A gray and ugly post-revolution igloo building with a sign above the door that identifies it: "Young Comrades Without Parents" sits in the ruins of a once great nation. The majestic buildings and palaces that once adorned the ice city were now crumbled and grayed, the white purity of the atmosphere long gone.
Inside the building, children of all ages clean the cold, gray dormitory. Their clothes are ragged and they look underfed. Busy laying out animal furs, 18 year old Tara is pretty, despite the boy's hand-me-down clothes she is forced to wear. Unlike the others, she is determined not to let her surroundings get to her, so she merrily hums a tune.
The door suddenly slams open and Smellerbee, an eight year old child who is clearly terrified, comes running in followed by Li, a huge woman carrying a leather whip.
"Tara! Tara!" Smellerbee shrieks in a panic.
All of the other kids turn away, not wanting to get involved. Tara focuses on Smellerbee who is shivering with fright and on the verge of tears as Li approaches, swinging the strap menacingly.
"You can't get away from me now!" Li threatens, advancing on the young girl.
Tara flickers her wrist, water melting from the wall and running right under Li's unsuspecting foot. Li's feet fly out from under her and she smashes to the floor. Smellerbee hops over her huge body and runs to Tara for safety. Some of the other kids glance over. A chubby girl and a very pretty little girl look at Tara with great admiration – some of the others think she's crazy. Li rises, covered with soap bubbles and spins on Tara who gives her a very innocent smile.
"You! You did this!" Li accuses angrily, pointing at Tara who shrugs. Some of the other children laugh as the disheveled woman trips over the polar bear rugs on the floor. She spins on them, her back to Tara.
"Brats! There'll be no super for any of you! Back to work!" She commands, all the while behind her, Tara mimics her outraged face and angry gestures perfectly, causing the children to laugh harder.
Li spins and almost catches Tara. She advances as Smellerbee hides behind Tara's legs.
"Don't touch her." Tara warns. Li turns her glare on the defiant young woman.
"You ragged, skinny little NOTHING! I have had just about enough of you…" Li raises her hand to slap Tara, who holds her ground. Suddenly, Li sniffs the air. As the horrible smell reaches the kids, they all make faces and hold their noses. Li first sniffs under her raised arm, then realizes the cause of the stench.
"Comrade Zhao!" Li says while straightening herself out nervously – this Zhao must be someone very important.
Comrade Zhao stands in the doorway, lecherously eyeing the girls. He is a huge, fleshly man with facial features which are reminiscent of a fish. Li's tone suddenly changes, a flirtatious edge taking over.
"Comrade Zhao! What a lovely surprise! What brings you here?"
"I need…a worker." His eye catches Tara as he looks her up and down, his beady eyes showing a touch of lust for her. "I will take her." He leans close to Tara. "Tomorrow you begin your life's work in my tiger seal factory. You'll start by cutting off the fins – but if I'm pleased with you, you just may move up to cutting off the heads. How does that sound?"
"About as bad as you smell!" At Tara's outburst, Li moves between them, pulling Zhao away.
"No, no Comrade – you don't want her…" She stuttered anxiously.
"I want her." Zhao's voice was cold and flat, his eyes never moving from Tara.
"That horrible, skinny thing?! She's crazy – she has no memory of anything before she came here! She didn't even know her name! That one is a rotten troublemaker, willful…"
"I'll break her will," Zhao said cutting Li off. "I shall come for you tomorrow at dawn." He says, gliding his thick finger down her cheek before Tara jerks away. "You'll enjoy serving under me."
Tara doesn't miss the threat in his words, or their double meaning. She shutters as Zhao smiles in obvious anticipation before he exits.
"I couldn't break you, but he can!" Li shouted in triumph before turning to leave in a huff. Tara does one more imitation of her, making the children laugh. But as Tara turns away from her audience, her façade fades as she realizes the terror of her future.
When the sun sets, the children huddle in their cots under tattered, thin animal skins. Tara is fully dressed, illuminated by the light of a full moon. She quietly opens the window to the dorm and is about to climb out when she looks at the sleeping children and smiles sadly. She walks over to Smellerbee's bed and puts one hand lovingly on her head and then reaches over and takes the hand of a sleeping little girl, who opens her eyes and smiles.
"Tara?" Smellerbee calls out loudly, the other children waking up as Tara gently shushes her. "Are you running away?" Her voice is now a whisper.
"No. I'm running to." She corrected.
"Running to? Running to what?" The little girl holding Tara's hand asks in confusion.
"To find my home."
"But you are home." A chubby twelve year old girl says, looking at Tara sadly.
"No. This isn't a home – it's just a building. Home is where you belong and none of us belong here."
"Where is your home, Tara?" Smellerbee asks quietly.
"I'm not sure, but look," Tara shows Smellerbee the key around her neck, revealing the inscription on the back.
"It says "Together in the North." I was wearing this when I came here ten years ago – it's the only way that I know – that I must have been somebody someone loved."
"Is your home in the North?" The chubby girl asked and Tara felt the charm's smooth surface between her fingers.
"It might be. I have to go and find out." Tara smiles lovingly at the children, her heart breaking at the thought of having to leave them. "I have to go now, before it gets light."
"But what if we can't ever find where we came from?!" Smellerbee asked anxiously as Tara placed a hand on her small warm cheek.
"Then you'll have to make your own home. Lots of people do." Tara embraces the children and walks to the window.
"Tara! What if we can't find anyone who loves us?" Tara can hear the sadness and nervousness in her gentle voice.
"Then come find me." Smellerbee noticeably relaxes and cuddles into her bed as Tara smiles lovingly before crawling out of the window. The window isn't too high from the ground, but far enough Tara can't simply fall. She pushes off the building and quickly raises her hands up and the snow beneath her rises and breaks her fall. She exhales in relief and stands, starting off into the darkness.
A glorious bright dawn creeps over the horizon. Tara stands at the edge of the hill, looking down on the city that still holds an aura of elegance and magic. Tara passes through the countryside toward the city; a peasant family waves to her as she goes by as a very fancy sleigh zooms by. People stare at her as she walks into the edge of the city. She is captivated by all the activity, something going on in every corner of the majestic city.
Tara does not see a cute little polar bear puppy with a large bone in his mouth, being chased along the sidewalk by a pack of much larger dogs until he bolts across Tara's path forcing her to skid to a stop. She watches him as he scoots into an alley, followed by the pack. On reflex, Tara runs into the alley after him.
The little puppy is trapped as the pack surrounds him, ready to pounce when Tara leaps into the middle of the circle. The pack is startled, but begins to advance on both Tara and the puppy. Tara crouches, her arms rising fluidly beside her as the snow surrounding them rises, forming a graceful tornado. It's nothing that hurts the pack but it is enough to startle them. To scare them off for good, she blows the snow drift out to the pack and watches as they turn off running. Tara turns to the puppy that looks up at her gratefully, wagging his tail. Tara picks up the bone and puts it back in his mouth.
"I think you should be more careful about who you invite to dinner!" Tara teases as the puppy nods and lets out a soft bark. Tara pats him and turns to continue on her journey.
In the streets of the Southern City, Tara doesn't see the little puppy running like a little maniac behind her. Tara approaches a tall white building with a sign that reads "The People's Bureau of Bureaucracy." She heads up the stairs, the puppy breathing heavily from his run as he continues following her. He almost reaches her when the heavy door slams in his face. He slumps against it, panting. Tara enters and stops when she sees lines and lines of people which seem to go on forever. She walks down the side of one line, trying to figure out which one to stand in.
"Could someone tell me…"
"End of the line!" One of the citizen shouts.
"Which line?"
"Any line."
Tara takes an annoyed step at the back of the nearest line and waits. As she gets closer to the window she leans towards the person in front of her.
"Is this the right line to get papers to travel?"
"Travel? Travel to where?" The old man asks exasperated.
"To the North Pole. I have to get to the North Pole."
"The North Pole?! What do they have in the North Pole that they don't have here?" He seemed insulted by her suggestion and Tara sighs in frustration. She finally reaches the window and looks up innocently at the hard looking man.
"Is this where I get traveling papers?"
"Exit visa!" He demands, worn lines on his face from the apparent permanent scowl that graces it.
"Exit visa?"
"No exit visa, NO TICKET!" He shouts, slamming the window shut in her face. Tara jumps back and huffs. Rude.
An old woman behind her taps Tara's shoulder, her wrinkled form reaching towards Tara's lean figure.
"Pss!" She hisses, her hand cupping her mouth in a whisper. "See Zuko! He can help you." Tara's eyes raise in interest as she bends down to the old woman.
"Where can I find him?" Tara whispers excitedly.
"In the old palace. But you did not hear it from me!"
Tara nods in understanding, turning as the old woman motions for her to go. Tara thinks silently for a moment before a smile graces her lips.
"Zuko."
Tara wades into the crowded street, the small puppy getting tangled in the legs of waiting citizens as he chases after her. Tara stops suddenly, sniffing the air. Her eyes widen as she recognizes the stench that is floating through the air. She spins around and sees Zhao directly across the street. Zhao is on a mission to find her and almost as if he can sense her, he turns just as a sleigh passes by.
Tara moves quickly and grabs onto the side of the sleigh as it slides across the street. The puppy looks, his face dropping knowing he'll never catch up to her now. Suddenly, the sleigh hits a hole in the street and Tara is knocked off into the slushy snow. Happily, the puppy trots off in her direction.
Tara approaches a café and approaches two peasants.
"Excuse me, where can I find the old palace?" She asks, but is quickly shooed away. A passerby who overhears her question stops and leans to Tara in a whisper.
"It could be that way…if you just follow the grayed snow path!" He pointed along the street and Tara sees what he is referring to. "But you didn't hear it from me!"
"I wish they'd stop saying that!" She says to herself as the puppy barks, getting Tara's attention.
"What are you doing…" Just then, she catches another whiff of something foul in the air. Tara ducks quickly into a doorway and loses the puppy. She peeks out and sees a garbage wagon full of dead fish and rotten food pass by. She signs with relief; it wasn't Zhao, it just smelled like him.
Tara starts back on the path to what she hopes will lead to the palace.
Inside a theatre a few blocks from the city square, a waiting room is filled with young women of various shapes and sizes, reading aloud from a piece of paper. We hear many variations of "Oh, Gran Gran! It's me, Katara. I've waited so long to see you."
On the stage, an actress stands in front of two men, one old pump man with a jolly smirk on his face, and another younger man in his early 20s with a very defining scar along the left side of his face, covering the whole of his eye.
"Nice, nice, very nice." Iroh chants sarcastically as the young man next to him shakes his head, looking to him with amazement etched on his face, and not in a good way. Iroh looks to Zuko and snickers louder at his reaction. "O-ok. Thank you." Iroh says as Zuko scribbles the name out in front of him. "Next please!"
Another girl takes her spot, one that immediately proves to be a hundred times worse. She throws her over-sized coat to the ground revealing a bone-thin body and as she opens her mouth to speak, a harsh, deep set voice comes out and Zuko shudders. He sits with his mouth open in astonishment as Iroh's head drops in defeat to the table below.
"Oh brother." Zuko scowls while crossing out another name.
The night continues in this fashion, none of the girls matching Zuko's vision of the perfect princess. By the end of the night, the two leave the theatre together.
"I don't know how many more of these I can sit through, Iroh, all of these girls; none of them have even come close to passing as Katara. It's no use." Zuko says in defeat as Iroh wraps a comforting arm around the young man.
"Patience Zuko, she is here somewhere. For all we know, she could be right under our noses!" Iroh encourages optimistically.
Tara is running up the stairs as Zuko walks out and they collide; her forehead banging Zuko right under his nose. Zuko grabs his upper lip in pain, over dramatizing the injury.
"Ouch!"
"I'm sorry…I'm…" Tara begins before looking at Zuko. She stops, her train of thought gone at the sight of the large scar covering his face, but Zuko is too concerned with his mouth to notice.
"That's quite a hard head you've got there, boy."
Tara raises her eyebrows at his comment, but realizes that in her old hand-me-down boy clothes and hat pulled low, she could easily be mistaken for a boy.
"I'm looking for Zuko. I need traveling papers – to the North Pole. I heard Zuko could help me."
Zuko and Iroh exchange a wary look. Zuko looks around and motions to Iroh to handle it while he walks ahead nonchalantly.
"Who did you hear it from?" Iroh asks kindly.
"I heard it from everyone who said I didn't hear it from them! Do you know Zuko?" Tara is clearly frustrated but is determined not to give up and keeps up with Iroh who is now walking after Zuko.
"Providing travel papers is illegal!" Iroh says loudly for show before bending down closer to the young woman. "I know Zuko well – perhaps I can help you. Provided you have enough money to pay for this service."
"Well, I don't have any money." Tara says in embarrassment as Iroh smiles.
"Good day!" He says patting her on the head before walking away.
"Maybe I can sell something…" She begins desperately, looking around herself for anything valuable. She grabs her necklace, but immediately turns away that idea. When she looks up, Iroh is gone. She sighs and sits down as the puppy hops on her lap.
"Sorry boy, I have to go." She says, patting his head gently. The puppy barks as she stands. "No, you can't come with me. I'm leaving." Once again, the puppy barks and she laughs.
"Listen little guy, I have no money, no food, and no way to get to the North Pole. I'm the last person you should be following!" She pats him once more on the head before taking off in the direction of Iroh and Zuko.
Tara spots Iroh and Zuko turning the corner in the distance. She runs, trying to catch up with them. She turns the corner and stops, seeing the palace in the distance, only now it's run down and partially burned. Tara is taken back. She stares, fascinated by it, moved by it. As the sun sets behind the palace, it's bathed in a beautiful golden light.
Inside the palace, Iroh is cooking a pot of tea on a small fire while Zuko is sitting by the window, staring at the music box that Katara dropped the night of the revolution.
"Even if we find her, what makes you think the empress will even see us?" Iroh asks, holding the steaming cup of tea to his lips. Zuko holds up the music box.
"She'll see us."
It still felt like yesterday – every time Zuko even touched the music box, he could feel his scar heat up painfully from the memory. He had helped Princess Katara and her grandmother escape the palace, and all he had to show for it was the giant scar now concealing half of his face.
He could remember the unbearable pain of the injury – he could recall the feeling of his skin blistering, the smell of his burning flesh, it had been so intense he had fallen into darkness in less than a minute. The next thing he remembered was waking to a plump, older man sitting beside him, his head hung in sleep as long, even breaths escaped his parted lips. Zuko's eye still burned, but it was tolerable now. He remembers touching his face and feeling a bandage wrapped around his eye. Iroh would later tell him about how he found him in Princess Katara's bedroom, lying on the floor near death, and that he had mended him back to health. Ever since then, Zuko and Iroh had stuck together.
For many years after, Zuko struggled with his new appearance. Lucky for him, Iroh was a very patient, understanding man, and helped him through those hard times. Iroh would later explain to Zuko that he had lost his son many years earlier, and that Zuko reminded him of his late son. It would lead to Zuko sometimes calling Iroh "Uncle."
Despite learning to cope with his scar and the memories of it, he couldn't stop the deep resentment he felt for the royal family. Through that resentment however, he devised a plan. It was common knowledge in the South Pole that Princess Katara had been separated from Kana that night and was presumed to still be alive. Kana had alerted the entire Nation to search for her after she had docked in the North Pole, but by then weeks had passed, and Katara was nowhere to be found.
Zuko doesn't believe the rumors that the Princess survived, but still realized he could find a girl and train her to be the perfect replica of Katara – after all, he had something no one else had, the Princess's music box. Kana would have to believe the imposter to be the real Katara, and as a result, Zuko would be rewarded with the handsome sum of money he believes would be sufficient payment for saving their lives and for receiving his scar.
