Walking down the streets of the lower ring of Basingsei unnoticed was easy. No one really looked at the small, hooded figure weaving it's way through the crowd. Perfect. she thought. No one would chase her. No one would catch her. She easily sent a little spark from her palm towards a cabbage cart that was stopped next to a larger vegetable stand. She watched calmly as a fire quickly spread around the cart and everyone in the area began to scatter. Suddenly, she felt a hand grab her arm and pull her along the street.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" she yelled, trying to pull her arm from the vice-like grip.
"Saving your life!" replied an angry, slightly raspy voice. As they got farther away from the fire, which was now being contained by Dai Lee agents, the hooded girl dug her heels into the ground, causing her captor to slow and eventually stop.
"Thank you, but I didn't need your help. I was perfectly in control of the situation," she said defiantly as she once again tried to free her captured arm.
"Oh yeah, you definitely weren't going to die in that inferno," said her captor, turning to look at her. Her jaw dropped as she saw the large scar on the boy's face, but she quickly recovered from her momentary stupor.
"So what if I was going to die? What if I wanted to die? What does that have to do with you, Prince Zuko?" she jeered. He dropped her arm suddenly, only to pick her up by the shoulders, carry her to the nearest alleyway, and shove her harshly against the wall of a building.
"You started that fire, didn't you?" he asked, squeezing her arms tightly enough to cause her to wince in pain. She responded with an attempted head-butt, but the boy quickly moved his head to the side, avoiding the attack.
"Yeah, so, what's it to you?" she asked, settling for playing along for the time being. The banished prince threw her to the ground before pulling back her hood and picking her up by the hair. She let out a growl of pain and anger before instinctively grabbing for his wrist and pulling herself closer to his hand to reduce the amount of pain he was causing her.
"Who the hell are you, street rat?" he spat.
A/N Well, here we meet a mysterious, hooded girl with an unexplained death wish. This is set in book two, obviously, and Iroh and Zuko have just gotten settled in to their jobs at the first tea shop. Who is this stranger and why does she seem to be pent on publicly harming herself? Find out in the next chapter!