June leaned against the shirshu lazily, Asuni standing with her arms crossed near Zuko's side. Iroh lingered slightly behind them, watching June with bright eyes.
Zuko thrust out the engagement necklace, letting it dangle limply from his hand.
June snorted. "Huh, you're more popular with the ladies than I thought, aren't you Angry Boy?"
Zuko snarled. "It's not the girl I'm after; it's the bald monk she's travelling with."
June was clearly skeptical. "Yeah. Sure. You're a good woman, Chef, helping him find the other girl."
Asuni snorted. "For the last time-"
"-she's not my girlfriend!" Zuko said hotly, and Asuni glanced at him sideways as she felt his body heat rise with his temper. He met her gaze and she shrugged at him, smiling slightly before turning back to June.
June was looking between the two of them, still skeptical. "Right. Well, a deal's a deal. Climb on." June pulled herself into the saddle with ease, scooting forwards to save space. Thankfully, the shirshu was a long creature, with plenty of room for them.
"Asuni, get on," Zuko said, stepping up to the saddle and crouching slightly. He knotted his fingers together, making a stirrup for her to step into. Asuni walked up to the beast. She smiled at Zuko thankfully but ignored his help, bracing one hand on the saddle and leaping lightly into place. She scooted forwards so that she was pressed against June's back, and she could feel the woman shaking with smothered laughter. Asuni patted the saddle behind her invitingly. Zuko was looking at her intently – no doubt wondering where she learned her way around a saddle – but he climbed on behind her, Iroh bringing up the rear.
June leaned forwards, dangling the necklace in front of her shirshu's nose. It snuffled at it, tossing its head to try and catch the scent elsewhere. It let out a loud growl as it caught the smell it was looking for and took off with a lunge.
Asuni was taught to fight while on ostrich horseback, which meant she was used to hanging on with only her legs. The shirshu's gate was faster but smoother, with less joggling up and down. It was even easier for her to hang on as they ate up the distance beneath them.
Hot hands rested on her hips, squeezing tightly. Asuni inhaled sharply. Of course; just because she had cavalry training didn't mean everyone else had. She had no doubt that Iroh was holding onto Zuko, and now Zuko was holding on to her. She could feel the heat of his skin burning through the fabric of her skirt and her cloak, sending little bolts of electricity through her blood…
And one of those hands was drifting down her thigh…
"Oi!" Asuni's cheeks flushed red as she instinctively swatted at the hand indignantly. It retracted just as she realized what she'd done. Her eyes widened and she began to stammer, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
She glanced over her shoulder. Zuko was staring at her intently. He didn't seem to care that she'd hit him.
"You're carrying a dagger," he said slowly.
Asuni let out a huff of air, relieved. He must have felt the top of the hilt brushing his hand. "Oh!" she laughed. "Oh, that!"
"Yes, that," Zuko said sharply. "What did you think I was doing?"
Asuni shrugged. "Well, you were touching my thigh…" she began.
"No getting frisky on my shirshu!" June called back, her voice carried on the wind.
"We weren't!" Zuko said sharply. The hand that had ventured across her leg clamped down on her shoulder. Asuni felt Zuko lean closer so he could whisper in her ear, clearly trying to keep June out of their conversation.
"Why are you carrying a dagger?"
His voice was smooth and coaxing, the same way he'd talked to Katara back on the river bank when he was trying to persuade her with the return of her necklace. Asuni sucked in a breath as a bolt went down her spine, making her shudder. She grit her teeth again a soft sigh and replied, "You know I keep a knife around for protection."
"I didn't realize you brought it," Zuko countered.
"We were going to a seedy bar," Asuni pointed out. "I figured it was better safe than sorry."
"Yeah, you two don't squabble like a couple at all," June muttered from in front of Asuni, effectively shutting them both up.
As they rode, they filled June in further on the situation. Zuko explained that the necklace belonged to a Water Tribe girl who was travelling with the Avatar, and who he was. June seemed interested enough in their story, but Asuni assumed that the draw was more in the adventure for her than the players, particularly since she wasn't getting paid for her troubles.
The shirshu took them back to the same general direction of Puhai Stronghold, Asuni noted, which could be good or bad. The shirshu was certainly tracing the scent from a long time ago. On the other hand, it was an area she knew the Avatar and company had been in.
The shirshu wound its way up through the broken cobble stones of a ruined city, heading for one of the largest hills in the ruins. A gigantic greenhouse was on top. A hunched old woman, her floor-length sheet of white hair held up with sticks and leaves, was standing outside, tugging grass from the cracks in the stone. A white cat wound around her while she worked.
When the woman saw them, she straightened up and faced them. "Out for a bit of fresh air, are we?" she asked suspiciously.
"We're looking for someone," Zuko said bluntly.
The woman's facial suddenly turned to concern. "I hope it's not Miyuki!" she said worriedly. She turned and looked down at her cat disappointedly. "Miyuki, did you get in trouble with the Fire Nation again?" she scolded.
The cat meowed innocently.
"The Avatar's been through here," June said, watching the way her shirshu snuffled at the ground. "Let's keep moving!" She cracked her whip and off they went again.
The next place they came to was considerably more populated. A relatively large, sleepy, peaceful sort of village. Or at least, it was, until they came careening through the streets on shirshu-back, sending the citizens screaming and running for cover from them all.
The shirshu circled in front of a long, low building with an ornate round door, leaping up onto roofs and back down in agitation. Outside of the building an elderly woman in long, luxurious yellow robes and heavy eye makeup. Her hands were tucked inside her sleeves, and she watched them sedately. She was the only one who seemed unaffected by the shirshu.
"Why are we stopping?" Zuko demanded as the shirshu pulled up short by the door.
"Because the girl must have spent a lot of time here," June replied, eyeing the woman suspiciously.
Zuko reached around Asuni, snatching the necklace from June's grip. He leapt down from the saddle and walked in front of the shirshu, nearly shoving the necklace up its nose in annoyance. The shirshu growled and lashed its tongue out. Zuko dropped into a crouch, the tongue barely clearing his head.
"Hey!" he protested indignantly. Asuni smothered her laughs behind a hand.
"Hey, he likes you," June observed.
The woman in the yellow robes stepped forwards. She didn't seem concerned about coming close to the giant animal, despite the fact that it had just lashed out at one of its riders.
"Care to hear your fortune, handsome?" she asked Iroh coyly as Zuko clambered back onto the shirshu's back.
Iroh chuckled. "At my age there's really only one big surprise left, and I'd just as soon leave it a mystery."
The woman's hand darted out of her sleeves. Asuni flinched as her wrist was caught in a bejeweled grip. She looked down at the fortune teller, surprised, as the woman turned her hand over and uncurled her fingers to get at her palm.
"Ah," the woman crooned, tracing a line on her hand. "Such a great love in your future. But be warned… your secrets will soon be revealed."
Asuni wrenched her hand away, clutching it to her chest. Her eyes narrowed at the old woman.
"I don't believe in silly superstitions," she spat viciously. June slashed her whip through the air, and they were off again.
Once more, she felt Zuko lean forwards, but this time his breath on her ear didn't make her shudder, it just made her tense up even more.
"Secrets," he whispered. "What secrets?"
Asuni steeled herself, tossing a grin over her shoulder. "I told you, I've got layers," she teased lightly, before facing the front again, but inside, she was nearly shuddering.
Her secrets would soon be revealed? No, that could not happen, not now. Zuko trusted the woman in black nearly as much as he trusted Asuni now, but if he found out they were one in the same, then he wouldn't trust either of them, and that thought was like a stake through her heart and a punch to her stomach and all those other silly clichés.
The next place they stopped was a convent. The shirshu didn't pause for things like walls. It barreled through the wooden gates, leaving them hanging crooked in their place. In the courtyard, the nuns in their habits all stared at them in horror, many of them clutching stirring rods next to huge vats of perfume.
Asuni brought on hand to her stomach and clenched it into a fist. Her fingers brushed against the back of Zuko's hand. She felt him shift and come closer, looking over her shoulder to see what she was doing. His cheek was right next to hers as he observed, "I didn't know you were religious."
Asuni shook her head sharply. "I'm not," she replied honestly, "but I am spiritual, and this is a sacred place. I respect that."
June snapped her whip. "Respect it all you want, Chef," she said shortly, "but we're getting close. There'll be no reining in my Nyla now." She sounded understandably smug about her beast's abilities.
They went flying over the wall of the abbey, out into the woods in a wide loop, running at a curve relative to the path. Asuni strained, but she was sure she could hear voices over the shirshu's pounding feet.
"We're almost there," she murmured to herself, and felt Zuko's hands tighten around her waist. She patted one hand absently, in a way she hoped was encouraging.
They leaped over a slight rise and slammed down onto the sunken path. Sure enough, there stood the two Water Tribe peasants quivering in their boots. They tried to run, pressing up against the opposite edge of the path and staring at them all in horror.
"So this is the other woman," June observed Katara. "I don't know Angry, I think Chef's better looking.
Asuni smiled slightly. "Many thanks."
June smirked. "Don't mention it."
Zuko clambered off of the shirshu and stared down the two teens.
"Where is he?" he demanded. He didn't need to elaborate on who the 'he' was.
"We split up," Sokka said sharply, one arm thrown out protectively in front of his sister.
"How stupid do you think I am?" Zuko snarled.
"Pretty stupid. Run!"
The two peasants took off, running down the path back toward the abbey. The shirshu's tongue lashed out, catching them across the backs. They both face-planted into the dust.
"What do we do now?" Zuko said in frustration.
June clicked at Nyla and the shirshu wandered forwards, looming over the two paralyzed kids.
"He's seeking a different scent," June said as the animal snuffled over them. "Maybe something the Avatar held?"
A scroll rolled free of Sokka's pack and unfurled across the dirt. The shirshu pounced on it, sniffing to sharply that the parchment stuck to its nose for a moment. It sneezed and the paper flew free. Zuko snatched it and Sokka up, tossing him over the back of the shirshu. His sister went on behind him, perched precariously very close to the beast's tail.
Zuko climbed back on to the shirshu and they ran back towards the abbey. The nuns had just barely managed to prop the gates up with a few spare pieces of lumber. Those went flying as they burst in, the women screaming as they ran for shelter. Asuni saw several of them glaring or staring in fear at her and the other riders. Her stomach knotted and she wished she could get down and apologize for all of this.
"What's it doing?" Zuko demanded. "It's just going in a circle!"
Sure enough, the shirshu was wandering around in a perfect circle, sniffing frantically at the ground. A flash of movement caught her eye. Asuni looked up at the avatar circling above on his glider. He saw her looking and dove down towards the shirshu. The shirshu reared up, tongue lashing out to try and paralyze him as he swooped overhead.
"Bail!" Asuni shouted as she felt the beast begin to overbalance. If this thing toppled backwards onto them, they'd be crushed to death, if they were lucky. If not, they'd spend a long agonizing time suffocating with a crushed chest.
Katara and Sokka rolled free, skidding across the ground, unable to break their falls. Iroh toppled backwards with the ease of a trained soldier, landing on his hands and knees. June tried to catch herself, but her arm gave out under her and she skidded on her stomach a little before coming to a stop. Zuko definitely had the easiest landing out of all of them.
Asuni had maneuvered as they fell, grabbing his shoulders and rotating. She hit the ground on her back with a gasp, the air blasted out of her as two hundred plus pounds of armored prince landed squarely on top of her. The ground shuddered as the shirshu finally toppled nearby. Asuni's head swam. She couldn't tell if it was the lack of oxygen or the golden eyes only a few inches from her that were making her dizzy, or was the latter contributing to the former?
"Aang!" Katara shouted as the Avatar landed. Zuko was on his feet in a flash, pausing only to offer Asuni a hand up. She gripped it and heaved herself upright, rubbing her throbbing chest and wincing. The prince was heavy, and she was pretty sure she'd bruised a rib of two on the corners of his armor...
June leapt to her feet, cracking her whip and shouting, "Up!" The shirshu clambered to its feet and June leapt on, charging at the Avatar. She was a bounty hunter who had found her target, and now her focus was taking him down.
"Watch-!" Asuni called, but it was too late. The Avatar's sky bison slammed into the shirshu from the side. The two heavy bodies collided with a deep thud and the slightly smaller shirshu went flying into a wall. It collapsed in as the shirshu lay against it, whimpering slightly. Vaguely, Asuni could hear June groaning.
She focused on her duty as her prince stepped up to the Avatar, fists flaming at the prospect of a fight. Asuni left Iroh's side, not caring as the nun's dragged the two Water Tribe peasants away to the relative safety of an awning.
As expected, Zuko threw the first attack. The Avatar responded. They exchanged a few blows from a distance, testing the waters. Then Zuko moved in close, following hot on the heels of a sweeping line of fire shot from his heel.
Asuni found some form of relief in the idea that this Avatar was a child, and a Airbender. In every occasion they'd met, he'd never aimed to kill. The boy simply didn't have that in him, and for that she was grateful. It meant she didn't have to worry about her prince losing his life in this fight. Of course, he might still be injured.
There was a trough set into the ground, running through the center of the abbey. It was filled with water, probably to save the nun's the trouble of having to go to a spring every morning to fetch the day's water. Asuni ran for it, stepping in up to her ankles and raising her hands like a conductor. The water slipped up into the air at her call, and she waited for a chance to strike.
Her eyes widened as she saw the Avatar and Zuko come at each other with point-blank strikes, fire on air. There was only one way this could go, an sure enough, it triggered an explosion. The Avatar and Zuko were blasted apart in opposite directions. The Avatar smacked into the roof, tiles bursting up around him. Zuko, to his surprise, was caught in a bubble of water and the gently deposited on the ground. The water leaked away from him, the last tendril pulling away with a parting caress to his shoulder. He turned and saw Asuni standing in the water, her hands raised. She stared back at him, pleased triumph glinting in her eyes. He favored her with a thankful nod and she returned it with a smile.
Zuko ran at the wall, bracing one foot against one of the many jars of perfume sitting around the courtyard, and leapt onto the roof. Fire trailed from his fingers as he ran at the Avatar. The boy leapt over his attack, diffused the next two with swirls of air, and finally let loose a jet that sent the prince rocketing backwards once more.
Zuko once again found himself landing in a cushion of water instead of against hard stone. He dodged away from a slice of air off the Avatar's arm and slid down the slop of the roof, landing in the courtyard again. The avatar started to follow, only for the shirshu to break away from the sky bison and lunge at him. The Avatar shouted and ran away across the roof, giving Zuko a moment to breathe.
"Thanks for that," Zuko grunted, eyes tracking the Avatar as he leapt away from the shirshu and down again. His gaze flicked to Asuni for a moment. She smirked back at him, nearly purring her response.
"Anytime, my prince."
She gave a tiny bow. The Avatar shot out of the water not far from her, backing away from the shirshu towards a well. Zuko rejoined the fight, striking at him. The boy seemed to almost dance around the rim, suspending himself against the supports of the tiny roof over the well. Zuko growled and knocked the beams away, leaping up onto the edge of the well with the Avatar. They seemed to fairly dance around each other.
Asuni watched, impressed. While certainly the Avatar was as graceful as any Airbender, the prince had his own sort of grace, not as flowing, more forceful, and definitely more interesting to watch, to her at least. Every movement had a purpose to it, and if an attack was blocked, he took that and made the most of it, turning whatever position he found himself in to his advantage.
Asuni swelled with pride as she recognized a bit of her style in the prince's. She supposed all those sparring matches had to lead to something, and here it was.
The Avatar leapt over one of Zuko's strikes, tossing him off balance. Zuko staggered off of the edge of the well as Aang rotated midair, diving down into the well. Zuko rushed to the edge and sent a fireball down after the boy. The almost immediate reply was a jet of water straight up, catching the prince and shooting him into the air.
Zuko flailed as he tried to get his baring. The water around him moved suddenly and he realized that, once again, Asuni was coming to his aid. His back connected with a slide made of ice that gentled his descent to the ground. He landed with nary a bump and glanced at Asuni.
She was watching with this expression on her face, this tenseness in her muscles… It was like she was waiting for something. With a start, Zuko realized that she was. She was waiting for her next move, the next time she needed to soften a landing. She hadn't thrown a single punch or kick, and yet the entire time she'd been backing him up more effectively than any of his soldiers. She'd definitely saved him a couple of cracked - if not broken - ribs by this point in time.
This wasn't new, either. The woman in black behaved similarly. Even when not directly engaged in combat, she was backing him up. And once more, his mind wandered in that direction, wondering if just maybe…
But the Avatar was in front of him, and that took precedence. He came at the boy again, only to frantically backpedal as the flying bison lumbered towards him with a growl. The shirshu lashed him across the face, once more, and then again. The combined doses of paralytic were finally enough to bring the gigantic bison to its knees.
With the bison down, Zuko was free to go after the Avatar, backed up by June and her shirshu. The Avatar frantically dodged and deflected attacks from both sides, pressed up against a wall.
A strong smell assaulted her nose and Asuni turned. The nuns had come out of hiding and banded together. They and the Water Tribe boy had pushed over their jugs of perfume, flooding the courtyard around them. His sister stood in the midst of it, arms working to lift all of the perfume into the air.
For a moment, Asuni hesitated. If the perfume doused the shirshu, the Avatar would likely be able to get free. And much as she wanted Zuko to be ale to return home, the Avatar couldn't be captured. In this instance, her only option was to step back and allow things to run their course.
So she lowered her hands and let Katara's rise. The perfume roared over the courtyard in one huge wave. The Avatar conjured a little bubble of air around himself, protecting him, and Asuni redirected the water that came at her. Everyone else was drenched, including June's poor shirshu. Asuni winced as the beast gave a yowl of panic, immediately feeling guilty. She couldn't imagine suddenly having her main sense turned against her.
The shirshu reacted by lashing out with its tongue, bucking and rearing wildly, scrubbing at its nose frantically. The tongue shot out in all directions. Asuni leapt from her safe trough of water, the liquid streaming off of her hands as she pulled some with her. The shirshu's tongue was coming unnervingly close to Zuko, and she wasn't keen on letting him get hit.
She saw June go down and then the shirshu lunged at Zuko. Asuni flicked her hand desperately, trying to stop the tongue from hitting him. She didn't have time to give the water any solidity though. The shirshu turned abruptly, turning the strike into a swipe that cut through her feeble attempt at defense. Zuko's hand was outstretched to fend off the tongue. It caught his palm and raked across Asuni's stomach.
Asuni gasped as the barbs on the tip cut into the sensitive skin of her belly and paralysis rolled over her. Her muscles stiffened instantly and momentum made her topple forwards. She knew this feeling, she'd felt it before when she accidentally nicked herself while experimenting with shirshu toxin on her weapons. Asuni had discarded the idea for just this reason; any mistake led to instant and utter debilitation.
She toppled forwards, but surprisingly, her landing wasn't quite as bad as she'd expected. Instead of face-planting into cobblestones, she landed on hard, hot metal. Asuni's eyes widened as she suddenly found herself nose-to-nose with the prince. His outstretched hand extended past her hip, and hers braced against the ground was the only thing keeping her from falling onto him entirely.
"I-I-I didn't mean-" Asuni stammered. It was hard to get the words out, what with the suddenly tightness in her chest, even more so since she couldn't move her jaw. "Are you alright, my prince?"
"He got away," Zuko grit out.
Asuni watched Zuko's eyes track something over her shoulder and heard a woosh of air as the sky bison took off. She realized that the Avatar had taken advantage of the opportunity, grabbed his friends, and run for the hills. That wasn't exactly what she was asking, though.
"Did I hurt you?" she clarified. Zuko's eyes snapped to hers and she inhaled sharply. He rolled his eyes.
"I'm wearing armor, and it's not like you're heavy any way."
If she could have, she would have scowled at her disregard of her concern. "Excuse me for caring," she mumbled.
"Don't baby me, I'm fine!" Zuko said sharply. Asuni blinked. Ah, it was much harder to get away with aside comments with someone two inches from your face.
"I know," she said slowly. "But I still care."
There's a poll up on my bio. I've got this idea in my head for a sequel to this story - a little early, I know, but it came to me and now it won't leave. It would take place during Legend of Korra, with Asuni's granddaughter as the Avatar's bodyguard and companion, but unlike here, Korra would know who and what she is. I'd like to work a little romance in there too, and I like doing romances across 'battle lines,' so I've narrowed the romantic interest down to either Tahno or Desna. I think either one would be REALLY fun to write and they both need a little love in the fandom, Desna more than Tahno. You can go vote on which you'd rather see.
STORY FACT! Originally I had planned for Asuni's identity to be revealed in this chapter. I had this idea about her going in as the woman in black and getting hit by the tongue, then Zuko decided to take advanatge of her not being ablee to move and took off her mask. But then I figured that he'd JUST SAID he would respect her privacy, so that wouldn't make much sense. Now it's looking like it'll be closer to the end of book 1, maybe even the beginning of book 2 before he finds out.
Which is coming closer than you think! The next few episodes after Bato are depressingly Zuko-less, and then we hit the events at the Northern Tribe. There'll probably be a chapter or two of my 'Life on Zuko's Ship' chapters, and then we'll be at the North Pole. CAN YOU STAND THE SUSPENSE?!
Sorry for the super long Author's Note, but we're getting close to a climax in the storyline, so I'm getting pumped!
ADDITIONAL A/N: A lot of people took issue with the conflict between Asuni and Katara in this chapter. At first, I was like - well they haven't gotten along before, why would they suddenly start now? But then I started thinking about it and I relaized that yeah, that was pretty uncalled for. Katara really is one of my favorite characters, but I feel like she's also one of the easiest to mess up the character of while writing her, at least for me. So I went back and edited.
Also, sad news. I held up on updating this story, one because I was thinking about the ending of this chapter, and two because I wanted to do a double update. See, I'm going on a two week trip to Greece - SUPER EXCITED! - but I won't have my laptop with me, so I won't be able to write. But as far as getting both chapters written... well, that hasn't happened and I need to spend these next couple of days getting last minute details and packing done, so there won't be an update for quite some time unless I managed to snag some Internet from someone else at some point.