The forest was big and getting out of it required more time of what Kuvira expected, and it didn't help that the kid walked very slowly behind her, like lost in thought.
Kuvira looked at her hands, searching for the very small cuts, as if done by a paper. It was troubling that her own bending was the catalyzer for them and was the most problematic aspect of her old body.
It was odd thinking about her eleven (or twelve) years old body as old, but when someone overgrow their clothes it made them old, so Kuvira guessed her child body was old. She had recognized a cut on her left thigh that she had won after a branch of a lemon tree she climbed broke, leaving two horizontal bars that, thanks to a very good healer, almost faded away. She didn't remember if it had happened when she was eleven or twelve, but even with this shaky memory, she was certain this was her old body.
"What are you doing?" the fire nation boy asked.
Kuvira liked kids. As a concept.
Images of future earth childrens running without fear in her empire or smiling in the shoulder of their respectives parents. Away from her. She didn't want to be near them in order to avoid their annoying nature, but here she was, walking alongside a slow firebender boy with a high voice.
The metalbender simply shrugged and didn't concede an answer to the kid, it was a tactic to evade the outcome of her snapping at him, which was easy when he had an unamused look on his face. One day traveling together and he wanted to play almighty.
"Do you believe the Avatar is this way?" he didn't catch the indirect and keep asking things.
"I don't care" Kuvira lied, after all she did care about the whereabouts of Korra in order to go in the opposite way. "So I don't know"
"I see" he said after a short, peaceful moment.
Suddenly his stomach growled, at least the kid looked remorseful for his body off-putting sounds, but then keep walking more near Kuvira.
The metalbender catched a glimpse of the white hand of the boy coming near her backpack and turned fastly to take the hand.
"Don't ever think about it" she hissed.
"I wasn't going to steal for a girl" he snapped back.
Kuvira didn't knew what to make of his words, his words admitted she was in the right track of mind about her stealthy companion but denied the crime as if offended by the idea. He wasn't trustworthy, at least that was clear. The kid stomach growled again and Kuvira let go of the boy wrist.
"I'm going to share my food with you. But next time you try to do that I will punish you severely" Kuvira said in a menacing tone.
The kid raised one of his eyebrows before nodding with a little smile.
Kuvira didn't hate kids in theory, but this boy was tempting the waters.
The RockRoll city was one that Kuvira was glad she had never heard before. The name was the most tasteless one the Great Uniter had ever come across. The boy for his part had claimed it was "funny and smart" and laughed about five minutes. Now he walked with a red face the rest of the way to the city.
Thanks to the old woman, Kuvira had enough money buy new supplies for the ones that she had shared with the boy, but the place was so small that it lacked any place to rent.
It was getting dark, Kuvira was de-aged, there was a Firebender child with a big stomach that she was unable to simply let alone by his own devices and even if she had put medicine the injuries on her hands and arm had decided to annoy her again.
"Are you fine?" the Fire Nation kid asked before sitting with Kuvira, even if he looked a little pained of doing it.
"I'm fine" she answered with a bored tone. "What happened to you?" she gave more attention to the boy body, most of it had still the green fine tunic, so she couldn't see any injury.
He shrugged and looked at the distance and the last people entering their homes. The silence between was long and neither dared to break it. Far away she could see a flying bison, going in Omashu direction. But she didn't particularly care for the airbenders (crazy people that let little kids to battle her)
The night came and without word Kuvira gave her back to the child and hugged the backpack, happy of feeling tired, enough as to not care about the dirt and her unbrushed teeth. Next day she was going to buy two brushes and seek a lake. With those last thoughts the metalbender went to dreamland.
The morning sunlights woke Kuvira before anything else and she got up fastly. Her eyes searching for the kid, to verify he was safe. He was sleeping at two meters of Kuvira, hugging himself loosely and giving his back to Kuvira.
His green tunic looked warm enough, but at the bright light Kuvira could see brown stains that marred the clothes as if someone had spilled water on it. She got closer to inspect the boy back but before her hands reached it the kid woke up and without word crawled away for Kuvira.
Golden eyes looked at green before the child calmed down.
For some reason the boy fear send red flags to Kuvira, but she couldn't put a finger on why.
They found a lake about two kilometers to the west of RockRoll city.
Finally a place to bath at peace, if it didn't mean to leave her things with the Fire Nation boy. He might appear as a noble boy with those factions, but his attempt at stealing had failed only thanks to Kuvira reflexes and that was without counting his firebending skills.
She looked at the kid, who was already playing with the water with his toes. He was about 9, lacking a tooth even.
"Kid. We are going to bath together" she said with crossed arms "You will enter first, next me. Then I got out and until I'm dressed you stay on the water"
"Excuse me!" the boy got out of the lake and walked toward Kuvira "Look, Kuvira, you are a girl. I can't bathe with you"
"This was not in discussion. Now undress yourself and go to the water. I won't peek" Kuvira said as she gave her back to the boy "I will count to 3 and you better be in the water or I will make you a earth prison"
"Why would you..."
"One" Kuvira cut out the boy question and keep counting slowly "Two and three"
The sound of the water arrived to Kuvira at the last number, and she looked at the lake in which the boy was already in, letting only his head above the water.
"Now, you stay there until I'm finished" she said as she began removing her coat. The boy had only removed his pants, she noticed when she looked at his discarded clothes. What was he planning? It didn't matter, she would discover it."Change of plans. Get out of the water"
He looked surprised but still nodded "Fine! Just turn around!"
Kuvira waited a little bit of time until the boy said he was already clothed to face the kid. His shirt soaked.
"Why didn't you remove all your clothes?" she said as she rounded him.
"I..." before he could answer Kuvira noticed the strange way the brown stains on the clothes were different of the rest of the clothes. As if glued.
"Remover it! Now!" she demanded.
"You aren't my boss! Stop bossing me around! You are just a girl. So stop it!" he screamed back at her.
So the boy had a fuse after all, and Kuvira wasn't happy with that discovery.
"Look kid, you are my responsibility! You are under my command! I said it and you do it! Understood!" she went more near him but the boy didn't move. He was lucky of being a child if not Kuvira would have hit him already for his insubordination.
Kuvira felt a chill at that moment. He was still a young boy, one that was alone and defenseless, and who needed her. She was an adult and above this kind of childish behavior. She sighed and rethinked her words.
"Let's begin again. I think you are injured and need to revise your back. I have medicine" Kuvira tooks a small breath "I'm sorry for screaming"
The boy looked at Kuvira and shrugged. "It's fine. I'm sorry for screaming too. You didn't need that. Sorry"
"Stop apologizing!" the metalbender almost screamed. "One time is enough. The rest cheap the act. So don't do it"
He blinked twice and nodded, next he began removing his shirt, that now that was soaked was easier to put off.
As Kuvira expected the boy had an injury that had bleed and the blood had served as a glue to the skin and the clothes. The scar was a thin line that went for his left shoulder to his lower back.
"How did it happen?" he didn't answer so she decided to let this inquire to later and searched for the medicine in her backpack.
"I think I just saw a flying bison!" he exclaimed out of nowhere. "Maybe it's the Avatar"
Kuvira put the medicine on the boy's back without muttering a word. Meeting the Avatar and going back to jail were a pack of things she was trying to avoid. And for the way the kid's eyes were shining it was obvious he planned to search for them.
Kuvira finished her medical aid and let the medicine to dry off, the kid was quiet as he looked at the west and time from time bitted his lips.
"I think I saw one heading to the east, to Omachu. We should go that way"
"That sounds like a plan" he chuckled happily.
He was betraying Kuvira and she was still helping him.
"This looks old" the boy said and Kuvira agreed.
They were in front of the Cave of the Two Lovers, that had pretty decorations that had been there for centuries. Maybe the guy she charged to reconstruct the entrance wanted to rebuild the older facade.
It still didn't help Kuvira good mind, she recognized some places but everything looked wrong. As a paint that had been retouched and she couldn't figure how.
"It's dark inside" he said softly.
Kuvira scolded herself for the lack of prevision. She had not acquired anything for a place like this and even if the boy was a firebender forcing him to light the place was asking him to overtax his body.
A sound came out of the cave and both of them took a step away.
"It...It was the wind" the kid said.
She nodded and smiled uncertain.
Before they could calm down a rustle was heard behind them and Kuvira and the boy grabbed at each other.
"Hello! Little people!" a man dresses with cheerful colors and who seemed high smiled lazily at them. "You too going inside? Wait my friends and the lake people and we can go together"
Kuvira grabbed the boy wrist and smiled forcefully.
"Oh...we..a friend is already inside!" the kid said with a smile that betrayed the lie.
"Yes! We are going with him!" Kuvira played along and walked inside the cave, the boy following behind.
She hoped the risks they were taking with this were less than the ones outside.