Secrets In The Ashes {Zuko x Reader}

The Boy In The Iceberg / The Choice

There are a finite amount of places you can go on a ship, especially one that you're technically not supposed to be on. I have a fractured sense of the layout of the whole thing, and basically zero idea where we actually are in the world.

But through the small window in my quarters, I can see the deck of the ship. And through that, I see the world. Or, at least, the world that matters to me.

More drills are going on, and the light of the flames casts an orange glow in my room. When I look outside, the figures are, once again, just small enough that no detail can be seen, but big enough I can catch the general gist of what's going on. It's practice, same as usual, though for some reason it seems as if the intensity has been knocked up.

I know there had been a big commotion because of the bright light that shot straight into the sky, and that we had changed course because of it. Perhaps they are practicing their Firebending with extra fervor with that in mind? Well, either way, watching them is one of my only sources of entertainment, and one of the best ways for me to watch fighting to help hone my own skills.

The practice, while intense, goes smoothly for a while. As always, I try my best to keep up with them, the weapons in my hands barely able to extend fully outwards in the cramped space.

My muscles are just starting to strain when the practice abruptly stops, and I decide that I might as well quit too. It's almost time for dad to come back, and while he's not totally mad about my inclination for combat practice, it doesn't really please him either. Best to keep on his good side today, because he's really the only company I have to keep.

What a long two years it's been.

***********

The next few hours pass with little incident, just like every other day before.

That is, until the small window in my room lights up with a sudden, intense light. It's almost so bright I wonder if we've somehow managed to run straight into the sun.

It dies down as quickly as it comes, and the commotion outside gives me the feeling something very bad is about to happen. We've never run into trouble in the two years we've been at sea, even though we sport no flag to claim us. I don't know if it's due to us traveling with a prince and a general of the Fire Nation, or if it's just sheer luck.

I know it really must be bad when dad's lieutenant bursts in several minutes later, eyes wide and breath short.

"We're docking at the Southern Water Tribe. The Prince saw the Avatar! Your father wants you to stay here."

The lieutenant flees as quickly as they came, before I can even summon up a retort. I say it to the empty air anyway.

"That order changes nothing! I'm always supposed to stay here!"

But the need to stay hidden away suddenly feels ludicrous, for some reason. Not that I don't understand dad's reasons, of course, but that he wouldn't want me to see history in the making. If the Avatar really is currently holed up at the South Pole, shouldn't I see them? I'd be one of the first people to see an Avatar with my own eyes in a century.

Besides, all I do with my seemingly infinite free time is train. Dad's two short swords have seen the last of their glory days with him, now that he's the captain of a ship. They're sitting against the wall right now, and I haven't gotten to use them in real combat yet.

For once, I disobey dad and leave the safety of my little room, the swords strapped to either side of me.