Existence

Kaia sat in the corner of that cell-on-wheels for a large portion of the day, doing nothing more than thinking. Her body may have been still, but her mind was restless. She was still not sure that her decision had been the right one. She doubted her judgment, and she doubted the Captain's word. She knew as a fact that the Fire Nation was not to be trusted, yet here she was putting her life in their hands.

The small pile of fabric from Zhi had turned out to be a wool blanket, thick, warm, and bright red, the colors of the Fire Nation, but she was nonetheless grateful to him. If she had to go as far to say that she liked any person in this camp, she would say that Zhi came the closest. He was a crazy old man, and she had the feeling that he could be sharp as a tack if it came down to it. That's why he reminded her of Elder Keb, he looked so kindly and calm, and was a slight hair off center, but was just as sharp as he was sixty or seventy years ago.

She leaned back and banged her head on the metal slab, "What am I doing here?" she asked herself, staring at the metal ceiling. She closed her eyes, drifting in the moments between sleep and consciousness, and then the cart hit a particularly large rock in the road, knocking her awake again. "An Earthbender does not belong with the Fire Nation." she chided herself, "What were you thinking, Kaia?" she muttered, rubbing the back of her head.

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While Kaia sat in the cell-on-wheels, the rest of the soldiers moved in tight clumps along the road. Hardly by rank and file, they moved at their own pace just as long as they kept up with the rest. Some of the soldiers carried on conversations with their fellows, talking of home, bemoaning the lack of different food, gloating about past victories, or just bantering amongst themselves. Some of them had heard that there was an Earthbender in the cell, and speculated on why it was being kept alive; stories circulated that the Earthbender was a ringleader in the resistance, others thought the Earthbender was being kept for target practice, or just a better night for entertainment, and still more didn't believe that there really was an Earthbender in the cell, all the fuss was just camp stories.

A small group of men, who actually knew the truth behind why the Earthbender was being kept alive, walked in a loose clump not too far behind the cart, carrying on a quiet conversation of speculation of their own kind.

"So, they finally got the tool, I hear." The taller of the men asked, staring at the cart as if he was trying to see through it.

"I heard they picked it up at the last village, a bit of luck while they were trying to flush out the Earthbenders." a small brown haired man added, he was clearly the youngest of the group, "Has anyone seen it, besides the Captain and Keahi?"

Hakan nodded, "I think me and Zhi have met her."

"Hold on there Hakan, did you just say 'her'?" the first man demanded, his eyes constricting.

"Yes." Hakan responded matter-of-factly, "Don't give me that look, Ryuji," he said, as the taller man scowled, "she looked like she put up quite the fight before she got in here." he shook his head, "Burns, bruises, cuts, scars, you name it. Quiet too."

The man addressed as Ryuji scowled, "Wonderful. First it's an Earthbender, then it's a female." his voice full of disdain, "Let me guess Hakan. She's short, scrawny, weak and a waste of our time. She probably won't even last through the first round of sparring." He rolled his eyes, "I bet she can't even lift a sword."

"It is an interesting choice, though." The second man, more of a boy really, spoke up again, "He won't be expecting a Fire Nation soldier to be an Earthbender, moreover – he wouldn't expect a female." He said quietly.

"What do you know of what he'd expect, Zakai?" Ryuji scoffed, "She's probably as green as you are!"

The one addressed as Zakai quieted again, and Hakan spoke up, "Good one Ryuji, but Zakai can't be green, he's from the Fire Nation." It was just like Hakan to come up with a really bad pun to push the comment over, "We'll have to wait until night to find out just how good she is."

"Trust Keahi to get all the fun first…" Ryuji muttered, continuing to glare at the cart, no doubt wanting to deem the Earthbender unfit, and leave it to rot in the dust of the camp.

"Did I hear someone mention my name?" a harsh voice asked from behind.

"Keahi! I didn't see you there." Ryuji murmured apologetically.

"Of course you didn't." Keahi grinned, "The three of you should talk softer. We do not need to jeopardize the plan before it's set into action." He eyed the three men irritably, "You know how this is going to work. There's a lot at stake here, and I can't let your blabbering ruin our one chance at this, got it?"

Ryuji glared, "Sure, Keahi."

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It was well into the evening when the soldiers stopped to camp. Kaia had fallen asleep on the floor, the Fire Nation blanket wrapped firmly around her, her head was even covered by the large woolen mass. She had gotten tired of staring at the ceiling, and had curled up with the blanket long ago, and would have been quite happy to remain asleep for the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, fate was never exactly kind to those who wished to sleep. A quick stop and a loud bang served as Kaia's alarm clock. The short stop was the cart coming to a halt, and the loud bang was Kaia's head slamming against the floor in the aftermath. A few moments later, the door swung open and a tall man she hadn't seen before stepped into the cell.

"So, you're the Earthbender, huh?" Kaia's first impression of the man was that he was, in a word, huge. He filled the entire doorway, and his head brushed the ceiling of the cell, flatting the top knot of black hair on his head, "Get up." He sneered, looking at her with disgust, "We start now." The man turned and left the cart, leaving Kaia to disentangle herself from the blanket.

He watched as she stumbled out of the cart, she was just as pathetic as he'd imagined her to be. Short and scrawny, this was going to be a waste of his time. "Come on, you." He growled, and proceeded to walk off towards some unmarked area of the camp.

Kaia looked around, the sky was pink and the sun was quickly fading in the distance. Her training was being done at sunset. She picked up and followed after the broad shouldered soldier, if this man was what the Captain had meant by 'more accepting' than she'd hate to find out what the rest of them were like.

They soon arrived at a large, mostly cleared, piece of land. "This is your temporary sparring field." The behemoth told her gruffly, "The others aren't here yet, but they will be here soon." He started to circle her, his arms folded across his massive chest.

Kaia watched him move for a moment and smirked, "You wanted to test me, didn't you?" she said, following him with her piercing gaze, "Stop wasting my time and get to the point." She turned slowly with him, holding his eyes in her gaze, feeling her body tense, "You don't think an Earth Kingdom peasant can hold her own against a Fire Nation soldier, correct?" she smiled, brushing her unkempt hair from her face. She didn't know why she was taunting him like this, especially this man, perhaps she wanted to end this as quickly as possible.

The man, who had been circling her, stopped and gazed at her inscrutably.

"No bending." She said calmly, "No weapons." She shifted her weight from foot to foot as she moved towards him, keeping the strength and control of her movements in rhythm with her speech, "Come on, now. You were so sure of yourself before, why are you backing down?" there she was, taunting him again. What on earth was she doing? Perhaps she was just trying to give herself a reason to be rid of this camp, she did doubt her judgment, but did not want to pull out of the bargain. This would be more fitting, she thought.

"I am not backing down." The man advanced on her. Watching his movements, Kaia knew he would be the first to act. The raw energy in his every movement spoke volumes; the Fire Nation did not have the patience of the Earth Kingdom. The two circled, whispering back and forth, their eyes locked. The tension mounted between the two until Kaia thought her body would break from it, and then the man exploded.

He sent a fist through the air. His attacks came so fast that it was hard to believe they were separate movements. Kaia blocked them, absorbing the force of the blows on her arms. His blows, though swift, did not have much force behind them. She was gauging him, identifying his weak spot. Then it came to her, he was so focused on pummeling her that he was not paying any attention to his legs. Just before she dropped her stance, a voice broke through their breathing.

"Ryuji! What do you think you're doing?"

The man stopped, placing his hands calmly at his sides, his body in rigid containment, "Nothing, Keahi." He spoke with a strained calmness.

"I told you to wait for us." Keahi glared at him, "Earthbender, are you alright?"

"Fine." She did not attempt to hide the contempt in her voice, "Am I to be training at sundown?"

"Yes."

Keahi focused on Kaia for a moment, he had seen the beginning of the fight. She had taken quite the number of blows from Ryuji, but didn't look too much worse for the wear. What was she trying to pull? He frowned, "These are the men you will be working with." He informed her, "You've already met Ryuji," he glared at the dark haired man standing across from her, "and Hakan." The brown haired man behind him grinned and waved at her, it was a disgusting display as far as Keahi was concerned. "I am Keahi, and the quiet one over there is Zakai." The boy hardly moved as he was introduced.

Kaia flashed a brief no-hearted smile. She was ready to get started, the sooner they began, the sooner it would be over with, and the sooner she could leave. "Kaia Niyati." she said, a brief and hostile introduction for herself.

Sensing the tension, Keahi threw a broadsword at her feet. Hakan grinned and drew his own, "Do you know how to use that?" he asked conversationally.

Kaia dropped and picked it up, "No." she eyed him viciously, "The Fire Nation does not allow use the use of conventional weapons."

"Oh. Sorry, I'd forgotten." Hakan scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "Here, let me show you." And for the next few hours, Hakan instructed Kaia in the conventional use of the traditional broadsword. Kaia had great difficulty with it, finding it to be amazingly unwieldy in her bony hands.

"It's alright," Hakan reassured her, "it just takes some getting used to."

The other three watched from the sidelines, Keahi was smiling. "You seem surprised, Ryuji. She's not doing as badly as you'd hoped, is she?" he pointed out.

Ryuji sneered, "I'm surprised that she can pick up the sword." He eyed Kaia with distaste, "She'd better learn faster with everything else, or we don't have a snowball's chance in the Fire Nation."

Zakai spoke up, "She defends herself well, but her attacks are weak. She might be used to fighting with unconventional weapons." He said softly.

"Be quiet Zakai, you hardly do better."

The sharp clang of metal on metal broke apart their conversation.

"What on earth..?"

Hakan had taken to sparring with Kaia, just running her through the ropes to make sure she had understood everything he had said to her. From the looks of things, she had understood most of it.

"Congratulations, Keahi. You're little Earthbender can fight at the novice level." Ryuji commented dryly.

"Zakai, go tell Hakan we're moving on to hand to hand. She can practice her form in the morning. We don't have a lot of time." He said gruffly.

Zakai obeyed, scampering across the field to Hakan and Kaia. "Hakan! Hakan!" his quiet voice was barely heard over the clanging of the swords. In fact, if it wasn't for a lucky block by Hakan, Kaia might have taken off the poor boy's head.

"Whoa! Watch it Zakai!" he laughed, yanking him over, "What news from the front?" he asked, sticking his sword into the ground and leaning on the hilt.

Zakai stared wide eyed for a moment, but blinked himself back into reality, "Keahi says that's enough with the weapons. He wants Niyati to go on to hand to hand."

Hakan looked slightly confused. He glanced up at Kaia for a moment, looking at her shaking body, she was tired. Keahi had to be out of his mind! He looked over Zakai's shoulder, and found that Ryuji was already on his way towards them. The look of malice and unsettled scores was all over his face. It didn't take him too long to notice the same look cross Kaia's mask.

Hakan forced a grin, "I'll be taking that sword back now, Niyati." he extended his hand and took the sword from her, "Don't worry, you'll get it back before we turn in." he winked. "Come on, Zakai." He said, grabbing the boy and pulling him back to Keahi.

As they passed Ryuji, he couldn't help but notice the small smile of satisfaction on the big man's face. He didn't like it. It worried him that this phase of the plan might be over before it truly began.

"Keahi, what are you thinking?" Hakan hissed as soon as he was within earshot, "You're pushing too far in one night!"

"Hakan." Keahi's voice held a mild tone of warning, "I think I know what I'm doing. You saw the way those two were going at it before we got here, if I don't let them have at each other now, it will only be worse later on." He said calmly.

"Niyati's tired. Ryuji's not going to instruct her, he's going to pulverize her."

Keahi raised an eyebrow, "Hakan, you're trying my patience. Go practice your form, if you don't want to watch the sport." He quipped, focusing intently on Hakan as the man frowned.

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Kaia's shoulders hunched over as she allowed herself a moment to breathe. Handling a sword had been harder than she had imagined it would. True, she had used weapons before, but nothing as cumbersome as that sharpened metal stick. After handling one herself, it was hard to believe that there were people who mastered it as a sole means of defense.

She breathed a moment and then stood up- the great brute was heading her way. The look on his face wasn't pleasant; he was looking for a fight. Kaia hung her head, remembering the way he had laid into her the last time he attacked. She doubted her arms could take that much of a beating again.

"So, Niyati, let's finish what we started." Ryuji's gruff voice whispered to her. She opened her eyes to find that his face was a bare few inches from her own. "No bending." He smirked, "No weapons."

Kaia took a breath, her chest still heaving slightly, "Yes, let's."

Ryuji had already started to circle her.

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Zakai watched the two, utterly entranced by their movements. He was a student of strategy, and had a unique understanding of the movements of three out of four elements. He could tell by watching movements if a person was a bender, or just another person like he was. As he watched, he knew that both of them were benders, and that this was not just going to be hand to hand.

He looked up at Hakan, wondering if Hakan saw what he saw, and then put his eyes back on the two. They were talking, and Ryuji was tensing. He sighed, "Three, two, one." And just as the boy had timed it, the giant attacked. He saw Hakan stiffen out of the corner of his eye and smirked.

Niyati blocked his blows, stepping into each one of his attacks. The two were only using their fists. Niyati had stepped in too close to attack with anything else. What was she getting at? Zakai winced as Niyati took a blow to the head; she had gotten a little too close. She probably wouldn't make that mistake again. But, she was.

Zakai leaned in, and then realized that he had been watching the wrong battle. Niyati was grappling Ryuji with her legs.

"The Earthbender's trying to force him down." He heard Keahi remark overhead.

Zakai nodded, Niyati was trying to throw Ryuji off balance. It would take a lot more effort than what she was giving it, he was afraid. Ryuji was just too big, and Niyati was too small. He watched the effort casually, and then it struck him, "Ryuji's backing up!" he announced, slightly louder than he'd meant too.

Niyati had started attacking. She was ignoring his blows. Palm strike. Punch. Spear. Block. Headshot. Palm strike. Her attacks were slower than his were, but he could see that they were having some effect.

Ryuji was losing ground, his face was glowing. Niyati's face was bright as well, but her movements remained as controlled as ever. Neither was backing down. They were far from being evenly matched. Ryuji kicked, and Niyati reeled, falling back again. It went back and forth. Zakai could hardly believe the fight was only nearing on five minutes. Ryuji had the upper hand again, his explosive movements knocked the Earthbender back over and over again.

They continued, Ryuji gained more ground, Niyati was weakening, and Ryuji was growing brighter. No, not just brighter.

"He's going to bend."

The earth came out of nowhere, blocking Ryuji's sudden attack.

"Get Zhi." Keahi instructed him before leaving.

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Kaia felt the heat of Ryuji's attack as it burst around her hasty block. She was moving backwards and she knew it, "I yield!" she yelled again, but it wasn't enough to satisfy the fire crazed man. She pulled up another wall, "You said no bending!" she called over the roar of flames, as though she had expected a Firebender to keep his own word.

Ryuji sidestepped her wall and moved in closer. "Consider that your lesson for today." He growled back, sending another flame her way.

"Never trust a firebender?" she slid her face back just in time to prevent massive injury.

"Be prepared." He grinned, and sent another barrage of attacks up against her.

Kaia blocked some of the shots, but others came in contact with her body. She cried out, fire was painful; she hated the way it burned. The way it needed to consume. The way fire constantly needed to feed. She was on the ground. The fire had stopped its burning, but there was still pain. She wanted to extinguish the fire. The first step was the Fire Lord. The first step was Ozai. Stop him from burning her village… stop him from burning…

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"Kaia! Kaia!" a pair of gentle hands held her shoulders.

Kaia opened her eyes, "Zhi?" she whispered, staring up at the white haired man. "What are you doing out here?"

"What happened to her, Keahi?" the old man scorned, looking her over carefully, "Hakan! STOP STARING! This is medicine!"

"Ryuji…" Keahi began, but was interrupted by Ryuji.

"Keahi told me to…"

Hakan cut both of them off, "Keahi let Ryuji spar with…"

"Ryuji cheated." Kaia spoke up, "No bending." She said faintly from the ground, closing her eyes again.

Zhi glared at them, "Zakai, go get her a uniform. Keahi, inform your superior of your incident, and pray that Captain Sheng wakes up in a good mood!" he paused, "Ryuji… get out of my sight!" he barked. To say the old man was angry certainly did not do him justice.

"Zhi, what do you want me to do?" Hakan asked, as the others ran off to perform their assigned tasks.

"Help me get her back to that infernal crate."

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"Captain Sheng, it's Keahi."

The Captain was obviously less than pleased to be woken up in the middle of the night. "What is it? This had better be good news, or something incredibly important." The disgruntled head of the middle aged man poked out through the front of the tent. "Well, go on. What is it?"

"Sir, it's the Earthbender."

"What about it?"

"It's… perfect."

"Really? Come in. Tell me how it fared against our dear Ryuji." He smiled wickedly and beckoned Keahi into the tent.

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Hakan sat with Niyati in the cell-on-wheels long after Zhi had left. Zhi's specific instructions had been to wait there until she came too. It had been a long time, and the Earthbender hadn't done much more than breathe and mutter incoherently. He supposed that was alright though, because that was what most people did when they were sleeping.

The cart had started moving awhile ago, and Niyati hadn't woken up. Hakan had thrown the blanket left by Zhi over her just as soon as he'd gotten in there. He'd done this for several reasons, not the least of which was that it was rather chilly to him, a firebender, so it must have been worse for her.

She really hadn't taken too bad of a beating, he figured, it could have been a lot worse. Minor burns and some bruising, but Zhi seemed completely confident that it could have been a lot worse. Hakan supposed that in a few days, they might let Ryuji within a few hundred yards of Niyati, but Zhi most certainly wouldn't allow it until then.

He held his breath as Niyati stirred, but she did no more than resettle herself against the wall. Hakan didn't know what bothered him more, the fact that he and Zhi seemed to be the only two who were trying to treat the Earthbender like a person, or the fact that Niyati seemed to be trying to prove herself to be a puppet.

The cart hit a bump and the cart clanged with the sudden force of heads banging the sides, and weapons falling to the ground. Niyati's eyes shot open and focused instantly on Hakan, "What are you doing in here?" she demanded.

Hakan shrugged, "I got tired of walking." he said peaceably, "I'd be careful moving if I were you." he warned her, "Ryuji did a number on you."

Niyati glared at him, "I hadn't noticed." she spat at him.

"Well, I just thought I'd mention it." He smiled, "Your uniform is on the bench next to your rations." he stood up, he'd completed his job, "Thought you might be hungry. Everything's in here now." He put his hand on the door, "Remember if you need anything, just bang on the wall, and holler. If the banging doesn't bring someone around, the yelling will get their attention." He opened up the door and stepped out into the sunlight, "Get some rest, Niyati." He said, and then closed the door.

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Kaia growled as Hakan closed the door behind him, and then allowed her mask of indifference fall to the ground. She pushed the red blanket off of her body and surveyed the damage caused by Ryuji. She was covered in that salve again, and she was more than annoyed to find that more of her clothes had burned. It's what she got for being a peasant of the Earth Kingdom – flammable clothing.

She glanced over at the bench where her new uniform and food was sitting. She pulled over the food and wolfed it down ravenously, not even noticing the way that the sludge stuck to her throat, or that it was cold, or even that it tasted like a very strange concoction of eggs and rice. She finished it and then looked to the pile of red, grey and black sitting near her, the armor sat further away.

She pushed herself to a stand and removed her clothing. She took off what remained of her shirt and pants and folded them up, setting them down gently on the metal bench. Then she looked at what she had now. She bit her lip and threw on the Fire Nation uniform, with no regard for it whatsoever. The uniform was too large for her, but it was mostly due to malnourishment, she had no doubt that she would fill out the uniform eventually. She grabbed the length of black cloth and tied it around her waist, holding the rest of the uniform in place.

That part of the uniform was lighter than it looked, it was at least breathable. She looked at the remainder of the pile, there were socks, boots, and it seemed that the arm and shin guards had been placed in that pile as well. She grabbed those and pulled them on.

Kaia the Earthbender was almost invisible through the mass of Fire Nation clothing.

She looked down at her old shirt and ripped a frayed edge of and used it to tie up her hair.

Kaia caught a glimpse of her reflection and nearly dropped the broadsword she had been picking up. She set her jaw, just because she looked like one of them didn't mean that she was one of them.

With that final thought, she settled into her movements.

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A/N - The uniforms are just my interpretation of what it would be like putting it on in its various pieces. Don't eat me.
Also, trying to find a better title for this story. Let me know if someone out there thinks of something better!