When gold met blue

by Lily Bagnold

At eleven years old, Milah was taken captive by Fire Nation soldiers. Seven years later, at eighteen, she returns to her family at the South Pole, back to her brother Sokka and her sister Katara. But a certain scarred Prince ruins her plans. Zuko/OC. Rated M for lemons and occasional cursing. Extreme slow-burn and angst.

15. Adrift at sea

Chapter 12 – Adrift at sea

It didn't take long for them to find Iroh. The retired General had already begun making a raft from scraps of wood that were laying around and once Zuko saw his old uncle struggling, he quickly went to help him.

This gave Milah some time to think about the events that had happened that day. Her actual mission was finding Zuko and stopping him from taking the Avatar hostage and maybe hurting her family in the process, but, in the end, he had found her, not the other way around. She had been knocked out by someone – identity still unknown, and after this, she had escaped the Water Tribe in fear of getting caught – probably as a result of her outfit; she looked like a Fire Nation soldier with her armour on.

But a small feeling of doubt had been starting to settle in her stomach, nagging her annoyingly. Should she have come with him? Why didn't she stay to find her family in the Tribe? There would've been a big chance that they were still around somewhere there.

But, on the other hand, Milah knew why upon taking one look at the reason why she stayed. The golden-eyed Prince was helping his uncle prepare their ride out of here, making her aware of how much she didn't want to leave him.

She knew her family would be safe in the hands of the Avatar; she had seen it this night when he turned into a gigantic monster that eliminated all of Zhao's army. And she knew that her family could take care of themselves – they had done so for seven years without her.

The doubt slowly eased away from her stomach and out of her body. She gave out a big sigh, closed her eyes for a second, and finally made her way over to the two men, wanting to help them.

''I think we're all set,'' Zuko said after some time, eyeing the raft with slight suspicion.

''Shall we go?'' Iroh asked the two of them. His eyes met Milah's. ''Milah?'' She looked back, the last bit of hesitation showed on her face, but she nodded eventually.

''Let's go, before someone finds us,'' she answered softly and made her way on top of the raft. ''I'll bend us from the coast.'' Zuko stared at her, amazed by her determination to leave with two Fire Nation men. She had changed so much over the three months they had been together.

It was after an hour that Iroh spoke up for the first time. It had been silent amongst them, seeing they were all tired from the past few weeks. ''I'm surprised Prince Zuko, surprised that you are not at this moment trying to capture the Avatar.''

Milah snorted, making both of them look her way. ''He'll not get far while I'm with him,'' she said, giving him a smile. He returned it crookedly.

''I'm tired,'' he replied eventually.

''Then you should rest. A man needs his rest,'' Iroh answered wisely. Zuko sighed but laid down eventually. Milah herself was sitting cross-legged on the edge of the raft, keeping it steady for as best as she could.

''Shall I heal your wounds?'' she asked both of them after some time. She had regained some of her strength in the time she was able to close her eyes for a bit.

''Well, since you're offering…'' Iroh took up on her offer with a grin. She chuckled at his enthusiasm and saw he had some minor burnings on his arm.

''So, where did you get these, Iroh?'' she asked him while her hands were beginning to glow. He let out a little sigh of relief, his wounds already healing.

''I fought with some of Zhao's guards after he killed the Moon Spirit. But don't worry, they are off far worse than me.'' They laughed. He also told about how Yue sacrificed herself to become the new Moon Spirit, which brought tears to her eyes. Yue had been a friend to her during her stay at the Water Tribe, so to hear that she was… not around anymore, hurt her. He also told about how brave and kind her siblings were, and how Sokka had been in love with Yue.

All of Iroh's stories eventually became too much for her, and a single tear escaped her eye. If it was of sadness or happiness, she could not say, but she was glad that her family had been safe, according to Iroh. And after she was done healing him and he was done with his tale, she went over to sit beside Zuko.

''Let me heal you,'' she whispered to him. He was laying down with his eyes closed, wanting to appear as if he was asleep. ''I'll do it anyway.'' This statement opened his eyes.

''Sure,'' he shortly answered. He wasn't smiling anymore, which made Milah frown, but she got to work anyway. But before she could put her waterfilled hand on his face, he grabbed it. ''But only if you'll heal yourself first.'' A little staring contest went on after that, but Milah gave up eventually and rolled up her sleeves to get to work efficiently.

The wound at her side was already out in the open, so when she was done with the minor cuts and burns on her face and arms, she got to work on her waist.

A little hiss escaped her mouth before she could stop it, and Zuko reacted immediately, sitting up and inspecting where it hurt.

''How did it happen?'' he asked her after seeing the grave wound. It was deep, which she hadn't noticed at first, but it would definitely leave a scar and take some time to heal.

''A Water Tribe soldier attacked me. He probably saw me for Fire Nation,'' she whispered in reply, trying to focus on her task at hand.

''How could he not have seen that you weren't Fire Nation? Our army doesn't harbour female soldiers anymore, and your hair is too long to be male.'' His voice was slightly raised, indicating his anger towards the man. ''Stupid Water Tribe.'' This made Milah chuckle.

''Yeah, stupid Water Tribe,'' she answered, still laughing, and looked into Zuko's eyes again, forgetting about her pain for a moment.

God, I can drown in those eyes, Zuko thought at that moment, feeling the magnetic pull he always had when near her once more. But the moment was broken by a little cough from Iroh. Zuko gave him an annoyed look, which he returned with a sneaky one of his own, hiding his smile behind his fist.

Milah composed herself once more and turned towards her wound again, concentrating on the task at hand. It began draining her energy after a while, and she knew that was the moment to stop. Tomorrow was another day for her to heal herself some more.

''I'm done, now let me heal those nasty cuts on your face,'' she said with a little too much enthusiasm. He sighed but laid back once more to give her easier access.

He wasn't going to lie; it felt good to be healed by her. A warm sensation spread over his face and he could physically feel the cuts closing and the forming of new skin. It only took a few minutes to heal all of him, which he regretted, missing the feeling of her hands already.

The night was already falling when Milah woke up from a deep slumber she hadn't known she had slipped into. The moon was visible in the sky, giving her more strength than she had when the sun was up in the sky. When she sat up, she noticed that only Zuko was awake, sitting up beside her. Iroh had fallen asleep against the pole which functioned as the mast of the little raft.

Hunger filled her senses then, and she remembered that she hadn't eaten for almost two days. A loud growl escaped her stomach, making Zuko aware of her waking up. He turned around to face her, trying to hold back his laughter.

''I'll try and catch some fish, okay?'' she whispered at him with a little giggle in her voice. He nodded in response, not wanting to wake up his uncle who was only just starting to fall asleep.

Milah quickly waterbended a fish out of the water, which Zuko immediately fried using his own Firebending. The fish quickly died, which Milah was glad about; she didn't like killing living things.

The light of the fire and the smell of fried fish woke up Iroh, who was eyeing the fish with hungry eyes. ''You think you can catch one more, Milah?'' The girl in question chuckled for the umpteenth time that night and caught another fish with ease, which Zuko fried again.

And so it was then that they started their dinner, and the silence and comfort that followed indicated that it would be the perfect time to question Zuko as well about his actions back in the Water Tribe, Milah thought.

''So, Zuko, tell me,'' she started while having swallowed her last bit of the fish. ''What exactly happened to you in the Water Tribe?'' Silence filled the air, making Milah shiver for a second. The warm fish made her belly warm, but her feet and hands were cold as ice.

''Here,'' he whispered softly, taking her hands into his own warm ones. He didn't look into her eyes, however, no matter how much she wanted to.

''Thank you, but you can't get out of it,'' she whispered back, glad that he was warming her hands and mesmerised by the sight of their clasped hands. ''Please.''

He sighed but told eventually about how he had to fight her sister to get to Aang, and how he was impressed by her improved skills and that he almost had lost if daybreak hadn't come to them. And he told about how he had been trapped in an ice cave with Aang and how her sister had once more fought him and how he had lost that fight, but instead of leaving him in the cold blizzard they had taken him with them, so when he woke up he had tried searching for Zhao but had found her with Amim instead.

And at the mention of Amim, Milah gave out a little gasp. ''Amim! How could we have left him, Zuko? He'll be imprisoned, or worse!'' Panic was starting to settle in her chest, but Zuko gave her hands a little squeeze to calm her.

''Milah, trust me, we couldn't have taken them on. They would've captured as well, don't you see that?'' he tried reassuring her. It did the trick slightly.

''He is right, Milah. And besides, what do you think they would've done to Zuko once they figured out he is the son of the Fire Lord?'' Iroh interrupted them. Milah nodded, understanding.

She smiled suddenly, remembering a part of his story. ''So, my sister is now badass, huh?'' Both Iroh and Zuko laughed.

''Yes, she's badass now. You would be proud,'' the Prince answered. ''She'll be fine, especially since the Avatar has now mastered Waterbending as well.'' He tried assuring her upon seeing her slightly worried face.

However, this fact made the mood a little glum. Zuko realised this all too well. The task of hunting down the Avatar and capturing him had already been hard seeing Aang was a Master Airbender, but now he was a Master Waterbender as well, and it wouldn't take long to find a Master Earthbending to teach them either.

''Haven't you ever considered…'' Milah started, but regretted beginning the sentence in the first place. ''Never mind,'' she murmured, not wanting to finish. He would probably get mad for it anyway.

''I have,'' he whispered, getting the gist of where she was going. ''But I have to find him and bring him to my father. It's the only way to regain my honour. It's the only thing that matters.'' But Zuko knew that wasn't the only thing that mattered. No, the girl beside him mattered as well. And he knew that he couldn't have it both ways. He couldn't have the girl and his honour. His father wouldn't allow it.

''Is that so?'' Milah whispered back after some time, her tone having changed significantly. She tore away her hands from his and shuffled away from him, leaving him cold at his side. ''I'm glad we've cleared that up. I'm going to sleep now. Goodnight.''

She wouldn't let them see the hurt. She couldn't do that, so she went to sleep. Or, tried to actually. The cold seeped into her bones, making her shiver so badly that the raft sometimes wobbled by her movements. She clenched her jaw to not make her teeth rattle as well, but her breathing probably gave her away too. It came out trembling and harsh.

Zuko looked at his uncle after Milah laid down, shivering to her core. Iroh had a look of utter disappointment on his face, one he didn't get often from the old man. And with a last shake of the head from the General, he turned around to lay down and try to get some sleep. This left Zuko to take the watch for the night.

After maybe half an hour, he couldn't stand it anymore. Milah's shivering was getting out of hand.

''Milah?'' he tried waking her up softly, placing his warm hand on her ice-cold arm. ''Let me warm you up.'' She didn't turn around to face him.

''No,'' she let out with a gasp, her teeth clattering in the process. ''I'm fine.'' Zuko sighed, not liking what he was about to do, but he knew that without giving her his breath of fire, she would get sick and who knows what would happen then. And so he grabbed her arm to turn her around to face him which went fairly easy, seeing she didn't have the strength to fight him off for a change. So when she finally was on the other side, he laid down beside her as well and pulled her body against his.

Milah didn't want to fight him off, not when she could feel that the cold was almost killing her, and not when Zuko was so warm and inviting. So she put her hands against his warm side, tucked her cold feet under his legs and buried her face into his open arms. Together, they laid like this for the rest of the night.

The rest of the week was boring and uneventful. Every night they ate fish and when it rained, Milah tried to catch as much water as she could with her bending so they could drink. And thankfully, she had learned a technique from Pakku that when in dire need, you could take water from the sky to use. However, it took a lot of energy, and since she tried to bend the raft towards warmer climates for most of the day, she hadn't used it yet.

It was currently evening; the sun had disappeared and the moon had taken its place in the sky. Only half was present, so it didn't fuel her as much as when a full moon did. But still, it made her feel energised.

''Can you sing that song again, Milah?'' Iroh suddenly asked. They had just finished dinner and she was preparing for another night by Zuko's side. It had become usual for them to sleep against each other at night, seeing they probably were still pretty far up north and it was still very cold at night. ''The stars look especially radiant tonight.''

Milah hesitated but complied eventually. And so she sang once more about the three little birds that pitched by her doorstep, telling that they shouldn't worry and everything would be all right. After the song was over, the air was left pregnant by her words. Nobody said something, but it was almost eerie how calm everything was.

''Thank you,'' Iroh whispered. ''I have never met someone quite like you. And that's in a good way.'' Milah puffed out a small smile.

Zuko remained silent. He had been amazed by her voice before, but to hear it when sitting next to her, to look upon her face while she spoke the words was one other experience. She had the loveliest voice he had ever heard, and he had heard a lot when he would go to the opera with his family on Ember Island. And the way the water carried the tunes over the waters was truly magical.

''I know one other if you'd like,'' she interrupted his thoughts.

''Yes, please,'' he blurted out before he could stop himself. She smirked at him, satisfied that he apparently liked her singing.

''Okay, this one my mother sang for us a lot as well when we were younger,'' she began, and the words tumbled from her words not long after.

''She's got a smile that it seems to me

Reminds me of childhood memories

Where everything

Was as fresh as the bright blue sky.''

It was a song neither of them had heard before. Most of the Fire Nation songs were about their great culture or the Fire Lord, not delicate songs like Milah apparently knew.

''Now and then when I see her face

It takes me away to that special place

And if I stared too long

I'd probably break down and cry.''

Zuko gave Iroh a quick look and saw that the man had his eyes closed, his lips ghosted by a light smile.

''Sweet child o' mine

Sweet love of mine.''

Zuko saw that Milah's own eyes were closed as well, her brows furrowed. She was remembering times where her mother was alive and her father happy, her brother and sister always bickering with each other much to her amusement. A feeling of loss and emptiness filled her being.

''She's got eyes of the bluest skies

As if they thought of rain

I'd hate to look into those eyes

And see an ounce of pain

''Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place

Where as a child I'd hide

And pray for the thunder and the rain

To quietly pass me by.''

The song reminded Zuko of his mother and of the loss he had experienced at an early age. It still hurt him to his core that his mother had left him so easily, so it seemed to him. The small ring hanging on a small chain he wore around his neck felt heavy and almost burning. He couldn't help but touch the spot on his armour where the ring was underneath. His uncle noticed this and wondered what was going around in Zuko's head at the moment.

''Sweet child o' mine

Sweet love of mine

''Sweet child o' mine

Sweet love of mine.''

And with that, she ended the beautiful song. Milah felt relieved it was over, not prepared for the toll it would take on her, or for the memories which it brought up.

''Your mother knows some beautiful songs, Milah,'' Iroh whispered with his eyes closed. He was saddened that the song was already over.

''Yes, she did,'' she answered solemnly. Zuko noticed this and wondered why she was talking about her in the past tense.

''What happened to her?'' Iroh asked her with a soft voice.

''She was killed during a raid on our Tribe,'' she whispered hoarsely, her eyes closed. Coldness filled her body, so she tucked her knees against her chest, wanting to shield herself from the wind that had begun to blow out of nowhere. ''Or so I've been told. I was taken prisoner before that happened. So my brother and sister had to go through that alone.''

The realisation always made her sad. She hadn't been able to comfort them when they needed it the most. She had been a prisoner on board the Fire Nation ship for several weeks together with the other Waterbenders before someone would come and rescue her. And after this, they had taken her to the Northern Water Tribe after seeing the potential she had – she had been an excellent Waterbender before her training as well – so she could learn from the very best. Her parents thought it was a good idea for her to study at their sister Tribe if she was taken care of properly, which she was. And when the news came that her mother had been killed when she was only thirteen, it broke her that she hadn't seen her mother in such a long time and that it was too late then.

But at the time, she couldn't leave the Tribe. It was too dangerous for a child to travel to the Southern Water Tribe all by herself – forces couldn't be spared with the war going on. So she couldn't attend her mother's funeral or hold her baby sister whenever she would cry herself to sleep.

''I'm so sorry,'' Iroh whispered and made his way over to her to grab her hand and give it a tight squeeze. ''I know what it's like to lose someone so close to you.''

''I know,'' she replied with a trembling voice. ''It happened a long time ago. I'm okay now.'' But she wasn't, and all three of them knew it.

After a couple of weeks, they still hadn't found land, and slowly they were getting desperate. Every day Milah would bend the water around them to move faster, wanting to find some sign of a nearby shore more than anything else. For the rest, Iroh did most of the talking, relieving Milah for she didn't feel like talking all that much. And Zuko… he was another story. He only talked when directly talked to and was almost always frowning, making Milah wonder what was going on inside of his head.

And every night, before they went to sleep, Iroh would ask her to sing something for them, reasoning that he liked her voice very much and it gave him strength in the difficult time they were currently in. Only eating fish and drinking water had done a number on him, seeing he was an excessive tea drinker. And so she sang every single night, not knowing that with every song, Zuko could feel himself falling deeper and deeper into a pit he couldn't climb out of anymore. His heart sang louder whenever he would glance at her for only a second, or when she would speak in her clear and soft voice. The strength he possessed was immense, he reckoned, since he had been able to refrain himself from touching her – even if it was only just a graze – or tucking her hair behind her ear. Because, god, he loved her hair.

What he didn't love was that they had travelled so far south that the air was a lot warmer than just three weeks ago, so that meant that Milah no longer needed him for warmth. Now they laid apart from each other, at a reasonable distance. It was only when he would see Milah starting to shiver that he would reach out and tuck her next to him, at the spot he wanted her so badly. Next to him.

''Is that…'' Milah suddenly started. She was standing on the raft, leaning against the mast to gaze out over the horizon. It was midday, the sun high up in the sky. ''That's land!'' She pointed towards something rather excitedly, making the raft wobble dangerously. ''We've reached land! Finally!'' And with that, she started to bend them towards the shore swiftly and rapidly.

Zuko went over to her side quickly, seeing she was right then. ''We've made it,'' he whispered beside her. She turned sideways to face him with a radiant smile on her face.

''This is good news! I know this place,'' Iroh exclaimed out of the blue, clapping his hands. ''This is a very nice spa, owned by a dear old friend of mine.''

Not long after that, all three of them washed up onshore. Milah tried to give them all a safe landing, but there were too many rocks in the shallow area, so the raft broke and they had to manoeuvre dangerously through the harsh current. But, in the end, only Milah ended up with a minor cut on her left arm.

''Let me see that,'' Zuko asked her softy and took her arm. He had walked over to her after having seen the blood that seeped past her arm and onto the wet sand. But she pulled herself from his grasp before he realised it.

''I'm fine,'' she said curtly, not wanting to be so close to him for long. She quickly healed the cut as best as she could and went over to Iroh after, away from the man that was watching her walk away with sad eyes and a heavy heart.

He hadn't talked to her much over the time they had spent adrift at sea, he knew that, and he regretted it. He just didn't want to admit the feelings he had for her, so he tried to ignore and forget them. No matter how hard it was for him, he wouldn't encourage those pesky feelings.

But secretly, he knew it was too late. He had already fallen.

Thank you again Vosck! I really appreciate the nice feedback :).