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A Kindred Spirit	By : Demonic_Host Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > General Views: 6129 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Blanket disclaimer - I do not own any intellectual properties of the Avatar series or its sequel nor do I make any money from this work.

Chapter List
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A Kindred Spirit
Chapter Twelve
Trembling muscles were your reward even as you were finally allowed to sit down. You took in rapid, shallow breaths even as you tried to regulate your breathing. It was never a good thing to be out of control of something as basic as breathing, even you knew that. Knowing such a thing didn't make it any easier though. Your entire body ached even though you had just finished. That was probably because for the last three days you had been training under Zuko. He pushed you beyond what your body was capable of every day. The aches you felt were proof.
With a distinct lack of grace, you fell down onto your side. You didn't have the willpower not the muscle strength to stay sitting up. After a few a short breaths you turned yourself onto your back to clear the air way. The ground below you was cold but under your warmth it felt good. Unfortunately because you were so warm, it too heated up. Even the sweat that ran down your face offered little respite from the heat and even less motivation to move. Everything hurt.
"Get up," Zuko called out shortly.
"...I can't," You responded quietly with a massive load of hesitation in your voice.
His command should have been complied with easily enough. Normally it would have been less difficult than looking him in the eye, as he had commanded day ago by this point. Right now all you could feel from your limbs was trembling. And for the most part all you could hear was your own heartbeat because it was so loud.
"What do you mean you can't?" He asked in a somewhat hash tone. "You're the Avatar. Start acting like it."
You squeezed your eyes closed as you curled up in on yourself on your side. You felt like you were close to puking but there was nothing in your stomach to heave over. After a few scant moments of trying to catch your breath you finally put your hands and knees underneath you. It was easier to get up after that. But you still felt wobbly.
Zuko looked at you as though watching a dangerous animal. He wasn't exactly sure what to do in this situation and you could tell that much at least. Though in all fairness you weren't sure what to do either. So you tried to put yourself back into the stance that he had started to show you at the beginning of all this. The same one that he'd shown you and guided you into while you and he were still on the ship. Your body moved sluggishly and you felt like there was a hundred extra pounds on your arms. Your heart beat frantically and you felt like your head was swimming. But you held it. For a little bit at least.
Golden eyes looked on approvingly as he moved over to you. He didn't need to correct your stance, though he thought he might have needed to. Not until you started to drop it once more. Zuko reached out with his arm to restructure your posture even as he watched you crumple to the ground. With one arm already on the way to correct you it was easy to catch you before you completely hit the ground. Not that you would have noticed of course, seeing as you'd completely passed out.
Without calling for anyone's help until he was already out of the room, Zuko carried you to where he remembered there being physicians. He used to visit them pretty often as a kid. Or rather, they visited him in his chambers before the whole scarring of his face. He walked in the direction that they always came from though. Eventually he ran into a wayward servant who looked scared out of their minds and was able to follow them to where the old bats were.
It never crossed his mind that he could have called for a guard or a servant to move you there.
________________________________________
Everything hurt. That was pretty much the summation of your experience. You felt dizzy and sick to your stomach. And when the bright light invaded your eyes you felt a pounding headache replace what had once been your heartbeat. Then fear set in; you didn't know where you were. You didn't know what was happening.
"When was the last time you ate?"
The voice sounded vaguely familiar. You looked for where it had come from. You had to push your body to sit up a tiny amount to see, which hadn't been easy. In fact you failed more than once. By the time you finally had enough energy to do that you realized that Zuko was in the corner of the small room you'd been using. And he looked a bit peeved.
"What?" You asked in a dazed confusion.
"I said - when did you eat last?" He reiterated for you.
"...I don't know," you answered.
It was a bit...hard to remember actually. You must have had something on the ship at some point but for the life of you, you couldn't remember what. And since no one had brought you food to your room you just assumed that they didn't want you to eat then either. You had no way of knowing that you were supposed to have more agency than that. You had no way of knowing that you were supposed to ask for food or go to the kitchens for yourself if you didn't feel like waiting for servants. The later of which would have been extremely rude of course, but considering that you weren't royalty at least it wasn't unheard of.
"What do you mean you don't know? How can you not know something like that?" he demanded hotly.
"I must have eaten something on the ship...but I don't remember eating. The last time I remember eating was before Azula found me," you answered him in a whisper.
Zuko narrowed his eyes on you as he tried to figure out if you were lying or not. When he realized that you most likely weren't, he started to lose his temper. Steam poured out of his nose as he stood up. He couldn't believe how stupid you had been. What kind of person didn't eat when there was plenty of food around them? What kind of idiot trained without having enough food?
Apparently whatever kind you were. He moved out of the room and stormed away, leaving you vaguely frightened in your bed. He started outside just because of the fact that it was the last place you'd be. By the time that he'd gotten out there he realized that his anger was a little over the top, even for him. But it wasn't like he could take back his reaction. So he fumed quietly to himself as he glared at a well placed rock by one of the man made ponds.
"What's got you all fired up this morning Zuzu?" Azula's voice broke the silence like a hot knife through butter.
"She's so stupid," Zuko relied as he flicked a pebble into the lake.
"By she, I'm guessing you mean the avatar."
Zuko nodded, looking over as Azula's moved into the sun with him. As far as he could tell she looked like she was ready to go do something important. He had no idea what it was of course, he hadn't heard anything.
"Why? What has she done now?"
"She hasn't been eating," Zuko let out in one big breath. "And the physicians said that's why she passed out during training. She can't even remember when she last ate! What kind of stupid person can't feed themselves?"
"A prisoner," the princess replied evenly.
Zuko paused in his tyrade for a moment. A prisoner huh? It was true. Because they were locked away they couldn't feed themselves. Even if they were just a few feet from food. His mind flashed to his uncle. He hoped that his uncle was being fed well.
"She's not a prisoner," he tried to argue.
"We know that," Azula's replied as she slowly moved around so that she could stand in front of him. "But does she? Probably not; Not really. She still thinks like a prisoner dumdum. And as a prisoner, she was probably beaten if she ate without permission."
Zuko's eyes widened at Azula's logic. After everything he had heard from you that seemed very fitting. You had already told him how the dai li hadn't fed you very much. You had never been given enough food to have the energy to train on your own. It was why you had such a frail physique.
"On top of all the training, it's no wonder the pour girl passed out. I dare say she's been working herself to death to avoid making you angry."
Zuko looked his sister in the eyes as she stared at him. He didn't let all of his thoughts show on his face but there was enough guilt that Azula smiled humorously.
"To think, you might have been close to killing two Avatars in a life time," Azula teased in a dark sort of tone.
"But I didn't—"
Azula's sharp look and words cut him off, "I know. She's still alive. The whole castle is talking about that. And how you carried her around the castle in your arms. How you were in her room for hours."
"What?" Zuko asked as his eyes widened fractionally. "Why is everyone talking about that?"
"Your the Prince dumdum," Azula reprimanded. "And even if she is the Avatar, she's still a girl. What did you think? That no one would notice you carrying her around?"
He actually hadn't thought about it at the time. He'd only been reacting. Azula laughed as she moved back towards the shadows with a smirk on her lips.
"I bet even father heard about what happened. I was going to see him as he wanted to talk but I stopped when I saw that you were about to burn down the garden."
"I wasn't going to—-wait, why does father want to talk to you?"
Azula shrugged as she continued to walk off.
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- 13
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A Kindred Spirit