Okay lol, I simply CANNOT wait and MUST share, hehe.
Chapter 3 – Kyoshi Island
The days that followed were dull and boring. Milah spent most of her time meditating or learning Pai Sho from Iroh. He beat her at every game, but she didn't mind. She liked him, and he was always kind to her. And he made good tea, of course. Zuko on the other hand spent most of his time training on deck.
And of course, Milah forgot to mention that she could watch him train as well as learn Pai Sho from Iroh, seeing that was done on deck too. That's not the reason, she told herself. Yeah right, not even a donkey would consider that to be true, her inner self scolded her.
''It's your turn,'' Iroh broke her thoughts. She looked as if a deer caught in headlights.
''Err, yes, of course,'' she said, making her move on the board. Meanwhile, Zuko was training a few metres away from them, bare-chested. She didn't dare look at him.
''Would you like some more tea, Milah?'' Iroh asked her. She nodded and smiled at him, raising her cup towards him. Meanwhile, Zuko was training as if his life depended on him. The thrusts of his fists were more powerful than usual like he was on edge because of something. His body was covered in a small layer of sweat, making him glint in the sun.
Milah brought her cup to her mouth, taking a small nip from her tea. Iroh was explaining a Pai Sho move to her with serious eyes, taking his task of learning her to heart. Milah nodded with the right words coming out of his mouth, although she didn't really listen. She was far too distracted.
''Pay attention!'' she heard Zuko shout suddenly. He was making wild gestures with his hands to one of his crewman, the one he was sparring with. His face was one of anger and contempt and his words were harsh. The crewman looked apologetic, but Milah knew that look. It was fake. And indeed, when Zuko turned around, the crewman's face turned aggravated. She felt sorry for the crewman. Zuko had been on edge for several days now with reasons unknown. She supposed it was because the search for the Avatar was not going well.
Milah frowned at that. Her heart ached with her thoughts. She missed her siblings.
''Are you okay?'' Iroh asked her softly. She looked up in his caring eyes.
''Yes,'' she answered at first, then on second thought added, ''I miss my siblings.'' Iroh had a remorseful look in his eyes and pursed his lips.
''I understand,'' he whispered. ''To lose your family… is quite tragic.'' She looked at him with a questioning look.
''I lost my son,'' Iroh whispered again, tears in his eyes. Milah gasped, eyes watering as well.
''Iroh… I didn't know,'' she whispered with a trembling voice. A tear left his eye. ''I'm so sorry.'' Tears left her eyes as well and she reached forwards to pull him into a hug. One he returned heartily. Together they sat like this for a little while until a large shout caused them to break apart.
''How can you be so stupid?!'' Zuko yelled in Amim's face. Amim looked grim. ''I'm going to my room to meditate, anyone who dares to disturb better has some news of the Avatar's whereabouts.'' And with that, the angry Prince left the deck to his chambers. Milah watched him go with an annoyed expression. He could be so rude to his crew.
She stood up to talk to Amim who was still standing in his spot with his head down in shame. ''Hey Amim,'' she called out to him. His head went up and his face contorted into joy. She smiled at that. ''What happened?''
''I accidentally drifted off while steering in the Captain's hut and set course for the wrong route. Now it takes longer for us to reach our destination,'' he told her sorrowfully. ''I'm sorry Milah, but I have to go, I have to clear the situation with the Captain.'' With that, he quickly walked away from her. She felt sorry for him as well and decided it was time to give Zuko a visit.
She was walking down towards their chambers with a determined step and face. When she reached the door she wasn't even going to bother to knock and barged in, letting the door hit the wall. He was sitting on his pillow in front of candles that rose and fell with his breathing. He had put on a shirt as well.
''I hope for you that you have good news,'' he grunted. ''Or you'll be sorry.'' He didn't even make an effort to see who it was. She walked over to the spot next to him after having closed the door and sat down as well. He opened one eye to see who it was and looked surprised to see Milah's blue eyes staring back. He stopped meditating and turned to her to see what she had to say.
''What's going on with you?'' she asked demandingly. He looked away towards the candles again, seeing them rise with his temper.
''It's none of your business,'' he said simply and closed his eyes again, not wanting to give the subject anymore thought. She seemed to think otherwise.
''I don't think so, really,'' she told him with a louder voice. He heard the anger in her voice for the first time since he met her. ''You have been aggravated for days now and the crew is suffering because of it. Your uncle is worried about you.''
And so am I, strangely, she thought, but didn't say it out loud. He sighed.
''I'm worried that we're losing the Avatar's trail. The sooner I catch him, the sooner I get to go home,'' he said softly. He hadn't wanted to say that, but it came out anyway. He regretted it immediately, not wanting to hear her reaction.
''I understand,'' she said gently. ''I have been gone from my home for a long time as well.'' He was astonished by her words. This was not what he had been expecting from her.
''What happened?'' he asked with interest. He was curious about what had happened with the Water Tribe girl. Her eyes were closed and she had a look of sorrow on her face.
''I was captured by the Fire Nation when I was twelve,'' she told him. ''I was put in a scolding hot holding cell together with my kin until a Northern Water Tribe ship freed us. Ever since then I have been training with my grandfather Pakku to defend my homeland, the Southern Water Tribe. When I turned eighteen, I left the Northern Water Tribe to go home to my family, and to protect my village from any harm. I finally reunited with my siblings until you turned up and snatched me away again.'' A single tear slid down her face. ''I guess my training wasn't good enough after all.'' She tried smiling, not wanting to show any weaknesses to him.
Zuko's stomach hurt after hearing her story. ''I'm sorry for what happened to you,'' he whispered. He didn't know what else to say.
''It's okay,'' she whispered back and wiped her face dry with her sleeve. She looked into his eyes, noticing that instead of the burning coals, they now looked like the rising sun. Instead of anger, compassion was apparent on his face. Suddenly, her hand rose and touched his scar.
''How did you get your scar?'' she asked. He was shocked with her blunt move and grabbed her wrist to get her invading touch off his face. His face turned into anger once again.
''That's none of your business,'' he told her bitterly. She blinked at him and snatched her wrist from his hand, rubbing the spot where he had grabbed her with a rather hard grip. The moment they had just shared clearly had met his end. Milah got up from her place and quickly left the room. When she made way to the deck again to ask Iroh for another game of Pai Sho, she saw that he already left the deck for other business. She sighed but instead walked over to the railing to gaze out over the sea.
Milah quickly glanced around her to check if anybody's was watching and when she noticed no one was, she secretly began bending some of the water that was all around them. She made dolphins out of the mass as if they were swimming at pace with the ship. She let one of them wave at her as well and she giggled because of her own silliness. She sighed. She had missed her bending and immediately felt some of her stress disappear. She let go of her bending and instead closed her eyes while her head was turned towards the burning sun. Its warmth welcomed her like a soft blanket.
That night, Milah had a nightmare. She was running from something in the vast, bare landscape. Scolding, hot stones were all around her, making her sweat and pant while she was fleeing. She glanced around to see who was behind her but suddenly fell into a dark pit. Milah gasped awake, sitting up straight and hit something hard.
''Ouch! Look out,'' someone whispered. Milah quickly opened her eyes and saw that it was Zuko's head that she hit. He was sitting in front of her on his knees, for some reason. He looked at her uncomfortably.
''I'm sorry,'' he whispered at her, eyes looking down. ''I was trying to wake you. It sounded like you were having a nightmare. Calling out in your sleep and such.'' Her heart fluttered when she heard those words and she wished he would look into her eyes. He stood up and walked back to his own bed when he realised she didn't need him anymore. ''Goodnight,'' he said at last and blew out the candle he had lit.
''Goodnight,'' she whispered back and laid back down on her bed. ''And thank you.'' She was met with silence. She felt things she wasn't aware of what they could mean and fell back asleep with a heavy heart.
The next few days she spent most of her time avoiding the Prince, which meant that she was often in the command tower with Amim. He was on steering duty almost all day and Zuko barely came there, which came in handy for her, especially since she liked Amim. They talked about their lives and families with ease and joked around a lot. He hardly seemed to have a problem with her roots, which satisfied her greatly, to say the least.
But that afternoon the odds didn't seem to be in her favour. The door slammed open in the middle of a conversation about one of the times she accidentally froze her grandfather over and in came a heated Zuko. Amim shot up out of his chair and bowed respectfully for his Prince. Milah simply rolled her eyes.
''Make course for Kyoshi island immediately! The Avatar's been sighted there,'' Zuko commanded Amim angrily and left without another word, slamming the door shut once again behind him. Amim let out a relieved sigh and began changing the route.
''He can be so dramatic, don't you think?'' she said gleefully. Amim chuckled and shook his head.
''Yes, he is kind of a drama queen.'' Milah laughed out loud and together they joked about the angry Prince until she called it a night, noticing her eyes felt heavier with the minute.
When she arrived in her and Zuko's chambers, she saw that he had already gone to sleep and had lit her bedside and partition candle for her, so she could change into her nightclothes and get into bed without any trouble. Once again, she felt weird about it. One minute he was angry, the other he acted as if… she didn't exactly know and decided, once again, to not give it too much thought for it would only confuse her further.
The next morning she woke up alone in her room seeing that Zuko had already left to prepare for anchoring in the harbour of Kyoshi Island.
Kyoshi Island! Avatar! Katara and Sokka! suddenly went through her head, making her sit straight up. She quickly went to change herself into her freshly washed Water Tribe clothes and made way to the deck. She noticed that they had already arrived on the Island and that most of the men had gone with Zuko to try and capture the Avatar. Quickly, she ran to the walkway and descended to land. She tried to track the spores that were left behind by the animals that were ridden by the men and ran as fast as she could. Smoke was noticeable in the sky, worrying her. Was she too late?
The tracks stopped when she neared a town that was covered in flames. Her face converted into one of anger towards the hateful Prince. He completely destroyed the Earth Kingdom town. Children and adults were seen running from their homes and crying about their possessions being destroyed. Her attention is suddenly attracted by a face-painted woman that battles a man in red armour. She immediately notices the fighting style as Zuko's and quickly ran towards the scene when another face-painted person in green robes knocks him off his rhino.
While Milah is running as quickly as she could, she is suddenly tackled by a blue blur. She hurriedly pushed the person off of her when she notices that the blue blur is actually Katara.
''Katara!'' Milah exclaimed and pulled her sister into a big hug. Tears stream down her face while she holds her sister. Katara grabbed her face.
''Are you okay?'' she hastily asked Milah. Milah nodded and wiped her eyes. Katara nodded back and grinned from ear to ear while pulling her back into the hug.
Suddenly, Katara is ripped away from her by Aang. ''Help me defeat Zuko!'' he asked the two sisters hastily. Milah looked unsure towards her sister, who had an insecure look in her eyes.
''I don't know how to bend properly…'' she whispered and looked towards her feet. Milah felt for her and grabbed Aang's arm.
''You're going to escape,'' she swiftly ordered him and gave him no room to argue with her, although she could see he wanted to. ''I'll hold him back.'' He didn't want to agree but nodded anyway. It could be their only chance and he didn't want to see Katara hurt because of his own stubbornness.
Milah took on a fighting stance when Aang blew on his bison whistle to call Appa and together with her brother Sokka and Katara they fled the scene. Zuko came running towards them to stop them, but Milah quickly bent a strong flash of water against his face, and he fell flat on his back. Zuko looked lived towards her and took on a fighting stance as well. Together they fell into a full battle of fire and water, the both of them competing in equal strength for the first time. Because of her watching him at every practice she already had taken notice of his weaknesses, making him outnumbered from the beginning. But after a while she grew tired, her moves getting sloppy and her focus diminishing.
With a loud battle cry, he had her on the ground, with a blazing fist above her head. Her eyes were filled with fright and her hand, wrapped with water, quickly doused the fire. The fire in his eyes was not yet extinguished, however, and he looked like he was going to kill her. But the look on her face made him doubt his merciless feelings.
Her face was filled with cuts and minor burn marks from the fight and her eyes had a look of pure terror in them. The hand that was pressed against his fist was trembling and cold against his warm one. He realised that she probably wasn't even fighting him for sport, but to protect her brother and sister. And he could respect that, he decided because he understood the importance of family and the safekeeping of them.
He slowly dropped his fist and rose in front of her. She looked confused for a second but didn't let it last long. She wouldn't want him to reconsider his actions and kill her after all, so she stood up as well and walked away from him towards the water they were near at. She bent the water against her face and body and began her healing process for the bruises she had gained during the match.
Her thoughts drifted away and she started replaying the battle in her head. They really were of equal strength, she had noticed that. But he clearly had better stamina because of his life full of training, while she hadn't had a practice in months. She hissed through her teeth when the water hit a spot that particularly hurt her on her forearm. A large burn was present and sizzling against the water, but she was sure that with a healing session tomorrow the burn would be gone. After a while, she walked back towards the Fire Nation ship. She had noticed that Zuko was walking behind her at a distance. She hadn't left his sight even if she had wanted to, she thought. He was determined to keep her prisoner, to which she sighed in misery. She wished she could have gone with her siblings and Aang, but knew it wasn't possible. She had to keep Zuko away from the group to the best of her ability. She wouldn't and couldn't let his hands get on the rest of her family. It was bad enough that Milah was his prisoner. Sokka and Katara didn't have to be a victim as well as her.
Once she was on deck again, she found Iroh gazing over the railing towards the town. The smoke was gone from the sky and in the distance, you could see an Unagi disappear beneath the surface. Iroh turned his head to the left to have a look at the Waterbending girl and was shocked to see her hurt.
''What happened to you?'' he asked worriedly. She let out a small sigh.
''Zuko and I were in a fight,'' she told him honestly. She couldn't lie to him even if she tried. ''He wanted to capture the Avatar and I wanted to protect my brother and sister.'' Iroh nodded because he understood and made way towards his tea table to pour her a cup of jasmine tea, her favourite, he knew. She took it from him gladly, happy that he wasn't angry with her.