Falling into Icy Waters (and a bush...)

Elodie was upset. Scratch that. She was more than upset, she was downright angry. Angry at herself. Angry at her so-called friends. Angry at the world. The twenty-two-year-old female was practically fuming as she left the party she was attending. All she had wanted to do was to relax and have a good time. It was Christmas break, so she finally wasn't drowning in school work at the moment. Back to why she was angry. At the party everyone was drunk, Elodie was even a little bit tipsy. However, she was drunk enough to have lost some of her common sense. Drunk enough to be tricked into being locked into a room. Yes. Locked into a room.

Elodie's friend told her that they needed her to get them something for them in one of the rooms. Being the nice person that she was, she went to go get it. Well, once she was in the room, her friend shut her in the room and locked her in it. It was supposed to be a prank which would have been funny if it wasn't for her drunk friend forgetting about her in the room. The music was too loud for her yells and banging on the door to be heard.

After being trapped for an hour and a half, she decided that she would have to climb out of the window. This wouldn't be hard for her if she wasn't in a skin-tight dress and heels and if she wasn't on the second floor. Elodie lifted up the window and let out a little squeal when a blast of cold air hit her pale skin. Her jacket was downstairs, but she was way too mad (and drunk) to go back into the house once she was out of it. Thankfully, she had kept her small purse that had her keys, phone, and wallet with her.

Elodie grumbled as she slightly hiked up her already short dress and threw her slender leg over the windowsill. She mumbled as goosebumps immediately covered her skin, "I'm going to murder Olivia in the morning." She sighed and threw her other leg out of the window. She knew her friend, Olivia, had no malicious intent. She was just didn't always know when to stop playing around. While in her thoughts, Elodie had forgotten what she was doing at the moment. Big mistake.

She let out a scream when her foot slipped and she slid down the roof. She thankfully caught herself on the edge of the roof a little before falling off it and into some bushes. It would have been really hilarious if wasn't her that had fallen. She groaned and struggled to get off the bush. Once she was finally free from the evil bush, Elodie trudged to her car, not even bothering to fix her dress. She was so numb from the frigid cold that she couldn't even feel the cuts and bruises on her freckled skin.

Elodie unlocked her car and got in it, turning it on. She turned up the heat and sat back in her seat. Even though her brain was clouded with alcohol, a little voice in her head was telling her not to drive. She groaned and laid her head against the steering wheel, tired and in pain. She ignored the little voice and put on her seatbelt. She started to drive toward her apartment. As she approached the bridge that went over the lake, she said to herself softly, "I hope this isn't iced over." The bridge was notorious for icing over when the weather was cold and causing accidents.

Elodie started to cross it, her dimmed senses not noticing the dog that was in her lane. By the time she saw the medium-sized dog, it was too late to slow down. She swerved, forgetting all about the ice she had just been worried about. With a soundless scream, she felt the seatbelt constrict against her and her body felt weightless. It felt like hours before her car hit the water, but it was only a couple seconds. Her head collided against the window of her car, making her vision black-out even more. She sat there for a second, starting to lose consciousness from the impact.

Elodie's eyes snapped open as water started to fill her lungs and the weight of the seatbelt seemed to leave her chest. She saw light above her, so she let her instincts kick in. She saw with all her might towards the light, a newfound will to survive.

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Hakoda and his crew had been at sea for a long time now. They had been fighting in the war in order to protect their tribe. He has two children, Sokka and Katara, that are now traveling with the Avatar in his quest to defeat the Fire Lord and bring world peace. He was very nervous about his children putting themselves into danger like that but believed that they were capable of succeeding in their mission. He was very proud of his son and daughter.

Hakoda was in his office on the ship. He was the chief, so that's why he got an office/bedroom. He was doing some reports when he heard yelling and running around on the wooden deck. He stood up and rushed out of his office, afraid that they were being attacked. Instead of seeing an ambush, he saw a huddle of men clad in blue dragging something out of the water and into the boat. He ran over to his men and his eyes widened when he saw who was pulled out of the water.

A woman with flaming red hair, porcelain skin, and freckles along her arms and face was laid out on the deck gently. Her lips were blue from being in the water from who knows how long and she had cuts and bruises all over her skin. However, what shocked them most was how uncovered she was. No one on the ship had seen a woman in such tight and short clothes, especially during winter. The ship's healer/doctor, Zokkik, ordered the men to bring the unknown woman to his workroom.

Hakoda let Zokkik take care of it, requesting to be told what was happening once he had gotten the woman in a stable state if he could. He was intrigued by the mysterious lady but figured that Zokkik would be able to work better without someone hovering over him. It had barely been 15 minutes when one of the crew members knocked on Hakoda's door. He looked up and said, "You can come in." The crew member told Hakoda, "Zokkik says that he needs you." Hakoda nodded and walked towards the healer's room, thinking that the woman must have died. It wouldn't be that surprising. The water was rough and beyond freezing, it would be amazing if anyone survived that.

Hakoda was shocked at why he was needed. Zokkik informed him, "The woman is in dire need of heat and well... none of the men are volunteering. I would do it, but I need to be able to move around to fix medicine for her." Hakoda was confused, "Why will no one do it? I'm sure one of the younger men can be taken away from their chores if the married men feel weird laying in the same bed with a woman that isn't their wife." Zokkik answered, "Well, we would do that, but..." He hesitated, "She only has one of my shirts on. Her clothes were too wet for her to wear." Hakoda nodded, "I see. I know our young men aren't malicious in any way, but that would be tempting for them. So, why did you need me?" Zokkik tried to hide his smirk, "You're the only one left." Hakoda scrunched up his eyebrows, "What? What are you- Oh. Oh..."

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