Yes, that's right. I actually updated a story. For those that have forgotten and don't feel like looking back through the whole mess, Hahn controls North Water Tribe, attacks Aang's family (Aang dies, Toph is imprisoned, Jung escapes to be a nomad for three years before story truly starts) and now we're on our way to the Northern Air Temple, just before the invasion of the Water Tribe! :oD

Yeah, I included that, because I suck and haven't updated in months. Sorry guys. I really do love you, just life has sucked ass recently (hence "The Passing of a Legend" oneshot).

I don't own Avatar.

Now, on with the show.

--

I awoke on a ship to the sounds of a loud argument. It took a moment to organize the events that led to this. I was on guard duty. Jie and I were making our rounds through the storage area. Prince Zuko. He's heading to the Northern Air Temple. I try to stand up and realize that my hands and feet are tied. That would also explain the gag in my mouth. I try to listen to the argument going on outside the room I'm in.

"What do you mean we can't wait? She should be here when we do this!"

"We won't… this ship!... explain to people… only way to…"

"At least… let me… alright?"

Suddenly the door opens and two people walk in. Prince Zuko, followed by a blindfolded woman. Her long hair, half draping down her back, half up in a bun, is held in place by a red and gold metal head band. The door shuts behind them with the loud ringing of iron, and they lock it shut. The girl sits down in front of me without any need of being shown where I am, and she takes off the head band, followed by the hair, and finally the blindfold. Jung. This can't be good.

"Listen, Zuko and I are looking for information. There are two ways we can do this. You can either cooperate, by pretending to be one of us until we get you off the ship, and we'll ask you the tough questions then, or you can go back to the storage deck with Zuko now. Now, I'm going to take the gag out of your mouth so you can answer us. If you try to yell for help, you really leave us no choice but to send you off with Zuko. Do you understand?"

Her eyes are filled with pity. I try to stay calm. I nod, and she begins removing the gag. Zuko pulls a chair up and sits down next to me. His expression is unreadable. There's a tinge of anger in him, but a strange calm beneath it. It looks like he's in the middle of a deep and competitive game of Pai Sho, trying to read his opponent without giving up his own next move and it scares me. I can feel my heart pounding. I don't scream. I don't say a word.

"You have really pretty eyes."

I turn back to Jung, shocked.

"And bare feet. An earthbender?"

I nod.

"I thought your brother guards my mom's cell?"

"Yes. My brother is a waterbender. Our father was from the Earth Kingdom, mother fro-"

"We're not asking for your life story. Jung, can you at least keep this on track! We're losing time!"

"You know, my mother is an earthbender." She looks hurt. I look towards the ground, unable to stand the pain in her eyes. "Do you know where she is?" I don't answer.

"Answer her!" I jump at the sound of Zuko's voice in my ear. The temperature in the room rises.

"Yes," I squeak out. "I know where she is."

"Zuko, I really think we need to wait. We can get him to the temple, Katara will be there then."

"We don't need Katara for this."

"Do you have any idea how angry she'll be about this if she's not here to make sure you're not trying to kill him?"

Katara. Katara's already at the Air Temple? This isn't good. I have to find a way to tell somebody.

"How do you intend to get him off this ship? Do you really think we can just pretend he's with us?"

Jung looks into my eyes again. That right eye of hers is creeping me out. Milky sheen covering the grey iris. Little specks of red staining the whites around it. And that scar. It still looks fresh, bright pink, as though the scabs came off of it two days ago. I remember hearing somebody boasting about giving her that scar. Some heartless waterbender, but then, in her eyes I'm no better. "What's your name?"

"Lee."

She smiles a little at this. It really fits her. The lines in her cheeks make sense when she's smiling. "I really hate to give you an ultimatum like this, Lee, but you really only have two choices. You can either come with us to the Air Temple, or we can get information from you here."

I hesitate. Katara is at the Temple, and from the way they're talking, I think I want her to be around. "I'll go with you guys."

"And if you try to do anything funny, I won't hesitate to put enough lightening into you to melt your eyes. Clear?"

I nod.

Zuko doesn't say anything. He still doesn't look happy with any of this. "Look, you're the one that made a promise to her, alright, not me! If she's going to go crazy, pissed off, sugar queen style on anybody here, it's going to be you."

"How'd you know about –"

"Don't worry about that, just worry about keeping your skin attached to your body and agree with me. We wait until we're at the temple."

Zuko grunts. "Alright, but if we get caught getting him off the ship, it's on you."

"I'll go get Da Shan. He'll make a great guard."

"Why Da Shan? I can watch him."

"I don't trust you with a prisoner, I'm sorry. And because he'll do whatever I want. I'm starting to think he might actually like me."

"Poor guy."

She put the extra accoutrements back on and left quickly.

"Good bender, bad bender, huh?"

"Shut it before I burn it shut."

--

Getting off this ship is going to be my last chance to tell anybody. I can't risk my captors discovering me, though. Apparently Sokka and this earthbender, Da Shan, are going to escort me off the ship. Zuko and Jung have already gone down to the storage deck and are sneaking out the same way he got me here. Zuko also left his shoes to cover my feet. It's odd to have my feet covered for the first time in years, but my plan should still work.

I fall on my side as the ship pulls into the harbor. Da Shan pulls me back up and unties the ropes holding my hands and feet stationary. Walking off the ship, Sokka is in front of me, Da Shan behind me. I twist my arm as we get onto the land, and I see, out of the corner of my eye, the earth shift behind a guard. I don't turn to see if I spelled it right, but I see another motion in the earth that I didn't create. Da Shan must've seen it. All I can do is hope somebody else did first.

We move towards a large metal contraption built into the base of the huge mountain, and I see Jung and Zuko already waiting for us. Da Shan leans over and whispers into my ear. "I'm not going to tell Zuko what you tried to pull, but I am going to tell Jung. Consider yourself lucky."

Looking up I see dozens of people gliding near the temple, one of them slowly making his way toward us. He comes to a gentle stop in front of us, seated in a chair with a large canopy above it. "Hey, who's your friend?"

"His name's Lee, he's going to help us today. Right?" The lilt in her voice oddly makes it sound like she means every word of it. As though 'friend' were actually a possibility.

"Umm, yeah, of course."

Jung continues, "it's great to see you again, Teo. Has Katara arrived yet?"

"Yeah, she actually sent me down with your glider." The airbender takes a staff from Teo. "We figured you'd want to just fly up there. I'll take the lift here with the rest of them."

The girl bends over to give her friend a hug, then spins the staff around as it opens into a bright, green and steel-blue glider. "Wait, Jung. Can I speak to you for a second?" Da Shan. The kid is about to tell her that I wrote her name in the stone, in an attempt to warn somebody. They step aside for a moment before she jumps into the air, and the glider, with her hanging onto it, flies off up the mountain in a blur.

--

"Ok, Da Shan, do you know if anybody else saw it?"

"I can't be completely sure one way or another, Jung. All I know is that it was there, plain as day, and we can't take the risk of being here any longer than is necessary."

I look back toward Teo. "We'll need a way out fast. We'll take Appa across to the back end of the city. I don't know what to do with Lee, though."

"I have a few ideas," the Fire Prince states matter-of-factly.

Katara cuts him off. "No, Zuko, we got the information we needed from him. We're done with him as a prisoner. If we attack fast enough we have enough time to get there before the city is warned."

I take a deep breath. "There's also the possibility that nobody saw it at all. They probably think we're still back in Ai Qiuyue or something."

Sokka sighs heavily. "You think she'd know better having grown up with Aang. Nothing ever works out like that in our little family. Katara's right, though. We need to get the prisoner back unharmed, but we can't let him go until we know it won't get in the way of our plans. We have to get out of here. Teo, can you hold Lee for a few days to give us a little time?"

"No problem. I've been trying to find a use for the sacred chamber ever since my father's war machine production stopped. Jung, if you can open the doors for us, it'll make a great prison cell that nobody will be able to get into for a while. We'll just drop food and water in to him through the top."

Zuko spoke up. "Alright. The rest of us will start loading up Appa, we'll need to be out of here as soon as possible."

I walked down the familiar halls, staff in hand, Leitha on my shoulder. It'd be nightfall by the time we got out of here, and it'll take all day to reach the cave that will be our base for the assault on the North Pole. A fierce battle waited for us, and I knew it. It was nice to think, that this one time, just maybe, something would work out in our favor. So, they probably saw my name in the rock, but maybe they thought it was a prank. Maybe they didn't believe it. Maybe we won't have to fight our way through the entire military force of the North Pole between the entrance to the Spirit Oasis and the prison outside of the palace. It was doubtful, but one could still hope.

--

Avatar Darru sat quietly in his room listening to the screaming he could hear from Chief Hahn's war room. He picked up bits and pieces of it coming through. Mostly "Darru" and "waterbending". He had been careless about his practice that day. He was concentrating so hard on braiding three strands of water he was pulling out of the ground that he did not hear the guards at his door until it was too late. The door opened, the water splashed against the floor, and there had been screaming ever since. Three guards stood outside his window, not allowing him to leave. Another guard stood in his room with him ensuring the child did not continue his waterbending. He didn't quite know which was worse: being cut off from his element, or being cut off from his only friend. It is, after all, situations like this where one wishes to run to somebody that might be able to offer a shoulder, or a hug, or some sage advice, or at the very least a punch in the shoulder not aimed to do permanent damage. He wanted desperately to escape to the canals or to Toph, but he was surrounded by people much more powerful than himself, and so he laid down on his bed, closed his eyes, and tried to sleep.

Not far away, a blind woman sat in a too small ice cube thinking that water or even snow, would be a nice improvement if only to escape the monotony. As she closed her eyes she remembered a dream from the night before, and said to herself, barely audible even to her highly sensitive ears, "two more days."

--

A/N: I make no promises of a speedy update for the next chapter, but I am working on it (and I have a great scenario playing out in my head for the invasion that i really hope works out in everybody's interest, mostly yours', the readers)

Re: The Lives We Touch, I've got the next chapter in the works, but not quite sure where I'm going with that one yet. The story keeps pulling me away from where it was intended to go... hell that thing was supposed to be a oneshot.