Zuko's POV
I was sparring with another member of the crew, practicing my fire bending and Y/N was watching me from the sides. We'd barely spoken since escaping Avatar Roku's temple, she seemed pretty shaken up about it.
As I sent a fire blast flying forward, the ship began to turn and sent all three of us flying to the edge of the ship, Y/N went over the edge and had to hold onto the side of the ship before pulling herself back over.
"Are you okay?"
She sighed and smiled at me, I hadn't realised how much I've missed seeing her smile,
"Don't worry about me, I'm an excellent swimmer!"
She winked, I just shook my head and turned to the cabin that the captain was in,
"Someone's changing our course!"
I stormed upstairs to the cabin and shouted at the captain:
"What is the meaning of this mutiny, no one told you to change course!"
Then I was interrupted by my uncle who interjected with:
"Actually, someone did. I assure you it is a matter of up most importance, Prince Zuko."
"Is it something to do with the avatar?"
"Even more urgent, it seems I- I've lost my lotus tile."
"Lotus tile?"
"For my pai sho game. Most people think the lotus tile insignificant. But it is essential for the unusual strategy that I employ."
My blood began to boil, he couldn't be serious... well, it was very in character for my uncle, but now of all times?
"You've changed our course for a stupid lotus tile?"
"See, you, like most people, underestimate its value. Just give me ten minutes to check the merchants at this port of call. Hopefully, they'll have the lotus tile in stock and I can get on with my life."
I was so frustrated, I let out a frustrated growl releasing fire and smoke into the room before storming out as uncle said,
"I'm lucky to have such an understanding nephew."
As I made my way downstairs, Y/N ran over to me,
"Hey, hey, hey, what's wrong? Why are you so angry?"
"We're stopping at this port of call so uncle can get a piece for his game"
She looked lost for words, after a while, she finally said,
"Thanks, by the way, you saved my life yesterday"
Oh.
I scratched the back of my neck and looked down to my feet,
"Yeah, no problem, you saved my life first. Thanks for following me."
Her cheeks dusted a light pink and she muttered a "you're welcome".
When we arrived at the port, Y/N wanted to practice some bending and ran off saying she'll be back in ten minutes when my uncle finishes checking the merchants for his lotus tile.
But after about fifteen, uncle said that he hadn't found one but did happen to pick up a ridiculous amount of junk that we didn't need.
Before we boarded our ship again, uncle decided to wander onto another ship full of merchants and their goods. Uncle amused himself browsing through their stock, but I overheard the merchants talking about losing a water tribe girl and the little bald monk she was travelling with.
I interrupted them and asked:
"This monk, did he have an arrow on his head?"
The merchants, who turned out to be pirates and agreed to help me capture them, in exchange for their water bending scroll that was stolen.
Uncle, the crew, Y/N and I returned to the ship and I launched our smaller boat and sailed it along side the pirates. The captain seemed unsure of my plan:
"Shouldn't we stop to search the woods?"
"We don't need to stop. They stole a water bending scroll, right? Then they'll be on the water"
After nightfall, we found the water tribe girl, Katara, practicing water bending by the river. We pulled the boat over and the pirates tried to capture her, she fought back with a few feeble attempts at water bending, however, she did manage to break free, but ran straight into me, I grabbed hold of her wrists:
" I'll save you from the pirates"
The crew tied Katara to a tree and interrogated her:
"Tell me where he is, and I won't harm you or your brother."
"Go jump in the river!"
I turned to Y/N, but she gestured for me to continue,
"Try to understand, I need to capture him to restore something I've lost- my honour. Perhaps in exchange, I could restore something you've lost."
I pulled her necklace from my pocket and dangled it in front of her neck. She seemed shocked,
"My mother's necklace! How did you get that?"
I walked back over to Y/N,
"I didn't steal it if that's what you're wondering, tell me where he is."
Y/N's POV
But the water tribe girl refused, I stepped forward, ready to interrogate her myself, but the captain of the pirates spoke to Zuko,
"Enough of this necklace garbage, you promised the scroll!"
But Zuko is smart, he knew what he was doing, he pulled the scroll from his belt and held a flame underneath it,
"I wonder how much money this is worth"
He teased them and the pirates shouted "no!" in response. Zuko smirked,
"A lot, apparently. Now you help me find what I want, you'll get this back and everyone goes home happy. Search the woods for the boy and meet back here."
The pirates complied and left into the woods to search for the avatar.
I went to follow them but Zuko stopped me and told me to wait, they're desperate, they'll come back with him, and so I stayed, surely enough, they returned with the avatar and the boy from the water tribe.
Katara looked over to the avatar, looking guilty,
"Aang, this is all my fault..."
"No Katara, it isn't."
But Iroh interrupted them and said to her,
"Yeah, it kind of is."
Zuko stared at the captain of the pirates,
"Give me the boy!"
"You give us the scroll."
Then, the water tribe boy decided to get himself involved in the situation by challenging the pirates:
"You're really gonna hand over the avatar for a stupid piece of parchment?"
He was going to make this trade very difficult.
Zuko shouted,
"Don't listen to him! He trying to turn us against each other!"
But it was too late, the pirates were intrigued, and the water tribe boy was feeding them more and more about the monetary value of the avatar.
Zuko became increasingly frustrated and shouted:
"Shut your mouth you water tribe peasant!"
I chuckled at that. But the water tribe boy, who the avatar called Sokka, continued to talk about how the avatar was worth so much more than the scroll. The pirates then decided they wanted to break our deal and attempted to leave with Aang. But Zuko wasn't going to let them leave with the avatar,
"You'll regret breaking a deal with me."
He attacked them and the crew and I joined him, the pirates released smoke bombs so it was harder to see. But still, I fought with my spear, I didn't know where Zuko was, but whilst fighting off two pirates, I saw the captain running after his ship which the avatar had hijacked. The pirates left me and ran after the captain, and I saw Zuko laughing at them, I loved the sound of his laugh.
But his happy moment was soon cut short when we saw the pirates had taken his boat. We ran after it but stopped when we realised it was about to fall down the waterfall; as it crashed at the bottom, Zuko became very upset and angry,
"My boat!"
Iroh was panting from all of the running before chuckling and turning to Zuko:
"Prince Zuko, you're really going to get a kick out of this. The lotus tile was in my sleeve the whole time!"
I face palmed, not the best timing to tell Zuko that... I saw the rage fill his eyes and he growled before snatching the tile from his uncle and throwing it into the river.
I put my hands on his soldiers and said,
"Hey, lets go back to the ship, alright? We need to plan our next move"