Burning Pile (Prince Zuko Book 1)

*six*

As she waited on deck, she couldn't hide her smile. She was going to learn how to fight. "Wipe that smile off your face." A voice ripped her out of her thoughts. "I'm sorry, Prince Zuko. I didn't realize how upset smiling made you." She teased him with a grin on her face as he passed her a sword.

"Being sarcastic won't bring you anything if you fight, Aurora." Zuko said already annoyed by her. "Show me how you'd use the sword." He leaned against the railing watching her closely. Aurora started getting nervous and almost dropped the sword. She started moving it in some way that she thought it could work, but Zuko stopped her quickly.

He stepped up in front of her. "When you use your sword, it's a part of you. It's not something you can just hold, it's an extension to your arm." He showed her how he used a sword and she nodded. Aurora knew she could do this, so she tried again and again as he walked around her watching her moves closely. "You need to straighten your back." His voice was more like a mumble as he placed a hand on the small of her back, straightening her back slightly.

Aurora felt sweat built on her forehead as she bit her tongue to concentrate. Her moves slowly becoming more smoothly as she went on. "Okay stop." Zuko said and she quickly stopped and blushed thinking she did something wrong. "You did well for today, well not as good as I wanted it to be, but tomorrow I will show you how to fight someone." He said turning away and walking away. "Take some rest." He finished and walked to his room.

The young girl grinned brightly as she looked at the sword in her hands. She was proud of herself, she was making progress. As she walked to her room she couldn't stop smiling and even when she fell asleep she couldn't stop it.

The next morning as soon as Aurora opened her eyes, she heard a knock on her door. With a soft sigh she opened the door quickly. "Good morning, Miss Aurora, prince Zuko wanted me to tell you that we're leaving the ship." Iroh said with a calming smile. Aurora nodded. "I will be there in a bit." She said as Iroh left making her close her door.

Aurora quickly put on some boots and pants, changing her shirt into a shorter one, before walking onto the main deck. As she looked around she saw that they've arrived at some docks with other fire nation ships around them. she joined the prince and his uncle by the railing. "Good morning, Prince Zuko..." Her voice was quiet happy, she still felt the joy from the night before. With a nod Zuko turned away from her again starting to walk down to the docks. "Excuse him today, he's still quiet upset about not catching the avatar-"

"Don't mention him on these docks! If anyone finds out he's alive, the whole fire nation will start looking for him and I don't want anyone in the way." Zuko turned back to them with an angry glare in his eyes. "Getting in the way of what, Prince Zuko?" A voice interrupted him. Aurora instinctively took a step behind him.

"Captain Zhao." Zukos voice was filled with hatred. "It's commander now, and general Iroh, great hero of our nation." The man bowed in a way that seemed like he made fun of them. Aurora didn't like him, not one bit. She looked around blending his voice out trying to concentrate on her breathing.

The girl easily had panic attacks when she didn't feel comfortable around someone, he triggered that in her. "Join me for a drink?" Was the first thing she heard again. "Sorry, but we have to go." Zuko mumbled and grabbed Auroras arm tightly, not trusting her to be with him. "Prince Zuko, show commander Zhao your respect. We would be honored to join you. Do you have any ginseng tea? It's my favorite."

"I don't like him..." Aurora whispered to Zuko as he held her arm. "Me neither." He whispered back as they walked behind them. "He was friends with my father back when we were home, he mistreated my mother, not showing her any kind of respect. My father couldn't do anything against it..." Aurora looked down at the memory. She never told Zuko something so private, not even when they were best friends.

"He wouldn't dare to try anything here." Zuko said and looked down to her. She gave him a soft smile. "Thank you for looking out for me, I know you don't appreciate my company, but I'm thankful for yours." Aurora stood on her tiptoes kissing his cheek softly before walking in front of him behind Iroh.