Fire Ferrets [3] Bolin

Chapter 38

I groan softly as I open my eyes. Light immediately fills my eyes and I move my head around slightly to take in my surroundings. I'm in a small hut with small decorations hanging on the wall. My head tilts as I look at them. I remain lying down but I look at the posters hanging and I feel my eyes getting latched to the dragons taking over the canvas. The fire nation is home to a lot of dragon paintings, but these ones just seem so realistic. Whoever painted this must have come face to face with a dragon. But dragons are a rarity within the world after Sozin tried to force them into extinction, who could have seen one to paint its beauty. My mind pauses. Ori.

I shoot up and my body shouts out in pain from my sudden movement. I can tell that Korra has healed me, but my body is still weak which isn't helpful. After my fight with Izuk I knew I would be weak, but I don't like how weak I have become. I've never fought against another heatbender and it was honestly a lot harder than I thought. I don't know whether it's because it's hard to fight a heatbender or whether he's just that good. And that worries me. But the only thing that brings me some calm is that I managed to stop him from hurting my friends. I stopped him from killing my friends.

I move my legs off the bench I was lying on and I climb off. I groan as my head spins from the sudden movement but I don't let it stop me as I stumble to the door. I walk outside and my eyes squint from the sunlight for a moment as they adjust.

"Ulazu, you're awake," I hear a voice say. I turn to see Asami walking towards me. She smiles as she reaches my side, her hand gently taking mine, but my eyes are locked on her as I frown.

"What happened, did someone hit you?" I ask as I move my free hand to her face where a bruise is forming. she winces slightly as I touch it and she moves away.

"I'm fine, I'm more worried about you," she says and I look away from her and release her hand.

"I'm okay," I say looking around, "where is everyone?" I ask and she takes my hand again. I turn to her and she gives me another smile before tugging me towards a larger building in the middle of the village. I had no idea this place existed here, I honestly thought it was a deserted island. Since when were people living here? I should have known, this is my nation, I should really know what's going on.

Asami pushes the door open and guides me inside. Straight away my eyes land on Bolin who jumps out of his seat and rushes to me. He smiles and puts a hand on my shoulder, his eyes desperately trying to meet mine but I'm too busy taking in everything. Ori sits at the head of the table with Korra, Mako and another woman.

"Hey, you okay? How are you feeling?" Bolin asks forcing my attention to move to him. His eyes bore into mine in search for answers and I sigh as I feel Asami let go of my hand as she sits down beside Korra.

"I'm all right, Bo. What's going on? Where's Izuk, what happened?" I ask quickly. Bolin sighs and pulls me into a hug which I return, but I pull back quicker than I think he wanted. I take his hand in mine and walk towards the table, my eyes moving to Ori who stands as he meets my eye.

"Princess Ulazu, it's good to see you again. I'm glad you're back on your feet," he says, his thick beard moving as he talks.

"It's good to see you too, I didn't expect anyone to be on this island," I admit and he lets out a breath.

"Yes, we've been here for close to a year now. I was going to inform you at our annual meeting, but I believe you were already in Republic City," He says and I nod.

"Right, we postponed," I mutter when I remember. We usually have annual meetings with the small clans surrounding the nation to ensure we are all on the same page and things are running smoothly with the main Fire Nation sectors and the small clans that have asked for independence, "so what about Izuk?" I ask. Bolin puts a hand on my shoulder and sits me down in the chair beside Mako and he quickly slides into the seat next to me.