The child looked up at them with large glossy eyes. She looked hardly seven years old, but she claimed to be nine. Her face was pale and ruddy, her nose red from illness. A mop of auburn hair framed her face, fixed in a bun. She was just a little of what was left of a beautiful little girl.
Azula took in her dirty, unhealthy appearance. She stuck up her nose and narrowed her cold, amber eyes. "Tell us where the avatar is."
The young girl stumbled slightly, as if she could not hold her own weight. "I do not know." She croaked.
Zuko sat on his throne beside Azula, pretending to not notice the little girl. He occupied himself with sharpening his knife.
"My precious little Gemma, we have reports of you telling your friends that you have met the avatar. You're life is on the line, little girl. Now tell us where the avatar is."
"I would give my life for the avatar. He is my people's only hope." The small girl said this with suprising strength, though she obviously carried a deadly illness and was bearly hanging on.
"Guards." Azula barked. In a millisecond two guards held swords against Gemma's thin throat.
"Tell me girl, or we'll kill you right here."
Zuko lifted his head and looked at Gemma. Seeing the sick child struck a weak spot in his heart, reminding him of how he betrayed his uncle, the horrible truth of Zuko's descision. People were being murdered by the fire nation regularly, and Zuko was on their side.
"Fine, kill me. I am going to die anyway." Gemma said in a rough voice. "There are plenty others who know, but they've already fled." Azula paused thoughtfully and waved her hand at the guards. They withdrew their swords and the weak child fell to her knees.
"I can cure you, Gemma." Said Azula.
Zuko's eyes flashed. Azula was lying.
Gemma picked herself up with the little strength she had left. Zuko noticed that the girl's legs were red with little pinpricks all over them. Gemma's eyes turned and locked with Zuko's.
"You always lie." The girl whispered at Azula before collapsing like a lifeless doll. The gaurds approached the girl and turned over the girl's shoulder with the edge of their sword. "She's dead." said a guard with a gruff voice.
"We'll find the avatar anyway. Won't we, Zuko?"
Zuko did not respond, still scarred from the death of the small child. His eyes followed the child as she was dragged away, her black eyes open and still. "Azula always lies." He thought. It was true. Why wouldn't she be lying to Zuko?