COLLISION - a zuko and yue centric tale

Chapter fourteen

** I'M SWITCHING TO PAST TENSE AT THIS POINT IN THE FIC**

Writing in present tense was a bit of an experiment anyways and I don't think anyone is really attached to it anyways so I'm switching to past tense.

Sorry btw for the brief hiatus. Someone died (not me). I hate that when things happen the creative juices are either immediately gushing or it's a fudging desert. Anyways. Here's a short chapter!

Zuko was alone. Other than the koala otter he passed an hour ago, there was not a single living thing visible at the North Pole. Zuko had removed his outer layer some time ago; he was paddling rather fast in his kayak for fear of the water peasants sending someone after him. He couldn't quite believe that the princess, Yue, had actually let — and helped — him escape. He wouldn't have returned the favour. If he was honest with himself, if he still had a ship and crew he probably would have tried to kidnap her. He wondered what it would be like to have her mad at him. Not pleasant, he imagined. There was a subtle fury to her. Zuko recognized things like that sometimes. After all, he was well versed in anger.

The sky was annoyingly different. The north pole was one of the first places that Zuko investigated after his banishment. The rest of his time had mostly been spent in the southern hemisphere or by the equator where the stars were different. There were only a few pin pricks of light in the sky appearing, none were immediately recognizable. Zuko stared down a star close to the setting sun, marking it in his mind. Orientating himself by it, he would hopefully be able to keep a steady course through the night. He was heading south-west, but mostly south. The Earth Kingdom would be near but as long as he was careful he would land on Fire Nation occupied land. Zuko was allowed on occupied land, but not the Fire Nation itself. Regardless, it would be a day or two of steady paddling to reach it if he kept to the currents and didn't run into any water tribe peasants or pirates. Pirates were known to attack ships on the trade routes between the water tribe and the Earth Kingdom. They probably wouldn't even notice Zuko in his small light coloured kayak. Even if they did, they probably wouldn't bother to see if he happened to be carrying any valuables.

///

Yue had no idea what to do. She briefly wished she could either turn back time or erase Hahn's memory. That wasn't possible, was it? No, Tui's voice sounded in her head. Drat. Yue resists the urge to pick at her fingernails. Her arms were in front of her, keeping Hahn from getting closer to her. He had recovered from his shock at Yue waterbending and looked positively furious and slightly scared. Looking him the eye like he was a scared animal, Yue slowly lowered her hands as she fought to keep her voice from shaking as she spoke.
"Hahn, listen—"
"What was that?! You were harboring a Fire Nation soldier!"
"Hahn, shut up," Yue snapped. He did. "I prevented a war. That soldier was forgotten. If he had been kept as a war prisoner, the Fire Nation would come with an even larger fleet to get him back just for the sake of it as soon as the Avatar left. I was acting in the best interest of our people." Yue looked Hahn carefully in the eye, praying to the spirits that he would believe her.
"That's not your place," he reprimanded her.
"My place is above yours let me—"
"You're a woman, you cannot speak on matters of war—"
"I am a princess and you are an advisor's son."
"You are my fiancée and I am commander of the Ice-Wolves—"
"That is a HORRIBLE name!" Yue exclaimed.
"See, you're too emotional for this. This is why war isn't for you."
Yue took a breath. "Hahn. How could taking a prisoner of war be a good idea for my nation? Tell me."
Hahn spluttered. "It-it doesn't matter! You couldn't comprehend it anyways."
Yue scoffed.
"I'm going to tell your father what you've done." He threatened, turning to walk away.
Yue panicked. "Don't," she said.
It was Hahn's turn to scoff. "Why?"
Yue thought furiously. "I won't marry you. I'll call off the engagement publically, humiliating you and your father."
Hahn stilled. If Yue dared to do that, that would be horrible for him. Yue wouldn't dare to do that though, or would she? He had learned a lot about his fiancée that evening. She was a waterbender for spirits sake! He stood up straight, considering his options. Looking at Yue, she was utterly complacent with her threat. Hahn was out of options. He cursed his luck.
"Fine," he hissed.
"Good," Yue slightly inclined her head, determined to be somewhat gracious. She was princess of the Northern Water Tribe, after all.

///

Iroh had listened to the lion-turtle and headed East: his new direction. Refreshed and rejuvenated, he was glad to have found a direction in his life; both realistically and metaphorically.

///

Zuko stopped to eat. His muscles ached from the hours of paddling. Opening his bag, Zuko inspected it. For food, there was some bannock, dried seaweed, and some seal jerky. Then, there was some water and the letter for the water tribe boy. Zuko had no intentions of giving him the letter, but he didn't toss it in the ocean. It could make for good tinder. Never mind that Zuko was a literal firebender.

The bannock looked like a good choice. It was blueberry. The flavour had grown on him — he preferred it to the plain bannock now. Yue, the princess, had said it was her favourite. Zuko brushed the crumbs from his face and picked up the paddles again.

A/N:

So that was a short chapter but I just wanted to get something out there so you know that I haven't disappeared! I'm probably not going to go back to a super consistent posting schedule but roughly every week or two is what I'm aiming for.

Let me know your thoughts on this chapter! Is the way Yue gets Hahn to back off realistic? Does the dialogue still sound like her, albeit with some character development? Is Zuko still his S1 horrible self? Is the past tense not too jarring a shift? I wanna know!

I also wanna point out the irony that everything fell apart in my life after I wrote chapter 13...