Book 2: Earth
Chapter 2: The Cave of Two Lovers
A/N: Hey Dolls! This did take me a lot longer than I thought it would to post another chapter, but I guess that 2 months is an improvement from 2 years right? I really appreciate all of you for sticking with me, and I really hope you enjoy this one! I'm proud to say that I actually planned the timeline for the rest of Book 2 so I'm hoping it goes a little quicker from now on! I have some really good stuff planned, I promise!
Disclaimer: As always, not mine
Enjoy!
Emi and Zuko had been searching for food for hours by the time they stumbled through the bushes into the small camp that they had set up. Zuko was bristling with irritation and even Emi's normally happy mood had been dampened between the heat and the bugs and the persistent lack of food. Turns out this whole fugitive thing his harder than I anticipated she thought sourly, tucking another stray hair into the messy bun she had piled on top of her head.
"I can't find anything to eat!" Zuko complained to Iroh in frustration. "I can't live like this, I wasn't meant to be a fugitive!" He threw his hands in exasperation, "This is impossible!"
Emi shook her head at him and patted his shoulder sympathetically. When she noticed that Iroh, who was crouched over a strange plant she didn't recognize, hardly seemed to hear them, she wandered over to him.
"Uncle, what are you doing?" she asked, placing her hand on his shoulder and leaning in to inspect the small white flower that had spiked his interest.
"You're looking at the rare White Dragon bush," he explained excitedly, "it makes a tea so delicious it's heartbreaking!" he went on to say, his hands clasped together over his heart and a dreamy expression on his face. After a moment his face faltered, and he turned back to the plant to inspect it again.
"That, or it's the White Jade bush, which is poisonous."
Emi and Zuko exchanged a shocked look before they both turned back to him.
"Uncle, it's really not a good idea to mess with that, you're no expert you know." Emi warned him. Zuko nodded his head in agreement.
"We need food, not tea." Zuko said shortly. "I'm going fishing." He stalked off without another word and Emi stood there for a moment, debating whether or not she should go help out Zuko or stay and watch over Uncle and make sure he didn't do anything stupid. In the end, her rumbling stomach won out, and she turned to follow Zuko to the nearby river. She nearly turned around again when she heard the muttered "Delectable tea...or deadly poison..." that came from Uncle, but she gave him the benefit of the doubt.
I'm sure he'll be fine, she thought, He's a smart man.
Emi growled in frustration as another fish got away from her, escaping from the orb of water she had captured it in and landing in the stream with a splash that left her soaked. Again. Standing with her hands on her hips, she glared at the school of fish near her accusingly, as if that would make them leap out of the water on their own accord. A small chuckle from the other side of the river caught her attention and she whirled around to focus her glare on the amber eyed boy sitting on the bank across from her.
"Are you laughing at me?" she demanded, a small sparkle in her eyes.
"You just growled at that fish!" Zuko defended with a smile that Emi was glad to see on his face.
"And how are you doing then, tough guy?" she teased, indicating to the miniscule green fish
flopping on the end of his makeshift spear as she made her way towards him.
"Hey, this is harder than it looks!" he exclaimed, reaching a hand down to help her up. Emi took his hand and gave him an innocent smile that provoked his suspicion just a moment too late. A second later there was a loud splash as Emi pulled Zuko down into the water with her. She laughed happily and danced away from him as he came up spluttering and tried to grab her.
"You are so going to pay for that." he declared, chasing after her. It was so nice to have a moment like this, Emi thought as they ran and splashed and stumbled through the stream, laughing and taunting each other in a way neither had experienced before. Emi was just about to launch yet another ball of water at Zuko when instead he unexpectedly dove towards her. She squealed as his arms caught her around the waist and pinned her to the bank, officially ending their spur of the moment fight. Both were breathing heavily and their faces were close together as they laid there, caught in the moment. Zuko's eyes bore into hers as he lifted his hand slowly to gently run a finger across her cheek. Her breath caught in her throat, and the noise shocked Zuko out of the spell he had seemingly been under. As quickly as it had come, the moment was gone.
Zuko cleared his throat and quickly shifted off of her. He rose to his feet and offered his hand to help her up. They both had light pink blushes donning their faces as Emi used water bending to dry their clothes.
"That was fun." She said, flashing him a small smile and gathering the two small fish they had actually managed to catch.
"It was," he said, returning the smile. "We really should check on Uncle, hopefully he hasn't gotten into too much trouble." Emi nodded her head in agreement and as they began to make their way back to the small campsite, her heart felt lighter than it had in a long time.
They wandered back into camp with their meager 'dinner' and found Uncle crouched over the very same bush he had been crouched over when they left.
"Zuko...Emi...do you remember that bush I thought might be tea?" He began hesitantly.
"Oh you didn't…"
"I did, and it wasn't" he turned to face them with a red, heavily swollen face and Emi smacked her hand to her forehead as Zuko stepped back and shouted in alarm.
"When the rash spreads to my throat, I will stop breathing" he explained as one hand scratched at his back with a small branch and the other scratched his stomach. "But look what I found!" He brandished the branch at them excitedly. "These are bacui berries, known to cure the poison of the White Jade bush," he explained, waving around the small pinkish berries again. "That, or they are Maka'ole berries, which cause blindness."
"Uncle!"
"We are not taking anymore chances with these plants!" Zuko admonished, snatching the branch out of his hands. Emi slapped the itching hands away from his body and called water to her hands from the pouch at her hip.
"You're going to make it worse." she told him. "I don't know if this is going to work, but I can try." Closing her eyes, she placed her hands on the worst parts of his rash. Her hands glowed blue, but when she pulled them away, Uncle's face was still swollen and blotched.
"It's alright Emi, but we need to get help." Zuko stated.
"But where are we going to go? We are enemies of the Earth Kingdom and fugitives from the Fire Nation." Uncle said, all while scratching frantically.
"If the Earth Kingdom discovers us, they'll have us killed…" Zuko began.
"But if the Fire Nation discovers us, they'll turn us over to Azula." They glanced at each other and Emi snorted in exasperation.
"Earth Kingdom it is!" She declared, leading them in the direction of the nearest Earth Kingdom town. Zuko and Uncle nodded to each other and followed after her.
Later they found themselves in a small building that seemed to be set aside for medical purposes. They had been lucky to find someone willing to help them; a young woman who was currently applying some sort of salve to Uncle's face, arms, and chest, occasionally slapping away his hands as he started to itch. Emi watched her intently from her place on a table in an attempt to learn from what she was doing; she wanted to be able to heal even when her waterbending couldn't. Zuko leaned against the table next to her, his hat casting a shadow over his face as he watched the ground.
"You guys must not be from around here," the young woman said, amused. "We know much better not to touch the White Jade, let alone try to make it into tea and drink it." Uncle smiled sheepishly up at her and scratched the back of his head.
"Oops!" The woman smiled and rolled her eyes good naturedly.
"So where are you travelling from?" she asked, turning her attention to Zuko.
"Yes! We're travelling." he said in a strange tone, standing up straight. Emi turned her face away from the woman and rolled her eyes at him. Act natural would you she mouthed at Zuko.
"Do you have names?" the woman inquired, having missed the small exchange between Zuko and Emi.
"Names?" he said nervously. "Of course we have names! I'm...um, Lee! And this is my uncle...um...Mushi!" Emi smacked her palm to her forehead as the young woman redirected her attention back to Uncle, who was glaring intently at Zuko.
"Yes," he said smugly, " my nephew was named after his father, so we just call him Junior." he finished, smiling at Zuko, who was dragging his finger across his neck in the standard 'stop talking' motion.
"Mushi and Junior huh? And you?" she asked Emi kindly.
"I'm Miyuki." She said, bowing slightly. "Lovely to meet you."
"And you," she said, bowing in return. "My name is Song. It looks like you three could use a good meal, why don't you stay for dinner?"
"Sorry, but we really need to be moving on." Zuko replied shortly, glancing away.
"That's too bad," Song said, clearly disappointed. "My mom always does make too much roast duck…" to her further disappointment, it was not Zuko who replied, but rather Iroh.
"Where do you live, exactly?"
The smell of roast duck emanating from the kitchen made Emi nearly dizzy with hunger as she sat comfortably at the family's small table. Warmth surrounded her and she was relieved to finally be clean, having graciously been offered a chance to clean up by their hosts. She had pulled her damp hair back up into another bun, but a few damp strands escaped and hung in slight waves around her face.
"So are you Zuko's sister then?" Song asked when they were finally all settled in, she on one side and Emi and Zuko on the other, with Iroh at the head of the table.
"Oh, no," she said, smiling. "Just a family friend." When she didn't elaborate further, a bit of an awkward silence began to descend upon them, but luckily it was broken as Song's mother walked in.
"My daughter tells me you're refugees," she began, setting the duck down gently. "We used to be refugees ourselves."
"When I was a little girl, the Fire Nation raided our small farming village. All of the men were taken." Song looked down sadly. "That was the last time I saw my father." Emi felt a pang in her heart as she also looked down to the grained wood of the table. She missed her parents terribly too. A soft touch on her leg had her looking up into Zuko's shocked, sad eyes. He turned back to Song.
"I haven't seen my father in many years."
"Oh." Song said sadly. "Is he fighting in the war?" her voice was curious, too curious to see Emi biting her lip as both she and Uncle looked at Zuko for his response to such a question.
Zuko set down the bowl he had been holding, his voice short and soft when he spoke.
"Yeah"
Dinner was quiet after that.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Emi asked quietly after they had been sitting on the porch together for quite some time. It was a lovely night, with a slight breeze and a clear, starry sky. Zuko was quiet for some time before he decided to reply.
"It's just...strange to see this side of the War." His other words went unspoken, but they both knew the meaning they held. This was the side of the war that was fueling Emi's doubts, something neither of them thought they had the power to say for the damage it could cause.
"I understand." She sat with him for a little while longer before she decided to leave him to his thoughts. Rising, she made her way inside, brushing a hand across his shoulders as she passed him. Opening the door she came face to face with Song, who let out a little squeak in surprise and blushed.
"Oh! Um, sorry! I'm not, um, interrupting anything, am I?" she asked, a little flustered.
"No, of course not." Emi replied, smiling at her slightly and stepping aside so that she could pass.
"Oh, okay! Thank you." Emi nodded in response and quickly shut the door behind her. Out of curiosity, she glanced out the window just in time to see Zuko prevent Song from touching his scar. She didn't understand why she was so pleased that she was the only one Zuko trusted that much.
Emi, Zuko and Uncle stood facing Song and her mother, ready to depart and move on.
"Thank you for the duck," Uncle said graciously "It was delightful!" Song's mother laughed and handed them a small parcel that contained the leftovers.
"You're welcome! It brings me great joy to see someone eat my cooking with such...gusto!" she said, smiling.
"Much practice." Uncle said jokingly, patting his rounded stomach. Emi smiled and bowed in thanks as well.
"And thank you for offering the use of your washroom. The boys may not mind, but I prefer to stay clean." She said teasingly, earning her laughs from Uncle and the two women. The corner of Zuko's mouth twitched up, but that was gone in an instant as he turned to walk away without another word.
"Junior! Where are your manners? You need to thank these nice people." Zuko stopped in his tracks and did just that, turning to press his hands together in a customary bow.
"Thank you." Emi walked up to him and together they turned and headed away from the small family, but Song's next words made them freeze.
"I know you don't think there's any hope in the world, but there is hope! The Avatar has returned." she called to them.
Emi placed a hand on his shoulder as his eyes flashed dangerously.
"I know."
With that, Song and her mother returned to their quaint house and the trio made to leave. Emi and Uncle were chatting quietly about where they would go next when Emi suddenly noticed that Zuko was no longer walking with them. She turned to look for him and was shocked when she saw that he was leading an ostrich horse their way. An ostrich horse that most definitely did not belong to them.
"What are you doing?" Uncle asked incredulously. "These people just showed you great kindness!"
"Well they're about to show us even more kindness." he said. He reached a hand down to Emi. "Well?"
With a sigh, she grabbed his hand and pulled herself onto the ostrich horse, Uncle following after her.
A/N: So? I'm hoping you are all liking where I'm going with this, but it wouldn't hurt to know what you all think! Leave a review for me if you would :) Thanks for sticking with me everyone
Em
