"What do you think of your beloved kingdom now, Earthbender?" hissed the bounty hunter when she caught Xhela peering out of the barred window. June was busily sharpening her knife by striking it against a shiny black stone. Xhela and Katara were in one of the guest rooms inside the palace that had been turned into a prison cell. They were to remain locked inside with the bounty hunter until Zhao showed up to deal with them personally.

Xhela did not respond to June's question; she sighed loudly about the state of precious kingdom was now in. The beautiful green tiled roofs were now painted the color of blood and the mud-colored walls had been charred to a soulless hue of black. Before the city had been taken over by the Fire Nation, it had always smelled of her favorite flower, the white goddess. Now...all she could smell was the scent of death and smoke. The precious stone statues of past kings and famous Earthbenders that once lined the entrance hall of the kingdom had been melted away. All of the artwork in the kingdom had been burned and weapons and tapestries of the Fire Nation now hung in their place. This is no longer my home... the general knew that she would never be able to save her people from the Fire Nation's destruction.

It had been two days since the two girls had been captured by the bounty hunter; they had lost hope of having Aang and Sokka rescuing them. Xhela glanced over at Katara to see that the Waterbender was also quite depressed. The general glanced back over at the metal bars on the window...one of them was broken. "Katara-" Xhela whispered. Once Xhela had grabbed Katara's attention, she mouthed the words "I have a plan" to the Waterbender.

"I'm a bit insulted, bounty hunter," Xhela growled as she narrowed her eyes at June.

June lifted her head slightly, "And why would you think that, General Xhela?"

"Because I wanted to kill more than one Firebender before I broke out of this room," Xhela beamed when she saw a flicker of hatred in June's black eyes.

Katara widened her eyes at Xhela, "What are you doing! She's going to kill you!" she hissed in a low voice so June would not hear.

"Are you trying to mock me, Earthbender?" June sat up straight in her seat with a dark look on her face. "Because if you are...Zhao gave me permission to cut your head off!"

Laughing, Xhela gave the bounty hunter a sly expression, "I bet you can't even cut your way out of a box..." Come on...get off your ass and slam me against the window...Come on!

"That's it!" June threw her sharpening stone down on the floor and she quickly got to her feet. "Now you've angered me for the last time Earthbender!" The bounty hunter stormed over to where Xhela was kneeling and bent down to grab her by the throat, "I'll cut your tongue out first!"

Raising the Earthbender off the ground, the bounty hunter pressed the edge of her knife against Xhela's exposed throat. Xhela was too far away from the broken metal bar to cut the bounds on her wrists; it had been a worthy try though.

"I wonder what Prince Zuko will do when he hears of your death and that I have caught the Avatar?" June hissed.

"Please don't do it!" Katara begged at the top of her lungs, "She didn't mean to insult you! Please-"

Suddenly, there was a booming knock at the door. Grumbling under her breath, June dropped Xhela back on the floor to see who was at the door. "I told you not to disturb me unless Zhao is here!" the bounty hunter snarled as she started to unlock the door.

While June was fiddling with keys, Xhela hastily jumped to her feet so she could cut her bounds. "Almost there," Xhela hissed to Katara, who was keeping an eye on June to make sure that the Earthbender would not be caught.

Both Katara and Xhela froze when the door was abruptly kicked down and June flailed backwards from the doorway so she wouldn't be flattened. "What in the hell-" the bounty hunter rubbed the back of her head as she looked up to see who had knocked her down on the floor.

An ominous figure dressed in black stood in the broken doorway with two long, glistening swords in their hands. The figure's face was hidden by a brightly painted warrior's mask which was probably over centuries old. At first, the masked warrior stood motionless with their eyes locked on the bounty hunter; as if the warrior was sizing up June.

"Who are you?" the bounty hunter snarled as the masked warrior cautiously moved towards her. June caught sight of the warrior's gaze momentarily meeting with Katara and Xhela, "Oh...so you're here for them, are you?" Slipping out another knife from her belt, the bounty hunter was ready to fight the masked warrior. "Well – you can't have them!" June yelled as she ran at the silent intruder to make sure they would not take one more step closer to her prisoners.

"Hurry-hurry-hurry!" Katara hissed as she watched the masked warrior and the bounty hunter become locked in combat.

Xhela was furiously trying to cut through the rope on Katara's wrists with the broken metal bar, "This isn't as easy as it looks-okay!" Once she had managed to break the rope, the Earthbender watched the masked warrior battle the bounty hunter for a few seconds while Katara used the metal bar on the rope around her ankles. I've seen that battle pattern before...Xhela's honey colored eyes widened when she realized who it was. "Zuko…"

Hearing Xhela say his name, the fire prince looked away from the bounty hunter and locked his eyes on her broken smile for a split second.

Using this opportunity, June stabbed the masked warrior in the back with one of her tiny knives when he wasn't paying attention. Then putting her favorite weapon to use – her brass knuckles – the bounty hunter punched the warrior in the stomach to make him fall to his knees. "Now to see who you really are..." June hissed in a pleased voice as she went to knock the metal mask right off the warrior's face.

June's brass knuckles made contact with a dinner plate that Xhela had grabbed to block the blow from reaching Zuko. "Why you piece of shit! I should have killed you when I had the chance!" the bounty hunter took a swing at Xhela but the Earthbender was just barely out of her reach.

"Then why don't you come and get me bounty hunter?" Xhela carefully began to walk backwards to the only exit, hoping that June would take the bait and leave Zuko alone. "You don't want your most expensive prey to get away from you, now do you?" she taunted just as she reached the doorway.

Glancing back at the wounded masked warrior and the Waterbender, June knew that Zhao would not pay for their heads. He explicitly told her to find and kill General Xhela, he didn't care about the other two – he just wanted to have his revenge. The bounty hunter narrowed her black eyes at Xhela, "I still have to cut your tongue out!"

Xhela bolted out of the room with the tattooed Firebender hot on her trail. The Earthbender had one advantage she knew the palace like the back of her hand, unlike June.

"Xhela!" Katara started to head towards the exit but she was stopped by the masked warrior. "Are you alright?" she asked as she knelt down next to him, "Do you need help?"

The masked warrior looked at the Waterbender for a moment, wondering if he should speak or not. "Get out of here while you still can..." he snarled at Katara in a dark voice but he knew that she would still recognize his voice.

He was shocked to find Katara smiling at him, "She said you would come save her..."

"Excuse me – pardon me!" Xhela yelled as she ran across the long, elegant dinner table while the Firebender governor and his family were eating their dinner. She scooped up a silver dinning plate to use as a shield when the tattooed bounty hunter leapt up on the dining table.

"COME BACK HERE!" June took a swipe at Xhela with her knife but it was blocked by the silver dinner plate. Growling in frustration, the bounty hunter kicked at Xhela's shield to bend it right in half.

Taking one look at her ruined shield, the Earthbender knew it was time to run. "Oh shit," Xhela jumped down from the dinner table and sprinted into the next room.

Once the commotion was all over with at the dinner table, the governor's wife released a long sigh of relief. She received a cold look from her husband, "Well, at least she was polite about it..."

All I have to do is go through these doors and I'm home free! Xhela kept telling herself as she bolted through the courtyard. Skidding to an abrupt halt, the Earthbender stood just a few feet away from the gigantic wooden doors which was the only thing standing in her way of being free. "Something is not right..." Xhela took a step back from the doors, "Where are the rest of the guards?" She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard someone clapping off to the right side of her.

"Very good," Zhao smugly folded his powerful arms across his chest. "Not many break out of this prison these days..." he smirked at Xhela. "You look a bit surprised to see me...did you think I would not come to kill you?" The Firebender was close enough to see the beads of sweat rolling down her face.

"I thought you would have come sooner Zhao," Xhela cracked her knuckles as she kicked her shoes off. The cool dirt underneath her bare feet made her feel like she was finally back home, watching the sunset with her brother. "I still need to have my revenge for my brother's death," she growled.

Zhao laughed curtly in reply, "You still need to join your brother!" In an instant, Admiral Zhao kicked a fireball right at Xhela; he thought this would be enough to bring her down.

Moving her hands together, a stone wall blocked the fireball from reaching her. "I guess they make anyone admiral these days..." the Earthbender called as she made her stone wall crumble away. "Now it's my turn!" Xhela gracefully lifted a boulder twice the size of her body from the ground and kicked it at Admiral Zhao. While he was trying to move out of the boulder's way, Xhela slid across the ground and knocked the Firebender off his feet. The only way she could win is if she could make him lose his footing.

Anticipating this from her, Zhao quickly pushed himself back to his feet with his hands burning madly. Zhao was ten times stronger than Xhela but he was also two times older than her – she had plenty more energy to burn than him. He would have to tire her out in order to win. He carefully chose his next few attacks to wear the Earthbender out.

"What's wrong Zhao? Are you getting tired?" Xhela snickered as she dodged his fiery punches. Her honey-colored eyes widened when she could no longer feel dirt underneath her feet, all she could feel was freezing cold, lifeless metal.

Zhao smirked, "No more dirt, oh-what will you do?" he mocked just before he prepared to use his strongest attack on her. The admiral sent three fireballs right at her, one heading straight for her and the other two were curving around to her making it nearly impossible for her to dodge the attack. He laughed when saw her frightened face just before the flames swallowed her up, "Good riddance," Zhao brushed the dirt from his strong hands.

"I'm not done with you just yet!" Xhela had fallen back-first to the ground in order to dodge his very powerful attack. She had just barely dodged his attack; her right shoulder was burned badly but other than that – she was still capable of fighting.

Leaping back to her feet, the Earthbender did a hand spring and a cartwheel across the metal floor as she tried to reach solid ground once more. The second her feet touched the ground she sent a line of stone spikes to where Zhao was standing. While he was getting out of the way, Xhela dipped her arms down to ground and bended the dirt around her hands; she now had stone knuckles. Running right at him, Xhela used all of her might as she punched the Firebender in the jaw. Adding stones to her hands had done the desired effect Xhela wanted, she had made him bleed.

Spitting his blood on the dirt, Zhao narrowed his determined eyes at his enemy. "Now after I kill you –I'll kill your beloved fire prince after scaring the rest of his face!" Zhao could no longer contain his firebending skills, he was going to burn the whole world down if it meant he would finally kill her.

Quickly taking up a defensive position, Xhela created several stone walls to block the fireballs but they were not enough. Ducking down to avoid being burned to death, she was knocked face-first into the dirt by Zhao kicking her down. With the wind knocked out of her, the Earthbender could do nothing but watch the stars float above her head.

Zhao turned her over to have her watch him kill her, "A worthy try General Xhela...but not good enough...Tell your brother hello for me, will you?" As he raised his right hand to send one fireball that would finish her off, Xhela swiftly raised her foot and kicked him in his private area.

While he yelled out in pain, Xhela kicked a boulder right at him. Panting loudly, she pressed her foot on his throat with a stone spike raised in her hands once he was down on the ground. For a moment she could see the panic in the Firebender's eyes when he thought that she was going to drive the spike through his heart. "I'm not like you..." Xhela lowered her spike and removed her foot from his throat, "I'll never be a cold-blooded killer..." Turning her back on Zhao, Xhela started to move towards the gigantic doors to leave the palace for good.

"Compassion will get you nowhere!" Zhao snarled as he slowly brought himself to his feet. When she did not look back at him, the admiral's fists began to furiously burn, "You should have killed me!" Zhao was about to kick a fireball right at her back when he caught something out of the corner of his eye.

The Avatar sent a strong gust of wind at Zhao which sent him flying backwards into a stone wall. Aang finally relaxed when he watched the Firebender's head dip down to signify that Zhao was now unconscious. "He needed that," the Airbender jumped down from one of the courtyard's stone walls with a smile on his young face.

"You're late," Xhela frowned when she heard a horn being blown off in the distance. Zuko...she looked back at the palace to see that it was actually on fire. "Did Katara find you?" the Earthbender could sense the ease in the Avatar's smooth movements.

"Yes," Aang scratched the back of his head, "She's with Sokka and Appa..." There seemed to be something on Aang's mind, "Are you going to come with us Xhela?" he finally asked in a soft voice.

Glancing down at her bare feet, Xhela shook her head in reply. "My destiny follows a different path...I hope you understand..." She stretched out her scared hand to him, "Thank you Aang. I hope to see you battle again," the Earthbender warmly shook his hand in friendship. She waved goodbye to him as he leapt back over the stone wall, He's stronger than I thought...

"I suggest that we go home now..."

Xhela slightly turned her head to see the masked warrior sitting on the edge of a broken stone fountain. Her heart raced, "You're alright!" she rushed over to him to hug him but she stopped herself suddenly. "You saw the Avatar-" the mask nodded, "-then why didn't you capture him? He had his guard down! That could have been your only chance to get home!"

Pulling the brightly painted mask off his face, Zuko uncharacteristically smiled at Xhela. "I'll have another opportunity eventually, Xhela. Besides your life is worth more than my honor today."

The horn sounded off in the distance again, "We have to keep moving..." Getting to his feet, he started to brush by Xhela, who was flabbergasted beyond all reason. He gingerly took her scarred hand in his, "Come on...let's go home...I'm starving."