Chapter 2: Thieves and Many Small Children
It was midday. The hot sun was beating down on their backs as they traveled through the desert plains. Dried sweat plastered their bodies, making Song very uncomfortable. When Shine had twisted her ankle yesterday, Song had to ride Kio with Lee and that did nothing to help the stifling heat. At first Lee was very uncomfortable about riding the same ostrich horse as her. He's still uncomfortable being in contact with me, Song mused, I wonder if he was abused as a child. Song knew the effects of abuse, and Lee displayed just about every one of them. There's still so much I don't know about him. Song did know that he was an Earth Kingdom spy, grew up in a wealthy family in the Colonies, and hated talking about himself, and bending. He also knew very little of Earth Kingdom politics. How can it not even be summer and still be this hot? Song griped to herself. Well I suppose it's almost summer; we have 31 days to contact the Northern Water Tribe. Song had given up on trying to reach the Northern Water Tribe in the short time they had, and they had resolved to contact them instead.
Suddenly a shriek pierced through the air. Song swiveled her head in the direction of the scream. There was a young man, not much older than herself, kneeling next to a pregnant woman, probably his wife. The woman was leaning against a tree, and the man was looking extremely worried, yet he did not call out for help. "Lee, we should stop and see if these people are ok." Song stated. "We don't have time for this. Look, that lady is fine" came the reply. Song looked at the couple again and was surprised to see that the lady was smiling weakly at her husband. Never the less Song could not shake the bad feeling about the couple. "Lee, please, can we stop for just a few minutes." Song pleaded. Lee grunted but guided the ostrich horse to the tree.
"Hello" Song called to the couple.
They both looked up surprised to see another person there.
"Hello" the man said, stood up and bowed to her sloppily.
Song was shocked to see the man was so skinny. The bones in his legs and arms were clearly visible, and she was she was sure that his ribcage would be visible from his back. He must be making his wife eat all of his food. Song thought as she returned his bow. Then she began, "I heard your wife cry out and I thought since I'm a healer that I could help."
The man simply beamed at her and said, "That was the baby kicking." Song could see the pride shining from the skinny man's eyes but she was now more concerned about the man's state than his wife's.
"Sir, I can see that you will be a fine father, but you need to eat more, otherwise your child will have no father," Song said and went over to Lee. She whispered something in his ear. Lee growled, "No, we cannot." Song pouted, "But these people need her more than us." Lee growled again and said, "Song, I understand your concern, but we will never make it to the North Pole if we give them Shine." Song, now angry shouted, "Lee, look at them, they will starve soon, and we both know that you won't be able to sell Shine for a fair price to save your life!" It was true that Lee was no good at haggling for goods, and Song could not because she was a woman. Lee's face hardened, then he said "fine."
Song turned to the man and said, "We will be giving you our lame ostrich horse, you should be able to sell her to buy food."
The man bowed deeply at Song, and then Lee. "We thank you very much. May the spirits bless you."
Lee snorted at that, and replied, "The Spirits have never been kind to me, but I wish that they bless you regardless, also, take good care of Shine for me." He then turned to Song and stated bleakly, "Let's go, we need to get to the next village before nightfall." Song just nodded and mounted Kio with him. And then what, we have no more money.
What in this Spirit damned world was Song thinking! Lee though angrily. They had been traveling for five hours nonstop and he was not happy. No money, no food, no water. Lately, he had been feeling more and more lost, and constantly lying to Song was weighing down on his conscience. She trusts me, yet she hardly knows anything about me. How? The question swam through his mind as a small village came into sight over the horizon. "We will have to spend the night here. Tomorrow we will see if we can find day jobs." Lee told Song.
"Ok" was all the response he got. Both travelers were grumpy from not having anything to eat, and arguing earlier did not help their moods. Luckily the town was not occupied. When they arrived in the town it was sunset. It was in fact the most brilliant sunset either had ever seen. There was nothing obstructing the desert horizon for miles, and mixture of intense fiery reds and bittersweet oranges painted the landscape, and a deep midnight blue was creeping over the sky from the east.
Song dismounted Kio and sighed, "It's beautiful…"
"It is" Lee replied ruefully. All of the colors reminded him of his homeland, which he had not visited in 3 years. It reminded him of its own brilliant sunsets that he would watch over the ocean. When Lee did not get off Kio, Song asked softly, "Lee, Is something wrong?"
Lee just sighed sadly and whispered, "We used to have sunsets like this at home. I would watch them with my mother. I just..." Lee dismounted and was immediately embraced in a hug by Song, and his heart constricted as he thought about his mother.
Lee took the harness off Kio and sat Kio down next to a building. Then he turned to Song and said, depressed, "We have no food or money, so we will have to sleep out here until tomorrow." Then he plopped himself next to Kio and leaned into the tired animal and whispered "Good night Kio." The moment he closed his eyes, he fell asleep.
Song just stared at him in amazement at how quickly he could fall asleep after the sun set. Then with a hint of jealousy she thought, Oh Lee, you have grown really attached to Kio, more so than me. Well I guess an ostrich horse never abused you or betrayed you. Then she rolled out her mat next to the sleeping pair (they had to sell their small tent two days ago to buy feed for Kio and Shine), and sat down and started to pray to her (dead) father. Father, please watch over me and guide me. I am feeling more lost, and I can tell Lee is becoming depressed. Song then then closed her eyes and tried to sleep.
000
He was feeding the turtle ducks with his mother. "Hey mom, want to see how Azula feeds turtled ducks?" The dream shifted. He was now overlooking the ocean with a brilliant sunset, his mother was with him too. He looked at her and was startled to see Song's face contort in rage. "Lee, why have you been lying to me!" She screamed. The dream shifted again. Now it was him and his mother again. A royal guard came and delivered a note to Ursa. Zuko looked at the guard, and this time he knew who he would see. It was Azula's face, smiling at him cruelly. Regardless, Ursa took the note and read, "Iroh has lost his son. Your cousin Lu Ten has died in battle." The dream shifted again. He was in the South Pole. The Avatar and his friends were cornering him and Iroh when the Avatar morphed into Azula, and shot her cruel blue fire at Uncle. "No!" Zuko cried and kneeled at Iroh. He desperately checked Iroh's pulse but there was nothing. Zuko started crying. The Avatar's friends were gone and Azula walked up to him smugly. "Dad is going to kill you," she sing-songed, "Really, he is."
Zuko woke up with a start. It was the middle of the night, his scar burning on his face. Uncle was alive, he hoped. He looked over at Song, who was resting peacefully. He was afraid to go back to sleep because he knew the nightmares would return, so he occupied himself with other thoughts. It's going to be a full moon in two days. Exhaustion finally got the better of him and he drifted back into a restless sleep.
000
Lee woke up at dawn per usual, but he was sore from riding days on end, and exhausted from the night before. He looked at Kio, who was still sleeping, and decided to wake up Song. He crawled over to her where she was sleeping a few feet away, and gently shook her awake.
"Lee, why do we have to get up so early?" Song mumbled sleepily.
"You need to get up and try and find work. Meet me back here at noon."
"Sure thing Lee" Song murmured as Lee got up and led Kio to a public stable.
Lee then spent the next few hours hauling water. Soldiers spat at him for doing women's work, and being a filthy beggar but he did his best to ignore it. At noon he met up with Song but she had not managed to find any work. So he took the measly two copper pieces he had earned and went to a small kiosk. He noticed the same Earth Kingdom soldiers from earlier playing dice nearby. They also noticed him.
"Can I get a bag of feed and two hot meals?" Lee huffed at the man at the kiosk.
"Sorry, not enough money, but I can get you two bags of feed." The man responded kindly,
At that same moment, a giggling sounded from around the corner of the kiosk and an egg flew at the soldiers behind him.
"Hey, did you throw that egg!" the egged soldier hollered at him.
"No" Lee responded dryly.
"Did you see where that egg came from?"
"No"
"Is no your favorite word?" A different soldier mocked.
Another soldier interrupted, "Egg had to come from somewhere."
"Maybe a chicken flew over." Lee said, completely serious. At that, all three soldiers burst out into laughter.
Then the leader of the group took his two bags of feed and sarcastically thanked him for his contribution to the war.
"Thanks for not ratting me out back there. Here come on, I can feed your ostrich horse for you." A Scrawny boy beamed at him. "I'm Li by the way" the boy said happily as he took Kio's reigns.
"I need to go get someone before we go" Lee responded.
The boy Li just happily followed him while he found Song. Song was just milling around in the center of the small town because no one could afford a healer. "Hey Song," Lee called out, she turned around surprised to see him with a boy.
"Does that kid need healing?" she asked worried.
"No, he offered to feed Kio for us" Lee replied, then turned to Li, and nodded. The kid happily took Kio's reigns and led them to his house
000
They had decided to spend the night. Song and Lee had mounted Kio and were prepared to leave Li's home the next day when the same three soldiers from the town came riding towards the farm house. "What are you doing here?" Came Lee snarled at them.
The leader just smiled maliciously and stated, "I came to let the old man know that Hansen's battalion was captured." He paused to enjoy the horrified look on everyone's faces. "I heard that the Fire Nation dresses up their prisoners and puts them on the front line."
-"Your cousin Lu Ten is Dead"- the memory hit Lee like a train.
"Get out of Here" Lee screamed at the soldiers.
"Whatever, have fun groveling you pigs." The soldier growled.
Lee turned to see everyone's shocked faces, except for Li's father's face, which was set with angry determination. Li's father said coldly, "I am going to the front to find Hansen." And turned away.
Li looked to Lee, tears streaming from his face, "If he goes, will you stay?"
Lee's chest constricted when he saw the desperation and sorrow in the kid's eyes. "take this" Lee told Li as he pulled out his pearl dagger. "Read the inscription."
"Made in Earth Kingdom" Li slowly read.
"No the other inscription"
"Never give up without a fight" When Li looked up, Lee and Song were already riding from the farm. Tears began streaming down Li's face once more.
000
Song was silent through the whole ordeal, but she noticed that Lee's breathing was ragged, and occasionally a tear would fall from his face.
"Lee are you all right?" She asked concerned.
"No" Lee no longer could lie.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Song tried softly.
"No" Lee whispered. The memories of the events following Lu Ten's death were too painful.
000
"We will have to stay in this town again tonight." Lee grumbled. They both just wandered around aimlessly for an hour or so. Song mostly talked to women at the well. Lee took Kio to a nearby patch of grass. The sun began to set when a cry sounded out in the distance.
"They've got Li" Li's mother cried out. "The soldiers came back to collect some grain and Lee pulled a knife on them." The desperate women gasped, "I don't even know where he got a knife, but they said if he's old enough to use a knife, he's old enough to fight in the war. Please, help…" The woman was having a breakdown at this point, tears covered her face, her eyes were puffy and red, and she was gasping for breath.
Meanwhile Song had arrived at the scene and Lee's face had steeled. "I'll get your son back." He grit out determined.
He found Li tied up in the center of town, with the soldiers guarding him.
"See, I told you he would come back for me" Li shouted at the soldiers when he saw Lee.
"Stay away kid!" the soldier barked at Lee.
"You are soldiers, you are cowards" Lee stated coldly.
"Well are you going to just take that?" One of the soldiers yelled to the others, and the others charged Lee.
Lee unsheathed his shung dao and easily defeated the attacking soldiers while a crowd gathered and cheered him on. When the last of the attackers scrambled away from him, a slow sarcastic clap rang out from Li's location. It was the leader of the Earth kingdom soldiers.
"Excellent Show. It's a shame it will have to end now" the burly man said and grinned deviously. The man quickly set into a horse stance and brought a hammer up, encasing Lee in stone to his waste.
000
Song watch the scene unfold as Lee fought the thug-soldiers. Wow, he's really good. Where did he learn to fight like that, she mused happily as Lee easily defeated them. Holy Shit. Lee was now encased in stone up to his chest. This is not good. What do I do! What do I do! Song was now panicking as Lee struggled fruitlessly to get out.
The soldier was walking up to Lee smugly, with his hammer swinging about his side. "Boy you will regret messing with soldiers now."
Song was so helpless feeling watching Lee about to be tortured, and maybe even killed. Fear racked her body and she began shaking. "Wait!" Song cried out desperate.
The Soldier looked up and addressed Song smugly. "Well well well. It looks like we have a pretty girl trying to save her boyfriend. There's nothing you can do for him girl, leave now and forget him."
"No! Wait! I'll… I'll do whatever you want me to." Song desperately cried on the verge of a breakdown herself.
"Song No-" Lee gritted but was cut off, "Shut it, pig. So Song is your name. Since its whatever I want, I think I'll take up your offer."
"Release them first" Song managed, her face set.
The soldier just replied, "I'll let your boyfriend go, and when we're done, I'll let the kid go." Then he turned to Lee and snarled, "If you try anything, the kid dies."
"Song, don't" Lee tried weakly.
"I accept those conditions" Song said coldly to the soldier.
The soldier nodded, a smug grin plastering his face. He turned to Lee and smashed the stone casing, and it fell apart, knocking Lee to the ground. Song ran to him desperately to see if he was ok. Meanwhile the Soldier went over to Li and picked him up in a headlock with his hammer hovering over the poor kid's head. The cruel man then called out to Song, "I will be waiting in my house behind the public stables"
000
Hot rage was burning through Lee's entire body when Song accepted the Soldier's terms. I am going to send that sad perverted coward straight to eternal damnation! When he crashed into the ground he knew what he had to do. When Song got near enough, he jumped up and put her in a head lock and tied a blindfold over her.
"Lee what in the name of Prithvi are you doing" Song screamed.
"Sorry Song, I'll explain later." Lee apologized furious at the situation. He got up and ran after the man dragging Li to his home.
-No what happens, remember who you are.-
"I am Prince Zuko, Son of Fire Lord Ozai and Ursa, Heir to the Dragon Throne." Zuko whispered to himself ready to kill someone.
He entered the small house and immediately was encased in stone again. The soldier had been expecting him. That did not matter. Now he was alone with the man. Fire poured from Zuko's hands and feet, and the stone casing crumbled away. The soldier shouted and jumped back in surprise, and began an earth bending kata. But Zuko was quicker. He jumped forward and impaled the man through the chest with one of his dao. The soldier looked at him in fear and awe as his heart stopped. "I am Prince Zuko, never mess with me." Zuko whispered to the dying man with more venom than should be possible. Then Zuko heard a whimper and was surprised to see that Li had seen the whole thing.
"Y-you," Li stuttered, "I hate you." And the boy ran. Zuko just stood there processing everything he had just done, and looking at the carnage in the small house. Then he remembered Song, and started running back to the plaza where he left her.
He was relieved to find her where he left her, blindfolded and all. That is he was relieved until he heard Song's screams in anger and fear. "Song calm down it's ok." Lee called out to her and immediately went to undo the blindfold.
Song immediately calmed hearing Lee was ok. "Is Li ok?" she asked still angry and afraid.
"Yes but we have to get out of here now."
"Lee, what did you do?"
"That doesn't matter right now we need to leave."
Song now had an idea of what Lee had done and nodded grimly. Lee was already on Kio, and Song went to mount. It was another beautiful sunset but neither cared at the moment.
"Where are we going?" Song asked, still shaken from the events.
"On" Lee replied unsteadily. Normally he would be tired around that time of day, but he was filled with too much adrenaline.
000
The Full moon was setting when an orange dot came into view. Song and Lee had ridden through the night and were exhausted. As they rode closer, the orange dot grew larger and covered nearly half of the horizon. "Oh no" Song whispered horrified when she realized that the orange glow was a small city that had been reduced to embers. "How is that possible? Did the Fire Nation attack?"
Lee watched the embers glow for a minute, his steely gaze not betraying his horror at his own nation. His mind raced trying to come up with reasons as to how the place could have burned down without the Fire Nation. The wind picked up and hot wind blew towards them from the charred city, embers glowing brighter, and smoke filling their eyes.
000
Oh Agni please no! help! He froze, hands and lips going numb, heart fluttering, his whole body was racked with shivers. His mind shut down. Please. I can't. It was the wind. It carried the distinct scent of burning flesh. That awful day. Burnt flesh. Pain, so much pain. Failure, I deserved it. Pain. "You did not deserve that!" Iroh's angry voice resounded. "Dad is going to kill you." "You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher" "You have no honor, dad took that away when he burned your face" Azula always lies. Azula always lies. His left eye was filled with searing pain, and the smell of burnt flesh filled his nostrils. He never loved you anyway. -A cruel orange flash. He couldn't see. Left eye burning.-
000
Song's eyes were watering from the smoky wind when she felt Lee go stiff. He began to tremble, and it spread over his whole body. "Lee?" she tried softly, - Lee began to whimper and shake even more. "Lee!" she yelled this time. What is happening to him? Is he having a seizure? He's going to fall off Kio. Oh Spirits help! "LEE!" she practically screamed into his ear, fear now coursing through her entirety. Song began to tremble at Lee's unresponsiveness. Then she heard him sniff and begin to cry. "Lee?" she asked softly, still trembling from fear. She just let him cry.
"Survivors," He croaked shakily after a minute, "We need to check for survivors."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Song softy asked, worried about him seizing up and burning to death.
"We have to." He murmured determined, and slid of Kio. Song got off too. She took his reins and tied him down to a nearby stump. "Don't worry, we'll come back for you." Lee murmured weakly to Kio.
The two of them walked to the edge of the burned village. An orange glow illumined their faces. The heat was searing, and Lee's scar was burning. He took a deep breath, and the heat subsided. It felt good to firebend, even if it was just heat. There was so much energy around him, and he extended his chi and let it course through his body and the surroundings, giving him the strength to go on. "Let's go." Song nodded and they stepped into the charred road. The heat was intense but bearable. They began searching for signs of survivors in the glowing remains of the village. Song gasped when she saw horribly burnt dead bodies, bodies of children, families huddling together, all dead. Zuko checked them for a pulse regardless. The sun was rising and they had checked several hundreds of burnt down homes for survivors. It was always the same. People huddled to together, terrified looks covering there charred faces; dead. It did not matter, Song and Lee continued checking every corpse for a pulse, a breath, a cry of pain, anything! Song began puking. Lee told her to go check on Kio and she did not refuse. He kept searching the burnt remains. He got to the last corner of the blackened village. Still nothing. It was two hours after sunrise. Song had passed out from fear, or exhaustion, Lee did not know. He was about to pass out. But he refused to believe that the Fire Nation had managed to slaughter everyone. He kept searching. He checked a pulse on a young man his age. The corpse was cold. Lee puked what little he had in his stomach. Lee came to the last house. A dead child clutched a blackened leather bag, and two charred bodies were layered on top. Lee checked the pulses of the bodies on top. Nothing. Maybe it was his desperation, but the body of the child was not cold, unlike his parents corpses. Please! Oh Agni, please let this child be alive. He was. Lee desperately dragged the other two corpses away, and picked up the kid. He was maybe 5 years old, and he was unconscious.
"Song! Song! Song wake up!" came the hoarse cry to no avail. Song was dead to the world. The events of the past days had taken their toll. Lee was crying as he brought the small unconscious child over to where Song was.
"Live Dammit!" Lee began to cry as he leaned the child against Kio, who cooed softly.
Lee sat there and cried more than he had in three years. Uncle, I am so lost. Please help.
000
It was maybe noon. Song really didn't know. She woke up to Lee gazing emptily in her direction. His good eye was puffy and tear stained. His whole body was blackened by soot. Gigantic dark rings were under his good eye, his scared eye was nearly closed.
"Lee… what happened?" she whispered weakly.
Lee recounted what had happened from the moment they saw the tiny orange glow, shaking and sobbing by the end of his story. No longer able to talk, he pointed at the unconscious child. He puked out whatever was left in his stomach.
Song stood up and walked over to him and said in the firmest voice she could muster, "Lee, sleep"
With that he passed out.
000
Song woke Lee up at sundown. The child was still unconscious. "Lee, we have to go. We haven't any food, and we haven't eaten since yesterday night. It could be a whole day until the next village.
It was true that Lee's stomach hurt. He was just too miserable to care. Kio couldn't take all three of them, so they took turns riding with the child and walking. They walked through the night. It was the night after a full moon, so they could clearly see where they were going. At midnight, they came to a stream and bathed. Song scrubbed the soot off the child. He had pale skin like Lee. On contact with cold water he stirred which was their first good sign from him. The child had clutched a bag when Lee found him, so Lee kept the bag in case it was important.
"It wasn't the Fire Nation that destroyed the village, you know?"
"Oh" was all Lee said, trying not to let too much relief show on his face, but Song saw the relief. That just added to her suspicions which she had not voiced.
"There was a fire storm. They happen in windy dry parts of the Earth Kingdom. I heard stories, but I always thought they were exaggerated."
000
They arrived in a town, Gaoling, about two hours before sunrise. Lee vaguely remembered that Gaoling existed from geography, but he could not remember what he learned.
"I'm going to get food" he told Song. Song just nodded exhausted, not caring how he would get food when no one was awake. Lee grabbed his dao and wandered around Gaoling, not knowing where he would get food. He came to a gated estate with a flying boar on it. There seemed to be an orchard in the gardens.
They won't notice if some of their fruit disappears, He thought hazily to himself. He clambered over a wall, and crossed some gardens and started picking some low hanging pinkish orange fruits, and then he went over to a lychee nut tree. It was a little higher so he scrambled up the tree and started shaking the fruit to the ground. As he was shaking a smaller branch, it cracked and broke, causing him to fall to the ground loudly. Shit. Lee hardly had time to stand up before he was encased in stone again. Shit shit shit. He looked up to see a dirty girl giggling at him.
What the hell? Lee thought in his haze and confusion.
AN: That was rough. Please please please review! Stay tuned to find out what happens. Soon we see what happens to Gaang! Also let me know what rating this should be. This chapter is about as dark as it gets. Remember to review.