To Lose or to Gain
Boiling Point
Wise words didn't change how he felt.
Knowing Hakoda's words were wise didn't change how Lu Ten felt, yet knowing these words to be true made him hate himself for feeling the way he did.
The picture in the back of his mind of the small child he left behind when he went away from war didn't help, but mentally he struggled in picturing Zuko any other way; Lu Ten saw how Zuko grew in height since he last saw him, standing next to Sokka as he did, yet not seeing the face behind the guard mask prevented him from imagining Zuko as an older child than what he remembered.
The worst part was knowing just how much potential Lu Ten saw in his son, yet sometimes he wondered if he was just as biased as Ozai if it weren't for the fact he'd thought as much even before he knew Zuko was his own. It pained him seeing Zuko struggle with his Firebending, struggling with the newer style that emphasized power over technique, yet he saw Zuko manage the basics far better than his sister ever did.
"He should be a master by now, if only Ozai would have let him," Lu Ten thought to himself. "Yet, you know quite well, don't you, that Ozai would declare Azula a master before she was one and ignore Zuko becoming a master, let alone helping him progress in that direction." His hands clenched together, mentally contemplating having a word with Zuko regarding his training.
"You're still worried about him, aren't you?" Hakoda speaking to him made Lu Ten startle, but then the man added. "Where do your concerns stem from?"
"You've had the chance to see how your son's grown, whereas with..." Lu Ten almost said, 'my son. Quickly, he changed his words to, "Zuko, I've not seen him for a long time. I don't even know how many years have passed even, but I can't see his face to see how much he's grown in this amount of time. I'm a bit scare to know, knowing how my uncle always favored Zuko's younger sister, ignoring Zuko's potential. But then, I don't think my uncle ever learned anything but the new way of Firebending."
"New way of Firebending?" Hakoda asked, not meaning it as a question to anyone but himself as he pondered the implications.
"It's complicated, but one of the things I've pondered here in my cell is how it's not just the other nations that our royal family has harmed, but our nation." Lu Ten didn't tell Hakoda of the story his father told him as a child, of how once upon a time they didn't hunt the dragons, but instead learned to Firebend from them. In his youth, he'd thought it a silly children's bedtime story, yet now he wasn't so sure. "I just know the way I learned to Firebend isn't how others are learning to Firebend."
"I see."
He also wasn't sure if Zuko was pleased to see him, not until he heard Zuko outside of his jail cell. "Lu Ten, is that really you?"
Zuko spoke as soft as always, but hearing his voice perked him up. Lu Ten stood up, walking over to the door. "I'm sorry you had to learn I'm alive this way." From his cell, he still couldn't see Zuko's face through the mask. "How old are you now?"
"What do you mean?" Zuko's voice changed to one of confusion. "It's been five years roughly since..."
Lu Ten heard Zuko pause but watched him look away. "So, you're sixteen now?"
"Something like that," Zuko spoke softly, not looking him in the eye.
"Something the matter?" Lu Ten asked.
"Uncle Iroh gave me the headpiece for the Crown Prince."
"Did he?" In the back of his mind, he wondered if his father figured out the truth behind why Ursa gave him the headpiece.
"He gave it to me because Fire Lord Sozin gave it to Avatar Roku, from whom my mother is descended, but..." Zuko hesitated.
"I knew that your mother was descended from Avatar Roku," Lu Ten said. "But it's nothing to be ashamed of, but I am proud of you for picking the right side in this war."
"But I am ashamed of being the son of Fire Lord Ozai."
"Zuko..."
"No matter. Sokka's working on a plan, but I'll tell you more of the details later. Or he'll tell his father. That's what I wanted to tell you, I guess. I have to go and check on Sokka." Zuko disappeared then, making Lu Ten let out a sigh, contemplating the whole matter. Even more now he wanted to tell the boy that Ozai wasn't his father, that he had no reason to be ashamed of his blood heritage, and yet Lu Ten found himself ashamed at times of being the great-grandson of Fire Lord Sozin.
"What about Azulon and Iroh? That is an honest question there. Grandfather meant well but struggled with following in his father's footsteps, but father would have made a wonderful Fire Lord, even made changes for the better. Or am I refusing to see the truth and sliding back into wanting to change the world like I did at Zuko's age."
At Zuko's age...
The thought hit him hard, that Zuko was doing what he wanted to do at that age, yet the child, no, teen, was so much more humble about the whole thing, if not struggling to believe in himself. Lu Ten braced himself, believing completely that they would soon escape. Except, the next day word soon spread that an imposter was caught and tossed into the cooler, but when said prisoner was released, the warden didn't let him out with the other prisoners.
Lu Ten knew what that meant, but it sent shivers down his spine.
"It's Zuko, isn't it?" Akio asked, yet there came no response.
Hakoda frowned. "Yes. It was Zuko." He then said. "They were visiting a female visitor from the Earth Kingdom. Suki, my son's girlfriend."
"They wanted her to escape with us?" Lu Ten knew the answer to said question.
Hakoda seemed to know as much. "Zuko let himself be caught instead of letting them both be caught, but the time has come to make a move." He dropped a bunch of screws into Lu Ten's hand. "If it weren't for where Zuko is currently, we'd already been escaping."
Lu Ten stared at the screws. "What is this?"
"Screws from the cooler that they placed Zuko into. Sokka thought we might use that as a boat since it is insulated like it is, but Zuko was taken to another place."
"He wasn't too cold to unscrew those?" Chit Sang asked, looking at the screws.
Akio whistled. "Well. Someone else has shown he's most certainly a relative of The Dragon of the West, hasn't he?"
He gave Lu Ten a poignant look as if to say without saying it, "Aren't you proud of your son?"
Seeing the self-doubt Zuko still carried, Lu Ten planned on telling him many times over how proud he was, let alone that he was glad Zuko was his flesh and blood.