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Raiders

It was a defining moment in his understanding of this girl next to him.

She holds the captain captive in his own body. She controls his every movement. She could end his life without touching him.

Suddenly the harsh words from his first afternoon at the temple come back to him. What had seemed like a spitting sabre-toothed moose cub became the cub's mother, towering over him.

Zuko realizes that this girl has a power he could not hope to possess. A power only she can control, and she seemed to have used her power without thought. Instinctual. Cold-blooded.

As soon as the realization hits him, she deflates. Her frosty aura dissipates, defeated.

"It's not him. He's not the man."

The captain lay boneless on the floor, blubbering. She leaves without looking back.

They stop for the night so the bison can rest. Leaning against the beast's side the two stare at the waves, lost in thought. The ocean crashes into the shore, drawing farther away as the tide rolls out. A full moon lends her light to them.

Zuko glances at the girl. Her eyes are cold and glassy.

"What was that?" He asks.

She blinks.

"Where'd you learn that?"

She sighs, closes her eyes and collapses against the bison. Zuko continues looking at her, not sure if she will answer. He's not sure he wants to know the answer.

"A witch," she says softly. "A witch taught me that."

Her eyes open, piercing into his, daring him to contradict her. He holds her gaze steadily.

"It's called bloodbending."

"It's terrifying."

"Yes. It is."

The waves thunder into the beach, and a cloud moves across the moon. Zuko doesn't dare look away. The silence stretches on, seemingly infinite.

Then she crumples. Her legs pull up, her arms flop onto the ground and she cradles her head between her knees.

Without a word, he reaches out and grasps her hand. She doesn't look up, she doesn't shift, her shoulders don't shake. But she does squeeze his hand.

It was a defining moment in his understanding of this girl next to him