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Chapter 9: Green Leaves from the Vine

Iroh watched as his young ship's boy kicked two fire blasts toward one of three of the prince's young lieutenants. The man raised his arms in protection but he was still sent flying and crashed to the cold, hard metal ground. As Huo landed, the two other men simultaneously shot fire streams at the young, agile boy. Huo was engulfed in a ball of flames but he dissipated the fire by moving his hands in a circular motion and breaking the flow of chi.

The Prince smiled. He's learning remarkably well. We just started learning that defensive move last week. Considering he's only been learning Firebending for a month...

As Huo took on a fighting stance again, one of the Lieutenants advanced, shooting three fire blasts in rapid succession. Huo effortlessly dodged the first one, dissipated the second with a grunt, dodged the third, and rushed forward. When the man jumped up and sent two fire arcs in his direction, Huo tumbled underneath the flames and extended his leg, throwing the older man off balance. He flipped over several times and crashed to the ground, but Iroh had trained him well, too, and the Lieutenant stood up right away.

Huo, now in between two of Iroh's best Lieutenants, caught the fire stream of the man in front of him head on while also kicking back the guy that was charging from behind, knocking him down. Retaliating with fire blasts of his own, Huo managed to knock down the man in front. Point for Huo. Quickly turning back and forth to defend himself against incoming fire blasts from both men, Huo powered up his own attack and fired it at the man in front of him, sending the lieutenant flying all the way up to the crow's next where he stayed, smoking a little once he was stationary.

The other man, stunned by his comrade's inpromptu flight, stared up to the crow's nest and didn't see Huo's fist coming straight at him. He was thrown against the side of the ship, completely unconscious. There was silence except for Huo's hard breathing for a moment, and then...

Iroh's second jumped excitedly in the air and threw some unnecessary fire bursts up. "Woo-hoo! That was awesome!"

Even Iroh was impressed. He clapped and gave out a whistle. "Huo, that was great! Your stance could be a bit better, but—"

"It was perfect and you know it," the cheeky young boy said with a little bit of blush on his cheeks. He wasn't used to getting complimented by Iroh. "So, what's next?" His tan eyes were alight with adrenaline and excitement still.

The General stood up and looked at the position of the sun. It was almost time for dinner—time had really gotten away from him. He put a hand to his second's sweaty head and rustled his messy bun. "Dinner time and then music night!"

The scowl that distorted the younger male's face surprised him. "Aw man, come on, Iroh, I'm doing great! We can't stop now!" Huo picked up his fists in front of his face and jabbed out a few punches. "Come on, let's go a round, you and me!"

Iroh actually laughed for the first time in a long time. "Hah, that's funny, kid. You aren't ready to face a Master yet." Actually his back was still aching a little from the hit he'd taken during their fire dagger fight a few days ago. They had been practicing fire blades—thin streams of concentrated fire that were used like daggers. The kid had actually gotten in a good hit but hadn't turned off his blade of fire in time. Iroh wouldn't admit that to Huo, though.

The lip Huo put out almost made him look cute. "Then teach me the advanced set! Defensive moves and the basics will only get me so far. How am I supposed to protect you if I don't know what I'm gonna be up against? As your second, it's an obvious choice."

He has a point. Iroh sighed and pushed the kid towards the hold. "Fine. Starting tomorrow, you'll learn the advanced set. Go get a shower and some food. If I don't see you at music night, you're in trouble, you hear me?"

"Awesome! Advanced set, here I come!" Huo gave an almost girlish squeal and rushed into the depths of the ship. Iroh just shook his head and actually smiled for the first time in a while. He was getting used to having another ship's boy. And the kid wasn't half bad, he had to admit.

He walked towards the officers mess and sighed. Now he just had to retrain his Lieutenants because obviously they were getting their asses kicked out there by a little kid! Besides that, it was a kid who only knew the basics. He hoped that that didn't say anything about his old training style.

HHH

I liked getting out of practice early because that meant that there was enough time for me to run to the restroom, take a shower, and get out before any other men were there for the change of shift. Still, I double checked and always set up my trap—just a little wedge of wood that I shoved under the door to keep it closed. While it wouldn't keep out someone forever, it gave me a few extra seconds to cover up and pretend like the door had gotten stuck. I used it for the restroom, too, because sometimes a girl's just gotta go and ten seconds on the toilet isn't quite long enough.

I raced through dinner, extremely excited to get to music night and show off my lute skills. Then, bed, because the sooner I went to sleep, the sooner I'd be able to practice the advanced set! Some of the other men weren't as excited as I was about music night. Apparently it was a mandatory event and every crew member had to learn an instrument. Or sing.

As much as I wanted to sing, I didn't exactly have a low singing voice. My mother used to call me songbird when I was little because I could sing up to the skies like them. She called it soprano or something like that. I just liked playing and singing and being with her.

The small memory, while it made my heart clench, also made me smile. Her memory was starting to hurt less and make me remember more. That was how it was supposed to happen...it had just taken a while for me.

I saw Genji sitting stiffly over by a few other Lieutenants. The ones I had beaten that morning, actually. They all looked a little worse for wear and eyed me warily when I walked up to them. "I come in peace," I joked. They just threw me shade and left, leaving me alone with a disgruntled-looking Lieutenant Genji. I poked him in the side and he grimaced. "What's wrong with you, Mr. Grump?"

He scooted away from me and cradled his ribs. "Just a little sore from practice. A boulder to the ribs is a little worse than fire." He glanced over his shoulder at the other Lieutenants and chuckled a little before holding his fist out to me. I bumped it with a smirk. "Good job on that, by the way. Iroh chewed them out at dinner."

If only they knew I was a girl, I thought with an even wider grin on my face. "Well, y'know, getting beat up by a kid who only knows the basics...that's pretty bad."

"Yeah." Genji's mood dropped again. Everyone else on board seemed pretty happy but he was still moping. "I really don't like music night."

I blinked a few times. It made sense, in all honesty. Genji was all straight-laced and proper, but music was wild. Music changed keys and jumped octaves and didn't take direction from anyone other than the composer or the player. And that didn't fit in with his style.

"Can't play?" I finally asked.

"Tone deaf, actually."

"Well, can you at least keep a beat?" He nodded and I pointed to the box beneath him. "Pound on that like a drum when someone's playing. It'll give a good boom." Just then I saw Iroh calling me over. I said goodbye to Genji and ran over to the general. "Yes sir?"

I'd never seen Iroh look so...I don't know, relaxed? Yeah, relaxed was a good term. His eyes looked merry and he was dressed down for a change. Just a simple black cotton shirt that clung to his wide chest and a pair of maroon training pants. Even his feet were bare, which I was sure I'd never see again. "What do you play?"

Another test? I wondered hesitantly. It couldn't be that difficult though, so I said, "I can play the lute pretty well, I guess."

"Here." He handed me a beautiful, well-oiled lute seemingly out of nowhere. Like he knew that I played. It was probably one of the most gorgeous instruments I'd ever laid my eyes on.

I caressed the neck and thumbed the strings, glad to hear them well-tuned and ready to go. "I, ah..." I couldn't meet his eyes because mine were watering up. I cleared my throat. "Thank you, sir." It's like the one my mother used to have.

A large hand slapped me on the back and I coughed from the roughness. "Not a problem, Huo. But this just means that you're gonna have to play something for us!'"

I looked up to see that many of the officers and enlisted men were sitting together. They were all scattered about, but everyone was drinking and playing and having a good time. When Iroh announced that I was playing something, though, all eyes went to me. I kind of froze up before Zargo, sitting a few crates away, yelled, "What're you gonna play for us, laddie?"

"Um..." I started just playing something, anything. If I was going to sing, I had to lower my voice, make myself sound like a boy. As I played the tune settled and then the lyrics clicked in my brain. I thought about my mother, my father, and all of the poor people who had been lost in the raid on Jang-Hui. "My, uh, my mom used to sing me this song. I guess it's a good song to sing now.

"Leaves from the vine

Falling so slow

Like fragile, tiny shells

Drifting in the foam."

Everyone else seemed to know the song. Those who could sing and knew the words continued with the second verse. Even Iroh, who I never thought I'd ever hear sing, was singing softly next to me. His voice was low and rich and sounded wonderful to my ears.

"Little soldier boy

Come marching home

Brave soldier boy

Comes marching home."

"That was beautiful, laddie," Zargo said, wiping a tear from his eye. "It takes a lot to make this old codger tear up!"

Li suddenly stood up from across the deck and said, "Alright, enough with the sad songs! Someone play me a jig!

It's a long, long way to Ba Sing Se,

But the girls in the city they look so pret-tay!"

I laughed and handed my lute back to Iroh who was being suddenly very quiet. "Looks like Li's had a little to much to drink already."

"They look so sweet that you've really got to meet,

The girls from Ba Sing Se!"

"Hm. Yeah." A girl would have asked Iroh what was wrong. But, the longer that I pretended to be a boy, the more I realized about how men acted around each other. I just sat there and waited for him to tell me. "You know, I was named after my grandfather's uncle."

I nodded. "Yeah. The Dragon of the West, right?"

He gave an affirmative grunt and looked out at his men. All of them were laughing and having a good time...even Genji was giving off a smirk. A smirk! I'd never thought I'd see something like that from him. "My grandfather would tell me all of these amazing stories about him. From his times in the war to forming the White Lotus and helping the Avatar stop my great-grandfather from destroying the Earth Kingdom."

The words great-grandfather made my heart stop but only for a bit. I played off my small panic attack and laughed at Kojo performing some strange Water Tribe dance to the amusement of everyone, even Zargo. "I've only ever heard wonderful stories, sir."

"The one story that stuck with me the most was when my grandfather told me about Iroh wanting to start up music night on the ship." I looked over to see that the general's eyes were gleaming in amusement. "The old man wanted my grandfather to play the sumki horn—which is outrageous." He threw his hand towards one of the cooks who was bellowing away on the giant, obnoxious horn. "My grandfather eventually picked it up later, after Iroh died. But I wanted the story to live on. So I started up music night on all of my ships."

Getting to know Iroh always proved interesting. He gave off this rather bland outward appearance of General when in all honesty he loved to play music, laugh, and be normal like the rest of us every so often. "I think that's great. Everyone's enjoying it!" I was going to say more but a sharp pain hit me in the abdomen. I sucked air in through my teeth and put a hand over—

My eyes widened and I almost freaked out right then and there. Iroh finally looked at me from the corner of his eye. "You alright?"

No, no, no, no, this can't be happening! "Um, I...ah, I don't think dinner is sitting so good. I'm gonna..." Nausea flew through my body and I got a little dizzy. "I don't feel well. I'm gonna check in for the night."

Iroh's concerned eyes met mine. "Are you sure?"

I nodded and bolted for the hull. I ran into the bed quarters and grabbed whatever cloth I could find. Then I ran to the restroom, stuck the wedge under the door, and dealt with the one thing that I cursed the Spirits for once every moon.

My moon's blood had come.

How in Koh's name could I have forgotten something so crucial to being a woman? It came every month like clockwork and I'd just played it off like it was never going to happen again. Well, there it was, punching me in the gut and proclaiming to the world, Look, this here's a woman! It was about two weeks late, which was strange, but I'd forgotten to keep track of it in my month-and-a-half on board.

I did what I normally did to my underwrappings every moon's blood and then sulked back to my hammock. I could already feel the cramps, swelling, and nausea that normally came along with the first day of the blood. If I could make it past the first day, I'd be fine...but there was no way around missing out on learning the advanced sets for the next day. Shit.

III

In the month and a half that he'd been training Huo, the boy had never been late. Iroh had been worried during music night when Huo had said he hadn't been feeling well, but the prince had figured that it would blow over.

Now he was standing over a food-poisoned ship's boy who was puking his guts up in the infirmary. "Yeah, you sure look okay," the doctor had said when Iroh had walked in.

"I'll be fine," Huo said gently. His face was bloated and he looked so green that it made Iroh ill. "It was the cuttlefish. It always gets me!" The boy saw that Iroh was there and he paled and greened at the same time—a phenomenon Iroh would have to look into later. "General, I'm so sorry!"

Iroh just looked at his ship's boy and patted him on the head. "Get to feeling better, Huo. Just stay away from the cuttlefish and don't make this a regular thing and we'll be fine."

The boy nodded nervously. "O-of course, General. Now I'm just going to lie here in agony, if you don't mind." The prince bolted as soon as the boy started retching again.

It never occurred to him that no one else had gotten food poisoning.