I still wore the remnants of my smile when Prince Zuko got off of me and pulled me roughly to my feet. Then it disappeared. I took one look at his face and debated jumping off the side of the ship and risking freezing to death in the icy waters rather than face his wrath.

"You…YOU JUST COST ME THE AVATAR!" I was afraid of him now, but I wasn't going to back down.

"It doesn't matter if you hurt me. I'm not going to give up my morals. There's nothing you can do to change that…I believe that the Avatar w-"

"SHUT UP! Take her away…before I do something I'll regret…" He pinched the bridge of his nose and the guards took me back to my lonely cell and locked me inside. Then they left me all alone to go back to their jobs. I wished there was a window for me to look out of, but I wasn't in luck, so I just sat there and did nothing for what seemed like a very long time. I never even noticed when I drifted off to sleep. I was having a very good dream about my mother and I playing together as a child. I was just about to tell her that I loved her when I was woken up. I wiped some stray tears away and looked at who had woken me up. It was Zuko's uncle.

"I am sorry for waking you up. I just thought that I should make sure you were okay."

"There's no need for that…I'm fine. Thank you…" The man sat next to me on the floor, ignoring the odd looks I was giving him.

"You were crying in your sleep, Tomi. Would you care to talk about it?"

"Why would you care? I'm just a prisoner." He smiled a sincere smile.

"You don't have to be a sad prisoner." Somehow, I felt that I could trust this man. Somehow, he reminded me a bit of my father.

"I was…having a dream about my mother. She was taken away by the Fire Nation when I was little."

"Oh? Was she a prisoner of war?" I shook my head.

"No, she was from the Fire Nation, herself, and they took her away so she could fight as a Fire Nation soldier. I…haven't seen her since then. I've been living with my father, who was hurt because he tried to stop them from taking my mother. I just want the war to end so she can come home!"

"I see. You are very brave to come out here by yourself. You had a good plan. You just did not expect to be revealed so quickly." I nodded.

"I…I never wanted to make Prince Zuko mad. But I just can't let my morals go down the drain, can I? A-And if I didn't try to help the Avatar, the spirits would take my gift away."

"What kind of gift do you have besides your connection with the Avatar?" I hesitated.

"Promise not to tell Prince Zuko? I…don't want him to know. I don't want him to use me against the Avatar…" He gave me his word that he wouldn't tell the prince and I relented my information.

"I'm a double bender," I whispered. His eyes widened.

"Really, now…that's…incredible. I don't know if I can believe that…which two elements can you bend? Surely not air."

"Earth and fire, sir. But usually I can't do firebending too well unless I'm mad. And I don't know too much of it anyway, since my mother was taken before she could she teach me much." He stroked his beard.

"Hmm…yes, that seems right. I would have been worried for you if you had been able to bend water and fire or air and earth." I gave him an inquisitive look.

"And why's that?" I asked him tentatively.

"Being able to bend to opposite elements would put a strain on your chi. Even bending two elements instead of one like most benders will have put a strain on your chi because you have to divide your chi evenly between the two elements. If it would have been two opposite elements, the strain would have been even greater. But you are still going to tire out more quickly in a fight unless you start training yourself to get used to the strain." I stared at the man for a few seconds.

"Thank you for telling me this. I…think you should go soon, sir. Zuko will get mad and yell at you if he knew you were down here talking to me." He smiled at me a final time before he climbed to his feet.

"Please, call me Iroh. Remember what I told you about your chi, Tomi."

"Uncle, why are you talking to the prisoner?" I jumped. I had been so absorbed in talking to Iroh, that neither he nor I had seen or heard Zuko come up behind us.

"I heard you talking…she's a double bender? What does that mean?" I was silent, since I didn't know whether he was talking to me or his uncle.

"ANSWER ME!" I jumped again.

"Th-That means that I can bend two different elements!" He glared at me, apparently still mad that I had "cost him the Avatar".

"Which two?"

"Earth and f-fire, P-Prince Zuko…" He approached me and I moved back a few steps.

"You are a firebender? Show me." I looked toward Iroh, and then back at the prince.

"I-I can't. There's not enough r-room down here." He gave me an annoyed look.

"Fine. But if you try anything…" he trailed off. He grabbed me by the shoulder and marched me up to the deck, where he promptly turned and shot a fireball at me. I squeaked and ducked.

"If you're a firebender like you say you are, then fight back!" I moved out of the way as he threw another fireball at me.

"Fight back, damn it!" I kept dodging as long as I could, but it was tiring, and I could tell that Iroh had been right about my divided chi. Soon enough, I had to deflect his fire instead of dodging it, and even that was starting to wear me out.

"Why! Won't! You! Fight?" Every word was accented by a fireball. He kept getting closer and closer, and I kept getting more and more tired. He was only a few feet away when I fell to my knees, my arms covering my face. He stopped blasting me with fireballs and pushed me backwards. I burst into tears.

"Stop! Stop it! Just stop it!" He raised an eyebrow and grabbed me by the chin. He spoke to me more softly than before, but still like he was annoyed.

"What's wrong with you? Why won't you fight me? Why are you so weak?" That one, single word repeated over and over inside my head.

"Heh, look, the little mutt is trying to save her mama. Cute. Too bad you're so weak, girl…say goodbye to your mother."

My heart felt like it shattered. I clenched my fists and squeezed my eyes shut. Before I knew what I was doing, I had erupted into flames, knocking the prince backwards. I got up and stood over him, eyes blazing in saddened anger.

"Do not…call me weak…ever…I am not weak…" After a few seconds, I realized what I had done, and my eyes widened.

"Oh…I'm sorry. I…" I extended my hand to help him to his feet, but he just stared at me incredulously.

"What the hell was that? Why the hell didn't you use that to defend yourself with?" I turned away from him. I didn't notice when he stood up and turned me around to face him.

"Don't turn away from me when I'm talking to you!" Iroh walked by and smirked.

"Zuko, you are arguing with her like you are an old married couple!" It felt like my face had caught on fire. But he was blushing too. I took his distraction as an opportunity, and shoved his hand away. I turned and ran. I had no clue where I was going, but I really didn't feel like getting pushed around by the prince anymore.

"H-Hey! Get back here! That's an order!" I ignored him and kept running.