Erythema ab igne

Chapter 2

It was the middle of the night if the darkness was any indication. Hakoda had been having a nice dream for a change - it had been before Kya was killed. They had been taking Sokka and Katara for their first penguin sledding experience; they had all been laughing as Sokka had fallen into a snow drift.

There was a sharp rap on the door that shattered his dream. He woke with a groan trying to dispel the sleep, but it was hard to leave such a nice dream (the echoes of laughter kept calling him back), but the knocks were demanding and cut through the vestiges of the dream. He opened the door and blearily came face to face with Bato. "What's going on?"

"That prisoner is a firebender."

Hakoda's brain was still trying to wake up and he thought for a moment that he was still dreaming. He repeated the words in his head and his brain came to a shuddering stop. What?

"Nanuq said the kid was having a nightmare or something and when he woke up, the lanterns flared. One of the shattered." Bato was thin-lipped and hesitated a moment before he continued. "Hakoda, we can't have a firebender on a wooden boat. It's suicide."

He was right. Hakoda, as Chief, couldn't risk his men like this. It was different before when they assumed the kid wasn't a firebender, but it was different now. There was a very real danger to everyone on board. Something still bothered him though - why hadn't the child bent fire before? He could have easily escaped them or even avoided being captured in the first place had he used the deadly flames in their first encounter. Tui, if he really wanted, he could have burned them all down and sunk the ship - he'd been on for long enough. Something wasn't adding up.

Instead, he ignored Bato's unasked question - even if the kid was a firebender, he still wasn't willing to kill children. "Anyone hurt?"

"No. Not yet, anyway. Nanuq is pissed. I told him to only injure if the prisoner does anything suspicious.. You know his son was killed in a Fire Nation raid…"

Hakoda felt a headache coming on and together, they made their way to where the kid was being held. Nanuq was standing outside the closed door, and at Bato's questioning glance, he said tersely, "I can't be near him right now."

Bato nodded in understanding. "Go wake Tulok. He can replace you." The other man gave a curt nod and then swiftly took off.

Hakoda opened the door and headed in first. He wasn't sure what to expect - an angry kid shooting flames at them as soon as the door opened? The place on fire? A punch or kick to the face… Instead, the kid was still sitting against the far wall. It seemed he hadn't moved except to try and roll into a ball like an armadillo-porcupine. His head was now resting against his knees hiding his eyes (and his scar); his arms were still awkwardly tied behind his back, but he didn't seem to care or notice - he was trying to take deep breaths but it was irregular, erratic, and rattled against his knees.

A quick glance around the room confirmed the broken lamp and there was a dark scorch along the wall. Fortunately, nothing had actually caught fire. (And the kid's tray was still sitting there - uneaten…). Bato, he noted, stayed back and was intently watching the kid, a cautious hand on a bone club, ready to jump in if needed.

His blue eyes went back to the kid and he still hadn't moved. Hakoda wasn't even sure he had heard them come in over his harsh breathing.

"So you're a firebender."

"I'm not," the kid muttered into his knees. His breathing was slowly evening out.

"Are you saying Nanuq suddenly learned how to firebend?"

"Not that," was the irritated reply. "I meant that I can't. Anymore." His voice was barely audible with the last word.

Hakoda felt his brow rising in disbelief. He had never heard of bending being taken away or lost. He wasn't even sure it was possible, though it was hard to say. There hadn't been any benders in the South for a long time (until his daughter anyway). Besides, the kid clearly had bent; the wall would attest to that.

"What do you mean?" Hakoda sat on the floor, trying to get a better gauge of the kid's expressions, but he buried his face deeper into his knees, shrinking right before Hakoda's eyes.

"You mean my face wasn't clue enough?" he finally asked. There was a moment when his breathing picked up and he struggled with himself, shaking slightly. Hakoda waited, and slowly, the kid got himself back under control. "I haven't been able to. Since then. Believe me" - he gave a dry choked laugh - "the sergeants tried for weeks." He shuddered and shrunk further into himself.

Hakoda almost asked for the sergeants' names - for later reference. He wanted to have a nice meeting with them and his bone club as he suspected "trying to get the kid to firebend" probably was more than just pointing the kid at a tree stump and telling him to make fire. (He imagined fire swirling toward him with wide gold eyes and a startled shout.. It wasn't a far reach to imagine Katara or Sokka in place of this Fire Nation child..)

Oh, Hakoda realized as the pieces suddenly pieced together - large burn on the face, inability to bend, the current shaking (he probably woke to a nightmare, saw the lantern..)... The kid was scared of his element; he was scared of fire. Was that even possible? Could a bender be afraid of their own element? And whatever these sergeants did most certainly didn't help that fear - perhaps even intensified it.

The kid wasn't going to be a threat in this sense; he wasn't going to set the boat on fire - not on purpose anyway. Somehow, that realization didn't make Hakoda feel better.

Hakoda got up and almost put a comforting hand on the kid's shoulder, but thought better of it (Was he getting attached?). He turned and noticed Bato's pursed lips and crossed arms as they left the room. Outside, Hakoda nodded at Tulok who then stepped inside to take over watch.

Bato wasn't going to like this but, "He's not a threat."

"We can't keep sailing around with a firestarter onboard!"

"What would you propose then?"

"Hand him to the Earth Nation. They have the capabilities to handle firebenders. He can go to prison and sit the war out."

Hakoda gave a noncommittal grunt. It wasn't a bad idea, but for some reason, it didn't sit right. (Didn't the Earth Nation crush the hands of firebenders?) "When will we be at port again?"

"Depends on the winds. Maybe within the week."

"Ok, we'll decide by then."

They parted only for a few hours before Bato was banging at his door again. "What is going on now?" Hakoda demanded, swinging his door open.

"Nanuq is on deck with the prisoner. He's going to kill him."

For the race up to the deck, Hakoda had thought Bato had meant that the kid had somehow taken Nanuq into custody and was holding him hostage in exchange for his freedom, but upon reaching the deck, the truth was quite the opposite.

The large Water Tribe man was backed against the railing with a knife held up to the kid's neck. Tulok, who was sporting a black eye, was trying to yell sense into his crewman. "Put the knife down. You don't want to do this, Nanuq." It seemed that Nanuq had forcibly taken the kid hostage.

The kid had a long slash across his arm that was bleeding sluggishly, but otherwise wasn't struggling despite no longer being restrained (when did that happen?). The shaking knife was making pinpoints of blood on his neck, but he ignored it; he was looking up at the slowly brightening sky, studying it like it would be his last.

Nanuq was crying now, slow tears. "They killed my son! So why is he still alive?! The Fire Nation didn't do the same for Adlartok! He was thirteen!" Tui. Hakoda should have expected this. The Fire Nation had not been kind to Adlartok - he had been barely recognizable around the burns, but a father could not mistake his own son.

Hakoda took a step forward and stopped as a steadier stream of blood started to drip down the boy's neck. "You don't want to hurt a child, Nanuq." He held up a placating hand. La, please let him see reason and keep them safe. "We aren't the Fire Nation, and Adlartok would be sad if you stooped to their level." The blade slowly dropped before clattering on the floor. Bato pulled the Water Tribe warrior from the child while Hakoda pulled at the child, separating the two.

"You should have let him; it would have solved your ethical problem," the kid said, a hand slowly going up to cover his bleeding neck. "He might've felt better too," he indicated Nanuq.

Hakoda may have pushed him a little harder than intended to Tulok and he stumbled before being caught. "We aren't the Fire Nation," he growled back, before addressing Tulok. "Take him to Ataninnuaq. You, get checked too."

"I'm fine," but he still nodded back, carefully leading the kid to the healer's room. Curious. Hakoda's eyes followed them for a bit before going back to Nanuq's crying form. He couldn't punish the man - he was still grieving for his son. Maybe Hakoda should have sent him back to the Southern Water Tribe when it had happened, but the man had insisted he was fine - that he would fight for revenge. Now though…

Hakoda clasped Nanuq on the shoulder. "Go rest. We can talk later." He glanced at Bato and he took the hint, leading the other man away. He'd give him some time to calm down and then go from there. He surveyed the blood on the wooden planks and sighed before making his way to the healer's room.

Opening the door, he paused. Tulok was standing cross armed, watching the healer cluck over the kid and bandaging the his neck. He had been wearing a black long sleeved shirt, but due to the Ataninnuaq's insistence, he had removed it and was watching morbidly as his arm was being stitched up, not even wincing with each passing of the needle. What bothered Hakoda more than the injury was the fact that the kid had a myriad of scars across his torso - some looked like slashes from a blade, some looked like burns. In fact, his arms looked like someone had painted the blue ripples on the ocean floor but instead of using a calming blue, they had used a furious red - it was the kind of rash one could get if exposed to heat over and over, like he had blocked (or attempted to block) a lot of flames. His back was a mess of what looked like whip marks. In fact, Bato's blow (which was purpling and healing) when they had first captured the boy seemed to pale compared to the injuries he already had, and that wasn't even counting the fact that Hakoda could count way too many ribs for comfort.

Hakoda was trying to control his emotions when Tulok pulled him aside. Whispering, he told Hakoda how Nanuq had burst into the room where they had been holding the kid prisoner, and when Tulok had tried to stop him, things got violent and that's when the knife was pulled. After the initial blow though, the kid had jumped him blocking the knife that would have injured Tulok.

During the story, Hakoda continued to study the kid who was talking to Ataninnuaq, apparently asking about various medicines that he saw on the shelves. The older man was almost done stitching up the long gash. Maybe he reminded the kid of someone he knew, or maybe it was fatigue from everything that had just happened, or something else all together, but he was more chatty than he ever was with Hakoda. Hakoda really should think about bringing in the healer to future interrogations.

"So boy, what is your name?"

"Does it matter?"

"Then I'll just call you 'Fire Nation Brat'."

The kid snorted softly. "It's Zuko."

"Zuko, eh? Like the Fire Nation Prince?"

"The Prince is dead." His tone, which was previously amused or interested, was now curt. He was done talking apparently.

Ataninnuaq made a noncommittal sound in response and he finished in silence. Irritatingly, it felt like Ataninnuaq had gotten more out of the kid than Hakoda had in the past several days.

"He's…" Tulok hesitated. "He's a good kid. He didn't have to take that knife for me…" They fell into a short silence, both watching the kid - Zuko, apparently.

"What are you going to do with him?"

Hakoda didn't know. The more he learned about the kid, the harder the decision was. He had a hard lot in life, and Hakoda hated the thought that he was adding to it. He was just a damn kid.


AN: I had wanted to post this like 1.5 weeks ago before I went into hell week, but alas I wasn't able to finish in time.

I also didn't want to add so many OC crew characters but it was so awkward just saying water tribe warrior over and over and guh. I'm not very creative with characters I'm sorry

Thank you for all the comments and stuff!