weirdlet

The AU: Sun Child, in which Princess Zura was pregnant when she was banished from the Fire Nation. Now she roams the world with a child in tow, seeking the Avatar as the key to redemption- for her, and her daughter...

The Prompt/Summary: Jet stalks our favorite firebenders- part one.

The Fic-

Dear Lim- Recently I had an experience that I just had to tell you about...

Supervisor Lim of the Dai Li muttered as he read the report from Haung-fucking-I’m-so-good-at-kissing-ass-I-can-get-away-with-these-sloppy-reports-Kun. This one had better be good, to be worth the stomach-soothing tea he’d go through trying to translate it all that entertaining prose into useful information.

It started about the time the latest batch of refugees were processed and let into the lower east quarter...

…

The station was crowded, the wait was long, and Lan Min was getting bored and fussy. Zura was feeling, loathe as she was to admit it, very similarly- and she was already sick of finger-counting games.

At least no one was chasing her.

“So, you got plans once you’re inside the city?”

Too soon.

It was that boy again- Jet and the Freedom Fighters, and if that wasn’t a recipe for disaster Zura didn’t know what was. She glanced at her uncle, who was busy ordering tea from a passing cart, then at her scowling daughter, and back to Jet.

“Find a house, find a job, raise my kid. Not run around getting into trouble with boys.”

“Eyuch, coldest tea in Ba Sing Se! What a disgrace…” filled the background, and the wild-haired boy smiled.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” In one ear and out the other…

“Uncle- watch Lin for me, please,” she muttered, distracting the older man from his unhappy facemaking over the inferior drink. With that settled, she walked off the few lengths needed to go beyond earshot with a sigh.

“What?” she said, arms crossed.

“Look, I know you’ve got- priorities,” Jet said, earnest as you please. “But you and I have a much better chance of making it in the city if we stick together.” He paused, and looked her in the eye with a smile. “You wanna join the Freedom Fighters?”

She gave him a look that could have soured milk.

“What part of ‘kid to raise’ don’t you understand?”

“I know, I know- nothing too dangerous or staying out all night- but we made a great team looting that captain’s food. Think of all the good we could do for these refugees. And-” he continued when she opened her mouth to rebut- “That way you’re in on whatever help we deliver. We watch each other’s backs.”

“…thanks. But I really don’t think you want me in your gang.” And I’m not so sure I want your protection.

“You sure?”

“Yes.” She turned to go, and twitched to see her uncle, still holding Lan Min (who had perked up some), and sipping from a now-steaming cup. Stalking over as discretely as she could, she slapped away the offending drink.

“What are you doing firebending your tea?” she hissed over his protests, and glanced back at where the boy had last been.

He was still there, and staring at them with a look that said he was this close to- something. Breaking or running or possibly hyperventilating, or remembering something he was trying to forget. Her daughter reached out to the cup on the floor with a whine, and Zura hauled her over and settled her on her lap, staring back.

Say one word, I dare you.

His eyes flicked between them- she would swear it lingered over the left side of her face- and then he seemed to swallow and gave her a curt nod, before turning on his heel and walking away.

…

The kid is a firebender.

And Jet doesn’t want to think about it.

“You okay?” Smellerbee flanks him from the right.

“I’m fine- let’s go.” He’s not fine. He’s so not fine. This was supposed to be a fresh start, a clean break- and here he is trying not to lose it in front of a crowd of innocent refugees.

Li is a refugee. Li is a swordswoman the likes of which he’s never seen. Li is a girl who’s been hurt and scarred and refused to let go of her mouthful of flesh- she’s suffered plenty at the hands of the Fire Nation. And she’s got a little piece of it wandering around with her, with grabby little-girl hands and hair up in buns.

She’s already said that the first person who makes a move on the kid, dies. And it stops him cold, because was he actually thinking about it?

The town- the town had been full of kids, and moms, and Fire Nation sons and soldiers and those that made them possible, and he’d been so sick of them squatting there, acting like the world was alright with them. The only thing to do had been to make them leave- and they didn’t. And then there was the dam, and one swift way to make sure that the valley was no longer under Fire Nation rule.

He knows it’s wrong in his head- kind of- but it doesn’t feel wrong even now, even though he knows it didn’t work, wouldn’t have worked (wouldn’t have worked how?), and he’s not sure which is right. One thing’s for sure, though- Li’s staked her claim and she’s not going to be charmed, conned, bought or bullied out of it. She’s got a little firebrand to watch on her hands, and that’s got to be difficult.

She’ll need their help. It’s the least he can offer.