Blazing Crystal (Revised Version)

Chapter 7: Fire Lily

Chapter 7: Fire Lily

"Ha! Beat you!"

Prince Zuko huffed and threw his tiles down on the low table between us. "You have to be cheating! There's no way you're this good at Diàoyú!"

I grinned and picked up the thick rectangular tiles to shuffle them again. "What's wrong Zuko? Not used to losing to a girl?"

Zuko crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at me. "You've won three games straight! I thought this game was about luck?!"

Placing the deck tiles in the center of the table, I joked, "Looks like you're just unlucky."

"Oh really?" Zuko leaned forward. "How's about we play Pai Sho instead? Then we'll see who the lucky one is."

I cringed. "You just want to play that because you know I'll lose."

"I'm unlucky, so won't you win?"

I went to retort, but before I could a knock sounded on the door. We were currently in the small meeting room down the hall from our cabin, trying to ease our boredom and avoid Iroh. He'd been questioning us furiously over the last week, noting that we'd been talking more and more to one another. He wanted to know what had changed, and Zuko and I didn't really have an answer. We both didn't understand ourselves...

"Come in," Zuko ordered.

A second later, one of the guards stepped in giving a polite bow to Zuko. "Sir. Your uncle wanted me to inform you that we will be stopping at an Earth Kingdom port to resupply. He wanted to know if you and the girl desired to accompany him."

My eyes shined with delight. I hadn't been off the ship since Zhao's naval yard. While I was nervous about running into other firebenders like him, I really wanted to see the Earth Kingdom. I had only heard about it from my father and others of the tribe.

Looking over at Zuko with pleading eyes, I saw him shoot his gaze towards me for a moment. He seemed uncertain, but then let out a heavy breath. He looked over at the guard again. "Inform my uncle that we will join him."

The guard bowed once more and left. When he was gone, I smiled widely.

"Did you hear that Zuko?! An Earth Kingdom port! Will there be trees? Will there be grass?! I'm so excited!"

"Whoa! Simmer down! You're going to pierce my eardrums," Zuko muttered. "You'll find out when we get there." He stood to leave. "I'm going to speak to the helmsman. I want to make sure we are not getting too far off course. Don't fall off the ship while I'm gone."

I saluted him as he started to turn. "Yes sir!"

He rolled his eyes. "Will you stop doing that?"

I smiled, satisfied. "No. I know it irritates you."

Zuko sighed heavily, and then left the room. However, just as he stepped out I caught the smallest smile. It seemed I was getting a lot of smiles from the young prince lately.

A few hours later the ship anchored at the dock of a huge fisherman port. Iroh and Zuko headed down the ramp, and I followed excitedly behind staring at the new scene before me. The area was made entirely out of wooden buildings, and there were men and women dressed in all kinds of colors. In the distance, I could make out a vast forest with towering trees of green, gold, red, and brown. The grass was sporadic throughout the port, and I saw strange animals scuttle around all over the place. As we headed deeper into the market area of the port, I noted the numerous stalls that were selling merchandise from all corners of the world.

"Wow! This is so cool!" I grabbed onto Zuko's sleeve pointing at a stall with fabrics of diverse hues. "Look at all the colors!"

Iroh laughed at my enthusiasm, while Zuko rolled his eyes and kept walking.