Chapter Five

And Bid Your Cares Goodbye

And the weight that you carry on your shoulders

Is it there because you are afraid to fly?

Your feet they never left the ground

Is it because you are afraid that you could rise too high?

- Bukahara, Afraid to fly.

The last time she packed for a trip was... Claire couldn't even remember when. Summer camp maybe; weeks of wooded camp grounds, lake swimming, telling stories around the fire as smores were meticulously constructed for optimum gooeyness.

She could look back, at those not-so distant memories, and find the girl inhabiting them strange and far removed from her life now.

Claire already decided to wear her modern clothes to travel, the jeans cinched with a cloth belt so they wouldn't slip off her hips. Even with the wear and tear they'd endured, they were still sturdier than the clothes that had survived the last one hundred years inside the temple.

In a travel pack that didn't smell gross or have water damage like so many of the others, she put all the airbending scrolls she could find that weren't replicas; that made three since she hadn't really been hunting for them. There should be more, but Claire didn't have the time to look for them. Spare clothes in the form of three sets of robes, shirts, and pants were almost an afterthought.

Claire also packed all the dried fruit she had left from the last baking, and several pounds worth of gathered nuts, plus the last batch of bread she would likely ever make in the Southern Air Temple kitchens. There wasn't a logical reason for this extra weight, more it was to quieten an anxiety. That there wouldn't be enough food onboard to feed an extra mouth, that she would be expected to bring her own food because why wouldn't she? The other reason for taking so much vegetarian food was more of a long shot, really.

"Do you understand what I'm saying, Roxy?" She held her friend's furry cheeks in her hands. "I know you're smart but- do you want to come with me? Maybe for a really long time? I'll understand if you want to stay with your family but I'd really, I mean, I'd love it if you came with me."

The flying lemur only blinked her great green eyes, revealing nothing.

Claire sighed, rubbing her friend's long ears the way she liked with long, patient strokes. "Well, I guess I'll know if you follow me down the mountain."

Down the mountain.

She had to remember to breathe at the thought.

If she had practised with the glider more -and not killed herself in the process- then this would be a walk in the park. "But then I wouldn't have met Iroh and Zuko, would I? If I'd left? And where would I have gone if I got to the bottom? Being able to glide that far doesn't mean I could get off the island. I don't think there is anyone living here now so finding a boat would be impossible..."

And if she was on an uninhabited island she would have to make her own shelter, find her own food and it would not be as easy as picking from overgrown orchards or learning how to use old bread ovens. After all, flying down -if she managed even that- would be the easy part. Trying to get back up again... Claire didn't relish the thought.

"Should I take the glider? There are so few left and I really should learn... it'll be a real pain to get down the mountain though and- ugh can you imagine how embarrassing it'll be to explain? 'Why yes, I do have a fully functional glider staff, but you see, in the whole year I've been here I haven't figured out how to use it without killing myself. Isn't that funny? Haha, absolutely hilarious.' Not."

Roxy endured her ramblings like usual, though Claire taking to herself or her small furry friend felt a little odd when there was real people to talk to.

"Maybe I should leave a trail of fruit behind me. You'd follow me then..."

Roxy yawned, jaw cracking.

Claire slumped. "How is this the most understandable conversation I've had today?"

Iroh was still pushing for her to learn the language, even after she told him she would come, that they could leave that very day. Just a few hours to pack her things, close up the temple as best she could, and say goodbye to the lemurs. She'd gotten stuck on that last past, at least as far as Roxy was concerned.

Her little furry friend curled up in her arms, intent on an afternoon nap. With the ease of long practice, Claire wrapped Roxy around her throat so she will have her hands free. "Have I told you how happy I am that you're not a backstabbing murderess like your namesake? Because I really, really am."

Roxy wormed her cold nose under Claire's chin, making her shiver. "You know what, just for that I should make you take the staff down the mountain. Though maybe I can put it through the top of the pack, it'll stick out but there shouldn't be anything to get stuck on..."

If she left it behind she really would regret it.

Claire ran back for the staff.

In a way this is just like summer camp; Claire always left packing to the last minute for that too.

"Ready?" Iroh asked, looking as unsure as Claire felt about the whole thing.

Claire nodded, watching Zuko tie a long rope to a tree. It didn't look long enough to take them all the way down however. And aren't you supposed to use a harness doing this type of climbing? They don't expect her to hold onto the rope with her bare hands, do they?

"Here." Iroh drew a diagram in the dirt. It was a simple image and easy to understand; the temple looking like a lighthouse on top of the straight stack it perched on rather than the sprawling complex it was. When he added more detail, running anticlockwise around the mountain she realised what he was drawing.

"There are paths going partway up the mountain..." she murmured. "I understand. This, um-"

"Rope." Iroh identifies what she's pointing at.

"This rope ah... long-long?" She didn't know how to say 'long enough', or else didn't remember.

She really didn't like how Iroh's eyes glided away from hers, or the placating smile that slipped onto his face.

Oh wow, this is much worse than I thought.

Zuko scoffed. "Can't you just fly down the mountain?"

Claire looked to Iroh for easy translation. He helpfully made swooping hand gestures.

"I do not know this." She repeated one of the few long phrases she had learnt really well, from constantly thrusting objects in Iroh's face as she said it. She clarified with her own flying motions that end in swift descent and explosion noises. "No airbending lessons."

Zuko stared at her with a blank expression before turning on his heel and marching away.

Claire sighed. She'd just stepped on another minefield and the only reason he wasn't shouting at her was because Iroh was standing right next to her, she just knew it.

Oh well, if she died horribly today she wouldn't have to live with the guy, that was the bright side.

"Bag?"

I'm going to go with 'are you all packed?'.

"Yes."

"Big." He gestured at the staff.

"I want to learn."

"Good. Learning is very good." He smiled and the warmth that expression planted in her heart bloomed for several moments.

"Uncle, we have to get going!" Until Zuko's shout stamped it out at least.

"One moment, nephew!" Iroh called back. As usual, Claire only understood the 'uncle' and 'nephew' parts. The Dragon of the West took Claire's hands in his own and she watched, bemusedly, as he wrapped cloth around her hands that laced through her fingers.

"Oh!" She flexed her hand appreciatively once one of them was done. "This is much better!"

He gently pulled her hand back and added another layer over the first. With this she wouldn't get rope burn and mess up her hands. Not as good as a modern harness but she did okay in the rope climb in gym class and had been abseiling a couple of times.

Yeah. This was no different. She just needed to remember 'don't look down' and get ready to spin for a landing if she did fall.

It really was a testament to how awful all her gliding experiments had been that this as a better option than making her own way down with a staff.

"You?" She asked, pointing at Iroh's hands after he had finished both of hers.

He shook his head, smiling. "I am well."

So he had more bandages for himself, that was good to know.

Zuko went first, making abseiling without a harness, a safety net, or a sense of self preservation look pretty damn easy.

He gripped the rope loosely with his gauntlets, pushing off hard from the cliff face and letting the rope slip through his hands at a controlled speed that still looked like a death wish to Claire's untrained eye.

She opened her mouth to say something to Iroh, but there was nothing she could say that couldn't be summed up better with a dying whale noise.

How was it that Claire practised jumping up more than down? Or yeah, because heights are way scarier when can see the fall that might kill you.

"After you," Claire smiled, though if felt strained around the edges.

Iroh pretended not to understand her (even though her gestures were very clear!) when Zuko called up to them, tugging the rope to signal that he was on the footpath below.

Come to think of it, not only would it be easier to attach her pack to the end of the rope and lower it down, it would make an excellent excuse to delay going down herself. After many broken sentences and liberal use of charades, Claire pulled the rope up, attached her bag to it, and lowered it down.

She stayed far from the edge as she did this, waiting until there wasn't any more slack to give and tried to listen for Zuko's reaction. The rope was, apparently a bit short of the path so Zuko would have to climb to detach her things.

There are no screams of rage or blast of fire; just a sudden slackening of the rope in her hands and the uncomfortable knowledge that she would have to follow it down.

Claire took a deep breath. Iroh patted her shoulder in support.

She shuffled over to the ledge, the end of the rope tied around her waist and some of the upper slack wrapped around her left forearm. She looked for a good foothold to get her started and did just that.

Slowly. Heart in mouth.

The last thing she saw before her line of sight went over the ledge was Iroh's encouraging smile.

Somehow the wind was stronger here than how it usually felt in the temple. A few times, Claire had to pause and cling to the rocks just because the wind was buffeting her.

Whereas Zuko's descent was a quick one, Claire's was not. Often she felt like she was going sideways rather than down because she refused to rely on the rope alone to hold her, preferring to make as much use of her hands and feet as possible. What if it snapped? Claire was a lot taller than Zuko, probably heavier too? Would the rope give out on her, just another dance partner that hadn't limbered up properly before attempting to take her weight?

Occasionally, when the surface of the cliff was flat she would push her feet back against it and walks backwards, her hands gripping the rope for dear life. These are the most terrifying moments of her life. Worse, even, than finding herself in a temple full of dead people, all alone except for the lemurs and murals on the walls.

How long had it been? A few minutes? Hours? Her hands burned from the rope's friction but she didn't look down to see how long she had to go. If she did, she wouldn't move again.

There was a rhythm to it, a new dance she was just starting to learn. It started with walking, eyes pinned to the lip of the cliff she started with, growing steadily smaller as it got further away. Then Claire's Allstars would hit something solid- a jutting rock, a tree clinging on for dear life, a brief lip or ledge that signalled reprieve. Each time she forced herself not to look back; she would only see what it was once she passed it. A sideways shuffle, a little skip or hop, whatever it took to get her past it.

It's just a jump to the left- and then a step to the riiiight-ah-ah-ah-ah!

She didn't sing, couldn't spare the breath for it, and was afraid if she opened her mouth she'd start screaming anyway, so, no to that idea. Very bad idea.

Jeeze, if this is level of crazy that I reach when peer pressure is involved, maybe being around people isn't a good thing-

A foothold broke out from underneath her, ripping a scream from her pressed lips that filled the suddenly still air.

It's okay. No harm done. She was still holding onto the rope. It's fine.

She just couldn't move right now.

Claire hung without purchase, feet flailing as her arms took the full brunt of her weight. It was just like gym class, except gym had nice soft mats to fall on and a teacher who knew first aid... yeah, this was nothing like gym class.

C'mon, get moving. I bet Iroh is worried and Zuko is staring up at you like you're an idiot. There probably isn't even that far left to go-

Then she made the mistake of looking down and sees that, actually, there's a really long way to go.

"Oh my god, I'm going to die..." Tears trickled down her face and all she could do was try to blink them away. She can't spare a hand to do it. "I don't- I don't want to die...!"

Those clumsy, poorly pronounced words ran in circles like elephant-mice in Zuko's head.

No airbending lessons. No airbending lessons. No airbending lessons.

In Agni's name, how was that even possible? Leaving aside the fact that benders without teachers were are a rare, crude breed of creature, Kuleiru had managed to escape him without training? Ridiculous.

Or perhaps not so ridiculous. She had caught him off guard. She was very disarming at the time.

Zuko forced down a blush, telling himself it was just the wind. There had been a firm up draft for the past few minutes; whipping his phoenixtail into a frenzy since he started marking the airbender's progress.

No airbending lessons. No airbending lessons. No airbending lessons.

How does that make any sense? She was left here by the Avatar, wasn't she? How could he not have taught one of his own relations? Or at least one of the last scions of his kind?

The awkward movements as she tried to make sense of the airbending scroll in the courtyard made more sense now. At the time he thought it was an advanced technique, but the components seemed simple enough for someone who had learned their foundations.

Ugh, and now he had Uncle's voice in his head. Of course he knew the foundations were important! Doesn't mean he has to practice them over and over until he's walking through them even in sleep. Azula is probably learning far more advanced techniques right now. It rankles him to be so far behind his little sister. Years and years behind.

No airbending lessons. No airbending lessons. No airbending lessons.

Where does the dancing fit in? Zuko didn't find any references to airbender dances, but he supposes they must have had them, music as well. A race who can control the winds might find use for a dance that involves perching on the tips of your tops, but to learn such a skill over basic airbending forms? Utterly useless. He hadn't found anything resembling those steps in any of the remaining scrolls, either.

Scrolls she couldn't even read. In a temple with only a year's worth of marks scratched onto the walls.

Nothing made any sense.

And, so, he was left with an airbender who knew almost nothing about her heritage, who couldn't even bend properly.

Who couldn't even climb properly. Didn't anyone tell her that it was easier to go quickly and get it over with?

No, probably not. And she'd sent her glider down to him with the rest of her things, so she couldn't even use that. Of course, since she received as little instruction with that as with everything else, trying to fly down would almost inevitably end up with her overshooting the path and they'd have to meet her at the bottom if she didn't simply splatter on the rocks below.

Zuko pulled the glider staff out from under the pack flap where it had been pinned for transport.

How did this work, anyway? The joins were almost seamless, Zuko could only see something was there because he knew to look. But how to activate it...?

Overhead, Kuleiru screamed, high pitched and brief.

Zuko stood to attention immediately, straining his neck to see where she was. Not even half way yet, more like a third if he had to guess. He side-stepped a large stone that the airbender dislodged, hearing it roll and rumble down the stack with the force it gathered in its descent.

"Great. She's frozen in fear. Pull yourself together and keep moving, just-" and then Zuko caught a flash of a pale face looking down. "You never look down!" Zuko raged, throwing his hands up. "Perfect, just perfect, she's never going to get down now! I'm going to have to go up there to dislodge her or she'll never make it and Uncle will be stuck up there forever without a rope, eating fruit and petting lemurs!"

Honestly, if Uncle found a tea plant or twenty up there, he'd probably be happy staying where he was.

He climbed up this mountain with minimal anchor points last time, though not from this angle. This was, ironically, the hardest route to climb up. The easiest way down with its mostly flat rock face that wouldn't snag the rope, but that didn't help him now.

"Everything has to be difficult," he complained, leaning the staff leaning against the cliff face to find his first foothold. "Can't ever have an easy time of it. Oh no, Prince Zuko's life is always hardship and suffering..."

He doesn't get very far before before a sound causes him to look up. It's even harder to see anything here than on the ledge below, but he can hear Kuleiru singing. Of course. It's the perfect time for singing. Why not sing instead of working to save yourself from certain death? Maybe it's a lament, or airbenders composed their last wills and testaments in song form. He's heard of weirder things. All of them from Uncle, so they have to be taken with a pinch of fire-salt, but still.

Zuko pushes himself as hard as he can, his armour scraping where he pulls himself up over, clinging to the barest jut or ledge he can find.

She's still singing. That's good. Annoying, but good. Maybe it's her way of remaining calm. Gods only know, if Zuko had been without human contact his ship might have lost a few screws along the way. It also, inadvertently, gave him a means of locating her without needing visual confirmation all the time.

As he was barely clinging on to this very disadvantageous approach, that was a good thing.

He hasn't even been climbing for five minutes, has made far less headway than he would have liked when the singing cuts out, followed by another cry, softer this time.

"No!" He spits, digging his fingers into the cracks so he can gauge the situation. If she was falling, he might just be able to catch her, cushion her fall, Her weight would certainly rip him from the side of the mountain, but with his armour he's unlikely to die in the fall from this height. So long as he doesn't overshoot the path below, they should be okay. Probably. Maybe. He cannot lose his one link to the Avatar!

She wasn't falling. It was too slow for that.

At first he thought she was using a technique, but then he spotted the wings. Pale, weasel-bat shaped, furry wings.

"What... in Agni's name... is that?"

A flock of flying lemurs were carrying her down the mountain. Because of course they were.

This was Zuko's life now.

To her credit, Kuleiru looked almost as startled as he did, although she had the audacity to wave as the two dozen little mammals ferried her to solid ground, her free hand constantly giving the rope slack until there was no more to give.

The flying lemurs beat their wings furiously as Kuleiru unknotted the rope around her waist, suddenly a half dozen feet below Zuko. It was a good last resort in case of a fall, but also a good way to break your spine if you couldn't find any other purchase.

"Zuko!" She called, unnecessarily, the skin around her eyes red from tears. "Catch!"

As if it made much difference now. He caught the rope she threw him all the same, and landed beside her shortly after she touched down.

Kuleiru knelt in a circle of five, ten, fifteen... twenty-six lemurs ranging from juveniles to full grown adults. She crooned and babbled at them, rubbing their ears as they hummed musical notes back at her, chittering as they check her over.

Why she didn't just do that to begin with, Zuko has no idea.

Previously...

"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna diiiiie."

The more she said it, the more Claire felt like an extra in a horror movie. She hated horror movies. The scariest thing she watched on a regular basis was The Nightmare Before Christmas. She had occasionally been persuaded to see something a bit racier at sleepovers, but her experiences ended at the pillow in front of her face and the chatter of her friends drowning out most of the audio.

Weirdly, the comparison makes her feel better. Maybe because she never actually saw how any of those people died. She could lie to herself, pretend they had escaped after all. Maybe she'd be like that.

The wind had stopped blowing a while ago. Thank goodness because the last thing she needed was to be battered against the cliff.

Tentatively, Claire searched for somewhere to put her feet. There was nowhere near her toes, but maybe she could find something further up? If she just got to her previous holds, she could try going around...

It was because she was looking up that Claire saw Roxy before she landed directly on the would-be climber's face.

"Roxy." Claire mumbled around her friend's ultra fluffy tail. "You are not helping."

The flying lemur moved around, straining the already tenuous grip Claire had on the rope. Her vision was obscured, but Claire could feel Roxy's little nose sniffling at where her hands connected to her one life line, literally.

"Roxy, sweetie, that really, really isn't helping."

The lemur chittered, although she deigned to transfer herself to the rockface where she clung with an enviable ease. "Thank you. Hey, do you think you could find me a foothold. A foothold?" She kicked her feet for emphasis, though Roxy probably couldn't see those. Roxy blinks her big bright eyes all the same. "Oh, never mind, I'll try myself- whoa!" An attempt to find purchase only shifted more debris where the first rock fell, this time grit and small stones. "Don't look down, don't look down," Claire chanted.

Her friend nuzzled her face, crooning worriedly before suddenly taking off. "Wait!" Claire called after her. "Please, don't leave me all alone here..."

Claire sniffled, tears coming again. Her arms and shoulders burned; she'd been hanging like this for too long. She wasn't sure she could pull herself up any more.

"I have to try, I have to." She blotted her tears in the shoulder of her t-shirt. At least if she died she would be wearing something that was a good colour on her- no, don't think about that!

What she needed was some music. A really bouncing soundtrack to give her energy. It worked at the gym when she thought she'd run her last step, then something upbeat came on and suddenly she had more than she realised to keep going.

Or maybe she was just trying to distract herself.

"'Cause baby you're a firework
Come on show 'em what your worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y"

Claire took a breath, dragged herself up an inch, shifted one hand up the rope while the other continued to cling, and pulled herself up again.

God, it burned really bad. How many of these did she have to do? Pull-ups are the worst.

"Baby you're a firework
Come on let your colors burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
You're gonna leave 'em fallin' down down down..."

Okay, maybe not the best song to pick, there was a reason why Claire normally stuck with Disney!

She ran through a few other options, allocating herself a verse every time she managed to drag herself up a hand's breadth or more. It was the most exhausting thing she had ever done and, honestly? If she hadn't spent so many months digging graves, cleaning, and moving some of the more obstructing rubble out of the way, she probably wouldn't have managed even that much.

"This... is so much... harder... than it looks!"

Action films and cartoons and Olympic athletes had lulled her into a false sense of security or something. If she could climb with her legs it would be different; a ballet dancer of any degree of skill had to have very strong legs, but her arms were a different story.

Claire grabbed hold of a rock outcropping, transferring most of her weight to it so she could slacken the rope and wrap it around her other arm. She might hurt herself if she fell at that point, but it was better than having too much slack and relying on the waist anchor.

If she ever went climbing again, Claire was going to make a harness. Even magical kung-fu worlds need climbing harnesses!

And yes, learning how to glide, or fly, or just not die if she fell would be super useful, Claire would get right on that- she promised!- just as soon as she got to solid ground.

"Now, let's try this again, push hard and walk backwards..."

She got a decent distance from the cliff (how could she not?) and looked up.

To a fluffy, long-eared, rescue party.

Claire screamed in surprise as every single flying lemur of the troupe who wasn't a baby, latched their little claws to her clothes or hair, and lifted with all their combined might.

She imagined, for one horrible moment, that they were going to take her back to the temple and she wouldn't have the courage to attempt the descent again, that she would stay in that cold dead temple forever. Or at least until Aang found her.

No, she couldn't do it. She couldn't become as crazy as that old mountain lady with only her cat for company!

"Down! I need to go down!" Claire gestured and the lemur ringleader, who was of course her own beloved Roxy, snapped at her in response. "I need to leave, Roxy. I can't stay here. I tried to tell you..."

The only sound for a long moment was the beat of lemur wings and the rising up-draft. Then Roxy chittered something to her fellows and they started to descend.

"Thank you! Really, thank you so much!" Claire had nothing left to do but give the rope slack; the ground is coming up so fast compared to her previous descent.

In response, she could feel her stomach falling out, leaving only a gaping, anticipatory space behind.

They passed Zuko on their way down. What the hell was he doing there? He should have made it to the bottom already. Unless he...

"Zuko! Catch!" Claire didn't know what came over her but she trusted herself to throw the rope through a mass of flapping wings and somehow, miraculously, Zuko caught it.

He didn't have far to go before the rope would stop being useful, but if Claire's aborted descent taught her anything it was that even a short distance going down a mountain can be pretty terrifying.

Claire sunk to the wonderful, blessed, most amazing thing she had ever experienced -solid ground!- and tried to hug and pet all the lemurs at once. "Thank you guys so much, really, I didn't think I was going to make it there! You saved my skin, thank you thank you thank you...!"

The lemur matriarch led the choir in a hummed rendition of 'When you Wish Upon a Star', which was more accurate than they probably realised. Claire wasn't doing much but wishing and hoping up there.

Zuko made it down at some point and chose this point to be especially scowly. Claire ignored him, still basking in the glow of the lemur pile, not to mention being alive when it was really touch and go for a moment.

Lemurs were much easier to talk to, anyway.

"I really do have to go. You can get back up all right, can't you? I'll try to visit, I promise... only there's an awful lot I need to do out there. Do you understand?"

The matriarch blinked at her before arching up under her chin. Very catlike. Claire gave her an extra pat for good measure.

Her goodbyes given, the matriarch took wing, followed closely by the rest of the troupe. They rose in a circle, catching an updraft that helped them ascend.

Claire caught the start of at least eight different Disney or show tunes and the sound of them made Claire ache to join in with at least one of them. She doesn't, because Zuko is right there.

When the troupe had all taken wing and begun their journey back to the temple, there was only one lemur left; a warm weight wrapped around Claire's neck.

"Hey, Roxy," Claire whispered into her friend's fur, trying and failing to keep another kind of tears at bay, "I- I packed all your favourites."

A.N.: Don't expect the next chapter out as quickly as this! *stilted laughter*

In this chapter I subverted The Literal Cliffhanger (because I'm not that cruel to you guys!) but kind of fell into the Climb, Slip, Hang, Climb trope because, well, it couldn't be too easy for Claire and even if Zuko and Iroh had decent climbing gear for the equivilent time period (climbing spikes and axes, harnesses) Claire wouldn't be very good at using them... plus we all need a little drama! It's character building!

Thank you everyone who has continued to read my stories and leave me comments, despite all my health and RL issues slowing updates.