Road to Ba Sing Se | Zuko

02

❃ The stranger ❃

"This sucks."

Hungry, malnourished and tired. That was Keya's current state after travelling for a week.

Keya was by no means a weak person. Her strength was simply a little bit unconventional. Her brothers would consider their earthbending, swordsmanship or intelligence as their sources of strength. Keya, however, always pulled her strength from caring for others, perseverance and a curious mind.

Being on her own in the wild was therefore a rather difficult position to be in. How does someone survive with peace or compassion?

Keya was still wandering about the Southern Earth Kingdom. She had left her village a week ago and was on her way through the mountains to head up North. The scraps of food that her family had packed for her were almost running out. For now, she was lucky enough to have a small meal for tonight. After that she'd have to start gathering berries and hunting whatever she could find.

The mountain trail was not too difficult to follow and trek through. Most of the problems arose from the unrelenting heat and the lack of trees to shade her. Keya had managed to fill her water sack a couple of leagues ago, but the sweat dripping off of her body made her go through the water in no time. She would have to stop soon in order to refill. But where could she go?

All around her she could only see grassy plains filled with slabs of old earthbending disks. They were the types her brother told her about as a kid. Hun would use similar slabs to practice his earthbending before their father left. Before the Fire Nation took over their home. These were much larger than those that earthbending children used, though. These were meant for actual fights rather than basic training.

The whole place was littered with the disks. As Keya observed them during her trek, she noted that they had probably been used during a battle of some kind. Hopefully, the Fire Nation had not taken the small town up ahead yet. It was the only town close by that was worthy enough to be mentioned in her brother's map, so she had no idea where else she could go. Perhaps someone there could help her find her way to the next town, and so forth. As long as she didn't come into contact with any firebenders, Keya was sure that she would be fine... hopefully.

As she walked down the long path, the sight of a stranger suddenly appeared off the road. Or rather, the sight of the stranger's unconscious body appeared. The man was splayed out on the side of the road with his head lolled to the side. His conical hat was on the ground beside him. An ostrich horse was eating grass nearby with its leash untied. Keya slowly approached the ostrich horse.

"Hey there, buddy. You're not supposed to be out here without being secured safely somewhere, are you? I'm pretty sure that your friend over there doesn't want you to wander off."

The ostrich horse looked up and glanced at her. It let out a snort, as if agreeing with her. Carefully, Keya came closer and snatched its reins. She walked over to a barren tree nearby and tied the ostrich horse to the tree's trunk. She tugged on the rope for a moment, making sure that the creature wouldn't be able to run off, before hurrying over to the stranger on the ground.

As she approached him, Keya took note of the giant scar on the left side of his (admittedly, still handsome) face. He couldn't have been much older than her. His face didn't even have any stubble yet, unlike her older brothers.

"Hey." She whispered softly. The girl sat down next to him and shook his shoulders to wake him up. He didn't move. "Are you alright... sir?"

Once again, the guy didn't reply. "Oh dear." Keya mumbled. Is he...? No, that couldn't be! She wouldn't allow it!