"So you're the one I've heard so much about. Ayame, is it? The girl who bends dual elements."
"Y-yessir." I kneeled in front of the Fire Lord.
Man, was he intimidating. He just looked down at you as the flames crackled in the background as you waited for your life or death sentence totally expecting death and cutting out the life part.
"How did this happen?" he asked with that very same smirk as Azula.
"I don't know. Sir," I quickly added.
"You don't, hmm? And your parents? Family?"
"I have none. Except for my grandmother," I said.
"And you willingly agreed to come here to the palace?"
"I actually came up with the idea." I shrugged.
"Ah. I see. So if, by any chance, the Fire Nation needed your help, would you help your Nation?"
I gulped. "M-my Nation?"
"Well this is your Nation, isn't it?" he said. "That's why you came back."
"I'm actually . . . " I didn't know what to say. "I don't exactly know."
"If you need time, you'll get time," The Fire Lord said. "But after the deadline, either you stay with our complete trust, or you leave."
"And how much time will I have?" I asked.
"The real question is, how much time do you need?" The smirk never washed away.
♋♋♋
"Look at all these," Sokka said, flipping through the letters. "She's such a two-faced traitor."
"I still don't believe it." Katara shook her head. "I just can't."
"Sometimes you shouldn't only focus on the good in people. Sometimes bad overrules." Sokka shrugged, scanning the papers.
"Well, Sokka, sometimes people deserve a second chance!" Katara scowled.
"Actually, Sokka's got a point. She just left with Azula," Toph put in.
Katara sighed, putting her face in her hands. "Fine. Maybe you're right."
"Oh I am right." Sokka ripped out another letter. "I'm always right. There's never a time where I—wait." Sokka looked closer at the paper.
"What?" Katara leaned forward to grab the paper, but Aang was there faster. He read the paper.
"What does it say?" Toph said, suddenly getting to her feet.
"It . . . oh, no." Aang rubbed his eyes and then facepalmed, sitting on the ground. "Sokka you idiot."
"It was an honest mistake—"
"What does it say?" Katara yelled, standing up and pulling the paper out of their hands.
"We were kinda . . . " Sokka trailed off.
"She was . . . "
"See . . . "
Aang put his hand over Sokka's mouth. "We were wrong about Mei."
Katara crumpled the paper up, furious with everyone. "You don't even give anyone chances!" she fumed. "It's like, boom boom boom, kill everyone you see! I swear I'm going to bring her back. And I don't care what you think, Sokka." And she walked away.
"Who understood a word she said?" Toph said after an awkward moment of silence.
Both Sokka and Aang shrugged.
