It is a hard way to Fire Nation – 1
Disclaimer: the Avatar and other characters belong to Mike and Bryan.
I
"Well, that was fast," mused Zuko, as he made his way out of the catacombs back to the palace. "Things are happening fast indeed."
"I'm sorry, Zuzu, but what are you mumbling over here?" Azula asked, as she walked alongside him. "You're not having second thoughts already, now aren't you?"
"Oh no," Zuko shook his head. "My mind on this topic is made up once and for all - certainly not since you restored my honor… after arriving in all this grandeur," he coughed a bit on the last word.
"Ah, yes. I am good, aren't I?" Azula preened a bit more. "Took you a while to realize it, Zuzu, but I'm glad that you did – it'll make things just all easier. And don't worry – I'll be sure to tell father just how invaluable you were at capturing the city."
"I wouldn't expect anything else from you, sister."
"Good. Now, Mai, Ty Lee, and I are going to have a little private party in regards of taking over the city, so… I guess I got to ask if you want to come?"
"Sorry, but too many old memories – like Lu Ten's parties when Ty Lee usually got the attention, and I had to-"
"I remember them, Zuzu," Azula cut him off abruptly, her good mood souring for the worse.
"And speaking of Lu Ten, remember the last birthday party of yours that he attended? It was just before he went off to die here. He certainly pulled-"
"I get you, Zuzu," now Azula sounded – and looked – really sour. "Have fun on your own." She abruptly stalked off, leaving Zuko behind her.
"Don't worry, sister," Zuko muttered, his eyes narrowing, as he observed a conveniently positioned Dai Li agent who looked as if he was trying to blend with the mural of the corridor wall, "I will."
For his part, the Dai Li agent did appear to be a bit suspicious of Zuko, as the Fire Nation's prince went over to him, determination evident in his gaze. However, he must have had a different set of orders, because when Zuko grabbed him by the collar and slammed into the wall, he was pretty much caught unawares.
"Your Highness?" he managed, looking rather like an antelope-deer caught between two hunters. "Wh-what?.."
"I have a question or two to ask you," Zuko snapped.
"What questions?"
"How about, why did you betray the city to the Fire Nation? You ran it, and you jumped Azula back in the catacombs as one, none of this would be happening? And speaking of Azula, how'd she know that you would betray the city in the first place?"
"I-I don't, I can't"
"Try," Zuko snapped, "or I will have to get persuasive." One of his fists flared up, but rather than making a whip, the flame formed into a short sword blade, and it was hot! It was still some inches away from his chin, when the collars of his robes began to crinkle from the heat. Clearly, the direct contact with such a flame would be very, very unpleasant.
"I am not Azula, I don't enjoy hurting other people just for the fun of it," Zuko said in the same menacing tone of voice. "However, you may consider this a sort of a before-taste of what my father's forces will do when they enter the city: our generals tend to distrust any new, enthusiastic allies and will probably do a bit of questioning session on their own, and they will be far less patient. Speak!"
"There's no need to intimidate Yuan, your highness," a new, very cultured, voice spoke-up from Zuko's right.
Zuko turned in that direction. A tall, balding man with a long braid and thin moustache, flanked by Dai Li, was staring at him, in a manner Zuko was rather familiar with.
"And you are?" he asked, still holding onto Yuan's collars.
"Ah," the man said, smiling coolly, "I am Long Feng, the deposed leader of the Dai Li."
"Judging from your smile, there's a joke in it somewhere," Zuko said wryly. "Can I hear it?"
"All in good time, your highness," Long Feng shook his head. "Right now I've heard that you got some questions you want answering?"
"Yes," Zuko nodded curtly. "Can you answer them?"
"Quite," Long Feng nodded in response. A small corridor opened in the wall to his right. "Let's go to my secret study and I'll explain it all – unless you want to join your sister's party after all?"
"What I want is irrelevant," Zuko shook his head. "What I need are explanations, sir."
"Then follow me," Long Feng replied, still smiling coolly. "I believe I can provide just that."
"Hey, Sugar-Queen – is Twinkletoes going to be okay?" Toph's usually gruff voice for once sounded genuinely concerned.
"I done all I could, Toph," Katara looked back at younger girl. "I sincerely hope that he will be alright, but I've never had to heal anything as bad as that before."
"No argument of that," Sokka nodded in agreement for a change. "If Aang had been just a little bit less lucky, the Fire Bitch's blast would've snapped his spine clean in half, and then what we would do? Probably go back to North Pole and the Spirit Oasis, 'cause there'd be no way your little vial would be able to cure something like that."
"That little vial," Katara snapped, ignoring the fact that Sokka was actually complementing her of sorts and not insulting, "had just saved Aang's life!"
"That's what I'm saying!" Sokka said, "there's no need to snap my head off!"
"I am sorry, Sokka," Katara replied in contrition. I just cannot believe that I almost wasted it on Zuko of the Fire Nation of all people! What was I thinking? However, in some tiny corner of her mind a tiny voice whispered: not what was I thinking, but what I was thinking with?
Way down below the flying bison, obscured by the hilly woodland, a number of riders on giant lizards, distantly resembling giant basilisks of the Fire Nation, dispassionately observed the flying creature.
"They are heading east, sir," spoke one of the observers, a man dressed in a manner similar to a Yu Yan archer's.
"Then they'll be going to the old guru, then," spoke the riders' leader, his face smirking with a predatory grimace. "Just I thought. Send a message with the Ore Echo to the general and Nguen."
"Shall we entrust it to those two, whom we pulled out of the metal box?" the archer's companion, a woman with blue eyes and a heavy lance, spoke up.
"See if they can. If not, ask Li or Ky – but get it done. It's time to see how well the Avatar deals when the pressure is kicked up a notch."
"Yes sir," the archer and the woman turned from the column's head and headed to its tail.
The retired general Iroh, former Dragon of the West, could not remember the time when he felt so dismal and wretched, not even when the members of his immediate family – first his wife, Ibiza, then his son Lu Ten – died, and he was helpless to do anything about this; however, this time it was worse.
"But what had happened? Where it all went wrong?" Iroh asked in helpless prayer the spirits, who seemed not too keen on answering him. "Zuko obviously changed; he understood – he began to understand – the real values in life! So where it all went wrong?!"
But the spirits kept their silence, and that silence had a very good reason: Iroh knew himself where it all went wrong – when Azula arrived. Zuko's younger sister had an uncanny ability to rattle the prince's cage whenever she wanted to, as today had shown.
Yet, even that was not quite the catalyst, for the last time Zuko and Azula met, it was as foes. Today, however, this was not quite so – today brother and sister fought as allies, and almost destroyed the Avatar!
"Damn it, Zuko," Iroh moaned. "Why did you do it? Do you still think that your honor is worth it? Do you still think that Ozai will welcome you?"
"Well, sir, I think the answers to these questions are a bit more complex than you'd like them to be."
Iroh whirled around. "Who said that?"
"A bit more down, venerable sir, if you please."
Iroh looked down. And gasped. A slim little vixen with dark black fur and glowing eyes was looking at him through the bars on his cell. "Did you just speak to me?" Iroh whispered, feeling very foolish.
"Yes, venerable sir, I just did," the vixen nodded her neat little muzzle.
"I don't believe it! A kitsune!" Iroh whispered with an almost child-like adoration. "But why are you here? Are you here to forebode my doom?"
"No, venerable sir, I bring you news of hope, not despair. You will be freed."
"The Avatar? Is he coming to my aid?" Iroh said incredulously.
"I am afraid not," the vixen shook her muzzle this time. "He got trials of his own to overcome before he is ready to challenge Ozai. I speak of your nephew, Zuko."
"My nephew…" Iroh whispered, his spirits falling once more. "I thought I knew him once, I don't know that that's the case anymore."
"Apparently not, venerable sir, for otherwise you would not try to have him help the Avatar of his own volition. He was not quite ready for that – yet."
"But he freed the Avatar's bison!" Iroh spoke, feeling confused.
"Because you told him to, and he listens and respects you, venerable sir. If you told him to help the Avatar back then, he would've done that too."
"I know that," Iroh shook his head. "But that was not the way! Zuko's destiny-"
"With all due respect, venerable sir," the vixen's voice sharpened, "you really shouldn't talk about your nephew's destiny without putting your own in order!"
"What do you mean?"
"Venerable sir, you're the Dragon of the West, it is not your destiny to serve tea or even sell it!"
Iroh froze, and then he seemed to collapse upon himself. "But is it so wrong-"
"Yes! Realization and repentance is only a part of the process, restitution is there as well! Prince Iroh, I know that your own perception of yourself has changed, but your destiny is written in the stars, and a tea shop is not in them."
"But what is my destiny, then? What can I do here in this cell?"
"For now, sir, just sit, and wait, and see what will come up," the vixen replied, getting back to her feet. "But do not worry – things will get better after this." With these words she turned around and trotted down the corridor, the blackness of her fur merging with the surrounding gloom, leaving Iroh caught between hope, and fear of hoping.