He spends three long years alone, roaming the Earth Kingdom without rhyme or reason.
Sometime during those years, he shuffles enough money together to buy a weather stained notebook and a grimy stick of charcoal. With meaningless wandering comes the yearning to shout out into the void, and thus the book becomes his abyss, and the charcoal his voice.
Zuko reads and watches and is more observant than others give him credit for, so the pages fill with little trouble. It ends up as a simple guide: how non-benders could hope to face a world ruled by the elements.
Writing whittles away long hours of aimless days. It quiets, if only slightly, the voices in his head that yell 'Get ready! This fight's not over yet!' The book does little to prepare him for whatever lay ahead, but he holds it dear still. Besides, he cajoles himself as he slips the notebook gingerly into his pack, if the book comes to outlive him, perhaps some poor schmuck in even worse straits than himself could put it to good use.
In the earliest months of those wandering years, when the papers of his book still lie blank, his mind flits to ideas he hasn't dared to think of in so long. Outside the palace wall, he's free to roam, body and mind alike. It's enthralling, but sometimes, as with this particular thought, which he'd tried to avoid lingering on, stifling.
Because his mother, he knows, is out there.
His heart might have been less heavy if he didn't know, if he'd accepted the rumors that floated through the palace that his mother was gone for good. But Zuko is not a fool, even if he'd played the part, and the outline of what happened on that fateful night is clear enough in his mind. It does not lead to his mother's death. She would've escaped, and she is out there.
There is no way to find her. They may be oceans apart or mere steps, and they would still be just as far away from each other. Zuko has no directions to go by, no semblance of where she may be, not even able to call out and search for her for the sake of keeping his facade.
So he doesn't look for her, but he sees her nonetheless. He sees her in the tired mothers with their children pressed against their hearts. He sees the ripple of her gown in the flutter of red curtains, her smile ghosting on the lips of a stranger in the crowd. He sees her in the plays, on the stage and in the cheering audience.
She's dancing on a different stage, far from here, and he just hopes she's happy. She always loved the plays.
Even after years though, there is still a bitter taste in his mouth. Why did you go? Why didn't you take me? Where do I go now?
Zuko still has nowhere to go, and finding his mother is as easy as walking to the moon.
What he is still sure of is that he loves her. She is his amber eyes and fireless hands. The things he despises in himself are the things made great in her, and because of that, he will not follow her.
His mother has escaped the burn of fire. Zuko is still being chased. He will not lead the flames to her.
He thinks of fire that night, and many nights after. He pens his first few words under torchlight.
I have dealt with fire all my life. I've tried and failed to wield it. Really, my only experience with it is to duck and dodge and not get burned, so hopefully that translates into the ability to counter it.
A non-bender against a firebender is no easy fight. Skirting fire is a dangerous game, but there is little choice in this world.
Break their stance. Aim for the chest in order to unsteady their breathing. Get close, or otherwise threaten something they value. As much as they want to harm you, they do not want themselves to burn either.
A firebender's power is tied to their emotions; boil them into a rage, and they'll start to lose control. At the same time, their power grows. Weigh the risk, and hopefully get out with only a burn.
A year quickly passed another year, the pages filled, his life became a constant wandering. He tread on a quiet stage, and he had no problem with that, though trouble still managed to find him.
Zuko was no stranger to unwanted attention. Even with the dust brown clothes and sulking stance, he looked as Fire Nation as anyone could get. Looked like a firebender, but couldn't firebend: he got the downsides with no ups. The common civilian skirted away from him, Earth Kingdom soldiers gave him the stink eye, and on rare occasion, some stirred up trouble.
Trouble was what the two pairs of footsteps behind him wanted. Earthbenders, if their bare feet were anything to go by, and just about his age, maybe older. They'd been following him for a good five minutes, and his hand was starting to hover over his swords. He ducked into an alley, hoping that would shake them off his trail.
Earthbenders were not to be underestimated. So far, his only strategy against them was not getting into fights with them at all. He'd been passing through Gaoling, hoping to catch the annual Earth Rumble and get a look at more bending in action, but it seemed like he was going to be getting a much more personal demonstration.
"What's an ashmaker doing in our city? Here to destroy another town?" One jeered.
Zuko didn't answer, and tried to walk on without confrontation. The earthbenders weren't about leave him be that easily; a stone wall shot up and blocked the other side of the alley.
"Where do you think you're going?" One of them threw a rock into his back.
Zuko turned around to a blocked alley, with two boulders already hovering in the air.
Well, there wasn't much of a choice at this point. He doubted he could take an earbender in a sword fight. Two earthbenders in a cramped, poorly lit alley: he'd be lucky to last five minutes.
It might have been a lost cause, but Zuko would never go down without a fight. He let his pack fall on the ground and unsheathed his swords.
He ducked and he dodged, letting the boulders hit the wall that blocked the alleyway, hoping for it to chip away and give him an opening to escape. The stones barely made a dent, but it was the only hope he had.
A boulder ricocheted off his shoulder. Pain shot up his arm, his sword dropped, and he leaned against the stone wall to catch his breath. The earthbenders stopped their onslaught for a moment to creep slowly closer, and enjoy their victory.
Just as Zuko was about to lunge again for a final fight another shadow fell in front of them.
"I'm always up for a good fight, but this is hardly fair," she said.
The ground shivered and laced up the earthbenders' ankles. The two slammed into the wall and were thrown to the ground behind the newest arrival.
"Hey! What are you-" He never got a chance to finish the sentence. The girl bent the stone underneath them, catapulting the two earthbenders into the air, and crashing into a nearby tree.
"Scram," she ordered, and scram they did.
She grinned at him and crossed her arms, pleased with herself. There was something off about her gaze though; it was unfocused and looked out at nothing, her eyes themselves a startling, milky white. Blind, he realized. She was blind.
"You'd be a grease spot on the pavement if it weren't for me."
Half of him wanted to say thank you, while the other half wanted to say I could have handled it myself, so he ended up saying nothing. Her grin didn't waver, but neither did she step aside to let him through.
"What's a guy like you doing around here?" She shuffled her feet in the dirt. "Got fancy swords but not enough coin for dinner. An extra pair of clothes. A book. Another knife. And…" She looked confused as she kept wiggling her toes in the dirt. It was then that Zuko realized that his pack was still on the ground, and somehow she was guessing what was in it. Before he could pick it up, another stone catapult threw the bag into the air, and into the girl's hands
She rifled through the contents and pulled out exactly what he'd hoped she wouldn't. Grinning in her hands was the Blue Spirit mask.
"Hold up. A mask. Double swords. Fancy fighting. Hey, mind telling me if this is blue?"
"Hand it back. It's none of your business." He bit out.
"It was none of my business whether those earthbenders pummelled you into the ground, but I made it my business," she stated, tossing the mask from hand to hand. "So, what's your name, Masky?"
If he hadn't just seen this girl beat up two earthbenders without breaking a sweat, Zuko would've snatched the mask and ran. It was probably in his best interests to handle this diplomatically, and as much as he despised the idea of the Blue Spirit being tangled up with his other personas, there wasn't much of a choice.
"Lee," he finally admitted. Stone laced up his ankles, forcing him in place.
"That doesn't sound right," she mused.
Zuko's heart hammered in his chest. How could she be so sure that Lee wasn't his name? "Look, if you're planning on turning me in -"
"Why would I do that? Money's not exactly a problem for me, and besides, you do some good work. But lay off the Earth guys, would you?"
His heart calmed, but the stone had not softened one bit. "There's bad people on both sides, you saw those guys before."
"You have a point. But now, name."
At this point, Zuko would have much rather faced the two earthbenders from before. They might have dug him halfway to his grave, but at least they wouldn't have had the brain cells to put two and two together and unearth the identity of the Blue Spirit. He'd never told anyone Lee was the Blue Spirit. Stringing Prince Zuko into the mix was just disaster in the making.
Stone crawled farther up his ankles. "I'm not hearing an answer," she drawled.
He was getting tired of being toyed around by earthbenders. Besides, how much could a name hurt?
"Zuko," he said, finally. The name sounded foreign on his tongue. Thankfully, it was new to her as well.
"Zuko." She weighed the sound of his name. "So now I know who's under that mask. Sweet."
The stone crumbled at his feet. A moment later, the wooden mask sailed into his hands.
This girl - this tiny, blind girl - had just ripped away all the masks and curtains he'd so painstakingly put up. His three acts became one, and though it was nothing he took lightly, Zuko could draw a resigned breath. It wasn't an easy scene, but somehow, it felt more real than any other moment in those last few years.
She just flashed grin, content in what she had learned, though probably not knowing its true weight. Before she turned to leave, she said, "I'm Toph Beifong, by the way."
"The Beifongs?" He said reflexively, the name bringing up snippets from old scrolls and local gossip. "I didn't know they had a daughter."
She gave him a wicked smile as she walked away, "I keep your secret, you keep mine."
Earthbenders are strong-willed, patient and unbreakable, like the Earth they wield. The versatility of their element is overwhelming, being able to be used for offense, defense, and shaping the playing field. To fight them is to try and beat a boulder itself.
An earthbender against a non-bender seems, most of the time, futile. But a boulder can be toppled over its own weight. Be light on your feet, stay far and off the ground if possible, and dodge whatever is thrown your way. Let them tire. Lower their guard. Bait them where you want them. An earthbender's greatest enemy is themselves, and time weathers all stones.
When Zuko is sixteen, there are whispers. The Avatar has returned, they say.
The Avatar is a myth, a legend… nothing more. Believing otherwise is wishful thinking.
'Wishful thinking' floods over the Earth Kingdom. Word of the Avatar is never far from their tongues, and despite himself, Zuko can't help but glance up when they mistake a cloud as a fabled sky bison.
Day in and day out, he hears the whispers.
"He popped up in the South Pole…"
"...I heard he was just in Omashu…"
"...freed a whole prison full of earthbenders."
Lee is hopeful. Zuko has no business dealing with myths.
Except myths are turning into reality and whispers sound more like shouts.
"He's been captured," he hears one day. "In Pohuai Stronghold…the Fire Nation has him."
Captured. Pohuai Stronghold. With nothing else to fill his mind, the words echo. They haunt him with every step he takes and keeps him awake through the night. The Avatar has been captured As word spreads, he feels the rising wave of hope that surged through the Earth Kingdom in the weeks before, crash along the surf. Morale wilts. It's all wrong. Very, very wrong.
Zuko, even after all these years, is still no more sure of his destiny as he was when he was back with Piandao. All he knows is that the curtain has dropped, the audience is waiting, and someone has to walk out on that stage.
He remembers the stories his mother told him of past Avatars, the textbooks Uncle had shown him and the tapestries on Piandao's halls. Zuko has no clue what awaits him, but he takes his cue, and treks west towards Pohuai.
Airbenders, from what I can gather through the few scriptures I can find of them, were strictly pacifists. It's entirely likely that the myth of the breath-stealing Air Army was fabricated by the Fire Nation to sway public opinion on the genocide.
As the Air Nomads are, as far as we know, extinct, there is little reason to seek how to counter them. Should an airbender still exist, there is little else to do but stand your ground and pray that they are on your side.
AN: First I made him a little bookworm and know he's lil writey writer. I mean, he's got nothing better to do. Am I projecting myself into the characters? Yeah, probably. But, phew, this arc is done! I'm going back to an arc 2 style of writing for this next leg of the story and uhh, throw me ideas! Not much is set in stone yet, so I'd love to hear where you think this story could go! Thank you all for your support! Until next time :D