Chapter 6: "Imprisoned" (Part 1)
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER! Just my own OC(s) and ideas!
I was sitting on a low tree branch and letting the sun dry my wet hair. Katara and Aang were sitting underneath as we waited for Sokka to return with dinner. It had been an hour and that boy still wasn't back yet. I saw Momo flying back with Sokka not too far behind. Aang jumped up.
"Finally! What did you find?" he asked.
I jumped off the branch and joined them. "Please tell me you found something good" I said.
"Well, I found a few things" Sokka replied, dumping the bag's contents in front of them. The three of us looked from the measly objects then back at Sokka. "What?" he asked innocently. "They're nuts. Look, oval shaped nuts, round shaped nuts, and rock shaped nuts" he explained, holding them out in his hand.
Katara folded her arms and frowned at her brother. "I'm pretty sure those are just rocks" she commented as Sokka pointed to the last one in his hand. He scowled at her, throwing the rock over his shoulder. They all really just looked like rocks. We looked at each other in disappointment. "Seriously, was this all you could find?" Katara asked coolly, examining one of the nuts to make sure it actually was one.
I picked up one of the nuts and examined it for myself. Well, you don't have much choice when you're starving, I thought. Just as I was about to put it to my mouth, there was a deafening boom in the distance. All of us quickly exchanged looks, startled. Sokka was the first to speak.
"What was that?" he said in alarm.
Momo scuttled up my arm and sat on my shoulder, I scratched his head with my finger reassuringly. When the loud boom echoed again, I stood up and slipped the dagger out of my sleeve on instinct.
Fire Nation was my first thought.
"This way!" Aang shouted, running towards the east and Katara followed.
"Shouldn't we be running in the other direction?" Sokka demanded in exasperation, flailing his arms.
"What if someone needs help?" I told him, as he reluctantly followed behind me. All four of us crouched behind a tree log and peered over it. To my relief, it wasn't the Fire Nation. It was a boy with long brown hair moving a big rock to one side.
"An earthbender!" Katara said quietly.
"Let's go meet him" Aang suggested.
"He looks dangerous so we better approach cautiously" Sokka said
Dangerous? He didn't look dangerous at all. If anything he looked…well…nice. Katara had already jumped over the log and was standing in plain view. "Hello there! I'm Katara, what's your name?" she called
The boy turned his head in shock and took off running in the opposite direction. He dropped several rocks in our path. We came out from behind the log and walked over to Katara.
"Nice to meet you!" Aang shouted
"Great job Katara, you scared him off" I said lightly, sliding my dagger back in my sleeve.
"All I said was hi" Katara said innocently.
Aang suddenly widened his eyes and smiled. "Hey, maybe there's a village nearby. And if there's a village, maybe there's a market!"
Katara suddenly clasped her hands together. "Which means real dinner!" she added in delight. The thought of eating anything other than nuts sounded really enjoyable. I started to run after Aang and Katara.
"Hey, those nuts weren't easy to find, you know!" Sokka shouted defensively.
"You can have them! But just know if they have any meat I'm not sharing!" I called over my shoulder, laughing as his expression turned from annoyed to hopeful in the blink of an eye and started sprinting behind us.
Sure enough we came to a small Earth Kingdom village. Sokka immediately began to search for the meat, but came up empty handed. He pouted, watching me fill a basket with a loaf of bread and some fruit. Katara browsed through the market, her head turning in every direction. I didn't know if she was deciding what to eat first or looking for the earthbender. I was walking over to the vegetable section where I found Aang haggling for a merchant's hat. I didn't get a chance to properly look through the vegetables because Katara had sprinted inside a small shop.
Sokka, Aang and I looked at each questionably and followed her. It was a rather small shop and had barrels and a few vases on the shelves. A middle aged woman was standing behind the counter and in the center stood the earthbender we saw earlier. "Hey, you're that kid. Why did you run away before?" Katara asked
The boy widened his eyes glancing at me then Katara. "Uh…you must have me confused with some other kid" he said quickly, looking nervously towards his mother.
"No she doesn't. We saw you earthbending" Aang put in as he walked in ahead of us.
The boy gasped and the woman behind the counter widened her eyes before closing the door and windows shut. "They saw you doing what?" she asked seriously.
"I don't know what they're talking about, Mom. They're crazy, look at what they're wearing" he said, gesturing to our clothing.
"Hmph" I huffed and folded my arm over my chest. "We haven't exactly had time to go shopping" I said, though to be honest I didn't see what was so wrong about our clothing. Katara and Sokka were self-consciously tugging on their own. His mother didn't seem at all convinced by his son's comment.
"How could you be so careless, Haru?" she asked. I couldn't tell if her tone was angry or frightful. "You're lucky you weren't caught by them" she said. It took me a moment to realize she didn't mean us when she said 'them'.
"By 'them' you mean…?" I was about to ask but was interrupted by a loud knock on the door. Sokka walked over to the window and looked through the blinds.
"Fire Nation! Act natural" he whispered loudly. I barely had time to move as the middle-aged woman opened the door and the Fire Nation guards walked inside. Katara was pretending to eat from a bowl of lychee nuts. Aang was leaning on a barrel of water. Sokka and the boy looked like they were examining an apple. And I was standing awkwardly by the counter, holding a bag of food. The lid of the barrel cracked and Aang's arm fell inside. I flinched and looked back at the guard, who gave Aang a suspicious look. The boy's mother quickly drew away his attention.
"What is it this time? I've already paid my dues" she demanded.
The guard turned and gave her a nasty smile. "The tax has been doubled" he said, "We wouldn't want an accident, would we?" he told her threateningly and smirked as he made a ball of fire between his hands. Everyone instinctively took a step back. "Fire is sometimes so hard to control" he said, eyeing everyone smugly. The woman looked at though she was going to retort but bowed her head and took out a chest from behind the counter and handed him a few coins. Her son leaned against the counter next to me and watched in annoyance just as I did. "You can keep the copper ones" the firebender said, throwing them on the ground instead of handing them in her hand. Then again, that was probably asking too much from a firebender.
I watched in anger as he walked out. "That no good, self-righteous…" I found myself walking towards him and the woman held her arm out in front of me.
"Do you have a death wish, child?" she whispered sternly, bending down to pick up the copper pieces and I helped her.
"Why do you let him treat you like that?" I asked as I placed the coins with the others inside the box.
"I don't have a choice. This shop is all we have, if I don't pay them they'll burn it down and we'll have nothing" she answered.
"How long have they been here?" Sokka asked.
"About six years. Our coal mines have become a source of fuel for the Fire Lord's ships" she explained.
"Thugs. Every last one of them" Haru muttered angrily with his arms folded.
"Be quiet. You know better than to say such things out loud" she told him sternly, and then nervously looked towards the door as if expecting them to barge back in.
I folded my arms over my chest and looked over at Haru.
"But you're an earthbender, why don't you just clear them out?" Katara asked, voicing my exact thoughts.
"Yeah" I agreed "The Fire Nation has been stealing your money for almost six years. You have an opportunity to clean these thugs out of your village and you're not using earthbending to your advantage. It's like you don't care" I said.
"Bending is forbidden here" she told us. "Anyone found earthbending suffer the consequences. If anything, our town has gotten worse because of it"
Katara frowned. "You talk about bending as if it's a curse, but it's not. I'm a waterbender and I'm proud of my gift and so should he" she said.
I was about to add in, but kept my mouth shut because I finally understood. The Fire Nation was conquering more land every day as well as killing and imprisoning more earthbenders along with it. Haru's mother had forbidden him to earthbend so he would be safe from the Fire Nation. Exactly how my mother had done with me.
I turned to look at Haru with a new sense of understanding. He had his head bowed, and I felt the urge to reach out and touch his shoulder. To tell him I understood exactly what I was going through, but I couldn't. Not with Katara standing two feet away from me.
"The Fire Nation has already done so much here, what more could they take away from you that they haven't already?" Katara asked, urging forward.
"Katara…" I whispered warningly. I couldn't help but feel she was remembering the day our friends and family were raided and how there was barely anything we could've done to prevent it.
"They can take away my son! Just like they took my husband" she told her painfully.
My eyes widened in shock. Haru turned away as if he was going to shed tears and I felt another strong surge of guilt and judging by the look on Katara's face, she did too. I gently put a hand on her shoulder.
"We're sorry" I told the woman. "We didn't mean to pry. We're…travelers" I said, quickly glancing at Aang. It was probably better if didn't tell who he was, especially with so much of the Fire Nation in one village. "We're coming from Omashu and this is the first village we've seen that's been invaded by the Fire Nation. We were just shocked" I told her.
The edge of her mouth twitched slightly. "So they haven't been able to invade Omashu yet, eh? With the way things are going, I'd have to say it might be our last safe haven. That and Ba Sing Se, of course" she said.
"Let's hope not" Katara said sadly. I gave her shoulder a gently squeeze and she patted my hand.
"So you're travelers are you? Where are you headed?" she said, putting her hands on her hips.
"North Pole. As my friend said before, she's a waterbender and we're trying to find her a master" I explained.
She raised an eyebrow. "North Pole? Well, you have a long way. Do you have somewhere to stay?" she asked, to which the four of us shook our heads. Haru's mother rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, I can't let you children starve in the woods, now can I? I suppose I can make some room for you, but in the mean time you can help with dinner" she said.
The four of us exchanged looks of disbelief.
"Great, you wouldn't happen to have any meat around here by any chance? Ow!" Sokka gave me a look when I flicked his forehead.
"You could at least thank them first" I retorted.
We helped Haru and his mother with dinner. Their table was too small for six people so we ended up setting a blanket in the middle of the shop and all ate together. We all talked and got to know Haru and his mother a bit better. Afterwards he led us outside to show us where we would be sleeping. I sprinted to meet up with his pace.
"Hey, I just wanted to say sorry again about earlier. If we'd known your situation, we never would've asked" I told him.
"To be honest, you and Katara reminded me of him a little bit" he said, and I gave him a small smile. "And you don't have to apologize. My situation's a little complicated, I don't really expect a lot of people to understand" he added.
Again, I wanted to reach out and tell him I knew exactly what he was going through because my mother did the same with me, but I couldn't tell him here. It was almost sundown and Haru had finally led us to a large barn behind his home. He unlocked the door, which was big enough for Appa to get through.
"If you need any water, it's just behind the barn. You can rest here for the night, but my mom said its better if you leave in the morning. It's not safe here"
"Thanks! I'll make sure Appa doesn't eat anything while we're here" Aang promised.
"Uh…too late" I said, pointing at his bison that had a mouthful of hay in his mouth.
I climbed into Appa's saddle and tossed my sleeping bag on the ground. When I turned to look back at Haru, he was already walking away. Katara stood by the entrance of the barn watching him go.
"I should apologize to him" she said guiltily and then ran after him. I watched her go, shielding my eyes from the bright sunset hitting the barn.
"Hey Talia, we could use some help over here" Sokka called. I walked over and helped lay out the sleeping bags.
"It's gonna be dark soon, should we ask for a lantern?" I said.
Sokka rubbed his chin. "Just get one. We don't want to rouse suspicion when firebenders are passing by" he said.
"Fine. By the way, where did you put the bread I bought?"
He raised an eyebrow at me. "Bread? You didn't give me any bread" he said.
I frowned. "The bag of food I bought this afternoon? I asked you grab it after dinner while I helped Haru's mom with the dishes?" I reminded.
"Ohh, right! I kinda…forgot" he admitted sheepishly.
I scoffed and rolled my eyes at him. "Never mind, I'll get it" I said, walking out of the barn. I walked past Haru and Katara who were sitting on the edge of the cliff in deep conversation. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Katara touch her necklace. I noticed it was a habit of hers whenever she talked about her mother. I jogged towards the lit shop and walked in to see Haru's mother placing several things on the top shelf. "Um, hi, I just wanted to ask if you had a lamp we could borrow for the night?" I asked.
"Of course" she nodded, and disappeared into the back.
The bread sat on top of the counter, just where I left it. I tied the top of the bag and waited for her to return. She came back with a lamp and a small bowl of cherries, placing both in front of me.
"Thanks" I said, picking out a cherry. I glanced at her and pursed my lips. "It must be hard not having your husband here. If you don't mind me asking, how's Haru been handling it?" I asked delicately, pulling apart the stem.
"It's been hard for him, but I think he's slowly adjusting. Spirits, know when I will" she added with a sigh.
I plucked the stem off another cherry and put it in my mouth. "I can understand that. They took my best friend and mother away from me. My sister was very young at the time so she doesn't exactly remember that day as clearly as I do. I was ten" I explained, taking the bracelet off my wrist and showing her. She took it from my hand and examined it. "Her name was Avani, hence the 'A' engraved in the stone. When they were raiding everyone, she dropped it. Avani never took that off" I pointed out, subconsciously touching my mother's crescent shaped pendant that was fastened around my wrist.
"You're from the Southern Tribe, then" she said, placing the bracelet back in my hand. "Yes, I've heard many scary stories about the raids. What about your father?"
I twisted the stem around in my finger which is what I usually do when I'm nervous. "I... I never knew him" I explained, turning my head away. And I don't want to.
"I'm sorry to hear that" she said, squeezing my hand in a very motherly way. "I'm sure he loved you dearly" she added with a smile.
I clenched my fist tightly. "I doubt that" I muttered under my breath and stood up, grabbing the lantern and bag of food. She looked at me questionably. "I should go back to the barn" I added, before walking out the shop.
I was having a hard time trying to accept the fact my mother had been raped. There wasn't another explanation. There couldn't be. Just the thought of it made it hard for me to swallow. He despised me, but I didn't care. My mother was the one who took care of me, not him. But…
What went through her head every time she looked at me? Was I a constant reminder of what a ruthless firebender had done to her?
My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a loud explosion several feet ahead. I ran up the hill to investigate. Haru was trying to stop some rocks that were falling from the mouth of a cave. Katara was trying to pull out an old man that was trapped. I ran to help her. "What happened?" I asked, dropping everything in my hand and grabbed the other man's arm.
"The mine exploded" she said quickly. We both tried to pull the old man out by his arms. It didn't do any good. "It's not working. We have to get help" Katara said
"There's no time. Pull harder!" Haru said
I tried moving a few rocks. It was no use; the mine would collapse any minute. Katara looked at Haru hopefully. "Haru, there might be another way" she said
"Katara, no" I said, pulling on the man's arm again.
"No, I can't do that" Haru told her, struggling with the rocks.
"We don't have another choice, Talia!" Katara replied then looked back at Haru. "Please, there's no one around here. It's the only way!"
"Katara, you heard what his mom said" I snapped "It's too risky"
"There aren't any firebenders around!" she argued with me.
Haru quickly moved away in front of us. He leaned back on his leg and slowly moved his hand in front of him. Several bits of rock stopped falling around our faces. Haru spun on one foot and thrust his fists in front of him. All the rocks that covered the old man went back into the tunnel of the mine. Katara and I helped the old man stand up. Haru took his arm from me and we led the old man back towards the village. The man straightened himself up and he began to walk on his own. Haru, Katara, and I followed close behind him. I pulled on Katara's arm and moved her to the side.
"I can't believe you made him do that" I said, as the old man and Haru walked several feet in front of us.
"Do what?" she asked innocently.
"You forced Haru to earthbend!" I scolded "You heard what his mom said would happen if the firebenders saw him"
"Forced him? I didn't force him" she objected. She glanced at them then looked back at me and whispered. "It's not like I put a knife to his throat and threatened him. If he hadn't earthbended then we wouldn't have been able to save that old man. He would've been crushed to death, is that what you wanted?"
"You know I don't!" I said defensively. "You're missing the point. Someone could've seen him"
"Talia, no one was there" she said.
I glanced at the old man for a brief moment then back at Katara. "He was" I whispered, pointing at the old man.
Katara widened her eyes in shock and furrowed her eyebrows. "You think that old man would turn in Haru after saving his life?" she demanded "He's a civilian of the Earth Kingdom just like everyone else here. He wouldn't turn in Haru!"
I pushed my hair back and exhaled. "Think logically, Katara" I said, slowly emphasizing each word "I understand that you're being optimistic and there's nothing wrong with that, but try thinking realistically for a second. The world is not how you want it to be"
"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded.
I pinched the area between my eyes. "Look I know you think that everything's okay, but it's not. In case you haven't noticed, people aren't holding hands and singing like the way you want it to be. We're living during a war; people will betray their own people if they have to" I explained.
Katara folded her arms over her chest, glaring at me. "I don't believe that for a second and neither should you" she replied coldly.
"Guys?" Both of us turned our heads as Haru cautiously walked towards us. "Is everything alright?" he asked warily
I looked back at Katara. "Everything's fine" I said calmly. Sometimes the hardest thing to do was to convince Katara, even though I knew she meant well. Whether or not the old man would turn in Haru or not wasn't the point, she could've put him in danger. We walked the old man back to the village and then headed back towards Haru's barn. Katara walked inside. I bit my lip and glanced at Haru, debating if I should talk to him.
"Are you alright?" Haru asked. "You look like you want to say something" he chuckled.
"Er…actually, I wanted to talk to you about something. In private" I replied hesitantly, to which he raised an eyebrow but didn't object. I placed the lamp and fruit bag in a corner by the hay. "Do you want to go for a walk?" I asked awkwardly, brushing a lock of hair behind my ear.
Haru shrugged and then gestured me towards the bottom of the hill. Where do I start? I wondered.
The sun was beginning to sink behind the mountains. Streaks of pink, orange, red, and purple were mixed in the sky; it almost reminded me of the celestial lights. I would always watched them from the tent with my sister, sometimes Avani would join us too long after Sienna had gone to sleep. She would talk enthusiastically about seeing the rest of the world after the war is over and won. She would've loved Kyoshi Island.
I subconsciously touched the bracelet on my wrist.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Haru commented, bringing me out of my thoughts.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, it's stunning" I agreed once I realized he too was looking at the sunset. "All those colors remind me of the celestial lights back home. My sister, Sienna, and I always used to watch them before we went to sleep"
"Where's your sister now?" he asked tentatively.
When I glanced over at him he had a pitied look on his face. "Oh, no, it's not like that" I said quickly. "She's safe, back in our village. I knew it'd be too dangerous for her to travel with us, so I told her to stay behind" I explained as we walked through the dirt trail, the woods glowed orange as the sun hit it.
"So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Haru asked as we stopped in front of a small bubbling stream.
I sighed as I sat down near the edge of the bank and he sat next to me. He pick up a rock and crush it until it was in small enough to fit in his palm. "Well, first of all, I'm sorry about what happened to your father" I said softly, watching him.
"Thank you" he said almost quietly. Haru stared at the rock in his hand and threw it in the water. We watched as it skid on the surface before submerging.
"So…you've been hiding your earthbending since then?" I asked, picking up a small pebble near my foot and threw it in the creek too.
"Yes. But doing my earthbending in secret is better than forgetting about it. It's the only way I feel close to him" he answered.
I pursed my lips. I was all too familiar with what it was like to hide your bending. It was almost as if you were living two lives and hiding half of yourself from others. It was something we had in common, I knew how Haru felt.
"But I don't think that's what you wanted to talk about" he said.
"No," I said, folding my arms over my knees. "Listen, I understand what you mean about feeling close to your father. But…I also understand what it's like to have a mother who'll do anything to protect you, like forbidding you from bending" I explained and he stared at me curiously. I glanced at his unoccupied hand not far from mine and squeezed it. "Can you keep a secret?" I asked.
He looked down at his hand and then back at me before nodding. I bit my bottom lip before moving a little closer to the water and hovered my hand over it. Was I actually doing this? Haru raised an eyebrow at me, but watched curiously. I concentrated on the water and slowly moved my hand upward until it was at eye level and a thin stream of water followed it. I raised my other hand and bended another thin stream of water. Moving my index and middle finger on both hands, I waved them in two separate circles and the water followed the movement. I moved my hands together and created one large ball of water and revolved it in a circle over my head before throwing it back in the creek. When I looked back at Haru he was staring at me with wide eyes. It wasn't until then I realized I may have been a little overenthusiastic.
"You're a waterbender?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yeah," I replied, blushing as Haru stared at me in awe. I sat back down. "My mother told me to hide my bending too. So I know how you feel, but I can also understand how your mother feels. She just wants you to be safe" I explained.
"Is that why you and Katara were arguing?" he said, bending a stone out of the river.
"Oh you heard that, huh?" I asked uneasily.
"You two were pretty loud, but thanks for worrying about me" he said, chuckling slightly. I pursed my lips and looked away. "And I'm glad you're a waterbender. Because, well, to be honest I didn't think you were really from the Water Tribe"
My shoulders tensed when he said it. "Oh, why's that?" I asked, trying to sound confused. "Did you think I was from the Fire Nation?"
Haru pursed his lips and looked away, embarrassed. I tried to laugh it off as if it was a mistake anyone could make, but my stomach had twisted into a knot.
"Sorry," he said, brushing off his pants. He offered his hand and helped me stand up. "But…" he trailed on. He started blushing again and rubbed his neck awkwardly. "To be honest I also, kind of, think you're…really pretty" he admitted.
I blinked. "Oh," was the first thing that escaped from my mouth. I didn't expect him to say something like that. My face began to heat up and I was positive it was the color of a tomato. "Thank you. Well…you know, you're not bad either"
Haru looked at me and smiled. He leaned closer and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. I knew what he was going to do before he did it, but it still surprised me when our lips met. He closed his eyes at the same time I did. My heart fluttered a little at the contact. He was still holding my hand and his other one was on my lower back. I placed my free hand on his shoulder and pulled him a little closer. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a red and orange glow. I pulled away and gasped, looking at my surroundings.
"What's wrong?" Haru asked, startled.
"I…I thought I just saw a firebender" I said calmly though alert. I glanced back at him and he was smiling. We both blushed. "It's getting dark. We should go back" I suggested. He didn't let go of my hand as he led me back up the dirt trail. "Haru, one more thing, you can't tell anyone that I'm a waterbender. Katara doesn't even know" I said, as we walked. His facial expression asked nothing more than why Katara, also a waterbender, didn't know I was one. A familiar surge of guilt came over me.
"You're the first person I've ever told. I'm not ready to tell anyone else, yet" I explained.
"It's not my secret to tell" he acknowledged simply, shrugging his shoulders.
I smiled gratefully, even though I knew he wanted to ask why. "Thank you" I said, as we came to the top of the hill and stopped several feet in front of the barn. I heard a purring sound come from above my head and saw a small black and white creature sitting on the edge of the window, spying on us. "Momo!" I scolded in a whisper, quickly letting go of Haru's hand
Haru laughed lightly. "Er, well goodnight, Talia" he said shyly.
Before I could return it, he leaned in and quickly pecked my cheek. When he pulled back, his cheeks were tinted red. From the way my own cheeks burned, I'd say mine were too.
"Um, goodnight Haru" I replied, awkwardly rubbing the back of my neck before we walked our separate directions. I absentmindedly touched my cheek as I walked inside the barn. What just happened? Did I actually kiss Haru? Did he actually kiss me? When I came to the entrance of the barn, Sokka was standing there smirking at me.
"You and Haru seemed to have gotten pretty close" he said smugly.
"Oh, shut up!" I snapped when I couldn't come up with a good excuse. I tried to hide my blushing face as I walked past him. I'm sure he could felt the heat radiating off of me.
"So what did you two do all evening?" he asked, following behind me.
"We went for a walk. It was refreshing, you should try it" I told him dismissively.
"A romantic walk?" he continued. I grabbed my pillow and tossed it at his head, giving him my 'shut-up-before-smack-you' look. "I was kidding!" he laughed, ducking as the pillow narrowly missed his head.
Katara told Aang and Sokka all about the old man they saved. I spread my sleeping bag out on a stack of hay as Sokka told all of us to go to sleep so we could leave at sunrise. We all argued about wanting to sleep in, but Sokka made a good point about the Fire Nation finding Aang was here then we'd all be eating fireballs.
"Better than nuts" Katara muttered.
I snickered as Sokka said goodnight again and Katara blew out the candle. I lay awake for a while, gazing at whatever I could see through the high window. Everyone else was breathing heavily in their sleep. I was thinking about the kiss and how I had shown Haru I could waterbend. I know how Haru felt about hiding his bending, but had I done the right thing by showing him that I could waterbend? I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Maybe I just needed a glass of water. I shuffled towards the door as quietly as I could and headed towards Haru's cottage. The door was unlocked and creaked quietly as I walked in. I was able to find a cup and bended a little water out of a barrel and into it.
"Couldn't sleep?" I nearly choked and turned around to see Haru standing by the door, his hands raised meekly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you" he said apologetically.
"Haru! I didn't know you were up" I said quietly. "How'd you know I was coming?"
He shrugged. "I didn't" he admitted "I saw you coming through the window. I thought maybe you wanted to talk" he said.
That's why the door was unlocked. "Actually, I only came for a glass of water" I explained "What would I want to talk about?" I asked.
He walked towards me, until he was standing only a foot away. "Talia, why won't you tell Katara you're a waterbender?" he asked delicately.
I closed my eyes and sighed. I should've known he'd be too curious not to ask. "My mother told me not to. She was afraid I would be raided by the Fire Nation. You know what that's like" I pointed out coolly.
Katara doesn't even know another waterbender around her exists" he pointed out. "Why don't you tell her?" he asked, putting his hands on my shoulders.
I set my water on the counter and held both of his wrists, gently pulling his hands away. "I can't. My situation's more complicated than that. Haru…" I let go of his wrists and leaned back against the counter. "…you don't know anything" I sighed.
"I know we haven't known each other very long, but...I'm willing to listen" he reasoned. I didn't say anything and he gently squeezed my arm reassuringly. "Something's bothering you, isn't it? And it's not that you haven't told Katara you're a waterbender"
He was definitely perceptive. "This is the first time in my life I've ever been able to relate to someone. I've never deliberately shown anyone that I could waterbend, except you. The only reason I showed you was because I understood what you were going through when you hide your earthbending" I began to say. "It's honestly the first time I felt like I understood how someone felt and what's going through their head. But even then it didn't really make me feel better"
He frowned. "You're not making any sense" he said calmly.
Though it was dark, I could still see his face.
"I'm different in more ways than one, Haru. My own sister doesn't even know what I can do. I…I'm not the person everyone thinks I am" I said, feeling as if my tongue had rolled out of my mouth.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
I shook my head, not looking at him. "It's complicated" I answered. If I've had a copper piece for every time I said that…
"Do you have another secret?" he asked, wrapping his arms around my waist. "You can tell me" he said.
I put both my hands on his shoulders and pushed a lock of hair away from his face. I've never related to someone's struggles so quickly quite like I did Haru's. I haven't known him for that long, but I felt safe standing there in his arms, but at the same time felt like there was this enormous wall between us. His greens eyes looked into my hazel ones. I wanted to tell him. Oh spirits, I wanted to tell him. He had kissed me, he liked me. We understood each other. Maybe we could have something good. But was it worth the risk?
Firebenders took his father away from him, like they took my mother. I was part Fire Nation. He would walk away for sure. How would I tell him? How could I make him understand that I wasn't one of them? Or that my mother had been raped and I was conceived? It could go either way. Should I take the chance? I swallowed.
"You have to understand…" I started softly. Haru nodded and seemed to be listening intently. "My mother…she was—wait…do you hear that?" I said.
Haru blinked and looked towards the door. I knew he heard it too. It was the sound of feet crunching across dirt and gravel. He held me behind him as the footsteps came closer to the door and stopped in front of his door.
Knock, knock, knock…
Haru cautiously stepped forward and I followed close behind. The handled of my dagger slid in my hand. He held his arm in front of me, beckoning me to stay put as he walked towards the door. I didn't like not being able to do anything. Through the crack, I could see glowing lights. Haru gasped and I heard an old man's voice.
"He's the one! He's the earthbender" he said accusingly.
The door slammed open and I thought for sure Haru's mother would wake. My heart skipped a beat as I saw the guard from yesterday outstretch his arms towards Haru. Without thinking, I bended the water out of the barrel and sprayed it directly into his face. He staggered and I stood in front of Haru with both my arms out to the side.
"Pah!" he spat water out of his mouth and wiped at his forehead before glaring at me.
"You're not taking him" I snapped. Haru grasped my shoulder from behind, but I stood my ground.
"Stand aside you stupid girl!" he said menacingly
"No!" I shouted at him firmly.
He blinked at my answer and then formed a ball of fire in his hand. "You dare defy me?" he demanded
"Yes. I do" I spat. Haru whispered something in my ear, but I didn't listen. The guard seemed to getting angrier and angrier. "If you're going to take him, you have to take me too" I proclaimed
The guard's mouth curled into an evil grin. "Gladly" he said as he reached for my shoulder and pulled me forward.
"Talia!" Haru shouted. He looked like he was about to earthbend, but the other two guards pinned his arms behind his back.
"You may not be an earthbender, but we can still have you arrested for disobeying orders and aiding an earthbender" he said before shoving me towards one of the guards. He tied my hands behind my back and shoved me outside with him. I glared at the old man as we passed him. I knew this would happen.
To be continued…
Before anyone says anything, yes, this is a Zuko/OC fic but I thought it would be cute if Haru and Talia had a tiny thing. Currently working on part 2. Also what did you guys think about Haru/Talia? Please review!