V3.11

The Past: Part I

The Blue Spirit

Zuko's ship steamed through water, leaving land in its wake. I didn't really want to leave that land, but then again, I never wanted to leave land. Being surrounded by water wasn't exactly my favorite part about traveling with Zuko and Iroh. Zuko himself stood over his Lieutenant's shoulder in the helm looking at a map, while I gazed at the Pai Sho board beneath me. It was me, Uncle, and a few of the men, but none of them were a match for the two of us and we were wiping them out.

Lieutenant Jee and Zuko were both talking about the Avatar, again, and I mumbled irately under my breath as I studied the playing styles of the men around me. It'd been a while since I'd played so I was rusty. Iroh was doing a good job of reteaching me.

Jee pointed at a map of the world that he was holding. He pointed at a part of the map which indicated that we were currently at the northwest extremity of the Earth Kingdom, close to the eastern most extremity of the Northern Air Nomad lands. I tried to listen to him and pay attention to the board but Pai Sho was actually really difficult and took up most of my attention.

Jee pointed out another route, discussing at how we could get to the North Pole quicker than the Avatar if we took it. Apparently the Avatar needed a Waterbending master. But after that he would also need earth and fire, as well. And he only had a year to do it in. "But, if we continue heading northeast…"

The Lieutenant was cut off as his light was blocked by an enormous shadow. We all looked up at the intrusion of sunlight to see that it was another Fire Navy ship, a massive, hulking thing as it passed us to starboard and headed in the opposite direction. Everyone on Zuko's bridge stared at it.

Finally the Prince said something to break the awkward silence, and he frowned. "What do they want?"

I wondered the same thing. I distractedly lost my round of Pai Sho and excused myself—at least, I thought that I'd excused myself. Iroh's eyes stared into my back with worry but I couldn't bother thinking of him at that moment. What are you doing here, Father?

I hid in the shadows as Commander Zhao's familiar-looking note-taker strode past me with a few very-well armed guards. I took my shoes off and quietly made my way towards where he'd come from. I've got at least fifteen minutes. Five for the page to say his message, seven for Zuko to argue and rant, and another three for that annoying man to rebut with words full of praise for the evil man that is Zhao. Then maybe—maybe—I'll have a few more minutes to get back on Zuko's ship without anyone noticing that I was missing.

There weren't any guards defending the plank that connected the two ships on their second lower levels. I sent a thank-you towards the spirits for my good fortune and quickly climbed aboard. I'd memorized my father's ship schematics years ago—I'd been able to roam freely on a ship as there was nowhere to go in the middle of the sea. This helped me at that point because I knew exactly where I was going.

My father kept a small office on the third level that held his personal bird and assignments. This was in the hull, as was where I entered, so I wasn't too worried about getting caught. Most of Zhao's men would be training up top. I would maybe pass one or two guards going to and from the restroom if I was lucky.

I made it up the stairs to the second level before I encountered anyone. The man wasn't paying any attention so my hiding place in the porthole wasn't glaringly obvious. I sent another thank-you to the spirits that I'd decided to wear grey and black that day. Better to blend in, I thought as I lowered the handkerchief that held my hair in place to cover my nose and mouth. My skin was so pale that it could easily be seen.

Twelve minutes to go.

My last bit of luck was hanging on by a thread, I knew. It wasn't often that I got lucky at all. The door to my father's office was open, though...and he, nor anyone else, was inside. The room was smaller than I remembered it being—that or I was taller. Probably the latter. It was filled with man scrolls and books that my father had required over the years. A few were strewn onto a full-to-bursting desk with one lone candle lighting my path sitting upon it. Next to the candle sat an Admiral's pin. Bookshelves lined the walls.

I thanked my lucky stars so many times that I didn't even know what to say anymore. Just "thank you" seemed to suffice as I made my way over to a slumbering old hawk my father had owned since before I could remember. It woke as I came near. I hushed its initial warning cry and extended my hand; it sensed who I was and calmed almost instantaneously. There were a few notes below his perch so I petted him as I read them. Only one stood out.

Commander,

You may come and examine my archers but as of this point in time, I simply cannot loan out the Yuyan for your vanity project. I look forward to refueling your ship at the Pohuai Stronghold and then sending you on your way. Get your head out of the clouds and finish your active assignments before you start a hunt for the Avatar.

-Colonel Shinu

I put the paper back exactly where it had been before and said goodbye to the hawk who still had no name because my father was heartless. I'd named him Hawkey as a young child but father had deemed that childish and rather obvious. I was a child at the time, Father. I was supposed to be childish then. Five minutes to get back.

Clearing the inappropriate thoughts out of my head, I made my way back out the door and quietly closed it behind me, thinking on what I'd just read and the things I'd observed. The note from the colonel had been from a few weeks ago, but the Admiral's pin on Zhao's desk had been brand spanking new. That meant that my father now outranked Colonel Shinu and that Zhao was going to use the Yuyan to capture the Avatar.

The Avatar will never be able to escape them. The newly-idolized group of archers had been growing in popularity and renown for years. It was rumored that even the Fire Lord had used them to track down his enemies...none of which were alive to speak poorly of him anymore. The archers were deadly and precise. Just as the Airbenders tattooed themselves to prove their mastery, so did the Yuyan. And they did it without emotion.

I almost made it back to Zuko's ship when I felt the floor beneath me lurch as the engines turned back on. I cursed my luck and ran without my shoes, making almost no noise, and hid in the shadows when Zhao's page walked by me. "...the Admiral is right, that boy is a menace. I'll be very glad to stick the Avatar in the spoiled prince's face when the Admiral finally changes Fire Nation history!"

I didn't have time to be angry at the page because I was going to be stuck on Zhao's ship! That was the very last place I needed to be. I ran again as soon as the annoying man was gone and I saw that the gangplank was being pulled back by Zuko's side—no guards were posted on Zhao's side. Everyone must be preparing for the trip to the stronghold. Lucky for me!

My luck was running out, though, as the door on the side of Zhao's ship was closing. I panicked and saw that there was a ledge underneath where Zuko's ship's door was so I just jumped without thinking anything through. Zuko's men couldn't know that I'd been on board Zhao's ship—they'd be suspicious. Zuko would be even more suspicious of me than he had the right to be.

I put my heat feelers out to see that Zuko's men were taking the gangplank away. Now's my chance! I swung myself up and into the hole in the side of Zuko's ship. Then I disappeared behind some crates before Zuko's men turned around to close the door. In moments they were gone and I was able to let out a breath of relief.

A few minutes later I walked back into the helm where the Pai Sho board had been put up. Iroh was sitting at the table, still, sipping on a new cup of tea. He didn't look up when I sat down and poured myself a cup. "Where did you wander off to, Emiko?"

I didn't say anything. Rather, Zuko walked by me angrily and threw a large piece of paper at me. I wanted to retaliate, as he made me spill my tea, but I didn't want to be the first to speak. I was stubborn like that. Ever since the bar incident, he hadn't said one word to me about our drunken kisses and I hadn't said anything to him either. I wasn't going to be the first to break the silence.

Iroh looked at me expectantly and glanced down to the parchment lying on my lap. I picked it up and blanched when I saw that it was a wanted poster. Of me. I looked over to Iroh and sarcastically said, "Obviously I was committing a crime."

"That poster is crime," Iroh said with a chuckle, "as you are much more beautiful."

I smirked and held the paper out, looking at it. "You think so?" It showed me looking a few years younger—a few years older than me in our family portrait, actually. Father couldn't accurately describe me so he used a picture of me as a child and a picture of mother to even out the age difference. Genius. It wasn't a perfect match as my nose wasn't that straight (it had been broken before) but it wasn't bad. "It isn't bad."

"You're prettier, my child," the old man said with a laugh, much like a grandfather...or an uncle. "You should get some rest. You look a little fatigued." He plucked a hawk feather from my shoulder.

I didn't ask how he knew. Because he obviously knew what I'd done and where I'd been. I swear that that man has eyes in the back of his head.

oOo

I knew that tonight was going to be a new moon. It was just an instinct as I watched the sun dip below the waves. It set off the last of the golden hues that I loved, which would soon be gone, but the waves reflected the pinks and oranges as I stared down into them. We were moving so fast that I couldn't see the fish and animals below the water.

The bowsprit was usually where I decided to sit at the end and beginning of every day, no matter how scared I was about the water, and the only days that I didn't sit there were days that were rainy. And, well, I hated to say it, but that was about the time that Zuko practiced Firebending with Iroh every day. I could feel the heat of the fire dimming as the sun set, but the power behind his jets of flames still was strong.

Why hadn't we worked our problems out? Why hadn't we just talked to each other about the kissing? We'd pretty much ignored each other since it had happened and I didn't like how things were just left hanging in the air. Every so often I would find him looking at me, but he would look away before he could meet my eyes. I missed talking to him, even if he did get on my nerves and we ended up fighting. Heck, I even missed our fighting, if only he would talk to me!

We hadn't even practiced since then. I had showed up the morning after, expecting to practice our hand-to-hand and advanced-set Firebending moves, but he hadn't shown up. I realized that he was probably embarrassed of me. Or sorry for kissing me. Or both.

I felt Iroh's presence join that of Zuko's. I could tell that it was Iroh because a sense of peace fell over me and I relaxed. Zuko finished his set and wasn't moving, just staring out into the ocean. The old general's soothing voice was asking, "Is everything okay?" I was asking myself that same question. His Firebending had been rather...I didn't know, depressed that day, if there were such a thing. "It's been almost an hour and you haven't given the men an order."

Zuko stopped practicing, so I stopped looking at the sun to look at him. His shirt was off; a chill of pleasure ran up my back. Perspiration covered him from head to foot, making him shine in the light of the ending day. He was looking out to sea, a blank expression on his face. "I don't care what they do."

That statement struck me deep. I didn't know if it was the way he said it or the words themselves, but I felt really sad for him. I'd been feeling that way since I'd figured out Zhao's plan. Zuko didn't know anything about it—but, apparently, Zhao had ordered that no one was to pursue the Avatar while in his jurisdiction. All information that was found had to be handed over to the newly-named Admiral.

I came out of my silence and stepped over to him. This would hurt my pride, me being the first to speak. "You can't let him win, Zuko," I told the sullen prince, only a few feet away as I stood next to Iroh. His back stiffened the second the first word came out of my mouth. "You can still find the Avatar before Zhao." I rolled my lower lip in and bit it, then flinched a little at the look he gave me. It was so desperate that I could have wept, and his face was set in a pain that I wasn't sure I knew.

"How, Emiko?" he asked softly, and I wanted to reach out, take his hand, hug him or something, damn it! "With Zhao's resources, it's just a matter of time before he captures the Avatar." He turned back out to sea, so I finally gave in to my urge to touch him. I let my fingertips gently touch his back, though it surprised me that he didn't flinch at my touch. "My honor, my throne, my country…I'm about to lose them all."

"Don't say that," I begged, wishing that I could show him some kind of comfort, which I knew that I couldn't do as long as we were out in the open. I'd never seen him like this, so depressed, so upset...it wasn't him.

It was then that I knew what I had to do.

oOo

Sneaking out had been pretty easy. I was always restless during the full moon, while other Firebenders were usually knocked out cold. So I sneaked out with gear, dressed all in black, and was out to sea in less than ten minutes from my starting time.

The rickety boat scared the crap out of me, to tell the truth. It was supposed to be able to hold over ten grown men, but just my weight walking around on it made it groan and wobble. I sat down right in the center as I pathetically paddled to shore, praying to whatever unfortunate God or Goddess who watched over me to please let me live while I was doing this kind, wonderful deed.

My luck had already been running high. I didn't need to push my luck or ask too much of the beings that watched over me.

Silently, I docked the boat and pulled it up on shore, expertly hiding it behind shrubs and foliage, tying it to a tree as well so that it wouldn't float away on the incoming tide. I'd been marooned before, once, on a full moon when the tide had come in and stolen my boat from what once had been dry land. I wasn't stupid enough to fall for the same trick twice.

My plan was already set out. I would find the nearest watchtower, commission the men to bring me in, and then somehow get the Avatar out without killing us both. So, yeah, alright, it wasn't the best of plans, but it was all that I had at the time. But I still grimaced as I got to the watchtower. It was only a tall stack of wood, really, and made me wonder if the Fire Lord was starting to be stingy with his money.

I made sure to make quite a bit of noise down below while I picked some flowers. Night lilies really weren't my thing. I'd found some beautiful flowers while over in the Earth Kingdom, and these were almost nothing in comparison. I just needed to make noise so that they would notice me.

The two seventeen-year-old boys who were the sentries looked down with interest. Well, they looked that young, at least. My plan, though far from foolproof, became a little better when I realized that these boys would be easier to manipulate than any of my father's close lackeys.

One of them shouted down to me, giving me a hairy eyeball, which I was really starting to hate. "Halt! Who goes there?"

"Good evening, boys. Just on a stroll. Think I got a little lost, though."

The one who didn't speak tapped his colleague on the shoulder. "Hey, that's the Admiral's daughter! The one with a bounty on her head," he whispered obviously, his pudgy finger pointing down to me. Well, if you could call a shouted whisper a whisper. Both of them had to have been new recruits.

I frowned when I heard the rank Admiral, but at least he knew who I was and wasn't completely and utterly an idiot. "You know my father?" I asked as innocently as I could, widening my eyes to captivate them.

"Uh…" the first one hesitated, scratching his head with a scrawny hand. "Would you care if we escorted you to him?" His lanky body was confused, as if he had heard that I was a master of avoiding and evading, but I wasn't doing it at the moment.

I shrugged, threw the flowers over my shoulder, and said, "Sure. Okay."

They climbed down and stood next to me, each one looking at me with curiosity. "For some reason…" the skinny one mumbled as we moved up the path without conflict, "…I pictured this being harder…"

oOo

This was a massive fortress. Men were stationed all around the walls and towers and—of course—the front gates. I knew from studying in Iroh's library that the stronghold had three walls all the way around. This was why it was called a stronghold. This was the reason I hadn't just tried to break in. It was one thing being pinned down by a Yu Yan while trying to escape a prison, but it was another thing all together to be killed while trying to get into a prison.

I thought through the schematics in my head. The fortress was a structure made up of multiple stone walls surrounding a large pagoda tower at the center of the base. The walls were coated with iron to protect it from Earthbenders. The building housed its own prisons and was a major material depot for the Fire Nation Army. This massive metal structure was built by the Fire Nation military as a troop and supply hub where soldiers and Firebenders trained before they were deployed into battle. Iroh especially had information on this particular stronghold because supplies had been moved from the stronghold over thousands of miles of rail lines to the Fire Nation Army assembling at the outskirts of Ba Sing Se when Iroh had laid siege upon it.

We came close enough that I could see looks of surprise from the men guarding the front gates. All of the men stared at the two Privates who had "captured" me in amazement. Half of those men had tried to capture me before and all had failed. I recognized most by a scar here or a set of eyes there. One of the men that I recognized at the front gate teetered on his feet nervously.

"Hi, Isamu!" I called to him, putting my hand up in the air to wave at him. He blushed angrily.

Isamu was twenty and a Lieutenant in the military. He was also Zhao's right hand man. Ever since I had run away, when he had first become a Midshipman, he had been assigned to my capture. Now he looked down in shame when I called his name, as if it were his fault that I had gotten away last time. Technically I guessed that it had been his fault. I felt bad for him; he shouldn't have been stalled in his career just because I couldn't stand to be sold to the Fire Nation.

The boys were searched to make sure that they were really Fire Nation soldiers. After the men were done checking the teens, they allowed them to pass. "They're clear!" Isamu called officially, trying to look all military-like, oh, and just for me, too. You shouldn't have, Isamu. He came over to me, his deep brown eyes pleading with me to be good, to not do anything wrong this time. I knew that he knew that I was up to something, but I had to act like I was really reformed.

I blushed as Isamu patted me down. It wouldn't have been the first time that I'd brought weapons in with me—luckily, I didn't need weapons for this gig. The stronghold had plenty of armories, from what I remembered of Iroh's schematics. Being that the stronghold was a prison, I was betting on getting my run of the place.

The obviously-recently-promoted Captain cleared his throat and cried, "She's clear!" His voice cracked. I held in my chuckle and my own cough of embarrassment and allowed him and a few other, heavily-armed soldiers to lead me into the stronghold. I was led through three sets of doors. Three sets of walls that, if I wasn't able to finish my mission, I would be stuck behind for a very, very long time.

The last set of doors closed behind me. I took a deep breath to calm my anxiety and looked around. The pagoda rose up high in front of me. Hundreds of bunkers lined the inside of the innermost wall, housing for soldiers who were stationed there. Said soldiers had been practicing inside the second and third wall when I'd passed by. Many, many men were walking around, working, practicing, running messages back and forth to the important higher-ups that stopped by the stronghold every so often.

Like my father. The hair on my back stood up, meaning that my father was somewhere nearby. It was funny how Iroh's presence filled me with a safe calmness while my own father's filled me with dread. He was coming out of the main encampent, dozens of soldiers around him, sucking up, trying to give him information that he no doubt already had. His eyes widened when he saw me and there was a hint of malice there.

I slowly walked over to him, ignoring Isamu's protests. The distance closed between my father and I. The feeling my hate for him was dimming as I got nearer. He was my father. How could I hate someone who was only trying to do what was best? And then I wondered how I could defend him, after everything that we had both been through together.

He sighed and put a hand on my arm, looking at me with those eyes that also seemed to know that I was trying to get something. But at the same time, there was some kind of fatherly light that shouldn't have been there. I broke down and hugged him around the waist gently, not able to meet his eyes. I felt kind of ashamed at the moment, partially because I really had wanted to see him, and partially because I was ashamed of the first fact.

Zhao stood there while I hugged him softly, but he was stiff underneath me. Then he hesitantly wrapped his arms around my shoulders and hugged me to him. "Emiko…" he sighed into my hair softly, "what are you doing here?"

I couldn't answer him. My throat was tight, my eyes burned, and I just wanted him to hug me. I hadn't seen him for two months and I felt so alone that it hurt. Strangely, I hadn't thought about "him" the entire time I'd been on Zuko's ship, but the past him. The him that bought me Fire Rocks at the park, or the kind who taught me how to ride my first Komodo Rhino.

Iroh wasn't my father. No matter how many cups of tea he brewed for me or how many times he helped fix my wounds and rehabilitate me, he was not my father. The man in front of me was. I was the insubordinate child who was running away. I could see both sides. I wasn't a biased, inconsiderate wench. The Fire Sages had specifically asked for me to be donated to them, like a thing. When the Fire Sages asked for a specific student, it was almost impossible to say no—mostly because it was like a direct line to the Fire Lord if the offer was refused

That thought, the thought that he wasn't hunting me because he hated me but because he was forced to by Fire Nation law, made me hug him tighter. I dug my face into his chest and breathed in his familiar smell. He looked around helplessly for someone to console me, but no one was there. The soldiers were all looking at me as if I were a creature with two heads and none of them were prepared to help.

He hesitantly put an arm around my shoulder, trying to calm me down but keep on guard in case I tried anything. Well, I hated to tell him, but I wasn't fit to try anything at the moment. I didn't even really have a real plan—get in, get the Avatar out, then get out myself. Everything in the middle was going to be on the spot. He started to lead me off so I leaned into his fatherly side hug.

He sat me in a small room that only had a desk and two chairs. One of the bunkers. He sat me in the closest chair and closed the door. I could see his shoulders slump as soon as the outside world couldn't see him anymore. He sighed, wiping a hand on his face before turning to me. Was that actual pain in his eyes? "I finally got promoted, Emiko. I was promoted in lieu of the mess surrounding you and none of my new men knew of you just yet. Why are you doing this to me?"

Oh, Agni, like I needed this at the moment! I had been trying to hide my tears before, but now I couldn't. Since when did being with family make me so emotional? I tried to remember that I hated this man, but my heart wasn't in it. I still loved him. Heck, I was still a kid! I wanted my father. "You act as if I'm nothing but a nuisance to you," I said softly, my voice cracking towards the end. Come on, show me your temper. Be the man I know you really are, not the one that loved my mother and helped raise me. Because I can't do this if you aren't angry with me.

"Well recently, I'm not so sure," he said softly, and I looked up to see him crouching beside me. He put a hand gently on my face, looking into my eyes. "What has he done to you?"

Nothing, I thought with an inward sigh, disgruntled. Unfortunately, nothing. "He hasn't laid a hand on me, if that's what you're asking," I said, again wondering if my mother fell for him because of his eyes, and the sincerity that he could put into them at will. Because I knew that he didn't want me as a daughter, and no longer considered me as such.

He sighed in disgust and stood up, turning his back to me. "You are just like your mother was, Emiko…always planning, always scheming… She never told a lie, but she never told me something if she wanted to keep it from me, either."

I flinched when he mentioned her. The dreams I'd been having seemed to cut worse when he talked about her. "You don't have to bring her into this." Just the mention of her during the day, when I saw her so much during the night in my dreams, made it seem almost cruel of him. Not that he knew that I was having those dreams.

He squinted his eyes as if he were deep in concentration. "Emiko, I've been thinking." This can't be good, I thought, looking at him with wary eyes. "I know that you will be turning sixteen, in a few days, actually…"

I frowned, not wanting to really think about that. "You remembered?"

"…and I think that it's time that you settled down."

I blinked my eyes a few times, then pulled on my ear, as if I hadn't heard right. "I'm sorry, I think I missed that."

"No, I'm sorry; let me rephrase that," he said. "I can't handle you anymore, Emiko. I've decided that you will settle down and start a family with one of my soldiers. Isamu, actually. He won't be a bad match for you."

I started laughing. I couldn't control it. "Wh-what? That's ridiculous! I-I mean it's not like the Fire Sages won't want me if I'm not..." If I'm not pure. I started panicking and thinking through the senario—a non-pure handmaiden, a wedding certified under Fire Lord Ozai...it would end in the search for me being discontinued. It was a way out of the deal. It was a loophole.

I wasn't sure if my father was trying to help in his own demented way or if he was just completely trying to ruin my life. He put his hands on my shoulders and squeezed. "It's the only way." He unlatched my mother's necklace, taking it. I jumped out of my chair and turned around, gasping as he stuck it in his pocket.

I furiously tried to reach for the pocket that he had placed the necklace in, but he wouldn't let me near. "You can't be serious, Father!" I cried, ignoring the feeling of being closed in, of not having any room to move, of not being able to breathe. I was stuck in one of the strongest prisons outside of the Boiling Rock and I couldn't get out. I was stuck. I couldn't breathe. "Why?!"

Zhao took a chain out of his pocket and sifted through the keys. "You are getting in my way; you don't fit into the big picture I have painted," he said as he kissed me on the forehead. While walking to the door, he looked at my expression, only too see a horrified little girl as she stood frozen in her spot. "Isamu will bring you some of your spare dresses to choose from. Hopefully they fit." He started to walk out the door, but he stopped halfway and turned back to me. "Oh, and do get dressed, Emiko. Don't make this harder than it is. I'm giving a speech in a while, and I want you to be there."

He walked out the door. I heard the lock click into place.

Tears welled up in my eyes again as I took the bobbypin out of my hair and proceeded to pick the lock on my window. Damn you. Damn you and everything I thought that maybe we could once again be.

oOo

The Pohuai Stronghold was a medium-sized fortress near the Ruins of Taku. It was a supposedly terrifying place mad up of multiple stone walls surrounding a massive pagoda tower in the center of the base. It housed its own prisons and was a major supply depot for the Fire Nation armies. Three sets of thirty-foot-high walls surrounded it, complete with watchtowers connected every one hundred feet with walkways. Four giant steel gates stood between the outside and the inner sanctum.

There were several stories of the stronghold that were underground, and the captive was on the level B:7. The entire fortress held a least 1,000 soldiers, not including the Yu Yan and Imperial Guards that sometimes stayed. Three soldiers were at a post at one time, and one was never alone.

It is manageable enough. I hadn't done a mission like this in...well, never. I'd always studied and practiced on how to infiltrate strongholds, find prisoners, release them...but I'd never actually done it. So I cleared my mind. I looked at everything like prey. Nothing else mattered.

One unlucky man had decided to leave his post early, down in B:7. He had no idea what was happening as four perfectly-thrown daggers embedded themselves into the wall behind him, trapping his thick bear-boar hide uniform to the wall. He was not able to speak or move, and then I simply moved on, no emotion or concern filling me. His replacement, exactly on time, spotted the trussed man, though, and I had to make quick work of him, knocking off his helmet and making a slight bit more noise than I really wanted.

One man came, and I silenced him with a burst of fire, knocking him down easily. He fought back and I didn't like that. I didn't like that at all. Three daggers trapped him to the floor, and out he went, much like a flame.

Alas, I had made more noise and two more men were starting to round the corner. I knew that these men were the last guarding the prisoner's door so I jumped up, grasping a grate above me, pulling myself up to be flat against the ceiling. It wasn't even twenty seconds before the men were directly below me and I fell, flattening them beneath me.

Two sets of rope, gags, and daggers later, I moved ahead, turning the corner to see a man knocked out beside the door. I didn't do that. I leaned up to grasp the wood that held a lighting scone, pulling myself up to hide against the black of the stone walls, waiting for the intruder to show himself.

This is my mission, was a thought in my one-way brain, my eyes narrowing as I listened harder, for any sort of struggle. I heard the prisoner's voice, asking whomever was in there who he was, what was going on. I waited patiently as the door slowly creaked open before I fell in front of the intruders, looking each one in the eyes.

The prisoner was a small boy, pale, with an Airbending Master's tattoo, dressed in rough, old Airbender clothing. The supposed savior was tall, wearing nothing but black and a strange blue and white mask.

I quickly produced two throwing daggers from practically nowhere, setting myself down, ready to fight for the Avatar. I've worked too hard to let some stranger take this boy away from Zuko. The man pulled out two Dual Dao Swords, and I switched her mind into fighting-mode, instantly remembering what they were, and what their weaknesses were. Dao Swords are moderately curved and single-edged, though often with few inches of the back edge sharpened as well; the moderate curve allows them to be reasonably effective in the thrust. Hilts are canted, curving in the opposite direction as the blade which improves handling in some forms of cuts and thrusts. Cord is usually wrapped over the wood of the handle. His grip was flimsy, the cord doing nothing for it. Too bad for him.

I quickly threw my daggers at him, making him push the prisoner behind him and use his swords as shields. He moved more defensively, then, which was a good thing to remember. I pulled out a close-range dagger and parried one of his defensive strokes, ducking as he finally attacked, and rushed at him from below.

Caught off-guard, the man—because he had to be a man by his shape and build—brought down the hilts of the swords to hit me on the back of the head, but I rolled away before he possibly could. I swung my arms around, to attempt to dislodge his grip, but I had miscalculated his grasp and he instead took a hold of my wrist, the other sword already in the other hand.

Angered, I swung my other arm around to hit him up under the mask, but he deflected, rolling me over to pin me to the floor. He brought the hilt of the swords up again, one more time, but I was already prepared with a single dagger to his middle. I didn't want to wound him, but if he made me, then I would. I only had one task and that was to capture the prisoner.

He looked at me through the mask, and I noticed that, although both eyes were a dark, cloudy topaz, one was squinted, different than the other. I could see that now, and it pained me to put the dagger I held on the floor, letting my legs relax, as well as the rest of my body. He didn't let me go for a moment, though, and I turned her head to the side, exposing my neck and allowing him any chance to immobilize me.

Damn it, Zuko, I thought as my heart raced in my chest. You weren't supposed to be here. This is my gift to you, idiot! Please don't recognize me. I was similarly wearing all black but I wasn't wearing some theatrical mask over my face. Just a soldier's mask held by a string around the back of my head and a hood over my hair.

He didn't recognize me, nor did he disable me. He slowly got up, looking at me warily as he backed away, still not giving me any chance to attack back. I just stayed there, even as he took away my prisoner, even as they were both out of sight.

Finally, after checking my surroundings one more time, I got up. Leaving the shadows, I shook my head and stepped around the soldiers, kicking their feet out of my way in anger as I passed. Damn it!

oOo

I felt closed in inside the walled fortress, in the hallways, even on a balcony. The walls surrounding the place were so...impenetrable. The inside wasn't, as I'd seen by escaping my temporary prison for an hour to find out that Zuko already had had a plan to get Aang out and I'd endangered my freedom for nothing. Still, I'd been back in enough time to pretend to be asleep when Isamu came by with a walking death trap.

At the moment I was walking five steps behind my father while Isamu and father's scribe trolled behind me. I was listening to my father blabber on and on while trying to plaster on a smile, which was difficult, because when I was thinking I tended to bite my lip and frown a lot. "I want a full transcription of my speech sent to the Fire Lord, along with glowing testimonials from all of the ranking officers present, and—"

He cut himself off and listened intently. Shit. Forgot that I left these men down here. Hope they used the restroom before their shifts. It had been about an hour since I'd tried—and failed—to get the Avatar out.

Zhao had stopped in the middle of the hallway, just listening. Now I heard it too, and I quickly followed my father as he started rushing down the hall. At least four soldiers were lying on the floor or trussed up on the wall, unconscious or screaming behind their gags.

Oh, look, my father has a vein just like Zuko's that pops out when he's angry, I thought with a small frown, before I figured that I needed an alibi.

My father then slammed open the door to the prison cell with the loudest thunder strike that I had ever heard. I peeked inside, underneath his arm, and saw that it was empty, except for a frog that croaked at him from the floor.

My father's face when he turned to look at me made me throw my hands up in defense. "I was locked in a room!"

"So help me, Emiko, if I find out that your hands were in on this—"

I made a small cross over my heart, my other hand still in the air. "I didn't help the Avatar escape, cross my heart and hope my face gets stolen by Koh!" It wasn't a lie because I actually hadn't helped the Avatar escape. I'd been about to but I hadn't had to. Hopefully Zuko will get the Avatar out before anything happens. "So," I drawled, "should we hold off on sending that speech to the Fire Lord?"

My father was actually a great soldier. He led his men ruthlessly and knew how to delegate. I learned this as we all ran and my father started spewing out words to Isamu and I—me, like I was going to help him find the intruder and locate the Avatar for him! Father's page—whose name I refused to actually learn because he was a little weasel—took notes in case either of us missed an order.

We ran to the top of the middle wall, so as to be able to see everything inside and outside of the encampment. I was sent to run missives to my father's underlings like some kind of messenger hawk—I hated to tell him but none of his missives would be sent. In fact, I was going to try and stall as many men as I could. I was going to sabotage the two innermost door mechanisms so that no men could get to the outer wall, where I assumed Zuko and Aaang were at that point in time. At least, I hoped that that was where they were.

One of my father's lead underlings ran by. "Lieutenant!"

He did a double-take at me and stopped running towards my father. He looked defensive, though. I recognized him as a man I'd knocked out and then took all his clothes. Sorry, I thought sincerely. "Yes ma'am?"

"Lieutenant, take as many men as you can and search the pagoda. There's an intruder. Admiral's orders." Father had wanted me to send the men to the outer wall. Sorry, Dad, I could've sworn you said to send them inward...

He looked at me warily but didn't argue my orders. I looked official and everything with the walking death trap I was wearing and my hair up and pretty. Isamu had picked everything out himself. I should be worried that my "future husband" has better fashion sense than I do. "Yes, ma'am."

As soon as he was gone, I ran to the mechanism room of the innermost wall. "Sergeant," I said to the man in charge, "the Admiral needs you in the pagoda. An intruder broke some mechanisms in B:7 and they need to be fixed ASAP."

The man was much older and seemed to know that I wasn't exactly telling the truth. He stroked his grizzly beard and asked, "And where's my replacement, eh?" I pointed at myself innocently. He laughed. "Yeah, right! Like you know how to work the gates!"

I looked over the mechanisms, remembering how they worked from Iroh's schematics. Unfortunately, they apparently had been outdated and I was staring at a newer-model door than he had last time he'd visited. Still, it looked similar. "This looks like a slightly older version of the T-83 Earthdoor, right?"

The man looked shocked. "T-84, but...yeah. How'd you—"

I waved him off. "Not important. What's important is that I know how to function a slightly older model and you're gonna be out of a job if you don't go and do your job! Get it?" He nodded. "Got it?" He nodded again. "Good, then go!"

I'd never seen a fat man run so fast. I only took a minute to enjoy the sweat he'd endured before I let him through the gate (somehow, I wasn't sure what all the nobs did exactly) and closed it behind him. Rather than try and take things apart, I just set fire to everything I saw. Wires, gears, and controls melted under my hands. It would take hours, if not days, to get that door open. One door down, one to go.

I was halfway up to the second wall again when the alarm sounded. Thank Agni, they're in the third courtyard!. I cursed and tore my dress so that I could take longer strides as I ran. The man in the room was getting ready to open the door for dozens of soldiers to come through. I couldn't let that happen. He only had a second to protest me being in there when the hilt of my dagger struck him across the back of the head. Sorry! I'm so sorry!

The gears, controls, everything in that room got the same treatment as the one previously. Then I pulled the technician out of the room and melted the door in place so no one could get in. I could hear fighting on the other side of the wall so I made my way out through the pedestrian exit—before I melted it closed, as well.

It was a battlefield of hurt soldiers, lost helmets, and ladders as soldiers tried to get the Avatar and his buddy. I zoned in on the bright orange-and-yellow-clad boy as he and Zuko—or "the Blue Spirit" as I then dubbed his alter-ego—fell from almost making it over the third wall. The few men who were there started to shoot fire out at them. "No!" I stepped in and tripped them all with a wave of fire, knocking all of them back and away from Zuko and Aang.

"Hold your fire!" I could hear from the top of the second wall. My father was standing there, unable to get down, because I'd blocked all entry and exit from that side of the stronghold. "The Avatar must be captured alive!"

The Blue Spirit instantly came up behind Aang and crossed his swords in front of the Avatar's throat, just like I would have done, had my father given away some kind of crucial information such as that.

I then stepped gently forwards, pushing back the white silk dress that he had gotten for me (which was pretty nice, if I did say so myself, and I was sad to be about to mess it up more). I was the only one even close to being near where the Avatar was with Zuko. Other soldiers were still trying to run to our spot or trying to get down from the third battlement.

"I have to admit, stranger…I was amazed that you made it this far," I said tensely, tilting my head to the side to see if I could see something beneath the mask. It covered everything, even the color of the perpetrator's eyes underneath. Good. No one will know who he is. "And I'm glad you have. I need you to get me out of here. Make this look real, alright?"

The man shoved the Avatar behind him as he took a fighting stance. I exhaled, glad that Zuko understood.

Instead of Firebending, though, like the other man was not going to do, I pulled out my twin daggers. I was woefully outmatched—something that would save me from persecution later if Zhao ever found me again. Zuko positioned his broadswords in response. I never took him as a dao swordsman. His stance seemed hesitant—he was obviously confused as to why I was there in the first place.

I knew that I would have to make the first move, so I moved closer and jabbed. I had more up-close-and-personal advantage and he had distance; if I could get in closer I would have more of a chance. He was very off-balance, because when he parried and moved to attack, I easily dodged his mediocre move and cut a long slash on the forehead of his mask, making another in the next second, so that a large X was between his eyes. He stood back, stunned.

It didn't take long for him to regain composure, though, and we thrust our weapons at each other. Seeing as how he had two swords and I had two longer-than-usual-but-still-short daggers, he had the upper hand. Slowly but steadily, he forced me back. I started to panic, anxiety welling up inside of me, because it reminded me of when Barker had been attacking me, and it made everything build up inside until I was ready to burst.

I knew that it was Zuko, though. It was Zuko under that mask and he wouldn't hurt me. Unless he thinks you're a traitor, a small voice in the back of my head said. That voice didn't help the anxiety bubbling in my chest.

When I saw my chance, I thrust a dagger at him. But he was two steps ahead of me. He used his two blades to catch my dagger and seize it from my hands. After I was left with only one dagger, he used his leg in a roundhouse kick that almost threatened to knock me out, but then...

Zuko

What in Koh's name was Emiko thinking?! How in the world had Zhao captured her again, how had she let him, how had she gotten off the ship! At first, he'd been too shocked to move, but now he was furious, even if he did feel bad as he knocked her onto her back.

The temperature instantly dropped at least twenty degrees in that instant. Time seemed to stand still—even the Avatar was holding his breath. Color drained from the world. Zuko could see his breath in front of him.

Down on the ground, where Zuko had left Emiko for unconscious, he saw her stir. If he could just get her out safely, as well as the Avatar... Damn her for ruining this!

She slowly sat up, using one hand to rub at her head where it had impacted the hard ground. It took her a moment to open her eyes, and when she did, Zuko couldn't believe his own. Her fair skin started glowing, making it almost translucent, and her eyes were a bright, evil red. She stood up, all emotion completely gone from her face, from her body...everything.

He flashed back to think of the hooded figure who had attacked him earlier. Her eyes had looked exactly the same. Her skin had glowed behind the mask. Emiko...what are you?

Somehow she got up off the ground without using any actual effort and she looked at him with those emotionless red eyes. He felt a very, very bad feeling coming over him. It was only amplified when she screamed in fury, spinning around as she created a circle of colorful fire around them.

Zuko blocked all of the fire that he could with his Dao swords, feeling them heating up under his hands. He worried for a moment that she might melt them, what with the power and heat that she put behind it, but the fire suddenly stopped. He took a moment to look at her enraged, empty face over his crossed swords. He hadn't seen that kind of look on her face, ever. It was full of confusion and fear—fear of what was happening, fear as her normal eyes pleaded with him to stop whatever was happening to her.

She started to fire at him again, making him lose his ground, and he thought that all would be lost because she had betrayed him. But, just as he had thought about that, just as she was about to deal the final blow, her body lost its glow and the temperature returned to normal. The last thing that was as it should have been were her eyes, which for a moment were confused, with a little bit of pure horror. Her legs started shaking underneath her and Zuko reached forwards to catch her before she could fall and hurt herself even more. He then grabbed the Avatar and put them side-by-side in front of each other. Then he crossed his swords in front of the both of them.

A few men surrounded him, all looking incredibly scared as they advanced, unsure of how to proceed. Zhao wouldn't let the Avatar be hurt, though—or his little prize. While Zuko didn't know what Emiko was to that man, he was sure that the Admiral didn't want her hurt.

Behind him, the gate slowly groaned open. The Blue Spirit backed out with his captives, swords still at their throats.

Isamu

He couldn't believe that Zhao had just let them leave. Emiko was...well, for lack of a better word, his, and Zhao should have known to keep her near. The Admiral had thought that sending the girl on errands would keep her safe—now she was being taken by a thief who was ruining both of their careers.

He went to stand behind his superior, soon to be his father-in-law, in the right tower above the gates. "How could you let them go?" Isamu knew more than anyone that the Admiral was not a letting-go kind of man.

Zhao smiled wickedly, that smile that made Isamu feel insecure. "A situation like this requires precision."

The Blue Spirit continued to back away from the fortress, his promotion and his soon-to-be-wife still captured.

"Do you have a clear shot?" Zhao asked one of his Yu Yan Archers, who didn't respond, but lowered his head in preparation for his shot. "Knock out the thief. I'll deliver him to the Fire Lord along with the Avatar…and then I'll marry off my daughter."

Isamu watched the exhausted girl stumble away. She wasn't even fighting back. What is she doing? He'd worried about her, while she'd been fighting him, but that power...what had it been? He wanted to ask the Admiral about it but even the man looked haunted. It wasn't the right time to ask.

The archer waited a moment longer before he released his arrow, which hit its target directly. The Avatar turned around to Airbend a huge cloud of dust around him, the Blue Spirit, and Emiko.

Emiko

I heard Zhao yelling at his men, even though I couldn't see him or them. "Quick! Recover the Avatar!" he was yelling over and over. I was just hoping that he wouldn't yell, "Quick, recover my daughter!"

The main gate opened and a crowd Fire Nation soldiers emerged, running towards the dust cloud. I could see that much, at least. There would have been more but it seemed that my sabotage had worked. I didn't have time or the want to celebrate, though—I was dazed, my head hurt, and I'd blackened out for at least five minutes while fighting with Zuko.

I worried about the oncoming men, and Aang looked at me as if I were crazy. "You don't have time," I said harshly, pushing him down the path. "Go! Leave! I'll take care of him." I leaned down and grabbed Zuko under the arms, but it was very, very difficult to move the dead weight. And, as I was moving him, the blue mask simply...fell.

Familiar black hair spilled over my hands, and I looked up at Aang in worry. Zuko was lying, unconscious in my arms, and I couldn't do anything to save either of us. I wasn't strong enough, I was just a little girl, I needed help, and I was so tired...

Zhao

He saw absolutely nothing. It didn't matter that this...this thing had stolen his once chance at glory, but it had gone one step further and had stolen his daughter away again. His daughter who was staring to show symptoms like her mother.

Isamu beside him was fidgeting like a lost puppy, and he cupped the man upside the ear.

"I told you to keep an eye on her," he growled at the man, hating the way he quivered under Zhao's stare. "She is your responsibility, Captain, and you just let her..." Zhao pushed his soon-to-be-son-in-law away from him, angered at not only Isamu's incompetence but also his own.

He gripped the railing, almost breaking it, as a frog hopped up onto the railing and croaked in his face. He looked at it, thinking that perhaps he would toast the frog to a crisp, but it croaked again and jumped down, leaving him alone.

Fitting.