Road to Ba Sing Se | Zuko

01

❃ The journey ❃

A few years later, the now fifteen year old Keya was out in the woods again. This time, however, no soothing hot springs were involved. No, the young teen was out collecting firewood for her family. A rather boring job, but a great way to escape the house!

Since the passing of her father five years ago, some drastic changes had occurred in Keya's life. Those bad men who had ended her father's life had now also conquered her village. The Fire Nation soldiers that she had always heard scary stories about as a child were now roaming the streets and demanding unfair taxes from poor widows. Yulin village was no longer free from the war.

In order to keep their family safe and fed, Hun had started working in the nearby mines while Lei got a job in town selling fruit. Their mother... well, she did what she could. Most days she stayed in bed and tried to teach the eleven year old Kanak to read maps and play Pai Sho. Other than that, she just slept or tried to do some cleaning at home. It had been that way ever since their father had passed. No one knew what was wrong with the poor woman, since she didn't have any physical ailments. But that was life, so all they could do was work with what they could. Besides, teaching Kanak anything at all was probably difficult enough. The boy wasn't exactly the studying type. He usually just hung around and studied his maps or practiced his 'fighting skills' in the vegetable garden (Lei should have never taught him how to use a sword). Thankfully, he was off helping Lei in town today.

As for Keya, she did what she could around the house. Collecting firewood, working in the garden, doing laundry, and cooking for the boys. She was fine with it, since it was a job that needed to be done by someone. However, sometimes Keya would stay out collecting firewood a bit longer than necessary just so that she could get some peace and quiet... like she was doing now!

"Ah..." Sighed Keya as she looked at the branches that she had collected in an old, worn rucksack. The bag couldn't hold as much as it used to, but the family could no longer afford to buy a new one. And so, Keya had to go out to the woods daily to collect enough wood for that night.

A nearby bullfrog croaked, as if sensing the girl's reluctance to go home. Keya turned her head to talk to it. "This should be enough for tonight, right? If I don't go home now, mother will complain that I've been out for too long." The bullfrog said nothing, but Keya felt like it agreed with her.

"I know," She said as she gathered the rucksack and heaved it on her small frame, "I don't want to go, either. But you know how it is. Dinner won't prepare itself and mother wasn't up for the task today, so I have to do it." Keya and the bullfrog stared at each other for a moment, the former looking as if she was expecting some sort of answer from the friendly amphibian. It croaked once more and then jumped away, leaving its friend alone.

"Yeah, I should get going, too."

Keya grunted under the weight of her rucksack and slowly started walking down the road back home. Her back ached from the long day of work and her calloused hands were dirty from the garden work she had done earlier. She'd been up since sunrise today, so she was sure that sleep would take her as soon as her head hit her sleeping mat tonight.

Slowly, Keya started humming to herself. The soft tune distracted her from thoughts of work still left to do. Around her, the trees swayed gently and the birds sang with her. The sounds of her feet hitting the rough earth provided a rhythmic thump thump thump. Keya focused on her breathing as she hummed, clearing her mind and simply feeling the forest's presence around her.

The peaceful scene around her faded when the old cabin came into view. Its once bright green exterior had faded with time. A few tiles were missing, others were crooked or cracked. The front porch was starting to rot and had not been cleaned in some time. What was once a happy family home had changed into a deteriorated shack.