Flameheart | Zuko

TWENTY-EIGHT

With a small sigh and already being disappointed in herself, Homura ate the last of her food and stood up to take a walk around the village. The whole time, she kept a close but discreet look around the houses, looking out for any ostrich horses. She located a few and to make matters worse and make her feel even more guilty than before, all of the houses with an ostrich horse evidently belonged to poor families. It went against all she had strived to do for the last ten years, all she had been trained to do. She was ashamed of herself and the lengths she would go just to get away from friends that she wasn't even sure would follow her. But she had to do this.

It wasn't until the sun had started to set she realised something was not quite right in the village. The more the darkness set in, the more citizens locked themselves up in their homes, and by the time the moon had appeared in the clear night sky, no one was out of their house. Homura stayed in a field on a small hill and overlooked the village, confused. She was curious and for the moment, she postponed stealing an ostrich horse. She was certain the villagers were afraid for some reason and she wanted to see why. A few hours later, she got to see for herself what got them so terrified of leaving their homes after dark.

From the other side of the village she could see a group of people, yielding torches and heading straight to the village. Even from a distance, she could make out the glint of armour and she knew whoever they were, they were the reason everyone in the village locked themselves up after dark. Homura didn't wait to see how things would play out. With no hesitation, she ran down the hill, careful to not lose her footing, and got straight to the village. 

"Open up!" their voices could be heard from the other side of the small village as they yelled, banging on the wooden door of a house in the edge of the village. Now she was closer, Homura could see their armour clearly, swords seathed and secured on the side of their waist. They had gathered around the house the leader of the guards was banging against, appearing threatening, the flicker of the flames in the torches shedding light to the obvious intrusion. The door had just opened up and an old man, evidently afraid, had stepped out when Homura got close enough to hear every bit of their conversation. 

"What do you want?" the man trembled, his eyes increadibly wide as he looked between the guard that had been banging on his door, to his sword, those behind him, their torches and then looked back at the guard. "I paid you last week."

"Master Wu claims you didn't give him all of the money. You cheated."

The little colour on the man's face seemed to disappear as he squealed. "Cheated?! I gave him all he asked, I-I don't have any more money!"

The guard took a menacing step forward. "Give the money or else-"

"Or else what?"

The guard stopped at once as he turned to the sound, along with the five more guards that had come to accompany him. Homura took a step forward, showing them her face as she looked up at the guard standing in front of the villager, ignoring the sight of a few doors and windows opening just slightly to watch the scene. 

The guard didn't seem to take her input seriously. "You're obviously a newcomer. Since no one's told you, you don't mess with Master Wu or his guards. The village is under his control."

She lifted her chin. "What does this Master Wu offer to the people of this village?"

The guard exchanged a look with his companions before taking a step forward. "I'm going to have to ask you to be on your way, newcomer. Don't bother with things that are out of your control."

"I know exactly what I'm doing, thank you for your concern," she mused as she took a small step forward, widening her stance just slightly. "Now, I'm afraid I can't have you terrorising these people. So, you either go right now and tell Master Wu he can no longer use this village the way he does or you stay back, lose in our fight tremendously and since you won't be able to move, I go and tell Master Wu myself." The guards exchanged yet another look as her lips turned, forming a small smirk. "Do we have an accord?"

For a while, the guards just looked at each other, considering her carefully. And then, their leader took a step forward, unseathing his sword. "You didn't have to get yourself involved."

Homura's smirk widened as she took out her own sword and let it rest by her side, watching his next move closely. "Has anyone ever told you you talk too much?"

His eyes narrowed and with a battle cry, he charged at her. Homura waited in her spot as he came closer, his sword raised, and when he was close enough to strike, she moved out of the way of his sword and punched him once, then twice, just like Ty Lee had taught her. For a moment, the guard remained still, his eyes incredibly wide and then he fell to the ground, as if paralysed. 

Her smirk had gotten extremely wide by now as she turned to the rest of the guards, waiting for their next move. They attacked at once.

Homura blocked the first's attack with her sword and evaded the other, easily sliding beneath one's feet as she hit her opponents quickly, precicely - she was incredibly grateful for being friends with Ty Lee at this point - and the battle had hardly started before it was over and the guards were all around her, unable to move. 

She straightened up as she put her sword back in its seath and looked around. Slowly, the doors of the houses opened and the villagers rushed out, examining for themselves the damage she had done. When they looked up at her she could only make out awe in their looks and she couldn't help but smile as the man they had been attempting to force to give them money got over to her, his eyes incredibly wide.

"Thank you! They've been asking for money for months now, ever since Master Wu inherited his mother's fortune!"

"No need to thank me," she assured him with a smile as she took a step closer towards him and away from the unconcious guards. "I have just one question. Does this Master Wu have any ostrich horses?"

The man nodded at once. "Yes, he has so many you can't even count them!"

Homura smirked, "Is that so?" She turned to the villagers around her. "What would you guys say if I suggested we go over to Master Wu's house and take all that's yours?" A cheer rang out at once and she couldn't keep her smirk from widening. "Perfect."

The next morning, Homura was following the men to Master Wu's home. She was informed on her way that he was actually a criminal in the Earth Kingdom as he and his family had assisted Fire Lord Azulon many years ago when the Fire Nation had been extending their rule to the Earth Kingdom. Although his family were no longer considered traitors in the eyes of the Earth King, they weren't all that popular either. It made her realise that when news of the villagers taking over would reach the other nobles, no one would come to Wu's rescue. The villagers would manage to take back their belongings, perhaps a bit more too, they would be safe, and she would get to take an ostrich horse for herself. She thought it was quite a good plan. 

It was easy to get in Wu's house and the guards were defeated in the first few minutes of their intrusion. Master Wu, being the coward Homura had painted him to be, yielded at once and cried seeing his stolen wealth being taken back but did nothing to defend it. Homura overlooked the invasion, making sure the villagers didn't break anything even though they were free to take any money they pleased, and by the end of the day, she watched them go as she headed to the stable by the house where she had been told ostrich horses were held. She took just one and let the rest inside, but as she was about to go, she caught sight of Wu behind her, evidently disturbed.

"Why are you doing this?" he cried as she got on the ostrich horse. "You don't know anything about this land!"

"You terrorised poor people when you had more than enough to get by," she spoke as she led her ostrich horse away. "A person who's had the chance of getting more money than another should always try to protect those less wealthy than him. May this be a lesson to you, Master Wu, so you may never use people without hope to fulfil your own desires."

Without another word or glance at him, she led her ostrich horse to the east. She had left before he had the chance to even blink.