The Commander's Daughter (Zuko X OC)

Chapter 16 ~ Earth Bending

Karina followed silently behind Zuko, as he lowered the branch in front of him revealing the clearing and hot spring that Iroh had once been siting in. Charging into the clearing , he scanned for any sign of his missing uncle.

"Uncle! Uncle, where are you?" His voice was filled with a sense of urgency that Karina had not yet seen in Zuko unless he was close to the Avatar. She felt another wave of nervousness wash over her, Iroh was not a stupid man. He had at one time been a great military leader. It was highly unlikely that he had wandered off and gotten lost, but it was even more unlikley that he had headed back to the ship without telling Zuko first. Karina supposed that he may have just returned to the ship, and not wanted to interrupt her and Zuko's conversation. Something didn't quite feel right about this situation and it caused an uneasy sensation in the pit of her stomach.

"Maybe Iroh headed back to the ship already?" Zuko whipped round to look at the girl behind him, remembering that she was with him for the first time. She had a point, Iroh may have realised that he was being foolish to continue to make his nephew wait and headed back to the ship. Zuko mused the idea before concluding, that if Iroh had headed back to the ship they would have run into him at some point, and when they last left him he was in no fit state to leave.

Shaking his head Zuko turned to reexamine the now destroyed hot tub , "Somethings not right here." His eyes widened as he noticed the stone projectiles that had been embedded into where his uncle had been sat. "That pile of rocks.."

Karina followed his line of sight, observing the rocks. She scratched her chin. The way they landed looked sort of like a landslide, all piled up together, but still something seemed wrong, unnatural with the way the rocks had fallen.

"Maybe there was a landslide and he went back to the ship?" Zuko gave her measly explanation a brief glare before looking back to the rocks.

" Land doesn't slide uphill. Those rocks didn't move naturally. My uncle's been captured by earthbenders!" Karina's eyes widened at the revelation. If Iroh had been kidnapped then these earthbenders must have been something else.

"What are we going to do?" She looked up into Zuko's golden eyes, her own filled with an intense panic.

"We must head back to the ship, collect a war rhino and I'll find him." Zuko began to march back t the ship before he felt Karina grab his wrist and whisked round to face her. "What are you-"

"You can't go alone, if they captured Iroh we don't know what they're capable of!" He seemed shocked at her sudden bout of braveness, her green eyes softened and she let his wrist free, "Let me come with you, I care about Iroh too and, I'm not completely useless," Zuko smirked slightly folding his arms over his chest, as if to say Are you sure about that? " I broke out of an earthbender prison!" Karina put her hands on her hips annoyed at his dismissiveness.

He chuckled at her, she was even more attractive when wound up.

"Fine you can come with me, but we need to hurry back to the ship now." Smiling mostly to herself Karina followed Zuko.

***

They had been riding for about half an hour. Karina's arms remained firmly wrapped around Zuko's waist, too scared to let go. She had only ridden on a war rhino once before and that hadn't been an exactly stress free experience.

They had seen tracks heading in this direction but hadn't seen anything for a while. If Zuko hand't of been so focused on trying to find his uncle then he would have been more concerned with the way that her arms brushed against his stomach, and how warm she felt pressed up against his back, and the way he could feel her breathing mimicking his own.

A small object in the sand a few metres away caught his attention and the warmth spreading through his face stopped. Pulling the Rhino to a stop he removed Karina's hands from around his waist and dropped to the ground. The sand crunched under his feet and he made his way over to what he could now make out as a sandle.

Begrudgingly he picked up the sandle and took a long sniff. Coughing slightly at the familiar, but disgusting smell.

"Yup, that's Uncle Iroh."

Zuko raised off of the ground and headed back to the rhino, allowing the beast the smell the scent.

***

They'd been following the scent of the Sandle for about 10 minutes or so when Karina spotted something in the sky.

"Zuko look," Zuko followed where she pointed, his eyes widening with recognition. That was a flying Bison. The avatars flying bison!

"The Avatar!" He pulled on the reigns turning the rhino they sat on to face the bison's direction. Indecision marred his face as he looked back to the path that lead back to his uncle. Every part of him told him to do something different.

Follow the Bison. Find his Uncle.

He could feel Karina staring up at him, expecting an answer to an unspoken question.

He could imagine him now, tied up somewhere, unable to breathe, or move. Sighing he pulled the reigns back to face where he had originally. Iroh came first.

Karina smiled into his back as they headed toward where ever Iroh was being kept. At least her friends were safe for now.

***

Zuko growled under his breath as he observed his uncle stretched over a large rock In The centre of a large rock pit, his hands spread before him but bound together.

"These dangerous hands must be crushed." states one of the five men, who Zuko assumes to be earth benders, looming over his uncle. Zuko sends a brief glance to Karina who stands just behind him eyes glued to the captivating scene.
A cry from the earthbender causes his attention to turn back to his uncle.

A large bolder now blocks his view of his uncle and an unfamiliar fear bubbles in his chest. The bolder moves hovering over what can be presumed as his uncles hands. The bubble of fear is quickly replaced with anger, without a second thought he propels over the edge of the pit and slides down the side.

Karina watches in horror as Zuko leaps into the pit and kicks the bolder that would have crushed Iroh's hands away mid air.he then breaks the chains freeing the still naked Iroh,who rises with a smile.

" Excellent form Prince Zuko." Iroh comments facing his captors.

"You taught me well." Zuko swells with another unfamiliar feeling and stands a little taller still facing the guards.

"Surrender yourselves, it's five against two. You're clearly outnumbered." the five earth benders encroached on the now back to back men.

"Uh, that's true," Iroh glanced round at the men in front of him and briefly back to his nephew servaying their terrain, "but you are clearly outmatched!"

Marina gasped as all five earthbenders began to launch stones at her two companions, an overwhelming urge to help surges over her as she watches the two fight below her. Zuko blasts the two nearest to him with fire while stones fly towards him.

" Zuko watch out!" Iroh catches the stones mid flight, wrapping them in chains and sending them hurling back to their captors. The last captor standing turns to Karina and begins stalking towards her. Raising her hands in panic she watches as a small stone rises and hits the earth bender in the face.

"Hey!" Zuko calls out sending a barrage of flames in the captors direction, who blocks the blows. With a smirk the earthbender raises two sheets of rock above his head. Zuko looks briefly at Karina seeing his fear mirrored in her green eyes.

The fear is unwarranted as chains wrap around the attackers feet pulling him to the ground the sheets of rock landing atop him. The two men look at each other as Karina skids down the pit to join them. Zuko places a hand on his uncles shoulder with a smile.

"Now would you please put on some clothes!"