"Let me walk on my own," insisted Zuko , tired and aggravated.
"No."
"If you're caught by Fire Nation soldiers–"
Song raised an eyebrow. "And a 'talk' prince."
"If you're caught with a fugitive–"
Song sighed, paused her movement and Zukos. She looked at him directly. "You are not the first fugitive I've helped. I know the precautions, I know the consequences of dealing with those running from rule. And Prince Zuko, I don't care. I'm telling you, I am going to help you if you are hurt. That...that is what I do.
So let us keep moving–"
"And if you get hurt, who has to live with that?" Zuko said forcefully. A flash of his mother veered into his mind- and blew out as soon as it had come. "Who has to live with the pain" he glared, " of being left behind?"
"People like you...and...people like me." Song turned her face from him, and he remembered her story: how her father was taken by the Fire Nation. She, too, knew the knife that dug into absence...that knife with a blade of metal loneliness that crushed into an, already bruised, exsistence. "But if you need help...I won't just leave you alone. What happens in the future is undecided."
Undecided. Unlimited. "Rest your voice, Prince Zuko." Chances. Possibilities. Azula had said that too. Azula had promised that too. The yearning to believe her had oversiezed him: he followed it- followed her. Even...even betrayed-
For once, the silence was defeaning. Zuko mumbled, "You should speak," in hopes of hearing a voice to banish his memories. He wanted emptiness. If he wasn't hollow...he would remember.
"You want to hear a story?" Song said cheerily, moving an odd branch from a tree they passed from their side. "I learned it when I was a widdle."
"Widdle?" Zuko blinked.
"Um, 'little'. It's what my mom called me as a kid." Song blushed and went on. They were moving further from the green clearing. Zuko could see the structure of the Earthkingdom village where Song lived. "It's kind of strange; it's about turtle ducks–"
"– I don't want to hear it," Zuko said instantly.
"Oh, but it's really very good–"
"I don't want to hear it." Zuko ignored the wound that flashed across Songs face. He looked down at their feet and remembered...her scar...his scar...
He shook his head.
"I'm sorry. Do you want to hear another..?" Song tried, but Zuko shook his head. No more stories. "Oh...all right."
"It's not you." Zuko grunted.
A dagger of pain pressed into his side and made him wince. Song caught it, and gave him a sympathetic glance, but kept moving.
"Almost there," she said.
The village murmuring reached Zukos years. The silence that was so comfortable faded.
The noise came.
"Ba Sing Se! No!"
"Yup. I heard it from my sisters Uncle- who be my Uncle too but we from different blood you see-"
"Get on! Ba Sing Se captured by the Fire Nation?"
"It really is the end!"
"Heard it be thanks to that...whatcha ma zo!"
"KANGAROO!"
"The Zu-ko-ko! Yeah, that's right! The banished sucker- the low prince."
"Who ever heard of such nonsense? It was the princess of the Fire Nation Basco!"
"How can you forget the witches name? It's Azula and I never ever liked 'er. Never ever liked any Fire Nation citizens to be frank."
"THE ASHES ARE COMING! THE ASHES ARE COMING!"
"Mama, why did the Fire Nation take over Ba Sing Se?"
"Because they want the hills could people make, my child; they want what we have strived to achieve: peace, prosperity, and respect. And once they have it they want to crush it, because it was not theirs in the first place."
"But why can't they just build hills together Mama? Wouldn't that solve everything? If they helped build 'peaces' and 'respecters', wouldn't everyone be happy?"
"If it were that simple, it wouldn't be that hard."
"Oh!" Song stopped.
"What?" Zuko glanced at her curiously.
"You can't be..." Song released him and bent down. A loud riiiiiip! splintered the air. She stood back up with a wide portion of her attire held in her hands. "You can't be..." She threw her cloth atop his head.
"...recognized."
Chances. Possibilities. Yes, they would come but...in this circumstance...
Why didn't they build hills together Mama?
-they would not come to 'Zuko'.
Whooooooooooa! Thank you to everyone who has commented! I really appreciate your support. I know these chapters are ridiculously short, but I will keep trying to keep'em comin'. Thank you again, and happy Avatar fic-finding in the Avatar section!
