Born of Fire. (Zuko x OC) book 1

Chapter 5

Maddy's POV:

We had decided to stop the ship in a nearby cove to refill the water for both the humans and the rhinos before we would set sail again. When it was time to go, Zuko and I went in search of his uncle.

"Uncle! It's time to leave! Where are you? Uncle Iroh!" Zuko called to his misplaced family member.

"Over here." I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Uncle? We need to move on, we're closing in on the Avatar's trail and I don't want to lose him!"

"Good luck with that." I scoffed under my breath. He ignored my comment and looked expectantly at his uncle.

"You look tired, Prince Zuko. Why don't you join me in these hot springs and soak away your troubles." Iroh leaned back in his hot spring.

"My troubles cannot be soaked away. It's time to go!" Fire boy sounded... oh, what's the word that means really not happy that basically describes his entire personality?

"You should take your teacher's advice and relax a little. The temperature's just right. I heated it myself." Iroh put his hands together and breathed steam from his nostrils heating the water even more.

"I second that motion." I started forward to join Iroh, but Zuko held me back. I gave him an awful glare and held it there, but he refused to look at me.

"Enough! We need to leave now! Get out of the water!" Zuko demanded.

"Very well." Iroh stood up. I looked back at the general and regretted it immediately. I let out a slight scream and Zuko used his other hand to cover my already tightly closed eyes.

"On second thought, why don't you take another few minutes, but be back at the ship in half an hour or I'm leaving without you." Zuko lead my blinded self away from the scene of the crime. I was mortified. Zuko eventually removed his hand from my eyes but I still refused to open them.

"You can open your eyes you know." Zuko continued to lead me back to the ship.

"Not until I am safe and back in the room where I will gouge them out with a spoon." Despite my claims, I squinted one of them open to make sure he didn't run me into a tree on purpose.

"You're so weird." I heard the smirk in his voice.

"Thank you." I smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~Time skip brought to you by coffee. It is what keeps this story going.~~~~~~~~~~

"Uncle! Uncle, where are you?" Zuko called out for the second time that day. We had been waiting for almost three times as long as we had originally said and even I wanted to leave. When we got to the hot spring where we had last seen him, it no longer had an Iroh or any water but was instead filled with sharp uphill rocks.

"Sir, maybe he thought you left without him?" One of the soldiers, whose name I learned was something I don't remember.

"Something's not right here." He leaned forward and examined the hot tub. "That pile of rocks...

"It looks like there's been a landslide, sir." The soldier examined.

"Land doesn't slide uphill. Those rocks didn't move naturally. My uncle's been captured by earthbenders!"

"Yes!" I cheered, receiving a confused and angry look from Zuko. "I mean, oh no. That's terrible. We should go find him." Honestly I was excited, though. I got to go save Iroh from the Rough Rhinos, which meant this was the episode where the gaang had to save the town from Bosco! Wait, wrong bear. I couldn't remember the other's name. It was something like Haybail.

Zuko ordered everyone back to the ship, but I stayed with him.

"I said to go back." Zuko commanded me.

"You, sir, are not my prince. Therefore I don't have to listen to you. And I want to save Iroh, he's my weirdo too."

"Fine. But same rules as Kyoshi; you do whatever I say so you don't end up getting hurt."

"Aye aye, Captain." I gave a mock salute and climbed on the magical rhino with the prince.

We rode for forever! It was taking to long that we eventually had to get off the rhino to give him a break. We eventually found a sandal in the middle of the road. Zuko, being the genius he is, picked it up and sniffed it.

"Yup, that's Uncle Iroh." He climbed back onto the rhino and pulled me up with him and we were riding... again.

After another forever and a half, a certain bison flew over our heads.

"The Avatar!" Zuko pulled back the reins to stop the beast.

"Hey Katara!" I shouted up. She looked over her shoulder and saw me waving but then gave a look of concern when she saw Zuko with me. I nudged the prince with my shoulder and he starts the rhino in the direction we were headed before.

We heard a commotion in front of us and saw a boulder start to float. Zuko ran in front of me and side kicked it away from his Uncle's hands. When he landed he did some sort of sexy kick thing that broke the chains binding his uncle to the stone. Knowing I couldn't help at all, I just stayed put.

"Excellent form, Prince Zuko." Iroh congratulated.

"You taught me well." Zuko replied. They were bonding over fighting a practical life or death battle, it was sweet.

"Surrender yourselves, it's five against two. You're clearly outnumbered." One f the earthbenders, who I expected to be the leader, said.

"Uh, that's true, but you are clearly outmatched!" Iroh smirked.

All five earthbenders launched stones at my pair. Iroh swung his chains and broke them into pieces mid-flight, damn he was strong. Zuko blasted the two nearest him with fire. Behind Zuko, I saw two soldiers readying to shoot two large rocks at him.

"Zuko!" I shouted, giving away my position. Everyone looks at me and the earthbenders change the direction of their stones to hit me. I duck down and crawl away so they won't see me anymore, and when I peek my head over my protective rock barriers, I see all the earthbenders on the ground.

"Now would you please put on some clothes!" Zuko grumbled. They both came over to where I was hiding and I received a warm smile from Iroh in his loincloths and an angry scowl from prince pouty.

"What were you thinking!" He shouted. "You could have been hurt or worse killed!"

"So could you," I rolled my eyes as I picked myself up off the ground and dusting myself off a bit.

"It's different for me, I have been trained! I can protect myself but you can barely move fire at all."

"Well next time I can save your life, I promise I won't." I trudged off back to the rhino. We all piled onto the massive beast and headed back for the ship.