Chapter 4 We Have Company
AN: I would like to thank my awesome reveiwer, Mystery Writer 5775. Thank you very much!!1 Sqeals and jumps up and down with Mystery That was the sweetest review I've ever read!!1 Okay, so it was the only review I've ever read, but I loved it anyway!!!1 All I can say is just keep reading...
"Do you know how to dance?" Allete asked taking Zuko's hand in hers.
Zuko was a bit stunned by the question. Of course he knew how to dance. He'd watched the adults do it plenty of times. And he was prince of the Fire Nation. He had to know how to dance. But she didn't know that. She had no clue who he was. He slipped his hand around her waist and pulled her close. He could do this. No problem, right?
"Yeah, sort of," Zuko started to move with the music, and Allete just let him lead. He was doing fine so she rested her head on his chest and followed his movements. His arms around her were strangely warm, and his clothes smelled faintly of smoke, but she liked it.
"I'm Zuko by the way," he whispered into her ear. His breath was strangely warm as well and it smelled of cinnamon. She liked that too.
"I'm Allete."
"I know. Your name's all over this city."
Allete blushed. "Yeah, too much if you ask me. I'm not that special." Zuko thought differently. She was very special, but he would be a fool to tell her that now.
He heard the music change and pick up pace. He dropped his hold on Allete, watching the other dancers around them doing steps that involved intricate footwork and lifting their partners. She took his hand again and told him to do exactly as she said. He followed her every instruction and soon they were spinning and twirling just as well or better than the others. Zuko couldn't help but smile. For the first time in a long time he was enjoying himself.
"You learn fast," Allete was smiling too. Mission accomplished, she thought. I got him to loosen up.
That night, which was definitely one of the best he'd ever had, Zuko learned a number of different dances, most of them involving fast footwork and lifting. He was amazed to find just how light Allete was, like she was made of air. Learning the dances had definitely been fun. He'd even caught himself laughing a time or two, but all too soon, the party began to break up.
"I should probably go. It's getting kind of late," Allete pulled away. Zuko nodded.
"Yeah, me too. My uncle will start to worry about me."
"Hey, by the way, do you need a place to stay. My parents own an inn if you need a room."
"No, we got one already. But thanks."
"Oh, okay. I had fun tonight," Allete was being completely serious. That night had been one of her favorites as well.
"So have I. I'm glad I came."
"Good, that's good," Allete came to a loss for words. She wasn't sure what to say so she stuck with good night.
"Good night. I'll see you around," Zuko really hated to leave. Allete did too. But she had to do her night time rounds at her parents' inn, and it really was getting late.
Allete floated home, savoring her last moments with the boy, or Zuko as she'd come to find out. She came into the front room of the lodge. She greeted her parents who were sitting at the front desk and grabbed her apron from a hook by the door. She tied it around her waist as she came to her first door.
Everything was the same as usual. No one really needed anything, no one ever did, but she was instructed to do it anyway. "Just in case," her parents would always say.
Her last room of the night came up and Allete gathered her last bits of remaining energy. She was getting very tired, but she managed to put a big smile on her face and knock on the door, just as bright and cheerfully as she had the first.
Zuko hadn't planned on any visitors that night. He was almost asleep until this person decided to come, waking him up. He opened it, rather roughly I might add, to a familiar face.
"I'm sorry. If you want me to come back in the morning then I-" Allete looked up to see Zuko, shirtless, standing at the door. She looked away to hide the blush that was slowly starting to creep up her neck and onto her face.
"I didn't know it was you. What are you doing here anyway?" Zuko's look softened when he saw who it was.
"I work here. This is my parents' inn. I was just making my rounds. Do you need anything for the night?" Allete managed to look up enough to talk to the boy's face and not the ground.
"No, I think we're fine," Allete nodded and turned to go. Zuko stopped her with another good night. She paused and smiled.
"Good night," she whispered, leaving for her own room in her own home.
The next morning Allete woke up bright and early ready to talk to her parents. She practically skipped down the hall to the kitchen. There, her parents were waiting on her with breakfast already cooked. The family exchanged good mornings, although her parents' were a little less enthusiastic than usual. They knew the talk that was coming up.
"Mom, Dad, I-" Allete was cut off by her parents practically reading her mind.
"We know. And we understand. We discussed this last night," Allete's mother spoke up first. They both seemed upset with very good reason to be.
"So I take it you've decided to let me go," Allete said it as if it were a given.
"No, we just can't let you go," It was Allete's father who spoke now. He sounded very tired. He'd probably lost sleep over this and it only added to the guilt Allete was already feeling.
"You've hidden my true self from me my entire life. I finally have a chance to know who I am. You owe this to me. Please, I won't get this chance again," Allete remained calm. She wanted this really bad. Arguing and raising her voice definitely wasn't going to get her anywhere.
"We've thought about that too. And we understand what this means to you. We know you're almost an adult and you can take care of yourself and you won't be alone. We know all these things, but we're mostly worried you'll go off and won't come back."
"Mom, I love you, and Dad. I'll be coming back. There isn't anything that would keep me from coming back home every once in a while. Please, Mom, Dad, I'm begging you. Like I said, this is a once in a life time opportunity. You've been protecting me my entire life. Please," Allete was almost on her knees begging.
"Do you promise to protect yourself?" Allete nodded. "And do you promise to visit as much as possible?" Allete nodded faster. "Then I guess maybe you could go. Just be careful. You're an adult now and you'll have to leave the house soon anyway. Maybe this is your time."
"It is!! I promise it is!! Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you!!" Allete threw her arms around her parents' shoulders. Then she ran back to her room and started throwing her clothes and other things into a bag. Remembering Aang, she ran out as soon as she was finished to find him and the others. She found them near a particularly large and dangerous roller-coaster.
"Aang! Aang, guess what!!!" she nearly tackled the group and left them no time to answer before she did it herself. "I get to come! My parents said it was okay!!"
Aang just stood there taking in what she said. After a minute he shook his head and just asked, "Are you serious?" Allete nodded her head vigorously. "When do we need to leave?"
"I have my last show this afternoon. We can leave as soon as that's over and I've said all my good byes," Allete figured times in her head. Sokka figured their own times in his head.
"That gives us a few hours to make it to our next town. Then we'll spend the night there, look for a teacher in the morning and then leave again unless we find one. That throws us off track a few hours, but I guess we can make it work," Sokka was drawing figures in the air with his index finger as he talked. Allete just stared at him, unsure of his logic.
"I have to go get ready, but I'll meet you guys around here when I get through performing okay?" Allete pointed to the ground they were standing on. She then turned to leave for the dance studio to get her costume and warm-up. But not before turning back one last time to say, "I wouldn't ride that if I were you."
Katara was gripping the sides of the car she, her brother and the Avatar were riding in with one hand and holding her stomach with the other. She had managed to persuade her friends into not taking her onto the death machine Allete had warned them off of, but she was now just trying to hold her lunch down on the tilt-a-hurl.
Meanwhile, Zuko sat in the car on the opposite end of the wooden beam that was the tilt-a-hurl. This was the farthest thing from fun he'd ever done. His head ached from the two screaming 10 year olds across from him. He was trying to think enough to figure out how his uncle had forced him onto this poor excuse for a ride. He finally had a moment's peace when the screaming stopped long enough for Zuko to watch in horror as one of the children quieted long enough to lose its lunch all over his boots. Zuko clenched his fists trying to hold back the flames that threatened to explode all over that child and prayed to the heavens that the mess didn't seep through his shoes.
But through all the spinning, Katara thought she saw a familiar face with a familiar scar over his left eye. No, she thought. I'm just really dizzy. If he's here, I'll see him when I get off. The ride finally did end and she stumbled off, looking all over for the prince she thought she saw. If she'd only turned one more corner she would have seen him by a water pump cleaning the kid's puke off his boots. And if he'd only looked toward the harbor, he would have seen the fleet of Fire Navy ships pulling in.