Ash [Prince Zuko - Book Two]

❃Chapter Twenty Five❃

Asake sighed as she leaned over the edge of the ship. She was still so nauseated, but she couldn't vomit anymore since there was nothing in her stomach. Her dream from earlier kept replaying over and over in her mind, reminding her that her life truly wasn't her own. She didn't choose to try to save Zuko. She didn't choose to try to make a new life in Ba Sing Se. Everything that had been done was because of Nao Van.

"Asake, are you okay?" Daza asked for the hundredth time today. 

Asake lifted her head to snap at him, to ask him to stop talking to her, but her breath caught in her throat. She wasn't sure if she was seeing things or not, but there was an island in front of them. It was huge! The beach they were heading toward had a couple of huts standing close together, but behind them were bigger houses. She couldn't tell how many houses and huts there were, but there were plenty of them to contain a lot of people. Bushes and trees stood around each house or hut, and there were even a couple of flowers situated at the front of the island that somehow thrived in the sand. 

"Why didn't you tell me we were almost there?"

"You were kind of busy," Daza said, chuckling. His laughter made her glance at him, but she quickly trained her eyes on the island. "Are you okay, though? You were hanging over the edge of the ship for a while."

"I'm fine," Asake said, her eyes glued to the land. She wished she could somehow teleport there just to get off this wretched boat before she vomited again. "Zasai, can you hurry up? I want to be on land as soon as I can."

"Do you really want to hear my reply?"

"Do you want me to vomit on you?"

"If you did that, I would stab you through the heart with your own sword. Would you want that?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. 

That was a mistake. A dizzy spell hit her, causing her to tip to the left side. Unfortunately for her, that meant right over the edge of the boat. The warm water crashed all around her as she sunk to the sand at the bottom of the ocean. Asake held her breath so she wouldn't suck in water or anything else that lived down here. Since the water was slightly shallow, her left shoulder hit the bottom of the ocean. Black dots swam across her vision from the pain. At least her stomach had stopped hurting, though. But her lungs were burning when they realized she wasn't breathing anymore.

In that moment, Asake knew she wasn't ready to die. Asake thought that she wanted to die a couple of days ago, but now she realized that she wasn't ready. There was so much more to experience in her life, and dying now wouldn't achieve any of the things she wanted to do. She wanted to see Iroh again. She wanted to fall in love with someone. She wanted to taste the cuisine of every nation, even the Air Nomads. She wanted to live and be happy, something she never had the chance to do.

Strong arms wrapped around her waist, dragging her up to the surface of the water. Her head broke through the surface, and Asake gasped in air, taking huge deep breaths. Her lungs swelled until they were about to burst, bringing life back into her limbs. Her dizzy head slowly stopped spinning as she shoved hard against whoever rescued her.

"Calm down!" a man yelled, holding onto her thrashing body. "You're not drowning. Though, you couldn't have really drowned since this is quite shallow."

The sunlight was so bright and the stars on her vision made her go dizzy yet again. She took in deep breaths as the man held onto her. "I'm sorry," she whispered. She felt slightly better, so she looked at who saved her. It was Zasai. She desperately wished she could have vomited on him instead of being in his arms.

"Try not to drown again," Zasai muttered, lifting her up. He set her back in the boat. She shivered slightly since she was soaking wet, and a cool breeze blew from the ocean. Her stringy hair tickled her chin, so she pushed it away from her face, her cheeks burning.