𝑺𝑬𝑬𝑫 𝑶𝑭 𝑰𝑪𝑯𝑶𝑹 •𝒃𝒙𝒃•

20 ~ cicadas and flutterfires

AN: It's been a while! Apologies, I lost the will to write. I don't have a set schedule for updating, so the updates are gonna be random as heck. Anyways, here's a long chapter ig.

AN: Not beta read, we die like queers.

Guren was honestly fine with walking. Sure, he may have gotten the short end of the stick, but he wasn't a child. He could handle this. What he couldn't handle, however, was Iroh's complaining throughout most of their journey. Not only was he supposed to concentrate on his own self, and how the heat was starting to rise, but he was also supposed to block out the man's grunts and moans.

Please, he didn't sign up for this.

Even after Zuko questioned him about it, Iroh would wave him off and convince him that he was fine, only to continue grunting and moaning as if someone was slowly scraping his skin off. Guren was beginning to wonder what he would actually sound like if something like that were to...happen. Accidentally.

"Enough. Stop." He spoke, stopping as well.

Zuko pulled the reigns on the ostrich horse and Iroh jumped off, huffing and puffing as he made his way over to a rock. He sat down, swiftly grabbing onto his shoulder and breathed out. To think that he'd end up with someone more dramatic than Sokka. Sokka. Was that even possible? He shook his head, turning to look at the older man.

"You alright?" He asked, pointedly staring at where his hand laid.

Iroh smiled, casually answering, "I'm an old man, even my bones hurt at this point."

Their third companion joined them on the ground, eyes narrowed in what looked like annoyance. What a caring nephew, looking so distraught and worried about his dear ol' uncle. How lovely. It wasn't long before things went wrong, as always. The ostrich horse stiffened, turning to stare into a single direction, and Zuko immediately braced himself. Guren followed suit.

"What now?" Iroh grumbled, uninterested.

Within moments, they were surrounded by none other than Fire Nation soldiers.

Iroh stood up, taking a few steps closer to where Zuko was. "Colonel Mongke, what a pleasant surprise."

Great. This was just great. Not only was he forced to walk, forced as in he was too prideful to say anything, now he was going to be forced to fight? What a lucky turn of events! It's not like he was tired, no, of course not. He was as rested as a newborn doe, ready to jump around at a moment's notice!

"If you're surprised we're here, then the Dragon of the West has lost a few steps." Without waiting for a response, the man, along with his comrades, took out their weapons, each carrying a different one.

Weapon specialists, perfect.

"I'll take out the long-ranged one."

As if on cue, a flaming arrow flew towards him. Ducking, Guren locked his wrist and harshly twisted his hand to the side, watching as the bow-wielding man froze, the bow slipping out of his hold. Straightening up, he broke out into a run towards the weapon. As he drew near, he raised one of his feet and brought it down atop the wooden instrument, wherein a single crack echoed. Closing his fist, he heard the man grunt, and then Guren watched him keel over and collapse from atop the rhino.

With the animal now being a free ride, an idea popped into his mind.

A minute later, he found himself regretting the decision. He held onto the reigns of the animal, but it wouldn't listen no matter what he did. Well, it was actually a stupid idea because the rhino had a rider, a rider to whom it was possibly loyal to. Of course it wasn't going to let Guren ride it just because he wanted to.