The loud rumble of thunder rose Rei from her unconscious thoughts. She opened her eyes and lifted herself into a seated upright position. She rubbed her drowsy eyes and stretched her arms out. She gazed around her room and was surprised to see that it was still enveloped in the darkness of night. However, the atmosphere had a tinge of a red hue, giving the room a darkened reddish look. Rei could feel in her gut that something wasn't right.

Suddenly, the ship groaned and rocked violently to one side as if it was hit by an enormous object. Rei was knocked backwards against the wall, hitting her head on the metallic surface. The wall rung out in a hollow thunk when Rei's head collided with it. Rei groaned and rubbed the back of her head to sooth the resulting painful throbbing. As she recovered from her rude awakening, Rei could hear sounds emitting from the outside corridor. There was panicked yelling laced with urgency and the stomping of boots as people ran by her door. Rei immediately jumps out of bed but is pulled back by her hand wrappings, which were caught on the edge of her cot. She fumbled with the wrappings on her hands from the night before and release them for whatever threat that lies ahead. The cloth wrappings fell to the floor, exposing her red hands. Rei's hands stung from exposure to the cool night air but she didn't have time to stop and think about the pain, so she quickly threw on her shoes and dashed out the door.

Rei felt as if she stepped dead-center into a warzone. The air echoed with terrified yelling and the hissing of steam leaking from broken pipes. Soldiers ran past her towards the main deck in a flood of panic. One man bumped into Rei as he was running, and looked back at her with a look of pure terror on his face. He continued running with the crowd towards the surface of the ship. The ship groaned once more and jerked to the other side, sending Rei and other soldiers flying to the other side of the ship. Rei slammed face-first into the metal floor, knocking the breath out of her lungs. She gasped for air, struggling to pick herself up from the unexpected fall. As she stood up, the other personnel were already on their feet and running towards the exit. Rei tried to get some of their attention, trying to get any information of the events that have come to pass but none of them seemed to notice her. The group of soldiers acted from the same hive mind, all of them led by their own terror. Seeing no point in attempting to communicate with the swarm of people, Rei rose to her feet and ran with the crowd.

The swarm of people pulsed with panic, people pushing and shoving others to get ahead of whatever made them so fearful. Rei looked back and could only see darkness as well as the figures of other soldiers running to catch up with the crowd. Rei was puzzled because she didn't believe that this many people were on this ship. Suddenly, she hears a short, animalistic sound. It was a familiar, short quack. She turned her head to the side and saw the most absurd thing. She saw a turkeyduck running on its short, stubby legs along with the crowd.

"...Mr. Quabbles?" Rei whispered.

Mr. Quabbles gave Rei a look and made a deep, guttural sound before flapping its wings and running ahead. She looked around and the people who were running past her were no longer fire nation soldiers, but common villagers. Rei was dumbfounded and slowed down to a stop. Villagers bumped into her as they ran past until Rei was thrown completely off her feet. Rei grunted and once again fell face-first into the ground. As she picked herself up onto all fours, Rei discovered she was no longer on the ship but on solid earth. The soil crumbled between her fingers and foliage crunching beneath her weight. Suddenly, a long shadow creeped up in front of her which prompted her to look up. A tall, menacing figure loomed over her, shadows masking his face. Rei immediately leaned backwards away from the threat whilst still being on the ground.

"Who are you?" Rei yelled. "Leave me alone!"

The figure leaned forward, revealing a face Rei instantly recognized as belonging to Zhao. He bore a sickening, twisted grin that made Rei's stomach churl. His armor gleamed in the firelight of her beloved village blazing in the background, casting shadows across Zhao's already menacing face. He had his hands clasped behind his back, giving way to his militaristic posture and overall mightier-than-thou presence. He took a step forward, which Rei reacted to by scooching backwards on the ground. She leaned as far back as she could, desperately trying to put as much space between her and Zhao.

"Oh, you didn't think you'd truly get away from me, did you?" He said in a dangerously silky voice.

Zhao reached out towards Rei, who swiped her arm in a flurry of motion from side-to-side as she scooched even further away from the commander. "No! Get away from me!" She screamed.

"You will never escape...:" Zhao replied, reaching further towards Rei.

Rei quickly grabbed some dirt and threw it up at Zhao's face, predominantly at his eyes. The man grabbed his face and hissed in pain. Rei took her chance to jump up to her feet and bolted away from Zhao. She could hear him yell curses from behind, shouting that he would find her again. Her feet stomped on the ground, crunching the fallen foliage as she sprinted. It was clear that she was going against the flow of fleeing villagers as they ran towards her but she dodged them all, running as fast as she possibly could. Her heart pounded fiercely in her ears, drowning out the villagers' screams and the blazing of fire with her own fear. The more villagers that passed by her however, the less villagers Rei recognized. The later villagers were dressed in increasingly foreign clothes, ranging in colors from bright orange to yellow and ranging in style from traditional pants and shirts to voluminous robes. Rei noticed that some of the older villagers that passed her had some pale blue markings on their bodies. Were they...airbending tattoos?

Suddenly, something bumped right into Rei. Both of them stumbled and gazed at each other. Rei stared back the person who collided with her and was entranced, almost by a mysterious magic of underlying déjà-vu. She was gazing at a young, blond girl dressed in bright orange skirts and shawl with colorful mountain flowers in her hair. The girl had a long, blue streak in her hair, giving her a somewhat kooky look. It was as if time had stood still for their encounter with each other. Her sky-blue eyes peered back into Rei's own for a brief moment, with a glimmer of slight recognition before she snapped back to the panic at hand and ran off with the rest of the fleeing villagers. Rei turned towards the young girl, who joined the tail-end of the crowd.

"No, wait!" Rei cried out.

The mysterious young girl disappeared into the setting sun along with the last of the crowd, leaving Rei shrouded in shadows. Rei reached out her arms and felt around her, unable to see anything in the pitch blackness. She called out for someone, anyone to help her. Suddenly, in the moment of uncertain darkness, a great wall of flame roared in front of Rei, knocking her backwards from sheer surprise. Leaning backwards on her palms, Rei shielded her eyes with one arm as her vision adjusts to the sudden illumination from the wall of fire. The immense heat emitting from the wall burned, as if her front side was slowly being roasted over a cooking flame. When her eyes adjusted to the light, Rei noticed that there was a shadow of a man's silhouette sitting cross-legged at the opposite side of the wall. The silhouette sat upon an elevated platform, making Rei crane her head up in order to see it. Rei slowly began to stand up, gazing upwards at the strange silhouette, who faced forward towards the endless darkness beyond the wall.

The man suddenly whipped his head in her direction with the wall of fire blazing even higher in reaction. The man pointed an arm in Rei's direction, muttering "Airbender" in a low, inhuman voice. Fire gathered at the man's arm, forming a wave of flames. Rei backed up, but not in time to get away from the vortex of fire streaming towards her. Rei crumbled to the ground, helpless, as she screamed in absolute terror.


Rei jolted upright in her bed with an audible gasp, amidst a knocking on her door. The voice on the other side announced that it was time to get up, so Rei gave a short acknowledgement before leaning sideways onto the wall beside her cot. Rei panted, trying to catch her breath from the immense fright of her dream. Sweat dripped down from her brow and back onto an already profusely damp spot on her cot as she struggled to catch her breath. What the fuck was that all about? She thought, trying to make sense of the previous night's nightmare. She could understand her dreaming about the day of the raid on her village, but just about everything else baffled her beyond comprehension. Who was that girl she saw in her dream and why did she look so...familiar? And who was the man behind that wall of fire? Rei shook her head, she couldn't sit in bed all day deciphering dreams. She looked down at her palms and noticed that the wrappings had fallen off, exposing her angry burns. Her hands were painfully swollen, making it cumbersome for Rei to even take the covers off of her body.

Rei walked over to the wash basin and ran some cold water. As the basin filled, Rei examined at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were puffy and held a purple undertone, announcing to anyone who happens upon her face that she didn't wake up feeling well-rested that morning. Her skin glistened with long, sticky streaks of sweat, reflecting sunlight beaming in from the porthole beside her bed. Rei craned her neck to the side and inspected her other burn mark on her neck. The wound was healing well. The redness of the wound was receding to a concentrated area while the more recovered areas have begun to peel. The prominent thumbprint that was burnt directly gripping the base of her throat had finally faded which gave Rei a moment of satisfaction. She felt better knowing that she could look at her reflection and not be distracted by his hand. What a fucking creep.

When the wash basin was filled with water, Rei bent down to soak her burnt palms. The cold water was quite soothing for the burning sensation in her hands, which made Rei moan in satisfaction. After soaking for a few minutes, Rei also took the opportunity to wash her face and other sweaty areas with a nearby wash cloth. She took extra time to make sure that her face and back were free from the gross stickiness of sweat. She dried herself off with a towel and proceeded to let her hair down and brush it. She decided that today she would wear her hair up in a ponytail with two loose sections of hair caressing her face. She was quite satisfied with her appearance this morning.

Rei looked around the room for another set of clothes, since the outfit she was wearing from the day before is now a mass of stickiness from sweat. She was almost certain there was another pair of fire nation clothes somewhere, certainly she wouldn't be given only a single pair of clothes. She saw her earth nation clothes in a heap in the corner of the room, but she didn't want to put them on and stick out from the rest of the crew. Gods knew how much she stood out already.

Rei checked in a chest that was placed at the foot of her cot, presumably standard issue for the other soldiers here and surely enough, she saw another set of clothes folded in a neat stack. She took the clothes gratefully, mentally giving herself a note that she should look for where to do laundry later on. She quickly slips out of her old outfit and put on her new clothes, which were the same red and black uniform design of the previous outfit. She liked how loose it was on her body. She never liked tight-fitting clothes anyways, they made her feel constricted. Plus, the enhancement of her curves made her feel a bit uncomfortable with the village boys sniggering from the sidelines.

Her thoughts returned to the nightmare from the night before, and of the young girl she encountered within it. She couldn't help but feel some sort of long-lost familiarity with the girl, even though she knows that she's never encountered her before in her life. The girl even shared the same crystal-blue eyes Rei has. It made Rei wonder...

Rei let the thought slide, and proceeded to wrap her palms in a new set of cloth. They felt better since the night before, but the burns were still somewhat swollen and sensitive. She was grateful that the burns were concentrated more on her palms since she could still use her fingers without exerting much pain. She would have to wait a little bit before trying to airbend again unfortunately, but she thought it was best to wait a bit anyways at least until Iroh's suspicions ceased. When her palms were all wrapped up, Rei brushed off her new clothes and took one last look in the basin mirror before stepping out of her room.

The hallway was busy with people, as one would expect. Busy crew members filled the halls on their way to their respective posts or to the mess hall for some breakfast. It seemed that everyone had somewhere specific to be this morning. Rei followed the line of people on their way to the mess hall, absently trying to decipher her nightmare. She stifled a yawn as she walked, fully knowing that she was going to be utterly exhausted the entire day. Someone bumped into her side and made her jolt, which turned out to be a smiling Kugo.

"Ay how's it going, sleepyhead?" Kugo inquired, nudging Rei's side with his elbow.

Rei was knocked off-balance from the force of Kugo's nudges, and struggled awkwardly to stand upright. "I'm ok, just tired is all." She replied.

"Aw don't worry, you'll get used to the early mornings. It's my favourite time of the day!" Kugo boomed, slapping Rei on the back.

"You're a morning person, then?" Rei responded absentmindedly.

"Naw, I'm a meal person!" Kugo laughed.

The two of them continued down the corridor with the other crew members. When they arrived at the mess hall, the room was as packed as one would expect. Rei and Kugo joined the lineup of people assembled along the wall. Rei saw that Pho-Jin was mid-way through the lineup with a small scowl on his face. Or maybe that was just...how he wore his own face. Rei wondered what it would be like to see the man smile. Judging from the surrounding crew members seated at the benches, this morning's meal would be a mushy porridge-like substance. The appearance of the food didn't seem to faze Kugo in the least, who was eagerly reaching for a bowl of the mysterious slop. As the pair got their meals, Kugo and Rei walked towards the small group of people they sat with the previous night.

Rei sat next to Pho-Jin, across from Kugo. Two other men sat with the group, one on each side of the table. Kugo seemed to be the only one who was enthusiastic about the meal set in front of them since he was eagerly stuffing his face right when he sat down. Rei said a short "hello" to Pho-Jin, who grunted in response as he continued to pick at his slop. She took a gander around the table, and focused on the two men she didn't know yet.

"So...What's your guys' story?" Rei asked the two unknown men.

"Oh!" Kugo cried, slamming his spoon into his bowl. "Sorry, I forgot to introduce you guys! Rei, this here is Stitches."

Kugo gestured to the man across from Rei, who appeared to be covered in bruises and cuts. He seemed to be in his late twenties, which was young comparatively to the rest of the crew. He had shaggy, brown hair that had bits of stray hairs sticking out in every direction. Stitches lifted his head and his brown eyes connected with hers as he nodded in Rei's direction.

"Stitches?" Rei inquired.

"That's the nickname we chose for 'im since he's always gettin' himself hurt in one way or another!" Kugo roared, pointing his spoon at the man. "This guy over here is always the first one to be frozen, burned, hit, or cut. He was even the first person in a hundred years to be blown off his feet by an airbender! I dunno whether to hide behind 'im or stay as far away as possible!"

"Hey! I haven't been struck by lightning yet!" Stitches piped up, pointing a bandaged finger.

"That shouldn't be a boast!" Kugo laughed. He then gestures to the man sitting on the other side of Pho-Jin. "And this over here is hawk, who apparently likes being in the crow's nest better than in the company of most men."

The man known as hawk gave a short nod, then went back to his mush. He had jet-black hair held back in a medium-length ponytail and a short, triangle-shaped patch of facial hair on his chin. He had dark blue eyes that resembled the stormy sea, like a seismic fury held back behind a wall of silence. Rei had to guess that he didn't speak much. The majority of the men seemed to be in their mid-to-late thirties, with Pho-Jin being the exception at being in his mid-to-late forties and Stitches.

"Your nicknames are so childish." Pho-Jin grumbled. "You fall into your alter-egos and develop such a sense of non-existent grandeur, just go by the names you were given."

Pho-Jin gathered up his dishes and walked away from the table, almost eager to get away from the conversation. What was his problem? Rei wondered. She turned back to the other men at the table, who seemed unfazed by Pho-Jin's rapid retreat. Kugo turned to her with a cheeky grin.

"Ah don't mind him, he's just not a fan of the nickname we gave 'im." Kugo explained. "Ol' Sourpuss over there never really smiles."

Rei watched the older man put his dishes in the clean-up station and head towards the door, his shoulders hunched over. "But why?"

Kugo shrugged. "It's his business. If my humor isn't good enough for 'im, then that's his loss."

Stitches pipes up and asks, "What about you?"

"What about me?" Rei asks.

"Do you have any nicknames?" Stitches inquires.

Kugo slaps the table. "Yeah! What nicknames does lil' ol' Rei have?"

"Well…" Rei hesitates. "My father used to call me his little Rei of sunshine."

"That's adorable!" Stitches laughs.

Kugo points to Rei's hands. "What did the lil' Rei of sunshine to do herself, then?"

Rei almost forgot that her hands were wrapped up in cloth. She instantly retracted her hands underneath the table, hiding them from view. "Oh that. I, uh, tripped and fell on a hot pipe."

"Well how'd you manage that?" Kugo laughed. "Keep that up, and you'll be like stitches over there!"

"No one can get to this level." Stiches gestures down from his head with his hand in a diva-esque fashion.

Kugo laughs. "You know what? You need a new nickname for us to call you. I'm gunna call you 'Fumbles', since you be fumblin' around getting hurt while exploring."

"'Fumbles'? Is that set in stone?" Rei groaned.

"Already done!" Kugo exclaimed, licking the last of his meal off his bowl. "Anyways, meal time is over so we gotta report to our posts. We'll see you around, Fumbles!"

Rei sighed and waved as the rest of the group cleaned up and left for their respective posts. Rei hangs back and takes her time in cleaning up before she follows suit. She wasn't sure where she needed to be, but she assumed that she would continue reporting to Pho-Jin for her duties for the time being. She made her way out of the mess hall and into the main corridor. It was sad that the man never smiled. Rei wondered why this might be, but decided she wouldn't pry. As she walked, she bumped into Iroh.

"Good morning Rei. I hope you slept well." Iroh greeted, smiling as usual.

"Ah, could've slept better to be honest." She replied.

"Ah, I expect those burns have made sleep a bit more difficult." Iroh observed. "Would you be free for our tea this morning?"

"Oh yeah!" Rei replied, remembering his proposition from the night before.

Iroh led Rei down the hall into the room where she was questioned the day before. The setup was the same considering the questioning she endured was more like a casual tea-time conversation. Rei and Iroh sat down on cushions at the table and Iroh poured some tea for the two of them. Rei thanked Iroh and took a generous sip of tea. This time, it smelt of pomegranates and hibiscus, which was just as delicious as the tea she had before. When the pair of them had their first sips of tea, Iroh began with pleasant conversation.

"So, how are you adapting to life on the ship?" Iroh inquired.

"Pretty good so far," She replied honestly. "The people here are nice enough, and have shown surprising hospitality to me considering the circumstances."

"That is good to hear." Iroh replied. "How are those burns?"

"They're feeling a little better, a bit more swollen though." Rei replied.

"Well, as promised, I have some ointment that should help with the healing process." Iroh said, putting a small jar onto the table.

Iroh gestured for Rei's hands, and slowly began to unwrap the cloth round them. The burns still looked red but slightly less flushed. The swelling was still prominent but not to the point of turning her hands into balloons of liquid. Iroh opened the jar and started to rub a small amount into one of Rei's hands. The ointment was cooling, which soothed her burns immensely.

"This ointment is taken from the leaves of the aloe vera plant, which has many uses." Iroh explained. "It is exceptionally useful for when treating burns. It has been particularly useful for one of the crew members here, Stitches."

"Oh I met him today." Rei replied. "I hear he's always hurting himself in one way or another."

Iroh chuckled. "That is true. I gave the man a plant for his birthday, which he seems to enjoy quite a bit."

Rei laughed. It was nice to have some casual conversation with Iroh. She knew she had to keep her guard up, but there was something about the old man's presence that made her feel at ease. She had almost forgotten about his suspicion the night before after her airbending practice. Iroh finished rubbing the ointment and wrapped her burns once more with the cloth strips. He gave her the rest of the ointment in the jar for her own uses, which she accepted gratefully.

"So…I hear you have all been at sea for two years, searching for the Avatar." Rei began, hesitantly.

"Oh yes…" Iroh said quietly. "It has been a long time to be at sea, but my nephew was determined to find the Avatar."

"Why is the prince of the fire nation out looking for the Avatar anyways?" Rei asked. "Wouldn't he be needed at home for…I dunno, prince-y stuff?"

Iroh sighed. "It is a…complicated set of circumstances…"

Before Iroh could continue, a door was knocked open and slammed against the wall. Zuko came stomping into the room, flustered as per usual. He was dressed in a long robe instead of his usual armor, which was somewhat odd for Rei to see. It was kinda amusing actually to see the young prince dressed as casually as he is now. She stifled a giggle as Zuko made his way to the table.

"Uncle! What are you doing? We don't have time to waste on having tea with the stowaway!" Zuko pushed.

"Ah my dear nephew, there is always time for a nice cup of soothing tea." Iroh replied. "Come and join us, it will do you a world of good to sit down and relax."

"And the stowaway has a name-" Rei piped up.

"I don't need any tea!" Zuko yelled. "We now know the Avatar is on Kyoshi Island, and I want to be ready for him!"

This peaked Rei's interest. "I've heard of Kyoshi. That's where Avatar Kyoshi lived there, and they have some awesome Elephant Koi fish in the bay perfect for riding!"

"I'm not interested in fish." Zuko replied darkly.

"Well you should be interested in the bigger predator that eats said koi fish." Rei retorted. "The Unagi protects the bay from invaders so if you're a fan of having a ship that still floats, it's probably best to plan ahead for that."

"Noted." Zuko growled. He returned his attention to his uncle, who was sipping the rest of his tea. "Uncle, I must be tested on more advanced sets before we arrive."

Iroh yawned and stretched out his arms. "Very well nephew. Give me a few minutes and I shall meet you outside."

With that, Zuko left as fast as he came in, leaving Rei and Iroh alone. Rei took one last sip of tea and placed her teacup back onto the table.

"Thank you for the tea, it was delicious as always." Rei smiled.

"Oh it is no problem." Iroh replied. "It is good to take time out of your day to relax and gain perspective on your life."

They both stood and bowed to each other respectfully. Iroh gestured to the door. "Feel free to look in on our little training session, before you're whisked away to your duties."

Rei nodded and followed suit. She couldn't help but feel that there was a hidden meaning within that proposition but she felt that she could use some more knowledge on bending before trying again. Who knows? Maybe she could learn to not burn herself with her own bending for goodness sakes.


Hello everyone! Sorry about the late update, but there has been a lot going on lately in my life. So I've decided that updating every week is just unrealistic so I figure for now I could update every few weeks or so, depending on my hectic life. For the time being, I'm going to try to make a little bank of chapters to fall back on so I can be on a more regular schedule when school starts back up again. ANYWHOSIES let me know what you think in the reviews (plz plz I crave reviews), and follow/favourite if you like what you see and I'll see you lovelies later! X