I could feel the wind blowing through my hair. It felt nice. The air had a salty texture and smell to it. I felt like we were getting close to the harbor.
"You know, love." Iroh began, "I didn't notice this before, but you live awfully close to the ports." He laughed a bit. "We'vebeen so close together all this time, and never met. Its funny how destiny works like that." He reached over to lay his hand on top of mine.
"yeah." I giggled a bit. "I guess so." My gaze drifted upward, to the sunny skies. It was a phenomenally beautiful day, and there was a feeling of bliss in the air. It was strange to think. For most of my existence, I had lived so close to Iroh's working place. He'd been sort of near me my whole life.
"Is that a mast?" I asked suddenly, noticing a large, black cylindrical shape jutting out above the trees.
Iroh laughed. "Yep!" he turned to look at me, grinning. "I told you that you lived close."
"Yeah no joking." I mumbled. I was beginning to feel frightened. We were so close to the ship, close to the reality of me having to stand by Iroh's side in front of other people and saying I was his girlfriend. I shuddered a bit.
"If it's cold, love, I can roll up the window."
"thanks." I replied, smiling.
"Too bad you're not an Airbender, huh?" he laughed. "A day like this would be a monk's dream."
"Yeah" I laughed, holding back my fear.
I felt a bump as the Satomobile drove over the dividing barrier of the entrance to the shipyards. It was really happening. I noticed several large vessels, and near the head of the docks, sure enough, was the main united forces ship.
Yep. It was really happening. Iroh drove into a somewhat smallish parking deck, and backed the Satomobile up into an available spot. He was great at driving. My parents had me drive our Satomobile one time and I was a complete wreck.
"well." Iroh began, "we're here." He was smiling.
"Don't you take your car with you on the ship?" I asked, stalling.
"Oh yeah. Xian puts it below deck after I get on. It's not like I can just drive it onto the main deck or anything." He laughed.
"I guess not." I smiled. Dang. That would have been preferable.
"Well, why don't you take your bag up and put it in your old cabin." Iroh continued. "It's just the way you left it. I haven't let anyone else stay there since you left," he paused, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "I was kind of hoping you'd....." he paused, and took a deep breath before continuing "come back on your own."
He looked downward. Before I realized what I was doing, I was cupping Iroh's chin in my hand, and out of what appeared to be nowhere, I was kissing him, and ratherpassionately I may add. We kissed for a good while before breaking. Iroh was breathing rapidly.
"I didn't come back on my own because I was scared. And I'm still scared. I'm scared that this can't be real. I still feel like I'min a dream. But...." I paused before continuing. "If this is a dream, then I never want to wake up." I kissed him again, briefly this time, but still with force.
"Boa," he began, "what are you so afraid of?"
"I'm not really sure." I said, before slipping out of the car, and pacing around to the storage compartment to grab my suitcase. Iroh rolled down the window. "I do know, though, that I'm happy, finally." I smiled. "I'm going to go put this in my cabin."
"I'll be right up, love." Iroh said. His cheeks looked red. Was he blushing? I dismissed what I was thinking and began rolling my bag over to the plank to walk up to the main deck of the ship. Before I could reach it however, I noticed two girls, one dressed in red and one in blue, standing next to the ship, whispering to each other.
"Oh my spirits, Ming, have you heard? The general is coming by here any minute. It's his last night in the city. He's gonna walk right by us!" she squealed a bit. "I'm so excited to see him!"
The girl in red seemed equally as giddy. "I know! He's even more famous back home in the capital! Firelord Ursa has some good genes!"
"Hello," the girl in blue cawed, throwing her arms in the air "have you of all people not seen older pictures of Iroh'sgrandfather? Talk about flaming'" she laughed, and squealed. I didn't much like the squeals. "But I heard general iroh has gone and gotten himself a girlfriend."
I paused. Damn. It. All. I didn't want to have to walk by them. I assumed there was no other way, though. They were right beside my only available entrance pathway.
"Boohoo, Lakah she has to be just beautiful to be going out with him."
"Lucky girl!" the girl in blue squealed. I wish they'd stop that.
I readied myself and began to walk up to where the girls were, and as I passed them, I could hear someone calling my name. Oh. Damn. It. Dammit dammit dammit.
"Bao!" I heard Iroh's voice call. What are you doing! It's been fifteen minutes!" He came running over beside me and kissed my cheek, right in front of red and blue over there. Well I guess the secret is out. "It took you fifteen minutes to walk two hundred meters?" he laughed"well I guess my girl is better in the water than out of it." He didn't even seem to notice the two dumbfounded fan girlsstanding right in front of his face....until one of them finally cracked and squealed again. Girls will be girls.
"General Iroh!" blue shirt cried out. "Oh! I can't believe I finally get to see you in person." She relaxed a bit. "Well, I'm Lakah, from the southern water tribe, and this is Ming" she noted, pulling her friend, still mouth agape, into her arms, "from the fire nation capital. We both moved here to go to school."
"Well, Ming, Lakah," iroh replied. "It's an honor to meet you both." They squealed again when he mentioned the word "honor". That one got me. "This is my girlfriend, Bao" he began. Damn. "She's a waterbender, but she's from republic city. Her mother's parents are from the earth kingdom, from the waterbending tribe that lives in the swamps there."
Why iroh? Why would you say such things to them? I began to think. They'll have to think I'm a rube. They'll just tear me up. The girl in blue squealed again.
"Oh! I've heard about that place! They helped avatar Aang and his wife in the invasion. Sorry Ming, my people kicked your people's butts that day."
"I thought the fire nation won, Lakah."
"We won in spirit."
"That so does not even count."
"We won the war."
"Yeah but people can win battles and lose a war. Or they can lose battles and win a war, which is what Aang and his friends did. Lost. And then won. And by the way it's not like I wanted Ozai to be my leader, or his daughter. I like Izumi wayyyy better, and she wouldn't be fire lord unless Aang won the war. Come on, Lakah, you make me out to be a complete imperialist simply because my father is a general."
"Oh I was simply joking. Calm down. I'm a waterbender, after all, be gentle, like the river, goooo wittth the floooow." She waved her arms around, and then began to laugh.
"Speaking of which" the girl in red began, turning to face me. Oh sprits. "When Izumi gives the throne to iroh here, I guess that means you have a shot of being fire lady."
"Provided they get married and I don't steal him!" Lakah began. I had caught onto their names. I looked at Ming and Lakah in shock. I hadn't even thought of that.
"I- I" I began. I didn't know what to think. I was definitely out of my comfort zone. Though, I never had a problem caterpillar-worming my way out of a socially compromising situation. "I guess so." I laughed, turning to Iroh, "they'll have some crazy stuff happen though, if I'm in charge in the Fire Nation. It would be the least aggressive it's ever been. I'm a whimp."
I laughed. Ming and Laka laughed too, then I felt someone grabbing my hair.
"Your hair is pretty." Ming cooed, running her fingers through the end of my hair.
"Um, thanks." I kind of liked these two. They were awkward, funny. My kind of people.
"Ming, stop." Lakah chimed in. "you're making us look like rabid fangirls."
"We are rabid fangirls."
Lakah shot a blip of water at Ming. "No, we study history at republic city's library day school. We're scholars. Not fools. Lakah turned to extend her hand out to mine. "I can see you were about to board. We didn't mean to keep you waiting. By the way, if you overheard us talking before" she paused, almost looking like she wished she could take back what she said, or that she was about to say something she wish she didn't have to. She cleared her throat. "Well, I don't think iroh could have a prettier girlfriend if he wanted to. You're lovely. The next firelord is going to have some good genes, too!" she laughed. "But seriously, if you two are ever back in republic city and want to come by the library, we also run a photography service, and we do bending shots, where you can get a live action shot of yourself bending. I know you said you were a waterbender and I-"I cut her off by holding my hand up.
"Lakah that would be the coolest thing ever. I'd love that." I paused, and reached into my shirt's pocket to take out a pen and paper. I know iroh wouldn't ever give his out, but here's my phone number." I said, handing her a slip with a sequence of digits scribbles out on it. "If you ever want a tour of the ship, or want to talk about history, I'd love that, too. I studied history at Ba Sing Se University before I got the job on Iroh's ship. I'mactually the ship's cartographer." I smiled.
"Oh! Spirits! Thank you so much!" she beamed. "This means so much to me! I'm so happy iroh has a nice girlfriend. I'd hate it if he was dating some mean, meat brained-"
"Lakah!" Ming squalled. "What'd you say about being a rabid fangirls? You're acting like one!"
"Oh. Okay. Well, your boyfriend got distracted anyway." She giggled, noticing iroh had trekked over to the side of the docks, looking off into the distance. "It was nice to meet you, general!" Lakah cooed over at iroh. He turned around.
"Oh no, ladies!" he replied, "The pleasure is all mine!" they squealed again before walking off to the main pathway back to the city.
I was really proud of myself. I felt like I wasn't as big of a coward as I had thought. Granted, iroh forced me to talk to Mingand Lakah, but I was happier because of the experience. Maybe telling people I was Iroh's girlfriend wouldn't be too hard. I felt Iroh's arm around my waist. He was laughing to himself. "Well, love," he began, "it looks like you make friends easier than I do." He seemed almost proud of me.
I laughed. "I guess I do. Keeping them is my problem."
"I bet that's not true at all." Iroh smiled. "It's hard to get you sometimes." He continued as we walked forward up the plank onto the ships main deck. "But I like that."
"thanks." I replied back, somewhat sarcastically. When we got to the center of the main deck, I looked around. I didn't see anyone. "Where's the crew?" I asked.
"Oh, they're around. You'll see them later." he laughed. He regained his composure though.
"You're pretty hard to read yourself, hot-head." I smiled. "But I like that."
"Hot head?" iroh laughed, "That's new."
I smiled, and then looked to the side, towards the cabins and sleeping quarters. It had been a while since I'd been here. I had forgotten how much I loved it, how much I missed it. I kissed iroh on the cheek and began wheeling my suitcase toward my cabin.
When I opened the door to go in, I noticed nothing new in the room. Iroh had literally left it exactly the same. It's like no one even opened the door since I had left. I smiled a bit to myself. After I had put all my belongings away, I noticed that I felt hungry. I didn't know when the crew would be back, so I decided I'd go to the galley and sneak a few mangoes or something before iroh showed up again. I slid over to the doorway to my cabin and snaked down the hallway to the galley. I heard noise coming from the adjacent dining area, and I assumed it was the crew that had returned. I strangely wanted to see kayo again. He was always my favorite crew member.
The black, solid, windowless door that led into the dining area was shut. "Damn it." I breathed. Somehow though, I felt like I wasn't in for much with the men in the crew that would eat so early in the evening. I assumed only a few men would be in the dining area, and it's not like there would be a spectacle or anything if I walked in. I decided to muster up the courage to walk in and tell kayo that I was back. He'd be really happy. I decided it was worth it, and slid my hand over the handle to enter. As I turned the latch, I heard the room's noise levels drop. Uh-oh. There was no going back now, though. As I stepped into the room, a flash of light hit me. A camera flash. Then in unison, I heard a chorus of voices calling my name.
"Welcome back, map girl!" the crew called.
They were literally all here, even the female members who usually didn't pay me much attention. I noticed Kayo standing in front of some other men.
"Hey, doll-face." He winked at me. "We missed ya. There's a surplus of dumplings around here, shame they'd go to waste." He bellowed out a laugh, slapping me on the back.
"Hey!" I yelped, smiling. "I think you can manage, yourself, kayo. You weigh enough." I smiled indignantly.
"Oh, how I missed this." Kayo roared. "Men! It's going to be rough sailing tonight." He laughed as his friend Rian came up beside him.
"Hey, kayo, you still owe me from before. We never sealed the deal on our last bet."
"What bet you ignorant fool?" kayo laughed aloud.
"That Bao and iroh would be dating again by the beginning of summer." Rian retorted.
I paused. They bet on everything. I was surprised iroh even paid them a salary.
"Well, Bao here can tell us, right?" kayo pointed at me, grinningwidely. "Whaddyah say, doll, isn't that why you're back? You couldn't resist Capitan upper crust?"
"Kayo you moron, you make more money than any officer here. Stop belittling your superior-"
Kayo cut him off. "Rian, you're a stick in the mud, you know that?"
"At least I have honor, dignity" Rian attempted to continue before kayo's laughs drowned his preaching's out. I really liked kayo, as much as he made fun of me, because I really knew he cared about me. Odd. I never felt that way about anyone, but somehow I responded well to his sarcasm. I guess, underneath it all, I was a sarcastic girl myself. I felt somewhat compelled to stand up for Rian. The poor guy. All he wanted was a little respect.
"Well, I began. "You owe Rian, I'm afraid." I swallowed a lump in my throat. "I am...." I paused. "I couldn't say it. "Well, I'm" I couldn't find the words to say that I was dating iroh. For some reason this dating stuff was really hard for me.
Kayos laughter saved me. "I knew it, doll! I knew it! Aha!" he seemed to be proud, almost. He dug through his coat and handed a fifty yuan bill to Rian. "There ya big idiot," he smiled. "I knew she'd come back, though. I just didn't think she'd actually date prissy pants. She's too tough for him, ya know."
He couldn't be serious, right? Right? I decided to speak up. "Kayo you think I'm tougher than iroh? The general of this whole boat? Or well, of all the boats, and planes and tanks for that matter" I was dumbfounded.
"Yeah sure!" Kayo laughed smiling. "Anyone is!" he laughed harder and harder, until tears seemed to be streaming down his face. "But no, doll-face" he began, once he finally reached composure, "I was scared you'd never come back, honestly." He didn't laugh this time. "I thought you'd left us." He smiled at me, and this time, much unlike him, he pulled me into a hug. I barley came up to his shoulders, and I wasn't a short girl. Wow. He actually had a heart.
"Thanks, kayo." I mumbled into his chest. "But" I began, my voice muffled. "I. can't. breathe." I finally caught my breath as he let me go. I laughed again once he did, and smiled. I was really happy, and I felt like I could finally come out of my shell. I turned to walk back to the galley, remembering my point in coming down here. "I'm gonna go swipe some mangoes from the cook's stockroom" I giggled. "Want one?"
"I'm okay." Kayo replied. "We ate at kwongs. Military discount." He winked at me. As I was turning to leave I heard a female voice mutter something. It sounded mean. I didn't know if I was hearing things, so I turned around to face the crew.
"Kayo?" I asked "did you say something?"
"No, doll." He began, "why?"
"Nothing. I just thought I heard-"I was cut off.
"I said something to you, doll face." a woman soldier sneered at me from the back of the room. I heard other female soldershushed signs of disapproval, willing her not to speak up.
"Excuse me?" I asked, somewhat taken aback.
"You know you're fooling yourself." The woman began, standing up from where she was seated at a back table. "You Wouldn't last one day as a real fighter, a real solider." She began mimicking my speech, using over the top hand gestures to mock me. "Oh, iroh," she leered "I'm just another spoiled rich baby who can't stand the thought of leaving home. I had to give up my classes at an accredited college to come live with my rich, handsome boyfriend and still can't stick by that. I'm scared of everything. Boo-hoo."
She didn't stop. "I can't take being a hero. I say suck at waterbending, even though I know I'm not bad at it. I can't handle my life, oh woe is me!" she reverted to simply insulting me again, "you know what, Bao?" we've all heard kayo here talk about you, and you seem to not know a thing about the real world. You know what? I lost my entire family to a raid and that's why I joined the forces. I want to help others, not help myself feel better. I don't have that luxury. And if you want to date iroh, you know what? Go ahead. I never thought he'd date a regular crew member, he had to go for the dainty rich girl, like you. The only normal thing about you is that you eat like a hog-monkey. Which is your only redeeming quality. You know, I'm fine with iroh dating you. He's rich, you're rich, and you're a perfect match. But please, for the sake of the normal women, the working women on this ship, don't involve everyone else in your petty dilemma. We don't care, doll face."
the woman's friends were silent, as they looked downward. Kayo and Rian were speechless. So was I. I stood there awestruck for a few seconds, my eyes wet before I finally said something.
"What's your name?" I asked, shaking.
"Ma-Ling." The woman sneered. "From the earth kingdom. Gaoling. What's it to ya?"
I didn't know how to reply to her, all I could think of is how much I wanted to run away crying. But I didn't. I knew I was anticipating something. I knew my dating iroh on board the ship would make some people mad. I knew it wasn't going to be all sunshine and dragon-butterflies. I swallowed a giant lump in my throat before I replied to Ma-Ling.
"I" I paused. "I apologize if I made you feel in anyway hurt or left out by my situation. I am truly sorry about your family." I paused. I was actually standing up for myself. I felt afraid, but I didn't stop. "But if you think for one second that I don't know anything about the real world,then you are sadly mistaken. And, for the record, I'm not some spoiled rich brat, and I'm not in this to help myself. I'm in it for iroh. And yes. I'm dating him. I have issues with affection, and with coping with fear, but people who say they're never afraid, people like you, they're scared too. And you know what? I'm not going to tell iroh about this, because I know he'll be furious. And I respect you standing up to me, because you did work for your job here, more than me. And I think it'd be petty and unfair for iroh or myself to get mad at you, or worse, fire you, for stating your feelings."
I paused, looking her dead in the eye. "But if you think I am just going to lay back and take another comment like that again, you better rethink that idea quickly. I may seem weak, and afraid, but push me into a corner, and you're going to get hurt, soldier."
I was seething, and I knew it would be hard for me to keep this from iroh. He'd immediately sense why I was upset. Rian seemed to be awestruck, shocked that I had stood up for myself. Kayo was smiling. I guess he really did think I was tough. I didn't wait for Ma-Ling to reply, instead I turned and paced out of the room, slamming the solid, black door behind me. You could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed.
As I sat in my cabin, following the incident in the dining area, I surprisingly wasn't crying, even though I felt like it. It was though something in me had shifted. Instead of feeling scared people wouldn't accept my and Iroh's relationship, scared of the fact that iroh was rich and I was common, I was more interested in proving my worth to ma-ling. I wanted her to know what I was capable of. I was still terrified to bend in front of iroh, and worse, to bend in front of her, but somehow I knew it would have to happen eventually. I knew that couldn't be the last time I talked to soldier girl.
The strange thing about the whole matter, is that what ma-ling said about me somehow made me feel good. Not the part about me not understanding the real world, but the fact that I appeared to be pretty and dainty and rich. I know it sounds bad, but up until then, I had seen myself as an ugly, uncultured rube from the swamps who seemed to be a mismatch in the extreme sense with iroh. I knew ma-ling wasn't lying about how she felt, so I really felt better about how I stood next to my boyfriend. I could finally say it. I wasn't ugly or uncultured, if anything, I was spoiled.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want to come across as spoiled, ever, but somehow, ma-ling's hateful comments made me feel both incredibly flattered, and incredibly insulted. I was a strange girl, and she was too. I heard footsteps coming down the hall, and I assumed it was iroh.
Surprisingly we hadn't seen each other for a few hours, since I went to my cabin. He must have had to do his job. I laughed a bit at that thought. "Bao," I heard his voice call, as he knocked on the door. "Are you in there?" I slowly sauntered over to the doorway, and tried to put on a cheerful face. When iroh opened the door, I was awkwardly smiling. Iroh paused. "What in spirits is wrong with you?" he asked, laughing. "You look demented." I guess my fake smile looked really fake.
"ugh." I sighed. "nothing." I paced back over and plopped down onto my bed. Iroh came and sat next to me.
"Come on, doll face, "he smiled at me, "what's wrong?"
"Oh, spirits, Iroh, don't call me that." I retorted.
He looked hurt. He looked downward. "Why?" he asked. "Doyou not like, it? I'll call you something else, if you want."
I looked up at him, his amber eyes were watery. "No." I replied, looking away, noticing he was actually hurt and embarrassed. "It's not that, iroh. I just am having some, well, some girl issues" I mumbled grimacing.
"oh." He paused. "Oh." "Oh well, I'll leave then, it's not..." "Doyou need one of the woman soldiers to come-"I cut him off by raising my hand? I was good at doing that. I liked it. It seemed firelady-like. I laughed a bit.
"No" I laughed, harder. "It's not that." I smiled. Sometimes iroh was like a little boy. "It's like drama and stuff, ya know, girl fights. It's no big deal. I just got into an argument with one of....." I paused.
Oh. I told ma-ling I wouldn't tell iroh. Though I hated her already, I wanted to be honest with her. It was strange. Somehow, since she was so mean to me, I almost wanted to win over her approval. Yep. I'm a classic girl alright. I continued "my friends back home, on my phone." I saw Iroh'seyes brighten up. Wow. I usually sucked at lying.
"So you're happy here?" he asked, beaming. "You really are?"
I smiled. I guess I really was. "Yeah. I am."
I paused. I didn't remember at the moment if I had ever said what I was going to say to iroh. I knew I must have, but I felt really compelled to say the one thing I had so much trouble saying. I leaned in to kiss iroh, and he wrapped his hands around my waist, and we kind of, well, lied down on the bed. We weren't going to do anything sexual of course, but we did stay there, just cuddling and kissing and all of that romantic stuff. I finally leaned over and put my head on his chest. He felt hot. "I love you, iroh. I love you with everything I have."
I could feel his heart beat faster as he stroked my hair and cooed "I love you too, Bao. With everything I have."
I really was happy there. I didn't even notice that the ship had left the harbor, and we were already sailing seaward.