Dragon of the West

Chapter 5- New Friends

Welcome back to another chapter of Dragon of the West! When we left off Iroh was leaving the Fire Nation against his will to go join the Fire Nation Army. What will he do now that he is leaving? What will happen with Ozai now that Iroh is gone? Find out now!

-Darthlane

Chapter 5

Iroh walked quietly onto the ship. It would be his new home until they reached the Earth Kingdom. He heard footsteps behind him and realized that the soldier carrying his bag had followed him aboard the ship. "Go ahead and let me see that." He said. "I can take it to my room. I have get used to doing stuff myself anyway." He took the bag from the guard. "Go ahead and go before you get stuck on here like I am."

The soldier bowed and said, "Thank you, sir. Good luck." He turned to leave but stopped. He turned back to Iroh. "Before I go, I think you should get some advice. Just remember that once this ship starts moving all the power and authority you had will be void. People won't treat you like a Prince. They'll treat you like a soldier in training. In fact, the less people know who your dad is the better."

Iroh was confused by the last part. "If it's not going to help me anyway, why do I need to hide it?"

"Because even if you don't get anything from it people will think you do." His eyes narrowed. "Every time you do better than them they will be resentful. They will bully you. They will trick you. They will make your life a living hell and will trip you up every chance they get simply because they couldn't before and now they can. If you do better than them they will say that it is because the instructor feared what the Fire Lord will think. If you don't do better they will claim your luxurious living style made you weak. You can't win."

"Do you really think teens would be that cruel?" Iroh asked. He had doubts that this was more than just paranoia. "Most people aren't like that."

"I've seen more than enough good people do horrible, disgusting things." The soldier said. "People are capable of much more than you would believe when they are desperate enough. Anyway, good luck and be careful." He marched down the ramp and dissapeared.

"Maybe I should wait to tell anyone what I am." Iroh muttered to himself. "Just in case he's right." His instructors would already know who he was. That was a given. But to the other trainees, based on appearance alone, he was just another recruit. They had no reason to believe any different. Hell, maybe it could even be fun to keep up a charade. If his hunch was right, that would be about the only fun he would have.

He realized he had no idea where his room was. He wanted to drop off his stuff and go find the cafeteria so he could finally have dinner. He had no idea where either was. He started exploring the torch-lit metal halls of the Fire Nation ship.

He found out that Fire Nation ships were much larger on the inside, and they were already massive on the outside. He was lost very quickly. He tried to go back to the ramp when he started regretting his decision, but was completely lost. He suspected that he was going in circles.

A hand grabbed his shoulder and whirled him around. "What are you doing here? You know the trainees are supposed to be in their bunks!"

Iroh waved his hands. "Sorry! I just got here. I'm trying to find-"

"Wait! You just got here? You mean you're the Prince?" The sailor asked, a grin suddenly on his face. "Why didn't you just say so!" He slapped an arm around Iroh and led him down the hall. "I'll be more than happy to help out our new royal friend. Fancy being a soldier, eh?"