We travel in near silence for days, our bags slapping against our backs the only noise. Shortly after cutting our hair, we steal someone's clothes off the drying line. I am panged with guilt at the theft, but Iroh says, "If we continue to be in Fire Nation clothes, we will be easily spotted. Taking a disguise will help us blend in with the native Earth Kingdom population."
Begrudgingly, I pull down a dark green dress and quickly dress. As we are leaving, I also grab a tunic and pants and stuff them in our bag. At night, Iroh burns out red clothes. The colors mix with the flames before turning into ash.
Later, over our meager provisions, I toy with the idea of Zuko training me as I trained him. However, I do not speak it aloud to him until day three, when our group splits up to look for anything to eat.
"I didn't find anything to eat! I can't live like this! I wasn't meant to be a fugitive," Zuko yells, raising his fists and shaking them at the sky.
My back is to Iroh, pulling some berries off a bush. While Zuko was gone, Iroh and I had jokingly talked about making nettle tea. Zuko brings about silence with him.
"Uncle, what are you doing?" Zuko asks. I turn to look at whatever he is talking about with Iroh.
Sure enough, Iroh is squatting in front of a flower. I recognize it immediately; it is a white jade bush. It has toxins in its leaves and flowers.
Before I can speak, Iroh says, "You're looking at the white dragon bush. Its leaves make a tea so delicious, it's heartbreaking. That, or it's the white jade, which is poisonous."
I move up to Iroh, swatting his hand away. "That's white jade, Iroh, don't make tea with it."
"Hmm, but it could easily be white dragon. The two are often mixed up."
"Even if was white dragon, white jade is more prominent. It is more likely to be white jade than dragon. Iroh, don't make tea out of it."
Iroh continues to not listen, moving around the bush deep in thought.
Zuko finally says, "We need food, not tea. I'm going fishing." Zuko starts to walk away, but I catch up to him. Iroh is smart, he would listen to me about the bush. I trust his judgment, though his intense observation of the flower is slightly concerning. I catch up to Zuko.
He glares at me, but I say, "I think I can help you with foraging. I can tell Zuko doesn't know much, so I become the adhoc leader in foraging.
It is the early spring, and I know that fiddleheads are starting to become in season. They are best eaten with seasonings, but that isn't something we thought to bring out in the wild. I find one to show to Zuko, helping him identify them by their spiral shape. He is quiet, and I can only imagine what he is thinking.
Throughout our foraging, I point out plants we can forage. The ever present dandelion, bright and yellow against the newly green grass; some small heads of lettuce; and a variety of other edible flowers and berries.
Later, as we are walking to join back up with Iroh, I tell him, "We can fish in basically any body of water. However, I have never done it."
"You know so much about foraging plants, but not fishing?" Zuko asks.
"Well, I used to not eat meat. But then we were stuck only eating fish for almost three weeks, so I erred from that path."
"Why no meat?"
"All life is considered sacred within the Air Nomad culture. Eating animals is equivalent to killing someone." My heart feels heavy as I speak, as I am giving up bits and pieces of my past, moving away from the former me. "It was not an easy decision for me to make."
After a few moments of quiet, Zuko says, "I'm sorry. I was unaware how much importance you placed on animals."
"How could you know? I never shared, and you never asked before now."
"I can fish. Let's go to the river, and I can show you how to fish."
I follow Zuko, though I am dubious about him knowing how to fish. He was sheltered and grew up with people feeding him on plush cushions, berries being placed into his mouth.
I sit on a rock near the river, watching Zuko as he grabs a branch from a tree and uses his dagger to smooth out the branch. He looks for vines and runs it through his hands, pulling any stray pieces and throwing them away. After he is satisfied with what he has, he ties it to the branch. He does not make anything for the hook, but I do not point this out. Sometimes, it is satisfying to see someone get frustrated about something they know nothing about.
Zuko knows nothing about fishing.
It takes him about fifteen minutes to realize this. I see the moment it happens, when he looks back at me, and I am leaning back, basking in the sun. I am paying no attention to him fishing, as I knew that, without a hook, he couldn't catch anything.
"You're not watching," he says, put out by my inattention.
"You have no hook on the line. Nothing will stay, even if they are interested in your vine," I say, not looking at him.
"I thought you knew nothing about fishing."
"I didn't eat meat, but I've seen other people fish before. Have you only read about them, or seen pictures of people fishing off large cliffs?" I joke, laughing a little.
Zuko huffs, stammers, and throws his poorly made fishing rod back into the river. "Come on, let's see if Uncle found anything." When I stand up, I notice that Zuko's face is bright red, as if he is embarrassed.
On our walk to join Iroh, I broach the subject of bending. "I know I cannot bend any element at the moment, but I would be interested in you teaching me some firebending techniques. I think it would help in bridging the gap between airbending and firebending, and help you better fight Aang." Though, how he would go about tracking Aang while he was on the run from the Fire Nation is not something Zuko wants to hear.
"Also, I think it would help pass the time with us living in the wild, with no books to read or plans to hatch," I add, embarrassed at my desire to learn, to grow.
"I can. We talked once about how airbending and firebending have similarities. I don't think it would be too hard to teach you, if you are willing to learn." Part of me thinks Zuko is happy to be the teacher, but I think it will be more of a sharing of knowledge, of combining our moves together, fluidly moving like the Avatar, combining Summer and Fall, of freedom and of life.
"We can start tonight, while dinner is cooking," I suggest. However, this plan is thrown to the wind when we arrive in the clearing we left Iroh in.
Iroh sits where we left him, though his back is turned to us. "Zia, Zuko, do you remember that plant I thought might be tea?"
"Iroh!" I say, running up to him. He turns around. Iroh is covered in red splotchy marks and his face is swollen.
"I did, and it wasn't. When the rash spreads to my throat, I will stop breathing." He does not seem dismayed by this revelation, though Zuko and I sure are. "But, look what I found!" He holds out a branch with red berries on them. "These are bacui berries, known to cure the poison of the white jade."
Before he can continue, I swipe the branch out of his hand and throw it deep into the trees around us. "No, it isn't. And you need help. "
"But where are we to go?" Iroh starts to scratch his legs, and the reddening gets worse. It makes me queasy to look at, so I turn my head to look at Zuko instead. "We're enemies of the Earth Kingdom and fugitives of the Fire Nation."
"If the Earth Kingdom discovers us, they'll have us killed," Zuko says.
"But if the Fire Nation discovers us, we'll be turned over to Azula."
Her wide grin shows up in my mind at the thought of her, and I aggressively shake my head. Iroh and Zuko share a look and nod vigorously. "Earth Kingdom it is," Zuko says.
I go over to help Iroh up, saying, "Stop scratching; you'll make it worse. And, if there are wanted posters for the two of you, I can look for the antidote. It is bacui berries, but I'd rather trust a herbalist than your bad identification."
As we make our way toward a nearby farming village, Iroh broaches the top about wanted posters. "Sometimes, they are poorly drawn renditions of a given description of a person. With our cut hair, it could be that we are only recognized by our Fire Nation names. In that case, we should change our names, including you, Zia. At least while we are in the company of others. We do not know if this village has been colonized by the Fire Nation. We are close to the coast, so it could very well be that it has been."
"I'll do a sweep around town first, to look for the hospital and any signs of the Fire Nation. It's not like they won't be hard to identify, what with the red clothing and everything," I say. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Zuko smirk before he turns his head. "Any names come to mind?"
Zuko and Iroh exchange a look, and both of them shrug. "Hopefully, they don't ask for names or keep records. If they do, I'm sure we'll be fine," Iroh says, brushing the topic away.
I glare quickly at the lack of planning between them, but we arrive at the outskirts of the village. I leave the two of them in a clearing near the road and begin the trek into town. I pass a few fields filled with crops, and I admire the peacefulness of the area, or people tilling the ground and picking weeds. At times, I am hit with the pang of longing for being a nomad, of traveling from place to place.
Being a fugitive will scratch the traveling itch, but it will be harder than living off the generosity of people. Air Nomads used to be a sign of good fortune, and people would welcome us into their homes. Now, we are all dead, and my ethnicity could be a trigger for violence.
When I enter the town proper, I ask for directions toward the hospital or medical center. My anxiety jumps into my throat at being recognized, but none of the bulletin boards or postings have any sign of Iroh, Zuko, or me, which helps ease my anxiety.
I check in at the hospital, where a nice young lady helps me. I explain the situation, "My uncle used the white jade bush to make tea. He has rashes all over his body, but is still able to talk and walk. Can I bring him in to administer the antidote?"
The lady laughs, says, "He should know better to not make drinks out of plants he can't identify completely, but yes, please bring him in as soon as possible."
"I advised him against it, but he is a stubborn man." The girl laughs again, and I quickly leave and get Iroh and Zuko. Together, we walk into the village, and Iroh's face has gotten redder and splotchy.
When we arrive, the lady takes us into an examination room, where there is another person laying on their stomach. I watch him in awe as a doctor places cups on his back to relieve tension. Zuko has his straw hat pulled low, self conscious over his scar. Iroh has taken off his shirt, and a doctor comes in to administer the bacui berries.
The doctor is wearing a red and white hanbok, and it stands against the brown and green tones of the rest of the Earth Kingdom. She starts to wring out a cloth with the ointment on it, saying, "You three must not be from around here. We know better than to touch the white jade, much less make it into a tea and drink it."
Iroh starts to scratch his body when the girl's back is turned, but she quickly smacks his hand away. "Whoops!" he exclaims, and his puffy face makes me feel guilty about not enforcing my thoughts about him eating wild plants more.
"So, where are you traveling from?" She is trying to make small talk, to keep us all calm as to Iroh's condition.
Zuko, apparently, has never heard about bedside manners with doctors before, because he shoots up from the bench next to me. "Yes, we're travelers."
I grab his arm, pulling him back down. I mouth, "Calm down," and he eases somewhat at my calmness.
"Do you have names?"
"Names?" Zuko is stammering, trying with some difficulty to get control over the situation. "Of course we have names. I'm, uh, Lee and this is my Uncle, uh, Mushi?" Everything he says is like a question. "And this is my, um, cousin, Amrita?"
Iroh glares over at Zuko, clearly not liking the name Mushi. "Yes, my nephew was named after his father, so we just call him Junior."
Iroh is trying to get back at Zuko for his bad naming, but the blow about being named after his father is a little much. Clearly, the father/son relationship is tense.
"Mushi, Junior, and Amrita, huh?" Luckily, the girl is turned away from Zuko, because he draws a finger across his neck at Iroh. I stifle a laugh. However, she turns to look at Zuko and I, and Zuko's hand falls back to his side quickly.
"My name is Song. You all look like you could use a good meal." Iroh scratches himself again, and Song slaps his hand away. Iroh is so stubborn, even in the face of a doctor telling him to stop scratching. The whole situation makes me want to burst out laughing. "Why don't you stay for dinner?
Quickly, Zuko says, "Sorry, but we need to be moving on." He looks away from Song to me, and I can tell that his anxiety is at an all time high.
Song screws the cap back on the jar of ointment, saying, "That's too bad. My mom always makes too much roast duck."
Never being one to turn down hospitality, I say, "We would love to join you! Roast duck is a family favorite!" I've never had roast duck, and Zuko knows that after I told him I was a vegetarian up until a month ago. He glares at me, but Iroh is happy. A good meal is going to be hard to come by. I look at Zuko and say, "We shouldn't be looking a gift ostrich-horse in the mouth, now should we?"
Iroh laughs, and I smile, and Zuko signs and sits back down while Iroh continues to scratch at his body. Being fugitives is going to be rough, that much is sure, but there are always kind people out there, people like Song. We should not forget them, and accept all acts of generosity.