Dark Puck

Night had long since fallen by the time Kouji finally admitted to himself that he had gotten completely turned around in this forest and had no idea where he was. For this he blamed his parents; if they were still in the colonies, he would have had no trouble finding Yui and certainly wouldn’t have gotten lost.

Instead, after the fall of Ba Sing Se, his parents had decided it was time to return to their homes, uprooting their three children and moving them across the ocean to a country not one of the three had ever seen. Ichiro, the eldest, had taken the best to the move and was already talking of enlisting in the Fire Nation Navy.

Yui and Kouji, twin siblings who complemented each other perfectly, had not taken to it at all; Kouji had suffered from severe seasickness on the voyage over, while Yui chafed under the strict rules of Fire Nation society and rebelled as often as she could. Thus, when she ran away, her twin brother was sent to fetch her, as he never failed to find her in the Earth Kingdom.

But the Fire Nation was not the Earth Kingdom and Kouji had no idea what to do now. However, judging by flickering light somewhere through the trees, he wasn’t alone out in these woods. Perhaps there was someone he could ask for directions back, even if he still hadn’t found Yui.

Somewhat wary — Kouji was a small eleven years old, and had not integrated well with the other boys his age — the young man approached the light.

The light came from a campfire, around which were sitting seven or eight teenagers — two girls, and several boys, none of whom were familiar to Kouji.

The large animal travelling with them, on the other hand…

Kouji promptly forgot being lost as his face lit up. It was the bison, the one he’d seen at the circus back in the Earth Kingdom! Carefully edging around the fire so they wouldn’t see him, the boy circled around to greet the sky bison.

The bison looked up, apparently having smelled or heard him, made a surprised-yet-happy noise, and licked him. A lot.

Needless to say, his human travelling companions now noticed the boy.

“Who’s that?” asked one, rising to his feet and heading towards them. Internally, Kouji panicked and began to run.

“Hey, wait!” one of the other boys called after him, chasing him.

Kouji didn’t wait. Unfortunately, he wasn’t looking where he was going, either, and tripped on a tree root; he hit the ground hard enough to knock the air from his lungs. “Are you okay?” the boy asked, catching up. He was one of the younger in the large group — not much older than Kouji.

The former colonist rolled over, staring up at the other boy with wide grey eyes. “Y-yeah…,” he said, catching his breath. Then he noticed the blue tattoos and wasn’t able to hold back a gasp.

The older of the two girls in the group had caught up as well, and gave an exasperated sigh. “This? This is why you let one of us chase after people.”

“Sorry, Katara,” he replied, sheepishly.

Kouji felt heat flood his cheeks as he glanced at the girl; quickly he looked away. “I-I-I was just looking f-for my sister I didn’t m-mean anything b-by it please d-don’t hurt me!” he said, all in a rush.

The twelve-year-old looked puzzled. “Why would I want to hurt you?”

The younger boy didn’t have an answer for him; instead, he stayed where he was, trying not to shake too hard. It wasn’t every day you were confronted by your nation’s worst enemy.

“…I think he has to come with us,” Katara said, reluctantly, after a long moment.

“…wait, what?” Kouji demanded, his body tensing.

“We’re trying to be sneaky,” she explained. “It’s hard enough with there being eight of us and Aang and the Brat being impossible to disguise.”

“I-I-I can’t! I have to—”

Strong hands picked him up and set him on his feet; looking back, Kouji saw the tall young man who had first spoken when they’d realised he was there. “I’m afraid there’s not a lot of choice in the matter, kid,” he said, not unkindly.

“They’re right,” Aang said, quietly. “We can’t let people know we’re here.”

“I won’t tell anyone! Honest! I just need to find my sister!”

“We can’t risk it,” Katara said. “I’m sorry…”

The young man hung his head, considering his options. The man behind him put a heavy hand on his shoulder, effectively cutting off the ‘run away’ option. “Let’s go, kid.”

With Katara and Aang leading the way, the four of them made their way back to the campsite and the bison. As soon as Kouji saw another of the men around the campfire, he stopped completely dead and stared.

This particular young man — as recognizable as Aang — chose not to respond or even acknowledge him, though, judging by the sudden tension in his jawline, he was well aware he was being stared at. And probably didn’t like that very much.

Flushing bright red again, Kouji hastily dropped his gaze to his feet, feeling even more awkward than before.

“So, what’s your name?” Aang asked, flopping back into his original position on the ground.

“K-Kouji,” he replied as the man directing him made him sit down and then tied his ankles gently together.

“Nice to meet you, Kouji!” Aang said, grinning at him.

The young colonist managed a small, weak smile in return. “Wish I could say the same…”

“Sorry,” he replied, sheepishly. “But… y’know… we have to be careful.”

“I don’t care about me,” Kouji retorted. “I’m worried about my sister.”

“If she’s nearby, she’s fine,” the younger of the two girls said. “There aren’t any dangerous animals around here, and there’s cabins all over the place.”

“Well, I don’t know where she is. I’ve been looking for her since lunch.” He blushed furiously. “I got lost.”

She gave a little snort of derision, then proceeded to ignore him.

This was fine with Kouji; he was amazed he’d managed to speak to her even that long without stuttering. He didn’t know what it was about girls that killed his ability to speak coherently.

The rest of the group fell into a somewhat awkward silence — however they normally functioned, Kouji had disrupted it. Feeling heat rising in his face, Kouji turned his head to the sky bison and watched it instead, trying to ignore the silence.

“We should all probably try and get some sleep,” Katara said, after a long moment.

“Sounds like a plan,” agreed another of the young men. This one was seated in a chair that had wheels; Kouji wondered if something was wrong with his legs to make him need that. The others quickly divided watches among them, and all of them save the youngest settled down to sleep.

Kouji, too, did not sleep — he was afraid, and worried about Yui, though doubtless she had already found her way back home. Or had talked her way into an expedition to the Earth Kingdom. Instead he kept his eyes on the bison.

About halfway through the night, one of the young men — the one with the slightly-uneven profile — jerked awake. After a long moment, he quietly got up and walked away, into the treeline.

Still sleepless, Kouji watched after him. He’d considered untying his legs, but the others were apparently keeping watches and he had no doubt that bending would be turned against him if he caused any trouble. He sighed.

And so, the night passed, with the young man returning shortly before dawn. The others woke up not long after, and started packing up their camp with the ease of long practice. The oldest of them, the long-haired man who eventually gave his name as Haru, seemed to have taken charge of Kouji, untying the boy’s feet but binding his hands before escorting him to the bison.

As the boy realised that they were going to be flying, he forgot completely about his fear, his worry, and even his captivity; his entire face lit up as he stared up at the creature. Aang grinned at the look on his face, then leapt up to his usual spot. “Everyone ready?” After receiving general affirmatives from the others, he called out his command to the bison and took off.

Kouji spent most of the day staring over the side at the ground spread out before him; by listening to the talk of the others, he learned their names — except for the second-oldest man there, who remained silent and pensive.

Nothing particularly interesting — at least, not to Kouji’s new travelling companions — happened that day, and they landed without incident about an hour before sunset. With assistance from Haru, Kouji and Teo were both brought down, loathe though the former was to leave the bison. He also hoped nobody saw how intently he watched Haru when the young man earthbent.

No one seemed to, at the very least. All of them seemed more occupied with setting up camp. Even Teo, despite his disability, helped; Kouji was absolutely amazed by the way the older boy managed. He couldn’t help but wonder, though he did not ask, where they were heading that they would need such secrecy.

No one seemed particularly interested in discussing it, either. All present — except, of course, Kouji — knew exactly what they were doing, and why. It only served to make the boy feel even more awkward, and so he pleaded later to remain with the sky bison, on a promise not to run away. “It isn’t like I’d know what to do if I did, anyway,” he added.

“Sure,” Aang said, immediately, overriding any objections the others might’ve had.

Kouji brightened and, on Haru’s loosening of his ties, ran to the bison, which greeted him very enthusiastically. The boy was just as enthusiastic, laughing and hugging one of the great creature’s legs.

Teo, watching this, blinked a few times. “Aang, have you ever met that kid before?”

Aang shook his head. “Not ‘til last night.”

“So how does he know Appa?”

“We got… separated, for a month or so, last spring,” Aang said, frowning. “I guess Appa and Kouji must’ve met then.”

“…strange. You think Appa made it all the way to the Fire Nation?”

“Nah, the kid’s a colonial,” said Haru. “He’s got the enthusiasm of one.”

Aang nodded. “That makes more sense.”

“What are we going to do with him?” the earthbender then wanted to know.

“Uh…” Clearly, he hadn’t thought that far ahead.

Haru sighed. “Zuko?”

“What?”

“He’s a citizen of your country.”

“I know.”

Haru made a slightly annoyed noise; the prince did not seem inclined to be helpful. “What do you think we should do with him?”

Zuko shrugged. “For now, just keep him with us. Not much else we can do. If we let him go, he’ll get lost or report us or both.”

“I meant when we get to the p— to our destination. We can’t exactly drag him with us then.”

“…We’ll figure something out when we get there.”

The vexed Haru muttered something about foresight and planning ahead and went off to break rocks until he felt better.

After a moment, Zuko stood up and walked off in a different direction.

Teo looked from one to the other, then looked helplessly at Aang.

Aang sighed. “Which one d’you want to go after?” he asked, a little ruefully.

“…Haru’s scary when he’s breaking rocks.”

“…All right,” the younger boy said, and went off after the earthbender.

Teo wheeled off in search of the firebender, wondering in the back of his mind when Aang’s firebending lessons would resume. It took a while, but Teo was eventually able to find the prince in a wide, empty clearing, practicing with his swords.

Teo stopped and watched the prince with wide eyes. He was good, and Teo found himself envying Zuko for his freedom of movement. After about a minute, the older teenager paused, and looked over at him. “What is it?”

The paraplegic shrugged. “Buddy system. Can’t go running off on your own, you know that.”

“…Right. I forgot.” Zuko may have been good at a lot of things, but he was a terrible liar.

Teo didn’t comment on that, however, and settled back in his chair to watch. After a moment, Zuko resumed what he’d been doing, taking care to stay far enough from Teo that he didn’t have to take especial care to avoid accidentally hitting him. The young inventor idly ran his hands over the wheels of his chair as he watched Zuko and tried not to envy the prince too hard.

After about an hour, the older boy stopped. “We should probably head back, I guess.”

“Sounds good,” said Teo, hauling back suddenly on the wheels of the chair and getting his leg airborne; a sharp tug on one of the wheels and he’d turned around before the end of the chair hit the ground again. Not that he was showing off. Nope. Not him.

Whether or not he had been, Zuko chose not to comment, or say much of anything else. Ever since leaving the Western Air Temple, he’d been getting quieter and quieter and more withdrawn. Teo couldn’t exactly blame him for that; doing what he had to in order to restore balance had to be hard on any kid.

Once back at the campsite, the prince settled into his little corner and refused to interact with anyone else. Haru was back as well, sweaty but calm even as he idly rotated rocks above his palm for the Duke’s amusement. The Duke was carefully aiming smaller rocks at Haru’s, trying to knock them down. Kouji, it would seem, was still with Appa; glancing in that direction indicated that the colonial had curled up on the sky bison’s tail and fallen fast asleep.

After dividing up the watches again, the rest of the group drifted off to sleep as well. Once again, as before, the prince woke up in the middle of the night, and, disregarding the rules, wandered off on his own until dawn.

When he returned, Kouji was awake — and imitating Haru’s earlier trick with the rocks. He was absolutely unaware of Zuko’s return. He arched an eyebrow, and debated asking the kid about it, then decided just to settle into his usual spot and watch. Bending where no one expected it — of a kind no one expected — couldn’t be anything but useful.

Provided, of course, that it was on your side.

Then again, they had two earthbenders with them — three if you counted the Avatar. If Haru couldn’t keep the kid in line — doubtful, the prettyboy was clever and rather gentle with Kouji — Toph and Aang were more than capable of controlling another bender.

So, all in all, the kid was likely to be more useful than threatening. Zuko settled in to watch him until he either noticed or the others woke up and it was time to get moving again.

At that, it was Haru’s stirring that made Kouji hastily drop his rocks and curl up again on Appa’s tail, feigning sleep. He wasn’t too bad at it, faking a realistic yawn when the oldest of them came to wake him up. Zuko rolled his eyes a little, but decided not to call the kid on it. Not yet, anyway.

Today, Kouji offered to help break camp; it was plain the boy was somewhat lonely and needed some human interaction. Katara, noting this, assigned him some of the chores. The younger boy was a quick study and, thankfully, not afraid to ask for help if he needed it. Even if he tried to stay away from Katara and Toph otherwise and turned the most colourful shades of red when he talked to them.

And, so, in a very short time, everything was packed up and ready to go, and they set off — walking, as they did every other day, since there were now nine of them, which was just too much to make Appa carry every day. Even with the addition of Kouji, who was unused to such travel and therefore had to be carried once by a patient Haru, they made good — and quiet — time.

Therefore it was a surprise to everybody when they came across a patrol of Fire Nation soldiers.