As she gained consciousness, it wasn't the fresh smell of air or the strange chatter that was odd to her, no it was the binds on her body that set her off. She was still trapped but the way she was bound was different. No longer was she tied up in that disgraceful position with rough ropes rubbing her skin raw. Instead, her hands and feet were bound to whatever she was laying on.

'A woolen cot.' She guessed due to the softness of it.

However, if this was the case then that would open up another host of issues. Wool is rather expensive and only a select few in these lands had any to spare for themselves much less a prisoner.

Gilla pulled at the binds holding her down without opening her eyes. she balled her fist as she tested the strength of her restrictions. They were firm and she knew she wouldn't be able to break free with her strength alone.

'Leather.' She recognized the material wrapped around her wrists and feet.

Slowly, she took in her environment, allowing her senses to inform her of her surroundings. She didn't know how long she'd been unconscious. Her mind had retreated into itself after the first dozen times she'd been taken by the mountain berserkers. In some attempt to separate her mind from her body... to be somewhere else. But now for some reason she allowed herself to feel again.

Why? She couldn't really tell.

Was it the way she was bound?

The warmth of crackling of the fire near her?

The smell of fresh air?

The feeling of healing wounds and a clean body?

It could've been one of these things or all of them. What she did know, was she was no longer in the grasp of her tormentors. They could no longer harm her... at least for now.

So, she opened her eyes. Instead of seeing the rocky formations of the cave she was taken to, she saw what could only be a tent. Its design was not of that of any Stoneborn. Not her tribe, or any others she had been in.

It was an impossibly deep red colour and had supporting beams made of impossibly cut wood. Gilla turned her head to get a better look of the place. She could recognize many things inside but also was stumped at many other trinkets lining the space.

The most intriguing thing she could see was the metal thing in the middle of the room. It looked like a stool made of metal but had a covering over it that formed a tube which went up to the top of the tent. Inside the thing was burning wood, though she couldn't even smell the smoke.

Strange...

Soon she heard the unintelligible chatter again. It was like nothing she ever heard, though she could tell it was the voices of men. Suddenly, she heard the sound of a tent flap being opened and she snapped her head in the direction; briefly regretting the decision as the light assaulted her eyes.

Gilla was shocked at the sight of what she saw however. There, at the entrance stood a woman or what she assumed to be a woman, dressed in thick red garb and carrying a bucket. The woman stood frozen as they locked eyes. It seemed she wasn't expecting her to be awake.

Before Gilla could say anything, the woman set down the bucket, turned and left. Gilla herself was appalled. She'd never seen someone like that woman before. She tried to remember the woman's features, straight pitch-black hair, fiery yellow eyes that looked as if she was constantly squinting. It was like nothing she'd ever seen!

While Gilla thought back on the brief appearance of the strange woman, the tent was once again breeched. She turned to look at the person, hoping to get another gander at the strange lady. Instead, she saw a regular Stoneborn girl like herself.

The girl seemed to be a little younger than her, sporting brown hair and wrapped in the finest furs she'd ever seen. That was saying something since she'd been to kingshouse Castle and looked upon the Lords and chieftains before. The girl spoke to her but she didn't register it. She was too busy looking at the chubby and clean face the girl had and marveling at the well-kept hair on the girl's head.

In time she began focusing on the girl's words. She introduced herself as Branna of crab claw point.

Crab claw point? She was familiar with that place. Before the mountain berserkers raided her tribe and took her, a few Magnar men stayed with them. Aside from eating their stock of food and taking their supplies in the name of Lord Magnar, they told stories of vile Fire ritualist invaders taking over that area.

"Yer from that cursed place? Am I to be sacrificed?" she asked without any fear.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Had it been before her kidnapping she would've raged and fought to be free, she would've felt fear and anger... but now nothing was more terrible than that dark, dank place she was tormented in for gods knows how long. At this point, anything was better than that.

The girl- Branna did something not many people did in winter, she smiled. The girl shook her head and explained to her of just what happened to her tribe and just who the invaders were. In truth, she could hardly believe her. Branna spoke of strange beasts, great vessels and men of fire. She spoke of how her people aren't being cut open for rituals but were well take care of and fed.

If anything was the truth, it was the well-fed part, as the girl was plump in the face and bright eyed.

Branna told her of the Fire men who slayed the mountain berserkers, saved her and even showed her a strange wooden plank with even stranger markings on it. Gilla listened closely and asked questions at times.

So tied up in the conversation were they that she barely noticed the loud grumble of her stomach.

"Hungry are ye?" Branna asked.

"I'll get ye some light stew." The girl got up and left Gilla to her lonesome before coming back with a bowl of stew.

The girl propped her up and fed her. Slowly, as they both knew what would happen if one ate large amounts of food after a long period of starvation.

As she was fed, Gilla was told how to act around the fire men and about their ways. Apparently, Branna could speak a little with the invaders and was to be the one to care for her until she was healed. She was overwhelmed with her sudden change in circumstances. One moment she was in a dark cave with a dirty rag stuffed in her mouth to keep her from biting her tongue and the next she was laying on a soft woolen cot being fed and housed by witch invaders. She was still bound and held in captivity but somehow, she felt... safe.

(-)

The days passed with more surprises for Gilla. The fire witches interacted with her more. They tended to her wounds and at times spoke to her through Branna. It was a strange experience to walk among them outside her tent.

They removed her restraints after sometime and allowed her to roam about, though she was followed constantly by Branna. She secretly watched as they went about in their well-made furs, bots and gloves. She noticed their general discomfort and annoyance to the cold, judging by the scowl many of them carried on their faces- which were usually red from the frosty winds. They erected wooden structures such as walls and what could only be watchtowers. They herded and tended to strange beasts and casually use fire magic to warm themselves.

It was... fantastical.

"Do they know they build on the lands of the Grucvik tribe?" She asked her constant companion as they strolled through walk ways of the burgeoning settlement.

"The Grucvik tribe?" the girl mimicked her words in confusion.

If Gilla wasn't so busy watching a group of fire men dumping what she learned to be invaluable salt on the walkways she would have sighed.

Though the girl seemed to know of the magical invaders, she lacked any form of knowledge about the surrounding lands. Though that was to be expected. Branna was but a regular tribesman of the Styval tribe. Where as she was a daughter to a chief.

She knew the lands well and could easily tell they were on the lands of another tribe. Just as she was about to tell the girl more, the sounds and sight of riders alerted her. They made way for the massive lizard steeds of the armoured group which rode through.

She paused to watch them ride by. These were the warriors who were said to have killed her captors and saved her. Fierce they were indeed. Each of them clad head to toe in strange metal scale armour- even their fantastical steeds were covered in leather and metal plates...

Their faces were hidden behind ominous skull-like helms. Gilla often saw them ridding through the settlement sometimes covered in blood. All carried various assortments of weapons... some familiar and others, rather foreign. She wished she'd been awake at the time they saved her. She wished to know her saviors, but it wasn't to be. She could only hope to be allowed to go back to her tribe. To see if they survived the raid and to possibly broker peace with these invaders. They were too great and terrible.

(-)

Commander Mung sat with Captain Oraso and the head interpreter Kaiyo.

"So now we possibly have three large native settlements to find and contend with?" He questioned.

"That seems to be the case Commander, if the native girls are to be believed, there is yet another undiscovered tribe somewhere in this region." The captain pointed to the largely uncharted map on the floor before them.

Commander Mung nodded.

'And we are currently in the territory of one of these tribes...' He lamented, inwardly cursing the tenacity of the natives, the Sozin damned island was a barren wasteland of stone and ice. They were stranded in these lands for months now and somehow the winter seemed to have no end.

"Do our charts of these lands support these claims?" He wouldn't just go off the words of two half savage girls.

"They do Commander, our forces have even seen evidence of activity in these regions and they appear to be very different than those of the mountain raiders as well. It seems these tribes are similar to the costal tribe our forces first engaged than the savage roving bands."' His captain added.

Mung couldn't help but wish that wasn't the case. If he had his way, they'd have broken and battered all these natives indiscriminately. To him they were all the same: tall, hairy, brutes who need to be exterminated or brought to heel with force and fire.

However... the missive he received from the Crown Prince himself by Dragon-hawk, explicitly stated that he needed to establish some sort of peaceful relations with these people if possible. He couldn't understand the thoughts of the prince. Why not just brutalize the natives as they did before- their forces are already well adjusted to the fighting abilities of these non-bending savages. It would be too easy.

But who was he to question the absolute words of royalty? The crown prince- formally General Iroh was of the same bloodline as Firelord Sozin the great and Azulon the gallant. The man was a powerhouse in Firebending and tactical might in his own right. That was why he had no fear marching into battle under the orders of the crown prince.

Who knew what machinations the prince had secretly? The Firelord and in extension- the royal family was insurmountable after all.

"Oraso, prepare the girl for a journey back to her home tribe. Kaiyo, keep extracting information from the girl in the meantime. We... must prepare for a... diplomatic meeting with her people."

The two nodded in acknowledgement though they seemed just as uncomfortable as he was.

'Diplomacy.... What a distasteful and foreign word...'