Wild At Heart (Zuko)

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Kali finds it hard to sleep without some natural connection to nature. She could make something but it wouldn't feel the same. Like Toph noted, it feels different. Not wrong, but not entirely right either. Sleeping far from any connection is difficult for her. So she decides to go out to watch the sunrise through the trees. Just a few hours among nature. Just to herself. Because as great as her new friends are, they are very different from the people she is used to living with. Iroh and Zuko are great, they truly are amazing to her, but quieter and reserved and less likely to scream and shout and act childish in the same way that Aang or Sokka or Toph might be, Katara is slightly more mature than them, more so for her age, but it is a lot to adjust to. Aang rubs his eyes as he sits up, watching Kali as she passes him.

"Where are you going?" Aang asks her, Kali glances at him and then gives him a soft smile.

"I just need some time in the trees" She answers as she crouches in front of him. He still appears half-asleep and she was trying to be quiet so as not to disturb any of them. She was hoping to slip out for a few hours and then come back before any of them woke up.

"Do you want me to come with you?" He counters, yawning into his hand. She chuckles softly and shakes her head.

"No, just go back to sleep" She assures him softly. "I will be back soon" He mumbles something under his breath that sounds like okay as he falls back on his bed to go back to sleep. She smiles and gently taps her fingers on his tattoo, humming lightly before she stands and leaves the room.

.....

Out in the trees, a fair distance from the Inn, Kali finds a nice spot up in the trees, far away enough from the footpaths that she won't be disturbed by anyone passing by. This way she can remove the bending from her skin and revert to her natural green. It is easier to switch back and forth now and with Aang and the others she mostly keeps her 'normal' appearance when they are travelling, she would stand out way too much otherwise and they need to keep a low profile now to keep the Avatar being alive a secret. She leans back against the tree trunk and lets out a happy sigh. That feeling of warmth and belonging floods her. The only thing that would make her feel better is if Zuko were here too and if there was no war and her people were free to come out of hiding, but it is a start. Bing suddenly drops himself into her lap and she chuckles, wrapping an arm around it. He must have followed her out of the inn. She glances down at the ground because she knows that with Bing being here, Ran-Ya won't be far behind him, and she is right. Ran-Ya bounces around the base of the tree, yapping away to himself. Kali smiles and lets out a breath. Her peace has been disturbed by animals. Not that she really minds. She holds up her hand and a vine grows from the branch above her and wraps around her wrist, allowing for her to swing down to the ground with Bing.

"We can sit down here together for a while" She comments as she gets comfortable on the ground, letting the two animals curl up with her. She doesn't want to stay out here too long, not with the uneasy feeling still sitting in her stomach regarding Hama. There is still something that doesn't feel right. The way that nature is reacting in this area adds to it. She's never really felt nature feel fear in this way before. Nervous, yes, but never scared. Never terrified. Something else is going on here and she wants to know if it is a threat to her new friends, if it is a threat to her, if it is a threat to the land itself. If nature is scared, then it is a threat to them. It has to be for them to react that way to some scary unknown force that they don't even want to tell Kali about. They are too scared to even talk. But right now she wants to focus on relaxing and drawing comfort from nature and her animals. She will worry again when she gets up.

......

In the Fire Nation, the hart follows along behind Zuko as he wanders a market stall, a hood up to hide his face. He knows it will be harder for him to hide in the capital. These people will be more familiar with the royal family than anyone else in the Fire Nation. The hart makes a sound behind Zuko who sighs. Because he knows why it is making that noise. Zuko's hungry and if he is hungry then so is the hart that is following him. It's hunger. He owes it to Kali to keep it alive. He can imagine the look on her face if he returned to her without it and that's not a look he wants to see on her. He's seen her looking upset and hurt and he hated it. And he hated the times that he made her feel that way. He looks over a stall of fruits and sighs as his stomach grumbles. It's not like he has much in the way of currency at the moment but he needs food. His supplies from Tian Tang ran dry days ago, he should have paced it out better but he didn't really think he'd be sticking around this long. He could leave and go and find Kali now but he feels like there is something unfinished here. He doesn't know what it is yet, but spending time around Kali has taught him to embrace certain feelings, as if the 'universe' is trying to tell him something. Kali relies on listening to the world around her, and yes, through her visions when she gets them. He's seen it work for her. And maybe it will work for him. So he will stay until he figures out just what the universe is trying to tell him. Even if it keeps him away from Kali.