COLLISION - a zuko and yue centric tale

Chapter sixteen

Yue's hair was back in its elaborate contortion act. White strands braided and pinned with ivory hair pieces. Not a single lock out of place. Rouge on her cheeks made from berries native to the Earth Kingdom. Imported for the princess of the Water Tribe. Yue raised her head. She had a mission.

Tui had told her to go to Ba Sing Se. The Earth Kingdom. For a pilgrimage, Tui had said, one of five. Yue had never been to Ba Sing Se, due to fears for her safety. As her father's only heir, she was more important than mere familial attachment would call for. Her husband would be the future of the tribe. As Tui, Yue didn't fully comprehend how big her role would need to be, she didn't want to. Yue had simple responsibilities before. Important ones, to be sure. Ones that had to be completed just so, but they were still simple. Be sweet, get married, produce an heir. That was it. Yue had always sought for more, and had been stopped enough that she stopped trying sometime long ago. Now that she had more, Yue panicked. She didn't know what to do. Yue felt ungrateful for the life that she had been allowed to keep, rather than dying a martyr. She would have been better off as a martyr. That was the easy way out, Yue felt, before chastising herself for those thoughts.

How to get to Ba Sing Se? Yue could always steal another kayak. Surely she couldn't drown at sea, as a spirit closely connected to the moon, one with water? Men would be sent after her. Her father wouldn't tolerate Yue straying so far, no matter what respect he held for the spirits. Yue could tell him the truth, what Tui had told her. Perhaps open with wanting to go to the Earth Kingdom in order to strengthen bonds with the Earth King? The Earth King didn't travel himself, seemingly staying cloistered in his palace for safety. As ruler of Ba Sing Se, a safe haven, trust in the city would shatter if anything happened to him. Yue could present it as both a mission from Tui and as an opportunity to bond with the Earth Kingdom. With the recent attack fresh in the people's memories, they might be more open to change, seeing the need for it. They were the nation of change, after all. The war had ruined that. It wasn't their natural state.

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Azula, princess of the Fire Nation, stood at the helm of her ship, eyes fixed on the horizon. Her destination was Zuko, who was surely somewhere in the Earth Kingdom by now. She just had to find him, and bring him home. In what condition, it didn't matter.

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The kayak's shallow bottom scraped along the sand as Zuko leapt out with frantic fervour. Land. He was never so happy to see land. The last sip of water had been staring at him from out of his canteen as he debated whether or not to drink it. His survival training had been lacking as it was assumed that he would always be taken care of as crown prince, but he swore he could still hear Iroh's advice ringing in his ears nonetheless. It was better to drink water as you needed it. Once you were horribly thirsty your mind would be next and there was no coming back from that. Water sloshed in Zuko's boots as he pulled the kayak ashore, taking out his things and hiding the kayak itself in some bushes.

Whose territory he was in, Zuko didn't know. It was either Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom. Spying first was necessary to find if he needed to steal some clothes in order to fit in. Satisfying his thirst was important but he would most definitely be killed if he was found by the Earth Kingdom. He could go a little longer without water. Luckily, finding water and finding people was synonymous.

He walked a few meters back into the treeline. Anyone else would be walking on the open shore, presuming they were meant to be there, and if they were Earth Kingdom and saw Zuko's odd mixture of grey and Fire Nation red and Water Tribe blue, might just attack first and ask questions later. Streams of fresh water from the mountains would go down into the ocean, so he had the best chance of finding it if he continued walking parallel to the shoreline.

The sun still managed to beat down on him from through the trees. He loved the heat, he was from the Fire Nation, after all, but he still needed water. He had drunk the last sip and now was taunted by the massive body of water to his right. Stupid salt water. Brush crashed around Zuko. He might as well walk on the beach if he was going to make so much noise. In a slight delirium after hours of walking and finding no water or even dew drops, Zuko did walk out onto the beach while rounding a turn.

The sand was hot under his feet but he could trudge forward without any stupid branches obstructing his path. His vision still got blurrier and his shoulders slumped as his limbs grew into lead weights. He was just so tired...

Zuko didn't hear the people up ahead. He didn't hear the chattering voices out for a stroll. He did see the group of people suddenly appear in front of him. He did hear the voice of his uncle, asking him what he was doing. Zuko blearily looked into Iroh's worried face and frowned. What was he doing?....

The world went black.

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"I need to go to Ba Sing Se." Yue looked into her father's eyes, holding his gaze. "I can strengthen our connection to the Earth Kingdom, which is something that we will need to do as we can't survive another attack from the Fire Nation, especially without the Avatar near... and I need to go as Tui needs to."
The Chief sighed. He gazed out the window for a long time, observing the hustle and bustle of the city below, still working on repairing the damage from the Fire Nation's attack. Most of the physical harm had been repaired. The true wounds would be forever carried by the people and the generations to come.

He did not want to let his daughter go. He had once thought he had lost her and had been devastated. How could he willingly let her travel to another land, one which he had not been in in decades? Perhaps it had changed. Perhaps Ba Sing Se was no longer the impenetrable fortress it used to be. Stone always crumbled, after all. As a member of the Water Tribe, he held little faith in the earth. It was not what made the foundation of his home. No, water was much more resilient. Part of the resilience, the Chief thought, was due to their spiritual connections. Tui and La... Yue, and La. It was always her destiny, wasn't it? To leave? Her spiritually ordained future was to leave, at least for now, and he had to step out of the way.

"You'll need a guard." He swallowed, still watching the workers repairing the damage to the city.
"What?" Yue blinked. Then it hit her. "Oh! Thank you, thank you, father! Thank you so much." Yue cried, embracing her father. His arms wrapped around her and held her tight.

A/N:

I am never going to finish this chapter the way I want to so I'm just gonna publish it as it is, which is very short and tiny but stuff happens! Hope you all enjoyed it!

Please let me know what you think. Any comments, suggestions, or critique is extremely appreciated!!!

Also, note that updates will probably not be frequent (every few weeks probably) as I have other projects to be working on and this year the universe is trying to give me an aneurysm really really hard. Good stuff has happened though! I'm trying to be positive!!! Anyways. Stay tuned for what happens next!!!