The Blue Spirit ღ (Zuko x OC)

Chapter ⅩⅠⅤ: Sparrow Song

A light knock on the door woke Nala. She murmured a groggy 'come in' and heard Ying's light footsteps enter the caravan. She pulled the covers over her head as he made his way over to her.

"No hiding, let me see." He urged, peeling the blankets away from her face. His meadow green eyes studied her face as he laid his hand over her forehead. "Ah, see? That's better. Colour in your cheeks and even a little glitter in the eye." He looked amused by her scowl, sitting beside her bed.

"Just be glad it's me looking after you and not Qigo or Chikaro. You'll get what I mean when you meet them." He said. Amusement seemed to always dance on his lips. He seemed to find humour or joy in everything, somehow, even in his unfortunately feminine name. Nala found herself admiring it and wishing for a while she was more like that. "We're about to get moving. We're heading South and we're — well, y'know, a travelling troupe so we are travelling around doing shows. You've got a bed and visits from Li Min, and food. We want you to stay with us."

Nala sat up and looked down at her hands. She fiddled with her fingers, mulling over her response carefully. It was foolish, as Ying had said, to go out on her own just yet. It wasn't like she had a nice town to go home to with it's own doctor and a group of people to take care of her. She was entirely and completely alone and had to be at peak health. She told herself she would get well and be off their hands as soon as she was able to be again. Outwardly, she simply nodded. This seemed to excite Ying beyond belief. Had it not been for her injuries, he probably would have knocked her over with a hug.

"Good." He is smiling from ear to ear. "I'll have Li Ming check on you before we leave." And with that he bounded out of the caravan, practically cartwheeling.

Moments later, Li Min had come in. Nala hadn't seen the woman who'd tended to her after she'd passed out, and she tried to find words of gratitude. Li Min was an older woman, wrinkled with knowledge and hair in a loose, unkempt bun of grey. She knelt beside Nala, her knees cracking as they bent.

"Blasted ... Let's see what we have. Ah, she wakes. Well, good morrow, girl. You had quite a spill." The old woman's voice was warm, like everything else. Nala opened her mouth, hoping to thank her but was immediately silenced. "None of that. We owe each other nothing, but common decency. I did for you what I'd do for a firebender or the Avatar himself. I don't need to know your name, or your story, just that you were in pain and in need of a healer."

Nala laid back quietly, letting Li Min look over her, removing the bandages to check the wounds before redressing them. She had Nala roll over, lifting the linen short to examine the mark in her shoulder. Nala winced as the medicine woman unbound the bandages, then cleaned the wound again. She clenched her teeth, sucking in air and couldn't help but let the pain take her away to thoughts of Zuko and hoping he'd recovered, too, and not gone to do something so stupid as follow Zhao into a confrontation. When Li Min was done, she tucked Nala in carefully and scurried out of the caravan. 

Now alone, Nala ran her fingers over the blanket and played over how Li Min had tucked her in. It reminded her of a very distant memory of someone comforting tucking her in. She curled up on her side, clutching the blanket and mourning the memory. 

*✧*

Nala was awake before dawn as usual. The troupe had stopped to make camp some time around sunset, and Nala found the opportunity to once again sneak out of the caravan. Unbeknown to her, Ying and Qigo, hearing her leaving, had followed her into the treeline. The hid amongst the leaves to watch Nala take her first steps, breathing deeply.