Boards creaked underfoot. The smell of salt and unwashed bodies wafted on the air like an autumn breeze. Couldn't help but love the smell, it meant life. Right now it meant the hope of moving forward.
It had been nearly a week since I'd snuck on this ship, but I wanted to give myself a better chance of success before I was kicked off. Assuming they decided to kick me off. But, so far so good. It wasn't too hard to stow away on a ship where everyone wore a solders uniform, including a helmet. It didn't hurt that Prince Zuko never bothered to socialize with his men. In truth, it seemed to me that that was the core of his weakness. After all, if you know your enemy and know yourself, you'll win all your battles. If you do not know your enemy, but know yourself, you will win most of them. The Prince didn't know "himself," because he thought himself too important to know his men. Typical. Or perhaps there was another reason, perhaps he was afraid of his men? After watching his behavior, I had concluded that it was likely a combination of the two.
But, there was time to think of that later. Now, I was ready to turn myself in. I hadn't bothered to take my stolen uniform off. All I had on underneath was some plain clothes; a long crimson shirt, and baggy, worn, tan slacks. Not much to meet a Prince in, however, I didn't have any money and new clothes weren't an option.
A week was plenty of time to learn my way around the ship, as well as many of the men's activities. I was probably the only female on this thing, ample reason to leave the ill-fitting uniform on. I was still small, so I tried to keep out of General Iroh's way. He, unlike the Prince, would notice someone a head shorter than all the men, one who hadn't been on board before docking on Zhou's doorstep.
There was a reason this guy was a general.
I made my way down to the largest room, the one that served as the recreation area for anyone not on duty. There, as I had predicted, the general was playing a game of Pi-Sho. I wondered if there was any time to back out of this, but shut the thoughts down immediately. If there had been any way out of it, it was before getting on the ship. As a stowaway, I owed it to the General to turn myself in. I stepped hesitantly up to the Pi-Sho table, and cleared my throat, which, for some unknown reason, had suddenly become very dry.
"Sir?" I blurted out, unable to stop myself. This was it….
General Iroh looked up. "Yes?"
General Iroh was maybe a head shorter than me, and quite round. He seemed like a jolly old man, and was maybe old enough to be my father or grandfather. He had a nice, friendly temperament, and gained the men's respect by giving them his in return.
"I-I um, regret to inform you that a stowaway has been detected on this ship." I stumbled through my sentence, face red. Good thing I still had on this helmet, even though it made my voice sound tinned.
"I see." The general sighed, looking down at his board. I caught a calculating look on his face for only a sliver of a second before he stood up. "Let's deal with this in my quarters. I'll go fetch the Prince."
"Yes sir." I responded automatically. My heart raced. I had known that he'd bring in the Prince, but I had hoped that I was wrong. I'd just have to muddle my way through this with the Prince looking on. I'd need his approval to stay on this ship. Without it, I was down to the prison cells in the hold, or on the shore of the next island we came to.
I knew my way to his quarters, but I followed him anyway. He paused to let me inside before continuing down the hall to fetch the Prince.
I closed the door behind him, and began to take off the armor that I'd been wearing piling it all in a heap. On a small mirror erected on the wall, I caught a glimpse of my reflection. Not only were my clothes ragged and dirty, but my face was coated in a layer of grime, and my hair clung to my face and neck, matted with dirt and sweat from wearing the helmet, and not brushing it for quite some time. My nails were chipped and dirty, and my overall appearance was slovenly, if not disturbing. I had taken off the enormous boots that came with the uniform, and since I didn't own any shoes, I was barefoot.
I was startled out of my thoughts by the door slamming open and both the Prince and the General entering.
"When I find this stowaway uncle, you can bet that I'm going to make an example of him!" Zuko huffed.
This was not a surprise. Zuko was maybe a couple months younger than me, but he was about my age. His head was shaved, except for a small patch that contained his ponytail. Also he had an enormous scar over his left eye. I didn't know the story behind that one, but if I was going to guess, he picked a fight with the wrong person. His temperament was almost exactly opposite his uncle, the general's. He was dark and angry. No matter how good something was, he could always find something wrong with it. But all the same, he was strong. It wasn't just how muscular he was, although he was quite muscular. He had the air of a survivor, and those are hard to find amongst princes.
"Sorry to interrupt, but uh… the stowaway is a her." I interjected, before he had caught sight of me. Immediately his gaze snapped to me. As he gave me a once over, I felt a tad embarrassed. "Sorry," I said apologetically. "I didn't get a chance to wash up before turning myself in."
"Are you making fun of me?" The Prince's voice was dangerously low.
I shook my head, mock seriousness taking over my expression. "No sir! I couldn't figure out how to bathe without taking the uniform off, getting into the water off the boat, climbing back on and putting the armor off without being seen. You have my sincere apologies!" I saw his eyebrow twitch. His scowl had only been slightly menacing before, now it was murderous. I dropped to one knee, killing the mockery in my expression, and changing it to a solemn one. "My lord, please forgive me." I mumbled, becoming more respectful. "I had the audacity to stow away on your vessel, because I wanted to ask two favors of your uncle."
"What's your name?" the Prince barked, causing me to glare at the floor.
"I don't have one, my lord." I replied.
"How dare you think that you can stow away on my ship, and ask anything of anybody on here!" He was working himself into a rage. "What makes you think my uncle give you anything?"
I stood to my feet. "Because… He knows me." I turned to Iroh. "You probably don't remember though? It was a long time ago."
I grabbed the edge of my shirt, and began to pull it up.
"Are you undressing in front of me now?" The Prince was enraged. I saw fire flicker on the palm of both hands. It took an effort to tune him out.
I stopped pulling up my shirt about two inches above my navel, showing him a scar that stretched across my abdomen. "We met when you faced the last dragon."
Recognition flashed across his face. "Ah, you're right. I remember now."
I grinned. "You were the one that told me that everyone's ticket to the future is blank.* There's no way I can repay you."
General Iroh smiled, and seemed to relax. "You mentioned that you had two requests for me."
I dipped my head. "Yes sir." Kneeling on one knee again, I adopted the pose I had given the Prince before. "With the Prince's permission, I would be honored if you would allow me to serve you, until I can no longer be of any use to you!"
There was silence for a minute. "That is an unusual request…" General Iroh stated finally.
"That's ridiculous! You're a stow away! How do we know you're not a spy?" Prince Zuko demanded.
I turned back toward the Prince. "Sir… He saved my life years and years ago, and then he put me in a home where I was educated and treated well. I would never betray him. Or you."
"What was your other request?" General Iroh asked gently.
"Again with your own consent and Prince Zuko's permission, I wanted to beg you to teach me firebending!" I bowed my head, staring hard at the floor. Both requests were selfish, in a way, and now that I had asked, I was immensely embarrassed, especially whenever I took my appearance into account.
"You're a firebender?" Zuko was incredulous.
"I have been able bend a little bit on my own since I was young. It grew stronger that day…. The day the General faced the last dragon… But I cannot refine it on my own, and I haven't been able to find a master willing to teach me anything else." I turned back to the general. "Please, I don't want to take up any more of your time or energy, but if I could be present while you instructed the Prince, I would be more than honored."
"I don't mind." General Iroh shrugged his shoulders. "But the final decision rests with the Prince."
Prince Zuko had settled down, and was quieter than when he started. "I don't care. Just stay out of my way." He turned to go. "And find some way to take a bath. You're embarrassing to look at." He left, slamming the door behind him.
I stood to my feet, head still bowed. "Thank you, sir. I ask forgiveness for any offense I might have caused."
General Iroh shook his head. "It was no offense. Prince Zuko just needs some space. He's quite stressed from looking so hard for the Avatar."
I looked up. "Please forgive me for speaking frankly, but Commander Zhou… I think he plans to give you a rough time. I was hoping… You could keep me as a reserve. If there's some kind of emergency maybe I could help in some way."
"I will think about it." Iroh replied.
We stood in silence for a moment before it occurred to me that I was in his bedroom, and that I probably stank. As Zuko had articulated, I needed a bath. "Please excuse me. I need to…find some way to carry out the Prince's instructions." I mumbled.
"It's no problem. Perhaps you'll play a game of Pi-Sho with me when you are finished?" Iroh asked.
"I would love that, if you're not put out by playing with a poor opponent." I answered. I really did enjoy Pi-Sho, but I needed more practice before I could be any good.
"Then I look forward to a game." the old man smiled, and that was the last I saw of him after I left his quarters.
Taking a bath proved more difficult than I'd expected. Taking a swim would have been nice, had I been able to climb back on, but the sides of the ship were smooth, and I wasn't exactly adept at rope climbing. In the end, I found a bucket, and used a long rope to lower it over the side of the ship. After I'd manage to pour it over myself about ten times, my arms had gotten tired from pulling it up over and over. After pouring it over myself fifteen times, the dirt had washed out of my face, and my clothes were brighter. After pouring it over myself twenty times, I felt good as new. After this, I went to a relatively unpopulated area of the deck, and laid down in the sun to dry off. I felt so good that I accidentally went to sleep.
It was cold when I woke up.
The breeze from earlier was blowing through again, but the temperature had dropped about twenty degrees, and the stars were out. There were so many up in the sky, it was bright with them. The swirled together in a sparkly mixture and made everything else seem like a work of art. The ship. The sea…
I sat up, wishing I had a cloak or something. It really was chilly, and I wasn't used to it. Eventually, I pushed myself enough to look around for something. There were a few lifeboats on board, and they had tarps over them. I pulled the tarp off of one, and wound it about my shoulders, blocking the worst of the wind from me.
I wasn't really curious, but most of the men were below deck, sleeping, it was an ideal time to walk around, and truthfully, my back hurt from laying in one position for so long.
As I walked around a bit, I spied the Prince at the front of the deck, holding on to the railing. He seemed to be thinking about something, but from the look on his face, I doubted it was pleasant. He would never thank me for anything, but he might be happier if I distracted him for a moment.
I slipped as quietly as I could toward him, wondering what exactly to say.
"You look less disgusting now." The Prince commented, not turning around.
"I wanted to thank you for allowing me to stay on. I know that you like strict discipline, so allowing someone like me to stow away probably goes against your nature…" I grab the railing with the hand not holding the tarp on me.
"Don't think I'm going to let you slack off. If you can't pull your own weight around here, I'll change my mind and leave you at the next port." Zuko snapped.
"Yes sir. I promise, I'll work hard."
"And another thing; I know that you have some kind of connection to my uncle, but around here, you ask permission from me. You take my orders. If you have questions, you come to me. If your loyalty isn't absolute, I'm going to get rid of you before you can blink."
"I look forward to serving you." I replied. "You can be assured of my loyalty as well."
"Good." During this whole time the Prince hadn't bothered to look my way. He still didn't, but unless I was imagining it, he seemed to relax.
I turned away from him a little, looking out towards the horizon. We stood in silence, each of us preoccupied with our own thoughts. I almost missed it when Prince Zuko turned and walked towards me. For a second, I thought he'd walk right by, but then he stopped, put his hand in his pocket, and pulled out a key. "Here." He said, handing it to me. "You can sleep in the first prison cell. It'll give you some privacy while you stay here." Without waiting for an answer, he walked away, back towards his quarters. I felt some happiness begin to boil inside me a little bit. Impulsively I yelled after him, "Thank you!"
He didn't stop. He didn't turn around, respond, or acknowledge in any way that he'd heard me. But I knew he had.
I turned away from the railing, and headed down to the Prison Hold, where I would be sleeping for the next while.
Prince Zuko had given me two keys. The first opened the first door on the left of the long corridor that was the Prison Hold. The second opened the barred door in the cage that made up the cell. It was perfect really. If he wanted me, the Prince, or the General could come right in. However if some creep tried to get at me, they wouldn't be able to get into the cage. I'd make sure the door was locked good every night. You hear bad things about sailors after all.
I shut the outer door, went into the cage and locked the door. It was bare inside, but had a cot and two basins. I curled up on the cot with my tarp, and found that it was quite comfortable, although it probably wasn't meant to be. I had a lot to think about, so I didn't think that I would be able to get to sleep any time soon, but I drifted off within minutes of getting comfortable on the bed.
One of the downsides I should have foreseen, but didn't was the fact that there aren't usually windows in holding cells in the hold of a ship, and that my room was no exception. Naturally, this made it difficult to tell the time of day, and my internal clock has always been either broken or out of whack. As soon as I woke up, I immediately hoped that I hadn't overslept. The prince had been rather exact about the consequences of slacking.
Reaching for my keys, I tried to think of what exactly the prince wanted me to do on this ship. It wasn't like they hadn't gotten along without me before, so I had no idea what job he had in mind.
I felt relieved when I got above deck, and realized that it was still early in the morning. Not getting left on a deserted island today.
I looked around, feeling lost. This was still going to be tough, not having any real job. Just then, I noticed General Iroh sitting on the deck. He had a game of solitaire/Pi-Sho going, or something in that category. I nervously treaded up to him, unsure of what exactly to say. He spared me the trouble.
"My, you look nice." He commented, giving me a laid back smile.
I grinned. "I think your nephew was serious about me needing that bath. Not that I blame him."
"You never came to play Pi-Sho with me after." He mentioned, looking back to his game.
"I'm sorry." I apologized sheepishly. Pi-Sho had left my mind completely. "I kind of… forgot." My face reddened as I realized what had just happened. I had come here to serve Iroh, in an effort to repay that debt I owed him… And I'd forgotten to play his favorite game. No. I spent my time napping. How self centered was that?
He chuckled. "Don't worry, there's plenty of time to play my game still."
"T-Thank you!" I stammered gratefully.
"Was there something else you needed?" Iroh asked. I saw his hand move a tile from the right to the left.
"Oh.." I tried to remember what I'd wanted to ask him about. "Yes! Prince Zuko um… articulated that he would like me to be engaged in the ship's progress… I don't know what job he would have had in mind, so I thought you could give me some idea of where to work."
"Bad question." I reflected, once my hands were immersed in greasy water. By then it was too late.
Kitchen duty.
But then, I'd volunteered to serve, and this was a relatively straight forward job, so I didn't mind that much.
The cook was large and barrel chested. He appeared a little scary at first, but I learned quickly that he had a good temper, and that his food was… amazing. Indeed, he had a reputation for being able to take mere flour and water and making it so good that the Fire Lord himself would get down and beg. Well, maybe not, but close enough. Anyways, he didn't really need any help, but I could keep the kitchen clean and wash dishes. The crew was rather extensive, and the amount of bowls and spoons, not to mention plates, forks, and knives… well, it was extensive to say the least. Then there was the cooking utensils, and pots, pans, so forth and so on. The counters were dirty… The kitchen was understaffed, so naturally it made sense to start working here.
In the time that it had taken me to get used to working in the kitchen, we'd already docked, got supplies, and set back out.
"Hey girl." The cook grunted. It surprised me, he hadn't made a noise since we started out. "Take this to the prince, will you?"
"Sure."
"Don't forget to tell him, the Avatar was last seen on Kyoshi island."
"A-alright." I took off, holding the tray with smoked salmon on it. I knew vaguely that he was after the Avatar. He obsessed over the kid. I had yet to find out what kind of threat this Avatar posed to him.
It was dark inside the chamber where Prince Zuko and General Iroh usually ate. Why was it always dark where Zuko was? I supposed that light didn't seem to go with him. I could understand. I liked the dark, but I also liked the light too. He was still a kid, like I was. He should be able to enjoy it like that, but instead, he found himself growing up too quickly. A wave of melancholy hit me.
I set the salmon down on the table. "I was told to let you know… the Avatar has been hiding out on Kyoshi island."
The effect was immediate. "At last!" The prince snapped to his feet, forgetting his lunch. I stepped back in shock, just for a moment.
"Tell the captain to set our course for Kyoshi island!"
General Iroh looked longingly at the salmon. "If you're not planning to eat that…"
Zuko snatched up the tray. "I was going to save that for later!"
He looked over at me. "What are you still doing here?"
I snapped to attention. "Sir!" Immediately, I jumped for the door, and rushed to tell the captain to change course.
Author's Note:
* I do not own the phrase "Our Ticket to the Future is always blank." I borrowed it from Trigun, because I found it inspiring to me personally, and it seemed like something Iroh would say, and it embodied the spirit I want to get across in the story. The Title is based on this too.
