It seems that we wander the ocean aimlessly, waiting for news from surrounding ships and ports of sightings of the Avatar. Zuko is more insistent on me showing him how to fight after we stop at a prison rig. Iroh is not resistant to this belief, though he watches me move more than how I fight. I think back to his conversation about how everything is linked, and that philosophical one stands close to my own former beliefs.
Zuko doesn't tell me what he's found from the prison rig, but he likely hides it in his own rooms. At one point, I wanted to search them, to see them, to see what this Prince does with his free time. But, after the prison rig, I am invited to his room for dinner with Iroh. Anxiety bubbles in my stomach.
My eyes can't help but roam the room. There is a dragon head and some dual swords against a wall, candles pulsing up and down, as if they match Zuko. His bed is neatly made. My staff is set against the wall, leaning perfectly. Once I step into the room, I take a step toward it, but Zuko grabs me by the collar again and moves my gaze back to the dinner table, forcing me to sit. Iroh has yet to arrive. Guards had escorted me here, though I vaguely knew of the location before.
Zuko stands over me, and the anxiety bubbles further. "You have to teach me."
"Teach you what? How to be nicer about asking people to sit? Or how to steal things that don't belong to you?"
He glances quickly back at the staff, but side steps so I stop staring at it. The room is hot, and the few candles move with Zuko's words. I bunch my hands underneath the table, rubbing the extra length of my belt made out of my old clothes.
"I found something of the Avatar's traveling partners. We're on the right track. I just need to be prepared to fight him. The last time we fought -"
"You came back soaking wet," I say. He glares at me. "You went swimming in some bay. Probably had a blast. Maybe played some wa-"
"Stop talking!" I flinch back, as if hit. The temperature of the room grows. I swallow, biting back my remarks. I wonder when Iroh will join us.
"You have no idea what relies on me capturing the Avatar before Zhao. You have no idea what your very existence means if Zhao tells my father about you. You have no idea of what danger we keep you from by keeping you on this ship."
I want to laugh, but something in Zuko's eyes tells me to bite it back. Maybe there is more being hidden from me than Iroh tells me. Granted, every single Air Nomad was killed, and with details too gruesome for him to repeat. I yearn for a library aboard the ship, but Zuko would likely keep that information from me, too.
Ignorance is bliss.
"You don't really believe in defense, Zuko," I say, ignoring his comment on my silence. "It's not just you as a whole. Zhao didn't either. Firebending is aggressive. Focusing on offense. Airbending is the literal opposite. We didn't really do offense, and, if we did, we would use an opponent's moves against them. If you were wanting to learn, you would have to be a less aggressive person, which, if you ask me - which you did - would be incredibly difficult for you at this time. You're the most aggressive person I know, and I only know like, five people that are alive. All that live on this ship."
I look up at him, and he is glaring, but he is silent. I take this as a move for me to continue on. "Air Nomads are amazing at not caring about things. Oh, I broke my staff, no problem. I can make a new one. Oh no, there is economic distress in Ba Sing Se. No problem, economies are for people that care about materials. Oh no, this forest is burnt down. No problem, it will regrow. Oh no, you say there are dangers you're keeping me from, but you're also telling me nobody knows about me except a few people. No problem, I can still run away and live in relative peace because of my anonymity."
I stand up, gesturing around the room, as if speaking to Zuko of a lot of things. "Whatever capturing Aang can do for you, you're putting a lot of pressure on it. You have no peace, no spiritual connection toward anything, and that's me calling the kettle black. Finding the way of least resistance is the exact opposite of your personality type. If you wanted me to properly teach you techniques, there would be a lot of good starting places, but none of them are easy.
"When I could airbend, and when I do my routines outside, I am calm. It is a place of mind I enter, it makes me feel like I could, if I co-"
"I am calm!" he shouts, and the candles flare. I step back, foot catching on the pillow on the floor, slipping back and knocking my head on the metal floor. At that exact moment, the door opens and Iroh steps in.
Seeing me on the floor, he rushes up. "Zia, what happened?" Part of him is glaring at Zuko, the other part is worried. He helps me sit up, and the room spins. Stars dance in the corners of my vision.
"It's okay. I slipped." Zuko has taken a step forward, and he too looks concerned. I swallow my anger at him, knowing his outburst did not cause my slip. "I'm fine." I don't know if anything I said to him made it through, but the two of us are one coin. One of us on each side, spinning and spinning until one of us eventually lands face up, victorious.
"Come, Zia. We're going into town while the crew resupplies. There's a nice hot spring I found! I know the cold bucket baths probably aren't what you're used to, but the last time I was here, it was so soothing," Iroh says, ushering me out of my room. "If there's anything you want specifically, you should let Prince Zuko know."
"I doubt he would pick it up for me."
"You never know. My nephew can be quite surprising at times. You haven't seen the best of him, but these past few years have been hard on him." He paused, walking off the gangplank. The town was bustling, a variety of different Fire Nation colonists moving about, carrying bags and boxes, chatting. The smell was amazing, and I lingered near some of the food stalls. I loved spicy foods, and so did those from the Fire Nation. The spices followed me through a thicket of bamboo.
"He sure seems like life has been hard for him," I said, walking into a clearing with a fresh water spring trickling down into pools. "Oh, this is pretty."
"Zia," Iroh said, pausing. He turned and looked at me, sincerely. "He means you no true ill intentions. His father has pushed him into a corner, so to speak. Because of that, he is the way he is. We have to be patient with him, or he will truly be lost."
"I'm not here to help him."
"Then, why are you still here?" Iroh gestured around the clearing, at the lack of guards, the lack of Zuko.
"You're letting me go?" I ask, surprised.
"Zuko thinks you will teach him the techniques of airbending. He has placed a glimmer of hope in you. With you teaching him, he will be one step closer to capturing the Avatar. I do not want to work around my nephew. I care for him greatly. However, you are stubborn."
"Can I take a bath first?"
Iroh nods, and he turns away for a moment, letting me undress and enter one of the top pools. Iroh follows suit, but he sits down toward the bottom. He acts like I am not present. Sinking down into the hot water, I think about my predicament. Iroh is letting me go. I smile, a new sense of freedom around me.
We sit for quite a long time, and I eventually drift off into a nap. Zuko's voice wakes me up. "Uncle! Zia! It's time to leave! Uncle Iroh!" He bursts through the bamboo thicket, and I jerk awake, water splashing.
"Over here!"
"Uncle? We need to move. We're closing in on the Avatar's trail and I don't want to lose him," Zuko says, coming closer to the pools. He glares up at me, and I sink deeper into the water.
"You look tired, Prince Zuko. Why don't you join us in these hot springs and soak away your troubles? Look at the effect that it's had on Zia!"
"My troubles cannot be soaked away. It's time to go!"
"I thought you were calm, Zuko. That's what you said earlier," I cut in. "Airbending is all about being free, being calm, but, also, understanding the better things in life. Like relaxing in a hot spring. We used to have these at the Western Air Temple, though I don't remember them being heated."
"You should take your potential teacher's advice and relax a little." Iroh breathes in and out deeply, heating his own pool. Steam climbs into the air. Zuko does not like it, and tries to swat it away.
"Enough! We need to leave now! Get out of the water! Both of you!"
Iroh sighs, standing. "Very well." I can see the white moon of Iroh's butt, and I giggle a little bit.
Zuko glares at me, saying, "On second thought, Uncle, why don't you take another few minutes, but be back at the ship in half a hour or we're leaving without you. Zia, get out right now. You're still a prisoner."
Iroh leans back into his pool, glancing up at me, aware that an opportunity has been missed. It will not be the last opportunity that I will have, and Iroh's new involvement allows me to plan further ahead, to be aware of what lies ahead for me. I stand, and Zuko blushes and glances away. I smile, imagining Zuko has never really seen someone completely naked before.
Zuko hands me a towel near where my clothes hang against a tree branch. "Hurry up," he mutters.
"You're blushing."
"Shut up."
"Your uncle was right," I say, getting dressed. "I mean, I mentioned it the other day. You let your troubles boil over. You're so tense all the time. Why don't you find something that relaxes you?"
Instead of being embarrassed at my half nudity, Zuko turns and glares at me. "I don't have time to relax."
"I disagree. I've been with you for almost a month and know your routine as well as Iroh's. You have plenty of time for relaxation. You just don't prioritize it."
"I don't need a priority lecture from some prisoner. Come on! Uncle, half a hour! Or you're being left behind!"