Thank you My Silver Wound for reviewing! I hope you like the next chapter.
I forgot to mention that the translation of the title is given in the chapter drop down box.
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Disclaimer: I own Sorano, Nezu, Ookami, and Hoshi as well as the ship. That is all I believe.
Chapter 2 – Ryakkai
Zuko sat on the deck, staring at the compass. So far, he and the demon had not heard or seen the sorceress for three hours. Hoshi had said it was a good sign and that her potions were going well. Explosions still rocked the ship from time to time along with a loud curse or two but other than that, it was quiet.
The prince gazed around the ship for the fifth time, this time looking at the difference between this one and his uncle's. This ship was smaller than the warship but it seemed to have more power with both sails and an engine. It was extremely streamlined and cut through the water effortlessly. It had to be some sort of magic.
So far, the demon had concentrated on his steering and had let the silence ring out. But now, Zuko couldn't stand it anymore.
"What's wrong with her eye?" he asked, glancing up at the demon.
"I could ask you the same thing," Hoshi replied easily, not taking his gold eyes off the bow. "Though I'm sure that story's a lil' messier than hers." He grinned widely. "Just a backfired charm. She tried to change her eye color and ended up becoming blind in her right eye. She uses a spell to get her eyesight back. It's temporary though so she has to make another spell about every week."
He frowned and stared at the compass.
The demon took off his hat, running a hand through his hair. Zuko stared at the three small horns running across his forehead, poking out through his hair. Then again, he wasn't surprised at the horns. Most demons had some. No wonder why he wore hat.
Boots clicked up the stairs and both Hoshi and Zuko turned to see who was coming. Sorano appeared in a swirling black cloak, leaping up and grabbing a rope. She climbed among the sails for a moment before she stopped and once again mumbled to herself.
"What is she doing?" Zuko asked, gazing at the sorceress.
"Ah, she collects plants for the arbor she made below the quarters. It's a wonderful place. Lots of flowers and trees. She needs them for potion ingredients." Hoshi looked up when she suddenly jumped down and landed safely on the deck.
"Excellent, Hoshi! We'll be there tonight if we continue." She grinned and then noticed the Firebender, almost like it was the first time. "Oh, yeah."
"Yeah," the demon said, smiling.
"What to do with you," she mumbled, climbing the stairs. "Where do you want to be let off?" she asked Zuko, blinking.
"I would like to be back on my uncle's ship if that is possible," he said without hesitating. "I do not know where he is though or where he will be stopping."
Sorano grinned suddenly. Zuko blinked and watched as she dug something out of her pocket. "A finding spell then! This will be fun!" she called out, hopping down the seven stairs and onto the lower deck.
Zuko watched in fascination as she settled below the compass and began to draw a circle with a piece of chalk. "Keep the boat heading north, Hoshi!"
"Aye, Sorano!" he called out.
She drew a kite shape in the circle, the longer sides pointing towards the outside. Biting her lower lip, she drew four points on the circle and then drew a circle in the kite.
"I'm going to need something that your uncle likes or has touched that you can get rid of," she called out from her spot on the deck. The sorceress looked up as Zuko managed to dig out a strange packet from his shirt and threw it to her. She caught it and gave a laugh.
Hoshi nodded his head to tell Zuko he could move closer to watch her if he wanted. The prince moved to the last step and stood watching her as she carefully placed the tea bag in the circle in the kite shape.
Sorano moved back, standing stiffly besides the circle. She raised her arms above her head and took a deep breath. Her arms fell rigidly and she yelled out something that Zuko couldn't hear or understand. The crash of thunder covered the yell as a bolt of blue lightning struck the tea.
Zuko covered his eyes and then the air was calm. He blinked away stars and stared as the tea was gone and there were no marks to show that lightning had struck the ship at all. No burns or scorches. He watched as the sorceress panted and smiled at the spell. The Firebender stared at the circled as the kite, now looking like a weird compass needle, spun in circles before settling on one direction.
"Looks like it works," she commented, grinning like a maniac. She turned to the demon and grinned at him. "We'll stop at the port and get some flowers and fruit and more supplies and then follow the spell."
Hoshi nodded and saluted. She vanished below the deck and the demon chuckled as Zuko took a closer examination of the spell.
"This is a spell?" he asked.
"A simple one but a spell no doubt," he answered, turning the wheel again slightly. "She likes to use that particular one for any plants she needs. It will find the closest one to us." Hoshi smiled as the hatch opened again and Ookami stuck his head out.
"What's going on?" the wolf demon asked gruffly.
"Sorano just did a finding spell is all," he said. "You can go back down, Ookami."
The wolf shrugged and disappeared down the hatch.
Zuko sat stiffly on the top stair and stared at the afternoon sun. He still had questions but didn't feel like he should be asking the demon. Then again, he could never catch the witch when he wanted to.
"How long has she been doing magic?" he asked, turning to the demon.
"Hmm?" the demon mumbled and turned to the Firebender. "Ah, her sorcery? Been a while. Said she started when she was five. So that makes about twenty-two years," he mused. "Left home when she turned eight because of that damned Fire Lord." When Zuko glared he shrugged. "Don't care if you're his son or not, it's damn true."
"She should be proud to serve her nation," the prince growled.
"Really?" Hoshi asked, pinning him with a small glare. "I would've chosen exile than be turned into some beast and sent out to kill or be killed." He sighed and stared out at the ocean. "She saved me when she ran away and I've been with her ever since. Her skills have helped more people than I can count, Fire or otherwise. With her, it doesn't matter."
Zuko fell silent, knowing the truth of that. He had often walked past the witches and wizards after their transformation when he was young, staring in awe at their ferocity and their viciousness. Now he seemed to know that they were suffering inside.
"What was with the tea bag?" Hoshi asked, showing he was not fazed by the prince's last comment.
"My uncle has an obsession with the stuff," Zuko said with a grimace.
Hoshi let out a booming laugh.
"What the hell!" Ookami suddenly appeared, his head poking out from the hatch. "You'll scare the fish you moron!" Ears twitching, he disappeared again.
Chuckling, the demon glanced at the prince. "It takes all kinds," he said with a grin.
Zuko sighed softly and gazed up at the afternoon sun again. It had been at least four hours since he had woken up on this patchwork ship. He was no closer to being to what he considered home than he was to understanding the witch. She could've left him in the water to die since his family had been the ones to condemn her kind to suffering.
Woah. Where had that come from?
This heat was making him a little crazy as well. There was no way he was feeling sorry for someone who could throw him into the air without touching him.
Once again, the wolf demon appeared, giving a gruff call of "Dinner!"
"Finally!" the demon whispered, kicking the wheel. It locked itself and held the boat steady as he started to make his way to the hatch. "Come on! I'm sure Ookami's got something for you," he yelled over his shoulder at Zuko.
Like a lost puppy, the prince followed him down into the maze, down a flight of stairs, across a hallway, and down another. This part was easy to remember. It was just the large size of it that confused him. It had to be magic.
Hoshi led him to the mess area and he was greeted by the rat demon as he gnawed on some sort of fish. Ookami was seated next to him on the couch, ripping meat from the skeleton of a larger fish.
Three plates rested on the table in the middle of the room and Hoshi grabbed two, handing one to Zuko. He invited him to pick a chair out of the mess of them. There had to be about ten different chairs in the room. Zuko settled awkwardly in an overstuffed as Hoshi flopped on one across from him.
The plate had quite a bit of food on it. A large, smoked fish rested on some sort of leafy vegetable and a small roll was off to the side. Sliced, colorful fruit with a strange glaze sat on the side and a bowl of rice completed the meal.
He was about to try the fruit when a yell reached them and Sorano ran in, flying over a chair as a plate of food flew through the air after her. Hoshi ducked calmly as she landed on the arm of his chair, perched like a bird. The plate fell in her lap and she began to wolf it down.
"I see you haven't jumped off the side of the boat yet," she commented between a bite, grinning. Her eye was back to its grey color. "That's a first. Most people think I'm going to cut out their hearts and jump overboard." She laughed, grabbing a cup of water from the table. "Oh, it's hilarious to watch them."
"Maybe for you," Ookami grumbled. "I have to fish them out," he said to Zuko more than to the sorceress.
"You though," she said, pointing her chopsticks at him. "You were a wonder." She swallowed another bite fish. "It was amazing putting you back together."
"Amazin' for you," the rat demon squeaked, looking slightly faint. "Not for me though! I was about ready to puke!"
"Oh, hush," she scolded.
"I could not have been that bad," Zuko remarked, trying to tell himself the same thing.
"Really?" she asked, one eyebrow rising. Her plate went to the table. "Mister Hoshi, Mister Ookami. Please join me in piecing together what this young man looked like when I dragged him onboard. We'll start at the head."
She jumped suddenly, landing on the arm of his chair. A finger poked the side of his head. "I think it was here where your skull was fractured. It was a nice, clean cut too." She traced a part of his head from the middle of his forehead to almost his topknot. "Had a piece missing here," she mumbled, drawing a small, abnormal shape around where she had drawn the fracture. "I could see your brain poking it. If you hadn't been alive, I would've taken it to experiment with."
Zuko felt slightly unnerved at this.
"Ookami, tell him what was wrong with his face," she said.
"What face?" he asked in his grumble.
"Exactly!" she chirped.
"Had a good cut on the neck. Luckily it missed the vein," Hoshi said from his spot.
"Good dislocation on the shoulder though. Might have a bit of trouble with that. Oh! Had an excellent tear right here where your shoulder blade pierced through."
"Punctured lung from broken ribs. Had a couple poking through the skin."
Sorano was going on to tell him of what had happened with the rest of his torso when he held up a hand to stop her. "I think I get it," he managed to say.
"Thank gods!" Nezu squeaked, rubbing his stomach. "Anymore and I woulda puked!"
Dinner quieted down after that as Sorano had to leave to complete a few more potions. Ookami grumbled something about sleeping and disappeared through the door. Nezu gave a yawn and scrambled off, his small body weaving through the chairs.
Hoshi gave the prince a smile and stood. "Just dump the dishes on the table," he said. "Whatever Sorano did to the table makes it clean them."
Shrugging, the Firebender dropped the plate down and followed after the demon. He walked back up on deck and stared at the darkening sky.
The two just sat in silence as Hoshi steered the ship north still. The small finding spell was still pointing northeast but Zuko didn't know how long that would last.
The stars appeared and Zuko sighed at the peacefulness of the area. It was almost relaxing here.
Sorano appeared from the hatch. "Call it a night, Hoshi. I've put a spell that will wake us up when we get close to port."
"What about Zuko?" he asked, watching her blink and then snap alert.
"Oh, yeah," she said with a lopsided grin. "Um…there's the empty room!"
Yawning and nodding, the demon kicked the wheel again and followed after the sorceress with Zuko in tow.
After traveling down two more flights of stairs from the mess hallway, they arrived at a strange hallway. The first door they passed had 'Nezu' scribbled on it and was smaller than the other doorways. The next had a large window in the front but the glass was wavy, distorting the image. That one had to be the wolf demon's.
The hallway was shaped funny. The ceiling was wider than the floor. When Zuko turned to examine the side, he found the wall to be slanted and see through. He looked down and held in a gasp.
Below his feet was a very lush area filled with shrubs, bushes, and flowers. Several he could identify from the Fire Nation and a couple from the Earth Kingdom. He turned to look up at Hoshi as the demon cast him a grin.
"The arboretum," he said quietly
The next door was blank and Sorano opened it. It was empty besides a large window facing out to sea. She pulled out her chalk and drew a star on the floor and then two circles out to the side. The sorceress placed a foot in each circle and held her arms out to the side, drawing in a deep breath. With a cry that was masked by the rumble of thunder, the room grew and a bed appeared along with a chair, a desk, and a nightstand.
Zuko stared at the new room even as a rug rolled out on the barren floor. It was about as large as his quarters on the ship and he smirked slightly.
"There," she panted, and he turned. She had large shadows under her eyes and she grinned. "Any problems you have, Hoshi's next door and I'm at the end of the hall."
"Good night," Hoshi said and the two left the prince to the room.
He gazed around the room as he noticed a basin of water on the desk. Sighing, he sat on the bed and lied back. This he could get used to.