Black Jade - Zuko X OC

A Song is Never Just Sad

AN: I should have put this last chapter but there will be a lot more vulgar language from here on out. On AO3 I put more detailed content warnings before each chapter but Wattpad kind of throws me off by not having the notes in a separate section

The ship swayed and pitched up and down frequently once they left the harbor and the waters got choppier. Turns were so sharp Dai Yu swore the vessel would tip onto its side at any moment.

"She's gonna take some time getting used to! Most of us never steered one her size, and the ones that did weren't working with a rigg like this!" Meng, the engineer, was a thin spidery old man who's hair looked like it would break if he tried to pull it back into a top knot. He seemed ecstatic as he held onto the rail and watched the churning waters below them.

Dai Yu's slippers, with flat leather soles made for walking around palace corridors, offered zero grip to the metal floor. She found herself sliding back and forth down the ship hallways, and sometimes if she was really unlucky she'd slide down the length of it and into one of the crewmen. Once when this happened, she'd gone tumbling towards the side and would have fallen over the railing into the water if Lieutenant Jee hadn't grabbed her. In an awful awkward moment that was probably equally painful for the both of them, she'd clung to him until the ship righted itself.

Sometime after that Jee had asked her to follow him to the armory, which was really just a big closet with extra uniforms and weapons. She stood outside the door after he'd stepped in. "I'm not allowed to be alone in a room with men who aren't related to me."

He seemed weirdly offended. "What? I wouldn't- are you kidding?"

This had been a rule for as long as she could remember, even before she moved into the palace. Although, did any of the old rules apply here? Dai Yu never realized how completely surrounded by women she used to be until the opposite was true. These hallways were 'public' but most of the time she passed men walking through them with no one else in sight. She was practically already alone with Jee now. Nanai would not approve, but did Uncle care?

"Fine," he said as she stood there agonizing over what the proper etiquette of the situation was. He brought three different pairs of boots out into the hallway for her to try on. None of them fit, even the smallest pair left a good half inch of space all around her foot. They also looked ridiculous with her dress. Jee gave an exasperated sigh. "You may want to ask your...husband to get you some custom boots made, and probably different clothes too."

"What's wrong with my clothes?"

He never answered her.

火┃土

Dai Yu divided her time between hiding in her room when all the silent staring got to be too much and wandering the ship aimlessly when she got too stir crazy from hiding. The ship moved too much to make long sewing projects doable, and even when it was still, she had no idea what to make. She couldn't bring herself to play the pipa, worried the noise would carry through the walls and bother others. Zuko was nowhere to be seen most of the time, likely still recovering and acting like he wasn't. Uncle was similarly either missing or hanging out with the crew that obviously didn't like having her around.

She wasn't used to a completely open schedule. Or going all day without talking to anyone. It...wasn't fun. There was way too much time in the day to think about everything she'd been avoiding thinking about.

At some point the ship came close enough to the shoreline of the Earth Kingdom to see the trees completely empty, the ground beneath them bursting with pink.

Dai Yu was fourteen, and had been for a while.

火┃土

Dai Yu sat on the deck picking through her breakfast. Almost as soon as she noticed some of the crew eating their meals in places other than the mess hall she'd decided to do the same. This way, the cook wouldn't notice how little she actually ate and she wouldn't have to feel self-conscious around the men there. She still hadn't taken her hair out of the braid, which was looking less and less tidy every time she slept. No one said anything but she felt like they were looking at her, wondering why she was so gross.