The ship was fast, so we got there in no time at all. Zuko and some of his soldiers got on top of rhinos, and started off the ship, and into Kyoshi island. I had been left behind. Maybe the Prince still didn't trust me. It had only been one day after all.
I sighed, leaning over the rail.
"Is something wrong?"
I jumped, startled. "Left you behind too?" I asked, surprised. Iroh's sigh echoed mine.
"He wants to move quickly."
I gave him a flat look. "They're on rhinos."
"Yes, but he gets worried that he'll have to take care of me."
"But you're a general! Hasn't he seen you fight?" I asked incredulously.
"It is easy to underestimate people that are older than you." He looked down at the water, and I saw his expression change. He had fulfilled his serious quota, there was no need to be any more serious for now. Or maybe I'd trespassed too much into his personal affairs and he was too nice to let me know.
"How are you liking your new job?" He asked me.
I shrugged. "I don't dislike it. It's not bad." But that might sound negative… So I smiled. "I like how straight forward it is. It's nice."
It had only been a few minutes, still, there wasn't anything for it. I had no idea how long the prince would take on this mission. "Still up for that game of Pi-Sho?" I asked.
"That would be lovely. But do you think you could make some tea before we play?"
"I started it just before they left." I answered, feeling proud of myself. "It should be ready in a few minutes. Here, I'll go prepare it." I rushed over to the kitchen, pulled the tea kettle off of the stove, and poured it into a cup, making sure to strain out the tea leaves in the process.
"Here you go." I smiled, handing Iroh the cup of tea.
"Oh, many thanks." Iroh smiled and sat down at the board. "The guest has the first move."
I looked down at the board searchingly. So I'm the guest…
I picked up a tile and placed it on the board. "Thank you for the honor of allowing me to play with you." I said, settling back as he placed a countermove on the board.
"No, no, the honor is all mine. Not many people enjoy a simple game any more."
"I'm sure that you can find as many players as you need."
"My nephew likes to keep everyone occupied."
And so, we fell into a casual banter that matched the pace of the pieces that were laid down.
Unsurprisingly, I lost.
"I'm sure you will win if you… play again?" Iroh stated.
I grinned. "Don't be silly. No matter how many times I play, I'll never get to beat you!"
"Does that mean that you won't?" He looked vaguely disappointed.
I shook my head. "Why not? Maybe I'll learn something. Why don't you go first?"
And so, it started again. It wasn't that it wasn't fun. I enjoyed it, but probably not as much as the General. He seemed to get a real kick out of it. It was the only time he really displayed his keen wit. Why would he hide it like that?
"So while the men are out working, you two lazy slobs are playing a stupid game!" bellowed a voice from behind me. I jumped out of my seat and spun around.
"Uh… sir?" I mumbled.
Zuko grabbed the collar of my shirt, and pushed me up against the back wall. "I told you, if you slack off, I'll kick you off of this ship. You're this close to leaving it. I suggest you get back to work."
Somehow, this made me angry. "Look! There weren't any jobs! Even the cook doesn't need my help! It can't hurt to play just a couple of games-" I cut off as he glowered at me.
"Have you forgotten my instructions already? You don't ask for anyone else's orders, you ask for mine! I told you, GET TO WORK." He released his grip on my shirt and moved back. It wouldn't do any good to argue with him.
"Yes sir." I mumbled, bowing my head obediently.
"Then get out of my sight." He turned away, as if I wasn't worth his time anymore.
Since I was dismissed, I decided not to make a scene. I swallowed down the bile that was beginning to fill my mouth, and left, heading back for the kitchen.
"I'm sorry. Is there any more work for me?" I asked. Immediately, I wished I hadn't. The mountain of dishes next to the sink spoke for itself.
"More dishes." The cook said, giving a little shrug.
"I'll get right on it."
It was late evening by the time I was done with all of the tasks that I had for the day. Needless to say, I was exhausted. Perhaps Zuko was right. Maybe I needed to keep my mind on my own work. I had to do it to be allowed to stay so I could pay my debt. Why did he have to be so sour?
I walked out onto the deck. Some of the crew had already gone to bed, others were working on the deck, patrolling or sailing the ship.
I sat down for a moment, looking up at the soupy sky. Some stars peaked out behind the foggy looking clouds. I took a moment to assess how exhausted I was, then stood to my feet again. Maybe Zuko would be in a better mood if I admitted I was wrong to take a break. I didn't really regret it, but it would soothe his pride a bit.
I walked down the corridor, and knocked on the door of his room. There was no answer, so I opened the door.
"What do you want?" Zuko demanded.
"I wanted to apologize for earlier. It wasn't my place to speak back, and if I was going to take a break, I should have asked for permission. I'm sorry."
"Well-" Zuko looked absolutely stunned for a second. Perhaps accepting apologies wasn't normal for this guy. I felt a bit sorry for him. He must face a lot of lip, mostly just because of how young he was.
"Uh… See that it doesn't happen again!" it was halfhearted, at best. He was trying to remain in his normal state. I could see it on his face. His expression hardened.
"Sir… The lead on the avatar-"
He turned away from me. "It was nothing. It didn't work out."
I rubbed the back of my neck and looked at my bare feet. "I'm sorry. That must be rough."
"Yeah. Just when I think that I've caught up to him… He's just lucky. I won't underestimate him again."
"May I ask…. What happened the first time?" I hesitated, unsure of my own question.
"No." Zuko answered. He turned back to me and said harshly, "Now get out!"
I started to say something, then stopped. No sense doing something I'd have to apologize for later. "Yes sir. Good night." I turned and closed the door, walking back out into the corridor. I wasn't the only one. General Iroh was there too.
"Why were you going in there so late?" He asked, turning halfway to face me.
"I just wanted to apologize for not heeding his orders before." I answered, almost embarrassed to admit it.
"Well, do you want to join us for music night?" He asked.
I laughed. Iroh sure seemed to have this whole bit figured out. He could play board games, arrange music nights and such all without messing with his nephew's right to control the ship.
"Sure, that sounds interesting. I'm not actually a musician though."
"It's fine. Everyone should be able to enjoy the wonder of music." He gave one of his charming smiles, and headed on his way down the corridor. I followed him, curious what this music night would look like.
The music was mostly folk music and ballads. I hadn't heard anything like it. There were a couple guys who danced with each other, but I guessed that was because such music needs dancing, and there weren't any girls. Except me. They seemed used to it, because no one looked my way or said anything. There was a little open fire on deck, I suppose it worked because the ship was made of metal on this part of the deck. It was beautifully warm under the cloudy sky, and the music just added to my feeling of contentment. I wasn't the first one to head to bed, but I didn't wait until the end of the music. As happy as I was, I was tired too.
I walked toward the end where the prison hold entrance was, and noticed a shadow. It swiftly turned and disappeared, and I was left wondering about it. I shrugged it off and went below deck into my comfy prison cell. I was starting to like it here. It almost felt cozy… or perhaps I was simply too tired. I pulled up my tarp blanket and fell asleep.
It was a brisk day, the sky was a pale orange color. I could see people walking away in the distance. Somehow I knew that I needed to talk to them, but they were already far away, and still walking. I broke out into a run, but it was as if I was running in place. Nothing changed. They continued to go farther and farther away, and no matter how far I was running, I couldn't move. I looked down and saw a huge mud pit. Soon it started swirling around, dragging me under. I pushed as hard as I could to resist, but the more I tried to escape the harder it pulled me in. I woke up when the muddy water had advanced to my nose and mouth, thrashing around a bit, until I realized that the cot was creaking under me. Then I stopped moving, willing my heart to quit racing.
Everything was fine.
I was fine.
It was okay.
I got up and realized that even though I'd taken a salt water bath before, my appearance had deteriorated. Yes, I was not caked with dirt, and I was still moderately clean, but that didn't mean anything. My hair was back to being a black, matted wreck. Not that I'd bothered to do anything much with it, but this was bothersome. I tried to scrape it into some kind of arrangement, and braided it into two braids, but it didn't stay. I needed something to tie it with… Oh well.
I ignored it and moved on. Time to get to work.
It was worse, because I was late.
Hopefully Zuko wouldn't find out about this, because honestly, I couldn't afford that.
Not that he was so bad or anything. Honestly, it was kind of him to give me a prison cell to stay in. Not that I appreciated the insults, but he was a little bit spoiled. To be expected of Royalty. He was just a poor kid who didn't now how to deal with his life.
But enough for feeling sorry for the guy who was going to kick me off of a ship if I didn't do the dishes.
Apparently the crew didn't eat breakfast. I was fine with that. Less dishes, less greasy water that I wasn't allowed to waste. But that meant that preparations for lunch were already underway. The smell of fish was overpowering. I figured that even though the tip about Kyoshi didn't end up being helpful, it was at least a good place to get fish.
Even in the kitchen though, I could smell smoke like nothing else. As if the engine had overheated or something.
"Hey, do you know what the deal is with the smoke?" I asked.
The cook shrugged. "Beats me."
"Ah well. Thanks." I got to work, chopping vegetables and putting them all into a big pot.
"You can go on a lunch break now." The cook said, hanging up his apron.
"Thank you!" I chimed, racing out the door. Now, to find out about that weird smoke…
It didn't take me long to find Iroh and Zuko. They spent most of their time on the deck anyway, General Iroh would sometimes play his games up there, and Zuko was often looking for the Avatar.
"Hey! Prince Zuko, what's up with the smoke?" I asked, coughing as I got a throatful of it.
"I don't know." He refused to turn around when he answered me.
"We're near a famous prison. We will stop there and see if their mechanics can help us out." Iroh explained, clicking another tile into place.
"Can I look at it?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.
"You know something about mechanics?" Zuko sounded astonished, he turned and looked at me, a beautiful shocked expression on his face.
I shrugged. "No. But I have super good luck, so maybe I can fix it with good luck?"
"Forget it. You might make something else go wrong." Zuko said, turning back to his position with his spyglass, eyes open for the Avatar.
"Well, I thought I'd ask anyway." I grinned. "So, how close are we to the prison?"
"It'll be dark by the time we get there." Iroh answered, eyes still on his board.
"Well, I'm on lunch break… So I was wondering if you wanted to…" I started, and then I realized that I didn't want to ask. It would be embarrassing if he refused.
"What?" Zuko didn't look up.
"Um.. Spar. I haven't used my firebending in a long time." I confessed. "I thought… maybe it would help you relax a little bit."
"Why would I need to relax?" Zuko asked, voice extremely low, dangerously.
"I just thought that if you feel relaxed you'll be better prepared to fight the avatar."
"I don't feel like it."
"I see. I'm sorry, I didn't mean any offense."
He didn't bother to answer me, so I figured I was in the clear. Still, there was nothing more to do around here. I decided to run around for a little bit, just to exercise a little bit and to keep my legs from being so stiff.
I accidentally ran into a largeish man who was looking out over the sea. I fell backward onto my backside, and he was pushed farther into the rails. "I'm sorry!" I gasped, making an attempt to get back up. It failed. He turned and looked at me.
"Watch where you're going." It sounded a lot less angry than it could have. He extended a hand to me, and I grasped it, allowing him to pull me to my feet.
"I'll try to be more careful." I mumbled, looking down at my feet.
"Just what were you doing?" He asked, eyebrows raised.
I shrugged. "I'm taking a break from the kitchen, so I thought that I'd… look around the ship or something."
"Oh yes.. You're the stowaway…" He said. "Well, the Prince has been a little bit off of everyone else's backs lately."
I laughed. "Only because he's been a little bit more on mine."
"So it'll probably go back to normal in a few days…" He sighed. "I won't pretend I enjoy working under him. Watching the way he treats the rest of the crew makes me sick. I wish it was general Iroh who was in charge."
"He knows the men better at least, doesn't he?" I asked, hoping that none of this would reach Zuko.
"Darn right he does! He treats the crew well, and acts in a way that's at least worthy of our respect! Anyway, who likes the idea of serving under a 16 year old brat?"
I shrugged, "I don't mind."
"Yeah, well you've only just arrived."
"I'm also pretty chill when it comes to who's giving me orders." I gave him a probing look, trying to see how he'd react to what I was about to say next. "Pride is a huge, in general, fault in the Firenation."
His eyebrow twitched. "You're saying that just from watching his highness, I'm sure."
I shrugged again. "I've travelled a bit. I think if we acted humbler as a nation that we would all feel more fulfilled."
"You sound like you take issue with the war."
"I just don't get the point of it."
We had a staring contest for a bit, but the man finally looked away.
"I better get back to the kitchen. My break isn't usually very long." I said, trying to break the now uncomfortable silence.
"What's your name, girl?" He asked.
"Don't have one. What's yours?" I returned.
"I'm Jee. Lieutenant Jee." Was his answer. He looked inquisitive, so I decided to break off the conversation before he could ask why I didn't have a name.
"It's nice to meet you Lieutenant. Maybe we'll be able to talk more sometime." After I said that, I scurried away, back to the little hidey-hole of the kitchen.
Maybe this all wouldn't lead into a mutiny. I could get lucky, right?
