White Hot Flames (ZukoxOC)

13

        They hadn't been fugitives for more than a week and Zuko was adjusting horribly. They had managed to steal some earth kingdom clothes, Iroh wasn't too happy about that method, but other than that they were awful at this whole survival thing. All of their clothes were simple, as they could no longer present as highly respectable people. Rezalia's was the most complicated with tan pants covered by a short green skirt that tied on her hip and a form fitting green crop top that was sleeveless and ended just above her belly button.

At the moment, Rezalia was gathering more firewood, a fairly easy task, while Zuko was tasked with finding food and Iroh was...examining a plant. Rezalia had opted to leave him be, building a structure with the wood she had found. Zuko bursts through the trees, shouting in frustration.

"I didn't find anything to eat. I can't live like this. I wasn't meant to be a fugitive. This is impossible!" he screams. Rezalia laughs as he kicks at the ground, earning herself a dirty look. Upon realizing that Iroh hadn't answered him, Zuko turns around. "Uncle... what are you doing?"

"You're looking at the rare white dragon bush. Its leaves make a tea so delicious it's heartbreaking! That, or it's the white jade bush, which is poisonous."

Rezalia frowns and looks at the plant. "Maybe you shouldn't eat that."

"We need food, not tea. I'm going fishing," Zuko grumbles, stalking off once again. Rezalia lets him go, far more focused on convincing Iroh that drinking that plant would be an awful idea.

She failed. She turns her back for three seconds to organize her wood into a neat pile and Iroh turned his possibly deadly flower into a tea and downed it in one go. "Uncle Iroh!" she exclaims indignantly. Iroh grins at her and sets his cup aside. "Well? Was the tea great?"

"It was poison," Iroh responds calmly.

"Iroh!" Rezalia shouts. "Seriously?!"

For the next few minutes, Rezalia gathers berries that Iroh had told her would fix the problem. "Well, do I mash them up into a lotion or do you eat it?" she asks. Iroh shrugs in response and scratches at his chest. "Dammit, Iroh!"

Zuko returns shortly with a fish in hand. He stops short upon seeing his uncle still sitting where he'd been when he'd left. "Zuko, remember that plant that I thought might be tea?"

Zuko's face falls. "You didn't!"

"Guess what it wasn't," Rezalia says darkly. Zuko practically screams in frustration. Iroh turns to face his nephew and Zuko recoils in shock at the sight of his puffy, red face.

"When the rash spreads to my throat, I will stop breathing. But look what I found! These are bacui berries, known to cure the poison of the white jade plant. That, or macahoni berries that cause blindness," Iroh says cheerfully. Rezalia drops the berries in her hands.

"They WHAT?!" she shouts.

Zuko snaps a bit, growling in the back of his throat. "We're not taking any more chances with these plants! We need to get help."

"Where, though. The Earth Kingdom would kill us and the Fire Nation would ship us to your crazy sister," Rezalia says, wiping her hands on her skirt. The three of them share a look.

"Earth Kingdom it is."

~*~

The woman laughs a bit as she applies a green paste to Iroh's rashes. "You three must not be from around here. We know better than to touch the white jade, much less make it into tea and drink it."

Iroh chuckles sheepishly in response. She smeers some more on his face, where the rashes were the worst. "So where are you traveling from?" Zuko jumps a bit at the words, getting to his feet and fidgeting awkwardly. Rezalia gives him a look from where she was lounging on her seat.

"Yes, we're travelers."

The woman gives Zuko a slightly amused look. "Do you have names?"

"Names Of course we have names!" Zuko exclaims. Rezalia sighs and stands, placing a hand on the fugitive prince's shoulder as she smiles at Song.

"Sorry, he doesn't get out much." Zuko elbows her for that. "I'm Rei."

"I'm..Lee," Zuko adds awkwardly. "And this is my uncle, uh... Mushi." Iroh leans around Song to scowl at his nephew.

"Yes, but my nephew was named after his father, so we just call him Junior," Iroh replies by way of revenge. Rezalia giggles a bit, wrapping her arms around Zuko to keep him from lunging.

"Mushi and Junior, huh? My name is Song. You two look like you could use a good meal. Why don't you stay for dinner?" Song asks as she swats Iroh's hand away from his arm. Iroh pouts a bit while Zuko looks at Song uncertainly.

"Sorry, but we need to be moving on."

Song looks a bit disappointed as she wipes the stray ointment off of her hands. "That's too bad. My mom always makes too much roast duck."

Rezalia notes Iroh's excited expression. "Oh, ignore Lee. He's a bit hard headed. We'd love to stay for dinner if it's not any trouble."

"Zali!" Zuko hisses, though his protests go ignored by everyone.

"Not at all!" Song exclaims. Not long after, they were seated in Song's home with her mother.

As she sits down, she speaks. "My daughter tells me you're refugees. We were once refugees ourselves." Song sips her water before speaking up as well.

"When I was a little girl, the Fire Nation raided our farming village. All the men were taken away. (sadly) That was the last time I saw my father," she murmurs, looking down at her plate. Rezalia reaches over and squeezes Song's hand.

"I haven't seen my father in many years," Zuko mumbles, mostly to himself.

Song looks up at him with slight surprise. "Oh. Is he fighting in the war?" Rezalia winces a bit, the picture of her own father slitting through her mind.

Iroh pauses eating to watch for Zuko's response. It comes quiet and after a moment of silence. "Yeah." Rezalia grasps his hand with the one not holding Song's.

After a moment, she speaks up. "As fun and homey as this is, I do need my hands to eat." Song laughs and releases he hand she held in her grasp. Zuko keeps a hold of the one he had, leaving Rezalia to eat with one hand. After dinner, the three Fire Nation fugitives begin to leave. Though, they did hang around for a while, Song and Zuko having a conversation outside while Rezalia and Iroh spoke with Song's mother.

"Thank you for the duck. It was excellent," Iroh says, clasping his hands together. Rezalia grins and nods her agreement. Song's mother assures them that it was nice to have guests.Zuko begins to leave but Iroh stops him.

"Junior, where are your manners? You need to thank these nice people," he scolds lightly. Rezalia smothers her laugher at the look on her friend's face. Stiffly, the teen bows and forces out a small 'thank you', which only sets off more laughter for the girl.

"I know you don't think there's any hope left in the world, but there is hope. The Avatar has returned!" Song calls out to Zuko as they leave.

Zuko stops for a moment and turns back. "I know."

On their way out, Zuko stole an ostrich horse much to Iroh's displeasure. Rezalia just hopped on, wrapping her arm around Zuko as she extends the other to Iroh, who gets on with a displeased grunt.