Chapter 18: Torture

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Mai was brought into a dark room. She squinted, managing to pick a chair with cuffs on the arms out of the gloom. She then noticed a sort of track that ran in a circuit around the middle of the room. On the track was a lantern. In the middle of the circle stood a familiar person.

"General Chao?" Mai gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"This is the place the Order uses to keep its enemies. You are the second most powerful enemy of the Order."

Mai slid behind her emotionless mask. "I'm flattered." She didn't regret her statement when she was thrown off balance by the hand that covered her shoulder blades. She didn't regret it when she was strapped into the chair via earthbending, with even her forehead surrounded by a ring of rock. She regretted it when the lantern was lit.

"Leave us," General Chao said, waving off the earthbenders. "I know how to do this."

"What are you planning on doing, exactly?" Mai deadpanned.

"How can you possibly escape if you don't remember there's anything to escape to?" The General boomed a hollow laugh.

Mai shivered down to the core of her being. Was he going to take something from her that she thought she'd never be able to lose?

The lantern started to travel the circuit around the middle of the room, crossing very close to Mai's face.

"You will forget the Fire Lord. You do not know Fire Lord Zuko personally. He is your overlord, but you've never met him."

Memories of laundry hampers, apple trees, fountains and a heart shaped rock flitted through Mai's mind. "Yes, I have," she stated. "I know him very well. He's my husband."

"You are unmarried," General Chao replied. "Do you have any proof of a marriage to the Fire Lord? Of course not."

Mai was not wearing her engagement necklace. She had an empty ring finger. But she still had one very tiny piece of proof that she couldn't possibly reveal.

Still, the lantern travelled its circuit. It was starting to wear her down. But she couldn't let it take Zuko from her! She closed her eyes. The light still intruded on her eyes. She was starting to get a headache. And still General Chao spoke. He kept cutting away at the truths she refused to let go of.

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A few hours later, Mai was not only convinced she'd never met the Fire Lord, but she answered to the name Lin Qiang.

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When Topekaia had come back, the gang had explained to her that they would be searching Governor Xun's mines. They were soon in the air.

Zuko fidgeted a lot, looking as if he wanted to find some way to speed Appa up and get to the mines immediately. As the days slipped by, Zuko fell into his old state of irritability. He shouted directions at Aang, but didn't talk much besides that.

"Is he all right?" Topekaia asked Katara.

"All right?" Katara repeated.

"The Fire Lord. He's really… angry."

"There's no Mai to calm him down any more," Katara explained. "Mai was always what kept him calm and happy. Without her, he's back to his own habits. He has the habit of being irritable when something's gone wrong. Used to be he was never happy."

Topekaia looked down sadly. "Poor thing," she said quietly.

Zuko heard that, but kept quiet. He was really trying to be under control, after all.

When they finally reached the mines, Zuko leapt out of the balloon's basket before he'd really landed.

"Zuko, wait up!" Aang called. "Don't you think we should try to be more careful about this?"

"What's to be careful about? I'm the Fire Lord. This land belongs to me and it could be hiding my wife. I'm going in."

As soon as Appa landed next to the balloon, Topekaia scrambled down. She took off after Zuko, who was storming towards the mines. "Zuko! Stop!"

Zuko stopped, but didn't turn around. "What?"

"Let's be practical about this. If you go roaring in there tearing up the place and demanding Mai, do you really think you'll find her? No. More likely they'll dispose of her and that is not what we want. So let's think this through."

Zuko folded his arms, turning to Topekaia. "We cannot sneak in there. They'll just put us to work and then we'll never get out. We can't negotiate because that'll give them time to hide her, if that's their plan. What do you suggest?"

Topekaia folded her arms, matching Zuko's gaze. "First of all, I doubt they would even be able to force any of us to work in the mines, especially not you. But you're right, sneaking would not be the best idea. I think we should pretend to be traveling through, 'looking for the Fire Lady' and we wanted to ask them if they knew where she might be, etc. That way, we don't cause suspicion, but we can still get in, and you are given whatever you might desire, including a tour of the mines, if you wish."

Zuko hated to admit that Topekaia's idea sounded good.

"Hey, everybody!" Sokka had finally gotten the balloon tethered. "I'm not the only Idea Guy any more! Except… Topekaia isn't really a guy—but I like her stuff!" He walked up to Topekaia and put an arm around her. "Congrats, Idea Girl!"

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Lin was dumped on the floor of the room she was told belonged to her. The men who'd dragged her from the dark room to this room were laughing. Why should they laugh? she wondered. If this is a completely normal situation, then why are they laughing? Maybe it was the way she was shaking. Or the way she subconsciously scooted away from the door. She tried to collect her thoughts. What had happened in the dark room? She had the feeling that she'd lost something there. Like she'd entered as one person with friends and family and a future… and now… all she had was here.

Sura entered the room after the men had left, staring at Lin. She had seen other servants who had been brainwashed; all of them reacted in an eerily similar way. She asked Lin, "Do you still remember me, or do we have to start from the 'I'm Sura' part?"

Lin squinted up at Sura. Her eyes were still trying to recover from the bright light of the lantern that had been shone so close to her face. On top of that, her head also felt like it was spinning, not making her task of looking up at the other girl any easier. "Yes, I remember you, Sura. You're my only friend."

Sura smiled and replied, "Good. They didn't totally brainwash you, Mai."

Lin knit her brow. "Mai? Who's Mai? Don't you know my name is Lin Qiang?"

Sura sighed. "Time for work, Lin." She didn't notice how Lin bowed her head submissively in response. She paused on the way to the door, turning to Lin again. "They were watching us, Mai—I mean, Lin. How much do you remember about your life before they brainwashed you?"

"Brainwashing? Nothing like that. Torture, yes… but that's normal. I'm a bad girl." Lin stood up. "You knew that, though." She frowned. "You also know I've lived here my whole life."

"No, you haven't; you're relatively new. I've been here longer than you have." Sura stared hard at Mai, hoping to undo some of the brainwashing. "It just seems like you've been here forever," she said, twisting Mai's words.

Lin put her hands on her hips. "What are you trying to do? I come back from treatment and I'm suddenly someone different to you? Let's just get to work."

Sura stared at her in shock and replied, "You don't have to make a huge deal of it! I know treatment is hard, and who knows why they do it since they don't let us do anything bad." Sura felt just a bit hurt.

Lin examined Sura. "Whatever." She shook her head, walking out the door.

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Several days later, Lin wandered to the mess hall, then to the counter where food was being served to the servants. She shyly looked up at the servant who'd been assigned to oversee the others' food. "Ma'am, may I please have some food?" Her voice was so soft it was difficult to hear.

"What kind do you want?" The lady gestured to the different trays of food.

Lin examined each bowl of rice and side dishes. All of these things were leftovers from the officers' and politicians' meals, so, although they were expensive things, they were not fresh. "Could I perhaps put some of these things together?"

The hard face of the server softened at Lin's timidity. "Sure, sweetie. You new?" This woman had seen this type of girl. They were always like this right at the start of treatment. Sometimes, the girls would lose all sense of self. Always, they were timid like this. By now, she had learned to deal gently with them.

"Yes, Ma'am." Or at least, Sura had said she was. Lin couldn't remember anything outside the complex, but she couldn't really remember being in this place before, either. Lin smiled shyly again as she assembled a tray with cold snailshrimp, a whole tomato, and some wasabi.

"That's quite an… exotic… combination you've got there." The serving lady tried very hard not to laugh, and only giggled a little. "Sure that's what you want?"

"Uh-huh." Lin nodded. She was so nervous. Suddenly, her stomach lurched.

"Whoa, sweetie! You haven't even eaten that garbage yet!" The serving lady leaned forward for a better view of her.

Lin's hands were at her mouth and stomach, so she could not reply.

"Are you sick? Do you need help?" Concern welled up in the serving lady. "Are you going to—"

Lin's body lurched, and she swallowed bile.

"Come on, girl!" The serving lady, who was an earthbender, shot herself over the counter and pulled Lin into a washroom. "Into the bucket," she instructed, holding Lin's hair out of the way.

Sure enough, it did go into the bucket. Lin sat back, breathing hard. "Thank you," she said.

"No trouble, none at all." The lady sat back, too. "Is that all of it?"

"I think so," Lin said. "My name is Lin Qiang."

"I am Hito of Omashu," the lady said with a smile. "Where are you from?"

"Here, I think…" Lin squeezed her eyes shut. Where was she from? She assumed she was a native of the Fire Nation…

It was obvious to Hito that Lin didn't actually know where she was from. So it was that kind of brainwashing, Hito thought to herself. "Come, Lin. Are you sure you should be eating such strange food combinations?"

"I don't know why, but I feel like I have to," Lin explained as they left the washroom.

"Cravings, eh?" Hito stopped short. "Cravings and throwing up? Lin, are you—"

"There you are!" Sura cried in relief. "I lost track—" Sura saw Hito. "Hello… Lin, are you making friends?"

"Maybe," Lin said. She turned to Hito. "Are we friends?"

"Yes," Hito said. She examined Sura. "You're Sura of the Northern Water Tribe, right?"

Sura nodded and took Lin's hand.

"You think Lin is… expecting?" Hito asked.

Lin cocked her head. "What am I expecting to happen?" She looked between Hito and Sura, neither of them willing to meet her eyes. "Sura?" Lin's breathing became shallow.

Both Hito and Sura rushed to comfort her.

"You're expecting a great day!" Sura said quickly.

Lin examined Sura. "How do you know?"

"Aren't you?" Sura tried.

"Um… I suppose…"

"There, you see?" Sura smiled nervously. "Excuse me a moment, Lin." Sura squeezed Lin's hand.

"Only a moment, right?" Lin asked hurriedly.

"That's right," Sura said gently.

"Go eat your food," Hito added.

Lin heard the order and took off.

"Please don't mention this to her or anyone else. She's been brainwashed, and every time she has treatment she forgets again, because the high-ups don't know and obviously don't tell her."

"They'll know soon enough! Watch her eat!"

Sura did watch a moment. Lin was eating in a ladylike manner, of course, but it was sped up. Obviously she was very hungry. "It would be dangerous to her if they knew. I… we think they'd kill her."

"She thinks so, too?"

"When she's in her right mind, yes," Sura clarified.

"Who was—is she?" Hito asked.

Sura pursed her lips. What harm could it do? Everyone else probably knew, anyway. "Fire Lady Mai. She thinks her husband will come for her; whenever she wakes up, she talks about him. I'm not so sure he's actually going to come."

"He'd better…" Hito clenched and unclenched her fists. "But she acts nothing like what I've heard of the Fire Lady!"

"Not this way, no. When she wakes up, she does." Sura sighed. "But this… frayed nerves, fear of abandonment…"

"That last one makes some sense. Remember what the pr—Fire Lord did to her on The Day of Black Sun?"

Sura thought a moment. "I think I remember; he left to help the Avatar that day, right?"

"That's right. The Warden of the Boiling Rock was heard raging about how the prince had broken his niece's heart."

Both Sura and Hito silently regarded Lin for a moment.

"Poor thing." Hito shook her head. "And she doesn't even know!"

"Sura!" Lin called.

Sura smiled sadly at Hito. "Must be off or she'll have an anxiety attack."

Hito nodded. "I'll smuggle you some herbs for that upset stomach of hers. If I hadn't caught her in time, we would've had quite a mess."

"Thank you," Sura said, and hurried over to Lin.

Hito frowned. The strong, proud Fire Lady reduced to a childlike existence? Where was her husband? Hito returned to work. Perhaps it would be best if Fire Lady Mai received her food away from guards? She was too fragile to risk. Even an Earth Kingdom lady who'd been captured during the war couldn't feel any anger towards such a frail creature.