The Phoenix

Trusted to stay

Katara watched as everyone came back on the ship as June and the other person in the cloak stayed on land, she watched the captain suspiciously as he whispered something to ty Lee and he looked back at the two people on land.

"Alright let's get moving!" Zuko barked as people immediately got to work to head back on seas.

"Jet, smeller bee, Mai, a word," he waved them over to speak in his quarters.

Katara stayed in the crows nest as she watched him curiously. Whatever happened on land didn't seem like good news, Zuko seemed more stressed out as he kept his eyes ahead like he was on a mission.

The doors closed when the four went into his quarters.

"What's up captain?" Jet crossed his arms as Mai sat on the desk crossing her ankles and Smellerbee stood near jet.

"We're going into a war of our own, Ozai is closer and closer and now the water tribe is coming after Katara, they don't know we have her but we have people on the inside to keep them away as long as we can," Zuko started with a sigh.

"So I need you two, and your words to keep this to yourself, can I trust you?" He asked in a low tone.

"Yes sir," smellerbee didn't hesitate.

"Yes captain," jet followed.

"Mai, she is from the fire nation as well, but her family is from the wealthy, father is a governor, meaning she has close ties with the fire nation," Zuko crossed his arms watching the twos reactions.

"Meaning we have princess Azula of the fire nation on our side," he admitted. Jet and bee were taken back for a moment as their eyes widen surprised.

"That's who we went and saw, princess Azula was the one that got you in the palace, and has our back on keeping Katara out of harms way, if anything we are the best protection the princess could think of," Zuko explained with a calm look.

"Why are you telling us this?" Jet asked cautiously.

"I need more people, ty Lee, June and Xan are also aware but if the time comes to either Ozai or the water tribes get to us, we need to keep Katara on this ship, and sooner we kill Ozai sooner we don't have to deal with this shit,"

"And the avatar is on the hunt for her as well," he sighed shaking his head.

"What?!"

"Are you kidding me?! The avatar?!"

"Yea well I didn't know he was a close personal friend of hers either," Zuko scoffed annoyed.

"So what do we need to do to help?" Smeller bee sighed shaking their head.

"Katara is our priority to keep safe, but treat her as if she's one of us for now, we need her trust, we need her to feel safe as well," Mai nodded firmly as Zuko didn't take his eyes off the two.

"We have a few more weeks before oak gets that spirit water to us so as long as she feels that she has a purpose that'll keep her busy, Xan is her job right now," Zuko added on.

"Any questions?" He asked.

"So we have the damn princess of the fire nation as one of us because your girlfriend is a governors daughter? Yet we're all pirates?" Jet clasped his hands together and rested his chin on his knuckles.

"I'm not his girlfriend," Mai glared at them.

"Azula and I grew up together because of our families, attended school together as well, I had enough of the fire nation and Lee found me a while back, found out my value and Azula joined up," she shrugged a little.

"Then Katara can't know about it I'm guessing," Jet sighed softly.

"Correct," Zuko and Mai both said.

"Alright, what happens if we're stopped by the armada's?" Smellerbee raised a brow at them.

"Azulas given me her word for the fire nation to know immediately, it's says we're a ship undercover for finding the princess, but hopefully it won't come to that," Zuko motioned to the scroll with the fire nation symbol on a ribbon to keep it together.

"If you have anything to say about this, talk about it in here, to each other or any of us, I give you two permission to come in here during the day," Zuko told them calmly making Jet smile in awe of the trust, he was proud that his captain had that trust in him.

"Yes sir," they both responded.

"And the avatar?" Mai raised a brow.

"Dont piss him off,"

-

"Soooo what allowed jet and SB in the quarters? It's a pretty high honor," Katara looked over zukos shoulder as he sat on the stairs and heard her coming.

"Pirate stuff," Zuko said flatly.

"Oh so that's a top top secret thing then?" She smiled a little.

"Highest honors," he taunted.

"Is there something I can help you with princess?" Zuko looked back at her raising a brow.

"Xan is resting, so I guess I'm break, and now I'm bored," Katara groaned sitting on the steps behind him, leaning back on her elbows.

"Is he doing any better?" Zuko asked pursing his lips.

"He says he is but every time I bend on him it feels the same, like I'm making no progress, I'm sorry," she sighed lifting her face to the sky.

"How was June?" Katara asked boredly.

"She didn't even look at Xan," Zuko snorted but it wasn't that funny.

"What did he do that was so bad to make her hate him?" She asked curiously.

"Xan doesn't understand children, so she didn't get much of a childhood to be a kid, her mother was a hard ass I've heard but made sure June knew she was just as strong as anyone else here on this ship," Zuko sighed gently leaning back as well.

"But for Xan, he barely gave her much of a parents affection, more of captain than dad I'm pretty sure, I wasn't there," he shrugged a little.

"When did you come into the family then?" Katara sat up hugging her knees now interested.

"June wasn't around since zana died that same year, it was literally just me and Xan, what a bitch of a time," Zuko laughed a little looking up at her.

"What you were before Xan then? Parents? Siblings? Life?" She tilted her head to the side.

"Why? Wanna use it against me?" He grinned a little at her.

"Reverse psychology at its finest, of course," she laughed a little.

"Abused and used, every tragic backstory miss Katara, it's a dumb cliche," Zuko turned to her making Kataras smile widen.

"Then your all figured out, must not be that good of a story," Katara stuck her tongue out.

"It's really not, I'm not that interesting," he poked her nose pushing her backwards as he stood up.

"Just as boring as your name, makes sense, Lee," Katara snorted slapping his hand away when he walked up the stairs past her.

She stayed on the steps thinking about it, she knew something was going on and getting the captains trust was the only way she was going to get anywhere on this ship.

Zuko kept his back to her as he went to the wheel thinking about how he was going to get her trust to keep her on the ship.