After deciding that he would be better alone and leaving his uncle behind, Zuko traveled through semi-arid land riding his ostrich horse. The sun was warm but strong at the same time and with its rays it burned intensely the sweaty skin of his neck as soon as he crossed a bridge, he almost fell but he put the saddle back in place with a haggard look and an empty stomach, he had been a long time without eating anything, he suddenly stopped when he perceived a pleasant scent, he turned his gaze to find a man cooking a large piece of meat over an open flame. Zuko put a hand on his stomach which was growling begging for some food and brought his free hand towards the hilt of his broadsword; however, he stopped when he saw that the man was traveling with a pregnant woman so he simply continued on his way, struggling to stay conscious. His vision blurred and he closed his eyes, as he did so, the silhouette of a woman walking through a dark corridor with a hood over her head appeared, Zuko opened his eyes again but lowered his head, wanting to somehow forget that strange vision.
Finally, he managed to reach a village. Upon entering, he passed some Earth Kingdom soldiers, who watched Zuko for a moment, dismounted his ostrich horse and headed towards a small shop where he found the owner, a merchant, standing behind the counter.
"Can you give me some water, a bag of feed and a hot meal to eat?" Zuko asked as he extended his hand forward revealing a small amount of coins.
"There's not enough for a hot meal" the man replied "but I can get you two feed bags"
As soon as the merchant went to get the feed bags for Zuko, two children who were hidden on the other side of the counter threw an egg at the soldiers who were right behind Zuko and ran to hide. Believing that Zuko had thrown the egg, the soldiers glared at him and get up from the ground to confront him.
"Hey" the leader of the soldiers, called Gow, exclaimed, the Fire Nation prince did not look at them and just stood in his place "are you the one who has been throwing eggs at us, stranger?"
"No" Zuko replied without looking at him.
"Did you see who threw it?" the soldier asked with an annoyed frown.
"No" Zuko said, turning around in front of them at the same time he sneaked a hand to the hilt of his broadsword.
"Is that your favorite word? no?" another soldier asked in a mocking tone.
"It must come out from somewhere" Gow commented.
"Maybe a chicken flew by" Zuko replied turning his back on them, the second soldier laughed but his leader looked at him angrily making him shut up. As soon as the merchant brought the feed bags for Zuko, Gow pushed him aside and took both bags.
"Thanks for your contribution" Gow said as he took the feed bags "the army appreciates your support" he threw the bag of food to one of the soldiers "it's better that you leave the village as soon as possible, the penalty for staying too long is tigher than you can afford, stranger" he hit his heavy metal hammer with his hand "trust me"
"Sorry about that. Those soldiers are supposed to protect us from the Fire Nation" the merchant told to Zuko, they both saw Gow and his men go away from there "but they are nothing than a bunch of thugs"
Zuko turned and walked back to his ostrich horse, but before he could get up, the boy who previously threw the egg at Gow appeared from the other side.
"Hey! thanks for not giving me away" the boy said smiling, Zuko ignored him, he got on his ostrich horse and started to move away from there, the boy made a slight expression of annoyance but decided to follow him "I am going to take you to my house and feed your ostrich horse" he took the reins of the animal and began to walk "come on, I owe you one"
Zuko and Lee, that was the boy's name, came to a farm full of various types of animals, including pig cows that emitted loud squeaks as soon as they saw them approach to the house. Lee commented that the noise was good because that way, no one could approach them, while the boy was going to leave Zuko's ostrich horse in the stable, his father, Gansu, approached to the Fire Nation prince, the man asked him if he was a friend of Lee's, he told him about Zuko's little confrontation with the soldiers. Sela, Lee's mother, asked for the name of the newcomer, Zuko stuttered for a moment before answering, he did not want to use his typical pseudonym "Lee" since the boy was also called that, luckily, Gansu intervened saying that he had no an obligation to tell them who he was if he did not want to. He welcomed him home in gratitude for his opposition to the soldiers of the Earth Kingdom.
"Those men should be ashamed of having to wear Earth Kingdom uniforms" Gansu commented after welcoming Zuko.
"The real soldiers are fighting in the war" Sela, Gansu's wife, said "just like Lee's older brother, Sen su. the food will be ready soon, would you like to stay?"
"I can't" the Fire Nation prince replied, no matter how hungry and thirsty he felt, he knew he had to keep traveling "I have to keep going"
"Gansu might need some help working in the barn" Sela said "why don't you work a bit and then we eat together?"
Zuko nodded and went to work, though his inexperience at it was noticeable due to the number of bent nails in the wood. Behind him, Lee started asking him random personal questions, his father silenced him, but despite his order, he remained persistent and asked Zuko how he got the scar on his face. At this, the banished prince accidentally hit his own thumb, momentarily distracted, Gansu tells him that it is not polite to ask so many personal questions and that Zuko's past is none of his business. As Zuko continued hammering, a memory came to mind.
*Flashback*
A young prince Zuko and his mother are sitting by a small pond in the palace gardens, feeding the turtle ducks.
"Hey mom, do you want to see how Azula feeds the turtle ducks?" Zuko asked and tossed one of them a piece of bread.
"Zuko why did you do that?" Ursa asked him, one of the baby turtle ducks emerged from the pond after being hit by the piece of bread, the mother turtle duck came out of the pond and bit hard on Zuko's ankle. He screamed in pain as soon as his mother took care to remove the little creature.
"Stupid turtle duck" Zuko muttered "why did she do that?"
"Zuko, that's the way moms are. If you mess with their babies..." Ursa answered as she knelt next to him and pretended to bite him "she's going to bite you"
They laughed briefly before turning their gaze back to the pond. As Zuko and her mother walked back to the palace through a corridor, the young princess Azula was trying to do a cartwheel but fell to the ground with a thud. Behind her, Ty Lee ran forward and performed the move with ease, finishing with several somersaults. Jealous, Azula pushed her away and laughed at her.
"Azula!" Ty Lee complained as her best friend laughed at her. A young Mai was sitting under a tree with an expression of complete disinterest, she saw Zuko walking through the garden and looked away again, now blushing and smiling to herself. Azula realized this and approached her.
"Look at this," she whispered to the girl, Ty Lee laughed as Azula ran to her brother and her mother "mom, can you let Zuko play with us? we need equal teams to play"
"I'm not doing cartwheels!" Zuko told him.
"You won't have to" the girl replied as she crossed her arms "besides, doing cartwheels does not count as a game, dumb dumb"
"I don't care, I don't want to play with you."
"We are brother and sister, it's important for us to spend time together" Azula said trying to convince him "don't you think so, mom?"
"Yes, darling" Ursa agreed and approached to her son "I think it's a good idea to play with your sister, even if it's just for a moment"
Azula explained that the tactic of the game was for the player to knock an apple off the other person's head. She placed an apple on the head of a Mai who had a bored countenance and set it on fire. Zuko rushed forward trying to remove the burning apple from his head, but tripped and collided with Mai, causing them to fall into the fountain, where they landed on top of each other.
"You see? I told you it would work" Azula commented to Ty Lee placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Aw, they're so cute together" Ty Lee said teasing them. Mai got up from the water and Zuko came out of the fountain annoyed.
"You two are so… ugh" Zuko muttered as he walked away from them, by that time, Ursa had already returned.
"I was going to look for you, Uncle Iroh sent us a letter from the war front" Ursa said holding a scroll in her hand, she saw an embarrassed Zuko walk away from there to go inside to dry himself "you're soaked"
"The girls are crazy!" Zuko yelled walking back to the palace. In the letter, Iroh said that if the city was as magnificent as its walls, Ba Sing Se must be something to behold. Continuing with the letter, he also said that he hoped they could come see it one day, that if it gets burned first, to which Zuko and Azula laughed.
He had also sent gifts for her niece and his nephew. For Zuko, a pearl dagger that belonged to the general who surrendered when Iroh broke through the outer wall. The inscription on the dagger says: Never give up without a fight. Azula, instead, received an Earth Kingdom doll, much to her disgust.
"If Uncle doesn't come back from the war, then ded would be the next Fire Lord, wouldn't he?" Azula asked her mother.
"Azula, don't talk like that" Ursa scold "it would be horrible if Uncle Iroh didn't come back and besides, Fire Lord Azulon is a living image of health"
"How would you feel if cousin Lu Ten wanted our dad to die?" Zuko asked her sister.
"I still think our dad would be a much better Fire Lord than that kookie tea lover" the young princess replied and immediately burn the doll.
*Flashback end*
As the memory faded, the night had finally come to the farm, Zuko had no choice but to sleep on a pile of hay in the family barn that welcomed him into their home.
"I'm sorry to have to send you to sleep here, but there aren't enough bedrooms in the house" Sela told him.
"Okay, sorry to be a bother" Zuko replied to the woman.
"Don't worry, you'll never be a bother to us" Sela said kindly "I'll see you tomorrow to have breakfast with us at the house. by the way, why have you traveled so far? what's the purpose of your trip?"
"I'm... I'm looking for someone" Zuko told her "but I don't know if this person is real because the last time we met was at a festival and I'm afraid of not being able to confess my feelings to them"
"I'm sure you'll see him soon and you'll be together in no time."
"What?!" the Fire Nation prince almost blushed "how do you know it? I never said this person was a boy!"
"A mother knows when someone has a look of love in their eyes and right now you have that look" the woman said smiling "don't worry, my eldest son, Sen su, is quite similar to you, he likes girls but he also likes boys too" Zuko smiled slightly at the thought that he was not the only one with that kind of preferences "well, I'll let you rest. Good night"
"Good night."
The next day, Zuko climb back on his ostrich horse and ride away from the village with his round hat on his head, on both sides of the street lined with people, an Earth Kingdom flag flew in the breeze.
While this was happening, Aang landed in a small abandoned city in the Earth Kingdom. He twirled his staff spreading his glider wings and walked down the main street, dipping his hand into the bag he was carrying to remove some strands of Appa's fur spreading them on the ground and thus continue to leave the false track he had created. As he finished walking down the street, he emptied the bag, dumping the rest of the fur in a pile next to where he was standing, waiting for that weird girl and her creepy friends to show up, his eyes rolled in exhaustion, feeling the heaviness of spending two whole days without sleep. He twirled his staff again to force his glider wings get out of their hidden compartments, Aang just stood there, looking the path where he had come, maybe now he could go and get some sleep but at the same time he wanted to face that girl, whoever she was.
He twirled his staff once more spreading his wings again before sitting in a meditating position at the end of the path, right in front of the path his opponent would appear on. For several minutes, Aang dozed in and out of his consciousness, closing his eyes for short periods of time before they snapped open, finally (after waiting for half an hour) he heard the sound of feet and looked up to see the girl, on top of a giant lizard, approaching to him quickly. Aang stayed where he was as she approached, waiting for her and wanting to get answers about who she was and what she wanted.
An hour and a half ago, Zuko urged his ostrich horse to gallop following the trail left by his sister and her friends. He had been traveling alone for weeks, wanting to distance himself from his uncle to reflect a bit, everything had turned into a mess after his failed attempt to capture the Avatar at the North Pole, he was foolish enough to believe that Aang was Kuzon, the masked boy that he saw that time at the festival, in addition to never answering his question so he supposed that the mystery of knowing who Kuzon was would continue like this, as a mystery and nothing else. Therefore, he had no choice but to leave from there with his tail between his legs, he just wants to go back to the Fire Nation and forget that he was ever banished and marked, that he ever met Aang, that they had kissed and also wanted to forget those confused feelings he had towards the airbender. He had planned to erase the Avatar from his mind forever, to bury these feelings deep in his heart, he no longer tried to capture the boy and certainly did not intend to lose his mind trying to find him.
But sometimes heart wants what one desires, as soon as he stopped in a nearby village to replenish supplies, he could see his sister. She had some mechanical means of transportation, probably something that was created during the three years he was not in the Fire Nation, and was threatening a merchant for more information, Zuko hid behind the shadow of a building listening to their conversation.
"Rumor has it that the Avatar has already been around and that he made a purchase at this cabbage stand" she purred with her cold golden eyes despite her fiery color, making the merchant shiver.
"Yes, he did and his pet lemur caused irreparable damage to my cabbages" that man said, rubbing a cabbage against his cheek in an affectionate way making Zuko roll his eyes at that action.
Azula stepped forward and snatched the cabbage from his hands, bouncing it in the palm of her hand like some kind of ball, smirking as the merchant watched her warily.
"If you don't want anything bad to happen to your precious cabbages, then I suggest you tell me in which direction they went" Azula threatened, blue fire sprouted from her fingers floating in a very threatening way, almost brushing the leaves of the innocent cabbage in her hand. The merchant fell to his knees, clasping his hands in a begging way and looked the Fire Nation princess.
"Please don't hurt my cabbages. I'll tell you where they went" the man said with despair reflected in his eyes.
"Then I suggest you start talking" Azula growled, the man extended his hand, pointing towards a small formation of mountains to the east.
"Over there, over there, they flew in that direction!" he answered, his eyes shining with tears from the desperation he was feeling. Azula looked at him closely, suspecting that the merchant was lying to her, but finding no trace of a lie in them, she vanished the fire from her hand and dropped the cabbage into the man's lap.
"Thank you for your help" the Fire Nation princess said and the merchant smiled at her.
"What an idiot" Zuko thought and what exactly supposed had to happen happened, just as Azula turned to leave, she raised her leg and threw a wave of blue fire on the little cabbage stand, setting the whole lot on fire. She smiled as she turned around, Mai and Ty Lee followed behind.
Zuko left the scene, climbed back on his ostrich horse and followed his sister again, it may be that he no longer had any intention of capturing the Avatar, but he would not allow her to get her disgusting hands on him, not as long as Zuko can do something to prevent it so he followed his sister from the distance where he planned to confront her and see Aang again.
Azula reached the end of the road and found Aang waiting for her, she jumped off her lizard, Aang watched her warily as she approached him, walking gracefully with a gasp in her step that screamed for arrogance and power. For some reason, that girl reminded him a bit of Zuko.
"Zuko..." he thought sadly, his head bowed a little, he shook his head trying to dispel his thoughts, what the hell was wrong with him? this was not the time to think about Zuko, Aang had spent many nights awake thinking about the moment they kissed for the first time and their meeting at the North Pole that... unfortunately did not end very well, after leaving the Northern Water Tribe he had to admit that what he felt for Zuko was a very strong feeling, it was probably love, yes, it could be love, but in fact, Aang was not totally sure, he had never had any experience in love, at least in a romantic way, he always thought he was in love with Katara and maybe at some point he felt something for her, but why was the feeling he felt for her was different from the one he felt for Zuko? for now he had to focus on that girl in front of him who had a firebending form that he had never seen before... which worried Aang a bit "okay! you already found me" he spoke with a demanding voice still sitting on the ground "now who are you and what do you want?"
"Are you telling me that you didn't guess? don't you see the family resemblance? Here's a clue" she said in a mocking voice as she raised a hand and covered her left eye, deepening her voice "I must capture the Avatar to restore my honor" so his theory was correct all this time, that strange girl was Zuko's sister, he looked at her wearily, blinking slowly at her pathetic attempt at a joke "it's okay, you can laugh if you want" she said lightly, removing her hand from her face "it's funny"
His face remained inert as he looked at her, that girl was really strange... and creepy.
"Now what?" Aang asked, waiting for something else to happen.
"Now. Now it's over, you're tired and you have nowhere to go. You can run, but I'll catch you."
He slowly got to his feet, Aang would no longer be bullied by that kind of people anymore, that girl may come from the Fire Nation but she was still a teenager who seemed to be Katara's age but still, she was still a teenager. He had no reason to fear her, he supposed she was not on the level of Zuko in causing fear... and there he was again, thinking of the banished prince, damn thoughts that did not leave him alone.
"I'm not going to run away" the airbender told him, he noticed a smile spread across the girl's face.
"You really want to fight me" Azula replied with a conceited and confident tone in her voice. Aang was about to answer, but something unexpected happened, Zuko burst out of an old building and stood between the two of them.
"Yes, and I'm serious" further complicating the confrontation, Zuko kept his position between his sister and Aang, the airbender's gray eyes widening as he saw the banished prince standing between them.
"I was wondering when you would appear, Zu-zu" Azula replied crossing her arms and looking at him with a certain hint of mockery, Aang almost laughed at the nickname the girl gave him.
"Get away, Azula! he's mine" Zuko said as he adopted an attacking position, the young airbender could feel a slight blush appear on his face at that moment, was it so obvious what Zuko said? he could swear that the other boy almost blushed when he realized what he had said.
"I'm not going anywhere" the Fire Nation princess said to her brother, she struck the first blow, knocking Zuko down hard, knocking him unconscious. After an intense battle, she cornered Aang in a collapsed and burning building, before Azula could cause a mortal wound, Katara appeared stopping her; one by one, Sokka, Iroh, and Toph joined the battle. Together, the six of them (Katara, Aang, Sokka, Toph, Zuko and Iroh) created a perfect perimeter in front of Azula and corner her "well, look this out. The enemies and the traitors working together" she commented sarcastically "you already caught me, I know very well when I am defeated" she raised her hands in surrender "a princess surrenders with honor"
Iroh lowered his guard and looked away at his new friend, Toph, standing next to the Avatar. Zuko, on the other hand, did not believe what her sister was saying. What the hell was she talking about? she had no honor. Taking advantage of this distraction, Azula attacked Iroh, who screamed in pain as he fell to the ground. Zuko let out a horrified scream and the four benders unleashed their power against Azula as Sokka threw his boomerang at her. The combined attack caused a huge explosion and by the time the smoke cleared, Azula had already disappeared.
Zuko ran over to her uncle, knelt near him and began to scream furiously, cursing his sister for hurting him that way, what had crossed her mind to do something like that? to their own uncle? he felt the presence of Avatar team behind him.
"Get away from us!"
"Zuko, let me help you" Katara offered.
"GET OUT!" He yelled as he released a wave of fire that fortunately did not reach them, the group moved away from the abandoned village leaving Zuko and a gravely injured Iroh completely alone.
Later that night, Appa landed in the mountains and the Avatar team was finally able to rest after spending two long days being chased by Azula and her creepy friends.