Dreamers (Zuko x Yue)

Journey pt. 6

Zuko woke up to the sound of crickets.

He stretched realizing that he probably slept all of yesterday.

Ugh. Sleeping on the ground wasn't a good idea.

He got up and stretched looking around to see if anyone else was awake at dawn.

He saw a lot of the deserters bustling around and figured they must be Firebenders.

Rise with the sun and all that.

He yawned and went to the campfire to see if he could get some food. As he got to the campfire he noticed that everyone went quiet, all of them looking at him with an expression he couldn't identify.

He tilted his head, nervous at the sudden pressure placed on him, "Uh, Hi. Is there anything I can eat for breakfast, or if there are any ingredients I can cook my food?"

He saw as one of the deserters poured the food he was cooking and gave it to him.

He looked at him oddly, "Uh, thanks."

He sat down and ate his food, trying to ignore all the stares coming his way.

Weird.

.......

He finished his food and was startled when he heard someone come from behind him, "Jeong-Jeong wishes to talk to you."

He looked back at the person that lead them to the camp and nodded.

He entered Jeong-Jeong's cabin and saw him resting in front of a Paisho board.

Fuck...

Jeong-Jeong looked at the boy who had come in, Iroh's nephew, and if his last message was to be believed the newest member of the White Lotus.

Let's see if he lives up to his uncle's praise.

He waved his hand over the board, "The guest has the first move."

Zuko sighed, ready for the verbal beatdown he was about to get.

He placed the White Lotus tile he had on the board, looking Jeong-Jeong dead in the eyes as he told him, "I'm not going to lie. I don't remember the secret code."

Jeong-Jeong felt his eyebrows twitch in annoyance.

Well, Iroh didn't lie about him being honest at least.

He grumbled "Stupid youth" and set up the board.

"Alright, pay attention, I'm going to drill the code into your head since your Uncle seems to be too relaxed to do so."

Zuko groaned.

I hate this stupid code!

.........

Finally, it's over.

After over an hour of memorization, Jeong-Jeong was satisfied with his ability and moved on to talking about the Avatar.

Jeong-Jeong looked at him, "Prince Zuko, we must talk about your Firebending student. Something happened yesterday that may put a wrench in your teaching plans."

Zuko looked at him worriedly, "What happened? Aang shouldn't even be starting to bend yet, I've only had him meditate. Uncle said it was dangerous to teach him fire first so I wasn't going to teach him actual Firebending until he mastered Earthbending."

Jeong-Jeong hummed, approving Zuko's teaching plans.

"Yes, while that is a good plan and one I agree with, apparently the other Avatars don't. Avatar Roku made an appearance yesterday and demanded I teach the Avatar Firebending. I've put him on the most basic of exercises but now he'll most likely be able to summon flames. You'll have to take that into account during future lessons."