Zuko disappeared a lot; Zoe had learned that much during her 'stay' on the Fire Princes ship. She'd been allowed more freedom lately, whether due to Iroh's influence or Zuko had decided she might be more helpful if he let her out more. Iroh had taken to teaching her Pai Sho, and she loved it! She loved tactful board games, though Iroh was flogging her every game, she had beaten a few of the crew members. Iroh was quite inquisitive though, constantly quizzing her on her past and her feelings, and why she was willing to help Zuko. She couldn't answer every question, she just wasn't quite ready to go into every nitty gritty detail of her life. About all the man learned was the she was orphaned at the age of 5, adopted by a Fire Nation family in the nobility and ran away to the circus at 8. She enjoyed the conversation greatly though, Iroh was very sweet and quite funny if not sometimes flirtatious, but it was all in good humour. Another thing she liked was the tea. He really made some good tea.
Though she would never admit it, she also liked to watch Zuko train, well when it wasn't with her. When it was with her she barely had time to think, only one thought could be in her head: get away from the oncoming flames. Zuko became more brutal with every spar, it was all she could do to avoid and evade, but she did seem to be getting better in her opinion with each match. Though that was certainly not Zuko's intention. But, when he trained with his Uncle, he looked amazing, and to her delight sometimes he even took his shirt off, though she disliked the rude Prince; he had a very nice chest. She was confused though, about why he was banished, why he was now so mean. Ty Lee had known him as a child and apparently he had been nice and even sweet at times albeit always with a little grumpy temper.
That certain Prince was right now storming across the Earth Kingdom soil with a look of disgust on his face, heading towards his ship.
"Where is Iroh?" Zoe asked when he boarded. She had been watching the sea as Zuko had searched out his Uncle so they could leave; he was desperate to stay hot on the Avatars tail.
Zuko let out a sound of disgust. "Bathing." He said, rolling his eyes, "In a hot spring."
"OOoooh!" Zoe clasped her hands together, "Sounds relaxing! Can I-"
Zuko grabbed the collar of her top and dragged her away from the ships edge. "You can stay out of my way and get back inside. I'll have no more delays." The girl was nothing but a nuisance to him. The only help she had provided was as an airbending practice target. And she wasn't even good at that. Ok that was being a little mean, she was alright… if you thought running away was a good thing to be talented at. And she had once sorted out a small problem with the ships engine; apparently she had a head for that sort of thing.
The crew members enjoyed having her aboard though, mainly so they could have a girl to eye up. In Zuko's opinion this was not a good thing. It was a distraction. Distractions should be avoided. He didn't mind her form, though her skin was too…yellow, well she called it olive, but it was yellow. And her hair was so... unusual. In the sun it shone brightly as the golden highlights a top her head caught the light. But, indoors he thought it dull, a bit like faded gold crossed with caramel. It was silky but thick, which made it curly, very curly. It fell in a mess down to the bottom of her shoulder blades. He disliked this too, its untidiness offended him. She had a small, sometimes cute face that he supposed would be called pretty; he knew his crew thought so. But, he was only caught looking at it when she smiled. He couldn't disagree with anyone about that beautiful smile. The fact that he thought that also annoyed him.
But, what annoyed him most of all was that she liked to prance about. He had allowed her more freedom, but when she had it she practically danced where ever she walked. The sway of her (admittedly shapely) hips was enough to distract any man.
It must be an airbender thing he decided.
She was so skinny though, that was why she had shapely hips. Because her waist was so thin, it made them appear shapely. He had found out that she was 16: his age. This too annoyed him; she was a child in his opinion. She always had a playful, childish gleam in her eyes.
Zuko was broken out of his reverie by said girl who was making a huffing sound and straightening out her tunic that he had pulled. Not that it made much difference, the white fabric was dirty and crinkled anyway, but it was all she had; some baggy pants and an old tunic, it wasn't like the Prince had let her go back up the cliff and collect her belongings. Well, she had some precious things that she kept with her always in a small bag under her shirt. While she straightened the tunic Zuko couldn't help to notice her slender neck and prominent collar bone that was spread across her small frame. That and the small, delicate curve of her breasts.
OK! Zuko shouted at himself in his mind, yes, she is a girl. He refused to be distracted by that fact. Promptly he gave her a shove toward the door and stormed off. That's what she should be called, just 'an annoyance', no wait: 'a fly'. That's what she was a little, annoying, buzzing fly. And it made sense as she's an air bender.
Zoe didn't go back to her room (she didn't like to call it a cell; she hated thinking of herself as a prisoner). But, instead decided to stroll about the ship, and settled to playing Pai Sho with some of the crew, Zuko disappeared again an hour or so later when his Uncle had still not returned.
It was far later that night however that Zuko returned with his Uncle, both looking a little messy, and Iroh was missing some clothing. Zoe had quickly moved out of sight, not wanting to feel the wrath of the Prince right now. However, her hiding proved useless as she ran directly into a broad, solid chest just around the corner from her hideout, that is to say: her room.
"A-ah.." Zoe stared at the chest in front of her, a chest which she currently had two hands on, a chest which currently wore a shirt with a large rip down its front to reveal the toned muscles beneath. She looked up to the face above her, surprised to see it not scowling, but with a slight blush and look of surprise on his face. "Sorry." She squeaked quickly taking her hands away, eyes wide and a deep red blush spreading across her cheeks.
Zuko was silent for a moment, wondering why she took her hands away. Then he shook himself mentally: what was he thinking? Why would she leave them there!
"Uhm, no don't worry, I-I should have been watching where I was going.." He stuttered then practically ran from her, dashing around the corner. He couldn't help thinking as he rounded the corner that those curls that framed her face were actually quite sweet.
"Well that was weird." Said Zoe aloud, after standing in the same position for about 5 minutes. She decided he must have had a good trip with his Uncle or something. She headed to her room, but the remarkable warmth of Zuko's chest stayed with her, as if burned into her hands.
Zuko was furious, and he had happened to walk passed 'the fly' at the time, which did nothing to soften his mood, instead it annoyed him more. He grumbled the word'distractions' under his breath and glared at the girl.
Zoe was so tempted so say 'Why so grumpy Prince Pouty?' But thought better of it. She decided to instead go with a caring, "What's wrong?"
Zuko exhaled angrily, a stream of smoke emanating from his nostrils. "We changed course for a lotus tile." He hissed.
Zoe didn't pity Zuko, she hated pity and didn't like people to pity her. But she knew he had been through much. To be an exiled Prince was enough to say that. Sometimes she thought she could see what he used to be behind the scowl. Sometimes his mask of anger would falter and Zoe would catch a glimpse of a hurt little boy beneath, but within a second the mask would be back up, angry and frustrated. One innocent part of her wished sometimes that they could be friends. But he hated her. And to be honest, most of the time she hated him too. Handsome or not...Nice chest or not...Oh just shut up.
"Drats." She said and Zuko looked at her, "I was hoping to play Pai Sho with your Uncle!"
Zuko growled furiously and let off a stream of curses, stomping passed Zoe in fury: she giggled. He was just so easy to wind up.
Perhaps karma was real. Well that was silly of course it was real and Zoe knew that, but she hated it when it happened to her. She shouldn't have laughed at the Prince's anger before. Now she was paying the price for it with her own anger as she sat, guarded on the ship while Zuko and Iroh were off on a shopping trip. Her mood only improved slightly when the pair finally returned with a sunghi horn, vases, tea pots, some pirates and the kitchen sink to liven things up a little. Apparently the pirates could help them find the Avatar, something about a stolen waterbending scroll.
It sounded cutely rebellious of the Avatars team in Zoe's opinion, and she was getting excited. With a fresh and definite trail they were getting closer and closer to her freedom and to a teacher!
But the excitement was severely marred by frustration. The pirates, the disgusting low lives, were really starting to get to her. So far they had just been leering at her, or passing suggestive gestures, but it was still enough to spark her temper.
They were travelling along the shoreline, and they were supposed to be being quiet. Apparently pirates are quite talkative. "Shut up everyone!" Zoe hissed suddenly, "Do you want to give them a nice head start once you warned them off with all this noise!" Unfortunately her outburst consequently put everyones attention on her. She hated attention.
One of the Pirates who had been leering at her sauntered towards her, "This lil' girls gotta mouth on 'er don't she?" He sneered picking up a strand of her hair and caressing it roughly, "whatchu keep this lil doll round for anyway?" Zoe slapped his hand away and spat in the mans face viciously. His eyes sparked furiously and he raised his hand as if to hit her.
But it was stopped. Zoe expected to see Iroh holding the man back, but it was Zuko. "Leave her alone." He snarled, she stared at him in surprise, but his eyes were still cold and angry when he looked at her.
He turned away.
Silence followed, but it was quickly broken by the distinct sounds of splashing water and a voice, a girls voice, cursing a scroll.
Zoe was angry. She was angry to be stuck on the boat once more and guarded, she was angry because they had tied her hands and she really felt like a prisoner, she hated that. She was angry because Zuko was currently strolling around some little water tribe girl tied to a tree, taunting her with a necklace. And she was really angry because one annoying part of her wanted to be tied to that tree herself.
She growled out loud in frustration as she watched the ordeal. After about 10 minutes the pirates had brought back two more captives. A tan boy about her age and obviously in water tribe clothing, maybe related to the girl? And a small boy, bald and with blue arrows tattooed all over his body. He must be the Avatar. Zoe jumped up and went to run toward the edge of the ship. She got about one pace before her guard stopped her. She sighed angrily, not that she would have gotten far with her hands tied; she can't swim.
She was so frustrated and helpless that it was driving her mad. The tanned boy was saying something, something that appeared to be tempting the pirates, but she couldn't hear a word. Suddenly Zuko and all of his gaurds took a fighting stance. So did the Pirates. There were several simultaneousness explosions of smoke and the pirates disapeared, only to be hesitantly followed by Zuko's guards.
Great, just great. Now she had no idea what was going on. The fight had been going on for about five minutes before she saw the avatar and the water tribe boy running towards the pirates boat, where she previously hadn't noticed the girl to be, she didn't even see her get away from the tree. But, there she was, attempting to push the thing into the water. Her attempts were laughable. There was some kind of emotional exchange and she and the Avatar started doing a strange dance. Questioning their sanity, though still desperate to travel with them, Zoe thought furiously of how to get their attention, but it was fruitless; in no time the boat was suddenly in the water and she realized they had been waterbending.
"Nooo!" She moaned under her breath and she watched her would be friends sail away. Suddenly over the din she heard Iroh's voice,
"Are you so busy fighting, you cannot see your own ship has set sail!" He cried.
Zoe laughed, she could practically see Zuko's scowling face from here as he shouted, "We have no time for your proverbs Uncle!"
She couldn't hear the next words, but she could guess. As it was no proverb that Iroh had spoken.
Before she had another moment to even think however, she found herself being grabbed by her hair by a pirate. How very rude.
"What the-" She started and vaguely she thought she could hear Zuko laughing. "Get off me!" She screeched. She kicked her foot backwards, hitting the mans shin and he yelped in pain and his grip loosened slightly on her hair as he howled. Taking her chance she spun out of his grip sending a breath of wind at him, enough to knock him off his feet. She ran toward the deck, nearly tripping as the ship had lunged forward speeding towards the wooden pirate boat. Another pirate grabbed her around the waist, the one who had caressed her hair earlier.
"Oh no you don't missy..." But, he did not finish the sentence as Zoe ducked out of his grasp blowing a tunnel of air at the man, hitting his stomach, but rebounding her backwards into the bulk walk. She groaned and the boat swayed again making her lose her balance. Before she knew it she was plunging into the shadowy depths below.
She had a new fear. Water. You know when it's completely silent, but it is far too loud? She decided that was what drowning was like, there was no noise yet it pounded her ear drums, compressing her head. It wasn't as she expected, you know, gently floating down into the depths like she would have thought, she didn't slowly close her eyes and perhaps reach up toward the dying light with one hand. No, not at all. It was rough, she was tossed and tumbled, her head hit something hard, maybe the hull she thought vaguely. The water rushed into her mouth, up her nose and burned her throat. She wanted to cry, but her eyes were already stinging as she tried to squeeze them shut and hide away from the rushing water as the current pulled her along. In a last attempt to get away from her almost certain death, she pushed out her legs, causing a jet of air to thrust her forward through the water, away from the ship...and straight into something solid and warm?
Firm hands grasped her forearms pushing her over a shoulder, everything was going fuzzy, muted, she felt dizzy and her head banged against the persons back as if in slow motion. Water was streaming around her as she felt like she was being propelled forward, it was too confusing, couldn't she just die now? Just as she thought this her head broke the surface and she fell against some lovely warm and very welcoming sand, a strong arm warpped around her waist.
She gasped and the air burned her throat, but it was wonderful. She breathed in again, but this time coughed, and then couldn't stop. Her head was turned to the sand, silly thing to do really because now she had a mouthful of the gritty stuff. Suddenly she realised she wasn't the only one coughing.
"Zu-Zuko?" She wheezed and she heard soft padding of feet running up to them from behind. She tried to raise her head, move her arms into a defensive position, but she was too tired, too weak.
"Zuko!" Phew, it was just Iroh, "Zuko, Zoe!"
He turned the two soaking teenagers onto their backs and Zoe felt a slight twinge of regret as the arm round her waist was removed, she didn't know someone else shared this regret.
The sun was far too bright and Zoe couldn't see, she thought she must be going mad because she could swear she could hear Iroh's hearty chuckle.
"Zuko, Zoe..." Snicker, snicker, "you're really going to get a kick out of this."
"Huh?" Moaned Zoe while Zuko moved to sit up beside her.
"The lotus tile was in my sleeve the whole time!"
"WHAT?" Zuko and Zoe sat bolt upright, previous weariness apparently forgotten, faces identical in fury. Zuko grabbed the tile out of his beaming Uncles hand and threw it as hard as he could into the water. That was when all three of them realised that the boats had disappeared; over the crashing waterfall.
Zuko cried out in fury about his boat, but Zoe just rubbed her swollen, throbbing eyes. Then she realised something. Now she owed this damn Prince her life.
A/N Hmm, I don't think I would mind being tied to that tree either...