Life of Air

Chapter 7

Trust

"There!" I exclaimed, admiring my work once I had put the finishing touches on my newest drawing. I looked down at my subjects, the firebending prince and the Avatar, and grinned at the likeness I had captured.

Zuko and Aang chose to train early in the morning right when the sun comes up to take advantage of the sunlight offering them greater power. I had been watching them since they starting, making myself wake up extra early so I'd get the chance to see them. While I enjoyed the display of bending prowess, really I was here to soak in the inspiration I got from watching the firebending duo. As the first and only firebender I have ever met, Zuko inspired my art in a way I've never felt before.

"That's enough for today, I think Katara and Toph are waiting for you." Zuko said to Aang.

Aang bowed respectfully which Zuko returned, then he took off quickly into the temple. I jumped down from my spot above their training area and ran to catch Aang with a gust of wind under my feet.

"Wait! Aang, where are you going?"

The young Avatar turned at the sound of my voice and we almost collided but the two of us were able to direct our positions apart with the use of our bending so we didn't headbutt one another on accident. Aang laughed once we had settled ourselves. "Firebending lessons are done for the day. Katara and Toph have a special training exercise waiting for me as the bottom of the canyon."

"What kind of exercise?" I asked.

"I'll be fighting the two of them together, but I'm only able to earthbend at Katara and waterbend at Toph." He said, raising his hand and pointer finger in a matter-of-fact gesture. "Makes things much more difficult. They like to give me challenges like that to mix things up."

"Sounds fun!" I smiled and gestured behind me with my thumb. "I'm going to talk to Zuko some so let me know how that training goes."

He gave a wave as he turned to run again. "Will do!"

I turned around and found the prince watching me from where he had been standing before, as though he hadn't moved an inch while Aang and I spoke. With a grin, I rushed up to him, my sketchpad clutched in my arms.

"Zuko! I want to show you something." I said, and once I reached his side I offered him my sketchpad with the page turned to my newest drawing. "I drew this while watching you two train."

He looked down at my art work, taking a small glance at my face before returning his gaze to my drawing. "So this is what you were doing while watching us..."

I took a seat on one of the broken down pillars behind us and Zuko soon followed suit, taking the spot next to me. "See this here?" I said, pointing to a part of the drawing. "This form inspired me the most as you seemed almost at peace being practically surrounded by your element."

The drawing was a simple sketch, nothing extravagant, of the two benders back to back in the same stance with fire shooting upwards from their fists. Zuko had been pushing Aang rather hard all day, but this was one of the few times when Zuko actually seemed to be enjoying just bending. Once I saw this I knew I had to capture the moment with a drawing.

"This is really impressive, Iyashi." Zuko said, giving me a small grin. "I've never seen anyone draw fire the way you do."

I smiled in return. "It's all because of your lessons with Aang, I draw what I see."

"You have your own original work too though, don't you?" He asked, flipping through my sketchpad. "Your brothers' tattoos, Tanro told me you drew them all."

"Tanro? When did you talk to him?" I asked, tilting my head in confusion as I never realized any of my brothers had had much contact with the firebending prince.

Zuko cleared his throat and seemed to shift nervously. "He umm... came to talk to me when you were off with Aang yesterday. He had been watching over you while we trained and you watched us."

I gave an exasperated sigh, tugging on my long braid hanging over my shoulder in frustration. "Can't they just let me be? I'm safe out here, they don't have to take turns watching me anymore." To my surprise I heard a gentle chuckle from beside me. The sound of Zuko laughing pulled me from my frustration and I found myself smiling once more. "What's so funny?"

He finally looked up from my sketchpad and met my gaze, a soft grin gracing his features. "Your relationship with your brothers is just... really great. It sort of reminds me how horrible of a relationship I have with my little sister."

"You have a little sister?" I asked while leaning forward and closer to him, completely interested in this new information. "What's she like?"

"Azula? Well..." Zuko started, looking up at the sky and scratching the back of his neck. "She's terrifying, to put it simply. Even though she's the younger sibling she's always been the bully between us. And she's powerful, I've never been able to officially beat her... and she likes to remind me of that as much as possible."

Hearing this made my shoulders droop and the smile fall from my face. "Your relationship is that bad? I couldn't imagine not being close to my brothers..."

His gaze returned to me and he offered a gentle smile at my sullen expression. "You're lucky to have such loving siblings, just remember that."

I nodded, returning his smile, and tucked my hair behind my left ear. "Trust me, I do, that's why I have these piercings. Each one represents a brother."

Zuko tilted his head, admiring the four metal studs in my ear. I had done these when I was about 11 after a fight with my father and my brothers all defended me to him even though they were all terrified of our father's temper just as I was. We were all punished together, going to bed without dinner, and that night I stuck a sewing needle through my ear four times and placed a metal stud in the holes to keep them from closing. I cried and bled, and though my brothers tried to make me stop, I did it without a second thought. For some reason I knew I needed something on me to represent them and our devotion to each other as siblings.

"There is no way that I'd let myself forget what they mean to me."

"They're lucky to have you." Zuko said, smiling at me with a kindness in his eyes I wasn't able to understand but quickly his expression changed to discomfort and he turned his eyes back to my drawings. He cleared his throat, pointing at a page of random sketches. "Having someone close to you design tattoos like this is lucky, I mean. Can't get any more personal than that."

"You know," I offered, setting my hand next to his on my sketchpad trying to diminish his discomfort. "I could design you one too, if you like. Do you want any tattoos? I know it's not for everyone, Yen and Yuji both haven't gotten any."

Zuko shrugged and balled his hand into a fist before moving it to his lap. "I don't know, I've never found a reason to get one."

I patted his shoulder and grinned, trying my best to make him comfortable again. "Well if you ever do, just let me know!"

"No one makes tea like my uncle does, but hopefully I learned a thing or two from him." Zuko said as he passed out cups to everyone and filled each cup with freshly made hot tea. The smell was fantastic and I hoped it would be cool enough to drink soon as I was looking forward to see if it tasted as good as it smelled.

The entire group had gathered around the fire to enjoy Zuko's tea but among them were a couple extras; all four of my brothers and couple of the earthbender gaurds had come out into the temple to converse with the Avatar and his friends and ended up being invited to have some tea with everyone. I had been in the temple with Aang and Zuko and everyone almost all day.

"Do you want to hear Uncle's favorite tea joke?" Zuko asked and was met with an array of agreements across the group. "Well I can't remember the first part... but the punchline goes leaf me alone, I'm bushed." His expression was serious as he told us the "joke" but soon he seemed to droop from the lack of response around the group.

"Maybe you'd be better off learning the entire thing before telling it again, yeah?" Ginko said, chuckling at himself softly.

Tanro nudged him in the arm. "Sure, like you're any better."

Ginko took that as a challenge as he was the self-proclaimed comedian in the family. He went on to tell jokes one after another, making just about everyone laugh. As I giggled at him, I looked around the group and noticed how everyone was interacting. Yen and Katara were talking and laughing to themselves, completely ignoring Ginko's comedy act. Yuji had found a place between Aang and Toph, actually enjoying the antics of our brother.

Zuko had taken a seat next to Sokka and the two seemed to be having a serious conversation that no one else noticed. After their hushed words Zuko gave Sokka a nod and they seemed to return to the rest of the group, trying to follow the funny story Ginko was telling now.

I took a sip of my tea and moved my gaze to my lap, silently wondering what those two could be up to. Sokka was usually a joker, like Ginko, but if he got serious there was a good reason. Getting Zuko's attention would mean something too as he wasn't one to waste time on things that didn't matter. My final conclusion was that I needed to find out what they were talking about as I had a bad feeling that they were about to do something dangerous.

Once the tea was finished, just about everyone decided to turn in for the night. My brothers and the earthbender guards all started for the entrance in the temple but I only followed them so far. Yuji stopped and asked me what I was waiting for when I wouldn't go into the tunnels. I drove him off with a simple explanation that I needed to talk to someone and would be going to bed soon. He seemed suspicious but he took it and followed the rest of the group into the tunnels.

When I traveled back out to the temple I saw most everyone was asleep where they usually were, but noticed that Zuko was missing. Taking the most gentle steps I could, using a small current of air under my feet so that Toph would be less likely to notice me, I moved around the group and looked for any sign of where he could have gone. Taking a chance, I jumped into the air with the assistance of my bending and spun around so that I could get a better view of the surrounding area. Something caught my eye on top of Appa so I rushed over to the bison to take a look, and sure enough there was Zuko.

"What are you doing?" I asked, jumping into the saddle and sitting in front of him.

"I should ask you that." He said with a small huff and a groan. "Shouldn't you be with your family?"

"Something was wrong, I could feel it." I said and laid a hand on my chest, giving him a serious stare. "What were you and Sokka talking about? I know it was important."

He seemed to be glaring at me for a minute but he sighed and his expression softened. "He's trying to run off and do something dangerous alone. His first move will be to take Appa and I'm going to catch him here."

"It's dangerous... so you're going to stop him?" I asked, hopeful.

Zuko looked away, seemingly unable to keep eye contact with me. "I don't know if I'll stop him..."

I leaned forward quickly and grabbed one of his arms. "But you have to!"

He looked around fearfully and shushed me before letting out another groan. "This is why you shouldn't be out here..."

I shrunk back and bit my lip, ashamed that I acted so recklessly and almost woke everyone up. "I'm sorry, I'm just worried about you both."

Zuko's eyebrow rose. "Us both?"

"Of course." I said with a shrug. "You're planning on going with him, aren't you?"

"How did you know that?" He asked, holding a confused expression.

I gave him a small smile. "You said he was trying to do something dangerous alone... if you're not going to stop him then there is no way you'll let him do it alone."

Zuko sighed and leaned back, softly mumbling. "Of course she'd think that." I assume he was thinking as he stared up at the sky then he returned his gaze to mine. His expression was unsure and uncomfortable like it had been earlier today and I worried he'd shut down again. "Iyashi... do you... trust me?"

I was taken aback by his question but the answer came to me quickly. "You've given me no reason not to, Zuko. Why?"

He expression was serious once again and he took my hand in his, towering over me slightly as he stared me down. "Go back to bed and trust that I won't let anything happen to Sokka. Don't tell anyone about this, either."

My face grew warm from what I guessed was the closeness of Zuko's body heat, and I found myself nodding to his request. "Alright, Zuko, I'll trust you. But please, please be safe."

He smiled gently and released my hand, leaning back away from me. "Thank you."

With one last look at Zuko, I jumped down from Appa's saddle and quietly returned to my home. As I followed the tunnels I found myself wondering what those two boys were getting themselves into and why it was so important even to Zuko. There wasn't much I knew about them, having only known them both for a short time, but if it has them acting like this then there is no way it isn't serious. Even as I laid in bed I wasn't able to shake the worry from my thoughts and drifted off to sleep restlessly.

When I woke the next morning I could only faintly remember the dream I had, little snippets where I saw unfamiliar figures while their faces were blurred out. They spoke to me but for the life of me I just couldn't remember what they said. The only thing I knew was that it was really important, but I only knew that from the way I felt and without any real evidence to the fact.

Suddenly remembering the events from last night, I jumped out of bed and rushed out of my room. I passed my mother who was yelling at me to stop and help with breakfast but I ignored her and ran out of the tunnel. Once I reached the temple, I saw Aang practicing his firebending basics. Katara was making breakfast and everyone else seemed to just be waiting for breakfast to be ready.

"Hey Iyashi, what's the rush?" Aang asked, raising from his firebending stance.

I shook my head and forced a smile. "Oh nothing, I just had a bad dream and got worried is all. Is everything alight?"

Aang shrugged. "Normal as far as I can see. I'm just doing homework Zuko left me."

"Zuko left you homework?" I asked.

He nodded and groaned. "Yeah, he and Sokka went fishing but he has me doing hot squats and fire fists to practice without him."

My fears had been realized but I tried not to let it show on the outside so that no one would be suspicious. "Oh, fishing? I'm sure that won't take long then."

"Sokka won't let us go without meat for too long, that's for sure. They'll be back before we know it." Toph said from the other side of the temple.

I giggled at her remark and let out a sigh, silently hoping she was right for more reasons than just their food source.

A/N - Another chapter written, another early posting. :) I hope everyone enjoys! Let me know what you think!