Act 2
The Fisherman
Scene 4
It was mid-afternoon when Zuko hobbled out the cabin door onto the deck for the first time. From their places at the wheel and port railing, respectively, the fisherman and Katara turned their heads to look at him.
"You're awake," the stranger said. His brown eyes wereplain as stones, and shaggy brown hair hung almost to his shoulders. His clothes were poor but clean and utilitarian. Zuko also noticed they hung off a frame tall as a tree and muscles enough to lift a tank. Probably born a farmer, the prince decided.
"You're getting over a fever. Go back to bed, boy."
Boy? No one called him "boy" except his father. Rescue or not, this sort of impudence stopped here and now. Zuko opened his mouth to berate the man, but caught himself at Katara's expression.
She now stood halfway between them, sitting near the edge of the boat and glancing back and forth. The girl looked almost nervous. How bizarre. And she was... wringing her hands. The young prince suddenly changed his mind.
"Who the hell are you?" he asked instead. Uncle Iroh hated it when Zuko swore. Uncle Iroh, however, was not here to complain.
The fisherman was unruffled. He stared flatly at the fire nation boy, hands guiding the wheel of the boat as smoothly as ever. "I, young man, am the person responsible for the air you're breathing right this moment."
"Do you have a name?"
"Only the one my mother gave me. But until you turn into her, you'll have to do without."
"I already tried," Katara said, cutting off Zuko's next response. "He's very...private."
Zuko looked back and forth from the girl and their rescuer. He considered pressing the issue, then decided to try a different tactic. "Where are you taking us?"
"I tried that too," Katara said. The man, for his part, said nothing.
Zuko snorted derisively, but otherwise ignored her. "Don't waste my time," he said to the man. "I can turn around right now and hunt through your cabin until I find your charts and your logs."
This time, the man laughed. Katara jumped in startlement, staring at him with wide eyes. Zuko wondered momentarily what was up with her, but decided he didn't really care.
"Do you think you can boy?" the fisherman replied. "Please, do look. If you think I didn't stash them the second I dragged your pale carcass on board then you deserve to lose the time and energy you'll be wasting."
Tongues of fire began to collect around Zuko's fists. He would not tolerate being laughed at and he would not be blindly held prisoner by some Earth Kingdom vagabond.
Zuko took one threatening step forward and fell on his face.
"Stupid boy," the fisherman said. "I told him he should be in bed."
He made no indication to move, so Katara sighed and leanedover to grab Zuko by the armpits and drag him down into the cabin again.