ok, first of all, I know this will be the third chapter today, but I needed to do it before I forgot. lol. if you go to my page and click on the link to my "homepage" you will find my putfil account. below there are two things labeled avatarmusic video. i sugest you check these out lol, drowning lessons is by my chemical romance and the vid is asorta sad one about sokka/eua. miss independant is by kelly clarkson, and regardless of what you feel about her you should totally take a look at the really sad aang/katara but mostly eua/sokka vid. it made me cry, and i made it. lol. that's all for now, i love my reviewers! especially you, guardiangirl1!
Alex gazed admirably at the grand ship before her. Sure it was small in comparison to the other ships of the Fire Navy, but to her it was enormous, as she had never set foot on a large ship in her life. Sure, she had been on small reef boats down near her house, but other than that this was her first experience with something this large.
Iroh was standing beside her, "It's a step down from our previous ship, but it's nice."
"I think it's amazing," she gushed. She noticed Zuko standing next to her but pretended not to notice. She did know it was him, but for some reason she had felt crushed when Iroh had told her he was dead. But when she had looked into the Prince's eyes she had known it was him, and she had felt a swooping feeling in her stomach, but she did not know why.
The interior of the ship was even grander. It was obvious Iroh had sparred little in the purchasing of this ship.
The crew was friendly, even though at first they seemed shocked that there was a woman on board. They now tried their best to impress her with their manners whenever she was present. In private Iroh told her this was a very good reason for having a woman on board, and the other shippers had been daft and stupid.
This made her feel very happy.
As they left the port Alex stood on the now, leaning her arms against the rail, looking out at the ocean ahead of her.
She heard someone stand beside her and looked over to see the still hooded Zuko staring out at the sea also.
"I used to hate the sea," he said quietly, making no move to disguise his voice, "But I suppose it grows on you after awhile."
She looked out over the sea again, "I can't imagine how anyone could hate it. It's so beautiful, so peaceful."
"But it can be violent and cruel," he said bitterly, "It can take lives away,"
She was surprised that he was speaking like this, without shouting. She was also taken aback at his silent hostility to the ocean. What had it ever done to him?
"Do you know who I am?" he asked, a hint of nervousness in his voice.
"Yes," she said, "I knew the first time I looked at you."
"We're going to tell the crew in about an hour. There isn't much they can do after that." He was still staring out at the sea. He turned to look at her briefly and noticed in shock that her hood was down. Her hair was tucked in the folded hood just behind her head, but now he could truly see her face. She had not hidden her face because of blemishes or scars, that's for sure. She was—dare he say it? Possibly a bit attractive. But that was going out on a limb here.
She bowed her head a little, thinking. She turned to go but stopped when she was facing his side, "I'm glad you're not dead," she whispered, "I'll see you in an hour—your highness." She fully turned and walked into the depths of the ship, but before she had turned away from him she had touched his arm lightly.
He was still looking over the sea, but he was thinking. Why was she glad? Did she—care?
He shook this thought away and thought about what his father had told him when he was thirteen.
"No girl will ever really care about you, they just want your money and a chance at the crown, do not fall for this, do you understand me?"
"I understand," he had said then, and said now. Of course she was only sucking up to him because he was royalty. And not only that, but unmarried royalty. She obviously wanted to take a chance at his crown.
Besides, he thought to himself, who could ever really care about a banished Prince?
An obnoxious, self centered, obsessed, hot headed, deformed prince. His conscience said.
And although he hated to admit it, his mind was right. There was no way there wasn't some hidden motive in her actions.
He grumbled to himself and went to find his Uncle.
Alex was roaming the ship, attempting to find Luke. An hour had passed since her odd conversation with the Prince and she needed Luke to come to the upper deck to hear the news about his employer.
Instead she bumped into a smiling Iroh.
"Hello there," he said softly.
She smiled, "Hello Iroh. I was looking for someone."
Iroh nodded and then looked at her seriously, "You know, don't you." He said it as a statement rather then a question.
She knew what he was talking about, "yes," she said nervously.
"I saw you talking to him up on deck," he looked thoughtful, "It's been a long time since he has spoken to anyone for that long without issuing an order or becoming angry."
"He sure seemed angry," she muttered.
Iroh smiled, "Very well. If you are looking for Luke he is in the chamber section of the ship." He pointed her in the right direction and she hurried down the corridor.
She found him inspecting a medium sized bed in the middle of a small room. He smiled as she came in, "Take a look at my quarters."
She laughed, "You get your own room? Why?"
He shrugged, "We all do. We're mostly running on a skeleton crew you know, so all the rooms reserved for captains and generals and such are just enough to fit—" he looked nervous, "most of us."
She was about to ask him what he meant when she remembered why she had sought him out in the first place.
She grabbed his arm, "Come on. Our employer has an announcement for us." As they walked she purposely failed to mention who exactly their employer was, he would find out soon enough.
They all lined up according to rank. Alex was surprised that they were placed in the middle; she had thought they would be near the end. If not the end.
She wondered why she and Luke were ranked higher than the cook and the servants. As far as she knew, they offered no exact services. I fact, she didn't even know what they were supposed to do here.
Iroh was standing I front of them with the hidden Zuko.
"I have an announcement to make," he said in a commanding voice, "I would like you all to meet the man in charge her. You are to take orders from him, me, or one of your higher ranking officers."
Am I an officer? She wondered. If so, she was definitely at the bottom. It was also now that she noticed she ranked higher than Luke.
"Yeah," she whispered to Luke, "You have to take orders from me."
He glared at her and Iroh continued, "Please show your respect to him. And be warned that if any news whatsoever leaks out about his being here, or being alive in the first place, that person will be punished."
Luke looked excited "I wonder if it's the great Admiral Zhao, he was supposed to have been killed at the attempted siege of the North."
Alex only smiled a little and looked at Zuko. He was staring straight ahead, not meeting anyone's eyes. But for a moment his eyes flickered to hers and he stared at her before his uncle interrupted.
"So please, show your respect to my nephew, Prince Zuko."
Every single person in the ground either gasped or stared in shock. Everyone except Alex. Luke noticed this and eyed her suspiciously before he noticed the Prince again.
He had taken off his hood and the cloth covering his mouth. Alex was horrified (although she didn't know why…) to see that his face had bruises and small cuts across it. She remembered the last episode and realized that that was what he had looked like.
Zuko saw her face and noticed with a mixed feeling of satisfaction and dismay that she had almost reeled away from his face.
You see? You see what I told you? She does think you're deformed, that you're hideous.
No, he thought, she wasn't reeling. She seemed almost—sad.
It's a trick. Don't fall for it.
He nodded to no one in particular. Of course she would think that, who wouldn't?
Iroh still had a calm face on, "Now, don't you all have business to attend to?"
Bit by bit everyone left, even Luke left, but only after he had given her a suspicious look.
Before she knew it she looked around and saw Zuko standing in the middle of the bow, looking forward again.
She approached him slowly and silently, "Are you all right?" she asked softly, "Is there anything I can do?" she asked tediously.
He looked at her, surprised to see her here again. She must be pretty desperate to still make a go at him after she had seen his face.
"I'm fine. I don't need your help." he turned away.
She bit her lip, "All right, I'll be going then. Good evening My Lord,"
After she had left he turned and watched her disappear below deck.
She was walking down the hallway when Luke popped his head out of the nearest door and – grabbing her arm tightly – pulled her inside.
Closing the door behind him he pushed her a little as he secured it, making sure it was securely closed. Not locked, none of these doors had locks.
She stumbled a bit before she sat down on the bed to keep her balance. She looked at him in shock as he turned and glared at her.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he hissed.
"Tell you what?" she asked, confused.
He came close to her and placed his hands on either side of her legs. Leaning forward, he caused her to lean away from his face.
"You knew he was Zuko. You knew and you didn't tell me!"
"I didn't mean to, I wasn't thinking!" she was forced to lean even farther back, and thus lost her balance.
Startled, she threw her arms around his neck to prevent herself from falling backwards.
He was startled to see her do this, and they both looked at each other with shocked faces.
She bent her head and said very softly, "I barely know you,"
She turned her eyes up and met his. It was then he realized how truly beautiful she was. Instinctively he started to move closer to her, but before he could get much closer the door opened.
Luke and Alex both looked at the door. Alex was horrified to see Iroh standing there, looking very uncomfortable. And worse than that, but Zuko was standing behind him, eyebrows raised.
Alex let go of Luke and they both stood up sheepishly. Alex wanted to smack herself in the forehead, she knew what this situation must look like and even though she knew nothing of the sort was going on – or was going to happen – she felt so embarrassed. And she knew she was probably blushing to top it all off.
Iroh cleared his throat, "I uh, wish to speak to both of you—but if I'm interrupting something I'll come back later…"
"No!" Alex said, "We were just—arguing about something." No use lying, she thought.
Iroh nodded, hiding his smile, "Well first of all, may I speak to Luke please Alex?" she nodded quickly and Iroh left, leaving her alone with Zuko.
You see, his mind told him, you see, she doesn't care about you, it was all a con.
He looked uncomfortable, "I'm supposed to tell you about the ship's rules…about women on board."
Alex cursed inside her mind as he went on, "Well, I'm sorry to tell you that women are not allowed in men's rooms at night or during the day with the door closed."
She was outraged, "nothing was going on. I told you, we were arguing."
"Well, I must have missed the memo that said arguing involved wrapping your arms around someone else." He snapped.
She shot back at him, "Well maybe you should have been here for the whole conversation!" she was furious now, "The only reason we were fighting is because of you!"
He scoffed, "Me? How could I possibly be responsible for this?"
She glared at him, "Because. Since I was too decent as to not tell him who you were he became severely angry with me."
Then they just glared at each other for the longest time until Alex spoke up, "About my quarters,"
"What about them?" he said sarcastically.
"Where am I supposed to sleep?" she said pointedly, trying to control her temper.
He leered at her, "Well, since the only available room is reserved for when we find a captain—"
"A captain for what? The ship?" she asked bitterly.
"No, for my firebenders." He said back to her in the same, calm voice, "but since you are neither of them you can't have it. And after seeing your little display just now…" he smiled at her outraged look, "After that I don't want to risk having you out of my sight. You'll be sleeping on a cot in my room."
She glared at him, how could he be so cruel. It was then that she gave a very quiet gasp and stared at him sadly.
He stared at her, "What?"
She took a deep breath, "Nothing your highness." She looked away, "except that just now—you sounded just like Zhao."
Before he could respond Iroh came and traded off, taking her with him. As Zuko turned to watch her go he only caught a glimpse of her tying her hair back when he turned to tell the boy Luke the same thing. But as he did he couldn't help feeling that she was right.
heehee, hope that was enough action for you, and just to make a note: NO, this is not going to turn out where Zuko is a big softie and there is a big twist where they are forced to sleep together, hence the cot. I wanted to make a note of that because that is the usual plot of fanfics like this. i still love you all! lol
