Their tails were thick and powerful, covered in shinny scales. Their faces were fierce and knowledge, and the top of their necks were covered in a mane of wild, tangled hair.
They were amazing, inspiring, and incredible creatures. They were also impossible.
Zuko lay on his back on Appa as he and Aang made their way back to the Western Air temple. He couldn't stop thinking about the dragons he and Aang had found, of their powers, or about the tower of colorful light that shot from their mouths when they breathed.
Or the fact that his uncle had known about them all along.
"Why didn't he every say anything?"
"What?" asked Aang from near Appa's head.
"Nothing," responded Zuko. "Just thinking."
"About how your Uncle knew about the dragons?"
Zuko sat up suddenly, searching for the Airbender's figure in the fading light. "Yeah, how did you know?"
Aang shrugged. "You got your moody 'abandoned' look."
"Oh."
"I'm sure your uncle was just trying to keep them safe, he never meant to lie to you about it," continued Aang soothingly.
"It's not that," said Zuko. "It's…" Zuko paused, trying to gather his thoughts. He took a deep breath, then turned to face Aang.
"It's not that he didn't tell me about the dragons," said Zuko slowly. "It's that he didn't tell my grandfather. Or anyone else in the Fire Nation. He lied to keep them secret, because he knew dragon hunting was wrong. He had already turned on some of the Fire Nation ways and traditions."
"And that worries you?"
"It frustrates me," responded Zuko. "Because I never knew. Up until Ba Sing Se, I thought he was a pure Fire Nation fighter. On the ship, trying to track you down, going to fight in the Earth Kingdom…I never saw him as anything but a devoted Fire Nation royal."
Aang shrugged. "Maybe he thought he could do more good from the inside, rather then turning on his kingdom and family completely."
"But he never did!" exclaimed Zuko. "He never tried to convert anybody! Never tried to make them see the errors of their—our--ways. He never said anything, not even to me!"
"I thought he trained you?"
"That's different." Zuko flopped back onto the saddle, looking up into the starry earth kingdom sky. "He taught me to control my fire, not lose my temper. Never that my country was a bunch of murdering psychopaths."
The night was silent. Then Aang spoke again.
"Let me ask you Zuko. If he had told you about the starving refugees displaced by the war, about the hundreds of dead innocents, about the horrors inflicted by the Fire Nation…would you have listened to him?"
Zuko was quite for a moment. Then, "No."
Even from his place in the saddle, he could hear Aang draw a breath.
"I would have thought he was just sour from losing his son to the war, and losing his throne."
"That's what everyone would have thought," said Aang. "It was better for him to be your uncle, to be there for you, then to be a rebel. He was what you needed him to be, and he let you make your own decisions."
"And when I did, I turned on him."
"But the you found your way back on the right path, and he always knew you would."
Aang paused for a second, then continued.
"Your uncle was your kind, Fire Nation uncle. Now he's a rebel of the white lotus. He helped you, and now he's fighting for what he really believes in."
Anag fell silent. Zuko looked over at the Avatar's figure in the darkness. Aang might be just a young Airbender, but he seemed pretty wise for his age. His wisdom reminded Zuko a bit of Iroh.
Aang might be right, because he really knew how smart and kind philosophers thought.
Team: Fire Nation
Round: 6
Category: Drabble
Prompt: 9. Dragon
Word count: 645
