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~ The Storm (part, 2) ~

Ryuu POV

"-He then protested, saying that those soldiers were being betrayed. The General, Bujing, was not impressed... nor was the Fire Lord. Zuko was right, you see, but it was not his place to speak out. It had dire consequences..."

The crew sat in awed silence as Iroh bowed his head. The tale so far had been tragic. What was to come was shocking. Iroh hissed in a breath. Jee and the others were staring in an emotionless state at the fire. I was still laying on my pipe.

Iroh continued:

"After Zuko's outburst in the meeting, the Fire Lord became very angry with him. He said the challenge against the general was an act of complete disrespect! And there was only one way to resolve this."

Jee gasped, raising his head he answered, "Agni Kai. Fire Dual."

I blinked, "Pardon? What's a magi zai?"

Iroh let Jee explain, " Agni Kai. Two fighters in a designated area. The winner is first to burn the loser. Very brutal but effective. It counts as law."

"Mmm," Iroh shook his head, "That's right. Zuko looked upon the old general he had insulted and declared that he was not afraid. But Zuko misunderstood..."

"Why? What's there to misunderstand?" I asked, not yet fully grappling the idea of why any sane person would agree to an 'Agni Kai '.

Iroh stared me straight in the eye, "When he turned to face his opponent, he was surprised to see it was not the general... Zuko had spoken out against the general's plan, but by doing so in the Fire Lord's war room, it was the Fire Lord whom he had disrespected. Zuko would have to duel his own father."

The other crew members hung their heads. I, however, gaped at Iroh in shock. I rested my head in my hands as I lay on the pipe.

"That's sick! It's wrong!"

Iroh nodded in agreement .

"When Prince Zuko saw that it was his father who had come to duel him, he begged for mercy. But, in the Fire Lord's mind, he deserved none. Young Zuko cried for forgiveness, telling him what he was wrong and he would never speak out again. That he wouldn't fight his own father. It was mistaken as cowardice... When the blow came, I looked away."

My imagination had escaped, so I could see all of Irohs words. It made me sick. The lasting image of Zuko screaming and writhing in pain at being burnt was almost enough to make me fall off of my pipe in horror. Poor Zuko.

Jee spoke up, barely audibly, "I always thought that Prince Zuko was in a training accident."

Iroh knotted his fingers in his lap. He stared at the fire.

"It was no accident. After the duel, the Fire Lord said that by refusing to fight, Zuko had shown shameful weakness. As punishment, he was banished and sent to capture the Avatar. Only then could he return with his honor."

The crew gaped in realisation when Jee piped up again.

"That's why he's obsessed! It's the only way of things ever becoming normal. "

"Things will never return to normal. But the important thing is the Avatar gives Zuko hope."

I bared my teeth, "False hope."

Iroh looked up at me, "Why do you say that?"

All the crew stared up at me. I squirmed but opened my mouth to answer.

"If he returns, it will happen again. He's too- too strong willed, too stubborn. I don't want him hurt. I want see him understand that- I- I.. sound selfish. "

Iroh took in a breath, "No you don't, I agree with you. But, as long as he has hope. I also want the best for him."

...

The ship rocked viciously. The firebending members of the crew sat up wide eyed. Iroh and Jee shared a glance.

"Lightning..." They breathed.

I leaped down from where I was sat, the other people in the room stood up. Iroh lead us up the stairs and into the full-blown storm. Zuko rushed out of the command tower, looking equally as paniced.

"Where were we hit?" Zuko paniced.

I pointed up to where the helmsman was hanging, "Up there!"

"The helmsman! " Zuko cried.

He shot up the ladder, Jee quickly behind him. They managed to battle through the wind and rain until they reached the stranded helmsman. Another rod of lightning was about to hit us. Iroh intercepted it. Initially, I paniced. But then, when Iroh had redirected it away from us, I calmed down. He stood there, bemused and a bit toasted.

The waves lashed up against us as Zuko caught the helmsman by his hand, passing him to Jee. Together they clambered down again. A particularly big wave washed over us. The others were okay, either bracing themselves or holding onto the rail. I wasn't.

Because of my... predicament of holding a cane as well as not being able to stabilise myself ( I was still not completely able to walk without a cane, despite the constant practice), I was an easy target. The wave washed me nearly clean off of the ship, when I felt someone grab my hand. My body was dangling from the ship, above the lashing waves, only the person holding my left hand was saving me.

I was tugged back onto the ship by a very soaked Zuko. His eyes wide in panic, chest rising and falling almost ceaselessly. He stood holding me to his chest as I gasped breathlessly. I let him smooth his hands against my upper back, just glad for not drowning.

"The Avatar!" He hissed.

A strange beast flew past us. On it was a bald tattooed boy and a - what I guessed was - Southern Water Tribe girl. I gaped wordlessly at them, wondering how such a huge beast could fly.

Jee bought my attention back, "What do you want to do, sir?"

Zuko looked around at the faces of his crew, his uncle and then to me. He sighed and returned to Jee.

"Let him go. We need to get this ship to safety."

I squeezed Zuko's chest proudly, still holding onto him, he still clung to me as if worried I would disappear at any moment. Iroh shouted above the thunder.

"Then we must head directly into the eye of the storm!"

...

Somehow, despite being partly blown up, the steering room was still operational. Jee helped the shaken helmsman guide us through the storm. We let a collective sigh of relief go when we were clear of the pounding waves. Zuko had let me out of his grip, but was still holding my hand, to prevent me from falling again.

I gripped it, determined not to let go until we were completely clear of the storm. I smiled encouragingly.

"Well done... Princess."

He grimaced at the old nickname, but didn't try to correct me or hurt me. Joining us at the storms eye, surfaced the Avatar, but with more people. He bust free of the ocean in a bubble of air. I gasped in amazement. Zuko watched him leave with a regretful expression.

Iroh came over to the rail, smoothing down his hair. Everyone was soaked through, but alive.

"Uncle, " Zuko tightened his grip on my hand, "I'm sorry. For my actions. Earlier."

Iroh grinned, clapping his back, "Apology accepted. Now, you two go get warm. It'll be a while until this storm blows over!"

...

We didn't go to the room. We stayed on deck, just relieved to alive.

Zuko, by now, had let go of my hand after he was sure I held onto the rail. He was off doing ship checks. The steering room looked particularly damaged seen as half was blown to pieces. The other part, the bit with the wheel and navigational equipment was practically okay, if slightly melted. The stern was a pitted from being battered. But apart from a few dents, it was easily fixable.

Everyone was soaked through. They walked about like toddlers who wet their pants. It was quite amusing actually - until I felt the real extent of how sodden my clothes were. Cold water trickled down my back. My clothes stuck tightly to me; vacuumed to me.

I'd lost my cane when I'd nearly fallen overboard.

"Ryuu," Iroh called me over to him. I gripped tightly onto the rail; so tightly that my knuckles turned white. I shifted along cautiously. Iroh was patient. He helped me by extending an arm out towards me.

"Aye, sir?"

"Please put a pot of calming Jasmine tea on. I think we all need it. Especially you and the helmsman, after your adventures..."

I'd learnt sailor speak from the helmsman last week, so I saluted with two fingers, "Aye Aye, sir!"

Which meant, 'Yes and I will do so.' Iroh grinned at my newly displayed knowledge.

"The helmsman?"

I returned his smile, "How did you guess, sir?"

At that point, the helmsman went past, shouting enough sailor speak profanities to make anyone's head blow off. Iroh was confused as to whether he should tell the man off or congratulate his extensive list of swears.

"Luckily guess."

I giggled as Iroh helped me to the hold entrance. Quickly, I leeched onto the handrail and thanked Iroh. I made my way down the stairs and into the heart of the ship, to boil quite a few cups of Jasmine tea.