A/N: This chapter diverges from canon. In canon, it appears that the fortuneteller only had one back room: the room with the fire and the bones. I didn't remember that at first, and when I finally did see the end of the episode which showed her reading Katara's palm in that same room, I decided I liked my version better. Her setup is different here.
The scene where the fortuneteller goes on about how smooth Katara's palms are before predicting that she will marry a powerful bender is cribbed directly from canon. That was the actual dialogue.
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Zuko soon fell asleep. He didn't expect to, given that he was in the air in an unfamiliar place after a good deal of stress. But the combined force of not having gotten decent sleep for the past several nights and finally feeling warm proved too much to resist.
When he awoke, he had no idea where he was. He thought someone had lit everything in his room on fire, then opened his eyes and rolled upright in a flash as he realized only the fire spirit could have done such a thing! But no, it was not the fire spirit. It was just the sun. He had rolled off of a blanket spread on the ground beside the remains of a fire, on the opposite side of some tents.
Right… Wait, aren't my wrists supposed to be tied? He looked down to see that they were not. Why not?
"Finally," he heard the waterbending girl whisper. She stood behind him, leaning against a tree. Now that he was awake, she scowled.
"Nephew!" Iroh came back into the camp from almost the opposite direction as her. His beard was wet and his face freshly scrubbed. He sat down on the blanket next to Zuko. "You must have been very tired! It's already midmorning."
Zuko said nothing. So his wrists were unbound, but only because he was being supervised like an incompetent trainee. How nice.
Iroh put a comforting hand on his shoulder, then got up and began to make tea. Zuko tensed and rubbed his shoulder. Why is Uncle so happy? As if nothing's wrong? As if we didn't just have a power maniac water spirit stop us and turn us around like little children? How can he be happy?! Zuko felt very unstable again. If he had to watch Uncle put on the kettle and listen to him hum pleasantly, he was going to lose whatever remained of his sanity. He stood up and climbed a tree for a better view.
They weren't far from the ocean. Zuko could see a thin line of blue and white waver back and forth in the distance. It was too far to feel inside, or to smell or hear. That was good. Zuko glared at it and clenched his fist. Traitor.
He looked in every other direction. All around him was a mixed patchy evergreen-deciduous forest, with the evergreens growing taller and thicker than the others. There might be a river running through there. He climbed higher, and saw open grassland. Beyond that, he could just make out a town. Zuko saw only green and yellow; no Fire Nation colors. He realized that was a very, very good thing. If my father hears about me traveling with the Avatar, I'm as good as dead. When Zhao finds my boat, he'll know I disappeared somewhere, and he might suspect it, but I can't let anyone know for sure that I'm with the Avatar!
Zuko climbed down from the tree. "Uncle."
"Yes, Prince Zuko?" Iroh sat back and held his hands out to the small fire.
Zuko stared at him doing so for several seconds, then looked away. "Stop calling me that. As long as we're with the Avatar, we have to be undercover. If my father finds out about this…"
Iroh looked up and nodded, looking solemn. "I was thinking the same."
Zuko gritted his teeth. He liked his ponytail. It was a nice hairstyle, and it was the symbol of belonging to the Fire Nation royal family. But that was why it had to go. "Where's a stream?" he asked the waterbending girl without turning his head.
"I'll show you," she said. "Come on."
Zuko hadn't thought his situation could get any worse, but it was worse already. Her tone, her body language, everything about her was just like all the Earth Kingdom villagers Zuko had ever met. Distrusting, hostile, yet frightened too. As if he was a monster. As if his existence alone was a bad thing. Zuko shook with the effort of not yelling at her. "Coming." He looked away from her the whole way. Technically, with the water spirit following him around all the time, she was right. How much worse would she look at him if she knew that? I am never, ever telling her about either spirit.
Once at the stream, he knelt down next to it and slowly, carefully, pulled out the knife case he had concealed on himself. Apparently they had not frisked him for weapons, which was good, because this was no weapon. He used his most prized possession to cut his own ponytail, then handed it to Uncle and watched him cut his. They watched silently as both ponytails with their red ties still attached drifted downstream, over some rocks and behind some plants, out of sight.
Zuko put the knife back in its case and rubbed his head. Aside from the short hairs left at the very back of his head, he was as bald as the Avatar now. That wasn't right. Zuko stood and turned away from the stream. The water spirit was to blame for that.
When they returned, the Avatar and the other boy had returned with food and supplies. Every muscle in Zuko's body tensed, waiting for the Avatar to say something.
"Hey guys!"
"Shut up!" Zuko snapped. The fire spirit rose, swallowing the kettle and making it whistle sharply. Zuko felt very warm all over, with a sharp but not burning spike of heat somewhere next to his stomach. Luckily it didn't show on his face.
Go away. Go away! The fire shrank back down to its previous size. Zuko stopped holding his breath. That could have been bad. He looked away from the fire, and realized he was not in the same location as he had been before. He was a step or two to the right of where he had been before, further from the fire. He was tense, with his arm raised as if to block an attack. He lowered his arm and stood straight. Nobody had better say anything.
"Someone's grumpy," muttered the other boy.
"...We got supplies!" The Avatar raised his armful up high. "We found something incredible, too!" He began to explain what.
Zuko looked away from the waterbending girl shooting him another ice-cutting glare. His day was already horrible. It didn't need to get any worse. He was actually really grateful to the Avatar for talking about anything else.
"A fortune teller?" Iroh chuckled. "What do you think, Nephew? Would you like to get your fortune read?"
"Fine," Zuko growled. That stupid, jerkwad, unbelievable water spirit is going to pay for putting me through this.
"Not if he's going to cause trouble," the waterbending girl said.
"Don't worry. Unlike what you seem to think, I don't go burning random people for fun. I am not a monster!" Zuko clenched his fists. "At least not when I'm around actual kind people."
"Hey!" the other boy yelped. "Don't talk to my sister like that!"
"Why not?" Zuko challenged.
Iroh was at his side in a flash. He clapped his hands onto Zuko's shoulders. "Zuko!" He shook Zuko lightly. "Remember, getting along with the Avatar will help you get to the North Pole faster."
Zuko relaxed his fists. Right. The Avatar's not the problem. The water spirit is. "That's true. Thanks, Uncle."
Iroh shook him lightly again and smiled. "It's alright." Then he took his hands away and went to attend to the kettle, which was badly damaged.
"What exactly do you want to do at the North Pole, anyway?" the Avatar asked. He sounded nervous and glanced around a lot.
"Simple." Zuko shrugged. "Go there, learn more about the water spirit, find out how to, and kill it."
The Avatar's eyes widened. "You want to kill a spirit?"
"Kill it, destroy it, whatever." Zuko glared down at the boy. "It's payback time."
Iroh gingerly put the burning hot kettle on the ground before looking up at him. "Are you sure that's wise?"
"Yes." Zuko glared at his uncle, too. "Why are you asking that like you don't think it is?"
"The spirit's powers are very great," Iroh answered. "I don't want you to be hurt or killed in trying."
Zuko looked down. "I have to try anyway."
An awkward silence descended, which Zuko found to be quite pleasant and not awkward at all. The less he had to put up with this bunch, the better. "Are we going, or not?"
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As they walked, Aang and Sokka shared the story of what had happened to them earlier. After arriving in a relatively clear spot in the middle of the night, with Zuko still asleep, they had unpacked their packs, moved under cover, and gotten a few hours rest on a proper bed for once. At dawn, with Zuko still asleep, the others had awoken and decided to risk venturing off for food. Katara had volunteered to stay behind, to Aang's disappointment. He and Sokka had made their way quickly to a river, hoping to go fishing and gather water and be back before Zuko woke up and caused any trouble.
Iroh looked back at his nephew. Zuko stared at the ground, eyebrow twitching. He wasn't happy to hear that. If this morning was any indication, he wasn't happy to hear anything. Iroh turned forward again, sighing. "Then something happened, I take it."
"Yeah!" The Avatar briefly paused and stretched his arms out in various directions to make himself look huge. "We heard a platypus bear! A huuuge, angry one! It was attacking somebody! But the guy it was attacking didn't look at all scared, and he didn't do any of the things we advised him to do. We had to scare it off ourselves."
Sokka groaned and picked up the story. "That's when he started talking about how some fortuneteller had predicted he'd have a safe trip, and how she was right, even though he hadn't had a safe trip! At all! Platypus bears are not safe trips!"
"Yeah, yeah, well," Aang raised and lowered his arms in a placating way. "Anyway, we thought it was good that we'd found a town, and went the way he pointed. Aunt Wu was expecting us, which has to mean she's the real deal. She read my fortune from a bone, and Sokka's from his face."
Iroh stroked his beard. "May I know what she predicted?"
"Sokka's going to cause himself lots of pain for his whole life, and I'm going to marry the one I want if I stay true to my heart!" Aang answered. Sokka denied the truth of his prediction by rolling his eyes and looking away as Aang said it, thereby walking directly into a highly visible tree root and falling on his face.
Iroh chuckled and said, "This Aunt Wu sounds like a reliable fortuneteller indeed!" Again, he glanced back at his nephew. What might she reveal about Zuko's future?
"Wow." Now that she didn't have sole Zuko-watching duty, Katara looked rather relaxed. "I wonder what she'll say about my future?"
"Boring things that never happen, or were so obvious anybody could have predicted them," Sokka foresaw.
Aang ducked under a tree branch as he said, "Keep an open mind, Sokka! Hey Appa!"
The rest ducked under tree branches themselves, emerging from thick conifer forest into a relatively clear rocky area. It was the highest ground for miles, yet inland enough that the ocean was not visible. Iroh judged that their current location, the location of the campsite where they had slept, and the town they were near formed a neat triangle.
"Why would you leave the bison and the monkey -"
"Lemur!"
" -whatever so far from camp?" Zuko asked. His eyes narrowed as if he already knew the answer. Iroh suspected he was right.
"Uh…" Aang rubbed his head frantically. "I, uh, thought it would be better. For, um…"
"For them to be nowhere near me?" Zuko finished. The Avatar gulped. Zuko looked away, glaring at the trees they had just left.
Appa opened his mouth and roared. Aang softly patted his fur. The lemur was nowhere to be seen. Iroh checked the forest. Ah, there it was! It flew down from the trees, landing on Aang's shoulder.
"There's a lot of thick woods around the road to town, so we'll only be able to fly most of the way. We'll have to walk after that," Aang explained.
Iroh smiled. "Flying is a wonderful experience! Come on, Nephew." He went back to Zuko's side. "You fell asleep so quickly last night, you missed the delightful soaring!"
Zuko relaxed somewhat as he considered the idea. "I guess I did." He climbed up into the saddle and looked around, seeming quite peaceful. Iroh climbed in and sat next to him.
The bison took them up over the conifer forest, passing just above the tallest branches, which sounded like they were whispering in the soft breeze. Iroh noticed his nephew tilting his head as if to try and listen in. He grinned and turned away. Zuko was going to be just fine!
As he opened his eyes after the grin, he saw the waterbender - Katara - looking at Zuko. Her eyes were downcast, troubled. What was she thinking about?
Iroh got up and moved to her side of the saddle. "What are you thinking?" he asked quietly. It was good that the saddle was wide enough to make a quiet semiprivate conversation possible. Katara turned away so that they faced over the edge of the saddle for extra privacy. She folded her arms on the edge and sighed.
After a moment, she murmured, "Was he right? I was glaring at him so much earlier. But he's been trying to capture us this whole time, so hasn't he earned it?" She sounded like she was trying to argue herself into anger and failing.
Iroh shook his head. "Forgiveness is not a form of money. It can't be used to pay off debt, and can't be a form of debt itself. If you want to forgive, you can. It has nothing to do with what he has or has not earned."
"I have no reason to trust him at all," Katara argued.
"Yes, you don't," Iroh agreed. "Trust is different from forgiveness."
"Different?"
"Yes." Iroh watched the trees as they ended. The bison was taking them over a ridge of open grass. On the very crest of the ridge, he could see a road beneath them. "Forgiveness is something you can do for yourself. It is the letting go of anger and hate. Trust is always a gift you give someone else."
Katara looked away. Her hands curled into loose fists. "I'll try to forgive him for the past. But if he does anything in the future, I'm not going to hold back."
"That is a wise choice." Iroh turned away from the edge of the saddle, and saw Zuko looking at him. Zuko crossed his arms and looked away, staring over the edge of the saddle with no sign that he was actually paying attention to anything there.
Iroh wondered if he should approach, or leave his nephew to his thoughts. What kinds of thoughts were they? Iroh had gotten lax over the course of three years with his nephew only thinking about one thing. He was going to have to consistently keep in touch with Zuko from now on. He delighted in having to do that. It was a sign of growth that his nephew was breaking out of his single-track mind.
A warbling sound announced that Momo was in the saddle. The lemur sounded curious, though Iroh didn't know him well enough to know what his different sounds meant for sure. The lemur acted curious though. He crawled out into the middle of the saddle, staring at Zuko and tilting his head. Then he leaped onto Zuko's shoulder, cautiously, as if testing him for friendliness. Zuko glanced up at the lemur. Unexpectedly, he stared at Momo for a long time. Iroh had no idea what he might be thinking. Zuko raised a hand, slowly. Momo did not fly off, so he softly traced a finger along the edge of the lemur's ear. Then, suddenly, as if being caught doing something he shouldn't, he jerked his hand back and quickly hid it among his crossed arms. He ignored Momo from then on.
The lemur quickly hopped off his shoulder and sat on Sokka's legs. Sokka sat almost directly across from Zuko, on Katara's other side, with sword in hand. He patted Momo for the few minutes that elapsed until they landed.
They landed at the end of the grassland road, with more walking under the trees to do until they reached town. The trees were silent this low to the ground, as there was no wind. The walk was similarly silent, until Aang spoke up. "So," he turned to Iroh, "do you want to get your fortune read? You've already lived most of it…"
Iroh laughed. "Of course I do! I'm sure there is much more in store for me yet."
"You're traveling with us, so you're definitely involved in this war somehow," Katara said.
Iroh nodded. "That's right! If I can, I mean to accomplish something important." He glanced at Zuko out of the corner of his eye. "At least one thing."
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A certain little girl was delighted to see Aang return. "Hi! I'm Mang, Aunt Wu's assistant." She leaned in close to the Avatar's face. "Why'd you come back?"
Aang tried not to look at Katara. "Er, uh, just to help my friends if they have any confusing fortunes, or, uh, things like that."
"It's really nice to have you back!" Mang stepped back. "Aunt Wu will be out shortly. More bean curd?"
Sokka asked for another helping of bean curd, and Iroh asked for one as well, just to be hospitable. Mang went into the back through a sliding wood-panel door. The five of them were left alone.
"There are three cushions," Katara noticed. "Three of us haven't had our fortunes read yet, so I guess we should sit." She sat down on one, Iroh on the next, and Zuko on the last.
"There were only two when me and Sokka came here." Aang elbowed Sokka in the ribs. "What was that you said about not a real fortuneteller?"
"It's just coincidence!"
Katara pointed across the room. "What about those other cushions there?" There were two cushions across the room, farther from the door and out of the way of visitors coming in. "Those have to be cushions for people who aren't getting their fortunes read. Who else would that be?"
"Just random junk." Sokka shrugged. "We probably just didn't notice them before."
Zuko looked around. "How many fortunetelling methods does she use? You mentioned bones and faces. Anything else?"
Aang shrugged. "I didn't ask." He took a seat on one of the guest cushions. "There are a few different rooms in here. I think she might have different methods."
Zuko looked around again. "Not all of them can be accurate."
"Why not?" Katara asked. "If she has the gift, why would it matter how she channels it?"
"Seriously?" Zuko looked at his uncle. "That's not how magic works, if it worked at all, which it doesn't. What do you think, Uncle?"
Iroh smiled. "I think the world works in mysterious ways. Who knows if magic exists?"
Zuko and Sokka sighed and shook their heads.
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Katara volunteered to have her fortune read first. Aunt Wu took her down the right hallway, behind one of the wood-paneled doors there. This room was quiet and pleasant, with bowls of water filled with floating flowers, cards on a shelf to one side, and two cushions set directly across from each other in the middle. Katara sat on the right cushion, which put a lotus bowl near her right shoulder. Five flowers floated there, some white and the others purple.
"This is really nice," Katara said as Aunt Wu sat. "So how are you going to read my fortune?"
"For you, a hand reading should do," Aunt Wu said. "Give me your right hand, palm up."
Katara gave it to her. Aunt Wu tilted it to better catch the light of the sun shining in through the broad windows across from the door. She traced the lines on Katara's palm, muttering "Hmm…"
"What is it?" Katara asked. "What do you see?"
Aunt Wu traced the uppermost of the 3 lines. "This is your heart line. It shows what role love will play in your life. I see it is much deeper than most of the other lines. Your palms are very smooth! Do you use moisturizer?"
"Actually, I have a special seaweed lotion I use. I can get you some if you want," Katara offered. "So, do you see anything interesting in my love line?"
Aunt Wu pressed her finger into it, marveling at its depth. "I can see great romance for you. The man you're going to marry!"
Katara gasped. "Tell me more!"
"I can see that he's a very powerful bender," Aunt Wu said. Katara smiled. All her life, she'd never dared dream! She'd always thought her bending would amount to nothing except the occasional helping to corral fish. She'd never thought she would have a great romance, or a great anything, really. But now, traveling with Aang, the possibilities were so much greater! She shivered with excitement. Outside the door, unheard by either of them, Aang jumped for joy.
Aunt Wu read her head line next. "I see you have a strong mind," she said. "This will complicate things. Stubbornness will cause trouble for you."
Katara had the feeling she already knew what Aunt Wu was talking about. "What about the next one?"
"Your life line takes an unexpected turn," Aunt Wu said. "I predict a great future for you. Your life will be long and happy! Just not in the way you would expect."
Katara took her palm back with a grin. "Can you tell me more about it?" There was no way Aunt Wu could say something like that and not tell her more about it!
"It's unclear," Aunt Wu replied. "My powers aren't perfect. Your future is shrouded in a mist even I can't see through." She put a reassuring hand on Katara's and said, "But I have seen to the other side of that mist. You will be fine."
Katara's brow wrinkled. She was not happy with that. If Aunt Wu could foresee that the Avatar would appear and save a man from a platypus bear, then how could she not see Katara's future?! Katara wanted to insist on another reading, right here, right now. But maybe that was her stubbornness talking. Remembering that there were others waiting to have their fortunes read, she bowed and left.
Aunt Wu let out a relieved sigh. Were her powers failing her? She had not been telling the truth when she said she couldn't see the young girl's future at all. But what she saw made no sense! Dragons were extinct, weren't they?
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Iroh volunteered for his reading next. Aunt Wu giggled at the sight of him. Iroh grinned broadly in response. Sokka rolled his eyes and groaned in disgust.
"Aren't you handsome," she commented while bringing him into a back room.
"As much as you are beautiful," he replied. It was true! He liked the way Aunt Wu dressed and held herself very much.
The room they were in was down the left hallway. It had cushions spread far apart from each other, on opposite sides of a circle of sand. Next to the circle of sand, beside the left cushion, was a plate with several charred sticks on it. Aunt Wu took that cushion, and Iroh the right.
"I don't usually have visitors of your age," she said. She sounded very happy.
Iroh folded his hands in his lap. "I am still strong and purposeful yet. I have a feeling there is much in store for me."
Aunt Wu blushed. "I have met few men of your age with such strength," she told him. "Such wisdom too!"
Iroh chuckled. "As have I," he replied. "Company like yours is precious indeed."
Aunt Wu smiled. "I think you must be right. Surely there is much in store for you." She picked up a stick. "Let us find out what it is.
"These sticks are charred just below the point of snapping under their own weight." She lowered the one she held to the sand. "As I draw a smooth, even spiral in the sand, bits of it will flake off. I can read the resulting pattern to tell your future." She lowered the stick to the sand and began to slowly draw.
The remaining nub of stick fell apart in her fingers just as she completed the spiral. "Oh!" Aunt Wu exclaimed. "I see that your life is long and will not end before it is fully complete."
Iroh beamed. "That is all I've ever wanted!" He leaned forward. "How will I live it?"
The pattern of charcoal flakes was smooth, with hardly any clumping except at the very beginning, where much of the stick had broken upon contact with the sand. Aunt Wu pointed to that. "Your near future will be very hard, and full of difficulty and sadness. You will have to make hard choices. Words you have said will come back to haunt you. Nothing is as you think." She gestured at the rest of the line. "But after that, peace awaits."
Iroh looked down at the pile of dark ashes at the start of the line. He too had a feeling like he understood what she meant. The war would end, hopefully in a peaceful way. He would have to confront his brother, confront his entire homeland. Iroh couldn't begin to imagine what he would say. Part of the reason he had joined Zuko in exile so readily was because he hardly recognized the little brother he had used to look after. What did one say to a stranger masquerading as family?
But that probably was not what she meant. Before he ever had to confront Ozai, Iroh would first have to confront his nephew. He thought Zuko was fairly straightforward, as men his age went. But it was possible that wasn't the case at all. If the past few days proved anything, it was that his nephew could be full of surprises. Iroh nodded. It was very likely that nothing was as he thought. There were more than enough mistaken words from his past to choose from; Iroh considered himself haunted already. And hard choices… If there was a choice harder than the choice to be at his nephew's side or leave him to figure life out on his own, Iroh didn't know of it.
Aunt Wu peered into his face. "Is something wrong?"
"No." Iroh sighed. "The opposite, actually. Your predictions are just what I expected."
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Zuko was busy wondering what kind of fortunetelling method used floating flowers. As Aunt Wu and Iroh came out, he rose to his feet. "How was it, Uncle?"
"She traced a spiral in sand with a charred stick," Iroh answered. "There are many ways of seeing the future, it seems."
"Hmm…" Aunt Wu stepped forward. She studied Zuko's face. "Your future contains very much."
Zuko looked back at her. She squinted as if trying to see clearly through smoke. "Your future will contain many unexpected blessings. These blessings already exist, but you do not recognize them. You have yet to blossom, but when you do, you will be like a tiger lily or a red lotus."
"Sounds like the sort of thing Uncle would say." Zuko crossed his arms. "Can you tell me anything that someone else couldn't?"
Aunt Wu squinted harder. "I would need assistance. Come."
She led him to a room near the center, where there were no windows. The only light came from a bright fire in the middle of the room. Beyond it stood a stand supporting a bowl full of small bones.
"Pick one," she told him. Zuko looked over the bones. They all looked funny. He shifted the top layer of bones aside, finally catching a glimpse of one buried deeper that had a nice shape. They took seats on cushions. "Throw it into the fire," she told him. He did so. "The fire will cause the bone to crack. I read the cracks to reveal your future."
Zuko looked down at the bone. He still didn't believe in magic...but he was kind of curious what would happen to the bone.
The bone sat in the fire for a time, not cracking at all. Aunt Wu frowned. She opened her mouth to say something, when all of a sudden the bone cracked everywhere at once. More small cracks appeared, briefly forming 3 lines across the length of the bone. Then the bone burst apart, revealing that its insides were already charred black.
"Oh, dear!" Aunt Wu put a hand to her mouth in horror. "There are lies, many lies! They will be revealed at once, causing great pain and hurt everywhere!" She lowered her hand and attempted to regain her composure. "But you will not be alone. There are friends who love you very much that will be with you always."
Zuko raised his eyebrow. Lies, he could see. But friends? Love? She's a fraud.
Zuko looked most unenthused as Aunt Wu led him out. Iroh was already standing. Before he could ask, Zuko answered, "Apparently my life is full of lies, I have wonderful friends who love me, and I will never be alone."
Iroh relaxed, his face easing into a smile. Zuko stared. "Seriously, Uncle? You can't believe that's accurate! Look around. Do you see any loving friends?"
Iroh shrugged. "She did say that your current blessings go unrecognized, Nephew. Perhaps these loving companions are what she meant."
"Okay, rephrase the question." Zuko looked around. "Do you see anybody at all around? How can I have unrecognized friends if there is nobody around except people I just met?"
Everybody in the room looked at Aunt Wu. She shrugged. "I see what I see. I can't explain everything."
"Like I said." Zuko shook his head.
"That's totally not an excuse you're making just to keep your reputation intact," Sokka accused.
"Hey, that's not true!" Katara looked to Aang for help, and they both started arguing on the side of fortunetelling. Sokka repeated his earlier stance that it was just coincidence, while kicking a pillow out of place and later tripping on it. Zuko refused to argue with any of these idiots.
Softly, the fire crackled in the back room, throwing light into the darkness. Water lotuses drifted silently, not a petal out of place even as they spun in circles. A chip of bark flaked off the end of a blackened stick. Inside his crossed arms, where no one could see, Zuko's heart line lay deep but fragmented on the palm of his left hand.