After Clara's visit with the goddess Saraswati, her mind had been clear and her fears, though still there, weren't overwhelming her like before. Her firebending training had picked up where she had left off. She actually was really impressed with herself. Never did she think she'd be athletic like this. Because she could tell that her overall stamina had drastically improved since she had started doing these exercises.

Although she still didn't enjoy fighting, she decided that she wouldn't think of her combat training as Lo and Li had put it, her training to kill. She would use this to learn how to incapacitate others. To do as little harm as possible while still winning against her opponent.

Time flew by and the day had finally arrived when they reached the Fire Nation. Clara was chained up again and placed in a windowless carriage as they all traveled from the harbor to the High Temple, where the Fire Sages were waiting. Clara expected to be treated like a lab rat once she arrived.

Breathe… I don't know what will happen, but that doesn't mean the worst will…

They came to a halt sooner than expected. Taking a breath, Clara braced herself for this hopefully not-too-terrible experience.

"Welcome Princess Azula and welcome back Prince Zuko!" a man's deep yet cheerful voice said in greeting.

Stepping out of the carriage, the guards immediately grabbed hold of Clara's chains.

She looked around to see five men, dressed in the same attire as the Fire Sages had been in the show. They all looked various degrees of curiosity as she was brought before them.

"We have made the proper arrangements… Is this the girl?" The elderly man with a deep voice asked, eyes examining Clara's face with interest. It made her skin crawl. The man couldn't hide the glint of intrigue there in his eyes.

Azula's voice was sharp but calm, "Yes, she is the one possessed."

The Sages came closer to Clara, assessing her up and down.

I'm not possessing you! I'm a part of you! Agnimitra said annoyed by the falsehood.

The Sages directed the party to an indoor training hall. The chains were taken off, freeing Clara. Rubbing her wrists made her feel a little better but she still did not look forward to what was going to come.

"Show them what you are capable of peasant," Azula commanded.

Inwardly sighing, Clara decided it would be best to just get this over with. Taking a deep breath, she decided to show off her telekinesis first, since it was more impressive than her firebending.

Starting off simple, she began to float in the air, earning audible gasps. Looking around at the equipment laid out around her, she reached out and made all of them float as well.

Noticing the target posts at the other end of the grounds, Clara put the equipment down and looked around for some practice knives or spears. There was a weapons cabinet, locked, but that didn't stop her.

Telekinetically pulling the lock clean off with just a flick of her wrist, she brought up the spears. She noticed the guards immediate reaction, readying themselves in case she decided to try anything. Ignoring them, Clara aimed and shot the spears at the targets. Perfect bullseyes on all targets. She came back to the ground, bringing some of the heavier looking equipment closer to her. Carefully, she brought it above her head and with a soft touch, made the heavy equipment look feather light.

When Clara lowered everything to the ground, she began some of the basic firebending she had mastered. Seeing the blue fire must be surprising because she heard some murmurs about it. As far as she knew, only Azula had been able to achieve this in the series.

Agnimitra had told Clara in passing that she was the reason the fire was blue. She was a fire spirit created by Agni, and as long as she was with Clara she gave her a power boost. If Agni had just blessed Clara with the ability, her bending would be about the standard you would see as far as firebending went.

After a few minutes of that she exhaled and stopped. The sudden sound of applause almost made her jump in surprise.

"Magnificent! Truly magnificent!" The one who seemed to be in charge of the Sages, the one with the deep voice, came over to Clara.

"I haven't finished…" Gathering fire in her hands, Clara let Agnimitra take control of her body. She watched from above as Agnimitra allowed 'their' body to become consumed in flame. She must have felt like showing off because Agnimitra began bending and the flames were all sorts of colors, colors Clara knew were possible because of her future knowledge when Aang and Zuko would discover the Sun Warriors and dragons.

"Extraordinary! We have seen something truly wonderful today!" Agnimitra had stopped and the applause that followed was louder than before.

"Can someone bring me some clothes?" she asked as the fire dimmed.

A servant of the temple ran off before quickly reappearing with a robe. They cautiously approached her.

Clara could feel herself being pulled back into her body as the fire died out. She was quickly covered up. Clara had noticed Zuko had turned to look away from her which she was glad. It was bad enough being naked in front of strangers, but she had noticed him do this because he had been the only one who had! It seemed that everyone else had either no shame or didn't feel like she deserved that respect.

She began to feel lightheaded and almost collapsed to the ground when a guard rushed over to help her stay on her feet. Masaru whispered, asking if she was alright.

"Just… drained. That took a lot out of me," she whispered back. Masaru told her that he would be staying at the temple while she was here and that did make her feel a little better.

The Sages had been huddled together, whispering since she had been back to normal. Clara didn't even want to think of what they could be planning.

"The Fire Lord has instructed us to leave the girl in the care of the Temple for the time being," Azula said as the Sages came back from their huddle.

"We'll take great care to assure her safety and comfort while staying with us."

Azula scoffed, "Just keep her alive until my father calls for her."

Azula, Zuko, Lo and Li exited from the room and Clara wondered when she would be able to see Zuko again. She had not been able to talk to him much at all and knew that things would be fine as is but still felt anxious.

The Sages came over to her, Masaru making sure she was okay while she stood before the men. They introduced themselves, although Clara didn't really see the point in remembering all of their names. She did make note of the main sage, Great Sage Nokai. She recognized him from the show, though he barely made appearances and had never been given an official name in canon. He looked to be the oldest of the bunch.

"What is your name child?" one of the other sages asked politely.

"It's Clara."

"A unique name, very fitting," Nokai said approvingly.

They guided her through the temple, Clara making notes of everything she could until they came to a bedroom. It would be where she would be staying. The Sages told her not to worry, that they would look after her and see that she would reach her full potential before seeing the Fire Lord.

Clara couldn't trust these men, finding their kindness suspicious, even if it was a nice welcome change to the coldness she'd been exposed to thus far from the Fire Nation.

Masaru said he would guard her tonight outside her door, and while that was nice it was a reminder of the fact that she was still a prisoner.

You'll be okay Clara. One day at a time! Don't worry about tomorrow yet!

Agnimitra's words were comforting to her. She was just grateful she wasn't alone through all this.

Food was brought to her before bed and thankfully Clara slept peacefully, doing her best to not worry about what tomorrow would bring.

Clara didn't know what to expect from the Sages and what they would have her do but it wasn't as horrible as she had been expecting.

The first day, after having breakfast, Clara had been brought to what looked like the Avatar version of a conference room. The Sages proceeded to ask her a bunch of questions. It felt like an interrogation and Clara was uncomfortable the entire time.

She tried to be careful with what she revealed.

"How long have you been able to bend fire with such control?"

"When did you discover your spirit abilities?"

"Who were your parents?"

Answering as truthfully as she could, so she wouldn't get mixed up with a bunch of lies was the goal but it was difficult.

They seemed amazed that she had not discovered her bending until age 16. It was unheard of for a bender to not find out past the age of five. The ability typically manifests around that time.

She gave them the story of the campfire and she could tell their confusion by it. They insisted that something else must have happened. Agnimitra told her to lie, saying that the incident may have happened around the winter solstice. This seemed to make more sense to the Sages, as the barriers between the spirit world and this one were thin during this time.

The rest of the day they had her practice her firebending and telekinesis. Masaru ended up being her partner during this. Clara was glad to have him around, even if they didn't get to talk much.

The next week went by much like her days on the boat, training and the Sages slowly introducing things to Clara. They had been very pleased when an ancient relic reacted to her touch, claiming it was measuring her spiritual energy. It was actually reacting to Agnimitra but they didn't need to know that.

The Sages concluded that her father had likely been a fire spirit in disguise of a Fire Nation soldier and seduced her mother. There were legends of things like that occurring but because the stories were so old none of the Sages had ever seen anything like this before. It had likely been her fire spirit father trying to contact her on the solstice and that resulted in her bending and spirit abilities awakening. The Sages would go on and on in front of Clara for hours theorizing.

Eventually, they dubbed her the Prasanna, which meant a being of pure light. It was the name of a being from the Fire Nation myth, of how the benders got their abilities.

It was fascinating to hear this since it was false and Clara knew from the show how everyone actually had been given their bending by the Lion Turtles.

Clara didn't know how she felt about being called a being of pure light. It made her sound important and maybe that was a good thing. Maybe then Fire Lord Ozai would be more inclined to not kill her. Whatever the case, the Sages now began treating her even better than before, giving her a better room and even asked her what she would like to do with her time. Small freedoms were nice to have again.

It didn't last for long though. A few more days passed and the temple received word that Clara was to be brought to the Fire Nation Royal Palace.

Prasanna: (Prahz-on-ah) in Sanskrit means "clear, bright, tranquil".