Finally I've updated! Stupid computer wouldn't let me for the longest time. Well, I hope you like it…and if you do, please review! hey that rhymed… Oh yeah, and I don't own Avatar because if I did, I'd smack Ty Lee upside her empty head. If you don't agree with my feelings…too bad, I'm not changing my mind.
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Zuko wasn't sure if Margan had actually taken him to Marisol's tent or if he was trying to pull a fast one because the entire situation seemed too easy. He felt that if Marisol was, in fact, Margan's 'crown jewel' why then did he agree to Zuko's request to meet her with minimal argument? If she really was so important to him, why did Margan agree at all?
When they paused outside the entrance of the only lit tent, Zuko was almost certain that Margan had led him into a trap. So when Margan knocked on the wooden water barrel next to the door of the tent, Zuko's nerves were as tense as his muscles. He was obviously anticipating a fight and his body reacted by going into the 'Fight or Flight' mode.
What he wasn't expecting was Marisol's voice to answer Margan's knock.
"Come in," she called from somewhere in the tent. With this, Zuko was at a loss. He never imagined that Margan would be totally honest in his deal.
"You better wait out here for a second, just to make sure she doesn't have any nasty surprises waiting for you," said Margan hesitantly before stepping into the tent.
If Marisol and Margan's conversation was meant to be secret, they sure didn't bother to lower their voices, because Zuko heard every word that transpired between the two.
"Took you long enough," said Marisol, " You said you'd be by in half an hour. It's been more like forty-five minutes!"
"Only fifteen minutes late," replied Margan, "And that should have given you more than enough time to clean. It looks like a war zone!"
"I did clean… some," complained Marisol, but Margan wasn't having any of it.
"It doesn't look that way to me," retorted Margan, "And Marisol, why is that knife in the floor like that?"
"I…uh…I was…frustrated… That's right, I was frustrated and a… a rat happened to be scuttling across the floor at the moment so I threw the only thing on hand at him, that knife," lied Marisol.
"A rat?" asked Margan speculatively. Zuko himself didn't believe her story.
"That's right, a big ugly rat. I threw it at him but I missed and the stupid thing got away unscathed," elaborated Marisol.
"A rat?" repeated Margan with a grunt. Zuko assumed he had bent over to retrieve said blade before continuing, "you sure you didn't throw it at Hazo and miss? That would be somewhat forgivable".
Zuko thought she was going to deny throwing it at the other guy, making it obvious that she like him. But, wouldn't you know it, Zuko was shocked to hear her laugh.
"No," she chuckled, "If I was to throw a knife at Hazo, I'd make sure I wouldn't miss. Anyway, how can ANYONE possibly miss such a big bu- target- like that?"
Both of them chuckled at her jest, and Zuko realized that neither of them likes Hazo a whole lot.
After an odd silence, Margan cleared his throat and said, "Well, I better let your visitor in before he freezes… and I'll be taking this with me".
"Oh come on Margan! I use that knife a ton!" protested Marisol.
"Really? For what?" retorted Margan.
"For…" said Marisol, deep in thought. Then, with a snap of her fingers, exclaimed, "Warding off unwanted visitors!"
Zuko wasn't sure, but he thought he heard a faint snicker. The only thing was that it didn't sound like it came from either of them.
"Did you hear that?" asked Margan.
"Must be Hazo listening behind my tent," replied Marisol, "It wouldn't be the first time he's been caught back there".
Margan wasn't convinced, so he stuck his head out the door and asked Zuko, "Did you snicker?"
Zuko shook his head 'no' and thought, "So there's an audience…"
"Well, you better come in boy. The Gods know I've kept you out there long enough," said Margan with a shake of his head.
Zuko, despite all he had heard, still had trepidation as to going in and talking to Marisol.
"Come on boy, she doesn't bite," said Margan when Zuko barely moved.
"Yeah, that's right," called Marisol from her spot on her bed, "I don't bite… hard…"
Margan sighed and made a threatening motion to Marisol as he ushered Zuko in. Marisol did her best to pretend to ignore Margan's word-less threat but she knew that she was in for it in the morning.
"Don't mind her, she's just as uncomfortable as you are," said Margan quietly to Zuko in an effort to get him to ease up a bit.
Marisol heard what he said and felt it her duty to scold Margan for his insensitive remark, even if she'd get it worse later.
"Of course we're uncomfortable!" she scolded, "I'm forced to leave my friends and meet some Fire Nation guy, and he must think that this entire 'meeting' is fishy".
Margan glared at her, but Marisol wasn't through just yet. She turned to Zuko and asked, "Am I right, or what?"
Zuko nodded and glanced at Margan before saying, "Exactly".
When Zuko answered, Margan realized that he was out numbered in the argument and so he chose to ignore Marisol's lecture. All he said before he turned and left was, "Marisol, this is Zuko. Zuko, Marisol. I'll be back in thirty minutes to call the meeting to a close".
Marisol chose to answer to Margan by making a face to Margan's turned back. When Marisol felt that Margan was out of hearing range, she turned to Zuko and sighed, "Well, this is awkward, isn't it?"
Zuko smirked and said, "Not very fond of him are you?"
"How'd you guess?" replied Marisol with a smile as she moved over on her bed to make room for Zuko to sit. But, it seemed that once he took the proffered seat, the flow of conversation stopped.
Not that their conversation was all that interesting, but it still was a conversation…
After several false starts on both their parts, Marisol managed to spit out, "I'll be blunt and to the point. Why are you here? I mean, why did you want to talk to me?"
Zuko didn't immediately reply because, as many times as he'd asked himself those same questions, he never found an answer the truly satisfied him.
Finally, he settled on something that might get him somewhere, "I need some answers and I feel you can give me what I want".
Hey, I said that his question might get him somewhere; I didn't say it was brilliant.
"Right…" was Marisol's reply, "Try anything else, and you'll be incapable of carrying on your blood line. Got it?"
To lend credibility to her threat, Marisol's eyes held a cold, deadly glint in them. And, not that Zuko would know, but it was the same stare she had levered effectively against Sokka.
"Just answers," said Zuko calmly, trying not to let his nerves show. He tried to put on his business face, but couldn't completely because her gaze was so unsettling.
"Fine…" she replied coldly and when she saw him squirm ever so minutely under her scrutiny, she smiled and said, "Uncomfortable? Ha, I've had plenty of practice to perfect that stare on my older brother. The only problem was he'd push me and tell me to knock it off when I'd creeped him out enough".
"You have an older brother?" asked Zuko as politely as he could, since he wasn't one for small talk.
"Had," corrected Marisol sadly, "I had a brother. His name was Mamoru".
"What happened to him?" asked Zuko even though he already had an idea of what happened.
"He…I…" tried Marisol, but it was obviously too hard for her to say aloud to a person she just met.
After a second of silence, Marisol shook her head, as if to clear unpleasant memories, and said, "I'd rather not go there right now… What was it you wanted to ask me?"
"Right," said Zuko as he made an internal note about how uncomfortable Marisol felt about the subject of her brother. It was a habit that Zuko found to be useful every once and a great while.
"I wanted to know why you seem so familiar to me. Why do I feel like I should know who you are? Why does it feel like I've met you before and talked with you, even though we barely met for the first time?"
"Hmm…" said Marisol with her chin in her hand, " I wonder if you really are who I think you are. If you are, then you obviously don't remember".
That caught not only Zuko's attention, but Sokka's as well.
Down in his hiding place, Sokka inhaled sharply in surprise. The only problem was that it was dusty down there and he sneezed in reaction to it.
"Bless you," grumbled Zuko. He was too wrapped up in his thoughts to realize that Marisol hadn't moved and that the sound came not from her but from under the bed.
"Thank you," replied Marisol with a smile as she mentally kicked Sokka in the rear, "Allergy season…"
"What do you mean I don't remember?" demanded Zuko. He didn't want to waste any more time on casual, frivolous talk.
"Well if you are the Zuko I'm thinking of then you obviously don't remember the letters, the pictures, the secrets…" she replied before waiting to see if he remembered any of it.
"Nope, you don't remember. IF you are the person I'm thinking of, then I was supposed to stay with your family for the summer, but things… went wrong," whispered Marisol as she was forced to relive old memories she had tried to forget, "That was, what, four or five years ago? Not recent at all…"
"Letters?" said Zuko with his one eyebrow raised; "I never wrote letters to anyone on a regular basis, much less to a girl like you".
"A girl like me? What is there something wrong with me, or is it that I'm a girl?" retorted Marisol sharply.
Zuko ignored her comment and continued, "And pictures? You think I sent you one of myself?"
"Again, if you're the person I think you are. If you're the son of Ursa and Ozai, now Fire Lord Ozai, then yes you sent me one," replied Marisol angrily. She hated it when others questioned her honesty.
The fact that she knew who he was, and at the same time didn't know who he was caught Zuko off guard, but he wasn't going to let her know.
"Let me see it," he demanded.
"I don't have it anymore," huffed Marisol.
"You don't have it anymore. Hmm…and why don't you have it anymore?" pressed Zuko. Even though she claimed to know him, didn't mean that she was telling the truth. He thought that she was lying up a storm, just because she had made claims that she couldn't support.
"I don't have it anymore because they took it from me," replied Marisol in a condescending tone. Her opinion of Zuko had changed rapidly from disinterest to strong dislike.
"Who's 'they'?" questioned Zuko, still not believing the credibility of her story.
"I'm not exactly sure who they are. I think the bastards were Fire Nation arse-holes that were hired by the damn Fire…" started Marisol heatedly, but wouldn't you know it, Margan chose that moment in time to butt in.
"Sorry kids, but your time is up," stated Margan in a tone that said that there'd be NO discussion on the subject of extending the time, what so ever.
To Zuko, it was too soon because he still hadn't gotten all his answers out of Marisol.
Marisol, on the other hand, felt that Margan hadn't come soon enough. The meeting had been fine until the prick started to question her reliability. "Who's he to just waltz up here, demanding answers to obscure questions, then discredit everything I say? Jerk doesn't even know when someone is helping him; even if he asked for the help in the first place!" thought Marisol furiously.
And what did Sokka think? True, the information surprised him, but he currently just wanted to get out from under the dusty bed as soon as humanly possible.
"It was nice meeting you Zuko," said Marisol sweetly, though her body language said the exact opposite.
"Likewise," replied Zuko stiffly as he rose from her bed and left without further comment.
Margan gave an inquiring look to Marisol, but she glared at him and said, "Never again".
"I won't ask how it went then," replied Margan as he followed Zuko's example and left Marisol's tent for his own.
After a minute of medative silence, Marisol hopped off her bed with a sigh and began to change into her sleeping clothes, making sure to keep close to her bed to prevent Sokka from seeing too much.
Marisol was nearly dressed when Sokka started to 'come back to life'.
"Hang on a sec, Sokka. Let me just finish getting dressed and I'll help you out," explained Marisol as she dragged a shirt over her head. Sokka responded with a muffled exclamation of surprise, but he listened to Marisol and stayed put.
Fortunately for Sokka, Marisol finished in record time and nearly scared him to death when she suddenly crouched down and asked him if he was ready.
"More than ready," replied Sokka with a groaning sigh of relief as her hands locked with his and she began to drag him out.
As soon as most of Sokka's upper body was out, Marisol tried to pull harder but ended up losing her footing and falling butt, hard. "Ouch!" exclaimed Marisol from the pain, "Dang you're heavy, can't you get yourself out now?"
"Technically, I could have gotten myself out a long time ago, but you were doing such a great job…I didn't want to spoil your fun," replied Sokka casually.
"Fun?" cried Marisol as she stood back up, "Do you really think I did that for fun? Okay, wise guy, you're on your own now".
"Fine, party pooper. I hope you're happy now," protested Sokka as he wriggled out of the tight space. Marisol just stood there with a satisfied smile on her face.
"You like to see me suffer, don't you?" said Sokka when he was totally out from under the bed and had flopped over on his stomach.
"Me?" replied Marisol innocently, "Why, whatever gave you that idea?"
All Sokka had to do was look at her and both of them started laughing like retards. The worst part was that when they'd calm down, one of them would start up again and set off the other. It was the oddest fit of the giggles that either had ever experienced.
Finally, when they had their laughter under control, Marisol said, "You better get up, or some people will get the wrong impression".
"Naw, who?" joked Sokka as he began pulling himself together and started to get up. At that point, he was on his hands and knees like a baby… or, depending on how sick your mind is, like a totally whipped person…
"Just hurry up please," replied Marisol uneasily, "You never can tell who'll just pop in unexpected".
As if to prove Marisol right, Isadora's head popped in the door and said, "So bad girl, how did… NO WAY! Damn girl, I know he's your first and all but go easy on him or he won't come back!"
Marisol and Sokka looked at each other and shared a common thought, "Oh Damn!"
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Random thought here. If Fire Nation people, especially fire benders, live on a volcanic island and manipulate HOT fire, why are they rice white? Does that make sense to you, because it doesn't to me.