Chapter 5 - The War

Zuko's eyes opened with the rising of the sun. Something felt off. The ostrich horse brayed softly a little ways over to his left as it nibbled on some grass.

He had slept through the night without interruption. There hadn't been any screaming to jar him awake in the middle of the night. No night terrors from the Water Tribe girl. No snaps to alertness from him at any uncommon sounds around their campsite. Nothing. It had been the most restful night of sleep he had gotten in a long while. And, he didn't like it one bit.

What if someone had snuck up on their position in the middle of the night? Had he really been so tired that he wouldn't have even been able to react in time? Granted, he hadn't really allowed himself long periods of rest during the last couple of weeks, but he was certain that he was still receiving enough sleep to maintain his alertness when it was needed. It was dangerous, given his current situation of exile in enemy territory, to be so contently at ease and blissfully asleep at night.

The firebender moved to sit up when the girl next to him shifted in her sleep and gripped his arm. Zuko froze. 'Where did she come from?!' He shot up and out of his bedroll instantly in a panic, tangling his foot in the mess of blankets and crashing back to the hard ground with a painful thud. Scrambling back up a second time, he desperately prayed to whomever was listening that he had not somehow absentmindedly crawled into the girl's bedroll last night.

His eyes sweeping wildly across the immediate area, Zuko felt his flustered breathing beginning to slow. He was still on his side of the campsite. His mighty wall of saddlebags remained tall as a dividing line. He hadn't moved from his own bedroll.

The waterbender was beginning to wake, pulled out of her slumber by the firebender's frantic state of distress. He wheeled on her instantly as he demanded answers. "What were you thinking?! Why are you in my bed?!"

"You were a polar bear dog," she muttered, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

Whatever response he had been expecting, that was definitely not it. Zuko found himself at a momentary loss for words as his emotions continued to boil over around him and he fumed incoherently for a moment. "W-What? Dog? Bedroll... Mine... You!" Eventually, he managed, "Don't do that again!"

"But... I was having a nightmare," came the girl's swift response.

"So you just took it upon yourself to enter my bed?! Do you realize how indecent that is?! Is this how all water peasants act?" the Fire Prince ranted.

"The nightmares stopped," Katara commented.

Zuko paused. "What?"

Katara shifted uneasily. "The nightmares stopped, when I slept near you."

For the second time in as many minutes, Zuko found himself dumbfounded and at a loss for words. Her nightmares stopped just because she had slept in close proximity to him? His presence was comforting to her? He didn't do or say anything to relieve her of her nightmares. He had been asleep the whole time. This entire situation didn't make any sense. In fact, most of the situations he had found himself in with the Water Tribe girl over the past week since they started traveling together didn't make any sense.

Without another word, he threw his hands up in frustration and stomped off in a random direction. He needed a moment to sort out his thoughts and perhaps a short time apart would do both of them some good. Maybe he could find a nice tree to bang his head against repeatedly in an effort to forcefully eject the fresh memory of realizing his arm had been wrapped tightly around the girl's waist when he woke and that her arm had been resting comfortably on top of his own.

After a short time of attempting to meditate and failing horribly as his traitorous thoughts kept returning to a certain young waterbender within the campsite, Zuko eventually made his way back. To her credit, Katara already had the entire campsite packed up and the ostrich horse geared and ready to travel. Stoically, Zuko assisted her onto the horse and the pair began the day's travel. The effort to remain vigilant against any potential ambushes or encounters finally proved more successful in allowing him to force his embarrassing thoughts to the far recesses of his mind.

The day moved on swiftly without further incident. Later that night, Zuko pointedly watched Katara get into her own bedroll and fall asleep before he settled into his own spot on the far side of camp. Just before he drifted off, he heard the waterbender whimper and shake before awaking with a jump from her nightmares.

A minute later, through the glow of the fading embers of the campfire and moonlight above, he observed her shadowy form slowly rise from her bedroll, gather her blankets, and cautiously make her way towards him. When she was about perhaps a foot or two away, he sat up sharply and frowned. "What?"

She paused, standing there in the moonlight, gripping her blankets nervously. "My nightmares are back." Her hand went up absently to her neckline and attempted to fidgety grasp for something that did not seem to be there. Her fingers fumbled there for a moment before dropping back down to her side distractedly. She appeared amiss, as if remembering something was gone.

Zuko raised an eyebrow slightly at the odd behavior, but he did not say anything as his frown deepened.

She continued, "I miss my Gran-Gran. I miss my Brother. I miss my home."

Zuko felt his resolve weakening rapidly at the mention of missing home. It was a feeling he knew all too well. Sighing, he scooted over in his bedroll and turned his back to the waterbender. He offered no further protest as she spread out her blankets to cover them both and settled down next to him, her back against his own.

He heard her breathing calm and was positive that she had drifted off to sleep swiftly. He dutifully remained awake for a little while longer, observing if she was going to start flinging ice needles once more. However, she appeared to be peacefully asleep. In fact, this was the most tranquil he had ever known her to be in their short time together. Hopefully, her nightmares would eventually fade away on their own. Until then, he figured he would take a small comfort in knowing that there was perhaps a second person in the world who did not seem to want him dead.


This new rhythm continued for several days and nights. And after nearly two weeks of semi-regular meals and these last five nights of peaceful sleep, Katara slowly began to appear healthier and healthier. Her eyes were not as sunken as before. She did not appear as thin as when Zuko first found her in that port town. Further, she was beginning to regain some of her natural assertiveness and boldness.

Zuko stood still in the knee deep water a couple of feet from the river bank. He held a crudely fashioned harpoon high above his head and aimed down as he watched for movement. A motion to his right and the spear edge struck fast into the flowing water but came up empty. He scowled.

"Careful not to hit your own foot!" called out Katara from the shoreline.

He bristled as he shouted over his shoulder, "I'm not a fool! I know how to spear a fish!"

Katara shrugged. Why did boys always have to act like they knew what they were doing when they clearly did not? Ignoring the fact that his 'harpoon' was simply a thin stick that he had fastened a large fish hook onto with a wrapping of twine, he was not even remotely gripping the weapon correctly. Or at least he wasn't holding the harpoon the same way as she had seen her Father hold one a thousand times before. Plus, she suspected that the loose and numerous knots he tied would quickly come undone even if he did miraculously manage to catch anything anyway.

She noticed a fish swimming close to the shoreline. Reaching out with her hands, she tried to wrap the water around the fish as she attempted to lift upwards. The process was slow, but she did manage to pull the fish up and out of the river within a small water bubble. Pulling her catch closer to herself, she grasped the flailing fish in her hands as the water bubble burst and crashed onto the river rocks and her sandals.

"Zuko!" she whooped.

His harpoon was raised over his head in concentration. "Not now! I almost have this one!"

She rolled her eyes and placed the fish on a flat rock a good distance away from the river. Returning, she noticed another fish swimming down the river. Reaching out a second time, she attempted to repeat her waterbending. As she raised another shaky water bubble from the river, a frustrated roar from the firebender interrupted her focus and the fish landed back in the channel with a splash and quickly swam away.

Katara observed Zuko as he erupted into an outburst of activity, slamming his harpoon into the water repeatedly with no clear target. Water splashed every which way, leaving him drenched and fuming. After one particularly suspicious jab that left the harpoon in the water dubiously close to his leg, Zuko ceased his ranting. He remained silent.

"Did you...?" she started only for Zuko to slowly and carefully pull his harpoon back out of the water and gingerly move a little further downstream without a word.

A knowing smile spread across her face. She was going to have to coax him into letting her heal his foot later. For practice, of course! A large fish swam by and she managed to raise it out of the river in another flimsy water bubble. Storing her second catch with her first, she approached the water again as Zuko whooped in excitement, a fish kicking wildly on the edge of his harpoon.

He was walking back to the shoreline with a triumph grin on his face when Katara saw the twine holding the fish hook together begin to loosen rapidly. Zuko seemed to notice it too just as his harpoon dissembled itself right in his hands. The firebender dove forward to grab the fish as it dropped back towards the river. What he succeeded in accomplishing was deftly fumbling with the slick scales of his prize repeatedly before belly flopping into the water with a large splash that left no question of how drenched he was.

Sputtering water as he raised his head out of the river, Zuko saw Katara focused in concentration just a short distance in front of him on the shoreline. Out of the corner of his eye, he witnessed his catch encased in a thin water bubble as the waterbender slowly drew the fish closer to herself. Once it was within arm's reach, she gripped the flailing fish jubilantly in her right hand as she crouched on the balls of her feet. She gave him a cheerful smile as she brought up her left hand to hold her chin in her palm as she tilted her head cutely. Zuko stared at her for a moment before shifting his glance away rapidly, his cheeks blushing red with a mixture of embarrassment and bewilderment.


The roasted fish smelled divine on their wooden skewers as the campfire crackled underneath them. Zuko salted the food lightly before sitting back on a log. This morning was going just swimmingly. And by that, he meant he had managed to embarrass himself completely, fully, and utterly. So all in all, this was actually just a regular day since he separated from his Uncle in a childish attempt to survive on his own.

His clothes hung on a tree branch drying in the morning sun after he had dried himself off with a towel, wearing nothing but his undershorts. He was just fortunate enough that he had the mind to remove his boots before his fateful fishing attempts so that his footwear had at least remained dry.

The waterbender had attempted to bend the water out of his clothes, back in the river, back when he had stood up from his fall into the water. However, despite the mediocre skill she had displayed fishing with her bending, the Water Tribe girl had been unable to separate the water from his clothes and the resulting tug caused him to fall sideways back into the water a second time. Maybe she had done it on purpose. Azula would have done it on purpose. But the waterbender had stammered out a series of apologies with a look of concern on her face that left him unsure. Maybe she was still learning despite displaying a varying level of waterbending skill.

So anyway, here Zuko now sat, on a log, wrapped in his sleeping blanket, staring at roasting fish, trying his hardest to forget the look of concern the waterbender had shown him when he fell into the river. The question, "Are you feeling any better?" from behind him made that last action a little more difficult.

Katara sat down opposite to him on another log when he didn't answer. A minute or so passed and it appeared as if he wasn't going to say anything when she heard a low grumbling of, "Fishing is stupid."

'He's still angry,' she frowned inwardly. Another minute passed with no other sounds than the crackling of fish meat before the waterbender heard him quietly add, "Thank you for the meal."

She beamed. Zuko seemed to look away at her smile. A moment later and Zuko stood up to remove two of the three fish from over the flames. He handed her one, then sat back down watching his breakfast cool enough for him to take a bite.

Katara looked at her breakfast on a stick for a moment before gathering the courage to ask a question that had been weighing on her mind for a while now. "Where are we going?"

The firebender tensed but didn't answer. Instead, he attempted to take a bite of his fish in an effort to avoid the question. All he managed to do was burn his tongue.

Katara glanced back down at the grilled fish in her hands. He probably wasn't going to answer her question.

"I don't know..." mumbled Zuko lowly after another minute, his shoulders slumped.

Katara's head snapped back up. She hadn't expected that. "No destination?"

Zuko shook is his head slightly. "None."

She did not know what to make of that. She had thought for sure that Zuko was traveling somewhere since he seemed to always push the pair forward after they had left the port town. Were they just wandering aimlessly across the Earth Kingdom?

"Did you have somewhere you wanted to go?" The return question from the Fire Prince caught both of them off-guard. Their eyes met for a moment until Zuko looked away again. It wasn't like he had anywhere in particular to go. If the Water Tribe girl wished to go home, then he could at the very least take her part of the way. Then, maybe he could be rid of her and she could be rid of him. And this whole weird situation that they each found each in could be over. So he offered, "I could take you to a southern port in the Earth Kingdom. You could find a ship headed to the South Pole."

Now it was Katara's turn to tense up. She could go home. The intense look in the firebender's eyes filled her with certainty that he would be true to his word and take her a southern port if she asked him too. Did she want to go home? She never did find a waterbending master to teach her. Was that even important anymore? No one back home knew what happened to her. She had no idea if Sokka had gotten word back to the village-to Gran-Gran or to their Father, wherever he was. Did they think she was dead? Gran-Gran would absolutely never allow her to leave the village again after she found out about the suffering Katara had went through. The Water Tribe girl would grow old in that small Water Tribe village.

Katara shifted uneasily. "I don't know." She felt silly. Why hadn't she given any serious thought about going home until Zuko asked her? No, she knew why. She just hated facing the answer, as painful as it was. She was ashamed. Ashamed that her naivety, her optimism, her overconfidence had led to the deaths of so many as well as her own imprisonment for months. She was scared of finding herself trapped within her own village with no one who could possibly hope to understand what she had gone through.

Zuko took finally managed to take a bite of his fish after blowing on it to cool his food down. Chewing on the mouthful, he watched the range of emotions running across the waterbender's face. He knew that look. He had seen it on his own face so many times before. Just like him, she needed time to figure things out. So much for putting an end to their current situation. After swallowing, he changed his offer, "East then?"

That sounded as good as any other direction, except for South. She wasn't ready for South yet. "To the East," she toasted as she took a bite of her own fish. Flavor exploded in her mouth. It had only been lightly salted, but after nothing but rice porridge and simple soup for the last two weeks and whatever had qualified as prison food before that, this roasted fish was gourmet at its finest. Tears of joy flowed freely from her face as she chewed.

Zuko saw her emotion and instantly seemed troubled. "We don't have to go East. Did you actually want to head South?"

Katara shook her head as she wiped away her tears with her sleeve. "No, its not that." She raised the fish in her hands. "I just haven't had anything this good in a long time. It almost tastes like home."

They continued eating their breakfast in comfortable silence. Zuko pulled a small dagger from his boot and heated it over the fire for a minute before taking the third fish and cutting it in half. Katara couldn't help but notice that he had handed her the larger half.


The day's travel was delayed until the afternoon to let Zuko's clothes dry in the sunlight. There appeared to be less foot traffic on the road than normal. And by less, that meant they had not seen anyone else traveling all day long in either direction. Zuko merely commented that this road was probably just a less traveled path.

Soon; however, Katara found herself growing a little restless from the uneventful trot the pair had settled into. Emboldened by the success of the morning's conversation, she decided to try and strike up another one. "You cut your hair."

Zuko stopped suddenly as the ostrich horse kept moving along the path with the waterbender seated on it until the reins the firebender held onto pulled the horse to a slow stop. "It wasn't by choice."

Katara sensed that she might have just unknowingly broached a sensitive topic for her traveling companion. Hesitantly, she asked, "What happened?"

Anger flashed in Zuko's eyes. His mouth snapped back a harsh, "Well, what happened to your hair?!" before his brain could think the comment through. However, the hurt that entered the waterbender's eyes quickly informed him that his retort only served to make both of them upset.

That wasn't fair. He knew that wasn't fair. He had known what had likely happened. The prison rig physician had probably shaved her head at some point during her imprisonment. Likely because she had caught flea lice or perhaps to prevent flea lice in the first place. Her hair had been growing back, but it was currently at awkward lengths, mostly hanging at points between her ears and her shoulders. Her hair's natural curliness was not helping matters all too much either.

When she turned away from him, he realized his retaliation had cut deeper than he intended. More than just her hair as a whole, she had been noticeably missing those hair braids he recalled seeing her with back in the South Pole. As he thought about it, he had only seen the waterbender and the old lady in the water village with that hair style. Did those braids perhaps hold some kind of cultural significance for her just like his phoenix tail had for him?

Zuko was broken out of his thoughts when he heard Katara say dejectedly over her shoulder, "They shaved it all off. Back on the prison rig. When I was first imprisoned."

'Not flea lice then. Humiliation,' reasoned Zuko to himself. He walked forward only to the pause alongside the ostrich horse. Without looking up at her, he stated, "It will grow back."

Not quite an apology. Actually, it barely qualified to be in the same category. However, there was no vindictiveness or anger in his tone. Just a simple matter-of-fact. "So will yours," noted Katara.

Another pause. Then, after about a minute of tense silence, "No, I can't fashion the phoenix tail again. My Uncle and I cut off and discarded them. My tail represented my chance at rebirth, a symbol that I was on a mission to restore my honor. But I failed. And now my Sister and my own country hunt me."

Katara was stunned. After another awkward moment, she added, "My hair braids were my way of remembering my Mother. She always wore her hair up like that." Her right hand absently went up to her neckline again only to realize there was nothing there and she dropped it back into her lap. "She had such beautiful hair."

The conversation was beginning to shift to yet another taboo subject for Zuko. He was not about to raise the topic of his own Mother and how much he still hurt whenever he thought about her just being gone from his life. From the sound of the waterbender's voice, he got the impression that her Mother was not around anymore either.

Fortunately for him, the Water Tribe girl did not appear as if she wanted to delve deeper into that line of thought anymore either. Instead, she turned to him and stated kindly, "I like your hair more now actually." Zuko's felt his hand distractedly go up to his head to touch his short hair. "It's scruffy, but it seems to fit you better." A mischievous glint entered her eye. "And it's fluffy! Like a polar bear dog!"

"Don't say that!" he shouted as he spun on his heels and stomped a few steps away. "If you keep insisting on comparing me to an animal, then at least make it a better one!"

She feigned offense. "But polar bear dogs are one of the kindest animals in the South Pole once you get to know them."

"I'm not kind!" shouted back the Fire Prince. Katara grinned. Zuko frowned, then added, "I'm tough! Like a saber-tooth moose lion! And you don't know me!"

Katara smiled wider. It was actually kind of fun when the firebender got all riled up like this. He seemed to go from stoic silence to an erupting volcano in the blink of an eye. And it helped to keep her thoughts in the moment instead of dwelling on sadder times.

The wind shifted and with the change, a heavy smell of ashen smoke filled their lungs. Zuko ceased his complains about animals and his eyes narrowed instantly as he took the reins of the ostrich horse and led the pair into the tree line. They held there for a time, watching both directions of the road. After a couple of minutes of apprehensive unease, Zuko began to lead them along the tree line out of sight of the road until they came across a small burnt out town several hundred feet later.

The larger fires had only recently gone out while smaller flames still burned in the corners of ashen mounds. The blackened frames of houses and shops littered the area and soot blackened their footsteps. Ashes still fell from the sky.

"This is horrible," whispered Katara as she took in the devastation of the ruined Earth Kingdom village.

Zuko didn't answer as his eyes focused all around them for the slightest hint of movement. "This didn't happen all that long ago." He didn't like this. "We need to leave, now."

"But there could be survivors!" protested Katara as observed the area, the ash irritating her eyes.

"Listen," he ordered. As the two of them quieted to focus on the sounds, only an eerie stillness loomed around the area. "There's no one here. No bodies, no crying out for help," continued Zuko as he pulled the ostrich horse away from the edge of the village.

Suddenly they heard shouting and clashes off in the distance on the farthest side of village. "Wait!" cursed Zuko as he was a second too slow to grab the waterbender's arm as she slid down from the ostrich horse and ran in the direction of the intensifying sounds.

Katara turned the corner of a larger building near the center of the village just as Zuko violently pulled her back behind the blackened structure. "What are you doing?!" he hissed out.

"We have to help. People could be in trouble," she declared.

"We could be in trouble. We have no idea what is happening right now," Zuko countered tensely. The sounds were getting closer, clearer. There were the whistles of fire singing through the air and rocks smashing through collapsing buildings. The realization of what was going on was becoming all too apparent to the Fire Prince. "We're in the middle of a battlefield," he growled. Then, as if to prove his point, the building they were hiding behind exploded into rubble.

There was ash in her mouth. There was ash in her hair. There was ash everywhere around her. She was caked in gray, ashen powder. Katara heard her ears ringing as she forced herself back up onto her hands and knees. There was a clink of metal impacting rock as several stones landed on either side of her. Zuko was standing protectively over her, deflecting stray rocks that were being flung in their direction with his broadswords.

He reached down and pulled her up by the shoulder. He was bleeding from his forehead, but did not seem to notice. "Move! Now!"

They managed to get behind an overturned horse cart as more firebenders and earthbenders flooded into the village square. Fire rushed through the air as the Fire Nation solders attempted to hold their encroaching enemy at bay as they fell back away from the town center. A chorus of earthbenders stomped on the ground in unison and a series of stalagmites rocketed up from the ground, impaling numerous Fire Nation soldiers and leaving their corpses hanging there lifelessly.

The bulk of the Earth Kingdom battalion pushed forward, confident that they were about to break their enemy's lines. Without warning, a circle of fire burst into life as unnoticed kindling arranged in a large circle was set ablaze in a well-crafted trap. The encompassed Earth Kingdom troops began to panic as the flames danced around them, ensnaring them within the center of the village.

Arrows rang out from behind and overhead the frontline of Fire Nation troops and were followed with the pained gasps of Earth Kingdom soldiers as earthbenders scrambled to raise protective domes around their remaining numbers. Several loud bellows echoed up another road as a horde of rampaging komodo rhinos bearing red, heavily armored cavalry stampeded down into the center of the village and burst through the impromptu earthen barriers with ease. Fire Nation pike men and firebenders followed behind to clean up the scattering Earth Kingdom forces.

A horn blew in the distance and several buildings on the far side of the village collapsed back into the ground as Earth Kingdom reinforcements marched into the fray. A cavalry force riding goat gorillas clashed with the komodo rhinos as the fighting grew increasingly violent.

Katara gasped as an earthbender fell close to their hiding place, his body littered with arrows. A pained cry to their right and a Fire Nation infantryman collapsed, his head crushed from the force of a warhammer.

"We need to get out of here!" stated Zuko urgently as he caught a stray fireball in his hand and redirected the flame into the ground. He grabbed her arm and pulled her into an alleyway away from the fighting as the overturned horse cart exploded into splinters behind them.

The Fire Prince grimaced as he realized three Fire Nation soldiers had broken off from the main force to pursue them. He spun and deflected a fireball. "Keep moving!" he shouted over his shoulder as he pivoted, not waiting to see if the Water Tribe girl listened to him. Zuko saw a look of recognition cross the face of the man with a Captain's insignia on his collar as the man launched a jet-stream of fire directly at the Fire Prince. The Fire Captain did not stop and only increased the intensity of his attacks as Zuko scrambled to deflect the onslaught. He cursed when the two infantrymen ran past him in pursuit of the waterbender.

Suddenly a boulder flew through a byway and crushed the Fire Captain into a bloody smear along the wall. Two earthbenders joined the melee as Zuko threw himself to the side just in time to avoid a stalagmite that stabbed up from the ground. The other two Fire Nation soldiers had not been so lucky. Rising again, Zuko cursed to himself a second time as he observed another squad of Fire Nation soldiers rushing down the alleyway. He dove shoulder first through a broken window into a destroyed building and tore through the back door as he heard the two armies continue to tear each other apart behind him.

Katara didn't stop. She just kept running. This place; this fighting, the chaos; the death, it was all too familiar. She was trembling all over. What had she been thinking? Running into this village like that? Was she still that naïve? Was she still that stupid? She was just one waterbender. An amateurish, untrained waterbender. What difference could she possibly make? Didn't she learn her lesson from the prison rig?

Turning a corner, she realized that she was lost. This was about a moment before she collided with a single, panic-stricken earthbender wearing a bowl shaped helmet fleeing from a different direction. He recovered first and lunged at her, his rough hands gripping around her throat as he straddled himself over her and pinned her to the ground. She gasped in wordless shock as the air left her lungs and she clawed wildly at his tightening grip. He was looking at her with such a frantic, uncomprehending expression. No, he was looking beyond her. The earthbender's eyes were feral with fright and sheer terror from the chaos that was running rampant in the village battlefield. He was lashing out at anything unfamiliar. He shook her vehemently.

'Off!' her mind shouted as her voice failed to escape her constricted windpipe. Her vision was darkening rapidly and her mind was racing. 'Get off!' Her arms flailed unconsciously as the water from her waterskin burst open and crashed brutally against the earthbender in a wrathful torrent. He slammed against a burnt out wall as it collapsed on top of him and he didn't rise back up.

Katara sputtered loudly as she turned over to her side and roughly drew in fresh breath. Why did he attack her? She was not his enemy. They had no reason to fight each other. Didn't he see her Earth Kingdom clothes? Or that she clearly looked Water Tribe? She barely noticed the layer of ash obscuring her own features.

She felt a tug at her shoulder and she spun as she lashed out with a frantic punch. Zuko grunted as she caught him in the stomach with her fist, but stoically held her arm as he helped to pull her back to her feet. She heard his heavy breathing, noticed he was favoring his right leg, saw the faint stream of blood trickling down his left arm and forehead. Katara frowned at the anguished expression he was trying to hide on his face.

The sounds of fighting appeared to be growing louder as the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom forces engaged each other throughout the town. "Let's go," stated Zuko simply as he pointed the Water Tribe girl back towards the direction of where they had entered the fateful burnt out village. She returned a raspy sound of agreement as she started moving down the correct path.

Katara turned back when she noticed Zuko did not immediately follow. He seemed to be looking down at the fallen Earth Kingdom man lying in the rubble. He grimaced as he looked away. "Come on," he said as he caught up and took her hand in his, leading her away. She did not see what he had seen. She did not see the icicle in the man's neck, the blood pooling at the ground, the blank look in the Earth Kingdom soldier's eyes.