Zuko stormed down the stairs that lead to his room. How could he have let this happen? He tried to control his anger but he only ended up scorching the roof as his fists caught on fire.

All his anger was lost when he heard a strange sound. It sounded almost like...whimpering. Zuko walked over to the closet and threw the door open. He was surprised to see Tao curled into a ball with tears streaking down his face. When he heard the door open he tried to hide even more but Zuko could still see him.

"Tao, it's okay," he said reaching out his hand. Tao looked at him but shook his head.

"Daddy said to stay," Tao said. Zuko closed his eyes, this kid was too much like his father.

"I promise, it is okay to come out," he said taking Tao's hand. Tao slowly stood up and followed Zuko. Zuko picked him up and carried up on deck to ask his uncle what they should do now.

Iroh was happy to see that the other firebenders hadn't found the young child. Zhao was insane and would have definitely killed him. "What are we supposed to do now?" asked Zuko as he sat down across from his uncle with Tao in his lap.

"I think we should try and make port. There is no way we will get very far in this ship with just the two of us able to steer it." Zuko nodded, he knew that his uncle was right but at the same time he wanted to go after Zhao and try to save Sokka.

He let his uncle talk him into going to the nearest port, a trading town where they might be able to find some more crew. Unfortunately the town was not fire nation and the people did not at all welcome them with open arms.

It was the third day they had been there and still no one would come near the fire nation ship. Zuko was sitting in his room trying to think of way that they could find Zhao. "Prince Zuko, I am going for a walk, would you like to come?" asked Iroh standing in his doorway.

"No, I'm fine," Zuko said not moving, "but take Tao, it's not healthy for him to be cooped up this long." Iroh smiled, this was the first time that his nephew was starting to think of other people before himself. It made Iroh happy to see that maybe he had had a good influence on the young teenager.

Iroh found Tao sitting at the pai sho table that was on deck. The poor boy looked so depressed without his father. Then again what could he expect. "Hey, Tao, do you want to come with me on a walk?" asked Iroh offering his hand. Tao nodded silently and took the hand.

Iroh noticed that the more they walked around the village the more Tao seemed to cheer up. Maybe he had been in a town like this with his father before. Iroh laughed as the little boy ran looking at all the different stores and stands.

Iroh was almost ready to go back when he heard Tao call out, "Aunty!"

"What, Tao?" Iroh had to run after the kid and caught up to him in a strange back alley. Why would Tao have run off like that. Suddenly Iroh was covered in a layer of ice and stuck to the side of a building.

"Give me back my nephew!" the waterbender commanded. Iroh suddenly realized what Tao had seen to make him act like that.

"I would if I could move," Iroh said as he tried to get out of the ice. Katara glared at him as she slowly released half of the ice so that Iroh could set Tao down. As soon as he was on the floor Tao ran to Katara and Aang.

Katara picked up Tao and hugged him tightly. As soon as she was sure that her nephew was alright she turned back Iroh with a furious glare. "Where is my brother?" she asked with a snarl.

"I wish I knew, a few days ago Zhao came and took everybody except the three of us," Iroh said motioning to himself and Tao.

"You better not be lying to me!" Katara growled threatening Iroh with a wave of ice.

"Why would I lie to you?" try to reason Iroh.

"Why would he not take Tao too, then?" Katara growled.

"My nephew was worried that the admiral might kill the child so kept him a secret."

Katara looked at him unbelievingly. "When the hell did the bastard prince grow a heart?"

Iroh sighed as he tried to think of a way to explain this. "My nephew is not heartless but sometimes his ambitions get in the way of his common sense." Katara snorted with disbelief as she turned away and started to walk away. Aang looked back at the old general for only a second before he followed Katara and they were both soon out of sight.

Iroh sighed, he would miss the small boy.

Zuko was trying to think of a new plan when he heard something strange. It sounded like a door creaking. "Uncle!" he called looking out of his room. His uncle would have announced his presence if he was back.

He slowly made his way down the halls ready to fight if someone was really in here. He couldn't see anybody, that was weird. He decided to walk up to the map room just to make sure that no one was on deck.

He rolled his eyes at how ridiculous he had been when he heard a weird cawing sound. His eyes opened wide when he saw the weird reptilian bird that the pirate had carried around. Suddenly there was a loud sound and he saw the wall of fire flying towards him.

He was able to surround himself in fire just as the flame threw him out of the top of his ship. He could feel consciousness slipping from him as he hit the water. It felt like he had fallen into ice. He tried to swim to the top but his arms wouldn't listen to him.

He could barely keep his eyes open when he felt a strange tug on the back of his neck. He was surprised when he could finally take in air again. But that was the last thing he could remember before everything went black.

Iroh looked at the ship that his nephew had been left on. It was now a burning inferno. iroh tried to look around wondering what had happened and where his nephew was. The debris were flying everywhere, but Iroh could still find no Zuko.

Sokka hated being chained to the wall like an animal. At least this time it was only on his wrists and he could move around a little bit. Not like there was anywhere he could go. This ship was almost ten times more secure then Zuko's ever had been.

He sat down against the wall and tried to think of a way out of this. He doubted that Zhao would be as patient as Zuko had been.

Sokka looked up surprised when he heard the door open. Nobody had been in his cell since he was thrown in here two days ago. He was even more surprised when he saw a half dead Zuko thrown into the cell with him. He could hear the guards laughing about something but right now he really didn't care. Zuko needed help.

It was obvious that he had at least a broken arm but there were a lot of cuts and bruises all along his face and arms. Sokka ripped a piece off of his tunic and dipped it into a small cup of water that had been left in there.

He slowly lifted Zuko's head and set it down in his lap. He carefully ran the wet cloth across the cuts to try and get the dried blood off of his face. He figured he owed the prince after what Zuko had done for him and his son.

Zuko was surprised by the feeling of someone trying to soothe his cuts. He slowly opened one eye and was surprised to see blue eyes looking back at him. "Sokka?" he asked confused.

"Zuko your awake!" cheered Sokka happily. Zuko cringed from the loud noise, his head was killing him! "Sorry," whispered Sokka when saw Zuko's pain. Zuko couldn't help his smile when he realized that he was back with Sokka.