CHAPTER SUMMARY: Zuko finds a woman's fiancé, as well as the carnage the man has left behind him.
NOTE:
updates on this will be sporadic. I smashed this chapter out because I was procrastinating lol but I'll update when I can.
This was never supposed to be a series, but this got a fuck tonne of interest and now I'm invested
ALSO: i put this through a grammar checker but there are probably still errors
Jee is treating him differently.
Something happened before the storm, because Zuko knows that saving the helmsman wouldn't have been enough to change Jee's mind about him. Even if Zuko's words so obviously wrung hollow in light of his actions - he cares. This stupid crew of his is his responsibility. Zuko is the captain, and he won't be responsible for a ship full of dead men.
The map Rasuk got from one of the merchants at the last port is embarrassingly awful. The contouring of the land itself is a tragic, poorly proportioned catastrophe of lines, especially when Zuko has the experience of climbing some of the mountains himself - both the Air Nomads and the Earth Kingdom people build their spiritual temples high, and Zuko searched everyone he could reach in his search for the Avatar.
Not to mention that the coastal markings look suspiciously ludicrous. He's sailed to Mo Ce Sea, and the depth does not drop that quickly from the shore, larger cruisers would not be able to come all the way to the pier, unlike what the map indicates.
The cartographer had to have been either drunk or a fool, because for him, on the wide open ocean, it is useless.
The sun is perpetually stuck behind thick swaths of cloud, and it's not like a few clouds have ever stopped even a novice Firebender from knowing exactly where the sun is in the sky, but it's another thing that he has to deal with. And Jee won't stop staring.
Zuko's never thought Jee to be a man lacking tact. Maybe his lieutenant is not afraid of dancing the line of mutiny, but he's not an idiot, and it's not like Zuko's the first burn victim he's ever seen. He nearly calls him out on it, but then his gaze is on Uncle, a warmth and calmness that he hasn't seen on him in a while radiating from him in strong unrelenting waves, and he can't in good nature destroy the odd middle ground he's found with Jee if it means compromising whatever good mood Iroh's found himself in, playing Pai Sho with Rasuk.
Regardless, the map is still scrunched in his hand, the sun is still stuck behind the clouds, and they need to stop again if they don't want to beach themselves like the incompetent assholes they're all pretending not to be.
Rasuk at least has the decency to look a little bit guilty, but not guilty to actually do anything about it, so he's not sure it means much.
"We need to land again," Zuko says. He glares up at the sun behind the clouds, desperate for the heat on his neck, to feel energised.
"Well, according to the map-" Jee starts, a grin cracks his face open because he knows the map is an embarrassment to all cartographers across every fucking border and will be little fucking help.
"Please, for all that is good, shut the fuck up," Zuko gripes back. He could burn the map, but maybe that's a level of foolishness that he's not quite willing to breach. Plus, Uncle would throw him over board, and he'd deserve it. "Looks like Rasuk has himself permanently removed from any and all navigational responsibilities," he says, mostly to stop Jee from saying anything else.
Rasuk grins slyly at Zuko then, and that's also new. He wouldn't have done that before the storm that nearly sunk them. Bizarrely, He can't bring himself to be upset about it.
"Now you can finally pursue your true passion: map making," Jee offers a hand out to take it out of Zuko's hands, like he can decipher the map's true meaning through the shaky lines and what is probably a blood stain in the lower right corner better than he could twenty minutes ago. The merchant was likely thrilled that they were even able to get the map off the shelf to be looked at, let alone sold.
"No," Zuko says just as Iroh turns to face the two of them from the deck. "Or finding people." Iroh says.
"No," He says it again. There's a moment of silence. "It won't become a habit." All three sets of eyes meet his, and they don't believe him.
"She was nine. A child. What was I supposed to do?"
Jee raises a singular eyebrow, challenging Zuko's words.
"Forgive me for speaking out," Rasuk starts, and Zuko bristles without meaning to. He waits a moment until Zuko meets his eyes again, like he's asking for permission. Rasuk takes the moment after Zuko doesn't stop him.
"But making potential allies will be far beneficial than making enemies all over the country. It's smart. For the long-run, Captain."
Rasuk doesn't look away until Zuko does, like he's trying to make sure Zuko is really listening to him"It won't become a habit," Zuko says again, but even to him, it doesn't seem to hold it's conviction of a few moments before.
The sun peaks out from behind the clouds, a stream of heat hitting Zuko's face like Agni herself heard his lies.
Whatever. It won't become a habit.
They find a port without sinking, or something piecing the hull or anyone getting thrown overboard, which is nothing short of a miracle in of itself, so Zuko should have known that Something would go wrong. A woman walks up to him with a surety that he's rarely seen and shoves a bag of gold coin in his hand, she only wants one thing.
"You're the one who found the little girl, those children?" she shoves the bag back at him when Zuko tries to return it. "My fiancé is missing, please, you have to help me," she's caught somewhere between rage and unspeakable despair, eyes blazing, but her hands shake.
"I'll give you more if you want," the woman ploughs through. She loses the surety of a few moments before as she's seeing him up close, their armour, their ship, everything. But still, she meets Zuko's eyes and doesn't back down.
He can already hear the crew griping him about this the second the opportunity presents itself, eating his own words before he's been off the ship for more than an hour.
She's scared of him, but it didn't stop her from approaching him when she realised who he was, from whatever rumour she'd stumbled upon.
It's astonishing that she even found him, this stop being as unplanned as it is, but he does know what it's like to have someone in your life disappear, to not know where to look or how to look for them. He hasn't thought about her in a while. It sits in his chest like a stone.
He can help this woman.
Still, it won't become a habit.
Mila's fiancé is a mysterious man. Rich landowner, rents out plots of land to farmers and a percentage of the money they make goes to him and the money rolls in pretty easily.
It sounds off, but not in any way that Zuko can articulate. But Mila is the one in front of him now, desperate enough to put her fear aside to ask him for help, so of course he says yes.
Mila tells him that her fiancé, Pomon, would never leave her unprompted with no warning, disappearing into the ether with no explanation and all his belongings where he left them, and Zuko's inclined to believe her, or at least believe that she believes it.
She's genuine, and it's not hard to tell. Her hand finds Zuko's wrist, and she holds it gently in hers but the urgency isn't missed, like she's terrified that he's going to up and leave her at any moment.
Few are the moments where people are willing to throw everything else to the wayside for another, but there is something off here, what it is, he's not sure.
Zuko leaves Jee and Iroh to look after Mila and find a better map, and tries to brush off the new look of eager intrigue on Jee's face like he's watching a particularly interesting play. He can't understand the change's origins, and he doesn't think Jee would tell him anything if he asked. But, well the change isn't exactly bad, and Mila still hasn't let go of his wrist. He decides to focus on that.
Mila and Pomon live near the port, and it's mostly a lucky fluke that Zuko just happened to show up as Pomon vanished. There are plenty of folks who know of the couple, and people have a lot to say, even before they've opened their mouths. It's the way they tense, eyes shift to Zuko, sweeping over him trying to determine his motivations.
Zuko's never been as good at Azula reading people, but hostility is what he's used to, that's what he's good at. He can work with that.
The man at the fruit stand beats around the truth like that's his job and selling overripe fruit is just for kicks when Zuko asks if he knows of Mila and Pomon, that it's urgent.
"He's," and he trails off, hands tugging at the seam of his shirt, eyes looking everywhere but at Zuko. It's the third sentence he's started and failed to finish, and it points to all the wrong things.
"He's what?" Zuko presses, only because there's something here, and this man won't fucking tell him.
A thick blanket of tension settles over them both. There's a sudden darkness coats the man's features.
"This is a farming town, sir. Sure, the port's here, but that's not where the money's made for us. It's hard enough to make a living as it is, but Pomon's been increasing the rent bit by bit over time. People are unhappy with him."
- And Zuko's instinct's confirmed.
What it means for where he is, well, it opens up a few avenues.
"Unhappy?" He wants more than that. Unhappy means something different here, and if the fruit vendor is nervous about it, then the problem runs far deeper.
He peels his gaze to him like Zuko's got him in a choke hold and squeezing the information out of him. The dramatics were old before Zuko even spoke to the man, still, he clearly is in the loop about some gossip, and Zuko wants to hear it.
He pulls a coin from the pouch at his side and places it on the bench next to the tomatoes that he wouldn't feed to his Komodo Rhinos, and levels the man with a glare.
The man doesn't smile, but the blink-and-you-miss-it twitch of his lips says he wants to. The vendor continues, "I think people want him… you know," he looks around in big swooping gestures, eyes blown.
He leans in close to Zuko's ear. "Dead."
Pomon is a weird man, able to work a business like no one else and could easily be living as an upper-class Earth Kingdom citizen with his soon-to-be wife operating well within the law, and well within the satisfaction of the farmers. Why risk it all? Why enrage the very people that supply your lifestyle?
Greed. And he get's that confirmed from a farmhand after a few wasted hours of trying to find a loose mouth. She's bought fresh rope and a scowl fierce enough to match's Zuko's. They're standing just off from the main body of shops, but close enough that anyone could hear them if they were trying to. Security for her, Zuko realises, only much, much later.
There's a burn scar on her arm that stretches from her elbow and disappearing under her shirt. She stares at Zuko's scar for only long enough that there's a strange moment of shared pain, even if Zuko is who he is.
"Why is the Fire Nation looking for Pomon? I thought you had more important shit to get to?"
His hackles rise automatically, and obscenities are on the tip of his tongue, but he holds back at the last second - people won't tell him things if they hate him, and Mila deserves to know where her fiancé is. He won't fuck this up for her. It must show on his face though, because the farmhand's already turning away, a roll of her eyes, and Zuko scrambles, decides to go with the truth and hopes it sticks.
"They're not. His soon-to-be wife is though. She asked me to find him."
The farmhand feels no love lost for Pomon, and Zuko doesn't need her to say it to know it, but as far as Zuko can tell, Mila's only crime thus far has been loving a man who doesn't deserve it.
She doesn't walk away, so Zuko tries again. "I don't care about him, but I do care about Mila, and I won't ignore her suffering. She asked me to find him, so where is he?"
More silence, but it's not as heavy. She looks at him only after she's sure he's as determined as he says. He doesn't budge.
"He was alive last I saw him. Mila should take what she can and run. That man's not worth the pebbles he steps on."
Zuko holds her gaze, searching her face, but she's a stone wall in front of him, the scowl doesn't budge.
"I'll mention it to her. He's that bad?"
The farmhand shrugs. "He destroyed people's lives because of his own greed. Starved people, humiliated them. What more is there to say?"
He purses his lips. His mind drifts back to the crew, to Jee smiling at him and Rasuk feeling comfortable enough to speak with him freely, and what it was like before the storm - a near mutiny and Zuko facing it like he didn't incite it. It's harder this way, Zuko thinks. But - then Pomon hated and rightfully so - and how can earning respect not be worth it.
He likes the banter he has with Jee, and he appreciates Rasuk's quiet digs and astute observations. He likes the helmsman's stories, and he likes it when they don't look at him in disgust.
He breathes deeply, holds it just long enough to feel the burning of fire in his stomach before releasing it.
Zuko may be a fool, but at least he's not fool enough to realise he's own behaviour staring back at him. Maybe Zuko didn't rob his crew, but it's all the same tyrannical behaviour that he doesn't like reflected back at him.
The farmhand is watching him, and Zuko isn't sure if she's scared of him or not, but her uneasiness isn't a question, the space between them may only be less than a metre, but the abyss is something they both can sense.
The differences between them aren't as deep as they think, but it doesn't make the darkness any brighter.
"I need to see him for myself," he says.
She readjusts the rope at her shoulder, looks out beyond him, north-east. "There's an abandoned barn not far from here, you can't miss it. Some of the farmers took him out there."
He hears the words she doesn't say, and decidedly doesn't think about what could have been for him if not for whatever events occurred before the storm. This man doesn't deserve the sympathy. He's not in Zuko's situation.
"Mila asked you to find him, right?" Her gaze doesn't waver from his eyes. "Then do that, but leave the farmers that did this out of it."
He's almost insulted at the idea of it, that she thought he would have done such a thing, but all he is to her is another red uniform, and his motivations to her are questionable at best. He lets it drop.
"You have my word," he nods at her, and she returns it.
He peels away from her, north-east on foot, in search for a wanna-be tyrant for a woman he doesn't know.
The barn is just as easy to spot as the farmhand said, and for all the stories strung together and the formation of a person that Zuko had formed in his head, he's the exact approximation of pathetic he's envisioned. Curled up in the fetal position, arms wrapped around his legs, breaths short and stringy. Desperate for air and yet being completely useless about it.
He stands there for a moment, and everything that he thought he'd say evaporates - because none of that matters. Not really. He's lucky the farmers didn't kill him, he's lucky that the townsfolk didn't decide to intervene, he's lucky he has a fiancé who adores him, he's lucky to have a whole future set out for him. The only one to blame for his downfall is him, and Zuko can't really find it in him to feel bad for him.
"Pomon," he barks out, louder than he means too, but this wouldn't have happened if not for his own greed, and Mila wouldn't be terrified enough to run to a complete stranger of an enemy nation to help her. The man flinches.
"Your fiancé is looking for you."
He sobs again, and Zuko grabs the man by the collar of his shirt and pulls him to his feet. He's heard enough today about this man, about all the ways he hurt people.
Time for Mila to get her husband back, and for her to get the truth. Zuko drags Pomon all the way to the dock, thankfully he's not foolish enough to think that Zuko's grip on his collar is something that can be broken.
Jee had taken Mila on his quest to get a better map, and the crew had served her tea and lunch as they waited. It's a calm scene he interrupts - dirty from the arid land and sweaty from hours of searching and trying to get answers, and he's pissed and not trying to hide it. Pomon is a quivering mess under his arm, and Zuko drops him to the floor of the ship. His wounds are superficial. Zuko doesn't have the patience to treat them.
"She deserves the truth, Pomon," Zuko says. "So tell it."
And he does.
They leave the port behind, and they leave Mila with a set of horrifying truths to reconcile and a man trembling at her feet who doesn't deserve her. They leave the farmers alone, and a new, usable map is in Jee's hands.
"Not a habit yet, sir?" Jee says, Zuko can hear his smirk.
"Show me the fucking map," he says, and he only pretends to be upset about Jee's grin, and the helmsman's soft echoes of laughter.
NOTES:
Cartographer!Zuko au?/
ANyway Jee and Zuko's friendship is chaotic and brilliant and I love them. Hopefully I'll be able to flesh out the crew more as the story goes.
I have a tumblr: blluespirit and a twitter: jacckaranda!
pls comment if u like it thank you love u all