He sighs and wipes sweat from his brow. He tosses the last of the dirty water out the door of the shrine and turns to examine his handiwork.
The building is open and bare except for the crates containing Avatar relics from two of the last four Avatars.
The Water Tribes had sent a few old parkas and surfboards, and a poorly made marble bust of Kuruk.
Kyoshi Island had sent an extra tapestry, some fans, and a life sized statue of Avatar Kyoshi.
The Fire Nation would be asked for artifacts related to Roku, if indeed any could be found.
Avatar Aang was still too young to have acquired any of his own historically relevant artifacts, but they would send word to him asking for any relevant Air Nomad memorabilia.
The shrine was going to be repainted, a quarter sectioned off for each Avatar. An addition was going to be built in the back for two of them.
Now that it was all clean and the mountain of Chin's belongings had been done away with, the building would begin.
Zuko was grateful that they weren't expecting him to do that alone. In fact, he might get a day off for it, to keep him out of the Earthbenders' way.
He glances at the Sun, disappearing over the Western Horizon and wonders what Uncle Iroh is up to.
I should probably write him again. I wonder how Mai is doing?
"Zuko?" Hua's voice brings him out of his thoughts.
"Hey there." He offers her a smile, then resumes looking at the Sun.
"Are you almost done for the day?" She holds up another basket. "I brought dinner."
Zuko feels a bit guilty as he realizes something.
"What's wrong?"
"I, uh, sort of forgot about breakfast today." He reaches to scratch the back of his head.
"You promised!" She says, in a disappointed and slightly accusatory tone.
"I know. I'm sorry. I had a lot on my mind." He goes and retrieves the other basket from it's corner.
"Think it's still safe to eat?"
"Probably. There wasn't any meat. It was just supposed to be a light breakfast." She shrugs.
"Then, I'll get an even larger dinner to make up for it." He smiles.
"Want to eat with me? I was hoping now would be a better time to talk to you."
"I guess. I need to check on Lee though. How did the shopping trip go today?" He starts to walk in the direction of the village, but she reaches out and pulls him back.
"It was fine. I was just over there. He went swimming with some kids and came back to my family's house for a bath. My mom fed him too. I made sure he got all settled in bed." She tugs on his arm.
"Come on! Let's go watch the stars come out."
"I really should clean out the hen house first. It needs a lot of time to air out before I can sleep in there."
"Do you want somewhere not as disgusting to sleep? It's not like you actually deserve how everyone's been treating you." She offers.
"No. You're helping enough already, bringing me food. I don't want you to get in trouble!" He insists. He takes the dinner basket from her, intending to carry it back to her house for her.
"I guess you're right. How long does it take you to clean it out?"
"About an hour, now that I've got the process down."
"Ok, meet you back here in an hour?" She takes the basket back from him.
"What will you be doing?"
"Waiting for you, of course."
A chilly breeze blows in from the ocean, blowing dust from Zuko's hair and waving Hua's thin braid behind her back.
"It's kind of cold out here. You should go home. I'll get you when I'm ready." He grabs the basket handle, but doesn't pull it away from her.
"Alright, your Lordship." She smiles and bows in an exaggerated way. She lets go of the basket so he can carry it for her.
Zuko can't help the smile and her humor.
((page break)) ((page break)) ((page break))
Close to an hour later, Zuko finishes up the hen house and cleans up in the ostrich horse stall. He uses his breath of fire to warm up from the cold water as he heads over to Hua's house.
"Hello, Firelord Zuko." Feng greets, quietly. Respectfully.
"Good evening. Your daughter said something about dinner?" Zuko's face gets warm as he realizes what it must sound like.
Indeed, by the smile the man gives him, that is exactly how it sounds to him as well.
"Hua! Your date is here." He calls, teasingly.
Hua comes through the door, her braid now just a loose ponytail.
"Dad! It's not a date." She rolls her eyes. Her expression would absolutely sell the story, except that a pink blush creeps it's way up her cheeks.
Zuko isn't sure what to think. An image of Mai flashes through his mind. His careless and dishonest treatment of her. The hurt and cold determination in her eyes as she'd said goodbye.
It may have been months ago, but he hasn't really thought about it much. Tries not to. And it really hurts!
"Is this a date?" He asks, as soon as the door closes behind them.
"No! Of course not!" Hua rolls her eyes again, and doesn't blush this time. "My dad's just being a dad. You're out of my league anyway. Firelord? And me just a lowbred halfling. No way. Never."
"You say it like you're still hoping."
"A girl can dream." This time, the blush is unmistakable, even in the dark.
Zuko doesn't really know a good response to that. She's admitted to having a crush on him, said she isn't really expecting anything back. Said this isn't a date. If he says anything about things being complicated now, it would seem weird, but if he doesn't then he might be leading her on...
"I had a girlfriend, in the Fire Nation." He blurts out, abruptly.
"Oh? What's she like?" Hua takes a deep breath and keeps her eyes on the road ahead.
"Powerful. Composed. Beautiful." He smiles distantly as he pictures Mai in his mind. "I miss her."
"She sounds nice. What was her name?" Hua's tone is conversational.
"Mai." His smile gets wider by itself.
"Seems like you really love her."
"Yeah. She's pretty awesome." A moment of silence. "I messed up though. I wasn't completely honest with her, about talking to some people neither of us likes very much. I needed to do it for information about where my mother might be. They weren't very helpful. And she was pretty mad at me for it." He suddenly finds the ground interesting.
"She broke up with you?!" Hua's voice is incredulous.
"Yeah." He feels like a knife got twisted in his heart.
"What a jerk. You're a sweetheart!"
"You don't really know how bad these people are. She was kind of right. I'm just hoping that she'll forgive me. Later. Soon. Maybe." He runs his spare hand through his hair as he sighs. "Let's just not talk about it anymore for now, alright?"
"Ok. And Zuko?" She waits until she looks at him. "I promise this is not a date. I just want to talk."
"Ok."
When they get up to the cliffside, sitting so that the shrine blocks the village from view, she spreads out an old rug on the ground and starts setting up the food.
"So, what do you want to talk about?" Zuko asks, once they both have full plates.
"Well for starters, Lee found some pictures of his family in his saddlebag today." She mentions a little too casually.
"What did he think?" Zuko's heart hurts a little.
"I think it was good for him. He's missed them."
Zuko stares at the horizon.
"I think he misses home." She starts to speak again. "I promised him I'd keep his family's old clothes safe for him until he finds somewhere to stay. He didn't want to get new clothes because it would have meant getting rid of the old ones."
"And you're really going to keep them?" Zuko tries to imagine her parents' reactions to finding a bunch of dirty, singed clothing in a random box in their home.
"Of course I will! You think I'd lie to that poor kid?!" She whacks him on the shoulder.
"Ow!" He exclaims.
"You should have seen him today. I wish I could just raise them from the dead." Her voice is sad and she stares into her tea cup.
"I'm glad he has someone he can talk to." Zuko squeezes her hand, then goes back to eating.
"I don't think he really hates you. I think he just really misses them. And since he doesn't know who's responsible, the blame gets pinned on you." She says, more evenly.
"I understand." The breeze and the waves crashing far below fill the silence. "He doesn't have to like me." Zuko says, finally. "He just has to stay with me until we find either his brother or someone who can look out for him."
"I think it's wonderful that you're helping him. I think he'll figure that out one day too." She smiles and takes a bites out of a muffin.
"Thanks. So, what about you? Have you ever thought of going to live in the Fire Nation? You seemed pretty interested in it earlier. We get colonials all the time. They're kind of looked down upon, but I'm working to change that. You'd be safer there than in the Earth Kingdom."
"I've heard my parents talk about it. But we don't really know anything about what would be expected of us there. We know the history lessons they gave us, but everything else is different. At least I've lived here long enough for it to feel like home. The weather isn't all that different. The people are definitely Earth Kingdom, but it's still...familiar."
"The Fire Nation would seem entirely foreign."
She nods emphatically. He thinks he hears a sniffle when he turns to pour himself more tea. He tries not to glance over at her.
"So, why don't you just stay in the Earth Kingdom then? Or go back to Yu Dao? Even if it's annexed back into the Earth Kingdom, the taxes will still go down. Right?" He asks. He really hopes she doesn't cry. He isn't too sure what he'll do if she cries.
"Not exactly. We left right after the eclipse. We thought that if the war was lost and Yu Dao was reclaimed, they would force us out and have us live spread out to avoid an uprising for the Fire Nation. We would still be separated from each other." Her voice is steady, but she's shaking. He can see it from here.
"Ok, but you can still live in the Earth Kingdom with your family. You said you're not Benders. If you don't tell anyone and get good at blending in, who's to know you're from Yu Dao?" He asks.
A flame erupts, shooting out into the empty air over the cliff in front of them.
He looks at her in shock. Tears stream down her face, even as she bites her lip to hold them back. The flame in her palm flickers restlessly, grows to a sizeable height until she swallows and takes a deep breath, forcing it down.
"We can't go home. And we can't stay in the Earth Kingdom." She hiccups. "I don't have much control over my Bending. The one guard who knew said nobody in the Fire Nation would want a Firebending colonial. That we aren't good enough at Bending to be considered Fire Nation. We won't be accepted there. And my parents aren't Benders. They look like Earth Kingdom citizens!" She gives up trying to speak. She shoves her hands into a water pitcher as she sobs. It instantly starts to steam.
Zuko isn't sure what to do, but he knows she'll burn herself badly if she keeps her hands in that water for much longer.
He grabs her arms and tries to gently move her hands out of the water.
"No! You can't! I'll burn everything on this hill!" She shrieks.
"Look at me!" He orders. "Look at me." He says it again when she fails to comply.
She glances up, panic written all over her face.
"You need to calm down. You'll burn yourself if you don't. I'm going to help you, but you have to trust me." He says.
He moves her hands out of the water, and then leads her at a jog down a small path.
Sparks fly from her fingertips and tears from her eyes. He lights his palm up to try to see the ground ahead. He knows she can't see anything right now.
The path follows a steep decline, and they have to slow down to avoid going end over end. When they get to the bottom, he spots a few rocks going back along the cliffs.
He tries to give her some indication of when to hop over the gaps.
Water splashes up through spaces in the rocks to meet them, it's roar drowning out her stifled sobs.
When they reach a fairly flat rock, he sits down, pulling her down beside him. He guides her hands into the wild water, holding her arm to keep her from leaning too close or being pulled in.
He can see the relief in her eyes as steam rises up, but her hands remain cool, and she doesn't burn anything.
When her breathing evens out again, he sits back and looks her in the eyes.
"Do your parents know?" He asks.
"Yes. That's why we can't go back to Yu Dao. They didn't want me to be conscripted into the Fire Army. And if we go back to the Fire Nation, they may separate us. And if we stay in the Earth Kingdom..." She shivers.
"I understand. My Uncle knows people in high places. He may be able to help you and your family. For now, I can try to help you control it. When did this start?" He leans back on his hands, trying to project calm.
"About six years ago. But it's only ever been sparks before!" She wipes her eyes with her sleeve. "Why would it choose now to do this?"
"I don't know. Did anyone ever teach you basic control?"
She shakes her head.
"Mom and Dad said it was too dangerous. I don't think they understand. It isn't like Earth, or Water, or Air, where you can choose not to interact with it. It's alive, there all the time. It's on the inside!" She belly flops next to him and buries her face in her arms.
"I know. It's important to at least have the fundamentals down, or it will get out of control. But once you have it, no matter how upset you get, it's just mind over matter. I can teach you, so you don't have to be afraid of it anymore." He tentatively reaches out to rub her shoulder, not sure if he's doing the whole "comforting" thing right.
She sits up and looks at him again.
"When can you start?"
"I'll do it first thing tomorrow." He promises.
They get up and head back up the path. They clean up their picnic in silence.
"Zuko, what about others like me? I can't be the only one in this situation." She asks, before they go back into the village.
"I'll ask Uncle. He's working on negotiating the treaties while I'm out here. I wrote to him a while ago, but haven't heard anything back. I'll ask him in my next letter."
When they reach Hua's door, he hands her the basket. She throws her arms around him, catching him off guard.
It only takes a moment for him to relax and give her a brief hug in return before she turns and goes inside for the night.
"Goodnight, Zuko." She says.
"Goodnight."
The door closes and he's left standing in the chilly breeze.
He walks over to where Lee is sleeping to check on him. He refills the water pitcher on the table, makes sure the blanket is tucked in well enough to guard against the cold, then heads back to his straw bales.
He listens to the cold wind, blowing through the cracks between the boards of the wooden nesting boxes.
It whistles, then sighs, then whistles again.
He turns on his side and is almost asleep when a bird comes flying in haphazardly from outside.
He sits up before it can crash land on his head, which is where it had been heading.
Seeing the little mail tube on its' back, he retrieves the paper, feeds the hawk a handful of the chicken rabbit feed and piece of cured fish.
Lighting up his hand, he begins to read.
A/N Reviews are encouraged and always appreciated! I will take any and all constructive criticism you can offer.