Water, earth, fire, air... Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished.
A hundred years passed and the new Avatar, an air bender named Aang, was discovered. Now travelling by his side are Katara and Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, and Ashlynn... An ex-member of the Fire Nation, and Prince Zuko's lifelong companion...
Traveling in the middle of the woods so as to avoid the fire nation had the avatar's team scrapping for food. The group elected Sokka as their own personal food gatherer, which was a very poor choice indeed.
"Alright, I'm back with our food for the moment," Sokka announced as he entered the clearing in which the group had stopped in. "That's great! I'm starved," Ashlynn said, and ran over to him. Sokka proceeded to show his lightly filled leather bag to the group. "What'd you get?" Katara asked.
"Well, lots and lots of nuts... Oval shaped ones... Rock shaped ones... Actually, that may just be a rock," Sokka said as he pulled a rock-looking nut from the bag. "That's it- Just a bunch of nuts?" Ashlynn asked.
"Hey, I'm doing my best alright. Cut me some slack," Sokka said, and bit on a nut. Ashlynn started laughing as he shivered, and chucked the nut to the side, muttering something about 'rocks'.
Sokka picked up a different nut, and bit down on it. At the exact moment he bit down on the nut, there was a loud slamming that sounded through the woods. Sokka jumped at this, and bit his finger as well as the nut. He cried out in response, which caused a chain reaction of jumping and screaming. Momo ducked behind Appa, and Appa merely yawned.
Ashlynn laughed even harder at the fright that was now apparent throughout the group. However, she immediately shut her mouth as another sound of what seemed like rock against rock sounded through the forest. "What could that possibly be?" Aang pondered.
"We got to check it out," Katara said, and together her and Aang ran towards the sound. "We're going to run TOWARDS the noise?" Sokka groaned. Instead of protesting more, he ran after them, and Ashlynn ran after him.
The group stopped behind a log so as to remain hidden. The log rested before a very small canyon, in which there was a boy who appeared to be only a little older than Katara earth bending rocks into the canyon wall. "Wow, an earth bender!" Katara exclaimed.
"Wow he looks like he knows a few tricks... Maybe we should go introduce ourselves," Aang suggested. "I don't know... I don't like it. What if he's here on purpose, like the fire nation put him here? I mean that'd be like a trap..."
As Sokka went on about his suspicions Katara hopped up over the log and ran towards the young man. Unfortunately, as soon as he noticed her, he dropped the rock he had bended in mid air and ran off down the canyon. As he ran, he caused rock slides down either side of the canyon to cover up his trail.
"Wow, I didn't even get to say hi," Katara said as Ashlynn and the rest of the group ran up beside her. "I told you it wasn't a good idea. He's probably already run off to the fire nation," Sokka said. Katara shot him a look that said 'watch it', and he immediately shut up.
"Well, say that he isn't running to the fire nation. Then he'd be running to a town. A town would have a market. A market would provide..." Aang said.
"No nuts for dinner!" Katara exclaimed and grinned. Sokka let out a groan of disbelief. "I worked hard to get those nuts..." he pouted.
"Who cares! Let's go see if there's a village," Katara said, and ran off in the direction the earth bender had run. Aang followed her.
"Well, I would have eaten them," Ashlynn shrugged, and walked off in the direction the town would be. "Thanks..." Sokka said awkwardly, and followed her.
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The boy had in fact run off towards a town. However, it was a small town, completely cut off from nearby civilization. The market available wasn't so bad though, and Ashlynn took the time to appreciate that she'd be eating a more scrumptious meal for dinner, despite her reassuring words to Sokka.
Aang found enjoyment in trying on different hats. Sokka refused to wipe the pouting expression from his face. Katara ran off in an opposite direction from the market. Ashlynn decided to follow Katara.
"What are you doing?" Ashlynn asked her. "I saw that earth bender go into a house up here. I want to talk to him," she replied.
Katara stopped at the door of a very small house that had one window next to the small door. She knocked on it, and the earth bending boy answered it. He jumped at the sight of Katara.
"Hey there," Katara said.
"Who is it?" questioned a woman's voice from inside the house. "No one ma," the boy replied.
"You're that kid we saw in the canyon," Katara continued. "What? No, you must have me confused with someone else," he quickly said. "What? No I don't," Katara said, and laughed to cover up the awkward moment.
"Yeah, she doesn't," followed Aang's voice from behind.
"Haru, let them inside," came the woman's voice again. Reluctantly, Haru, the earth bender, opened the door to let the group into his tiny household.
"Yeah, we saw you earth bending," Sokka said as Haru shut the door behind the group. "They saw you doing what?!" the older woman gasped. Then, she ran to the one window, and shut that as well.
"What are you guys talking about? Mom, they're crazy! Just look at their clothing!" Haru said, obviously trying to cover up that he'd been earth bending.
"Haru- You know what'd happen if they found you!" the woman snapped in a hushed voice.
Just then, a knock was made at the door. The woman clasped her hand to her mouth to silence her gasp, and then shot her son an angry look. Sokka peered through the blinds of the window, and frowned. "It's the fire nation... Act natural," he whispered.
"Sokka, I can't just act natural! Almost the entirety of the nation knows who I am!" Ashlynn argued. "Then go hide!" Sokka whispered back as he grabbed some food to make it look like he was eating. Katara, Haru, and Aang did the same. Ashlynn groaned, and went to a nearby corner, faced the wall, laid down, and pretended to be asleep.
Ashlynn heard the door open, and the sound of fire nation soldiers stepping into the room. "What do you want? I've paid you already!" Haru's mother shouted at the soldier. "The tax doubled," the soldier said. Ashlynn didn't recognize his voice.
Then, Ashlynn felt the room heat up and heard Katara and the mother gasp. Ashlynn knew the soldier was using fire bending to threaten them. "We wouldn't want any accidents, now would we?" he laughed.
"Fire can be so hard to control," he said. As he said this, Ashlynn felt the heat die down, indicating that he'd stopped his fire bending act. Then, Ashlynn heard the footsteps of the older woman and the fire nation soldiers pace across the room. Ashlynn peered over her shoulder to survey the scene.
The woman was pulling out a small box that probably held small trinkets. She handed it to the soldier, which he wrenched from her wrinkled hands with unnecessary force. He then proceeded to pick out a few gold coins, and then handed her back the small box.
"There, you have what you came here for. Now, leave us in peace!" the woman pleaded. The man began to turn around, but then did a double take in Ashlynn's direction.
"Sleeping- During a time such as this? Oh, come now. You people are so lazy. Lady, go wake that young one in the corner there," the soldier ordered. Ashlynn quickly turned her head back towards the wall and uttered a curse from behind her clenched teeth.
Then, Ashlynn felt the cool hand of the Haru's mother upon her bare arm. "The fire nation soldier has ordered you to wake up, because there is no time for sleep with the times we live in," she said just loud enough for the soldier to hear. Ashlynn braced herself, and slowly got up, not turning away from the wall.
"Yeah, that's more like it you lazy peon. Why don't you come outside with me? I'm sure I can find some work for you," the soldier laughed. "That was an order, mind you."
Ashlynn bit back a second curse word, inhaled, and turned around. The expression the soldier gained next was just what she'd expected.
"Men! Arrest her!" he shouted. The other soldiers peered over from behind the lead soldier, and also gasped in surprise.
"Wow, of all the places we could find her! Man we hit the jackpot!" one of them said with glee.
Ah, jeez. Zuko put a price on my head? Wonder how much he's paying to have me back...
Ashlynn formed a smile within her mind at the thought of Zuko paying for her arrest. She made no protest as the lesser soldiers bound her hands together with a thick rope.
"Should we arrest the housekeeper for housing a criminal?" one of the lesser soldiers asked. "That won't be necessary. They didn't know I was a criminal... I paid them for their hospitality. Let them be, and take me to your prison ship," Ashlynn quickly announced, and gave a small wink in the direction of her friends. Aang lowered his head, knowing that it was far too late to fight back.
With that, Ashlynn was tugged out the door, forced to follow the soldiers like an obedient dog on a leash.
The place she were taken to was just like any other ordinary fire nation prison ship you'd seen. Large, machine-powered, and crawling with mostly innocent people whom the pampered fire nation bullies found excuses to arrest. It was almost degrading to Ashlynn, seeing how many people were aboard the ship.
The soldiers gave no preference as to where she was to stay, aside from keeping it within the main interior of the ship, along with all the other prisoners. So, they unbound her, and forced her among the pile, reassuring her she'd see Zuko as soon as it could be made possible.
Ashlynn recognized no prisoners, so instead of mingling with the other 'criminals', she sat against a cold wall of the machine ship. She punched it before leaning against it to release the anger she had. Being a prisoner AGAIN was not exactly the best thing for her.
Later that evening, an announcement was made that the ship would be departing mid-morning the next day due to some re-sorting of the town, which was code-word for 'we're going to go arrest more civilians, wait here while we do that'.
After the announcement was made, Ashlynn watched some of the soldiers depart from the ship. She took note on how much of a bully the fire nation troops had become. If she ever got the chance to speak to the king, or at least the troop's commanders, she'd make sure something was done about it.
She spent the next few hours fantisizing about getting the fire nation bullies in trouble. She'd imagined everything from being able to give each one a kick in their 'weak spot', to being able to help toss them into a dungeon where it'd be so cold that their fire bending was rendered useless.
Eventually she fell asleep, and took up dreaming about her fantasies. However, she didn't sleep for very long, because she heard the arrival of some more prisoners being boarded upon the ship. The sound of the opening ramp into the ship was highly irritating and impossible to ignore, so instead of trying to go back to sleep she sat up instead and eyed the new prisoners.
She was almost relieved to see that the earth bender Haru was among them. It didn't surprise her to see him. She figured he'd be caught one way or another. Fire benders were ruthless.
"Haru!" she hissed when he came within ear shot of her. He quickly turned his head in her direction, and she watched him exhale in relief. He immediately walked over to her and sat down next to her. "How'd you get in here?" she asked as soon as he was comfortable.
"Well, Katara and I went on this walk right... And all of a sudden we hear this rock slide. We run towards the noise, and this tunnel had begun to collapse on this old man. There wasn't any other way to save him, so I had to earth bend the rocks off his body, and---"
"One of the fire nation bullies saw you, huh?" Ashlynn interrupted with severe curiosity.
"Not quite... There was no one around, actually. Instead, the old man ratted me out," Haru said with a frown.
"Wow, what a jerk. Should have let him die," Ashlynn said bluntly. Haru fed her a quizzical look, and then rested his head against the cold wall of the ship and closed his eyes. "I'm not exactly upset to be here. I'm kind of hoping I'll see my father," Haru said without opening his eyes or looking over at Ashlynn.
"That'd be great if you did. Listen, we'd better get some shut eye. I can guarantee that tomorrow won't be the easiest day of your life," Ashlynn suggested. Haru nodded, and didn't hesitate to lie down and remain silent. Ashlynn did the same.
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Ashlynn awoke to more loud noise in the morning. The noise made it apparent that the ship was taking off. Haru hadn't moved from the spot he'd be in before. Only difference was that he was awake and had breakfast, which appeared to be a grey-ish stew of some sort. Ashlynn felt her stomach rumble, and grasped it while trying to ignore the uncomfortable pain it presented.
"Are you hungry?" Haru said, and offered his bowl of stew out to her. "I am, but not for something that looks like that," Ashlynn laughed. She frowned when her stomach growled again.
"Suit yourself. It's not as bad as it could be... And I figured we'd need the energy. You said so yourself... That today wasn't going to be easy," he reminded her. "Touché," she said, and took the bowl that he'd offered. She stared at the muck for a moment, and then took a bite. As promised, it wasn't as bad as it could've been. Only problem was that at that moment one of the fire nation soldiers decided to approach her.
"You're lady Ashlynn, are you not?" the soldier asked. Ashlynn looked up at him while taking a second sip of stew. She nodded as she swallowed its contents.
"I've been ordered to take you to a separate section of the ship, for your own safety. You're of the highest priority on this ship, and it'll be on our heads if you're hurt in anyway. When the ship makes it second stop you'll depart from the ship with the earth benders, and remain at an earth bender prison until Prince Zuko can make arrangements to pick you up from there. Last we heard, that was where he was closest to," the soldier finished without having made a single expression throughout his entire speech.
Ashlynn glanced over at Haru and gave him a small wink, letting him know they'd bump into each other again. She then handed him the bowl of stew, and stood up to follow the soldier to her new holding cell.
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Compared to the outdoors with all the other captives, Ashlynn's new cell was pathetic on a large level. The room was small, and cramped with one bed that wasn't even long enough to fit her from head to toe... And she wasn't very tall. The room was made of the same substances as the rest of the ship, and smelled heavily of a bile odor. Ashlynn immediately missed the smell of the fumes that came from the smoke pipes and cluttered the air she would inhale.
Ashlynn sat on the bed and was instantly overcome with boredom. She cheered up slightly when she felt the ship begin to move, indicating that it was headed towards its different destinations, which meant that she'd be out of the stuffy room in no time.
She didn't stay seated on the bed for long. Instead, she picked up a few stray objects from the ground and used them to carve letters into the wall. She carved her name first, and then Zuko's. She then proceeded to conjure up a few stick figures. One was air bending, and one was fire bending. One was an earth bender, and the other bended water. Each held the others hand, and had the symbol for each above their head.
By the time she finished her work of art she realized that the ship had come to a stop. Whether it was the first or second stop she wasn't sure, for she hadn't been paying much attention to the passing time. In the end, however, she realized it must've been the second stop when she heard the soldiers walking down the outside hallway to come retrieve her.
"Lady Ashlynn," one of the two soldiers said, "We've arrived at the earth bender prison. Please, follow us, and we'll take you to your warden."
Ashlynn got up from the ground, leaving her drawing on the wall behind without a seconds thought on it.
Ashlynn recognized the warden of the earth bender prison, though she couldn't recall his name. She'd been there when he was appointed to the warden rank, along with several other members. He, undoubtedly, recognized her too. She wondered if there really was anyone in the fire nation who didn't know her face by now.
"Lady Ashlynn," the warden greeted. Ashlynn then began to wonder why it was she'd adopted the name 'lady' Ashlynn. "Warden," she responded with a slight nod of the head. He nodded back, and motioned for her to stand by him.
"Here we are going to greet the newly captive earth benders. Once I put them in their place I'll escort you to your room, which is along the way to their facilities," he explained. Ashlynn nodded at this, and watched as the captive earth benders lined up before them. She wasn't surprised to see Haru as one of them.
"Welcome, new earth benders. I can see there's not that many of you joining us, but no matter. We receive new shipments of your kind every day, and have plenty of you here already," the warden said with a smirk, and motioned towards the working grounds behind him.
"Normally Id expect you all to act very hostile, and shout your usual curses at me. If there were rocks available for you, Id be bracing myself for an earth bending assault. However, I'd like you all to take in consideration of whom you're standing before, and I do not mean myself," the warden looked over at Ashlynn as he said this.
"This here is Ashlynn, for all you who are oblivious to today's world. She might as well be a princess of the fire nation, so you'd all best treat her like one!" the warden ordered. "Please, warden, this isn't necessary," Ashlynn murmured. "Very well," he nodded.
"You will now all be escorted to where you will be working for the remainder of your imprisonment, while I escort Ashlynn to her holding cell. Good day, men," the warden said, and walked past Ashlynn and murmured for her to follow. Ashlynn gave a small wave to Haru, and walked after the warden.
Ashlynn's new holding cell was a bigger improvement from the last. She could actually fit her entire length upon the bed provided, and it was lighter and less stench filling the room. As soon as the warden left, Ashlynn plopped herself on the surprisingly comfortable bed, and took up trying to make pictures out of the ceiling pattern. As she did this, she tried not to think about what was going to happen next or about how long it was going to be before someone opened the door to her 'cell'.
Ashlynn fell asleep while trying to be artistic with the ceiling. She tossed a little as she dreamt of being burnt accidently by Aang while practicing the fire bending he had yet to learn. She was a little surprised when she woke up. The sounds she heard were loud, and rather close to her cell. It sounded like shouting to her.
And then, a pounding came from outside her door. More than a pounding... More like someone was trying to break it down. Ashlynn quickly jumped off her bed and stood to the side of the door and tried to listen to the commotion outside. She screamed in surprise when the door fell inward beside her. She exhaled in relief and relaxed her muscles when Sokka was the one who ran inside.
"Oh Ashlynn- It is you!" Sokka smiled. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you," Ashlynn said, though she didn't smile. Now that the door was open, the shouts from outside were louder. "What's going on?" she asked as she peered out the door.
"Katara got herself arrested yesterday morning and arrived here last night. Haru got arrested and she took full blame for it, so she decided to come rescue him. When we bumped into Haru he said you'd been taken to one of these cells, so I volunteered to come rescue you," Sokka said triumphantly. Ashlynn flashed a smile in return.
"That still doesn't explain the shouting," Ashlynn frowned.
"Right... Katara motivated the earth benders. She and Aang are helping them rebel against the fire nation soldiers. I think they're winning," Sokka said, and stepped outside the beaten door. Ashlynn cautiously followed him.
It was bright outside, indicating that she'd slept through the whole night. She shielded her eyes as she tried to adjust to the blazing sun. "C'mon, we'd better hurry. Chances are they'll try to escape and we don't want to get left behind," Sokka said, and grabbed Ashlynn's wrist and tugged her along. She stumbled forward, still trying to adjust to the light.
When her eyesight finally focused, she saw a battle between earth and fire in which earth was winning. A hole had been blasted through one of the outer walls, and earth benders were evacuating and boarding a boat beyond the hole in the wall. Some earth benders had stayed behind to finish the task of chucking fire benders off the side of the buildings into the waters below. Aang and Katara were among those who stayed behind.
"Ashlynn- You're alright," Aang said as Sokka and she ran up to them. "Yeah- Looks like you all did a fantastic job giving those fire benders some trouble," Ashlynn grinned. Aang grinned back at her.
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Far past midday, and the fire benders were officially disposed of. Sokka, Aang, and Ashlynn mounted Appa as they waited for Haru to give his thanks to Katara, and send the group a farewell. It was almost heart-warming, to Ashlynn, to see Haru and Katara embrace in such a friendly hug. It was good for them to have gained some allies.
The friendly feeling formed into sudden panic when Katara found that her mother's necklace had fallen from her neck.
As Appa flew the group away from the ships of rebelling earth benders, Ashlynn and Aang did their best to comfort Katara for the loss of her precious item. All of them were highly unaware of how they narrowly escaped having landed in the Zuko's grasp...