Wild At Heart (Zuko)

Chapter Nineteen

Zuko and Kali ride the ostrich horses along the road, next to huge tracks that have been marked and dug into the road by the tank-like vehicle. They come to a stop and Zuko jumps down from the ostrich horse's back, moving closer to the tracks. Something very large passed through here. She wasn't kidding about its size. Kali joins him, touching his shoulder before she passes him. He stands to watch her as she steps into the tracks. She takes a deep breath and kneels on the ground. She leans forward and draws her hands into the soil, closing her eyes as she concentrates. Reading the environment around her. Listening to the trees and the plants.

"Angry girl" She whispers and pulls her hands back.

"Azula" He corrects, she nods, Zuko helps her up to her feet.

"Whatever this was..." She looks down at the tracks. "It was her," Zuko notices a cloud of smoke in the distance as Kali climbs up onto the ostrich horse. He moves to climb onto his own, not taking his eyes off the smoke. It has to be the same thing. It has to be connected. "Come on" Kali offers.

"What?" Zuko looks at her.

"You want to follow it still, don't you?" She asks him, he glances at her, the two of them sharing a look. He nods. "So let's go, come on" She nudges her ostrich horse into a walk and Zuko smiles to himself before he follows her. His smile fades when he realises what this means. It means Azula is now hunting the Avatar, which means that Kali will now be in danger if he goes after him. As gifted as she is with plants and animals, Azula will not hesitate to hurt her if Azula feels it will hurt him. He can't be responsible for Kali getting hurt.

"Kali" She hums and glances over her shoulder at him. "When we find the Avatar..." He starts. "If...Azula is there, then I want you to stay out of sight, I want you to hide"

"What?" She asks him. "No"

"You don't know Azula or how she fights" He argues. "But I know and.....I know you are powerful in your own right too, but she's ruthless and she will hurt you, and I...I can't be worried about you whilst I'm fighting her"

"You worry about me?" She asks him, he nods and then realises, he looks at her to find her smirking at him.

"In a very...friend-like way" He defends. "As friends" She raises an eyebrow.

"As friends" She repeats, but there is mischief and amusement in her eyes. He looks away from her, a blush on his cheeks. "I know that" Zuko frowns and turns back to look at her.

"What?" He asks. Kali lifts her eyes from his ostrich horse.

"She's talking about you" She comments, Zuko's eyes shift to the head of the ostrich horse he is riding.

"What is she saying?" He asks. A little alarmed as he searches his memories, trying to work out if he's subconsciously let anything slip around the ostrich mount, he doesn't think he has. He doesn't think he's shown the animal how he feels about Kali.

"Just that you've missed me" Kali offers, a warm smile on her face before it turns teasing. "As friends" He groans and hangs his head as she chuckles. "Just so you know" She starts. "I missed you too" He lifts his eyes to meet hers.

"As friends?" He asks her, she hums and nods before she shakes her head.

"Maybe more than friends" She whispers, he appears surprised that she's just said that. He didn't think she'd be the one to say it. He wasn't sure she even felt anything like that for him. That it was just who she was. That it was just her personality. But the more he thinks about it, the more he realises that she was never like that with Iroh, just him.

"More than friends?" He counters, she nods. Zuko clenches his teeth, trying not to react, trying not to look too much into it. She might not know what she means. She might not understand the implication of what she's saying. He wants to believe. That maybe she feels the same things that he does for her. That would just be the cherry on the cake, with the Avatar in his sight.

.......

Zuko is crouched over the set of tracks that head off in one direction as Kali stands at a tree, listening. Something about this path, this area bothers her. Something is wrong. Different. She can't put her finger on it though, which is why she is asking the trees to talk to her.

"The tracks go this way" He comments and then stands, moving away. Kali shakes her head.

"No" She stops him, Zuko turns to her. "Not that way"

"But the tracks" He points out, she shakes her head, her hand on the tree.

"They spit up" She relays. "All of them...the flying bison went one way...the Avatar another" She frowns a little. "Then angry girl followed him....without the machine" She plucks something soft from the branches and rubs it between her fingers.

"It's fur" Zuko tells her. "From the bison" She hums in agreement.

"The Avatar is using this" She lets the fur float away on the wind. "To draw out your sister" They share a look, he nods.

"That way then" He points away from the tracks where he can see more clumps of fur. Believing and listening to her. He's seen her connection to nature, he's not about to take it lightly. It's got them this far.