you can't take the sky from me, nine
Title: you can't take the sky from me (9/?)
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Ensemble from Firefly/A:tLA; Wash/Zoe, some Zuko/Katara, Zuko/Sokka, Wash/Sokka, Suki/Sokka, Mal/Inara UST, some (cough) Suki/Inara...
Summary: The Gaang find themselves in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar technology, and must rely on the only kindness they can find. Unfortunately, kindness seems to be an endangered species in this world. x-over with Firefly/Serenity, post-movie, Wash lives!
Chapter Summary: Sokka and Zuko have an idea, Aang and Toph have a plan, Katara and Suki have problems, and Inara and Mal have an argument.
A/N: Re: Last Part: I apologize for nothing.
one... seven. eight. nine. ten.
episode two:
sihnon shuffle
chapter five:
(the woods)
"So, um," he started, rubbing the back of his head and wondering how to start this conversation. Finally, he settled on the simplest approach, which was not actually approaching the real question, "How's Suki?"
"Stable," Sokka replied, groaning and trying to relax on the little couch outside the infirmary. "She's still asleep, but Simon said she should wake up tonight or tomorrow."
Zuko sat down on the armrest uncomfortably, peering into the blue-lit room and watching Suki's pale, slumbering form. "Will her leg be okay? I mean," he amended, feeling stupid, "will she have a limp or anything?"
Sokka shrugged. "Don't know yet."
A long, deeply awkward silence followed, and Zuko shifted again, and sighed. "So, I talked to Mal and Zoe earlier -- "
"I know," Sokka interrupted sharply, and Zuko turned. "Katara told me."
"She did?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Why is that weird? She is my sister, you know. We do talk."
"Uh, it's just," Zuko replied, wishing -- not for the first time, undoubtedly not the last -- that he could go back in time and punch himself in the face, "she seemed like she was having a bad day. I didn't know if she would, you know, talk about it." Bad day was putting it lightly; after their discussion with the captain and Zoe, she'd risen, shaky and pale, and departed without a single word, in the direction of Inara's shuttle. He wanted to help her reconcile herself with this world and the people in it, but he had no idea how to start. She needed something, but he couldn't figure out what that was or how to give it to her.
Zuko had never had many friends, and he'd hadn't really learned what friendship was until he'd started running with Aang and company, so he didn't exactly know what a person was supposed to do for their friends during a hard time like this. Ty Lee might have suggested giving Katara a nice, big hug, but that response seemed somewhat... lacking. Katara didn't need a hug, she needed... She needed...
He didn't know. And that was downright infuriating.
"Yeah, she's had it kinda rough here," Sokka muttered. "We all have, but she's... She doesn't like feeling helpless, you know?" Sokka sighed and leaned back further, absently playing with a loose thread on the couch. "She likes to be in control, or at least have a hand in things, and here... Well, she can't do anything. Can't even bend, without a moon, and with all the water locked up in the pipes."
Zuko turned. "She can't bend here? I thought..."
"Well," Sokka replied, making a face, "she can, but only when we're near a moon or on a planet. And even then, she doesn't have any water to bend with, so she's stuck pulling it out of the air or the pipes, and I don't think she wants to risk Mal's temper if she accidentally broke something while practicing, you know? It just makes her feel worse about everything, I think."
"I think I have an idea..." he said quietly, tapping his chin. Sokka turned to him.
"What?"
"Let's make her a waterskin."
Sokka blinked several times in quick succession, and opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again and thought about it for a moment. "You know," he mused, "that's not a bad idea..."
--
When she stepped out of Inara's shuttle, herbal tea in hand (she had been promised that this would help her sleep tonight), she ran straight into Aang and Toph, the former of which was perched on the railing, looking terribly worried.
"Um, hey," she said awkwardly, not meeting Aang's eyes. She doubted he would think very much of her method of saving River earlier.
"How are you?" he asked fervently, leaning forward.
"I'm fine," she replied shortly, and made to leave, but Toph stopped her, planting herself directly in Katara's way and holding out a hand.
"Not so fast, Kaytay," she said, and both Katara and Aang glanced at her quizzically. "I know you're not fine. You gotta talk to us."
She hesitated for a moment, trying to form the words to explain how she felt -- both like a monster and a hero, confused by her place in this world and certain that she was doing the right things here, indescribably lonely and yet also like part of a tight-knit family -- but nothing came. There weren't any words sufficient to explain it. She hadn't even been able to express herself to her brother, let alone her friends! Really, it seemed like the only person who understood was Inara, and Katara suspected that that was only because she'd been trained to understand.
"What do you want me to say?" she whispered, clutching the herbal tea. "I tortured two men to stop them from torturing a -- a friend. I used bloodbending, even though I swore I wouldn't. And -- And," she added, tilting her chin up and speaking with strength she didn't believe in, "I would do it again, in a heartbeat." Internally, she dared Aang to challenge her, to give her a reason to scream and rant and attack. Instead, he just tilted his head.
"We still don't know what they want with River," he replied softly, and she was disappointed. "I mean, we know they wanted to take her to that Academy, but we don't know anything about it. They're still locked up in rock, right, Toph?"
Toph nodded. "Only their eyes and noses are free. I stuck 'em in the hallway outside our rooms, since there wasn't any free space to leave 'em in. Jayne said he might could get information out of them, but... Well."
"I don't really want to go with Jayne's version of getting information," Aang muttered. He looked at Katara, hesitated for a moment, and then plowed on. "Toph and I were talking, after, well, after moving the guys to the hallway, and, well..." He took a deep breath, and set his face firmly, "We're going to find the Academy, and free all the people that are trapped there. Whether Mal and... everyone else are with us, or not. I can't just... We can't just leave those people there, can we?"
Katara thought about it for a moment. She understood why Aang wanted to do this, and she also wanted to as well, but she didn't know if they could. They were only six people -- fourteen, if the whole crew of Serenity backed them as well, which they wouldn't -- and after hearing Zoe talk about the war and that awful battle... What could six, or fourteen, people do against an Alliance spanning multiple worlds? Mal and Zoe had already tried, and they'd failed, bitterly.
What could they hope to change in this place?
On the other hand, she knew, it didn't really matter. She'd follow Aang until the very end, always. "I don't know if it's possible," she breathed, "but I'm with you, either way."
It was Toph who nodded. "We gotta start with getting info out of those creepy guys. Any ideas?"
--
"Hello," Inara said softly, and Suki turned groggily.
"Mornin'," she replied, shifting. "It is mornin', right?"
"I'm afraid not," Inara said, smiling, and sat against the other infirmary bed. "It's about 0200. Are you in any pain?"
Suki shook her head and longed to get up and walk around. She hated being confined to bed more than just about anything in the world. "Jus' sleepy."
Inara laughed lightly. "Rest while you can. I imagine Mal won't be very happy with you."
She groaned. "He said we're gonna have words when I was all better. Wha's 'at mean?"
"It means he's going to chew you out," the older woman replied, taking Suki's hand. "Don't worry, though. He yells at everyone from time to time. You'll be all right, and I suspect he's more impressed by your actions than he would like to admit."
"Tha's good," Suki slurred, glaring confusedly at the needle in her arm and the bag it was hooked up to. "What is this?" she asked bluntly, trying to poke the bag, but finding her hand still caught in Inara's.
"It's blood," Inara replied, the hint of a laugh in her voice. "You lost a lot from that wound."
"Where'd they get it from?" She was vaguely aware that she sounded completely stupid, but her mind was running about as fast as a snail, so leaps of logic any more complicated than move-tongue-to-speak weren't happening at the moment.
Inara laughed outright then, and squeezed her hand. "Wash. Simon didn't know your blood type and didn't have the time to test. Wash is o-negative, though, so he knew it would be safe."
"Huh?"
"I'll explain it later, when you're more awake and the drugs have worn off. Don't worry about it now, just rest."
Suki nodded faintly and considered falling back asleep (it sounded like a fantastic idea, really) but couldn't stop focusing on Inara. "Why're you here?"
"Everyone else had things to do elsewhere," she replied, rubbing Suki's hand comfortingly. "And no one likes to wake up alone, so, well... I decided to sit with you."
"Where's Sokka?" She didn't want to admit how lonely it felt -- or how grateful she was to Inara for being there -- or how much she desperately wanted to hear her obnoxious boyfriend's voice right now. There was something about being stuck in an infirmary, with a needle stuck in her arm, drugged from here to the spirit world and back, that made her feel... vulnerable. Inara's presence was certainly welcome, but it wasn't what she really wanted.
"He was here for a long time," Inara replied warmly. "I made him go to sleep. You should do the same. You need the rest."
"Right," she answered, disappointed. Thankfully, the lonely, empty feeling faded as she fell back asleep, although she refused to let go of Inara's hand.
--
"She all right?"
Inara turned, even though she already knew who was at the doorway, and stood up to keep her vigil by the young girl's bed. "She's alive, if that's what you're asking."
Mal nodded, and stormed in, crossing his arms. "Good," he replied shortly, eyes locked on the place where Inara was clutching Suki's hand. Finally, he sighed, turning slightly away and examining the blood bag. "She wa'n't right, to go off on her own. Could've been killed."
"Oh, stop," Inara said, annoyed. "She did exactly what you would have done. That's what you're mad about. You don't like anyone who acts like you."
Mal huffed, probably imagining a thousand different replies to that, but instead settled on the easiest, "Doesn't change the fact that she could've died. She made things worse for all of us. Should've said something."
"What would she have said?" she challenged, and wished momentarily that she could cross her arms. "She probably made it up as she went, just like you always do."
"Hmmph," Mal grumbled. "Didn't have to go alone."
"You always do."
"Stop comparing her to me!"
"Why?" Now she did let go of Suki's hand, stalking over to Mal and glaring up at him. "Do you not like the comparison? Or do you just not like the fact that someone else took the initiative and did what you wouldn't?" They stood there in silence for a long moment, and then she continued, quieter, "Ever since Miranda, you've been skirting confrontation. Why? What are you afraid of?"
She was asking, yes, but she was fairly sure she already knew. Wash had nearly died after their landing -- he was only saved because he'd turned at the right moment -- and Zoe had almost died, too, when facing the Reavers, and Simon, and Kaylee, and even River... Mal himself had taken a nasty beating, but then, Inara doubted his fear was for his own life. No, Mal's fear was for his crew, his family. And to make matters worse, there were now these six new people, barely older than children, who had wormed their way onto the ship and were steadily making themselves comfortable. Mal didn't like caring about people, and now, so soon after watching Book die on Haven and nearly losing everyone else immediately after, he had found himself with six passengers who were hard not to care about.
No, Inara understood quite well what Mal was afraid of, what made him so angry with Suki. She just didn't think Mal did, and he needed to. Not that what Mal needed and what Mal did had ever been similar, but, well, she had something of a blind spot when it came to the captain.
"I ain't skirting confrontation," he growled, annoyed, so she responded with the same annoyance.
"Yes, you are! Tell me, Mal, where are we going, right now?"
He opened his mouth, and then closed it again, glaring. Inara knew -- they were going as far out as they could, out to the Kaladasa system, escaping the Alliance's grasp. She didn't protest the logic behind it, because after their show on Sihnon they would need to lay low for a while, but Mal would never admit that there was another reason beneath that.
"You know well as I do that -- "
"Yes, I do. But that's not why we're really going, is it? You're afraid, Mal," she insisted, stepping closer, almost close enough to touch him. "Afraid of losing us, and you're starting to be afraid of losing them, too," she said softer, indicating to Suki, and Mal looked away.
She hoped, for a brief moment, that he would finally, finally, finally relent, but she should have known better. "So what are you doing in here?" he challenged bitterly. They stood in stony silence for one tense moment, and then he breezed past her and swept back out of the infirmary, leaving Inara alone with Suki, staring blankly into the spotless cabinets.
"Because I'm afraid, too," she whispered to no one.
--
"Okay," Sokka said loudly, bursting into Zuko's room without any concern for the fact that he had, until exactly three-point-four seconds ago, been in a sleep so deep that it could not possibly say good things about his health. "You would not believe what I just had to go through to get this from Kaylee."
Zuko responded with something that might have been an insult, but even he wasn't sure.
Sokka blinked, and then apparently decided that he was actually welcome. "Right. I got us some leather, but I couldn't find any string, so we'll have to come up with our own way to tie it together. Do you know how to sew?" Zuko didn't reply, hoping against hope that Sokka would get the hint. Luck, however, was not on his side this morning. (Was it morning? He didn't know.) "C'mon, man, wake up! This was your idea."
"It can wait until later," he growled, and burrowed further into his pillow.
"No, it can't," Sokka insisted, and then hit him on the head with something that felt suspiciously like a rolled-up piece of leather. Zuko considered the merits and detriments of killing the other man with his bare hands.
"Why not?"
"Because it's already four AM, and Katara will be up soon, and I don't want her to find out about this."
"You could hide it, you know," Zuko grumbled, refusing to get up.
"Yeah, or," Sokka replied, in a tone of great realization, "you could get off your lazy bum and help me."
"I'm not on my -- "
"Lazy stomach, whatever. Get up. I have coffee, if that helps."
"Coffee?" Zuko asked, finally turning over and facing Sokka's obnoxiously cheerful face. "You actually got coffee?"
"Get up and you can have some."
Zuko debated for a moment over this. On the one hand, he hadn't actually had coffee before -- Wash controlled the entire ship's reserves of the stuff and also guarded it like a particularly ornery dragon -- so he was curious as to how it tasted, and how Sokka had managed to get his hands on some (and whether or not Wash knew Sokka had some) was a question he really wanted the answer to. On the other hand, he also really wanted more sleep. He sat in silence for one moment, glaring at Sokka's knowing grin, and then cursed under his breath and got up.
"Fine, but only for the coffee. It had better be damn good, though."
"What about helping Katara out? You're not going to get up even for that?"
Zuko shot Sokka a glare that could set a man's head on fire. Unfortunately, Sokka, due to sheer exposure, was immune. "I don't get up for anything less than a worldwide emergency at this time of morning."
"And, apparently, coffee."
"Shut up."
--
Zoe was sitting with him in the dining area when Sokka bounced in, followed by a grumbling, shuffling Zuko. "Not a morning person, eh, Zuko?" Wash asked, sipping his coffee. Even though he was so addicted to caffeine it was obscene -- a holdover from flight school, when he had once gone an entire month on about five minutes of sleep a night, eight cups of coffee a shift, and a granola bar a day -- he actually really didn't like the taste of coffee. Thus, the drink in his cup was a rich, creamy color. It was pretty expensive, buying up enough cream (powdered and otherwise) to maintain his habit, but after one particularly harrowing episode on Greenleaf that had almost ended badly for the whole crew and a family of rabbits, Mal had taken to budgeting a small amount of each take for Wash's vices. ("Whatever it takes to keep our pilot runnin'," he'd said, "and whatever it takes to keep that from happenin' ever again." It had taken Jayne about six months to stop laughing about the whole thing.)
It was, thus, a mark of great acceptance that Zuko and Sokka were allowed to partake of Wash's coffee, but more than that, Wash's cream.
Zuko poured himself a heaping mug of coffee, took a taste of it, and then made a face. "How do you drink this?" he spluttered, and Wash rose to show him, Zoe snickering into her own cup.
"Allow me to show you, my young friend," he said dramatically, and began by pouring a liberal amount of Zuko's cup back into the pot. "You begin with sweetener. How sweet do you like your tea?"
Zuko stared at him blankly for a long second, before apparently deciding to just go with it. "Pretty sweet, I guess."
"How many scoops of sugar?"
"Uh, for a mug this size? Four, I guess?"
Wash nodded, and then opened the cabinet and pulled down the large jar of sugar, spooning four heaping teaspoons into the cup. "Now," he said, playing the Master of All Things Caffeinated for all it was worth, "the best part. We have seven different flavors of cream that you can add to your drink, in addition to plain cream. What would you prefer?"
It was evidently too early in the morning for Zuko to make any decisions beyond which foot to place in front of the other, so he looked to Sokka desperately, who shrugged. "Just give him the same thing you gave me."
"Ah!" Wash replied, in his very best impression of a Chinese martial arts master. Behind him, Zoe snorted, and he failed to maintain his character. "Aw, you made me break," he pouted.
"I'm terribly sorry," she said, laughing into her coffee.
"Anyway," he continued abruptly, giving up the whole game, "that's vanilla. Pretty basic. Here," he said, cracking open the powdered cream (since the liquid was reserved only for his and Zoe's use, and maybe, if he was feeling really generous, Kaylee could have some too) and pouring a liberal amount into Zuko's coffee. He paused, looked at it for a moment, and then poured some more. "You stir it up, and, voila! Coffee that tastes as unlike coffee as you can possibly make it."
"Why drink it if it doesn't taste anything like coffee?" Zuko asked, but then took a sip and gave it an appreciative glance.
"Because there's nothing better for a quick caffeine fix."
"So," Zoe said, when Zuko and Sokka sat (collapsed) into their seats, "what are the two of you doing up so early?"
"Blame him," Zuko croaked, not even bothering to point to Sokka, who shrugged.
"It was his idea."
"My idea had nothing to do with four AM."
"Bah," Sokka insisted, waving a hand. "We're making Katara a waterskin, so she'll have some water on-hand whenever she needs it. Speaking of, do you have any string?"
"What kind of string?" Zoe asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The kind that will keep leather together." Sokka blinked, and looked at Zuko, grinning brilliantly. "Hey, that rhymed!"
Zuko stared at him, aghast. "Are you high?" he asked, and Wash choked on his coffee.
"He's hitting the sleep deprivation pretty hard," Wash explained. "We told him to go to sleep around 0100, but I don't think he actually did."
"I've had a lot on my mind, okay!" Sokka cried, and then muttered something unintelligible into his mug. Zoe rolled her eyes.
"I've got some twine in our bunk," she said. "I use it in case I get a tear in my vests. You're welcome to use some of it. Although... Do either o' you know how to sew with twine?"
Sokka waved a hand expansively, "We'll figure it out."
Zuko shook his head slowly, and then turned to Zoe. "That's a no. Can you teach us?"
"Why should I?" she challenged, crossing her arms. To anyone else, she would have appeared stone-cold and completely untouchable, but Wash knew better. He knew her well enough to see that she was just having fun, making the two boys sweat, less out of teaching them any kind of lesson and more out of a wicked sense of humor. He loved that about her. She could scare the testicles off of men twice her size, and would do it, just to prove that she could.
"Because you're a nice person?" Sokka offered, wincing, and glanced to Zuko for help. Unfortunately for him, Zuko merely shrugged and took a loud sip of his coffee.
"Am I?"
"Yes," Sokka replied immediately. "You're an incredibly nice, incredibly... badass, incredibly awesome... Or not? You're not a nice...? You're a mean woman, that's it. Right?"
"Well, make up your mind," she said coolly, raising that eyebrow again. Sokka looked to Wash for help, but he decided to take a leaf out of Zuko's book and sip at his coffee instead.
"Please help?" he asked meekly, and Zoe finally relented, letting out a little snicker.
"Yeah, I can help you. It ain't hard."
Sokka exhaled loudly and grinned. "Thank you! You really are an awesome woman, you know that?" He then glanced to Zuko, "And thanks for all your help," he muttered, which Zuko completely ignored.
"Thank you, Zoe," he said calmly, brushing off his companion entirely.
"He always this... crazy?" Zoe asked. Zuko shrugged.
"Sometimes. Once, he climbed into a bison's mouth because he thought it had eaten a lemur."
"That," Sokka replied, annoyed, "was a perfectly legitimate conclusion."
Wash and Zoe both stared at the two of them following this, and then looked at each other, wondering if they really wanted to know. Deciding that the answer to that question was a resounding no, they both focused instead on their coffee, and watched their two companions squabble over whether or not Sokka's previous actions had made sense at the time. It felt, strangely enough, normal. Like the two of them had become part of the crew, somehow. Wash bit back a snicker.
"Man," he muttered to Zoe, "Cap'n's gonna be ticked."
She didn't have to ask why.
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Ensemble from Firefly/A:tLA; Wash/Zoe, some Zuko/Katara, Zuko/Sokka, Wash/Sokka, Suki/Sokka, Mal/Inara UST, some (cough) Suki/Inara...
Summary: The Gaang find themselves in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar technology, and must rely on the only kindness they can find. Unfortunately, kindness seems to be an endangered species in this world. x-over with Firefly/Serenity, post-movie, Wash lives!
Chapter Summary: Sokka and Zuko have an idea, Aang and Toph have a plan, Katara and Suki have problems, and Inara and Mal have an argument.
A/N: Re: Last Part: I apologize for nothing.
one... seven. eight. nine. ten.
episode two:
sihnon shuffle
chapter five:
(the woods)
"So, um," he started, rubbing the back of his head and wondering how to start this conversation. Finally, he settled on the simplest approach, which was not actually approaching the real question, "How's Suki?"
"Stable," Sokka replied, groaning and trying to relax on the little couch outside the infirmary. "She's still asleep, but Simon said she should wake up tonight or tomorrow."
Zuko sat down on the armrest uncomfortably, peering into the blue-lit room and watching Suki's pale, slumbering form. "Will her leg be okay? I mean," he amended, feeling stupid, "will she have a limp or anything?"
Sokka shrugged. "Don't know yet."
A long, deeply awkward silence followed, and Zuko shifted again, and sighed. "So, I talked to Mal and Zoe earlier -- "
"I know," Sokka interrupted sharply, and Zuko turned. "Katara told me."
"She did?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Why is that weird? She is my sister, you know. We do talk."
"Uh, it's just," Zuko replied, wishing -- not for the first time, undoubtedly not the last -- that he could go back in time and punch himself in the face, "she seemed like she was having a bad day. I didn't know if she would, you know, talk about it." Bad day was putting it lightly; after their discussion with the captain and Zoe, she'd risen, shaky and pale, and departed without a single word, in the direction of Inara's shuttle. He wanted to help her reconcile herself with this world and the people in it, but he had no idea how to start. She needed something, but he couldn't figure out what that was or how to give it to her.
Zuko had never had many friends, and he'd hadn't really learned what friendship was until he'd started running with Aang and company, so he didn't exactly know what a person was supposed to do for their friends during a hard time like this. Ty Lee might have suggested giving Katara a nice, big hug, but that response seemed somewhat... lacking. Katara didn't need a hug, she needed... She needed...
He didn't know. And that was downright infuriating.
"Yeah, she's had it kinda rough here," Sokka muttered. "We all have, but she's... She doesn't like feeling helpless, you know?" Sokka sighed and leaned back further, absently playing with a loose thread on the couch. "She likes to be in control, or at least have a hand in things, and here... Well, she can't do anything. Can't even bend, without a moon, and with all the water locked up in the pipes."
Zuko turned. "She can't bend here? I thought..."
"Well," Sokka replied, making a face, "she can, but only when we're near a moon or on a planet. And even then, she doesn't have any water to bend with, so she's stuck pulling it out of the air or the pipes, and I don't think she wants to risk Mal's temper if she accidentally broke something while practicing, you know? It just makes her feel worse about everything, I think."
"I think I have an idea..." he said quietly, tapping his chin. Sokka turned to him.
"What?"
"Let's make her a waterskin."
Sokka blinked several times in quick succession, and opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again and thought about it for a moment. "You know," he mused, "that's not a bad idea..."
--
When she stepped out of Inara's shuttle, herbal tea in hand (she had been promised that this would help her sleep tonight), she ran straight into Aang and Toph, the former of which was perched on the railing, looking terribly worried.
"Um, hey," she said awkwardly, not meeting Aang's eyes. She doubted he would think very much of her method of saving River earlier.
"How are you?" he asked fervently, leaning forward.
"I'm fine," she replied shortly, and made to leave, but Toph stopped her, planting herself directly in Katara's way and holding out a hand.
"Not so fast, Kaytay," she said, and both Katara and Aang glanced at her quizzically. "I know you're not fine. You gotta talk to us."
She hesitated for a moment, trying to form the words to explain how she felt -- both like a monster and a hero, confused by her place in this world and certain that she was doing the right things here, indescribably lonely and yet also like part of a tight-knit family -- but nothing came. There weren't any words sufficient to explain it. She hadn't even been able to express herself to her brother, let alone her friends! Really, it seemed like the only person who understood was Inara, and Katara suspected that that was only because she'd been trained to understand.
"What do you want me to say?" she whispered, clutching the herbal tea. "I tortured two men to stop them from torturing a -- a friend. I used bloodbending, even though I swore I wouldn't. And -- And," she added, tilting her chin up and speaking with strength she didn't believe in, "I would do it again, in a heartbeat." Internally, she dared Aang to challenge her, to give her a reason to scream and rant and attack. Instead, he just tilted his head.
"We still don't know what they want with River," he replied softly, and she was disappointed. "I mean, we know they wanted to take her to that Academy, but we don't know anything about it. They're still locked up in rock, right, Toph?"
Toph nodded. "Only their eyes and noses are free. I stuck 'em in the hallway outside our rooms, since there wasn't any free space to leave 'em in. Jayne said he might could get information out of them, but... Well."
"I don't really want to go with Jayne's version of getting information," Aang muttered. He looked at Katara, hesitated for a moment, and then plowed on. "Toph and I were talking, after, well, after moving the guys to the hallway, and, well..." He took a deep breath, and set his face firmly, "We're going to find the Academy, and free all the people that are trapped there. Whether Mal and... everyone else are with us, or not. I can't just... We can't just leave those people there, can we?"
Katara thought about it for a moment. She understood why Aang wanted to do this, and she also wanted to as well, but she didn't know if they could. They were only six people -- fourteen, if the whole crew of Serenity backed them as well, which they wouldn't -- and after hearing Zoe talk about the war and that awful battle... What could six, or fourteen, people do against an Alliance spanning multiple worlds? Mal and Zoe had already tried, and they'd failed, bitterly.
What could they hope to change in this place?
On the other hand, she knew, it didn't really matter. She'd follow Aang until the very end, always. "I don't know if it's possible," she breathed, "but I'm with you, either way."
It was Toph who nodded. "We gotta start with getting info out of those creepy guys. Any ideas?"
--
"Hello," Inara said softly, and Suki turned groggily.
"Mornin'," she replied, shifting. "It is mornin', right?"
"I'm afraid not," Inara said, smiling, and sat against the other infirmary bed. "It's about 0200. Are you in any pain?"
Suki shook her head and longed to get up and walk around. She hated being confined to bed more than just about anything in the world. "Jus' sleepy."
Inara laughed lightly. "Rest while you can. I imagine Mal won't be very happy with you."
She groaned. "He said we're gonna have words when I was all better. Wha's 'at mean?"
"It means he's going to chew you out," the older woman replied, taking Suki's hand. "Don't worry, though. He yells at everyone from time to time. You'll be all right, and I suspect he's more impressed by your actions than he would like to admit."
"Tha's good," Suki slurred, glaring confusedly at the needle in her arm and the bag it was hooked up to. "What is this?" she asked bluntly, trying to poke the bag, but finding her hand still caught in Inara's.
"It's blood," Inara replied, the hint of a laugh in her voice. "You lost a lot from that wound."
"Where'd they get it from?" She was vaguely aware that she sounded completely stupid, but her mind was running about as fast as a snail, so leaps of logic any more complicated than move-tongue-to-speak weren't happening at the moment.
Inara laughed outright then, and squeezed her hand. "Wash. Simon didn't know your blood type and didn't have the time to test. Wash is o-negative, though, so he knew it would be safe."
"Huh?"
"I'll explain it later, when you're more awake and the drugs have worn off. Don't worry about it now, just rest."
Suki nodded faintly and considered falling back asleep (it sounded like a fantastic idea, really) but couldn't stop focusing on Inara. "Why're you here?"
"Everyone else had things to do elsewhere," she replied, rubbing Suki's hand comfortingly. "And no one likes to wake up alone, so, well... I decided to sit with you."
"Where's Sokka?" She didn't want to admit how lonely it felt -- or how grateful she was to Inara for being there -- or how much she desperately wanted to hear her obnoxious boyfriend's voice right now. There was something about being stuck in an infirmary, with a needle stuck in her arm, drugged from here to the spirit world and back, that made her feel... vulnerable. Inara's presence was certainly welcome, but it wasn't what she really wanted.
"He was here for a long time," Inara replied warmly. "I made him go to sleep. You should do the same. You need the rest."
"Right," she answered, disappointed. Thankfully, the lonely, empty feeling faded as she fell back asleep, although she refused to let go of Inara's hand.
--
"She all right?"
Inara turned, even though she already knew who was at the doorway, and stood up to keep her vigil by the young girl's bed. "She's alive, if that's what you're asking."
Mal nodded, and stormed in, crossing his arms. "Good," he replied shortly, eyes locked on the place where Inara was clutching Suki's hand. Finally, he sighed, turning slightly away and examining the blood bag. "She wa'n't right, to go off on her own. Could've been killed."
"Oh, stop," Inara said, annoyed. "She did exactly what you would have done. That's what you're mad about. You don't like anyone who acts like you."
Mal huffed, probably imagining a thousand different replies to that, but instead settled on the easiest, "Doesn't change the fact that she could've died. She made things worse for all of us. Should've said something."
"What would she have said?" she challenged, and wished momentarily that she could cross her arms. "She probably made it up as she went, just like you always do."
"Hmmph," Mal grumbled. "Didn't have to go alone."
"You always do."
"Stop comparing her to me!"
"Why?" Now she did let go of Suki's hand, stalking over to Mal and glaring up at him. "Do you not like the comparison? Or do you just not like the fact that someone else took the initiative and did what you wouldn't?" They stood there in silence for a long moment, and then she continued, quieter, "Ever since Miranda, you've been skirting confrontation. Why? What are you afraid of?"
She was asking, yes, but she was fairly sure she already knew. Wash had nearly died after their landing -- he was only saved because he'd turned at the right moment -- and Zoe had almost died, too, when facing the Reavers, and Simon, and Kaylee, and even River... Mal himself had taken a nasty beating, but then, Inara doubted his fear was for his own life. No, Mal's fear was for his crew, his family. And to make matters worse, there were now these six new people, barely older than children, who had wormed their way onto the ship and were steadily making themselves comfortable. Mal didn't like caring about people, and now, so soon after watching Book die on Haven and nearly losing everyone else immediately after, he had found himself with six passengers who were hard not to care about.
No, Inara understood quite well what Mal was afraid of, what made him so angry with Suki. She just didn't think Mal did, and he needed to. Not that what Mal needed and what Mal did had ever been similar, but, well, she had something of a blind spot when it came to the captain.
"I ain't skirting confrontation," he growled, annoyed, so she responded with the same annoyance.
"Yes, you are! Tell me, Mal, where are we going, right now?"
He opened his mouth, and then closed it again, glaring. Inara knew -- they were going as far out as they could, out to the Kaladasa system, escaping the Alliance's grasp. She didn't protest the logic behind it, because after their show on Sihnon they would need to lay low for a while, but Mal would never admit that there was another reason beneath that.
"You know well as I do that -- "
"Yes, I do. But that's not why we're really going, is it? You're afraid, Mal," she insisted, stepping closer, almost close enough to touch him. "Afraid of losing us, and you're starting to be afraid of losing them, too," she said softer, indicating to Suki, and Mal looked away.
She hoped, for a brief moment, that he would finally, finally, finally relent, but she should have known better. "So what are you doing in here?" he challenged bitterly. They stood in stony silence for one tense moment, and then he breezed past her and swept back out of the infirmary, leaving Inara alone with Suki, staring blankly into the spotless cabinets.
"Because I'm afraid, too," she whispered to no one.
--
"Okay," Sokka said loudly, bursting into Zuko's room without any concern for the fact that he had, until exactly three-point-four seconds ago, been in a sleep so deep that it could not possibly say good things about his health. "You would not believe what I just had to go through to get this from Kaylee."
Zuko responded with something that might have been an insult, but even he wasn't sure.
Sokka blinked, and then apparently decided that he was actually welcome. "Right. I got us some leather, but I couldn't find any string, so we'll have to come up with our own way to tie it together. Do you know how to sew?" Zuko didn't reply, hoping against hope that Sokka would get the hint. Luck, however, was not on his side this morning. (Was it morning? He didn't know.) "C'mon, man, wake up! This was your idea."
"It can wait until later," he growled, and burrowed further into his pillow.
"No, it can't," Sokka insisted, and then hit him on the head with something that felt suspiciously like a rolled-up piece of leather. Zuko considered the merits and detriments of killing the other man with his bare hands.
"Why not?"
"Because it's already four AM, and Katara will be up soon, and I don't want her to find out about this."
"You could hide it, you know," Zuko grumbled, refusing to get up.
"Yeah, or," Sokka replied, in a tone of great realization, "you could get off your lazy bum and help me."
"I'm not on my -- "
"Lazy stomach, whatever. Get up. I have coffee, if that helps."
"Coffee?" Zuko asked, finally turning over and facing Sokka's obnoxiously cheerful face. "You actually got coffee?"
"Get up and you can have some."
Zuko debated for a moment over this. On the one hand, he hadn't actually had coffee before -- Wash controlled the entire ship's reserves of the stuff and also guarded it like a particularly ornery dragon -- so he was curious as to how it tasted, and how Sokka had managed to get his hands on some (and whether or not Wash knew Sokka had some) was a question he really wanted the answer to. On the other hand, he also really wanted more sleep. He sat in silence for one moment, glaring at Sokka's knowing grin, and then cursed under his breath and got up.
"Fine, but only for the coffee. It had better be damn good, though."
"What about helping Katara out? You're not going to get up even for that?"
Zuko shot Sokka a glare that could set a man's head on fire. Unfortunately, Sokka, due to sheer exposure, was immune. "I don't get up for anything less than a worldwide emergency at this time of morning."
"And, apparently, coffee."
"Shut up."
--
Zoe was sitting with him in the dining area when Sokka bounced in, followed by a grumbling, shuffling Zuko. "Not a morning person, eh, Zuko?" Wash asked, sipping his coffee. Even though he was so addicted to caffeine it was obscene -- a holdover from flight school, when he had once gone an entire month on about five minutes of sleep a night, eight cups of coffee a shift, and a granola bar a day -- he actually really didn't like the taste of coffee. Thus, the drink in his cup was a rich, creamy color. It was pretty expensive, buying up enough cream (powdered and otherwise) to maintain his habit, but after one particularly harrowing episode on Greenleaf that had almost ended badly for the whole crew and a family of rabbits, Mal had taken to budgeting a small amount of each take for Wash's vices. ("Whatever it takes to keep our pilot runnin'," he'd said, "and whatever it takes to keep that from happenin' ever again." It had taken Jayne about six months to stop laughing about the whole thing.)
It was, thus, a mark of great acceptance that Zuko and Sokka were allowed to partake of Wash's coffee, but more than that, Wash's cream.
Zuko poured himself a heaping mug of coffee, took a taste of it, and then made a face. "How do you drink this?" he spluttered, and Wash rose to show him, Zoe snickering into her own cup.
"Allow me to show you, my young friend," he said dramatically, and began by pouring a liberal amount of Zuko's cup back into the pot. "You begin with sweetener. How sweet do you like your tea?"
Zuko stared at him blankly for a long second, before apparently deciding to just go with it. "Pretty sweet, I guess."
"How many scoops of sugar?"
"Uh, for a mug this size? Four, I guess?"
Wash nodded, and then opened the cabinet and pulled down the large jar of sugar, spooning four heaping teaspoons into the cup. "Now," he said, playing the Master of All Things Caffeinated for all it was worth, "the best part. We have seven different flavors of cream that you can add to your drink, in addition to plain cream. What would you prefer?"
It was evidently too early in the morning for Zuko to make any decisions beyond which foot to place in front of the other, so he looked to Sokka desperately, who shrugged. "Just give him the same thing you gave me."
"Ah!" Wash replied, in his very best impression of a Chinese martial arts master. Behind him, Zoe snorted, and he failed to maintain his character. "Aw, you made me break," he pouted.
"I'm terribly sorry," she said, laughing into her coffee.
"Anyway," he continued abruptly, giving up the whole game, "that's vanilla. Pretty basic. Here," he said, cracking open the powdered cream (since the liquid was reserved only for his and Zoe's use, and maybe, if he was feeling really generous, Kaylee could have some too) and pouring a liberal amount into Zuko's coffee. He paused, looked at it for a moment, and then poured some more. "You stir it up, and, voila! Coffee that tastes as unlike coffee as you can possibly make it."
"Why drink it if it doesn't taste anything like coffee?" Zuko asked, but then took a sip and gave it an appreciative glance.
"Because there's nothing better for a quick caffeine fix."
"So," Zoe said, when Zuko and Sokka sat (collapsed) into their seats, "what are the two of you doing up so early?"
"Blame him," Zuko croaked, not even bothering to point to Sokka, who shrugged.
"It was his idea."
"My idea had nothing to do with four AM."
"Bah," Sokka insisted, waving a hand. "We're making Katara a waterskin, so she'll have some water on-hand whenever she needs it. Speaking of, do you have any string?"
"What kind of string?" Zoe asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The kind that will keep leather together." Sokka blinked, and looked at Zuko, grinning brilliantly. "Hey, that rhymed!"
Zuko stared at him, aghast. "Are you high?" he asked, and Wash choked on his coffee.
"He's hitting the sleep deprivation pretty hard," Wash explained. "We told him to go to sleep around 0100, but I don't think he actually did."
"I've had a lot on my mind, okay!" Sokka cried, and then muttered something unintelligible into his mug. Zoe rolled her eyes.
"I've got some twine in our bunk," she said. "I use it in case I get a tear in my vests. You're welcome to use some of it. Although... Do either o' you know how to sew with twine?"
Sokka waved a hand expansively, "We'll figure it out."
Zuko shook his head slowly, and then turned to Zoe. "That's a no. Can you teach us?"
"Why should I?" she challenged, crossing her arms. To anyone else, she would have appeared stone-cold and completely untouchable, but Wash knew better. He knew her well enough to see that she was just having fun, making the two boys sweat, less out of teaching them any kind of lesson and more out of a wicked sense of humor. He loved that about her. She could scare the testicles off of men twice her size, and would do it, just to prove that she could.
"Because you're a nice person?" Sokka offered, wincing, and glanced to Zuko for help. Unfortunately for him, Zuko merely shrugged and took a loud sip of his coffee.
"Am I?"
"Yes," Sokka replied immediately. "You're an incredibly nice, incredibly... badass, incredibly awesome... Or not? You're not a nice...? You're a mean woman, that's it. Right?"
"Well, make up your mind," she said coolly, raising that eyebrow again. Sokka looked to Wash for help, but he decided to take a leaf out of Zuko's book and sip at his coffee instead.
"Please help?" he asked meekly, and Zoe finally relented, letting out a little snicker.
"Yeah, I can help you. It ain't hard."
Sokka exhaled loudly and grinned. "Thank you! You really are an awesome woman, you know that?" He then glanced to Zuko, "And thanks for all your help," he muttered, which Zuko completely ignored.
"Thank you, Zoe," he said calmly, brushing off his companion entirely.
"He always this... crazy?" Zoe asked. Zuko shrugged.
"Sometimes. Once, he climbed into a bison's mouth because he thought it had eaten a lemur."
"That," Sokka replied, annoyed, "was a perfectly legitimate conclusion."
Wash and Zoe both stared at the two of them following this, and then looked at each other, wondering if they really wanted to know. Deciding that the answer to that question was a resounding no, they both focused instead on their coffee, and watched their two companions squabble over whether or not Sokka's previous actions had made sense at the time. It felt, strangely enough, normal. Like the two of them had become part of the crew, somehow. Wash bit back a snicker.
"Man," he muttered to Zoe, "Cap'n's gonna be ticked."
She didn't have to ask why.