Kaia's movements had gone from stiff and painful to sharp and stronger, her use of the sword had improved in theory, but she had not been tested again since her first fight with Ryuji. It had been over a week since that day, and Kaia had seen little more than visions of passing light and shadow out the barred window of her cell, Zhi had not wanted to risk her health by letting her train with the others again.

She sat on the decreasingly comfortable metal floor of the cell as Zhi unwrapped her bandaging once again.

"It seems to have healed over well." The old man smiled kindly, "Despite your efforts."

Kaia attempted to return the favor, "I tried."

Zhi nodded, "Of course. I'll send word to Keahi that you will be training again tonight." He stared emptily into his medicine bag, replacing his bandages and salves with the sort of tired efficiency that only came after years of the same task, "You be careful, Kaia." He warned, "I don't know why they've got you here, but" he sighed, shaking his head, "It's not my place to know what Captain Sheng does with the soldiers." He stood moving to the door, "I just treat them."

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The sun disappeared early that evening. Kaia watched anxiously as its last rays faded from view beyond the confines of her metal box. The cart had rumbled to a stop not too long ago, the sounds of the camp being set barely reached her ears from the distance. She had been kept a far distance away from the fighting men, she guessed that only a few of them knew that she was more than just a prisoner. If Zhi didn't know, she knew the other men wouldn't.

The familiar smell of fresh smoke filled her nostrils- the early watch-fires were being built. She still wondered why they did that, almost three quarters of the camp were firebenders, it seemed almost redundant. She likened it to an Earthbender carrying around a boulder. It seemed somewhat strange.

The orange color of the sky quickly faded to grey with smoke. She pulled her hair back, and began placing the more intricate details of the Fire Nation uniform into place. Kaia had gotten used to the reflection of Niyati the Fire Nation Soldier staring back at her through the reflection in her cell walls, but it was still unnerving that she could seem so much like them, and hate them just the same.

She picked up the broadsword and tied it in place at her waist. She was still just as small and spindly as ever, but she was delicate in the same way a rock face might be and that wasn't very much. She sat down on the metal slab behind her and closed her eyes, any moment now Ryuji or Keahi was going to bang on the door and come in, and she would see whether or not she had learned anything from the last time.

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Hakan walked swiftly to the cell on wheels, the sun's last rays were dying beyond the horizon, they only had a few short hours to train Niyati before dawn broke again. He hurriedly pulled out his keys and fumbled around with the lock for a moment before he heard the short, barely audible click.

"Niyati," he warned quietly as he swung the door open, "sundown."

"It's about time." Niyati's dark eyes barely made contact with his as she pulled herself up and out of the cart, her mask of annoyance and irritation covering the slight wince he thought he'd seen when her bare feet touched the ground.

Hakan looked at her confused for a moment, "You're not wearing any…"

"I don't like them." She snapped, "I'm only wearing this uniform because my old clothes were burned." She glared, "I won't be trading in my feet for boots unless I lose them too."

Hakan shrugged, she'd have to learn how to maneuver in them sooner or later, but he decided not to push the point. "The field is over here." He quickly stepped up the pace and walked her over to the grassy area Keahi had shown him earlier.

Niyati seemed to be off in her own world, her eyes had focused on the distant horizon, staring intently at whatever it was she could see beyond. By the time they had reached the seclusion of the field, she had fixated on a point in the distance. She stopped, almost mechanically, drew her broadsword, and set into the motions.

"Put more power into your execution. The strength of Fire Nation fighting is in the breath" He instructed, breaching whatever wall she had placed around herself, "You need a bit more practice."

Niyati turned sharply and faced him, snapping the sword to a defensive block. Her challenging gaze fixed pointedly on Hakan. "Then let's practice."

Hakan nodded and drew his own. "Alright, let's see what you remember."

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The sounds of crashing metal rolled over the otherwise quiet of the camp. Keahi sighed, "Why can't they wait?" he growled under his breath, entering the clearing followed shortly by Zakai and Ryuji.

"She's trying to prove herself." Zakai observed quietly, earning himself a reproachful look from Ryuji that caused him to close his mouth again.

"Will you look at that?" Ryuji sneered, "Little Earthbender's in a uniform." His dark eyes bored holes in the back of the girl's head.

Keahi snorted, "A good effort. She'll never fool Ozai without boots."

The three of them stood by calmly watching as the match picked up in speed and intensity. The swords clashed faster and with more ferocity every passing moment. The Earthbender was blocking most of what Hakan threw at her, and barely scraping by what she couldn't block, maneuvering fairly well even in the cumbersome uniform.

"She's not attacking." Ryuji scoffed, "Is something wrong with the bare-foot warrior?" he asked sarcastically.

Zakai shook his head, "She did this last time." He said quietly, "It's common in the Earth Kingdom. They wait."

Keahi raised an eyebrow at the boy, but took his words for what they were worth and watched the fight. Hakan's quick bursts of attacks, a flurry of movement and slow deliberate strikes, and the Earthbender's quick solid defense. They were moving in a circle, not forward and not backward. He remembered watching the Earthbender fight with Ryuji: that fight had started the same way.

Then, the eruption of energy from Hakan was smothered by the sudden onslaught of attacks from the Earthbender, quickly putting him on the defensive.

"When the Earth Kingdom attacks, they're powerful and consistant." Zakai muttered, "She's going to force him back and strike."

If only Hakan was as worried.

He flicked the blows away with his sword; she was gaining ground faster than he had expected her too. Even without the forceful explosion of power that she would need later, her ability to wait for the opponent to tire was almost enough to cover for it. She could not fight like that if she was actually going to make it to the capital. These were only basic and intermediate moves, if she could not fight at a firebenders pace…

His hands slipped, and he dropped the sword.

Keahi's eyes widened as the Earthbender moved in to make the final blow.

Hakan maneuvered around her blade and grabbed her outstretched arms, his speed and sudden force on her arms overpowered her. In a flash, he twisted the sword away from his body and back towards the Earthbender, pinning the flat edge of the blade against her throat.

Keahi's lips spread into a thin grin, "HOLD!" he called out across the field. The Earthbender had improved, even with her injuries. He was surprised, and somewhat, dare he use the word, pleased.

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"You did well, Niyati, much better than last week." Hakan whispered in her ear, "I'm going to let go of you now." He said calmly, and released his hold on her.

Kaia practically threw herself away from Hakan's tight hold. She threw her shoulders back and adjusted her uniform, looking like nothing unexpected had just happened, "It won't happen again." She spoke coarsely. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the three others approaching from behind him.

"Good to hear." Could it be that this man was smiling? "I hadn't expected you to have picked up the broadsword this quickly, it's rather difficult for most people, but it's incredibly…"

Kaia had stopped paying attention. Her eyes had focused in on one person; Ryuji was walking just behind Keahi, she caught his eyes and they held. She saw nothing else, just those dark eyes, eyes that challenged her, eyes that mocked her, eyes egging her on. It was a challenge, just to hold the eye contact, first to blink or look away was the weaker.

It was the oldest form of contest, who would look away first.

Hakan had stopped jabbering, and Keahi was talking about something. She heard nothing until, "Ryuji! Niyati!" they both broke the contact at the same time. There was no victor, though each would claim that they won.

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Over the next few days, Hakan continued to make progress with Kaia through the art of swordsmanship. In time, Kaia had gotten away from the Earthbender habit of waiting for the opponent to tire, and slowly began to become more aggressive in her attacks - sudden and powerful but short lived like an earthquake.

Keahi had wisely kept her from fighting Ryuji again, and kept their contact as little more than merely eye contact, or a correction here or there when she was practicing hand to hand, but that happened seldom. Hakan wanted to keep Kaia focused on the broadsword until she had matered it, or at least until he felt that she could handle otherwise.

One thing remained the same throughout their short training sessions, they always started with the broadsword first.

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"Give me the knives." Keahi said calmly once Kaia had turned her intense gaze towards him, "Zakai thinks that you are still too unused to a broadsword, and would work better if given weapons that you might be more accustomed too." The firebender droned without much enthusiasm, he thrust a piece of folded cloth towards Kaia.

Kaia took the cloth, and instantly knew that these would be much easier to work with. A dark light gleamed in her eyes as she uncovered the knives. She had thought right - they were Earth Kingdom knives, judging by the design to the markings on the handles. She took hold of them, the weight feeling almost natural in her hands, and let the fabric fall.

Keahi eyed her cautiously, "You might have noticed the target set up on that tree over there," he began steadily, "what we want you to do is…"

A quiet hissing interrupted his sentence, and a sharp 'thuck' made his head spin. He cleared his throat, Kaia had not only hit the mark, but the knife was embedded deep into the tree. "Do it again." He commanded.

Kaia tossed the knife in her right hand, feeling the weight, feeling the way the blade and hilt balanced imperfectly in the air, and in a flash it had flown. 'Thuck.' The knife stuck in the tree just to the right of the first knife.

Keahi's lip curled in a snarl, "Go get them." His eyes focused hatefully on her as she ran across the field.

Kaia looked at the mark on the tree, where the knives had embedded themselves deep within the trunk, and smiled. The knives had pierced deep into the tree's bark. She grasped the handles and sharply jerked them from the tree. The knives were crudely made, more for carving or hunting than for fighting, but trust the Earth Kingdom to make it work for them. The handles even had the Earth symbol etched roughly into the ends.

She casually walked back over to the group of them, tossing the knives around between her fingers as though they were just another part of her hand. The knives were just the right size for her size, much better than the broadsword. The way the felt in her hands seemed to give her more of a confident edge than she had previously felt. She had trained with knives before. Knives were a farming tool, so were hatchets. They felt natural.

She stood in front of Keahi, "Is there anything else?" she spat, taking the moment to challenge his eyes. It had to have been the knives

"Do you know any forms?" Keahi looked less than pleased when Kaia nodded. "Show us."

Kaia looked at Keahi for a moment and then closed her eyes, focusing on her own world of nothing. She started moving, slowly. The fire nation disappeared; she was in a field by herself. She picked up speed; the knives became a part of her body. She was not in a uniform; she was in her old clothes. Her movements became sharper and more intense. She was home. She moved with intensity.

The clash of metal on metal broke the illusion, and Kaia's eyes shot open. She didn't stop, as they had thought she might have. A second clash sounded as she brought her second knife around. The offending knife belonged to none other than Ryuji, and Kaia was not wasting this moment. She lunged at him; he caught her and pushed her aside. Then, for the first time since she had started training, she had taken the offensive first.

The two toppled over, Kaia on top of the burly man. Knives flashed in the air as their constant clanging filled the silence and mingled with their breathing. There was no pattern, Kaia wanted to hurt Ryuji. He had caused her injuries the past week, and to her he represented everything she hated about the Fire Nation.

Two sets of hands gripped her shoulders and pulled her off of him. "Niyati!" it was Hakan's voice, "Hold."

Her vision cleared and she relaxed her hold on the knives, a dark, pleased smile on her face. She released the tension in her body, and the hands holding her relaxed as well. Ryuji was still on the ground, Keahi was keeping him there. The big man looked less than happy.

"What were you thinking?" Keahi demanded, "I did not tell you to attack!" it hadn't been decided to whom he was speaking. "Ryuji, go see a physician." He hissed, removing the pressure on Ryuji.

The giant stood up, and Kaia noticed that there were some slashes in his clothing. She couldn't tell if she'd drawn blood or not. Ryuji passed by Kaia with not much more than a threatening look and a snarl. She couldn't help but feel the slightest bit of satisfaction at having to be pulled from Ryuji.

"You." Keahi rounded on her, "You could have..!" he seemed to be at a loss for words, "Hakan, run her through staffs and the more advanced sword techniques." And with that hurried order he walked away.

Hakan watched his leader go, then turned his gaze to Kaia, "Zakai, you can let go of her now."

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Keahi stalked off into the distance, his mind careening through thoughts as if time was of the essence. He was furious with himself. The Earthbender was dangerous; it was what they wanted. They wanted a person with a will to kill, but he had underestimated Ryuji. He shook his head, in the distance his practiced could hear the swiping of staffs.

Ryuji had a score to settle against the Earth Kingdom, and a score to settle with the Fire Lord. It was what had made him ideal for this assignment. All of them, save Zakai, had been used by the Fire Nation as a distraction in battle. To think that he, Keahi, had been worried, not for Ryuji, but the Earthbender when he had attacked.

It was the mission, he decided, he was worried about the mission. He was worried that Ryuji would destroy their chance at removing the Fire Lord.

The Earthbender had surprised him. The Earthbender had fought back, attacked even.

After a few moments of contemplation, he decided that he would keep Ryuji away from the Earthbender for awhile. He would not risk another fight between them. He did not want to lose men, or risk losing their only tool.

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A/N – Sorry this took so long. School got in the way.