She had been there, that day. A young man with dual swords had began a fight with some men on the main road of the town. As a traveller herself, a refugee, she had thought nothing of the fight. She would mind her own business; she had given up fighting and was only here to get herself food and water before she continued travelling. It was the sudden heat, the unmistakable feeling of the flames, that finally made her turn towards the fight, just in time to see the scarred boy fling himself towards the man he was fighting, engulfed in the flames of his own making. It took her only a moment to recognize the face of the Prince of the Fire Nation, the now banished Prince Zuko. She watched as he flung flames towards the Earth Bender who foolishly continued to fight. Within moments the man was buried beneath a cascade of his own element.
"Who... who are you?" he managed.
"My name is Zuko, son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai, Prince of the Fire Nation and heir to the throne." He said the words with pride and dignity as he sheathed his swords.
For a moment nobody moved. Even she, herself, stood still, waiting for the reaction of the people. A few voices began to whisper and the sound bubbled through the crowd as they digested the information.
Finally, an elderly man stepped out and spoke. "Liar! I heard of you! You're not a Prince, you're an outcast!" He turned to the crowd and gestured at the Prince, "His own father burned and disowned him!"
She watched as the young man closed his eyes; he knew the words were true, but he didn't react. Instead, he stepped toward the man he had been fighting and removed something from his belt.
"Not a step closer!" an exhausted looking woman said as the Prince moved toward what appeared to be her son. He spoke quietly to the boy, his voice carried back to her on the wind, "It's yours, you should have it."
But the boy spat in his face, words loud enough that the whole crowd could hear, "No! I hate you!"
As the boy and his mother turned away from him, so did the rest of the crowd. The Prince mounted his ostrich horse without missing a beat, and ushered it forward. She stood frozen to her spot, watching the young man ride out of the town as he was pelted with vegetables by the crowd. As he road off into the sunset like a hero, rather than a banished prince, she slid the water container down to the ground and moved quickly back to the counter where she has been purchasing food before she had felt the caress of the flames. She knew she would have to move quickly now.
It was difficult work keeping up with him, given that she was on foot but he had an ostrich horse. But then again, she knew she had been on the run for much longer than he had. In a way, it was almost restful for her as she followed the banished prince. She would wake at dawn only to find that he was still sleeping soundly, and on that first night, she had actually walked right into his camp, as he stopped to rest for the night a few full hours before dusk. In any other situation she would likely feel as if no progress were being made, but right now she wasn't even sure what her plan was.
When she had first seen Prince Zuko in the small town she had acted on impulse to trail him. Her emotions had essentially got the best of her. It was his family that had ruined her life, they had been the reason she had been on the run for so long. These thoughts were what had initially bound her to him, but as time passed she was beginning to become unsure of what that meant.
After a few days she could tell that he was beginning to weaken. He began to rest for even longer periods than he had in the first two days and in turn she spent a much larger amount of time gathering and fishing for her own meals. She had seen that he wasn't a very skilled fisherman and didn't seem to possess the basic knowledge for foraging. Of course, she thought to herself, he's a Prince! He's never had to do this before in his life! The idea was almost laughable. If only he knew what his family put others through.
It wasn't until the fourth day, as she returned from the river with three fish on her line, that she realized she wasn't the only one tracking the Prince. Near his resting place, but far enough away that it would never be obvious to him, was a few fruits tossed on the ground to look as if they had fallen from a tree. Of course, she knew that they hadn't, but Zuko was inexperienced and would likely eat them thinking fate had finally dealt him a good hand.
"So," a voice came from behind her. "You have been following my nephew."
She tried to disguise her surprise. It was rare that anybody was able to sneak up on her, but standing below a tree just behind her was a short, balding man with a long grey beard.
Composing herself, she placed a hand on her hip and sent the accusation right back. "Well, you have clearly been following me."
"Not on purpose. On the contrary, I have also been following my nephew," the old man laughed deeply.
His laughter took her by surprise. "Why follow your own nephew?"
The old man simply shook his head. "Come, we must let my nephew find this fruit before he starves. I'm afraid he isn't a survivalist like us!"
She hesitated, looking between the man and the direction in which she knew the Prince was. Was he trying to distract her so she lost his trail? There was no way he could guess who she was, so he likely didn't pose any real threat to her, but she knew exactly who he was; The Dragon of the West, General Iroh, the brother of the Fire Lord and, the man who had laid seige to Ba Sing Se for 600 days. He wasn't any less responsible for the death of her family than his brother or his nephew.
As she turned to walk away from him though, something caught her eye, a flash of something she knew well enough that even after it had disappeared from his hand, and he had turned to walk away, she knew she was going to follow him. A white lotus tile.
This man, of all people, she asked herself. This man is a member of the White Lotus?
She could hear the smile in his voice as he walked away, "Let us have a cup of tea and I will explain everything."