Daughter of the Moon - Book Two: Earth

Chapter 2: Life on the Run

- Elara -

After several days of wandering aimlessly through the woods and borrowing some clothes from a nearby village, Iroh, Zuko, and I officially looked and lived like the typical Earth Kingdom refugee—a terrifyingly common commodity thanks to the tyranny of the Fire Nation. The hunger, weariness, and the desperate struggle to survive were quite familiar to me (even though it had been years since my time in the Yu Dao Province), but I could tell that this new lifestyle was relatively difficult for the Royals, who were used to having everything served to them on a silver platter (literally). 

"I didn't find anything to eat!" Zuko roared as he emerged from the thicket empty handed (once again, might I add). "I can't live like this. I wasn't meant to be a fugitive. This is impossible!

"Only with that mindset, hot head," I snickered in response as I threw a wild berry at him, the gathering skills I had learned during my time with the Avatar gang proving to be quite useful just then.

Unfortunately, my gloating only seemed to worsen the Prince's temperament, and I could practically see the steam shooting out of his ears as he stormed over to where Iroh and I had set up camp. The old general tried to calm the boy with some words of wisdom, but I had a suspicion that it didn't help too much.

"Don't be angry, Prince Zuko," Iroh warned. "There is not enough time in life to waste our energy on useless negativity. Come, let us smell the flowers."

At first, I thought Iroh was spouting off some old proverb about living in the moment and smelling the flowers of life, but then I saw him bend down and literally smell a flower (I definitely had not seen that one coming). I suppose Zuko was just as surprised as I was because he looked towards his uncle in disgust.

"Uncle...what are you doing?" he asked.

"You're looking at the rare white dragon bush," Iroh began as he ogled at the flower. "It's leaves make a tea so delicious it's heartbreaking. That, or it's the White Jade bush, which is poisonous..."

Iroh looked to me for approval, and I raised my hands defensively as I shrugged. "What are you looking at me for? I only know my nuts and berries."

"We need food, not tea," Zuko groaned as he turned on his heel and marched back into the woods. "And we're not going to survive on just berries. I'm going fishing."

As the Prince walked towards a nearby stream, I went to join him (but not before I could give Iroh a quick lecture). "Iroh, I'm going to help Zuko find some dinner," I warned the man. "Don't you dare touch that flower!"

Iroh looked up at me with a mischievous smile, which did nothing to calm my fears. "I wouldn't touch it even if it made the most delicate tea in the world!"

Why was it that I didn't believe him for one second?

*****

"Why is it so hard to catch one stupid fish!" Zuko exclaimed after yet another failed attempt at catching something to eat. We had been at this for a couple hours, and we had done almost nothing to help our current situation. That was mostly due to Zuko's pride, of course. I had offered my assistance on multiple occasions, but Zuko insisted that he could handle it on his own.

"Fishing requires patience, Zuko, and you have proven time and time again that you are incapable of just that," I hollered from my resting place beneath the comfortable shade of a tree.