The Captain of the Ship
It was dark and the sun was present but was not visible to any of the men. Some of the other men prayed and cursed to Agni. The captain, however, believed that Agni could not hear them in the winter. They could feel the chill. He had thought perhaps this season had not been the most favorable for the Fire Lord to send them to the South Pole. The commander of the ship had ordered his crew to set ahead. Captain Zhen had been feeling the presence of uncertainty. It must have been the cold, he dismissed.
The fire lord had sent him them with a royal barge. The ship had decorated and boasted the golden trimmings that lined its crimson red walls. A grandeur ship specifically designed to transport royalty and high-class citizens. It was considerably faster than normal vessels and one of the newer ships of the fire nation. The ship, apparently, had not been devised for sailing in colder regions. They had recently noticed that their journey had taken longer than the estimated amount of time to travel to the South Pole. The half-frozen oceans they have encountered as they have been reaching nearer to their destination had been holding them off.
Aside from the frozen ship, captain Zhen also had to deal with frozen men. Some of the men on his crew where fresh navy delegates or as he liked to call them, escapees from the Fire Nation Navy Academy. Boys trained for war delegated security. This was the first snow day for some of the boys. Probably the only one they would ever experience. He noticed that these men could easily be found near the steam coming from below. The men on the deck, however, had not been as fortunate as they could feel the frozen breeze coming from the strong wind.
The Fire Lord had sent for the crew to collect the Princess of the Southern Water Tribe, the betrothed of Crown Prince Zuko. The captain thought it was quite sad for the prince to marry a woman he had never previously met. Even more for the girl, the princess would have to live in a foreign nation, in the heart of her country's enemy nation, rule as the Fire Lady, a queen, and marry the crown prince from a family that has caused destruction to her tribe. His thoughts, however, were unimportant as he was merely a commander of a ship, not even a child of nobility.
"We're approaching, captain." His thoughts were interrupted by a soldier. The captain nodded absently and when back to his musings.
Zhen had found it completely amusing that his nation and the Water Tribes had great conflict. For two nations that have incredible pride, they are interdependent on their enemies' element. The fire nation is in risk of dehydration and the Water tribes are vulnerable to hypothermia. He did not possess the common opinion of the other nations. He cared not if they are from the fire nation, the earth kingdom nor the water tribes. He had met, worked with or against all these men and had seen no difference. There were noble and vicious men from all the parts of the world. He had hoped that whoever this princess was, she would be able to restore the Fire Nation to its former glory.
He had walked amongst the desk and ordered some of his men to quickly prepare for their approach to the South Pole. Some of the men had quickly rushed to the rooms to clean and make everything presentable for their guest. A small group was at the end of the deck trying to decide who was going to set off the ship. Most of the crew had gone to their stations quickly getting ready to execute standard procedures for their arrival.
Captain Zhen had stared at the main land mass of the South Pole. Whilst its sister tribe had often been condemned as a frozen fortress, the South Pole had merely been a shadow of the former great city. Zhen had highly doubted that the presence of a fire nation ship would be greatly welcomed by any country that had been victims of the former Fire Lord.
From afar, he saw many tents decorated with animal skin no doubt from the various hunting expeditions of the tribes' men. There was a large ice-structure that he had recognized as an igloo towards the east side of the village. At the heart of the village was a cleared area that he suspected to be a fire pit. A large circular wall had surrounded the entire village. On the walls were soldiers ready and on alert for any approaching harm. There were some small boats on the harbour, trade vessels he recognised and a small crowd of people surrounding them waiting for the goods.
The royal barge had collided with the hard ice and the ship had been covered with snow. They had docked and the humongous metal contraptions means of reception of the ship had been lowered. There had been no welcoming party.
He had seen a group whom were the nearest beings to them. The children had paused playing and seem to just stare at the group of soldiers adorned in red, black and embroidery of gold. These greatly contrast to the children who were dressed in thick wool clothing and parkas. These boys had similar hair styles in what he assumed was a water tribe tradition.
"Where is the princess of the Southern Water Tribe?" Zhen asked authority apparent in his tone. It dawned on him that he should have asked less menacingly. The children, however, were completely oblivious to the captain's realization.
"Who?" This boy was the obvious leader amongst his group of friends.
"Princess? Don't you mean the chief's daughter?" Another said.
"Master Katara? I saw her with Chief in the village." The boy from the back said.
A man appeared behind the boys. He was tall and had been fully equipped with proper armory, proudly wearing the colors of his land. There was a distinct symbol on his helmet which Zhen thought that the man could be an equivalent of a lieutenant of some sort. He looked at Zhen and his crew and his eyes flickered to the boys.
"Run along children." He said in a low voice. "Best get home before dusk."
The boys muttered quiet murmurs of protest but when on their way.
"We have arrived to escort the southern water tribe princess."
"I heard." He dismissed. "Voices echo in vast emptiness, an old saying you've probably never heard of."
The fire nation marine offered no comment. Another soldier had approached them. Frankly, Zhen thought everyone from the South Pole had been avoiding a confrontation with the fire nation.
"Bato, Chief Hakoda is looking for you." The soldier refused to meet the gaze of the man. So, that's his name.
Bato had chuckled. He revert his attention back to the foreigners. "Master Pakku has informed me that the young master is coming as we speak."
Zhen nodded. He ordered his crew to stand by and watched Bato walk away. It was almost time to meet the woman who held the esteemed title: the Princess of the Southern Water Tribes.
Chief Hakoda had sent the soldier away. He looked at his daughter sitting on the floor. She had grown quite so much that he needed to remind himself sometimes that she was old enough to do things on her own and make her own decisions.
"You don't have to go through with this you know." Hakoda said.
Hakoda was completely against sending her daughter to be married to the Fire nation prince. He was slightly irritated that Chief Arnook had suggested his daughter to the fire nation ambassador. In these circumstances however, this political marriage is quite inevitable. He prayed to his wife's spirit to guide their daughter for her stay in the heart of the enemy's lands.
Katara was fixing her hair into an intricate braid, an old custom in their lands, and spared her father a glance. She knew of her father's opinion on the match. She sighed deeply.
"They took my mother." She said simply. "They aren't going to take anyone else."
Of course, she was going to be selfless. Just like her mother, he thought to himself. Hakoda was afraid. Everyone was aware of the fight for the throne between the siblings when the eldest becomes of age. Hakoda didn't want his daughter to be caught in the middle of that.
Katara stood and grabbed her coat. She had a warm heart and that hunger for peace that most water tribe possessed. She held the mark of the brave, the only one in the family. Despite his hesitance, Hakoda had been quite proud of her.
"You're a Southern woman, remember that." Hakoda needed to emphasize this to her. He grabbed her and pulled her into an embrace. He wanted to declare this to Chief Arnook, that women from his tribe were independent and completely capable of finding their own partners. Frankly, there was an unspoken law in the South Pole that arranged marriages were forbidden. Now however, Hakoda's own daughter had to undergo the same forbidden marriage.
"Dad, everything's going to be fine." Katara muttered to her father's parka. She let go of him and picked up her things. Hakoda watched as she slipped out of the house and disappeared.
He was a father. But, he had acquired the title of Chief of the Southern water tribes before his wife became with child. He was crowned and named a father in the midst of a war. He thought of himself as unfortunate to have lost an unfortunate wife to the enemy, father an unfortunate son having to learn to defend himself and his country in a war brought by people before him and an unfortunate daughter mistaken as a princess and to be married to the damned crowned prince of the fire nation.
"You'd better come back, if you know what's good for you." He muttered quietly and went to continue his work.
Katara had walked out of their compound towards the harbour. She had met a few friends along the way and said her goodbyes. She didn't have a going away party as her brother had when he got married and moved to the North Pole. Everyone chose not to celebrate her departure. She met weeping old women and young children and briefly gave them a hug. She quietly said farewell to the men, whom are old comrades, she would call them on her explorations outside the compound to the farthest corners of the land. These were her people.
She spied a ship blazed with red and gold. It stood out from her land which way filled with shades of greys, blues, and whites. It clearly did not belong there. The royal barge did not look similar to the infamous shipwreck of the South Pole. This ship had shown extravagance and showed off the riches of its nation.
She was arriving nearer to the barge. It may have looked different and less menacing from the haunted shipwreck, but she was still a bit hesitant to board the ship. Katara met a man standing at the base near his ship, no doubt the captain.
"Your Highness," The captain greeted and bowed. "Welcome to our ship."
Katara chuckled and nodded. She needed not to say anything and she was escorted onto the ship. They showed her the ways to her personal quarters and she went to go to the deck to see them moving away.
Distantly, she had heard the captain give out orders to his men, Fire nation navy whom she was travelling with for the next La-knows-how-long. The ship was departing from the South Pole and she was going with it. She was travelling to the fire nation to marry a foreign prince and eventually rule their land. Despite her uncertainty, she was quite curious about the fire nation. She had learned limited information from her studies. But it had remained at that, limited.
Katara looked back from the ship towards the South Pole. She watched as they drifted away from the giant iceberg, as most would describe it. It had not been the first time she had been away from home. However, those visits were to the sister tribes of her home. Katara had frequently been to the Foggy Swamp and the North Pole to conduct her duties as an ambassador to the Southern Water Tribe.
She reminded herself that it had been for her people and for the rest of the world, as it always was.
A/N: Chapter two is kinda half written but I don't know when it's going to be published.
