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"Thanks for coming and get me, bud. Get some rest, alright?" Zuko stroked his dragon by his nose as Druk snorted and gently prodded the young prince. "Zuko! You're finally here!" He turned just in time to find Katara running into him and enveloped him within her arms. The young firebender was momentarily frozen from the unexpected hug. But he soon reciprocated it with a few awkward pats on her back. Katara abruptly released him after noticing his rigidity. She smiled sheepishly at him. "Heheh. Sorry about that." Before he had the chance to reply her, Zuko noticed several men donned in straw hats, armours and armed with spears were behind her. He intuitively pulled Katara behind him as his other hand was drawn to the dao on his side. That led the men to back away from them a little.
"Wait, Zuko. They're not our enemy." Though that softened his grip around his sword, Zuko kept his watchful eye on them. "Master Jeong Jeong wishes to see you." He cocked his eyebrow at the man's words who then pointed to a hut just down their path. He briefly took a glance at Katara, "…I'll join you guys later." She nodded in acknowledgement to his whisper.
"...I was told that you asked for me?" He lifted the fabric of the entrance and peeked into the dark hut. In there, he saw the white-haired man, surrounded by a dozen of candles was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed. "Sit." The white-haired man sharply ordered with a hint of ill-tempered tone. Without a word, the grumpy man poured a cup of tea and offered it the scarred young man. Zuko took a sip at his tea and frowned as he stared at his cup. From the tea itself, he has spiritually learned the ferocity, guilt and remorse of the master sitting before him. "Like the lotus flower, we grow and rise from the foul mud…" Jeong Jeong studied the young boy's reaction and waited for his response. Zuko set his cup down and continued sagely. "…And from the darkness, we bloom and radiates the world with our philosophy, beauty and truth." In response to his phrase, the old man nodded in deep approval. "Welcome, Prince Zuko. the White Lotus opens wide to those who know her secrets." Zuko lowered his head in respect to the elder. "I'm no longer a prince, Master Jeong Jeong. I've been–" The master raised his hand and prevented the young man from finishing his sentence. "I have no interest on what the buffoon tyrant had declared. It is irrelevant to me. What you did back then was admirable. Relatively foolish, but greatly commendable. You will always have the soldiers' respect as well as mine, Your Highness." Jeong Jeong bent his back forward as a sign of holding the young prince in high regard. Zuko pursed his lips while shuddering to hold back the emotion that was brewing within him. The elderly man watched with an unreadable expression as the flames of his candles were capriciously flickering. All the prince could do at that point was inclining his head once more to express his heartfelt appreciation on what Jeong Jeong had said.
After a passing silence, Zuko finally decided to bring out the subject that was on his mind. "Master Jeong Jeong, you and your men need to leave this place. Zhao is on his way here." Jeong Jeong solemnly inhaled and sighed heavily as he stroked his goatee. He pondered about what the young man has said. "I will deal with that. In the meantime, go rejoin your group. It has been a long day for all of us." He waved his hand. "Leave now. Tomorrow, I will see you again one last time before you continue your journey to the North."
Upon nearing the shack where his friends were in, Zuko encountered several men who were in their early 20s have gathered at the entrance of the cabin. "Y-your Highness!" One of the men saw the exiled prince and cried out. All of them immediately got onto their knees and lowered their heads to him. They greeted him in a Fire Nation custom. Their unexpected behaviour startled the young man while the whole little theatrics have gathered others attention as three additional heads popped out from the shack. "What's the meaning of this?" Zuko asked with a stiff solemn expression. "Your Highness, w-we were soldiers of the 41st Division!" At that moment, Zuko's face turned pale. He took a step back as he hitched a breath. He never knew there were survivors. "I…I'm sorry…" He weakly forced it out of his mouth. "I couldn't stop the plan."
"Y-Your Highness! W-what are you doing?! Please stop!" The deserters panicked when they saw their prince bowing to them.
"No, My Lord! Please don't say that!"
"You've defended us when others were willing to throw away our lives!"
"That's right! We'll never forget the day when you stood up for all of us!"
"Because of you, some of us managed to escape slaughter!"
Zuko steadily let out a sigh as he reorganised his thoughts. "It's nice to know that there are survivors from the 41st Division. I am sorry for what you all had went through. I only wished I could do more back then..."
"Please don't be so hard on yourself, My Lord. You did what you could. Our little revolt was nothing when compared to what you have wen–"
"–Don't. Don't bring that up." He stopped the soldier in a firm tone once he noticed his three friends were in the midst of eavesdropping their conversation. "...!" The trio immediately dove their heads back into the hut when his eyes met theirs.
Before they left him, the deserters proceeded to thank the prince one last time and swore their undying loyalty to him. Once they're gone, Zuko stood outside the hut and contemplated whether he should actually enter. He felt that going in and joining the group would complicate things and made the situation even more awkward. That's precisely the last thing he needed. Believing that he rather be alone than being swarmed by questions, he sighed and decided to head towards Druk's direction.
Zuko's ears twitched when he heard the susurrus of the nearby bushes. His brow furrowed as he already foresaw who's coming. Just like the time when he met June, it was the young water maiden who came to look for him. He had hoped she wouldn't come. Not after she and the boys have overheard the conversation between the deserters and him. But she's here anyway. "…Zuko?"
His remained quiet and pretended as though he has fallen asleep. Hoping that it would encourage her to return to the hut. However, Druk, who has been staying silence this entire time gave the prince a nudge with his body. That snapped Zuko out of his 'sleep'. "What?" He directed a challenging gaze to his buddy who simply huffed and rolled his eyes at the prince as he lowered his head back to the ground.
Zuko massaged his eyelids with a hand and somewhat adjusted his back against Druk as he turned his attention onto the young lady. "...What do you want, Katara?" He sounded impatient. "You never came to our camp. So I thought–" Before she had the chance to finish her sentence, Zuko interjected. "–I'm staying with Druk tonight. Go back to Aang and Sokka, Katara. I'll see you guys tomorrow." He authoritatively ended their little talk. There was no room for discussion. "..." Katara sulked and stormed back to her camp.
Druk shifted his body and growled in protest on how his companion treated Katara. "Not. A. Word." The dragon let out a snort just as he gently flicked his tail and lightly slapped the young man on his face. "Hey, stop it. I was just...not in the mood to talk to her, alright? I'll apologize to her the next day. Happy?" Druk shook his head and went back resting.
What he did not anticipate was Katara coming back minutes later with her sealskin sleeping bag in her arm. She set it close to him, crawled into without a word and slept with her back facing him. "What are you d–" He was again clapped by a tail. Zuko silently glared at Druk who was clearly ignoring him by maintaining his eyes shut. The young man exhaled softly as he spoke in a calmer tone, "I'm…I'm sorry." He watched as she eventually wriggled to turn and face him. "It was rude of me…to speak to you like that." He earnestly said it while she naïvely stared at him.
Right around the time when the silence and her nonresponsive look was making him uncomfortable, Katara opened her mouth, "Were you upset because we overheard the talk?" Her bluntness caused him to hide his embarrassed expression behind a hand. "...No. I mean, yes."
"Well, um, sorry for eavesdropping." She apologized. But the young man shook his head and replied, "No, no. I shouldn't blame you guys for that. They were loud anyway."
"Do you want to–"
"No." He flatly denied her offer. "Not...now. I'm not ready to talk about it. Sorry."
"N-no. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."
Under the cloudy night, the two young benders held each other's gaze for a time until the boy let out a faint chuckle, followed by the girl's giggle. "We keep apologizing to one another."
"Force of habit?" She joked.
"Maybe...Why are you here, Katara?" His burning amber eyes firmly gleamed onto her oceanic sapphire eyes. "I...I don't like it when you're distancing yourself from us." She explained. "We care for you, you know. I care for you. You're my friend, and you're part of my family." His expression became unreadable at that point, but he didn't say anything. "And your brother? He's okay with you coming here?" He asked. Katara merely shrugged her shoulders, "Both Sokka and Aang are currently sleeping like logs."
Zuko then noticed the young maiden shuddered under her sleeping bag. "You cold?" He asked and she admitted sheepishly. "And you're still not going back?" He sighed as she stubbornly bobbed her head. "Come closer." Being curious by his suggestion, she wormed her way towards him until they're closed enough that their shoulders touched. Her eyes widened in surprise when she felt a sudden warmth was being transmitted onto her bedroll. Melting the coldness that bothered her. Katara stared at the young man who has his eyes closed and said nothing. "...You're warm." She commented. He just shrugged his shoulders, "Well, I am a firebender." She smiled contently as she savoured the new warmth that's cocooning her. "Thank you, Zuko. And good night."
"...Good night, Katara."
Dawn came as the marigold ray glimmered on the surface of the earth. Zuko fuzzily snapped open his eyes the second he felt the energy of the sun was coursing through his chi path like a raging komodo rhino. He blinked once, he blinked twice, and he stiffened up after realising that Katara was breathing on his neck. She has somehow snuggled up to him with her arm resting on his chest. His pale face reddened in the mixture of shock, panic and embarrassment. Zuko held his breath as he quick-wittedly searched for a way to get himself out of this mess. A lantern then lit up above his head. Carefully and steadily, he increased his body temperature. The plan worked when the young waterbender groaned discomfortingly in her sleep and stirred to the other side. He sighed in relief and left her with Druk so that he could carry out his daily routine.
Not long later, amid his training session, Jeong Jeong came to the forest to find the young man. "You rise like a competent firebender. Good, good." He brushed his goatee. "Master Jeong Jeong." Zuko greeted the man with a bow. "Do not let my presence disrupt your training, your Highness." He urged the young man to carry on. Although Zuko found it odd to have someone watching him performing his katas, he didn't shy away and continued. As he silently and curiously observed the prince executing the dancing dragon form, he noticed a third person has joined in.
"You are up early, Water Girl." Jeong Jeong pointed out. Truth to be told, the cause of Katara's rouse was the absence of Zuko's warmth. But there's no way she's going to say. "Well, I do need to prepare breakfast for them." She lied. Her awareness was soon drawn by a small stream of red flame. It came from the half-naked, scarred young man who became too engrossed in his training. This was the first time she ever saw Zuko executing his firebending technique. She inadvertently gulped when her eyes landed on his broad shoulders and toned physique. She watched as the young man thrust his fists forward a few times, discharging bursts of orange flames. Her eyes widened when he ducked low and did a round sweep kick while unleashing a ring of blue fire around him, followed by a high leap, a spin in mid-air and a swift heel drop kick of white flame.
The young man stood still and loosened his stance as he exhaled and set his arms to cool down position. By the time Zuko ended his training, the young lady's mouth was left agape. He reached for his towel and began wiping the sweat off his body. "Your fire...it's not cursed. It's pure." Zuko and Katara have their heads turned towards Jeong Jeong as they heard that. Though he was initially surprised by Katara's presence, Zuko didn't show it. Jeong Jeong gravely stroke his goatee and prudently evaluated on what he saw, "Your fire is not fuelled by rage, hatred or the desire for destruction. It is purely driven by the chi within you and the sun." The young prince didn't deny it and bobbed his head in acknowledgement. "Remarkable. Your mastery on firebending is truly an eye-opener, Prince Zuko." Jeong Jeong showed a rare smile and nodded complacently. Unfamiliar with the praise coming from someone else other than his uncle and the sun warrior tribe, Zuko shook his head and said otherwise, "I still have much to learn."
"Are you kidding me? That was incredible! I've never knew or seen fire of such colours! And those moves were amazing!" Katara piped up awe-inspiringly. Her extol and starry eyes left Zuko bashful for a second. His cheeks pinkened when the early morning incident resurfaced back in his mind. But he still managed to force a "Thanks." out of his mouth. Shortly after a brief quietude, the young lady became aware that the young man was still only half-dressed. Confusingly, she could feel the heat was rushing towards her face while her heart was drumming heavily. "I-I-I should go and prepare breakfast before Aang and Sokka wake up." She sheepishly offered him a smile and ran away before either Zuko or Jeong Jeong noticed the flush forming on her face.
Once the other boys were up and cleaned themselves, the breakfast was ready. In addition to that, Katara invited Jeong Jeong to join their little meal. The firebending master stared at group as he drank his turkey duck jook. "You must all go after this." His suggestion caught everyone's attention. He shifted his gaze onto Aang, "Avatar, you must journey to the North by the end of the day and learn waterbending as quickly as possible." His was being directive. Since Zuko profusely denied teaching Aang to firebend, the young Avatar initially planned on asking Jeong Jeong to train him. He figured maybe the old master would be lenient enough to teach him. "But I haven't even learned firebe–" The little monk wanted to protest. But he immediately covered his mouth with both hands after realising the firebender beside him was exuding a frightening aura.
"You dare seek tutelage from Master Jeong Jeong in front of me? While fully knowing that I disapproved you firebending in the first place?" He challengingly glared at Aang who let out a squeak and hid behind Katara. Even Momo who was innocently sitting on Aang's lap and eating the nuts, shrieked and dove into Sokka's chest. Like a child who was running away from his angry parent, the young Avatar quivered before Zuko's scary glower. "Zuko, stop scaring Aang." Like a water that smothered a wild flame, Katara's voice conciliated his wrath. He huffed a puff of flame from his mouth as he averted his fury eyes. The boy was then shot down by the adult. "No, Avatar. You are not ready. Master water and earth first." Jeong Jeong set the empty bowl down as he lifted his head and observed the sun in the sky. "…Zhao and his men will be here by midday." He mumbled. "I've ordered my people to leave and abandon this place. Finish up your food and head straight for the North after this. Do not. Alter your course. Time is running out." He warned them while leaving the last part cryptically. The firebending master gave his thank to Katara and walked away from the group.