Chapter Six: Wounded yet Healed
IMPORTANT NOTE! If any of you think that my story gets too violent in any chapters, tell me immediately. I can change it to something more suited for K+.
A blade of fire was thrust through Li's back. She instantly fell to the ground. Zuko was standing behind her, the fire disappearing in his palm. Her sneered at the fallen girl, and ran back to the ship.
"Coward!" Sokka screamed at him before rushing to Li.
"We have to get her to the base! C'mon! Hurry!" Kanan said, trying to get Li in her arms. Chao helped her, trying not to drop Li's head. They ran through the trap door, and brought Li into her room. It was hard to get through the frenzied women and children. Kai had to get them out of the base to help their husbands, fathers, and brothers.
After the women were gone, they could concentrate on Li's wounds. Mistia was busying herself getting bandages out of the weapon room. They had to get all her wounds wrapped before they got infected.
Li's head was propped up on a pillow. Katara was trying to comfort her as she slept fitfully. To wrap the wound that the blade has caused, they needed to lift her shirt. The task was placed on Sokka, for nobody else wanted to do it.
"Why do I have to do it?" he complained.
"Because… um, why does he have to do it?" Aang started.
"Just do it!" Kai yelled at him. She was surprisingly loud for a 3 foot tall ten-year-old.
"Fine!" he yelled at them. He looked away, trying not to see anything he shouldn't. He held the bandages in one had and reached to lift up her shirt. When Li felt his hand on her shirt and moving it, she woke up. She slapped him on the face, leaving a large red hand mark.
"Pervert!" she yelled at him, not realizing he was doing it to help her. She then winced and held her stomach in pain. "Augh… What happened?" Li said, putting her other on her head. Then her eyes opened wide. "Zuko! Where is he? Did we win?"
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Sokka cried, rubbing his face.
"We won. But Zuko almost killed you." Mistia explained.
Li looked down at her chest and could see that she was bleeding heavily. She quickly put a hand on the wound, blocking the blood from spilling out. She started to heal herself. They watched in amazement.
"Li, why didn't you tell us you could do that?" Kanan asked Li. "We thought you were just an air bender."
"That's why I didn't tell you. I never wanted to be a dark bender. My monk taught me it. When the lessons started I was too young to stop him. He didn't know how he was cursing me."
The wound was healed, but the burn on her back was going to stay for a while. She couldn't heal that. She sat up, trying not to get the burn to scratch on anything. She looked at Sokka. "Sorry for the slap. It was a reflex" she said, with an embarrassed smile on her face. She reached out to heal it, and laid her hand on the red hand print.
Her hand glowed white and the hand print disappeared. 'Her fingers are really soft,' Sokka though to himself. She pulled her hand back and smiled. He blushed and looked at the floor.
"So, are you hungry?" Kai asked Li.
"I'm STARVED!" Li cried.
"Me too!" Sokka said enthusiastically. Kai got up to go into the food room, and came back with bread and berries. Katara, Aang, and Sokka split the bread evenly, and let Li have the berries. She needed to regain her strength so she would be able to go out into the village again. It was a few days after Zuko's attack, and Li was almost able to walk again. Kai was taking a day off to care for Li and the others.
Chao, Kanan, and Mistia were in the town helping the village women care for their injured loved ones. They weren't going to be back until nightfall.
Li started to get up. Katara was about to try to put her back down but she stepped out of the way. She stretched her legs out, rolling her feet around. She leaned against the wall. "Man that feels good. I've been sitting for days!" she said with a sigh.
Kai looked at her. "You sure you're okay?" she asked her.
"I'm fine. I'm going out for some fresh air." She said, leaving her bedroom. She was walking with a slight limp, but other than that she was fine. She went up the stairs to Prayer Hill. She stood on the hill, staring at the horizon, glad that she didn't see a fire nation ship. She stretched her legs out and thought of things she hadn't for a while.
She thought about the fight a few days ago, and she thought about the fire nation attack on the Southern Temple of the Air, and all the loved ones that she'd lost. She didn't enjoy the sadness that the thoughts brought her, but one thought made her happy.
How Sokka had saved her life from the flame, and how he'd tried to encourage he to get out of Zuko's grip. She felt a warm feeling inside her. She could feel her face getting warm and going red.
Xlo: Awww, Li's got a crush!
Li: I do not! (blushes)
Xlo: You do too!
