Chapter Three
Sarafina awoke with a pounding pain in her head. She looked around and groggily said to herself, "Where am I?" then the events of that morning all came rushing back to her. She immediately started launching fireballs at the bars to the small cell. It did no good, the metal stood as sturdy as ever. She tried the same thing with the walls. That didn't work either. "Let me out of here, you gutless worms!" she shouted, giving breath to a burst of fire from her mouth in frustration.
A few moments later she heard the clunking of boots and Prince Zuko stood outside the cell, looking in on his prisoner. "You're not going anywhere. I'm keeping you right here, then I can turn in you and the Avatar. I'll be welcomed back with open arms."
Sarafina snorted. "Yeah, open arms to strangle the life out of you. Face it, Prince. Your father hates you. The sooner you accept that the less miserable you'll be."
"You know nothing of what my father thinks of me." Zuko snarled. "What would you know, all you are is a disgraceful run-away."
"And you're just a banished prince." Sarafina replied airily. Zuko shot her a look of hate, then stomped back up on deck.
"Fine, be that way." Sarafina said to herself. She paced the cell a few times, looking for some way to escape. There were no windows, the only light came from the open trap door that led from below decks up into the sunshine. The cell was placed in a corner, and all the space around it was taken up by barrels of food and water. Which by the way she wouldn't mind having some of. She sighed and slumped in a corner. Above her she heard the stomp of the rhino she had commandeered from the Firenation general. She ran her fingers through her sleek black hair, something she often did when trying to find her way out of predicaments, which she was in quite often.
General Iroh came down and slid a plate and a wooden cup between the bars. "Mmm, stale bread and river water. My favorite." Sarafina said sarcasticly as she picked up the meager offering and retreated back to the far corner.
"Be happy you got anything at all." Iroh replied. "My nephew doesn't seem to like you much."
"He really doesn't seem to like anyone much." Sarafina said around a mouthfull of bread.
"It really isn't his fault. He's been through a lot. You see…"
"Yeah, I know the story." Sarafina said. "I guess I'd be a bit messed up to if my father burned half my face off after trying to do something right. But of course I ditched before my father could do something stupid. He always wanted me to be loyal to my nation. It's kinda hard to do when its so screwed up."
"At least you understand." Iroh said. Then his voice dropped to a whisper. "You know, if it was up to me, I'd just let you go on your way. But its not. I'll try to get you some better food tonight."
"Well thanks, but I don't need your sympathy." Sarafina replied, pushing the empty plate and cup back through the bars. Iroh picked them up and shrugged.
"Ah well. I can't say I didn't try." He then walked back upstairs, leaving Sarafina to herself again. She took to pacing, every once in a while a fireball would ignite in her hand out of frustration. She tried slamming herself against the bars, but that only resulted in a heavily bruised shoulder. A few hundred paces and quite a few fireballs later, Sarafina slumped to the ground, admiting to herself that this place was escape proof. She curled up in a ball and fell into a deep slumber.
When Sarafina awoke, the sky outside was turning a dusky shade of grey. There was a plate of leftover scraps and a cup of water just inside the bars. Sarafina made quick work of the small meal and once again took to pacing.
"Are you hoping you'll wear a hole in the floor?" came a voice from the far wall. Sarafina looked up to see Zuko's amber eyes whatching her through the shadowy half-darkness.
" 'Tis better than nothing." Sarafina replied, glaring icyly at the prince.
"You're not getting out of this cell."
"Wanna bet?"
"I didn't come down here to argue." Zuko said, taking a step closer to the bars. "I just… I just wanted to know why you hate the Firenation so much. I would do anything to be accepted by them, and you seem to go out of your way to make them hate you."
"I could never live the way I wanted to in the Firenation." Sarafina began. "I was always having to follow orders. When I was 13 I 'disrespected' a Firenation admiral and, like you, I was fourced into an Agni-Kai. But I won. I ground his ass to a pulp. He would have died had they not pulled me away. I was beaten and fourced into three years of hard labor. When they finally let me go, they tried to make me join the Firenavy. They said my Firebending skills were fantastic. But why would I after they made the last three years of my life a living hell? I declined and continued living the oppressed life of a Firenation civilian.
I saw your Agni-Kai with your father. It just added to my rage against the Firenation. It made me angry that someone could do that to their own son." Sarafina paused and looked down. "I never knew my father, he was killed in the war before I was born." There was a long pause, and both Zuko and Sarafina where silent, each thinking about the hardships with their fathers. Then Sarafina continued.
"After that I had taken to helping prisoners of war escape. But of course I was caught. This time I was beaten and chucked in prison. They thought I would rot there. But I escaped and took off. Ever since I have been living as my own person, and of course theiving from and causing trouble in the Firenation ever chance I get."
"I saw the bag you had stolen from the Firenation camp." Zuko said, tossing said bag up and down in his hand. He let it fall to the ground and a dozen or so rubies spilled out. Sarafina smiled slightly as she recalled the events of last night.
"They were camping outside an Earthnation village, waiting for nightfall so they could sneak in and kidnap an important leader to the Earthnation. They had stolen the rubies from a traveler, so I took the liberty of stealing them back. I was about on my way to find the poor old man they stole them from and return his property when you showed up."
"I'm sure he'll live without them." Zuko said, picking up the leather pouch and pocketing the rubies. Sarafina didn't reply, just shot him an icy glare.
"Well, I'll leave you to sleep. Tommorow we are stopping at a village so my uncle can buy some tea and then we're continuing the search for the Avatar." With that he left, leaving Sarafina in the growing darkness. She curled up in the corner and fell asleep, wondering what tomorrow would bring.