Wow, three reviews! Thank you, dragonlupine, Zukofan5, and Siamese Surfer! And Bard Child from DH…

I forgot to mention a timeline. This happens sometime after the "Blue Spirit" episode but before "The Deserter."

Disclaimer: If I owned Avatar, we'd be getting new episodes right after "The Siege of the North" premiered. Sadly, I don't.


Chapter 2 – A Cruel Joke…and a Few Problems

There was a large silence only broken periodically by the Komodo Rhino's grunting breaths. She was amused by the teenager's wide eyes and his slightly gaping mouth though.

"Are you sure?"

Her laugh did nothing to calm his fears.

"If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't have shoved my hand in there," she chuckled. "Trust me; I felt nothing in there that would've given her a manly image." A smirk grew and a shine lit up her eyes. "Unless, of course, you want to double check?"

His face nearly went gray. "That's all right," he managed to sputter out.

Iroh was calming down from the initial shock of it and just grinned.

"But how…?" the teenager stammered, looking from the rhino to the healer then back to the rhino.

"Well, when a male rhino sees that she's in heat and…"

"Not that!" he yelled, hands clasped over his ears. He had already gone over that with his uncle; he did not want to hear it from an animal obsessed woman.

"I do believe someone has played a cruel joke on you," she said. "I do prefer females over males though. Males get too aggressive and never want to leave a battle but females know when they're beat and retreat."

The prince stared at his rhino, watching the beast. It did explain several things. He, er she, had always been faster than her companions and smaller in size. She had always been very protective of him, almost goring Zhao to death on one occasion.

"She is going to have to stay here for a while though."

His heated gaze pinned her down. It usually made men tremble underneath him. She barely flinched.

"She could go into labor on the way back to your ship and, this being her first time, she'll need help more than likely." The animal healer ignored his temper, reaching over and undoing the chains. Her leg returned to its place, twitching a little. She jumped the fence again, walking away from the group.

"Right now though, she shouldn't be doing anything until a few more hours. Send Shang after me if she starts kicking at her stomach." The healer disappeared then, slipping into the waning sunlight. Had they really been here that long?

A dog replaced her, moving much easier than the older, disabled one. He looked a lot like the older one though and he was wondering if this was one of his sons. The dog sat down by Iroh, ears pricked and brown eyes watching the animal.

Zuko reached over stroked the creature's side, hearing her start slightly but calm back down. Even though most of the Fire Nation army was made up of male rhinos, he had grown quite attached to his. Of course, he'd never voice that out loud. It was a matter of holding his reputation together.

She lifted her head, looking at him with almost black eyes. Grunting, the Komodo Rhino rested her head in the straw again, tail smacking the floor.

The healer walked in and out every twenty minutes, checking the rhino. Every hour, she made Zuko twitch by examining where the calf would exit.

Iroh and the soldier had found something clean to sit on and just watched as Zuko continued to stand rigidly by the rhino. His presence seemed to calm the beast as she lied in the straw, tail thumping slowly. The elder just smiled and watched his nephew as he petted the creature absentmindedly.

Shang turned his head when the woman entered again after a two hour period with a bucket of water. She clicked her tongue and he exited the barn. Sighing, she sat on the floor a little ways off from the rhino, attention fully on her.

"It would be nice to know the name of the one helping us," Iroh said finally.

"People stop asking for it so I never say it anymore," she responded. "It's Lian though."

"That is a beautiful name," he replied, smiling.

"Flattery will get you nowhere," she remarked. "But thank you." Lian then turned her attention to Zuko. "You might want to get out of there. She might crush you accidentally when she gets up."

She shrugged when he glared at her but he hopped over the fence all the same.

"I still don't understand how this came to be and why it hasn't happened earlier," Zuko almost snarled.

"Komodo Rhinos do not reach full maturity until five years of age. I assume she was also rooming with a male one. It doesn't take long for them to mate. About ten minutes at most," she mused. "Being that she is five years of age, the male caught her scent and did what any male would do." One eyebrow rose as Zuko's nose wrinkled in disgust.

Small conversation passed the time until the creature rose to her legs suddenly. She tossed her head around, looking scared. Her tail swept across the ground as she paced back and forth in the pen. Muscles across her stomach trembled when she paused in her pacing.

Seconds dragged into minutes as the group watched the creature pant and pace. The animal healer's brow furrowed when the calf had still not emerged.

"Something's wrong," the healer said.

"What? What's wrong?" Zuko asked, staring at her for answers.

She stood, stripping off the worn shirt and tossing it onto the floor. A white sleeveless shirt coated in stains of blood and some other unidentified messes covered her then, tucked into the brown peasant pants. Lian pulled a small strip of leather from one of her pockets, tying her hair back from her face. She heated the water up with a flash of fire, dipping her hands in and scrubbing up to her shoulders with it.

Striding to the enclosure, she pulled the shirt from her pants, the entire thing almost dwarfing her. Dodging the creature's tail, she climbed over the fence again. Her hand gently rubbed the beast's stomach, only receiving a startled roar. She retreated back, hands up as the Komodo Rhino shook her head, horns nearly cutting her open.

"What's her name?" she asked calmly.

Zuko mumbled something.

"It would really help if I could understand you," she growled.

"It's Li," he growled back, moving closer to his steed. She leaned in to him, letting out a noise that sounded oddly like a whimper.

"It's all right Li, calm down," she whispered, reaching out and stroking down the creature's snout. "You're going to be okay."

The rhino snorted but didn't take her eyes off of the healer. She moved slowly, one hand caressing the Komodo Rhino's side. Her hand pressed down on Li's tail head, the creature going absolutely still. Lian knelt slowly, finding the covering and pushing her hand inside. Gritting her teeth, she slid her arm further in, her elbow disappearing into the beast. Li stood still, breathing hard as her entire arm vanished inside her.

She suddenly yelped, one hand pushing against the thick thigh of the creature. Her arm popped back out and she clutched at it, breathing out several swear words.

"Are you all right?" Iroh asked, standing up and rushing to the pen.

"She contracted around my arm," she grumbled. Letting out a deep breath, she shoved her arm back inside her, ignoring the startled grunt of the creature.

Lian, arm embedded to the shoulder inside the rhino, frowned and tried to push deeper. She felt around, trying to find anything that was stuck or in the way of the passage, managing to push part of her shoulder inside. Her hand slid past a small barrier and she finally found what she had been looking for. Smirking, she found two feet and, if she pushed just a little more, the snout of something. Funny though, it was ready to come out and in the right position.

Then another contraction happened and something else pressed against her hand. Ignoring the tightening of the passage, the animal healer felt the new obstacle, eyes widening as her hand slid over another nose.

Shifting, Lian pushed the first one back seeing as it was blocking its sibling's way out. Once that one was put into its place, she wrapped her hand around the calf's feet. Moving smoothly, the woman let her blood coated arm slide out, holding onto the creature's feet all the out. She pulled downwards and slightly grimaced at the eruption of smell and blood. The calf fell out and twitched, head shaking in the straw.

She ripped the mucus membrane covering the creature's head, holding it up and tickling its nose. It sneezed loudly, spraying snot and blood all over her. Lian let it lie still and immediately pushed her arm back into the Komodo Rhino. Her hand closed over the twin, dragging it out as well as the mother still didn't seem to know what to do. It fell on the straw as well, not moving though.

"Shit," she gasped out, ripping through the membrane covering it. The animal healer tapped the calf's nose and, when that didn't produce any noise, stood up. She grabbed it around the middle, heaving the twin up. The calf's sternum hit her leg hard, a wad of mucus and blood flying from its mouth. It coughed, legs kicking and she set it back down on the ground.

She pulled out a knife from her boot, slicing through the long cords jutting out from the calves' stomachs. Both started kicking and struggled to rise to their feet. Lian backed away as the mother turned around, nuzzling the two calves carefully.

The animal healer slipped out of the pen, shaking her arm off. Her shirt was covered in splatters of blood and other new stains as she started washing her arms off.

"She should be fine but I'd like to keep her in there for a few days. Many new mothers don't accept their offspring at first. And she could develop complications," the woman clarified, now slightly clean. She still felt sticky though.

Iroh stepped in then, holding out his arm to block his nephew from yelling at her. "I am sure we can stay in port for a few more days. Until then, we can modify the ship to accommodate our new guests."

Zuko still wasn't very keen on the idea of leaving his rhino in the hands of someone, well, like her. He watched the two twins nosing around their mother. Well, maybe he could leave them here if it would keep those two alive.

"Shouldn't you see what sex they are?" he asked, pinning her down with a glare.

"You'd have to wait a good week before you can tell their sex. They still aren't completely developed." Lian frowned though when the creatures let out a loud cry. "What in the world?"

Frustrated, she hopped the fence again. Gently moving the two calves aside, she knelt down by the large creature's hind legs. Her hand ran along the rhino's underside, finding her teats easily as they now slid out for the offspring. The udder seemed full, even engorged. She tugged on one, earning nothing for her efforts. Humming slightly, she tried the other one and, once again, earned nothing.

"Well shit," she mumbled. Standing up and stretching, she moved calmly out of the pen and over to one of the miscellaneous trunks scattered about the barn. Lian threw it open, rummaging around.

"What's wrong?" Zuko asked, stare changing from her to the protesting calves.

"She isn't used to giving milk. Nothing's coming out and, if I don't do something, you're going to lose both calves as I don't have a surrogate mother you can have." She pulled out a very thick needle and a small bottle, smirking slightly. "This should fix her though."

It was almost scary at how calm she was. Once back in the pen, she knelt besides the creature and ran her hand around her again. "One of you come over here and help me."

Zuko hopped the fence, petting his Komodo Rhino's sides gently. The calves regarded him with wide, black eyes before groaning louder.

"Hold her still. This is going to hurt."

He almost winced but grabbed her discarded lead and clipped it back on. The Firebender stood near her head, scratching her thick skin.

Lian found a nice, thick piece of muscle right around her flank. Holding the needle in one hand, she raised it and plunged it straight into the muscle. Li jerked and nearly knocked Zuko over with a swing of her head. Popping the cap off of the bottle, she poured the clear liquid into what appeared to be a collecting dish at the end of the needle. The strange liquid disappeared into the needle and Zuko could only assume it went straight into the flank muscle.

She finally pulled it out, the intruding object not even leaving a hole in the thick skin. Rubbing the sore, the healer smiled and patted the creature. Her eyes lit up suddenly as she bent down and tugged on of the teats.

"You just injected that. How could that-"

A stream of milk shot out, soaking the straw underneath her. Both calves watched her and one knocked her out of the way, mouth clamping on the rhino's udder. Her back humped slightly as both claves sucked down milk, slurping noises emitting from the two.

"Isn't that cute?" she asked no one in particular.

Zuko blinked in surprise at first but just accepted the new development. He rubbed the rhino's face affectionately before taking the lead off again and exiting the pen with the woman.

"I'll check on them every few hours to make sure the mother and calves are doing fine. You boys can go back to your ship. Come around sometime tomorrow so we can get those two used to people." She put the needle and bottle away, closing the trunk and locking it.

Iroh stood up stiffly and stretched. "Thank you very much for your help. Are you sure it's no trouble keeping them here?"

"I wouldn't move them for a few days at all. They need to build up strength first," Lian mused.

The elder Firebender smiled and bowed. "I hope you have a good night's rest."

She laughed but bowed back. "You too."

Lian saw them out up to the line of pens. A massive dog lumbered up to them, flanking the teenager and led them the rest of the way. He gave a gruff bark at Shing whose head appeared from a fairly new lean-to near the fence line. The old dog yipped back and vanished into the darkness.

Zuko looked back at the barn, watching the animal healer close the barn doors. He kept his gaze on it long after the group had left the small farm.


She had just finished her nightly rounds, three dogs following her closely as the woman locked the barn again. The rhinos were curled up together, sleeping soundly for the time. Lian had left the only secure lamp on in the barn so the creatures had some light. She hadn't had a barn fire for ten years ever since she had nailed and fastened the bottom of the lamp to the metal table.

Yawning, she held the door open to the small, rundown house and the three dogs walked in. Lian rubbed their furry heads, smiling softly before sending them off to bed. The three dogs slunk off into the room, curling up on the pallet and waiting for her to join them.

Waving her hand, she lit another lamp and pulled out a piece of parchment and a pen. An ink bottle followed as she set them on the nearly broken table sitting in the small kitchen. Dipping the pen in the ink, she began to write everything she could recall that happened with the rhinos, including labor and different methods that had worked on her and the calves. Another line had the names of those she was dealing with, two of the well known enough that she hadn't had to ask them. The soldier was more of a third wheel and she didn't record him.

Scratching sounded at her door, followed by a long whimper. Lian stood, rolling her shoulders. She had really wanted to go to bed but Shing only came to her door if there was a customer. He never wanted to sleep in the house for some reason.

She opened the door, seeing the dog sitting in front of it, a stick in his mouth. The woman took it from him, brow furrowing at the black color which meant 'Other.' Looking up, she blinked in surprise at the bright yellow and orange of a bald kid's clothing. Even more surprising was the giant standing behind him, breathing hard and groaning in pain.

"Are you the animal healer?" the kid asked, earning a nod from her. "My bison's sick and we don't know what's wrong with him. Can you help?"

She gazed back up at the massive, furry animal, one thought crossing her mind. It was going to be a long night.