AN: Sorry for this somewhat boring, shorty of a chapter.
Zuko had made it a habit to see Mingan whenever he could. He was managing to check in on her every day and actually sit down with her for tea or a meal every two days. They didn't necessarily get along, but they both had come to a mutual understanding. Zuko was honor-bound to look after this fiery young woman and Mingan herself decided to be amiable with him because he was her only ally. There were no more physical displays of their aversion for each other, though the discontent had not disappeared. They bickered constantly with Zuko having no patience and a short temper and Mingan still seething with anger. Zuko was trying very hard to keep his temper under control and Mingan was trying just as hard to be civil. She understood Zuko was trying to help but he rubbed her the wrong way. She tried to be nice but it was hard not to swat his nose down when he was always sticking it so far up in the air. Zuko, meanwhile, had to stop himself from shaking her senseless because she was so stubborn. He'd never met anyone as biting and bullheaded as her.
Despite their differences, both were stuck in a situation that would allow them no room to hate each other. They had to work together.
Today, the Prince of the Fire Nation had decided to allow for Mingan to receive a special treat of sorts. They were docking on the south-most tip of the Earth Kingdom to resupply before continuing on the last leg of their journey home. Zuko intended to take Mingan to get some proper clothes. She had been wearing his clothes for the past few weeks because her furs were far too hot for the increasingly warm weather. When they docked around noon, he went to retrieve her from her room.
"We're on Earth Kingdom shores for today, I thought you might want to get on some solid land." He said motioning for her to follow him. She eyed him suspiciously but crept towards him.
"And you're ok with that?" She asked, skeptical that this man with fire for hands would allow her such freedom. They would be on land where she could take off and run unlike the ship where she was confined by railings and water.
"Yes, Mingan," he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "And I was going to have you fitted for some proper clothes."
"What's wrong with this?" She asked tersely motioning to the baggy pants and tunic she wore. They were sagging off of her hips and shoulders severely.
"Women in the Fire Nation don't dress in men's clothing. I realized the South Pole must be fairly unisex but in my nation, there is gendered clothing."
"That's downright illogical…" she muttered under her breath.
"What?" Zuko huffed, annoyed already.
"Nothing," she replied walking past him, "and a waste of time…" she breathed.
Zuko was going to burn her into a pile of ashes if she didn't stop muttering. "You'll find things are very different in the Fire Nation."
"I gathered," she deadpanned.
"There are strict social hierarchies and you'll be at the very, dangling, bottom of the food chain so I suggest you work on your acting skills. My people will not hesitate to burn you at the stake if you disrespect your position in society." Mingan growled a little and crossed her arms. "I'm serious, Mingan. They will actually physically lash out and you and put you in your place if you act out," he informed seriously as they climbed the stairs.
"I can handle myself," she huffed.
"You're not understanding!" He said grabbing her shoulders and spinning her to face him. They were on deck now, a few men casting them sideways glances, others blatantly staring. "If you step one toe out of line you'll be beaten senseless and I might not be around all the time to protect you," he hissed quietly.
Mingan narrowed her eyes, "I don't need protecting, I just said that!" She snarled.
"Yes you do! Ugh, we just- let's just talk about this later ok," he said eyeing the gawking crewman. He had to keep this under wraps. No one could know he was going to help her escape the Fire Nation or that he wasn't actually planning on putting her to work like her "slave" status required. He was going to keep her comfortable and hopefully help her live a fairly normal life while she was with him. If anyone found out… it'd have all kinds of repercussions for him as the next in line to throne of the most powerful country in the world. Not to mention that horrid things that would befall Mingan as well. He grabbed her wrist and hauled her down the gangplank. She yanked out of his grasp and followed behind him, muttering all kinds of curses most of which were along the lines of 'never touching her again' and 'losing body parts.'
When she touched solid ground she came to the unpleasant realization she did not have her land legs. She glanced up at Zuko, saw him waver to one foot then the other as he waited impatiently for her to figure it out. She was positive he must be having the same problems that she was, but was obviously handling it much better. She straightened up and made it a point to walk like the world wasn't tilting under her feet. She stumbled over the smallest discrepancies in the path only serving to make her more frustrated. Zuko led her through the crowded port and into a bustling market.
The people here were dusty, tan and dressed in green. She couldn't help but notice these people passed by her as though she were an equal. No one stared or backed away from her like Zuko's crew had at first. She figured the major difference must be that her skin was not too much darker than these Earth people. The farther they walked the more crowded the road became. Eventually she was being bumped around every other step and she had lost sight of Zuko.
Maybe this was her chance to run…
The second the thought entered her mind pale fingers curled around her wrist and dragged her close. She frowned when her nose bumped into familiar, red clad shoulders. She wouldn't run yet, but she was going to make a break for it before they reached the ship again. Besides, if she waited until after Zuko bought her new clothes, the green fabrics would help her blend into the crowd. Zuko held her tightly to his back as they weaved through the crowd. There was shouting of various goods to be bought, sold and traded. People pulling small carts behind them dotted the road, people dressed in browns, tans, and greens filled all the space between them. Eventually the pair stopped in front of a small shop, the door hanging wide open, the porch coated in a layer of dirt. Zuko led her inside, releasing his hold on her finally.
"Hello! Welcome to Lady Lin's Clothing!" A cheery voice called from the back of the tiny shop. Mingan looked up and around her curiously. There were rolls of fabrics everywhere. Shirts, pants and dresses hung from the walls arranged in what looked to be complete outfits. All around her were tables laden with hair trinkets and broaches and jewelry. There was hardly enough room to walk between the tables and shelves of fabric. "How can I help you two!?" The voice asked again. Mingan tried to see around Zuko but his big, stupid, hulking body was in the way.
"She needs some proper clothes," Zuko said jerking a thumb over his shoulder and side stepping. Mingan could now see the woman the voice belonged to. She was an older lady, grey streaking her brown hair, wrinkles sprawling from the corners of her eyes and lines around her big grin. Mingan couldn't help but smile a little, this was the first truly friendly face she'd seen in a while.
"Excellent, excellent! Follow Lin, dear!" She crowed grabbing Mingan's hand and leading her to the back of the shop. The girl with feathers in her hair was startled at the touch but followed anyways. Lin led her to a doorway covered in fabric, pushed her through gently and turned around to fuss the curtain straight. "Now, what kind of clothes were you interested in dear?" Lin asked, pulling various strings and strips of leather and fabric from her apron pocket.
"I, um, I'm not sure really… I'm not from around here…" she fumbled.
"Yes, those blue eyes of yours certainly are unique," the older lady chuckled happily. "I see your husband is a Fire Nation soldier, I imagine he would love to see you in some reds!" She cried. Mingan opened her mouth to protest but Lin was still talking. "I think I have a few shades of red and pink around here somewhere. My, you are such a peanut!" She crowed as she wound a piece of leather around Mingan's waist. This woman took absolute delight in everything she saw. It was honestly kind of refreshing for Mingan (though she had no idea was a peanut was). She shrieked when the shorter lady yanked Zuko's pants from her hips. Before Mingan even had a chance to cover herself, Lin had snatched the baggy tunic from her torso as well.
"What- what do you think-!" She stuttered, enraged and mortified but Lin continued to talk right over her protests.
"And these wraps must go as well dear, you really have a nice bust but you're keeping it all squashed down with these linens!" She laughed (sounded almost maniacal to Mingan) as she pulled the knot at the base of the wraps. The white strips fluttered to the floor, Mingan shrieking right along with them. She covered her exposed breasts with her arms, her cheeks, and neck flushed pink with embarrassment. "I have some wonderful new undergarments that will work wonders for you! I just got them in from Ba Sing Se, they're all the rage there!" The dress maker bubbled, pulling the other knot at Mingan's hip, releasing the last bits of fabric left on her body.
The Watertribe girl didn't think she'd ever been so mortified. She was standing stark naked in front of a woman she'd only known for three minutes! Despite her efforts, tears of shame and anger pricked her eyes. In the South Pole, no one saw each other naked unless you were a baby, married or elderly. Honestly no one ever even got naked except for the rare bath. "Now, now, dear, none of that! You have a beautiful body, there's nothing to be ashamed of." Lin patted her cheek gently, her voice was now soft with comfort and Mingan felt just a tiny bit better. The woman took a few more measurements, making Mingan nearly yelp in surprise when she wound the cool leather strap around her breasts. "That should do it! Be right back!" Mingan let out a breath when Lin left through the curtain. At least she could have a moment to collect herself. She heard Lin talking with Zuko through the hanging fabric.
"She is such a lovely girl! Is this your honeymoon trip? She still seems a bit modest!" She heard Lin laughing over Zuko's attempts to protest. "That's quite alright though, I have just the thing for her and I'm sure you'll enjoy it too!" Mingan felt her cheeks heat even more at the thought of honeymooning with Zuko. She despised the idea to say the least. "I assume you would like to see her in the colors of your nation? I have a few shades that are just lovely! What part of the Earth Kingdom is she from? Or is she from the colonies? Oh, I'm sure her native colors would look wonderful on her as well! I have just the right greens!" The dress maker was back in the room a few seconds, her hands and arms laden with clothing. "Let's get some underwear on you now, dear."
Out in the shop, Zuko flushed red at Lin's voice. All that kept him from seeing Mingan's (apparently) naked body, was a thin brown curtain. He busied himself with looking around the botique, admiring the fabrics and rubbing the silks between his fingers, most certainly not thinking of the Watertribe girl's bare skin. He was surprised such a small boutique was so up to date with the latest fashions and stocked with such good quality fabrics.
Lin squeezed Mingan into undergarments that were rather uncomfortable compared to her wraps. The bottoms weren't so bad, although it did not cover the tops of her thighs like her old underthings. The thing on her chest though was… bizarre… to say the least. It covered her only her breasts, pushing them up and together, creating what to Mingan was horrifying cleavage. Lin prattled on and on about this new invention called a "bra". It was supposed to work just as well as a corset but only used half the material. The only downside, apparently, was the fact that it did not shape and flatten the torso like a corset. Mingan had no idea what a corset was or half of the other things Lin spoke of. She just knew that she still felt naked even despite wearing underthings. The older woman fitted three bras for her and what seemed like countless pairs of racy underwear. Finally though, she moved on to slipping dresses over her head.
Mingan had only worn a dress a handful of times in her life. The dresses of the South Pole were quite different from these. The fur dresses were not shaped and were only put on as a final layer over pants and tops. These ones though were just slipped right over her underthings. They fit close to all the curves Mingan was unaware she had. Lin spun her around to face a mirror she didn't know was there. She never thought she would feel so uncomfortable about her own body. The dress was nice, she supposed, a pretty shade of green with white lace around the collar and cropping the sleeves that fit closely to her muscular forearms. However, the material hugged her body in a way that made her feel awkward. "Oh it looks so lovely on you! We will definitely put that one in the buy pile!" Eventually Mingan lost track of the things she was put in to. Nearly thirty minutes later Lin had a sizeable stack of things she thought Mingan and Zuko would like to buy. When she left the room though to get pants and tops that Mingan had suggested, she dug through the pile quickly and moved some of the racier garments to the discard pile.
"Would you like to order some dresses to be made?" Mingan heard Lin ask Zuko.
"No, thank you. She just needs something to get her back to the Fire Nation."
It took nearly two hours but finally Mingan was dressed in a close fitting green dress with a high, buttoned collar. This was the outfit Lin insisted she wear out of the store. Zuko paid for the items and Lin bagged the clothes up into a few parcels, stacking them neatly in a small crate.
"Agni, that was awful," Zuko mumbled when they were back out in the street.
"How on earth was it awful for you? I was the one getting poked and prodded!"
"At least you had something to do, I just had to stand there forever. You can only look at the same shirt for so long!" He grunted as someone bumped into him, making the edge of the crate pinch into his gut. "Let's just get back to the ship," he growled.
Mingan barely heard him, she was too busy looking for the chance to slip away into the crowd. She was walking behind Zuko and with all the noise and bustling people, it would be easy to fade into the crowd. She just needed to find the perfect time to do it, but it had to be soon, they were almost back to the ship.
She waited for Zuko to looking straight ahead, preoccupied with wrestling the crate through the hoard of people. She slowed down and darted right, ducking her head below the shoulders of the much taller and bulkier Earth Kingdom citizens. She had made it thirty feet from Zuko without him noticing. If she could just get out of the road and slip behind a building she could head into the surrounding woods. A hand wrapped around her upper arm tightly jerking her to stop. She barely managed to hold down the shriek that crawled up her throat.
"Going somewhere?" The slimy voice asked. She looked up and nearly brushed noses with Zhao. Her blood ran hot with anger.
"No," she bit back.
"Have you gotten lost from Prince Zuko?" Zhao asked tightening his grasp. The flesh under his hand started to heat.
"Y-yes. I got lost in the crowd," Mingan answered, trying to pull away from the heat of his hand.
"Good. For a moment I thought you might be trying to escape. We can't have that, now can we?" Zhao grinned a slick smile, his palm heating more intensely. Mingan nearly cried out, sure her skin was bubbling into blisters. "I really don't understand why he let you off the ship to begin with." She glared up at him and tried to yank her arm from his grasp. He only pulled her closer, his malicious grin much too close to her face.
"Zhao," Zuko's voice cut through the noise.
"Prince Zuko, how nice to see you! It seems your slave girl got lost in the crowd. I was just escorting her back to your ship." Mingan almost shuddered with the fake syrupy sweetness in his voice.
"I see. We need to be getting back, we'll be leaving in just a few hours." She could tell Zuko was having none of Zhao's sucking up.
"Of course, Prince Zuko. I'm just glad I found your girl when I did. Who knows what kind of vile things these Earth Kingdom men could've done…" The comment of self-praise solicited many sharp looks from passerby's. Zuko grunted in response and shifted the crate to his hip. "Come on, Mingan," he said grabbing her other wrist, successfully pulling her from Zhao's grasp. "I'll see you in the Fire Nation, Admiral Zhao."
"What do you think you're doing?" He hissed in her ear once Zhao was out of earshot.
Mingan ripped her hand away from his. "Just what he said," she growled, "I got lost in the crowd." Smoke poured from Zuko's nostrils and small flames licked past his lips. She smirked. It was so easy to get him riled up.
"Let's just go," he growled, stomping off towards the ship, pushing her in front of him so he could keep an eye on her.
She saw her chances slipping farther and farther away the closer they came to the ship and with Zuko keeping such a close watch on her, she had no idea how she was going to escape. The ship was now in clear view, the crowd was thinning out a little now. If she was going to do it, it had to be now. Without a second thought she bolted into the crowd. She heard Zuko swear loudly behind her. If she could just get to an open space she could really open up and run, her legs would carry her far away from Zuko and the Fire Nation. But there were too many people. She didn't have enough weight to throw around and break through the throngs of people and occupant Fire Nation soldiers. "Catch her!" Zuko shouted. She ducked under the arms of a man dressed in military uniform. There were too many people! She was stuck behind a wall of dock workers. She threw herself against their backs but they didn't budge.
"Move!" She cried, "Move! Move!" Screaming profanities, she ripped into their backs with her fingernails, kicking their calves in a desperate attempt to get through them. Suddenly Zuko was upon her and a large dock worker was swinging a fist towards her face. She yelped in surprise and covered her face but the blow never came. She peeked out from behind her arms and saw Zuko's hand latched around the man's fist. She was yanked up by the nape of her shirt and shoved forward violently with the Prince's free hand.
"You stupid girl!" Zuko snarled, shoving her again. She turned to hit him but he grabbed both of her wrists in his hot grasp. "I have had it with you, Mingan!" She was positive all the fire inside of him was going to spill out of every orifice. "I've tried to- Son of Agni- you are so ungrateful!" She rolled her eyes so hard she thought she might have seen her brains. She'd had it with this stupid argument. He was always telling her she should be grateful to him and she would yell back that she had nothing to be grateful for because if it weren't for him, she never would have been in this situation to begin with.
Instead of getting in another throat-ripping fist fight with him she just said, "You knew I had to at least try." And it was with perhaps the most wicked grin she'd ever produced.
"Agni!" He bellowed, spitting fire into the air.
He dragged her back gracelessly to the ship and practically threw her in her room. When the door slammed, for some reason, hysterical laughter bubbled up inside her. She laughed until tears leaked from her eyes, but they were not happy tears. Her laughs turning into sobs, heart wrenching cries that twisted deep in her chest. She rolled in on herself, tucking her arms around her knees, rocking on her heels. Eventually she collapsed back on her bottom, screams tearing through her throat. She had been so close. She just wanted to go home. She was going crazy.
Zuko stormed around the ship, shouting orders and yelling at men for things he would not normally raise his voice over. It didn't matter what he did, that blasted girl with feathers in her hair made him feel like a fool! He growled when a piece of rope got caught around his foot, shooting flames at it and disintegrating it. He looked up and saw Captain Jee staring at him with a raised eyebrow. Zuko straightened up, tugged the hem of his shirt and left. He decided it might be a good time to do some practicing.
Later, after letting off some steam and helping set out to sea again, Zuko found a moment of peace in his room. He was meditating, something he was always nagged to do by Uncle Iroh, but ultimately finding it to be useful. Somehow though, instead of allowing each thought to pass through his mind, Mingan had weaseled her way in. He was so angry with her, but he also didn't blame her. If he was in the same situation he would've done everything to escape too. Although, he did think she had a little more tenacity than he did. If he were trapped on that god forsaken ice floe she called home, he would've tried to plan an escape before just randomly attempting one with no forethought. He knew he wouldn't have been able to escape the South Pole alive due to the weather conditions and also the fact that there was a huge ocean between him and home. He very well might have just sulked until someone came to save him. But here Mingan was, giving it everything she had to escape no matter the impossible circumstances. She would swim back home if she had to, she'd proven that before. He had a mind to think she did things on sheer, unadultered impulse with no preemptive thinking. She was resolved; he had to give her at least that.
He was just trying to make up for his mistakes. He constantly wished he would've just given the order to release her. He knew she would have turned tail and none of them would have ever seen her again. But he hadn't. He had been stupid and panicked and pompous. He had been more concerned with saving his reputation than for the life of an innocent (albeit bull-headed and prying) woman. He didn't blame her for hating him. His thoughts wandered a bit, memories of his childhood passing by. He thought of his mother frequently, missing her every day. He wondered what she would think if she were still home and he dragged a dark skinned girl through the palace, claiming her as his slave. He doubted Ursa would be very happy. He wished his Uncle had been there that day Mingan invaded camp, he would have known what to do. Zuko was sure his uncle would be very disappointed in him for doing this to her. He felt the flames of the candles intensify and shook the thoughts from his head. He was curious if Mingan had always been so vicious and biting. After all those days he spent talking with her and learning about her people, he would like to think she was a very pleasant, kind girl. But, she'd turned into a rabid animal the second she was caught in the camp. He supposed that was just natural though, she had been fighting for what she thought was her life. And now he'd caged a very free and very purely wild bird. What else did he expect? That she would become a pleasant little songbird and sing to him when he gave her scraps of a good life? Of course not. He knew she would turn into a dangerous animal that bit the hand that fed her. He never expected her to turn into a full-fledged dragon though.
Honestly, after she attacked him in the hall that day, he couldn't stop thinking about how he had never seen a woman act out like that. Sure women were pretty equal to men in the Fire Nation, he supposed. Proletariat citizens were more liberated than the aristocracy he was raised with of course. Women of that class could join the military, for example, and earn fairly equal pay in the workplace as well. They were still expected to fill certain roles of course, like raising children and keeping the house, outside of that they were treated pretty equally.
But that was not his world.
He was raised with everyone on earth underneath him. After all, besides his father and Uncle, he was the most powerful man in the world. The women he was raised to know were delicate creatures with sharp teeth and claws that could easily sow dissension into even the most loyal subjects, if allowed. They were beneath men, they could not be council members or heads of the military. They were not supposed to be anything but pleasing, fragile and docile. Or at least, those were the things that made up a perfect woman. Azula was none of those things. Then again she was a princess and therefore the rules did not exactly apply to her. So when Mingan had lashed out at him so viciously, it had stunned him. He certainly did not peg her as even on the same plan of existence as Azula, but after that encounter, he wondered if she and his sister were more alike than he originally thought.
Zuko couldn't help but worry about how she would adjust to life in the palace. She would be at the very bottom of the social ladder but that wouldn't stop her from acting out. He knew she would never allow herself to become domesticated. She was a creature born of wind and snow that was never meant to be caged in any way. She had told him most of her days were spent by herself, miles away from her village, hunting. She would spend upwards of five days on the ice at a time. Longer if game was scarce. He thought he recalled her telling him she never returned home without something to give, spending twelve days on the ice on one occasion. He knew she must've been very loved among her people. She was a major provider for food that was otherwise impossible to catch by large hunting parties. He snorted, annoyed. He had written down everything in a journal that she had told him, and now he was curious to review it. She had distracted him irrevocably, once again.
He lit the sconces in his room with a wave of his hand and dug through a desk drawer for the black leather journal. He perched on the edge of his bed and flipped past the drawings of the animals Mingan had renamed for him. He found the entry where she had told him about how providing food for her village worked. Apparently fish and seals were the main food stuffs in the South Pole. Fisherman would go out every day on the boats and fish just off shore, spearing the seals that swam by looking to pick off fish from the nets. She had also mentioned aquatic plants and something called a sea prune. She had told him that while fish and seals kept the village going, there was always still a need for more. Individual tribesman would hunt throughout the year for small game like rabbits, artic hens, and slightly larger game like antelope goats and the occasional ox if it were close to the village because the furry beasts had a lot of dense meat that would need to be carried back. She briefly explained that once every summer hunting parties would go out and take down dozens of caribou. Afterwards the meat would be preserved for the long winters. Then, towards the end of winter, when food was starting to dwindle, the village would go whaling. Zuko had been particularly fascinated by this. He had seen whales before, they were impossibly huge and automatically ruled out as too large to even think about hunting. He couldn't fathom how such an archaic people could possibly have the technology to kill the huge animals let alone drag them out of the water. But, Mingan told him it was possible, a lot of work and very dangerous, but a necessary risk to be taken for the huge amounts of food and other vital materials the animals provided.
Zuko flipped the page, scanning over his sweeping, delicate letters. There were short passages about a few crops that were grown and harvested in the short summers, breads and noodles and lots of ways seaweed could be prepared. He found the scribbled footnote that said Mingan figured she steadily fed at least eight people with her kills, and supplemented many more.
Guilt spread through his body again. He had put her in a room, a cell, no matter how nice it was, and expected her to be pacified with his unspoken resolve to get her back to her home in who knows how many years. He hated how much he had taken from her. And he knew if he were ever to return her, it would most likely mean finally bringing the Fire Nation to the South Pole. Permanently.
AN: So I tried to get a little insight into Zuko. I also feel I'm characterizing Mingan just the way I want in some aspects, but doing a sorry job of it in others. She's actually a very sweet girl (although a little rough around the edges) but captivity has really turned her into a mean person. Let me know if I made that part of her character clear enough, if you recognized that part of her before I ever mentioned it here. It would be greatly appreciated because she is one of my first OC's that I'm really proud of and I desperately want her to be the character I envisioned. Plus I really want to improve my writing skills
Also, if you find yourself not liking Mingan to much, just give her a chance, she definitely has some growing up to do and it WILL happen.