Katara groaned. The world was too bright. Her whole body hurt. She tried to roll on to her knees from her back but the clink of chains stopped her. She froze, feeling the pounding at the base of her skull, as everything roared back to her. Aang was dead. Sokka, Suki, and Toph captured. She squinted her eyes open, peering around the too-bright world. She was lying on her back on the deck of a Fire Nation ship in the middle of the ocean. The bow dipped and heaved with the waves as wind blew fiercely around her. The sky was dark with an impending storm and cold drops fell on her as she looked up. To her, it seemed the world was mourning the Avatar's death.

She tried to push herself up but her hands were so heavy. She looked over to see first one, then the other encased in metal so tight she couldn't open her fist. She pulled, hoping her wrists were small enough to slide through the narrow opening, but they were just too big. Chains latched the metal mittens to the deck of the ship. She shook her legs experimentally and found cuffs around her ankles, linking her feet together and to the deck. Fear rose up in her throat and she felt like screaming.

"Well, well, well." A cold, sneering voice came from her right. She twisted her head and winced at the pain the small motion caused. "Our little guest is awake." Zhao was striding towards her, hands clasped behind his back. Despite his smiling expression, his eyes were cold. "How do you like your accommodations? I'm afraid the rest of us will be leaving you soon; don't want to be caught up in this storm. We thought, since you're a filthy waterbender, you wouldn't mind it so much."

Katara growled low in her throat, jerking against her chains, wanting to get to him. To claw his eyes out. He laughed at her efforts. "Those chains aren't going anywhere, little bender." He said, coming to stand next to her prone form and peer down at her. "Give up."

She spat on his boot. His face curled into a mask of hate and he kicked her viciously in her side. She cried out and tried to curl onto her side but the chains were fastened too short. "You'll regret that soon enough." He said, his voice deadly calm. "Enjoy the storm." He turned his back and walked back into the cabin, leaving Katara to the mercy of the sea and sky. She wanted to cry. She wanted to wail to the heavens, curse the spirits that let this happen. But she couldn't, she refused to show weakness in front of her enemies. She lay unmoving, soundless, as the rain beat down on her, the sky giving her the tears she couldn't allow herself to shed.

Katara was awoken the following morning by a boot to the gut. Gasping she tried to sit up and was jerked back by the chains. Gritting her teeth, she glared at the fire nation soldier above her. The armored figure placed a heavy pointed toed boot on her stomach and pressed down threateningly. Feeling the air in her lungs constrict, Katara gave in to the threat and lay still as several other soldiers approached her from the cabin to un-weld her chains from the deck. The foot on her belly was removed as she was hauled to her feet by her wrists. In a desperate movement, she clasped the chain above her manacles in her fists and pulled herself up enough to strike a kick at the soldier in front of her. He fell back a few steps with a grunt as she landed, ready to try it again when a plated hand struck her across the face. The metal hurt, and cut her cheek in long stripes where it had struck her. Katara spat a small mouthful of blood at the soldier's feet and was rewarded with a low laugh.

"The Fire Lord likes them feisty." His voice sounded far away in the metal helmet, and his words took a moment to register. When his meaning finally invaded her mind they chilled her and she stopped resisting. The Fire Lord? Was he here? On this ship? She looked around, panicked for any sign of him; any hint that he was close. If she was free, could she face him? A humiliating rumble from her stomach indicated otherwise. The soldiers laughed at her and she tugged furiously at her chains.

"Let me go!" She screamed, trying to pull towards the ocean. If she could just get to the water…

"You're not going anywhere." Zhao had stepped out on deck and was smirking at her. "The Fire Lord has asked to interrogate you himself. It's an honor, really." He stepped close to her. The soldiers gripping her restraints pulled up on them so only her toes touched the slippery metal deck. "You should feel proud that the Fire Lord thinks you're valuable enough to keep alive, unlike your talentless friends."

Outwardly, Katara snarled. But inside, her pulse turned to ice. Sokka…

Zhao gripped her chin in his fingers and roughly turned her to face him. His fingers were hot and smelled like breakfast and soot. "I'm sure you'll enjoy his—Aaarrghh!" the Commander cried out as Katara's teeth sunk deep into the fleshy part of his palm below his thumb. He tried to shake her off but she only bit harder. His other hand came down to strike her against the face once, twice, three times before she let go, taking a chunk of skin with her.

"Throw her below!" Zhao roared, clasping a cloth to his injured hand. "Let her rot there until we reach the Fire Nation." As the soldiers began to drag her, Zhao called out: "And clap a muzzle on the bitch's snout."

The Fire Nation had long since employed muzzles for bending criminals that thought to get a jump on their captors by breathing fire in their face. They were horrible metal contraptions that fastened behind the head, with a long leather strap running up the nose to join the others at the back of the head. Katara thrashed, but they secured one around her and tossed her into a damp cell, the metal door clanging shut behind her. The soldiers jeered at her before climbing back up to the deck, leaving her in almost total darkness.

The manacles they left on her were beginning to rub her wrists raw, and her fists inside were clamping horribly. The underbelly of the ship smelled of mold and wet. Her only comfort was a small, soft blanket on the hard pallet in the corner. A bucket was set across from it, and Katara grimaced when she realized what it was for.

She crossed the tiny cell to sit cross-legged on the pallet. Taking comfort in the rise and fall of the waves below the ship, she closed her eyes. One tear rolled down her cheek, the only indication of the storm of grief that raged within her.