where the past can't reach us // zuko x reader

Chapter Eight - The Storm

3PPOV

Seemingly appearing out of nowhere and blocking out the dim light of the early evening, a bank of massive, dark clouds covered the sky. The ship tossed and turned in the water - water that until a few minutes ago had been calm. It was cold, and it was wet, and it was too late to turn back now. The storm had crept up on the ship like a wild animal, waiting silently the whole day so that nobody but Iroh had seen it coming, and only now, when it was time for dinner and there was land nearby, did it finally decide to pounce. Nervously, the crew watched the clouds loom above the ship. They didn't know what would happen now.

It was around this time that (y/n) came onto the deck. She'd just finished training – the last session of the week – and she needed to cool down. Staring at the clouds, wind whipping against her face, she took a moment to think back to the events of this week, more specifically, her progress in firebending.

Overall, she thought, it was going fine. She felt more or less comfortable with the basics by now, and Iroh thought she was learning quickly. She had the raw power, she supposed – all those emotions within her had proven themselves useful, for once. As for technique and control... well, she was beginning to get the hang of it. In the heat of the moment – no pun intended – she would sometimes go too far, and yet another item of furniture would be added to her body count, but those incidents were gradually getting less frequent. Good, thought (y/n). She was beginning to worry that, if she didn't stop, Iroh would run out of teacups completely.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by another person coming on deck – the Prince himself, she noted with disappointment. Since the very first day when he'd come in to interrogate her, they hadn't spoken and, though she'd seen him around the ship occasionally, she mostly tried to stay out of his way. Despite Iroh's words, he always seemed so angry and intimidating – (y/n) didn't want to make him mad and be sent back to her cell permanently.

As Zuko kept walking across the deck, the other soldiers turned to face him, and, as one of them spoke, the air turned heavy with tension. (y/n) recognized the voice as Lieutenant Jee. She knew the two had had a fight earlier that day, though she didn't know about what. She wasn't sure she wanted to find out.

"Looks like your uncle was right about the storm after all."

"Lucky guess."

(y/n) could tell Iroh was trying to diffuse the situation. As much as she wanted it to, she doubted it would work.

"Lieutenant!" Zuko began walking towards Jee, "You'd better learn some respect –" he jabbed two fingers into Jee's chest –"Or I will teach it to you."

"What do you know about respect?" came the retaliation.

Behind Jee, (y/n) could see Iroh begin to panic. He motioned at Jee to stop – evidently, thought (y/n), this was a touchy subject – but he didn't notice, and continued.

"The way you talk to everyone around here, from your hard-working crew to your esteemed uncle, shows you know nothing about respect! You don't care about anyone but yourself! Then again, what should I expect from a spoiled prince?"

That was it, (y/n) realized. The two men got into a fighting stance, smoke beginning to rise from Zuko's hand. But, before anything could happen, Iroh stepped in.

"Easy now," he said, pulling them apart. "Enough! We're all a bit tired from being at sea for so long. I'm sure after a bowl of noodles, everyone will feel much better.

With that, it was over, and the crew retreated below deck, relieved. (y/n) followed close behind, not wanting to be around Zuko when he was in such an irritable mood. As she was walking away, she heard him say, presumably to Iroh: "I don't need your help keeping order on my ship." Then, a few seconds later, there were footsteps, but by this time, (y/n) was already gone.