The Half of Me | Zuko

Chapter Eight: The Blue Spirit

Ten years ago

Ryoko ran through the grass, feeling it underneath her bare feet. The five year old laughed loudly, enjoying her time outside, creating games and imagining scenarios of adventure.

"Ryoko!" She turns her head and smiles widely, looking up to see the face of her father. In his armor, carrying a sword with a dragon hilt, the man smiled back and went up to his daughter. He crouches down, laying the sword on the fresh ground. "Tell me, what have you been up to while I was away?"

"I've been practicing! I'm going to be a warrior like you, dad." He laughed, the kind of laugh a father would for their aspiring child. Zhao picked Ryoko up in one hand and the sword in the other. His light brown eyes gazed into her golden ones and he nodded.

"You will be better than your father one day, little one. You are your father's daughter." He saw the glint in her eyes that reminded him of himself in his youth and smirked with a father's pride.

Present day

Ryoko stood tall next to Zuko as she gazed at the map in front of them. "We haven't been able to pick up the Avatar's trail since the storm," the lieutenant says as his finger glides over the map, "but if we continue heading northeast..." The three along with the rest of the crew are thrown from their focus as a dark shadow looms over them. The larger ship was right next to them causing Ryoko to roll her eyes.

"What do they want?" Zuko asks.

"Perhaps a sporting game of Pai Sho," Iroh replies, rubbing his hands together. Ryoko sighs and glances over at him.

"Only game my father knows how to play is politics."

The soldiers come on board and stand in front of the two teens, revealing a wanted picture of the Avatar. "The hunt for the Avatar has been given prime importance. All information regarding the Avatar must be reported directly to Admiral Zhao." Ryoko's eyes widen, her attention finally peaking at hearing the last two words. It seems whenever her father couldn't be more powerful than her, he rose up higher. Zuko's eyes take a moment to see her reaction, but then look down at her feet to not be caught.

"Zhao has been promoted? Well, good for him." Iroh moves a piece for Pai Sho, getting the advantage over the other crew members.

Zuko crosses his arms over his chest, ignoring the stares of the men. "I've got nothing to report to Zhao," he says then turning back to them, "now get off my ship and let us pass."

"Admiral Zhao is not allowing ships in or out of this area."

"Off my ship!" The soldiers do not react, but the one in the middle then takes out another rolled up paper. "What else?!"

"Admiral Zhao has a message for his daughter." The soldier looks to the girl who was more calm than the prince next to her, yet her eyes told a different story. They held a rage that they could not quite place. She nods and steps towards the soldier, ripping the paper from his hands without a word. She felt the paper in her hands, dreading it. She knew it was something from her father, he had written something but she couldn't bare to look.

She looks down at the paper in her hand, and then at the soldiers with a glare. "Now you heard the Prince. Get off of his ship!" The three soldiers walk out, not prepared to take on two angry teenagers and go back to the ship they came from.

"Excellent. I take the pot!" Iroh grabs the pot from the table as the crew members sit in disappointment. "But you're all improving. I'm certain you will win if we play again." Ryoko wanted to smile and enjoy a game of Pai Sho but her hand was heavy by the weight of whatever message her father had to give her. Seeing him last at the temple was enough to consider her a traitor to him, what more could be done to severe ties with her father?