Find Me | Zuko x reader | Avatar the Last Airbender | Book 1

Chapter 14: Zaji

          "I should be at work." Zaji worried, sitting on a cushion and looking down at his tea.

          "Work? We're currently on the move, and you aren't working the controls. What do you have to do, stand around and look scary?" Y/N snorted, taking a sip of her tea and making her move on the Pai Sho board.

          "I'd say that's half the job." Zaji admitted with a small smirk, making his move and watching Y/N's disappointed realization that she had messed up. "And Y/N loses again."

          "Wow, thanks, I hate you too." She said sarcastically, biting her lip and studying the board, trying to find a good move to make. "Geez, I suck at planning ahead. I haven't won a single game of this." She tentatively moved a piece forward, keeping a finger on it as she contemplated the possible consequences.

          "I was going to win anyways, but that's probably the best move you could've made." Zaji moved his last piece into place the moment Y/N took her finger off of hers. She laughed at herself, face planting on the table, making the tea cups rattle slightly.

          "Listen, listen..." She laughed as Zaji snorted. "Listen! I only started playing like two weeks ago or something." 

          "You've played like 100 or more games with General Iroh, and still didn't manage to win against a 18 year old recruit." Zaji pointed out, and Y/N groaned, resetting the pieces.

          "Again, I'll get it eventually."

          "I admire your determination, but I won't go easy on you."

                             —|〰️〰️〰️|—

                                Zuko's POV

          By the time Zuko woke up, it was already evening, and he was starving. He rolled over on his mattress, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. A quick glance at the hourglass told him the time, and something occurred to him. 

          She never came with the tea. He sat up, looking at the table. Everything remained undisturbed, nothing moved aside to make space for a platter or anything. 

          He slowly stood up, glancing at himself in the small mirror on the table before exiting his room. Dinner had already passed, and the sun was setting, but he could hear laughter, music, and the clanking of metal. Confused, he followed it, and found himself in the cafeteria.

          The tables had been moved as far off the the side as possible, only one still upright, with three men, including Iroh, playing various instruments. The rest of the crew danced on the main floor or watched from the side, all wearing casual clothes instead of their armor, laughing and eating snacks or drinking tea and punch.

          It took only moments for Zuko one spot a twirling figure in the middle, dancing in perfect time to the beat. 

          Y/N wore her Fire Nation silks, laughing as she switched partners from Lieutenant Jee to a young soldier, both beginning to circle each other with their hands held up, wrists lightly touched together. Her H/L H/C hair swayed lightly, catching the light of the flickering fires set about the room.

          A new song started, one with a stronger beat and much less horn, and the men standing off the the side joined the middle, beginning to dance, as the pair in the middle began as well, Y/N standing out for her different footwork, but it somehow blended perfectly with the Fire Nation steps used by the young soldier with her.

          Zuko could only stand and stare from the doorway as Y/N smiled widely, her feet speeding up as the song did, moving impossibly smoothly yet quickly across the floor, taking the young soldier with her. He couldn't quite recognize the soldier, but his name was quickly beginning to rise in chants from the forming circle, Zaji.