Little Soldier Boy

At Dawn

The next day they were out of the desert as no one said much about before. The sand benders gave them as much supplies as they needed for the days they had to travel and brought them to a waterfall by a river back into the earth kingdom.

They camped at the river for the night to rest as much as possible.

The next morning, just as the sun started to come up, everyone went to wash off in the river but ended up with Aang and Katara training.

Zuko looked at his reflection in the river seeing his hair was starting to grow out more with his hair covering his ears a little and tickling his nape.

"You alright?" Toph asked as Zuko was knee high in the river as he was washing as mush sand off his skin.

"Tired," he replied.

"Didn't sleep last night?" Sokka noticed them.

Zuko didn't say anything as he cupped water in his hands and rinsed through his hair.

"Are.. are you alright man? The desert was pretty intense," Sokka raised a brow at him unsure.

"We survived didn't we?" Zuko frowned not understanding as he shook his now wet hair.

Sokka pursed his lips a little and put his hands up in defense, he tried to get the guy to open up but it wasn't working.

"Do you know where we ended up now?" Zuko got out of the water and sat to put his boots back on while Sokka was looking at their map.

"I'm guessing about here, and ba sing se is here, it's probably a two day trip on foot before we get to this little passage that's the only sliver of land here called the serpents past," Sokka pointed as he looked over curiously.

"That's a lot of mountains," Zuko groaned a little.

"I think there's a village or camp near by a few miles up, it's far enough that it feels the same so we could stop there to buy some real food," Toph joined them.

"If it's a refugee camp then there won't be food, there's usually not a market," Zuko explained with a shrug.

"Well if the avatar is there," Aang walked over with a smile as Katara was ringing her hair out.

Zuko kept his eyes down as he got quiet not engaging anymore.

"We should pack up now and get moving so we can get there by tomorrow night," Katara started to braid back her wet hair.

Sokka and Katara noticed Zuko was the first one up and on his own to gather what little supplies he was in charge of.

"Is he still mad at me?" Aang rubbed his neck awkwardly.

"I don't think he's mad at you Aang," Katara sighed a little as she put on her dry clothes.

"He's afraid," Toph shrugged.

"Afraid?" Aang wasn't expecting that. No one was.

"I think, that's what his heart feels like when he's around Aang, nervous and fearful now, before it was angry, there's a difference," she explained picking the dirt out of her toes a little.

"The avatar state," Aang understood now.

"You don't have to talk about me behind my back," Zuko said boredly walking past them as he was tying a bag around his shoulders.

"We're not!" Katara squeaked.

"Power like what with someone emotionally unstable freaks me out, what can I say?" He raised a brow calmly as if it was obvious.

"Are we going or what?" Zuko asked ready to go.

-

"How close are we to a village?" Sokka whined as they walked through the dry forest that had patches around of green grass.

"It's only been a few hours," Katara rolled her eyes.

"Toph where is a village?" Sokka continued to whine.

"Just cause we passed the refugee camp doesn't mean there's a village any closer, we're closer to ba sing se," Toph groaned getting fed up with the whining.

"So?" Sokka stuck out his tongue.

"This close to the city, those who can't afford to enter or just can't get there at all are going to be in the villages, as in below the low class citizens," Zuko explained in the back.

"Low class?" Katara looked back confused.

"High class, middle class, low class," Toph nodded. "The Beifong family is very high class,"

"Where will we be?" Aang asked.

"Well since we're with the avatar I have a feeling it'll be high class," Toph said dryly.

"Oh yea," he laughed awkwardly.

"Wait," Zuko stopped in the middle of a step and looked back at something in the distance.

"What?" Katara asked now worried.

"Someone's coming," Toph was alert.

"Fire nation," Zuko saw a mark on two trees.

"Aang hide," Sokka gasped a little as he grabbed his boomerang when they could hear foot steps coming closer.

"Who's there?" A voice called as Zuko got to the front of the ground. Aang squeaked and jumped up with a boost to hide in the trees.

"Oi Jay! if you bastards are out of camp again this early-" an older man shoved a bush out of the way and faced the teens in front of him.

Zukos jaw dropped shock as the man gasped a little before going after the fire bender.

Katara and Sokka raised their hands to attack as Zuko was grabbed harshly by the shirt. Only to be pulled into a tight embrace by the older man.

"oh my spirits, youre alive my boy,"