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.
While ZanYi slept away, she continued to mumble away. But when she started to stir slowly, twas as if she was being brought closer and closer to the surface. Feeling the chills running through her body, it forced her awareness. Warm blankets around her. Something soft underneath of her. Something cold pressed against her head.
Carefully, the lieutenant opened her eyes, looking up the ceiling. That was not Tiki's ceiling. In a moment of panic, not knowing where she was, the lieutenant whirled out of bed, stumbling a bit as blood rushed to her head. Her hair stuck to her face, clinging with sweat. There was a soft creak, and without even thinking, ZanYi turned to fire at the opening door. But she was tipsy; she was off. The fire missed entirely, hitting the wall next to the door.
Shun had barely managed to get the door open before he saw the blast of fire scorch the wall. He froze, frightened. Did he dare to actually step into the room when the dragon had obviously been awakened?
"Jeez, Lieutenant. Do you want me to wave a white flag around before I enter?" Shun wanted to know, keeping the door between him and a very tired—and obviously very cranky—ZanYi. He wanted to help her, sure, but he didn't want to be burnt to a crisp in the process.
Said lieutenant took a deep breath and leased it slow. Shun, she thought. That was Shun behind the door. That was his voice. The room started to come into clearer focus, and ZanYi finally recognized her surroundings. She was just in the room across the hall. She wasn't being held captive. She wasn't moved anywhere far. Just across the hall in the room she split with Shun. The lieutenant breathed a sigh of relief, slumping to lean back against the wall. Her chest was heaving, and ZanYi knew she was sweating buckets, but she felt so cold. She hated feeling cold.
"Come in, Shun," she told him breathlessly.
Despite now having permission, Shun was careful to edge his way into the room. However, one look at ZanYi told him she wasn't feeling well at all, despite her rather… spirited greeting. The giant waterbender set the pitcher and glass down on the nightstand before approaching ZanYi. Her skin was hot to his touch—way hotter than usual—but she was shivering nonetheless. Shun had to resist the urge to pull her closer. "You should lay back down," he told her, his thumbs strumming against her cheeks. "You look awful." Shun hoped she wouldn't take that the wrong way—even now he still found her beautiful. She just looked very, very sick.
However, ZanYi wasn't one to care about appearances, so she took it the way he meant it. She rolled her eyes, grumbling a little. "You moved me, didn't you?" the lieutenant accused, eyes narrow at the man. It had just about given her a heart attack. She didn't appreciate waking up somewhere she hadn't gone to sleep in. And ZanYi didn't like that she hadn't woken up at all the whole time.
Which meant she was really sick, and the woman knew it.
Moving away from Shun, the lieutenant walked as straight and upright as she could back over to the bed. With a heavy plop, ZanYi sank down on the edge of it, holding her head. The world was still spinning a little, and it sucked. "Don't do that again," she told the waterbender tersely, but with her weakened state, the edge to her words was dull, nowhere as sharp as it normally would be.
Shun frowned. What did she want him to do, leave her on the floor to freeze? The giant waterbender sighed, but did not push the issue: now was not the time to be arguing with ZanYi. "Okay," he agreed easily, sitting on the edge of the bed, "but please, lay down. You're making me nervous."
She looked like she would pass out at any moment. Shun scooted a little closer, just in case ZanYi fell forward. The last thing he wanted was to add a concussion onto her fever and cold.
"I make you nervous anyway, Shun," ZanYi mumbled, shrugging off his words. She coughed a rather horrid sound. It did nothing to ease her notions of how sick she was. There was no way she could even hide this, unlike last night.
A sharp knock sounded at the door, and Shun looked up expectantly. But the door did not open. "Shun, I'm leaving the soup for ZanYi out here," YinLi's voice sounded through the door. "I'd come in and bring it to you, but I don't want to risk getting sick. Feel better, ZanYi!"
"Thank you, Li," Shun called back, listening as YinLi's footsteps retreated back down the stairs. The woman may be a bit of a busybody, but she was a godsend when she wanted to be.
At his side, the lieutenant shivered, the chills running up and down her. "So dang cold…" she muttered under her breath, suppressing further shudders. After all, ZanYi had an audience at the moment. "Why are you here, Shun?" she croaked, eyeing the waterbender in question. "Why am I in here?" ZanYi corrected her statement, still a bit foggy. She should be in Tiki's room. But it was clear Shun probably moved her. Why? She was fine on her own.
"Because this room has a bed," Shun replied, his tone a bit dry. Why was ZanYi acting as if he had done her a disservice? He was only trying to help. Did ZanYi's temperament get worse when she was sick? Now the giant waterbender was regretting not taking his medicine like a big boy even more.
One of his hands automatically moved to ZanYi's back, rubbing up and down. He hated to see her suffer, so his body reacted on its own. It was a little scary how attuned he had become to her. "You know, if you lie down and pull the blankets over you, you won't be cold anymore," Shun baited. He just wanted her to lie down and get some rest. If she kept asking questions, that wasn't going to happen any time soon.
ZanYi saw exactly what he was doing. She was unsure whether she appreciated it or not. Her golden eyes closed for a minute, relishing in the comfort of the hand that stroked her back. Shun's large hand was warm, a soft touch. It was a nice feeling. She hung her head as well, silently accepting it. "Mmmm," the lieutenant hummed quietly, pleased by the touch. ZanYi completely ignored Shun's request, remaining exactly where she was. She was cold, but she was fine where she was. ZanYi coughed again, but ignored that too. She didn't want to move—the lieutenant almost didn't have the gumption to either.
The cough made Shun wince, however. She sounded like a smoker… no pun intended. With a sigh, the giant waterbender reached over to the nightstand, his large fingers closing around the bottle of medicine ZanYi had left sitting there the day before. "Here," he encouraged, pouring out the correct amount, trying not to frown as he did so. The stuff smelled and tasted awful, but somehow it worked miracles for the common cold. Ridiculous. "Take some medicine to get rid of that cough." The giant waterbender was hoping fervently that ZanYi would be more receptive than he was—Shun didn't think he could handle a repeat of what the lieutenant had had to do to get him to swallow that medicine.
ZanYi looked from the medicine in Shun's hand to his face and lifted an eyebrow. He didn't like taking the stuff, but was quick to urge her to use it? She wasn't quite sure if he was being a doctor that was a terrible patient or a hypocrite.
Either way, she tilted her head a little, allowing the ghost of her familiar smirk to float across her lips. "Really? You're going to make me drink it out of the cup?" ZanYi teased, suppressing a cough in her throat. However, she did take the small measuring cup from Shun and downed the medicine like a shot. ZanYi swallowed it heartily and put the cup back over on the nightstand. The lieutenant did wince a bit at the taste, but she already knew it was going to lack a delightful flavor. "I like the way you took it better," she announced definitively.
Even when she was ill, she still made Shun's face pool with blood and his heart pound as fast as if he had just run a marathon. It was not fair at all.
"Go to sleep, ZanYi," he sighed, a hand over his mouth. As if he needed her reminding him of the events that had transpired the day before… as if he hadn't dreamed about it all night, craving more…
That's it: he needed to get out of this room. Maybe a moment in the hall would be enough—and he could grab the bowl of soup YinLi had left out there. Shun stood up, shifting his weight to each foot before he looked down at ZanYi. "Can I get you anything?" When ZanYi shivered again, the giant waterbender quirked an eyebrow. "A hot water bottle, maybe?"
Of course, ZanYi's body heat had been an excellent source of heat for him yesterday… but no, he couldn't think like that. That never should have happened in the first place, and it was even more awkward when they had woken up later on that afternoon.
…At least, it had been awkward for him. ZanYi seemed to enjoy seeing him embarrassed for reasons all her own… reasons she had never finished explaining to him the day before, now that he thought of it…
But now was not the time. ZanYi was sick and she needed rest. And Shun was going to make sure she got it.
Frowning to think about Shun's suggestion, ZanYi paused. Then she sighed reluctantly, as if letting Shun help her at all was a bad thing. "Just get that soup before it gets cold," she suggested, nodding her head towards the hall.
Shun obeyed, mostly because he was eager for a moment to clear his head. Out in the hall, he bent over to retrieve the bowl of soup, taking a few deep breaths for good measure. Nothing risky was going to happen today—ZanYi was sick, and Shun was going to behave himself and not take advantage of the situation, not even subconsciously. ZanYi needed him right now, whether she wanted to admit it or not.
Finally caving a little, the lieutenant shifted slowly further onto the bed. ZanYi remained upright, leaning against the headboard, but she gathered the blankets around her. The simple warmth felt great, despite the sweat on her brow. Grabbing the cold compress that had been flung from her head when she'd awoken, ZanYi put it back on her brow. It made her grimace, the cold on her body when she wanted so badly to be warm. But ZanYi couldn't deny that probably the hot and cold was because of a fever, just like Shun had had the day before. Therefore she was going to have to buck up.
"Here," Shun offered the lieutenant the steaming bowl, figuring she wanted it now instead of later, with how much she was shivering. Perhaps if she got warm enough, she would drift off to sleep easier. "Careful—it's really hot."
ZanYi, as usual, didn't pay him any mind. In fact, she took the bowl eagerly, the warmth filling her hands. It was soothing, and it was a relief. She readily took the spoon to lap it up. Perhaps to many it would burn their mouths. In fact, she wasn't sure if it was burning hers or not. But the heat was so inviting, and it was enough to make her lips upturn a bit as it traveled through her body, warming it slowly. Finishing it off, the lieutenant laid it aside, bringing her knees up to her chest to keep the warmth close to her.
"So what now?" she asked him, lifting an eyebrow at the large waterbender. "Do you just stay here or you got something else to do?"
Truth be told, its not like many—or anyone, really—were there to take care of her when she fell ill. It usually resulted in her taking a reluctant day off and hiding away in her room on whatever base she was stationed.
Shun lifted an eyebrow. Clearly ZanYi wasn't used to being taken care of when she got sick. Unless, perhaps, it was her brother, which might be why she had called out for him in her sleep…
"Do you want me to leave?" the giant waterbender asked. True, he wanted ZanYi to rest and get better, but if she couldn't do so with him around, he would not force his company on her. He wanted to be with her—more than he needed to admit—but her health would have to come first in this instance.
Sensing a trace of reluctance on Shun's part, ZanYi was reluctant herself to tell him to go. Normally she would just lie around by herself, kill time. It was going to be harder to do that when it wasn't her own quarters, and since Shun would probably be in and out anyway to check on her—if she knew him at all—it made no sense to turn him away.
"No, you can stay," she allowed, probably to his surprise. "I suppose you're pretty good company to have around." A small smirk tweaked the corner of her mouth at that. The lieutenant crossed her burnt arms over her legs and winced. ZanYi looked to Shun again, disgruntled. "I'll let you heal these now, if you're feeling up to it," she gave him permission, waving her scar-splattered hand at him.
"Don't mind if I do," Shun replied, leaning over to rummage for his canteen at the foot of the bed; he had located it last night after dinner and brought it up to the room with him. As he unscrewed the cap, his healer eyes scanned the length of ZanYi's injuries, trying to decide whether he wanted to start with her arms or her hand. He decided her arms—the burn on her hand was electrical, and he was not sure how effective his healing powers were going to be.
Shun scooted closer to the lieutenant, gingerly taking one of her arms and carefully undoing the bandages. The burns were a couple days old, but they were already scabbing. Shun winced, internally abusing himself for letting such injuries sit for so long. He remained silent, however, as he weaved water around the length of ZanYi's arms. It took him a moment to get back into his healing groove—it had been a while since he had to heal anyone—but he got there after a few minutes, beginning to erase the scars and heal the skin. If only he could do something about her fever and cold as well. Alas, his healing was not that effective.
The lieutenant watched him work in silence, observing as the burns started to disappear, as if they had never even been there. It would be a lie to say that she wasn't appreciative of the healing. ZanYi would not miss those nasty burns healing naturally. It was such a pain, both literally and figuratively.
When Shun moved on to the next arm, she didn't stop him. But she did finally look to Shun's face, full of concentration on his task. His crystal blue eyes were trained on her arms, a picture of focused. It was an attractive look for Shun, ZanYi thought, until she noticed the subtle winces and slight tension to his mouth. "You really don't like it when I get hurt, do you?" she broke the silence, watching him curiously.
Shun slowly looked up at ZanYi, toying with sarcasm in his mind. He decided against it, however, mostly because ZanYi was sick… and sarcasm wasn't really his style.
"How many times to I have to say it before you'll believe me?" he asked her instead, a slight tilt to his lips. Didn't she remember that time on Roku's Island when he had all but screamed in her face about her purposely putting herself in harm's way? He certainly did—the memory still caused him embarrassment to this day.
ZanYi's arms were healed, good as new. All that was left now was the burn on her hand…
The giant waterbender lifted her hand to his face, scrutinizing it. It looked worse than anything he had ever seen on ZanYi, except for maybe the two scars she had earned in her childhood. Luckily, this wound was only a couple days old. Determined to heal it, Shun set to work, his fingers pressing into the skin on her hand through the water. This was a stubborn burn, however. Shun's frown deepened as he struggled with it. Ten minutes had gone by before improvements really began to show. He sighed.
"You're always the one who gives me the most trouble when it comes to injuries," he told ZanYi, rueful. It figured: the one person he hated to see injured most of all was the one who was always injured most of all. The spirits really had an ironic sense of humor.
ZanYi used her other shoulder to shrug, unsurprised. Of course she gave him more trouble. Toying with fire was not exactly something that constituted a band-aid; playing with lightning was even worse, even more dangerous. Not to mention that the lieutenant also saw no problem with the injuries she would sustain in battle. If she had taken the blow so that others did not, then ZanYi was doing her job.
"It comes with the job description," she used by way of explanation. After all, the woman was not going to apologize for it. But ZanYi did snort a little, shaking her head at Shun. "Honestly, you take it just as bad as Zaron does."
Her brother was horrible about the lieutenant getting wounded. Zaron was generally more of a hindrance to the healer than a support to her during those times. He was a grown man, but ZanYi could still see the surly, bitter teenager every time she was injured.
Shun chuckled. Indeed, he remembered the look on Zaron's face when ZanYi was dueling with Zhao. Only now did Shun feel the extent of what the sergeant major must have felt in that instant, if not stronger. Shun did love ZanYi, but Zaron was her older brother: not being able to keep her from harm probably ate away at him all the time. The giant waterbender wondered how Zaron was holding up, knowing that his sister had escaped incarceration. Was he happy? Upset that she had not contacted him yet? Worried about where she might be? Shun considered all the possibilities and felt himself pitying the poor man. He would not want to be in the sergeant major's shoes right now, out of his mind with worry over his sister, but still duty-bound to serve the very cause that had turned its back on her.
"Of course Zaron takes it badly when you get hurt. He loves you," Shun stated simply. A second later, however, he froze.
That was a really stupid move. Although what he said about Zaron was true, he shouldn't have said it while ZanYi was drawing a comparison between him and Zaron! Wouldn't it be a logical conclusion for ZanYi to put two and two together and realize that if Zaron took it hard when she was injured because he loved her, that the same could be said about Shun? Stupid!
Shun resumed his work, trying desperately to ignore the flush in his cheeks, and hoping against hope that ZanYi would not notice it either. He could just as easily be blushing about something else… yeah, right. He was a dead man unless he could manage to avoid the subject altogether. Sadly, no other distractions came to mind at the moment, so he just remained silent, praying that ZanYi would simply take his words at face value. Thankfully, his luck was in today.
"You're right. He does."
ZanYi didn't even look at him funny. Instead, her lips grew tight, knowing it was true and now only able to think of her brother. That didn't help the anxiety and nerves she had held at bay the entire time since she'd returned to the company of Team Avatar.
Zaron had to be worried about her, more irate than ever. ZanYi had thought of every way possible to get a hold of him from Southern Air Island, but none of them were covert enough to keep him from trouble. She didn't want him in the freezers for just talking to his sister. But to say it wasn't wearing on the lieutenant was a lie. It had been months since she'd last seen him, last talked to him. Would she be able to see him again? ZanYi had gone off the grid to protect the Avatar, leaving not a word of notice to Zaron. Next thing he had probably heard about her was that she was wanted for kidnapping and treason.
It was enough to make ZanYi grip the dogtags around her neck. She could almost feel his engraved name on them imprinting into her skin.
The chink of metal had Shun glancing up expectantly. And he was not disappointed: ZanYi's hand was clutched around her dogtags so tight that if she weren't careful, she would snap them off the chain. He wished he could touch her face to soothe her, but this atrocious burn on her hand was taking a lot longer to heal than the ones on her arms. He brought his eyes back to his task, the pain in ZanYi's eyes hurting him as well.
"I'm sorry," he said softly, "that you haven't been able to see your brother. You must miss him terribly."
Shun knew all-too-well how she felt. He had been nine when he last saw his family, and he had been trying to find them ever since he had broken free of the 'facility' that kept him prisoner. Though Shun did not let it show, there was a constant pain in his heart whenever he saw happy families together. He was truly delighted to see families that were still able to remain together in this day and age, but it was a constant reminder of what he had lost as well. It was very bittersweet, staying here with Tiki's aunt, but Shun would not complain: Tiki had lost her parents in the most cruel and tragic way possible. If he had been in her tiny shoes, he would have come somewhere like here as well.
The lieutenant took a deep breath in an effort to push away the feelings bubbling up inside; it mostly served to incite another cough. ZanYi was worried, anxious, agitated by it all. And it was showing. While she was thankful it was only Shun, it still made her uncomfortable. "It's fine, Shun," ZanYi brushed away his words, steeling herself as much as she could in her state. "It comes with the territory. I've gone much longer without seeing him."
Like when he left her behind to go to boot camp. Or when he went on his first tour and she barely heard from him for two years. There were plenty of other occasions that ZanYi could list off when she'd waited on the island, hoping for any kind of note. She could name off the nights where, even when in the service herself, she'd hoped she wouldn't get that letter or call, the one that would tell her that Zaron was gone.
It was their lives. It was the military. It was what Zaron had signed up for. It was what ZanYi dealt with. But even then, the distance never got shorter, and the silence never any quieter. It was always long. It was always deafening. And this time was the farthest thing from an exception to the rule.
Shun sighed quietly. There she was trying to downplay everything again. How did she manage to keep everything inside all the time? Shun was not sure if he could accomplish such a feat. "Still, it doesn't look like it gets any easier," he pointed out, reaching up to smooth the crease in between ZanYi's brows. He let his hand trail down her cheek, resting there. "…You don't have to be strong all the time, you know," he told her, his eyes soft and understanding. "Weren't you the one to tell me it was okay to be human?"
ZanYi had no idea how desperately he had needed to hear those words that night, as he was drowning in the darkness of despair, with no end in sight. The dreams were always haunting, but it had never been as bad as that. So while it caused him chagrin to have ZanYi witness him in such a dark place at the time, in the end, he was glad she was there to offer him support. Now, it was his turn to do the same for her.
ZanYi's mouth lifted in an ironic, wistful smirk. She shook her head marginally and slowly. "You and I are different people," the lieutenant said, as if it were a reminder. "That night you were going to snap in two if you didn't get all of that out."
That stormy night, something had certainly shifted for them. Shun had opened a part of himself to her that it seemed he guarded quite heavily. She'd told him things that no one had ever heard before. But like she had said, it had been for one night. Even if Shun was important to her, ZanYi didn't need him to do this any further.
"For one night, you needed someone to lean on. I don't need to lean on anyone." ZanYi met his eyes, seeing the tenderness and concern that welled deep. "I'm okay on my own, Shun."
"Says the woman who I've had to save repeatedly from bad situations," Shun chided, lifting an eyebrow. If ZanYi owed him a favor for every pinch he had pulled her out of, she would be his personal slave by now. Shun could still vividly remember the acute sense of worry that filled him when he learned of ZanYi's incarceration, a feeling that was not dispelled until he found her shivering in that freezer—worse for wear, but alive. He shook his head, his eyes returning to the stubborn scar on ZanYi's hand. "Honestly, if I start to go gray prematurely, it'll be all your fault."
He was joking, of course; Shun didn't mind being at ZanYi's beck and call. He actually preferred it that way. He didn't want ZanYi to want for anything as long as he was around and could do something about it.
Part of ZanYi wanted to remind him that the only reason she needed saving from bad situations was because their group was not exactly made for fighting, and therefore someone had to do the dirty work for the sake of all of them. But she wasn't in the right temperament to argue with Shun. This was not a big enough issue.
So instead, she draped her healed arm over her raised knees and rested her head on it, peering at the giant waterbender quietly as he continued to work on her hand. The other part of her mind was going through all of those times that Shun had been there, had followed through for her. He certainly had a point: he was always there for her. Since that first disagreement over Omashu, Shun had never stopped backing her up. He was always on her side, even if he didn't like her side. There was no better back-up plan than Shun on this team.
"Shun?" ZanYi eventually said, somber as she looked at his face as if she was searching for the answers to everything there. "What happens if I start to believe you?"
What would happen if she really let down that guard? What would happen if she trusted him for more than just her back-up? What would happen if she let him in on more of her?
"If I trust you to be there, what happens next?"
Shun snorted a little, not catching on to ZanYi's tone right away. "What, you don't trust me to be there already?" he joked before he looked up, catching the expression on ZanYi's face. Immediately he sobered, analyzing the look in ZanYi's eyes. There was something there, something intense, needing him to give the correct answer in order for her to be satisfied.
…The question was, what was the right answer?
"…I'm not sure I know what you mean, ZanYi," the giant waterbender admitted, although his heart began to pound a little harder than necessary. "What are you asking me, exactly?"
What did she mean, 'what happens next'? Shun was already there for her as much as he could be… what more was she asking for?
ZanYi stayed quiet for a moment, watching the shift in Shun's behavior. She had his attention now, and not just a conversational attention. The firebender had his full, undivided attention. Shun claimed not to understand what she was asking, but he could at least tell it was something serious.
And it was. To the lieutenant, this was serious. This was something big to her. She could count how many people she trusted to have her back in a fight. That number was a fair amount higher than how many she trusted outside of combat, trusted with other things. This number was little to none.
"If I trust you to be there for me to lean on," ZanYi tried to clarify slowly, as if each word was hard for her to get out, "what do you do next?" Her golden eyes stayed on his icy blues, gravely. "Are you going to stay or will you disappear?"
Shun's brow furrowed. Was she serious right now? It was almost like she didn't know him at all. The ugly scarring on her hand had finally disappeared completely, but he still clutched this hand after dispelling his water. His eyes never left ZanYi's, wanting her to realize that he meant every word he was about to say with every fiber of his being.
"I would never willingly leave you, ZanYi," he admitted, his tone low and intense. "Wild ostrich horses couldn't tear me away from you. I'll be by your side as long as you need me… and probably even longer than that."
That was okay for him to say, right? His intensity could be taken as concerned friendship, couldn't it? This was a minor detail in the back of his mind, though—his primary wish was for ZanYi to be able to trust him beyond a shadow of a doubt. He craved that trust more than anything… well, save for ZanYi herself. But the giant waterbender already knew he couldn't have her, so her trust would do.
ZanYi took a minute to absorb his profession, but her eyes had widened a little in response. Shun's words were severe and sincere. It was more than she had expected, but, if she really thought about it, just what she wanted.
The lieutenant lifted her head up to sit up then, never breaking eye contact with the man as she rose to his eye level. Comfortable, she let the silence hang between them, allowing everything that was transpiring to sink in, giving them both one last chance to back out. But ZanYi knew from the look in Shun's eyes that he wasn't about to.
And that meant she couldn't either.
"If that's the case…" the woman started slowly, taking another deep breath and smothering the cough that threatened to come out, "then I guess I'll just have to let you."
Her lips spread into a slow smile, a corner much higher than the other. With the chi she could tap into in her sickened state, ZanYi focused a bit of it into the hand that Shun held. As her fingers tightened over his, the lieutenant allowed it to grow warmer. He wasn't a firebender. She couldn't share her flame like she did with Zaron. But ZanYi could give him a bit of her warmth. Shun's fingers tightened reflexively over ZanYi's hand as well, keeping her eyes. Her smile was beautiful, and he found the corner of his lips turning up in response. What he wouldn't give to put that smile on her face all the time…
A hissing noise caused Shun to look down in surprise: steam was issuing from in between their joined palms. As he watched in slight fascination, ZanYi's very warm palm seemed to cause the droplets of water that still clung to his hand to evaporate. He chuckled a little, raising their joined palms in between them.
"Steamy," he joked with a grin. With his free hand, he pushed some lose strands of ZanYi's hair out of her face. "Now that you're satisfied, will you go to sleep already? I'll be here when you wake up, I promise."
As if he'd leave after that impassioned promise he'd made not two minutes ago. That on top of ZanYi being sick, and he was going to be stuck to her like glue for a while. He would just have to dial it down a little while Syaoran was around… Shun still valued the Avatar's friendship, but he was still going to give his all to be there for ZanYi, whether Syaoran liked it or not.
ZanYi looked at their steaming grasp before she let go, giving Shun a pointed look. "I don't need you to be here when I wake up," she told him with a roll of her eyes. But nonetheless, she scooted back, feeling a bit more comfortable with his presence.
Sliding down under the covers, she pulled the blankets up to her shoulders, warm. It was already much warmer than sitting up like she had been for the past while. And ZanYi did have to admit that the bed was much more comfortable than the floor of Tiki's room. She looked at Shun one more time, as if verifying the decision she had just made. Then ZanYi turned away to face the other direction, shifting so she was comfortable.
"Thanks, Shun," the lieutenant added quietly, another smile itching at her lips. But then she closed her eyes, willing to get some rest at last.
A/N from DJ: ...I spy with my little eye something that is developing quite nicely. xD
On another note, I know we left you guys with a bit of a cliffie last week; the second part was to be in this chappie. However, the section needed some collaborative work, which is incredibly difficult to find time to do these days. So, next week's update will be short, but will be the continuation. Still, we wanted to get something up for you all, so we delivered this little gem. Hope you enjoyed the aside! Now: to acknowledgements!
Halfaleader: Hey! Glad to see you're still with us! Thanks so much for the Author Fave! We really appreciate it and it's awesome to know that you still enjoy the story!
The-new-avatar: Trust us - we know what happens when things get busy xP We missed your reviews, but we're just happy to have you back and reading! Yes, Syaoran finally had his first interaction with a past life in that chappie! Korra is SUCH a wealth of advice xP And now he's accidentally made his way into reaching Aang on some level. Hope you enjoyed this chapter too, even though I know you're eager to read next week's probably xD
And a special shout-out to one of our ghost readers: A. W. This reader doesn't review or favorite, but instead personally sends us her thoughts and reactions and has basically become a super fangirl. We love you and appreciate you! If you got to read this week, I'm pretty sure you loved it and squealed in delight xD
That's all for now! More will come next week and then we will be back on track with the long chapters! Things are going to be shifting soon, guys, and thanks for hanging in throughout the drama! We love ya! Until next time!