Prince Zuko lay in his bed, he flipped over on his other side. The fire was still glowing brightly, it was on the inside of his eyelids. The slightest creaking of the boards distracted him from his slumber. He turned over again, the fire was casting shadows on the wall, he shoved the covers off of him in frustration and sat up. He leaned over and put his face in his hands rubbing his eyes. Someone must hate me, he thought as he got up and walked over too his table.

He sat down and rubbed his forehead, something silver caught his eye. He stopped rubbing his forehead and put his hand down on the table. It was just the comb from the Earth bender girl, yet somehow…

Zuko picked up the comb and examined it. Nothing particularly spectacular about it, the handle was shaped in the form of a crane with flowers circling around it. He had seen it before somewhere. He ran his fingers over the handle and felt something embedded on the back. He turned it over. A small burst of fire with a helmet thrust in the middle of the flames jumped out at him.

"The Fire lords seal…" he said and put it down on the table and got up. He ran towards the navigation room and raced up the stairs two at a time. He burst through the door startling the captain and two dozing card players.

"Change course! We're going back!" he said. The helmsmen looked startled for a second and then began turning the wheel.


Tatiana slid with a thump off of the bed and landed hard on her side. She lay their gasping for a second as she was jolted awake. She hadn't realized how stifling it was in the room, Tatiana lifted herself up off of the floor by her elbow. The fire was roaring and sweat shone on her face and made her dress stick to her. She wiped her fore head and got up wincing slightly as a shot of pain zigzagged across her burned shoulder. She shuddered as she fought the urge to put her hand over it.

The fire seemed to be roaring higher and she looked desperately for a pitcher of water to pour over it. There was none. A sudden idea struck her as she looked around the room, a dresser was stationed on the other side of the room.

She made her way over too the dresser and looked behind her, she could faintly hear the sounds someone snoring on the other side of the door. Tatiana dismissed it as a guard and opened a dresser drawer. She sighed as she looked down at the contents. A large, but thin black shirt was nestled on top of several pairs of folded pants. She opened the remaining doors, but they all held clothes that needed some very extensive repairing.

Tatiana opened the top one again and reached in and grabbed the black shirt, it unfolded as she brought it out. It should go down to at least my knees, she thought and she held it up too herself. With a sudden sense of foreboding she narrowed her eyes and looked distrustfully at the door. Everyone is asleep, stop being paranoid, she thought too herself. Besides, this dress needs to be washed.

She looked down at the folds of her skirts, they were plastered too her legs with sweat from the fire, she wasn't terribly dirty herself but could use a bath. Tatiana shuddered as a wave of heat from the fire ran over her. She lifted the hem of her shirt.


"Why are we changing courses Prince Zuko?" Iroh asked his nephew as he sat down by the Prince.

"Because, Uncle, the girl had the Fire Lord's comb and the Avatar will most likely not anticipate us to go back," he said.

"I still see no reason why you had to change courses in the middle of the night. Would it not have been just as effective if you had turned around when you first got the comb?" Iroh said as he rubbed the back of his head, he had fallen from his bed onto the floor.

"Are you telling me that you knew the girl had the Fire lord's comb?" Zuko asked through gritted teeth. Iroh shrugged.

"I thought you knew," he said. Zuko pushed himself away from the table and stood up blowing steam out of his mouth. He yanked open the door and proceeded to walk down the stairs.

"Where are you going Prince Zuko?" Iroh asked as he got up to follow his nephew down the stairs.

"To get some answers," he said moodily.

"Perhaps it is not wise to go barging into a woman's room in the middle of the night," he panted as he reached the bottom step and caught up with Zuko.

"This is my ship," he stated as he started down the hallway too where the girl was sleeping. Zuko stalked down the hall way with his uncle trailing after him.

"Prince Zuko, I do not think that this is the best thing for you to be doing. She is probably sleeping, and if she is anything like you when you are woken in the middle of the night I do not think that you would want to be in her midst," he said.

"This is still my ship uncle and we do not cater too our prisoners," Zuko said as he came too a stop at the door. The guard was snoring beside it. "Lucky that she did not escape," Zuko whispered as he yanked open the door.

Tatiana began to pull the sleeping shirt over her head asthe door was yanked open. The Fire Prince was standing in her doorway staring shockedly at her. His gold eyes were wide and a sudden flush crept into his cheeks. Tatiana gazed if possible, more shockedly at him than he was at her. She suddenly grabbed the shirt to her chest and goggled at him.

It was at this most opportune moment that Iroh and the guard looked in the room. Tatiana felt her mouth drop open in either surprise or fright before the Prince slammed the door shut. She sat down on the bed and quickly put the shirt on correctly. She winced as the material, although soft rubbed against the burn on her shoulder.

She walked timidly forward and opened the door. The Fire Prince was standing there with his Uncle and the Guard. "What do you want?" she asked.

"Where did you get that comb?" Prince Zuko asked. Tatiana noticed that with her own flush, his had not fully receded. Disgusting fire bending scum…she thought as she tried to keep her face blank.

"A friend gave it too me," she said defiantly and turned to go back into her room. The Fire Prince grabbed her unburned shoulder and spun her to face him.

"A friend just so happens to give you the Fire lord's comb?" he asked heatedly. The flush at the top of his cheek bones was gone and he was suddenly more terrifying.

"I d-didn't know it was the Fire Lord's comb…" she said as his grip tightened painfully on her shoulder.

"We'll see," he said and let go his vice like grip on her shoulder. She gasped and plastered herself fearfully against the wall, cringing at him. He made a frustrated noise and stalked down the hallway disappearing around a corner. Tatiana gazed after him and clutched at her shoulder.

Iroh looked down at the guard. "At your post soldier," he said and walked after his nephew. Tatiana seeped back into her room and closed the door so fast that it could have been mistaken for a slam. She leaned against the back of the door and slid down the wood to sit with her knees drawn up to her face and buried her face in her knees.


"You should not have scared her like that Prince Zuko," said Iroh as he walked into the Prince's room. Zuko looked up at him.

"What was I supposed to do?" he asked pointedly. Iroh rolled his eyes, obviously Zuko was trying to cover up the fact that he had barged in on her.

"Knock before entering?" he suggested. His nephew was not handling the young lady very well. Zuko rolled his eyes.

"This is my ship," he said stubbornly.

"So I've heard," he murmured. Zuko looked up at his uncle surprised. "And this is where it has gotten you!" he said. "Shirking from a young lady and scaring her too death," he said. He sighed and sat down in front of his nephew.

"You are handling this all wrong Prince Zuko, this is a young lady not some seasoned warrior. If you are to get any information out of her you would do better by going at a different approach."

"Yes uncle," Zuko said resignedly.

(Remember to review! -crouching bunny.)