Lesson Learned

It had been years since she had seen the outside of the prison. It had a courtyard, she had seen it many times in the last few years, but it was not outside. It had bar wire and high walls with guards. That was not outside.

She had been here for seven years. Seven very long years and had no real outside contact. Three years before that she had been in metal institution. Those had been the worse considering she was in prison now.

Over those ten years she had not seen one visitor. No one stopped by to see her or even sent her letters. They left her in their pasts to rot and be forgotten. A dirty mark on the history of the fire nation, that was to be washed out and pressed to be no more. She couldn't even be mad at them.

"Mother was wrong no one loved me."

The thought made her smile, her mother was dead and that was no smiling matter, but she talked to her and no one thought it was true. Prison and a mental breakdown had taught her a lot about the spirit world and what it was capable of. Zuko was spending tons of money, trying finding out if her mother was dead or not. He was searching every corner of the world for her and had no leads. No one knew what happened to her mother when she left. She never sent letters and never told anyone her true identity. She would never see him again and so she could never tell him about their mother.

"He left you to rot and never looked back.

She let her thoughts roam, knowing it always made her feel better to listen to her own thoughts and not others. She had been doing it now for years now and it seemed to work better then any pill or shot ever could and Agni knows their were many shots and pills. The hospital had felt the need to keep her drugged and unable to bend. It had gotten so bad so couldn't sleep without being drugged, but now she clean. She couldn't bear to take any more drugs and she never again take them.

"It's all right."

She was sentenced to seven years in prison and was now getting out. She had no where to go because she had no one. But it seemed no one was better then someone who wanted to use her. She had no home and no one knew she was getting out. Her trial was a short one, they didn't even tell her the crimes she had committed. She knew their were many and that seven years was only a little bit of time, but Agni it felt like forever.

"I wish they could see me now."

But if she learned one thing in here, is was that growth was necessary to be alive. You had to grow to be a better person and she had missed many years of growing while with her father. She had found out that strength was not a hard blow to the head, but a way to adapt and move inside yourself. Strength she didn't really think she had, but she knew others who had it. Her mother had it because she give up everything to save Zuko. Her uncle had it because he had enough sense to see the war was point after losing his wife and child.

"You have strength. Your still here aren't you."

She was still alive and that was enough for her. She had been threw hell. No matter what anyone told her, life before this was worse. It was a weight off her shoulders to know she had no where to go. Most people would be terror-struck knowing they had no home and no one wanted them, but she knew she was better off with a fresh start. It meant she was out of her box, no longer thought if as a weapon waiting to be used or rabbit were-hound that needed to be caged.

"Lesson learned."

She had no money or family, never had any friends. No one cared, but she knew where she was going to go. Her mother had told her where her body was buried and where she had lived before she died. She decided to go there and take care of the place she had left behind to her. Ursa told her go out deep into the Fire nation's far away islands and she would find her old house. At least she had some where to go.

"I'm back on solid ground."

She could hear the guards talking outside her cell. It had to be around six in the morning because the sun was now rising in the sky. She had a few more minutes and she would be free. She would be let out in to a world that hated her because of who she was and what she done. She would be fine if she stayed clear of them. That meant staying away from most of the world's population. A plan she was going to follow, she was done with people. She couldn't trust them and when you do they turn on you.

"I'll get over it."

Her cell door was opened and two guards rushed inside pulling her off the floor and dragging her out the cell. She was pulled past cell doors and other guards. Howls and yells were thrown her way, talk of her release had been heard for the last three weeks and some were happy to see her go, others she made friends with weren't. The guards were a little upset, because they could no longer say they had the world's most dangerous fire bender. She was pulled into a small area and sit down in front of the same clothing she had on before she got put in the mental institution, her armor,a silk shirt and pants and shoes. She put the pants and shirt on and held the armor. Their was also ten gold coins. Hey, it was better then nothing and the coins would be useful.

"Can't let it get me down."

She got up and walked out the room, where two guards walked her to the exit doors. The doors opened and she was lead out to the outer wall of the jail. When they reached the end the gate was opened and she walked out. She looked back to see the gates close and the guards walking back to the jail. Her eyes burned from fresh sunlight. She looked around trying to pen point where she was, she had to be somewhere in between the Fire nation and the Earth kingdom, but she knew it was near the ocean.

"Life was never perfect."

She could see miles of walking ahead of her. The ocean as far as she knew was maybe seventy or sixty miles from where she was standing and the islands were twenty miles out to sea. The walk would take up most the her days and there was not a town for the next twenty miles. Sleeping under the stars was better then sleeping behind bars. She put the gold in her pocket and started to walk. She had a long day ahead of her.

"Lesson Learned."