Vidya wasn't sure what she thought Li-An would do when she told her, but it wasn't this. An emotionless 'OK' before continuing to cook.
Vidya stood in place for a few moments, shifting from one foot to another as if that would help her figure out what she needed to say. But in the end, she just left for her room. As much as Vidya would like to bridge the gap between them, she didn't know how to. In her past, if she got in an argument with a friend she would just give it some time or stop being friends with them. A little harsh, but there is a lot of people in the world and she thought you should only surround yourself with people who are good for you.
Family is different. You don't get to choose, and it is much harder to cut them out. Before, she never had to. But now Vidya was going to be on the other side of the land mass and she could break off this now.
Vidya isn't getting anything out of this relationship, and Li-An isn't either. Maybe this will give Li-An the chance to start over.
Vidya just ignored the pain in her chest as she finished packing and went to sleep that night.
Vidya rose before the sun with a leather bag tied to her back and under her oilskin poacher. Li-An was asleep for once, and after taking a moment to wonder if she should wake her up, Vidya ended up just leaving a note.
With one final look around the place she called home for the last 14 years, Vidya left for the docks. The road to the main village was empty, something Vidya only saw when she was doing her rounds, and even then she never walked on the road.
The lonely walk was more than eerie enough to put Vidya on edge.
It was a welcome relief to see the port, active despite the earliness. Most were ships getting ready to ship their raw metals to another Fire Nation control city for smelting, but there were a few fishing ships coming back and some merchant ships for those in the town that are able to afford such goods.
Vidya walked through the early crowd, and kept an eye out for all the ships docked. Mostly fishing and merchant ships that carried the Fire Nation flag, but there on the end was a small warship. The same model that Zuko had in the show. Vidya only paused for a moment to look at it, before realizing she recognized the man standing on the bow of it.
"Of-fucking-course," Vidya mumbled before taking a deep breath in order to calm herself and walking over with an emotionless expression.
Jee waved her up, and waited until she was on the ship before saying anything.
"I figured you were the one she was talking about. Welcome aboard kid." Jee said as he stuck out a hand, and Vidya shook it while biting the inside of her lip.
"I'm Vidya. Thank you for having me."
This is fine. It just looks the same. I mean, if anything that means that I'm a decade before the show starts, back when this type of ship was common.
"Don't thank me yet, we got a skeleton crew here so you'll be working down with Mina and Takuma to make sure the boilers are in top shape. Drop off your bags in the living quarters, and after you check in with Head engineer Takuma, you can head up to the pilothouse and set up this compass." Jee explained, gesturing to the gyro compass that was still in a traveling crate, only with the lid removed.
"Ah, okay," Vidya said, standing there for a moment before realizing that Jee wasn't going to escort her there.
Too tired to get too embarrassed over the situation, Vidya turned to the tower in the middle of the ship. The steering wheel should be at the top, with the captain and officers down that. Just based off the number of windows, there had to be at least four floors and Vidya was really hoping the crew lived on that first floor. Turned out the first floor was some type of mess hall that was already filled, but the second floor was just one giant room filled with hammocks.
"Excuse me, are Takuma and Mina here?"
There were a few people still getting dressed, and Vidya was relieved to notice they weren't wearing soldier uniforms. She saw a few on the deck, but it seems like it was only a small group. Vidya could totally ignore them for however long it takes to get close to Ba Sing Se.
"Well shit, when Lieutenant said he found a freakin' prodigy I didn't think it would be some brat." It was an older man, maybe late 50s, and missing a few teeth who said that.
"I'm the head engineer on this ship, but just call me Takuma. Here is my first Mina." The old man continued before Vidya could get a word in, waving a hand over to a woman in her late 20s or early 30s.
"Nice to meet you both, I'm Vidya."
"That's an odd name, but I guess you colony folk always have weird ones." Takuma said before walking away mid-sentence.
Vidya watched for a moment before noticing that Mina was also leaving, and hurry up to the two.
"It's mainly just the two of us who call the shots for the engines and boilers, though most of the sailors here know how to keep it from breaking. Don't bother getting any of the soldiers to help though, they're good for nothing but jamming up the catapult." Takuma ranted as they swiftly went from room to room.
Somehow they got back outside, and behind the tower. Vidya didn't even notice until this point that the Fire Nation had their engines on the deck instead of below it like in her past life. Not that Vidya went on many ships, just a few retired ones that she visited along with a tour guide. Definitely not something that Vidya took notes about.
"This here is the main boiler, Chiyo's usually the one who makes sure the coal is piled high. Then we got the engines, there's four of them, but we usually only use three and just alternate them. Coal chute is at the end so make sure you don't fall in. That's already happened three times with Dong-Geun and he's not even the youngest. Doubly so now that you're here... wait how old are you kid?"
"I'm 14?" Vidya said, still trying to commit to memory everything he was saying.
"Okay, so not quite the youngest, but one of the youngest. Well, youngest person who will actually be helping out." Takuma commented, before taking the time to explain the parts of the engines that Vidya will have to worry about.
Vidya was surprised when she realized she knew most of the parts, just because of how many times she had to make them with Hua. After that, Takuma's monologue wasn't as intimidating. Could also be because Vidya was finally starting to wake up now that it was a reasonable time to be awake. At some point, Vidya got wrapped up in starting the ship up, though it was a little anticlimactic in her mind since she didn't get to see the anchor being raised.
"Now I think Lieutenant mentioned something about a fancy new toy your old boss made?" Takuma said once Mina and she got done.
"You mean the Gyrocompass? Yeah, Jee - I mean Lieutenant Jee - wanted me to set that up in the pilothouse?" Vidya was pretty sure just based on context clues that would be at the top of the tower, but it would be good to make sure.
"This your first time on a ship too? Well shit, Mina why don't you give her a tour while you get up there?"
The young women gave a curt nod before walking to the tower, and a pace that Vidya was forced to walk jog in order to keep up.
I cannot wait until I finish growing.
Vidya wasn't too short, haven't passed 5 ft over a year ago, but it was nowhere near the height she was when she died. Vidya was still holding out hope that she is a late bloomer in this life like her last one and will get a few more growth spurts in the years to come.
Mina didn't say anything on the 'tour', and Vidya was too uncomfortable to ask any questions. Hopefully the only rooms she'll need to know it the living quarters and the mess, both which she already found. Still felt like walking through a maze. A metal maze where occasionally soldiers will be walking with those helmets that cover their face.
Oh and Vidya can't forget that there are firebenders here. For all she knows, Takuma, Mina, and Jee might be ones. Sure, logically, she knows that they're probably not evil people, but fire makes her uncomfortable even when it's not being controlled by another person. Vidya is just an expert now at ignoring how her hands would shake while tempering metals. Not like it ever got in way of her work.
After what felt like a lifetime, they got to the top of the tower and to the only door that was on that level. Mina immediately turned around to walk downstairs.
"Wait do I knock or..." Vidya asked before it became obvious the woman wasn't going to stop.
Vidya looked back to the door that looked more like it belonged on a submarine than a ship, before deciding to just open it. If she was doing the wrong thing, then someone will have to enlighten her.
"...We need to check out the other air temples. The Avatar could be hiding out there."
Vidya froze in place, and only partly due to the fact she was interrupting a conversation. Mainly it was because in front of her was who could only be Iroh, and the partly bald teen with a bandage covering half his face could only be Zuko.
Wonder if we are still close enough that I could jump off now and swim back.
"Vidya, I see that you are finished getting acquainted with the ship. This is the girl I was telling you about. The one who made a revolutionary new compass that can even work on metal ships." Jee said, acting like everything was perfectly normal.
"What's wrong with what we have now?" Zuko demanded to know, and now that Vidya was looking, he looked even younger than first season Zuko.
Though if he's still wearing bandages on his eye, then he must have been exiled recently. How long had he been looking for the avatar in the show? Like two years?
"The sextant only works when the sky is clear, and normal compass have interference for some reason." Jee answered, only soundly slightly irritated.
"The magnetic fields in the metal create a fault north." Vidya answered before her brain caught up with the situation.
Jee just sounded too much like when Hua was trying to get Vidya to explain her inventions to customers. Unforcurently, now everyone was staring at her again.
The door to the balcony is wide open. I could just jump off now. I think it's short enough that if I dive I wouldn't crush my body on the surface of the water.
"See? Vidya knows her stuff, and she'll become a worthy member of the crew in no time." Jee nodded his head at the gyrocompass, and Vidya finally got the hint that she was meant to work on that. Now.
So she did. Ignoring everyone in the room, and her own need to run far away from this situation, Vidya got to work with bolting down the gyrocompass and making sure it was all properly set up. Not like the ship can even go fast enough to cause any errors, so there was nothing for Vidya to correct.
The three men, or really two men and a boy, got back to their conversation that Vidya tried very hard to ignore. Then once she was done, Vidya just left. They didn't need her to explain how it worked, and Vidya needed to get out before she doesn't something stupid.
At least now I don't need to worry about Zuko tracking me down if I ever accidentally do airbending since I'm already here.
Vidya gave a hollow sounding laugh as she all but ran down the stairs.
I am so screwed.
A/N: Well, first off I'm sorry this took so long. I hope it was worth the wait though, and the next two chapters will have some fun interactions between Vidya, Iroh, and Zuko.
Thank you everyone who follow/favorited this story. And special thanks to notsofrilly, thanzintay.2000, Khar Thet Thet, Crytal Blue Butterfly, Blue-Huntress (if this is the best si avatar fic you have read then you really need to read "like sands through the hourglass" by Lore55. That fic is amazing), Dark Rose Charm, Guest who said there is no memes in Ba sing Se, Sakura Hatsu (I love it when people comment on every chapter), antisocialFox, Neo KizuNii, WhiteDogwood (Vidya is 14 in this chapter and the end of the last one), CallmeCrazylol, skye-speedy, overboard (once more a guest who's review made me laugh so hard), Branded Lunacy, Storm Scripter, JamieTheMonster, BlueAutumn12, nuke-squid, lizyeh2000, Gunkas Fee, lilyoftheval5, Ina, iluvfairytale, Lurking Pheonix, DannyPhantom619, VenaHope, and Znkp. You guys are the best and whenever I had a bad day I look at your nice/funny comments and it brings a smile to my face.
Hopefully, my next chapter will come out sooner than 14 months, but I have classes starting up again on Monday so it might have to wait until my next break. Who knew getting a major in physics and a minor in math would be so time-consuming.
Anyways, I hope this chapter was enjoyable at the very least, and that you all have a nice night/day!