This is chapter 3, in which Zuko learns what happened to his friend.


Chapter 3:

Of Learning the Pain of Ugly Truths

Two days before the Earth King was to arrive, Zuko sat in his office looking over some orders. He had to make sure they were correct and finished before signing them into use. His deadline was tonight if they were to be any good. The Fire Lord ignored the knock on his office door knowing that if it was truly important they would enter anyway. A minute later he was not surprised when his uncle opened the door and walked in. Zuko spared enough of a glance to see that his uncle was not alone.

"Nephew, I know you are bus…"

"Uncle, this will have to wait. I have to finish this tonight, or risk another war."

One of the two guests his uncle had brought with him spoke up. "I understand you are looking for my daughter."

Zuko's head snapped up fast enough to cause whiplash. The three older men grimaced at the sound of Zuko's neck popping. The young Lord recognized the men to be Master Piandao, a swords master of the Fire Nation and his former teacher, and Master Pakku, a master waterbender and Katara and Sokka's step-grandfather; members of The Order of the White Lotus. His uncle had come through.

Master Piandao had spoken earlier and now Master Pakku stepped forward and said, "We understand you are busy, my Lord; however, we wanted you to know that we are here, and we know where Cadence is. Finish you work. We will be waiting with your Uncle. I won't mind catching up with Katara and Sokka."

With that the three men left and Zuko finished his work as fast as he could. He called the War Minister into his office and handed off the finished orders. After that, the Fire Lord all but ran out of his office and to his uncle's favorite sitting room; the one with the Pia sho table.

Zuko was surprised to see the room empty except for a few servants taking away tea serving sets. A guard approached the Fire Lord and after bowing informed Zuko of his uncle's message.

"My Lord, your uncle asked that I tell you, your guests are waiting for you there. He did not specify where there was, however."

"That's alright. I know exactly where THERE is." And with that, Zuko turned on his heel and sprinted out the door and down several hallways.

Lord Zuko arrived at the garden very quickly. If he was honest with himself, Zuko was nervous; no, he was beyond nervous. The Fire Lord was downright terrified. This was what he had been waiting for. Two long weeks he had dreamed of finding Cadence and now he was close.

He stepped out into the garden to see Katara and Aang feeding the turtle ducks. Sokka and Toph were sitting beside them around the small pond. Uncle Iroh and Master Pakku occupied the bench. Master Piandao was standing with his back to Zuko. He seemed to be lost in thought.

Iroh and Pakku looked up as Zuko approached. Piandao turned towards the young man as well.

Piandao spoke first. "Iroh says you are looking for my daughter. May I ask why?"

Zuko smiled. "I had honestly forgotten that Cadence was your daughter."

The smile fell from his face. "I want to find her and apologize for abandoning her. She tried to save me and I left her."

Piandao looked startled. "Abandoned her? I was there that day and I distinctly remember you both being banished, separately. I do not recall anyone abandoning anyone. If you think Cadence will let you apologize to her then you are a fool. She does not blame you… she never has."

"If she blames anyone, it's herself." Pakku countered. "She trains constantly so that she never has to fail again. She blames herself for not being strong enough to save you."

Zuko had not thought about Cadence blaming herself. In his nightmares, she always blamed him. Were his fears unfounded? No, Zuko could not believe that Cadence had failed and his mind did not believe that she did not blame him. They were just trying to make him feel better. He couldn't believe them. He needed to find out for himself.

"I need to see her. You said you know where she is?"

The masters shared a look and Piandao nodded once. Pakku stood and walked over to Zuko's side.

Placing his hand on the Lord's shoulder, Pakku began, "Fire Lord Ozai might not have killed her, but he did punish her. You have to know what he did to Cadence." Pakku paused and Zuko ducked his head.

"Did he… did he burn her?"

It was Piandao's turn to talk, his voice thick with emotion. "My daughter is very strong-willed. Your father had every intention of killing her at the Agni Kai; however, when he looked in her eyes he saw that she was not afraid to die…" Piandao trailed off.

"He threatened to take Piandao's life instead. He told Cadence that he would hunt down her family and kill everyone related to her. Meaning her brothers and me since her mother is gone. He then had her shackled and taken into the palace."

Piandao interrupted Pakku, saying, "The one thing that could break Cadence was threatening the people she cared about. She knew that if Ozai found out that my son, Tate, was also a waterbender he would be in danger as well. So she bargained with your father."

"But what did she have to offer. If he didn't want her life…" Zuko was confused and terrified of what his father had done.

Piandao reached up and broke a small limb off the sakura tree. A small smile graced his lips as he too knew that cherry blooms were Cadence's favorite; second only to White Lotus flowers.

"I didn't know what was happening. I returned to my home here in Royal Caldera City. At sunset a royal guard knocked on my door. They ordered me to return to my castle in Shu Jing and never return to the Capital." Piandao stopped and took a deep shuddering breath. "A week later, royal guards dropped Cadence's body off at my door. They ordered me to get her out of the Fire Nation. She was banished by the Fire Lord. I had two hours to get her on a ship headed out of the Nation. She was alive, but barely." The man sat down heavily on the bench beside Iroh.

"We got on a ship bound for the Earth Kingdom. Once there I took her to the North Pole and left her with Pakku." Piandao emitted a dry chuckle. "There were guards waiting at my home when I returned to make sure I had 'disposed' of my own child. They searched the house, reiterated that we were not allowed into the Capital and left. I don't know who took it harder, the boys or the servants."

He looked Zuko in the eye before continuing. "It was the hardest thing I've ever done. I left my bloody, dying twelve-year-old daughter with a man she had never met; and trusted him to take care of her. The guards would not even let her nanny clean her wounds before shipping her off."

"And of course," Pakku stated, "Piandao could not stay at the North Pole. It was a huge risk just having him bring her there. Thankfully, Arnook was understanding enough to allow her to stay and be healed. No one knew where my daughter had disappeared to and I never felt the need to inform them that she had married a man from the Fire Nation; therefore, no one knew about Cadence. Since she was a waterbender, she very easily passed as my granddaughter who had been injured during a raid. I simply had to convince Arnook that Piandao was just a man who had known my daughter and thus rescued Cadence. Yugoda willingly healed Cadence. Unfortunately it had been so long since the injuries had occurred that she could not completely heal her."

Pakku looked to Piandao for permission to continue. At Piandao's nod, Pakku continued, "Yugoda did all she could. Cadence finally regained consciousness and we learned the truth. By that time Arnook had demanded the truth and I admittedly told him that my daughter had married Piandao and that they had one firebending son, one waterbending son, and that Cadence was also a waterbender. Piandao didn't have enough time to tell me what had happened so we waited for Cadence to tell us. Arnook, Yugoda, and I were the first to know the whole story."

Pakku paused and took a deep breath. The seemingly insensitive man was truly in a state of distress, but he continued with his story.

"She had convinced your father to beat her instead of killing her family. Ozai had used a fire whip to beat Cadence's back. That was the majority of her injuries. When Yugoda was cleaning and healing Cadence, she had found the end of a spear imbedded in her upper leg. There were numerous other injuries that were healed. I sent a message to Piandao to tell him what I had found out."

Everyone looked horrified, especially Zuko. Iroh was the first to recover.

"I have seen the damage a fire whip can cause. I can't imagine the pain that child endured. It is a wonder she survived. I've seen grown men screaming in pure agony only to give up on living and die from the whipping."

Zuko took a deep breath in an attempt to steady his voice before speaking. "You said Yugoda could not completely heal Cadence."

Pakku gazed off into the distance. "Some wounds are not physical, Lord Zuko." Pakku paused allowing his words to sink in. "When Cadence was healed she still had awful scars across her back and a distinct limp. As horrible as those scars looked though,… I will never forget the look in her eyes. I saw failure in her eyes. That strong, carefree, and independent little girl I remember had changed; been replaced, with a person I didn't wish to know. Her white eyes burned with anger and hatred, and some other emotions I couldn't place. She looked haunted and way too old for her age."

Pakku shifted his gaze back to Zuko. "The worst part is I stopped to see her on my way to the Southern Water Tribe after we dropped Aang, Katara, and Sokka off, and she looked even worse then. I'm afraid the little girl you remember is gone, Zuko."

Piandao quietly began, "I didn't understand what Pakku had described in his letters. I couldn't imagine how even Ozai could break Cadence. Then, I learned the truth. Cadence had broken herself." The man paused and swallowed hard. He was trying to hold back tears. "Kindle, my firebending son, was stationed here in the palace at one time. He met a guard that was present during Cadence's punishment. The guard didn't know who Kindle was and so my son managed to get the story out of him. Then he told us. Ozai had not intended to keep his promise. He had planned to kill Cadence after torturing her, provided she survived, of course. Cadence was conscious enough when Ozai came to kill her to be aware of his actions. She stood up to him and even as weak as she was, she managed to fight Ozai. She cornered him. The guards didn't know what to do; they had been ordered not to intervene and yet their Lord was cornered in a cell. They all believed Cadence to be at a disadvantage simply because she was a child and a waterbender and since they kept all water out of her cell they thought it would end quickly. They were wrong."

A tear fell down Piandao's cheek and Pakku interjected. "There are a few things that the most exceptional waterbending masters can manipulate, even without a full moon, given their emotions are high.

Piandao nodded. "With no water around to bend, when Ozai attacked, Cadence had to resort to bending something else…"

"Bloodbending!" gasped Katara.

Everyone looked horrified and Piandao picked up where he left off.

"The guard told Kindle that he had never seen anything so horrendous in all of his life. That twelve-year-old girl had the Fire Lord writhing on the floor begging for mercy. The guard said that Cadence propositioned to Ozai, his life for her freedom and her family's safety. She promised him that she would leave the Fire Nation and never return if he would honor his promise to leave her family alone. The Fire Lord was trapped; he had no other option than to accept. I don't know for sure but I believe that something that happened during that fight is what haunts Cadence; whether it is that she can so easily take a life or that she didn't take his, I don't know. I just know that I can't fault her."

By this time night had fallen and everyone remained quiet as the stars came out one by one. Each person present was caught up in their own thought as they contemplated what had been said that day. And each knew that in their heart, they had a strong feeling of love and respect for the girl named Cadence.


A/N: Thanks for reading. Hope you liked it. Chapter 4 will be up soon. It will tell us where Cadence is and her and Zuko will meet again. So hang around to find out if they pick up where they left off or if somethings really have changed.

I hope everyone is okay with Cadence's heritage. I just absolutely love Piandao- he is one of my favorite characters and I hate that he didn't have more of a role in the show. I also with there were more fics of Piandao and him teaching Zuko. I also adore Pakku and believe that he would have at least had a child during the years between Kanna's leaving and them getting hitched. And I love the idea of a waterbender growing up in the Fire Nation right under their noses!

Thanks to reviewers and to everyone who has favored and followed my story. I just love ya'll so much!

P.S. Kindle and Tate are twins except that Kindle has the traditional gold eyes and can firebend and Tate has the traditional blue eyes and can waterbend. There will be more of them in the next chapter.