Kissed By Fire

Part 7: The Lily of the West

The young prince returned no less than three hours later with two hardboiled eggs and a cup of green tea with no sweetener. Good thing they didn't use sugar in the abbey so Anut was used to it, and the tea there was far more disgusting.

"Thank you," the girl said, bowing before receiving the tray.

"Sorry it isn't more, but I didn't want anyone in the kitchen to get suspicious."

The redhead smiled up at him with gratitude. His tense facial expression made it clear that he wasn't used to apologizing for anything, let alone over something as insignificant as breakfast. "The tea is wonderful, my compliments to the chef."

"My uncle made that, actually. He feels very passionately about tea."

"I can tell." She took another long sip, her body warming up from the inside, but she still couldn't shake the chill. "If you don't mind me asking, why is he called the Dragon of the West?"

"It's sort of complicated," Zukos said. "It got started because he claimed to have killed the last dragon, and because he was such a fearsome Firebender, but it really took off when he started conquering the Earth Kingdom."

"Right, he was a General, I forgot. That's why he's been to Rah; he must've been all over the place."

After a moment of contemplation, Zuko asked, "Why was your mother called the Lily of the West, as long as we're asking each other questions."

"She- she was a concubine." The admission made Zuko's eyes go wide, and Anut instantly regretted confiding in him. Now he thought her mother was a whore, and that she was a whore too. "Every time she joined a new household, the patriarch would die within a few weeks, and eventually no one would hire her anymore. The lily is a funeral flower, it represents purity after death, so the rumor went that she became a virgin again after the death of her master. She made her living as a dancer in a spectacle show after that. Your uncle probably saw her perform; she was very popular with Fire Nation soldiers."

This made Zuko visibly uncomfortable, as did the whole story. "So that's how you grew up, watching your mother dance for hoards of men every night?"

Ignoring his purposefully derogatory phrasing, she replied, "No, she quit when I was born."

"What dutiful mother," he said flatly.

Fed up with his veiled insults, Anut polished off her hard boiled eggs and washed them down with lukewarm tea. "Thank you for the food and company, Prince Zuko, but I'm sure you have important duties to attend to."

"I do." He stood up and snatched the tray out of her hands. "I'll be back when it suits me."

While she meditated, Anut tried to focus on what she was grateful for, not a proper technique, but something a girl at the nunnery had taught her to keep from going insane. She was grateful for good tea, a warm bed, and no corset. She was grateful to have someone to listen to her dreams instead of shaming her for them, even if the person doing the listening was a royal pain in the ass. Even though she couldn't speak to Iroh, she felt comforted knowing there was a man on board who knew her mother. And, most of all, she was eternally grateful to be away from Zhao. Every minute, they were put more and more distance between her and the Commander, miles upon miles of beautiful, turquoise ocean.

But with every creak and groan of the rusty, old ship, it became harder and harder to feel gratitude for her situation. Was she any less of a captive now than she was with Zhao? At least she wouldn't be forced to marry Zuko, and he certainly wouldn't sneak into her room at night to engage in pre-marital relations.

At the very least, she had the freedom to meditate as she wished. She even did sit-ups and splits, trying to regain some of that strength and agility she had in the circus, and even earlier, at the Academy, training with the top female fighters in the Fire Nation. 

Anut was in the middle of a set of handstand push-ups when the door opened again.

"What are you doing?"

Caught off guard, Anut lost her balance, toppling to the ground. "Ow," she said, rubbing her head. It was the same spot that got bruised when she fainted at yesterday's supper, now doubly sore. "Nothing, I was just practicing."

"Practicing what? Acrobatics?"

She stood up, folding her arms. "Yes, actually, I used to be in the circus."

He looked like he wanted to ask a follow-up question (that was a pretty strange declaration after all), but instead, he just shook it off. "I spoke to my uncle about the giant koi-"

"Elephant koi!"

"Whatever. I spoke to him about it, and he said those fish are all up down the eastern coast of the Earth Kingdom.'

"That's good right?"

"It's thousands of miles of land, it would take weeks to search," he said with a scowl. "So no, not good." Anut bowed her head apologetically. "But it's more than we had to go on yesterday. Thank you." He pressed his fist to his palm in respect. 

She returned the gesture. "It's an honor to serve you, Your Royal Highness." Zuko paused, looking off into the distance. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong, it's just- no one really calls me that anymore," he admitted. "My uncle still refers to me as Prince Zuko, as do most of the crew, but it's out of habit rather than duty. I'm out of line for the throne as long as I am banished. Not one call me 'Highness', not now, that I've been brought so low. Unless they're mocking me."

Anut stood up, taking a step towards the sullen boy. "That's cruel."

Zuko chuckled mirthlessly. "My life's filled with nothing by cruelty."

If it were anyone else, Anut would've told them to buck up and stop wallowing in self-pity, but, in this case, she got the sense the angst was justified. "Why were banished in the first place?" she asked.

"That's none of your business!" he roared.

Falling back onto the bed, Anut looked up at him with fear. His eyes were as hot and bright as tiny embers, and he once again reminded her of Azula, the girl who made her life at school so miserable. But there was someone else he looked like, someone she'd known earlier in life, a face she'd never forget but couldn't quite remember either.

"My apologies, Your Highness," Anut said, bowing as low as she could from her seat on the lumpy mattress.

"I'll be back tonight with dinner, and you'd better have more to tell me about the Avatar."

What am I going to do? Anut thought, flopping onto the bed. Two visions in two days was rare for her, let alone two visions that made logical sense and concerned the same topic. Despite all her meditating, nothing else had come to her, and that wouldn't change in the next few hours. What on earth am I going to tell Zuko when he asks?

Thank you all for reading, if you liked this chapter, it'd mean a lot to me if you'd vote and leave a comment, I'll update again in a day or two!!