Disclaimer: No, sorry, I don't own Avatar
A/N: I'm not too happy with the quote, but it's the best I could find.
"It is when pirates count their booty that they become mere thieves."
- William Bolitho
Zuko threw a punch at Naomi's shoulder, which she quickly dodged and countered with a kick towards his head. Zuko had finished sparring with Lieutenant Jee, with firebending, and had just started to spar normally with Naomi. Sometime during their fight they had moved about two feet from the rail and as Naomi kicked at Zuko again, this time aiming for his legs, the ship lurched and both of them went careening towards the railing. Zuko regained his balance first and caught himself on the railing and then grabbed Naomi's waist to keep her steady as she crashed into the railing as well. "You okay?" He asked. When she nodded, he went storming up to the bridge, yelling about mutiny and changing course.
Lieutenant Jee strode over to Naomi shaking his head. "That boy has no focus for anything but capturing the Avatar. He can't even see a good thing when it's right in front of his eyes."
"Excuse me?" Naomi asked, confused, but Jee just shook his head again and headed below deck. 'How many people on this ship are trying to hook me and Zuko up?' she wondered, but decided to forget about it as she ran instead to the bridge to catch up with Zuko; at this point anything was more interesting than meditating, she had been doing way too much of that lately.
She caught up with Zuko at the door to the bridge. He didn't even acknowledge her appearance, just shoved the door open and strode in.
"What's the meaning of this mutiny? No one told you to change course." Zuko yelled as he walked to the helmsman. Naomi just walked over to Iroh and looked down at the Pai Sho game he was playing with some of the other crew members. She had absolutely no idea how to play, so the board really only looked confusing to her; she made a mental note to ask Iroh how to play later.
"Actually, someone did." Iroh said from his seated position next to her. "I assure you it is a matter of utmost importance, Prince Zuko." Oh, Naomi couldn't wait to hear this.
"Is it something to do with the Avatar?" Zuko asked, suddenly a lot more interested.
"Even more urgent. It seems I—I've lost my lotus tile." Iroh seemed embarrassed about such a small issue.
"Lotus tile?" Zuko asked at the same time Naomi asked "What's that?"
"For my Pai Sho game." Iroh explained to them both. "Most people think the lotus tile insignificant. But it is essential for the unusual strategy that I employ."
"You've changed our course for a stupid lotus tile?" Zuko was starting to get frustrated, or maybe he was frustrated before and had only just now lost control of it, Naomi couldn't tell.
"See, you, like most people, underestimate its value. Just give me ten minutes to check the merchants at this port of call. Hopefully, they'll have the lotus tile in stock and I can get on with my life." Iroh finished. Zuko growled and breathed fire out of his mouth at the ceiling, filling the room with smoke for a minute. "I'm lucky to have such an understanding nephew." Iroh said as the smoke covered the board.
Naomi sat next to him as the smoke cleared and Zuko stormed out. "So, what is this 'unusual strategy' that you employ?" She asked.
"Well, I can't teach you that, it's a secret, but I can show you how to play, if you wish."
"That would be great, Iroh! I've been needing something to do in my spare time besides meditating and drawing."
"Good, but I will have to teach you at another time. It is a slightly complicated game and you would need more time to fully understand it. If I were to try and teach you now, you would forget most of the rules by tomorrow."
"Thanks, Iroh, just let me know when a good time would be to teach me." She stood up and went to find Zuko; she still wanted to finish their spar.
"Did you want to come with me to find the lotus tile, Naomi?" Iroh asked, poking his head into her room.
Naomi smiled, "I would love to." She said as she stood up and followed him off the ship. "So, Zuko's allowing me off the ship, huh?"
"Yes, I made sure to ask him before I invited you."
"Wow, I will never understand how you can get him to agree to stuff like that." She shook her head.
"Stuff like what?" He inquired.
"Like letting me sleep in a real room, or letting me go around the ship whenever I want. I never could have convinced him to do that." Naomi didn't know it, but Iroh had a feeling that she had more of an influence over his nephew than he did, but he wasn't about to tell her that, she would just assume he was trying to set them up again and disregard it.
Iroh shrugged. "I have had years of practice dealing with Prince Zuko." Naomi just laughed and they walked into what would be the first of many stores to look for a lotus tile.
After about an hour they met up with Zuko. "We've checked all the shops on this pier. Not a lotus tile in the entire marketplace." Iroh informed him as they walked up.
"It's good to know this trip was a complete waste of time for everyone!" Zuko yelled.
"Not true, I had a pretty good time shopping." Naomi said.
"I did as well, and I always say the only think better than finding something you were looking for is finding something you weren't looking for at a great bargain." Iroh said as a row of soldiers walked up the gangplank, each holding at least one of the many things Iroh had purchased.
"You bought a tsungi horn?" Naomi looked at Zuko to see his reaction and laughed out loud, he turned to her. "You were with him, did you even try to stop him?!"
"Yes, I did," She answered calmly. "You should have seen all the other stuff he was planning to get. At least the tsungi horn can have some uses."
"Like what?" He asked incredulously.
"Music night on the ship." Iroh explained. "Now, if we only had some woodwinds." Naomi shook her head, she had blatantly refused to go to music night whenever Iroh asked her, though he had still persisted, she hadn't really feel too comfortable with the crew back then and there hadn't been time for one lately, what with tracking Aang down. Iroh walked down the pier past some of the ships and Naomi and Zuko had no choice but to follow. "Oh, this place looks promising." Iroh called out when he saw a ship with a man outside advertising that they were selling various wares. Naomi didn't like the look of the ship or the man in front, it all looked very shady, but she didn't want to wait all alone or go back to their ship so she followed.
The inside of the ship did nothing to convince her otherwise, though Iroh still seemed to not notice anything wrong with it. "Oh, that is handsome!" She turned to look at what he was talking about. "Wouldn't it look magnificent in the galley, Naomi?" He asked her, as Zuko was avoiding shopping with a frown on his face, it was safer to ask her.
She looked at the weird ruby-studded monkey. "No, no it wouldn't, it would look creepy." She corrected him. Zuko's attention had long since left their conversation and he was listening to the two men talking. She decided to listen as well, but she only caught the end of the skinnier one's sentence
"-little bald monk she was traveling with." 'Wait, bald monk, oh please don't let it be Aang, for his own sake.' She thought when she heard his words.
"This monk, did he have an arrow on his head?" Zuko asked.
"What's it to you?" The other man, he seemed to be in charge, maybe the captain, asked.
"I'm tracking him, and I can help you get the girl if you help me capture him."
"No deal, we can take care of them ourselves." The captain answered.
"What did they take, there must be a reason you're tracking them down, we wouldn't want rumors spreading that you can't hold on to your wares, now would we?" Zuko replied.
The men seemed afraid of his doing just that, probably of his spreading any rumors concerning their wares, "They stole a waterbending scroll that we had a buyer willing to pay 200 gold pieces for." The captain finally answered. 'A waterbending scroll? How did they get one of those? The only place to get one lately if you aren't a waterbender and already have one is the North Pole and maybe the university in Ba Sing Se.' Naomi thought, getting increasingly more suspicious.
"Then I'll help you get the scroll and the girl if you help me capture the monk."
The captain extended his hand to Zuko, "You've got yourself a deal." The action had startled a reptile-bird behind the captain, that Naomi hadn't noticed before, into flying through the room and out to the rest of the ship.
That's when it clicked in her head, shady-looking ship, waterbending scrolls in the Earth Kingdom, not wanting people to know about their merchandise, and the reptile-bird. "Zuko don't!" she said before he could take the captain's extended hand.
He turned to her, "Why not?"
"These guys are pirates, in other words, not people who should be trusted."
"I assure you little lady, when it comes to deals, we always keep our promises." The skinny guy said to her, the look on his face made it official; he was the one who scared her the most. He was looking at her similarly to how Zhao had looked at her when she was dragged into his tent. Seriously, she was a warrior, not a piece of meat!
Zuko shook the captain's hand anyway and Iroh came up to the counter requesting to buy the creepy monkey and then they left the ship after setting a time to meet up with the pirates and track down Aang and friends. Naomi was frustrated; Zuko never listened to her when it was important.
"Why didn't either of you listen to me?" Naomi asked as they walked back to their ship. "Iroh, I'm not even going to bother figuring out why you bought that monkey, nothing I say will change your mind about it, and I don't think the pirates would let you return it in the first place, just don't expect me to look at it. But Zuko, I told you those guys were pirates, also known as thieves and liars, and you go and trust them anyway, how can you be that stupid, they're going to cheat you."
"Naomi, calm down, I have a plan should they try to double cross me." Zuko said calmly.
"Oh, and what would that be?" Naomi asked, somewhere in the back of her mind she noticed that their positions in this argument were reversed, usually it was Zuko who had trouble with his temper and her who was calmer about it, though she did lose control sometimes, too.
"When we find the Avatar, we find the scroll; if they try to take the Avatar to sell him to the Fire Nation then I burn their precious scroll. But, that might not even be a problem; they didn't seem to realize he was the Avatar in the first place."
"You're insane, what if your plan doesn't work?"
"Well, that's why you two are coming with me when we make the trade with them. It's pretty much been proven that my soldiers, while they're good fighters, aren't the most versatile ones."
"Oh, so now you trust me to come off the ship with you? And in a place where Aang is going to be, too? You're not afraid that I'd help him?"
"No, oddly enough, I trust you." Zuko said before walking away to his room. Those words froze Naomi mid-step. He trusted her? He trusted her not to screw up his one chance to get home? He trusted her to have his back? To not run away the first chance she got? He trusted her?
"Shouldn't we stop to search the woods?" The pirate captain asked as they sailed down the river.
"We don't need to stop. They stole a waterbending scroll, right?" Zuko replied. The captain just hummed in agreement. "Then they'll be on the water."
The captain looked like he was going to argue so Naomi added her own thoughts. "Take it from a waterbender, you don't steal a scroll to learn waterbending and avoid the water. That's just a waste of a perfectly good scroll." Of course she thought it was a waste of the scroll for the pirates to sell it to someone in the Earth Kingdom, but she decided it was best not to push any of them to far.
The captain turned to her, "You're a waterbender?"
"Yeah, is that a problem?" She replied challengingly. She wished she had her broadswords on her back, but her glare would have to suffice as intimidation.
"Just strange that you'd be with people like this." The captain replied evenly.
Naomi scoffed, a retort on her tongue, when Zuko decided to cut the conversation short. "Keep to your own business, Captain, and keep your eyes open for the kids."
"Zuko, if they're kids, then so are we, the oldest is probably our age." Naomi said so that only he could hear.
"I'm basing it off of maturity." He replied. She didn't think it made that much of a difference either way, but decided to let it go, she probably wouldn't have any luck getting him to change his opinion anyway.
About three hours after it got dark, they heard someone shouting. "Ow!"
"Found them." Naomi commented dryly.
"Let's go." Zuko said and then gave the command to the helmsman for full speed ahead. They stopped the ship and the pirates set out to ambush Aang and his friends. Zuko told Naomi and Iroh to wait until they made the trade to come out. Naomi wasn't sure whether she would rather be waiting or helping with this so she decided to keep her mouth shut. The pirates grabbed Katara; she got away, but unfortunately ran right into Zuko. "I'll save you from the pirates." He clearly thought that was clever.
She didn't know why, but that simple sentence and the fact that he'd grabbed Katara like that, it bothered her. It shouldn't, but it did. She shook her head, she was probably just mad that this was all to capture Aang. She had a job to do and she needed to focus on that she could be angry about Zuko and his constant obsession with Aang and regaining his honor later, right now she had to be prepared for the pirates to double-cross them and somehow find a way to help Aang in the process. The pirates tied Katara with her hands behind her. Naomi stood back with Iroh; she didn't want to be involved in capturing any of Aang's group, she was just here to help Zuko fight the pirates should they double-cross them. Of course Zuko wasn't focusing on the pirates at all, all he seemed to care about was finding a way to make Katara help him find Aang. "Tell me where he is and I won't hurt you or your brother." 'Low blow, threatening the girl's family.' She thought while Katara looked outraged.
"Go jump in the river!" She smiled, Katara had spunk.
Zuko switched tactics. "Try to understand," He started circling Katara with an attempt at a smile on his face. She hadn't see that kind of smile on his face since she first met him and agreed to his deal; it was disturbing. "I need to capture him to restore something I've lost—my honor. Perhaps in exchange, I can return something you've lost." He pulled the chocker out of a pocket in his armor. 'So that's how he plans on using her necklace.' She had been wondering about that.
"My mother's necklace! How did you get that?!" Katara yelled.
"I didn't steal it if that's what you're wondering." 'No, but it still doesn't belong to you.' She thought. "Tell me where he is." He demanded again.
"No!" Katara stayed adamant.
"Enough with this necklace garbage. You promised us the scroll." The captain said, stepping in. The pirates behind him all readied their weapons and behind Zuko, Iroh, Naomi, and his soldiers did the same, just more discreetly.
"I forget, how much did you say this was worth?" Zuko said as he took the scroll out of yet another unknown pocket in his armor and lit a fire in his hand underneath it. Naomi gasped along with the pirates; he wouldn't really burn something so precious, would he? Of course, it would only be precious to a waterbender, but still! "A lot, apparently. Now, if you help me find what I want, you'll get this back, and everyone goes home happy. Search the woods for the boy and meet back here."
"Fine." The captain grumbled as they set off to find Aang.
Naomi walked over to Zuko, he was still holding the scroll over a flame. "Would you put that out?!" She gestured to his hand. Zuko rolled his eyes, but complied and stored the scroll back in his armor.
"I wouldn't burn the scroll." Zuko replied.
"I know you wouldn't on purpose, but you know accidents happen. You especially should know."
Zuko sighed, "Yeah, I know, that's why I'm careful."
She knew he was right, but at the same time, he lost his temper easily. "Just try to keep your temper in check, no matter how careful you are, it won't matter if you get too angry." Zuko just rolled his eyes again, but she knew he had at least registered the sense in her words, even if he wouldn't act on it.
She walked back to Iroh, there was nothing she could do right now, well she could help find Aang, but there was no way she was doing that. As she passed Katara, she noticed her giving her a strange look, but she shrugged it off.
It was morning when the pirates finally came back, and to Katara and Naomi's dismay, they had Aang and Sokka in tow.
"Nice work." Zuko said as he took out the scroll and walked over to give it to the pirates.
"Aang, this is all my fault." Katara said from where she was still struggling to get out of her bonds on the tree.
"No, Katara, it isn't." Aang assured her.
"Yeah, it kind of is." Iroh told Katara.
"Not helping, Iroh." Naomi reminded him quietly.
"Give me the boy." Zuko brought the attention back to his deal with the pirates.
"You give us the scroll." This was what she had been waiting for, the trade, when she figured everything would go wrong, for either Zuko or Aang. And Sokka was about to be the cause of it going bad.
"You're really gonna hand over the Avatar for a stupid piece of parchment?"
"Don't listen to him. He's trying to turn us against each other." 'And doing a pretty good job at it, too.'
"Your friend is the Avatar?" Zuko had been right; the pirates had no clue up until now who they had captured; and now, they were more interested in him than they ever were about the scroll.
"Sure is. And I'll bet he'll fetch a lot more on the black market than some fancy scroll." Sokka continued his horrible plan, whatever it was.
"Shut your mouth, you Water Tribe peasant!"
"Yeah, Sokka, you really should shut your mouth." Aang said nervously.
"It would probably make this easier for everyone if he did." Naomi muttered so that only Katara and Iroh had heard. Katara gave her another weird look.
"I'm just saying. It's bad business sense. Just imagine how much the Fire Lord would be willing to pay for the Avatar. You guys would be set for life." Naomi could see the pirates getting roped further in with every word that came out of Sokka's mouth.
"Keep the scroll." The captain said. "We can buy a hundred with the reward we'll get for the kid." The pirates started walking away with Aang and Sokka.
"You'll regret breaking a deal with me." Zuko said as he and his two firebenders kicked fire at the pirates. The skinny one jumped forward and threw some sort of smoke bomb at Zuko and co. before jumping into the battle himself, closely followed by the other pirates.
Naomi took her chance; Iroh had moved away from the battle, like her wisely not jumping in blind, literally, so she was alone with Katara. It would just be counterproductive if she charged in now so she decided to start the other part of her plan. She moved behind the tree and started untying the rope around Katara's hands. As she worked, the lemur that was always with them landed on her shoulder, it didn't seem like it wanted to hurt her, so she let it stay, though it was quite loud.
"Thanks, Momo, I owe you a bushel of apples." Katara said when her hands were free.
"Well, I think he would enjoy that, but apples aren't really my thing." Naomi said as she stepped out from behind the tree, Momo flying off her shoulder towards the smoke cloud, to do what, she wasn't sure. Katara took a fighting stance, though she made no move for any water. 'She must still be deciding whose side I'm on.' Naomi thought, deciding she should clear it up. "Relax; I'm on your side."
"But, you were with Zuko and-"
Naomi cut her off, "Yeah, it's a long story, but I am on your side and if you need proof, I'm a waterbender," Naomi turned and drew some water out of the water before flinging it back and turning back to Katara "and an earthbender, but that's not really important right now. Just trust me; I wouldn't help the Fire Nation win the war."
"But then why are you with Zuko?"
"It really is a long story, and we need to hurry." Naomi urged.
Katara nodded before turning to the fight, "We have to help Aang and Sokka!" She started running towards to smoke before Naomi grabbed her arm.
"No, you would be totally lost in that smoke; it wouldn't do them any good if you went in there. I have another plan, follow me." She dragged Katara around the smoke towards the two ships, more specifically the pirate ship.
"What are we doing?" Katara asked when they stopped.
"Getting you guys a ride out of here since I don't see Appa anywhere."
"Okay, but how?"
"Waterbending, we're going to raise the water around the pirate ship so that you can set sail down the river. We just need to wait for Aang and Sokka."
"Why not Zuko's ship? Isn't it faster?"
"Yeah, but do any of you know how to control Zuko's ship?" Naomi asked, eyebrow raised, she didn't even know how to do that and she'd been living on a Fire Nation ship for the past year.
"Good point," Katara admitted, "by the way, I never asked what your name was?"
"Naomi and here come Aang and Sokka, time to get you guys out of here."
"Katara, you're okay!" Aang yelled when he saw her.
"Yeah, thanks to Naomi." Katara glanced at her. Of course then Sokka noticed her and freaked out.
"Don't trust her, she was with Zuko!" He pointed his boomerang at her.
Aang turned his attention to her, "Hey, you're that girl from Zuko's ship."
"See!" Sokka exclaimed triumphantly though Aang was smiling.
"Sokka she's on our side, she helped me get out of my ropes and she's a waterbender." Katara informed him. Naomi noticed she didn't mention anything about her being an earthbender, she was probably still figuring out if that was even possible, so Naomi let it slide, they didn't really have the time for an explanation anyway.
"Yeah," Aang agreed, "and she helped me find my staff on Zuko's ship."
"Fine," Sokka grumbled, "but how are we gonna get out of here."
"You guys are escaping on the pirate ship. Aang, Katara, I need you guys to help me raise the water around the ship, it'll be faster with all three of us. Just push and pull the water until it gets high enough." She was hoping they had put that scroll to good use and knew how to do a relatively simple move like this. They nodded and they worked in sync until the ship floated freely in the water.
"It worked, everybody in!" Katara yelled. Aang, Katara and Sokka all climbed up the ladder hanging from the side of the ship, but Katara noticed that Naomi hadn't followed. "Aren't you coming, Naomi?" She asked.
Naomi shook her head, "No, I have a promise I have to keep, but good luck." Katara nodded and finished climbing the ladder to join the boys on the deck.
Naomi ran back to the battle to see Zuko fighting the pirate captain and another pirate coming up behind him. She ran at the pirate and aimed a kick at his stomach before he could get any closer. He focused his attention on her and it was then that she noticed he had a knife. 'Great, just my luck. And me with no weapon, oh well, guess I'll have to find one.' She smirked a little; she knew exactly how to disarm him. As he struck towards her with the knife, she grabbed his arm and spun him around, trapping it behind his back. He dropped the knife in surprise and she caught it before hitting him on the head with the hilt and letting him collapse to the ground, unconscious. She dropped the dagger and then turned to Zuko and the captain. She was about to step in to help when Iroh did it for her.
"Are you so busy fighting that you cannot see your own ship has set sail?" He yelled at the two of them, though really as far as she knew, it was only the pirates ship that had set sail.
"We don't have time for your useless proverbs, Uncle." Zuko replied.
"It's no proverb." Iroh pointed to the pirate ship currently sailing downstream. Naomi looked upstream to see Zuko's ship following it.
"Bleeding hog monkeys!" The captain exclaimed as he ran after his ship. Zuko just laughed at him, he didn't seem to realize his ship was following. Naomi came over and hit him on the head.
"What was that for?" He exclaimed; she just pointed to the river. "Hey, that's my boat!" And Zuko, following the pirate captain's footsteps, started chasing after his boat as well.
"Maybe it should be a proverb." Iroh mused.
"Not the time, Iroh." Naomi said before chasing after Zuko.
"Come on, Uncle." Zuko called back when he noticed Iroh wasn't behind them. They chased the boats all the way to a waterfall at the end of the river. Or at least they made it to the waterfall after the boats had gone over. Naomi was relieved to have seen Appa flying off before they got there; Aang, Katara, and Sokka were safe, for now at least. "My boat!" Zuko cried, looking over the edge of the cliff that created the waterfall.
"Relax, Zuko, you have a ship, it's not the end of the world." Naomi said as she stopped next to him.
Iroh came last, panting and then chuckling. "Prince Zuko, Naomi, you two are really going to get a kick out of this. The lotus tile was in my sleeve the whole time." He pulled his hand out of his sleeve and proudly displayed the Pai Sho piece.
Naomi smiled, glad that he had found what he'd been looking for, Zuko on the other hand, wasn't so happy about it. He grabbed the tile from Iroh's hand and threw it over the cliff. She thought she saw it hit one of the pirates, which only made her smile more. "What did I tell you, Zuko? Don't trust pirates." He turned to her, an angry look on his face, but she decided to push her luck a little further. "Now we have to do all this again at another port, and you're coming with to make sure Iroh doesn't buy so much stuff again." Zuko growled, though this time more frustrated than angry. Naomi laughed as they headed back to the ship to continue on their journey, though they would be stopping at the next port whether Zuko wanted to or not.
"So, really, why did that girl, Naomi, help us, but then go back to Zuko?" Sokka asked after Katara put the scroll away as they rode away on Appa.
Katara and Aang shared a look, "It's a long story." They said in unison and then laughed. Sokka didn't really get it, but laughed along anyway; at least that girl was on their side.
Reviewers:
Sunflower13: I'm so glad you like her. I know, I ramble too, but it comes out of my mouth instead of staying in my head. I don't think it would be a Zuko pairing fic without Iroh's meddling ;)
LadyFelton1994: Thank you very much.
luv2read: Thank you, I'm glad you like Naomi and her relationship with Iroh. I can't wait to get to that part either; I'm really looking forward to writing it.