nothing to lose | zuko x oc

08

"let's get to ba sing se, no more distractions." sokka said and stood up.

"hello there, fellow refugees!"

vada looked to see three people, all dressed in green, approaching them.

"are you all headed to ba sing se, too?" she asked them and the man nodded. "sure are." he said, "we're trying to get there before my wife, ying has her baby."

"great. we can travel through the surpent's pass together." katara beamed.

the people winced and the pregnant lady, ying held her belly. "the surpent's pass? only the truly desperate travel through there." she said.

"deadly route? great pick, sokka." toph sassed.

vada shrugged. "we are desperate."

the man smiled at them, "you should come with us to full moon bay, ferries take refugees across the lake every day." he's stated. "it's the fastest way to ba sing se."

ying nodded, "and it's hidden, so the fire nation can't find it."

"hmm, peaceful ferry ride or deadly pass?" katara pondered sarcastically, causing sokka to frown.

as they went to full moon bay, vada couldn't help but feel sad for all of the refugees there.

"i can't believe how many people seek refuge in ba sing se." katara said. "they want to be safe behind the walls. when I was little, many souther water tribe members came to the north for the same reason." vada replied, the memory of her former home making her mood slightly sour.

as they got to the front of the line, (after the lady brutally destroyed a merchants cabbages) aang stepped forward. "uh.. five tickets to the ferry, please?" he said awkwardly.

"passport."

"um.. no one told us we need to have passports."

"next!"

"wait." vada said, placing her hand on aang's shoulder pulling him back. toph was hot on her heels with this one.

she pulled out her blue and sliver, royal watertribe passport and toph pulled out her own passport with the golden seal of the Beifong family.

"five tickets, please." toph said, holding out her passport. vada also held out her won and the woman went pail.

"the golden seal of the flying boar. and the- the-" the woman bowed her head to vada. "princess," she said respectfully, "it's is my honour to be in the presence of such greatness."

"it is your honour." toph deadpanned. 'as you can see, I am blind and the bald one and the girl were my valets. the princess is here in official state business on behalf of her father and the boy with the boomerang is her bodyguard. "

vada would never had guessed that toph was such an amazing liar.

"but the animals-"

"-is her seeing-eye lemur and the wolf is to carry me when my royal feet get tired." vada said quickly, almost cringing at using the words 'royal feet'.

"of course, your royal highness." the woman said with a smile. "normally it's only one ticket per passport. but these documents are so official... I'll let it slide."

she gave them all five tickets and vada took them. "thank you."

after handing the others their tickets, vada sighed. "didn't think I'd ever have to use it." she said placing her royal passport back into her bag.

"i didn't know you were a princess." Katara said, eyeing the white-haired girl strangely.

"yeah. I'm yue's cousin." she replied.

"oh. so your name is vee, then?"

vada let out a bark of laughter "no, no. vee is just a nickname. my name is still vada,"

~

"you look so different without your makeup, and the new outfit, too." katara said to the girl standing opposed to them.

the girl in question was suki, a kiyoshi warrior the gaan had met earlier in the year, when they were still heading to the north pole.

vada couldn't place her finger on it, but something about suki was just awesome in a way. she didn't know if it was the fact that she was a kiyoshi warrior or not.

"that crabby lady makes all the security guards wear them." suki said, rolling her eyes.

it was definitely the attitude.

"and look at you, sleeveless guy. been working out?" suki flirted with sokka and vada looked at katara with a smug grin. they liked each other. big time.

"yeah, I'll do a few chin touches every now and then." sokka said coyly, making both vada and katara raise an eyebrow. the only time he touched his chin was when he dusted crums off of it.

"by the way," suki looked at vada, "I think it's really cool that you have an eagle wolf as a pet. I've never heard of one being tamed."

vada smiled at her as suki scratched koa behind the ear.

"so why are you all getting tickets for the ferry? wouldn't you just fly across on appa?" the warrior questioned and everyone suddenly looked sad.

"appa si missing," katara clarified, "we hope to find him in ba sing se."

"avatar aang!"

the kids looked below, seeing the refugees from earlier. "out things were stolen! our passports, our tickets! everything!"

"I'll talk to the lady for you!" aang said.

~

"next!"

so the speaking with the lady part didn't go too well and aang walked back to ying and the others determinedly.

"what are we going to do now?!" ying cried, holding onto her husband.

"its going to be fine." aang said calmly, "I'll lead you through the serpent's pass."

as they left the bay, suki came running toward them, dressed in her kiyoshi uniform and makeup. it looked amazing.

"I'm coming too!" she called out.

"are you sure that's a good idea?" sokka said gently, causing suki to frown, "sokka, I thought you'd want me to come."

"i do, it's just..." the boy looked down. "nothing. nevermind."

vada turned to katara and held her hand in front of her mouth so that the two non benders couldn't hear her. "what's his heal?" she whispered. "ever since yue turned into the moon, he's been paranoid that he's cursed." katara whispered back.

"what curse?" she whispered again.

"the curse that all his girlfriends die or something."

vada nodded in understanding and they continued walking.