An Un-seen Meeting (Closed)

Bailey'f fall took her off her senses for a moment, not fully realizing the thing that she knocked her head into what was really the samurai's arm as he helped her. The wound on her arm brushed against his shirt and began to sting, forcing her to close her eyes against the pain. The bed was softer than she expected and she welcomed the ability to rest. Roth, that was his name? She thought as she looked at him in the face as he spoke to her. "Thank you for the concern." Bailey tried to argue with him, only to accept his help instead. Her own body was winning over her pride and family tradition. There is nothing that anyone could do to make Bailey cry, at least in public or around someone else. She watched as Roth cut a piece of his pants, were they pants that samurais wore, and take it to the faucet.

Taking a quick breath, Bailey looked at the burn on her stomach, hissing at the look of the charred flesh. She closed her eyes and tore the material of her shirt where the fire ball ripped through it. The burn on her stomach wasn't as horrible has the one on her arm, but would take longer to heal with constant movements and trying to find a way out. As Roth returned and started to work on her arm, she focused on breathing through the pain like she had when she was younger and just learning how to bend with her father. The wet fabric felt like relief against the warmth of the burn, allowing her to breath a little easier.

Bailey opened her eyes when she heard him speaking. "Why? Well, I took a job. One that I couldn't refuse." Bailey replied, hissing a bit as she moved to sit a little bit higher up and rest her back against the stone wall. "I'm starting to think it may have been an attempt to end my life more than the Boss's." She looked over at Roth and noticed a few of his wounds as well. "Don't just focus on me, as great of a change as that is." She told him, moving closer to look at some of his wounds better. "What brings you here? Couldn't have been a suicide mission too." Bailey kept her mind focused on breathing, feeling the pain start to make her tear up a bit. I am stronger than this. I am stronger than my pain. She told herself, letting her head rest against the wall with a sigh.

Wrapping the burn wound around her arm with the blue, wet fabric, Roth felt a sting from his ribcage, yet he swallowed pain as best he could so his body only flinched for a moment. He wished he could do more but under the circumstances he knew it was all that really could be done. He made sure to tie it around her tight enough so it wouldn't fall off but keep it loose to the pressure wouldn't hurt her arm.
Letting her talk was good, he knew it helped getting one's mind off the pain.

So she was one some sorta mission? So she had to maybe be some sorta assassin or thief. It was somewhat unclear but either way this wasn't the sorta place for her. It was clearly dangerous and had Roth done what he did, she might have been scarred for life.
He looked at the burn on her stomach for a moment before she mentioned his own injuries. He didn't think much of them though, yet she seemed concerned a bit as well.
He shifted back against the wall with her, taking the second piece of fabric in his hands and comparing it to the burn on her stomach. It wasn't big enough to cover the whole wound, but it would have to do.
He put one arm around her back to take the other end of the fabric strip and bring it back around to wrap around her body and over the wound. The edges of the burn were still showing but it was the best he could do.

He still had a question to answer though. From an outsiders perspective he thought his reason for being here might sound stupid. All this for some sword, while important to his family and to him, in retrospect it might have just sounded pointless.

"No I...Came to reclaim something very important to my family. A...A sword." He said with slight hesitation since as he thought about it he knew that most people it might have sounded silly.
He was finished telling her after he wrapped up the burn on her body.
Once he thought about it, a small blush came to his cheeks as he realized he was sitting in the same bed with a beautiful woman. While a very mature man he was, he was still young, and regardless of how reserved he was, it still came to his mind for just a moment at least.

However looking around the prison, and considering there wounds, he knew they weren't going to be getting anything done today.
"We should rest while we can" He commented before getting up off the bed with a groan. Also doing so helped relieve his blush.
"You can take the bed" He added before walking towards the wall beside the bed and sitting down to and leaning his back against it.
"We'll rest up for a bit, then we can think of our next move" As he said this he realized he was far from tired. He couldn't even thin about closing his eye's between the pain and the fact they were surrounded by men that would be likely to either kill them both or try for another attempt at raping Bailey. Yet he didn't want to stop her from getting some sleep. He figured he'd likely stay up to keep watch in case the guards tried anything funny.
"Think you'll be able to sleep?"

Bailey could tell from watching his face that Roth was in pain and trying not to show it. There was just a kind of demeanor that men tried to take up when they didn't want to show pain. Her father had it, and now it reflected itself to her in Roth's eyes. The wrap on her arm was uncomfortable, but bearable compared to the pain before it was applied. She watched as Roth pulled another piece of cloth for her stomach and wrapped it there too. The cool cloth stung against the burn, but began to feel better as it was pressed to her.

So, he was after a sword. Bailey thought as she listened to his words. For someone in such pain, he kept his voice smooth to her. "I don't see anything wrong with trying to get back what was un-rightfully taken from you." Bailey told him, looking back at his eyes. A tiny blush started on her cheeks and she shook her head to try and avoid him seeing it. For once, after a long time, Bailey felt comfortable despite sitting in a cell with a stranger and a bunch of rude guards. She sighed quietly as the samurai stood and made his way over to the wall. Surely his wounds wouldn't be allowing him to stay there all night, even if his pride wanted him to.

Bailey sat on the bed for a few moments until she realized he had asked her another question. "Huh? Oh, I'm sorry. No, I don't think I'll sleep too much." She replied as she tried to lay down on the bed. Laying down didn't hurt as much as rolling onto her usually side did. The arm Bailey normally slept on was wrapped up and a piercing pain shot through her when any pressure was applied, including laying on it. She sat back up in defeat and looked over at Roth sitting on the floor. Maybe he had the better idea? She thought, blushing again just a bit. "Hey, who said you had to move?" She mocked, sliding off the bed carefully and sitting down beside him.

"What's so special about your sword?" Bailey asked him, leaning her head against the wall and her arm across her belly. "I would probably do the same for that bow of mine. It used to belong to my father. He won many competitions with it at his side. The day he saved my life, he handed it to me and told me to run. Run and never turn around, never return." The tear that had formed before threatened to fall now, a mix of emotions flowing through her as her mind pulled up that memory.

Roth's head against the cool stone wall sent a up his spine which caused his shoulders to flinch for a moment but he quickly got used to it. Just resting his back against the wall where his back was straight and he could stay still which helped a lot. He lifted one knee up and rested his arm on it, his sleeve sliding back from his arm a little, revealing his toned arms that had deep bruising on them from blocking the blows from his own sword. He looked at his arm and sneered a little at the look, the bruising was brown on his skin.
He looked towards Bailey as she lay on the bed. He expected her to say that she wouldn't be able to sleep, yet just resting would have to do for these battered warriors. He slowly closed his eyes to try and rest, however moments later he opened his eyes in response to the sound of shifting from Bailey. He looked up towards her as she gently got off and made her somewhat playful remark.
Roth somehow found his heart beat a bit faster as she walked up to him and sat down quite close to him. Could this stone wall really have been more comfortable then the bed? Perhaps just an act of kindness? Either way the young samurai found himself shift just a little bit away from her out a very subtle uncertainty he felt. They would have to work together to escape, however as a boy as he did was train, as a man all he’s ever done is train. He almost never saw any women other than his mother and maids of the establishment that only had one reasonably young woman who he almost never saw.

Turning his head toward her, his light brown eyes looked upon her thoughtfully as he paid attention and she expressed empathy for his quest. Images of his own sword ran through his mind once she asked what was special about it. He remembered the blade, hanging up on the wall on its little altar with the names of all those who had wielded it on the walls surrounding it. The decorative crimson and cerulean design on the sheathe. It was a beautiful sword that was probably one of the most important material possessions of the Larsen family.
Bailey seemed to understand quite well though, listening about her bow, one he recalled on her during the battle. She really cared about it, like Roth with his own swords.
He happened to be looking in her eyes when he noticed the twinkle of a tear attempting to break free from her eye. His feeling of empathy towards her came in a small weight in his stomach. His slight feeling of uncertainty was taken over by a sense of compassion as he inched slightly closer to her and placed one hand on her shoulder. A part of him hoping he wasn’t coming off as creepy at the same time.

“We’ll get it back” He reassured her in a confident tone, referring to her bow.
After this new wave of compassion washed over him he felt a small smile sneak its way to the corners of his mouth.
“The sword is my family’s greatest treasure…” He told her, answering her question about his sword.
“It was the first sword our family touched. It’s blade washed countless times by the blood of thousands…And marked by the millions of lives it kept save” He spoke poetically out of habit. He had a tendency to talk like that, getting it from his mother who always filled his mind with rich and creative poetry.
He looked down at the ground for a moment before smiling at the situation. Here he was, feeling calm and even somewhat happy being in a cell run by a gang that could kill them whenever they pleased or sell them to some slaver.
“The sword it…It means a lot to me, and to my family. I came here ready to die trying.” He added somberly as he began to feel some anger boil up inside him from this setback and potential failure. As calm and cool as he was and always would be, when it came to something this personal, he couldn’t help but feel frustrated with the idea that he might of failed.

Bailey closed her eyes for a second, or what she thought was a second while listening to Roth explain his attachment to the sword, when she heard him shifting. She looked over at him when he placed his hand on her shoulder. It sent a slight shiver down her spine, yet felt comfortable. "I know I just don't know how, that bow is the only piece of my family I have left." Bailey sighed as she spoke, placing her own hand over his and closing her eyes again. For once in all the missions Bailey had ever done, she felt like she could trust someone else.

The guards had shifted while her eyes were closed. The one who had retorted back to her was now facing the wall and half asleep, where his partner was facing them with his eyes wide open and a cup of tea in his hand. Bailey looked over at Roth for a split second, long enough to notice he had too closed his eyes, and then looked down at the floor. She wasn't sure, but she thought he moved closer to her, making the area around her warmer and a bit more cozy, but she didn't dare to look at him directly again.

The bruising on his arm was just barely in her sight and caught her attention when she looked back up towards the guards. Bailey moved to sit up and fully look at his arm, but stopped herself before her hand grazed his flesh. "May I? You really took a hard beating, didn't you." She turned and faced Roth, keeping her hands just above his bruise. She concentrated on a tiny amount of heat to flow between her hands, warming his arm but not burning it. Her mother taught her the technique before she could learn how to fully bend, using the warmth of her natural body temperature to heal a bruise or minor cut quicker.

Facing Roth, Bailey couldn't help but look at his eyes. The pain she saw before was still there, but she could see something else. Something she wasn't able to put a finger on just yet. "Must of had a similar family to keep in that much pain." She muttered to herself, looking back down at his bruise and letting it rest. Setting her hands back to her side, Bailey moved back against the wall just in time to hear the sound of two guards walking toward their cell. The guard facing them stood up and kicked his buddy before the new ones made it. The first was a bit shorter than the other, but they looked like they could have been brothers. After an exchange of keys, the old guards left and the brothers sat down, both facing the cell and snickering to each other.

Bailey closed her eyes as she slid back to the wall, accidently placing herself closer to Roth than she was prior to working on his arm. "So, they exchange guards on a regular time frame." She looked back at Roth as she spoke, trying to keep her mind off the comfort she felt there and back onto the task at hand. The guards snickering irritated her, but she kept it in the back of her mind as she sat there. "I would hate to find out that someone like you has no family back home who is worried sick about you right now."

Baileys hand was so warm against his, a welcome feeling from the cold of the prison. Both their hands mard by the sweat of their battles and the wear and tear of their experience with their weapons. As she kept his hand on her shoulder for a moment he realized that his discomfort was all but gone. He felt like a child for playing with the words of 'I've never felt like this before'. Yet it wasn't far from the truth.

He sorta half noticed Bailey paying attention to the guards, yet when it came to checking out the guards and the state of things, Roth was actually more interested in the other prisoners. One of them looked like they had dark skin and brown hair, it could be someone from the water tribe. Maybe if they were lucky, a water bender. However he had noticed they had a sink as well as a toilet, and if the prisoner was a waterbender, he likely would have used the water in the sink to escape.

He turned his eye's back to her, and just now noticed that she seemed to subtly avoid his gaze. Was she...Shy as well? He didn't want to put too much thought into it. He did see her look at his arm though, to which he looked back at it himself.
It was uncomfortable to say the least, so long as he didn't move it though it wasn't bad. He's had worse for sure, yet he never fully got used to it at his current age.
His relaxed and somewhat closed eye's opened wider when she sat up and almost touched his arm before asking for permission.
What was did she want to do?
"Um, yeah sure, go ahead" He replied simply, a little curious as to what she was asking to do.
When she placed her hands over his arm he exhaled in a sigh of relief at the warmth she emitted from her hands.
It was amazing, so simple, yet he had never heard of a technique like this. It felt so nice though, this really healed his bruising?
He had always been so focused on fighting techniques and ways to weaponize fire that he almost had to laugh at himself for not thinking of something so simple.
His ear caught some of what she about having a similar family. He figured she intended for him maybe to not hear that, so he said nothing about it.

"Thank you, that really helped" He replied politely with gratitude for her helping heal his arm.

Seeing her turn to the guards he noticed the shift change as well. It seemed fairly routine, nothing special. Yet it was good make note of it.
The guards watched them, seeing them close as they were. He didn't pay much mind to them. Better they just did what they wanted to do rather than think about what the guards thought of them.
Upon her looking at him and asking him that question about his family, he looked right back at her, making eye contact. Her eye's were blue, almost a deep blue. He found his slight blush come back to his cheeks. To which he nervously pushed his glassed back up against his nose.

"It's a hard family, but they are mine. I don't think they're worried though. My family is small, but they...." He answered before pausing for a moment. Recalling a sparring session with his father which his dad ended up breaking Roth's arm and dislocating his shoulder. This memory however followed with his father looking over him as he demonstrated some new techniques, with him being unable to help but smile at his son's growth.
"They're caring people. They would never show it but I know they are worried."

As he said this he wondered if they were going to be talking like this all night, just watching the guards and getting to know each other until the sun came up. They should maybe at least try to get themselves comfortable to be able to rest. What came to his mind however made his stomach feel an uneasy hole inside it.
"We...Really should try to rest so..." He said somewhat nervously before slowly lifting his bruised arm up and letting hang in the air slightly above Bailey's head in an attempt to offer her let him put her arm around her, and she could lean and rest on him. With her there he figured maybe it would be more comfortable and they might not feel as exposed. Or maybe it would help their wounds or...

Roth began to find himself slightly amusing, was he really this unsure? He felt so stupid, he remembered being called a badass by onlookers with a sword in his hands, yet take away his sword and place him in the same room with a woman then suddenly the samurai found no techniques and no weapons he could use to cut down this dreaded feeling of being unsure.
Yet he still offered her to come in all the same, whether she accepted or not though he would proceed to ask her.
"I guess the word family isn't as easy for you to think about?" He asked her as a way to hopefully see what her family was like, since they were exchanging the information. And also he found himself...Curious, about her.

Was that a blush? She wondered as Bailey listend insentfully to Roth talking about his family. She couldn't help but smile at the thought that whatever she had done may have made him blush, even a little bit. What did I do? Was it even something I did, or something I reminded him of? She thought as she rested against the wall. Her parents, especially her mother, would be proud of her fire bending today, but she was just glad that he seemed to be a little less in pain than before.

Bailey began to question herself as she tried to focus on Roth or the guards, keeping her mind off of the pain. Focusing on Roth first, she began to notice more about him, his light brown eyes that seemed to be always watching her like a protector would caught her attention first behind his glasses. Hearing about his family made Bailey both a bit jealous and somewhat sad. Unlike her, he had people waiting to come home to. She gave him a faked smile, a small gut feeling egging at her.

Roth's movement caught her off guard just a bit, but she didn't move away. Something inside her sent a shiver down her spine as she nodded to him. "I am not sure if I could sleep here." She told him, moving closer and a bit forward so he could wrap his arm around her. She pulled his arm to her, being careful to mind both his bruise and her burn on that arm before putting his hand on her shoulder. Her burns felt better now that they had been sitting in the cool wet wrap, but it still stung a bit when she moved too far or too much. With a sigh, Bailey rested her head against Roth, keeping her eyes open just a enough to watch the guards.

In the back of her mind, Bailey didn't want to go to sleep, afraid of what the guards would do if she did. A yawn escaped her as she laid there against him, his natural body heat keeping her warm like a nice blanket. "What was left of my family is gone now." She started to reply to his question, not totally sure what all to tell him of her father's actions. "My brother died before I was old enough to remember him well, I have a few memories here and there but nothing to really go on. My parents were killed in a house fire when I was younger. I've been on my own ever since." She closed her eyes for a moment, letting the thoughts fully sink in as she thought to herself. Why am I telling this fire bender about my family? The same family that shamed my name since the day they died? Bailey glanced up at him with another faked smile. "My parents weren't exactly model fire nationals, or the greatest people before they died. Kinda makes it hard to talk about to some people."

What memories of her brother and parents that she still had came to the fore front of her mind. Her brother, Callen, learning some simple fire techniques with her father, her father adjusting her bow in her hands before she took her shot, and her mother on her birthday lighting her candles with a flick of her fingers. Each memory joined by the sad farewell of their funerals. Bailey couldn't help but let a tear fall down her face before wiping it away with her good hand. Shaking the memories away, Bailey closed her eyes and just listened to the sounds around them.

The sounds of the guards boots down the hallway echoed around them, followed by the other prisoner's snores and complaints. No one seemed to mind that the two fire benders were alone together, they just minded their own business and then went to bed. She was fine and calm until the sound of keys came to her ear. Bailey didn't move a muscle, but tensed up, not totally sure which cell door was coming open or if they were just exchanging the keys between guards. Either way, she didn't want to see what it was. For once, she didn't have to jump at every strange noise or miss-placed sound.

Roth swallowed a lump he felt in his throat as Bailey nodded her head to him. He never had a woman against him, at least not one that wasn’t doing it to follow up with an attack. As she inched in closer, Roth held his composure very well, yet inside when she pressed against him, her weight on his side was so comfortable, and felt so nice that his blush grew much more redder then before. Hopefully she would just see as the warmth from her her body...

His arm resting the top of her back and his hand hanging down her shoulder with the tips of his fingers lightly trailing against the middle of her bicep and tricep. He took a deep breath to let himself get comfortable as well as her and he leaned back only slightly to make himself a bit more like a big huggy pillow for her.
One thing that ran through his mind was her smiles. They were nice and sweet, yet he saw something vacant in her eyes when she did them. Like her eyes didn’t smile with her mouth. Her blue eye’s caught his attention, like art in a museum and he could see when there was joy in them.
Feeling her warmth against him made his body warmer, both from his increased heart rate and her own warmth. Yet her being there was slowy able to calm his heart rate down. Almost like once they closed the gap they had nothing to worry about. Funny thing was they could have easily moved over to the bed at sat like this instead of trying to cope with the hard stone floor and walls, yet somehow it didn't even cross their minds.

Listening to her about her parents and her brother he listened with an open heart and open ears. He took her words in and paid attention to her voice. These memories didn’t have a good taste to her, and thus she struggled to say them.
He looked at her, her head much closer to him them before, taking in the faint scent soothing scent of flowers in her hair underneath the cool sweat in their clothes.
She glanced up at him as well, from their positions neither was able to make direct eye contact but he could see both her eyes as she likely could see his as well.
He felt his fingers on her arm slowly graze her skin in a side to side motion, lightly touching her arm.
He hadn’t experienced loss like she had, but he felt his sympathy for her make him feel the same unsettling weight in his chest from the feeling of loss that she felt herself. After she finished explaining everything though, he looked up at the guards for a moment before thinking to himself about her story.
“Model fire nationals?” He finally replied with in a curious manner.
“Why does that matter? They were good parents, and if they raised you right, then who cares what anyone else thinks about them. What matters is they loved you, and you loved them.” He commented on her story sincerely, looking away from her as he spoke and looked towards the guards.

"The autumn leaf is remembered for it's beauty in decent...Not it's place on the ground..." He whispered, the haiku coming to his mind as he thought of her parents and her brother.

One of the guards pulled out his keys and walked down the hall. Roth honed in his gaze in on the guard as he walked past the iron bars of their cell. He walked past them however, causing a small breath of air to be released from Roth’s lungs as the guards opened one of the other cells.
He felt Bailey’s body tense up a little earlier.
His hand that was resting on her shoulder gently gripped her arm as a way to show a warm, calming hand.
“It’s okay…” He whispered to her softly.
“I’ve got you…Just close your eyes and rest”

His eyes narrowed and he rested his body as much as he could while still staying aware of the guards. A great thing about samurai training was that you learned to rest your body while fully remaining aware of your surroundings. Roth was also perceptive, he’d know if someone was going to come in.

He didn’t see directly into the cell to see what the guard was doing in the cell he walked into. However he heard some faint talking, he was likely waking someone up. Likely somebody being picked up to be sold, or killed. Either way, he didn’t want to think about it, and he didn’t want Bailey to think about it.
Roth had an idea of what they would do, yet he wasn’t going to do anything until they rested. However there was something that did catch his eye earlier.
The dark skinned man who was from the water tribe. It appeared as though he was filling up a small cup full of water, yet not drinking it, but hiding it underneath his bed.
If the man was still there, Roth would no doubt try and talk to him.

For now though, the young samurai somewhat nervously used his other hand to place it over Bailey’s hand. He wasn’t trying to give off any wrong vibes, it was a mix of him trying to comfort her, and also being unsure of how this kind of thing worked. He just did what felt right to him, and he had the feeling that maybe a little thing like that would feel nice for her. So that she could rest.

Bailey listened to the haiku as she kept her eyes close. His words comforted her as she stayed still. He doesn't seem to mind that my family has a horrible past. She thought, still a bit tense from the guard. Hearing him move into the next cell over, Bailey relaxed. She let the warmth of his body envelope her, making her feel better about opening up to a complete stranger. She kept thinking about Roth's words as she laid there. "This leaf isn't remembered for it's beauty, but for what it destroyed on it's fall." She told him, feeling a few more tears come and no longer caring if they fell. "They killed my father for working with thugs who did some bad things. They killed them both for it. I can only imagine that they would have killed me too if my father hadn't told me to run." Another yawn came to her as she soke and she moved just a bit closer to Roth.

The hikama he wore was soft to her and she couldn't remember the last time she laid on something that soft. She kept her eyes closed while his fingers brushed against her skin. The movement calmed her and she hiccupped. She began to feel comfortable talking with Roth, but the warmth of everything made her sleepy. She wanted to learn more about her current protector, but wasn't sure where to begin.

"Roth," She started to ask him about himself, but couldn't form the right words into the question she wanted. His hand on her arm let her relax fully, snuggling with him. She let her worries about the bow, her mission, and even how they would get out of there slide for the moment. She just wanted to be comfortable and happy for a little bit. "Thank you." She finally said in almost a whisper.

He had told her to get some rest and not to worry about the guards for the moment. Was it really that easy to go to sleep trusting her life to someone else? Bailey wasn't sure, but she couldn't stop herself from falling asleep with him. It wasn't long before she started to dream a bit. Although dream wasn't much of the right word. She opened her eyes to find herself back on Ember Island. The villagers watched her walk through the streets, turning and whispering to each other as she moved past them. "That's her? That's the Kenta girl?" She heard as she watched them scatter away from her. The Kenta girl, that's all they ever knew her for. She would always be Ron Kenta' little girl to them. A tomato was thrown from a random vegetable cart, hitting Bailey and jolting her awake.

The shock of the dream shook through her as she sat up quickly, instinct making her look around and gather her soundings again. At first, Roth's appearance startled her, but she soon remembered how they got there and looked at him. Closing her eyes for a second, she sighed and moved back against him. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be able to sleep." She told him, trying to calm back down.

The dream had come from an old memory. She had returned home to go through what belongings had been salvaged from the wreckage. An old picture of the whole family and a female fire bender's outfit. She kept the picture in her bag that she had left with the bartender at the LeSonya, but she wore the outfit daily.