The Guider Effect ☼ Zuko || ATLA

They Knew

      "You're running from the Fire Lord's son? Because you burned him?" June reiterated, baffled.

     Rein nodded while popping berries into her mouth. The two had hit it off fairly quickly. Kireina was a talker, she'd tell anyone anything and everything that was on her mind whenever she felt like it. Meanwhile, June was a listener and loved some good drama so she enjoyed hearing about Kireina's adventures with Zuko and her brother, although she strategically left out the part where Aang is the Avatar and she's the Ekkona- which she still had no idea what that even meant. June was a bounty hunter after all, Rein knew she couldn't risk letting that information slip.

     "Sometimes you just get wrapped up in the wrong crowd." Rein replied. After begging June to set up camp elsewhere to avoid Zuko stumbling upon them, they found themselves perched along the side of a cliff overlooking the ocean. The night prior June insisted that Rein stay at her camp to get some rest, to which Rein freaked out and tried to run away. In the end, June's Shirshu paralyzed Rein and June carried her back to camp to force-feed her while she was incapacitated. It was quite the series of events.

     "Tell me about it." June sighed. "So where do you plan on going next? To find your brother I assume?"

     "Of course, I can't be alone." Rein answered. "Not again."

     "Okay, vague. How about you fill me in?"

     Rein chuckled at June's bluntness. "When I was thirteen I almost died in a bad bending accident. When word traveled to the other temples, my little brother pleaded to the spirits, begging them to heal me because I was all he had. Then one day, I woke up and could walk, talk and eat. It was almost like nothing had ever happened but my elders went psycho. They sent me to live at the Southern Air Temple in solitary confinement. For three years I sat in a room, alone. They said I was special and fragile, I wasn't allowed to have friends or go outside. It was torture."

     "And how did you get wrapped up with the Prince in all this?"

     Rein racked her brain for lies she could spew, "I stowed away on his ship until they caught me. I burned him to escape and here I am! Now you're all caught up!"

     "You're really bad at lying, Kireina." June rolled her eyes. "An hour ago you told me stories about The Prince and you chasing your brother around every day and now you're saying you were stowed away until yesterday? And how did you survive the swim from that ship to the shore? It has to be at least a mile from land! If you're gonna lie, you can at least try to be convincing and maybe not mention that you were raised in an Air Temple—a structure that hasn't been inhabited for a century. Who are you?"

     Rein's stomach dropped and she could feel a sweat coating her body. "Me? Lying? No."

     "If you tell me the truth, I'll let you leave but if you lie to me again, I'm taking you straight to The Prince." June glared at the younger girl next to her. She would be lying if she said she didn't take a liking to Rein from the get go. She had a spunk June could appreciate. Even while paralyzed, her mouth never stopped moving. She fancied Rein's company which is why she readily agreed to move camp in order to make the girl more comfortable, even if only for a night.