New Chapter wooooooooo!
Here we go again!
CAUSE SOME TROUBLE
Chapter 7-- The Road Ahead
The playlist post has been updated.
As always, a million thanks to my betas.
Kuei awoke the next morning, and immediately wished he was asleep again. There wasn’t a single part of him that didn’t ache. His throat was bone-dry, his skin felt sticky, and his clothes were stiff and scratchy from dried sweat.
Even with the battle over, there was little respite for the Sandbenders. They’d stayed up all through the night, cleaning up from the battle. They’d placed the soldiers near the airship wreckages, once the fires had been put out. They didn’t bother posting a guard. Amir was right-the soldiers had nowhere to escape to, especially now that the chieftains had agreed to let them go.
With the fires and the soldiers taken care of, it was time to start putting their camp back together. Kuei had returned to the healer’s tent to help with the wounded; he knew he’d be of limited use in what the Sandbenders would do next.
Sandbender culture required that the dead be buried before the next sunrise. For all Kuei’s lack of social expertise, he knew not to intrude on something like this. He’d offered to help before, after the raid on the Oasis, and he remembered the reply Basam had given him then: This is our duty. Hours later, as the grey light of dawn brightened the eastern horizon, the Sandbenders finally retreated to their tents. Kuei had met up with the twins again just outside their shared tent. The three of them hadn’t even bothered to unroll their blankets before collapsing onto the sand and drifting off to sleep.
The soreness in his limbs receded as memories from their victory flooded back. He grinned up at the floor planks of the glider above his head. He rolled onto his side, and was more than a bit surprised to find the siblings still fast asleep. In the weeks he’d been there, he’d never woken up before them.
Zafirah was curled up in a sinuous ball on her side. The cut on her cheek, cleaned and treated, stood out in the dim light filtering into the tent. Even asleep, the Sandbender couldn’t quite hold still. Her lips twitched and she wriggled into an even tighter ball. “Dun’ wanna ride th’ buzzard-wasp,” she mumbled. Kuei bit the inside of his cheek to stifle the laugh that threatened to escape his throat. He made a mental note to ask her what she’d dreamed about later.
When he left the tent, the camp was quieter than he’d ever seen it. It seemed that Zafirah and Basam weren’t the only ones sleeping in. It was already past midday, judging by the sun.
“Hello, Kuei.” He looked up to see Qamar sitting by a small cooking fire. A pot simmered over the flames. Bosco was at her side-as usual, the bear had found the first available source of breakfast. She waved at him, then gestured for him to join her. He did, sitting down across from her. “I hear you and your pet gave those soldiers a thing or two to talk about,” she said lightly.
Kuei smiled. “Well, I’d like to think we did.” Qamar nodded, but didn’t smile back. She stirred the contents of the pot with a long-handled spoon.
“Have you decided what’s next for you yet?” she asked.
“Er, no, not really,” he admitted. “It seemed a bit overly optimistic to consider it in the face of the battle.”
“Fair point,” Qamar admitted. There was a beat of silence before she went on. “You know you can’t stay here.”
Kuei sighed. “Yes, I know.” He wanted to argue, to insist he could find a place here, but he knew she was right. That didn’t take out the sting of hearing it so bluntly. Qamar stirred the pot’s contents again.
“I wish it didn’t have to happen like this, but I don’t have a choice. We can’t afford to keep anybody that can’t pull their weight. We definitely can’t afford to keep your pet. If you were an Earthbender, I’d be glad to have you. But-“
“But the desert isn’t my home,” Kuei finished sadly. “I do understand.” He shook his head. “To be honest, I’m not really sure where home is anymore.”
“Hmm. Well, bein’ a nomad, I see it like this: if you feel like you’re home, you probably are.” And now she did smile at him.
“Proverbs with breakfast, huh?” Zafirah plopped down next to him. For once, she looked genuinely relaxed. There was a new lightness to her expression. Basam sat down next to her, smiling broadly.
“Good morning,” Kuei said.
“Oh, it most definitely is! First decent night’s sleep I’ve had in weeks,” Basam said cheerfully.
“I’ll say,” his twin agreed. The three of them accepted bowls of rice from Qamar and dug in.
Kuei turned to Zafirah. “Speaking of which, did you have any interesting dreams?” he asked.
“Not that I remember,” she said around a mouthful of rice. Then she lowered the bowl and narrowed her eyes at him. “Why?” she asked suspiciously, drawing out the Y sound of the word.
“When I woke up this morning, you were talking in your sleep-something about not wanting to ride a buzzard-wasp.”
She lifted her chin and her mouth pressed into a thin line. “You were watchin’ me sleep?” she asked icily. Kuei winced.
“No, no, it was nothing like that, I just-“ he spluttered. Then he saw the mischievous glimmer in her eye.
“You’re so fun to mess with,” she giggled. He shook his head, but found himself chuckling along with her.
“I’d say you get used to her sense of humor,” Basam interjected, “But that’d be dishonest.” He laughed and deflected the little crest of sand that Zafirah sent his way. She glanced over at Kuei, a slight frown creasing her forehead.
“Sorry. Is the teasing bugging you?” she asked.
“Oh, no,” he assured her. “Though it’s certainly a change from Ba Sing Se--- everyone there treated me as though I were made of porcelain.”
Zafirah let out an almost wicked-sounding laugh. “Oh, don’t you worry. We don’t have porcelain here in the desert!”
Kuei couldn’t help the swell of affection he felt, sitting there with his friends, but it was a bittersweet sensation. I’ll never see them again, he realized. I’m not ready to leave them. He felt Qamar’s eyes on him. I’ll just have to make the most of the time I have left, then.
////////////////////////
The Sandbenders had plenty of work to do as the afternoon went on. Kuei and the siblings, along with others who’d finally woken up, set themselves to the task of repairing sand gliders. It was difficult work at first, since Kuei had never handled the hammers and saws and other tools involved in construction. Soon enough, though, he’d settled into a steady rhythm.
Qamar’s question from breakfast tugged at his thoughts-what was next? Where would he go after he’d left the desert? He couldn’t go back to the aimless wandering that had brought him here. Not after the battle. Their victory had left him feeling inspired to action.
He needed to do something. There had to be some way he could help with the struggle against the Fire Nation, besides fighting on the front lines. For all the Firebender heads he’d knocked in the battle, there was just no getting around the fact that he simply wasn’t the warrior type.
He was still puzzling over the matter when Qamar approached the glider he was working on. “Kuei, can I talk with you?” she called up to him. He nodded and clambered down from the top of the glider. There was that look on her face again-the same look she’d worn at breakfast. It was the face of someone with bad news. “I’ve been talking to the other chieftains about the prisoners. We’re arranging a convoy that’ll take ‘em to the edge of the desert tomorrow morning.”
“Ah.” Kuei realized with a sinking feeling that he knew where this was going.
“We think you should be on that convoy.” Again he felt the urge to protest, but he forced it down. Qamar didn’t look very happy about it, either, but that wasn’t much consolation. It was selfish, he knew, but he still wished he could stay.
So that was it, then. By this time tomorrow, I’ll be out of the desert. He’d be back on the road, alone.
Again.
“All right,” he replied heavily. Qamar’s mouth twisted in an apologetic grimace and she moved off. Zafirah and Basam walked past her, coming the opposite direction. They were each carrying a roll of sailcloth over one shoulder.
“What’d Qamar want?” Basam asked once the Aqila chieftain was out of earshot. Kuei drew in a breath, wondering what the twins’ reactions would be.
“I’m leaving the desert tomorrow,” he said, his voice quiet. Zafirah’s cloth roll slipped forward off her shoulder, and the front end hit the ground with a muffled thump.
“Tomorrow?!” she exclaimed. Her eyes had gone wide as soon as he’d said it.
“Aw, no! Why so soon?” Basam asked plaintively. Kuei relayed the discussion he’d had with Qamar at breakfast, as well as her latest decision about the convoy. “Wow, that’s a shame. We’re gonna miss you, tourist,” said Basam.
“Yeah,” Zafirah said softly. Her gaze was fixed on the sand at her feet. “C’mon Basam, we gotta get these sails up.” Kuei watched them go, and went back to work.
////////////////////////////////
Zafirah cursed under her breath as she sat atop one of the gliders, fumbling with a tangled rope. She could feel Shai’s eyes on her. He tugged on the other end of the rope, getting her attention.
“Hey. What’s going on with you?” he asked. She huffed a breath as the knot came undone, then jammed the end of the rope through the metal ring in the sailcloth.
“Nothing,” she growled.
“Really? ‘Cause where I’m sitting, it looks like you’re thinkin’ of stranglin’ someone with that.” He gestured to her work. He frowned when she didn’t say anything. “Seriously, what’s wrong? Is it about the battle?”
“No. It’s just…” She fiddled with the edge of the sail. “The outsider’s leaving in the morning,” she admitted finally.
“Oh.” Shai didn’t sound all that upset by the prospect. “Well, it’s probably for the best. A guy like that’s not cut out for the desert.”
“Yeah, but I guess I’m gonna miss him when he goes,” Zafirah muttered.
“You will, huh?” said Shai tightly. The tone of his voice made her head snap up to look him in the eye.
“Oh, Shai, don’t tell me you’re jealous!” she protested.
“I’m worried! I still give a damn about what happens to you. That didn’t change just ‘cause we broke up!” he insisted. He crouched in front of her and gripped her upper arm. “Look, you know how outsiders are. You saw ‘em every Spirits-be-damned day at the Oasis. They all want something from us Sandbenders, but sooner or later, they run out of uses for us. You can’t trust ‘em like you trust your kin.”
Zafirah jerked her arm out of his grip. “Yeah, I know that,” she snapped. “I did business with those types all the time, so don’t you talk to me like I’m some naïve child! You know why Kuei’s here? He volunteered to come with us. He wanted to help us pass the message along after the raid on the Oasis. If he’d wanted out, he’d have been gone as soon as the soldiers left.”
“I can think of a pretty good reason why he’d stay,” Shai said, staring straight into her eyes. Zafirah sputtered in protest, her temper rising. But then she remembered the day after the attack, and finding out that Kuei had saved her life-- There were plenty of unpleasant favors a nobleman could demand from a peasant to cover such a debt... Generally speaking, outsider men only wanted one thing from Sandbender women. The memory took a little of the wind out of her sail.
She just sat there for a moment, looking at Shai. Her eyes traced his familiar features; he had a rounder face than most Sandbender men. His eyes always held steady, no matter what was going on around him. She sighed and spoke up. “Kuei’s never laid a finger on me. Had plenty of chances to, though-there were nights Basam was with Dua and it was just the two of us,” she said flatly.
“Zafi-“
“Shai. Go help somebody else for a while, will you?” He frowned again, but stood up and left anyway.
He was right, though-most outsiders that came through the Oasis couldn’t be trusted. In her time running the weapons shop with her twin, she’d been threatened, cheated, and leered at more times than she could count. The outsider men she dealt with were almost always rude and greedy. Sure, there were rotten apples among her kin; Ghashiun and his gang of thieves came to mind. But most Tribespeople wouldn’t cheat one another. Living in the desert was tough enough without worrying that your neighbors were aiming to stab you in the back.
And then there was Kuei, the outsider who always looked her in the eye. He was still an unsolved riddle, and unsolved riddles drove her nuts. Why was he so different from the rest of the tourists and merchants at the Oasis? He’d offered up his help, he’d worked and fought alongside the Aqila tribe without ever asking for special treatment.
And he was still gorgeous. That wasn’t helping at all. Gorgeous and kind and… She shook her head, as if that could get rid of the redness she felt rising in her cheeks. Don’t torture yourself, girl, she thought. He’ll be gone by this time tomorrow. But that was the problem-she wasn’t ready to see him leave.
///////////////
Night fell again, and the Aqila Tribe gathered for dinner. As Kuei walked towards the cooking fire, a tug on his sleeve stopped him. He turned and saw a familiar smile.
“Amaris!” he exclaimed. “I haven’t seen you since the battle started yesterday. How did you fare? Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m okay,” Amaris said. “A few scrapes and a little burn on my leg, but nothing too bad. What about yourself?”
“I’m fine-I’m more exhausted than hurt.” Then he remembered Basam bringing Fikri into the healer’s tent. “How is Fikri? His arm took a rather nasty-looking burn.”
Amaris winced. “Well, his hand’s in pretty bad shape. It’ll scar up, and the healer says his fingers won’t work right for a while,” she said quietly.
“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that,” Kuei murmured. The two took their portions of the food and cups of water. Kuei got an extra portion, as he always did, to give to Bosco. They weaved through the crowd and sat down with Zafirah, Basam, Dua, and Hayat. Kuei delivered the news of his imminent departure, much to Amaris’s dismay. He also told them about the feeling he’d had earlier, the urge to action, to strike out at the Fire Nation. They sympathized with the feeling, but didn’t have any suggestions for him.
At the end of the meal, Qamar stood and walked to the middle of the gathering. She was holding a small drum in her hands. Silence fell over the tribe as all eyes turned to their chieftain.
“We won a tremendous victory yesterday,” she proclaimed. Kuei smiled thinly; there was something reassuring about Qamar’s directness, even when she’d used it to deliver bad news earlier. The Sandbenders cheered at her words, raising their drinking cups. “We also lost many of our kin, our friends. Tonight we’ll celebrate our victory, and we’ll celebrate the memories of the ones that fell.”
She handed the drum to a young man sitting by her feet. He took it and started up a slow rhythm that pulsed like a heartbeat. Qamar began to sing a lilting melody in the old tongue, her voice low and smooth. The rest of the tribe picked it up, a few at a time, until every voice had joined in. Kuei bowed his head and sat in silence. Like the burial the night before, he felt as though he were intruding on something private.
The sound of the voices rising and falling around him made the little hairs at the back of his neck stand up. The rhythm of the old tongue was far different from the soft, sedate music his tutors had taught him.
The song ended, and silence settled over the Sandbenders as they reflected on their lost friends and family. Kuei stood quietly, glad that he and his friends were near the outer edge of the group, and retreated to bring Bosco his dinner. He knelt down next to the bear and stroked his thick fur.
“Qamar’s right, Bosco. We should leave. We’d never truly fit in here, anyway,” he murmured. Bosco didn’t look convinced. The animal gurgled sadly and nudged Kuei’s shoulder with his nose. “Well, of course I’ll miss them! But this is their home, not ours. I can’t impose on them like that!” Bosco rumbled insistently. “Yes, I’ll miss her quite a lot,” he admitted. He gave the bear one last pat on the head and left.
By the time he returned to the group, two more drummers and three men with flutes had joined the drummer by the fire. They played a lively melody that swirled and leaped and coursed through the night air. He could hardly see the musicians, though, as most of the Sandbenders were on their feet and dancing around them. The dancers moved in two rings around the fire, one within the other. Their movements were quick and agile, looking more like Sandbending forms than anything else.
He couldn’t see either of the twins, but Basam spotted him quickly enough. The other man darted out of the outer circle and seized his arm, pulling him over.
“Oh, n-no, I couldn’t possibly,” he protested, lifting his hands as if to ward the Sandbender off. “I don’t know any of the steps, I’d only get in your way-“
“Shush. C’mon and dance with us, outsider!” he insisted. He dragged Kuei into the circle, and the exiled king had no choice but to try to keep up. Despite his protests, he caught on to the dance quickly and found himself laughing and smiling along with the rest. No, the desert wasn’t his home. But for now, he could enjoy the kindness of his friends and, for once, feel like he was part of a community.
The circle dance broke up, but the music kept going. Now the Sandbenders split off to dance. Some were in pairs, others in clusters of three or more. Zafirah strolled up to him, smiling somewhat dryly.
“Enjoying your last night?” she asked.
“I am, thank you,” he said. She arched her eyebrows and nodded past him. He turned to find Amaris standing close by. The shorter woman extended her right hand to him and grinned.
“Dance?” she asked, her wide eyes gleaming hopefully. Kuei couldn’t help but take a half-step back from that copper-skinned hand as a surge of anxiety reared its ugly head within him. He’d never considered himself a shy person-but then, he’d never had an opportunity to find out.
“I’m not much of a dancer,” he said. But Amaris wasn’t any more deterred by that excuse than Basam had been.
“Aww, c’mon. Just one,” she said sweetly. Kuei glanced back at Zafirah, who shrugged and tucked a stray lock of hair back behind her ear.
“What am I, your mother? Go, have fun! I’ll be over there,” she said, pointing to Hayat and Amir. She walked off, and Kuei turned back to Amaris, standing there with her hand outstretched expectantly. Well, he thought, there’s a lovely young woman asking me to dance with her. Am I really going to disappoint her? He squared his shoulders, took a breath to steady his nerves, and took her hand. Her grin spread even more.
Amaris seized his wrist in a surprisingly strong grip and all but dragged him over to the rest of the dancers. Nervousness gnawed at his stomach, but the woman’s smile was oddly heartening. At the very least, she most likely wouldn’t laugh at him if he made a fool of himself.
“Okay, this is how it’s done. This is one of the simpler dances we have, so you should pick it up pretty quick. Just follow my lead,” Amaris said confidently as she began to move. Kuei did his best to mirror her stances: side-step to the right, then towards each other, crossing the left foot over the right, arms in constant graceful motion. He felt like a lumbering oaf next to the nimble Sandbender, but she never once let her encouraging smile slip into scorn or mockery. They circled each other twice, spun so they were back-to-back, then twisted back to face one another.
As he spun away from her again, he caught a glimpse of Zafirah dancing with Hayat and Amir. Her wide smile lit up her face, like it had after her duel with Qamar on their first night with the tribe. She whirled in a circle, and his eyes followed the movement of her long braid as it whipped around her. He didn’t realize that he’d forgotten the steps to his own dance until he bumped into Amaris.
“I guess you weren’t kidding about not being much of a dancer,” she teased lightly. “It’s too bad you’re leaving-I could give you some dancing lessons.” The corners of her mouth curled upward, and something clicked in Kuei’s mind. He was suddenly amazed at how oblivious he’d been; but then, he hadn’t had any previous experience with flirting.
It was flattering, really, to have attracted the attention of a woman like Amaris. She was very pretty and quite charming, and he’d seen for himself that she cared deeply about her friends and family. And yet…
Amaris waved her fingers in front of his face, bringing him out of his thoughts. “Hello? You still here?” she joked. Kuei blushed as he realized he was neglecting his dance partner.
“How rude of me! I’m sorry,” he said, mortified by his thoughtlessness.
“No worries,” she replied. “Something’s distracting you, and I think I can guess what… or who.” Her mouth twisted into a wistful grimace. “Between you and me,” and here she leaned in conspiratorially, “I don’t think I’m the one you wanna be dancing with right now.” He felt a pang of guilt as he realized she was right. And then something else clicked in his mind, and there was the truth of the matter-he wanted to be dancing with Zafirah instead.
Kuei sighed, choosing his next words carefully. “Amaris, it’s not that I don’t enjoy your company. It’s just that, well…”
“You like her better than me,” she finished for him. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I was just flirting some; it’s not like I was lookin’ for a husband,” she teased, laughing. He felt somewhat better, knowing she wasn’t upset. She stood on the tips of her toes and pressed her lips to his cheek, making his face burn bright red. “That’s for good luck. You’ll need it!” And then she was gone, leaving him alone with this revelation.
His mouth dry and his pulse hammering, he started scanning the area for Zafirah. Suddenly, it all made sense! Earlier that day, at breakfast, he’d thought to himself that he wasn’t ready to leave his newfound friends. And that was true-he would dearly miss Basam and the rest-but it was much more basic than that.
I’m not ready to say goodbye to Zafirah! How could he not have seen it? No, he knew how: The Fire Nation had been first and foremost on his mind since his arrival in the desert. Their presence in his thoughts had been so strong as to push everything else to the background; it had blinded him to his growing attraction to Zafirah. His immediate reaction was a sense of urgency. He had to find her, had to tell her! I’ll ask her to dance, and then I’ll say what needs to be said. He beamed, pleased with his plan, and set off through the crowd.
Finally he spotted her, dancing with a little girl who looked no older than six or seven. He paused for a moment, taking in the endearing picture they made. The child giggled as she tried to keep up with Zafirah.
Once again, he found his eyes drawn to the Sandbender woman’s long braid, swaying across her slender back as she danced. All right, this is it. I’ll simply go over and say, “Might I borrow Zafirah for a moment?” He took two steps towards them…
Oh Spirits-what if she doesn’t feel the same about me? The thought stopped him cold. His stomach churned with a sudden bout of nerves. This was a problem he’d never dealt with before. His enthusiasm deflated, he retreated to the edge of the crowd and sat down, his head in his hands. I’m a coward. I fought against the Fire Nation, but I can’t ask the woman I admire to dance with me?
He looked up at the sound of footsteps. Four children stood in front of him, all grinning from ear to ear. The eldest looked to be around eleven years old, and the youngest around six.
“Er, hello,” he said cautiously.
“Hi, Mister Kuei!” they chorused. The eldest one held out a small waterskin.
“You thirsty? We got you some water,” he said brightly.
“Yes, actually, I am quite thirsty. Thank you,” he said. The child placed the skin on the ground and nudged it over with his toe, as if offering it to a wild animal. All four skittered backwards as he reached forward to take the waterskin. He uncorked it and took a sip, and his eyebrows lifted in surprise. The water was different from the usual rations; it tasted fresher, cleaner somehow, and it had a faint sweetness to it.
“Thank you,” Kuei said again, smiling. “It’s delicious.”
“You’re welcome,” they chimed. They ran off, giggling. He stared after them, perplexed by their behavior. He shrugged it off and finished the contents of the waterskin.
////////////////////////////
It was getting late, but the party wasn’t slowing down much. Zafirah was, though, and her eyelids were starting to feel heavy. She was just about to head back to the glider tent when Hayat came bounding up to her.
“Hey,” Zafirah said.
“Hey, Zafi,” Hayat replied. Zafirah decided she didn’t like the dark look on her friend’s face.
“Okay, what happened and how bad is it?” she asked.
“Well, uh, somebody gave the tourist some cactus juice.”
“What?!” yelped Zafirah. Hayat just pointed to the right, and she raced off. It didn’t take long to find him.
“No, no, Bosco! Your technique is all wrong! You have to go whoosh!” She followed the sound of Kuei’s voice to a group of about two dozen Sandbenders all huddled together, laughing and cheering. Zafirah scowled and elbowed her way through to the center. Kuei stood at the middle of the circle with a very confused Bosco in front of him. She took one look at Kuei’s crazed expression and shook her head. Yep, he’s stoned off his skull on cactus juice.
“Grrf?” Bosco growled.
“Now listen here, I am your sifu and I expect you to pay attention!” Kuei demanded. “Follow my steps, please.” He threw himself into a complicated string of flailing kicks, stomps, and arm-waves, finishing up in an utterly ridiculous stance that he clearly imagined to be menacing.
Bosco’s only response was a blank stare. Kuei turned away with a dramatic sigh. “My Airbending talents are wasted on such an inattentive pupil!” he wailed. The crowd chuckled and Zafirah felt a flash of irritation. She shoved aside the men on either side of her and strode into the middle of the circle.
“How’s the lesson going, Sifu Kuei?” she asked dryly.
“It’s just terrible!” he blustered. “Bosco simply will not focus on his-“ he broke off with a gasp as he turned to look at her. He gaped at her, eyes wide, and then he started stumbling towards her with his hands outstretched. “You. You! There’s… little stars… all around you!”
Somebody behind Zafirah snickered. She swept her hand out to the side, clenched her fist, and the man sank up to his knees in the sand.
“Aww, hey!” the man whined. Zafirah soundly ignored him, eyes still fixed on the stoned tourist. Kuei came at her, arms open wide for a hug. She ducked under his left arm, then grabbed the back of his shirt as he lost his balance, stopping him from pitching face-first into the ground.
“Whoa,” he mumbled.
“C’mon, you’d better sleep this off. You’ll have a nasty headache tomorrow, but you’ll be fine.”
“But my lesson!” he protested.
“It can wait till the morning, Sifu. C’mon, sleepy time.” She guided him out of the circle, still gripping his shirt and doing her level best to tune out the catcalls behind them.
“Zafirah!” Kuei called as she pulled him along. “Zafirah, I need to tell you something important!”
“Yeah? What is it?” she asked.
His forehead creased into a frown. “I don’t remember,” he muttered. “But I must tell you what it is!”
“But you just said you don’t remember what it was,” she pointed out. He kept on going as though he hadn’t heard.
“Zafirah! I must tell you something about… something…” He dug in his heels, bringing her to a stop a few feet from the tent. “Really now, stop flying and come back down here so I can talk to you!” Zafirah decided to humor him and turned around.
“Okay, you got my attention,” she said. He stepped in close and lifted his hands to her face. A jolt went through her at the touch of his long fingers against her cheeks. “H-hey, what’re you-“
“So much light,” he murmured. His fingers moved slowly over her features, like a blind man seeing with his hands. He’s not in his right mind, he’s not in his right mind, she chanted silently, trying to still the nervous fluttering in her stomach. She reached up and grabbed his wrists.
“It’s sleep time, remember?” she told him. She grabbed his sleeve and hauled him the last few feet to the tent. He giggled unsteadily behind her. Zafirah pulled back the tent flap and dropped the stoned tourist onto the ground. Kuei started to say something, but she ducked out of the tent again before he could get the words out. Once outside, she took a deep breath and leaned against the side of the glider. “It’s just not fair,” she muttered.
She wandered off through the camp, gathering her thoughts. There was a faint breeze, light and cool against her still-heated face.
She turned her thoughts away from Kuei for the moment; there was another problem that needed dealing with. What’s going to happen to me and Basam? They were still Janan Tribe, even though the Fire Nation had taken their kin. Zafirah made her way back to the middle of the camp, where she found her brother dancing with Dua. The smaller woman spotted Zafirah and tapped Basam’s shoulder, gesturing to his twin. Basam caught sight of her and trotted over.
“Hey, what’s up?” he asked.
“We gotta talk about something.”
“Uh, sure, okay.” He waved to Dua. “I’ll be back soon, okay?” She nodded and waved back, and then Zafirah grabbed her twin’s sleeve and pulled him outside the dwindling collection of dancers. “So what’re we talking about?” he asked once she’d stopped pulling him.
“We’re planning what’s next for us. What’s going to happen to us, now that the fight’s over?” Zafirah asked.
“Huh, well… Qamar’d probably let us stay here, if we asked,” Basam pointed out. “But maybe-“
“-Maybe this isn’t where we need to be,” Zafirah finished. “Yeah. Remember what Kuei said at dinner, about wanting to fight the Fire Nation? That’s how I’m feelin’ right now.”
“Same,” Basam agreed. They sat in silence, and then it hit them. They turned to each other with matching grins stretched ear to ear across their faces.
//////////////////////////////
Kuei had an absolutely awful headache. He sat at the cooking fire the next morning with a cup of medicinal tea clutched in one hand, his other hand massaging his left temple. It’s far too early to be awake, he thought grimly. The sun wasn’t even up yet. Zafirah and Basam strode up to the fire looking unaccountably cheerful. Zafirah gripped the ear of a squirming little boy, whom she nudged towards Kuei.
“Good morning, Kuei,” she said brightly. “Amrit here has something to say-don’t you?” The boy scuffled his feet in the sand.
“Sorry for giving you cactus juice, Mister Kuei,” he mumbled. Zafirah let go of his ear and Amrit bolted away. The twins sat down, still smiling broadly at Kuei, and filled teacups of their own.
“How’s your head?” asked Basam.
“I’ve felt better,” Kuei admitted. He hesitated, embarrassed, before continuing. “And that’s not the only thing. It’s, well, um… I can’t quite recall everything that happened after I drank the cactus juice.”
“Yeah, that tends to happen with that stuff. Don’t worry, you didn’t do anything too bad,” Zafirah said. Kuei froze with the teacup halfway to his mouth.
“That’s… not very comforting, really,” he muttered. “I didn’t do anything that, er, offended you-or anyone else?”
Zafirah shrugged. “You tried to teach Bosco some Airbending moves, but, uh, that’s about it.” Was he imagining things, or did her cheeks look slightly pink?
“Well, I’m glad to hear that I didn’t act like a complete hogmonkey,” he said as lightly as he could. “Here I was, afraid I’d done something awful, or regrettable. I’d hate to leave you with the wrong impression of me!”
Her lips pressed into a strange smirk. “Yeah, well, I got the right impression now, I think.”
“Er, well, that’s good,” Kuei said, perplexed. Basam cleared his throat and promptly changed the topic.
“So, had any new ideas for what you’re gonna do when you’re gone?” he asked.
“No, unfortunately,” Kuei sighed. “I need to find some advantage I can use, something-“ And then, inspiration struck him. He did have an advantage. A memory surfaced, as if from another lifetime. He recalled Sokka standing before him in the throne room of Ba Sing Se, a grim, determined look etched on the teen’s face. That’s the day we need to invade the Fire Nation… “The Day of Black Sun,” Kuei breathed.
“The what now?” Zafirah echoed, frowning.
“The Day of Black Sun!” Kuei shouted. He jumped to his feet, punching his fist into the air. “There’s a solar eclipse coming, a little less than two months from now. Firebenders draw their power from the sun, you remember, right? And in the eclipse, the sun will be blocked out by the moon. And when that happens-“
“The Firebenders lose their Firebending?” Zafirah guessed. She rose to her feet as well.
“Exactly!” Kuei agreed. “They’ll be defenseless.” Basam laughed and stood up.
“Oh, that’s perfect!” he exclaimed. “So, what’re we gonna do with this eclipse?”
“Well, I-“ It took him a moment to realize what Basam had just said. “We?” he echoed, hardly daring to hope…
“Yep. We want to help,” Zafirah told him as she slung an arm across her brother’s shoulders.
Kuei opened his mouth to respond, but found himself suddenly speechless. This was more than he could have dreamed of! He had a plan to fight against the Fire Nation, and now he’d have his friends at his side. “I would be honored to accept your help. Thank you,” he said warmly.
“So, what’s the plan?” Zafirah prompted. Kuei smiled.
“It’s quite simple, really. We’ll spread word of the eclipse to as many towns as we can, and we’ll tell them about our victory here in the desert. The Fire Nation has many towns in the Western Earth Kingdom under their control. I’d imagine that they’ve started to spread to the east, now that they’ve taken Ba Sing Se to the north. If people in those towns heard about what’s happened here, it might give them the courage to take a stand against the Fire Nation. In other words,” he concluded, grinning widely, “We’re going to start some rebellions.”
Basam whistled under his breath, and Zafirah’s grin matched Kuei’s own. Whatever had been bothering her before seemed to have vanished.
“I like it,” Basam announced. He lifted his teacup. “Here’s to rebellion.”
“To rebellion!” Zafirah echoed.
“To rebellion,” Kuei agreed, raising his cup. At that moment, he felt as though nothing in the world could stand in their way.
/////////
An hour later, the Aqila Tribe assembled at the western edge of the camp. The prisoners had been loaded onto sand-gliders, their arms bound, and the convoy was ready to go.
Shai was waiting for Zafirah as she stepped out of the glider tent with her pack. “Hey,” he said.
“Hi,” Zafirah replied.
“Look, before you go, I just wanted to apologize for yesterday. I was out of line…and yeah, I guess I was a little jealous,” he admitted.
“Well hey, at least you own up to it,” Zafirah joked. “But no, you’re right, we can’t trust most outsiders. I think you’re wrong about Kuei, but still-me and Basam will be watching each other’s backs, don’t worry.”
Shai chuckled. “Y’know, for his sake, I hope I am wrong about him.” Zafirah smiled, then hugged him tightly. Shai wrapped his arms around her and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. “Good luck, Zafi.”
Zafirah rejoined the convoy, saying her goodbyes to her friends as she went. (“Give those Firebenders a few good bruises for me,” Hayat told her.) Kuei, Bosco, and Basam were already at the convoy; Dua and Basam held tightly to each other, no words needed. Zafirah knew that her brother had tried to convince Dua to come along, but she’d decided that her tribe needed her more.
Qamar approached the trio and stood before them, looking at each of their faces in turn.
“Zafirah, Basam, I wish you both safe travels. You made the Janan Tribe proud out on that battlefield,” she said.
“Thanks, Qamar,” the twins said together. Then the chieftain turned to Kuei.
“It was an honor fighting alongside you, outsider,” she told him, bowing slightly.
“The honor was all mine, Qamar,” Kuei said, bowing in return.
“Best of luck in your mission. And I want you to know this: you’ll always have friends in the Aqila Tribe, Kuei of Ba Sing Se.”
“Thank you,” he said. “I hope that we might meet again someday.”
“Till then,” Qamar replied, smiling. The three took their positions on one of the gliders, Bosco following them easily this time. The sails billowed as the gliders started moving, and they set off with the rising sun at their backs.
/////////////////////////////
And that concludes Part 1 of our story. Up next is Part 2, the eclipse and the comet. And after that… well, you’ll see!
CAUSE SOME TROUBLE
Chapter 7-- The Road Ahead
The playlist post has been updated.
As always, a million thanks to my betas.
Kuei awoke the next morning, and immediately wished he was asleep again. There wasn’t a single part of him that didn’t ache. His throat was bone-dry, his skin felt sticky, and his clothes were stiff and scratchy from dried sweat.
Even with the battle over, there was little respite for the Sandbenders. They’d stayed up all through the night, cleaning up from the battle. They’d placed the soldiers near the airship wreckages, once the fires had been put out. They didn’t bother posting a guard. Amir was right-the soldiers had nowhere to escape to, especially now that the chieftains had agreed to let them go.
With the fires and the soldiers taken care of, it was time to start putting their camp back together. Kuei had returned to the healer’s tent to help with the wounded; he knew he’d be of limited use in what the Sandbenders would do next.
Sandbender culture required that the dead be buried before the next sunrise. For all Kuei’s lack of social expertise, he knew not to intrude on something like this. He’d offered to help before, after the raid on the Oasis, and he remembered the reply Basam had given him then: This is our duty. Hours later, as the grey light of dawn brightened the eastern horizon, the Sandbenders finally retreated to their tents. Kuei had met up with the twins again just outside their shared tent. The three of them hadn’t even bothered to unroll their blankets before collapsing onto the sand and drifting off to sleep.
The soreness in his limbs receded as memories from their victory flooded back. He grinned up at the floor planks of the glider above his head. He rolled onto his side, and was more than a bit surprised to find the siblings still fast asleep. In the weeks he’d been there, he’d never woken up before them.
Zafirah was curled up in a sinuous ball on her side. The cut on her cheek, cleaned and treated, stood out in the dim light filtering into the tent. Even asleep, the Sandbender couldn’t quite hold still. Her lips twitched and she wriggled into an even tighter ball. “Dun’ wanna ride th’ buzzard-wasp,” she mumbled. Kuei bit the inside of his cheek to stifle the laugh that threatened to escape his throat. He made a mental note to ask her what she’d dreamed about later.
When he left the tent, the camp was quieter than he’d ever seen it. It seemed that Zafirah and Basam weren’t the only ones sleeping in. It was already past midday, judging by the sun.
“Hello, Kuei.” He looked up to see Qamar sitting by a small cooking fire. A pot simmered over the flames. Bosco was at her side-as usual, the bear had found the first available source of breakfast. She waved at him, then gestured for him to join her. He did, sitting down across from her. “I hear you and your pet gave those soldiers a thing or two to talk about,” she said lightly.
Kuei smiled. “Well, I’d like to think we did.” Qamar nodded, but didn’t smile back. She stirred the contents of the pot with a long-handled spoon.
“Have you decided what’s next for you yet?” she asked.
“Er, no, not really,” he admitted. “It seemed a bit overly optimistic to consider it in the face of the battle.”
“Fair point,” Qamar admitted. There was a beat of silence before she went on. “You know you can’t stay here.”
Kuei sighed. “Yes, I know.” He wanted to argue, to insist he could find a place here, but he knew she was right. That didn’t take out the sting of hearing it so bluntly. Qamar stirred the pot’s contents again.
“I wish it didn’t have to happen like this, but I don’t have a choice. We can’t afford to keep anybody that can’t pull their weight. We definitely can’t afford to keep your pet. If you were an Earthbender, I’d be glad to have you. But-“
“But the desert isn’t my home,” Kuei finished sadly. “I do understand.” He shook his head. “To be honest, I’m not really sure where home is anymore.”
“Hmm. Well, bein’ a nomad, I see it like this: if you feel like you’re home, you probably are.” And now she did smile at him.
“Proverbs with breakfast, huh?” Zafirah plopped down next to him. For once, she looked genuinely relaxed. There was a new lightness to her expression. Basam sat down next to her, smiling broadly.
“Good morning,” Kuei said.
“Oh, it most definitely is! First decent night’s sleep I’ve had in weeks,” Basam said cheerfully.
“I’ll say,” his twin agreed. The three of them accepted bowls of rice from Qamar and dug in.
Kuei turned to Zafirah. “Speaking of which, did you have any interesting dreams?” he asked.
“Not that I remember,” she said around a mouthful of rice. Then she lowered the bowl and narrowed her eyes at him. “Why?” she asked suspiciously, drawing out the Y sound of the word.
“When I woke up this morning, you were talking in your sleep-something about not wanting to ride a buzzard-wasp.”
She lifted her chin and her mouth pressed into a thin line. “You were watchin’ me sleep?” she asked icily. Kuei winced.
“No, no, it was nothing like that, I just-“ he spluttered. Then he saw the mischievous glimmer in her eye.
“You’re so fun to mess with,” she giggled. He shook his head, but found himself chuckling along with her.
“I’d say you get used to her sense of humor,” Basam interjected, “But that’d be dishonest.” He laughed and deflected the little crest of sand that Zafirah sent his way. She glanced over at Kuei, a slight frown creasing her forehead.
“Sorry. Is the teasing bugging you?” she asked.
“Oh, no,” he assured her. “Though it’s certainly a change from Ba Sing Se--- everyone there treated me as though I were made of porcelain.”
Zafirah let out an almost wicked-sounding laugh. “Oh, don’t you worry. We don’t have porcelain here in the desert!”
Kuei couldn’t help the swell of affection he felt, sitting there with his friends, but it was a bittersweet sensation. I’ll never see them again, he realized. I’m not ready to leave them. He felt Qamar’s eyes on him. I’ll just have to make the most of the time I have left, then.
////////////////////////
The Sandbenders had plenty of work to do as the afternoon went on. Kuei and the siblings, along with others who’d finally woken up, set themselves to the task of repairing sand gliders. It was difficult work at first, since Kuei had never handled the hammers and saws and other tools involved in construction. Soon enough, though, he’d settled into a steady rhythm.
Qamar’s question from breakfast tugged at his thoughts-what was next? Where would he go after he’d left the desert? He couldn’t go back to the aimless wandering that had brought him here. Not after the battle. Their victory had left him feeling inspired to action.
He needed to do something. There had to be some way he could help with the struggle against the Fire Nation, besides fighting on the front lines. For all the Firebender heads he’d knocked in the battle, there was just no getting around the fact that he simply wasn’t the warrior type.
He was still puzzling over the matter when Qamar approached the glider he was working on. “Kuei, can I talk with you?” she called up to him. He nodded and clambered down from the top of the glider. There was that look on her face again-the same look she’d worn at breakfast. It was the face of someone with bad news. “I’ve been talking to the other chieftains about the prisoners. We’re arranging a convoy that’ll take ‘em to the edge of the desert tomorrow morning.”
“Ah.” Kuei realized with a sinking feeling that he knew where this was going.
“We think you should be on that convoy.” Again he felt the urge to protest, but he forced it down. Qamar didn’t look very happy about it, either, but that wasn’t much consolation. It was selfish, he knew, but he still wished he could stay.
So that was it, then. By this time tomorrow, I’ll be out of the desert. He’d be back on the road, alone.
Again.
“All right,” he replied heavily. Qamar’s mouth twisted in an apologetic grimace and she moved off. Zafirah and Basam walked past her, coming the opposite direction. They were each carrying a roll of sailcloth over one shoulder.
“What’d Qamar want?” Basam asked once the Aqila chieftain was out of earshot. Kuei drew in a breath, wondering what the twins’ reactions would be.
“I’m leaving the desert tomorrow,” he said, his voice quiet. Zafirah’s cloth roll slipped forward off her shoulder, and the front end hit the ground with a muffled thump.
“Tomorrow?!” she exclaimed. Her eyes had gone wide as soon as he’d said it.
“Aw, no! Why so soon?” Basam asked plaintively. Kuei relayed the discussion he’d had with Qamar at breakfast, as well as her latest decision about the convoy. “Wow, that’s a shame. We’re gonna miss you, tourist,” said Basam.
“Yeah,” Zafirah said softly. Her gaze was fixed on the sand at her feet. “C’mon Basam, we gotta get these sails up.” Kuei watched them go, and went back to work.
////////////////////////////////
Zafirah cursed under her breath as she sat atop one of the gliders, fumbling with a tangled rope. She could feel Shai’s eyes on her. He tugged on the other end of the rope, getting her attention.
“Hey. What’s going on with you?” he asked. She huffed a breath as the knot came undone, then jammed the end of the rope through the metal ring in the sailcloth.
“Nothing,” she growled.
“Really? ‘Cause where I’m sitting, it looks like you’re thinkin’ of stranglin’ someone with that.” He gestured to her work. He frowned when she didn’t say anything. “Seriously, what’s wrong? Is it about the battle?”
“No. It’s just…” She fiddled with the edge of the sail. “The outsider’s leaving in the morning,” she admitted finally.
“Oh.” Shai didn’t sound all that upset by the prospect. “Well, it’s probably for the best. A guy like that’s not cut out for the desert.”
“Yeah, but I guess I’m gonna miss him when he goes,” Zafirah muttered.
“You will, huh?” said Shai tightly. The tone of his voice made her head snap up to look him in the eye.
“Oh, Shai, don’t tell me you’re jealous!” she protested.
“I’m worried! I still give a damn about what happens to you. That didn’t change just ‘cause we broke up!” he insisted. He crouched in front of her and gripped her upper arm. “Look, you know how outsiders are. You saw ‘em every Spirits-be-damned day at the Oasis. They all want something from us Sandbenders, but sooner or later, they run out of uses for us. You can’t trust ‘em like you trust your kin.”
Zafirah jerked her arm out of his grip. “Yeah, I know that,” she snapped. “I did business with those types all the time, so don’t you talk to me like I’m some naïve child! You know why Kuei’s here? He volunteered to come with us. He wanted to help us pass the message along after the raid on the Oasis. If he’d wanted out, he’d have been gone as soon as the soldiers left.”
“I can think of a pretty good reason why he’d stay,” Shai said, staring straight into her eyes. Zafirah sputtered in protest, her temper rising. But then she remembered the day after the attack, and finding out that Kuei had saved her life-- There were plenty of unpleasant favors a nobleman could demand from a peasant to cover such a debt... Generally speaking, outsider men only wanted one thing from Sandbender women. The memory took a little of the wind out of her sail.
She just sat there for a moment, looking at Shai. Her eyes traced his familiar features; he had a rounder face than most Sandbender men. His eyes always held steady, no matter what was going on around him. She sighed and spoke up. “Kuei’s never laid a finger on me. Had plenty of chances to, though-there were nights Basam was with Dua and it was just the two of us,” she said flatly.
“Zafi-“
“Shai. Go help somebody else for a while, will you?” He frowned again, but stood up and left anyway.
He was right, though-most outsiders that came through the Oasis couldn’t be trusted. In her time running the weapons shop with her twin, she’d been threatened, cheated, and leered at more times than she could count. The outsider men she dealt with were almost always rude and greedy. Sure, there were rotten apples among her kin; Ghashiun and his gang of thieves came to mind. But most Tribespeople wouldn’t cheat one another. Living in the desert was tough enough without worrying that your neighbors were aiming to stab you in the back.
And then there was Kuei, the outsider who always looked her in the eye. He was still an unsolved riddle, and unsolved riddles drove her nuts. Why was he so different from the rest of the tourists and merchants at the Oasis? He’d offered up his help, he’d worked and fought alongside the Aqila tribe without ever asking for special treatment.
And he was still gorgeous. That wasn’t helping at all. Gorgeous and kind and… She shook her head, as if that could get rid of the redness she felt rising in her cheeks. Don’t torture yourself, girl, she thought. He’ll be gone by this time tomorrow. But that was the problem-she wasn’t ready to see him leave.
///////////////
Night fell again, and the Aqila Tribe gathered for dinner. As Kuei walked towards the cooking fire, a tug on his sleeve stopped him. He turned and saw a familiar smile.
“Amaris!” he exclaimed. “I haven’t seen you since the battle started yesterday. How did you fare? Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m okay,” Amaris said. “A few scrapes and a little burn on my leg, but nothing too bad. What about yourself?”
“I’m fine-I’m more exhausted than hurt.” Then he remembered Basam bringing Fikri into the healer’s tent. “How is Fikri? His arm took a rather nasty-looking burn.”
Amaris winced. “Well, his hand’s in pretty bad shape. It’ll scar up, and the healer says his fingers won’t work right for a while,” she said quietly.
“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that,” Kuei murmured. The two took their portions of the food and cups of water. Kuei got an extra portion, as he always did, to give to Bosco. They weaved through the crowd and sat down with Zafirah, Basam, Dua, and Hayat. Kuei delivered the news of his imminent departure, much to Amaris’s dismay. He also told them about the feeling he’d had earlier, the urge to action, to strike out at the Fire Nation. They sympathized with the feeling, but didn’t have any suggestions for him.
At the end of the meal, Qamar stood and walked to the middle of the gathering. She was holding a small drum in her hands. Silence fell over the tribe as all eyes turned to their chieftain.
“We won a tremendous victory yesterday,” she proclaimed. Kuei smiled thinly; there was something reassuring about Qamar’s directness, even when she’d used it to deliver bad news earlier. The Sandbenders cheered at her words, raising their drinking cups. “We also lost many of our kin, our friends. Tonight we’ll celebrate our victory, and we’ll celebrate the memories of the ones that fell.”
She handed the drum to a young man sitting by her feet. He took it and started up a slow rhythm that pulsed like a heartbeat. Qamar began to sing a lilting melody in the old tongue, her voice low and smooth. The rest of the tribe picked it up, a few at a time, until every voice had joined in. Kuei bowed his head and sat in silence. Like the burial the night before, he felt as though he were intruding on something private.
The sound of the voices rising and falling around him made the little hairs at the back of his neck stand up. The rhythm of the old tongue was far different from the soft, sedate music his tutors had taught him.
The song ended, and silence settled over the Sandbenders as they reflected on their lost friends and family. Kuei stood quietly, glad that he and his friends were near the outer edge of the group, and retreated to bring Bosco his dinner. He knelt down next to the bear and stroked his thick fur.
“Qamar’s right, Bosco. We should leave. We’d never truly fit in here, anyway,” he murmured. Bosco didn’t look convinced. The animal gurgled sadly and nudged Kuei’s shoulder with his nose. “Well, of course I’ll miss them! But this is their home, not ours. I can’t impose on them like that!” Bosco rumbled insistently. “Yes, I’ll miss her quite a lot,” he admitted. He gave the bear one last pat on the head and left.
By the time he returned to the group, two more drummers and three men with flutes had joined the drummer by the fire. They played a lively melody that swirled and leaped and coursed through the night air. He could hardly see the musicians, though, as most of the Sandbenders were on their feet and dancing around them. The dancers moved in two rings around the fire, one within the other. Their movements were quick and agile, looking more like Sandbending forms than anything else.
He couldn’t see either of the twins, but Basam spotted him quickly enough. The other man darted out of the outer circle and seized his arm, pulling him over.
“Oh, n-no, I couldn’t possibly,” he protested, lifting his hands as if to ward the Sandbender off. “I don’t know any of the steps, I’d only get in your way-“
“Shush. C’mon and dance with us, outsider!” he insisted. He dragged Kuei into the circle, and the exiled king had no choice but to try to keep up. Despite his protests, he caught on to the dance quickly and found himself laughing and smiling along with the rest. No, the desert wasn’t his home. But for now, he could enjoy the kindness of his friends and, for once, feel like he was part of a community.
The circle dance broke up, but the music kept going. Now the Sandbenders split off to dance. Some were in pairs, others in clusters of three or more. Zafirah strolled up to him, smiling somewhat dryly.
“Enjoying your last night?” she asked.
“I am, thank you,” he said. She arched her eyebrows and nodded past him. He turned to find Amaris standing close by. The shorter woman extended her right hand to him and grinned.
“Dance?” she asked, her wide eyes gleaming hopefully. Kuei couldn’t help but take a half-step back from that copper-skinned hand as a surge of anxiety reared its ugly head within him. He’d never considered himself a shy person-but then, he’d never had an opportunity to find out.
“I’m not much of a dancer,” he said. But Amaris wasn’t any more deterred by that excuse than Basam had been.
“Aww, c’mon. Just one,” she said sweetly. Kuei glanced back at Zafirah, who shrugged and tucked a stray lock of hair back behind her ear.
“What am I, your mother? Go, have fun! I’ll be over there,” she said, pointing to Hayat and Amir. She walked off, and Kuei turned back to Amaris, standing there with her hand outstretched expectantly. Well, he thought, there’s a lovely young woman asking me to dance with her. Am I really going to disappoint her? He squared his shoulders, took a breath to steady his nerves, and took her hand. Her grin spread even more.
Amaris seized his wrist in a surprisingly strong grip and all but dragged him over to the rest of the dancers. Nervousness gnawed at his stomach, but the woman’s smile was oddly heartening. At the very least, she most likely wouldn’t laugh at him if he made a fool of himself.
“Okay, this is how it’s done. This is one of the simpler dances we have, so you should pick it up pretty quick. Just follow my lead,” Amaris said confidently as she began to move. Kuei did his best to mirror her stances: side-step to the right, then towards each other, crossing the left foot over the right, arms in constant graceful motion. He felt like a lumbering oaf next to the nimble Sandbender, but she never once let her encouraging smile slip into scorn or mockery. They circled each other twice, spun so they were back-to-back, then twisted back to face one another.
As he spun away from her again, he caught a glimpse of Zafirah dancing with Hayat and Amir. Her wide smile lit up her face, like it had after her duel with Qamar on their first night with the tribe. She whirled in a circle, and his eyes followed the movement of her long braid as it whipped around her. He didn’t realize that he’d forgotten the steps to his own dance until he bumped into Amaris.
“I guess you weren’t kidding about not being much of a dancer,” she teased lightly. “It’s too bad you’re leaving-I could give you some dancing lessons.” The corners of her mouth curled upward, and something clicked in Kuei’s mind. He was suddenly amazed at how oblivious he’d been; but then, he hadn’t had any previous experience with flirting.
It was flattering, really, to have attracted the attention of a woman like Amaris. She was very pretty and quite charming, and he’d seen for himself that she cared deeply about her friends and family. And yet…
Amaris waved her fingers in front of his face, bringing him out of his thoughts. “Hello? You still here?” she joked. Kuei blushed as he realized he was neglecting his dance partner.
“How rude of me! I’m sorry,” he said, mortified by his thoughtlessness.
“No worries,” she replied. “Something’s distracting you, and I think I can guess what… or who.” Her mouth twisted into a wistful grimace. “Between you and me,” and here she leaned in conspiratorially, “I don’t think I’m the one you wanna be dancing with right now.” He felt a pang of guilt as he realized she was right. And then something else clicked in his mind, and there was the truth of the matter-he wanted to be dancing with Zafirah instead.
Kuei sighed, choosing his next words carefully. “Amaris, it’s not that I don’t enjoy your company. It’s just that, well…”
“You like her better than me,” she finished for him. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I was just flirting some; it’s not like I was lookin’ for a husband,” she teased, laughing. He felt somewhat better, knowing she wasn’t upset. She stood on the tips of her toes and pressed her lips to his cheek, making his face burn bright red. “That’s for good luck. You’ll need it!” And then she was gone, leaving him alone with this revelation.
His mouth dry and his pulse hammering, he started scanning the area for Zafirah. Suddenly, it all made sense! Earlier that day, at breakfast, he’d thought to himself that he wasn’t ready to leave his newfound friends. And that was true-he would dearly miss Basam and the rest-but it was much more basic than that.
I’m not ready to say goodbye to Zafirah! How could he not have seen it? No, he knew how: The Fire Nation had been first and foremost on his mind since his arrival in the desert. Their presence in his thoughts had been so strong as to push everything else to the background; it had blinded him to his growing attraction to Zafirah. His immediate reaction was a sense of urgency. He had to find her, had to tell her! I’ll ask her to dance, and then I’ll say what needs to be said. He beamed, pleased with his plan, and set off through the crowd.
Finally he spotted her, dancing with a little girl who looked no older than six or seven. He paused for a moment, taking in the endearing picture they made. The child giggled as she tried to keep up with Zafirah.
Once again, he found his eyes drawn to the Sandbender woman’s long braid, swaying across her slender back as she danced. All right, this is it. I’ll simply go over and say, “Might I borrow Zafirah for a moment?” He took two steps towards them…
Oh Spirits-what if she doesn’t feel the same about me? The thought stopped him cold. His stomach churned with a sudden bout of nerves. This was a problem he’d never dealt with before. His enthusiasm deflated, he retreated to the edge of the crowd and sat down, his head in his hands. I’m a coward. I fought against the Fire Nation, but I can’t ask the woman I admire to dance with me?
He looked up at the sound of footsteps. Four children stood in front of him, all grinning from ear to ear. The eldest looked to be around eleven years old, and the youngest around six.
“Er, hello,” he said cautiously.
“Hi, Mister Kuei!” they chorused. The eldest one held out a small waterskin.
“You thirsty? We got you some water,” he said brightly.
“Yes, actually, I am quite thirsty. Thank you,” he said. The child placed the skin on the ground and nudged it over with his toe, as if offering it to a wild animal. All four skittered backwards as he reached forward to take the waterskin. He uncorked it and took a sip, and his eyebrows lifted in surprise. The water was different from the usual rations; it tasted fresher, cleaner somehow, and it had a faint sweetness to it.
“Thank you,” Kuei said again, smiling. “It’s delicious.”
“You’re welcome,” they chimed. They ran off, giggling. He stared after them, perplexed by their behavior. He shrugged it off and finished the contents of the waterskin.
////////////////////////////
It was getting late, but the party wasn’t slowing down much. Zafirah was, though, and her eyelids were starting to feel heavy. She was just about to head back to the glider tent when Hayat came bounding up to her.
“Hey,” Zafirah said.
“Hey, Zafi,” Hayat replied. Zafirah decided she didn’t like the dark look on her friend’s face.
“Okay, what happened and how bad is it?” she asked.
“Well, uh, somebody gave the tourist some cactus juice.”
“What?!” yelped Zafirah. Hayat just pointed to the right, and she raced off. It didn’t take long to find him.
“No, no, Bosco! Your technique is all wrong! You have to go whoosh!” She followed the sound of Kuei’s voice to a group of about two dozen Sandbenders all huddled together, laughing and cheering. Zafirah scowled and elbowed her way through to the center. Kuei stood at the middle of the circle with a very confused Bosco in front of him. She took one look at Kuei’s crazed expression and shook her head. Yep, he’s stoned off his skull on cactus juice.
“Grrf?” Bosco growled.
“Now listen here, I am your sifu and I expect you to pay attention!” Kuei demanded. “Follow my steps, please.” He threw himself into a complicated string of flailing kicks, stomps, and arm-waves, finishing up in an utterly ridiculous stance that he clearly imagined to be menacing.
Bosco’s only response was a blank stare. Kuei turned away with a dramatic sigh. “My Airbending talents are wasted on such an inattentive pupil!” he wailed. The crowd chuckled and Zafirah felt a flash of irritation. She shoved aside the men on either side of her and strode into the middle of the circle.
“How’s the lesson going, Sifu Kuei?” she asked dryly.
“It’s just terrible!” he blustered. “Bosco simply will not focus on his-“ he broke off with a gasp as he turned to look at her. He gaped at her, eyes wide, and then he started stumbling towards her with his hands outstretched. “You. You! There’s… little stars… all around you!”
Somebody behind Zafirah snickered. She swept her hand out to the side, clenched her fist, and the man sank up to his knees in the sand.
“Aww, hey!” the man whined. Zafirah soundly ignored him, eyes still fixed on the stoned tourist. Kuei came at her, arms open wide for a hug. She ducked under his left arm, then grabbed the back of his shirt as he lost his balance, stopping him from pitching face-first into the ground.
“Whoa,” he mumbled.
“C’mon, you’d better sleep this off. You’ll have a nasty headache tomorrow, but you’ll be fine.”
“But my lesson!” he protested.
“It can wait till the morning, Sifu. C’mon, sleepy time.” She guided him out of the circle, still gripping his shirt and doing her level best to tune out the catcalls behind them.
“Zafirah!” Kuei called as she pulled him along. “Zafirah, I need to tell you something important!”
“Yeah? What is it?” she asked.
His forehead creased into a frown. “I don’t remember,” he muttered. “But I must tell you what it is!”
“But you just said you don’t remember what it was,” she pointed out. He kept on going as though he hadn’t heard.
“Zafirah! I must tell you something about… something…” He dug in his heels, bringing her to a stop a few feet from the tent. “Really now, stop flying and come back down here so I can talk to you!” Zafirah decided to humor him and turned around.
“Okay, you got my attention,” she said. He stepped in close and lifted his hands to her face. A jolt went through her at the touch of his long fingers against her cheeks. “H-hey, what’re you-“
“So much light,” he murmured. His fingers moved slowly over her features, like a blind man seeing with his hands. He’s not in his right mind, he’s not in his right mind, she chanted silently, trying to still the nervous fluttering in her stomach. She reached up and grabbed his wrists.
“It’s sleep time, remember?” she told him. She grabbed his sleeve and hauled him the last few feet to the tent. He giggled unsteadily behind her. Zafirah pulled back the tent flap and dropped the stoned tourist onto the ground. Kuei started to say something, but she ducked out of the tent again before he could get the words out. Once outside, she took a deep breath and leaned against the side of the glider. “It’s just not fair,” she muttered.
She wandered off through the camp, gathering her thoughts. There was a faint breeze, light and cool against her still-heated face.
She turned her thoughts away from Kuei for the moment; there was another problem that needed dealing with. What’s going to happen to me and Basam? They were still Janan Tribe, even though the Fire Nation had taken their kin. Zafirah made her way back to the middle of the camp, where she found her brother dancing with Dua. The smaller woman spotted Zafirah and tapped Basam’s shoulder, gesturing to his twin. Basam caught sight of her and trotted over.
“Hey, what’s up?” he asked.
“We gotta talk about something.”
“Uh, sure, okay.” He waved to Dua. “I’ll be back soon, okay?” She nodded and waved back, and then Zafirah grabbed her twin’s sleeve and pulled him outside the dwindling collection of dancers. “So what’re we talking about?” he asked once she’d stopped pulling him.
“We’re planning what’s next for us. What’s going to happen to us, now that the fight’s over?” Zafirah asked.
“Huh, well… Qamar’d probably let us stay here, if we asked,” Basam pointed out. “But maybe-“
“-Maybe this isn’t where we need to be,” Zafirah finished. “Yeah. Remember what Kuei said at dinner, about wanting to fight the Fire Nation? That’s how I’m feelin’ right now.”
“Same,” Basam agreed. They sat in silence, and then it hit them. They turned to each other with matching grins stretched ear to ear across their faces.
//////////////////////////////
Kuei had an absolutely awful headache. He sat at the cooking fire the next morning with a cup of medicinal tea clutched in one hand, his other hand massaging his left temple. It’s far too early to be awake, he thought grimly. The sun wasn’t even up yet. Zafirah and Basam strode up to the fire looking unaccountably cheerful. Zafirah gripped the ear of a squirming little boy, whom she nudged towards Kuei.
“Good morning, Kuei,” she said brightly. “Amrit here has something to say-don’t you?” The boy scuffled his feet in the sand.
“Sorry for giving you cactus juice, Mister Kuei,” he mumbled. Zafirah let go of his ear and Amrit bolted away. The twins sat down, still smiling broadly at Kuei, and filled teacups of their own.
“How’s your head?” asked Basam.
“I’ve felt better,” Kuei admitted. He hesitated, embarrassed, before continuing. “And that’s not the only thing. It’s, well, um… I can’t quite recall everything that happened after I drank the cactus juice.”
“Yeah, that tends to happen with that stuff. Don’t worry, you didn’t do anything too bad,” Zafirah said. Kuei froze with the teacup halfway to his mouth.
“That’s… not very comforting, really,” he muttered. “I didn’t do anything that, er, offended you-or anyone else?”
Zafirah shrugged. “You tried to teach Bosco some Airbending moves, but, uh, that’s about it.” Was he imagining things, or did her cheeks look slightly pink?
“Well, I’m glad to hear that I didn’t act like a complete hogmonkey,” he said as lightly as he could. “Here I was, afraid I’d done something awful, or regrettable. I’d hate to leave you with the wrong impression of me!”
Her lips pressed into a strange smirk. “Yeah, well, I got the right impression now, I think.”
“Er, well, that’s good,” Kuei said, perplexed. Basam cleared his throat and promptly changed the topic.
“So, had any new ideas for what you’re gonna do when you’re gone?” he asked.
“No, unfortunately,” Kuei sighed. “I need to find some advantage I can use, something-“ And then, inspiration struck him. He did have an advantage. A memory surfaced, as if from another lifetime. He recalled Sokka standing before him in the throne room of Ba Sing Se, a grim, determined look etched on the teen’s face. That’s the day we need to invade the Fire Nation… “The Day of Black Sun,” Kuei breathed.
“The what now?” Zafirah echoed, frowning.
“The Day of Black Sun!” Kuei shouted. He jumped to his feet, punching his fist into the air. “There’s a solar eclipse coming, a little less than two months from now. Firebenders draw their power from the sun, you remember, right? And in the eclipse, the sun will be blocked out by the moon. And when that happens-“
“The Firebenders lose their Firebending?” Zafirah guessed. She rose to her feet as well.
“Exactly!” Kuei agreed. “They’ll be defenseless.” Basam laughed and stood up.
“Oh, that’s perfect!” he exclaimed. “So, what’re we gonna do with this eclipse?”
“Well, I-“ It took him a moment to realize what Basam had just said. “We?” he echoed, hardly daring to hope…
“Yep. We want to help,” Zafirah told him as she slung an arm across her brother’s shoulders.
Kuei opened his mouth to respond, but found himself suddenly speechless. This was more than he could have dreamed of! He had a plan to fight against the Fire Nation, and now he’d have his friends at his side. “I would be honored to accept your help. Thank you,” he said warmly.
“So, what’s the plan?” Zafirah prompted. Kuei smiled.
“It’s quite simple, really. We’ll spread word of the eclipse to as many towns as we can, and we’ll tell them about our victory here in the desert. The Fire Nation has many towns in the Western Earth Kingdom under their control. I’d imagine that they’ve started to spread to the east, now that they’ve taken Ba Sing Se to the north. If people in those towns heard about what’s happened here, it might give them the courage to take a stand against the Fire Nation. In other words,” he concluded, grinning widely, “We’re going to start some rebellions.”
Basam whistled under his breath, and Zafirah’s grin matched Kuei’s own. Whatever had been bothering her before seemed to have vanished.
“I like it,” Basam announced. He lifted his teacup. “Here’s to rebellion.”
“To rebellion!” Zafirah echoed.
“To rebellion,” Kuei agreed, raising his cup. At that moment, he felt as though nothing in the world could stand in their way.
/////////
An hour later, the Aqila Tribe assembled at the western edge of the camp. The prisoners had been loaded onto sand-gliders, their arms bound, and the convoy was ready to go.
Shai was waiting for Zafirah as she stepped out of the glider tent with her pack. “Hey,” he said.
“Hi,” Zafirah replied.
“Look, before you go, I just wanted to apologize for yesterday. I was out of line…and yeah, I guess I was a little jealous,” he admitted.
“Well hey, at least you own up to it,” Zafirah joked. “But no, you’re right, we can’t trust most outsiders. I think you’re wrong about Kuei, but still-me and Basam will be watching each other’s backs, don’t worry.”
Shai chuckled. “Y’know, for his sake, I hope I am wrong about him.” Zafirah smiled, then hugged him tightly. Shai wrapped his arms around her and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. “Good luck, Zafi.”
Zafirah rejoined the convoy, saying her goodbyes to her friends as she went. (“Give those Firebenders a few good bruises for me,” Hayat told her.) Kuei, Bosco, and Basam were already at the convoy; Dua and Basam held tightly to each other, no words needed. Zafirah knew that her brother had tried to convince Dua to come along, but she’d decided that her tribe needed her more.
Qamar approached the trio and stood before them, looking at each of their faces in turn.
“Zafirah, Basam, I wish you both safe travels. You made the Janan Tribe proud out on that battlefield,” she said.
“Thanks, Qamar,” the twins said together. Then the chieftain turned to Kuei.
“It was an honor fighting alongside you, outsider,” she told him, bowing slightly.
“The honor was all mine, Qamar,” Kuei said, bowing in return.
“Best of luck in your mission. And I want you to know this: you’ll always have friends in the Aqila Tribe, Kuei of Ba Sing Se.”
“Thank you,” he said. “I hope that we might meet again someday.”
“Till then,” Qamar replied, smiling. The three took their positions on one of the gliders, Bosco following them easily this time. The sails billowed as the gliders started moving, and they set off with the rising sun at their backs.
/////////////////////////////
And that concludes Part 1 of our story. Up next is Part 2, the eclipse and the comet. And after that… well, you’ll see!