He allowed himself a small smile. "So you are a firebender." Lee said quietly, quiet shock and underlying warmth to his voice.
Booner felt his smile drop, hard. He tensed, then put the flame out with a flick of his wrist and clench of his hand. He sensed, more than felt Lee tense and flinch. Deliberately, he held his breath and shoved dirt over the fire in his belly, smothering it and pushing it back, back and away - !?
Zuko watched the kid, wide eyed, before forcing himself to relax. He thought, for a moment, that Booner was trying to flick the flame back at him. But no - he was only putting it out. And now he was edging away, turning his back on the campfire.
". . . .I never asked to be one." Booner mutters, hugging himself.
Quickly running this new information through his head, Zuko quickly realized, "Have . . . have you been pushing back your element?" he finally asks. It all added up; sticking to the shade whenever he could, shying away from the fire . . . for just a moment, the kid looked genuinely happy as he held the flame, before his expression had closed off and he snuffed it out.
The kid hesitates, then nods reluctantly.
Zuko shakes his head in disbelief, worry welling up inside. "Booner, you can't just . . . . not bend." he finally says.
Booner turned his head his way, expression angry and defiant. "Why not? It's worked out so far." he snaps out. The campfire flares higher before dropping low, very low, almost smothering itself as the kid turned away.
"Benders can't just suppress their element and turn away from it. It kills us, eventually. You're hurting yourself. It's . . . ." he struggled to think of what to say next.
A hitching breath, and Booner turns away, hands clenched. "It's kept me from hurting anyone else." he says firmly.
"It's like denying a part of yourself." Zuko replies. "Any bender that locks up their element is denying apart of who they are. It hurts them . . ." reaching out, he lightly touched Booners shoulder.
The kid turned slowly, rubbing a hand across his bandaged eyes, trembling from suppressed sobs. Slowly, Zuko pulled the child closer in a hug. Letting out little hiccuping breaths, Booner hugged him tightly.
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"Kid. Booner, wake up." Zuko nudged the sleeping boy.
Yawning, the kid sat up, turning his head Zuko's way. "Yeah, Lee?" realization struck his features. "You're a firebender!"
Zuko flinched despite himself. "Yes, I am." he agreed. "Come'on, get up. I need to check on your eyes."
The boy hesitated, but nodded. "You're a firebender." the kid repeated, not afraid or angry, like Zuko would've expected, but more awed. "Why aren't you fighting in the war?"
Why is this kid so damn curious? Zuko felt the thought flash through his mind as he heated water to clean the wound. "Do you want me to be fighting in the war?"
"I didn't say that. It's just . . . my dad always said all the firebenders were fighting and not all the earthbenders were in the war." Booner tilted his head slightly.
"I doubt that all the firebenders in the Fire Nation are out there on the battlefield." Zuko replied, gently pulling the boy closer. "Hold still." he started to take the bandages off.
"Could you teach me?" The kid asked, wincing as bandages were pulled away, Zuko shifting his face towards the sunlight filtering through the leaves.
"To control your bending, or fight?" Zuko asked dryly, turning to pull out the healing goop. There was enough for a couple more treatments. Then he'd have to find another healer. Or maybe try to find the herbs to make it himself? Only if I have too. he thought, recalling how Uncle mistook a poisonous flower for tea.
"Control my bending." the kid replied firmly, cautiously opening his eyes before wincing them shut again.
"Hold still." He gently held the kids chin and applied the medicine, taking the idea of being a teacher, prodding it from all angles. "Might be tricky to do as we ride, but we'll figure something out." he finally grunted, putting a pot of hot water and bandages over his little fire to heat up.
The kid was grinning at him. Or, in his general direction.
Oh boy. Zuko thought, rolling his eyes. Let's hope this doesn't end in smoke and ash.
"Hold out your hands," he ordered, continuing when Booner did so. "Palms facing the fire. Put your energy into the fire, then collapse it in on itself to put it out." he sighed when the kid thrust his hands out, then drew them back quickly with his fingers clenched.
"You're not trying to grab it like a net and wrench it back to yourself. . . . you said before that you could sense me?" he asked the boy.
Booner nodded, frowning, brows furrowed as he thought.
Reaching out to the fire, Zuko put some of his own energy into it. Not to pull at it, or put it out. Merely put his energy into it, fueling it; and ready to use it. "Try reaching out to the fire now. Don't try to move it. Just try to sense it. Like you did with me."
The kid nodded again, and almost immediately suppressed a grin. "I can feel it now . . . well, better than before, anyway." he said tentatively.
With a nod, Zuko held out his hands. "Now, I want you to try and sense my movements versus how the fire is moving." At the kids nod, Zuko reached out to the fire, made it flare and flatten with a few movements of his hands; then, drawing one hand back, he tightened his fist, extinguishing the flames. "Learning to put fires out is one of the first things all young firebenders learn. You need to know, in case something happens."
Relighting the embers and charred wood, he gestured towards it. "Now you try."
Booner nodded, and carefully reached out to the flames with one hand, palm first. Pulling back some, testing how the flames flickered and drew towards him, he turned his hand palm-up, and carefully sparked a small flame in his hand. Before Zuko could stop him or fully figure out what he intended to do, Booner yanked the flame-holding hand and snuffed it out by bringing his other hand in a fist down onto it.
The campfire went out nearly as quick. The kid turned towards him hopefully, and tentatively.
Zuko nodded, eyeing the dying embers. "Not bad, kid. It certainly works."
The kid practically beamed, caution cast aside in favor of turning towards where the campfire had once existed.
"I didn't think you'd take to fire so quickly, though." the prince admitted.
"I helped in the bakery with my siblings." Booner replied simply, and honestly. "I had a knack for getting the fires built up quickly, and keeping them at the right temperature to bake what we needed for the day." he shrugged. "Ever since I was little, I . . . was always attracted to flames."
Zuko raised an eyebrow at the hesitation, and quiet shyness the kid had suddenly descended into after being much more upbeat. It had a ring of truth to it, but the kid had evaded there. "So you would practice alone?" he asked gruffly.
Booner nodded. "I don't get why people hate fire so much. It's not just destruction or death!" he held out both hands, and ignited a tiny flame. It flickered and pulsed in his grasp.
"Yeah? Well, the whole world fears the Fire Nation, and they have good reason to." Zuko replied grumpily. "What do you think they rain down on people when they invade? Sunshine and cake?" he asked sarcastically.
Booner opened blind eyes to glare in Zuko's direction. They were dark amber-ish in color, scratched up terribly, and didn't - couldn't - meet Zuko's eyes. "Fire isn't death. It's life!" the little fire in his palm flickered brighter, larger, as if to prove his point. "It's the will to live, and fight, and defend those you care for."
Zuko remained silent for several long moments. The kid did not relent in his glare. If anything, it intensified. "In the Fire Nation, everyone is taught that fire is death, destruction, and rage." he said at last. "That it cannot be anything else, and if there IS anything else . . . well, I suspect that Fire Lords past would have such people called traitors, and have them hunted down."
Booner glared in his direction a moment longer, then sighed and put his fire out with a flick of both wrists. "If it's rage, then it's a defensive rage." he relented. "To rage against those that have harmed your loved ones, or threatened them . . ." he slumped, then perked up. "The Fire Lord doesn't rule here." he said, as if just realizing something.
"Uh, yeah. We're in the Earth Kingdom." Zuko replied dryly, a little taken aback at the sudden change in subject.
"He doesn't rule here. . . . which means all his laws, and his word, means nothing." Booner slowly grinned at him.
"I was given orders." he replied sharply, sensing the direction this was headed. "And therefore, I have to follow them. I am still loyal to the Fire Nation."
Booner shrugged, muttering something about "Just an idea." before quieting.
Zuko sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Stubborn as earth, persistent as fire. he thought grumpily, going back to heating water and re-bandaging the kids eyes. Hope I can hammer some Fire Nation customs and laws into his head.
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Sighing silently, Booner waited for Zuko to climb onto their mount before urging the ostrich-horse forward. "Why do you have to catch this person again?" he asked, thinking over Lee's stumbling explanation from earlier that morning.
"To reclaim my honor. So I can return home." Lee replied tersely.
". . . .how did the Fire Nation hurt you? Healer Malla saw a scar, I'm guessing . . ." he began, but trailed off, feeling Lee tense.
"In an Agni Kai. A fire duel." he shifted slightly. Booner could sense him turn just enough to glance behind them. "I disrespected the Fire Lord. And when I refused to fight, having not known who it was beforehand . . . he said I shamed the whole Fire Nation and that my refusal to fight was terrible weakness." Pain, and anger, and determination riding on these words.
"And he said you had to catch this one guy," Booner guessed cautiously. "To reclaim your honor, and return home."
He sensed, more than felt, Lee's nod in the following silence.
"Agni Kai's sound really dangerous. To the death dangerous." he guessed, treading carefully. Another nod. "Then it makes sense."
"What makes sense?" Lee snapped.
"That you wouldn't fight your Lord." Booner replied. "What if things went wrong? Very wrong, and you hurt him badly? Or even killed him? Wouldn't the rest of the Fire Nation hate you then? Or at least the Fire Lords family?"
Silence. Booner kept his mouth shut, trying to puzzle out where he'd misstepped. Maybe it was simply one of those things in the Fire Nation that he wasn't aware of yet. Pointing towards someones defeat and saying that it was okay.