The next couple of days was spend with Zuko trying to teach all of the water tribes men as much as he could about how the run the ship, interact with fire nation commanders. The correct salutes. How to phrase yourself. Pretty much everything he could manage in their short time.
Thankfully the water tribes men were all very well disciplined. Listened intensely and weren't at all afraid to ask questions.
As a unit… They were pretty much a dream coming true. They never even complained about the long days or duties usually done by more men now having to be shared by a fewer numbers.
…. And the fire nation called these guys savages. Seriously it now started to become clear how they had been able to hold their own for so long in spite of their few numbers.
This day Zuko was down in the stables below deck, just to make sure that the Komodo Rhinos were taken well care off and… Of course they were!
Why would Zuko even for a moment think the water tribes men hadn't this handled? Clean water. Fresh hay and clean toes.
"You're going to be all right with these guys." Zuko smiled putting a hand on the head of one of the Rhinos.
Right next to them Appa was yawning deeply. Clearly the big bison was longing to be able to go outside and fly a bit again.
"Sorry Appa. No flying for the foreseeable future." Zuko sighed a bit defeated. "But at least you'll be able to get outside really soon." he said just as two flying smaller animals flew right at Zuko and he laughed as Momo and Lin-Lin was crawling all around him making Zuko break into hysterics.
"Stop-STOP!" Zuko laughed. "That tickles!" he shouted as he grabbed his own Turtleduck and held it at an arms reach. "You're the worst Lin-Lin." he laughed only to get a quack in response.
Just then Zhau-Li came running down. "Prince Zuko! ZUKO!" he shouted earning Zukos attention.
"What is it?" Zuko asked.
"You gotta come see this!" Zhau-Li gasped. "There is land in sight!"
Zuko gasped as he looked up. "You mean…"
He didn't even hesitate a moment longer. Not really caring about the flying lemur hanging onto his shoulder or the turtle duck in his hands as he just rushed up the metal stairs with Zhau-Li and ran towards the front of the ship as he gasped.
"It… It's." Zuko gasped.
"Have you ever seen a more beautiful sight?!" Zhau-Li asked.
"It's the fire nation." Zuko gasped as true enough, they started to see it. The white beach. A tall orange mountain created from an erupting volcano giving it its different color. The greenery crawling up the mountain itself.
"SIR!" Zhau-Li shouted. "Sir look!" he pointed at the waters and Zuko looked down to see. True enough.
"Panda-Dolphins!" Zuko shouted as the white and black aquatic mammals were jumping in the waves to play with the ship.
Zhau-Li turned to Zuko. "Do you think what I am thinking?" he asked.
And Zuko was just one big grin.
Katara managed to get quite a shock as she looked towards the two excited young fire bending men and saw them just strip off their tunics. "Zu-Zuko?" Katara asked.
The next thing Katara knew. Both young men was yelling as they jumped off the ship and down into the waters.
"ZUKO!" Katara screamed as she ran to the railing and looked down to see two young man grabbing each their big fish… Or what looked like it.
"PANDA-DOLPHINS!" Aang screamed as he was suddenly next to Katara. "That looks like so much fun! ME TOO!" he shouted and launched himself up into the air then plummeted down into the waters making both Zuko and Zhau-Li shout in surprise.
And then they laughed as Aang re-emerged spitting out the water.
"Katara-Katara!" Aang laughed as he waved up. "You gotta come too this is amazing! The water is so warm!"
"It's because of all of the underground volcanoes." Zuko laughed as he was laying slung over a Panda-dolphin. "Lots of the islands you see here are indeed actually active volcanoes. Those which aren't volcanoes themselves were created by the under water volcanoes. And there are a lot of hot springs because of it too."
"Wooaaah." Aang gasped.
"All right Aang." Katara suddenly shouted from up the ship where she had now stripped down to her underwear. "Here I come!"
"Oh oh." Aang gasped. "Guys look out! It's the water bender coming down!" he exclaimed as Katara came hurling down making a cannon ball.
And she fell down the water barely even making a splash.
Zuko blinked as he looked at the spot where Katara had vanished and then it came. A massive splash and pillar of water raising up and then hit all of them.
"HAAH!" Katara laughed as she appeared right back up. "I got you all."
"That's cheating!" Zuko shouted splashing water at Katara who laughed and splashed it back.
"What are all you guys doing down there?" Sokka shouted from up the ship, it seemed like he had finally realized something was going on.
"We're swimming with Panda-Dolphins!" Aang shouted up. "They are native to the fire nation! Come join us!"
"Njah I'm good." Sokka said Toph standing beside him.
"Yeah me too." Toph replied. "I'm not really a fan of drowning."
Zuko shook his head and then took a deep breath before deep diving into the waters, he swam down and met a panda-Dolphin down there that made a somersault at him. Zuko grinned and then finally swam up again to break the surface taking a deep breath.
"wow." Katara looked at Zuko. "You guys are actually really good swimmers. That's funny. I wouldn't really think fire nation would be that good at swimming."
"Of course we are." Zuko said. "The fire nation itself is a group of islands. There is so much water. All children need to learn how to swim from a pretty young age. What if someone fell off one of the ships? Or got to far out in one of the hot springs?"
Katara smirked. "With warm water like this. Why wouldn't you all be swimming?" she asked.
"HAHA! Look at Lin-Lin!" Aang pointed as the little turtle duck just calmly came swimming by as if this was no mans business.
Eventually as everybody got back up deck they were all grinning while being dripping wet. It was no problem though as Zuko pointed out. The sun dried them all right up in less than half an hour. Just in time for them to approach the shore and lay anchor.
Aang didn't waste a second letting Appa back out so the bison could stretch his legs on the shore and it was with curiosity everyone stepped out on the soft white sand of the beach glancing around.
"I will admit." Hakoda commented. "Never had I thought I would try to set my foot upon fire nation land."
"Wow. This sand is so soft. That's ridicules." Sokka commented.
"It's really fine." Toph nodded standing there.
"What are these black stones?" Aang asked holding up some smaller odd looking black stones with holes in them.
"Those would be volcanic stones. Made from lava." Zuko informed. "There's a lot of them all around them place. Some of them has crystals inside of them too."
"Wow cool!" Sokka gasped grabbing one for himself.
Zuko smiled warmly. "Let's make a fire for the night." he said.
As the sun was setting they had a warm fire on the beach and people were in high mood as they were chatting.
Zuko could grant Sokka and Katara this. By morning the water tribes men would sail back out to get back to the earth kingdom and team Avatar would stay here.
And indeed they were staying close to their dad while laughing and talking. Zuko smiled as he removed himself from the fire and sat down at a cliff just above the shore instead. Smiling.
And then Zhau-Li came as well to sit down beside him.
"You know something." Zuko said looking towards the waters. "Today was a really really good day." he said. "Our situation is bad. Really bad. But today was a good day."
"yeah." Zhau-Li agreed. "I am going to remember it."
"This is what my uncle wanted for me." Zuko said. "What he always talked about. Even if my situation was bad back then…. We could still have good days. You know?" he asked. "And. That's what I want for the fire nation too. Being able to have good days. That's what it is about right?"
Zhau-Li nodded thoughtfully.
"I'm glad you were here too. Zhau-Li." Zuko said. "The others are great. But having a friend from the fire nation. Someone who understands." he said. "And with all that servant business and so on. I know I can't stop you. I just wanted you to know, you're also my friend."
"I'm glad you feel that way." Zhau-Li smiled. "Feeling is mutual." he said turning to him. "You are my prince and my friend."
Zuko grinned as he reached up a hand and Zhau-Li grinned in return as he grabbed it and they firmly grabbed each others hands.
"I'm counting on you." Zuko smirked. "Make sure those water tribes men don't get into trouble."
"And you make sure that the Avatar don't get himself caught." Zhau-Li said making Zuko laugh.
"There is some real irony there." Zuko chuckled and the both shook their heads before they started to talk.
About the fire nation and their future. And Zuko smiled as he had a feeling, they were going to pull through. There was hope for sure.