Chapter 3

It was Appa. He landed next to them and Aang jumped off.

'Hey, Aang. You alright?'

'Yeah, Hey, we saw you from up the air. We're going to see Zuko. You guys wanna come with us?'

'Sure. I've never met him. The famous Firelord. You're coming too, right Lee?'

'Er...Yeah...Sure.'

Mira, Sharon and Lee climbed on appa and greeted the rest of the gang. Then Aang jumped on Appa.

'Yip Yip.'

After an hour they've reached Zuko's palace.

They went in the palace and started looking for him. A servant showed them the way.

Aang opened the door and found Zuko and Iroh sitting on a chair.

'Aang. Katara. Sokka. Toph. Welcome. Long time no see.'

He hugged his friends. Iroh took his turn to hug his friends.

'Zuko, Iroh, I want you to meet my friends: Mira, Sharon and Lee.' Aang said.

'Hi.' Sharon and Mira said with a blush. Lee nodded.

'Hey. Friends of my friends, are my friends too. Come sit down. We're about to eat dinner.'

They sat down and started to talk. Mira and Sharon kept glancing at Zuko.

They ate dinner and Zuko showed them their room. He insisted they should stay.

When Zuko left the room, he heard them talking about...HIM!! He went into a secret passageway where he could see the girls and listen to them in case they said something interesting.

'He's hot!! OMG Mira, did you see him?'

'Yeah, even with that scar he's handsome. It makes him more...man.'

'Yeah. Wow, I wonder what she would have thought of him...'

'Ow, she would probably say that she don't have time to look at boys or men because she's busy with other stuff.'

'Yes. I guess... Personnaly I think she finds herself too cool for a relationship.'

'No, she's complicated. A real puzzle. A dissolved puzzle. And she's the only one who can solve herself.'

'I told her a hundred times to try with Lee. He's having a major crush on her. But she refused any date with him from the day we met him... I do hope she's not in trouble now.'

'She likes a peaceful and quiet life, you know her. But trouble often finds her.'

'I don't get it.'

'What?'

'She could have been married and have a child by now. I mean a lot of guys proposed to her, but she turned them all down. Why would she do that?'

'I've watched her. It's like she knows something that eats her from inside. Like she has a heavy burden on her shoulders.'

'Whatever it is, it must be very important and not a happy thought. She didn't want to share it with us. I guess we were too hard for her.'

'Actually, I'm glad she isn't here.'

'Why?'

'Because then, Zuko would certainly give her all his attention and I'm not sure she'll turn him down as well if he asked her somthing.'

'Yeah, she would.'

'No she wouldn't!' Lee's voice came from the door. The girls turned their heads to face him.

'I'm positively sure she would turn him down. How do you know she won't?' said Sharon.

'I followed her three years ago. She met Iroh and drank a cup of tea with him. He and Zuko were banished that time. When she finished and said goodbye to him, Zuko came around the corner. Their eyes met. I have never ever saw her give that look to a guy. A conscious, innocent, confused, curious look. I wanted to jump on him and kill him.'

'So that's why you don't like the Fire Nation. You don't like him. You're just jealous.'

'Of course I am. I wish she looked at me like that. when I met her around and asked her about where she was, she just walked away from without saying a thing! I was furious. She belongs to me. She'll marry me. Mark my words!'

'You've asked her like 100 times to marry you. And what did she said? She told you to stop wasting your time, because she's not interested in you and that you should look at other girls who are interested in you.'

'They can climb a tree. I want her.'

Mira and Sharon exanged looks and shook their head. The boy was stubborn. They've told him many times she won't fall for him. Lee spoke again.

'Now I think of it...Have you 2 ever see her smile?'

Mira and Sharon exchanged looks again and thought about it. Then:

'No, now you mention it...I've never seen her smile...'

'Me neither.'

'Strange.'

'Yeah. And now we want to sleep. So would you please go to your room and let us?'

'Yeah, fine. Goodnight.'

'Goodnight.'

Lee left and closed the door behind him.

Zuko waited a bit and then went to his room. Thinking about everything they said.

They talked about that girl I've met 3 years ago. That's their friend? I don't know how she looks like anymore. They had interesting information. And less interesting information. That Lee has a major crush on the girl. From the sound of it, he'll never notice Mai. Poor Mai.

What's that burden they talked about? It must be that legend like uncle said. Ow well, they think I'm hot. That's something.

Zuko smirked before turning the lights off.

Next morning they all ate breakfast. After that They went outside in the garden of the palace and sat on the ground. Zuko was in a meeting.

'Sooooo, what about you and Suki?'

'It's going well and...Aaaaaw no.'

'What?'

'The flower. I forgot to give it to her.'

Aang and Lee started to laugh.

'Not funny.'

They stopped laughing.

'Yeah, you're right.'

The girls were talking about make/up and all that girly stuff. Toph didn´t feel comfortable with this conversation so she kept her mouth shut and listened. Suddenly she felt Zuko coming.

´Guys, Zuko is coming. Something terrible must happened.´

Everyone turned around to see Zuko running to them.

´Zuko what´s wrong?´ Aang asked.

´A certain person, who calls himself the Dark Prince, has attacked a few citizens. He´s very strong and the soldiers couldn´t handle him. They´re dead too. The captain has just told me. I think I´m going to find him and fight him myself.´

´Whe´re going with you.´ Katara said.

´No, you can´t...It´s my problem.´

´We´re going with you, Zuko. You´ve helped me with Ozai.´

Zuko smiled.

´We´re going too.´ Sharon said.

Everyone turned their head to look at her.

´I want to do something. I have a feeling that it is our destiny to work togheter on this.´

Zuko nodded and smiled.

´Ok. We´re leaving tommorow. So rest.´

Lee gave him a dirty look and turned his back on him.

I hope he´ll die in his attempt to fight that Dark Lord.

Author notes

Another chapter done. We´re coming to the point of the story...soon. Sorry for late updating. Lots of homework to do. I'll try to update every Monday.

Please R and R