"Yu! Yu!"
In a patch of grass not far off from the fire nation ship engulfed in flames, the two teens resurfaced with most aid from Prince Zuko. The harbour lapped at the shore and constantly licked the prince's heels, and the grass on the steep slope shuffled as the older plump man made haste to their location. Placing her on the ground as gingerly as possible, Zuko hung over the brunette girl. Her long hair had fallen from her usual ponytail and was slick with salt water against the sand. Uncle Iroh met the boy, frantic and worried.
"Zuko! Zuko..." The man embraced the boy as he leaned over the girl and gave him a fond look. "I thought..."
"Uncle...she won't wake up!"
The banished prince shook his fellow fire bender by the shoulders as she rested on the ground. She did not respond, her peaceful expression tainted by the horrible burns on her cheek, nose, and forehead. An open gash bled through her uniform pant leg, the blood colouring the sand from her left leg. The tide rose and fell, swallowing the blood dripping onto the sand and cleansing it in its wake.
"We may have to cauterize the wound...she's losing too much blood." The older man's eyebrows knitted as he knelt down to the ground. He placed his hand on Yuying's upper thigh before Zuko quickly intervened.
"But...she'll be in a lot of pain!" He protested.
"If we do not, she will die! Will you let your rescue and reunion last for nothing?" The older man retorted back. The two men glanced down in surprise as the girl slowly came to, emerald eyes drowning in agony.
Her green orbs travelled up to the prince's face, then to Uncle Iroh's distressed expression.
"Yuying, my dear, can you understand me?"
"...yes, Uncle."
"You are loosing too much blood. We must cauterize your leg..."
A flash flickered through her eyes at the mention of the procedure. But once before she had seen the procedure done, without numbing medication. Her own father and tribe members had gone through the very same circumstances.
The flicker disappeared and she nodded. Zuko bit his lip, and closed his eyes. He heard his Uncle ignite his palm, and had to turn his face in the oppose direction when Yuying's blood curdling screams shook his very soul.
She squirmed and cried, screaming as the wound slowly began to close and the stench of burning flesh lingered in the air. Uncle Iroh leaned back and tried his best to hold the glance of her broken spirit. Zuko had stood from his kneel and paced painfully slow in the sand nearby. His fists were balled in fury and restless shame-he could do nothing to help her in her pain. Wincing at her screams, the irritated boy shot fire from his curled back lips and shouted to the stars.
"He tried to have us killed! That bastard will answer to me!"
Yuying heaved and wheezed, gripping at the grass and pulling out handfuls. Uncle Iroh tried to calm her down with a soft tune as he held her healing leg.
Then something ran through her hair, and her grip relaxed.
Zuko sat at her head and gently combed his fingers through her hair. After his fit, he had still come to his long time companion's aid. She stopped wheezing, and slowly began to breath again through her stream of tears.
The boy glanced down at her. Iroh looked on the two teens with worry and care. Injured Yuying set her eyes to the moon above, the waxy body in the sky slowly becoming a full circle in the starry sheet above.
"...the moon grows full. We...must stop Admiral Zhao."
Uncle Iroh glanced up at the moon as well, and nodded as he stroked his beard. "I have a plan."