Part: One- The Lutdeo
Chapter: Sixteen- A Reunion
Author: Fritters-4-Psi
Disclaimer: I do not own the show Avatar: The Last Air Bender or the related characters. Nor do I profit from this fanfiction. The only things of my creation in this fanfiction are the Koertan, Kashi, Risha, the concept of the grith coin, Vioniza, Raven's Watch, and Kali. Other possible thing to come in later chapters.
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Roughly an hour before dawn, Risha woke. She lay in bed for a short while, wondering what to do. Who could she tell that she and Sokka had kissed? She could tell Uncle Iroh, but that would be awkward. After all, he was an elderly man, who although she was related to him, she hadn't seen him in almost six years. Katara would definatly think it was odd,not to mention disturbing, that Risha had kissed Katara's brother. Aang would be too young to fully comprehend what was going on. It seemed as though the only person she could tell was the one person she had hoped wouldn't find out. Zuko was the only one she could tell that she had kissed Sokka.
Figuring that there was no time like the present, Risha put on her robe and left her room. The previous night, Zuko slept in one of the rooms down stairs. Slowly, Risha snuck to her cousin's room. The door opened with out a sound. She looked around in the grey light given off by the setting moon. Zuko wasn't in the room.
With a sigh, Risha decided that she would tell her cousin later. The decision was, what did she do now? She knew she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. She walked over to the window in her cousin's room. Judging by the position of the rising sun, it was nearly daybreak. It was almost time for her to feed Kashi and set some salt out for the Koertan, so she headed out side.
The air was crisp and there was dew on the ground. Risha walked briskly across the lawn to the barn, where the hay, grain and salt licks were. She went to open the door, but then remembered that there were all those soldiers in there. All of her life in the Fire Nation's capital, she had been wary of soldiers. No harm had ever been inflicted on her by soldiers, but there was just something about them that made her skin crawl. Silently, she called to one of her dogs.
In a matter of moments, a dog came. "Okay, Ragu," she whispered to the dog, "I need your assistance."
Ragu's tails twitched, it was listening. So she continued, "I don't want you to attack the soldiers in there. I only want to to follow me. That's all you have to do. Unless, you think that I'm in trouble. If you percieve the actions of the soldiers as harmful, then please protect me from them."
A long, forked tongue lolled out of the dog's mouth. Ragu's voice entered Risha's mind, 'Mistress, of course, I'll protect you. Would you expect anything less? You've protected my family and I before. I should repay the favor.'
After hugging Ragu, Risha slowly opened the barn door. She had hoped that when she entered the building, the soldiers would be asleep. No such luck, though. All of them were awake, looking toward the open door. When they saw Risha, they bowed. The man who seemed to be in charge, approached her. "Good morning, your Highness," the man said.
Ragu stepped out from behind Risha's legs. He barred his teeth in warning. "I'm confused now," Risha admitted, "Most Fire Nation troops don't know who I am. Let alone know that I'm royalty. Who are you?"
"Why would I assume that you would remember me, Risha? It has been a very long time since I've seen you. I was out fighting four years before you were exiled," the man stated.
A look of surprise and enjoyment crossed the Fauna Bender's face. "Ji? Is that you?" she asked excitedly, "Whoa... It's been almost ten years since I last saw you."
"It's Luitenint Ji, now," he corrected her, "The last time I saw you was right before I was sent off to battle. You were so saddened that your adoptive uncle was leaving the Fire Nation."
"Of course, I was sad. Kali always made you go with her, when you were younger, to take care of Teyo and me. You were just as helpful as your mom was. They blamed your influence for my incompetence," Risha glared, "So they decided to send you off to war once you were old enough."
"My mother always made sure that you were taken care of as if you were one of her own children. It was dreadfully boring being almost sixteen had having to be dragged along to act as a nurse to spoiled, brats of royalty," Ji joked, "I take it you came into the barn to get feed for your animals?"
Risha nodded. Ji motioned for her to look behind him. Half of the soldiers had armfuls of hay. The other half had buckets full of grain or salt. On the luitenent's command, the soldiers marched out of the barn. Risha instructed them to put the salt in the tubs on the paths in the forest. The grain and the hay would be put in the feeders hanging on the side of the barn. "So now you give orders to my soldiers?"
Behind her, was her cousin, who was smirking. He was leaning on the door frame, holding a small buquet of wild flowers in his hand. Immediatly, she knew where her cousin had gone that morning. He had gone off into the forest to collect flowers to give to Katara. "Taking my advice, are you my cousin?" she asked him, "And letting your actions speak for you?"
A crossroads had been reached. One of two things would happen if she told Zuko about her kissing Sokka. Either her cousin's seemingly good mood would diteriorate, making him very angry. Or his joyous mood would make the issue at hand not seem so bad. If the kiss had actually meant something, then her and Sokka's actions would probably show that something had happened. Risha decided that she would wait to tell Zuko.
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A/N: Okay, incase it wasn't clear, I decided Ji is the son of Kali. Kali being the nurse that took care of Risha and Zuko when they were little (see; Chapter 14). Many of you may be wondering why I named the dog Ragu. As in Ragu Express, that noodley stuff. You see, Ragu was originally named Yagu. I realized that it sounded a lot like Ragu. I am extremely amused by Ragu Express when it is microwaved, so I changed his name.
Okay. Next week is Christmas, so I don't know how/when I'll update. I go away for Christmas break, but there's a computer where I go, so I'll try and update.