Eight days ago

"Ming, can I have a word?"

General Iroh surprised Ming during his breakfast in the empty dining area.

"General Iroh, of course. Please, take a seat. I thought you were going out to the market with the rest of the crew."

The old general sat down opposite Ming. Under the pleasant smile Ming recognized an underlying serious expression that the man had only when concerning his nephew.

Ming swallowed down the mouthful of scrambled eggs. Did Iroh notice something? Is he going to pressure him into answering? He did promise Zuko to…

"Have you seen my nephew this morning?"

"No, sir, I haven't seen him since yesterday. Is something wrong?"

"I thought so. He is not in his room," he looked at Ming, "and his dao swords are missing as well."

The look told him everything. General Iroh knew. "Oh."

"I know he comes to you for treatment…."

"That was only once...well twice…"

"Maybe he mentioned something before he left? Some place where he could go?"

Ming furrowed his brows. "I am sorry, sir. He hasn't mentioned anything particular."

"Yesterday, I told him we were leaving early. I went to check his cabin and… he hasn't shown up yet. He has never been so late to return," the general mused. "He can arrive at any moment, so I don't want to alert the crew yet, but I will go to the town to chat with the locals. In case he comes back, could you…"

"I will find you personally, sir."

"Thank you, Ming. Now, excuse me, but I'm going to charm some local ladies."

"O-of course," Ming put down his chopsticks and wanted to stand up.

"Please, finish your breakfast," Iroh smiled and left the area humming some song Ming didn't recognize.

General Iroh must have been the most curious person he has and ever will know.


The crew returned within two hours with the necessary supplies from the small port market. There was no sign of the general or the prince. Ming went to the main deck to wait for whomever would arrive sooner. Jee joined him at the railing.

"Where is General Iroh? We should leave as soon as possible. This is not a friendly place. The Earth Kingdom militia is lurking in the surrounding forest."

Ming nervously ran through his hair. "He said he needed something specific from the market."

"I haven't seen the boy yet either. I think I touched a nerve with him yesterday. He may be still upset. If I haven't known him better, I would think he tried to be considerate. Hah!"

Jee laughed it off, but Ming knew what may have sparked the prince's empathy.

"Actually, I think he really did try."

"Ming, you're a medic and it's your job to empathize, but you give the boy a bit too much credit. I have never seen a teenager so self-centered, he doesn't spare the crew a single glance. I guess that comes with being royalty. If we all were not outcasts…"

"About that…he didn't know about your circumstances and yesterday I happened to tell him," said Ming and looked at Jee amused by the man's surprise.

"Oh...but still. He didn't have to destroy my personal binoculars."

"I am not denying Prince Zuko has some anger management issues. He is a teenager after all."

"That is why teenagers should not command ships."

"Please do consider, Lieutenant Jee, that is not what my nephew chose to do as an occupation." The general appeared out of nowhere right behind their backs.

"General Iroh, I apologize. I haven't meant that... I..."

"It's alright. I understand the notions that the crew holds about my nephew. I don't blame them. In the future, there will be a more convenient time to explain why Prince Zuko is the way he is. Right now, I am afraid you will enjoy a break from his moody attitude, although he may still cause some headaches in his absence."

General Iroh bowed his head. An unpleasant foreboding clenched Ming's chest. The serious tone of the prince's uncle evoked real worry not only in him it seemed, but in Jee as well. This should have been expected, the boy actively sought out trouble.

"Where is he? Did he leave the ship? Are the Earth Kingdom rebels involved?" asked Jee.

"That is not so clear," the old general sighed. "According to the nice tea vendor lady, not only the Earth Kingdom militia locates the surrounding mountains, but in the last few evenings, also members of Water Tribe were spotted moving around."

Jee folded his arms and Ming caught him clenching his teeth.

"Water Tribe? Have they not learned their lesson? But why would Prince Zuko engage with those meddling peasants?"

"Sir, you think he got captured by one of the two groups?" Ming intentionally left out other possibilities of Zuko's fate.

"That is my suspicion," Iroh's eyes were downcast to Jee's feet, "Lieutenant, I know my nephew once again caused trouble for you, but I need to ask for your help."

"Sir, you can rely on us, me and the crew. We are at your service."

"I can head out right away to scan the surrounding coastlines. The Water Tribe ships may still linger around," offered Jee without hesitation.

"Thank you, lieutenant. You can do that after I head out to meet with the local resistance."

Present

Zuko was woken by the twitching in his fingers. In fact, his whole hands hurt and tingled with a burning sensation. He tried to shift them, but they were trapped in a ...soft cage? This confusing detail knocked his mind into full consciousness.

The room was in complete darkness, only a faint outline of the familiar window told him, he was back in the same hut...still on Kyoshi Island. He tried to stretch his numb hands again, when suddenly a human shape stirred next to him.

Zuko shot up into a fighting stance. A soft rattle rang across the room, what roused the stranger up as well. The shape moved into a similar defending position.

"Don't panic. It's me, Suki,"a familiar female voice whispered.

The warrior girl? What is she doing here? His hands...was she?

"What is going on? Why are you here? You're my prison guard?"

"I was…" she hesitated and dropped her stance. "Taska ordered me to look after you. Your hands caught the chill, they are hurt."

He tried to assess the damage in the dark. His hands were bandaged to the fingertips and were pulsing similarly as if they were burnt, but not so intensely.

"Your clothes should be somewhere here."

Right, he was once again stripped to his underpants in his unconsciousness. The girl was handing him probably his tunic and pants. Zuko reached into the dark to take the bundle of clothes.

"You should mind them, your hands I mean. They can blister and cause scars," she said as he was trying to determine which side of the pants was the front.

"I don't mind scars," he hissed before he could catch himself.

An awkward silence settled down, until a quiet sorry came from the darkness. Zuko didn't care. His mind started racing. He couldn't lose any more time. If he recalled everything correctly from the previous evening, the leader of the Warriors is going to send him right into the hands of the Southern Raiders who now seemed to be working in collusion with a specialized assassin squad. The chi-blocking wasn't something an ordinary raider could have learned. Only the best martial artists of the Fire Nation could be taught this secret technique. The small group from yesterday was not there to play and they did recognize him, they must have… and still they went for him. He wasn't sure if for capture or kill, but sure as hell, he did not give them a chance for either.

And now, he was not going to give a chance to these islanders. He shifted back to a battle stance. He could barely see the outline of the girl, but he recognized that she did the same.

"You must be joking," she whispered harshly.

"As I was telling you from the very start, I just want to get out of here," he lounged without warning, but he was still too slow. She gripped his bandaged hand and pushed him face into the ground.

"What do you think you're doing?" she hissed as she pushed his injured hand into his back. He had to bite down his tongue to stop himself from groaning.

"Your hands are hurt, you cannot bend, you're alone, how do you think you will get away from here?"

"So what? What should I do? Wait till you hand me over to the Raiders?"

"Yes. Unless…"

"Unless?

"Unless I help you," she said in a hushed barely audible voice, like she felt ashamed.

There was a long moment of silence as they both processed the suggestion.

"You heard what I said?"

"Yeah, I did. But why?" Zuko was confused. Surely, it wasn't his honesty that convinced her, and she didn't seem to be the type resorting to trickery.

She slowly let go of his hand and they both sat up facing each other, although they couldn't see each other's faces.

"I.. I am not sure. I just know what our captain is doing isn't right. You did not act as a threat, not once during the whole time you're here. Though I don't know who or what you are, but sending you back to those assassins is not something I can have on my conscience," she explained hesitantly.

Zuko held back a scoff. He was sure that if she knew that he was the prince of the Fire Nation, she would deliver him right back into the arms of those assassins. Personally.

"I can go alone, you can act like I surprised you…"

"Right, and you can fight the ten girls outside with those hands, then row your way on a boat to the continent with those same hands."

"I'm not some fragile princess. You're underestimating…"

"No. I'm being realistic here. We'll need a plan. Plan for the run and those Raiders. And best would be to act before dawn."

Even without his bending, Zuko could tell by his inner clock that sunrise is not far away.


Suki made a few exhales and put on her best attempt at a panicked face. Lee was in position and could vaguely see him nod signalling that he's ready. Her hand on the door still hesitated. The plan could go wrong in so many ways. Her gut was wrenched by guilt from the betrayal she was about to commit on her fellow warriors.

Her other hand circled around the fan at her side, their weapon of choice as Kyoshi Warriors, the weapon of choice of Avatar Kyoshi. She entrusted them with the protection of her homeland and her wish was honored for generations. However, the avatar stood for more than protecting one island and Avatar Kyoshi stood for justice above all else. Her heart knew she was doing the right thing even though the following moments may hurt.

"Girls! Girls, help!"

Suki pushed the door open. The girls on guard faced her ready for battle with fans raised.

"Bring a torch! Something is wrong! The prisoner is sick!"

Few of the girls ran inside bringing some light to the room, but not enough to recognize that the lump under the blanket is not the Fire Nation boy or that he's standing in the shadow of the door.

"Call Taska, we'll need help!" She instructed two other girls to leave their posts.

"Suki, what is wrong? Is he unconscious? He's not…"

"I'm sorry, girls," Suki said and gave a signal to the boy to move quickly.

He was quick. He slipped outside and Suki right after him, locking the door from outside. Now it was two against three, the odds were much improved. All five of them shifted into fighting stances. Suki raised her fans. There was no time to lose. The girls locked inside would soon find a way out. She moved first to use the moment of surprise, but was not prepared to see the girls lower their weapons.

"Suki, we don't want to fight you," said Mika.

"We...we don't think the captain is her usual self," said the other girl.

Suki's heart clenched. She felt guilty enough, but now the girls made it even harder. She looked at the boy to make him drop his stance. He did it with a hesitation. She could see the hint of surprise by the turn of events on his face.

"Girls, I love you so much, all of you. Please, help Hideko in protection of Kyoshi Island. Take care of each other and of Hideko as well. I have a plan. I am taking him," she pointed at the Fire Nation boy, "and we will get rid of the Southern Raiders."

"Suki, why do you sound like you're leaving..."

"You can call Hideko, tell her we fought and ran…"

"But Suki, we want to help!"

"You can help, by giving us a few minutes of lead."

Suki's gut was sinking lower and lower. She couldn't hesitate anymore. She grabbed the boy by the sleeve of his black outfit and dragged him into the dark woods.

"Suki, wait…!"

"Suki!"

The voices were echoing among the trees as they were climbing a steep slope of the high hill. They were tearing at her heart. Her vision blurred and soon she felt a stream of hot tears running down on her face. She quickly blinked them away. At least it was still dark, although the first rays of the sun were visible between the tree crowns.

"The small port is on the other side of this hill," she said after she was sure of her voice again.

"There will be fishermen preparing for the day. I can persuade them to let us go with them. You better just stay silent."

"That won't be a problem," he said breathing heavily.

They quickly made it to the open top of the hill. They stopped to catch their breaths. From there, they could already see the small settlement with few houses and few piers reaching into the sea.

"There! It is the ship of those Raiders!"

Suki pointed northeast, just left of the first rays of the sun, at the barely recognizable outline of a ship of similar shape she saw yesterday.

"It really is a Raider ship."

"You know the Raiders? Were you with them?" asked Suki. She should have thought of this possibility sooner. Maybe the attack was some kind of revenge.

"No. I wasn't. I just… I've been at the sea for the past few years. You meet them at ports."

Suki looked at him. His jaw was set, clearly not in the mood to tell more. This was the first piece of information about his background he offered. She didn't push more questions. There was no time for this type of conversation.

"We should hurry before we lose sight of them."

He nodded and followed her down the hill. They tried to run as much as the slope allowed them, slipping a few times in the few inches of the first snow.

Soon they arrived at the first houses of the fishermen settlement.

"Follow me, stay behind me and don't say a word. Don't act suspicious. I will do the talk."

He nodded. She was ready to go, but he wasn't following.

"Just one thing."

"Yes?" Suki frowned.

"Ehm… Your makeup is...it is smudged… a bit."

Suki turned around and cringed. It certainly wasn't smudged… a bit, if he cared to mention it. It must have been ruined from the night and there were those few tears.

She crouched down and took a handful of the fresh snow from the ground. When it melted a little under her breath, she rubbed it over her face. Then she was forced to use the inside folds of her skirt to wipe the rest of the paint away. It felt disgraceful, the make-up process was a sacred ritual for them, but without any water or a cloth, she had no option but to use the kimono.

She turned to the boy.

"Is it all off?"

A surprised expression landed on his face. She must have left out some places, so she started to rub her face all over again.

"No! You can stop. It's off!"

"Then what's with that expression?"

He started fidgeting.

"Nothing!...I mean, I thought you were older," he said. A small blush sneaked up his cheeks.

"I don't know if that's a compliment. But I'm sixteen. Just around your age, I'm guessing."

He said nothing, only nodded.


The warrior girl, now without her makeup and with a completely new face for him, stood up and looked around for something. She stopped when eyes landed on the laundry line by the nearby house. She took out a dagger hidden under her arm bracer (he took a mental remark about another weapon to the count) and cut off the line.

Zuko suddenly realized what her idea was.

"This will be just to sell our act better. As soon as we are at the sea, I will cut you free."

His hand twitched involuntarily at the memory of yesterday, but he reluctantly offered them to Suki. It was harder then he would admit to stand without protest as she made a knot around his arms. He let her make a few loops around his forearms, noting that she avoided going lower than his wrists and did not make the binding too tight.

"Allright, now we can proceed," said Suki, pulling gently on the leftover line.

Zuko couldn't suppress a growl.

"What? Is it too tight?"

"Isn't the leash overdoing it?"

"It's making it believable. Don't worry, it won't take long and you're going to be free," she tried to assure him. But Zuko didn't like plans that involved playing acts. He was glad that his part only required staying quiet.

They headed straight to the small port. It was already full of people all dressed in blue, running back and forth between the small fishing boats untangling nets, pulling up the sails and chattering among themselves. As they walked around them, many of them stopped to observe the tiny parade. Zuko gritted his teeth.

At least the port was small, housing around ten small fishing boats. One boat, however, stood out from the others and Suki went straight to the man loading heavy-looking sacks to its deck. It was a small steam engine propelled vessel, clearly of Fire Nation origin, designed for fishing or transportation of people for short distances.

"Not again! I just got back yesterday!" said the man dropping the heavy sack with a thud.

"I'm sorry, Qing. It's an order from Hideko. I am to transport our prisoner to the mainland. All I need is for you to let us accompany you on your usual trip." Although the sentence was a request, Suki used a very serious tone leaving no place for arguments.

The man however, didn't seem convinced. He cast a very grim face at him and back at Suki.

"Just you and the prisoner? Ain't he from the Fire Nation? A firebender?"

"Are you questioning the judgement of Hideko and us Kyoshi Warriors? This was not a question, Qing, this is a command. The prisoner is to leave the island to not create unnecessary conflict. Here, at Kyoshi, you are under our jurisdiction and if you want to keep your special mandate to operate your ships between Kyoshi and the Earth Kingdom, you agreed to meet the requests of the Kyoshi Warriors. "

"Yes, madam."

The man was standing a few feet above her on the board of his ship, still he seemed to shrink under the gaze of the young warrior. Zuko was impressed. He really shouldn't have worried about the plan. The warrior girl was frighteningly persuasive. But not in a cunning way, like his sister was, rather she used direct assertiveness.

"Don't worry, he's not a bender," she said, shifting the focus from the tensing exchange. "Otherwise those ropes would be for nothing, don't you think?"

"I guess," he said and made an inviting motion allowing them to board the ship.

But before they could make a jump over, somebody approached them from behind.

"Young man!"

Both of them stiffened and stopped when an old fragile-looking man came near Zuko. Chills ran up his spine and for the last week the almost forgotten scar on his shoulder started to burn familiarly.

"You look cold and the winds tend to get ruthless out on the sea. You're not nearly dressed properly. You look almost blue."

He took down his worn-out coat and handed it towards him.

"Here. You can borrow it."

Zuko didn't know what to do. Did he really look that cold? He started to get used to the lack of heat in his core, but he didn't feel any more cold than he was all week, or compared to last night. Except, those sudden chills as the old man came closer.

He looked at Suki asking for clues. He promised to stay silent and act inconspicuously, but now all the men in vicinity were casting glances. She shook her head slightly and pulled him by the rope away from the man.

"Father, leave him. He's Fire Nation," one of the fishermen stepped in to pull his father back from him with a frown aimed at Zuko.

"We're leaving," Suki pulled him unceremoniously onto the merchant's boat.