It was a stiflingly hot afternoon when the duo strode into a small desert town, exhausted. They'd been on the road for weeks, and had barely been getting by.
In one of the first towns they'd entered together, Iroh had been about to sit down to beg-but Zuko had intervened. He couldn't stand the thought of his uncle doing something so...demeaning.
Since then, he'd resolved to put his inability to be seen to good use, pilfering necessities from shops and townspeople for his uncle. He'd found that he, personally, needed quite little. His appetite had dwindled into nothingness; he was never thirsty-one of the few upsides to no longer being human, he supposed.
Iroh, despite being somewhat aware and obviously disapproving of Zuko's methods of gathering food and supplies, hadn't intervened-which the teen was grateful for. He didn't want to get into another fight with his uncle-though he doubted that any fight they might get into would be as difficult as the last one they'd had.
It had pained him, the thought of separating from his uncle, but in that moment of despair, it had felt like his only choice. What else could he have done? He'd just been betrayed by the one person he'd come to trust-something that Zuko himself hadn't even realized until the pain of having been lied to hit him.
But seeing how distraught his uncle had been, how guilty he had been...Zuko hadn't been able to muster the strength within himself to abandon him. Iroh had been there for him, despite all of the times he'd lashed out at him, despite all of the lies he'd told, all of the suffering he'd put his uncle through.
So he'd decided to be there for Iroh. To start repaying his uncle for everything he'd done for him, in the meager ways he could.
And if that meant stealing whatever he could to make their lives easier, then that was what he'd do.
Besides, looking after his uncle made him feel oddly...better. It made him feel less lost, like he had some sort of purpose again. He couldn't go home, couldn't capture the Avatar, couldn't make heads or tails of what he was supposed to do as a spirit-but he could help his uncle.
He followed Iroh down the main road of the dusty town, all the way to a small storefront. As his uncle negotiated with the shopkeep, Zuko's eyes wandered around the area. Behind him and his uncle, there sat a group of large men gambling. He watched them for a moment, until a flurry of movement in the peripheral vision of his bad eye caught his attention. He turned slightly-while he could see out of his bad eye, his vision wasn't as good in that eye as his other one.
His gaze met that of a scrawny young boy-who, upon seeing him, gasped and scrambled back into the alleyway. Zuko's eyes narrowed, and, after sparing a quick glance at his uncle, rounded the corner.
The boy had just moved to peek forwards again, and Zuko nearly ran right into the gangly kid. The kid scrambled backwards again, staring up at Zuko with wide green eyes. His eyes trailed over Zuko, from his scar to his slightly opened wings.
"W-whoa, " the kid said, his voice shaky. He rubbed at his eyes, then proceeded to stare up at Zuko, gaping.
"You can see me?" Zuko asked, brow furrowed confusedly. The kid nodded eagerly.
"Yeah! I see spirits all the time-well, one spirit, but she-" the kid broke off, suddenly, his eyes flashing with fear. Zuko turned, only to see the large gamblers from earlier enter the alleyway, laughing, one of them carrying a bowl of rice that they hadn't had before. Zuko's eyes narrowed as one of the goons turned to the kid, shoving him into the wall.
"Well, if it isn't little Li. Talking to yourself again, brat?" he said, hunching over the child. Li huddled back against the wall, fear in his eyes. He glanced at Zuko, then back at the soldiers, his eyes hardening.
"I'm not talking to myself, I'm talking to-"
"Your friend, right," the man laughed mockingly.
"Jee. Come on, he isn't worth your time," an older, larger man said, rolling his eyes. Jee stepped away from the kid, spitting at the wall right besides his face before walking off to join the rest of his companions.
Zuko's eyes narrowed. He had half a mind to attack one of the burlier men, but before he could make up his mind, they had rounded a corner and gone out of sight.
He glanced down at the kid, who had slumped down against the wall of the building behind him. Zuko sat down next to the boy, being careful not to crush his wings.
"Who were they?" he asked, looking over at Li. The boy didn't look up, instead burying his head in his knees.
"They're soldiers. They're supposed to protect our town, but all they do is push people around."
Zuko frowned, looking down at the ground
"Nephew?"
Zuko looked up, only to see his uncle standing before him, cradling one of his arms. Alarmed, Zuko instantly shot to his feet.
"Uncle! What-"
"Those soldiers attacked me; they stole my food," Iroh said bluntly. Zuko's eyes narrowed. Li shot to his feet, grinning broadly.
"I can take you to my house and get you some food!"
Iroh blinked, startled as he noticed the kid for the first time. Zuko shook his head. "No. We need to be moving on."
"My parents won't mind! Besides, I'm sure An Bai would love to meet you!" he cried, beaming at Zuko.
"An Bai?" Zuko asked. Li nodded excitedly.
"My spirit friend!"
Zuko exchanged a look with Iroh, who shrugged before turning to the young boy.
"We would be honored to accompany you."
Not too much later, Zuko was being dragged to the outskirts of the farm by Li, while Iroh was helping the boy's parents fix the roof of their barn.
The boy skidded to a stop right besides a gnarled tree, turning to Zuko proudly.
"This is where my friend lives!" he crowed. Zuko studied the tree for a few seconds, then turned back to Li, confused.
"I don't see anyone," he said gruffly.
The kid frowned, then stepped up to the tree and knocked. "An Bai? It's me, Li! I brought a friend!"
There was nothing but an awkward silence for a long moment. Zuko was just about to turn to leave-when there was a flash of green light, and a spindly, glowing woman stepped out of the tree. She had massive, intricate horns, like a deer-rabbit, and brilliant green eyes, akin to those of the small boy before her. She wore an ankle-length white dress, which exposed her hooves.
She smiled at Li, running up and hugging the child-and then her gaze swept over to Zuko.
The willowy green spirit let out a frightened squeak, ducking behind the large, gnarled tree. "Bhakshak?" she asked timidly, peering at him, wide eyed. Zuko blinked at the name. He didn't recognize it, but something about it felt weirdly...familiar.
"Bhakshak?" Li asked, wrinkling his nose. "That's a weird name."
An Bai gasped, covering her mouth. She appeared very startled, frightened.
"Li!" she scolded. "Don't insult him! Do you even know who you're talking to! He-"
"I'm not Bhakshak," Zuko interjected. "I'm his counterpart."
An Bai's eyes widened. "Oh," she murmured, casting her gaze to her feet. "But you-oh. Oh dear."
"What? What's wrong?" Li asked confusedly. An Bai turned to him, smiling sweetly.
"Nothing, Li. Why don't you go and see if your parents need any help getting dinner ready," An Bai chimed. Li hesitated, then nodded before sprinting off back towards the house.
As soon as he was out of sight, An Bai sighed, turning back to Zuko. "Come here," she said softly, sitting down on the ground cross-legged and beckoning to the teen. Zuko froze for a second before complying, walking over to the other spirit and sitting before her. The spirit peered up at him curiously for a long, silent moment.
"Who's Bhakshak?" Zuko finally asked. An Bai sighed.
"Bhakshak," she began, "was...an incredibly powerful spirit. He was the son of the Great Spirit Agni and a lowly forest spirit, not unlike myself. At a young age, he tired of life in the spirit realm and ventured into the mortal realm, where he became fascinated by mankind-particularly, a young bender, who possessed the same power over fire as he did. His flames devoured everything that stood in her way, and, eventually, the young woman became the first Fire Lord of what is now the Fire Nation.
"But then the time came that his love was killed in battle. It was then that he learned that his precious human was not, in fact, his counterpart. For all his power, he could not revive her. He turned to all of the Great Spirits, begging for their aid-but there was nothing that anyone could do.
"Driven mad with grief, he razed the earth, creating an enormous, utterly barren desert in the homelands of the benders that had killed his beloved. He nearly destroyed the budding Earth Kingdom-before he was imprisoned by the Great Spirits Tui and La," An Bai concluded, watching Zuko curiously. The winged teen looked down at the ground, his brow furrowed in thought.
"How do you know all of this?" Zuko asked after a short, silent moment, looking back up at the glowing green spirit. An Bai sighed.
"It is a well-known tale in the spirit realm. Many spirits fought against him, trying to protect the innocent humans of the early Earth Kingdom. Bhakshak, true to his name….devoured them all. Only Tui and La were strong and willing enough to subdue the vengeful spirit. Most spirits still despise him for his crimes. There are none, even now, who are unaffected by Bhakshak's rage.
"When his son was imprisoned, Agni stepped in to care for the people of his son's beloved. He took the place of Bhakshak as the guardian of the Fire Nation, and, as such, Bhakshak's name faded into obscurity."
Zuko frowned, staring at the ground in silence. He didn't know exactly what to make of this new information. It didn't really matter-Bhakshak was dead, and Zuko...had taken his place. He glanced up, staring out into the desert. Was this the very same swath of earth that Bhakshak had made barren? No-that wasn't right, they were only on the outskirts of the desert, things still grew here.
Did Zuko have that same destructive power within himself now?
It was weird. The very thought of being able to burn a desert into the land was almost unbelievable. It made his skin crawl in the most peculiar way; it made his stomach twist uneasily.
He stared down at his hands, fully aware of An Bai's steady gaze lingering on him.
"Enough of all this. The Devourer is no more, and the world is all the better for it. Let's stop dwelling on this and go back to Li," the horned spirit said softly, getting to her feet. Zuko nodded, getting to his feet and following the other spirit back to the heart of the small farm.
It was late, and Zuko couldn't sleep. His mind raced with thoughts of An Bai's story, of his brief meeting with Bhakshak in the snow.
There seemed to be some stock to what An Bai had said about Bhakshak-the winged spirit himself had mentioned being imprisoned. He wasn't sure how the spirit had escaped, how Bhakshak had found him-nor, even more troublingly, how the spirit had been killed. If Bhakshak had been as powerful as An Bai had claimed, then killing him wouldn't have been an easy feat.
Something still felt wrong, off, and Zuko wasn't sure what exactly it was.
The squeals and snorts of the various pig-creatures outside stirred Zuko from his thoughts. He sat up, his outstretched wings folding against his back. Slowly, quietly, so as not to wake his snoring uncle, Zuko left the barn.
He looked around after exiting, only to see Li climbing the abandoned ladder to the newly-repaired roof of the barn. The kid looked down, and noticed Zuko peering up at him. Li waved, leaning back just a little too far-and the ladder began to teeter. Zuko sprung forwards, just barely catching and steadying the ladder before Li fell off of it completely.
"Thanks," the kid said sheepishly, before finishing his climb up to the roof. For a moment, Zuko just stood there, bemused-until Li poked his head over the side of the roof.
"Come on!" he whisper-yelled. Zuko hesitated, then followed the younger boy up the ladder. He sat down next to Li, who was staring up at the stars, legs dangling over the edge of the roof.
The duo sat in silence for a long while, before Li finally turned to Zuko and began to talk.
"When I was little, I got really sick. Like, really, really sick. I couldn't breathe. One night, Dad took me out to An Bai's tree-and the next thing I know, she was right next to me. She's been my best friend ever since," Li said softly. He paused for a moment, glancing up at the stars, then back at Zuko.
"An Bai said that something like that happened to you, too. Did you ever get really sick?"
Zuko stiffened, letting out a puff of air. He couldn't think of the right words, couldn't think of what to say that wouldn't freak out or upset the kid.
"I...I got really cold," he said. Li nodded thoughtfully. He stared down at the ground. A long silent moment passed before Li piped up again.
"It was really scary," the kid said softly. Zuko looked at the boy, his gaze as gentle as it really got.
"Yeah," was all he said before he averted his gaze back to the stars.