Fuel To My Fire - Book Two (ATLA Zuko Fanfiction)

Chapter Five

Sakari's POV

Zuko and I had been traveling for a couple of days now and we were growing weary, we didn't have much to eat and we were now having to drink my bending water. I could tell that Zuko was extremely tired, but he wouldn't let me take over the reins, he thinks I'll steer us into the middle of nowhere.

"We're already in the middle of nowhere!" I argued.

"I'm fine, just let me steer." Zuko said grumpily.

"Fine. Be careful on that bridge." I stated, pointing to a wooden bridge in front of us.

We made our way very slowly across it, I made the mistake of looking down into the canyon below us, it was a long drop. I clung onto Zuko a little tighter as we continued across the bridge, but the ostrich horses' leg suddenly fell through the bridge. We lost our balance for a second before sprinting the rest of the way across the bridge to safety. We soon came across a man cooking some meat on a fire, we gave each other a knowing look and started to climb off the ostrich horse. But upon further inspection I noticed the man's wife and her round belly, I grabbed Zuko's arm softly and pointed her out.

"She's pregnant." I said quietly, my throat was very dry.

We continued riding, the sun almost taunting us with its heat, until Zuko started to sway. I handed him my water pouch and he quickly drank the last mouthful before starting to sway once again.

"Zuko? Are you ok?" I asked, trying to keep him steady.

"I'm fine." He said, a frustrated tone to his voice.

"No. You're not." I countered.

I grabbed the reins from him and caused the ostrich horse to stop.

"What are you doing?" He asked angrily.

"You need to sleep." I stated, getting off the horse. "Let me steer."

Zuko looked like he wanted to argue more but just didn't have the energy, so he instead moved back to give me space to get on in front of him. I climbed back on and grabbed Zuko's arms, pulling him towards me to make him rest his head on my back.

"Get some sleep, ok." I told him.

I felt him nod against my back as we started moving again, it didn't take long before I could tell he had fallen asleep. I kept us on the path, and before long we had arrived at a village, it was small, but I figured there would at least be somewhere to get something to eat and drink. I nudged Zuko awake and he groaned in annoyance.

"Sorry, Zuko. We're in a village." I told him.

He took the reins from me and we stopped outside a small shop, there was a group of men nearby eyeing us closely.

"Could I get some water, a bag of feed, and something hot to eat?" Zuko asked the man in the shop, holding out the last of our money.

"Not enough here for a hot meal. I can give you two bags of feed." The man told us.

"Thank you." I said, handing the man my water pouch.

I suddenly saw a couple of boys hiding around the corner of the shop, giggling to themselves, and I watched as they threw an egg at the group of men behind us, hitting one of them in the back of the head. I quickly turned back to the shop so that they wouldn't think it was me, but I was too slow.

"Hey!" The leader of the men yelled at me. "You throwing eggs at us, stranger?"

"No." I replied, turning to face them.