Wild At Heart (Zuko)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Zuko pulls Kali closer to him as they follow Iroh and the Pai Sho playing into another building. The Pai Sho player makes sure that no one is watching before shutting the door. Inside it becomes apparent that the building is a flower shop. Kali makes a noise and smiles widely moving to check out what they have. The Pai Sho player turns to Iroh.

"It is an honour to welcome such a high-ranking member of the Order of the White Lotus," He tells him. "Being a Grand Master, you must know so many secrets" Zuko glances around the flowers.

"Now that you played Pai Sho, are you going to do some flower arranging, or is this club going to offer some real help?" He voices, Iroh gives him an annoyed but patient look.

"You must forgive my nephew" Iroh offers the Pai Sho player. "He is not an initiate and has little appreciation for the cryptic arts." The Pai Sho player knocks on a door in the back. A small window in the middle slides open and a man peeks through.

"Who knocks at the guarded gate?"

"One who has eaten the fruit and tasted its mysteries" Iroh answers. The door is opened and Iroh and the Pai Sho player enter. Zuko attempts to follow them, but the door is shut in his face. Iroh slides open the door's window. "I'm afraid it's members only. Wait out here" Iroh's eyes then flicker to Kali. "Keep an eye on her" Zuko snorts.

"Pretty sure we don't exist right now" Zuko mumbles to himself as Kali indulges in the plants around them. He softens though, seeing her happy, and she is happy, despite everything going on around them, she has flowers to occupy her. Zuko glances around then leans over to a nearby basket of flowers and takes one from it. Something a deep purple. He sniffs it and glances at Kali who stands and moves to another bundle of plants, she pulls her cloak hood down, letting her red hair fall from where it was tucked away. He hates that she has to hide herself away the way she does. Because she's too obvious. She stands out too much. He looks at the flower in her hand before he moves closer to her. She turns to meet him when he reaches her side. He holds out the flower to her and she looks down at it and then at him, she smiles and takes it from him, bringing it up to sniff it.

....

Zuko sleeps against the wall, Kali tucked into his chest, sat across his lap, his arms wrapped around her. They've clearly been there a while waiting on Iroh. The door opens again and Iroh steps out, causing Zuko to wake and look at him, he then gently wakes Kali who groans but does stand. Stretching a little to work out the kink in her shoulder.

"What's going on? Is the club meeting over?" Zuko asks as he pushes himself to his feet.

"Everything is taken care of. We're heading to Ba-Sing-Se" Iroh answers as Kali yawns, brushing her hair back from her face. She looks down and picks up the flower that Zuko gave her.

"Ba-Sing-Se?" Zuko asks. "Why would we go to the Earth Kingdom capital?"

"The city is filled with refugees" The Pai Sho player answers as he joins them. "No one will notice three more"

"We can hide in plain sight there" Iroh adds. "And it's the safest place in the world from the Fire Nation. Even I couldn't break through to the city" Kali shifts closer to him, her eyes on the fabric sling across his chest, because that is new.

"What is that?" Kali asks, pointing at the sling across Iroh's chest. He smiles and pulls it over his head.

"Ah...A gift..for you, Little Flower" Iroh tells her, she softens, touched by the gesture.

"No one's given me a gift before" She admits as she opens up the sling to find some kind of animal inside. Zuko leans away from it, he's never seen anything like that before. Kali loves it though, she pulls the sling over her head and settles the animal against her chest. "And today I got two" Zuko glances at her, finds her watching him softly. He blushes a little and looks away. She turns back to the animal. "What is it?" She asks. Iroh opens his mouth to answer but then stops, he shrugs.

"I have no idea" Zuko and Kali both look at Iroh at this admission. "I've never seen anything like him before...." He glances behind him. "They found him in the desert..." Kali reaches into the sling and touches the little horn on its head.

"His name is Bing" She offers, head tilted as she listens to him.

"Bing?" Zuko asks, she hums and nods.

"That's what he says" She lifts her eyes to meet Zuko's, he lets out a breath.

"Bing" He repeats and nods in agreement. If that's what it's called he can't exactly argue with it, if that is actually what it is telling Kali. The door to the building suddenly opens and a man steps inside, Zuko grabs Kali's arm to pull her back, to push her behind him, to protect her.

"I have the passports for our guests, but there are two men out on the streets looking for them" The man announces, Iroh and Zuko move to the window to peer outside. They watch as Xin Fu and Master Yu hold up wanted posters to anyone that passes them by. Iroh and Zuko turn to each other and give each other questioning looks. They are suddenly yanked backwards by vines.

....

Two ostrich horses pull a cart that travels out of the village, traversing over the sand dunes. Hidden beneath a straw hat and wearing a cloak, is Kali who holds the reins to the animals. Bing's sling settled nicely against her chest. The cart behind her is filled with flowers, overflowing with them. Zuko suddenly sits up from within the flowers, glaring slightly before he spits a number of flowers from his mouth, Iroh lays next to him in the flowers but looks a lot more content with it compared to Zuko. Zuko lets out a breath before climbing over the end to sit next to her. She smiles at him and he softens. She's very proud of her plan. So is he, actually. He holds out his hand and she hands over the reins to him, content to let him take them the rest of the way. She looks down at Bing whose eyes blink as it wakes up against her.