Hi there! Actually, I have nothing to say here apart from: Whoops! Things just took a pretty dark turn...
I decided I wanted some action and tried to dive a bit deeper into the war topic, but I never was big on action, so... Yeah, you'll see.
We keep flying for another while. I don't know for how long exactly, I doze off in the saddle. Not exactly falling asleep, but I have absolutely no memory of the flight. Only touchdown slowly shakes me back to awareness and I untangle myself from the blanket which somehow managed to wrap around me like I was a fish caught in a net.
"Good, you're awake!" the blanket's owner pipes up.
"Never really out," I yawn and rub my eyes. To be honest, I could fall right back into semi-consciousness. "Just dozing."
"Do you do that a lot?" Sokka asks from below. He has hopped off the bison already and looks up to me and Katara with that annoyed expression on his face. I figure I just gave him some new paranoia fuel. You never know when I'm actually asleep, I guess? Makes talking about secret anti-Fire Nation stuff a bit hard.
"I'm an insomniac, Sokka," I explain. "My mind races at night instead of calming down. So yes, I do that a lot. I have to catch up on sleep somehow."
"Oh, I can help you with that!" Toph gleefully announces, and instantly, I'm very sure I do not want Toph's help.
"No, thank you," I drawl. "I'd rather not have a rock smack me over the head."
"Pity."
She even admits that she wants to smack me over the head with a rock. Oh man...
"It's okay, you can sleep as much as you need," Aang chimes and slides off his usual spot on Appa's head.
"Aang's right," Katara agrees while storing the blanket away. "It's not like there is so much else to do while we're in the air."
"Why are we on the ground now, anyway?"
"I give you three guesses," Katara chuckles and makes a swiping motion, indicating the rest of the group scampering off in various directions, though all headed for a sort of cover. A rock, or a tree. There is a forest.
Potty break, I realize. Simple as that. I don't really need to, but I still take the opportunity. I mean, why not?
I opt for the forest. The undergrowth promises some privacy, but I didn't account for the slope of the mountainside. So I walk around a bit and feel decidedly grateful for the chance to stretch my legs. And the view, by the High Dragons! The original intention soon forgotten, I keep hiking up the mountain until I find a ledge without trees to obscure the view, and it's breathtaking. Villages sprinkle the green and brown landscape, animals are nothing more than colorful dots at the horizon... I wonder what I missed out on while I was relaxing. The view from Appa must be so much more amazing than this...
Oh Agni, Appa! How far have I gone?!
Without wasting another glance at the landscape, I make my way back to our spot, dodging rocks and jumping fallen trees.
Something rumbles and I stop dead, then pull myself together. Seeing how we're in the mountains, it was probably just a landslide. But I can't shake the nagging feeling that I should go check it out. What if someone's in trouble?
No. I don't believe any idiot apart from us would be up here, and I need to get back, so that's exactly what I'm gonna do. Don't want to get into trouble with Sokka...
But as it turns out, Sokka is soon to be my slightest problem. I skip down the path I came when the ground suddenly opens up beneath my feet and I fall right into the mountain. I only manage a shriek before the hole closes again, cutting off the light, but the rest of the freak-out has to wait. I tumble down a slope, desperately clawing at the smooth rock to slow my fall. Nothing helps, not even trying to airbend works. While I do slow down, I just can't stop until I finally reach the end of the tunnel and find myself in a groaning heap inside a torch-lit cave.
I take a deep breath to get rid of the dizziness. I pick myself up and dust off my clothes. What is this place?
It's only then that I notice the wooden bars jutting out in a half circle around me. I'm trapped. What's the meaning of this?!
Okay, now I can freak out. I have no idea what this is about, but I know for certain that I don't like it. I have to get out of here, and I have to get out of here fast!
I ram my shoulder against one of the bars of my cage. There is a slight tremble, and it encourages me to try again. Nothing. Another attempt yields similar results. I try to brace myself against the wood and shove, but it wouldn't budge.
"Come on!" I growl at no one in particular, and I feel the first tears forming in the corners of my eyes. If I were a firebender, I could just burn the stakes away and walk free, but I'm not, I'm just a weak, pathetic, pitiful... airbender?
With a surge of hope, I look up. The cage has no ceiling. If I can sneeze myself ten feet into the air, I should be able to jump out of this thing. The bars are about seven foot high. Looks doable. Now I just need to figure out how to get this right...
I close my eyes, trying to feel the air around me. Stale and still, as expected from a cave. Trapped, just like me. It carries the scent of sweat and burned wood (someone more poetically inclined may say desperation and death, but I push the thought to the back of my mind), and I can't stop a twinge of fear from invading.
Out of here... I need to get out of here...
I can feel the air reacting to my aggravated chi and open my eyes. Time to put all that practice I sneaked from my parents (and myself) to good use. I bend my knees, ready to launch, and... stumble.
The momentum yanks me to the ground and before I realize it, a whimper has escaped my throat. My feet are encased in earth, my rear hurts from the crash. It's hopeless.
The wooden bars sink into the cave floor, but I can't move from the spot. Two men tower over me, one skinny and sword-wielding, the other burly and unarmed. An earthbender.
I raise my arms protectively over my head and freeze in that position. I've never been so scared in my life, I don't even mind the tears spilling over my tunic. Those guys could overpower me with their pinkies. They're big and strong, and I... I'm nothing. I'm completely at their mercy, and I've heard enough horror stories about young girls at the mercy of men. I want to run. I want to be far away. I want Aang to come and get me out of this nightmare. I'd rather die than endure... that. The unthinkable.
I send a silent prayer to Agni and the High Dragons. Please, please, no! Somebody, make it stop!
"Quit your whining, girl! We can do this the easy way or the hard way. It's up to you."
I guess my sobbing is answer enough to these guys. An earth spire jolts me into an upright position. I'm too frightened to resist the rocks cuffing my hands on my back, but it appears that they're not going to hurt me. Yet.
I'm herded through a tunnel into another part of the cave, where a third guy is hovering over a scroll. He looks up when we enter.
"More goods?" he asks and I feel his gaze travel over my body like hot iron. He's sizing me up.
"Only this one," the guy with the sword replies. "Snooping around dangerously close to one of our entrances."
"Already tested?"
"Of course, sir. A nonbender."
My mind is reeling. A test? That wooden cage was a test, determining whether or not I'm a bender! Of course, a firebender would have set the stakes on fire. Someone was watching. I never had a chance. Good thing they didn't see me airbending, so maybe I can still escape. But what do these guys want? And what is that scroll-person up to, scribbling down notes as if keeping a registry?
"Put her in cage 3 for now, Soo Yun is busy. She will check on her later."
The next cave I'm led into, this time by the earthbender alone, is the most terrifying thing I've ever seen. It's a hallway with cells left and right, like a dungeon. Small figures are huddling behind the bars, children younger than me, some around my age. Some might be older, but it's hard to tell.
The stench is even worse than it was in the first cave. It smells like unwashed bodies, rotten food and sickness. Desperation and death indeed.
I feel very very ill, and I'm suddenly very glad that my lunch was only bananas, bread and dried meat. It's easier to keep in my stomach.
The cuffs are removed, but before I get to be happy about it, I'm shoved into one of the cells and the door slams shut behind me. My fellow inmates react differently, some look up, some look away, some don't react at all. I count and get to seven, five girls and two boys if my eyes aren't pulling tricks on me. Most of them seem to be around six to eight years old, then there is a girl who looks around ten, eleven, and one of the boys appears to be my age. The girl seems to be the center, perhaps the cell mom because she's the oldest girl. Right after me, now. She caresses one of the younger girls sleeping in her lap, and the young boy is hanging on her arm. I'm not sure if I find it heartwarming or just plain sad. This is wrong, so so wrong...
I wipe the tears from my face. Now that the men are gone, I feel oddly calm. There is no immediate danger, and I know I have a group of powerful benders covering my back. They'll come to find me.
I wonder if I should try to strike up a conversation. While it's not actually my style, this place is depressing. Dark and silent, except for a quiet sob somewhere in here, and the encouraging words whispered in response. Besides, maybe I can obtain some information on what this place is. Apart from the obvious, of course.
I decide to give the boy my age a light tap on the shoulder. He seems to be something of a loner, knees drawn up and doubled over, much like myself when I want to be left alone. And yet one of the children leans against him, so he can't be too much of the pushing-away kind. Besides, he was one of the kids who looked up, and I might have seen some fight glinting in his eyes. I figure he's my safest bet.
"Hey," I whisper, but the result is not what I have hoped for.
"Don't bother," the boy growls, or at least I think that's what he intended to do. It's more of a rasping, really, and the two words are enough to make him cough. "Sorry," he adds afterwards, voice somewhat fixed. It gives away a much more amiable personality than before, and he realizes it. He leans back, opening his posture in the process. He sighs. "Alright, what is it, newbie?"
I wish it weren't so dark. It makes figuring people out a lot more complicated.
"Can you tell me what kind of place this is? What do these people want with us?"
The boy looks sideways and goes back to curling up on himself. So much for openings. "You mean you haven't figured it out yet?" I've never heard so much bitterness coming from one person. "Those guys are merchants. And we're the merchandise."
One of the girls starts to cry before I can process the thought. I see how the eldest girl tries to get to her, but she can't reach her without waking the girl in her lap. Without thinking about it, I scoop the crying girl into my arms and hug her tightly. Her clothes are dirt-stained and ripped, and her hair is a disheveled mess which is barely recognizable as the twintails she must have worn when she was captured.
I couldn't care less about the dirt, and my nose has gotten used to the stench by now. "It's okay," I coo and rub her back, feeling more than uncomfortable in my skin. I'm terrible at this. How do I get a kid to stop crying?! "Sh, it's okay."
"I want my mommy back!" the girl sobs. "I want the scary men to go away!"
"Don't worry, they will. And then we'll find your mommy."
The girl sniffs and looks up to me with big, golden eyes, the torchlight reflecting off her tears. "Really?"
"Really. I promise."
"Don't make promises you can't keep," the boy pipes up and I send him an annoyed glance.
"You're not helping. Besides, I mean it. Those guys picked the wrong girl to mess with!"
"That's what they all say," he responds with that hope-dashing resignation of someone who is well beyond the despair horizon. So the fighting spirit I saw was only wishful thinking on my part, I guess. Which actually makes sense, considering I don't see much of anything in here.
The girl in my arms starts sobbing again. I pet her head and look around. Every single child looks away, and I realize what a thoroughly broken mess they are. Thin, dirty, dressed in rags. Some of them are injured, a scraped knee here, a cut on the face there. As far as I can tell, that is. If I want this bunch to hope again, I need a different approach. I mean, I can hardly tell them that the Avatar himself is pretty attached to me and probably right on his way to bust us out. So, something else. I don't know what to do yet, but I need to yank that boy to my side, that much is clear. If I get him and the cell mom, the rest will follow.
With the crying girl still clinging to my tunic, I scoot over to the boy and sit next to him.
"So, uh..." Yeah, talking is totally my forte. "My name is Kamina, by the way."
"Judai," the boy, finally named, replies tersely. I don't think he wants to talk so badly... But why tell me his name then?
"Where are you from?" I keep probing, trying to draw him out. Again, I'm disappointed.
"Does it matter?" comes the less than helpful response, and I shrug.
"Not really, I guess..."
Silently rocking the girl on my knees, I wonder what else I can do. But it seems that I can't do anything but wait for the cavalry.
And I hate it.
Well... That escalated quickly. I still don't really know what to think about this chapter. It was interesting to write, that's for sure. The clash of the overall atmosphere with Kami's confidence that everything will be over after an hour top was actually pretty cool. But it didn't turn out the way I wanted.
Well, anyway, what do you say? Good idea for a mini-arc? Weird? Totally unnecessary? Bring it on, I can take it!