Safe & Sound | Book 1

8: You're Not a Prisoner

A/N: If you read this story prior to 27 May 2020, then you may find that there are some new additions to this chapter in particular. I decided to add a small scene to the middle that depicts Kida getting to know the crew a little better. I hope you enjoy it!

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Art: Artist Not Found

By the next morning, I had returned to my previous habits from my previous time on the ship. I sat at the desk painting, having fun with the new colors. I had painted with colors before. I ventured inland during the summer months where some of the lands thawed and could collect petals for paints. They were always faint colors, though. What Iroh had given me was far more vibrant than I'd ever worked with. My excitement might have caused me to overdo it a bit.

As I was beginning to consider this possibility, the door opened. I knew who it was before looking up but I was still surprised when I saw him, primarily because he was carrying a tray of food.

The prince never brought me meals. It was always a crewman or Iroh. He ignored my questioning glares as he came towards me. Barely missing the page of wet paint, he dropped the tray on the table beside me.

"Oh, lucky me," I spoke sardonically, "I get the royal treatment today."

My taunting didn't seem to bother him as much as usual. He barely bothered rolling his eyes. "I just came in here to tell you that I'm removing your guards." My mouth fell open and I likely looked like an idiot with my mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. He turned away sharply and was about to leave without any further explanation.

I jumped to my feet. "Wait, what?" I exclaimed before he could reach the door. "After yesterday I would have thought you would have double my guards."

Zuko seemed to hesitate but he finally turned to face me. He appeared annoyed, his brow creased and a firm frown on his lips but I could tell that the redness on his cheeks wasn't from anger. "I was going to," he admitted. There was another pause of hesitation but he finally worked up the courage to continue on, "Until I thought about what you said yesterday, and you're right. You aren't a prisoner here and you're not anyone's entertainment either," he added quickly before I could interrupt.

"I'm probably being very stupid right now," he said as if it was an involuntary admission. "And you might have acted ridiculous and yelled at me," once again I began to dispute but my voice fell flat when he met my eyes, "but you also opened up to me." He let out a long heavy sigh like a man who'd just ran a marathon. "I can't even pretend to treat you like a captive anymore."

I wasn't shocked. Likely because I felt the same. It was hard to hate someone who I now knew so much about. A lot of his character at least made sense now.

But he is the prince of the Fire Nation, a voice somewhere deep down hissed at me.

I shook my head as hard as possible but it didn't clear my mind any. I resorted to jumping to my feet, hoping more movement would help. "You're not supposed to be nice to me!" I snapped. Standing didn't make things make more sense so I began to pace up and down the room. "I'm a Water Tribe soldier, the daughter of the chief. You're the son of the Fire Lord. I'm supposed to hate you and you're supposed to hate me, I can't be friends with you!"