(Thanks to all my loyal readers and reviewrs. you know who you are)
The prince stumbled into the soft grassy patch and fell straight asleep, but not without cursing Ashayna and the Gods for making the path so difficult. His left ankle throbbed slightly from his run in with the Beaver Bear earlier. Yet, the physical and emotional pains were erased as Zuko quickly fell asleep under the canopy of pine trees.
In the distance, three girls took their camp, lighting a small flame with their fingers. Azula looked around distastefully. She hated the forest. She rather be back at home where the Fire Nation sat on the foundations of volcanoes. Trees made her sneeze and the grass was itchy and the whole environment was unbearable.
Ty lee flew down from the tree next to Azula; the pink girl did four summersaults before landing next to Mai, who didn't even move as the girl came landing two inches away. Azula faced her two friends.
"We should get to sleep. According to Ashayna's directions, Zuko is going to get to the Avatar's hideout in the upcoming day or two. We want to be rested when we battle the group," she said, remembering her past encounters with the Avatar. To her dismay, they never turned out as she had hoped.
The fire princess laid on her warm sleeping bag, rubbing her temples. Her brother had left her to find Ashayna, just as Azula had planned when she intercepted Ashayna's letter. But it still meant that Zuko chose his fire bending friend over his own sister. She would never admit to how much it hurt her, knowing she was always the one least loved by everyone except father.
In the distance, Zuko slept. His pendant, left behind by his mother, shone in the moonlight as the boy's face looked peaceful while he dreamt.
Shay leaned back after telling the Avatar Aang about her dream with Avatar Roku. After being questioning about her past – many questions from the untruthful boy Sokka – Ashayna reluctantly enlightened the group about her childhood in the Fire Nation palace. Silence fell over the group as the fire bender leaned back and brushed her hair out of her eyes.
"That's it! She is a spy! C'mon Aang, we have to get out of here before she calls Zuko out from the woods to capture us all," Sokka broke the silence, standing up and advancing to Shay. She quickly grabbed her arm and forced him to sit down in front of her. Sokka, about to protest, looked up at his captor before quickly shutting up. Her eyes shown with something close to anger and sadness.
"Please. Don't be like that. Even if Zuko were to come," she noted, remembering her invitation to Zuko left in her letter, "he wouldn't try to capture Aang. After betraying his uncle, he's changed and confused. There's much more to Zuko than you know."
Sokka gulped, trying not to believe Ashayna's words. To him, Zuko would always be the villain, the bad guy, the one who caused all their problem. Prince Zuko and his crazy sister. But something in the girl's words had shaken his confidence in his view on Zuko.
The water tribe boy yanked his arm away and sat down. "Oh yeah! Now you're going to tell me that the little twat actually has feelings and cares about Aang."
"Zuko does!" Ashayna argued back.
"Yeah right, and I'm an angry emo boy!" Sokka retorted back.
"Uh…Sokka…you kinda do get like that someti-" Aang started but was cut off with Ashayna stomping out of the cave. Sokka grumbled and walked back to sit at his place around the fire; next to Katara and Toph.
Samuel was outside the cave with the ostrich horses and carriage in hand. He had refused dinner after seeing it and had gone to receive the carriage they had left behind earlier in the day. Now he stood, watching Ashayna, infatuated in rage, come charging out of the cave.
He also watched as she stomped around and yelled profanities before plopping onto the ground and fiddling with what looked like a necklace. The bodyguard sighed and rolled his eyes. Sometimes girls were just too emotional.
"Hey, you ok?" Sam asked, squatting next to her and putting a comforting arm around her.
"It's that BOY!" Shay almost screamed. "He's so ignorant. What does he know about Prince Zuko? He didn't grow up with him in the castle like I did."
Samuel furrowed his brow in thought. Shay…He was starting to put a memory with her face. Didn't his old friend Ashayna used to live in the palace?
"Well don't worry about it. I'm sure he's just worried about the Avatar and…hey…what is that?" Samuel stopped, looking at the necklace Ashayna had been fiddling with for the past minute.
The girl looked down at it and smiled. "Oh, just something a friend gave me a long time ago," she replied, slipping it off her neck and putting it into Sam's outstretched hand. He took and looked at it, smiling as soon as he recognized it. The butterfly pendant.
"Ashayna…do you know who gave this to you?" Samuel said, using her real name. She had introduced herself as "Miss Shay" but now he realized who it had been the entire time.
"Oh, a good peasant friend of mine," she explained, not even noticing that Sam had used her real name and not her alias.
Samuel laughed slightly as he quickly worked to undo the pendant. Long ago, when he had given it to Ashayna as a present, he told her that there was a secret way to open it. It seemed as if she had never figured it out because soon Sam turned the butterfly pendant into a heart one with a painting of Ashayna and Samuel on the inside. He grinned. Ashayna didn't notice as she continued to stare into the distance.
"Here you go. It's very pretty," Samuel said, slipping the necklace back onto Ashayna, "I'll be inside eating if you need me."
The boy tied up the ostrich horses and was inside before the girl realized the change in the necklace, screamed, and ran in the cave to hug her long lost friend.