Zuko had been searching for Hana for the past half hour. 'Where did she go?' he wonders. He wanted to tell her that they would be stopping soon and that he had wanted to take her to get something else to wear, but he couldn't seem to find her no matter where he looked. He was on the verge of asking Iroh for help when he finally found her sitting on the floor of his bed room with a bowl of water. 'What is she doing?' he wonders standing in the doorway quietly.
Hana attempts using her injured hand to bend water out of the bowl. She manages to use her injured hand to move the water inside the bowl a little bit, but the second she has to move her wrist the water falls back into the bowl and she grabs her injured arm just above the burn scar.
"So you can still bend..." Zuko smiles a little bit. "That's great news."
Hana looks over at Zuko and frowns directing her gaze at the floor. "I can a little but it hurts when I move my wrist. I'm working on trying to overcome the pain so I can continue to bend but it's too painful"
Zuko sighs. "At least you haven't lost your ability to bend." He smiles a little. "Does that mean you can still sculpt?"
"Not yet." Hana sighs. "I need both hands to form the water properly."
Zuko frowns. "Well is there anything I can do?"
Hana frowns. "Not unless you know another waterbender to help me heal my arm a two handed waterbender with more skill could easily heal this."
"Another waterbender?" Zuko puts his hand on his chin. "I bet the avatar's waterbending friend could help, but we really aren't on good speaking terms." He grabs the back of his neck and sighs. "I suppose we could try asking her once I catch the avatar she might talk to you."
"We'll see." Hana sighs.
"Yeah I suppose." Zuko smirks and leans against the door frame. "I almost forgot the reason I was looking for you. We're close to port."
-Later-
'This is the most embarrassing thing I've ever done.' Zuko grumbles trying to control his urge to scream. He glares at the rope around his waist. 'In order to keep the men on the ship from questioning why I let her walk around I ended up deciding to tie her to me. Because I couldn't just tie her wrists up with the scar.' He grumbles and looks at the sky. 'How do I keep getting into these weird situations?'
Hana and Zuko walk around the towns market he listens for information about the avatar while Hana is busy looking at various things. "Wow these are so cool!" she smiles.
'It's her first time in a place like this.' Zuko smirks. 'She's very excited.'
Hana glances up and notices a younger boy with his brown hair in a pigtail on top of his head. 'He's wearing blue? Everyone else around here is wearing green or beige. He sticks out like a sore thumb... wait is he a waterbender?!' she looks at Zuko. "Hey come with me real quick." She yells suddenly and grabs Zuko's arm and pulls him along with her after the boy she saw.
"Wait hold on!?" Zuko protests. "I need to find information on the avatar."
"But I think I saw a waterbender!" Hana exclaims.
'Waterbender? In this place? Very unlikely... could it be she spotted one of the avatar's friends?' Zuko smirks. 'I knew there was a reason I liked her.' he runs with her now. "Alright you lead the way then."
Hana finally catches up to the boy she saw before and she calls out to him. "Hey! Wait up!"
The boy turns around and his eye twitches as he recognizes the girl's clothing as fire nation. 'I've been spotted by the fire nation shit this could be bad.'
"Wait please." Hana stops next to him. "Are you a waterbender?"
"Um..." he hesitates his gaze shifting from Hana to Zuko. 'Oh shit! This guy!? I hope he doesn't recognize me.'
"What?" Hana looks at herself and giggles. "Oh this! I'm not a firebender."
The boys gaze shifts back to Hana. "Not a firebender?"
"No my name is Hana. I'm... a waterbender." She mumbles.
The boy blinks in surprise. "Really!?" he frowns. "I'm Sokka of the south water tribe, but I'm not a bender." He glares at Zuko slightly and pouts. "What do you want with me though?"
"She's looking for a waterbender." Zuko pouts and crosses his arms. 'This guy seems really damn familiar. Have I seen him somewhere before?'
"Why?" Sokka asks directing his attention back to Hana. Then before she can answer he notices the burn mark on her arm. "What happened!?" he holds her arm up and frowns at Zuko. "Did you do this?!"
Zuko appears a bit offended but doesn't retort.
"No it wasn't him." Hana frowns.
Sokka frowns and looks away deep in thought. "And you're looking for a waterbender that can heal it for you? It'd be too hard to heal this type of injury yourself. I might know somebody that can help but..." he glances at Zuko. "You can't come."
Zuko crosses his arms. "Well I can't just let you run off with her either." <-- doesn't trust Sokka
Sokka frowns. "What is more important..." he asks. "You want the scar healed or you want to keep her prisoner."
Zuko blinks a few times. "Wait we never said that how did you?"
Sokka frowns. "I'm not stupid... you have a waterbender tied to you... you obviously don't want her to get away from you." he looks away again. "I can't help her if you tag along."
Zuko frowns. "Why is it secret? Why can't I go?" <-- suspicious.
Hana looks at Zuko and then at the ground. "Never mind... I don't want help if Zuko can't come..."
"But aren't you a prisoner?!" Sokka demands. "Why would you chose to stay?"
"It's true that I never asked for this but..." Hana sighs. "I've seen so much of the world already traveling with Zuko. Even though I can't leave the ship that's fine because I still have a lot more freedom than I did when I was in the forest."
Sokka grumbles and scratches the back of his head. 'I can't lead Zuko to our camp he'll try to capture Aang, but I know Katara could help her.' he growls. "Alright fine!" he glares at Zuko. "If you promise a truce for the rest of the day then I'll lead you to my sister. She's a waterbender so she can help."
"Truce?" Zuko pouts. "Fine whatever just hurry up and get this done with I have important things to do."
Sokka nods and starts walking. "Follow me then."
-Later-
"Sokka your back! What took you so long?" Katara smiles until she notices Zuko. "What Zuko!?" she instantly stands up ready to fight.
Sokka grumbles and looks the other way pouting. "Don't worry about fighting."
"What?" Katara looks at Sokka questioningly.
"I agreed to a temporary truce between us and Zuko." Sokka mumbles. "The girl he's with is a waterbender like you and she's got a bad burn she can't heal on her own."
"What's going on?" Aang says looking at them upside down from a tree he'd been climbing.
Zuko's eye widen. "The... THE AVATAR!" he points at Aang.
"Yeah the avatar." Sokka frowns. "Don't forget your truce. Don't do anything to Aang or you'll regret it."
Zuko is dumbstruck. They'd managed to run into the avatar completely by accident and he was under a temporary truce which he had no intention of dishonoring.
Aang jumps out of the tree and runs over to Zuko and Hana. "What happened to your arm?" Aang frowns and directs his annoyed look at Zuko. "Did you burn her?"
"No..." Zuko growls. "I'm not so unskilled that I would burn an opponent. My uncle taught me better than that."
Aang still frowns but looks back at Hana. "Well in any case I'm Aang nice to meet you."
Katara frowns at Zuko. "What's this about?"
Hana looks at Katara. "Are you really a waterbender?"
"Are you?" Katara fires back angrily.
Hana uses her good arm to bend some water around herself. "Yes."
Katara smirks and bends water as well. "Alright I'll help you as long as Zuko promises not to attack us."
Zuko finally snaps out of his stupor and frowns. "I won't dishonor my agreement but I've very upset by this."
Katara leads Hana to a stream where she proceeds with using two hands to heal the scar. "So why did you come looking for a waterbender to heal your scar?" she asks.
Hana frowns. "I tried to heal in myself but with one hand I can only do so much. Thank you for helping me though."
Katara glances over at Zuko. "And the reason for Zuko being here?"
Zuko frowns and stares at the water. "We aren't here to talk I'm only allowing this because she's hurt. Otherwise we wouldn't have come."
"I didn't ask you." Katara frowns glaring at Zuko.
"Oh I'm um..." Hana frowns.
"Isn't it obvious Katara?" Sokka frowns leaning over Zuko's shoulder. "The fire nation has taken this waterbender captive and Zuko got stuck babysitting the prisoner."
Zuko frowns looking at Sokka annoyed. "I'm not babysitting her. The reason she's off the ship in the first place is because I was taking her to look for a different outfit."
Sokka and Katara both exchanges surprised looks and then both look at Zuko. "So she really is your captive then?" Katara frowns. "I demand you let her go."
Zuko rolls his eyes. "I can't if I don't come back with her my men will think badly of me."
Aang frowns and crosses his arms. "So you can pretend not to see me but you can't let her go?"
Zuko clinches his fists and glares at the water. "Only because there is a truce in effect. Temporary partnership over a common goal." He glances at Aang. "But make no mistake avatar I will catch you."
Katara frowns. "Right and because of the truce we also can't fight Zuko..." she stands up. "I've finished treating the burn. You should be just fine now though your arm might still hurt for a while."
Zuko nods. "Then we have no more business here." He looks at Hana. "Let's go back I'm sure uncle will be worried by now."
Hana nods and stands up. "Thank you Katara, Sokka, Aang... You're help is muchly appreciated." She bows slightly and follows Zuko. "I hope I get to meet you all again soon."
"Are we really just going to let him take her like that?" Sokka pouts.
Katara frowns. "You're the one who called an all-day truce without thinking."
Aang smiles. "It's ok, I don't think Zuko will hurt Hana."
Sokka and Katara both look at Aang slightly confused.
Aang turns to them and smirks. "Didn't you notice? Zuko didn't have to bring her here. He really wanted to help her without seeming like he wanted to help her." Aang faces the direction Zuko and Hana are walking. "So even though he says she's a captive I think he doesn't want her to be." He glances back at Katara. "I might be wrong but it seems like he feels responsible for her being captive in the first place. He did say he was taking her off the ship so she could get a new outfit."
Katara blinks a few times stunned and watches Zuko and Hana disappear. "Then... what you mean to say is she's a fire nation captive but Zuko is showing her around to give her a small amount of freedom."
Aang nods. "He could have sent her away if he wanted to." He smiles super big. "But really he isn't a bad guy."