Chapter 4: Breaking the Ice
I don't know how long I was out of it.
All I knew is that one moment I was looking out the kitchen window and the next minute everything was dark and cold, and my whole body was aching.
I tried to struggle but I couldn't move an inch.
I was so tired couldn't even cry out for help.
There was no hope of anyone coming to get me out.
Or so I thought…
Zuko couldn't believe his eyes as he scrambled to his feet.
All over the bow of his ship, almost a small mountain of ice and snow everywhere.
Who'd have thought one small air bender could cause such damage.
He was only stopped from yelling in anger by Iroh's small puffs of breath.
"Good news for the Fire Lord. The Fire Nation's greatest threat is just a little kid"
"That kid, Uncle, just did this. I won't underestimate him again" Zuko snapped as he gingerly stood to his feet.
He looked up and his eyes narrowed as he caught sight of the flying bison soaring away into the sky.
"Take the ship out and follow them" He shouted back at the crew, only to stop short at the sight that met him.
Three of his guards were literally frozen in place, as three of their fellows did their best to thaw away the ice that encased them with their fire bending.
Zuko almost face palmed.
"As soon as you're done with that"
There was a silence in which he quickly turned back to the piles of snow and ice that covered his ships bow.
Now that he was looking at it properly, he was willing to bet that there was quite a fair bit of damage. Much of it that would need immediate repair.
"We won't be able to follow him will we?" he mumbled, doing his best to avoid his uncle's sympathetic gaze as the older man stepped beside him.
"No we won't" Iroh shook his head sadly. "We'll have to pull into port as quickly as possible"
"I was so close! I almost had him!" the prince hissed as he shut his eyes and turned his face down.
"I know" Iroh's eyes softened as he gently put a hand on his nephew's shoulder only for it to be shrugged off roughly.
"Call the crew up for a head count" Zuko muttered, his tone as bitter as the cold air about them bitterly "I want as many able people as possible to shovel all this snow off my ship"
Everything was dark.
Jade couldn't feel anything save her own heartbeat.
She tried to speak but for some reason she was too tired to even make a sound.
s-so…c-c-cold…
She shivered uncontrollably but for some reason she could not bring her arms about herself to warm her body.
Something heavy was weighing down on all her limbs, something freezing.
s-snow? But how?
But even as she tried to think, her thoughts only fell away into darkness.
"Alright!" Iroh coughed as he looked over the entirety of the thirty or so fairly battered crew. "That should be everyone accounted for"
"Good! Then anyone who is not too injured help move or thaw the snow! I want this ship ready to move as fast as possible" Zuko snapped before turning on his heel and stalking away to stand at the side of the ship doing his best to ignore all the murmurings behind his back.
"Tch! Typical. We're all going to be busting our backs while he goes off and broods"
"I know! And right after we got beaten up by the Avatar too"
"You know I don't really blame them for complaining" a guard mumbled to Ruishi who was standing at the back of the crowd "personally I just wanna go downstairs and grab a bite before doing anything else for that palace brat"
Ruishi nodded quietly, but even as he looked about his face turned troubled.
No matter how hard he looked he could not see a familiar small feminine figure amongst the crew members.
"Shen" He hissed to his son who was standing beside him looking just as worriedly.
"I know" the younger man muttered "But I can't see her anywhere either"
"I see" Ruishi sighed heavily only to grab the attention of Iroh who was looking in his direction.
"Lieutanant Ruishi what's wrong?"
Ruishi cleared his throat quickly "Sorry Lord Iroh, but it appears we have one more crewmember unaccounted for. My daughter Jade"
"What? Jade's not here?" Iroh's face dropped into a mask of worry.
He was not the only one. At the mention of the young girl's name, many of the crew from the highest of guards to the lowest of engineers, all looked about anxiously, their faces paling as they caught no sign of the young girl's face amongst them.
Indeed even the ship's captain looked troubled as he asked.
"Are you sure she's not in her room?"
"Maybe" Ruishi frowned "but you sent the order about the entire ship to meet on deck. She would have heard that definitely."
"yeah" Shen nodded "and Lucky would never disobey emergency ship protocol that's for sure"
"Could she have been somewhere else perhaps? Maybe a quiet place to sit and think?" Iroh suggested helpfully though he had a sinking feeling developing in the pit of his stomach. A feeling that only grew as several crew members shook their heads.
"Well she wasn't in the engineering department that's for sure" An engineer piped in as he took off his breathing mask.
"And I didn't see her near the guards lounge" a lieutenant grunted.
"Nor the mess hall" The cook Dango rubbed his bearded chin.
"Hey! What about the command tower?" another guard piped in. "She was there just before Prince Zuko's squad arrived at the water tribe village"
"That's right she was!"
"Yeah! I remember that! The prince challenged her to a duel at sundown!"
"Quan!" Ruishi barked and the small old helmsman jumped in fright as the taller man glowered at him. "you saw her last at the helm didn't you?"
"y-yes Ruishi I did" Quan nodded sheepishly. "But she didn't stay long. She left to go down to the kitchens"
"the kitchens?" Shen breathed looking up at his father with dawning horror. "But then wouldn't she be-oh no!"
There was a horrified silence as both father and son turned to look at one another, their faces paler than death warmed up.
"Prince Zuko. I think your duel is going to have to wait-" Iroh leaned over to whisper at his nephew, only to find the spot he was talking to completely empty.
"Zuko?"
Zuko's heart was pounding as he ran fast down another set of stairs, his feet carrying him further and further down towards the lower part of the ships bow.
Must be getting close
He mused as a cold chilly air swept over him from the front, blowing snow up into his face.
Indeed as he proceeded to run further, he could see massive chunks white stick out of the walls, over the floor and even indent the ceiling.
Thankfully most of it was snow which he could easily kick out, but occasionally he had to use his fire bending to knock out large chunks of ice sharp pieces of ice jutted out in front of him.
However apart from that he couldn't see or hear any sign of anyone.
He quickly stopped and looked about him.
Maybe no one was down here…maybe she was in another part of the ship.
He thought though something in his gut was nudging him badly.
He did his best to shrug it off.
"Hello?" he called loudly but unsurely "Is anyone there?"
There was silence, save for the gusts of cold wind streaming in from a gaping hole in the wall of the ship.
He didn't know quite what to make of it.
On the one hand it might have been a good sign. No one might have been down here when the avalanche hit. With such damages to the ship they'd need nearly all the hands they could spare in getting it back to a port.
On the other hand it also worried him.
What if someone had been down here and had been trapped? Even if they weren't injured they'd still probably die from the cold. In spite of all his rather dangerous travels, no one had died in service on his ship and he wasn't going to let them start doing so now.
"HEY!" He bellowed out loudly in his most commanding tone "IF ANYONE IS DOWN HERE RESPOND NOW! THAT'S AN ORDER"
Alright so it wasn't his best choice of words, but even so Zuko wasn't quite sure what else to say. In his two years at sea, there had never been such a catastrophe like this.
But even so it seemed as if the cry did the job for even as he made to step forwards, a whimper sounded, a whimper of pain.
Zuko quickly dashed forwards towards the sound which seemed to be coming from an opening in the wall up ahead.
His eyes widened as he caught sight of the wall of snow nearly taller than him was pouring out of the metal door...but worse still was the sight of the small slender hand sticking out of it.
Without even pausing to think he dove right for the limb, his hands clawing wildly at the snow as he did his best to dig.
His hands were almost numb with cold but he didn't take notice as he managed to uncover an elbow, then a shoulder and then a familiar head of brown hair.
"wh-who? Wh-what?" Jade mumbled, her green eyes slowly opening slowly to look blearily up at Zuko who rolled his own eyes.
"just shut up and keep still!" he muttered darkly as he made to quickly tug her out by the shoulders.
The prince couldn't help but shudder even as he made to assess her up close.
She was completely chilled right down to the bone. Her red robes, that had once been loose on her, were now soaking wet and clinging to her entire body which was so pale that it was turning blue.
"Ugh…"
Zuko quickly looked down into her face and saw to his alarm that Jade's eyes were beginning to shut with fatigue.
"No! stay awake! Come on!" Zuko quickly slapped her cheeks hard, but still her eyelids continued to droop.
As her body relaxed against his he cursed softly.
Great! When I want her to shut up she doesn't! But when I don't want her to shut up she falls unconscious!
The avatar had escaped him, his ship was damaged and now he had to look after a half frozen girl.
"this is just ridiculous" he grumbled as he shook his head out and glared down at the girl in his arms. "great now what do I do?"
There was no response.
Jade was completely unconscious now and still very much cold.
Zuko groaned pinched the bridge of his nose.
"It just had to be you didn't it?!"
Quickly he scooped her up into his arms, doing his best to keep her as close to his body as he puffed out small bursts of fire from his mouth.
It was a trick his uncle had taught him when he'd been younger to ward of the cold and though it was small the flames were still fairly hot.
He was relieved to hear the soft grunts as Jade stirred once more, her eyes barely opening a sliver.
"Shen" She mumbled and Zuko was surprised to see her give a tiny smile up at his face, though admittedly it was a dazed one.
"I'm not your brother" He rolled his eyes once more, only to flush pink as the disoriented girl in his arms shut her eyes and, still smiling, wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Hmmm… Shen… you're so warm … so soft" She giggled and Zuko went rigid as stone as she snuggled her head into the crook between his armour and his exposed neck.
"Err…" he gulped doing his best to ignore the warm breaths tickling his skin. "I'm not Shen…I-I…"
But even as he tilted his head down to glower at her his voice fell away. She had fallen back asleep again, her shivers slowly but surely dying out to be replaced by deep even breaths as her frozen body absorbed his body heat.
The prince growled to himself and quickly shook his head out, like a horse trying to rid itself of flies.
What the hell am I doing?!
"Agh!"
He growled up at the ceiling, small puffs of smoke literally puffing out his nostrils.
It didn't help his anger when a small mound of snow on a railing above him suddenly fell down on top of his head.
This just wasn't his day.
All in all it had taken nearly five whole hours for the entire crew to either shovel off or melt the giant mounds of snow from the ships deck. By that time dusk had just fallen and everyone's stomachs were growling hungrily.
"Man I could do with some meat now" a fire bending guard grunted to his colleagues as they made to blast the last small pile of snow away.
"Yeah" one of them nodded "I hope the kid's got something hot cooking downstairs"
"I'm afraid that won't be possible tonight" a voice rumbled behind them and everyone turned to see Iroh striding up from below deck, his jolly face unusually grim.
"Lord Iroh" the guards all bowed respectfully, but the old man put up a hand.
"The kitchens have been damaged by the avalanche. Jade was nearly frozen by the snow. But do not worry" he steamrolled as many gasps and shouts of horror suddenly burst all about him "Prince Zuko has taken her to the ship doctor to receive medical treatment."
"Is it serious?" an engineer frowned as his partner beside him looked nervously about.
"Someone should tell Ruishi"
"Jade's father and brother have already been informed and are with her now" Iroh's face softened with a small smile "but she won't be in any state to be receiving any more visitors. Therefore we should push on with our duties"
"And what about the food? Who's going to cook?" a sailor grumbled darkly only for the fat form of Dango the cook to scowl angrily.
"I will! I'm still the head cook 'round here you lout! Now quit your griping or else I'll have you on wash up duty for the whole week. And that goes for all you complainers!" He yelled at the rest of the crew with a dark scowl.
Iroh chuckled.
Well at least now things were going back to normal…somewhat…
"Is she going to be ok Chan?"
"She should be fine. A few days of good unbroken rest and solid meals and she'll be as right as rain."
"if she even stays in bed for more than an hour"
"Shen"
"What?! You know as well as I do father that she'll be bouncing like a balloon as soon as she-"
There was a small groan.
"-wakes…up…"
Four men, two young and two middle aged, turned to look quickly as the young girl on the bed stirred.
The taller of the younger men rushed forwards at once as a pair of light green eyes peered up in half a daze.
"Sh-Shen" she shivered as her brother smoothed out the top of her head soothingly.
"Shhh…its ok Jade. I'm here and so is father"
Jade's smile widened as her father quietly stepped forwards to sit on the edge of the ship's cot.
All of them were too happy to notice how doctor Chan's brow was furrowed as he stroked his beard.
Quietly he leaned over so as to murmur softly to Prince Zuko who stood beside him, his face a scowling mask.
"It was a good thing you found her when you did your highness. It could have been a lot worse"
Zuko nodded once, but did not reply. His eyes were fixed on Jade even as her father made to hug her.
For the first time since he had noticed her two days ago, she was looking, not angry, not stressed, nor even smug. Now she was just peaceful, calm. And maybe it was just the lighting now, but her features seemed somehow, much softer…kinder…happier…
That was until she caught his eye.
Jade green orbs seemed to pierce straight through him and Zuko could not help but turn his head away to glower at the corner.
But had he been paying attention, he would've noticed that the eyes that looked upon him were not scornful but more curious as she scanned his face.
Had it just been her, or had she seen, for the faintest of moments, something like wistful longing in those once scathing amber eyes.
She tried to open her mouth to speak but before she could even get a syllable out, the prince was out the door which closed with a snap.
He was standing at the command tower balcony, looking over the railing and down onto the deck where everyone was sitting around several large and deep cast iron bowls.
In them flames danced brightly in the darkness of the night, illuminating the deck below in a rather hypnotic yellow golden glow which the crew huddled about warming themselves and cooking for their evening meal.
But the sight of the fire was not so comforting to Zuko and he shut his eyes tight, as shouts and yells penetrated the darkest corners of his mind.
"Please father! I only had the Fire Nation's best interests at heart. I'm sorry I spoke out of turn!"
"You will fight for your honour"
"I meant no disrespect! I am your loyal son"
"Rise and fight Prince Zuko"
"I won't fight you!"
"You will learn respect and suffering will be your teacher!"
There was heat. A blazing, furious flaming heat, followed by a scorching pain -
"Prince Zuko"
Zuko wheeled around in alarm, his eyes wide.
Jade was standing at the dark open doorway to the balcony, holding a bowl of food in each of her hands and rugged up in a thick black fur lined robe tied over the top of her usual, now dry red ones.
She was looking a lot better than when he'd first found her down below in the kitchens. The colour had returned to her cheeks and she seemed to be positively bouncing with energy.
But even so Zuko couldn't help but scowl.
"Shouldn't you be resting?"
"Hark who's talking" Jade quirked a brow back, much to the prince's irritation.
"You almost got yourself killed today"
"Yeah almost got killed. I'm alive now aren't I?!" Jade clipped, her grip on the bowls tightening.
"Only because I rescued you!"
There was a sticky pause.
Zuko smirked smugly as he watched the girl before him open her mouth pause and then shut it hastily.
Ha! Let's see you come up with a comeback now kitchen girl!
But even as he was about to congratulate himself for his personal achievement there came a small mumble.
"I know…that's why I'm here…"
Zuko blinked.
"what?"
Jade bit her lip, her eyes gluing themselves to the floor as she murmured:
"I…I wanted to thank you for…for helping me. And also to apologise"
"Apologise?" Zuko's brow furrowed as Jade, nodded down to the food rather than at him.
"for what I said this morning…about you being a monster…I'm…I'm sorry"
Had she not been so nervous she might have laughed at the ludicrously stunned face of the prince before her.
Zuko meanwhile was still trying to digest what was going on in his brain, which, oddly enough, was taking a fair bit of time to catch up with his mouth.
"What's that?" he looked to the bowls in her hands and Jade frowned.
"Uh…stew…Dango just made it for everyone in the big pot on deck. We kinda lost a lot of the food cargo when the…err…Avatar escaped"
She mumbled the last bit softly as Zuko's eyes flared.
"How much is remaining?" he asked tersely.
"Not much" Jade avoided his narrowing eyes. "but if we ration out portions fairly, I'd say we have just enough till we get to Earth Kingdom Harbour. same goes for water"
"water?" Zuko frowned.
"Fresh water" Jade nodded "we've also lost one of our fresh water tanks and one of our distillers has a malfunction. We'll all probably have to bunk up when it comes to baths"
"How do you know all of this?" Zuko murmured aloud before he could stop himself, but Jade only shrugged.
"people talk, I listen. Simple as that. Now do you want this or not?" she grunted holding out a bowl towards him.
Zuko took it from her quickly, doing his best to ignore the roaring of his stomach as he shovelled a full spoon into his mouth.
It wasn't as flavoursome as the food he usually got but it was hot and wholesome and that counted for something.
There was a small snort and he quickly looked up to see Jade turn her face away again, a hand covering her chuckling mouth.
"What?" he snapped irritably.
"nothing" Jade, blinked oh-so-innocently as she quickly shoved a spoonful of her own stew into her mouth but Zuko was still scowling up at her.
"You're still laughing at me"
"Actually I really am not." Jade rolled her eyes as she blew on another hot spoonful of stew "By the way it might come as a bit of a shock but my world does revolve around the sun and not you"
"what a revelation" Zuko snorted
"Seriously though, I'm not laughing at you" but even as she said this she giggled lightly "I was just thinking of something funny whilst looking at you. Big difference"
"And what were you thinking about?" Zuko narrowed his eyes warily.
"How boys will be boys" Jade smirked "even if they are the Fire Prince and the Avatar"
Zuko almost dropped his bowl.
"You met the Avatar?"
"Yeah" Jade grunted in the middle of a bite on soggy vegetables. "he came into the kitchens and I gave him a custard tart to eat."
"YOU WHAT?!" he hissed and suddenly Jade found herself toe to toe with the young prince.
Then she recounted what she just said over in her head.
Oh snap…I'm screwed.
She gulped as she craned her head up to look into meet the prince's own furious gaze.
"You mean to tell me" he snarled down at her venom dripping in every syllable "that you had the Avatar and you didn't do anything to keep him there!"
"Yeah. Like I could've held the Avatar captive in the kitchens" Jade snorted straightening up to her fullest height…which only brought the top of her head level with his nose.
Zuko however was not impressed by her nerves. Honestly the way this girl just kept coming back to snap at him was worse than that water tribe peasant's boomerang!
And so it was with great wrath and aggravation that he snarled:
"You could've at least tried to keep him there till the guards came! Then we might've at least had a chance of securing his capture."
"Oh so now its my fault that he escaped is it?!" Jade growled "because the last time I checked my contract I wasn't expected to apprehend prisoners"
Zuko's fists clenched by his sides.
"No it isn't! But this is my ship, and I have been tasked to capture the avatar. And since you are on my ship you adhere to my rules and the ships mission. And with that I expect absolute loyalty and dedication-"
"EXCUSE ME!" Jade snarled and Zuko actually took a step back in alarm.
"You expect dedication?! FROM US! The crew that have served you loyally for two full years?!"
"I-I-" the prince gulped as he shrunk back from the kitchen maid who continued to yell, completely unaware that the deck below was completely silent.
"We have all been working our assess off to make your little mission as comfortable and as easy as possible since day one and you question our dependability and commitment! We have all put up with your temper tantrums, your mood swings and your goddamn crazy schemes, some of which have nearly gotten us killed or in serious trouble! And you dare call us disloyal?! Just who do you think you are?!"
"I'm prince of the Fire Nation!" Zuko retorted and Jade could almost see the steam puff out from his ears. "And I demand your respect"
"Oh yeah! Well newsflash for you your highness" Jade sneered the title out as if it was the most disgusting swear word in existence. "In the real world respect isn't given for free. And if you want mine, you're going to have to earn it back the hard way."
And with a hard shove she pushed Zuko off from her and stalked towards the door to the balcony.
"HEY!" Zuko yelled before she could disappear out of sight "What about this mess!"
"You've got two hands! Use them and clean up after yourself like everyone else does!" Jade snapped angrily, though there was an odd waver to it almost as if she were crying.
Indeed just as she passed out of sight, Zuko could've sworn he'd heard something akin to a sob echo from the command towers staircase.
"ARRGGH!" he growled up to the skies above his hands tearing at his own ponytail. "WHAT IS WITH THAT GIRL!"
Shen Shi had seen his sister get mad and upset before but never had he seen her in a right state like this.
She was actually screaming into her pillow, screaming with all the rage of a roaring river.
"uh…Jade…"
"Just go away Shen! I really don't want to talk to anyone at the moment" Jade half moaned, half sobbed from her pillow.
"Yeah…I kinda figured" Shen "but we are sharing a room again…and it is getting kinda late…" he trailed off as Jade peeked up at him from the sheets she had cocooned herself in.
"I'm being a brat again aren't I" she mumbled softly not daring to meet his eye as he sat down on the edge of the large mattress on the floor.
"A little bit yeah" Shen chuckled "but since you did almost get smashed by an avalanche today so I'll let this slide"
"Agh! I'm sorry" Jade groaned as she buried her head back into the pillow. "Its just…I'm so sick and tired of that-that-"
"Jerk-ass prince?" Shen supplied and when she quirked an eyebrow up at him he shrugged "Your words not mine"
Jade sighed heavily.
"Honestly Shen I don't know what's wrong with me. I've dealt with idiots before but whenever I speak to-to him I feel like I want to strangle him or crush him with a rock!"
"well it's a good thing there are no rocks around to tempt you" Shen muttered more to himself than to her. "Jade…listen idiots like the prince are not worth crying over, let alone thinking of. If you really cannot deal with him just lie low for a bit till everything cools down."
"Are you sure? Won't you guys need help on deck?" Jade snivelled but Shen just shook his head.
"Nah we'll be fine. Besides doctor's already given you orders to rest up for the next few days."
"Oh what great fun! I'm so thrilled." Jade pouted darkly.
Shen rolled his eyes, only to smirk as he reached forwards to ruffle her hair.
"Come on Lucky! Let's get some sleep"
Jade nodded, shutting her eyes as her brother slid into the blankets beside her yawning wide. As he wriggled about a bit trying to find his comfortable spot she mumbled softly:
"Shen"
"Hmm?"
"Do you think mum would be angry with me?"
Shen rolled over his usually grinning face now a grim mask as he looked over his sister's forlorn face.
"No" he said after a small quiet pause "I think…I think she'd be proud that you're standing up for what you believe in. and the only thing she'd be angry about is that you're not resting when you should"
Jade snorted into her pillow.
"Ok! Ok I get the hint! You wanna sleep"
"Yes please" Shen nodded, his eyes drooping as he rolled over onto his side to switch off the small lamp that sat next to it.
"G'night" he yawned as he settled himself down with his back to her.
"Good night" Jade mumbled as darkness consumed the room about her.
But she barely noticed it. She was too consumed by her own guilt and shame.
I'm completely losing my shirt over stuff I've been dealing with for two years! And all because of a guy…
She sighed heavily
Oh spirits above what is wrong with me?
Little did she know that several floors above a certain prince was also laying in his bed, thinking almost the exact same thing.
Wowzers that was a hard slog and no mistake.
truth be told i was worried for a moment because my house had a small blackout an hour or so ago and my computer obviously shut a good thing that i'd just managed to save the file down before it did because otherwise i'd have lost most of this chapter. phew! *wipes brow* talk about a close call.
hope you guys enjoyed and keep Reading and reviewing for more.