Chapter I: THE AIRBENDER AND THE SON OF THE FIRELORD

In order to understand this, you must yourselves understand that I've played with the characters a bit to suit my story better. If you want an image of the prison, think of Aang's prison during the episode 'The blue spirit'. R&R!


"Prince Zuko", the firelord stated to the large entrance hall, his back turned away from the bowing youth in front of him, "you have disappointed me. We all know that a prince just isn't suitable for the expansive task of being firelord…" He paused, for a dramatic effect, "if he hasn't taken a life by the age of sixteen." Flinging himself around, Fire Lord Ozai turned on the fair skinned boy kneeling before him, the teen's silky black hair streaming down his back, right down to his waist. "Also, a prince must want what is best for his country, is that not right?"

"Father, I don't know what you're talking about! I-"

"Silence!" Roared Ozai, so loud that the entire hall seemed to hold its breath: no one dared to exhale for fear of breaking the icy stillness that echoed throughout the vast chamber.

"There are rumors, Prince Zuko, that you were assisting some men from the water tribe to escape from my wrath in that very prison that we can all see from this window right here."

"No, I would never-"

"You would never what!" The ruler of the fire nation screamed, stunning his already pale son into silence. Behind them both, Princess Azula snickered, but was silenced by her Uncle, General Iroh, also known as the Dragon of the West, with a quick tap on the arm.

"I am sure that you would never betray me, Prince Zuko…"

"Father, thank you! I'm sure tha-"

"But even so, as the first is correct, then you shall suffer anyway, so I see no harm in letting you enjoy both punishments, just as a precaution… such a shame, you used to show much promise… "

Pulling back his hand, Ozai thrust his fist forwards, releasing flame as he did so, then when his fist collided with his son's face, the pain was unbearable for the prince, who almost blacked out from pure shock.

Turning his back once more on the startled teen collapsed at his feet, he raised one hand, summoning some of his guards to take the young prince away.

At Ozai's gesture, ropes were quickly secured around Zuko's hands and feet, and while he struggled, he could not break free from his bonds, but he refused to give up, until one of the guards struck him from behind, rendering him truly unconscious. The last things he had seen were the smirking faces of his father and sister, before darkness took over, and Zuko, crown prince of the fire nation, collapsed on the floor.


That had been almost a month ago. The burn his father had given him still hurt, but not so badly as the searing pain that had come previously. His eyesight had wavered and his left eye had been rendered useless, as was his left ear, and his unkempt raven black hair hung loosely about his shoulders. His only clothes consisted of a black material sewn crudely together with large, uneven stitches, making a rather ragged tunic and a pair of pants, and a plain red belt around his waist, greatly contrasting his prison suit. The only thing he had been allowed to keep was his crown, which tucked into the belt, safe from the prying eyes of guards.

Apart from his rather disheveled appearance, Zuko's time in prison had done nothing for him, except to make him extremely hot tempered, and he would absolutely not cooperate with anyone who came within twenty metres of him, thus, most of the patrolling guards were stationed outside his door, not caring to face the wrath of the captured prince, who was continually spurting fire from his teeth at unsuspectant times, and so far had burnt three or four people, before the soldiers had learned their lesson and stayed away to the extent permitted.

The cell he was being held in was a rather large, spacious room, the walls and floors being made of bright metal that had a reddish hue to it. The space was of no use to the prisoner, though. Zuko, being a fire bender, and a good one at that, was no longer bound with lengths of rope; instead, shackles of blue steel held his wrists and ankles in place on one end, and two heavy posts that had been soldered into the ground on the other, making it so he could not move more than a hands breadth in any direction away for the iron claws that trapped him in this unseemly position.

Zuko was wandering in his mind when Commander Zhao walked into the room, accompanied by Lieutenant Jee and another man Zuko was unfamiliar with, and Zhao, striding up to Zuko, stood straight so that they were level, and looked directly into the molten gold eyes of the prince.

"I never thought I'd find you in here… Prince Zuko" leered Zhao, spitting out the word 'prince' as if it was nothing more than a disgusting piece of dirt that had found its way to the tip of his tongue.

"Commander Zhao, what a pleasant surprise." Zuko replied in much the same tone as Zhao had used, "I certainly wasn't expecting any- uh – superior persons such as yourself to come all this way to see the little prince rotting away in this lonely old place, isn't this little bit far from your usual field?"

As Zhao leaned in closer to the boy so that their noses were almost touching, creating a new record of how close anyone had approached the prince since he had arrived there, Zhao started to whisper something into Zuko's left ear, and Zuko felt the man's stinking breath on his face, so, opening his mouth wide, he roared, sending fire flying, and catching the unsuspecting commander on his right arm as he lifted it to shield his face.

The three men fled the room, lieutenant Jee and the stranger supported Zhao, who was clutching his arm, and as they left, Zuko heard Jee tell one of the guards: "I'm fed up with this one. Listen, I want you to poison the boy's food. Not so much that he'll…"

Zuko turned away. He didn't want to hear any more. Only one thing was for sure in this wretched prison: He wasn't going to be eating anything over the span of the next few days.


"Watch and learn Katara! Now this is how you catch a fish!" Sokka, son of Chief Hakoda of the southern water tribe, was staring intently into the deep crystal blue waters of the icy South Pole seas, spear poised, observing the fish that swam about beneath them, and was about to strike, when his sister called to him, "Sokka, Sokka, look, I caught one, now look!"

"Not now, Katara! Oh, look, I can already smell it cookin'!" He exclaimed, emphasizing on the last four words. He leaned back, preparing to deliver the final blow, when SPLASH!! He didn't know how it happened, but all of a sudden he was soaking wet, and Katara was yelling at him for letting the fish get away.

"But Sokka, I caught one!" she moaned at him.

"I don't care! Seriously! How is it that every time you play with magic water, I end up getting drenched!"

"Sokka, it's not 'magic water', it's waterbending! It's a-"

"Cultural heritage, unique to our nation, yeah, yeah, whatever." Turning back to what he had been doing, Sokka noticed that they were moving, and fast, too! They had been so absent minded when they yelled at each other, neither Sokka nor Katara had noticed that they had drifted right into the centre of the ice flow, and were now headed downstream at a very fast pace.

"Katara, help me!"

"What am I supposed to do, just keep on paddling!", and then, "Go left! No! The other left!" She screamed at her older brother.

Before Sokka had time to react, the two water tribe siblings were stuck, trapped between two icebergs, and before they knew it, the boat was being crushed beneath them as they were flung forwards onto the ice.

"Call that left?" Katara smirked Sokka, when he replied,

"Hey, its not like you were doing anything to help us out! Couldn't you at least have magic watered us out of the iceberg field or something?"

"Are you saying that it's my fault" Katara screamed at him haughtily, not really believing that Sokka could really mean that…right?

"Yep, I am!" He assured her.

"You are the most…." Katara started on a long list of names, and at each word she spoke, the giant iceberg behind her formed large cracks the height of the tent Sokka and Katara lived in, maybe more.

"Have you smelt your dirty socks? Let me tell you, they STINK!!..."

"Um, Katara, -" Sokka started trying to warn her,

"No! You know, I am done taking care of you! From now on, YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN!!

She screamed the last word as loud as she could, causing the humongous towering iceberg behind her to split clean down the middle, and fall into the water as echoes of Katara's voice ricocheted off the blocks of ice surrounding them.

As soon as the words had left her mouth, the force of the huge tower of ice slipping under water knocked Sokka and Katara off their feet. Together, they watched in amazement, as right in front of their eyes, a glowing iceberg popped out of the water. Glancing at it, Katara gasped as a figure inside the block of ice caught her attention, the eyes of a human being flickered open, and without further ado, Katara had grabbed her brother's club, and was frantically trying to break open the ice without success, until she implied her waterbending, and the figure inside the ice cake moved. Slowly, he moved to the top, his arrow tattoos glowing, along with his eyes, mouth, and nostrils, before the lights suddenly dimmed and vanished, and the boy in the iceberg slipped and fell, right into Katara's waiting arms.

After a moment that seemed like an eternity, he seemed to come out of his daze.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Uuhh… sure…" Katara replied, uncertainly.

"Lean closer!" Obliging to the boy's request, Katara bent forwards, when the boys playful gray eyes suddenly popped open, wide awake, and in an excited to of voice, he asked:

"Will you go penguin sledding with me?"

Katara and Sokka just stared.


The day had gone well, Katara thought. Aang, for that was his name, was an airbender, a master airbender, and that was strange in itself, (as she remembered, she snickered, imagining her brother's face when they saw the glowing iceberg pop out of the freezing Antarctic water), but when Aang had introduced them to his pet flying bison, Katara had practically frozen in her place in shock. The creature, introduced to them by Aang as Appa, was a large fluffy beast with a purple arrow on his head, similar to his friends, and the arrow continued in a line right down his back onto his huge beaver-panda like tail. Again, that was odd, but then, the animal had six legs. Six! Katara wondered why it needed all of those extra limbs, but then, this was an airbender's flying bison she was talking about here, not exactly your everyday gibb.

Now Aang was inside the family tent, sleeping soundly. Sokka was still complaining that you couldn't pick up just anybody you found out in the middle of the ocean… "You never know, he could be fire nation in disguise!"

"Yeah, because the fire nation have such a huge supply of airbenders at hand, Sokka."

That comment had shut his up long enough for Katara to run off to find her grandmother, who was cooking over the outdoor fire. She sighed. It was funny how the same element that was trying to take control over them and wipe them out was at the same time necessary for their survival in these hazardous polar conditions. It was so beautiful, yet it inflicted so much pain upon the world.

"Honey? I know you came out here for a reason, don't be shy, just talk to me."

"Ok, Gran Gran, How about this. That boy Sokka and I found in the iceberg was glowing with his tattoos when he popped up out of nowhere, he's a master airbender, and he owns a pet flying bison, he says he knew people that knew the avatar, and he's a bender! A real bender come to the South Pole! Gran Gran, he can teach me! "

"Glowing…" Her grandmother's voice seemed to mix with that of the calm ocean water as she seemed to drift off into dream land.

"Gran Gran?" Katara asked, worriedly. At the sound of Katara's voice, Kana was all of a sudden shoved back into reality.

"Katara, dear, I know your intent on learning waterbending as best you can, but really…" Kana's voice trailed off, but her granddaughter piped up shamelessly,

"Gran Gran! Please! I mean, he looks small and all, but I can sense that he is filled with much wisdom!" At this exclamation, Kana raised her eyebrows uncertainly. Silence settled between the two of them, which was then echoed throughout the entire village.

Finally, Gran Gran broke the silence. "Katara, you'd better go. It seems your friend is waking up."