Kyung Soo did not take offense because his hands were indeed filthy.

“Oh, it’s Zuzu,” Young Hee deadpanned. “Please don’t be so cruel today. I’m quite tired, you see.”

“Well, that’s convenient. It will be easier for me to bring you back home,” Zuko replied as he approached the other three. At this, Kyung Soo stood up and squared his shoulders, standing in between Young Hee and her brother. “Not so fast, Zuko. You have to go through me,” he declared.

Loud roaring disrupted their conversation. Zhang is still somewhere inside the vessel and seems to be getting impatient. The dragon’s movements rocked the ship and threw the benders aboard almost out of balance. Kyungsoo stumbled near the edge and caught sight of the pirates being chased away by Fire Nation soldiers courtesy of Prince Zuko.

Suho and Chan Yeol climbed to join them and the former extinguished the fire that surrounds the ship with his water bending. All four mentors made a barricade in front of Zuko with their battle stances in place. Zuko began with his usual persuasion.

“Young Hee, your best option is to come with me. Father has become really impatient with you so he sent Admiral Zhou to capture you. He has his own fleet, for goodness sake. I’m asking you now peacefully but I doubt he’ll be the same to you.”

The avatar’s teachers rolled their eyes at Zuko’s mention of peace. The banished prince has made their lives very difficult. If all he did was non-violent for him then what kind of hell would it be if ever he decides to do otherwise? Unbeknownst to Zuko though, the four of them have already exchanged signals while he blabbered. Chan Yeol and Suho will take on the prince, Se Hun will free Zhang, and Kyung Soo will bring Young Hee to safety. At the air bender’s whistle the four of them moved altogether.

Plan wise it was the best they could ever do. It’s just that compared to the pirates the Fire Nation soldiers are more difficult to deal with. Majority of them are fire benders and the ones who are not are very skilled with weapons. Kyung Soo, with Young Hee in tow, ran from the soldiers that follow them to the woods. He had to protect them both from flames and arrows, while trying to ignore (and failing desperately at that) the pounding of his chest brought by holding the hands of the avatar.

Maybe because of that he missed a tree root blocking his way and tripped. He hit the ground face first; the impact caused him to see stars for a moment. During this short period of disorientation he heard an angry ‘no’ coming from Young Hee. Shouts of men echoed through the forest surrounding them and then there came silence. A few feet in front of Kyung Soo he saw an earth wall with a spear stuck on it. If it wasn’t for that he might be an impaled piece of meat right now ready for barbecue. He was very thankful at Young Hee for saving his life but the earth wall confused the hell out of him.

“I don’t understand. You – “

The little color remaining in the avatar’s face vanished. With her head hung low she started to walk further into the forest on her own, away from Kyung Soo. The earth bender stood up rather clumsily and eyed the unconscious Fire Nation soldiers scattered about before he ran to catch up to her.

“Young Hee!" he shouted. "Young Hee, wait!”

He ran to block her way and settled her hands on both of her shoulders. “Back there. You earth bended, right? You can earth bend, right?”

He just could not contain the happiness from what he discovered. Velvety chuckles came out of him as he realized that this means he is not a bad teacher after all. But the joy was cut short when he saw the look on Young Hee’s face, more so when she removed his hands from her. The Avatar walked away again and the earth bender followed closely behind her.

“Young Hee, what’s wrong?”

“It’s your face. It’s annoying.”

Kyungsoo was deeply offended, but he noticed her voice was quivering. “What? And are you crying?”

He was answered by silence and he was afraid to press on further so the two of them walked into the forest without talking. Kyung Soo wanted to ask Young Hee why she wants to be deeper