The DragonBorn

Chapter 17

It had been a little over a week since Zuko, Iroh and Zeraphina were considered fugitives of the Fire Nation. In order to not get recognized, Iroh and Zuko stopped by a nearby Earth Kingdom town and bought some Earth Kingdom clothes with what little money they had on them. Zeraphina carefully hid her hair in a hood and bought some hair oil that would color her hair to a dark brown color, but because she couldn't die the roots properly, she also bought a head wrap that covered the top of her head.

The three continued to walk around in the woods, avoiding any other people unless they couldn't, until they finally reached a small place in the woods where a river stood nearby to rest. Zuko walked around trying to find something to eat, while Zeraphina went to hide in the bushes while coloring her hair and tying on the headband.

She looked down at the bottle of hair color and sighed as she began brushing it through her hair the best she could. When she was finished, she hardly recognized herself in the small puddle of water on the ground.

"Argh! I didn't find anything to eat!" Zuko shouted as he burst out through the bushes angrily, "I can't live like this. I wasn't meant to be a fugitive. This is impossible!"

Zeraphina stood out from the bushes and walked towards the Prince.

"My Prince, it is either we live like this for the time being or spend the rest of our lives at the mercy of your sister. I'm sure you wouldn't want to take the latter decision." She said.

Zuko turned to her with an angry expression, but his eyes softened when he saw her changed hair color and bandana. To him, she didn't look right with dark brown hair. He brushed it off when he saw his Uncle knelt down in front of a beautiful red and white flower.

"Uncle, what are you doing?" He asked approaching Iroh.

"You're looking at the rare White Dragon Bush." Iroh replied excitedly, "Its leaves make at tea so delicious, it's heartbreaking. That, or it's the White Jade Bush, which is poisonous."

"We need food, not tea. I'm going fishing." Zuko said storming off to the nearby river.

"Wait, My Prince, let me come with you." Zeraphina said following him to the river. He grabbed a large stick and walked into the water, holding the pointed end of the stick at the water and constantly trying to stab a fish to eat. 

Zeraphina couldn't help but smile and chuckle at his attempts to catch a fish. Zuko heard her snickers and chuckles and turned to her with a scowl on his face.

"What are you snickering about?" He asked.

"Nothing, sorry. It's that you're trying too hard." Zeraphina said stilling her snickers.

"What would you know about catching a fish?" Zuko said. Zeraphina smiled and walked over to him, took the stick from his hand and got into position. After a few seconds, she quickly poked the water and pulled out a nice fat fish on the end of the stick. Zuko's eyes widened at the sight of Zeraphina catching a large fish while he never caught a thing. And the sight of Zuko's shocked expression was far too much for Zeraphina to handle and she started laughing loudly.

Zuko sighed and pulled the stick out of her hands before ripping the fish off the point and trying himself. They stayed silent for a while, Zeraphina sitting by the edge of the river while soaking her feet in the cool waters.

"Why did you color your hair like that?" Zuko asked breaking the silence.

"Like you said, we're fugitives. I can't have someone recognizing the flaming red hair of the Fire Nation's greatest weapon, the fearsome DragonBorn." Zerpahina said, waving her arms around dramatically.

"You could've just put on a hood or a headwrap." Zuko argued.

"Then there would be a chance of it being ripped off and revealing the color anyway. And even with my new haircut, my hair would be far too much to hid in a wrap. Trust me, My Prince, it is better for me to change the color of my hair than to try and hide it with something that could be taken in an instant. And besides, with my tanned complexion, combined with this brown hair, I look like I came from the Water Tribe. A perfect disguise."