I was in an uncomfortable position, so I shifted around. Then I realized I was in a bed. With a shock, I recalled what happened—what? yesterday? I didn't know the time or place. I opened my eyes and saw a cozy little room around me. It was very plain, only my little bed and a bedside table occupied it. There was a little window on the southern wall that was still pretty dark, so I assumed it was early morning. On the table was my bag. I quickly reached for it on my right side, only to be met with intense pain. The pain focused on my shoulder area, which was wrapped in some kind of gauze. The pain stopped, and I pulled a thin blanket off of me. There bruises covering a lot of my body, and there was a lot of gauze wrapping around my ankle and shin. But what caught my attention was the fact that I was wearing different clothes. They were an old plain faded blue shirt, and blue shorts that went to my knees. They were old, didn't smell too good and didn't fit me at all, but I was grateful to be out of my prison uniform.

The room definitely was not a cell in top security prison, but it could be a healers' area. Maybe the cruel warden put me in this comfy room just to get my hopes up that I hadn't been captured, and would come in and would crush my hopes in seconds.

I climbed out of my makeshift bed, careful of my shoulder and ankle. I grabbed my bag and crept to the door. I creaked it open to see a long hallway, and to the right it ended with an open space. I slowly walked along the hallway. I reached the opening, and to my surprise saw a ring of people sleeping around a still-smoking fire pit. I examined each of the people. There was an adult, I noted. I hoped I wouldn't wake him, because he looked experienced. There were a lot of children, and a few teenagers. There were a handful of people from the Water Tribe and the Earth Kingdom. As I reached the very last person, I jumped in fear. It was a teenage boy with an angry scar covering the left (his left) side of his face, wearing Fire Nation clothes. I wasn't exactly sure, but they reminded me of an army uniform.

As soon as that thought registered in my mind, a million possibilities shot through it also. Should I run before they wake up? Or maybe try to kill him now? They could have already alerted authorities, so it wouldn't matter if I killed him or not. But it was hard to resist taking my anger with everything he represented out on him with a quick fire blast. I sighed and quickly stepped back. I looked around. We were at a cliff-side. How would I get out? Then I spied a staircase tucked back, barely in view. I started making my way towards it.

It was still dark so I hadn't seen the branch lying in my way until I tripped over it and went sprawling to the floor. It seemed like the gods personally set that stick right in the spot I would step in, so I would wake the Fire Nation boy. I flipped onto my back in time to see him grunt and sit up. He wiped his face off, and shook his head. I held completely still, hoping he would lay back down and go back to sleep, leaving me unnoticed. But of course the gods wouldn't let me be that lucky. Of course not. So I realized right when he shook his head that my best chance of getting out of there was to screw being quiet and sneaky, and just run for it. I jumped up, intending to be graceful, quiet, and speedy, only to stumble because of my bad leg. His head whipped around and I caught a glimpse of him starting to stand before I started running at full speed for the staircase.

No longer trying to be quiet, I heard my footsteps echoing in the large area, surely waking the others. "Wait! Where are you going?!" The frightening Fire Nation boy yelled after me as I ran. It was too far to sprint, but I ran for my life. I've gotten too far; I wasn't giving up yet. Right after his outburst I heard murmurs coming from the waking figures.

"Help me catch her!" he breathlessly yelled back as he ran.

As I reached the giant staircase I heard a great whooshing sound. In shock I dropped the bag that just a moment before had been locked in a death grip. I looked back to see a young boy air bending his way to me, seeming to run faster than I thought possible. As he got closer I saw his air bending arrow and the determined, yet confused look on his face. I saw his friends all start running towards us when I realized I was running much slower. What was I thinking? I had to keep running. Faster and faster, I couldn't let them catch me.

I focused back on my running, sweating profusely. I was running as fast as I could, yet I was barely a third of the way up the staircase. I looked back again to see the Fire Nation boy just ten feet from me, the air bender not far behind him, and the others racing to the stairs. I knew the boy was getting very close, so I though it would be better to protect myself, and then keep running.

I suddenly stopped running, whipping around and startling him. I quickly unleashed a few torrents of fire. I expected him to dodge out of the way or jump back or something, but not to meet my wall of fire with one of his own. That is what made my eyes widen with fear and my skin to pale. He was a fire bender! That was terrifying. He saw my fear and stopped. The air bender arrived just in time for me to start sprinting up the stairs two at a time. That is why I missed a step, hit my bad ankle wrong and fell flat on my face. I grabbed my ankle and gasped in horrible pain. But my fear and survival instincts were stronger than my pain. I flipped over onto my back and shot some flames in the process. The boys were so close that they were barely able to jump back in time to miss my shot.

I looked down at my ankle, as blood started to seep through the bandages. I was still holding it, rubbing it. I glanced back up to see caution and pity on both of their faces. That was weird. Why did they pity me? Then I realized my situation. I was holding my bloody ankle, rocking back and forth; sweat was covering me, and terror was written across my face.

As I looked up I focused my glare to the fire bender.

"What are you running from? What's going on?" The air bender half-shouted

My eyes flickered to him as he spoke, but then quickly returned to the other boy.

"I don't know! I woke up and there she was, running away!"

They both stared at me. A few seconds after his response a teen girl arrived, dressed in Water Tribe clothes.

"Look at what you've done! Your foot is bleeding again. Here lemme help." She started to walk towards me, only to be met with a wall of fire.

"Hey hey calm down! Why are you running? We are just trying to help you." By the end she sounded indignant. They all looked genuinely confused, which confused me.

"Uhh, well, you… you captured me. And, well, I'm trying to escape, but your making it extremely difficult." I started hesitant but added on some sarcasm. I let a small laugh escape. Well, as much as I could, given the circumstances. Couldn't they see I was trying to get away? I found it funny that I had to explain it to them.

"We didn't capture you, we rescued you. . . Why would you need to escape? Who are you running from?"

The way she put it she made it obvious that she wasn't talking about her friends or herself. She was wondering who the strange girl expected to capture her.

There was silence as I kept my face a hard mask.

"Fine. Let's start at the beginning. Hi. I'm Katara. Who are you?"

I answered slowly, still not trusting them.

"Hello. I am Toeko. It is nice to meet you, Katara." As I said the last sentence my eyes flickered back to the fire bender. It was still dark, so it was hard to make any of his features out, other than his scar. I was beginning to like Katara. Her up-front attitude was something I recognized.

"And you too," she was happy she was getting some decency out of me. By now the rest of her friends arrived, all holding their sides and heaving, including a confident Water Tribe teen boy and a short Earth Kingdom girl, "This is Aang," she pointed to her left side as the air bender, Aang, waved, "and this is Zuko."

Zuko gave a little nod, probably realizing my discomfort around him and trying not to spook me. Too bad that was impossible. His very presence put me on edge. And as the sun rose higher in the sky, I could look at him more clearly. He looked very familiar, but not in a comforting remind-you-of-home kind of way. Then I remembered why he looked familiar. He was the spitting image of one of guards at the prison, Jerai. Jerai had a little shorter hair, and no scar, but the right side of his face was the same. Even their body language was the same. Jerai was one of the meanest, nastiest guards. He's known to burn the prisoners on the days when the warden wasn't around. He seemed to have taken a liking to me, but not in a good way. He liked to pick at me. Luckily he never actually burnt me, but he hit me often.

All of this became clear in seconds so no one was aware of my new discovery as Katara started naming other names.

"This is Toph and my brother Sokka," She definitely resembled Sokka, and as I looked closer at Toph I realized she was blind. "Haru, Suki, The Duke, and Pipsqueak. My Father, Hakoda is back at camp." She pointed to each of them as she called their name, each giving a little wave or smile, even Hakoda. He must have seen when Katara pointed to him and realized that she was introducing him. He gave a big wave.

"We saved you from that bear-boar and took you back here to heal you. You can leave any time you want, but I think it would be better if you stayed." She said it more like a command.

"Oh. Thank you. Um yeah I think I will stay. Thanks." I said that uncomfortably, not liking being put on the spot. I looked down at my bleeding ankle as I spoke.

"Okay cool. Aang, Zuko, why don't you give her a lift?" They both started making their way towards me.

"No. No, I can go by myself." I spat that out too quickly; my heart was thumping rapidly in my chest because 'Zuko' was getting too close. I stood up gracefully. I ignored my throbbing ankle and took a step. Aang gave me a doubting look, but Zuko didn't make any eye contact at all.

"Are you serious? You're bleeding through your bandages. At least let Aang help you down the stairs."

I was OK with that. Aang looked like a nice kid, and with a welcoming smile he wrapped an arm around my torso to support me. We wobbled down the stairs at a slow but peaceful pace, with the rest of the kids in front of us. As we reached the bottom of the stairs I let go of Aang.

I am a proud kind of person, and I like to do things on my own. As I reached camp I realized that most of the group was shooting me worried glances out of the corners of their eyes. Probably because I am fire bender who they found out in the middle of no where, that is apparently running from someone or something that terrifies me. And I immediately jumped to the conclusion that they were trying to hurt me, tried to escape them, and has too much dignity to be helped when I obviously needed it.

I am pathetic.

"Why don't you sit down by the fire, and I'll start healing you again."

Without thinking I plopped down, only to realize that was a mistake. I didn't make a sound, but the pain was clear on my face. Everyone sat down in what looked like their own area. I didn't miss the fact that Zuko was just one spot away from me. Katara walked to her sleeping area and grabbed a pouch, then started making her way to me. She bended the water out of the pouch and it surrounded her hands. She started touching my ankle and I looked away. I was in between two spots. Working on my right was Katara, beside her Hakoda and Aang. To my left was a young girl, who I thought was named Toph, then Zuko. The others were rolling up sleeping bags and were doing other morning activities.

"So Toeko, how old are you?" Aang tried to make conversation.

Again, I replied with reluctance. "Seventeen. Next month eighteen." Everyone looked up to here me speak.

"Well I'm twelve, and so is Toph. Katara is fourteen, Sokka is fifteen and Zuko is…" He left the question open, looking at Zuko and waiting for him to answer.

"Sixteen." He answered.

"And well I have no idea how old Hakoda is, and I don't think I'll ever find out."

The small group laughed and Hakoda mock-punched Aang in the arm.

"So where did you come from, Toeko?" He questioned after dodging Hakoda's punch.

I looked around at the group nervously, wondering how trustworthy they all were. Most had begun other conversations but were probably still eavesdropping. I sighed. I might as well get it out.

"I've just escaped Holde Sted, the great prison not far from here. I had left a day before the bear-boar attack." I said calmly, playing cool.

Almost every pair of eyes shot up to meet mine. The only ones who could resist were Aang, Katara, and Toph; Nothing would happen even if she did. Most did not hear our conversation, but saw everyone else glance up, so they mimicked them.

"Whoa there. Why where you in prison?" Toph asked, when it seemed like no one else had the guts to.

"I lived in a small Earth Kingdom village with my family. No one there had a problem with us, and we were welcomed into the community. But when the Fire Nation-"–I said the name in disgust, probably just like anyone here would.—"-invaded, they worried that we might join the rebellion. So they took us away…" I was wistful by the end of my speech.

"That horrible. And unfair. Anyone could join the rebellion, but they targeted you because you were a fire bender!" Katara's comment burst out but most were looking at Toph. She gave a little nod, so small I thought I had imagined it. Then everyone's eyes returned to me, saw that I had seen their little exchange, and looked in a different direction. I continued to look at Toph curiously and a bit suspiciously.

"I can tell when someone's lying," She shrugged it off like it was no big deal. "And I was just assuring them that you were telling the truth."

I looked down at what Katara was doing, trying to hide my face. I tried to keep the annoyed look away; it was natural that they didn't trust me. I shouldn't be mad at that. I wouldn't trust myself either.

"Wait. We found you alone. Is your family still back at the prison?" Aang questioned innocently.

I paused, trying to decide what to say, or to say anything at all. I didn't have to answer their questions. It was my business. But if I wanted to stay here and for them to trust me, I better tell them.

I sighed, giving in. "Technically my mom and dad are. They are buried in the courtyard. My brothers are off at some distant prison. They took them there because they were young and fit." I didn't pause as I spoke of my parents, just continued on about my older brothers; I didn't want their questions or pity.

"I'm sorry." Aang half-whispered, embarrassed for asking such tender questions, which is ridiculous. I haven't seen my parents in a long time, and I wasn't going to go walking around, weeping and mourning them. I had accepted my loneliness in the prison. After a few beats of silence, Katara spoke up.

"Most of our stories are the same. We lost our mother," she looked at Sokka and her Father as she spoke, "Zuko's mom might or might not be dead, Haru's Dad was in prison for five years and well, Aang's one hundred and twelve years old, so his are dead too."

A few craked smiles at the last comment, but other than that no one kept the conversation going. After minutes of comfortable silence, Katara announced that she was finished.

"It's not all the way healed, but that's all I'm going to do for now. I would advise that you just keep off it for a few days while I continue healing you."

A sudden yawn attacked me, and I realized I was extremely tired.

"Well I think I would like to go back and sleep some more." I announced.

"Why? We all just woke up." Sokka quickly questioned, but looked half-embarrassed by the end; he realized he had no idea how long I had been up.

"I know, I know. I slept for a long time, but I'm still really tired." I yawned again, for effect.

"Let her go Sokka. She needs to heal. Why don't you help her to her room?"

With that we both stood up, and he started dragging me to my room.