Chapter 6: Wounds into wisdom

"Aaaaah, bone and soul, it all relaxes in the steam! You should join me prince Zuko." Iroh blew out more steam from his nostrils and sunk back against the hot pool's rim. I slapped a hand over my eyes as I approached the two of them. I knew Iroh was going skinny-dipping and that was something I didn't need to see.

"What are you doing here?!" Zuko sounded mortified and I felt him jumping in front of my path.

"Sorry! I didn't know you were also-" I peeked between my hands, but Zuko was fully dressed and I felt pink up to my ears. I squeezed my eyes shot under the hand. "Ugh master Iroh, ehm, I heard you had wandered off to the springs and I feel like maybe you should have some guards here?"

"My Lady, who should dare interrupt an old man at peace in the hot springs?" Iroh sighed.

"But Iroh I know fore sure that, ugh, a Earth Kingdom patrol will come and –listen can you just not be out here alone!?" I said hurried and spoke with my back to Iroh. I was very uncomfortable with the whole scene.

"How do you know?" Zuko asked my back.

"Duh, spirit oracle or whatever. Did you forget?" I shrugged with my hands still covering my eyes.

"Fine! Just go back to the ship and wait for us there!" Zuko was pushing me away from the springs.

"Aw! But I wanted to go in the pools. I was going to get Iroh out of there so I could take his place. I know when the troops are coming and I'll just skedaddle before then. By the way, is it safe to remove my hands now?"

"We don't have time for either of you to sit in your own filth!" Zuko was still pushing me. "And yes you can look now."

"But that's so unfair! I've literally given you the only thing you've ever wanted and I can't get a half a day off?" I twisted out of his hands to glare at him.

"You haven't given me anything just yet. And don't think I'm not willing to reconsider our deal." He glared back. I waved his threat away.

"You are drilling us too hard. We need breaks." I sighed.

"Who's we? My tea-drinking uncle? Or the lazy whiny spirit girl? Or maybe my incompetent riffraff of a crew? Tell me, who is it that are working so hard?" Zuko was cold as ice, and he reminded me of Azula. I made a face.

"Be that way. But at least stay with Iroh, even if he falls asleep. Actually, especially if he falls asleep. Otherwise we'll spend the next days on tracking him down."

"You can't tell me what to do." He scowled.

I stuck out my tongue and spun around.

"You go directly to the ship and stay there. That's an order." Zuko commanded.

"I'm going to the ship because I want to, not because you are ordering me to!" I yelled over my shoulder and stomped back towards the shore where we were moored.

The underbrush was scratching at my pants and above the branches slapped my face. Nature was always a tranquil and a beautifully wondrous place for me, in theory. In reality nature is uncomfortable, spooky and full of bugs. I was grumbling curses as I made my way through the woods. Roots stuck up from the ground and as I tried to step around it, I slipped on some mossy stones. A thorny bush full of orange blossoms broke my fall. The spring hadn't yet announced itself fully but the first of the fragrant Earth Kingdom flowers had sprung and was filling the air with a sweet promise of summer.

Of course I didn't appreciate any of that in my current situation. I ripped at the thorny vines that clung to my clothes and my hair, and my feet had painfully tangled themselves in the plant. I struggled but kept stinging myself on the thrones everywhere I touched. Those hellish annoying thrones!

"Aw! Ugh! AW!" The curses flowed like a very profane flood from me. "Let me GO! Stupid NATURE! ARG!" I was goddamn stuck in the freaking bush and my temper was not having it. In a violent sudden burst of frustration I unintentionally bended an explosion. A roar circled me. When I'd taken a breath and opened my eyes the shrub had incinerated around me. A single burning leaf lingered in mid-air before it soared toward the ground. My hair was a golden cloud of frizz. I would have laughed at the whole thing if it hadn't been for them.

The five men with ropes and a potato sack in their hands stood on the trail and had all snapped their attention to me. I got to my feet and took a tentatively step back. It wasn't Earth Kingdom guards like I would have expected, in fact this lot wasn't anyone I recognized. They looked shady and criminal-ly. Matted hair, dried blood on a boot, chipped blades in their belts. These guys were the bad guys. Okay technically, me and Zuko was the bad guys, but the scum before me was on a whole other level of badness.

I spun on my heel and bolted.

"That's her! Get the girl!" A gravely voice yelled.

I leaped over a branch and ducked under another in a sprint. The five guys were right at my tail. I fired a flame at one of the dudes, to slow him down. He waved it away in the air and seeped to run even faster. Great a firebender. I turned sharply and ran down a much narrower path towards the sea. The ground started to shake and I had to jump in the air as a rolling hill of dirt tried to trip me. Fantastic an earthbender! The next rolling hill had a person surfing on it. He moved towards me and fired a pointy rock at my head. Nope, two earthbenders!

I was realizing that I couldn't outrun them. And if they all had something for the talent show, I wasn't sure I could beat them either. Without being in control of my boiling ability I could end up crossing the unforgivable line. And besides I needed some quiet time to concentrate anyway, and this posy didn't seem like a polite-stand-around-and-get-killed one. I was outnumbered and outmatched. Zuko and Iroh! I jumped off the path and down a steep slope, my legs almost disappeared under me on the way down. I'd gained a tiny bit of time, and I shot the most powerful blast I could, straight up in the air. I was sure the flames just about cleared the treetops. Please see it! I panted like my lungs were on fire but kept the bending.

"Takaso use a blast! We almost have her!" A smooth voice called. The band of benders were all sliding effortlessly down the slope. These dudes were serious. A compressed orange fire swooshed by my and into a tree. The truck splintered apart and pieces of wood came flying at me. I hissed and started running again.

"Get her at all cost!" A women's voice chimed in.

Before I could even run ten more steps a giant earth wave had rushed over me from behind and buried me under the heavy dirt. Dark. Tight. Breathless. Panic took me when I felt how the earth starting to crush me under its enormous weight. My limbs tried to stir but they were fastened in rock, sand and clay. Suddenly the weight lifted and the dirt surrounding my face was removed.

I gasped and blinked, sand falling in my eyes.

The five bounty hunters stood before me with triumphant smiles. I hadn't counted on being the one to get captured today. I no doubt looked rather sulky.

"Are you sure it's the girl?" A man, sweaty lean and slippery, asked. He was the snake in the group no doubt, the guy who would sell his flattery and loyalty to the highest bidder. I hadn't seen what he could do or if he was a bender at all, but I guessed not, it takes bones and balls to bend and this guy had none of the above.

"Of course it's her! Look at that haystack!" The only woman of the group yapped. I took offence.

"Hey! Excuse me for looking a little roughed up, you did just chase me though the woods and buried me in a pile of dirt!"

"Earth is life." One guy, one of the earthbenders, said. He was gorgeous and slick and he knew it, which immediately made him very unattractive to me.

"Earth is love." The other al most identical earthbender finished in a phony poetic kind of way. I figured they were twins as they had the same wavy brown hair and unsettling devious appearance.

"Such a doll aren't you?" He bended the earth, so that I was at eyelevel with him. The bender had brown almond-shaped eyes. Maybe some could find them beautiful, but to me they were simply icy, like the eyes of a reptile.

"You have the most particular taste in girls dear Khun. She's a ghost for crying out loud." The slick fellow number two snickered and shook his head as he spoke. I froze, not that I could move much. They knew I wasn't from this world? Who where those guys?

"Spirit, no? That means she not dead dear Yán." The earthbender in front of me touched my hair between his thumb and forefinger. "Yet."

I jerked away from him in disgust.

"Don't touch me you creep."

"Enough. Step aside Khun." The gravely voice belonged to the last member of the group. A large compact man dressed in blood-red armor. The firebender.

"What do you want from me?" I addressed the firebender, as he was clearly the leader. "Who hired you guys?"

"That is not important. Be still and we'll let you keep your arms." His tone of indifference meant that he had tried this before. I bit down on my cheek. Unforgivable 'linecrossing' or not, I was not willing to bank my life on a principle. I reached inside myself to find the blood boiling. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on the heat in their blood. All of them.

"Hurry! She is doing something!" The woman pushed the snake-y guy towards me. He had a bowl of leafs in his hands, they were smoldering and smoking like cheep incense. And smelling just as bad even from far over here. I took a deep breath and held it. Whatever they wanted me to inhale I wasn't going to do it willingly. Snake-guy stuck the bowl up under my nose.

"Breath." The firebender ordered. I defiantly shook my head. "Yán." He spoke the name.

"A shame." Said Khun as he leaned on a tree. His brother began bending my hold, tucking my arm back and up. A 'pop'. The pain was a white flash and my reflexes made me gasp. The gray blue smoke and some of its ashes rushed into my lungs. I coughed a curse. My shoulder, maybe both, felt dislocated. They were glowing with throbbing agony.

"Now put it out Dushan. I'm starting to feel dizzy." The woman held her sleeve over her mouth and nose. Her voice sounded distorted to me. Dushan vanished out of my view.

I had to blink a few times. My head was swimming. Up was down and down was up, sky and earth and sky again, they spun around each other. The nausea hit like a tidal wave.

Some of the clay and sand loosened up and I was lying on the ground. It felt horrible, like lying on a raggedy raft in the middle of a storm.

"What? She's going under anyway." Khun bended the earth to let me go completely. "Might as well have a closer look?" He pulled out a knife. I tried to move, but I was as liquid as melted butter.

"Don't damage the goods too much. We won't get paid." Yán said as he studied his nails.

"What did you give me?" I hissed weakly as the poison tore at my ability to focus.

Khun crept closer. He flopped me on my back, my arms gave a jab of pain but maybe they weren't dislocated after all. Just severely strained. What a relief, it rang sarcastically in my head. Khun studied me while he held the knife to my clothes. I tried to stay calm and find my bending, but the poison and the prospect of being sliced up was messing up my attentiveness.

"I'm not going to damage anything." He muttered then caught my eyes. "You are too special for that sort of games. See, my work friends over there think I'm driven by impulse, but I'm actually quite strategic." He moved the knife to my hair and cut off a dirtied lock from the front. "Now I have proof that we've caught a spirit. That's a great reference on my resume." Khun smirked and stuffed the hair in his vest pocket. I glared up at my kidnapper. The guys had to be hired by Zhao. He was the only person I could imagine having hired thugs like these. Besides, Zhao had somewhat an obsession with the spirits. I should have figured that it only was a matter of time before he would try to capture me again. I dug deeper for my bending. I couldn't fall into Zhao's hands. He could torture or brainwash me into telling him everything and then nothing would stop him from destroying the world!

I had to escape! Khun tugged the shortened stand of hair behind me ear. An oddly intimate gesture that made my skin crawl.

"I can't wait till you are unconscious." He whispered so only I could hear.

"I'll make sure you burn slow." Revulsion was shaping my words. To my own credit Khun was thrown for an instant. Then he regained his mental footing.

"And how are you going to do that when you can't move?" He stuck his face tauntingly down to mine. I found a droplet of chi energy in my mouth and I blew flames right up at him. Khun screamed and jumped back. His hair had caught fire and he was patting it out. I breathed a cold laugh.

"You fool. Knock her out. Our employer is expecting us." The firebender pointed at Yán, as he was the one who would be 'knocking me out'. He bended a rock from the ground. It ascended up in the air.

"I'm sorry, I don't have my brother's gentle touch." He smirked and took a stance. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the stone to bash me in the head.

It didn't come.

Instead, I heard Yán yell and the roar and heat of fire made me snap me eyes open. Thank the higher power! Now, I'm not much for being recued. I like to take care of my own battles, but this help was needed and welcome!

Iroh and Zuko stood back to back and one by one they whacked my kidnappers down.

Epic flame, earth, knifes and smoke bombs filled the space and I just lay there watching it all unfold like a movie. A very trippy movie. I didn't know what that 'Dush-dude' had made me take, but the effect was not only disorientating, nauseating and weakening, it was also immensely entertaining now that I wasn't in the direct line of danger. Zuko had pinned Khun down, and Yán was throwing stones at them like no tomorrow. Iroh was facing the firebender and the knife-wielding woman, and I don't think anyone else saw him, but Snaky had left the perimeter in a cloud of smoke.

After some time had passed I was loosing the general overview but it looked like my team was winning. I tried to move my arms but they were too heavy and sore.

Khun was unconscious and the big firebender was retreating with the woman. I couldn't see Yán, but it didn't seem that important anymore. I giggled and felt very loopy.

"Uncle! He's getting away!"

"Let him go Zuko. Kai needs to be taken to the ship now. She has been poisoned."

"Poisoned?"

"Don't worry! It's not worse than what teens take at parties. I'm sure it's organic. Such fun times we all have at the parties. Parties are really just so nice when you can play Mario cart with a good friend." I muttered happily. I felt like my brain was dripping out my ears.

"She's rambling. Is that normal? Will she survive?" Zuko stood over me and Iroh was picking me up gently. He smiled down at me.

"Like a very hairy dad." I grinned and blinked. Iroh chuckled and I felt the bounce in his arms.

"She'll live. I think all Kai needs is a rest and a tea."

I nodded. "And if I die you can have your clothes back Zuko. So it's really not a loose-loose-situation." I shrugged, or, tried to shrug but wasn't sure I'd actually done it.

"Just lay still Kai. The poison is flowing in your blood but I'm sure it will be flushed out by tomorrow evening. Try to sleep." Iroh tugged me in my bed. Zuko was commanding the ship out at sea, in case my prowlers wanted to try for another attack. The candles glowed dimly and the sun had set outside. I felt sweat on my forehead. Iroh wiped it away with a cloth. I panted like there was someone sitting on my chest. The slight appeal to the drug had vanished some time ago, and now I just wanted it to stop. The red lanterns seemed to drift in and out of my sight and their light made me woozy.

"Easy Kai. Sleep now." Iroh cooed gently.

"I feel like I'm dying." I breathed. The room spun and spun and I couldn't get out of the high. I was trapped in the drug. Somewhere a echoing song played.

"This feeling is temporary. It will pass." He laughed softly.

"Could you get Zuko? I have to tell him something before I die." I smiled too, but I was half serious. My mind had a hard time defining the proportions of the room. "He has to know how it ends." I muttered and I couldn't seem to close my eyes.

"Ends?" Iroh lifted my head and put a cup of water to my lips. I took a feeble sip.

"The story… He has to find the path… And Zhao… Is dangerous."

"Sleep Kai." Iroh held a hand on my head. And for once, I did as I was told.

I came to. It wasn't an easy road to waking up because it was paved with a throbbing headache and arms that were screaming in agony. I sat up and carefully held my head in my hands.

"Don't do drugs kids." I said mockingly under my breath. This was the worst hangover I'd ever had. My breath was shallow and painful, and it made my voice rasp.

"What?" I heard someone ask me absently.

"Huh?" I snapped my head up, regretfully fast, and through squinted eyes I saw Zuko leaning in the doorway. "What are you doing here?" I was genuinely surprised.

"My uncle said you had information for me." Zuko walked across the room and stopped at my bed. He looked like he didn't know what to do with himself. I blinked.

"Oh. That's right. It occurred to me that- would you sit down? People looming over me makes me uncomfortable." I gestured a bench across from my bed. I normally used it as a dressing bench and a few robes were tossed over it. Zuko eyed the seat suspiciously.

"Please? It's a serious conversation and I don't think I can stand just yet." I pinched the brim of my nose. The lightheadedness was still making me blink a little too often. He hesitantly sat down. Progress! Finally we can be civil, I thought.

"Don't waste my time." He crossed his arms. I rolled my eyes.

"I wouldn't dare. So, it occurred to me that I could die or even get captured and I need to tell you some things before, I mean if, that happens."

Zuko shifted in his seat and his face softened up.

"Go ahead." He said, with the edge off. Eureka, a normal talk with my good buddy the fireprince!

"Okay… Let's see.. How to start.." I muttered. Telling someone just enough of their destiny to obtain it but not abuse it was a tricky thing. I could always start by warning him about Zhao. I was about to speak when he interrupted me.

"Listen, before you say anything, I don't have any interest in pursuing whatever this is and-" Zuko spoke to the flames in my bedside lantern. He wasn't blushing but I was! In fact I turned bright red like a cartoon eating a chili. In panic I waved my hands to make him stop talking.

"No no no no no! I wasn't- no! I told you the kiss was sprit stuff- I don't-" I started multiple sentences but couldn't find any of their ends. Like mismatched socks the explanations sat themselves together wrong. Zuko thought I was going to confess like some silly high school teenager! Like hell! I could bury those feelings deep and then happily step over them! I knew that he didn't feel the same. And if he did, big if, then he was nowhere near emotionally evolved to deal with that. I smacked my hands over my hot cheeks to stop them from turning redder. It didn't help.

"Okay! Sh! What I wanted to say was that Zhao is behind these attacks! And he is possibly crazy for spirit. He wants to kill the moon." I hurried.

"The moon?" Zuko grabbed on to the change of subject and murkily glided over our awkward misunderstanding.

"Yeah. Zhao has found a spirit library some time ago, and he wants to destroy all the waterbenders by killing their source of power. The moon. The spirits Tu and La are some of the only ones left in your world and he wants to destroy them. Bringing harmony in danger. A girl, a princess will save humanity, by giving her own life. She had some of the moon-power, her hair is white, like mine. Or I'm blond and not white-haired but you people don't seem to see the difference." I rolled my eyes and finished my ramble. Zuko just looked a little stunned before thinking of something to say.

"… So why is he attacking us?" He asked and leaned in.

"Well… I sound self indulged, but he wants me." I sat in the bed against the cold metal wall. "I don't know exactly why… But I think Zhao has guessed I have a connection to something otherworldly and he wants to hold me captive too? Get info? Maybe use me as a weapon? I have no idea!" I shook my head. "Nonetheless those bounty hunters were pretty clear that I was their only target." I felt a chill running down my spine when I remembered creepy Khun and his knife.

"We can ask them about Zhao's scheming." Zuko's eyes glowed yellow.

"You got one?" I grabbed the covers on my knees.

"We got two." He smirked.

"Which ones?" I felt my heart race.

"A woman." Zuko leaned back. "And an earthbender."

The ship's brig was never meant to be impressive. It was a working war ship with minimal luxuries, but you could recognize the sparse comforts put in for admirals and commanders up in the higher decks. Those comforts didn't reach way down here though. I had noticed that the first time around, when Mister Manhandler was about to toss me in a cell. He had also been one of Zhao guys and now I was down here on the other side of the prison scenario. It shouldn't have made me feel this powerful, but it did. I had no trauma linked to the space, only the searing memory of being in complete control. I shook my head and Zuko sent me a glance. We stopped at the middle door of five.

The slit in the metal door screeched when I pulled it back. A strip of light fell in the black room and huddled up against the far corner, was a man. It was undoubtedly one of the earthbenders, but I couldn't make which one. In my heart I hoped for it to be Khun. Oh, don't judge me too hard, but I relished in the possibility of revenge. I had made a promise to him after all. What kind of lady would I be if I didn't keep my word? I shut the slit.

"Why haven't you interrogated them yet?" I asked Zuko.

"The first rule of taking prisoners is the let them sweat. Let them sit and wonder why they're there, what you know and if their friends are talking." He answered coldly.

"That's… Dark." I winced a bit but then sighed, wasn't I just thinking jolly thoughts of burning a man to death? Having a slightly dented moral compass was making me a schizophrenic, or even worse, a hypocrite. Maybe Zuko was the same way? I'd never thought of it like that before.

"That is what war is. Besides he's only been sitting there a day. You should get inside his head."

"And how do you propose I do that?" I frowned up at Zuko. "Do you want me to torture him?" I figured he meant I should use my blood boiling. That wasn't too far off from what I'd planned anyway. In a fair world there was payback. I was still frowning.

Zuko flinched then looked cold. "If your mind tricks don't work I see no other resort."

"My mind tricks? I don't have any!" Not entirely true, but I couldn't control them.

"Just use your telekinetic abilities!" Zuko said in a snarl and rolled his eyes. I grinned at that.

"You know I don't read minds right? Did you think I read minds?" I leered wiggling my brows.

Zuko was taken aback. He blinked, then snorted.

"What made you think I was telekinetic?" I poked him in the arm and kept grinning. He waved my hand away. I tried to poke him again and he snatched my hand.

"Follow my orders. Find out who hired him. If it is Zhao we have to find a way to throw him off our trail." Zuko fell in to a deep thought and let my hand go. It seemed to tingle where he'd touched. When he looked up again there was sharpness in his face. "I will not let Zhao win."

I bit down on my cheek. It was the most stirring determination I'd seen in a person. I almost wanted to embrace him. Zuko turned to leave and my infatuation flowed away.

"And what should I do with the earthbender?" I called.

"What you have to." He breathed over his shoulder.

I'd never tortured anyone for information. Uh, I mean, until I arrived to this universe. Since my entering I'd seemed to use constant violence and force to get what I wanted, and it was not something I was particularly proud of. I wasn't completely shameful either.

Yes, a major part of me was always fantasizing of all consuming power. And yes, if I'm being frank, then I properly did have a small control issue and a smidge of sadist in my veins. But to actually stand in a small dark room with a terrified human didn't feel all that great.

I closed the door behind me and the airlock slammed shut. I'd stationed a guard outside to let me out once I'd given 'the secret knock'. Sweat and metal stained the air. I lit the two lanterns on the walls.

The man on the floor hugged his legs and buried his face deeper in his dusty pants as I got nearer. I could recognize the clothes. The brown waves of singed hair were dirty and shining with a cry for soap. He'd really only been there a day, but that could feel like a lifetime when held captured. He hadn't even been given something to drink. I sat down and offered him a pouch of water from my belt.

"You have to drink something." I said numbly.

The earthbender dared a glance over his knees.

"I'll put it here. Listen, Khun," He cringed at his name. "I am going to ask you some questions and depending on how you answer them, you might even get your freedom." My voice was indifferent because now that I knew it was him I was indifferent about his discomfort.

"I don't want to hurt you." That was a lie. Khun shoulders shuttered. At first I thought he was crying but then the unsettling noise broke through. Khun lifted his head and it was twisted in a painful smile. He was laughing.

"You are really not good at this are you, doll?" He loosened the grip on his legs and leaned back against the wall. Khun's black eyes reflected the light and gave him red pupils for a second. I took a steady breath. Finding his warmth, his liquid, his molecules, and shaking them until they blurred.

I heard a gagging behind my closed eyes.

He didn't need to go all the way around the fairs wheel.

I let my influence fade away again. Khun was panting and starring shocked at me when our eyes met again.

"You are right. I'm not very good at this. I have a temper and a grudge." I glared. "But I'll take the high road and cut you a deal if, you tell me what I want to know."

"So it's true? You have the power to melt people from the inside." He chased a breath.

"How do you know what I am capable off? How does Zhao know? I assume you've been hired by him." It couldn't have been from Mister Mandhandler, the only victim of my blood boiling, he had been imprisoned in the colonies some time ago. Or maybe? The word could have seeped from prisoner to guard, from guard to soldier and so on.

"I'm a dead man if I rat." Khun gulped the water down and wiped his mouth.

"You are a dead man if you don't." I stated bluntly.

He frowned for a moment.

"… You mentioned something about a deal?"

"You give me information and in return you'll get to keep your life and your freedom. Very simple."

Khun stared at the door. He was weighing his odds. Finally he straightened and inquired simply.

"Can I trust your word?"

"You don't have much of a choice, do you?" I was sitting on my knees opposite him and I thought I saw the flash of hunger in him. It made me mentally stagger with anxiety, throwing me back to the feeling of being helpless and scared, but I made sure to keep the poker-face intact. Pure intense hate flared up in my chest.

"And if I talk you'll let me go? Like that?"

"Like that." I agreed with a stiff smile.

"Okay. Then yes. Commander Zhao hired my and the others to kidnap the girl with the 'moon hair' as he called it. I hadn't understood what it meant until I saw you." Khun leered a little.

"What did he want me for?"

"Couldn't say. I know why I would've kidnaped you if I was him." It was vile words in Khun's mouth.

"Did he mention anything that could suggest what he wanted me for my bending?" I was ice and stone. Or at least on the outside. On the inside I wanted to get out.

"He only said to pacify you before you had the chance to 'melt' us. That's all."

"Did he mention other skills of mine?" I had to know what Zhao knew.

"No. But I bet you have lots of skills. I bet you want to use them. Maybe not on me, unfortunately, but I saw how relived you looked when the scarred guy came to you rescue. You could pretend I was him for a moment." Khun was talking in a low tone as he slowly shifted in his seat. He was thinking himself the wolf and me the lamb. I backed away.

"How did Zhao know of my skill?" I said, not completely without shaking. I was scared. Damn it.

"The old sucker had found a library." Khun leaned closer in a smirk. "He had some stupid scroll. I didn't care when he'd pulled it out."

"Where's the scroll now?"

He was closer still.

"Who knows. On his ship?" Khun said nonchalantly. I started standing. I didn't want to be in the room a second longer. My power and hate and bending was trembling. I hated it.

And then, fast as a snake he had me. In a snatch Khun had grabbed my hair and pulled me to the cold dirty floor. I hissed and gritted my teeth. The earthbender held me at the base of my skull, his grimy fingers tangled in my hair. I was too stunned to move. Too scared to cry out. Too shaken to bend. I could just stare up in his black eyes as he smiled his ugly smile.

His lips were on mine too wet and too violently. He bit my lip. It was as if I had been slashed open with a knife and suddenly I had back a microscopic amount of will back. I blinked and retuned from the paralyzing fear.

The bending rushed back in my limbs and I used all I had on my attacker.

Khun whirled back as if he was kissing a bonfire itself. He clawed at his face in a bone-chilling scream. I slowly sat up. He was throwing himself against the metal wall and making the most horrible of sounds trying to escape the pain that burned from within. Again and again while he never stopped screaming. I stood in a haze. Khun's voice broke in a pitch. Emotions couldn't reach me as I watched him suffer. My bending ate him alive, sinking its burning teeth into every cell of his body, and bursting it.

The cell door opened.

Hands were on my shoulder. They shook me once or twice. My name was called.

It took a moment before I understood that I had to stop. I had to stop bending. The fog lifted and I gasped as if I'd been holding my breath. I dropped the boiling influence like dropping and iron weight. The screaming stopped with it.

Zuko's hands grabbed my shoulder tighter and he led me out of the room. Khun panted raggedy.

We walked a little down the corridor before I shrugged him off.

"Don't touch me." I mumbled.

He dropped his hold and I kept walking.

I didn't look back.

If Zuko had been hurt or offended, he never once said something.

I felt numb and queasy; all at the same time, and that didn't go away even as I reached my room in the other end of our ship.

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