Piandao sighed heavily into the rich cup of tea in his hands. The steam danced around his breath. He held the small percolin cup gently in his hands, gaze cast off to the mountains beyond his property, and tried to keep a firm grasp on the tranquil moment that was about to be interrupted by the man in the doorway. Piandao didn't have to turn to face the man to know that he would be standing there, scowl on his face.
"Good evening my old friend." The swordsman spoke slow, sipping at his glass once more. "I know you are not risking so much just for a friendly visit."
"I heard you gained access to the child?"
Piandao once more sighed; he forgot how often that response was drawn by his friend. He rested his cup onto the rounded table, careful to avoid the ever growing stack of paper. He still did not turn to face the man fully. "I have been training Prince Zuko, that is correct. He has improved immensely in his skills within the last four months."
A scoff sounded right behind him, the man having entered the room fully. Piandao watched as dark brown pants entered his line of sight. His friend sat, blocking his view of the mountain range. The beautiful terrain was replaced instead with the sullen and bitter frown of an ex-army general. Jeong Jeong eyed him like he were a fool. "Four months of unobstructed access to the child, and he is still within the courts hands?"
"It is not unobstructed. The child has a guard within calling distance of him at any moment. And I have on more than one occasion had the unfortunate pleasure of Prince Ozai himself gracing our training sessions with his presence and unwanted criticism."
Piandao had on every one of those supervisions fought the desire to drive the elder prince's face into the ground. It hadn't taken him long to connect his charges hesitation and fear of mistake with the overbearing and degrading way in which Ozai criticized his son. The elder prince had balked at Zuko's progress, right to his son's face. Piandao had dealt with some awful parents in his days, but he did not understand a man who could so easily downplay his son's talents, on the sole basis that they did not align with his ideas of how a firebender should be. Coming into a world were everyone would wish to either use or exterminate the young Avatar, having as many resources to defend ones self would be paramount. His father did not feel as such.
"What are the Fire Lord's plans for the child's training?"
"Always business with you. You wouldn't care for a drink? A mediation by the river?"
Jeong Jeong glared harder, proving Piandao's assumption that his friend's face was made for such downtrodden expressions. "You said so yourself upon my arrival, I am risking my life to be here. We are far too close to the capital and the penalty for my treason is far too high to risk. Have they moved the boy's training to the other elements yet?"
The tea in Piandao's glass was just the wrong side of warm, but he drank it anyway. "Thankfully no. From what I have gathered his firebending is progressing at the steady speed. They wish for faster progress, but he is still young and they are pushing to train him in forms beyond his years. He is holding well to the forms, even if he does not recognize his own skills."
Despite his own lack of bending, Piandao was not unaware of the fine details that came with firebending. His own brother, may Agni rest his soul, had been gifted with the sun's eternal flame, as had his mother. He grew up around such gifts, yet all those he had known and fought paled in comparison to the pure grace and control of the young prince. While Prince Zuko lacked the kimonorhino power and force his firebending instructor desired, he displayed a sure footed grace that Piandao could only recall seeing in his travel to the Northern Water Tribe. He moved like he were a flame himself; dancing along the embers. It was a grace he applied to his sword training that often times left the man speechless.
Grace was not what the sour general training him wanted. Grace was not the will of his father. And grace was certainly not what Fire Lord Azulon desired. Piandao had stood silently, listening to the men who should be cultivating the best parts of the boy, tear him down for lacking the bullheaded display of power they saw firebending as being. Prince Zuko merely stood there, letting their criticisms and harsh words visibly chip at him.
Shacking himself from his thoughts, Piandao continued to speak. "Word is that Fire Lord Azulon wishes to expand the boy's connection with his Avatar state but the Fire Sages have so far persuaded him to wait. Prince Zuko is young, and there is a fear that thrusting too much power onto such a small boy would be dangerous to himself as well as others."
"He already is dangerous. A woman has died by his hands."
"You cannot hold the child responsible for the death. The woman attacked him, nearly killed him. The Avatar state triggered as a preservative act. It is unfortunate that a life was taken, but it was not through his hands."
Jeong Jeong seemed unconvinced by this distinction. "And in training for the other elements? Has there been word on when they intend to do so?"
"Whispers only. I have word from Shyu that many fear the Avatar cycle will be broken after Prince Zuko. After all, the boy's progression needs to next move into air. And that seems impossible when his own forefathers seems to have slaughtered the very people who controlled that air."
Jeong Jeong chuckled once; reveling in such a grand secret hidden in such a quick wording. "It seems a karmic justice really."
"I would say so, if not for the fact that that boy is an innocent. He did not ask for this."
Jeong Jeong's moment of mirth left. "That boy is no innocent. He has the blood of genocidal men in his veins. The fire coursing through his blood is not that of innocents."
Piandao leveled him with a narrowed gaze, "the same fire runs through your veins."
"And it is a curse I burden each day. And it is a curse that will only continue to grow within that child until we all burn under his hands."
Piandao recognized the sharp turn in the conversation and sat back. He knew of his fellow Order member's fears of what Prince Zuko could become, but it was not one he could share anymore. After four months of training the boy, seeing his smiles, his desperate drive to prove himself, and his gratitude at even the simplest of reassurance of his skill, Piandao could very easily distinguish the child from the legend resting inside of him.
Jeong Jeong seemed to read his train of thought. "You've let yourself become attached."
"Maybe I have," Piandao sighed. "I have had time to get to know the child beyond just the threat he displays."
"You have a job to do, my friend. We cannot allow the boy to continue to grow within the Fire Nation's hands."
Piandao smoothed a winkle in his robes. "Removing him is not an option either. There is a constant watch over him. Taking him from the palace, let alone the Fire Nation itself is not something that will be allowed. And it is more than just the guards watching him. Prince Zuko is dedicated to the Fire Nation. To his family. To an unhealthy degree. If they asked it of him, he would burn himself out to please them. And while I will be the first to argue against the dynamic he lives in, I also know that removing him will break him. If we do so, force him into a situation where he is aligned against his family, he will turn on us."
"And what is the other option? Leave him within the Fire Lord's hands? Pray that he doesn't reign fire down upon our heads."
"Yes. The spirits placed this burden upon Prince Zuko for a reason. What he does with this legacy is his choice. Shyu agrees with me on this. He has been consulting the spirits on the matter."
"Spirits," Jeong Jeong scoffed. "That man places too much weight upon the views of the dead. You as well."
The sun outside was setting, casting a soft light upon the room. Piandao caught a glimpse of the soft orange light dancing across the mountain range. If only his view wasn't partially blocked by the scowling man before him. "We are at an unprecedented time my friend. The war is drawing towards its end, you and I both know it. With Sozin's Comet in the years coming, this will end one way or another. And it will end by Avatar Zuko's hand. And we cannot force that hand in either direction."
"So we wait for our doom?" Jeong Jeong asked.
"Or for peace," Piandao stood, stretching out his shoulder, signaling the end to the conversation. "I have sent word out of this. Each of our temple connections have been given the same warning. We can only interfere so far. Now, I ask for the end of business and I invite you to stay for dinner at least. Fat said he was making kimono buttered pig-chicken. It is to die for."
Jeong Jeong seemed irritated by his friends quick change in conversation. He still had many points to argue but knew those points would be mute.
oOo
Ash touched every surface. It laced the air, drifting further and further through his lungs. The heat was unreasonable. It was as if his very skin was melting from his flesh. He bent it away. Bent the ash filled air. The molten touch of the flames. He chocked through the burning fist that griped at his lungs. A blur of blue and red caught his gaze.
"Help me," he tried to scream. The words came out hoarse and rasped. A violent cough gripped his frame. Ash danced between them as his friend stood just too far away. Stark white hair seemed out of place in a mess of red and black.
His friend was saying something. Something he couldn't make out. The golden crown glistened in the ash filled sky.
He dropped to his knees, raising a hand towards his friend. A bout of poisoned gas sprayed out, leaving him dripping with steam. His vision blurred. His friend was gone, ignoring the hand he held out. The blur of a red dragon danced around him. He knelt there, struggling to breath as Fang nuzzled his head against his form. The volcano gave one last shake before erupting completely. Ash rained down upon them, chocking the last breath from his lungs.
A scream erupted from Zuko's throat. He threw himself forward, nearly falling forward into the tomb before him. Steadying himself, he looked back at the scroll he had been reading. The Final Testament of Fire Lord Sozin. The words before him were just that, words. But they seemed to bring back the dream he had just had. The dream he had so many night.
Moving slowly, he rolled the scroll back up and placed it among the others. He thought maybe reading it would help. It only left him with more questions. Every text he read only left him with more questions. The feeling of ash in his throat remained.
Zuko picked up the lantern, moving it in front of him. He had tried this before. Countless time he had sat meditating and trying this. It never fared well but Zuko was growing frustrated. Eyes closed, he breathed in deeply. His breathes were even and full bodied. Eyes closed Zuko sat there, willing himself to make contact.
A breath in. A breath out. Repeated over and over till the flame in the lantern began to flicker. It went out, casting the room in darkness.
A moment passed following another. Zuko could feel the darkness bearing over him. A presence was in the tomb with him, providing a warmth like a freshly coached fire. Zuko opened his gaze, finding that warmth brought with it a flickering lantern and an elderly man with a long white beard. He sat there, smiling at Zuko. He looked real, with a weight to him. As if he could reach out and touch the man's crimson robes.
"Avatar Roku," the young prince whispered.
"Avatar Zuko." Was his reply.
"Am I in the spirit world?" Zuko looked around, wondering why nothing had changed.
"No. It will take you some time yet before you have the spiritual power to fully cross over. However, I have used our connection to appear before you. I could feel you calling for me. We all have."
"I've been trying for months," Zuko spoke. "I have so many questions. No one can answer."
"Ask away."
Zuko's gaze went towards the scroll he had read. It danced onto the tomb beside him before setting back on the figment of Avatar Roku. "You and Sozin were friends?"
Roku nodded. "He was like that of a brother."
"He killed you," Zuko whispered. "He let you die. How could he do that?"
The smile on Roku's face faltered. "I cannot answer that question. Fire Lord Sozin's actions that day were done in a selfish desire. What went through his mind, what lead him towards his desire for conquest, I shall never truly understand. Something had changed in the friend I once knew, the friend I once loved. The man who left me to die on that volcano top was not the same one I knew as a child."
Zuko looked down at his hands, unable to connect his gaze for his next question. "Do you hate me?"
"Why would I hate you?"
"Sozin betrayed you. Killed you even. And now here I am. His great great grandson. Your reincarnation."
"Look at me Prince Zuko." Roku spoke softly. He waited a moment until Zuko followed his command. Golden eyes looking upon one another, he continued to speak. "I could not be more proud. Sozin's blood isn't the only that flows through your veins."
"What does that mean for me? What am I supposed to do? Everyone wants something from me and I don't know what to do"
"You need to ask yourself that question. Not me. Ask yourself Zuko, what do you want?"
Zuko drew his legs up towards his chest, and rested his chin in his knees. No one ever asked him what he wanted. He shook his head. He didn't know what he wanted. "I've been reading. About the past Avatars. About the war. About what my family has done. I just want to know what to do."
Zuko tightened his grip upon himself. "My grandfather says I'm supposed to end this war. Bring greatness upon the Fire Nation. Was it greatness when they killed Honoka? When they broke Daichi's hands? When Sozin left you to burn?"
The lantern between them flickered violently. "I keep dreaming about them. About all of it. I hear them. I just want it to stop. I just… I just want someone to tell me that I'm doing the right thing. That this war is right. That I'm not the bad guy."
"I cannot give you that answer child. I cannot make this decision for you. It is something you must decide for yourself. But I will be with you. I will always be a part of you. As will those who came before and between us." Avatar Roku looked upon him sadly. He reached out a hand, motioning for Zuko to take it.
"Take my hand, Prince Zuko. While I cannot tell you what to choose, I can show you. Show you the world as it is. Outside of the lies you struggle through. It is your choice to make. You have many years still before your decision must be made, but hopefully this can help you when that time comes."
Zuko eyed the withered hand in the flickering light. He knew if he took it, it would set off something that he wasn't ready for. Something he was far too young and naive to handle. But it was something he knew he needed to to. He had been the Avatar for over half a year and he had very little to show of it. His mother kept reassuring him that he was still young, still far too young to worry about any of that now. Those reassurances did little to quiet the dreams of fire and prisons that assaulted him.
He had so many questions.
"What are going to show me?" Zuko eyed the man's hand.
"The world outside of the Fire Nation borders."
Zuko hesitated for a second, before taking the hand offered to him.