Ten

In the morning, Maya and Zuko said their goodbyes to a family she was sure they would never forget. Without their kindness, Maya didn't know where they would've been right then, but it probably wouldn't have been anywhere good. Sela, the mother, handed Zuko a small package of food. "This should get you through a few meals," she said with a smile. Zuko reached down from the ostrich-horse to take the package, and stopped just as his hand closed around it, looking up.

Maya had heard the noise too. Hooves. Lots of them. She and everyone else there looked up in horror as the bully soldiers from the day before came charging right at them.

"Oh no…" Maya murmured.

"What do you think they want?" the father asked, taking a step towards them.

"Trouble," Zuko said.

The group of thugs – because that is what they were, no matter what title they gave themselves – stopped in front of them.

"What do you want, Gow?" Gansu asked, immediately going on the defensive.

Gow, who was the big man with the big hammers from the day before, had a smirk on his face as he replied. "Just thought someone ought to tell you that your son's battalion got captured."

Gansu's face widened in horror, as did the faces of everyone else there.

Gow looked to be having a great time. He turned to talk to one of his thugs. "You boys hear what the Fire Nation did with their last group of Earth Kingdom prisoners?"

A scrawny looking man answered him, a smirk clear on his own face and in his voice. "Dressed 'em up in Fire Nation uniforms and put 'em on the front lines unarmed, way I heard it."

Maya's hands balled into fists. She was becoming angrier by the second.

The scrawny man spit in the dirt and continued. "Then they just watched."

"You watch your mouth!" Gansu shouted, pointing at the scrawny man.

Gow's eyes narrowed and he nudged his ostrich-horse forward. Immediately, Zuko nudged his own forward, blocking Gow's path and meeting the man's eye stubbornly.

Gow glared at Zuko for a moment. "Why bother rooting around in the mud with these pigs?" Then he turned and, as one, the group of thugs left, leaving a trail of dust in their wake.

Lee watched the men sadly, and then looked up at his father. "What's gonna happen to my brother?" he asked.

Gansu hugged Sela, and placed his hands on her shoulders, speaking to both of them. "I'm going to the front. I'm going to find Sensu and bring him back."

Maya half-listened, but she was more focused on Zuko at the moment, who seemed utterly lost in thought.

As Sela broke down in tears and was led away by her husband, a hopeful Lee ran over to Zuko. "When my dad goes… will you stay?"

"No," Zuko replied without hesitation. "I – we need to move on." He placed a hand over Maya's, who had her arms wrapped around him to help secure her to the ostrich-horse. Then he reached into one of the saddlebags and pulled out the pearl dagger that Iroh had given him long ago. He leaned down and handed it to Lee. "Here. I want you to have this. Read the inscription."

Lee pulled the dagger out of its sheath and read, "Made in Earth Kingdom."

Maya let out a small laugh, and smiled, feeling a bit better.

"The other one," Zuko said.

"Never give up without a fight."

And by the time he was finished reading it, Maya and Zuko were gone.

Maya wasn't exactly sure where they were going, but they weren't that far away from the farm when Zuko pulled off the side of the dirt road and seemed to tumble into the grass. Maya was surprised, and a little worried. He seemed to close himself off from her, and wouldn't answer her when she called him. He just lay flat on his back in the grass, staring up at the sky. He was clearly not all there, a large part of his conscience lost in whatever he was thinking. Maya resolved herself to sitting beside him until he showed some sign that he had returned fully to his senses.

The next words out his mouth startled her. "Azula always lies. Azula always lies."

Maya's head snapped around to look at him, afraid that he had completely lost his mind. "Zuko—

But she couldn't get any further than that before the sound of a cart and the call of an ostrich-horse distracted the both of them. Zuko sat up to see who was approaching. Maya was instantly worried when she saw that it was Sela, Lee's mother, driving the cart. Sela quickly pulled the cart to a stop and began speaking before it was even done moving. "You have to help! It's Lee. The thugs from town came back as soon as Gansu left. When they ordered us to give them food, Lee pulled a knife on them! I don't even know where he got a knife!"

Zuko stiffened. He and Maya both knew exactly where the boy had gotten a knife.

Sela's voice cracked as she continued speaking. "Then they took him away. They told me if he's old enough to fight, he's old enough to join the army." She buried her face in her face in her hands, tears now flowing freely.

Maya's own eyes were watering, and she turned to look at Zuko imploringly. They couldn't just do nothing. These people had taken them in. She prayed to the Gods that Zuko would see that.

"I know we barely know you but…" Sela continued, one hand still across her face. Her eyes were closed, anguish clear in her features. She began to sob.

"I'll get your son back," Zuko said, standing.

Maya sighed with relief and stood also.

In naught but a moment, they were both back in the saddle of the ostrich-horse and were quickly making their way back to the town.