Daughter of the Moon - Book 1: Water

Chapter 9: Look the Part

- Elara -

I hated to admit it, but Iroh was right. By telling him who I really was (other than the small detail that I was the Little Moon), a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I no longer had to worry about somebody digging up my secrets (at least, not as much). But that wasn't all Iroh had helped me with. Since I had been enslaved for two years, I needed to relearn how to think and act for myself—to be my own person. He convinced me to shed my alias name (he said something profound, like how shedding my fake name would also get rid of the burden of my past life), so I introduced myself to the crew as Elara. Every day, I saw how I was becoming more and more like the person I was before my days in slavery, although I knew things would never truly be the same. One thing I made clear to Iroh and Ushma, however, was that no one could know that I was a waterbender. I was convinced that if anyone knew about that, they would throw me overboard without hesitation. So, my bending stayed out little secret.

I quickly adjusted to life on the ship, falling into step with all the chaos and making several friends amongst the crew members (although I spent most of my time with Ushma and Iroh). I helped where I could, but Iroh insisted that I spend most of my time with him playing Pai Sho, conversing with the crew, drinking tea, and training Zuko (where I mostly just watched, thank goodness).

However, just because I had to watch that angry boy learn his firebending techniques on the daily didn't mean that Iroh was going to let my skills go to waste. Behind the scenes, I had convinced Iroh to teach me firebending, following the tradition of my tribe members to study other bending techniques to make me stronger. Even though I was only fourteen—two years younger than what would traditionally be considered traveling age—Iroh agreed, but only on the terms that I would teach him some water bending techniques in return. We did this in secret, of course, usually during the night so that we wouldn't get caught, and it was refreshing to become a student once again.

As for my communications with the Prince, they were nonexistent. We tried to avoid each other, for the most part, and it was clear that he didn't like me (and I wasn't too fond of him either). That's why I was floored when Iroh told me that Zuko was the one who challenged my master to an Agni Kai to win my freedom. Iroh was convinced that it had something to do with fate, but I think the Prince just wanted to fight someone who would make him stronger so that he could prepare to face his precious Avatar someday. Or he just wanted to humiliate someone to give himself an ego boost—to restore his honor, or something stupid. Either way, I wouldn't be surprised if he saved me for more selfish reasons.

As for his Avatar obsession, I quickly learned that Zuko had been banished by his father to find the powerful bender. From what I could remember from the stories the Elders told me, the Avatar had died a hundred years ago with the rest of the Air Nomads and was never reborn into the cycle. So basically, as far as I was concerned, the Fire Lord had kicked his son out for good (and I thought Zuko was a bad guy). I sometimes pitied the Prince because of his unfortunate circumstances, but then he would scowl at me and all of those feelings would just float away.

Fortunately for me, the only time I had to deal with the angsty prince was during his training and at dinner time. During his training sessions with Iroh, he never even looked in my direction (and for that I was grateful). During dinner, however, I wasn't so lucky. At first, I had tried to get out of it, but Iroh begged me to join him, and I just couldn't say no. So I went, and I ate great food, and I conversed with Iroh while Prince Zuko sulked on his side of the table. Other than that little bump in the road, I was beginning to enjoy my new life here.