Sleep did not find the young Avatar as easily as it should have. After meeting Azula's "demands" last night he couldn't help but feel empty inside. She was still on his mind.

"Her." Aang thought to himself "What is her name?"

He needed to know. Not just for the sake of completing his objective from Azula, but for a more personal reason. She was so captivating and seeing her again brought about a new emotion Aang wasn't used to feeling. Another emotion she stirred that he could not properly name.

He thought back on their encounter and how mad she was for him being here in the Fire Nation. He did it for her! Didn't she remember that? When the Fire Nation came to South Pole he left with his head held high for her. She was his reason for leaving. He did this for her. He became this for her.

His thoughts turned toward her anger.

"She was out of line! No one is to address the Royal Family or Avatar is such a manner! That too is grounds for death!" Aang thought. A policy that shocked him when he first learned of it. It seemed barbaric back then, now he threatens it almost weekly, however, he's never killed another person. Not even in battle.

His thoughts drifted towards his own anger

"I really was being a dick. I should apologize to her-" Aang stopped himself. "She's a prisoner of war. No, you don't need to do anything for her." Aang paused. He couldn't believe he was battling himself in his own head over a worthless prisoner. A worthless prisoner with brilliant eyes and chocolate locks.

This was madness. He would accomplish nothing by debating this to himself. He needed someone to talk to, but who? If anyone found out about his feelings for this girl they'd surely send her to another prison to be interrogated by someone else. If Azula were to find out, the girl would be put to death. Both options led Aang into a sense of internal panic. There was only person Aang could remotely trust. Zuko.

Zuko had confided in him when his mother, Lady Ursa, went missing. From time to time that jerk could be a nice guy. Aang knew he had to be careful about how and what he used to describe this girl. Nothing too specific- obviously and nothing too vague as that would fuel Zuko's curiosity. Zuko held more power around the Fire Nation than Aang. It would be no issue for Zuko to do some digging of his own and discover the girl in question.

Was he really going to approach Zuko about the girl? Was he going to risk that? What would that get him? Zuko was a decent sounding board, but he could be rather unpredictable. Zuko was hard to explain in Aang's book. He was a mystery, but the closest thing to a compassionate human being in this palace Aang could "trust".

Before long Aang's thoughts unraveled and he fell asleep.

A loud banging sound echoed in his room making him shoot up out of bed. Aang assessed the room for a possible threat with his eyes and ears before he identified the sound as originating from the door. He groaned and let down his guard and slipped on his slippers and went to the door.

On the other side of said door was Zuko. Zuko held a smirk on his face, fully dressed for the day in his normal Fire Nation clothing.

"What Zuko?" Aang said groggily "You're not up this early often."

Zuko simply pointed behind Aang to the window where the sun was already high in the sky. Aang turned his top half to see what Zuko was alluding to with his finger to see what was so important. A nano-second later her understood. Aang had overslept and Azula, being the perfectionist, wouldn't tolerate his tardiness at the prison. Aang face-palmed and groaned yet again and turned back around to see Zuko walking off. Aang debated whether he should tell him.

"Can he really be trusted?" Aang questioned. He needed to make a judgment call and his choice was not to tell Zuko, at least not now. He needed to get to work and Zuko was usually laying about in the Palace with his buzzkill of a girlfriend Mai. He could tell him tonight. Aang turned to get ready as quickly as he could, but not without noticing Lee's absence. Aang shrugged it off and turned to get ready for the day.

After arriving 1 hour late to work, Aang greeted the main entrance guard and proceeded up the spiral staircase to see all the prisoners lined up outside of their cells.

"Oh crap! Today is Tuesday, inspection day!" Aang thought to himself. If he wasn't thinking about….other things so much he would have remembered this was going on today. He immediately sank into his work persona. He was curt and short with the prisoners burning and scolding anyone who protested. As he approached cell 116 he gasped a little. She was gone.

"Where is she?" He calmly approached her cell and looked inside to see nothing. Not a soul. No one.

How could someone move her? He was in charge of moving prisoners around. No one could overrule his authority except one person.

"She's safe." He heard a voice say sternly.

Aang whipped his head around giving up showing any bit of composure he may have had to see no one other than the blue flame princess. She was standing in the middle of the hall looking at him.

Aang allowed some silence between her statement before he started.

"Where." He began "I need her for further questioning."

"She's been moved." Azula countered. Aang knew where this was going. She was testing him to see if he developed an emotional attachment to the girl. But how did Azula select her? Why did she select her? Aang's questions were put on hold as he needed more information before he went into panic mode.

"The palace." Azula continues to be cryptic. Aang wanted to sigh for relief, but he knew it could be detrimental to her health.

"I understand," Aang said. "The incompetent guards thought she was dead yesterday and I didn't want her escaping." Part of him was being honest, he didn't want her escaping, but knowing she was safe was his primary goal in this exchange. Secondarily, he wanted- no- needed to know where in the massive palace she was being kept. Aang had to be smart about this, the last time Azula saw that Aang developing an attachment to a prisoner she snapped her neck right in front of his eyes. She a mother of four who had been rounded up with a group of Earth Kingdom rebels and sent to prison. She was innocent, but Aang was the only one who knew that. He could just tell. Call it an Avatar hunch. He took great care to protect her. Aang even went as far to give Lee orders to keep her fed and bathed as frequently as possible. Nevertheless, Azula found out and now the memory of the event serves as a reminder of Azula's power and his lack thereof.

A prisoner being held in the palace means one of two things: (A) she's a slave in whatever manner she is needed in. Even though she'd be inside the royal palace, it still wasn't a desirable job. The slave work could range from food, the cleaning, to even sex. Aang shuddered internally at the thought of her being used as the Fire Lord's sex slave. Many of which were beaten and battered after one encounter with him. The other option is that she is a high-risk prisoner. Being high-risk means they're vital as an information source, but not tend to escape. Normally they'd be killed and seen as more trouble than they're worth, but high-risk could also mean she is a high-ranking member of the resistance.

Aang's thoughts must have drifted too long because Azula spoke

"Is the information she holds vital?" She questioned, partially serious. "I can always have Zhao do it since the palace prison is his domain."

That tidbit of information served at two things for Aang she is not a slave, the good news. The other being that she was under Zhao's control, the bad news. Zhao was notorious for raping both the men and women who graced his prison cells. Aang knew he couldn't let her stay under his control.

Keeping his emotions and body language as calm as humanly possible, Aang answered the princess as flatly as possible.

"Yes. She's the daughter of Hakoda, she's bound to know more than she led on." A lie, as far as Aang knew, but he needed an excuse to get her back.

A sly smile slid across Azula's face. She was up to something.

"Good, I thought you'd grown attached to her." She mused out loud. Yeah, Aang had, but after one day of being here Azula found that out? No, not even she was that quick to see that. Something was amiss, but he didn't have the time to think about it now.

"No, she's just another number," Aang said normally as can be. He motioned toward he old cell door and used his pointer finger to highlight what he was motioning to "1-16 princess. Nothing more." Aang said hoping that would satisfy her.

It did not.

"You don't know her name yet? Tsk tsk tsk, have I taught you nothing, boy?" Azula said nearly playfully. If you didn't know any better you'd think she was joking.

"I need time with her princess. She's well on her way to cracking."

"Ok, I'll give you a week. If she doesn't give the intel we need, I'll give her to Zhao."

Aang let out a sigh of relief. Azula's eyebrow twitched to indicate that she heard that. She smirked again

"And if he cannot break her, I- no…YOU will kill her. It's about time you get your fingers in the proverbial mud."

Aang did his best to hide his mortification. Too many thoughts were roaming in his head. He needed to get out of there. If he weren't in the Fire Nation he'd grab his glider and soar, but airbending was forbidden, he couldn't; in fact, the Fire Lord himself burned his glider in his hands when he was presented with the Avatar all those years ago.

"If that is what you wish princess." He said flatly before walking past her and yelling for all the prisoner to return to their damn cells. The prisoners complied and the guards ushered them into their cells. Aang watched as the princess began to walk down the hall away from Aang toward the other exit. She stopped and slowly turned to see the Avatar facing her

"Say it Avatar, you want to know where in the palace she is," Azula said with a candy-like sweetness oozing from her voice. "It's ok, you knew you had to ask sooner or later."

Aang said nothing. Azula reiterated "Ask the question. Don't worry I won't bite."

"Where is she." It wasn't a question. Aang wanted answers. Even within their cells, the prisoners watched the exchange.

Giving her trademark smirk Azula said "Level two, room 4."

Aang didn't want to think about where exactly she was, but he stored the information for a later time.

"You can see her anytime you want, but like I said one week." Azula said turning to face the exit and left the hall. Aang seething with anger used airbending to send a strong gust of air down the halls to secure the cells shut. All the prison door secured with a loud clank and winds so strong the pushed the prisoners back against the walls of their cells. Aang was mad and now the prisoners knew it too. She was playing him, but did she know that he knew?