AVATAR: An Icy Burn-Out (BennyQ/Sketchyequine)

[Sketchyequine]

Shit. Shit. Shit.

She knew there was danger, but it was already too late once it had gotten this close. The thugs were upon her and she was still tangled in her damned bedsheets. It wasn’t the most ideal of circumstances for combat, let alone combat where Zinni was outmanned. It was one against… five? Maybe there were more hiding in the bushes, but she couldn’t imagine she would get any kind of help from the waterbender and Ze was nowhere to be seen. She could call him and he would come, but she might be dead before he got there. Either way her best bet was to try. “Ze! Come, boy!” She called out just a split second before the man screamed at her about a threat coming from behind.

Zinni took a sharp breath and glanced over her shoulder just in time to see the weapon coming at her head much quicker than she would like. She threw herself forward, somersaulting out of the blanket and missing the blue by a hair before she threw herself to her feet. A warrior did their best fighting while standing. However, unfortunately for Zinni, she stood up just in time to see a boulder weighing ten times what she did being hurled at her. “Son of a-“ she muttered before quickly blasting a large ball of flame at the rock and leaping to the side just to avoid being pummeled. The fireball shattered the boulder, but many fragments were still bigger than her head and could easily do her a world of hurt. Luckily they all tumbled to the earth rather than crushing the firebender’s bones.

“Spirits help me.” She whispered as she widened her stance, looking around her to see just what she was up against. A few men and a few women. Each uglier than the last, but they all intended on butchering her. They would probably steal her supplies, kill the waterbender, and eat the animals. These types of people were ruthless like that. However, they weren’t going to get away with it without a fight first. With Zinni’s experience she would at least hurt them before they took her down and the waterbender with her. He was defenseless: tied to a tree as though he were bait. A nomadic warrior who would be killed without even being allowed a chance. It wasn’t right. She felt sorry for him.

“I’m going to regret this..” Zinni sighed the words to herself before looking over her shoulder to Rikkar where he was bound in woven rope to the tree. Luckily for the waterbender such rope would burn and melt. Zinni pivoted, thrusting her feminine form in the direction of her captive, and chucking fireballs at him. Probably much to the dismay of the waterbender, not a single one of them hit his flesh nor caused any harm. Instead they all strategically hit the ropes with enough heat to melt right through and causing the bonds to fall loose around him. He need only shed them and he was a free man. Free to run. Free to fight. The choice was his.

Zinni’s attention didn’t stay on Rikkar long after his release. She needed to focus on the fight before they slaughtered her like a farmer pig. She didn’t want to go out like that. She wanted to go out fighting like hell and showing the world what a warrior she was. With a war cry, Zinni charged at the man who had swung a spear at her dome. With a quick movement of her hand, Zinni sent a blade of flame at the man the heat of which searing his spear and melting his clothes to his flesh. As he cried out in pain, Zinni jumped him. She hit him hard in the jaw with her elbow before landing a blow to his nose making it bleed as he slipped into unconsciousness. It wasn’t a lethal injury, but it was enough to take him out of the fight long enough for Zinni to focus on a smaller group while the bandit slept off her blows.

However the attack on one man had rendered Zinni exposed on her flank and distracted enough not to notice the incoming attack before it was too later. One of them, spirits knew which one, had sent sharp shards of stone flying at her using their earthbending. Most of the fragments missed by some miracle, but two of them, one larger and one smaller, hit her flesh and tore threw on her waist, just above her hip. They stabbed like dull daggers and went in deep spilling Zinni’s blood onto the soil in large droplets. She let out a blood curdling cry of agony, throwing her head back with her eyes shut tightly. However, even through the pain, the adrenaline allowed her to send a massive fire wall in the direction the attack had come from, searing everything in its path.

 

[BennyQ]

There was a thrill of elation when Zinni dodged the blow at her back, forewarned by Rikkar. Yet he didn’t have time to ponder why he felt boosted by his captor escaping the strike. He needed to get out of here. He, already captive, was simply another mule and prisoner to be garnered by these bandits and they looked a lot less friendly than Zinni. And certainly less attractive. But he was strung up tightly, unable to budge the roping on him though he seared his flesh trying. A burst of warmth and the shattering of rock showed combat was already in full motion. He didn’t like the mental picture of seeing Zinni’s head bashed in with a rock. She was too pretty to lose to such a fate.

Or the bandits burned to the bone from the intense heat she could generate.

Whatever her intentions were though, Rikkar knew he was better off with her than the bandits, unless he could get out of here. He thought about whistling for Milo but the turtle-duck had no doubt dived for cover. He didn’t even think of his own danger, that a bandit could just walk up and stab him through the heart with a quick lance of their spear. Nothing irritated him more than being left out of a fight, especially one that concerned his own future. No one seemed to care in the slightest. Not even the Firebender, who turned towards him. His eyes met her, almost about to implore her to free him so he could at least defend himself, when she began to hurl fire towards him, at him!

Apparently he must have been a distraction to her, a liability. Or maybe she refused to let him, an enemy combatant, have the chance at rescue. In either case it looked like death was coming to him. “Oh, shit.” He gasped, full of fear. To be butchered like cattle, this was no fitting way to die! He shut his eyes and waited for the hot scorch of pain that would follow. He felt the heat approaching like the light of dawn creeping across the land, sweeping away the darkness. Here it comes, here it comes…

It felt his bonds suddenly loosen. Heat washed over him but not life endingly or even painfully. His arms tore forward from the tree and he was able to lurch, free of his bonds and everything. He could only shoot his eyes open with puzzlement to ponder why but Zinni was full caught up in the fight. For a moment he just watched her, trying to figure out why, why let him free? Wouldn’t he help his would-be rescuers? Shouldn’t he run? Shouldn’t he leave her here to die just as she intended to dump him in a prison somewhere to die? Prettiness aside, as noble as she appeared, she was not his friend. He seemed to forget that point often, for how could someone so beautiful be a part of an entity so cruel and mercilessly?

Then he realized, in his hesitation, that one of the bandit spearmen was upon him. The sharp pointy end was thrust to his face. “Don’t move, tyke.”

“You mean like this?” Rikkar said, grasping the spearhead below the head and yanking it forward towards him. The bandit stumbled forward, only to get kicked back by Rikkar’s bare feet. He soon rolled and leapt to his feet, holding the spearhead still. The other tried to wrestle it from him, yanking it free. Rikkar ingloriously turned on his heel and darted off into the foliage.

Water! That’s what he needed. He could hear the bandit hot on his trail as he leapt through the bushes. He tried to look for it, to listen and see if there was a stream or pool nearby. They had not moved far from the shore. After all, Zinni and her beast Ze both needed water to survive after all and it wasn’t long before he saw the gleam of sunlight on water through the trees. As he broke through, he reached out and felt the water tug towards him. As much as he could manipulate steadily, he summoned from the indispensable source that was the ocean. It flew towards him in a tendril, wrapping around his body as he leapt and turned to face his attacker. The spear was thrust out but Rikkar had the water crash into it, freezing immediately. Then with an ice-hatchet forming in his other hand, he decapitated the iced head of the spear to the ground, useless, with the ice melting and leaping to rejoin his swirling tendril around his body.

The bandit only glimpsed in confusion at his broken spear, before a thick ball of water struck him like a club. He flew into a tree head first and knocked himself out.

Rikkar rushed back to the battle site now, where Zinni had been left against three attackers, having taken out one with his own warning. He joined the fight with a battle roar, having been gone for a full minute and seeming as if he had fled. Now he was back. The water formed tentacles from his arms, one catching the remaining non-bender bandit around his neck and thrusting him away from Zinni, while he fought the other Earth-Bender. Surely Zinni could handle one on her own. The Earth-Bender summoned stones and boulders to hurl towards Rikkar, who had his water tendrils knock or burst asunder, dancing his way to his foe. But the stones were getting bigger and tougher and Rikkar was losing water as it was knocked from the larger ball. Deliberately. The water fell onto the ground and Rikkar knew it was there, giving ground as the Earth-Bending bandit advanced on him.

When she stood over one of these puddles, Rikkar summoned it up like ice and froze her to the spot. Shocked by the surprise, she dropped her guard long enough for Rikkar to run and spin, delivering a firm kick to the woman’s midsection with such force that it broke her free from the ice shackling on her ankle, sending her back into the grass.

The remaining bandit, who had a club, tried to rush up behind Rikkar, who reacted a moment too late but Ze came roaring and tackled the man in his side, doing the same as the beast had done to Rikkar. It didn’t look pretty as the man twirled, struck a tree, and landed in a puff of dust and grass beside his earth-bending friend. They both groaned.

He was tired though. And felt very weak. A whole day trussed up, with little food or water, not to mention a rude awakening, it took its toll on him. Adrenaline had pushed him to this endurance but could he keep it up? His toned abdomen was restricting and flexing powerfully with his panting and sweat gleamed on his tight muscles. He shone like polished bronze in the sun. Yet with a sudden gasp of fright, he spun around and now faced off…against Zinni. Water hugged his strong forearms and his gaze was fierce.

Still, he didn’t notice she was injured. But he faced her, assuming she would try to take him captive again. No, he was free now! He was not going back to any sort of captivity. “You fought pretty good for someone who was outnumbered.” He admitted softly though. But not good enough to take me again. And this time I won’t lose. He knew where Ze was.

As he faced off against her, those who could still move tried to make good on their escape, helping each other to crawl and mope away. Leave these two to their own games now, they had enough!

 

[Sketchyequine]

Zinni was bleeding, and that made it incredibly hard for her to focus. After her cries subsided she dragged her carcass from the forest floor and faced off with the remaining bandits. However, much to her surprise, there wasn't much for her to do. Rikkar was taking them on, and he was doing quite well. Zinni managed to fling a few fireballs at the asalants, but each sharp movement of her body caused a sharp pain to ripple through her stab wounds: the rocks still within her and likely ripping away further at her meat every time she shifted. However, she couldn't pull them out. There was no time and as soon as she did she would likely bleed out. Her last actions would not be those of cowardice.

Zinni's eyes flicked to Ze when he came roaring in, trampling the remaining bandit just as it looked like he might be getting the upper hand over her water bending companion, if you could call Rikkar that. "Good boy, Ze." She whispered under her breath before her eyes fell to where her hand was cupping the wound at her hip. The blood was spilling between her long, narrow fingers now. If it kept gushing like this she would be unconscious soon.

She scoffed a bit at the wound. This wasn't the way she had planned to go. Zinni had had every intention of dying a very old women with her children, grandchildren, and perhaps even great grandchildren sitting at her bedside and helping her to confidently cross the bridge into the spirit world. She dreamed of her name being written into the history books so that she could be remembered for many years to come and new warriors would pray to her for guidance. She wanted to be a legend for helping to end this wretched war. Instead? She was going to die here. Alone in the woods surrounded by a very large group of people, and even a turtleduck, who didn't like her. Pathetic.

Lines were beginning to get blurry now, and the world seemed to rock as though she were back at sea. Even so, she could see it when the waterbender turned on her. She expected it. She wouldn't want to give in to her captor either. She saw in the boy bits a pieces of her own honor and values. It was such a shame he had been born on the wrong end of this war. He would have made quite a cunning firebender.

"Don't waste your strength, boy." She laughed, holding out her bloodied hand in full view. "I'm already done for. The bitch got me. So don't waste your strength. Not unless you plan on putting me out of my misery more swiftly than if nature ust takes it's course." She shrugged before reaching down, pulling the largest and deepest of the stone blades out of her flesh where it had impaled her in the flank: even in height with her belly button though on the side rather than the front of her feminine form. Next was the blade in her hip, and then the one in her upper thigh: each smaller than the last. Even so, they had done the job.

Blood stained the firebenders tunic and military garb. It poured down her side at an alarming rate: staining her boot in streaks before it kissed the soft soil beneath her. She nodded, accepting her death. "Go, waterboy. Just please do me one favor..." She sighed. She didn't like asking favor of the enemy, but this time it was important to her. This wasn't just about her deteriorating life anymore. "Take Ze with you. He's loyal. If you don't take him he'll lay here and guard me even past my death until he reaches his own. Don't let him. He's a good beast. He shouldn't have to starve to death because he's protecting a damned corpse."

Then Zinni collapsed, but was that a tear on her cheek when she hit the ground?

 

[BennyQ]

It finally registered to Rikkar how badly hurt Zinni was. She was in no position to fight him. It would even be dishonourable if he did fight her. He could just turn around and walk away and be free. He ought to. Just turn on your heel and run. Run to the water and then follow it to some friendly port. From there, home. No imprisonment. No slow death. No captor and captive play. Yet his bare feet remained rooted to the ground. He listened to Zinni confess her own end coming soon. Why was he even listening? His eyes looked to the shards in her flesh, sharp stones that cut into her flesh quite messily.

He jerked a step forward when she tore one out. He didn’t know why. A water tribe healer would know not to do such a thing. Not so rashly! Again, why did he care?

He looked at Ze when Zinni bid him to look after the beast. Something about her final request moved him, forming a heavy lump in her throat. For all her faults, she was loyal and loving of her beast of burden and war. He was more than that to her and even Rikkar could not blame Ze, even after he had been battered by the rhino. He opened his mouth to say something, say anything, to assure her it might not be this way, that she might recover or be found by her friends. He didn’t get to. Without warning, she collapsed to the ground with a soft thud. By the spirits, no one deserved to die like this, especially someone so fair and beautiful…

Rikkar did not hesitate. His water splashed to the ground and was lost in his haste and urgency. In a few steps he leapt to her side and fell heavily to his knees, looking her over and then looking into her face. “Wake up, wake up!” He urged her, putting his hands on her neck, and then trailing them up to her face. He saw the tear but his thumb absentmindedly wiped it away. He shook her face, trying to keep her conscious. “Don’t go to sleep. Stay here. Look at me. I’m not taking Ze with me. He’s not mine to take. He’s a good beast and he’s going to grow old with you. Old and fat. The good life, the proper way to go. Not like this. You hear me?” Rikkar practically shouted at her, before turning his attention to her lower abdomen and legs where she was cut, hands trailing down her form, over her breasts and all without realizing it.

It was bad. She had lost a lot of blood. It was a miracle she was indeed still consciousness. Water. He needed water. Leaping back to his feet, his hands shot out and danced, drawing as much of the water he had dropped to the ground as he can. But it was tainted with sand and grit now, which caused him to hiss furiously and send that flying off to the side where it struck a tree. No, she had a water flask didn’t she? He searched the campsite desperately and found it, the water coming out. Enough, thankfully. The water surrounded one hand like watery orbs and he rushed back to her with his tunic, bunching it up to put under her head. Then he looked to her wounds.

“You’re going to be alright.” Rikkar told Zinni. Leave her to die! She was certainly taking you to your death. But he couldn’t. It wasn’t right. The spirits knew it would not be right either. It was against all his teachings and learning, more so than the warrior code he had lived by. One hand on her side, he rolled her over to look at her flank. Water orbs formed in his hand and he put it to the first gash in her body, where she had tore a stone blade from. It cleansed the wound, drawing blood and stone fragments away. With careful diligence, he separated the water then from those aspects, letting them fall harmlessly to the ground over. He would have to patch her up later.

Next was the stone in her thigh. He put his hand over it and the water formed a cylinder between his palm and her flesh, surrounding the rock. With gentle slowness, the water soothing her flesh and making it burn significantly less, he was able to extract the stone fragment cleanly from her without breaking it. That too he tossed aside and moved to her final stone. “Feeling better?” He asked her, looking up at her face as he formed the cylinder over the final fragment. It was extracted slowly, with minimal pain because of the soothing water, and removed completely. Now there were three open gashes in her body, each beginning to leak blood again.

He got up and found her blanket. Poor thing, he tore it into shreds and took the longest pieces he could find, returning to her body. He knelt by her leg and wrapped them about her injured thigh, patching the first two gashes. His hands flowed about her thighs, touching the most intimate regions on the inside and underside. Temporary measures of course. The final, and largest, on the side of her rear would be tricky to patch. He could not in fact. Not without…dishonouring her modesty and virtue, which he would not do. All he could do though? He rolled her onto her side gently and sat beside her, one leg bent and foot against his other leg, the lower calf resting against her backside and thigh, with his other leg stretched out between her thighs and in front of her. He put his hand, with the water orb still about it, and pressed his palm to the side of her flank.

It would take hours, even days, to heal the gash. With a sigh, Rikkar closed his eyes and began to mutter, summoning the spirits. The moon would rise high tonight. It would empower him, for it was up to him to save her life. She had lost a lot of blood. The water glowed with a white purity as some spiritual energy was instilled into it. And thus from him into her as he began the long arduous healing process. They would not be able to move. He could not take his hand off her…intimate flesh here on her cheek. But he did so, because he could not and would not leave her to die like this.

No one deserved to die like this.

His back rigid, his posture unmoving, his hand on her side and his other resting on her thigh. The water swirled and danced, becoming marred with blood but also helping the flesh to close itself and heal. “Zinni, still with me?” He asked her softly, the water working its slow magic on her largest cut. After would follow the other two.

 

[Sketchyequine]

Zinni groaned, her eyes fluttering, but it was too hard to focus. Everything he said or did was muted by her failing senses, and she wouldn’t even know the difference between him killing her or helping her. Luckily, against her knowledge, the water tribe boy was doing the later. She did not respond to his yelling, but the shaking of her head caused her eyes to open widely or a split second before they fluttered closed once more. “Can’t… Stay… awake…” She whispered shallowly before her neck practically went limp along with the rest of her ailing body as he trailed his hands over her: In consciousness she might have taken his hand off for touching her like that, but in this state she had no idea what he had even done.

Her eyelashes continued to flutter as she walked the very thin line between awake and asleep: teetering into each side from time to time as the waterbender continued to worry over her. Soon, with his tunic bunched up under her head and his hands touching her oh so gently she realized that one of two things was true. Zinni was either hallucinating or he was trying to help her. But why? She wondered. Zinni knew she meant bad news for the little waterbender. She had hurt him and she was taking him to a holding facility that he, obviously, did not want to go to. Why would he do anything to help her? She had given him an out and even a beast to take him where it was he needed to go. Why would he stay?

She didn’t have the energy or mental capacity in her agony to figure it out, but she was beginning to lose numbness just enough to feel the water rushing into her wound and the hand, securely on her flank, that manipulated it. Soon after she noticed the way his legs wrapped around hers and the sensation of cloth wrapped about her muscular thigh. He really was trying. Zinni took a sharp breath, mostly out of pain, and nuzzled her face deeper into the man’s article of clothing. Inhaling Zinni realized that the scent of it was almost soothing. It was the scent of another human. A man. A man who wanted to keep her from dying.

The moon was high in the sky before Zinni was truly with it. She lifted her face from the cloth and groaned. Any shifting it seemed sent a shot of lightning through her flank and thigh. Although, perhaps not as badly as before. She laid her head back down like a defeated animal and allowed her mind to focus on the soothing sensation of the water meshing with her skin.

“Why are you still here, Rikkar?” She finally whispered, but she didn’t look at him. Her golden hazel eyes instead focused on a single blade of grass and the way it swayed ever so slightly in the breeze of the night air. “I gave you an out. Why stay and help me? I know you don’t exactly like me, waterbender.” She sighed, wincing slightly from the movement.

Zinni’s pain was still sharp, but it was dulling down thanks to the hands of the man sitting so close to her that she could feel the heat radiating off of him. The realization that he was so much warmer than her reminded her that it got damned cold in the earth kingdom after dark and she was covered in goosebumps. Almost on cue her body began to shiver, and she bit down on her lower lip to stop her teeth from chattering. The blood loss was enough to make her freeze and now that was combined with the chilled temperature of the night air. Zinni wasn’t from the south pole. She wasn’t used to cold temperatures like this without a blanket and a fire. Oh how delightful a fire sounded, but Zinni wasn’t even able to manifest a tiny flame in her current state.

 

[BennyQ]

It was hard to keep track of time. Rikkar’s mind wandered as the day grew old and weary. It had been morning when the fight happened. Morning passed and the sun grew, bathing his flesh in light and warmth. Sweat even began to trickle on his bronze skin, dripping slowly. His arms began to ache from the soft movements of the water swirling about the gash, cleaning and filtering out smaller stone fragments and blood. The spiritual energies he summoned helped to soothe the pain. They were the ancient practices of his people. No, he should not even be unveiling them for Zinni or anyone else. But here he was, for what good was it as a secret, if not meant to help others?

It took an hour to cite sixteen mantras of healing. Rikkar lost count around one hundred and forty. It was dark and he was feeling the exhaustion creep up. He hadn’t moved. His legs felt numb. He was hungry. Ze roamed and sometimes laid down. Milo was out of sight but not out of sound, in the bush somewhere. The moon shone high above and that was the source of all waterbender’s powers. He felt invigorated despite it being the hour for slumber but he was drifting nonetheless. His murmuring had frequented falters and pauses. His head drooped and his eyes closed, chin tucked to his chest. But his focus remained strong, the orb of water locked between his palm and her wound.

And when Zinni shifted, he jerked alert suddenly. He fixed his eyes upon her but said nothing. What could he say? Hi, thanks for capturing and torturing me. But your leg should be all good to continue doing just that. Instead he frowned, for she voiced that very same question in his mind and heart. He didn’t have an answer for it. “Stop moving. Or move. It’s your choice if you want to feel the agony but it won’t impede my work.” Rikkar told her firmly. Warm wasn’t exactly something he would consider himself to be when next to a firebender. He could feel her chilling though. Her skin was icy cold and not the cool sensation his sisters or parents might feel like. Hers was like ice. It was like a dead person’s. He frowned.

“You did give me an out. I took it.” He told her, removing his hand from her wound, the ball of water following it. There was a scar now, that perhaps would never go away, but it would stop bleeding at least. Time would repair the rest now. “Your out means my freedom. And with that freedom, I chose to do this. I am not a killer, Zinni. I am a warrior, only in defense of my people. But in all other cases, like all the people of my tribe, I am a healer. And it is against my teachings to leave someone to die. Even you. It’s just…not right.” He explained to her softly. Maybe she wouldn’t remember it after.

He put his other fist over his mouth as he suddenly yawned.

With slow focus, he returned the water into the flask. For storage, not for drinking. “The worst has passed. You’ll live, as long as you don’t reopen your wound or get hit again. You are a clumsy one. Rocks are slow and stupid, how could you get hit by that?” He taunted her lightly, reaching up to stroke some hair from her face, tucking them behind her ears. His fingernails grazed ever so softly on her skin before he sat back. “Tomorrow I’ll look at your other two gashes. You’ve lost a lot of blood though so we aren’t going anywhere. You don’t have the strength. Even riding on Ze might kill you. You have to stay here.” Rikkar said to her. His words would sound slurred. He was tired.

“You need to stay on your side too. Keep your leg elevated.” Rikkar told her, looking around. There was nothing to help with that. The only way to do so was to keep his leg between hers. And she was freezing too. He reached out and put the back of his hand, warm, to her forehead, cold. “Damn it.” He muttered under his breath. He knew what he had to do then, like with hypothermia patients. Too much time in icy waters and not even a fire could warm them up. She needed a constant heat source, something kept very near to him. A tingle and a shudder ran down his spine at the prospect. He had to do it. And trying to pretend like he hated it wasn’t going to help.

“In any case, it’ll be for naught. You’re freezing. You’ve lost too much blood. I can’t make a fire, which will certainly draw others to us. Looks like you have to die shivering to death. Must be a cruel fate for a firebender, huh?” He mocked her, before sighing and rolling his eyes in a mental defeat of himself. Suddenly he flopped down behind her, on his side, his body behind hers. Her back would feel his strong chest, his groin nudged into her rear softly. His leg intertwined between hers. He put an arm over her waist, lightly, with his hand hanging off and not touching her. “Any questions about your treatment?” He asked with the grin audible in his voice. His warmth would wash over her. It would be as soothing as the water.

It would only take a moment for his hand to drift to her side, where in thought he would begin to draw patterns on her clothes, on the flap that covered her hip. If the wind blew, his hand would become very close to intimate regions of her thighs.

 

[Sketchyequine]

Zinni winced as he so obviously insulted her. By stating so strongly that he was no a killer she could only assume that he considered her to be just that. Because she wore red and fought on the opposite side of the battle line, she was a monster in his eyes, even after how kind, relatively, she had been since capturing him. His worse injury was from Zee and even when she had strung him up for torture he had endured no pain. Instead, she treated him fairly: even did her best to offer his bruises some relief after he had cooperated for her. Now she was still a monster. Even as she lay wounded on the forest floor.

“I didn’t kill you, now did I?” She pointed out, keeping her gaze distant even as he shifted and moved about her. “And we aren’t going anywhere together. If you are free you are no longer my responsibility to feed and care for. You’re on your own as soon as you come to your senses and high tail it out of here. I don’t have enough food for you if you’re not going to be my captive. We aren’t exactly friends, Rikkar.” Her words were sharp and hurtful, but in its own way it was tough love. He had chosen to save her from bleeding out and she was choosing not to recapture him once she was well enough. She wouldn’t even try so long as he got the hell out of dodge.

“I’m also not as weak as you think.” That was a lie. Zinni was weak, and aside from her rhino she was rendered practically defenseless now. She couldn’t conjure a flame, let alone manipulate it in her state. But her pride told her to convince him otherwise. If he saw her as weak there would be no going back to the state of being the bad ass chick who beat him in combat. She would only be the weak girl who he had to save after she got shanked by a couple of rocks. “But…. I won’t move either.” She sighed, a bit defeated.

She tensed as he shifted to lay behind her, her entire body against the idea of it: chest to shoulders, groin to rump. It was intimate. Far more intimate than Zinni wanted. Even more intimate than she expected she would ever find herself with the firebender. Any questions about your treatment? He dared to say, the breath accompanying his words kissing at her cheek and ear as he cuddled her as though they were some sort of lovers. It made her huff in irritation and frustration. This entire situation was humiliating.

Though, even though she wished she could ignore it, the heat from his body, half naked without his tunic, radiated into her core and allowed her instant comfort. Subconsciously she wished she could curl up even closer to him. So, so closed her eyes to try and sleep without acknowledging him any further. However, the second his hand grazed over her hip her eyes shot wide open once more.

“Waterboy, I don’t care if you’re helping me. If you want to keep that hand you better move it. Keep it family friendly, got it?” She huffed in irritation before grabbing his wrist and moving it upward to rest on her waist rather than so close to her intimate regions. She was a betrothed woman. As attractive at the tribesman was, he had no right to touch her body as though it were his, and she wanted to make sure that message was painfully clear early one in… whatever kind of a situation this was. There was one thing for sure that Zinni was not, and that was the man’s lover.

With his hand securely on her waist, her own hand gripping it to prevent any wandering, Zinni closed her eyes once more and sleep took her before she even had a chance to think a second thought. Her entire body relaxed up against Rikkars, and her grip on his hand loosened as well as she fell into a more serene state. She had been passed out most of the day, but even so she was still exhausted, and her body wanted nothing more than to sleep. But before she knew it, morning came and the sun kissed her ivory skin, causing her eyes to flutter open. It was a new day, but the dull ache in her leg had far from subsided.

 

[BennyQ]

“You’d be lucky to have me as a friend.” RIkkar snorted. “I’ve been hunting and foraging my whole life. You think not being your responsibility worries me? I could thrive here in this green, sunny place.” He rolled his eyes. He was well nourished, given how strong and taut his body was. And that was just from living in the tundra. Fish and roots. Here there was so much more. If she thought he needed to rely on her to survive she was gravely mistaken. There might not be many of his people but each were hardy and strong in their own way. He knew she wasn't weak. She was a tough woman and had fought off most of the bandits on her own before he had intervened. But thinking she was indestructible, which no one was, was a foolish error.

But Zinni was smart in realizing that at least.

He snickered as she shoved his hand away. He simply returned it, dragging her hand with him. Physically, he was stronger, given her current status. “Tough as you think you are, you certainly sacrifice brains to be that.” Rikkar said. “Look, you've lost a lot of blood. You're freezing. If you don't get any heat, you'll die. And we can't light a fire, in case our friends decide to come back. Or others. So you're only source of warmth is me.” He shifted his arm up around her waist and suddenly tightened. Both to give her more heat and to relish the feel of her slender abdomen. And spirits, it was hard like rocks!

“We do this at the South Pole. You spend too much time swimming in icy water and your body can't recover. Even if you lay in thick furs and have a fire. Sometimes someone has to get in the cot with you.” Rikkar explained to her in a soft voice, sharing what his culture was like. He stared at the side of her face, his other arm bent at the elbow to prop up his head. Her own would be against his upper chest and neck. But when she didn't reply, he glanced over and saw she was asleep. Huh. No wonder he had gotten his arm back around her. She wasn't even conscious to resist. He quirked his eyebrows and stretched his arm out, letting his head rest behind hers, his nose and lips to the back of her neck.

She smelled good. She tasted good. He couldn't find it in him to resist the charms. A bulge formed in his trousers, nudging to her firm rear. He nuzzled in closer, telling himself it was for her own good. He was helping her because it was the right thing to do. Right? His head shifted closer. His lips planted to the back of her neck. In that posture, he would drift off to sleep soon enough. Night passed and day came again. They were still together, Rikkar embracing Zinni from behind. He slept silently, chest rising and falling like the waves of the sea. He was warm to the touch despite being naked all night above the waist. He was hugging her tightly...but his arm over her, his hand had drifted up subconsciously to cup just under her breast. It fit quite snugly. And his touch was tender.

When she stirred, he would stir. Rikkar yawned loud and powerfully, his breath bathing the sensitive flesh at the back of her neck. “Good morning. Still alive to see it, eh?” He said a little cheery and haughtily. She had survived because of him but there were still two gashes to work on. Something else was stirring as well, very firmly and pressing to her backside. As Rikkar shifted, it prodded quite significantly against her. He hadn't opened his eyes yet. “Couple more minutes…” he begged of no one in particular. He put his lips and mouth to the side of her neck, half kissing.

And if she gave a positive reaction, he would do it again and again. His arms would flex, squeezing her tenderly and drawing her in. They had no blanket, except his heat. And no pillow, except his broad chest.

 

[Sketchyequine]

Almost as soon as Zinni stirred in consciousness she could feel Rikkar doing the same, only his shifting was far from innocent. Zinni could feel him, at least partially erect, pressed into her ample rear. At first it was almost enticing. Zinni has grown into a fine woman, yet no man had ever embraced her as if she were important. And this made her feel important and cared for. In the fire nation it was all about tough love, and affection was always frowned upon: especially in public. But it didn’t take long before Zinni realized what was happening, and her calm expression was replaced with a furrow brow.

Soon she noticed his crotch was not the only thing getting up close and personal. His breath kissed at the back of her neck and his hand cupped the underside of her breast. By the spirits does he know what he’s doing? She wondered, her whole body tense for several moments as she laid there up against him: far closer than she ever expected she would be to the waterbender. He was even warmer now than he had been the night prior, and it resonated through her until she too felt alive all over again. “Good morning, Rikkar.” She finally said, still tense. “Yes. I’m, admittedly, happy to be alive.” She took a deep breath, looking out into the distance where she hoped she would see Ze, but he had wandered off somewhere.

“Do you… realize where your hand is, Rikkar?” She whispered, taking a deep breath. She was uncomfortable because she was inexperienced more than anything else. Rikkar was a good looking as any man she had seen and he had quite literally saved her life, yet she was still so tense about him touching her. He touched her as though she were a woman, a beautiful, enticing woman even if he didn’t realize what he was doing to her. Zinni took a second deep breath and reached her hand up, gently running her fingertips down along his arm until her hand laid over his own, though it wasn’t nearly as big.

Spirits help me… She thought to herself before she made quite possibly the dumbest decision of her life. She gripped his hand and guided it upwards at a snail’s pace until his palm fully encompassed her uppermost breast as she laid on her side pressed up against him. Zinni drooped her hand away from Rikkar then, allowing him freedom. “If you’re going to touch me, you might as well do it right.” She whispered, biting her lip a bit to calm her nerves. Rikkar made her nervous in ways she didn’t completely understand. However, the best she could figure in that moment was to go with her best instincts, and those instincts were telling her to push forward.

“Just relax…” Zinni whispered, more so for herself than for Rikkar. He seemed perfectly calm even as she could feel her heart practically beat out of her chest. But even so she shifted her hips backward: pressing her ass even further into the bulge of his crotch. Soon after, she turned her head such that the side of her face was exposed to the man as they lay together with legs intertwined their bodies exchanging heat. Now the only thing Zinni could think about was where things would go from here.

 

[BennyQ]

“Hmm?” Rikkar responded sleepily to Zinni’s question. He didn’t even half hear it and if he did, he would not have really known. The back of her neck was more sensational to him, her skin so soft and tasteful. His eyes remained closed, face to the back of her head. Her hair tickled his face. He seemed to forget there was a firebender beside him, an enemy combatant who had captured him. He knew deep down she hadn’t been responsible for the death of his friends and comrades. She hadn’t tortured him when she could have. Seeing her fight off those bandits, she seemed very similar to himself. Just someone trying to survive in a bloody and brutal war.

They were young. They should have had different futures than this yet here they were. He was a young man far from home. She was a young woman far from home. They were each alone. And he could have left her alone, to die and suffer. But he didn’t. And in healing her body, letting the spirits dance as he held vigil over her, it awoke something in him for her. Perhaps a care or a form of affection. Laying beside her had been meant as a stoic and platonic thing. Now it became something more. He was pressed warmly to her backside. His arm draped over her body. She was a woman, a fine woman, and his urges were piqued at her presence so near and dear.

When she shifted his hand up, offering to correct him, he finally opened his eyes. He felt his palm rest over her breast entirely and without even thinking what he was doing…he squeezed his fingers into the soft flesh. He began to massage it tenderly, loving how it felt. It was the first breast he had ever grasped and it was astonishing to his senses and mind. He couldn’t speak on it though, for once at a loss for words. Maybe it was better he didn’t speak. She turned more to face him, his lips now against her jaw as he didn’t even shift back to accommodate her movement. He remained still, overwhelmed as her nubile body pressed back to his in a feeling that could not be put into words.

His arm under her head moved to caress the far side of her face and turn it more, letting his eyes behold her. Did he remember who she was? No, instead he saw the intricacies of her flesh up close, the pools of depths of her eyes, and the sweetness of her lips instead. He saw a woman, a woman who equally seemed amazed by him. And so Rikkar leaned in to her…and kissed her on the lips. Chaste at first, a simple pressing of his lips to hers, lasting but a few heartbeats. But as he drew back, a little breathless despite the brief interlude in breathing, he felt his heart soar with sudden want. So he leaned back in again and kissed her more fiercely, lips consuming and dancing against hers.

And his body began to grind against her, rubbing his now significant bulge against her flank.

The motion and want were clear. Rikkar wanted to do so himself. He knew he had to enter her but he wondered if Zinni was aware of it as well. Did they even see the act over in the Fire Nation as something of passion or just a process to make babies? In any case, as he had been given a touch of her, she might as well take a touch of him. And so his hand left her breast and took the hand that had guided him there, pulling it down between their bodies. He snaked it right under the band of his trousers, bringing her hand right into contact with the hard, steely texture of his own manhood. He broke the kiss and looked at her eyes, saying nothing. His orbs would then shift down her body and then back again to her eyes, seeking a silent ascent of permission to go ahead.

If she could handle his size of course, which filled her hand and throbbed warmly, more so than his own body. But what of her own warmth? Leaving her hand upon his manhood, his own began to trail over her hips and sneaked across the bare flesh of her thighs towards her, never breaking eye contact with her, licking his lips as he began to miss the taste of her own.

 

[Sketchyequine]

Zinni was good at over analyzing things. She always wanted a step by step plan and she followed it exactly as written. Now there was no plan. This was all impulse that had been instigated by the waterbender’s proximity to her. None of this was in the plan. None of this was supposed to happen. She was supposed to take him back to port where he could join his comrades for temporary holding while the war raged on. She wasn’t supposed to get hurt and she sure as hell wasn't supposed to have him heal her. Yet he had and now he lay pressed up against her with one hand kneading at her breast. But Zinni was enjoying it no matter how wrong it was.

Zinni’s voice caught in her throat as he turned her head more towards him, his rough hands on her flesh was invigorating to say the least. But when he kissed her Zinni was sure she was soaring high above the clouds and she returned every ounce of ferocity he placed upon her lips: hungry to taste him. However, as soon as Rikkar began to roll his hips forward into her rump she found herself distracted from the kiss and instead she focused on what else he might have to offer her. No man had ever touched her like this, not quite. Her betrothed had gotten a bit handsy at times and they had kissed maybe once or twice, but she had never found herself in such a physically frustrating situation before.

She wanted more. He provided.

Her hand moved willingly under his guidance, offering him more trust than he should expect out of the woman who had been his enemy just hours ago. Now they were lost in a moment of passion together. But once her hand reached his desired destination she bit down hard on her lower lip. Was she nervous? Scared? Aroused? In all reality it was some combination thereof, but she would never admit that the waterbender so easily got under her skin. She wanted to touch him but more importantly she needed him to touch her or all the Heat building up inside her might make her explode in a fiery inferno. Yet again, just as she thought of it he indulged her, his hand leaving hers in his trouser and traveling instead to mingle with her inner thighs. It made her groan.

With care, Zinni shifted onto her back without ripping back open her wounds that had, for a time, stopped bleeding. Her free hand, the one not hidden in Rikkar’s trousers grabbed his wrist hard and pulled him over top of her such that she could hide in his shadow as they explored each other’s bodies. Zinni’s golden hazel eyes dragged over Rikkar’s chiseled body until they found his face. With her lower lip still trapped between her teeth she gave him a sharp nod of approval before she leaned up to kiss him again. It was a quiet encounter for now, but it was certainly a pivoting point in their relationship. Enemies turned lovers.

Zinni continued to kiss the male, her tongue gradually becoming braver and beginning to prod and explore the tribesman’s mouth. He tasted sweet and inviting, so she took him up on his silent invitation: kissing him deep and passionately. Her kissing didn’t faulted again, but her hand grew restless as it rested on the bare skin of his notable erection. Zinni had never touched one before, but the skin seemed to soft and fragile. It was undeniably sensitive as she began to rub her land along the length of it still buried in his trousers. She touched him as though she wanted to memorize his anatomy, fingers memorizing every vein and shape of the large weaponry.

Suddenly and without warning, Zinni broke the kiss and withdrew her hand simultaneously, looking up at the waterbender with hooded yellow eyes. Oh how she wanted him. Spirits forgive me, but I have never wanted anything so badly from another human being. She thought, gazing up at him. She never uttered a word nor did she stop making eye contact as she pulled the gloves from her hands and forearms. Swiftly there after the began untying the sashes at her waist and unfastening the buttons at the back of her neckline until her blouse hung loosely on her and the carefully pulled it off over her head between their bodies. This left her upper half in nothing more than a sash tied around her breasts for support. Next she reached down and unfastened her thigh high boots and pushed them off of each leg and foot using the opposite.

Before long, Zinni was mostly naked. She wore only the same undergarments he had seen her fishing a few mornings prior, and she arched her back slightly, pressing her bare midriff to his washboard abs. She smirked at him before her thumbs hooked in the waistline of his trousers and she quirked a brow before she slowly started pushing them downward until his erect cock sprang free, resting against her just south of her belly button: bare to behold. “Mmm.” Zinni whispered before one dairy hand stroked inward along his hip until she found his swollen shaft. She leaned up, kissing him again as her hand wrapped around the thick base loosely. From there she started to stroke him from base to tip, massaging every inch of his length as her lips mingled with his and her own thighs spread apart, granting him access to her center as she bent her knees and let her thighs rest against either side of his waist.

 

[BennyQ]

It had been a brash move on Rikkar’s part yet his heart soared with further elation and pleasure when Zinni did not resist. He had no way of knowing what her feelings were and even with her welcoming actions he was still a bit doubtful of the mutual want. Her lips danced with his, her body pressed back into his own, and her hand groped his manhood without disdain or disgust. They touched, dancing a silent dance with scarcely a spoken word. Only soft murmuring of moans and passion escaped their lips, whenever they were not conjoined. Rikkar did not know how it came to this. Perhaps it all really was a dream. He could not feel the sunlight or the heat or the wind. Only Zinni. Only the raw feel of her body and spirit.

A look of fierce and determined concern was written on his face as Zinni began to shift. He might have broken the silence at last with a protest given her condition but she had done it already, not to mention his own growing curiosity at having greater access. Approval and want were in her features, matched by his own. His lip was caught between hers before they kissed deeply again and his own matched the ferocity of her tongue, trading blows as they had once done. He was within her mouth, before chased back into his own. He welcomed her tongue, swirling and dancing. His hands were encompassing, caressing the far side of her face and rubbing over her thighs. She still held him below, beginning to stroke. He shuddered with delight and groaned against her mouth, eyelids heavy with pleasure. It felt good.

But with a suddenness that scared Rikkar a little, Zinni drew apart. Here it is, here is where it all ends and we go back to being enemies. Worse now, given what had just happened… He feared he might be raping her, which would be a tremendous blow to his own self-esteem and morality given the evilness of the act. They looked at one another, his own features slightly apologetic yet at the same time…unapologetic. For he desired this and had felt that same desire returned in her actions. How could they stop now, having already started on this path? But through the corners of his vision, he was given his answer. Yet by some strange force, Rikkar crawled and hovered atop of her now, shrouding her with his impressive frame.

She began to undress and he stared at her eyes a moment longer before gulping tremendously, his eyes averting to watch the scene.

Rikkar had never beheld a woman undress before. It was certainly nothing like what he expected. She was a firebender and all his imaginings were wrong. Off came her top, breasts still covered but their wonderful and glorious shape more pronounced. He barely had time to acknowledge them as she began to undo her lower body of its coverings. Soon she was naked, less so than Rikkar who had only his trousers and undergarments on. She pressed her naked torso to his and Rikkar happily pressed himself back, feeling the mingling of flesh, muscle, and tendon. It felt astonishing all over, his body pulsing with delight. His hands had withdrawn during her undressing but now they stroked up her slender sides and slide up over her breasts, even as she found his manhood again and began to massage it herself. They kissed and his hands encompassed both her breasts, slipping the sash off and fully feeling them within his hands.

They kissed for what seemed a long time, his tongue and lips attacking hers. He licked her bottom lip and buried it deep in her mouth, twirling with her own. It was an amazing sensation, one he felt he could never get tired off. His hands worked her breasts, feeling their weight in his palms, kneading them with his fingers and fiddling with the stiff buds. Though not for long, as his hands grazed up to hold her face. His hips were grinding hard against her, the underside of his manhood brushing against Zinni’s clit with each movement. He looked down at her eyes and smiled, before kissing her gently on the lips. And then again upon her lower lip. And again, upon her jaw, down her neck, and over her collarbone. He moved down, until his face was against her breasts.

He took one within his mouth and moaned in his throat at how wonderful it felt, the texture and taste and everything. His tongue flickered and swarmed around her stiff bud, teasing it relentlessly. His hands kept on moving downwards despite the cessation of his face, until one rested on her good side and another came between her thighs. He felt her womanhood then, his lower body bending at the knees to rise up. And as he suckled her breasts and grazed them with his teeth and tongue, his fingers began to explore her outer folds. They felt like nothing ever before, fingers tracing her unique shape, getting to know it intimately, before caressing down her slit and sometimes prodding in gently. And his lips remained glued to her breast, switching from one to the other, tongue flicking her nubs hard. His eyes locked on hers, strong chin resting on her body and simply watching her.

Then he released her breast, tongue dragging upon the underside as he hovered up. He watched her intently, while his hand lined up and gently inserted a finger into her depths. Deep. He went in to the knuckle and held it there, feeling her insides clutch and contract upon it. Her reaction seemed of pain, yet of pleasure too. Rikkar didn’t know what to make of it, tilting his head to the side. Then with a slow rhythm, he began to draw out his finger with the same deliberate slowness and then drive it back in. For a moment, he did so, working her body gently, until he felt himself brimming with a different desire. He knew what he had to put in but if only a finger did such to Zinni, what would his manhood do?

Well, he wanted to try and a playful smirk came over his lips as the desire unveiled itself in his eyes. He gripped himself with one hand and placed another on her shoulder to steady her. With a gentle grunt, he pressed himself to her, encountering a brief resistance, before shattering it and tearing into her depths. He groaned further as he pressed in, not knowing when to stop or if he even should, moving until his own pelvis bumped to hers. Now they were conjoined. Now they were one. Rikkar leaned over her face, panting a little as he was immersed, looking down at her. “Zinni.” He murmured, whispering the name of an enemy, a combatant, his captor, and a firebender, all in pleasure.

Then he began to rock his hips, as he leaned down to kiss her more.

 

[Sketchyequine]

Zinni was a virgin. Even in her betrothal she had never let a man touch her the way that Rikkar touched her now. This was wrong, forbidden, worth exile. She should be shunned not only for cheating on the man she was supposed to marry, but for doing so with a water bender.How shameful could one woman be? Yet, with her breasts sat the mercy of the nomadic man’s lips and tongue and her labia under exploration by his fingers all she could think of was how she wanted more from him. There was a desire welling deep inside her that groping and grinding couldn’t satisfy. She wanted him to make sweet love to her. If not that, he wanted him to fuck her like a wild animal deep in rut. Each option seemed equally likely.

No matter her wants and needs, his sudden penetration of her innocence with his finger brought a squeal from her supple lips. Her back arched instantaneously and she felt a jolt of electricity shoot through her young and naive body. Even her most primitive instincts, those that encouraged her to mate with a strong male, were naive. She had not expected this sensation and it surprised inch by inch of her body. How could something so simple hurt yet excite all at once? He was ripping her innocence away from her with just one finger.

Rikkar’s looks of curiosity were ignored. Zinni couldn’t focus on anything but the way it felt when his slid his rough finger in and out of her dark depths. She squirmed, trying to alleviate the slight discomfort as her head leaned into the soft dirt beneath her and her eyes rolled back behind hooded eyelids. Her moans were quiet, but distinct. She was overtaken by bodily pleasure as he continued to slip his finger in and out. Her walls becoming exceptionally slick as Rikkar continued to stimulate them. Zinni had never even masturbated in her combat-devoted lifetime. The possibility of this much pleasure just from one finger damn near blew her mind. This was a pivotal experience in the firebenders sexuality.

Then he took his hand away. Zinni looked up at him like a betrayed animal as she panted. “What? What’s the matter?” She muttered. He was smirking at her. Zinni’s face contorted in confusion as she looked back up at him, feeling herself shrinking under him. Was this all some kind of game just to mess with her? Whether his actions were genuine or not she wasn’t ready for her pleasure to end. “What are you doing? Don’t stop.” She argued, a bit of bossiness in her tone.

Then he pushed something much thicker and longer into her and all the air rushed out of her lungs as she threw her head back heard. “Rikkar…” She moaned in response when he finally spoke to her. Her inner walls clamped down on him as he broke through her virginity and pushed and tugged at her innermost depths with her manhood. It hurt, her entire body warned her of the lingering ache she would experience later on, but she also doused his length is her essence and her moans encouraged him to continue. She didn’t care about all the reasons she should not do this, all she cared about was how wonderful it felt to have Rikkar fucking her.

Then she remembered one thing that she absolutely should be concerned about. What the hell would she do if he but a tribal child in her womb? Her moans slowed and to put her hand on his abs firmly as she panted, glazed over golden eyes searching for his gaze. “Stop.” She whispered sheepishly, not even convincing herself that that was what she wanted. “You can’t. I can’t get pregnant.”

 

[BennyQ]

What compelled him to do such a thing, Rikkar would never know. All he understood was that there had been little doubt or refusal, on any of their part. Both were young and caught up in an ordeal far before their time and much beyond their true understanding. Despite the circumstances of their first meeting, Rikkar felt drawn and attracted to the ivory skinned firebender beneath him, who looked up at him with such a desire smouldering in her eyes, not to mention her own fierce command not to stop what he was doing. It was one rule he could easily obey and he did, though he had turned it up a notch. He was inside the other woman, again compelled by something he did not know. He only knew that it was right.

Shudders of pleasure ran through his body as he entered her, filling her to the brim and stretching her tight virgin hole around his most considerable manhood. He had tried to impale her but who would have known it would have turned out like this? It was certainly much better than fighting. She whispered his name and that was all he needed to continue, drawing his hips back and then rocking them forward into her. She felt warm within and more coddling than a mother’s embrace. Rikkar wanted more. He wanted to show this firebender, to show Zinni, that it didn’t always have to be war and hatred. This was certainly more enjoyable. And he went on, hips rolling, abdomen constricting and flexing, all his body exerting to please her and take his own reward with it.

That is, until she whispered a most pressing and urgent request of him to stop. He had been peppering her jaw and neck with kisses, before rising up, her hand on his firm torso, looking down at her with concern. Was he hurting her? Her moans certainly felt a mingling of pain and pleasure but just a moment ago, she bid him not to stop. Now she requested it. She could not…fall down with child. He too understood the dangers of that. But still…it did not always happen, right? Rikkar did not know, neither the workings of the female body or anything about this act. This was his first, as was hers. He smiled down softly at her. “You won’t.” He declared with some confidence, borne on no foundation. He leaned down to kiss her and began to rock his hips more, driving in and out.

He at least knew what would happen with him. He could…restrain himself, could he not? Pull out perhaps? He wanted for this and felt the lust returned in Zinni. He wasn’t a rapist though. Never. But how did one read these signals he was getting? Going forward was the easiest path so he did. He leaned down to catch her lips in a kiss and placed a hand over her breast, squeezing it and feeling the stiff bud between his fingers as he continued his grind, working his whole body in rhythm with his movement. She wanted him to stop. She couldn’t get pregnant. You won’t. How did he know that? And if she did…would it be a bad thing? She could be his. He could be hers. They could find a happy life out here, in the wilds, away from war.

“I…I don’t want to stop. And you…” Rikkar murmured after the kiss, still going at a slow, sensual pace. He could stop it, right? He kept on telling himself this as he looked down on Zinni, hoping she might trust in him too. Because he could see, in her eyes and through her body language, that she didn’t want him to stop either. And so he didn’t. Not unless she asked him again. But on he went, thrusting softly yet firmly, bringing his hard length to the apex of its reach within her and then drawing out to repeat. He leaned down to kiss her again, a dance of tongues, before drawing out. He lay on her, his hot, strong body cradling her and being protective of her wounds. He looked into her eyes.

“Are you not okay?” He murmured, lips against her skin. “Am I hurting you? Should I…stop then?” Rikkar inquired more pressingly, though his words and actions did not align, as his hips still grinded against her.

 

[Sketchyequine]

Her brows furrowed, looking up at him. How could he be so confident about this? Zinni herself knew little, though she knew enough to know that when a man laid with a woman... it lead to children. Her reputation, her career, her status..... it could all recover from the events unfolding now. However, none it would ever recover if he put a child in her womb. She was young, fertile. As was he. The risk was incredibly high, yet here he was, whispering about how he could prevent it. As much as she wished that were true, she didn't know if she could possibly believe him. What if he would use this as a way to rip her out of combat against his way of life? He could beat her just by taking her out of the game, couldn't he? Was that the game he was playing?

But the way he touched her, it reassured her again and again that a man this gentle and kind couldn't possibly be in this for some sort of personal gain. She let out a long breath, one that had obviously been pent up in her stress. She let her eyes flutter closed when he kissed her again, reciprocating it calmly as he continued to thrust into her at a gentle and steady rhythm. His hand on her breast screamed of a sexual curiosity. He was learning her body, but nothing was forced. Each time he touched her he seemed so careful not to scare her off as though she were a wounded deer, looking for any excuse to bound away. In reality, however, she was looking for any possible reason to stay.

“No. You aren’t hurting me.” She whispered, one hand reaching up to intertwine her fingers in his long, dark hair. It was a lie in its own way. Losing her virginity wasn’t painless, but that sidle pain was severely outweighed by the pleasure he was offering to her through his calculated movements. They were learning how to do this together: a water and a fire bender. Two opposites. Sworn enemies. Yet they were tangled up in one another’s embrace as they made love. It was so wrong. Completely against all the rules, but Zinni had never been so intoxicated in her life. What did she care about more.

“No. Don’t stop. Not yet.” She finally whispered. With his hair tangled in her hand. She dragged him downward closer to her, her warm breath dragging across his face as she pressed her forehead to his. Her eyes fluttered closed and she bit down on her lower lip in sheer pleasure. “You just have to be careful. Pull out when the time is right. I’m trusting you to screw me, but don’t screw this up.” She said, chuckling a little at her own pun before she tilted her head upward and molded her lips to his in a lustful kiss. Her inner walls trembled around his invading shaft, and she let out a moan against his mouth before she deepened the kiss.

Her heart fluttered as the session continued as time went on the passion building inside of her continued to swell. Her legs tightened around him just as her insides constricted around his shaft. Her breathing was heavy and her arms soon wrapped around his shoulders in an act of affection. She wanted him close. She wanted to kiss him and be able to run her hands over him so that she could be sure that he was real. That this wasn’t all some hallucination she had created in her head as s result of all the blood she had lost through her upper thigh. But she knew that couldn’t be the case. She never could have thought up something quite this amazing, even after seeing the man half naked in the days prior.

“There’s a tribal woman out there somewhere that I am stealing you from.” She whispered, knowing this was selfish. But she couldn’t help it. Gradually her moans increased in frequency and volume between the sweet kisses she planted on his lips. And before she knew it, she was mid orgasm with her back arched and her mouth wide open, silently begging him to keep fucking her even as she came.

 

[BennyQ]

There was great relief when Zinni gave her ascent not to stop. Whatever hiccup that had been seemed to have passed. Still, Rikkar did not feel fully on board with continuing either as she would not have voiced such a concern if it was founded on nothing. Was it only pregnancy or something else? There must be something else wrong but he could not place his finger on it. Perhaps like him, she could not believe such pleasures and heights to be true, so easily come and indulged by them. They were conjoined, hip to hip, in the most intimate of acts. It was easy to forget reality about them. She gave her consent and he nodded as she pulled him down, urging him to continuing. He watched her face, contorting in pleasure, and he began again with his thrusting, sensual and slow into her tight depths, building up a pace once more.

She warned him again and his response was stifled in the mouthwatering kiss that followed, which he melted down into, returning the affection with as much vigour and want as Zinni. He could do this, he figured. Pull out when the time is right, yes that should not be difficult. But it was, tremendously so, for what sensation could match the delight of being so deeply embedded inside of her? He never wanted to leave. The experience seemed to renew and invigorate him despite his already impressive youthful vitality. It felt so good! And yet he had to remind himself. Pull out. No baby. Pull out…when the time is right. And yet it was feeling so right, so good, Rikkar didn’t think he could as time went on.

Soft groans and grunts of exertion came from his lips as he flowed into her, fluid like water, a rolling of his hips that pushed to her depths and then withdrew outwards, repeating like waves on the shore in a never ending dance. But it would end, Rikkar knew that much. He could feel it in his lower abdomen, a budding pressure that was mounting very rapidly. When was it right to pull out? He kept his brow to hers, eyes half-closed, his mind focusing upon the labours of his body. If he got caught up in her kiss or her beauty, he would not be able to do what was asked of him. So much seemed to hang in the balance, so much risk, so much reward, which he was receiving now. But there was always a price for such things, no?

It was so much easier to just give in to the pleasure, let his body take control, and indulge himself until they were both spent and exhausted on the warm grass in the warm sunlight.

He didn’t know what to say about being stolen from some tribal woman. Rikkar had never really thought about that life ever. He had been so caught up in his training, his bending, he had never really focused much on girls. He had the urges, the desires, but he had been patient enough to know it all came in time. And certainly not during war time either. He had been prepared to sell his life without ever experiencing it. Now after Zinni’s remark, it was all he could think of. What a future that might have been like, but not with a tribal woman. His mind conjured images of him and Zinni together, of water and fire, of the passion and fury and the madness. All of it combined. And all of it did combine in Rikkar, as he fell prey to the trap he had been trying to fight. He indulged his body and he began to thrust hard and vigorously into Zinni, driving her over the edge, bringing himself soon after to topple in.

“Oh, spirits…” he groaned to himself, feeling the tremendous pressure. The dam was cracking, about to burst forth with mountainous quality. Like a pressurized geyser about to burst forth. He kept going and going, head strained back, his neck stretched, his hips ploughing with ceaseless energy. The smacking of flesh into flesh was loud. He felt her insides squeeze him, as if begging him to stay. And he wanted to. He would. He kept going and going, his mind swirling in a fast descending spiral through his air. And when he hit the ground, he knew he would explode forth with all his glory and essence into her. He had to…

With a sudden gasp and eyes bursting open, Rikkar managed to stop. He pushed himself up back onto his knees and drew out of her with a wet sound. He had not. There was a powerful throbbing in his hardened cock as it came into the open, glistening in the sunlight with the juices of her own orgasm. It had been so close and it felt like a thousand flies were gnawing him from the inside, though it steadily decreased. Rikkar fell back on his rear and looked at Zinni, sprawled before him, legs spread and battered. They had done it. They had nearly done it. He ran a hand over his forehead and hair, pulling and straining it to rush blood back to his mind. He hadn’t…yes, he was sure he hadn’t. That was what she wanted, right? But it was not what he had wanted.

“And…and that’s for the traditionalist man I’m not stealing you away from.” He managed to comment weakly, a small smile on his lips as his chest and body heaved. He came down from the near orgasmic high and it was not a fun experience, teeth gritted and all. Next came the regret. Then the shame. And the realization and implication that he had just lain and bedded a woman of the Fire Nation. He sighed and fell back in the grass himself, away from Zinni, though their legs were still brushing and caressing together. His cock remained erect, occasionally jerking with the need for release. “I think…I think I stopped in time.” He commented, not quite sure and honestly not liking it at all. He got up on an elbow to look over to her. It was still morning, perhaps barely two hours after sun rise.

He smirked with a mischievous grin though next. “What was that…insanity that came over you a moment ago. You were like on fire. And inside…deep down…you hugged me so tightly I thought you’d rip it clean off.” He remarked, unsure of the female orgasm. Since he hadn’t had one, he might as well ask about hers. It was all a new experience for him and a sensation he absolutely enjoyed and yet did not taste fully.

 

[Sketchyequine]

He had done it. Rikkar has succeeded in fulfilling the one request that she had made of him and she was thankful for his willingness to cooperate with a woman who had, not so long ago, threatened to hurt him terribly and had battled with him nearly to the death. Yet, he cooperated, and that was a feat in itself. It made her feel a fondness for the boy. He seemed so careful in everything and receptive to everything her own concerns. If she didn’t know better she might even think he was a kind man. It made her smile a bit. Of course he were a kind man. After all he had gone through all of this trouble to keep her from bleeding out.

She noticed quite quickly that he himself had not been pushed over the edge. She knew little, but it still seemed as though she knew more than him as he sat back, completely giving up on his own chance at such bliss, instead lying on his back near her with their legs still tangled together. His silence and stillness concerned her. Had she done something wrong? Hurt or upset him? Her brow furrowed. It was him who had made the first move. It was him that had initiated the mating between fire and water. It was him who had convinced her not to stop. She had been receptive to all of it, but still why would he be so disappointed? He had wanted this.

Then the mood lightened once more and it felt like a ton of bricks lifted off of Zinni’s chest. Usually his boyish comments annoyed her, but she was in far too blissful a state to be irritated with him now. Instead she just lifted her recently used body off of the ground and instead crawled atop his with careful slowness. Each movement sent pain through her thigh but it didn’t matter. It wouldn’t kill her and this was far more important than saving herself a little discomfort. Even now it was far better than it had been before. The warrior had certainly felt worse pains in her lifetime and career. Soon she was atop him, her breasts brushing against his chest and age leaned down for a gentle kiss.

“You talk too much, waterboy.” She whispered to him, not acknowledging his questions. She wouldn’t need to. Soon he would know for himself what had happened to her in that moment of writhing pleasure. Zinni leaned down, kissing him softly. She hoped he could, and would, trust her now. He had given her her greatest pleasure. Now it was his turn to feel what it was like. Her kisses were soft and sweet on his lips and had they trailed down to his chin, along his jaw, up to his ear, then subsequently down the length of his neck until they met his collar bone. Her lips just as soft now as they had been when he was within her.

Her hand trailed downward slowly along his chest and abdomen, giving him every opportunity to tell her know seeing as her target was clear. Soon her pale hand was once again upon his thick, tan manhood and she wrapped her fingers around it confidently. trust me. his cock, still slick with her essence, was much harder now and stroking it was easy now that it was lubed with the proof of their love making. She stroked him slowly at first. Never taking her lips off of him in hopes they would grant him confidence in this act. She wanted this. He wasn’t forcing her into anything. He had to believe that or he would never reach his own peak.

Never talking, Zinni kept peppering her counterpart with kisses, sometimes flicking her tongue out to lick his skin or lips as they made out. Her hand kept stroking, but the pace was not uniform. Faster and faster she went, fueled by the ability to jerk him off now without any unnecessary friction between her hand and his erection. No matter how Rikkar flexed, groaned, or wiggled beneath her, she didn’t stop or even slow down. And she wouldn’t. Not until he release. Rikkar was going to cum. He had lost his innocence as had she. They both deserved that spiritual high of pleasure during the process.

 

[BennyQ]

“Hey, you shouldn’t be moving.” Rikkar said, suddenly dumbfounded and guilt ridden. After he had just practically ridden her and he was now complaining about her movement? Where was this logical healer’s concern a moment ago and the moments before that? They stayed even more silent then as she began to crawl over him. “What-“ he began to voice again, this time genuinely curious as to what Zinni was going to do but she silenced him with a whisper. Water-man he tried to correct but simply smiled and received her eager kisses, hands coming to graze over her sides and hold her body close to his. There was indeed a sensation like no other than brushing up against the female form. And quite a flawless, strong body at that.

He gasped softly as she began to kiss him all over, places he had never been kissed or touched by another ever. They sent tingles down his spines and left him hollow. He could not close his eyes, though he knew the sensation would jump triple fold if he did, for he wanted to see what this fiery beauty had in mind for him. “Zinni.” He murmured softly, though he got no answer as her hand trailed down his impressive form. His chest was wide and broad, as hard as steel. His abdomen even more so, with barely any fat to grab. The flesh hugged the muscle tightly, exposing the firm tendons beneath in two neat rows that went down to his pelvis. Her hand went there, finding his organ so recently refuted and denied. It had not lost its lustre or shape though, thick and hard, throbbing in her grip. Rikkar had never been touched there either by a girl ever before.

Like water, he seemed to conduct a tremendous amount of electricity when she touched him there.

It shocked and startled him. And even as the seconds passed with her grip remaining, it still seemed to shock and startle him more. His toes curled and clenched and his mouth gasped. His whole body shook and was entirely at her mercy. Just from a mere touch! He was only momentarily distracted from her hand when she kissed him again and that too became a chore, needing to breathe and gasp as she squeezed or clutched him a particular way. “Oh, fuck…” he groaned, unable to restrain it. He threw his head back and lay flat on the grass, his body heaving with breath, raising and lowering Zinni’s body as she lay on him. His cock reached high for the heavens in her grip, the towering member hovering from the praise and attentions it was receiving. Something very explosive was building up in him, like a fire. And fires were not his strong suit.

His arms were about her, locking around her back. They squeezed her with growing urgency, indicative of how closer and closer he was getting. Rikkar had never spilled his seed before. There had been dreams when he was younger but this was entirely new to him. Something very big was going to happen. It began to worry him. “Zinni, fuck…I’m…” he stuttered, eyelids fluttering and growing heavy. It was coming, so near and powerfully. It didn’t take long to coax the sensation back, so recently built up to in their recent riding together but he had denied himself. Now he was forbidden, having betrayed his body once before. It was all in Zinni’s hands, literally and figuratively. And it kept bubbling, threatening to burst the dam. He just…needed…

He couldn’t. And then he did. With a great cry, feral and powerful, with a rolling sensation in his hips and body like waves on the beach, he began to cum. His hips rolled his cock in and out of her grip, seed spewing forth high into the air to splatter somewhere on the grass further beyond. Much got on her hands and much trickled down the side of his shaft as well. But Rikkar didn’t know or take stock. His eyes finally shut and his vision swarmed with colour as he came, his whole body shaking and shuddering, tingles and electricity all dancing in unison to the music. He groaned and rasped even, as if he was burning within of an uncontrollable fire. What had Zinni ignited in him? It was a fire all people had, sometimes stoked by others or themselves, or never at all, which was sorrowful. But for Rikkar life would never be the same. He came, and then he came down. And he lay upon the grass, plastered as if drunk, breathing hard as his whole body laboured in exertion. The orgasm had passed. It left him with a regretful sensation of not having been able to share it with Zinni, at the same time.

He lay there, with Zinni upon them. What were they now? Not enemies. They couldn’t be enemies after that. Friends? They had learned each other’s names but yesterday. Seen each other but the day before. What were they doing? What madness had infected them? Rikkar was happy then of this quarantine from others, for she was all his. And he would be hers. “That was…that was most extraordinary. I...fuck.” Rikkar said, almost never swearing. He brought his hand up to stroke her hair back, his other resting over the small of her back. “I don’t think any tribal woman would ever have known how to do that.” He snickered aloud. “Or any traditionalist man. So what must you be then really?” He pondered next, a very firm seriousness coming over him.

“You’re not a soldier. You’re too capable of caring and consideration to be one, Zinni.” He added in a low voice, speaking what he perceived to be true about her now. And it was a good thing to say about a person was it not? That one was kind and caring. She took care of him when she didn’t have to, when he had initiated an act that he should not have. “You…I should finish patching you up before I make you worse.” He ended with a laugh again.

 

[Sketchyequine]

Zinni laid there for a moment, wiping her hand off in the grass at Rikkar’s flank and letting her head rest on his shoulder as her own mind reeled. She was betrothed. An esteemed warrior of the fire nation. She had kept her legs closed in the presence of many powerful men who could offer her a life of regality and respect. She had denied each and every one of them and saved herself. But now? It took no more than a tribal boy with nothing more than the clothes on his back to make her throw her greatest gift right in the trash. She had opened up to him like a whore, and he hardly even understood what had just happened. She was flushed with shame.

“I’m the woman who made you cum. It’s not so complicated.” Zinni said matter-o-factly with a little shrug. “And anyone would have been able to figure it out. I guess we just have better sex ed in the city than the tribes do. That’s all it was, Rikkar. Sex. We had sex and now it’s over.” She placed her hands on either side of his broad shoulders and hoisted herself off of him, peeling her body away from his as she forced herself to her feet in all of her naked glory. The movement, however, was not without consequence. Zinni winced and quickly reached out to steady herself against a nearby tree as pain shot through her injured hip and thigh. The strain also caused a small trickle of blood to emerge from the remaining holes in her flesh. Though she would never admit she was in pain. She had been humbled enough.

“I’m definitely a soldier, Rikkar. I’ve been training for this job my entire life. You got dropped into this fight, but I trained for it for years. This war runs through my veins like a drug, Rikkar, and there’s nothing I can do to get away from it. It’s the obligation I have to my people just as you have an obligation to your own. Where you’re mistaken is that just because I’m on the opposite side of the game means I’m incapable of basic human emotions. Where of course I am. I can love and care just as you, your mother, and your siblings can. I’m not a bad person just because the blood that pumps through my veins makes me your enemy. Of course I care. Of course I can be kind. I’m a human being just like you. I just bear fire while you bear water.” Zinni spoke clearly though she remained against the tree, te injured leg hanging limply with a cocked knee and her foot hardly brushing the ground just to keep her balance.

“Now. Stop overthinking things. It’s time to get our heads back on our shoulders. In fact it would be wise for you to leave, Rikkar. Go to the port. Wait for a water nation ship there. They need food as supplies just like everyone else. They must stop for land every once and awhile. Get back to your people and I’ll get back to mine. Stay low and hidden until you see familiar sails, then get your ass home. Get yourself a woman whos right for you and never look back on this day. Forget it happened. Forget my name.” Zinni instructed him. She had always bossy, and this was no exception. But it was with the best of intention. Nothing good could come of the two of them keeping each other’s company. It would lead to certain disaster one way or another.

Zinni looked out and chewed on her lip ever so slightly. She could hear water running not far off. A creek, perhaps. Small, but it would lead to something bigger. Zinni knew this land well enough to know there was a lake not far from here. A body of water deep enough to soak her aching bones in. Perhaps in doing so she would find the strength to carry on with Ze. They had a long way to go still if they were to meet up with her betrothed at a far earth nation port. But, at least they could be more discreet without the loud boy and his even louder turtle duck. Zinni stooped down, gathering her clothes and pressing hem to her breasts in a wadded mess in some sort of attempt at modesty, but it meant little. Rikkar had already seen it all. In broad daylight no less. Then she began hobbling in the direction of the lake.

Each step was painful. The fire that ran through her blood seared her every time she tried to move her mangled muscle and joint, but Zinni pushed on. She would no longer pursue Rikkar. He had earned his freedom, and Zinni actually found herself feeling affection towards the man. It scared her. She had never softened up towards a prisoner before. She hadn’t even been kind to Rikkar. Not once until that morning. Yet something had driven him to save her life and then even more. He had made love to her out of the blue, and even worse yet was that she reveled in it. Her body screamed for more even now, but she denied her desires. The best move now was to cut him loose. He would be better off on his own.

Zinni kept walking, her clothes in hand, until she stepped on a dew covered root and slipped, crashing down in the undergrowth with a wince. Her back to Rikkar.

 

[BennyQ]

Rikkar was at a loss for words. He did not truly understand what had just happened and he was more confused at how it turned out. Surely such an act was spiritual and august beyond all feelings and rewards yet Zinni brushed off his praises and his loss of composure so easily. Was she not similarly affected? He was unaware of the extent of sexual deviancy, that others indulged such intimate acts for fun and temporal sensations, changing partners like one changed socks or boots. It was indeed not taught in his culture or society. It was a most somber and important coupling, one conducted with one’s life companion. He and Zinni were not but did she not at least feel some closeness? Or perhaps she simply refused the analysis of his words of being more than a soldier. They were after all supposed to be at war.

“Not over.” He simply said as she rose, though it wasn’t his intent to challenge or mock or refute her words. It seemed as if another voice spoke for him, coming from within, blessed with perhaps some strange power of foresight. He didn’t understand it and lowered his gaze as Zinni rose and turned away. He did not look at her nakedness before, though it was embedded deep within his memory now. It was a flawless, powerful, and most beautiful figure. But he did not look. If the deed was done, it was not his to behold then. She tried to lecture him about her decision but he didn’t feel the same way. If she truly believed her own words then they would be contradicting, for no one who was borne of love and care would speak of war and division as she did. Was he overthinking things? Most undoubtedly so, for all this was new and strange to him. But like her he was a warrior and a warrior acted decisively and with great speed.

Her plan seemed a good one. No longer prisoner. They would travel together to port and go their separate ways. But that wouldn’t be the end of it. He would return to the fight, for it would never end while his homeland and people were in danger. And she would return to hers, again to threaten the sanctity and peace of others. How could he forget when it was very possible they might face each other again? It amazed and stunned him at how she could simply delegate and devolve the entire affair and dismissive it so easily. Did she not experience the same thrill and rush from the coupling? Love was far more enjoyable and rewarding than war, yet war she chose instead. So be it.

But how could she just forget it and move on? That was simply unimaginable to Rikkar. Impossible even. She must be lying. Not that any good would come if she had spilled truth to him. He was water, she was fire. The two were not compatible, as all else would tell them. He collected his own garments, pulling up his breeches from his ankles and slinging his tunic over a shoulder. He looked up just in time to see Zinni slip and fall right on her bottom, her naked and unblemished pale back visible to his eyes. He frowned and pouted, feeling the urge already swelling in him again at the sight but he pushed it back. He could not pursue that path anymore, no matter how dearly he desired it. He had to respect her wishes and so he would. But some things would never be forgotten. With a sigh, he stood up and on his bare feet pattered over to her.

He reached down to hook his hand under her shoulder on her injured side, with his own weight and strength to support her as he helped her stand. “I will never forget.” Rikkar told her flatly and with conviction. “Yet I will respect your wishes to…leave it be, as a memory of impulse.” But I don’t believe a single word you said about obligations and opposites. And you don’t either. “But one thing I can’t forget, which I have, is your injury. You are wounded and still dreadfully in peril of worse maiming. You need help. But try not to…” he flashed a humorous smirk, “get excited when it happens.” He said vaguely, before demonstrating why, as he reached down with his other arm and immediately scooped Zinni up in his arms. He cradled her bridal style, above any objections, and walked her the short distance to the body of water from which he had drawn from to fight the bandits.

Rikkar found a large rock barely jutting above the surface and there he lowered Zinni, tossing his tunic back onto the shore but uncaring as his trousers got soaked up to the knees. Even more so when he knelt down on one knee in front of her and took her injured leg, his eyes and gaze strained in concentration as he stretched out the limb and ran his hand along the remaining two wounds he had yet to patch. Dart your eyes up and you’ll see her sex and her breasts all visible for you…for the taking. No! He had to focus on this or she would die. Leaving her ankle balanced over his hard shoulder, he used his hand to conjure up a small ball of pristine, clear water, before guiding it slowly to the side of Zinni’s hip. It slowly kissed her wound and then engulfed it, beginning to swirl in small circles as he cleaned the wound and helped compel it to heal.

It would take an hour for each.

It was high morning and the sun was strong and bright in the sky. There was not a cloud. The trees stood with infinite patience all around and birds sang from within. Two hours in the water, so near, and yet so silent. His upper body seemed to glow a faint bronze hue in the bright sunlight, while his face and eyes were directed only upon her hip or elsewhere around her. Milo skirted by at one point and even Ze would lumber over to drink and bellow at them a few times. Rikkar commented to both creatures but rarely made eye contact with Zinni. If she wanted to break off the healing process at any time, he would let her. But not without disapproval. Eventually once the gashes resembled pale white scars and nasty bruises, he would leave her alone. He returned to the shore and adorned himself in his tunic, stretching his limbs. He didn’t bathe and didn’t turn around to look upon her nakedness. All that time, he had respected her dignity. That was what she wanted right? Respect, as a woman and as a person.

“There will be a village or hamlet nearby. These bandits are often vagabonds and outlaws driven from home because of…the war.” He said aloud to Zinni without looking at her, while avoiding the fact that it was usually her people who drove them out. “From the village, we can get our bearings to the nearest port but that brings another issue. It’ll either be your people in control…or mind or the Earth Kingdom. One side won’t be friendly to one of us. In any case, we should find disguises, at least to cover up at an outward glance. My blue or your red won’t be particularly appreciated by some. And it won’t certainly be understood why we are together and not ripping each other apart. Perhaps something more neutral. At least until one of us is safely with their own people and heading back home.” Where we both belong and not in this strange country.

"Now, the sooner you are done with your beauty bath, the sooner I can catch some fish! Then we can be off and you can be rid of me as you so desperately want." Rikkar said, though with a cheery tone that contrasted with his remarks. He was only jesting, never serious, back to the way he was. But would he ever truly be the same after this morning? Never. And he knew it. It just gnawed at him in not knowing what Zinni really felt, if she was truly stoic to it all or merely hiding it as his gut seemed to tell him.

 

[Sketchyequine]

Zinni’s breath caught in her gullet when Rikkar scooped her up: exhibiting his strength over her. She felt small. Weak. Like some little housepet that had never seen the horror of war or felt blood running down her fingertips. Zinni was not a house pet, nor would she ever be capable of becoming one. She would grow restless and she would flee at the soonest opportunity if any man or woman tried to tame her in such a manner. Not even a man as steadfast of Rikkar could not extinguish the angsty flame forever burning in Zinni’s heart. Her spirit demanded freedom, and perhaps that characteristic alone had been the reason for her rebel to begin with. After all, her betrothed hoped to tame her and just fill her with babies for the remaining duration of her fertile life. Would Rikkar want to do the same with his woman?

Despite her fears of stagnancy, she couldn’t deny the comfort she felt when he held her in his arms and to his chest. Her eyelids fluttered closed and she subconsciously leaned deeper into his embrace. The support was comforting, and it felt as though there was someone out there who truly had her back for once despite their social differences. The false sense of protection was dangerous, she knew, Rikkar could turn and run away at any moment and it would be exactly what she had told him to do to begin with. He could bury an icicle in her heart just as he had promised to do during their first battle before his kidnap, and she couldn't blame him. Eliminating her would eradicate an influential and powerful enemy to his people. He could so easily choose his people over her and eliminate not only her threat, but also the guilt he seemed to feel from riding her just minutes before.

She sat on the rock cooperatively in all her nakedness as he continued her healing process. The blood that recently dripped from her wounds after their coupling was washed away as were the gashes in their own time. It was kind of him to heal her despite her coldness and their situation. Despite his constant attempts to keep his eyes off of her she just gazed at him: drinking in the details of his face. He was handsome, caring,, and as far as she was concerned a damn good lay. She was crazy to try and shake him off so coldly. But she knew she had to. It was the only gift of protection she could offer him. If he stayed with her… he was doomed. It was only a matter of time before her people came.

Once the process was complete, Zinni dived into the water and let it engulf her. Despite the fire in her blood, the water was soothing to her skin, and it at least partially concealed her nudity as she looked up to Rikkar as he stood on the bank. “Fetch the clothes from the dead bandits. If there's anything big enough for you, that is.” She mumbled, taking note of how generally broad Rikkar was. That broadness was part of what made it so satisfying to have him atop her. He covered her like a shield when he made love to her. “And don’t worry about fishing. I have currency in my saddlepack. I can buy us something to eat besides fish. By the end of this journey we are going to be tired of fish to begin with.”

Under the surface, Zinni took care to scrub her sex clean of any evidence of their romp in the woods earlier that morning. And once Rikkar departed to fetch the clothes she climbed from the water, slipping back into the undergarments she had brought along with her. As red as they were, they would be covered by the simple earth nation wear hat the bandits had worn. Now if only she could hide her pale skin and yellow eyes… they would be alright. Zinni would just have to be sure to keep her head low as they ventured into the unfamiliar village.

She whistled loud for Ze next. They wouldn’t be able to ride him into town for the sake of appearances, but they could ride him closer to the perimeter, and he would be close by in case they needed to make a quick getaway… or Zini needed him to run someone over again. She lead the beast back toward the camp where the corpses and Rikkar were likely waiting for her and she began packing up the beast. She was dreading hauling her body onto the rhino. Her leg and hip were far better than they had been, but they still ached from the bruising and deeper damage that had yet to repair itself. The ride would be painful, just as it had been for Rikkar the day prior. Karma? Perhaps the spirits were punishing her for trying to extinguish such a light of a man.

 

[BennyQ]

“I’ve been eating fish for nearly twenty years. Ain’t tired of it now or ever.” Rikkar commented quite cheerfully in response to buying something else to eat. It didn’t bother him really. He left Zinni behind to check those few bandits who had the unfortunate outcome of dying in the struggle. Rikkar had taken care not to…overly harm anyone but Zinni had been unrestrained in that fashion. He figured that was how fire was. Play with it and get burned. There were only two though, neither with cloak or garments big enough to fully cover him. But it wasn’t himself who needed to hide. He was supposed to be a friend and ally to the Earth Kingdom. It was Zinni who would need the disguise. But as much as she wanted to act so, she wasn’t truly alone here either.

He at least washed and cleansed the two cloaks of green and grey before bringing them over. He handed one to Zinni to wrap around herself and the other he threw around his own shoulders, covered and dressed. It wouldn’t fit completely around him so he let it dangle off to the side, covering an arm with its muscle and tattoos. He found some berries on the way back to the camp and since he had next to no belongings, he took the time to go fishing while Zinni packed up. It wasn’t exactly a fair competition for the fish, given that he was a waterbender who could trap them within their own element. But he took only what he needed, three specimens, to fill his belly and Zinni’s, as well as Ze.

“All set? Let’s cook and eat while we travel.” Rikkar said and used the remnants of the fire to cook, before kicking sand over it to try and conceal it as best he could. He glomped his own fish between his teeth, while handing Zinni’s to her impaled on a stick. Ze got his fish tossed to him and consumed in a single bite and some chews. Bones were spat out a second later. Good beast. He moved to Ze’s side too but didn’t clamber on right away. Would that be appropriate, sitting groin to flank with Zinni, after what they had done and what she had declared? Better he walk.

But he still helped her onto the beast’s back, again seeing past all the emotion and memory to simply help someone in need. He wasn’t fooled. Zinni was hit on her leg and it would restrict her mobility. There was no shame in needing help either. He didn’t mock or jest. They were still enemies right? Or just two young people stuck in a strange foreign land alone? He didn’t clamber on after her. He patted Ze’s bulk to urge him forward, while Milo streamed about the thick legs, and Rikkar followed on foot. “After being roped up and forced to saddle up such a thick set ride, I would rather walk today and stretch my legs.” He simply explained, with no intent on trying to flee or run off into the woods suddenly. She could still chase him down. But he was also trying to respect her wishes to stay aloof and not push for anything else.

“These Earth Kingdom lot are varied. Not one big society like yours or tribal like mine. Each village or town here can be different from the next. They have more than one King too, lesser ones and the big one in Ba-Sing-Se.” Rikkar mused as they walked, often beside Ze or a bit back by Zinni. There was a growing irritation in his foot within the first few hours. Zinni had scorched him pretty bad there in their fight a day or two ago. It was starting to flare up again but he put his own brave face on it. He was the healer. He had to look out for others. He could deal with himself later. “Some might not like my sort even but they’ll all definitely hate you. So try to keep a low profile, eh?” Rikkar said to her as they crossed through the forest.

They were maybe halfway towards the nearest village, finding a road suddenly in the woods that they could follow, when the pain really began to show. Rikkar began to lag and even snatched up a long branch to use as a crutch and walking stick, but that didn’t even help. “I need…I need a quick pause.” He said with a huff, sweat pricking his forehead as he leaned down against a tree. He immediately pulled up a leg of his breeches and saw a purple bruise swelling and throbbing on his ankle. Ouch. He quickly covered it up.

 

[Sketchyequine]

Compliant in her own way, Zinni wrapped a sash around her waist to keep the cloak closed around her: covering her panties and the binding around her breasts, holding them in place. It was significantly oversized on her feminine girth, but it was also obviously that she was taller than the stout individual who had worn it before. There was one benefit of this for Rikkar: Zinni’s feminine curves were almost completely concealed in the garment. Would it eliminate temptation? Perhaps. For it was that body who had tempted him to begin with. The body of aa young, and fertile firebender, and a body dressed much unlike the bodies of native women who hailed from Rikkar’s homelands.

She ate the fish on the road, picking out bones as she went along, but not talking much as Ze lumbered along and Rikkar strode along side the woman and her mount. She listened to the words he had to say, but scarcely gave a nod to respond to them. Did he honestly think she knew nothing of this part of the world? She was a soldier. She had been traveling to villages for moons. It was Rikkar who was knew to this war zone that they were in, not Zinni. However, out of the goodness of her own heart, she decided to refrain from embarrassing the boy. There had already been enough shame for one day.

In the hours the hours that came and went, Zinni was mostly silent: Ze’s grunts of laziness outnumbering her words by far as they rode. However, she stole glances at the man often as she was lost in thought. Thoughts that mostly revolved around the boy to begin with. He was ailing, that much was obvious, but his pride was just as bad as her own. He wasn’t about to admit that he needed a helping hand. Even as he fetched himself a crutch or took a peek at his purpled foot. Claiming he needed but a breather. She had seen the purpled flesh.

Zinni rolled her eyes and shook hr head. “No, honey. You need far more than a break. You’re done walking. No negotiations or I’ll tie you up and haul you into town like a freshly slaughtered pig with an apple in your mouth.” She said teasingly, but would he know it was in jest? Did he still feel threatened by her? She couldn’t help but wonder. She had, not so long ago, threatened him with a the cruelest form of torture. Now she was his only contact in this unrelenting circumstance. They had the best odds of the stuck together, and they couldn’t do that if Rikkar dropped dead from the infected burn.

She pulled Ze around and rode up beside Rikkar. Without hesitation she reached down, grabbing Rikkar by the hand and hoisting him up onto the back of her beast. Ze let out a groan of protest but he was quickly silenced when Zinni gave him a reassuring pat and he lumbered on with Zinni and Rikkar riding tandem upon his back. Pressed close by the movement of the animal. “No more walking. You need to heal your wounds just as you’ve healed mine. There’s a canteen in the saddle bag to the left. Work on your foot. We will get pumice in town.” She spoke. She tried to maintain a coldness to break the ties, but there was an undeniable level of care in her words. She wanted him well.

Zinni then made a move that surprised even her. She reached around behind her back and trailed her blind fingers along Rikkar’s arm until she found his hand. Then she grabbed it and drew it around her waist until they laced fingers against her torso: just above her navel. Her hand was warm. Almost inhumanly warm. Just as it had been the first time she ever touched his flesh when he had been bound to a tree. Zinni was warm. She would always be warm. She was fire and he was ice. Opposites that were joined once more as one. Only this time… not through coupling.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered, swallowing her pride. “I tried to cut ties because I was trying to save you from pain and regret. I don’t hate you, Rikkar. The only thing I hate is that I liked it.” She admitted, still gripping his hand.

 

[BennyQ]

“Can I still have the apple? Though there isn’t much meat on me to eat, I would think.” Rikkar said in reply to Zinni’s demand, flashing a grim smile, though cold sweat pricked his forehead and glistened a little, revealing more of his own painful straits. He didn’t take her threat seriously anymore. No, he believed fully, perhaps naively, that after their impulsive moment of passion they could at least coexist without conflict. She had caught him limping, not much he could do to deny it. And a man who didn’t acknowledge a necessity or need in a desperate moment was already lost. He still lingered by the tree, wanting a bit of rest. Clambering onto Ze’s back seemed a chore all in itself. But she didn’t give him the option. The ground rumbled and Rikkar glanced up at the last second with a silent gasp as she grabbed him and helped him up.

He didn’t resist. His hand clasped hers tightly, like they had done when they lain together, and he got on behind Zinni. Without pressure put on his ankle, it felt immediately much better, though still throbbing, irking the edges of his thoughts and mind. Rikkar was also very keen of the closeness again with Zinni, seeing around her upper back the strong tendons of muscle. And off her hair came a natural fragrance that was wonderful to behold. Breathing felt hard again, as his heart began to race for means other than his own living. It craved her again. It craved her deeply, a powerful longing trying to pull him deep into a well of clear water. Just drown in it and accept it.

She trusted him with water. He took it silently, his mood for a time tempered by his inner yearning so he didn’t answer Zinni’s instructions or even joke about it. She cared, which was very different from the sudden distance she put between them by the shore. Perhaps this was all for simple efficiency and haste, as they needed to get away from the battle before certain elements came looking. He hadn’t a chance to pop the canteen open when she grabbed his other arm and pulled it around her waist. He looked down but again didn’t resist, snaking his arm more closely around her and shifting in. He simply did so, not even pondering the consequence of it. He wanted to be close to her. He got it. Why resist that either?

And then she apologized. Apologized for her words and to Rikkar it seemed a very strange thing. But that same wisdom that had him accepting her help clearly wasn’t exclusive to him. She was wise as well, as much as she was a great warrior. It made his heart flutter for her more, for that was what he had been attracted to most. He intertwined his fingers with hers and squeezed reassuringly. He knew it could not have been easy for her though to say what she said.

“You’re brave, Zinni. And you have courage. But it was only…natural what we did. You don’t have to hate yourself for being human.” Rikkar said softly to her. He leaned forward and gently kissed the back of her neck. “I’m not afraid of the regret. I will have to accept it but I will be content in knowing that there was a happy time that caused it. But, none of us have to suffer alone, you know.” Rikkar said, giving her hand another squeeze. “Or needlessly.” He added, quite vaguely. It didn’t have to be this way if she let go of whatever was tugging her away and accepted what her heart desired. But after a brief moment, for he knew that was what she wanted anyways to keep the distance, he pulled his arm back from her waist. He needed it anyways to heal himself with the water.

That’s what he focused on. Milo quacked from where he had been hiding in a bag when the water began to swirl out of the canteen, dancing in tune to Rikkar’s fingers. He shifted it to surrounded his ankle, before freezing it. He let out a very enjoyable and pleasurable sigh when it did, the sound of it frosting. “Well,” he said after a moment, “it is your fault for hitting me so rudely.” He jested about his foot. “So it’s only fair you give me a ride anyways.” His mind immediately leapt to a more imaginative meaning of the word ride. He decided to shut his mouth and stop trying to change Zinni’s mind about them. He could not take her away from her people. It might be like taking a flower out of the sun, as if to hide it’s beauty inside but only to see that caused it to writher away.

By evening, they would catch sight of the town. It was nestled by a river that flowed into the ocean, cramped in the angle between. Smoke rose from fifty or so homesteads, surrounded by a tall wooden wall with watchtowers. The banner of the Earth Kingdom fluttered there but the soldiers didn’t look professional. Probably just townguard, as the real fighting men had probably gone abroad. There was a port with ships, though Rikkar couldn’t see any of the masts or banners to tell which nation. Smart captains would try to appear as neutral as possible to avoid attack or inspection by warships. “Well what, are we going to walk right up? I don’t see any other way in. We go in, get supplies or information, come back out and make a decision. Hopefully not draw any attention.” Rikkar said, before climbing off Ze.

He walked around a bit, his ankle better after a half-day of rest upon the beast. He could manage a short walk. They could not take Ze inside. That might give Zinni away as Fire Nation. “What’s our cover story? Fleeing refugees?” Rikkar suggested. “I lost my farm when soldiers took all my cattle away. That seems plausible, yes? And you…hmm.” He mused, a soft smile on his lips. Maybe he had lots of ideas on what her cover could be but decided not to share.

 

[Sketchyequine]

Zinni leaned into him as her eyes briefly fluttered closed. He held her and, cradled er waist, and pressed his lips into the back of her neck. In that moment, for once in her life, Zinni felt protected rather than feeling the constant nagging feeling that she needed to be on edge and anyone could turn on her in any second. It was foolish, probably, to put trust into the waterbender. After all he had been her prisoner not so very long ago. She had threatened to hurt him, even kill him, but yet she had let him squeeze between her thighs, and perhaps into her good graces as well. Stupid girl.

She listened to the movement of the water, then a smirk crossed her lips as he retorted to her. Se as warming up to these constant jests. "I burned your foot, but I think we're even considering you tried to put an icle through me. If you're going to impale me, Rikkar, I much prefer your method from this morning than trying to shove ice through my heart. Foolish you thought that would work though. You ought to know my heart isn't beating to begin with. Im cold, hard, and heartless. Fear me, waterbender." She jested right back to im. Was this the first time he had convinced her to joke with him? This wasn't a side of Zinni that saw the light very often. Not very often at all. "Ask me about that ride again later, waterboy."

The rest of the ride was spent in comfortable silence. Zinni allowed her mind to focus on the sensation of Rikkar's breah grazing over her shoulders and the back of her neck. It would have been so easy for him to seduce her again right then and there, but he made no attempts. He was incredibly well behaved, actually, especially for him. He kept his hands to himself and his mouth closed. Even his infuriating little pet seemed too spent to gaggle on. It was a quiet peacefulness that rejuvenated the fire bender. Though she wished that Rikkar would show any sign that he was still interested in her. Indifference to one another would be so much easier, but passion would be so much more fun.

The darkening of the sky would actually be better for their entry into the small earth bender town. Under the cover of darkness they might look just a little less.... odd. It would cloak Zinni's golden eyes, sharp features, and black hair: all distinctive of her people. It would also help to mask just how tan Rikkar's flesh was and help to shroud the blue he still wore on account of him being so much bigger than the thieves that had jumped them. Yes. This just might work out for them. Well... without her getting slaughtered for her bloodline and career choice.

"I'm your wife." Zinni said simply, very matter of fact. "We'll leave Ze and Milo here, they can fend for themselves, and we'll get a room in the inn. It will be best for us to get some rest... and it will be easier to end to our wounds." Zinni added, reaching into her saddlebag and grabbing out a leather sack of significant size, filled to the brim with yuan. Something Rikkar may not have known about Zinni was that she, and her entire family, were filthy rich. It paid well to have influence and to be highly esteemed warlords. Zinni popped open the sack and pulled out two much smaller sacks from within before tucking the currency back into Ze's saddlebags. "You trample anyone who bothers you or milo while I'm away, alright big guy?" She said sweetly to the beast giving him a pat on the shoulder before turning back towards the waterbender.

Without hesitation she popped open the cloak that shrouded her, revealing her ample bosom bound in the red silk cloth. She pulled away the binding, revealing ample cleavage, and settled the small sack of coins between her breasts. The perfect hiding place. She then rose her eyes to Rikkar with a quirk of her brow. Would he ogle at her chest? Part of her hoped that he would. "Alright. Your turn, waterboy." She said simply before stepping into him. Her half naked bosom brushed against his defined pectoral muscles. Without hesitation, she reached her hand into his trousers, though she didn't go for the obvious target. Instead she tied the small sack of yuan to his waist band and let the sack of coins nestle at his khip, concealed by his bottoms. Then she removed her ands and stepped away as though nothing out of the ordinary had taken place.

They began walking toward the towns gates, and Zinni spoke softly to her companion. "Your task is securing us a room in the inn. I'll find us food and salve for your foot. There should be more than enough there for a room." The distance between them and the gates began to narrow, and Zinni could feel her heartrate rising. If they were caught it was surely her head that would be on a plate. "Oh. And don't do anything stupid."