A Second Date and another Chance
Zuko lay in bed; though he wasn't sleeping. In fact it was quite the opposite, he was wide awake and he was deep in thought. He and his Uncle Iroh were refugees and had just settled down to live in Ba Sing Se. Uncle Iroh was going around as if everything was wonderful; but Zuko on the other hand had a grittier outlook on their life. He hated it here, this city was a prison and he couldn't wait to get out. Unfortunately he didn't know if he ever would get out.
They had no sooner gotten in when they were suddenly attacked by a crazy guy named Jet who called himself a Freedom Fighter. He had a vendetta against Zuko and Iroh and he went to great lengths to achieve his mission. Fortunately Jet was arrested and was carted off too who knows where. "Like I give a damn!" thought Zuko to himself. Of course life hadn't been all bad. A few days after the fight, a girl named Jin had taken an interest in Zuko. Zuko in a bit of paranoia thought that she knew who he was. When he told Iroh about it, his uncle just laughed and said that Jin had a crush on his nephew. Zuko was a bit confused, but with a little persuasion from his uncle he accepted Jin's offer of a date.
The date went off at a rocky start, but Jin neither seemed to notice or care. It ended when she wanted to show Zuko, whom she knew as Lee what a beautiful site a specific fountain was at night. It was supposed to be all lit up by candles, but when they reached their destination the candles weren't lit. Jin was disappointed, but Zuko told her to close her eyes while he lit the candles with Fire-Bending. When Jin opened her eyes she got a welcome surprise. "Oh wow! How did you?..." Zuko only answered with a small smile. Jin grabbed his hand and tried to kiss him ; but Zuko blocked her by thrusting a coupon between their faces. It was a tea coupon for the shop that Zuko and Iroh worked at. Zuko explained that his uncle thought that she was their best customer and told him to give the coupon to her. Jin then told Zuko to close his eyes while she gave his present. She gave him a small kiss. Zuko returned it briefly but pulled away with a shocked and almost pained expression. When Jin asked him what was wrong he simply said "It's complicated" and walked away.
When Zuko returned Iroh asked "How was your date Prince Zuko?" Zuko's response was to slam the door to his room. Iroh looked away disappointed, but Zuko opened the door a crack and told him sadly that "It was nice" before sliding the door shut again. After the date, life began to get even better at least for Iroh. A rich man came in and offered Iroh his own Tea Shop if he would work for him. Iroh would have complete license of creativity and ownership of the shop. Iroh promptly accepted, but Zuko just went outside to be alone; when a flyer fell into his hand "It's the Avatar's pet bison!" thought Zuko; "I'll be sure to catch him now."
Zuko went off on his search for Appa, Aang's bison. He had managed to find the beast's whereabouts by threatening a Dai Li agent, one of the same agents that arrested Jet. Zuko found Appa, but was soon confronted by no other than his Uncle Iroh who had stealthily followed him. "So it's The Blue Spirit, I wonder who's under the mask?" Iroh asked sarcastically. Zuko took of the mask and revealed himself to his Uncle. "What are you doing here Uncle?" he asked. "I was just about to ask you the same thing. What do you plan to do now that you've found the Avatar's bison? Keep it locked in our new apartment? Should I go put on a pot of tea for him." "First I have to get it out of here..."
"And then what!? You never think these things through! This is exactly what happened when you captured the Avatar at the North Pole. You had him, and then you had NOWHERE TO GO!!!" "I would have figured something out!" "No! If his friends hadn't found you, you would have frozen to death!" "I know my own destiny, Uncle!" "Is it your own destiny? Or is it a destiny someone else has tried to force on you?" "Stop it, Uncle! I have to do this!" "I'm begging you, Prince Zuko! It's time for you to look inward and begin asking yourself the big questions: Who are you? And what do you want?"
Zuko threw down his swords and his mask in a rage. "I know that this is difficult for you." Iroh began again, "but you have to let the Avatar go." "But it's my destiny Uncle!" Zuko shouted. "If capturing the Avatar was your destiny then you would have succeeded already." "I'm sorry to say this, but you are no longer a Prince of The Fire Nation. You will never regain your honor, your throne or your Father's love. You have to let the Avatar go, because by letting the Avatar go you are also freeing yourself from this heavy burden that you are carrying around. Let the Avatar go Zuko."
Zuko fell to his knees and wept bitterly. After a few more minutes of contemplation Zuko freed Appa from his chains and let the bison out of his cell. As Zuko and Iroh climbed out of Lake Laogai, the under water facility where Appa was being held, Zuko took out the Blue Spirit Mask to look at it one more time. "Let it go Zuko" Iroh said gently. Zuko slowly released the mask and let it sink into the obscurity of the lake. Iroh then hugged Zuko and they began the journey to their new home.
All these thoughts and memories of the past few days and weeks zoomed around in Zuko's head, they were preventing him from sleeping; but eventually sleep fell upon Zuko and he didn't wake up until late the next morning. After he had woken up he was greeted by Iroh who told him with a smile that he had a visitor. It was Jin "Hi Lee" she said "can I talk to you" "Uh sure…" he responded nervously. When they had found a private place to talk Zuko asked "what do want to talk about?" "I know why you ran away" she said. Zuko tried to mask an expression of dread and horror but was unsuccessful. "Maybe she doesn't know anything" he tried to tell himself, but this didn't cheer him up at all. "Go on" said Zuko trying to remain calm. "It's because you're a Fire-Bender aren't you?" Zuko sighed, he had to admit this girl was smart; it would be useless to try and lie to her. "Yes, I am" he said through gritted teeth.
Zuko tried to relax and asked in a forced pleasant tone. "So, uh… How did you figure it out?" "How else could you have lit those candles so fast?" replied Jin smartly with a coy smirk. Zuko was caught off guard, how could he have been so stupid? Lighting those candles with Fire-Bending, even if there wasn't anybody else around it was still a stupid thing to do. Zuko could have cursed himself; Jin must have seen the look of distress on his face because she said "Don't worry I won't tell anyone." "You won't?" Zuko asked surprised. "No I won't" "Why not?" he asked dumbly "Because as I said before I like you." She then gave him a kiss on the lips, and Zuko despite himself returned it. "So is Lee your real name?" "It is now" Zuko replied.