Chapter 4 – The Northward Journey
Two days after Tatiana had left for Ba Sing Se Zuko decided that it was way past time he stopped feeling sorry for himself & went down to the docks to get a ride out on the next ship to set sail. He was headed to the Haven in the North. Maybe, on the way, he could help a few of the people whose lives he had taken such joy in destroying. He did not know how but, he would find a way, he always did.
As he boarded the ship he thought of Tatiana. She would be safe now & free & happy. Zuko had done that for her, that fact made him proud. At least he had helped her, that was a step in the right direction that he could not negate, even if he had wanted to.
The Haven in the North was the last place of refuge for anyone who was fleeing the in-fluence of the Firenation. Neither his father nor his little sister had ever been able to locate it. Zuko had tried & failed as well but, he was beginning to see that as a refuge doors were opened to him that had been locked & bolted before.
That was not even the best part! The best part was that the Haven in the North was far away enough from the North Pole that nobody would know about who he had been. It didn't matter if they did anyway because, thanks to the travel papers his uncle Iroh had had forged for him, he wasn't even Zuko, he was Lee. In a way he had his father to thank. If he had not been so power hungry & unforgiving, Zuko would never have found direct passage to the one place he had failed to locate.
The feeling he had, boarding the ship the Lotus Blossom was good, it was familiar, it was right. Outrageous as it seemed, Zuko had missed the water, the wind in the sails, the sensation of carefully orchestrated drifting through the seas that surrounded all four nations. The ship he stood on was in no way connectable to his own but to him, it still felt like home. Looking forward to the expedition ahead, he set about doing his, or Lee's, as-signed chores.
Over the course of the next two weeks Zuko became such an expert fisherman that he could rival any Waterbender on board the Lotus Blossom when it came to fishing skills. Living each day in the fear that their vessel might be spotted by the Firenation made Zuko excessively diligent. He was sure not to affront any of the other passengers on board & even made a friend, an Earthbender named Masolvich who thought that he was just an "un-fortunate chap" who had messed with the wrong Firebender; he had no idea how right he was. Even though they considered all Firenation the "wrong" ones, Zuko knew that they were mistaken.
He could think of one Firenation who was right. His mother was right when she left his father. Zuko could only believe that he had changed for the worst when he had become Firelord, that it was the power that had corrupted him & his mother had not fallen in love with a monster & bore him two children.
Masolvich was like the big brother Zuko had never had or, to be quite frank, ever want-ed. He treated Zuko like an insipid child who could not take care of himself & he used Zuko's scar as license for his being an over protective pest. There weren't even any other Firenation on board.
"Masolvich," Zuko would cry in exasperation, "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
To this Masolvich would laughingly reply.
"So you say Lee, but that there scar on your face says differently. I'm gonna look out for you, keep you out of trouble."
Grudgingly Zuko would accept that Masolvich was never going to let him do anything if he could not keep a hawk's-eye-watch on him. & as much as Zuko hated to admit it, the big oaf was growing on him even if Masolvich did consider him incompetent. Not knowing the security of a normal family, Zuko assumed that older siblings typically believed that their younger siblings were incapable of taking care of themselves. Not even Zuko was head-strong or stupid enough to oppose Masolvich.
Besides, his schedule was a simple one. On the mornings he swabbed the decks along with Palnickan, Bartmellow & Adrial while in the evenings, he fished with Marstaj, Masolvich, Julimon & Vertigio, after dusk everyday he had a few minutes to himself to practice some basic Firebending stances in his cabin before he had to run off to help Bensalic, Rowlark, Mattinil & Pollyfald cook dinner. After dinner, they always swapped scary stories before lights-out, which was fast becoming Zuko's favorite part of the day.
As simple as his daily tasks appeared, at times, they could actually becomes pretty boring & strenuous especially since there was no possible way for him to forget them. At times swabbing six decks could be relaxing, soothing even & at others, it could be the most putrid, disgusting, muscle-tensing activity created to taunt a man, Firebender or other-wise. Sometimes the banter that he shared with fishermen or cooks put him in a great mood, others, they would make some uneducated statement about the Firenation that would make him fairly want to wring their necks.
Why could they not see that the Firenation were not evil, that they were misguided, mislead. After being disowned, exiled & stripped of his honor, that much was clear as crystal to Zuko but, for guys who were older than him, the other refugees on board apparently had no military career or knowledge & were more than a little thick-headed. Oh well, at least he was headed Northward, where he wanted to be.