Chapter 1: Mugicha
A journey begins
Anticipation rises
Dragons await you.
The palace garden looked magical; the full moon coated the trees and flowers in a delicate silver veil and reflected brightly in the pond. For once though, Iroh, Crown Prince of the Fire Nation did not have time to admire their beauty. The fire sages brought him troubling news - time was of essence. He looked up the golden facade of the east wing of the palace; his brother's residence.
"You came here to gloat?" A shadow stepped out from behind a pillow.
"I only want to see my nephew, Ozai." Iroh looked at his brother trying to keep his voice level.
"He's a weakling, lucky if he survives the night." His younger brother said bitterly. "The fire sages cannot even assure me that he has the gift."
"Every life is a gift." Iroh said gently, thinking with heavy heart of his beloved wife and child he had lost in childbirth a few years before. Luckily, he still had Lu Ten. The boy was the joy of his life.
"Don't need your preaching, Iroh. Easy for you to say, your son had the spark. I will not have the shame of my first-born being a non-bender. The fire sages duped father that mixing with Roku's bloodline would produce a strong heir...but all it did was reproduce Roku's weakness..." Iroh sighed. Ozai was wasting a fleeting moment of happiness to complain about something that was beyond their control. But he knew from experience that his arguments would just make Ozai dig his heels in even more.
Instead of continuing with the argument, Iroh entered the residence of his sister-in-law and walked straight to the bassinet, disregarding the bowing servants. The baby looked fragile. His eyes were shut closed, his little forehead distorted in a pained frown, his tiny hands curled into tight fists.
"What a beautiful little prince. Congratulations, Princess Ursa." Iroh smiled at the exhausted woman who laid in her bed under crisp blankets. Iroh knew that Ursa was unhappy in the palace, like a caged songbird. Still, he tried to encourage her to find happiness in what she could. Their long talks of art always felt like a reprieve from endless politics and war meeting. They have become allies; two people who cared more about beauty and joy than about the cold logic of war. Still, duty was something that had to come before personal desires. Or so they were taught.
Ursa did not return the smile. "Ozai is disappointed, I know he expected power and might. But we almost lost him - the cord was wrapped around his neck..." She started to cry.
"Yet he survived, against all odds. You know what I see, Princess Ursa? I see a fighter. I see someone who despite being so small already overcame great obstacles. He was meant to be born." He saw her face light up a little at that comment.
"Thank you, Iroh," she whispered forgetting proper protocol. Iroh just looked in her pale gold eyes, and nodded. Then he turned to the fire sages.
"Why do you think he doesn't have the spark?"
The sages bowed to the crown prince. "Your highness. The boy has not opened his eyes yet, but his chi feels weak. We cannot detect any fire in him."
Iroh scoffed impatiently. "It's the full moon - all our powers are weakened. The little prince just went through quite a trying experience. I, for one, certainly see a spark in him and limitless potential." He caressed the baby's fine hair, his silky face, his little hands. The boy's fingers suddenly curled around his thumb and gripped it with surprising strength. His eyelids fluttered revealing eyes that burned gold like fireflies.
Iroh smiled. "Look at his eyes, it's a rare colour of pure gold. I'm certain he will grow up to be a fine prince we can all be be proud of. I expect this is what your report to the Fire Lord will say too." The fire sages bowed.
Iroh left the room, his steps lighter. Ozai was still brooding in the shadows of the courtyard.
"You are lucky to have a fine son, Ozai. May he bring you a lot of joy." Iroh touched lightly his brother's shoulders in conciliatory gesture, but Ozai just jerked away. Iroh sighed. His relationship with Ozai had always been fraught - but as their father grew older, things felt worse every day. He hoped having a child would temper his brother's quest for power and bring out in him a new appreciation of life. Fatherhood changed people.
On the way back, he stopped in the garden and watched the full moon as it bathed in the pond. It was a beautiful night, indeed.
- 0 - 0-0-
"Prince Zuko, it's time to wake up. We are waiting for you." Zuko stared at the blue and red dragons with awe. They were magnificent creatures as they circled around his head. They hovered in front of the boy; looking at him with pale gold eyes. The red dragon bowed his long neck as if inviting him to come along. Zuko's heart was thumping loudly in his chest as he grabbed the smooth, warm scales. The dragon flew through the window and soared towards the sky. Zuko held tight onto the dragon's neck as they broke through the darkness, the clouds and emerged into the light. The dragon got closer and closer to the golden rays penetrated Zuko's skin filling his body with heat. It started as a pleasant tingling, but increased in intensity until it felt like all his limbs were on fire.
Zuko woke with a jolt. Something stirred in his blood tugging at him, urging him to go outside. He tiptoed carefully out of his room, down the steps of the summer house and walked towards the beach. It was a dark, starless night. He gazed out at the ocean, wondering if the dragons were really there. His heart was beating to the rhythm of the waves crashing against the rocks. He took a couple of deep breaths and felt the first ray of the sun piercing the dark shroud of the night. The boy closed his eyes and let the faint sunlight caress his skin.
Soft footsteps startled him. When he looked up, he saw his uncle and cousin descend on the path. Iroh smiled warmly at him.
"You are up early today, Prince Zuko."
"I had a strange dream, Uncle." Zuko greeted them with a bow. "I went riding with two dragons."
Iroh's eyes widened slightly. "Two dragons? What did they look like?"
"There was a blue and a red one and they were huge, yet graceful. Do you think there are real dragons, Uncle?" Zuko asked hopefully.
Lu Ten chuckled. "Don't you know, Zuko, that father conquered the last living dragon?"
Zuko looked at his uncle with badly veiled dismay. Why would anyone want to hurt such magnificent beasts was beyond him.
"It makes me sad to think there aren't any left," he whispered even though he was old enough to know that he was expected to praise his uncle's heroic feat. Iroh didn't seem to notice his rudeness, instead he looked at Zuko pensively.
"Care to join us? There is nothing like the rising sun of the summer solstice to practice firebending."
"I'm sorry, Uncle, I'm not a firebender yet." Zuko hung his head. His sister started bending already the previous summer, while Zuko has not yet been able to produce a single spark. His sixth birthday was looming - it was extremely rare for bending abilities to manifest beyond that age.
His father has been growing more impatient with him by the day, and Zuko anxiously worked with firebending masters, without any results. It was a great source of frustration and shame for the young prince .
His uncle patted his shoulder. "Nothing to be sorry about. The fire is inside you, I have no doubt."
"Stay with us, and after practice I'll show you the firehawk nest I found. The little firehawks just hatched the other day and they do look like baby dragons," Lu Ten whispered in his ears. Zuko grinned; going exploring with his big cousin was one of his favourite things in the world. Lu Ten knew all kinds of secret hiding places and fun cliff-climbing paths. He taught Zuko to sneak soundlessly, jump over rocks and climb onto the roof of the summer house much to his mother's dismay. He nodded. It wouldn't hurt to practice.
"Fire starts with breath." Iroh said and sat down cross-legged at the edge of the cliff. The two boys followed his example. "Now just let your breath feed your inner fire."
Zuko tried to follow his uncle's slow, deep breaths. He closed his eyes and thought of the dragons from his dream. He could feel the warmth of their fire spread around his body. He imagined their flames expanding with each breath.
After what seemed like an interminable time of meditation, they switched to fireblasts. Zuko copied the fluid movements of his uncle and cousin. He took a deep breath, then pushed forward his arm in a forceful movement, as he had done hundreds of times before, expecting the same disappointment as always. Instead, he felt an unfamiliar tingling in his palms. He thought of the dragons again, and repeated the movement - this time the tingling intensified and a large orange flame escaped from his fist.
"Did you see that? I'm a firebender," the boy yelled with excitement. "I'm a firebender!" Lu Ten picked him up and spun him around joyously.
"You are, Zuko, I've never had any doubt. But even more impressively you are someone who never gives up." Iroh gave him a hug.
Zuko looked at them in triumph. His heart was beating joyously. "I'm ready to try a different move!"
Iroh let out a thunderous laugh. "Always in such a hurry, Prince Zuko."
"What's going on here?" Asked Ozai who emerged from the house and joined them on the beach.
Zuko bowed to his father respectfully. "Look, father, what I can do." He took a deep breath and repeated the fire fist move.
Ozai watched the orange flame with the faintest hint of a smile. "So, the fire sages were right after all. You do have the spark, even if it's not as strong as befit a royal blood. You'll have to work very hard, if you want to catch up with your sister." He put his hand on Zuko's shoulder.
The boy's chest swell with pride; finally his father saw it too. "I will, father. I will do whatever it takes," he promised.
-0-0-0-
"You are doing it wrong again, Zuko." Azula yelled with frustration as she landed on her backside in the soft sand. "You have to fall over when I push you."
"Why?" Zuko asked from behind the mask.
"Because you are the evil water spirit and I'm the dragon emperor. That's how the story goes - the dragon emperor always wins. You have to fall over." Azula's voice had a slightly irritated edge. She did not like to explain things more than once.
Zuko didn't think that the game was a lot of fun this way. When he wrestled with Lu Ten, they never decided in advance who would win. "Well, then make me," he growled at her defiantly. He may have been way behind when it came to firebending, but at least in hand-to-hand combat he could hold his own against his perfect sister.
Azula's lips curled into a knowing smirk - as if she already won. Zuko knew from experience that the grin meant she had a plan to give her the upper hand, but he stubbornly ignored the inner voice whispering inside him to just back down.
"As you want, brother." Azula hissed and put back the dragon mask. She waved her red ribbon and started circling around Zuko. "Evil spirit, your end is waiting for you," she recited dramatically the lines from the play they watched the night before in the local theatre.
Zuko spun around with his blue ribbon. "You misunderstand me - it is my destiny…"
Azula interrupted him angrily. "That's not how it goes, dumdum."
"Whatever," Zuko shrugged and skipped closer to his sister waving his ribbon. He raised his leg, about to trip Azula, but she stepped back and hurled a hot flame at him, singeing the edge of his tunic. Zuko lost his balance and landed in the sand. Azula was in an instant on top of him, her fist engulfed in a large hot flame which she held right above his masked face.
"I defeated you, evil spirit. Now yield or accept the consequences." Her voice was commanding and cold.
"We are not supposed to firebend at each other." Zuko stuttered in shock.
"Admit you are scared. You can never win, evil water spirit. Your power is nothing compared to mine. Yield or die."
Zuko didn't know what to do. Azula always turned their games into a deadly blood sport. He knew all he had to do was admit defeat, but the words were stuck in his throat. "Azula…" he whispered.
"What's going on?" He heard his mother's voice. Zuko saw her approaching with Uncle Iroh down the sandy path.
Azula lowered her fist and her voice immediately transformed into a sweet, innocent tone. "We are just playing the game based on the play. Would you like to see it, Mother?"
Ursa smiled at them warmly. "I would love to. What a handsome Dragon Emperor and Blue Spirit you two make."
"Come Zuko. Show mother what you learnt." Azula continued sweetly, though Zuko could hear the menace in her voice.
"I don't feel like playing anymore," he sulked and took off his mask.
"Oh, I was really looking forward to seeing it," his mother said with a wistful smile. "Don't you agree, Prince Iroh?"
Iroh looked in Zuko's direction, his knowing glance not missing the burn spot on his tunic. The boy felt that his intense gaze could see under his mask, could sense the hurt, the doubt, the pain.
Iroh smiled back at Ursa. "I'm sure your children inherited your talent for the arts."
Zuko took a deep breath. He didn't want to give Azula her win, but he also didn't want to disappoint his mother. The latter sentiment won out. He put the mask back on and performed his assigned role, falling over on Azula's cue. Ursa and Iroh watched the reenactment and clapped enthusiastically at the end. "Wonderful. I'm so proud of both of you" Ursa smiled and gave a hug to Azula. "Isn't it so much better when you get along with your brother?"
Azula cast a triumphant glance at Zuko and walked towards the summer house holding their mother's hand. Iroh looked at the boy.
"You did very well, Prince Zuko. Real strength is knowing when to be weak." Uncle Iroh was like that - he often spoke in cryptic proverbs which Zuko could not understand. Still the reassuring weight of his hands on Zuko's shoulders made him feel like that he managed to make the right choice.
-0-0-0-
"I wish I could go with you and Lu Ten, Uncle!" Zuko set cross-legged, sharing tea with his uncle and cousin. Excitement glimmered in their eyes as they talked about conquering the great city of Ba Sing Se. Lu Ten had shown Zuko his magnificent, new armour, decorated in the colours of the royal family. He already looked like the hero Zuko always wanted to be.
Uncle Iroh smiled fondly at Zuko. "Don't be impatient, Zuko. Your time will come, maybe sooner than you would like."
"Still, I'd like to go now - I could watch your back." Zuko offered. "I already know the basic forms."
"And if you keep practicing your firebending, when I lead my own army, I promise, Zuko, you'll be there by my side." Lu Ten gave wrapped his arms around Zuko's shoulders. "Just imagine all the places we'll conquer together."
"But first you have to learn about all those places, Zuko. So you need to pay attention to you lessons," Iroh added with a fond smile. Zuko just hung his head."What is it my boy?"
"I will be lonely here without you." Zuko muttered. Lu Ten and uncle Iroh were always in his corner. Without them, the palace would become a less forgiving place.
"We will write to you, I promise. And we will be back in a few months." Iroh promised.
Zuko stood up to leave. He was a prince of the Fire Nation, and a new military campaign was supposed to fill him with pride, not with childish concerns for himself. He put his hands together and bowed stiffly to his uncle and cousin. "I wish you success."
Iroh opened his arms and Zuko ran into his warm embrace, trying to hide his tears. Lu Ten ruffled his hair and hugged him too.
Zuko left the room without turning back, afraid that they would see the sadness on his face. His father always scolded him for showing too much emotion - another way he failed to measure up. Unlike Azula, Zuko didn't know how to hide his feelings. He hurried through the corridors of the palace holding back the tears burning in his eyes. When he got to his room, he threw himself on his bed and started to sob.