"You are a waterbender!" Rose exclaimed, taking the girl's silence as an answer.
"I… er… um…." The waterbender in question replied, looking around frantically for an escape.
"The lady's garden!" a voice said, very close to where the two teens were standing.
"Oh!" Rose said, inspecting the waterbender. "I suppose it was you who started that fight?"
Not giving her a chance to reply, Rose pushed the girl through another hedge. "Stay here!" she whispered urgently, turning to face the two fully-armored Fire Nation soldiers that were coming through the garden gate.
"What is the meaning of this!" Rose asked haughtily, giving the men a fierce glare. "How dare you disturb the peace of my garden!"
The two men exchanged a surprised look. Whatever it was they had expected, it certainly hadn't been Rose in a temper. One of them managed to stutter "S-sorry for the intrusion, milady, but there is a, erm, criminal in the area, and we, ah, thought…"
"And therein lies the problem!" she interrupted. "You thought! Soldiers are not supposed to think, simply do what they are ordered! And were you ordered to intrude upon my tea?" she asked, raising a single, finely carved brow.
"Well no…"
"Then I hereby order you to leave! And unless a real crisis occurs, I never want to see you in my garden again!"
The soldiers exchanged another look, then saluted and jogged swiftly out the gate.
Sighing in relief, Rose leaned on the sturdy hedge. "You can come out now…" she whispered, pushing her near-black hair behind her ears and closing her golden eyes.
"Thanks." The waterbender murmured, shoving through the thick branches. "But…"
"What?" Rose replied, opening her eyes to look at the other girl.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"I'm… nobody important." Rose replied. "Why are you here, in the fine town of Suden?" she asked, trying to change the subject.
The girl noticed her attempt, and decided not to press her question. After all, the stranger had just saved her life. But that didn't mean that she had to be totally honest either. "I'm here for… business. My name is Areah, by the way."
"Rose." The other teen replied, smiling. "Where are you headed, Areah?"
Relieved that Rose hadn't inquired the type of business she had been doing. To put it lightly, the business hadn't exactly been legal. "I'm headed for Omashu."
"Oh good!" Rose said simply, grinning.
Areah was suddenly suspicious of the other girl's motives. "Oh good… what?"
"I shall come with you."
"Oh no you wont!"
"What makes you think you can stop me?"
"Just because you saved me, I will NOT drag you along. I have other business that needs to be taken care of!"
"I can make you take me…"
"Oh yeah?" Areah replied sarcastically, "You and what army?"
"The army on the other side of town. They are currently occupied, dealing with some sort of rebellion, but I'm sure they could spare some time to help the daughter of the Fire Lord's closest advisor…."
All color drained from Areah's face.
A/N: Alrighty, this is indeed my first attempt at a fan fiction. I would forever appreciate your reviews and words of advice, and I want to let you know that I don't believethat there can betoo much critisim. So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review. I am forever obliged!