Chapter 12

The door separating the bedroom from the common room was very thin and Zuko quickly found that he could hear every word spoken by Yung and his wife, Su-lin, on the other side.

"That lady is one of the Bei Fong family?" Su-lin was asking.

"I suppose so," Yung answered absently.

After a pause, Su-lin then asked, "Are they a couple?"

"They are pretty obviously stuck on each other, so yes, I guess they are a couple," Yung replied.

"It would be wonderful if Miss Bei Fong was the future Fire Lady," Su-lin sighed.

"What are you talking about?" Yung scoffed. Zuko could hear the sound of a chair scraping across the wooden floor.

"She's from the Earth Kingdom. It would be like having someone from home in the royal family," Su-lin answered.

"What if their children were earthbenders? What kind of Fire Lord is an earthbender?" Yung laughed.

"I don't think bending works that way," said Su-lin with a sigh. "I think it would be wonderful to have a Fire Lady from the Earth Kingdom. It balances things out."

On the bed, Toph stirred a little, then her hands shifted over the earthenware bowl he held with her. "That's pretty," she murmured as her eyes flickered open. "How are you making it, Sparky?"

He leaned down to kiss her forehead. Her hair was still damp. "Pretty good," he answered. "How are you feeling?"

"Sleepy," she answered. Then she closed her eyes and lay quiet again, breathing deeply.

There came a quiet tap on the door. He rose to open it. Su-lin stood there with a teapot and two mismatched cups on a tray. "I brought you some tea, Prince Zuko," she offered shyly. He noticed that she glanced over toward Toph. "Is there anything you or Miss Bei Fong might need?"

"Not this moment," he replied, taking the tea tray from her hands. She bowed politely then left the room.

He poured a cup and took a sip. The tea was not bad, but also not of the high quality he'd grown used to. It reminded him of his time on the road with his uncle when cheap tea was a necessary evil. He'd spent enough time in the Earth Kingdom to recognize an Earth Kingdom tea blend as well. He wondered just how Fire Nation Yung's family really was after so many years in Pagong.

He sat next to Toph and considered what he'd learned about the colonists' situation. Once Toph was fully awake, he determined to have a long discussion with Yung and his fellows about their situation. Then he would be better able to determine the most fair punishment for kidnapping them.

After several more minutes, Toph began to stir again. Zuko made certain he was in contact with the bowl so she could see him. This time she was fully awake and came to awareness in a state of remembered panic.

Her eyes flew open wide and she was nearly hyperventilating, as if she'd woken from a nightmare. He pulled her close into his chest and she grabbed onto him desperately, clutching at his hair and tunic with her fingers.

"It's okay, sweetie," he comforted her. "I'm here," he repeated over and over through her sobs. "You're safe now." The little bowl was pressed between them and began to dig a painful hole in his ribs.

She finally calmed down enough to speak. "Zuko, I was so scared, I was so scared," she repeated breathlessly. He just held her and reassured her as he stroked her hair. He'd had no idea she was so terrified of the water.

Finally she gave a long, shuddering breath and pulled away enough to place her hand alongside his cheek. "Where are we?" she managed to ask.

Zuko filled her in briefly on events, wondering if Su-lin was listening and learning the things her husband was hiding from her.

"Some vacation, huh?" Toph commented, wiping tears from her face.

"Feel like getting up?" Zuko asked. Toph nodded and he helped her stand.

"What am I wearing?" she asked, feeling of the soft cottony top and skirt she wore.

"Dry clothes," Zuko answered, but there was something familiar about the red and green pattern on the cloth. "Gan trees," he said aloud. At Toph's quizzical look he explained further that the cloth bore a stylized red and green pattern that looked like the leaves of the gan tree. The two-piece outfit was also clearly meant for warm weather with it's sleeveless top that showed several inches of her midriff and close fitting knee length skirt. He decided that he liked the outfit very much.

They left the bedroom to find Su-lin resting on a wooden bench topped with a soft cushion. Yung motioned them outside.

"My wife gets very tired in the afternoons," he explained. "Vilara fever."

"How long has she had it?" Toph asked.

"About four years. She contracted it just before we left Pagong," Yung answered as they walked down the street back toward the beach.

"That's a long time to have vilara," Toph responded. "Doesn't quina bark powder help?"

Zuko had listened enough without comprehension. "What are you both talking about?" he asked.

"Vilara fever is common in the warmer regions of the Earth Kingdom," Toph explained. "There's a tree bark that can help people recover."

"The problem is that we can't get quina powder in the Fire Nation. There's just no need for it and what little is available is very expensive," Yung explained. "Su-lin takes it as often as I can get it for her. But without it, she grows sicker and weaker. About a quarter of our group have vilara to some degree. Most are making it day by day, but you just don't know when someone will get worse. Three of our village died over the past year."

"Is it contagious?" Zuko asked, his mind suddenly filled with images of an epidemic with no treatment.

"No," Toph answered. "It's spread by the bite of the yellow gnatfly. Unless you've seen some flying around here, I'd say we're safe."

Yung led them to a larger house by the water. "This was once the finest home in this village," Yung said. "No one has lived in it since we arrived here. I don't think any one of us wanted to claim something so much above his neighbors. However, it will make the perfect place for you and Miss Bei Fong during your stay with us, your highness."

"What stay?" Zuko asked icily. "We will be departing for the capital as soon as possible."

Yung shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. "The problem is that you burned our only oceangoing vessel. All we have left are small fishing boats that would not be up to the seas in the straits this time of year."

"Maybe Chun and the strike team are hot on our trail," Toph ventured.

"Or perhaps our rendezvous partners will be along and were just detained," Yung offered. At Zuko's request for clarification, Yung wisely divulged more details of the ransom plans, without names of course. "They may be on their way and if so, their boat is more than able to carry you and your lady home again."

Until then, it was determined that Zuko and Toph should make themselves comfortable.

Toph walked into the large open common room, extremely glad to finally have stone floors beneath her bare feet again. Tall doors opened out onto a large, sunny veranda and there were four bedrooms and a large kitchen. Enough furniture remained to create a sitting area, but only one bed could be found. Fortunately it was large enough for two.

The women of the village, on hearing the identities of the new arrivals, went out of their way to bring food, clothing, and decorations for the house, as well as cleaning supplies to clear the place of the light layer of volcanic ash that covered every surface.

Gratefully, Zuko found a bathing area where he could also get cleaned up and shed the clothes he'd been living in for two days. Yung assured him that Mrs. Fong was an excellent laundress and the villagers had provided several changes of clothing. The local garb for men consisted of a pair of light trousers and a short sleeved tunic of the same type of cottony cloth as Toph's dress.

In what was clearly meant as a gesture of goodwill, Yung had also returned his dagger along with Toph's bracelet and rings.

He found her in the common room where one of the ladies was busily braiding her hair into a casual, but deceptively lovely twist. "You look handsome," she teased as he approached.

"How do you know?" he teased in reply.

"I've got my feet on a stone floor, Sparky. I can see everything," she sighed contentedly.

That evening, to their surprise, the two found themselves the guests of honor at a village dinner. The day's catch had been brought ashore and grilled on an open pit with a variety of local fruits. Mrs. Fong, the renowned laundress, had brought several loaves of sweet bread and there was plenty of rice and a fermented fruit drink that Zuko was warned had a tremendous kick.

The night was warm and pleasant as he sat with Toph on a soft blanket stretched out on the sand. The ocean rumbled against the beach and the stars shone out clear and beautiful. One of the villagers brought out a guitar and the singing began. It was an unusual mix of songs from both the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom along with several new ones neither he nor Toph had ever heard before.

By the time the party broke up, Zuko had been sipping on the fruit drink all evening and was surprised to find that he had underestimated the drink's power. So apparently had Toph because she giggled incessantly all the way back to the house.

"Does it feel more like a vacation now?" Toph asked with a silly grin as she fell onto the bed.

"Definitely," he answered as he grabbed a pillow.

"Where are you going?" she asked pitifully.

"To the sitting area," he answered sternly. "I will not have you talked about."

"Please stay with me," she pleaded. "Who cares if a few villagers talk? I don't want to be by myself." She stretched out her hand to him. "Come to bed, Sparky."

He sighed. If she only knew what she was asking of him. Then he lay down next to her, trying to ignore the way her body molded itself to his. Within a few minutes, Toph was sound asleep. And despite himself, Zuko soon drifted off into the deepest sleep he'd had in years.