"Why can't I tell her? She would never –" Zuko began as he looked at his Uncle.
"No!" Iroh interrupted him. "It is for your own safety." He looked at the wounded face of his nephew, the results of the brutal attack on his life. His left eye was already permanently scarred, but his right eye had bruises as well. His lips, nose and cheeks were wounded as well, although it slowly started to heal.
"Zhao wants you dead," he continued with a pained voice, "And our plan is working perfectly. If he even suspects you might still be alive, all your chances are lost."
"But Uncle, you know as well as I that she is hurting." Zuko pleaded again, his voice strained as he remembered her quiet sobs through the door. She had looked exhausted when he saw her at tea that afternoon. Her cheeks looked more hollow and her eyes had dark circles under them. When Uncle told her about the attack on his life, he saw the little colour remaining in her face disappear.
He could say nothing to comfort her. He had to hide in plain sight, for his own safety.
But he had reacted when she stumbled backwards, fearing she would fall over. Luckily, Uncle was quick to react to order him to bring her back to her room. And when he had placed his hand on her lower back, he felt a small shock. She seemed to feel it too, since she straightened her back and walked out with her head held high.
The entire way back to her room, he closely walked behind her. He wanted so badly to speak to her, to comfort her and to embrace her that he had to constrain himself to hold back.
"Zuko, it is also for her safety." his Uncle answered, "The attack was also meant to hurt her."
Zuko's thoughts were interrupted and his eyes snapped back to his Uncle's, confused and angered.
"What do you mean?" he said with a low grow. Who would dare to touch her? She wouldn't hurt a fly, he thought as he remembered her compassionate nature.
"She was not sick the past three days, as we were told." Iroh replied in a low voice, "She was being held in the cells below deck."
He had asked around by the crew about the wellbeing of the girl. Shin, the cook who had served on his ship as well, told him about the situation. Shin knew, because he had supplied the food the first day and heard from the other guards what actually happened to her.
"What?!' Zuko exclaimed as smoke started to come out of his flared nostrils.
"Keep your voice down!" Iroh said while pushing his nephew behind a boiler, out of sight of the other soldiers. "If you promise to control your temper, I'll tell you." he added while turning his head to see if they truly were alone.
Zuko did not answer, but gritted his teeth as a response. Iroh took that as a 'yes'.
"She defied Zhao and fought against him to save a village from his wrath." Iroh said, "Zhao wanted to burn all the villagers in a Temple, but she broke them out and fought against the soldiers."
"She rebelled against Zhao and knocked over his soldiers to prevent a mass murder?" Zuko answered with raised eyebrows, "All by herself?"
"Not entirely, but she was the only one who was brought back to the ship to endure her punishment here." Iroh replied, while stroking his beard, "But you saw for yourself how exhausted she looked."
"Why are you telling me this?" Zuko roared, his blood heating up and his nostrils flaring again. Does he want me to kill Zhao right now? he mentally cursed.
"The stay below deck was to break her will, and the news of your death was to be the final blow." Iroh explained to his nephew, "What do you think will happen to her if she steps out of line another time?"
Zuko did not respond, but Iroh looked at the metal pipe Zuko had placed his hand around. His knuckles were white and the pipe was deformed, the metal glowing red from the heat generating from his hands.
"You want to know how you can help her?" Iroh said as he placed his hand on the shoulder of his nephew to calm him, "Stay hidden until we reach the North Pole and the Avatar is yours, then you can regain your place at court and take her away from this."
"Uncle, she is not the type of woman to throw herself into fits of emotions." Zuko tried another time, "She is not foolish enough to- "
"But she does have emotions, Prince Zuko. Do not forget that" Iroh interrupted again in a calm voice, "You cannot expect her to play along with a secret that so dangerous for the both of you."
Elyrie had spend most of her free time in her room, trying to comprehend the situation. She was still able to eat and breath, but she did it on autopilot. She was not present in the moment. She was not even present in the past.
She just stared, having no thoughts at all.
She felt that she should be crying uncontrollably, but she seemed to be done. She felt a odd sense of calm coming over her. There was one good thing that came out of this horrible situation: she knew Zhao had told her the dreadful news to crush her completely. To isolate her even further and to make her desperately depended on him.
And desperate, that was the one thing she was not. Though her whole being ached for the loss of Zuko, while her heart bled and her blood froze whenever she thought of him, it also made her realise that she had absolutely nothing to lose anymore.
If anything, this whole ordeal only made her more determined to get out of this horrible place. As soon as they returned to the Fire Nation, she would leave. Fleeing into the icy tundra was simply impossible, so she had the wait for her chance to disappear.
Why did I ever think this engagement would be the right decision? Elyrie mused as she stood up. Grieving is a luxury she did not allow herself right now, that would come later.
"Affection is desirable, money is absolutely indispensable." She heard her aunt say in her head. Those were the words of advice when they had discussed Zhao's marriage proposal all those months ago.
Money was indeed necessary, but nobody had told her how much money was necessary. They just assumed she would need the amount she was used to.
The Fire Nation did not discriminate on gender, although it was somewhat more expected of noble women to submit to a man. The pressure to marry was indeed present in the circles she had grown up in, but lower class women had opportunities in the Fire Nation. She could leave with all her jewels and sell them on the way for basic needs. She could go to a village in the middle of the Fire Nation where nobody knew her and maybe even become a teacher there. She had the knowledge for it. She might not have the opportunity to have the same amount of wealth she was used to with her parents, but she could survive on her own.
As long as she did not marry Zhao, the house and the inheritance remained legally hers. Besides, she knew her parents would rather see everything being burned down to the ground than that their only daughter would be trapped in this situation.
She might not live the life she was used to, but it was better than this. Anything would be better than this.
Zuko had observed Zhao's interaction with Elyrie the past days as their journey went on. And everyday, he found a new reason to despise the man. To him, Elyries intelligence and her confidence were nuisances, rather than qualities to be encouraged.
Zuko remained close by, to keep an eye on her. He was not sure what Zhao planned for her if she stepped out of line, but he would not wait around to find out. That deceitful man tried to break her will, subdue her mind and silence her voice. And when he had watched her stumble that night, he feared Zhao might have succeeded.
He was thankful for the Fire Nation armours: nobody would suspect anything, since they all looked the same. If one guard paid extra interest in the young fiancée of the Admiral, it would be suspicious. But with their matching uniforms and facemask, nobody could tell the difference. Maybe his Uncle noticed, but he could count on him to keep silent. He might not think it wise that he paid so much attention to the girl, but even he understood that is was impossible for Zuko to sit around and do nothing to protect her.
Elyrie was silent during the moments she spend with Zhao and Uncle, simply listening and only answering when someone asked her something. Even when Uncle asked her something, she only replied in a quiet voice and gave minimal answers. She mostly kept to herself, head down and silent.
Zhao only smiled at this, content with her behaviour. Uncle sometimes gazed at her with a look of concern at her quiet demeanour, but he didn't know what to do about it.
If only she knew she wasn't alone, Iroh thought to himself as he looked at empty shell of the feisty girl she once was. Her eyes looked dull, her skin was like snow and her hands seemed to be permanently trembling whenever she picked up her cup of tea.
Zuko noticed it too and it made his chest constrict. He couldn't remember her not smiling. All he could do was look at her, praying she didn't lose all hope. When he looked at her broken figure, he was afraid she had already lost it.
But after only a day, Zuko was glad to see that the old Elyrie had not disappeared. He saw her fiery spirit, but only in flashes.
When observing closely - which he could from behind the safety of his mask - he saw the glimmer of defiance in her eyes. The slight pouting, the curling of the edges of her lips. The blue eyes stared into the distance, but they were paying attention to every word being spoken. Picking up everything, processing and storing it.
He was surprised he still remembered her little quirks, her small tics to pick up on her mood. He knew she was not broken and that she would never break. She had a strength to her which could whether any storm, one that came from deep within her. The little firecracker he knew from his childhood shined through the woman she had become.
Uncle once compared her to a Fire Rose, which hides his thorns beneath the surface. Like a rose, bending in the wind, she adapted to every situation. She had done it again now: by keeping her head down, she fooled Zhao into believing her complete submission.
And like all flowers, she would eventually bend towards the sun.
"Soot, I've seen it before," Sokka said while he grabbed a handful of grey snow, "Right before my village was attacked."
While examining the flakes of black snow falling down on the frozen landscape of the North Pole, the blue-eyed warrior sighed. "It is soot combined with snow." he repeated as he stood up and looked out over the sea.
"But why?" the sweet voice of the white-haired Princess asked, while placing her hands against her cheeks in confusion.
"It's the Fire Nation, they've closed in on the North Pole," Sokka answered while looking back at her with a feeling of dread coming over him, "And from the looks of this stuff, I'd say there's a lot of them."
The pair looked out over the endless sea, where the blue sky was darkened by a dark grey cloud heading towards them.