Protected Princess || Zuko

11 || Zuko

I woke up and rubbed my eyes. I look at the wall I'm facing towards, hoping that when I sit up I'll see Iroh awake.

"Good morning." I hear Zuko say. I sit up and turn towards his voice. "I made some tea and rice for breakfast." He continues.

I look over and see Iroh still unconscious.

"Thank you for the breakfast, Zuko." I say smiling, "Thats really nice of you." I get up and walk over to him.

"I didn't think you'd wake up so early, the tea isn't done yet." Zuko says.

I laugh, "Thats okay, Zuko. I didn't think you'd wake up so early either." I reply.

"I only slept for an hour." Zuko says, checking on the tea.

"Couldnt sleep?" I question.

"Yeah." Zuko says pouring the tea.

I look outside and notice it's still slightly dark out but the sun is rising.

My face glows and I quickly get up, grabbing the pot of rice. I set it on the porch of the house and run back inside.

"What are you doing?" Zuko asks holding the two cups of tea.

I grab my cup of tea before I speak, "I want to show you something." I say smiling.

Zuko gets up and walks out onto the porch with me.

"I don't see anything." Zuko says.

I laugh slightly and sit down next to the pot of rice, "Were watching the sunrise," I say as I lightly grab Zuko's arm, motioning him to sit next to me, "Our situation may not be the best right now, but there's still beauty all around us." I say smiling looking at the horizon that gets brighter by the minute.

I look over at Zuko and see him looking at the horizon as well.

"Have you ever watched the sun rise?" I question.

"No, I haven't." Zuko replies, grabbing rice into his bowl.

"I used to watch them all the time at home. Me and Yue used to make shadow puppets on the walls when the sun hit just the right way." I say laughing, also grabbing rice. "They weren't very good shadow puppets but we had big imaginations."

"Whats so special about them?" Zuko questions.

"You'll see." I say smiling, looking towards the sky.

The sky turned orange and yellow and the sun began to rise. As the sun came up, the sky changed to a deep orange around the giant star and the sky further from it became a brilliant shade of pink. Hints of blue peaked through the clouds as the sun rose.

"Isn't it beautiful?" I ask, looking at the sky, smiling.

"It is." Zuko says. In my peripheral vision, I notice that he looks over to me, but before I can look back at him his head turns. My face grows confused, but I look back at the sky.

"Now! Now is perfect!" I say to myself as I turn slightly to the side. I make a shape with my hands, against the wall. The sun creates a shadow against it.

"What is that?" Zuko says confused.

"Listen, okay, I told you me and Yue weren't good at this." I say laughing, "Its an ostrich-horse." I say smiling, looking at Zuko.

He looks at me confused.

"Okay maybe use a little bit more imagination and you'll see it." I say sarcastically.

Zuko smiles more than I've seen him smile before, but I could still tell he was holding it back.

"I guess I can see it." Zuko says.