Prince Zuko snarled and felt his head. The pack of ice his uncle had given him had made his head feel a bit better, but that wasn't what the snarl was about. He knew that Soraya had not wanted to hurt him, or she would have summoned a larger rock, but if that was true, why had she gone off with Aang? It was his pride that hurt, rather than pain. He had known her for two years now, from their last encounter since he was first banished…
(flashback) Directly after his banishment and after he was assigned to capture the avatar, Prince Zuko and Uncle Iroh had gone to an Earth town taken over by Fire Nation to pick up supplies. Prince Zuko was absent-mindedly listening as his Uncle continued to explain why he had been ostracized.
"UNCLE! IT'S NOT MY FAULT! ZHAO SABOTAGED" Zuko was interrupted by a calm Uncle Iroh. He was used to his nephew's tantrums. Suddenly, they heard shouts ahead. Zuko ran in the direction they were coming from, ignoring his uncle's pleas to stay out of trouble. A few thieves who had just stolen from a general store were running away from fire soldiers. Suddenly, a young girl jumped out from behind her guard (he obviously wasn't her father) and clawed the air in an upward motion, causing rock shards to roughly emerge from the ground and trip and injure one of the thieves. She had such unique eyes! They were turquoise, green, and then golden at he center surrounding the pupil. Her dark brown hair was tied up into a ponytail that ended right below her shoulders. She had a thin strip of hair on the right side of her face that went just below her chin. While she fired stones at one bandit, the second attempted to ambush her from behind but NO! Zuko dove and shoved her out of the way before blasting the last two thieves with fire. Then, for a moment that seemed to last eternity, the two young royalty just stared at one another until her guard scooped her up and ran back to their ship before the fire soldiers caught up
Commander Zhao looked up from his telescope aimed directly at Zuko's ship. He squinted. He knew that the banished prince had done something wrong. He had seen flames and heard what seemed to be like a giant bison.
Prince Zuko was half asleep when suddenly there came a banging on his door. Irritated he rose out of bed. How dare those firebenders to come waking him in the middle of the night. Before Zuko could answer the door, Commander Zhao barged in with a most satisfactory smirk on his face. Prince Zuko face hardened and gave Commander Zhao defiant glare. Zhao paid him no heed.
"Found this on your deck last night", Zhao said as he opened his fist to reveal a ring with a golden band and an olive emerald with an earthbending symbol carved on it. Zuko kept his nonchalant gaze. Zhao could NOT know what—
"Hmm, I wonder how much trouble a BANISHED prince could get into capturing an earth princess." Ironically, both fire princes and lords had gone to other nations and captured princesses.
"You can't have me arrested Zhao! I was using her to—
"Save it for the Fire Lord" the commander barked. Zuko lunged for Zhao but was held back by two firebenders.
Aang, Sokka and Soraya were looking out the window. "Zuko's navy ship is still here!" Aang exclaimed.
"Maybe their trying to starve us out" Sokka suggested.
"Impossible. The island of JinOkai is known for its rich agriculture." Soraya replied. What was he up to?
Prince Zuko scanned the walls of the prison cell for some kind of fault. These were exactly the kind on his ship; on every fire ship, faultless and impossible to escape from. His hands were chained which didn't' allow him to firebend either.
Katara shoved her brother to the side and squinted, then gasped. "Look at the ship's right! It might be slightly hidden by tree but there's a larger ship! Are they calling reinforcements!"
At the dawn of the next day they were in Fire Nation. Three firebenders flung the door open and grabbed Prince Zuko. They pushed him out the prison cell and proceeded to escort him.
"As in any trial, you will have a ceremony at the Temple then be taken to the Grand Courthouse for your trial and judgment" Zhao said as he walked in front of Zuko.
Still chained, they threw him onto a Komodo Rhino. Zuko looked up the hill and glared at the temple. It wasn't just any temple. This was the Fire Nation's capital's temple, where he had been brought and judged once before…
Iroh was perturbed. "How could they arrest him for capturing a princess?" he thought. "Many firebenders have done before, Zhao attempted it himself once." Yet he knew either way since Zhao had arrested him, Zuko was going to be found guilty.
"Lock him up in there and give him a few minutes to pray. With what he's done, he better hope the Fire Lord's in a good mood today." Zhao laughed.
"Ungh!" They unchained Zuko and roughly threw him in a small room with a very high ceiling.
There were three stone columns with dragons at the top, holding up the ceiling. Each of their spiked tails were wrapped around one of the columns. Among them there were a few rafters for more support. He stood and began to walk when the glare from golden light blinded him. He looked up and smiled. He would have to be quick.
Katara jumped from her waterbending with a start. She knew she had just heard an explosion! That could not have been Earhtbending. She ran out to the hall window, and shielded her eyes from the sun. A silhouette of some small ship was slowly crawling toward the sun.
Zuko was at the top of the columns now about to jump up to the rafters when he heard banging and shouts below. He tried to wrap his legs around the column and swing up but the column as too wide. The pounding and hollering became even more urgent. Leaping up, Zuko grabbed on to the sharp fangs of the dragon's open mouth. He pulled himself up onto the head and jumped on the rafters. Just as the door broke down, Zuko quietly bolted down the rafters and sprang out the window where the sages gave their speeches. He was now on the third level of the temple, recognized by how the room was decorated.
"FIND HIM! HE COULDN'T HAVE GONE FAR! ALL I NEED IS TO WASTE MORE TIME ON THAT ARROGANT LITTLE INGRATE!" Zhao was fiercely yelping at his firebenders. Prince Zuko glanced backed and smirked.
Prince Zuko turned back to the tiny room (where sages give speeches) and ran out the door, which left him in a huge hallway. Where was he to go? He had no allies in the Fire Nation! He only had his uncle, firebenders, ship, and firebending...well, he might have someone else…He shook his head and studied the rectangular hall. There was a giant, stone, castle-like structure in the center of the hall; except instead of four towers, it had a fire wolf with ruby eyes at each corner and a firebending symbol on each of the four walls. There were at least nine other preaching windows; six (including the one he came out of) to the two long walls, and four to the two wide walls. There were beige and red porcelain vases in the corners of the room, next to black ivory columns and doors but other then that the room was empty. It would be a matter of seconds before Zhao figured out how he escaped. Jumping right out another window would be pointless because Zhao would split his men up and order them to find him. Suddenly he heard a scratching noise. It was the firebenders' metal armor scratching against the stone columns below. They had discovered his escape plan! "I cannot let Zhao catch me! Even if I am innocent, the judge will find me guilty because ZHAO turned me in! I must find a way out!" Zuko thought anxiously.
"The doors won't budge sir" a firebender grunted to Commander Zhao as he tried to shove it open. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Zhao barked viciously. He put his left wrist on top of his right wrist and stuck his palms out. Then he thrust his arms forward and a scorching fire came pouring out but still nothing.
"You!" Zhao pointed to a firebender. "Go gather the rest and tell them to be at each of the remaining doors. They will have ten seconds. Then they will, as a unified group, break down the door." A few moments later, the doors of the hall gave no resistance to the powerful firebenders.
Something was wrong. This sunset; peaceful, tranquil, or was it..? Still, there lingered that illuminated atmosphere… The ostensibly still and silent water seemed to be hiding something…perhaps swift, churning currents in its murky depths? Not a single echoing ripple graced its surface; it would not yield it's secret. The gentle, swirling breeze seemed to make the trees nervously twitch, or uneasily sway, every time it tickled their jade leaves. Periwinkle, cotton clouds were desperately trying to blot out the sky. At the farthest end of the horizon, the sun's golden, luminous light penetrated the soft obstruction of clouds in a round shape; creating a blazing ring in the sky that extended downwards toward the sea to make a supernatural thin, cylindrical, veil of light that scarred the ocean's blank surface. This was the only patch of illumination that had managed to pierce the cloud's barrier. Perched on an ivory windowsill, Soraya uneasily shifted her weight from one body part to the next. What had become of Zuko? She had not known him to be one that easily surrendered. He never gave up… so where had he gone? No firebender in his right mind would—
"The guests wish to accompany you to your stroll to the banquet" the short, pudgy maid squeaked. She impatiently frowned at the young princess; being held up by what she thought was a spoiled teenager was not how she liked to spend her afternoons.
Loud squawks coming from outside the door signaled Katara's protest against the company of "her". Soraya glanced back out the window and plastered a forced smile on her face.
"But of course. How impolite of me." The General of the Guards had seen it as his duty to act as a parental figure while her father and mother were visiting Ba Sing Se, therefore deciding to hold a feast in Aang's honor, for he had rescued her.
"Sir, he's not here," an exasperated firebender huffed. "Don't be so naïve! I'm not falling for his fake illusions and fallacies! SEARCH! GO!" Zhao screamed.
Suddenly, a porcelain vase came crashing down on the wooden floors. All the firebenders rushed to the remains of the vase and crowded around the scene to arrest the prince. Zhao audaciously shoved his way past several firebenders. When he arrived, only a few ornamented pieces of porcelain from the shattered vase lay lifeless on the ground. Zhao's haughty smile and pompous features instantly changed into a flabbergasted gasp and a thunderstruck expression. He was speechless. Where was that hot-headed, insolent, annoyance? So close, SO CLOSE to arresting him and having him unable to interfere with his scheme for capturing the avatar forever! Suddenly, Zhao seemed to notice something. He looked down and carefully scrutinized the vase. The way the vase had fallen… something was wrong… Why were they all aligned…
"He's been firing form another corner in the room!" Zhao announced to his soldiers. He turned around to face the empty hall. "Nice try Zuko! That tactic works better when it's dark! But of course YOU wouldn't know that would you? Trying to mislead your enemy by firing from other locations? HAH! What else would I expect from an inexperienced disgrace?" The commander mocked.
Suddenly, a shower of stained glass came pouring from above with deafening crashes. The firebenders jumped back and tried to avoid the sharp projectiles. Commander Zhao angrily snapped his head up toward the ceiling.
"I never did use the deceptive scheme Zhao. I used the vase as a distraction to gain more time! But what would I expect from an arrogant CAPTAIN?"
The young royalty hung on the highest rafter, where he had smashed the stained-glass window on the ceiling. Prince Zuko narrowed his eyes into slits like those of a cat's, silently challenging Zhao. While Zhao stood motionless, stuttering and waving his arms wildly because he was too infuriated to give orders properly, Zuko slipped out the window.