Summary – Sokka runs in with Xayla, a new bender who found him and Aang. Katara is taken captive by someone new. Zuko's ship was under seige and now she must face the wrath of someone even worse…
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Chapter 10; The Unexpected
"What do you mean?" Sokka asked in disbelief
Xayla sighed as she sat down next to the disabled boy and pinched him, once on the shoulder and once in the center of his back. Sokka found he was able to move again. He watched as he waved his hands in front of his face to make sure it was real.
"I can earth bend and fire bend."
"How is that possible?" Aang questioned.
"My father was a fire bender and my mother was an earth bender."
"The thing that puzzles me most is how you came to be in the water nation." He looked from Sokka then back to Xayla.
"I am just traveling. I do that from time to time. I leave just before anyone notices me. When I think that someone is becoming suspicious, I leave."
"Why do you have to run away? Why don't you stay in one place?"
"I am wanted by the fire nation. No one could ever allow one with a mix of nationality to live. And it's also because I had caused them trouble a little while back."
"What did you do that was so horrible?"
"I'm afraid I can't answer that one… not yet at least. I'll tell you when the time is right."
"Fair enough. Sokka," he turned around and faced his friend "We should go back to our place and tell her about the plans… Xayla, come with us. I still have a couple of questions for you."
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Her sight was blurry. "What? Where am I?" She tried to sit up as her vision gradually started to come back. Her body felt weak and pain shot up her arm as she tried to move. Something was pulling on her arm. She looked down and saw chains encasing her arms and her legs. The chain links were long enough so that she could walk around her cell, not that there was much room to walk.
She carefully looked over her living space. The room was extremely small, 5 feet wide and about 7 feet long. There was a small water basin, enough to last about four days give or take. A small cot lay in the far corner of the chamber. How generous my captors are! She rolled her eyes and got up from her spot.
Needles pricked at her foot. It must have fallen asleep. She stomped at it a couple of times with no success. She stood up and moved to her cot. Small bruises covered her body. Her back was throbbing. She gasped as she lifted up her robe to check her back. Her entire backside was bruised and battered.
My stupid captors threw me pretty hard onto the ground. She lay down on her cot and stared at the ceiling. What have I gotten myself into this time? So much for my 4 day plan to escape… Man! Now I have to think of a whole new one! I am having a really bad week. She sighed and decided to take a nap to keep herself from complete boredom.
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"What are your issues?" Sokka asked, stretching out his arms. A couple of hours of numbness can only do so much to your nervous system.
"What are you talking about?" The new accomplice asked.
"You know. In the forest, you said that you had to help us because you needed to clear up some issues. What the heck are the issues?" Xayla sighed and looked to the moon. It was a beautiful full moon, and it reminded her of her mother, both graceful and enchanting.
"C'mon! Answer me!" Sokka was getting aggravated.
"C'mon Sokka, that's not important, not now at least. So…. Xayla, I guess we need you to help with our plan. It would be nice to have another fighter around."
"Hey!" Sokka pouted.
"What? I'm not saying that you're bad or anything! I'm just saying it would be useful to have another person to carry out the plan. Then it won't put so much pressure on us."
"Yeah… whatever…" His head lowered as he sulked in his little wooden chair.
"Thanks Avatar. That means a lot to me."
"It's Aang and you're welcome." He blushed innocently and looked at Sokka, who was currently rolling his eyes.
"I know your name. It's just kind of hard to call you by your name when I've been calling you the Avatar all this time."
"What do you mean all this time? How long did you know about me?"
"When I was about seven..."
"How did you know me when you were seven? I've been trapped inside a giant block of ice for the last one hundred years! Not even I knew anything seven years ago!"
"I have my ways." She smiled slyly. Sokka just had to interrupt now!
"For the sake of Avatar, what is wrong with you? You are so annoying!" Xayla crossed her arms expectantly, "Can't you just answer a simple question normally like a regular person?! Drop the act! We are going to be seeing a lot of each other if we're going to save my sister anyway. We will find out eventually!! Just answer the freaking question normally woman!" Sokka panted from his sudden outburst. Aang's face was completely in shock. Xayla seemed to expect this reaction. She chuckled slightly and walked up to Sokka. This was truly a hilarious sight to see.
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She awoke to a loud thud. In the cell across from hers was a dark figure on the floor. The leader of the three captors had kicked him once.
"You really think father would want you back? He just wants you back to keep you from making a fool of him and yourself. Do us all a favor and keep your dishonorable mind locked away." The leader kicked him once again and left. Katara waited till she heard the door to the cells close and the only light source disappear before she walked to the edge of her chamber. She looked at the newly inhabited cell.
It was pitch black, the only source of light being a tiny window at the back of the other cell's wall. It was suddenly extremely hard to see the outline of her cell neighbor. By the looks of it, he was a man, maybe in his late teens or early twenties.
Maybe it was one of the crew members. What did the leader say about his father not wanting him? Sadness overtook her. Who would do that? How terrible. Having to work for an ignorant and arrogant Zuko and have his father and sister hate his guts.
She felt a sharp pain in her stomach and bit her lip from screaming in agony. She made her way to her cot and her breath became short and heavy. She slowly tried to take long deep breaths with no prevail. She tried to bend whatever water that was in the small water basin into her mouth. Oh great, Roku knows how long that has been there. Pure disgust washed over her face as she bent the musty colored water into her mouth and down into her stomach. She sighed as she felt sudden relief and tried to bend the water back up and out. She bent her hand the wrong way and ended up coughing up the foul tasting liquid.
She heard rustling in the nearby cell. I must have woken him up. Let's see who this guy is… She decided to stay on her cot. She definitely did not want another choking episode.
She sat up and set her back up against the wall. She rested her head on her knees that were now resting onto the cot. She spied the other prisoner also get up and sit onto his cot. He sat in the far corner and put his face in his hands.
Katara felt a pang in her heart and couldn't help but pity this unfortunate soul. The prisoner sighed, and laid on his back, arms across his chest and his knees bent in order to fit the small cot.
"Who are you?" She whispered into the darkness. There was no answer. The figure just sank even further into his cot.
She sighed and repositioned herself. "Were you on Zuko's ship too?" He nodded.
"I can't believe I'm saying this but you don't know how much I want to go back there." The prisoner's ears perked up. She heard him sit back up.
"I know that is kind of weird especially since he's the guy who's been trying to hunt down my best friend and kill us for the past couple of months but still. It was way better than here. At least he had the decency to give me actual water and a bigger thing to sleep on. I mostly miss the food. I haven't eaten since this morning. You don't know how starved I am." She was so relieved to have someone else to talk to. It felt good having someone to be there with you.
The figure stayed perfectly still. "If I was with my brother and my friend, I'd be eating all the seal jerky I could and be sitting around the fire with them. I miss them so much…" She suddenly felt very alone. If that wasn't bad enough, more guards dragged her out of her cell, strong ones. She was dragged on the floor until she reached the another room. Nothing could stop this terror…
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I'll update eventually….