The Air of a Flame

*Trinity’s POV*

I was on the deck of this ship looking out at the waves. It had been a few days since the kiss between Zuko and I had happened. Things were weird between us now though. After we had broken apart from it, we just stared at each other for a while, small blushes on our cheeks. But then he just left. I didn’t know what that or the kiss meant. I hoped that it meant that Zuko had feelings for me too, but I never had the chance to ask him or talk to him about it.

We were currently heading towards an island in the Earth kingdom, but I could not remember what it was called. I had been hanging out with Iroh lately, since Zuko seemed to be avoiding me. He taught me how to play Pai Sho and the secret to making tea. He was very sweet, and was quickly becoming a father figure to me.

The real reason, however, that we were headed towards this island, was because Iroh had misplaced his White Lotus tile. He told me that although it wasn’t the best tile, it was very important to the game. I just went along with it. Zuko, on the other hand, was fuming. He did not like the idea of having his ship go off course for a “stupid” game piece, but allowed it anyways.

“It’s so good to have an understanding nephew.” Iroh had said to me after Zuko had stormed off. I couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not.

When we finally docked, Iroh searched all of the shops in the town for a replacement tile. Even though he had searched every store thoroughly, he still came up empty-handed. Well, empty-handed by not having the lotus tile. He did, however, buy many trinkets and instruments for the ship’s music night off of a pirate ship.

The pirate ship was full of many interesting objects and treasures. I couldn’t help but question their whereabouts though. I was always taught by the monks that stealing was bad, and being in a room full of things that were most likely stolen made me uneasy. I wanted to leave, but Zuko had other ideas.

The pirates on the ship were noticeably annoyed. When Zuko asked them about it, they said that a two guys and one girl had stolen something of value from them. The girl and one of the guys had blue clothes and brown hair. The other boy had orange and yellow clothes and arrows on their heads. Immediately, I knew they were talking about my brother, Katara, and Sokka. They had stolen a waterbending scroll. Zuko agreed to team up with them to find them. They would get back the scroll and we would get my brother.

~*~

We were currently sitting on the ship, traveling down a river. Zuko, after saying that the group would be by water because they had stolen a waterbending scroll, was standing at the front of the boat, alone, and was noticeably agitated. I decided that now was the best time to talk to him about what had happened between us and what it meant.

“Zuko?” I said, walking up to him. My voice was hesitant; I didn’t want to make him angry or annoyed with me. If I did, I knew he wouldn’t talk to me.

“What?” He asked a bit harshly, turning around to face me. I could tell he was under a lot of stress, probably from being so close to finding my brother.

“Can we talk?” I asked, slowly approaching him. His eyes flashed, though from what, I wasn’t sure. He looked around, seeing if anyone was near us, before agreeing.

“Yeah.” He said simply. And we sat down on the deck, silence filling the air.