AN: First off, thanks so much for the wonderful reviews! They encouraged me to keep on writing. I've gotten some less than nice ones on another fic, and I kinda abandoned it. I'm sensitive. Give me not mean reviews and I'll keep writing haha. Thanks also for the follows and favorites. I'm really excited you guys are interested.

Last thing is I'm heading back to school soon, and then I graduate college and become a real adult, so we'll see how long it takes for chapters to come out, because I'm not sure how long this is going to be.

Iza spent her time trying to watch the benders inconspicuously. She walked through the garden, pretending to admire the flowers, but it was quite clear that she was uninterested in them. Every few steps, she would stop and look up at the men and women training, then remember to keep walking and look at the flowers. She repeated this process for about a quarter of an hour before sitting down and watching them unabashedly. For a woman decades older than she, Kanna found Iza's lack of subtlety alarming.

Kanna sat at the edge of a pond, her shoes off and her feet in the clear, cool water. The sun was too warm, even though it was autumn and clouds covered it most of the time. When she looked to Iza, sitting down some yards away, she saw that the woman was rubbing her arms. This weather was nothing good. It was probably good for all the fruit the Fire Nation grew, but not for a girl from the Southern Water Tribe.

She drew circles in the water with her toes. If she wasn't a prisoner, she was probably allowed to bend, but she didn't want to take the risk and be wrong. Just being in contact with the element again set her at ease. She could practice bending with small amounts of water when she went back in the palace with Iza.

Unable to face the firebenders any longer, she stood up and walked away from them, her feet wet and bare. Flowers weren't something they had much at home. They looked quite useless to her: not much too eat, but you could probably make a lot better tasting teas with them. She touched the petals of a white flower gently, soft as animal skins. Then she realized the usefulness of flowers: they had beauty. Not the beauty of fresh snow or a hot bowl of soup, not the beauty of comfort. They had the beauty of luxury, the unattainable: perfect in every way, unspoiled and without fault. That is what flowers were for.

She turned herself to the south with a heavy heart. Maybe she could get home somehow, though what would be waiting there? There had been no warriors to protect them. Would they be merciful enough to kill those that were too injured from the raid?

There were only a few things she'd ever wanted. A master to train her, a new pair of boots for formal ceremonies, some more time free of housework and cooking. Now she would give anything for it back. Her father and brother home from the war, her mother unharmed, and herself at home. It was possible that the two were still alive, but now that it was so unlikely for her to ever know, it didn't bring her much comfort. She couldn't hug them, tell them how much she loved and missed them. Really, if they were alive and could make it back home, they'd assume she was dead.

A thin tear rolled over her cheek. She lifted a hand and bent it back in, unblinking.

"Kanna!"

She looked up. Iza was waving to her.

"Come on, let's go in."

With a sigh, she stood and walked back to the pond to get her shoes. She stared into the water, unsure of who she was anymore. Does it matter? She slipped her shoes on and headed to Iza. When she met her, the older woman grabbed her by the arm and lead her at a leisurely pace, gossiping and fawning over the benders. This one has only been training for six years and he's already doing better than some benders that started as children. The princess was flawless, of course, has two mentors, you know. And oh, the prince. He's just come back only a few weeks ago, but he's improved so much over the past few years. It's that former general, his uncle, it is.

Kanna listened without interest. If she were to allow herself to feel anything, only rage would show itself. The less she heard about the prince and princess, the better she would feel.

They passed some of the benders, ones that sat down to take a rest, and Iza would commend them on their training. Some smiled and waved, though others looked too tired and out of breath to even look at her.

A pair ahead of them had stopped walking and appeared to be having an argument. One was about to start yelling, but the shorter one let out a laugh.

"Oh dear," said Iza, turning sharply to the left.

"What is it?" she asked, craning her neck over her shoulder.

She made a fretful sound. "No, don't look, pretend you don't see them."

"What? Why?"

Her face was twisted up, weighing her answer. "It's best to stay out of their affairs. It's the prince and the princess."

This just increased her curiosity. She didn't care to know the "good" about them, but getting some information on the bad in their life might make her feel the teeniest bit better. She followed Iza out of sight but stood watching them. The prince's back was to her. All she could tell was he had black hair like all the others in the Fire Nation. His younger sister wore a sneer and her laugh was light-hearted. She looked proud, comfortable, unafraid. Their words were nothing to Kanna with the space between them, but she could see the dynamic. The princess was the antagonizer, the prince the prey. He stood in a fighting stance, though he held his hands at his sides. They seemed like children, young children. Where was their mother to put them in time out?

She tried to imagine them when they were younger. Would the princess still have picked on him, or had she learned his ways and turned the tables on him? Really, it looked like the prince just took it all, held his emotions in. He probably takes everything out on servants and his bending, she thought. Grown, but immature, the both of them.

"Let's go," suggested Iza.

She followed without complaint.

They made their way back into Iza's workroom. Only a few spoke to Iza, fretting about the royals' clothing and asking how she could be taking a break. She only laughed and waved her hand at the thought. "Everything will be fine," she said. They only threw Kanna strange, distrusting stares, which she pointedly ignored, pretending to be interested in the large tapestries that bore the symbol of the Fire Nation. She suddenly wished she could firebend, that way she could destroy the tapestries with the very element the depicted.

The two sat at the table together. There was tea, a flavor she was unfamiliar with, but not averse to. They had only been outside for about an hour, with Kanna's feet in the pond for most of it. She wondered what they would do with the rest of their time until she had to go. Wait, where will I go?

Everything was so strange about the situation, that she hadn't even thought of where she would sleep that night. "So, since I'm not a prisoner, where will I live?"

She beamed. "With me, of course. I'm just on the other side of this place. My work and home are connected." She stood up and led Kanna to the back of the work room and through a door. On the other side were small living quarters. They stood in the living room, and there was a door on either side of it. "Mine's on the left, so you'll have the right. Let me get you some blankets." She went off to her side before Kanna could say she probably wouldn't need them.

She went to the low table in front of her and sat on a cushion. It was better than she'd hoped for. She wouldn't be back in the prison, she had a place to sleep, and Iza was kind to her.

That, and she'd have her own room, something she'd never experienced. Back home, their houses were one room. Her mother and father slept together on one side, while she and her brother slept on the other, huddling together under the furs for warmth. Even when a fire burned, it was hard to get the cold out. Being awake and moving was the best way to stay warm, though if she didn't sleep, her mother and father would worry, and then her brother would complain because he wanted to sleep after training.

What was worse than the cold of the snow was its reflection. When the moon was full, the pale light would strengthen and glare into their home. They all pulled the furs over their heads on those nights.

But half the time, Kanna would go out and bend. Nothing felt better, and she'd never felt stronger. The water gave itself over to her, more than willing to follow her every move. One time, her brother went out to bring her back in the middle of a snow storm. As soon as she saw him, she made the snow stop. It waited inches above their heads, while he stared at her in disbelief and awe, then swatted at it to be sure he wasn't still dreaming. A few flakes fell into his hair. "Okay, keep doing that until we get home, yeah?"

Iza came out with an armload of blankets and headed into Kanna's room. "It's getting colder, and the rooms are cold on their own, so I don't want you to be uncomfortable."

She stood and followed the woman into the room, where she was layering the blankets on the floor by the wall closest to the living room. As Iza continued to chatter, Kanna walked to the window on the far side and parted the curtain, looked out at the long expanse of a brick walkway, leading to the palace gates.

"If I'm not a prisoner, can I leave?" The words came quietly, a question to herself rather than to Iza, though she answered anyway.

"That isn't really how it works here. The Fire Nation likes to assimilate former prisoners into our country and way of life."

She turned to her. Probably so we'll feel some strange traitor's sense of patriotism, she thought. "But why am I no longer a prisoner? I can bend; I'm the last waterbender of my tribe. Why would the Fire Lord let me just work for you instead of killing me? I asked Jee Sang, but one of the guards answered. 'I'll work to earn my keep,'" she repeated. "It doesn't make any sense."

Two parallel lines appeared between her brows. Iza removed a hand she had put over her mouth. "I really don't know. I'm a seamstress, not a politician. The only reason I'm here is because the Fire Lady liked my work and asked the Fire Lord if I could take over the empty position.

"Why don't you go ahead and take a bath? I'll go get it ready for you. It's connected to my room." She bustled off and left Kanna to herself.

She hadn't meant to upset Iza, but her habit of thinking aloud wasn't something the woman had caught on to. When she returned, Kanna apologized, but Iza waved it away like anything else said in seriousness and led her into the bathroom.

Iza apologized for the cold water, but Kanna didn't mind; she actually preferred it. She sat in the tub for what felt like an hour, though when she was dried and clean, Iza told her it'd only been twenty minutes.

Somehow, she wasn't as dirty as she'd expected. She washed her hair out with some creamy mixture in a blue container and washed her skin off with a green bar of soap that smelled like tea.

As she stood up to dry off, she ignored a quiet voice in the back of her mind. Six months? You've probably lost all progress you made. You aren't strong enough. That's why they let you out: because you're useless now. She unplugged the drain and watched the water swirl down the tub.

As soon as she laid down, she fell asleep, only to be woken seconds later by daylight pouring through the window. She groaned and rolled over on her stomach. After not getting enough proper sleep, it was all she wanted. All she wanted that she could plausibly get, that is. She decided if they finished early again today, she would take a nap.

After straightening her clothes and hair, she walked out, found Iza sitting at the table. There were two cups of tea and two bowls, steaming and enticing Kanna. She sat down across from her and began to eat, thanking her quietly. Rice, "leaks," carrots, and some pale vegetable similar to carrot were in the bowl, seasoned even. Not that dinner had been bad, but starting the day off with an adequate portion of a meal was more exciting than going to bed with a heavy stomach.

She'd thought about offering to help Iza with the cooking, when she realized the food was too different. If she wanted to help, she'd need Iza to teach her how to cook these meals, unless she simply cut the vegetables.

Most of her skills were useless here. She couldn't cook, couldn't bend snow to clear a path for the elderly, and they had probably never so much as seen a sea prune. The only thing she was good for here was sewing straight lines and being angry.

They headed into the sewing room, where Iza put her in charge of the prince's robes, a very big responsibility, Kanna assumed. It didn't matter much to her either way. If anything, she just spent more time thinking about him being frozen to the ceiling in the great, big ballroom they were sure to have. She imagined that he set the robes on fire and was burnt a bit in the process. It was mean-spirited, yes, but she figured she had the right to be after what his nation had done to her family.

Iza went out to take care of some business that involved talking. Kanna was glad she couldn't be spared. She didn't want to talk, all she wanted to do was daydream about that rotten prince at the homecoming ceremony, and breaking out of the palace. That kept her smiling as she worked.

She was focused on the left sleeve of the prince's robes when Iza rushed into the room. "Oh, dear, I know you haven't finished the robes yet, but we need the prince to try it on to make sure it fits properly."

Kanna finished a stitch and tore at the thread with her teeth as she stood, answering, "I've just finished sewing the sleeves on. Should we send it to the-" She looked up to see a tall man standing beside Iza. His hair partially covered an old scar that spanned over his eye and upper cheek, back to his ear. The eye on the scarred side was slightly open and seemed to work properly, though she wondered how his eyelid could have protected it that well.

Looking to him, she asked, "Are you taking this to the prince?"

Iza gave her a terrified look, but she did not understand her error.

His one eyebrow pulled down, and he crossed his arms over his chest. Steam emerged from his nostrils. "Just who do you think I am?"

She was taken aback. Rather than apologizing for something she didn't understand, she answered honestly. "I wouldn't know. I am a foreigner; the only people I've seen here are guards, soldiers, Jee Sang, firebenders, and Iza."

"I am the crown prince of the Fire Nation," he said in a self-righteous manner. "Who are you?"

Her heart hammered in her chest. Quickly, she bowed, her upper body parallel to the ground. Well, he'd already been burnt, then. "Please forgive me, Your Highness. I am from the Water Tribe. We do not have royalty. I am sorry to have dishonored you."

She heard him scoff. "What about that Princess Yue?"

Remaining in her position, she answered. "She is of the Northern Tribe, Your Highness. In the Southern Tribe, we have chiefs, who are treated as wise leaders, but not to the degree of royalty. We do not bow to chiefs as your citizens bow to you."

"What would your chief say, seeing you bow to me?"

A strange, overwhelming calmness fell over her, as though she was filled with so much anxiety that her emotions had completely shut down. "I do not think he could say anything, Your Highness. I believe he is dead."

He seemed to pause for the briefest moment, then resumed his questioning. "Did this chief have children?"

"Yes," she said quietly. "A son and a daughter. The son was in war with him, so I believe he is dead as well." Realizing she missed a phrase, she hastily added, "Your Highness."

"What of the daughter?"

Kanna hesitated. "She died during the raid."

"Hmph. Well, that's enough of that. Let me try on the robes and be rid of this peasant," he said to Iza.

She stood up straight, handing the robes to Iza, who fitted them over the prince. Kanna followed meekly behind with pins, marking the length of the sleeves, while Iza worked on the bottom section. He wasn't the tallest man she'd seen, but she was glad she'd made the sleeves extra long. It seemed that his wingspan was farther reaching than his height. Her hands strayed from the sleeve as she felt the heat emanating from the prince's skin.

It was him, the firebender, the man with his back to her, fighting with his younger sister. And Kanna had been right. Here he was, intimidating a foreigner and servant, someone well below his station, someone he unabashedly called a peasant. His sister probably learned it from him, she decided.

She was surprised his clothes didn't catch fire from his heat and temper. Heat rushed to her own face, which she tried to hide by scowling, but she was so focused on scowling and not touching him that she stuck her first finger with a pin.

"Ah!" She popped her finger into her mouth and sucked the blood away, tasting metal.

"Are you new at this?"

She scowled up at him, finger still in her mouth.

He looked away.

As she finished pinning the sleeves, she remembered something she'd wanted to know. Since it concerned him, she saw no reason not to ask him directly. "I understand we are welcoming you home, Your Highness. May I ask where you have been?"

He glared down at her, pulling his arm from her reach. His response was only a mutter. "Filthy tribal peasant."

She shot up to her full height, staring him in the eyes. Her words were lined with acid. "It was a simple question. I don't understand your ways. If I've offended you, I'm sorry. I did it unknowingly."

"Kanna," Iza said, warning, her hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Your Highness," she snapped.

"Prince Zuko, please forgive her. Her ways are not so polished as ours, but I am sure she meant no offense. I doubt she has ever heard even your name in her land. Isn't that right?" She looked to Kanna.

"Yes, in fact, I have never heard it before this moment. Please accept a humble apology, from a filthy tribal peasant of the south, Prince Zuko."

He stared at her, fuming. "You are too bold, Kanna of the Southern Water Tribe. Were you close friends with the chief's dead daughter?"

"Not friends, but close enough, Your Highness."

"Would you like to be sent back to the dungeon?"

"It makes no difference, Prince Zuko. Wherever I am in this country, I am a prisoner."

"Is that so much worse than what you were in the poverty of your homeland?"

She refused to turn her eyes from him. "In my homeland, I was taken care of and loved."

He said nothing, but removed the robe and tossed it at her. It covered her head and she stood, momentarily blind, while he stepped close to her and whispered. "Watch yourself, girl. I will be the next Fire Lord."

She hated him more than she imagined she would.