It had been about a week since Rei's first night with the group. Aang and Zuko were working on fire bending out on the terrace while the others remained inside. Katara and Toph were working on their bending near the fountain and Sokka and Suki were talking to each other in the corner. Rei had been playing with Appa and Momo for a few hours and now they were all happily resting. Momo was lying on Rei's stomach, who was resting on Appa's head.
"Hey Katara, when is dinner gonna be ready?" Sokka asked after a few minutes. Katara stopped her practice and wiped her forehead.
"Well," She said as she looked around the fire pit, "We have water and one slightly bruised apple left. We're gonna have to go to the nearest village and get supplies, but I don't know…it might be risky." Rei sat up causing Momo to fall into her lap.
"Katara, if you are worried I could go and get more fruit. It is only a two hour walk from here." Katara smiled at Rei but shook her head.
"Thanks Rei, but we are going to need a lot more than fruit to survive out here. We need eggs and Bread and vegetables…"
"And Meat! Don't forget about the meat!" Sokka yelled.
"Yes…and meat." Katara pulled out a small money pouch and examined the contents. "Well, we're a little short on money at the moment…" Rei slid down the side of Appa's head and reached into her breast plate.
"Here Katara," She held out her right hand and Katara gasped. It was full of gold pieces with strange markings on them.
"Oh Rei! I couldn't!" Rei shook her hand incessantly.
"Please Katara, I wish to help! Besides, this gold means nothing to me. There is no way that I would ever use it. Please take it." Katara obliged with a frown which instantly turned into a look of amazement once the cold metal rained down into her hands. She held a flat piece that was as big as an orange up to her face and examined it.
"Wow Rei…This is…wonderful." With a quick turn Katara headed out to where Aang and Zuko sat resting after their training session. Rei followed her silently.
"Zuko, do you think we'll be able to find someone to pawn this for money?" Zuko looked at the fistful of glittering gold in Katara's hand with wide eyes.
"Yeah, easy. Why?" He asked as he wiped sweat with a small towel.
"We need food and are a little short on money. Rei gave us this gold to use." Aang grinned at Rei who smiled back. "Ok, Sokka and I will take Appa to the nearest village and get us some food and other supplies. Do any of you need anything special?"
"Katara, do you mind if I come with you? I've never ridden on a flying bison before..." Rei asked quietly.
"Sure! You don't need to ask Rei! No one knows you, so you would be the safest to go!" Katara replied with a laugh. Zuko stood up with a groan and put his shirt back on swiftly.
"I had better go too. You guys aren't experienced enough to deal with the fire nation pawners." He said. Then Zuko walked into the fountain room to grab his cloak. "We should only take a third of the gold with us, save the rest for later." Aang put his shirt on and jumped over to Appa.
"How are you gonna hide Appa?" Suki asked as Aang guided the giant fluffy sky beast out onto the terrace.
"Good point…" Sokka brooded. Everyone's brow furrowed as they searched for a solution. Rei snapped her fingers when the thought hit her.
"We can fly him near a village and land. Since its getting dark, he won't be seen in the air if I dark bend around him and once we land I can use dark bending again to blend him into the background."
"Like camouflage!" Sokka exclaimed happily.
"Good thinking whitey." Toph said as she clapped Rei on the back with enough force to move her.
"Whitey?"
"Toph likes to use nick-names…" Zuko explained to a confused Rei.
"Ok boy, don't worry about a thing." Aang assured his friend "Rei will make sure that you are safe." He was stroking the animal lovingly and Rei joined him with a smile.
"Don't worry Aang. I know how important Appa is to you." Aang grinned at Rei as she climbed onto Appa's saddle with Katara and Zuko. Sokka hopped on Appa's head and grabbed the reigns.
"Be safe." Suki said with a smile as she stood next to Aang.
"Be back soon." Aang added. Appa trudged over to the railing and got ready for take off. Rei was leaning slightly over the saddle in intense excitement. Her hands were gripping the side so tightly that her knuckles were pure white. Zuko touched her wrists slightly, unseen by everyone else.
"It's ok." He whispered causing Rei to lessen her grip a bit.
"Get us some good food!" Toph yelled.
"Yip-yip." Sokka yelled to Appa, causing him to jump over the edge.
"AAAAHHHHHH!!" Rei screamed as Appa dropped downwards. She abandoned the ledge and quickly grabbed onto Zuko's arm, tightly. Appa began to fly upwards and soon he was in the darkening sky.
"Ummm Rei?" Zuko spoke through his light blush. "You're ok." Rei turned her head and looked straight into his eyes for confirmation before she gently release his arm from her death grip. Gaining a slight confidence, Rei looked over the side at the world below.
"Oh my…" She exclaimed in delight. She then burst into laughter.
"I remember my first time flying." Sokka said from Appa's head.
"Don't forget to breathe Rei." Katara warned.
"And don't forget to bend either." Zuko added with a slight laugh. Rei grinned hugely at Zuko and brought her hands up towards her face. She slowly rubbed them in a circular motion, gradually increasing the speed as her face contorted into a mask of concentration. After a few minutes she slowly separated her hands and gently touched them to Appa's side. Ribbons of black energy shot out and wrapped around the giant bison's underside. The others watched in amazement as Rei turned back to them.
"Ok, were all clear."
A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A
"Fresh Fish!"
"Fire Flakes for sale!!"
"Cheapest Fruits this side of Crescent Bay!"
"Cabbages!! Come and get your Cabbages!!"
The four stayed with Appa until the sun had come up and then they headed for the small village. Zuko was swiftly heading towards a pawn shop, closely followed by Sokka and Katara. Rei was having trouble paying attention because of all the new things she was seeing.
"Come on Rei!" Katara said with a frown as she grabbed Rei's wrist and pulled her forward. Zuko stalled the group in front of a very shady looking house. It was all patched up and shattered, with a very heavy black door and no windows.
"Ok, this looks like the place. Rei, this is your gold so you should come with me. Sokka and Katara, wait for us outside. Come in if there's any trouble." Zuko walked into the shabby building with out a second glance and Rei followed closely. Katara and Sokka turned on their heels and began their jobs as look outs.
Zuko and Rei entered a small dark room with no windows. The only other door was behind a long counter with metal bars that reached the ceiling. The door closed with a creak behind them and a very seedy looking man popped up from behind the counter.
"How may I be of service?" He spoke through a rotted grin. Zuko walked up to the counter quickly but Rei Remained where she was. She began to silently look around the room.
"We've found some rare gold pieces and we wanted to exchange them for money." The horrible man's disgusting smile widened.
"Well, you've come to the right place! Money exchanges are my speciality! May I see the coins?" Zuko pulled out a large golden piece and handed it to the man, whose eyes widened in greed as the gold sparkled at him.
"Hmmmmmm…" He pulled out a very thick piece of magnifying glass and examined the gold. He also weighed it and stepped on it, and bit it. After inspecting the glittering gold for many minutes, he set it on the table and pushed it towards Zuko. "This is fake! You cannot fool me, please leave my shop." Zuko stared at the man in disbelief.
"What do you mean it's fake?!" He demanded to know. Rei's attention snapped to the two men and she slowly creeped over towards them. "There is no way that you can be right!!"
"Excuse me young man! I have seen almost every type of currency that there is on the planet! I have traveled the world and seen many things, but I have never seen these "rare gold pieces" which leads me to believe that they are fake! Now I am going to have to ask you to leave my shop!! I run a respectable business!"
"Why you little…"
"Excuse me sir," Rei interjected as Zuko was about to blow up at the man. "I am deeply sorry if we have offended your wise judgment. We found these coins and decided to bring them to a true professional, such as yourself. We never intended to show you any disrespect, we just knew a master of coins would be able to help us." Rei's face dropped sadly and the man's small eyes widened. "But I can see that you do not wish to exchange our coins, however ancient and rare." She deeply bowed to him and turned on her heel, "I am sorry for the waste of your precious time. I can assure you that you will never see us or our coins again." Rei started for the door that she had just entered. Three…Two…One.
"WAIT!" Rei turned around with a look of false surprise on her beautiful face.
"Yes?" The man picked up the coin slowly.
"I'll take another look at it." Zuko silently handed the man the bag of gold and the dirty man began his work. While Rei began looking at all of the man's stolen articles that were stacked around the small room, Zuko stared at her in disbelief. Rei slowly looked up and they locked eyes. After a few moments Rei smiled slightly which caused the corners of Zuko's mouth to twitch.
"Ok," The man interrupted loudly, "I'll take the gold! Here is the exchange, I believe that you will find it most generous!" Zuko pocketed the heavy bag and walked towards the door.
"Thank you very much!" Rei smiled at the man and bowed before she exited the dark room with Zuko. Once outside, they met up with Sokka and Katara they opened the heavy bag and stared in wonder at the numerous amount of coins.
"This is great!" Katara exclaimed, "We have enough in here to last us months!"
"We can even buy extra stuff for ourselves!" Sokka added. "Good job Zuko."
"Actually, it was Rei who got us this much." Zuko explained causing Rei to smile.
"I just know how to speak to people."
"Well," Katara said, "I'm glad that we have you Rei! Now lets go shopping."
A-A-A-A-A-A-A
It was decided that the small group would split up so the shopping would get done faster. Sokka was going to get a better map of the fire nation and some accessories for his sword, Katara was going to get the food and Zuko was going to get more clothes and other items. Were to put Rei was a problem…When she went with Sokka she accidentally knocked over a shelf full of swords and nearly took the shop keepers head off, so weapons was not an option. She couldn't go with Katara because Rei had no idea what most of the food was. So Rei went with Zuko.
They walked through the streets quietly as Rei stared in wonder at the things around her. Everything was loud and new and exciting to her. She stopped frequently, to Zuko's dismay, to look at the individual booths. After they had purchased about half of the items Rei became very distracted.
"Hey Pretty lady! Come and See!!" A short round man yelled at Rei with a smile.
"Rei, we have to keep going. We don't have time to stop at every booth." He huffed after Rei stopped to look at a stand that was selling gold jewelry. The man was showing Rei a large assortment of lockets.
"Look!" Rei said with a laugh as she placed a golden crown a top her head. Zuko blushed slightly. "And look at these funny boxes! They hang around your neck!" She held up a small oval locket with the fire nation symbol on it.
"That's nice Rei, but we really have to go." Zuko said as he gently pulled the crown off of Rei's head and put it back on the stand.
"Come now sir! Surely you can spare a few minutes to buy your beautiful girlfriend a necklace. Maybe even a betrothal locket?" A huge flush of red filled Zuko's cheeks.
"We don't have the time!" He yelled as he pulled Rei away. "And she's not my girlfriend!!" A few eyes looked on as the cloaked prince pulled the white-haired beauty away from the jewelry stand. Zuko pulled Rei around the corner and then dropped her hand as he quickly walked through the narrow street. They stopped at a few more stalls and soon passed a small fruit stand. They hadn't eaten since they had left the night before and Zuko was suddenly very hungry.
"Rei, are you hungry?" Zuko asked as he turned to face her. "We could get a- " He stopped short as he looked at her face. Her beautiful pale eyes were downcast and did not look up at him as he turned. Her white eyebrows arched up slightly in a sad manner and the corners of her full lips were cast downward. "Are you ok Rei?" She looked at him from under her thick black lashes and his eyebrows furrowed.
"Zuko. Why do you dislike me?" She asked. Zuko's eyes widened in shock and confusion.
"Wh-what?!" He stammered. "I..but…you… What?!"
"When that man called me your girlfriend you strongly denied it." His face flushed slightly.
"But! Rei… you…" He struggled to find the right words. "I don't not like you…"
"I am not your friend?" She asked sadly.
"No, no! You are my friend, but…"
"I am not a girl?" Rei asked in confusion.
"You are a-a girl, but…" Zuko was becoming flustered.
"But what?" Rei interrupted. "If I am a girl and I am your friend then why am I not your girl friend? I am very confused."
"Rei!" Zuko slumped over in exhaustion and grabbed Rei's shoulders for support. "You are a girl and you are my friend, but there is a difference between a girlfriend and a friend who is a girl." He explained in one breath and then looked at Rei's face. She looked at him with wide eyes, all sadness gone.
"What is it?"
"What is what?"
"The difference?" Zuko remained silent as he looked into Rei's intrigued eyes. It was strange that someone as wise as her could be so…clueless.
"Well…ummm.. a friend who is a girl is someone who…well… talks and laughs and trains with her friends."
"And a girlfriend?"
"Umm, well…a girlfriend talks and laughs….and trains…." He trailed off and Rei became confused again.
"I do not see a difference."
"Rei…I…it's…" He was again searching for the right words for the delicate situation.
"Hey!" Katara's voice called out. Rei and Zuko both turned their heads and saw Katara and Sokka laden with bags, waving them over. Zuko let out a sigh of relief and stood straight up, his hands dropping to his sides. He took a step towards the other two when he felt a hand grabbing his cloak. He turned to see Rei looking at him seriously. The blush slowly returned.
"Zuko, I do not understand this place. All of this is new to me, but I am trying very hard to learn quickly. I simply wish to know…If I am your friend." Zuko looked at her beautiful face. It was etched in sad confusion and determination.
"Yes Rei. We are friends." This simple answer was enough for Rei, who smiled hugely. Then with renounced fevor she set off towards Sokka and Katara, leaving Zuko to follow her. Which he did, with a small smile.
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