Rainbow's Gift (Avatar The Last Airbender Fanfic)

2. My Days on the Ship

A week had just passed and boredom was getting the best of me. The last two days I had been seasick and Kuzon and the servant, who hadn't given me her name, had taken care of me. He was a really nice guy. Too nice. I even wondered how he could fight in war.

I had woken up a few minutes ago and I was staring at the ceiling. After a few minutes of staring, I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in." Kuzon entered with a tray of breakfast. "Kuzon, you didn't have to do this. I'm fine now. Where's the servant?"

"I asked her if I could take this up to you." he said with a cheeky smile.

"But aren't you going to get in trouble with your superiors?" I asked. If he got in trouble, there was nothing I could do to save him from punishment.

"Quit your whining and just eat." He said cheerfully and I frowned as I took the bowl of rice and chopsticks from him.

"Ugh, fine." I did smile once I got the food in my mouth. I knew my mother's food was the best but the rice with the raw egg on top tasted delicious. But then again, I was pretty sure you had to really know how to cook to become a chef of the sea. The thought of my mother made me frown. I missed her along with Ty Lee and Onji. But I couldn't start having any regrets. I knew I was on the right path. "I want to spar with someone since I'm feeling better now."I emphasized on the 'better' "and I was hoping that it would be you." I knew Kuzon didn't think I was feeling better but it was just sea sickness. I hadn't been on a ship in years. It was possible to not feel good with all the swaying.

"I'd love that too but what if I burn you?" He asked, concerned.

"You're a firebender? How come you never told me?!"

"I thought I never really had to tell you." I looked at him. There was clearly more to the story. I scooted closer to him and he backed away. " Some people," he started in a whisper. " when they find out you're a good fighter, they put you in the front lines or even behind enemy lines. I just don't wanna...."

I understood him. It was up to you and only you to guard your life. The Fire Nation didn't care. Everyone was heartless. It was clear now that he had been forced to join the war. It was a decree Firelord Azulon had made decades ago. Every household shall produce a son to fight in the war for ten years. Then they could decide if they wanted to leave the army or not. If a household didn't have a son, their daughter would go instead. It was unfair and cruel because most would not even survive those ten years.

"Let me tell you one thing, " I told Kuzon as I looked him in the eye,"I would never do that. You think I'm happy to be in this war? To see my father? I am not but I have to."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you were forced to go see your father." He apologized quickly but I shook his head. He didn't have to. I felt bad on how concerned he looked because it was a lie.

I looked away guiltily. He thought I was forced by my father to be in the war. I couldn't be in the war anyway if I wanted to. Illegal was a common word with my father so it wasn't a shocker. I was fifteen and to join the army you had to be eighteen. I brushed off the feeling and looked at him with a smile.

"So, are you ready to spar?"

"I would be honored."

I laughed at his formality as I stood up. We headed towards deck and I got my daggers ready. I decided I needed to work on my hand-to-hand combat and if I could fight a firebender. Onji was a firebender but she stopped using it to fight after Ty Lee got burnt once which is a rare, Ty Lee was an amazing fighter if she wanted to but she was more of a circus person.

We got on deck and Kuzon started shooting fire at me. This was going to be entertaining.

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"Why are you so scared?"

"You're taking this as a joke, Taliya. You know we're dealing with your father here. He's a commander. He can take me to prison saying that I did something bad to you and I'm only a recruit."

"You're a scaredy cat. And bedsides, I can defend you. Lady Taliya at your service." I mockingly bowed at him. I had been begging Kuzon to come and eat with me in the dining room but he was scared that one of the guards might tell on him. If that ever happened, I had a good explanation. I'll just say that he was guarding me. No one ever looked in the dining room while I was eating.

I continued to pull him to the dining room. He was stronger than me but wasn't using a lot of energy. I knew he wanted to eat with me and it was my father that scared him, like everybody else. I wasn't scared of my father anymore. My brother had given me that strength. We finally reached the room and I sat at my normal spot which was at the end of the table while Kuzon sat beside me looking around worriedly. I placed my hand on his and looked into his eyes giving him an assured look.

"Stop worrying."

With that he seemed to calm down and the chef came in with food: spicy noodles and roast duck my favorite meal. We talked over the food then he suddenly asked me if I liked reading. I said yes. I wondered why he asked that but I got the answer later on when he brought books to my bedroom.

They were about Fire Nation history even some I didn't know about. But one caught my eye and it was very interesting. It was about Avatar Roku.

"How did you get this?"

"My mom. I think she got it from the main library in Caldera city."

"How? That place is heavily guarded. It won't let you take any books out of there."

"I don't know really."

I was amazed. How could his mom steal from the capital city's library. She must have a lot of tricks. I started to read it but it was so brief saying the year he was born, what happened when the fire sages told him he was the Avatar, the day he got married and the day he died. It didn't say how he died and what happened through his years. It wasn't really informative. All of sudden, Kuzon asked a question that I didn't expect him to ask.

"Do you think the Avatar will come back to defeat Firelord Ozai and restore balance to the world?"

I looked at him. He looked like he really wanted an answer from me.

"Firelord Sozin killed all the air nomads but I believe the Avatar is still out there somewhere and if he or she was killed along with the rest of the air nomads there will still be an Avatar from one of the Water tribes."

"I also believe that the Avatar is still out there." After that we stayed in silence. The talk of the Avatar was forbidden. People had started to think The Avatar was more of a myth than reality. I couldn't blame them. The last one was last seen a hundred years ago. But I had a gut feeling that the world was about to change, for the better.

I stood on deck later on gripping the rails. The conversation we had about the Avatar two hours ago was still fresh in my mind. As I saw the beautiful sun set and darkness creep in I was still thinking:Is the Avatar alive? I would be so happy if he was so this war could finally end and there could be peace throughout the world. I had never stopped to think about the world and the war till Rashan died. It's when I realized the war has brought nothing but pain and suffering. I was going to help people and the death of Rashan motivated me. But there was something else too, I just didn't know what it was yet.

Edited on 5/2/23