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A Kindred Spirit	By : Demonic_Host Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > General Views: 6132 -:- 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
- 8
- 9
- 10
A Kindred Spirit
Chapter Nine
You were left with only your thoughts for company when Zuko left the room. It was something you were actually quite used to. Most of your life in Ba Sing Se has been spent alone. So it was the most familiar moment in the last hour. The only difference was that the door had been left completely open behind him. You could hear the sounds of the ship as they echoed down the hallway, sliding in through the open doorway. You turned slowly and raised your head to look out into the dark ship corridor. By the time that you had done that Zuko had long since gone.
When the sound of footsteps echoed down the hall, you fought with yourself over lowering your gaze once more. Zuko had told you that you needed to look people in the eyes. He had commanded that you raise your eyes up. It was probably something that came natural to him. He was a prince after all. For you it felt wrong and every nerve in your body wanted to lower your head as he came back into the room. You managed to keep your eyes up but you couldn't bring yourself to meet his gaze.
"These is an extra shirt and pants from Mai. They're her under layers but it'll work while you're on the ship. It's better than wearing a robe everywhere..." he said as he held them out for you. "There's something from Ty Lee too."
Slowly you reached out for them, moving cautiously as though he would bite you. Zuko waited impatiently for you to take them but he didn't say anything. At least you weren't flinching and apologizing for needing clothes or something stupid like that. It was a start.
As you took the clothes you noticed that there was a small, tight looking top. Your gaze fell to it curiously. The construction seemed really precise and it wasn't what you were used to seeing. There was some type of lacing that kept it together in the front and from what you could tell the hand width strap connected down into a stiff area that would stop at your upper ribs. There was an area of fabric between the hardened material, the lace up front, and the wide shoulder strap that seemed much looser than the rest. It took you more than a few minutes of awkward silence for you to understand why there was a loose area where your chest would be. It wasn't like you had a piece of clothing like this before. You had been taken when you were a child after all and it wasn't like you had ever seen your mother get undressed or dressed for that matter. At least not for as long as you could remember. But it was a piece of clothing that either Zuko or Ty Lee thought you would need.
"Hurry and get dressed we need to start your training."
You nodded in understanding slowly as your mind tried to figure out how to put the smallest, lace up shirt on. It wasn't like you had ever done it before. Did it go on the outside? No that didn't seem right or else you would have seen it on Ty Lee, Mai, or Azula if it did. So you figured that it was meant to go under the other shirt. After you figured out the order that the pieces were meant to go in you started to untie the robe you had on, never giving it a second thought. At least not until you heard Zuko slap his own hand to his eyes.
"Are you hurt?" You asked quietly. After all that's basically what you had done a few minutes ago when you had hurt your eyes.
"What are you doing? Your supposed to get changed in your room not in front of me!"
You lowered your gaze to the floor at his outraged tone. Instantly you closed your mouth and tried to take up the least amount of space possible. There was an urge to move back but you only allowed yourself to take a few steps back, keeping your head down and your ears trained on every sound that he made. You didn't want to anger him even more.
You practically felt his frustration just as you felt your hands shaking. You knew that you had done something wrong as far as he was concerned, though you weren't sure why it was wrong, so you waited for whatever punishment he decided to dish out. Precious seconds passed and nothing happened, though that didn't mean too much. You flinched when you heard him sigh, even if the sound was more resigned than angry.
"Look I told you. I'm not going to hit you. Especially not because you started to— you know what, never mind. I'm going to leave the room and I want you to get dressed. When you're done open the door. Okay?"
You nodded with your eyes directed towards his feet. Which meant that you were able to see him as he walked away on top of hearing his footsteps. You heard the door close in what seemed like a hasty, harsh way. Once that happened you sat the pieces of clothing you were given on the ground and started to get undressed. Your hands were shaky as you untied the robe you had on. And the were even more unsure as you tried to figure out the smallest shirt that you assumed was meant to go underneath the other clothes. Once you figured out to keep it closed you frowned. The material felt tight against your chest, though it stayed in place against your ribs just fine. It was just that the loose fabric area didn't feel loose enough for you. It had made lacing it up in the front a bit difficult; you had to stop and adjust your chest to see if you could make it fit better. Unfortunately it seemed that it was going tight no matter what you did. What you didn't understand was that even though that garment felt tight it was still better than the bindings that Mai wore. After that the pants and long shirt were much easier to figure out.
You hesitated by the door as your hand touched the surprisingly warm metal. Zuko had told you to open the door once you were done getting dressed. You were pretty sure you had everything figured out, although you weren't sure if you wore the clothes nearly as well as Mai or Ty Lee. They were tight in some parts and loose in others, they didn't seem to fit as naturally on you as they did on either girl. You hoped that it wasn't an offensive sight or something. He seemed to take offense to the fact that you were going to change in front of him. So hopefully he didn't take offense to how they fit. Especially as he had been the one to bring them to you to begin with. Trying to comfort yourself in the fact that what you wore was his choice, you opened the door.
Zuko turned to look at you. You raised your eyes for a moment to see that his gaze didn't tell you very much. Which was a good sign. You felt relieved as you lowered your eyes again. At the very least he wasn't upset or offended by how you were dressed now. Which meant that you had at least put everything on correctly.
"Okay. Let's go."
You nodded at his direct command, prepared to follow him. You hoped that he didn't try to take you outside like Ty Lee had. He had seen the damage that the sun had done to your eyes and had even carried you through the hallways when you were too unsteady to walk. He had even bore witness to the fact that you had to heal yourself just so you could see again. You passed by the door which lead to the outside. The beams of light shined in through every crevice that they could manage. And given the pain that had been induced earlier that warm candle like feeling made you uncomfortable. Thankfully Zuko continued to walk through the metal hallways without stopping to open the door to the outside. As that happened you let out a sound of relief.
He lead you to a room with a few of the sailors still moving about. Your stomach flopped about as you realized that they were working together to move the cargo boxes away from the center of the ship. Boxes lined either wall as the worked to stack them higher up in order to make more room on the ground. They even secured the with what looked like metal neets, some of them were rope but most were metal. Even though you stood behind Zuko for a few minutes to see some of the work being done, you still couldn't believe that everyone was going to such great lengths for you. Compared to most of the people on this ship you were nothing; practically a nameless war orphan.
Only...that wasn't completely true anymore according to Princess Azula. She claimed that you were the Avatar. Even you had heard what and who that was when you were a child. You retained that information through the length of your imprisonment. The Avatar was the only person capable of bending all four elements while being a bridge between the spiritual world and your world. They were a great figure in any nation. The only trouble was that to your knowledge they had disappeared over a hundred years ago. They should have already died from old age. Yet Azula claimed that she and Zuko had killed him around the same time that your mother had been giving birth. Which meant that the Avatar spirit should have passed to a water bender, sure, but to an unborn child. It didn't make sense as to why you were the Avatar. Yet it was the only way to explain how your hands had scorched a bed and how steam had funneled out of your nose when Azula found you. The only way to do that while still maintaining your healing powers would be to be the Avatar. And the Avatar was definitely not a nobody.
"Was there anything else you require Prince Zuko?" One of the soldiers asked once the maximum amount of space had been cleared.
"No," Zuko replied.
Soon after all of the soldiers bowed quickly together. Then you watched as Zuko waited until the left. The only thing was that they didn't leave. They just stayed in what you assumed was a position of respect as they waited to be dismissed. You knew that situation all too well but from what you could see, Zuko either didn't realize that or didn't intend to dismiss them. From the way he looked at them you assumed it was more of the former rather than the later.
"They are waiting to be dismissed," you spoke out quietly.
Zuko shifted to look back at you. Then you watched as he went a little tense as he realized that you were right. You heard him mutter, "I knew that," before sending them away. Which was strange considering that it didn't seem like he knew that. Nor did he seem offended that you pointed the situation out to him.
Once they were gone Zuko turned to look at you, "Show me your stance."
"...my stance?" You asked.
"How you stand if you're about to attack," Zuko attempted to explain.
You nodded without saying a word. You knew what a stance was of course. You had dealt with the Dai Li since you were a child. It was just that he was asking for you to take a stance, or more specifically to show him the one you used. Anytime you had tried to teach yourself how to bend water in an offensive manner when you were still young, Long Feng had you beat. A lot of the time he showed you how fruitless and pathetic your attempts were himself. Which meant that you couldn't show him what he was asking for.
"I've never been allowed to learn how to fight before," you told him honestly. "Every time I tried, I was knocked to the ground and locked back up."
They had done that for a lot of things. You had been a stubborn prisoner for the first year. And maybe a little stubborn in the second. But by the time that year had finished you had been beat and starved so often that you never had the strength to fight back. Not resisting, not showing defiance, had become a habit after that. One that always left a bitter taste.
"You need to forget about that now."
Easier said than done would be an understatement. You kept quiet at his insistence.
"Okay put one foot in front of the other. Then turn your hips and shoulders so your side is facing me. But keep your head turned to look at me. Never take your eyes off of the person or people you're facing."
You tried to do as he asked but the position felt awkward. It didn't feel stable at all. Not to mention that it was a lot harder to keep your eyes on him, harder than Zuko would ever realize. Judging by the way that Zuko crossed his arms you would have to say that he at least noticed how awkward your stance was. He moved towards you and used his hands to fix the position of your shoulders despite the fact that you flinched away from him. He said nothing about that as your heart raced in a conditioned fear response.
You felt him nudging your foot with his own, sliding it out further away from your body. For a moment it felt like he was going to sweep your legs out from under you. But he didn't. That didn't stop your breath from hitching, your eyes from widening, and your pulse from racing as you anticipated an act of violence. One that never came.
Zuko moved back to look at how you were standing now. But there still seemed to be something wrong with how you were standing if the glances at his face were anything to go by.
"Bend your knees a little, don't keep them so stiff. You need to be able to move at a moments notice," Zuko told you.
You tried to do as he said but your legs felt weak holding up your meager body. Even as under fed, and this underweight as you were, you still had difficulties keeping the posture.
"You look like you're about to fall over," Zuko commented as he walked around you. "Why are you shaking so much?"
"Unless I was summoned to heal someone for Long Feng, I was locked in a small room for six years," you said as you lowered your eyes.
You might have been clean and in newer clothes but you knew that hadn't changed much. You probably still looked pathetic. The clothes might have been pulled tight over your chest and hips but you had very little muscle mass. Just enough to function for the life you were used to. They even made sure to keep you under fed; you had just enough food to be helpful but not so much that you had the energy to exercise in your room. And anytime you tried doing even basic things like the stances your father had started to teach you, and they caught you, you had been punished. Which was why you didn't know how to stand and why trying to hold the position now was difficult. Outside of healing you were pretty much useless. You might have been the Avatar but that didn't change that fact.
"So what does that have to do with standing?"
"I was never given enough food to have the energy to exercise. When I tried anyways, they would beat me."
Your level of honesty must have made him uncomfortable because he went quiet. Zuko took a few steps away from you as he tried to figure out what to do at this point. He had never had to teach anyone before. And it had been a long time since he had started his training. It was hard to remember what his instructors started with. This stance was one of the most basic ones he'd been able to think of and you already had trouble holding it. Not because it was too hard but because you didn't have the muscles required to hold it. He really had no idea how to deal with that; Zuko had never had to deal with suffering from starvation. At least not for very long. There had only been an extremely small stretch of time when he had been on his own in the Earth Kingdom that he knew what it was like to be truly hungry. And that had definitely not lasted for six years. He didn't want to imagine having to grow up without enough food to have the energy to move about much less being beat when he did.
"Alright. Relax," Zuko said as he let out a frustrated breath.
It was even worse when he saw that you lowered your eyes, like you thought he was mad at you. Spirits he had no idea how to deal with you. What was Azula thinking leaving him in charge of your training? Something about trust and understanding, yeah he knew. But he really had no idea what he was doing. His uncle would be a lot better at this...unfortunately he wasn't an option anymore.
"Look, what do you know about firebending?"
You but your lip as you tried to search your mind. It was hard to think beyond the fact that he was angry at how little you could do. Slowly you shook your head as you whisper "nothing".
Seriously, the young prince had no idea what he was going to do. It seemed kind of hopeless. He racked his brain for the explanation that he'd been given a long time ago.
"Okay. So how did Azula figure out that you were the Avatar? How did you firebend the first time."
"It was right after my mother and new baby sister died," you started to explain.
Zuko's eyes widened fractionally. Not that you could see it with how low you had your head hung. He really couldn't believe what he hearing. Seriously, did you have any happy memories? From what he understood you were the daughter of a captain, which should have meant that you should have enjoyed a good life in the Fire Nation but you hadn't. Instead you had lived your life in one military camp after the next; your father had drug you and your mom around like pets, or so he guessed based on the trend he was hearing. And he knew that your mom was a waterbender. If he had to guess he'd say she had been from one of the Earth Nation swamp tribes or something. Which meant that your father had probably taken her as a captive. He didn't imagine that would be a pleasant situation. But even after the captain, your father, died you still hadn't caught a break. You had been captured at Ba Sing Se and turned into a slave for the Dai Li. You had been under fed and abused; beaten when you did anything it seemed. Zuko had no idea what to say to any of that. Especially considering that he had just found out that you had been there when your mother and sister, a baby from the sound of it, had died. Seriously, from the sound of it you never seemed to catch a break.
And after all of that you had somehow become the Avatar after he and his sister had killed Aang.... So after a life of abuse and submission people were going to expect you to lead. Azula already wanted to be able to show you off to the Fire Nation Elote. From what he remembered they were a bunch of bickering, gossiping sharks vying for attention. Zuko did not envy you in the least.
"I was so angry...and when I breathed out, steam raced out of my body. Then I burned the bed I fell back into," you continued to explain.
Okay. So that gave him an idea.
"Okay so do you remember that feeling? That anger? Firebending is like that. The heat of your anger fuels the fire," he explained with a slight nod. "You use that anger and push it out as you breathe out. You strike out with that anger."
Both you and Zuko couldn't help but feel the same thing at the same time. It was going to be a long day.
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A Kindred Spirit