Chapter Seven

"The Avatar...?" Zuko whispered, his voice a mixture of shock and awe. "Are you sure?"

"The Fire Sages are very insistent." Iroh sighed. "They claim to have seen him. That he visited Roku's temple...and that he destroyed it."

"Why would he destroy his own temple?" Zuko wondered.

"This Avatar is not Roku." Iroh said. "He is the next in the cycle..."

"I know that." Zuko responded. "But still...they're connected...they are the same person...reborn in a different form..."

"In some ways, yes, they are the same person." Iroh agreed. "But in other ways they are vastly different. This Avatar is an airbender...and given what happened after the death of the last Avatar..." He sighed.

Zuko was quiet for a moment. He knew enough about history to know the Avatar's return did not bode well for his people. His great-grandfather Sozin had waited until the death of Avatar Roku before expanding his empire. His tutors had taught him that Sozin's intentions where good, that he only wanted to share the Fire Nation's superior technology and achievements with the rest of the world, that the other nations' resistance to change was what had brought about the war.

Their lessons hadn't made sense to him so Zuko had questioned them. If it had all been for the greater good, surely the Avatar would have supported him, so why had Sozin waited for Roku to pass? Why had he then focused all of his efforts on destroying the Air Nomads, into whose culture the next Avatar would be born? And why did his father and grandfather grow so nervous at any mention of the Avatar's possible return? Why had they spent so much time and effort to ensure that the Avatar had been destroyed?

He had been chastised severely for his questions and as a result had lost interest in history, focusing instead on his warrior skills.

He knew, though his father may dread the Avatar's return, the rest of the world would welcome it. The Avatar would give the people hope, and that hope would strengthen their resolve and they would fight even harder.

And he knew his father would do everything in his power to ensure that hope was extinguished.

Zuko had returned to the capital as soon as the light had faded from the sky, summoned by his father who hadn't even been aware that he'd gone. He hadn't been very happy when he'd learned of Zuko's little excursion and had more or less confined him to the palace grounds as soon as he'd arrived. Azula too had been summoned back from school and was due before sunset. Zuko had to wonder if his father was afraid for his line and wanted to keep his children close in order to protect them. If so, things may be more troubling than he imagined.

"So what does this mean for us?" Zuko asked quietly.

"I have been charged with tracking the Avatar down." Iroh said. "Based on the various reports we have received your father considers him a credible threat."

"But I am the Crown Prince!" Zuko protested. "I should be the one to seek him out!"

"I know the hunt for the Avatar is something of a rite of passage in our family." Iroh smiled as he placed a hand on his nephew's shoulder. "But you have other duties to attend to."

Zuko frowned, confused.

"Yue..."

"Please..." Zuko grumbled, eyes on the floor, cursing the colour he could feel rising in his cheeks. "Let's not start that again..." He regretted telling his uncle that they'd returned too quickly from the winter palace for nature to take its course.

"That is not what I meant." Iroh said. "You will need to protect her now. There are those who will now see her as a threat."

"A threat?" Zuko boggled. "How could she possibly be a threat? She's not a warrior. She's not even a bender!"

"But she IS Water Tribe." Iroh said. "And she has access to the Royal Family..."

"She's had that for months!" Zuko countered. "And we have an arrangement with the Water Tribe."

"It will not make a difference." Iroh said softly. "Many people do not judge others on the strength of words on paper...or on vows exchanged..."

"Then they have no honour." Zuko growled.

"True enough." Iroh agreed. "But that does not change the fact. Keep her close. You may be the only one who can keep her from harm."


Iroh's send-off was Yue's first appearance in public since the Avatar's return. It was also her first outside the palace city. Though, given how separated they were from the public she wasn't so sure it counted.

They stood, in a highly regimented order, on an ornate balcony overlooking a grand promenade that led to the sea where Iroh's massive steel ship awaited. Ozai, in full Fire Lord regalia, stood at the railing, looking down on his people, his hands hidden in his voluminous sleeves. Zuko stood on his right, the newly returned Azula on his left, both a step behind their father. Both were dressed more for the battlefield than for a public ceremony. They wore identical suits of what could only be called armour, in black and red, edged with gold. Identical golden flames adorned their identical topknots, though she felt Zuko's was slightly larger, to indicate his position as Crown Prince, no doubt. And though he looked very handsome, she didn't think it suited him at all. She stood a step behind Zuko, nearly invisible to the crowd, and that suited her just fine.

She'd never felt all that comfortable amongst the populace, even with Zuko at her side, but now, things were even worse. The people had never truly accepted her as their princess, all they'd ever done was tolerate her. Now that tolerance was wearing thin.

The people looked on her with disdain, but only when they knew Zuko wasn't looking. The palace servants tended to her requested begrudgingly, only showing her any respect when Zuko was present. She desperately wanted to return to the winter palace, the staff there had been genuinely kind to her, but with Zuko's royal commitments she knew it was impossible.

She glanced down as a cheer erupted from the gathered throng below. Iroh and his crew were now making their trek to the distant ship, the people enthusiastically farewelling their elder prince.

Two identical women, who looked older than time itself, were addressing the crowd in perfect synchronisation, as if they shared the same voice along with the same face. They spoke of Iroh's great achievements, of the battles he had fought and won for the Fire Nation's glory. They spoke of the Earth Kingdom's treachery that had led to the loss of his beloved son and his temporary abandonment of the siege of Ba Sing Se. They assured the people that he would find and capture the Avatar and remove the only threat to the Fire Nation's victory over the world.

The huge cheer that followed this announced made had gasp and shrink back. She felt something brush her hand and looked down to see Zuko's fingers brushing hers. She looked up to see his concerned golden eyes looking back at her as inconspicuously as possible. She took his hand in an iron grip, clinging to it as if it were a lifeline.

She didn't know how long they stood there as Iroh and his crew filed onto the ship, as it pulled away and headed across the harbour towards the gate in the wall that kept it safe. Ozai turned and left as soon as the ship passed through the gate. Azula shot her brother the most wicked smirk she'd ever seen, and she wasn't sure, but she thought she heard her sneer, "One down...one to go..." as she turned and left as well as the gate closed, its heavy rumble audible despite the distance. Zuko, however, didn't move. He just stood there, one arm behind his back, the other thrust back to her.

She knew what he was feeling. He wasn't close to his father or his sister, he'd lost his mother...Iroh was the only family he really had. It was Iroh that he turned to for guidance, comfort, even just for company.

Now that the balcony was otherwise empty and she no longer had to stand on decorum, she stepped up behind him and wrapped her free arm around him as she rested her chin on his armoured shoulder. Rather than just holding his hand, she twined her fingers through his.

He shifted slightly, taking her other hand in his and pulling them more tightly around him. He drew them upwards until she could feel his breath on her fingers. Part of her thought...hoped...he would kiss them, but he just held them against his chest, against his heart, but she could feel it through the armour...

And so they stood there in the silence, watching as Iroh's ship disappeared over the horizon, and she made a vow to herself...if Iroh could not be there for him, she'd have to be.


Yue's days had become rather quiet. Zuko was always busy, off somewhere doing whatever his father ordered him to do. The servants rarely came anywhere near her if he wasn't there, they were loath to do anything for her and only did so under duress. She'd never felt very comfortable alone in the palace or its grounds, now she didn't even feel safe, so she kept to their rooms.

She had brought many things with her from the North Pole, items that were dear to her and others that were more functional, like her table loom. She would often sit at it during her many quiet hours, fashioning coarse yak-elk wool into fabric as the women of her tribe had for generations. The familiar task was monotonous, but very comforting.

"You make your own cloth?" A snide voice enquired. She spun to see Azula leaning against the doorframe. She slinked into the room without invitation and peered at Yue's handiwork. "How...quaint..." She smiled, testing the fabric between taloned fingers.

"It's rather coarse." She said with a frown. "But I suppose that's what you're used to."

Yue tried not to bristle at the thinly veiled insult.

"Do you make your own clothes, too?" She asked with an arced brow.

"Yes." She confirmed.

"How wonderfully productive of you." She smiled. "And the colour..." She went on. "Have you ever considered anything that isn't blue?"

"What's wrong with blue?" Yue demanded, a little defensively. She was very proud of her heritage.

"Nothing." Azula admitted. "But it does kind of make you stand out."

"Stand out?" Yue echoed.

"Well...ever since the Avatar returned...there are those who are rather suspicious of anything that isn't Fire Nation." She smirked that smirk of hers. "I know you'd never hurt us...but the people...they're very protective of the royal family..." She leaned in close. "You never know what's on their overly patriotic little minds..."

Yue's eyes widened. The heavy silence left in the wake of Azula's words became almost palatable.

"What are you doing in here?"

The pair turned to see Zuko, his eyes narrowed, all but stalking into the room. There had been a hard edge to his voice that Yue had never heard before.

There was something in the way the two circled each other that reminded her of polar leopards. They were sizing each other up, manoeuvring into position. Zuko, she noticed, had put himself between her and his sister, his honey-gold eyes never leaving his sister's deeper amber ones. His intentions were clear...he was protecting her from what he saw as a threat. Yue knew the siblings didn't get along, but she hadn't realised that their animosity ran so deep.

Azula was the one to break the tension in the room. Her stance relaxed as she paused in front of the open door.

"I'm just getting to know my sister-in-law." She said sweetly. "Don't you think I should? We're family now after all."

Zuko didn't say anything, he just glared at her smirking face.

"Well...anyway..." She turned, flouncing through the door. "I'll leave you two to..." She paused in thought for a moment, circling her hand as she did so. "...to whatever it is that you two do..."

Zuko followed, closing the door, quietly but firmly, behind her. He stood there for a moment, his hand resting where the door and jam met, taking a few deep breaths as if struggling to regain his composure. But when he turned she could still see the tension in him, in his eyes, his face, in his entire body.

"Are you alright?" He asked, his voice carefully controlled.

She nodded, but her eyes were still wide. She was still unsettled, both by Azula's presence, and Zuko's reaction to it. It took all her force of will not to back away as he approached her. But he must have sensed her apprehension. He stopped, closed his eyes and took another deep breath. There was fear and pain in his eyes when he opened them.

"Did she...hurt...?" He began, his voice barely audible. He had seen the fear in her eyes as he'd entered. He had heard what Azula had said to her just before he got there.

Yue shook her head. "She scared me a little..." She admitted with a tiny smile, mostly for his benefit. "She's quite intimidating..."

"Yeah..." Zuko looked away for a moment, allowing himself a little chuckle. "She's that all right..." He looked back at her, a slight smile on his lips, which faded quickly at the look on her face. Her wide blue eyes still held that haunted look as she gazed up at him, her skin was still paler than usual. Her fingers twisted nervously in the threads of her loom.

"I scared you too..." He realised. He lowered his head and she knew that he was ashamed of that.

"You surprised me..." She began. "I didn't think you could be so...like that..."

"Azula brings out the worst in me." He said softly. He went down on bended knee before her where she sat at her forgotten work so he could look her straight in the eye.

"She takes great delight in tormenting me." He said. "In destroying anything and everything I care about. So when I saw her here..." He lowered his head.

"You feared the worst." Yue surmised.

"It's pretty much an automatic response." He sighed. He looked up to meet her gaze.

"I guess a healthy ferociousness is part of being a firebender." She said.

"It does help to be aggressive..." He admitted. "Though there is more to it than that." He took her hands in his. "But I want you to know...I would never turn that aggression...that ferociousness...on you."

She reached out and gently traced the curve of his face. Even when she'd been frightened she knew he'd never deliberately turn his anger on her, so she had no reason not to believe his words. She knew she would only ever see that side of him when he was protecting her.

She just hoped she wouldn't have to see it too often.


Though she didn't say anything, Zuko knew Yue had been quite shaken by Azula's little stunt. Though she hadn't actually made a move against her, her subtle threat weighed heavily on both their minds. It had echoed Iroh's warning, a warning that Zuko had not shared with his wife, but it had strengthen the possibility that someone might make a move against her.

He also knew that he had to do something so as not to see a repeat of the incident with Azula. The only way to keep Yue safe from his sister was to keep one or the other in sight. If he could not be with Yue he made sure he could see exactly what his sister was up to. He made certain that Azula had no free access to Yue.

Of course that didn't mean Azula didn't have free access to him...

The meeting had run overtime and he was running late. The light was already fading from the sky and he knew Yue was waiting for him so he was walking a little more briskly than usual.

"Rushing home to the little woman?" Azula teased as she fell into step beside him. His narrowed eyes slid briefly towards her smug face, but otherwise he did his best to ignore her, no easy task with her apparent inability to leave him alone. He wondered briefly if her two friends back at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls had breathed a sigh of relief when she'd been called home. At least if offered them some peace.

"But I suppose you have to for as long as you can." She continued, checking her fingernails in a nonchalant way. "After Zhao amasses his armada and destroys the Northern Water Tribe she'll have to be dealt with. I know you'll miss your little pet, but don't worry, father will find you another wife...a proper Fire Nation wife. I was going to suggest Mai...she still likes you for some reason, though I can't for the life of me imagine why...but given what a weak firebender you are you'll have to marry another firebender. We have to make certain that your offspring are firebenders after all..."

She continued to prattle on, but Zuko was no longer paying much attention to what she was saying...it would only be hurtful, designed to get a rise out of him. His eyes had widened when she'd mentioned the armada, and he was suddenly glad that it was dark and she'd been too preoccupied with some invisible flaw she'd found in one of her fingernails to notice his reaction. It had taken all his strength of will not to stop dead in his tracks...he knew that was the reaction she was hoping for. And when she hadn't gotten it she'd launched straight into an attack on Yue.

He remembered his childhood mantra...Azula always lies. This had to be a lie...they had a treaty with the Northern Water Tribe...his marriage to Yue had sealed it. To break it by invading them would be completely dishonourable. But Iroh had warned him to keep a close eye on his wife, that there was likely those who would wish to do her harm. There could be some truth behind Azula's words. Could he risk Yue's life...and her peoples'...by brushing Azula's taunt off as a lie?

"Anyway..." Azula's change in tone caught his attention...he could almost hear her roll her eyes. Either she was finished or she realised he was no longer listening. "I have to go have a word with the royal manicurist...and you have to go spend some time with your little snowflake...we can't have her getting all suspicious on us now can we?"


Zuko stood in mesmerised silence as he watched his wife sleep in the bed they still didn't share. There was a slight crease to her brow which gave her face a troubled look. Seeing it he knew he'd made the right decision. He had to get her out of the Fire Nation.

Their evening had passed like any other. They had eaten in their rooms, Yue was not comfortable in the presence of his family now that his uncle was gone so they rarely ate with them. They had talked about their days, she'd done a little weaving, working some purple into the fabric he noticed. Then they had gotten ready for bed.

He had waited for some time before soundlessly entering the sleeping chamber to make sure that she was asleep...and she had captivated him. He shook his head to clear it then left as quietly as he'd entered, using the skills he'd developed in order to avoid his sister during her frequent visits from school. He almost chuckled when he realised he was pretty much doing the same thing now.

He glanced at the golden couch that served as his bed. He'd arranged pillows beneath the blankets to give the illusion that there was a body there, as he'd done several times in his youth when he'd snuck out to visit some of his uncle's favourite haunts in the city.

He headed for one of them now.

He sighed as he looked up at the faded shingle that hung above the door. He wasn't sure what Uncle's Pai Sho buddies could do, but the old man had been adamant that if he ever needed help that they were the ones to turn to. He took a deep breath and entered the seedy looking establishment.

He had made certain not to wear anything that would give away his royal status but it was obvious that he didn't belong. He pulled his hood a little tighter around his face as every single person in the place looked up from what they were doing to study him. He reached into his pocket, his fingers tightening on the item his uncle had told him to bring with him.

A harmless looking old man excused himself with a nod to his competitor and rose from their Pai Sho board.

"Can I help you, young man?" He asked as he approached.

"My uncle sent me." Zuko explained as he withdrew his hand from his pocket, opening it to reveal the single Pai Sho tile on his palm. It was emblazed with a stylised flower. "He said you could help me."


Avatar: The Last Airbender and all related characters are © of Bryan Konietzko, Michael DiMartino, Nickelodeon and Viacom International Inc