I don't own Avatar the last Airbender just my Oc.
Chapter 11
Three days...three days since Liling saw her friends. Three days that she got captured by Prince firecracker that's what she nicknamed him, he always loses his temper and explodes at anything so it's a fitting nickname for him. In those three days only two of those he would go and interrogate her but she'd stayed silent.
Liling looked out the small window, wishing she could go out and feel the sun's rays. She heard the sound of the metal clashing with the tides.
"I don't know why she's not talking!" Zuko snapped "She's been here for three days and she hasn't said a word about the Avatar!"
"Maybe you should approach to her in a more gentle way, be a gentlemen towards her and maybe she'll talk." Iroh spoke up. "She is a young lady after all, you have to show a small hint of kindness to get a lady's attention."
"She's not a lady! She's our prisoner!" Zuko snapped
Zuko paced around the room trying to think of what to do with the girl. When he glanced around his uncle was gone. Zuko sat back and started to meditate, later he was thinking of visiting the prisoner to interrogate her.
Liling lightly dozed off in the cold damp cell. That is until she smelled a very familiar scent, her eyes went wide opened seeing Iroh with a tea set. He poured some of the tea in a cup and held it out to her.
Liling stared at the older man handing her a cup, she held the cup but didn't drink it.
"It's Jasmine tea."Iroh said "Though I prefer ginseng more but I thought you would like this one."
"Why are you giving me tea?" Liling asked "if I remember correctly the firenation don't give tea to prisoners."
Iroh glanced at Liling. "It's a little chilly in here so I thought some tea would warm you up." He said
Liling stared at Iroh, he had a certain air around him...more kinder and understanding. 'Like my father...' Liling thought
"My name is Iroh, May I ask what is your name?" Iroh asked
Liling looked at Iroh, she didn't know why but a small voice in her head said that she can talk to him. He didn't look like the other soldiers and it looked like he wouldn't resort to violence unless it was absolutely necessary. She at least should give him an answer as a thanks for the tea.
"My name is Liling." She answered softly.
He smiled at the young girl. "That is a lovely name, for a lovely young lady."He said
Liling smiled at his complement. "My father named me after his love of white Jasmine tea and the sound of the bells chiming." She said with a soft smile.
Zuko waited long enough, he quickly went to the prison hold so that he can interrogate Liling. So far the girl is useless. 'Why can't she tell me what I want to know?'he thought angrily. 'Is she toying with me?! That peasant!'
He walked even faster to see the prisoner, once he was in the cell his eyes widen that Liling wasn't there. 'She escaped?! But how?!' He thought he ran out the cell. It was impossible for her to escape he had a few guards on her cell and even made sure to chain her up whenever the guards gave her water so she wouldn't use her bending. He ran to the deck until he heard Liling's laugh. He froze as he heard another voice...his uncle's voice.
"Is that so?" Iroh asked letting out a small chuckle
Liling laugh died down only now was in small giggles.
"Yes! It was so much fun! That is until I had to help him gather all the hog monkeys to the zoo...and I got grounded for that...but it was so funny the look on Kuzon's face." Liling said
"Uncle! What is the prisoner is doing here?!" Zuko baffled at the two enjoying tea and a few sweets out in the deck.
"I'm talking to our guest."Iroh said "We hardly have anyone new on the ship so it's a good to meet someone new."
"I agree with you on that Iroh."Liling agreed taking a sip of her tea.
"She's not our guest! She's our prisoner!" Zuko snapped grabbing Liling by her wrist yanking her a little too hard.
"Ow! Hey!"Liling snapped yanking her hand back, rubbing her wrist. "You could've asked nicely!"
"I don't have to ask nicely! You're my prisoner!" He snapped "So you'll do as I say!"
"As if I'll obey you!" Liling snapped glaring at him. "You're nothing but a short tempered, whiny little prince!"
A scowl appeared on Zuko's face he grabbed Liling by her wrist yanking her to face him, he realized that the girl was a few inches shorter than him, his golden eyes glaring at her. Liling wasn't scared of his intimidation act.
"Tell me what you know about the Avatar!" He ordered he only kept Liling so that he would learn the Avatar's strengths and weaknesses, if he mastered all of the elements anything that can give him an edge in capturing him. But this girl wasn't cooperating in anything! Liling gave him a blank expression as if she wasn't interested in anything.
Zuko practically yelled at her trying to get her to talk, Liling tried to mentally calm herself down at his outburst. That is until he had something of hers.
"Tell me what you know and I'll give you your stuff back." Zuko said Liling's eyes widen.
"Wait...you have my stuff?! Since when?!" Liling snapped
Zuko smirked. "I didn't steal it, when the pirates caught you, you left your bag near the river."He said Liling tightened her fist, he couldn't have looked in her bag...could he? All she had was a few simple things from her parents that she kept very close to her.
"Give it back..."Liling muttered she lifted her head and glared at him. "Give it back!" She struggled but Zuko pinned her against the wall.
He saw the spark in her eyes again, it was a spark that made him stopped what he was doing staring in her eyes that he unknowingly leaned closer to the girl.
Liling got a good look at the scarred prince, she could see every detail of burnt skin in the large scar over Zuko's face. To be honest she thought he looked scary from far away but up close it actually wasn't so bad. The skin was red and in a couple of spots raw, but overall it had mostly healed. The pigmentation was the only thing that truly had been damaged beyond repair it might've been possible to treat it if it was still fresh an expert waterbending healer could heal it. She stared at his eyes which she thought was a pretty shade of amber. Something she wished she had instead of plain brown eyes.
Liling inherited her fathers black hair and fair porcelain skin, she wished she had either her mother's blue eyes or her fathers amber eyes but no she inherited her grandmother's brown eyes. She thought that Zuko's eyes seemed nice if he wasn't glaring at her all the time she would tell him but she won't say it to him.
"I'll give you your stuff back if you tell me what you know."Zuko whispered in her ear.
"Go to hell!" Liling shouted a few soldiers looked at the scene with a few gasps at what the prisoner said.
Zuko growled pushing Liling's into the guards hands gripping her tightly.
"How dare you disrespect me!" He growled "Guards take the prisoner back to her cell, don't give her any food or water until I say so!"
Iroh's went wide looking at his nephew. As they took Liling back to her cell. She stopped for a minute turning her head towards Iroh.
"Thanks for the tea...Jasmine tea is my favorite."Liling said softly before heading back to her cell.
"But prince Zuko don't you think your being a little harsh on the young lady."Iroh said
"I'm only doing this because she's not doing what I ordered her to do!" Zuko snapped
She knew that she had crossed a line for insulting him and not cooperating, she knew what the consequences were, yet she still did it. Because he wanted to use her to extract any information that she knows to hurt Aang, she'd rather die then help prince firecracker capture her best friend.
His brow furrowed in confusion thinking of the girl. He saw a small glimpse of fear even though she tries to hide it. Even though she's scared…she's still going to go through with this...all this for the Avatar and not saving herself? Just how crazy can this girl be?
Two days passed since then and as usual Liling wasn't caving in to anything that Zuko was offering her. She kept her mouth shut, two days with no food or water and yeah she was starving. She didn't have a problem with keeping herself hydrated apparently the ship wasn't built in capturing waterbenders. So whenever there was a shift change even if it's just a few minutes Every few hours that she wasn't being attended she'd at least have a mouth full of water a few times a day. But her stomach was begging for food.
Zuko gritted his teeth trying to meditate in his room. He visited the girl again today and no progress! He thought a few days without food would make her talk, but she's the most stubborn girl he ever met!
Suddenly his uncle's words echoed in his head.
"Maybe you should approach to her in a more gentle way, be a gentlemen towards her and maybe she'll talk." Iroh spoke up. "She is a young lady after all, you have to show a small hint of kindness to get a lady's attention."
He scoffed at the idea, there was no way that could work...could it? He ignored that idea completely. He glanced at Liling's bag wondering why she wanted her bag back. Curiosity got the best of him wondering if there was anything in there that can be used as leverage.
He got up and grabbed the bag reaching inside searching he only found a small Money pouch, some jerky and dried fruit. Some clothes until he came across a few folded up pieces of papers. Zuko unfolded one and saw a portrait of her and two adults which he figured it might be her parents. Their names were written in the edges of the paper. Obviously the man's name is Lee but didn't know which name was the girls name.
Liling hated being in the cell, it got colder during the night especially when it's sailing in the ocean. She kept shivering on the floor wrapping the blanket trying to warm her body, of course she wanted to firebend to keep her warm but didn't want to risk exposing her bending unless it was absolutely necessary.
The room got colder and colder every minute. She manage to huddle in a corner and puffed out small sparks of fire to keep warm being careful of getting caught. The next morning is when things got a bit weird.
"Prince Zuko."the guard said Liling stopped what she did, she shivered a bit. She turn to glare at Zuko.
Suddenly the prison cell's were open letting the scarred prince go in, only to toss a bag towards her. Liling immediately recognized it and grabbed it searching inside for the contents. She found what she was looking for unfolding the paper and smiling softly at the picture of her parents.
"I only took out any potential weapons...So..."Zuko trailed off slightly awkwardly. Liling kept her gaze on the picture.
"It's fine..."she spoke softly she figured she wouldn't get most of her stuff back but as long as she had her pictures it was fine. She looked up at Zuko wondering why he gave her things back to her.
"Take the prisoner out." Zuko ordered
The soldiers nodded and one held Liling while the other chained her wrists.
"Agh! Wait!" he growled softly pinching the bridge of his nose contemplating about his next choice.
There was a moment's pause in which all looked at him. Liling was blinking in confusedly between the guard that had her cuffed and the prince that was currently looking very frustrated even as he glowered at her.
"Take the cuffs off."
"Eh?" Liling said looking at the scarred prince, a bit confused about his behavior.
"Y-your highness?" the guard before her stuttered.
"You heard me" Zuko snapped still not taking his eyes from Liling's face "Take the cuffs off."
The guard was quick in his job of removing the metal bands and hurriedly stepped away just as Zuko stormed up into Liling's face.
"I really want to keep you here chained up." he hissed, his tones almost venomous, though they were only low enough for only her to hear "But for this one time I'll let it you go out without the cuffs, my guards will be watching your every move. If you try to escape I will not hesitate to lock you up for good."
Liling almost had to bite down on her own tongue to stop herself from spitting the words out in his face. She nodded.
"Good" Zuko straightened up and it took all Of Liling had to not punch the smug smirk straight off his scarred face as he barked "Now let's go."
'What is up with him?' Liling thought feeling very confused at the situation. Once she was out in the deck she felt the suns rays hit her skin, warming her body up. She let out a relaxing sigh, she still had to be cautious as to why the prince let her out of her cell.
"Good morning Miss Liling."Iroh greeted
"Good morning Iroh."Liling replied with a small smile.
"Why are you outside?" He asked
Liling shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know all of a sudden prince firecracker just told the guards to let me be outside without the chains...course they're watching me but we're in the middle of the ocean I can't exactly escape."
Iroh nodded wondering why his nephew had a change of heart all of a sudden. 'Maybe he's finally taken an interest in the young lady.' He thought looking at Liling.
"Why don't we have tea?" Iroh asked "Do you play pai sho?"
Liling nodded. "I do play a bit, my grandfather and I had a few interesting matches." She said
"But first you must be starving."Iroh commented a loud growl was heard from Liling, she lightly chuckled alight blush appeared in her cheeks.
"I am a bit hungry..."Liling admitted
There you guys have it! Please leave a review and tell me what you guys think! I'm opened to any suggestions if you guys have any ideas on any Liling/Zuko moments feel free to Pm me!