Walking continues.

Eventually they reach a river, and turn to follow it downstream. Some distance along, there is a boat. The boat lowers a ramp, and the prince ascends, with his soldiers escorting Karen behind him.

She sighs. It's gonna be a lot harder to escape on her own once they're on a boat. River's not as bad as an ocean, though. Maybe she can jump off and scramble up one of the riverbanks. She still really shouldn't risk it. But if she leaves on her own, she can't go back to the village, and that'll make Fen sad. This isn't that important but it's kind of important. A little.

She's curious.

She follows them onto the ship.

Once everyone is aboard, they retract the ramp.

The prince turns to Karen and frowns his thoughtful frown.

"You don't look much like the Avatar," he acknowledges. "But I can't imagine who else would be this calm, standing where you are."

She shrugs. "You swore on your honor."

That and she can probably outrun them, if she can launch herself off the boat and if none of them have, like, horses. Amphibious-horse-things. Amphibious horses might be sort of a problem.

He snorts, a strange mix of amusement and—something else. Anger? Despair? Loss? Some flavour of old pain, all its sharp edges long since worn away.

"Is there anyone over the age of twelve who still believes in the Fire Nation's honour?"

This question makes the nearby soldiers distinctly uncomfortable.

Well, that probably rests on cultural context she doesn't have.

"You sound sort of like you do."

His frown deepens, but he doesn't contradict her.

"Are you the Avatar?"

"Nah."

"Know anything about a rumour that a strange girl about your age was seen airbending in the forest near here?"

"No."

Anything I did that could have been mistaken for - what even is airbending?

Airbending is controlling air, like firebenders control fire and waterbenders control water and earthbenders control earth. The spirit's mental voice sounds doubtful when it adds, I don't think I've seen you do anything that looked like airbending...

"Why does that kid think you can fight me?"

"Found a saber-tooth-moose-lion corpse while I was traveling. Took the hide and sold it. Fen got it into his head that I killed it myself."

He frowns at her in silence for a few long seconds, then shakes his head.

"I don't believe you."

Damn.

She shrugs. "He's really not great at judging what a fight you can win looks like."

"I said I'd let you go if you told me everything." He shifts his stance slightly, into something a little less relaxed and more aggressive. "I didn't say anything about what I'd do if you lied to me."

She can run either way. She can outrun anyone, and she can lay low if she has to - cut her hair, hang out in forests, trek further than anyone would expect her to. And he's not going to ask about whether she's the slayer, or whether she's from another dimension. He's not gonna ask about anything important.

She's still kinda curious what happens from here. 

"I ran into a saber-tooth-moose-lion on the way to Fen's village. I'd never seen one before. Figured maybe it was gonna kill me, but I managed to cut an artery and kill it first. Fen has no way of knowing this, and I suspect that if I told anyone else they wouldn't believe it, but if you really wanna know, that's what happened."

...he studies her for a moment. His frown this time looks... frustrated.

"It doesn't make sense," he says, almost more to himself than her. "The way you tried to protect the kid—the way you took me at my word—you dress like an Earth Kingdom peasant but you're not, are you."

Shrug.

Kind of is one now.

"You're... but it doesn't make sense that you're the Avatar... but it doesn't make sense that you're not the Avatar..."

His frown slowly deepens. Then it clears a little, momentarily, into a look of realization.

"But there's one thing I know you can't lie about," he says, and abruptly lunges forward with a quick punch that sends a jet of orange-red flame blasting directly toward her face.

She ducks into a crouch, very quickly, operating way more on instinct than conscious choice.

Well. I guess that's firebending?

A second fire blast follows, tracking her to the deck as the first one passes harmlessly over her head.

She springs sideways, dodging again.

(This is dumb. This is dumb and she should be getting away now that there are fireball spells involved.)

She changes direction when she next hits the ground, then sweeps a leg under him in an attempt to knock him off his feet.

He rolls over the sweep and pops up again with another fire blast, this one aimed slightly to her left—either a mistake, or an attempt to force her to dodge in a specific direction.

Nah, not playing. If she catches on fire, well, she's about to jump into the river anyway.

She punches him, square in the solar plexus, with a level of force that's calibrated for fighting vampires and Quendi. He'll be lucky to get away with a broken rib.