I Don't own Avatar!
Nor do I own a brain, for I posted this before editing. Sorry about double messages to those watching for updates.
To those of you not watching for updates, why not?! Really, why not? I love reviews of any sort, tell me.
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I HATE water! I hate it, I hate it, and the more I sit here stuck in a ice cube with nothing BUT water the more I hate it! The next time I see Katara, I'm going to really let her know how I feel about her stupid, girly, pansy element! It has no redemptive properties. It's cold, it's unstable, it's blinding!! "Crunch." It's loud. "CRUNCH!" Hmm, something's moving outside. Probably here to give me some more of that horrid vomit they pass off as food. Here I was thinking the cooks at the South Pole were bad. I didn't know how much effort they must have put into this seaweed to make it taste like clean toe nail clippings.
"Here, eat up. Wouldn't want you to waste away to nothing on us now would we?"
The only people I ever hear anymore are the guards. If it weren't for the fact that they like to taunt me about what they do for the others, to the others, I would think myself the only prisoner these people watch.
"You know… your husband's crying for his mommy again. Any chance you know where we can find her?"
Animals. Absolute, heartless, animals. They're holding the new Avatar in the prison as well. Please, by some cosmic miracle, tell me they guessed wrong. Please tell me that there's a little three year-old waterbender in that swamp with Hue that has nightly communes with Kyoshi, Roku and Aang. Then again, there's still a small child being kept from his parents, his friends, the entire outside world. Animals!
"We'll have to bring your little girl by some time as well. We can have a wonderful family reunion for you."
That's it. That man is going to die if I ever get out of here.
"From what my buddies were saying she's not bad looking either, if you can get past the hair, and the messed up eye. I think the guards might have some fun in here when she arrives."
"What… did you do… to my daughter?" I couldn't help it. At least I know my voice still works.
"Hah! You'll find out. I'm sure they won't kill her without you around to hear."
It strikes me, however, that Jung was trained by some rather powerful benders. It'd take a larger force to capture her than they think. Not to mention she picked up on Aang's tendency to run in order to stay alive. Something I was never all that comfortable with. Yeah, whatever they did to me, my little girl is safe, somewhere. The thought makes me smile, but I still miss the feeling of her footsteps.
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"I just want to know if she's ok." The airbenders head rested in Katara's lap. Her eyes had dried up, but were still bloodshot. "Is that too much to ask?"
"Don't worry, sweety. We'll find her."
"But how?! We have nothing! No leads, no information, no intelligence! We're still looking in the same places we were three years ago!"
"We have no news here. You can't lose hope, though. Iroh and Zuko were close with your parents as well. I'm sure they're doing all they can to get information."
Jung lifted an eyebrow skeptically. "You know, Kat, Uncles Zuko and Iroh loved my parents and all, but they're kinda busy trying not to die right now I think."
"You give their love too little respect. You were heading there next anyways, weren't you?"
The young airbender closed her eyes and nodded, still not fully believing. "At least with dad I know what happened. He's gone, I can accept that. He's been reborn, and with any luck he's right under our nose here in the city, or maybe in a swamp in the Earth Kingdom." She paused a second to relax. "You don't happen to know any three year-olds that have surprisingly bright eyeballs, do you?"
Katara smiled down on her friend trying not to cry at thought of her old friends. "If I ever have a daughter, I hope she's as strong as you."
"So, any news from Zuko?" Jung brightened up a bit at the possibility of poking fun at the love story she knew had to pan out eventually.
"Let me see if I can work on that scar of yours a bit more, shall we?"
"First off, the scar stays! It's badass! Secondly, don't try to change the subject. Out with it."
"Did you just say the scar was badass?"
"Yes, yes I did. I know, doesn't sound girly, whatever. You're still dodging the question." The smile on Jung's face grew brighter by the moment.
"Alright, alright. I'll appease your curiosity. Zuko, well, he sent me a letter about two months ago. Mostly telling me not to worry about him so much. Then, after a more severe warning to not worry so much, he said he was taking up a role as general." A deep sigh escaped Katara's lips. "He's up near the front lines right now, I think."
"Ohh, my. And that's the last you've heard from him?"
"We never did write each other often." The waterbender's face screamed of masked agony. Hidden desire to hear from one of her closest friends.
"That's it, we're sending a letter to the Fire Lord tonight. We have to get Iroh to bring Zuko back to the palace at least for a little while."
"Why?"
"Because, you have to see him. And I have to meet with the royal family as well." Jung hopped up onto her knees on the bed next to her older friend, and kissed her gently on the cheek, and jumped up to get to the door. "Come on, let's get it sent out as soon as possible."
"Since when am I going?"
"Since now! Let's go."
"But, what if he can't make it back in time? I wouldn't want to bother them if it could turn out –"
"Then we wait for him. You have no excuses here, darling."
"What if he –"
"Wouldn't it be nice to see your brother again anyways?"
"But –"
"No." Jung glared across the room at Katara. Her arms crossed under her chest. Both feet planted firmly on the ground.
"When we find your mother, I am having a long, long conversation with her on her parenting style."
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Toph sat blindly in her cell, lying on a cloth and feather mattress, under fur blankets, suspended on an ice bed frame. Ice door, ice ceiling, ice walls a meter thick, hard packed snow floors. Yes, she was definitely going to have to have a talk with Katara about this stupid, stupid element.