"Good morning Ms. Liena!" I hear Iroh's singing through the metal of the door.
I rub my eyes as I invite him in. I sit up and stretch, wiping the drool from my chin in the process.
The jolly man enters carrying a box.
"Good morning Iroh." I grin.
"How did you sleep, young one?" He asks.
"Pretty well, if I do say so myself. How about you?"
"Quite well. We made an early stop at a port today, did some shopping and those nasty men are finally out of here." He smiles.
"That's great news! I'm sorry I slept through all of that. I wouldn't have minded getting out and stretching my legs, oh and helping, of course." I rub the back of my neck.
"We didn't want to wake you. The entire crew is really grateful to you for what you did last week, saving the helmsman and all."
"It was nothing. I'm happy to help!" I clasp my hands together in embarrassment.
"Liena." Iroh's voice takes on a sterner tone, making my eyes widen. "You were reckless. I haven't yet had the chance to talk to you about it. You were all alone and you went to save the helmsman. What were you even doing out there in the first place?" I look down out of guilt. Iroh searches my face for any clues. "You could've both lost your lives that night." He trails off, emotion seemingly overcoming him.
"I'm sorry for worrying you. It's just, there's no way I can sit back and watch something bad happen to someone when I know there's something, anything, I can do to help."
"I understand that. But still, you made me very worried. Promise me something, Liena," he looks me in the eye.
"What is it?"
"Promise me you won't be so careless with your own life. You are a beacon of light in this world. We can't afford to lose you during these dark times." His voice is unwavering, his tone the most serious I've ever heard it.
This is when I realized how my love for this crew isn't one sided. These people have become somewhat of a family to me. "I promise I won't be so careless."
"Good!" Back to his cheerful self. "Anyways, the prince and I have gifts for you." Iroh's face lights up.
"What? Gifts? From you and the prince? I don't think I deserve this.. I..."
"Take them! You do deserve them." He pauses and catches the doubt on my face, "also, it's non-refundable!"
I give him a knowing look. "Well, alright."
Iroh giddily hands me the box and sits at the end of my bed watching as I remove the lid. I wasn't sure what to expect but I don't think I would have guessed it being Fire Nation clothing.
A beautiful explosion of red and gold. Golden thread seemed to be the go-to in their culture.
"It is beautiful. Thank you so much!" The fabric is insanely better than what I usually wear. "I will say, the Fire Nation has some incredible craftsmanship."
"I'm happy you like it. You should probably pull it out of the box to know for sure, though." Iroh laughs.
"That's probably a good idea." I say sheepishly.
I lift one of the garments out and hold it up to see it better. It's a red tank top with roses all over, the outlines of them are in gold. "Wow." I muster.
Setting aside, I pull out the next thing. A pair of red pants, that'll stop above the ankles with little cutouts at the bottom and a black belt. Definitely going to be comfortable. After that, I pull out a red kimono. "You guys know me too well." I grin.
The last thing in the box is a pair of red shoes. "This is all very cute, but why go through the hassle?" I ask, folding everything up.
"There's been word that where we're about to travel through has stationed Fire Nation soldiers." He admits.
"I don't know if changing my clothes will help all that much.." I nervously grip my arm.
"It'll help more than you think. Sure, you don't have the same appearance, but how you're dressed will make a big difference to them." He takes my hand in his, "we will keep you safe." He promises.
I nod slowly. It'll be fine. I'm in good hands.
"And like I said before, we really are grateful to you for saving the helmsman. You deserve something nice. The place we got this stuff from is somewhere many Fire Nation families go for the latest fashion." Iroh beams.
"I really appreciate it. It's all stunning. Thank you for looking out for me!" I hug him.
***
I stare at my hair, my brows furrowed and my foot tapping. After a few minutes of this I grunt in frustration and mess up my hair even more.
It's becoming so unmanageable! I hate putting it up but it seems like the only option. Gathering the thick poof-ball into my hands, I pull it up and out of my face.
It's still messy, but definitely much more tolerable.
Giving myself one last once over, enjoying the new clothes I'd been gifted, I smile to myself before leaving the mirror behind.
I open my door and then hop on the air scooter, yipping as I float along the metal walls—even going onto the ceiling when passing some of the crew.
"Looking good, Liena!" Niko yells.
"Thank you!"
I emerge onto deck with a goofy smile on my lips, before coming face to face with an enraged Zuko. He stops in his tracks and looks me up and down.
"Um, hi." I bounce on my toes nervously.
"I-I see you got the..." His face turns pink. "Uh... the..precautionary attire."
"You can say gift, prince Zuko." I grin, "I love everything, thank you so much!"
"It's not a gift!" He blurts. "It's to prevent Fire Nation soldiers from noticing you."
"Oh. Well, thank you for the concern. It's very sweet." I offer another smile as I clasp my hands together in front of me.
"I'm not concerned! I'm just-"
"It's okay to admit that you worry for the young Airbender, Prince Zuko." Iroh says as he walks up behind his nephew.
"You don't know what you're talking about." The prince is almost seething.
Before the conversation could progress anymore, the captain walks over to us.
"We haven't been able to pick up the Avatar's trail since the storm, but if we continue heading northeast.." He trails off as another Fire Nation ship pulls up next to us.
Zuko spins around immediately and nudges me down the stairs. "Stay here. Don't come out until they're gone." He stalks back to where he was before, straightening his back and narrowing his eyes.
"And you say you aren't concerned about her.." Iroh teases and Zuko's head whips to the side to glare at his uncle.
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A/N: Hello! What's up guys?! I hope you're doing fantastic.
Not a very eventful chapter but the next ones the blue spirit, so that'll be fun! Here's a picture of what Liena looks like in one of the shirts(just imagine gold detailing haha). If anyone ever wants to draw her I'd be so grateful!
I'm finally not sick but I strained my knees while on vacation apparently so I'll be wearing knee braces for awhile. My strained shoulder(which I don't know if I told you about that) is a lot better though! That's a relief lol. I'm so tired all the time so I'm getting testing done tomorrow morning(I hate fasting before labs😢). Wish me luck!
I started a new job a couple weeks ago but quit after the first day because they lied about how much I'd get paid and about what I was actually going to be doing. And they didn't really try to train me. It was such an odd experience. But I started a new job Monday(on my birthday! It was interesting) working on my city's newspaper. Not as a journalist though, I work on advertisements that get put in the paper and on announcements that people want to be sent out. I'm not planning to be a journalist, I'll be an English teacher, but it's still huge that I get to work there. Any kind of writing/editing is great for my growth and for future jobs. It'll look great on a resume. It's a lot of work and I'm really trying to get it down. But yeah, that's what's up with me.
Have a nice day!
Xoxo,
Mir
Published: 06/30/2022