Rei examined herself in the mirror. She could barely recognize herself, all dressed in fire nation colours. Though the clothing was foreign to her, it actually looked incredibly good on her. The dark red and black patterns worked well with her dark brown hair and ivory skin, not to mention it hugged her curves just the right way. It felt a bit awkward wearing an enemy nation's colors, but she didn't have much choice with her regular clothes all dirty. She hesitated going straight to the meeting with Zuko and Iroh after getting dressed since she had to do a lot of explaining that she wasn't looking forward to. She wanted to hide the fact that she's an airbender, and wanted to do everything in her power to keep it hidden for as long as possible. She already had Zhao breathing down her neck and did NOT want anything like that happening again any time soon. Even though she was a good distance away from the cruel commander, she felt that she hadn't seen the last of Zhao. But what would she tell Zuko, who was waiting in the next room? "Oh hey! Zhao burned down my village and took me, a random girl, for no apparent reason"?

Ugh…

Rei knew she couldn't stall for much longer. She took one last look at herself in the mirror. She thought that she would be nervous going to see Zuko and Iroh, but even though her head still buzzed with possible explanations to tell them, she was surprisingly calm. She had just decided that she wasn't going to take any crap, and that's precisely what she'll do. She was driven to stand her ground, to look at Zuko dead in the eyes and not give in. She gave herself a look of determination and marched towards the door.

Two fire nation guards awaited Rei, blocking any path down the hallway except the path towards the door in front of her. The two guards gave her a side-eyed look as she stepped forward, keeping her head high. One of the guards pulled the door open, letting Rei pass by. She saw Iroh and Zuko sitting at the table on the floor. Iroh gave Rei a welcoming smile as he was pouring tea into their cups. Zuko sat with his arms crossed against his chest, his face still scrunched up in a scowl. He glared up at Rei and she could swear that she saw flames blazing in his eyes. Rei had a quick moment of hesitation, but boldly stared right back into the angsty teen's eyes as she sat down at the table. Iroh passed a cup of tea in Rei's direction, who accepted it gratefully. The tea smelled delicious, with hints of sweet berries and spices, like a berry cider. As she drank it, she could feel the heat from the tea warming her insides. She let out a sigh, and turned to Iroh.

"Thank you for the tea." Rei thanked. "I didn't expect any kind of hospitality."

"And you shouldn't." Zuko growled.

"Now Zuko, it is no trouble." Iroh replied, giving Zuko a side-eyed glance. "A nice, hot beverage and quiet setting is essential for calm discussion."

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence between the three persons. Zuko continued to glare in Rei's direction as Rei's eyes darted from Zuko to Iroh. Iroh cleared his throat to clear the air.

"So, a formal introduction is in order. I am Iroh, as I have told you earlier," he gestured in Zuko's direction. "…and this is my nephew, Prince Zuko of the fire nation."

Rei looked at Zuko, who had his chest puffed outwards slightly at the mention of his "title". "And I'm Rei." She responded.

Zuko slammed his hand onto the table. "I don't have time for this!" He leaned over the table and pointed at Rei. "What are you doing on my ship?"

Iroh took a sip of his tea. "From the looks of the burn mark on your neck, it would seem that you're running from someone." He looked in Rei's direction, his eyes showing warmth and a hint of concern. "Who are you running from, Rei?"

Rei's hand went up to her burn mark instinctively. It appeared that Zuko didn't take much notice of the mark beforehand since at its mention, the muscles in his face retracted to show a mixture of surprise and confusion. He laid back to a sitting position and awaited Rei's response.

"Yes, I was trying to get away from someone." Rei started slowly, her hands clutching her teacup. "I…was taken after my village was attacked by a group of fire nation soldiers, led by a man I learned to be named Commander Zhao."

Rei saw Zuko's fists clench at the mention of Zhao's name. She heard Zuko mutter Zhao's name under his breath as his mouth convulsed into a sneer. Iroh placed his teacup back down onto the table and turned fully in Rei's direction. Iroh gave her a reassuring grin before Rei continued.

"They were looking for earthbenders in the village, who were all taken away since earthbending was deemed illegal…They were also looking for information about a rebel group that was being organized by those who escaped the fire nation's grasp. I surrendered myself so that the rest of the village could be spared." Rei stopped for a moment, and took a shaky breath. "When Zhao interrogated me, he used…unorthodox approaches. He got really mad and decided to give me a burn mark as a punishment. I didn't know if he was going to kill me or not, but that was when your ship came into the harbor."

Zuko looked downwards to the side of the room, away from Rei's face. Iroh was stroking his beard and listened intently to every word of Rei's story with great interest…or in deep questioning of her words, Rei couldn't tell which from the thoughtful look on his face. Rei continued her monologue.

"When I heard about the Agni Kai, I knew that most people would be distracted and that it best time to escape. I snuck out to the Agni Kai arena and out to the harbour where I snuck onto your ship with the loading crew. I also got to witness some of the Agni Kai…" Rei glanced at Zuko, who looked up at her in response.

"You were pretty good, by the way." She added quietly.

Zuko shuffled uncomfortably, his arms still locked across his chest. "Thanks…" He mumbled.

Iroh cradled his teacup and eyed Rei curiously. "So, you were interrogated for information about an earthbender rebel group. Were you a bender yourself?"

Rei's heartbeat sped up. "No… I've never been able to earthbend like my brother and father. I'd watch them, but never could do it myself."

Iroh's eyebrow rose inquisitively, but didn't speak. Zuko gazed at her from across the table, silent and stern as stone. Rei looked down and twiddled her fingers around her teacup in the awkward silence. A few seconds pass before Rei starts up again.

"Look…" She started, flexing her fingers. "I just want to go home. I want to just go home and pretend that this never happened."

"Well that would be difficult with the fire nation following you." Iroh said, taking a sip of tea.

"What are you talking about?" Rei asked uneasily.

"With you escaping from a fire nation encampment, Zhao's encampment no less, he will see that as an insult and send out warrants for your capture." Iroh elaborated. "With Zhao focusing on bigger tasks however, it'll be the foot soldier patrols who will look for you but it'll be a threat nonetheless."

"What? So I'm on the run forever?" Rei replied, laced with frustration. "I'm just stuck here?"

"Not on my ship." Zuko grunted, leaning forward aggressively.

"For the time being, yes you are stuck here." Iroh said, eyeing Zuko. "Whether we like it or not."

Zuko jumped up. "Why do we need to keep her? This is my ship! We should just throw her off and be done with it!" Zuko yelled.

"I'd love to see you try, Ponyboy." Rei growled.

"That's enough!" Iroh said sternly. "For the time being, Rei will stay here with us. We can discuss this further when we are near the next port."

Smoke seeped out of Zuko's nostrils. Zuko kicked the table angrily, spilling his tea all over table and floor. He stomped off without another word and slammed the door, leaving Rei and Iroh alone holding their teacups.

"Hothead." Rei muttered, finishing the last of her tea.

"Please excuse my nephew, he has a lot on his mind at this time." Iroh apologized.

"Like capturing the Avatar." Rei said absently.

"Oh, so you've heard." Iroh stroked his beard.

"Uh, yeah." Rei caught herself. "It was hard not to hear of it with Zuko yelling about his hunt for the Avatar with Zhao."

"Hmm…" Iroh pondered for a moment, then proceeded. "Well, now that you are with us for the time being, you will act as a member of the crew. So, you will have duties such as cleaning the deck and such. You will have meals with the rest of the crew down below, and you may use the room you were in before to sleep."

"Sounds fair." Rei replied.

Rei and Iroh stood up and bowed to each other. "Thank you for the tea, it was delicious." Rei thanked.

"Not a problem, my dear." Iroh smiled. "Feel free to drop by anytime. For now, you should report to Pho-Jin on the main deck for your duties."

Rei thanked Iroh again and left the room, where Iroh still stood stroking his beard inquisitively. Rei found herself once again in the hallway, but the two guards that were there previously were gone. They probably got orders to do other things, Rei thought. She walked past the room that was deemed "hers" and and down the hall. The hallways were dark and dimly lit with red lanterns so it was a bit hard to see. She wondered how it was the slightest bit efficient to have such dimly lit hallways in fire navy ships. She wouldn't be surprised if people would trip over themselves on their day-to-day in the halls.

She couldn't believe how much she lied during the past conversation. She didn't deem herself a storyteller, but boy did she spin a good story back there. She just hoped that it was believable for the time being until she's able to escape from the ship.

Instead of going straight towards the main deck, Rei decided to explore some of the ship a bit more. She padded her way down the halls, looking at the various doors that dotted the walls. Most of the side rooms looked as if they were just barracks for the rest of the crew so there wasn't too much variety to explore. However, as she traveled further down the hall, she neared a door that was slightly ajar. The door let out a ray of yellowish-red light into the hall, peeking Rei's interest. Rei felt a tingle in her head as Sora's voice echoed in her mind.

Be cautious Rei

Rei shook her head, pretty confidant that she didn't have much to fear here. As she approached the stream of light, Rei heard shuffling from the room which prompted her to stop in her tracks. She tensed up, but curiosity got the best of her and so, she tiptoed closer to the door. As she peered through the crack in the door, she could make out the furnishings of a large bedroom. There was a bed in far corner of the room, also a desk and large map on the other side of the room. As she gazed around the room, she realized that the individual shuffling around was Zuko.

Zuko paced slowly across the room, apparently deep in thought. He had one hand up to his mouth and the other across his chest, as if he was hugging himself for comfort. His face was scrunched up in an expression of frustration laced with something else...exasperation? Worry? Sadness? Perhaps it was a mix of all these emotions, Rei couldn't tell. But something in the young man's face made her feel...sorry for him? Zuko stopped pacing in front of the large map near his desk, and gazed up at it. He reached his hand out and placed it on the fire nation capital on the map, and let his head droop downwards slightly. Maybe he's as homesick as I am, Rei thought as she held her necklace in her hand. The more she thought of Zuko, the more she began to question. For a prince, he didn't seem to have much of an entourage. His ship wasn't even a fraction of the size of Zhao's ship, and he was just a commander. Why was the prince of the fire nation so far away from home in such a small vessel?

Rei must have made an unconscious noise because Zuko suddenly whipped his head around in her direction. Rei shrunk back but could not hide herself from the fuming teen stomping in her direction. Zuko kicked the door open, revealing Rei's position. Rei let out a quick yelp in surprise and found herself face-to-face with Zuko, who did not look at all happy with her being there.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Zuko questioned.

"I'm sorry! I...got lost!" Rei stammered.

"How the hell did you…" Zuko sighed in exasperation and scrunched the bridge of his nose with one hand, pointing behind Rei with the other hand. "Forget it, the main deck is back that way."

"Ok, thanks." Rei quickly padded away, but stopped briefly to look back.

Zuko looked up at her with a weirded-out look on his face before shutting his door. Rei couldn't decide how she felt about this young prince, but one thing she knew was that there was more to him that met the eye. The teenager could prove to be either a friend or a foe at this point, which makes Rei happy that her secret was still safe for now. She knew she couldn't keep her bending a secret forever, but hopefully she could get off the ship at the next stop before she could be exposed. She almost forgot about meeting the man on the main deck...Pho-Jin was it? She walked away from Zuko's room towards the main deck, ready to face the next chapter of her adventure.

Hey guys! I'm not dead! Yay! I'm so sorry I disappeared for what, a month? With finals, starting my job and cosplaying for comic con, it's been a helluva time in my world I can tell you that. I will get back to my more regular updates soon, I promise! After this weekend, I should have my stabilized schedule back so woohoo! Thank you so much for the new favourites and followers to this story, you guys make me smile and want to keep going with this story. I have plenty of ideas for later in the game so stay tuned and have a good week my lovelies! X