Katara was speechless. This Dai Li person comes into our cell and offers his help? There are so many weird things about that sentence…she thought.

Turning to Iroh and Toph to see their reactions, Katara could see Iroh glaring suspiciously at the young man, whilst Toph merely had her palm on the floor. Katara would have thought Toph's actions odd, but, well, it was Toph and Katara felt she had more important things to worry about.

"Okay…'Cai'. Why would you help us?" Katara asked sharply, deciding to get straight to the point.

"I have my reasons." Cai replied tonelessly.

"Such as…?" Katara trailed off, expecting a better answer. This man couldn't just walk in here with no good explanations and expect them to trust him. That was just a really stupid thing to do.

"Do you want to be helped or not?" Cai asked, a hint of anger in his voice.

"It depends who by!" Katara shot back.

For all we know we could be jumping out of the frying pan and straight into the fire…literally, Katara thought, reasoning with herself that questioning this man was the right thing to do.

"I think it would help if you explained who you are and why you want to help us." Iroh said, gently.

Cai nodded, much to Katara's annoyance.

Oh, so I ask a question, it's all "ooh, we don't have time" but Iroh asks the exact same question and suddenly there's time?! Katara thought in frustration, but didn't say anything.

"We don't have that much time. But I'll do my best." Cai said, choosing to stand in a superior way whilst the others sat down.

"Long story short: the man who betrayed Princess Azula and came to you was my father." He said, his tone steady, yet his fists slightly clenched. "When Princess Azula heard of his betrayal she had him killed. Or, rather, she did it herself. Lightning to the chest when he was unaware. A quick, yet shameful way to die."

Katara's eyes widened and if she could've done, she would've put her hand to her mouth in shock.

"When I learnt of this I was…understandably upset and angry." Cai continued, in the same steady voice that scared Katara a little.

How can he be so calm after his father was murdered? She wondered.

"Not to sound insensitive, but you're not angry at us, right? We didn't ask your dad to help us." Toph asked.

"Considering you didn't want to sound insensitive, you sure managed to!" Katara said, glaring at Toph.

Cai didn't reply, but unclenched his fists and sighed heavily.

"I am not angry at you. It was that bitch Azula that killed him. I wanted revenge, so I figured that releasing you would be the most I can do without actually attacking her outright. She may only be a girl, but she has power…"

Katara and Iroh shared a glance sadly.

"We know." Iroh murmured.

Silence took hold for a few seconds, as everyone contemplated their thoughts.

"Toph?" Katara asked eventually. "What do you think?"

Toph took her palm off the ground and turned to Katara, understanding Katara's question.

"He's telling the truth." Toph said, nodding her head and Cai. Katara raised her eyebrows.

"Are you sure? Check again." She told Toph, still suspicious of Cai.

"I'm telling the truth." Cai snapped to Katara.

"Don't blame her. She has trust issues." Toph told him, in a tone that suggested Katara wasn't in the room.

"I do not have trust issues!" Katara said, a little hurt. "It isn't my fault that the majority of people I trust end up either dying or betraying me!"

There was a short silence, in which everyone turned to Katara and raised their eyebrows.

"Huh. Guess I do have trust issues." Katara murmured. She turned to Cai. "Okay, so how are you proposing to get us out of here?"

Cai paused and an uneasy expression came over his face.

"Well…there's a slight problem with that." He muttered.

I knew there was a catch! Katara thought triumphantly. Wait…why am I so happy about there being a catch? Stupid pride…

"Define 'slight'." Iroh said, getting suspicious.

"I have a brilliant method of getting you out of Ba Sing Se. Really, it is a true work of genius and I'm quite proud of it." Cai said, puffing out his chest happily.

"So the problem is pride?" Katara asked, hopefully.

If I can get over my pride, then Cai can, she thought.

Cai deflated and shook his head sadly.

"Not so much. I have a great way of getting you out of the city. As of yet, however, I have no idea how to get you out of the palace."

Katara had to fight to keep back the obscene name she was about to hurl at Cai. He had gotten their hopes up for no reason, just to tell them that he couldn't get them out of the chains?

"So, when you say 'slight' you actually mean 'really, really big'?" Toph asked, and Katara could tell that, despite Toph's calm tone, she was as angry and frustrated as Katara was.

"Why can't you get us out of the palace?" Iroh asked. He appeared to be the only one not livid at the moment, and it both impressed and infuriated Katara.

"The Dai Li haven't trusted me with the keys to your chains. Perhaps they think I'll turn on them."

"Smart guys." Muttered Toph. "How did you get here then, if they don't trust you?"

Cai looked down.

"I'd rather not discuss it." He said, darkly.

Katara noticed for the first time that knuckles were red, and one looked possibly broken. She also uncomfortably saw that Cai's hand moved involuntarily for his dagger that was still in its scabbard. I don't wanna know…Katara reminded herself.

"Well, the most important thing is that you want to help us." Iroh said, kindly, seemingly less suspicious. Katara saw him wince in the dark as he shifted.

"What's wrong?" She asked worriedly. Iroh chuckled, and shook his head.

"I'm just a little uncomfortable. My health wasn't exactly brilliant before Ba Sing Se, and I'm afraid that being in here isn't exactly working wonders."

Katara thought for a moment, then looked up at Cai.

"When can you get us out?"

A/N:

Hmm…not sure if I like this chapter or not yet. It's kind of short...but either the next one or the one after that will be longer. Sorry if it took me awhile to update…I was back in school yesterday. Getting up at 7 am is just my idea of hell 00

But you know what'd make me feel better?

Reviews!

Lol, and thank you to all who have reviewed so far : )