Water Lily in a Sea of Fire

Chapter 45: Life in the Earth Kingdom

A/N:  Just a variety of scenes.

====================================

The next morning when Zuko woke up, Iroh was still asleep. He grabbed one of his old tunics to work in and headed outside. Looking over at Chiara's tent, he saw that it was empty, and he did not see her around the campsite. As he went to put his tunic on, he realized that the tear on the sleeve was gone, and he smiled to himself knowing she had fixed it for him. He quietly walked down towards the river where he noticed her from a distance at the water's edge washing clothes. He approached her, and kneeling down beside her, he kissed her cheek.

"You're always busy working," he said.

"There's always work to be done."

After washing everything, she stood up and laid one of the pieces of clothing over a branch and just as she was about to pull the water from it by waterbending, she hesitated. She had become so accustomed to hiding her ability from Zuko, she had to remind herself that he was now aware of it. She proceeded to dry the clothes as he watched her.

"I guess that would've been useful when we were stranded on the raft," he said as he remembered her coming out of the water freezing.

"I was so tempted."

He thought about how difficult it must have been for her knowing she could have dried herself off quickly, but refused to do so in his presence. When she finished drying the clothes, he carried them for her on their return to camp. As they walked, Chiara collected firewood, and after putting the clothes away at the camp, she returned to the river with a bucket. Zuko stayed with her. He watched her bend the water while looking for a fish. Seeing her depend on her waterbending, his mind flooded with so many questions, questions he had not thought to ask when they were living their quiet, but busy lives in the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se.

"When we were on the raft, how were able to stay under the water so long?" he asked.

"I bent the water around me so I had an air bubble."

"Did you do that during the storm too?"

"I did, but it was more difficult with the waves moving so strongly. It was harder to control. Mostly I tried to keep Tedo and myself above water."

He remembered his uncle telling him that even she could not fight a storm.

"I can't believe I never knew," he said. "You hid it so well."

She stopped what she was doing and looked at him. "What do you think you would've done if you had known?"

He thought about it. "I...I don't know," he answered. He wondered if he would have thought less of her or even exploited her ability during the three years on the ship. "You and Uncle were right, though. Having a waterbender around would've been useful."

She smiled and continued working.

"It's good that you kept it secret," he said. "If anyone had found out while you were living in the Fire Nation, they would've put you in prison a long time ago...or worse," he added softly.

She pulled up a fish placing it in the bucket which he carried for her back to camp as she collected more firewood. When she started arranging the wood in the fire pit, Zuko took over for her.

"Having firebenders around is really useful too," she said, delicately moving strands of hair from his eyes.

He smiled at her, and his golden eyes sparkled making her heart beat a little faster. She began preparing their breakfast, and soon Iroh was drawn to the smell of the cooking fish.