where the past can't reach us // zuko x reader

Chapter Thirteen - Betrayal

Though the past days had all consisted of nothing but constant travel through both sea and sky, (y/n) hadn't been bored for a minute of it. She had a lot of catching up to do, and so she sat there, listening for hours on end as her new friends told her everything about the adventures they'd had before the battle at the North Pole. (y/n) herself shared a bit of her time on the ship, as well as everything before that: waking up, her years in the Fire Nation, the death of her parents, Azula, Roku. That made for a significantly more depressing conversation, but hey, (y/n) thought - they would have to find out eventually, and there was no point in keeping secrets now.

As well as that, (y/n) had taken some time to practice bending the other elements - if she was to spend days surrounded by water and air, she might as well make use of it. Her airbending, she was happy to admit, was coming along nicely. Of course, she was nowhere near creating an air scooter, but she could blow herself backwards across short distances and knock some objects over. For now, that was good enough, and anyway, no matter where she went, she would always be surrounded by air - infinite opportunities to develop her skills.

As for water, though... well, that was a different story entirely. It's not that (y/n) didn't understand Katara's instructions - far from it - but even so, there was always something inexplicably wrong about (y/n)'s movements, something vaguely off, and even when Katara had corrected (y/n)'s stance, hand movements, balance, everything, more times than she could count, and from Aang and Sokka's perspective, everything seemed to be perfect - even then, the most (y/n) could manage was a tiny ripple in the surface of the ocean - so small it was debatable it hadn't been caused by the wind.

However, this didn't trouble (y/n). Of course fire was easy: Iroh had trained her. Of course air was easy: she was born an Air Nomad. But water? Well, it wasn't coming now, but it would in time. She knew from her books that earth was the element she'd eventually struggle with the most, after all. With that in mind, she never got discouraged when it came to waterbending practice, and tried to copy Katara's movements and flow as much as possible, no matter how much she fell behind Aang.

The evenings after waterbending sessions were always the nicest, anyway. Aang would blow them all dry, and then they'd sit on deck, eating dinner and gazing off into the night, excited whispers pointing out constellations, sipping tea until Sokka's jokes made them laugh so hard they spat it out. The ocean breeze was cool against their skin, but the blankets covering their legs were soft and warm, and the gentle rocking of the ship would nearly put them to sleep until someone came to their senses and dragged the rest of the group to their cabins. It was nights like these that really made (y/n)'s new surroundings seem like home.

Nights on Appa were different. The same gusts of wind brought goosebumps to their bodies, the same tea, the same blankets warmed them up in the chill of the night, but, as rivers, forests, and villages the size of pinpricks rushed past them, sleep was the last thing on anyone's minds. They didn't look to the stars those nights, though they felt so close they were practically an arm's reach away; instead, their eyes were trained on a different kind of light - the kind that streamed from shipyards and shacks and shop windows. At first, right after dinner, their conversation would be loud and full of laughter, but then the sky would turn dark and the moon would fade back into existence. Sokka would always look straight down when that happened, too close to the sky to ignore the memories like he did in the ocean, and so his witty remarks would cease, and the conversation would die down until everyone woke up the next day, sun high and beating down on them with the hot rays of noon.

It was a strange time, after the battle. For (y/n), though she thought she knew enough about the realities of war before, it was as if a veil had been lifted from her eyes. It was one thing to hear about it from others, another to witness fragments of people's destroyed lives, but to actually see a real battle with hundreds of warships, with real armies and real deaths? That was on a whole other level. Aang, Sokka and Katara were more familiar with this by now, but even they were shaken up, and, though the Northern Water Tribe had won a decisive victory, their joy was not untainted by feelings of sadness and loss. Sokka had lost Yue... Katara had almost lost Aang, and he'd almost lost her too. It had mostly ended well, but it was still a lot to take in, and they all just wanted to get to Omashu as soon as possible so they'd have something else to think about. So, when Sokka finally spotted their destination, having for once woken up earlier than the others in the morning, everyone was understandably relieved.