The Officer and the Princess: The Flames Of War

Chapter 16

The ship rocked as it sailed through the clear blue waters, the wood itself creaking and groaning as it went up and over the waves it met. The air was hot and the sun beamed down. Azula stood on the top deck as Sung hung on to the guard rails, his face pale. "This is why I hate boats." Sung said weakly as he seemed to be putting all of his will power into not throwing up. "Though..." Sung paused his eyes going wide as it seemed his inner strength gave out and he leaned over further and let our a painful retching sound, his stomach spasming. Azula didn't know what to do so instead she gently patted him on the back as he dry heaved, his stomach having nothing left to give. He kept this up for a few seconds but to him what must have felt like hours. Finally he let out a few shaky breaths before he pushed himself off and sat on the deck, wiping his mouth on his sleeve as he looked up and closed his eyes. "Goddess if you get me through this I swear I'll never complain about being on a Fire Navy Ship again!"

They had been at sea for a day and a half now, Sung spending most of that time holding onto the railings for dear life as sea sickness threatened to take him under. "Do...do you need some water?" Azula asked, unsure of what to do.

"I'd be better off swimming." Sung groaned as he opened his eyes. "Where is Ty Lee?" He asked looking around.

Azula looked around as well before glancing up at the main mast to see Ty Lee leaning over the crows nest with a spy glass, in the short time they had been on the ship she had adapted quite well, the crew had let her help with tasks seeing that he had been interested in it. The Helmsman had let her steer the ship for a few minutes and Ty Lee looked as if she had just won the lottery. Now it seemed that she had volunteered to be on lookout duty. "Up there." Azula said pointing.

Sung followed her finger and he let out another groan. "That girls going to get herself killed one day."

"Funny." Azula said with a smirk. "I think the same thing about you sometimes."

"What do you mean by that?" Sung asked as he closed his eyes again, tiny beads of sweat dripping down his forehead.

Azula frowned even though he couldn't see it. "I don't know how much has changed but the Sung Yang I knew was always running off on half baked ideas that were sure to cause bodily harm."

Sung laughed weakly. "Point taken." He said with a sigh. "Can you do me a favor, look in my bag and pull out that medical kit, there should be a piece of ginger root in it."

"Isn't that used in cooking?" Azula asked.

"Yeah but...it helps with nausea too." Sung explained. She was about to ask him how he knew that but before she could he spoke again. "I was taught it in Ranger Survival Training, there are quite a few plants that have healing properties." She never exactly knew how he was able to read her mind like that.

Azula nodded though he couldn't see it and walked to the center of the ship were a narrow stairway lead below deck. Walking down it she was greeted by barrels and crates that carried the ships cargo, a few crewmen moving about on their tasks. Beyond that on pillars were cloth hammocks in tiers of three that served at beds for the crew, they had not been the most comfortable places to sleep but they had certainly been better than sleeping on the floor. Well better for her, Sung had been miserable. He had insisted on laying on the lowest tier so he could keep a foot on the deck, he said it helped him with the dizziness he had been feeling since yesterday.

Stopping where Sung's bag was packed she got down on her knees she unlatched the clasps and began to dig through until she found a tin case with two latches on it. Popping those open she saw rolls of white bandages, a suture kit, a small pair of surgical scissors, but also inside were glass jars filled with to her looked like different plants the vast majority being green, each one was labeled. She looked over them until she found a glass jar with several tan colored roots in them, the label reading Ginger.