Chapter Ten: The Dragon of the West

He had been looking all over the ship for her.

Lieutenant Aya was standing on the deck, glancing out at the water as the ship moved through the deep ocean. Zhao narrowed his eyes and clasped his hands together behind his back as he approached her. She stiffened once he was beside her, and he smirked.

"Have you gotten any word from Fire Lord Ozai?" she asked without looking at him.

Zhao's hands moved to tighten around the ship's railing. "No, but I expect to hear from him in a couple of days. An attack on the second strongest nation is crucial for this war to be won," he said.

She nodded, but still refused to look at him.

"Did you know that many retired Fire Nation military men like to live in the coastal Earth Kingdom cities?" he asked. "I could never think of a reason why someone would willingly choose to live in such a horrid country…."

Aya sighed beside him and bowed her head. "What do you want, Zhao?"

"I have a bit of a favour to ask of you, really," he said.

She laughed wryly. "Hah, and what could I, the scum at the bottom of your boot, do for the great Commander Zhao?"

A vein in his temple throbbed. When she was in the presence of others, she appeared insolent and disrespectful to his authority. He loathed it, and she knew it.

"You were good friends with General Iroh, also known as the infamous Dragon of the West," he said.

He was surprised to see that she could stiffen even more, but her face remained impassive. "General Iroh is a traitor to the Fire Nation."

"The entire country knows that, but the man considered you a friend."

"I doubt that a few cups of tea and games of Pai Sho made me a friend of the great Dragon of the West," she said.

"I never had the patience for Pai Sho—."

"You never had the patience for anything," she said.

Zhao whirled around and grabbed onto her wrist. Instantly he made his palms hot, which he knew she could faintly feel through the armoured band she wore around her forearm. Her brows drew into a straight line, and she frowned.

"I only have the patience for moves that could benefit the Fire Nation," he said.

She narrowed her eyes. "Or yourself," she retorted.

His grip tightened on her arm and he jerked with all of the strength of his shoulder. Lieutenant Aya immediately was thrown across the deck, her shoulder connecting first with the metal. She rolled until she was on her knees before him.

His crew had been attending to the ship and taking inventory, and when they saw him roughly move her, they all stopped and stared. He didn't care that they were watching, and he felt that he could make a prominent example out of the scum before him.

Zhao felt his palms heat up, and he slowly lifted them up until he held a flame in the palm of his hand. When he was about to punch out at her, aiming for her frustratingly green eyes, did she speak.

"The traitor General Iroh resides in a coastal Earth Kingdom village not too far from here. If we continue a little north and aim for the west, we'll make it there in the morning," she said.

The flame in his palm fizzled out and he sneered. "I knew you were still speaking to him," he said.

"I have not seen him in over sixteen years," she said.

"But you have spoken to him."

Her eyes narrowed. "Once."

Zhao crossed his arms over his chest. "You will tell me where the traitor is, or I will personally have you thrown over the edge of this ship."

"What business do you have with him?"

"The man may be a traitor, but he was the greatest general the Fire Nation has seen in generations. I, of course, will be greater to him once I have reached the title of general."

She scoffed and his eyes narrowed. "I never thought you'd value someone else's opinion."

He lowered his face until it was level with hers. "Now, where is he?"

Zuko was laying flat on his back as his chest heaved. Sweat trickled across his skin and he clenched his hands into fists to bash into the earth beneath him. He gritted his teeth.

"Damn it!"

"C'mon, Zuko! You can do it! One more time!" Aang called out.

Zuko lurched up from where he lay and narrowed his eyes. "I've been at this for hours! All I get from it is a gate to the face!"

"It's all a part of the learning process!"

The last time he had been hit with one of the gates, his nose bled everywhere and Tenzin allowed him to sit out for ten minutes to staunch the flow. This time, Zuko was sure that the latest hit had landed him a black eye.

Ever since he had spoken to Avatar Aang during the solstice, Master Tenzin had decided that Zuko needed to increase the amount of meditation he would do a day, something Master Jeong Jeong wholeheartedly approved of, and begin basic airbending training. Originally, he had been excited to start airbending, but that was before he realized how difficult it would be just to produce a little bit of air. So far, all he could create was a plume of smoke from his fists. No air.

"No worries! You'll get it in no time!" Aang had said.

Easy for you to say, you don't have the fate of the entire world in your hands, he had thought.

Sokka, who was also watching him beside Aang, just shook his head.

His days were extremely busy these days. In the morning, he would awaken and meditate, then eat a small spot of breakfast with Katara. Then he would go meet Master Jeong Jeong and practice his breathing for an hour. And as per Master Tenzin's orders, Master Jeong Jeong was starting to put more emphasis on firebending basics than before.

At noon, he was given a break to eat a small lunch, which was usually when Sokka joined him and Katara. After lunch, then he would start his airbending training with Master Tenzin. At first, it was meditation…which was frustrating. Then the spinning gates became involved and Zuko wished he could go back to the days where all he would do is meditate.

A shadow appeared over him and he glanced up. Master Tenzin stood over him, arms crossed over his chest. "Get up, Avatar Zuko," he said.

He inwardly groaned and slowly stood up. His ribs were sore and his face still burned from when it had connected with one of the spinning gates. He was exhausted in both body and mind.

Master Tenzin restarted the spinning gates and declared that they were ready for him. Zuko reluctantly nodded and started to run toward them.

He passed into it quickly, spinning on his heel and avoiding a gate that came for him. Another came at him, and Zuko moved away from it like he had become air.

Elation spread throughout his very being. He had been at this for days, and for him to finally succeed….

I-I did it! I avoi—

A gate connected with his shoulder, pushing him into another, which knocked him back into another. Zuko was sure that he heard a rib crack and it became hard for him to breathe.

He saw an opening, and jumped forward. He felt a gate hit his leg, but he was able to make it through onto the other side. He fell face down, gasping for air.

He heard cries of his name, and he felt another series of shadows appear over him. Slowly, he rolled over onto his back and looked into the worried faces of Aang, Sokka, and Master Tenzin.

"Well, you had it for a second!" Aang said.

He could only groan. His right side felt like it was on fire and it was difficult for him to breathe. Sokka was trying to pull him into a sitting position, but it was too painful. He just shook his head and gasped out that he'd prefer to lie down.

He wrapped an arm around his ribs and clenched his eyes tight.

"Aang, can you go grab Katara for me?" Sokka asked.

Sokka turned back to look at him and grimaced. "How're you feeling, buddy?"

Zuko groaned. "I must look pretty bad right now," he gasped.

Sokka tried to smile, but failed. He nodded slowly. "Yeah, you look like you got in a fight with a rabid polar bear dog and lost."

Master Pakku was teaching her the octopus form.

Katara had no trouble creating a large body of water, but she was having difficulty creating eight different whip-like limbs. She had, so far, only succeeded in creating two, with a stumpy third.

Apparently, she was making wonderful progress, more than any other student Master Pakku has ever had in the North. She enjoyed hearing that, but she also felt pressured to succeed even more. She was his first female student, but she was having difficulty with a move that seemed so easy. He could easily do the octopus form as if it were nothing.

"That was a great attempt, if you wanted to leave your back wide open."

Katara furrowed her brow and jerked her arm out. The third octopus limb pushed out, but it was shaky and uncontrolled. It collided with a nearby pot, shattering it to a million pieces and barely missing Sokka.

Sokka?!

Sokka was out of breath, and Katara wasn't sure if it was from exertion or because she nearly hit him with an octopus limb.

"Katara!"

"Sorry, Sokka! I didn't see you there! I thought you were with—."

He made a waving gesture that made her stop talking. He stood up straight and took in a deep breath before he let it out.

"Zuko needs your help! We had a little accident with the spinning things and—!"

She didn't let him finish. She had already lost her concentration on her octopus, allowing it to splash on the ground. She turned to look at Master Pakku, who simply nodded at her, and she started to run in the direction of where they were training Zuko with the spinning gates. Katara faintly heard Sokka behind her groan, but she ignored him as she ran toward her friend, picking up her water skin from where she had left it before she had begun her training.

Zuko was lying on the ground, arm wrapped around his torso. There was blood streaming down his face, and Katara couldn't tell if it was from a bloodied nose or a busted lip. From where she stood, she guessed it was both.

Aang and Master Tenzin were both near him, the latter knelt beside him with a worried look on his face. Aang was rambling about how that was Zuko's best run yet with the spinning gates.

With a shake of her head, she knelt beside him and opened the lid to her water skin. She bent the water out and held it to his face first. Under his breath, Zuko mumbled something that sounded like a greeting, but she could only frown as the water glowed blue and began to deal with the damage to his face.

"Is he going to be okay?" Aang asked.

Katara sighed. "Probably, but he should probably take it easy."

She pulled the water away from his face. The majority of the blood came with the water, but the area around his nose and chin were still stained pink. From the look of things, Zuko just had had too much blunt force to his nose and busted his lip open. The lip would take a little bit more time to heal than his nose, sadly.

Glancing down at where he was holding onto his ribs, Katara frowned. She reached down and placed a hand on Zuko's.

"I need you to move your hand," she said softly.

He grit his teeth and slowly moved it away. Katara took a deep breath and slowly bent the water back in its skin so that she could cap it. She took another deep breath and moved to push Zuko's shirt out of the way. The heat that built up momentarily in her cheeks embarrassed her, but it was quickly pushed away when she saw the discoloration adorning his ribs.

She swore under her breath to the spirits as she reopened her water skin top and bent the liquid. The water moved over his skin, and Katara let it sink in. It glowed once more as she worked to fix the damage. She guessed that he had broken at least one rib and bruised another. She easily fixed the bruised rib, but knew that it would take time for Zuko's broken one to heal completely.

"I think that's enough airbending training for today," she said.

Mediation probably was the only bending Zuko could do at the moment, for anything that aggravated his ribs could delay his recovery.

Zuko furrowed his brow when she said this, and he jerked up quickly. The motions were too much for him to handle, because he immediately winced and groaned. Katara brought her hands up to his shoulders to gently push him back down.

"I-I can't stop training! I only have—!"

"You need to rest!"

His gaze didn't waver from hers. "I'll have my ribs wrapped, and then I'll continue," he said.

"No," she said.

"Katara, I don't have much time before I have to face the Fire Lord. I—!"

"Zuko…."

"No, you don't understand!"

She recoiled from his outburst, and glanced down at her lap. Ever since the solstice, Zuko has been training nonstop until he could move no longer.

"Avatar Zuko, I think Katara is right when she says that you need to take it easy for a couple of days. You are done training for today," Master Tenzin said with finality, and Katara knew that Zuko would not go against his words.

It was now Zuko's turn to be silent. When Katara looked up, his eyes were clenched shut and his jaw was set. She wanted nothing more than to tell him that everything would be all right, but she had a distinct feeling that it would only anger him even more.

Zuko had been sent back to his rooms where he would meet with a healer to further evaluate the condition of his ribs. She was able to confirm that he had indeed broken one rib, and that Katara had done a wonderful job with dealing with all the bruising before she could take a look at him.

She wrapped his ribs tightly, and Zuko found it even more difficult to move his upper body. Breathing was still difficult, and Zuko what Master Jeong Jeong would tell him.

In truth, Zuko was more all right with delaying his airbending training for a few days, but he refused to delay his firebending. Most Avatars had the first sixteen years of life to master their native element while he only had less than a year. It would take a miracle gifted upon him by the spirits if he were to successfully master firebending before he had to face the Fire Lord.

When the healer had left his rooms, Zuko quietly thanked her and shut the door after her departure. He lit nearby candles with a precise flick of his wrist and gingerly sat down before them.

With a deep sigh, he began to meditate. He focused on his breathing, albeit painful, and the heat of the candles. Every time he breathed in, he felt the fire grow, and every time he let a breath out, they would flicker and spread. He repeated this until his full attention was on the flames. He was lost in the sensation and for one of the first times in his life felt one with his natural element.

He continued on until the pain was only in the back of his mind. It was like an annoying jab followed by a burning sensation every time he breathed, but he deemed it of lesser importance. What was important was the fire in the room.

It was hours later when Zuko heard a knock that he even realized that he had spent so long in his room. He slowly opened his eyes and glanced over his shoulder at the door and waited for the person on the other side to speak.

"Aang just said dinner's ready," Sokka said through the door. "Katara'll kill you if you don't show up."

Zuko sighed. "I'll be out in a minute," he said.

He knew that Sokka would wait outside the door, and then gripe about how hungry he was once they were on their way to the dining hall. Zuko smiled and moved slowly to stand. He was about to pull on the shirt he had worn earlier, only to notice some dried blood on it from earlier.

With a grimace, he cast it away to the side and pulled a freshly laundered one out. Once he wore the clean shirt, he walked over to a nearby basin filled with water. He quickly splashed some on his face before running a hand across it. With a sigh, he extinguished the candles in his room with a wave of his hand, and opened the door.

He had accidentally jolted the door, causing Sokka to startle slightly. He did his best to smoothly recover with a cross of his arms and a slight lean to the wall behind him.

"Man, it took you forever! C'mon, I'm so hungry, I could eat an entire ostrich horse."

Zuko smiled slightly. "Sorry, I had to change my clothes," he said.

Sokka shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just sayin', it took you a while is all."

As usual, the dining hall was lively. There was chatter and the clatter of plates as people moved amongst each other in the hall. The room smelled of vegetables cooked in butter, fresh bread and a type of roast.

He sat beside Katara, with Sokka settling on the other side of him. She had already had a small bowl of rice and a fresh yeast bun in front of her. She smiled at him, asking him how his ribs felt.

"Better," he said.

She was happy to hear it, and she turned around to talk to Aang beside her. Zuko glanced over toward the boy, and had to suppress a laugh when he saw Aang listening to her every word with fascination. He never thought a conversation about having to fix a hole in one's sock to be an interesting topic, but Aang was definitely interested in whatever Katara had to say. Well, to be fair, Aang wasn't listening, exactly. It was more like he was just staring at Katara.

He turned to Sokka, who was piling a large amount of food on his plate.

"Have you noticed that Aang kind of just stares at your sister?" he asked.

Sokka was just about to lift a yeast bun to his mouth when he furrowed his brow. "You've noticed it, too?" Zuko nodded. "I don't really like it."

Zuko chuckled, mentally cursing himself and Sokka for making him laugh when the pain returned. "Why don't you like it?"

Sokka shrugged. "I dunno. The idea of Aang and Katara…ughh!" He made a sort of disgusted noise and bit into the yeast bun.

Zuko could only nod and he turned to look back at Katara. She was daintily eating her rice, occasionally talking to Aang, who still hung onto her every word. The young boy still hadn't touched any part of his dinner.

He tried to imagine Aang and Katara being together, and came up with nothing. He tried to look ahead ten years into the future, and saw nothing either. To be fair, he was unable to see what he was going to be ten years in the future, as well.

"Yeah, I doubt he'd be a good—."

A figure moved from across the table, and Katara quickly looked up. Zuko followed her eyes and they landed on Gyatso. The boy, who Zuko recalled being the same age as he was, sat down opposite of them and started to serve himself. Katara kept her eyes on him, a slight blush rising in her cheeks.

She's…blushing?

It was…horrible and Zuko felt a pang of jealousy rise in his chest. And suddenly, he felt his hunger quickly vanish from his belly and his frustrations rise.

It was after dinner when Katara sat on a small earthbending-created stool. She had her elbow propped up on her knee as she watched Zuko clumsily maneuver through his firebending basics to practice. In her opinion, she thought Zuko was doing great and she could tell that there was a lot of improvement after these last few weeks with Master Jeong Jeong. If it weren't for the broken rib, his form probably would have been perfect.

Zuko would go through a set, apparently mess up, and then either kick at the earth below his feet or stomp a flame into the ground. Sometimes he would go several minutes without getting frustrated, and whenever he would show upset, it would jolt her.

"How's he doing?"

She stiffened and turned to look behind her. Gyatso stood straight, and he moved to sit beside her on the ground. She shook her head.

"He's getting frustrated easily," she said. "And I think he shouldn't be training in his condition," she added.

"That's not good. Frustration will only make him mess up more." Gyatso raised an eyebrow. "And since he's working with firebending, I'd hate for him to accidentally hurt himself even more than he is already."

Katara smiled and patted the water skin that she had wrapped around her torso. "I think I can take care of that."

She wasn't prepared for Gyatso to return her smile, and it made her heart flutter and the heat rise in her cheeks. She hoped that in the darkness that Gyatso couldn't see her blush.

A particular blast from Zuko came a little closer and lit up the area around them. She jumped slightly and Gyatso made a move to step in front of her in case a flame should come close. It fizzled out before anything could happen.

Gyatso frowned. "Hey, Zuko! Why don't you go have a cup of tea."

Zuko's shoulders heaved. "I don't need any tea! I need to master firebending!"

"You won't master firebending tonight! And you came close to burning us!"

Katara watched as Zuko stiffened. She smiled softly at him and he let out a breath he had been holding, a blow of steam escaping his lips.

"He's right, Zuko. I think you should take a break for a little while. You've been at it for a while now and the frustration isn't helping you right now." She smiled at him. "And you broke a rib today, so you should take it easy."

"I don't have time to 'take it easy'!" he said.

Gyatso leaned back a little. "You broke one rib today and bruised another, I think you should take it a little easy for a couple of days."

Katara nodded. "I'll try to see if I can heal it any more tomorrow, too. But please, Zuko, stop practicing for tonight and go to sleep."

His breathing was ragged and he preferred to stand more on his left side. Zuko looked like the moment he stopped trying to work through the basics that he would collapse. Katara knew that if he were to fall, she would have trouble picking him back up, and she worried that he would injure himself further.

"I—."

She took a deep breath. "The Avatar should know when to quit," she said.

He narrowed his eyes. "The Avatar should know to never give up."

Katara shook her head. "But you're not giving up, Zuko. You're stopping so that you can get up later and do it again," she said.

Gyatso nodded. "The Avatar must be able to know when to save the fighting for another day. It's not a failure."

He didn't say anything after that. Instead, he kept his mouth shut and seemed to mull over his thoughts before he took an unstable step backward.

"One more time," was all he said.

Alarm bells rang in Katara's mind. Every time Sokka, and occasionally Zuko, when they were children would call out 'one more,' it usually grew into many more than that.

She was about to say something when Zuko turned away from her and walked ten paces. She watched him inhale deeply, and then exhale. He started to move the way that he had many times, but this time it seemed almost more refined. His footwork was less clumsy and his movements more assured. The fire he released and moved about was more controlled than ever and Katara's breath caught in her throat.

It was pretty, she thought, the fire dancing around in the air….

When Zuko finished, all the fire was gone and he was breathing raggedly. His arm was wrapped around his right side and Katara moved from where she stood to his side. She gently placed a hand on his shoulder and started to guide him in the direction of their rooms.

"Rest up, Avatar Zuko. I'm sure Aang's dying to show you how to do the air scooter."

Zhao hated the Earth Kingdom.

The entire country was composed of barbarians that enjoyed kicking around in dirt and mud. He wanted nothing more than to see the entire country in flames, either dying out completely or bending to the will of the Fire Nation.

There were only a handful of good things that came out of the Earth Kingdom. It's rich farmland and its mines. Everything else was pointless.

He cast a glance at the scum of a woman walking beside him. She seemed nonchalant and almost bored. He knew it was a lie, for she had reluctantly told him the location of the teahouse that they were searching for.

"What you're looking for is in a small port village in the Western Earth Kingdom—the Fire Navy is in control of it," she had said.

The little seaport village was almost a perfect example of what he wanted from the Earth Kingdom. It was under Fire Nation rule, and its mines being used by the Fire Nation. Any earthbenders were arrested promptly and imprisoned for life.

They stepped inside a small teahouse. It was very warm inside and smelled deeply of fresh herbs and berries. The fresh scent of cakes baking in the back permeated through the air. It appeared to be almost too cheerful for a place under Fire Nation control, and Zhao hated it immediately.

"What would you like? Can I suggest a nice—."

Zhao interrupted the old man. "We're not here for tea. We're—."

The old man smiled warmly. "Not here for tea, eh? Well, perhaps you would like a lemon cake? Li makes wonderful lemon cakes."

He could feel the vein in his temple throb and he itched to grab the old man by the apron. "We're here on business that pertains to the Fire Nation's best interests."

Not hiding the smirk on his lips, he watched as the old man clenched his hold on his worn earthen teapot. He lowered it a little and furrowed his brow. The smile was gone from the old man's face.

"You've certainly grown since I've last seen you, Zhao."

"That would be Commander Zhao to you, General Iroh."

General Iroh narrowed his eyes and set the teapot down on a nearby table. "And what do you want with me, Commander Zhao? I'm just an old man, you know."

Zhao felt his smirk widen and he gestured for Aya to hand him the scroll that was tightly clenched in her hands. He took it gently and thrust it toward the old general. General Iroh took it slowly, his eyes never leaving Zhao's.

He clasped his hands behind his back as the general unrolled and skimmed it over. He watched as General Iroh's fingers clenched tightly around the parchment and he could have sworn that the older man paled.

"Zhao, this is suicide," he said.

"You think I actually want the help of a traitor unless I absolutely needed it? I need a general—."

"And no general in the Fire Nation is willing?"

Zhao felt his mouth twitch. He had presented the idea to Fire Lord Ozai many years before. The Fire Lord had thought the idea of destroying the Northern Water Tribe to be a great notion, but thought it only possible with the help of the rumoured Sozin's Comet or the Avatar. The Fire Lord only consented if he could get a general to join his cause.

"I won't do it. My life is peaceful here and I would prefer to live out the rest of my life—."

"And what of your honour, General Iroh? You lost it sixteen years ago when it is said that you hid away the Avatar from your own nation. Your honour is not in brewing cups of tea."

General Iroh sighed and glanced toward the scum that stood beside him. She had stiffened her shoulders and looked away from the old man. Zhao sneered.

"If you don't come along with me, I'll be sure to tell your brother where you are. I'm sure he's just dying to see you again."

Sixteen and a half years ago, General Iroh had mysteriously left the Fire Nation Capital City on a small navy ship just two days after he had returned with his brother. The same day that he had left, on that very same morning, Princess Ursa's newborn son had passed.

General Iroh's crew had been arrested and interrogated, but none of them said anything of where they had gone or why they had. Fire Lord Azulon decided that each and every one of them were traitors to the Fire Nation, and had General Iroh's legendary crew executed for treason. General Iroh was to be imprisoned for life at the Boiling Rock, but escaped with his son, Prince Lu Ten.

Princess Ursa was stripped of her titles and imprisoned for one year. She was released in order to provide Prince Ozai and heir since the navy was unable to locate her firstborn.

After the birth of Princess Azula, heir to the Fire Nation throne, Ursa had vanished completely. She was to be imprisoned once more, at the Boiling Rock akin to General Iroh. But again, like General Iroh, she was able to escape. Unlike General Iroh, no one had been able to find her for fourteen years.

"Father, I just pulled the lemon—."

A young man came out from the back of the teahouse. He stopped when he saw Zhao and Aya standing next to the old man, and his hands clenched around the pan that held the cakes. Zhao couldn't help but smirk.

"And I'm sure Fire Lord Ozai would love to see his beloved nephew again," he said.

General Iroh's expression darkened, and for the first time since Zhao had laid eyes on the man did he see the legendary Dragon of the West that people still whispered about in the shadows. It ignited a spark of glee within him, now that he knew that he had the old general exactly where he wanted him.

AN: Sneak attack update on a Monday! For some reason, I was having trouble uploading this chapter onto the site. Hopefully it was just a weird error and not my fault!

Thanks for reading!