Chapter 31: Adrift

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By late afternoon, all that could be seen was the great expanse of the ocean circled by the horizon with an occasional iceberg in the distance.

"One nice thing about living on the ship was the galley," said Iroh as his stomach growled.

"You have a menu of seafood before you," said Chiara softly still lying on the deck. "How about fish?"

"Anything would be good right now, even the sail," he said with a grim smile.

Zuko was awake just lying on his back still worn, tired, and dejected. Chiara rolled over and leaned over her edge of the raft. She scanned beneath the surface of the water until she spotted a school of fish. She unsheathed her sword, and picking out a fish of interest, she stealthily froze part of the water around it, and at the same time she used her sword to impale it giving the impression that she caught it with just her sword.

"Very good, Chiara," said Iroh when he saw the fish at the end of her sword. "And I was worried about losing our cook to Zhao."

She pulled out her knife and began preparing their future meal.

"We need to burn these," she said of the innards. "I don't want to throw them in the water."

Iroh burned the discarded fish parts before he began cooking the fish. Zuko had no desire to eat, but the smell of the frying fish made his stomach ache with hunger, and he was unable to resist sitting up and joining them. Chiara took only a small piece leaving as much as she could for the men.

"You should eat more than that, Chiara," said Zuko softly, noting her small portion.

"I've had enough."

"Uncle, can't you make her eat more?"

"As growing men, you need to eat," she said.

"He doesn't need to grow anymore," said Zuko pointing to his uncle's rotund figure.

Iroh only chuckled while eating his lunch.

"Before we left the Fire Nation, Ezih told me to take care of both of you," she said. Her voice was soft and sad. "What good am I if I can't feed my guys?"

Zuko's mouth opened as it occurred to him that she had seen that as her own personal mission, and taking care of him and his uncle was something she had taken very seriously ever since they left the Fire Nation years earlier.

"You're alive," he answered her.

"I promise I won't starve."

"We can always eat the sea vultures when they come down to feed on us," said Iroh trying to lighten the mood.

"You're not helping, Uncle," Zuko scowled at him.

"If we have the energy to catch them," deadpanned Chiara.

"That's not funny," he said, now glaring at her.

"I wasn't trying to be," she said softly.

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When darkness settled on them, Chiara started propelling the raft while Zuko slept. She watched the moon as it began its ascent above the horizon, and she could not stop the tears that came to her eyes as she thought about Yue. By the time the moon had traveled across half of the sky, she felt cold and tired, but she continued bending the water around them anxious to get them to land. Iroh began worrying about her hours later when he woke to find that she was still propelling them. He sat up and moved close to her taking her hands in his.

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