A few days passed since the Fire Nation man collapsed outside of her home and each day, Flora did her best to forget about the incident. But when Miele came back into the home from the store room, carrying old wrappings and her brow sweaty, Flora was reminded of the man in the store room and the secret that she carried with her sister. Today was no different as Miele stepped inside with bandages and hot water.

Flora looked up from her spot on the floor by the fire as she stirred the pot of root vegetable stew. She didn't say anything as she found it best for her state of mind to ignore the elephant seal in the room, well, the store room.

"Dinner is almost ready," Flora said as she stood up from her spot on the floor.

"I need to gather more water to clean the bandages. We have finished the last of the rolls and it is time for us to boil the old ones until we receive a new shipment."

"You have done enough, Miele. It is dark now. I will go."

Flora moved to grab the bucket but stopped when Miele reached for it first.

"I need the time alone." Miele sighed. "Please, let me go. I will go to the well in the village."

Flora sighed and nodded, "Hurry back."

Miele nudged her head towards the pot of stew above the fire, "He needs to eat too, Flora."

Flora's jaw tightened as she was reminded so clearly of the man in the store room. It had been three days and Flora still did not know his name but Flora didn't want to know.

"All of my work healing him will be worthless if he is to die of starvation."

"Fine," Flora replied, "but the minute that you return, you eat. The bandages can wait. He can wait."

"He has a name, Flora."

"Not one that I need to know. The minute that he can walk, he walks out of here and out of our village."

Miele frowned, "I never thought that you would be so cruel, Flora. Helia is not like the men of the Fire Nation that you and the elders claim them to be."

"The Fire Nation is full of liars and this soldier is lying to you, Miele. I am not cruel, I am just trying to keep us safe."

"Helia is-"

"Go, Miele!" Flora let out a frustrated shout, "I will bring him food and come right back. I don't want to hear any more of this. I don't want to hear his name uttered in this home again. Am I understood?"

Miele was silent.

"Am I understood?"

Miele nodded before tightly gripping the bucket and leaving the small home of ice.

As Flora watched the fur flap close over the entrance to the home, she wiped her eyes, never yelling at her sister like that before. Flora found herself becoming more and more unrecognizable with every day that passed by. Flora was born nineteen years ago under a bright spring sun and every day, the sun seemed to dim and there were days when Flora's eyes strained to see the light.

Flora grabbed a bowl and began to fill it with the root stew. She poured some back into the pot, the black part of her heart that seemed to grow larger with each day telling her that the man did not need it; that he did not deserve it. Not after what the Fire Nation had done. But that was not Flora, so she took the ladle and scooped the stew back into the bowl.

Leaving the warm confines of her home, Flora quickly made her way across the clearing to the store room, the already frigid temperatures dripping with the absence of the sun. But the night is when Flora and other waterbenders thrived the most. Flora stepped inside of the store room and saw the Fire Nation man lying on a pile of old furs, his eyes were hooded as he looked up at Flora.

Flora did her best to stifle a scowl. She looked at the steaming bowl of stew in her hand and could not believe that she had brought something for this man to eat.

"Here." Flora held out the stew and spoon to the man on the ground.

The man smiled, "I'm sorry, could you bring it to me? I can't get up, healer's orders."

His voice was low, sending a shiver down Flora's spine. There weren't many men left in the village as they had all joined the resistance or were massacred during one of the various raids. Hearing this voice coming from a man of the Fire Nation made Flora's already freezing heart harden even more. Why should he get to live when people like her are discarded so easily by people like him?

Still, Flora found herself slowly kneeling on the frozen ground of the storeroom and making her way closer to the man. As she got closer, she felt the warmth radiating from the man's body. It felt good. But looking at him only reminded her of the burning heat of burning buildings and the smell of burning flesh.

"Thank you."

The man slowly reached out for the bowl and spoon, wincing as he did his best to sit up against the pile of furs. His hands were shaky as he dipped the spoon into the bowl and brought the warm broth to his lips.

"This is good. Thank you."

"I would have let you die."

The man stopped and looked up at Flora, placing the spoon back into the bowl.

"I didn't poison you." Flora replied, "You wouldn't be worth the wasted energy."

He continued eating.

"My sister doesn't know what your people are like. She is too kind for the world she was brought into. You are here because of my sister, do not thank me."

He nodded.

Flora looked down at her hands as the man next to her continued to eat. She never thought that she would be this close to a man of the Fire Nation without tragedy following. It wasn't too late for that.

"If you are to kill me and my sister, kill her first," Flora whispered and she heard the man stop his eating. "Kill her first and kill her quickly. She has never seen the horrors of this war like I have. I kept her away when the raids happened, telling her to stay inside so she wouldn't have to see the terror of the outside. I just want her to die as sweet and innocent as she is now. Do this and you may do whatever you want with me."

"I have no intention of harming anyone."

Flora turned her head to look at the man, "Then why are you here in the Southern Water Tribe? In a Fire Nation uniform?"

He smiled, "I was sailing to the Earth Kingdom when my boat was blown off course and blew me south. I crashed into an iceberg a few miles outside of the village and my boat splintered causing wood to stab my side. I trudged through the snow until I collapsed outside of your home."

"Why were you going to the Earth Kingdom?"

"To find work."

"I don't believe you." Flora replied, "You came to us in a Fire Nation soldier's uniform. You honestly don't think that I would belive that you were innocently traveling to the Earth Kingdom for work? I may be from the South Pole but I am not an idiot."

The man's expression fell and Flora saw the light in his eyes dimmed.

"I don't think that you are an idiot. And you aren't the only one who is angry by what the Fire Nation has done…is doing."

Flora looked at the man quizzically, "What do you mean?"

The man sighed, "We do not choose where or how we are born. Growing up in the Fire Nation, we are taught that the Fire Lord is all powerful, that the Fire Nation is supreme, and…" The man took a deep breath, "that all others are at the mercy of the Fire Nation. I grew up believing the teachings of the Fire Nation because…just because."

He sounded sorrowful. But he still continued as Flora listened intently.

"I was fourteen when the Fire Lord decided that I was old enough to fight. I remember two men in black came to my home and that was the last time that I saw my mother. But I was proud to serve. I was so young and so naive. It wasn't a month later that I saw my first kill. It was exhilarating and I felt like I was finally of some service to my nation. Then came another and another. More battles were fought and won for the glory of the Fire Nation. It was electrifying and I felt unstoppable. Fifteen years I sailed the seas fighting foreign armies as well as resistance and rebel cells. All active members in the war, just like I was."

There was a chill in the air when the man stopped talking, different from the usual southern winds. Flora's heart sank as she heard about this man's fighting with the resistance. Had he seen her father? Was he or one of her people one of his many victims?

He continued, his voice softer and lower.

"I will never forget the day when everything I knew turned out to be a lie and the veil of ignorance fell from my eyes. We sailed to a small Earth Kingdom port where we were to gather supplies."

The man shut his eyes tightly as if trying to banish whatever he was thinking about from his head.

"I still remember the screams of the women and children who my fellow soldiers killed that day. I remember hearing the cries for help when soldiers would drag away the women after slaughtering their children. There was nothing powerful about what happened that day. We were animals. And I was the worst of them because I saw that it was wrong and I could not move, I could not speak. All I could do was watch in paralyzing shock. When it was over, I returned to my cabin on the ship and looked in the small mirror. I was unrecognizable. I finally saw the wrinkles that had appeared, my sunken in eyes, the gray around my temples. I was twenty-nine and I looked like the old men from my city. As more men came on the ship, I heard laughing and more screams from the women and young girls they brought onto the ship. It was then I knew that I would no longer be part of this war, this invasion. I was angry that for fifteen years I never knew the true horrors of this war, that I was kept in the dark even more about the true nature of the Fire Nation. I stole one of the lifeboats that night and never looked back. I have been sailing for weeks and you and your sister are the first people I have seen since that day."

He ended his story and Flora was numb. She didn't know what to say as screams and cries from her memory came roaring back to life. She knew all too well what he was explaining. She remembers the women and at times girls of her tribe being dragged by their hair or flung over the shoulders of Fire Nation soldiers and taken to the cold, metal ships. Flora remembers the raids and the smell of burning flesh. Flora almost began to feel sorry for him but remembered what she knew to be true.

The Fire Nation always lies.

Flora grabbed the empty bowl and spoon and rose to her feet. She stared down at the man and frowned.

"The sooner you are gone, the better."