Heart of Fire

Book One: Chapter Ten

TRIGGER WARNING: SEXUAL ASSAULT

I sat on the deck of the ship fiddling with a small flame. It felt nice to be able to bend again, and I was finally able to practice without worry of being reprimanded. The past few weeks, Iroh had been mentoring me. We practiced almost every day for a few hours, and I was starting to feel more powerful than I ever had.

One day, he had me spar with one of the soldiers aboard the ship.

"This is Ayumi. She is an excellent fire bender and will make an excellent opponent for you to learn from," he said, gesturing to a well-built woman with short black hair. She was slightly intimidating, but smiled and bowed to me when Iroh was finished introducing us. I did the same.

"If you feel that you cannot keep up with her, just say stop. We don't want anyone to get hurt, this is a friendly fight. Now, take your places," he continued.

Both Ayumi and I nodded and went to opposite sides of the ship, about 30 feet from each other.

"Remember your stance, Misaki. Do not let her break it," he warned.

I took a deep breath, and placed my left foot in front of me, with my right knee bent. When my arms were in line with my legs, and I looked to Ayumi and gave her a short nod. She nodded in return, then shot a bolt of fire in my direction. My heart raced, but I remembered what Iroh taught me.

I dodged the flames by moving to the left, but she continued to bombard me. I knew I couldn't play defense the entire time, so I deflected her fire and looked for an opening. I waited for the right moment, and when she turned around, I ignited a flame and sent it barreling across the floor of the ship towards her. She turned around just as the flame was going to hit her, but there was nothing she could do besides fall to the ground to get out of the way.

I grinned, running over to help her off the floor. She seemed a bit angry, but was a good sport nonetheless.

"I'm beginning to run out of things to teach you. I'm impressed," Iroh laughed.

"Thank you for being so patient and teaching me so well. It's an honor to train with the Dragon of the West," I said as I bowed to him.

...

Weeks passed and Zuko had not looked in my direction once. We had stopped at a few ports for supplies and rest, but he refused to leave the ship. Iroh tried to convince him that he needed to get some fresh air and take a break, but he was more concerned with tracking the avatar.

As we traveled, I made sure to keep any information I heard about Aang's whereabouts from Zuko, but I knew I couldn't do it forever. Eventually he was going to find him, and I dreaded what the Fire Nation would do to him once they had their hands on him again. There was no question that they would execute him. I spent countless nights lying awake thinking of a way to convince Zuko what he was doing was wrong, but I knew I couldn't be the one to change his mind. He would need to decide that on his own.

Eventually, Iroh was able to convince Zuko to stop at a trading port because he had lost his lotus tile for Pai Sho, and wanted another. Zuko agreed to leave the ship so he could accompany Iroh and prevent him from wasting any time. I joined them as well, in hopes of mending my relationship with Zuko.

As Iroh browsed the shops for his precious lotus tile, I grabbed Zuko by the sleeve and pulled him into an alley.

"What do you want?" He demanded.

"I want to talk to you. I need to apologize for what I did to you," I asked.

"There's nothing to talk about," he scoffed.