The hot sun bore down on two ostrich-horses walking slowly along a dusty road. The rider of one of the horses uncapped her water pouch and tipped it to find it empty. She turned to her white-haired companion. "Can you spare some water from your pouch?"
The older girl sighed as she took out her own pouch and tossed it to her friend. "Haven't you fixed that leak in your water pouch yet, Azula?"
"I did, but apparently it didn't work. I'm not much good at fixing things." The firebending prodigy gulped down some water, then handed the water pouch back to its owner.
The waterbender returned the pouch to its original place beside her waist. "We haven't seen any other people since this morning before we set out. The Earth Kingdom can't be this deserted, can it?"
"A hundred years of war has left its mark. According to the map, we should be reaching the next town by noon." The former Fire Nation princess gestured to her bag, where a map of the Earth Kingdom was kept.
"Well, the sun is pretty high in the sky already. Shouldn't we see some signs of human life by now?" Suddenly Yue spotted a small building in the distance. "Over there!"
As the two girls rode up to the building, they saw the door was closed firmly and a young man was putting up a 'Closed' notice. Azula got down from her horse and walked up to the young man. "What's going on? Why are you closing shop in the middle of the day?"
The young man turned to look at her. "You're obviously travelers, aren't you? Then you probably don't know about the Spring Festival in town. All the nearby shops close so the shopkeepers can join in the festivities, so if you're looking for food you should probably head into town. It's just over that way." He then pointed down a road branching out from the main road where a cluster of buildings could be seen before starting off down the path while whistling merrily.
The Water Tribe princess turned to her friend. "Should we?"
The firebender furrowed her brow. "I'm not sure. We should keep out of any towns or villages; we'd be easier to get captured by Zhao if we hang around any places with a lot of people." Just then her stomach rumbled unceremoniously and she groaned. "But if it's for keeping us alive, I don't see any other choice."
She got on her ostrich-horse, and the two girls rode down the path.
…
A troop of Komodo rhinos thundered through the Earth Kingdom pastures, shattering the peaceful atmosphere of the countryside. As the Fire Nation soldiers rode on without speaking, one of them broke away from the rest and rode forward toward the head of the troop. "Admiral, the animals are thirsty. I don't think they can continue much longer without a rest."
Zhao glared angrily at the offending soldier, who cowered under his menacing expression. "I don't care if the measly beasts are too weak to carry on! If we have to, we'll go on by foot! Those traitors have put a lot of distance between themselves and us, and I am not stopping just yet! We continue forward!"
"Yes sir!" As the soldier rode back to his place in the troop, the admiral scowled as his eyes scanned the barren countryside. They can run, but they can't hide forever. I will find them.
…
"Wow. It is a proper festival." Yue couldn't help but be amazed by the celebrations of the Earth Kingdom people. Colourful streamers and banners were hung up everywhere, and all the people were dressed in their best. The streets were lined with all kinds of stalls, selling everything from flowers to food and many others. The two ostrich-horses walked on the narrow street, skilfully avoiding any pedestrians from being trampled under their feet.
Her firebending friend huffed. "This is nothing compared to the Fire Festival back home. We have everything there: performances, food, and best of all are the fireworks! Mother used to watch them with Zuzu and me on the palace balcony. We have a stunning view there." She suddenly felt a small pang in her heart, remembering that those happy moments spent with her mother had all become a thing of the past. Shaking her head to clear her mind, she pointed to a restaurant up ahead. "Let's just get our lunch there."
The two girls got down from their ostrich-horses before tying them to a pole outside where a few other beasts of burden were tied up. Then they went into the restaurant and chose a seat by the window where they could see their animals. As the black-haired princess beckoned to a waiter, no one noticed a shadow lurking beside the restaurant. While they placed their order, the shadow quietly untied the reins of the ostrich-horse nearest to him and slowly led it away. Just then, Azula turned her head to see someone making off with her ostrich-horse. She quickly got out of her seat and ran out into the street, chasing the ostrich-horse thief. "Stop! Come back!"
The firebending prodigy pursued the thief relentlessly through the streets until she accidentally tripped over something and fell. She raised her head just in time to see the thief and her animal round a bend and disappear from sight. Grumbling angrily, she got to her feet, dusted the dirt off her clothes and continued running. She rounded the bend into a side street to see two young men glaring at each other. One of them held the reins of her ostrich-horse in her hand. She pointed a finger at him. "Hey! That's my ostrich-horse! Give it back!"
The teen turned to smirk at her. "It's mine now. Finders keepers, remember?"
She glared angrily at him, the colour rising to her cheeks. What infuriated her most of all was that she had used that phrase herself before, after having taken one of little Zuzu's prized treasures. It didn't feel good to be on the receiving end of that phrase. She was sorely tempted to deliver a blow to the thief and wipe that disgusting smirk off his face when the other young man, who had been all but ignored, spoke for the first time since she'd bumped into them. "Give the ostrich-horse back, Chun."
Chun turned and flashed that annoying smirk of his at the taller teen. "Or what? Think you're a little goody-two-shoes, eh Young Dal? Well then, what are you going to do now?"
"This." Before any of them could respond, Chun was blasted back with a mound of earth until he was slumped against a wall. As he lay there in a daze, the earthbender calmly took the ostrich-horse's reins which had dropped onto the ground and handed them to the girl. "Here. I think this is yours."
"Thanks." Azula took the reins from the other teen's hand and cleared her throat softly. "So, I think I should be getting back now. Someone is waiting for me back at the restaurant.
"Oh. Okay." Young Dal watched her turn to leave the alley, then stop. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know the way back. I was so busy chasing the thief I didn't notice where I was going. Oh well, I'm sure I'll be able to find my way back. It's not a big city, after all." The former princess had just taken a step into the main street when she jumped backwards hastily to avoid getting run over by a dangerously fast cart. She lost her balance and started to fall over, until the young earthbender who'd just helped her caught her in time. She laughed nervously as she steadied herself. "Okay, so I have to watch out for speeding carts."
"And a lot of other things. It's not a big city, but that's why it's so overcrowded. An easy place to get lost." He flashed her a warm smile. "Why don't I help you get back?"
I could use some help in this place. "Sure, okay." The firebending prodigy let the stranger she'd just met lead her as they navigated the busy streets.
…
Where could she be? Yue wondered as she sat alone at a table in the restaurant, a plate of untouched food before her. Her friend had run out just after they'd ordered the food, and now she was left by herself here with their lunch. Just as well they had split the money between the two of them; otherwise she'd probably be stuck here waiting for someone who wouldn't show up. She sighed as she ate a bit of her lunch, then paid for the food and walked out. She might as well try to look for her missing friend rather than sit and wait all day.
She untied the reins of her ostrich-horse and got on, suddenly feeling a bit shaky to ride the animal. It had been better with Azula alongside her, but now she felt like she lacked the confidence to tame the beast. Taking a deep breath, she slowly steered her ostrich-horse forward.
As the animal and its rider slowly made their way down the crowded street, a ferret-lynx suddenly bolted out from a side alley. The horse reared up in fright, nearly toppling the white-haired girl over, then suddenly dashed forward. Hanging on for dear life, Yue couldn't even scream as she held tightly to the ostrich-horse's mane, shutting her eyes tightly. The pedestrians of the street hurriedly made way for the stray horse, who continued running madly until it crashed into a stall selling flowers. As the crash of flower pots breaking could be heard, the waterbender slowly opened her eyes. She found herself in the middle of a mess of broken flower pots and trodden flowers while her ostrich-horse lay on the smashed stall. Just then, an old man walked over, his cheeks turning red at an alarming rate. "What do you think you're doing to my stall here, little missy! That there horse of yours just ruined all my prized flowers!"
The teenage girl quickly got up and dusted the debris off her clothes while a crowd of passers-by looked on. "I'm so sorry, Mister! I'll help you clean up, if you like…"
"You'd darn well better, young lady! What with the mess that crazed animal of yours has made, it'll take me the rest of the day to clear this wreck alone!" The old man handed a broom to her, then picked up a bunch of crushed flowers. His eyes turned misty. "I spent all year tending to these blooms for the Spring Festival, never thought they'd go so quickly... Ah well, fate never spares the pretty ones." He turned and jerked a finger towards the Water Tribe princess who stood aside with the broom in her hands, not sure what to do. "And quit stalling there missy, the sun is going down soon and we haven't even started! I'd like to get this done by dinnertime, if you will!" He then bent down to pick up more withered blossoms, muttering under his breath as he did so.
Yue gave a shrug and started sweeping up some broken pieces of flower pot, though her mind was on her missing friend as she did so. Azula, where are you?
...
"That one, over there!" The raven-haired girl dashed over to the restaurant, ignoring the young man who was leading her ostrich-horse by the reins behind her. He shook his head sadly, thinking that she was probably used to getting people to do things for her. He tied the ostrich-horse safely to the stand outside the restaurant, then went in after its master, keeping an eye on it as he went in.
Azula was talking to a member of the staff of the restaurant. "No, miss, your friend already left some time ago. She left the money to pay for the food and then got up and went out."
The firebender groaned as she walked out of the restaurant with her new acquaintance in tow. "Seriously, where has she got to? She can't possibly be wandering around in a place she doesn't know!"
Young Dal was about to say something when he suddenly noticed a pile of smashed wood beside the road. He walked over and scrutinized the mess, his eyes widening. Turning around, he spotted a woman walking out of her home and ran up to her. "Excuse me, madam, but where is the stall that was here?"
"Oh, a ostrich-horse crashed into it a while ago. Had the stall owner quite in a huff. Luckily, the rider of the animal offered to help him clear up. They'd already left with whatever plants they managed to salvage."
"Thanks." He ran back to the girl he'd just helped. "I think I know where your friend is now. Follow me!" Then he took off down the street, leaving her to follow closely behind with her ostrich-horse.
...
"Well, here we are." The old man stopped in front of a small cottage. Yue's eyes widened at the sight of the garden, which was overflowing with beautiful blooms of every kind. The old man grinned when he noticed her gaze. "Wonderful, isn't it? This here's my precious work of a good few years. I've been tending to these ever since I retired. Makes for great leisure activity, and I can earn a few decent coins to boot. Over here now," and he led the way through the entrance.
"Now make sure that deranged beast of yours doesn't go trampling all over my garden, or else it'll have to take more than a bit of clearing up to make up for the damage!" The white-haired girl carefully led the horse through the garden, making sure it didn't step on the blossoms. "Um, Sir?"
"You can call me Old Hwang, kiddo. That's what they all call me in town. 'Course, I for one don't think I'm that old, but even I can't stop nature from doing its work." Old Hwang ran a hand through his grey hair. "So what's on your mind, kid?"
"I was wondering, doesn't anyone try to steal your plants?"
The old man chuckled. "Sure they do. Mostly young idiots who think a few pretty blooms would impress the lady of their choice but don't want to part with their money for it. Well, once they try they won't find themselves in a hurry to do it again."
"Why?"
"'Cause of my boy, that's why. The little youngster's been living with me ever since I found him wandering the countryside on his own. Took him in, I did. Turns out he was a dab hand at earthbending. Frightened the buffoons out of their skins, getting into my garden only to been thrown out over the wall by a pillar of earth. The two of us used to have quite a laugh about it." Old Hwang brushed his beard thoughtfully. "Now that I think of it, he's supposed to meet me in town today after noon. Suppose he forgot and went dilly-dallying around the town again. Oh well."
He turned to the waterbender. "Right then, you can start trying to find a place for these half-dead sprouts. I doubt that with a bit of water and some extra care, they'll be up and blooming like they were again. There's some buckets of water in the storeroom." He gestured to the small shed in a corner of the garden.
Yue stuck her head into the storeroom and saw a few buckets of water, shelves of gardening tools and flower seeds, and an old watering can in the corner that was falling to pieces. "Um, I don't think this watering can's still usable, Old Hwang."
Old Hwang's eyes twinkled mysteriously. "But you wouldn't need a watering can, would you?" He then went into the cottage, leaving the bewildered girl to stare after him.
...
"How do you know where're we're going?" The two teens walked along the dirt path with the ostrich-horse being led behind them.
"I was supposed to meet the stall owner. Old Hwang found me loitering in front of his house one day when I was little and took me in. Since then I've been helping him with his gardening and keeping thieves away from his garden. That Chun fellow back there used to frequent our garden in the hopes of nicking some flowers to woo the young ladies of the town, but a few earthbending tricks soon put him in his place." Young Dal chuckled softly.
"So you're not from around here?"
"No." The teenage boy gazed into the distance. "I was from one of the nearby villages. There was a Fire Nation raid on my village many years ago, and my parents were killed. I escaped, and would have probably been devoured by wild beasts if Old Hwang hadn't found me. He's always treated me like I was his son."
A silence followed. Then Azula said quietly, "I'm sorry." It seemed there was nothing else she could say.
"It's okay. I love living with Old Hwang, helping him in the garden and at his stall. In fact, I don't really remember my parents any more. I've put the past behind me, and now I look towards the future." He pointed ahead at a small cottage. "There it is. That's Old Hwang's home."
The raven-haired girl nodded, and followed the young earthbender towards the small cottage, leading her ostrich-horse behind her.
...
Yue carefully bent a small bubble of water from the bucket onto a drooping flower she had planted into a small flower pot. Gently placing it into the pot, she watched as the soil quickly absorbed the water. The flower seemed to stand a little straighter immediately.
Suddenly a shout from outside startled her. "Hey, Shan! You abandoned me to do some gardening?" She looked up to see Azula walking towards her with her ostrich-horse and a young man she didn't recognize. She rushed to the entrance of the garden. "Ming, where have you been? You dashed out of the restaurant and didn't even leave a word!"
"I got hit by an ostrich-horse thief. But this guy here helped me out." The firebender gestured to her companion, who smiled. "Hi, I'm Young Dal. You've met Old Hwang, haven't you?"
"So you're the youngster who was supposed to meet him in town today and ended up dilly-dallying around the place?"
The teenage boy laughed. "Sounds like he told you about me. I was going to meet him when I saw your friend running after a stolen ostrich-horse. I figured she could use some help."
"Well, thanks for bringing her back anyway." Yue turned to her recently-reconciled travelling companion. "So where do you want to go now? We could head back to the town for dinner."
"Actually, Young Dal suggested we stay for dinner. I thought it didn't sound too bad."
Just then Old Hwang's voice came from inside the house. "Young Dal, is that you? I've just finished cooking dinner. Come and eat!"
...
Azula sat on the roof of the house, watching the fireworks shoot into the sky from the town. It was almost like she was back home on the palace balcony, watching the fireworks with her mother and brother. Sure, the fireworks here were nothing compared to the magnificent display they had in the Fire Nation, but this was the closest she had ever got to those happy childhood years of long ago. She didn't notice someone crawl up the roof and sit beside her until he spoke.
"Enjoying the fireworks?"
"Woah!" She was so startled she almost lost her balance on the roof. "Next time give a warning before you frighten someone off the roof, okay?"
"Sorry." Young Dal grinned as she steadied herself again. A fiery firecracker exploded over their heads. "I remember when we used to celebrate the Spring Festival back in my village. The fireworks were nowhere as pretty as these, but at the time I thought they were the best I'd ever seen."
The raven-haired girl huffed. "Back in my home, the fireworks were way better than these."
"Oh yeah, I forgot you're from Omashu. Big city, big celebrations, I guess."
They sat in silence for a while, watching the fireworks light up the night sky. Then he asked,
"So, do you watch the fireworks with your family?"
He didn't notice her shoulders tense a bit as she answered. "Yeah, with my mom and brother. We watched it from the balcony."
"Must have been nice."
"I suppose it was." Her shoulders relaxed slightly. "What about you?"
"I used to go the the village square with my parents and watch the villagers set off the fireworks. I remember thinking it was very loud, and very bright. But those were the best times of my life."
He sighed as he looked down at the garden where Old Hwang was showing something to the white-haired guest. "Old Hwang loves the Spring Festival. That's when most of his flowers come into full bloom. His stall is always busy during the festival, when almost everyone wants to buy themselves a reminder of the spring season. You know, when new things grow and old things start anew. That's what the festival means to us, anyway."
"Is that so." Azula was now no longer looking at the fireworks, but at the cherry blossom tree standing beside the house. It was indeed in full bloom, its pink flowers illuminated by the flashing lights in the sky. When new things grow and old things start anew... there might be some truth in that.
...
"How did you know I was a waterbender?" Yue couldn't help asking the question she had been wondering for the past few hours.
The old man turned and smiled at her. "Years ago, I had a strangely-dressed family at my door asking for one night's lodging. Turns out all the inns in town were full for the Spring Festival. Everyone likes to come and see our cherry blossoms, you know. Anyway, they said they were from the Southern Water Tribe, a long way from home, on their way to the North Pole to hide from the Fire Nation raids on the South Pole. 'Course, I didn't think it possible, but I knew enough not to tell them that. Thought they'd give up and settle down in the Earth Kingdom eventually. Their daughter was quite a looker, I remembered, and she was taken by my flowers. Even then I've been planting a few here and there in the garden, while keeping my job in the coal mines. She offered to help water the plants, the sweet child, and was I surprised when she started whipping the water out of the buckets as if by magic. That's when it dawned on me; she was a waterbender."
He grinned as he watched his flowers in full bloom lighted up by the fireworks. "When you came along, I recognized you right away. You looked a lot like that sweet little lady of so many years ago. 'Course, she didn't have white hair, mind you, but the resemblance was still there. I had a hunch you'd have inherited your mother's talent, and I was right, wasn't I?"
The Water Tribe princess nodded. It was quite surprising to find herself where her mother once was while on the run from the Fire Nation. She was probably only her age at the time, maybe even younger. She might even have stood where she was now, watering the flowers with her bending like her daughter did.
She was startled by Old Hwang turning around and placing a small pot in her hands with a single flowering sprout in it. "Thought you'd like to keep this, missy. They're moon flowers, they are. Love the shade, these types. Your mother was very attracted to these when she was here. I also gave her one to keep for herself. I'm sure you'll take care of them as well as I would've."
The waterbender's eyes misted up slightly. "Thank you, Old Hwang."
"Oh, the best thanks you can give me is making sure this little one grows up properly. It's just bloomed, you know. Spring is when all the flowers bloom again. Lovely time of year."
He walked back into the house, leaving her to follow him with the small pot in her hands.
...
The two ostrich-horses stopped at the edge of the forest, watching as their riders gathered around a big tree. The younger of them said to the older, "You know we can't keep that flower, what with us travelling all over the place."
"I know." The white-haired girl carefully placed the flower in the hole she'd made with her hands. She filled up the hole with earth, then stood up and looked at the small flower shining in the moonlight. It seemed to bloom even more as the moonbeams danced on its petals. She turned to her ostrich-horse and got on it. "Let's go."
The two of them rode away, while a small spring breeze made the moon flower sway gently in the cool night air, reminding everyone that spring is a time of birth and rebirth.
...
A hard rapping came on the door. Young Dal rubbed his eyes groggily while lighting up an oil lamp. He held the oil lamp in one hand and opened the door with the other. The oil lamp's light shone on the face of a middle-aged man with sideburns, holding a small flame in his palm and surrounded by many more soldiers.
As the young earthbender stepped backwards in surprise and terror, Admiral Zhao stepped into the small cottage without invitation and brandished a wanted poster in front of the Earth Kingdom peasant's face. "Have you seen these two girls?"
A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long, both me and my beta were really busy lately, him wrapping up his satire series and me discovering Harry Potter fanfiction. Kindly take the time to review, 'kay? They're my lifeblood.