3 Chapter 3
Aroh couldn't believe his eyes as he stared at the familiar figure bound in chains.
'How? How did this happen? How did Aang and Sokka let her get captured?' He thought as she raised her head to stare at him.
"W-what…do you…w-want…?" She said in a raspy and dehydrated manner.
She seemed more than a bit starved as she lacked the energy to move her limbs. Her struggle to even raise her head told him that much.
"Who are you?" Aroh asked, playing dumb. It wouldn't do for him to act like he knew her.
She didn't respond as her body dangled, only held by the chains. He waited for a few seconds for her answer only for him to realize that she was no longer conscious.
'Malnourishment and Dehydration… How long has she been here? It can't be less than three days.' He thought as he moved closer to observe her state.
She was a bit bruised but besides that and the singes on her clothes, she was otherwise okay. That's if you don't add the malnutrition and dehydration.
He walked out of the cell, locking it behind him as he snuck out of that area and towards the storage area. He stuffed a bit of food into a small part of his armor and held a flask of water in his hand.
As easy as he snuck out, he snuck back into the cell. She was still out cold when he returned, causing him to frown. He wasn't a medical practitioner but he could see identify the signs of malnutrition and starvation when he saw it.
He gently tapped the unconscious Katara awake. It took more than a few taps to get her to wake up which slightly relieved him. His other option would have been a dangerous attempt to force his chi into her chi stream to wake her up.
With his meager control over his chi, the dangers of attempting such a thing wasn't low in any way.
The restrained waterbender groaned as she slowly regained consciousness. Her unfocused eyes slowly centered on him, this time staying silent.
"Who are you?" He asked, repeating his earlier question to which she stayed silent.
He pulled out the food he had taken from storage which was basically bread and a few fruits. Katara's eyes were immediately drawn to the whole package.
Aroh brought the bread close to her mouth to which she weakly turned her face away. Aroh frowned at that.
'How am I supposed to help you if you don't allow me to help you?' He wondered internally, though he didn't blame her at all.
He held the bread closer to her face but she made no effort to take a bite out of it. Just as he was about to give up and try another tactic, his sensitive ears picked up a low growl from her stomach.
She didn't even have the energy to feel embarrassed, showing just how worn out she was.
Finally relenting, she turned her face towards his still masked one in reluctance and suspicion but otherwise remained silent.
She reluctantly opened her mouth, allowing him to feed her despite the reluctance on her face. She had no other choice so she was forced to suck it up and bear with it.
She slowly but surely began eating, occasionally stopping to allow Aroh pour some water into her mouth. Aroh felt somewhat relieved that despite two years passing from the original timeline, Katara wasn't a master bender.
Had she been one she would have easily bent the water to free herself and attempt to attack him. Though he was confident in being able to take her out quickly, it would complicate things a bit.
It didn't take long for her to finish the entirety of what he brought, given it wasn't much to begin with.
'If I want to make my way off this ship alive, I'll need her waterbending. To do that she needs to be alive and healthy…or at least somewhat healthy.'
Erasing all the evidence that he was present, he got to his feet to make his way out. He heard a groan from the waterbender as he made his way to the door but she didn't say anything.
Exiting the cell, he quietly locked it behind him. He easily snuck away from the area and back to the shared quarters in silence. He still heard the voices of his 'bunk mates' but they weren't as loud as they were earlier.
Upon opening the door, all chatter stopped as they turned to look at the newcomer. It was his first night on the ship and those who he shared the quarters with weren't part of the crew Aroh came with. Thus, they were unaware of his skill and appearance.
He walked towards the small bed that was assigned to him and sat comfortably despite the silence and the stares.
"We were wondering when you'd show up. Where the heck where you?" One of the three men that sat in the quarters asked.
"Nowhere in particular. I was just enjoying the cool breeze outside." Aroh answered lightly.
Though he answered nonchalantly, it carried an undertone that dismissed all further questions. They stared at him for a moment before continuing their conversation.
"Anyways, I blasted him wit…" Aroh easily tuned out their conversation as he closed his eyes.
He was still in his armor so to the others, he was simply sitting on the bed staring into space. Though he didn't need to hide his identity, he didn't need the unnecessary attention that usually came with the reveal of his youth.
'What to do…?' He wondered as he sat on the bed.
He wasn't fond of wasting his free time lounging around in an unproductive manner. Adjusting his sitting position, he sat in a manner that felt more comfortable than his previous.
With that done, he began circulating his chi within himself as much as he could under the casual glance of the others. He couldn't attempt anything that would draw attention, keeping it simple.
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A few days passed and Aroh fell into a sort of a routine. Wake up, grind [Chi Manipulation], perform his shift, sneak away to feed Katara and continue grinding the skill.
[Chi Manipulation] had finally reached level 10 despite how long it took him with the rudimentary method he used.
As of the moment, he was about to leave the cell with an empty water flask in his hand. For the first time since his first appearance in the cell, Katara spoke.
"Why?" She asked, now that she was regaining a bit of energy.
He was only able to steal bits of food without it being noticed by the rest of the crew. Despite that, she was able to slowly regain her energy.
"Why what?" He answered with another question which she took some time to respond to.
"Why are you helping me?" She asked quietly.
"Because we have something in common. We want to escape this ship." He answered bluntly, causing her eyes to widen a bit.
"There's water all around us. Your waterbending is the key to us getting out of here alive." He finished as she let his words slowly sink in.
"I don't get it…" She whispered under her breath but with the size of the cell and the semi reflective walls, it was easily heard.
"What's not to get? We're literally in your elemen-"
"Not that." Katara interrupted quickly.
"You're part of the fire nation army. I'm sure you're pretty comfortable here. Why would you want to escape?" She asked a bit sarcastically.
Unlike what he expected from her with how her character was portrayed, she wasn't as hostile. Maybe it was the fact that she was a bit more mature than she was then.
"Why would I want to stay? Unlike what you believe, not everyone voluntarily joins the fire navy forces." He said surprising her as his hands went to his helmet.
Slowly pulling it off, his black hair spilled out naturally around his face, not in the usual fire nation hairstyle as his young face was revealed.
Unfiltered surprise filled Katara's face as she was met with a face as young as hers. He was no older than her neither did his face seem like he belonged on the battle field. He looked more like a noble than a fighter.
"How old were you when…when you were made to join?" She managed to ask despite her surprise.
"Six." He answered with a straight face, not bothering to sugarcoat it or play it up.
Arou could swear that her eyes were close to popping out with how wide she opened them in shock.
She didn't know the ages of those in the fire nation army but the thought that some of them were forced to join never occurred to her.
Another thing that occurred to her as she hung there was the smoothness of his voice. Shaking the thoughts out of her head, she looked back up to him.
"So, what are we going to do?" She asked, very curious about his escape plan.
"The ships are heading towards the fire nation borders. There are no more stops along the way so our options are limited. When the ships get close to the border, we'll make our move."
"I'll deal with the soldiers while you put some distance between this ship and the other ships as we make our way to the fire nation." He explained as she immediately fired her question.
"Why are we still heading for the fire nation!? Aren't we supposed to be going away!?" She questioned to which he inwardly cringed.
"Unless you want us to get caught, I suggest that you lower your tone." He said, causing an embarrassed look to appear on her face.
"Secondly, you can't waterbend forever and I can't firebend to make the ship go faster than they'd catch us. We'll also need to stock up on other supplies."
"We'll be in the fire nation for a bit but it should be enough for you to regain enough of your strength. After that, we'll slowly make our way out of the fire nation on foot for as far as we can go without sailing."
This ship draws too much attention, thus why we'd be abandoning it. If we're lucky, your avatar friend will find you before we'd need to find another ship." He explained a bit more detailedly.
Katara opened her mouth to retort and refute but found that the plan sounded decent enough that it would work.
Aang hadn't found her despite how long she'd been in captivity so she had to find another way out without relying on him.
The boy in front of her seemed to have a certain amount of confidence and charisma that caused her to believe and trust in his ability to follow his words.
Aroh stayed in the cell for some time, hashing out the details of their escape plan. As he left the cell, a tiny smirk appeared on his lips. His face was once more covered by the helmet so it wasn't noticeable to anyone who bothered to look at him.
'Soon…soon…' He thought as he could almost feel the freedom that would soon be coming.
