It was incredibly dark in the belly of the boat, and what few lanterns there were flickered with the barest of flame, so Katara could only make out the vague shape of dark metal bars on either side of the corridor, occasionally glinting in the faint light.

Zuko could have made light, of course, or one of the soldiers could have. But no one seemed inclined to do that. The soldiers probably wanted to confuse them so they couldn't find their way out as easily, and Zuko probably didn't want to make things worse than they already were.

Katara could understand that, a little, so she reluctantly allowed herself to be led through the darkness in silence, trying not to stumble over her own feet or any unseen obstacles in the path, until they came to what might have been the end of the hall.

Metal jangled as the lead guard pulled something off his belt—and now, finally, he lit a little flame in his free hand, so he could see enough to fit a key into the keyhole of the door that Katara could now tell was in front of them.

He pushed the door slightly open, and shouted, "You've got company," to whoever was inside.

Then he shoved the four of them through the doorway and slammed it shut behind them. More jangling metal as the door was locked, then murmuring voices before a few sets of footsteps retreated back to the top deck of the little boat.

The cell was pitch black. There wasn't even a low-lit lantern in here to provide light. But there was shuffling, and the sound of a gasp from a voice that wasn't familiar, so Katara could tell it wasn't just the four of them in here.

"Who are you?" a voice asked, female.

Light appeared to Katara's right, and she glanced over. Now that they were out of the sight of the guards, Zuko had started a little flame, just barely bright enough to illuminate the room.

It was small—probably too small for the number of people who were in it at the moment—and completely bare of furniture of any kind. Four metal walls, a metal ceiling, a metal floor.

Aside from the four of them, there was one other person in the cell, huddled in the far corner of the room. It was a girl who was probably around Sokka or Zuko's age. She seemed to be Water Tribe, with medium brown skin and blue eyes, though her hair was not the usual black or brown, but pure white. Or, it would've been, if not for the dirt and grime that covered her from head to toe. Katara could tell that her clothes were once very nice, but now they were tattered and dirty, and her long hair hung in limp, greasy strings, pushed back behind her ears. Her hands were shackled together like the rest of them, and her ankles each bore a metal cuff with a chain that disappeared into the wall behind her.

The girl gasped at the sight of Zuko's flame, and tried to pull farther away from him, though she was already as far against the wall as she could be.

"It's okay," Katara said, stepping forward slightly. "We're prisoners, too. I'm Katara. These are Aang, Sokka, and Zuko. Who are you? What are you doing down here?"

The girl's eyes darted across all of their faces, distrustful, but apparently she couldn't find any deceit in the statement, so after a moment, she relaxed a little.

"I am Yue," she said quietly. "I am—I was the princess of the Northern Water Tribe, daughter of Chief Arnook." Katara didn't miss the way her voice trembled a little as she said the chief's name.

"You're the princess?" Sokka asked, exchanging a glance with Katara.

The girl just nodded, though she didn't seem able to meet their gazes.

"We're from the Southern Water Tribe," Katara said. Should she bow? She wasn't sure what the protocol was when you met a leader of your sister tribe in a cell where you were both being held prisoner. She decided on a sort of half-bow."It's an honor to meet you, Princess Yue."

Yue laughed weakly. "There's no need for that. I am far from royalty now." She was beautiful, even unwashed and malnourished as she was, and the slight smile she gave Katara seemed to make the room a little brighter. Sokka sucked in a quiet breath.

"I'm very sorry that I couldn't meet the travelers from my sister tribe in a more pleasant way," Yue said. With effort, she braced her chained hands against the wall and pushed herself to her feet, though she stumbled a little, clearly weak."May I ask what brought you here?"

"Probably the same thing that brought you here," Zuko said. He was standing a little away from the rest of them—as much as he could in this tiny room, anyway—and leaned against the wall with his hands held slightly aloft, the flame still flickering above his open palms.

They all felt a sudden jolt that nearly knocked them down. Katara was afraid that Yue would fall down, but she leaned hard into the hand that was touching the wall. The boat had started moving, apparently.

Once everyone had recovered from the interruption, they all looked toward Zuko, but Zuko simply stared at the fire in his hands, clearly unwilling to elaborate further.

After a moment of silence, Aang jumped in. "Zuko is the Avatar"—Katara didn't miss the way Zuko flinched when he said that—"and we were traveling here in the hopes of finding him a waterbending teacher."

"The Avatar," Yue said, looking over at Zuko. Her eyes were wide, but Katara couldn't tell if it was in awe or surprise or disgust.

She could, however, tell that Zuko was supremely uncomfortable. Well, he was going to have to get used to it. He couldn't hide behind the Aang misdirect anymore. It hadn't worked anyway.

"Yeah," he said gruffly. "You can see how well that turned out."

"Surely you can help us out of here, if you're the Avatar," Yue said—and Katara was certain her look was awe now.

"I… It's a little…complicated."

Katara pressed her lips together and stepped forward. "We will do everything in our power to help you get out of here, but it may take a while. There are some…snags we're going to have to work out first."

Yue pursed her lips. "Snags?"

"That's not really important at the moment," Zuko said. "How did you get down here? What happened?"

Yue sighed heavily and got a distant expression on her face. "It's all a bit of a blur, honestly. We were taken by surprise."

"How?" Sokka asked.

"In the past, when the Fire Nation attacked our city, they did so in large numbers, coming directly at us from the front, and our walls and icy cliffs halted them. They are why we have managed to survive these hundred years of war.

"This time, it was a small group, and they attacked only the palace, or so it seemed. I don't know where they came from, or how they got here, but it was early in the morning—the sun was just rising—after a night with no moon, which meant that we were caught unaware, with the waterbenders at their weakest. They must've had inside knowledge, because they attacked with precision, presumably killing or capturing everyone in the palace, including my father. I don't know why they kept me alive, but they brought me here, and I have been here ever since. I have not seen anyone else from the palace. They are probably dead."

Her strength suddenly seemed to come back to her, and she stepped forward, grabbing hold of Katara's arm with insistence.

"My people. Did you see the city on your way through here? What has become of them?"

"Everything seemed fine," Katara said. "Until we got to the palace."

"The city guards told us that the palace had been on lockdown for a few weeks," Sokka said, "supposedly because of the Avatar's arrival. The city guard and the palace guard were being kept separate, but the citizens seemed fine, as far as I could tell. I don't think they even knew the palace had been attacked. The Fire Nation seemed to be biding their time here, waiting for us to show up, or for some kind of trigger."

"There was a Water Tribe man who greeted us at the palace gates, though," Katara said. "He seemed to be working with the Fire Nation. Sorru, I think his name was?"

Several emotions flashed across Yue's face at the mention of that name, but finally it settled on sadness and resignation. She nodded. "Yes, I recognize him. It seems that there were traitors in our midst."

At that moment, there was the sound of raised voices outside, and they all turned around as the door slammed open.

There stood Azula, with the two girls who had attacked them flanking her, as well as a half-dozen guards.

"We've made it to our ride," Azula announced. "Time for a quick transfer, and then we'll be on our way home." She stepped aside and waved a finger in their direction, then turned around and began to walk down the hall as the guards came forward.

Katara felt herself yanked nearly off her feet as one of the guards grasped the chains around her wrists and pulled her forward. The others were being pulled, too, and as quickly as they'd been shoved into this room, they were taken out of it.

Up on the deck, Katara saw that they had left the secluded harbor behind and were now out on open water. Glancing back behind them, Katara could still see the icy landmass where the Northern Water Tribe resided, though she could not see the city. Instead, she saw a large opening in the side of the cliff here, with water flowing into it. That was probably the river that led to the harbor they had been in.

Their little boat had sidled up next to a larger Fire Nation ship, similar to the one Zuko had attacked Katara's village with what seemed like a lifetime ago, though this one was bigger than his had been. The guards and Azula led them onto the new ship, then Azula turned to the guard holding Zuko.

"If you don't mind, Zuzu, I'd like to have a quick talk with you first, sister to brother."

She grabbed hold of Zuko's shackles, then waved toward the rest of them, and Katara's vision suddenly went dark as the guard holding her tied a cloth roughly over her eyes and began dragging her forward.

The guards blindfolded all the others and carried them off, but Azula didn't bother with that for Zuko. She led him belowdecks, then let go of his shackles and walked calmly down the hall, clearly expecting him to follow.

He did, because what choice did he have? Behind him, the door that led to the upper deck closed with metallic finality. Zuko didn't look back at it. He kept his eyes trained on Azula's back, and watched out of his periphery for signs of anyone else.

She led him down to a middle deck and then down a long, lavishly decorated hall until they reached a metallic door adorned with a golden inlay of the Fire Nation royal crest.
Inside, the room was beautiful but simple. Tapestries on the wall, a porthole that looked out over the icy ocean around them, and a wooden table with one chair on either side.
Azula motioned for Zuko to close the door behind him as she took her seat in one of the chairs. After a moment of pause, Zuko sat down in the other. Of course, she had left him with the chair whose back was to the door.

A quick scan of the room told him that, unless Mai or Ty Lee had mastered the art of turning invisible in the years since he left, they were alone. There was nothing to hide behind in here. There weren't even any guards.

Azula watched him in silence for a moment, then leaned forward, steepling her fingers in front of her.

"So, the Avatar?" she asked. Her tone was casual, almost bored, but something different flickered across her face, so fast that Zuko couldn't read it.

He didn't know what to say to that, so he shrugged. "Apparently."

"When did you find out?"

Zuko narrowed his eyes at her. The question seemed like nothing but innocent concern, but he knew better than to believe that's all it was. "Not long ago."

She pursed her lips, studying him carefully, and that mystery emotion flashed across her eyes again. This time he thought maybe he recognized it. Doubt? Disbelief?

"I'll admit, when I found out, I couldn't believe it at first. I had a fair amount of trouble convincing Father as well, but eventually he came around to the idea. He asked me to capture your airbender friend as a precaution, in case the information was…inaccurate."

"I'm surprised you believed it at all."

She tilted her head, and something about the way she studied him told him that she still didn't believe it—not really, anyway. "Well, you know. It's better to be safe than sorry. But"—raising a finger to her chin—"it would help both of our cases if I had a little proof."

"I think I'd rather let you keep guessing."

"Don't be difficult, Zuko."

"Why would I give you your proof now? You already have me as your prisoner."

Azula leaned back in her chair and inspected her claw-like fingernails. "Yes. And there are ways that I can force such things out of you, but I was hoping that maybe you would be accommodating."

Zuko leaned forward, a smile flickering across his lips as he laced his fingers together on the table before him, the metal chains on his wrists jangling against each other and the table. "I think it'd be better to show you and Father at once, don't you?"

He was examining Azula just as carefully as she was watching him—even as she made it seem like her focus was on her nails. Something was off about her, though he couldn't quite place it. She seemed…frustrated.

She sighed. "You always were so dramatic."

Zuko said nothing in response, and after a few tense seconds where the two of them simply stared at each other, Azula finally—surprisingly—broke first. "Fine." And again, though she was trying to keep her composure, Zuko could hear traces of irritation and—was that desperation?—in her voice. "We still have a long voyage back to the Fire Nation. I'll talk to you again, Zuko."

She waved her hand, and the door behind Zuko opened to reveal two guards on the other side. They grabbed him, blindfolded him, and led him through the halls until they arrived at the cell that would be his home for the foreseeable future.

The guards didn't take his blindfold off until they had gotten him inside the cell and locked him down with shackles on his wrists and ankles, and Zuko didn't bother resisting. What was the point, really?

Once the guards had left him alone in his cell, Zuko finally got a good look at his surroundings—and he realized that he wasn't quite alone. He seemed to be on a lower deck of the ship, because there were no portholes, but this area was decently lit by flickering lanterns, so he could see that his was one of many cells. Each enclosure had bars on three sides, the only solid metal wall being the one that doubled as the ship's hull, so he could see into the cells around him.

And in the one next to his was Katara. He didn't see any of the rest of his friends nearby, so he assumed that they were in different wings, but Katara looked up at him as he looked at her, and frowned.

"Figures that they'd put me next to you," she said.