"You know," Fusa said, sounding somewhat casual despite his leaping over and twisting under fireballs, "I've gotta be honest. I didn't think there'd be that many of you just hanging out on the ship." The shaft of his weapon whipped the legs out from one Fire Nation soldier who dared to get close in an attempt to distract him. A temporary disabling the Avatar couldn't capitalise on due to yet another volley of fireballs coming at him that forced him away. "Figured you'd all be taking some shore leave. Doubt there's much to do on the base, but most of us aren't big fans of staying on the water when we don't need to."

"Don't speak like you have anything in common with us, boarder!" one of the benders spoke with harshness and indignance in her voice. He found the leader. "What are your intentions?!"

"I dunno, maybe I just wanted to come see the sights." He smiled at her, his naginata twirling in his hands as a ring formed from the blade tip, the winds collecting and diverting the bolts of fire coming at him to join the ring. Not quite a fully firebending technique, it used the slightest bit of air manipulation. But as the ring of blue flames grew, he smiled in satisfaction. No one wanted to get close with that at his disposal, and the firebenders obviously weren't much use at range when he could take their fire for himself. "Been a while since I visited the Fire Nation, and hey! I get the chance to check out a navy ship! Little more dreary than I thought it'd be, but there's at least one pretty sight that made it worth it!" His weapon twirled to one side, letting the female officer see him clearly as he winked.

Her fury lasted only an instant longer as she realised what was about to happen. As it turned to fear. "GET DOWN!"

Some obeyed. Some were too slow. The constantly twirling naginata made one final rotation as Fusa swept it horizontally. The swing of the weapon scattering the blue flames into a mighty wave that passed over the deck of the ship. The force and power of it knocked a few of the soldiers overboard. A few others weren't quite so lucky, feeling the bite and the burn of the technique, throwing themselves overboard to ease the burning with the ocean waters below. And so a dozen soldiers were down to a mere handful. And their cute officer. Once again Fusa smiled at her, the polearm settling on his shoulder. If he had been worried before, he made it obvious he no longer was.

"Lieutenant!" one of the soldiers cried. "Blue flames! Like Princess Azula! Whoever he is, he isn't some rabble!"

"I'm aware of that, soldier," the apparent Lieutenant bit out. She glanced around, assessing her circumstances. "Give the order, all hands on deck. Fetch the captain."

"Ma'am–!"

"That was an order." The woman reached behind her back, drawing a pair of twin blades, wide and curved. "I'll hold him here."

"Really?" Fusa asked, butting into the conversation. "I can be a fan of cuddling if that's what you're into. You didn't seem the type."

"You come onto my ship and act like this." Her golden eyes shone with anger as she jerked her head. Her few remaining soldiers attacked as one while one of their number fled into the ship. The small squad weren't expected to fight well in such small numbers against such a superior opponent. Their only role was to provide opportunity. Advantage. As one of them was cut down, the Lieutenant struck in what she thought was his blind spot, only to find the shaft of the polearm blocking the slash of her blades. "I'll teach you to take such things seriously!"

"Oh but I am taking this seriously!" Fusa insisted with a grin as he pushed her away to quickly deal with the other two soldiers, before once again his weapon and hers struck against one another. "A non-bender! Interesting!" Even if she hadn't acted, he had assumed her a bender for her minimal armour. "I'm not an expert but–" He stepped to avoid her sweeping kick, then twisted his naginata to catch and redirect her fresh strikes with her blades. "I thought Fire Nation favoured firebenders in officer positions." She was quite good, diverting his attention with multiple dangerous attacks in rapid succession. Even her act of staying here was a diversion. "You must be a rare talent! What's your name?"

"Why do you care?"

"Uh," once again their weapons met with metallic rings, "Something something, honourable duel, something something." He grinned at her narrowed eyes. "You got me! I just want to know the name I'll whisper later between the sweet nothings."

He suddenly found her foot pinning his, her furious and unblinking stare suddenly unexpectedly close as she guided his polearm away long enough to close within range. "I am Lieutenant Jumei of the Fourth Expeditionary Fleet!" Her blade came up in an attempt to slice open his torso. Only to manage a glancing wound as he dropped his weapon and danced backward out of range again, though disarmed. She smiled in victory. "If you're lucky, all you'll be whispering is your dying breaths!"

"Expeditionary fleet?" He glanced at the otherwise empty ocean. "Not much of a fleet." Then at the Fire Nation base only a few hundred metres away. "Or an expedition. But don't get me wrong, I love it when someone gets into the spirit of banter!" Fusa joyfully exclaimed. "However." His arms rotated. His limbs bent at knee and elbow. "As fun as this has been, the fun has to end, at least for now." His hands came together, a ball of blue flame forming between them that only swelled to greater size, before he launched it. Jumei wasn't a fool, she had proven that much. She knew to get out of the way at all costs, and so as she desperately dove aside, Fusa released the fire bomb to where she had been. Incidentally toward the entrance to the lower decks where more troops were emerging. At the same time, he propelled himself upward with jets of flame, following the path of the great fireball until it passed over his weapon, at which point the Avatar let himself drop and take the polearm in hand with a roll.

Another gout of flame that blasted him toward Jumei, the blunt end of his naginata struck her in the head and knocked her out cold.

In the same moment, two boats launched up onto the deck of the ship. One of their occupants tumbling out in a sprawling pile, the others managing to hold on as they came to a destructive stop, the hulls cracking apart from the impact. Fusa moved quickly toward the fallen man. "Kurtok, you alright?"

"Think so," the waterbender groaned as he got to his feet. "Damn, how do you stay on your feet doing that trick with Bisho?"

"Helps I didn't come in for a crash landing like you did."

Taira looked around the near empty deck of the ship. "We saw the others that went into the water. These ones prisoners?"

"Yeah, they'll do well as hired hands."

"Well, we'll need people to run this thing, just gotta make sure they know who's boss." The former engineer's eyes landed on the hatch to the ship's innards. The hatch glowing red from heat. "Kurtok."

"I got it, I got it," the somewhat woozy waterbender insisted, stumbling forward. His stance became somewhat more stable as he moved through the motions of drawing water from his gourd, before he ran it over the glowing metal. Then, flowing movements became rigid, the steaming water turning to ice. Quickly melting ice that Kurtok had to refreeze, but ice.

"Alright, we don't have a lot of time," Fusa said, looking out to the base where a response was being mounted. They didn't know just what it would look like, but they were up to something. "Kurtok, Han Shu, you're staying up here. Keep these soldiers locked down. The rest of you, with me to clear the rest of the ship. Taira you stay at the back–"

"I know, let's go already."

Taira had always been kind of a surly drunk of a man. It wasn't surprising given his history. He had been an engineer on a ship just like this, until... Well, he got caught by an inspecting officer while drunk on duty. The drunk part wasn't new, but being a goat-ass about everything sure was. He had sold the patrol routes to the crew soon after, and got an offer to join. Being a Fire Nation native and former navy rendered him invaluable to the pirates. Knowing these ships like the back of his hand made him a vital part of this heist.

"Hold onto this for me," Fusa said to Han Shu as he threw his weapon the man's way. Small cramped corridors and polearms weren't a great fit, especially not with how he fought. As he took the lead into the ship, Fusa pretended not to notice the flask disappearing back into Taira's coat.

"The bridge is–" Taira started to speak, only to silence himself as violence broke out immediately on Fusa passing into the narrow hallway. Swift bolts of flame ducked under before he turned sideways to evade another, kicked himself forward from his back foot to strike the attacker's throat without a hint of firebending. That was saved for the other hand lashing out at the man behind the coughing soldier. One ended in an instant, the other dropped to the metal flooring by an elbow to the back of the head.

"As I was saying," Taira continued, "Bridge is above us. Engine room is below. Need me to hold your hand while you figure out the controls?"

"I can manage," Fusa assured him. The instructions were clear enough, slurring speech aside.

"Good, because I'll be busy. Need to get to the engine room."

The hidden Avatar nodded, pointing at five of their comrades to escort him below decks. It wasn't a large ship as Fire Nation vessels went. There would be more soldiers aboard but not that many. In fact, Fusa knew just where some of them would be. He jerked his head to get the last man following him up the stairs to the bridge.

Sure enough.

"Men, defend me with your–AUGH!" The captain of the vessel didn't even try to put up any kind of defense. Not that Fusa gave him much chance to do so, jetting forward on bursts of flame that scorched the metal beneath him, a burning azure blade extending from his hand to cut the officer down. He must have seen the fight with his Lieutenant on the deck, must have known what was coming for him. Wasn't that always the way? The man in charge a self-important incompetent while the second in command gets all the real work done.

Meriwa would probably kick his ass for that thought when he got back. Not that he minded all that much.

"Anyone else?" Fusa asked the other soldiers in the room even as the captain's body was falling. Even as intimidating a sight as it was, one of the soldiers was the 'death before dishonour' type, and got his wish as a result. The rest surrendered. "Good men. You'll understand if we make sure you're unconscious for this next part though." And so began the brief task of knocking out the handful of soldiers as cleanly as possible, before moving on to the more important task. "Taira, you hearing me?" Fusa asked through the open voice pipe that he assumed went to the engine room.

"The captain will have your heads–!"

"Oop, wrong pipe," closed that one, opened another. "Taira, you there?"

"We're here," came a familiar voice, though not Taira's. "He says the engine is already running, he sent everyone else to steerage."

"Right, we need to..." His voice trailed off as he looked out of the window to see Kurtok banging on it. The former Water Tribe man pointed... "Ah. We're currently headed toward the base so if they could steer us away faster!" What the hell kind of orders did the captain give?! Run aground so the ship couldn't get stolen?! The first pipe he tried suddenly whistled. He answered. "Eat a dick, you Fire Nation nutjobs!"

"Fusa, it's us!" another member of the crew answered. "We're in steerage! Which way are we turning?!"

"Hard to starboard! Hard to starboard!"

"Starboard, aye aye!"

Fusa let out a breath. It wasn't fast, but the ship was veering away from the base again, first toward the small cape, then faced out to the open ocean. There was a loud splash, water coursing over the deck of the ship. "They're attacking," he realised, "They know the ship is no longer in Fire Nation control." Naturally. It was currently leaving, after all. Unfortunately the ship couldn't respond in any meaningful way. There was no point. All they had to do was escape, get out of range. He beckoned Kurtok, telling him to get inside just in case.

A brief, tense moment, as the ship moved further away. The Fire Nation siege weapons of burning lumps of coal fired by trebuchet crashing harmlessly into the surface of the water. And soon ended.

"They must've realised how lucky they'd have to be to disable us," Kurtok said as he entered the bridge. "That weapon is great for wooden vessels. Iron plating doesn't care."

Fusa nodded. He couldn't help but smile. Meriwa wanted him to prove himself by taking his own vessel and there were none finer than Fire Nation ships. Sure, it would be difficult to keep it fuelled. But these ships were nearly untouchable on the water and now this one was all his. Well, for him and the members of his crew.

"Round up the prisoners and put them in chains! Hands and feet shackled for the firebenders! The Lieutenant gets to stay up here with me." He didn't want to waste time getting to know her better.

"Aye aye!"

-(-)-

"Ahahahaha! What a beautiful ship this is!" Meriwa laughed openly as she wandered the deck, examining the armaments, the rails, the hatches, giggling all the while. Fusa wasn't sure he agreed with her in terms of aesthetics, but he wasn't about to disagree with his captain when she was in such a good mood. "Can you imagine what the Earth Kingdom would pay for one of these?"

"It wouldn't exactly turn the tide of their war," her second answered, "But its value speaks for itself."

"You sure went above and beyond bringing back a prize like this, Fusa. I'm sure you'll do great things as a captain in your own right. So..." She walked through the hatch to the ship's innards, beckoning him with a finger as her hips swayed, "Care to baptise it with me?"

She didn't have to ask twice. He near ran after her, chased her through the corridors of the ship down into the crew quarters. Into a more lushly appointed room built for one, with a portrait of a vaguely familiar man on the wall that was swiftly torn down. No one wanted that watching over them for what was about to happen.

By the time he caught up with her, her clothing was already hanging open. Her olive brown skin calling out to him, begging for him to run his hands over every inch. But this wasn't the first time. He knew how this went. His eyes met hers as he waited for his captain's orders.

And yet. "What are you waiting for?" she asked with a coy smile. "You're a captain now aren't you? And we live our lives taking what we want."

That was a dangerous way to phrase that and she knew it. She knew what she had done to him, all of these trysts they had enjoyed. She enjoyed them far more than he did and she enjoyed them even more still because of that. She loved to hold her power over him, denying him what he really wanted. But now here she was, opening herself up, figuratively and literally, to whatever he wanted to do to her.

She smiled wider for only the instant between this realisation and his hands pulling her clothes further off. She didn't resist, helped him remove her clothes while her hands untied his sash, pulled open his robe. He let it fall off of his shoulders before turning his former captain around and pinning her to the wall. He wanted this. He needed this. She giggled lightly as he did as she trained him to despite him being in control; seeking the sensitive skin of her inner thigh, taking her earlobe between his lips, gently nipping it with his teeth. Finding and exploiting her every sensitivity to get her nice and ready. She sighed in satisfaction as his fingers found her womanly folds and worked them like the finest liuqin player. Yet unlike her own preferences, it was not a relaxed melody, but a frenetic playing that brought out just as frenzied a song from her lips.

"S-Slow down!" she tried to order him, tried to take the power back, the strumming if his fingers turning the order into a pleasured whine. But she had let go of his leash, and now he was intent to run to his heart's content. Her legs trembled, failed her as the pressure building inside her suddenly exploded. His dancing fingers left soaked by her climax. Thankfully, her legs no longer needed to hold her up. The moment her release washed over her, she was turned and pushed onto the bed. Her hips still bucking from the aftershocks of her orgasm.

And as she was bent over, her beautiful backside, her toned thighs, her beautiful body trembling on full display. He knew what he wanted. What she had denied him every time. "I hope you're ready," he warned her as his hands found her hips. As his crown parted her lips. As his shaft slid inch by inch into her waiting, quivering warmth.

"Give a woman a break, would you?!" she complained, but he wasn't listening. "Ah!" His hips were already moving, thrusting in and out of his former captain. This woman who held all power over him for most of his life. She wasn't fully responsible for raising him, she wasn't like a mother to him. She was his captain, and she had taught him everything she knew. All he needed to give in return was his obedience. In running the ship, in working with the crew, and in the privacy of her quarters. He had followed her orders and served her needs. And now in this moment, this willingly ceded authority, she would serve his.

Even as overstimulated as she was, Meriwa couldn't stop her body from following his rhythm. Couldn't stop her hips moving to meet his with every thrust, her womanhood's lewd sucking sounds and their mutual grunts of satisfaction and exertion filling the room.

It wasn't what he needed. There was something... A feeling that rested comfortably in his mind. A thought, a need that had been waiting, patient but restless. Meriwa climaxed again, but he struggled to focus on that satisfaction he got from hearing her moans. The need, it burned. Like an expectation that couldn't be denied. His hips moved faster, long strokes turning to shallow, desperate thrusts into her furthest depths. Until...

It was indescribable.

The sensation that came over him as his release burst out of him to flow into Meriwa's waiting womb and fill her completely. A flash of lightning in his soul that declared the rightness of his actions. And in that moment of clarity as he slipped from within his former captain and saw his seed staining her body, he knew he had to do it again. As often as possible.

"Inside?!" Meriwa yelped, finally realising what had just happened.

"I always wanted to," he admitted. Not just to her but to himself. A desire he wasn't fully conscious of, but one he now understood he couldn't live without.

"Hmph, well I hope you're satisfied."

He rolled her over and climbed atop her. "Not at all."

"Ahh!" That squeal as he entered her again, silenced by a kiss.

She had never let him do that either.

-(-)-

The island of the Southern Air Temple was a calm, serene, peaceful place for the site of a genocide. Or perhaps it was peaceful because of that, though maybe the Air Nomads might have claimed otherwise. It wasn't like there were all too many people who remembered the time of airbenders who might remember what the temples were like when they were full of life.

Well. It hardly mattered now. Meriwa's crew, and those who would leave it to be part of Fusa's crew, had chosen the Southern Air Islands as their temporary hideaway while they celebrated their victory, and so the deathly silence was instead half-drunken cheers. Exaggerated tales of the victory over the crew of the stolen Fire Nation ship were tossed around, each telling becoming more audacious than the last. By the most recent telling, Kurtok had crashed a tidal wave to scatter the soldiers on deck before Fusa's flames turned it into a giant hot plate for those who remained.

Taira, being the curmudgeonly goat-ass he was, told everyone to piss off so he could go get drunk in the engine room on his own. Life of the party as always.

Not that Fusa could complain all that much. He wasn't paying much mind to the festivities. He had more of an interest in the lovely Fire Nation officer he had captured. Though the interest wasn't shared. "When will I be ransomed?" she asked flatly, doing her best not to move her hands. The rattling chains were a humiliating reminder of her failure.

"Ransomed?" the pirate captain asked. "To the Fire Nation? No, we don't do that. Besides, you're far too interesting for me to give away for some measly coins even if they'd do it."

"They would," Jumei insisted. Not with desperation but with quiet confidence. "Good officers are hard to come by. They would pay less for the soldiers, but like you said, it's just money."

"Maybe," Fusa allowed. "I don't deny they'll want you back. I want to keep you after all. Such a cute and feisty thing." He offered her a bite of the... Some variety of goat leg that he was eating, only for her to try to snap at his hand instead. "See? Adorable."

"May spirits defile your soul when you die," she hissed at him.

"Well that's just rude. Anyway, sure they'd want you back. But that doesn't mean they'd agree to any exchange. At least not honestly."

"You're accusing the Fire Nation of dishonourable conduct?" the Lieutenant asked bitterly. "You. A pirate."

"A-ha," the Avatar let out a non-laugh at that question. Pointing up the mountain. "There's a temple up there that says all that needs to be said about Fire Nation honour. But putting that aside. Even for those who care about the Fire Nation's veneration of honour, it only extends to those they see as honourable. Anyone else, they can betray with impunity because otherwise the other side will obviously do it if they won't. Because only the Fire nation is truly honourable and everywhere else is filled with double-dealing liars and cheats because they don't care about honour like we do, etcetera etcetera." He shrugged. Despite the harsh indictment of Fire Nation culture, he didn't care to hold a strong grudge over it. It was just the way they were. Still, "That kind of attitude makes it a lot easier to treat everyone else like an enemy without even thinking about it."

He could tell, it was difficult for her to feel too angry about his words when they weren't spoken with malice, though she certainly did feel angry. "Then let me go. If you won't ransom me, there's no need to hold me like this."

"No reason? I told you my reason. You're interesting. Cute and feisty, I said. So I've decided to keep you."

"You–!" Jumei paled as realisation struck. "And you lecture me about honour. Pirate scum! Do what you will to me but I'll make sure you suffer for it in the end, in this life or the next!"

Mistaken realisation. "You think I'm that desperate or weak? I've never needed to force a woman, Jumei. And I don't intend to start now, especially not with you." She didn't entirely relax, which was understandable. "I've just decided, after seeing how you fought, what you did on the ship, I want to keep you and see what you do going forward. Besides, it's not like great things are waiting for you if you go back."

"What?"

"Second in command of a Fire Nation ship, failed to fight off some 'lowly, dishonourable pirates', let her captain die, got captured along with the ship. How many of those were necessary for you to be 'dishonourable' in the Fire Nation's eyes?" He shook his head. "You're done. Your military career is over. There's nothing to go back to even if you could."

The conclusion was inescapable. There was no deep understanding of the navy's regulations required to know the truth of his words. Yet, she had that understanding. She knew what would happen. She would be stripped of her officer rank, demoted to a common soldier, with a black mark on her record so inescapable she would never be able to climb the ranks again. Everything she worked for, gone in one moment of failure. "You ruined my life."

"I'd say more... Deliberately diverted it," the pirate countered. "We were taking that ship no matter what. We could have killed you. We could have left you there to answer for your failure. Instead, you were interesting enough that I want to see what you do with a new opportunity. A door shuts, a window opens, that kind of thing. While it may look bad now, this could be the start of a brand new life for you! A life of adventure and daring intrigue, sailing wherever the wind takes us! You just need to see the bright side of what life throws at you!"

It... Fusa couldn't say his pep talk was having the effect he wanted it to. In fact, every new sentence just seemed to make her angrier. Yet when it was over, she seemed to settle into an unsettling calm.

She even smiled.

"In that case, I look forward to your reaction."

"Reaction to what?"

"To what happens next."

All Fusa could do was stare at her, confused. Glance at her cuffs, still secure. Keep his senses sharp in case of ambush. Nothing. No... Not nothing. Someone was shouting.

"-Sa! Fusa! Come quick!"

"Kurtok?" he asked, recognising the voice. Jumei continued to smile. He turned. "What is it?"

"The ship! The one we stole! Your ship! It's leaving!"

Jumei smiled wider.

Fusa turned, looked toward the sky and saw the telltale column of smoke made by a Fire Nation ship underway. A column that from their positions, Jumei could see clearly, but had been to the pirate's back. "No..."

"Hurry back!" Jumei called after him as he raced down the mountainside. "I want to see how you react to that whole door and window thing you talked about!"

He ignored her, catching Kurtok on the way down and running with him to the beach. There sat their ship. The old ship. The ship Meriwa had captained and they had lived on for so long. And far, far in the distance, was the navy ship. Gone so far already and moving at full speed. Avatar or not, even riding Bisho and using his waterbending for all it was worth, he would never be able to catch up. And their own ship... The sails, the rigging, it had all been stripped. "Who did that?!" he demanded.

"Captain Meriwa said we should replace the sails and resecure everything while we're stopped here," Kurtok answered.

"Fusa," Han Shu said, holding out a scroll. Licking his lips nervously like he knew he had messed up. "She said to give this to you. Said I'd know when."

The Avatar gaped at him. Asking him if he could possibly have been that stupid without speaking the words. He snatched the scroll from the man's hand and unrolled it.

'Fusa

I'm very proud of you. You've grown into a very capable young man and I'm sure you'll do an excellent job leading your crew. Now that you're all grown up and ready to lead, I've decided to take my early retirement. Thank you for the retirement present. It will sell for a fortune in the Earth Kingdom, letting me live a nice and comfortable life for the rest of my days. In return, you can have the old ship. May it serve you as well as it did me.

Oh, though we did strip it of all canvas as a symbolic gesture. The same old ship, but new sails to carry it, you know? Not sure where you'll find those new sails on this uninhabited island but you're a resourceful boy, I'm sure you'll figure something out.

Live well!

-(Former) Captain Meriwa'

-(-)-

A/N: This chapter seen very early by my generous supporters on THE GREAT FORBIDDEN P! FEAR THE P! LOVE THE P!