"I asked you where my mother is."
He continued to sit in his corner and sulk.
"I imagine you never loved her."
Still nothing. Zuko shrugged his shoulders and left. He really wished there was a way to squeeze something out of Ozai. The man was becoming sickly and frail, too weak to survive the treatment of a prisoner. Was there any way to break him? His mind began to wander.
The first few weeks as Fire Lord was mostly spent kissing up to all the people Ozai had hurt. But finally he had gotten away from calling him 'father.' No, he no longer deserved that title anymore. The only reason he was still alive was because the Avatar wished it, and Zuko knew he knew the location of his mother, or at least a lead.
Was that why he was so stubborn? Did he know that he wasn't disposable?
Suddenly, a loud thud rang out through the building as it shook. An attack?
When he got outside, he found the guards struggling to contain some mass of silver without getting hit by the flailing tail. It was moving so fast that it was hard to tell what it was. He gasped when he finally made it out. It was a dragon! Running forward, he began to order everyone back. The dragon seemed to have a net wrapped around its eyes, so it couldn't see. If Uncle Iroh were here, his tsungi horn could calm it down. It seemed to have sensed him, as it stopped thrashing and turned its head towards him. It drew its head close to him, so close that if it weren't for the net, destroying the human on the spot wouldn't be hard.
Zuko slowly reached his hand out. The dragon breathed in deep, then blasted his breath in a powerful exhale. It smelled only slightly like fish, but there was a strange other smell that he couldn't identify. It was a beautiful aroma though. The dragon rested his head on the ground and rumbled slightly. Zuko grabbed a set of swords off one of the guards and sliced across the net in a set of fluid spins. The dragon tilted his head and shook off the net. Once it opened its eyes, Zuko could see they were a strange but exotic green. Looking at him, it smiled, then leaned in close to him. One of the long whiskers flowing from behind its nose reached out and pressed his forehead. He could hear a strange voice in his head.
"Since you're not my rider, this is the only way I can communicate with you. My name is Cloudwalker. You can call me Clow if you feel like it. I want to say thank you for cutting that net. I must return home, but I assure you that you will see me again. And it should be very soon I imagine. I bid you farewell for now, Fire Lord Zuko."
Clow lifted his head and in a powerful wing beat, took off. Many of the men were dazzled by the fact that they saw a dragon. Unfortunately, Zuko heard some of them berate themselves for not taking the opportunity to slay it. One can only say that those men didn't fare well that day….
Well, that's all I have so far. Keep in touch!
