Chapter 3: A Friend From the Past

The first tragic day was finally over. Prince Zuko had slept soundly through the night and well into the late morning and, though he was still in pain, he was able to answer short replies to his uncle's conversations. As midday rolled around a knock came to the door and Tamara was admitted into the room.

"Ah, miss Tamara, so nice of you to come, and right on time, too." General Iroh said joyfully, looking up from his cup of tea. Tamara bowed respectfully to both men in front of her before approaching them. She smiled at General Iroh and then an even bigger smile crept across her face as she noticed Prince Zuko awake and at least in less pain than he had been in yesterday.

"Thank you, Sire. How are you today, Prince Zuko?" she asked sitting down next to the bed. A small smile lit up Zuko's injured face as he replied

"Better."

"Good to hear, sir. I take it you slept well last night?" a small nod from her patient was all she needed. "Good, I am glad. I need to change the bandages and clean your wounds and then you'll be done for the day, unless you are still in a lot of pain in which case I can give you more tea or a different poultice later on before you go to bed. It is your decision though, I will not force you to do or drink anything that I wouldn't immediately recommend." Tamara replied beginning to remove the bandages. She scanned over his wounds thoroughly looking for any signs of infection or serious damage and smiled approvingly. His wounds had stopped bleeding and, though it would still take weeks to heal, she noticed a few small inclinations that her poultices had begun to take effect. She told them her news as she began to clean and re-bandage Zuko's injuries. Tamara began to leave as soon as she was done when General Iroh stopped her.

" Tamara, why don't you stay here awhile and have tea with us, unless you have somewhere else to be right now."

"That's very kind of you, Sire, but I wouldn't want to intrude…"

"Nonsense, you are not intruding if someone invites you." the kind, old general stated, guiding Tamara back to her seat.

"I hope you like ginseng tea, it's my favorite, you know, and the only tea I'll drink." he said, handing her a steaming cup. Tamara saw Prince Zuko roll his good eye at his uncle's obsession and she could not help but laugh out loud. "We were talking about you before you came in, miss Tamara, and we have a question to ask you." Tamara looked up from blowing on her tea, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. "We both agree that you look familiar to us, why is that? Have we met you before?" Iroh asked. He had pondered about it in his spare time and was unable to come up with anything.

"Yes, Sire. You know that fire benders in training are divided into age and gender groups and then the top rank of each age division is put together in a duel to match skills. I was the top ranking fighter in my division and…"

"I remember that. I was the top ranking fighter in my division so we fought each other." Prince Zuko interrupted. He remembered that duel with her. They both were about thirteen at the time and were put up against each other in a duel to see how well they did. It was just a training duel and though it was still supposed to be taken seriously, it was not as serious as an Agni Kai. Prince Zuko remembered how well she had fought and how much of an effort he had to put up to keep from losing the match. Tamara would have won if not for a slight miscalculation that caught her off guard. Zuko was able to over power her and win the duel and after he had won he helped her to her feet. They talked for some time and became friends but were interrupted when he had to leave. They said good bye but he forgot to ask what her name was before she had disappeared.

More than a year had gone by and he never saw her again and with all the things he needed to remember and learn about being the future ruler of the Fire Nation, she seemed to just slip his mind. He tried to remember what was so familiar about her, well her face obviously, but there was something else about her that seemed to be embedded in his memories. He looked into her eyes then. That was it! It was her eyes! Most fire benders had piercing golden eyes, but instead of the intense golden eye color Tamara's eyes were a dark amber; more red than gold. They were soft and always seemed to look upon you with care and concern.

" Ahh, yes I remember you now. You gave my nephew quite a fight. But if you don't mind me asking, why did you go into the healing arts? With your strength, determination and a few years, you could have found yourself as a commanding officer." Tamara smiled, placing down her cup. A readied answer was already formed; this was not the first time she had been asked that question, though the other times had not been as polite.

"I would rather help people than hurt them. Training and dueling are fine and I like the fact that, should the need arise, I know that I can defend myself, but going to war is something I would never think of doing. I have been close a couple of times of being sent to war, but Master Maruai has always been there to prevent it from happening." General Iroh nodded his understanding; though Tamara was a strong fighter he could tell that she could do more help healing others than she could ever do in the war. He could tell by the way she treated others that Tamara was a gentle soul and forcing her to hurt someone else could have a more devastating effect on her rather than the opponent.

The three of them talked for a while longer until Tamara felt she had overstayed her welcome. Against the protests of General Iroh she bowed, thanked him for the tea, and wished Zuko a good nights rest. General Iroh watched as the young girl left and then turned his attention to his nephew who, on Tamara's request, was settling down to take a nap.

………………………………...

How cute Zuko has a friend, some one other than Iroh. I have to admit, I would so take Zuko's place if I had an uncle like Iroh- he's so funny and cute.

So anyways, yeah Tamara is a very strong fighter and probably the only female fire bender that shows up in this story. Not even Azula shows up, yep, Zuko is an only child. You have to remember that I started thinking and typing up this story just a little before The Blue Spirit episode- everything was already underway when I learned about Azula from a spoiler somewhere on this site. I have tried to add her in, but it won't work so just forget about Azula for this story, no one cares about her anyways. I hate her even more than Zhao.