Wild At Heart (Zuko) **On Hiatus**

Chapter Ten

Iroh sits by the fire, using the light it gives off to read from a book. It's fascinating but anger-inducing. It's Kali's 'instruction manual', meant to teach her masters how best to utilize her and control her.....punish her. It's basically an instruction manual on how to cause her the most pain. Zuko drops an armful of firewood just away from the camp before he moves to join his uncle. Notes the book in his hand.

"What are you reading?" Zuko asks as he sits next to his uncle in front of the fire. Kali sleeps across from them, all wrapped up in blankets to keep her warm.

"Kali spilt the contents of her bag" Iroh answers, not looking up from the book. "I asked about the book, she gave it to me" Zuko looks at him. "Said it was mine now"

"That doesn't tell me what it is" He argues, Iroh nods in agreement and then lets out a breath, closing the book.

"It's an instruction manual" Iroh admits and holds it out to Zuko. "For Kali..." Zuko frowns and takes the book. "A list of everything she can do, everything she is good at. Keywords that snap her into submission and obedience" Iroh's voice takes on a harder angrier tone. "Punishments that work. Those that don't..." Zuko eyes sadden as he reads through some of the pages. "Even what little family history they know about her...." Iroh adds and then shakes his head. "It was written to tell her masters just how to control her, to hurt her" Zuko clenches his jaw, in his own anger. He isn't naïve enough to think that there weren't some methods that her former masters must have used, but he didn't think they were this. "You shouldn't read that" Iroh takes it from him and then mentally scolds himself for letting Zuko look at it. He didn't need to read that. Zuko glances back at Kali, watching her frown in her sleep. Iroh tilts his head slightly as he watches his nephew. "Admit it" Iroh whispers. "You've grown fond of her too" Zuko snorts and shrugs a little.

"She's not terrible" Zuko offers. Iroh smirks to himself, he knows that they've grown close, as friends, perhaps more than. Zuko perhaps needs a friend. Someone his own age to care about him. To support him. To show him a different path. A different way to be honourable.

.......

With the sun rising beyond the trees, Kali is up and foraging, cheating when she can't naturally find what she needs. Enough to feed the three of them through the day if she can, if not, then enough for breakfast at least.

........

Kali is crouching over a wooden bowl, woven using her powers, she's mixing together pieces of fruit and some nuts together to put breakfast together for them. Zuko sits on the ground nearby, watching her. He barely slept, thinking about that book. About the way, they must have found out those things. How many times she had to be hurt for them to make those discoveries. It makes him angry to think of these slavers hurting a child. Because she was just a child. He reaches up and touches his face. He was just a child too.

"Kali" Iroh starts as he moves towards her. She hums and looks up from the bowl to give him her full attention. Iroh shows her the 'instruction manual' book and she raises an eyebrow as she stands. "Have you ever read it?" He asks her, she shakes her head. He holds out the book to her. "Don't you want to know what's in it?" She reaches for the book before she lets her hand fall at her side, looking away from it and them. It's not like she knows what's in the book. Even if she wanted to. She can't read it. She can't know what it says because she doesn't know how to read it. "You can't read" Iroh realises. She clenches her jaw and closes her eyes. "Of course" He whispers. She was a slave for the majority of her life, no one would have thought to teach her. Wouldn't have thought it was as important as cooking, cleaning, likely sewing skills. Other skills. She glances between the two of them before she flees. She walks away from them, not really wanting to stick around. She feels embarrassed enough as it is about it, let alone being called out on it.

.......

Zuko finds Kali later, sits at her side as she stares out over the lake, she has her arms wrapped around her knees. She's clearly upset about being called out. She's 18, most likely, and she can't read. And she can't write. They weren't deemed important by anyone that owned her. Even Raya. None of them cared enough. She turns her head away from him as tears roll down her cheeks. She's not full-on crying, but her emotions are there, on the edge. Threatening to spill over. Zuko picks up a pebble from the ground.

"I can teach you" He whispers, she turns to look at him.

"What?" She asks him, unsure what she heard.

"I can teach you to read" He elaborates, turning the pebble over in his hand. "You...have attempted to teach me how to cook...so if you want to read...I can teach you" She smirks a little and then leans against his side. He almost stumbles over, surprised by it before he rights himself, dropping the pebble to wrap an arm around her shoulders.

"I want to read," She tells him, he nods and then looks at her. It's warming, doing this for her, offering this to her. She's shown him how to take care of himself, as much as he has taken it in, she's tried. He can do this for her.

"Then I will teach you" He adds. "Maybe you can teach me something else. Something I might actually be able to do" She chuckles and nudges him.

"I will teach you to cook" She counters, firmly. She fully intends to teach him how to cook. To make it through the whole process. The kill. The foraging. All of it. She will get him to do it. He turns to her and she gives him a soft thankful smile. He brushes the remains of her tears from her cheeks.

"You shouldn't cry over what they did" He whispers. "Or didn't do" He adds and pulls his hands back. "Uncle made sure they can't hurt you anymore" She's not sure she believes that. So many have promised her softness but it soon turned sour. It wasn't long till they showed their true colours. Iroh and Zuko have lasted longer than the others. She is starting to believe they are different, but she doesn't want to cave and then they change. It might actually be worse if these two turn out like all the others. She sniffles a little.

"What does it say?" She asks him. "In that book?" Zuko shakes his head. 

"Nothing important" He answers. She doesn't need to know what they wrote in there. She doesn't need to know what they said about her. He stands and then holds out his hand towards her, she takes it and he pulls her up to her feet. He keeps hold of her hand as he leads her back towards their camp.