She

Chapter 23

"You remember that girl I told you about?" I looked over at the area where he was presumably sitting on the other side. I was laying on my back, my legs lifted up against the wall. "I told her I loved her and... probably messed that up." I laughed dryly.

"What was her response?"

"I uh... don't know. I never got her response. It was so in the moment I just told her and then... told her to leave." I awkwardly laughed. "She probably hates me for both."

"You don't know if she hates you if you never got an answer. This is why you should leave sooner, you get to see her."

"Yeah well, so far there's no way of leaving."

"Yes, but you have a life to live. And you have a girl to go see." I blushed and rolled my eyes.

I sat in silence, listening to him tell me about firebending. This past week, I think, maybe more, I had learned more from him than anything else. Although it was hard not being able to watch anything. While he wasn't teaching me, he seemed to be working out, or tricking the guards.

"Can I ask you about something?"

He stopped. "Well nothing's stopping you."

"There's this... experiment, 581D if I recall correctly."

"I had heard rumors about it, but I didn't know anything else about it, my brother most likely does."

"Well, you're talking to test subject one. That's how I got my firebending. A painful experience." I sighed and tossed a pebble through the bars.

"I see..."

I sat up and turned around, sitting in the corner. "They bought me about a year ago, maybe longer , I could never tell. The sad thing is, being experimented on by a bunch of scientists with an extremely painful serum wasn't the worst thing that happened to me.

"When I was younger my mom sold me. Five gold pieces, a scam if you ask me, I'm worth at least 10. But she didn't care, my father wasn't around either, he died in the war apparently. Every now and then I'll have a nightmare, and have to pretend like it didn't all... happen. I've never told any of them either, you're the first person that knows... besides all of uhm..." I looked down. "Anyway getting sold again was probably the highlight of my week. Until it wasn't."

"You don't seem too bothered talking about this."

"I've come to terms with a lot of it. My mother did what she did, I can't change that. Even if what she did was leave her only child, who loved and depended on her, and...." I wiped away a tear. "I had to give up on her eventually. And... that's really the only thing I came to terms with."

"It doesn't sound like you did," he shifted around, "it sounds more like you forced yourself to."

"What are you, a therapist?"

"Yes, and no." I sighed. "I'll give you advice, and talk through your problems with you."

"That's called being a therapist."

He laughed. "Well then I suppose that I am."

"Hey! Shut up in there!" One of the guards yelled, banging on the door.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah yeah, whatever."

"Now's your chance," Iroh said quietly. The guard couldn't hear him.

"What? But-"

"Look just go, he's about to change his shift and the other guard isn't here."

"Didn't you hear me? I said shut up!" The guard, now angry, opened the door walking into the cell. He walked up to the bars of my cage and began unlocking the door. As soon as he opened it, I shot him against the wall with a fireball. There was a dull pain from doing so, but by now I had gotten used to it. I ran through the door, passing by him, but grabbing a small purse off his belt while I did.