ATLA: Book Two: Earth {Makki}

Chapter Five

Chapter Five: Following the Smoke

Makki |~|

I awoke to the wonderful smell of food. I sat up from my sad spot on the ground where I slept and saw Zuko sitting in front of a small fire, heating the spare food Sela had given us a couple of days ago.

"Good morning," I smiled as I walked up to Zuko.

"Good morning," Zuko responded quietly. "Here."

Zuko handed me a small bowl of food which I happily accepted. Lately, Zuko and I have been getting along really well. Zuko still refuses to show any emotion other than mild anger, but I have started to notice that in certain instances when I think he's feeling happy or calm, he seems to relax his body and he appears more open. Like now, eating breakfast. His brow isn't as furrowed and his small frown turns into a stoic line.

You know, Zuko is actually very handsome... if he just stopped scowling so much.

Zuko suddenly looked up from his bowl at me.

"What?" he asked bluntly.

"Nothing," I quickly shot. "It's just... your hair. It's growing out really fast. It looks nice."

That's not a lie. His hair does look really nice. Or at least, better than that ponytail he used to have.

Zuko looked at me with a shocked expression before rubbing the top of his head with his hand, as if petting his own hair.

"Thanks," Zuko said, sheepishly.

"Y-Yeah," I replied.

This is one of the few times Zuko looks so cute and childish. I hated to admit it earlier, but there are times where Zuko makes my heart beat a bit faster.

"Yours looks nice too."

Now it was my turn to look at him a bit shocked before touching my own hair.

Sometimes I forget that I cut it so short.

"Thank you..."

I felt my cheeks heat up a small bit. I looked down to try and hide my face with my hair.

I want to keep denying it, saying that it's probably just because we're alone, but... I don't know. No one's ever talked to me about feelings like these before, so the whole concept is new to me.

"We should continue moving," Zuko said as he stood up.

"All right," I sighed before quickly wolfing down the rest of my breakfast.

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Zuko and I spent the whole day traveling, as usual. Everything seemed as normal and boring as ever until Zuko spotted some random smoke in the distance.

"Maybe it's just a campsite," I shrugged. "The smoke is black, so it's currently burning."

"But look at how the smoke quickly disappears," Zuko pointed. "That means that it's traveling. And there's nothing in the Earth Kingdom that burns material as fuel. That's something from the Fire Nation."

"Really?" I exclaimed. "Why would the Fire Nation be in the middle of nowhere in the Earth Kingdom? There's nothing out here except nature and random refugees like ourselves."

"...I say we follow it."

"What? Zuko, we can't! Your sister tried to capture you, remember? The Fire Nation isn't exactly happy to see us alive."

Zuko paused for a moment, probably thinking about the decision he should make. Without saying a word, Zuko harshly whipped the reins of the ostrich horse to make it chase after the smoke.