The night air was crisp and clear as Miyuki walked from town back to the port where the ship had anchored for the night. She was rather pleased with the new finds that she found while strolling the market today, and she was excited to read through the new material that she purchased for cheap. To begin with, the old man seemed confused as to why she would want an old book on home remedies that was just lying around in the corner of the store and an encyclopedia of sorts on local flora and fauna, but his loss was her gain. To make things better, she managed to make a bit of extra money selling off some rumors she heard while wandering through town. All-in-all it felt like a win-win to her.
When she got back onto the ship, the crew were huddled around a fire and listening to Iroh sing as some of them backed him up with instruments. Not an unusual sight, not to say that she joined them often either.
"Ah, Miyuki! Welcome back. Will you be joining us tonight? The love song you sang last time was so beautifully heartbreaking."
She smiled politely. "Ah, perhaps sometime later? For now, I want to read some of the new books I found in town."
The crew laughed and Lieutenant Jee nodded at her. "You and your books. Feel free to join us whenever you're ready, Miyuki."
"I will. Thank you, Lieutenant."
With a polite bow, she made her way to the prince's quarters and knocked on the door. "Uncle, for the last time-!"
"It's me," she called back.
"Oh." He fell silent. "Come in."
She pushed the door open and glanced at the grouchy expression on his face before taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "What happened?"
"Uncle's just been asking me to play the tsungi horn," he grumbled before lifting the blanket for her in invitation.
She huddled under the plush, warm blanket gratefully and leaned against the wall near the foot of his bed after stacking the books by her side. "You know, it wouldn't hurt to join them every once in a while. The captain sings the most amusing comedies, and Lieutenant Jee knows an unexpected number of love songs."
"I'll go if you ever sing again."
She chuckled. "That may be some time from now, considering I sang only because I lost a game of pai sho last time."
"My statement stands."
She chuckled at his grouchy expression and the way that his mouth pulled into a small scowl at her laughter. "Aren't you going to ask me what I'm reading today? Or are you content with me just reading in silence today?"
"I'm always content."
She hummed noncommittally as she opened the first book and began to read.
"So what are you reading about today?" His tone was gruff, but when she glanced at him from the corner of her eye, he was pretending to look disinterested in her answer, eyes flickering to and away from her.
"I found a store being run by an old man whose wife used to be a herbalist and bought all of her old materials off of him for cheap." She set the book down. "I assume you're not interested though?"
"I-" He hesitated. "If you're willing to explain things to me, I'll listen."
She felt herself smiling at him softly before she realized that such a fond expression reached her face. She covered her mouth with a fist as she turned her head to the side and coughed to hide her smile. "Yeah, come here." She patted the space next to her and waited for him to shift there before placing the book open in front of them.
As they spoke softly about the contents of the book, she found that they drew closer and closer without realizing it. It was kind of nice. It had been a while since she hadn't been entirely alone, and she generally enjoyed his company. Enough that she was almost a little reluctant to peel from him when the door to his room suddenly opened.
Zuko folded his arms and turned away. "For the last time, I'm not playing the tsungi horn!"
"No, it's about our plans." Iroh stepped into the room after poking his head in. Miyuki didn't miss the way his gaze flickered between her and Zuko. An implication to be cleared up later, perhaps. "There's a bit of a problem."
Miyuki sat up a little straighter when she saw the stranger step into the room. She was in a position where it would take her more than an instant to stand, and her mind was already racing ahead to see how else she might stall for time while she got to her feet in the event of a fight here and now.
"I'm taking your crew." Judging by the uniform he donned and the confidence in which he spoke the statement in the face of the former crown prince, it seemed fairly likely that the middle-aged man standing before them was none other than the famed Admiral Zhao that had been hearing so much about.
"What?!" The prince got out of bed immediately to stand in front of the admiral, giving Miyuki ample time to shift into a better position in the event of conflict.
"I've recruited them for a little expedition to the North Pole," Zhao stated rather matter-of-factly. At the very least, it didn't seem as though he took particular joy in bullying a teenager.
The prince turned to his uncle. "Uncle, is that true?"
"I'm afraid so. He's taking everyone-" The general put an arm over his face in woe. "Even the cook!"
"Sorry you won't be there to watch me capture the Avatar. But I can't have you getting in my way again," Zhao finished, his expression unmoving.
Zuko began to charge at Zhao, but luckily the Iroh managed to hold him back. "No!"
She caught Zhao as his gaze immediately fixed on a pair of broadswords on the wall. More specifically, the broadswords that Zuko used while acting as the Blue Spirit. The admiral took one off the wall and took an experimental swing with it. "I didn't know you were skilled with broadswords, Prince Zuko."
"I'm not. They're antiques," Zuko began.
"They were a gift, actually, from me." Miyuki took this moment to stand and duck into a polite bow, recalling the book she had read on Fire Nation etiquette.
"And who might you be? Surely such a pretty girl has no place on a ship like this," Zhao began, his interest in the swords evidently lost for the moment.
She lowered her head politely. "Forgive me for not introducing myself sooner. I'm Naomi."
"Naomi," the admiral repeated. "Might you be skilled with these then?"
She shook her head. "I'm afraid not. I had rather a gentle upbringing."
Zhao's eyes narrowed almost suspiciously. "What family are you from, Naomi?"
Zuko pulled Miyuki to his side, pressing her close to him. "The only fact that should be relevant to you is that Naomi is with me."
She quickly lowered her gaze to her feet. Zuko's arm shifted from around her shoulders to around her waist as gripped his shirt pensively.
Evidently done with the current topic, Zhao's attention shifted back to the sword in his hand. "Have you heard of the Blue Spirit, General Iroh?"
Iroh was quick to reply, "Just rumors. I don't think he is real."
"He's real, all right." He handed the sword back to Iroh. "He's a criminal, and an enemy of the Fire Nation. But I have a feeling justice will catch up with him soon." Zhao walked out of the room. "General Iroh, the offer to join my mission still stands- If you change your mind."
The door closed behind Zhao and Iroh cast them a look, motioned for them to continue for a bit more, and then left the room himself. The soundproofing wasn't the greatest in the ship. Miyuki had used that particular quality to her advantage on several occasions, so she could understand Iroh telling them to play it safe for a bit longer.
The two of them took a seat on the bed and Zuko nodded at her when she looked up to see if he was on the same page. She let her voice waver, the play beginning anew. "That was scary."
She felt him put a hand on her head. "I'm sure it was."
"What are you gonna do without a crew?" She pouted at him as though she were trying to hold back tears and he pulled her to his side.
"I'll figure something out," he murmured.
"I know you will," she whispered back. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
He held her a little closer to him and she wondered for a moment which lines she was meant to be reading into and which she wasn't. "Just stay here with me for a bit longer."
She gave up and nodded, deciding that all of this was just an act as her eyes fell shut and she drifted to sleep.
·:*¨༺ ★ ༻¨*:·.
The following day, Miyuki found herself reading in Zuko's room as usual, the events of the previous day left undiscussed. It really was all an act then, as she had decided to assume. The crew was busy getting ready for their departure, and information was flowing slower than usual. Zuko had been sulking in the corner, so she had her attention fixed on her books.
"What are you reading today?"
She looked up when he spoke unexpectedly. "The next volume to the book on Fire Nation military strategies that you have. I managed to get my hands on a copy this morning, so I'm using the atlas that you lent me as supplementary material."
He made a face and she chuckled. "It might not be very interesting to you, but knowing the basics of Fire Nation military strategy makes movements easier to predict. Predictions, of course, being the main source of my income." She grinned. "And even if it doesn't prove to be that useful, there's no harm in it. Information is the most powerful weapon after all."
"I guess," he agreed weakly. Clearly he didn't agree, but to each their own. As long as he wasn't stopping her, she had no complaints.
"And what about you?" she asked. "When does your training begin today?"
"Do you really not know? Or are you just using this as a transition?" he asked skeptically.
She couldn't help but laugh, he really was beginning to get to know her too well. "It seems like we talk too much. You're starting to figure me out. To be honest, I was hoping you'd let me observe sometime."
He cast her a questioning look. "For what?"
"Nothing in particular really. It's just been a while since I've done any combat training, and I'm curious to see what firebending training pertains. Only with your permission, of course."
"Just make sure you stay out of the way."
"Of course. Thanks."
To most, his statement probably would have sounded gruff or even downright rude, but she had the feeling that he meant it in a "it would be terrible if you got hurt, so stay out of the danger zone" sort of way, and she took it as such. Besides, she enjoyed his company regardless of his occasionally brusque replies.
There was a knock at the door. "Miyuki, a message for you." It was Lieutenant Jee. She set her book face down on the bed and got up to take the message.
"Lieutenant Jee," she greeted with a smile. "To what do I owe the pleasure of the Lieutenant himself handing me a message?"
"This'll be the last time, so I just thought I'd be the one to deliver it for once."
She felt her expression soften. The Fire Nation soldier had grown on her unexpectedly over this last span of time. From agreeing to spar with her to discussing plans with her to answering her strange questions about things that she had come across in the books she was studying, the man took the time out to help her without complaint. She had learned much from him, but she found much more to respect about the middle-aged man. She ducked into a deep bow. "Thank you. For everything, Lieutenant."
"You too, Miyuki." He nodded at her. "If you can spare the time, we were thinking of having one last music night before we depart."
She glanced at Zuko before turning her attention back to the Lieutenant. "Since it will be the final one, if I could borrow a guzheng, I'll sing once more."
The lieutenant nodded. "I'll have it arranged. We'll be looking forward to it."
When the door closed behind him, she looked at the messages that Jee had handed her as she sat back down on the edge of the bed. The prince over her shoulder.
"It's written in code?"
"Of course. I can't have anyone else reading them, after all," she replied as her eyes skimmed the contents of the letter. "Incidentally, each of my informants has a different code, so it would be pretty difficult to crack the volume of information I get in a single day." She frowned at the paper before reporting, "Apparently, Zhao has been moving strangely."
She passed the paper to the prince to burn.
He set it on fire and she watched as it burned to ash before falling carelessly on the floor. He stomped out the small embers and she glanced at him. He seemed to need another moment to calm himself. She pulled her book back over to her and started reading again.
"Aren't you going to go up there?"
"I will in a bit. When the time comes, will you join me? Just for a little?"
"Maybe."
"Alright, no pressure."
When the time came, he did follow her, and she played the guzheng and sang for the crew for the second and last time. An old love song about separated lovers that she had heard long ago during her time in the Earth Kingdom with her parents. She picked the perfect song, if she did say so herself.
When she was done, there was a melancholic mood around them as the crew gathered their things and got ready to depart. She went up to Zuko when she saw him begin to slip away. "I'm going to stay a moment to say bye," she began. "Do you...?" She decided to trail off and let him finish the invitation for himself.
He shook his head.
"Alright. I'll see you in a bit then," she replied quietly. He nodded and slunk back into the shadows. She smiled politely and waved as the crew walked off the ship. She wouldn't say that she was particularly close with them outside of the lieutenant, but they were surprisingly good to her after she put in the effort to speak to them and get to know them all a little. She didn't dislike them. They weren't particularly good to her, but they weren't bad to her either. She would miss their presence.
Iroh told her he was going to go for a walk when they were gone, so she nodded and headed back towards her quarters. When he left, Miyuki caught a glimpse of one of her messenger birds circling overhead and held her arm out for the bird. She pulled the scroll out of the bird's holster and continued towards her room to find some light to read under. The dim flickering of the single candle she lit was sufficient.
The message was unusually sloppy and short, but that wasn't the surprising part. It was the message itself, which read: "Danger, explosions. Murder attempt."
She dropped the message and ran to the prince's room, only to find it empty. She began to sprint, her eyes straining to make out his silhouette in the darkness. She didn't even have time to gasp as she spotted the prince in the control room with a trail of what looked like blasting jelly leading into the room. She burst into the room and tackled him. "Zuko!"
His eyes widened in bewilderment, but didn't have much more time to react as they were blown out of the cabin and off the ship entirely by the impact of the explosion behind them. A searing pain covered her back and she instinctively surrounded the two of them with water as they dropped into the ocean.
It wasn't until a moment later, when things, at least inside the watery sphere, had calmed down that she remembered they needed air to breathe. She pushed them back to the surface and away from the burning ship with a wave of her arm. She took in a greedy gulp of air the moment they surfaced some distance away from the ship before checking his condition.
The exiled prince had a few cuts and bruises, but overall, he was fine. It was nothing she couldn't fix in a moment. She could only check parts of her back with the most gingerly of touches with the tips of her fingers at the moment, but the feeling of burning had subsided the moment they entered the water, and she didn't feel anything unusual after being immersed. She'd make the best attempt that she could at a proper healing later, but for now, this was fine.
The prince turned to her with wide eyes as she drew up some water and set about healing him. "What was that?!" he exclaimed.
In complete contrast to the prince, she replied rather placidly, "An explosion. Someone was trying to kill you."
"I know that! I'm asking why you came running towards the explosion!"
She smiled a little despite herself and the panic written so clearly on his face. "I did tell you I'd help you track down the Avatar, Exiled Prince."
"Zuko."
She looked at him blankly upon hearing himself say only his name, and he clarified, "Just Zuko's fine."
"Alright then, Zuko." The sound of his name in her voice sounded strange after calling him 'Exiled Prince' for so long. Regardless, she continued unphased, "I think that we should part ways here for the time being."
Now it was his turn to look at her blankly.
"Think about it. Now just so happens to be the perfect time to split off from each other, and this event- it shrouds it perfectly. I'll contact your uncle and let him know you're safe while you stow away on Zhao's ship. Let Zhao think that he's succeeded in his little assassination attempt. It gets him off your tail, and you'll have your uncle to back you up when you take the Avatar from right under Zhao's nose. What's a better way to retaliate than that?"
He gave her a strange look when she snickered. "And what about you?"
"As for me, I'll take a trip back to the Northern Tribe on my own so that when you arrive, you'll have someone on the inside. Perfect, isn't it?"
He cast her a skeptical look.
"I understand if you don't trust me. In that case, I can think of another plan, but-"
"Alright." He heaved a sigh. "Alright. I'll trust you."
She smiled at him. "Then in that case, let's get started. Shall we?"