SPOILER ALERT!
The following is a TOTAL SPOILER! Do NOT read it unless you're confused… or impatient. If you want to read the story normally, Go to the next chapter, "The Storm." Sorry this is so disorganized!
Full Story Outline:
Zuko & Katara
Prince Zuko is lured into a trap by his arch foe, Commander Zhao. Because he has re-entered Fire Nation territory, Zuko is found guilty of treachery, and sentenced to death. The craven Zhao uses the prince's Uncle Iro as leverage, gaining the prince's cooperation. Iro, though his life is threatened, urges his protégé to resist arrest, but Zuko refuses.
"I have been so proud," cries the old man, "but Zuko, please! My life has no value if I cannot pass on what I have learned!" Prince Zuko, more to comfort the old man than to boast, claims that there is a slight chance he might survive.
Means of execution: According to tradition, treacherous nobility are privileged with precise and ritualistic executions. All available fire-benders 'in the surrounding area' are gathered to the site of death, where they simultaneously burn the criminal at the stake. The criminal is free to use his own are to defend himself, but only in legends has anyone survived the procedure.
Meanwhile, Iro plots to interfere with his nephew's execution. Commander Zhao has other ideas. Although General Iro's safety was promised in exchanged for his nephew's cooperation, Zhao accompanies an armed squad to the old man's residence and arrests him. He levies false charges against him, ordering him imprisoned until trial (at some distant, conveniently unspecified date). This dishonorable behavior does not surprise the old general, but he still resists. As Commander Zhao had hoped, Iro succeeds in escaping. Because this is not an act of treachery, Iro's resistance justifies the commander to assassinate him (but only with a very loose interpretation of Fire Nation law).
Zhao and his men hunt down the general over the next few days, finally pinning him near the prison barracks. After a violent battle, during which six guards are slain, Iro is defeated. . Just before Iro realizes his fate is death, Zhao tells him with relish, "Just before that nephew of yours burns, I will tell him that his uncle is dead." Zhao has him stripped, bound to a heavy stone, and shaven. (chopping off a man's warrior hair-knot was once the Japanese equivalent to stealing his honor.) This done, Iro is sent off in a small boat with two armed guards, to be thrown into the sea.
Meanwhile, Prem, hot on the Avatar's trail, has become caught up in the Zuko/Iro drama. She was present at Prince Zuko's arrest, and has followed his uncle's adventures since then. When Iro is cast out to sea, she follows the ship (with the help of a sympathetic sea monster) and arrives in time to see him singe his ropes from his hands. Still, he holds onto the stone, sinking ever deeper until his captors are drawn away, and then resurfaces. Instead of trying to swim to the distant shore, as Prem expects, he merely floats there, contemplating death. Prem finally confronts him, startling him by emerging from the mouth of a once-hidden serpent. He says only that his life is no longer worth living, and that he has failed as teacher and uncle to his doomed prince. Prem challenges that he has given up on his grand scheme to interfere at the execution, and insinuates that he must hold some sway over his Fire Lord brother. At this, Iro gives his trademark Zen-master laugh and says, "Fine then. I will live on, if only to keep a girl so young, pretty, and argumentative as yourself from seeing mortality." Prem doesn't mention that she has lived ling enough to see a thousand deaths, but carries him back to shore.
All of this occurs without Prince Zuko's knowing. Locked in a prison cell, he has been isolated from the outside world, and assumes that Commander Zhao will hold true to his word. On the night before the execution, Zhao visits his iron-barred cell and smugly informs him of his uncle's "death." Quick as lightning, Zuko leaps u and grabs the general's throat through the bars, burning him severely. Zhao breaks the hold before Zuko can crush his windpipe, fleeing down the corridor. The prince sends a powerful blast of fire after him, swearing to kill him.Alone in his cell that night, Zuko sheds two steaming tears, his first since childhood. He willfully transmutes his sorrow over his uncles death to anger that both he and his teacher will have died for nothing.
That morning, Zuko is transported to a remote island, where the firing squad awaits. A crowd of nobles has gathered to watch, most with satisfaction that they are that much closer to the throne. Iro sneaks in with this crowd, intending to use his formidable fire-bending to divert the executioners' blasts. But lo and behold, Zhao treachery runs deep. Not only has he gathered the fire-benders 'n the surrounding area,' but has summoned up fifty troopers to assist. Not even Zuko and his uncle stand a chance against this force, but each is determined to try. (Neither uncle nor nephew make eye contact during the ceremony—Zuko still believes his uncle is dead). Zuko is bound to the stake, and the executioners take their places. Three bells toll, and heat sears through the air! The initial blast is blinding, incredibly powerful, but Zuko cleverly repels much of it back to its senders, killing twenty-five soldiers. Zhao, his primary target, is wounded but alive. Energy expended, the prince slumps unconscious while his uncle meditates on keeping the powerful flames away from his body. He only partially succeeds: Prince Zuko's skin is badly burned, but not as bad as it could have been. Just when the confusion is at its height, a tremendous wave sweeps over the scene, dousing the flames, toppling on-lookers, and sweeping the dead across the sand. With Zhao unconscious, his second in command orders a full evacuation, afraid that the nobles will be injured. Because the wave, coupled with the singing flames, detached Zuko from the stake, everyone assumes he was incinerated, including his mournful uncle.
In a panic, nobles and soldiers alike load into the ships, leaving their dead behind. Unseen, Zuko's singed but living body lies at the foot of the stake. And who should emerge from the woods but Katara?
Katara was separated from her brother and the avatar during a violent sea-storm. Only with the use of water-bending was she able to arrive safely on the island, and even then half-drowned. Sokka and Aang are searching for her, but there is very little hope they will ever stumble across this island, even with Appa's help. It was she who summoned the wave, not knowing that the 'enemy of the fire nation' she expected is truly prince Zuko!
Katara hefts Zuko's unrecognizable body to her shelter, taking great care to cause as little pain as possible. There, she bandages his almost his entire body, amazed that he is alive at all. He suffers from extreme smoke-inhalation, and does not wake for a matter of days.
When the Prince finally wakes up, he at first wonders if he is in the afterlife. Then the pain hits, and reality sets in. He moves very little-wary of cracking his many scabs, but sees enough to know he has been cared for. Then Katara leans into view. She asks how he's feeling, if he needs anything, to which he angrily croaks that he needs no help from the likes of her. She clearly doesn't understand his grudge against her, but retorts that 'the likes of her' has been tending to him for nearly a week. Zuko, bandaged to the teeth and scorched to the point of baldness, finally realizes that Katara doesn't recognize him. Too weak for battle, he decides that revealing his identity would only cause trouble. When pressed, he names himself Conleth (austere fire).
In his sickbed, 'Conleth' settles in to a long period of silent brooding. He struggles to deny the deep loss he has suffered at his uncle's 'death,' and contemplates revenge. He feels that his life now is a pitiful mockery: an honorless, banished prince, unable to move and being tended to by his enemy. Zhao's survival mocks him, but the prince now wonders if he is even capable of an assassination. Zuko has lost everything to the clever commander, failing to kill him twice. Suicide seems tempting alterative. Burning with anger and humiliation (among other things) Conleth isn't very pleasant company. Whenever his nurse prods him into conversation, he usually says something intense and angry, making Katara laugh at what she calls 'melodrama.'
Katara is intrigued by the mysterious stranger, who won't even tell her why the Fire Nation so desperately wanted him dead. Mysterious fragments he mutters in his sleep hint at a peculiar past, but any clues he gives have been incomplete murmurs. Tending to his wounds (as well as the loneliness any deserted island can inspire) requires that she spend much time with him, during which she does most of the talking. She regales him with stories of her adventures with the avatar, and tales of home, which she misses deeply. She speculates about her brother's welfare, and remarks that now no one is around to sow up his ragged pants. Over the weeks, Conleth's attitude towards his hostess softens. He hasn't received such gentle treatment since his earliest, only vaguely-recalled childhood, when his mother was alive. He recognizes in Katara a gentle but courageous spirit, and almost regrets hunting her so ruthlessly. Almost.
About two weeks after he first awakens, Zuko pushes himself into functioning (or at least walking) normally. Feeling idle, he immediately begins work on improving the shelter, and contemplates a hunting trip later on. He also pays a visit to the site of his 'execution,' to bury whatever's left of the soldier's he'd slain. He finds that the scavengers have taken all but a few scattered bones—and one other item he recognizes with awe. As was the custom, the victim's most prized possessions were to be burned with him. In prison, Zuko had crossly ordered that they simply burn those things they'd confiscated at his arrest. Now, lying in a pile of blackened sand and driftwood, he recognized a blue lump of glass. He'd forgotten… been carrying Katara's necklace in his pack…
Another week passes, and Conleth's condition only improves, as well as his relationship with Katara. They work in perfect harmony on the island, and the only persistently hot topic between them is the removal of his bandages. After the first few weeks of recovery, Conleth stubbornly refused to let Katara touch his dressings, claiming that to do so would only tear his already fragile skin. In truth, he had begun to remove them himself, softening them first in the bay, and recognized his reflection in the water. His face was on its way to healing into its former self, but he is determined to keep his true identity from Katara. He is certain that she could never reconcile the violent and ruthless Prince Zuko from her stories with the stubborn but hard-working Conleth she might be falling for…
Another week passes, and Conleth and Katara are definitely in love. They share their first kiss on a moonlit night by the island's natural ravine, a sharp schism carved out of the wooded mountain. Plenty of blushing to go around.
The next day, Katara suggests they build a ship. Her mangled attempts to fashion a raft now form the roof of their shelter, but now that Conleth is with her, she thinks there might be some hope. He very reluctantly agrees, only because he knows how Katara longs to be with her friends. The idea troubles him more than she understands. Here, on this island, Zuko has been able to hide from his past, but a boat would surely force him to face it head-on. He senses his utopian time with Katara is drawing to an end, and regresses into the brooding stranger he was on day one. Katara notices this, but doesn't press him for a reason; by now, she has learned that asking is never the way to get an answer from Conleth.
As the boat takes shape, Conleth becomes more and more withdrawn, alienating his fellow castaway. Every reference to home Katara makes seems to fill him with undue anger, and more than once she finds herself retaliating against his snappishness. On one of their better nights, Katara and Conleth prepare to go to sleep side by side, he feels an irrational panic rising in his chest. He tries to subdue it, tries to focus on the late-night tale Katara is spinning. She tells him the story off her mother's necklace, how she treasured it so, how the evil Prince Zuko tried to use it against her. She falls asleep soon after, leaving him alone to rot in his guilt. He leaves the shelter, reflecting on his current existence.
His conclusion: He cannot face is past without destroying what he loves. Reality tells him that he is worthless, a contemptible scoundrel who brings shame on both his family and the human race by continuing to exist. He has dishonored his family first by banishment, then by failing to capture the avatar, then by turning his back on his uncle by wasting time in this little paradise. The only way to restore balance on this scale is suicide, an honorable death for any Fire Nation soldier. On the other scale is Katara. She is the only living companion he cares for, the only person he's ever loved as a woman. Yet he'd shamelessly hunted her like a wounded deer in his past life. For this, he knows he deserves to die. Worst of all is knowing that Katara's love for him will evaporate as soon as she learns his true name. For this, he wants to die. He feels so wretched and worthless inside…
Quietly, Zuko returns to the hut and lays the fateful trinket where he would usually sleep, where Katara is sure to find it. As dawn breaks, he makes his way to the ravine, ready to throw himself in. On the way, he miserably tears off the bandages that have so inefficiently hidden his shame from the world, revealing a healed face and ragged, newly-grown hair. The sky brightens to pale grey, and the wind picks up. Zuko stands on the cliff's very edge, daring the winds to toss him in. Just as he takes his final step, someone shrieks his name. His real name.
Katara has just emerged from the wood, crying and clutching her mother's necklace. She had followed the trail of bandages to this spot, sensing the desperate act the prince intends. She pleads with Zuko not to jump, to which he expresses all the doubts he's had, the shame he's entrenched in, saying that this is the only honorable way out. He confesses doing horrible things to her and her friends, and bitterly challenges her to push him over the edge herself. Katara is sobbing helplessly, but manages to tell him that she still loves him, no matter what his past is. She senses he has a beautiful soul, despite webs he has spun around himself. Zuko is quieted in shock, amazed that anyone could care for such a despicable being. He answers quietly that he loves Katara too, and is just considering stepping away from the ledge when an unexpected gust pushes him over! Katara screams. Suddenly, with a long whoosh, a furry white mass soars up from the ravine. It's Appa! On his back sit Sokka, Aang, and yes, prince Zuko! The avatar's party has finally managed to track Katara down, arriving just in time to save the suicidal noble. Zuko sits numbly on the tail, blinking in shock for a moment, while Katara shouts with joy to her brother and friends. Sokka is torn between beating up the prince (who he assumes has been terrorizing her) and embracing his sister, while Aang focuses on piloting the beast while hooting with joy.
In the end, Prince Zuko joins the avatar's party, fighting against his father and Commander Zhao. He learns of his uncle's survival, and the two are joyfully reunited. Iro, too, lends his skills to Aang & company. Appa's back becomes even more crowded when Prem joins the crowd, but that's another story.
Ang & Prem
Prem
Soul-Benders: Soul-bending is a lost art, the memory of a departed order carried on by its only survivor. In its more practical mode, it is the action of manifesting spiritual energy as physical energy—most commonly as light or heat—then manipulating it as any other bender. The duality of spirit-bending and element-bending promotes balance in the world, as the avatar world view is bilateral. Having power over spiritual energy gives the bender unique insight into the world of souls. Prem can communicate with all other spirits in the physical world, at least on some level. Their language is basic emotion, which she often utilizes to make pleas for help. Souls themselves benefit from contact with Prem. Lower spirits; those of plants for example, have no sense of self or free will. Yet compassion, the force that ties all beings together, can drive them to voluntary action for the bender's sake. This creates a sense of self unknown to them before, which (when developed) can lead to a fortunate re-birth as a higher life form. The ultimate goal of any soul is to pass out of samsara, and the doorway is humanity. Only by entering this highest stage of earthly life can a soul hope to see the beyond.
History
Prem was a soul-bender born into the early Earth Kingdom during the Avatar's first life. The two fell deeply in love, and vowed to be together forever.The prevailing religious theory at the time was much like Eastern dualism: clean souls trapped within samsara. When the Avatar awoke, realizing his destiny was to remain within the dirty world until all souls had fled, he revoked his vow to Prem. Despite his profound love, he didn't want to hold her back from the world beyond. Instead, he proclaimed, they would have to "make their sun run" (see 'To His Coy Mistress'); to make up for an eternity they had lost.After bitter tears, Prem seemed to have accepted the compromise. Then, a desperate thought occurred to her. She would bind her spirit to the avatar's with soul bending, and follow him in the wheel of incarnation. She performed the ritual in secrecy, knowing that the conscientious avatar would never allow his love to suffer for his sake. The tether she fashioned was entirely one-sided: it did not bind him to her, but only her to him. The avatar's path through the cycle was not altered by her presence, while hers was entirely dependent on his... In this way, she did not inhibit his free will.When the avatar became aware of her furtive deed, he was saddened and exasperated. After many bitter words, he reluctantly accepted the love she was offering, and added his own strength to the bond between them. Now, the two souls intertwine in inseparable, mutual consent. Those events transpired many incarnations ago. Important developments occurred during the early years of Avatar Ang's life. Prem, according to habit, was born within months of his first breath, this time in a powerful Water Tribe. Before her path could cross with the avatar's, Ang foolishly froze himself in an iceberg. Feeling confused and abandoned, Prem watched the world around her descend into chaos. In the last years of her life, she concluded that the avatar's soul had fled without her to the world beyond, where their tie couldn't carry her. She held out for 101 years, still hoping that her love would find her.Prem was reincarnated only months after her death, eleven years before Ang emerged from stasis. From the Spirit World, she had been able to sense the avatar's continued existence within samsara, which both thrilled and saddened her. Had the avatar simply chosen not to find her? Had he also turned his back on the world? She became aware of Ang's activity when the Avatar Temples blazed with light on the day of his return. Since then, she has followed Ang on his travels, acting as an unseen guardian.
Physical description
Current incarnation: Prem is a fair, curly-haired young girl, attractive in a petite way. Her eyes are pale pink, as they often appear, and her garments are usually a pastel, rosy hue. She is accompanied always by her white-quilled hedgehog, Chandrakant.
First (human) Incarnation: Usually pictured as 23 years old, the age of the bonding ceremony. She had pale brown, almost grey hair and the tanned skin of an earth-bender. Her eyes, usually the grey of her kingdom, would flash bright pink when she used her abilities as soul-bender. She had no pets or dependents, though was often seen in the company of the avatar's spirit guide.
Once Previous Incarnation: Usually pictured as 101 years old, the year of her death. Hunched and wrinkled, skin of an orangey hue, she had allowed sorrow to steal away her beauty. Her eyes, once flecked with pink, slowly faded to grey as life drained hope from her heart. In those days, she would wear the garb of a Water Tribe Elder, and carry a crude staff. She became a recluse in her late life, but on rare occasions, she would visit with Katara and her grandmother.
Current disposition: Prem is a giving, genuine, caring person; but she is emotionally fragile due to trauma in her last life. She is terrified of Ang's rejection, and so keeps her distance until the day contact becomes absolutely necessary. Once assured that her abandonment was entirely inadvertent—even a misunderstanding—her soul begins to heal. She opens up to reveal a fun-loving, courageous girl who likes nothing more than penguin-riding.
You FOOL! You TOTALLY just spoiled the story for yourself!
You can see stories like these (fully-written) at my website, http colon slash slash huhakux dot proboards31 dot com slash index dot cgi?board equals write, or even post your own there, if you want to.