Zuko slips away. He longs to fight Zhao right then but decides to catch him later. He's gone before Zhao finishes his speech about his proclaimed greatness. The coward. Trying to have him killed by pirates. Zuko doesn't think about how the Avatar... rescued him. So naive and young, like his friends. That boy and girl from the south. He wonders if that other girl, the young woman, had joined them. Zuko doubts it. She's dressed finer than anyone else he's seen, most likely nobility of some kind trying to get into the Avatar's good graces. She took me from the Avatar and put my head on her scarf. Perhaps not a horrible person, but naive. Didn't she know what the point of war - of enemies - was? Zuko can feel the warmth from the scarf as he slips through the Water Tribe city. It's not like she really needed it, did she?
A cold tier overlooking a footbridge is perfect. Zuko climbs up and waits. Zhao would be there any moment. The guards would be no object. As would any Water Tribe warriors that might stray their way from the fighting of the siege. From the sounds of it, there weren't any left. All Zuko could hear was fire and screaming. There was a red cast over everything that appeared after the moon disappeared. Zhao had succeeded, apparently, in becoming the "moon-killer" or whatever he was blathering on about when Zuko was slipping out of that oasis. It only fuels Zuko's rage.
Zhao rounds the corner and goes on the footbridge like a coward traitor. Zuko roars and blasts fire in his path.
"You're alive?" Zhao is shocked. Incredulous. Zuko relishes the expression. He is bruised and battered, yes, but alive. He was still alive.
"You tried to have me killed!" There was also that score that needed to be settled. He launches at the older man from the tier. Zhao rolls behind the footbridge's wall.
"Yes, I did. You're the Blue Spirit — an enemy of the Fire Nation!" Zhao spits. Zuko's rage is white-hot as they face each other. Waiting. A blue light runs under them through the water that Zuko barely registers.
"You freed the Avatar!"
"I had no choice!" How else was he to return home, restore his honour? He blasts fireball after fireball at Zhao, who dissipates each one, snarling.
"You should have chosen to accept your failure — your disgrace! Then, at least you could have lived!" Zhao threatens, thinking himself invincible despite his initial failure at killing Zuko and how he was now losing ground against the same man. With a carefully executed series of blows, Zhao is flat on his back. His eyes widen.
"It can't be!" He's looking up. Up past Zuko. Up into the sky. The red cast is gone. The moon is back. Things feel... right. For Zhao, it feels wrong. The water rises up behind Zhao in the shape of a hand. It grabs the Admiral and lifts him up. Zuko springs forwards.
"Take my hand!" He reaches for his enemy's hand. Zhao thinks for a moment and Zuko thinks he'll grab his hand, but instead he pulls it back and throws a fireblast right at Zuko's chest. Zuko, completely unprepared is thrown back and hits the edge of the bridge's wall. He slumps down. The water drags Zhao back and into the water. He disappears from Zuko's rapidly darkening sight. Nothing.
Yue becomes. She is whole. Where there once was a kernel, now is a vast well of essence, of being. Some still confidence runs through her veins. Libraries of books and experiences fill her head. She almost forgets that she is Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe. Tui, Tui, TUI!
She bolts upright. She's swimming around La. Like she's been doing since before time came and there was a "before" rather than "being". She's standing upright. She's not a koi fish. She's Yue. I am Tui. The words resound through her and she knows it's true. She is Tui, the spirit, and Yue, the human. Two parts of a whole. She thought she had given her life force to Tui but she had also given herself and became one with Tui.
Yue realizes that she's been sitting in the pond. Princesses don't do that. She's also... swimming in the pond but she doesn't think her father will mind that the koi fish are in the pond. Yue stands and walks out of the pond. I wish I was dry— oh! Yue, with a nearly unconscious small flicking motion, caused the pond water soaking her clothes to rejoin the rest of the pond water. That's new. She looks around. Everyone has gone. Yue leaves the oasis, not quite sure where she's going. The calm of the oasis stays with her as part of her leaves through the wooden half door. She is still swimming with La.
The fighting has stopped. A faint tinge of smoke and blood drifts on the wind. The water, touched by the Avatar's spirit, seems to still glow. No one is walking through the city except for the Princess. They have all gone to help with the messy afters of war. Yue has the messy afters of being fused with Tui to learn about.
A young man is injured. He's laying on the footbridge. Yue runs to him. It's him, Prince Zuko. Her scarf is wrapped around his neck. I'm still going to help him. Yue somehow knows she can heal, but Tui warns her that it is too soon. Not ready. Yue thinks of the small shelter above the city. That's where he'll be safe as he heals. There isn't an after for him yet to contend with. With some strength in her, Yue lifts the battered Prince and carries him back to the oasis.
In the oasis, Yue finds the path behind the waterfall and climbs, climbs, climbs. Up towards the sky, she hauls the young man on her back. The snowy wasteland is still storming. Yue worries for the firebender in the bone-chilling wind.
The shelter, usually occupied by a small group of hunters and surveyors to examine the land behind the city for a few weeks out of the year, is currently unoccupied. Zuko is laid down on one of the beds. Yue grabs the medical supplies out of the cabinet in the kitchen area. It is fairly extensive due to the treacherous nature of the land, which Yue is thankful for.
Zuko flinches when a swab drenched in alcohol begins wiping away the blood, sweat, and soot from his wounds. Yue winces at the gash on his head and his chest. She carefully and efficiently cleans the wounds, stitches together the layers of skin and muscle, and bandages her work up. As she's making the final pass with the ball of cotton bandage, a hand flies up and firmly grasps her forearm. Yue freezes. Zuko groans and his hand goes limp, falling to his side. His brow creases for a moment before he slips back under.
A few hours later and Zuko is still sleeping. Yue tried slipping some water into his mouth but he didn't respond and she didn't want to drown him. Yue leans back against the wall on the bed across the room from the sleeping prince. She taps her fingers one by one on her knee. He needs to wake up so that she knows he's okay.
Yue breaks off a piece of dried seal jerky from the cabinet. There is enough for a few days only and not all of it might be suitable for the prince's stomach as he heals. She turns from the kitchen area back towards the front of the cabin where the beds are. Zuko is sitting upright and staring right at her. Yue yelps and drops the piece of seal jerky. She frowns and bends over to pick it up.
"Are you all right?" She asks, walking towards the prince.
"Stop," he says. "Who are you and what am I doing here?" He doesn't attack, but he seems like he wants to. Yue didn't restrain him in any way so little stood in his way except his own injuries.
"You should lay back down. You'll tear those stitches." Yue sits on the bed across, trying to appear unthreatening. "I'm Princess Yue, and you're here because you were injured."
"Why would a princess do my stitches? Is the north so barbaric? And why are there no guards?" Zuko spits. Yue regrets telling him she is a princess, he might think she could be used for ransom.
"Forgive me, but whose siege failed?" Yue points out, trying not to get mad. "I did your stitches because I didn't want you to die."
The prince doesn't say anything. "I found you bleeding out in the street after... the fighting stopped and brought you here before the guards could find you." The prince says nothing about the lack of bonds on his hands, or where they were, how long had it been... Yue says nothing else and starts chewing on her jerky. "Do you want some?" She offers. He gives her a low look and turns over and lays down. Yue takes that as a no and continues eating.
Zuko is angry. He is being held captive by a single young woman spirits know where without even handcuffs to prevent him from attacking her and escaping. She didn't seem scared at all. Just still, calm. He had had the Avatar in his grasp and —get this— he escaped, again. He had him for not even an hour and now he was a prisoner of the Water Tribe. He has a sneaking suspicion that they didn't know he was there either. It was just that princess. Yue was her name. No nation would allow someone so important to guard a prisoner by themselves. For whatever reason, she was lying.
Zuko stares at the wall. His wounds throb, demanding sleep, rest. Relax. No, I can't. He stays tense, weak muscles prepared for the white-haired princess to put down her jerky, narrow her big blue eyes, and attack ruthlessly. Somewhere, Zuko knew he was being ridiculous. Grudgingly, he closes his eyes. Darkness creeps up on him and he is engulfed.
A slight relaxation of the prince makes Yue jump. Oh... it is good that he sleeps. He will be hungry, and thirsty. Yue walks to the kitchen area. There is no water. Right. They would expect everyone coming here to be able to waterbend in water from outside to drink. She glances at the sleeping form on the bed. I'll risk it. Yue slips to the door, past the prince, and kneels by a small crack in the door to the outside. Closing her eyes, she reaches inside, to that well of her, her and Tui. She grabs half a thimble-full, drawing it out carefully. Yue extends a hand and tugs at the snow outside, melting it and bringing it inside. Holding her breath, she carries it through the air back past the sleeping prince. She realizes that she didn't take out a cup, or pot, or anything to hold the water. With both hands occupied with the water and sans the skill, or confidence to manage the water with a single hand, she thinks furiously, feeling herself losing her nerve with the water in her hands. Awkwardly, she elbows a cupboard open and —thank the spirits— it's the one with cups. She rushes to bend the water into a large cup. It splashes in and overflows. Yue winces when the prince stirs. Taking a breath, she reaches for the spilled water and bends it into another cup. With her hands, she takes both cups out of the cupboard. She closes the door and takes the cup with the spilled water for herself, leaving the other for the prince.
Yue's hands tremble so badly she has to put down her cup on the stand next to the bed she sits on after only a few sips. I can waterbend. At some level, Yue knows that she has become one with Tui and she has greater responsibilities, but on most levels, she is just freaked out. Young woman and ancient spirit. Mrs. Huemodo would know what to do. Father would know what to do. The spirits would know what to do, but... I'm the spirit, aren't I? Yue used to pray to the spirits. Maybe she still could. She can try. Yue swings her legs into a cross-legged position.
Colours... endless colours stream before her eyes. Brilliant, shining light. Dancing before her eyes. The secret to everything. Diving into her consciousness, more existed than before. Caverns and cliffs, oceans and rivers, atmospheres and boundless space. Yue feels Tui come and nestle beside her. This is a journey. You must change, as water, to expand your consciousness as a spirit. This you see is all you must learn. Go now. We must be careful about this process. Tui finishes. But— Yue begins, before thinking better of it. She nods at Tui before drifting back to her normal consciousness. She wiggles her toes, then her fingers, slowly shifting each limb before letting her eyelids flutter open.
Yue blinks once. Twice. The water by the sleeping prince is gone. A sense of accomplishment rises in her. He will live. The room is dark now. Much darker than it was before. Yue gets the sense she was meditating for much longer than it felt and moves to refill the prince's water.
The second time filling up the water is much easier and the princess gains a few thimble-fulls of confidence. She sets a glass down by the sleeping prince and goes to light the oil lamps as the light is rapidly disappearing. The matches aren't in the cupboard. The matches still aren't in the cupboard. The matches aren't in the tiny bathroom, next to the oil lamp, or on or under any of the beds. Yue huffs.
"What are you doing?" A voice rasps. Yue spins around. The prince has turned over and is looking her right in the eye.
"I'm trying to find the matches. But I think we're out," Yue says. The young man frowns.
"You're trying to light the oil lamp?" He asks, glancing at the unlit oil lamp in the kitchen. Yue nods. "Just—just give it to me."
"You're too weak, you'll hurt yourself—"
"I can light a tiny lamp," he insists, jaw clenched. Yue presses her lips together but grabs the oil lamp and carries it over to him. She kneels down to hold it out to him. He holds out a shaky hand and a small flame appears. Yue tenses, but can't help marvel at the tiny fire, a little light in the dark. She brings the oil lamp to his hand and he ignites it. The fire in his palm goes out and his arm goes limp. Yue nearly drops the lamp on the floor to grab his arm before the prince hurts himself. She gently places it back on the bed and the prince jerks it back and glares at her. Yue says nothing. At least he helped her.
"The Spirits gave me a vision when Yue was born. I saw... a beautiful, brave young woman... become the Moon Spirit. I knew this day would come." Chief Arnook closes his eyes, his heart crying out for his daughter.
"You must be proud." Sokka stands beside him.
"So proud. And sad." The pair look up at the pristine moon with a new appreciation and understanding. It was hard to forget the pure terror when it had gone red during the battle when even the non-benders like Sokka had felt the jarring wrong it was.
But most of all, they missed Yue.
"Iroh is a traitor and your brother Zuko is a failure." Fire Lord Ozai sits on his dais. Bright orange and red flames lick up in front of him. A fiery moat. Creating an unpenetrable spacer between him, The Fire Lord, and anyone else who dare approach him. The light falls harshly across his features, twisting the long lines in his face. A black-haired man, with power-hungry eyes and curled fingers. A young woman kneels before him. A cruel smile paints her face. "I have a task for you..." He tells his daughter.
A/N: Stuff is happening! I've pretty much completely diverged from canon and we are now following Zuko and Yue's path with little clips of what the gaang is doing as well as the other characters.
I'm trying to show that Yue is naturally a caretaker, but she also has her own voice about things and will stand up to Zuko, though at the same time, her inclination is to find a balance, like the balance between Tui and La. Zuko is also looking for a balance, but he doesn't know it yet and is solely focused on regaining his "honour." I'm trying to be wary of making it seem like Yue "fixes" Zuko or that it is her responsibility to do so. They're just two people/spirits who are being forced to grow up too fast and through circumstances, form a connection. Right now Yue is in the caretaker position, but at other points in the story, Zuko will unwittingly/grudgingly assume that position himself.
Just putting it out there right now, this is going to be more of a studio ghibli-style romance in that they probably won't kiss or suddenly start ripping off each other's clothes but instead genuinely make each other better people/spirits and create deep, life-long, soul-level bonds. The general timeline of Zuko joining the gaang is going to be pretty much the same, just for simplicities sake, but I am going to change things so that he does become a better person and under normal circumstances would have joined the gaang sooner but exterior obstacles prevent him from doing so. Unsure of what exactly that will look like so if anyone has any ideas/things they'd like me to write in, please just let me know!