When they reach Chin Village, Zuko leaves Rina just outside it's limits to avoid raising any alarm.
Lee, who has been stubbornly walking all day, leans over, pants, and flops himself onto the ground and groans.
"Get up!" Zuko orders. "Help carry some of our stuff. You'll get a bed and food soon." He tosses the lighter of his two saddlebags towards Lee.
"I said I'd go with you. I didn't say anything about helping you carry your stuff." Lee retorts. He picks up the saddlebag anyway.
"If you have enough energy to argue, you have enough energy to carry your own stuff. Everything in that pack there, " Zuko nods towards the bag in Lee's hands, "is yours. All my stuff is in this bag."
Lee opens it and briefly looks over it's contents to be sure.
"Fine." He grumbles, not bothering to dig around to check further.
A man approaches them as they get closer to the village. He has a rather pitiful looking wooden shield in one hand and a good sized pitchfork in the other.
"Stay where you are, Smoker." The man shouts.
"I'm just here to buy supplies." Zuko puts down his bag and gently removes Lee's and sets it down next to his. He raises his arms. "I'm unarmed."
"We don't deal in Fire Nation currency here." The man's tone is slightly less aggressive, now that Zuko appears less of a threat, but remains firm.
"I may have some Earth Currency left. If not, I'm willing to work for supplies." Zuko tries again.
"Let me be more clear: We don't do business with demons from the evil side of the Spirit World." The man thrusts his pitchfork threateningly.
"The war is over." Zuko's arms are burning now.
"I know that. Chin Village is still closed to your kind, Cinder."
"I'm the Fire Lord now. If there is anything your village requires, I can get it for you. My name is Zuko. I've trained Avatar Aang. He put an end to the war. I have my Uncle negotiating with other nations for peace and reparations." He notices Lee watching out of the corner of his eye. The boy is thoroughly enjoying Zuko's present discomfort.
"We want nothing to do with your "peace and reparation". We stayed out of the war for the most part, and we want no part of it now that it's over." He walks up and pokes Zuko in the stomach with the pitchfork. "If I have to tell you to leave again, it'll be by spilling your lunch all over the ground for your little brother to see." He threatens.
"He's not my brother!" Lee shouts, outraged. "The only reason that I'm with him is that some Fire Nation soldiers burned my village down! He won't leave me to find my brother by myself! I don't want anything to do with him! I'm an Earth Kingdom citizen! And I'm starving to death! My parents are dead, and I have no idea where my brother is!"
"Lee, be quiet!" Zuko orders. Lee glares at the dirt, biting his lip to keep from saying anything else. His eyes water, but he blinks a few times and the tears are gone before they fall.
"Is that true?" The man asks, backing up just enough to get the business end of the pitchfork off Zuko's stomach.
"Yes. Lee's village had been burned at least a month before I got there, maybe more. His family is dead, except for his brother, who may have been in Ba Sing Se. I'm helping him to look for him. He's been on his own in the mountains for at least a month." Zuko lowers his aching arms and straightens himself. "If you won't supply me, that's fine. I'll go somewhere else. But get him some food. And a bath. Some new clothes, and a place to sleep for the night. I'll pay with whatever Earth Kingdom currency I have, and if I don't have enough, I'm prepared to work for whatever is owed. I'm responsible for him until we can find his brother."
"What do you think, young man?" The man lowers the pitchfork and turns towards Lee.
"I'm hungry. And tired. Do what you want with him. If anyone else in your village is going to Ba Sing Se, I'd like to travel with them." Lee says. His tone is more cooperative, almost nonchalant. But he keeps his arms crossed and doesn't meet the man's eyes.
"I'll take the matter to our mayor. Stay here until I come back. And don't get any ideas. We have enough of a standing force to take down a lone Firebender, and we aren't afraid to try." He heads back towards the village.
Zuko sits down and prepares to wait. Lee sits down nearby, but still an exaggerated distance away.
The afternoon sun beats down on them.
"How long do you think it'll be?" Lee asks, yawning.
"I don't know."
"I'm hot." He complains.
"So am I."
"But you're a Firebender. You can handle the heat. I can't."
"Firebenders can burn and get overheated too. How do you think I got this?" Zuko points to his scar. "Dehydration is actually a huge problem for some kids when they first start their Firebending classes."
Lee spreads himself out on the ground.
"That won't help, you know. You should lay on your side. The sun won't hit as much of you at the same time. And you might be able to shade yourself a little." Zuko offers.
Lee stubbornly remains the way he is and lets out a groan.
"Don't say I didn't try to help." Zuko says, opening his waterskin and taking a sip of the dwindling supply.
"Can I have some? I finished mine an hour ago." Lee suddenly perks up enough to drag himself over to the older boy.
Zuko sighs. "Here."
Lee gulps the rest of it down and lets out a burp.
After what seems to be an eternity after that, the man comes back. This time, another man, short and skinny, with a funny looking hat, is with him.
"I am Mayor Tong." The new man said. "You may enter our village after being searched for weapons of any kind. We will provide food, some new clothes, and shelter for the boy. You will work for his supplies. You will have to find your own somewhere else. We will inspect his supplies once he has chosen everything that he thinks he'll need. We will decide the amount of labor owed to us at that point."
"I understand." Zuko bows respectfully.
The mayor studies him for a moment. He beckons them to follow.
Lee seems to have suddenly acquired all the energy in the world, running ahead to see whatever there was to see. There is a note of weary heaviness to his movements, even as he goes to jump over a small line of hedges next to the road.
"Be careful, Lee."
Lee ignores him.
(page break) (page break) (page break)
Mayor Tong leaves to conduct whatever business he does, and the man who'd first apprehended them shows them to a tiny, one room building. It looks to be an old storage shed. There is a small barn next to it, filled with chicken rabbits. In front of the two tiny buildings is a good sized house.
"Feng and his wife Xue live there with their daughter. They have graciously offered you these accommodations. Treat these buildings as though they were your Palace, Fire Lord Zuko." The man's tone is snide, and he bows with a mocking grin.
Lee laughs and the man smiles at him kindly.
"You run into any trouble with this Ashmaker, you come and get me, Lee. I live over there." The man points to a small house just across the street.
When the man leaves, Lee goes over to the little building to explore. Zuko follows him to make sure he gets settled in properly.
There is a small table with pitcher and large bowl on the left and a little bed made up. Both of the furniture pieces look like they've seen better days.
Lee doesn't seem to care. As quickly as his energy had appeared upon getting into town earlier, it disappears. He flops himself down on the bed, closes his eyes, and starts to sleep.
Zuko carefully moves Lee's saddlebag from his hand and places it in the small space between the wall and the washbin table.
Then, he takes the pitcher and looks around for a well.
"Hey, Fire Man, it's over there." A young lady's voice says, kindly.
He turns around to where she's pointing and sees it in plain sight no more than thirty feet away.
"Thanks." He says, starting off in that direction. She follows him.
"My name is Hua. I'm Feng and Xue's daughter." She says.
"That's nice." Is all he can think to say.
"What's your name?"
"I thought you already knew." He lowers the bucket into the well and starts reeling it back up.
"I knew you'd be coming to stay with us. I don't know who you are." She shrugs.
"My name is Zuko." He hesitates. "My father isn't really worth mentioning anymore, and I'm still looking for my mother. But her name is Ursa."
"Are you really the Fire Lord?" She holds up the pitcher for him to pour water into.
"Yes. I am."
"And you'll be working for us as a commoner?" She hands him the pitcher once it's full.
"It's not like I haven't done this before. My Uncle owns a tea shop in Ba Sing Se. We were hiding there when we were exiled for a while during the war."
"You were the Banished Prince?!" Her tone is incredulous.
"Yes. My father only had one son and one daughter." He still wondered how even the most remote places in the Earth Kingdom knew about his banishment, but how some still didn't know the war had ended.
"I see." She seems slightly ashamed of herself. "And now, you're the Fire Lord. How did that happen?"
"It's complicated. But I had help from the Avatar."
The conversation pauses as he goes back inside the storage shed and puts the pitcher on the table. A little snore pulls his gaze over to Lee, sleeping with his mouth wide open, his neck bent at an odd angle, one skin and bone leg dangling off the bed, and an arm just as skinny twisted behind his back.
He gently maneuvers him into a better position, although it's still too warm in the shed to consider pulling the blanket over him. The snoring stops, and even breaths take it's place.
When he turns around, Hua is watching him from the open door.
"Why would the Fire Lord care about a starving orphan Earth Kingdom boy?" She asks, once he's out and they're away from the door.
"I visited his village once. His family gave me food and shelter in exchange for a day's work. They didn't know I was Fire Nation. Not at first. When I went back there a few days ago, the village was burned. It could be rogue soldiers who want my father back on the throne. They may be trying to incite renewed hostilities. There are a lot of Fire Nation colonies just west of there. Lee wouldn't have been safe. I owe it to his family to look out for him." Zuko glances once more at the shed.
"He said he was looking for his brother. Do you think you'll find him?"
"Honestly? He turns to face her and they move away from the shed, towards the chicken rabbit barn."No. He said his brother was at Ba Sing Se. He's probably dead now. But I can't tell Lee that. I'll just have to look out for him until I can find someone who wants him, or until he can look out for himself."
"I should probably get going. My mom wants help with dinner. A bunch of family friends are coming over tonight. I'd invite you too, but..." She stares at the ground.
"I wouldn't really be welcome." He finishes for her.
"My parents wouldn't mind. Honestly, they wouldn't! It's just the others here are, well, uncomfortable with the idea of a Firebender being here."
"Why are you alright with it? And your parents?"
"We were originally from a Fire Nation colony. It was called Yu Dao. We left because the taxes were getting higher for the war effort, but it was home, and the Fire soldiers were our protectors. I'm not saying that we're for what the Fire Nation did. But I don't think all of you are evil. I grew up with kids from the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation. Some of the soldiers were Earthbenders. It didn't seem all that strange until we left and I saw everything the Fire Nation had done to the rest of the Earth Kingdom. And then I thought of the high taxes for the Fire Nation's side of the conflict. And while it didn't seem right, it didn't seem wrong. The culture in Yu Dao and some of the older Colonies was different from both countries. It was it's own. We owed taxes to the Fire Nation, but our land was Earth kingdom. We were the subjects of Fire soldiers, but some of them were Earthbenders."
"I see. So, you don't think if we pulled everyone out with Fire Nation blood that anyone would be happy?"
"I don't think so. At least not in Yu Dao. I suppose some of the newer Colonies would agree to it. I've heard some pretty awful stories about what was done to subjugate Yu Dao in the early days. The other Colonies are probably going through that now. And it would be best for that to stop. But it's already been done in Yu Dao. It can't be undone."
"I see." Zuko makes a mental note to visit Yu Dao at some point.
"I should go. Have a great day. And maybe we'll have you and Lee over for dinner sometime." She walks away towards the house.
Zuko turns and walks into the chicken rabbit shed. The coop with it's spacious nests is on his right, some tools for cleaning the coop and some bags of animal feed lean up against the wall in front of him. And to his left, three hard bales of straw, one cut open and slightly used.
The stench is unbearable.
He sighs. I guess this is why that guy seemed so proud of himself.
(page break)) ((page break))
Lee's pov
When Lee wakes up, he leaves his eyes shut for a few moments, getting a feel for his situation. The sun lights the inside of his eyelids bright orange. The door to the garden shed is still open, letting in some breeze, but it's still a bit hot out. A light sweat covers him, and he's still achy from the six hour walk. His stomach rumbles to let him know it's dinner time.
He opens his eyes and looks around the shed. He finds his saddle bag by the wash table. He ignores his aching limbs as he gets up to walk over to the bowl and pitcher to see if anyone left him water. His throat feels absolutely parched.
He gulps down the lukewarm water in the pitcher, then goes outside to find the Firebender.
"Lee? Good to see you up again, boy! Are you hungry?" The man that had greeted them at the entrance to the village calls to him from across the street.
"Yes sir. Do you know where Cinderman went?" He asks, taking the chunk of bread the man offers him.
"I think he's starting his work on the far side of town. They have him cleaning out the shrine over there." The man points. Then, he squints at Lee. "Do I know you from somewhere?"
"I used to come here with my father every fall to drop off my brother, Sensu, for school. He only stayed in class until the middle of winter though. Dad never let me go along to bring him home because it was too cold. Or so he said." Lee responds.
"Sensu! I remember him! Such an intelligent boy! Always wondered why in the world he was made to study here instead of some university in Omashu or Ba Sing Se. The boy could have gotten free tuition with that intellect! My uncle could never match him in a debate. Never!" He laughs, and he gets a distant look in his eyes that makes Lee a little sad for some reason.
"Your uncle was my brother's teacher?" Lee asks, surprised.
"That he was. I'm sure he'd have gone with you to try to help you find him, but he passed away a few months ago." The distant look grows in the man's eyes.
"I don't think I got your name, Mister." Lee interjects, trying to make the man forget about his uncle for a bit. It's making him sad to see this man be sad.
"Feihong. It's a pleasure to meet you, Lee." Feihong bows and Lee returns it as best he can.
As he walks through the street, people wave to him and some kids run up and invite him to play with them.
"Maybe later. I think we'll be here for a few days. I need to get some food now, though." He replies.
"You can come over to my house! My mom always makes too much food. Please, come over and visit!"
A girl around his age pleas.
"We're all going over there in a bit. Come with us." One of the boys adds.
Lee's stomach doesn't give him an opportunity to think twice. He runs with them and they start a spirited game of hide and tag.
It's game he's familiar with. Sensu had taught him and his friends years ago. He'd probably learned it here.
It was like hide and seek, except that if you were found, you had to be tagged to be "out". The person trying to tag you also had to keep a look out for the people he was trying to find, because someone could come from their hiding spot and tag him and he'd lose the game. It was always interesting when more than one person was found at a time, and remained untagged. Hardly anyone who was "it" ever managed to win. Which is why anyone who did was considered legendary in the ranks of the kids in the village.
Lee had never tried to play it with so many kids before!
He can't run as fast or for as long as they can, but he is smart about hiding and changing his hiding place. Nobody finds him, and he's managed to rescue tag "it" twice, resulting in two restarts of the game.
"My older brother says Sensu used to do that all the time." One of the older boys says. "Moving between hiding places, I mean. It's cool how good you are at it. You're really stealthy."
"I always just thought that's how the game was played." Lee smiles and shrugs.
"You can play it that way, it's just that usually people get caught. And not too many people do it because it's too risky. Your brother was probably the best there ever was at it. I don't think he ever lost a game as "it", come to think of it."
"Really?"
Before the boy can answer, a woman calls from the door of the nearest house. The kids all start barrelling towards it and Lee is caught up in the wave of movement.
When they are all seated around the large table and the food served, the mother of the girl who'd invited him to play looks over at him curiously.
"Where are you from, Lee?" She asks kindly.
"From a village up in the mountains. It got burned down. I don't know who did it, but it was probably Fire Nation soldiers." He says. Suddenly, he isn't hungry anymore.
"I'm so sorry! What are you doing traveling with the Firebender then? Why not stay here with us? I have an extra room upstairs that isn't being used." She passes a bowl of corn around. "And you can go to school and learn a trade." She gets up and comes around the table to refill the children's glasses with juice and water. "What do you like to do for fun? Sometimes, we'll go to Gao Ling for a theater night. Have you ever seen a play, Lee?"
"I can't stay. I have to find my brother. He's in Ba Sing Se. The Firebender is going to take me there. He's looking for someone too. And we have to go to Gao Ling anyway to see a friend of mine. He said me and the Firebender have to cooperate. I don't trust Cinderman, but I trust Weilai." He guzzles down some juice to swallow the lump in his throat.
"Weilai? That creepy kid with the funny eyes?" One boy asks.
"He doesn't have funny eyes." Lee retorts.
"Yeah, he does! They look like they light up sometimes. Just a little bit, but still. You can't say it isn't weird. And I don't think anyone else goes on and on about the future like he does." The boy argues.
"He can see the future. And I trust him. He even took me into the Spirit World a few days ago." Lee's voice raises a little.
"But you said he was in Gao Ling. And if you came from Sensu's village, that's the other direction." A girl across the table points out.
"Well, maybe he brought the Spirit World to me. All I know is that I couldn't get out until I found the Firebender. And I think that was the point. I trust Weilai. He said to stay with the jerk, and to get to Gao Ling." Lee shrugs. "I can't say that I know why. But I trust Weilai. He was right about the Fire Lady."
A collective gasp rises from the table.
"That's how that myth started, isn't it?" A short, stout kid across the table from Lee asks. "Weilai told it. Then, people wrote it down."
"I don't really know. All I know is that Cinderman is looking for his mom. Who was banished from the Fire Nation. And may have been an actor before that. Or something. Anyway, it's real!" Lee insists.
"Maybe I'll even get to see an Air Temple if I travel with him! Or even meet the Avatar."
"You missed the Avatar by months!" One of the older girls giggles at the chance to one up him. "He was here in Chin Village and had to stand trial for the murder of our first leader in one of his past lives. The past life came out to say what she did and why she did it. But he defended us from a group of Fire Nation Raiders, so now our shrine for Chin is being converted to a shrine for the last four Avatars."
"Oh. That's cool." Suddenly, his adventure seems far more tiresome and not as, well, adventurous.
"So, why don't you just stay here? We can get a search party together for your brother. And you can be keeper of the Avatar Shrine. If he ever comes to visit again, you'll get to meet him!" She insists.
"Maybe." He knows they're right: he shouldn't be traveling with one of the enemy. And it isn't that he wants to travel with Cinderman. But Weilai said to stick with him. His stomach twists up a little. "Can I be excused?"
"Of course. Are you feeling alright?" The lady asks.
"I'm just really tired. Thanks for dinner." He replies.
The chill of fall greets him when he opens the door. The sun has set now, and the stars are coming out a few at a time. The days of late summer in the Earth Kingdom are always followed by the reminder that autumn is close by once it's dark outside. He's grateful that it's warmer here than in the mountains though. The air is chilly, but it doesn't make him shiver.
He wanders aimlessly for a little while, eventually coming to stop by the Avatar Shrine on the cliffs.
He dangles his feet over the cliffside, watching the water rolling in waves up to the rocks far below. He listens to it's roar and takes a deep breathe of night air.
"Are you alright?" Cinderman asks, sitting beside him.
"You stink!" Lee splutters at the odor of chicken rabbit manure that wafts over from where the Firebender is sitting.
"Thanks. You look as bad as I smell." He replies, nonchalantly. "I think we both need a bath." He says, when Lee doesn't offer a response.
"I'll take a bath when I want to. You can't make me!" Lee challenges, in a voice that doesn't hold much bite.
"No, I guess I can't." Lee has no idea why the guy next to him finds his comment funny.
"Why are you here?" Lee asks, irritated by the older boy's presence.
"I was finishing up the shrine for the day and noticed you over here. What's got you down?"
Lee pulls his knees up to his chest.
"They keep telling me that I should stay here and they'll help me look for Sensu." He says.
"Why is that a problem? I thought you hated me."
"I do hate you. A lot." Lee feels his temper start to simmer. "But Weilai said our paths are stuck together for a while. And I trust Weilai. He's connected to Spirits somehow. Good ones, I mean. And if he says I should stay with you, then I probably should."
"You really believe you saw your friend? You'll really choose to stick with me, even though you hate me, because someone in a dream told you to?" The emotion in the guy's voice isn't readable. Lee can't tell what he's thinking, but it sure doesn't seem like anything good.
"Yes." He can't think of any other way to respond.
"It sounds like you've already made up your mind. So, why are you sulking out here?" Lee can feel his gaze on him.
"Because I really want to stay here. I hate you. And Sensu used to come to school here. Everybody knows him. When I was playing with everyone, it reminded me of him. And it was like he was right here with me. And they said they'd help me find him." His body feels heavy and he hugs his legs harder.
"You seemed really happy when you were playing with those kids earlier. Like you belonged with them." Lee can't tell if the guy is trying to help or make things worse.
"I was happy alright! It's called "having fun"! You should try it sometime!" Lee shouts.
"I'm sorry." He apologizes without explanation.
Lee sulks for a minute.
"So, you don't know what you're going to choose?" Again, some unreadable emotion infiltrates the older guy's voice.
"I know I'm going with you." Lee says, after a pause. "It's just... I just..." He thinks for a minute about whether or not to say what he's thinking.
"It hurts. Giving up this bit of your brother that you still have." He finishes for him.
"Yeah." Lee agrees, before he can stop himself. A swell of anger catches him off guard. "I know my brother is still out there somewhere! Why keep a piece of him by staying here when I can find him by going out there?!" He shouts.
He despises the look of sadness on the Firebender's face.
"Why are you looking at me like that?!" He shouts again.
"Sorry." Fireboy turns his eyes back to the horizon across from them. "Do whatever makes you happy, Lee. Whatever makes you happy, and safe." He gets up to go back to his job.
"They could always just keep me here, tell me my brother's dead and that it's pointless to look for him." The words just manage to squeak their way through his tight throat. "They just want me safe from you. They think I'm all alone. Don't they?"
He hears Cinderman sit beside him again. He moves away from him ever so slightly, wary of another attempt at a hug, and desperately wanting it all the same.
"They could do that. They probably think you're alone." He says, softly. "I'm the only one that promised you, on my honor, that I would help you look until we found something. But there's always the chance that they aren't lying. They might help you look, and then you don't have to go with me anymore. Did Weilai say anything about your brother?"
"You don't even believe in him." Lee's eyes water and he has to bite his lip to stop a whimper.
"It doesn't matter what I believe. I'm not making your decision for you. And you're basing your choice off what Weilai told you. Did he say anything about your brother?"
"No." Lee's voice cracks, and he can't stop a sob from escaping his throat.
"Then there is no way to know if your brother is out there or not. You'll be safer and more comfortable here. You'll get to learn how to read those scrolls from your cave. They may help you look for him. Or, they may not. There's no way to know." A cold wind blows in from the sea, and it feels dark and scary to Lee. "If you come with me, you'll have sleep outside a lot. You'll have to walk through large towns and cities. You may get lost a few times. You'll have to listen to me order you around all day. We may never find a trace of your brother, or my mother for that matter. We may encounter rogue soldiers, or Earth Kingdom citizens who want revenge. It won't be safe, Lee. But you'll get to see the world. And you'll have my word, on my honor as Fire Lord, that I will protect you as best I can, that I will help you search for your brother, and that if you ever change your mind, I'll get you to wherever you want to go safely."
He stands up again and offers a hand to help Lee up.
Lee ignores and stands on his own, hating the tears that have made it to his face. He scrubs at them, irritated.
"How long are we staying here?" He asks.
"We'll know tomorrow. My work in here is for our sleeping arrangements. We'll go to the market tomorrow and get you some clothes and pick out some food for the trip. We'll know then."
Lee watches him walk up the steps of the shrine. For the first time, he notices the heaviness in the older boy's steps.
"I'm going to bed." Lee announces.
"Be sure to wash up first. Get some of that dirt off."
"Whatever." Lee rolls his eyes. Cinder ignores this.
"Goodnight, Lee. Sleep well." He calls after him.
Lee decides not to respond, but he can feel his resolve beginning to waver.