Searching (Zuko x OC)

Chapter 16

"We need to keep after the Avatar," Zuko said sternly.

Uncle, Zuko, and I had been pouring over the map and tracking where the Avatar was going. Unfortunately, we had begun to loose his trail. He was still heading north but nobody had been able to figure out where yet.

"We need a break. A lot of our crew is sick. We need more than just one medic," I argued.

Somehow, a majority of the crew had contracted food poisoning. Apparently some of the fish they had eaten hadn't been fully cooked. It took all my convincing to talk Zuko out of throwing the cook overboard. He was furious.

"I don't care! We don't have time to stop and get them anything. They need to tough it out," he said through gritted teeth, his hands clenching into fists.

"We're on a ship, Zuko. They're already nauseous. Adding sea sickness to the list won't help," Iroh interjected.

"It will only be for a day. Two max. The Avatar and his friends won't get that far," I pleaded.

Zuko let out a breath of smoke and fire before leaving. I made sure to grab the maps before any sparks could light them on fire and rolled my eyes once more.

I made my way down to the ship where the sick crew members were staying. Since it wasn't contagious I had taken it upon myself to take care of them as best I could. They were mostly all laying on their beds and they had buckets for them to throw up in. There wasn't much I could do, but I tried. I mostly cleaned out the buckets and kept them entertained.

I sat down next to Akemi on his cot and he smiled weakly at me. He was one of the last ones to get sick so he was still in the worst patch.

"How are you doing?" I asked him.

"About as good as you would expect," he sighed, sitting up slightly.

"So, I was thinking maybe we could have a story night tonight. Like when we first got on the ship," I suggested, moving the bucket into my arms and checking to see it empty.

"I remember those. They were always so fun," he replied, a look of nostalgia written across his face in a goofy grin.

Story night was something that Uncle and I had started when we first set sail to get everyone to know each other better. Uncle always said that we would work better together if we were all friends. Plus, it would make us feel closer to home. Eventually we had stopped doing them when we ran out of stories and music nights replaced them instead.

"Did you hear that guys? We're having story night tonight!" one of the crew members called out.

They all seemed genuinely excited at the prospect and so I decided I should start preparing. I wanted this to make them all feel better and it would give me something to do to keep me occupied. I found that as long as I put all my focus into a task, I could handle being alone. It was only when I let my thoughts drift or my guard down that I started to loose it.

I made my way into the storage room and began searching for all the supplies I would need. We didn't have many social nights so they were shoved into the back and scattered all across the room. It took a while but eventually I found the majority of what I needed. I marched up onto the deck with a basket full of blankets, pillows, and cushions galore to set up the spot we would all sit. I made sure there was a spot in the middle for where the fire would be that we all sat around, but I needed to find the fire pit. It was probably still hidden somewhere in the storage room. Before I had a chance to go look, I saw Uncle Iroh walking up with it in his arms.

"Uncle!" I said happily, running to help him carry it to the middle of the blankets.

"I saw you bring out the story night set up and I knew you would be looking for this," he grinned.