When Worlds Collide: Book One, Water

I awoke with a start, not struggling for consciousness like last time.
...last time. It wasn’t a dream. I was in the avatar world. With Zuko. And Iroh. And Aang, and Katara, and Sokka...
Holy crap. How would I get home...?
What happened to Nan and Pappa? Were they ok? How did I even get here?
I looked around the room to see that I was alone. And in Zuko’s room. I looked down and saw that I was still wearing the fire nation outfit...
When I found out who changed my clothes, I was gonna hurt them. As far as I knew, there were no female workers on this ship. But then again, in the cartoon, they never did show all of the crew members... but still.
I was still looking around the room, confused, when the door swung open. I looked up to see Zuko himself in the door way.
“Good, your awake,” he said.
“Uh... yea?” I said.
He rolled his eyes.
“Hey, uh, can you tell me something?” I asked.
“If your asking why I saved you again, then no,” he said.
This time, I rolled my eyes. “Just tell me if you’ve found the avatar yet,” I said.
He looked stunned.
“What?” I asked.
“Do you know where he is?” he asked.
My eyes widened. What did I just do? “Um... can you tell me where we are?” I asked.
He narrowed his eyes. “The South Pole,” he told me.
Well, crap. Now he knows I know something.
“So do you know where the avatar is?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Nope, not a clue,” I said quickly. Too quickly.
He narrowed his eyes into slits, but decided to ignore me. There was a knock on the door, and Iroh entered.
“Prince Zuko, it’s time for... oh, your awake, Miss Samantha, is it?” he asked.
I winced when he used my full name. “You can just call me Sam, General Iroh sir,” I said without thinking.
He raised his eyebrows. “Please, just call me Iroh,” he said.
I thanked my few lucky stars that he didn’t say anything about me knowing his name. But then again, he was a General... Maybe everyone in the fire nation knew who he was...
Zuko rolled his eyes. “Uncle, you wanted something?” he asked.
“Oh, yes, it is time for your training,” Iroh said.
Training? Cool...
“Coming Uncle,” Zuko said, and started walking out the door.
“Samantha... I mean, Sam, would like to join us?” Iroh asked.
I smiled. I could use some fresh air... “I would love too,” I said.
They led me up to the deck, into the freezing cold air. The sun was shining too brightly, but maybe that was just the light reflecting off all the icebergs. I shivered as a cool breeze flew past, chilling me to the bone.
I watched as Zuko went through his drills, with Iroh interrupting a few times to correct his stance or something. I was sitting on the sidelines, watching, completely fascinated.
I had seen fire bending on the cartoon, and the movie, but in person...
It was amazing. The way the fire moved, and sharp stances that Zuko made...
It was magical. Truly magical.
I couldn’t look away for even a second as I watched Zuko train. After a while, he seemed to notice me staring. He gave me a weird look, and for a second, I thought that he would come over, but turned and continued his training. I rolled my eyes. How much longer was it until he wasn’t a jerk anymore...? Oh yea, season three. Maybe I’ll be part of Team Avatar by then. I smiled at the thought. I wonder how long it’ll be until we see the light?
I hope soon... I had been here for... wait, how long had I been here?
I turned to General Iroh, sitting at a table playing pai sho. “Excuse me, Iroh?” I asked, coming to stand next to me.
“Yes Sam?” he asked, not looking up from his game.
“Um... how long was I out exactly?” I asked.
He looked up at me with kindness in his eyes. He chuckled before answering, “Only a day. Although, I do suppose you are hungry... I’ll have to get the cook to fix you something,” he said, then smiled. “And you must have some tea.”
I chuckled. Of course he would bring tea into this. “That sounds great,” I said smiling. “Thank you.”

A few hours later, I was in Iroh’s room, and he was teaching me how to play pai sho. Zuko was somewhere on deck, doing who knows what.
I studied the board in front of me, completely clueless. Right before I reached for a random tile, one of Zuko’s soldiers barely knocked before barging in.
“Excuse me, General Iroh, but the prince says he needs you... he says he found the avatar,” the man said hurriedly.
I gaped. I was actually looking forward to seeing the light. And now, I had missed it! I followed Iroh up on deck, pouting a little. This just put a damper on my day.
When we reached deck, Zuko had all of the crew members running around all over the place, all the while shouting random orders that made no sense to me at all.
“Nephew,” Iroh said, “you need to calm down. You do not know for sure if this is truly the avatar.”
But it is...
“Uncle, you didn’t see that light. It was powerful,” Zuko said. “The most powerful thing I’ve ever seen.”
You have no idea...
“We should still proceed with caution, Nephew,” Iroh advised.
You wish...
Zuko sighed. “Fine.”
Well, this is gonna be awesome.

I sat at a table set up on the deck, drinking tea with Iroh. I watched as the crew bustled about, going as fast as they could so that they wouldn’t get Zuko upset.
I waited patiently for the ship to reach the small southern water tribe, smiling softly to myself.
I couldn’t wait to meet Sokka, Katara and Aang. Once I had seen fire bending, I really want to see water and air bending.
Especially water... that was my favorite. The way the show portrayed it, it looked so soothing, and calm.
I glanced at Zuko, who was standing by the rail of the ship, overlooking the water. Ugh... water.
“Prince Zuko, I don’t thing you should be leaning over the rail so much...,” I said, looking over the side warily.
Zuko gave me a sideways glance. “I think I know how to take care of myself, Samantha,” he said.
I narrowed my eyes. “Call me Sam.”
“I prefer Samantha,” he said.
I sighed. Stupid, jerky prince...
I looked up at the sky, thinking. Would I ever get home? Is Nan and Papa okay? What about my friends? Did my family know what happened? Are they wondering where I am? Why I haven’t called? Did they think that I just vanished?
I felt like I was swimming in my mind.
I just couldn’t deal with this right now... especially after Cody...
My life is just so messed up.

Finally, I could see the village.
I bit my lip, trying to see better, hoping to get a glance at the tribe. I could easily see Sokka, standing up to the fire nation. The women and children were behind him, standing more in the middle of the village. I couldn’t clearly see their faces, so I wasn’t sure which one was Katara.
Aang was probably still on that iceberg that resembled a figure eight. Which meant that he better be fixing to come over here soon, otherwise, this wouldn’t end well.
“Come Sam,” Iroh called to me, “let us wait in my cabin. Perhaps we can teach you more of Pai Sho.”
“But...,” I hesitated, wanting to meet the trio. Finally, I sighed. Aang was just going to end up on the ship anyway, right? “All right,” I said, and followed Iroh below deck.
He led me to his cabin, which I hadn’t seen yet in my two day stay here. It was warm, and had this certain feel to it, like nothing could go wrong. There was a small Pai Sho table set up in a far corner, and Iroh led me over to it.
“Now, my dear Sam...,” Iroh started, “how about you go first?”

An hour later, Iroh was asleep. There was no sound up on deck, so I wasn’t sure if Aang was on board yet.
I knew he would soon come in this room, hoping for a way out. I just hope that he would let me go with him. Maybe if I told him I was prisoner...
Suddenly there was a banging noise, and I jolted up right in my chair, staring at the door, waiting.
The door suddenly flew open, and there was the little monk himself. He saw Iroh, and started to close the door, but he then saw me.
He looked cautious, and took a defensive position, ready to attack.
I then put on the best scared face I could. “Please,” I begged, “help me.”