Ash [Prince Zuko - Book Two]

❃Chapter Three❃

Birds chirped happily as they soared across the bright blue sky, their shadows cutting through the sunshine on the ground. Asake dug her fingers into the soft grass. She tried to ground herself in the moment, to stop herself from slipping away into a daydream, but she was bored. Iroh sat beside her, meditating or sleeping. She couldn't quite tell because his breathing had slowed down a while ago.

She plucked grass from the ground, flinging the clump in front of her. The campsite sat untouched to their right, just like it looked when Zuko took off earlier in the morning. After running for hours a few nights ago, Iroh found this little hideout somewhere in the Earth Kingdom, and they had been there ever since. Both Iroh and Zuko forbid her from doing anything besides finding twigs for a fire – as if she and Zuko weren't firebenders.

Blowing out a sigh, Asake closed her eyes. She ran her hands through her now much shorter hair. After hacking away at her hair to make sure people wouldn't be able to recognize her (and because of the painful memories), she didn't bother seeing how short it was. The choppy ends of her hair barely reached her shoulders now.

She felt lighter, freer, and yet, more burdened than ever.

She opened her eyes. Glancing around her, Asake realized that Iroh was not sitting next to her anymore. Her heart clenched when she thought that she had lost the man. She didn't, though. Instead of being next to her like he should have been, he was squatting in front of a red and white flower off to the right, looking so very mesmerized by the plant. "Iroh, what are you looking at?" she called out.

Before she could say anything else to him, a bush rustled behind her softly, making her eyes narrow. Asake hopped up and whirled around just as the person burst through the bushes, lashing out at them. Unfortunately, it was no one she needed to be wary of. No, it was Zuko, and he seemed very surprised that she had punched him on the shoulder.

"It's just me," he said softly, raising his empty hands up slightly. His wide eyes slowly went back to their normal size, and he looked so closed off. "It's me, Asake."

"I got it now."

She lowered her hands before she could hit him again, very much embarrassed that she attacked him like that. He deserved it, though. Who would sneak up on someone in the woods without saying anything?

Asake followed Zuko toward where Iroh was, her eyes glued to the back of his head. The three years that she had known him, he wore that silly ponytail, his permanent reminder of the shame he inflicted on himself. But now, his hair was so low to his head, so short that he looked like a whole different person, maybe even a shell of himself.

"I didn't find anything to eat!" he said as he neared Iroh. Zuko looked very frustrated, and Asake snickered to herself. Of course, he couldn't find anything; he had no skills of the sort to even track an animal through the woods. "I can't live like this. I wasn't meant to be a fugitive." He kicked the ground in anger, and she really did burst out laughing. He didn't seem to notice; he was probably stuck in his head about how terrible he had it instead of being up in that cushy palace of his. "This is impossible!"

"Calm down," Asake said, rolling her eyes. She crossed her arms over her chest, staring at Zuko, who turned his fiery gaze onto her. For some reason, her heart hammered in her chest at the sight. "We'll find something soon." She motioned toward Iroh. "What's he doing, though?"

Zuko averted his gaze and frowned when he saw Iroh crouching in front of a pretty white flower. "Uncle, what are you doing?" he asked.

"You're looking at the rare white dragon bush," Iroh said, gesturing to the bush lovingly, a grin on his face. "Its leaves make a tea so delicious it's heartbreaking!" He trailed off and stared at the bush again. Gravely, he said, "That, or it's the white jade bush, which is poisonous."