Chapter 10: It's Not Rape If You Yell "Surprise"

I watched wearily as Iroh pointed out the most vulnerable parts of the body during a fight. Days had passed and finally I had mastered my stance. Not even a raging platypus bear could knock me over.

Then again, a butterfly had the capacity to blow me off my feet this afternoon.

"Elyon I assure you, you will not be able to fight anyone off if you continue to sleep through my lessons."

I stirred from my crouched position in the shade. My eyes fluttered open and I rubbed away the hair sticking to my face. The way Iroh was standing over me, with the sun directly behind him, gave him a harsh halo silhouette. A groan escaped my throat.

"Sorry." I said, righting myself and yawning. "I guess I'm just not in my game today."

Iroh frowned. "Enemies don't care if you are 'in your game' or not. You need to be ready to defend yourself at any moment."

I knew he was making sense but I just didn't want to listen to his Iroh-isms right now. My head was pounding and I was sticky with sweat. "The enemy probably doesn't get nightmares either, right?" I had already shared my dream issues with my mentor. Every night I slipped into a lucid world where the earth was charred and the sun made the sky bleed red. When I woke, I usually found myself getting sick or running to the river to cool off. Iroh had me drinking water at all times of the day so my arms were strong from carrying the bucket to the stream and back.

"Your dreams are worrying me."Iroh said as I stood up. "Are you afraid of fire, Elyon?"

"Not at all." I said blearily. Suddenly a current of heat rushed by me, inches from my head. The small tree that had previously given me shade cracked and I stepped to the side as it fell. "Geez Master. What did that tree ever do to you?"

Uncle ignored my sarcasm and stroked his beard thoughtfully. "I only wished to make sure you weren't lying to me. Many people try not to admit their fears. But, if you push your fear away, it can only cause greater harm to you."

"Wonderful." I said dryly, moving to take another sip of water from the bucket I had purchased some days ago. "But the only thing I fear is not getting any memories back."

"And why is that?"

I dripped some liquid onto my burning shoulders, enjoying the cool feeling on my sunburn. My eyes trailed the droplets, transfixed. I thought of what to say to Iroh and chose to stick with the truth. "Because I'm dependent on you until I can remember. I know no social conventions and if I were to go on my own I'd end up pissing someone off. I'd be lucky to end up in jail again."

We were each silent for a moment. I listened for the sound of a breeze, a frog, or something from the forest. It was like time was still in the fire nation and only Uncle and I existed.

I looked up to see Iroh watching me intently, an unidentifiable emotion on his face.

"What's up Doc?"

Iroh shook his head. "Go sing at your bar." I had finally told him about my lucky chance at an occupation. It had taken a lot of persistence and pretty-pleases to get him to allow me to go. "Maybe if you take a break from your training now, you will be up to continue with me later tonight." I nodded eager to get back to town. "Just be sure to get here before the sun goes down please. A young woman shouldn't wander around at night."

"Yes sure! I mean sir!" I cried as I flew from the camp.

While I was grateful to Iroh for guiding and teaching me, I had come to love my job at the bar. When I was singing, there was no room left for confusion or worry. I was on a cloud and nothing could make me fall. Well except for…

"Hey girlie, are you a man? Why not wear a skirt sometime? I'm sure you have some nice legs under those man pants." My smile faltered as I sang, screwing up my last note. Damn.

The manager had set up a small stage at the bar where I and the sitar player could sit and look out over our audience. Right now I was the perfect distance from the drunken assholes sitting in the far left corner of the bar. They'd been hitting on me since I got here and I was slowly starting to get creeped out.

I finished my last song for the night and bowed along with Rob, the sitar player. The applause filled the room and I could count at least 10 new bodies among the crowd tonight.

"Am I bringing in enough customers for you?" I asked the manager as I stepped of stage. He was helping the bartender refill drinks. I could tell he was busy, but he threw a sneer over his shoulder at me anyways. Rob had told me yesterday that I was bringing in twice as many customers as their last entertainer.

I smiled to myself as I collected my wages from the bar drawer. After days of Iroh yelling at me over footwork or my defense, it was nice to hear I was good at something.

"Night guys!" I called as I stuffed my money in my pocket and left the bar for the night. Moving past the cloaked regular in the corner, I slipped out of the bar. I bit my lip when I saw how dark it was outside already. The sun would set in a couple of minutes and there was no way I'd be back to camp in time. I knew that meant I'd be minutes late for Iroh's lesson. The fastest way back to camp would be through the alleys, avoiding the town's busy streets.

The amnesia/innocent side of me thought nothing was wrong when I started down an alley. Of course, my Iroh-kick-ass side kicked in a second too late when I caught sight of the man in my path. It was one of the drunks from the bar. How he got in front of me, I had no idea but the sight wasn't a pleasing one.

Instead of confronting him and wasting more time, I turned ready to make my way through town. Of course by then, his two buddies from the bar had surrounded me on my other side, finally causing my heart to race a little.

"Excuse me." I said, not even trying to make my way past the guy. It was three against one. I was outnumbered.

"Where are you going girlie? We wanted you to come to our party." One of them said as they closed in on me.

"Did you now?" I said lightly, trying to convince myself that they were just trying to be friendly. "Well actually I have someplace to be, so…" I moved as if to pass them but my path was blocked.

"Aw c'mon girlie, we only need a couple minutes each. I'll tell you what, why don't you sing for us while we keep you busy for a couple more minutes."

"Good idea." My brain sent out alarms, warning my body that I was seriously outnumbered and outgunned. These guys had muscle. "I love singing." I took in a deep breath before screaming, "HEEELLPP ME-"

One of them lunged and wrapped a huge paw around my face. Adrenaline kicked in and I tried hitting someone in the balls, but I couldn't see my targets. Pulling a fist back, I let it go, aiming a little high. The crunching noise that followed was a nose.

"Bitch!" I was thrown against the alley wall and I crumpled to the ground, the breath knocked out of my lungs. A smelly, heavy body pressed up against me and I bucked back.

"Get off!" I yelled just as another bone crunching sound resonated a few feet away. The drunk on me got up and the three of us watched as the cloaked guy from the bar stepped over the body of the drunk he had just knocked out.

"Three against one hardly sounds fair." A young man's voice echoed.

"Hey what did you do to Hal?" The guy on top of me stood and approached the bar's regular customer. "You're going to be sorry you even walked in on this!"

But as the drunk lunged for the boy, he lunged at the drunk, using drunkie's force against himself to slam his head into the wall, knocking him out. I watched as he fought with the last man, but when the last man pulled a knife, I bolted upright.

"Oh no you don't!" I kicked the knife out of his hand and drove a knee into his…special place. As he crouched to the ground, the boy gave him a solid roundhouse kick to the head, putting him out as well. Now I was alone in an alley with a guy who was three times the danger as the last men. Hooray...

"Are you stupid?" The cloaked figure yelled, turning on me now.

"Excuse me?" I whirled around to face him. The hood of his cloak covered his head so all I could make out was one amber eye and the scabbard of what appeared to be a dual-sword attached at his belt. How I knew what a dual-sword was, was beyond me. Woo amnesia!

"A girl shouldn't walk around an alley at dusk. You were asking for that." He motioned to the drunks on the ground. "I was watching you; you could have made a run for it earlier. What, did you try and convince yourself that they just wanted to chat?" My mouth stretched out in a thin line, as this was precisely what I'd been thinking.

"I'm sorry I try to see the good in people." I said, folding my arms across my chest. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some place to be."

"Aren't you going to thank me?" The arrogant sonofabitch put a hand on my shoulder as I turned to go.

Honestly I'd had a rough day. No sleep, I'd almost been raped. I just wanted to get back to camp. Why did he have to push my buttons? I wasn't even thinking when I grabbed his arm and pulled his body over my shoulder, throwing him to the ground. I swear it was an accident.

"Sorry!" I said, just in time for him to push me back into the wall, one arm pressed against my throat. In the commotion his hood had fallen back, exposing… a boy my age with eyes the color of pure amber and hair as dark as night. Not to mention half of his face was marred by harsh scar. A burn.

Unfortunately the boy also had noticed that his hood had come off and he took a step back, letting me go.

Of course, instead of just politely ignoring it I chose to further piss him off. "What happened?" I blurted out questions. "Who did that to you?"

The boy looked up sharply. "What, you don't know who I am?"

I shook my head with an exasperated sigh, trying not to look at the scar. "I'm new to town if you haven't noticed." I stuck out a hand. "My name is Elyon."

He didn't take it, instead picking something off the ground and pressing it into my palm. The drunk's knife. "Protect yourself." He said. "I have other places to be tonight. I trust you can make your way home safely." And just like that he started to disappear into the darkness.

"Wait!" I cried. "What's your name?"

For a second I thought he was too far gone, but then I heard it. "You can call me Lee."

XX: Brownie points to whoever knows who Lee is! Please comment, it makes me more eager to write faster. I also apologize for typos. Have homework to do, no time to reread my chapters.