Avatar: The Warring Earth
Book Two—Air
By Twins of the Pen
Disclaimer: Avatar in itself belongs to Nickelodeon and Bryan Konietzko/Michael DiMartino. The only things that belong to Twins of the Pen are the original characters.
Shun had spent his morning searching for the Avatar. He was dreading this moment, but knew it could not be put off for much longer: he had to tell Syaoran how he felt about ZanYi. After walking around the island, Shun did find the Avatar, but not in a way he expected. Syaoran had been seated in a gazebo near the airbending dojo, and Tiki was with him, looking like she was giving him a massage. And Syaoran's face was… peaceful.
On the one hand, Shun wanted to get this out in the open as soon as possible, to avoid feeling like he was hiding things from Syaoran. But on the other hand, that was the first time Shun had ever seen Syaoran looking so relaxed. Now was probably not a good time for him to be the bearer of bad news…
The giant waterbender turned heel and headed towards the beach instead, taking a seat on the sand and staring out at the ocean. Well, this was great. When was he going to work up the nerve to tell Syaoran that he was in love with ZanYi? He could not keep putting it off forever. But then, even if he told Syaoran… would his relationship with ZanYi change? Was he really going to do anything about these feelings of his?
Shun sighed heavily, folding his hands behind his neck with his head bowed. It appeared as if he had a lot more to worry about than just Syaoran's reaction to this betrayal. Shun felt like he would explode if he kept feeling these emotions so strongly, and all at once.
Little did he realize ZanYi was padding through the sand, a steady jog. A bit of sweat dropped down from her temple. And it felt good. It felt warm. She could feel the warmth of her chi kindling inside her. Her body ached everywhere, but she pushed past it, wanting even more to be moving, to be doing. It didn't matter what she was doing. The lieutenant just had to do something.
Eventually, her eyes rested on Shun's distraught form in the sand and she frowned a little. He'd seemed fine earlier that morning. So that didn't explain what was up with him now. ZanYi continued towards the waterbender, picking up her pace a little, only to slow as she neared him. Stopping, she put her hands on her hips and panted, her shadow falling over him in the sun. "What's wrong with you, Big Guy?" she rasped, letting an eyebrow lift in her puzzlement.
ZanYi had not managed to sneak up on him this time; her panted breathing had given her away, giving Shun a few precious moments to pull himself together. When he looked up at her, it was with what he hoped was a calm enough expression. "Nothing's wrong," he denied, but then realizing this sounded like a lie, he amended, "I guess I'm just really tired." Shun stretched forward for a minute, stretching out his back. His burnt skin gave some protest, but he sat back again, relaxing. He mimicked ZanYi's expression as he asked, "Already back to training, hm? You're nothing if not committed."
Shun was a little putout that she was already pushing herself, but then, he had not expected anything less. His eyes roamed over her, taking in the bruises and wounds she had endured, all for Syaoran's sake. His and Tiki's, too. It made him feel a little guilty.
"When are you going to let me heal those?" he asked, gesturing to ZanYi in general while lifting his canteen with the other hand, "I have fresh water with me, so you don't need to worry about your cuts stinging or anything like that."
ZanYi opted to pant and breathe instead of answering at first. Her chest continued to rise and fall with each breath, a bit harder than normal. Prolonged exposure to those freezing temperatures really had messed with her. Breathing wasn't as easy, her flames not as hot. ZanYi knew it would heal soon enough, but it still bothered her.
And, whatever was bothering Shun, he, of all people, was going to try and lie about it. And to her, when he knew somehow ZanYi would find a way to ferret out the truth if she really wanted. So, for the time being, she let it go, gaze moving to his canteen. "Well, since we both know you're not going to drop it…" ZanYi plopped heavily down onto the sand next to him. Ridding of her boots, she easily slipped out of her pants, revealing her shorts and a whole other batch of bruises, cuts and sores along her legs. "You can have at it."
Shun sucked in a breath. He had no idea it was this bad. And the Resistance had dared to do such damage to one of their own? It was enough to make him sick.
"Jeez," he hissed, summoning water from his canteen as he gingerly lifted one of her legs. "What did they do to you?"
He had not meant to ask that question out loud; it had slipped out. Shaking his head, the giant waterbender quickly retracted the question. "Never mind, don't answer that. I don't want to know." If she told him, he would just get angry. And he did not want to force her to mentally relive such abuse. ZanYi had already been through enough, and Shun was irritated enough with himself for letting her go that night: if he had just convinced ZanYi to stay with them for a little while longer, this would not have happened.
ZanYi took a deep breath, looking over her scrapes and aches with a remembering eye. "You don't want to know, Shun," she agreed with him, knowing the man's compassion.
The Resistance was well trained. She never doubted that, but it was certainly a reminder for her. "The Resistance doesn't take treason lightly. It's a serious offense with serious consequences." The lieutenant grew silent then, watching Shun's hands work over her leg. When her rough voice came out next, it was hushed, grim. "Guess I just never imagined that I'd have to bear the consequences."
Shun frowned, lowering ZanYi's leg to move on to her other one.
"I can't believe everyone just assumed that Zhao was telling the truth," he ended up growling, a muscle jumping in his jaw as he fought to keep calm. "I was starting to regret that cheap shot I threw at him back at the base, but your injuries just reminded me that he's not worth my sympathy." If anything, Shun was sorry that he only hit Zhao once. He hoped he had knocked something loose, at least.
ZanYi broke her gaze from her legs to Shun's face, a little startled. But her smirk foretold her real emotions. "You punched Zhao?" she asked him, trying to keep from snickering but clearly amused. The lieutenant could only imagine the look on Zhao's face when that happened, and a couple sniggers escaped. "I wish I could have seen that," ZanYi remarked, shaking her head a little at the thought. Her eyebrow rose at Shun, as if seeing him anew. And in a way, she was. "It would be hard to believe if I hadn't seen you pick a fight with him. You're not usually like that, Shun."
Shun looked up to meet ZanYi's gaze. She had a point; he wasn't usually like that. He abhorred violence and, despite what he said, was repulsed that he was displaying such reprimandable behavior. If his family could see him now, he had no doubt that they would be shocked beyond words.
Was this what it meant to be in love? That he was willing to change into something he usually wasn't in order to protect the woman he loved? Or was this war simply having a negative effect on him, now that he had become directly involved? It was hard to tell, considering the giant waterbender had never been in love before.
Eventually, Shun realized he was staring. He hastily dropped his gaze to ZanYi's arm, where he focused his healing talents next. "You're right. It wasn't like me at all," he agreed quietly, looking uncomfortable at the thought.
'And a lot of it might be all your fault,' the giant waterbender grumbled in his head. Seriously, what was she doing to him?
Shun's change in demeanor shifted ZanYi back to puzzled from amused. Her eyes were narrow as they watched the waterbender work on her arm, his face closer to her now. "Don't sound so devastated by that," she chastised him, "because as much as you may not like it, the easy-going, peaceful attitude you have isn't always a good thing."
The lieutenant looked at her arm, watching her hand clench and unclench. "There comes a time that everyone has to fight. Not everything can be solved with a few exchanged words. It's a better option, but in times like this, everyone will have a time they have to stand up and fight."
How the waterbender had gotten so far without fighting was beyond her. ZanYi's eyes turned to meet Shun's gaze, frowning. "Standing up to Zhao was not a bad thing, Shun. If anything, I'm sorry you had to do it because I gladly would have done it myself." Her hands clenched tight at the thought, wishing she'd had the strength to fight him for herself, for doing all of this. The tone of her voice grew a bit impassioned. "Good and right things don't come easy in life, Shun. But that's why we fight. Because it's worth it. You have to learn what's worth fighting for."
Again, Shun found himself looking into ZanYi's eyes, chewing on her words. He did not like the thought of having to solve some of his problems with violence—as if he didn't know that already—but he could not deny that ZanYi had a point. Did Shun like hitting others? No. But would he do it anyway to protect the people he cared about? Especially if it meant protecting ZanYi from any harm further than the harm Zhao had already caused her?
The answer was immediate: heck yes. In his book, ZanYi was definitely worth fighting for.
"ZanYi…"
"I love you." Shun bit his tongue before the words could come out. He could not say them, could not reveal the most vulnerable part of himself to this woman. Even if he did love her, he was still not allowed to have her. Besides, such a sudden confession would just freak her out and ruin their friendship, and that was the last thing he wanted.
"…Thank you," Shun finally said with a small smile. He could not say what he wanted to her, but he hoped she knew how sincere he was when he thanked her. She was a blessing in his life, no matter how many arguments they had and how many tight spots he had to get her out of.
ZanYi could only look at him, observing him. Shun had wanted to say something else, that much was certain to her. But that did not detract from the meaning or sincerity of the words he did say. The man was a terrible liar, she'd noticed, anyway. So either way, she knew he truly meant his gratitude.
"You're welcome…" she said slowly, never leaving their stare. The lieutenant honestly wasn't sure why he was thanking her, aside from possibly tearing apart a personality flaw of his. That normally wasn't a cause of thanks though, which left ZanYi still nonplussed.
Gesturing a meaningful glance down to herself and back to Shun's gaze, she asked him, "Now, are you going to finish patching me up? And when you're done, let me take a look at your back. You're burnt back there, aren't you?" ZanYi could tell by the way he had been holding his back up, the subtle winces when he moved it. She'd been burned enough times to know that look.
Shun froze, reminiscent to a deer in headlights. Had it been that obvious that he was injured? He hastily dropped his gaze, reaching for ZanYi's other arm.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he tried to deny casually, but his face was turning a very telling shade of red and he knew it. But even if ZanYi took a look at his back, there was not much she could do about it. He was the healer in the group, not her. So like it or not, Shun was just going to have to let the skin heal naturally.
ZanYi scoffed. "Don't lie to me, Shun," she warned him with a roll of her eyes, "It's not going to end well for you." So instead, she took her arm back from him. He could heal her more in a minute; the lieutenant had other ideas in mind.
Moving in the sand, she knelt behind Shun, lifting his shirt up so that she could see his back. ZanYi winced. "Shun," she muttered, her frowning gaze grazing over the burn on his back. It was ugly. And she knew ugly burns. No wonder it had been enough to make her notice his pain. ZanYi knew better than to touch it directly, so she allowed a hand to touch the unburnt skin around the scar. "You got this from trying to get me out of there…"
Shun couldn't believe she was willing to just… disrobe him like that. Granted, he was technically still wearing his shirt, but some skin was showing, so he believed it counted. Face still flaming, he turned in time to see ZanYi wince. Did it really look that bad? Shun had only looked at it briefly before deciding he could not reach it to heal it. Her words, full of regret, caused the giant waterbender to frown.
"Yeah, I did get burnt rescuing you. And you know what? I don't regret it at all, because I helped to keep you safe. So neither should you," he told her, grabbing her wrist to move her hand so he could pull his shirt down. Turning to face her, Shun added earnestly, "Honestly ZanYi, it looks worse than it really is. I barely even feel it sometimes. Just give it some time and it'll scab over. Don't worry about it."
No way she was going to give him heat about his badge of honor: one more scorch mark on him was one less on ZanYi, so he was happy.
But it didn't matter if Shun was happy about it; ZanYi wasn't. In fact, she downright glared at him. "Just because you don't regret it doesn't mean I can't. You shouldn't have had to risk yourself like that. It was my fault I let them get the jump on me and put me in that position where I couldn't do anything."
It burned inside her, the self-loathing that accompanied with having been so weak. ZanYi had been unable to firebend, barely able to even move. In all accounts, she had to stand by and watch and the lieutenant hated that. She fought her own battles, defended herself. But the time when she couldn't, it had put the Avatar at risk and Shun got hurt.
ZanYi grit her teeth tight, hating the thought more and more. She was in a bigger mess than she had ever been in before, and she was dragging them down into it.
Shun blinked at ZanYi, nonplussed. He knew the lieutenant liked to fight her own battles, but the fact that she seemed so upset pulled him up short. All this fuss over him getting a few burns? Shun wasn't sure whether to feel flattered or insulted. "Hey," he called softly, a hand going to ZanYi's cheek, "ZanYi, look at me." Shun waited until he had the full weight of ZanYi's gaze before he continued. "I'm okay. It's one burn I couldn't reach; it won't kill me."
ZanYi was acting as if Shun and Syaoran had been strong-armed into rescuing her, as if Shun was forced to take some of the heat for her. Why was she behaving as if it was such a tragedy? The giant waterbender shook his head. The woman was impossible.
"When I told you I hate it when you get hurt, I meant it," Shun reminded ZanYi, although it bothered him to remind her of the one instance he had lost his temper with her, "So if occasionally stepping in the line of fire means I can keep you from harm, I'm going to do it without thinking twice about it. I know you're used to protecting people…" Shun found his other hand moving to ZanYi's face, cupping her cheeks. He really had to get better at this whole 'No Touching' thing. "…But I meant it when I said I had your back, and when I said that guarantee, it came with a lifetime warranty."
Did ZanYi really not see how Shun adored her? Actually, he hoped she didn't—that would be bad. But he was still allowed to care as a friend, was he not?
ZanYi stared angrily at Shun for a minute, clearly unhappy with him, with his explanation. It was one thing before when she'd had the military to back her up, or when she thought that she wouldn't be with them much longer. She'd intended for his support to be lent to her cause.
"As my back-up, I intended for you to fight with me, not for me…"
Never had she imagined she would be in this position, where Shun was taking matters into his own hands and actually putting himself at risk. ZanYi could not have even protected herself if Shun hadn't held them back. He literally would have had to take every blow to keep her from harm. And ZanYi hated the thought of that, of others getting hurt because she was helpless.
The lieutenant pulled back from Shun's warm hands to sit back on the sand. She put a hand over her face as she fought to regain a hold of herself. When ZanYi looked at Shun again, the woman had pushed away enough of her irritation to make her reasonable. "At least let me patch it up," she told him, a bit exasperated. "I may not be a healer like you, but I know how to help along ugly burns like that."
Shun sighed, shaking his head good-naturedly. He wanted to tell her that it was all right, that they were in a tight spot and there wasn't much she could have done in the situation. But, the giant waterbender was guessing that was exactly why she was frustrated with herself, so he chose to let it lie, shrugging at her instead.
"If it'll make you happy," he replied easily, meaning it more than ZanYi knew. He stood up, brushing sand off of his backside before turning and offering ZanYi his hand. It was mostly a polite gesture—he was fully expecting ZanYi to swat his hand away and stand up on her own, insisting she was not in need of help in her typical Lieutenant Tsong fashion. But she surprised him. Taking a hold of his hand, ZanYi gripped it and pulled herself up off the sand. Brushing past Shun, she knocked the sand off of her body and grabbed her pants, slipping them back on. She didn't bother with her boots, taking them both up in a hand before starting to trek back to their temporary residence.
Upon reaching it, she led Shun back upstairs to the room that was supposed to be his. "Sit," she ordered him, dropping her shoes and walking back out of the room down to the washroom. After a bit of scrounging, ZanYi came back with a bowl of water, a rag, and a roll of gauze. "I'm going to need you to take your shirt off, Shun," she told him as she put her supplies down on the bed. ZanYi put her hands on her hips and gave him an expectant look. "Or do I have to take it off for you?"
The mere suggestion caused Shun to blush. The worst part was that he wasn't even sure if she was teasing or not.
"I can take it off," he mumbled, pulling his shirt up over his head. Feeling a strong sense of déjà vu, Shun paused in the act of pulling his arms through the sleeves. "Uh… it's not really necessary for me to take it off all the way, right?" he asked, already putting his head back through the shirt, "I mean, I can just hold it up while you take care of the burn, there's no need to get rid of it completely…"
'And no need to give anyone any ideas,' Shun finished in his mind, thinking of Syaoran, Tiki, or YinLi: any one of them walking in on him shirtless and in ZanYi's room—once again—would just misinterpret the situation, and it would be Roku's Island all over again. That, he did not want.
ZanYi rolled her eyes. "It's fine. Just don't let the shirt get in my way," she told him, moving then to sit behind him on the bed, "Jeez, you are so shy sometimes…" ZanYi muttered to herself, as if partially amused, partially skeptic. Shun almost snorted. Right… shy. He could go with that.
However, she shut her mouth and dipped the rag she had into the cool water. Wringing it gently, taking the rag, she then placed her free hand on his bare back to steady herself as the other used the rag to cover over the burn. ZanYi patted it down gently, letting the water cool the burn. Thankfully, no blisters had broken thus far. Taking the rag off, she then repeated another time, gently letting the cool waters seep into his wound. When she took it off again, ZanYi warned, "I'm adding soap this time to help clean it out. It's going to sting, but bear with me, Shun." As gently as she could, ZanYi used the soapy rag to dab and gently brush the burn on his back.
True to ZanYi's prediction, the soap did sting, though the only reaction Shun showed was a tensing of his back muscles and a muted groan. Other than that, he was fine. He was more preoccupied with the fact that ZanYi's touch could be so gentle. He could probably get used to this… if he was ever allowed to, that is.
"Thanks," he said after a moment of companionable silence. Though he felt it was a little unnecessary, he was glad that at least doing this would help put ZanYi's mind at ease a little more. And she did know what she was doing when it came to burns, so this would probably benefit him in the long run as well.
With a small snort, ZanYi's lip quirked, continuing her careful work. "You're welcome, Shun," she told him, making sure to be cautious around each of the sweltering blisters on his back, "I'm glad you're not like the new recruits though. Bunch a cry-babies when we didn't have healers around to do this for us." The lieutenant shook her head, only pausing for a brief moment to consider that those new recruits were the soldiers of hers that were now MIA, probably hostages. Pushing herself past that, she removed the soapy rag to wash it out in her dish, ridding it of the soap before running it back over the burn.
Dropping the rag in the bowl, she declared, "Well, at least it's clean now, so it hopefully won't get infected." Then ZanYi took the roll of gauze and shifted closer to Shun's back. She applied the bandage softly across the wound before extending it across his back and around his front. The lieutenant reached forward and around him to keep passing it around the waterbender. "These bandages will have to be changed tomorrow, and every day until the blistering heals up. And avoid putting icy water on it; it's only going to make it worse for you."
Shun distracted himself from the new blush forming on his face by aiming a frown at ZanYi.
"Does this mean I can't go swimming?" he asked, already looking disappointed. He was going to try and ignore the fact that ZanYi was going to have to re-bandage him every day, which meant she was going to be touching his bare back and chest every day until the blisters healed.
Needless to say, Shun was conflicted on exactly how fast he wanted his blisters to go away.
"Don't give me that look," she told him, her gaze flickering up to see the frown directed at her, "Don't get hurt if you can't heal it properly or deal with it." ZanYi continued to wrap the gauze around his broad body, keeping it secure, but hopefully not too tight. "So no, you shouldn't be swimming until this heals up. The last thing you need is to get something into the wound. If I had known you were injured back here, this morning, I would've gotten on you then."
Shun let out a sigh. "…Now I know how the rest of you feel. Being injured sucks," he said, a rare moment of complaint. There was a perfectly good ocean outside, and he wasn't allowed to swim in it until the blisters healed. He had been fine earlier, but ZanYi was right: he did not want to risk infection. Stupid blisters. "Can I at least put my feet in the water, doctor?" the giant waterbender asked, smirking as he jested.
ZanYi resisted a scoff, shaking her head a little at Shun. "No, you have stay completely away from water," she told him with great and heavy sarcasm. Finishing up the bandaging, the lieutenant actually answered, "You're fine as long as you don't get the burn wet." She tore the edge of the bandage off of the roll, and then tucked it tight under some other layers of it. Smoothing it over with a hand, ZanYi surveyed her work and nodded, satisfied. She laid it to the side and then smirked at Shun. Reaching up a little, ZanYi spoke quietly in his ear, telling him, "And if being injured sucks, remember that next time you try to put yourself in the line of fire for me."
Did she really have to whisper in his ear like that? There were the only ones in the room… but, pushing past the goose bumps it gave him, he had to admit that she had him there. Served him right for complaining.
"I regret that I got injured," Shun continued to concede, turning to meet ZanYi's eyes, despite the fact that she was a little too close for comfort. "But I don't regret why I got injured." Having to heal a nasty burn on ZanYi's back—or anywhere else—would have hurt Shun worse than the burn that was on his back. He was glad to have kept her from at least that much.
Abruptly, the door swung open. "Excuse me, ZanYi, but have you seen—oh."
Shun looked up, hastily scooting away from ZanYi. YinLi stood in the door, the look on her face reminding Shun why it was always a bad idea for him to be caught alone with ZanYi. At least his shirt was on this time.
"Uh...what do you need, Li?"
YinLi's forehead crinkled. "Actually, I need your help with… Tiki."
Tiki? Shun frowned. "What's wrong? Is she okay?"
YinLi threw a surreptitious glance at ZanYi before her gaze returned to the giant waterbender. "I'll show you when we get downstairs," she promised. Shun took her inflection on 'downstairs' to mean the basement. But Tiki was done with her tattoos for the day… what could this be about?
"I'll see you later, ZanYi," Shun said, turning to give the lieutenant an apologetic look before following YinLi. If she had to seek him out, Shun shuddered to think what kind of trouble Tiki had gotten herself into now.
When the waterbender had closed the door behind him, ZanYi leaned back on the bed and smirked. Shy or not, Shun was a good friend. An aggravating, frustrating, but determined and loyal, good friend. And having someone like that by her side right now meant more to her than Shun could ever realize.
A/N from DJ: And we have a short one this week! It's the quiet lull before more storms start hitting because, after all, things can never go right for Team Avatar!
On another note, big news! As of last weekend, after a long, year-long bout of writing, late-nights, and too much coffee, we have finally finished writing the entire series! Eva and I actually met up for the entire weekend to sit down and get it out right in one go. It was a huge moment for us, and we're so proud of what we've done to wrap up the entire series! We'll see if it all gets online, but if we make it that far, it will have all been worth it.
Now, to the acknowledgements!
Guest: Heya! So good to know that you love this series! We're so glad that you're hooked-it means we're doing something right! And we'd love to hear from you again, to know what your thoughts are as things happens! All the same, thanks for the shout-out, because we appreciate you just as much!
HalfaLeader: Trust me, when Tiki grew serious, I almost cried. We were both so depressed, but it had to happen. We don't want to brush off the harsh realities of life and not show the consequences. Tiki is going to go through so many rough patches and learning curves, but that's life, and it always keeps building :]
The-new-avatar: The hard part about grief is that it throws people into growing up and sobering up more than they should have to. Growing up is about learning the balance of when to laugh and be ridiculous and when to be serious and face things. Grief makes it hard to to find the former because of the latter. Tiki is having a rough time now, and she will continue to, but like anyone else, her sun will shine again. Promise.
And that's it for this week! Can't wait to talk to you all again soon, because things are about to get serious!