Zuko was having night terrors again. This time, they were about someone he loved. He was glad that he had his own room at the Western Air Temple, so no one would notice the cold sweats and the muffled screams.
The prince had more than his share of horrible experiences to haunt his dreams. He had been tortured, rejected, abandoned, taunted and mocked by his family. As royalty, the pressure to perform well and meet impossible expectations was always driving him, whispering words of failure in his ears.
Over the past year alone, he had endured more physical punishment than most men experience in a lifetime. He had held his breath and swam through arctic waters, starved in the desert sun, and was beaten in countless bending battles and sword fights.
Zuko was used to bad dreams.
So when I say that this was a night terror, I want you to understand what kind of heart-stopping horror could bring a man like this to his knees.
It always began in a safe place – his favorite place. He was happy, feeding the turtle-ducks. He could smell the warm, blossom-scented air. He tasted the stale roll, and felt the crumbs in his hands. When the mother turtle-duck flew out of the water and pinched him, hard, in a place where turtle-ducks should never go, it felt very real. Then the horror began, as the angry mother looked him in the eyes and spoke in a familiar voice, "…you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore, because I will end it…."
The turtle-duck had remarkable blue eyes.