A/N: I own nothing you recognize.

So...it's been a minute...or a year. Sorry about that...

It's been many more months of lack of inspiration and dips in my mental health, and then to top it off, I no longer have access to this marvelous series, making it more difficult to write chapters.

This was also another chapter in which I couldn't quite figure out how I wanted it to advance. I thought this spar was a long time coming and wanted to put at least a little detail into it, but that proved challenging, hence the very long delay in postings.

I should have a few chapters that are for the most part done and easily edited without the content right in front of me. I am actually kinda proud of those, and really wanted to get those out, but I thought this was too important to leave out.

Anyway, onto the story!


XI. The First Spar


The next morning, as Lian was getting dressed for breakfast, there was a knock on her door. "With a confused frown, she called, "Who is it?"

"Jiwoo, my lady," the soldier said through the door. "I have a scroll for you, delivered just now."

Lian quickly pulled on her tunic and opened the door to receive the scroll, sealed with the mark of a prison she had messaged several weeks earlier.

"Thank you," she said, and Jiwoo gave her a short bow before turning down the hall.

Breaking the seal, Lian quickly scanned the note, sighing when the culminating message was, "I am sorry to inform you we do not have a prisoner here that matches the description you gave us. Please let us know if there's anything we can do for you in the future!"

The parchment went up in flames in an instant, and with a sigh, Lian finished getting ready for breakfast before leaving her room and heading to the dining room.

She was still quite frustrated as she sat beside Iroh, and she moodily jabbed her rice porridge with her spoon. Iroh watched on, his warm amber eyes observing his ward.

"This is pointless," Lian finally exclaimed, dropping her spoon into the bowl and not minding the bits that splashed over the sides. "I'll never find him," she said in a quiet tone, sounding despondent and a touch desperate.

"Don't lose faith, Lian," Iroh said sagely, offering his ward a comforting smile. "Now, eat up! We have quite a day ahead of us!"

"We do?" Lian asked, too surprised at the news to refuse the refill of rice porridge Iroh spooned into her bowl. "I didn't realize we were pulling into port today."

"We're not!" Iroh said, turning back to his breakfast and leaving Lian horribly confused.

"Then what could possibly be on the docket today?" she implored.

"Sparring," Iroh said simply.

At that, Lian rolled her eyes and resumed stabbing at her rice porridge dejectedly. "How exciting," she said dryly.

She was so busy staring forlornly into her bowl she missed the mischievous gleam in Iroh's amber eyes.

Iroh went up on deck before Lian, and when she finally made it up top, she found him with Zuko.

Realization dawned on Lian and she scowled.

"Iroh..." she grumbled. Zuko seemed to come to the same conclusion as Lian, because he narrowed his eyes at her.

"I need to be fighting someone in my league!" Zuko exclaimed.

Lian's own eyes narrowed and she scoffed. "I am in your league, Hot Head," she snapped. "I'm royal, aren't I?"

"Not by blood," he sneered.

"Like that saved you," she shot back.

Iroh's eyes widened, and even Lian herself was a little shocked at her brazen comment. It was the out-of-character remark that probably saved Lian a face-full of flames.

As it was, he still launched himself at her with a roar, his fists alight with blazing orange flames.

Lian rolled out of the way and Zuko smashed his fists into the deck where she had been standing a moment before.

The look in Zuko's eyes was almost feral, and for a moment, Lian's mind went blank with absolute terror. For the first time, she understood what a dangerous enemy Zuko was, and she was glad she was on his side...most of the time.

Luckily for her, her fighting instincts kicked in a millisecond later, and her eyes narrowed as she prepared for battle.

She ducked Zuko's first flaming punch before side-stepping his second, forcing him to turn to keep her in his sights. Each punch launched her way was evaded, and Zuko kept pushing forward, his anger at her words quickly turning into anger at her refusal to raise a fist.

"Fight back!" he roared as Lian danced out of reach once more.

"Look, I'm sorry for what I said!" she exclaimed, rolling to the side and popping back onto her feet only to yelp in surprise as Zuko reached out to grab the back of her collar.

Lian ducked her head and twisted around so she was able to face Zuko. She blocked his free hand from making contact with her temple before taking each of his wrists in her hands and twisting.

Zuko was so surprised by her first contact she was able to get his hand to release her shirt collar. Keeping her hand locked around the wrist that once had her captive, she twisted his arm behind his back and held a flaming hand to his neck.

"I don't want to fight you," she ground out with the effort to keep him still.

Zuko paid her words no mind, though. He grabbed her hand before crouching and thrusting his shoulder up. The forward momentum plus the jab by his shoulder caused Lian's feet to leave the deck and she was over his shoulder and flat on her back in an instant.

The air escaped her lungs as she landed solidly on the cold deck. In a flash, Zuko was over her, his forearm pressed against her throat.

In the prone position, Lian found her lip curling with displeasure. Before Zuko could open his mouth with an angry retort, Lian brought her knee into his side.

The momentary surprise was enough for Lian to place her hand on Zuko's head, holding it in place as her leg kicked up to catch him in the ear. The blow disoriented Zuko, and Lian threw him off of her before rolling to the side and popping back onto her feet.

Zuko held the side of his head as Lian studied him from a safe distance, her defensive stance not letting up.

"Are you done?" she demanded.

His lip curled. "Not by a long shot," he growled before sending another large fireball her way.

Iroh stood off to the side, silently observing the two. At one point, a soldier approached and asked nervously, "Should we break it up?" as the flames and attacks seemed to be picking up steam, instead of the other way around the longer they fought.

The retired general just smiled. "No need," he assured. "They won't hurt each other."

The soldier and his companion seemed very unconvinced at Iroh's words, but they both figured he of all people would know the two teens' limits better than anyone, so they didn't argue.

The sun was reaching its zenith by the time Zuko and Lian started showing signs of slowing down. A small smile crossed Iroh's lips as he finally stood from his low stool to approach his nephew and ward.

"It seems a hearty lunch is in order," he announced loudly, and the two young royals paused long enough to glance at the gray-haired man. When they returned their gazes to each other, even they had to admit the fatigue in their eyes.

"I could do lunch," Lian shrugged casually, accepting the towel from Iroh. Zuko just nodded, snatching the towel and marching toward the tower.

Iroh hung back as Lian drank greedily from the water bucket, a small, smug smile on his lips. She caught the cheeky glimmer in his eyes and rolled her own. "Don't start," she grumbled, taking extra time to dab the sweat at her temple and neck.

"I wasn't going to say a word," Iroh waved off as he and Lian began walking toward the main tower.

"I'll see you in the dining room," Lian told Iroh. "I need to wash up."

Lian and Zuko approached the dining room at the same time, and they paused outside the door. Both were freshly washed and freshly relaxed, thanks to hot baths, and both were weary to start something new.

Lian cleared her throat awkwardly and looked at her feet, finger-combing her hair absent-mindedly. Zuko glanced to the side, rubbing the back of his neck uncertainly.

The loud grumbling of Zuko's stomach made both of them jump in surprise, and Zuko's cheeks flushed as Lian bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud. She glanced up at him and then gestured at the door.

"After you," she said, her voice trembling ever so slightly with the effort to keep her laughter at bay.

"No, ladies first," Zuko countered, still sounding mortified on behalf of his stomach.

Lian cleared her throat again and nodded, stepping forward to open the door. Iroh was inside, already digging in.

"I hope you don't mind I started without you," he said as they sat at the table. "Chef Hanseok really outdid himself this time!"

"No worries, Iroh," Lian smiled, immediately digging into the small lechon that graced the center of the table.

Zuko just nodded as he picked solemnly at his rice. After an extended period of the only sound being chewing, the prince broke the silence and said, "I apologize for my outburst today."

Lian looked up in surprise and quickly swallowed her bite of food to sputter out, "No, it's my fault. I shouldn't have said—"

"Uncle's right, you know," Zuko interrupted, still looking at his bowl. "You are family, even if unconventionally." He paused before finally looking up. "And I'm the future Fire Lord; I should remain calm in any situation."

A small smirk pulled at the corner of Lian's lips; leave it to Zuko to always think about his future as leader. She nodded slowly and gave a slight bow of her head. "Family," she murmured. "I appreciate it, Prince Zuko."

The rest of the meal passed with little conversation, each participant lost in their own thoughts. They finished lunch and went their separate ways: Iroh to play Pai Sho in the bridge, Lian to read in her room, and Zuko to the deck to continue training.

Later that evening, they both wound up on the watchtower deck. They were silent the entire time, just watching the moonlight ripple on the still, dark water. It was pleasant, and both silently agreed they were content, for that quiet stretch of time, and they were comfortable, if only for the moment.


A/N: So, whatcha think? Short but sweet.

I hope to be back soon, since I have future chapters written. But I always wanna reiterate, I'm still facing some personal challenges, as well as the inability to easily access the series to write the chapters I haven't gotten on paper yet.

Fingers crossed, everything goes smoothly and I can get back to a somewhat regular posting schedule in the future.

Hope you enjoyed, and I hope to see you soon!

Let me know what you think, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I look forward to reading all.

Until next time.