The Highest Bidder

Chapter Five: Cards on the Table

When we first met, it took Zuko about six months to tolerate my presence. It was Uncle Iroh who had proposed that I should come along with them. I had refused the first three times that it was brought up during conversation. It was still unsettling to me how they happened along my cozy home, but after Iroh and his soldiers explained to me that the pit stop had been at random (and when I tested them the third time to make certain that they weren't lying to me) I finally agreed to Iroh's terms. However, it wasn't Iroh's decision to invite strangers aboard the ship. It was Zuko's crew, and it was him alone that was going to decide my place.

He took a few things into consideration before allowing me to come aboard. Feeling that it was my place, I reminded him that if he found the Avatar and he returned home, I wouldn't be welcomed with open arms after four years of resisting arrest for my crimes in his father's house. Zuko, I think, gave his father too much credit; he told me that if he caught the Avatar, he would diligently inform Fire Lord Ozai that I initially helped. It was Iroh who suggested that upon arrival, I would demonstrate to the Fire Lord my gift, and if I did, Fire Lord Ozai would free my father who was still imprisoned; and if my mother was still alive, Fire Lord Ozai would redeem the crime that I committed in a handsome reward.

But as I said, and I say this again: Zuko gave his dad way too much credit.

I was aboard Prince Zuko's ship for six months, and there was no sign of the Avatar. With so much time at hand, I practiced my own abilities in a separate chamber with objects of both crude and innocuous natures. Uncle Iroh insisted that my job on Zuko's boat was more or less on the offense than defense; and if war came upon us, I would need more than oceanic shale to protect the soldiers, Zuko, and Uncle Iroh.

Prince Zuko, hot-tempered as he was, did not invite me into conversations that were simply to make a companionship. He sought no friendship on his quest to search for the master of the four elements; not even his captain or lieutenant had an acquaintance with him. And the only person that Zuko even spoke to—if at all—was his uncle.

I wasn't afraid of Zuko. To be quite honest, I even admired him for his ambitious ideal to search for a being that had been missing for years. His grandfather and the father before him had failed to find this Avatar. I think on some level, I really wanted to see Zuko return home with honor.

Though, on another level, Fire Lord Ozai was never a good man.

Curiosity got the better of me one night. It was dusk; the sun was only shining a sliver in the horizon. It was a peaceful evening: smooth sailing all day long and it ended with salty air in the breeze and calm waters.

Iroh made his usual pot of Ginseng tea, and he offered me a cup without hesitation on his part. The rest of the crew retired for the night, aside from the lieutenant, who was awake at the helm. In two hours, a soldier would awaken and relieve his commanding officer; the routine would repeat as expected.

Iroh gave me a quirky smile as he held my cup of tea out in front of me.

"Make it levitate, Mura."

I shrugged.

"Let it go," I said simply.

He didn't question me; he slowly removed his hand from the tea cup, and he grinned widely as he watched it hover in the air about a foot from my hand on the table.

"Mura, it is a brilliant gift that you possess," he said with genuine awe.

I lowered the tea cup into my hand with a casual tip of my chin.

"Perhaps Zuko believes," I said uncertainly, "that I use it to show off?"

"You are not arrogant, my dear," Iroh said courteously, "however, you are a powerful girl. He's sixteen, Mura. He doesn't think ahead; all he sees is what's in front of him."

"I'm sixteen," I told him, though I took no offense.

"And you age gracefully," he added, patting my shoulder.

I asked the question that I wanted answered for the longest time,

"General, what happened to Zuko's face? Why is he obsessed with the Avatar?"

He considered me for the moment.

"I anticipated this night for the longest while, Mura," he said slowly. "I didn't that you were ever going to ask me." He chortled good-naturedly. "He wouldn't want me telling you."

"Was it his sister?"

"Azula?" said Iroh with wide eyes. "No, no. But she was there."

I set my tea cup in my lap.

"General Iroh, what happened to him? Surely, I should be told."

"Well, I suppose lying to you wouldn't be worth anything since you can usually tell if you're being lied to, would it?" he said with a slight smirk.

I shrugged with a smirk of my own.

The man knew me without knowing me.

"I don't want to give you the full story, Mura; however, I can tell you the brief tale."

As you already know, Zuko's scar came from his father after Zuko refused to fight an Agni Kai with Fire Lord Ozai. It was a mark of cowardice, shame, and disrespect; and only when Zuko returned home with the Avatar was he allowed to be restored in good fortune. Zuko had been banished until then, and he searched obsessively for the Avatar to win back his father's love and honor.

I pitied Zuko, and I detested the Fire Lord more than I had hated him when he took my father away. Iroh waited patiently for a response; however, apparently it was on my face, for he set a delicate hand on my arm and patted it consolingly.

"Mura, I do not think that Zuko intends to neglect you," said Iroh. "In the six months that you have been with us, I already know that you and he have become closer than you think. You've given him no reason to mistrust you; and neither has he, to you. Childhood friends have that bond, Mura."

"That's a lie," I told him softly. He looked at me, slightly taken aback; however, I didn't mean to come off so rude. I politely excused myself, thanked him for the tea, and headed inside the ship to find Zuko.

He wasn't sleeping when I entered his quarters. I found him lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling. He merely looked at me as if I didn't belong, though he didn't urge me to get out of his room. I sarcastically knocked on the door to announce my presence. He sat up in bed and frowned.

"What are you doing here? Only Uncle is allowed inside my room. The only reason why you or anyone else would be interrupting me is if the Avatar has been spotted." He looked me over briefly and said afterward, "What are you doing here?"

I entered the room and waved my behind me. The door closed by itself, gently latching in a final answer.

"Prince Zuko," I said, "we never talked about the last time I saw you."

"It's not important." Zuko said coldly.

"Clearly, it is; if it wasn't, you wouldn't treat me like an outsider, would you?" I said, adopting his attitude.

"You're bothering me. Get out."

"'Get out'?" I repeated. "You talk to me like I'm some new recruit. I should know; the way you treat your crew members is despicable."

"The crew doesn't matter," said Zuko irritably. "What matters is finding the Avatar."

"You won't find him," I said, approaching his bed. "The Avatar has been missing for one-hundred years; no one has been able to find him. Your father—"

"My father is Fire Lord Ozai," said Zuko, climbing out of bed, "and it is in your best interest to address him as that, Mura. You better learn some respect," he said, and he poked me in the shoulder, "or I'll teach it to you."

He pushed pass me.

"You'll teach it to me, Zuko?" I asked angrily. "I took out half of your crew without a problem in the world. I'm certain that I can take on a scrawny boy like you!"

Zuko turned around furiously, wielding a manifest of fiery whips.

I admit that I was not anticipating his temper to flare so easily when I insulted him. Now that I think on it, it was highly disrespectful to assume that his prowess was less than that of his ship and crew. I'm certain that on that night, I was speaking out of anger; more or less for the reason that since I was aboard his ship, he made himself the boss of me, despite our past.

He, of course, put me in place when he gave me a good example of his increased skill in Firebending. It wasn't as well-performed as Azula in your younger years; however, it was impressive, nevertheless.

Since I wasn't expecting it, I fell almost instantly to the floor, shocked and dismayed at his aroused temper. The moment I cowered, he extinguished.

"The only reason that you're still on this ship," said Zuko, annoyed, "is that my uncle believes that you're a good person. I, however, still think that you're that thief who tried to rob my father."

"For good reason," I retorted, rising to my feet.

"Is that so?" he said sardonically.

"Fire Lord Ozai imprisoned one of his best merchants because I wasn't going to fight Azula, Zuko."

"You should have. She's a terrible, twisted girl," Zuko returned.

"I couldn't do it if I wanted to. We were friends, Azula and me. It was wrong to lash at her. And I'm not too happy that she burned me on her own terms; that pretty much ended our friendship. But why are you acting as if I'm some parasite aboard your ship, Prince Zuko? I didn't question why you're going after the Avatar—despite how foolish the errand is. You're treating me like I'm some kind of bad person, and I'm not."

Zuko stormed toward me so quickly that I had to step backwards in order to give me personal space.

"You're awfully disrespectful to me if you want me to treat you like a friend," Prince Zuko snapped.

"Because you don't show me proper respect!"

"Why should I? You're a fugitive!"

"And you're the banished prince, so what—?"

He became furious again and this time, he tried to hit me. I fingered the fireplace probes along the wall; they came flying to my aid just in time; Zuko's fist was barred by the crossed, burning tips of the cowpokes.

"You are the most frustrating girl that I've ever met!" he said.

"And you're the most frustrating boy that I've ever met," I said.

Our argument didn't go unheard. In only a minute after my retort, the door opened and General Iroh met our little aggression with a wide-eyed expression. He saw barred cowpokes separating Zuko and me, and apparently he understood the situation.

"Zuko, Mura," he said disapprovingly, "the entire crew can hear the two of you fighting like an old, married couple."

He closed the door behind me. He signaled for me to lower the fireplace probes.

I grabbed them out of the air and placed them where they belonged. Zuko glanced at Iroh in frustration.

"You don't have to come in here to settle my disputes, Uncle. I can take care of her myself."

Iroh frowned,

"Oh, yes, Prince Zuko, you were doing a marvelous job when I walked in."

Zuko walked away from to sit back on his bed.

"Mura," said Iroh gently, "you should retire for the night. You'll need your rest for the morning. I need to speak with Zuko alone."

"No," said Zuko, to my surprise, "I don't need a talk. I want to be alone. Now."

Iroh didn't argue with him. He gestured me to follow him out the door. I bided Zuko a formidable good night, to which he responded with an almighty slam of the door behind me.