i am... | zuko

chapter 5 ♕ a friend

"You're a waterbender."

I removed the water that I used to heal his wounds and chose not to answer. I am still not sure about that. I am not sure if I was classified as one since I might have only got it from the ocean spirit. "There, all better." I smiled. It was my first time healing, after all.

"You told us you were a nonbender. What other lies have you told us?" Zuko hissed as I looked at him and sighed, casting my eyes down in shame.

"I am sure princess Mizumi has a good reason for doing so." Iroh chimed in as I sighed in defeat. I guess there's no point lying now.

"I am not lying about being a nonbender." I began. I can sense that he wanted to retort but I had beaten him to it. "And about going to Kyoshi island to train." I paused to think about the other things that was the truth. Wait, there's nothing else. Thus, I continued.

"What I lied about was when I said that my mother knew that I will go to Kyoshi Island to hide the fact that I ran away from home to do so." I looked at him straight in the eye, trying to make him understand. He doesn't. "I started to have this ability when I met the ocean spirit the time you burned my hand."

"You burned her hand?!" Iroh exclaimed, looking at his nephew. Zuko wasn't fazed by this but I can see the same look he gave me the day he burned me. I giggled a bit before continuing. "Anyway, the ocean spirit said that I and him are linked to each other. And I think the only reason I can waterbend was because of him. Originally, I was really a nonbender."

"What's the point of running away, then?" he questioned, still not getting the point. I don't blame him though. I'm slow at explaining.

"I am looking for someone who will train me how to fight without thinking of me as a princess." I confessed. "And I heard that the Kyoshi warriors are an all-girls group and that they're very skilled when it comes to fighting despite being nonbenders."

I averted my eyes somewhere and noticed the sun setting. I slowly stood up and brushed the dirt off my clothes. "I am so honored to meet the two of you." I bowed down slightly and sighed, remembering about my ship. "But it is time for me to go." I said, gripping into the sling of my bag.

The two stood up at this. "It was an honor to meet you, princess Mizumi." Iroh bowed, ushering Zuko to do the same only for the boy to step forward and ignore his uncle. "Why don't you come with us? I can train you with your sword."

I paused to contemplate but smiled apologetically, "The offer is tempting but... I need to focus on my own first. I have yet to discover a lot of things about myself and I think it would be best to do it alone." I cheered internally for creating such an inspiring statement. It was true, though.

"Don't worry. I have a great feeling that we would meet again someday." I grinned. "After all, I still have to repay your kindness. One day, I will let you call me if in any case you needed my help, assistance or basically anything." I assured, remembering how kind they were despite being firebenders. Growing up, I was taught not to trust any firebenders for all of them are deceitful. These two proved to me that not all firebenders are and Azula on the other hand proved that there are still deceitful firebenders.

Zuko nodded, accepting my offer. "I shall call you when we need help taking down the Avatar." he said, causing me to chuckle. Him? Asking for help? That's new. "Sure. And I'll make sure I'll train hard to be able to do that."

As I waved and turned my back to them, there was a tinge of sadness that made me want to claim back what I said and join them. After all, they were the first people who I became friends with outside the water tribe.

♕

I was swindled! The ship didn't led me to Kyoshi Island. It led me to Gaoling!—some sort of place in the Earth Kingdom base on my map. Well, at least I'm only one ride away from my target location. But still!

"Hey! Watch out!"

"Oops, sorry! I wasn't looking at where I'm going." I apologized as I turned to the one I bumped only to see two bodyguards pointing a spear at me with a little girl behind them. Whoa, I was pretty sure I just bumped the little girl and now I'm being threatened. Seriously?

"It's alright, there's no need to apologize. I also am not too." she replied as she tapped on the guards and walked forward. She must be referring to her eyes. She's blind!

"Oh I am so deeply sorry. I didn't knew you were—"

"It's fine, don't worry." she assured. "My name is Toph Beifong. It's nice to meet you." she said in a formal tone while bowing down. The guards and the formal dress made me think that her family is of high status around here.

I smiled, despite knowing she was unable to see me. "I am Mizumi." I chose to leave out the fact that I was a princess. It's not important anyway.

"You are not from here, are you?" she questioned, her head raising up as if she can see me. That's odd. "How did you knew?"

"Your sword." she pointed out. "I felt it when you bumped me. Not all people with swords are girls and that nice."

I looked down at my sword and remembered how she bumped into me. Yeah, she's telling the truth. And she's quite observant for a little girl. "Yes, I am not from here." I answered her question. "I came from the Northern Water Tribe." Okay, Mizumi you've said so much. But this is just a little girl, what harm would it bring?

"Toph, your father only gave us ten minutes. We should be heading back right now." one of the guards said to her to which she nodded as a response. "Do you have a place to stay for the night? You can stay with us for awhile if you want." she offered. I wanted to say no but it will mean I have to pay for a place to stay or find another kind person to let me stay.

It turns out, Toph is the only daughter of the wealthiest family here in Gaoling and she hardly ever go out of their house except if she's lucky enough. This must be both of our lucky day, then.

"I am sorry for my parents. They're just overprotective." she said once she led me into the room I was supposed to stay in. She must be talking about my sword—which her parents had spent the time earlier to question me about. Not that I minded. "If I were in their place I would do the same." I replied with a smile, forgetting that she cannot see me.

"You know, you're kind of the first friend I've had that's not a badgermole." she said while chuckling and sitting on the bed with me.

"A badgermole?" I inquired. Is that some kind of animal?

"Badgermoles are the very first earthbenders. You sure do have no idea about the outside world, do you?" she chuckled and I shrugged. "Well, I've been in the North Pole for sixteen years. What do you expect?"

"Let me guess, everyone treats you like you're vulnerable and weak. That's why they're keeping you away from the whole world." she said with a little sass.

"Well, it's not like that. It's more like I was treated as strong and unbreakable when I was actually the weak one." come to think of it, it was true. They treated Yue as the weak while I—with accordance to the part of the spirit inside of me, the stronger one. When in truth, Yue was the braver and stronger despite the ocean spirit inside of me. I was useless when they killed the moon spirit. I was useless when my sister died to be the replacement.

Even if Toph's eyes were supposed to be blank, I could see in her expression that she was saddened by this. We didn't exactly had the same circumstances but in the end, we had one thing in common: we were treated the way we weren't.

"So, what do you plan to do?" Toph suddenly asked, probably an attempt to remove the eerie atmosphere I caused.

"I don't know. There aren't any ships here as I expected there to be." and maybe I just did the right choice of agreeing into Toph's offer to stay here at their house.

"If that's the case, I can ask my parents if our ship can give you a ride to Kyoshi Island. I'm sure they will love to do a favor to their only daughter's only friend." she grinned and I was in awe of her kindness. I didn't do anything for her. Sheesh these favors are becoming more frequent than it should be.

But hey, at least it gave me another free ride. I have a lot of spare money.