Love? Hate?

? Am I a mixture of these, boiled into one piece and presented to the world?

---

"You're the one with the crazy prince!" Sokka exclaimed loudly, stumbling back a few steps in shock.

"Please, don't tell anyone!" Iroh said quickly.

"Aang, Katara, come here, you guys have got to see this."

Aang's eyes narrowed as he studied the old general. Katara gasped but said nothing.

"Where's Zuko?" Aang asked diplomatically.

"Yeah, where's the crazy prince?" Sokka yelped out.

"Ssh!" Iroh said, looking around. The people nearby were looking at them curiously. Iroh stood up, and said softly, " -we decided to go separate ways."

"Why?" Sokka asked sharply.

"That doesn't matter. Could I travel with you?" Iroh asked. Seeing the looks on their faces, he quickly added "I will not harm you. Or do any firebending."

Seeing their distrustful faces, Iroh quickly added, "And I don't mind being chained up. I am an old man. Please."

"And the question is- why?" Sokka asked, sticking his face close to Iroh's.

"No reason." Iroh mumbled.

"But why should we-"

"Sure you can travel with us. Why not?"

"WHAT? WHY?"

"Aang, are you sure this is a good idea?" Katara broke in.

"Yes. He can go with us. Now, who wants to go look at the pots over there? They look nice!" Aang diverted the topic immediately. Iroh stood up, and said, "You can chain me now, if you wish."

Sokka gave Iroh a hugely distrustful glare and Iroh smiled at Sokka innocently. Sokka stalked over to Appa, yanked the chains from the seat and roughly shoved Iroh's hand into it.

"Ah," Iroh drawled, "You might want to be a little less harsh with the chains, you know!"

"Oh, SHUT UP!"

---

Zuko tossed his mask from his face angrily as he rested in the dark, dense forest. He remembered every moment of what he did back there, in the house.

----

The Blue Spirit rushed out, his black silhouette outlined as shadows against the wall and in one agile sweep brought up his broadswords against him.

The woman, the mother, screamed

Lieutenant Farce turned. His mouth opened, deep in shock at the two Dao swords coming relentlessly at him, and at the fearsome mask staring at him from the depths of the light.

Zuko crossed his swords and moved them so deftly, gracefully, not harming anyone, but slowly forcing the Fire Nation soldiers to retreat. A masterful show of swordplay was shown and the soldiers backed away slowly. Zuko neared the lieutenant and he immediately let go of the girl. Zuko grabbed the girl, carried her, carried her towards her mother. He let go of the girl in front of her mother, and they clutched each other, with their brother, crying.

The Blue Spirit stood in front of the family with his swords crossed. The soldiers of the Fire Nation knew that they could not attack. Not with the Blue Spirit around

---

He didn't get it: Why did he help the Earth people? Did he do it recklessly? Spur of the moment? Was he weak?

Zuko didn't know the answers to these questions and he was majorly annoyed. In any case, that won't happen again, he thought

My honour is what I must regain.

--

Zuko got up at 6 am, sharp, the next morning. Months of being in a ship had gotten him used to the routine. Up at 6, morning training till 7, eat at 8, assign duties after that and straight, meeting room to strategize.

He rather missed those days, really.

Picking up his swords, he checked through his bag and the few possessions he held. His hand lingered on the Blue Spirit mask. Should he?

Forget it.

"What's that sound?" Fayer turned and to Thalia and Mikael. The four of them. Otherwise known as the Literary Club, were a mix of Fire, Water, and Earth nation. Fayer, an young, energetic and fierce Fire Nation citizen, had run away from his home when Fire Nation began their war. He loved to write, and had used his skills to pen drastic criticisms of the war.

Thalia was from the water tribe. She was with Mikael, an earthbender in a Fire Nation prison when Fayer staged a successful escape for her whole cohort, making it one of the biggest escapes in the POWs jail. A huge embarrassment to the Fire Nation.

The three of them contributed to a newsletter made from dry scraps of paper they could find and wrote pieces of work which they smuggled into newsboys pockets and newspaper shops to get their voices heard. Obviously their work was not very pleasing to Lord Ozai. They led a life of adventure, traveling throughout the world to escape from the Fire Nation and just trying to get by and write.

Fayer once again said, " Listen! I thought I heard an animal cry out."

"Yeah right. We're the only ones in this forest , come on!" Thalia rebutted.

Fayer stopped, planting his feet firmly on the ground, his eyes searching the canopy of the forest for something he had seen a few minutes ago.

" It was a person!" Fayer exclaimed. Tossing his stuff on the ground, he took off, leaving Thalia and Mikael to call after him in his wake. He rushed through the forest, his curiosity getting the better of him as he followed the quick and fast disappearing black shape through the trees.

"Fayer! Are you crazy or what? That's a bird probably you idiot!"

"FAYER!" came the panting voices of his two friends as they trampled around in the undergrowth.

Fayer made one last, desperate grasp at the flying through the trees. Miraculously enough, his hand caught onto the person's foot and he came crashing down. He struggled to get up, not letting go of the person's hand, he got his first good look at the man.

"Prince Zuko?" he spluttered out in shock

---------------------------------

"So what's your name?" Aang asked the old man now sitting beside him surrounding the fire that was crackling heartily in the dark. The four of them sat on an open grassy field, enjoying the warmth the fire gave them in the dark.

"My name is Iroh."

Katara gasped. "General Iroh!"

Iroh smiled. "Retired."

Sokka snorted. "So what if you were once a general? You didn't even win the battle in the west!"

Iroh's eyes darkened. "Indeed."

"And now you're with us, chained up! How pathet-"

"Shut up, Sokka." Katara interrupted with a glare.

"No, girl, it's all right", Iroh cut in with a smile. " I did fail in my quest to bring the Earth Kingdom down. That was a long, long time ago."

"You can call me Katara."

"You can call me Aang", the Avatar added.

"Enough of this naming business, I am Sokka. Now we should all get some rest, we'll be traveling by foot tomorrow. Appa's got to have some rest."

"All right, Mother." Katara added knowingly.

"Don't call me that!"

The fire was exterminated with a gust of wind from a sweep of Aang's hand and Sokka, Aang, and Katara turned to bed. Only Iroh sat up, in the dark, and if one leaned close enough, you could just make out the words he was mumbling in his meditation.

"Where are you, Zuko? I hope you're ok…."