Fireproof

Kelani sits, watching Iroh sing as the others on the ship dance and play instruments. This is what he meant when he said they had a music night on the ship. Zuko refused to join them, and opted to sulk in his chambers instead. 

In the blink of an eye, the entire mood of the crew changes. Kelani tenses, her breath getting caught in her throat at the sight of Zhao and his men. She looks away, watching the waves, hoping he won’t recognize her without her pirate attire. 

Unfortunately, he does. He grins over at her, and her stomach churns. Good thing they were on the deck, because she felt sick. Iroh notices the discomfort between them, and steps in Zhao’s line of vision. Kelani lets herself breathe, and excuses herself from the deck. Without thinking, she rushes to the opposite end of the ship from her own chambers, and finds Zuko’s. She barges in without knocking. 

“For the last time, I’m not playing the Tsungi horn!” Zuko scowls, but then turns around when he realizes it wasn’t Iroh who disturbed him. “Kelani?” 

He feels himself tense at her presence, and the fact that she's now in his bed chambers, out of breath. The tiniest sliver of his brain wonders if she realized she has feelings for him and just couldn’t wait to tell him. The rest of him knows that thought is stupid. 

“It’s Zhao.” She breathes, looking at Zuko, hoping he’ll have an answer. 

He mirrors her, eyes wide with fear, palms sweaty and twitching, mouth slightly agape. Zhao finding them and coming on board could not be a good sign. It either meant he showed up to kill Zuko, or take Kelani, or overthrow the Avatar mission. Everything in Zuko tenses at the thought of any of those things being true. All equally terrifying to him. 

Kelani’s face starts to heat up with fear, and she can feel tears spring into her eyes. Zuko surprises himself and strides over to wrap his arms around her. Again, he’s aware of the foreign feeling of physical contact, but he knows this is something that might soothe her. Not that he needs an excuse to be close to her, but it eases his mind to give himself a rationale. 

His arms wrap around her torso, holding her tightly. She follows his actions wrapping her arms around him, her hands resting below his shoulders. Her face falls against his chest and she feels a few tears escape, absorbed by his robes. He can feel her holding onto him like her life depends on it. 

The last time she was this afraid, the pirates were lifting her off of the snowy ground and carrying her away with ease. Meeting Zhao for the first time was scary, and she was worried then, but more than anything she was disgusted by his presence. She trusted that Aang could get them out of their situation, and wasn’t afraid of what might happen to them- more that they wouldn’t make it back to Sokka and Katara and something could happen to them. But this was different. Zhao’s presence held an evil urgency, and the way he looked at her like she was a meal made her want to jump ship. Remembering the look in his eyes makes her stomach lurch again, and all she can do is hold Zuko tighter. 

Kelani could have never imagined she would rely on Zuko like this, or that she would feel safe with him the way she feels now. Other than Iroh, he brought her comfort and reassurance as their lives spiralled into the unknown.

While not being there when he captured her and the Avatar, he can understand her fear. Zhao is an intimidating man, and he could only imagine the way a young woman would feel around him. Growing up, Zuko was faintly aware of the way Zhao treated women, and even young girls like Kelani. He didn’t understand everything since he was a child with limited capacity for such things, and it wasn’t like those things were openly discussed. However, Zhao’s attitude and intentions were clear as day.

 “I won’t let him hurt you.” Zuko promises, holding her just as tight. 

He’s thankful for her receptiveness to his embrace, and he doesn’t want to let go. His heart feels like it might burst. Whether out of fear or happiness he can’t tell. 

“What about you?” Kelani wonders, pulling back just enough to look up at Zuko. 

Moments like this make her wish she had more time to train with Sokka, so that she could feel less useless, and maybe help in the event that they have to fight Zhao. If anything, she’s grateful for what she learned from Sokka, and the healing she learned from Katara. 

“If I have to fight him, I will.” 

“There will be no fighting, Zuko.” Iroh says from the doorway, standing next to Zhao. “But I do have some bad news.” 

Zuko breaks contact with Kelani to turn and glare at Zhao. Kelani cowers behind Zuko, terrified to be in Zhao’s line of vision. Iroh looks back at her with sympathy. Zhao’s eyes trail past Zuko, and catch sight of the dual swords hanging on the wall. Kelani follows his eyes, and gasps. 

If he didn’t know Zuko was the one to free her and Aang before, he knows now. She can feel Zuko tense in front of her. Zhao challenges the existence of what he calls the ‘Blue Spirit’. Iroh admits to thinking the Spirit is a myth, but Zhao assures him that he is indeed real. 

Kelani shivers. 

“I’ve taken your men.” Zhao spits at Zuko, who stands ready to fight. 

“All of them?” 

“The whole crew.” Iroh nods solemnly. 

“Well…” Zhao says, eyes glued to Kelani. 

Zuko tucks her behind him and glares at Zhao. Iroh, too, looks upset at the way Zhao is treating her. 

“That’s enough, Zhao, you got what you were after.” Iroh warns. 

Zhao’s eyes linger on Kelani before he turns to leave. 

“My offer to join me still stands, Iroh, if you’d like to take part in the attack on the North.” Zhao says as he walks past Iroh, leaving the three of them to let out a collective breath. 

“The North?” Kelani looks to Iroh in fear. 

“They know the Avatar is headed there, and plan to attack.” Iroh lowers his head, looking defeated. 

Kelani can’t breathe. Her home would once again be ravaged by the Fire Nation. Zuko scowls at the news, still reeling from losing his crew. He feels stupid for promising that he wouldn’t let Zhao hurt her. While he didn’t lay a finger on her, he’s still hurting her by attacking her home and everyone she loves. 

That night, Kelani stirs awake, hearing movements and hushed voices above them on the deck. She jolts, feeling unsafe after Zhao’s visit. Without hesitating, she leaves her room in search of anyone else before remembering nearly everyone else is gone. From the far end of the ship, she can hear Zuko. 

“Uncle?” He calls, looking for Iroh. 

“Zuko?” She calls back. He’s the only person she’s able to find. Iroh being absent from whatever commotion is going on. 

Zuko rushes down to meet her. They share a worried look just in time for the blasting jelly to be hit by the explosives. They’re thrown back by the force of the explosion, falling out of one of the ship’s windows, into the sea. Kelani sputters, resurfacing quickly, and frantically looking for Zuko. He resurfaces a moment later, a few feet away from her. She swims as fast as she can to reach him, and grabs him before creating a water bubble around them to keep them from being shoved by the aggressive waves around the rocking, burning ship. As they float, Kelani tries to bend a wave over the ship to douse the flames. It extinguishes most of the more accessible flames, while the ones on the mast of the ship continue to burn. 

Kelani pulls Zuko through the water, hoping to find the shore. He coughs at the water lapping into his mouth and down to his lungs. They make it to shore and Kelani helps pull him out of the water. In the distance she swears she can see Iroh, watching sadly as the ship continues to burn. Overhead, Kelani notices a familiar iguana parrot. Zuko continues coughing up water, as Kelani feels herself choking on smoke. 

Once she can breathe again, Kelani can’t help but scowl at the image of Captain Aimo’s iguana parrot. Of course he has something to do with this. 

“Is that-” 

“Yeah,” she answers through gritted teeth. 

She can’t help the shiver that rakes through her as they sit on the sand, letting it accumulate on their wet skin and clothes. Zuko notices and offers himself as a source of warmth. Kelani scoots closer to him and lets him wrap an arm around her. She immediately heats up. 

“How could they be involved?” Zuko wonders, watching the bird circle the burning ship. Kelani scoffs. 

“They want us dead.” 

By daybreak, the pair devise a plan to infiltrate Zhao’s ship as he charges his fleet through the water to the North Pole. The idea of being on the offensive side of the invasion makes Kelani feel guilty, but they had no other options. As much as she would rather swim herself back to her home, she knew she would freeze. She hasn’t owned warm Water Tribe clothing since she was taken, and her lighter robes would never maintain her body heat. 

Zuko disguises himself as a guard, and so does Kelani. She just has to be careful not to speak, knowing Zhao would never have women as anything other than sexual objects. With the help of Iroh, the two know where to go to remain inconspicuous. Zuko leads her down the corridor past Zhao’s study to avoid running into him. They hurry around the corner and he stops, both of them out of breath. 

“I’m scared,” She whispers, removing the shield of her helmet. 

“I know.” Zuko nods, doing the same so that he can really look at her. 

Kelani got used to being in danger as a pirate. But she couldn’t wrap her head around people wanting her dead. She understands why they’re angry, but it’s a lot to comprehend and pretend to be unbothered by. Not to mention her home and the people she loves are in danger, and there’s nothing she can do to stop it. 

“Why does everyone want the Avatar anyway?” 

Kelani feels anger bubbling inside of her. Zuko sighs, not looking at her. As much as he’s determined to capture the Avatar for his father and restore his honor, he’s overcome with shame. 

“The Avatar is the only person who can put a stop to the war, and bring peace to the world.” Zuko explains, watching Kelani’s face change while still trying to avoid her eyes. 

“And that’s a bad thing?” 

She wants to understand, but nothing makes any sense. 

Zuko pauses, unsure how to answer her. Truthfully, no, it’s not a bad thing, and he knows it. He knows that what he’s trying to do is the opposite of what he should do. He feels selfish for worrying about himself and his father and his nation, but it’s what he has to do. 

“What? So, you want to kill Aang?” She challenges, trying to read his face. He’s refusing to look at her now, and it makes her angrier. 

Zuko’s face burns. His immediate reaction is to admit, no, he doesn’t want to kill the Avatar. It’s not his plan. But, bringing the Avatar to his father would be a death sentence for the airbender. 

“Well, if we don’t then he’ll kill my father!” Zuko immediately regrets shouting, fear lacing his features as he darts around, making sure he didn’t draw attention to them. 

Kelani steps back. 

“Aang wouldn’t do that, he’s innately a pacifist.” 

Zuko scowls. 

“If he doesn’t kill my father, the war doesn’t end, and there will be no peace.” 

As Zuko admits it, his skin crawls. He knows he’s on the wrong side of this war, but there’s nothing he can do to stop himself from his course of action. It’s what he has to do as the Crown Prince for his nation, and it’s what he has to do for himself. 

Confused and disgusted, Kelani backs away from Zuko further, returning the shield over her face. Zuko can feel himself getting angrier as she walks away, the fire itching at his fingertips threatening to give him away. When no one is around, he shouts, blasting fire over the edge of the ship.