By the time Y/N got to the main deck, Zuko, Iroh, and a couple of soldiers were already there. A young woman with straight black hair stood next to a large shirshu, a man dressed in Earth Kingdom clothing slung over her shoulder.
"Incredible." Y/N marveled, watching the beast closely as she moved forward. "I don't know what's going on, but mind if I come closer?"
"Who's this?" The woman asked. "My name's June, and sure, if you're okay with the possibility of her not liking you, and getting paralyzed for several hours."
"I'll take those chances." Y/N immediately moved forwards, reaching out her hand to let the creature smell it.
"Y/N, be careful." Zuko warned.
"It's not like there's somewhere I need to be." Y/N shot back, tentatively reaching out and stroking the shirshu's snout. It didn't move for a bit, then twitched it's nose, tilting it's head a little.
"She seemed a little unsure at first. She likes your smell, though. Jasmine tea? Swim in the ocean a lot?" June asked as Y/N chuckled, the shirshu bumping its snout on her stomach. This woman was clearly just a bounty hunter, so Y/N didn't mind sharing.
"Jasmine is my favorite." She explained. "And I'm a waterbender. What a magnificent creature..." she looked it up and down, watching as its tongue slithered out for a split second, the poisonous barbs showing.
"Y/N, come back here." Zuko commanded, and she rolled her eyes. "How did you know the stowaway was on the ship?" He asked June, warily watching the shirshu.
"She smelled 'im." She said simply, mounting the animal with her bounty and urging it forward, quickly disappearing into the trees, moving inland.
"What were you thinking? You could've been paralyzed." Zuko scolded as Y/N walked over, avoiding the urge hole in the ship.
"Well, then you'd get a break from me for a few hours. Wouldn't that be nice?" She laughed, looking at Iroh, who chuckled as well.
"Argh! She'll pay for that huge hole in my ship!" Zuko yelled, stomping around. Y/N stepped towards the edge, looking down at the hallway below.
"Yeah, that's a bit of a problem."
—|〰️〰️〰️|—
It had been hours since Zuko had left with Iroh, claiming he was going to get reimbursed for the damage. Y/N got bored of waiting for them pretty quickly, and played some Pai Sho with some other crewmembers she hadn't officially met yet.
"M'lady, May I offer you a few pointers?" Y/N turned from her game to see Zaji standing there, looking amused at her attempts to block her competitor.
"Hey! No cheating!" Amo, one of Zaji's buddies, and Y/N's opponent, interrupted, waving his arms. "You can't tell her what to do! I want to win!"
"Wow. You don't think I'm capable of winning by myself?" Y/N crossed her arms, looking at the two boys. "Thanks a lot. That's embarrassing." Amo scratched the back of his head with a nervous laugh. He had longer and straighter hair than Zaji, a little messed up from recently wearing his helmet, and he was shorter.
"Well, we have been playing for over five years, what's more embarrassing is that I still can't beat Zaji, even though I've played longer than him. He's just good at planning, and making good moves on the enemy. Someday he's going to be an admiral, and lead hundreds of warships." He looked up at his friend with a smile, making his next move on the board.
"Eh, we'll see. I have a long way to go, and a lot to learn." Zaji said, sitting down next to them to watch the game play out. "Right now, I'm under the command of a banished prince."
"The prince is pretty good at leading, not gonna lie, given that he's what? 16? He does hesitate sometimes though, but when he sets his mind on something, it either gets done, or becomes an unhealthy obsession." Amo said, watching in amusement as Y/N made a terrible move.
"Yeah, I mean, sometimes I just get confused, because he tells us to do something, then goes and does it himself, or switches plans." Zaji cringed as Amo blocked Y/N off, earning a frustrated groan from her.
"Yeah, actually, it was hilarious, after he pulled you out of the water..." Amo watched Y/N sit and think for a moment, before she realized.
"Wait, me?" She asked. Amo nodded.
"When the prince pulled you out of the water, General Iroh asked one of us with medical training to come forward to help." Amo looked slyly at Zaji, who smacked him lightly.
"What happened? I don't remember." Y/N prompted, ignoring her turn for now.
"Nothing." Zaji said, but Amo shoved him playfully aside.
"Well, you were unconscious, obviously, your heart wasn't beating." Amo continued. "Zaji had medical training, so when General Iroh asked for someone who knew CPR, he stepped forward to offer his help, but then Prince Zuko looked all confused, and said he would do it, so Zaji stepped back, but then he like, hesitated, so Zaji came forward again, and the prince looked like he was gonna yell at him or something. I was trying so hard not to laugh, I was concerned you were dead, but it was just so awkward."
"He wasn't doing anything!" Zaji defended, throwing up his hands. "So I was going to do it, but then he looked at me like he was going to give me a matching scar, but on both sides of my face! When he kept pausing, I thought he just wanted you to die!" He tugged at the ends of his curly hair, something he seemed to do a lot when he was nervous.
"It was so funny!" Amo laughed at his panicked state, then turned back to Y/N. "Aside from the fact you were dying, of course." He added. Hold up...
"Wait... does that mean Zuko gave me CPR?" Y/N asked.
"Zaji totally got clobbered by this one pirate though, so I wasn't sure if he was in the right mind..." Amo had already been speaking, and Y/N brushed it off.
"I had this terrible headache for like, two days. These helmets are useless." Zaji complained, knocking on the hard metal of his helmet, which lay on the ground by his feet. Y/N snorted, finally making her move, and Amo looked disappointed.
"I hoped you wouldn't see that." He pouted, playing with an extra piece as he studied the board. Zaji stole some of his friend's punch, leftover from the night before.
—|〰️〰️〰️|—
"Should we be concerned? The sun's going to set in an hour, here." Amo pointed out, holding up a hand to signal to Y/N and Zaji to stop sparring.
"We have no idea where they went." Y/N shrugged. "It's not like we can go after them." She bent the water back into her containers, closing the corks.
"Yeah, but he's got a point. All Prince Zuko said he was going to do was get payment back." Zaji commented, relaxing his fighting stance and walking over to the railing to join Amo, Y/N close behind.
"Unless... he wasn't looking for money." Y/N realized, smacking herself in the forehead. "I should've known! He's gone after the Avatar on the shirshu! I knew something felt off, I'm so stupid." She pouted, leaning on the railing. "If that disaster of a boy lays a finger on my siblings while I'm not there I'll assassinate him myself."
"That's tricky, cause I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be wary of you for saying that." Amo speculated. "I like you a lot, but you're still a random waterbender that the prince is allowing to tag along, here, and you aren't exactly on our side."
"You can kill me if we're fighting, yunno, on our sides, but right now, I'm not currently with my siblings or the Avatar, and you aren't trying to kill them, so I think we good." Y/N frowned at her own statements, confused. "This war makes everything complicated."
"Well, without it, I probably wouldn't have met you." Zaji looked at Y/N with a wide smile. Y/N chuckled and nodded, but frowned when a messenger hawk landed on the railing next to her. She quickly took off the message, and sighed as she read it.
"Suit up, boys, we've got an angry prince to pick up."
—|〰️〰️〰️|—
Zuko's POV
The Avatar has escaped about an hour ago, and Zuko and June were still paralyzed, laying on the stone abbey floor. The people living there, despite Zuko's wishes, sent a messenger hawk to the boat for someone to pick them up, saying they "didn't want two firebenders laying in the abbey for three more hours".
"I hope you had fun, you scrap of barnacle scum." Zuko couldn't turn his head, but recognized her voice before she came into view.
"I know, I know. Just get me back to the ship." He grumbled. Y/N smiled down at him, gently scooping her hand underneath his head in preparation to pick him up. He caught a glimpse of Zaji in the corner of his eye. What's he doing here?
Y/N carried him, bridal style, towards the rhino they had taken to get there, supporting his head so he could still see her.
"Bring me with you next time, flameboy."