Odd.

The first thing she noticed is that it was warm and comfortable. Something wondrously soft was over her. She snuggled my nose into the fur. As her mind came round she realised something. Icy water wasn't soft or warm. She opened her eyes and wondered if she was still asleep. She was in a metal room on a single bed to the wall. There was the fire insignia tapestry hanging on the opposite wall. Unfortunately she wasn't asleep and she really was on a fire nation ship, the cold floor soon proved that. As the woman stood she realised that most of her clothes had been reduced to rags and her shoes were missing. One question stood out from the rest. How long had she been out? She was ravenous and parched, but that didn't really tell her how long she'd been out. There was a window, well more like a slit, above the red tapestry. She lifted myself up using the ledge, but only got a glimpse. Slowly, she made my way to the bed. Not a good idea to lift yourself when everything is spinning. Well at least she knew she hadn't been out terribly long, not with huge chunks of ice floating about. She was still in the South Pole.

Now to consider her options. She wasn't a prisoner, unless prison cells have dramatically changed. Doubtful. So was she being guarded or not. She slowly and quietly made her way to the door. Putting her ear on the door she listened. Silence. Curiosity got the better of her and she opened the door fractionally. No one was there. She poked her head out. Really, they had no idea when she would wake up and sneak out. Mind you, there was a good chance in bumping into someone while "sneaking out". Apart from that, she would have no clue where she would go to get to the deck. Should she chance it?

Without warning, there were the sounds of footsteps coming from down the corridor. Well there was no choice now. She quickly went to the bed, pulled the blanket over her and closed her eyes. She rolled over facing the wall. There were voices outside the door now, one wasn't happy. There was a hesitation then the door opened. Two sets of footsteps came in. It pays to pay attention. When they were both standing beside her bed, one started talking.

"Hello miss, can you hear me?" It was the voice of an old man. It was vaguely familiar. What should she do? Wake up and see what they want or continue "sleeping"? Maybe she should wake up; they might lead her to the deck. She slowly rolled toward them and opened her eyes. The old man raised his eyebrows in surprise. He had never seen such pale grey eyes. The young man with him was just as startled but recovered his composure quicker.

"Who are you?" the young man barked. Taken aback by this attitude the women sat up straight and faced him indifference.

"I don't see whether that's important." She said coldly. To her satisfaction, he was fuming.

"Now Zuko, that's no way to talk to a lady." said the old man calmly. He turned to the women. "I am Iroh and this is Zuko. We found you in the water as we were passing. You must be hungry, would you like something to eat?" She couldn't kid herself, escaping won't work if she had nothing in her stomach. So she nodded.

"I will bring some soup and perhaps some tea. " Iroh offered.

After that display of genuine kindness she decided to give him her name.

"Thank you. My name is Zhen." She said.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Zhen; I shall send someone with some soup and tea. Perhaps when you are feeling better we can talk." Iroh smiled at her and left, along with Zuko stomping after him.

Zhen lay back with her hands behind her head after Zuko had slammed the door. How peculiar. She thought to herself. The old man Iroh, she recalled was part of the fire nations royal family. As far as she knew he was still a general. Zuko… where have I heard that. That scar on his face meant something. Then it hit her. He was prince Zuko. Well, banished prince anyway. Never did she think she would cross paths with either Zuko or Iroh. Sure she often did "bump" into fire nation solders but never any one from the fire nation with quite as high status. She wondered why he was banished, there were so few reasons for such a harsh punishment and she knew it all too well.

Please review or I'll just continue this in my head. I wrote this because I didn't think there were enough OC fanfics. It would be really good if I got some feedback and anyone who reviews gets a free cyber cookie. :) As for the pairing, I'll leave that for you to guess.