Chapter 4: Dealing with frustration

The idea of sailing a Fire Nation ship right into the Southern Water Tribe after so many years of war and terror was not a smart one. Zuko was still unsure about the entire thing; he didn't want to break his promises. He was going against everything he has ever known, gone against everything he had done for the last two years. Why was he able to come to terms with this so easily? He was the crown prince of the Fire Nation, heir to the throne! Was he in denial? What was done was done. He sighed. Pain shot through his hand. He had grabbed the side rails too hard. The last few days were a blur in his head. Why him? He was not ready for this! Wasn't the Avatar some person that wasn't Zuko? The airbending proof crushed his dreams. His eyebrow scrunched up. This was far enough. He commanded the ship to stop, and he climbed down and braced himself for the uneven ice. Zuko was smart enough to wear a warmer cloak this time.

He approached the tribe, he could see Katara playing with some small kids and Sokka was getting angry. "Katara! This meeting is for warriors only!" Sokka shouted. She put down one of the young boys and he ran over to Sokka. I waved at her to get her attention. "Zuko!" Katara ran up to him smiling. "Hey Katara, are you ready?"
"Yes! Sokka said he wanted to come with me, to make sure I'm safe. I'll go grab my things" Katara was bursting with excitement, jumping up and down as she speaks to Sokka. He looked over towards Zuko and shrugged. "Could you help with our stuff?" Sokka asked loudly so Zuko could hear. He nodded and started walking towards the two water tribe siblings. Zuko felt out of place wearing his fire nation clock over his fire nation armour against all the blues and fur coats of the tribe members. Sokka placed a sleeping bag in Zuko's unaware hands, and then Sokka planted another one. "Are you done?" Zuko asked after Sokka brought two bags out from a tent.
"Need more food" Sokka said while stuffing a rucksack full of what looked like seal jerky.
"I have a cook on my ship, don't worry about food" Zuko sighed. Katara still wasn't back with her things. "Yeah, but I need a good supply of water tribe food" Sokka ate one seal-jerky while putting the last group in the bag. Zuko sighed, Sokka had a point. "You would better want to make it last, no more until we reach the northern tribe" Sokka, still had seal jerky in his mouth, nodded and gulped the jerky down. "I'm ready!" Katara only had one bag with her and a small animal skin, maybe a water pouch. "Alright, let's go!"

The two water tribe siblings stared in awe at Zuko's ship. The last time they had seen a fire nation ship was the raid when they lost their mother. It was bigger and newer than the ones then but still slow and small compared to the ones used now but it was Zuko's ship. "This feels strange" Katara muttered as they were walking up to the ship. Sokka put his hand on Katara's shoulder. Even if Zuko was the Avatar, he could still have trapped them. It could have been a bad idea. They saw the light of the deck of the ship and an older man playing some form of tile game. He was dressed in fire nation armour, similar to Zuko's and wore a top notch. He had gray hair and beard and gold eyes that matched Zuko's. "Katara, Sokka this is my uncle Iroh, Uncle this is Katara and Sokka" Zuko introduced the siblings to his uncle and Iroh bowed to them. "It is nice to meet you" Katara and Sokka bowed back. "Likewise"
"Let me show you to your quarters, you can decorate them as much as you want" Zuko led Katara and Sokka to the main part of the ship. He opened one door to a room. It was rather bland as before it had fire nation insignia on the walls and red robes everywhere. He though if he took it all down the two water tribe could feel more relaxed. It had a mattress, a drawer and a table with candles on it. "There is the room next door that I exactly like this, you can choose with one you want and set it all up" Zuko pointed to the next room over and opened the door. Katara put down her bad on the table, missing the candles. "I'll have this one" Zuko put down one of the sleeping bags on the mattress. Sokka entered the next room and placed down his things. "Do we get a grand tour?" Zuko nodded and led them out.

"This is my room and next over there is my Uncles room" Zuko just pointed to the closed door and the door next to it. They kept walking until they saw a room with a bunch of men sitting, eating. Katara and Sokka could feel their eyes burning at them. "This is my crew, crew this is Katara and Sokka" the crew had no idea what was going on. Zuko had only told them to refer to him as 'Captain Zuko' instead of 'Prince Zuko' at least around Katara and Sokka. He told the helmsman and threatened him to keep it a secret. Zuko was ashamed of being Zuko, he didn't know who or what he wanted to be. Zuko walked past the men eating their lunch and continued their tour.

"Prince Zuko, we have run out of supplies, we need to stop at the nearest port" Lieutenant Jee told Zuko when he was meditating in his room, alone. "What is the nearest harbour?" Zuko asked calmly. He was trying to keep a level head, a sign of a great leader. "Zhao's Harbour" the lit candles went up in flames but Zuko said nothing. "Alright, pull in". Zuko detested Zhao and Zhao thought Zuko was a traitor. He was going to be right but not that he wanted Zhao to know that.

SORRY! I've had this written for a while but I have left it unfinished. I will not be continuing this for the foreseeable future. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed and favourited!