I am huddled in the center of my cell, silent tears falling onto the floor. I watch as they descend, shiny drops in a world devoid of light.

I do not know how long I've been here. 

The days and nights blur together. In the cell across from me, Phena is moaning. Phena is always moaning.

Below me, Heka is laying down, staring at the ceiling. My cage hangs above hers, but to the side a bit, and the bars of our cells are open to the air, so I can see her through the spaces between us. Her right hand reaches toward the sky, tracing circles I can't see.

To my left, in the other hanging cage—the only one that's occupied, anyway—Sara is asleep. Sara is always asleep.

I curl into myself, wipe my face on my dirty sleeve. 

I do not know how long I've been here.

I do not know how long I'll be here.

Probably until I die.

I do not know when that day will be.

Maybe tomorrow. Maybe today. Oh please, let it be today! I raise my thoughts to the spirits, to whoever is listening. I doubt that anyone is, but this is what mom taught me to do.

Mom. I have forgotten her face. I try to remember, but it's fuzzy in my mind. I have a brother, too, and a dad. Their faces are completely gone from my memory. I only remember the pain of this life, here in Icegate, nothing more than meat for the soldiers to play with.

I am seven years old.

I am not a child.

Suddenly, the darkness recedes, replaced by torchlight. They have lit themselves all at once, and it means only one thing.

Ido is here. Heka freezes. Phena falls silent. Sara wakes in an instant, her old lady breaths stop as if she can't breathe.

And me, I am frozen in my cell, a stranger in my skin. Remembered pain lances through me, radiating out from my back.

"Princess." His smooth voice echoes through the prison; it is the voice of terror and the manifestation of pain.

I feel my body tremble. This is the name he calls me. I will not die today. 

I pray I die before he touches me. Before he takes his whip from the wall. Before the fire appears on his palms.

But I have lived through days like these many times before.

I will not die today.

The only bright side, is that there is still hope for tomorrow. Maybe I will die tomorrow.

Oh, I hope, I hope it is tomorrow!

I wake with fear clawing at my chest; my heart pounds and sweat is pouring off my body. It takes a good ten minutes before I become aware of my surroundings, and even then, I can't relax.

I hear clanging from above me, and the sound of raised voices. Something is happening, though I'm not sure I want to know what it is.

Ten minutes later, a group of soldiers in dark red armor and pointy helmets come stomping down into the hold where I'm being held prisoner—along with about five other 'criminals'. The Fire Nation soldiers haul us out of the brig and lock us in irons, then drag us up onto the deck of the war balloon.

I blink, staring out over what appears to be a volcano.

I knew the Fire Nation was sadistic, but I didn't realize they were into sacrificing their prisoners. Oh well. It's not like I was expecting them to let me live.

They push us forward in a line, down the gangplank and onto rough, uneven ground. We're forced to march down a narrow path, with the air getting hotter and more steamy the closer we get to the mouth of the volcano.

Behind me, one of the other prisoners—a young man, I don't know his name—stumbles and almost falls. A Fire Nation guard is there before he even has time to fully right himself, lashing out with a braided whip that strikes the man across the shoulders. He yelps, but quickly steadies his footing and keeps moving. His eyes are downcast, and his shoulders slump. He's been broken, thoroughly and completely.

I wonder if he's come from Icegate... no. Bad enough I'm about to die.

I don't want to think of that... place.

Shaking off all thoughts of the other prisoners—it's not as if they're really my concern at this point—I keep my eyes on my own feet as I maneuver along the treacherous path.

We turn a bend and are ordered to stop, and to my surprise I hear the sound of gears grinding and metal groaning.

I look up to see a gondola stretching out across the volcano's mouth—it's wide enough for me to see that there's an island of sorts down there, in the center of... I feel my heart skip a beat as I realize what I'm looking at.

Water.

This isn't what I thought—the soldiers aren't leading us to our doom.

They've brought us to a prison—a prison that sits right in the middle of my element.

A prison that I can escape from at any moment, any second—whenever I desire. I force down a grin, knowing that drawing attention to myself will only bring pain.

Speaking of which... I narrow my eyes, thinking, as we're herded onto the gondola and made to stand in its center. The gears grind again and we begin to descend toward the prison.

I'm still injured, both from my capture and the subsequent beating given to me by Ozai's guards. I could escape, but I don't think I'd make it very far.

No, I'd be better off biding my time, letting myself heal and figuring out my next move.

If they've brought me here, it's unlikely that Ozai is planning to kill me in the near future.

Which means that I have plenty of time to decide what I want to do next.

As the gondola lurches to a stop on the tiny island, I breathe easily for the first time since I woke to find my camp engulfed in flames.

I'm once again a master of my own fate, even if I am locked in a prison.

That's not even an issue though—after all, I practically grew up in a prison, and this one can't be worse that Icegate was.

Nothing could be worse that Icegate was.