Wild At Heart (Zuko)

Chapter Seventy-Three

So as not to disturb Katara, Sokka, and Toph, Aang and Kali move away from the little camp and head into the trees, which will help them anyway. Having the trees around them will help to connect Aang to nature. For her it is as natural as breathing, it's woven into her to feel that. Aang needs to forge a connection first. She's not really sure how to do that for him, but she can try and explain the way she does it, and hope that it can translate well for someone that isn't naturally linked to nature in the way she is. She touches the trunk of a tree and closes her eyes before she turns back to Aang.

"Sit" She motions to the ground and he does as he is told, eagerly awaiting. Kali has been travelling with them for a while now and he didn't want to push her on this. "Close your eyes" She tells him softly, Aang gives her a look and then takes a deep breath as he closes his eyes. "Naturebending is about the connections around you" Kali sits across from him. "The grass to the earth to the wind even the warmth...that even the moon gives off...."

"You can't feel that" Aang argues, Kali leans forward and chuckles softly.

"I can" She tells him and holds out her arm. "It's subtle, and you have to be tuned in, but you can feel it too" He opens his eyes to look at her as she stares up at the moon above them. "Naturebending is about feeling those connections...And everything is connected through those threads" She states. "Threads that weave the fabrics of the world together"

"It's beautiful" Aang tells her warmly. "The way you see the world"

"It is the way that nature showed me to see it" She admits. "It's not something I was taught, it's just the way it has always felt to me" She shrugs a little. "It might not even be right"

"It's right" He assures her. "It feels right" She looks at him and smiles warmly. She has always felt like it was right. That believing that there are threads connecting everything in the natural world together, is right. That naturebending is not just about bending nature, it is about bending those threads. It's why she feels like naturebenders are different to the other benders, because it's not so much about bending the element connected to them, it's about the threads connecting nature.

"When you can feel those connections, you can manipulate them, get them to do what you want them to do" She holds out her hands, cupping them together. Aang watches as a deep pink rose manifests in her palm. "You can make beautiful things out of the air around you" She whispers softly. "You can feed a village....build a house....nurture a fire through cold nights...." She draws off and takes a deep breath. Her mind going to the people hurt by this. By the fact that they are that powerful. Because the Fire Nation, because Sozin saw them as a threat, the naturebenders were almost made extinct. Because of what they can do. Aang seems to notice her mood change. She's a generally cheerful person, but there are a number, a small number of things, that get her down. Her people and their fate is, obviously, one of them. Aang scoots closer to her and takes the flower from her hand.

"Sokka and Katara don't really know why the Fire Nation attacked your people" Aang starts. Kali clears her throat as he tucks the flower into her hair. "Do you...know why?"

"I don't know why they did it" She whispers and shrugs. "Just that they did...."

"Well, at least some of them escaped" He adds. "That they are safe now" She hums and nods in agreement. She had felt like she was alone for so long, but knowing that Tian Tang is out there is a weight off.

..........

Later, Aang wanders through the trees as he worries over the coming battle. Kali has gone to sleep leaving him to ponder it all on his own. He's worried. Because he is nowhere near ready. No firebending, and only just starting to learn naturebending. He is nowhere near ready to do something like this. But this eclipse is going to be their best shot at it. There is no arguing that. Aang suddenly turns around, his hands held up to attack. He finds that the 'threat', is Zuko, who stands in front of him, the hart behind him, nudging at his shoulder to push him forward. Aang blinks and drops his hand. The two of them staring at one another. There is rustling behind him through the trees and he barely gets to turn around but he sees her. The red hair and her green skin flashing through the bushes.

"Zuko!" She shouts and runs straight for him, basically throwing herself at him. He lets out a long sigh of relief. The two of them tumble to the ground immediately after contact is made. He curls her up in his arms, clutching to her tightly. But she is holding him just as tightly. They have both missed one another immeasurably. And, if he's honest, it is the first time anyone has been excited to see him. "You found me" She whispers softly. He presses his cheek to the top of her head.

"I will always find you" He assures her as he takes a deep breath as he closes his eyes. He doesn't even know how long it has been. But it has been far, far too long. To spend every day with someone and then for that to be taken away, it was a shock to his system. And now it feels right again. He feels whole again. "How did you know I was here?" He asks her as he draws his fingers over her cheek. She smirks at him.

"Trees talk" She answers warmly. He smiles back at her and leans forward to press his forehead to hers. Aang mumbles something causing them to turn to him. 

"What's wrong with him?" Zuko asks Kali.

"He hasn't slept yet" She whispers to Zuko. "I doubt he even knows you are really here, we're both probably just blurry figures" She waves her hand in front of Aang's face as he blinks dumbly. She gives Zuko a look and he snorts. "Go back to camp, Aang" She turns the boy and gently nudges him in the direction of the camp. Aang sleepily stumbles along. Zuko touches the small of Kali's back and she turns to him. "Are you coming back with me?" She asks him, nodding in the direction Aang went. He hesitates though. He hadn't actually thought about having to join the group. His mind was simply on reuniting with Kali. He has to interact with the others, he has to talk to them, to basically live with them now.

"I don't know what to say to them" He admits. "After everything I've done...I had the chance to join them in Ba Sing Se....And I stood against them" She curls her hand around his cheek.

"What you did in Ba Sing Se was for me" She reminds him. "They will understand...the rest..." She hums and shrugs. "Perhaps it will take time..." He pulls a face and she chuckles a little pulling him towards her. "They'll understand that they need you" She adds, he looks down at her. "Aang needs a firebender..." He sighs and shrugs a little. "Do you want to wait till morning?" She asks. "We can camp out here" He leans forward and sets his forehead against hers. Right now, after their time apart, that sounds amazing.