Freedom And Honor| Zuko x NB!Reader

Chapter 3: The Lights

Man they really put you to work.

Just one month after being promoted to janitor, you had to dress in firenation clothing and you have had to clean almost every place in the ship. Mainly the deck to clean the scorch marks off, well..most of them. They had been surprisingly nice-ish to you, seems the irritation of prince hot head helped with your bonding. You hated to admit how good the firenation food was. You didn't want to but they fed you decent food so you sucked it up. You were surprisingly allowed to use your bending when cleaning, you assumed because you're untrained they didn't have any worry of you attacking them. Of course you wouldn't, no sane person would take on a whole ship of firebenders alone.

You finished up cleaning up the kitchen and left with a tired sigh. Waterbending, an ancient form of martial art unique to your people...used for cleaning grease stains. You walked out to the deck to get some fresh air away from the stuffy kitchen and you were greeted with a nice cool breeze. It was a nice chill evening and the setting sun waved goodbye over the horizon. You has overheard some of the crew complain about heading to the south pole to find whatever Zuko was looking for. You still don't have an answer as to who or what he's searching for but he trains his royal butt off and seems to be very serious about it.

"Out of my way" Speaking of...Zuko shoves you to the side as he walks past you to the deck. He wasn't in his training gear and you were thankful, you just cleaned the scorch stains from the metal.

"Geez, would an 'excuse me' kill you?" You mumbled as you stumbled and stablized yourself.

"Excuse Me!?" He turned with a glare that shot fire daggers.

"Not what I meant but I'll take it." You shrugged and then turned away to mind your business.

"I do not tolerate disrespect on my ship!" he went and stood right up to you to seem threatening. You took a slight step back as he did so, staring right into the narrowed golden eyes.

"I wasn't disrespecting you! jeez...I just thought with you being a prince and all that you would have some decent manners!" you spoke sternly, at this point you did forget your place and let your frustration get the best of you.

Before it could escalate further, Iroh's voice chimed up, "They are right Prince Zuko. You must have good manners with your subjects." He spoke as he approached his table with a tea kettle.

You shot a smug triumphant look at Zuko who scowled at you once more before turning away and stomping to the end of the deck. It seemed like you were nearing the south pole. Before you could have any other thought, the crew started to file out with stools a fire pit and some instruments. You walked over to Iroh who was the nicest person there to you and ask him what was going on.

"We like to do a little campfire with music once every four weeks. It keeps our spirits up from being away from our home the past two years." Iroh explains as he offers you a cup of tea.

"wait, you've all been on the sea for two years?" you asked as you took it and sat down.  Iroh just nods and you didn't get anymore information after that, instead they just started to play thier music.

Zuko was distant at the very end, looking off with a telescope and mostly brooding. You gave him a glance as you catch a glimpse of something in his eye, it looked like....desperation...or hope.

You didn't catch too much before turning your attention to the lively music and finding yourself smiling along and enjoying yourself. You smiled small as you heard new songs you've never heard of before.

From the outer radius of the warm bonfire and music, stood a boy. Giving a small glance back at the new crewmember. Eyebrows furrowed, they just seemed to fit in, they were a waterbender among the firebenders yet they were calm and collected. Zuko had collected that much information in the month he has known of your existance.