After floating on the ocean for weeks and meeting a lion-turtle, Iroh needed a spa day. He needed to be pampered and massaged and about ten hours in the sauna. The Fire Nation spa whose shore he landed on was a blessing from Agni. He had only a few coins but luckily there was an old major there who recognized him as General Iroh, royalty. The spa gave him the full treatment, at no charge. Iroh was a bit guilty, perhaps, but he was also anxious to have decent jasmine tea.

Iroh was still worried about Zuko, and the "white-haired young woman" who he was to help. He had no idea where Zuko was, but assumed that if he was taken prisoner there would have been announcements made. He doubted that the prince would have the sense to stay quiet about being the Fire Lord's son. Iroh doubted that his brother would save Zuko, if it came to that. Ozai would be delighted to have the chance to replace Zuko with Azula as his heir. Azula was… Iroh didn't know what had gone wrong there, if anything had had to go wrong for her to turn out the way she was. As a baby, she was a normal baby. A normal enough toddler, even, all toddlers seemed to have destructive tendancies, but as soon as she started talking and learning her first firebending forms, it was obvious that she was Ozai's daughter. Iroh sighed. He struggled with the guilt of what had happened when Ursa had disappeared right after Azulon had announced Ozai as his heir and then promptly died. His son had just died and he had abandoned his seige of Ba Sing Se, ruining his reputation and then practically disappearing himself into a journey of harsh self discovery. He should have been there for Zuko, and Azula, from the start. They were only children. They still were, really. Zuko was nearly an adult already, a young man. Azula was close behind in turning into a young woman. Zuko was nearly the age Lu Ten was, when he passed. Iroh shook his head, trying not to go down that road.

/

Zuko was exhausted from paddling. Salt had crusted on his skin, soring him. Still, he grit his teeth and carried on. It was getting easier, in a way. The further south he got, the warmer the water was. Boiling the water and then collecting the vapour was slow work, but he managed to get enough water to replenish his water bladder as needed. He had seen the last koala otter the previous day, after seeing them fairly constant since the North Pole. Another sign that he was getting closer to Fire Nation territory. He was still thinking about Yue every so often. He didn't know what had happened to her after he left. It didn't matter though. He would never see her again.

/

Yue had stayed out on the docks for another hour after Hahn left, thinking. She had destroyed any chance of an amicable relationship with Hahn, and now could not back out of marrying him without him spilling the beans on her. No matter how beloved Yue was, people would believe him. She was stuck with him. How had her life gotten so complicated? A few weeks ago she was just excited for her birthday and from hearing that the Avatar was back. Now she had a crush on a boy who was busy travelling the world with the Avatar, who had just saved her people from invasion, she was engaged to someone she strongly disliked, sacrificed herself and became one with the the moon spirit, and she had harboured a fugitive from her people, her parents. This fugitive, who, by the way, also happened to be Crown Prince of the Fire Nation. Yue still wondered if that was the right choice.

Tui had been rather quiet the last few days, letting Yue adjust to all of the other things going on in her life, but had risen in her when she was threatened by Hahn. Yue could feel Tui in her now, gently soothing her worries.
"Tui, what should I do?" Yue said out loud.
Tui took a moment to respond. You need to go to Ba Sing Se.
Yue blinked. "Ba Sing Se?" She asked.
Yes, Tui responded, Ba Sing Se. You must visit someone there as part of your spiritual journey.
"Who?"
I will tell you when you meet them.
"… Seriously?" Yue sighed. "I'm sorry."
It's all right, Tui chuckled. This is much for your young shoulders.

/

Land. Zuko saw land. He abruptly tried to stand up to see better, and then immediately fell over into the water. The kayak nearly capsized as well, but Zuko managed to hold it fast so that it couldn't spill out his last bits of food and water. Hopefully, there would be fresh water on the land. A spring, perhaps. A hot springs would be ideal. Anything would be better than the salt water Zuko was treading water in. Grumbling, Zuko started to swim towards shore, dragging the kayak behind him.

Reaching land, Zuko hauled the kayak above the high tide line in the sand and then collapsed on his back, closing his eyes and letting the sun rays soak into his skin. He had been miserably cold the last few days, and was rather done with the sensation. Normally overheating, the hot-headed prince didn't do well in a cooler environment.

Zuko nearly fell asleep, but would not allow himself to do so. He needed to get back on track to capturing the Avatar. Zuko would barge in somewhere, demand supplies as Prince of the Fire Nation, and set off on his journey. His uncle briefly crossed his mind, and Zuko wondered where he was, but was certain he was alright. The old fart had to be. Zuko couldn't waste any time finding him.

Groaning, Zuko sat up. Rubbing his eyes, he slowly stood up. The sun was nearly directly overhead, having already partially dried Zuko's clothes. With several hours of daylight left, he could make some decent travel time. Zuko had a decent idea of where he could be, but not exactly. There weren't any topographical markers to help him narrow down where he was. There were some mountains that he could use to ensure his path was straight, and he could use the stars at night to guide him if he travelled under the cover of darkness through Earth Kingdom territory. First, he had to find people. Fire Nation people. Zuko grabbed his bag of food and water and set off towards the middle of a gulley between two mountains, where hopefully he would find some water.

His first objective was to find water, and hopefully some edible fruits and berries, before returning to his kayak. Zuko was sick of paddling, but it was a much faster method of travel. He would travel along the shoreline, hopefully coming across a port or small fishing village. Zuko knew that despite the mountains of the Northern Air Temple being the closest land to the Northern Water Tribe, Zuko had passed them. The currents would have been pulling him west, closer to the channel that ran between the temple and Fire Nation land. Having visited both areas before, he recognized the land as mostly Fire Nation, with some pockets of Earth Benders who would not be happy to see him. It wasn't mountainous enough to be by the Northern Air Temple. Zuko would head west then, finding a way before heading down the channel betwen Fire Nation and uninhabitated Air Temple land. That's where the Avatar would most likely be. He had to master Earth Bending next, so he would head to the Earth Kingdom. At least in the Earth Kingdom he would have less water to splash at him.

/

Azula tapped her sharp fingernails on the railing of the ship. It was going too slow. Azula considered throwing the captain overboard again. She was the Princess of the Fire Nation, after all. She deserved a decent ship with a decent crew. If there was one thing Azula couldn't stand, it was mediocrity. It seemed everyone but her and her father was mediocre, even her brother, Zuko, was mediocre. Zuko… at last, father had seen the light, sending Azula to bring him home to the Fire Nation, alive, but not free. Poor little Zuzu, he had no idea what was coming.

A/N:

Alright! Another chapter! There turned out to be pretty much no dialogue in this one so the next chapter will have way more. I tried my best to make the characters thoughts interesting and explained some of the things that they are going through.

- The whole "salt-crusted" thing that Zuko has going on is an actual thing for people rowing across the ocean. I read a book about someone who did it and one of the things they said was that the salt builds up on their clothes and stuff so it's actually way better to go nude as much as possible so the salt doesn't rub and make sores on the body.

- I'm talking a bit about Iroh's past and how he became spiritual just as a precursor to how he will help Yue with her spiritual stuff. The show doesn't really get into it a whole lot so I'm kinda just making stuff up, which is partially the point of fanfic.

- Zuko's plan for where to go is based on his previous experiences. Obviously he is going to fumble along the way but he has had a decent amount of experience out in the world living on a ship for three years so he does know how currents work etc etc. I don't and I just kind of made up where I thought currents might be just based on plot convenience. Most rivers/channels go out into the ocean so it doesn't make sense that the one would pull Zuko in but it's a fantasy world so who knows.

- Yue didn't get much attention this chapter but the next one will be focused a bunch more on her. She'll be dealing with her parents and Hahn some more and trying to get to Ba Sing Se.

- We got an Azula POV! I love her character so much. I'm not really getting into her all that much in this fic though though when I go through and edit/rework everything I might plant the seeds for later writing a fic that continues on at the end of this fic following Azula having a redemption arc

- In terms of timeline — I'm planning to speed things up a bit until Zuko and Yue meet again. They both (Zuko) have to do a lot more growth apart before than can even start making that jump from reluctant allies to friends, but this is a Zue fic so they need to spend some time together

As always, please let me know what you think! Is the little/no dialogue still engaging for you? Do you like the pacing? The characterization?