set my heart on fire (slow updates)

Shipyard

Y/N's POV
By time we arrived at the shipyard, the entire place was in ruins and the avatar was gone.

"Captain Y/N! Is General Han with you?"

"You should count yourself lucky that he is not. So, warden, would you do me the honour of explaining why not only did you let the avatar, the biggest threat to the Fire Nation, escape from this shipyard, but you somehow managed to lose every single soldier in your custody?"

"Captain, I-"

"They were earth benders! You had one job. You had earth benders in the middle of the sea with nothing to bend and somehow still managed to lose every single one of them!"

"The avatar and his friends brought them the coal that we use for fuel to bend, if it wasn't for-"

"The avatar is a child travelling with a water bender who barely knows how to bend and a boy who can barely wield a weapon! You're telling me that you allowed them to get the best of you!?"

"No, Captain, I'm sorry, I-"

I shook my head as I shoved past him, "Tch. Disgrace to the Fire Nation"

As I approached Prince Zuko, he held out a blue necklace for me to see, "this belongs to the Water Tribe girl that the avatar is travelling with"

I raised an eyebrow, "great, so you have a souvenir"

He snapped, "I could use it! To help catch the avatar!"

I nodded, eyebrows raised, "right, have fun with that," before turning to the warden, "did you at least get a rough idea on the direction that he was heading?"

—

On our way to find the avatar, General Iroh requested we stopped for a break. I, of course, was happy to oblige with almost any request from him, Prince Zuko on the other hand, was not so amused.

Once the time period that he had given his uncle had passed, he stormed off the ship to find him, before returning a few minutes later, shouting at some of his crew about how General Iroh was 'wasting his time in a hot spring'.

I avoided Prince Zuko for the first couple of hours, hearing him snap at his crew every few minutes as he continued to grumble about his uncle.

After a little while, I decided to start a conversation, "so, how've you been?"

He furrowed his one remaining eyebrow and turned to face me, "what?"

I shrugged and leaned against the wall, "you know, since you left the Fire Nation, we didn't hear much about you. How've you been?"

His face relaxed but he glanced away as he half-mumbled, "I don't know. Fine."

I nodded and we stood in an awkward silence for a few minutes before he asked, "are you still close with my sister?"

I shook my head, "Azula and I don't really talk much now that I've left the academy. Though, I hear she's doing well"

"She was always my father's favourite"

I shrugged, "if I recall, you were always your mother's favourite. Azula and your dad just have the same way of seeing the world, that's all"

I pulled myself up from the wall and leaned forwards onto the railing and gently shoved him, "you were always my favourite between you both, your sister is alright but you were the coolest to hang out with"

He glanced in the other direction, "you don't need to try and make me feel better, I don't care"

I rolled my eyes and shoved him again, "I don't care enough to try and make you feel better- I'm not that nice"

He made a sound like the beginning of a laugh and opened his mouth to say something but then suddenly thought better of it and sighed, "you've changed so much, I can't even begin to imagine how much everything else has changed"

I shrugged, "it's not that different, we've all grown up. A lot of the girls from my class went on to work under their parents, some of them joined the cadets. And your sister's class... I don't see Mai and Ty Lee anymore, they've left the city"

"Oh, yeah?"

"Remember Mai's dad? He's been sent to one of the Earth Kingdom cities... Omashu, I think. And Ty Lee ran off to join the circus"

"Not really surprised. And then you left to join the army"

I nodded, "yeah, I mean... we're all doing our part to help end the war- except Ty Lee, I guess. And we're almost there. The Earth Kingdom is almost completely under Fire Nation governing- they're all doing so much better now. Life's looking up... for everyone"

He didn't say anything and we stood in silence for a few moments before I finally laughed, "well, everyone except you... your hair is ridiculous!"

He grumbled, "shut up, Y/N!"

I flicked the end of his ponytail as I walked away and sang back, "it's Captain Y/N"

"Yeah, whatever, I'm going to look for uncle"