Tahni stared at the dark, wooden ceiling. The candle was almost completely used. The rocking motion of the vessel had diminished-they were no longer sailing on rough tides. Tahni was too tired to map out the currents in his head, and figure out where he was. All he could do was simply stare at the planks above his head. Occasionally, Tahni would steal a quick glance at the candle, as its wax melted ever closer to the bottom.

The rest of the vessel's lights had gone out at this point of the night, only the candle in Tahni's cell remained lit, and expelling the sacred-seeming light. The wooden planks creaked as the air inside the ship gradually grew warmer. There were no windows in the room, only wooden and metal walls. The little color the walls had diminished as the light faded.

Tahni continued to peak at the candle occasionally. The first time he peaked, it was half an inch tall, the second half of that. On and on the process went. Tahni would continue to check on the remaining mass of the candle in always decreasing intervals of time. He felt as if the candle was an hourglass-whose only purpose was to count down to something, to beckon something's arrival. Tahni felt like he was wasting time somehow, only looking at the receding light instead of making it worthwhile. He wasn't afraid of the dark. In fact, he had grown up in it for the most part. He couldn't wrap his head around why he felt like he was wasting time. Why was he so panicked?

When the candle finally died out, and the light had diminished fully, there was no arrival. There was no event that the candle had beckoned, only a familiar darkness. Tahni waited there, in the dark. Even as his life changed drastically, that sole item of existence never changed. He waited there, in the dark, as he had for most of his life.

Tahni awoke to find faces staring down at him. The faces of his capturers. He slowly sat up from his cot. It was warmer than it was the last time Tahni remembered.

"You're being transferred," one of the two soldiers stated.

"To where?" Tahni asked, half awake.

The two soldiers looked to each other.

Finally, the other replied, "can't say. Not allowed, and not knowing."

Tahni shrugged.

"Fair enough."

Tahni got onto his feet. The heat was killing him. Tahni started to remove the coat he was wearing, only to have one of the guards grab his arms and handcuff them.

"Really?" Tahni sighed, annoyed.

"Sorry, but we're kind of in a rush," the soldier handcuffing him explained.

Tahni rolled his eyes and got to his feet. The two soldiers led him from his cell-one soldier in front, the other behind him.

The doorway out of a room always seems smaller when one is half awake, and Tahni was no exception to this paradox. His tired eyes begged him to return to their closed state. The rest of Tahni's body didn't argue, as they had adapted over the years to immediately prepare for a day of work. Tahni tried to rub his tired eyes, but the handcuffs reminded him that he could not. At that moment, that was the worst thing anyone had burdened him with in his entire life.

The two soldiers escorted him down the hallway and out another door. The light was blinding to Tahni as he was led outside. He closed his eyes and looked away. It was only after a few moments that Tahni's eyes were able to adjust.

The sound of a running motor drew Tahni's attention. They were at the middle of the right side of the ship already. The sound came from beneath them.

It was a small speedboat. White with black markings. Driven by people in robes that Tahni had been trained to recognize instantly.

The speedboat was being operated by the White Lotus.

Tahni's mind snapped to full attention. The plan of escape rushed back to him.

"Just go along with it until I tell you," Vaatu's voice stated.

This is the White Lotus, Tahni mentally replied as he was led on a ramp down the speedboat. They're not going to make this as easy.

"Relax," Vaatu ordered.

Tahni quietly groaned to himself.

The two soldiers walked back up the ramp, and pulled the ramp up after them. Tahni was forced to sit down on the side by unseen hands behind him.

Tahni shifted his glance over his right shoulder, spotting the young man holding him in place. The man was noticeably trying to not hold Tahni too hard, in fear of hurting him as if he was a small child.

Tahni looked away, at the larger ship. It was getting further and further away.

After a while, Vaatu decided it was far enough away.

"Now," Vaatu ordered.

Tahni obeyed, psionically bloodbending everyone on the small craft. He stood up, unsteady at first. He started to focus as hard as he could.

The young man on his right slowly removed a pair of keys from his pocket.

The young man slowly put the key in the latch on Tahni's handcuffs.

Unknown to Tahni at the time, the elderly woman steering the speed boat was slowly beginning to overcome his influence.

Tahni felt the pressure around his wrists release. The cling of the metal handcuffs hitting the floor was heard by all on the craft. Tahni looked back over at the young man, whose face showed nothing but pure, untainted horror. Tahni gritted his teeth as the taxing act of bloodbending started to wear him out.

It was then that he heard the swooshing water come at him.

A tendril of water smacked him in the chest. He flew back, hitting the metal back of the boat, and almost flying over the side.

Slightly dazed, Tahni looked up to see that the White Lotus sentries had regained full control of their bodies. The face of the young man no longer showed terror, but rage.

"Shit," both Tahni and Vaatu said in unison as the two sentries, excluding the one steering, stood up and faced him.

Tahni bent over backwards and pulled a head-sized sphere of water from the ocean behind him. He threw the sphere at the young man, who was closest.

The young man didn't react quick enough, and his fire-fueled block was futile. The young man flew over the side of the boat, and disappeared behind them.

Two more, Tahni mentally stated to himself.

Next closest was a young woman on his left, who sent out a band of metal from a compartment that was hidden beneath her right sleeve.

Tahni barely dodged the metal band in time, rolling to his right. When he rose back up from his knee, he also raised a tendril of water from the right side of the boat, which was behind him. The tendril smacked into the face of the young woman, and she was sent overboard.

Tahni looked to his right, as the driver of the speed boat brought up large tendril from behind Tahni. The water hit Tahni square in the back, and it pinned him to the floor of the vessel. The woman froze the water, momentarily trapping Tahni.

She then started to steer the boat into a left turn, probably heading back for help, and to rescue her squad from the water.

Tahni acted almost by instinct. His palms were pinned to the floor alongside him, but not his fingers. He focused on the water under the boat, and crunched his fingers into a fist. Some of the ice underneath the boat froze and locked onto the boat, sending it into a wild counterclockwise spin. The boat's motor shut off from the stress, and the metal pieces grinded together. The sudden change in inertia was just enough to give Tahni the ability to crack the ice pinning him. His back smacked into the right side of the boat-the edge of a seat to the middle of his back.

Tahni groaned in pain. It didn't seem serious, but it still stung like hell.

Tahni glared at the woman steering the speed boat, and got back on his feet. He reached out with his hand, and began to bloodbend her.

She rose from the seat, and hung in midair. It was then that Tahni violently tossed her into the ocean on his right like a ragdoll.

He dashed to the wheel, and sat in the chair. The boat's motor wouldn't restart. He looked over to his right to see that the woman had frozen some ice beneath her, and was in a fighting stance.

Tahni sprang from the seat and onto the floor just as she swung a tendril of water-ice from behind him. The ice shattered the windshield, and shards of both glass and ice pelted Tahni. He got back up to his feet to raise a wall of ice in front of him. He then pushed it over to collide with the ice beneath her feet.

Try as she may to keep her stance, she slid right back into the water.

Tahni glanced at the wheel. The boat wasn't going to start, he had to ditch it. He reached out to the water around him, and a myst began to form. He funneled most of his energy into it.

When the myst was good enough, Tahni finally removed his bulky coat, and dived straight into the water on the left side of the boat.

He waterbended a jet of water behind him to push him along, and prayed that he was going in the direction of land.