Thank you guys for being patient with everything. A lot of stuff is going down irl and it makes it hard to find time to write. I will not stop, but it'll just take a while to get through.

I do have a tumblr if you'd like to chat more with me there or bug me about the story, or just see some more ideas I have. Its ya don't have to but it's there.

Thanks for all the support for the rewrite of this! I'm not on as much as I used to since I've mainly used archive, but I'll try make sure to check for the reviews and pms!

A big thanks to ZukoDeservesLove, Heart of the Demons, and of course Luna Eevee for their support and reviews! Love ya guys!

also yes Luna, lee will be more apart of it than he was before. He's turn into more like that weird uncle who randomly visits with amazing stories.

CH 2 Rescue?

It had been a quiet night. After a raid a few years ago they had started making sure they did a patrol around the border every so often. It was hard on everyone, but it was what was best to protect their families. The Chief didn't want another raid to happen again. They wouldn't be able to survive another.

The night was a security to them in a sense. While they still posted a watchman, many felt safe under the spirits eyes as they sailed. The Fire Nation didn't normally attack at night, weaker without the sun, so they usually rested easily.

Nanuq, while still one of the youngest men there, was finally old enough to join. He got assigned the night watch a lot, not able to fight as well as the more experienced men. It wasn't that he minded much. The sea was always calming to him, especially at night. He just wished to be more useful.

It was supposed to be a normal night with nothing going on, but when he spotted something small slowly approaching, he got worried. He thought maybe it could be a tigerseal? Or even one of those arctic killer turtle whales, but as it got closer panic rose.

The small boat had to have been a lifeboat and it was headed right towards them. He didn't know if an actual ship was coming along with it, but the metal boat was clearly Fire Nation. That fact alone made Nanuq raise the alarm.

"Lifeboat approaching!" he called down to the other night watchman. "It's Fire Nation!"

Those words caused every man on board to rise from their sleep and appear on deck weapons in hand. The Chief himself came to stand near Nanuq to see what was approaching.

"Nanuq," Chief Hakoda addressed him. "What is it?"

"A lifeboat, Chief. No sign of another ship, but it is clearly Fire Nation made," Nanuq reported.

"Keep an eye out for a ship. No lifeboat could get out here this far without a main ship being nearby," Chief Hakoda said before turning to the men on deck. "Be prepared for a potential attack. I want three men ready to check out that lifeboat. Could just be a shipwreck nearby or it could be a trap. No matter what, don't let your guard down!"

"Yes chief!" the men shouted back.

Everyone was tense as the minutes passed and the lifeboat got closer. Nanuq kept an eye out for an attacking ship or any more lifeboats, but only saw the one. You could hear a pin drop as the lifeboat finally hit the side of the ship. It bobbed unassumingly in the water against their wooden ship. The sound grated on everyone's ears.

Chief Hakoda held his hand up as he and the other three approached the side where the lifeboat gently rocked against the side of their ship. Everyone held their breath, muscles tensed and ready to attack. A quiet groan broke through the silence as the group looked over the edge of the ship.

"Chief it's just a boy," one of the men said.

"Get him up here," Chief Hakoda ordered.

The men grabbed a rope ladder and let it fall over the edge. Quickly, one man climbed down into the small lifeboat. He barely had any room to stand that wasn't being taken up by the boy. The man pulled back the blanket and held back a gasp seeing how young the boy was, but also the loose bandages on his face, exposing an infected burn.

"Chief, we need Atka. He's hurt bad," the man said leaning close to the boy to observe the wound. He gently placed a hand on his neck feeling for a pulse. "He's alive, but freezing. Especially for a Fire brat."

"Get him up here and someone get Atka now!" Chief Hakoda ordered. "Don't let your guards down, but I don't think there's any other ship out or we'd have been attacked. But don't take any chances."

The three men worked together to lift the young boy out of the lifeboat and onto the ship. The blankets fell off his small form allowing them to see his broken leg, but also his frostbitten limbs. It was hard and everytime he was jostled around, the boy let out a moan of pain. He seemed pretty out of it though and didn't make any attempts to resist or attack, Nanuq observed.

Atka was quickly retrieved and with one look at the boy ordered the men to take him down to the infirmary. Chief Hakoda watched everything with a critical eye.

"I want a guard at the infirmary door," he ordered. "And double the watch. Everyone else back to bed. We need rest for tomorrow, but any sign of an attack, raise the alarm."

Everyone nodded and did as ordered. Nanuq was joined by two others for watch, one who had helped bring the boy onto the ship. They were tense the rest of the night. Any stray animal or iceberg caused them to flinch and have to resist the urge to sound the alarm. He didn't think any of the men that night got any peaceful sleep, all to tense from the possible attack.

Atka arrived quickly as the three men brought the young boy into his quarters. The infirmary was small, but was filled with an extra two cots and various jars and bags of medicine and plants. He quickly went to work.

The boy was dressed in such thin clothing that was dripping wet from the ocean spray making Atka's first worry be him having hypothermia. While the rest of his injuries looked severe, it would all be for nothing if the boy died of the cold. He quickly grabbed many layers of pelts and blankets after changing the boy into a clean pair of dry clothes.

"Hanta," Atka spoke looking at the second youngest of the ship. "I need you to lie in bed with him. He needs warmth."

Hanta didn't look too happy about it, but listened to the older man. He slipped under the mountain of blankets and allowed Atka to help readjust so the boy was sitting in between his legs with his back lying on his chest. With a repulsed face, Hanta slowly wrapped his arms around the boy.

His face changed to shock once he realized just how cold the boy was. His skin was like ice and his breath came out in pants as he stirred. It was startling to see the gold eyes peer up at him glazed over.

"N-...noo," the boy whined. "'M…'ot. Too 'ot."

Atka was over at once. "Shh, you need to stay there. "

The boy weakly struggled to get away from Hanta, but was unable and continued to mumble incoherently. Hanta frowned looking at the boy. His face had multiple bruises and a poorly placed bandage over his left eye.

Atka had quickly mixed and heated something and was soon back over holding the cup.

"Boy you need to drink this," Atka told him, placing it to his lips.

The boy flinched at first, but as Atka pushed him to drink allowed him to pour the liquid into his mouth. Slowly, Atka poured more of the warm liquid until he had drank it all. Soon the boy fell back into unconsciousness.

Atka went back to a small table and started to pull out various medicines and bandages. He worked quietly mixing the pastes and getting ready to treat the wounds he was able to see when changing the boy. Hanta watched still holding the boy close. His temperature was very concerning, but was slowly warming up.

"Atka how long will I have to stay here?" Hanta asked, shifting as his leg fell asleep.

"I'll ask someone to take over in an hour or so, but he'll need someone for at least a few hours. He won't be able to be alone until we can get his temperature up to at least our normal temperature. I don't know what a Fire Nation's normal temperature is, but it's better than nothing," Atka explained.

Hanta sighed but nodded. He didn't like it but no one disobeyed Atka. The old man held as much say and power in the tribe as the chief did. He'd put up with this Fire Nation child until he could escape. Atka checked on the boy multiple times. Each time he was warmer and warmer.

It was almost morning when Atka left the room and came back with another man. Tulimak was usually helping the Chief and his second, Bato, around, but followed Atka to the bed. Carefully to not disturb the sleeping boy, they moved him to allow Hanta to slip out and Tulimak to slip in.

Sighing in relief, Hanta stretched his arms and legs. The air was a stark contrast than under the blankets. He was practically sweating under the amount of layers Atka forced on the boy.

Now free, Hanta went out of the room to join the other men as they started their day. The boy was on his mind of the rest of the day as he worked. He could see how the rest of the men were still tense even with no sign of another Fire Nation ship.

There were a few other times Atka would go and bring back another person to help bring the boys body temperature up. Each came back a bit stiff and unsure of what to think of the boy. Everyone was muttering about it. No one knew what to think about the strange occurrence.

Chief Hakoda did check up on the boy a few times throughout the day. There wasn't any change, but everyone was burning for answers. The Chief was seen pacing on deck a look of concern on his face. Everyone knew he had a son that looked to be around the same age and could understand his worries.

It wasn't until the next day that Atka allowed the final man lying with the boy to leave. The boy's temperature had raised high enough he was certain he would be alright. His next worry would be a fever, but Atka kept him under a close eye.

Soon after allowing the man to leave, Atka called Chief Hakoda in to talk. He had looked over the boy and there were some startling things.

"Atka what did you find?" Chief Hakoda asked as he entered the infirmary.

Atka sighed as he was sitting down near the boy's bed.

"It's not good Hakoda," Atka said standing with a groan. "Hypothermia was the biggest problem, but now we have to worry about the fever. That burn of his is heavily infected. It doesn't look good. He's trying to fight it off, but it seems like no one took anytime to treat it. If and I really mean if he survives then he'll be scarred, and he'll most likely lose that eye. I doubt there's any chance of seeing from it ever again, not with the little we know. More minor injuries are just bruises though his left leg is broken. It was done in a clean break thankfully. That'll make it easier to treat, but I don't know how long it's been like that. If it's already stated healing I might have to re break and reset it."

"What could cause this to happen?" Hakoda questioned looking over at the sleeping boy.

Atka shrugged. He had pulled back a few blankets no longer needing so many to keep the boy warm. The bandage over his eye had been replaced and he could assume the rest of his injuries were treated as well.

"Whatever or whoever did this had no concern for his life. This should have killed him with how malnourished and dehydrated he is," Atka explained. "I don't think he'll wake for quite a while or at all. It's hard to give an unconscious person medicine, much less food."

Hakoda had a hard look on his face as if he wanted to find who would do this to a boy, Fire Nation or not. He nodded before leaving the room. Atka had brought Nanuq down to the infirmary when he finally got a chance to fully treat all of the boy's wounds now that hypothermia wasn't a concern. It was a two man job to take care of his broken leg.

When Atka took off the boy's bandage he had replaced earlier, Nanuq couldn't help the shocked gasp that escaped him. He swallowed thickly trying not to throw up at the sight of the untreated burn. There was so much dead burnt skin, puss, and blood it was a gorey sight hidden behind white bandages. Nanuq's main job was to hold the boy down when he started to thrash in pain as Atka had to place the salve on the burn. It was easy for how light the boy was, but that made it much more worries one.

Almost as bad was when they had to rest the boy's leg. Pinning the boy to his chest, Nanuq had to look away as Atka worked. He didn't want to see how unnatural it looked. It made him feel queasy. Once done the boy was tucked back under the covers, but Nanuq noticed the boy's temperature had spiked dangerously high. The hypothermia may have left, but infection and fever were now the main concern. While he had felt like ice itself before, the boy felt like a burning furnace.

The Chief had ordered the ships to start to return home after there was no sign of any other Fire Nation ship. The boy laid below deck feverish and delusional. He moaned out in pain and fear. Nightmares seemed to plague him and the guards were spooked by what they heard from the room.

He called out for his uncle a lot, and would mutter about him every time Atka got him to swallow some tea or soup. The boy would also mutter about someone always lying. He seemed trying to convince himself, but the worst was when he'd beg for his father. Not for his father, but for forgiveness from him.

Atka had told the Chief about it and Hakoda frowned when hearing it. There was something wrong with how despeart the boy sounded. Had his father done something to him? Was he behind the reason the boy was out in the ocean by himself, hurt beyond belief? They wouldn't get any answers unless the boy survived and would tell them.

It wasn't until two days later that his fever broke. His temperature was still hotter than what Atka was comfortable with for a Water Tribe, but assumed that the Fire Nation would run a little hotter. His delusions stopped and he slept more peacefully after the last night of his fever. It was only a matter of time until he woke up.

And wake up he did. Atka had been preparing more burn salve after using a lot to treat the boy's eye when he heard a groan and shifting. He put down what he was holding and moved next to the boy's bed.

He wasn't when the boy's eye opened to reveal a burning gold staring up at him. He had seen them enough, those glazed with a fever, when the boy was seemingly awake but delusional. Those moments made it the easiest to get him to eat or drink. The boy blinked a few times before his eye widened in surprise. He tried to move away from Atka but stopped when pain shot through him.

"I wouldn't move around too much," Atka informed him as he grabbed a nearby cup of tea. "Here drink this."

Cautiously the boy took the cup and stared at Atka. Atka just watched as the boy gave in and drank. He stayed quiet even after the cup was empty and taken from his shaky hands.

"How are you feeling? Hot? Cold? Any pain?" Atka questioned.

"I am fine," the boy said staring at his hands resting in his lap.

"I see, now tell me how you really are feeling," Atka asked unimpressed with his attempt at lying.

It was obvious the boy was in pain still. He favored his left side with the limited way he moved and how he winced when he would make an expression and it would pull on his still healing burn. The boy stayed quiet, fingers fidgeting in his lap before finally glancing up at Atka.

"It does hurt, my eye mostly," he quietly admitted.

"And what about your leg?" Atka sternly started going back through his questions.

"Ok, sore."

"Hot? Cold?"

"I'm ok, warm, but ok."

"Any other pains or soreness?"

"No."

Atka nodded looking at him to detect any other lies. Thankfully, he didn't try again. Now that the health questions were done, he now needed to go get the Chief. As much as he doesn't think that the boy would be any harm in the state he's in, they couldn't take any chances. Not with the war.

Giving the boy some more tea, he told him to drink it and he'd be back in just a moment. Quickly leaving the infirmary, he went to the Chief's room. There weren't many rooms in the small water tribe boat. Most of the tribe slept together, but the Chief did have his own room along with the infirmary, kitch, and storage.

Knocking on the door, the Chief called him to enter. Walking in Atka only had to say he was ready. Following him, the two of them went back to the infirmary. The boy was still there, tea cup set off to the side. He looked to be thinking about something as he stared at the far wall, not realizing they had entered at first.

"Hello," Hakoda said standing before the boy.

He quickly reacted flinching, finally noticing them. He shrinks back into, as if to appear smaller. The weariness and fear in his eyes brought sadness to Atka's heart. No young boy should look like that.

"Mind if we ask a few questions?" Hakdoa continued, though stepping back to give the boy some space.

"What do you want?" he asked, turning his eyes away from them. It was like he was resigned to a fate, like he was expecting the worse by the sound of defeat in his voice.

"Well could you tell us your name first?"

"I am-" he paused as if having to remind himself of something before continuing, "I guess, was Prince Zuko, son of Fire Lord Ozai and Ursa, and I was banished."