"I see fighting like a dance: always make sure that you're leading."

-Iulia Impera, age seven, to Aelius Impera, age seven.

I hear the crashes of the fight in the garden as easily as I hear the sound of my shoes beating a rabid dash against the tiled floor. Aelius turns his head back around every few seconds, and whether it is to check and see if I am still there or if it is to check if we are being followed, I do not have any idea. I am glad that he still has the commonsense to check, because I am much more concerned with getting as far away from any assassins as possible.

Perhaps cowardice is inherent in the royal blood.

I hear a louder crash, and Aelius turns around to check the empty hallway. I realize, for the first time, that no servants or guards have come to our aid. Are they dead, or was this attack coordinated by someone on the inside of the Palace?

I hear a cry, and I see Aelius' eyes widen. "That was Iulia." He says quickly.

I stop running and turn around, looking at his back. "Should we go back?" I ask, more for my own conscience than anything else. The person I am tells me to keep running, but the person I want to be is telling me to go help Iulia and Terumi. I look to Aelius for the final judgment.

After a few seconds, seemingly a year, Aelius turns around. His eyes are hard. "No." He says, moving forward and gesturing towards me. "She can take care of herself, and she told me to get you out of here."

I turn around too, and we both jump as we hear the sound of breaking glass. "What is going on out there?" I ask the empty hallway. The torches on the walls flicker in ignorance.

Aelius turns around again. "I don't know, but it's not coming this way." He raises his hands, both glowing, and rips the air between them as though pulling apart a piece of fabric. The space between them glows, and soon a glowing translucent sphere grows to fill the distance between the walls and the floor. It glows with a dull light.

The hair on my arms stands up and gently pulls towards it. "That's cool," I say. "Bet that comes in handy."

Aelius turns around, a drop of sweat rolling down his face. "It should hold until anyone brings a battery around, or anything metal that can absorb the energy." He hurries back down the hallway, and I follow him.

"They can't get through that, right?" I ask, trying not to pant. The guest residence is fairly large, but I think we're almost to the main door. Why any guests would need a place this large to stay is beyond me.

"If they touch it, they'll be dead." Aelius shouts behind him. "An Energybender could absorb the energy, because it's comparatively not that much compared to what we normally bend."

I decide to use this quality time with an Energybender for my own education. "How can the sphere be that large and kill someone, even though it doesn't have much energy, but the spheres you normally use are smaller, don't kill people, and have more energy?"

Aelius doesn't even turn his head when he answers me. "I don't know, and I don't care." He shouts.

So much for that.

I hear a noise behind us, and barely turn around in time to step out of the way of a large grey shape shoot by my face. I turn back around and see a tall man wearing a straw hat and grey clothing standing in front of us. I can't see his eyes from under the shade of the hat.

Aelius immediately comes between him and I, his hands already raised and glowing. The man stomps on the floor, and a pillar of stone launches Aelius into the air. Aelius kicks off the pillar before it can crush him against the ceiling, and he brings his foot down in a glowing trail of light. The man sidesteps him, allowing Aelius to break the tiles where he had been standing.

I take a deep breath and punch two fireballs towards the grey man. They hit him, square in the chest, and tendrils of flame lick around his torso. The point of impact glows red a bit, and the man is unfazed.

I don't have time to question it, because the man now is focused on me. He jumps towards me, but is stopped mid-jump by a powerful kick from Aelius. Aelius cries out in pain as the man hits the wall. "He's made of metal!" Aelius shouts.

"What?" I ask back. "That's impossible!"

The man pushes himself off the wall and adjusts his hat. "Believe me," He says, his voice raspy. "I remind myself of that every morning."

The man comes at us again, this time with two large portions of the ancient walls. I try to get out of the way, but the stone clips me on the arm. I feel anger, at this man, myself, and at a whole lot of other things, build inside of me. I raise my hands above my head and summon a torrent of fire to fall down on top of the man, and I hear a soft sizzle. Could Aelius be right about this man?

When the fire dies down, I see Aelius beside me. The man is crouched down against the floor, his clothing and revealed skin are bubbling, hissing, and glowing cherry red. I take a few steps back, appalled by the abomination before me. The hat is gone now, likely burned to a crisp, and I see the man's head. It is a mixture of tanned skin and grey metal, with the two mixed as though they were paint.

He looks up at us, face bubbling and dripping on the tiles. "You can't," he rasps out, his words gurgling in his throat. His teeth drip metal onto the floor as he speaks. "Destroy me."

Aelius looks down at the man, and then raises a hand. The light provided by the torches dies down, and I look and see that the fires in every sconce are little more than embers. The hallway would be completely dark, if not for the giant glowing orb a little ways away behind us, and the growing orange light above Aelius' hand.

Neither my mind nor Aelius give me any time to process this turn of events. Before I can question anything that has happened in the past few minutes, Aelius throws the glowing sphere at the crouching man, and the world explodes into a mixture of fire, heat, energy, and tile.

I push myself off the broken tile and see a crater where the man had been. The tapestries on the walls around us are either on fire or already burnt. The residual heat from the explosion lingers, and the glowing red tiles on the floor and my skin. The world swims in front of me, and my ears are filled with high pitched ringing.

I see Aelius push himself off the floor, spitting blood out of his mouth. I try to stumble towards him, but it is to hard for me to walk. "Are you ok?" I ask.

He doesn't respond to what I say, and I realize that I couldn't hear my own voice over the ringing in my ears. He brushes off his tunic, and I notice that the blood comes from a cut on his upper lip. He has several cuts and scrapes on his arms and face, but nothing too serious.

He looks at me and his mouth moves, but I still can not hear it. I point at my ears, and shake my head. He nods.

I turn to look at the place where the metal man had been before, and see nothing besides a motionless splatter of metallic liquid. I look around and see that drops of the metal must have gone at least twenty feet in all directions.

I feel a hand on my arm. It is Aelius, and his mouth is moving again. I shake my head, and he motions with a hand. He pulls me along behind him again at a pace that is seemingly difficult for us both. We stumble a lot, but eventually we make our way out of the residence.

A large crowd is gathered to wait for us, consisting mainly of crimson armored guards and robed Dai Li. A few attendants try to jump above the crowd to get a view.

Someone must have noticed me, as immediately the entire crowd swarms Aelius and me. I see so many mouths moving, but I can't hear anything. All I can do is point to my ears and shake my head. Aelius, however, seems to be able to hear, and I see his move furiously. Whether he is asking questions or answering them, I can't tell.

Aelius pauses and looks at something that I can not see over the heads of everyone else. Struggle to see, and eventually the black and red crowd parts and I see six white armored Energybenders, masks and all, accompanying Master Marcian, who looks as perfect and passive as ever. Her robe glows with purple lines, and I immediately remember the orange energy that Aelius used to destroy the metal man. Can all Energybenders do that?

Aelius walks up to the Master, fists clenched. He waves his hands as he talks, pointing at me, then at the smoking residence behind us, and then he places a single finger on the Master's chest.

I see, in the purple light of her robes, Master Marcian adopt a deadly glare. Her mouth moves slowly and precisely, and I curse the ringing in my ears that prevents me from hearing her words. Whatever she said, it makes Aelius even more angry, and he waves his hands more. The armored Energybenders, moving gracefully, file past Aelius and I, and work their way through the crowd into the residence. I watch their backs as they go inside the dark corridor, and I wonder if there is anything left of the metal man for them to find.

I feel a hand on my arm, and I turn to see Aelius in front of me. His mouth moves slowly, and I can read his lips. "Let's go."

The next few hours are a bustle of activity. I get taken to the royal hospital, where I am swarmed again by nurses and doctors, who stich up a gash on my head that I had neither noticed nor felt. My hearing restores over time, and the first thing I hear is the phrase "damn Energybenders." It is repeated frequently.

After a doctor shines a very bright light in my eyes, Aelius walks into the room. I see that he is wearing his armor, minus the helmet, and has his sword sheathe on the left side of his belt, and what appears to be a thin whip on the right. He looks at me, and then at the doctor, who turns around and glares at him.

"You are not allowed to be in here!" The doctor cries, pointing at the six Royal Firebenders spread throughout the room. They move towards Aelius at once.

Aelius raises his hand, showing the Firebenders and doctor a small card with his stoic face on it, and then the seal of the Fire Nation. "I have jurisdiction here. I've been assigned to the Fire Nation as an Acolyte."

The Royal Firebenders pause to look at me, and the doctor follows suit. "Princess, he really should not be in here-"

"If he is an Acolyte," I say, not knowing what the term means in regards to this scenario, "And if he has been assigned to the Fire Nation, and then if he has proper identification, I see no reason why he should not be allowed to be in here." I look at Aelius, who is stone-faced. I nod to him. "You may stay."

Aelius bows uncharacteristically, which tells me that more is going on here than appears. "Thank you, Princess."

I look at the doctor, whose mouth is a firm line. "Is there anything else you need to do, Doctor?" I ask.

The doctor shakes his head swiftly. "No, Princess Cathra." His voice is level, but he is clearly upset at the recent turn of events.

Considering how my day has gone, I give it no second thought. "Clear the room." I say, gesturing at the doctor, and then at the gold-trimmed Royal Firebenders. Aelius looks at me questioningly, but turns to follow them as they depart. As he reaches the door, I speak up. "Acolyte, you may stay."

Aelius waits for the Firebenders and doctor to leave, and then he slams the door. He turns around to look at me, and I see anger in his eyes. "Thank you very much, Princess." He grunts, clearly still furious.

I can't tell if he is mad at me, or is merely still smoldering from his encounter with Master Marcian, or from something else that has happened since. "Is everything alright, Aelius?" I ask, testing the waters.

Aelius closes his eyes, and then swallows. When he opens his eyes they are calmer than before, but still fiery. "Iulia was hurt really bad."

I get down from the examination table where I had been sitting and cross over to him. I put a careful hand on his arm. The armor feels like very hard plastic, and I realize that I have never felt an Energybender's armor before. "Is she ok now?" I ask, looking up at him.

He turns and puts his hands on top of a nearby cabinet. He looks down at the floor, and I can see that he is trying very hard to control himself. "She was stabbed through the chest." Aelius looks at me, and I see that his eyes are hard. "The hole was four inches in diameter."

I take a step back. "Was she impaled?" I ask, knowing that a four inch stab wound would only be possible if the implement used to stab was a large metal pole; however, the way my night has been going so far, nothing can surprise me anymore.

Aelius shakes his head and looks back down at the floor. "No," he says. "It was the metal man. Terumi said that she saw him change his entire arm into a blade, and then he stabbed her with it."

"Aelius," I ask again. "Is Iulia going to be ok?"

Aelius looks at me again, and this time his eyes are on the verge of tears.