The sun finally set over the horizon, leaving the sky dark and sparkling with stars. Rei had never seen the night sky at sea before, and didn't expect it to be any different but it was just that. There was a certain feeling Rei couldn't shake, a feeling of such tranquility that she hasn't felt in a long time. Rei closed her eyes and took a deep breath of cool, salty air. Rei was unexpectedly jolted out of her trance-like state of tranquility when she felt a rough tap on her shoulder. Rei yelped and jumped around, her arms raised in a defensive position. Rei sees an unfamiliar man, who looked incredibly weirded-out by her reaction.
"Uh… It's meal time in the mess hall. You should get down there if you have no other duties right now." The man said, pointing to the door to the housing section of the ship.
"Oh-Okay, I-I'll do that." Rei stammered.
Rei looked down towards the floor and quickly made her way to the mess hall, tucking some hair behind her ear instinctively. Ever since her mental breakdown earlier in the day, she's been on edge about being surrounded by fire nation at every turn. Even during her one moment of peace, she nearly jumped out of her skin from a simple tap on the shoulder. Her being on edge is attracting attention and awkward stares, Rei knew this. She had to blend in with her new crewmates, but such a task could be comparable to assimilating with a pack of saber-toothed mooselions in Rei's humble opinion. Rei opened the humongous steel-plated door to the housing section of the ship, and stopped once inside. She looked around, not exactly sure where the mess hall was. The sound of chattering led Rei down the hall to the right into a large room.
The mess hall was a large room filled with a few long tables and benches. The room was full of crew members, though no more than 25 sat at the long tables. The crew gathered in their respective groups and were talking amongst themselves. There was a lineup on the far side of the room for food, which appeared to be a noodle dish tonight. The warm smell of noodles made Rei's stomach gurgle, and also made her realize she hasn't had anything to eat since the piece of fruit and tea earlier that day. Rei made her way down to the lineup, noticing that she was making a couple of heads turn towards her. Come to think of it, Rei hasn't seen any other girls on the ship so that's probably the initial reason for that. She stands awkwardly in line, crossing one arm across her chest and holding her other arm. As she was waiting, Rei quickly scanned the room. She saw an opening amongst a smaller group of people, where she decided she would move to once she had food. The lineup moved quickly and led Rei to a holding tray full of bowls of a noodle dish. The chef, who stood behind the counter, kept the holding tray warm by heating up some coals underneath the tray with some minor firebending. Rei took a bowl, which was a bit too hot for her hands but persevered to her chosen spot at one of the tables.
Rei approached the small group sitting at the table and sat down with her meal. The noodle dish seemed to consist of rice noodles, some turkeyduck broth and some miscellaneous vegetables. The meal looked and smelled delicious, so Rei took the first bite gratefully. She savoured the flavors which danced on her tongue, and let out a low moan of satisfaction. She heard a chuckle from her side, which prompted her to whip around. The chuckle came from a rather amused, portly soldier with a large brown mustache and shaggy brown hair.
"You really like noodles, don't you?" The man smirked.
Rei awkwardly slurped up her mouthful of noodles and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Yeah… I haven't eaten a hot meal in a while."
"You'll get sick of noodles soon enough, then I'll take what's left!" The man roared in laughter as he rubbed his large belly.
Rei laughed weakly, then took another mouthful of noodles. She looked around at the small group of people, and recognized Pho-Jin sitting across from Rei a few seats to the left, amongst three other unnamed men. One of these men looked quite sickened by the noodle dish and pushed his bowl towards the portly gentleman, who took it gratefully. The portly fellow sitting beside her gave her a little nudge with his elbow as his laughter subdued to a chuckle.
"What's a girl like you want to do with stowing away on a fire nation vessel, then?" He said, as he dove into another bowl of food.
"Ah…that's a long story, really." Rei replied, looking into her bowl.
"Oh leave her alone, Kugo. She'll be gone soon enough, so there's no need to know her life's story." Pho-Jin muttered, picking at his meal passively.
"Hey, there's no reason to not get friendly. It's been a while since I've seen a new face!" Kugo replied. He turned from his food and flashed Rei a big smile, with a noodle hanging out the corner of his mouth. "I'm Kugo, or others call he Huge-o, and for good reason!"
Rei grinned back. "I'm Rei, pleased to meet you…Also, you have something on your face." She replied, pointing to the corner of her mouth.
Kugo picked up the noodle on his face, and chomped down upon it, smacking his lips. "Oh, I'll never tire of noodles!"
One of the men groaned from across the table. "We've been at sea for almost two years…I'll be happy to never see another noodle or fish ever again."
"Two years?" Rei was surprised. "But the Avatar only came back recently. Isn't that why you guys are here?"
There was an uncomfortable silence, and even Kugo stopped eating briefly. The three unnamed men looked around awkwardly as Kugo looked into his bowl. Pho-Jin cleared his throat, which directly the attention to him.
"Prince Zuko was tasked with finding the Avatar to regain his honor, which at the time was an impossible objective since the Avatar hasn't been seen in a hundred years."
"How did he lose his honor?" Rei asked meekly.
Pho-Jin scraped at the bottom of his bowl. "We don't pry. Most of the men are here out of respect for General Iroh, and most of us served either with or under him before he retired. We follow Prince Zuko's orders, we do our jobs, no questions asked."
"No questions asked, huh?" Rei stirred her noodles passively, speaking in a low voice. "People die from blind following, you know."
Pho-Jin scoffed. "I seriously doubt our search for the Avatar is hurting anyone here."
"Tell that to the airbenders." Once again there was silence, and all the men in the small group turned towards her. Rei got uncomfortable under all the attention, and quickly recuperated her previous statement. "It's important to keep your own moral judgement, that's all I'm saying."
"Huh…You remind me of my daughter, Aimi." Pho-Jin muttered. "Very aware of her moral compass and doing what she believed was right."
"She sounds like a respectable young lady." Rei said with a small smile.
Pho-Jin cleared his throat once again, this time in discomfort rather than in drawing attention. He was possibly regretting mentioning his daughter at all from the looks of his awkward discomfort. Pho-Jin took his bowl and walked away from the table. Rei turned to Kugo, who was finishing the last of his meal.
"So…What do you guys normally do at this time?" She inquired.
"Well, there are nightly rounds that need to be performed. We're all on the first shift, so you can probably rest up for tomorrow." He said as he took one last gulp of his meal. "We do have music nights and Pai Sho games, so I can let you know when I see you."
The rest of the group gathered their dishes and pushed away from the table. Rei proceeded to do the same, and followed them to the designated zone for the dishes. When they finished cleaning up, Rei said her goodbyes to Kugo, who gave her a quick wink in salutation. Rei, not knowing what to do, decided to take a walk around the ship. Nighttime was in full effect, the sky dotted with stars and a bright, and full moon gazing down upon the lone ship. The ocean's waves chopped mildly on the ship's hull, cradling the small vessel like a mother rocking a babe to sleep. The air was laced with salt and cool, but not cold enough to cause discomfort. Rei walked away from the main deck and towards the back-end of the ship.
As she walked past the housing section, she heard a loud shout, most likely from the Prince of teenage angst. Rei chuckled, she was quite proud of that nickname. She turned her head towards the disturbance and yep, it was Zuko going bezerk over something or other. From what she could tell, he was upset that they had no idea where the avatar is, and that he was a master of evasive maneuvering. Rei chuckled at that, since more likely than not the Avatar just had no idea where he was going. She didn't blame him either, the world changes after a hundred years and some landmarks he would know possibly don't even exist anymore. She continued walking around the ship in any case, exploring every little nook and cranny.
Rei eventually found herself at the back-end of the ship, where a large tower-like structure stood tall behind the housing section. The tower overlooked the rest of the ship and out towards the sea. Rei could see that there was at least one person up on the top, but she couldn't see too much other than that. Between the tower and the housing section of the ship was a dark, covered area, which peaked Rei's interest. It acted like a small blind spot from the rest of the ship, being directly under the tower's observation deck. Rei walked under the covered area and surveyed around. She couldn't see anyone around and she was positive that no one could see her unless they were directly within her proximity. Rei bit on one of her nails, considering what she could do with such a blind spot. She hasn't practiced her bending in a bit, and to be quite honest, it was agonizing. She had once heard her brother mention this sort of pain, to not be able to bend for a while. She didn't understand him at the time, but now she knew the discomfort of containing a power that needed to be let out every now and then. It felt as if she was containing a serpent that with time, grew more and more impatient to be let out into the world. She took one last look around and decided "to hell with it".
Rei didn't know any airbending moves per se, but she was curious about the firebending moves she witnessed Zuko practicing. She figured that the moves and stances of firebending weren't that different from airbending, just with more anger. She squatted down into Zuko's stance and took a deep breath. She remembered Iroh's words, saying that power came from the breath. She took another breath in, and forcibly puffed it out. She continued this breathing practice for a few moments before proceeding through the motions. She gradually started to incorporate some movements in her practice, notably using her arms in an outstretched motion. She took a step forward as she punched the air in front of her, but no air came from it. She tried again, but failed once more. She continued to practice, and grew more frustrated with every failure. Finally, after many tries, she takes a final deep breath and reaches her arm out with a rough exhale of breath. The resulting motion produced a puff of hot air in front of her, which burned her hand slightly from the heat. She drew her arm back instinctively from the heat with a curse. Her hand burned, but she smiled in satisfaction for producing even one streak of hot air. She continues practicing her techniques, but managed to burn the palms of her hands even more. At the end of her session, her hands were streaked with angry burn marks that already began to swell.
Rei cradled her hands into her chest, and panted from the tiring practice. She decided that was enough training for the time being and proceeded walk away from her sacred blind spot. She looked around before emerging from the covered area, and quickly walked towards the housing section. She walked at a brisk pace, eager to get to her room as quickly as possible. She padded around the corner and right into another person. The two collided in a bump and nearly fell over from the force of the collision.
"Dammit, sorry!" Rei exclaimed instantly. "It's…It's so dark here, I can barely see."
"It is no trouble." The man replied, which Rei immediately recognized as Iroh from his voice. "What are you doing walking around in the dark?"
"Oh…" Rei started. "I…I was just doing some exploring on my free time before bed, the night sky is really pretty tonight."
"You must be careful exploring at night. You could easily fall off the edge of the ship." Iroh warned. He looked down at the hands Rei was cradling into her chest. "What happened to those hands?" He inquired.
"I uh, tripped and fell onto a hot pipe." She stuttered. "It happened while I was exploring inside."
Iroh reached out his hand. "May I look at it?" He asked.
Rei nodded and reached her hand into Iroh's. Iroh inspected Rei's hand with care, trying not to cause any discomfort. His hand was calloused and rough, but surprisingly delicate. Rei winced slightly as he traced his finger down the palm of her hand. He furrowed his eyebrows, and stayed on her hand for a brief moment before speaking.
"These burns are angry. You should run them in cold water and wrap them up before bed." He concluded, letting go of Rei's hand. "I have some ointment that would be of use, so why don't you join me for some tea tomorrow morning?"
"Thanks, that would be great." Rei replied.
Rei smiled at Iroh in gratitude before quickly walking around him towards the housing section. Iroh stayed in place, stroking his beard inquisitively. The door was ajar to the housing section, which Rei was grateful for. She didn't have the energy or the capacity for opening the enormous door at this time. She padded along the corridor to her room, turning the handle opening the door with her hip. She quickly made her way to the wash basin, and turned the tap for cold water all the way. She dipped her injured hands into the water, which burned of all things at first, but eventually ceased the pain. She left her hands in the water for about 10 minutes before taking them out. She looked around the room for something to bind her hands with, and managed to find some cloth in the nightstand beside her cot. She also noticed her earth nation clothes folded into a neat pile at the foot of her bed, which she was grateful for. She bound her hands in the cloth and tied them into a knot. It was much harder to wrap the second hand but she managed to do so after about five tries.
Rei sunk into the cot, placing her hands across her stomach and stared at the ceiling. Her hands still stung and throbbed from underneath the cloth, making them feel like beating hearts on the ends of her arms. She sighed and turned onto her side, placing her hands outstretched by her head. She was pretty sure no one saw her practicing, but Iroh looked suspiciously at her burn marks. She had to be more careful in the near future. She figured that this was also a problem for firebenders first starting out, getting burned by their own fire. She could ask Kugo or someone else how they started firebending and could play it off as general curiosity. All she knew was that she needed to exercise caution when airbending. She couldn't stop airbending, that's for sure. It was hard to explain, but for whatever reason she needed to continue airbending. It felt so…unnatural to just stop. She yawned and smacked her lips. Sleep was descending upon her due to sheer physical exhaustion. She closed her eyes, and prayed that tomorrow would be a good day.
Hello once again! How do you guys like Kugo? I thought he was pretty cute to add, I actually just added him today believe it or not from a dream I had last night. If you guys liked this chapter, please review and follow this story to let me know! Every review helps me get better so review away! See you all next week! X
