Chapter 7- Morning Surprise
The morning was cold and so I reached for the blanket. The oh-so-mighty prince took it. What the heck? I reached over and snatched it out of his grasp so quick that it didn't make a change in his snoring pattern. Yes, the snoring went on for a while and as hard as I tried I couldn't find any way to get back to sleep. I went to the door and opened it and began to wander aimlessly around the ship. Some guards they must have and so I went out onto the deck where his uncle was sitting.
"Good morning." He greeted me.
"Um… good morning to you too." I walked slowly toward him. How'd he know that I was there? But, never mind, I could probably jump off the ship. He was just one firebender. What could he do? But looking out into the sea, there were a pod whales that swam up next to the ship No way could I survive that.
"Is Zuko up yet?"
"Zuko? – Oh Zuko – no, he's still sleeping."
"Good morning uncle." It was Zuko. Surprise, surprise. I rolled my eyes. The kid took my blanket and snored.
"Oh so you are awake. Come join me for tea." So the both of us sat down across from him and servants came to bring cups and tea. Oh no, now two firebenders, with the experience to kill me, could things get any worse?
"You, miss -?"
"Riena," I said quickly.
"Riena, nice name, you know the art of water bending. Do you not?"
"Yes, I do." This time I think said it to slow because the old man anticipated ever word.
"What level do you think that you may be?"
"Level? I don't think that we use levels." Uh oh, something's up. "Umm, I guess I'm good enough."
"How good?" What did he want with me?
"About as good as fire boy here." I nodded toward Zuko. Hey, I was good enough. After a while the old man stood up.
"Good, now show me."
"Wha -?" He then threw a great breath of fire toward me that I was lucky to escape from except for the unfortunate singed ends of my back hair. Clearly, things could have gotten worse.
"Uh…" I was scared," What are you doing? If I hadn't jumped out of the way, I would have been killed." Oh wait, these were firebenders. Why hadn't I thought sooner that they would have a plan to kill me?
"You said that you were as good as Zuko, and the prince is better than any firebender in the nation except of course his father and the few masters that rule the land. And – "he chuckled, "Of course me. So I assumed that you were a princess to all waterbenders." Inside, I felt so embarrassed. I smiled weakly and shrugged. Maybe I could pull it off. He shot more fire at me until I was I was tired of jumping out of the way. Let's just hope that my water bending wouldn't fail me now.
More fire came at me…. Again. And this time I stood in my place, concentrated on the water around the boat and raised a huge tidal wave upward and to surround me, creating a shield against the great tunnel of flame that was heading right toward me. I dropped the water on the deck.
"Is that good enough for you?" I hoped.
"No." Wasn't this guy supposed to be nice? "You're still holding back. So now, you'll fight just to stay alive." He signaled five fire benders to come forth. Oh no. "Ready?" I shook my head. "GO!"
I squealed as two of the fire benders sped forward toward me with their fists ready to fire. I jumped over them (as one would when playing "leap frog") and tried to do another water bending trick. I raised the water spilled in puddles and created a ring of water around me that spun faster and faster with each passing second. It expanded and pushed the five outward, away from me; allowing me some breathing space. But, my plan did not work completely. Only three of them fell and I still had two to deal with. The two swiftly jumped from the pushing funnel and stood on the slippery deck. The men yelled as they fell and soon died out as soon as I saw a puff of mist (probably from a whale) appearing very close to the ship.
A unison of gasps from the other guards surprised me and I looked back. Almost half of the ship had come to see the battle. Don't let them come after me. I already had a hard time as it was. What was this? Did everyone gasp in unison in this time period?
The remaining battle was hard work. As one swung his fists and legs at me, the other kept trying to burn me at every chance he could. It was unfair yes, but luckily, I've been taught well. So I tried one more technique that I learned from a traveling monk that had passed by the town last winter.
I dodged out of the fight I had with one of the fire benders and summoned the remaining puddles of water to form into spheres that floated in the air. The second stopped shooting fire at me when I suddenly had them being pelted by the spheres. They fell soaking wet with the frigid cold water had been frozen in place. Oh yeah. I had skill.
After that, I fell back in my spot. My heart was racing and was gasping for breath. I also had a headache that always came whenever I concentrated much on water bending. There had not been so much of challenges confront me until now. They had better not do that again, but who was I to say what their next decision would be? As I sat on the deck I could hear someone clapping.
It was the prince's uncle. I smiled weakly again. You never could tell what he would do next.
"That's the kind of energy I wanted to see." He praised me. "Let's get some help in here." More guards appeared as soon as he said the words. "Get those men out of there and see if you can retrieve the others that fell over board.
Umm… Thank you? I think I would take that as a compliment. Yes, it was only a short time after my womanhood ceremony did I show signs of being a water bender. And look at me now. In such a short time, I was good enough to fight a real fire bender. Wouldn't Jin Won like to hear this? That was unless I could I find a way home.
I looked over to Zuko. He was still sipping his tea. Typical him: no boy wants to admit that a girl could be strong. Laughing to myself quietly, next thing they'd be asking me to start fighting him.
Well, it would seem that I said it too soon because that's exactly what they wanted me to do.
"Tomorrow, your training will begin." As soon as the old man said those words, I felt like I could die. Wasn't this enough training? He returned to his seat and began to converse with Zuko.
Holding up a weak and shaking hand I went to address him, "Um…sir?"
"It's General Iroh." Zuko interrupted. I made a face at him and continued.
"General Iroh." I addressed.
"Yes?"
"What was the significance of that? If I wanted a death wish I think I would have told you."
"Yes, but if you I had told you something other than an issue that involved your life, you wouldn't have agreed to fighting." He had a point there.
"Not that, she could have done a better job." Guess where that sexist remark came from. Let's all say it in unison! One, two… Zuko! No surprise there. Rolling my eyes, I stood up.
"What next?"
So yeah,I guess that was okay. As I have said I'm not so good at action scenes. Don't hate me!
