[Part One]: Azure
SIX MONTHS LATER...
...
..
She's an aggressive little fish girl, but Zuko manages to drag her out of the water all the same. It's a wonder she hadn't drowned him, but he has little time to focus on such things. Any mortal man would have been overpowered easily, but he fights her writhing limbs. She's slippery and no amount of strength can keep her from sliding right through his hands. The fish girl frantically drags herself toward the surf, but he snatches her back easily enough. This time, he makes sure to hold her hands—her tail slaps harmlessly against his legs.
"Let me go!" the fish girl cries—the first coherent words he's heard from her yet, "Let me go, you bastard son of snail-crab—let me go!"
She's got a pretty face, but it is clear that this fish girl has the manners of an ill-bred fisherman's wife. He slings her over his shoulder. The mermaid pounds and claws at his back with surprising strength. At least his armor covers anything she can reach. The girl sounds close to tears, repeating an endless litany of let me go. If she was anything like her Northern sisters, his head would have been rolling in the sand. This girl is about a dangerous as a kitten—her claws were redirected easily enough.
His men wait on the other side of the lagoon—they will be surprised that he has survived. And relieved. They will return home with a mermaid in tow, instead of a drowned prince in hand. His father will be pleased.
"Why are you doing this?" the fish girl cries, "What have I ever done to you—you—you son of an inbred eel-bird!"
He ignores her, but wishes that the things she said were as beautiful as her scales. Her tail is the color of her eyes—a breath-taking azure. Still, he can't wait to dump her in the holding tank. The girl probably won't shut up, but at least Zuko won't have to hear her. He can't afford to feel guilt for the fish girl—she's just a pawn in a game much larger than them both.
"You'd better tame that tongue of yours, fish girl," he says with false nonchalance, "Or my father will enjoy cutting it off."
She falters for a moment, then insults his father's sexual prowess and moves onto his own. Zuko wishes his threat was a bluff, he wishes he didn't have to cage this beautiful creature. But neither of them are in control of their destiny any longer. It's something he shares with the fish girl.
"I'm going to kill you." She whispers when his ship comes into sight.
Maybe if the circumstances were different he might have liked this one. He'll never know.