Sunburn

4

"Such a lovely day," She said gazing at the sunny skies above. "You should listen to your Uncle. I'm sure with his experience as General he knows a thing or two about these types of circumstances," she said sipping her cup wisely not bothering to spare him a glance.

"Stay out of this! The only reason you're even here is for entertainment purposes," he spat harshly ignoring the unamused expression on her face. "What does it say about you when your Uncle would rather spend his afternoon with a perfect stranger than with his own nephew!" She challenged rising to her feet.
"Please!" Iroh said loudly making both hot-headed teenagers turn to him.

'Perhaps this had not been the best of ideas...'

"Price Zuko, consider the safety of the crew, of our royal guest," he signaled to the red-head standing next to him.
"The safety of the crew doesn't matter!" He snapped angrily. "Neither does hers. She should've known what she was getting into before deciding to stowaway on my ship!"

'Why you-' She wanted to strangle him. Just as Zuko said that a Lieutenant walked on the deck and raised an eyebrow at the prince with a frown on his features.

Zuko's expression hardened. "Finding the Avatar is more important than any individual's safety," he said before stalking off and slamming the door to the command tower behind him.

"He doesn't mean that," Iroh stated in an attempt to soothe the anger of Tsai and every other crew member that had heard him. She shook her head at Iroh's attempt to once again redeem his nephew. His words had not just been mean, they had been cruel. Tsai figured that maybe he really was just as cruel as she had heard his father.

Sometime later the ship's crew was gathered at the deck as they together observed a massive dark cloud that loomed over the horizon and was rapidly approaching. It was then that Zuko returned, the girl could sense the anger almost radiating off him.

"Huh, what do you know," she commented innocently. "Looks like Uncle Iroh was right about the storm after all," she crossed her arms over her chest and taunted the banished prince with a smirk on her face. "Lucky guess," Iroh responded in a pleasant tone.

"Listen here you colonial pest!" Zuko barked as he marked towards the girl. Her eyes shot wide at the insult. "You'd better learn some respect if you're going to be aboard my ship!"
She looked at him smugly. Not breaking eye contact she rose to her feet and stood as tall as possible, she raised her neck as tall as possible in her best attempt to appear intimidating. "Oh, yeah?"

"Or I'll teach it you," he threatened before jabbing her chest hard. Her eyes were angry but the sneer on her lips was almost one of humor. Instinctively she reached for her arm ready to-

"You can't go around talking to your girlfriend like that!" One of the crew members shouted. "That's fucked up," one murmured under his breath.

"She's not my girlfriend!"
"He wishes!"

Both retorted bitterly at the same time.

Iroh sighed and rubbed his temples. Nobody seemed to be noticing the way he was making silencing motions with his hands.

"What do you know about respect?" The Lieutenant demanded harshly. "The way you talk to everyone around, from your hard-working crew to your girlfriend and your esteemed uncle. It shows you know nothing about respect!"

"I'm not his-" She sighed and shook her head. "Never mind," she mumbled defeated.

This argument was pointless. It was obvious that Zuko didn't care about anybody but himself. Then again, what else was to be expected from a spoiled bratty prince. Beyond annoyed, Tsai decided to find something to do in the ship. She spent some time in the Commander's towers simply looking around. There were many maps and other important documents and placements on the walls which were pinned with Avatar sightings as well as his hot trail on a map of the world.