𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐎 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍 | prince zuko

¹³

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

     THE DAYS BEGAN TO BLEED TOGETHER the longer Yan and Iroh were in prison. Although she had been away from home for an unknown amount of time, Yan began to grow more accustomed to life as a prisoner. She knew the daily food schedule and even counted the steps each guard took to get to her or Iroh's cell. It's gotten to the point where she knew which guard was walking toward the cells just by the sounds of their footsteps. There was one guard named Ming who was especially kind to Iroh, often sneaking him extra provisions; under Iroh's word, she was also nice to Yan, though she didn't give her extra food. According to Iroh, Ming's little gestures of kindness made his days in prison bearable.

Yan spent a lot of time meditating and doing yoga to keep her mind clear. When it was late at night, she even practiced her bending, often only lifting small rocks that were scattered around her cell. There was one time where she was nearly caught but she was quick enough to pretend to be asleep. The yoga and meditation also helped her to stay sane; staring at the same walls for the amount of time she had been in prison was enough to drive anyone through the wringer. Luckily for her, the military did teach her about the possibility of sitting idle for a long period of time, so you could say sitting and staring at the same walls came naturally to her.

As Yan was meditating one day, feeling the small rocks around her shift and lift in the air, Iroh's voice caught her attention. When Ming entered his cell to deliver his lunch, Yan could hear Iroh tell her that she should go home for the afternoon. Before she could ask why Iroh had told Ming to head home, explosions in the distance caused her to pause her meditation and furrow her brows. Using her earthbending, Yan created a large step in the cell wall to peer over the window, but she didn't see anything.

"Iroh, what's going on?" she asked as she tried to place what the explosion was. She could only peer a bit over the window, unable to see anything that seemed out of the ordinary even when standing on her tiptoes.

"Just be patient, Yan; patience is key." Iroh simply replied. Yan groaned in frustration at Iroh's response, wishing she could see and know further. She thought it over in silence, the distance explosions continuing to sound off. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she gasped.

Yan hopped off the stone step and paced around her cell, muttering to herself before she finally came up with an answer to her unanswered question. "The invasion... Iroh, it's the invasion! Holy shit, it's the Day of Black Sun! That means Aang and everyone else is still alive!" she shouted, her brown eyes as wide as dinner plates. 

Yan returned to the window, listening to the fighting that was occurring in the distance. She continued to pace and returned to the window, deciding when it was time to fight. Based on what she remembered from Sokka's invasion plan, the eclipse that rendered the firebenders defenseless only lasted a few minutes. Those few minutes were crucial; Yan and Iroh could escape the prison, and with Yan being an earthbender and the firebenders unable to bend, she and Iroh could finally feel the sun on their faces after so long.

"Are you ready, Yan?" Iroh asked, rising from the floor and securing the tie of his baggy robe to hide the muscular body that he worked very hard for in the very trying months. He had known about the invasion and the eclipse; the eclipse had just begun, which meant it was now time to fight back.

At Iroh's question, a smirk crossed Yan's face and she faced the cell door. "I am more than ready," she said determinedly. Without wasting another precious second, Yan bent a triangular rock and threw it into the cell bars, the bars shattering and providing an opening in the metal cage. Once she stepped out of the cage, she crumbled the stone wall and stepped out of the cell for the first time in months.