Yanmei

Chapter 1: Reunion at Xiahe

When I woke up that morning, there weren't any clouds in the sky, but by mid-afternoon the heavens were pitch black and rumbled with anger. The torrents of rain and rapid flashes of lightning eventually made even me seek out shelter. It wasn't difficult, though; Xiahe was a large Earth Kingdom metropolis, but even the nicest shops wouldn't keep a street rat like me out in this sort of weather. I wandered around the streets briefly, looking for a nice place to stop. Just as the rain really started coming down, I slipped into a tavern on the southern side of the city.

The tavern was one of those dark, dusty types, although it may have just been the storm outside that kept out all of the light. The inside was crowded with men, some standing around watching the storm through the window, some sitting at the bar drinking slowly. Everyone was too busy to notice a sixteen-year-old girl like me slip in, so when I arrived I casually walked to a back table and sat down, soaking wet and alone. I didn't mind much, though, the wetness or the solitude; after spending almost two years homeless and on my own, I was kind of used to it. Besides, I wasn't the only homeless person in the city. Xiahe was large, but not wealthy.

Since I had nothing better to do, I laid my head down on the table and shut my eyes. I smiled a bit when I realized that this was the most comfortable bed I had slept on in weeks. Soon, sleep began tugging at the corners of my brain and it was becoming difficult to stay awake, despite the thunder and the loud chatter from the other tavern patrons. Suddenly, the whole room fell completely silent, whispered warnings to quiet down being passed around here and there.

Ah, that's more like it, I thought, pleased. But when the silence persisted, I opened my eyes, wary.

Once I sat up and looked around the room, the reason for the quiet became obvious. In the center of the room, two tall, fully-uniformed Fire Nation soldiers stood and, going by the amount of water that dripped off of their helmets I guessed they had just walked in. Everyone in the room glared at them, a hint of fear in all of their eyes. I glared, too, although I knew the only difference between them and me was their uniforms.

Although I couldn't bend, Fire Nation blood ran through my veins, and Earth Kingdom citizens in Xiahe didn't look too nicely upon our kind. I tended to have lighter skin than most Xiahe citizens, but, other than that, no one could tell I was the enemy, which suited me just fine.

However, unlike me, these soldiers were obviously outsiders, and I couldn't help but feel a bit bad for them as everyone stiffened and waited for them to act. After a long pause, one soldier walked slowly to the counter, and everyone else held their breath. I watched him curiously as he reached into a bag around his shoulder and took out an intricately embroidered red coin purse, dumping the golden and bronze contents all over the wooden countertop. The bar tender looked at the coins with a look of disgust, but he was not one to allow a sale to slip away, no matter who was buying. The barkeep snatched up the coins and shoved them into a pocket in his apron before leaning over the counter, eyeing the soldier with unmasked contempt. "What do ya want?" he asked in a gruff voice.

Without hesitation, the soldier pointed to a set of bottles behind the bar.

"What, those?" the barman sneered. "You're gonna need a LOT more gold 'fore I part with those."

The soldier waved for the other one to join him at the bar, and the second soldier took out a purse of his own and gave all of the coins inside to the bartender, who couldn't help himself from smiling at the sight of all the gold.

"Alright, alright," the barman said, taking five of his most expensive bottles of spirits and handing them over to the Fire Nation soldiers. The soldiers put two bottles into the first soldier's bag and held the remaining three bottles before nodding to the bartender and turning around to leave.

I sat there, my mouth agape, utterly shocked at how much money those men had handed over for the drinks. And then the beginnings of a plan crept into my head, and I stealthily slipped out of the tavern, following the soldiers through the rain.

They must have more, and they won't miss a little, I thought, imagining my own pockets heavy with their money. The two men led me down the southern road, bypassing all of the other shops and houses as they walked in the direction of the docks. I stayed behind, ducking behind barrels and boxes when I felt they were becoming suspicious. Following them was easier than I had imagined it would be, though, mostly due to the lack of people on the streets and the noise from the storm which drowned out my footsteps. Finally, we turned the corner onto a dirt road that led directly to the marina. When I was able to see the boats, I knew exactly which ship the soldiers were venturing back to. It was an enormous, black warship that dwarfed every other ship in the choppy waters. Something about it looked ominous and terrifying, but I refused to be deterred from my mission, following the soldiers all the way to the ship, but hid between two shops across from them as they walked aboard.

Crap… I thought, a little annoyed at myself for not thinking this far ahead. I smacked the palm of my hand to my forehead. And just what were you planning to do once you got here, Yanmei? Walk up to them and ask for the money? 'Oh, hello there, I'm Yanmei, and I'm robbing you!' Stupid, stupid, stupid!

I leaned against the wall of one of the buildings and watched the ship carefully, although the rain was making it hard to see. There didn't appear to be very many people on board, save for one or two more soldiers standing guard. Still, they looked pretty miserable, and it was raining…

I weighed the chances of being able to overtake the two grown men with just my knife, and decided I might as well go for it, seeing I had nothing more to lose. I had already lost everything worth losing a year ago in my home in the Fire Nation…

Before I could reason myself out of it, my legs carried me swiftly to the ramp that led to the deck, and as I sneaked up toward the first guard, I reached into a pocket in my pants and took out a small knife. Slowly peeking onto the deck, I watched as the first guard walked to the second guard, both of them shivering in the cold rain. The men had their backs to me, and I thanked the heavens for my good luck. I ran as fast as I could to the smaller-looking guard, his coin purse hanging freely from a belt around his uniform, snatching it up and ducking around his arm as it came flying toward my head in defense. Both men watched me, dumbfounded, from behind their helmets and I decided to act, pushing my way through both of them and managing to trip one, who fell with a loud thud. Hitting their hard uniforms with my soft body hurt more than I had anticipated, and I tried to catch my breath as I hurried back to the ramp.

Halfway there! I thought, ecstatic at my success. Just then, something singed my foot as a fireball whirled past me, barely missing. It distracted me, though, and a split second of distraction was all it took for me to go down, slipping and twisting my ankle on the wet metal deck and skidding to a stop just inches from the ramp that led to my freedom. The two soldiers were on top of me in a matter of seconds, one pinning my shoulders down and the other, the shorter one that I had tripped, pressing my legs to the floor. When he applied pressure to my ankle, though, I screamed and for an instant he eased up before the other one grabbed my arms and roughly lifted me to my feet, forcing me to hobble toward the cabin while he secured my arms behind my back. I dropped the coin purse I had taken from the smaller man and tried to turn my head to watch as he picked it up, confused but grateful.

The guard that was leading me to the cabin opened the door to a dark, lifeless hallway, but I wasn't scared. It was true; I had never been in trouble with anyone from the Fire Nation army before, but somehow I felt like I would be able to get out of this, whether by charm or by escape, just like all of those other times in the Earth Kingdom prisons. It wasn't hard.

As the guard and I walked through the seemingly endless corridors, I tried to put more and more weight on my hurt ankle to test my limit, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't actually hurt very badly, and that I could easily run away, should come to that. Honestly, though, I was hoping the captain—or whoever I was being taken to—to just let me off with a warning. That was something that only I understood; sure, Fire Nation officials were strict, but they weren't completely heartless. For the most part; every rule had its exceptions.

As we continued to walk through the gloomy, cold walkways, we passed many other soldiers, all uniformed just like my escort. I couldn't see their eyes behind their helmets, but I knew they watching me curiously, and I smiled. That's right, look at me while you still can… I told them mentally. I'll be gone soon enough, just you wait.

Just as I was getting tired of walking, the guard and I stopped in front of a tall, closed metal door. "Finally…" I mumbled and the soldier's grip on my arms tightened. While keeping one hand at my back where it could easily restrain my hands, he took his other hand and slowly opened the heavy-looking door, which made an annoying squeaking noise when it moved. He then pushed me into the room with more force than necessary so that I fell to my hands and knees, painfully hitting the solid floor. I kneeled down and rubbed my hurt legs, squeezing my eyes shut to prevent tears from escaping.

"Sir!" the soldier boomed. "This young woman was apprehended after attempting to rob me and one other man while we were standing guard on deck."

"Yeah, and your men really don't know how to treat a lady!" I argued, whipping my head up to face my persecutor. Although his back was to me, I could tell he was a surprisingly young man, his hair pulled back into a neat sort of ponytail. "It's not right," I continued, managing to stand up slowly. "You just can't treat a girl so—"

The young man turned around and I stopped mid-sentence, my heart skipping a beat. His face had changed, but I was sure it was him. Just to be sure, though, I took one step forward to get a better look.

"'So' what?" he demanded, keeping up a tough, stern look, although I could tell he recognized me. I saw that familiar recognition reflected in his dark eyes. I watched that recognition slowly swirling behind his eyes carefully, but he must have thought I was looking at the gruesome red scar that covered almost the entire left half of his face, because he turned the scarred side of his head ever so slightly away from me so I couldn't see it as easily.

"'C-can't treat a girl so' what?" he repeated more slowly, as if I hadn't understood the first time.

"So… roughly…" I answered him, taking another step so that I was only a few inches away now. He watched me cautiously without taking a step away; he was just as interested in me as I was in him. We both stood there, staring at one another without speaking. The silence in the small room was suffocating, and behind me I heard the guard who had taken me here swallow loudly, uncomfortably. I would have stayed like that forever, though, if I could have, just wondering about the person in front of me. Thankfully, that person broke the silence.

"You… Look so familiar…" he said in a calmer voice. "But your hair is long and—do I know you?"

I smiled, relieved that he finally remembered. Breaking eye contact, I looked down at his hand, taking it in mine and touching it to my forehead before smiling back at him.

"…It's been a while, Prince Zuko."