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The next day Luke ventured out to the deck early. His mind was still whirring, and he couldn't think straight. He hadn't even bothered to put on his armor this morning.
When he opened the door to the bow the sunshine momentarily blinded him. But what he saw he would never forget.
They were sailing through a water orchard. A wide, very deep canal with huge blossoming trees lining the sides, bending towards each other until they touched, creating a canopy of the pink and white flowers. Every so often a few would drift down, like gently falling snow.
But what he noticed next frightened him yet entranced him. Alex was sitting there, at the front of the bow. She had scaled the railing and was sitting atop the large iron spike that extended past the barrier. She was in a meditating position, hands folded neatly in her lap. He knew her eyes would be closed, even though her back was to him. She was concentrating on the elements around her, absorbing them to create a natural balance.
He didn't notice it right away, but when the breeze blew gently he did. Spreading down her back were shinny black locks. Curling around each other and creating waves and dips. It blew gently around her back, occasionally a lock blew away from her face, but she made no move to correct it.
He knew she wasn't supposed to have her hair down in any way. Although it was tied high at the top of her head, it was still out of uniform.
He took a step towards her, not sure what to do. If he moved she would surely hear him, as he noticed she was coming out of her trance. But if he stayed she might be both offended and embarrassed.
Instead he took of his boots and walked barefooted across the deck to the side of her. The light was refracting off her face, and blossoms were landing on her hair and clothing.
Suddenly, she took her last breath and exhaled slowly. To his shock, when her breath came out it was not only air, but a small stream of fire as well.
She opened her eyes and watched the remainder of the flame disappear. She bit her lip and bowed her head.
And then, softly, she said to herself, "I miss you all so much. I want to tell you I'm all right, but I'm also afraid." She looked out at the seemingly endless lane of flowers, "I know you would hate me, because I'm evil now, aren't I?" she took a very shaky breath, holding back a sob, "I never wanted this. If it was my choice, I'd be an earthbender, like you two. Or a Waterbender like Kyle," she looked away, "And I just want to go home,"
It was then Luke knew that something was wrong, that she was not from here. That she was hiding something. It occurred to him that he did not know what nation her friends were from. But now he suspected. It was no wonder she had lied. Anyone from their nation who had friends in other nations was considered a traitor.
She gave a small, quick sob before turning and jumped down to the deck.
She glanced at him for a brief second and kept walking. But she had only taken three steps when she gasped and did a double take.
"Luke!" she cried in horror, hastily tying her hair into a bun. Her hands were shaking and she was blushing slightly.
He said nothing, he only walked up to her quickly and embraced her tightly, ignoring the pains on his chest.
This time, she did not try to turn away. She closed her eyes and held him tightly. A tear rolled down her cheek. He was soothing her with nonsense words.
And for once, she didn't care if anyone saw them. She was happy for the first time since stepping onto this retched ship.
Zuko noticed that Alex and Luke were unnaturally silent that night at dinner. But it was not the uncomfortable silence like the one he shared with Alex. This silence stated that they had a small secret, one that no one knew about.
Following his suspicions, he left momentarily after Luke and Alex both made excuses to leave early through dinner.
He stepped onto the deck and was stopped dead by what he saw.
Luke was standing sideways, facing the left side of the ship. His arms were wrapped around Alex, who was facing the same direction. He had hold of her hands and was talking to her quietly, she was nodding in response.
"Ok, when I say ready, I want you to think of a dark thought, a deep memory that perhaps causes anger." he said softly.
"Will I have to do it every time?" she whispered.
"No. But it's the best way to learn." He stood back from her and watched as she faced him. She gulped once and held her shaking hands at a stance all too familiar to Zuko. It was a stance he had learned only a few months ago, a firebending stance, intended for advanced users. But what was she doing? She couldn't firebend.
Alex breathed in deeply and thoughts hard. The first memory that came to her mind hit her like a stone. In her mind she envisaged Zuko – that monster – hurting Luke. In her mind she imagined hurting him herself.
Luke was standing back, he too was in a stance, "Ready?" he asked nervously.
"I don't want to hurt you," she whispered.
"You won't. GO"
She whipped her hands around in the pattern described to her by Luke, at the same time she moved her body in twisted positions. Then, it happened.
The most powerful stream of fire he had ever seen was coming right at him. He ducked quickly and smiled at her.
The duel was on.
Unbeknownst to them, every member of the ship's crew had come up to the deck to watch. Many of them had their mouths opened stupidly as they witnessed this girl – who had never shown any signs of firebending to them (and, although they didn't know this, never bended in her life) – performed moves that even some of the elder benders could not accomplish.
She fought with Luke, not intending on hurting him, for about half an hour before he raised his hands and fell to his knees, panting.
"Ok I give up." He looked up at her, taking deep breaths, "are you sure you've never firebended before?"
She nodded and helped him to his feet, "Positive. Where I come from not many people can bend," she laughed at the thought of people from her suburban town bending.
Three people watching that day knew something was wrong. Luke, Iroh, and of course Zuko. She had told them she was from the capital…what she had just said didn't make any sense.
She realized her mistake immediately and was horrified. She spoke again, in an attempt to cover her slip up, "What I mean was—there weren't very many women firebenders." She laughed, "And to tell you the truth, I didn't know I could do it until last night." She looked at him thoughtfully.
There was a sound, familiar, yet it was alien to what she had thought was happening.
Lieutenant Jang was clapping. Soon after people joined in, until almost every person on the ship was applauding.
Alex's eyes grew wide in despair; she turned and glared at Luke, who shrugged.
"Don't look at me; I didn't know they were there either."
They almost charged her the next minute. People were patting her on the back, congratulating her, and begging her to teach them. She was instantly overwhelmed. Everything had happened so fast that she was finding it hard to process the information.
But just as she felt like she was going to be smothered by overexcited men she was rescued. A hand reached into the crowd, not a prying hand, but a helpful one. It didn't move, only sat there as the soldiers talked and cheered around her. She only stared at it for a moment before the fingers gestured her to grab it. She noticed no one was paying attention to her, so taking a leap of faith she took it.
She was wrenched from the crowd of people and dragged away. She turned and looked at all the people, still crowded around the small circle she had just left.
She kept looking back until she stumbled over a step. She forced herself to look up just as she was pushed into a dark room.
She blinked, trying to focus her eyes. They were in a closet.
A closet?
She turned in the direction of her savior and struggled to make out his features. When she failed she sighed, "Thank you so much. I thought I was going to—"
A light appeared next to her and she turned to see a finger lighting a candle. As the lighter moved away she followed it to meet their eyes.
She gasped and backed up, hitting her back against the wall, "Z-Zuko! What are you doing?" she hissed.
He was looking at her suspiciously, "How did you do that? You said you couldn't bend."
"I only—"
"And even if this was your first time, there would be no possible way you could have accomplished what you did out there." He moved a few feet until he was glowering over her.
Frightened, she sank against the wall, letting herself slide down until she was sitting on the floor.
Zuko knelt down, one leg up, he leaned on it. He looked at her with serious eyes, "Tell me the truth."
"Why should I?" she spat.
He bit his lip in anger to keep himself from slapping her. He looked at her in frustration, "Why did you say there were few benders? I lived there, I knew. And don't say it was an accident, you looked afraid when you realized what you said."
She sighed angrily and closed her eyes momentarily to allow herself to relax. Ok, he wanted the truth? He was going to get it.
"Fine," she looked right at him, leaning forward until they were close once more. A fleeing memory of the previous night came back to her, but she shoved it away.
"The truth is that I'm not really from the capital because I'm not from this world at all. I'm from a different dimension. I knew who you were, I watched your Agnai Kai against you father, I watched you stand up for those soldiers in the war room," she took a breath.
The whole time she had started talking he was telling himself how crazy she was. But when she mentioned she had seen him stand up for the infantry, when he had been very sure that no one knew about it, he was already thinking about who betrayed him. His uncle perhaps?
She continued, "Almost a week ago I was sucked into this world with my three friends. Where we come from we longed to bend, to be in this world. Though now that I'm here I'm having second thoughts." She paused, "I'm trying to get to the North Pole to meet up with my friends. Two earth kingdomers, and one water triber. After that we're going to try and get home. If not well, I guess I'll be here for a long, long time." She sighed and looked at him to see how he was taking the news.
He smiled wickedly, "You're absolutely right,"
She was shocked he was handling this all so well, "really?" she asked, startled.
He stood up, "Oh yes. You are going to be here for a long time. He opened the door and walked out. He turned and looked at her slyly, hand on the door knob, "Until you're ready to tell the truth about how you can bend, you'll be staying here. Have fun." He slammed the door.
Stunned, she sat there in the dark (the candle had blown out) and listened to him click the door shut. She sighed and slumped against the wall. Great, just great.
To his surprise, she didn't scream and fight and bang on the door like she thought he would. He groaned and stormed away, entering his cabin and closing the door firmly behind him.
Alex stood and very, very carefully lit one of her fingers so as to take a better look around her new quarters. She noticed a small cloth and curious, pulled it aside.
She saw the most beautiful sight. It was a window, a small one, but still. The cheery blossom path continued for miles, and now it had lost no beauty.
Sighing, she lay on the floor and attempted to get comfortable.
