The Girl With Golden Hair

Chapter 4: The Winter Solstice Part 1

      We had landed ashore for supplies, Iroh decided to take a walk and I stayed behind with Zuko to annoy him. We were about to leave, but we couldn't find Iroh so we went looking, "Uncle! It's time to leave! Where are you?" I was walking in front of him.

       We heard him call over to use and Zuko reached over me to push a few tree branches out of the way so we could walk through, "Over here!" We found him sitting in a hot spring."

      "Uncle? We need to move on. We're closing in on the Avatar's trail and I don't want to lose him."

      "It sounds like you're talking about catching your cheating boyfriend." He groaned in frustration and looked just about to pull his hair out, and that made me laugh.

      "You looked tired Prince Zuko. Why don't you join me in these hot springs and soak away your trouble?"

      "My troubles cannot be soaked away. It's time to go."

      "You do seem tense Prince Dumby, maybe you should listen to him." I smirked poking him, and he smacked my hand away. 
       "She's right, you should take your teacher's advice and relax a little. The temperature is just right. I heated it myself." Iroh breathed steam through his nose, I laughed a little bit at his antics. 
      "Enough! We need to leave now. Get out of the water," Zuko demanded.
      "Very well!" Iroh shrugged and began to stand up.
      My vision turned back and I was pulled a little bit in him, the sudden closeness made me heat up, "On second thought, why don't you take a few minutes? But be back at the ship in half an hour or I'm leaving without you!" He turned us around before he removed his hand. 
      We walked for a little before I spoke, "You didn't mean that."
      "Of course not," Zuko scuffed.  
      "Good cause I wouldn't have let you," I squinted my eyes at him playfully.
      "Have you forgotten that an I prince? You can't make me do anything," Zuko rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
      We walked past a market, "No even accompanying me to go shopping to make sure I don't escape?" I gave him puppy eyes. 
      He huffed, "Fine, but it's not because I want to."
      "Thanks Zuko!" I grabbed his arm and dragged him behind me. He didn't seem all too pleased by the fact. The Earth Kingdom was much warmer than the Southern Water Tribe, and I wanted new clothes. The seaside market was full of people and I loved looking around at everything. We walked into a small boutique sort of shop. I was looking at a bunch of dresses on a rack when I felt a tap on my shoulder, I turned and saw Zuko holding something in his hand, "What?"
      "Hold out your hand stupid." I grumbled and did so. He stopped a couple of gold coins in my hands, "I know you don't have any money." I smiled and thanked him.
      I grabbed a couple of dresses and went to a fitting room. I tried on one dress is was long and a little blocky. It didn't fit my body type. I threw it on the door and tried the next one. The next one fit better but it was slim fitted so I wouldn't be able to fight in it if I had to. I threw that one with the other dress. The last dress was an a-line dress. It was a warm green with gold accents along the hem of the skirt. I stepped out of the fitting room, "Is this one okay?" 
      Zuko looked up from his hands and his bored expression fell to a sheepish one, his cheeks growing warm, "It looks… nice." 
      I grinned, "Great then I'll buy it." I gathered the other clothes and put my own back on and paid the vendor. We were walking down the market place Street when I saw an animal in a cage, it looked like a red panda, but he was so sad, "Poor little guy, look at how lonely he is. What kind of animal is he?"
      "It's a fire ferret. Some merchants came in yesterday to sell them." The vendor said, "You can have him for a gold coin and a silver piece." I looked down at my hand and I only had one gold coin left.
      I looked to Zuko, my eyes turning glassy, "Zuko I only have a good piece." 
      "And how is that my problem?" He sighed.
      "Look at him Zuko, he's lonely, he has no family, and taken from his home. Come on Zuko please just one silver coin." 
      He looked to me then the fire ferret, his eyes soften for a second, "Fine, but don't like it get in the way." 
      "You're the best Zuko!" I hugged him out of sheer joy, not really thinking. He patted my back hesitantly. 
      "Just get the ferret at let's find Uncle." I bought the ferret and the vendor gave him to me to hold, the ferret was stiff at first but I petted him and held him.
      "You and I aren't so different little buddy, I'm sure we'll get along. You don't have a home, I don't have a home we can be family and I'll give you looks of food and we'll go on adventures together. It'll be fun what do you say?" Zuko was looking at us with an unreadable expression, "I need a name for him. Zuko what do you think we should name him?" 
      "We? It's your ferret, you name him."
      "But it was with your money! You practically it's father!"
      "There is no way I'm gonna become apart of your dysfunctional family, I already have my own." He scowled. 
      I frowned and looked down at my ferret, "It's okay he'll come around, he's just a hot head."
      "I'm right here," Zuko mumbled.
      "I'm aware Prince Dumby, unlike you I have a brain." We were bickering all the way to the ship to grab rhinos and soldiers to grab Uncle, who had yet to return. A soldier gave me a piece of fish fire ferret. I gave him it and he seemed to get happier and a little more comfortable with me, "Tadashi, that's your name, does that sound good to you Zuko?" 
      "I don't care!" He grumbled and I giggled. We made it back to the spot we left Iroh on the back of komodo rhino's, I was riding behind one soldier, "Uncle! Uncle where are you?"
      The small clearing was empty, not a person in sight. We dismounted and searched the area, "Sir, maybe he thought you left without him," One of the soldiers accompanying us suggested. 
      Zuko and I inspected the hot spring, rocks were tented in the pool that Orh was in, "That's not right, it wasn't like this before Zuko."
      "It looks like there's been a landslide sir," The soldier said.
      I shook my head, "No that's not scientifically possible, rock doesn't slide upward so locally like this. This is geologically impossible, it had to be an earthbender," I concluded, Tadashi chattered next to me and I patted his head.
       Zuko stands up straight from his inspection, "My uncle's been captured. Go back to the ship, I'll find him alone," Everyone else but me left, "Why aren't you going with them? I said I'd do it alone." 
      "Boohoo, I want to come with you, I want to make sure Iroh's safe. Who knows I might be useful," I smiled at him and got on the rhino with him, he tried to protest but he gave up quickly because I was stubborn. Tadashi curled around my neck looking at the scenery as we passed by. "I like it here." 
      "If you like the Earth Kingdom this much wait till you see the Fire Nation Capital. It's more beautiful," Glanced over his shoulder.
      "I meant this world, but you know I'll take your word for it, I hope I do get to see everywhere in this world one day. I just love this world, even with the war it's still beautiful. There was a war in my world going on too. We had a couple of them through history actually, two world wars and a handful of other ones. People seem to be closer knit here, there's more of a sense of community and I like that."
      "There was a war going on in your world too?" Zuko seemed surprised.
      "Not on American soil, we haven't seen a domestic war since 1945, it's 2006 in my home world right now. There's a war that the United States is fighting currently, it's in a desert country across a vast ocean. It's very complicated as to why we are but my sister fought in it. She died when she was 23," I confessed.
      "I know that must be hard, I lost my cousin Lu Ten in this war, he died trying to conquer Ba Sing Se." Zuko tried to relate, he grabbed the hand I had wrapped around his waist so I wouldn't fall, "We just have to remember them and honor their legacy so that they didn't go in vain."
      I smiled softly, "You're right." We rode in silence once again. We came across a sandle after a while and Zuko got off to inspect it. He sniffed and turned green.
      "That's Uncle's alright." I laughed and we kept going. I was looking around when I saw a blue dragon fly past us, with a blue Aang on its back.
      "Woah! did you see that?" 
      "See what?" Zuko asked monotonously. 
      "A dragon it just flew past us! How could you not see it?" 
      "I think you hit your head when came to this world, dragons went extinct." 
      "Whatever, I know what I saw." 
      Just then Appa flew past us, "The Avatar!" Zuko pulled on the rhinos rings to stop it he looked up at the bison flying past us, I didn’t say anything because I wanted to see what he would choose. He ended up going back and follow Iroh’s trail. Down the trail we could hear soldiers talking. We stopped a little before the area they were at, remaining unseen, “Stay here.”
      “No,” I crossed my arms. 
      Zuko stopped me from getting off the rhino, “You aren’t well trained, you’ll get hurt. Stay. Here.” 
      I glared at him, “Fine.” He rolled his eyes and sneaked off. The were a few yells. Wish I could’ve seen the action, but Bossy Prince didn’t let me. Why should I let him tell me what to do? I grumbled about being able to handle myself, and climbed off the rhino, putting Tadashi down on the rhino. That’s when I got grabbed from behind.
      “Look what I found,” A soldier in green uniform said to me. I got dragged to the scene of the fight, Zuko and iroh were facing off against four soldiers, “They had a third person waiting.”
      I struggled against the soldier, “Let me go!”. The soldier put his hand over my mouth to shut me up, and then he put me into some kind of choke hold, his forearm on my throat.  Zuko looked over to where I stood, and he looked enraged. I struggled more,losing air, until I got the idea to bite his hand. I did. Hard. He yelled, and I had a metallic taste in my mouth. I jabbed my elbow into him when his grip loosened. I broke free and spun to punch him in his sternum. I learned somewhere that it really hurts. 
      “You little bitch!” The soldier clutched his chest.
      “Fuck you too!” I punched the air sending fire at him, knocking him over, Zuko proceeded to knock him out. I looked around and the rest of the soldiers were knocked out. I looked over to Iroh, who was only wearing a loincloth. 
      “Now will you please put on some clothes,” Zuko told his uncle. I smiled slightly.
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      That night, I decided to stay in my room. I was listening to music and staring out the porthole, petting Tadashi, who was sleeping in my lap. I wish I stronger, then I wouldn't feel so useless. A knock on my door distracted me from my following thoughts. I looked away from the stars out my window, to see Zuko standing there, "Did I say you could come in?"
      "No, but I'm a prince, I do as I wish." He shrugged, walking through the door and sitting beside me, "Are you okay?"
      "I don't know. I want to be able to hold my own. I hardly know the basics, but I want to be able to do more. If I'm going to be in this quest then I have to right? I could've gotten hurt Zuko. I-" A tear fell, and then the rest came gushing out, "I was scared." I hugged him, "I don't want to be scared anymore."
      He slowly hugged me back, "You don't have to be. I used to be like you, I was so scared of everything but my mom she made everything okay. I knew she would be there to protect me. Until she wasn't and I had to deal with my sister and my father on my own. If you want I can teach you hand to hand combat, that way you don't have to rely on bending and you have something to fall back on while you're still training."
      "Thank you, Zuko," I hugged him a little tighter. I let go and shifted to leaning my head on his shoulder. 
      "What was it like for you? In your world?"
      "Well I mean the general atmosphere was peaceful, like I said, no war has been fought on our soil since Pearl Harbor, but I mean poli-"
      "No I mean your personal life." 
      I was a little taken aback by his question, I didn't think he really cared, "Oh, well I mean. There was my mom and my dad and my sister. We had a dog and it was nice. I had lots of friends in school, me and my sister got along. We were best friends. She joined the army when I was 10. When she died, my mom become distant. She wasn't really there, I know she loves me, she's just grieving. My dad's never home, he's always working to distract himself. I don't know I've spent the past two years practically alone, I had friends at school in those two years but I never brought them home." 
      "That's rough," Zuko hesitated.
      "It is, but you know I got through it and I didn't let the realities of life hurt my view of others, I remained morally good." I smiled, "You just have to keep going without letting world give you leather skin."
      "I guess so." He stood up, walking to the door. Zuko peered over his shoulder, "We start before dawn breaks." 
      "Yes sir!" I saluted him with a mocked serious face.