The Half of Me | Zuko

Chapter Eleven: The Fortune-Teller [P1]

Being on Appa and flying around was not Ryoko's best form of transportation. She wasn't used to being in the air, but Ryoko was slowly growing used to the group being around. Aang did whatever he could to make her comfortable. "Ryoko! Look!" Ryoko turned her head to the energetic airbender who bended air around beads to make them spin around. She chuckles and sticks her thumb up at the trick.

"Good one."

Aang smiles and turns back in front of him, looking down. "Hey guys, we should make camp."

Katara moves forward towards Aang and looks down. "Yeah, there looks good." Ryoko gulps looking down, seeing nothing but trees. She realized she had no choice but to stay with them when they continuously flew on Appa to avoid Zhao and others.

She figured Zuko still thought she was with her father. He couldn't have known that she had fought her father once again and left everything behind when the Avatar and his friends left with her on Appa. Thinking about Zuko gave her a guilty feeling, like she was doing something wrong by sitting with the Avatar. All Zuko had thought about was capturing the person she was sitting next to and laughing with. Sure it was a thought of hers for a long time too, but seeing her father and learning how nothing would change him, it wasn't worth the fight. Rising up in station just for him to continue to rise and smite her caused her to give up on a dream. Helping her friend was worth it, and yet here she was, about to make camp.

Appa lands in the middle of a clearing near a large river, causing the four to hold on. The three who were used to making camp already started to begin, but Ryoko stood to the side awkwardly. She didn't have anything of hers on her, she realized soon after waking up that afternoon on Appa. Everything was back at the base or on the ship. Her bag and her new sword were both gone, who knew what her father would have done with them now that she was gone. She couldn't go back to him. She barely knew what she was doing with the Avatar and his friends. She wasn't a prisoner, but at the same time she was not a friend.

"It's going to get dark soon so we should practice a little before we move on tomorrow," Katara tells Aang after finishing setting up. Aang nods as the two then go towards the water, practicing certain movements. Ryoko stood to the side as they practiced and Sokka kept to himself with a pit in the middle of their camp. Everyone had started to cool off and begin to relax, but Ryoko couldn't. It was weird for her to sit there acting like nothing was wrong.

She slowly walked towards the pit Sokka sat at and sat down slowly. She was still uneasy around the two siblings, knowing they didn't trust her or like her.

Sokka didn't say anything but he glanced at the girl momentarily before going back to his attempts at starting a fire. He remembered when she first came to their village, how she approached the women and children, and how she talked to him. It was different than the other fire nation soldiers. Even if Aang trusted her for some reason though, Sokka still knew he had to keep an eye on her in case this was all apart of her plan to take Aang.

Ryoko watched Sokka as he tried to start a fire in the pit, but looking too caught up in his thoughts. She felt similar to him, like all she could do was be caught up in thinking. She took a deep breath and then blew out a quick controlled breath of fire, blowing it onto the pit to get it started. Sokka yelps and moves back. "Sorry," Ryoko mumbles, her hands in the air.

Katara and Aang look back from their waterbending to see Ryoko and Sokka silently sitting around the fire.

"Great, so now I have to deal with more magic bending. Water and air weren't enough, let's add fire to the list."

"Sorry?" Ryoko says but her voice made it sound like an unsure question. Sokka scoffs and moves back towards the tent. Ryoko sighs, leaning her head back onto the ground, not caring about what was around or who was around her. She closed her eyes, trying to make sense of everything that happened and what she is doing with them still. She didn't know if she could even find her way out of this. It wasn't like they could really stop her though, but it was three against one.