fire in your eyes • zuko

ix

It had been a few days since the incident with Lee and his family, and Nava and Zuko were still on the move. They had passed through a few villages and stopped briefly for food for the ostrich-horse, but other than that they didn't stop for anything else. By the fourth town they were coming up on, Nava forced Zuko to stop.

"It's been nearly a week, we should stop and let the bird rest," she'd said to him.

With a huff, Zuko came up to the gates of the town and they got off the ostrich-horse. He tied its reins to one of the posts and followed Nava into the village.

It was a bustling place, with merchants lining the streets, calling out for customers to buy their wares.

"Maybe I'll find a bow here," Nava mused, looking across the stalls.

"And buy it with what money?" Zuko said.

"Who said I was going to buy one? Maybe someone will misplace theirs. Or maybe they'll somehow lose their coin purses – Zuko, look at that!" she exclaimed, pointing directly to their left.

He looked to where she was gesturing. An alley stretched between two buildings, and a man was standing at a small table, which was lined with miscellaneous items. The people seemed to ignore him as they skirted around his table and kept their gazes averted.

"He looks shady," Zuko said.

"A shady merchant for shady teenagers."

"We do not look shady!"

"A couple of random kids show up in a town of less than a hundred people, one of which has a huge scar on his face, and the other has huge knives strapped to her belt. Yeah, not shady at all," she said with a roll of her eyes. She pulled him by the sleeve towards the merchant, but instead of stopping at his stall, she took him straight past it.

Nava glanced over the table as they passed, searching for anything resembling a bow and arrow. She saw on hanging on the wall and nearly halted in her tracks. They stopped on the other side of the alley and Zuko looked at her in confusion.

"Did you change your mind?"

"No. Even if he did have a bow, it's not like we can afford one. I just wanted to scope out his stall to see, and I saw one on the wall behind him. I didn't get a good look at it, but it's a bow."

"And how do you plan on getting it?"

"How do you think?" she hissed. "Definitely not legally. Let's go find somewhere to set up camp and I'll tell you my plan."

In order to give the ostrich-horse a rest from carrying them, they walked it beside them as they headed back a couple of miles to a small wooded area. They found a clearing close to the edge of the trees and set up their sleeping mats and started a fire.

"Okay, so I was thinking that I could borrow your Blue Spirit uniform and go back tonight, after all the shops have shut down. I'll follow the merchant and corner him in an alleyway and then take the bow. I'll come back here, and we'll leave at dawn."

"What if he follows you back?"

"He won't. I'll make sure of it."

"I think I should go with you," Zuko said, but quickly added. "For backup."

"Do you doubt my thieving skills, even though it's what I've been doing for nearly five years?"

"I just don't want you to bite off more than you can chew and get yourself arrested. Because then I'll have to break you out."

"Prince Zuko are you worried about me? I'm touched, but I can handle myself," Nava said, then added. "If you must come to ease your mind, then you can, but we do things my way. Deal?"