Author's Note

Round 1 entry for Season Four of the Pro-Bending Circuit. Write a story about a character experiencing something for the first time.

Prompts used: (character) Yue, (AU) Pirates

Additional bonus: Include your element in your story (water).

Words (excluding note): 3477

She piled her hair up again under the boy's cap that was part of her disguise. Cautiously, she opened the door and looked out in the passageway. A stairway to the upper decks lay a short distance away. She stepped quietly out of the hold and made her way toward it. A hand closing about her arm made her start. A voice cried "Ha! Caught you," practically in her ear.

She tried to pull away, and a brief struggle ensued. She beat at the hand grasping her. Her assailant tried to stop her, but she was flailing too wildly for him. He then pulled her close and tried to wrap his arms around her. His hand made contact with her chest, and then abruptly he let go of her completely. She fell off balance, landing awkwardly on the floor.

"You're a girl," he assailant said. She looked up at him. He was about her own age. His hair was cut close at the sides, almost shaven, and he had a pony tail that was almost, but not quite, a top-knot. He was dressed as crew, so probably another Southerner.

A number of sarcastic responses came to mind. She settled for "And you're rude." She glared up at him.

"Look, I'm sorry that I, um, grabbed your…" He stopped and shook his head. "Why am I apologizing? You're a stowaway. I caught you and you struggled. This is totally not my fault."

"I have a ticket," she said. It sounded weak, even to her.

"Oh yeah?" He put his hands on his hips. "Then why were you hiding in the hold, huh?"

None of your business probably wouldn't fly, since as crew it was actually very much his business. Instead, she mustered as much dignity as she could while seated on the ground and said, "I will only give my answers to your captain."

"Oh, no you don't. You don't get out of it that easily. You're going to see the captain!" There was a pause, and the boy's brow furrowed. His lips moved silently for a moment, and then his face started to turn red. "You be quiet," he said. "And come with me."

He offered her a hand up. She refused to take it, but a swell knocked her off balance as she attempted to rise on her own. The boy caught her before she could fall to the ground again. She grimaced, but gave him a nod of acknowledgement. He let her go, and gestured to the stairway.

As they walked, she couldn't resist asking "Is it always this rough on the open sea?"

He stared at her. "What are you talking about? We've barely cleared the mouth of the harbor."

She stared back at him, then clutched at the wall as another swell hit the ship. "Oh, marvelous," she said.

The boy led her to the bridge. The crew stared at her. She hugged herself and shuffled her feet. A senior looking man said, "What's this, Sokka?"

The boy Sokka saluted. "A stowaway, Mr. Mate sir. I thought the captain should see her."

The mate nodded and gestured to a door at the back of the bridge. "He's in the chart room."

Sokka went and knocked at the door. She followed, trying to ignore all the eyes on her. She stood a little closer to the boy than before. A deep voice from the other side of the door said "Come."

The captain was a clean shaven, middle aged man. His nose looked like it might have been broken once, but his eyes were friendly.

Sokka saluted the man, saying "Captain Bato, sir," and introduced her again. This time, he added, "She says she has a ticket."

The captain nodded and looked at her. She hugged herself closer. He turned to the boy and said, "Please wait outside."

After the door to the chart room closed, Captain Bato continued to look at her in silence. When at last he spoke, he said, "You put me in something of an awkward position, Your Highness."

Yue sighed. She pulled the cap from her head. At least being found out meant that she didn't need to wear it any more. "That was not my intention, Captain."

He raised his eyebrows. "With respect, taking passage on my ship against your father's wishes could hardly do anything but. I won't be able to easily put back into port until the turning of the tide. Then I'd need to wait for it to turn again to set forth. So returning you would put me at best a half day behind schedule. And yet, if I don't return you, having discovered you while still in sight of your father's palace?" He shrugged.

She felt the color rise in her cheeks. There was really no answering his remark. Instead she asked, "How did you know it was me?"

"Your father's men boarded the ship looking for you. You must have expected the possibility, or you would have been in the cabin you booked. Then my cabin boy finds a stowaway who claims that she has a ticket. It really wasn't that difficult."

"I suppose not."

Captain Bato leaned his elbows on the chart table and steepled his fingers. "How did you get on board my ship? Since you clearly didn't come on with the other passengers."

"I mixed in with the men loading the luggage into the hold. They were glad of someone smaller who could climb the stacks and be handed up smaller items to stow, so they didn't ask any questions. Then when they were done, I just stayed behind.

The captain frowned. "Let me see your hands." Puzzled, she held them out. "Palms up, please, your Highness." She glanced down as she turned them over, and drew in a sharp breath in shock at the sight. They were red raw, and she saw what looked like dried blood under some of the nails. She'd felt the pain long before the work had been done in the hold, but she'd kept going. Anything else would have given her away

"How do they feel?" Bato asked.

"They still hurt some," she admitted. They hurt a lot, actually. "They started to cramp up earlier, but I kept flexing them while I was alone in the hold."

Bato nodded, then leaned back and looked her in the eye. After another wait, he said "Why?"

She could guess at what he meant. "I've been sheltered all my life. I was a sickly child, and I suppose my parents wanted to protect me. But I'm going to have to rule someday. And I don't understand the first thing about how people live."

Bato folded his arms and stared at the chart in front of him. Time stretched out as Yue waited for him to speak. He seemed to be a man of many silences. Eventually, he stood. Instead of speaking to her, he strode to the door and called out, "Sokka, come in here."

The boy entered the room and gasped as he looked at her. She remembered that he hadn't seen her with her cap off yet. He tore his eyes from her and looked at the captain. After a pause he gave a salute. "Yes sir?"

"You're going to have an assistant for this voyage. Take the … young lady here to see the ship's doctor and have him look at her hands. Then get her kitted out. She should also probably get a haircut."

Yue's hand strayed to her hair, but she nodded. "Thank you, captain. Sir."

Bato gave her a crooked but not unkind smile. "Wait until the voyage is over. Then decide whether you want to thank me or not."

Yue climbed up to the forecastle deck. Through one of the strange unwritten rules of the ship, the passengers never came up here, although there was little crew activity to avoid. She had made it her practice to visit each night after her duties were done before retiring to her hammock.

The crew, the rest of the crew she supposed she should think of them, were all male. There was no question of her bunking with them. But a small room off the ships laundry had been hastily converted for her use. It was probably no less comfortable than where the men slept. The first night, the only reason she didn't toss and turn was for fear of falling out. Since then, exhaustion had trumped any lingering yearning for her old feather mattress.

She leaned against the railing, looking out. The sea was black except for the shining, shifting path that lay under the moon, past full but still fat, rising into the night sky.

Captain Bato had not, she was certain, told any of the hands who she was, but they weren't stupid. They could draw the same conclusions he had, and they at first had treated her with a certain wariness, before determining that she sincerely was willing to work. They still, quite rightly, would not give her any task that require particular skill or knowledge, but she was pleased that they would now trusted her diligence.

Her hands were those of a stranger, but they no longer hurt at the end of the day.

She must have been more tired than she realized, because she didn't realize that she wasn't alone until a voice said "The moon is beautiful tonight." She turned. It was Sokka. Despite his words, it was her he was looking at, although he hastily turned his gaze to the sky when their eyes met.

She swallowed and said "I always feel better when I can look on it."

He leaned against the railing next to her, a bit closer than she had been raised to think proper. A small shift in her stance could widen the distance between them without seeming rude. She stayed as she was. They watched the moon together in silence.

"Is it what you expected it would be like?" he said. "Being here?"

She thought for a moment. "I didn't know what to expect. I guess that was the point. I'm always tired. I ache in muscles I didn't know I had. I feel like I should pretend that it's all so much more real and wonderful that given the choice I'd never go back. But oh, there's so many things I took for granted that I miss. Hot baths. Late breakfasts." She glanced at him, realizing she had practically admitted who she was, but he just was looking out to sea and nodding. She turned her gaze outward again and said "I don't regret it, though."

"I think I understand a little. I mean, I know my childhood was nothing like yours. But I didn't understand that I'd never really worked in my life until I came to sea. Captain Bato is an old friend of my father's. The biggest favor he's done me is not doing me any favors."

Silence fell and Yue wondered if it would really be that bad if she leaned closer to him. Instead she said, "The man from cabin 3 is a bully."

Sokka laughed. "You mean the way he's always deliberately dropping things that you'll have to clean up? Yeah, he's a piece of work. I've seen worse passengers, but not much."

"It's his wife I feel sorry for. You can tell she finds it embarrassing. She actually mouthed 'I'm sorry' at me the last time it happened."

"What did you do?"

Yue shrugged. "What could I do? I gave her a nod and a smile as I cleaned up his mess."

Sokka puffed out a laugh that sounded more sympathetic than humorous. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

They turned to look at each other at the same moment. Yue swallowed and bit her lip as she held his gaze.

Sokka pushed off from the rail. "Well, I'd better be turning in. Another long day tomorrow." His voice was a little overloud.

She tried to smile naturally. "Aren't they all? You're right. I should too."

They wished each other goodnight, and he disappeared below decks. Yue took one last backward glance at the moon, before making her way to her own bunk.

Yue was working in the galley when Sokka came running in at full tilt. He ignored the cook and came over to where Yue was washing dishes and grabbed her by the arm. "Come with me. Captain's orders." She was barely able to put down the plate she was holding without breaking it before he was hustling her out into the passageway.

She recovered her presence of mind enough to plant her feet and pull free. "What is this? Have you gone crazy?"

"I don't have time for this! You need to come with me." He tried to grab her again.

She pushed him back with a strength that surprised both of them. "Make time. I might be the lowest and newest hand, but I know this isn't how the captain does things. Where are we going and why?"

Sokka slapped his palm against his forehead, hard, but he said, "Alright. All right. There's another ship coming up on us fast. They're not flying any colors. Captain Bato thinks it's pirates." He paused and swallowed. "He thinks it's Zhao."

Yue felt a chill go through her. "He's supposed to be privateer in the service of the Fire Nation, isn't he?"

"He started that way. He's kind of on his own right now, ever since he sank a ship commanded by Prince Zuko. The Fire Nation will take him out eventually, but right now he's our problem. And Captain wants me to get you safely hidden, so come on."

This time she followed him without him having to take hold of her. "Is he hiding the woman passengers as well?" she asked.

Sokka paused too long before answering, "I didn't ask about that. I expect so."

She stopped again, glaring at him. "He's not, is he? It's just me. It will look suspicious if there are no women at all, but he thinks no one will miss me."

Sokka looked uncomfortable. "Your Highness," he began. Well, that settled the question of how much he knew.

"Don't," she said quietly, raising her fist.

"Yue," he said. "Please. I need to keep you safe."

Her mind raced. He was right about one thing. They probably didn't have a lot of time. "All right," she said. "Where?"

"There's a small tool room, back of the cable deck. It's the best I can come up with."

She just nodded and followed him.

The tool room was only big enough to hide one person, and she noted that the door was the only concealment it provided. If anyone bothered to check it, the game would be up for whoever was sheltering there.

She hesitated before the doorway. "Sokka…" She considered and discarded a string of excuses. Fear of the dark. Fear of rats. Nothing that came to mind would sound plausible after her weeks ship-board. It would have to be the direct approach. She stood on tiptoes and kissed him on the lips.

She held it longer than she had originally intended. When she broke it at last, her cheeks felt hot and she knew that the flutter in her heart was from more than the uncertainty of her plan.

Sokka looked at her wide-eyed and swallowed. "Um…"

She place her hands firmly on his chest, said "I'm sorry," and shoved. Taken off guard, he staggered backward into the tool room. She slammed the door shut on him. It wouldn't take him long to get out, she was sure, but she only needed a head start.

Zhao's men had already taken the ship when she reached the upper deck. Captain Bato had sensibly not resisted. The passengers and crew were gathered on deck, surrounded by hard faced men. The leader was a craggy faced man with a top-knot and sideburns. He stood over the man from cabin 3, who was doubled over, clutching at his stomach and retching. Zhao smiled down on him cruelly and said "I suggest you learn to watch your tongue, or I'll cut it out so it's easier to watch."

"Captain Zhao," Yue said as loud as she could. All eyes on deck turned toward her. She stepped forward. The pirates were too surprised or too curious to do anything but let her walk past and up to their captain. She bowed her head and said "I am Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe. I freely offer myself as your hostage in exchange for the safety of the passengers and crew of this vessel.

Zhao turned a questioning gaze to Captain Bato. "My niece," Bato said. "She gets these fancies. Please don't treat her harshly." He stepped forward and tried to pull her back, but she fended him off.

"I have been travelling incognito, but Captain Bato is aware of my identity. He is only trying to do what he sees as his duty to protect me." Zhao looked like he was more inclined to believe Bato. Yue stood straight and summoned up her best haughty manner. "The proof of my claim is in my luggage in my cabin."

"But your luggage…" Bato stopped himself too late.

She arched an eyebrow at him. "You were saying, Captain?"

Bato sighed. "Your father's men removed your luggage after they failed to find you on board the ship." She gave him a pointed look, and he added with obvious reluctance, "Your Highness."

It had taken all Yue's care and tact to convince Zhao that her continued good behavior was worth letting everyone on Bato's ship depart safely, but she had managed it without making him lose face. So now, here she was, locked in Zhao's cabin, waiting for her father to ransom her.

She had hoped to see Sokka one last time, as they had rowed her to Zhao's ship. But if he had escaped the tool room, he hadn't shown his face on deck. Perhaps it was for the best, after how she had tricked him.

A scraping sound came from the door to the cabin, interrupting her thoughts. Someone was trying to pick the lock. Zhao would have just used the key, so it had to be one of the other pirates. Yue was sure Zhao wouldn't take kindly to the crewman, whatever he meant to do. But that wouldn't do her much good now. She grabbed a jug from the table next to the bunk and stood behind the door.

Finally, the lock gave and the door creaked open. A figure stepped stealthily into the room. Fortunately, he spoke before Yue brained him with the jug. "Yue," Sokka said, "are you in here?"

She shut the door behind him, and he jumped and spun around. "You idiot," she hissed. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, that's gratitude. I'm here to rescue you."

Yue restrained herself from saying the first three things that popped into her head, but it was a near thing. She settled on "How did you know which cabin I was in?"

"I didn't. This is the fourth one I tried."

She slapped her forehead. "You could have been caught, and then where would you be?"

He waved a hand dismissively. "Naw. The whole crew's too distracted."

Yue realized she could here shouting from elsewhere in the ship. "With what?" she asked.

Sokka looked shifty. "I'll explain later. It's a long story. Look, I've got a dinghy waiting, but we should hurry."

"Why?" Yue asked, dreading the answer.

"Because I'm not sure how slow the slow fuse I left burning in the powder magazine actually is."

She stared at him for a heartbeat, then yanked the door open, grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the passageway. And then they were running, hand in hand, through the ship, with the sounds of angry panicking pirates ringing in their ears. Yue began to laugh and held Sokka's hand tighter.

Much later, after more running and a lot of rowing, they paused to rest. Zhao's ship burned festively on the horizon.

"You do have a plan for us not staying out in the middle of the ocean, don't you?" Yue asked.

Sokka chuckled. "Probably."

She laid her head on his shoulder. "Do we need to do anything about it just now?"

He put his arm around her and pulled her close. She took hold of his hand again. "Definitely not," he said.