"How could I have done it without them? The answer is that I couldn't have."

-Avatar Aang to a Republic City News Network reporter, during an interview about "The Gaang"

Slowly, the sun of the morning begins to fight away the darkness of last night. With orange hands, it lifts the veil of shadow that obscures the corpse-strewn deck of the Princess's personal ship. It glints fire-like from the dark blue metal creature that lays unmoving in the center of the ship. The creature has now been turned so that its tail faces the sun and the head faces the direction of the Fire Nation.

Standing on top of the fish, I can feel the wind blow against my hair, throwing it back behind my head. The metal bands of my circlet hold some of my silver strands in place. The rest feel free and loose, a facsimile of my own feeling.

The loose skirt swivels with me while I turn to look at the newcomer, who is slowly climbing up the scaled tail of the Waterbender submarine.

She reaches the top and joins me as I watch the moon fall. We stand in companionable silence for what feels like hours, not saying a sound, not moving. The wind blows our clothes behind our bodies to flap and twist in the wind like our hair.

When the darkness finally falls from the horizon, the girl beside me says the first word of the day. "So,"

I turn to look at my new Waterbending friend. "So."

Her eyes twinkle with blue moonlight, and her hair remains in the long braid I shaped it in last night. She smiles at me in a way that no one ever has; as a friend. She looks back towards the ocean waves that we carve our way through, and takes a deep breath of the salty ocean breeze. "Have you ever been to the Fire Nation?" Terumi asks.

"A few times." I tell her, recalling the nation of reds and burgundies. "With other groups of Energybenders. Always inspecting facilities, important duties, and the like." I leave her to imagine just how boring it all was. Never once were we allowed out of our hotel unsupervised.

Terumi seems to have something on her mind. I can feel it, in the corner of my mind. Her arms become crossed in front of her chest, her weight shifts from one leg to the other, and her breathing takes a new pattern. I wait, patiently, for her to speak her thoughts.

"Have you ever fought for a Nation, Iulia?" Terumi asks quickly.

I look at my friend. Her questions come in bursts. Last night, before the attack, I had been showing her how to paint her nails when she had asked me how old Aelius was. Her next question had been after we had heard the noise of the submarine jumping onto the deck of the ship, "Have you ever killed anyone?"

"No," I respond. "And I don't plan to."

"Why not?" Terumi asks. "You could make a lot of money! You're really good at Energybending."

I sigh. "Money doesn't mean much to me." I laugh. "My family has enough of it to fund an entire army for a few years. My father is very well paid."

"What does your dad do?" Terumi asks.

"He-" I start. What exactly does he do? I know he is a very high-ranking member of the Water and Air Confederacy, but he has never gone into details about what his role is. I have seen some of his massive maps in his personal communications center, so it could possibly be related to planning the strategies for the Confederacy. He is an excellent fighter, but I do not think that he fights on the front lines.

"I'm not sure." I finally say. Terumi doesn't seem bothered by my confusion.

"That's fine." Terumi smiles softly. "At least you have parents."

A few moments of silence pass between us. I hear something in her voice, a low twinge of sarcasm or irony. It bites at me.

"Parent." I whisper.

Terumi does not hear me. "My parents died when I was young. Killed by mobsters for not paying their protection money."

"My mom was killed by bandits." I say automatically.

"I lived on the streets for twelve years."

"I was electrocuted in training when I was seven and was in a coma for a month."

"I'm a Bloodbender."

"Every year I celebrate my birthday on Avatar Korra Memorial Day."

"I'm a recovered drug addict."

"Are we seriously having a 'Who has it worse' contest?" I ask from in-between laughs.

Terumi joins me with her soft peals of laughter. "Yes!" She laughs. "We are!"

Terumi and I settle down after a few minutes of ironic laughter. I put a hand on my stomach, which is sore from the outburst of laughter.

In the following silence, I hear metal feet clink and scrape against the metal hull of the submarine. I turn around to see Princess Cathra wearing her Fire Nation armor and royal topknot and trying to climb up the scaly tail of the metal fish.

In her movements, I can see her shyness in approaching us. In her darting eyes, I can see that she is nervous. With a gentle hand, I pat on the silver metal of my circlet. It always comes in handy.

"Princess," I greet. "Welcome to the therapy session."

"Right now we're discussing how bad our lives are." Terumi chimes in.

Cathra is silent for a few moments. I can see, from the twinges in her cheeks, that she is thinking of something appropriate to say. Her lips open a few times, but quickly close.

"I've never been able to shoot lightning." She says, after a while. "Some Fire Nation royalty I am."

Terumi smiles. "Don't worry, I can't do it either!"

Cathra laughs. Her laughs sounds like an erupting volcano and is a complete contrast to her soft and smooth voice. "I wish I could bend half as well as you two can."

I shrug. "Aelius is better at Energybending than I am." I recall his orange energy, his energy whip, and his secret talent for shifting the phases of elements. "He can do things that no has ever done before."

"What about me?" Aelius steps on to the deck wearing his Guardian armor. His helmet is in the crook of his arm.

I cross my arms in front of my chest. "Just that you're paranoid." I tease. "Scared of another attack?" I ask, only half joking.

"Better safe," Aelius comes up the tail of the submarine. He stops when he gets to the top, and I see his eyes dart from Cathra and then back to me. "Than sorry."

I see Cathra's body language shift slightly as her left food moves to point towards Aelius. She looks over her shoulder at him, one hand on her left hip. "So Aelius," she says. "What can you do that no one else can?"

I see Aelius's eyes widen slightly. I see a muscle in his face twitch a little, and his eyes seem to be seeing Cathra for the first time. Just do it, I order him silently. She's trying to say she's sorry you baboon.

"I can shoot explosive energy." He states plainly. "And absorb light."

Terumi's eyes widen. "Wow! That's really cool."

Aelius raises an eyebrow and looks at Terumi. I can practically hear the question in his head: who is this girl and what has she done to the moody Terumi I met? All he says out loud, however, is "I've only done it once before."

"Can we try it?" Cathra asks, no, begs. I see curiosity and awe burning in her eyes. "You need to learn to get better at it."

I almost roll my eyes. Aelius does not seem to notice. He seems to be deep in thought.

"O.K." He says after a few moments in silent reflection. "Make a fireball."

Cathra holds a hand up in front of her and a fireball immediately appears. It crackles eagerly and glints and twists it's reflection on Cathra's and Aelius's armor.

Aelius holds a hand out in the direction of the glowing flame, and his eyes squints in concentration. Before too many seconds pass, a trickle of orange and yellow dust begins to drift out of the fireball and into his hand.

The stream is faster than before, and before too long Cathra's fireball is just a glimmering spark above her hand. Aelius's hand, on the other hand, is glowing with a bright yellow light. It seems different than before.

"Interesting." I say. "So maybe you absorb energy instead of light." I suggest.

"So now what?" Terumi asks.

"This." Aelius turns around and jabs his hand towards the ocean. A orange ball of light speeds out of his hand in the blink of an eye. I see it hit the ocean waves…

And a huge wave pillar of fire, water, and steam explodes in a massive outburst from the point of impact.

"Oh," Terumi says. "That."

Cathra removes the hand that was covering her gaping mouth. "That was amazing!" She cries.

Aelius looks at her as though she just grew a new head. "Thank you?" He says, surprised.

Terumi looks from Aelius to Cathra. She looks like she's about to say something, but a hoarse voice from the top of the conning tower beats her to it. "Land, ho!" A red uniformed sailor shouts.

Aelius looks around for the source of the noise. "You would think that after a two hundred years they would stop yelling that."

Cathra giggles girlishly. "Old habits die hard."

"Princess Cathra!" Another coarse voice says. I look at the conning tower door to see Master Marcian stepping onto the deck. Her robe is glowing bright with it's purple power.

Cathra turns around to look at her. "Hmm?" She hums quizzically.

"We will be in the Fire Nation in an hour." Master Marcian says. Then, without another word, she turns around and reenters the shadow of the ship's insides.

"What's up with her?" Terumi asks.

I shrug as I walk in-between Cathra and Aelius. "Some people would rather keep their problems to themselves," I say. "But they always come around, in the end." I pat Aelius's helmet and avoid looking into his pale, knowing, and surprised eyes as I pass him.