Zuko furiously unrolled the scroll. His mind has been running since the moment he recognized its intricate seal as the high council's. As his eyes quickly scanned the written text, Zuko paled. With shaking hands, he held the scroll as his eyes trailed to the end of the message where 6 intricate stamps were carefully placed into a row, one below the other.
Zuko expression darkened.
Iroh frowned. "What it is it Zuko?" he asked looking at Zuko with concern, slowly reaching for him. But Zuko remained silent.
Zuko grit his teeth, 'The stamps, those were the high council's stamp seals. He hadn't been lying,' he thought. Zuko slammed the scroll on the table. He suddenly wanted to scream out in anger but instead felt weak, his vision blurring.
He stumbled a bit before he managed to place both hands on the table, fingers digging into the hard wood as he tried to steady himself.
Somehow has uncle had made it to his side, reaching out to support him but Zuko raised his hand stopping him.
Iroh paused but his eyes glinted with worry, "Prince Zuko what happened?" he asked again.
"It's true. Zhao didn't lie."
General Iroh frowned, he reached over and picked up the discarded scroll. His frowned deepened when he saw the high council's seals stamped at the end.
"Prince Zuko, what do you plan to do now?" he asked looking back up to Zuko's hunched figure.
Zuko took in a shaky breath, "I don't know uncle," he answered weakly. "I can't….."
Iroh's eyes filled with sadness, clearly worried by Zuko's downcast appearance, but his expression suddenly hardened.
"Will you take Zhao's offer?"
Zuko head snapped up at his uncle. He met his uncle's searching eyes with surprise, noting the unusually hard expression on his face.
Zuko frowned. While Zhao's smirking face and snarky attitude had made him fume with anger, he had to admit he didn't know the man well. Thus he had naturally been suspicious of Zhao's sudden offer.
But Zuko recalled hearing about him years ago when the high council had gathered the nation's various military leaders at the Fire Nation palace. At the time, Zuko had been still been a child, merely thirteen years old, the scar not yet marking his face.
He had been laying in the garden, his slim figure hidden by the tall fire lilies as he waited patiently for his uncle to arrive. From his hiding spot, he had heard footsteps slowly approaching. Peering through the thick stems he had seen two old officials walking along the garden path.
"Infuriating imbecile," one of them had grumbled angrily. "How dare he show up and insult us in that manner. He deserves to be cut down for his transgression."
The other man had merely chuckled at his companion's anger. "Impossible. Did you not see how the council swayed under him? Regardless of his crudeness, they believed he was ultimately right."
"Right? His plans are ridiculous!"
"So it may appear from our position but he has proven himself to be a valuable asset. That man has never failed - he is truly as vicious as they come."
"Hmmpf! Fools! They are walking into his trap. They give him boundless freedom, sending him to the enemy like a rabid patherdog, but don't realize that someday he will rip them to shreds. After all a man like him only cares about himself."
"Perhaps, but I doubt our esteemed Lord would allow such a menace to run free with his army," he heard the other say as they walked away.
Zuko narrowed his eyes as he memory ended. He turned away from his uncle's gaze, "Of course not. I don't care what he says, I don't trust him."
Behind his back, his uncle smiled slightly at the response. "What shall we do then nephew? The situation is rapidly evolving."
Zuko straightened himself up, "We will continue like always – fighting against the odds," he answered. He turned back to his uncle, "From the letter's specific wording, it's safe to assume their search team will be leaving from the capital. That gives us a few days to slow them down."
General Iroh raised an eyebrow, "Are you suggesting we give them misleading information?"
"No-" Zuko answered as he reached for a piece of parchment and brush, "-the other fire nation soldiers and the earth citizens will when they spread the newest rumors about the avatar."
Iroh frowned but then smiled widely, "Why of course Prince Zuko."
"And-" Zuko added as he quickly wrote, "- we will make it clear to Zhao that we refuse his offer." He set his brush down and blew hot air on the wet ink, drying it before rolling the parchment up and handing it to his uncle.
"I don't plan on sharing the Avatar with anyone."
After stepping back on his ship, Zhao was met by Jiye's intense gaze. Zhao didn't give her a second glance as he walked across the deck. Jiye eyes narrowed slightly but she quickly fixed her face before walking after him.
"Tell the others to prepare their engines, I want to reach Hiran as soon as possible," Zhao commanded.
"Admiral," Jiye began, "about your offer to Prince Zuko…"
Zhao stopped abruptly and frowned at her, immediately silencing her. "That changes nothing Lieutenant.
Jiye frowned slightly, "But Admiral…"
Zhao looked at her completely unmoved, "Lieutenant Jiye, I believe I gave you orders."
If Jiye felt offended at Zhao's sharp responses, she didn't let it show. Instead she stiffly nodded at him before walking off.
Zhao watched her for a moment with narrow eyes, before heading inside towards his office.
Once in his office, he immediately walked to the massive shelfs on the right and pulled out a huge map. Setting it down on the edge of a table nearby, he pushed the map, unrolling it across the hard wooden surface.
From his desk he took a brush and a pot of black ink, placing it on one corner of the map. He wasted no time to dip the brush in ink and quickly drew the route he had memorized from Prince Zuko's map.
When he was done, Zhao took a step back, examining his work. As his eyes traced the drawn route, he concluded that the route he had copied from Zuko's map was rather recent. Perhaps the prince had started it a few months ago. Zhao closed his eyes trying to recall the map on Zuko's desk, wanting to remember the specific strokes and markings the prince had made on it.
The markings on the map had been neat and orderly before they reached the South Pole. After that the drawn trail had become messy, with sudden loops and markings, suggesting the route had been constantly reworked.
Although Zhao was no expert in map analysis, he had plenty of war experience. Experience that had taught him how to carefully read between the lines as he ruthlessly pursued enemies and crushed his competition. Which is why he had no doubt that Prince Zuko had first came across the Avatar weeks ago.
'So he had known - of course,' thought Zhao as he recalled the Prince's anger, 'Prince Zuko wouldn't have told anyone. He still thinks the Avatar is his ticket home.' Zhao thought back to the damage on Zuko's ship. Captain Xi's report had suggested that some of the damage had been old. He had pointed to some of the smaller punctures on the deck, stating that they were crusted and oxidized by sea salt -a process that didn't necessarily happen overnight.
Zhao frowned. The Prince was a complete moron, that and absolutely irritating. He wondered how General Iroh could possibly stand him when Zhao, who had not even been in that room for ten minutes, had been close to losing it. 'Just like Lu Ten,' he thought as he looked back to his map, 'only much, much worse. At least Lu Ten had never been that angry or foolish, just overly friendly.'
He glanced back down at the map, his fingers tracing the end of Prince Zuko's current route. So far it was heading north. 'Very well,' he thought, perhaps it was time to set his plan in motion.
There was a knock at the door. "Come in," Zhao called. He looked up and saw a soldier salute stiffly. "Admiral Zhao we just received this message from an unidentified firehawk," the soldier seemed to shout nervously as he presented a small rolled up piece of parchment to an unimpressed Zhao.
Zhao took it, inspecting the wax seal briefly before he broke it and unrolled it. Zhao smirked at the short message. Stay out my way. 'How typical,' he thought.
"Very well soldier," he said looking back up. "Get me the Raven Eagle." The soldier nodded and scrambled out his office.
Zhao smiled a bit wickedly to himself as he went over to his desk and sat down. 'Yes,' he thought, 'this doesn't change a thing.'
