He was still here.

Flora was out gathering water for the day when she realized that a week had gone by since the man came to their home.

Helia was his name. That is what her sister had told her the night when Flora gave him soup. Or that is what he had told Miele. Either way, no matter what his name was, Helia refused to call him by his name. She didn't need to know who he was and she didn't care because either he was going to leave when he was healed or Flora would be dead by the time he could stand up.

It had been a windier than normal morning and Flora shivered as she stood at the lake, wasting no time in bending the water into the bucket. She just wanted to get back into her small home and start on the chores of the day. A fisherman from their tribe had quite the bounty the day before and Flora was going to make a warming fish stew. She wondered if there might be some spices hidden away in the store room or perhaps she would go into the village to barter. Flora didn't revel in the feeling of the energy of her bending course through her body as she quickly splashed the water into the bucket.

"I didn't know that you were a waterbender."

Flora gasped and the water in the air splashed onto the snow-covered ice. She turned around and saw Helia standing behind her, a bucket of his own in his hands. Flora was as frozen as the ice beneath her feet as she stared at him. She had never seen him stand and it was now that she realized how large he was and how small she was. He hobbled closer to her, slow and carefully.

"I didn't mean to scare you."

Flora's eyes widened as he approached her. What would he do to her? He had caught her bending and that was a death sentence.

"Are you alright?" Helia asked as he raised a hand to place on Flora's trembling shoulder. She recoiled in fear, as if Helia's hand was on fire. He took a step back and placed his hand back on his abdomen, covering the bandaged wound.

"I was told to help gather water. Miele said that it was good to move around and regain my mobility as the worst of the healing had been done."

"Please, don't tell anyone."

"About?"

"You know what I am talking about."

Helia smiled, "Your secret is safe with me."

"You won't report me?"

"How would I do that?" Helia asked, "I have no way of contacting the Fire Nation nor do I want to. I am sure that at this point I am a wanted man for deserting. I want nothing more to do with the Fire Nation than you do."

Flora's scared expression fell and her brow furrowed. She didn't know whether to be relieved or angry. It was easier to be angry.

"Don't compare anything that you have been through to what I have been through."

"It was not my int-"

"Just go back to the store room and focus on healing."

Helia took a deep and calming breath, "If that is what you wish. I just want to let you know that I am not here to harm you or anyone else."

"You are a liar!" Flora shouted, "All you do is kill and destroy!"

Helia's face hardened, "I too have lost people that I care about in this war."

"A war that the Fire Nation started!"

"I didn't choose to be part of the Fire Nation just as you didn't choose to be part of the Water Tribe! I cannot undo what has been done a century before us. If I could I would. I would stop Sozin and make sure that this war never happened. I would shout out that what we have been taught in the Fire Nation is a lie. I would have not enlisted. I would have told my friends not to join so that they might have lived. There is so much that I would have done if I could go back in time but I cannot. So I will spend the rest of my life atoning for my sins and try to move forward."

Flora bit the inside of her cheek as she stared up at Helia. His blue eyes matched the dark blue of the dark waters, his slender jaw was tight and his cheeks were sunken in as he glared down at her. Flora felt her heart pound against her chest and she suddenly realized how close they were.

Helia softly spoke, "I am sorry if my being here has been difficult for you. I wish that your sister had left me there to die. It would have been better for everyone. But once I am fully healed, I will repair my boat and then I will be away from your tribe, your sister, and from you."

He stepped back and took his warmth with him. He grabbed the bucket and placed it in the hole in the ice, submerging it below the frozen water. The water rushed into the bucket and he pulled it back to the surface before turning and slowly heading back to the house.

Flora finished filling her bucket in silence.

"Flora, you have to help me!"

Flora looked up from the pot of stew that she had been stirring for that night's dinner. Miele had been in the store room with Helia while Flora did her best to put the conversation that she had with Helia that morning to the back of her head as she continued on with the work that she had to do to make sure that she and Miele could survive in the South Pole. But the look on Miele's face when she came running into the house told Flora that something was wrong.

Shooting up to her feet, Flora ran over to Miele and saw the blood that had been on her hands and clothes.

"Are you okay? What happened? Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?! I will kill him if he tries to harm you in any way!"

Miele shook her head and took a deep breath.

"I messed up. Helia's wound reopened and I cannot mend it. He is bleeding everywhere. You have to help me."

Flora dropped her hands from Miele's small frame and her panicked expression changed into one of calm indifference.

"That's it?" Flora replied.

"Please, Flora! He could die!"

Flora mumbled under her breath, "Then we both get what we want."

"Flora! Please!"

She couldn't deny her sister. Flora deep down knew that she couldn't let this man die. Flora sighed and she placed the lid on the pot. She rubbed her hands on her parka before she walked outside, Miele following closely behind.

Flora walked into the store room and saw Helia on the ground, a large patch of red on the bandages around his abdomen. He was sweating and his skin was becoming an unsettling gray. He groaned and held his side as his breathing became quick.

"Miele, go back to the house and bring the bucket of water."

"Flora, are you going to-"

"Yes, I have to."

"But you can't wa-"

"It is the only way, Miele! Now do as I say and go get the bucket."

Miele nodded as she quickly ran out of the storeroom, leaving the bleeding man behind.

Flora rolled up her sleeves and undid the braids that hung at the side of her face. Her hair fell down her back and she grabbed the thin piece of leather and tied her hair on top of her head. It was messy but out of the way, She walked over to Helia and fell down on her knees. Holding out a hand, she brushed back his hair from his sweaty brow and he no longer looked like the scary Fire Nation soldier from before. All men sweat, all men cry out, all men bleed.

"You're burning up." Flora remarked as she held her hand to Helia's sweaty cheek, "I need to check for an infection."

Flora moved her hand from his face to Helia's bandaged abdomen but before she could touch the bloody bandage, Helia grabbed ahold of her wrist.

"Don't." Helia gasped. "You'll just be wasting your time."

"I have to check."

"I'm a firebender. I am always burning."

Flora looked at Helia and at the hand gripping her wrist. He was a firebender, the worst of the Fire Nation. Did Miele know? Flora thought of her sister and knew that no matter what, she would have wanted to save Helia, the firebender.

"I still need to check the wound. You are bleeding out."

Helia gulped for air and struggled to speak, "I thought that we both agreed that it would be better if I died."

Flora looked down at the man who looked so helplessly back up at her. There was a small part in her that felt for him. She didn't want to see him suffer. She would either help him or she would kill him quickly. But once again, Miele's face came to mind and Flora knew that she would never forgive her if she didn't make an earnest attempt to help.

"My sister wants you alive so I am not going to let you die. Now, let me see your wound so that I can help you."

Helia released Flora's wrist and nodded his head. He fell back onto the now blood-stained furs and nodded towards Flora, giving her permission to heal him. Not that she would have waited for his consent anyway.

Flora took the bandage in her hands and began to unravel it from Helia's sweaty body. As she unraveled, the bloodstain became larger as blood began to pool out of his wound.

"What happened? I thought that you were healing well." Flora asked as she looked down at the wound that had become open. It almost looked worse than when he had come to their home a week before.

"I must have reopened the wound when Miele was helping me with my mobility exercises. One wrong move and next thing I know, Miele and I are standing in a puddle of my blood."

Flora's mind flashed to that day nearly fourteen years ago when her mother had been taken. She remembered the blood that had been in the house and felt scared. She remembered working with the elder women to clean up the mess. She remembered carrying buckets filled with water and blood, the buckets being almost as big as her at the time.

"I pushed myself too hard. I just wanted to honor your wish. I did not want to be a nuisance to you any longer."

"And now your healing is going to take twice as long. Are all people in the Fire Nation so reckless?"

Helia laughed and winced in pain, "No, just stupid."

Flora's mouth turned up into a small smile, the first one that she had shown to Helia.

"You have a beautiful smile."

Flora's smile dropped. Why would he dare say something like that to her? Why was she flattered by it?

"Flora, I have the water," Miele announced as she walked back into the store room carrying the large bucket of water.

"Set it down right here," Flora pointed to a small spot on the ground that had not been covered and Miele brought the bucket over.

"He is losing a lot of blood, Flora."

"I know," Flora did her best to keep her voice calm, "and I am going to need to concentrate if I am going to help him. Go back in the house and stay there, the stew should be almost ready. I don't think that I will be long."

"But I want to watch you," Miele whined.

"Please, Miele. If I am going to save him, I am going to need to have no distractions. I may have to utilize the power of the full moon tonight."

Miele nodded. Hearing mention of the full moon made the matter more urgent and she knew that her sister had been serious. Miele quickly left the store room once again, leaving Flora alone with Helia.

Flora turned her attention back to Helia and saw that his breathing became more labored and his eyelids became heavy. She raised one of her hands and lightly smacked him on the cheek, urging him to stay awake.

"You have to stay awake. I need to make sure that whatever I am doing is working."

"If I don't make it, I just want to tell you how sorry I am and apologize on behalf of the entire Fire Nation."

Flora placed her hands in the bucket of water and it began to glow blue. She pulled out her glowing hands and held them up, the water surrounding her hands in an amorphous blob. She placed her hands on the wound and Helia sighed in relief.

"I told you that I am not going to let you die." Flora softly replied. "And I do not accept your apology. Ozai himself could not apologize enough for what he and his predecessors have done. Now, silence. I need to focus and you should not waste what little energy that you have talking."

The storeroom fell to a still silence as Flora shut her eyes and concentrated on Helia's wounds. The chi ran through her body as she used her bending to make her way through the wound and cleanse out whatever infection that had ravaged through Helia. Flora found the spot and her body ached as she slowly moved her hands away and towards Helia's body, using the water on her hands to draw out the infection. Helia moaned as the water moved in and out of him and his expression of pain turned into relief.

Flora watched as Helia shut his eyes in contentment and his mouth parted. His jaw usually had been clenched and his lips pursed in a thin line but tonight was the first time that she had gotten a good look at his face relaxed and at peace. There was even a hint of a smile. The wrinkles by his eyes were not as deep and the harsh dark circles under his eyes had faded. He looked almost...human.

"There," Flora softly stated as she pulled back her hands, "I think that I have cleared everything out."

Flora placed her hands over the bucket of water, now dirtied with the infection, and released her hold of her water. She looked down at Helia's wound and found that while the flow had slowed, there was still blood escaping his side. She made a move to stand so that she might be able to find something to stitch Helia's side but she felt Helia's hand tighten around her wrist once again.

"There is no need." Helia weakly said as he pulled Flora back down to her seated position.

Confused, Flora looked at Helia's wound and then back towards Helia, wondering if he had been completely mad. She had done all of that work and now he was just going to choose to bleed out.

"Hand me the bandages." Helia pointed to the soiled wrappings that Flora had removed a few moments earlier.

"They are soiled. If you place soiled wrappings on your wound, you will just cause another infection."

"That is not my intent. Now hand them to me before I bleed out."

Flora reached for the wrappings and handed them to Helia, still lost on his intention for the bandages. Helia grabbed the wrappings and rolled them into a tight roll.

"You might want to turn around and hold your breath. The smell is not pleasant and the sight is not the prettiest."

"What are you planning to do?" Flora asked, curiosity fully taking over.

Helia didn't reply but instead placed the roll of wrappings in his mouth and bit down. Flora watched in mild horror as Helia's hands summoned a small stream of flame. His hand moved down and landed on his side and the sound of sizzling and muffled screams broke the silence.

Flora held a hand up to her nose and mouth as she learned that this Fire Nation man definitely told the truth about one thing and that was that it really did smell horrible. She had not smelled burning flesh in the longest time and one can never forget the smell. She could not peel her eyes away from Helia as he began to sweat again and his eyes stared down at his burning hand on his skin, pain and concentration filling his gaze.

Helia held his hand there for what seemed like a lifetime. Flora looked from his hand up to his face and saw that his eyes began to flutter and roll to the back of his head.

"Helia!" she exclaimed as she lunged forward and tore his hot hand off of his abdomen, burning her hand in the process. It had been the first time that she had said his name. She promised him and herself that she never would. She looked down at her hand and saw that it had turned a rose red. Nothing more than a first-degree burn. She stuck her hand in the bucket and healed herself immediately.

Turning her attention back to Helia, Flora took the soiled wrapping from Helia's mouth so that he might be able to breathe. She held his head in one hand as she grabbed some water and placed it over Helia's now self-cauterized wound, cooling the skin. She once again felt Helia relax in her arms and he exhaled a deep breath; long, low, and slow.

"Thank you." Helia sighed.

"Do not thank me. Everything I have done for you has been because of my sister."

Helia reached forward with a shaky hand and gently brushed back a tendril that had fallen from the mass of hair hastily thrown on top of Flora's head. Flora held her breath, too stunned to move.

"You eased my pain. Saving my life was at the request of Miele, easing my pain wasn't for your sister."

"I couldn't stand the smell." Flora softly replied as she backed away from Helia.

"You smiled. You eased my pain."

"Just…don't move." Flora sighed as she placed the wrappings in the bucket of dirty water. She stood up and searched around the storeroom shelves for a clean cloth that she might use to help Helia wipe away the dried blood.

Flora dropped back down to her knees and bent the water from the bucket, ridding the impurities from the water. Helia made a quick movement to grab the cloth but Flora held it up out of his grasp.

"I will do it." Flora slowly placed the cloth on Helia's abdomen, "We cannot risk you opening up your wound again."

"It won't," Helia held up his hand and ignited a small flame, "not when I've melted myself together."

Flora didn't look up, keeping her eyes trained on her work. She didn't notice the scowl that formed on her lips as she tended to the now cauterized wound but Helia had.

"Are you alright?"

Flora shot her head up, "How can you say something so casually?"

"I'm going to be okay and I should be able to leave in a couple of days."

"No, how can you just burn yourself like that and then joke about it? How can you stand that smell?"

Helia frowned before he slowly propped himself up on the blood-stained furs. Flora made a move to place him back down but Helia shrugged her away as he climbed up to his feet.

He stood and Flora's eyes were trained on the bright red mark of his lower left side that he had just burned. But when he turned around, Flora let out a small gasp.

"When you are burnt so much, all you can do is joke to get rid of the pain. The smell just becomes normal after fifteen years in battle."

Flora absentmindedly reached out and placed soft fingers on Helia's back, tracing the variously sized and shaped scars on his back. Helia flinched but slowly settled under Flora's touch. Flora's fingers eventually settled on a large and oddly shaped scar that stretched from Helia's left shoulder to his right ribs.

"What happened?" Flora asked without thinking.

"Lightning."

"Was there a storm? Water and Earth benders cannot control lightning. Some of the fishermen say that the seas can become violent."

Helia turned his head over his shoulder and looked at Flora, their eyes meeting before he turned around completely. Flora scanned his face for some sort of answer but all she was met with was pain and sorrow.

"My father..." Helia replied, his voice shaking as he spoke.

"Your father did this to you?"

Flora could not imagine any parent doing what Helia's father had done. Perhaps it was an accident?

"I should have known the true face of the Fire Nation when my father struck me. If Fire Lord Ozai could punish his son, then why could my father not do the same to me? I should consider myself lucky that he did not strike my face like the Fire Lord did to the Fire Prince."

Flora's voice was barely a whisper, "Why?"

"Insubordination. But what's done is done. I just needed you to see that those in the Fire Nation also carry the scars of this war. I know that you do not like or trust me but I hope that you will come to understand me and others in the Fire Nation like me."

Flora stepped back and nodded.

"I just want my mother and father back. It has been years since I have seen them and I don't think Miele remembers them. I want nothing more for this war to end. I want to be able to see the world, use my waterbending freely, to maybe one day love and have a family of my own. But I don't think that will happen for me. Though I hope that it will for Miele."

"I heard that Avatar and a group of young warriors and benders have emerged to help end the war. At least that is what they are saying in the Earth Kingdom."

"I have learned long ago to let go of hope," Flora replied.

Bending down, Flora reached down and grabbed the bucket. Her grip tightened on the metal handle as she took a deep breath and looked up at Helia.

"Be sure to avoid sudden movements." Flora instructed, "Sleep well."