There was something I used to do before exams. What was it again? Oh yeah, I used to write…

So finally here. I own nothing but my ideas, my words and my mind. Among other things. But those other things are currently irrelevant. So here it is.

O~O~O

I stood in the middle of a cell. I had been moved from my other room into this one, which was about half the size and much colder. And less comfortable, if that was possible. I was standing in the middle of the room with my hands over my head in metal shackles, chained to the ceiling. There were metal shackles around my ankles, too. The chains around my hands weren't long enough for me to sit. So for the past two days, I had spent my time either standing, or hanging limply by my shackled wrists, which was quite painful. My wrists were going to scar if I didn't get them looked at. Not like there's any chance of that happening, I thought.

I saw a shiny metal helmet at the barred window in my door, and I heard someone fiddling with keys in the lock. Oh goody, the food man. I wonder if he brought me anything edible this time. Or maybe it's the bathroom man. I like those men.

But I had no such luck. Of course, it was the prince. He glared at me a moment upon entering, and slammed the door behind him. He was simmering with barely supressed anger.

"Haven't seen you in a while. Wow, must be about two days now. When was it… oh yeah, that was around the last time I actually slept…"

He slapped me.

I shut up.

There was silence as I waited for him to tell me what he wanted. Or why he was mad. I soon got my answer.

"We lost the Avatar's trail." He turned his back to me and faced the wall. "I finally had him. I could go home. My honour…" I was at a loss as to what he expected me to do about it. If it was pity he wanted, he wasn't gettin' nuttin'.

"You know what? I'd be much more sympathetic and open to listening if I was sitting down." At this point in my "exile to the cell," my legs wouldn't even hold me up properly anymore. At the best of times, I had roughly half of my weight on my arms.

He turned around with a deep glare on his face. He took two steps closer- when one would have had him quite close enough, thank you very much-and he grabbed my forearms, and put a subtle yet still noticeable downward pressure on them.

I was proud that I didn't even flinch, even though it felt like he was slowly digging a dagger into each of my wrists.

"You…" He paused for emphasis. "…will not talk back to me. You have obviously not yet realized that…" I never got to find out what I didn't realize, because Prince Zuko stopped. He had felt something wet trickle onto his hands. My blood from the manacles. He looked at me in surprise, I assumed because I had not complained, or begged for mercy, or cried out in pain, or even winced. My expression was perfectly stoic.

He stepped back so he wasn't quite so in my face and touched the shackles directly. He surprised me by pulling the manacles themselves down, somewhat alleviating the pressure on my wrists. I looked up and followed his gaze above my head to my wrists. They looked pretty bad, with angry red welts or blood where the skin wasn't torn off because of the constant chaffing. His eyes were wide with shock.

He let go of them and walked out of the room without another word. The door fell shut with a clang, and I heard him speak in quiet undertones with the two guards stationed outside of my door. I heard his footsteps retreat down the hall. The next thing I knew, I had a private session with the ship's healer.

He walked into my room with his black bag full of medical things. I had also noticed that I now, for the moment, had double the usual number of guards outside my door.

The doctor man set his bag down in the corner and moved to unlock my shackles with some keys he had procured from his sleeve. He paused, though, and said: "Please don't do anything rash or violent. I'm here to try and help." I simply blinked at him, and he evidently took that as a yes. He unlocked my cuffs, and I crumpled to the floor, no longer able to support myself after standing for so long. I sat leaning against the wall and inspected my wrists. The doctor crouched beside me.

"Yes, yes, now let me see. He gently but firmly grabbed my hands, careful to stay well away from my wrists, and held them out so he could see. "Hmm… this needs work." He moved to the door and instructed someone to bring him a water basin, some clean rags, and some other things which meant nothing to me.

A servant showed up shortly, with the doctor's requested items, and… Prince Zuko… in tow. I honestly hadn't expected him to show up.

He stood silently in the corner and watched, never moving or speaking. I co-operated with the doctor as he cleaned my wounds, put some kind of medicine or poultice on them, and wrapped them in bandages. The healer gathered his things, told me he'd be back the next day to check on my wrists, and bowed to the prince before he left. Said prince simply nodded in response, while I busily ignored him by trying to massage some feeling into my numb legs. There was an awkward silence in the room.

"I… I just… sorry. I didn't know the cuffs would be so… painful. I just wanted to be sure you wouldn't be able to escape again." Prince Zuko looked embarrassed and awkward. He was obviously not used to making apologies.

"I've been through worse." I responded shortly.

"…Oh. Well… I just wanted to say that…" He scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. " …you can move back to your old room now. With increased security. If you want."

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Great. When?"

"Um… Now? If that's ok." He still looked uncomfortable.

"Fine."

"…Ok. Since it's probably not a good idea to chain you again, just don't try anything, because we're in the middle of the ocean. Unless you're thinking of mutiny and singlehandedly captaining the ship to wherever your destination is now. Which isn't a good idea."

"Oh, no, don't mind me. I'm just going wherever the tide takes me right now." I cocked an eyebrow at my pun, since I wasn't really the smiling type. Anymore.

I stood up shakily, lost my balance, and leaned against the wall to get my balance. The prince stayed exactly where he was, thankfully. I shoved myself off the wall, and with a great amount of willpower, stayed standing tall and proud.

"Let's go, Fire Boy." He glared at the use of that name, but didn't say anything. He led me to my old room with my entourage of guards to make sure I didn't do anything stupid. We reached my room after not too long, and I collapsed onto my bed and fell asleep immediately.

And that was that.

O~O~O

I was no longer chained while I was in my room. I was re-chained every time we were anywhere near land, though (the prince was still chasing the Avatar). The door was always locked and guarded, with just one guard when we were at sea, and three when in close proximity to land. Sure, I didn't get much "alone time," but as far as prisoner life goes, it wasn't so bad.

It took a couple of weeks before I was allowed on deck again, albeit under heavy supervision. I wasn't allowed my weapons back yet, and none of my guards would spar with me, so I mostly just went through my forms, and I did my strength and flexibility exercises in my room. Until one day, the prince was training when arrived.

I stopped as soon as I saw him. He was duelling two of his crew at once, while being coached by General Iroh. Prince Zuko beat the crew fairly quickly. I went over to the railing of the ship and leaned against it, waiting for the prince to notice me. He didn't.

"Remember your basics, Prince Zuko." Iroh coached. Prince Zuko wearily got into his starting position and began the next spar with the crew members. As the prince turned to face his opponent nearest to me, I automatically took a few paces to the side so as to remain undetected. An idea occurred to me.

Making sure to stay out of his line of vision, I nonchalantly strolled up behind him, looking for all the world like I was taking a walk through the park. Pretty much everyone else noticed me, although I made sure the prince never did. Just as he stood still in his fire bending practice to catch his breath and assess the tiredness of his opponents, I took a few steps so I was close enough behind him to feel the heat radiating from him. Instead of yelling, I simply said quietly, "Boo."

He yelled, jumped a foot into the air, whirled around and sent a fire blast at me which I easily ducked. Not smiling, I raised both my eyebrows at his reaction as the rest of the men on deck burst out into laughter. The prince was fuming.

"Do not interrupt my training session."

"A true warrior should be prepared for anything," I replied quietly. He growled, and daggers of fire burst from his clenched fists.

"I'll show you a true warrior," he growled again.

"If that's alright with your uncle." I glanced at Iroh, who nodded with a highly amused expression on his face. "Well, as I fight with martial arts rather than bending, don't I get a weapon?"

Zuko took a deep breath, and his fire disappeared. Visually calming himself, he said, "What weapon do you fight with?"

I decided to put him in his place. "Tell you what. You pick my weapon, and if I win, I get my bag and stuff back."

"And if I win?" He eyed me warily.

"I'll give you any information about the avatar that you want." His eyes brightened at the prospect, and apparently an idea occurred to him, for he smirked.

"You will be fighting with only what the spirits gave you for weapons." Fancy talk for 'You get no weapon.' I shrugged, unconcerned. We got into our ready positions as everyone else backed away.

"Whenever you're ready, your highness. Can I call you Zuko? Your fancy titles just take so much time…"

Zuko yelled and charged at me with his classic fire daggers. I stood my ground for as long as I could. When he was only two steps away, I dropped to the ground and swung my leg towards Zuko. He was obviously not expecting this, and he went down easily. I was on him by the time he had realized where he was, and I had him pinned down with my knee on his stomach, my wrist pressed down on his upper arm, and my forearm putting pressure on his throat. I paused for a few seconds to let everyone see that I had clearly won, before getting up.

I cocked an eyebrow at the applause as Zuko got up, heaving for breath. As I had gotten back into my training, I didn't even break a sweat.

Iroh burst out with "That was incredible! Prince Zuko, I have never seen you fight so well, not even when you fought Zhao! And Cadence…" I cocked an eyebrow. "I have never seen anything like it!" Seeing the furious look on Zuko's face, Iroh tactfully stopped.

"Miss Cadence-" I cut him off with, "No need for the miss." He continued. "I have never seen you fight before, and that was truly something. That was the quickest fight I have ever seen! You may even be able to defeat me!" I was sure I could. "Where did you learn to fight?"

Instead of lying outright, I decided to dance around the question. "A qualified teacher. Where are we heading right now?" Last I'd heard, we were headed for the Earth Kingdom, specifically Kyoshi Island, although we'd made a few stops since then.

"We're following the Avatar on his sky bison, but we lost him in the clouds this morning. We just-"

Just then, we were interrupted by the man on lookout at that moment. "We spotted the Avatar again!" Someone ran off to inform Zuko. Iroh went over to the railing to scan the sky, and I followed. Sure enough, there he was, just a spec in the distance. Soon, Zuko came running out of the corridor leading to his quarters (among other things) and stood beside Iroh.

"Follow the Avatar! Don't lose him," he bellowed. Iroh commented that it appeared as though the Avatar was heading towards the Fire Nation. It was then that I was noticed, and carted back to my cell, with my belongings waiting for me on my cot.

Oh, the Fire Nation. It's been a while…

O~O~O

I adjusted my satchel slung over my shoulder and continued my trek around the island. I was at Crescent Island, where the Fire Temple with the Fire Sages was. In my satchel was everything I had had before I was captured by Zuko, in addition to some extra food I had filched from the kitchens. I also had three full water skins, a few bags of different currency gold, and my nearly endless arsenal of weapons both in my bag and hidden around my person. I was good to go.

I suddenly stopped walking. Isn't that the Avatar's bison? Appa, I think. Apparently, the Avatar and his friends had left the bison and their supplies here while they went to the temple. Now how can I twist this situation to my advantage?

Just then, the wind changed direction. The bison, previously lying down half asleep, stood up as he caught my scent. I approached slowly and with caution, not knowing this creature's temperament.

"Hey." I talked to "Appa" quietly, in as soothing tones as I could manage. I wasn't really the soothing type.

"Do you remember me? Maybe not, since we've never really met; we were pretty far away. I kind of rescued your buddy Aang a while back." The bison became more alert at the mention of Aang. I tried to approach a little closer, but the bison growled. Apparently he thought me untrustworthy. Smart bison.

I had been wandering around the island for a while, sorting out my escape options, and my feet were starting to ache from all the rocks on the ground. I had traversed at least half the island, always keeping the water at my left and the temple at my right. I plopped down on a nearby thigh-high rock and shrugged my satchel off my shoulder.

The bison had just gotten used to my silent presence and started to relax when a loud crack was heard from the temple, followed closely by the sounds of explosions and panic. My bag was on my shoulder in an instant, and I was standing on the rock to get a better view. The bison lifted his head and gazed toward the temple, apparently worried for his buddy. After another loud crack, the temple started to shift precariously to one side. It would topple over soon.

The bison got up with a surprising amount of speed and started to take off. I made my decision in an instant and leapt off my boulder onto his saddle. I was unprepared, however, for the jolt as the bison surged upwards. I was thrown slightly off balance, but combined with the bison's second surge forwards, I was thrown back. My luck was regrettably unfortunate, as always, and my head hit the back of the saddle.

Darkness covered my vision.

O~O~O

The three sighed with relief as Appa soared into view, saving them from a destiny as temple squish. Something seemed off, though none of them could quite put their finger on it. Was that shadow in the back of Appa's saddle supposed to be there?

Those thoughts had to be put aside as they all leapt out of the burning building into the saddle. Katara gasped mid-leap, and they all had an unusual amount of trouble finding their footing as they landed. That shadow was definitely not supposed to be there. And it wasn't just a shadow. It was a girl. Dressed in black loose-fitting leggings and long-sleeved shirt, she looked about as out of place as Fire Lord Ozai would have on Kyoshi Island.

Aang plopped down facing the girl and stared at her in mute shock. What was she doing there? This was the most unexpected of all places she could possibly have been. Katara and Sokka sat down on either side of Aang and followed his lead in staring. Sokka was the first to speak.

"Is that… blood?"

The three leaned in to inspect the upper left side of the girl's forehead to which Sokka referred. There was, in fact, a trickle of blood coming from somewhere further back on the girl's scalp.

The girl was on her side, slightly sprawled, with her hood partially covering her face. The three sat in silent astonishment as the trickle of blood inched its way closer to the floor of Appa's saddle. Again, Sokka was the first to regain his wits.

"Hey, Aang? Isn't this the girl who helped you on Zuko's ship?"

Aang nodded his head in response. "Yeah… Cadence."

"Should we… do something?"

Aang seemed to snap out of his trance as Katara spoke.

"Why don't I wash the blood off her head while Aang, you go get some rags. Sokka, you prop her up against the back of the saddle and make sure she doesn't fall over."

Aang dove into the packs strapped to the very back of the saddle while Sokka hurried to do what Katara had instructed. Katara gently slid the girl's hood back off her head and, with some difficulty, bent some of the water in the water skin she had recently taken to carrying at all times. She gracefully but uncertainly brought the water to coat her left hand, and gently began to clean off the blood, avoiding for the moment the wound itself.

Soon enough, Cadence regained consciousness. She groaned and sat up, shaking off Sokka's hand on her shoulder. Aang heard and leapt over the back of the saddle, having only just found a rag. The three simply stared at Cadence with questions buzzing around their heads, but at a loss of words, unsure of where to start. Cadence was the first to break the ice.

"So… fancy meeting you here."

Till next time!

~Alice