A/N: If you don't see a version here, you can assume events happened as-canon.
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This is too easy, Zuko thought darkly.
They were alternating riding and walking through the grassland; not the fastest they could have gone, but he wanted Asahi in shape to run if things went wrong. And he had a lot more practice tracking that flying fur rug than Azula did. He could cut loops off the trail, see in advance obstacles the bison would have soared over and the tank had to crunch its way around, and work out their own route, easier than hers.
And it was definitely Azula. Who else could divert a valuable war machine out here, where there were no strategic objectives to be taken? Given that - he'd take every advantage he could get.
But it was too easy. And that had nothing to do with the trail, and everything to do with the older firebender currently humming that bawdy tune about girls in Ba Sing Se.
"You should be talking me out of this."
"Hmm?" Currently riding, Uncle Iroh gave him a look of bemused surprise.
"We're outnumbered."
"That is very likely," Iroh allowed.
"She's in better condition than we are." Azula hadn't spent more than two months injured and hungry, count on it. "She has access to supplies. Probably better maps, too, and we're heading into unknown territory."
"All true."
"She's flushed them out of at least two camps," Zuko went on. "She's got them on the run. They're reacting, not thinking. Meaning the Avatar's lost his best tactical asset." That idiot Water Tribe boy might be annoying as all hells - Zuko knew exactly where he was going to jam that boomerang, if he got the chance - but he was the closest thing the Avatar had to a strategic planner. If he was too tired and shaken to come up with a plan, the Avatar's little gang was screwed. "Sooner or later the bison's going to get tired - sooner, if they don't start thinking - and it'll be all over… why are you looking at me like that?"
Iroh was smiling at him, hands folded on the saddle's pommel. "A teacher is always pleased to know when his student has mastered the lesson."
Mastered the- never mind, even if he asked it wouldn't make sense. "Uncle, this is a bad idea."
"It is," Iroh nodded. "You have summed up the worst of it quite well. If this were only a matter of your honor, nephew - yes, I would object. But it is not."
Only my honor? Only my- Wait. "It's not?" Zuko asked warily.
"No." Iroh frowned. "Fire Lord Ozai wishes the Avatar alive, which is wise. Why hunt among the Water Tribes, who still resist, if we do not have to? You know Azula's power, and you believe she can capture the Avatar. That may be true. But you also know the Avatar's power. Can she hold him, nephew? Without killing him?"
A whirlpool rising out of southern polar seas, sweeping sailors from his ship. A massive, glowing thing at the North Pole, blasting through the Fire Navy's might. "…No."
"And will she be humble enough to admit that she cannot?"
Azula, humble? The two words didn't even belong in the same universe. Wordless, Zuko shook his head.
"And if she does slay him…. Avatar Roku's fate may be known to some among the Fire Sages, none can say for certain. And our nation conquers in the wake of that uncertainty. If it were to become known that the royal family killed an Avatar - there would be no chance for peace in our colonies while this generation lives." Iroh regarded him gravely. "We are loyal to the Fire Nation. We must not allow this to happen."
My people. The colonies were as close as he'd come to home for three years. Technically, he wasn't supposed to be there, either… but all nations came to trade in some of those ports, and on festival nights when everyone wore masks, even he could go unnoticed. It was worth being no one, to taste fire flakes and listen to people who sounded nothing like the Navy. "What should we do, Uncle?"
"You have laid out our disadvantages well," Iroh said thoughtfully. "Please, continue."
"This isn't a tactical exercise, Uncle!"
"Is it not?" Iroh regarded him with mild reproach. "Remember, nephew. The warrior whose anger rules him has already lost. We have time. They are not near. Calm yourself, and consider the situation for all its outcomes. Even, perhaps, victory."
Treat it like an exercise. His blood boiled, he wanted to burn something - but that would be stupid, here in the middle of flammable grass. Though they had used that to their advantage, earlier; the pair of them controlling a circle of flame to flush out enough vole-rabbits for their first hearty meal in days. Asahi hadn't minded roasted cricket-mice, either.
And Azula thought it was stupid to read stories about primitive firebenders- stop. Stop right there. She's the obstacle, remember? Just… try not to think about her. Much.
"We've probably got surprise," Zuko said at last. "She doesn't know we're here, or we'd know it by now." By way of lethal blue fire; no, she couldn't know. "And the Avatar probably thinks we went down with the fleet." If he thinks about us at all. And he was not going to let that make him mad. He wasn't. If the Avatar underestimated him - well, good. He could use another edge.
Besides, it wasn't like it was personal. The Avatar was a kid. He underestimated everybody. After all, the so-called link between the two worlds hadn't seen Zhao's plan coming either….
Zuko frowned, trying to pin down that thought.
"Surprise may help," Iroh nodded. "What else? You have thought of something."
"I'm not sure it helps, Uncle…."
Iroh raised an eyebrow. "I am curious, nonetheless."
"They don't know what they're dealing with," Zuko said at last. "None of them do." Azula probably thought, of the two Water Tribe siblings, it was the waterbender who was dangerous. And sure, she was - but not nearly as dangerous as she and the Avatar were with her brother's plans backing them up. And as far as what the Avatar thought about Azula….
"If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends too?"
"Spirits," Zuko hissed, "please tell me he's not that stupid."
Even as he said it, he had an awful suspicion the spirits were laughing at him.
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When they found the decoy trail, it wasn't a suspicion anymore. "Uncle?"
"Yes, nephew?"
"If those monks weren't dead, I think I'd kill them all over again."
"Prince Zuko-"
"Washed bison fur? Forget the Avatar - don't those primitive, hunting Water Tribe peasants know any tracker could tell the difference? A blind hog-monkey could see through this!"
Dismounting, Iroh coughed into his fist, eyes suspiciously alight. "A pity that we will not be able to tell him so."
"Oh, we will," Zuko snarled.
"He has his airstaff," Iroh observed, patting Asahi while she nibbled on spruce buds, apparently out of curiosity. "When he finishes laying his trail, he can simply fly away, without a trace."
"Which is why he won't," Zuko said grimly. "He's an airbender, Uncle. He thinks flying can get him out of anything. He's not going to do the smart thing, and retreat. He's going to find a spot for an ambush, and he's going to wait. Only he's not going to ambush her. He's going to talk."
Iroh was silent a long moment, considering that. "Do not take this the wrong way, nephew… but I hope that you are wrong."
"…I know."
He wasn't.
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"So, where is your nephew?"
Good question, Iroh thought, looking past the little blind earthbender. "Scouting ahead." Which had seemed best, one person alone on Asahi could retreat far faster…. "But he should have returned by now. I hope he has not run into something unexpected." Or worse, the one danger they did expect, that he had planned to face with his nephew.
Agni, let my nephew be sensible. Let him not try to take her alone.
Assuming, of course, Zuko had a choice.
"Scouting?" Toph chuckled. "You make him sound like a whole army patrol."
Oops. "Ah, well. I was a soldier, a long time ago." And not long enough, sometimes. "Traveling… it brings back old memories."
"Huh." Her bare feet felt at the ground, like a fisherman absently knotting a net. "Well, I don't think there are any bad guys around here. Maybe he's just lost."
"Yes, he is. A little bit." Iroh smiled sadly. "Our lives have recently changed, and while I think much good may come of it, it has been difficult. My nephew has choices to make. Some, I did not even know he might have, when we began our journey. He doesn't know it yet, but he is trying to figure out who he is, and what he wants." He sighed. "It is hard, to even look down a path your father would not approve of." Belatedly, he remembered his guest. "Er, that is, I meant to say-"
"It's okay, I get you." Toph grinned, in a way he'd seen on some of the best firebenders in the service. Cocky, and with good reason. "He's an idiot, but he's your idiot. Want some help finding him?"
Hmm. Accept the aid of a young, if powerful, earthbender, and run the risk she'd turn them both over to the Earth Kingdom? Or refuse, and possibly find his nephew facing Azula?
Well. As he'd decided with the white jade, it wasn't much of a choice. "I would be honored to accept your assistance."
"You're really worried," Toph said, not smiling. "What's wrong?"
Finishing his tea, Iroh sighed. "I believe there may be a small Fire Nation force nearby."
"What, here? In the middle of the kingdom?"
Iroh frowned. She didn't seem surprised….
"Yeah, you do need help," Toph said decisively, dusting off green robes as she stood. "Let's go find some idiots."
"I would not say my nephew is an idiot," Iroh said judiciously. "Most of the time."
Toph snickered, picking up her bag as he packed away his teapot. "Your nephew's very lucky, even if he doesn't know it."
Iroh smiled ruefully. I doubt he would agree with you….
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"Zuzu?" the Avatar laughed.
It was like white-hot barbs under his skin. Don't let it get to you, Zuko seethed. Almost cursing himself for leaving his dao on Asahi. But Uncle had been adamant. Leave the swords - leave the very fact that skill existed - as a tile up his sleeve. Azula would never take him and sharp edges seriously, anyway. Unless he was trying to kill her. And he couldn't. Just - don't.
It wasn't helping. On one side of him, the living symbol of everything he'd fought for three years; the only thing between him and his honor, his throne, his country.
Father's love….
On the other side, his nightmare. His little sister.
"You're a big brother," his mother had told him, over and over again, when he'd been especially bratty and jealous of an annoying little baby taking up his mother's attention. "It's your job to protect her. No one will ever do that like you will."
He'd believed it. He'd wanted to believe it. Agni help him, part of him still believed it.
I love you, Mom. But who was supposed to protect me from her?
He had to try.
"This isn't going to work, Azula!" You don't have chains, you don't even have rope - you don't have a clue. "The Fire Lord wants him alive."
"Like the little failure knows what Father wants." Her smile was mocking as ever. Chilling to the bone. "I'm not going anywhere."
Zuko swallowed dryly. "Yes, you are." For Father. For my people. For me.
I have to get this right.
The smile spread, glinting white teeth. "Who's going to make me? Mom?"
Traitor. Poisoner. You'll die like she did, and no one will even care you're gone….
Years of whispers, eating at him like acid. He knew what she was waiting for, and hated himself for it; the temper that would flare out of control, leaving him easy prey to her attack-
A memory of shaped warmth, bringing an absence of pain. Of a soft whistle, and feathers pressed gratefully against his hand. Of a firestorm, wreaking justice for an unmarked grave.
"Azula could not even attempt what you are beginning to master."
Zuko breathed, letting the whispers fade away. Not this time, Azula.
Her smile faded slightly, and he couldn't quell a shiver. He knew that look. Azula had seen something she didn't expect, and was calculating how to fit it into her plans-
Blue fire.
"The best block, is not to be there."
Too bad Uncle's advice about fighting never quite seemed to catch up with Azula. He had to block, fended off her fire with a breath-stealing impact on dusty ground.
Faster than I am, better than I am, she's going to win-
"We do not need to win this battle, Prince Zuko. We simply must not lose."
My people. Fingers clenched, Zuko coughed, and got back to his feet, dimly surprised Azula hadn't finished him off-
She was chasing the Avatar. Of course.
"The wise warrior knows his limitations, and accepts them. If she is more skilled than you - how can we use that against her?"
Good question, Uncle. Azula was punching blasts of blue fire at Aang, every one just barely a miss. She was faster, more skilled, more precise-
Precise. Control. Azula controlled everything and everyone around her, just like their father did. What they couldn't control, they destroyed.
Make her lose control. Make her angry.
Azula chased the Avatar into a wrecked building. Zuko let her hear him follow - then whipped around, fighting down the impulse to chase as he raced back to open air.
Sure, chase him into a building. Airbender, Azula. He loves bouncing people off walls; I should know. He can head out a window and be gone.
Just outside the doorway, Zuko swept his arms in a deliberate arc he hadn't used in weeks, hands curling and ready-
Blasted fire into the main support beams, and felt them catch.
A superior fighter made the terrain his ally. Ghost town. Dry wood.
This isn't going to kill you, Zuko knew; not sure who he was thinking of, as he urged flames upward. Like a graceful, angry flow of dark hair and blue dress, fighting him to the last in a spirit-touched oasis. Like nothing Azula would have ever fought.
This isn't going to kill you. But it's definitely going to get your attention.
And no matter how deeply Uncle might be contemplating his tea, he'd never miss this.
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Well, Azula thought coolly, clinging to the second-story ledge as flames rose around them, this is new.
Either this was a particularly desperate gambit on her pathetic brother's part, or little Zuzu had grown a ruthless streak while he was exiled.
Please. With his tea-drinking kookiness?
For a once-great general, Uncle was amazingly easy to fool about how she played with her brother. Just smile at the right time, and look oh so concerned about how hard Zuzu tried, wasn't it a shame he'd had to start a year behind her and just never caught up….
Not that Zuko ever could catch up. He worried about people. Cared what they thought; as if what weaklings thought mattered to the royal family. He had no focus.
So. Had to be desperate, then. Not that it would work. She was the prodigy, after all. The best. Keeping a bit of over-enthusiastic fire from singeing her was easy.
Though it did split her concentration. Which was annoying, when the Avatar was so close-
Well. Look at that. Trembling, sweating, even the ball of air fizzling out from under him… the little airbender was afraid of fire.
Oh, poor Zuzu. You're such a good brother.
Such a good fool.
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…Ow.
He was in the street. At least, Zuko thought he was in the street. He'd been fighting Azula for control of the fire, she'd made some kind of twist in the midst of the flames….
After that, everything was fuzzy.
I can't be dead. I hurt too much. He blinked, and faded brown resolved. "Uncle?"
"Get up!"
He grabbed Iroh's hand with trembling relief. Uncle was here. He'd promised, and he was here.
No. You can't collapse. Not yet. "Need at least two benders to make that work," Zuko observed, world still spinning.
About to speak, Iroh blinked instead, and raised an eyebrow at the structure crumbling into flames. "Azula was in there?"
Fire-blasts and wind-bursts echoed through the streets. "Was," Zuko said grimly.
They ran for the fight.
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Zuko? Katara thought, dazed, water at ready.
Of course Zuko. Why not Zuko? Miss crazy blue firebender had chased them all the way from Omashu, why shouldn't their very own personal bogeyman show up again?
Sokka was right. We should have let him freeze….
Except crazy as it was - and Sokka was right about lack of sleep making you crazy, not that she'd ever admit it - Zuko didn't seem interested in Aang at all. He was totally focused on the girl in Fire Nation armor, backing her into a corner right along with the rest of them.
He's… helping us?
He was with the old firebender, the one who'd tried to save the Moon Spirit from Zhao. Fire Nation, her enemy - and he'd still tried.
But this is Zuko. It's got to be a trick. Somehow. I don't know how, yet, but-
Gold eyes didn't even flicker, before blue fire flew. Not toward Aang. Not toward them. Toward….
Fire Nation, but he was trying to help, and - he's an old man, how could she-?
He didn't cry out. But Zuko….
Katara hadn't heard anyone scream like that since-
Mom.
No one deserved to suffer like that.
Not even Zuko? the same surly, malicious voice that had picked a fight with Toph sniffed.
No. Not even an arrogant, high-handed, spoiled prince of an enemy… what in the world was he doing to that fire?
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Flow with the flame.
Forget knots of copper instead of gold threads; part of what he was working with was charred, and too much just blackened ash. He had to dig in, pour in the fire and his own strength, somehow clear what couldn't be restored out-
"Katara! Don't put out the fire!"
The Avatar. Serious, for once. And damn right. He needed that fire. Uncle needed it, and while he'd never tried to seriously hurt the Avatar's little band of renegades, if they got between him and Uncle now….
Something cool slipped in under the flames, laving away ashes.
The waterbender. I should-
But the water didn't push. It just flowed around his fire, working at knots he hadn't touched. Or had touched, and couldn't - quite - unravel.
Why is she helping?
Didn't matter. Worry about it later. Just keep working, keep healing, and damn Azula….
"Don't push too hard. You want to work with the body, not against it."
He tried. Panic was the enemy. Uncle needed him to be thinking, not crying. Definitely not driving off a healer who seemed to know what she was doing, no matter how much he wanted to scream his fury to the skies.
How could she? How could she?
"It's okay, you're doing fine… whoa, that's a weird thing to say. Okay, just listen. Move around me, all right? I'm going to get the tricky parts. Just back me up, and everything's going to be fine."
Just because you're after the same goal, doesn't mean you're allies.
Some of the screaming in his head - you're helping the Avatar! - finally went quiet.
She's a healer. She's helping Uncle. Which is going to help me, and the Fire Nation. I don't have to like her. I just have to use it.
Better. Much better. As was the feel of Uncle's pulse under his hand when he ventured to touch healing skin; still fast, but steady.
Water retreated, and he let the fire go. She uses a waterskin, Zuko thought suddenly. So even when there's no water near to grab…. I wonder… didn't one of Uncle's scrolls say something about firepots…?
Grimacing, Zuko tried to gather his scattered concentration. Fire or no fire, he'd really overdone it this time.
I need sleep. Soon.
But not yet. Not until- Gathering his courage, he looked at the awful wound. Cloth was charred, still tainted with the awful scent of roasted flesh, but….
Letting the little earthbender help him sit up by way of a raised rock, Uncle smiled at him. "Well done." And lifted an expressive brow.
I know, Uncle. I know. Rising to his feet - he was not going to wobble, damn it - he ignored the rising babble from the two boys. And bowed to the waterbender.
Katara. You owe her that. And more.
"I owe you," Zuko said roughly, rising. "And I pay my debts." He skewered the airbender with a look. "Azula's going to kill you."
The Water Tribe boy snorted. "You've got a real funny way of-"
"Let him talk, Snoozles!" The earthbender stamped a foot on the ground for emphasis, dropping the boy, boomerang and all, into a sudden sinkhole. "This is important."
"Toph!"
"He's just talking, Sokka." Katara's voice was hard, but level. "Let him."
Amazing. Someone in the little bunch actually had sense. "Azula's not an exile," Zuko went on. "Fire Navy ship, Yu Yan, fresh mounts, tanks - if she asks for it, she'll get it."
"Zhao had all that," the Avatar started, "and-"
"Zhao just killed people when he didn't get what he wanted," Zuko bit out. "Azula is worse."
"Oh yeah?" Sokka challenged, up to his chin in dirt. He should have looked ridiculous, except for the determination in blue eyes. "And how, exactly, do you get worse than death?"
"She finds what you love, and she takes it away." No. I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have….
But he had. And from the way the airbender flinched, something had finally, finally gotten through that shaved, tattooed head.
Use it.
"She'll track you," Zuko went on harshly, standing his ground. "I did it by asking questions and following what I could see; you think it's a hundred years ago and sky bison are everywhere? They're not. People notice. And maybe some of them wouldn't talk to me because you're the Avatar, but believe me, they will talk to Azula. Because she smiles, and she knows how to make people want to trust her - and if they don't talk, someone will disappear. Maybe their wife. Or their friends. Or their children. And if they're lucky, they'll get a body back. She broke her neck. He drowned. They got buried in a landslide. Oh, what horrible accidents." He had to stop, and breathe, smoke curling up from clenched fists. "She'll say it just like that. And smile. And ask again." He stared into gray eyes, trying not to shake. "She's trying to kill you. She won't stop until she catches you. Any of you." Another breath. Spirits, he was going to kill something. Or throw up. Maybe both. "Do you understand me? Didn't any of those monks tell you what real people are like? We're not all worth saving, you idiot!"
Aang swallowed hard, but met him gaze for gaze. "I don't believe that, Zuko." He shook his head. "I can't."
Zuko saw pure, blinding red. "Then you're going to die-!"
"Nephew."
Enough. Just enough, to catch him before his temper teetered over the ragged edge. Zuko forced clenched fists open, dissipating daggers of flame.
"Go find Asahi," Iroh directed, golden gaze worried and sympathetic. "We will need to move swiftly."
Yes. They would. Zuko nodded to the old general, and took off down the street, leaving the whole infuriating band behind.
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Iroh sighed in relief as his nephew vanished around a building. Now, to deal with-
"Did you see that nut?" Sokka sputtered as Toph bent him back out of the ground. "Don't do that again! We were about to have crispy-fried Aang-"
"My nephew," Iroh said, in a voice that had cut across parade grounds at need, "was trying to help. Difficult as that may be to believe."
"Oh, sure. Chase us all over the world, and now he's on our side?" Sokka shook his head, wolf-tail whipping fast enough to catch him on the ear. "Ow!"
"No, he's not," Aang said firmly. "He was helping Katara."
"Who, me?" the waterbender said skeptically. "Just because I- um."
"Even so," Iroh nodded graciously. His shoulder was still sore, and likely would be for some time, he imagined. Still, he had no complaints.
That was meant to be a deathblow. Long, lingering, and painful.
Oh, Azula. Have you fallen so far, to please my brother? Or were you always this cruel, and we were all blind?
All, save Ursa and Zuko. Why had he never truly believed the boy?
It was too horrible, Iroh admitted to himself. My nephew had already lost his mother. It only seemed reasonable that he would be angry, and blame his rival for Ozai's love. As Ozai felt I was, for our father's. Only… expected.
"Honor's really important in the Fire Nation," Aang was saying. "That's what Kuzon always said."
So you do not know why. Iroh hid a grimace. And why should you? Roku was an Avatar; he was not bound by a firebender's loyalty. Avatars serve the world, they cannot serve their own clan. How Sozin must have ached, knowing one born as his dearest friend was as foreign to him as an airbender in the wind.
Still, the past was done. These children needed his mind on now. "Kuzon of Byakko?" Iroh asked.
"Yeah!" Exhausted as they all were, Aang still brightened. "Did you know him? Is that how Zuko healed you? I saw Kuzon doing something with green flames once, but he'd never show me. Even when I asked him a lot of times-"
"There is no time."
The Avatar's face fell, and Iroh almost regretted his brusqueness. Almost. "Azula will return, and she will not be alone. You must not be here when she does."
"And what about you, Uncle?" Toph asked, jabbing a finger into his unwounded shoulder. "You'd better not be here, either."
Uncle. Iroh smiled at the strong little girl. I do not think I would mind another niece. One who would at least give my nephew a chance to be himself, without always watching for pain. "Zuko and I have eluded her before. We will be all right."
"Whoa, whoa," Sokka was waving his arms in disbelief, "you're running from her?"
"Did you not hear her call us traitors, young man? Which is quite unfair to my nephew. He has always been loyal to the Fire Lord." He gave Aang a piercing look. "He still is."
"So… I guess we should get moving," Aang said reluctantly.
"It would be wise," Iroh said dryly.
"But… you helped us. And I really, really need a firebending teacher-" Aang saw his look, and gulped.
"Avatar Aang," Iroh said, with deliberate finality, "I hope, when next we meet, you will know why what you have asked is cruel."
"I'll say," Toph grumbled. "Don't worry, Uncle. I know enough about the nobles to clue Twinkletoes in." She clapped dust off her hands. "Come on, slowpokes!"
"Wait," Katara said hurriedly. "Uncle… what did Azula take from Zuko?"
Iroh closed his eyes, wrung by grief too worn for tears. "More than you will ever know, child."
"But-"
"Katara, come on!" Sokka hissed. "Creepy ladies. Blue fire. Sleep!"
Footsteps faded, and Iroh breathed a sigh of relief.
"They're gone."
Iroh started, looking about guiltily. Pain distracted one from the stillness needed to feel another firebender's fire, and his nephew was silent enough; that Asahi could almost match him for stealth was a bit unnerving. "Trying to take them would have been-"
"You're wounded. I'm exhausted. And Azula wants us both. I'm determined, Uncle. Not stupid."
Yet tired as he must be, Zuko didn't look angry. Or even resigned. In fact, if Iroh didn't know better…. "And what has you in such a good mood, my nephew?"
Openly smirking, Zuko dropped a hand-sized patch of familiar scales in front of him, one side still raw and bloody. "Guess who's going to be walking in an hour?"
Mongoose dragon scales. The rear thigh, if he remembered their patterns correctly. "But how…?"
"Who's a sweetheart?" Zuko crooned, scratching under a black-feathered beak.
If Iroh didn't know better, he would have sworn Asahi's trill was a chuckle.
