{the cave of two lovers}
hana watched as iroh stared longingly at a flower. she heard grunting and watched as zuko stumbled out of the bushed.
she laughed at the very frustrated zuko as he brushed out of his hair, which had grown quite a bit.
"i didn't find anything to eat. i can't live like this! i wasn't meant to be a fugitive!" zuko kicked at the ground. "this is impossible!"
hana snorted at his frustration, "how about you calm down a bit?"
zuko calmed himself down and looked to iroh, "uncle... what are you doing?"
the two of them walked over to iroh and looked over his shoulder. the two raised their eyebrows at the man admiring the flower.
"you're looking at the rare white dragon bush," iroh looked at it lovingly. "its leaves make a tea so delicious it's heartbreaking."
hana began to recognize what it was. her family had a run-in with a flower similar to the white dragon bush, the white jade bush. to say the least, it was a fucking shit show.
"OR, it's the white jade bush, which is very poisonous," she warned iroh.
"we need food, not tea. i'm going fishing," zuko left the two of them there.
iroh was still debating on which one it was, "delectable tea? or deadly poison?"
hana slapped her face.
she watched him debate over it for a while before he decided to make tea with the flower.
hana tried to stop him, "iroh i don't suggest you do that."
"i believe it is the correct flower! if i don't do it and it is i'll forever be sorry!" he said as he poured some tea. "would you like some?"
"no," she declined his offer. "if it's not the tea, zuko's going to kill us, just saying."
"nonsense, i'm sure it isn't the white jade bush," he waved off her warnings and drank the tea.
not even five minutes later the man began to puff up and began to itch. hana couldn't help but shake her head. she knew this would happen.
she heard rustling in the bushes and saw zuko come out from them with a tiny fish on his make-shift spear.
"hey zuko, good catch!" hana said nervously.
"what happened?" he asked, already knowing it wasn't anything good.
"zuko, remember that plant that i thought might be tea?" iroh didn't turn to look at him.
zuko was horrified, "you didn't!"
"oh, but he did!"
iroh turned around continuing to scratch himself, "and it wasn't."
"hana!" zuko threw his hands up annoyed.
"i told him not to!" she defended herself.
the two teens looked to iroh who was calmly scratching himself with a branch. zuko looked at her with wide eyes, obviously pissed off. hana shrugged in response, not knowing how to respond.
iroh got up and continued to scratch, "when the rash spreads to my throat, i will stop breathing. but looked what i found!" he stopped thing himself to reveal berries from the branch he was using. "these are bacui berries, known to cure the poison of the white jade plant. that, or macahoni berries that cause blindness."
"no! no! no! no!" she snatched the berries from his hand.
zuko began to lose his patience, "we're not taking any more chances with these plants! we need to get help."
"but where are we going to go? we're enemies of the earth kingdom, and fugitives from the fire nation," he asked.
"if the earth kingdom discovers us, you'll be killed and i'll be jailed," hana told them.
"but if the fire nation discovers us, we'll be turned over to azula," zuko said.
iroh thought for a moment, "earth kingdom it is."
the three of them nod in agreement and began to pack up. they quickly packed up and let. they decided the only way to get help was to get to a village and find a healer.
it took a while and a lot of complaints from an itchy iroh but they made it to one. a woman took care of them. she took them in and began to help iroh.
hana and zuko sat next to each other as they watched her apply clay to his rashes.
"you three must not be from around here. we know better than to touch the white jade, much less make it into tea and drink it," she acknowledged their stupidity.
iroh laughed sheepishly, "whoops!"
"so where are you traveling from?" she asked them.
zuko got up abruptly, "yes, we're travelers."
"do you have names?"
"names? of course we have names. i'm... lee. and this is my uncle, uh... mushi. and that's my friend-" he turned to hana to answer.
"i'm yun, nice to meet you!" she smiled.
hana decided to use her mother's name. it was a beautiful name.
"i knew a yun once, she was a good woman," she nodded thinking about her.
was?
iroh shot zuko an unhappy look, "yes, but my nephew was named after his father, so we just call him junior."
zuko scowled in response.
she smiled, "mushi, junior, and yun, huh? my name is song. you three look like you could use a good meal." she swatted irohs hand as he tried to itch himself, "why don't you stay for dinner?"
"sorry, but we need to be moving on" zuko declined the offer.
"zuko, stop being so rude!" she nudged him.
she seemed a bit disappointed, "that's too bad. my mom always makes too much roast duck."
iroh immeaditly perked up and accepted the offer, "where do you live exactly?"
after she was done treating iroh she led them to her house. it was dark when they arrived and song's mother had just finished preparing dinner.
when they entered her house hana noticed a hanging necklace. she recognized it, but she didn't know where she recognized it from. she stared at it for a while trying to place it.
song told them to sit around the table. she sat with them as her mother brought over the roasted duck.
her mother seated herself, "my daughter tells me you're refugees. we were once refugees ourselves."
"when I was a little girl, the fire nation raided our farming village. all the men were taken away," she said sadly. "that was the last time i saw my father."
hana continued to stare at the necklace. she couldn't place it. why couldn't she place it?
"i haven't seen my father in many years," zuko told them.
song looked down sadly, "oh. is he fighting in the war?"
iroh slurped up the noodles in his mouth and looked at zuko, curious as to how he would answer.
"yeah."
"what about you?" song's mother looked to hana.
this drew hana's attention away from the necklace and to the conversation, "my father and brother are fighting in the war as well."
"oh, i'm sorry," song's mother apologized for bringing up the topic.
"it's alright," hana played with the food a bit. "um, if you don't mind me asking, where'd you get that necklace?" hana asked trying figure out how she knew it.
song put her chopsticks down, very clearly saddened by the mention of it, "there was this woman, who had the same name as you. she looked almost exactly like you." she smiled sadly. "her son and husband went to war, trying to liberate the earth kingdom. one day she got news that her husband and son died, fighting. she packed her daughters items up and began their journey to the ba sing se."
iroh's eyes widden, this story, he knew it. it was almost identical to the one hana told him.
hana swallowed. she was hoping and praying that this wasn't the end of her mother's and sister's life. it couldn't be. there was no way.
song continued the story, "her daughter, hana, was taken by the fire nation in order for her and her other daughter to survive and continue their journey. not too long after her youngest daughter, youra, fell ill."
no. no. no. no. no.
"youra sadly passed. yun caught the illness, but she continued. she came across the hospital and i tried treating her. that's when she told me her story," song shook her head, fighting tears. "i couldn't save her and she knew i couldn't so she gave me the necklace. her husband's mother gifted it to her. yun told me, 'if you ever find someone worthy of this or someone you think i'd deem worthy of this, give it to them.' she passed later that night."
that's when it clicked, she knew it was familiar, it was her grandmother's. her grandfather gifted it to her grandmother. it was a sign of their love, their hate, their anger, their sadness, their happiness, and their fear.
though her mother told her a different story as to why they had to leave their village. maybe it was because she wanted to shield her from the pain. it hurt worse now, though. her whole family was gone. she'd never see her father and mother give each other a kiss again, she never feels the pain of her brother flicking rocks at her, and she'd never feel the annoyance of her sister begging to get a ride on her back again.
hana pushed any sign of emotion down and spoke, "wow, i'm so sorry you had to witness that song."
"thank you, it means a lot," song pursed her lips.
the five of them continued to eat silently. there was no conversation to be had after that heart-breaking story.
after they were done iroh and hana helped song's mother clean up and zuko went outside with song. they quickly cleaned the table up and washed up. soon, it was time to leave. it was time to bid their goodbye's
"thank you for the duck. it was excellent," iroh thanked them.
"you're welcome," song's mother gave handed him a package of the leftovers. "it brings me joy to see someone eat my cooking with such... gusto."
iroh pat his stomach, "much practice."
zuko and hana turned to leave, "wait!"
it was song. she ran back into the house and brought the necklace with. she handed it to hana, "i think she would've wanted you to have it."
hana looked down at the necklace and back at song, "are you sure?"
song nodded, "every time i look at it my heartbreaks. i think it's time to be handed down."
hana smiled solemnly, "thank you so much." she hugged song.
"of course, i hope you three have a safe journey," song bowed.
hana bowed in return.
"junior, where are your manners? you need to thank these nice people," iroh scolded zuko.
"thank you," zuko quietly said and bowed.
"i know you don't think there's any hope left in the world, but there is hope. the avatar has returned!" song quickly blurted out.
"i know."
"goodbye!" iroh waved to them as they went inside.
when hana made it out the gate and made sure the women were inside, tears welled in her eyes.
welled tears turned into quiet sobs. she collapsed against the gate in so much pain. her family was gone and nothing would be able to reverse it.
zuko and iroh sat on either side of her, trying to calm the hysterical girl down. hana tried to calm herself down, but each time more sobs came out of her mouth.
"that was your family, wasn't it?" zuko asked. "i was hoping it was some coincidence, but i knew it wasn't."
hana nodded her head as tears rushed down her face. she used her clothes to wipe her face off.
zuko bit his lip, "i'm so sorry hana. i shouldn't have taken you. i-"
"it's not your fault. i would've died with them. i would've gotten sick and i would've died too," she choked the last bit out. hana opened her hand and the necklace song gave her was in it, "this is the last i have of them."
zuko took it from her hand and put it around her neck and tied it, "now, it's with you at all times."
she leaned her head on zuko's shoulder and cried more. iroh rubbed her back, trying to let her get it all out.
they stayed with her for forever until she stopped, "we have to keep going," she sniffed.
"are you sure?" iroh asked her.
she nodded her head, "yeah, we've got to keep going."
zuko got up and noticed a war ostrich and untethered it and pulled it over to the three of them.
"what are you doing?" hana asked.
"taking the war ostrich."
iroh was appalled by zuko's actions, "these people just showed us great kindness."
"they're about to show us a little more kindness. besides, i don't think hana can even bare to walk," he gestured to hana who was still leaning up against the gate.
hana stood up and zuko got onto the ostrich. she walked over to him and he pulled her up. the two teens looked to a very disappointed iroh.
"well?" zuko extended his hand to iroh.
iroh looked down with dread all over his face. he ultimately took his hand and jumped up onto the ostrich.
lexi speaks;
kinda sad, huh. rip hana's family. LMFOAKDKDKD SO CAYLEE MADE THIS raspberrysberet