End of the Beginning

Chapter 8

Secretary Gou approached me with the ever so over excited Cho. Cho jumped repeatedly in placed before running over to greet me and Zuko. I petted him for comfort as we boarded the ship. I looked back to see dozens of ships followed our own. I was nervous of what was going to happen next, well more paranoid than nervous. I couldn't stop thinking that this would finally make Aang fulfill his promise. I worried that King Kuei's incompetence has blinded him from thinking rationally as a ruler. And Zuko who has been acting like his father even though his reasons are different. Cho whimpered I'm the background of my entangled thoughts and rushed to the deck to feel the sea air.  I looked around for Kaito, I haven't even seen her since the throne room but I knew she was here.

I went to join Cho at the very edge of the deck to see the water splash against the boat. Occasionally the eel hound would nudge me to just focus on the view we had but I couldn't. Zuko ended up intervening once Cho decided to stop trying to comfort me and just sleep since the trip to Yu Dao was about a day on boat.

"I think we should sleep, too," Zuko said, grabbing my hand. I had been scratching my wrist non stop since we boarded.

I nodded, patting Cho who wagged his tail even though he didn't get up from the comfortable position he found for himself. Seeing Cho here made me smile as we walked away and entered the relatively small room. We both sighed deeply in unison. Zuko pulled out his hairpiece as I changed into my night clothes. He turned to watch from the other side of the bed as he pulled off his shirt. 

I laid down on the bed as Zuko curled himself next to me. Placing one hand on the ribbon of the night gown playing with it.

"Are you okay?" I asked gently stroking his hair.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" He half joked, feeling my anxious state of being.

I pinched his cheeks with one hand and made him look into my eyes. I couldn't help but smile at him as the paranoia slowly faded away. I could just feel Zuko's heart race by looking at his eyes.

He slowly came down and kissed my lips passionately. He gently tugged at the lace holding the nightgown together as I scattered kisses in his neck. Biting down softly around his collar bone.

"I missed this," He groaned, making me blush a bit.

"Me too," I whispered into his ear.

A small smile grew on both of our faces. In the end we knew just how much we loved each other even if we were at an impasse. Early morning, Zuko ended up falling asleep. He hugged me tightly as he softly snored. I patted his head gently.

"I promised I was going to help bring harmony," I hummed to myself,"But unfortunately I put you before the world,"

And that might just be my greatest flaw.

Zuko eventually shot up out of bed, shocking me a bit. He gasped for air as if he had another nightmare. He looked dazed, placing a hand on his chest.

"Love?" I asked half asleep and confused

"Kya," He huffed.

He hugged me as if he didn't want to let go. It felt like he was hugging me for dear life. We stayed like that for a long time until Kaito knocked on the door saying we were going to arrive at Yu Dao soon. I changed quickly, running out seeing that we were just about to dock. I sighed.

"I can't believe you came here," I said to Kaito who was fully dressed in armor.

"Trust me I didn't want to," Kaito sighed looking out to the docks,"But Zuko is the Fire Lord and I'm a Fire Nation citizen." Cho rushed over now that he heard Kaito's voice making heads turn to us,"We just need to wait and hope Suki gets to Sokka on time," She whispered.