I'm Lost (Tag: Zuko)

If there was one thing Kayley loved about Dorne more than Akhesa, it was Sunspear itself.  The palace was so beautiful, and so vibrant.  It seemed much more alive than the dark, dreary stones that Winterfell was made of.  Kayley couldn't help but explore on her own when she had some free time.  She couldn't expect Akhesa to be with her 24.7, after all.  She probably had important things to do, being part of an important family and all.  Kayley had duties like that as well, back at Winterfell.  Within a few minutes of wandering the halls though, she soon found herself turned around and didn't know exactly which way to go.  "Oh dear," she muttered to herself.  No doubt Akhesa would tease her about this later.  If she could just get back to the guest room, that would  be a good starting point.  But which way was it?  Kayley bit her lip as she hurriedly walked around a corner.  Unfortunately, in her haste, she didn't notice somebody was there and walked straight into them.  Lucky for her, she didn't do a total face-plant onto the ground.  That would have made this situation even more embarrassing.  "Oh!  Oh, forgive me, I didn't see you there," Kayley hastily apologized as she tried to get her bearings.

Zuko had just got out from the armory, carrying under his arm some new swords that he had to bring to the rest of the soldiers. It was one of his many duties and not one of the more strenuous, surely there was worse than carrying around a couple of swords, however those were heavy and at a some point Zuko had to stop for a moment and take a break.
He laid the swords against the wall and stretched a little, when suddenly a girl bumped into him making him lose balance and almost fall on the ground. Luckily for them, the swords were on the floor.

Zuko moved his look to the girl who spoke, immediately recognizing her as the princess' guest: the girl from Winterfell. He surely didn't want to get in troubles for harming the Martell's guest.
"Forgive me." he said bowing sightly at her "I should have been more careful."

Kayley blinked, getting a better look at the person she had bumped into.  It was a young man, maybe a little older than she was.  And, if she was honest, she would admit that he was pretty good-looking, despite the scar.  Is everyone in Dorne blessed with good looks or something? Kayley thought to herself.  But at least he was polite too.  "Oh, no, it's my fault.  Wasn't watching where I was going," she said.  "I'm Kayley.  What's your name?"  Was this guy a friend of the Martell's?  Or did he work here?

Zuko couldn't help but smoothing his hair on the scar as the girl spoke to him again, not really expecting to hold a longer conversation with her. He wasn't used to entertain guests and they surely didn't want his company, something he didn't mind at all. However as the girl apologized once more, Zuko smiled sightly at her, finding her manners just a bit weird for a lady. However who was he for judge her? Maybe at Winterfell that was normal.

"Zuko Vaith." he replied bowing sightly then turning again to her "Member of the Martell's guard."

Zuko seemed a bit surprised that Kayley wanted to talk to him.  She seemed to get this reaction quite a bit when she said more than a few words to servants or guards or anybody that served a noble family.  It happened all the time at home too, despite the fact that she kept telling her servants that they didn't need to be totally formal around her.  She had told herself early on that she would never be the type of noble lady that treated her servants like dirt or fire them for the smallest things.  Her mother was the same way, and Kayley wanted to follow her example.  "A member of the guard?  Wow, that sounds interesting.  Do you get to fight a lot of bad guys and stuff?" she asked, forgetting about finding her room for the moment.  Surely, Zuko had some interesting stories to tell.  A guard's life had to be more exciting than a noble lady's.

Zuko blinked in surprise at the amount of questions that Kayley was doing to him, not really used to get that kind of attention from people in general, imagine from someone he barely knew!
"Actually..." he tilted his head smoothing his hair down "A guard's life is not that... exciting..." he smiled sightly at her. Her vision of a soldier's life, especially in a land so far from home, was surely a bit romanticized. He hadn't done a lot of fights during his years in Sunspear and not even wars, most of his time was just to look after the royals and to break up fights in the city, nothing more.
"I'm sorry." he added at the end.

"Oh," Kayley replied, a little disappointed.  "Well, at least you know how to fight and stuff.  That's pretty neat.  I've watched my father practice with some the guards back at Winterfell, and the moves he does sometimes, it's incredible.  Seems a lot more useful than teaching someone how to sew or something."  While Kayley did enjoy some lady-like things, like singing and dancing, sewing was not one of them.  Sure, she felt proud of herself when she made something nice, but she never liked the long process of making things one stitch at a time.  It never failed to make her eyes sore from squinting so much at the needle and thread in her hands.

Zuko tilted his head as Kayley spoke about her father, noticing her excitement as she mentioned his moves; maybe the girl liked to observe warriors, or maybe she wanted to become one of them?
"Yes, of course." he smiled at her "There are skilled warriors also here in Sunspear, like your father. I don't know if you already saw some of the other soldiers training." he wondered how much of Sunspear she had already seen and if they brought her to see some of the training of the other soldiers, much more older than Zuko and with more experience than him.

"Don't you like to sew?" Zuko raised an eyebrow, his sisters used to sew a lot from what he remembered. One of the things he liked to observe as a child, before the accident.

"Not yet, but Akhesa said she would take me to see them later," Kayley said.  "Do you guys fight differently here than soldiers in Winterfell?"  She assumed that fighting styles varied from place to place, but she wondered what exact things changed.  "Sometimes," she replied.  "Sword fighting just seems a lot more useful though, you know?  I mean, the most I can do with a sewing needle is poke someone in the eye or something."  She gave a little laugh.

Zuko nodded as she spoke; being a bit surprised how close the Stark girl was with the princess: calling her by name, having private tour of the palace... Oh, well... in the end she was a guest of the princess.
"It just depends by the weapon you choose..." Zuko explained "Different weapon for a different style. There are weapons common in all Westeros and specif weapons for regions." at least according to the weapon masters of Sunspear and of his own house. He just repeated what he had learnt and experienced in all those years of training.

"If you need to defend yourself of course a sword is more useful than a needle..." he smiled sightly at her passing a hand through his hair "However I don't think that needles were first created to become weapons..." he couldn't help but laugh sightly "A lot of women and girls sew here at Sunspear, but never use needles to defend themselves."

Kayley nodded.  That made sense.  After all, a person couldn't handle a sword the same way they handled a spear, or an ax.  "What kind of weapons do you know how to use?" she asked curiously.  She had seen the guards around her with swords and spears, and she wondered if Zuko knew how to use both, or just one or the other.  Or maybe he knew how to use tons of weapons.  That would be pretty interesting.

Kayley gave a little laugh.  "True," she agreed.  "Maybe I wouldn't mind sewing some of the things you guys make.  The patterns these seamstresses use are so pretty, and the colors are so vibrant.  It feels like I'm wearing a big flower."

"Most of us use swords and spears..." Zuko explained "We are trained to combat with those weapons after all, but I prefer the sword. It's more comfortable and faster." with that he mimed the movement of a sword; since his first days at Sunspear he had found swords better than spears, maybe it was the fact that you used swords in dogfights, while spears were more for distant fights.

He lowered his look to observe what Kayley was wearing, it had to be one of the dresses that the princess gave to her guest, or maybe it was one of the princess herself.
"I know that in the North most of the times your dress are covered by fur capes..." he tilted his head sightly "It would be... nice to add some colors I guess." he himself wasn't very used to fur or warm clothes in general, but for what he knew the colors in the North area were most black, grey and other desaturated colors. Surely the colors of Dorne would bring some life in those dresses!

Kayley was glad to hear that Zuko preferred swords more than anything else.  She was the same way.  Granted, a sword was the only weapon she had trained with, but still.  She liked them.  "Yeah.  It's like, one swish of your hand and boom!  You can strike a man down in less than a second."  Kayley hoped she could get that good.  

She nodded.  "Yup.  Not the most fashionable thing in the world, if you ask me.  They're always so bulky."  It was almost the complete opposite here in Dorne.  Here, the clothes were so much lighter, and they didn't weigh Kayley down nearly as much.

Zuko couldn't help but smile: Kayley seemed almost like a child, getting excited about swords and strike people down. He wondered if she used also to practice together at her father, or if it was just a fantasy of hers.
"Do they teach you how to swordfight in Winterfell?" he asked, not sure if in the North it was a common use to teach how to fight at women.

Zuko nodded as she spoke, he could believe her on the word even if he had never used a fur coat before. Her approval was enough for him to be thankful that he lived in Dorne.

Kayley nodded enthusiastically.  "Uh huh.  Amelia Cerwyn is teaching me.  She's won her fair share of fights.  I mean, she can carry one of those huge battle axes like it's nothing."  Amelia's teaching style could be a little odd sometimes, but Kayley still felt like she was learning.  She just hoped she could make her teacher proud before long.

"Battle axes are difficult to use." he explained at her "If she can really carry and use them, there is no doubt that she could be a good fighter and a good teacher for you." Zuko smiled sightly. Even if he had never met that Amelia Cerwyn, from Kayley's story she seemed a strong warrior, despite being a woman.
And probably Kayley was even learning fast from her.

"Yup.  I don't know if I could ever use one of those.  I mean, you probably have to have huge arm muscles to use them or something," Kayley said.  "Although they seem better for breaking down walls then just taking down one opponent.  If you're swinging around something that big, you'll probably be a bit slow unless you're really really skilled with it."

Zuko just nodded at her statement: to be able to use in a fight such axes you needed to be really strong. There were a few giant soldiers in Sunspear who could easily use axes as a weapon, without having any problem. For him it was almost impossible to use, not being strong enough to be able to even raise it to attack.
"Or someone's skull..." he tilted his head "Axes can be very powerful if used in the right way. An ax is indeed a strong weapon."

"Oh, right.  Good point," Kayley acknowledged.  An ax was a good weapon to use if you wanted to cleave someone's skull in two.  Kayley would rather not kill anyone that way, though.  It sounded too messy and gory.

Zuko could feel like their conversation was sinking, battle axes were a good topic, but maybe not enough to entertain a guest; not even one like Kayley.
"Are you enjoying your stay in the palace?" not that he was actually able to do something for her situation, but it was something that he used to hear a lot when guests used to come at his old home. His mother asked that question everytime, so maybe it was a legitimate question to do.

"Oh yes, it's been wonderful," Kayley replied enthusiastically.  "Everyone's been awfully nice.  And Dorne is such a beautiful place.  If I didn't get sunburned so easily, I'd be outside all the time."  The North didn't exactly have that much sunshine.  But here in Dorne, it was almost the complete opposite.  The sun seemed to shine brightly from the second it rose to the moment it started to set.

"Here people are used to the heat." Zuko shrugged "But I guess that in the North the weather is not that clement as here. I doubt that dornish people would like that cold." he added in the end. Of course, people tended to travel all around Westeros, but it was difficult to see someone from Sunspear going around in places like Winterfell or the Wall.

Kayley gave a little laugh.  "Yeah.  If we get any sunshine, it's a lucky day.  Usually, it's hidden behind the clouds."  Cloudy, overcast days were the norm in Winterfell.  But, that came with the territory when you lived in a place that was so far up north.  If you went even further north, the chances of you seeing the sun were slim, since it was snowing constantly.

Zuko nodded as Kayley spoke "But at least you get to see snow..." he shrugged smiling sightly at her. Not that he really knew how snow was or how it could feel, but it was something that seemed interesting, at least from the stories he had heard before.
"Is it really that cold? And what do you do with it?" even if he didn't want to sound too much curious, a part of him did was curious and more answers he could get more satisfied he would be.