Prince Taehyung watched as the war plans began to be put into effect. During these times he was always shoved out the way, more of a nuisance than anything. He still didn’t understand why Seokjin insisted on him staying here instead of returning home to the Fire Nation. It never made sense to him. It wasn’t like Seokjin particularly liked him.

No, Seokjin hadn’t loved since their mother died.

It was like everything good in him fractured off into pieces too small to grasp, and then their father had taken ahold of him and made sure they would never been glued and stitched back together. Taehyung knew he shouldn’t do things like calling his brother a monster either, but sometimes Taehyung got so frustrated and the only time Seokjin ever seemed to show a reaction was when Taehyung acted out.

He missed his brother, the one that used to stay up late and comfort him when the ground would shake. The Fire Nation was situated in an inactive volcano, but there were some smaller ones nearby that would go off. It made it feel like an earth quake was happening and it always terrified Taehyung to think that they could be buried in lava. Mother had died when Taehyung was seven, Seokjin thirteen. His older brother hadn’t been the same since, and he wasn’t sure if Seokjin ever would be. All of them had been excited once they found out mother was pregnant again, but then she died giving birth to a stillborn baby girl. Jin had raged, burning her body to a crisp and ever since then he had changed.

At least he wasn’t worse than father, but that wasn’t saying much.

Seokjin was obsessed with Adarshini, so much that Taehyung thought he had a crush on her. When he finally got her though Taehyung realized it wasn’t ual so much as her mind and power he was entranced with. Even now, sometimes Seokjin got this look in his eyes when he stared at Dashi….

That didn’t matter though. Whatever that expression meant, it was nowhere near enough to not send her out to the Northern Water Tribe to die. Seokjin was obsessed with power just like their father. The day Seokjin cared about something more than power would be a shocking day for Taehyung. He wasn’t quite sure it was even possible.

Darshi sat in a row boat, his brother leaning over to whisper something in hear before pulling away. When Taehyung could see her again the red string around her neck was missing, wrapped around his index and middle fingers. Darshi’s eyes widened, rubbing as she stared at the ribbon of red that dangled so casually from his hand as if it didn’t mark her as less, as if she weren’t cattle that could be traded because of it.

“He had to take it off her.”

Yoongi stood beside him, taking in the craziness as soldiers ran to get to their stations.

“We don’t know if the Northern Water Tribe knows about taking slaves,” he continued. “If they did they would never allow her in with that around her neck.”

Taehyung frowned, almost disappointed by this revelation. For a moment, he thought his brother cared enough to want a token of her or perhaps to let her free for her last moments. Taehyung should have known better. The only thing Seokjin cared about was power. He was a fool to believe otherwise.

The wind ruffled Yoongi’s hair, face closed off as he watched the scene before him. Taehyung wasn’t sure of the exact moment he fell in love with the earth bender, only that he was. The minute he realized it he knew he was doomed. If his father found out he would probably kill Yoongi just to stop anything from happening.

As if Yoongi felt that way for him.

Yoongi viewed him as nothing more than a child. He had made sure to express this a few times when Taehyung couldn’t stop staring at him. Yoongi was nine years his elder. At fifteen, Taehyung would be old enough to marry in the Fire Nation if he decided to complete the task to become a man. Not that he ever would. He’d rather be a child the rest of his life than do the barbaric custom that had come about after being in war for more than fifty years.

Yoongi stressed to him that Taehyung was a sweet boy, but nothing could happen between them. Even if there were no ranks between them, Yoongi could not overcome that . In the Earth Nation they did not get married before seventeen, and big differences in age weren’t very popular there either. Such things never mattered in the Fire Nation. All people cared about were bloodlines and power.

Sometimes Taehyung thought about running away and never coming back. He didn’t want his life to be about power and hurting other to get ahead. All he wanted was to be happy, but in this world it seemed to be too much to ask.

Darshi brought the paddles into the water, slicing through the rippling waves. It was a deep blue, the depths so far she could not see the bottom. She nudged a chunk of ice out of the way with a frown, taking in the wall before her.

They were behemoth, at least the height of two or three of the fire ships stacked on top of each other. They had to be thick too, although Darshi couldn’t tell how much from here. To the left there was a section of wall that did not look as strong, as if it had been knocked down and a temporary effort to fix the hole had been made. It did not shine like the rest of the wall or have that bluish gleam to it. She pulled her attention away from the weakness. There would be no way she’d be able to get over there without suspicion. It would be the front wall or nothing at all.

She thought about everything that was riding on this. She had to succeed. Her people would be killed if she didn’t. Darshi refused to feel guilty about this. The North had no problem letting the Southern Water Tribe be exterminated. The South had put down their pride, pleading for any aid the North was willing to give and they didn’t even have the decency to send an answer. Her family was worth this. Her people were worth this. They’d been through enough. It wasn’t like some of Northern Water Tribe’s people hadn’t decided this also. That’s what it meant to be a slave to the Fire Nation. They had decided their family was worth more than their people. If the Northern slaves could choose that they could not fault her for picking the same.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter