Happy Lunar New Year!

Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: Zuko or Sokka, probably. Zuko is the focus of his own plotline in Ba Sing Se, while Sokka is probably the most prominent of Yue's companions.

Zigzagdoublezee: I fear you're probably right. They are relentless foes, who strike without warning.

As Always, Please Review!

Yue's body was being jostled as she groaned, on the edge of consciousness, unsure if she was in a dream or not. Her cheek was pressed into something solid, and her entire body ached slightly. She was uncomfortable here. She groaned, and tried to shift, to adjust herself.

She couldn't move.

That caused Yue to snap back to reality very quickly. She found herself lying face down, with her hands tied behind her back and her legs tied together at the ankle, to prevent her moving or especially bending. She tried to struggle, but found she couldn't even do that. She was still chi-blocked. She groaned in anger and frustration in a way that was extremely unbecoming of a Princess of the North.

Next to her, Sokka lay in a very similar position. They were both lying on the bed of a cart pulled by two ostrich-horses, surrounded by figures in black clothes advancing down a dirt road.

"Sokka!" Yue hissed. "Are you alright?"

"Of course I'm not alright!" Sokka hissed back. "They got us! Are you?"

"I'll be honest, this isn't one of my better nights," Yue replied.

"They're awake!" A voice called from above them. Both Yue and Sokka craned their necks to see the girl from the prison ship towering over them. A moment later, a pair of familiar faces appeared.

"Azula," Yue snarled. "And Lu Ten."

"Turns out working together is more efficient than competing against one another," Lu Ten smiled. "Which means you're coming with us."

"Are these your minions?" Sokka gestured with his head towards the other figures. "Your waterbender traitors?"

Lu Ten scowled.

"They're not traitors," he said.

"Whatever they tell themselves so they can sleep at night," Yue told him. She felt despair welling up inside her. How had this happened again? How had they found her? And how had she been so stupid as to let herself be taken by surprise?

"I'll shout," Sokka tried.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Azula said, sounding bored. "If you shout, she dies. If she shouts, you die. Simple."

"But you need her alive," Sokka told her, sounding as smug as possible within the circumstances.

"I need her, yes," Azula leaned in close. "Nobody said anything about alive though, so don't test me."

Sokka paled, and then shut up.

"I thought so," Azula told them. "Now, you two are our tickets home. You're also very valuable to us. I mean, you're the Avatar, but also the Princess of the North and we get the Prince of the South! A fine replacement for your father. A pair of Royals like you make great hostages. I would hate to have to kill you, but I will. So behave."

"Our friends will find us," Yue pointed out. "They'll notice we've gone."

"They will, but not until it's far too late," Azula replied. "Maybe they'll just think you've gone for some special mission on your own."

"Without our weapons?"

Azula didn't reply for a few seconds, noting that they were indeed unarmed. Of course neither Yue or Sokka had been expecting this, they had thought they were going for a nice moonlit stroll in the garden protected by the walls of the Beifong compound, and so they had left their various waterskins, clubs, and boomerangs in their rooms.

"Doesn't matter," Azula decided eventually. "We'll be far away before they wake up anyway. But don't worry, we're taking no chances."

She looked up at the girl in the cart with them.

"Ty Lee, chi-block them if you see even a hint of movement," she said. Ty Lee nodded in agreement.

"Hold on," Sokka looked up at Lu Ten. "Why are you working with her?"

Yue glanced at him for a moment, and then remembered what he was referencing.

"You spent most of our last meeting insulting your cousin," she pressed, trying to twist the knife.

"Stop it," Azula waved a hand. "Heat of the moment, I'm sure."

"I remember now," Yue said. "You said she would be a terrible firelord."

"Like I said, stop," Azula's voice was low and dangerous.

"No no, there was something else," Sokka continued. "You made your views on your cousin very clear."

"A... what was it again?" Yue made a show of thinking. "A tyrant in the making, that's it. Strong words for someone you're now helping."

"Stop it!" Azula's yell was loud and sudden, and unmistakeably angry. Sokka and Yue both looked at her, stunned into silence.

"I know what you're trying to do," she said. "And it won't work."

"I don't know what you mean, Princess," Sokka said innocently.

"Whatever you say," Azula turned and walked away, still breathing deeply. Lu Ten shot them an angry glance and then followed. The cart continued trundling down the darkened road, illuminated only by the light from torches held by the lead waterbenders so the cart could see where it was going.

Yue tried to twitch a finger subtly, in the hope that Ty Lee wouldn't notice and just chi-block her again. Some feeling was beginning to return to her extremities. She looked at Sokka, and then subtly nodded at one of Lu Ten's minions. The Prince of the South frowned at her and mouthed a question. She nodded again.

Yue might not have a waterskin, but Lu Ten's people probably did. And if she could strike at the right moment, maybe she could steal some of their water, use it to slash the ropes holding her in place, and escape.

She sighed. It wasn't much of a plan. Waterbending required movement, and even if she could regain the use of her limbs without Ty Lee noticing she still wouldn't be capable of using much more than her fingers. But it was the only plan she had, and she was not going to just lay here and let these two evil dictators-in-waiting cart her and Sokka off into a life of captivity.

And the full moon was still shining. Maybe that could help her. All she had to do was not move a muscle until she was ready to strike.

"Stop!" A voice called from up ahead. The cart rumbled to a halt, and Yue lifted her head to see what was going on. "Let them go!"

Yue's heart soared. Her friends had come for her! Suki, Rinzen and Katara had noticed their disappearance after all!

But the figure who stepped into the light of the torches was not Suki, Rinzen or Katara.

Instead Poppy Beifong's young blind daughter, Toph, blocked their path.

She was alone.