The Warrior - Book One [AtLA]

Ten: Curiosity

𝐒𝐞𝐧 - 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐎𝐧𝐞 - 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐞𝐧

"Open the gate," Zhao grits out, his anger clear in his eyes and expression. 

"Admiral, what are you doing?" An officer questions.

"Let them out! Now!" Zhao roars.

As the masked man backs away with Aang still at his mercy, I casually stroll out with them. Though I played passive on the matter, I had heard what Zhao had uttered about precision, I just didn't understand in what context with my head swimming at the escape.

An archer releases his arrow, its impact point on the masked man's mask. The masked man collapses backward in slow motion. Aang turns in horror, his eyes glazed. He recovers, turns around and Airbends up a huge cloud of dust around him, Sen and the man.

"Quick! Recover the Avatar!" Zhao's yell echos.

Inside the dust cloud, Aang removes the man's mask to reveal Zuko - as Sen had been expecting. Aang starts back in horror and falls backward on the ground. He jumps up and runs away, but turns to look at Zuko who Sen stood beside, his eyes huge and full of compassion. He sees the Fire Nation soldiers getting close through the smoke. Still, he hesitates. 

"I got him," I softly comment against everything raging around us.

I haul Zuko onto my back, Aang taking his mask, and we fleed the scene. We wait in the forestry overnight, I needed the rest before I made any big ventures seeing as Aang was horrified to see my attempt at making the wound workable. Zuko was still unconscious but overall unharmed. As dawn started to peak through the canopy, Zuko started to stir.

"You know what the worst part of being born over a hundred years ago is? I miss all the friends I used to hang out with. Before the war started, I used to always visit my friend Kuzon. The two of us, we'd get in and out of so much trouble together. He was one of the best friends I ever had, and he was from the Fire Nation, just like you. If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends, too?" Aang's question remained unanswered.

Zuko shot a fireball at Aang, who dodged by jumping away and vanishing. I stayed where I was, a small sigh making my presence known. 

"I'll assume you're alright to head back to your Uncle? ... Looks like I owe you one, Zuko," I state before getting up and walking the direction Aang went in, holding my wound as I went. 

After collecting the frozen frogs, Aang and I return to Sokka and Katara. We give them the frogs and watch as they react to what they were sucking on. 

While they were making a commotion, I grabbed a blanket and shuffled onto Appa's saddle where I curled into my pack and rested my body and mind. 

After a few days, Katara and Sokka are feeling better and Aang is over the shock of seeing Zuko. Sen, however, was aware of an infection building in his cauterized wound. Though he refused to tell anyone, Sen knew he had to do something at the next town they arrived in.

When everyone was resting at a clearing with a lake, everyone was sitting around a makeshift campfire with their tent behind them. Suddenly, a fish known as a Se Tu jumped out of the lake. 

"Look!" Katara exclaimed. 

"He's taunting us!" Sokka complains as the fish jumps up again, "You are so going to be dinner!"

In a hurry, Sokka grabs his fishing pole and casts out the line - or he would have if it was there. 

"Hey, where's the fishing line?" Sokka muses.

"Oh, I didn't think you would need it, Sokka," Aang holds up an intricately woven necklace decorated with a red flower as he speaks.

"Aw, it's all tangled," Sokka whines.