>>>Zuko’s POV<<<

               It was almost noon, and Elizabeth wasn’t up yet. Or did she escape? I had been waiting for her for hours. “Hey, Uncle? Have you seen Elizabeth?”

               My uncle chuckled. “Why don’t you go check in her room?” he suggested with a small grin on his face. I sighed and walked down the stairs into the hall. Why do I even care about her so much? She’s rude! And she doesn’t even talk a lot, but when she does, the weirdest things come out of her mouth… I remembered how she didn’t tell us where she was from. Well, she actually tried to lie about it. She’s a terrible liar.

               Stop thinking so much about her! I scolded myself. By now I was standing in front of Elizabeth’s door. I knocked three times, but there was no reply to come in, or even to go away. I cracked the door open and quietly entered the room, only to find her fast asleep in the bed. My brain wanted to leave, but my feet wouldn’t budge. She had fallen asleep in the clothes she wore yesterday, but her coat was sprawled on the floor, along with that bag of hers. I suddenly remembered yesterday, before I asked her where she was from. She was looking at something on a piece of paper, and was starting to cry.

               I sighed. I walked over to the dresser and pulled out a spare blanket, then walked over to the girl. Her light hair was still up, and her eyes were closed, her breathing steady and peaceful.

               I forced myself to stop looking at her, and put the blanket over her body. I left as quietly as I came, glancing once more at her before I silently closed the door behind me. Walking back up on the deck, Iroh turned to face me.

               “So, how was she?” he was trying to hide a hinting smile, which aggravated me.

               “She was fine,” I said stiffly. “Just sleeping.” I looked away uncomfortably from my uncle’s gaze. “Let’s start training.” I abruptly changed the topic. Hopefully doing my firebending training would take my mind away from her.

>>>Elizabeth’s POV<<<

               I woke up feeling refreshed. I really conked out, didn’t I? I thought to myself. I sat up in the bed and stretched. Noticing that I was laying on one blanket and covered in another, I started getting confused. Either I found this in my sleep or someone came to visit me. Eh, I thought, I don’t feel like getting too confused or stressed about this. If it was Zuko… then I’ll get angry. I threw the blanket off me and saw that I never changed my clothes, but I didn’t mind. I decided that I’d wear this outfit for one more day and then I would change into some different clothes from my bag. I got up from the bed and also noticed that someone put what looked like lunch on the table across the room. I picked my coat up off the floor and put it on, then walked over to the food and ate a little bit. I wanted to eat, but the food didn’t taste good, so I just choked down what I could. I also took my ponytail down because my ears were getting cold.

               Walking out of my room, I followed the directions the guard had given me the other day. When I was up on the deck, I heard Iroh say, “Do it again!” Iroh was sitting on a stool, while Zuko was training his firebending-shirtless. His muscles were showing off, and I had to avert my gaze from him. He definitely looked much stronger than in the cartoon. I walked a bit closer but stopped, for I didn’t want to get anywhere near the fire, and also I didn’t want to distract anyone.

               Zuko blocked fire from a guard they were using to train, and he sort of flipped over another, then stood with his fists outstretched in the direction of each guard. Iroh stood up and his voice rose. “No! Fire comes from the breath, not the muscle! The breath becomes energy, and the energy extends itself past your limbs and becomes fire!” he shot fire right in front of Zuko, but he didn’t even flinch. Iroh sat back down. “Drill it again!” Zuko angrily threw a blast of fire at one of the guards, who wasn’t expecting it, making him fall on his back.

               “If what the Fire Sages say is true, the Avatar disappeared 100 years ago. That means he has 100 years to master the elements. That means I’ll need more advanced firebending to defeat him! You will teach me the advanced set!” he shouted.

               They held an intense stare for a few seconds, and then Iroh gave in. “Fine,” he said, still holding the stare, but then grabbed a bowl of something from under the stool. “But first, let me finish my roast duck!” he started scarfing down strips of white meat, and Zuko gave a disgusted look. I walked forward more, and Zuko’s eyes flickered to me, making us lock eyes for a few seconds, but he reddened and looked away. What was that about? I asked myself.

               Walking over to the edge of the ship, I leaned on the side and looked at the sky. The sky was a calming blue, with big white, fluffy clouds lazily floating along. I thought about Clifton, who would always talk about how he could look at clouds and draw them exactly the same, but when you looked at the drawing it would look like some sort of animal. July and I always loved looking at those drawings, and we actually tried getting Clifton to teach us. He said he doesn’t know how to explain it, and July and I would tease him about how he could explain complicated math problems but not how to draw clouds in that special way. I then remembered how we once watched him do one of those drawings in a pencil. It turned out amazing. Poor July was always jealous of his talents for art.

               When I got snapped back to reality, there were tears going down my face. I really miss everyone… I wiped my eyes and looked back at the sky, sending more tears down my face. I wish I had them here. Or at least someone who I get along with, someone who’ll never leave me. I always knew I was lucky to have the great friends I have, but now I’m gone. Or maybe dead to them. Did they have to attend a funeral? For me? that would make me the bad friend then… more tears made their way down my already tear-stained face. I just want to go home… I’m so alone here, no friends, no family…

>>>Zuko’s POV<<<

               While I was waiting for Uncle to finish his disgusting roast duck, I noticed that Elizabeth was on the side of the ship. She seemed to be looking intently at the clouds, but she looked so… so lonely. I walked over to her, hoping that she wouldn’t yell at me or anything like that.

               The breeze was making her light hair blow back in such a beautiful way, but there were tears going down her face. I put my arm around her and she cried, her head pressed up against me. We stayed there for a few moments and I pulled away. What were you thinking? I asked myself harshly. You can’t act like this! Reluctantly, I went back to Uncle, who was putting his bowl back under the stool. He nodded at me, and I went back to training. The whole time, though, I could not forget Elizabeth crying. She must be going through a really rough time…

               After the tough training session, it was time for dinner. I sat in my usual spot next to Uncle at the small table set up in his room. Today we were having the usual fish, but instead of rice, we were served with some sort of crunchy spheres in a sweet sauce. To be honest, I was too afraid to ask the cook what the new side dish was, for it would probably be something gross. The whole meal I was quiet. I just didn’t feel like talking, not even about the Avatar.

               I knew eventually Uncle would talk about some sort of serious thing that he thinks is bothering me. He’s always able to pick up on my emotions and sometimes he knows exactly what’s wrong- even if I don’t.

               “You should go visit her.”

               “What?” I really hoped he wasn’t talking about Elizabeth, but I knew he was.

               “Elizabeth needs comfort. You know she’s lonely. Why don’t you bring her some dinner?”

               “Why are you always sending me to see her? If you know this so much, why don’t you go comfort her yourself?”

               “Don’t you think it would be a bit weird for an old man like me to do that? It might freak her out, and we don’t even know what’s proper in wherever she’s from.”

               I sighed. I really couldn’t argue with that. “Okay.” I reluctantly got up and got a meal and some tea, but I put rice where the other side dish would go. A few minutes later, I arrived at her room and knocked.

               “Come in.” her voice came from inside. Opening her door, she was sitting at the table, writing by candlelight. I closed the door behind me. She was sitting on a few pillows stacked up, and she turned to face me. “You can put that on the night table,” she turned back to her writing.

               “The what?” I asked. A night table?

               She let out a sigh. “The table thing by the bed.” She was still turned around. I placed the tray on the “night table” and walked next to her. She was writing in a notebook, but the pages were very white and had blue lines on them. She was using what looked like a stick with a point at the end, and there was a small box that has other writing utensils similar to the one she was using. And what she was writing made no sense to me whatsoever. It looked like different shapes that were clumped together in groups; some big groups and some small groups. I sat next to her, and she stiffened.

               “What type of writing is this?” I asked.

               “English.” She replied. English?

               I was about to say how that doesn’t even make any sense and that doesn’t exist and what I would usually say, but I didn’t. I don’t know why or how, but I somehow stopped myself. “Uh… okay then…”

               “Why did you even ask if you don’t even care?” she stopped writing and turned around to look at me in the eyes. Her green eyes paralyzed me. I saw the sadness she was feeling, that she was alone. Sort of like me… my thoughts froze at that realization. We were misfits. I have Uncle, though… well, she does, too. At least right now.

               “I’m sorry.” I managed to say. She turned away from me, and brought her knees up, burying her head in them. I sat there, feeling helpless. I didn’t know whether to comfort her or sit back and give her space. Remembering what Uncle said about her being lonely, I went next to her and embraced her.

               “I know how you feel,” I said quietly. She was crying into her knees.

               “N-no, you don’t!” she looked up at me. “Just leave me alone.” I nodded and started to leave her room. “If you need me…” I started, but stopped mid-sentence, and left.

>>>Elizabeth’s POV<<<

               After Zuko left, I climbed into bed and cried. Why did I have to be here? To be separated from everyone I knew and loved? That night, I barely slept, tossing and turning in bed.