Burnt Out - Zuko x OC

Nuclear Family

A/N - Read all the way through for a special surprise at the end of the chapter!

Kai stood at a merchant table in an outdoor market, rummaging through potions and ointments — most of them bottled snake oil — trying to find a jar of aloe to soothe her healing ailments. It'd been four days since she'd left Zuko drugged unconscious in his own bedroom. The act of watching him realize what she'd done was almost as invigorating as using him to get herself off.

Still, she pushed his intoxicated words out of her head, telling herself that a drunk mind doesn't always speak sober thoughts. Zuko didn't love her, no one did. But she loved herself, or at least she was trying to, and that was all that mattered now.

If her travels through the Fire Nation had taught her one thing, it was that this place was just the same as the Earth Kingdom when it came down to their middle and lower class. Those that'd been dealt the winning hand in life weren't willing to help the ones below them unless they had something useful to offer. And a pretty girl like her, oh, she had plenty that they were interested in. She realized that before ever even making it to the palace, when she was sipping on a hard cider at a tavern to take the stinging pain in her back away. Not enough to lose herself though, she'd never make that mistake again.

A lovely couple had joined her at a small table fashioned out of a whiskey barrel. They quickly made friendly conversation, asking her where she was from and where she was going — questions that she eluded with mysterious answers. "I'm from all over and looking to go wherever the wind takes me."

Kai felt the guy's eyes feasting on the skin below her tattered dress but brushed him off, assuming she was safe with his other half around.

"Are you looking for a place to sleep tonight?" The raven headed woman asked. Her eyes were as dark as her hair and her lips were painted blood red. Kai took another sip before responding that she indeed was, but she didn't have much to offer for room and board. The woman turned to her partner and whispered in his ear, covering her mouth with her palm.

Kai heard the man's heart thump harder. Before he could even respond, she knew where this was going.

"We're willing to accept.. 'alternative' forms of payment, if you're open minded."

She slept in the trees that night and every other night that wasn't spent hiding in the palace. Her own arms couldn't keep her warm like royal bed sheets did though.

"Did you hear about the explosion?"

"No! What happened?"

Kai's ears tuned in to a nearby conversation between two merchants as she slipped what she'd been looking for underneath her robe.

"The factory near the fishing village, someone cut right through the piping and a flash tidal wave flooded the building. Rumor is that a local legend called The Painted Lady fought off an entire fleet of soldiers when they confronted the villagers about it!"

"The Painted Lady? It's that supposed to be, like.. a spirit of some sort?"

A spirit come to life? A freak tidal wave? Surely the universe wasn't willing to give her such an easy break after a lifetime of beating her down. Kai nonchalantly strolled away from the table, wandering out of the market and into the thick foliage of the nearby forest.

The forest emptied out into rolling hills that bluffed at the sea. She rode an earth wave there, a small one, as it still pained her to move her shoulders. Less than a mile away over the flat horizon of water, she could see them there. Toph was bending algae while Katara pulled the transparent water the opposite direction.