Avatar: Reborn in Ice and Blood

At this moment, however, I find them revolting. Circus Girl has slumped on my shoulder, is asleep and drooling a wet patch into my shirt. She also snores. Not only is it irritating, I wonder at her mental faculties.

She should not equate my shoulder with a nice place to rest her head on, after everything I've done to her.

...

Mai seems to not have forgotten any of it as she glowers at me, from five metres away. With her brother once more taken from her, gone along with the princess. Her cool and collected self seems to have vacated the continent for the time being. Perhaps she left it the safety of her bedroom walls.

As I attempt to ignore the puffs of breath against the wet patch on my skin, I take some tentative hope from the fact that they've left me with my mask. I can drink through it, and since they haven't brought us any food yet, I hope they already have a nearby port in mind for docking. (I'm sincerely avoiding any thoughts of purposeful starvation to make us weak and obedient.)

And, as I wriggle my fingers to get a feel for the locks of the shackles, so that with pressure at the right points, I could unlock them and escape, I won't let it come to any of the horrific scenarios mapping themselves out in my head.

It would be good, in any case, to think of something to barter with that won't involve them wanting to keep me around for longer. So, no skills of mine, no knowledge of the branching kind. Nothing at all to suggest I could do more for them as a permanent fixture on this vessel.

That is, so long as Azula keeps her mouth shut. She's a smart girl, but vindictive, and that's a lethal combination. Femme Fatale, if ever I've known one. Or girl.

I contemplate how to broach the subject of escape when the sound of footsteps makes its way to my ears from the steps.

The man who comes to speak with us, presumably to gauge whether we have any worth as hostages, as they gathered from Azula's wanted poster that the Fire Nation undoubtedly spread out in every town and village they could fine, is relatively slim, but sinewy and looks rather sly. He only spares me, the tired-looking masked man-boy with a girl drooling on his shoulder, a brief glance, meant to provoke to find out whether I'm a hothead or not.

Instead of going for us, he sizes up Mai in a sleazy manner that makes my skin prickle.

She shifts into an even more defensive position.

"So, your friend tells us your father's a higher-up in the Fire Nation. Governor of Omashu." Mai nods cautiously. The man's voice is grating, with a perpetual smugness saturating every syllable that I wonder whether he's ever encountered anyone who managed to outsmart him. "Now, usually this would be perfect. Send a message, get the money, release you and your brother, everyone's happy," He steps closer to her, crouching down to sit on his haunches. "But since Omashu's back in King Bumi's hands… You see our problem, yeah? If you had any, ah, ideas about who to ransom you back to, I'm sure your brother would be well cared-for until then, hm?"

Ah. Well, this doesn't exactly bode well for me, does it? There's no one who'd pay my ransom, after all. Not in the 'civilised' world.

I'm seeing more and more parallels to British mentalities of superiority in times of the empire or when the commonwealth wasn't as independent as they would've liked, commercially. But it does mean that all of the girls and the baby are relatively safe. That is, as safe as one can be, on a pirate vessel, in the company of a man with dubious moralities (so long as one discounts the pirates, of course).

Mai's eyes dart around, thinking fast. With the recent re-conquering of Omashu, I'm sure her father's fallen from grace. Any contacts she may have had at one point surely aren't reliable any more. What Mai does have, is a known connection to Azula. It depends on whether she can get the pirates to agree to make them all seem like a package-deal. The pirates would, of course, be able to demand more for more hostages. If she plays that angle, she might buy us some time.

"Come now, I can see you have an idea, let's hear it."

In a way, the questioning of Azula was both the best and worst thing that could happen to us. She cares little for either Mai, nor Circus Girl at the moment, and even less for the brat. Me, she is certainly still angry with. Hers is a temper that burns hotly and at length. But as much as she desires for us to be punished, she is clever enough to go the way of least overall damage, because for once, it's in her best interests to stick with the less powerful party. I'm sure that usually, she would manipulate the situation until she somehow had command over the pirates.

But there is me to worry about. And if there is anything Azula has learned during our time together, it's that I dislike being ordered around, and am volatile enough to not always be trusted to do what's in my own best interests.

Mai's eyes land on me, finally. All I can do to help her out, is glance at the top of Circus Girl's head on my shoulder. Perhaps she can glean my meaning from that. I don't know about Circus Girl's family situation, and whether they would be wealthy enough to pay a ransom, but if Mai takes this as a sign that they're all in the same boat, so to speak, she could well figure it out.

In addition to a sly glance, I flex my wrists. It looks only like I'm moving them to keep my hands circulated, but I'm sure she understands this, at least.

She must stall, and I can free us, probably.

"We… surely, if you contact a Fire Nation outpost for Azula's… bounty, you could…"

As she hedges about, spews basic tactics for contacting the right people, mentioning vague details of this person's gullibility and so on and so forth, I turn my attention to my shackles, once more. It's quite fortunate that the moon feels close, currently, and the sun has set. It affords me some strength, and power of concentration necessary for the precision required.

The pirate doesn't appear to have heard the quiet snicks as the bolts slide into place. Mai is doing a wonderful job of keeping him distracted. For someone usually so quiet, she's good at this. Practise for Azula?

Circus Girl's neck tenses by degrees, and I infer that she's woken and is following the proceedings closely. It's a stroke of luck I appreciate.

Both of the shackles around my ankles are now ready to spring open at the slightest tug. With hopes that she feels less stiff than I do, I move on to her shackles, instead of opening the ones on my wrists. I can bend with minimal movement of my hands, after all. Better she employs her fighting style to the fullest and gives me time.

I determine that, depending on the pirate's next course of action – be it leaving, or moving on to question us – we will either allow him back on deck, or subdue him to question him about our whereabouts, Azula and the brat's health, how many crew members there are, and so forth. I only hope the girls have the foresight to wait and see.

It's got to be a new experience for them, but they're both conducting themselves well. Not, that I've ever been held captive by pirates, myself.

Circus Girl's shackles open with slightly more noise than mine, and by the third, the pirate has turned around, suspicions plainly on his face. My control is minimally lesser the further I bend from my body. It makes all the difference.

He's smart enough to put his hands on his weapons, but not to raise the alarm as I'd have done. Better a false one than dead, and he's already suspecting he's no longer safe.

Then again, I don't plan on killing him at all. But my plans have a habit of derailing, and fast.

The fourth lock snicks.

"What're ye doing?" He goes to check on my shackles.

Circus Girl is ready for it. The man is laid out flat on his face almost too quickly for me to follow. I'm beginning to think that the only reason for my continuous winning of our confrontations is that she was never able to get close enough to do any damage.

She's still sitting beside me. Almost wearily, I glance at her, to find her staring.

Her fists are clenched tightly enough to turn her knuckles white. Oh-oh.

I barely manage to direct my blood to the surface of my skin to soften any blows before she smiles sweetly, and it's the last thing I see.

...

Don't forget to throw some power stones :)

...

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