Disclaimer: All characters from A:tLA belong to Bryke and Nickelodeon
A hand shoved his exposed back and he stumbled forward into the water barrel. Zuko looked away from the glowing silver moon to glare at the guard, who bared his crooked, grimy teeth.
"Quit making oogie eyes at the moon and hurry up. How long does it take to wash a shirt, anyways?"
Zuko pulled his soaked shirt from the water and shook it a few times, purposefully splattering the guard, who flinched. Zuko smirked. Luckily, it was hidden in the darkness, or else he might have been whipped right there on the deck.
"Come on," the guard grumbled and knocked him forward. Zuko put the shirt back on and took one more glance around the deck. Many of the guards had retired to their sleeping quarters, wherever that was, and he had a clear view of the bow of the ship. He did a double take when he saw something tall and white, glowing almost as brightly as the moon, rising in the distance.
"The Southern Water Empire," he whispered, awestruck. Even at this distance Zuko could tell that it was far larger than he and his father had ever imagined. The ship's path was blocked by huge icebergs that seemed to form an impenetrable barrier, and Zuko wondered how they could possibly avoid all of them. The moon rose as they approached and illuminated the wide expanse of land ahead of them. A great wall of ice shielded the capital city and the Water Empire crest was carved into the center of it. His teachers had told him that the Northern Water tribe used to look like this before the Southern tribe rose to power and dominated the once-great city.
Then to his right he saw a handful of Water Empire sailors emerge from a door on the floor of the deck and take their positions at the front of the ship. The guard was still pushing him towards the door that would take them back to the brig, but Zuko craned his neck, trying to see what the sailors would do. All of them moved in unison, raising their arms high above their heads in a sweeping motion to the right, and the iceberg nearest the boat floated in that direction, like it had been blown by the slight sea breeze.
Waterbenders, Zuko realized, and was immensely glad he hadn't arranged a coup with the other refugees. With one final shove the guard pushed Zuko through the door and he stumbled down the stairs to the brig, only just keeping himself from falling on his face. The guard didn't say another word as he locked Zuko inside the room. The stench of vomit and dirty bodies hit him like a wall, and he backed up against the door, wishing he was outside again, even if there was an army of waterbenders who would love to kill him if they learned who he was. Then again, maybe death was better than this smelly torture.