WANTED

Chapter Three

Men of Water and Fire



Ash and glass covered the Princess as she picked herself up from the ground; the explosion still ringing in her ears. Seeing the building before her no more then a pile of cinders she let out a furious scream.

Twenty minutes later she found her companions chipping away at their icy prisons with a pair of Mai's prized knives.

"And how, may I ask, did you end up in such a precarious position?" The Princess asked, not bothering to mask her fury as she walked up to them.

"Oh hey Azula." Ty Lee greeted, nervousness permeating through her voice.

"Waterbender." Mai answer Azula's question blandly.

"You two are supposed to be the best out there and you FAILED!" Azula screamed, throwing punches of fire at the remaining ice. The two non-benders collapsed to their knees, but remained kowtowed. "My only mission is to return my traitorous Uncle to Sozin and you let a pre-pubescent waterbender turn you into worthless popsicles!"

"Well it didn't help that Iroh helped him out and distracted us." Ty Lee attempted to reason.

Azula looked down on the pink clad girl with a furious stare. "I don't care if Iroh grew three heads and the waterbender was the Avatar. There is no room for failure!"

"Well that went well." Mia droned as the two watched the Princess of the Fire Nation stock back towards the half smoldered desert town.


The group walked until they reached a small spring nestled between several large boulders. A hillside to their back allowed them enough cover to start a fire and Sokka did so as the reminder of their group collapsed against the stones. Katara lowered herself slowly to the ground and dipped her hands into the cool water of the pond. Burns radiated across her fingers and up around her wrists. She waited until the fire was well and started before she summoned her healing powers. It was never a good thing for your enemies to know the full extent of your abilities; and Katara couldn't help but still be wary of their new companions. Behind her she could hear Iroh ask Sokka their names.

"I am Sokka of the Southern Tribes and this is my brother…" Katara squeezed her eyes shut, thinking of the name her brother would supply. "This is my brother Hakoda."

Fire and blood exploded in her memory before she quickly slammed it back into the darkness.

"What are Children of the Ice doing in the Land of Rock and Earth?" The old General asked, taking a seat near fire. Zuko did not follow and instead remained in the shadows, watching the darkness around them.

"What are two Fire Nation Royals doing in a seedy Earth Kingdom saloon?" Sokka asked, not keeping the half-smile from his voice. They were used to this question.

"Fair enough." Iroh laughed, "I see what you mean."

"Our village was attacked three years ago. Our people were slaughtered, and in the rush to escape, we stumbled upon the tomb of the Avatar."

Katara could feel the breath of the two firebenders almost stop with shock and confusion. It was most people's reaction; not that they went around telling this story, only a few knew it.

"He wasn't dead." Sokka answered, "He was in this state of hibernation assisted by something Aang calls the 'Avatar State.' We discovered later that he'd been trapped in there in hibernation for more then a hundred years. He still thought his people existed."

A bitter taste filled Katara's mouth at the memory of their time in Southern Air Temple and the Avatar's emotional and spiritual breakdown. She could almost feel the wind whipping past her skin at the recollection.

"Anyways," Sokka continued, pushing a small copper pot over the embers, and signaled Katara. Quietly she filled the pot, and fishing a small pouch of rice out of her pack, tossed it to her brother before returning her attention to the rippling coolness of the pond. "We've spent the last three years finding masters for the Avatar."

"You mean he hasn't mastered the elements?" A hoarse voice asked from the dark. The prince stepped forward and sat next to his uncle, intent to hear the rest of the story.

"At the time, he had only master air. He likes to brag about being the youngest monk to ever earn the tattoos. But no, he had not mastered the rest." Sokka explained.

"How old is the Avatar?" Iroh asked, sounding afraid to know the answer.

"He was 12 years old when we discovered him." Sokka sighed, knowing the reaction that was about to…

"What?" An angry voice erupted over the fire. Katara whipped around to see anger flood over Zuko's face. "The Avatar is a child!"

"Nephew!" Iroh replied harshly. "Sit down!"

"No!" Zuko burst out, "You've got a child training to take down the Fire Nation! Do you not see the insanity of this plan? Do you not see how wrong it is?" He stopped yelling as ice surrounded his neck.


Katara was sick and tired of the whole 'he's only a child' argument. Aang was more then a child now. He had seen too much, fought and bled too much to be discounted too easily. If she was the only one who was going to stand up for his chance to right the world, then she'd do it until Aang could truly prove himself.

So it didn't really surprise her when she found herself curling ice around the Prince's throat as anger flooded her system. It was hard for her not to yell at him, to tell him to shut up and remember he was only a guest in their quest to education the Avatar. So instead she settled for the tense starting contest that took place instead. Flames erupted in the Prince's hands and the ice quickly began to melt.

Sokka promptly stepped between them, throwing his sister yet another disapproving glare. "My brother is very protective of the Avatar. He believes Aang has what it takes, and backs him up one hundred precent. Please excuse his attack." He offered coolly.

Iroh, still sitting by the fire, grabbed hold of the edge of Zuko's tunic and pulled him roughly to the floor. "It is not our place to judge or assume nephew." Iroh managed sternly. "You think you would've learned that by now."

Katara watched as the Prince merely shook his head and crossed his arms angrily over his chest. Still feeling confrontational Katara retreated back to her seat by the water's edge to calm down. It was times like these, times when she felt angry and mean, that she was glad to be a waterbender. Calmness quickly enveloped her as she stuck her fingers into the wet coolness of the spring and listened to Sokka continue their story.

"We spent our first year with the Avatar in the North. It took us a few weeks and some intense bargaining, but we were able to find a master to teach both Aang and Hakoda. After that we headed here to the Earth Kingdom. We've been here two years. Aang learns quickly but it took him a while to get a hang of earthbending."

"No doubt due to the opposite nature of his inborn element." Iroh commented.

Sokka laughed, spooning the swollen grains of rice into bowls and handing them out. Katara took hers gratefully and ate slowly. "Toph wouldn't put it that lightly, but yes. That was exactly the problem. Toph, his sifu, deemed him a master about three months ago. We'd been looking for a firebending master since we got here, and we did find one but that didn't end so well. Jeong Jeong was a bit of a rebel, and it was hard to keep hidden when he kept drawing so much attention to himself."

"That sounds like Jeong Jeong." Zuko muttered darkly.

"You know him?"

"Uncle served with him." Zuko answered, not elaborating.

"Anywho…" Sokka continued awkwardly, "We'd almost given up when we stumbled across some very interesting Pai Sho players near Omashu about a month ago. I'm not entirely sure how the topic came up but they told us about some firebenders hiding out in the Omashu Desert Territory. They told us to look for an old Pai Sho player and a…" Sokka paused, looking briefly at Zuko, "A young man with a scar like a comet."


It took a lot for Zuko not to brush his fingers over the left side of his face. It was a habit he'd formed as soon as he could touch that side of his face without blacking out in pain. Almost seven years later and he still couldn't help but tactfully acknowledge it whenever it was mentioned or thought about.

For a brief moment he wondered if his mother would recognize him if she saw him.

A wave of grief and nausea passed over before he forced the thought aside. His mother was dead and would never look upon his ruined face. He was almost happy for that, knowing that she would never know the pain her daughter and husband had inflicted upon her precious firstborn son.

Instead he thought about Sokka's story and Hakoda's reaction to his outburst.

The older brother seemed to be the mouthpiece for the two siblings. It seemed the younger of the two was the stronger one, and not because he seemed to be the only bender. It took a lot to remain quiet during times of change and confrontation; and Zuko knew for a fact that the boy wasn't a mute. Something wasn't quite right with the waterbender. But until he chose to show his true character, Zuko settled for guessing until that moment came.


A/N: Sorry that took me a lot longer to finish then I originally planned. I write fan fiction in mild secrecy. My boyfriend makes fun of me when he realizes what I'm doing. But whatever, I got him addicted to Bejeweled. Anyways... I'm not particularly fond of this chapter, but it's what I got. Questions? Comments?