(Notice, I do not own the original Avatar: The Last Airbender characters or storyline. They are owned by Nickelodeon. This story and all character's else-wise ARE owned by me.)

((Originally titled "Secret of the Fire Nation", I had to change this once I found out that the next hour long episode would share this name. This story is set between episodes "Bitter Work" and "The Desert".))

Act I: Kidnaped

The sun fell into the horizon, causing a orange hue to cover the skies above a young rider and his fellow passenger. The traveling duo moved at slow pace, apparently in no rush to reach a certain destination. The passenger, a man who looked to be of his 50s, coughed and moaned softly. In response his guide sighed, clearly annoyed by his current state and position. "Uncle, we'll stop as soon as we get into those forest ahead. We can't risk staying out in the open tonight", said the young rider, grimacing. The old man did not respond.

Many moments later, however, 'Uncle' once again voiced his discomfort. At this, the young rider snapped the reigns of his ostrich horse and began speeding off towards the foliage in the distance, shouting the animal on. 'Uncle' said nothing about this, simply revealing a victorious grin.

After the irritable rush towards cover, the young man, now clearly ready to scream, slid from his saddle. Once he had released several heated breaths, the man turned back to his uncle's side and helped the injured from his seat on the animal. "Ah, what a day, hmm Zuko?", asked the older man. Zuko moved to look up to his uncle, but stopped and turned on his heal, then promptly marched out into the forest around him, muttering his whereabouts to his oblivious uncle, who had happily sat down on the ground, resting comfortably against a fallen tree.

Away from their camp, the teenager began picking up fallen limbs and other pieces of burnable material. Grumbling to himself, he failed to notice a shadow behind him. As the young man continued his moment of self-pity, the watching shadow moved around him, only to vanish suddenly as Zuko raised back up, his arms full. "Uncle better be happy with this", the angsty youth complained, and then started to return to his camp.

As he walked back he noticed a piece of dark-colored cloth hanging from a small bush nearby. Observing his own clothes in anger, the teen mumbled curses to himself, deciding that this day had been one of the worst. But, finding no tears or holes in his apparel, Zuko observed the cloth again. It wasn't old in make, so perhaps he and his uncle were close to civilization. Worried, the teen rushed back to his uncle, the piece of cloth dangling loosely between two free fingers.

Once back at camp, Zuko dropped the gathered wood into two separate piles and quickly set the one closest to his uncle on fire. The Uncle sighed happily and rummaged through a bag attached to the saddle on the nearby resting ostrich horse. Pulling out a pot, he moved quickly to a canteen in his lamp and poured water from the canteen into the pot. Then, whistling to himself, the older man handed the now full pot to the younger boy. "Will you warm this up for me, please nephew?", asked 'Uncle', seeming to have a natural good humor about a rather dreary situation he and his company were in.

Zuko studied the pot and then grabbed it up from his uncle, huffing slightly out of annoyance; then tossed the older man the recovered cloth. The uncle grabbed up the cloth, and then looked up in confusion to his nephew who by now simply held the teapot in his hand, somehow warming it by the heat generated in his palm. "I found it while I was gathering firewood, but it's not from my own clothes. It's relatively new, and considering the weave's quality, I would say it came from a Water tribe."

'Uncle' nodded in agreement to his nephew's observation. "Yes, it's from a Water tribe, that much I can tell. But we can not be near any town..." Suddenly, the old man looked up into the trees and squinted. Quickly looking back to the teenager, the older man coughed once and spoke quietly. "Zuko, after we eat and I finish my tea, we should go to sleep."

Zuko said nothing to his uncle's request, although he felt as if some key information was being kept secret by the older man. Regardless, the young man nodded slightly as he handed the now hot teapot back to his uncle and bent over to find some food in the same packet the pot had emerged from earlier.

Act II: Introductions

Later in the night, Zuko awoke to the sounds of two women talking. Feeling a pain in his stomach, the exiled prince began to move around, only to find himself bent over someone's shoulder, his hands and feet tied together, and a cloth over his eyes. Waking up fully, the teenager began to thrash about, only to have a very strong fist slam into the side of his thigh. "Stop moving boy", a strong voice demanded, "I'm not enjoying this task anymore than you're enjoying the ride."

Zuko began to panic until he heard his uncle's voice. "Zuko, don't worry, they promised not to hurt us unless we made trouble."

To this a woman commented, "He speaks the truth, young firebender. We are normally very friendly, but we cannot risk exposure yet, so please, don't scream and keep your voice low. We're almost back at the compound now."

A second woman, who Zuko guessed to be very young by the sound of her voice, laughed. "Iroh, please!", she pleaded. "A little more distance between you and I! I will trip!" To this request, Zuko's uncle laughed.

"Yes madam, but perhaps you can let my rope out a bit further."

The man holding on to Zuko grunted. "The length of the rope has nothing to do with how close you are to my wife, fire-man."

Zuko fought back a smile as he heard an 'eep' come from his uncle. "Many apologies, sir, I had no idea."

The man grunted again but this time the young woman spoke. "It's fine, Iroh, my husband tends to be very jealous when other men come close to me", the woman confided, and then began to laugh again.

It wasn't until many moments later that Zuko felt a rush of cold air against the back of his neck and the sound of a door being slid open that he gained back his vision. Looking around for those who had captured his uncle and himself from their camp, Zuko blinked quickly. "How-how did they get away so quickly?" he thought out loud.

"Zuko, could you help me please?", came his uncle's voice from behind him. The teen quickly turned his head to see his uncle in the corner of the room, struggling to untie new bonds. Quickly the youth got up onto his knees and scooted close to his uncle's side, waiting for the older man to move.

Iroh turned away from his nephew, and Zuko scooted into a new position, sat back and waited for his uncle to give further instructions. "Are you able to snap your fingers, nephew?", the older man asked.

Zuko almost gasped when he heard the request. Of all times, he had forgotten a simple trick to get out of the ropes tied around his wrist and ankles! Wriggling his fingers, he found that he could indeed do as his uncle asked. Quickly, he burned through his uncle's bonds, but found it to be irritably hard to try the same trick on his own.This was quickly resolved as he felt his uncle's hands twitching fast above his own, and in a matter of moments, the teenager was able to untie the length around his ankles and stand up.

Helping his uncle to do the same, both men moved close together and began forming an escape plan. "I will distract anyone I can who might be outside guarding the door while you make a run for it", Zuko suggested to his uncle, who nodded in response.

Now with a plan in mind, the two moved in closer to the door, both saying a small prayer in hopes of getting away with their lives. The older man reached first for the door and slid it slowly open. Looking both ways, the old man began to dash out of the room, running towards the nearby trees, Zuko behind him. Neither got very far before they heard a shrill whistle in air, and before the young man could get any further, he felt two strong but small arms wrap around his own. "Stop", the captor's voice commanded.

Zuko, in anguish, bucked against his new hold and quickly moved into a battle stance, ready to fight off anyone that stood in the way of his escape. Facing his enemy, the youth took his first look at those who had endangered his uncle's and his own lives. A small distance before him stood a woman, not much older than he, dressed in a decorated white and pink robe with a small frown on her face.

The exiled prince was startled, to say the least. Yet, disregarding the woman's obvious delicate and peaceful stance, he allow his only weapons to come forth in preparation to strike back if the chance came. Suddenly he felt two strong hands on his shoulders, which he instinctively noticed to be his uncles. "Calm down the fire, Zuko", the older man asked, "she is not an enemy, and I gravely misjudged our campsite location."

Zuko turned around to face his uncle, "What do you mean? She is most likely the lady of this house, judging from her clothes! It was probably her soldiers that brought us here!"

Iroh shook his head in disagreement. "Those were not soldiers, they were her own guards. She is indeed a lady, however, but not of this house. She is a good friend of mine from my war days."

Needless to say, the teenager looked aghast at his uncle. Waving his hands in the air, the confused youth shouted, "How can you possibly tell that! We've only seen her for a few moments and you tell me that we're not escaping because you think she's your friend? Even though she just had her lackey's practically bounce us all the way here?"

A new voice answered, "He knows her because she stopped him from running away and held you in place without even touching either of you."

Zuko turned in the direction of this voice and found a man, perhaps 6 feet tall, looking back at him, dressed in Earth nation clothes. Beside the man stood a woman, dressed in a pale blue kimono much alike the first girl's, and behind her stood an older woman, around the same age as his uncle, dressed in white and gold. Each of said characters had a similar frown on their faces, evidently bothered that their captured guest had tried to escape.

Iroh had, by now, moved past Zuko towards the first woman, a smile growing on his face.

"How long has it been since I last saw you, young one?" The woman did not respond at first, only turned her head away from Iroh, clearly saddened by this question.

Finally, she did respond, but quietly enough that Zuko had to lean in slightly to hear. "Since his death, Iroh", was all she would admit, and to the young man's surprise, his uncle seemed to completely understand her simple statement. Iroh shrunk back and bowed his head at the realization, now appearing to be ashamed by his question. The woman said nothing of this new attitude emitted by the old man, and simply gestured her 'guests' back towards the house they had tired to escape from earlier.

The youth felt strangely embarrassed by his actions, unsure of why. Looking again at his uncle, he noticed that the retired general had not yet lifted his head since his silent retreat from the woman, moments before. Curious, Zuko asked, "Uncle, what is that woman's significance to you? How do you know her? Can we trust her?"

Iroh did not raise his head to these questions, and simply replied, "Her name is Ora."