AN: Hey guys...I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry I've taken so long to update sry sry sry sry sry sry sry sry times infinity! I promise I wont take that long to update again...or try not to at least...but I really did struggle w/ this chapter...but while I was away I took the time to outline all of my future chapters for this story and I figured that there will be at least 21 chapters total! so now that I know what I'm doing...I'll get to work right away with ch.8 but then again...school starts back the 1st oh well I'll update every week when it does...or try to...lol! well here ya go! ch 7! R&R ENJOY!
The Doom of Innocence
Ch. 7 The Shadow Phoenix
The dusky evening sky was soon illuminated by the fiercely shimmering stars as the sun was gradually replaced by the pale moon. Slivers of silver light shone down upon a quiet little lake. Small puffs of smoke filtered through the night air as the little trio of travelers rested from a long and weary day of traveling.
Among this trio were two Water Tribe children and one Air Nomad. The oldest of the three was a young Water Tribe boy of about fifteen who seemed to be talking mindlessly of food to the fourteen year-old Water Tribe girl who seemed to be cooking while trying to shut the older one up at the same time. The young Airbender however, sat far away from his friends and seemed deeply troubled.
The young girl, tuning out her chatter-box brother, looked up from her cooking at her friend with sincere concern; he'd been acting that way for several days now, and she was beginning to wonder what had happened to her once overly hyper friend.
Ignoring the protests from her brother, she left what she was doing and slowly approached the young Airbender who was mindlessly gazing up at the starry glade above him.
He took no notice of her presence as she seated herself by the motionless figure lying on the soft earth.
"Aang, are…are you feeling alright?" she asked staring down at her friend.
"Yes, why do you ask?" his grey eyes never wavering from the dancing lights above.
"Well, you've been acting so solemn for the longest time…if fact it seems you've been this way since our last encounter with Zuko."
"I have? Well I guess I've had a lot on my mind."
"Like what?" she asked smiling sweetly, his eyes narrowed.
"Katara, during our last encounter with Zuko, did you remember seeing a girl on his ship?"
"A girl? No not at all, you must've been seeing things." Katara said thinking back to that particular day.
"No, I remember, I did see her, she looked to be Fire Nation, but…" he trailed off.
"But what? What happened?" She asked anxiously.
"I can't explain it, I looked down and saw her then she looked up at me and we made eye contact but then something happened when we did…" he looked to Katara.
"Well…what happened." Her great blue eyes widened with suspense.
"Well, when she looked at me, it was as if her soul reached out and touched mine, and...it was like I could feel and read her thoughts." His eyes filled with worry.
"And what did you feel?" she urged him on.
"I felt her pain and distress; I felt her longing and desire. It was as if she was crying out for me to free her, and that she wanted to travel with us and help us...but then there was this thing, like a barrier, it was the only thing that seemed to stand in her way of obtaining that freedom." His eyes were now clouded with concern and confusion.
"Did you find out what that barrier was?" Katara asked eagerly.
"No, but whatever it was pushed me away and broke the connection. She didn't seem to realize what was happening though." He sat up and looked to the glowing moon.
"What do you plan to do?" she asked putting a hand on her young friends shoulder, trying to ease his worrisome mind.
"I don't know, but if what I felt was correct, then I'm the only one that can help her." He looked down sadly.
"Don't worry Aang, we'll find a way to save her." She smiled down at her friend.
He looked up to her, doubt still lingering in his eyes, then back to the sky. Katara lifted her head up to the dark sky as well, and together they sat on the soft grass, gazing up into the meadow of dancing stars, shimmering under the silhouette of the pale moon.
The shadows of the cool night followed by the showers of stars and silvery light of the moon were slowly replaced with dusky clouds and a rising blood red sun. The churning and rumbling of ship engines was the only audible sound on the calm unmoving sea. Exhaust from the ship's engines burning coal and the salt in the thick air intermingled to form a most unpleasant smell.
Meisha leaned against the dark railings of the warship and watched as the darkness slowly began to disappear and be replaced by the glimmering light from the rising sun.
The sky was a pinkish red and the sun looked to be a bloody mess. Meisha hoped it would rain and perhaps bring something new and fresh aboard the lifeless ship. Perhaps some rain would rejuvenate the crew and bring excitement and life aboard the dull ship, as a revitalizing rain did for a dry and barren desert.
The truth of the matter was that Meisha was bored with life on this bleak ship, everyday this big black bulk seemed to grow drearier and drearier and every time she thought of being there on that big black piece of junk, she grew more and more depressed.
She longed to be home; she longed for the foods, smells and culture of her nation. Most of all she longed for her freedom to travel around freely throughout the Fire Nation. Although she mainly stayed and traveled in the shadows of her people as an outcast, anything was better than being confined on such a small ship. With people like a tea loving general and a moody banished prince to keep her company, she would surely go insane and probably want to jump overboard.
Meisha had long since recovered from her injuries and she resumed her training every morning before even Zuko would get up. She couldn't understand how Zuko could live like this for two whole years.
The only form of 'entertainment' for the crew was their music night, which seemed to one of Iroh's greatest joys, other than drinking tea, but to Meisha, it was one of the most obnoxious things she had ever had to sit through in her entire life. She understood why Zuko hated it so much, and she made sure to conceal herself well when she knew it was music night.
Unfortunately, tonight was music night and the crew would most likely be in a jovial mood, but fortunately for both her and Zuko, and by the looks of the sky, she knew there would be a thunderous storm, which would cause music night to be held off for another few days of so, unless Iroh decided to have music night inside which would irritate her and Zuko both to no ends.
She hadn't spoken with Zuko in at least a week, not since their last encounter when he had asked her why she fought so valiantly for the Fire Nation, of course she hadn't told him the complete and honest truth, but then again, even she didn't know the real truth behind her own answer.
The warm glowering sun was now its proper color and was quickly ascending into the white fluff of the clouds.
Meisha watched as soldiers poured out on deck, bustling about, fulfilling their daily duties. She heard frustrated shouts coming from behind her and turned to see Zuko and his uncle arguing about a Firebending move, which Zuko couldn't seem to master. She smirked as she saw Zuko repeat the move only to be corrected again by his uncle.
She understood his frustration, and she could tell he was not really upset with his uncle as he tried to make it seem, no, his reasons for such frustration all pointed to one thing; the Avatar. It had been several weeks, and there had been no sign of the Avatar or his flying bison anywhere in the clear skies.
"Miss Meisha," Iroh called startling Meisha from her thoughts, "Will you please come here a moment."
"Yes, Iroh, did you need something?" she asked amused at the annoyed expression on Zuko's face.
"Yes, if you don't mind. Can you please tell me what the key to Firebending is?" Iroh asked smiling warmly.
"Yeah sure, the key to Firebending is in the breath, that's basics." She stated calmly knowing Zuko was ready to kill her.
"Thank you Miss Meisha, now, if only my nephew here could get that through his thick head, then maybe he could master the basics." Iroh shook his head and Meisha, for a moment, lost her senses and started laughing uncontrollably.
Zuko looked down and then looked back to his uncle; his face now flushed with anger and embarrassment, and then burst out into a stream of arguments and complaints.
"Miss Meisha, will you please show Zuko the correct way to perform this move?" Iroh asked and told her which move and watched as she preformed it with skill and grace.
"Excellent Miss Meisha, you truly are a Firebending Master." Iroh complemented after watching her perform that particular move as well as several difficult moves that required precise breathing patterns for Zuko.
Meisha smiled as she watched Iroh coach Zuko through different moves. She walked back to the cold metal railing she had been standing at before and thought back to her own training under her father then Jie and then later on…with the Fire Lord. A single tear trickled down her cheek as she thought of the laughs and good times and the burns and the burn ointments, she had been a very clumsy bender in her beginning lessons, of course that was when she trained under her first two masters, when she perfected her skills under the Fire Lord, instead of just being corrected, she would get burned for doing a move even slightly imperfect or if her performance was unacceptable in the Fire Lord's eyes. She pushed back those thoughts, wiped her eye, and gazed up at the graying sky; the storm was about to begin.
Meisha sat in the dining room with Zuko and Iroh and watched as the ocean churned around the tiny black warship.
All were silent as the down pour of rain beat down heavily upon the metal exterior of the ship. The only sound to be heard was the continuous pitter patter of the rain drops echoing through the ship's corridors.
"So…Miss Meisha, you've been with us for quiet some time now. How long would you say it's been nephew?" Iroh smiled warmly at the young teens.
Zuko made no reply, merely glance over to his uncle and then Meisha.
"Yes, it has been a while now." Meisha said looking out the window, hoping he wasn't trying to hint that he wanted her gone.
"Yes, and we know hardly anything about you or what you do." He smiled; her departure was the last thing on his mind. "So tell us Miss Meisha, what is it exactly that you do for my brother, the Fire Lord?" Zuko's head shot up at this, and he glanced up curiously at Meisha.
Meisha inhaled sharply and turned slowly to Iroh.
"W-who said that I was in the s-service of the Fire Lord?" she asked hesitantly, berating herself for stuttering.
"Aren't we all though?" Iroh said smiling slyly.
"True, very, very true," she smiled.
"Well?" Zuko demanded impatiently, Meisha ignored this.
"Well, I do many things, it all really depends on what Fire Lord Ozai wishes me to do, he but only has to ask." she said, hoping they would be satisfied with that.
"What kind of things have you done?" Iroh asked warmly, cautious not to drive Meisha away. Meisha groaned inwardly, she had no wish of sharing her business with them, especially Zuko.
"Hmmm…well for one thing, I'm his personal advisor at times I'm an officer, then his personal spy, an outlet for his anger, and a…destroyer…of traitors and rebels…" She trailed off and looked away and for a slight moment, Zuko though he saw a tear making its way down her smooth cheek. Iroh apparently noticed it as well for he quickly changed the subject.
"Meisha, since you've been in the Fire Nation more recently than either of us, tell me, have you ever heard of the Shadow Phoenix?" Meisha's eyes widened and she turned quickly to Iroh.
"Yes, but not many average citizens in the Fire Nation know of him, and those who do never speak of him." She replied.
"Well you apparently know of him." Zuko said condescendingly, as if she were a person of no importance.
"Well of course I do, I am the Fire Lord's personal and most trusted advisor, so it's my job to know! In fact…nearly everyone he truly trusts knows of the Shadow Phoenix," she replied coldly.
"Well the Earth Kingdom does know of his existence." Iroh said trying to intervene before an argument ensued.
"We've seen many wanted posters all throughout the different Earth Kingdom ports we've stopped at." Zuko said uninterestedly.
"Yes, that does not surprise me at all, the Shadow Phoenix is a very skilled assassin, and from what I've heard from the Fire Lord, has eliminated many Earth Kingdom as well as some Northern Water Tribe leaders, even Fire Nation men who displeased the Fire Lord, although that one is just a rumor." She smiled at Iroh, ignoring Zuko.
"Have you ever met this mysterious 'assassin'?" Zuko asked, incredulous to the fact that a mere assassin could cause such an epidemic throughout the Earth Kingdom.
"No, not on a name to name bases, but I have however, had an accidental encounter with him not too long ago, but we never spoke, we merely acknowledged each others presence, and then, he was gone." She said flatly.
As the storm raged on and threw the small warship around, the three Firebenders continued to converse with each other in this manner late into the night, learning a little bit more about one another and coming one step closer to what seemed to be an impossible friendship.
Somewhere not too far off in the distance, another small ship was being brutally beat down by the ferocious and restless waves.
Several soldiers were scurrying about in a panicked frenzy as the waves beat mercilessly down upon them; however, they knew the admiral would be even more unforgiving if they didn't finish examining and repairing a large hole that had been blown out on the front deck.
Water was filling in fast from the fierce waves that had already knocked one man overboard to his doom and which nearly threw two more over during these repairs.
A young man in his early thirties shakily approached Admiral Zhao, who was safely secure in his own quarters.
"A-Admiral Zhao, sir, the men have stopped the repairs." He informed Zhao nervously.
"And who, Lieutenant, gave those men the order to stop." Zhao said coldly, not looking up from the scroll he was reading.
"I…I did sir, the men are tired and it's raining something t-terrible out there sir, I only did what I thought was best for their own –" he said hastily.
"WHO, Lieutenant, gives the orders on this ship – MY ship?" Zhao nearly yelled, cutting the man off.
"Y-you sir," the man said, severely wishing he would have kept his mouth shut.
"Yes, Lieutenant, I am the one who gives the orders, not you, and the next time I hear about you giving orders without my permission first, then…humph…well lets just say you won't be in such a position to make the same mistake twice, is that clear, Lieutenant?" Zhao said condescendingly, allowing his threat to slowly sink in.
"Yes sir," the man replied remorsefully, anxious for Zhao to dismiss him.
"Tell the crew to continue the repairs, I don't care how rough this storm gets, they will finish repairing this ship, and tell them that if Prince Zuko does manage to escape, then I will throw every last one of you OVERBOARD, those are your orders Lieutenant, you are dismissed." Zhao said picking the scroll back up and continuing to read.
"Yes sir," the man replied, and walked away, relieved to be able to walk away unscathed by Zhao's wrath.
Yes...I won't allow you to get by that easily…little Meisha…hmm…yes, I'll make you an offer that no one, not even you can refuse. Zhao thought as the restless ocean waves continuously tossed the small ship to and fro.
AN: Alright there ya go...hope ya liked it! sry if its bad...I know I know...I've been gone soooooo long and it should be soooooo much better but...well...lol I only wrote this in like two days! so it probably aint that good...I'm going to try to get Aang and them in the story...but this chapter doesnt really have a purpose...except to introduce the Shadow Phoneix...more will be revealed later, tell you a little of what Meisha does for the Fire Lord, and to tell you guys what Aang was feeling...well I guess this chapter is pretty important...lol w/e...like I said...sry it took sooo long...and I'm goin to do better! well...SEE YA...REVIEW!