A/N: I OWN NOOOOOTHING! WHOOHOOO!
Shortly after Book 2 Epsidoe 8: The Chase.
Alternate Universe
Summary:
After chasing the Avatar, fighting her brother and Uncle Iroh in an abandoned town, wounded and alone Azula hides from her enemies. She awakes to find that she had lost her memory and must struggle to rediscover her past and carve a new future.
Challenge by: Dunedain ranger of the north
Within the darkness small noises could be heard clearly by the young woman. What those noises were remained a mystery for the moment.
It was a wooden door with protesting hinges. She could smell dust, wood, and something sweet.
Tawny eyes blasted open and quickly evaluated the whole room. The woman recognized nothing in the room. It had been abandoned and raided some time ago. There was a backpack not blanketed by dust filled with something.
Dust floated in the air catching the setting sun through the cracks. The gaps in the door showed that someone was outside.
She could take care of them. Who were they? Questions were asked and no answers could be found. Regardless of how hard she tried.
She could remember nothing as she stared at the ratty green cloth embracing her to protect her against the cold that she had failed to notice.
Absolutely nothing. Why is my mind blank?!
Sneeze.
Tawny eyes darted back towards the door. Long chestnut hair flowed around the edge of her sight. It was the person outside.
Groaning the door yielded to the snuffly person.
A young girl wrapped in a mismatch of red and green. Clothes too large had been wrapped around her multiple times to improve mobility. She could easily be eight years old. Avani huffed as she dumped the firewood.
Coarse barley colored hair grew wildly around the child's head. No obvious attempts to tame the wild mane from what the young woman could see. The barley hair framed the meadow green eyes which the child bore
A smile grew across the child's face- a front tooth was missing.
"You're awake! Are you hungry? Or thirsty?" A couple of times air whistled through the gap in her teeth.
Full ruby lips curved downward, she had not thought about food or drink. More pressing thoughts were on her mind.
"Where am I?" A dry throat protested against her talking.
"Empty village." How painfully obvious, "Are you going to Ba Sing Se? Can I come with you?" Ba Sing Se? What is a Ba Sing Se? Going to... It must be a city of some kind.
"Oh no!" The woman tensed in anticipation. Anticipation of what? What is an kid going to do to me? "I forgot to say Hello!"
There was a pause as the child panicked internally over her mistake. Eyes wide and a scared look on her face. A brown eye brow raised in confusion as the silence persisted for longer than necessary.
"Hello! My name is Avani! What's your name?" Avani said her greeting with enthusiasm and waving arms. The burst of movement sent fruit flying from the folds of cloth and onto the floor. "NooO! Bad fruit! Don't roll awaaaay from meee!" Avani scrambled around trying to grab the rolling fruit only to release more fruit from their fabric prison cells.
Chuckling, elegant fingers grabbed a fruit which had rolled within their reach. Avani gave up on recapturing the escapees and walked over to the woman entwine with the worse for wear blanket. With the grace of a child, Avani herded what fruit she had into a dysfunctional pile within reach of the woman she had found sleeping in a collapsing barn.
"Sooo..." Avani paused watching the woman eat the fruit. "You are...?" Fright conquered the woman's face. She still could not remember her name or anything.
"I-I..."
"It's okay. If you don't wanna say it." Avani's gaze was upon the floor she was afraid of the woman's expression. Bad experiences tended to follow such expressions.
"I know, how about you give me a name?" She had no idea what to do and perhaps the child still had an intact memory and could help her survive until she remembered who she was and is. Avani's eyes darted back up. The frightful face was replaced by a warm smile and Avani copied the smile upon her own face.
Small arms flew up in excitement, "YAY! Do you like Harshul? Deku? Oh, oh, Ela? Uuuh. Uuuuh. What was the nice lady's name? Sudhir?" On the child went blurting out names as quickly as she could remember and repeating quite a few of them.
"Sudhir is nice." Avani grinned at Sudhir and Sudhir mimicked the expression.
Princess Azula had claimed the name of an Earth Peasant with a warm smile.
Night had claimed the sky not too long ago. The cold carefully worked its way into the hut and towards the two. Avani struggled to light the fire. The flint rocks had been worn out months ago, though from time to time Avani could persuade them to spark one more time. No sparks could be made from the abused stone. Avani frowned, tears slowly forming in the corner of her eyes.
"Give me those." Azula- rather Sudhir gently took the rocks from Avani as she fought the tears. Sudhir's sharp tawny eyes studied the stones. They were useless now.
"Sorry." Avani muttered upset at the truth they would have to sleep through the cold.
"It's fine. Come here." The Fire Princess lifted up the ratty blanket and patted the floorboards next to her. Avani crawled in and closely cuddled with her new friend. Sudhir felt quite strange as the young child wiggled close to her. The warmth of another human slightly terrified Azula.
Why am I scared? Sudhir wondered.
"Mai... Azula still hasn't returned." Ty Lee whined to her dreary friend whom had no interest in anything. Mai sighed, her depression could be felt across the room where Ty Lee looked out. Azula was supposed to meet them at the inn two days ago. Azula was never late to anything.
"Azula is fine. She's Azula." Mai stated uninterested in the possibility that Vicious Princess Azula was dead, captured, or whatever. Ty Lee frowned at the woman in pained inky clothes. The acrobat's brown eyes wandered to the floor then back to the starving town outside the window.
Chirp. Chirp.
Tawny eyes opened to a new day. It was the second day since Sudhir had lost her memory. Dust continued to float in the room. Now the dust caught the morning sunlight. Avani softly whined at Azula's movement.
"Wake up, Ava." Sudhir softly said to the child clasping her torn, burnt, and dirty clothing. Avani buried her head into the woman's side whining louder this time.
Sigh...
Carefully and skillfully the Princess pried Avani off of her and wrapped the kid in the blanket. It was still crisp in the room. Avani stopped producing sleep filled whines and returned to sleep. Quietly as possible Sudhir rummaged through the bag, there was thankfully a spare shirt and pants.
The new set of clothing turned out to be painfully rough for the once pampered princess. Sudhir would have to buy new clothes as soon as possible. The once overtly proud princess gazed at the clothes she had just shed.
Fine black and red fabric with matching armor. Azula easily concluded that she was a warrior of some kind due to the armor. From there ocher eyes assessed the stitching on several pieces. The stitches were of even length and carefully placed. High quality items could mean she had some rank with whatever group she worked with.
Hot air blasted through Sudhir's nose in frustration. Each question she had only produced more and more questions with answers she could not find.
Never mind that. I need to focus.
Sudhir evaluated her past clothes and toss aside what was too damaged to be sold.
Sneeze.
Oh little one. Please don't be sick, I doubt I will know how to take care of you. The once heartless princess became worried about the orphaned earth peasant. Sneezing caused the ratty blanket to start wiggling. Barley hair grew from the blanket then the rest of Avani appeared. Something must be done about her hair. It is quite unruly.
"Morning, Avani."Sudhir cooed over to the wiggling blob. Azula was busy packing what clothing she could salvage to sell, leftover fruit, and anything of value that had caught her eye. The blob contorted around to view the source of the noise.
"Morning, Sudhi-r." Avani sat there trying to wake up. Sudhir pulled out a fruit and waved it in front of Avani. The prospect of breakfast accelerated Avani's morning process which included tripping over the blanket.
Crunch. Crunch. Both ate their pitiful breakfast outside the rickety hut. Azula continued to ponder everything and anything. The Princess finished first, as she tended to do, and patiently waited for Avani to finish.
"Very well then, which way to Ba Sing Se?" Sudhir asked looking down on the shorter human. Grassy eyes followed the road to the right but the kid did not move.
"There's scary people that way."
"Well then. We'll just have to scare away the scary people." Azula held out her hand, once perfectly manicured. Now the hands were covered in dirt, dust, bruises, and cuts. Avani quickly grabbed the outstretched hand. The small hand brought comfort to Sudhir and the woman could feel the child shaking.
Can I handle the scary people if they do appear? Floated around Azula's head as the two of the walked down the dirt road towards Ba Sing Se.
Thanks for reading!