"Zuko," his Uncle began sternly, "It is not right to press people about things they would rather not talk discuss."
Zuko frowned, his eyes widening, "wait, you heard us talking?!"
Iroh nodded gravely, "yes, and I'm afraid your sister did as well,"
Zuko's stomach lurched. His eyes nervously
scanning the eerily lit ocean in front of them. Azula always spun things to get him in trouble, and he'd given her ammunition against Umaru. He groaned, "I didnt mean to get Mari In trouble... She just... looked so scared. She even said she was even afraid of you! I just thought that maybe if she told me what happened, I could make her feel better."
Iroh gently put his hand on Zuko's shoulder.
"She has every right to be afraid of me, I do not blame her for that: what you need to realise, Prince Zuko, is that you live in a very priveleged position. Others are not so fortunate. By putting words in your friend's mouth, you have placed her in a very precarious position."
Zuko put his head in his hands, "I know," he sighed. "Mair always complains that I dont think, and, I dont know. I never thought she was right, until now..."
Iroh smiled reassuringly as Zuko's face fell, "It is important to listen to the words of those closest to you, even if they are uncomfortable at times. Umara is a very clever girl, and I am sure she will find a way to convince Azula otherwise, but it is extremely important that you do not put her in this position again, do you understand?"
"Yeah..." Zuko mumbled, staring at his feet. "Do you know why Mari's so afraid of you?" he asked, hoping for a little insight into what had just occurred.
Iroh shook his head. "I am not going to offer information that Umara would not give you herself," he warned, "but I well tell you that her people think much differently than most people in the Fire Nation: they value balance, some would argue, exsesively so. That belief made them veryskeptical of the Fire Lords' intentions for the war...That is not to say that they are against it, but where your Great Grandfather was confident and ambitious, the Natoyi prefer to be passive and patient."
Zuko was quiet for a moment as he considered what his Uncle had just said. He knew Mari looked and acted differently than everyone else, but he never realized she had 'people', and as far as he knew, all the Natoyi went away a long time ago. As always, his Uncle was raising more questions than he answered.
"There is a story I can tell you that may help you understand, a legend that originated from the Natoyi centuries ago." Iroh offered, taking note of Zuko's sudden quiet.
. . .
It had been particularly nice out that day, if she remembered correctly, the perfect kind of day to be hiding in the woods. Umara could hear the others calling her name, but it was no use, she wasn't coming back. She had put up with quite a bit from the Elders and their tests. They'd tried to scare her, taunted her, thrown fire at her, and all the while they refused to tell her why. She had taken all of that in stride, but, they went too far this time. Umara was not going to let them draw all over her arms with needles, at least not without an explanation.
"Isahi," a gentle voice called softy from behind her. Umara reluctantly tuned around toward the familiar voice. Of course Junalah had been the one to find her. Umara was ready to run away when Junalah gently put her hand on her shoulder.
"You cant hide out here forever, you know. Eventually you're going to get hungry." she smiled sarcastically.
Umara glared at her "I'm not going back. Not until someone tells me what's going on," she pouted. Junalah was a lot braver than she was, and she had always admired her for that. This was different, though: something was up, Umara could see it on everyone's face, even hers. "Why hasn't Kamal come home yet?" she asked, carefully watching Junalah's reaction. Her eyes flashed with concern for just a moment.
"You know he snuck in, I'm sure he just hasn't been able to find Ursa yet." she smiled reassuringly, though Umara could tell it was fake. Junalah wasnt a liar, so whatever she was hiding had to be big. It didn't help that no one would tell her why Kamal has gone looking for Ursa in the first place. "...but I doubt that is why you're hiding out here..." Junalah raised her eyebrows pointedly.
"You know why I'm hiding!" Umara snapped.
Junalah stooped down to look her in the eyes, gently pushing Umara's hair behind her ears. "Umara," she began gently. "I know you're scared, but it's really not that bad! I got one when I was your age too, see?" she motioned to the red spiral on her own arm.
"That's just one!" Umara protested. "they want to do my whole arm!" she tried to turn away, but Junalah grabbed her shoulders and turned her back towards her.
"That's because you're very special!" Junalah smiled at her, placing hen hands on either side of Umara's face. "They need to make sure you'll be okay, just incase something happens."
Umara just stared at her, attempting to deduce what that implied. Had something happened to Kamal? No one was ever concerned about things like that before, though, they had never attempted to sneak in to the Fire Nation Capital either.
"Isahi," Junalah slipped her hands down Umara's arms and grasped her hands. "We're all just trying to keep you safe, I wouldnt let anyone do anything to hurt you, okay? Now will you please walk back with me? I promise it's not that bad."
. . .
They had just finished up when the yelling started outside. She almost couldn't understand the soldier when he burst through the door. He was talking too fast, and Umara was already distracted by the pain in her arm. She translated what she could and managed to get every one outside without incident. Then there was more yelling. She strained to understand what was being said, but they were just going too fast. Junalah suddenly appeared next to her, and grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the crowd toward the line of soldiers.
"It's her, she is the youngest. Take her." she said shakily, eyes never wavering from the men in front of her. Umara tried to squirm away as one of other men moved toward her. "No, no, no," Junalah protested as she pulled Umara toward her, "Umara, Isahi, listen to me! lt's going to be okay, we'll be okay. You have to go with them, alright?" she insisted frantically. For the first time Umara could remember, Junalah looked afraid.
She yelped as the toad like man roughly grabbed her arm, "Enough of this!" he shouted sternly, haphazardly throwing her into the back of a wagon. "You be a very lucky little girl, you know that?" sneered at her cruelly as the wagon started to pull away. Umara managed a final glance at Junalah, who just smiled at her and nodded her head reassuringly.
Umara jolted awake, disoriented as to where exactly she was.
Just a dream...
It took a minute for the events earlier that night to come back to her, and when they did, she promptly jumped out of bed. Of all places, she was not sleeping in this house tonight. The only issue was the fact that it was pitch black outside, but it was a risk she was willing to take if it meant she could get away from this mess.
. . .
"Is that a true story?" Zuko asked as his Uncle finished speaking.
Iroh shrugged, "I can not say for sure, I'd suppose it depends on who you ask, some say it is merely a fable, others, like your friend Umara's people, believe It to be very true."
His brow furrowed. "You keep saying that... I thought Mari was from the same place as my mom?"
Iroh chuckled, patting his nephew's shoulder, "It seems you two still have a lot to talk about. I'm surprised, you spend an awful lot of time together." he remarked, a questioning took on his face.
Zuko frowned, fixing his eyes onto the glowing ocean in front of them, "Yeah... Mari doesn't like talking about what happened before she came here. That's why we were arguing in the first place..." he trailed off with a lump in his throat.
Iroh nodded sympathetically, "It is never a good idea to press people about things they would rather not discuss, Prince Zuko, but perhaps you have just been asking the wrong questions. People are far more inclined to discuss their pleasant memories than they are to discuss their pain."
Zuko considered what his Uncle had just told him as he watched the eerily luminescent waves gently lap up onto the beach. He sighed dejectedly as hindsight struck him like a boulder to the chest. "She kept saying she didn't want to talk about it, but I wouldn't listen," He groaned. "I feel really bad. She seemed so scared."
Iroh raised his eyebrows, glancing back toward the beginning of the path they had taken to the beach, "Something tells me she may be willing to forgive you." He whispered pointedly.
Huh? Why do you—" he turned around and to his delight saw Umara plodding through the sand toward them.
"I uh- I didn't think anyone would be down here..." she mumbled, glancing sheepishly at his Uncle.
She seemed spooked, streaks of dirt covering her arms and clothes. "It's really dark on that path..." she answered Zuko's questioning look, abashedly.
Iroh feigned a yawn, "Well then, I suppose I should be heading back, wouldn't want Azula waking up and seeing that everyone is gone," he raised his eyebrows. "I'm sure Zuko will be able to get you back in one piece." he stretched his arms over his head and started back toward the path.
"Im sure Azula will be fine..." she mumbled a bit too loudly, illiciting a chuckle from Iroh as he walked away
Umara gave Zuko a quick glance before fixing her eyes on the ocean in front of her. He stared over at her wanting to apologize, but finding himself suddenly unable to say anything: seeing her all out of sorts made her seem so delicate. The way the dim bluish-green light reflected off of her face wasn't helping him focus, either.
Umara did a double take when she noticed Zuko staring at her. "Does the ocean always glow like this here?" she questioned as she kicked half heartedly at the water.
"Only after it rains, there's some kind of tiny animal that makes it light up. My uncle explained it once, but I don't remember..." he shrugged, inching himself a little closer to her.
"It's pretty..." she replied, absentmindedly.
Zuko reached over and gently brushed his fingertips against her arm hoping she'd look at him, "I'm really sorry, Mari. I didn't mean to yell at you.. I was just—"
Umara interrupted him by abruptly pulling him into a hug, "You're a jerk." she whispered sweetly, resting her head on his shoulder.
He awkwardly wrapped his arms around her waist, feeling his bones slowly dissolve into jelly, "I know...Are you mad at me?" He asked hoarsely.
"I'm not mad," she sighed, holding him a little tighter, "I really could have gone without you waking up your sister, though..."
Zuko snapped out of his trance, stiffly pulling himself away from her, "what'd she say to you?" He growled.
"No no no, look at me," she put her hand on his cheek and turned his face toward hers. "No more tonight. Okay? It wasn't a big deal, I'm too tired for anymore yelling." She smiled up at him.
Zuko relaxed when her eyes met his, though he was suddenly very aware of her holding him. He took a sharp breath, "Mari, I'm really, really sorry" his voice cracked as his heart slowly made its way into his throat. "Do you think we could maybe- uh- pretend tonight didn't happen?" he stumbled through his words, his head swimming.
Umara stared at him thoughtfully, tilting her head to the side, "I guess that'd be okay. I'm still kind of freaked out though. I don't really want to sleep at the house tonight..."
He almost wished she'd put her head back on his shoulder as her eyes successfully pulled all of the air out of his lungs.
Zuko swallowed hard, "You could- ahem- you could lay on me if you want—on my shoulder, I mean. So you don't have to stay down here alone..." he cringed at his own awkwardness.
Umara smiled at him as she trailed her fingers along his jaw line until they were resting just next to his chin. "You're face is all red again..." she raised her eyebrows in feigned concern.
Zuko stared at her, frozen, his heart pounding in his ears.
Do something, stupid!
He knew he wanted to kiss her, and that she probablywanted him to kiss her, for some reason. In spite of all that, he was panicking far too much to do anything about it.
He opened his mouth to say something, though he wasn't sure what it was. Umara gently shook her head in protest, pulling his face closer to hers and softly pressing her lips against his.
Zuko was sure his head really had exploded this time. He had wondered before, but was sure now. He definitelyloved her. He didn't know why he wasn't sure before, after all, she was everything he wasn't. Smart, thoughtful, calm...
"Ow!" Umara yelped, flickering away just as she had earlier, only moving a few feet this time. "Ouch!" she giggled, hoping up and down and fanning the small of her back with her shirt.
"What happened?!" He cried, suddenly feeling the color drain from his face as he looked at his hands. "Did I burn you?!" He groaned, eyes wide with a mix of concern and embarrassment.
"Just a little" She beamed at him, trying and failing to suppress her laughter. Her face dropped suddenly as she noticed the distance between them. "I did that thing again, didn't I?" She sighed with frustration.
"Yeah," Zuko replied stiffly, still reeling in his own embarrassment. "I think you did."
Umara rolled her eyes and slumped over dramatically, "Can we please wait until tomorrow to panic about it?" She complained sleepily.
"Yeah...Should I go back to the house?" He asked, his brow furrowed with embarrassment.
Umara shook her head, "You don't have to." She grabbed Zuko's arm and swung herself onto the ground, nearly pulling him off his feet.
He stumbled as he sat down next to her, "why do you always do that?!" He complained in a fluster.
She shrugged expressionlessly, "I'm not sure, I just got used to doing it. You usually get frustrated if you think too much."
Zuko was starting to wonder if that blank look she got may have been her version of looking flustered.
He took a deep breath as he laid on his back. Umara just stared at him with the same blankness, and he realized she probably was flustered.
"You can still lay on me, if you want." He smiled at her reassuringly, feeling a bit relieved that he wasn't the only one who got nervous.
Umara stared at him for a few more seconds before stiffly turning onto her side and resting her head on his chest. Something about knowing she was nervous put him more at ease. She relaxed as he curled his arm around her back and pulled her a little closer to him. "So why'd you kiss me before?" He teased, relishing in the fact that he finally had the upper hand.
She was quiet for a moment, "Because you weren't taking the hint." She shrugged matter of factly.
"Oh," he felt his cheeks grow hot as he once again became the nervous one. "I was surprised. I figured you wouldn't want anything to do with me for a while." he sheepishly admitted.
Umara put her arm around his waist and squeezed, "I wasn't upset like that. I mean, you yell all the time, but you never yelled at me before. I was scared, not angry. You can't accuse me of things like that!"
Zuko's heart sank as he realized that she hadn't shouted at him out of anger. "I scared you..." he thought out loud. "I didn't mean to, I just— I don't know—"
"Yeah, because you don't think!" Umara sharply cut him off. "You know could have gotten me in a lot of trouble, but you were so focused on... I don't even know what, that you did it anyway."
The same conflicted guilt that he had felt earlier came creeping over him once again, "Mari," he started softly, gently pulling her chin up so he could look into her eyes. "I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you." he sternly reassured her as he held her a little tighter.
She nodded blankly, blushing a bit as she relaxed against him.
They lay there in silence for a while, the tension slowly dissipating into a quiet comfort. Zuko considered what his Uncle had told him earlier and softly broke the stillness, "My uncle said there's more people like you." he hoped his question was vague enough not to unsettle her.
"Yeah," she started sleepily. ''There were. A whole tribe of people with creepy eyes and too much hair."
"What was it like where you used to live? My mom said it was a lot different in Hira'a." He pressed, relieved that she wasn't getting defensive.
Umara seemed to perk up when he asked that, "Yeah, it was a lot different. I didnt actually live in the village though, we lived a few miles outside of town," she sat up facing him and played with his fingers as she spoke. "I had a different kind of family too. We all slept in one big house, and I didn't have a mom and dad they way you do. Everyone just kind of took care of each other, if that makes sense." She looked at Zuko expectantly.
"You guys had different stories too, right? About where Fire bending came from?" He couldn't help but ask, his Uncle had said the story would help him understand, but he was still lost.
Umara rolled her eyes lightly, "let me guess, your Uncle told you the story about the dragons? He seems to like that one an awful lot."
Zuko nodded, "Yeah, he said the dragons come back?"
She tilted her head back dramatically, "Okay, so, I think he may have told the story wrong. A lot of it doesn't really translate well and—"
"Wait," Zuko cut her off in his excitement. "You speak a different language?" Now that he thought about it, Umara did talk kind of funny sometimes, but he always figured that was just because she grew up somewhere else.
She giggled and rolled her eyes, "Yeah? I thought it was obvious. You didn't notice when you met me that I hardly answered you whenever you said something?"
She did have a point, he was really starting to understand why Umara always said he didn't think. "I noticed, I just figured you were just shy or something...I thought it was cute..." He shrugged abashedly. The bright look on her face right now made him glad that he was, apparently, completely oblivious.
"Well, yeah, I am pretty cute, but I also couldn't understand half of the things you said to me," she paused and thought for a moment, her laughter growing a bit more intense. "You'd just go off on these tangents talking about stuff, and you always seemed so excited, I didn't have the heart to tell you I didn't understand."
Zuko's brow furrowed in a mix of horror and embarrassment, "do you understand me now?!"
Umara yawned and lay back down on his chest, "Yeah, I figured it out." she mumbled dreamily as she wrapped her arm around his torso.
Zuko held her a little tighter, "you can teach me if you want, so you have someone to talk to."
Umara chuckled, "you probably won't be able to learn, we talk in our throats... but there is one phrase you might find useful. 'L'na améha'a kabi gahua'na asi'"
"Oh," Zuko raised his eyebrows at the throaty sounding words. "What does that mean?"
Umara cuddled deeper into his chest and chuckled a bit, "It means 'I'm a big dumb jerk but I'm really sorry'."
Zuko cringed, cheap shot, but it was fair enough. "I'll try to remember that..."
They lay there in pleasant silence for a while, his mind wandering quite a bit about everything that happened earlier. He still didn't get why Umara had kissed him, he would have expected her to be a lot angrier for a lot longer, not that he was complaining. "Hey Mari?" He uncertainly broke the silence.
Umara stirred gently, half asleep. "Mmhm?"
"I um—" he paused as his stomach lurched. "Never mind."
She hummed softly and hugged him tighter, "yeah, I never mind you too."