"You seem quiet today Zuzu," Ursa remarked as her son poked forlornly at his dinner.
"Is everything alright?"
Zuko glanced sadly at his mother from his spot next to her at the long table in the dimly lit dining hall. He opened his mouth to speak but was promptly cut off by his sister:
"He's just upset because his girlfriend wasn't at school this week!" Azula sneered, proudly crossing her arms.
Zuko felt a pang in his stomach as his face flushed, "Shut up! She's not my girlfriend!" He snapped, turning his nose up at his sister.
"Only because you're too much of a big baby to admit you have a crush on her!" Azula taunted, leaning across the table towards him.
"That's enough you two," Ursa calmly intervened. "Your friend Umara sounds like a very nice girl, I'm sure she'll be back to school soon."
Zuko relaxed at the sight of his mother's reassuring smile, but his peace was promptly interrupted by another of his sister's taunts.
"I bet the army came and took her to jail with all the other freaks." Azula snapped viciously.
Just then, Zuko felt a strange feeling come over him. It was as if he were angry, but different. Worse. Driven.
"Shut up, Azula!" He bellowed as he violently chopped a wide stream of fire across the table toward his sister. Azula dove under the table, just barely managing to avoid getting burned.
"Zuko!" Ursa called after him as he stormed away, affrighted by her son's uncharacteristic outburst.
"Leave me alone!" He screeched, slamming the door on the smouldering aftermath behind him.
--
Shortly after his outburst in the dining hall, Zuko sat sulking in his room, dreadfully awaiting the monumental punishment that surely awaited him. He sat on his bed, hugging his knees to his chest. As much as his younger sister picked on him, he'd never wanted to hurt her before, but something just snapped. It wasn't just that one time, either. The whole week had been weird. Umara was his only friend, and it was hard not having her around. She was different than everyone else: she never got angry or said cruel things. If he was being honest, she never really did much of anything. She always just seemed to be observing everything. Zuko sighed and splayed out on his back. That was probably why he liked her so much, Umara was always calm, even if he wasn't.
What was even worse, Azula was right. He was too scared to show that he liked her, and if that wasn't bad enough, she put the thought in his head that Umara may not come back. It hurt when she said that, because she may not have been wrong. The way his father had explained it was that Umara's family was allowed to live in the Republic City as a favor, though Zuko wasn't quite sure what that implied. Umara would never explain it to him either, she always just said there were some things she couldn't tell him and left it at that.
"Zuko," his mother's voice called from the doorway. "What's gotten into you?" She asked as she gingerly set herself down next to him on his bed. Zuko could only whimper as he curled himself into a ball. She put her hand on his shoulder gently, "I know you're worried about your friend, but you must learn how to control your temper! You could have burned your sister!" She scolded softly.
"I didn't mean to," Zuko mumbled. "I just don't understand why Azula has to be so mean." His mother squeezed his arm and gently pulled him so he was sitting next to her, "Zuko, look at me," She began as he reluctantly raised his eyes up from the floor. "Azula is younger than you, you have to learn to be patient with her."
"Why doesn't she have to learn to be more nice?" He huffed.
Ursa smiled, "She will, but she's still a little girl. You're almost twelve! You won't be able to have outbursts like that when you get invited to war meetings!" Zuko's eyes widened, "really? I get to go to war meetings?"
"In a few years you will, but only if you learn to behave now!" She urged.
Zuko Sat up straight and nodded confidently, "I will, I promise."
--
The next day proved to be yet another disappointment. It was already half way through the day and there was still no sign of his friend.
Zuko plopped down forlornly near the back wall of the school's court yard. He never had any luck when he tried to interact with the other children, and thought it would be best to keep his distance, lest he lose his temper again.
"Ouch!" He grimaced and grabbed the back of his head, swiftly standing up to see who'd hit him. "Who threw that?" He cried, only to be met by the bewildered stares of his classmates gathered to his front on the opposite end of the court yard.
"Shut up, dummy!" A soft, familiar voice urged from the wall behind him.
"Mari? Where have you been?" He demanded, a bit too loudly.
Another rock came sailing through the wall's round skylight, this time striking him directly in the forehead. "Stop doing that!" He screeched and stomped his foot, affording more stares from his distant classmates.
"What part of 'shut up' don't you understand? You're gonna get me in trouble," Umara's voice was still a whisper, but more urgent this time. "Now sit back down and stop being so obvious!"
Zuko took a deep breath and returned to his previous position, sitting with his back to the wall. "I'm sorry," he said quietly to the ground in front of him. "Why haven't you been in school? I was wo--" he paused abruptly to collect himself. "It's boring here without you!" He found himself smiling a bit as he said that, though he wasn't sure why.
"Meet me back here in the woods after school. I'll explain then, and don't tell anyone!"
Zuko raised his eyebrows, "Why would I tell anyone?"
Umara was quiet for a moment, though it was as if he had heard her roll her eyes. "Stop asking questions! I said I'll explain later!"
"Zuko!" A sharp voice cut through their conversation. "Get back inside! Break is over!" Zuko swallowed nervously, springing to his feet. "Yes ma'am!" He called as he jogged back into the school.
--
Zuko was relieved when the school day was finally over. He may as well have jumped over the wall when Umara had come to find him earlier that day, it's not like he had been able focus on anything else after that. He waited until his classmates were out of sight before creeping his way into the woods.
"Mari!" He rasped as he clumsily tripped his way through a mess of tree branches and brush. "Mari it's me! Where are you?"
"If that name catches on you're gonna be in big trouble" a small voice came from somewhere in the mess of branches around him, as another pebble struck him between his shoulder blades.
"Why do you keep doing that?!" He yelped as he turned toward the direction the rock had come from. "I'm sorry," Umara emerged from the brush chuckling, "You just get so twitchy, I couldn't resist." She giggled, her big, black eyes seemed to smile with her, assuaging his contempt, as always.
I hate it when she does that.
Zuko flailed the rest of the way through the brush, angrily shoving a branch out of the way, only for it to snap back and hit him in the face. Umara sighed, "just...come on" She impatiently grabbed Zuko's hand and dragged him the rest of the way to a clearing.
She turned to face him, her hand still grasping his for just long enough to bring all the blood rushing to his face. Umara glanced up at him briefly before shifting her eyes toward the ground. Her normally meticulously combed hair now falling listlessly over her eyes.
He awkwardly let go of her hand, flustered. "What's the matter, Mari, why do you look so sad?"
Her eyes shifted back to his briefly and she pursed her lips, "I don't know if I should come to school anymore..." She whimpered. Zuko reached toward her hesitantly for a moment before stiffly returning his hand to his side. He stood there stupidly, watching Umara as she attempted to collect herself, tilting her head back and brushing her long black hair out of her face. She took a sharp, deep breath:
"Something really weird happened, and I'm afraid what will happen if someone finds out." She stammered as she put her head back down and wiped tears from her eyes.
"Did Azula do something to you?" Zuko blurted uncomfortably.
Umara grunted and flopped down into the grass. "She's nine, Zuko," She sighed, sounding almost disappointed. "It's hard to explain, make some fire. I'll show you."
Zuko gingerly put his hand out, "I don't know Mari, this seems kind of dangerous. What if I burn you?" He shook his head in protest, abruptly closing his fist. "I almost burned Azula last night, I got really mad and--"
Umara dropped flat onto her back and groaned, "I might have to disappear forever and all you can talk about is your stupid, mean, sister!" She stared blankly at the treetops for a moment before abruptly sitting up.
"That's it!" She cried triumphantly, grabbing Zuko's arms and yanking him to sit on the ground with her.
"What are you doing?" He yelped abashedly.
She scooted closer to him so that their knees were touching, grasping his right hand between both of hers. "You don't have to make fire, just think about something that makes you feel all emotional and...attack-ey or whatever so your hand gets hot. If I feel like you're gonna burn me, I'll just let go." She chirped, her eyes seeming a bit brighter than before.
"Fine..." Zuko grumbled, closing his eyes to take a deep breath. He tried to focus but something felt off. "Close your eyes too! It's weird with you watching me!" He demanded. Umara smiled at him, "Fine, but once you're all... 'fire-ey' you have to open your eyes or you'll miss it." She cautioned him as she closed her eyes.
Zuko took a few deep breaths but couldn't manage to muster the anger he had felt the night before. If anything, his fight with Azula certainly wasn't what was making him feel 'fire-ey' at the moment. He squinted one eye open and peered at his friend. He thought about how annoying it was that she always got her way because of her stupid, big eyes. How she was always so calm, and how stupid he felt when he got angry in front of her, how she said she was going to 'disappear forever', how badly he had wanted to hug her when she was crying...
Stupid, Coward, Loser...
It was working. He opened his eyes when he felt Umara squeeze his hand. She squinched her eyes shut tighter and then, just for an instant, there were two of her. It was so quick that Zuko didn't have a chance to react before she exhaled sharply and abruptly let go of his hand.
"Did it work?" She asked, wincing and fanning her hands.
"What was that?" He asked wide eyed.
Umara's expression turned grave once more, "I'm not sure, but I think it might put me in danger."
Zuko shrugged, "I don't think so, why would it?"
She averted her eyes and folded her arms against her chest defensively, "it's one of those things I'm not allowed to tell you about, but I'm really, really scared." She said softly, shaking her head.
"Wouldn't it be more suspicious if you just stopped going to school all of a sudden?" He countered, a bit selfishly.
Umara tilted her head and thought for a moment, "I guess so..." She mumbled.
"And plus, you're my friend! That has to count for something, right?" Zuko smiled proudly.
She squinted at him for a second,
"Fine...but if I mysteriously disappear it's on you," She shrugged.
There was a silence after that, her eyes started to dart around nervously. "It's getting late," she cautioned, as a firefly buzzed past her head. "You should go home before the army comes looking for you or something."
"The guards and the army aren't the same thing," he replied stubbornly. "But I guess you're right. You promise you'll be at school tomorrow?" He did his best to mimmick the look Umara got on her face everytime she smiled her way out of trouble. She smiled at him, her face flushing just a little bit. Zuko felt his stomach leap into his throat. She was definitely better at that than he was.
"I promise." She said reluctantly, reaching out her hand to help him to his feet. The two just stared at each other for a moment.
"I'm gonna go, it's getting dark." Umara blurted, abruptly turning and starting home.
Zuko just stood there, paused by his own fluster.
"Hey Mari," He gulped and called after her.
She stopped and looked at him, a bit startled.
He tried to speak, but panicked as soon as he tried to.
"Uhh...Your eyes are...pretty, I guess." He trailed off.
Umara blinked at him blankly, "Okay!" She squeaked awkwardly, before briskly resuming her walk home.