Book 1: Clouded Waters

Commander Creep

     She took a giant step back behind the two males she trusted the most. She wanted nothing to do with this man. He screamed "stranger danger" to her. On top of that, he attempted to hit on her, which was disgusting. She did not like him at all. He almost scared her...almost.

    "The Fire Lord's brother and son are welcome guests anytime." The creep looked at them, "What brings you to my harbor?"

     Iroh gestured to the damaged ship, "Our ship is being repaired."

     "That's quite a bit of damage."

     "Yes." Zuko held up one finger, "You wouldn't believe what happened." He glared at his elder, "Uncle! Tell Commander Zhao what happened."

     "Yes. I will do that." Iroh happily began to relate the story, "It was incredible!" He then asked Zuko, "What? Did we crash or something?"

     "Yes! Right into... an Earth Kingdom ship!"

     Hikari face palmed, "You two are unbelievable." She walked up to Zhao looking unamused, "They don't want to embarrass themselves in front of you. But...what actually happened was-"

     "Hikari," Zuko warned.

     "This is for your own good," she snapped. "We were making rounds in the South Pole, you know, looking for the Avatar. We had been there for a while, see. We decided to come back and start looking in another spot. While turning the ship around, we accidentally triggered an avalanche that covered the entire bow of the ship!" She turned and winked at her two friends, "See, the damage is done. That wasn't hard at all, now was it?"

     Iroh decided to play along and shook his head in "defeat", "Hikari, I had so much faith in you."

     The prince played his part by quietly glaring at her. She just grinned, knowing she had done the right thing.

     "Really?" She turned around to face Zhao once more, "You must regale me with all of the thrilling details." He got into the prince's face, "Join me for a drink?"

     "Sorry, but we have to go," was the cold reply.

     She could have jumped for joy, watching Zuko turn his back on the invitation. She could make her escape too! All was going to be right with the world! And then...

     Her father figure placed a hand on Zuko's shoulder, "Prince Zuko, show Commander Zhao your respect." He bowed his head to the creep, "We would be honored to join you. Do you have any ginseng tea? It's my favorite."

     The two men of war walked off, seemingly enjoying conversation. The boy, anger filled as usual, was seething at the thought of even having to join that man. The girl on the other hand, crossed her arms and quietly pouted, dreading the thought of the man making a move on her again.

     "Can we agree that we both hate this arrangement," Hikari asked.

     "Yes." The prince grabbed her hand, "Come on, let's get this over with. I don't want to be near him longer than I have to."

     "What about me?! He's, like, fifty and trying to flirt with me! That's so wrong and creepy and just ick..." She looked at her feet, "I feel very uncomfortable around him."

     "Then just stay close to me and uncle."

     Heat rose to her face. She was not ready to say it to his ego, but she felt safest with them. Even since they had begun to warm up to each other, she felt safe. She knew very well that they would protect her.

     She squeezed his hand a little harder, "I know. Thank you."

     They made their way to a very large tent, guarded by two soldier. Once inside, they were all served tea. To at least be a little polite, the young girl drank her cup. All the while, Commander Creep went about filling the banished prince in on the future plans of the fire nation. It was so boring and boastful, that she began dumping out tea onto his expensive rug, trying to see if the guards, sir creeps-a-lot or even her father figure would catch her in the act.