Daughter of the Moon - Book Two: Earth

Chapter 6: On the Road (Part 2)

- Elara -

The new kid was lucky. He was lucky that I was there to save his butt after Master was done with him. He was lucky that while the other slaves tip-toed around his crumpled figure as he laid castrate on the ground, I was willing to step forward to help a pal out. Even though I was a bit bitter that he had dragged me into the middle of his argument with Master, that didn't mean I was just going to let him die. Life sucked for everyone, and we had to stick together.

"There you go. You're all healed up," I said as I retracted my healing water away from the new kid's face. "Try to keep it that way for a while."

"Trust me, I won't be trying to fight that scumbag anytime soon," the boy offered, earning himself a righteous scolding from Jade. I guess he had to learn to not speak ill of Master from somewhere, even if he was no better than a scumbag.

As Jade lectured the poor guy about respect, I took a chapter out of my own book and brought my water up to the cheek where I had been hit. Sure, I had been punished by Master many times before (just like most of the other workers in the barracks) but he had always used his bending, so I didn't understand why he had chosen to use brute force this one time.

As my mind twisted in an attempt to understand the motive behind Master's actions, my thoughts were distracted as the boy turned to speak to me (forcefully cutting Jade's lecture short). "Ya know, I've been here for a couple weeks now, and I don't think I've ever seen you before," he commented.

"That's probably because I don't usually spend a lot of time around here," I replied with a shrug.

"Ruby fights in the Arena. She's not your typical slave," Jade chimed in, and I watched as the color drained from the boy's face.

"Wait, you're Ruby?" he asked with a bewildered expression. "Oh, Great Spirits. I had no idea!"

"Few people do," I replied as I finished healing my face, tossing the water aside to deal with later.

The boy followed the stream of water as it passed his face, his gaze lingering on the ground where it landed as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "...and I just called you out in front of everyone," he groaned to himself. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," I reassured him. "What you said was true. I really do have it easy."

"Don't say that," Jade cut in, an unnatural sternness lacing her voice. "You have to fight for your life every other day to entertain blood-thirsty freaks. I wouldn't call that easy, especially at your age."

"Now I feel even worse about what I said," the boy concluded as his frame collapsed in defeat. He then turned to me with an apologetic smile as he extended his hand towards me. "I'm real sorry about that, Ruby. Can we start over?"

I studied his hand for a moment as I contemplated my options. Since I wasn't in the market for making an enemy here, I figured that I had no other option but to make him an ally. Besides, he seemed relatively close to my age (perhaps a year or two older), and I hadn't had an friend like that in a long time. What was the worst that could happen?

"Sure," I finally replied as I grabbed his hand to seal the deal.

"Great! The names Runo," the boy reported with a firm shake.

"Ruby," I replied. "But I guess you already knew that..."

I forced myself awake, my blood practically boiling as I recalled the unfortunate events of my past. I had thought that a stomach full of food would stop those nonsense memories from resurfacing, but I guess I was wrong. Maybe I just had too much time to think, especially since Zuko had found more comfort in his veil of silence instead of talking to me. With all things considered, perhaps it was a good thing for me to remember. I had learned many valuable lessons from those days in Yu Dao, the most important one being that letting people into your life was only a gateway to getting hurt. I was getting sloppy, and I knew that I was going to have to fix that.