A/N: someone asked me about Zuko's character in this story, so I hope my explanation makes things a little clearer. Zuko is younger here than in the show, not by much though. In this story I haven't had Ozai banishing Zuko, sending him on a fruitless mission, where Zuko's bitterness and anger could grow. Although don't get me wrong, he'll still appear to be the spoilt pain that you'd expect any fire nobility to be. I just had him in the earlier chapter being a bit more humble than usual as I imagined the new circumstance that he is in. Thanks for reading – now on with the show!

Iroh

Iroh sent a silent prayer, hoping that Zuko would do as he was told for once and stay put. This was one scenario that he could do without his nephew's notion of 'honour'. Iroh winced; it wasn't that long ago when he had shared a similar mind-set. The ship that had been spotted earlier that morning had been recognisable from afar. It wore the fire nation's insignia, as if like a badge of honour. What had startled Iroh the most was not that a ship from his former nation was approaching him, rather whose ship it was specifically, and why they were following them.

However before the metal ship move any closer, Lee the waterbender sent an attack of angry waves rocking the enemy ship from side to side. The Fire Nation soldiers responded by firing small boulders, set alight towards Jeong's Jeongs's vessel. Iroh sent out a blazing fire whip, knocking the boulders out of alignment, sending them flying and missing the small ship narrowly.

"Prepare yourself men, looks like they're going to try to board" Jeong Jeong instructed, while shooting fire at the ship, taking out yet another catapult.

With steely determination, the crew battled on as they fought determinedly against the approaching ship. A man garbed in red armour stood at the helm, a smug grin on his face as he realised whose ship it was that they were attacking.

Iroh sent a rapid succession of fire blasts at the Admiral, who was now attempting to board their ship. With quick reflexes, he managed to outmanoeuvre each one of them. Finally with his feet firmly planted on Jeong's Jeong's ship, he faced Iroh straight on, his eyes wide with the gleeful prospect of potential hostages.

Taking in his surroundings, the admiral smirks.

"It must be my lucky day, look what we have here!"

"Zhao" Iroh acknowledges, sending angry fire whips hurtling towards his feet.

Zhao dodges, retaliating with powerful bursts of fire.

"Why it is only the banished general, looks like you've been keeping some fitting company" Zhao snickers.

"What do you want Zhao?" Iroh questions, sceptical of the Admiral's plans.

"The phoenix king has sent me in search of his dearest son" Zhao spat. "He wants to confirm that the former prince is well and truly dead." A wicked smile forms on his face as he voices the latter. "And what do I find instead? A disgraced general and a deserter!" Zhao's eyes glance over at Jeong Jeong in disgust.

Sickened by the man that stood in front of him, Iroh became relentless in his pursuit of Zhao.

Sweeping low, Iroh sent out a blazing stream of fire catching the Admiral off-guard.

"It is not I who is the disgraced one Zhao" Iroh said.

"No, it is him!" Zhao exclaimed, a powerful wave of fire followed, its target took Iroh by surprise. The crew members watched in shock as they saw Jeong Jeong tumbled off from the ship, the force of the attack sending him into the murky waters below.

Furious, the former Dragon of the West repaid the same due onto Zhao. Iroh's hands met together as a solid stream of fire erupted from them, exploding in all directions. The fire hit Zhao with such force he too was sent plummeting into the ocean.

The remaining guards were soon quickly defeated. To the disdain of Lee, Iroh chose to forego killing them all. However a decision to throw them overboard was soon reached after much deliberation with the crew.

"We can't just set them free!" Lee had protested.

"It would be dishonourable to kill them in cold blood."

"It is not cold blood! They are our enemies; do you not think that they would do the same to us if given the chance?"

"Then if it bothers you so much send them overboard, let the waters decide their fate" another crew member had offered.

As the crew began searching the waters for their lost captain, Iroh hurriedly made his way down to the lower rooms in search of Zuko.

The smell of smoke filled the air as the former General approached the storage area. "Zuko" he called out in trepidation. The room had but a single window, too high to let much light in thus causing Iroh to squint as he took in the sight before him. The storage room wore a singed appearance; many of the wooden crates lay broken and burnt, the metal panels were now caked in soot, blackened completely. Lighting a small flame in his palm, Iroh cautiously ventured further into the room. "Zuko!" he called once more.

As he went to examine something in the corner, his foot caught on something solid, causing him to fall. Dusting himself, Iroh knelt down, bringing the fire closer to him. It wasn't a sack as he had first thought. The material wasn't soft enough. On closer exception, the general fell back onto his rear. Lighting the room with glowing flames from both hands, the General was shocked to find an unconscious Fire Nation Soldier.

Growing increasingly alarmed, Iroh began to search the room. "Zuko!"

Finally in the corner of the room, crumpled up, he found his nephew. Examining him over, Iroh grew uncomfortable when he found the burn marks on Zuko's arms and the shallow gashes that lined his stomach. Shaking him gently, Iroh urged Zuko to wake up. The boy remained unresponsive, lying silently in his uncle's arms.

"General Iroh!" Lee panted as he burst into the room.

"My nephew appears to be unconscious."

"What happened in here?" Lee questioned after taking note of the soldier.

"Please help me take my nephew to his room"

"Of course General. Let me just call for someone to deal with that" the waterbender replied, gesturing at the soldier.

Once a few other crew members took the Fire Nation soldier away, both Lee and Iroh carefully carried Zuko to his room.

"I believe your nephew didn't heed my advice" Lee said as he watched Iroh bandage Zuko's wounds.

"That sounds like my nephew" Iroh replied, his voice small.

Placing a hand on the General's shoulder, Lee said, "He's a strong kid, he'll wake up soon enough."

The general did not reply, his thoughts elsewhere. Taking the General's silence as a dismissal, Lee began to walk away.

Before the waterbender could reach the door, Iroh questioned him, "any news about Jeong Jeong?"

"None. None at all."

"What do you propose we do?"

"We carry on to our destination. As the second in command, I know the captain would expect no less" the waterbender replied grimly. "The waves have been kind to us, we've made good time so far, we'll have you in the Earth Kingdom within a few days."

Once Lee had taken his leave, Iroh was left to his thoughts once more. His heart ached painfully at the sight of his nephew bloody and bruised. "Dear nephew, life has been too unkind to you recently. Please wake up soon."

A/N: I'm sorry for the cruddy chapter; I'm growing impatient because I really want to get this story moving. I'm excited for the upcoming chapters because we should finally be getting some actual Zutara – yay!