Chapter Text
Every morning for many years, Nuwa has gone to the beach for jogging, but in all these years, she has never encountered something like this. Someone was lying on his stomach in the sand. Nuwa ran towards the unconscious person hoping that she was not too late. For some reason, she was calling that person unconscious rather than dead. Why would spirits save that guy from unagi and probably a shipwreck to let him die on the shore?
She moved the guy to make him lie on his back. She was shocked to see a teen lying in front of her rather than a man. He must not be older than fifteen, yet the most distinguishing feature on his face was his scar, a burn scar. She quickly checked his pulse and signed in relief. Now, for the difficult part, how will she take him to her clinic? She was in the middle of deciding whether to go get some help or try to carry the boy. He would not weigh much, after all, he is just a teen.
Her thoughts were interrupted by two Kyoshi warriors running towards her. They must have seen the boy because they were waving to her to move away from the boy. Sometimes the fear of outsiders among the residents of Kyoshi island is infuriating.
“Stay away from him, Nuwa,” Akari shouted as she reached near them.
“Would you please help me get him to the clinic?” said Nuwa. Her expressions and body language screaming that yes, she knows that he is an outsider but she does not care. He needs medical attention and that is what matters right now. “Make sure to carry him carefully without causing any avoidable exertion to his body.”
As soon as they arrived at the clinic, Nuwa fetched Amari to inform her of the situation. She sent Nuwa away to fetch a bucket of water along with a clean cloth. Meanwhile, Amari started removing his singed clothes looking for frostbites or injuries. She covered him in a thin sheet and started a small fire so that the room will get warmer slowly. Who knows how long he has been exposed to cold waters. Fortunately, it is summer otherwise, he would have been dead long before he reached our shores.
There are no signs of frostbites, but it is clear that he is a survivor of the Fire Nation attack. There are injury marks on his face and body along with burn marks. When Nuwa returned, the first thing that she saw was that the boy was returning back to consciousness. She swiftly got to his side. She took out the soaked cloth from the bucket and slowly help him drink water.
Once Amari had done everything she could, she stepped back and took a good look at the boy, his skin color and red clothes made it clear that he was Fire Nation. Why would Fire Nation hurt one of their own? He is not old enough to be a soldier so he was definitely not a deserter. She will find out soon enough, he will be interrogated.
The news of the incident spread like wildfire. It's been two days and Amari still has to allow someone to ask the boy who the hell was he and how did he end up on their island.
Amari was worried about the boy, he was physically alright but he was in some kind of shock. He only ate when fed, moved when guided, and has yet to speak his first word since he woke so it came as a surprise when he actually spoke on the third day when Nuwa tried to wake him up for breakfast.
“Uncle, I don’t want your stupid tea” he murmured.
“So you are not mute,” Nuwa said. He shot up as if surprised to find out that she is not her uncle. “Where am I? Who are you?” he panicked.
“I am Nuwa and you are in Amari’s clinic. We found you washed up on our shores two days ago” At those words, many emotions shot through his face. Confusion, recognition, fear, resignation. Before she could ask him his name, Amari entered the room. She asks the typical healer’s question like how are you feeling? What is the last thing you remember? and so on but he did not give her any response. When it became clear that Amari is not going to say anymore, he finally spoke, “What will happen now?”
“You will be interrogated by the village leader once you are healthy enough to answer them,” informed Amari.
“Then what are you waiting for, bring them in and get over with it.” He said flatly.
Even though Zuko has asked them to move forward with whatever they are planning to do with him, it took them what seems like hours before someone came. There were about seven people in the room right now. The old man must be the village leader. There were five girls wearing makeup, too much makeup. Was it done to make them intimidating or crazy? The latter has been accomplished undoubtedly. The makeup does seem familiar, Zuko just could not remember where he saw it.
“Let’s start with something simple, what is your name, and what is a Fire Nation boy doing on Kyoshi Island?” The old man asked.
“And if you don’t answer all our questions, we are throwing you back to Unagi. This time we will make sure that Unagi knows there is food for him” said Suki. Rather than answering, Zuko started laughing.
When they entered, he was sitting still as a statue. Normally Suki would look into the eyes of her opponent and in this case, the person that is being interrogated. She just could not bring herself to look straight into the golden eyes. There was no life in these eyes but it is nothing compared to what she is seeing right now. There was a kind of madness that has replaced the void before. His laugh had an edge that makes the hair stand up on the back of her neck.
“What makes you think I want to live?” He said once he stopped laughing.
“We will see about that, throw him to the Unagi.” he pointed toward him and turned around to leave. He was stopped by Amari. “Is this necessary? He is not hurting anyone.” Amari said worriedly.
“He is Fire Nation, he might not be hurting anyone right now but wait till he gets better.” Countered Meiying.
“How do we know he is not a Fire Nation spy, Kyoshi Islands have stayed out of the war so far and I intend to keep it that way” added Oyaji
“Do you really think this boy is a spy? He is barely sixteen. Even Fire Nation does not send boys this young as soldiers or spies. Even if he is one, how long do you think we will be able to stay neutral after killing one of them? Please trust me on this, I take full responsibility for this boy” said Amari hoping they will at least give him a chance.
“You do realize what you are asking Amari, even if you do convince me, how are you going to convince the rest of the village. They would not like to have a Fire Nation as their neighbor.” Replied Oyaji.
“If anyone has a problem with my guest then next time they get injured or ill, they can very well deal with it on their own.” Amari cleared.
“Ok! I will give the kid the benefit of doubt.” Oyaji signed.
Everyone except Amari left the room. Amari turned to the boy who was looking at her warily.
“Will you at least tell me your name, I cannot keep on calling you boy or Fire Nation,” said Amari
“Why did you do that?” he asked skeptically.
It broke her heart to see the boy’s wariness. He was not old enough to have injuries that could rival the seasoned warriors nor to have his trust in the goodness of people robbed from him. She wanted to find those monsters that robbed this child of his innocence. She will make sure that she restores his trust in humanity again and maybe along the way she might even heal his scars too.
“Because you are my patient, the only thing that matters to me is that you are someone who needs my help. Your past or your ethnicity is not my concern.” she clarified.
“You can call me Lee,” said Lee even though he still seems unconvinced.
“When you washed up on our shores, there was only one thing that was on you” she handed him the pearl-handled dagger. He unsheathes the dagger and was reading the inscription on it. A single teardrop rolled down his face. Suddenly, he took it to the base of his top knot and cut it off.
“Where should I throw this away?” He asked blankly.
“Why did you do that?” She asked, still shocked by his action.
“I don’t deserve to wear this any longer,” He told her.
She told him where to throw his hair and said “Since you don’t trust me to help you without any reason, you could help Chang with his studies. I have been teaching him how to write. As you can imagine, the quality of language in villages especially this far south is not what you will hear among nobilities and in Ba Sing Se. You seem educated and your language is good even though your accent is different.”