It was music night, Zoe had wanted to play, Iroh was delighted and Zuko was sulking. Where he was sulking Zoe didn't know or care. She was taking a turn on the Pipa; it was just like the lute she had learned to play on in the circus, and she was proud to say that she was quite good.

Iroh started to sing and the cooks were dancing. The soft woosh and splash of the waves was very relaxing and a cool breeze tickled your face. Soon Zoe found herself singing along, eyes closed, in a different world.

She was swinging on her trapeze upside down with her arms dangling. Ty lee was laughing and Zoe jumped off, flying through the air while doing two summersaults and landing softly, gracefully and much too slowly on the ground far away from the empty trapeze. Everyone in the vicinity looked at her and she blushed, rushing over to Ty Lee who was cheering, she tripped over her feet on the way which was completely bizarre given her grace in the air.

Her mind went back further to a woman with golden hair calling to her little child. The girl was running to her mother, elated at how fast her legs could move, but falling over before she reached her. Tears sprung to her eyes and her mothers arms wrapped round her laughing warmly, soothing her. "You need to learn to walk before you can run." And she began to hum a song, in a low warm voice, gently to her child.

Real tears stung Zoe's eyes as she reached the verse her mother used to sing.

Zuko had been brooding, away in his room, until he had heard (much to his amazement) some good music coming from the deck. After a moment of contemplation, he decided to get up and find out the reason for this.

Quietly he peeked through the broad metal door that lead to the deck, at the same time that he did so a soft, low voice was added to the lull. It was Zoe, and it wasn't high and girly like he would have expected, but a low honey coated alto that drifted with the breeze. He felt a shiver go through his spine, it was mesmerizing. Her hands softly caressed the strings of the Pipa creating the melody for her voice to flow to. Her eyes were closed and her face surrounded by her messy, bushy curls. For once the state of her hair didn't frustrate him, instead it enticed him and he wondered what it would be like to run a hand through the soft ringlets. It had been almost five minutes when Zuko realised his eyes were getting dry from lack of blinking. He shook his head, this was stupid! He had refused to be pulled into such a waste of time that was music night. Angry at Zoe for somehow making him get out of bed to come here, he turned away and stormed back down the corridor to continue brooding, but this time with the sad tune of that song haunting his mind.

The next morning Zuko came storming into the ship after having argued with his Uncle over a storm that was apparently on its way. Zoe privately agreed with Zuko; it didn't look like there would be a storm at all. But then again, Iroh was very wise and she thought it best to trust his instincts.

"Zuko wait!" She said as he went to stomp past her. He stopped, instead turning to glare at her.

"It's Prince Zuko." he snarled, Zoe blushed.

"Sorry, I just wanted to say thankyou, I never got the chance, you know... After you saved me?" She said in a rush, stumbling over her words and not looking at the Prince in the eye. It was true, she had been too nervous to say a thing to him since the incident. He'd been angry about losing his old ship, he'd been angry about having to wait for another one, and he'd been angry about having lost the Avatar. In other words, staying out of his strangling grasp would be a wise decision. But, she decided it needed to be said.

"Oh." That was all he could come up with and it made her angry; she was just trying to be nice!

"Well, yeah, you know you could have just left me to drown." She said her voice rising just a little, the hidden question in there was: 'why did you save me?'.

"You're necessary to my search for the Avatar." He said coldly, seeming to understand her unspoken question. "If not for training you could be good bait, another airbender…he wouldn't be able to resist."

"Oh of course," Zoe snapped loudly, face turning red, "I'm just a pawn in your game to restore your honour!" With that she waved her hand through the air, bringing it with her as she formed it into a strong gust of wind and sent it at the Prince.

It hit him in the face and he stumbled backward and cried out angrily. Before he could do anything she had run past him into the ship, hitting his shoulder on the way.

Zoe wanted to get mad at Zuko for not listening to his Uncle, she wanted to get mad at him for getting them into this situation, and she wanted to get mad at him for making her fear for her life again. The thought of being thrown into the storm tossed seas was something that didn't bare thinking about. But, she couldn't not after the way she had seen him when the Captain accused him of knowing nothing of respect. There was something more behind his golden eyes than just anger.

Currently, it was calm, but the billowing grey clouds that they were sailing right into were a little more than ominous, and Zuko hadn't told them to turn around. After the very near Agni Kai with between the Prince and the Captain, everyone disappeared inside. Iroh said she could join him; he was going to have a talk about Zuko to the crew, to explain a few things. But, if she was going find out about Zuko's past, she'd prefer him to tell her. She knew she would hate it if he went snooping behind her back. Though, she thought, he never would, he couldn't have the slightest care about anyone else, especially her.

She sighed and began to return to her room, but then the ship lurched suddenly and there was a deafening crack and she found herself flying sideways into the metal wall. Zuko came running out of his room not far away, skidding along the corridor as he tried to remain standing, his eyes blazing. Their gazes locked for a second before they both turned to run toward the deck.

Everyone raced out to see what happened. The rain was pouring and the sky was black and twisting. It was the scariest thing Zoe had ever seen, she slipped and skidded over to Zuko and the captain, water rushing passed her ankles as the sea ruthlessly tossed the ship like a leaf caught in a rapid.

"Where were we hit?" cried Zuko, trying to keep his balance as another wave slammed into the side of the boat.

"I don't know!" replied the Captain, his eyes searching the ship with fear.

"The helmsman!" Cried Zoe suddenly at the same time as Iroh, they had seen what the others had not; a single man, dangling helplessly from the mast.

Without a thought Zuko and the captain had run to his aid, Zoe could barely watch. The rain was pouring so hard and the sky so dark that she could only make out their tiny frames with each flash of light. Another bolt of lightning seared the sky, aimed directly at the tiny ship. Eyes wide Zoe watched in horror as Iroh raised an arm, catching the lightning with his finger. Then she didn't know what happened, it seemed to course through his body, streaming out his other arm to crack harmlessly in the water.

Iroh looked just as shocked as Zoe felt.

Before she could even contemplate what happened, there was another huge crack and she felt her heart stop as she saw the helmsman lost his grip, screaming, falling.

But, then he stopped midway down. Zuko had caught him! She couldn't breath till all three men were back on the deck safely, but the trouble was not yet over.

Zoe saw the massive flying buffalo that was rumoured to belong to the Avatar. Clearly it did as Zuko cried his name as he watched it too.

"What do you want to do sir?" The Captain seemed to have a new found respect for the grumpy Prince.

Zoe watched his face as he struggled before answering. He turned his head away.

"Let them go."

She had never felt prouder.

"We need to get this ship to safety."

"Then we must head directly into the eye of the storm." said Iroh, giving contented smile to his Nephew.

So they headed toward the centre, Zoe had to convince herself that Iroh would be right, but right now she didn't know how he could be as the sea felt rougher and rougher. When suddenly, they slid under a lighter part of the sky where the clouds twisted like a tornado, out above and up to blue sky and finally it was calm.

Everyone was silent, looking at the sea, collecting themselves.

"Uncle." It was Zuko. Zoe looked at him, as did Iroh, "I am sorry." And he hung his head.

"Your apology is accepted." smiled his Uncle, laying a hand on his nephews' shoulder.

Later that night, Zoe was sleeping, tucked up in her bed as warm as she could get. Iroh had leant her some of his tunics because her clothes had been soaked. She was wearing one large red shirt of his because it was more like a nighty on her, and she figured no one would be seeing her while she was sleeping.

But, then there were three hard knocks on her door.

She sat bolt up right, clutching her blankets to her chest.

"Who's there?" She hissed. Her voice seemed to reverberate through the cold room.

"It's Zuko."

What?

Silence.

"I need your help." He sighed.

Still more silence. Zoe couldn't understand what he could possibly need help with from her at this time of night.

"Zoe?" Her name sounded unfamiliar on his tongue, then she realised that was because he had never called her by her name before. This was what made her get up.

She opened the door a crack and peeked through it. "I'm not dressed." She said meekly and Zuko wanted to laugh at the way she poked her nose and one (blue today) eye through the crack of her door.

"We can't get the engine to work." He said, restraining himself. Somehow managing to hold back a smirk.

"What? All you boys can't get that little engine to work?" She was being cocky now, Zuko scowled.

"Just get out here and help me."

Zoe scowled too this time. "Fine." But, she closed the door and walked back to her bed, grabbing a sheet and wrapping it around her. Then she came back out opening the door and pushing an angry Zuko out of her way.

"Wh-what are you doing?" He cried furiously; she was going to ruin his sheets! He ran after her and grabbed her by the shoulder

"I told you." She snapped, knocking his arm off. "I'm not dressed and my clothes are wet."

Zuko froze in his place. "What? Y-you don't mean you have nothing on under that do you?"

Zoe nearly laughed at the mortified look on Zuko's face, than she grinned to herself evilly. "That's right." She lied, "Now what's wrong with your engine?"

But, Zuko was still frozen, speechless in his place. Zoe sighed and walked back, yanking him by his forearm, his face managed to scowl at her and she took him to the engine room.

Zoe managed to fix the engine, and with the sheet wrapped around her the whole time too. She took private satisfaction in the way Zuko was glaring at her, it was not his normal glare because his face would suddenly blush and look away every few minutes.

The engine wasn't actually repaired properly; they would need new parts, but for now Zoe had sufficed with some elastic bands and candle wax. She was pretty impressed with herself.

The Captain thanked her profusely, but Zuko wasn't looking at her. She felt a twinge of annoyance, especially when he took her by the arm again and started to escort her back to her room. What, so now she'd done her little job she can just go back to being locked up? In her anger she forgot to keep a hold on the sheet as they reached her room and it slipped, revealing the red tunic beneath. Zuko's eyes widened; for a fleeting second he felt a rush of excitement and fear, but then it instantly changed to annoyance and slight regret as he saw the red material beneath.

"You lied!" He accused, ripping the sheet completely off her body.

"Hey!" She shouted, trying to snatch it back, but he stormed up to the door and threw it into her room, turning back to face her with hands on his hips.

"Why did you say you had nothing on!" He demanded furiously, Zoe couldn't understand why he was so angry.

"Because it was funny!" Cried Zoe exasperated, but Zuko didn't hear her, he had suddenly noticed what she was wearing: his Uncle's tunic. The thing was far too big and fell in a large circle around her neck, revealing far more than normal. He noticed that her yellow skin actually looked very nice in the richly coloured material, and started to agree that perhaps olive was a better name for it. His eyes roamed down further, it was too baggy, but somehow that made her appearance even more alluring as there was a subtle hint of the curves beneath. Then the material stopped, mid way down her things. His face went very red and he started to feel that it was getting far too hot in here. Long, slender legs were now stomping furiously towards him.

Zoe knew he was staring, and really should feel angry or pleased, but she was neither; it made her self conscious; she knew what he would think: scrawny and yellow. She didn't know why she cared and it made her angry. She pushed passed his shoulder and went to storm into her room and slam the door, but he caught it before she could.

"Thank you for fixing the engine." Zuko said huskily, his hand holding the door back.

Well that was unexpected.

Zoe didn't know what to say; she was supposed to be angry with him!

"Uhhm, no worries…" She said quickly, looking anywhere but those golden eyes. "Glad I could help, you know."

Suddenly, before she could think, or register what was going on Zuko's hand was no longer on the door. It was holding the side of her face, his thumb brushing gently over her cheekbone. Her stomach flipped, tingles went down her spine, her arms even through her fingers and before she could breathe his lips were on hers.

It was so soft and so sweet she almost thought it didn't happen, and it nearly didn't because too soon Zuko had pulled away, face red and looking down.

"Uh," He cleared his throat quickly as his voice caught, "So, goodnight then." With that he scarpered before Zoe could utter a sound.

She pinched her arm, to check that it really happened. But, she knew without the pain of the pinched skin that it did. She touched her lips lightly, they were tingling and she could taste a subtle hint of ginger and something else that was purely Zuko.

Feeling like a little girl after her first kiss she giggled and closed the door to her room, quite contented.