Author's Note: I was able to scrap a dozen few ideas together to make this story

Author's Note: I was able to scrap a dozen few ideas together to make this story. I doubt it will stand to scrutiny and most of the details could be easily dismissed by a number of fans. But this (and many others) is a tribute to Avatar, the Last Airbender. The story has ended quite well and I doubt any other cartoon in the near future could possibly surpass it. My story is simply a continuation and not the real story of the Avatar franchise.

Disclaimer: I own no part of Avatar, the Last Airbender. But this story and this plot is entirely of my own creation. Any similarities to the official Avatar plotline are mere coincidences or are used for necessary events in the story. The same goes with the characters and settings.

Book 4

Air

Chapter two:

Glowing Cinders

Fire Nation, Grand Plaza

Zuko gingerly stepped off the airship, fully robed. He was dressed in all the royal Fire Nation capes he could possibly wear. Waiting for him at the landing were the usual attendants, bowing before him as he stepped down. Zuko kept his expressions firm and his chest high. He needed to be a positive and strong symbol to his country.

But all Zuko's strong composure melted away at the sight of Mai.

Mai gave him a soft smile as they neared each other. Her face was calm for once and she shed a single tear—a tear Zuko did not see. The two shared a warm hug and some brief laughter.

"He's been waiting for awhile," Mai said, smiling.

Zuko frowned. "Didn't you tell him that I'd take long? Did you tell him how long airships took to get from place to place?"

Still smiling, Mai shrugged. "I did. But he had principles. He said that no matter how complex the excuse, late was still late."

"Then we better not keep him waiting. I doubt he'll ever want to come back here again if I fail him anymore."

Mai patted him on the back. "Then what are you waiting here for?" she looked at the attendants. "If you're waiting to be carried all the way to the palace then you're definitely going to be late. I suggest walking, Fire Lord Zuko."

Zuko chuckled. "For you, it's just 'Zuko'. And I guess walking wouldn't hurt."

o0o

Zuko was wrong. The royal shoes he was wearing limited his steps and made every movement painful. He flinched on every uneven surface. He would have to ask the royal tailors to make him a larger pair of shoes.

And aside from the clear discomfort he was getting from his feet, Fire Lord Zuko was indeed very, very late.

"Being the Fire Lord doesn't exempt you from tardiness, Zuko. I've decided to teach you the basics once more. And due to your delay, your full training will begin tomorrow—if you're still not late of course."

Zuko groaned. He couldn't believe he had to learn the basics all over again. "The basics? Why do I even have to learn the basics? I might not even need your help in teaching me how to create lightning. I can ask my uncle to teach me himself."

"Your uncle could, but he has assigned the duty to me," said Jeong Jeong. "I was a very good friend of his and we were both war generals back when he had undertaken his past siege for Ba Sing Se. He has assigned me because…well…your uncle is a very busy man…"

Unfortunately, Zuko didn't think his uncle was that busy. He imagined Iroh sipping tea beside the fire right now.

"Let us begin. Show me your stance."

Zuko placed his feet apart, keeping a strong hold on the ground. He knew the basics by heart. A Firebender was as powerful as his stance. He recalled all these lessons from his uncle even when—

"Are you feeling the sun?"

"What?"

"The sun. Can you feel its warmth on your face?"

Zuko looked up at the sun and almost blinded himself. "Uh…yeah…"

"Good. Exercise proper breath control… Feel the energy circling around you… Very good, Fire Lord Zuko…"

Zuko felt irritated. "I thought I was going to be taught the basics of lightning? You're teaching me the basics of Firebending."

Jeong Jeong nodded. "I said I was going to teach you the basics. So stop talking and breathe. Breathe and maintain silence… Listen to the dropping blossoms in the air… Feel the rustle of the wind… The serenity is your escape… It allows you to—"

"Fire Lord, sir!"

"THAT'S IT!" shouted the Firebending Master irritably. "I'm coming back when everyone's quiet!" And Jeong Jeong marched away, cursing to no one in particular.

Zuko switched his attention to the man that had called him. It was General Shinu. "What is it, General?"

General Shinu looked slightly awkward, having interrupted the lesson after all. But regularly, the General had been sour. He wasn't this way when he was under Fire Lord Ozai. Zuko suspected that he had been comfortable under his father's rule. He had been giving the General a lot to do lately and those things didn't prove to be too tactical or important. Zuko had assigned the man to Communications and Operations. Apparently, General Shinu didn't like the job very well.

"How are the troops, General?" Zuko asked, keeping a straight face.

General Shinu switched back to his sour mood, but anyone could have mistaken it for a slightly angry face. "We have ships heading to the Earth Kingdom mainland to haul them back to the Fire Nation. A lot of Earth Kingdom locals are commenting about the lines of troops moving westward towards the western seaboard. They say that the troops are causing minor disturbance."

Zuko considered the matter properly. He knew that most of the troops were coming back from as far as Ba Sing Se. He could see the dilemma. "Move the ships further inland. Take them as close to the Earth Kingdom capital as possible."

General Shinu wasn't too pleased. "But sir…that would mean moving most of our forces farther than they were supposed to go to! These are just soldiers. They can do the long walk. They were trained to handle—"

Zuko's decision was final. "Those soldiers are tired, General Shinu. They're tired and they want to go home. I suggest you follow my orders or risk being demoted to Captain."

This didn't make the General any happier. If Zuko had paid more attention to the man, he would have noticed the tightness of the man's fists or the strain on the man's teeth. The General gave him a quick, "Yes sir…" and started walking away.

As he walked away, Zuko noticed a small parchment in the man's hand. "Is that a message for me…?"

General Shinu turned around, forgetting the reason why he had come here in the first place. "Oh. Yes… It's a message sir. It arrived through a messenger hawk."

Zuko took the parchment. "Who sent it?"

General Shinu's face was as solid as rock. "The Avatar, sir."

o0o

The Grand Plaza was now a bustling area, where soft spoken chatter was now replaced with the noisy hubbub of trade. The Royal Plaza had been open to the public now under Zuko's advice, saying that he didn't want life here to be similar to the separated culture of Ba Sing Se. And so he said it, and so it was done. Performers and Food sellers rushed in overnight and delighted the royals immediately. Amusement was everywhere.

One of the Fire Nation patrons had brought his daughter to meet the new faces and catch sight of the Flame throwers that could make shapes of dragons and platypus bears. His daughter was ecstatic, sipping juice from a cup.

That juice spilled all over the ground when a grouchy man knocked it out of her hand.

She cried of course.

General Shinu was in no mood and had no patience to watch where he was going or watch the people who were bumping into him.

The General was oblivious to the people that were literally dancing in front of him. He snorted and growled, like an angry tiger he was. These locals shouldn't even be here... Where was the sense of discipline that once lived throughout the Fire Nation? What had happened to the nation's imperialistic air?

The General stopped right in front of a small residential house. He growled. He had a specially made room for him in the palace like the other generals but he had been relocated here so the Fire Lord could accommodate his new raggedy Fire Bending Master, Jeong Jeong.

General Shinu shut the door behind him and entered the silent and dark room that was his house.

It was clear that something was not right.

It wasn't obvious, but something was out of place. Was it colder? Had someone climbed in through the windows and left them open?

General Shinu dropped his belongings and searched throughout the house but found that all of the windows had been shut tight, just as he left them. Maybe he was just being paranoid after a really stressful day.

He went back to the door to get the rest of his belongings.

The door was ajar.

Now, if someone had been in here, that meant that someone had probably left something for him. He would have to search for it or for any clues.

It didn't take that long. The General found a note in his belongings.

.

.

If you want to stop delivering messages

then meet me in the war room by midnight

.

.

General Shinu read the message twice before he did what he had to do—he crumpled it. He crumpled it and threw it in a waste basket. He wasn't stupid enough to start up trouble in the time of fresh peace. He may have hated his job but it was not wise to cause disturbance.

The only thing that the General dreaded was the fact that the message had been written in something that looked like blood.

o0o

Mai looked more concerned than her general persona. "Zuko, where are you going?"

Zuko was walking faster than his flinching from walking. "To the Fire Sages."

"And why are you going there?"

"To find some answers," he said brusquely.

"Does this have anything to do with the note from Aang?"

"Yes."

"What does it say?"

Zuko gruffed. "Not now."

Mai cut in front of him. She looked frustrated. "Is this how you're going to treat your new girlfriend? Just because you're the Fire Lord doesn't mean you can keep secrets from me, Zuko. I've known you since we were in the academy. What did Aang say?"

Zuko sighed. He was going nowhere with this. But he inwardly ssmiled when Mai said 'Aang'. It just sounded weird in her mouth. "He's asking about my Great Grand Father, Fire Lord Sozin. He's asking what he did during the arrival of the comet in his time."

Mai stepped out of the way with a smile. "Doesn't everybody know what Fire Lord Sozin did? He used the comet to kill all the Air Nomads."

Zuko's face tightened, looking fierce, and stared forward. "What everyone knows is what they were made to believe. I've known from experience that the Fire Sages tend to keep secrets."

o0o

Zuko found that the illusive Fire Sages weren't as illusive as he thought. A kind-hearted sage had been found standing in front of the temple, waiting for them.

"I was told the Fire Lord was coming. It will be my honor to lead you around the temple, wherever you wish to go to," said the sage.

Zuko raised a brow in doubt. "The other Fire Sages in the palace said that the sage that would tour me around was someone I knew. But I've never seen you before."

The Fire Sage smiled. "I believe you have. We met once when I stayed in the temple on Crescent Island. Of course you never bothered to know my name then—you chained me down after all. My name is Shyu, Fire Lord Zuko."

Zuko felt his throat shrink. "Oh... I remember..." He coughed. "You were the sage that was loyal to the Avatar. That was during the Winter Solstice."

Fire Sage Shyu smiled. "Yes. But I had been transferred here after the war was over. During the war, the other sages had branded me as a traitor. Now, they praise me for my deeds. Fate is a funny thing."

Zuko remembered a similar conversation. "Yes, it is."

o0o

Zuko was led down the spiralling staircase to the Dragon bone Catacombs. Shyu opened Sozin's lair with a touch of Firebending and they went inside. Both of them created small flames to light up the chamber. There was the usual Dragon statue that Zuko had seen before. The scrolls that held the secret demise of avatar Roku was still there.

"So you're looking for the war journals of your Great grandfather." confirmed the Fire Sage. "Behind the Dragon statue, Fire Lord Zuko."

Zuko walked behind the statue and found dozens of scrolls and parchments, all piled up in neat orders and covered with dust and spider-fly webs. He reached out to touch them.

"They're categorized, Fire Lord Zuko. You should find the war journals arranged according to date. Be careful, though... These journals are really old. I suggest putting out your flame before touching them."

Zuko realized his mistake and quickly snuffed his flame. Then, he checked the dates, looking for one that dated a hundred years ago. There was a huge sign on one, saying: "The Arrival of the Comet".

But there was nothing there.

Zuko was about to get angry. "Stop fooling around. Where are the journals?"

"They should be there, Fire Lord Zuko."

Zuko checked again and still came up with nothing. "Stop trying to hide them, Shyu! Where are the journals?"

The Fire Sage held his ground. "I am hiding no secret from you, Fire Lord. I have nothing to hide from you."

Zuko stormed off, leaving Shyu in the dark. "We'll see about that."

Shyu didn't watch Zuko leave. He turned back to the journals. The young Fire Lord was right. There was nothing there. But in its place was water. That wasn't right. This place had been kept dry to preserve the scrolls. The only way that water could have possibly gotten in was if a Fire Sage decided to splash some water on the parchments or a wet hand had reached in.

o0o

"They're holding an assembly, Zuko." said Mai as she caught up beside him. It was hard though. Zuko was walking fast. A fierce determination was on his face and he didn't seem to hear her.

"Were you even listening? There's an assembly going on, but it hasn't started because they were waiting for you," Mai purged.

Zuko was snapped back into reality. "What's the assembly for?"

"It's not really an assembly. It's more of a mourning. A Fire Sage died, Zuko. A lot of royal patrons are attending. And since you're like...the head patron...I think you should go..."

Zuko felt embarrassed, mostly because of his anger. "A Fire Sage died? How did that happen?"

Mai looked into his eyes. "You're one for slow news, huh? It happened last night. Didn't you know?"

Zuko fixed his glare on her, trying not to look too firm. "No. I don't know. I was in an airship, remember?"

"A Fire Sage was attacked last night. They found him drowned in the Plaza pool. He died without much of a fight since the water prevented him from Firebending."

Zuko looked forward, at the streets. "Did anyone find the killer?"

"No."

Zuko felt exhausted. After all the things he had done to bring peace back to the world, he couldn't stop the daily madness that was forcing people to kill everyday. He wished he had that kind of power. He wished he could influence everyone to do good. He hated the feeling of helplessness.

And then, a warm hand was on his cheek. Mai brought their eyes together once more.

"Don't be so strong, Zuko..."

Zuko's eyes went downcast. "The Fire Nation needs me to be strong."

Mai kissed him. When she pulled away, she was smiling. "Not too strong, Zuko."

Zuko smiled. "Are you coming to the mourning with me? You might get bored," he mocked politely.

Mai clipped her arm on Zuko's, counteracting his remarks. "You'll need a tissue when you cry, Zuko."

o0o

General Shinu entered the great halls of the Fire temple with the usual air of annoyance. To only add salt to his wounds, the first person to greet him was Zuko.

But "greet" was probably too light a word to describe Zuko's anger. "Why had I not heard of this death, General? Why didn't you tell me about the murder of the Fire Sage?"

General Shinu maintained composure. "You had just returned from Ba Sing Se, sir. I did not want to bother you with unimportant matters."

"Unimportant? You don't understand the gravity of this situation, General. I need to know everything that goes on in this nation. Everything. If the citizens find that I am not fully capable of handling this nation, then they might think twice of appointing me as Fire Lord."

You aren't capable of handling this nation... You're too young... thought General Shinu. But what he said was, "I'm sorry for not telling you sooner sir. I shall report whenever I can."

Zuko stepped forward. "You will report whenever information must be told, no matter how small. Do you understand, General?"

General Shinu nodded. "Yes, sir."

Zuko stared at the moon outside. This mourning was going to take a while. When he looked back at the General, he was already walking away.

"Where are you going General?"

General Shinu didn't look back.

"I'll be getting some fresh air."

o0o

General Shinu locked himself inside a room, making sure he was all alone. When he knew no one was there, he relaxed and straightened himself. He wiped the dust from his uniform.

When he was done with this, he shouted, sending a blaze of fire up into the air.

I'm sick of this... I'm sick of the little brat pushing me around... I'm sick about running errands for him, acting as his little paperboy...

But he supposed that he would come to terms with this new life. He considered his usual fortunes and the number of people that would kill for his position. Yes, he was still a very important man.

Wait... Where am I...?

"Hello, General Shinu..."

General Shinu realized that he was inside the war room—at midnight. He did not consider where he was going. He did not realize that the place he had let off some steam was also the war room.

"Show yourself!" the General shouted. "Conspiring against the Fire Lord is treason and for that, you are under arrest!"

The General felt like a fool, walking around, looking for some voice. He was sure he had heard a voice.

"Yes, General... you did hear a voice..."

General Shinu's eyes widened. "Who's there?"

"Arrest me, will you? And you will do it in the name of the Fire Lord... But he is no Fire Lord to you, is he now...?"

General Shinu felt like his personal thoughts had been invaded. "I serve whoever sits on the thrown! Show yourself or I release my fire."

A man stepped away from the shadows and into the light.

General Shinu backed up against the wall. "That's Impossible... They said you were dead."

Zhao smiled. "I have overcame a lot of things, General Shinu. Death is one of them. And from the world of the dead, I have come back bearing gifts."

He snapped his fingers and a small spark of green light flashed in General Shinu's eyes.

.

.

I will try to commit to my earlier promise—the one where I said that I'd post the first five chapters within a week. I'll try, but it's going to be hard. Long Tests are coming and I don't know if I can type more. I'll do my best though. Just review. They're my food for now.

And for those wondering why I had to return Zhao, it's because I needed a guy who had been taken by a spirit. And I needed him for one more thing: the Yu Yan archers. Sort of a spoiler now that I typed it.

For those wondering what'll come next, it'll be Katara and Sokka's turn. Keep reading and find out. Review also. I need input.