at the girl. Quinn was gently patting her dragon familiar's head and whispering something to it. She looked so at ease like that. She stood up and turned around at Mercedes' approach, a wistful look on her face.

"You ready?" Mercedes grinned at her. She looked depressed now but smiled back anyway.

"Ready as I'll ever be. You could literally say that I was born ready." She chuckled dryly at her own joke. mercedes wasn't fazed.

"Well then hop up." She gestured to the dragon and Quinn chuckled. She hooked one leg in the crook of the dragon's neck and hoisted the other one over the expanse, grabbing onto the horns to keep steady. Mercedes grabbed one horn and copied the movement, settling behind Quinn and hooking both arms around her waist. Quinn slumped slightly in her seat, the sadness of leaving home seeming to catch up with her. Mercedes nudged her and waved to her parents, prompting her to do the same. Quinn smiled again, though this time it was to keep up appearance, and waved. A nudge of the foot to the dragon's neck and they rose up into the sky, still waving at the disappearing crowd. Mercedes sighed as the mainland grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared through the clouds. Quinn sat stiffly, eyes set firmly forward until the sight of the ground was completely gone. The second it did, she spoke.

"Mercedes. Do you think you could take the reins for a bit?" Mercedes nodded and they switched places easily at the same time. Mercedes grabbed the dragon's horns and kept them steady. She didn't flinch when she felt the pressure of Quinn leaning her head into her shoulder and kept her eyes set on the clouds as the first couple of the princess' tears soaked through her robe.

The only sound uttered for a long while was that of the wind and the princess' quiet sobbing.