Avatar: The Last Airbender: Yin and Yang

By Mdalia and RebLaw

Chapter 6

Iroh and Fe stood back to back, it was a little eerie that they were close in height, Fe was a little taller, but mostly due to Iroh's stoop. Iroh didn't really want to do this, but he knew how much it meant to his nephew, and to the wellbeing of the Fire Nation as a whole.

Fe stepped away, Iroh did the same; one pace, two paces, three paces. The two threw the towels off their shoulders and the Agni-Kai began.

From the start of the duel, both Iroh and Fe showed himself to be a master fire bender. They matched each other blow for blow, flame for flame. All who watched became convinced that Iroh and Fe must be long lost twins, they movements and attacks were very similar.

Zuko, of the world of the Avatar of War was assigned to spy on his uncle. He hated seeing his uncle- and he felt guilty over that, he hated seeing what bad deeds his uncle was doing, how he always tried to ruin diplomatic solutions. But his feelings weren't important in this matter, he was assigned to spy on his uncle, and so he must.

It didn't take him very long to find his uncle- thanks to the large crowd, he was in the middle of the camp fighting with what seemed to be a run down older man who was panting and gasping for breath. Zuko felt sorry for the old man, but he knew he couldn't intervene without facing his uncle's wrath.

Iroh's counterattacks started getting weaker and weaker, the old man was out of breath and perspiring. Fe, on the other hand, was still going fairly strong-- his body wasn't fat and flabby with age, he was physically fit and his great endurance was a benefit of it.

Zuko couldn't bear to watch it. It was bad enough when he saw his uncle cheating and tricking people, he couldn't stand watching his uncle duel someone like that. He thought that his uncle was the epitome of a bully.

Meanwhile, there was another young prince, only this one had a scar on his face, over his left eye; he was the Prince of the Fire Nation from the world of the Avatar of Peace. This prince wasn't very happy either.

At first he was sure his uncle, Iroh, was going to win the match. Iroh's fire bending was very strong, the stranger, Fe, as he called himself, had an intuitive style, but didn't seem as skilled.

As the fight wore on its outcome was becoming apparent. Iroh could not defeat Fe. Zuko cursed silently to himself. He had assumed his uncle would win and that he'd get the avatar back. He ground his teeth together as he tried to formulate a backup plan at short notice. He hated working under pressure.

It wasn't very much longer until the fight was over. Iroh fell to the ground exhausted. Fe was declared the winner. Zuko stormed off, he didn't want his uncle to see him this disappointed in him.

Zuko saw the guardsmen attending to Iroh as he walked away. He told one of them that he'd be back in a bit, that he was just going for a walk. Walking in the cold snow felt good, it cooled his anger, his emotions. The sound of his footfalls gave him a rhythm to pattern his thinking to.

Unfortunately Zuko's relief did not last long. He was lost in a world of thought when a boy snuck up on him and clobbered him hard on the head, rendering him unconscious.

Sokka moved Prince Zuko's body so that it was face up. He stared at the scar, which the Prince Zuko in his world did not have. He silently wondered how the boy got the scar, as he began to hear footfalls in the distance. He turned around to see Fe approaching.

"What did you do that for?" Fe asked Sokka, who was standing over the prince. He had been following Zuko hoping to pawn Aang off on him. Don't get Fe wrong, he liked the Avatar of war, but, he also needed information about the world of the Avatar of peace.

"He looked like a threat," Sokka explained. "sneaking around."

- - - - - - - - - -

Zuko, the un-scarred prince of the fire nation of the world of the avatar of war, didn't want to return to his ship. He didn't want to admit to the guards that he was disobeying his orders to spy on Fe.

He made his way to the pines before the shore. He sat down behind them and decided to plan what to say for his report. He didn't want to talk about Iroh attacking the old man, it would upset his father too much, he felt.

Just then, Zuko heard someone coming, he moved deeper into the woods so he would not be spotted. He could overhear the voices of men speaking.

"I think Zuko should be gone for a while today," one of the voices said.

"Yeah," a husky voice replied. "He watches that old warhorse all day. We should be safe to be gone until at least afternoon."

Prince Zuko recognized the voices, it was his guards. He wondered where they were going, he hadn't given them any tasks to do that would require them to leave the ship, but then again, they might've finished with the tasks he gave them.

"I hear Iko and the others traded to get a new game," the husky voice said. "I bet we'll beat them at this new one just like we beat them at all the others."

Iko, he had heard that name before, he was pretty sure it was a guard of his Uncle Iroh- who, unknown to him, went by the alias Fe while conducting mischievous deeds.

- - - - - - - - -

When the guards made it to Fe's camp, they found it deserted. Luckily for them they one of them found a trail leading to where all of the guards, and some they didn't recognize stood around in a circle.

Much to their surprise they heard Iroh, otherwise known as Fe arguing with, it sounded like himself. When they approached they saw that it was Fe arguing with a fat old man. Both men stood over the body they instantly recognized as the prince, the body had a horrible scar in it and the more loyal of the guards had a bad feeling in their stomach, fearing that the prince was dead.

Approaching with hands on their swords the guards started to break up the human ring around Fe, the old man and the prince, when they were able to see that Zuko was breathing.

"Who did this to our prince?" The head guard demanded in an angry voice. He may not respect the prince very much, but he did pity the boy and try to protect him. One of the other guards picked the prince up and carried him over his shoulder, heading back to their ship.

"Hey!" Iroh, the one who was not known as Fe, said. "That's my nephew. Release him at once."

The guards laughed and ignored the old man, who wasn't in any shape to fight anyone.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Zuko, with the scar, awoke to the face of one of his guards. "Don't worry young prince. We're already well on our way back home for treatment for your injury."

The prince drifted back to sleep, thinking that the blow to his head must have been really severe, since he was hallucinating. Or maybe, just maybe, Iroh took charge and got the guards to capture the avatar. Maybe it was really going to be the homecoming he had long sought.

Zuko slept most of the trip back to the fire nation. He was feeling better by the time they arrived back, still groggy, but at least he wasn't sleeping all day. Today, he was going to talk with his father. Today he would find out if his honor was restored or if his father decided family was more important.

Zuko was surprised when he was allowed to roam the palace freely. He went straight to his father's office, hoping to find him there – since the man wasn't at the port or gate to welcome him home.

Unfortunately the guards stopped the adolescent when he approached the door. "I'm sorry, you're father can't be disturbed, he's questioning the Avatar. Please return later, we'll tell him to expect you."

The princes face flushed briefly with a combination of pride and relief. He had restored his honor. Zuko smiled at the guards, "Don't worry about it. It's not important."