I don't own Avatar.
Chapter Nine"Are you telling me that you saved my life, but you left my Uncle to fend for himself?" Zuko shouted, losing what little temper he had control of. "Have you no sense of respect for the elderly?"
Jay cowered in front of the helpless prince. The older boys hands and feet were bound with thick leather from Appa's reins, and all of his bending powers had vanished, but he was still horribly intimidating. His eyes flashed and danced, and the scarred left side of his face seemed to threaten the very life of the young Earthbender. "No! I got him to safety on the beach. I would have saved him too, but I could only carry one, and you were in worse shape. Your uncle didn't have half the wounds you do," Jay said. His voice was soft, even for all of his efforts to project. Zuko's aura seemed to muffle sound.
"He could die out there on the beach alone!"
"I set a signal fire! If you two were dropped off recently, your ship should see it and find him soon enough."
Zuko sat back, kneeling so that he was sitting on his feet. He glared at the other four each in turn. "If my uncle dies, I will personally kill you all," he said menacingly.
"If your uncle dies, the world will be better off," Sokka said impulsively.
Zuko stood up (an amazing feat considering his bonds) and stared down at them. "How dare you say that about my uncle!" he yelled, his rage rising in intensity with every word he spoke. "You don't even know my uncle! You have no right to condemn him to death without even seeing him!"
Katara stood up with equal or greater resolve than that of Zuko's. "And your nation had no right to kill our mother without reason!" she yelled with incredible decibel for a girl of her size. "And you have no right to be mad at us for what we may or may not have unintentionally done to your uncle after we saved your life! You must realize what a great risk we took in taking you with us!"
"You didn't do it for my sake," Zuko challenged, a look of pure loathing and distaste on his face. "You did it because it gave you the upper hand! With me here, that's one less ship to dodge!"
"Contrary to Fire-Nation belief," Katara said furiously, "power is not the sole drive behind every thought a person pursues!"
Zuko stared at her in silence. Both of them were breathing heavily for all of the shouting they had done. They were locked in a fierce stare as Jay, Sokka, and Aang looked on in terror. It was as if a battle were going on in the void between their eyes; who would submit to the other's power first?
Finally, after many silent and severe moments, Zuko found his clumsy way back down to Appa's back. He lay down on his side and rolled over so he was not facing his captors. That idiot girl.
Katara stared at him a few more seconds, then turned around and hopped on to Appa's head, taking up the reigns in silence. That idiot prince.
General Iroh looked up at the sky. The cloud cover was thick, but he was certain he had just heard something closely akin to the thundering of voices. "Avatar…" he breathed, letting the words spill off of his tongue as he waved a soldier over to him.
"Yes, General Iroh, sir?" the boy asked.
"Change course," Iroh said, pointing off in the direction of where he had heard the voices. It's a wild guess, he thought to himself, but I feel that it is the best one we have.
/chapter nine