Servitude

by PhantomChajo

(A/N: Thank you to all who have fav'd, followed, reviewed, kudoed, commented & bookmarked. I am humbled by it. All chapters are not created equal. Expect OCs ahead. In my head, the pirate captain's voice reminds me of Barbosa from PotC, but less accented. Since according to the avatar wiki, he has no name, I am giving him the name Masaru (Victorious).

Slavery is not permitted in the Earth Kingdom, but indentured servitude is fair game. The contract holders range up and down the moral scale of course. From fair and honest to dishonest and corrupt.

Money wise, gonna make it simple: 1 gold = 10 silver, 1 silver = 10 copper, 1 copper = 4 bits. Since gold is heavy, large sums of money are transferred via goldsmiths using small jade tablets that detail the transfer of gold by weight [50g per lb]. And yes they can be counterfeited but not very many want to try their luck due to the extreme punishment if caught.)

~~( - )~~

Zuko slowly opened his eyes, the world around him was dim and blurry. He blinked slowly, turning his head to look around. Voices moving closer caught his attention for a moment.

"Well, well, well, you finally decided to wake up. Welcome back to the world of the living." The laugh that followed was less than pleasant.

~~( - )~~

The man settled himself on a stool and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he clasp his hands together, then rested his chin on his hands as he studied the boy before him. It had been a long time since he set foot back on his home island in the Fire Nation, but that didn't mean he was out of touch with what was going on. He'd heard about the death of Fire Lord Azulon, the crowing of Fire Lord Ozai and the stories of his son, Prince Zuko's scarring and subsequent banishment. He'd also heard of all the rumors surrounding both events, from attempted patricide to a horrible training accident to dishonorable cowardice in an Agni Kai. He was curious as to what exactly happened to the boy. Especially considering the state they found him in after the lookout spotted the tiny dinghy and they shifted course to intercept it. At first speculations, the crew thought he was a sacrifice to La for safe passage until it was pointed out that he was bound around a pot full of human waste. Another theory was that the boy was some noble's brat that had been caught and was to be ransomed. From there, it diverged into 'ransom paid, kid was still left to die' and 'parents refused, kidd was tossed to the fates'. Personally he went with the idea of where ever the boy had been or who he'd been traveling with had gotten sick and tired of dealing with Fire Nation royalty and ditched the kid. No body, no evidence of foul play, everyone could pretend the kid was off somewhere else. But all that was neither here nor there. Right now, right now he had to decide what to do with the boy. "I am Captain Masaru, you are alive and unharmed at the moment by my whim only. While you are aboard my ship, if you do anything to cause trouble or to make me regret bringing you aboard, I will not hesitate to throw you back to the sea. Do you understand me boy?"

Zuko had managed to sit up in the narrow confines of the tiny bunk while the man had been watching him. He blinked a few more times, slowly as if in a hazy. He knew he should be angry and demanding to know what happened to him, he should be yelling and making it generally known he was 'The Prince Of The Fire Nation! He Would Not Tolerate This Treatment!'. Yet, it was if he was looking out on the world through the mind numbing haze of the same herbs he'd been forced to take after his father burned then banished him. At first his mind shied away, expecting painful and devastating memories, but when nothing came, he poked at it cautiously, still expecting something unpleasant. Instead, he felt nothing.. no wait, he felt indifferent, like he was reading some boringly ancient history scroll. There was a thick, honey gold glow about everything negative in his memories. The positive ones had a brighter, sunny gold hue and gave off a feeling of contentment. He should be scared, terrified even, but he wasn't and that was just fine with him right now. Slowly, as if still within a dream, be brought his hands together, cupping them and exhaled slowly. Flames bloomed, bright sunny gold at the heart, deepening into warm honey gold before darkening to sunset red.

Captain Masaru watched as so many emotions played out across the boy's scarred face before settling into one of almost happy contentment as the fire came to life in his palms. "Boy," he said as he unclasp his hands. He was no firebender so couldn't take control and douse the flames, but he was Fire Nation born and had a few relatives that were firebenders. Placing his hands on either side of the boy's smaller ones, he slowly, gently even, forced the boy's hands closed, extinguishing the flame. "Boy," he said again not getting a response other than a puzzled frown. The old pirate captain changed tactics. "Zuko." That got a reaction finally.

Zuko slowly lifted his head to stare at the man, puzzled as to why the man put out his flames. He was saddened they were gone, but knew he could call them back.

Masaru stared back into the eyes of the boy and was honestly spooked by what he saw, even if he didn't show it. The boy's eyes were gold, bright gold of new minted coins with slightly darker swirls of molten gold thrown in. Not honey brown, not warm amber, not any other shade known to exist within the Fire Nation's populace. It felt like someone or something else was looking out of the boy's eyes, judging him and finding him lacking. He let go of the boy as if scalded, standing up fast enough that the stool was knocked over. The boy was spirit's touched, no doubt about it, that's why the boy had been given to the sea. If whomever he'd been traveling with couldn't deal with a spirit touched kid, there was no way he could do it! No one aboard was trained or even half-trained for that matter, to deal with spirits. He wanted the kid, and whatever spirit the kid had apparently managed to draw the attention of, off his ship as soon as possible.

The ship's second in command, an Earth Kingdom National by the name of Oh, stuck his head into the small cabin that passed for the healer's room. "Captain? Everything ok?" he asked.

"Fine! Everything's fine," Masaru replied. "Pass word to the rest of the crew, that boy is off limits. He's free to move about the ship. If he wishes to help out with duties, that's fine, he can pull his weight. If anyone touches him wrong, I'll be having their heads. And I don't mean the one on their shoulders!" He jabbed a finger in the direction of the boy as he gave the orders. "Find something for him to wear and a place to bunk. I'll be in my cabin, let me know when the order's been passed amongst the men." With that, he left the now too tiny room for his own. He had some plans about what to do with the boy to go over now.

Oh scratched his chin in thought about who to snatch some clothes from for the kid to wear as well as where to put him. Most of the crew was out on deck working, those down below sleeping could be told the orders when they woke up for the night watch. He glanced over at the kid and caught a glimpse of his eyes. Unlike the captain, he had no one around to see him shudder and quickly close the door. "Definitely off limits!" he uttered to himself.

After the first few days, not a single member of the ship's crew wanted anything to do with Zuko. Most of them made warding signs against the spirits behind his back, a couple to his face after dropping what they were doing then found somewhere else to be, fast. When he wasn't sitting on the prow of the ship completely at ease and perfectly balanced, humming some long forgotten lullaby to himself, he could be found helping out on deck. From scrubbing the decks to making sure ropes, rigging, and sails were properly cared for. But for the most part, as soon as he was finished with something, one of the crew would shoo him back to his spot on the prow of the ship.

It was almost eight days to the nearest port, ten to a friendly port where the pirates could offload their haul. Their travel time had been reduced after their only bender, a waterbender from the North, was killed in their last port of call. The arrogant fool had gotten drunk, then started insulting a group of women in the tavern after they turned him down when he propositioned them. He refused to take them serious because they were female and therefore in his eyes, only good for sexual relief and breeding more benders. His mistake was when he tried to force himself on one of the women when she had slipped out the back to deal with the call of nature. The woman was a Fire Nation Marine Firebender, as was most of the people in the tavern that night. They were all part of the same unit. He had refused to take 'No' for an answer and she replied back in the only method that seemed to get through to the idiot. His death was ruled an accident and no charges were brought against the woman because it was deemed self-defense. Needless to say, no one from the pirate crew challenged the ruling. In fact they had quickly and quietly left port before the sun rose above the horizon.

When they arrived at the first port, the order had been passed that no one was to go ashore, for as soon as the captain returned they were going to set sail again. To a port more welcoming of their type. None of the men argued about that order. Not when the captain appeared with the boy in tow.

Masaru guided Zuko off the ship, leaving Oh in charge till his return. "Come boy," he said as he set a fast pace off the docks. When he realized the boy was ambling along, he waited long enough for the boy to catch up. "No dawdling boy," he said, placing a hand on the back of Zuko's neck and directed him to nondescript building on the border between the docks and the marketplace.

The front area of the building was a single room, with iron bars dividing it in half. There was occupied benches along two walls in the cell area and several guards standing around the other half. A man in uniform sat behind a desk, patiently waiting for the next person to walk through the front door. He smiled politely when the pirate captain walked in, pushing a boy in front of him. "Good day sir, how can I assist?" he asked pleasantly.

"This boy had no way to pay for his passage aboard my ship and agreed to to be indentured to repay the cost." It was a mix of half-truths and lies.

"I see, and how much was the passage?" The boy was either a stowaway, a child of someone who owed the man or was stolen.

"1000 gold," Masaru answered.

"Really?" A stowaway. "And this boy couldn't lift a finger to help out aboard ship to start the repayment? 150 gold," the uniformed man returned. The clothes did nothing for the boy, but it was evident he was slender and by what little he saw, in good physical condition at the moment.

"Started to, but rough seas caused a few problems along the way, laid him up for a few days. 900 gold."

"Hmm he does look a bit on the ragged side, and the scarring on his face will be off putting to most potential contract holders. 125 gold." The boy had an odd almost vacant look, maybe mentally slow. That opened up the list of potential sales.

The pirate captain narrowed his eyes. He wanted a fast transaction. "He's well educated, can read, write and do math. 800 gold." If a Fire Nation noble wasn't taught to do all that, then he'd eat his hat.

"Hmmm.. true, when one is bent over a book," a slight pause with the implied 'or anything else' was left hanging, "working no one bothers looking at a face. 250 gold." The boy was handsome enough, but his current hairstyle was off putting when mixed with the scar, gave too harsh an appearance. Longer hair would soften his face some.

"He's got a noble pedigree. 750 gold."

"Nobles tend to over-inflate themselves, besides he looks Fire Nation. 225 gold." Just looking Fire Nation had devalued an indentured person to less than half their worth to the general populace looking for servants.

"Aye, that he is. 750 gold."

"Not many will put up with Fire Nation, but if he is as well educated as you claim, his heritage can be overlooked. 275 gold." If the boy had the skill to read High Court the military would be interested in him. If he could read military dispatches that would be even better.

It was time to pull the trump card. "He's untouched."

The man behind the desk sucked in a breath through his teeth. A Fire Nation noble, the younger the better, could bring in a lot of money if offered in the right place. An untouched one was worth their weight in gold. Add it together with how much the boy resembled the banished Prince, he was worth easily five times his weight in gold to specific people who wanted a bit of revenge. The commission off that deal alone could set him up for a long time. He leaned back, tapping one finger against the surface of his desk, as he looked the boy over carefully. "I have reconsidered your original request of 1000 gold. At first it seemed a bit much, but now that you have explained everything further, I believe I can do that. 1000 gold it is."

"Deal," Masaru replied. He didn't care that he was 'selling off' the boy at such a cheap price. Let someone else deal with the boy's strangeness.

A contract was written up, looked over by each party then signed. The man behind the desk paused while filling the details, "What's his name? And do you prefer jade tablets or coin?" Both readily available.

"Xue." It was a name that at least sounded close to the part of the boy's true name. "His name is Xue and coin is the preference."

"Very well," he motioned for one of the guards to retrieve the money and a set of scales. "I will presume you have your own weights?"

Masaru smirked. "Of course," he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a weight. "Quarter pound weight," he said, waiting for the scale to be set up and the uniformed man to pull his own set of weights out of a drawer. The scales were balanced and the coins weighed then exchanged. "Thank you kindly for taking Xue off my hands. I can rest easy knowing he will be well taken care of."

"No, thank you. I'm sure there's plenty of people willing to see to his care. Have a pleasant day sir," the man said then waited till the older man had left. He looked the boy over one more time, glad he wasn't acting out for having been bartered off like some piece of property. "Take him to the back, have him bathed and dressed appropriately then place him in one of the special cells. Steel and Jade manacles are to be used, make sure to use under wrappings on his wrists as well." he told one of the guards. "I will evaluate his skills later this evening after we close."

"And his hair sir?"

"Have it put in a queue for now."

"Yes sir," the guard nodded before leading 'Xue' to the back, delivering the boy and instructions of his care, into the hands of the men and women who saw to the daily needs of the indentured as they awaited their fate.

On the way back to his ship, Masaru made a detour. First in the marketplace, where he picked up a large bottle of high quality sake and a bundle of joss sticks. The second stop was at a small temple on the outskirts of town. He made an offering of gold to have one of the sages bless both items and also picked up a few talismans just to be on the safe side. Once back aboard his ship, they departed from the port. As soon as their course was set, he divided up the sake and joss sticks between everyone, then hung up the talismans. No one said anything about it. Soon enough offerings were made to the spirits to appease them in case any had been offended, or put them in even better moods.

~~( - )~~

In the first week under the care of his first contract holder, a small business that specialized in indentured servants, the manager Jae-Hwa, tested Zuko extensively on a wide range of subjects. From his reading skills (excellent, able to read High Court, Low Court, Common, Military Dispatch Codes, and Trade tongues) to his writing skills (absolutely abysmal unless he closed his left eye and concentrated). His math skills were on par with the best seneschals running day to day affairs in minor noble households. He was trained in several classical Fire Nation musical instruments though he seemed to prefer the flute, knew the art of tea rituals, haiku and calligraphy (which compared to normal writing was beautiful). Physically the boy was a little underweight, but was otherwise in excellent condition. He was a trained firebender, also a highly trained swordsman for being so young, and a skilled acrobat. Temperament wise, he was still an enigma. He showed little beyond only minor emotions, such as confusion and puzzlement, some sadness here and there, but was basically content.

By the end of the third week, Jae-Hwa had two dozen or more offers for the boy. Several pleasure houses, one of which was known for a very high 'accident' rate for their workers. A couple of noble households looking for young men to train up as companions for their children and an offer from the Bei Fongs of Goaling looking for a guard/companion for their poor disabled daughter. An offer came all the way from the court of Earth King Kuei of Ba Sing Se as well as one from King Bumi of Omashu who was looking for a playmate for his pet Flopsie. Then there was the Earth Kingdom Generals who made demands that the boy be handed over to them.

The fourth week rolled around and the bidding was down to Ba Sing Se, Omashu and the Military. Each of which had representatives authorized to offer almost anything to get the boy, heading to the small port town. Unfortunately all the interest in the boy had also garnered the attention of the Fire Nation. It was known that the Prince of the Fire Nation had vanished while on a special mission for his father so any reports of young boys and men with facial scarring that looked to be Fire Nation themselves were investigated.

By this time, Zuko was becoming more aware and in focus. But instead of being angry at everything and everyone, he was becoming more leery of what was going on around him. He'd read the reports of what happened to Fire Nation soldiers in the hands of the Earth Kingdom military and him being a member of the Royal Family, banished or not, the prospects did not look good. He shuddered to think of what the two Kings wanted with him. He even shied away from the thought of returning to his uncle, he just wasn't ready to face the man that had so readily let this happen to him in the first place.

The inevitable clash occurred early one day, a month and a half after Zuko had been cast adrift in the dinghy. After the town's mayor had denied the politely worded demand that he allow the Fire Nation Navy cruisers permission to dock and search the town, they attacked. Two of the three cruisers rammed the docks, dropping their prow ramps and disgorged units of firebenders, soldiers and komodo rhino. The third cruiser launched fireballs into the town to provide assistance. The Earth Kingdom army had been spoiling for a fight for some time after hearing the interest the Fire Nation had in the boy and had wanted to use him as bait to draw them in. They had been bivouacked a mile outside of the town so responded very fast to the attack. The representatives from Omashu had little idea of just what was going on and why. Being loyal Earth Kingdom citizens, they naturally joined in on the army's side of the fight. Those from Ba Sing Se, specially selected Dai Li agents handpicked by Long Feng, decided to use the chaos to sneak in and steal the boy from all parties involved.

Throughout the day, the battle favored the Fire Nation, but by the time the sun was settling, the Earth Kingdom was prevailing. The retreat was sounded from the Fire Nation side and anyone too wounded to make it back to the ships were given merciful deaths by their fellow soldiers. When dawn broke the next day, the utter carnage was slowly revealed in the strengthening light of the sun. Most of the town's citizens had fled the moment black smoke appeared on the horizon days before, so very few had been killed in the clash. The town itself though was devastated. Not a single structure had been left untouched. The dead, the dying and the wounded lay scattered throughout what was left of the town. Omashu's representatives had been cut down to a third of their original number. Those from Ba Sing Se were all alive but angry and tight-lipped about something. They left soon after dawn that day. The Earth Kingdom army departed two days later, leaving behind the town as it was. The general in charge declaring 'The town deserved it for not handing over that Fire Nation Boy in the first place when it was demanded'.

When Manager Jae-Hwa was able to return, he found the building itself in relatively good condition, only minor need of repairs, but that was it. None of the indentured men and women had remained. All he found was a mound of ashes that use to be the contracts and the floor littered with broken manacles. Even the jade tablets and gold was gone, probably taken by looters or those that had been freed.

~~( - )~~

A week's travel by ostrich horse, to the north and east of the port town…

In the middle of a crossroads, a lone traveler sat astride an ostrich horse. Black, brown and dark green clothing marked the person as Earth Kingdom, A wide conical hat hid the person's features and hair color but the paleness of their hands declared them to be Fire Nation, or at least of mixed blood. A pair of Dual Dao swords were slung across the person's back along with a travel pack, a coin heavy pouch hung from their waist. A water skin hung from the front of the saddle, a pair of bags loaded with feed, food and gear fastened to the back if it. Nestled within the travel pack on the person's back, hidden by cloth was a dozen jade tablets, each the value of 100 gold coins and a mask of a Dark Water Spirit.

Reaching down, the person patted the ostrich horse on the neck affectionately. "Well girl, where shall we go?" the person asked, in a soft raspy voice. The markers pointed in several different directions, each to a town that lay along the roads. To the traveler's mind, nothing stood out about any of the towns listed. The ostrich horse lifted her head, wuffling the breeze some before turning towards the more north-eastern direction. The traveler laughed softly, patting the hen's neck once more, "Alright girl, that's a good of a direction as any." He touched his heels lightly to the hen's flanks, guiding as much with knee as with reins.

The only evidence anyone had been at the crossroads was a single set of ostrich horse tracks, and the discarded core of an apple laying alongside the tracks.

~~( - )~~

(A/N: For those of you who are curious, Zuko was sold for 20 lbs of gold. The equivalent of $358,868 US dollars in today's market. Even though I'm probably wrong about his weight, I'm going with 150 lbs. So his weight in gold means 7,500 coins / $2,689,052. 5x his weight means 37,5000 coins / $13,519,000.