Flame of the Heart - Book 1 // Zuko

Chapter 12

"I just want to say.... I know what you are going through," Raven explained. "I knew someone just like Shira.... bright and cheerful.... full of light...."
Zuko kept his eyes fixed on the girl before he sat up and looked at the girl intently. "When did you meet her?"
Raven gnawed on her lip, thinking hard, "I knew her.... while I was a prisoner in Ducranah. Let's just say we didn't exactly part ways as friends."
Even before she finished saying the last word, Zuko had stood up and crossing the room in three strides, grabbed the girl by the shoulders and glared down at her petite form, "What did you do to her!?"
Raven's eyes widened at his sudden violence, the way his fingers dug into her shoulders and the fire glowing in his amber eyes. However, she quickly overcame her surprise and frowned back, pushing his hands off her shoulders.

"I didn't do anything to her. I was many things after leaving Ducranah, but an assassin or kidnapper were none of them. I never saw her again after I left that place. She didn't make it out.... She was one of the unluckier ones. I didn't even know her name."
Zuko let his hands fall to his sides, feeling the blood drain from his face and his heart drop to the soles of his feet, "What did she look like?"
Raven frowned, trying to remember, "Short hair.... Cannot remember the color.... but it was straw like.... Blue eyes I do remember. She was skinny... I cannot remember her age, but she was roughly about my age."
Zuko sighed. The only thing out of those descriptions that matched Shira were the eyes. However, there were plenty of blue eye shades. The girl Raven knew could very well have had dark blue eyes, not sky-blue eyes. Shira's hair also was not straw like but like lace and her hair was long.... She could have cut it.... but Shira wasn't skinny. She was slender but not skinny.... But she could have also lost weight....it was still a fifty-fifty chance just like what Zuko had lived with for the past few years.

The boy slumped and before he realized what he was doing, he dropped his head and his forehead rested on Raven's shoulder. The girl's eyes widened again but she didn't let the surprise show but rather reached around the boy and rubbed her hand on his back comfortingly.

"Why?" the boy whispered. "Why are you kind to me even though I have never given you a reason to."
Raven chuckled, her laugh echoing through her body and vibrated against his body, making Zuko's face heat up. "If you only act kind toward those who give you a reason to be kind to them, you will never get the chance to be nice to anyone."
The boy slowly pulled away but didn't meet the girl's gaze, obviously slightly embarrassed from having weakened in her presence. Returning to his bed, he laid back on the pillows and sighed, closing his eyes.

Raven walked silently across the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. Zuko cracked an eye at her quizzically.

"What are you doing?"
"When I was little," Raven explained. "My mother would sing to me to help me relax my mind."
Zuko snorted before closing his eyes again, "I don't need a lullaby. Besides, who says I need to relax my mind."
When the girl didn't reply, Zuko opened his eyes to see the girl reached over and press the tip of her finger between his eyebrows. "That," she said smiling. "Is the face of someone who has a lot on his mind. I've seen it before."
Zuko raised an eyebrow and gently swatted her finger away, "Who?"
The girl froze before turning to look away from him, "My brother. He was just a child... but whenever he had something nagging at his mind, or he had so many things to do that his mind was getting muddled, his brow would furrow like that."
Zuko didn't answer right away but considered the girl carefully. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears that she was doing an incredible job at holding back, her smiling face had fallen to one of faraway hurt and he realized that her hand which had felt partially warm against his forehead was now cold as he brushed it with his hand.

"Can you...." He started, causing the girl to look back at him surprised. "Could you.... I mean.... If you don't mind...."
The girl smiled, having never heard the young prince stammer or be at a loss for words but she realized he was trying. He was trying to open up to someone other than his uncle and trying his hardest to cheer up. She nodded softly and Zuko seemed to relax.

Softly, her voice rose from a whisper to a melody, soft and gentle but soothing at the same time.

Wake up, wake up, the sun cannot wait for long
Reach out, reach out before it fades away
You will find the warmth when you surrender
Smile into the fear and let it play

You wanna run away, run away
And you say that it can't be so
You wanna look away, look away
But you stay 'cause it's all so close
When you stand up and hold out your hand
In the face what I don't understand
My reason to be brave

Hold on, hold on so strong, time just carries on
All that you thought was wrong is pure again
You can't hide forever from the thunder
Look into the storm and feel the rain

You wanna run away, run away
And you say that it can't be so
You wanna look away, look away
But you stay 'cause it's all so close
When you stand up and hold out your hand
In the face what I don't understand
My reason to be brave
Go on, go on
You wanna run away run away
And you say that it can't be so
You wanna look away look away
But you stay 'cause it's all so close
When you stand up and hold out your hand
In the face what I don't understand
My reason to be brave

When she finished, Zuko realized in surprise and slight embarrassment that his hand had fallen from where it had been laying on his stomach and was lazily lying next to his body, the edge of his hand brushing Raven's which was resting on the bed beside her.

He quickly retracted his hand and looked up at the girl, hoping she hadn't noticed only for his eyes to widen. Sometime during her singing, tears had begun to flow from the girl's eyes and were now streaming down her cheeks silently. She was staring across the room with pained eyes and was biting her lower lip to keep it from shaking. However, he noticed that the color had drained from her face making the red lines from the hot tears even more noticeable and her hand... was shaking.

"Rav...." He started but never finished.

The girl jumped to her feet and without saying a word or looking his way, bolted to the door and flew out, allowing the door to swing closed. Zuko remained seated on his bed, completely stunned like someone had slammed him in the chest. After a full five minutes of trying to think of what had made her cry, he shook his head and laid back with a confused sigh. What he didn't see was the single ray of light that had found a crack in the shutters of the window and was shining on the place where Raven's hand had been not a moment ago...