When the Wind was Reborn
Chapter Ten
The sun was shining and the forest was lush around them, everything vibrant and green and alive, and the sunlight pierced the leafy roof above in broken, criss-crossing beams of pale gold. The forest canopy above them rustled with life, stirred by the gentle breeze, birds chirped and insects buzzed around them and the stream by their side could be heard breaking and rushing over the rocks.
The forests of the island looked the same as Aang remembered them but they felt different. They sounded different, smaller, more subdued, and they smelled different too - less clean, less earthy, like an artificial wilderness.
"I don't like leaving Appa," Aang said for the dozenth time. Zuko rolled his eyes and grumbled.
"I already told you, we can't take a ten tonne flying bison into the city! Everyone will know who you are!"
"Yeah, I know," Aang muttered. He didn't really understand why that was a bad thing. If people knew he was the Avatar maybe people would help them. Zuko was older though, and he had saved Aang's life, and he knew better, so Aang went along with him.
As they walked Aang could hear the sounds of the city. He didn't like it, it sounded like the way Omashu had sounded when he used to visit Bumi. Not that he didn't like Omashu, he did, it was just that Omashu was supposed to be big and loud and chaotic, the Air Temple and the island were supposed to calm and peaceful and nice, and now it wasn't, now it had been changed and it was ruined and even so far away the noise was beginning to give him a headache.
It was nice to be warm again, but Aang almost missed the South Pole.
"We need to get new clothes," Zuko said from a few paces ahead. It was hot, too hot for Water Tribe clothes, so he had stripped off his parka and had slung it across his shoulder. Aang followed suit and was relieved to feel the cool breeze on his sweat-prickled skin. "And food," Zuko added. They hadn't eaten in two days now and the cramps in his stomach were starting to hurt, but they were near the city, they'd get food soon. Once again Aang nodded and agreed half-heartedly - he couldn't focus and couldn't bring himself to really care about anything, not after the news. Over a hundred years, Aang thought, and his soul ached.
"Yeah," Aang agreed distractedly. He missed his monk's robes. He wished he hadn't left them in the South Pole. His eyes drifted and caught sight of something on Zuko's shoulder, a dark patch stark against his pale skin that shone with sweat. "Zuko, you have a..." Aang pointed wordlessly at it and only at that moment realized what it was.
"They're burns," Zuko said, turning to face him and holding up one wrist. Aang's eyes darted around and saw more - one on his hip and one on his ribs, too.
"How did you get them?" Aang asked a little hesitantly - was it rude to ask? He didn't know. Zuko sighed and looked past Aang for a moment, as though he was looking very far into the distance, into a different time and place.
"Agni Kai."
"What?"
"Agni Kai," Zuko repeated, meeting Aang's eyes. "A firebending duel for honour, traditionally to the death." Aang's eyes went wide. It didn't make sense to him, two people agreeing to fight for the sake of it and calling it honourable. Who could you hate so much that you decided to hurt, maybe even kill them?
"Who -"
"My sister," Zuko interrupted. Aang's jaw dropped and a moment of silence passed between them. Zuko looked at the ground, a haunted look in his eye.
"Is she...?" Aang couldn't even finish the sentence.
"No, she's alive. I won, I spared her." Zuko seemed to take little comfort from the fact. "I was lucky." It was as though it was hard for Zuko to choke the words out. "She was better than me, much better. She could have killed me, but instead she burned me." He held up his wrist, the dark burn mark encircling his wrist like a bracelet. "Then a second time." He pointed at his shoulder. "Then again, and again."
"Why?" Aang didn't understand. Zuko just shrugged.
"Because she wanted to, she hurts people." Zuko had that far-away look on his face again.
"So how did you beat her?" Aang said, the change of subject feeling awkward in his mouth.
"I feigned defeat and burned her when her guard was down," Zuko said quietly, looking at the ground. "There was no honour in it." More silence passed.
"So...what happened to her?"
"Huh?"
"You said you spared her," Aang reminded him. "So what happened to her?"
"My uncle, the Fire Lord, he exiled her," Zuko replied. He didn't sound happy about it.
Once they reached the city Aang felt like crying. There was barely any open space, it was all buildings and narrows streets and alleys between them, like a giant maze, and every inch of the city seemed to be crowded with people - Aang couldn't walk in a straight line, he had to duck and slip past people in Fire Nation reds and blacks, winding his way through the place. The air was thick and smelled dirty, like there had been a fire recently and the smoke wasn't quite gone. If the monks - if Gyatso - could see this now, the way their culture and home had just been...replaced, they would mourn. It struck Aang, not for the first time, that even if those he knew had survived the attack during Sozin's Comet they'd certainly have passed away by now. How could he even begin to feel okay about that? How do you mourn when someone isn't taken from you, but you've just missed their life?
"Where are -" Aang stopped, he couldn't even hear himself. "Where are we going?" He shouted this time.
"Just follow me."
Aang did. They zigged and zagged down side streets and alleyways and the city grew more cramped, dirtier, smelled worse. The people started to look thinner and greyer, haggard and sometimes ill. Aang noticed something else, too, no one wore Fire Nation colours here. With a start he realized that they were Air Nomad colours of yellow and orange - the fabrics were so dirty and frayed and the people looked so unlike the Air Nomads that Aang hadn't recognized them at first.
"Are they...Air Nomads? Are they refugees?" Aang asked quietly, not sure if he even wanted to know the answer.
"Refugees?" Zuko asked, perplexed. "No, they're citizens."
"I thought you said the airbenders were refugees."
"The Air Nomads who rebelled against the Fire Nation are refugees. These people stayed and they're now Fire Nation citizens," Zuko explained.
"But...they're airbenders?" Aang didn't understand. "Why do none of them have tattoos?" He'd seen not a one, even the old ones who should be masters had unmarked skin - most of them even had hair. And why did they live here? In the worst part of town?
"Tattoos aren't allowed," Zuko said, as though such a thing was normal.
"What?" Aang asked tightly, eyebrows drawing together, stomach tightening in anger.
"It's a Fire Nation colony, Air Nomad markings aren't allowed." Zuko spoke as though Aang was stupid.
"But they are Air Nomads!"
"No, they're airbenders living in a Fire Nation colony, so they're Fire Nation citizens."
"But this is Air Nomad land!" He was getting angry now, this was wrong.
"No, it's not, it's Fire Nation territory, it has been for a hundred years," Zuko said very calmly, which only made Aang angrier.
"That's only because the Fire Nation took it by force!" Aang felt like crying tears of anger, he'd never felt so helpless, even drowning during the storm he'd been able to struggle and rage against the water, but this? How could he do anything about events that happened a hundred years ago?
"The Fire Nation isn't some kind of villain," Zuko said. "We brought technology, industry, commerce. Prosperity."
"Prosperity?" Aang looked around at the sagging faces and bent backs of the former Air Nomads around him and thought that it looked like the furthest thing from prosperity. It had looked much more prosperous a hundred years ago, when they were free and happy. "It doesn't look like it." Zuko didn't reply, and they walked in silence for a time.
"Here, this will do," Zuko said as they approached a grimy old building that audibly creaked. It was small and cramped, as though trying to hunch its shoulders to squeeze between the buildings on either side. An inn, the sign above the door read. Aang didn't reply, he was still in a foul mood with Zuko, but he did follow him inside.
The foyer was a narrow strip with a desk and a set of stairs crammed at the end. The place was clean enough but not in a good state of repair - the desk was covered in scratches and gouges, a vase nearby was chipped and shot with cracks, the walls on either side were thin and bowed in with age and with every step the floorboards underfoot creaked. A young woman slouched at the desk, a look of boredom on her face as her eyes scanned an old and battered book. When she heard Zuko's footsteps she looked up, startled, and slid the mask of a smile over her face.
"Hello! We don't often see the Water Tribe -"
Zuko snapped his fingers, summoning a handful of fire, demonstrating her error, and the young woman's smile faltered for a moment.
"My name is Lord Zuko of the Fire Nation," he spoke, his voice haughty, an imperious set to his jaw. The woman looked to Aang like a rabbit might with an arrow pointed at it. "I'll need a room with two beds, a change of clothes and some food." He spoke to her like a slave and Aang bristled.
"Y-yes, of course, right away," the girl stammered and scurried from behind the desk.
"But we don't have any money!" Aang hissed, annoyed - he wouldn't be a part of conning this lady. Zuko dismissed him with a wave of his hand.
"We have no money just now, having just returned from an important military mission, but you'll be compensated fairly in the coming days," Zuko explained. The woman faltered, and Zuko's eyes grew hard. "Is that a problem?" His voice was not kind as he said it.
"N-no...No, of course not, sir," she said, bowing very low. "Come, this way." The innkeeper led them up a twisting and rickety flight of stairs that moaned under the weight of three people, through a corridor narrow as a blood vessel and to a tiny door that most men would have to duck through. She handed Zuko a small, rusted key. He took it wordlessly and put it through the lock.
"Thank you," Aang said when it became apparent that Zuko would not. The woman's eyes lingered on him for long seconds, on his head then his hands - his tattoos, Aang realized - then she bowed low once more and fled back down the hall.
The room was small and seemed to make noise whenever either boy moved. It was occupied by two narrow beds that has to wrestle with a wardrobe for dominance in the room, leaving only a thin stream of a passage by which to walk the room. The walls were yellowed and Aang chose to believe it was an aesthetic choice when he really knew it was age and the ceiling sloped, making one half of the room lower than the other by half. The room had the feel of a cupboard that had grown just a bit too big.
Zuko sat on the edge of one bed, hands hanging between his knees, foot tapping impatiently - he was forcing himself to be still and wait, Aang realized, it wasn't that he wanted to. Aang jumped in the air and tumbled head over heels on to the bed just for fun, grinning all the while, his introspection and worry spirited away by the much younger and more colourful child's joy that came so naturally to him. He lay face down on the bed, simply enjoying it's softness - it was so nice to have a real bed!
The young lady came knocking shortly after, and peeked her head into the room like a frightened mouse. Only when Zuko ushered her in did she step inside, bearing a tray of food. Aang smelled meat and nearly groaned out loud - he should have said to her earlier - but before disappointment could really take root he saw something else, another plate with dumplings and they smelled of vegetables! The girl gave Aang a small smile and that's when he realized that her frayed robes were supposed to be yellow and red.
The two boys ate in silence for some time - or, at any rate, wordlessly, Aang made plenty of noise as he inhaled his meal. He chomped down the dumplings while Zuko picked delicately at roast duck, and they shared a large bowl of rice. Aang wondered why Zuko ate so slowly - he was starving, they'd barely eaten in days! Manners or some such, he supposed - being an almost prince and all - but in the end Zuko got the last laugh, as Aang ended up curled up on the bed with a sharp pain like a constant bug bite low in his stomach from eating too quickly.
"Not much to be impressed with here," Zuko muttered, looking first at the remains of his food then around at the room.
"I like it," Aang said, but he was too quiet to be heard. He did though, even if the place was small and old it was still perfectly clean and nice and liveable, and anyway what else did you need other than a roof and somewhere to lay your head? Zuko must be on his noble nonsense with all his high standards.
"Let's get some sleep," Zuko suggested, and the two stripped down to their underclothes and climbed underneath the sheets. Aang was glad for it - he was so tired that he felt it in all the parts of his body, like they were a striking union and each body part had his own individual grievance.
"Zuko?" Aang had lain his head on the pillow and had seconds left before he slept.
"Yes?"
"Why did we come here? Why do we need to hide?" He yawned and felt consciousness being pulled away from him inch by inch.
"We need to be careful, there are people that want to hurt the Avatar." Zuko didn't sound sure of himself. Something about it didn't ring true with Aang, but Zuko had saved him and he was smart and brave, even if a little grumpy sometimes, so he ignored it.
"Like the Water Tribe siblings...and your cousin..." Darkness was stroking the edges of Aang's vision now.
"Yeah, like Lu Ten." Zuko sounded sad and scared, and that sounded weird to Aang, but that was the last he thought of it for sleep reached its fingers down and closed his eyelids. He wouldn't remember it in the morning.