You been flying for the half the night and an entire day. You've been looking over many villages, peacefully watching over the world up high in the air with no one to stop you or tell you what to do. Aang, Katara, Sokk and Appa were safe in the Northern Water Tribe and you were free to spend the time wandering about.
To put it simply, you were also lost.
It was night, and you only just strayed away from a crew of fire-nation soldiers who look far to familiar. The faint memories of being board Prince Firecraker's ship came back, and just to make sure he wasn't up to anything, you traced their footsteps back to his infamous ship.
You watched as General Iroh walked by happily singing a tune. He seemed like a jolly old fella, not some man who almost took over Ba Sing Se. You held your air bending staff close to you as you walked around the pier.
It was so quiet out, you could hear people snoring from across the way. The moonlight was the only source of light, but that didn't stop you from seeing that Gang of pirates Katara stole a scroll off of. You watched in slight confusion as they snuck on the Prince Firecracker's ship and slightly moved around two barrels of something that surely couldn't be good.
As they opened a door, it creaked and made a loud noise, most likely alerting who was inside. You could only just make out the sounds of Zuko suspiciously checking around the ship from the pier, but you had to hide as the pirates were running down the steps, so you took to the sky, watching from above.
You flinched hard as the ship suddenly exploded, sending a massive gust of hot, steamy air in your direction. The heat of the flames was so great it started to burn through the delicate fabric in the air-bending staff.
"No!" You wailed as you watched one of the only pieces of your life start to disappear in flames. You went crashing down into the ocean before you, making you hold your breath. You squeezed the staff, holding on to its memory before you left it drift away in the ocean.
You swam up to the surface, gasping for air. You stared at the fire with wide eyes. You had to move though, you couldn't stay here for much longer. This was fire nation territory and you only had your feet to take you away.
You pushed yourself through the water, moving as fast as you could, but you had to stop at the overturned body in front of you. You quickly flipped it over, seeing the face of Zuko in front of you. You gently let go, about to swim away.
You glanced back at the fire and slowly looking over at the unconscious boy. You hit the water in anger before you started to swim back to Firecracker, pulling him along with you. As you got closer to the shore, your shoulder was starting to get in heavy pain. You didn't really get a good look at it until your feet hit the sand back and you were dragging the fire nation Prince along the water.
Your shoulder had a piece of timber piercing straight through it. You shudder at it, but you couldn't focus on that right now. But trying to ignore it only made it hurt more. You were now dragging the Prince on the sand, trying to get him entirely out of the water. His shins were still in the water as you collapsed to the ground.
Not only was it the timber going through your shoulder, but the lack of sleep that was getting to you. You cried out in pain s you had to use both your arm to get the Prince out of the water. You finally got the dumb bastard out the water, but he had many bruises on his face. You bent over, turning your head sideways to hear his heartbeat. You sighed, hearing it.
"Prince Zuko!" A voice called out.
You jumped away from him and spun around to see General Iroh run up to you, you were about to get in a fight stance, but he ran right past you, going straight for Zuko. You watched as he frantically checked his body.
"He's...he's still breathing. Just scratches and bruises." You said after a moment. "He should be fine."
"Dear girl." Iroh turned around and his eyes widened at your shoulder. "Your injured, please don't tell me you were...you did this?"
"No!" You quickly said, for some reason it felt wrong to make this man sad. "No, I was curious as to what was happening and when I flew...flew over the ship, it- it just exploded and I went down into the water."
You both heard coughing, and your eyes went down to Zuko, seeing him turning over and spitting out some water before holding his head in his hand. "Uncle?"
"Prince Zuko, are you alright? Are you hurt?" Iroh asked, his eyes pleading that his nephew wasn't hurt.
"No I...I'm fine." He let his hand fall. "I thought you couldn't swim well uncle."
"I can't." The old man chuckled.
"Then how'd I get out of the wa..." Zuko's voice trailed as he caught sight of you, his expression going many ways. "You. You pulled me out?"
"You were going to die. I may not be as peaceful as the other air-benders, but I was still raised to do good things." You croaked out, biting down the pain from your shoulder as you held it. "I'll be lea-"
Just as you took a step, your body ached out in pain and you went straight the floor, hissing at the stabbing feeling. You were taking heavy breaths, and as you were pushing yourself off the ground, you felt a hand help you up.
You looked puzzled at General Iroh, who held a kind expression on his face. "Please let us help you."
"What?" You and Zuko said in unison.
"She saved your life, Prince Zuko! It's the least I can owe you." He smiled at you, no didn't even let you answer before helping you stand, then helping Zuko stand. "Come, we must get away from here."
Iroh had fished the timber out of your shoulder and just patching it up now. He was an old man, but he was very kind and very gentle. Although, it was a bit strange having to hold your shirt over your chest since it was the only way to help you. And of course, Zuko just had to be in the same room, eyeing you suspiciously.
"There." Iroh smiled to himself. "All done. You should be feeling better soon, here, have some tea."
You did not decline his offer of the tea. His tea was outstanding, you didn't understand how Zuko didn't like it very much. You now loved tea, and you were mad at yourself for not trying it before, wasting your tea-tasting time like that.
"Thank you." You gulped the tea down quickly. "For everything."
"Thank you, without you, my nephew would not be here, and for that, I am forever grateful." Iroh bowed to you. You smiled, but his expression was... "And so, I must warn you as well. Admiral Zhao is planning to attack the Northern Water Tribe. He's taken every army he can, and is currently on his way. He is coming for the Avatar."
"Uncle!" Zuko rushed to his feet and towards his uncle. "How could you tell her that? She is the enemy."
"She saved your life! How many times must you hear?" Iroh furrowed his eyebrows. "This she deserves."
"If Zhao is planning to attack, why are you not with him?" You asked, not wanting to believe it. You had no way of warning Aang or the tribe. You couldn't out run a whole fleet of fire nation soldiers.
"My nephew and him have a bad understanding of each other. Both want to catch the Avatar for themselves, both have hard ground." Iroh explains. "I believe he is of fault with the ship."
"I saw pirates leaving the ship, they were the ones who placed the barrels down." You say, not expecting to see Zuko nod.
"But they couldn't possibly know it was Prince Zuko's ship. Zhao was looking for pirates recently, I was hearing people talk." Iroh sighed and shook his head.
"Then we have to turn him in! He tried to kill me!" Zuko yelled. It made sense why his fire-power was so great. Boy was real angry.
"All in good time, my nephew. I have a plan." And so Iroh starts to explain his plan of sneaking both Zuko and you on Zhao's ship in fire nation disguises. It almost seemed like a flawless plan, expect...
"How can I trust you won't turn me hostage when we get to the tribe? How can I trust you won't have me over?" You leaned back a small bit. You had to make sure you could get back to Aang, to keep him safe.
"I have no reason to pass you to Zhao." Iroh seemed trustworthy, but it was Zuko you were worried about. You wanted to get on the ship, you really did, but it meant to trust Zuko.
"When we get inside the walls, we split. We go separately, different directions and we just see where it takes us." You offer to Zuko, who stands behind Zhao with his arms crossed.
"How do I know you won't show Zhao who I am on the ship? I'm your enemy. I'm trying to capture your Avatar."
"Because I'm desperate!" You snapped suddenly, your features growing angry. "A whole fucking fleet of fire nations are going to storming up on the Northern Water Tribe door to kill Aang! I'm supposed to protect him! To keep him safe! The only thing I'm alive for is to protect him, and I can't even warn him about a fucking nation arriving on his ass!"
They were dead silent. You took shallow breathes in, regaining calmness. "My only means of transport is at the bottom of the ocean, broken. I can barely move shoulder. I have to get back to the Water Tribe. I am desperate."
"Fine, but I'm still not trusting you." Zuko pointed at you, and you sighed in relief.