Rezalia lay on her back on Zuko's bed, watching him meditate. It was rare that he was so calm. Carefully, she turns on her stomach, trying to make as little noise as possible. She wasn't wearing her combat outfit today, nor her dress. She opted for red shorts with a loose black t-shirt tucked in. She wasn't wearing shoes and had her long black hair tied into a sloppy bun on the top of her head.
Rezalia looks up as the door opens to reveal Iroh. Without turning, Zuko speaks in a dangerously sweet voice. "The only reason you should be interrupting me is if you have news about the Avatar."
Iroh enters the room fully, holding a map. " Well, there is news, Prince Zuko, but you might not like it. Don't get too upset."
"Uncle, you taught me that keeping a level head is a sign of a great leader. Now whatever you have to say, I'm sure that I can take it," Zuko replies calmly. Rezalia scoffs inwardly.
"Okay, then... we have no idea where he is."
Zuko leaps to his feet and turns, the flames from the candles growing. "WHAT?!"
And there goes his calm. Iroh shields his face with his arm until the flames die back down. He pulls a fan from his sleeve and uses it on himself. "You really should open a window in here."
Zuko snatches the map from his uncle. "Give me the map!" Rezalia stands and moves to look over Zuko's shoulder.
"There have been multiple sightings of the avatar, but he's impossible to track."
"Awesome," Rezalia mutters before jumping back onto Zuko's bed.
The prince ignores her. "How am I gonna find him, Uncle? He is clearly a master of evasive maneuvering."
"We'll figure it out later, Z. For now, we need to worry about dinner. What are we eating? Is it fish? I bet it's fish," Rezalia rambles.
It was fish. A member of the crew walks in and sets a plate of fish in front of Iroh, Zuko, and Rezalia. Technically, she wasn't supposed to eat with them, but Zuko made it clear that he didn't care. As he places the plate down, he idly comments about the whereabouts of the avatar. Zuko leaps to his feet.
"The Avatar's on Kyoshi Island?" he begins to leave the room, talking to Iroh over his shoulder. "Uncle, ready the rhinos. He's not getting away from me this time."
Rezalia raises an eyebrow and exchanges looks with iroh before looking down at the fish. "Are you going to finish that?" they ask in unison.
Zuko storms back into the room and picks up the plate. "I was going to save it for later!" He leaves once more, followed by a giggling Rezalia and Iroh, who was pouting because he didn't get to eat the fish.
Not long after, they've begun siege on Kyoshi Island. Zuko and Rezalia walk side by side into the town. Nobody was around, it appeared deserted, but they both knew better than that. Three girls dressed in traditional warrior garb approach them cautiously.
"Is....is that Sokka?" Rezalia murmurs. Zuko gives her a confused look but otherwise ignores her. Zuko flips onto his hands and spins, knocking the warriors back with fire before righting himself.
"Nice try, Avatar! But these little girls can't save you!"
Aang appears on the street. "Hey! Over here!"
"Finally!"
The two face one another and Rezalia steps back, content to let Zuko handle it for the time being. The prince shoots off three fireballs but the airbender dodges them and flies over using his staff. Zuko fires another blast, knocking Aang's staff from his hands, causing the avatar to leap away. He grabs two discarded fans and uses them airbend an enormous gust of air at Zuko. Rezalia gasps as Zuko is thrown through a wall. She quickly runs over and helps him up.
"You okay?" she asks. Zuko grunts and nods. "Don't lie to me, Z."
Zuko sighs. "My shoulder feels off but other than that I'm fine."
Rezalia prods her friend's left shoulder, causing him to hiss. "It's dislocated. I can fix it, but it'll hurt. Ready?" She doesn't wait for an answer before forcing Zuko's arm back into his socket. Zuko yelps and glares at Rezalia.
"A little warning next time?!"
"I gave you a warning. I asked if you were ready," she responds innocently. Zuko grumbles incoherent things as he stands and Rezalia can only assume that they weren't nice. She ducks undr his right arm and takes some of his weight. Zuko tries to protest but she acts as though she didn't hear him and put her arm around his wist so that he couldn't move away.
"I can walk you know," Zuko grumbles.
"Your favoring your left ankle," Rezalia replies bluntly. Zuko huffs and lets her help him back to the ship.
About a week later, they had stopped in a part of the Earth KIngdom. They'd been there for a couple of days and Zuko was becoming impatient. He walked through the woods toward the hotsprings when he's joined by Rezalia. "Where ya goin'?"
"To find Uncle," Zuko answers.
"Oh, well then I'll wait back on the ship. He's in the hot springs and I don't want to see that."
Zuko snickers and continues walking while Rezalia turns and makes her way to the ship. As she boards, a conversation between some of the crew member stops. She raises an eyebrow at them and continues on her way. Entering her room, Rezalia kicks off her sandals and changes into her combat outfit. Deciding to put her hair in twin plaits, Rezalia sits on the bed and gets to work. Minutes later, she pauses and sighs at the ceiling, wondering why she thought that this would be a good idea.
Not long after she finishes her first plait, Zuko enters her room and sits down in the comfortable chair in the corner. Rezalia gives him a questioning look. "I told him to be back in a half an hour."
"Okay. Where are we going after this?"
"The last place the avatar was seen."
"Gotcha."
Everything is quiet for a moment save for the rustling of Rezalia's clothes as she finishes her hair. Zuko frowns and tilts his head at her. "How did you do that without a mirror?"
"Muscle memory," she responds.
"You have those?" he quips. Rezlalia makes an offended noise and chucks a pillow at the prince. Zuko smiles and tosses it back.
Hours passed and Iroh still hadn't returned to the ship. Zuko gathers some of the guards together and they, along with Rezalia, go to look for the former war general. When they reach the hot springs, the area was covered in jagged rocks. Zuko and Rezalia exchange looks as they kneel by the area with the most rocks.
"It looks like there's been a landslide, sir," one of the guard comments.
"No," Rezalia shakes her head.
"Land doesn't slide uphill. Those rocks didn't move naturally. My uncle's been captured by earthbenders!" Zuko exclaims. For the rest of the day (which wasn't very long), everyone spends their time using the tracks that the earth benders left to follow them. Rezalia and Zuko are the only ones who venture out the next day.
The next morning, they stumble across a sandal in the road. Before anyone can do anything, Zuko picks it up and smells it. Gagging he says; "Yup, that's Uncle Iroh."
Rezalia laughs. "Why did that seem like a good idea to you?" Zuko scowls at her, which only makes her laugh harder. After walking for a while, they see Iroh about to have his hands crushed by a boulder. Just as it comes down, Zuko kicks it out of the way. He then turns and breaks the chains of Iroh's handcuffs.
"Excellent form, Prince Zuko," Iroh compliments.
"You taught me well," Zuko returns. Rezalia steps into view and the three stand with their backs to one another. The captain leading the earthbenders steps forward and sneers.
"Surrender yourselves, it's five against two. You're clearly outnumbered."
Iroh grins as he responds. "Uh, that's true, but you are clearly outmatched!"
Rezalia pulls twin daggers out of the holsters on her thigh, hidden by her skirt. All five benders simultaneously send rocks flying at them. However, Iroh takes out three with his chains and Zuo blasts the remaining two with fire. Two earthbenders behind Zuko send rocks at his back. Iroh uses his chains to stop one and Rezalia hits the other with her palm to change its direction. Iroh sends rock pieces flying into the stomachs of two Earth Kingdom soldiers.
"It's even now," Rezalia comments. The Captain snarls and sends several rocks flying at her. Rezalia dodges them all and tosses one of her daggers in return, cutting deep into his arm and imbedding it into the tree behind him. The Captain shouts and raises two huge boulders above the heads of both teenagers. Luckily, Iroh wraps his chains around the Captain's feet and pulls, sending the earthbender to the ground. The boulders land on top of the remaining three benders.
"What asses," Rezalia sighs as she pulls her dagger free from the tree. She plucks a leaf from the tree and uses it to wipe the blood off of it. Returning her daggers to her holsters, Rezalia turns to face her comrades. "Ready to go?"
"Only if he puts on some clothes," Zuko says, pointing at his uncle. Rezalia laughs and gestures for them to start walking.