Folk say the Water Priestess can grant any wish you want. To find her is nigh impossible, but if you do...you'll be a changed man. The best of luck to those who venture forth in search of her. The best of fortune to those who find her. Very few live to tell such a tale. Only one that we know of has lived to tell the tale...

Seeking Purpose

Chapter 1-The Unusual Old Man

by KawaiiLyn

His tattered clothes, growling stomach, and exhausted ostrich-horse were tell-tale signs—they were going to die soon. He needed food now. His heavy lids and slumping spine spoke differently from his planned intentions.

Everything went black.

"Only three beings know of the whereabouts of the Water Priestess. I can tell you where "he" is, but the other two you're on your own." his uncle said while he prepared for his journey.

"Who is he? How will I find him?"

"It is rumored that he's her mortal brother, isolated and heartless to the outside world. It's said that to lose one beloved to the Spirit World is a loss that a mortal soul can barely undertake...death sounding more pleasing everyday; but to lose two beloveds under the same circumstances, he is a very unfortunate man. He lost his sister, later his lover, to the Spirits that guard the Watertribe. Ever since the two women he loved became deities, he avoids the world for a more simple life. It will be difficult finding him, let alone getting him to divulge such personal information to a complete and, in his eyes, self-centered stranger."

"I'll do what I can."

His nose awoke before his eyes did, the smell of some sort of cooked meat filling his nostrils, teasing his denied stomach. He rose stiffly, unaccustomed to the luxury of sleeping in a bed once again. (How much traveling did it take to treat a bed with such unfamiliarity?) The sizzling and popping of the cooking meat stole him from his thoughts. Scanning the unusually decorated room, his eyes fell upon the oddest curiosity he had seen yet...a wrinkled old man in a corner, entirely in blue garb, staring at him with eyes of such...distrust? Hatred? The oddities of his person were the tanned skin and darkened complexion contrasting with the most peculiar (and hypnotizing) eye color he had ever seen. Blue. Clear, unmistakable, blue.

How luck was on Zuko's side, he still wasn't sure. But the quest held promise. In exchange for information regarding the Water Priestess, he had to do a simple task for the old man. Retrieval of some boomerang. No firebending.

Easy.

Of course he just had to forget to mention that it was in an underground cave.

The soft pattering of his feet on the damp, rocky floor was the only sound within the echoing walls. Droplets of water fell about randomly from the moist ceiling. His footing was slow and cautious, the only source of light coming from a tiny circle of light above—an opening to the earth's surface from the cave. Difficult to reach, as it was a good 30 feet high, but he didn't concern himself much with it at the moment. He had more important things to worry about.

Giving his bag of supplies a quick shrug, he continued on—entering a more impenetrable darkness.

How will the old man know he doesn't use his firebending, anyways? He isn't here! One little flame wouldn't hurt.

Finally seeing the boomerang caught in a crevice 20 feet up on the cave's opposite wall, he had to wonder what the old man was doing to get it stuck up there.

"Aang look out! Katara, take care of those things would ya? Aang needs help."

The ringing sound of his precious boomerang sung through the air, knocking something down and freeing the Avatar, before ultimately being stuck inside a jutted crevice in the wall.

They weren't going to wait until he retrieved his boomerang. And the trio couldn't afford to wait. It would have to be left behind.

After a loud shaking of the cave's earth, and a low rumbling echoing off the walls, he had a feeling he might soon find out...and why he was warned to not bend.

An amphibious form of a sea serpent blocked his way. It's fiery red eyes glowed in the darkness, showing its teeth and stretching to its full height. About a dozen more swam about in the water, some remaining, some transferring to land.

Adrenaline pumping, Zuko unsheathed his swords, as he was forced to extinguish his primary light source.

This damn old man had better keep his word.

The normally still and silent cave became tumultuous and loud for quite some time as the battle began.