Yaay she updates! Diclaimer: Eh, it's the ame as last time... is it seriously necessary to say it every time? Review! Pleeeease! puppy dog eyes
The next day, as soon as Zuko and I had finished eating breakfast, he asked me to get my Katana and meet him on deck. I was almost giddy with excitement and I could have skipped up to meet him if I weren't such a mellow person.
"The first thing is to learn the stance. Stand like this." He took the stance, holding a long, curved blade. I mimicked his stance as best I could. "Almost. Here…" He walked over to me and positioned my arm higher, scooted my legs over a bit, and had me turn my chest at an angle.
Zuko stood back to examine my stance. "Perfect." I grinned.
I tried on my own a few times, until I could step back into the stance perfectly. After that, he taught me some basic swings with the sword.
"No! You're holding the sword wrong. Like this." He moved my fingers, and hand on the grip, and it suddenly felt much easier to hold.
"Ah I see. That feels more natural. Sorry, but I've never held a sword correctly either."
"It's alright, I was just as inexperienced once." I laughed.
"I seriously doubt it; Mr. raised in a country where people use swords all the time." He looked at me oddly, but smiled thinly. It seemed he never actually smiled outright; either he smiled faintly, evilly, or smugly. And I still hadn't heard him laugh yet.
The rest of the day passed quickly. Zuko taught me more of the basic stances and attacks, we even managed to miss lunch. Of course, I wasn't hungry at all and didn't even notice the time had passed until, after a little sparring match where Zuko quickly disarmed me, Iroh came up on deck to ask if we'd be joining them for dinner.
"It's dinner already?" I was breathing heavily, and leaned on my Katana.
Iroh smiled at us. "Of course. The sun is setting, which is usually when dinner is served, and you both missed lunch." I looked surprised. Zuko just stood there; he didn't seem surprised, but I was pretty sure he had lost track of time too.
"Alright, well… I guess I'll go down and have dinner." I grimaced. "I probably stink though." Zuko grinned. I saw this and looked nervous. "Do I?"
Zuko's smile widened. "No, you don't." I peered suspiciously at him. "On my honor."
"Okay… I believe you." For some reason, Zuko looked pretty pleased to hear that.
We didn't practice any more that day, I was way too worn out. After I ate, I took a bath in my room and washed my hair. It felt sooo good, let me tell you.
The next morning, I could see a thin grey line on the horizon. Iroh told me it was the Earth Kingdom, and we'd be landing somewhere around the capital called Ba Sing Se. Odd name, but then again, I'm in a different world.
I changed into some of my new clothes, deciding that since we'd be in the Earth Kingdom, I should probably wear brown and green like the people in the last town I visited. I was about to go wait on deck for everyone else to finish docking preparations, when it occurred to me I might want to bring my Katana.
Quickly, I went down the hall to Zuko's room. After that last incident I think I'd always remember where it was. I knocked softly.
"Yes?"
"Um, quick question. Should I bring my sword?"
Zuko opened the door and I noticed he was in the process of putting on his armor. He looked like he meant business.
"Ah… I guess I should then." He nodded in agreement.
"You never know what could happen. I would suggest you do that." I grinned excitedly.
"Alright! Um…" I stopped before I ran back down the hall. "How do I put it on?"
"Ah. Let me help you once I get this on. Wait here." He went back in his room, leaving the door open, so I took the liberty of stepping into his room a little ways to have a peek.
Nice. Cool… statue thing… SWORDS! I admired the swords hung on the wall; it was the same sword Zuko had used while he trained me. Just then Zuko finished with his armor, and he noticed where my gaze was.
"Those are Long Dao Broadswords. Antiques."
"They're awesome."
He nodded slightly, and I noticed he looked preoccupied with something. Then he came to and walked to his dresser and began fishing around in one of the drawers.
I watched over his shoulder as he shoved red tunics and pants aside, looking for something. Suddenly, I caught sight of some black clothing and what looked like a blue mask. But Zuko quickly covered it up. I looked away and pretended not to have seen just as he turned to check if I'd noticed the mask.
Hmm… someone has a secret. A grotesque secret… what a freaky mask. Suspiiiiiiciooooousssss.(Blue: Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends!)
"Here we are." I turned and saw him pull a thin black rope out of the drawer.
"Got enough junk in there? You should try organizing, might make it easier to find stuff." I grinned. He just glared at me.
Zuko led me to my room, and grabbed my Katana off my own dresser.
"Watch carefully so you can do this on your own sometime." I nodded, and watched as he wound the rope about the top of the sheath, tied it, then held it against my left hip. When he loosened my belt slightly, I nervously grabbed the top of the tunic so it couldn't be opened. I tried to keep the panic out of my eyes but it must have shown when Zuko glanced up at me.
"It's ok. I just need to loosen it a bit so I can slide the rope through it." He looked at me for permission, and I acknowledged him faintly.
What's wrong with me? He's just helping put my sword on. Ugh, I'm so messed up now…
Zuko turned back to the sword and slid the rope over the top of my belt and out the bottom, tying it to the sheath. When he was finished, he stepped back, bowed slightly, then left my room.
It took a minute for me to regain control of my stiff body. It disturbed me to find that I was so scared of a man touching me now, even if it wasn't in that way at all.
I need to get over it. It's going to happen to me someday, and I don't want to be scared of my boyfriend or husband all the rest of my life when he touches me.
I sighed. Better to get this whole thing over with. Maybe I'd manage to avoid Hue; I didn't think I'd be able to face him after all that had happened.
When I got on deck, I was just in time to see three soldiers and a bound Hue leaving the ship and walking onto the dock of a small Earth Kingdom port. I walked over to Iroh and watched as the soldiers led Hue some ways away from the ship, untied his hands, and shoved him further down the docks.
He walked slowly, and turned his head back to look at the ship one last time. When he caught sight of my face, I could almost feel the hatred in his gaze. I nervously clenched the railing and gazed back, just as firmly I hoped. Then Hue was lost in the bustle of townspeople in the market and I was so thankful to not see him anymore. I let out a relieved sigh.
After the soldiers got back on deck the ship left the port and continued to sail north. I looked at Iroh, confused.
He saw my look, and winked at me. "Don't want any Earth Kingdom warriors to know we're here. We'll just drop anchor a few miles north and walk back to the town to get what we need. Our ship at the harbor would draw too much attention."
Only an hour later, I finally set foot on land after almost two weeks at sea. For a few moments, I walked unsteadily until I regained my land legs. A few of the soldiers were enjoying watching me stumble around so I decided to stop walking. Stupids…
When the rest of the party had come ashore, Zuko set about ordering those not going with us to the town to set up a camp on the shore. I couldn't help but feel excited as we trekked off through the trees, made the required stops at the village.
I had my tunic, pants, boots, a bag with some of my things, and my Katana; I officially blended in. Ok scratch that, my hair really stood out and drew stares from everywhere we went in the small village.
We walked past a few stands that really drew my attention, but I didn't have any money and well… I didn't want to use Iroh or Zuko's money. I couldn't think of a way to raise money either. I couldn't gamble, I couldn't entertain, and I couldn't stick around long enough to get a job.
After a few hours, our party stopped for lunch and we sat in a clearing along the back of some houses while we ate. Iroh noticed my bag for the first time and looked curious.
"Say, what's in your bag?" he took a large drink of tea he had just purchased.
I cleared my mouth of food. "Oh, um… I just decided to put my sketchbook with my drawings in there. In case I had time to draw or something."
"Really? You are an artist?" I laughed uneasily.
"No, not really. I just draw for fun."
"May I have a look? If you don't mind that is."
I knew he was going to ask. A part of me was extremely self-conscious and wanted to hide the book away forever, but the other part of me was proud at how well I drew and wanted to show off. Apparently, the latter part won over. Or it could have been that I would have felt really rude to not have let him, considering how much he'd done to help me.
I handed the sketchbook over and waited for the usual exclamations to start. It didn't take long, and soon everyone else was crowding over his shoulders to have a look. Except Zuko, of course. I just sat there blushing furiously, looking for something to draw my attention away from the 'ooh's' and 'aah's' that were coming from the soldiers and Iroh.
Finally, Iroh handed my book back to me and started the whole 'you're an amazing artist, you could make some good money with those, I've never seen such a realistic style…'
Waaait a second. I can make money! My face lit up.
"Iroh, thank you so much! You gave me a great idea. I'm going to sell these drawings to make some money. I've been wanting to get something with my own money."
"Sell your drawings? They're so good though!"
"That's the point, I need money. And these are just… little doodles! Although, I do need your advice; I don't know how much I should charge."
