Author's Note: Thanks for the sweet review, jamie0360. I have a little more time today, so here's more!
They landed safely on Appa's back. Breathing heavily, they looked at each other. "Why? Why did you do this?", Zuko asked Sun.
Sun slowly got into a seating position, quietly checking if all parts of her body made it onto the bison, I, … , I don't really know.", she answered, smiling at him, a hand trailing through her hair.
That caused him to explode. Suddenly he towered above her, his face red from anger, he shouted at her, "You don't really know! You could have died out there! You can't even fight! What did you think you're doing?". Sun sat beneath him, looking down on her hands, like a child that stole apples from the neighbors and now realized it did something wrong. She did not find any words that would cool his anger, in fact she thought, no words could do that.
Aang interfered from the front of the giant bison, "He's right, Sun. If they find out about you, you're in even greater danger than now, and you could have died easily and unnecessary. But now the fight is over and we can't change that. Let us find a place to rest. Then we look for a new hideout."
The following flight was a very quiet one. Nobody really knew what to say, what would fit the situation. It ended of a small island, just grass and a lot of water around them. Zuko started a fire and everybody prepared the tents. The Gaang then sat around the fire and they started to chat happily. They noticed Sun's absence when Zuko prepared tea and one cup was left.
He stood up to look for her and soon noticed a small figure, sitting as far away from the group as possible without falling into the sea. The wind waved her hair around but she sat there without a move. Taking his own and her cup with him he walked towards her.
When he reached her Zuko noticed that she was silently crying. It was a beautiful, yet somehow scary and very sad sight, her staring out into the ocean, tears streaming out her eyes, the wind playing wildly with her hair. She did not seem to take any notice of him. "Your tea.", he wanted to hand her the cup as fast as possible, he felt awkward just standing there and watching her cry.
Now that she noticed him she hastily wiped the tears out of her eyes. Shakily she grabbed the cup and almost spilled the tea, "Thanks", she said, showing him a quick smile. So she stared back onto the sea. It was as if she had just absorbed the cup, and nothing had changed.
Unsure what to do next Zuko took a step closer to her and slowly laid a hand on her bare shoulder. He could feel her shiver. Quietly he asked, "Why are you crying?". She looked at him with wide golden eyes. Her lower lip trembled, then she looked down, and turned away from him again. He repeated his question, "Sun, why are you crying?", as he sat down next to her.
"I'm not crying. What makes you think I am?", she retorted shortly, like a soldier. "Sun. I saw you cry. Am I the reason?", "Kind of. Not the only one, though.", still she had that soldier like tone in her voice that somehow startled him. "Sun, please, look at me.", he started the next try, "Tell me, what's wrong.". And really she turned and looked deep into his amber eyes. She seemed to find something worth trusting there, because she suddenly opened up to him, "All my life I've been imprisoned in a golden cage, not allowed to do anything by myself. And now, after I decided to go, to make my own decisions, everything I do seems to fail. ", she stopped and sobbed two or three times, "I think, I knew it was dangerous, but yesterday, all that mattered to me was, that I didn't,… ,didn't want you to die,", after that she started crying again.
Zuko felt very uncomfortable. Making her open up had just made it worse. Unsure what to say he just hugged her, a little surprised by himself. All of sudden she stopped crying. Instead she cuddled into his chest, and he must admit, it didn't feel so uncomfortable anymore. They stayed like this for the rest of the night, at some point first Sun and minutes later Zuko drove off into sleep.