The cabin boy sits on the cot while I look at the sea charts again and check our course. I could adjust it here, and cut very close to those fissures where there are even shipwrecks drawn on the map by a skilled hand. The warning is clear.

I wouldn't usually disregard it.

But I will, this time. It will be no good to have to preserve the ship in its entirety in what I feel coming. I am not all-powerful. But I can take some fissures.

This will place us just a day or two before Chamaeleon Bay. The former, if the storm keeps up its pace.

"Do you think they'll try something?" It's not necessary to ask who he means. Any of the others are a potential danger. But during this storm, I am every single one of their reasons why upsetting me would be very detrimental to their survival.

"Are you afraid they will?" I turn to face him. The question is obsolete. His response is not.

"Ebisu was one of the ones that…" Hurt him when they were all in the hold together. When I hadn't even thought of the boy as someone who needed protection at all.

"Which one's that?" My voice remains calm and as disinterested as it usually is.

"The taller one," he whispers. What a manipulative little boy.

A frown finally manages to break free. I intensely dislike Ebisu for what he did. One wrong move, and it's one less mouth to worry about feeding. I don't need more than two or three others to sail this ship.

"They won't try anything now," I turn back to the charts. "And if they do later, I won't be gentle."

It seems to calm him somewhat. He must remember the brutality of the mutiny. Circus Girl indirectly killed two men and grievously injured three more. Azula burnt one to a crisp only to kick him overboard and let the flames sizzle out in the waves. Mai was unable to fight properly because of her worry for her little brother, but she defended herself well until she was restrained.

And I… well, there was a reason none of them were standing when it was done. There was a reason why they behaved so well afterwards.

No one likes almost dying of suffocation. Even less when it is caused by your own bodily fluids. Some flinched whenever they swallowed a few hours later.

One and all, they were no longer confident their bodies would do as they were told. Instead, they were confident that I could d to them whatever I wanted and there was no one who could stop me but my own good will and conscience.

"But you won't make him walk the plank yet?"

A bit vindictive, that one.

"Not until he breaks his word. If he doesn't at all, he will be with us until Chamaeleon Bay. Perhaps even Ba Sing Se," I turn to look at him again. Stubborn silence on his part. It seems he has grown enough in confidence to at the very least openly show his distaste. Perhaps even the beginnings of rebellion.

I doubt he would provoke his former tormentor, but I wouldn't put it past him. Those who have never been in power tend to abuse every slither of it once they have it, when those who held it over them previously were not kind. No one has ever been kind to him.

"Unless of course, you want to make your own way?"

"No!" He panics, leaping to his feet, and suddenly grasping at my shirt. "Don't! I won't!"

"Alright. That's fine. It's entirely up to you whether you stay with me, or go. Whatever you want." It seems I've become his protection and his source of feeling secure. A dangerous dependence on a man who could disappear or die at any moment.

He sags, and puts his forehead to my sternum.

Okay then. He might as well write 'handle with care' on his forehead.

I pat his hair. "What's your name anyway?"

"Haruto," he mumbles.

"That's a nice name. I'm Kaito."

"Hello," he still doesn't let go. I continue to pet him.

...

There is no such thing as one truth.

There are perspectives, many of them, and they can all be true, but there is not one truth. One might argue that there are facts, and they constitute for what we know is true, and therefore hold truth. That is not the only kind of knowledge we can have.

There is emotional competence, and such things as inference, or even a string of happenings. There are such things as change, and time, and overlaps that no human could fully comprehend.

And so, when someone lies to me, I don't usually think it's because they are purposefully untruthful. To them, what they are saying may be true, or hold some truth. But when I have caught them red-handed, so to speak, about to alter our course when I know it's right, there is no way I will believe Circus Girl that she had only wanted to avoid a fissure. She may not know much about sailing, but she does know that I know more, that Haruto knows more, and he has alerted me to her actions.

Perhaps this is where she was supposed to help Azula capture us. Though I had suspected Azula would take one of the Fire Nation's coal-powered warships, and chase us to the blockade at Chamaeleon Bay. Perhaps even attempt a breach.

Though I suppose she knows that on the water she could not hope to stand against me.

Well, then I think I shall put Gorou on guard rotation with her. They seem to hate each other. Understandable, really, from her perspective, since he wasn't exactly opposed to the idea of letting the other pirates have a go, only that he wanted the full ransom payment. And Gorou… he doesn't like anyone, really.

His mood is mostly surly, and that is when I like him best. He doesn't speak then. When he does, it's very carefully veiled barbed comments that only prick once one stops to think about it. None of the others do. None of the others hold any kind of conversation with him.

He's a very… dark presence, I suppose. Tom-Tom doesn't seem to be sure about him, and Mai cautiously keeps them both away.

The other two pirates aren't very good at keeping their mouths shut, so Gorou does it for them. I don't want to know what he's done to make them more afraid of him than me.

The storm seems to put everyone on edge, though.

I gain momentum each day.

There is energy in the air, charging, and I can feel it swirl around my body, ready to be harnessed.

But not yet. Not quite yet.

On the horizn I can see Fire Navy ships, and they too are sailing for their lives. The difference is, they won't make it. I hope Azula's on one of them.

...

What has never occurred to me before it smacked wetly into my face, was the odd lack of bad weather in the Avatar-Universe. But unlike the times when rainstorms were a bother and health-hazard, here they give me rise to power.

Power that sparks fires of fear in my fellow travellers as they witness how I harness the water and singlehandedly sail us through the barricade the Fire Nation has erected.

It's a rush, and at the same time, infinite peace.

They have no idea what a bender with imagination is capable of.

I have the rudder in the tight grip of a fluid fist, use the enormous masses of water thrashing in a tantrum to propel us forwards like Spirits of the Sea, like the Flying Dutchman. And the Sea allows it, guides me as she always does, to the heart of the storm.

Nautical miles that would have taken us weeks to sail, we now rush past at speeds I would imagine even a motorboat on a quiet day would struggle to cover.

I can feel where the wind whips into the sail, driving us deep into enemy waters. Enemy waters that have become a death sentence to all Fire Nation ships while this storm lasts.

And where the ship is groaning, I know it isn't because of impeding wreckage, but elation. We face no resistance, and I would call it flying, if I weren't so aware of the power the Sea lends me.

As the winds and the water and I cut across the distance, I become aware of one man standing a short distance away.

At first, I think it is Gorou, or even Haruto. But no, it's someone entirely different.

A Spirit I know I have a deep connection with.

La, of the Ocean, in his human appearance is visiting me, guiding, and riding the storm in perfect harmony with me. I would concentrate on his appearance, see if I know him, and I would say he looks a lot like my uncle, the sailor I knew in my first life, but as it happens I know who he is, that he is here to share this with me and that is all I need to shout with joy.

...

Don't forget to throw some power stones :)

...

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