Unbroken Spirit II (Zuko x OC) (Book 2)

Chapter 4

Nakota:

I wish we still had Iroh here with us, Zuko and I have been traveling for days now without any food and a small amount of water. Here and there, I would search for some water for us but only found a few small portions. Zuko and I also took turns riding, who ever stopped riding either slept or relaxed.

"We need to stop somewhere." I spoke tiredly. I was resting my head against his back as we walked across a bridge.

"No, we have to keep moving." He muttered.

I groaned and hit my head on his back with a huff. Just then, part of the bridge fell from under us and we stumbled. I was wide awake now and pulled on the reigns from the ostrich-horse with Zuko. We finally made it past the bridge, sighing in relief. That was too close.

"Are you okay?" Zuko asked me, I know he could tell I was still a little jumpy.

"Yeah. Yeah I'm okay." I let out and wrapped my arms around his waist for comfort. This was a normal thing for us to do, it just made us feel safe.

We still rode around for a while, until we smelled something...delicious? Zuko stopped and we saw a gigantic, tasty looking steak over a fire. Zuko went to grab the handles of his swords until I stopped him.

"Wait, look!" I pointed to a couple near a tree.

The man walked to the woman and started rubbing her belly. She must be pregnant. Zuko loosened his grip from his sword handle and we carried on with our trip. We must've rode for miles since I sensed Zuko getting tired and offered to switch places with him. I think he was having a nightmare or some sort of dream due to him twitching every two minutes. I intertwined our fingers together assuring him he was okay.

"Zuko, look!" I gasped loudly, causing him to briskly wake up. Up ahead we saw a small village. It looked to be Earth Kingdom which was great. "Come on, maybe they'll have some things we need." I motioned for our ostrich-horse to move and we headed to our destination.

~

When we got through the village, we passed by a couple of guys who looked at us strangely. They seemed like they were the trouble type. After some time of searching, Zuko and I stopped at a tiny shop. "Could we get some water, a bag of feed, and something hot to eat?" He held out two coins.

"Not enough for a meal." The man looked at us with sorrow. "Instead, I can get you two bags of feed."

"That's fine, thank you." I said while he nodded and left to go grab the feed.

I saw two kids poking their heads out from the corner of my eye. They appeared to be giggling and playing. Suddenly, one of them threw an egg toward one of the men behind us, who stared us down from before. In a hurry, they bolted and ran away from the scene.

"Hey!" One of them called out. "You throwing eggs at us strangers?" They then began approaching us.

"No." Zuko bluntly replied.

"You see who did throw it?"

"No." Zuko slightly turned to him and gripped his swords.

The man then looked to me. "What about you?" I shook my head.

"That's your favorite word, "no"?" The others remarked.

"Maybe." I muttered which caused Zuko to nudge me.

"Egg had to come from somewhere." The man, who I'm guessing is their leader, questioned.

"Maybe a chicken flew over." Zuko's comment had me almost wanting to double over laughing. But for our sake, I kept my mouth shut, containing my smile.