Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The first time he woke up on the poor, hunk of metal excuse of a warship with half of his face still seeming to be on fire, Zuko felt nothing.

That period was quite short. Soon, he was angry, most notably with himself. He had disobeyed his uncle’s orders and had showed shameful weakness in front of Father and all of the spectators at the Agni Kai. The only thing that he could do to come back home was to capture the Avatar, a non-existent entity at this point (just like his honour, and oh the irony).

All this to say that the first year on the Wani was stressful. It was stressful for Zuko who didn’t know how to deal with any of his feelings, or the fact that he was in charge of people who were probably planning mutiny every week (yes, he knew he was a bad captain, he wasn’t that stupid). It was stressful for Iroh because his nephew was spiralling down a well of manic anger and being on a warship just reminded him of going to the siege of Ba Sing Se (and those were not nice thoughts). It was stressful for lieutenant Jee who was the first in line to deal with the tornado of brattiness that was their supposed captain, all while having to manage the rest of the crew who had all various amounts of disobedience within them. And it was stressful for the rest of the crew who had been embarked on short notice for a journey that they would likely never get out of, and of course the Prince didn’t make things pleasant for them either.

After a year at sea, Zuko’s anger started to slowly simmer down. His fire, already weak from his slight fear of fire, became even weaker. Soon all he could do was light a candle, and that was it. At practically fifteen, he was slowly losing the will to do anything.

His encounters with Zhao certainly didn’t help, always pestering him with the fact that he would never go home and how much of a useless heir (and human being) he was (all in the most polite, saccharine way so that Uncle could never reprimand him). He just started not going out of his room and barely eating his food. He felt as if he would slowly disappear with no one even remembering he existed.

That wasn’t the case for Iroh, who had grown slowly concerned to extremely worried about his nephew’s behaviour. He felt very hesitant towards bringing Zuko to the Sun Warriors, what with his loyalty to Ozai still running strong, but he knew that if he did nothing, the boy who had practically become his son would be lost for good.

So Iroh managed to bring Zuko to the Sun Warriors’ island (after much convincing) and they met said Warriors. Their Chief wasn’t to happy with him for bringing a stranger, most notably the son of the Fire Lord to them, but after seeing the shell of a human being that Iroh had brought, he quickly accepted their stay.

The next day, they went to meet the Masters, and Zuko almost got a heart attack at the sight of the two dragons. But Iroh managed to get him to do the Dragon Dance that he had begrudgingly learnt the night before, and once ended, the two dragons opened their mouths and released their fire.

At this moment, Zuko felt two things: fear and awe. Fear, because two bloody dragons had popped up and were spitting fire at him (and his uncle), and awe, because their fire wasn’t like anything he had ever seen. It wasn’t just red, orange, yellow or even blue-ish like Azula’s. No, it was also green, blue, purple, lilac; it even had a bit of white in it!

Something clicked in his head, all those talks of not always using his anger for fuel by Uncle started to make sense. Fire wasn’t this angry, skin burning thing that could only be used to hurt, fire was life, both in its good and bad ways. And at this moment, Zuko felt something he hadn’t felt probably since Mother disappeared.

He felt at peace.

His firebending was finally back and stronger than ever, which was saying something, and funnily enough, it had a few hues that hadn’t been there before (it was subtle, but definitely there if you looked hard enough).

The peace didn’t last for long. When they got back on the ship after promising not to tell anyone about the Warriors or the Masters, stress decided to slam Zuko in the face like six earthbenders doing a choreographed routine. But this time, he didn’t shout as much, scowl as much or even glare as much. This time, he tried to get along with his crew, even if it was just a little.

He started learning how to do basic mechanical repairs with Aiko, a tall, buff woman who kept bumping her head in every doorframe and probably didn’t know the meaning of the word subtlety. He learned how to cook with Kazuto, an average looking man with too much energy (probably because of the inhuman amount of caffeine he was absorbing) and a penchant for sour food. He learned how to use a spear with Genji, a bloke from the colonies who liked to jump off of staircases and had a fine taste for liquor. He learned how to actually read a damn map with helmsman Kyo, who liked to collect calligraphy brushes but never used them and should probably stay away from the kitchen, as he always broke something which would get Kazuto to set him on fire. He learned how to pickpocket and haggle thanks to crewwoman Furora, who definitely had a tendency to lie face down on the ground in everyone’s way when she could, and was definitely NOT addicted to fire flakes. He learned how to take care of komodo-rhinos and messenger-hawks thanks to Shoji who liked to read scrolls about local legends and hated wearing gloves (“I don’t care if it’s unsanitary to clean a cage barehanded, gloves just aren’t natural!”). Even lieutenant Jee taught him how to maximize his voice so that it could be heard miles away (after promising that he wouldn’t use it to scare the crew, no he wouldn’t use it to get back at Zhao for the tsungi horn incident, NO HE WOULD NOT USE IT TO…).

Soon enough, Zuko actually got along with his crew. Sure some still didn’t like him much, and he still was an almost sixteen-year-old brat (“As all teenagers are” once said Jee to one very drunk crewmember), but things were more than bearable now. Zuko had even started to use his bending to compensate for his bad eyesight and hearing on his left side by finding a way to feel the heat that people emitted. It was easier to feel firebenders, but he managed to get the hang of it and could soon know where someone was, as long as there wasn’t a wall between him and them. It came in handy when the final mutiny happened with an especially quiet crewman trying to stab him from behind, closer to his left side. Zuko managed to dodge to encounter with only a light scratch and the crewman was dropped at a neutral port after a thorough beating by Aiko and Genji, and a loss of most of his money courtesy of Furora.

Though there was something Zuko had been thinking about lately: his banishment. The fact that finding the Avatar was a fool’s errand had hit him one day waking up, and he had spent the rest of the day in his room. It wasn’t the fact that it was impossible, he already knew that, it was the fact that his Father had knowingly given him this impossible task. That fact had never managed to get to him until now, and he slowly started to evaluate everything in his life.

Every single encounter he ever had with his Father was unpleasant.

That’s because you’re a useless idiot who’s brought him nothing but shame since the day you where born.

But that didn’t make sense, because he remembered Azula being just like him until she got her firebending.

That’s because she’s better than you. She got her bending at four while you got yours at seven. You always were a fucking weakling and he could see that clearly.

Then why didn’t Mother and Uncle treat him like that too?

Mother abandoned you. And Uncle is just a fat old man who’s using you to compensate for his dead son.

But if he sees me as his son, that means I’m worth something.

That’s a low bar. You’re not useful to him. You’re not useful to Father because you’re a weakling. He said suffering would be your teacher, but it seems you haven’t suffered enough.

But can’t he see that I’m loyal to him?

You’re not loyal! If you were, you would have sent a hawk about those Sun Warriors, about those Dragons, about that uncle of yours who’s pretty much a traitor by knowing about them and not doing anything. But no, instead you frolic around on that excuse of a ship, learning useless and downright degrading skills from lowlifes and insulting him by still being alive.

So… I’m not loyal?

And yet you should be.

I’m a disgrace?

Not that you should want to be.

But then, what do I want?

That last question, he didn’t know how to respond to it.

*****

Soon after his seventeenth birthday (celebrated with a LOT of alcohol, courtesy of Genji and Furora who managed to get a great barrel for a very cheap price), they were back at the South Pole. The familiar cold hit them again, and after a few days, only the firebenders stayed out on deck.

Genji was in the process of getting Furora away from the training part of the deck, while Uncle sat there playing whatever old people game he played and drinking tea. Zuko, for the most part, was just enjoying watching Genji struggle even lifting Furora who was trying not to laugh. All of a sudden, a glowing white beam shot to the sky in the distance. That got everyone’s attention.

When they arrived at the small Water Tribe village, Zuko discovered that the Avatar was a kid. A twelve-year-old kid. Now that… wouldn’t be good for his current treasonous thoughts that had become more and more frequent. Nevertheless, Zuko was not one to back down. His ship had gotten quite damaged after the kid went in the Avatar State, so they had to go to a port. Unfortunately, this port had Zhao in it.

After the impromptu Agni Kai he somehow got himself into, Zuko knew two things. One, Zhao couldn’t get his hands on the Avatar, because that was his ticket home and the only thing that had kept him going for three years, and because Zhao was just creepy and Zuko did not want any kid in his proximity, Avatar or not. And two, trying to capture the Avatar was the only thing he could do with his life. As previously stated, it had been the only thing keeping him going before and after that breakdown he had. He felt like he didn’t have a choice, and it wasn’t like he could do anything else. A small part of him just hoped that the Avatar and the two Water Tribe kids who went with him would play it safe and not attract any attention.

Of course, the Spirits decided otherwise. The Avatar was on Kyoshi Island, and Zuko felt obligated to get him. He decided to bring a bit of energy into his “performance” as the guy chasing them. After all, if he was going to do something he wasn’t even sure he wanted to do, he would at least have a bit of fun with it (he also hoped that the trio would pick up on the slight hints to not be seen so much by the Fire Nation). As such, to the Avatar and his friends, he was pretty much the version of himself during his first year at sea, which meant using Jee’s vocal coaching. That whole Kyoshi Island debacle only ended in the village the trio was in being burned down, and because he felt guilty about that, he was glad that the kid had used the Unagi to stop the flames, even if it ended up with him and his crew getting very wet.

A few days after finding the Water Tribe girl’s necklace on an earthbender prison (seriously, did none of them get the fact that they were in danger if caught?), his uncle got captured by earthbenders, and while he did see the Avatar’s bison in the sky, Uncle definitely took priority. No one would blame him for that, right? Although he did go to the village in the area, which turned out to have been where the Avatar had been staying.

He managed to track him, and it turned out they were heading straight towards the bloody Fire Nation of all places. At this point, Zuko was ninety per cent sure that they didn’t have any survival instincts. He apparently didn’t have any either, because the Wani stayed on course, straight to Crescent Island. The fact that Zhao was present in the area, yet let him pass didn’t sit well with him. He was up to something.

But Ozai didn’t raise no quitters, so Zuko continued. He felt a headache coming.

Chapter Text

Things where going bad. Actually, that was an understatement. Zhao had captured both Zuko and the Water Tribe siblings, and three guards were currently dragging them to a cell. He was cuffed while the two were just held by the guards. The Water Tribe boy was in the middle of ranting to the guard holding him who looked very done with him. Zuko shared that feeling.

He just felt so tired. Not in the sleeping sense (he could survive a few days without resting), it was more emotional tiredness. Zhao would get his hands on the Avatar once the doors opened, and Zuko would be executed, if Father was feeling charitable. Those lovely thoughts in mind, he almost didn’t see the escape attempt the boy pulled, which of course failed miserably. Well at least the guy had some spirit.

The three of them got thrown into a cell with bars on the entering side. The siblings immediately went to the opposite side of the cell, which granted wasn’t very far, and the guards left, probably thinking the job was done.

The cell’s bars didn’t look too thick from where he was sitting. Maybe he could melt them? That could work, but he would need to get out of those cuffs, which bound his hands behind his back. Would he have to melt the cuffs too? That would definitely burn his wrists, and he didn’t really want to add more burns to them. He would if he had too, but he held out hope that the siblings would find a way to get out of this situation like they seemed to have done so many times before.

---

This was bad. This was very bad. Sokka and Katara were currently stuck in a cell with Prince Jerkface, in the Fire Nation. He really hoped Aang would get some amazing info or something from Roku, because these events were NOT ideal. Katara and him were trying to find a way to get out, while the jerkbender was sitting there, looking at the floor in front of the bars.

“We don’t have a lot of time, we need something fast” he said, trying not to panic.

“Maybe I could try freezing the bars?” Katara tried.

“No”, he said, “They look too thick to break with ice. The only way to break them would be to… I dunno, melt them?”

“Can’t do that with my hands behind my back” a low voice suddenly said.

They both turned to mister doesn’t-know-what-good-haircuts-are who was still looking at the floor. He was sweating, and while they were all sweating because the Fire Nation really loves volcanoes apparently, he seemed to have trouble breathing. Wait, was he… hyperventilating?

“I’m not going to break the only thing keeping you from roasting us!” Katara said, looking very annoyed. Her eyes suddenly looked more curious. “Are you hyperventilating?” Ah, she seemed to have noticed too.

“Yes, that’s what you do when you’re stressed.” The jerkbender said, rolling his eyes.

“Why the fuck are YOU stressed?” Sokka angrily asked, “You’re their fucking prince, they won’t do anything to you. Actually, why DID they lock you up?”

“Because I’m banished?” he answered as if it was obvious. “And because I’m banished, I’m not allowed to come back to the Fire Nation under penalty of death.”

“What?” Now Katara looked confused. “No that’s probably just a formality, right?”

“Yeah, I mean, I’m sure your freaking dad wouldn’t execute you for not obeying a rule.”

“Well, last time I disobeyed him, he burned my face off, so…”

“He WHAT?” They both shouted at the same time.

“Actually, now that I think about it, you’re right.” He continued nonchalantly, as if what he was saying WASN’T slightly horrifying. “Death is a mercy here, so I’ll probably be thrown in prison or just be locked up in an underground cell never to see the sun again.”

Sokka… didn’t have words anymore. What the fuck was going on? The angry jerk tracking them since the South Pole was banished? And apparently, his dad was the reason why a third of the guy’s face was a permanent glare. What kind of father would do that? And why in Koh’s Lair was he so nonchalant about any of this, like this was normal?

“Anyway” Prince jerkface (actually, maybe he should find a better nickname now…) said, seemingly bringing both of them back to reality, “between dying a horrible death and/or being imprisoned, and helping my nation’s enemies, I would prefer the latter option. So no, I won’t roast you if you break my cuffs. Not that I need my hands for that…” That last part was harder to hear.

Katara turned to Sokka looking unsure, and he understood why. Should they trust him? The guy had been pretty against them in every single encounter they had, but Sokka did remember the fact that he kept his word to not burn down their village after taking Aang at the South Pole, so he seemed to at least sometimes keep his words. There was also the glaring fact that the guy had clearly been abused by his dad (the Fire Lord, aka evil war dude, who just got a whole lot eviler in their eyes), and it didn’t feel right to leave him like that, at the mercy of people who CLEARLY didn’t have his best interests at heart. Ugh, was Aang already rubbing his friendshipy pacifistness on him?

“Well…” Sokka tried. “Okay, but you gotta promise not to turn against us once we’re out of here”

“Consider the rest of this day free of our usual fights” Zuko answered a bit too sarcastically. Though he did seem to mean it, so…

“Okay. Katara, you freeze his cuffs and I hit them with Boomerang, then you” he pointed at Zuko “melt the bars and we break out.”

They did that. Zuko got up and turned around, Katara took some water from her water skin and froze the chains linking the cuffs together, and Sokka broke said chains with Boomerang (he may have hit slightly harder than he needed to, but abused or not, the guy WAS still a jerk).

After taking a second to look at the bracelet part of the cuffs still on his wrists, the Prince went in front of the bars. He held out his hand with two fingers out and a small blue flame suddenly appeared. Sokka pointedly did NOT flinch. Zuko started melting one bar, and at this rate, Sokka knew they would be there for a while, which wasn’t the plan at all. Then the firebender moved on to the next bar without even finishing with the first.

“Hey, why aren’t you cutting all of it?”

“Takes too long.” The jerk simply answered, apparently too busy with his sub-par melting.

--- 

A minute after starting, Zuko had melted bits of the top and bottom parts of three bars, just enough to get through. He got up and kicked them twice, then gathered his chi and fire to his leg to make one last kick strong enough to break the weak points. The Water tribe guy suddenly “Oh”-ed, as if he had just understood something. The three of them went through and he silently opened the door to the hallway, thanking the Spirits that it had been oiled. Two of the three guards where standing there, idly chatting, one with a spear, and the other with a sword, most likely non-benders. He gently closed back the door.

“What do we do?” the boy asked.

“We make sure they don’t scream” Zuko responded, very much aware of the unsettled look they were throwing him. If they were going to make is wrists ache when cutting the cuffs, he could at least freak them out slightly.

He opened the door again and ran towards the guard with the spear. The guard didn’t have time to get in position before Zuko yanked the spear out of his hands and twirled it in the air in order to hit the other guard’s head. Said other guard fell on the ground but wasn’t unconscious. The guard that previously had the spear reached out towards the horn meant to alert other guards, but Zuko hit it out of his hands and hit said guard on the head, this time enough to make unconscious. He heard movement behind him, but when he turned, the other guard had gotten hit with the Water Tribe boy’s boomerang, and was now very much unconscious.

“So, do you remember the way back?” He asked turning towards the siblings. For some reason, they had a shocked expression on them, though maybe he wasn’t reading them well. He had never been good at understanding the small intricacies of body language like his sister could.

“Uh… Yeah, I think I do” The boy said seemingly gotten out of whatever thoughts he was in.

“Okay then,” the girl declared, “let’s go.”

They ran through hallway after hallway, with no other guards in their way (Zhao had probably underestimated them). After a while, he really hoped the boy’s sense of direction was as good as he kind of claimed, because it felt as if they where getting no where. He was about to express his frustration when they made a turn and arrived at the entrance of the Great Hall, where the doors that held the Avatar still stood firm and, much to Zhao’s very loud irritation, closed. He heard the waterbender next to him sigh at that.

“So, what no-” the girl started, before said doors opened slowly, smoke clouding the inside of the room.

“Ready” he heard Zhao say as a pair of glowing eye became visible through the smoke. “Fire!” The soldiers threw flames at the figure.

“No! Aang!” the waterbender screamed. But it wasn’t the Avatar; at least it wasn’t the kid. The wall of flames swirled around the figure, revealing Avatar Roku. Said Avatar sent back the fire at the soldiers and Zhao, but leaving him, the siblings and that sage that had turned traitor but had been kept it the Hall, unharmed. Zuko did put his arms around his face when the flames came. Old habits. The ground began to shake.

“Avatar Roku is going to destroy the temple!” the sage shouted, running towards them. “We have to get out of here!”

“Not without Aang!” the girl retorted. Avatar Roku slammed his hand to the floor, splitting it with lava suddenly rising through it. The siblings ran behind a column and Zuko followed them, because there was no way he’d get melted alive by a dead man. The lava went back down, and the three of them peeked from behind the column. The smoke swirled around the old Avatar, and dissipated to reveal the new one who collapsed on his knees. The siblings ran towards the kid to help him up.

“We got your back,” the Water Tribe boy told him.

“Thanks,” the Avatar said, sounding exhausted. He then looked around weakly. “Where’s Shyu?”

“I don’t know” the girl responded.

“Wait,” the kid stopped, probably realising that Zuko was still here. “What are YOU doing here?!”

“They imprisoned us together, and he helped us out.” The Water Tribe boy answered. “But now…”

“Now you help me get out of here and I extend my offer to until I get back on my ship” Zuko aided, really hoping that they would take him. There was no way he could actually get back to his ship now, with the temple about to implode on itself. Speaking of which, before they could answer, the ground shook again, and they ran towards the stairs, but those where filling up with lava. They then ran towards a big hole in the wall that Avatar Roku had left, but there was no way of getting down.

Just as things where looking hopeless, the three others gasped while looking at the air. Zuko followed their line of sight, and could see the bison and lemur (who seemed to be wearing a hat?) flying towards them. The three of them ran on the roof (and he followed) and jumped on the bison (he did not follow). The Avatar looked back at him.

“Well… I don’t know what your offer was, but you can climb on too.” He said, looking unsure, which was fair enough.

Zuko nodded and climbed into the saddle. He held tight as the bison flew away from the collapsing temple quickly, which made him hold even tighter and close his eyes. He quickly opened them, and looked at the temple with the others. It soon disappeared into smoke with an explosion, dramatically.

The lemur was, in fact, wearing a sage’s hat.

Chapter Text

The four of them were looking at the temple being destroyed. It was… scary. Aang looked as if he was somewhere else while looking at it. Even though this temple was Fire Nation, Katara felt a bit of dread bringing her stomach down. Though that might have also been from the fact that the firebender who had chased them since even before they’d left home was currently in the same saddle as them.

The moment didn’t last long, though. Momo hoped right in front of Aang and Sokka, who both jumped at him, which threw Katara and Zuko off balance. After realising the situation they were in, Aang airbent himself on Appa’s head, Katara and Sokka quickly scooted to the part closest to him on the saddle, and Zuko stayed where he was, looking as if he was trying to take as little space as possible. Momo was the only one who didn’t seem to understand what was wrong, which was weird, because she was pretty sure he knew that the prince was supposed to be their enemy. Maybe he understood that if he was here, that meant he wouldn’t hurt any of them?

Aang broke the silence first. “So, uh… You… helped Katara and Sokka?”

“Uh… yeah, I guess” Zuko responded awkwardly. Then silence.

“So what do we do now?” Sokka asked. “What are you going to do now?”

“Like I said, I’m gonna try getting back to my ship, but while I’m here, I won’t try to hurt any of you” Katara felt her stomach sink.

“Wait, you want to go BACK to the Fire Nation!?”

“Well, I can’t go back to the Fire Nation because I’m banished, so…”

“Wait, you’re banished?” Aang asked. Oh right, he didn’t know. Katara wasn’t sure if she really wanted him to know about that.

“Yup.”

“Why?”

“Because I spoke out of term during a war meeting and refused to fight in an Agni Kai.”

“A… wait, what?” Katara was dumbfounded. What in Tui’s name was wrong with that nation?

“Right, you don’t know.” The firebender sighed, looking uncomfortable. “Sorry for grazing over details, but I’m used to basically everyone I talk to knowing about it.”

He took a deep breath. “Back when I wasn’t banished, I managed to get myself in a war meeting thanks to my uncle. He told me not to say a word, but the plan being talked about was… well… they were basically going to send new recruits to the slaughterhouse just to gain a patch of land, which wasn’t even very useful by the way, it was more of an ego trip for that particular general. Anyway, I spoke up against it, basically saying his plan sucked ass, though in a more polite manner. Uh… anyway, Father was… angry, to put it mildly. He said I was being disrespectful, and that this could only end one way: an Agni Kai.”

“What’s an Agni Kai?” Sokka slowly asked.

“It’s a firebending duel which ends when one of the opponents get burned, dies or forfeits. I accepted because I thought I was going to fight the general, but… well… When I spoke out, it was in the Fire Lord’s war room, so when I disrespected the general, it was actually him I had disrespected instead.”

The three of them were speechless. How could a father ever challenge his own child to a duel, much less one that normally ends by death or burning? They already knew where this was going, but they still held on to that glimmer of hope, even if the outcome had basically been spelled out to Katara and Sokka.

“So, when the Agni Kai started, I realised that I was to fight against my father. I immediately refused to fight. I got on my knees and begged for mercy, but he told me to fight. I told him I wouldn’t, so he… he… Well, the answer is on my face if you don’t get it yet. When I woke up, I was banished, with capturing you (he looked at Aang) being my only way to get back home.” He was sitting with his knees against his chin, slowly dipping his head inwards. Katara was struck by how small he seemed at that moment.

After a while, Sokka spoke up. “And you want to go BACK!?” tears were forming in his eyes and he was shaking in anger. Katara felt the same.

“It’s not as if I can do anything else!” Zuko bit back, signature frown back in place.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe you could NOT try to go back to the guy who BURNED HALF OF YOUR FACE?!?”

“Sokka!” Katara shouted. Sure, he was right, but he could have found a better way of saying it!

“Well, it’s more like a third of my face…”

“Same difference!”

“Listen, I get you think it’s a horrible thing to do, but he was just teaching me a lesson. And before you say anything else,” he added, pointedly looking at Sokka who was about to interrupt him, “yes I realise that this whole capture the Avatar thing was a fool’s errand until you waltzed back in the South Pole, yes I probably shouldn’t want to go back to the person who sent me on said errand because that’s clearly a “don’t come back here” message, and no, my fucking loyalty to this man isn’t very stable, which is probably the reason why I was so eager to help you in the first place. Now can we please talk about something else, or not speak at all?”

Aang, who had been staring into nothing this whole time, decided not to grant the firebender’s wish. “You mean you don’t see anything wrong with him burning you?”

“Well…” Zuko responded, looking taken aback, “I don’t see why you’re focusing on that part, but as I said, that was just a lesson and a normal punishment.”

Aang just looked horrified, and it broke Katara’s heart to see him that way. The firebender just looked confused at everyone’s reactions, but then again he seemed to thing it was normal for a parent to maim their child.

“Zuko, that’s not a lesson or a punishment.” She tried. “A lesson is when your parents explain why what you did was wrong, and a punishment is getting reprimanded, being sent to your room or not getting a second serving at meal times. What your father did… That was child abuse.” She really hoped he would understand that.

But apparently, he didn’t. “It’s not the same thing. My father’s the bloody Fire Lord. He’s supposed to set an example. What kind of leader would he be if he didn’t make sure his children were disciplined?”

“A good one.” Sokka muttered.

“Look, is there really nothing else we can talk about? Like the fact that you three purposefully went into Fire Nation territory?” He was changing the subject. They weren’t going to let that happen.

“Right, I completely forgot!” Aang shouted. “Roku told me that there was a comet coming, and that I have to learn all four elements an defeat the Fire Lord before summer’s end!”

Okay, they were going to let that happen.

“What?!” Both she and Sokka reacted the same way, but Zuko, after looking relieved with the change of subject, looked only mildly surprised.

“Oh right, I guess something bad’s probably gonna happen when Sozin’s Comet arrives.” They all turned to look at him. “Knowing my father, it’s probably going to be something similar to… uh…” he looked at Aang guiltily.

“To what?” Sokka asked.

“The Comet comes up every hundred years,” Aang replied, looking sad, “and last time, the Fire Nation used it to… kill all the Air Nomads.”

With that last statement, Appa roared.

“Oh, you’re probably tired, buddy! We should land somewhere. How about there?” He pointed at a patch of land that looked like a clearing. He tried to look jovial like usual, but Katara could see that he was faking it. He was upset, and probably just wanted to sleep like the rest of them. It had been a long day, and they had just learned a bunch of new life-changing information about one of their enemies AND their future. Who wouldn’t be tired?

They landed and got off Appa. Sokka was taking out a bag with seal jerky in it when he seemed to have realised something.

“Wait.” He turned to the firebender who was stretching. “How can we be sure that you won’t just kill us when we sleep?”

Said firebender started counting on his fingers. “I don’t know where we are, you’re my current best bet to getting back to my ship, I don’t want to kill any of you, plus killing the Avatar would just be counter-productive, and I keep my promises that I say with a straight face.” The last two parts they couldn’t really know if it was true or not, but the rest seemed convincing.

“Well,” Aang tried, picking up Momo from the ground, “we could just make Momo keep watch on you, and if he sees you do anything suspicious, he can scream at us so that we know if something’s up!”

“I… don’t know if Momo can do that.” Katara said, very unsure whether the flying-lemur actually understood what they wanted him to do or not.

“I think he can,” Zuko stated, “but me saying that probably makes it look like a bad idea. So how about instead, he sleeps on me, and like that, if I get up, he’ll get up and probably be cranky about that, and then you’ll all get awaken by him screaming at me for waking him up.” It was as if he already knew Momo.

After thinking for a few seconds, Sokka replied. “That… sounds like a good idea.” They set their sleeping bags on the floor while Zuko took of parts of his armour off, but keeping his wrist-guards. Katara realised that he still had the wrist parts of the cuffs locked on, but he didn’t complain about it, so she didn’t say anything. They didn’t have a forth sleeping bag, so she gave him a cover to at least get something between him and the ground. After thanking her (that was a bit of a surprise), he looked thoughtfully at the blanket, then looked up.

“Hey, does one of you have a razor?”

“I do!” Aang replied, already getting it. “Why?”

“I uh… I’m just gonna cut my hair.” He said, awkwardly staring at the ground.

“Tired of having bad hair tastes?” Sokka commented snarkly.

“You’re one to talk, ponytail.”

“IT’S A WARRIOR’S WOLFTAIL!”

“Sure it is. I’m just going to that river over there. It’s in your line of sight, so I guess it should be fine. Okay?”

“Sure.” Katara replied. She kept an eye on him while he was cutting his ponytail (from afar, he seemed to be using a knife. Wait, where was he keeping a knife?). After a few minutes, he came back, head freshly shaven. Somehow, that brought even more attention to his scar.

Aang looked up and smiled. “Hey, now we’re bald buddies!”

“Not for long.” Zuko replied, and was that a fond smirk on his face? What in Tui’s name? “My hair has a tendency to grow extremely quickly. By tomorrow morning, it’ll be back. It always is.” (Katara doubted that hair could grow that fast, but kept that comment to herself.)

With that said, and after making sure that Momo wouldn’t move off of Zuko (which was surprisingly easy) they all went into their sleeping bags, they fell asleep.

 *****

When she woke up the next day, about an hour after the sun rose up, Katara was already prepared to see a vacant space where a certain firebender should be. Instead, she saw him laid on his back with Momo on his stomach, looking at the sky like he was regretting all of his life decisions. She couldn’t help laughing at the sight, catching his attention.

“Can you please get him off me?” He asked irritably.

“Sure. How long have you been awake?” She picked up a purring(?) Momo, who seemed very angry at being taken away from his living mattress.

Zuko got up and stretched as if he had been cooped up in a tiny box for hours. And wow, he hadn’t lied the night before, his head already had fuzz on it! “Since sunrise.”

“Do you usually wake up this early?”

“When I go to sleep the night before, yes. Some firebenders wake up with the sun, no matter what. Useful for routines, not so much when you want to pull an all-nighter.” Katara decided to ignore the “when I go to sleep” part, because she wasn’t quite ready to be worried for the health of the guy who was still kinda sorta their enemy.

She went to start breakfast, but as she was preparing the fire, she could feel Zuko standing behind her. “Need anything?”

“Well… uh… Do you want some help?” Tui and La, his awkwardness was almost palpable!

“Uh, sure… Can you start the fire?”

“Sure…” Turns out, having a firebender is very useful to make a fire. Who knew?

After getting the fire going, he looked up at her. “Need anything else?”

“Oh, well, I’m making breakfast, so there’s not much you can do there…”

He gave her a weird look. “…Why?”

“Because you’re a prince. I’m guessing you had people making your food for you, right?”

“Well, no, I can cook.” She couldn’t help but be surprised at that statement. From what she understood, wealthy people had other people do their stuff for them. The literal prince of the Fire Nation (banished or not) shouldn’t have been any different, right? He seemed to sense her confusion. “I learned from the cook on my ship. He didn’t take kindly to people messing up recipes, so I think I can make a decent soup since he only yelled at me around three times…”

“Oh… well, then you can help me make some soup before these two wake up!” And he did. It’s funny how much faster it is to make something when someone is helping you. Sure, Aang tried to help, but he wasn’t really good at cooking (though he was good at baking), so he just stopped trying after a while. And of course, Sokka didn’t really help her either. His run-in with the Kyoshi Warriors may have made him understand that girls could fight, but that didn’t mean he got the fact that boys could (and maybe should) cook. Hopefully, him seeing Zuko do this would make him realise that he was wrong about that too.

Speaking of which, the two sleepy heads were finally getting up, and almost immediately went for the soup. They sat around the fire, a bowl for each, with Momo curled up next to the firebender (for some reason).

“Is it me, or does this taste different than usual breakfast soup?” Sokka asked while still having a mouthful of said soup.

“Yeah, it’s less… salty.” Aang continued.

“Well, I guess since Zuko help out with it, it would taste different.” Katara reasoned, trying not to feel offended with the fact that Aang seemed to prefer this version of her soup.

Sokka turned to the firebender in surprise. “Wait, you helped her?” Said firebender nodded. “Why? Did you poison it or something?” That last part was said only half-jokingly, but Zuko didn’t seem to take it well because a frown appeared on his face.

“I did not poison the bloody soup!” But then he suddenly calmed down. “And I just wanted to help, cause… well… I dunno, better do something rather than stand somewhere doing nothing like a dumbass!”

“Hey, language.” Katara pointedly said to him.

“Whatever. It’s not like you two were helping her, and cooking was faster so just be glad!”

Sokka razed his hands defensively. “Okay, okay! It’s just hard imagining you doing something nice out of the goodness of your heart. Also, I just… didn’t really think you knew how to cook.”

“Cause I’m a prince, yeah yeah I know.” He seemed to ignore the “goodness of his heart” comment.

“No. Well, yes actually, but also cause you’re a guy.”

“… What?” Zuko said, staring blankly at her idiot brother.

“Well, guys don’t usually cook, cause its women’s work and all that…”

Zuko just looked like he was trying to solve an extremely difficult puzzle. “The fuck?”

“Language,” his swearing was starting to irritate her, “and Sokka, I think you should realise that if women can fight, then men can cook.”

“Wait.” A very confused sounding Zuko cut in. “You thought women couldn’t fight?”

“Until Kyoshi Island, that is!” Aang retorted cheerfully.

The firebender was now looking at the grass as if it could tell him all the answers of the universe, but was only saying them in cryptic riddles. “Is that how it works where you’re from?”

“Uh… yeah” Sokka said embarrassedly. “But like Aang said, I get now that women can beat anyone’s butt.”

“Then you’d better learn that men can cook, and well,” he said slowly, still looking at the grass, “or dumping my ship’s cook on you will be a much more effective method to defeat you.”

He looked up, and after seeing their worried looks at the “defeating you” part, he clarified: “That was a joke. I would only do that to a select few people, and you’re not part of them.” And with that, he got up to clean his bowl at the river, with Momo following him, leaving the three of them alone.

“So… What should we do about him?” Katara asked.

“I’m for letting him stay with us, he seems kinda nice,” Aang answered immediately, “you know, when he’s not trying to capture me and all. Also, I think Momo likes him!”

“I don’t know guys” Sokka retorted. “Sure, the dude’s been through some messed up stuff, no doubt about it, and apparently he’s been doing all of this to get back home, but what if he’s lying?”

“Then why would he help me?” She knew he was making a good point, but she wanted to be the middleman, so to speak. “He could’ve just stayed there doing nothing.”

“He could be trying to assert himself into the group!”

“Or, he’s just trying to be friendly because we helped him?”

“I don’t know, Aang,” Katara objected, “from what we’ve seen of him since the South Pole, he’s a loud, angry jerk who’s always been trying to capture you. Then all of a sudden, he’s being… nice? That just feels weird.”

“I’m sure he’s just boiling with anger right now.” Sokka mused. “I mean, you heard all of his reactions during our discussion, right?”

“Actually, I think he was right to get mad at your sexism.”

“Oh for La’s sake, what’s wrong with saying that men don’t usually cook?!”

“Guys!” Aang shouted, bending a bit of wind at both of them. “We’re getting off track! I say that we ask him if he wants to join us instead of going back to being enemies.”

Sokka looked like he couldn’t believe his ears. “That’s a terrible idea! What if that’s his plan? You’ll just make it easier for him to get you! I say we let him stay until the nearest town, then we just walk away without him noticing.”

“Sokka, I don’t think that would work” Katara reasoned. “Also, it’s a terrible idea, and I’m sure neither Aang nor I would go with it.”

“So you’re with my idea?” Aang asked her hopefully.

“I… don’t know.” She really didn’t. On one hand, she wanted to help the firebender, but on the other, she was still very suspicious of him, even if he seemed like an actually okay person (when he wasn’t fighting them). Though Sokka could be right about the whole “he’s trying to kidnap you right now” theory, since the prince had been acting very much out of character since they got thrown in the cell. And ever since, apart from one or two bursts of anger, which were pretty justifiable, he’d just been quietly staying around them, not doing anything suspicious, or acting like (what she might now think wasn’t) his usual angry self. Then again, less than a day wasn’t enough to get a read on someone. “I think we should let him stay, but not get too comfortable with him around. And we should keep our guard around him.”

“Okay, fine.” Sokka slightly begrudgingly accepted, “but we have to keep an eye on him, like all the time. And if we see anything suspicious, then we kick him out. Okay?”

“Okay” The three of them replied. Wait, three???

“HOLY-” Sokka jumped.

“Hey Zuko!” Aang greeted looking at the firebender that had somehow sneaked onto their conversation. How in La’s name was he that quiet?

And wait a minute… “How long have you been listening on us?” She asked a bit aggressively.

“Since the “keep an eye on him” part.” He replied, though she had a feeling he’d heard a bit more than that.

Aang jumped to his feet, right in front of Zuko. “So anyway, do you wanna join us? Like, permanently?”

Katara and Sokka looked at him in utter bewilderment. Didn’t they JUST talk about this???

“Uh… I don’t know…” Aang deflated at that, but the prince still looked like he was thinking it over. Then his head shot up. “You know what? Sure. It wouldn’t be the craziest thing I’ve ever done.” And with that, Aang was practically glowing while jumping in the air, Sokka was having a babbling fit, and Katara was both worried about the last thing he said, and their future.

Well, at least they had another helping hand, and Momo seemed to appreciate him.

Chapter Text

They had been flying for a few hours now, and Sokka had enough of this. Aang was pacing around, breathing heavily, and, from what he could see while holding the reins, looking extremely worried.

He got a bit frustrated. “Would you sit down? If we hit a bump, you’ll go flying off. What’s bugging you anyway?”

“It’s what Avatar Roku said.” Aang replied worryingly. “I’m supposed to master all four elements before the comet arrives!”

“And it’s only now that you’re freaking out about it?”

“Well, there was other stuff happening before, but now that I’ve had time to think about it, it just seems more and more impossible!”

“Well, let’s see.” Sokka started sarcastically. “You pretty much mastered airbending and it only took you a hundred and twelve years. I’m sure you can master three elements by next summer.”

“I haven’t even started waterbending and we’re still weeks away from the North Pole! What am I gonna do?!” Okay, now Sokka was feeling a bit bad for teasing the kid.

Thankfully, Katara came to the rescue. “Calm down, it’s going to be okay. If you want, I can try to teach you some of the stuff I know, and I’m sure Zuko could too.”

“Isn’t there like, an order you gotta follow?” the jerkbender asked.

“I don’t know. Isn’t it more like a guidline?” Aang asked.

“Well, from what I’ve read, there’s some spiritual mumbo-jumbo going on where you shouldn’t learn them out of order, because you need to learn stuff from one element in order to progress to the next.”

“Oh, so I guess you won’t be teaching me?”

“Not until you’re done with earthbending, though I can give you some pointers.”

“Cool! So then, I guess it’s a good idea to start waterbending.” He turned to Katara. “You’d really teach me?”

Katara nodded. “We’ll need to find a good source of water first”

Sokka grinned at that. “Maybe we can find a good puddle for you to splash in.”

Said puddle was turned out to be a big river and an even bigger waterfall.

“Nice puddle,” was all he had to say. Hey, he could admit being wrong while being sarcastic too! His sister and Aang seemed ecstatic, while Jerkbender looked bored. While Appa and Momo flung themselves into the river, Aang took of his shirt, ready to join them.

“Remember the reason we’re here?” Katara asked with a dry tone.

“Oh right. Time to practice waterbending!”

“Great. What are we supposed to do?” Sokka asked, somewhat annoyed.

“Speak for yourself, I’m gonna try to break those without destroying my wrists.” The prince snarked while holding up his cuff-covered wrists. Right, he still had those. They didn’t seem comfortable. “That’ll probably take me a couple of hours, if it even works…” And with that, he walked off to a rock to sit on.

Aang looked at him. “Well, you could… clean the gunk out of Appa’s toes!” He held out a branch with leaves to him.

Sokka crossed his arms. “So while you guys are playing in the water, I’m supposed to be hard at work picking mud out of a giant bison’s feet?”

Aang smiled cheerfully at him. “Mud and bugs!”

“Okay.” Appa did deserve something special after the last few days… Said bison looked really comfortable once he started. “Yeah don’t get too happy. You’ve got to do me next.”

While Aang and his sister were busy splashing around, Sokka had time to think about a few things, like the fact that they had basically accepted the crazy jerk on their team. He still wasn’t happy about it, but he had clearly been outvoted by Aang and Momo (though why Momo, he didn’t know. Did the guy just smell good or something?), but at least Katara had the decency to be a bit suspicious. As for Appa, well he hadn’t made himself very clear on the subject… He just didn’t get it; the jerkbender was acting so weird! Maybe he was just very good at acting. He had already started to weave himself into the group, what with insinuating he’d teach Aang ashbending and helping Katara cook (seriously, what was up with that?), but Sokka was on to him, he wouldn’t let him slip out of his sight once, because there was no way he would trust this jerk with anything! (Well, except maybe his soup…)

A giant wave coming towards him was what got him out of his thoughts. It crashed and pushed him off Appa, sending him into the water. He slowly got out of the water, pissed, and went on the bank where Jerbender was, looking at him like he didn’t know whether to laugh, smirk or not emote.

“Looks like I got the hang of that move!” he heard Aang say. “What else do you got?”

“That’s enough practicing for today,” Katara angrily retorted. Sokka empathised with her on that, but she probably had a different reason to be annoyed.

“Yeah I’ll say!” He pointed at the fleeing bags. “You just “practiced” our supplies down the river!”

“Uh, sorry.” At least he had the decency to look guilty.

“That was a really stupid move kid.” Jerkbender pointedly said looking annoyed.

“Hey, don’t call Aang stupid!” Katara quickly defended. “He just didn’t think things through.”

“That’s the definition of stupid, and I would know.”

“Well,” Aang cut in, “I’m sure we can find somewhere to replace all this stuff.”

Sokka just felt cranky. “My life was hard enough when you were just an airbender.”

*****

The managed to find a town a few minutes away from walking distance, with a market and a port. They were about to head in when Sokka stopped them.

“Wait, you can’t just go in there like that,” he looked at the firebender, “you look exactly like a Fire Nation soldier!” He really did, because he was still wearing the clothes supposed to be under the armour, his boots and his wrist guards.

“Nah,’ he retorted, “this seems like the kind of place where they don’t care who you are as long as you have money.”

And with that, they split the money in half and got into two groups: Katara and Aang would look for food, and Sokka would look for other supplies with Jerkbender, after finding a way to get his cuffs off. It didn’t take them long to find a small blacksmith, who could probably break them. The dude wanted ten copper pieces for that though, which was way too expensive for their budget. Somehow, Zuko managed to haggle a better price, and they left with him happily looking at his free wrists (well, as happily as he could look).

“Where did you learn that?” Sokka asked him, because there was no way they taught haggling in princely lessons.

“One of my crewmates is quite good at haggling, so I asked if she could teach me.”

“Well that’s pretty useful.” Wait, no! Now he was starting to accept him!

After finding what they needed, they regrouped with Aang and Katara, and counted their money.

“Okay, so we’ve got exactly three copper pieces left from the money that King Bumi gave us. Let’s spend it wisely.”

“Uh, make that two copper pieces, Sokka.” Aang told him, holding up a bison shaped whistle. “I couldn’t say no to this whistle!” He then proceeded to blow hard on it, but unlike what they were expecting, it didn’t make a sound.

“It doesn’t even work.” Sokka complained as Momo squawked at Aang. “See? Even Momo thinks it’s a piece of junk.”

Katara cut in. “No offence Aang, but I’ll hold the money from now on.” Aang deflated as he gave her the money. The four of them (plus Momo) went to the end of the street where the docks were. Aang was a bit behind and after looking back, Zuko slipped next to him. Sokka and Katara turned their heads to make sure he was up to any funny business, but he was whispering something, so they couldn’t hear him. Whatever he said, Aang looked happier afterwards. Sokka didn’t like this.

When they got to the port, they saw a man shouting excitedly. “Earth Nation! Fire Nation! Water Nation! So long as bargains are your inclination, you’re welcome here! Don’t be shy, come on by!” He then ran up to them. “You there! I can see from your clothing that you’re world-traveling types. Perhaps I can interest you in some exotic curios?”

Then Aang got curious. “Sure! What are curios?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but we’ve got ‘em!”

The inside of their boat-shop had a lot of stuff in it: statues, scrolls, clothes, weapons… they even had boomerangs! Katara was looking at a statue that Zuko eyed weirdly.

“What’s wrong?” Sokka asked.

“Nothing, it’s just something my uncle would definitely buy if he came across it.” He then put his head down and looked at the scroll section, which Katara was also in.

He then heard her exclaim: “Look at this, Aang, it’s a waterbending scroll! Check out these crazy moves!”

Aang turned to the captain whom had only seconds ago tried to buy Momo. “Where did you get a waterbending scroll?”

The captain yanked the scroll out of his sister’s hands and started rolling it up. “Let’s just say I got it up North, at a most reasonable price: free.”

Then it clicked for Sokka. “Wait a minute. Sea loving traders, with suspiciously acquired merchandise, and pet reptile birds? You guys are pirates!”

Zuko face palmed, while the pirate from earlier put his arm around Sokka’s shoulder. “We prefer to think of ourselves as high risk traders.” Yeah right.

His sister turned to the captain. “So, how much for the, uh, traded scroll?”

“I’ve already got a buyer, a nobleman in the Earth Kingdom. Unless of course, you kids have two hundred gold pieces on you right now.” That last part was said jokingly.

“Maybe you can haggle it for two copper pieces?” he asked Zuko sarcastically.

“A price that high? No way.” He then lowered his voice. “Plus, pirates only haggle if it can bring them a better price, not the other way around.” He then turned to Aang’s attempt at haggling the scroll, which was going poorly. The firebender looked like he was trying to resist the urge to face palm again.

Suddenly, Katara dragged them out of the ship and was quickly walking away from it.

“What was that all about?” Aang asked.

“Yeah, I was just starting to browse through their boomerang collection!”

“I’ll just feel a lot better once we get away from here.” Well that wasn’t ominous at all.

Then the pirates jumped off their ship and took out their weapons menacingly. The four of them ran off into the streets with pirates in toe, so Katara froze a puddle, which sent one of the pirates sliding past them. They ran into a familiar-looking cabbage merchant, and Aang airbent his carriage at the rest of the pirates. (From afar, they could hear the merchant shouting that this place was worse than Omashu. That’s where he was from!) When the chase seemed to finally be over, three other pirates appeared out of nowhere and chased them to a dead end.

The pirate from earlier swung his long daggers menacingly towards them. “Now, who get’s to taste the steel of my blade first?”

In a flash, Zuko sprinted toward the guy and twisted him around so that he let go of his daggers. He then threw himself at the pirate on his left who was still in shock. Somehow, the firebender managed to break both of the guys’ spears and knock the three pirates out, seemingly without breaking a sweat. He then threw the daggers on the floor and shouted, “Let’s go!” before running off, while they followed.

“You know, that was insane of you to do that.” Sokka shouted at him while running. “You could’ve gotten impaled!”

“Aw, do you care about me that much?” he snarked. Jerk.

They managed to get back to their camp without any more trouble, and were busy getting their breath back.

“I used to kind of look up to pirates,” Aang said, “but those guys are terrible.”

“I know.” Katara smirked. “That’s why I took this.” She pulled out… Oh no.

“No way!”

“Isn’t it great?”

Sokka couldn’t believe his eyes. “No wonder they were trying to hack us up! You stole their waterbending scroll!”

“I prefer to think of it as high risk trading.” His idiot sister joked back.

“Good one, Katara!” Aang laughed.

“Seriously?” the firebender seethed. “You stole from pirates?”

“Well, how do you think they got it? They stole it from a waterbender!”

“Yes, and I would be on your side except for the fact that they were PIRATES!”

Sokka couldn’t agree more, which felt very weird. “Yeah, and it doesn’t matter how they got it. You put all our lives in danger just so you could learn some stupid, fancy splashes!”

But his oh so stubborn sister didn’t budge. “These are real waterbending forms. You know how crucial it is for Aang to learn waterbending!”

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. “You people how no sense of preservation. If something bad happens, remember that this was not my fault.” And with that, he stomped dramatically to Appa, Momo in toe. And honestly, Sokka was tempted to join him, just to get away from all the stupid.

“Well, what’s done is done.” Aang reasoned. “We have it, we might as well learn from it.” Sokka decided to sit on a nearby rock, hoping it would at least be entertaining.

---

Zuko couldn’t believe how stupid Katara was. Aang? He could see it, but the waterbender?? She and her brother seemed like the more responsible ones, but apparently that wasn’t the case. Seriously, who knowingly stole from pirates? There was probably an unsaid rule of sea traveling that you just didn’t do that. And sure, these children (because that’s what they all where, let’s be honest) weren’t sailors, but even in his first year at sea, Zuko had known not to mess with them!

So he had elected to go sit down next to Appa, while Momo used him like a heat pack (the lemur thought he was being sneaky, but he knew what all these cuddles were about). He thought back to the port, because while they were running away, something caught his attention. A ship. A distinctly Fire Nation ship. A distinctly poor, hunk of metal excuse of a Fire Nation ship. He was ninety per cent sure that it was the Wani, and he wanted to go there. The problem was, the Avatar’s friends were (naturally) suspicious of him, and if he told them about this, they would probably think he would try to betray them. But the only thing he wanted to do was make sure that the crew was okay (and maybe show them he was okay too), and explain to at least his uncle why he had joined whom he’d previously chased. Actually, he didn’t really know if he would be able to explain that to him. He didn’t quite get it himself. But it’s what felt right, and Azula always said that he never followed his brain anyway. He was pretty sure Uncle would get it because it was pretty clear that he wasn’t on Father’s side (he wasn’t that easy to fool).

Katara screaming something along the lines of “Just throw the scroll away if you’re so naturally gifted” took him out of his thinking. He turned to look at a teary Aang and a Katara with an expression going from anger to regret. “Oh Spirits, Aang, I am so sorry, I don’t know what came over me. But you know what, it won’t happen again.” She gave him the scroll. “Here, this is yours. I don’t want to have anything to do with it anymore.”

Zuko seriously doubted that last statement.

*****

Night had fallen and they all went to sleep. Zuko decided to play the long game, because he was pretty sure Katara was pulling something. Sure enough, he felt her move away with his bending, and she would probably be gone for a few hours. After waiting a few more minutes, he got up as quietly as possible, checked that she had in fact gone training by taking the damn scroll, and ran back to the port.

When he arrived, he first made sure that no pirates were around. Turns out even their ship was gone, and he hoped it meant they had given up on finding them and had left, but knowing his luck, they were up to something. Whatever, the Avatar and his group would be fine (at least, that’s what he kept telling himself as to not get paranoid).

Close to the end of the port, he saw the same ship that had caught his eye when they ran off. It was in fact the Wani. His heart suddenly leaped as he ran towards it.

Chapter Text

When they had to leave Crescent Island because of the irruption, Shoji knew he wasn’t the only one worried about the prince. Sure, the kid could probably survive anything out of pure spite, but a volcanic eruption (that was apparently caused by Avatar Roku of all people, somehow) seemed hard to get out of. But General Iroh (no matter what he said, they still called him General or Prince) held out hope that somehow, he had found a way off. If you asked Shoji, the man was in denial, but then again, so were the rest of them, because they all hoped that the prince would just materialize out of nowhere on the deck.

They sailed to the closest port, which turned out to have a lot of pirates in the area. Shoji didn’t like pirates because they tended to have reptile-parrots who would infiltrate the ship and annoy his messenger-hawks. Thankfully, the owner seemed to have left, so Shoji could finally relax. Well, try to relax. He was now standing on the deck against the rails, and looking at the moon. Everything was quiet.

Until it wasn’t.

Shoji heard a light clang, a clang that didn’t come from Aiko’s work. It came from the outside of the ship, directly under him, and it was getting closer. He looked over the railing, and found a familiar face staring back at him. He yelped in shock and got back, while the most resilient teenager he’d ever met climbed over the railing.

“Zuko?” For once, Shoji hadn’t used his title (even if it was weird to call someone four years you junior “sir”), but that was because of how surprised he was.

“Evenin’ Shoji.” And apparently, the prince decided not to use them either. Was that a new haircut? You know what, he wouldn’t ask.

“Is that really you?”

“… Yes?” Thank Agni the prince had the decency to not quip back at him.

“Wha… Where in Koh’s Lair have you been??”

“Er… places?”

“What’s all this noise?” Came a tiered sounding voice, aka Furora. “I swear, if you freaked out about a flying-fish-seagull again, I’m gonna-” She cut herself off realising who was with him. “Prince Zuko?!”

“Evenin’ Furora.”

“You’re alive???”

“No, I am clearly a ghostly apparition who has come to haunt the ship.”

“Har har, very funny.”

“I’m gonna go get the general,” quickly said Shoji, because he didn’t want to continue hearing the two’s sarcastic conversation. He hated sarcasm. When he got to Prince Iroh and told him what just happened, he could see the light suddenly pour back into the old man’s eyes. They didn’t have to get back to the deck; Zuko and Furora had followed him from further away. The general looked at his nephew as if he hadn’t seen him in months, while said nephew had a small smile on his face.

“Evening. Uh… can we go talk in your room?”

Always straight to the point it seemed.

---

Iroh couldn’t believe it. He knew he was overreacting, but in the last three years, he had only been separated from his nephew for a day at most, and that had turned out to be one of the most frightening situations he’d been in. Not wanting to think about that event anymore, he focused on his very much present nephew (who looked different. Was that a new haircut?).

He obliged the boy, and they entered his room. All the old general wanted to do was to hold Zuko into a tight hug, but he had learned a while back that it never gave positive results. Instead, he stayed calm and proposed some tea, which his nephew begrudgingly accepted. Once it was done brewing, they settled on a table, and Iroh asked the question that was eating him from the inside.

“Nephew, what happened? How did you get off Crescent Island?”

“Oh… well, you know… helped the Avatar’s friends out of a cell, somehow joined their group, kinda sorta said I’d teach him firebending once he was done with earthbending, became a heated pillow for a lemur, and got attacked by pirates because they’re all reckless children. What about you?” He got more frantic as he enumerated.

Iroh was dumbfounded at that statement. Zuko, the boy who had spent three years of his life chasing after a legend, joined said legend and promised to actively help him? Was that actually his nephew, or did a spirit replace him?

“Well, you’ve seem to have gone through… quite a bit these past two days… As for us, we decided to sail here because it was the closest port, and I held out hope that you would be here. It seems I was right, although I didn’t expect it to happen in that way.” His nephew nodded slowly at his poor joke, and looked at the ground. “So you say you have joined the Avatar. How come?”

Zuko looked like he had been thinking about this question for a while. “Well… It just… I… I guess I just felt like it was the right thing to do. I still do.” Then he took a deep breath, and looked straight into Iroh’s eyes. “Uncle, what do you think of my father? Genuinely?”

That question caught Iroh very much by surprise. When they were children, he had loved his brother for a time, but years later, he only felt detached from him, only seeing his as a well-known acquaintance. Then the Agni Kai happened, and Iroh only felt anger towards him, probably even hate. What he knew for sure was that he had no love for his brother anymore. But saying that to Zuko, whom he had thought to be fervently on his brother’s side all along… well, he would never voice his thoughts out loud. Now however, things seemed to be different, and now that he thought about it, had been different for a while now. His nephew had started letting little traitorous comments slip, even in front of Zhao of all people, and he realised that him hunting for the Avatar now looked more like him doing a chore that he neither liked nor hated. While Iroh could never pretend to fully understand his nephew, this present conversation had brought him in a new light. How long had he been thinking, all alone, about all this?

He decided to be delicate about it, just in case. “Well, your father and I have not really seen eye to eye these past few years. Let’s just say I see him as, well…”

“An asshole?” If Iroh had been drinking at that second, he would have spit his tea out.

He looked at his nephew with poorly concealed surprise. “Well… I wouldn’t use those words, but… yes.” What in Agni’s name was going on???

“Good… glad we’re on the same page.” Zuko said slowly.

“May I ask how long you’ve been thinking this?”

“Well… around a year ago,” a year??? “but it was small at first, then it slowly got bigger, and… I don’t even know what I’m talking about,” he said, frustrated. “It was mostly just about the whole “get the Avatar” thing, but apparently, burning me was also a dick move? At least, that’s what Katara said, and they did look pretty upset about that particular detail, so I really don’t…” He was spiralling into himself again.

Iroh cut him off before he got in too deep. “Well, I’m sorry to say I hadn’t noticed you dilemma, but now that I know, remember that I’m always here to help you, Zuko, whether it be trivial or important issues.” And from his rant, it seemed that the Avatar and his friends could too.

His nephew looked up again and chuckled slightly. “I knew it. You never were on his side, were you?” That seemed to be a rhetorical question.

“So, what will you do now?”

“Well, I came here to tell you about this and get some stuff before going back to them. But… I feel it would be a bad idea for anyone to discover that I’ve gone rogue.”

“Well, then I think you should talk about it to the crew, I’m sure they will find some good ideas.”

He looked at Iroh, uncertain. “Do you think it’s a good idea, Uncle?”

“Nephew, these people beat up the last person to commit mutiny against you. I’m sure they will be on your side.”

“That’s not what I was talking about.”

“I know, and I think it’s an excellent idea.”

---

Externally, Zuko looked like he was a bit nervous. Internally, he was having a mental breakdown. Okay, maybe that was a bit dramatic, but fuck it he embraced that side of him a while ago. And he had good reasons to be more than a bit nervous. Sure, the eleven crew members were the ones that had stuck with him throughout all this madness, and he was pretty sure that some of them liked him slightly (for some reason…), but asking for someone to commit treason for you on the basis of being unwillingly stuck together for three years seemed like a bit of a stretch.

They were all gathered in the mess hall. He took a deep breath. “So, first of all, I’d like to say sorry for any… disturbances that my absence has caused.” He was mostly thinking of Aiko because he had taken the habit of helping her three times a week, and yesterday was one of those scheduled times. “Second of all, there are a few things I need to talk to all of you about.”

“Is it the new haircut? Because if so, it looks pretty good!” A few crewmembers laughed at that, and Zuko couldn’t help but smile a bit.

“Thank you, Teru, but it’s not about that.” He took another breath. “This might come as a bit of a shock to you, but…” Just rip it like a band aid. “I’ve joined the Avatar.”

Most of them looked at him in surprised silence. The only one who didn’t was Kyo, who just nodded while whispering “Nice.” He may have known the helmsman for three years, but he would probably never understand his reactions.

“So, like, are we official traitors now?” asked Sorano.

“Well, only if you stay, and for the official part, it’ll only be known to the ones on the ship…”

“Sweet.” Her reactions, he understood. She had always been the most vocal about not liking the Fire Lord.

“So wait, what’s gonna happen?” asked Kazuto.

“Well, you see, first I need to make you understand that if you don’t want to go against the Fire Lord, and just, the war in general, then you are free to leave with your wages.”

They all turned at each other with questioning looks, with Jee responding for all of them. “We’re already insubordinate. Might as well become traitors too.” That statement reminded him a lot of what he told Aang when the kid asked him if he could join them.

“You’re really all just going to go along with this?” he asked dumbfounded.

“Well, between a Fire Lord who doesn’t give a shit about his people and a teenager who bothers to actually listen to us, I think we all know who we’re following,” the lieutenant responded nonchalantly.

“And not to get too sappy or anything,” Furora added, “but I think I speak for all of us when I say that our loyalty belongs to you, even if you’re still a bit of a spiteful brat.” They all hummed in agreement.

Zuko felt as if he could cry right then and now. These past few days really had taken an emotional toll on him. “Alright then,” he said, getting himself back together. “Well… next up, we still need to seem somewhat on the Fire Lord’s side. Problem is, I won’t be able to stay here, so the ship will be like some sort of decoy. The real issue comes from Zhao.”

“Yeah, he’ll definitely try to pester you again.” Nikko said, making everyone groan at the thought of the commander.

“Maybe we can say you came down with an illness. Like sea rash!” tried Aiko.

“Let’s not make it seem like I’m going to die in a week, please.” Sea rash was well known to be fatal for firebenders, as it would snuff out their inner-flame and kill them or drive them insane.

“Oh right, then how about dragon fever?”

“Yes… yes that could work. He won’t even try to get close if he thinks we have a case of dragon fever.”

“Plus, it takes around month or two to get back from it, so we’ll be free from him too!” Furora said excitedly.

And it went on. They made a plan to stay close to the north with a set route that Zuko learned by heart, so that they could come for help if anything really dire happened. As for communication, it would be no news good news. If something important had to be said, messanger-hawks would be a last resort as they could be intercepted, and if they were used, it would have to be vague and cryptic, but not too much for his own sanity. Once everything was set out, he went to his room to pack what he needed. He took his swords, threw Earth Kingdom looking clothes with sleeves big enough to hide light armour underneath on and packed much darker clothes in case there was an issue which required some stealthy measures (plus his Dark Water Spirit mask for said measures), money (because it was clear the group would need it) and Katara’s necklace that he had found in that prison.

He then went to the kitchen to get some extra food, because from what he saw, Aang and his friends didn’t have any spices. So he got some (a few bags on Kazuto’s insistence) with a few non-perishable rations, plus a bag of fire flakes (also on Kazuto’s insistence). When he got out of the kitchen, Aiko intercepted him and brought him back to the main hall, where she handed him a wrench (“You never know.”) that he put in his pocket. Then came Kyo who gave him a very detailed map (“It even has the smallest villages’ names on the back, just read the numbers!”), Furora who sneaked him a lock opener (“If you ever feel the need to steal shit…”), some basic medicine for animals from Shoji (“Maybe the Avatar’s bison’ll get sick.”) and ten throwing knives from Genji. Wait.

“You have throwing knives? How come you never use them?”

“My parents were in a circus and taught me how to use them, but I prefer spears. Since you’ve got a pretty good aim, you can at least scare some people with them. Just remember to pick them back up if you can.” Well, that was informative. Good thing he learned a bit from Mai on how to use them, though he was probably pretty rusty.

The rest of the crew gave him extra money (“Our pay’s next week, it’s fine” insisted Teru). When he finally got on the deck, there was only his uncle and Jee with him.

“Well, this is it then…”

Jee looked at him for a bit, before patting his shoulder. “Don’t die on us, sir.” He smirked, before leaving. Zuko did not feel tears coming up. He then turned to his uncle who took hold of both of his shoulders, almost like a distanced hug.

“Take care, Nephew.” He smiled with tears being reflected by the moonlight.

“You too, Uncle.” He nodded, and yes, he’ll admit he was crying now. And with that, he jumped over the railing and silently climbed down the ship.

As he was going through the dark, empty market, he felt weird, as if being watched. His paranoia settled in, so he climbed onto the roofs instead. Instantly, he felt two heat signatures on the opposite side of the building he was now on. He crept over the two, and thanks to the clear sky that was almost at dawn, he managed to recognise them as two of the pirates they had met earlier. Well shit. Good thing he hadn’t continued on the ground, otherwise they would have caught him off guard. Good thing he also had his swords with him now.

After putting his bag on the roof and making sure it wouldn’t fall, he jumped to one of the pirates and knocked him out immediately with the hilt of his left sword, before blocking the other’s sword with his right. But the pirate twisted his arm to make him loose his sword, which he then pushed away. While he was still good with only one sword, Zuko decided to make his opponent cocky, just to test something that Aiko had told him a while back. He swung his left sword and the pirate blocked his blow, after which he let go of said sword. Now looking defenceless, the pirate lost all sense of wariness.

“Not as good as you think you are, ey?” was all he could say before Zuko ran at him, Aiko’s wrench in hand, and slammed it to his head hard enough to knock him out and maybe have a bit of a concussion. He picked up his swords, put the wrench back in his pocket (he would now keep it like he kept Uncle’s knife) and climbed back on the roof to get his stuff. Just to be sure, he jumped on several more roofs trying to detect anyone, but he didn’t find any more pirates. They had probably been there just in case one of them came back. But if that was the case, it probably meant that they were trying to find them. Shit.

He ran through the forest as quickly as he could, not taking the time to feel if the masses of heat he felt were human or animal and just went around them. He arrived at the camp at dawn, and he sensed no one around, except for Appa. After making sure the bison was okay (he was still sleeping, so whatever happened didn’t happen here), he woke him up, packed the saddle, put his extra bag on it and tried to get across to him to be ready for anything. He then took a deep breath, and concentrated to try to find the others. He felt a group, close to the riverbank, with one signature that felt like a lemur. It was definitely them. He ran towards the group, making sure to be silent. “Never underestimate the power of a dramatic entrance” once said Piandao.

He really hoped his theory on the bison whistle was right.

---

Sokka couldn’t believe it. The pirates had found them because Katara had sneaked off to play with magic water, and the three of them were tied up to a big tree with Momo locked in a wooden cage. Oh and also, the jerkbender was missing. Just great.

The pirates were talking to the captain who had the scroll in his hand, so Sokka took this moment to talk to the others. “Anyone got a plan? Because I can’t reach my boomerang.”

“I can’t move my hands, so I can’t bend,” his sister answered.

“Neither can I,” said Aang, whose feet had also been bouned.

“I’m sorry guys,” Katara said guiltily “this is all my fault. I shouldn’t have run off like that.”

“Hey, it’s fine, I’m sure Zuko’ll find a way to get us out.” Aang said, optimistic as usual.

Sokka couldn’t believe this. “Zuko? He’s probably the one who told them where we were! This was probably all an elaborate ruse just to capture you!”

He noticed the pirates’ conversation was getting more frantic. “What do you mean, “you didn’t find him”?” shouted the captain.

“Well, Sho and Koji were supposed to be back from the market if they found him, but they haven’t so I’m guessing he didn’t go there.”

“And the woods?”

“Nothing.”

“Can none of you find a fucking teenager?? The kid’s not even a bender!”

“Well, he did seem quite good with swords…”

“Shut up, Oh!”

“I guess he didn’t work with them after all,” said Aang smartly.

After sighing deeply, the captain walked towards them. “You kids are gonna regret ever stealin’ from-” He got cut off by something flying between him and them, straight towards Momo’s cage. That thing turned out to be a flaming knife that burned enough of the bars to release Momo, who flew straight towards the captain while angrily chittering. That got the captain off balance, and he lost hold of the scroll, which rolled away from him, and straight towards a person hidden in the shadows’ feet, who picked it up.

“Hey!” the captain shouted, still fighting off Momo. “Give that back!”

The person held out the scroll over their other hand, and lit said hand on fire, revealing their scarred, smirking face.

“Zuko!” called Aang happily before turning his head towards Sokka. “See? I told you he’d come and help us.”

“From what I remember,” the firebender loudly proclaimed, “this is worth quite a lot. It would be a shame it something were to happen to it. I know for a fact that even a light scorch would devalue it.”

“I’m guessing you want those three free in exchange for the scroll?” the captain angrily asked as the lemur flew next to Aang.

“Let them go unharmed, and you have a deal.”

“Fine then, but we get the scroll back first,” he bargained, taking out his sword to try to be intimidating.

“You’re not really in a position to haggle.” But the captain smirked, and Sokka could see a pirate creeping behind Zuko. Before he could shout at him to be carful, the firebender turned around as if he had known that the pirate was behind him, and kicked him back towards a now red faced captain. “Well that was useful,” he snarked, looking unimpressed. “Now, I do hope you’ll get back to our deal, or your two-hundred gold pieces will go up in flames.”

“Fine,” the captain spat before turning to his crew. “Release them!”

Reluctantly, the pirates untied them, but it was clear they wouldn’t let them get close to Zuko, who was eyeing them all quickly.

“Aang, could you try that whistle again?” He asked.

Katara and Sokka looked at each other, confused, but Aang let out an “Oh!” of understanding, got the whistle out and blew in it as hard as possible. Once again, it didn’t make a sound. A few seconds passed before Appa barrelled into the clearing they were in and roared threateningly at the pirates. The three of them scrambled onto the saddle, while the captain turned back to Zuko.

“There, now give back the scroll!”

“Sure,” he said, before throwing the scroll in the air. “Catch!” That got them all running for it, leaving him free to sprint towards Appa, though not before getting back the now not-flaming knife.

As he hopped on, Aang shouted quickly “Yip yip!” and they were flying. When he turned around, he asked: “Wait, where’s Momo??”

Said lemur appeared in front of him, with a scroll in his paws. “He got the scroll back!” exclaimed Katara. But Sokka wasn’t going to let her get away with it, and snatched the scroll before she could take it.

“First, what did you learn?”

“That stealing’s wrong.”

Zuko raised an eyebrow. “And?”

“And, don’t mess with pirates.” This was good enough for him, so he gave her back the scroll.

He then looked back at the firebender and realised something. “Are you wearing different clothes?” He then saw what was holding the strap going over his chest. “IS THAT A SWORD???” he didn’t exclaim excitedly.

“Yes, and almost.”

“Where did you get those?” asked Katara. Right, of course, priorities first. He also realised that there was an extra bag on the saddle.

“Er… First, you have to listen to the whole thing. Don’t interrupt me.” He looked pointedly at Sokka who raised his hands defensively. “Okay, so my ship was in the port, and-”

“What?!”

“I said don’t interrupt me, for fuck’s sake!”

“Language.”

“Yeah, sure. Anyway, I went to my ship, had a little talk with my uncle and crew, I got a wrench, extra food, money” now that was interesting, “and this.” He finished, pulling out Katara’s necklace. Wait.

“My necklace!” She exclaimed while snatching it back. She looked relieved for a moment before looking back angrily at the firebender. “Where did you get this?”

“ I didn’t steal it, if that’s what you’re wondering. I found it in an earthbender prison, because apparently, you people want to get incarcerated.”

“Oh, well, thanks I guess.” She said, taken a bit aback.

Meanwhile, Sokka was rummaging through the part of the bag that had food in it, and found a bunch of weird paper packets. He opened one, and found a weird red powder in it. He took a bit on his fingers to taste it.

“Careful, you might not-” Zuko tried to warn him, but it was too late. Sokka had just eaten something that might as well have been poison. It was burning his tongue, and was spreading to his throat. He was crying because of the pain, agonizing, slowly dying- “Oh stop it, it’s not that bad” the firebender said while looking through the bag and taking out what looked like bread. “Here, eat that, it’ll numb the heat a bit. Or at least distract from it...”

After eating the whole loaf (it wasn’t actually that big), he asked: “What in Tui’s name was that monstrosity?!”

“…Spices?”

“I’m never eating those again, it’s like my mouth was turning into a volcano!”

“Once again, not that bad” the jerkbender smirked, before spreading a bunch of it on a piece of bread and downing it like a madman, looking perfectly fine afterwards. “See?”

Aang and Katara both burst out laughing, leaving Sokka to sulk with Momo who had landed on his head.

Chapter Text

A few days after the whole “pirate incident”, they ended up in a forest full of red and orange tones. He might not usually be one to look at landscapes, but Zuko had to admit that the forest looked pretty nice. Too bad that there were Fire Nation soldiers near by, from what Sokka said after looking at animal traps that the lemur had found himself into. Fire Nation metalwork is pretty distinct…

After getting Momo and a few monkey-panthers out of the traps, they decided to pack up camp and leave, but Sokka stopped them before they could load Appa.

“No flying this time.”

“What? Why wouldn’t we fly?” asked a confused Aang.

“Think about it: somehow, the Fire Nation keeps finding us. It’s because they spot Appa, he’s just too noticeable. Zuko, you can back me up on this, right?”

“Well, yes, but there’s also the tiny fact that trouble seems to find you regardless. Also, you’re not very good at keeping a low profile.”

“What? We’re good at keeping a low profile!”

“The Kyoshi Island debacle wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t made yourselves so noticeable. Plus, it was easier to track you with your seeming inability to stay out of trouble.”

“Well, he has a point,” Aang chimed in.

“Whatever,” Sokka interjected, getting them back on track, “my instincts are telling me that we should play it safe this time and walk.”

Katara smiled jokingly at that. “Who made you the boss?”

“I’m not the boss, I’m the leader.” Well that was news to him…

Katara seemed more and more amused. “You’re the leader? But your voice still cracks!”

Sokka’s voice cracked at the perfect moment. “I’m the oldest, and I’m a warrior, so” then it deepened “I’m the leader!”

“I’m pretty sure Zuko’s the oldest,” Aang happily retorted, swinging himself on Appa’s horn. “Sokka’s fifteen, how old are you?”

“Turned seventeen right before you appeared.”

“Yeah, but he’s not really part of the group.” Sokka spouted before turning to Zuko. “Uh, no offence.”

“None taken.” He shrugged. It was kind of true after all: he would be part of the group when everyone trusted him, and Katara and Sokka weren’t there yet. It was fine.

“Sokka, you can’t say that!” objected Aang. “Don’t worry, Zuko, I see you as part of our group, and so does Appa and Momo!” The bison yawned at that while Momo chittered energetically.

“Already half way through,” he smirked jokingly. The kid was really growing on him.

“Well anyway, if anyone’s the leader, it’s Aang.” Katara turned to her brother. “I mean, he is the Avatar after all.”

Sokka scoffed at that. “Are you kidding me? He’s just a goofy kid!”

Said goofy kid was back to hanging upside-down from Appa’s horn “He’s right!” Well, Zuko couldn’t argue with that.

“Why do boys always think someone has to be the leader?” Asked Katara rhetorically. “I bet you wouldn’t be so bossy if you kissed a girl.”

Zuko tuned out the rest of the conversation, knowing how it would end. Surely enough, they ended up going by foot. Aang and Katara were making jabs at Sokka for making them walk, with the boy getting more and more annoyed. Zuko couldn’t blame him; nagging was a bitch to deal with.

After another comment, Sokka seemed to have enough. “Okay, okay, I get it! Look guys, I’m tired too,” fire, people “but the important thing is that we’re safe from the-” Zuko cut him off by yanking him back from the bushes he was about to go through and putting him hand over his mouth.

“Shh!” he insisted after letting go of Sokka and before any of them would make a ruckus. “There’s a campfire behind this bush, with twenty people, some of which are firebenders.”

“How do you know that?” Aang whispered.

“It’s a firebending trick.” He then paused, feeling something weird. Wait, are those people in the trees??? “Wait right here,” he told them, before climbing the nearest tree. Sure enough, there were six people in the trees. Well, more like five teenagers and a kid who looked younger than Aang. WTF??? They didn’t notice him, seemingly waiting for an opening to ambush the guards (from what he could tell of their positions). With that being seen, he climbed back down. “So… there’s like, a bunch of teenagers and a child in the trees…”

Katara got confused. “What?”

“I think they’re gonna ambush the soldiers but are waiting for a distraction.”

“Maybe we could be that distraction!” proposed Aang, before immediately sprinting towards the camp.

“Shoot!” exclaimed Katara before her and her brother went after the crazy airbender, and bewildered Zuko followed them, unsheathing his swords.

He was now pretty sure that trouble didn’t look for them, they looked for it.

*****

Zuko was not impressed. Sure, the two-hook-sword-wielding teenager had style and all (plus a certain flair for the dramatic that he could get behind, although the wheat stalk was a bit too much), but something felt off. Not creepy-off like when he first met Zhao at sea, or scary-off when he was around Azula after she had gotten “lessons” from their father. It was an off that was more with soldiers, an angry, bloodlust-y off. The kind of off that was much easier to hide, and if it weren’t from the fact that Zuko had felt it before, he wouldn’t have thought much of it (just like that time… Wait, don’t think about that!). That was definitely the case for the others.

“You just took out an army almost single-handed!” said Aang, amazed. Well, it was more like half, but whatever…

“Army? There were only twenty guys!” Sokka retorted disdainfully.

Hook-guy introduced himself, not taking Sokka’s comment into account: “My name’s Jet, and these are my Freedom Fighters: Sneers, Longshot, Smellerbee, The Duke, and Pipsqueak.” Zuko would have laughed, but he had heard worst code-names before.

“It’s nice to meet you, Jet!” replied Katara, awestruck. “I’m Katara, and this is Aang, my brother Sokka, and-”

He cut her off quickly. “Li.” “Zuko” sounded way too Fire Nation, and he wouldn’t trust this guy with boiling water.

“Nice to meet you all,” said Jet before looking around the camp with his “Freedom Fighters”. His three teammates(?) turned to him, confused, but he glared at them hard enough that they didn’t ask questions, and hopefully went with it. The Freedom Fighters (seriously, what a stupid name) found blasting jelly barrels, and the prospect of children having access to blasting jelly did slightly freak him out, because if he had had blasting jelly at hand at thirteen, well…

His thoughts got cut off by Jet, who suavely walked towards him, smirking. “Hey, that was some pretty good sword-play you did earlier.”

“Thanks…” Now please leave.

“So, where are ya from?” Oh so this was an interrogation now, huh?

Well, acting aloof was always easier when lying. “A small village.” Get the memo, mate.

“Was it far from here?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Well, it’s just that… you know?” he hesitated, gesturing towards Zuko.

“…no,” he deadpanned.

“Well, what I mean is, I’m guessing your village got attacked, since you’re, well…”

“Since my face is half melted?”

That got to him. “Uh… well, I guess?” He always liked seeing reactions to him plainly talking about his scar. I was one of the very few pleasures he got from it. Plus, the guy decided to walk away from him, finally.

They wound up being lead to their hideout (mostly because Aang thought it sounded cool), and they ended up in an average looking part of the forest. Zuko was half tempted to bet that they were going to get mugged. But no, instead Jet gave them pieces of rope dangling from a tree, which turned out to lead to their hideout, aka a bunch of tree houses. (Tree village?)

“Nice place you got,” he heard Aang say, who was currently zip lining.

“It’s beautiful up here!” Katara awed.

“It’s beautiful, and more importantly, the Fire Nation can’t find us.” Oh sweet irony.

“They’d love to find you, wouldn’t they, Jet?” said the girl next to them (Smellerbee, was it?).

“It’s not gonna happen, Smellerbee,” the guy responded confidently.

“Why does the Fire Nation want to find you?” asked Katara, quickly glancing at Zuko questioningly. What was he now, an encyclopaedia?

Jet didn’t notice it. “I guess you could say I’ve been causing them a little trouble. See, they took over a nearby Earth Kingdom town a few years back.”

The big guy (Pipsqueak?) chimed in: “We’ve been ambushin’ their troops, cutting off their supply lines, and doing anything we can to mess with ‘em.”

“One day, we’ll drive the Fire Nation out of here for good, and free that town.”

“That’s so brave!” Katara awed.

Zuko gagged, and Sokka seemed to agree with him. “Yeah, nothing’s braver than a guy in a tree house!”

“Don’t pay any attention to these two.”

“No problem, they probably just had a rough day,” he said, before talking about his teammates’ backstories, at which point Zuko tuned the conversation out. Though every so often, he was sure that Jet would glance at him. Maybe it was paranoia speaking, but he really hoped that they would leave soon.

They did not, in fact, leave soon. Wheat-muncher invided them to have diner at the hide out, which Katara and Aand gladly accepted. They sat around a table while Jet made a speech while walking on the table. That wasn’t very sanitary…

“Today, we struck another blow against the Fire Nation swine! I got a special joy from the look on one of the soldier’s face, when The Duke dropped down on his helmet and rode him like a wild hog-monkey.” While basically putting the kid in danger, Zuko would have added. “Now, the Fire Nation thinks they don’t have to worry about a couple of kids hiding in the trees. Maybe they’re right.” That got the kids around them booing. “Or maybe… they’re dead wrong!” That made them cheer, and made Zuko uncomfortable.

After that lovely speech (that totally didn’t make him think of speeches made to rile soldiers up for battle), Jet came back down to talk to them, while complementing Aang and Katara on their bending, and saying that they could “help out in their struggle” as he said it.

Sokka objected before he could. “Unfortunately, we have to leave tonight.”

“No we don’t,” Katara rebuked.

“We really should,” Zuko pointedly looked at her. She seemed to somewhat get the memo, but looked disappointed.

But Jet opened his wheat chewing mouth before she could reluctantly agree. “You’re kidding me! I need you both on an important mission tomorrow!” Zuko was not interested, but Sokka was. Damn it. He agreed to come along, because there was no way he would be leaving one of them alone with Jet and his cronies.

They got shown a little house to stay in, and thankfully, the walls were thin enough for him to still sense someone on the roof, probably listening in. He was half-sure it was Hook-swinger. Never mind, Zuko was still slightly seething at the fact they were staying here, and he would let it be known.

“I can’t believe you got convinced to go to that so-called mission,” he angrily snarled towards Sokka. The guy was the only one that seemed to have a problem with Jet, and yet even he was going along with it! “You also wanted to leave. Why change your mind so quickly?”

“Hey, if we can help out by jumping on a few Fire Nation soldiers, then staying one more day is fine!”

Aang cut in. “Yeah, Z-” Zuko quickly put his hand over Aang’s mouth. He pointed to his ear, then to the roof, hoping that they remembered the fact that he could (as far as they knew) tell where someone was. Aang’s eyes widened and he slowly nodded. “Well… I mean yeah, and this place is so fun! I’m sure we can stay longer!”

“Well, not too long,” Sokka thankfully objected. “You know, with, uh… Li’s condition and all…”

“Condition?” Damn it Katara, why were you being so oblivious??

“Yeah, my fear of heights,” he answered a bit louder, making sure whoever was listening could hear that part, while making gestures towards his hands hoping that they all got it.

“Oh, right!” Katara exclaimed, making a better job at acting than the other two. “Sorry, it’s just hard to remember that sometimes…”

“Yeah. Anyway, I’m going to stay outside of the house for a bit.” He then whispered to Katara (because she was the closest), hoping she would tell Sokka what he said after: “And if you’re worried about leaving me alone, I’m sure our roof hopping friend will take care of that.” She nodded while saying goodnight, and he went out.

---

Jet had been silently perched on the “guest house” roof (it was just a random storage room, but taking out the stuff was easy enough), trying to listen on their guests. He wasn’t suspicious of them, even though his actions said otherwise, but he did want to know what Li’s deal was. Katara and Aang (the fucking Avatar!) were extremely trusting, and Sokka was acting cranky, but he was still interested in working with them. Li, on the other hand, seemed to want to get out as fast as possible. He didn’t seem to have a problem with fighting, the guy had proven that during the fight with the ashmakers (like damn, his sword play was impressive!), which was a surprise considering the massive burn scar on his left eye, so what was it? Did Li not trust him? Possible, but then why? Also, apparently he had a fear of heights, which was good and all except that they literally travelled by flying.

His thoughts got cut off by someone roughly clearing out their throat. He turned and looked at the floor to see the object of his thoughts standing there, looking up unimpressed at him. “Whatcha doin’ there?” he said in a raspy voice.

Shit. “Oh hey Li, I was just… uh…” Damn it, why was he losing his cool now?

“Not spying on us?” the guy remarked sarcastically.

“Well, yeah?” What the fuck was that for an answer???

“Sure. Well, are you going to stay up there? Because if so…”

“No, don’t worry!” he jumped down, getting his cool back together. “See? Already on the ground.” He slouched onto some railing, trying to seem more relaxed than he really was.

“Well, “ground”,” the guy snarked, slowly joining him.

“Yeah, you get what I mean. So… you have a fear of heights?” Wow, Jet! Great opener!

“Yeah…”

“How do you cope with, you know, traveling on a flying bison then?”

Li sighed, annoyed. “Funnily enough, being on a flying bison isn’t as scary as being perched on something you know can’t catch you if you fall off. Phobias don’t have to make sense. And anyway, mine just makes me uncomfortable.”

“That… makes sense, I guess.” Then silence. Jet took a moment to look at the teenager. The guy was standing on his left, so he couldn’t see his scar. For that angle, Li looked quite handsome, if not for the eyes that were a bit too gold (he was kidding himself, his eye were gold). He was probably a child of war or from a colony. From little he knew of the guy, his village was probably attacked, and that’s where he got the scar. A scar he seemed to not care about by blatantly talking about it in an uncomfortable way. He had probably been burned as a kid during that attack, had probably lost his parents… Wait, now Jet was just projecting on him. He didn’t even know that guy, but his life seemed to be written all over his face. Wait, no, that was a really bad way of saying it.

“So,” he tried, “why are you traveling with the Avatar?”

“To end the war, obviously.”

“Ah, right…” Pause again. “You know? I’m really glad you decided to stay. I’m sure you’ll be a great help for tomorrow.”

“Yes, the guy with acrophobia will be of great use when being in trees,” he sardonically replied.

“Well, ashmakers don’t usually fight in trees, and with your skills, I’m sure you’ll do great on the ground.”

“Riiiight…” he turned away.

“Look, I get you don’t really trust me. Well, I don’t get why, but I get you do. So, how about you tell me why?”

“I don’t trust anyone.” Ah, okay…

“Ah, right, I’m guessing you would be pretty mistrustful…”

“You don’t know shit about me, why would you think that?” Shit, he was projecting again.

“I… You know what? Forget I said anything.”

Li visibly sighed before turning back to fully facing him. Actually, he wanted to retract his last statement, the scar just made him hotter. Oh shit. “You know what? Let’s stop talking about that.” He paused as if trying to find what he wanted to say. “How did you learn to fight with these?” he awkwardly asked while pointing at his hook swords.

“Oh, well I’m mostly self-taught. I actually found them-”

“Found?” Li’s expression relaxed slightly. Jet did not blush slightly at that.

“Okay, I stole them when I was like, ten, but hey, the guy didn’t really use them, they were mostly there for decoration!”

“So, what, you broke into someone’s house to steal some wall ornaments?”

“Hey, I was ten when it happened, give me a break!”

“Didn’t your parents ever tell you to not steal?”

Jet bristled at that, feeling his stomach get heavy. “My parents were killed when I was eight.” What little relaxation was on Li’s face disappeared at that, but he looked like he wanted him to go one. “The Fire Nation attacked our village and burned it to the ground. Most of the adults didn’t survive. I still remember that day. I still remember the general’s face looking at me. Smirking at me. Like what he just did was a fun game! These people are complete monsters, they attacked some random place that didn’t give them any advantages!” Li’s face cringed at that, as if he knew the feeling too. “Was it the same for you?”

Li looked surprised, then looked down. “I… don’t know, but I know that it probably wasn’t the first time they did something like that. I heard that they once sent an entire battalion of new recruits as bait just to get a tiny, insignificant and useless piece of land.” Those last words were said with a lot of spite.

“No, they probably had a good reason to fight for it. The Fire Nation is full of monsters, but these monsters stay together like bee-ants.”

“I’m not so sure of that analogy. The Fire Nation may be full of bloodthirsty people, but it’s like everywhere else. There’s good and bad people everywhere,” he insisted.

“Yeah, I don’t buy that. It’s way too naïve for me.”

“Not naïve… optimistic?” Though he didn’t seem to believe that either.

Then more silence. Honestly, Jet was torn between angrily yelling at him that yes, all Fire Nation scums are monsters and changing the conversation. He decided to do the latter, but only because that seemed to be a touchy subject for Li.

He still wanted to talk to Li, the guy was probably the first person he felt he could trust so quickly (which was ironic considering the other’s total lack of trust in him) “So, back to your original question, how did you learn to fight with swords?” It was now his turn to sound awkward.

He seemed to catch on to what Jet was doing, but humoured him anyway. “With a master. He’s an old friend of my uncle. I haven’t seen him in years, though.”

“You’ve still got your uncle?” Shit, there was a better way of asking that.

“Yeah, he’s still alive.”

“What does he do?”

“Brew tea.”

“Pff! Seriously? The uncle of the guy who can fight four people single-handed just brews tea?”

Li’s expression got a bit crunched as he blushed, like he wasn’t used to compliments or just didn’t like them. “Nah, he fought in the war before. And he may be old now, but he’s still got it.”

“Ah, a soldier, huh? Guess he’s the reason why you went with the Avatar?”

“Well, he definitely helped in that regard…” The then yawned, and Jet just realised that it was pretty late. “Well, guess I’ll see you for that mission of yours.” He looked one last time at Jet, and that made his heart leap slightly.

“Uh… y-yeah. Goodnight!”

Shit.

Chapter Text

Sokka got woken up by Zuko a bit after the sun had risen. He really didn’t understand how the jerkbender did it. Maybe it was an ashmaker thing… Said ashmaker didn’t seem like he wanted to come along, but then again, Sokka also just wanted to leave as fast as possible. The fact that Katara (who he could see was crushing on Jet, ew) and Aang wanted to stay had hindered that want, so he had decided to go along with it.

Jet split them into different groups. He and Zuko ended up with the wheat-chewer, and were sitting in a tall tree. Zuko seemed to look pretty uncomfortable with the whole thing, so either he had decided to go with his ‘fear of heights’ act (and was doing it very well), or he was still on edge about the whole ‘Jet spied on us from the roof’ thing. Sokka was totally on board with him on that, by the way, it was a real creeper thing to do, but Katara just said something about how Zuko did act kind of suspicious, and Aang managed to change the conversation before they could really go in depth. Turns out, Sokka realised, that they have a lot of conversations they should get back to when all of this is over…

After waiting a little bit, with Jet looking at the road and Jerkbender probably doing his whole ‘telling where people are’ thing (seriously, how did that work?), Sokka decided to bring out an old trick his dad showed him when he was younger. He stabbed the trunk of the tree they were on with his knife and started listening. The two turned around curiously.

“What are you doing?” asked Jet.

“Shh… It amplifies vibrations.” Zuko seemed quite interested at that, but he quickly turned around as Sokka heard something. Someone was coming towards them. “Wait, someone’s approaching!” he loudly whispered.

“How many?”

“I think there’s just one.” Jet did that weird birdcall thing that was probably a way to communicate. Interesting. Taking out his knife, Sokka spotted the person, dressed in red. “Wait, false alarm… He’s just an old man.” He turned back to Jet, expecting him to do another birdcall.

Instead, the guy took out his hook swords and fucking jumped.

Sokka turned towards Zuko who was looking at him with complete bewilderment. They both turned back to look at the asshole shouting and attacking the old man. The guy couldn’t even walk without a cane, what the fuck?

Jet’s goons dropped down, and Zuko did the same, Sokka in toe.

“Do you like destroying towns?” the asshole exclaimed. “Do you like destroying families? Do you?”

“Please, let me go,” the old man pleaded. “Have mercy-”

“Does the Fire Nation let people go?! Does the Fire Nation have mercy?!?” This guy is crazy!

Jet was about to kick the man, but right before Sokka could stop him, Zuko grabbed him and slammed him into a tree.

“WHAT IN KOH’S FUCKING NAME ARE YOU DOING?!?” he screamed. And wow, if Sokka thought he had heard the guy scream before, he was clearly wrong. If you could firebend with you mind, he was pretty sure that Jet would have been ash by now.

Jet, on the other hand, looked completely shocked. “Wha…”

“WHY THE BLOODY FUCK ARE YOU ATTACKING AN OLD MAN?!” Damn, the guy really had pipes. His screaming was starting to hurt his ears!

Jet seemed to get his shit back together. “H… He’s Fire Nation!”

Sokka decided to interject. “Jet, he’s just an old man!”

Jet was now trying to get out of the very angry firebender’s grip. “He’s fucking Fire Nation-”

Zuko just pinned him harder. It seemed that height difference wasn’t as issue in this situation. “So what?” he now said in a low but still angry tone. “He can’t do shit to you apart from insulting you. And he’s not even doing that!”

Jet seemed to look more and more bewildered as Zuko talked. Meanwhile, Sokka was really hoping that Zuko wouldn’t start spitting flames out of rage. “For fuck’s sake, Li, why are you defending him?!” he turned to Pipsqueak and Smellerbee. “Search him!”

“Jet, he’s not hurting anyone!” Sokka exclaimed.

Jet managed to get himself out of Zuko’s grip (while Zuko looked at the ground angrily like he was questioning his existence, reminding Sokka of that talk they had around soup the day after the winter solstice, but with ten times more rage), and angrily stomped towards Sokka. “Have you forgotten that the Fire Nation killed your mother?” How dare he bring mom into this! “Remember why you figh-”

He was cut off by the swing of a very sharp sword stopping extremely close to his throat. There was a slight twinge of fear appeared in his eyes as he slowly turned around to an even more enraged (somehow) Zuko. There was a warning in his eyes, and that somehow made him even more frightening than when he was chasing them, because at least there, they understood what was going on inside his head (well, a bit). Now, he looked like a wolf-puma ready to pounce if Jet made a single move (his eye colour really didn’t help since it looked exactly like an owl-falcon’s eye colour). Jet’s cronies had taken the old man’s bag and were now staring at the scene, not really knowing what to do.

Zuko walked over to the old man and helped him up. He started making sure that the man was all right when the asshole suddenly got his voice back.

“You’re seriously helping him??” he yelled at the firebender’s back.

“Yes.”

“Why???”

“Because your bloody analogy is the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever heard,” he replied while helping the man away from the group. “Not everyone in a single nation thinks the same way, Jet. The Fire Nation isn’t a hive mind of bee-ants. Just like in the Earth Kingdom, there’s plenty of good and bad people, and everything in between.”

“You’re really saying that about the people who burned you?”

Zuko froze. From where they were now standing, Sokka was the only one who could see his expression, and it was completely blank. He turned his head slightly towards Jet. “One more word, and I’ll slit your bloody throat.” And with that, he left with the old man.

*****

When he got back to the hideout, he just sat outside, thinking about what just happened. There was no way they were staying longer. That fucker beat up of old man for Tui’s sake! (Fire Nation or not, it didn’t matter.) Not to mention the fact that he tried to bring his mom into all of this (and how dare he?), and had probably brought back some very unpleasant memories for their resident firebender (okay, so maybe he didn’t quite mind him anymore…). All this to say that that asshole wasn’t going to see them any longer if he had his say in it, damn it!

“Hey Sokka,” his sister called, “is Jet back?”

“Yeah, he’s back, but we’re leaving.”

Aang looked up at him, confused. “What?”

“But I made him this hat,” she said while holding up a weird hat with a flower on it.

“You’re boyfriend’s a thug, Katara.”

“What? No he’s not!”

“He’s messed up!”

“He’s not messed up,” objected Aang, “he’s just got a different way of life. A really fun way of life!”

Sokka couldn’t take it. “He beat and robbed a harmless old man!”

But his oh so stubborn sister just crossed he arms. “I wanna hear Jet’s side of the story.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s probably was a good reason. He wouldn’t attack the innocent!” She was already leaving.

“You’ve barely known him for a day. Why do you trust him more than me?”

“Ugh!” She was gone, and he and Aang followed.

So they went to the asshole’s little cabin so they could ‘set the story straight’. Please, he was probably going to change the whole thing up, or bring up mom again! When they got inside of the room, he was pacing angrily, like he was trying to get something through his head (figuratively). He stopped when he saw them come in.

“Oh… what’s up?” He didn’t really sound like himself, though that was probably from realising that he was this close to get his throat cut.

“Sokka told us that you attacked and robbed an old man. Is that true?”

Whatever funk he was in disappeared. “Sokka, you told them what happened, but you didn’t mention that the guy was Fire Nation?” he said in a calm voice, though there was something off about it.

“No,” Katara replied, “he conveniently left that part out.”

Sokka had enough of this bullshit. “Fine! But even if he was Fire Nation, he was a harmless civilian!”

“He was an assassin, Sokka,” Wheat-chewer declared dramatically while brandishing a knife and stabbing it on a stump. There was a ring at the top, which he removed to reveal a vial with a red liquid inside. “See? There’s a compartment for poison in the knife. He was sent here to eliminate me.”

“That’s a lovely pile of bullshit you’re spilling,” said a low voice. They all turned around to see Zuko, standing in the doorframe, arms crossed, and somehow looking calm and pissed at the same time.

“So you’re back from helping the enemy?” the asshole spit.

Katara turned to Sokka. “Wait, you let him go somewhere alone?” Oh right, he had done that. Well, here’s hoping the firebender hadn’t done anything bad. He honestly couldn’t care at this point. One crisis at a time, please!

Jet turned to that, but Sokka cut him off before he could say anything. “It doesn’t matter. There was no knife!” he said, trying to bring them on track (and make sure that Jet wouldn’t realise that maybe Zuko wasn’t to be trusted more than he already did).

“And even if there was a knife,” the firebender continued, “this one’s ancient. No ‘Fire Nation assassin’ would use this. Apparently it was too impractical…”

“And how would you know that?” Jet rebuked.

“I told you, my uncle was in the war. He told me a thing or two about idiotic designs from the Fire Nation,” he said, while having what looked like a staring contest with the asshole.

Sokka couldn’t take it anymore. “Whatever! There was no knife, and I’m going to pack our things up!” He went off, hoping they would follow, but he heard the conversation continue.

“You guys can’t leave now,” insisted the asshole, “I really need your help!”

“What can we do?” WHY AANG, WHY???

“The Fire Nation is planning on burning down our forest. If you both use waterbending to fill up the reservoir, then we could fight the fires. But if you leave now, they’ll destroy the whole valley!”

Fuck that, he was leaving! A few minutes after he started packing, the three (plus Momo) entered the hut. Zuko stopped for a second, before telling them that no one was around.

“Oh stop being so paranoid!” Katara snapped.

“Of course I’m being paranoid with that smarmy fucker around! You’re the ones being too trusting!”

“Oh will you stop swearing for five minutes??” The firebender pulled his middle finger at her instead. “Oh for La’s sake! I get you don’t like him because he’s against the Fire Nation, but you can’t exactly blame him!”

“It’s not that, it’s the fact that he’s crazy! Apart from the obvious with the old man, who was harmless and couldn’t walk on his own, by the way, there’s also the fact that this dude brings bloody children in a fight. And the roof spying certainly doesn’t help!”

“Oh please, he’s helping them!”

“Helping them? Helping them?? What in Koh’s name are you on? I personally don’t see bringing a ten year old in a battle with firebenders very helpful for either him or anyone else! Oh, and changing the subject for a bit, lets not forget the fact that he’s using the oldest manipulating trick in the book of ‘making people do what you want them to do’,” he turned to Sokka. “I’m pretty sure he didn’t bring up your mother to Sokka to give him some nice memories.”

“What?” She turned to Sokka.

He looked up from his folding. “Yeah, he brought her up when I told him that the man was harmless. And he did the same thing to him, by the way,” he pointed at Zuko (he didn’t say his name, because you never know). “Sure, it wasn’t about a family member, but he talked about his burn.”

“That’s not the point,” Zuko deflected. “The point is he’s a manipulative piece of shit, and whatever he need’s that reservoir for, it’s nothing good. I would joke that he was going to blow it up and drown the town, but nobody’s that stupid.”

Katara looked appalled at that. “How… He literally told us why he needed it!”

“Azula lied better when she was five!” Wait, who’s Azula? “The Fire Nation doesn’t burn down random forests when there isn’t a town in it. But fine! Go help him! See how far that takes you! I’m sleeping with Appa tonight, at least he doesn’t spout complete nonsense!” And with that, he stomped out of the hut.

“Ugh, can you believe him?”

“Katara, he has a point, Jet isn’t trustworthy. My instincts tell me-”

“Well my instincts tell me we need to stay a bit longer and help Jet!” She snapped. Sokka knew she wouldn’t listen to him now, so he didn’t waste more energy fighting this loosing battle. Aang didn’t say anything, looking completely frozen. He couldn’t really blame the kid, but right now he didn’t want to talk.

*****

The now three of them (because Momo had joined the firebender for the night) were sleeping, except for Sokka. Well, he was sleeping, until he heard whispers from outside and decided to follow them. He landed on a low branch and saw Jet and a few of his cronies pushing a loaded wagon. He was trying to see what the barrels were when someone poked in on the shoulder. He quickly turned around, only to see Zuko behind him, looking extremely tired (or like he had been crying, it was hard to see).

“Woke you up too?” he whispered.

“Yeah. Do you know what those are?” He pointed at the barrels on the wagon.

“My guess, blasting jelly.”

“But why?”

“Let’s find out.” And with that, they followed the Freedom Fighter (stupid name.) all the way to a cliff, where they could see the dam. Sokka had dropped to the ground to hide in the bushes while Zuko had stayed in the trees.

The asshole turned to his goons. “Now listen, you are not to blow the dam until I give the signal. If the reservoir isn’t full, the Fire Nation troops could survive.”

“But what about the people in the town,” asked The Duke, “won’t they get wiped out too?”

Jet placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder, ‘reassuringly’. “Look Duke, that’s the price of ridding the area of the the Fire Nation.” He then turned to Longshot. “Now, don’t blow the dam until I give the signal. Got it?” At that, Longshot nodded.

Sokka couldn’t believe it. First, Zuko’s joke had somehow become true (he was starting to think that maybe he should stop the firebender from ever joking again). Second, they were gonna BLOW UP THE FUCKING DAM! What in Tui and La’s name was the guy’s problem?? He was going to go back to the hideout when he heard leaves rustling. All of a sudden, someone pulled him by his hair. Turns out it was Pipsqueak, with Smellerbee sticking her dagger directly to his throat.

“Where do you think you’re going, ponytail?”

For the millionth time, it’s a wolftail!

---

Zuko needed more sleep. Well, ‘sleep’ was actually the wrong word; he needed to rest. Sadly, it probably wasn’t going to happen (what with the sun already coming up and the idiocy happening in front of him). Zuko also needed to stop tempting fate. He thought he already knew that, but apparently, the Universe had taken offence as his false joke from earlier, and the smarmy asshole was in fact going to blow up the dam. He would be laughing at this situation if he weren’t so horrified.

Pipsqueak and Smellerbee had just captured Sokka, which wasn’t much of a surprise, but still… They dragged him towards the wheat-muncher by his hair, and shoved him towards the piece of shit.

Said piece of shit started suavely talking in the most ridiculously sinister way possible. He was half tempted to thing that he was watching a play. “Sokka, I’m glad you decided to join us.” And now it sounded like a creepy cult.

“I heard your plan to destroy the Earth Kingdom town,” Sokka said while rubbing his shoulder.

“Our plan is to rid the valley of the Fire Nation.”

“There are people living there, Jet: mothers and fathers and children!”

“We can’t win without making some sacrifices.” That brought Zuko back to the war meeting, but just for a second. Sacrifices, ey? And you think you’re different than them?

“You lied to Aang and Katara about the forest fire!”

“Because they don’t understand the demands of war. Not like you and I do.” Once again, back at the meeting. If he had even a tiny bit less self-control, he would have jumped at the fucker.

“I do understand. I understand that there’s nothing you won’t do to get what you want!”

“I was hoping you’d have an open mind, but I can see you’ve made your choice.” Smellerbee and Pipsqueak grabbed him again. “I can’t let you warn Katara, Aang, or Li. (Well, too late for that.) Take him for a walk, a long walk.”

As they dragged him away, Sokka screamed: “You can’t do this!”

But Jet looked almost unbothered. “Cheer up, Sokka. We’re gonna win a great victory against the Fire Nation today.” Bruv, it wouldn’t even make a dent.

Now, Zuko had a dilemma. Either he stayed close to Sokka, or he went to warn Katara and Aang. He really didn’t want to leave Sokka alone, because these guys seemed one flew over the pecker-cuckoo’s nest. But then again, Aang and Katara would fill up the reservoir if he didn’t do anything. Maybe he still had some time? He really didn’t know. They were already getting away. Damn it, he wasn’t good at thinking things through. Oh whatever! He decided to trail them. Hopefully, he’d get Sokka out of this quickly.

Five minutes later, he was still trailing them. He was sure Sokka had spotted him at some point, but that was it. Then he realised that they were close to a few animal-traps they had found two days ago. He was pretty sure Sokka had also spotted them. Too bad Pipsqueak was holding him firmly. If only there was a way to surprise him enough to let go. Oh wait.

As he threw a throwing knife right in front of Pipsqueak, making him release Sokka who had run off to the traps, getting his pursuers trapped instead, Zuko was feeling really happy that he accepted to learn to use knives with Mai when they were ten. He dropped down once he saw Sokka was good, and picked up the knife. (Apparently, the Freedom Fighters didn’t learn how to tie knots properly. Amateurs.)

“Why are you still here?” Sokka exclaimed.

“Well excuse me for getting you out of this situation.”

“No, I mean, why didn’t you go tell Aang and Katara??”

“I panicked, okay?”

“You… You know what? Never mind. Go tell them!”

“What about you?”

“I’ll figure something out, don’t worry!”

Zuko was very worried.

---

Katara and Aang had finished taking care of the geysers and were going to the reservoir. She felt quite happy about herself, being able to bend water when she couldn’t even see it was a very useful thing to have learned. It made her feel a bit less bad for yelling at her brother and the firebender. Sure, they were being paranoid, and honestly it was annoying, but she still wanted to apologise to them. But when she woke up, they were both gone. Apparently, Sokka had said sorry to Jet and was helping with a scouting mission, so that was good, but she hadn’t asked if he had seen Zuko. It made her feel a bit uneasy, but she hoped her brother had at least remembered to bring him this time.

They arrived at the cliff that oversaw the dam. It looked quite full from afar. She couldn’t help but smile proudly at that. That changed when she looked down at the base of the dam. A few Freedom Fighters were placing what looked like barrels. Red barrels. Red barrels that looked like those that contained blasting jelly.

“What are they doing?” she said out loud.

Aang squinted, before widening his eyes with shock. “Jet’s gonna blow up the dam.”

“What? No, that would destroy the town. Jet… wouldn’t do that…” she said, but it sounded so distant.

Aang opened his glider. “I’ve gotta stop him!” he said while starting to take off.

“Jet wouldn’t do that.” No, now it sounded wrong. Sokka and Zuko were right. And they had just helped him! No no no no-

Before Aang could actually fly off, Jet jumped out of nowhere and snatched his glider. Aang used airbending to get himself back on the ledge.

“Yes, I would.”

“Jet, why?” she asked on the brink of anger.

“Katara, you would too if you stopped to think.” He walked towards her. “Think about what the Fire Nation did to your mother.” He placed his hand on her cheek. “We can’t let them do that to anyone else ever again.” She couldn’t take it anymore. She sent him flying with the water from her waterskin while shouting in anger.

“I need to go to the dam!” shouted Aang as he reached for his glider, but Jet quickly got back up and yanked it away, ripping parts of the fabric in the process, before forcefully closing it and attaching it to his back.

“You’re not going anywhere without your glide-”

Katara cut him off with another waterspout that he almost didn’t dodge. “Zuko was right, you really are a manipulative piece of shit!”

“Zuko?”

A wall of flames suddenly erupted between him and them. The three of them looked to the source, and from what she could see, Jet’s eyes seemed to be wide from shock.

“You called?” Zuko quipped dramatically.

---

No.

No no no.

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no n- THIS COULDN’T BE HAPPENING!

Jet couldn’t believe his eyes. Li, no sorry, Zuko was a firebender?? What was this madness???

No, you know what, this actually made sense. Of course he had defended the Fire Nation and that fucking old man: he was an ashmaker all along! That was just Jet’s luck. How could he have been so stupid? The facts had been right in front of his fucking face! That scar had been the only thing clouding his judgement (well, not just that, but he didn’t want to think about it!) and it was probably just from a training accident!

The ashmaker turned to Katara and Aang. “Are you guys okay?” To which they both nodded.

(They KNEW??? They knew they were traveling with a fucking ashmaker?? Now he understood why Sokka was so against him. But so were Katara and Aang… That monster must have brainwashed them or something!)

“Yeah,” Aang replied, “but Jet’s got my glidder!”

The ashmaker nodded, unsheathed his swords (the flames got bigger), before running towards Jet who quickly got on his defence, only for the firebender to do a summersault to land behind him. He managed to grab the glider, but not without loosing a sword in the process. Jet took advantage of this and made blow after blow, trying to get the guy to let go of the other. Then a sickening crack was heard after one particularly hard blow, and his opponent finally dropped his right sword. (Jet tried to ignore the fact that he felt bad about that.) Li, or whatever his name was again, folded himself while holding his now broken wrist, letting go of the glider. Jet went to take it, but he got hit right in the stomach with something hard and blunt, knocking the wind out of him. He fell to the ground, and looked up only to see the ashmaker holding a fucking wrench in his left hand. (He looked like he was in a lot of pain. He looked angry, but there was something else that wasn’t there yesterday. It looked like pity.)

It was clear to Jet that the firebender couldn’t attack much anymore, so he got back up to punch him, only to get hit by a big blast of water. Katara continued to push him closer and closer to a tree, and as he was trying to get his balance back, he suddenly felt very cold. Ice suddenly appeared on his body, spreading more and more until he was stuck to the tree with only his head unfrozen.

Aang ran up to them and took his glider, before turning around to the ashmaker who was biting his lips and holding his wrist. “Are you okay?”

“Eh, I’ve been through worse,” he said with horrid smile. (It was a reassuring, albeit pained smile. The guy was trying to reassure a kid. Why was he trying to reassure the kid??)

“How could you, Jet?” Katara shouted. “I can’t believe I trusted you. You lied to me,’ they lied to him first “you’re sick and I trusted you!” they were the sick ones!

Then they heard a bird call and turned to look for its source. Longshot. He returned the call.

Katara turned back to him. “What are you doing?”

“You’re too late.”

“No!”

Aang tried to fly with his glider, but Jet had made sure that it wouldn’t be usable. The kid fell on the floor, with Katara and the ashmaker running to him. “Sokka’s still out there…” he said, still panting.

“He said he’d figure something out,” the firebender told them, putting a hand on Aang’s shoulder.

“Come on, Sokka, I’m sorry I ever doubted you.” Katara pleaded. “Please.”

From afar, Jet could see the flaming arrow flying for the base of the dam. A few seconds after, it exploded, flooding the village.

He should have been happy. He should have celebrated, even if it was just in his head, since he couldn’t move. Then why wasn’t he? Why was he feeling his stomach drop? Why did he feel like something was terribly, horribly wrong?

Something Li told him resurfaced. “The Fire Nation isn’t a hive mind of bee-ants. Just like in the Earth Kingdom, there’s plenty of good and bad people, and everything in between.”

Then, their conversation from the first night. “I heard that they once sent an entire battalion of new recruits as bait just to get a tiny, insignificant and useless piece of land.”

Gaipan was a small village. There were barely thirty Fire Nation soldiers for over five hundred Earth Kingdom villagers. Why was he just realising this now? Why did he every think that it was a good idea?? Was it because the ashmaker was looking at him with a mixture of anger, pain and disgust, instead of looking at the village being destroyed like the two others? Probably not, but his glare definitely helped in making him feel worse.

Aang’s monotone voice broke his thoughts. “Sokka didn’t make it in time.”

“All those people…” Katara started before angrily turning around to him. “Jet, you monster!”

Why did he feel like she was right? Why did he feel like a monster?

“The worse part is, this won’t even matter to the Fire Nation,” said the firebender, sounding even more disgusted. “You just killed your own people for nothing.”

Why did his words cut deeper than Katara’s, the person who was fighting on the same side as him?

“Why are you traveling with the Avatar?”

“To end the war, obviously.” Why did it feel like he meant it in a ‘stop the Fire Nation’ way?

“He told me a thing or two about idiotic designs from the Fire Nation.” Was he really just talking about designs?

“Not everyone in a single nation thinks the same way, Jet. The Fire Nation isn’t a hive mind of bee-ants.” Shit, why did he sound right?

He felt so lost.

He almost didn’t notice Sokka appearing on the flying bison and telling them of how he managed to save the villagers, even if he also saved the soldiers in the process. Was it wrong for him to feel less horrible when he heard that? He really didn’t know.

His head hurt.

---

Don’t get him wrong, Zuko was extremely happy that Sokka had saved the village in time. But while his broken wrist was slowly pumping his energy away, there was something else.

The bloody asshole.

He turned to look at him again, and the guy looked hopelessly lost. Honestly, he kinda reminded him of his fifteen-year-old self trying to figure out if everything he’d ever known was a lie. He kinda wanted to tell the guy something that would make him understand his issue a bit better. Problem was, he didn’t know a flying fuck about him apart from the fact that his parents were dead and why, and a few other titbits that weren’t enough to make a good judgement for him. He could only assume, and that wouldn’t end well.

He also didn’t have a way with people like his uncle, who somehow managed to make you feel better even when he didn’t know the full extent of your problems. But still, the jerk looked like he needed something, and Zuko was probably the most qualified person to know that you could change your mind about your beliefs.

So he took a deep breath, held his wrist, and walked towards him.

“You’re lucky, you know?” Jet quickly looked up at him, still looking lost and a bit scared, like an animal that knew that they were about to die. “No one died from that. None of your people died from that.” He tried to keep his voice low and steady, just like how Mother would explain why something he did was wrong. “I don’t know you, Jet, and I won’t pretend like I do. But, your life isn’t over just because you made one giant mistake.” He then remembered how he got out of his funk at fourteen, and chuckled slightly. “If you don’t know what to do, you can always just travel somewhere. A change of scenery usually clears up your head.”

Jet looked at him with complete bewilderment. Zuko understood why. He understood why Jet would probably do the exact opposite and become even more of a terrorist. He understood why Jet might take his advice, and somehow become worse. He understood that what he just said was vague, and would probably be unhelpful to the teenager, but he hoped that it would make something click inside his head, something good, hopefully.

He turned around to see the others already on Appa, waiting for him. He turned back to Jet one last time.

“Goodbye, Jet,” he said, before running to Appa. Once he was on, Sokka steered the bison away, and they were off.

“I thought you were going to the dam,” Aang said a few minutes after. “How come you went to the town instead?”

Katara smiled. “Let me guess, your instincts told you.”

Sokka shrugged at that. “Hey, sometimes they’re right.”

Zuko was looking at the map, before looking to the direction they were going. Aang saw his confusion.

“Uh… Sokka?” the airbender inquired. “You know were going the wrong way, right?”

Sokka flushed for a second before grinning. “And sometimes they’re wrong.”

“Do you have anything to treat a broken wrist?” Zuko asked, because as emotionally taxing as these past days were, his wrist was now taking priority in his mind.

“Oh shoot!” Katara exclaimed while grabbing one of their bags. “I’m sorry, I completely forgot!”

“Is it really broken?” Aang said, scooting closer to Zuko.

Sokka looked a bit worried. “Wait, you broke your wrist?”

“Jet did, but it’s not the first time I broke something. And it’s more like a fracture…”

Katara came back with a box. “You know what? I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that.” She then started wrapping his wrist in a way that would make it unmovable. She took the water left in her waterskin (“We’ll have to get some more”) and started making an ice pack with it, while Zuko positioned his wrist on the sides on the saddle to elevate it.

This wasn’t the first time he fractured his wrist, and it surely wouldn’t be the last.

He really hoped that they wouldn’t get into too much trouble for the rest of the trip.

Shit, he probably already jinxed it.

Chapter Text

A few days later, Aang was feeling better. The whole ‘Jet incident’ had really put a downer on his morale, what with him unknowingly helping in almost destroying a village (many would have been killed, just like his home), but he was now feeling lighter.

They had made camp close to a pretty cool place Bumi had told him about a hundred years back, and he really wanted to check it out with his new friends. Sokka was in charge of the tent, Katara the kindling and foraging was for him and Zuko. Technically, they didn’t need to forage, what with Zuko’s rations that could keep them going for quite a while, but it had always been something he liked doing back at the Air Temple. For some reason, Zuko wanted to join him, mumbling something about not trusting Aang with being alone.

Aang did most of the picking, of course, and Zuko just held a basket with his left hand. Apparently, his right wrist was healing faster than normal. (Zuko was very disturbed by the fact that he didn’t feel as much pain as “last time”. Aang just ignored it, saying something about the Spirits being on his side (to which the firebender laughed bitterly), because while he knew that breaking a wrist could happen to anyone, the fact that Zuko had had his wrist broken, and burned, made him feel uncomfortable.) Maybe Katara was just really good at applying ice packs.

Aang was picking berries when Zuko called for him. “I think I found a kindergarten!”

Aang paused before walking to the firebender. “A what?”

“A kindergarten.” He pointed under a big rock, which hid dozens of tiny bamboo-mushrooms.

“Score!” he exclaimed excitedly, picking the tiny sprouts (they were small, but their number would arrange that). “I didn’t know that’s what it’s called.”

“Er, probably not. It’s just how my mum would call them.” His mom, huh? He hadn’t mentioned her before…

“She likes plants?”

A little sad smile crept on the teenager’s face. “Yeah, she knew a thing or two about those…” Oh, ‘knew’. He probably should change the conversation.

“Well, in any case, we’re gonna eat like kings tonight with all of those!”

“Definitely.”

*****

When they got back to camp, things seemed a bit tense.

“Okay,” he called, “we got the grub, if you guys got the…” Katara and Sokka were standing with their backs facing each other, arms crossed, with a crumpled mass that looked like the tent. “Hey, where’s the campfire? What happened to the tent?”

“Why don’t you ask Miss Know-It-All, Queen of the Twigs?”

“Oh yeah? Well you’re Mister Lazy Bum (“Just say ‘ass’ already.”), King of the” she picked up a twig and threw it at Sokka’s head “Tents!” Sokka turned around angrily. Zukp looked confused.

Aang laughed. “Okay, listen guys, harsh words won’t solve problems. Action will. Why don’t you just switch jobs?” They both agreed at that and went off to do the other’s chore.

He turned to Zuko, grinning. “See that? Settling feuds and making peace. All in a day’s work for the Avatar.”

Zuko turned to Aang, looking even more confused. “Does this usually happen?”

“The fighting? Sometimes, but it’s pretty brief.”

“No, I mean the reconciliation.”

“Uh, well… I guess?” He didn’t really know how to answer that, what with not actually getting what Zuko was implying.

He seemed to sense Aang’s confusion, and ducked his head awkwardly. “I just assumed it took a few days for them to stop being mad at each other…”

Oh right, the only fight he ever saw Sokka and Katara in was because of Jet. Aang could understand that. Apart from at the South Pole, that was the first time he had seen them so mad at each other (and even that had finished pretty quickly). He hadn’t known how to react and had just frozen up. But he had been with them longer than Zuko, and he knew that they often got angry at each other in small ways without actually being mad. He assumed this was probably how siblings worked. Well, some of them, not all siblings were the same, after all.

“That was a special case. Don’t worry, their normal fights usually go like this.”

Zuko nodded, still with a confused look on his face. Maybe he didn’t understand how siblings worked…

*****

The next day, he brought his friends to the canyon. It was amazing, and even bigger than what Bumi had described!

“There it is, guys: the Great Divide,” he announced, adding a bit of flair to it.

Katara looked in awe. “Wow, I could just stare at it for ever.”

Sokka, not so much. “Okay, I’ve seen enough.”

“How can you not be fascinated? This is the largest canyon in the entire world!”

Aang joined in. “Yeah, Sokka, even Zuko thinks its neat!”

The firebender jumped slightly at the mention of his own name. “Uh, yeah… pretty rocks…”

Sokka looked unconvinced. “Then I’m sure we’ll be able to see it very clearly from the air while we fly away.”

Then a guy pushed pass Sokka (knocking him off balance), shouting about an earthbending guide. Which then led to him and his friends discovering a hundred year old feud between two tribes, with said tribes wanting to go with the guide first. There was the Gan Jin tribe, who were clean-looking and wore mostly white and light greens, and the Zhang tribe, who were more gruff-looking and wore animal skin for clothes with the fur still attached. (Back then, Aang would have reacted to that, but he now realised that some people could only make clothes with animal skin, like Sokka and Katara’s home.)

Katara turned to him. “Well Aang, ready to put your peace-making skills to the test?”

“I don’t know, a fight over chores is one thing, but these people have been feuding for a hundred years.”

“Well, what a coincidence,” chimed in Zuko. “It might be good practice.”

“Oh yeah!”

“Everybody listen up!” Katara announced. “This is the Avatar, and if you give him a chance, I’m sure he can come up with a compromise that will make everyone happy.”

Okay, those were some slightly high expectations, but he could do this! “Uh, you could share the guide and travel together?” That seemed like the simplest, most reasonable option.

The leader of the Gan Jin tribe didn’t seem to agree. “Absolutely not! We’d rather be taken by the Fire Nation than travel with those stinking thieves!” Now that made a small bubble of anger appear in him. (He would have done anything to make sure his people weren’t taken…) They couldn’t honestly be that petty, right?

Zuko seemed to be on the same train of thought. “Really?” he grinned forcibly, with the left part of his mouth going higher than the right side to draw more attention to his scar. While Aang usually felt disturbed when he did stuff like that, he couldn’t deny the effect it had on the tribes’ resolve.

Aang tried again. “Alright, here’s the deal. You’re all going down together, and Appa here will fly your sick and elderly across. Does this seem fair?” The leaders of the tribes reluctantly nodded, and they did just that.

He felt a bit overwhelmed at the situation, but what Zuko had implied earlier had stuck with him. If he couldn’t at least help the tribes get along for the trip, then how would he be able to help the world? He wasn’t sure if it was a completely good idea to get involved with them, but then again, when had he ever? Avatar business had always seemed so far away, and helping Hei Bai had been his first real Avatar job. Sure, this was different, but these people clearly wouldn’t get along without a bit of help.

The guide announced that they weren’t allowed to bring food, and Aang was pretty happy to have Appa carry their provisions over the canyon, because throwing it all away would have been a big waste. Apparently, food would lure dangerous predators, but that didn’t stop the two tribes from protesting before eating their food. Once they were done, Aang said a last goodbye to Appa, and they were off.

For a while, everything went pretty well. The path they were on was broken, and the guide earthbent a bridge and stopped rubble from crushing them. Once they got to the canyon floor, the guide threw a few boulders at the bridge, destroying it while making a giant dust cloud. When Aang asked him why he did that, he explained that it was to make sure that the Fire Nation couldn’t follow them.

Suddenly, something in the cloud grabbed the guide, and Aang airbent the dust away to reveal a giant beast. It had four thin but strong-looking legs, at least eight eyes, and was absolutely massive. It was also now holding the earthbender in its mouth. Sokka threw his boomerang at it and it dropped the guide in a very rough way. The animal then went for Sokka, but Katara stunned it with a water whip (though it didn’t do much) before Aang airbent the animal away with his staff. He then made a giant tornado and threw it away. It crawled away in a hole in the walls of the canyon.

He turned to the guide. “What was that?”

Katara and Zuko were now at the man’s side, while he was still lying on the ground. “Canyon-crawler,” he groaned. “And there’s sure to be more!”

“Your arms, they’re broken!” Katara exclaimed.

“Without my arms, I got no bending. In other words-”

“We’re trapped in this canyon,” Aang finished.

And with that, an argument erupted between the two tribes, accusing one another of sneaking in food. The guide wasn’t any help, since he was having what looked like a nervous breakdown. The tribes kept arguing more and more, and it was honestly testing Aang’s patience.

“Enough!” he shouted. “I thought I could help you guys get along, but I guess that’s not gonna happen.” He jumped on a wall that separated the path in two. “We should split up. Gan Jins on this side and Zhangs on the other. We’ll travel in two separate lines.” They all agreed to that and started walking. He jumped back down to his friends. “We need to find out why they hate each other so much. Sokka and Zuko, you go with the Zhangs, and Katara, you go with the Gan Jins. I’ll stay up on the wall to make sure nothing bad happens.”

“Actually Aang, mind if I come with you?” asked Zuko.

“Sure, I can bend you on the wall.” He nodded at that.

“What, you don’t want to pair up with me?” Sokka asked in mock-outrage.

“If I spend one more hour with any of them, I will lose it.”

After a while, the sun was setting, and everybody made camp. Aang and Zuko found a nice little area on the wall where they could sit down, with Momo landing on Aang’s shoulder. Zuko was still holding his wrist, and the way his fingers curled around the burns made Aang slightly sick (those burns looked so much like fingers). He decided to start a conversation to stop thinking about the implications.

“How’s your wrist doing?”

“Better, which is weird. Fractures usually don’t heal that fast.”

“I know, you’ve been saying that for the past three days.”

“Yes, because it’s not normal.”

“Why are you so weirded out about it?”

“I don’t know… I guess I’m used to not being able to do shit for a while after breaking something. And sure, I wasn’t able to help you against the canyon-crawler, but I shouldn’t even be able to move my arm without feeling so little pain.”

“So… it’s not the first time you broke something?”

“Oh, you know, leg, arm, wrist… got stabbed a few times…” Then he mumbled, “…then there’s the burns…”

Okay, this was not a good conversation. Aang tried another one. “So… do you have any ideas to stop them from fighting?”

“I my experience, stopping people from fighting ends up with someone getting hurt, so I don’t think you want my advice.”

“Ah, right… Maybe I should make them understand that they should stop fighting for something that happened so long ago.”

“Good luck with that, these people seem to have their heads set on hating each other. Plus, family and tribe grudges don’t disappear unless something really bad happens, or if it turns out what they were fighting about was stupid or wrong.”

“Guess we’ll just have to see why they’re fighting.”

*****

The next day, they continued walking. Aang and Zuko went back on the ground.

“Katara, Sokka, will these people cooperate long enough to get out of the canyon?”

“I don’t think so, Aang,” Katara replied. “The Zhangs really wronged the Gan Jins. They ambushed Jin Wei and stole the sacred orb.”

Aang and Zuko just stared. “What are you talking about?”

“Yeah, Katara, what are you talking about?” Sokka interjected. “Wei Jin didn’t steal the orb, he was returning it to their village gate and was wrongfully punished by the Gan Jin!”

“Not punished enough if you ask me…”

“Oh for Agni’s sake, if you two start as well, I will literally scream.” They all took Zuko’s warning seriously. The guy had pipes and they didn’t want their ears to be attacked by them.

“Okay, I need everyone together at the base of the canyon wall.” They managed to gather everyone and Aang stopped in front of them. They were arguing again. Great. He could do this. “Please everyone, as soon as we get out of here, we can eat and go our separate ways. But I need you all to put your heads together and figure out a way up this cliff.

“Maybe the Zhang can climb the wall with their long disgusting fingernails,” the Gan Jin leader snarked.

“Oh sorry,” the Zhang leader rebuked, “I forgot that to the Gan Jin, unclipped fingernails is a crime punishable by twenty years in jail!”

“Why, you dirty thief!”

“You pompous fool!”

Then everyone started arguing again. Zuko looked like he was about to roast them.

“OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE, WILL YOU GUYS SHUT UP???” That silenced everybody.

Aang was half tempted to just let his anger out to, but instead took a deep breath, trying to keep a level head. “Listen, we need to focus! How many times do I have to say it? Harsh words won’t solve problems, action will!”

This led to the two leaders drawing out their swords and duelling each other ‘to the death’. Monkey feathers, this was getting worse and worse. Aang decided to separate them by making a very strong gust, which led to everyone dropping food from their robes. Wait. Food?

“Everyone smuggled food down here? Unbelievable! You guys put our lives in danger because you couldn’t go without a snack for a day? You’re all awful!” he shouted while trying to ignore the egg-custard tart almost calling to him from the ground. By Vayu, he was hungry!

It seemed he wasn’t the only one, because a whole horde of canyon-crawlers suddenly appeared.

Katara prepared her water. “That’s a lot of them,” she said nervously.

“We barely even survived one!” Sokka exclaimed as he took out his boomerang.

“I could try setting them on fire,” Zuko proposed. “It would at least make them flee.”

Aang disagreed. “Could we try not killing living beings that are relying on instincts?”

“Fine.”

So they fought. Well, he, Sokka and Katara fought. Aang made sure to airbend Zuko on a pillar before he broke something else. They tried to hold the creatures off (even some members of the two tribes were fighting), but they were too outnumbered. Aang was getting pretty tired when he heard Zuko trying to call him.

“What is it?”

“Look!” the firebender said, pointing at a nearby canyon-crawler that was happily eating food from one of the tribes’ bags. “Think this could help out?”

He thought for a second. “I got it! Everyone! Watch me and do what I do!” He took a loaf of bread lying on the ground and got the attention of one of the crawlers, before jumping on its back and attaching a bag of food on its snout. The two tribes did the same thing, even working together! Zuko jumped on the crawler Aang was on, and Katara and Sokka got the guide on theirs. “Now follow me!” he proclaimed once everyone was on the animals. “We’re riding out of this hole!” They managed to guide the crawlers to the top of the canyon, finally free. They all jumped off before he threw a giant bag of food back in the canyon, which the crawlers all followed.

“I never thought a Gan Jin could get his hands dirty like that,” said the Zhang leader.

“And I never knew you Zhangs were so reliable in a pinch,” replied the Gan Jin leader.

“Perhaps we’re not so different after all.” They both smiled.

Aang sighed in relief. Finally! Was this it? Was their feud finally ove-

“Too bad we can’t rewrite history.”

Oh monkey feathers!

So, Aang may have resulted in some… less than clean tactics to get the two tribes to cooperate: he managed to find a pretty convincing lie (if he did say so himself) about how the reason why they were fighting was the wrong version. They joined with Appa (to Aang’s delight, he didn’t like being away from Appa for too long) and the tribes left united (plus the guide who had enough of canyons). He had a feeling he shouldn’t result to lying for the war to be over, but hey, this had been a long two days, and he was honestly a bit fed up with these people. Speaking of fed, he certainly wasn’t.

“That’s some luck you knew Jin Wei and Wei Jin,” Sokka told him. Zuko face palmed at that.

“You could call it luck,” Aang responded. “Or, you could call it lying.”

Sokka looked flabbergasted. “What?”

“I made the whole thing up.”

Zuko raised an eyebrow (well, technically he only had one) “You seriously didn’t realise that?”

“No!”

Katara smiled. “That is so wrong”

“Now, let’s eat, I’m starving!”

They all agreed at that, with Momo already sitting next to the food bag.

Chapter Text

We need you Aang. We need you.

Aang woke up in cold sweat, waking Momo up and making him jump to the left on Katara and Sokka, which woke them up. Zuko looked up from the campfire at the commotion, so he was probably already awake.

“What’s going on?” Sokka asked drowsily, holding both his machete and boomerang. “Did we get captured again?”

“It’s nothing, I just had a bad dream,” Aang answered, still hearing the voices’ echo. “Go back to sleep.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.”

“Aang, are you sure you’re okay?” he heard Katara ask from behind.

“I’m okay.”

“You seem to be having a lot of nightmares lately. You want to tell me about it?”

“I just need some rest.”

And with that, the siblings fell asleep again. Aang was still half-awake when he saw Zuko scoot over to him and sit next to him. He put his non-injured hand on Aang’s shoulder, and after giving him a quick look, stared at the fire again. He was breathing calmly, and it somehow made Aang feel a bit better. He fell asleep with a nice, safe-feeling warmth around him.

*****

They woke up about four hours after the sun had risen (much to their resident firebender’s complaints), and Katara and Zuko were packing up their supplies. Meanwhile, Aang was sitting on Appa’s head, looking happily at the sky, while Sokka was lounging on the saddle. The rest of the night had gone without another nightmare, and he was quite thankful about that. Katara was right; they had been coming up more often…

“Look at those clear skies, buddy!” he told Appa as his bestest friend yawned. The sun was shining, there were only two small clouds in sight, the wind felt great, and he could see a flock of birds flying majestically above them. “Should be some smooth flying today.”

“Uh, actually, we should probably go fly ourselves to a market,” Katara objected as she and Zuko walked up on Appa’s tail. “We’re out of medical supplies.”

“Plus, we should find some odd jobs so that we don’t run out of money,” Zukko added.

“But don’t we have enough?” Sokka asked.

“With your shopping sprees? We should be thankful that we’re not out of coins right now!”

He raised his hands defensively. “Fine, fine!”

And with that, they were off to the nearest town.

---

So, Zuko might have lied a bit about needing more money. But as far as the others were concerned, he didn’t have his own stash, so they couldn’t know that. Now yes, he could have told them, and lying to them about something would probably make them suspicious of him. But he had a good reason! Sokka was as bad as his uncle when it came to shopping, and there was no way that he would let any of them know about it, because they could accidentally spill it to the guy, which would then unnerve Zuko ‘till the point of insomnia! And yes, sure, he hadn’t been sleeping that well for the last few nights, courtesy of his wrist (it might not hurt as much as it’s supposed to, but it still does), but the prospect of not having enough money made him go back to those lovely times where he and his crew had to ration for about two months because there had been a problem with the pay check sending. Problem my ass. Honestly, just thinking about it made him feel ill.

So they separated. Zuko managed to find a one-day job as a scribe for letters, and he thanked the Spirits that he was ambidextrous. The others had opted for finding work at the port, so he didn’t see them for a few hours.

It was honestly kind of relaxing to just write. He hadn’t done it in a while, and it reminded him of his time as a student under Master Piandao. One of the swordsman’s classes was calligraphy, along with painting, and he had found out that those were pretty calming to do once he had the hang of it. He wasn’t using his best calligraphy for those letters, since his right hand was usually the one he used to write (because most brushes had a handle more suited for right-handed people), but it was still more than legible (something his employer had praised him for as he tried to minimize his blush).

At some point, a father and his daughter entered the little house where the lady that had hired him had settled her business (she had been quite happy to get some help, since the people who delivered the mail in the neighbouring towns were coming in two days, and that meant more customers than usual). The man wanted a letter for his wife who was in a hospital in another town. As he dictated the letter, Zuko felt very glad that he was also a fast writer, because that man had a lot of things to say. That was understandable, as he had apparently not seen his wife in a few weeks.

Once he was done with the majority of his letter, he nudged his daughter, who looked up excitedly.

“Do you mind if she dictates her part?”

“Not at all, sir.”

The little girl scooted extremely close to him, and looked at him with a very serious expression on her face. “You can’t tell anyone about this, okay?”

He smiled at the six year old and nodded. “I won’t tell a soul.” Her father was smiling at her in an adoring way, which made him feel something. He didn’t know what it was.

She brought her mouth to his right ear while covering secretively the other side, and whispered loudly, “Tell her that when she comes back, she’ll have loads of carrot-corns!”

He did just that, trying to emphasise the ‘loads’ like she had said it. She then asked where he wrote it so she could draw a little carrot-corn next to the word. It was way to adorable, and he was this close from crying at how precious she was. She honestly reminded him a bit of… Azula… Well, that dampened his mood quite a bit, but he kept up his non-frowning expression.

Once the letter was finished, they paid and left, but not before the little girl turned back to him and said “Thank you!!!” with an enormous grin. He made sure to smile back at her. His cheeks were hurting.

About forty minutes later, he was in the middle of another letter (a woman wanted to send it to the guy that kept pestering her about marrying, and she wanted to lie to him saying that she was already with someone else) when Katara burst into the house.

“Aang’s run off!”

He got up. “What?”

“I’m gonna go look for him, follow me!”

He excused himself to the lady and his employer, who just gave him his pay and told him she would finish the letter he started, and followed the waterbender. They got on Appa, and she explained that a fisherman had hired Sokka, and that the old man basically berated Aang about disappearing for one hundred years. Then the kid flew off.

Plus, a storm was coming up, and it started to rain hard. He hoped Sokka would be okay, because if being on a ship during a storm was hard, then being on a small fishing boat could probably be worse.

---

Aang had run off (again) to a cave in the mountain. He just felt so dreary and miserable, like the weather, but most of all, he felt guilty. He just sat there in silence, remembering that day again and again, with only the silence for company.

The silence didn’t last long. Katara found him.

“I’m sorry for running away.” He wasn’t sure if he was speaking to her, of them.

“It’s okay, the fisherman was way out of line.”

“Actually, he wasn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

He turned his head to look at her, then turned back again. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said, stopping a sob at the end.

She walked closer to him. “It has to do with your dream, doesn’t it?” she asked as she put her hand on his shoulder. “Talk to me.”

Sure, maybe he would feel better. “Well, it’s kind of a long story.”

“Then I’ll start a fire,” he heard a third voice come in the cave as Momo jumped on to him and Appa came to nuzzle him, Zuko walking past them, but not before patting his shoulder.

Once the fire was ready, he told his story.

“I’ll never forget the day the monks told me I was the Avatar. I was playing with some other kids just outside the South Wall. I was trying to teach them how to do the air scooter. Actually, I made it up and that’s the reason I got my tattoos!” He was stalling. “Anyway, the Council of Elders showed up and brought me to the meeting room. They told me I was the Avatar, that I had chosen some toys when I was little that turned out to be Avatar relics, and that they weren’t supposed to tell me before I turned sixteen. But apparently, they knew something was about to happen. Maybe not the war, but they knew something.”

“So, you were upset that you were the Avatar?’ Katara cut in. “Why wouldn’t you be excited about it?”

“Well, I didn’t know how to feel about it. All I knew was that after I found out, everything began changing. The other kids wouldn’t play games with me anymore, saying that since I was the Avatar, I would have the advantage. I tried to explain that nothing had changed, that I was still me, but they didn’t let me join in. And the elders would just test me on advanced technics again and again. The only fun I really had was with my guardian, Monk Gyatso. We would play a lot of Pai Sho at that point, which was a bit boring, but he always found a way to make it interesting.” He smiled as he remembered the times Gyatso would cheat in funny ways. “He was the only one that would still treat me like before. Like a normal kid.

But then, Gyatso was told that they would separate me from him by sending me to the Eastern Air Temple, because they thought his affection for me was clouding his judgement. It was supposed to be a secret, but I was there. I heard everything.”

“That’s awful, Aang. I don’t know what to say.”

“How could they do this to me?” He felt so angry. “They wanted to take away everything I knew and everyone I loved!” He felt like back at the Southern Air Temple when he had discovered Gyatso’s skeleton. His anger got cut off by Katara shouting and Zuko bending away cinders that that he had blown at them. He felt even worse. “I’m sorry I got mad,” he apologised, putting his head down and sitting back down.

“You have the right to be angry after the monks sent you away like that.”

“Well… that’s not exactly what happened. I was afraid and confused. I didn’t know what to do. So I wrote a note and packed up Appa. I never saw Gyatso again.” He remembered the storm he was in. The deafening thunder that kept crashing around him and Appa. The waves that swallowed them as they lost altitude. “We got caught up in a storm, and I blacked out.” He turned to Katara. “Next thing I knew, I was waking up in your arms after you found me in the iceberg.”

“You ran away.”

“And then the Fire Nation attacked our temple. My people needed me and I wasn’t there to help.”

“You don’t know what would have-”

“The world needed me and I wasn’t there to help!” he angrily cut her off

“Aang…”

“The fisherman was right! I did turn my back on the world!”

“You’re being too hard on yourself, even if you did run away. I think it was meant to be. If you had stayed, you would have been killed along with all the other airbenders.”

“You don’t know that.”

Zuko finally spoke up. “Oh you would have. Remember that the firebenders were powered by the comet. Since you were only trained in airbending, you probably wouldn’t have survived even with the Avatar State.”

“And even then, the world needs you now. Now, you give the world hope.”

Aang hesitated. “I don’t-”

“Kid, this whole situation was already messed up, and the monks didn’t help in that regard. It’s not your fault that they died, it’s not your fault that the war happened, and it certainly isn’t your fault that you got stuck in an iceberg for one hundred years.”

For all of Aang’s uncertainties, he was starting to feel a bit better thanks to this conversation. He was going to reply when someone entered the cave as the thunder clapped.

“Help! Oh, please help!” It was the fisherman’s wife.

Katara ran to bring her in. “It’s okay, you’re safe.”

“But my husband isn’t.”

“What do you mean? Where’s Sokka?”

“They haven’t returned! They should have been back by now! And this storm is becoming a typhoon! They’re caught out at sea!” Thunder boomed again at the end of her cries.

Aang got up, determined. “I’m going to find him!”

“We’re going with you!” Katara said as Zuko nodded with Momo having jumped on his shoulder.

“I’m staying here.” The woman said as she went to sit by the fire.

The four of them hopped on Appa, and after telling the lady that they would be back soon, they flew off.

*****

Aang didn’t know for how long they had been flying over the sea, trying to find the fishing boat. The rain was hitting harder and harder, the wind was going completely berserk, and the waves were getting higher. Appa got closer to the water so they could see better, and they had had a few near misses where a wave would hit them.

They finally found the boat and flew as fast as possible towards it. When they managed to land on it, lighting hit the mass, which made it fall onto them, but Aang managed to slice it with a few waterspouts. Meanwhile, Sokka had attached himself and the fisherman with a rope. Aang told them to hang on to it. He then took the end, jumped back onto Appa who was now floating, and pulled them up, making them land on the saddle. Just as they thought it was over, a massive wave came up from behind and crashed, drowning them.

As they were falling deeper and deeper, Aang slowly opened his eyes as he let go of the reins. He could see his blurry friends (and the fisherman), all holding on to the saddle for dear life and trying to hold their breath.

They were sinking deeper.

The deafening thunder crashed.

The reins were slowly floating away.

The wave ate them.

His friends were going to die because of him.

Just like Gyatso. Just like the Air Nomads.

No. Not again.

He felt like that moment Roku helped them during the Winter Solstice. He felt like when he had discovered the death of his people. He felt like when he had fallen off of Zuko’s ship back at the South Pole. He felt like when him and Appa had been swallowed by the sea, inevitably freezing both of them for so, so long.

But not this time.

He took hold of the reins, got back onto Appa’s head, created a giant bubble around them and brought them back up to the surface. When they ended up in the eye of the typhoon, that feeling went away. He flew them over the clouds, and back to the cave where the fisherman’s wife was waiting for them. The rain was now much more gentle.

“Oh, you’re alive!” she said, running towards her husband to hug him. “You owe this boy an apology,” she then said in a serious tone, pointing at Aang.

“He doesn’t have to apologize.”

The fisherman looked hesitant. “What if, instead of an apology, I give him a free fish and we call it even?”

“Actually, I don’t eat meat.”

“Fish ain’t meat!” Aang decided to not go into this debate again. He had had it many times with Kuzon, and he knew it would never really end.

Sokka walked forward. “Seriously, you’re still going to pay me, right?”

To that, the man handed Sokka a fish. He started to complain, but Aang turned to Katara and Zuko.

“Guys, I think you were right before. I’m done dwelling on the past.”

Katara smiled. “Really?”

“I can’t make guesses about what would have turned out if I hadn’t run away. I’m here now, and I’m going to make the most out of it.”

Zuko nodded. “Glad to hear that.”

“I don’t think you’re gonna have those nightmares anymore.

The trio in the background had probably ended their argument, because the fisherman came towards Aang.

“And if you weren’t here now, well, I guess I wouldn’t be either. Thank you for saving my life, Avatar.” Aang smiled at that.

“Do you hear that?” Sokka asked. “It stopped raining.”

They all walked outside to see the rainless grey sky, with beams of light filtering through the clouds.

As they looked at the landscape, Appa shook off the water that was still on him, making it land on the rest of them. They all shouted as they ran to the other side of the cliff, trying to not get wet.

“Appa!” Aang exclaimed. But he wasn’t mad, of course not.

He felt much better now.

Once the weather was completely clear, they flew off so that they could at least get a few kilometres out of the way.

Then Sokka started coughing.

Chapter Text

Zhao was not having a good day.

“Absolutely not! The Yuyan Archers stay here. Your request is denied, Commander Zhao.”

All right, time for the praise tactic. “Colonel Shinu, please reconsider… Their precision is legendary. They can pin a fly to a tree from one hundred kilometres away without killing it. You’re wasting their talents using them as mere security guards.”

“I can do whatever I want with their talents. They’re my archers, and what I say goes.” This wasn’t getting him anywhere.

Zhao turned away from the colonel, feeling frustrated. Why was this man being so difficult? Bribery wouldn’t work since Shinu was known as one of the most by the books higher ups. Threat wouldn’t work either, since whether he liked it or not, the Yuyan Archers were his.

Zhao decided to pull one last card. “But my search for the Avatar is-”

“Is nothing more than a vanity project!” Shinu scoffed. “We’re fighting a real war here, and I need every man I’ve got, commander.”

“But-!”

“That’s final! I don’t want to hear another word about it!”

Now Zhao was fuming. And he couldn’t even have the satisfaction of gloating to the so-called prince when he got back to his ship, since he was apparently sick. (He didn’t check himself, because dragon fever was no joke.) And now, his latest idea to capture that finicky airbender had been thrown out the water! Really, this wasn’t Zhao’s day.

A messenger-hawk landed onto the balcony. The colonel went to take out the message and read it. From where he was standing, Zhao could only see the Fire Lord’s seal.

“News from Fire Lord Ozai?” he inquired.

Shinu only gave him the message with irritation as a response. He took it, and read it twice to be sure.

Then he smiled. “It appears I’ve been promoted to Admiral. My request… is now an order.” To that, Colonel Shinu bowed without words and left.

Admiral Zhao looked back at the archers with glee. With them, the Avatar would finally be his. He would go back to the Fire Nation as a hero, and beating that little prince to the chase would be the cherry-apple on top!

His day had now become much better.

---

The day after that storm, Sokka had gone sick. First he started coughing, then he said he was feeling nauseous, so they landed in some ruins that Zuko recognised were quite close to Pohuai Stronghold. Now, he wasn’t really worried that the Yuyan Archers would find them (why would they come here?), but paranoia had gotten him out of a lot of situations, so he did stay alert a bit more than usual. As they were making camp, Sokka got a fever. Great.

Since they were going to stay there for a bit longer than a day, Zuko decided to be sure that the Yuyan didn’t have any missions consisting in coming close to the ruins. So that night, when everyone was asleep, he pulled out his darker clothes and his Dark Water Spirit mask, took his swords, and left. It took him about two hours to get there. Once he arrived, he scaled the first wall (he wasn’t going to try to get in the main tower, he just wanted to check that the archers weren’t preparing for a mission), and climbed on the roof of one of the guard towers. He was about to jump off when he heard a very familiar voice. Zhao. What was that fucker doing here?

He and another man were talking on the tower next to the one Zuko was on. It was pretty easy to get there, since no one was on the path to it, and the two men were looking in the same direction, so he just climbed from behind.

From what he heard, Zhao wanted the Yuyan Archers to catch Aang, but the man he was talking to, Colonel Shinu, was not having any of it. Then, because dramatic irony is a thing in real life, a hawk arrived with a message saying that Zhao was promoted Admiral. Well, this was going well. The smug prick then said that his ‘request… was now an order’, and Zuko felt a deep desire to pop up in front of the man and punch him off the tower. But, with all the restraint he could muster, he just left by the way he came, because apparently this super safe stronghold was that easy to break into (or maybe his vision of what was easy to break into was slightly skewered, but hey…).

So he went back to their camp, confident in the fact that things were probably going to end badly. He returned about an hour before sunrise, so no one knew he was gone, which was good because he didn’t want questions. He managed to sleep until the sun rose, then he meditated with the campfire until the others woke up. Oddly enough, Sokka was the first to get up. This was the first red flag.

“Hey.”

“Morning. Are you feeling any better?”

“Actually, I think it’s gone worse.” Then he looked at Zuko with a very confused expression. “Since when are you an airbender?” Second red flag.

“What?” He had gotten back into his normal clothes, but even then, he didn’t look like an airbender.

Sokka then slowly walked towards him, in a tipsy kind of way, and just dropped onto Zuko.

“Hmm… you’re so warm,” he mumbled. Meanwhile, Zuko was trying to not have a heart attack, because while he liked being warned when people hugged him, whatever this was would have made him uncomfortable regardless.

He tried to shift away, but the Water Tribe boy just slumped back on him, and he couldn’t push him off, because he was clinging his left side, and he didn’t want to use his right hand too much. (Last night’s real challenge had been to not break his wrist any further.) This was his life now, wasn’t it? By now, he realised that whatever the guy had caught was making him weird (well, weirder than usual), so he got up, had to carry him with one hand because he was not letting go, and managed to get to Katara’s sleeping bag. He put his right hand on her shoulder, prayed that it wouldn’t somehow get worse again, and shook her awake.

“W-what?” she sleepily asked as she got up.

“Sokka’s fever got worse. He thinks I’m an airbender and has lost what little sense of personal space he had.”

As if on cue, Sokka babbled again. “You’re like a nice, human campfire. I’m never letting go.”

She blinked a few times before looking at her brother. “Oh.”

“I’m also this close to raising my body temperature in order to cook him. Get him off me.”

Her eyes got wide as she realised he was (probably) being serious. “Oh, okay.” She got up and started to pull her brother away from him. If he didn’t know better, Zuko would’ve thought that the guy was wasted. They managed to put him on Appa in his sleeping bag, and after five minutes of him saying nonsense, Aang also woke up. They asked him to get some ginger roots to make medicinal tea after Zuko looked at Kyo’s map and realised that there was a small village nearby.

Once he left, things got worse. Zuko decided to make lunch (because at this point, they were way past breakfast) while Katara took care of her brother, but there wasn’t really much she could do. His fever got higher (Zuko could have felt it even if he was sleeping) and he started rambling about a giant mushroom. At this moment, Zuko just felt glad that he could regulate his body temperature during the storm, because getting that sickness looked awful.

As Katara put a wet cloth on his forehead, Sokka babbled further. “You know what I love about Appa the most? His sense of humour.”

“That’s nice,” she vaguely responded. “I’ll tell him”

To that, Appa growled.

Then Sokka laughed. “Classic Appa.”

Boy was this weird.

Aang finally returned. “How’s Sokka doing?” Zuko gave him a small bowl of rice.

“Still the same.”

“I couldn’t find any ginger root, but I found a map. There’s a herbalist institute on top of that mountain. We could probably find a cure for Sokka there!”

“Aang, he’s in not condition for travel. Sokka just needs more rest. I’m sure he’ll be better by tomorrow.” Then she started coughing.

“Not you too!” exclaimed Aang as Zuko stepped a bit further from her.

“Relax, it was just a little cough. I’m fi-” to which she coughed harder and for longer.

“Famous last words…” Zuko commented. She glared at him. “I mean, that’s how Sokka started.”

“Yeah, and look at him now. He thinks he’s an earthbender!”

“Take that, you rock!”

“A few more hours and you’ll be talking nonsense too! I’m going to go find some medicine.” He quickly finished his bowl and grabbed his glider before a flash of lighting appeared in the sky. “Uh, maybe it’s safer if I go on foot.”

Zuko ran up to the airbender and grabbed his shoulder. “Wait. Before you go, you need to be very careful about this. We’re pretty close to a Fire Nation stronghold with some really, really good archers. Don’t let them catch you. In fact, don’t get spotted in general.”

“Relax, Zuko, I’ll be fine!”

“I somehow doubt that.”

“Listen, I can run super fast. Even if someone sees me, they won’t be able to catch me!”

He sighed. “Just… get back before nightfall. If you don’t, I will find you.”

He nodded. “Point taken. Take care of them!” And he ran off.

Zuko sighed again. This was going to be a long afternoon.

*****

Hours passed. He had placed Katara in her sleeping bag that was put next to Sokka’s. Soon enough, they ran out of water. For some reason, Katara asked Momo to get more water instead of him (the delirious phase was probably kicking in), so he had to wait until the lemur came back with an empty waterskin and a dead rodent in order to get some. He tried to get them to eat some rice, but they couldn’t stomach it. Well, at least they didn’t throw up… At some point, Sokka started calling him ‘Suki’ (whoever the fuck that was) and was… well, flirting with him? It was really hard to tell. He just cut it out and went to get more water. Katara, meanwhile, was more lucid, but that didn’t mean she was actually lucid. When he put a cloth on her head, she called him ‘mom’, before apologising to him about it. Now he was feeling bad.

He didn’t have much to do in between the whole ‘take care of them’ thing, so he decided to just practice his knife throwing (for about ten minutes, because hitting frog-bull’s eye each time got boring) and meditate. That got boring after three hours. In the end, he entertained himself by creating vague forms with his fire and trying to colour them. His mastery on multi-coloured fire was pretty basic, so he thought it would be a good moment to do it while no one could ask him how he’d learned that. Making his flames red, orange and yellow (the normal colours) and keeping them that way was quite easy. After all, that’s how his fire had always been. Of course, if he let loose a bit more, you could start seeing slight hues of green, blue and purple. He had always wondered if he could keep his fire to on colour only, so that’s what he decided to try.

He managed to keep his fire consistently green for a while (though there were still slight tinges of yellow), before noticing the sun setting. Aang still wasn’t back. He waited for thirty more minutes before getting up, checking on the water supply, and putting his stealth clothes on (and taking Furora’s lock pick). He also wrapped a few bandages on his right wrist, because while he had stopped putting them at this point, this was probably going to get dangerous. At this point, the Water Tribe siblings were asleep, but he still wrote a note and put next to Katara, along with the waterskin.

“Appa, you’re in charge.”

He left.

---

This was bad. This was really bad. Why did this happen? Should he have run at a normal speed? No, he would’ve probably still been spotted. Should he have not told them that they had dropped their arrow? Yeah, that was probably it. He should have just brought his glider with him. Why didn’t he bring his glider with him???

And now he was stuck in a stronghold (from what Zuko had told him), with Zhao as his captor. Now, this was apparently the second time that they had met, but the first time had been on Crescent Island so he didn’t remember much. From what he knew about him with what little Zuko had told him (he said they didn’t get along, but Aang had a feeling that he had downplayed it), and from the conversation they had had a few hours ago, Zhao was a slimy and creepy guy. For all his anger at the firebender for bringing up his people, Aang felt relieved when the man left his cell.

Now, he was struggling against the chains that were holding him. It didn’t work, of course, but he had to try! His friends needed his help! He was pretty sure that it was long past sunset, but he had no idea how Zuko could get him out, because while yes, the guy could be very determined, there was no way he could get in here. From what little of the fortress he had seen while being dragged in, there probably was no way to get in or out! So yes, struggling was useless, but like Zhao had said, no one was coming to rescue him, so he might as well try!

He suddenly felt movement in his shirt, and the now half-frozen frogs that the healer had told him to find escaped from the neck hole. “No! Don’t leave, frogs!” he pleaded. “My friends are sick and they need you! Please go back to being frozen!” Of course, it didn’t work, with one going as far as to slip under the door, to freedom. Now he just felt taunted.

Because he couldn’t do anything else, he just struggled some more.

There was a sudden ruckus outside. It sounded like a fight. He stopped struggling when he heard someone unlocking the door. When it opened, the person that came in wasn’t a soldier, or even Zhao. It was someone wearing all black (or was it dark blue?), a sword on his back, and a mask. He recognised it from a play, but he couldn’t remember from which one it was. They closed the door, and Aang suddenly got a feeling of dread going through him as the person unsheathed their sword. Turns out, there were actually two swords, but Aang was too busy freaking out and screaming at the masked person who was building momentum towards him to realise that those were the same swords that one of his friends used.

As he braced for the impact, it never came. Instead, it was the chains that the person had broken. With swords. They broke the chains with swords. He was pretty sure that that wasn’t very normal. He looked up at them, questioningly. They proceeded to take off their mask.

“I told you I’d find you.”

“Zuko!” He resisted the urge to hug him, because he was still chained by his feet, and he had realised that his friend didn’t like being hugged when unannounced.

“Shh! Quiet down, do you want the whole place to hear you?” he angrily whispered.

“How are you here?” he asked as the firebender cut through his cuffs.

“Eh, not important. What is important is that you didn’t listen to me.”

“Sorry… On the bright side, I do know a cure for Katara and Sokka!”

“That’s nice, but we really gotta go now.”

“Oh, right.”

“Now, I’m not going to speak or firebend during this whole break-out. Don’t want to be labelled as a traitor too quickly… So don’t use my name. Got it?”

“Alright. No names, and no speaking.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure it’s impossible for you to not speak,” he said as he put his mask back on, “so just make sure not to say any names.”

He nodded, and they walked out. He saw the guards that were probably in front of his door before tied up and knocked out (at least he hoped they were knocked out). There was also a random bucket next to the door. Weird. As they passed a hallway, Aang heard a ribbit. He turned to see four still half-frozen frogs crawling away.

“My frogs!” he exclaimed as he started to pick them up. But Zuko came back to grab him by the collar and dragged him off. When Aang protested, his friend somehow managed to glare at him through his mask, so he just stopped. They would have to get some more once they got out, though…

They took a path that led them to a waterway gutter. Zuko waited until the guards cleared to point upwards and tell him to climb up. He then pointed towards a rope that was dangling from the wall. This was probably the way he had entered. Sadly, they were about halfway through when the alarm rang. A soldier cut the rope, and Aang airbent a slightly gentler fall for them. Zuko took out his swords and pointed to the main gates before running towards them, Aang in toe. He told his friend to stay close to him and airbent the soldiers that were in the way, but Zuko still got caught up with more guards. As the gates closed, Aang managed to get a spear from a soldier, broke its tip, and ran back towards his friend. The spear made for a good replacement for his staff, and he got the guards out of the (secretly) firebender’s hair. He then sent said firebender flying on top of the wall, before realising a second later that the guy still had a bad wrist. Oops.

The guy seemed fine when he started making them fly over to the second wall, though, so he probably hadn’t fallen on it. While Aang was twirling his ‘staff’ to keep their altitude, Zuko deflected the spears that were being thrown at them. Sadly, that meant that he moved a lot, which gave them a rough landing on the second wall. More soldiers (this time with swords) came their way, and one kicked away the ‘staff’. Oh well. The same soldier started taking swings at him, but Zuko just threw him off the wall. That would definitely leave a few bruises…

As they fought off more guards, some soldiers climbed the wall using bamboo ladders. That meant they now had to make sure the soldiers wouldn’t get to them. After getting the guards off of two ladders, Aang managed to pull them up and gave one to Zuko.

“Jump on my back!” he exclaimed as he jumped on the third ladder, with another one still in hand. Zuko did just that, and they started using the ladders as stilts to get on top of the third wall. Sadly, one on the guards set the ladder on fire, and they had to jump too early, resulting in them not making it, and falling right in front of the last gate. Four firebender then threw flames at them, and Aang shielded them with an air bubble.

“Hold your fire!” he heard Zhao exclaim. The firebenders stopped, and Aang could see that the man was right in front of them, with another guy. “The Avatar must be captured alive!”

Now, Aang knew that he shouldn’t have felt so scared when his friend suddenly crossed his swords in front of his throat. He knew that it was only a ruse to get Zhao to open the gates. He knew that at that moment, his friend wouldn’t hurt him. But apparently, that didn’t stop his mind from screaming “He’s going to kill me!” over and over.

Zhao gritted his teeth. “Open the gates.”

And so they did. As they backed out, Zuko still had his swords to Aang’s throat. Aang made sure to keep his movements minimal, so as to not get cut.

Once they were out of hearing range, Zuko whispered, “I’m going to make a smoke screen. When I do, you book it.”

Aang had no idea how Zuko could possibly make one, or why he hadn’t asked him to make one himself, put he still prepared himself. Suddenly, Zuko took his swords away from his throat and threw his arms in a wide arc in front of them, conjuring a massive wall of multi-coloured flames. So that was the ‘smoke screen’. At the exact same time, something hit his friend’s mask before the wall was fully formed, making him collapse on the ground. Aang didn’t have any time to think about what in the world just happened. He picked up the firebender up and ran as fast as he could, into the forest. By the time they had disappeared from the stronghold’s view, the flames vanished.

---

When he woke up, everything was fuzzy. The left side of his head hurt like a bitch, and he was probably sure that he had gotten a slight concussion. Again. From what he could make out, it was morning, and he was lying under a canopy. He could feel a fuzzy mass of heat next to him, so he turned his head to it, feeling dizzy in the process.

There was Aang, siting on a root and looking absolutely miserable. Zuko swallowed back his nausea, and called quietly to him.

“Hey.”

The kid turned around quickly. “You’re awake!” he exclaimed, making Zuko’s headache worse. He probably showed it, because the airbender then said much more quietly, “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. It’ll pass…”

He got closer. “Are you okay?”

“Feeling a bit dizzy and sick, but otherwise fine. What happened?”

“You got hit by an arrow, but I think your mask got most of the blow.” His head turned to where Aang had placed his mask. It had a slight chipped dent, but it wasn’t too noticeable.

“Lovely. Are you alright?”

“Me? Well, yeah…”

“You seem… thoughtful.”

“Well… with our talk back in the cave during the storm, I’ve been thinking a lot about my old friends from a hundred years back. I mean, Bumi’s still here, and that’s great! But, all my other friends… I never said goodbye to them. They never got to know what happened to me… What if… what if they hated me for… well…”

“I can’t answer that for you,” he tried, “but I think we’d be re-treading what Katara and I told you then. Plus, I don’t know much about friendship, so…” Then Aang suddenly giggled. “What?”

“Nah, it’s just… You remind me of one of my old friends. His name was Kuzon. I met him when he fell on me by jumping off a roof. He was a firebender, and we’d often try to find a bunch of animals and creatures together. The most impressive one was probably a dragon! We helped it protect its egg from a bunch of poachers. Even if you two are definitely different personality-wise, you remind me of him. We’d always get in and out of trouble, and breaking into a fortified place would be right up his alley!”

Zuko smiled at that and started getting up. “Actually, I’ve made it a mission to break into as many places as possible. Double points if I can get out in the next twenty-four hours.”

“Really? How many places have you broken into?”

“The Royal Palace, a few prisons and ships, some weird cemetery, what I’m pretty sure was a cult, and this stronghold.” He picked up his stuff.

“How did you break into your own home?”

“I snuck out, then I snuck back in.” That made Aang laugh. Zuko felt a little less nauseous. Then he remembered. “So, what were those frogs about?”

The airbender jumped to his feet. “Oh right! They’re for Katara and Sokka!” He then turned back to Zuko’s very confused face. “They have to suck on them while they’re frozen.”

“Is that what the healer told you?”

“Yes. And before you ask, she admitted herself that she’s crazy.” He started walking, and Zuko followed.

“Okay…”

“But the weirdest thing about her was that she had a cat.”

“A croco-cat?”

“Nope.”

“A snake-cat?”

“Uh uh.”

“A cat-bat?”

“Just a cat.”

WTF???

---

Zhao wasn’t a spiritual man. He was well aware of the Spirits’ power, but he didn’t believe that every single little odd thing was their work. While every other person around him was yapping about the fact that the intruder had been a spirit, Zhao knew better.

When he had taken his little trip at the Spirit Library, he had read a few things about special cases of different coloured fire. This hadn’t been a surprise; after all, their own princess’s flames had turned blue. But while one-coloured fire had been documented to be wielded by any firebender powerful enough, multi-coloured fire was something that only came from the Sun Warriors. And they were well known for having died out hundreds of years ago.

So how in Agni’s name did this thief manage to get his hands on Dragon Fire? It didn’t make sense! There weren’t any cases of it anymore, making its presence seen as a Spirit’s fire instead. And Zhao had a gut feeling that whoever they were, the intruder was very much human, and a firebender, making them a traitor.

He was tempted to pin it on the prince, but he wasn’t skilled with broadswords, and his fire was definitely normal. Plus, he was supposedly sick. It was more likely one of those defecting traitors who had fled to the Earth Kingdom. Sadly, that left a lot of suspects. A wanted poster was definitely a better solution.

Too bad they didn’t have the traitor’s actual face.

---

Teru was on grocery duty with Nikko and Furora. They had avoided this crazy storm a few days ago, but were running low on supplies that were only available today. At least they hadn’t gotten their funding ‘lost’ again.

Apparently, Zhao had captured the Avatar, to everyone’s concealed distress, but it was literally announced the next day that the airbender was back on the run, to everyone’s relief. Now, a day later, Furora was back to her usual bargaining, and Nikko to his usual hunt for random shit. When first asked about it, he had said that he ‘collected’. Collected what, they still didn’t know.

The other crewwoman had managed to get a cheaper price on cod-turbot, and was happily walking to the fruit stand when she stopped. Since Teru was walking absent-mindedly behind her, she hit her forehead on the older woman’s back.

“Hey, why’d you stop?” she asked in a (slightly) aggressive tone. She always talked like that, so this was tolerated now, even from her superiors on the ship, which was nice because she really didn’t mean it. It was just her way of talking.

Furora didn’t respond. Instead, she pointed to a notice board with a new ‘wanted’ poster. It had the drawing of a person wearing a theatre mask (the ‘Dark Water Spirit’, she remembered the prince telling her when she had inquired about the old chipped mask he had asked her to paint again) with ‘The Blue Spirit’ written for a name. From what she read, they didn’t have any information about them, apart from the fact that they wielded dual dao blades, were a firebender, and that they ‘stole the Avatar’.

“They’re probably pretty good at breaking an entry if they managed to ‘steel the Avatar’, huh?” said Furora with a smug expression as she turned to Teru.

“Maybe they’re that same person that broke into a prison because of a bet,” she grinned. The firebender laughed loudly at that.

Nikko, who had come back at this point with an out-dated coin of all things, took one look at the poster, and said “Zhao must be pretty pissed that he lost the Avatar,” with a serious expression. They both hummed and gravely nodded. Then the three of them burst out laughing, going back to their groceries.

Their captain would probably be miffed that they used the wrong name for the mask.

Chapter Text

It had been a few days since the Pohuai incident, and Sokka had finally stopped complaining about a wart allegedly appearing in his mouth. Now, they had made camp about an hour away from a village. Aang was weaving a necklace out of a flower and some string, which turned out to be the fishing line, Sokka was trying to get a fish without said fishing line, and Katara was looking amusedly at her brother’s attempt at wrestling with the fish. Zuko, for his part, was untangling twigs from Appa’s fur with Momo’s help. It was honestly very therapeutic.

Then they heard the sound of a platypus-bear. The three of them and Momo ran towards the sound while him and Appa nonchalantly followed them. Turns out, the platypus-bear was attacking a man who probably didn’t fear death, seeing how calm he was in this situation. Appa scared the animal away, and it laid an egg in its fright, to Sokka’s delight as he picked it up. Zuko… was very confused about that part.

They discovered the man wasn’t scared of the attack because a fortune-teller called ‘Aunt Wu’ had predicted that he would have a safe journey. He then gave them a long, thin parcel (on the fortune-teller’s words) and left.

“Maybe we could go see Aunt Wu and learn our fortunes,” Katara excitedly proposed. “It could be fun!”

“Oh, come on,” Sokka retorted. “Fortune telling is nonsense!”

Meanwhile, Aang unwrapped the parcel. “What do you know? An umbrella!”

All of a sudden, it started raining. Katara bent some of the drops over her head before getting under the umbrella. “That proves it!”

“No, it doesn’t! You can’t really tell the future!”

“I guess you’re not really getting wet then.”

The egg in Sokka’s hands slipped and cracked open on his head. “Oh come on! Zuko, you’re on my side, right?”

Zuko, for his part, was already under the umbrella as they started to walk towards the village. “Well, I guess it depends whether or not the fortune-teller is a charlatan. But prophetic dreams are an actual thing.”

“Great. You’re a believer too.”

“Well, she did predict it was going to rain,” he teased.

“Of course she predicted that! It’s been grey all day!”

“Well, if by ‘grey’, you mean ‘sunny’…”

Katara chimed in. “Just admit you might be wrong, and you can come under the umbrella.”

“Look, I’m going to predict the future now. It’s going to keep drizzling. See?”

Then, to accentuate his point, the weather suddenly cleared.

Aang looked up and smiled. “Not everyone has the gift, Sokka.”

They continued walking towards the village. As they got closer, Zuko suddenly felt a pit growing in his stomach. It wasn’t much, but it was uncomfortable enough for him to notice it.

Soon enough, they arrived. The fortune-teller had an assistant that told them that she had been expecting them in a cryptic way, and Zuko was ninety per cent sure that that part was just a gimmick. They stayed a few minutes in a waiting room, with a little girl named Meng who obviously had a crush on Aang serving them some food.

The fortune-teller who came to them looked exactly like the stereotype of a fortune-teller. Old, grey hair, extravagant warm-coloured robes and jewellery. Katara went in first, and Aang soon left to go to the bathroom in a not-at-all suspicious way. Meanwhile, Sokka was trying to wrestle the snacks Meng gave then away from Momo. Zuko just stared at the floor, mind completely blank (one of the many pleasures the floor brought him).

Aang came back, then Katara and Aunt Wu followed a minute later. When she asked who wanted to go next, Sokka got up in the most ‘I’ll go along with you bullshit’ kind of way.

“Your future is full of struggle and anguish. Most of it, self-inflicted.” Zuko was half tempted to ask if she was talking to Sokka, or him.

“But you didn’t read my palms or anything!” Sokka protested.

“I don’t need to. It’s written all over your face.”

Aang turned to Zuko. “Do you want to go next?”

“Nah, I’ll pass on the predictions, thanks.”

“Oh, okay.” He then walked away with Aunt Wu.

Now, while Zuko did in fact believe that fortune telling was a thing (years of hearing Uncle’s stories, and just Fire Sages being a thing in his childhood would do that to anyone), he didn’t want his to be read. First, there was the obvious problem of ‘What if she’s and actual fortune-teller?’, in which case she would probably find out who he was, and he didn’t want to be thrown out of the village. Second, he just didn’t want to know his future. He had never been one to think too far ahead for his own life, and one of the few things that had stayed from his depressive state from two years ago was the ‘not caring about the future as to not agonise over it’ part. All this to say that while he was fine with his… colleagues? teammates? going to see the lady, he would stay far away from any predictions concerning him, thank you very much!

Once Aang was done, they walked out of the building and were joined by Appa. Zuko’s weird discomfort was getting bigger, but he just shrugged it off as the stress from a potential fortune reading. They walked away, with Sokka still rambling on about fortune telling being a hoax.

“Well, now you got to see for yourselves how this is just a big, stupid hoax.”

“You’re just saying that because you’re going to make yourself unhappy your whole life,” Katara retorted.

Sokka’s voice rose at that. “That woman is crazy! My life will be calm and happy and joyful!” He then kicked a pebble to accentuate his point, which bounced back to him (like a boomerang) and hit him on the head. “That doesn’t prove anything!”

“Well, I liked my predictions. Certain things are going to turn out very well.”

“They sure are…” said Aang.

“Why? What did she tell you”

“Some stuff. You’ll find out,” he said cryptically.

They ended up in the village square where all the villagers were gathered up. Aunt Wu appeared to do some cloud reading. Apparently, this year would be good for twins (he though of Li and Lo in this instant), crops would grow well, and the volcano would not destroy the village.

Wait. Volcano???

He turned to Sokka who had just told Aang to act aloof to his crush (which was dumb, because Katara already knew Aang’s personality). “Did she just talk about a volcano?”

“Yeah, didn’t you listen to that weirdly calm man?”

“I was… distracted…” by the growing gut feeling making him more and more uncomfortable. But it was fine, right?

“Basically, they used to just check if the volcano was active, but with Aunt Wu here, they just rely on her predictions.” Zuko’s eyes (well, eye) grew big as he paled. Sokka noticed. “Yeah, I know. Stupid, right?”

“Yeah…”

With that, Sokka went off to try and convince the villagers that their beliefs were bullshit, leaving Zuko to his increasing paranoia. How in Koh’s name was he going to be able to go up that mountain? Sure, he could go there alone, but he still wasn’t very sure if his status to the others was ‘safe’ of ‘still don’t trust him completely’ (which would be understandable), which meant that if he went off alone, and the volcano turned out to not be close to erupting, there would be some serious repercussions (not ‘burn your face’ levels, but still).

In his anxiety, he had taken to walk around the village. He bumped into Aang (well, not literally) who was telling Momo that being aloof probably wasn’t his style. Zuko thought for a split second before taking his chance.

“You know what she might like?” he tried to say in the calmest way he could muster. “Flowers! And there’s some pretty neat ones that grow on top of volcanoes in the Earth Kingdom!”

“You think that would work?”

As if on cue, a guy gave a lass a flower (a panda-lily), to which she excitedly embraced him.

“Guess you’re right!”

So they both climbed to volcano. As they got closer and closer to the top, Zuko felt his stomach get heavier and heavier, which wasn’t a really good sign.

“I hope this’ll work,” said the airbender excitedly.

“It’ll be fine,” he absent-mindedly responded.

“There! On the rim!” The boy rushed to the top, to which Zuko quickly followed. Once he got to the boy’s side, he looked at the red, bubbling, hot crater. “Aunt Wu was wrong.”

“Shit.”

---

Sokka was still trying to explain to those people why fortune telling was stupid when he saw Aang glide towards him with Zuko hanging on to him before jumping down. He would have laughed or joked about it if it wasn’t for their serious faces.

“What’s wrong?”

Aang looked up with a panicked expression. “The volcano’s gonna erupt!”

“What?”

“This is all my fault,” said the firebender, “I should’ve known that this would happen!”

“What do you mean?”

“Firebenders can feel when a volcano is going to erupt. Perks of living on a bunch of volcano islands, I guess… But, I just thought it was a random thing that would pass, not this!”

Sokka tried to calm him down. “Okay, Okay! So, do you know when it’s gonna blow up?”

“It’s not precise, but I’d say… not before nightfall.”

“Okay, we’ve gotta warn the village. Come on!”

On their way, they got Katara who was convinced after the volcano rumbled with an explosion. Sadly, the villagers were too thick-headed to believe them. They decided to steal Aunt Wu’s cloud book, with Katara and Aang bending the clouds to look like the symbol for an eruption.

Meanwhile, he and Zuko got the fortune-teller in the square so that she could tell the villagers that yes, they were in danger.

“Aunt Wu, look! Something is happening in the clouds.”

“That’s very strange. It shouldn’t…” She looked up at the cloud, and let out a terrified “Oh my!”

Zuko looked up at the giant skull-shaped cloud, before telling Sokka in a low voice, “It’s a little on the nose, init?”

“Well, at least it’s easy to understand.”

And with that, they set up everybody with the task of making trenches, with Zuko explaining the most efficient way to make them all while reminding everyone that it probably wouldn’t work (which was a pretty jerky move in Sokka’s opinion). The few earthbenders present did most of the job, but the rest of them used shovels to make things a bit faster. Momo even tried to ‘help’ by moving a rock.

The sun had set a few minutes ago, and the jerkbender told them that everyone had to get out of there. That left the five of them in front of the village gate that led to the volcano, with said volcano spilling lava and ash towards them. The lava burned everything in its path and flowed into the trenches, but it was clear that it wouldn’t hold for long. And then the fire-spitting mountain threw rocks at them, making the lava jump out of the trenches. He and his sister both booked out of their standing places, but Aang and Zuko just stayed there. From where he was, he saw them look at each other and nod before turning back to their massive, all-burning problem.

Aang ran towards the lava as Zuko took a deep breath (so deep in fact, that Sokka could see it while the firebender had his back turned to him). As Aang jumped into the air, propelling himself with his bending, the other took a stance very reminiscent of an earthbending stance and shot his arms out in front of him as the airbender seemed to gather air to blow right at the lava leaping towards them. In a few seconds, the red molten liquid of death was frozen into rock, shaped like a wave about to crash on the village. Then Zuko ran off, shouting something about stopping the fires from spreading. Aang nodded at that, then turned back to stare at the still erupting volcano.

Sokka couldn’t help but stare in awe during the whole scene, and from the looks of it, neither could his sister.

“Man, sometimes I forget what powerful benders those two are.”

“Wait. What did you just say?”

“Nothing, just that they’re powerful benders.” Which was weird, because on one hand, they had Aang who was a goofy kid that used his bending to play with butterflies, yet also the Avatar, and on the other hand they had Zuko, who seemed to be much more comfortable not being a bender. Those seemed like pretty big oxymorons.

She slowly looked up, as if hit by a realisation. “I suppose they are…” Okay… He decided not to ask questions.

They spent the rest of the night making sure that no fires had started, but the lava that the two had frozen had made a better trench towards the water than anything they had done. The way the volcanic rock was now looming over the village in the shape of the beginnings of a dome was a bit creepy, but in a cool way. They split up in two pairs to go check if the forest was doing good, and Sokka ended up going with Zuko.

They walked for a bit, but since there wasn’t much to do, he decided to talk.

“That was some pretty impressive stuff you did earlier.”

The firebender looked taken aback at that, and just slowly looked away. “Uh, thanks… I guess…”

“Why so blue? You two stopped flipping lava!”

“Well, Aang did most of the work…”

“What are you being modest about? I mean, I don’t exactly know what you did, but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t run-of-the-mill ashbending!”

The guy looked back at him angrily as if he wanted to say something, but then stopped himself and looked at the ground, like he was trying to change the subject in his head. “I’m pretty sure other firebenders can do that.”

“Looked more like earthbending, in my non-expert opinion.”

“Well, lava is just molten rock, so…”

“Wait. What exactly did you do?”

He looked at his hands. “Well, it’s like when earthbenders push back an avalanche from them. But, since it’s very hot rocks we were dealing with, I… pushed the heat instead?” He didn’t look convinced by his own explanation, and neither was Sokka. “Look, I’m not good at explaining stuff like that.”

“So… you bent the lava?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s an earthbending thing only. At the end of the day, it’s still just rocks. But since there’s a lot of heat, and firebending is all about heat, then I guess I could still push it out of the way a bit.”

“And you’ve seen other firebenders do that?”

“No. When there’s an eruption on the islands, firebenders take the heat away from the lava. But since part of the population are human volcano detectors, they take away the heat before anything can actually happen.”

“So, where did you learn how to ‘push the heat’?”

“I… Well… My uncle once told me that a bender can get stronger if they take inspiration from other elements. Since I’ve fought a few earthbenders for various reasons that I will not disclose, I’ve been able to see their bending stances in action. Plus, one of my crewmembers once told me to use my imagination more often because you could come up with some pretty crazy shit if you just thought about it, and-”

“So you’re saying you learned it on your own.”

“…Yes?”

“You invented a fricken technique on your own-”

“Well, somebody probably already thought about it before…”

“-and you’re talking about it like it’s not a big deal?”

He stopped for a moment, thinking about it, before walking faster, back to the village. Sokka had to up his pace because now the guy was going fast (almost frantic). From behind, Sokka heard him whisper, “Azula would have done it better.” This was the second time Sokka had heard that name. He would have to ask about it at some point.

When they got back to the village, his sister and Aang were already back and talking to Aunt Wu.

As Aang gave her back her book, he heard her say, “So you messed with the clouds, did you?” in an angry tone. They both looked guilty, and Sokka just smiled and pointed at Katara to show that she messed with them too. Then Zuko punched him in the elbow. Ow.

The old lady then laughed. “Very clever!”

Sokka decided to take his shot. “No offence, but I hope this taught everyone a lesson about not relying too much on fortune telling.”

The man from yesterday’s platypus-bear fight cheerfully disagreed. “But Aunt Wu predicted the village wouldn’t be destroyed, and it wasn’t. She was right after all.”

Oh for Tui’s sake! “I hate you,” he growled while gritting his teeth.

Katara put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, Sokka. Everything’s going to be alright.” Yeah. As if that helped. She then turned to Zuko. “By the way, why didn’t you want your future read?”

“Well… thinking about the future has always given me anxiety. Plus, I prefer to just adapt to circumstances. It’s at least better than agonizing over something that could probably change. Destiny’s not something that’s just set in stone, after all…”

“Since when do you talk like a wise old man?” Sokka teased.

“I’m quoting my uncle.”

Him and Katara burst out laughing. It was really weird to think that the guy that had chased them since the South Pole could be so… dependant on an old man’s words.

Sokka smiled. “You seem to like him a lot!”

Zuko shrugged. “Yeah, he’s probably the least messed up person in my family. I mean, he even stayed with me throughout my banishment, though…” He stopped his train of thought as Aang skipped towards them with a goofy smile. “What are you so happy about?”

“Oh nothing. Anyway, I think we should get going.”

Katara frowned. “But Aang, we haven’t slept last night. I’m sure we’re all tired.”

Sokka nodded. “Yeah, staying up all night isn’t good for my sleeping pattern!”

“You two can just sleep on Appa. Me and Zuko’ll make sure that everything goes well. Okay?” They all nodded. “Maybe I can even teach Zuko how to hold Appa’s reins!”

Sokka swiftly objected. “That might not be the best idea, Aang. We don’t want to be thrown off the saddle!”

“Relax, it’ll be fine!”

“Yeah, Sokka,” the jerk grinned (in a not at all creepy way), “it’ll be fine.”

Well that wasn’t foreboding at all.

Chapter Text

“Okay, so remember to always keep hold of the reins,” Aang explained.

“But do I hold them like this, of like that?”

“Like that. There you go! You got it!”

“It kinda feels like steering a komodo-rhino, in a way…”

“Are those fun to ride?”

“Yeah, I guess they are.”

“Probably not as fun as riding an elephant-koi-fish.”

Zuko turned his head with the most disbelieving look possible. “Do you wish to die, or did your self-preservation instincts get damaged in that iceberg?”

“Nah, I’ve always been like that!”

“Then the world better be ready to get near heart attacks from all of the deadly hijinks you get into.”

“Hey, it’s not like you’re any better!” he playfully rebuked. “I mean, there probably was an easier way to fight Jet without breaking your wrist.”

“Well at least I’m not the one that should stay alive for extremely important reasons! You-” They got cut off by Appa dipping a few meters before getting back on track.

The two looked back at the saddle to see if they hadn’t lost their friends, but Sokka and Katara were still fast asleep, with Momo lounging on Sokka’s head. “Pfew. Let’s not do that again.”

Zuko was clutching the reins so hard that they would probably leave marks in his palms. “Agreed.”

A bit of silence sat between them.

“Don’t hold them so tight, Appa was just messing with us.”

“Really? Because I had the distinctive feeling that he didn’t intend to do that.”

“Well, let’s ask him! Did you mean to do that, buddy?”

Appa roared at that.

“Huh, guess you were right.”

Zuko squinted at him. “Do you actually understand him, or do you just… interpret what you think he’s saying?”

“Well, I don’t understand what he’s saying in a ‘I can hear him talk’ kind of way, but I still get what he’s feeling or trying to communicate, you know? I guess it’s because we’re spiritually connected.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, every Avatar has an animal with whom they share a spiritual bond! Sometimes, I have very random dreams about my past lives, though I have to really concentrate to realise that, and I’m pretty sure one of them had a sand-snake as a friend. And then, there’s Avatar Roku with his dragon, who’s name in Fang, by the way.”

“Huh, that’s neat.”

Silence.

“Hey, what’s your favourite animal?”

“Well, I pretty much like every animal, even the creepy ones. But, if you want specifics, there’s turtle-ducks, messenger-hawks, komodo-rhinos, elephant-camels, crow-foxes, bull-frogs, coconut-crab-whales, wolf-snakes, bat-spiders-”

Aang shuddered. “Bat-spiders?”

“People apparently don’t like them, but I find them cute.”

“And aren’t wolf-snakes, like, dangerous?”

“Yes, but they’re actually more afraid of us than we are of them. Plus they’re adorable.”

“I guess they are… They do have pretty boop-able noses.”

“Very. I just want to boop them when I see one.”

“You can try that on Momo, he usually licks me right after.”

“Heh, I will.”

Silence.

“So… Have you ever seen a dragon?” Zuko turned to him with a slightly surprised expression. “Cause, you know, you’re from the royal family, and Kuzon told me once that they usually have a dragon.”

“Uh… no. Dragons are…” He sighed. “They’ve gone extinct.”

“What? But there were plenty around a hundred years ago!”

“Well… Sozin started the tradition of hunting dragons for glory a few years after the war officially started. They were the ultimate firebenders, and if you could kill one, your firebending would become legendary and you’d earn the honorary title ‘Dragon’.”

“That’s… horrible.” Silence. “You know, I’m pretty sure Appa and Momo are the last of their kind. I don’t like to think to much about it, but they’ll be extinct once they’re gone.”

“You said you found Momo in the Southern Air Temple, right? How long does a flying-lemur live?”

“Around thirty to forty years.”

“Then I’m pretty sure there are others like him out there. He couldn’t have just popped into existence.”

He lit up. “That’s… actually a good point!” But he then deflated. “But that still leaves Appa as the last sky-bison.”

“Maybe… Maybe not…”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I'm basing my facts on texts here, so feel free to correct me, but weren’t Air Nomads… nomadic?”

Aang understood where he was going with this. “Yeah, but that comet wasn’t just seen as a big deal in the Fire Nation. It was at the end of summer, and that was the moment that every airbender went back to the temples to celebrate.”

“Every?”

“Well, I guess maybe a few couldn’t come, but most of them did.”

“And then there were all the traps for the surviving ones, and the bounties-”

“Bounties?”

“So that no one would try to hide them.” Aang looked pained. “Look, what I’m saying is that there’s plenty of uninhabited place out there. A lot of islands that can’t be reached by boat, you know. I’m sure there’s probably a few sky-bison still out there.” Aang looked up at him with excitement. “Don’t get your hopes up, kid, I’m not an expert. But… you never know… Sometimes, they’re well hidden.”

Aang smiled. “Thanks, Zuko.”

Zuko nodded. “You’re welcome.”

There was now an easy silence between them.

Aang clapped his hands. “Now, we’re gonna try to make you stop Appa and make him quickly change direction. I’ll wake up Katara, Sokka and Momo though. It might get a little bumpy.”

---

Something had happened. The Masters were standing on the pillar where every Warrior would dance with them to show their skill. But there was no special occasion today, there wasn’t anything happening at all! The chief walked to the top, ready to see what the problem was. Last time this had happened, Ran had laid her golden egg and had requested for it to be placed in a secure location. That had happened over thirty years ago.

Once he arrived in front of the Masters, he sat on his knees with his back straight, to show his respect and that he’s ready to listen to them. Master Shaw was the one to step towards him, his blue scales reflecting the setting sun in a blinding way, though Chief Tizoc kept his eyes open to look straight at the ancient dragon. The Master’s whisker touched his forehead, granting him their visions.

The first image he saw was the golden egg, their child, still protected by the shell that looked akin to metal. Then, he saw two figures he hadn’t seen in at least two years: the two princes of the traitorous nation with which they shared their bending. What did those two have to do with the egg?

He got his answer with the third vision. The younger one, Zuko if he remembered correctly, was in the egg’s chamber. Tizoc remembered that the boy had disappeared while Iroh explained to them why they came, and that they had found him in that chamber. What he hadn’t known, if the vision was to be believed (which it always was), was that the boy had touched the egg. He saw him poke it a few times before placing his hands on its side, not moving it. So the boy had lied. Wonderful.

The forth vision was dark, with the outline of a person who’s inner fire could be seen holding the egg with a vague form of a small dragon inside. Slowly, the boy’s inner flame passed through his arms and into the egg, making the dragon’s flame appear.

The fifth vision was somewhere Tizoc didn’t recognise. It was the dead of night, and everything would have been dark if it wasn’t for the giant pillar of Dragon Fire. Its source was indistinguishable, and there was nothing once it disappeared.

The visions ended, and the chief opened his eyes. Ran and Shaw now looked at him, expectantly.

“The egg is going to hatch. You wish for the boy to be brought to it?”

Ran nodded.

Chief Tizoc bowed his head. “Then it shall be done.”

The Masters exhaled approvingly before going back to their cave through their respective entrances. He walked down the altar, a few of his people waiting for him to explain what had happened.

They would have to contact Iroh and hope that he would come in time with his nephew.

He sighed. Why could the child have not run off in the first place?

Chapter Text

A day after Aang’s lessons to the jerkbender on how to not kill everyone on Appa, Sokka still felt like he couldn’t really eat his lunch well. Those loops were not good for his stomach. That feeling changed when they landed to give Appa a bit of relaxing time, where Aang wondered off, only to call for them a few minutes later.

“Hey, look! A sword made out of a wale’s tooth!”

Since Sokka was the closest to him, he was the first to get there and realise what it was.

As he saw the scimitar, his mind went back to the day that the men of his tribe left. The day dad left. He remembered the feeling of wanting to be useful, to be helpful, but only managing to get in other people’s way.

“It’s a Water Tribe weapon!” He turned to Aang. “See if you can find anything else.” And they started searching.

About a minute later, Katara and Zuko joined their search, but Sokka was the one that found the next weapon: a spearhead. And it definitely looked Water Tribe, even though it was burned.

Turns out, there had been a fight between Water Tribe warriors and firebenders. Reading the trail, it was clear that the warriors had ambushed the firebenders, who had fought back. The warriors still managed to drive them down the hill, but the trail ended at the beach they were close to, where burned wood littered the sands. Though he was disappointed in the lack of a resolution to the trail, he did feel quite proud to have been able to decipher it. He definitely couldn’t do that when the men left.

As disappointment seeped in, Katara exclaimed, “Wait, look!” as she pointed to a Water Tribe boat! How did he not see that?

They all ran towards it. The way the hull was made, with the bow carrying a lantern at the end. The way the ropes were twisted, how the sails were stitched. There was no doubt about it; it was from dad’s fleet!

He turned to Katara who was smiling widely. “Dad was here!”

To that, she got closer to get a better look at it, probably getting a wave of nostalgia like him, while Aang looked happy for them on the side with Zuko just looking at the horizon.

They decided to make camp right next to the boat, because if it was there, then its owner might be close by.

Zuko decided to fully cook tonight, so that Katara could take that time to practice with Aang. Sokka looked extremely carefully at what the firebender was putting in this soup with rice(?) in it, because he still hadn’t forgotten that evil ashmaker powder that had annihilated his throat a few weeks ago. A month ago. Damn, to think that before that, the guy was trying to roast them, and now he was making them a weird soup. Life was weird.

Since they were both alone around the pot with silence circling them, he decided to start a conversation, because in that month, he had learned that the firebender never started small talk.

“So… How did you learn how to decently cook? I didn’t think royalty had cooking classes.”

Zuko sighed, as if mourning the loss of something, but he replied. “No, we don’t. My ship’s cook taught me.”

“Oh right! I remember you saying that she could easily defeat us if angered.”

“He, and yes, he gets… very intense when it comes to food. That’s why your little comment about me poisoning the first soup I helped with made me angry. On top of having to ration everything, which makes poisoning food a waste of resources, Kazuto’s the kind of person that will yell at you if he discovers that you’ve nicked something from the kitchen. You do not mess with his kitchen.”

“Wow, I never thought someone could be so protective of their kitchen. But why did you learn? It’s not like you needed to.”

“Well… I’ve always preferred learning manual things. Of course, theory’s good too, but doing stuff with my hands clears my head, you know? It’s like… you and sharpening your boomerang. You don’t really need to do it, but it clears your head, right?” Sokka nodded at this. It was true; doing this simple, repeated task was always calming to him. “But, back to your question, I started learning things from most of my crewmates about a year after my banishment. It was a way to learn useful things, but it was also a chance to know them better. Until that point, I was a complete asshole towards them, and then, I… got a change of perspective, and I decided to be… less of a brat. Heh, doesn’t stop them from still calling me that, though.”

Sokka leaned forward. “So, what else did you learn?” he asked in an interested manner, because he really did want to know what else the guy had learned.

“Well, you already know about the haggling… I can repair a ship’s engine, read a map, tend to animals… Oh, I learned who to use a spear, and Jee’s the one that taught me how to carry my voice.”

“So that’s the guy I have to thank for my ears being destroyed?”

“Oh come on, I don’t scream that often.”

“That’s debatable… Did you learn anything else?”

He smirked. “Well, yeah, but it wouldn’t be fun if I told you all of my secrets, would it now?”

“You know, keeping secrets just makes you more suspicious,” he said in a joking manner. Sadly, that had been the wrong thing to say, as Zuko’s face suddenly dropped. “Hey, I was just joking! Everyone’s got their secrets. That doesn’t mean we don’t trust you.” But that didn’t work, as the guy hunched himself and just quietly stirred the soup. Damn it, why did all of their one-on-one conversations always end with him clamming inwards?

After a few minutes of now completely awkward silence (the very thing he was trying to prevent), Katara and Aang came back completely soaked and grinning.

“What did you do?” Zuko asked as he lifted his eyebrow.

Aang’s grin got bigger. “Oh, nothing…”

Sokka was about to interject to that, because he knew those faces, and they were the ‘trying to look innocent’ ones, but Katara cut him off. “How’s dinner going?”

“It should be ready in about two minutes. Go get dry, I’ll serve the bowls.”

“Okay!” And they both went to Appa to put their clothes back on.

The soup was actually pretty good. The guy had even added more salt to his and Katara’s, which was neat. He also only added spices to his own bowl, which was even neater. They were all perfectly fine with eating in silence, but it seemed that while Katara’s face was back to normal, Aang was still slightly grinning at himself.

Zuko took note of that.

“Aang.” He waited until the kid turned his head towards him. “What did you two do back there?”

“What do you mean? Nothing happened.”

“You two were smiling like axolotl-hyenas. You two clearly did something, and I would like to know whether or not it’ll be a problem for later.”

“Don’t worry,” Katara replied. “It’s not gonna bring us any trouble.”

“Looking at your track record, I have a feeling that it will.”

Sokka decided to get in the conversation. “Yeah, I’d also like to know what you did. Come on, Katara, if it’s not gonna get us in danger, why not just say it?”

“If it’s not gonna get us in danger, then we don’t have to tell you.”

“What, were you two kissing or something?”

Katara looked surprised while Aang blushed very hard. “What? No! We just hid some of Momo’s snacks under a rock!”

Zuko looked at them with the expression that Sokka had dubbed ‘da fuck?’. “Why would you do that?”

“We were just messing with him,” Aang replied, trying to bring his blush down. “It’s not like he’ll go hungry.” They all turned to the lemur that was happily eating the extra rice in the pot. “He’ll probably wonder where they are for a while, and we’ll give them back to him tomorrow!”

“Is that rock… close to the water?”

“Don’t worry,” Katara shrugged. “It’s far enough from the tides.”

“Right…”

They finished eating, and took out the sleeping bags. Aang fell asleep on Appa, while Katara and Zuko soon drifted too. Momo went to look for his hidden snacks, and periodically flew over the camp, probably to make sure that he hadn’t just missed them while looking.

Sokka, meanwhile, was pretty much left to his own thoughts. Being so close to dad after so long was making him think again and again of the day that he’d left. How he told him that he had to protect his sister. How Sokka had felt so useless then.

Sokka was pretty sure that when his dad had told him this, he probably hadn’t thought that they would get out of the South Pole. There wasn’t really much need for protection other than when they went out hunting. When they left with Aang, he realised that between him and his sister, she was the one protecting him most of the time. And yeah, sure, he had learned that girls could also fight thanks to Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors, but he still felt like he should do more than just… be the guy with the boomerang. He was still as useless as when his father had left.

Momo came back again, and landed in front of him, an expectant look in those big eyes.

He shrugged. “Hey, I don’t know where they are, you’re gonna have to ask someone else.”

To that, the lemur decided it would be a good idea to wake up the person that couldn’t sleep during the day. Than was pretty inconsiderate of him!

At Momo’s chitters and pawing, Zuko slowly woke up. “Mmm… what?” He got on his elbow as the lemur continued his chittering. “The fuck does he want?” he asked Sokka drowsily.

“Didn’t you say earlier that you were good with animals?”

“Not when I was finally sleeping well,” he grumbled back. That made Sokka feel a bit guilty, because he had noticed that the firebender didn’t sleep a lot. At Momo’s continuous chitters, he groaned again, “Okay, okay, I’m gonna get your stuff.”

As he got up, Sokka could hear him mumble, “I can’t believe you woke me up for this. I’m not even the one that hid them…”

While Sokka had to agree with that, it didn’t change the fact that the big bad firebender being coaxed into helping with something he didn’t even cause was pretty funny.

---

A few hours ago, they had gotten a message. Shoji had almost stomped on Furora during her deck resting to get the message to their replacement captain. The retired general quickly locked himself in his room, and that was the end of that for a while. In the meantime, she snuck in the kitchen to get more fire flakes, and started doing some workouts with Nikko and Gengi because what else was there to do? They had been stuck in the same port ever since Admiral Douchebag lost the Avatar. In that time, he had tried once to see the captain again, but they stuck to the dragon fever story, and after a few creepy comments towards Teru (aka the youngest woman in the crew), he left. Agni, that guy was a piece of shit.

Once they were done, they went back on deck, only to see what she recognised as a shirshu leaping on the ship with a lady on its back. It almost hit Genji if she hadn’t pushed him out of the way.

She remembered those things from one of Shoji’s long talks about venomous animals with Prince Zuko, and if she knew one thing, it’s that you had to stay away from its tongue.

As she and Nikko were about to attack, the woman shouted, “Get back! We’re after a stowaway!”

Then the beast took out a piece of the floor and put its head through the hole. Great, they would have to fix that. Suddenly, a man ran out of the hole, and the shirshu stun him with its tongue.

During the commotion, the general must have come up, because she heard him ask the woman, “How did you find this man?”

She had already secured the stowaway on the animal and was leaving. “My shirshu can smell a rat a continent away.” And with that, she was off.

Furora turned to him. “I’m guessing you want me to go get Aiko, sir?” While Aiko was officially only meant to repair the inside of the sip, she was basically the handy-lady of the crew.

“Yes, that would be lovely.” He then though for a moment, and she stayed because she knew that he would probably ask something else. “Also, could you come to the bridge after getting her? I need to ask something of you.”

She nodded, bowing slightly, “Yes, sir,” and left. While they were now officially non-official traitors, all of the crew had kept addressing him in the same manner, which to an outsider would have been extremely unsubordinated, since they didn’t really bow properly, and definitely didn’t form the flame. That part was just a waste of time if you asked any of them.

She went down to the boiler, and entered, only to receive steam in her face, which made her hair become frizzy. Yay.

“Hey, Aiko! There’s some repairs that are waiting for you on the deck!”

In the low red light, she could distinguish the silhouette of the woman in her forties with her goggles reflecting back at her. “What happened?” she sighed.

“A shirshu happened.”

“A what?” she said while getting her toolbox.

“Never mind. Just know that there’s now a hole on the ground.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” She lowered her head to get pass the doorframe, and stomped pass her towards the deck, mumbling about how she wasn’t paid enough for this shit, while Furora once again understood why the mechanist had been the first of the crew to get their young prince to open up.

She then went to the bridge, bumping into Shoji in the process.

“Hey kid, what was that message about?”

“Dunno, it was in another scroll saying that only Iroh and Zuko could read it.” He never used titles when the people in question weren’t there, which was probably because this had been his only job on a ship.

“And you weren’t curious?”

“Unlike you, I know how to stay alive.”

She chuckled as he walked off. He may not like sarcasm, but the years at sea had at least made good at comebacks. She couldn’t help but remember how he would just blush or mumble incoherently in response to the slightest teasing. Ah, good times.

She entered the bridge where Lieutenant Jee, helmsman Kyo and General Iroh were sitting. They turned to her.

“Got Aiko to get on the deck, sir.”

“Thank you, Furora,” the old man smiled, before getting serious again. “I’m sorry to ask you this, but you are the only crewmember that doesn’t get sick while riding a mount and can haggle the best. I need you to persuade the woman from earlier to get you to Prince Zuko and deliver this message to him. Can you do that?”

She nodded. “I’m sure I can manage something. Though, she’ll probably want some sort of payment.”

“That can be arranged. Thank you. You had better take a nap, I have a feeling that this trip will take some time.”

“Yes, sir.”

*****

After resting for two hours, she got to the port’s tavern, with a box of money and one of the prince’s favourite scrolls (plus one of the general’s pai sho tiles for the way back, just in case). When she got there, there was a crowd gathered around a table cheering for what looked to be an arm wrestling match. From afar, she recognised the bounty hunter, and pushed passed the people in front of her. Some of them tried to push her back, but a quick look at her uniform and her glaring at them shut ‘em up fast.

She finally got to the table, and addressed the woman. “I need to talk with you.”

“I don’t really talk much to Fire Nation soldiers,” she said before slamming her opponent’s arm on the table without breaking a sweat.

Furora chucked. “Yeah, well you trashed the ship I work on earlier. I want payback.”

People had started throwing money at her, and she collected it while smiling. “Well, I’d love to help you out, but I’m a little short on money.” She then turned to the crowd, and shouted, “Drinks on me!” to which they all cheered.

Furora sighed, before slamming the box on the table. “I need you to find someone. In exchange, you get the money in that chest, and I don’t have to steal your shit. Deal?”

“And here I thought that you people were all about honour.”

She huffed. “Pl-ease.”

The bounty hunter lifted an eyebrow before opening the box. Her eyes widened, and she smiled. “The name’s June, and you’ve got a deal.”

---

Bato had been stuck in the Abbey for almost two months now, and while the nuns were extremely lovely and patient with him, he couldn’t help but feel cramped. Two years at sea had made his balance feel weird on land, and even though they were right next to the seaside, he longed to be back on the waters.

The only thing he longed even more for was to be with his tribe again. He had spent those years with warriors from all over the South Pole, not just from his village. Soon, they had all seen each other as a family, as tribe, and the fact that he was now so far away from them made his heart ache. The only thing that could satiate this was the map that Hakoda would send to him once they had found a secure location, which meant that he would probably receive it soon, maybe even tonight!

This thought was the reason why he was out walking on the beach instead of resting like the nuns had suggested he do. But he felt caged, and the sea breeze was the only thing that could calm him down. It also relieved the burns on his arm slightly, which was always nice.

He was making his way to the boat that the fleet had given him when he saw a flickering. From were he was, he could see a figure hunched over a pile of rocks. The light was coming from them. The person straightened up, but stayed on the ground, and lifted their hand. It was holding fire.

An ashmaker was here.

Now, Bato had always prided himself on keeping a weapon on him at all times, and tonight was no exception. There was no way that he would let one of those village burning monsters anywhere near the abbey. And even though his arm was screaming at him to not get close to the fire, he slowly crept towards them, a scimitar in his right hand. It would be a swift, quick and merciful death.

Then the person stiffened.

There’s no way that he heard me, Bato reasoned. The waves were too loud for anyone to hear him. So he advanced again, ready to act.

That never happened. The ashmaker suddenly turned around and threw flames at him. Although they didn’t touch him, he couldn’t help but scream in surprise, but also at the vivid memory of another ashmaker attacking his arm. At the same time, something screeched and flew away. Probably a nearby bird.

The fire was still on the ground though, and it showed the person’s face. He seemed awfully young, and didn’t have any armour. Still, he could have been a spy. You never knew with them… The most defining thing about him at that moment was his eyes. They were too yellow, too gold, and the fire made them glow in the most unnatural way. But there was one other thing that was extremely visible: a burn scar on the left side of his face, covering his eye and ear. As horrific as it looked, it brought an advantage to Bato, because it was clear from the young man’s posture that he was weak on that side, and that he probably couldn’t see, or even hear very well. Good, that meant he still had a chance of getting rid of him. He may have been young, but he was still a threat, and Bato had learned a while back that the Fire Nation recruited late teenagers.

The firebender didn’t make another move, but instead watching him, as if trying to see what Bato would do next. His eyes, though, made him look like a predator ready to pounce on its prey. Since it was clear that he was waiting for his next move, Bato obliged. He ran to the ashmaker’s right, before going for his left, trying to cut his throat in a circular motion. The firebender barely dodged, and grabbed his right wrist to bring him towards himself. He lifted his foot, but instead of fire, he kicked him in the stomach, and let go of his arm.

Bato was thrown back and coughed. As he did so, the ashmaker put some distance between them, ready to attack again. As he lunged at the firebender again, his opponent got ready to punch. They both got stopped by a very strong wind blowing between the two of them and pushing them backwards. They both turned to see three new arrivals.

One of them was in bright orange colours and seemed to be the one responsible for the wind (somehow), but the other two were wearing blue. Actually, they both looked like…

“Sokka? Katara?”

“Bato?!” they both said in surprise. Then they both ran towards him and hugged him. A wave of relief washed on him. His practically niece and nephew, as he jokingly called them, were right in front of him! Then reality settled back. Now he had to protect them too.

He pushed them behind him protectively. “Be careful! This man is dangerous,” he said as turned back to face the ashmaker. But the young man just stared at them, posture now unsure and definitely not battle ready.

“No, don’t worry!” Katara exclaimed as she and her brother walked towards the enemy. “He’s our friend.”

“What?”

“Guys, this is Bato,” continued Sokka as if Bato hadn’t said anything. “He’s like our uncle! Bato, this is Aang,” the boy in orange cheerfully waved, “he’s the Avatar (wait, what?), and this is… Li, Aang’s firebending teacher!” At that, the firebender looked at the ground, half way between bowing and trying to be as little as possible (which was kind of hard since he was the tallest of the four).

“S… Sorry for attacking you…” Li mumbled.

Sokka just walked up to the ashmaker and slung his arm around his shoulders. The other stiffened at that, and glared at him, but Sokka wasn’t looking at him (why aren’t you looking at him, HE’S DANGEROUS!!!). “Don’t worry about it,” he grinned, “I’m sure it was just a misunderstanding.” He then turned to look at his ‘friend’, only to be welcomed with the other’s glare. Sokka jumped and pulled his arm away while exclaiming, “Right! Sorry!” The other just went back to stare at the ground.

“So, where’s dad?” Katara asked excitedly. “Is he here?” Sokka turned to that with the same expression.

Bato tried to calm himself down enough to reply. “No… He and the other warriors should be in the Eastern Earth Kingdom by now.” Both of their face fell in disappointment. A gust of wind suddenly blew passed them, and the three of them shivered. Aang and Li, though, seemed to enjoy it.

As he looked around, seeing the now singed rocks and already ashy pieces of wood, he realised how unwelcoming this place looked at night. “This is no place for a reunion,” he said, trying to keep calm. “Let’s get inside.”

He slung his arms around his basically nephew and niece (he held them a bit closer than he normally would), and was about to turn around and wave at the other two to come along (even though it was extremely stupid to trust an ashmaker, but he would have to tell the kids that later), but Aang said that they would pack up their camp. Bato told them which way was the abbey, and they left.

As they walked towards shelter, Bato was trying to find a way to discuss the whole ‘ashmaker friend’. He didn’t have to, Katara beat him to it.

“I’m sorry about Li, he’s very jumpy at night. Hasn’t slept in a bit…”

“That’s… partially my fault,” Sokka replied nervously. Katara scowled at him. “But, then again, it’s also you guy’s fault! Momo’s the one that woke him up to get his snacks!” Katara scoffed at that.

Bato decided to not ask what this was all about.

“So, have you known your… ‘friend’ for a while?”

Sokka nervously laughed. “Yeah, you could say that… But we’ve only started learning things about him a month ago!”

A month ago. A MONTH AGO???

Tui and La, they were too trusting!

“You… knew him before?”

“He was a soldier,” answered Katara, “but after a long… interesting chat, he decided to defect!”

Sokka saw the face Bato made. “I know, I know, I didn’t trust him at first, but the guy’s really helped us out! I mean, if it weren’t for him, well…” He got the point.

“Kids, I don’t want to shut down all of this completely, but… do you really trust him that much?”

“Well, he’s got his secrets, but who doesn’t? And it’s not like he hides things from us. He just doesn’t really mention them.”

“That’s… not very promising.”

“Listen Bato,” Katara said in a voice that reminded him of Kya when she was getting her point across. “Li’s really useful. He never complains and is the most helpful of the group-”

“That’s-”

“And, he’s very nice once you get to know him. Just like with you, he didn’t give us the best first impression, but after a while, we realised that he wasn’t all that bad.”

“Plus, he’s really sorry for before. And it’s not really his fault that he was born in a family of complete madmen!”

“Anyway, what we’re trying to say is that we trust him, and you can trust him too.”

Before he could object, they heard a roar coming from behind. A giant… thing was being brought in by Aang and Li.

At the sight of Bato’s shock, Sokka proclaimed, “Bato, meet the other members of our group! Appa, the flying bison, and Momo, the flying lemur!” To accentuate the point, the flying lemur plopped on his shoulders.

Bato wasn’t sure what to think anymore.

Chapter Text

They had settled down in the room that the nuns had given him in the Abbey. Katara and Sokka were very happy with his decorating, but Aang seemed put off slightly. The ashmaker just looked around and patted the Avatar’s shoulder (seriously, the Avatar was a twelve-year-old?), while the lemur hissed at one of the pelts.

Katara’s eyes lit up when she saw what he was cooking. “No way. Stewed sea prunes!”

Bato smiled. Those were one of her favourite dishes, and she probably hadn’t eaten any in a while. “Help yourself!”

Sokka also took the invitation. “Dad could eat a whole barrel of these things!”

He also gave a bowl to Aang and Li. The former looked a bit disgusted by it (which was fair, he had learned that this dish only existed in the Water Tribes), while the latter tried a bit, made an odd face, then continued eating. Aang looked at him in disbelief, but the other just shrugged while looking unsure and ate another spoonful. This exchange seemed… awfully familial, like they were siblings. It reminded him of when Katara and Sokka had been sick, and they had to eat Kanna’s medicinal soup.

After taking a few bites, Katara asked, “Bato, is it true that you and dad lassoes an arctic hippo?”

“It was your father’s idea, he just dragged me along.” He remembered the scene perfectly. It had been a very bad idea at the time, but quite funny in hindsight. “Well, the hippo did the dragging!”

“Hey, I ride animals too!” Aang jumped in (well not literally). “There was this one time when I rode a giant eel, and I-”

While this story seemed pretty interesting, Sokka cut him off. “So, who was it that came up with the Great Blubber Fiasco?”

That made him chuckle. “You knew about that?”

Katara laughed. “Everyone does!” Well that was news to him!

“What’s that story?” asked Aang.

Sokka waved him off. “It’s a long one Aang, some other time.”

“You and dad had so many hilarious adventures!”

“Non of which were hilarious at the time, but everything’s funny with hindsight,” he chuckled. He heard Li chuckle too, and saw him then smack Aang’s hand away from one of the ceremonial pelts he had kept, while looking at him in a ‘what do you think you’re doing?’ kind of way. Again, disturbingly familial for an ashmaker. The boy just sat back down and pouted.

Sokka got his attention back. “Was it you or dad that put an octopus on your head and convinced Gran-Gran you were a water spirit?”

“Your dad wore the octopus,” he lowered his voice, “but I did the spooky voice.”

The two of them laughed. Even in those circumstances, he was so happy to see them again. Tui and La, they had grown so much! Katara now looked like Kanna if you imagined her young, and Sokka looked just like his mother when she was his age. But at the same time, they had odd differences, which made them look just the more similar to each other. He really couldn’t help but fully smile as they continued to reminisce about the past, until Sokka bit his lip, like when he wanted to ask something uncomfortable.

“Hey, Bato? How’s your arm doing?”

“It… healing. The first month was the worse part of it. Didn’t get much sleep then. But now, I can move it well enough. The firebender wasn’t close when he did that, so it could have been much worse.” He gave them a reassuring smile, and saw in the corner of his eye the firebender slightly lower his head, trying to hide his own burn by turning his head. It looked old and much worse that Bato’s. He could only guess that it was a training accident.

He decided to change the subject. “There’s something I should tell you kids. I’m expecting a message from your father.”

“Really?” asked Katara excitedly.

“When?”

“Any day now, your father said he’d send a message when they found the rendez-vous point. If you wait until the message arrives, you can come with me and see your father again.”

“It’s been over two years since we’ve seen dad. That would be so incredible! Katara?”

“I do really miss him, it would be great to see dad.”

“It’s been far too long, hasn’t it?” They both nodded. “I’m not sure when word will arrive, but when it does, I’m packing as soon as I can!”

Sokka lowered his head a bit. “It would be great, but we can’t. We have to take Aang to the North Pole first.” He then turned to Li. “Plus, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t survive Aang without us.” The firebender just rolled his eyes while shaking his head.

“Even if we do have the time to wait for the message, who knows how far we’d have to travel. We don’t have time for a long detour.”

Bato nodded. “I’m sure your father would understand, and be proud that his children are helping the Avatar.”

And so their conversation continued, though at some point, Bato realised that both Aang and Li were gone. That put him… slightly on edge. But the ashmaker came back a few minutes later, and Aang a bit after him. The kids hadn’t even noticed that the two had left, and Li looked at the boy weirdly as he tried to eat his sea prunes. The Avatar was definitely an odd child.

*****

The next day, he decided to bring everyone to the ship that the other warriors insisted he keep with him. He was glad they did, it was his after all.

“This ship is sentimental to me,” he said as he turned around to look at them all. “It was built by my father.” He could see Aang being a bit behind the others, whistling for some reason. Li just looked at him in a ‘and what do you think you’re doing young man?’ kind of way.

Sokka and Katara didn’t notice.

“Is this to boat he took you ice dodging in?” asked Sokka.

“Yep! It’s got the scar to prove it!” he laughed. “How ‘bout you, Sokka? You must have some good stories from your first time ice dodging.”

Sokka’s face fell a bit while Katara said in a sorry tone, “He never got to go. Dad left before he was old enough.”

“Oh… I forgot you were too young…” Now he felt bad.

“What’s ice dodging?” asked Aang as he was trying to ignore Li’s glare, and failing. What was up with that ashmaker?

Bato tried to ignore it as well. “It’s a rite of passage for young Water Tribe members. When you turn fourteen, your dad takes you…” An idea just appeared in his head. He smiled as he put a hand on Sokka’s drooping shoulders. “You know what? You’re about to find out!”

Sokka’s excitement was interrupted by a very loud, very deliberate throat clearing sound. He, Sokka and Katara all turned to look at Li who looked like he was ready to set the twelve-year-old on fire. Bato tried to appear calm, because he knew that his almost-niece and nephew trusted the ashmaker, and he had seen the young man act almost brotherly towards Aang, but it didn’t stop the fact that this fire-spitting soldier was looking extremely intimidating, even if he was much smaller than him.

“Spirits, what’s gotten into you today?” asked Katara in a slightly mocking yet unsure smile.

“I think Aang would like to tell you something,” the ashmaker slowly replied while still keeping his very intense gaze on the boy. Aang just bristled and guiltily walked towards Bato.

“I… I’m sorry sir, but…” he took a deep breath. “A messenger gave this to me for you… last night…” He handed him a crumpled piece of paper.

Bato opened it, only to find Hakoda’s map. He was surprised, and a bit annoyed that the boy had hidden it from him, but the main feeling he had was pure happiness. That wasn’t the case for Katara and Sokka, it seemed, as when they saw the map, they started shouting angrily that he shouldn’t have done this, and demanding to know why he would in the first place.

The boy was on the verge of tears as he explained that he thought they would leave him to go back to their dad, and after calming down, Katara hugged him, saying that they would never leave him. Sokka stood there a bit awkwardly while agreeing, but an unimpressed look from Li got him to also hug the small monk.

After that, they prepared his boat for Sokka and Katara’s ice dodging (well, jagged rock dodging). Since the maximum number of people that could do it was three, Li told them that he would just watch from the shore with Appa and Momo, which Bato was very much for.

After giving them the speech that his father gave to him when he was fourteen, he sat at the front of the boat, and waited to see they would all do. It was a bumpy ride, but with Sokka’s ingenuity, Katara’s bravery and waterbending, and Aang’s airbending, they got to the end of the rock spikes safely.

Damn, these two really had grown.

---

Sokka couldn’t believe it. They had done it!

He was so happy! Joyful! Ecstatic! He couldn’t even think of other adjectives because of how awesome this was.

He had dreamed of ice dodging for years, and he clearly remembered the disappointment from last year at realising that he wouldn’t be doing it. Now sure, it would have been even better if it had been with his dad, but Bato was basically their uncle, so it was still super cool!

Katara seemed just as happy as him as they walked back to the beach, ready to receive their marks. Aang was jumping excitedly, going on about how much fun this had all been.

“Katara, your giant wave was so cool! And Sokka, you did such an amazing job at getting us through!” he exclaimed as they got closer to the three other members of the group waiting for them.

“It was pretty fuckin impressive from over here,” grinned Zuko. Appa roared in agreement as Momo flew to them and patted their heads.

That… made him feel so proud. All the insecurities from yesterday had vanished in an instant. Sure, they would probably come back later, but this was a now-moment, and he was going to enjoy it!

The three of them got in line, and Bato started putting the paint on their foreheads.

“The spirits of water bear witness to these marks,” he proclaimed. “For Sokka, the Mark of the Wise. The same mark your father earned. (His heat leapt even higher.) For Katara, the Mark of the Brave. Your courage inspires us. And for Aang, the Mark of the Trusted. You are now an honorary member of the Water Tribe.”

Aang sadly looked at the ground. “But… I hid the map from you…” Oh this again. Sure, Sokka had been angry in the moment, but they had all realised that he was just scared to be abandoned.

He patted his shoulder. “Hey, come on. You gave back the map! Even if you had to get nudged a bit by Jerkbender, the fact that you felt bad about it shows that you didn’t think it was the right thing to do!”

“Isn’t this what Gran-Gran told you when I stole your boomerang?” smirked his oh-so-annoying sister.

“Well, she gives some very good advice,” he pointedly frowned.

They all laughed as they walked back towards the Abbey.

In front of the entrance, Bato turned towards the sea and stared. They followed him.

“I can’t believe that I got to see you two again.”

“And now, you’ll get to go back to Dad!” he smiled.

“Yes. Your father really is a great friend. I can’t wait to see him and all the other warriors. Damn, I’m pretty sure Aput is going to complain for hours about all the others annoying him without me to calm him down.”

They all smiled as he continued to reminisce about all the other warriors and their dad. Well, nearly all. Zuko poked Sokka’s shoulder to tell him that he was going to check out the nuns’ perfumes, and quickly walked off. Right, he could guess that the guy didn’t really want to hear about fathers if possible. He frowned slightly before listening again to Bato’s tales.

Around ten minutes and four stories after, they heard something coming towards them. They all turned to see a… giant wolf-anteater-thingy? What ever it was, it looked very dangerous, and Sokka realised that there was someone riding it. They all got into battle stances (except for Aang, because of course) as the rider got off the beast.

She was a woman who seemed to very much enjoy the colour black. Black hair, black clothes with a bit of red, black whip. The only thing that wasn’t black was her makeup.

She looked at them but didn’t get closer, before shouting, “Is he one of them?”

“No, but they know him,” came another woman’s voice.

Turned out, there was another person riding the creature. As she literally hopped off the beast, two things struck Sokka. First, she was wearing Fire Nation armour. Oh no. Of course, Bato saw that too as he lifted his scimitar at her.

“Don’t take another step closer, ashmaker,” he threatened.

The soldier lazily put her hands in the air and replied, “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna fight you.”

And then there was the second thing that Sokka had realised that was now even more obvious to him as she had gotten closer. The woman looked Water Tribe. It wasn’t just her dark skin and hair, those were pretty common. It was her eye shape, her nose, her hair’s texture that looked very straight but would probably get frizzy with heat. All of those were extremely common Water Tribe features. The only thing that broke the picture were her dark brown eyes that had a slight glint of amber that he could see from where he was standing. Well, that and the very red and black armour she was wearing.

“What do you want?” asked Bato with the same threat in his voice.

“I’m just here to deliver a message to Prince Zuko,” she said in a calm and slightly bored voice.

“What?” Ah, right. They had lied about that… Oh well, too late to turn back!

“He should be back in a few minutes,” he announced in the bravest voice he could muster. Which was hard, by the way, because the two ladies and the big thing behind them didn’t paint a welcoming picture. “What do you want with him?”

“I just told you.”

“What my brother meant is who are you?” demanded Katara with a much less wavering voice than his.

“I’m Furora, nice to meet you. We’ve actually met before, though not formally. The helmet will do that to ya.” Oh. They had fought her before. This was getting worse.

Bato seemed to realise that they had been talking about ‘Li’, and looked down at them with the ‘disappointed’ look. “Kids-”

Sokka cut him off, knowing what he would say. “Okay, so we did lie to you about his name and what he did, but that doesn’t mean that he’s dangerous!”

“Yeah, we just lied because you two had such a bad introduction to each other!” Katara continued. “I swear, he’s not an evil piece of sea-jerky!”

The soldier (he refused to use her name) snorted at that and mumbled “sea-jerky” while shaking her head. She then walked closer to them with her arms still in the air.

“Look, me and my… friend here have been traveling all night to get here. I want to see the prince now.” Well if that wasn’t threatening.

Just as Katara was about to rebuke, Zuko came back out to the Abbey with a puzzled expression, seemingly not noticing the very evil looking people and animal.

“Did you guys know that you can make perfume that smells like wet grass?”

“Really?” asked the soldier with a genuinely interested tone.

That seemed to finally get the firebender’s attention as his head rapidly turned towards the soldier.

“Furora?”

“Morning captain!” she smiled.

His face lit up (which wasn’t a lot but still). “What are you doing here?” he said as he walked towards her with absolutely no cautiousness.

“Oh, just fulfilling my life long ambition of being a messenger bird.” She took a good look at him. “Well if you’d look at that. Your hair grows fast!” she exclaimed as she ruffled his hair a little. “You almost look like the lieutenant now!”

“Oh fuck off!” he playfully shouted as he pushed her hand away.

His smile dropped when he saw the beast, and just stared at it.

“Is that a shirshu?” he asked with a flat voice.

“Yup.”

Furora (okay, now he was using her name since it was clear that they knew each other well) looked back and forth between him and the animal, before turning to the other woman that liked black a bit too much.

“Hey, June! Do you mind if he pets Nyla?”

The lady in question looked surprised. “Uh… I guess? But I don’t think he-”

She didn’t have time to finish as Zuko power-walked towards the beast (‘shirshu’ was it?). He stopped at about a meter in front of it and pulled his hand out in a ‘smell it’ way that you would usually do with a polar-bear-dog. The shirshu curiously sniffed it, before closing the gap and bumping it’s weird snout on the firebender’s chest. Zuko abruptly knelt down and started petting and stroking it, as you would a polar-bear-dog, with a grin on his face. And just like a polar-bear-dog, the shirshu wagged its tail as it nuzzled the firebender’s face.

During this frankly bizarre moment, Furora had gotten even closer to them, to the point where she had actually put her elbow on Bato’s shoulder, with her other one on June’s shoulder, while smiling fondly at the scene. Bato looked at her with a suspicious and concerned look as he brought Katara closer to him, since she was the closest to the soldier. Katara, for her part, was just looking at the interaction with an unreadable face, though there seemed to be a bit of surprise in her eyes. Aang looked on happily as boy and beast became best friends, and the darkly dressed lady just looked plain confused, as if trying to understand an impossible situation.

Zuko really wasn’t kidding when he said he was good with animals.

After a few minutes of this, Furora seemed to remember what she was here for, and walked towards the blossoming friendship happening before them. She knelt down and gave him two scrolls while saying something they were too far away to hear. They both got up, and he nodded at her before walking a bit further away, probably to read the scrolls, with the shirshu in toe still wagging its tail.

She walked back to them, still smiling. “Adorable, isn’t he?” she said to June.

“What in Koh’s name was that?”

“The prince is just good with animals. That one time, he managed to befriend a pack of wolf-snakes. We still don’t know how he did it…”

“So, you seem to know each other pretty well,” said Aang.

“Yeah, I’m part of his crew. I’m also the one that taught him on how to barter.”

“Wait, you’re the one that taught him that?” asked Sokka in surprise. He was already pretty shocked that she was actually a soldier. Don’t get him wrong, while he knew that women could fight, it never really registered to him that they had probably been fighting a few already since Fire Nation uniforms seemed to never change. But on top of that, she was the one that taught Zuko how to haggle? Damn.

“Yup, I’m pretty much the reason we survived this long on that rusty bucket!”

Katara raised an eyebrow at her. “You look really Water Tribe.” Oh so now she had noticed.

Furora crunched he nose. “Yeah, I get that a lot. My dad’s dad was Water Tribe, and I guess I just got all of his genes in one go.”

“But then, why are you working for the Fire Nation?”

“Weeeeelllllllll… we’re now officially unofficial traitors, so I’m technically not working for the Fire Nation. I’m working for the Fire Prince. Plus, just because my granddad could do some splashes doesn’t mean I’m like him. I mean, I didn’t even know him. I was born and raised on a bunch of earthquaky islands, and that’s where my home is. No amount of ‘Oh, you look like a savage’ comments will change the fact that I am a human flamethrower.”

While Katara still seemed somewhat confused about that, Sokka was wondering who in Tui’s name would actually get with an ashmaker during war if they weren’t one themself.

Those thoughts got cut as Zuko came back towards them with a map in his hand. Apparently, they hadn’t noticed him going back in the Abbey.

“Sorry to cut this conversation short, but need to speak to Furora.”

“Sure thing, sir.”

And with that, they walked further off, with the shirshu still in toe.

It was so weird to hear someone call Zuko ‘sir’.

---

Things… were happening. Oh by Agni, they were happening.

That first message that Furora had brought was from the Sun Warriors. Apparently, they needed him and Uncle to go back as quickly as they could. They also apparently knew that he had done something he shouldn’t have done. Whether it was the egg touching or the rainbow fire using, he really didn’t know.

But this was fine! It was fine. Everything was very, extremely fine.

The second scroll was Uncle telling him to come back with Furora to the ship so that they could leave for the island. This was also extremely fine. There was only a slight problem to that.

IT WAS TOO FUCKING SOON!!!

Like seriously, couldn’t they have just sent it a few days earlier? So that he could, you know, tell his teammates that he would be leaving soon and not just disappear like a bloody burglar??? No? Well alright, fine, he could come up with something. It’s not as if the Avatar’s group didn’t trust him. But at the same time they actually didn’t? He was starting to get annoyed at that. Every time he thought they trusted him, something would just make his mind do a one-eighty and he would be right back to walking on eggshells. Damn, anxiety was just so fun to deal with, wasn’t it?

In his slight anger, he may have burned the scrolls a bit crispier than he would have normally done.

Nevertheless, he had to change Uncle’s plans.

He and Furora got far enough from the group, with Nyla following them like a good little boy, oh spirits he’s so cute!!! He put the map on a nearby rock, and started to find a rendez-vous point so that he could still have a day or two with the others before leaving. They settled on sending two crewmembers to go fetch him near an occupied town, since they would just have to go back up the river. The town was close enough from their current position. It would only take a day to get there on Appa, and two for the crewmembers if you took Furora’s time to get back into account. This way, his little excursion would go completely unnoticed, since Zhao was still apparently in the area.

After agreeing, Furora ruffled his hair again, teasing him about trying to copy Jee’s hairstyle, before they went back to the group. He then asked his three companions if they could talk in private.

“So, what is it?” asked Sokka once they were far enough.

“Well…’ he sighed. “Okay, so before you say anything, you gotta listen to everything.”

“I feel like we’ve had this conversation before…”

“So! There’s some… stuff happening. Stuff that I need to be there for. Like, really important stuff. That means that I’m going to have to… leave. But not right now! It would be in, like, two days? We’ve already got a location and everything, and it’s not even that big of a detour-” Aaannd, he was rambling.

Katara cut him off. “Wait. What exactly is this super important stuff?”

“Ah, I was hoping that you wouldn’t ask… See, I kinda made an oath to not talk about it… And, well, I keep the promises I make with a straight face, so…” He sighed. “Listen, I know it sounds really suspicious, but I swear, it has nothing to do with the war! It’s just… a thing…”

Sokka though for a moment. “So, where is that rendez-vous point?”

“A small town, not far from here. It’s a colony, but we won’t actually have to go inside. We can get there in a day, and my crewmates in two.”

The siblings both looked at each other, before nodding. “Okay, I’m sure we can take a day or two off before going back.”

“How long do you think you’ll be gone?” asked Katara.

“Uh… probably about two weeks? I’m not actually sure how long this’ll take, but once it’s done, I’ll join you directly at the North Pole. Apparently, my uncle has a friend there?”

“Well, I guess we’ll have to get used to it just being the five of us again,” said Sokka, to which Katara nodded.

Zuko was… surprised to say the least. “You’re okay with that?”

“Yeah, I guess we are,” smiled Katara.

“You know,” said Sokka with a guilty look, “I was just joking last night. We all trust you, as weird and crazy as it sounds.”

“You saved our butts too many times for us to not trust you!”

He couldn’t help but smile at that. They really did trust him, huh?

The two turned to look back at Bato, who was looking extremely uncomfortable at Furora’s talking (which, Zuko had learned the hard way, would only make her do it more).

“We should probably go save him from your crewmember,” joked Katara before running off.

“You know,” whispered Sokka, “it’s still kinda hard to believe that she’s one of your soldiers.” Oh, Zuko caught that drift before it even started drifting.

“Almost half of my crew are women, Sokka.”

He blinked. “Oh,” was all he had to say, before walking quickly towards his sister.

Which only left him and Aang, who hadn’t actually said anything during this entire conversation. He looked… dejected. Zuko knew why. He had literally told him last night that they would all stick together, and here he was, telling them that he was leaving for an indiscernible amount of time. Good thing they probably didn’t see him as a friend, because he was pretty sure that that was a pretty dick move to do to your friends.

“Aang, I-”

“It’s fine.”

“Aang-”

“I said it’s fine, Zuko!”

“It really doesn’t seem like it.”

“No, I get it!” Tears were starting to form. “You’ve got your own stuff going on. And, it’s not like you really need to come to the North Pole with us anyway! You just-”

“Aang! I’m not leaving you.” He sighed as he put his hands on the boy’s shoulders. “Like I said, it’ll just be for a few weeks, and I’ll join you right back at the North Pole. I promise you, I’m not going to leave you.”

The kid looked up at him, still teary-eyed. “You promise?”

He smiled and nodded. “I promise.”

Then the kid hugged him. Even if his height stopped at Zuko’s chest, he couldn’t stop himself from slightly panicking at that. For a moment there, he could almost feel burning, could almost make out the smell of burning flesh as he would look at him in disappointment, as always, telling him how much of a weak excuse of a son he was, and how- Stop! Nope! Sand under his feet, little kid hugging him, sea breeze, wind too cold to be Fire Nation. He wasn’t there. It was fine.

He patted Aang on the back, before the boy let go, smiling, and dragged him back to the others.

As the others said their goodbyes to Bato, he thanked June for bringing Furora, and told the firebender to look out for any owl-sparrows. Those things seemed to really like using her hair as target practice, and he knew that there were a lot in the area. Nyla nudged him in a soft reassuring way, and he couldn’t help but give him extra pats as thanks. He waved them goodbye, before turning around to Bato and apologising to him for lying about his identity (though, in his defence, the other two had been the ones to lie at first).

“Well, I definitely wasn’t expecting to meet the prince of my enemies. But, you seem… fine.”

“…thanks…”

And with that, they flew off. While the siblings waved at their almost-uncle, Zuko suddenly felt a wave of tiredness splash onto him.

Well, it wouldn’t hurt to rest a bit.

Chapter Text

They had arrived much earlier than planned. Then again, Zuko had kept telling them to not take breaks, and had basically stayed up all night to steer Appa. So when they were only an hour away from the town by foot, Aang told them that they should walk since Appa was clearly exhausted. Since they had an objective (unlike last time where Sokka had just told them to walk), Katara was perfectly fine with that. Plus, Appa had been up for two days straight.

As they followed the path to the town, they ended up at a crossroad with a kiosk in the middle. There were a bunch of posters, but the most prominent one was big and colourful with a dragon circling a town.

“I wonder what this is all about,” she absentmindedly stated.

“The Fire Day’s Festival,” Aang read out loud, probably for the two other boys who weren’t in reading range. “Fire Nation cultural exhibits, jugglers, benders, magicians… This sounds like fun!”

“They are, apparently,” said a groggy Zuko who looked a bit too alert. Maybe he couldn’t differentiate animals and humans with his weird ‘know-where-stuff-is’ ability that they should really ask about at some point.

“You’ve never been to one?” It was a Fire Nation festival, surely he had been to it before.

“No, those ones are only for the colonies. It’s to give settlers a taste of home, or something…”

“Great, something made specially for war mongers,” added Sokka.

“I think it would be good to go to it,’ exclaimed Aang excitedly. “I mean, your crew will be here by tomorrow, so we've got time. Plus, the only things from the Fire Nation that we’ve ever seen is war and stuff. This is culture! What better way than to have an inside look on it!”

“You might have to rethink that,” called Sokka from the other side of the kiosk. “Look at this.”

They all joined him to look at wanted posters. The most prominent one had a very detailed rendition of Aang.

“Hey, a poster of me!”

“A wanted poster. This is bad.”

Aang pointed at another poster with a drawing of a person wearing a mask, and turned to Zuko. “Hey look, there’s even one for you!”

“What do you mean?” she asked. The poster said that the person was a thief that had ‘stolen the Avatar’, which she definitely didn’t remember.

As Zuko tore off the poster to look at it, Aang explained, “He wore that mask while getting me out of a stronghold.”

“What?!?” Katara and Sokka both exclaimed.

“Oh, I guess we never told you.” He rubbed his neck in embarrassment. “Then again, you two were sick, so…”

“Is this when you two made us suck on frogs?”

“Yes.”

Sokka went up to look at the poster that Zuko was now scowling at. “‘The Blue Spirit’,” he read. “Nice name. A bit on the nose…”

“And definitely not the right one,” Zuko finished. “Like seriously, couldn’t they have used the original name?”

Aang jumped in. “Well, you did firebend, so they couldn’t really call you the Dark Water Spirit…”

“Yeah, but it had such a better ring to it than the Blue Spirit. Like wow, so descriptive! They even say further down to, and I quote, ‘disregard the rumours that they are a ghost’. If they’re still gonna call me a spirit, might as well go the whole way through!”

“Maybe they don’t know that it’s from a play. It is from the Earth Kingdom after all.”

“Yeah, but his character is also in a popular Fire Nation play, so it’s-”

“Is Zuko a theatre nerd?” whispered Sokka before chuckling. “No wonder he’s so dramatic!”

Zuko must have heard him, because he turned around from his rambling with Aang to state, “Never underestimate the power of a dramatic entrance, or a dramatic exit,” in a very matter-of-fact way.

After chuckling herself, Katara decided to bring them back on track. “Well, I think we’d better keep on moving. Wouldn’t want Aang to get captured again!”

“But Katara, I would be able to see artistic bending! That stuff’s awesome!”

“I’m sure you can get Zuko to do a few swishes,” retorted Sokka.

The firebender in question raised an eyebrow. “No.”

“Anyway, it’s not like you need to learn artistic bending, you need to learn actual bending.”

“Well actually, Aang does raise a good point. You could see the Fire Nation as more than just ‘war mongers’.”

That was true, it was very hard for her to imagine the Fire Nation as anything other than bloodthirsty killers, with a few exceptions of course.

“Seriously, you’re agreeing with him to do something potentially dangerous? I feel betrayed!” That last part was said in a dramatic tone.

“I think we should go check it out,” Katara added.

“You seriously wanna walk into a Fire Nation town where they’re all fired-up with their… you know, fire?”

“We can wear disguises, and if it looks like trouble, we’ll leave.”

“Yeah, because we always leave before we get into trouble,” he mumbled.

“We don’t even need to wear… whatever ‘disguises’ you have. In these kinds of festivals, people usually wear masks.”

“Well that’s convenient,” she said. “Although we should still wear cloaks to hide our clothes. They’re not exactly ‘Fire Nation’.”

And so they did, leaving Appa and Momo close to the entrance of the town, but far enough so that they wouldn’t be spotted.

The town was very… red. Katara didn’t really know what Fire Nation architecture was like (apart from Roku’s temple), but she could definitely recognise Earth Kingdom houses that seemed to have been changed. She realised that the Fire Nation probably modified existing Earth Kingdom buildings when they conquered towns. She felt a bit nauseous at that thought.

Zuko brought them to a mask stand (good thing they were free), and they all took one. Katara took a mask that represented a lady’s face, Sokka a smiling blue mask with a mane, Aang a sad looking red mask, and Zuko a plain red mask with white markings. She exchanged Sokka and Aang’s masks, because even imagining Aang looking sad felt wrong.

They got to a food stand that sold flaming fire flakes. That sounded very hot, so she decided not to touch it. Her brother, it seemed, did not think of that.

“I’ll take em!” were his last words before he started stuffing his mouth with vibrant red crisps.

Zuko took a step forward. “Uh, maybe you shouldn’t-” But it was too late. Sokka immediately started having spasms from the spiciness, while Zuko went to the seller to ask for milk.

The man laughed as he gave him a glass. “You don’t seem to be well-versed in Fire Nation food.”

“He definitely isn’t,” Zuko replied before taking the bag from Sokka’s hand and giving him the glass of milk. “Don’t worry though, those won’t go to waste.”

“Oh, you’re from the Capital, aren’t you? I’m pretty sure that’s the accent they have there.”

“Yeah, but I haven’t been there in a while. Have a good festival!” he waved as they left, and the man waved back.

“Is that really the accent they got where you’re from?” Katara asked him. The way he talked sounded more like if a sailor had taken nobility classes. (She didn’t know if those were actually a thing…)

“Yeah, but it kinda changed with my time at sea. If you heard a ‘proper’ one, you’d definitely get the difference.”

“I can’t believe you let me eat those monstrosities,” exclaimed Sokka.

Zuko just shrugged before chewing on a handful. “They’re not that bad once you get used to them.”

They walked in front of a puppet show that depicted the Fire Lord spitting fire at an Earth Kingdom soldier. The most disturbing part about it was that the children looking at it were cheering.

Aang took hers and Zuko’s hand and pulled them towards a crowd. “Let take a look at that!”

“Hold on, where are we going?”

“I don’t know, but there’s a big crowd so it must be good!”

Sokka snorted. “Knowing the Fire Nation, it’s probably an execution.” That got him a light hit from Zuko’s elbow.

What was actually going on was a fire show. A man was making flames bounce around lit poles, then pulled them all together to make real birds appear. The poster had said that there would be magicians, and Katara was now really curious on how he made them appear out of nowhere. Aang seemed to like it too, though he took off his mask to have a good look. She and Zuko both quickly pulled it down at the same time.

“Thank you!” the man exclaimed as the crown cheered. “For my next trick, I need a volunteer from the audience!”

Aang started energetically waving to be picked, only for Sokka to pull his hand back down. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I wanna get a closer look!”

She put a hand on his shoulder to calm him. “It’s better that we don’t attract any attention to ourselves.”

“How about you, little lady?” the performer asked while pointing at her direction. Damn it!

“Uh…” she tried to find something good to say, but the man didn’t get when people didn’t want to go on stage, apparently.

“Aww, she’s shy. Let’s give her some encouragement, folks!”

As the crowd cheered her on, she started to feel more and more pressured.

“Don’t worry,” Zuko whispered, “those types of shows are perfectly safe as long as you do what they say.”

With that, she nodded and went on the stage.

“This next trick is called ‘Taming the Dragon’!” he said out loud. Then, as he sat her down and put a ribbon around her to make it seem as if she was tied up, he whispered, “Don’t worry, as long as you don’t move, everything’ll be fine. There’s going to be a fake ‘it’s too strong’ moment, but it’s just for show, okay?” Feeling a bit less freaked out, she nodded and he said loudly to the audience. “You will be my captured princess!”

He then created a dragon out of flames, and made it circle around the stage. “Don’t worry, young maiden! I will tame this fiery beast!”

He then created a leash to attach to the dragon, and made it look like he was struggling to keep it in hand. “It’s too strong, I can’t hold it!”

From the stage, Katara could see Aang getting nervous and fidgeting, with Sokka and Zuko trying to calm him down.

“The rope,” the performer shouted, “it’s breaking!” before making the leash disappear. The dragon plunged directly towards Katara as she tried to take deep breaths and remember that the man had said that this was just a show, and that it would be fine. As such, she kept that small part of her screaming to get away from the fire bottled up.

Just before the dragon could actually get to her (and at the most dramatic second), the man lunged at it with a sword of fire, which made the dragon fly away. He then threw a powder at it, and the dragon exploded in pink and green fire.

The performer ran back to her, exclaiming, “Do not worry longer, young lady, the beast had been vanquished!” to the cheers of the crowd. As he untied her, he said in a more normal voice, “See? Everything went well!”

She laughed as walked back to her friends. “I guess it did. Thanks!”

“Have a good festival!”

And with that, she jumped back down while trying to calm her heartbeat.

As they went to find more food, Aang said in a soft voice, “I was actually a bit nervous when you were up there…”

“That’s an understatement,” said Zuko while chewing more fire flakes. “We had to grab him so that he wouldn’t go on the stage.”

“Don’t worry,” she smiled, before remembering that she was still wearing a mask, “the man told me that it was just for show and that I wouldn’t actually be in any danger. Plus, the rope wasn’t really tied, it was all part of the show.”

“Well then good thing I didn’t get up there!” He turned to Zuko. “By the way, I didn’t know that colourful fire was common!”

“It’s not. That guy probably used some chemicals to change the colours. Copper and lithium are my guess.”

“Let me guess,” said Sokka, “you learned that from one of your crewmates.”

“No, that’s just from one of the scrolls that I have.”

“Why would you read about that?” he asked as Aang asked for nuts with spices on the side.

“Three years at sea can get pretty boring, so I’ve become an encyclopaedia in the weirdest stuff I could find just for the sake of it. Did you know that you can’t digest yourself?”

Both she and her brother blinked at him in complete bewilderment. Then she realised what he said. ‘Three years at sea’. He had been banished for three years, which meant that his father had burned him when he was fourteen at the maximum. While she knew anytime was terrible to burn the face of your child, she thought that he had gotten it a year or so ago. She had hoped that that was the case, anyway. But no, apparently the Fire Lord didn’t have any qualms in burning preteens, which made her more anxious for Aang.

Before she could comment on that, Aang came back with their order and passed a tiny bowl of spices to Zuko. He divided the nuts for the four of them, and decided to put a few spices on his. She could only guess that he was feeling adventurous.

That had turned out to be a bad idea.

As soon as he ate some, he took off his mask and sneezed. Hard. So hard, in fact, that he flew off just like during their meeting in the South Pole. As he landed, his mask plopped next to him, revealing his face. People gasped.

“That kid’s the Avatar!” shouted a soldier, and all Koh’s lair broke loose.

*****

They managed to get out of the town by the skin of their teeth thanks to an ex-Fire Nation soldier who had a knack for explosives. That was a sentence Katara would have never thought she would think. The man introduced himself as Chey before they landed far enough from the town to make camp, but not too far so Zuko’s crew could still find them. Again, a very weird sentence to think.

Apart from Zuko, they had all taken off their masks during the escape, and were now sitting around a campfire.

Once they got comfortable, Sokka asked him why he had helped them.

“I serve a man,” he started. “More than a man really, he’s a myth, but he’s real! A living legend, Jeong Jeong the Deserter. He was a Fire Nation general. Or wait, was he an admiral?”

“We get it, he was very high ranked.”

“Yeah! Way up there! But he couldn’t take the madness anymore. He’s the first person ever to leave the army and live. I’m the second, but you don’t get to be a legend for that. That’s okay though. Jeong Jeong’s a firebending genius. Some say he’s mad, but he’s not! He enlightened. And he would be the perfect person to train the Avatar!”

“Yeah, no thanks,” Sokka cut in again. “We’re not going to look for a crazy firebender-”

“He’s not crazy! He’s a genius! That’s the reason I followed you to the festival, so you could meet him!”

“Look, thanks for your help, but we’ve already got Zuko to teach Aang.”

“Zuko? As in… the Fire Prince?”

“Oops,” was all her idiot brother could say before getting punched in the arm by the angry firebender.

“Seriously?” Zuko seethed as he took off his mask. “You lie without a second thought to your almost-uncle, but you babble to a complete stranger?”

“Hey, my tongue slipped, okay?”

Chey’s eyes had gotten very wide, very quickly.

“You’re travelling with him?!?”

“I’m right here, mate,” he said with a scowl.

Aang tried to calm him down. “Don’t worry, he’s on our side! Though don’t tell anyone, it needs to stay a secret for a while.”

“Well a few more are going to know, it seems,” Zuko mumbled before getting up and saying loudly, “Are you all gonna come out now, or what?”

Before any of them understood what he meant, seven people armed with spears appeared wearily.

“How did you know we were here?” asked what looked to be the leader of the group.

“You’re not very stealthy.” Which made Katara wonder what he considered stealthy, because none of them had realised that they were being watched.

“Come with us. No sudden movements.”

“Don’t worry,” Chey told them as they started walking with the warriors, “I know these guys! Lin Yee’s an old buddy, right Lin Yee?”

“Shut up! Keep moving.”

And that was the end of them talking during this very intense trip. They arrived in a sort of clearing, probably their village. Lin Yee pushed Chey towards what was certainly this Jeong Jeong’s hut to go talk to him, an the other men brought her and her friends inside of another hut, and told them to stay.

“Great,” lamented Sokka, “We’re once again trapped with weird people.”

“It doesn’t happen all the time,” she argued.

“I told you all this was a bad idea!”

“What about this Jeong Jeong guy?” asked Aang before turning to Zuko. “Do you know anything about him?”

“He was a general, and he deserted around a year after my father became Fire Lord. Was a big deal from what I heard. He was also known to be a very powerful firebender…”

“That doesn’t matter,” said an exasperated Sokka, “we’ve already got you. No need to reach out to some random general!”

“Well… As I said, he’s very powerful. He certainly knows things that I don’t. Plus, he was also a teacher, so he’s probably more suited…” He lowered his head, and Katara got the sudden urge to shake him while telling him that he will be a great teacher and don’t let anyone including yourself say otherwise! But, she restrained herself.

“If you think that’s a good course of action…” she tried.

“What I’m saying is that I never had a good introduction to firebending, so maybe we could get him to start Aang’s training, and then I can build on that. Plus, since I won’t be here for a bit, it could give you a few basics. But it’s your call.”

Aang thought for a bit before perking up. “Well if you think that it’s a good idea, then I’ll do it! Plus, it’s not everyday I get to meet a firebending master general who’s defected!”

“Well, once you meet my uncle, you’ll have met two,” he chuckled.

They decided to rest while waiting for Chey to come back. When he did, Aang immediately bolted towards Jeong Jeong’s hut, despite Chey saying that the master didn’t want to see him. During that meeting, Zuko suddenly stood up with a concerned expression.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“It suddenly got very hot in there…” was all he said before calming down a bit.

Aang came back a minute later, excitedly saying that Jeong Jeong had accepted to teach him.

---

Gengi found it very hard to not complain out loud. Sure, this was important, and he was completely for whatever would help the prince in any way, shape or form, but it turned out that these circumstances were not ideal. Not only was he stuck with Shoji, who, while being enjoyable in his own right, didn’t care for small talk unless it was to spout random facts about reptiles, but he also wasn’t in the right shape to do much with his stomach cramping up like in was punching itself. (All of this still wasn’t enough to test his loyalty, though.)

They were both walking along the river while being hidden by trees, following Crackers as she slowly led them to their destination. The messenger-hawk had a knack for finding people once they were close enough, and she had spent enough time with their captain to remember him, and more importantly find him. But as close as they were from their goal, Genji still felt grouchy.

He once again found himself complaining out loud.

“I still don’t understand why I had to come with you.”

“Well,” Shoji sighed, “Furora’s catching up on her sleep, Jee and Iroh need to make sure that everything looks perfectly normal, Kazuto’s not much of a fighter, and nobody wants to be the one trying to take Aiko out of the boiler room.”

“Yeah, but why need a firebender in the first place? This isn’t exactly dangerous territory out here…”

Shoji sighed further. “Ugh, I don’t know, okay? Better safe than sorry, I guess. I get that it’s that time again for you, but we can’t really do anything else about it!”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Suck it up, and all that…” he slumped as they continued moving. At least Crackers tried to cheer him up by perching herself on his shoulder from time to time and nudging him with her head. She really was the nicest of the hawks, he would always give her that. Though actually feeling her talons on him was quite weird since she usually did it when they had armour on. Oh well, they couldn’t exactly walk around in all red and black, could they?

He suddenly heard a noise from the riverbank. Genji quickly grabbed the (frankly still a teenager) other man to make sure he wouldn’t make another noise. He put his finger to his mouth, and Shoji nodded while keeping Crackers quiet. Genji slowly crept towards the sounds until he had a good line of sight behind some bushes.

A bunch of riverboats were being prepared with a man shouting orders at the other soldiers. Genji had no issue recognising that voice. Zhao. Ugh, he always had to be everywhere, huh? Well at least he wouldn’t bother the ship…

Still, him being there wasn’t a good sign. He continued listening to the orders that asshole kept spouting, and it was all just standard attack stuff. There wasn’t really much to raid in the area, though, which left Genji quite confused. Well, until he heard the next part of the admiral’s shoutings. (Seriously, admiral?)

“Be ready to fight, the Avatar will not evade us this time!”

Oh.

Well shit.

Chapter Text

Zuko was starting to seriously doubt Jeong Jeong’s teaching capabilities. Not that he had had any good experiences with firebending teachers (Uncle didn’t count), but at least they didn’t leave him in a room to just breathe. Sure, breathing was a very important part of firebending, and he was on the same train of thought as the master when it came to that, but leaving an excitable twelve-year-old all alone to do breathing exercises seemed a bit… wrong.

But, as previously mentioned, Zuko wasn’t an expert on good teachers, so who was he to judge? He decided to help Katara get some practice, since he didn’t have anything better to do. So they went to a nearby tree (there were a lot of those), and he tried to teach her accuracy by throwing ice spikes. Her aim was very off, but she did manage to get quite close to the target that one time. Most of her failures resulted in laughter from her and chuckles from him, since the spikes would usually go way off course and end up somewhere completely unexpected.

It felt quite odd to laugh at someone’s mistakes in a good-natured way.

After she almost turned a small tree into an ice cactus, they decided to stop so she could continue to work on basics. He was once again left with nothing to do.

At some point during their precision training, Jeong Jeong had brought Aang somewhere else, and was now walking back towards his cabin. Zuko decided to be a bit vocal about his doubts, while of course staying polite. He really didn’t want to anger the master.

“Master Jeong Jeong?” He waited for the man to grunt for him to continue. “I just wanted to ask what exactly you’re… uh… doing in general with Aang’s studies?”

“Teaching him discipline. The boy must lean it if he wishes to bend a flame. I’m sure you know all about it, Your Highness.” That last part was said somewhat sarcastically.

“Ah, yes, but why are you leaving him alone? Shouldn’t you stay with him to make sure that he isn’t doing anything else?”

“If the Avatar wishes to learn, then he will follow my instructions. Otherwise, he won’t.”

Okay, this was starting to get a bit aggravating. “But he’s twelve. Sure, he’s a monk and all, but he’s also got a pretty short attention span if no one’s there to make sure he doesn’t do anything different.”

“Well then, if you’re so sure as to how to teach him, why don’t you do it yourself?”

“All I’m saying is that Aang’s new at this. I haven’t taught him anything yet, so you’re his first insight into firebending. Maybe you shouldn’t be so… lax?”

The man’s frown deepened. “You think I’m being lenient with him? He is not ready to learn such a destructive power yet. I am showing him the bare minimum so that he doesn’t do anything reckless. It is what’s best for him right now.” And then he entered his hut.

Zuko was starting to loose his very limited patience with old people, so he followed him inside. “Let me guess, you know better because you’re an old master with tons of experience. I get that, but the way you’re teaching Aang, even if it is just discipline, is still not the right way to go at it. Trust me, I’ve spent a whole month with the kid, and I know that he’s not going to just stand there and take in the heat while breathing deeply!”

Jeong Jeong turned back to face him with a tired expression, as if he was dealing with a five-year-old throwing a tantrum. “I see that the youth still thinks itself better than its predecessors. Your uncle may have thought that you learned how to calm yourself, but it seems that you are still quite the handle.” It felt like there were fifty layers to what he had just said.

That struck a cord with him. And it gave voice once again to a thought that hadn’t reared its ugly head in a while.

He’s right, you are a complete nuisance to your uncle.

Shut up, Uncle made it very clear that he didn’t see me that way!

Right, like he hasn’t lied to you before.

He noticed the pai sho table in a corner of the hut. Of course.

He smiled nastily. “And you seem to think that the ‘youth’, as you call it, is nothing but a useless mess that needs to respect their elders and be taught lessons by them.” The old man just huffed and shook his head dismissively. He decided to prod more, since it was obvious by now that the master didn’t like him, and Zuko certainly didn’t either. “So you know my uncle, huh? Let me guess, you favour the White Lotus gambit?” Something passed on the old man’s face, something akin to worry. Zuko’s smile got a bit wider. “So you’re part of that little pai sho club too?”

“He told you about it?” The man’s face was neutral, but his eyes held all of his feelings upfront. Shock, worry, anger… horror? He couldn’t tell all of them, but he was positive about those first three.

He shrugged. “No, but he’s not as sneaky as he thinks he is. Plus I’m not stupid.”

He does think he’s better than you, always sneaking off to see his little friends, talking about ending the war with them while letting you go on a wild hog-goose chase, only giving you cryptic proverbs that he knows you don’t understand. Some father figure he is.

And that really had hurt, when Zuko had found out. Uncle had taken off once more with vague reasons as to why he was leaving, and Zuko’s sixteen-year-old curiosity had gotten the better of him. He tailed him to a tavern where he discussed with an old lady plans to stop the conquering of an Earth Kingdom town by giving her crucial military tactics. And while at that point he knew that the war was wrong, the fact that his uncle, the only person left of his family that still seemed to care for him, had never thought it important to tell him that maybe the war was wrong and that maybe he should stop wasting his life over a dumb search made him angry. By the next morning, when Uncle came back, he had managed to lock that anger deep within like most of his issues, and tried not to think about it while secretly hoping that he would just tell him anything that was to make him think differently about their current situation.

It never came, of course, until Zuko had made that first step. And while at the time, he just felt relief, this little conversation with Jeong Jeong was reminding him that he would have to have a talk with his uncle about this whole madness before getting to the Sun Warriors.

“Well, then I hope you really are on the side you claim to be.”

“I am, but that doesn’t matter right now. Teach Aang correctly, and stop treating him like shit when you haven’t even spend half a day with him.” And with that, he stomped off.

When he got out of the hut, Katara was still practicing at the pond.

She must have seen the obviously bad mood he was in, because she asked him if he was okay.

“No, I just need some time alone. I’ll be with Appa.” He didn’t spare another glance at her, but he knew that she probably had that sad look, the kind that had pity and worry in it. He didn’t want that pity.

*****

Turned out that ranting all your feelings to a flying bison was very therapeutic. Zuko already knew that animals were very good listeners, but Appa just had this aura (as Ty Lee would say) of calmness telling you that all your feelings were valid, and that everything would be alright. After what felt like hours of just putting all of his bottled up emotions out for only the bison to hear (he checked, oh Agni did Zuko check), he sighed and rested he forehead on the beast’s snout. Said beast then licked him twice, and Zuko was now feeling much better.

He decided to just sit back on Appa’s fur, soaking in the sunlight and try to meditate without a flame to clear his head. It usually didn’t work, as his head was always full of various things ranging from worries and doubts to random things that he wished he could just forget and why had Nikko felt the need to tell him about his love life oh for Agni’s sake he can’t stop thinking about it now-, but right now, he seemed to actually have a fire to focus on. Okay, weird, there wasn’t any campfires nearby, and he was pretty sure that nobody was burning down the forest, because he would have definitely known.

He soon realised that that fire was Appa. Well, not Appa himself, but his body heat. Huh, well that was interesting… He focused more on it, feeling its calm warmth surrounding him, and the mass of internal warmth underneath him. Soon enough, he realised that some parts of the bison were hotter than others, like his head or his heart, and while yeah, that made sense, he had never actually tried to locate heat in specific parts of a body. It was always just a mass in the shape of a living thing.

With that newfound knowledge, he started to wonder if anything could affect that heat. Did emotions make it more visible? When he was angry or embarrassed, his cheeks felt like they were burning. What if that was actually the case? He had read in some scroll that blood was always hot for humans to make sure that the body functioned properly, and blushing was a result of blood amassing in the cheeks, so it made sense. Could he try reading emotions thanks to people’s body heat? That would certainly help with the intricacies of body language that he was getting better at understanding, though better didn’t mean good.

And could he manipulate that heat, just like he did with lava? Like keeping himself even warmer once he got to the North Pole, or cooler if they ever ended up near a volcano or in a desert. Could he do it for other people? And now that he thought about it, plants also emitted some amount of heat, though it was quite faint. Could he take away the heat from them and freeze them, like reversed waterbending? Could he freeze people?

Okay, that was going a bit too far, but it was still a question worth asking.

He was wondering if he could make things explode by making them cold, then instantly heating them up again when a bird landed on his lap. A messenger bird. A very familiar messenger bird by the name of Crackers, to be precise.

She hopped on his arm as he quickly got up to greet two very dishevelled guys coming towards him wearing brown clothes.

“Well you two are a sight for sore eyes!”

“Oh fuck off,” Shoji automatically said before realising to whom he was speaking to. “Uh, I mean…”

“We’ve had a long day, sir,” sighed Genji.

“That’s okay, I don’t expect politeness coming from any of you.”

“Oh, that’s good, because a certain asshole is leading a bunch of soldiers here.”

“Don’t tell me…”

“Zhao,” the three of them groaned.

“Ugh, the fuck does he want?”

“Apparently you all made quite a stir in the nearby town.”

“Serves me right for even letting Aang near spices…”

Shoji looked at him weirdly. “What?”

He sighed. “I’ll explain later. How long do we have before he gets here?”

“I’d say less than an hour,” estimated Genji.

“More like less than thirty minutes.”

“Great, just great! I’m gonna go get the others to help you pack up Appa, and you send a message to the ship telling them to get outta there, like yesterday. Since we know Zhao won’t be in the area, we can just fly there. Got it?”

“Yes sir!”

And with that, he ran back to the pond (it was connected to the river, so he didn’t really know if it was a pond) were he had last seen Katara.

And then he felt it. Fire. He ran faster.

As he got closer, he could hear a cry of pain and apologies. He arrived to Katara running off as Sokka angrily yelled at Aang, exclaiming that he’d burned his sister.

He took one second to freak out about, well, everything, before composing himself.

“Zhao’s coming.” They both turned to him. Sokka still looked mad and Aang had tears in his eyes. “We don’t have much time. Go pack your stuff, two of my men are waiting with Appa to help you. We’re all going to my ship.”

“But Katara-” they both responded with very different tones.

“I’ll go check on her, you two just hurry!”

He didn’t bother checking if they had agreed before running off. Shoji was right, they probably had much less than thirty minutes. They needed to act fast.

---

It hurt so much. Her hands still felt like they were on fire. She was half conscious of the fact that Aang had been apologising, and that Sokka had yelled at him, but she couldn’t tell them that it was fine. It wasn’t.

She was now half-kneeling in front of the river, holding her hands close to her, trying to make the pain go away.

(It hadn’t just been the burning itself though, it was also the fire coming too close to her, bringing the small scare she had felt at the festival to an extreme, reminding her of the too many times where she almost got hit by a flame, except that this time, it actually had hit.)

She was breathing heavily, letting her tears run down, hoping that it would just go away. She partly registered the fact that someone had run towards her and was trying to hold her hands up. She looked up to her left to see Zuko gently holding her hands and breathing deeply. The heat slowly faded, and though she could still feel it, she did feel a bit better.

“T-thank you,” she hiccupped.

“Don’t worry,” he soothed as he put a hand on her shoulder, “the pain’ll go away soon enough. You weren’t burned too much, and though it might leave a trace, it won’t be debilitating or too noticeable.” He smiled gently. “It’s going to be fine.”

She nodded, feeling extremely grateful for his help. She brought her hand to the water, just to feel the soothing cold of her element, and breathed deeply while closing her eyes, focusing on how the burns felt less hot now. She heard Zuko gasp near her, so she opened her eyes. The water around her hands was glowing, and the burns had disappeared. She took them out of the water, and they both stared at them for a while, trying to understand what had just happened.

Then Zuko chuckled as he said, “Well forget what I just said…” She looked up at him to see him smile at her with relief, and for a second there she felt guilty that he was still stuck with his burns while she was free from them. It didn’t seem to register to him though, since he just kept smiling while patting her shoulder. She realised that it was one of those very rare occasions where he would give physical contact willingly, and she couldn’t help but focus on how warm his hands were, which somehow calmed her down. (Aunt Wu’s prediction came to her mind, but she quickly shoved it back down.)

Then his smile dropped immediately into a frown as he turned to look behind her.

“You have healing abilities,” said Jeong Jeong as he came closer to them. “The great benders of the Water Tribes sometimes have this ability.” He sat down to her right, looking thoughtfully at the water. “I’ve always wished I were blessed like you, free from this burning curse.”

She frowned. “But you’re a great master. You have powers that I will never know.”

“Water brings healing and life, but fire brings only destruction and pain. It forces those of us burdened with its care to walk a razor’s edge between humanity, and savagery. Eventually, we are torn apart.”

Silence settled for a bit. It felt weird to hear someone talk of their own bending as a curse, but it made sense to her. Fire had only brought destruction to them lately. Even Zuko had had parts of him burned (not just the face, while he never undressed in front of them, she had seen glimpses of his wrists and the back of his neck). While she might not agree with the ‘walking between humanity and savagery’ part, the rest seemed pretty obvious.

Then Zuko got up, and she could feel the air heat up.

“Is that what you’ve been teaching Aang?! That fire’s just some nebulous force that decimates everything?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!?”

“I wouldn’t expect the prince of the Fire Nation to understand the truth about fire.”

That got Zuko to do the expression that she and Sokka had dubbed ‘da fuck?’.

“Okay, first of all, my uncle’s also a prince of the Fire Nation, so rude. Second of all, fire is a natural occurrence that, while it destroys, it also fertilises earth, just like lava. Which brings me to my third point that you forget that fire is used in every-day life! Wanna keep warm? Fire! Wanna sanitise water from bacteria? Fire! Wanna cook your meat because otherwise you might get ill? Fire! Yes, it hurts, Agni himself knows it can hurt! But that’s the thing! Fire is… it’s… it’s life, both in the good and bad times. Sometimes, it sucks, and sometimes you’re extremely glad that you have it! Oh, and don’t throw me a speech about it bringing destruction as if the other elements can’t do that too. Water? Frostbite and drowning. Earth? It can crush you. Air? Have you seen tornados? It’s honestly hilarious to me that you, a master firebender, thinks of fire as nothing but a bloody flame thrower in a dry forest!”

Though both firebenders seemed to want to say more, they were interrupted by fire blasting right in front of them. Zuko blocked a shot that was probably meant to burn the three of them together, and Jeong Jeong told them to get out of there. Zuko led her back to the others while explaining that Zhao (the guy that had imprisoned them at Roku’s Temple and had imprisoned Aang in the stronghold) had been in the area last night and was now looking for them to capture them.

As they reached Appa, she saw a flash of yellow and orange go towards the river. Two men were helping Sokka finish the packing, and they all turned to them when one of the strangers pointed towards them.

Sokka ran to her and hugged her. “Katara! Are you okay?”

“Don’t worry, Sokka, I healed myself!”

“What?”

Zuko cut in. “Problem now, talk later. What’s Aang doing?”

“He went to go fight Zhao.”

Katara’s stomach dropped. “What?!”

“Fuckin’ spectacular!” Zuko frantically shouted as he hurriedly looked through his bag to take out the mask from the wanted poster and his swords. He took off the robe he wore over his shirt and trousers, and put the mask on.

“Wait, you’re going to fight too?”

“With Jeong Jeong’s fucking speech driving me crazy, there’s only one way to get rid of the adrenalin!” And with that he was off as well.

They quickly finished the last bit of packing before boarding Appa and flying off, with the two men (who she was sure were Zuko’s crewmembers) holding the saddle for dear life. Sokka was sitting at the front, trying to find Aang and Zuko. Turned out it wasn’t very hard, since they could see blasts of fire coming from the river. From up high, they could see Zhao burning his own ships while trying to land a hit on their friends.

The oldest-looking man laughed. “They’re making him burn his own ships! Classic!” The younger-looking man just nervously laughed and kept his death-grip on the saddle.

The problem with having a very angry firebender that wants to kill you on the ground was that they couldn’t land and risk him shooting Appa, or him somehow recognising Zuko’s crewmates. Aang and Zuko seemed to have thought of this though, as Aang launched them towards Appa while Zuko hung onto him. It was slightly off, though, as they didn’t quite make it to the saddle. Just as they were about to fall back down, the older man grabbed Zuko’s outstretched arm and pulled them on the saddle.

After taking a minute to calm themselves, Zuko traded places with Sokka (since he had a better idea as to were his ship was), and Aang sat down guiltily next to her.

“I’m so sorry I burned you, Katara.”

“It’s okay, I healed myself!”

“What?”

Sokka sat on her other side. “Yeah, I’d also like to know what that was all about.”

“Apparently, it’s a waterbending thing!” She spotted a burn on Aang’s arm and took her water out. “Watch this!”

She concentrated herself on the burn just like last time, and healed Aang’s arm.

“That’s some good water!” he smiled.

“When did you learn that?” asked Sokka.

She shrugged. “I guess I always knew.”

“Oh, well then thanks for all the first aid over the years. Like when I fell into the grease-berry bramble, or that time I had two fishhooks in my thumb!”

Aang raised his eyebrows. “Two?”

“He tried to get the first fishhook out with another fishhook.”

“Oh, and that time that mink-snake bit me!” her brother continued sarcastically. “Thanks for healing that up. Really helpful!” The younger sailor groaned slightly.

“So, where’s Jeong Jeong?”

Sokka calmed down at Aang’s question. “He disappeared. They all did.”

“Well, at least they’re all probably safe somewhere.”

An awkward silence fell upon them as they remembered that they weren’t in fact alone. She tried to see if she could remember the men’s faces, but just like Furora, they didn’t ring a bell. The older man had tanned skin, dark brown hair pulled up in a topknot and hazel eyes, and he was the more muscular of the two. The younger one had pale skin (well, as pale as you could have when you were a sailor), black hair tied in a low ponytail and brown eyes, and looked a bit sick from bison travel.

Sokka called out to Zuko. “So, are ya gonna introduce us?”

“Oh, right. Guys, this is Genji (the older man waved) and Shoji, soldier and animal handler respectively. Other guys? This is Aang, Sokka and Katara, Avatar, boomerang thrower and waterbender.” Sokka preened at the ‘boomerang thrower’ part.

“Nice to meet you!” Genji smiled. “Well, officially, that is. Nice to meet you without trying to fight you.”

“Uh, same,” she tried. This was weird. Shoji was still trying to get over his travel sickness.

“Er, sir?” called Genji after clearing his throat. “Not to be an inconvenience, or anything, but could that… thing?”

“Flying bison,” corrected Shoji before putting his hand back in front of his mouth and groaning.

“Right, could that flying bison go any faster?”

Aang looked a bit displeased at that comment. “Appa’s already going fast!”

“Right! And I’m not saying it isn’t, but I’m kind of in the middle of a situation here, and I would rather be on a floor than in the air. If possible, of course!”

“What’s the emergency?” asked Zuko from where he was.

“Penguin-otter boxing,” Genji replied bluntly. What?

“Oh shit,” was the only thing Zuko said before making Appa go faster, which made the bison groan. “Sorry mate, but we’ve got a bit of an issue here.”

Genji looked down while cringing. “Sorry…”

“Penguin-otter what?” asked her baffled brother.

“It’s just a code for… something…”

Awkward silence fell again. They were now flying over the sea.

“So! This is a flying bison, I get that, but what’s… that?” Genji nervously asked while pointing at Momo who was sitting next to him and looking at him. “Because, it looks like it’s trying to read my soul to see if I’m edible or not.”

Shoji snorted at Aang’s shocked gasp, while Zuko explained, “That’s Momo. He’s a flying lemur, and he’s very nice as long as you don’t attack anyone.”

“That’s what you said about the angler-shark-fish, sir.”

“And did it hurt us?”

“No, but it was still terrifying,” Shoji said jovially.

“It still lives in my nightmares.”

“Speaking of nightmares,” transitioned Shoji, probably trying to think of something other than his stomach, “you really became Zhao’s, huh? Though the ‘Blue Spirit’ doesn’t sound like a name you would’ve picked.”

“Ugh, don’t get me started-”

“Yeah kid, don’t get him started.”

“I’m just saying that they were probably pretty lazy when they made that wanted poster.”

“Oh definitely! You heard what Teru said, the proportions were all wonky, the smile and eye holes were all wrong… I’m pretty sure I leaned more about anatomy than I should’ve that day.”

Shoji laughed. “Though you have to give them some credit for advising to bring as much reinforcement as possible.”

“The only way they’ll get me is dead,” said Zuko in the most matter-of-fact way possible.

“Let’s not tempt fate, shall we?” interrupted Sokka.

“Oh so now you believe in fate?” Katara teased.

“No, but we all have a knack for getting into trouble. For all we know, that Zhao guy’s already on your ship!”

Genji’s face darkened. “Trust me, even if he somehow managed to get there before us, he wouldn’t try for a while.”

Zuko sighed. “What did you all do?”

“Furora may have… sworn to his face that if he ever talked about Teru the way he… well, usually does, she would personally pummel him into the ocean the next time he boarded off-shore.”

“It almost turned into a screaming match before Jee came in and had a word with the douchebag. Once he left, she acted as if it never happened and moved along.”

“You mean like she usually does when she threatens someone?”

“Precisely.”

“Why am I not surpri- I think I found them!”

They all looked over the side of the saddle where Zuko was pointing. Sure enough, there was a small metal ship clashing with the blue of the deep waters. As they got closer, Katara could see small figures on the deck running around. They landed after the last person got out of the way.

“Welp, it was nice meeting you kids,” Genji said as he prepared himself to jump off Appa. “I’m just gonna follow Furora’s lead now.” And with that, he jumped off and walked quickly to the inside of the ship.

Nervously, she, Sokka and Aang landed on the metal deck, but stayed close to Appa. The other crewmembers just looked at them wearily and didn’t approach. Zuko helped Shoji down before asking for someone to get a bucket. As one of the sailors ran off to presumably get it, a man (older than Genji, probably in his fifties) with a cropped haircut resembling Zuko’s came towards them with a somehow polite frown.

“Glad to see you’re all alright, thought we didn’t know that you’d all be coming by… flight.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Zuko replied nonchalantly. “We didn’t have much time, so I’m guessing the message was quite short.”

The man snorted. “Yes, it definitely was.” He handed Zuko a piece of paper which just read ‘Go go go!’ in frantic characters.

Shoji moaned. “Hey, it got the message across, right?”

“Yes,” he sighed as a crewmember ran up with a bucket and gave it to Shoji, before taking one look at Appa and running back to the rest of the group of sailors. Shoji immediately excused himself before puking.

“So…” Aang started nervously before lighting up. “Hi, I’m Aang! This is Katara and Sokka, and that’s Appa and Momo!”

“Pleasure,” the man nodded while looking like he was already tired of all this. “Your uncle should know by now that you’ve arrived.”

Zuko nodded. “Good. Ask Kazuto to make them some food, and tell him to not make it spicy. Also, Aang doesn’t eat meat.”

The man nodded before leaving, and the deck slowly emptied.

Sokka broke the silence. “So who was that ray of sunshine?”

“Lieutenant Jee. Doesn’t look very nice, but he’s alright once you get to know him.”

Sokka seemed to recognise that name. “He’s the guy that taught you to shout? I though he would be more… energetic.”

“Trust me, he can be. So… shall I bring you to the mess hall? For food?”

Katara smiled. “Food sounds nice.” They hadn’t eaten anything since that morning, so they were all quite hungry.

They left Appa outside with Zuko asking one of the crewmembers to give him some hay. He brought them to a large room (well, large for the ship, it definitely wasn’t the size of Bumi’s dining room, for example) with tables, chairs and an opening to the kitchen.

Aang turned to Zuko. “You know, it’s kinda weird to be back here in a safe way.”

“Yeah, your last visit was definitely… different.” He got them to sit down at a table with Momo already running and flying around the room before saying, “If you’ll all excuse me, I’m gonna go get a change of clothes. Don’t leave the room. The ship may be small, but you can still get lost.”

“I can testify!” cheerfully exclaimed Aang. And with that, he left.

As they waited for their food, Katara took in what just happened. While the sailors wore their armour, none of them were wearing helmets, which felt really weird since that’s how they usually saw all Fire Nation soldiers. Seeing faces instead of skull masks just felt weird. All of the ship seemed to be lit with red lanterns, giving the place a creepy kind of feel to it. It made her feel on edge, and she was certain that Sokka felt the same way, since he was also looking at every corner.

Two people came into the room with one of them laughing. They seemed to be young adults, and were probably around the same age. They stopped and looked at her and her friends, before awkwardly leaving the room while side-eyeing them. Why were they nervous? This was their ship!

Sokka was still looking at the entrance with a frown. “They don’t seem very friendly, do they.”

“Maybe they’re just nervous,” said Aang.

“But why?” she asked. “It’s not like we’re the ones that look threatening!”

“Maybe they’re scared of us because of the times we beat ‘em!” her brother smirked.

“Partially,” a small man with three bowls appeared at their table. “They don’t know what to think of ya.”

He placed the bowls in front of them. It was plain rice with cabbage and radish. They thanked him as he went back to the kitchen.

“I’m glad he didn’t make any meat!” smiled Aang. The food was good, if a little plain. It needed more salt.

“Yeah, just a boring, meatless bowl of rice,” complained her brother. But he still ate it.

A few minutes later, Zuko came back with an old man in toe. He was now wearing the clothes worn underneath the armour, which she recognised from their first days together. It felt weird seeing him in red again. (She couldn’t help but tense slightly.)

“Everything good?” he asked.

“Yup!” Aang exclaimed.

“Good. Er, guys, meet my uncle, Iroh.”

The man behind him bowed with a warm smile. “It is a pleasure to meet my nephew’s friends.” As they replied back, she noticed that Zuko’s face went slightly wrong at the word ‘friends’. But that’s what they were, right? Did he not see them that way? “While I would love to talk more, I need to see course with the helmsman, as I am sure that my nephew would prefer to talk with you for the few moments you’ll be staying here.”

“Right, thanks.” Iroh left as Zuko sat down at the opposite side of the table.

“So, back to your ashmaker’s outfit?” joked Sokka.

He rubbed his neck. “Heh, yeah… Uh, Aang? I don’t want to pry or anything, but what did you take from Jeong Jeong’s lessons?” Oh, right, he was probably going to try to do some damage control from Aang’s so-called ‘lessons’.

Aang cringed. “Well… he said that fire was alive and destructive, and that you needed discipline to bend it.” Zuko nodded at that. “But, I didn’t have any. He said I wasn’t ready when I asked him to teach me. Said I was too weak. I really did want to learn, and you didn’t seem to think you were ready to teach me, so I insisted. He said no again, and then, well… I can’t exactly remember what happened, but next thing I knew, he accepted. But, the exercises he gave me were basic, simple, I couldn’t really fail and yet I did! I… don’t think I’m cut out for firebending. I even burned Katara! Even if she healed herself, that’s still bad! So, I’m sorry Zuko, but I don’t think I’ll be needing a firebending master.” Zuko frowned as he looked at the table, deep in thought. Aang realised that what he said sounded like a dismissal. “I don’t mean that you’re still not part of the group, obviously! You’re our friend! I just won’t be needing any firebending lessons. It’s good for you since you think that you’re not cut out to teach!”

At Zuko’s silence, Katara realised that Aang was breathing faster, as if trying to hold back tears.

“Aang,’ Zuko said in the softest voice she had ever heard from him, “I think it was a bad idea to ask for Jeong Jeong’s help. He was a bad teacher, that we can all agree on. He didn’t supervise you when he should’ve. I’m sorry I pushed you to ask him for help.”

“You didn’t push me! I-”

“But, you can’t just say that you’ll never firebend. It’s a part of you, just like the other elements. You unlocked it and you can’t throw it back. That man was right about one thing though, fire is alive. More than that, it’s life. And just like how you have good days and shitty days, fire has good usages and destructive usages. Knowing that, he should have been there with you. I should have been there with you.” He looked up, straight at Aang. “When you’re finished eating, I’ll show you some basic exercises that don’t involve you making fire. Now that you know not to use it without supervision, I’m sure you’ll do them properly. You are not abandoning firebending because of a jackass who can’t teach properly. Okay?”

Aang sighed in relief as he nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”

Once they finished eating, Katara and Sokka went back to Appa with Momo while Zuko taught Aang his training exercises. After about an hour, they saw Furora come out and wave at them before she lay down in the middle of the deck, almost making Shoji (who was now feeling better) trip over her. It seemed to be a regular occurrence, as no one asked her to move out of the way.

Soon, Aang and Zuko came back out, with Aang looking much happier and lighter.

“I guess your jerkbending went better this time?” asked Sokka.

“Yup! I’m ready to do my basics!” His eyes saddened a bit as he turned to Zuko. “We’re really gonna miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too.”

Her and Aang decided that while the firebender wasn’t a lover of hugs, this time could be an exception. He froze a bit before sighing and patting their shoulders.

“Take care, alright?” she said while trying to hold back tears. Tui and La, he really had grown on her, had he?

“I will.”

“Yeah, don’t fall in the ocean, or something,” said Sokka in a clearly fake aloof way.

“Oh just get over here!” she huffed.

And he did, with Momo flying onto Zuko’s head soon after to also give him a hug. Appa bumped his head on their friend’s back, and they just stayed like that for a while.

Then Zuko cleared his throat as he shuffled his way out of the group hug with a nervous smile. “Well, um, wouldn’t want to keep the North waiting! Er, don’t crash into any icebergs, okay?”

She laughed. “We won’t.”

They climbed onto the saddle with the new provisions that his crew had given them, and as they flew off, she shouted again to take care as they waved.

Soon, the ship disappeared from their view, and Appa’s saddle felt slightly too empty.

Chapter Text

The kid was acting off. Sure, he always was pretty weird, but it was in the ‘I was born into royalty, so I act like a weirdo’ kind of way. This, on the other hand, was just plain off.

Aiko couldn’t help but cringe when the prince almost hit his hand with a hammer. Again.

“Hey, is somethin’ wrong, kid?”

“Huh? Uh… no…”

“Really,” she blinked. “You know, if you miss your friends, you should just say it instead of sulking around.”

“Oh I’m sulking around?”

She snorted. Alright, she would admit it, she did give him the cold shoulder for the first day he was back. But hey, she had gotten used to having help with the ancient ovens that were supposed to be furnaces, and the last month had been quite a handful to deal with alone! The big hole in the deck hadn’t helped her mood, either.

“But seriously, kid, you gotta pay more attention to where you whack that thing! Wouldn’t want you loosing a finger, your uncle would have my head!”

The little bastard grinned. “Does he know about the wrench you gave me?”

“If you tell him, there will be no more secret booze between the two of us.”

“Well, unlike you, I can live without alcohol in my bloodstream, thank you very much!”

“Yeah? Well, I’m sure that the Avatar doesn’t have the good stuff on his weird flying buffalo!”

The prince’s expression saddened as he quietly rebuked, “He’s a flying bison.”

Aaand they were back. She just hummed as she continued to screw the bolts correctly so that they wouldn’t pop off every hour. Seriously, she couldn’t help to think for the millionth time, what kind of shitty boiler was that? The prince was sadly whacking his nails again, but at least he wasn’t hitting his hands. The silence between them was usually pretty easy, but this one was strained. It had been like that for the past two days. She didn’t like it.

“Listen, I’m pretty sure that you shouldn’t keep what’s buggin’ ya to yourself. So, like, talk to me, kid.”

He rolled his eyes at her genuine attempt to get him to open up. “Since when did you become Sorano?” She just lifted an eyebrow, unimpressed, and he sighed. “I guess a lot of things happened before I came back. A lot of things I tried not to think about.”

“Like what?”

“Well… I already knew people hated the Fire Nation, obviously, but there’s this guy we met that… well… He tried to flood a village that had, like, a really small percentage of Fire Nation people compared to Earth Kingdom people. And there was also that man who attacked me just because I was a firebender, which was totally uncalled for since I wasn’t doing anything threatening. But, I feel like I can’t be mad, since he’s from the Southern Water Tribe, and our people basically ransacked their home!”

“Oh yeah, I think Furora told us about him. Said he was fun to freak out.”

“Yeah… And, well, there was also that Jeong Jeong guy-”

“The deserter?” She had heard about him, how the man had fled around a year after Ozai came to power. She didn’t have any strong feelings towards him, but she could at least respect him a bit. You needed some serious balls to desert the Fire Army, high-ranking or not.

“Yeah, real jackass of a teacher, I’ll tell you that. Made a lot of sense when I discovered he was Zhao’s old master.”

“Wow. What little respect I had for the man has vanished.”

“Heh, well, he was pretty rude to me as well. I guess I wasn’t very polite either, but I tried, and he started it. He was super condescending, like I had personally offended him by my mere existence! Kept saying I had no control, or that I was disrespectful. I’m bloody respectful, right?”

“Sir, you are the pinnacle of respect giving. Though, respect goes both ways, so I don’t expect you to show any to a guy that kept insulting you.”

“I guess… And there’s also the Avatar and his friends. Sure, they included me way too quickly. If I really wanted to, I could have probably captured them by making them think I was their ally. But, there are a few… things they say. Like, I feel like they see the Fire Nation as nothing more than warmongers, and that we’re somehow exceptions. Also, they keep using the term ‘ashmaker’.”

“Really?” That seemed surprising to her, since ‘ashmaker’ was an extremely rude insult, a borderline slur. From what she had heard, the Avatar and his friends were a bunch of goody-too-shoes who probably didn’t swear unless a boulder had fallen on their foot.

“Yeah, I want to tell them to stop that, but then again, Aang’s whole people got decimated because of us, and Katara and Sokka also lost people they loved because of us, so I don’t feel like it’s my right to complain. I guess it’s just a bit uncomfortable.”

“I think you should tell em. Maybe they don’t know that it’s rude.”

“You think so?”

“Well, if they complain, it’s justified, but I’m sure at least one of them’ll feel bad. I mean, you didn’t save their asses multiple times just to get insulted, did ya?”

“I’ll give it a shot,” he chuckled. “So anyway, did you get a letter from Yua recently?”

Aiko smiled at the mention of her wife. “Actually, yes, I have. She’s doing very well, though she told me that she doesn’t like the view from our house anymore, since they plopped a giant fuck-you statue of Ozai breathing fire in the middle of the town square.”

“Ew, gross, have they got any good tastes in town square decorations?”

“I know, right? Yua’s considering moving to the edge of the town so that she doesn’t have to look at it every time she opens the windows.” Yua wasn’t much of a lover of the royal family. She did the bare minimum when it came to honouring the Fire Lord, but like most people in the Fire Nation, she just kept her mouth shut and moved along. Aiko could remember her objecting to the fact that she would be drafted to the Fire Prince’s ship quite passionately, and Aiko had promised to write to her as much as she could. They had made up codes so that if their mail was read by someone else (it usually was), then it would seem as nothing more than a married couple taking news from each other.

“Actually, now that I think about it, isn’t your uncle the one that can breath fire?”

“Yeah, the statue’s probably just a big hunk of propaganda. Your wife’s right to want to move.”

She laughed and she patted his shoulder. “I’ll tell her that you have her support.”

As the silence came back, it was back to normal. Finally.

---

Aang was trying really hard to stay cheery, but the Northern Air Temple felt… ruined. Not in the same way as the Southern Air Temple, but at least there, most of the place was intact, except for… well… But this felt wrong. Machines came in and out of sacred statues and murals depicting his people’s history, what were supposed to be great statues honouring flying bison now looked like scary and dangerous creatures, and the statues representing the greatest airbending masters were being destroyed for a flipping bathhouse!

Sokka didn’t seem to get it, he only saw the ‘greatness’ of the progress being made here. Only Katara seemed to understand him, maybe not completely, but at least she hadn’t said that those machines were making the temple better. The Mechanist didn’t understand Aang’s outburst or anger, none of the settlers did! Sure, they had taken refuge here because the Fire Nation had attacked their home (he was glad that Zuko wasn’t with them at that moment, the firebender always looked so guilt ridden every time he heard those stories), but that wasn’t a reason to desecrate such an amazing place! Plus, it was the only thing left of his people, his culture…

The only person who seemed to understand that was Teo. Out of anyone in this place, he seemed to have the spirit of an airbender, like he felt more at home in the air than on the ground. It felt nice to talk to him, and he even brought them to a door that could only be opened by airbending! While Aang felt curious about what was inside, he decided not to open it, to keep it preserved.

But as he watched Teo showing Katara how to fly, he couldn’t help to rethink that decision. Maybe he should open it, at least just for Teo. He felt that the teen deserved to know what was behind, that he deserved to see the last bit of Aang’s culture fully preserved in the place he now lived in.

That made it so much worse when they discovered what was inside, and as the doors opened, revealing a red glow that only a few days ago had felt reassuring, but now looked horrifying, he could see more mechanical parts than he had seen in the rest of the temple, and a big black Fire Nation insignia contrasted on deep blood-red fabric.

---

Even after twenty-six years working as a medic, looking after grumpy sailors and shitty higher-ups, Sorano had always managed to keep her legendary calm. Unlike most medics at sea who were as gruff and tough looking and sounding as their patients, she had been seen as too motherly by most of the crews she worked for. That didn’t stop her from not taking any shit from them, Agni knows they’ve tried that a few times, but she had always felt like sometimes, people just needed to get away from the tough love from the rest of their ship (if there was any love).

That theory had worked best for Prince Zuko. Sure, he was a brat, especially at the beginning, but like the rest of the crew that had stayed, she had grown fond of him.

(The fact that she alone had witnessed his first few days adjusting to his scar, seen the hollowness in his eyes less than a year later and had had to keep him from leaving the infirmary for a week after the incident had probably helped with that.)

When he came back on the ship, Sorano was sleeping. She would have had probably slept through the rest of the day if Genji hadn’t burst into her workplace to get some pads for his ‘penguin-otter boxing’ issue, as he liked to call it. Apparently, he had chosen those words because of some you-had-to-be-there joke from his military training, but unlike the rest of the crew, she didn’t get it. But thanks to that, he notified her that the prince, aka the most likely person on the ship to get injured aside from Shoji, was back. Her blood pressure rose slightly as she heard the news.

Thankfully, he had been fine, although he had apparently fractured his wrist. Oddly enough, there weren’t any signs of a fracture, and once she voiced that thought, he had an “Oh!” of understanding, and explained to her that the waterbender on the Avatar’s team had just discovered that she could heal. They both reasoned that she might have unconsciously healed him while applying water on the injury.

The next few days had been pretty uneventful as they once again sailed to that haunted island that no one went to. Technically, they weren’t supposed to be there (well, the prince wasn’t), but no one would know since no one went near that place, as spirits had overtaken the forests. It made things much easier for them, although she wasn’t the only one to wonder why both princes needed to go there, again.

One morning, Prince Zuko came inside the infirmary. It was quite a shock to her, as she was usually the one trying to get him inside. Either something really bad was happening, or he was going to ask her a question that he felt would be embarrassing to ask to the others, including his uncle, like he had previously done with things like puberty or other stuff that kids didn’t like to talk about with their parents. People did say that she would have made a good mother, so that had made her chuckle a bit.

“Prince Zuko! What amazing set of circumstances have led you back to my personal corner of this rusty bucket?”

The boy averted his gaze, trying to hide his smile, and rubbing his neck. “I, er… I wanted to ask you something… about communication.”

“Communication? You don’t need me to get your point across to these bozos.”

“No,” he now said seriously, “it’s for my uncle.”

“I’m pretty sure he would listen to anything you’d say, sir.”

“I know, but this is super important, and I can’t mess it up. I’m not good at explaining what I feel, I don’t like doing it, but this time I have to. No ‘I hope he understands what I’m trying to say without me actually saying it’, this has never gotten me anywhere. I just want to be straight to the point, and throw my feelings at him so that there’s no misunderstandings!”

He seemed very worked up about this. “May I ask what you want to tell him? It would be easier to give you my help.”

“No, you may not,” he snapped. His face then softened as he sighed. “All I can say is that it’s… pretty negative. Something that’ll probably end up with me screaming at him. I don’t want this to happen, but I feel that it will. It’s about something he hid from me. Something… important.”

“Ah,” she nodded. “Old people do have a tendency to hide stuff because they think they know better. Trust me, I know, being an old person myself.”

“You’re not old, you’re not even fifty yet.”

She smiled. “True, true… But anyway, with what little you told me, I’d say you should have a clear perspective on what you want to tell him. Don’t think about how you’ll say it, but what it’s about. Your uncle’s still pretty perceptive, so you just need to make those important points clear. Oh, and hand gestures! You get your point across much better when you use your body language. So don’t be afraid to pace around the room if it helps.”

“Not that I’m supposed to do it,” he mumbled, “but okay…”

She tried to keep her smile, because he didn’t need another lecture on how fucking stupid this whole ‘using body language is weak’ shit that he had learned as a prince was. Yet another reason as to why she didn’t like their current ruler.

She sighed. “Just remember to have a clear objective, and stay straight forward!”

He got up to get to the door, smirking. “Not like I can do anything else. Thanks!” And he left.

As the door closed, Sorano couldn’t help but look at it vacantly. Her sister had always said that she was good with kids and should have gotten some of her own, but she had never wanted to since her life wasn’t a good one to take care of a child. Her late husband had understood this, though that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t spend time with their nieces when they were on leave. That’s why she had never understood how Ozai could have been such a bad parent. Why he had been such a bad parent. He treated his children like he treated his country, like something to be used. She knew for a fact that Prince Zuko would have been much more outgoing and confident if it weren’t for his terrible upbringing. She didn’t know most of it, none of them did, not even Prince Iroh, but a man that burned the face of his thirteen-year-old for speaking up during a war council wasn’t a good paternal figure, in her humble opinion.

“Ah, Hiroki,” she couldn’t help but say out loud, “you would’ve really liked that one.”

---

This. Was. Awesome.

All of this was awesome. The amazing contraptions, the ingenious work and craft coming from the Mechanist just blew Sokka’s mind to tiny bits. Only one problem, though: the guy was working for the Fire Nation. The mocking part of Sokka laughing that the supposed ‘greatest nation in the world’ didn’t even create their own stuff was overshadowed by his ‘oh fuck this is very very bad’ part.

At least the man wasn’t helping them on purpose, but rather doing it out of necessity to help his community. Still, very very bad thing to be involved with. Good thing the man’s latest invention hadn’t been given to the war minister, as him and Sokka quickly found a way to fight the Fire Nation’s assault on the temple after Aang made it very clear that the whole temple’s population was now their enemy.

As the Mechanist explained to the others how they had managed to make the flying balloon work, Sokka couldn’t help but preen at the praise from the man. It was nice to get his talents recognised once in a while. It was also pretty good that the Fire Nation insignia was on the balloon, as the soldiers didn’t attack them when they arrived on the battlefield (well, it was more of a slope, but who’s nit-picking?).

The bad thing was that they quickly ran out of ammunitions (aka slime and stink bombs). The good thing was that they quickly started smelling rotten egg, or the sign that very flammable and explosive gas was underneath them. If they could light it up, then they would win the battle! Sadly, they didn’t have their human spark rock with them anymore, so they would have to abandon the beautiful flying invention.

(Actually, Sokka was very glad that Zuko wasn’t with them. The guy would have been mortified to fight against so much of his people and bringing so many casualties, which was fair enough, even if they weren’t really deserving of his pity.)

Once the Fire Army retreated, they all got back to the temple and prepared Appa to leave. Aang made a speech about being glad that people were now living there, and there was an analogy about a hermit-crab or something? Sokka didn’t really listen to that last part, because guilt was now smacking him on the head. He really had insulted Aang’s culture by saying that the temple was much better now, hadn’t he? Sure, he really did think that all this stuff was awesome, but he now realised that he hadn’t been there for his friend when the kid was having pretty rough emotions about all this. Once they were off with Katara at the reins, Sokka decided to make things right.

“Hey, Aang? I know you said you were good with them now living there and all, but I just wanted to say sorry for being do insensitive today. I got so exited over all these cool machines that I didn’t even stop to consider the fact that they were destroying your old home.”

Aang smiled sadly. “Don’t worry, I get that I can’t get in the way of progress. Most of the stuff they made there really is great! I just wish they hadn’t broken so many things in the process…”

An idea popped into Sokka’s head. “You know… I think we should come back sometime to repair the place. When the war is over, we can go to all the temples and renovate them! As for this one, we could at least try to clear some of the damage they did…”

His eyes lit up. “That sounds awesome! We should totally do that sometime! Now that I think about it, I can’t wait to show you the Eastern and Western Temples! That’s where the nuns were, but I did go there a couple of times. Actually, Appa came from the Eastern Air Temple, and…”

And so Aang continued to excitedly tell them about these places, with Sokka feeling happy that they had a goal for after the war.

---

Iroh had just finished writing the order to decommission the Wani. It had been a small idea that his nephew had proposed when he came back so that they wouldn’t be under the jurisdiction of people like Zhao, but Iroh was the one that had to do it what with not being banished and all.

He was walking back from the falconry to make sure that the message would be sent as fast as possible when he saw someone waiting at the door. His nephew looked extremely tense as he turned around (no doubt sensing him), biting his lip and rubbing his hands.

“Nephew, is there something wrong?”

“I… er… May I speak to you for a bit?”

He tried to keep a jovial smile. “Of course! I’ll heat a pot of tea for you. Is jasmine alright?”

As he opened his room’s door, Zuko followed quickly behind, sighing. “Sure.”

He poured the tea in their cups and took a sip, while his nephew just stared at it vacantly. He had been doing this for the past few days, and while it had worried him, he thought that maybe he should give him a bit of space before becoming overbearing, which would never end well. For once though, it was Zuko that had come to him. He really hoped that everything was alright (even though it clearly wasn’t).

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and…

“I know about your secret group.”

It took Iroh all of his strength to not spit what he had just sipped, and even more to disguise his shock (he didn’t).

“You… How?”

He scoffed. “You kept secrets from a sixteen-year-old with no restraint. You think I wouldn’t know?” Oh dear, he knew for that long? “You know what? That’s not what I want to talk about. I don’t care about you little pai sho and tea club that you’ve got, and are apparently a high ranker in. What I want to talk about is the fact that you never told me shi- anything about the fact that maybe I shouldn’t have followed my father’s words for so long.”

“I-”

“No! I’m not done!” he suddenly shouted as he got up, and started pacing. “I’ve been pushing this down for like, a year, so I’m gonna put everything out, and then you can talk. For three years, I’ve been running after some stupide spirit-tale, and never once have you told me to consider the fact that it was all bullshit. Oh sure, you may have said so in one of your many, many proverbs, but it’s not like I can understand any of them! You never directly told me that what my father did was wrong, you just sat there and told me that he ‘wasn’t a very forgiving man’. Like no shit! I know that better than most! Couldn’t you have been more straightforward? It’s not like you didn’t learn after three years of living on this dingy-ass ship with me that I don’t like to analyse every single word that people use to find a double meaning!

You know, when I found out about your little meetings, I hoped so much that you would just come to me one day and say that all I was doing was bullshit. I wanted it so bad, but you never did. You never once said that I should just stop, just that I should slow down. You never said a single fucking thing that expressively stated ‘stop this’! You just let me continue this bullshit that I didn’t know how to stop. I couldn’t stop that search! I had spent three years of my fucking life, my whole teenage years, just running after things that didn’t exist! When we got back from the Sun Warriors, it was the only thing that actually kept me going! It was a goal, the only goal I had, even though I knew deep down that it was useless and that nothing would come of it. I just… didn’t know how to stop…”

At this point, he was in tears and panting from all he had just unloaded. He felt like there was more to be said, but that this would be all for now.

Iroh didn’t know what to say. He really didn’t. He had never wanted to cause so much distress to him, he though he was doing the right thing by being a presence in his nephew’s life that didn’t dig too deep and was just there in case he needed anything. That had apparently been a very wrong thing to do. As Zuko collapsed back down to his seat trying to stop his tears, Iroh couldn’t stop the overwhelming guilt that had fallen on him. A year. His nephew, his son had been pushing all of this down for a whole year, and he had never once noticed. Agni, what had he done?

“Zuko, I am so sorry I never realised what I put you through. I thought I was helping you when I was just making things worse. I-”

“Why didn’t you just say it?”

“I do not want to put the blame anywhere else, but the way we were all instructed to talk at the palace was to never directly state what we meant, as I’m sure you are aware. Even in my old age, I have never gotten rid of that habit. But I should have, at least for you. You are right, I fully knew the best way to talk to you, yet I never did. I always thought that by giving you some space, you would realise on your own that all of this was wrong, just like I did. I thought it would actually be easier since you had someone to talk to. In that regard, I was blind. I hope you forgive me as I try to make things right.”

What he had just said didn’t mean much, all things considered. He had just given him his reasons, but no amount of apologizing would change anything. Zuko just stared at him before putting his head in his hands and nodding. Iroh knew that his actions would speak louder than his words, but hugging the boy was very much out of the question, since it would probably make things much worse. Instead, he did the next best thing he could, which was to hold his shoulder tightly and give him a bit of warmth. His nephew looked up at him again, before sighing and getting up.

Iroh watched as he walked towards the door, looking exhausted. As he put his hand on the handle, he felt like he had to say one last thing.

“Zuko.” His nephew turned back to him, eyes red but tears now gone. “When you left the first time, I wanted to say so much more. One of those things seems quite bland, but it’s true. I’m here for you. While I’ve just realised how little I actually know of what you feel, that does not mean I’m not ready to listen. So if you need anything, come to me. I mean it.”

Zuko nodded almost absentmindedly, before replying in a strained voice, “Just stop lying to me, and we’ll be good.” Iroh nodded.

And then he left.

Iroh promised himself to never hide anything from his boy again.

---

He felt nothing. Oh sure, he felt anger, rage and sadness, with just a tad of thankfulness, but there was so much of it that these feelings just nullified each other, making him feel like there was nothing, yet like everything would just burst at any moment. It wasn’t a good feeling.

He knew where he was walking to. It wasn’t his room, it was too isolated. It wasn’t the mess hall or the deck, those were too crowded. It was… what was it called again? He didn’t know, but he knew where it was, so there was that at least.

When he arrived, it smelled like a stable. It wasn’t a stable though, because there weren’t any ostrich-horses. There were komodo-rhinos, though. There was also a young man reading a scroll.

The young man looked up quickly before reading again. “Need anything, sir?”

‘Sir’? Why was he calling him ‘sir’? The guy was older than him. Him just standing there and not responding caught the attention of the man, who looked up again with concern.

He got up. “Are you okay, sir?”

He felt his eyes becoming wet again. Why was he crying again? His breath hitched slightly, and the man’s eyes widened in shock, looking left and right as if to find someone to help.

“Do… do you want to talk about it, or…”

No, he really didn’t. He just wanted to forget all about it and never have to think about it again. But life wasn’t fair, was it?

The young man sighed. “Maybe the komodo-rhinos will know what to do,” he said as he took his arm and led him to one of the pens. The komodo-rhino inside had one of his horns chipped on the side, and had a mouthful of meat that he was chewing on. Once the beast realised that there was someone in his little room, he swallowed and walked towards him.

He bumped his chest, as if to ask if he was alright. He just slowly pet him in return. Then the tears came forward again and he collapsed in front of the komodo-rhino, Lily as they had called him, crying his eyes out. Lily snuggled him at an angle so that his horn wouldn’t hurt him, while he just sobbed and held onto his friend. At some point, Shoji left, probably to leave them alone. The komodo-rhino next to Lily’s pen grumbled, and Lily replied with his own before making the stupid crying human probably annoying him lie down on his back so that they were both somewhat comfortable.

At some point, Zuko stopped crying. He probably didn’t have any more tears left in him, so he just stroked Lily slowly and repeatedly.

“I didn’t go to hard on him, did I?” he absentmindedly asked. “Was I too blunt? Does he hate me now?”

Lily just grumbled, telling him that he didn’t do anything wrong and that he was just being an overthinking idiot.

Zuko chuckled. “You’re right, he promised not to lie to me anymore.”

Lily licked him happily before grumbling again.

Zuko suddenly laughed, relieved. “If that’s how it went with him, talking to the others is going to be a nightmare!”

He’s pretty sure he spent the night there.

The next day, he walked on the deck to just stare at the sea. Not absentmindedly, mind you, there were a bunch of jelly-octo-fish swimming by and staring at them was always fun. He sensed his uncle coming behind him. He didn’t turn around, especially as the man walked up to stand on his right side and watch the blobs floating near the ship.

“They’re quite pretty, aren’t they?” he said, asking if Zuko was ready to talk to him again. It was probably the only sneaky palace talk he actually liked. He and Azula used it a lot together.

“Yeah,” he replied with a smile before facing him. “They’re really cute.”

Chapter Text

He heard the knock on his door again.

He opened his eyes, face meeting his room’s wall. It was still the same boring metal wall with a bunch of weird scratches. The same wall that Uncle had suggested he decorate with something. At the time, Zuko was too preoccupied with Father’s orders to do it, but now he just didn’t care. Why bother anyway? It was just a wall.

The knocking came again.

He blinked slowly. He hadn’t slept properly in a while. Before, he could always fall asleep once Agni had set, and stay awake once he emerged again, but his sleep schedule had gone off the rails. Now, he felt sleepy during the day, but couldn’t actually go to sleep because of the sun, and he straight up couldn’t sleep at all during the night. Well, that was a bit hyperbolic, he could still sleep, but it was hard.

This time, the knock was accompanied by a voice.

“Prince Zuko? May I come in?”

No, you may not.

He opened his mouth to say so, but nothing came out. He didn’t see the point in doing it. Uncle would still come in whether he answered him or not. Telling him that he was fine or that he wanted to be alone never worked, so what was the use?

Because he knew what would happen next, Zuko just stayed on top of his bed, lying with his back to the door, drowsily staring at the boring wall.

The door opened with a squeak. Zuko heard footsteps.

“Prince Zuko, I know you’re awake,” Uncle said in a hushed voice.

Zuko turned slightly to look at him.

Uncle held up a tray with food on it. “I brought you lunch!” he said with a smile.

It looked so fake, just like Mum’s when she said that everything was fine.

Zuko turned back to the boring wall.

He heard him sigh.

“You haven’t eaten this morning.”

“M’ not hungry.” He didn’t like the sound of his voice. It resonated in his head, sounded way too broken to be his. It didn’t sound like that before the… before, but you could have thought that he smoked five times a day while screaming at the top of his lungs. He used to do that at some point, but no one really listened to him anyway. Plus he was just so tired.

“Now, what are you saying? You are growing, you need to eat!”

He didn’t really feel like growing. Growing meant more burns.

“M’ not hungry,” he repeated, waiting for Uncle to just leave the tray in his room telling him to eat. Afterwards, he would take a few bites before leaving the rest, and Uncle would come back at some point to take it away. It’s not like he actually was hungry. He just ate because he knew that he had to. Plus, he didn’t want the cook’s work to go in vain, even if most of it did. Then again, it was his fault for giving him those big meals.

But for once, that moment of leaving the tray never came. Well, Uncle did place it on a table, but he didn’t leave. Instead, Zuko could hear him come closer.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and froze up. Was Uncle mad? Did he finally have enough of Zuko’s whining and decide to punish him? His shoulders weren’t really the usual place where Father would punish him, that was usually the arms and back, but it did happen a few times.

Just as he prepared himself for the familiar sensation of fire on his skin, he hand disappeared.

Oh. Maybe it wasn’t for today.

For that, he decided that facing the man was the least he could do. He slowly pulled himself up and turned around. Uncle’s expression looked so guilty and sad. Zuko was too tired to read too much into it.

Uncle took a breath as he held a bowl of rice. “Here, the least you could do is have this.”

He reluctantly took the bowl and eyed it with a bit of disgust. He really didn’t want to eat right now. But…

With a sigh, he held his chopsticks and took a bite. It was just plain old boring rice, nothing much to it.

He chewed slowly and swallowed before looking up at the man forcing him to eat the bloody rice. He had learned that swear from the mechanist, because she kept swearing at the boiler.

Uncle’s look told him to eat more, so he sighed and took another bite. Still the same.

Uncle broke the silence by clearing his throat. “You haven’t been outside in a while, Nephew. Feeling the sun might do you some good.”

Zuko didn’t lift his gaze from the bowl. “I don’t need it.”

“Now, Prince Zuko,” he exclaimed in fake cheeriness, “all firebenders need to feel the sun at some point!”

“T’s not like I’m one anyway…”

He really wasn’t anymore. Since the… since his banishment, he couldn’t bend as well as he used to. Not like it changed anything, he had always been a bad firebender. But now, even making a tiny flame was exhausting, and trying anything else was just impossible. So no, he wasn’t a firebender anymore. There was no point in denying it.

He heard shifting, and lifted his head to see Uncle with an extremely sad looking expression. If that was all he was going to do, then Zuko would have much preferred he never came at all. That was all he did, just watch him all sad-like and tell him to eat or go outside. Riveting.

“What you are going through will pass, I’m sure of it, but you are not helping yourself by staying cooped up in your room.”

His room? It wasn’t his room. It was just a random room that had been given to him when he had gotten on this bloody ship. His actual room had never held much either, but at least it was actually his. This… well, it was on a ship, so it was already a bad start.

He just sighed and ate more, because he preferred doing that to talking.

The silence came back.

Then Uncle broke it again.

“I have been thinking about moving off course for a little while. There is this beautiful island I went to a few years ago, and I’m sure you will enjoy it.”

Zuko couldn’t help but doubt that. He didn’t enjoy much these days.

“You can go alone if you like it so much…”

“Yes, but it would feel a bit lonely without company. Plus, I wouldn’t want to leave you alone, since this trip might take a few days.”

A few days? Even better.

“Then we won’t go…”

Uncle sighed, clearly fed up with his antics. “Nephew, I really think it would be good for you to go outside. There would be no one else except for you and me, and you would finally be on land after spending such a long time on this ship.”

Zuko sighed. He really wasn’t going to let this go, was he?

“Fine, whatever…”

“Excellent! I’ll tell the helmsman immediately!” And with that, he left.

Zuko lay once more on his bed, looking at the boring wall.

What was so amazing about this island anyway?

---

It took a few days to sail to the Sun Warriors’ island, and Iroh spent most of that time doing what he always did these past few months: trying to make Zuko do anything. Sadly, it didn’t really work. At least he had agreed to come with him…

Sorano had told him that his nephew was probably suffering from depression. She had only seen him a few times, but that was more than most these days. She could only really go by what Iroh told her, and even then, she didn’t really know what to do about it.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I’m trained in physical healing, not mental. This crew isn’t really the best of the best, after all…”

So he didn’t really know what to do. He had read somewhere that firebenders often got depressed when their fire was too weak (though not to the point of being snuffed out), and he really hoped that this was what Zuko was going through, because he didn’t know how else to help him. As such, bringing him to the Masters was the only thing he knew to try. It was a good thing that the Fire Navy never patrolled this area of the sea. While it may technically belong to the Fire Nation, it was known for being haunted.

The day they arrived, Iroh went to fetch his nephew. He managed to get him into some fresh clothes, and walked him out of the ship. He had made sure that no other crewmember would be present, since that might have deterred the boy. They brought enough food for the trip and embarked on one of the boats made to go to land. As soon as they entered the sunlight, he saw Zuko squint hard. His heart squeezed at the sight.

It took them the whole day to get to the ruins. When he had gone there alone, it had only taken him half, but his nephew had so little energy that they often needed to take breaks. During the whole walk, he never said a word, even when Iroh tried to start a conversation. He really hoped he was right about this.

When they arrived, they were immediately met with two Sun Warriors. As soon as they appeared, Zuko scrambled behind Iroh and held onto his clothes. He could have felt him shaking even if he hadn’t held on.

“Greetings,” Iroh started, “I’m-”

“We know who you are,” one of them said with a scowl. “Well, one of you. You aren’t supposed to bring anyone else.”

“Yes, I know, but you see, I-”

“We’re bringing you to the Chief,” said the other.

And with that, the only thing they could do was follow.

The closer they got, the more he could feel Zuko freak out. Dear Agni, he really hoped this would help.

“I thought I had made myself clear, Iroh,” said Chief Tizoc once they arrived. “You were not to tell anyone about us.”

“Well, I didn’t tell him anything,” Iroh replied calmy, trying to not sweat too much. A hard thing to do in the Fire Nation. “Besides, there is an important reason I brought him here.” He brought Zuko to his side, trying to use as little force as possible (which was hard, because the boy was practically glued to his robes). “This is my nephew, Zuko. He has had… issues with his firebending as of late, and that has led his mental state to deteriorate.” He really didn’t want to say it that way in front of him, but the boy didn’t seem to listen to anything he was saying. He only confusedly looked around with frightened eyes. Iroh fought the urge to hold his shoulder, since it was clear that that never gave good results.

“Hmm,” was all the Chief said while watching Zuko intensely. After a minute, he sighed. “Very well, we shall bring him to the Masters tomorrow morning at noon. But before we lead you to somewhere to stay, could you tell me exactly what happened?”

Iroh bowed. “Of course. I thank you for your help.”

---

Zuko was trying very hard to not freak out. By all accounts, it was working, since he wanted to run off as fast as he could. But he stayed. He didn’t know if that made him a coward or not.

These people… they seemed straight out of one of those dusty old books from the palace library. Oh he knew who they were. They were the Sun Warriors, the supposed long forgotten past of Fire Nation savagery. He had a sneaking suspicion that because they were still, you know, around, then they probably weren’t savages either. Well, that wasn’t really his main focus. He was mostly wondering why Uncle Iroh had brought him here.

Apparently, they could help him with his funk by ‘bringing him to the Masters’, whoever they were… Honestly, firebending lessons were the last thing he wanted to do. The second last thing he wanted to do was listen to Uncle explain to that man (definitely the leader) everything broken about him. No thank you.

It’s probably why he left. It was surprisingly easy to do so. He just slowly let go of Uncle’s sleeve and walked away. Everyone was so focused on Iroh’s words that they hadn’t even noticed him. Azula would have called them idiots.

The decided to explore those ruins they were in. There were a lot of traps, but he managed to avoid them. This whole place was so… old. But in a good way. It was much better than reading descriptions in history books. He had always preferred a hands on experience anyway.

He walked into a bunch of rooms, but they were all empty. Boring. So he walked further and further, jumped on a bunch of debris and all that, until he arrived in front of an ornate entrance. He walked through it and ended up in a long tunnel. Now, a normal person with a brain might have thought that it was a bad idea to go inside an unknown tunnel, but Zuko didn’t care much for that sentiment. So he walked inside, deeper and deeper, until he ended up in front of a door. Once he pushed it open, he was led inside of a circular room. On the opposite side of the tunnel’s exit was another door, thought this one seemed tightly shut. The tunnel was probably a backdoor or something. The room had a bunch of statues mirroring weird posed, with a pillar at the centre. Said pillar held a very big gem. At least, he thought it was a gem.

It had the size and shape of a platypus-bear egg, but was completely golden. There were also weird spirals decorating it. Maybe it was just a very pretty stone…

He walked to it, wondering what it would feel like if he touched it. It did look pretty smooth. He poked it once, and immediately felt some sort of heat coming from it. Zuko didn’t know many stones that emanated heat without a source, so maybe it was an actual egg. He poked it a few more time to make sure that he wasn’t just going insane, but no, it really was warm. Huh.

He couldn’t help himself from touching it for real. He placed his right hand on its side, making sure that it wouldn’t burn him or anything, and once he got that out of the way he place his left one. Now, he didn’t want to lift it up, but there was just something telling him to do it. That something was probably what Azula called his ‘stupid brain’. The… egg(?) was very warm. It almost felt alive somehow. Like when he had first held a turtle-duck egg. There was just something inside that told him “Yep, there’s something alive in there, all right!”

Before he could think any further about it, or pick the egg up, Zuko heard hurried steps coming from the tunnel. Oh fuck. (That one he had learnt from a guard a few years back, with the man desperately asking him to not repeat it.) He quickly let go of the egg and took a few steps back, to act as if he had been just looking around the room. While he was a bad liar by Azula’s standards, he did know how to lie with body language. Thanks Mum.

Four people came running into the room: Uncle, the Chief and the two guards from earlier that had intercepted them when they had arrived at the ruins.

“There you are!” Uncle exclaimed before rushing to Zuko. “You shouldn’t have run off like that.” He didn’t touch him, thank Agni, though Zuko could just feel his urge to do it. He just took another step back and looked at the floor, holding his hands to his chest.

The Chief kept looking back and forth between Zuko and the egg. That wasn’t unnerving at all.

“Did you touch the egg?” he asked with a commanding voice. If Zuko didn’t know better, he would have thought that he was back at the palace.

Zuko made himself smaller, and shook his head while mumbling a “No, sir,” while trying not to gag at how hoarse his voice sounded.

This seemed to appease the Chief, as he sighed before chiding him about running off in a place with so many traps. As if those traps were actually any good. A blind person could spot them from a mile away.

As he was led back through the tunnel and into a room to spend the night, Zuko really couldn’t help but wonder what was so amazing about that egg.

Then the Fuck You Dragons came along, and he sorta forgot about it.

---

As he and Uncle set foot on the island, Zuko was more and more sure that the Sun Warriors knew about the egg touching. How would they have known about the rainbow fire, he argued as he waved his crew goodbye, they couldn’t have learned about the whole Blue Spirit madness (again, fuck that inaccurate name), and even if they had, the poster only said that he was a firebender. No mention of multi-coloured fire anywhere (he had triple-checked to make sure). Then again, not mentioning it was a smart move if you considered that that kind of fire was seen as something only spirits had for the more spirit-savvy, which would have contradicted the whole ‘he’s not a ghost or spirit’ story (even though calling him the Blue Spirit contradicted this).

Still, as they made their way through the bright, lush forest, Zuko couldn’t help but get more and more nervous. Like, come on, it was clear that that egg was important, and his stupid fourteen-year-old self had just waltzed right in the room and started touching it. He couldn’t help but feel the second-hand embarrassment wash through him. He prided himself on not being as impulsive as he had been (though that didn’t mean anything much), but moments like these just reminded him of how much dumber he was back then.

When they arrived at the ruins, he couldn’t help but look in awe. The last time he was there, he hadn’t exactly been in the right mind to appreciate the place. Foliage covered parts of broken buildings, making the whole site look surreal. He couldn’t help but think of the Air Temples, which held their own broken beauty as long as you forgot about the thousands of skeletons that he had tried to lay to rest. The best thing he had found was to burn them and scatter their ashes to the wind. He knew that probably wasn’t how funerals were done for Air Nomads, but he had a sneaking suspicion that they didn’t bury their dead.

Two warriors were waiting for them at the entrance. One was polishing a rock with her knife while the other was wrapping and unwrapping his spear. They both looked up as they heard him and Uncle come closer.

“Ah, finally,” the one with the spear said. “We were starting to wonder if you would actually come.”

“Well, seafaring can often be quite long,” Uncle replied with a smile. They all started walking.

“What’s it like?” the other one asked Zuko.

He looked up at her with surprise. “What?”

“The sea,” she smiled. “My daughter’s quite fond of learning… well, anything, so it’s quite nice when I get to tell her new stories.”

“Oh, well, it’s very… salty?”

She blinked. “That… makes sense…”

Thankfully, Uncle saved him. “My nephew is not very good at descriptions when unprepared. I would gladly tell you what it is like.”

And so he went on until they arrived to the Chief’s hall. From what little Zuko remembered of him, he hadn’t changed all that much. There were more people in the hall than before though. If he remembered correctly, there had only been ten to fifteen, but now there were at least fifty. That… didn’t make him self-conscious at all.

“Iroh, Zuko, I am glad you could come on such short notice,” he declared with a booming voice as he walked towards them.

“Thank you for inviting us, Chief Tizoc,” Uncle replied while bowing. Zuko followed suit. “I do hope we weren’t too slow.”

“Not at all. I am sure you are wondering why I asked for you to come.”

“Yes, you said something about what my nephew had done?”

“Oh, I’m sure he can answer that himself,” he said as he glared at Zuko. “Something about the egg?”

Ah, so it was the egg!

“I… may have touch it a bit last time.”

“If by ‘touched it a bit’, you mean grabbed it, then yes.” Well, it’s not as if he had yanked it off the pillar.

“Sorry…” is all he found to say as he lowered his head.

Chief Tizoc sighed. “Well, what’s done is done, and now you must fulfil the duty you unintended to thrust upon yourself.”

“And… that is?”

“To guard the egg until it hatches.”

Oh. Oh. Wait, how long did an egg that size hatch? If it took more than a few weeks, he was screwed.

“Ah, and… how long will that take, exactly?”

“Since the Masters called for you now, it probably won’t take more than a month.” A month. He could deal with that.

Uncle cleared his throat. “And, may I ask, what exactly does that entail?”

“It means that he must be there when it hatches.” He turned to Zuko again. “That means that you must stay with it until then.”

“So I’m going to have to stay in a dark old room with a bunch of statues?”

“Oh, no, we have moved the egg to a more… open place. It will be where you shall spend all of your time here.”

“Okay…”

“Now, I shall bring you there. Come along!”

And so he did. During their walk, he explained that while anyone could enter the place he would stay at, he would probably spend that entire time alone. Zuko couldn’t really determine if that was a good thing, or a bad thing. They had to walk a lot of stairs to get there, which gave him a nice view of the city. It had two parts: the old ruined part, which was all out in the open, and the populated part, which was behind the ziggurat and was more hidden by the landscape. It was a few hours past noon, so the sun shone quite brightly. Even in winter, the climate in the Fire Nation was still quite warm, though not to the point where you would see people walking around topless.

At the top of the stairs was a very large patio with nothing much on it. There was one entrance that led directly into the room where the egg had been moved. It was still sitting on a pillar in the centre of the room, but at least there was a clear entrance and no intimidating statues.

“This is it, young man,” the Chief told him. “Remember, while you are allowed to leave this place, I suggest that you stay here. You can go to the patio, and food shall be brought to you, but you are advised to not leave unless there is an emergency.” Zuko nodded. “As for you, Iroh, there is much I have to talk to you about. As such, you will not be very present here, but know that when we are not in a meeting, you can come here.”

“Thank you, Chief Tizoc.”

“I must now leave. Say your goodbyes then come to me. There will be a guard waiting for you.”

They both nodded, and the Chief left.

Uncle let out a sigh. “Nephew, what were you thinking back then?”

“The meaninglessness of my existence?”

He blinked before shaking his head. “Well, that is behind us now, I hope. I wish I could stay with you, but…”

“Yeah, I heard him. Don’t worry, I’ll find something to do. Brought a few scrolls and all that.”

“Yes, well don’t go breaking anything, will you?”

“I cannot make such promises and you know it.”

He chuckled. “Well then, see you this evening, Nephew.” He placed a hand on Zuko’s shoulder.

Zuko placed his hand on his and nodded. “See you this evening, Uncle.”

*****

About an hour had passed since Uncle had left. During that hour, Zuko had gone though half of one of the scrolls he had brought before getting bored. Could you blame him? He had read all the ones he had at least ten times. Since the room was pretty big, it had a lot of beams close to the ceiling. He took advantage of that and started climbing them.

Once he got bored of that, he cartwheeled on them. It reminded him of a game he and Ty Lee had where they would see who could do the most cartwheels in the weirdest places. Roofs, horizontal beams, vertical beams (they made it work, somehow)… After it stopped being a challenge, Azula had took it upon herself to make it more difficult by sending fire at them to try to make them fall. Once Mai had gotten the hang of her knives, she too had started throwing them as an added bonus. If Mother had still been around at that time, she would have probably screamed at all of them for being so careless.

During his cartwheeling session, he couldn’t help but feel like someone was watching him. It was the same feeling he got every time someone entered a room, where he would suddenly sense their body heat. But it always disappeared when he looked at the entrance. Okay…

When he got bored of the cartwheeling, he decided to sit on a beam and try to make shapes with his fire. Last time he had tried to do anything with it (when Katara and Sokka had been sick), it had only been about the colour, but ever since they had been to the Fire Day’s Festival, he had been wondering if he could do something like the dragon that magician had made.

He decided to try something simple first. Since the egg was in his line of sight, he decided to try that. An oval shape shouldn’t be too hard, right? So he started by summoning a nice bright yellow flame, and added a tinge of orange to make it seem golden. Then, he took a deep breath, and started forming an oval with both hands. Since it was actually going quite well, Zuko decided to add the spirals that were on the egg. Those were a bit more yellow than the egg itself, so it got harder to keep those yellow while keeping the basic shape more orange-y.

He almost managed it, until he felt that same sensation from earlier. That took away his concentration, and the flames burst out in all different kinds of colours, thus destroying the picture.

“Wow!”

That exclamation coming from behind him surprised him so much that he fell off the beam with a thud. At least he had learnt how to fall correctly…

“Oh shi- Are you alright?” that same person asked as Zuko heard their steps get closer.

Zuko got himself up and rubbed his head.

“Yeah, it’s alright,” he said as he got up. “More fright than hurt, ya know?”

The person in front of him looked about his age. She seemed to be a girl, although he couldn’t be too sure since different cultures meant different garments for different people, but he still went with that. She was a bit taller than him, had dark skin (though not the same sort that Sokka, Katara or Furora had), dark straight brown hair that was done up in a hair style similar to the one he had before his banishment, with two little stands of hair dangling in front of her forehead, and light amber eyes. There were two little streaks of red painted on her cheeks, and a fuck-ton of lightning scars on her arms and stomach.

“Sorry for disturbing you,” she apologised while rubbing the back of her neck, “it’s just… I’ve never actually seen a human being bending Dragon Fire. It… surprised me a little…”

“Oh, it’s alright. I’m Zuko, by the way.” He bowed, forming the flame with his hands.

“Aashni,” she replied, following suit.

---

“Aashni, I know what you’re about to do,” her mum had sighed, “and I want you to know that I disagree with it.”

Well shut up, mum, I’m flippin’ eighteen, I can do what I want, is what she kept thinking as she scaled the frankly huge amount of stairs. Why could she bring those strangers to Tizoc, and then tell her that she couldn’t see one of them right after? Hypocrite.

Sure, the main reason she wanted to meet them, or at least the one that seemed her age, was because she was curious. Her mum had even told her that they sailed a lot. Sailed. Her people hadn’t sailed in ages! There were probably some awesome stories they could tell, and she wanted to hear them. Plus, it wasn’t as if they weren’t allowed to see him. It just wasn’t advised to do so.

Once she got to the top, she prepared herself to enter, before she heard the kind of grunt you usually make when you climb something. Huh, weird. She peaked inside, only to see someone walking on the support beams of the room. Well, that was a pretty normal sight, all things considered, though everyone had always told her that nobility didn’t do that outside of their island. And since he was apparently royalty… well, she hadn’t really expected it.

What she really hadn’t expected was to see him cartwheel on the beams. There were a few times when he looked in her direction, and every time he did, she would hide back outside. Why? Because looking at someone doing something while they don’t know you’re looking at them is creepy, damn it! So she resolved herself to just observe.

Okay, that sounded even creepier. After another minute or two of this, she decided to psych herself up to enter and say hi. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and went inside.

When she looked up to call out to him, she realised that he was making pictures with his fire. He didn’t seem to have a lot of control over it, so she thought that she could help him with that if he wanted. The image he was making suddenly burst out into… well, Dragon Fire. As in fire that can usually only be made by dragons. Holy fuck, how did he manage to do that?

She couldn’t help but let out a “Wow!” as it slowly dissipated. Sure, some firebenders could make it, but that required a deep link with a dragon, plus a bunch of other stuff she didn’t really know about. Maybe he was just using powders to colour it…

Her train of thought stopped abruptly as the guy fell from the beam in surprise. Well, fall wasn’t the right word. More like when you see a young cat-monkey fall off a branch, where they don’t hurt themselves but are still pretty clumsy about the landing. Still, her bad.

“Oh shi- Are you alright?” She had stopped herself from swearing, since the fact that nobility didn’t swear was probably universal. They didn’t exactly have ‘nobility’ in the sense that other countries had it. Here, nobility was composed of the Chief and his family, and the priests, though it really was just a title. But out there, there were apparently a bunch of complicated class systems that made up a social hierarchy. It sounded weird.

She walked towards him to make sure he was alright while he got up and rubbed his head.

“Yeah, it’s alright,” he mumbled. “More fright than hurt, ya know?”

When he lifted his head up, she almost cringed at the sight of the scar on the left side of his face. Her mum had told her that he had one, but she hadn’t realised that it would look so… intentional. Her eyes passed it like you do when you look at someone’s face for the first time, but she realised that it almost looked like a handprint. She too had her armful of scars (literally), but those were accidents, not… she decided to not think too much about it.

He definitely looked her age, give or take a year or two, and was a little bit shorter than her. He had pale skin if you compared it to her own, but it looked like he still spent a lot of time outside, although the difference in paleness between his face and arms was pretty obvious. He probably covered them a lot, which she could understand because he also had a few burns on them and his chest. He also had dark brown hair and golden eyes, which were pretty common here, although his hair was very short.

“Sorry for disturbing you,” she apologised while rubbing the back of her neck, “it’s just… I’ve never actually seen a human being bending Dragon Fire. It… surprised me a little…”

“Oh, it’s alright,” he mumbled while blushing slightly. “I’m Zuko, by the way.” He bowed, forming the flame with his hands.

“Aashni,” she replied, doing the same. “It’s nice to meet you, Zuko. My mum was actually the one that brought you here.”

“Oh, nice.” He then looked at her with a slightly confused expression. “Does she usually polish rocks?”

Aashni couldn’t help but puff with laughter. “Yeah, she does that when she’s bored.”

“That’s understandable.”

Silence. Ah, he was one of those people that couldn’t keep a conversation going.

“So! About that fire… Is it actually Dragon Fire, or were you just using powders?”

He blushed slightly again. “I didn’t use powders, no, but I wouldn’t go as far as to call it Dragon Fire.”

“Well, it’s either that, or our eyes have stopped working, because there’s no other possible way for fire to change colours so quickly, or even have so many at once.”

“Oh, okay… I understand that it’s… rare?”

“Super rare. Do you mind showing it to me again?”

“No, not at all.” He held out both of his hands and created a nice big flame. Immediately, she saw all of the hues that she had seen during her final test before becoming a master. All of those colours were mesmerizing, and she was glad to finally get a closer look, since the Masters didn’t really let you analyse their fire.

“Wow,” she whispered as she looked closer. “Do you mind if I take some notes? And ask you a few questions?”

“Uh… sure,” he said, sounding very confused. She smiled at him while taking out a piece of paper and a coal stick.

“So, first question, when did it start to look like that?”

“After I came here the first time, so about two to three years ago.”

“So, does it feel any different from normal fire?”

“Well… It does, but not really. I’m sorry, I’m terrible at explaining things.”

“That’s fine, take your time.”

“It’s… it’s like I’m holding a heartbeat. My own heartbeat? I don’t know… It feels calm, yet powerful in a sense, and kinda… tingly?”

“Tingly? What do you mean by that?”

“I…” his shoulders drooped. “I really don’t know. It’s like regular fire, but more?” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’m really not good at this.”

“No, it kinda makes sense.” In a nebulous way…

“Anything else?”

“Yes, does it always look like that?”

“Well, when I don’t think about it, it does, but I just keep it to the regular red, orange and yellow when other people are around.”

She nodded as she scribbled what he said down. “Yes, that’s probably for the better…” She pointed at the fire with her coal stick. “So, how do you get it to look like that? Or change colours?”

His brows (brow?) furrowed as he looked to the side. “I… don’t know… I never really thought about it…”

“So basically, you’re the only person that can do that, and you can’t even explain it to me?” she said in fake frustration.

He smiled self-consciously. “Sorry…”

“Eh, it’s fine, I’ve been through worse. Try to put into words an entire bending practice you created. It took me way more than I care to admit.”

“Wait, you invented a bending practice?”

“Yup. Not to brag or anything, but it’s pretty cool.” Okay, maybe she was bragging…

“What is it?”

“Well, as you can see from the state of my arms, I am a lightning-bender. My mum’s family is actually specialized in it, which probably helped with the whole ‘create some new technics’. Anyway, do you know anything about lightning-bending?”

“Nope.”

“Aw shucks.” That made it a bit harder to explain. “Well, you see, living beings actually have lightning in their bodies. Not a lot, obviously, but it’s still there, in our nerves. And where are nerves more commonly found? The brain! Now, before I continue, you can actually heal people with lightning-bending. You can heal nerve damage, and can manipulate pain so that it’s less present. So I thought, “Why not try that, but with the brain?” The problem with that is that not many people want to lend their brains for my tests. Which is fair. So I tried it on animals.”

He looked at her with slight disgust. “That’s… horrifying.”

“Hey, before you go all ‘don’t hurt animals for no reasons’, I only tried it on the ones about to be killed for food. Plus, since I was already good at healing normal nerves, their heads didn’t explode.” He blinked at that. She sighed. “Anyway, after a few attempts, I managed to affect their brains to make them faint. You can also kill them by shutting down their brains, though that I did on accident.”

“You’re evil.”

“Hey, it’s not like I purposefully killed them!” She definitely hadn’t liked doing it. “Anyway, I ended up realising that there were a bunch of things I could do with it, like block motor function, make people faint (as previously mentioned), straight up healing someone’s brain if their get an injury. Though not in a ‘I lost my memory’ kinda way, more in a ‘shit, I fell on a pike, and there’s now a rod stuck in my head’. It happened once to a neighbour, and I almost fainted, but it ended up fine.” It had been a very gross event.

“But you can’t heal memory?”

“Well, you can already do that with fire, so I don’t really see the point with trying it with lightning. It’s more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Wait, you can actually do that?”

“Healing with fire? Yeah, my dad’s actually one of the healers that do that here!”

“I always thought the only healing factor it could bring was cauterizing wounds.”

“In the physical sense, that is all it can do. But mentally, oh boy, you can go far beyond that. Have you ever made someone feel better by touching them and heating up your body a bit?”

“Yeah, I usually do that when someone’s having a nightmare, or when they’re hurt, or when they’re just freaking out.”

“Well then, congratulations! You did some basic emotional manipulation!”

“Holy fuck,” he said in a deadpan voice.

“You swear?”

“I spend three years on a ship, surrounded by sailors. It would’ve been a miracle if I didn’t swear.”

“Neat. Anyway, with fire, you can also knock someone unconscious, although it takes more time. You can also, as I said, manipulate their emotions, although again, it can take some time. Of course, there’s also memory, where you can take it away or bring it back, although it’s extremely delicate, and there’s still a chance of it not working.”

“And you know how to do all that?”

“Most of it, yeah!” Then, she realised. “If you want, I could teach you some of it!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! As long as it doesn’t go against the whole ‘guarding the Master’s egg’ thing.”

“It’s not like I really do anything during that time. As long at I stay in its vicinity, I’m free to do whatever.”

“Great! I just need to go get a few of my scrolls for the whole theory stuff. See ya!”

And with that, she waved to him and left. She jumped three by three steps to get to her house, running past everyone else. She had always wanted to try teaching to someone the things she knew, so her excitement must have been pretty visible as she got home.

This was going to be great!

Chapter Text

The first thing they got to when Aashni got back with a frankly enormous pile of scrolls, was theory. Yay. Zuko didn’t inherently hate theory, per say, but he had had bad experiences with it. Well, technically he had had bad experiences with schooling in general, but theory was… well, boring. He liked doing things, not reciting them. He never managed to remember stuff his tutors wanted him to learn, but he could remember where you could find cyanide because his mum had mentioned it once. He was pretty sure that he could only learn things if he actually wanted to, because where it would take him literal days to know a bunch of important battles, play scripts only took him a few hours to know by heart.

Needless to say that he didn’t really know how this whole learning experience would go. On one hand, he really was interested in learning from her, because that shit sounded pretty neat (if you omitted the part where she tested it on animals and killed a few, even if it was on accident), but on the other hand, what if his memory decided “Yeah, no, not today, mate!” It would be pretty shitty towards the both of them.

But surprisingly, Aashni was pretty good at explaining stuff. About an hour in, she had told him that she wanted to be a teacher at some point, and that this was her first real try at it. Zuko would have thought that she was the supreme teacher of all teaching, but then again his old teachers were pretty terrible.

Plus, she used a lot of anecdotes and comparisons, which he definitely appreciated.

“So when you heal their memory, it feels like you’ve dropped something in a very deep mud pit, and you just plunge you arms inside to get it back.”

“Normally, you know when the memory’s restored when you feel a new warmth light up inside the person, but it’s pretty minuscule, like when you light one more candle at night-time.”

Since they couldn’t exactly test memory recovery, she decided that he would still succeed if he could change emotions. So they continued with that.

“It’s obviously easier to make someone express the emotions you feel, but it’s still possible to give the opposite. It’s kinda like acting, I guess… I don’t know, I’m not an expert on it.”

“You mean like how people use a sad memory for a sad scene?” he asked.

“Yeah! Just like that. When you change someone’s emotions, you have to also feel that emotion a tiny bit, so memories help a lot. Even if you’re super sad, you can still make someone happy with a good memory you have. Once you got it, you just have to let it flow through you like when you use your inner fire to get warm.”

“Now, the best way to get to their emotions is at the centre of the brain, which is also where you get to their memories. That’s why, if you manage to do ‘emotional-bending’, if you will, then you’ll be able to tackle memory. It’s also why it can take some time to actually change anything at the beginning, because it takes some time to get used to digging in their head. That’s also why you can’t do it from a distance. It’s like healing with waterbending, from what I’ve read. You gotta almost be in contact with the body itself to be able to do something. Which is why, if you want to use it in battle, you gotta stop their motor functions first.”

“Will you teach me that as well?”

“When we get to lightning, by dear pupil,” she said in a sage voice not unlike Uncle’s. She then rolled up the scroll full of notes she was using and crossed her legs as she turned to face him. “Now, we’re gonna get to some practice!”

He internally cheered as he did the same.

“So, I’m going to manipulate your emotions so that you can see what it feels like to be on the receiving end. What are you feeling right now?”

“Uh… I dunno… Excited, I guess? Pretty alright?”

“So, is there anything you don’t want me to make you feel?”

“Uh… Sad, angry, scared… that kind of stuff, you know?”

She smiled while nodding. “I think I know what to do.”

She brought her hands to the sides of his head, close to his temples, but didn’t actually touch him. From the corner of his eyes, he could see glowing as he felt the signature warmth of fire. Although it was just warmth, not actual burning heat, he couldn’t help but flinch.

Aashni seemed to take notice. “Don’t worry, I won’t touch you or anything. Plus, this kind of fire can’t hurt as long as I don’t want it to.”

He nodded, and tried to keep his breath even. She took a deep breath to concentrate again, and soon enough he felt… something bubble inside him. It was like… pure unfiltered joy, like when he had been deemed a good enough swordsman to make his own weapon, or when he made friends with animals. That kind of joy where you feel giddy and smile so much it hurts a little.

“Wow,” he said through the grin that wouldn’t leave his face, “you’re really good at this.”

“Thanks! Years of practice. Well, not years exactly, but you catch my drift.”

“So, how long does this stay exactly?”

“Well, it depends on how much I affect your emotions, so it can last from a few seconds to a few minutes. After all, emotions can change pretty quickly.”

He nodded, slowly feeling himself get back to normal.

He rubbed his jaw. “Man, smiling can hurt…”

“It sure can. Now, your turn!” She showed him her palm, and lit it. “The fire needs to almost engulf you palm. You don’t actually touch anyone with it, but it has to stay a centimetre apart from the skin. Also, you don’t have to worry about burnt hair or anything, because like I said, this type of fire doesn’t burn. It just… exists? It’s a bit weird to explain…”

He tentatively lifted his hand to her head. “So… I put them like that?”

“Yeah,” she replied while moving them to be correctly placed. “You can also do it with one hand once you’re used to it, but again, it’s like the time it takes to do it: it takes practice. Now, focus on my head and try to feel the little sparks inside. Close your eyes if you have to.”

He did what she told him. It took him a solid minute or two to feel those sparks (holy crap there were so many!), but once he did, he opened his eyes.

“Ok, I got it.”

“Great! Now, light your hands on fire!”

He brought his hands back down to make sure he was doing it properly. Once he was sure of it, he brought them back to the sides of Aashni’s head, and started concentrating, closing his eyes. He tried to find a nice, calming memory, and ended up with a very hot summer’s evening on Ember Island, with him and Azula watching the stars appearing in the sky. She was around four, and had sleepily laid her head on his arm. It was probably one of the best memories he had from the place.

He opened his eyes to check if everything was going well. Aashni’s face looked very relaxed, with a small smile.

“That must be a pretty nice memory,” she calmly said, contrasting the last time she had talked.

“Yeah…” he murmured as he brought his hands back down. “It was.”

She suddenly snapped back to a more energetic expression. “Welp, congratulations!” she exclaimed as her hands clapped together once. “You’re an emotional manipulator!”

He cringed. “That sounds wrong…”

She grimaced. “Yeah… But yeah, you did it!”

“Seriously?” He squinted at her suspiciously. “Just like that?”

She snapped her fingers. “Just like that. Why so surprised?”

“I just… I’ve never gotten anything right on the first try. It feels… off. Were you lying when you said it was hard?”

“Well, it can be harder for some. I guess you’re just really good with emotions.”

“Ha! Right…”

“I’m not talking about emotional smartness, ya dumbass! Can I call you a dumbass?”

“I call myself a dumbass, so you can too.”

“Cool, I call everyone dumbasses. Including myself.” She paused. “Did you really never get something right on the first try?”

“Not in bending. Then again, most of my teachers were shit, so I don’t know if it would have gone the same way otherwise.”

“Ah, I see…”

He really hoped he didn’t make it awkward.

---

It was about two and a half hours before sundown when they started to talk about lightning-bending, and Aashni couldn’t even hide the fact that she was excited. Her first experience with lightning, while being quite chaotic, had been an awesome one, and she wanted Zuko’s to be as well (that comment about not getting things on the first try had left her feeling like she should try even harder to be a good teacher, which was dumb since he probably didn’t have a good frame of reference). She spent a good hour getting the theoretical aspect of lightning-bending to him, because she didn’t want to injure him (duh).

So she went through it all. The whole spiritual energy talk? Check. The literal energy talk? Check. The whole ‘don’t let it go through your whole body cause otherwise it’ll burn from the inside’ talk which usually freaks everyone out? Double-check. Telling him to only guide the lightning for a start? Oh you bet she told him that! With a dash of ‘inner-turmoil will make the lightning unpredictable and might make it explode in your face if you’re not careful’, she brought him to the patio right outside of the room (after telling him to take off his arm guards, and oh look at that, more burns), because making lightning inside is very dangerous. She had experienced that enough in her life.

She first showed him the katas cold, and told him to repeat them. It only took him a few minutes, and required minimal adjustments from her part, which led her to even more confusion on the whole ‘I don’t get things right’. She had a sneaking suspicion that his teachers were even worse than she thought, which was already pretty bad.

After that, she showed him the katas in action. She chose the most basic one, where you take some time to generate the electricity before shooting it out with one hand. She showed it four times to make sure that he got it, and once he said he did (in an unsure manner, like most things it seemed), she told him to do the same thing right after telling him to brace himself for any explosions.

There were a lot of explosions in the following minutes. That was expected, of course. No one could get it in one go, not even prodigies. Mum had always said that lightning was like wild animals: they bite you a lot, and while you can become their friend, you can’t become their master, no matter how much you try. While the title of ‘Master’ for lightning-benders existed, there was always a very, very slim chance that it could blow up in your face. It still did it to her from time to time.

She could see Zuko get more an more frustrated, and after his fifteenth try, she told him to take a break, because that shit takes a lot of energy out of you when you first start.

“Don’t get too wound up about it,” she told him as she passed him some random pastry she had nicked from her house’s kitchen, “it can take a lot of tries before getting to anything.”

He hummed noncommittally as he took a bite.

“It’s not like you’re not generating anything. I can see the sparks. It’s just that once you let it out, it explodes.”

“Any ideas on how to not make it explode?”

She shrugged. “You just gotta try again. That’s how I did it. In fact, I did it a bit too much.”

“Is that where those scars come from?”

“Not all of them. The other ones are from me being a really dumb kid. You’d think I would listen to a master lightning-bender that’s also my mum, but no, younger me thought that she could do it all by herself.” She chuckled. “Wasn’t the only thing I was wrong about…”

“I can relate to that. I thought that my family was pretty normal and that I was a worthless human being. It was so bad that my father would refuse to send me to a school because he was afraid that I would embarrass him by my mere existence. One time, I tried to sneak out and play with the staff’s kids, which then got me punished once he found out. After that, I never tried to socialise again for fear of being an even bigger waste of space. Well… until I got out of the palace.”

“Agni, what the fuck was your childhood?”

“Terrible. The Fire Lord treats his own family like he treats his country, and the world in general.”

“Lovely. You know, I was just talking about a general sense of self, but that just sounds sad.”

He grimaced. “Sorry, didn’t want to lower the mood…”

She patted his shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry. Since you went so personal with me there, I think I should return the favour.”

“Oh, you don’t have to.”

“No no, it’s my decision. You see, back when I was a guy, I had a tendency to be very shy. Didn’t know why at that point, though in hindsight it was probably the gender dysphoria. Anyway, I was extremely shy, so much so that I didn’t really talk to anyone during gatherings like festivals or parties. I would just sit in a corner and try not to move. I probably thought that if I stayed still long enough, I would become invisible.” He snickered. “Hey, I was like, seven or eight!”

“No, it’s just that I did the exact same things at parties. Well, ‘parties’.”

“Hm, I’m guessing the royal palace ain’t really good at throwing good ones.” She took a bite of her pastry. “Anyway, my dad had tried to get me to talk to some kids my age, an endeavour that would usually end poorly, and the worse result was at an equinox festival where he tried to introduce me to a friend’s friend’s kid, or something. I was so freaked out that I set fire to my food plate, and because it took me by surprise, I threw it away from me, and right into some decorations. We laugh about it now, but it was extremely stressful at the time.”

“Well look at us, having zero social skills when we were kids.” He paused. “I guess the only difference is that you grew out of it.”

“Hey, it’s not like-” She paused as he suddenly turned his head to the left, towards the stairs. “What’s going on?” she asked slowly.

“Someone’s coming.”

She didn’t even try to hide her surprise. “You can still hear from that ear?”

He turned back to her with a questioning look. “What-” he started as he brought his hand to his left ear. “Oh, right. No, I don’t really hear much from it. Well, I’m not deaf, per say, but I’m definitely a bit hard of hearing from that side.”

“Then, how do you know that someone’s coming?”

“I can feel it.”

She blinked. “What?”

He looked down awkwardly. “It’s a thing I managed to do after I got the… Dragon Fire?” She nodded. “Right. But I can basically… feel heat emanating from living things. And the person coming is a firebender, which I know because firebenders run hotter than most.”

“Damn, that’s pretty nifty!”

He blushed slightly before looking back at the stairs. “I think I know who it is.” He got up and walked to them, before waving and shouting, “Hey Uncle!”

Soon enough, the old man that had come with Zuko arrived on the patio, looking a bit tired. An understandable reaction, considering the amount of stairs.

He smiled at her. “Oh, good afternoon, young lady!”

She smiled back as she got up to bow. “Hi! I’m Aashni.”

He bowed back. “My name is Iroh. It is very nice to meet you. I’m sorry I interrupted you, I didn’t know my nephew was having a visit from such a lovely young lady.”

She chuckled, feeling slightly uncomfortable, while Zuko made a weird chocked sound as he looked at the ground in a ‘why am I still in my current existence’ kind of way. “I just came here because I was curious about the random people that popped up here.”

“Also,” Zuko continued, seemingly free from his emotional crisis, “she’s been teaching me a bunch of firebending practices.”

“Really?”

She grinned. “Yeah! I was actually trying to get him to bend lightning!”

Iroh eyed her scars quickly. “Oh, I see you have a bit of experience with it.”

“Yup, I’m actually a master.”

“We haven’t really gotten far. The only thing I manage to do is make explosions, which could be useful in of itself, but it’s not the goal.”

Iroh hummed. “I see. While I wouldn’t want to override your teaching session, you should know that Zuko might not be… ready to bend lightning yet.”

Zuko nodded bitterly. “I do have a lot of inner-turmoil, and all that…”

“Oh.” Well, that was a bummer. She had really wanted to show him a bunch a crazy moves she liked to do, like throw lightning with two hands, or shape it in a ball and make it move for a few seconds, or even make the whole air around her electric. But if they both thought that it was too soon for him, she wouldn’t press. He could still generate sparks, so she could at least teach him stuff about nervous systems. “Well, I still think you should practice it. Like that, once you get pass that angst, you’ll be ready to zap all the shit you want!”

He chuckled. “It’s kinda hard to imagine myself being anything other than angsty.”

She waved him off in fake dismissal. “Eh, I’ve seen worse.”

“You know,” Iroh cut in, “there still might be something you can learn. Actually, you also might be interested, Master Aashni.”

“Oh, you don’t have to call me that.” Being called ‘Master’ felt very weird. “But, what is that thing?”

“Well, I have always advocated for taking inspiration from others, and that is the same for bending. And, by studying waterbenders, I have discovered a very useful technic when it comes to lightning: redirecting it.”

“You found a way to do it?” She had been trying that since she was fourteen, which was admittedly another reason for why she had so many scars. She had never managed to do it, no other master had, but if all it took was taking inspiration from waterbending, then it made sense. Her people hadn’t left the island in a very long time, after all.

He smiled. “Yes, and I would be quite happy to teach you both.”

And so he did. In hindsight, it was extremely simple. Just let the lightning flow through you like water. Iroh showed the moves multiple times, making sure that they ‘felt the flow’, and after he deemed their forms good enough, she asked the decisive question.

“So,” she exclaimed excitedly, “shall we try it for real?”

Iroh blinked. “Are you crazy? Lightning is very dangerous!”

“Sir, I think you can see that I know that.”

Zuko joined in. “Wasn’t that the point of you teaching us that? What if my teammates and I run into a lightning-bender? I’ll think that I know how to protect them, but what if it fails?”

“I’m not going to shoot lightning at you, nephew.”

“Then shoot it at me!” Aashni insisted. At his scepticism (how dare he), she continued. “I’m literally a Master Lightning-Bender. I know lightning better that you. I’ve probably felt it go through my body more than you, and I’m still alive! I know all the procedures if an accident happened, which means that I’m perfect for testing your technic!”

“I know that it works. I’ve tried it before.”

“Yes, you’ve tried it before. Knowing how to do something yourself and how to teach it to someone else are two very different things. Trust me, I’m literally trying to become a teacher!”

He thought about it, before sighing. “Fine, but it is only you who will try it. There is no way that I will shoot lightning at Zuko.”

She nodded. “Fair enough.” He wasn’t the only one who could shoot lightning at someone’s face (very wrong expression).

Zuko nodded, looking dejected but accepting of this agreement.

“Now, get in position.”

And so she did. He started his kata, and used the same one that she had been trying to teach Zuko. Once he let the electricity out, she caught it through her right hand. As she felt it go through her arm, she couldn’t help but remember all those times things had gone wrong with lightning. But she wouldn’t be adding another scar today, that she would make sure of. She made it flow through her stomach, and up through her other arm so that she could let it go to the sky. Her hair had become a bit static, and there was a bit of manic energy in her now, but she felt pretty fine.

She turned around back to them, and Zuko was still looking where the lightning had disappeared in awe while Iroh nodded at her approvingly.

“You see? It worked perfecty.”

She bowed. “Thank you so much for teaching me this!”

“And thank you for teaching my nephew.”

Zuko was about to say something as well when someone rushed to the patio. It was Itztli, Dad’s apprentice, a bloke in his mid-twenties.

“Sorry to interrupt, but my Master wants to talk to you, sir.”

“Ah, I see.” He turned back to them. “I shall join you with food once this is over with.”

She and Zuko nodded as Iroh left with Itztli. He then turned his head to look at her.

“So? How was it?”

“It was…” she did a sort of explosion motion with her hands, “bwoosh!” She couldn’t really explain it, she still had some of that energy left. “Wanna try it?” she grinned.

He grinned back. “Fuck yeah.”

---

Zuko was well known for his impulsiveness. He had never denied it, and he never will. Sure, it had gotten him into some pretty bad situations, like some fights with Azula, the Agni Kai, feckin’ Zhao, but it had also gotten him into some good situations like joining Aang and his friends. And then, there were the situations where he wasn’t sure if they were good or bad. The whole dragon egg madness had definitely been one of those. One thing was for sure though: asking Aashni to shoot lightning at him was part of that third category.

Oh, the lightning redirecting had worked, it had worked very well, but it had also decided to leave its mark. So now, Zuko was kneeling with Aashni in front of him, doing some form of lightning-bending on his wounds (probably some sort of healing), while he stared at his bloodied forearms. She was shouting something, but he couldn’t hear it because of the ringing in his ears. It didn’t seem too horrible, since she looked surprisingly calm for someone holding damaged limbs.

The pain he was supposed to feel was numbed, probably thanks to what Aashni was doing over and over again. Three people came back up a few minutes later: Iroh, the guy that had come to fetch him, and a third man he didn’t recognise. That third man went straight to them with a bunch of bottles and bandages. As the man put a bunch of liquids on the wounds, Zuko couldn’t help but chuckle at the fact that he was so calm, and that his thoughts were still in order, when things had been so blurry during the Agni Kai. In fact, he started to laugh a little when the guy got to bandaging his arms.

He could feel Uncle next to him put a hand on his shoulder, probably trying to calm him down, but it honestly just fuelled his laughter further. Heh, fuelled. Good one. Sokka would probably approve. Soon enough he was full on laughing, much to the consternation and disturbance of the people around him. He could now hear again, and that man (definitely a healer) was asking Aashni if she had fried his brain somehow. That was impossible, Zuko wanted to reply, because otherwise his head would have just blown off. She had been pretty adamant about it after all. She replied that it was probably the anaesthesia she had performed. Made sense to him!

Uncle asked her something about stopping him from laughing, and she responded by bringing her hands to his head. He knew what that meant, he had literally learned it a few hours ago, so he leaned in, making sure not to move too much. The laughing was starting to hurt a bit.

And then, black.

---

When Iroh had taught his nephew and new friend lightning redirecting, he had really hoped that she would be the voice of reason between the two. While Zuko was usually the voice of reasons for things that affected others or everyone, he wasn’t when it came to only himself.

Sadly, he should have seen the warning signs sooner. The girl was probably just as impulsive as his nephew.

The thundering crash he had heard had almost given him a heart attack, and hearing Aashni shout at her father (the healer he was talking to) to come with enough to treat lightning strikes had practically been the death of him.

Hearing his nephew laugh like a maniac after being treated was even more disconcerting, and honestly quite disturbing.

Aashni did something to him, somehow knocked him out, and he fell into Iroh’s arms, sleeping. He couldn’t help but just stare. During this whole madness, she had just stayed there, looking perfectly calm, as if this was normal. She actually looked more worried for Iroh than his bleeding nephew. She later profusely apologized to him, saying that she would do the same to Zuko once he woke up. She really did look sincere, but he couldn’t help but ask her about her calmness. She simply explained that what had happened to Zuko had also happened to her multiple times, and that what he had gone through wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened. She then left after making sure that she would still be able to come see his nephew when he woke up. Iroh couldn’t help but accept, because it was nice seeing Zuko interact with people his age, but he did tell her in a strict tone to never do something that could harm him again, to which she nodded gravely.

As he lay next to his still out cold nephew, Iroh couldn’t help but think of how tiring this day had been. Between getting here and the meetings with the Chief and more about the war and what would happen after, he thought that that would be it in terms of events sapping his energy.

Just as he swore he would stay up to make sure that Zuko would be fine, he fell asleep. He had never understood how his nephew could pull so many all-nighters.

---

When he woke up, he moved his arms as little as possible. He could feel his blood still pumping through them, which made him want to move them even less. The sun had just gone up and Uncle was still sleeping next to him. How the old man could sleep through the sun rising, Zuko would never know.

He lay there for an hour before Uncle woke up.

“Hey,” was all he found to say.

“Oh Great Agni, you’re alright!” he exclaimed as he placed his hand on Zuko’s shoulder.

“Yup. Sorry for making you worry.”

He sighed. “We will have to talk about you doing dangerous things at some point. Chimalli, Aashni’s father and the healer that helped you, said that you shouldn’t do anything today. So I know it’ll be hard, but you must stay on the ground while doing nothing.”

“Riveting.”

“Well, let that be a lesson to you, dear nephew.”

They talked for a while. At some point, someone brought them breakfast. Zuko felt really embarrassed that Uncle had to feed him, even though no one was there to witness it. They talked some more afterwards. Apparently, he was talking with the Sun Warriors about possible alliances for after the war. He had to leave to do just that after a while, but not before telling him that Aashni would probably come.

So he spent a half hour just lying there, feeling bored. In that time, he went through a whole script he had memorised, because what else was he supposed to do? He also stared at the egg for a while, but it’s not like it did anything interesting.

Soon enough, he felt someone come in the room, and turned his head to see Aashni looking at him nervously.

“Hey.” Again, it was the only thing he found to say.

“Hi.” She rubbed the back of her neck with one hand while holding a bunch of scrolls and books in the other. “Sorry for fucking up your arms.”

“Hey, it’s fine. I can barely feel it.”

“That’s because I took away the pain.” She sat next to him. “That’s also why I’m here. If you feel it go back up, tell me. I promise you won’t go into a laughing fit. That was pretty disturbing, to be honest.”

“Will I be able to use them again?”

“Eh, your arms weren’t that damaged. You’ll have scars, but your nervous system won’t go out of whack. They might feel jittery for the next few days, but they’ll be fine.”

“Okay.” He though again of the events from yesterday. “You used lightning on my wounds, is that how you took away the pain?”

“Yeah, that’s also how your arms will be fine. It’s the next thing I wanted to teach you. Healing with lightning, and all that. Buuuut… you won’t be able to do anything today. Tomorrow, we’ll make sure that your arms move properly, and then we can talk about learning it… If you still want to, of course…”

“As long as I don’t get more scars, I’d like to.”

She looked at him for a bit before letting out a breath. “I was scared that you would hate me after that…”

“Eh, I’ve been through worse. It’s not like you purposefully hurt me, right?”

“That’s for sure. In the mean time, I’m gonna stay here to make sure that you don’t die of boredom.”

*****

As she had stated, it took him two days to get back on his feet. The first day would have probably been torture if he hadn’t had company, and consisted of his bandages being replaced and creams being applied, and the second only consisted of test to make sure that his arms would be fine. They still hurt, but it wasn’t too bad, all things considered. Chimalli (Aashni’s dad) was very nice, if a bit annoyed at his daughter for what happened. She looked a lot like him, though he was definitely calmer than her.

They talked about a lot of random things. Stupid childhood memories, favourite foods, stuff they read, Aashni’s love of turtle-seals and her want to pet them one day even though they only live in the North Pole, weird legends that are extremely dark yet are told to children… It was a lot of fun.

Sometimes, he was left alone, because Aashni still had a life and all, and during those times he found himself speaking to the egg. It wouldn’t respond, of course, but hey, it entertained him.

“So, do you get bored just sitting there?”

“You know, if you could hatch in a few days, like two or three, it would be wonderful.”

“I wonder what you’ll look like. Blue? Red? Something else? Maybe you’ll be purple, or something…”

“I just don’t really get why you want me to be here with you. It’s not like I’m doing much.”

After those two days, Zuko and Aashni were back in business. Apparently, while he couldn’t shoot lightning, she still deemed him good enough to learn healing with it. That ended up with him learning the placement of every nerve in a human body, with a few extra animals just to be sure. Apparently, there was a library close to her house that just contained a bunch of drawings detailing living beings’ nervous systems. Thanks to that, she managed to find one on sky bison and one on flying lemurs. None about dragons, however, because dragons are sacred and all that.

So after that, she explained how it felt to do it, what clues told you if what you were doing was actually making things better or worse, and the safety precautions. Then, she gave him a demonstration by using a weird light bulb-looking object that would light up when she zapped electricity through it.

“It’s to learn how to control the amount of electricity you’re pumping in. If there’s not enough, it won’t light up, but if there’s too much, it will explode. Explode as many as you want, I have plenty.”

He broke thirteen light bulbs before getting one to light up correctly, and sixteen more before he was able to do it without breaking the next.

Once that was done, they got to actually using the technic on nerves. He took his bandages off (the scars still looked pretty bad), and she did it on his right arm before telling him to do it on his left.

There was absolutely no pressure at all to not destroy his arm.

None.

“Are you sure I’m ready?”

“If you’re so freaked out, put your arm to the ground. Like that, if the lightning doesn’t go the correct way, it’ll just hurt your arm instead of your entire body. Plus, the amount of lightning this takes will only give you a light zap if you keep it right, so there’s really not much to worry about.”

He still put his arm to the ground, just to be sure (it was an uncomfortable position, but he didn’t care; safety first). His first attempt actually went quite well, all things considered. There wasn’t nearly enough charge to actually make the pain go down, but the fact that he hadn’t blown up his arm gave him more confidence. After two more attempts (and lifting his arm after the first), his left arm felt as numb as the right.

After that, Aashni excitedly told him that he could now learn how to block people’s nerves, ultimately rendering them immobile. Turned out that a lot of it was similar to chi-blocking, in both its visual execution and the feeling it gives. And he would know, since Ty Lee basically blocked him enough times to be immune. It was like poison, in a sense. Thanks Azula.

Basically, your index and middle finger has to come into contact with the placement of a nerve and make a shock strong enough to block it. The closer you are to the heart or the brain, the more delicate it is, because there’s a risk that you can give your opponent a heart attack or damage their brain to the point where they die. Lovely.

Again, they did the same regulation test but with different light bulbs, because those lit up with more electricity. Thanks to his previous experience with regulating his electricity, he only broke eleven light bulbs in total before getting it perfectly. Before doing it to him like she had done with the ‘healing’, Aashni explained to him that the longer you stay in contact with that nerve, the longer it’ll be blocked, and that the minimal timing was about a minute, give or take. After that, she moved her arm in a circular motion, very reminiscent to the kata used to generate lightning, before applying her two fingers on Zuko’s shoulder, and pulling them back quickly.

His shoulder immediately fell limp, reminding him of all those times Ty Lee had blocked his limbs once Azula realised that he had become immune to the ‘blocking bending’ part of chi-blocking.

“Huh.” A pause. “I do hope that you took the short version.”

“Don’t worry, it should be back and running again soon.”

A minute later, his arm was indeed back and running. Now it was his turn. Again, just like with blocking pain, his first try was too weak to actually do anything, but on his second try, he managed to block Aashni’s shoulder, though he did accidentally block it for longer than he had intended to. Oops. Five minutes later, she could move her arm again.

“Let’s try this again, but do it quicker.”

He did, and it only took about a minute and a half for her arm to work again.

She then decided that it would be enough for today, and because his arms were starting to hurt again, she told him to stop the pain himself, while she stayed next to him to make sure he didn’t do any mistakes. He didn’t, and his arms hurt less.

They started talking about friends. She told him about her friend group that all sounded a bit too hyperactive, with only one calm member, and she was apparently part of the calmer members of the group. Either she was lying, or her friends were just crazy. She told him about their explorations of the forest and hills, and of the nights they had spent in the ruins (that none of their parents actually knew about). In turn, he talked a bit about Mai and Ty Lee, because while they were more like friendly acquaintances, they were the closest people to friends he had. Well, there was also Lu Ten and Azula, but Lu Ten had been more of an older brother, and Azula was… well, it was always a bit hard to understand his relationship with her. He just said she was his sister, whatever that meant.

Then, he started talking about the Avatar and his friends. He didn’t really think they were friends with him, though they were definitely friendly acquaintances, and he usually just referred to them as teammates. Sure, it felt a bit detached, but ‘friendly acquaintances’ was too long. He still talked about them to Aashni. He told her about the dumb things they did, the cool things and the not so cool things. About how Sokka still used the slur ‘ashmaker’ casually, how Katara seemed to just think that the Fire Nation was pure evil with only a few exceptions.

“Well, your country is pretty bad.”

“Yeah, I know that, I lived in it, after all. And I completely get why they hate the Fire Nation. I get why anyone would! But it’s a totalitarian regime: no one speaks their minds because otherwise it’s the funeral pyre if they’re lucky, and the ones who believe in it just do so because of propaganda. I just want them to get that people from the Fire Nation are the same as everyone else.”

“Well, since they know all about the lovely negatives, maybe you should tell them about some positives.”

“Yeah right,” he huffed. “Come to the Fire Nation, we’ve got tropical heat and spices! The basic opposite of what your home is like!”

“Well, I guess you could tell them about stuff that’s not illegal there that’s frowned upon in other places.”

“Like murder?”

She tapped his back. “No, ya dumbass! Like… I don’t know, I heard that trans people in the Earth Kingdom are badly seen.”

“Yup, one of my crewmates is trans, and it apparently took him years to actually live as himself because he came from a new colony, and the people there were pretty… nasty about it.”

“Yeesh! I’m certainly not going there.”

“So, ‘come to the Fire Nation, we have less bigots than you would expect’?”

“I guess there’s still the homophobia and view of only binary genders, so that’s a pretty small statement.”

“Well actually, you can be gay, it’s just badly seen if you’re in high society. If you’re part of the ‘common folk’ (said in a fake disdainful way), no one really cares. You legally still can't marry, but no one's gonna kick up a fuss.”

“So, ‘come to the Fire Nation, we have less homophobes than you would think’.”

“Amazing, we just solved prejudice.” That made her laugh, which in turn made him laugh.

“But seriously, just tell them how you feel.”

“Yeah, I was already gonna do that.” Even though last time he poured his feelings out, he felt terrible for the rest of the day. “I just don’t really know how to approach it in a way that doesn’t mean ‘stop being angry at the people that destroyed your home and family’, ya know?”

“I guess, but they seem to like you well enough, even with what little you said about it.”

“I don’t know… Plus, there’s also Aang. His people literally got genocided by mine!”

She bit her lip. “That’s not a real word…”

“Don’t care, I’m not in court. But yeah, his whole people, the only ones that could bend like him, all of his friends and his guardian, all of them got killed by my people, because of my great-grandfather. And to him, it just happened in the blink of an eye, without any warning. He literally saw his guardian’s skeleton. You can understand why I’m at least a bit nervous to talk to them about it. I mean, Aang doesn’t think the Fire Nation is evil, but what if Katara and Sokka point out the Air Nomad genocide? I can’t say anything about it, because there’s nothing to say! It was the most horrible dick move ever, you can’t get more evil than that!”

He took a few breaths to calm himself from his rant. He hadn’t meant to throw so much at Aashni, but the words had just poured out of him without him really realising it. He looked up at her, and she seemed to be debating something while biting her lip and furrowing her brows. A few times, she opened her mouth to speak, before closing it. Zuko really hoped again that he hadn’t made things awkward.

Then, she finally spoke. “I… I can’t really tell you what to do about it. You just have to.” She paused, and he could sense that she wanted to say more. “You… ah fuck,” she spat nervously. “I’m not allowed to tell you this, none of us are, so you gotta promise to keep this to yourself, okay?”

“Okay…” he said, slightly worried.

“Mum and dad told me that we weren’t going to tell this to the Avatar until the war was over, but I feel like he should probably know this. Um…” She groaned. “You really can’t tell this to anyone but him, okay?” He nodded. “Well… not all of the Air Nomads were killed.” At that, Zuko couldn’t muster the will to do anything but stare. “There’s a few left, but they really aren’t much. When the war started, there were apparently a few that had stayed here to celebrate the Comet and the end of summer, because they couldn’t go to the temples for some reason. When the news of the Air Temple attacks broke, the few that had been here had decided to stay. Back then, we were still somewhat connected to the rest of the world, even if we definitely didn’t reach out, and thanks to that, we knew that it was dangerous for the airbenders to leave. So they stayed for a few decades while trying to keep their culture as alive as possible.

They got kids, but some of them couldn’t bend, which was weird because normally, all Air Nomads are supposed to bend. Yet, they couldn’t. The elders, the ones that had stayed here during the Comet to begin with, realised that it was probably because they had stopped being nomadic and stopped being like the wind. So, they left to go around a bunch of uninhabited islands and places to make sure that they wouldn’t be found. They still come around sometimes, usually during celebration periods, and that’s pretty much how we know what’s generally happening out there.”

Silence.

“So, you’re saying that Aang’s not the last one?”

“He’s not, but that’s not saying much. There were two ‘families’ that had stayed here when the war started, and since about half of them can’t bend… While I think you should tell him, you need to make sure that he doesn’t try to find them. If he does, they might get in danger.”

“Yeah…”

This was honestly all very shocking. He remembered that conversation he had had with Aang on Appa after leaving that village near a volcano, how the kid had been so hopeful that maybe some of them had survived. At that point, Zuko had told him to not get his hopes up, even though he had read somewhere that genocides never completely succeeded, but now… this was so hard to believe, yet it made perfect sense.

He also didn’t know what to do with that information. The kid would be thrilled to know this, obviously, but Zuko had learned that Aang could also be a bit reckless at times. Obviously, he was a twelve-year old, after all. And it’s because of that that Zuko wasn’t sure how to tell him that. He would, of course, because there was no way that he wouldn’t tell Aang about his long thought dead people being alive, but how and when… Damn, yet another thing to freak out over.

Something else from that conversation came back to him. “Do they still have sky bison?”

“Yeah, they do. Each ‘family’ has two adults, and they recently got kids. One of them actually told my dad that they would be staying on a remote island to make sure that they would grow up safely.”

More silence.

“Do you know if my uncle knows about this?”

“As much as Chief Tizoc places trust in him, we still all agreed that we would only tell him after the war is won. So… please don’t tell him either, otherwise I’m gonna be in some serious trouble. Plus, we don’t know if we can trust him.”

Zuko did a fake chuckle, and tried to lift the mood like he had seen Sokka or Aang do a few times. “But you trust me?”

Aashni smiled. “If the Masters trust you with the last of their kind, I think I can trust you with this. Plus, you’re the one traveling with the Avatar, not him. Aang’s your friend, and if this can bring him a bit of peace, I think it’s worth it. It’s not like we would have kept it from him forever, anyway, but if by any chance he didn’t make it through the war, I think it’s the least we should do.”

‘If he didn’t make it through the war.’ Yet another though Zuko tried to supress. The kid was a kid, even if he was the Avatar, and ‘ending the war’ was probably still a nebulous concept to him.

When the sun set, Aashni left to go home, but not after checking on his arms again. When Uncle came back, Zuko only told him about the bending technics he had learned. He made a bit of a face hearing that he was still learning from her, but Zuko managed to appease him by telling him that they had gone through a lot of safety procedures (as small as they were, but he didn’t need to know that).

Uncle went to sleep two hours later, leaving Zuko to sit in front of the egg he was supposed to guard. With all that had happened, he sometimes forgot that this was his primary goal, even if he didn’t understand why.

With a sigh, he poked it a few times before asking, “Any ideas on what to do?” in a whisper. Obviously, it didn’t answer, but getting that question out somehow made him feel a little less nervous on how to tell Aang.

It was fine, he would tell him when he got to the North Pole. He would find a secluded location to make sure that only Aang knew.

He would not delay it, that was a promise.

Chapter Text

She ran as fast as someone possibly could when running up a mountain of stairs. At this point, she was climbing the steps two by two, making sure to not trip. That would have made her loose a few precious seconds, and she wasn’t going to let him win again.

The way to the room where the egg currently was had two staircases, but one of them was extremely damaged and treacherous. That was the one she was climbing, because she wasn’t actually good at scaling walls, so he was the one doing it. She knew he was already ahead of her, but the fucker wouldn’t get further than that. Oh sure, Zuko had won every single bet that they had started making a week ago, but this time was different. This time, they had added the choice to use bending, as long as it wasn’t a direct attack, and Aashni was going to milk every single opportunity she could find.

He would not win again.

As she jumped another gap, she finally found him on the wall, looking like a spider-monkey. That was going to change. She prepared her aim, before shooting a small bolt of lightning where he was going to place his foot. It broke a tiny bit of the wall, but it was enough to make him slip and loose enough seconds for her to get closer.

She could see his frown as he looked back at her, before he kicked fire at the staircase she was using, making and explosion big enough to make a large gap. Bastard.

“You think that’s gonna stop me?” she shouted before jumping over and barely making it. Sadly, that made her loose a bit of time, and Zuko was back to climbing further. (His arms had practically healed, and they didn’t need any bandages anymore. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have done this.) If she didn’t do anything, he would win again! That wouldn’t do.

Just as he reached for the ledge that would seal his victory, she shot another bolt, making his grip slip and his whole body fall backwards. Now, anyone else looking at this scene would have thought that she was trying to kill him, because his fall would be extremely big, but she knew better. As she finally got to the last set of stairs, she saw him produce fire from his feet and hands, projecting himself safely back to the patio. They had read about that in one of her old books, and though that it would be a cool thing to learn. Turned out that the student had become the teacher, because Zuko had managed to get it faster than she had. She still had, but while she was still getting the hang of it, he had gone a step further and had tried to do it with burst of heat, making it look like he was bouncing off thin air for a split second. He had finally gotten the hang of it at the price of multiple bruises.

But that didn’t matter, because she had finally won.

“That was a cheep shot,” he huffed as he got his breath back.

“Still worked,” she smirked, while also getting her breath back.

They stared at each other firmly before bursting in giggles.

“Guess half of my pastry is yours, then…”

“You bet!” She smiled before skipping back inside the room. It had been almost two weeks since Zuko and Iroh had arrived, and things had been pretty fun ever since. She hadn’t spent her whole time with Zuko, obviously, because her dad would never let her live down the fact that she had hurt him, and also some of her friends were starting to joke that she was going to abandon them, and like… no? She knew next to nothing about Iroh, and Zuko was just a friendly acquaintance, as he would say, so shut up!

But anyway, the point is she was having a great time. Along with their totally safe bets, she had discovered the fact that Zuko was a theatre nerd, which she didn’t really understand, because plays had always been pretty boring to her, but that was good for him. She also discovered that he knew a lot about animals, which resulted in her bombarding him with questions about turtle-seals. She was going to pet one one day, and no amount of ‘they only live in the North Pole’ would stop her! Naturally, she also asked a lot about the other parts of the world, because while the Air Nomads that came once in a while would tell them about stuff, they didn’t exactly mingle, what with the whole ‘stay hidden’ thing. So naturally, she asked him a bit too many questions about things he couldn’t really know much about, but he tried his best to answer them. That was nice. She also taught him a few traditional dances, because why not.

But in the last few days, Zuko had gotten a bit more twitchy. When Aashni had asked him about it, he had told her that he wished that the egg would just crack already, because he really needed to get back to his friends (he didn’t call them that, but it was pretty clear that they were at least slightly friends). Something about his fear that they might think that he was going to backstab them. And while she didn’t know much about their history, the fact that he couldn’t have told them where he was going and why made her hope that he was wrong, because yeah, that did sound pretty suspicious.

She went to get the pastries as Zuko walked towards the egg to make his usual plea for it to hatch.

“Hey, I know I might sound a bit pushy about all of this, and I know that making sure you’re ready is important, but could you please hurry up and get out of this egg already? It’s been like, two weeks since I’ve arrived, and you’re not the only important thing on my to-do list.”

The egg remained stubbornly still.

He sighed as Aashni gave him his half of the pastry. “Hey, don’t worry about it. Maybe it’ll hatch tomorrow!”

“That’s what you always say.” He sighed again before taking a bite. “The longer this takes, the longer I’m away from them. What if they didn’t even make it to the North Pole? Their sense of self-preservation is terrible!”

“And yours is?” she chuckled.

“Mine is when there are others in the equation.” He started pacing. “I’m just worried, okay? Those idiots could have gotten captured, hurt, even killed! And if they’re not, and managed to actually get to the North Pole, what if something went wrong there? And what if…”

“What if they think you’re doing something bad?”

He shook his head. “I know I shouldn’t be worrying about that. They told me that they trusted me, but there’s just this stupid voice in my head saying ‘What if they were lying? What if they change their minds?’ And I know it’s dumb, but-” He suddenly turned to look at the egg, like when an animal hears a sound of something coming.

And then the egg cracked.

“Holy shit!” she exclaimed, slowly backing away from it.

Zuko, on the other hand, walked straight to it. “It’s hatching,” he said slight surprise as another crack appeared

“I’m gonna go get the chief. You stay here.”

“Not like I’ve got anywhere else to go…”

While their race from earlier had made her quite tired, Aashni ran as fast as she could. In a few minutes, she got to the chief’s house, where a few others were, including Zuko’s uncle. The chief had always had an open door policy, but you normally didn’t barge right into his house without at least knocking. She might have broken that rule, but it was for a good reason.

“The egg is hatching!” she shouted before anyone could reprimand her. That caught everyone’s attention, and they all ran back, with someone bringing a bowl of meat, probably for the baby dragon. She didn’t really know, since animal handling had never really been her thing (except for turtle-seals).

As they all climbed the stairs, Iroh asked her, “Please tell me my nephew is up there.”

She smirked as she used Zuko’s own words. “Not like he’s got anywhere else to go.”

Iroh smiled as he nodded.

When they arrived in the room, the egg was still on the pillar, but half of it was missing, and it was now empty. She could see Zuko hunched up at the base of the pillar, with his back turned to them. There was also a weird sound, something akin to a growl, only higher and slightly resembling a purr. They slowly walked towards him, and while they were trying to not make too much noise, Zuko obviously heard them as turned his head towards them, with an expression that usually meant ‘I’m holding something very small and fragile, and I’m afraid to break it.’

And small it indeed was. Chief Tizoc sat to his right as she and Iroh sat to his left, and they all looked at the bundle of reds and blacks that was in him arms. It mostly just looked like a sort of snake, if that snake also had fur and legs and wings. Okay, maybe it just looked like a miniature version of the Masters but with different colours, but its size just reminded her of a snake. It was wrapped around Zuko’s arms, and looked like it was sleeping, though that was just because it had its eyes closed.

So basically, it was adorable.

---

Well… this was something. This was definitely something. It hadn’t been the first time Zuko had seen an animal’s birth. It wasn’t even the first time he had seen an egg hatch, yet for some reason, this one felt… different. As soon as the dragon had popped its head out of the egg, Zuko had immediately gone to help it out, without thinking of course. It seemed like he never did much thinking when it came to that egg. Needless to say that the baby dragon had immediately attached itself to Zuko’s arm, and hadn’t untangled itself since then. It was… purring? It kinda sounded like purring. It also kept nuzzling in Zuko’s chest, which had ended up in him cradling it in a weird way. Agni, this was so adorable yet so weird.

The baby was the size of a grass-snake-mole, and sported black scales with reds for accents, such as for the underside of its body, in some places on its closed wings or for its fur. It also had very tiny horns and whiskers, and while Zuko had managed to see its teeth for a few seconds, he was pretty sure that they weren’t very tough.

When Aashni came back with the chief and others, including his uncle, the man walked straight to him and sat next to him, looking at the serpent-looking baby doing… something in his arms (it definitely wasn’t sleeping).

“Bring me the meat,” he asked before turning back to Zuko. “When they hatch, they need to feed and stay warm.” Someone handed him a bowl containing meat. “It is usually the parent who does both things, but it seems like you will have to do it.” He handed him a piece of meat. “Chew this, then give it to him. Their teeth aren’t strong enough for the first few days to chew themselves.”

Zuko pried his hand from the baby dragon and did as the chief told him to. He felt slightly self-conscious, because there were a bit too many people in the room, and they were all looking in his direction, and yeah this was super weird. He just tried to imagine that he was back on the Wani feeding new-born chicks that messenger hawks sometimes laid. Once he was done chewing, he spit it back in his hand and gave it to the small dragon to eat. Said small dragon gulped it quickly before bumping him in the chest again.

He had to do this a few more times before the chief told them that they would be going to see the Masters. While walking, Zuko made sure to keep the baby secure in his arms, which got pretty easy when he made his arms warmer, stopping it from moving about. It wasn’t such a long walk, because the place he had been staying at was extremely close to the peaks where the Masters were. Though it was still far.

As they walked, the chief explained a few things to him. “When they are born, dragons see the first being to take care of them as their parent. As such, that is most likely the reason why the Masters wanted you here.” Oh great, now he needed to take care of the tiny living flame-thrower! “Naturally, they can also make deep bonds with other beings, and can see them as a sibling, a parent, or a master, depending on the relationship. That was how things were before Sozin started the hunt for dragons.”

Zuko swallowed. “Er, you’re not going to make me stay here until it’s fully grown, right?”

“If the Masters will it, then you shall stay. But knowing them, they have probably taken your situation into account.”

“And how exactly will they make it clear?”

“Well, they’ll tell you, of course.”

Yes, of course. Naturally.

Once they got to the base of the altar, the chief told him to climb up alone and sit in front of the Masters to listen to them. Zuko could already see them waiting for him and the baby at the top.

When he got to the top, he knelt down in front of the two dragons, trying to slightly pry away the baby so that they could see him better. The red one, Ran if he remembered correctly, slowly crept closer, staring intently at the small dragon, before its whisker touched Zuko’s forehead.

“Greetings Little Bonfire,” said a voice reverberating in his head. “You seem to be doing much gooder than… last time.”

Zuko just stared at the Master, not really knowing if he should reply, or even if it could hear his thoughts or not. The chief had just said that they would tell him what to do, not that he would be having a full conversation with them, damn it!

“Do not be afraid to talk. The child has… hatched with you. That is good. You will keep him with you. He must see the world and… learn from it. Staying here would be idiotic.”

Well, they were getting right into it, weren’t they? “But shouldn’t he stay with… er, well, other dragons? I don’t know the slightest thing about you.”

“That is why you are here. The basics, we will tell you. The rest, you will… learn on your own. The child will grow fastly in a few… weeks. His wings will open in a few…days. He will start trying to fly shortly afterwards.” The other dragon, Shaw, growled. “Ah, yes. Thank you for reminding me. Most living beings see us as… creatures of fire, but we are also very close to… water. We can survive for hours under… uh… under, even if the area is cold. If the area is cold, we cannot survive for long without another source of heat.” It turned to the blue dragon. “What next?”

Wow, they were really just giving him a list of stuff, ey?

Shaw growled a few times, but Ran shook its head. “No, that is unuseful for him to know. And the other is quite frankly too obvious for him to not know.” Shaw growled again. Ran sighed. “Fine. If you insist. We eat anything, but mostly meat when we are young. I of course count young as the first months, but you can start feeding the child… uh… non-meats after a few weeks. You can also stop chewing his food in a few days.” It turned again. “Are you happy now?”

The blue dragon did in fact look happy.

“Any questions?”

“Uh… well, about that whole flight thing?”

“He will learn on his own. Or he will copy others. You travel with beings of air. They will help him.”

“Okay. Are there any other, like, medical conditions I should be aware of?”

“When we are young, we like heat. The child will not leave you for the first few days. I hope your arms will not suffer.” Zuko blinked. “It is supposed to be a… joke. Otherwise, there is nothing more about health to say that you would not already know.”

“And the fire breathing?”

“It will arrive when it arrives. When it does, you must teach him how to control it. Same for fire… itself. You must teach him to wield it.”

“And, er, what’s his name?”

“You are his guardian. His nurturer. You will choose his name as you see fit. But please tell use what it is now, we would like to know.”

He could name the little dragon? Well, if it were really up to him and without consequences, he would name him something dumb but endearing. Sadly, he had a feeling that the Sun Warriors wouldn’t like him naming the baby like that. He tried to think quickly for a name that would go well with him, and landed on ‘Druk’. That could work.

“Druk?”

“‘Thunder’? Yes, that is quite nice. Don’t you think?” The blue dragon growled. “He agrees.”

Sadly, Zuko really wanted to also give him a dumb nickname, because why not? He really hoped that the Masters would be okay with it.

“And, uh, can I also give him a nickname?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, just hear me out, but can I also call him ‘Noodles’?”

Ran blinked. “Yes, you can definitely call him that,” the Master said, sounding very amused. Shaw growled. “I agree, your kind always gives ours… grand names, but this is one of the greatest I’ve heard.” The other growled again. “No, I am not being hyperbolic. Leave me alone.” The other… snickered? Fuck, this was weird.

Shaw got closer and put his whisker on Druk’s forehead, who growled slightly before going back to not sleeping.

“He now knows both names. Anything else, Little Bonfire?”

“Uh, just three things. First, why me?”

“You came into contact with the child four… no… two years ago. It connected you both. It is why your fire is similar to ours. That, and because we… teached you what fire truly is.” Ah, so this whole thing was a complete accident. Thanks a lot, impulsivity!

“Oh, well, thank you again for that.”

“Pleasure. You were quite terrible inside before. Terrible and sad. And empty. And tired. I will not continue.”

“Thanks… The other thing was, well, can he also talk to me like that?”

Ran snickered slightly. “When he becomes our age, sure. Talking with you is hard. I have not done it in a… while. At least I hold gooder conversing that you, Shaw.” Said dragon growled. “That is right, I remember the last time you tried conversing with a human. I will never let you live it down.” Shaw growled again, sounding a lot like someone saying ‘Yeah yeah, talk all you want.’, which was hilarious to think about for Zuko. “He will still understand you. Sometimes. Like you will understand him. Sometimes. Communication is hard. But you will manage. I sense you already do so with other beings that you are not… connected to, and who are not humans.”

“Okay… And, what exactly is this whole guardian thing? The chief told me that he would see me as a parent, sibling, master or a combination. I don’t really get it.”

“It is hard to explain.”

“It always is,” he muttered.

“The way you act around him will make him see you as one or more of those things. For example, Shaw and I see each other as siblings. We see all humans that come to us as children. Druk, on the other hand, can see you as one or more of these three things. That is how he would have seen other dragons if he had been born around others. He will probably see us as masters or very tired siblings when we talk to him. He will definitely see you as a parent, but anything else will come from how you act around him. Is that clearer?”

“I guess…” That sounded a bit complicated, and while he was pretty sure that he would never know how Druk would see him, it still felt weird that anyone would think of him that way. “So… that’s it, then?”

“Tomorrow, when our creator rises again, Druk will open his eyes. When he does, bring him back. We must talk to him as well.”

“Okay.”

“Have a good night.” And with that, Ran retracted its whisker and flew back into one of the caves, with Shaw flying into the other.

Well, that was informative.

*****

When he came back down, the chief asked him two questions: would he stay, and what was the new dragon’s name. He answered both, though he left out Druk’s nickname, because again, he didn’t know how the chief would react to it. When that was settled, he and Iroh were brought to a little hut that was much closer to the altar, and that thankfully didn’t have any stairs. Zuko had had enough of those for today, thank you very much. There were two little beds set up for them, and Zuko decided to collapse on one while still holding on to Druk who still wouldn’t leave him alone. He started to wonder if Ran’s joke had really been a joke.

“Well, this has been an eventful day, hasn’t it?” stated Uncle as he prepared a pot of tea, as per usual.

“Yeah, you can say that again…”

“How was your talk with the Masters?”

“They basically gave me a list of things to know about caring for dragons, then proceeded to act like very old friends who are done with the shit the other one pulls.”

He chuckled. “Well, when you are as old as they are, that is probably what you would do.”

“How old are they, anyway?”

“Older than the war. I think that they were the equivalent of children or teenagers when it started.”

“Man, they must have seen a lot a shit.”

He sighed. “You know, I really had thought that your travels with the Avatar would have calmed your sailor’s vocabulary…”

“Heh, good luck with that. It’s not like I really need to talk properly. And even if I needed it, it’s still there.”

“Yes, yet you could still slip up and start swearing during an important meeting.”

“Again, it’s not like it’s gonna happen.”

He paused. “Nephew, have you ever thought about who would take Ozai’s throne after the war?”

“You, obviously. I get why you haven’t done it now, but you’re the only one competent enough in this crazy family.” If Uncle had tried to take the throne by force, then the rest of the world would have just seen it as another warmonger committing a coup. For the rest of the world, the old man was only seen as the one that almost brought down Ba Sing Se, and who only stopped when his own son died. Not that his grief wasn’t understandable, of course, but it wasn’t exactly the best record to have.

He made a face. “Well, that isn’t exactly what would be best, in my opinion. The Fire Nation needs someone with pure ideals, someone who cares deeply for their people.”

“But that’s you, isn’t it?”

“Prince Zuko, you know that I am not without fault. There were many times where I only gave a passing thought to our troops dying. Even during that war meeting, I only thought of how horrible that plan was, but I didn’t voice my opinions. You, on the other hand, didn’t let it slide. I think you would make a much better Fire Lord, and with the fact that you are helping the Avatar, the rest of the world would see you as the best option.”

If you only looked at what Uncle had said, you would have believed it. But Zuko knew that he wasn’t fit to rule. When he became Crown Prince, he had been pushed further into his studies, but every time there was something blocking him, whether it be a tutor or his own father. He could still remember all those times where he had been called stupid, naïve, a failure, a brainless fool, a complete incompetent as his father held tightly his wrist, slowly burning off the skin from hi-

“Eh, I don’t think I’ve ever been cut for it,” he deflected, holding Druk a little closer. “I’m a bit too reckless to lead an entire nation.”

Uncle sighed. “Well, you should think about it. I, of course, would be there to guide you as always, but you are still the best option.”

“The best of the worst.”

“Don’t say it like that. You are much more.”

“Pff, right. I’m just the one that’s done the least fucked up stuff in our family, that’s it.”

“That event was out of your control. It wasn’t your fault.”

“But it still happened. I still ki- You know what? I don’t want to talk about that anymore.” He felt Druk snuggle a bit harder. He didn’t need to remember that.

His uncle looked like he was debating over telling him something. Eventually, he decided he would. “You know, not everyone in your family was so horrible.”

“I’m not talking about mum’s side, if that’s what you’re going at.”

“Yes, but it is still part of you. Plus, Sozin isn’t the only famous great-grand-father you have.” Zuko squinted at him. “Yes, I know, surprising, huh? Your mother’s grand-father was actually Avatar Roku.”

Okay, that sounded like bullshit. “You’re kidding me.”

“I am not. Your parents’ union only happened for that reason. The sages had told Azulon that if Avatar Roku’s bloodline merged with ours, then powerful heirs would be birthed.”

“Well, I guess they were half-right…”

“Zuko…”

“Yeah, yeah, no self-deprecation. Whatever…” He stopped to think about the complete madness that Uncle had just told him. “So, is Aang my spiritual great-grand-dad?”

“In a way, yes.”

“That can either go very well, or very poorly depending on how I go about it.”

He just stared at him, concerned, for a few minutes while Zuko lay there thinking on how to capitalize off of it. If he played his cards right, he could confuse Aang while making sure that the kid wouldn’t start joking about how he was his elder or whatever. He came to the conclusion that his safest option was to just not tell him.

“Well, I think that’s enough talk about serious subjects. How is the little one?”

Yeah, shelving emotional crisis’s seemed like a good idea for now “He seems to be doing fine. Hasn’t really been moving a lot. I tried to feed him earlier, but he only ate one bit. I guess he’s just tired from all the hard work he did.”

“Now now, I’m sure that little Druk has done his fair share in his birth.”

“Yeah right, the little bugger just popped his head out while I did most of the rest. You better not be lazy, otherwise we’re not gonna get along.”

Druk growled slightly at that.

*****

The next day, he woke up with big bright reddish-golden eyes with big, round pupils staring straight at him. That made him jump a bit (he did not yelp). So that was what Druk’s eyes looked like. Cute. The dragon then proceeded to sniff and lick Zuko as much as possible. For someone literally born yesterday, that baby sure had a lot of energy, along with an annoying grip on Zuko’s shirt. He had to pry him away just to be able to get up. Those claws were going to be a menace.

With Uncle still sleeping, he decided to sit at the entrance of the hut, so that they could both soak some sunlight. They sat there for a while, with the dragon rolled up on his lap. Druk just stared at the sun while Zuko hoped that that wouldn’t blind him. It was nice.

At some point, he felt someone coming towards them. He turned his head to see Aashni, holding a bowl and waving at him while smiling. He smiled and waved back.

“Hey, how are ya?”

“I’m good. The little bugger scared me a bit this morning, but it was fine.” Druk stopped his staring contest with the sun to stare at her instead. He then started sniffing at her bowl.

She chuckled as she sat next to him. “I brought some meat. It’s not just for him, though, you’re gonna have some too.”

“That’s twice the chewing for me, then,” he joked as he took a piece. “Thanks for bringing it.”

“Well, why wouldn’t I bring food for the newest dragon in, like, at least fifty years? How long will you have to chew it for him?”

He spit the meat back out before giving it to Druk, who eagerly accepted it. “Only for a few days. His teeth need time to strengthen. How’s everyone reacting to his hatching?”

“Oh, they’re all pretty exited. Though a lot are against him leaving the island. I’m guessing the hunt for dragons is still a thing, even if there hasn’t been any seen. There are also a few who think that we shouldn’t have let an outsider near the egg in the first place, so…”

“Well, the Masters actually said that they chose me because I was a curious little fucker who basically sorta woke up Druk when I came here last time, so they aren’t really wrong.”

“So that’s his name? Druk…” She mouthed ‘lightning’ while nodding. “Pretty neat! Did you choose it?”

“Yeah, though don’t tell the others, but I also nicknamed him Noodles.” To that, Druk turned swiftly to look at him, like when you called a domesticated animal.

“Aw, that’s great,” she snickered. “It is pretty descriptive. I can’t believe the Masters let you name him that.”

“Actually, they approved, so there’s that.”

“Huh, I always thought that they were as stuck up as some of the elders.”

“Well, they act more like a very tired old married couple.”

“Nice. You’re gonna eat more of that?”

“Yes please.” He took another bite, this time for himself.

“So, how long are you going to stay?”

“We’re gonna leave tomorrow. I need to bring Druk back to the Masters so that they can talk to him alone, so we’ll leave tomorrow morning.”

“Hm.” She paused, then took his right arm. “Do they still hurt?”

“The pain’s almost completely gone. There’s no need to pump lightning in them anymore.”

“Good. You said that the waterbender on your team could heal. If she’s learnt enough about it, then you should ask her to do a quick check-up, just in case.” He nodded.

They heard a great yawn coming from inside the hut.

“Ah, Iroh’s awake!” she exclaimed as she got up. “Let’s go eat inside.”

He nodded, took his armful of dragon, and followed her.

---

After eating, Zuko had to bring back Druk to the Masters alone, so Aashni went back to her house to finish a goodbye gift she had decided to make for him. Those were a few scrolls that detailed her favourite lightning bending technics. Her people never really wrote down katas, they only passed them down from master to student, but since it would probably take a while for him to actually manage to actually shoot lightning (because angst), the best she could find was putting them down on paper. She would have taught them to him herself, but after the whole incident, she didn’t want him to accidentally blow himself up while she was there. She didn’t really want Iroh to murder her.

The only problem with her gift was that she wasn’t very good at drawing. Because of that, her scrolls looked really sad and wonky. So, she mustered as much courage as she could, and went to Ussun for his artistic help, aka the guy that had been teasing her the most about her relationship with Zuko. He wasn’t exactly her friend, but more of a friend of a friend, which somehow made things worse.

“Why do you want to write those down?”

“Reasons?”

“Is it for your boyfriend?” he asked in a cooing manner. Fucker.

“First of all, my relationships are not your personal drama scroll. Second of all, he’s a very good acquaintance at most. Now, draw the katas, or I won’t talk to my mum about training you.” Ussun had always wanted to be a warrior, and Aashni’s mum was the only person he knew who actually had connections to it.

“Fine,” he sneered as he took her drafts, “keep your love life a secret.”

“Fuck you.”

“Wow, so polite, no wonder he hasn’t reciprocated.”

She blinked. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“He’s imagined this whole love story between the two of you,” said Ozcollo, her actual friend.

“I didn’t imagine it,” Ussun continued as he started drawing. “It’s written all over her face!”

Ozcollo sighed. “Don’t listen to him, he’s just trying to make you burn another one of his brushes again.” Last time, the asshole had made her get a new one that was better than the last.

“No I’m not!”

“Yes you are. I’ve known you since we were babies, you can’t lie to me, mate.”

“Ugh, I can’t work in this abrasive environment! Can’t you leave?”

Aashni snorted. “Bitch, I’m not gonna let you write some fake love letter to him. I am staying here, so deal with it.”

Ussun sighed. “Fiiiiine. But please stop talking so loudly. You two are breaking my concentration.”

After about an hour (“It would’ve taken less time if you two had just left.”), the scrolls were finished. While Ussun could be a little shit, he did have a good brush stroke.

Everyone had decided that they should celebrate Druk’s birth tonight, so people were making a lot of food while a big bonfire was being prepared, which took until the evening. When Zuko came back with Druk, he was immediately flooded with people coming to look at the baby dragon, and naturally, he just stayed there, completely still. They kept commenting on the flying serpent’s cuteness and how amazing it was to see him, and Zuko just stayed there, nodding slightly while he was clearly living in existential dread. She decided to stay close to him, because she was the only non-stranger to him, and Iroh came a few minutes later to also do the same thing. That seemed to calm him down a bit.

After the initial mob, everyone just started enjoying the food. She gave them her recommendations, and was surprised to learn that they also had fire flakes in the Fire Nation, thought those were apparently saltier, while the ones like what her neighbour made were fruitier. They still had the same general amount of spices, so they enjoyed them nonetheless.

She could see Zuko feeling very self-conscious about the fact that he kept spitting out meat to give to Druk, so she decided to do it for him instead (even if he kept telling her that she didn’t need to, and that it was fine). She introduced him to her friends at some point, and they were all nice enough to not mention the incessant teasing they had put her through. Well, Ussun almost did, but Ozcollo just glared at him before he said anything. They did a lot of small talk, nothing much, but she could see that Zuko was getting more and more uncomfortable, making Druk wrap himself around his shoulders.

“Do you want to go somewhere quieter?”

“If you don’t mind…”

“Not at all.” She brought him to a secluded spot that was close enough to the celebration, but far enough that no one would come looking for him. She left him quickly to go tell Iroh where they were, and to get more food and something to drink. When she came back, he seemed to be feeling much better.

“Here, have some fish skewers.”

“Thanks.”

“Do you drink?”

“Alcohol? Yeah, you really can’t not drink when you live on a ship.”

“Well then, it’s a good thing that I found this!” She took out a bottle of chicha.

“What’s that?”

“Chicha. It’s made of maize and other stuff, and it’s pretty mild, so we won’t get too drunk or anything. Well, unless you’re a lightweight.”

“Bruv, I have a hollowed leg.” 

A hollow- “What?”

“It’s the opposite of being a lightweight. Basically, you can drink so much that it’s like that the alcohol passes through you and out of your leg.”

“Huh, never heard that one before…” She took a sip before passing the bottle to him.

He finished eating his skewer before drinking some.

“Mmh, it’s pretty good!”

“I know, right? I only really drink it during special occasions.”

He gave her back the bottle so she could drink some more.

“You know, this whole ‘running from a party’ things reminds me of my time back at the palace. Most of the time, I’d just run off on a balcony with my cousin or sister. And because my cousin was much older, he’d sometimes sneak some rice wine or sake when I was eight or nine.”

“That sounds a bit irresponsible.”

“Eh,” he smiled, “it was only a sip, and he never gave some to Azula. That usually made her mad, so he would give her some juice that looked like alcohol. Somehow, it worked.”

She laughed. “That’s sweet. Why’d he stop?”

His smile dropped. “He died when I was ten. Couldn’t really do that afterwards.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“It happened a while back. I’m over it.” He stroked Druk as the dragon dosed off. “What I was trying to say was that this, well, it reminds me of some good times I had with my family. It just feels so long ago…”

“I’m guessing your sister’s not great in the ‘showing affection’ department?”

He cringed. “Not really. One day it would be fine, but the next, she would set my clothes on fire. And with our father praising her for it, well…”

“Yeah… that doesn’t sound great…”

“It’s been three years since I’ve seen her. I hope she hasn’t gone off the rails too much.”

“With a guy like the Fire Lord as a parental figure? The chances are pretty slim.”

He shrugged, looking sad and contemplative. She decided to change the conversation slightly, and took a sip before passing him the chicha.

“Hey, since we’re doing the same thing you used to do with your cousin and baby sister, does that mean that this is some sort of initiation I’ve unknowingly put myself into?”

He snorted, almost spiting the drink. “Well, when you put it that way.”

“If we spent more time together, I think we could be good friends.” She didn’t really know why she was telling him this, but she wanted him to know.

He looked at her for a bit before nodding with a small smile. “Yeah, I think we would.”

“You’ll come back, right?”

“If the war doesn’t kill me, yes.”

“You’re not gonna die like that.”

He passed her the bottle. “Honestly, I try not to think about it. It’s even harder when you think about the fact that Aang, the saviour of the world, is a twelve-year-old kid who’s also a pacifist.”

She took a sip. There wasn’t much left, though the bottle wasn’t that big. “That’s gonna be hard to deal with.”

“Yeah… But we’ll figure something out.”

She gave him the bottle. “You want the rest of it?”

He smiled a bit. “If you insist.” He drank the rest of it. “But if we manage to stop the war, and we’d better, I’ll come back. Maybe I can even bring you to some other places.”

“You can ‘show me the world’?” she snickered as she referenced one of the weird musical plays he had talked about.

He snorted. “Maybe not all of it. As small as it is, it’s still pretty large.” They chuckled. “But seriously, you could start with some places in the Earth Kingdom, or maybe even the Fire Nation if you’re feeling comfortable with that. I could even ask Aang to bring you to the North Pole to see turtle-seals!”

She gasped. “You’d do that?”

“Yeah! The cold might be a bit weird for you at first, but it’s not all that bad once you get used to it.”

She smiled. That was something she hadn’t really thought about. Leaving her home, that is. As much as the outside world intrigued her, as it did for everyone, they were all pretty content with staying on the island. But leaving did sound pretty fun.

She shuffled in her pockets, bringing out the scrolls.

“Hey, so I know you haven’t gotten the whole ‘shoot lightning’ thing under control yet, but when you do, I want you to have these in mind.” She handed them to him, and she swore that she saw his eyes light up when he unrolled them.

“I though you guys didn’t write katas down.”

“We don’t, but desperate times call for desperate measures,” she sighed dramatically. “Don’t ogle too much at the drawings, they were done by a jerk that I know. The only reason why I didn’t do them myself is that I suck at drawing. As for the katas themselves, they’re my favourite ones. You should learn them by heart even if you can’t shoot a basic bolt yet. You never know.”

“Why are you helping me so much?” Oh for Agni’s sake, his voice sounded so small.

“You’re my student?”

“No, that’s not it. You wouldn’t have helped me so much if it was just that.”

“Well…” She paused to think about it. Why was she helping him so much? Was it because his comment about not getting things right had bothered her? Was it because she was just very dedicated in seeing her student succeed? Was it because she felt guilty for injuring him? Maybe it was just because she liked the dumbass (not in that way, Ussun) and wanted to help him? Maybe it was a bit of all of that. “I guess us idiots need to help each other.”

He looked at her with a slightly stunned expression, before smiling while tearing up.

She quickly put a hand on his shoulder. “Holy shit, what did I say wrong?”

“N-nothing,” he mumbled while trying to wipe the tears away. “I don’t know w-why I’m crying.”

“Oh Agni, it’s the alcohol, isn’t it?”

He snickered. “Fuckin’ alcohol, man…”

She laughed back. “Bloody fuckin’ alcohol.”

They just sat there, laughing like idiots over nothing, with Druk staring at them, probably judging.

When they calmed down, Zuko realised something. “Aw shit, I don’t even have anything for you!” Ugh, always this exchange thing going on with him.

“Well, if you can get me to the North Pole one day, we’ll call it even.” She held her hand out and spit in it. “Deal?”

He looked at it before spitting in his own and shaking hers. “Deal.” They paused for a second. “That is so unsanitary.”

“I know right?”

“Like, why does this even exist?”

“We are common in our own disgust.”

“Bound by our saliva.”

She laughed, still holding his hand. “Ew, don’t say it like that!” He laughed as well. “No but seriously, we should wash our hands.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty disgusting.”

The rest of the night ended well. No other incidents happened, and the bonfire didn’t explode.

Chapter Text

It felt a bit weird being back on a ship. Who knew two weeks could somehow destabilise you so much? (Traveling with the others didn’t count since there was Appa.) But Zuko managed to get his footing back after a few hours, so it was mostly fine. He and Druk were currently watching the waves as they left the island. He could still see a few red splashes of colour contrasting against the green forest, telling him that Aashni was still there, or at least about to leave. She had insisted on following them back to the ship, which had then led to Uncle having to explain the whole Sun Warriors thing to the crew. It would have come up anyway once they had seen the flipping baby dragon, so the other warriors weren’t too opposed to that. His crew hadn’t really made a lot of fuss about it, they’d just waved to her and she waved back before dragging Zuko aside to say goodbye.

He remembered her almost hugging him, but stopping at the last second to just pat his shoulder. Conscious about the fact that he really needed to fix this whole hugging problem, he decided to put his arms around her shoulders in return, and gave a bit of a squeeze. She did the same thing in return, which made him quite happy about their sorta hug. Maybe he could try doing it with his maybe-friends.

The crew had been quite… shocked about Druk, however. A few had decided to just not interact with the little bugger, while others just starred at him from a distance. They still talked to Zuko, obviously, but it was clear that they were being cautious, which was understandable. Shoji was the only one to actively want to talk about the baby dragon, and they had before he needed to get back to the messenger-hawks to feed them.

He looked at Druk, who was now still partly attached to his arm and partly to the railing. “So then, how do you feel?” The baby looked up at him with his big eyes before quickly sticking his tongue out like some kind of lizard. Zuko chuckled. “Not too seasick?”

Druck opened his mouth a bit to make a small growl, as if to say that he was okay for now. It felt kinda funny that Zuko could understand the little serpent so easily. Usually, he could understand what animals were trying to communicate to a certain extent, but it was usually pretty basic. Was this how Aang and Appa communicated?

The next day, Druk started getting a bit seasick. The crew started being less anxious around him, which was nice. The little guy needed some social interaction, or whatever. Furora realised that baby dragons looked a lot like lion-snakes if you took away their wings, and because Druk’s wings were mostly the same colour as his body, it looked like he didn’t have any when they were closed. That would be very useful if someone got a bit too nosy, because he didn’t really want to go around parading the fact that he had a supposed extinct animal with him.

Because of that fact, Furora had started to call Druk a ‘snake noodle thingy’ when Zuko told her about the nickname.

Once Druk stopped wobbling around all the time, it seemed pretty clear that he wasn’t seasick anymore. With that, Zuko had no more excuses to not help Aiko with the boiler, so he started coming back to her with his extra guest. She was a bit iffy at first about it, but since Druk seemed fine to just stay wrapped around his shoulders and torso, she quickly realised that he wouldn’t run around destroying shit. The little critter seemed pretty enamoured with the furnaces’ flames, which reminded Zuko that he would have to be ready for when he started spitting fire. That exact scenario happened three days later, with Druk almost destroying the boiler.

Because of that, Aiko started calling him a ‘fire snake thingy’ every time she told him to be careful with the little bugger. She had allowed him back in once it was clear that Druk had decided to just sleep in a corner while they worked.

Still, because of that, Zuko needed to teach this not-flying noodle on how to not burn down everything by sneezing. That took a bit of time to figure out, since the Masters hadn’t really given him any directives. He tried to do so by just showing Druk some basic katas, which turned out to be the right thing to do since he looked at him for a while before running around Zuko’s legs and spitting little jets of fire that looked like the ones Zuko was making.

With that, Zuko also decided to get back to lightning-bending. After practicing Druk’s firebending, he always asked for everyone to get off the deck (except for Iroh) before trying to generate lightning, which generally ended with an explosion. He did manage to shoot a few bolts once or twice, so that felt good! Still, his grasp on making lightning was iffy at best. That still didn’t stop him from doing what Aashni had advised and learn the katas she had given him by heart. It took about a week to get them fully engrained, though that was probably because he didn’t really have much else to do except for helping Aiko, take care of Druk and talk to his crewmembers.

Druk’s wings also opened soon after, and while the baby couldn’t fly, he was definitely flapping those wings. Shoji had suggested that they make the black and red noodle socialize with the messenger-hawks. That seemed like a very chaotic idea to Zuko, so of course he agreed. Lets just say that he now knew that Crackers was the most mature out of all the hawks, since she was the only one that didn’t start fights with the serpent that could spit fire, and would definitely use it as a cheap shot to win his fights. It didn’t always work, but the bugger still did it. Zuko tried to explain to Druk that he shouldn’t do that, because singeing them was a bad idea, and it seemed that Druk had understood that, which was nice. Still, Zuko felt proud at the fact that Druk wouldn’t take anyone’s shit. That didn’t mean they stopped their fights completely, because there were a few times where he had to break off some fights.

Apart from that, their sailing went on quite smoothly, and they were making quick progress towards the north. A few days into the strip, they had received the confirmation that their request to decommission the Wani for any war purposes had been accepted, along with the paperwork that went with it. In another life where Zuko was still on his father’s side, he would have seen this as horrible news since it meant that the Fire Lord really didn’t care at all. But now, this felt as a victory, and it had been celebrated with a lot of booze that night. With that, it also meant that they didn’t have to be so polite to Zhao anymore (not that they were very polite to begin with), which was a lovely added bonus for all of them.

---

Druk was pretty sure that water wasn’t a human’s natural habitat. He had been quite confused when he was brought to a weird floating thing that at first looked like a giant creature (though on closer inspection, he realised that it clearly wasn’t alive), but if Zuko went on it, then it had to be safe. Ran and Shaw had said that he was supposed to take care of him, after all.

He really liked Zuko. The human definitely looked weird (where were his scales?), and probably not very used to dealing with dragons, but he tried his best and Druk could see that. Of course, he didn’t always understand what his guardian told him, they were different species after all, but communication went pretty well between the two of them.

The hardest thing that he had to understand was the fact that Druk would have to chew his own food. Sure, his teeth felt pretty hard after a few days at sea, and he had definitely wanted to bite a lot of things (much to Zuko’s dismay), but that didn’t mean he wanted to chew his food! That was Zuko’s job! Still, he relented after a while, and admitted that it would be useful to fully eat his own food if his guardian couldn’t do it.

His guardian also had a knack for making explosions, but for some reason he didn’t seem happy about it. Still, he continued blowing up the air everyday. Maybe it was like Druk and chewing…

The other humans on the floating thing were much weirder. Apart from the old one that spent a lot of time with his guardian, they didn’t seem to like Druk. The only ones he could really understand not liking him was the one in the warm room full of flames (because he almost destroyed her room) and the food keeper (because he got caught a few times trying to steal some fish). But things got better with time, and the others quickly started giving Druk little bits of their meals.

But humans weren’t the only ones on the floating thing. There were also komodo-rhinos and messenger-hawks (that’s how the humans called them). The komodo-rhinos didn’t really play much, because they were stuck in their pens all day, though they didn’t seem to mind much, but the hawks were definitely fun to play with. Some were jerks, but others were just fun. Sure, there were a few times where Druk almost burned some of their feathers, but they got over it after a few hours.

Things were fun, and nice, and getting pretty cold for some reason. The humans started wearing more clothes, and Druk just stayed wrapped around Zuko when he wasn’t doing anything. His guardian started wearing clothes over Druk as well, and from what he gathered, it was to make sure that no one would see him. He didn’t really mind, since it meant that he could have a nice nap. When they reached land, they only stayed for one day and one night before leaving again, but Druk had spent the whole day under Zuko’s jacket, so there wasn’t much to see. He definitely heard a lot, which was a bit scary, but his guardian calmed him down with his inner fire. Still, land seemed a bit too crowded for him right now.

They then sailed for four more days before staying on land again. Things were going fine and all the humans were on top of the floating thing playing music. Druk and Zuko weren’t there, though, because the music was too loud for Druk and he wasn’t used to it. He could still hear it in Zuko’s room, but it was faint, and thus less loud. They were lying on the bed, with the human stroking Druk’s head slowly. It was nice. Sadly, it didn’t last.

Zuko paused before a knock came on the door. The old human opened it and said something that made his guardian angry, which freaked out Druk slightly. He got up and was about to leave without him, but Druk managed to get his guardian to bring him along, promising to stay very still under Zuko’s shirt.

The only thing he knew was that there were new humans on the floating thing, and that his guardian wasn’t happy about it.

---

Bloody-motherfucking-piece-of-shit-ass Zhao was on his ship. This was fine. This was bloody fine. Nothing wrong at all. What in Agni’s name did that smarmy ass want anyway?

“Ah, Prince Zuko,” the fucker said once Zuko got on deck. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

And yet… “It has, yes. What are you doing here?”

“I see that you’re still very much disrespectful to your superiors, since I am an admiral now.”

“I’ve heard, yes, congratulations.” Now can we please get this over with?

Uncle stepped forward. “May I ask what brings us the pleasure of having you here?”

“I’m here to recruit you crew for an invasion against the Northern Water Tribe, with the Fire Lord’s blessings. Of course, this is mandatory.” Everyone on the deck stilled.

“An invasion?” Zuko blinked. “In the North Pole? In the middle of winter?”

“Yes.” What the ever-loving fu- “Now then, tell your crew to pack. (As if they couldn’t hear him.) The ships for the invasion are leaving in two days.”

Zhao turned to leave but Zuko stopped him. “I’m sorry to disappoint, but my crew isn’t going anywhere.” Zhao turned, clearly confused. “You see, the Wani has been decommissioned for all war purposes.” What little smugness was left on the fucker’s face melted away.

You see, there was a law in the fire navy, one that predated the war and that every seafaring individual knew. It was a simple law: if you were part of a ship that got decommissioned while being outside of Fire Nation soil, then you are bound for one month to it before leaving, to make sure that it sailed back safely. All obstruction to that law, may it be from the crew or a superior, would be severely punished, unless the obstruction was ordered by the Fire Lord himself. Naturally, everyone on the Wani knew that law.

“I see. And how long has it been decommissioned?”

“A week and a half,” Zuko replied, trying very hard to not smirk. “Now, unless you have a direct order from my father to seize my crew, please leave this ship immediately.”

Zhao angrily stared at him for a few seconds. He took a step towards him, and everyone tensed, including Druk, which resulted in his tail becoming visible for a second to the fucker. Said fucker’s eyes widened slightly, and Zuko begged every spirit he knew that he hadn’t figured out that it was a dragon’s tail, since harbouring a dragon was considered treason.

“You heard what he said,” Jee said as he walked between Zuko and Zhao.

Zhao looked up to glare at Jee before turning around. “Of course. Have a good evening.”

And with that, he was gone.

---

Everyone on the ship was pretty tense the next day. Sure, the captain had politely told Zhao to fuck off with a great reason for him not coming back, but nobody was fooled. The asshole was planning something.

When Agni rose, they held a meeting where they all agreed that they would have to leave the ship until Zhao’s fleet left, since they had no idea what Zhao had planned. Better safe than sorry, after all. That meant unloading as much as possible without being caught in one day.

Night time seemed like the most likely time for him to strike, so they made sure that all four komodo-rhinos and five messenger hawks were brought out during the day on the excuse of a walk. (“Hey, we spent a long time at sea,” Shoji argued to the dock keeper, “do you want to go against a bunch of excited komodo-rhinos?”)

Slowly, they all left the ship, until there was only Zuko, Iroh and Druk, because the flying serpent had apparently become too attached to the ship, and had realised that they would be leaving it for more than a few hours.

“Nephew, we need to leave now.”

“I know,” he sighed, still wrestling with the dragon who was firmly wrapped around a pipe. “He just won’t. budge.”

“Well, he’d better make peace with our leave, because we don’t know what Zhao might be planning.”

“I know.” This was getting infuriating. “Just… leave without me. I’ll find a way to get him off.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Iroh hesitated. “Alright. I’ll be at the dock’s entrance. Please hurry.”

“Trust me, I’m trying.”

Once Iroh was gone, Zuko took a deep breath.

“Listen, I know that to you, this ship is your home. I get it. It’s mine as well, in a sense. Sure, I wasn’t brought here three days after being born, but it’s much better than where I actually grew up. I could tell you stories that happened in every corner of this rusty bucked during those three years… But I have to leave it behind. You have to leave it behind… Look, we were bound to leave this place at some point. I’ve got people to get to, and they don’t usually stay in one place for too long. You’re gonna have to get used to leaving places behind. But no matter what, I’ll always be there.” He chuckled. “I’m sure Uncle would give you some kind of proverb meaning that home is the people around you and not the place, but I honestly can’t imagine how he would put it.”

Druk, still slightly unsure, slowly unwrapped himself from the pipe and climbed on Zuko’s shoulder.

He picked up his bag while smiling at the dragon. “See? It won’t be so ba-” He got cut off by the sound of a rusty door opening. From the sound of it, it was the door to the deck, because that one always made a ton of noise.

“Uncle?” he called out, pretty sure that it wasn’t Iroh who came back in.

He waited for a second.

A second.

A second.

“Shit.”

He ran as fast as he could, he really did. But even with the weigh of the bag that he dropped lifted from his body, Druk was still heavy enough to slow him down.

And just as he reached the door for the deck, he felt it.

Fire.

BOOM.

Even from the nearby forest where the rest of the crew waited, you could still hear the blast, let alone see it.

Chapter Text

When he woke up, he felt like someone was bashing his head with a wrench. He could feel some sort of mat between him and the floor, which was weird because the last thing he remembered was being thrown in the sea. Soon enough, Zuko opened his eyes to discover that he was in a room, which smelled a whole lot like the medical room in his ship.

His ship…

B O O M

Right, he could remember why he had fallen in the sea. His ship had exploded. His home of three years had been destroyed. The place where he had probably learned some of the most valuable thing in his life was now probably no more than waste in the ocean. Aiko had always joked that the Wani would probably go out in an explosion because of the damn furnaces. She had been half-right in that regard.

If he felt like crying while lying on the ground for emotional reasons, he definitely started crying for physical reasons once he sat up. His whole body felt sore, like needles were trying and succeeding in puncturing every single muscle he owned. His breath also felt forced, like his ribcage wasn’t expanding correctly. He had quite a few bandages on his torso and arms, and his face hurt a lot when it scrunched in pain as he started crying.

He felt a small nudge of his leg, and looked down to see Druk, who looked a little tattered, but otherwise fine, although he was looking at him with a lot of worry.

Zuko took as deep as a breath as he could, and held his fist to Druk for him to nudge it. “At least you’re looking alright,” he said while coughing slightly at the end. The dragon placed his paw on Zuko’s leg tentatively to check if it didn’t hurt too much, before crawling onto his lap to calm him down with his inner-fire. “You’ve gotten good at this, haven’t you?” he whispered as he slowly stroked the flying snake.

As they sat there, Zuko’s mind was suddenly thrown into overdrive over how much this explosion had put a dent in… well, everything. He didn’t have a way to the North Pole, they were literally next to a Fire Nation fleet, so he couldn’t send a hawk to warn his teammates about Zhao (plus, messenger-hawks didn’t survive the cold well, so that was out of the question), and his crew was now stuck on land. Oh and also all of the scrolls that Aashni had given him were probably ashes in the ocean by now (he knew the forms, but those scrolls still had sentimental value), everything that he had packed was either toast or disintegrated (and probably in the ocean as well), which meant that his swords were gone. He turned his head around to check if somehow, something, anything that was his was in this room, but he could only see bottles and boxes, along with the tattered remains of his clothes, and his wrench and knife that he always kept on him.

He might have cried a bit more after that.

*****

Probably an hour or so after he had woken up (and had done a bit of pain management with lightning), Sorano appeared at the entrance of the room. She stared at him for a second before walking straight towards him and kneeling at his right side.

“Thank Agni you’re awake,” she sighed. “How much pain are you in?”

“I’ve dulled it down, but it still hurts a lot,” he rasped. “I guess it’s better that what it could have been.”

“Thank the Spirits,” she mumbled. “Prince Iroh’s been worried sick about you.”

“Where is he?” His voice was still pretty sore.

She started unwrapping his bandages. “He’s been dealing with the whole ‘Hey, we don’t have a home anymore’ situation. Trust me, if he wasn’t, he would’ve probably stayed by your side this whole time.”

“How long have I been out for?”