Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender in any shape or form.
Their second meeting was a blur yet it ignited a curiosity in both of them.
Over a week has passed since they first met but neither of them cared to remember. Zuko was focused on his rescue mission to save the Avatar, ironically, while the traveling thief was on her way to Makapu Village.
It had been a particularly long night for the banished prince. His rescue mission had been successful but he had not expected to be knocked out by the Yu Yan archer. They had been formidable foes, he admit, but what surprised him the most was the sight of the Avatar by his side when he awoken.
"If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends too?"
He let out a tired shout.
He had lost the Avatar again. He was so close, again. Every time he's got the Airbender in his grasp, he escapes effortlessly, leaving Zuko to rage and doubt his own abilities. The night had tired him out, he had been asleep longer than he liked and with a heavy body, he slowly trekked his way west towards the water.
It had only been half an hour of walking, he assumed, when he heard the sound of a trotting animal through the forest. He heard it coming before he even saw the eel hound running towards him. He briefly wonders if he should ambush the traveler, the eel hound was rare and useful; definitely better than walking all the way back to the ship. With a new resolve, Zuko hid and waited.
A stream of fire appeared in the path abruptly, causing the rider to pull the reins of the eel hound to a halt as the animal cried out in fear. Zuko seized the opportunity, jumping from his hiding spot to tackle the rider off the eel hound, sending the two crashing into the earth.
A low hiss was heard below him and a pair of hands harshly pushed him back, rolling away from the attacker. Zuko rose to his feet, ignoring the oddly dressed traveler with a fox mask. It was hard to tell if the person was even male or female—or why did they even dress that way to travel?
Then again, he was dressed in similar fashion with black clothes and the blue spirit mask hanging on his belt.
The two studied each other for a second and before they could speak, the eel hound screeched again.
"I need that eel hound." He demanded.
Icy blue eyes narrowed at him behind the fox mask, briefly recognizing him as one of her unfortunate victims. What was he doing here?
"Too bad."
Zuko caught onto the muffled voice and deduced it to be female. Without another word, the woman turned around and ran towards the animal. Realizing that she was trying to mount the creature again, he sent a stream of fire towards her, stopped her movement and causing the eel hound to run off.
"You—" hundreds of insults ran through her head, cursing him for his stupidity and rash decision, "idiot!" Yet she settled for that.
They ran after the eel hound, trying not to lose sight of the mount. She shouted for it to wait as she fumbled around her pockets, looking for the whistle she had bought along with the hound. Before she could even pull the wooden whistle out, she was once again tackled to the floor, the weight of the prince heavy on her.
"I'm sorry but I really need him." He was out of breath and had her hands pinned behind her back, staring at the elaborate bun of black hair then to the mask. The fox mask turned to face him and he could feel the intensity of her glare through the slits.
"And what gives you the right to take him from me?" She hissed in righteous fury. She bought him fair and square!
"I am the Crowned Prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko. However much you paid for him, I will pay you back double. It is in your best interest to offer your mount for the sake of capturing the Avatar."
She couldn't believe her ears. The man she had robbed was a prince? He definitely cannot see who she is under the mask now—luckily she had hidden her identity right before entering the forest. She had wanted to keep herself hidden, with them so close to the Pohuai Stronghold, she did not want to risk of Fire Nation soldiers catching her and had traveled throughout the night.
"Oh, well why didn't you say so? It would have been easier if you asked in the first place."
Zuko froze. It was that easy? She didn't sound like she was lying; in fact she stopped her struggling altogether. Maybe this day was finally looking up in his way.
"Would you please let me up, Your Highness? I have a hound whistle to call him back."
This was too easy. Zuko narrowed his eyes at the woman.
"Where?"
"That is highly inappropriate," she retorted but he ignored her, searching her pockets with a faint blush on his cheeks. His hand wrapped around a small dagger, not surprised to see that she was armed, and brought it out. His eyes widen once he recognized the familiar red and black sheathe.
"How did you—"
One of her hands got loose and elbowed Zuko in the chest, causing him to drop the dagger in favor of entrapping her. It was too late. She shifted their momentum and kicked him off, getting on her feet to snatch the fallen dagger. Zuko recovered immediately, his own hand reaching out towards the weapon on the floor but it hit her head instead, knocking the fox mask away from her face.
Icy blue eyes met golden ones as she stood up, the dagger tucked back safely in her pants. A smile was upon the young woman's face once she saw the shock then anger evident on the prince's face.
"You!"
"My Prince," she curtsied mockingly, her voice was still in a pleasant tone.
He hated that smile. He hated that voice. She was mocking him and he knew it. Just because she stole from him once did not mean she would get away with it a second time. He had not even told Iroh about the lost dagger and maybe he didn't have to—not if he gets it back now.
He threw a fist towards her, fire flying towards the woman in fury. She ducked just in time, grabbing her fallen mask and jumped to the side, making a beeline towards the forest. He chased after her.
"Surrender now and maybe I wouldn't cut off your hands!" He threatened behind her, the thought of the eel hound forgotten. He had not expected to see her so soon again—it was luck that she still had the dagger!
"That's a risk I'm not willing to take," she replied, glancing behind her to see how close he was.
She weaved between trees and jumped over bushes and rocks. She was nimble and quick on her feet, dodging the terrain and Zuko's fire at the same time.
"Careful, I wouldn't want to set the forest on fire," she warned.
"Then stop running!"
"Not likely."
She rounded a corner of a large tree, appearing on the other side to trip Zuko. He stumbled, not expecting her to attack but found his balance again.
"I don't understand why you want this back. With your status, you can buy a hundred more daggers than this."
"It was a gift." He scowled, studying her slightly out of breathe yet calm demeanor.
"Mine now," her innocent look did not match her intentions.
She pulled a green whistle from her shirt, blowing into it loudly. A high pitch screech emitted from it, not heard by either of the humans but it was enough. She ran towards the direction of distant footsteps and Zuko chased once more. He was really getting tired of all this chasing.
The large eel hound emerged again. She ran towards it, her hand reached for the reins of the animal and jumped onto his back, the eel hound did not stop once.
"Until next time," she smiled behind her, satisfied with the anger on his scarred face and put her fox mask back on.
Zuko watched as they disappeared from his sight, a hard glare on his face.
He made his way back onto the ship hours later, his blue spirit gear gone and replaced by his Fire Nation armor. Iroh sat on the deck, practicing his tsungi horn and only stopped when he saw his nephew.
"Where have you been, Prince Zuko? You missed music night! Lieutenant Jee sang a stirring love song."
Zuko ignored his question. "I'm going to bed. No disturbances."
In the confine of his room, he stripped his armor off once again. His fingers made quick work with the gears but his mind was unfocused, troubled.
Not only had he lost the Avatar, he lost to a mere thief again. It should not be this difficult to capture at least one of them. The Avatar, he understood, but to be outwitted by a peasant? That was a low blow to his pride.
He let out a frustrated growl, smoke escaping his clenched teeth. It was because he was tired, Zuko reasoned, that he let her get away. If he had been well rested—if he hadn't been knocked out by the archer, he would have captured the Avatar and the thief.
"A man needs his rest."
Iroh's words echoed in his mind as he got into bed, exhausted. He was right; it had been a long night. Next time, he would not make the same mistake.
She arrived in Makapu Village a day later. Her eel hound was worn out, traveling with barely any breaks. She did not want to risk running into the Fire Nation Prince again. Her hand instinctively went to the dagger hidden in her pants.
She rented a room at the inn for two nights, allowing the eel hound and herself to rest. The coin pouch in her bag felt light, reminding her that she may need to find a way to restock that soon. For now, she changed out of her dark clothes and into her usual tunic and pants, letting her hair fall from the bun.
An ache in her ribs sent shivers down her body, raising her tunic up to looked at the bruised skin from when she had fallen. With a heavy sigh, she closed her eyes, moving her hands instinctively. Water from her container spilled out, cloaking her hand with a mystic glow as it hover over the bruise. It took only a few moments to heal the wound, even sooner to put the water away.
She wandered the town casually, browsing the market with half interest. She heard the interesting tales by the townspeople, amazed by the Avatar's brave feat of bending the clouds and saving them from the volcanic eruption. Funny, she thought the spiked stone surrounding the town was unnatural.
"Can you believe it? After everything we've done for them, they still believe in this fortunetelling nonsense!" A male voice broke her thoughts and she looked towards the source.
"Calm down Sokka. It helps them get by day to day," the female said lightly.
"Yeah. It's good that the village didn't get destroyed this year," a cheery boy replied.
She looked towards the approaching voices. The first two voices belonged to who she assumed were siblings with matching Water Tribe clothing. The boy in the middle wore bright yellow and orange clothes, his tattooed arrows stood out among the three of them.
"Thanks to your Avatar superpowers! Seriously, what you did back there to cool the lava was unbelievable," the boy, Sokka, exclaimed.
Avatar?
That was him?
She blinked at the short boy. She had assumed he'd be over one hundred years old by now but he looked younger than herself. This was the so called 'Avatar' the prince is so bent on capturing?
"Well you know I—" the monk stopped talking, feeling a pair of eyes on him. His two companions followed his gaze to look at the girl in their path. Her light blue eyes met wide grey eyes, black hair blowing in the wind.
Realizing that she was caught staring, she smiled at them kindly, a pale hand reached up to brush her silky hair away from her face.
"So you're the Avatar?" It was a genuine question, one she already knew the answer to. "Welcome back to the living."
She made the first move to walk by them. The three looked at each other in confusion.
"Do you…know her?" The female asked.
"Not that I know of?"
The Water Tribe boy groaned. "I am so done with this village."
"Ameya."
They turned towards the young woman again, her head was slightly tilted in their direction and the smile was still on her lips.
"I'll see you around."
Author's Note:
I did a doodle of Ameya and Zuko on my Tumblr which is available on my profile because it's...hard to edit it here;;;;
The chapters will be longer from here on out so stay tuned! Ameya is currently 15 for those wondering. I really like the Aang Gang and Ameya's first meeting. Interesting events are to come!
Rate and reviews are much appreciated!