Here's chapter 2~

Chapter 2

A kind old woman in a village not far from the woods had offered me sanctuary. She told me her name was Yuba, and both of her sons and her husband had been killed in the war. She dressed my wounds, and hid me when a troop of soldiers came through looking for me. She was good to me, and told me stories. She told me of the time she and her husband met, and her son Fu's first words, and her son Pao's first steps. However, the village was enduring a drought, and before long I realized my presence was putting a strain on her food supplies. I told her of my intentions to leave, and she insisted I take the last of her rice. Selfishly, I agreed, caving to her argument that I was young and still growing, while she was old and likely to die any day now. I left her my lucky knot, hoping it would bring her the same fortune in her crop production that I believed it had in my survival a few nights ago.

As I traveled through the woods, I learned that not all berries are edible. One kind made me puke my guts out, another kind made me squat for hours on end. I began to lean toward nuts, because generally they were not so hard on my digestive system. Although when my hair started to fall out easily, I quickly worked berries and roots back into my diet. Travelling by foot was miserable, but I trudged onward, not sure where I was going. Eventually, I reached another village. This one had no hospitable old ladies, but plenty of suspicious men. They eyed me hungrily as I drifted through, channeling the movements of a shadow in an attempt not to gain too much attention. I was almost through when a tall, muscular man confronted me.

"Hello, there, Doll. We don't get too many ladies around these parts."

"I was just on my way through…" My voice trembled in fear and cracked from years of ill-use. This seemed to spur him on.

He leaned in toward me, boxing me between him and a wall with his arms. "You could always stay the night," he purred.

I pressed my back against the wall, not understanding what he was getting at, but he used this as an opportunity to move closer. "P- please!" I stuttered. "Don't come any closer!"

He ignored my plea and put his nose against my ear, every word tickling my throat, "Come on and stay the night with me."

My chest heaved, and I avoided his gaze for what felt like an eternity before someone broke through the silence. "Quit playing around, Li. She's too young for you."

Li chuckled. I listened for the antagonism in it, but all I heard was a good natured laugh. He looked back at me. "Sorry, hun. Did I scare you? I guess I got carried away again." He studied my face carefully and smiled. "Wish you were closer to my age. That vulnerability is really cute." He did a mock expression of my wide-eyed face, and I had a vague urge to put my hand to his cheek in a slap.

"Li, I think you've done enough damage for now," said the same voice that saved me. It was coming from a rather handsome man, perhaps a bit too burly for my taste, but he definitely had a charming quality to him. Perhaps I was biased because he had saved me from a scary situation. Then he smiled. It was crooked, somehow cocky yet vulnerable at the same time. I felt my stomach drop. He took off his cloak and handed it to me, perhaps mistaking my shivering for a chill. "My name's Han Yu. That was Li Teng. He didn't mean any harm. He's a bit of a dog. He can't resist pretty girls."

I stared at him for a moment. "Am I pretty?"

He laughed and I wondered if that was perhaps an inappropriate question.

"You're cute."

"Not pretty?"

He looked at me for a moment seriously. "Don't go fishing for complements."

I held his gaze, as serious as he was, "What makes 'pretty'?"

Startled, he answered, "You know, I really never thought about it. Full lips, shiny hair, pale skin…"

"So then I'm not pretty" I pondered aloud, thinking of my own dull hair.

He froze, and amended "Maybe those things aren't it."

I wondered if he was hedging from calling me pretty because I wasn't. I never understood the concepts of beauty and ugliness, and had never been told I was either way. I wanted to know, but it looked like he wasn't going to tell me which side of the fence I fell on.

He asked me my name, to which I replied "Hanabi." He asked me if I had a place to stay, and I said no. He asked about money and food, to which my answers were also no. He sighed and said I'd have to stay with him. I had to ride some sort of dragon creature, clinging to his waist as he and the rest of the Fire Nation troops tromped off to the Earth Kingdom. I couldn't help noticing, him being so close, that he smelled very pleasantly of burning incense, smoky and spicy. The constant roll of the dragon's shoulder-blades eventually lulled me to sleep, and when I woke up we were in the air. I shrieked and pulled him to me so fiercely it knocked the breath out of him. He loosened my grip with his arms enough that he could squeeze out an apology.

"I'm sorry. I should have woken you up to tell you we were taking off, but you're just too cute when you're asleep." He gave me that crooked smile, and I knew as long as he gave me that smile, I'd forgive him for anything.

Those weeks I spent with him were beautiful. I fancied myself in love with him, and maybe I was. He was kind and tender, never harsh. He protected me from the advances of the sex-starved young men in his troop, and made sure they treated me with respect. He even brawled with Li Teng, his best friend, one day when Li was a bit drunk and got a little too touchy with me. I often found myself gravitating toward him, leaning just slightly in his direction, wishing he would lean my way as well. But he never did. I think I was a sister to him. After all, I was about sixteen, and he had to have been in his twenties. One day, when we were near Omashu, the troop left for a battle, and Han Yu, Li Teng, and the other men never came back. I remember, as I watched them march away and uttered my blessings, a dead bird fell from the sky, and I knew it was an omen of what would befall my new family.

A/N: I think the little conversation about pretty up there is trying to show Hanabi's insecurity and how naive she is. She thinks there's a set definition of "pretty" and doesn't yet understand that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I might play more with this later.