Yo! I'm Back with another chapter! Yay! Anyway, i know it's been a long time since I last updated but I have been trying to lengthen my chapters to something more...filling. This of course will also lengthen the amount of time I work on them, but I think that so far it's working out nicely for me. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar The Last Airbender.

Enjoy!

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"-eah,….so whe-…-ell from tha-…-ure, no problem…" the muffled sound of voices broke through the black silence. Zuko felt numb, from his head right down to his toes.

"-ooks like he's-…. –o can yo-…-e?" the muffled sounds grew steadily clearer. Zuko felt someone brush something wet and cool from his forehead. A cold rag?

"Ugh," he moaned as he began doing a full-body check. He felt sore all over and his right arm and left leg burned like lava coursed through his veins.

"-ee?...-Lee? Nephew can you hear me?" Uncle Iroh's voice came through loud and clear. Lee? Who was tha- oh yeah, Lee was his cover name. Zuko opened his eyes only to shut them instantly at the blinding light.

"Ugh…w-what happened?" he croaked weakly. He despised how weak he sounded. Iroh was bent over him fussing over the cold rag he pressed to Zuko's head.

"You fell off Diver's Cliff, that's what happened," a third voice commented lightly. Zuko shot up only to cringe in pain as he put weight on his injured arm. His uncle forced him to lie down but Zuko had to know who the stranger was. They were in an ostrich-horse drawn-carriage and a young man, no more than twenty years old was driving. He was a simple looking man, brown hair pulled back into a short ponytail with matching brown eyes. A sad excuse of a mustache sat on his upper lip and he wore simple, green merchant's clothes. Must be from the Earth Kingdom. The man smiled at Zuko and offered him a water-skin which Uncle helped him with.

"The name's Edka. You're uncle told me what happened. Hard stuff man, hard stuff. You're lucky to be alive," Edka shrugged. Iroh turned and sat next to Zuko who was now sitting up and drinking the heaven-sent water Edka had offered with his one good arm. His right arm was clearly broken and he would have to see a healer to take care of it. Same with his leg that ached and burned every time they went over a bump or a rock. Yeah, a healer would do nicely. Patch him up quick and then he and his uncle would be on their way to continue Zuko's mission to capture the damned Avatar. As soon as possible if he had anything to say about it.

"So Edka," Zuko started, pleased that his voice didn't crack like it had before, "Do you know where the nearest healer is?"

Edka smiled and nodded.

"Yep! We're going there now actually. My village isn't that far from here and our healer's the best you can find anywhere in the four nations!" he bragged happily and leaned in towards Iroh and whispered, "And she just can't get enough of me! Aw you should have seen the way she coddled me before I left! Begging me to come back soon and all that! She's just so cute!" Edka blushed and stared off into the distance. Zuko took another deep gulp from the water-skin and tried ignoring their driver's gushing talk of the love-struck healer. Iroh joined in the conversation and the two of them continued to chat the rest of the way to the village Edka talked about.

While they told their tales of women and travels, Zuko went over his body again. He ached all over and his broken limbs sent waves upon waves of pain up his arm and leg if he so much as twitched a muscle. But other than that he was fine. Severely bruised and sore, but not dead, which was always a plus in his book.

"Hey Edka? What's 'Diver's Cliff'?" Zuko dared to ask the man brown-haired man who turned in his seat.

"Diver's Cliff is haunted," Edka stated flatly, "They say that a long time ago, a young couple threw themselves over the cliff because they weren't allowed to marry. Ever since then, will-o-wisps have been luring people over the edge of the cliff. Most people don't make it, so I'll say it again; you're lucky to be alive," Edka finished and turned his attention back on the road and dove back into the conversation with Zuko's uncle.

Will-o-wisps! Why hadn't he thought of that before?! That would explain the blue light! No one could make blue fire! Well except maybe for his crazy sister, Azula. But he highly doubted she'd be all the way out here just to lead him off a cliff. She'd much rather just burn him to a crisp. Edka continued prattling on about his girl with Iroh.

"And her assistant is just so adorable! Hey Lee! If you're interested, I could introduce to my sweetheart's assistant! She's just a doll! She'd be perfect for a man like you! Has a scar almost like yours!"

The man rattled on, oblivious to the way Iroh tensed slightly and the stiffening of Zuko's shoulders. He winced and gasped as a fresh wave of pain radiated from his arm. Zuko couldn't help it. No matter how many times it was brought up into a conversation, no matter how much he wanted to ignore the jibes and jests thrown his way, anything about his scar set him on high alert. And on top of that, it hurt! His arm burned like hell-fire and there wasn't anything he could do about it except sit tight and wait till they reached the village Edka was talking about. Soon.

"Hey Edka!" Zuko groaned after about half an hour. It felt like hours the way the carriage picked up on each and every bump in the road, jostling his broken arm and leg, sending new waves of pain up his body.

"Hm? What is it, Lee?" the man barely turned in his seat to look at the scowling boy. Zuko allowed his frown to deepen at the way this man acted. I mean sure, Zuko wasn't royalty anymore and was wanted all over the four nations, but JEEZE LOUISE! Couldn't the guy at least try to hurry him to the healer he was gushing so much about earlier?!

"When will we get to the village?" he growled, keeping his inner thoughts buried in his head. Thoughts were swimming about, whispering ideas into his ears. Ideas like 'Knock the guy off the carriage, steal the carriage and drive to the dammed village yourself!' were most common. He shook the appealing thoughts from his head as Edka answered.

"Well we're here now actually. Right at the gate anyway," his smile turned into a knowing grin, "I know what's up with you! You can't wait to meet Kanna, huh? After all, she is a pure jewel out here in the wilderness!" he gushed, "And she told me she'd stay here, just for me!" he gave Zuko a thumbs-up and steered the carriage into the village.

Children ran screaming through the streets, chasing each other with sticks carved like swords. Women stood on the sides of the streets haggling with the street vendors for dinner that night. A few of the women caught sight of Edka, waved and called to him.

"Hey Edka! Back already?"

Edka smiled cheekily.

"Yup! Couldn't let Kanna grow lonely without me now could I?"

Zuko didn't miss the worried looks the women cast at Edka who waved cheerily to others he knew.

A girl darted through the crowd and hopped with ease into the back of the carriage and nearly tackled Edka to the ground from his perch.

"Edka! You're back!" the girl cried happily, squeezing her small arms around the man's middle. He smiled and pried her off of him. The petite girl wore faded green clothes, and patched brown pants that only descended down to her knees. Her shoulder length brown hair had multiple braids, ending with beautiful silver beads. But most surprisingly, a huge, scabbed burn that stretched from her jaw to the top of her left cheek, about two finger lengths away from her eye, marked her young face. All in all, it was about the size of Zuko's palm.

"Hey Rori. How have things been while I was gone?"

The girl, Rori, sat balanced on the edge of the carriage behind Edka and began chatting happily. About the games she'd played with her friends, the new water pool she'd discovered, the gypsies that stopped by to resupply, the silver hair beads she'd gotten from said gypsies, the new shrine that had finally been finished by the Great Tree, the stories the Village Elder had told, the campfire song and dance Edka had missed out on, everything! All while waving her arms around animatedly and with wide, exited green eyes. The girl then noticed the old man sitting next to Edka and the injured man lying down in the bottom of the carriage looking like he'd been brought through hell and back. Then she began questioning about the strange men Edka had brought back, whether the injured one was going to go see Kanna and how old was the old man. Was he older than the Village Elder? Did he know any good stories? The story of Oma and Shu was her favorite.

"Did you know I'm an earthbender?" she gasped as if she'd forgotten the most important thing in the world and she'd forgotten about it. Iroh laughed heartily and patted the girl on the head affectionately. Edka ruffled the girl's hair roughly, laughing along. Zuko wanted to groan. Man, that girl could talk!

"So Rori, are you gonna help Kanna with Lee over there?" When Rori looked around confusedly, Edka pointed to Zuko in the carriage. The girl exclaimed loudly in understanding and nodded her head furiously, braids and beads swinging around dangerously. Zuko blinked.

Wait, WHAT?! This little girl, Rori, was going to help heal him? She was the healer's assistant? As he recovered from his shock and horror, Rori tipped back a tad too far and fell out of the carriage with a cry. Edka stopped the carriage and Iroh jumped down to help the clumsy girl on her feet again. Zuko growled. There was no way he was letting that klutzy girl anywhere near him.

"I'm fine Edka geez!" she laughed and plopped herself down across from Zuko, making sure to be careful in avoiding his broken leg. He reminded her of an injured Platypus-Bear, ready to strike anyone or anything that came too close. And she spared no moment in telling him so.

"So you're gonna go see Kanna?" she smiled. Zuko attempted glaring but the way the carriage jostled back into motion forced his expression to soften into one of pain.

"What do you think?" he asked sarcastically when the waves of pain retreated some. Either the sarcasm was lost on the girl or she ignored it because she dove right back into a very one-sided conversation with Zuko.

"Kanna'll fix you up 'right as rain' as she always says," Rori chirped, "Although I don't understand how rain can be right. Anyway, she came from the Northern Water Tribe where she was one of the best healers around, even without waterbending powers. Her favorite color is blue and…"

Zuko tuned out as Edka, Iroh, he and Rori rode the rest of the way to Kanna's house. Rori chatted away and Zuko felt the urge to burn his ears off. Great Agni, how could anyone talk this much. He tried drowning out Rori to listen to the surrounding nature and its peaceful silence.

"-so when she took me in I just had to do something to make it up to her," Rori continued, completely and totally oblivious of Zuko ignoring her. Well, he was trying to at least.

"Shut up!" he yelled finally. There was only so much the poor injured man could take and he'd surprisingly held back until now. He would have been rather proud of himself if the yelling hadn't caused his muscles to tense up, creating a chain reaction that lead straight to his broken limps. They screamed in agony and Zuko clenched his teeth tightly together to keep from screaming aloud. Rori looked at him, eyes wide and mouth hanging open with words she'd never got to speak. Then she snapped it shut with a snap, took a deep breath and-

"You don't have to be so rude you know. You could have just asked me to be quiet. And now you've gone and hurt yourself some more! You know you really should take better care of yourself-" and she continued berating him for not properly taking care of himself and talking down to him as if he were a misbehaved child that had just broke a vase. Too exhausted to argue the point further, Zuko shifted as best he could to get more comfortable for the long ride. Little did he know that his uncle had watched the exchange quietly and was so very proud of his nephew. While he knew the young man was seething from the apparent 'loss' to the talkative Rori, he had taken the higher road without knowing and left the girl to talk with herself. And that, to say the least, made Iroh a very proud man. Edka had listened in on everything and smiled.

"Alright Lee, we're here!" the man called over his shoulder and if Zuko hadn't broken half of his body, he would have jumped out of the carriage and jumped and hollered with joy. He never wanted to ride in another carriage again. Uncle came around the carriage to help him to his good leg and together they hobbled sadly up to Kanna's front door.

It was a quaint little place, wooden walls stood tall and straight supporting a partial wood and thatch roof. There was an opening about half-way up the wooden part of the roof, allowing some sunlight in. The house was strategically placed on the outskirts of the village with a fresh mountain stream rushing nearby. All the windows were closed and the curtains were drawn. There was no sound coming from within and Zuko wondered if Kanna was even in.

This however didn't stop Edka as he strode up the cobblestone path that was nearly overgrown with weeds and grasses as if he owned the place and knocked on the door.

"Hey Kanna? Sweetheart? It's me, Edka!" he called cheerily. There was a rustling from inside and a sleepy, ever so slightly pissed, 'What?' was heard.

Someone was still sleeping at this hour?! The thought nearly made his eyebrows disappear into the dark of his hair. True, not everyone was a firebender and rose with the sun, but still! He looked around at the sunlight that filtered through the thick green foliage of the trees above them and could hear the sounds of the villagers rushing about, bartering, chatting and living it up on such a beautiful, sunny day. It was High Noon for Agni's sake! Although it was hard to believe that yesterday it had seemed like the storm of the century.

More grumbling came from the house and something scraped across the floor. Something crashed and heavy cursing instantly followed. Finally the door swung open to reveal a person. Well, actually it looked more like a bedraggled Panther-Cat that had been left out in the rain and mud for too long. The woman, Kanna he assumed, leaned up against the doorframe yawning widely. Her traditional blue water tribe tunic with a pair of blue pants that stopped at her knees was ruffled, as if she'd slept in it. Her brown hair stuck out at odd angles and there were slight bags under her eyes. She blinked and focused on Edka who was standing on her porch smiling stupidly.

"So? Did you get it?" she asked plainly with the tiniest bit of annoyance.

Edka blinked, unsure of what to say and his smile widened into a nervous grin.

"Umm….Get what, my love?"

Zuko heard Rori sigh beside him as Kanna calmly stepped back into the house and slammed the door in Edka's face without a word. The man stood there where the woman had left him, gaping at the door with faded blue paint.

"Kanna! Sweetheart! What'd I do wrong this time?!" he pleaded with the door. He glanced over his shoulder to where Mushi (that was Iroh's cover name and he was sticking to it!) and Lee were standing. Well, Lee was standing as best as he could on one leg while his uncle held him up with his good arm. Edka grinned nervously, letting them know everything was fine, before turning back to the door.

There came another crashing sound from the house and Zuko had the feeling something had just broken. The door crashed open again and Kanna stormed out of the house waving a broom at Edka.

"'What did you do?' What did you do?!'" the woman screeched, smacking Edka in the side with her weapon, "Ed, you IDIOT! I gave half my life savings for those herbs that the market only ever has on sale once a fuckin' year!" the broom found it's way through Edka's defenses and bonked him on the side of the head. She was seething, waving her broom around madly, only caring about causing the man in front of her pain and lots of it.

"B-but sweetheart-" another whack.

"Don't you dare call me that! I've never!"

Whack!

"Ever!"

Wham!

"Been your sweetheart!"

Crack!

The broom handle snapped in half. Kanna stared at the broken piece of wood in her hand as if it were a strange foreign object and looked at Edka sitting crouched on the ground, sending pleading eyes up at her. She scowled.

"You fucking idiot broke my broom!"

Just as Kanna was about to bring her piece of the broken broom handle down on Edka, Rori skipped into the fray.

"Hi Kanna! I'm home!"

Kanna stopped her assault on Edka, threw the broken handle over her shoulder casually and greeted the girl as if the scene from before never happened.

"Oh hey Rori, where've you been?"

'Wait what just happened?' Zuko blinked at the strange scene. Rori was happily telling Kanna about spending the night at a friend's house, while Edka was slowly pushing himself off of the ground dusting off his pants and rubbing one shoulder. Zuko shook his head. This unusual day was just getting stranger and stranger.

"So, I hear you're broken," Kanna broke him out of his reverie, settling her deep blue eyes on him.

"Yeah, now I think I've been waiting long enough. Heal me right and money won't be a problem," he stated plainly. He'd been dragged through who knows what while he'd been unconscious, traveled a long way by a bumpy and rickety carriage and tormented by a little chatterbox that couldn't shut up even for two seconds. He was at least going to get treated with some respect from the healer.

He gulped when Kanna's calm, professional expression twisted into a deep furious scowl that sent a shiver of fear down his spine. The woman's fists clenched as if she were debating the merits of punching him in the face. Rori seemed to notice and stepped up to Kanna's side.

"He's already injured. You're the one whose gotta heal him, don't make it worse," she whispered in her ear. To Zuko's great relief, Kanna sighed and relinquished the hold she had on him with her glare and relaxed her clenched fists.

"Fine. If Rori escorted you here, I'm just going to assume you know everything about me," she shot a glance a Rori who laughed and grinned sheepishly before returning her ice-blue eyes back on Zuko, "C'mon in, brat," and with that she retreated back into her home. Rori smiled warmly and motioned Iroh and Zuko to make their way inside. The door slammed shut in Edka's face before he could enter.

The inside of the house was, in a word, messy. There were stains everywhere, on the floor and on the table and they looked horribly like blood stains. Dishes were stacked up in a corner of what looked to be the kitchen area while low-hanging tools of both medical and practical uses, dried plants and herbs hung from the ceiling in a haphazard fashion. Several shelves ran along the wall filled with medical scrolls and books and another was overflowing with colorful jars and bottles packed with different colored pastes, powders and liquids.

Kanna disappeared behind a heavy curtain that Zuko assumed must be her bedroom. She emerged quickly, hair-tie in her mouth as she pulled her stubborn strands away from her face and into a messy bun on the back of her head.

"Table. Now," she mumbled past the hair tie, rummaging through a chest hiding under the table and pulled out a white apron. It was covered in the same rust-colored stains that matched the stains on the table and floor. Zuko gulped and with his Uncle's help, lowered himself carefully onto the 'operating table'.

As soon as he was down, Kanna started poking and prodding all over his body. He bit back a scream when she poked his broken limbs and glared at her with all his might. She glared right back and continued her assessment.

Rori looked around at the state of the house and began bustling about, started washing the dishes, wiping down the counters and trying the scrub the stubborn stains from the floor.

"Hey Kanna? Why's there so much blood in here? Did someone die?"

Zuko felt his stomach drop at that. The stains he was currently lying on were someone's blood. Then a second horrifying thought went flying through his head without permission, reason or sense. Kanna had let someone die on this very table! What if she wasn't the best healer Edka had bragged about, let alone a decent one? He was so caught up in his inner down-ward spiral of negative thoughts he almost missed the healer's answer.

"Oh yeah, you were at a friend's house last night! Norman's wife finally went into labor late last night. They brought her in right as her contractions started. Damn fool fainted at the first sign of the blood and had to be carried out."

Zuko felt at ease when he found out it wasn't from a man who she couldn't heal. But then realization settled in. A woman had given birth on this table, with all her fluids and- Zuko fought the urge to lean over the side and hurl out whatever resided in his stomach. He was sitting on the stains created from a woman giving birth. He promptly gagged.

Kanna finished her poking and prodding and rummaged through the chest again, bringing out several rolls of bandages and straight, carved sticks.

"Rori, bring me the Torpens paste and the-" she stopped at the dumb smile on Rori's face and shook her head before correcting herself, "Light green paste in a dark mahogany bowl and the pale blue powder in a tall, clear glass bottle. The one with an eagle-dove stopper."

Rori came around Kanna and handed her the things she'd asked for. Iroh sat nearby on a chair Rori had given him and stared as the healer set to work on the man's leg first, rubbing the green paste on the limb. Zuko started, clenching his teeth as Kanna rubbed in the paste and before long it became a dull throb. He sighed happily.

"What is that?" Iroh asked, pointing to the dark bowl in her hands. She continued working as she answered.

"It's a numbing paste I made last night. Rubbed in like this," she motioned to Zuko's leg which was dyed a slight, sickly green from the medicine, "It numbs the nerve endings while I work. Hell, I could even amputate this baby and he wouldn't even know it!" she patted the leg not so gently, grinning evilly. The patting both surprised and shocked Zuko. It was true; he could not feel anything past his knee. The two men looked up at her confused. Amputate? They didn't speak 'healer' but apparently Rori knew just enough.

"It's when she has to cut it off," her statement promptly raised a commotion as both Zuko and Iroh began protesting the need. His leg was only broken, there was no need to cut it off! Kanna laughed waving her free hand in the air, admitting she would never do that unless he had a cut infected with something as dangerous as Gangrene. And that no, Lee did not have Gangrene.

After they'd calmed down, Iroh asked what the light blue powder was for.

"Basically it's an Anti-Itching powder. Keeps the patient from scratching at a healing wound making it worse or infected," she sprinkled some of the powder on Zuko's leg and ordered Rori to hold the wooden splint down as she wrapped it tightly. She repeated the process with Zuko's arm, smacking him upside the head when he cursed at her for holding his arm too tightly.