Along the way, they found themselves in a fairly small Earth Kingdom town where they stopped to hopefully gather some change. Iroh and Zuko went to one end of town and Rezalia took the other. Placing a small pouch on the ground, she begins to dance to a beat only she could hear. It wasn't long before she had gathered a crowd, her twisting moves and whipping hair drawing attention and her complicated footwork and elegant hands keeping it. At some point, she whips off her skirt and uses it the way one would a scarf.
At the end of her dance, Rezalia's pouch was overflowing. The crowd around her cheers as Rezalia sweeps low into a curtsey and stands up straight to blow the crowd kisses. Rezalia ties her skirt back around her waist and crouches down to adjust the coins in her pouch so that they fit better, holding the ones that wouldn't fit on her hands.
Zuko was complaining when Rezalia approached, glaring at a retreating man. Dropping the coins in her hand into Iroh's hat, cutting of Zuko's words. "How'd you make so much," Zuko asks, narrowing his eyes at her pouch.
"Dancing," she answers, taking a seat at her friend's side. Iroh gives his nephew an odd look that Rezalia chooses to ignore. The longer they sit there, the more people recognize Rezalia and drop coins into Iroh's hat with comments on her performance.
"You were great!" one of the Earth Kingdom boys says as he drops a few coins into the hat. Rezalia tilts her head up to look at him and grins.
"Thanks!"
Zuko scowls at the boy and abruptly throws his arm around Rezalia. The boy blinks in surprise as Rezalia rolls her eyes but settles into Zuko's side. "Oh...sorry, I didn't know," he says awkwardly.
"Neither did I," Rezalia replies. "Ignore him, he's being weird." Zuko glares at Rezalia and pulls her closer. "Ow! Z, that hurt, you ass!"
Zuko grunts and turns his head away, glaring at the boy from the corner of his eyes until he leaves. Rezalia sighs and adjusts so that she was lounged across Zuko's lap with one leg bent. Iroh gives the pair an amused look but says nothing to them, going back to asking passing people for spare change.
~*~
Eventually, the three of them find a cave to stay in for a while. There were plenty of trees and shade and food around, so Rezalia assumed that they would stay for a while. Zuko had developed a habit of running off without telling anyone or acknowledging that he was doing it. He just returned with bags of things and it was fairly obvious that he hadn't bought them. Rezalia didn't really see a problem with it, she was fairly sure the people the things belonged to were better off judging by the quality of the things.
Today was one of those days, only today he didn't stick around long, going to leave as soon as he'd tossed the bags into the cave. His uncle's voice stops him. "Where did you get these?"
Zuko doesn't turn around. "What does it matter where they came from?"
Rezalia fiddles with the strings on the bag. "Is there food in here?"
"Yeah," Zuko says, turning back slightly. "The one you're holding has dried meat and uncle's has pastries."
"Cool."
Zuko walks off again and Iroh lowers the jelly bun he had bitten into. "He's getting worse," the man says, watching his nephew. Rezalia rolls onto her stomach, a strip of dried meat in her fingers.
"Things have to get worse before they can get better," she murmurs. "But he's....he'll come around."
"I hope so."
A few days later, Iroh finds Zuko sitting in the cave with his Blue Spirit clothes still on and Rezalia sleeping with her head in his lap. "Looks like you did some serious shopping," Iroh remarks quietly as he sits down by the fire, inspecting a solid gold teapot. "But where did you get the money?"
Zuko ignores the question. "Do you like your new teapot?"
"To be honest with you, the best tea tastes delicious whether it comes in a porcelain pot or a tin cup," Iroh replies as he moves to kneel at Zuko's side. "I know we've had some difficult times lately. We've had to struggle just to get by. But it's nothing to be ashamed of. There is a simple honor in poverty."
Zuko's hand pauses it's carding through Rezalia's hair, picking up the movement again when she grunts in displeasure in her sleep. "There's no honor for me without the Avatar."
"Zuko..." Iroh sighs. "Even if you did capture the Avatar, I'm not so sure it would solve our problems. Not now."
Zuko jerks away from the hand Iroh had set on his shoulder, jostling Rezalia and causing her to blink sleepily with a scowl. "The hell are you...?"
"Then there is no hope at all," Zuko snaps, ignoring Rezalia's question.
Iroh grasps his nephew's sleeve. "No, Zuko! You must never give in to despair. Allow yourself to slip down that road and you surrender to your lowest instincts. In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength."
Zuko stares at his uncle for a moment before gently lifting Rezalia into a sitting position and leaving. Rezalia leans against the wall of their cave and frowns as she watches her friend walk away. It wouldn't be until near sunset that Zuko returned. "Uncle, I thought a lot about what you said."
Iroh seemed pleased by this as Rezalia comes to stand at his side. "You did? Good, good."
Zuko's next words cut right through Iroh despite that not being his intention. "It's helped me realize something. We no longer have anything to gain by traveling together. I need to find my own way." Zuko packs up his things, tossing his bag over his shoulder. He stops and looks back at Rezalia. "Are...are you coming?"
Rezalia smiles a bit and shakes her head. "No, Z. You said it yourself. You need to find your own way and you need to do it yourself. I can't help you with it."
Zuko frowns but nods and moves to leave again. "Wait!" Iroh calls. Zuko turns back once more to see his uncle holding the reins to the ostrich horse to him. He takes them silently and leaves for good.
"I-"
Iroh cuts her off. "I know, dear. I do not have a ride for you, but I wish you the best. With luck we will cross paths again."
"Thank you, Uncle Iroh. Good luck."
Rezalia packs a bag of her own, complete with some of her old clothes, food, water, and a few knick knacks Zuko had picked up for her on his excursions. And with that, she took off with a final hug from Iroh and a promise to have tea with him next time they saw one another.
The trip was, uneventful. She walked, she rested, she walked, she rested. Rinse, wash, repeat. She ate a little bit about three times a day, less if she felt that her rations were running low, and always made sure to keep her bending under wraps just in case. Which turned out to be the best move as about two weeks later, someone was watching her. She knew he was there from the moment he passed by and she knew that he didn't leave. Sometime in the late afternoon, he was joined by two others. Eventually, she got tired of the waiting game.
"Are you going to come out or just stare for ten more hours?" Rezalia asks as she lights a fire the normal way. Or, normal for people who don't bend fire. Slowly, the three of them step out of the bushes near silently.
"Sorry, miss," the shortest of the three says.
Rezalia leans back so that her weight rested on her palms and she could comfortably look up at the newcomers. "I don't really care as long as you aren't being creepy or weird about it. Though, it just looks like you're refugees trying to make sure I'm not Fire Nation, yeah?"
The apparent leader raises an eyebrow in surprise. "Uh, yeah. How did you know?"
"Hunch," Rezalia replies with a shrug. The leader smiles a bit and holds out a tanned hand.
"I'm Jet. These are my freedom fighters Smellerbee and Longshot," he says around the wheat in his mouth. At least it looked like wheat, Rezalia didn't really care about what it was.
She lifts her hand and grasps Jet's. "I'm Rei. Nice to meet you guys."
"We're on our way to Ba Sing Se. They're taking in refugees like us. Want to come with us?" Jet asks. Rezalia idly notes that he had a habit of speaking for the other two.
"Sure. Why not."