ᗪㄩ乇ㄥ 乃乇几ᗪ乇尺

Chapter 3

~𝙿𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚍𝚊𝚢~
~𝙰𝚐𝚎: 17~

I was in my room looking at the decorations I was able to bring with me all those years ago when I joined Zuko. All I had was a portrait of my dad and I, some advanced fire-bending scrolls he left me, and one water-bending scroll that belonged to my mom. It was the only thing my dad managed to find that belonged to my mom when we were separated. The water-bending scroll was in her family for generations and was only mastered by prodigies or masters.

It then dawned on me that my dad not long before he passed shared a memory from when I was young. He said mom believed I was a water prodigy, we were supposed to get me tested the next day but the fire nation had other plans.

I was sitting on the bed in my room that Zuko allowed me to pick, I ended up picking the one next to his because he needed help with his bandages. But now that he's all healed into a scar, there's no need for the nightly or morning visits. I heard a knock on my door and I stood up, making sure my water scroll was safely hidden before opening the door.

"We made it to our stop, do you want to come with us to help stock up on supplies?" Zuko asked a little awkwardly.

"It would be my honor to help you prince Zuko but if you don't mind, I'd like to stay in my room this time."

"How many times do I have to tell you, just call me Zuko?" He facepalmed slightly annoyed.

"Right. Sorry."

He mumbled to himself as he walked away towards the exit of the ship. I closed my door and sat back on my bed. Letting myself fall backward now laying on my bed then turned my head to look at my portrait. I sighed heavily letting all the complex emotions off my chest. "Dad.. what do I do?" I asked looking at his painted face smiling at me. "I feel lost, I feel like I don't know who I am. I know you made me hide my water bending for safety, but... now I feel disconnected to moms side of the bloodline. I feel like I don't know who I am... or what to do." I stared at the painting, waiting for a response.

I sighed to myself as I sat back up still looking at his face. "Zuko got banished a while back, I tagged along with him to help him feel less lonely. But now I can't practice my water bending unless everyone is off the ship...dad, please help me find myself." I stared at the portrait waiting again for a response fully knowing that response was never going to come. I darted my eyes at the young me in the portrait, my smile was so big. I half smiled to myself remembering that day.

꧁𝙵𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚑𝙱𝚊𝚌𝚔꧂

I put the best clothes that I could find in my closet and ran to my dad with my hairbrush. "Dad, can you help me?" I begged, he quickly threw away a rag that was touching his nose and nodded. He took my hairbrush and cleared his throat after he had coughed into the inside of his elbow. He brushed my hair and then put it into a quick but cute fire nation hairstyle. There was a knock at the door so he got up to open the door as I put my brush away.

I came back into the main room and saw Iroh and Zuko, I greeted the two properly. "You can greet us casually, we're friends." Zuko said, I felt awkward as I nodded my head trying to hide the embarrassment I had just caused myself. We made it to the portrait painter my dad has been talking about. Apparently, he's the fastest and most talented portrait painter in the nation and he's painting us for free because he owes my dad a favor.