Carved In Rock || ATLA

The Sound Of Silence

The Cave of Two Lovers Fin

"People talking without speaking. People hearing without listening. People writing songs that voices never share. And no one dare disturb the sound of silence." - Disturbed (Originally Simon & Garfunkel)

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"You two must not be from around here." A young woman made small talk as she rubbed a thick salve on Iroh's irritated skin. Her tone was light and teasing, not at all judgmental. "We know better than to touch the White Jade, much less make it a tea and drink it."

"Ha ha, oops!" Iroh laughed through swollen cheeks, his shirt tossed to the side. They had stumbled upon a small trading town farther down the river where they stopped to ask for help. A villager took one look at the rash and pointed them in the direction of the spa the local herbalist worked out of. The girl who had led Iroh to the treatment bed seemed to be far too young to be the herbalist, looking to be only sixteen at the oldest, but she said her mother was out buying supplies. She worked quickly and professionally with her light brown hair pinned at the bottom of her neck, her matching her doe-like eyes kind as Iroh told his story.

"So where are you traveling from?" She asked as wrung the water from a cloth over a nearby basin.

"Uh, yes we're travelers," Zuko said too quickly. He had been sitting along the edge of the wall just waiting to get out of there, constantly on edge about being caught.

The daughter took the cloth and started washing the skin of the older man that still needed treatment. "Do you have names?"

"Names?" Zuko stammered. They hadn't thought this far ahead. "Of course we have names. I'm...Lee." He said after thinking for a moment. "And this is my Uncle...Mushu."

Iroh glared at Zuko over the girl's shoulder while her head was turned. He had given him the same name as the ferret. "Yes, my nephew was named after his father, so we just call him Junior."

"Mushu and Junior huh." She pondered. A little strange but then again the names around here were opposites to the names of the villagers she grew up with, maybe it was the same for these two. She couldn't see the boy with the scar waving his fist at his Uncle behind her back. When she turned to face him he went still. The poor guy looked like he had been through so much lately, she couldn't help but feel for him. It wasn't so long ago that that was her. "My name is Song." She smiled a soft smile at the nephew, her white and pink hanbok swashing around her as she moved. "You two look like you could use a good meal." She swatted the older man's hand away when he tried to itch his skin. "Why don't you stay for dinner."

"Sorry," Zuko said without hesitation. "But we need to be moving on."

"That's too bad." Song sighed. "My mom always makes too much roast duck."

That was all the encouragement Iroh needed, his nephew would just have to get over it. "Where do you live exactly?"

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"Sokka this is the tenth dead end you've led us to." Katara pointed out while her brother studied the makeshift map in his hands. The cave was dim and cold, she felt like it could swallow them whole if it wanted to.

"Eleventh." Aelita corrected. Going forward was their only option, the Fire Nation troops tracking them had caved in the entrance to the cave not long after they entered it. Sokka had fished a piece of parchment and a quill from their belongings and had been trying to keep track of the tunnels like a maze as they wandered. Aelita walked near him lighting the way for the front of the group with her lavender fire, Aang rounding up the back with one of the nomad's torches that they were trying to ration as long as possible. "The map was a good idea but we've already come through this way."