Wild At Heart (Zuko)

Chapter Forty

Bing almost tumbles off of a roof when he stops, sliding slightly only to be caught by Kali who chuckles softly, pulling him up to sit on her shoulder. Bing instantly holds onto her. There are too many people below for her to risk jumping down. Instead, Kali pulls herself back into her cloak hood. Her eyes shift through the crowd to find the lemur. But instead, she senses pygmy panthers. Three of them. Stalking around the crowd. Looking for something. She takes a breath and concentrates on them. Trying to either contact them or to find out if they are indeed going after Momo. The panthers growl and finally make their move, all of them leaping into the crowd. Kali moves too. Leaping to the ground below and races towards the crowd pushing through people, weaving and dodging trying to keep track of the animals she is pursuing. She sees Momo as he tries to take flight, but as he tries to fly away, one of the pygmy panthers grabs him around the middle and is taken for the ride, which slows him down in the flight. The other two panthers jump on and all four creatures crash to the ground. Kali slips free of the crowd and hurries towards where the animals are. Where Momo is pinned to the ground by one of his pursuers while the other two stand ready to strike their catch. However, before they can, a net flies in, captures all four of them, and drags them off. Klai slides into cover behind a crate and peers around to watch an animal catcher throw the animals into two separate cages. Kali glares from her cover, clenching her jaw with her anger. She does not approve of animals being kept in cages. For any reason. She is not about to stand by and let this happen. She leaps up onto the roof with Bing and stalks along after the animal catcher. Keeping her eyes locked on him. She is not about to let him walk off with them. The cages are placed onto a cart before the human pulls it along the street. Kali lowers herself to the roof to keep herself hidden as she moves.

.....

Kali follows the cart to what appears to be some sort of butcher's shop. That doesn't make Kali feel any better about the human that captured four innocent animals. She leans on the edge of the roof, looking straight down at the cart and the cages as the animal catcher walk away, heading inside of the butchers. If she is going to free them, it has to be now. She holds out her hand and from her wrist, a vine unravels and lowers towards Momo's cage. The lemur notices and chatters at the vine before he looks up. Kali presses a finger to her lips and winks causing Momo to motion with his hands and she nods along, listening to him. But his chattering is going to draw attention, so she taps her finger against her lips, telling him to be quiet. Momo nods and lowers his eyes to watch the vine as it removes the peg that holds his cage shut. Momo pushes the cage open and begins to run away, he stops and looks back. The pygmy panthers in the cage next to him are staring at him. But the vine moves onto their cage too. Kali wouldn't leave them to this fate. The peg rattles as it is dropped to the floor before the vine curls around the cage door and opens it. The three panthers leap out of the cage and run towards Momo, though there is no hostility this time. They are sharing in their escape and will flee together. But one of the panthers is injured, limping as it tries to follow the others. Likely was hurt during the initial capture. Kali glances at the two men as they leave the butchers before she moves. Kali drops from the roof and hurries toward the injured panther. She scoops it up into her arms and runs after the other animals. She will make sure they are safe and far away from the animal catcher. The panther looks up at her from her arms, softens and snuggles into her chest.

.........

In her abandoned apartment, Kali finds that she has less space now. With Bing, three pygmy panthers and a lemur all pushing for somewhere to sleep, she has to find her own space against the wall, tucked out of the way. She doesn't mind, she won't sleep anyway. The injured panther isn't with its friends though, it is curled up on Kali's lap as she treats its sprained leg. It will be fine with rest. Momo will likely continue on his journey in the morning but for now, for tonight he will stay with Kali and his new friends. Bing wraps his arms around Momo as best he can, hugging to the lemur as he gets comfy in his sleep. Kali smiles softly and lets out a soft breath. It just makes her realise how lonely she is, even with Bing in her life.

......

The morning sun rises over Ba Sing Sa and warms Momo's fur as he steps onto the roof looking for Kali. She is sitting with Bing and the panthers. Momo chatters as he yawns and walks towards them, but then notices what Kali is playing with. She has Appa's fur in her fingers. Momo reaches for the fur, chattering away angrily. She shushes him softly and turns to the pygmy panthers.

"Will you?" She asks them, holding out the fur to them. "Please" One of the panthers uses its mouth to remove the wad of Appa's fur from Kali's hand and she smiles. The panther with the fur then runs off and Momo, chattering loudly, follows after it. Closely tailed by one of the other panthers. The injured pygmy panther chooses to stay with Kali and Bing, sitting at her side as it watches its friends run across the rooftops with Momo. Kali reaches over and picks up the injured panther, it's not going to do it any good walking around on that leg, not that it seems to mind being held by her. She scratches at the top of its head and it purrs. She chuckles softly and stands, heading back inside, Bing follows along behind her.