Road to Ba Sing Se | Zuko

17

❃ Hungry Eyes ❃

"I'm in." Zuko stated confidently.

The banished Prince was all in for 'liberating' some food, as Jet had eloquently put it. If not for his uncle and Keya, then for himself. The teen had had enough of rotten food, so when the opportunity presented itself, he was not going to pass up on it. However, his female counterpart wasn't too happy about his impulsive decision (and about the fact that he had just thrown her dinner in the ocean). Keya's hand reached out to him and turned his body to face her own.

"What are you doing?" She hissed. "Are you trying to get us kicked off the ship? I don't know about you, but the promise of a good meal is not enough to get me to throw my future away!" The girl had gone without fancy dinners all her life, so waiting an extra day or two to get better food in Ba Sing Se was no problem for her. But risking that entrance to the safest city in the Earth Kingdom for some roasted pig-chicken? Yeah, she did happen to have a problem with that.

However, the Prince had had enough. His patience had run thin over the past couple of months. Never in his life had he felt so humiliated and defeated as a man for such a long time. He had lived in the comfort of his royal surroundings for his entire life. He didn't want to live like a peasant! He had been running from both the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation. The latter was his home! How could they have treated him like common rubbish by casting him out and putting out wanted posters with his face? He was their Crown Prince in Sozin's name!

Somehow, the opportunity that Jet had offered him made him feel like he could take a bit of control back in his life. He could eat the food that someone of his status ought to eat. Not because they had given it to him (he had in fact learned that the world no longer worked for him that way), but because he had taken it himself. He wanted to spit in the face of fate and claim what was owed to him. Besides that, he could even pay back his uncle for the help and guidance he'd given -if only a little bit. The Earth Kingdom girl could scold him all she liked, but she couldn't hope to understand what he was currently going through.

Keya was not going to stop him from this. He would make sure of it.

"You don't have to come with us." Zuko replied with a stern voice. "As a matter of fact, I think it's better if you stay here with my uncle." He put his hands on her shoulders, as if he was trying to physically keep her there. Keya shrugged him off. The Freedom Fighters watched their small spat with barely hidden interest.

"Then at least don't get caught. I love your uncle, but I'm not going to last long with him if he loses you again. He'd mope until the world itself ended." She scolded, but couldn't keep the hint of worry out of her voice. Zuko looked at his uncle, and then back at the Earth Kingdom girl before him. Had his uncle really moped that much when he was travelling by himself?

"I won't, trust me. I've done this before. Just stay here with my uncle. We'll be back before you know it." He said.

Keya looked at Iroh, who nodded at her. "Alright." She gritted out through clenched teeth, knowing that there was nothing she could do to stop him if he really set his mind to it (he was stronger than her after all).

At the sound of her confirmation, Zuko nodded and turned to Jet to discuss their plan. But he could take another step, she stopped him again. "However! If you get caught, I'm not risking my neck to save you. You'll be on your own."

"Yeah, yeah. As if you could save me. What would you do? Bat your mooney eyes and cry at the guards that they have to let me go?" Zuko's tone teased her sarcastically.

"Wha- Mooney eyes?! What are you talking about?" She growled. "My eyes aren't 'mooney'. And even if they were, I still wouldn't use them to rescue you."