Flight

Zuko was just coming out of his room when a girl came tearing down the hallway and crashed into him.

The most depressing part was that this was not, even at this early point in his life, all that unusual. What was unusual was that the crashing in question was not the first step in an act of attempted fratricide.

The girl squeaked - squeaked, not gasped or grunted or cried out or threatened to kill him, as he would have expected - and bounced off of him. Zuko staggered back a few steps from the impact and caught himself on the doorway, but the girl toppled backwards to land on the floor.

And that's when Zuko saw that it was The Other One.

At least, that's how he knew her. Azula's friends were Ty Lee and The Other One Who Didn't Speak But Was Always Around- 'The Other One' for short, because Zuko tried to be friendly even to his sister's companions. Attempts to get her name had all consistently failed, as she seemed to speak a language that consisted only of teapot sounds, judging from her responses. (And she didn't know Uncle Iroh; he had confirmed it.) And now enough time had passed that he would just look either stupid or suspicious if he asked someone, and both were a good way to really get in trouble in the Fire Nation, glorious strength-honoring Homeland that it was, may it reign forever.

From her seat on the floor, The Other One looked up at Zuko with real fear in her eyes.

He knew she couldn't possibly be afraid of him - no one was, to his very complicated mix of regret and relief - so he said, "Are you running from someone?"

Her face went red. She managed a nod.

Zuko felt very proud for figuring it out. He said, "Azula?"

Her eyes went wide, her face went pale, and she looked over her shoulder for pursuit. That was answer enough.

At this point, Zuko had to stop and think about what to do. On the one hand, The Other One was in distress, and it was honorable for a prince to help his subjects when possible. Also, he had great empathy for people who ran in fear from Azula. He wished he could do it more often. (Running, that is. But helping other people would be nice, too.) On the other hand, helping in this case would risk clashing with Azula, and Azula was very good at clashing.

Besides, Zuko wasn't really friends with The Other One. She, along with Ty Lee, was Azula's friend. That alone had to mean that there was something wrong with The Other One. Also, despite Azula being very good at many different things, had never quite figured out the concept of sharing. That went for toys, information, attention, and every single person in her life.

Back on that first hand, though- now that Zuko was getting a good look at her, he found that the flush on The Other One's pale cheeks was affecting his stomach in a similar way to bad cheese but somehow more pleasant. Perhaps he should start thinking of her as The Cheese Girl.

But instead of asking if that would be acceptably flattering, he merely said, "Come with me." And then he held out his hand.

The Other One looked at it. And she found a way to get even redder.

Quick footsteps, somehow heavy and light at the same time, echoed from around the corner of the Royal Fire Residences hallway.

So Zuko grabbed the front of The Other One's dress, yanked her upright, pulled her into her room, and shut the door.

(Some part of his consciousness, perhaps the same source as the feeling of having somehow eaten good bad cheese, took note of the circumstances and gave a wistful sigh over some kind of missed opportunity.)

He waited with The Other One behind the door, listening carefully.

He could hear the running footsteps through the door. He could hear The Other One breathing.

And then he heard Azula screech, "I know you have her in there, Zuzu."

Zuko barely managed to choke back a squeal of terror. He looked to The Other One. Her face was blank, but when she blinked, a pair of tears escaped to run down her flushed cheeks.

Oh.

She'd really gotten in trouble with Azula.

And with that realization, inspiration struck like one of Father's lightning bolts, except nothing exploded and there were no justified pronouncements of Father's greatness, afterward.

"Come on," Zuko said. "I know what to do."

The Other One blinked again, inhaled deeply, nodded, and grabbed his arm.

Zuko brought her over to his bedroom window. This high in the Royal Fire Palace's tower, he had a great view of the Caldera City below.

The Other One glanced a question at him.

Zuko nodded in what he hoped was some kind of discernable answer, because there was no time to explain, and anyway whenever he explained his ideas out loud they never sounded as good as in his head.

So he climbed up to sit on the window sill and pulled The Other One up with him. He'd often thought about this, about climbing down the tower to escape into the city without anyone knowing. Some of the noble children here in the Caldera liked to prove their bravery by sneaking down to Lower Harbor City to hang out for a while, to observe the laborers building secret prototypes of glorious war machines. Zuko had imagined going out his window on such an adventure and then coming back to lord it over Azula, maybe impressing both Father and Mom in the process. They'd say how proud they were at his cleverness at spotting such a great escape route and managing the climb down to the courtyard, what a lucky person he was and how wonderfully he seized an opportunity and-

Zuko eased himself down towards a sculpted dragon head, immediately slipped, and began sliding down the tower too fast to even manage a scream of justified horror.

The Other One screamed, though. It was the first time he'd heard her make any sound above a whisper.

It might be the last sound he ever heard.

TO BE CONTINUED