A/N: I know I have about a dozen other fics I ought to be updating, but this one just wouldn't leave me alone, and unlike all my rest, I'm not suffering massive writer's block for it. Yet(crosses fingers).

Also nightmare fuel warning for this chapter; Koizilla aftermath ahead.

Prologue

Swiftly he did flee

When like thunder, spoke, the sea

And the dragon, woke

Zuko tried not to watch the sea-vultures as they feasted on the tens of thousands of bodies rolling on the waves like an algae bloom from hell, very nearly hiding the water from sight entirely.

"How long have you known?"

Iroh sighed heavily, watching the last rays of the weak arctic sun dip below the horizon, marking the end of another brief respite from the freezing darkness of the polar night.

"I discovered the truth when you were eleven."

"On your 'journey of spiritual discovery'?" Zuko didn't bother restraining his vitriol.

"Yes."

"And you never told me."

"I did not wish to lead you to harm. If it had come out that-"

"I could have gone home three years ago if you'd told me!"

"You do know what your father intended if-"

"It would have been better than this!" The banished prince gestured at the blanket of corpses draped over the ocean.

"You cannot blame yourself, nephew-"

"Can't blame-?! I was-! And you! You knew! You knew and you didn't tell me!"

"No. I knew you were the Avatar;

I did not know that such a thing as this was possible. I knew that a fully realized Avatar, who had mastered himself and the elements, could command such power. I did not realize that an untrained one could tap into it, let alone that that power could command him. Nevertheless, I am sorry nephew. I should not have hidden the truth from you this long."

Both were silent for several hours after that, tracking the restored moon's progress across the rapidly darkening sky. Zuko stewed in his fury and guilt. His wrath at Uncle's deception had ebbed, but it was far from quenched. Eventually he spoke again, for there was no one else from which to seek advice, and he was utterly lost on his own.

"What now? I-, I can't even turn myself in can I?"

"I would advise against it, yes. Aside from the not inconsiderable risk to your own well being, the Avatar Spirit would most likely object, violently, to that course of action."

"I-, it won't even be safe for me to be around people anymore."

"Prince Zuko. Think. This has only happened once; the Avatar Spirit is not a mindless beast, lashing out at every opportunity. Unless it or one of the other great spirits is threatened, I do not think it can or will take control."

"If that's the case, then why did it . . .?"

"Destroy the fleet, rather than strike down Zhao alone? I would guess that much of that was La's doing; seeking to avenge his wife. And angry spirits are not known for worrying about collateral damage."

Zuko pondered his uncle's words for a few moments.

"Then what the hell am I supposed to do?!"

Iroh looked him in the eye, gaze steady as the last color bled out of the sky.

"You must learn to master your power, so that it may no longer master you."