Umara stared off at the sinking horizon as the small boat sloshed it's way through the dark ocean. The moon reflected ominously off the water around them, the only brightness coming from the occasional burst of the flames into the engine.

"So...do you wanna talk about it?" Chey asked cautiously from where he was crouched, bending their way into oblivion.

Umara tossed her head, spooked by the sudden break in the hypnotic silence, "What? No!?" she shot a sour look at the unbefitting question.

Chey paused his bending for a moment, wringing out his hands. "Yeah, I guess I probably shouldn't have asked that, huh? Sorry... I'm-uh- I'm not real good with kids...I guess you probably know that by now, eh?" he trailed off abashedly. With a quick side eye in his direction, Umara fixed her eyes back onto the horizon. Chey wasn't a bad person, per se, but Gods, this was not a good time for his doltishness.

"Listen," he began gently, placing an ill-considered hand on her shoulder. Umara cried out and roughly smacked his hand away as the touch aggravated the searing pain in her back. Chey cringed, "We can get those burns fixed up when we land. I know they must hurt...I'm—um— I'm real sorry, kid. For everything."

"Yeah—I have a name, you know!" She snapped, stiffening a bit as he dejectedly turned his attention back to the engine.

The eerie silence crept back over the boat as he glanced nervously over at her a few times. "Things are a lot different, out there in the world. I think you'll like it, but, uh—" a look of concern suddenly befell Chey's face. "You gonna be okay, you know, communicating?"

"What do you mean 'communicating'? I barely even have an accent anymore!" Umara glared at him resentfully once again. He really didn't know when to shut up.

"I know, you learned pretty fast, I wasn't insulting you...The thing is, the world is a big place. There's all kinds of accents out there, and I just figured they might throw you off. Not everyone speaks like the Fire Nation nobles... Not that I'm nobility, just got lucky that a beautiful girl with an important Father happened to fall in love with me. Still don't know why she did—"

Exhausted tears began to roll down Umara's cheeks as the rambling sound of Chey's voice faded into white noise. She couldn't bear to listen to him prattle on about the life she'd ruined. He was a relatively nice man, despite his misplaced loyalties. He could have been happy, if it weren't for her.

"Is she going to be okay? Why did you even help me?" Umara barely managed in a strangled sob.

Chey shook his head defiantly, "You don't gotta worry about Ilaya, she's a lot like you, you know, smart lady. She'll talk her way out of any trouble I got her in. Plus, I was on the way out either way, and I think she suspected..." he paused and considered for a moment,

"Listen, I'm not a bad guy, you know. I joined the military because I really thought the Fire Nation was out to make a difference, but at what cost, right? Gods, what a massacre that day was," he cleared his throat at the sight of the girls desperate stare.

"Anyway, it wasn't supposed to go down like that, but I was in no position to argue. I figured the least I could do was try to do right by you, and believe me, I tried. It seemed to all be working out, for a while. But what Ozai did, I never saw it coming: even after the way he convinced Azulon to double cross your people...Once I found out... that's why I tried to get you to leave with me months ago. I just wish it didn't take so long to figure a way to get you away from him. I swear, it wasn't supposed to be like this..."

Umara swallowed another sob. "What are you talking about, Chey? What does double crossed mean?" A wave of dread came over her. She had wanted answers for so long, but now it seemed they may hurt more than they could help.

Chey let out a long sigh, pulling uncomfortably at his hair. "So, to start with, you and the Prince...You guys didn't meet by accident, it was—"

Umara started out of her reverie at the sudden sound of a flat, husky voice behind her.

"—You shouldn't sit like that, no one is going to notice if you fall." Zuko regarded her darkly, annoyed that she would be so thoughtless as to sit with her legs dangling over the side of a warship.

"Huh? Oh... yeah." She shrugged absentmindedly as she reached toward him to steady herself. Zuko hesitated a moment before reluctantly grasping her arm.

"It's been a while since I was on a boat..."

Umara seemed out of sorts, and he could only assume it was a symptom of the second hand embarrassment she felt at his expense. He'd made an utter fool of himself at dinner... He shook his head and pushed the thought from his mind as he watched the ends of her tightly ponytailed hair billow lazily in the breeze behind her as she stole an uncertain glance up at him. Zuko swallowed hard, loathing the way the setting sun highlighted her delicate features. She really was beautiful, objectively, of course. Anyone would get a pleasantly sick feeling seeing what he was seeing. It didn't mean anything.

"I, er, I brought you something to eat. I left it in your room," Zuko began flatly, his face twisting slightly in concern, "I didn't think you'd be out here..."

"Yeah, me either. One of your er...people...Scared me in the hallway. He seemed really freaked out and started apologizing and calling me 'miss' so I let him take me outside," she impishly raised on eyebrow at him. "He said you told him I was important."

"The word is 'crewman'," Zuko began formally, unwittingly charmed by the accented twinge of her voice. He uneasily turned around to see Liang a few paces away. His eyes narrowed into a foreboding glare, bringing his chief officer to casually diverted his attention to the sky above him.

Zuko turned back to face Umara, who was curling her lips silently around the word 'crewman' in a strikingly familiar way. The sight brought a wave of the same nostalgic warmth that he had felt earlier. He would have expected her to have a better handle on her vocabulary by now, not that it made it any less endearing that she didn't.

Damn it.

"You, um..." Zuko ground his tongue against his teeth in a futile attempt to sweep the fluster from his mind. "You look nice..." the words fell uncertainly toward the floor as he tried to focus on anything other than the ethereal little creature in front of him. Umara managed to catch his shifting eyes with her own, a cautious shadow of a smile spreading across her lips.

"You do too," she gingerly touched her fingers to his cheek and turned his gaze toward her. "Really. Very— hmm," she pursed her lips thoughtfully. "How someone is that looks royal and handsome..." she raised her eyebrows at him expectantly.

"Regal—eurgh," Zuko caught himself falling into her trap. "Cut it out, Mari." He grumbled sadly as he tried to turn away, only to have her catch his chin tightly between her fingers.

"You cut it out!" she flashed her stern, velvety eyes at him. "Enough with the self hating! Come inside with me, there's something you need to know." She abruptly let go of his chin and sauntered off. Breaking the hazy spell she had put on him.

Zuko knew the implications of her cat-like, hissing, tone very well, and he wasn't about to get into another shouting match for the entire ship to witness. His attention snapped loathsomely back to Liang, who was looking quite amused by what had just unfolded.

"What are you doing standing around?! Get back to work!" Zuko screeched as he stomped back inside.

. . .

Liang relaxed when the two were both out of sight. That was certainly interesting, to say the least. The girl was fearless, for such a jumpy little thing. Especially in the face of a person who, as far as Liang knew, would readily fling someone overboard at the slightest hint of insubordination. He squeezed his shoulder uncomfortably: his arm still ached from the way the girl had twisted it when she reflexively slammed him into the wall. She was disproportionately powerful relative to her gaunt frame, and offered little explanation aside from 'it's a Natoyi thing.', whatever that meant. There was something almost unearthly about the way she carried herself. It seemed even Zuko, in all his dramatic ferocity, wouldn't dare trifle with her.

Who, no, what the fuck is that?

There were a few rumors beginning to swirl around the ship. Some more believable than others. Some speculated that she was betrothed to the Prince, at some point, only to be kidnapped by a defector. It would make sense, almost. Zuko was behaving a bit possessive. Though, she certainly didn't act like any captive he'd ever encountered before. A gift from General Iroh, perhaps? Some Earth Nation comfort girl to help calm the boy down? He felt it would be out of character for the General, however, Iroh was Ozai's brother. Ruthless in his hay day.

Liang grimaced, that was a dark thought. Traitorous, in a sense. He was over thinking it. No reason to let the hormone fueled jealousy of a teenager lead him down a path to disloyalty. He couldn't shake the odd feeling.

There was something that just didn't feel human about her.