The Spar
Zia's POV
Knock, knock, the sounds of someone knocking on a metal door startled me from my meditation. "Hey Red, get yourself up. You have a visitor," said an unfamiliar muffled voice. It sounded like it was coming through a soldier's helmet. I quickly got up and looked out the window. The sun was setting on the horizon and I could still see the gigantic icebergs floating in the freezing water.
The metal door creaked open and I whirled around to face whoever was visiting me. I got in my firebending stance and waited to see who it was. It was the old man that Prince Zuko was talking to when I left to my room. He looked at me and smiled. I got out of my stance because the old man was standing casually and he didn't look too threatening.
I walked over to the bed and sat down, pulling my legs up to my chest. He walked over with his hands in the air, innocently, and sat on the edge.
"Hello, miss, my name is Iroh. You may call me Uncle, though. Would you like some tea?" he asked me politely. He had a gently voice and I liked him immediately. He reminded me of my grandfather. I nodded my head, realizing I hadn't eaten or drank anything in two whole days. Iroh smiled and looked at the closed door, calling out, "Lee? Please bring the tea, we both would like some." Iroh glanced back at me, "I hope you like jasmine. It is my favorite and, sadly, the only kind we have left. Well, I always save the best for last." He smiled sadly and shook his head like he was ashamed of not having any other kind of tea.
Lee walked in and I could see he was holding a tea tray. He set it down and grinned at me. I started blushing and looked down at my clothes. I then realized I also hadn't showered in 2 days either. I was probably covered in dirt, my clothes were probably torn, and I most likely smelled really bad. Embarrassed, I twiddled my thumbs, waiting for Lee to leave. He didn't and I could still see his shoes standing in front of me. I could feel his amber eyes staring down at me while I waited in the awkward silence.
"Lee, would you like some tea? I have enough here for the three of us." Iroh asked the teenage boy standing in front of me. Please say no; oh please, please say no, I silently pleaded in my head to whoever would listen to a young girl's nervous pleas.
I could still feel Lee's eyes on me when he replied, "I would love too, General Iroh," and I mentally slapped my forehead, "but, I must get back to work or I'll get in trouble with the prince." I gave a mental sigh of relief and prayed my thanks to whoever was listening to me.
"That's too bad, Lee," Iroh said sadly as Lee walked to the open door. I nodded my head slowly, pretending that I was sad that he had to leave.
Lee opened the door a little wider to get out and as he was closing the door he grinned at me, "Good bye Miss Zia, see you later." I blushed again and waved a small goodbye to him.
Looking back to Iroh, I could see that he was smirking at me, "Don't fall for him, my dear, he is a naughty one." I looked at him curiously. I wasn't falling for him; I was just blushing because he was obviously flirting with me. Everyone blushes when they have someone flirting with them, right? I mean just because he is a handsome guy and I am a girl trapped on a ship, doesn't mean that I like him.
"So your name is Zia? It's a beautiful name by the way; a very traditional name for an airbender though." He said to me, changing the subject, as he handed me my cup of tea.
I nodded my head and smiled, taking a sip of my tea before replying, "Thanks. My great-great-great grandmother was an Air Nomad but not a bender. She left the Southern Air Temple and married an earthbender. She had only one child who was an earthbender and when she had kids, they were all earthbenders; and so on. There hasn't been an airbender in my family for hundreds of years. And it is my mother's family tradition to give all of their children Air Nomad names."
Iroh looked at me and said, "So I'm guessing your mother is the Earthbender and your father is the firebender." I must have had a look of surprise on my face when he mentioned the firebending because he smiled, "My nephew, Prince Zuko, told me about the chase in the woods and I saw you firebend when you fell early this morning. By the way, you are a very powerful bender."
I nodded, "Thanks, and you're right. My dad was the one who could firebend. His side of the family is a strong line of firebenders. My dad taught me everything I know about firebending." I smiled sadly, remembering my dad.
"My dear, you have a very different family background then most people these days." Iroh told me. I nod, because it is true.
Looking down, into my teacup, I noticed that the cup was already empty. "Master Iroh, this is the best tea I have ever had!" I exclaimed to him.
He smiled widely, "Thank you, Miss Zia, I made it myself. And please, I told you to call me Uncle. Well I must be going to my room," he stood up and yawned, stretching. "A man needs his rest."
I laughed and stood up, "Yes and a woman needs her rest, too." I walked him to the door and he knocked on it five times.
I heard clinking of the locks and Iroh turned to me, "Zia, tomorrow we will be at the South Pole. I believe you will be staying in here until Prince Zuko has the Avatar. I will try to see you tomorrow. Sleep well."
I nodded and said goodnight as the door closed the door behind Iroh. I turned around and flopped down onto my bed. I groaned and rolled over on my back. Sitting up slowly, I pulled my shirt and shoes off, leaving me in only my bindings and pants. I collapsed back down and pulled the blanket up to my chin. The blanket was ruff, like wool; which, luckily, I was used to and fell quickly asleep.
I awoke the next morning to a person standing over me and shaking my shoulder roughly. Groaning, I opened my eyes to see a scarred face scowling at me.
"Ahhhhh!" I screamed, "What the... Zuko, why are you in my face like that?!" I sat up, swinging my legs to the side of the cot, and started to kick my feet back and forth.
He shrugged, "Get up. We're going spar."
"But I didn't even have breakfast yet."
"There is no breakfast for prisoners."
"Aw, come on, please?" I begged and gave him my best pouty face. He grumbled, looked away, muttering and then looked back at me.
"Fine, we'll stop by the kitchen on the way to the deck." He finally agreed.
I jumped up and yelled, "Yes!" Zuko looked at me and the corners of his mouth twitched upwards, against his own will, it seemed, because his mouth quickly formed a straight line again. His eyes slowly slid down my body and his mouth fell open. Turning his head away, he abruptly closed his mouth and eyes. Confused, I looked down and blushed. I was still only wearing my top binding and pants. I saw my tattoo of the green dragon that wound around my arm, from wrist to shoulder; its head was on my shoulder blade and breathing fire on the back of my neck.
Smiling at the backstory of the tattoo, I quickly grab my clothes and put them on. Zuko grabs my arm and roughly pulls me to the kitchen to get the food. I had to practically run to keep up with his fast pace.
Stopping by the kitchen, I saw Uncle in the dining room, stuffing his face with food. Giggling quietly, I walk up to him while Zuko orders someone to get me some food. I finally reach him, and I bow very low to show him great respect.
"May I sit next to you, Uncle Iroh?" I ask as politely as I could. He nods, not even stopping to answer me as he pigs out. I sit down softly and someone sets gown an apple and some disgusting looking gruel with floating pieces of meat in it. It had a tannish-brown look to it and the meat looked like it was still alive and breathing.
I cringe and grab the apple, which looks decent enough to eat, and take a big bite out of it. I make a face because I forgot how sour green apples could be. My mom always said it was ironic because the green was sour and red was sweet, which were the opposites of the Fire Nation (red) and Earth Kingdom (green). I, personally, would never say that either of the nations was sweet, but nobody argued with my mom; she was the nicest person ever and everybody liked her.
Feeling eyes on me, I look up to see the prince staring at me with his golden eyes. I give him a questioning look and he asks me why I didn't eat the 'soup.' I look at him to the soup and back again.
"I don't eat meat and would you eat that, stuff?" I ask him.
He shakes his head and makes a disgusted face at my 'soup.' "Hurry up and eat peasant. You too, Uncle; I need you to teach me the advanced firebending set."
"I'm done eating. Thank you," I say to the servant coming pick up my food, "and let's go." The servant nods with a surprised look on his face. I guess people, cough Zuko cough, here don't say thank you, or maybe it's because I'm a prisoner. It could be both, though.
The prince nods, grabs my hand and begins to drag me to the top deck. On the way there, I glance behind me to see Uncle following calmly.
We make it to the deck and Zuko finally let's go of my arm. I pull it to me and rub it; I think it was popped out of socket from being yanked all the way here.
I start to stretch my arms and legs out while Zuko talks, unusually quiet, to his uncle. When I risk a look at them through my spread out legs, Uncle has a smirk on his face while Zuko's is beet red. Standing up straight, I shrug to myself and drop into a side split. I lean to the right and grab my foot with my left hand. Wincing slightly from not stretching in three days, I count slowly to ten, then switch to my left foot. After I continue going through all of my stretches, and call to Zuko.
He strides over to me and I finally notice what he is wearing, or what he is not wearing. Black plants with a red cloth as a belt, no shirt, and he is barefoot. I feel my face burning slightly as I try not to stare at his six-pack. He reaches me at last and I start think he walked slowly on purpose.
"So, where are your soldiers? I think you might need them to help you win." I tease him with a smirk on my face.
He looks me up and down and smiles evilly, "Oh, I know I will bet you. You have no earth here to bend, and I can tell you're not that trained in firebending."
I smirk, "Oh don't be too sure of that, Hot Head." I turn on my heel and walk to end of the deck. I throw off my cloak and pull my tunic hood down from my head. The wind takes the loose pieces of my hair and they fly onto my face.
Zuko's still in the spot I left him with an unreadable expression on his face, so I call out to him, "Hey, I thought we were sparing, not daydreaming? I'm good with either because it will be a nice clean forfeit on your part, or a brutal defeat for you. No matter which way, I still win."
That shakes him out of his daydream and Zuko walks to his end of the deck. Out of the corner of my eye, I see some crew gathering to watch and place bets on this spar. From what I can tell, only a few people have placed their bets on me wining.
I see a flash of color and my attention is brought back to Zuko, who had just punched a fireball at me. My eyes widen a little and I quickly take a lunge forward so the fire goes right over my head. Squatting with my left leg bent and my right leg fully extended behind me, I spin my right leg in front of me, still extended, with fire coming out.
The fire follows my leg movements like a whip and Zuko blinks in surprise at my skill and color, but quickly regaining his senses, he jumps over my whip. I stand up and get into my earthbending stance. As Zuko descends, I jump forward and slam my fists into the metal deck. Fire rushes forward toward Zuko's feet and he firebends out of his feet to get out of the way. If he landed there, my bright green fire would have burned his feet.
Zuko lands in his stance a few feet ahead of my fire as it dissolves into the air. He shoots three medium size fire balls at me. I leap over the first, land on my hands on the deck long enough to push and flip over the second, I flip again over the last and land on my hands. This time as I push off the deck to land on my feet, my flame follows them and heads straight for Zuko. I land, balanced, on my feet, with enough time to watch Zuko dive out of the way of my two walls of fire.
As he is diving, he shoots a combination of small fireballs at me. I dodge all of them and quickly shoot a fireball at Zuko. While he is distracted, I keep coming toward him. My goal is to get as close to him as possible and then push him over the railing of the ship.
We both are panting and I can barely breathe in the cold air. I raise my arm up and wipe the waterfall of sweat off my forehead. He makes a fire whip when I am 'distracted' and tries to hit me with it.
I smirk and run straight for him. Zuko had fallen for my trick; act distracted and to get the opponent to go on the offence. Then while they are bending, run straight at them. I jump, leap, roll and dodge all the attempts Zuko makes at trying to hit me. When I am only a few yards away, I glance at my surroundings, and shoot a medium sized fireball at his left side. As I suspected, he dives to the right and is still in the air when I shoot a small fireball at him. I didn't put enough energy in it to burn, and only enough power to make him fly over the railing that was right behind him. He falls over the side of the ship with a yelp and I calmly glance around, and then walked to the railing.
When I glanced at the crew members, there was stunned and surprised looks on their faces. Laughing inwardly, I look down to see Zuko holding desperately onto the anchor.
"So I win, yes?" I asked him as calmly as I could while panting hard. The prince nods with a strained look on his face and I couldn't hold in my laughter anymore.
Zuko glares at me, "Are you going to help me up, now?"
"Aw, Hot Head needs help climbing up. Should I?" I put on a fake thoughtful face. After a few seconds, I say, "Fine, but what do I get in return, if I do help you up?"
He yells up to me, "I'll let you take a shower and give you clean clothes to change into while the ones you are wearing now are washed."
I nod in agreement and climb over the railing, onto the anchor. I descend the anchor till I am a few feet above Zuko, and hold my hand out to him. He looks at it suspiciously, then me, and then back at my hand.
"Oh, just grab my hand already!" I yell at him, impatient. He grabs my hand firmly and I pull him up to my level. Once he has a firm hold on the anchor, I let go and climb higher. I hold my hand out and he grabs it again. We keep repeating this until we get to the railing. I look up and see Uncle and one of the crew members holding their hands out to us. I ignore them and climb gracefully over the rail.
Zuko grabs their hands and as soon as he is on the deck, he storms off to his room. "What? No 'Thank you for helping me, Zia,'" I yell at him as he shuts the door. I could swear there was smoke forming from his ears and nostrils when he slammed the door.