Cady's laughter rang out through the entire house. It was Friday evening, and Cady was watching The Southern Air Temple episode of Avatar.
"'Uncle! Tell Commander Zhao what happened.'" Zuko was saying. Iroh's eyes immediately got wide, but he responded promptly.
"'Ah, yes. I will do that. It was extraordinary…'" At this he leaned over to Zuko and whispered behind his hand. "'What? Did we crash or something?'"
"'Yes, right into an, um, Earth Kingdom ship!'" Zuko exclaimed rather lamely.
Cady had always cracked up at this part, and this time was no exception. She continued to watch the episode, laughing at some parts and cheering for Zuko while he battled Zhao in the Agni Kai. When it came to the part where Zuko was about to burn off Zhao's face, she cried, "Crud, Zuko! C'mon! Blow off his face. You don't have to go all soft on him right now! Do that later! Who cares if you remember how much pain you went through in the same situation, kill him already!" (Cady really doesn't like Zhao, as you can tell)Of course, the television wasn't listening to her, and didn't do as she said.
Cady went to bed after this, exhausted. She looked around her red and gold colored room, smiled inwardly, and walked over to her black bed, plopping into it, and sighing contentedly. She propped her head onto a pillow and stared at the huge piece of paper that she had printed out with a picture on Prince Zuko on it. Her heart melted when she looked into his eyes, which, in this picture, were full of pain and misunderstandings. Even though he was just a cartoon character, she couldn't help it.She stared a while longer, sighing dreamily and turning off the lamp above her bed and staring wistfully at the ceiling, thoughts racing through her head. Her breathing finally leveled out and grew steady as she slept.
Falling. Far, far down….
CRASH! She woke with a start, her eyes wide and unblinking. She surveyed her surroundings silently.
This was not her room.
In fact, this wasn't a room at all. It was a raft, with two figures lying at the other end. One was a short and quite round, and seemed to still be sleeping peacefully. The other was relatively thin, and his piercing, golden eyes were staring at her, narrowed in anger and fear. Cady felt her stomach do a somersault, the breath caught in her lungs, and if she could have breathed at the moment, she would have been gasping. She knew where she was, suddenly, but there was no way! This had to be some weird dream! She knew who those two men were. She pinched herself to make sure, and sure enough, she felt it. She raised her head slowly, and gazed at the younger of the two men, both of their golden eyes meeting the other's gaze.
That was Prince Zuko.
Prince Zuko got to his feet silently, and cleared his throat, as if trying to get someone's attention, and sure enough, Iroh bolted up, and pulled his arms up as if to fight something.
"Prince Zuko," he said, "is something the matter?"
Zuko walked over to his Uncle, put his hand between Iroh's ear and his mouth, and began to whisper. Iroh glanced over at me, and began to whisper back, Zuko nodding every couple of seconds and occasionally adding in an opinion or remark of his own. After a couple of minutes of this, Iroh got to his feet, and Zuko straightened out, and the two walked over to Cady, and began to examine her. Zuko looked her straight in her eyes, and Cady stared deep into his, her eyes glazing over, her mouth going dry, and her pulse slowing dramatically.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Explain yourself this instant!" Zuko said angrily. After a moment, Cady didn't answer, and Zuko was growing very impatient. "I see we have an idiot in our presence," he spat. "I'm telling you once, answer me or I'm throwing you overboard!" Iroh quickly ran over, and pushed his nephew out of the way. "Now, Prince Zuko. Don't let your temper get the best of you." He turned to Cady, and gave her a quick smile, before saying, "Now, dear. What is your name?"
Cady thought for a moment on what she should say. She hated her name, but Boots would sound very peculiar to them. She decided that Cady would have to do.
"Cady, sir. I beg your pardon, but I was a bit nervous. I'm sorry I didn't speak up quick enough for your partner." Cady thought that it would be wise not to say nephew, because then they might question her. She looked at Zuko and was happy at the fact that he didn't look quite so angry anymore. She got to her feet and bowed slightly to Iroh, before asking, "Where am I? Is this a dream?"
Iroh chuckled lightly and put a hand on her shoulder. "No, Miss Cady. Right now we're in a sea just south of the Northern Water Tribe, and it can't possibly be a dream. Oh! How rude of me, I forgot to introduce the two of us-"
"Uncle! You can't give our names out! What if she's a spy or bounty hunter?"
"Now, Prince Zuko. She can't be a bounty hunter, because if she were she'd have bound, gagged and taken off to give us to her employeralready, and if she was a spy do you think she would have let us known she was here?" He turned back to Cady and smiled. "Please forgive my nephew. He can be a bit, angst-y, shall we say? As I was saying, my name is Iroh, but I'm more commonly known as Uncle Iroh or just plain Uncle. Feel free to call me either. This," he motioned towards Zuko, "is my nephew, Prince Zuko." Cady nodded weakly and looked up at the sky. "What time is it?"
"Well, I'm not quite sure, but judging by how dark it is right now, it's probably still quite late, or early. We should all get some rest. We need to find a market in the morning, we didn't have any supplies when we got on this raft, and we don't have any now, either, so we have to get something or we'll starve."
Cady nodded, and Zuko walked off stiffly, and positioned himself on the edge of the raft, his back turned to everyone else. He sat there, not even moving to breathe, it seemed. Cady watched him out of the corner of her eye, wondering if he secretly wanted to 'accidentally' roll off the edge of the raft while he slept. She hoped he didn't. She rolled over and rested her hands on her chest, looking out over the dark night sky. She gazed in wonder at the millions of specks that blanketed the darkness: like little glistening bits of hope in a world full of misery. She let her thoughts drift and scatter, and she was just about to fall into a deep sleep when she heard something. She rolled over again, scanning the raft for any intruders, but after a while thought she must have gone crazy; how could anyone 'intrude' a raft that was floating around in the middle of nowhere? Well, she thought, I managed to do it.
There it was again! It sounded like mumbling. She looked over at the two other passengers. Iroh seemed at peace, but Zuko was lying on his back, his eyes open and narrowed in pain. She crawled over to him as quietly as she could, and he turned his head to see her sitting next to him, with her eyes white with the reflection of the moon on them.
"Are you alright, Prince Zuko?" She asked. She didn't think she should call him Zuko without any other title before it, because he might think she was disrespecting him. He turned his face back towards the sky and furrowed his brow.
"Nothing. I was just thinking." He said, but his tone told otherwise. He was lying, and Cady knew it. She grinned evilly.
"You're lying, Prince Zuko, and you know it. C'mon, tell me what's bugging you." She said sympathetically. Zuko turned again to her. "Why should I tell you? You don't know anything about me; how would you know if I were lying or not? Go back to sleep."
Cady sighed. She couldn't let him know that she was from another world; he wouldn't believe her in the least. Saying that the reason that she did know things about him would only make him angry or confused. He wouldn't understand the concept of a box that showed moving picture, least of all moving pictures of him.
"Listen, Zuko," she said, taking a chance at not addressing him properly, "I know a lot more than you think I do. I know about your father, and what a wretch person he is, and how you got-"
"Don't insult my father, you filth! You know nothing of him!"
"I know enough! He is an evil person, Zuko! You don't have to capture Aang to get back your honor, you know. Honor isn't something that can be taken or given to anyone. It comes naturally."
"How do you know his name?" He asked, his eyes wide with anger. "Are you friends with him?"
"Of course not!" She cried. "I told you that I know a bit more than you'd imagine."
Zuko was infuriated by now. He huffed and some steam blew out his nose, turned his back and said in a stiff voice, "Go back to sleep, peasant. I have no wish to talk with you."
Cady's eyes were on the verge of filling with tears, but she held them back. She got up and walked silently over to the part of the boat that was farthest away from Zuko, and turned her back away from him, too. She sat there, and, looked into the water, and every now and then the water would ripple. Cady let her hair down and dipped the top of her head into the water. It was freezing, but she kept her head in there, scrubbing the hair. She splashed some of the water in her face afterwards. When she finally lifted her head out of the freezing liquid, she felt as though her brain and most of the blood in her head had frozen in the veins. She shook off some of the water and tied her hair back up into its normal, ponytailed self. She laid back down and sighed, closing her eyes and drifted into a deep sleep.