CRASH! Katara collided with the wall of her cage again. She screamed in frustration. Gathering up her strength a second time, she rammed her shoulder into the cage door. Her face was dry and chapped from the earlier flow of tears, which had since stopped, to be followed by wave upon wave of self-disgust.

Toph was trying to bend earth, any earth, anywhere, but nothing worked. Sokka, who had spent hour after hour sawing away at his bars to no avail, now sat glaring at the floor of his steel prison.

They had been ridding in the back of the wagon for nearly a day now, and no one had heard a word from Aang. His enchanted cage kept him helpless and silent. Toph screamed in aguish when, going over a large pothole, the wagon jarred his crate so violently that it tipped sideways.

They had not been fed and were visited only once, by a pair of Arturo's soldiers. They jumped into the wagon and walked over to the four cages, casually. The shorter of the two was eating a large piece of fruit and smiling evilly. He saw Sokka's expression of longing, and began to hand him the food. Sokka stretched out his hand gratefully, only to have the man's hand jerk back cruelly. The men laughed uproariously. They turned toward Aang's sideways glowing box.

"Ah, look what we have here! A bald little stick of a boy! Look at him lying there!" Both men laughed again. Toph made a low growling noise.

The other man looked over, "Haha, the set is complete: the stupid, hungry 'warrior', the weakling Avatar, and the blind girlfriend!" They both turned to Katara, leering.

"Oh, but here's a pretty little thing…" said the first man. Sokka, who was still blushing from his own humiliation, looked up furiously.

"Don't you dare hurt her," he said coldly.

The men laughed again. "Oh well in that case… Come here pretty," the second guard bent to undo the lock on Katara's cell.

The wagon came to a sudden, forceful halt. The two men stopped dead as a voice from behind them spoke.

"Touch her and you both die," said a familiar voice, filled with fire. Katara's eyes widened as the two soldiers moved and the speaker came into view.