Life Happens Wherever You Are (Zuko x OC)

Chapter 7

"Well, you could tell me now," Iroh countered to Zuko, and then looked at me expectantly. I glanced over at Zuko to see his reaction, and he locked eyes with me. I almost got lost in them, but then I  pulled myself out and blushed at the ground.

Since Zuko did not object, I started, "Well, we met a couple of weeks ago in my Earth kingdom village, Sia Na."

"You lived in an Earth kingdom village? Why? Aren't you Water tribe?" Iroh interjected.

"Yes, I am Water tribe. My father sent me to the village to stay with a family friend when I was young in order to protect me from the fire nation raids that were destroying our home. A few months later, we received word that my tribe was destroyed and there were no survivors. So I stayed with Rahin, the family friend. Him and his wife raised me."

"Ah, I see. Please, continue."

"When Zuko arrived at my village, no one knew who he was. The Earth kingdom soldiers that were supposed to protect our village stole the feed that he bought for Chu-"

"Chu?" Iroh asked.

"The ostrich horse uncle. She named him," Zuko answered.

I went on, "Then one of the boys in the village, Lee, took him to his family's farm and offered him a place to stay for the night. A little while later, I was tending to my flowers at Rahin's shop, and Zuko approached me."

Iroh looked over at Zuko and raised his eyebrows. Zuko gave him a look, and I hid a smile.

"The next morning Zuko left. But then the Earth kingdom soldiers tied up Lee, and was messing with him. After a little while, Zuko came back to help, and fought the soldiers. With the last one he had to use his firebending, and then everyone found out who he was. They were being very mean even though he had just saved the boy. So I defended him, and they kicked me out with Zuko. We've been traveling together ever since."

Iroh looked at Zuko, "You fought the soldiers?"

"They were more bullies than soldiers." Zuko snapped back at him.

Iroh opened his mouth and then stopped. "Wait-" he looked from Zuko to me, then back to Zuko. "You two have been traveling together, for the past couple of weeks?"

Zuko nodded.

"The two of you? Alone?" he looked back at me.

I glanced over at Zuko and blushed, hiding it by looking at the floor. I saw Zuko blushing as well from the corner of my eye, which made me smile.

"What, is there a problem?" Zuko half-yelled in defense once he had pushed down his blush.

"Oh, no no definitely not. Just wondering..." I saw him wink at Zuko, who scowled back at him.

I touched my necklace and smiled to myself.

"So-" Iroh started in a curious and playful tone.

"That's enough of that, Uncle," Zuko slammed his cup down on the ground.

"Alright, alright." Iroh struggled to stand, groaning. I quickly went over to help him up. He nodded at me gratefully. "It's time to resume your training."

I glanced at Zuko, he nodded calmly, but I could see in his eyes that he was excited. Iroh first dumped out the tea that Zuko made, and then made his own. He gave me a cup before starting to talk again. His tea is definitely a lot better than Zuko's.

"Lightning is a pure expression of firebending, without aggression. It is not fueled by rage or emotion the way other firebending is. Some call lightning the cold-blooded fire. It is precise and deadly, like Azula." Iroh poured another cup and handed it to Zuko, and then one for himself. "To perform the technique requires peace of mind."