The Commander's Daughter (Zuko X OC)

Chapter 20 ~ A Secret

Her joints ache and her eyelids sting in the way they do when they havent been opened for a long time. Opening her eyes Karina is greeted with the silver ceiling of the medical bay. As she trys to sit up she can feel a stiffness in her body that comes from sleeping in an uncomfortable place. A small blanket covers her body providing just a little warmth. As her eyes adjust to the new light she can see Zuko asleep in the chair in the corner, a smile forms on her lips as she looks at his sleeping frame. His hair although still up in his ponytail has sprawled on his shoulders, his face looks almost peaceful. Its an expression Karina would never see him make when awake. He looked kinda cute. 

Suddenly he wakes up, and the peaceful look is gone and replaced with embarrassment. 

"You're awake." He states avoiding her eyes, he was releived she was awake. When she had fainted like that he thought something was really wrong, worried that maybe they were going to loose her. 

"I am," Karina looked around the room, noticing her shoes on the table next to the small cot she was laying on, "Uh, how did I get here?" She blushed at the silliness of her question, the fact she couldn't remember why she was here was embarassing and a little worrying to say the least. Zuko looked shocked at her question before compossing himself and raising out of the chair to walk over to her side. 

"You fainted." Her blush intensifies, something he thinks makes her look extremely charming. "You scared me," He muttered almost inaudiably gently running a hand down her cheek, before turning toward the door, "Get some rest." Zuko can't controlling the tingling sensation in his hand as he leaves the bay. 

Karina stares wide eyed at the space where he had just been, her cheek still tingling from where he had just touched her. Closing her eyes she swung her legs over the side of the cot and tried to remember what had happened. 

They were fighting the pirates, and she had used her bending to free herself. She wondered if the bending had caused her to faint. It did take more energy than she was used to exerting, but the last time she had accidently bended it just gave her more adreniline.  Pulling on her shoes she sighed and raised off of the cot. Her legs felt a little wobbily, but stable enough to stand. Whatever had caused her to faint didn't matter, what mattered was that they had the boat back and that she really could Earthbend. 

***

Zuko couldn't help but stare at her as she played Pai Sho with his Uncle. Her brows furrowed in determination as she tried helplessly to understand the deceptively complicated game. He liked how much she smiled whenever Iroh let her win a round, he wasn't too proud to admit that his breaks from training where he would sit and watch them play was his favourite part of the day. 

"Iroh?" Karina asked as the older man reset the Pai Sho board, he nodded to signify that he was paying attention to her, "Can I tell you a secret?" 

"Oh Karina your feelings for my Nephew are no secret." The older man smiled at the younger girl as a heavy blush set on her cheeks. 

"What!I-I don't have-Iroh! That's not true," She spluttered incrediously as the old man laughed at her reddened face, "I think I have discovered something about myself, I first noticed it when you were kidnapped adn the again when we fought the pirates." She had dropped her voice down to a whisper, noticing that Zuko was watching them with a raised eyebrow. Iroh just smiled at her knowingly and waited for her to continue. 

"Iroh, I-I think I'm an Earthbender," She took a deep breath and looked up at the man who continued to smile. Karina was a little puzzled by his reaction but pressed on all the same. "Can you help me?" 

Iroh scratched his chin and looked away thoughtfully. He didn't know much about earth bending, what little he did know he had learned whilst laying seige to Ba Sing Se. He supposed he could attempt to teach some of the basics he had picked up. Nodding he looked back up to Karina. 

"I can, now," His smile returned, "Let us finish this game."

A/N: I really wanna hear your feedback so please leave comments and let me know what you think! Comments really make my day :)