A/N Thank you SO much for commenting! It made me really happy, all of it. ^^ And I want to apologize for any misspelled words you may find - I'm only using NotePad, which doesn't have Spell-Check, so I'm just checking as I go along. It's been brought to my attention (again, thank you) that I've been 'Mary-Sue-ing' a bit, but please know that I'm trying to correct that, even if I'm not entirely sure how =]
Wren tried to get a good look at who was talking, but Zuko pulled her toward him, behind the stairway.
"What are you doing?" she asked him, confused.
"They're with the Avatar. I saw them depart with Aang - I can't be sure if they know what I look like or not, but if I'm recognized it could be the end of our cover. I wonder why they aren't with Aang...that's strange..."
"Well, I'm pretty sure they won't know me, so what about I go see what I can get out of them?"
"It could be dangerous..."
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, Zuko. What are the odds that they just so happened to be at the same inn as us, talking about the Avatar when we just so happened to be within earshot? Come on, this is just too good to pass up"
He let go of the arm he'd been latched onto. She reached around to pat his for comfort. She then walked around the partition, hopefully projecting confidence and trustworthiness. She arrived at the table, and the two men stopped talking, and looked up at her suspiciously. One must have been the size of a tree stump while the other was as tall as Wren, and he was still sitting down. He must have been seven feet tall. Wren made herself open her mouth and start talking.
"Hello. My name is Wren, and I heard you were talking about the Avatar" she said as she slid into the booth beside the behemoth of a man and the small child he was speaking with.
"What's it to you?" the tiny person asked.
"I'm sympathetic to the Avatar's endeavors, and I've been traveling a great while to meet this boy in person" she explained, her speech a little stunted for the need of coming up with half-lies and exaggerations. She prayed that none of them were Earth-Benders. The two men were staring at her as if she'd just spoken Hog-monkey to them. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"I want to help Aang" she said shortly. The large man then broke out in a chorus of 'ah's and 'right's, pointing both at her and to the smaller boy. Again, Wren felt the urge to roll her eyes.
"My name's Pipsqueak, and this here's The Duke. We're good friends with Aang, alright, in fact we just left where they all were - hey!"
The small child, or rather, The Duke, had thrown a spoon at Pipsqueak and it hit dead on. The Duke raised his eyebrows at Pipsqueak and nodded conspicuously at me. He was clearly asking what the hell he was doing, about to tell the Air-Bender's secrets to a complete stranger. Wren had to admit that if would have made her nervous to have him as her ally, if he just blabbed like that.
"No worries, um, The Duke, is it? I'm a Water-Bender. No way I'm Fire Nation"
"Prove it" was all he said. So she did. She bended Pipsqueaks' mead out of his flagon and made it twirl around his head before putting it back into the glass, not a drop spilled. The Duke nodded.
"So, Wren, is it? What exactly do you want to do with The Avatar? He's already got a Water-Bending Master"
"Ah, well, any extra hands would help, I guess, that and, I uh, know some stuff about the Fire Lord?" she lied. This lie hadn't come as easily as the last one, but The Duke, looking a bit dubious, said, "Go on..."
"I'm sorry, but I can't just go bandying it about...you understand, right?"
The Duke nodded, peering at her from the corner of his young eye. For a child, he seemed exceedly smarter than his larger companion. Had just the man been there, she would have probably had exact coordinates and directions to where Aang was shacking up by now. But as it were, she would have to worm them out of this tiny little person. She decided to just ask, point-blank, the one question that needed to be asked.
"Can you tell me where Aang is staying?" she asked The Duke, looking him directly in the eyes.
"Yes. I can" was all he said. Wren took a deep breath, agitation nearly winning out over patience. She raised her eyebrows and nodded, signaling him to continue.
"I'm sorry, but I can't just go bandying that kind of information about...you understand, right?"
Wren groaned audibly.
"It's severely important that I find out where Aang is staying! This could determine the entire outcome of the war against the Fire Nation!" she burst out with. The people around them grew quiet again. Not silent, really, just quieter. It was easy to tell that they were all listening in now. Wren's face flushed. Had Shiro been here, she would have been assaulted with stones for her outburst. Such behavior was not acceptable. The Duke looked around pointedly, as if trying to convey a message, and said simply,
"We can't tell you that"
At this, Wren had had enough of trying to force information out of these two. Maybe if she could just get the big oaf alone...? She wasn't about to cross that idea out. She sighed, and walked away from the table and straight up the stairs, without checking to see if Zuko was still there or not. He'd come in shortly after her outburst at the table, and asked to know - calm as a shrimp-clam - what exactly had happened. When she explained her mistakes to Zuko, he didn't judge her or scold her like she thought he would. He nodded, and said simply that they had to come from somewhere. Maybe somebody else knew which direction they had come in from. After all, according to the giant, they had just left Aang, so following them might not be in any way useful.
Never having slept beside anybody, except perhaps her mother at some point, Wren couldn't honestly say if this was typical or not. It was very nearly pitch black, the only small amount of light coming from the stars above through the tiny window above their heads. Zuko was dead asleep. In any case, it was good that he was because Wren didn't know if she could stand it if they were BOTH awake and staring at the ceiling. Alone. In a bed. In the dark. The thought made her shiver, half from nervousness, half from not knowing where that would lead, if it would lead anywhere in the first place. She longed to spread out. Zuko seemed content to sleep on his stomach, his arms stretched up toward the headboard. He didn't require too much space, it seemed. Wren, however, knew how much she needed, and she didn't want to be the one to push Zuko off the bed in the middle of the night, which was why she kept to her tight little ball. It was never embarrassing for her before, seeing as she never had a reason to be, but she was a thrasher, a tosser, and a turner in her sleep. She never could stay still for long, and never really thought about it. So she'd woken up in a complete different corner of her cave than the one she'd originated in? So what? It was her cave. She'd never thought anything about it. Until now. She thought she'd never stop obsessing over it until a gentle knock sounded on her door. She froze, and then looked over at Zuko. He was still fast asleep. Wren gently crept out of bed, and readied herself for an attack, just in case. She opened the door, and there was...The Duke.
"Duke?' she asked, not sleepy at all.
"THE Duke" he corrected. He said nothing else.
"...Yes?" she asked, uncertainly.
"The...the Avatar is staying at the Western Air Temple, just twelve day's journey from here. I've sent a hawk, telling him of a Water Bender's arrival" he said shortly. Then, he turned to leave.
"Wait!" she called out in a hushed tone. She was stunned at this information, especially seeing as it was all true. There was no evidence of a lie in this boys' short statement.
"Why are you telling me this, The Duke? I thought you thought I was some sort of enemy" she asked.
"At first, I did. But your reaction to rejection - you never came to our room - was what got us. If you really were against Aang, you would have probably just come for us later for information. But you didn't." he said, as he turned to leave again.
"Why did you leave Aang?" she asked. Without turning, The Duke said, "Fighting Ozai isn't our fight. And frankly, it isn't our job. We've lost too much to the Fire Nation without giving up our lives as well. We've simply...had enough."
And then he was gone. Wren wandered back into the room, and collapsed on the bed. Throughout the entire conversation with The Duke, he hadn't stirred. As was the case now. She fell, satisfied at least that she had gotten the Avatar's location (although she had no idea where the Western air Temple was), gently and slowly to sleep, trying to ignore the sleeping man on the bed beside her.
