Hi guys,
So, two pieces of bad news. One. This chapter's late. Two. This chapter's broken up in two parts. Sorry.
They got back to the ship before dawn.
Appa was brought off to get some much-deserved rest. Aang and Sokka, however, were wide awake, having slept fitfully on the ride home.
Now, Aang was frantically pacing the deck up and down, while Sokka and Iroh were watching him - Sokka out of annoyance, and Iroh out of concern. "Aang, what's bothering you?" Sokka sighed in annoyance.
"You know what it is, Sokka. I have to master all four elements by the end of next summer -"
"Before Sozin's Comet arrives." The boys turned to stare at Iroh. The old General shrugged. "There is much that one learns as Crown Prince of one's nation. Also, my brother is an evil man. He will use the power bestowed by the comet to end this war and plunge the world into a darkness that is lit only by the fires of pain and destruction he will unleash."
Sokka tapped his chin, mockingly mulling the matter through. "Well, let's see here. You've pretty much mastered airbending, and that only took you a hundred and twelve years. I'm sure you can master three more elements by the end of next summer."
Aang hung his head. "Yup. I'm doomed," he said sadly. "I haven't started on waterbending and we're far away from the North Pole. What am I gonna do?"
Iroh cleared his throat. Aang looked at him and blushed. "Oh. Right. I've been working on firebending techniques. But I wish there was a way to learn waterbending now..." he concluded with a sigh.
"Who knows? Destiny is a funny thing. Even though it may take its time to reveal itself, it has the potential to show the path one must take in life," Iroh said. And with these words, he cupped his hands and shouted for the entire ship to hear. "Now who's ready for some shopping?" he cried.
A roar of assent sounded, and Sokka, surprisingly did not comment on the feminine activity they were about to participate in. Maybe that trip to Kyoshi Island wasn't as pointless as the crew made it out to be, thought Aang with a grin.
Aang, Sokka, and Iroh roamed the streets of the trading port, Momo flying alongside them. "Remind me what you're looking for, Iroh?" Sokka asked.
"A White Lotus tile," Aang and Iroh said simultaneously. Sokka raised an eyebrow at Aang. "What?" said Aang. "Monk Gyatso gave me a healthy dose of Pai Sho every day. Although he would always cover my face to try to make an extra move. It's the only reason I lalways ost."
"I think it's not the cheating master but rather the sore loser of a novice," Sokka teased. He pouted. "And do we really have to do all of this just for one small useless piece?"
Iroh gasped. "What are you talking about? The White Lotus tile is a crucial piece in a Pai Sho set! Without it, I will not be able to employ my favorite move: The White Lotus Gambit!"
"Hey, that's Monk Gyatso's favorite move as well! It seems like all old people like to use that strategy. Do you know why?" Aang quizzed Iroh.
The old man's eyes twinkled. "Let's just say that those who cling to the old ways can always find a friend."
And with that cryptic remark, they continued beside the stalls, buying some cabbage from a disgruntled cabbage merchant who complained under his breath about how the customers here had appreciation for the vegetable that the city of Omashu lacked. Suddenly Momo landed on a cabbage and started tearing through it with reckless abandon. "MY CABBAGES!" wailed the assaulted merchant. He pushed his cabbage cart away in a huff. "I take it back. This place is worse than Omashu!" he griped.
Aang perked up at the mention of Omashu. He had a good friend there by the name of Bumi. He was eccentric, but he was a mad genius, who turned a tedious mail delivery system into "the world's biggest slide!" as Bumi called it. Aang felt a small spike of hope in his heart. If there was anyone who could and would survive an entire hundred years of war, it would be Bumi. He wondered what his earthbending friend was doing...
He was interrupted from his reveries by a shrewd, thick-lipped man dressed in various shades of green, who stood in front of the gangplank of a ship and shouted, "Earth Nation! Fire Nation! Water Nation! So long as bargains are your inclination, you're welcome here! Don't be shy, come on by!" The man saw the three men and the flying lemur walking by, and rushed over to them. "Oh! You there, I can see from your clothing that you're world-traveling types. Perhaps I can interest you in some exotic curios?"
"Cool!" said Aang. "... What are curios?" he asked sheepishly.
"Exotic and intriguing goods," said Iroh, beating the man to the punch. The man pouted, increasing the size of his gigantic lips, which quickly shrank into a satisfactory grin when Iroh clapped his hands. "I would love to examine your items! I'm sure we will be able to find some things that will make nice additions to our ship," he said with an excited smile. The two older men walked into the ship, arms-on-shoulders, and Aang followed them soon after. Sokka rubbed his chin, trying to figure out what seemed off about these men, but decided staying with his friends would prove better than standing in one place and being an open target for other aspiring merchants - or - perish the thought! - real Fire Nation soldiers. He would have loved to say that his entering the ship was due to his concern over the old man, the Avatar, and the cute lemur. Sadly, his fear was the decisive factor of his mad rush into the relative safety of a stranger's ship.
Iroh instantly took a liking to many of the items for sale. "Another tsungi horn! And one that is of higher quality than ours! How much for the horn?" he asked, facing the man who referred to himself as Oh.
"It's yours... for a fair price," Oh said with a smirk.
Iroh smirked back. "You have a willing listener," Iroh said. Something red caught his eye. "What is that?" he pointed to a strange monkey statue baring its teeth at them. Momo flew up to the statue, hackles raised, and he hissed before stiffening and falling to the floor in a reverie.
Oh shrugged. "To be honest with you, we don't know. But those shiny red stones in there are genuine rubies!" Oh said cheerfully, not noticing the shadow that passed over Iroh's face. The monkey had a complicated and dark past, which took many hundreds of years for the Fire Nation to recover from, and the shame and dishonor associated with the statue was rivaled only by the shameful actions of Firelord Sozin and his descendants.
Except Zuko and Lu Ten. Although Lu Ten was currently on eternal patrol, and Zuko still had not recovered from his fever. Iroh wondered what his two sons would say to the great Iroh now fawning over exotic items aboard a strange wooden ship.
Iroh composed a smile, one that was genuine what with the priceless treasures he was confronted with. "If you don't mind, your storage is going to be depleted of quite some priceless treasures. I am afraid your shop will feel quite empty with the wares I will take off your hands."
Oh waved these gilded concerns aside. "So long as you pay for them, it really isn't a loss for us," he said with a cunning grin.
Suddenly Aang called out, "Hey! This is a scroll on waterbending! From the North Pole! How'd you get it?"
An imposing man who seemed to be captain of the ship chuckled. "Well, like you said, we got it from the North. And it came at the most reasonable price too - free!" he threw his head back and roared with laughter.
Sokka's eyes widened. "Wait a minute ... sea loving traders, with suspiciously acquired merchandise, and pet reptile birds?" He turned to face an innocently-smiling Oh. "You guys are pirates!" Sokka screamed, spittle flying from his lips. His eyes widened in the fear that he had escaped the dangers of the outside world only to be ensnared in a dangerous place with cutthroat thieves.
Oh put an arm around Sokka's shaking shoulders. "We prefer to think of ourselves as 'high risk traders.'" Oh said with a grin.
Sokka desperately looked to Aang and Iroh. "Guys... we should probably get out of here. These are pirates we're dealing with. Who knows what they've done to get this stuff? Who knows what they'll do to us?" he appealed frantically to the old man, sure that at least he would understand the gravity of the situation.
Iroh only shrugged. "Pirates or not, they have good taste! Now, how much for..." he turned to the captain, and Sokka banged his head against the wall, fed up with the antics of his companions.
The captain looked over. "Careful!" he barked. "Some of these curios are fragile! You could break them with your careless gallivanting!" Sokka stared at the scene before him with wide eyes, prepared to bang his head against the wall a second time - and then remembered he wasn't allowed to do it. He contented himself with merely pulling hair out of his head, and with mauling his carefully done warrior's wolf tail.
"So..." Aang asked. "How much for the waterbending scroll?"
The captain snorted. "I've already got a buyer, a nobleman in the Earth Kingdom. Unless of course, you kids have two hundred gold pieces on you right now."
Aang cheekily grinned. Time for some haggling. "How about... let's say... to the price of... one copper piece!" he presented a copper piece with a dramatic flourish. Sokka slapped himself in the cheek, trying to wake himself up from this nightmare. The captain howled with laughter.
"The price is two hundred gold pieces. I don't haggle on items this rare." The captain said. "Maybe if you were willing to trade that lemur for it, however... I could make an exception."
Aang's eyes widened, and he tightly held the lemur on his shoulder. "Momo's not for sale." he said defensively. The captain's eyes furrowed. "Pity," he said, beginning to walk away.
Iroh interjected. "How about buying all these items..." he swept his hand across the small collection of items he found interest in, including the rubied monkey. "Including the waterbending scroll... for silver."
The captain's eyebrows raised. "What kind of ripoff is that?"
Iroh's eyes widened. "My apologies. My weight in silver." He chuckled as he appreciatively rubbed his belly.
The captain eyes shone with greed. "Deal," the captain said happily. Aang was jumping up and down in his elation, and Sokka supposed maybe this wasn't as bad a nightmare as it could've been.
He was proven wrong later when Aang bought an air bison whistle. "Watch this!" Aang said. He sucked in air using his bending, and then let loose a furious blast.
Sokka covered his ears, bracing himself for the high-pitched noise still to come. When he heard nothing, he brought his hands off. "Really, Aang? Nice waste of a copper piece. At least you can start on your waterbending."
Everything on the ship was going smoothly until Appa tilted his ear and started bellowing.
Despite the efforts of those who stayed behind to quell the noise, the bison grated on the patience of all those on board. The sounds of indignation the bison made irritated the crew to no end. Masashi voiced the thoughts of all who were present.
"What's causing the bison to act this way? And why did we ever think coming with Zuko would end well?" he complained.
It was a dark and stormy night.
After traveling northward for a while, the skies were clear and beautiful - a little too peaceful, a little too pristine, a little too perfect. Aang took note of this while he was diligently studying the scroll of waterbending. He recognized the signs of an impending typhoon, and anxiously requested the crew to dock at a harbor.
He was glad he did. In the very far distance he could make out monstrous waves that blocked out the black clouds that rained relentlessly on the beleaguered crew. Even in the dock they had stopped at, ships were violently bobbing up and down with the fierce waves that crashed onto the pier.
Naturally - as it forced everyone indoors - the storm provided the perfect opportunity for stories and gossip. Eventually, they all came around to the topic of Zuko.
"You know... before he found the Avatar, he was such an aggravating, spoiled prince. No offense meant, General Iroh ['None taken, Lieutenant.'] But I was sick of trying to chase down his Avatar, sick of obeying his orders like a dog, sick of the disrespectful way he's treated everyone on his ship, from his hard-working crew to his esteemed uncle." Jee took a sip of Iroh's tea. "But even after finding the Avatar, Zuko barely changed. He still spoke insolently, he still acted in anger. Why is that? Who does he think he is? Why does he act the way he does?"
Iroh shook his head. "Try to understand. My nephew is a complicated man. He has been through so much. Let me start from the moment his life changed for the worse." The crew, including Aang and Sokka, settled back to hear the story.
Zuko was in a good mood. Not that he had reason to be in a bad one.
Finally, he was let into the throne room, if only because of his Uncle. Finally, he would be able to participate in the glorification of the Fire Nation. Finally, he was embracing his role as the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation. He had never been prouder - or happier - since his mother had left him.
He remembered the scene all too clearly. He had rushed through the long, crimson hallways bedecked with ornate lanterns and torches and decorative pillars to the curtains bearing the Fire Nation symbol on them. As he tried to reach them, the guards on either side of the entryway stepped in to block his path.
"Let me in!" he shouted, aggravated that the Nation's own Crown Prince would be held back from meetings discussing the affairs of the nation he would eventually come to rule.
He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned around to face his Uncle. Love and admiration filled his heart in his respect for his wise and wonderful Uncle.
"Prince Zuko, what's wrong?" his Uncle said.
Prince Zuko impatiently explained. "I want to go into the war chamber," he pointed to the guards. "But they won't let me pass!"
His uncle smiled consolingly, and led him away from the door. "You're not missing anything, trust me. These meetings are dreadfully boring."
But Zuko was not appeased. "If I'm going to rule this nation one day, don't you think I need to start learning as much as I can?" he begged pleadingly to his uncle.
His uncle sighed, but Zuko knew that he only did it if he was about to relent to Zuko's wishes. "Very well. But you must promise not to speak." Zuko saw from the corner of his eye an old veteran of the war. Iroh noticed the soldier as well. "These old folks are a bit sensitive, you know?"
Zuko bowed in gratefulness. "Thank you, Uncle," he said graciously.
And now the meeting was about to start. He couldn't wait. If his honor wasn't at stake, he would've been jumping up and down in eager anticipation.
One of the generals - Bujing, he remembered to his immense pride - began to speak. He pointed to the war map. "The Earth Kingdom defenses are concentrated here. A dangerous battalion of their strongest earthbenders and fiercest warriors. So I am recommending the forty-first division."
The elder soldier spoke up. "But the forty-first is entirely new recruits. How do you expect them to defeat a powerful Earth Kingdom battalion?"
To Zuko's utter horror, Bujing replied, "I don't. They'll be used as a distraction while we mount an attack from the rear. What better to use as bait than fresh meat?"
Zuko's eyes widened in disgust, in shock, in shame. He had to do something about this. A flash of hesitation spooled from a fading memory, of someone or other warning him not to speak out. But he was doing it for his nation. His honor would demand no less. He stood up in defiance. "You can't sacrifice an entire division like that! Those soldiers love and defend our nation! How can you betray them like this?"
Everyone stared at the old General, enraptured by Iroh's recounting of his nephew's past. Iroh stroked his beard. "Zuko was right, you see, but it was not his place to speak out. And there were dire consequences." He bowed his head in sorrow. "After Zuko's outburst in the meeting, the Fire Lord became very angry with him. He said the challenge against the general was an act of complete disrespect! And there was only one way to resolve this."
"Agni Kai," Jee hissed. "A fire duel." Aang's and Sokka's eyes widened in understanding.
Iroh nodded. "That is correct. Zuko looked upon the old general he had insulted and declared that he was not afraid. But Zuko misunderstood."
It didn't matter that he would be forced to fight an older opponent, much less a respected general. Bujing was wrong, and Zuko could not sit idly by and let an entire division be massacred simply because they were convenient. That was disrespectful to the soldiers... to the people... to the nation...
He shedded the ceremonial shawl that cloaked him, and got into a firebending stance, ready to fight the general...
Except it wasn't the general.
"When he turned to face his opponent, he was surprised to see it was not the general."
Zuko's eyes widened in shock, in fear, in shame. In disbelief.
"Zuko had spoken out against the general's plan, but by doing so in the Fire Lord's war room, it was the Fire Lord whom he had disrespected."
Zuko paled, not expecting this to occur. His squabble was with the decrepit old general, not with!...
"Zuko would have to duel his own father," Iroh finished with a grim face.
"When Prince Zuko saw that it was his father who had come to duel him, he begged for mercy."
Zuko trembled in the sudden turn of events. He bowed to his father, desperate not to lay a hand on his own flesh and blood. "Please, Father," he choked out. "I only had the Fire Nation's best interest at heart. I'm sorry I spoke out of turn!"
The Firelord walked menacingly towards his son. "You will fight for your honor," Ozai hissed.
Zuko gazed up at his father, eyes shimmering in his grief and sorrow. He did not mean to do this. To his own father, even! "I meant you no disrespect," he cried. "I am your loyal son."
Ozai sneered down at his heir. "Rise and fight, Prince Zuko!"
For a moment, Prince Zuko thought of getting up, of proving his mettle, of attacking the Firelord. But the fleeting feeling quickly passed. He could not, would not fight his father. He loved him. He only wanted the best for him. He didn't mean to do this to his father, to make him suffer, to bring shame to him and the family. "I won't fight you," Zuko said hoarsely, feeling the beginnings of tears trickling down his unmarred cheeks. He knew what was going to happen, but didn't do anything to stop it. To stop the humiliation. To stop the stop his fate. To stop his destiny.
"You will learn respect." Zuko shakily pushed himself on his knees and hands, trembling as he tried in vain to brave his fate. "And suffering will be your teacher." Zuko watched his father, tears streaming down both of his cheeks for the last time in his life.
He vaguely saw the flaming hand put almost tenderly and father-like over Zuko's left eye, and all he remembered afterwards was the endless screaming.
And the blackness.
That consumed his innocence.
That consumed whatever good had existed inside of him. If good was even a real thing.
And one thing took over his mind, a desperate hope he clung to, something with which he hoped to redeem himself with in his nation's eyes - in his Firelord's eyes. In his father's eyes.
I must find the Avatar.
Zuko's eyes flew open.
Everywhere hurt. His stomach and his head especially. He felt the hunger pangs, wondering how long he had been like this. His head throbbed, with his fever, his thirst, and the visions he had. He saw the bucket of water placed next to his bed, and greedily dumped it over his head, lapping whatever water he could salvage, relishing the cool feeling the liquid brought to him.
He fell back on his pillow, shuddering from the dream he just had, the one where everything fell apart for him. He gingerly touched the scar on his face, and as he slowly faded into the darkness, he wondered.
Does this scar - does my father - really determine my own destiny?
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