Not much "progress" in this segment but I need to know how to proceed with Zuko's character before I go any further.
Day Twenty-Eight, Herbalist's Institute in the Ruins of Taku
I shook my head at Ed. ”Storming a Fire Nation fortress without
help is suicide. If Zuko can lead us to the Avatar, I say we let
him.” Ed scowled and considered my words for a few seconds before
sighing and nodding in agreement. I turned back to Zuko, who had a
little smirk of triumph on his face.
“Okay, so we're going to let you come along while we search for
the Avatar. What's your secret to finding him.”
“The Avatar wants to master all four of the Bending Arts as
quickly as possible,” Zuko said, his voice quiet and serious as he
took up an almost lecturing pose. “He's already mastered
airbending, and he went North to master waterbending. With that
mastered he's going to move onto the next Bending Art in the cycle,
earth.”
“Why earth? Why not fire?”
“I... actually have no idea. Uncle once explained the whole
bending cycle to me but I wasn't paying much attention.”
“Okay, we'll take your word for it he will want to master
earthbending next. How does that help us?”
“He'll be looking for an earthbending master to teach him.” Zuko
looked around. “Do you have a map?”
I pulled out a scroll from my saddle-bag and stretched it out on the
flagstones. Ed ambled over and leaned over my shoulder while Zuko
knelt across from me. Zuko circled the area in the North-west of the
continent with his finger. “Almost this entire region has been
conquered by the Fire Nation, aside from a handful of towns and ports
too small to put up any resistance. Most of the earthbenders have
either been captured or driven out of the land.” He trailed his
finger to the large jutting landmass in the south of the continent.
“Almost half of this is desert, the entire central region is too
arid to support much in the way of settlements. He travels on a
flying bison, but even he has to put down for supplies and rest every
couple of hundred miles and won't want to cross the desert unless he
absolutely has too.”
“Right...” I tapped the map myself. “I guess he'll want some
place with a lot of earthbenders, and some place where he can train
in peace without worrying about the Fire Nation attacking him.”
“Yes. Which leaves him three choices. Omashu, the extreme South or
Ba Sing Se.” Zuko tapped the western coast, the southern coast and
the north-eastern coast in turn.
“Omashu is out,” I said, making an X over the symbol for the
city on the map with my finger. “It fell to the Fire Nation almost
a month ago.”
“It did?” Zuko blinked and then frowned.
“Yeah, apparently they didn't put up much of a fight either.” I
traced my finger across to the large splotch with represented Ba Sing
Se. “What about this place?”
“It's definitely the safest place on the continent for the
Avatar.” Zuko leaned back and crossed his arms. “Not even Uncle
could...” He coughed. “I mean, my Uncle... visited there once.
The entire city is protected by a huge wall, thousands of li long,
hundreds of ba high and dozens of ba thick. It's also the capital
city of the Earth Kingdom. If there are master earthbenders anywhere,
its there.”
“No like.” Ed said, startling me. I turned to him. “That
place, capital of kingdom?” He asked. I nodded. “Homonculi want
be near heart of power.” He tapped the cities symbol. “We go
there, we find homonculi. Or homonculi find us. Too dangerous. Much
training you need before you ready.”
“That just leaves the Southern Coast,” I said with a groan. All
those weeks of hard riding to the North, wasted. “Okay, how do we
get there?”
“A boat would be fastest,” Zuko said.
“The Fire Nation controls the oceans,” I reminded him.
He blinked, as if just realizing that. “Oh right.” He scowled at
the map. “This must be so easy for the Avatar, he can just fly
everywhere.”
“We can't cross the desert,” I point out. “We'll have to skirt
along the edge of it. That will bring us pretty close to Omashu, but
three riders should be able to evade any Fire Nation patrols. This
swamp here will be the biggest obstacle we have to bypass,
hopefully.”
I stood up. “We'll narrow down where to look for the Avatar once
we're there.”
Ed and Zuko nodded, both scowling for their own reasons.
“Ah, are you three leaving?”
I turned to the doorway once more, this time the old herbalist
herself was standing in the doorway. “I thought as much.” She
grins. “I have a spare ostrich-horse I can sell you, for your third
rider.” Zuko looked like he was going to protest, then bit back his
reply.
I bowed. “That's most generous of you.”
She cackled. “Thank not me, young man.” I winced a little.
“Thank that charming old man. Speaking off, he'd like to say his
goodbyes. I refused to let him out of his bed, of course, so you will
have to go see him. In the meantime, the third mount will be
prepared.”
“You don't have to do that,” I told her.
“Who said I was doing it?” She pointed a curled finger at Ed.
“You, the dumb one, come with me.” Ed pointed at himself with a
'who me?' expression on his face. “Yes, you. I'm too old to handle
cranky ostrich-horses.”
“Ed isn't good with animals...” I tried to explain, but she
waved me away with a cackle.
“Oh, animals love him. He has a huge heart and they just want to
be his friend.” Her grin gained a nasty edge. “He brings his luck
on himself.” She waved for Ed to follow as she toddled across the
courtyard. “Now come, dumb one.”
Ed gave me a despairing look before following in her wake. I
shrugged and gestured for Zuko to head inside first.
*
I sat in the hall while Zuko and his nephew gave their goodbyes. It
was obvious they still had secrets they wanted to keep from me, and I
didn't want to pry. It wasn't like I wasn't concealing secrets from
them, after all. Resisting the urge to eavesdrop was difficult,
however. I was halfway to my feet and about to sneak to the door when
it opened and Zuko strode out. His perpetual scowl had been replaced
by an ambivalent expression.
He looked at me, his eyes narrowing slightly. “He wants to talk to
you.”
I nodded and stepped into the room. The old man was lying in a short
bed, his chest entirely swathed in fresh bandages. A pungent aroma
rose from him, the only outward sign that the salves and ointments of
the herbalist were at work.
“Ah, my saviour.” He grinned pleasantly and gestured to a stool
near the bed. “Please, have a seat. I will not be taking up much of
your time.”
“Thank you,” I said, sitting. “I'm surprised you wanted to
talk to me.”
“You saved my life, should I not offer gratitude and wishes for a
safe journey?”
I squirmed a little uncomfortably. “Is that all?” I asked.
He gave me a long, appraising look. “I also wanted to thank you
for looking after my nephew. Zuko has had a hard life, filled with
many disappointments. This has left his heart troubled and he is slow
to trust others for fear of being hurt.” He sighed. “I feel in
some ways as if I have failed him.”
“I'll try not to antagonize him,” I promised, uncomfortable with
where this conversation was going.
“However, I feel I can trust you to help him.” He reached out
and grabbed my forearm, his eyes sad. “For one full of so many
voices, it is remarkable that most of them are kind.”
I pulled my arm away as if burned and stood up, the stool clattering
to the floor. “I... what are you talking about?” I tried to deny
what he had just said.
“This world, is full of many wonders and mysteries. But for one
who listens to the voice of the world, it is possible to feel things
which others may not.” He looked into my eyes. “I do not know why
you carry so much chi around with you, from so many people, but I do
not sense malice in you. Just be aware that I am not the only one who
may have learned to listen in such a manner, and others may not react
so kindly to you.”
“Do you... know what I am?” I asked.
He smiled. “All I see before me is a young woman struggling to
find her place in the world.” He winked. “How does that make you
different than anyone else?”
“You even know about...” I gulped and gestured at myself.
He chuckled. “I have had several days to watch you move and feel
your impressive chi in action. One can not mistake a man for a woman
if one knows what to look for.” He looked straight in my eyes, and
his voice grew suddenly somber. “Do not feel the need to hide who
you are. It will only bring you pain.”
“I... thank you?” I wasn't certain what to think about this old
man, or his cryptic and meandering advice.
“No obligations, only gratitude,” he said.
Slowly I backed out of the room and closed the door behind me.
Day Thirty One, Earth Kingdom Forests
The moment Ed signalled a halt I collapsed to my hands and knees,
resisting the urge to empty my stomach. Zuko towered over me for a
few moments longer. I was pleased at least that he was breathing
heavily and sweating, his shirt torn where I had managed to grapple
with him for a few seconds.
Ed threw me a waterskin, which I allowed to flop on the ground while
I gathered my breath. Zuko wandered over to his mount and retrieved
his own, taking several gulps and letting the water cascade over his
face and chest. The sight would have been very interesting, but I was
too busy being in pain to really appreciate it.
“You're getting better,” Ed said, kneeling beside me. “You
still hesitate when you shift between alchemy and fighting. There
shouldn't be any switching at all. One should flow into the other,
like the drop into the ocean.”
I nodded, unable to speak. Ed patted me on the back and walked
towards Zuko. “Thank you for help,” Ed said to him.
“I need to keep myself sharp,” Zuko replied. Ed nodded at that.
“But I would like to know more about these... homonculi monsters.”
“Why you so curious?” Ed asked.
“...I think one of them may have murdered my father,” Zuko
finally said.
“Your father?” I asked, having finally caught my breath. I
shifted to a sitting position and took a long drink.
“I can't be sure,” He said.
“Why not?”
“Father and I haven't... spoken for a long time. I just heard
about his death a few days ago.”
“This having anything to do with why the Fire Nation wants your
Uncle dead?” I asked. That was the wrong thing to say. He pulled
his saddle-bags off his mount and threw them over his shoulder.
“I'm going to train by myself for a while.” He glared at both
of Ed and I in turn. “I don't want to be disturbed.”
Ed and I exchanged glances as he walked out of the camp and into the
woods.
“We're going to need to decide how much to tell him,” I said in
Amestrian.
“We?” Ed snorted. “He's along because you want him here. I'd
prefer to be trying to find Al.”
I gave Ed a long look. “You know this is the right thing to do.
The sensible thing to do.”
“I know.” He kicked a rock with his metal foot, sending it
flying into the undergrowth. “That doesn't mean I have to like it.
I've run into places without being prepared before and almost gotten
myself killed. We need a plan first. But every minute I leave Al in
the clutches of the homonculi...” His eyes narrowed. “I just hope
this Avatar is worth looking for.”
“Me too.”
So, how do you deal with Zuko?
[ ]Tell him everything, and I mean everything.
[ ]Tell him about the seven homonculi, but not about yourself or any
alchemy secrets.
[ ]Quid pro quo, exchange information for an equivalent amount from
him.
[ ]Don't tell him anything, in fact, spy on him and learn his
secrets.
--------------
Epsilon
Day Twenty-Eight, Herbalist's Institute in the Ruins of Taku
I shook my head at Ed. ”Storming a Fire Nation fortress without
help is suicide. If Zuko can lead us to the Avatar, I say we let
him.” Ed scowled and considered my words for a few seconds before
sighing and nodding in agreement. I turned back to Zuko, who had a
little smirk of triumph on his face.
“Okay, so we're going to let you come along while we search for
the Avatar. What's your secret to finding him.”
“The Avatar wants to master all four of the Bending Arts as
quickly as possible,” Zuko said, his voice quiet and serious as he
took up an almost lecturing pose. “He's already mastered
airbending, and he went North to master waterbending. With that
mastered he's going to move onto the next Bending Art in the cycle,
earth.”
“Why earth? Why not fire?”
“I... actually have no idea. Uncle once explained the whole
bending cycle to me but I wasn't paying much attention.”
“Okay, we'll take your word for it he will want to master
earthbending next. How does that help us?”
“He'll be looking for an earthbending master to teach him.” Zuko
looked around. “Do you have a map?”
I pulled out a scroll from my saddle-bag and stretched it out on the
flagstones. Ed ambled over and leaned over my shoulder while Zuko
knelt across from me. Zuko circled the area in the North-west of the
continent with his finger. “Almost this entire region has been
conquered by the Fire Nation, aside from a handful of towns and ports
too small to put up any resistance. Most of the earthbenders have
either been captured or driven out of the land.” He trailed his
finger to the large jutting landmass in the south of the continent.
“Almost half of this is desert, the entire central region is too
arid to support much in the way of settlements. He travels on a
flying bison, but even he has to put down for supplies and rest every
couple of hundred miles and won't want to cross the desert unless he
absolutely has too.”
“Right...” I tapped the map myself. “I guess he'll want some
place with a lot of earthbenders, and some place where he can train
in peace without worrying about the Fire Nation attacking him.”
“Yes. Which leaves him three choices. Omashu, the extreme South or
Ba Sing Se.” Zuko tapped the western coast, the southern coast and
the north-eastern coast in turn.
“Omashu is out,” I said, making an X over the symbol for the
city on the map with my finger. “It fell to the Fire Nation almost
a month ago.”
“It did?” Zuko blinked and then frowned.
“Yeah, apparently they didn't put up much of a fight either.” I
traced my finger across to the large splotch with represented Ba Sing
Se. “What about this place?”
“It's definitely the safest place on the continent for the
Avatar.” Zuko leaned back and crossed his arms. “Not even Uncle
could...” He coughed. “I mean, my Uncle... visited there once.
The entire city is protected by a huge wall, thousands of li long,
hundreds of ba high and dozens of ba thick. It's also the capital
city of the Earth Kingdom. If there are master earthbenders anywhere,
its there.”
“No like.” Ed said, startling me. I turned to him. “That
place, capital of kingdom?” He asked. I nodded. “Homonculi want
be near heart of power.” He tapped the cities symbol. “We go
there, we find homonculi. Or homonculi find us. Too dangerous. Much
training you need before you ready.”
“That just leaves the Southern Coast,” I said with a groan. All
those weeks of hard riding to the North, wasted. “Okay, how do we
get there?”
“A boat would be fastest,” Zuko said.
“The Fire Nation controls the oceans,” I reminded him.
He blinked, as if just realizing that. “Oh right.” He scowled at
the map. “This must be so easy for the Avatar, he can just fly
everywhere.”
“We can't cross the desert,” I point out. “We'll have to skirt
along the edge of it. That will bring us pretty close to Omashu, but
three riders should be able to evade any Fire Nation patrols. This
swamp here will be the biggest obstacle we have to bypass,
hopefully.”
I stood up. “We'll narrow down where to look for the Avatar once
we're there.”
Ed and Zuko nodded, both scowling for their own reasons.
“Ah, are you three leaving?”
I turned to the doorway once more, this time the old herbalist
herself was standing in the doorway. “I thought as much.” She
grins. “I have a spare ostrich-horse I can sell you, for your third
rider.” Zuko looked like he was going to protest, then bit back his
reply.
I bowed. “That's most generous of you.”
She cackled. “Thank not me, young man.” I winced a little.
“Thank that charming old man. Speaking off, he'd like to say his
goodbyes. I refused to let him out of his bed, of course, so you will
have to go see him. In the meantime, the third mount will be
prepared.”
“You don't have to do that,” I told her.
“Who said I was doing it?” She pointed a curled finger at Ed.
“You, the dumb one, come with me.” Ed pointed at himself with a
'who me?' expression on his face. “Yes, you. I'm too old to handle
cranky ostrich-horses.”
“Ed isn't good with animals...” I tried to explain, but she
waved me away with a cackle.
“Oh, animals love him. He has a huge heart and they just want to
be his friend.” Her grin gained a nasty edge. “He brings his luck
on himself.” She waved for Ed to follow as she toddled across the
courtyard. “Now come, dumb one.”
Ed gave me a despairing look before following in her wake. I
shrugged and gestured for Zuko to head inside first.
*
I sat in the hall while Zuko and his nephew gave their goodbyes. It
was obvious they still had secrets they wanted to keep from me, and I
didn't want to pry. It wasn't like I wasn't concealing secrets from
them, after all. Resisting the urge to eavesdrop was difficult,
however. I was halfway to my feet and about to sneak to the door when
it opened and Zuko strode out. His perpetual scowl had been replaced
by an ambivalent expression.
He looked at me, his eyes narrowing slightly. “He wants to talk to
you.”
I nodded and stepped into the room. The old man was lying in a short
bed, his chest entirely swathed in fresh bandages. A pungent aroma
rose from him, the only outward sign that the salves and ointments of
the herbalist were at work.
“Ah, my saviour.” He grinned pleasantly and gestured to a stool
near the bed. “Please, have a seat. I will not be taking up much of
your time.”
“Thank you,” I said, sitting. “I'm surprised you wanted to
talk to me.”
“You saved my life, should I not offer gratitude and wishes for a
safe journey?”
I squirmed a little uncomfortably. “Is that all?” I asked.
He gave me a long, appraising look. “I also wanted to thank you
for looking after my nephew. Zuko has had a hard life, filled with
many disappointments. This has left his heart troubled and he is slow
to trust others for fear of being hurt.” He sighed. “I feel in
some ways as if I have failed him.”
“I'll try not to antagonize him,” I promised, uncomfortable with
where this conversation was going.
“However, I feel I can trust you to help him.” He reached out
and grabbed my forearm, his eyes sad. “For one full of so many
voices, it is remarkable that most of them are kind.”
I pulled my arm away as if burned and stood up, the stool clattering
to the floor. “I... what are you talking about?” I tried to deny
what he had just said.
“This world, is full of many wonders and mysteries. But for one
who listens to the voice of the world, it is possible to feel things
which others may not.” He looked into my eyes. “I do not know why
you carry so much chi around with you, from so many people, but I do
not sense malice in you. Just be aware that I am not the only one who
may have learned to listen in such a manner, and others may not react
so kindly to you.”
“Do you... know what I am?” I asked.
He smiled. “All I see before me is a young woman struggling to
find her place in the world.” He winked. “How does that make you
different than anyone else?”
“You even know about...” I gulped and gestured at myself.
He chuckled. “I have had several days to watch you move and feel
your impressive chi in action. One can not mistake a man for a woman
if one knows what to look for.” He looked straight in my eyes, and
his voice grew suddenly somber. “Do not feel the need to hide who
you are. It will only bring you pain.”
“I... thank you?” I wasn't certain what to think about this old
man, or his cryptic and meandering advice.
“No obligations, only gratitude,” he said.
Slowly I backed out of the room and closed the door behind me.
Day Thirty One, Earth Kingdom Forests
The moment Ed signalled a halt I collapsed to my hands and knees,
resisting the urge to empty my stomach. Zuko towered over me for a
few moments longer. I was pleased at least that he was breathing
heavily and sweating, his shirt torn where I had managed to grapple
with him for a few seconds.
Ed threw me a waterskin, which I allowed to flop on the ground while
I gathered my breath. Zuko wandered over to his mount and retrieved
his own, taking several gulps and letting the water cascade over his
face and chest. The sight would have been very interesting, but I was
too busy being in pain to really appreciate it.
“You're getting better,” Ed said, kneeling beside me. “You
still hesitate when you shift between alchemy and fighting. There
shouldn't be any switching at all. One should flow into the other,
like the drop into the ocean.”
I nodded, unable to speak. Ed patted me on the back and walked
towards Zuko. “Thank you for help,” Ed said to him.
“I need to keep myself sharp,” Zuko replied. Ed nodded at that.
“But I would like to know more about these... homonculi monsters.”
“Why you so curious?” Ed asked.
“...I think one of them may have murdered my father,” Zuko
finally said.
“Your father?” I asked, having finally caught my breath. I
shifted to a sitting position and took a long drink.
“I can't be sure,” He said.
“Why not?”
“Father and I haven't... spoken for a long time. I just heard
about his death a few days ago.”
“This having anything to do with why the Fire Nation wants your
Uncle dead?” I asked. That was the wrong thing to say. He pulled
his saddle-bags off his mount and threw them over his shoulder.
“I'm going to train by myself for a while.” He glared at both
of Ed and I in turn. “I don't want to be disturbed.”
Ed and I exchanged glances as he walked out of the camp and into the
woods.
“We're going to need to decide how much to tell him,” I said in
Amestrian.
“We?” Ed snorted. “He's along because you want him here. I'd
prefer to be trying to find Al.”
I gave Ed a long look. “You know this is the right thing to do.
The sensible thing to do.”
“I know.” He kicked a rock with his metal foot, sending it
flying into the undergrowth. “That doesn't mean I have to like it.
I've run into places without being prepared before and almost gotten
myself killed. We need a plan first. But every minute I leave Al in
the clutches of the homonculi...” His eyes narrowed. “I just hope
this Avatar is worth looking for.”
“Me too.”
So, how do you deal with Zuko?
[ ]Tell him everything, and I mean everything.
[ ]Tell him about the seven homonculi, but not about yourself or any
alchemy secrets.
[ ]Quid pro quo, exchange information for an equivalent amount from
him.
[ ]Don't tell him anything, in fact, spy on him and learn his
secrets.
--------------
Epsilon