Water Lily in a Sea of Fire

Chapter 6: Beginning of a Journey

After a few days at sea, Iroh entered Chiara's cabin early one morning.

She was sound asleep, and he gently touched her shoulder to wake her. "Chiara, it's time to leave."

She rubbed her eyes and looked up at him. "Are we home already?" she asked tiredly.

"Not yet." He set Earth Kingdom clothing on the bed next to her. "Gather your things and change into these before we go. Don't bring any Fire Nation clothing."

She was puzzled by his instructions and wondered if they might be under attack, but everything sounded quiet, even the constant low hum of the engines was absent.

"I'll wait for you up on deck," he said before leaving her room.

She slowly got up and changed her clothes, and on her body she carried her sword, shurikens, and the knife Zuko had given her. She emptied her bag of her Fire Nation clothes, keeping only the personal items, and she left her cabin to go up on deck. She walked up to Iroh who was speaking to Ezih. She had never before seen him out of Fire Nation clothing, usually his princely attire or military uniform. But now he was dressed in civilian Earth Kingdom clothing and it looked odd to her.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Ezih was asking him.

"I think it's for the best," said Iroh softly.

"It could be dangerous if anyone discovers who you are."

"It's not the first excursion I've taken," he said with a forced smile.

Ezih might have scolded him about his "excursion" had he not understood that Iroh wanted to grieve over his loss in his own way and that he was not ready to return to his estate where there were so many painful reminders of his son.

"Besides," said Iroh placing his hand on Chiara's head, "I discovered quite a treasure during my last trek."

Ezih smiled. "You have a safe trip then, General Iroh." He looked down at Chiara. "You be careful too, Lady Chiara." He knelt down next to her. "Take care of the general," he whispered in her ear.

She nodded, but she was not sure what was going on.

"Oh, and, Ezih, you will make sure he will be placed next to Mina," said Iroh.

"Of course, General," he said bowing his head.

Ezih bowed to them both before Iroh turned to go below deck. Chiara followed him to one of the small steamers kept on board. They boarded it with a few crewmembers and set out towards an island. Iroh and Chiara sat below the deck of the steamer eating a light breakfast and drinking tea.

"Are we not going home?" she asked him.

"No." He was looking down at his tea. "I don't wish to return to the Fire Nation yet."

"Where are we going?"

His amber eyes met her curious green ones. "We will explore the world."

"Where are we at now?"

"We are heading to Kyoshi Island."

She was intrigued. "The home of Avatar Kyoshi?"

"Yes."

"How long are we staying?"

"I don't know," he said thoughtfully gently stroking his beard. "Until we decide to move on." He looked at her. "We will need new names, Earth Kingdom names. We can't let anyone know we're Fire Nation."

"I don't know any Earth Kingdom names," she said.

"Hmm...how about we call you Lin. And I will be Xin. Of course, as my daughter, you should call me 'father.'"