The Air of a Flame

*Trinity’s POV*
I was lying in my bed in my room relaxing. We hadn’t spotted my brother anywhere in a while, and I could tell the crew was getting a little restless. I, however, did enjoy just being on the sea, and the serenity that it brought, even if I had to deal with Zuko’s temper from time to time. But I loved being able to relax and drink tea with General Iroh; I didn’t feel much like a prisoner or a hostage anymore. I felt more like a part of the crew, or a guest, now.

I was deep in my thoughts when the door to my room burst open. An enraged Zuko stormed in, slamming the door shut behind him. I jumped at the sudden noise, and sat up quickly, looking questioningly at him.

“That disrespectful lieutenant! How dare he say those things to me! He acts like he knows everything about me, but he doesn’t!” Zuko screamed, seething at whatever the lieutenant had said or done to him. I could practically see the steam coming off of him as he angrily paced my room. I just watched him pace, letting him let out all of his anger.
He continued ranting for a minute before pausing to catch his breath, and I took that as an opportunity to find out what actually happened. I stood up and walked over to where Zuko was still pacing and grabbed his arm, gently, so he wouldn’t get mad at me, and made him look me in the eyes.

“Take a deep breath, Zuko.” I told him, trying to get him to calm down. I knew I wouldn’t get anything out of him while he was so worked up. He closed his eyes and followed my instructions, his chest rising and falling with each breath he took. “That’s right. Inhale…exhale. Inhale…exhale.”

After a few more breaths, he opened his eyes again. The burning fire that was in his eyes earlier had died down, and he was more relaxed.

“Are you okay now?” I asked him carefully. He just nodded in response. I smiled. “Good. Now tell me what happened exactly.”

Zuko let out an aggravated sigh, before walking over to my bed and plopping down on it. I followed him, and sat down on the bed with him. We faced each other, him leaning against the wall behind him while I sat cross-legged in front of him. He collected himself for a moment before telling me the story.

“I was talking to Uncle on the deck. He was telling me that there would be a storm coming and that we should turn around and look for a place to stay, but I didn’t believe him. I mean, there wasn’t even a cloud in the sky! So I told him he was wrong, and that we should continue following the Avatar’s path. However, the lieutenant overheard us talking and started saying that he believed there was a storm coming too. I told him that it didn’t matter what he thought because I was the one in charge of the ship. Then he started shouting out all these remarks about how I didn’t care about anyone but myself and that I was just a spoilt kid. He said that I couldn’t have cared less about my crew and that I didn’t know a thing about respect. That’s what got me so angry. I wanted to blast him right off the side of the ship, and I would’ve, if Uncle hadn’t of stopped me. After one last glare at him, I left the deck and came here.”

Throughout the story, I stayed quiet, taking in everything that Zuko was telling me. I understood why he was so angry; the lieutenant telling him he didn’t have any respect struck a chord in him. He had learned the hard way about respecting his elders; there was a permanent reminder of it on his face. I could tell he was getting worked up again while he was telling me what had happened, so I put my hand over his to comfort him. His eyes that he had closed half way through his story, opened, and looked at our hands. He gave a small smile and took my hand in his before looking at me.

“I understand why you were so angry, Zuko.” I started, looking him in the eyes. “But the lieutenant didn’t know what he was talking about. He probably doesn’t know your story, because I’m sure if he did, he wouldn’t have said any of that.”

“That doesn’t give him the right to be so disrespectful though! While he was lecturing me about respect, he couldn’t even show it himself. The hypocrite.” He fumed. I moved so I was sitting next to him on the bed instead of in front of him, and leaned against the wall also. I kept my hand in his though.

“You’re right.” I replied, turning my face towards him. “It doesn’t. But everyone on this ship has been on edge because we haven’t seen my brother in a while. He was probably just frustrated with what happened, and took it out on you.”

I could see that even though my words made sense to him, he was still angry. I gave a small sigh before placing my small hand on his cheek. His golden eyes looked into mine, and I could see the irritation he had towards the situation slowly melt into something more mischievous and happy.

“Just forget about him, Zuko. He’ll probably come apologize to you later anyways. I mean, you are one of the most powerful and important people on this ship right now.” I said, feeding his ego. A smile graced his lips, before he suddenly closed the small space between us, crashing his lips on mine. We hadn’t had kissed since that other night, but everything felt so right. Our lips moved together in sync, and fireworks were exploding in my stomach.
We both pulled away after a while, and I slowly opened my eyes. I was staring into Zuko’s molten eyes again, and I couldn’t help but feel like he could see into my very soul. We both had small smiles on our faces. Neither of us wanted to break the bubble that we had created, so both of us just sat there, our foreheads pressed together, cheeks flushed, and staring into each other’s eyes. After a while, Zuko finally spoke.

“Thanks.” He said. I smiled at him in response before pulling away, and resting my head on his shoulder. He didn’t seem to mind.

“Anytime.” I told him as his arm snaked around my waist. We sat in a comfortable silence for a while, before Zuko spoke suddenly.

“Be my girlfriend.” He said, his voice snapping me out of my thoughts. At this, I sat up straight and looked at him incredulously.

“What?” I asked him, disbelieving. He just looked at me with a serious, yet hopeful expression on his face. I couldn’t believe he just asked me that.

“Be my girlfriend.” He repeated. “I know that it’s kind of sudden, but I like you. A lot. And even though you’re the Avatar’s sister, you make me feel normal, like I don’t have this huge task and the weight of the world on my shoulders. You make me happy and I can be myself with you. So, will you be my girlfriend?”

I stared at him for a few moments, a million thoughts running through my head. What would my friends say? What would my brother say? Aang would surely not approve. This guy was trying to capture him after all. But he made me happy too, even if he captured me in the beginning to get to my brother. Pushing all my thoughts aside, I looked into his hopeful expression and uttered a quiet, “Yes.”

With that single word, his eyes lit up, and he pulled me into another breathtaking kiss. I couldn’t bring myself to think of any of the repercussions of my actions, because at that moment, I felt like there were none.