Life Happens Wherever You Are (Zuko x OC)

Chapter 9

I could feel the warmth of Zuko washing over me as I slowly woke up. The smell of tea wafted over from a new fire that Iroh had made, and it swirled with Zuko's scent. I looked at Zuko, his face was soft and relaxed, his eyes were closed, still sleeping. As if he sensed me looking at him, he stirred. I quickly looked away and sat up, not wanting to get caught staring. I heard him groan from beside me, and glanced down. His eyes were open now, and he yawned.

"Good morning you two," Iroh chirped.

I looked over and smiled, getting up and walking to the fire. He handed me a cup of tea as Zuko came over and sat next to me.

"I am glad you are awake, I wanted to get a head start this morning. We are not too far from the village."

"What village?" I asked, sipping my tea.

"A village that should help us with what we need," he responded with a sly smile.

Zuko growled, "Why do you always have to be so difficult and cryptic?" I could hear the annoyance in his voice.

Iroh didn't say anything, he just smiled and drank his tea.

Once we were ready and done packing up, we set out to Iroh's mysterious village. Iroh was in the front again, because only he knows where we are going. Zuko was behind him, and then me, with my arms wrapped around Zuko. He made sure that I kept a tight grip, since I was at the back, he didn't want to risk me falling off.

The trees were scarce now, barely any green life would pass by us at this point. I leaned into Zuko, taking in his scent. I finally felt comfortable with taking a moment to really breathe him in. Right away I knew that he smelled like sandalwood, that was the most prominent scent that I had noticed when we first met. I breathe again, and this time I notice that the sandalwood is mixed with an amber, which gives it a deeper musky tone to it.

Zuko moved slightly, almost as if he was looking back at me. I lifted my head to look, and could see him looking at me from the corner of his eye. I smiled and rested my cheek on his upper back. I breathed him in for a third time, there was something else that I was missing, that was hiding beneath the sandalwood and amber. I couldn't place it.

*          *          *

            "We're almost to the village, get ready," Iroh broke the silence that had been over us almost the entire trip.

I perked up, lifted my head from Zuko's back and looked around. No trees to be seen anywhere, I could feel the dryness in the air, filling my lungs. I held back a small cough. This place was even worse than back at my village.

I cleared my throat, feeling the tension that immediately took over Zuko's body once we came upon a small, very dry village with odd-looking people in it. They did not look like your normal Earth kingdom people, they must have adapted to the dry climate that is in this area. Zuko was looking around, assessing the area.

"So, what's the plan?" I asked, and they both looked back at me. Neither of them responded.

I sighed. Iroh led us over to a pole and jumped down, tying the rope to the pole. Zuko got down as well, then helped me down. I could feel his strong arms gripping me tightly as he helped me down, and once my feet touched the ground I got a whiff of sandalwood and amber that sent waves of calm throughout my body. His muscles were more pronounced now since he was alert and watching every person.

"Do you even have a plan?" I asked Iroh as Zuko and I followed him into the village.

"You will see, be patient," Iroh responded, smirking.

"Why must you be so difficult uncle?" Zuko complained with a hoarse voice. Maybe I wasn't the only one affected by the change in environment.

As we were walking into a building that I assumed was some sort of saloon, I briefly glanced behind us to see two men with long black hair watching us. I turned back and followed into the saloon, furrowing my brows in confusion. Why would they be watching us? Maybe they know we aren't from around here and are curious? I looked around the room, assessing the situation. There was a bar to serve drinks from cups carved out of ice, a few tables, and more odd-looking people. Some of them seemed to be just travelers, others I wasn't so sure. Iroh led us to a table against one of the walls and we all sat down.