Road to Ba Sing Se | Zuko

24

❃ The Truth Revealed ❃

After he was sure that Jet and the guards had left, Zuko immediately made a straight line for his friend. He had seen the boy push her away, but obviously didn't have the time back then to check on her.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Keya nodded carefully, but the groan that left her lips revealed the truth. Although the gash on her head had stopped bleeding by now, that didn't mean that her head didn't feel like it was splitting open. She also felt a bit woozy and lightheaded after the shocking experience. Having a knife pressed against her throat was not what she had envisioned for her time in the 'safest' city in the world.

Zuko gently pulled her hands away from her face. His own calloused digits held her chin and lifted it to face him. His other hand inspected the wound with barely concealed concern. The sight of the nasty gash made his gut clench. Rage bubbled up again as he thought back to the fight. He wanted to scold her for jumping in front of their patrons and putting herself in jeopardy, but he kept quiet after seeing the tired look in her crystal eyes. Why hadn't he been there sooner?

"You're not okay. I'm taking you home." His statement was final.

The young Prince tried to keep his voice calm and collected as he spoke. As a firebender, he didn't want to scare the girl by letting his anger get the best of him, especially not now that she finally considered him her friend. She had been through enough today as it was.

Keya just nodded again in response. She was too tired to force words out of her mouth now that the adrenaline had metabolised out of her system. The young woman leaned against her friend slightly as he guided her back to their apartment. Iroh stayed behind to help Pao close up shop for the night.

The walk to the apartment didn't take very long. Zuko made extra sure to keep an eye out for any other 'enemies', despite Keya's insistence that Jet's friends would not attack them for revenge. After all, they would have helped Jet out earlier if they were still on his side, right? It only did a little bit to lessen Zuko's antics. He wanted to keep an eye out for her, especially since he blamed himself for not stepping in sooner when Jet was around.

He opened the door and led her through the kitchen towards the couch, where he carefully helped her sit down. As soon as he knew that she wasn't going to fall over, Zuko headed to the washroom and retrieved a water bowl and a clean cloth. He cleared his throat awkwardly and sat down next to her. Keya noticed his intentions and angled her forehead for him to clean with his rag.

"Excuse me..." He mumbled formally, before waiting for her to give her concent. She nodded, so he took that as a sign to start. It was as if the intimate act of cleaning her wound had triggered his royal upbringing to reveal itself. Sitting so close to a girl his age, especially one of foreign descent- it would have caused a massive scandal back in the Fire Nation. But now, there was no one around to judge. Something about it made his heart thump nervously.

The two of them sat in silence as he dapped the damp cloth on her forehead. With some careful dapping, the rag had successfully removed any last grime and dust from the cut. The cut itself wasn't too deep, he could see that now. Still, the fall could have easily caused a mild concussion. Considering her silent and shaken state at that moment, that idea wasn't very unlikely.

"You should stay home tomorrow. You can't work like this." He said sternly. She wouldn't be much use to them anyway in her current state...

As soon as she'd heard his command, Keya's head shot up in alarm (to her regret, it caused another wave of pain). "What? No!" She protested. Her hands shot up into her hair. "I have to work! We need the money! What are we going to do?!"