Wild At Heart (Zuko)

Chapter Nine

Kali swims through a lake close to where they have set up camp for the night. They've been travelling a while now and it's not very often they get to stop off in places with bathhouses, so they rely on nature, which suits Kali just fine. Zuko and Iroh, being fire-benders, obviously prefer the comfort of warm water, but Kali actually likes the cold water, she likes how refreshing it feels. Zuko sits on the lake edge with a knife in hand, and a dead fish in his other hand. He concentrates on trying to debone and fillet it up. His hair is longer now, not by a lot, but into a nice even brush cut. He's shirtless. There are still some droplets of water dripping from him from his own swim. Whether he likes the cold or not. They all needed a wash after the last few days. He holds up the fish towards where she is swimming and raises an eyebrow, she cocks her head and looks over it.

"Better" She offers. He huffs and drops the poorly gutted fish to the stone he was using as a table. He's never had to look after himself this much before. And he'd reluctantly gone to Kali for help. He had watched her skin and prepare a dead duck for cooking, so he knew that she knew what to do. She's been teaching him. Slowly. It turns out he's a terribly impatient student. And he gets frustrated that he can't do something the right way. He can hear the water moving as he picks up another fish from beside his feet. He is very determined to get it right. Whether to prove to himself that he can do it, or to show her that he can do it. Kali leaves the lake and moves towards him, standing in front of him. He lifts his eyes and almost drops the fish in his hand. She's standing in front of him in nothing more than her underwear. Water dripping down her body. It is something he's noticed with her. That she is less ashamed about being undressed around them. And she is beautiful, he sees that. And he's been seeing it more and more of her. And he's feeling things more and more when he looks at her. He's eighteen, it's not that he hasn't thought about girls. It's not like he hasn't been intimate with someone. Once. It wasn't terrible, but it also wasn't great. He went with that girl because he thought it was what he was supposed to do at that age. Perhaps not the best reason to do so. "You have to be gentler" She comments.

"What?" He asks, snapping out of his thoughts, she gives him a look and then motions to the fish.

"With the knife...softer strokes...." She instructs. "Longer....." She sits with him and picks up another fish to do one herself. Zuko watches as she picks up a knife and just does it. Easily. No overthinking it. He tilts his head slightly.

"You can understand them, right?" Zuko asks, she looks at him and frowns. "The fish?" She then nods. "Other animals?"

"It's part of it, yes" She answers.

"So you know how they feel when you kill them?" He counters, she lets out a breath and nods. "You know what they are thinking....?" She nods again. "Does it ever upset you?" She looks at him.

"No" She answers. And she means it. She can't let it get to her like that. She doesn't think she'd get up in the morning if she did. She's learnt how to filter it better. 

"Never?" He counters, she shrugs a little.

"It did, when I was younger, before I understood...." She corrects herself. "Now, I've learnt how to be gentle about it...I tell them I'm sorry and I always try and find older animals, those that have lived a life....and" She shrugs a little. "I thank them" Zuko leans forward and raises an eyebrow.

"You thank them?" He asks, she hums and nods.

"They are giving their life to give me food, it's the least they deserve" She admits softly as she picks up a little dish from the stone that they are using as a little table. She sniffs at it, trying to work out if it needs anything else added to it. It's just a few mashed up berries. Intended for a sauce to go with the fish that Zuko is butchering and not in the good way. She hums as she tastes it from her fingers. "Here" She smears some of it onto her fingers. "Try this" She holds out her hand to him. He stares at the offered hand and then looks at her. She gives him an encouraging nod and he takes her wrist in his hand before pulling it closer. The jam-like sauce is right there in front of him. He is just about to taste it when they are interrupted.

"Look at this!" Iroh shouts as he leaves the trees. Zuko jumps, surprised, knocking the dead fish into his lap and Kali ends up smearing the sauce all over his cheek.

"Uncle" Zuko scolds as he lets out a breath, calming himself down. Kali chuckles against her knees, highly amused. Zuko gives her an unimpressed look but it is very rare that she gets like this. When she genuinely seems happy with them. Iroh worries a lot that they aren't helping her. That they are just making things worse for her. But when she laughs. And smiles and seems happy. He can feel good about what he did for her. For buying her. For setting her free. Zuko drops the fish back onto the stone and lets out a breath.

"What did you find?" Kali asks and holds out her hand for whatever it is.

"Look at the colour of this stone" Iroh sets a tinted green stone into her palm. She smiles and turns it around. It is beautiful. "I thought it might be a good one to practice earth-bending" Iroh offers. Zuko and Kali both give him a weird and confused look. She's not an earth-bender. Plants and animals are her things.

"Earth-bending?" She asks him and then shakes her head. "No, I don't think I can" She holds out the stone. "I can't do that"

"Stone is part of nature" Iroh takes it from her and turns it around in his hand. "Just as the tree is, just as the fish is, just as the river is...." She pulls a face. "You can try" Iroh offers. "Just try" He holds back the stone. "Just try" He offers softer, motioning with his free arm for her to use a bending move. But that's not how she does it.

"It's not like how you all do it" She admits. "It doesn't work like that" She lets out a breath. "I don't need the flashy" She motions with her hands, almost mocking the other benders. Iroh smirks a little as she takes back the stone. She curls her fingers around the stone and takes a deep breath.

"So how does it work?" Iroh asks her. She lets out the breath and uncurls her fingers.

"It's more about feeling a connection....linking myself..." The stone floats up out of her palm and Zuko leans back watching. "And once I have that connection" She smirks a little and curls her wrist. The stone breaks into hundreds of little pieces. She wiggles her fingers and it reforms into the one stone before she reaches up and catches it out of the air.

"So you can do it" Iroh teases. "Huh, Little Flower?" She smiles up at him and he almost melts, how long since someone looked at him like that? With pride and excitement. Like he's this parental figure imparting wisdom. Zuko doesn't always listen to him. But Kali. It's like a fresh start for him. Someone to care for and look after. Someone that needs it. Someone that has never had someone to look after them the way they need it. His stomach suddenly rumbles and Zuko smirks to himself and shakes his head. Iroh touches his stomach and chuckles. "Any idea how long dinner is going to be?" Iroh asks them, Kali turns a look on Zuko.

"We will have fish when he gets it right" Kali argues and drops a new fish in front of Zuko. He gives her a look.

"Then not for a very long time" Zuko comments and then holds out the fish. "You might as well just do it yourself"

"No, come on" She argues. "What if you have to do this yourself? What if I'm not here to cut up your fish for you?"

"Why?" Zuko is quick to argue. "Where are you going?" She softens a little and shakes her head.

"Nowhere" She answers and he looks down, blushing and fighting a smile. He likes that she doesn't plan on going anywhere. That she wants to stay with them. She takes the fish from him. "I'm not going anywhere" She assures them and smiles up at Iroh who touches her shoulder.