DEAR DICTATOR → zuko

╸five : the decision

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❝ the decision ❞

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     NARI RUBS HER sleepy eyes, dry and weary from having been glued open all night.

     She groggily stares at the path in front of her, tugging on the reigns of her rhino's saddle to bring it to a stop behind Zuko. She stares at him blankly, sparing a single blink empty of emotion. "We stopped,"

     "Yeah," Zuko jumps off of his rhino. "I think I found something."

     Nari narrows her eyes to the ground in front of Zuko as he crouches. "You found a shoe..." She's almost disgusted. What good could a sandal do?

     The boy picks it up without caution, grabbing it like an apple. And he sniffs it.

     "Eugh!" She cranes her neck to stare at him, nose scrunched. "You're seriously smelling that?" 

     "Yep," He rears his chin back. "That's Uncle Iroh."

     "Gross..." She says lowly, her lip curling up in disgust.

     Zuko hops back upon his rhino, just as dead set as he was before, and he glares over his shoulder. "Well how else would I have known Iroh's been here?"

     "I dunno. Maybe there's some kinda animal that can sniff him out for you. Unless you just like to smell your uncle's feet." Nari says, shifting to a more comfortable position. Sitting for this long was taking a toll on her joints. "But that brings up another issue."

     "I know how his shoe looks, Nari. He's my family."

     "A flip flop is pretty common," She rolls the rhino's reins in between her fingers again, waiting for Zuko to lead their take off. "I think you have a thing for feet,"

     "I do not!"

     Nari whistles, looking to the other guards to hide her laughter. "Take it easy, ponytail." she slouches back against her saddle's rims. "I was just tryna' get a rise from you. It worked, too." She cocks a smoothly arched eyebrow, amused.

     Zuko turns sharply to the front, eyes fixed ahead of him. "Not funny."

     Nari cracks a chuckle, sighing aimlessly. "Nothing ever is with you," She chimes, watching the green leaves flutter as they pass.

     They follow a set of ostrich-horse hoof prints, and since Nari's eyes are glued to the trail, she doesn't notice the bison flying above them. She also has never seen a bison in person before, so the shadow passing over the ground just looks like another cloud to her.

     "The Avatar..."

     Nari's curiosity gets the better of her. She ignores Zuko's initial tug on his rhino and cranes her neck skyward, watching as the bison glides along the big blue above her. Now that's some way to travel...

     "Look at that," Nari follows them through the sky. "I told you we'd catch up."

     We?! We?! She's not catching up with the Avatar. She and Zuko are not a team. There is no we!

     Why'd she even say that?

     Nari pinches the bridge of her nose, shaking her head. It's not important, and Zuko's not quick enough to catch the small collapse of her wording. "What are you going to do? Chase after your uncle or chase after the Avatar?"