Chapter II: The fish
An icy touch crept over my body. It was very rare for me to be cold, but this was a cold that felt different. I tried to open my eyes but couldn't. It was like something prevented it.
My face felt sticky, my numb fingers didn't feel the skin. They were wet. I brushed my cheek against my shoulder to clear away the wetness. A wall blocked my way when I reached out. Nothing happened when I pushed against it.
My eyes tore open, ice surrounded me. Everywhere on the cold walls were smears of blood, my blood. There was no skin left on my hands, they were frostbitten and bloodied. Every time I had put my hands against the ice, my skin froze to it and ripped the skin from my flesh.
I used my fiery breath to bring the life back to them but nothing happened. Neither when I punched the ice. Everything was gone after squeezing my eyes shut for just a moment.
Mother's brown eyes bored into mine when I turned. I stepped back and fell into frigid water, struggling keep my head above the surface but it was no use. The last thing I saw were amber eyes looking down into the water as I sank to the bottom.
"Kunari, wake up." A calm voice urged me. "Wake up!" It became more forceful, shaking my body.
A gasp escaped me, rolled off the mattress and jumped up, ready to attack the intruder. "Iroh?" I recognized the old General.
"You were dreaming." He stated and pulled me down to sit.
"Oh." I looked down at my hands, remembering the nightmare. Iroh didn't move, he was clearly waiting for me to talk. "I don't remember." The lie made me feel horrible.
"You should go back to sleep, it's still dark outside." He said to me, gently patting my cheek. Iroh got up and left after wishing me a good night.
My bed was all tossed up and messy. After a while I put on my boots and walked on deck, there was a light breeze greeting me. The metal floor was hard when I sat down and looked up to the sky, the darkness with the glistening dots looked so peaceful.
I woke up in my room the next morning, all tucked in and warm. In the afternoon we sailed into an Earth Kingdom harbour.
"I want the repairs made as quickly as possible." Zuko said, walking over the metal landing bridge the ship's bow made. "I don't want to stay to long and risk losing his trail."
"You mean the Avatar?" Iroh asked, walking next to his nephew.
"Don't mention him by that name on these docks." The Prince hissed. "Once word gets out that he's alive, every Firebender will be out looking for him. And I don't want anyone getting in the way."
"Getting in the way of what?" A voice asked. "Prince Zuko." It added as a man I knew all too well walked toward us.
"Captain Zhao." Zuko said almost hateful, crossing his arms.
"It's Commander now." Zhao said and smirked at the scarred boy. "And General Iroh, great hero of our nation." He made a bow for the old general. I looked away from Zhao, I didn't have a single fond memory of the man. He was my father's brother and my uncle. He was never kind but a selfish man. Once I walked in on him and my mother, her face was red and her skirts were lifted. That was the day I signed up for the Navy, I would not live in the same house as that man.
"Yes, you wouldn't believe what happened!" Zuko exclaimed, bringing me back. It was quiet for a moment. "Uncle, Tell Commander Zhao what happened."
"Yes. I will do that." Iroh replied after a glance at his nephew. "It was incredible. Did we crash or something?" He asked.
"Yes." I said, attracting unwanted attention but those two would just go on and on, getting the other one to explain. "Right into an Earth Kingdom ship."
"Really." Zhao stated and eyed me for a moment. "You must regale me with all the thrilling details, Prince Zuko." His eyes shifted to the prince. "Join me for a drink?" he asked.
"Sorry, but we have to go." Zuko said and walked passed from the Commander.
"Prince Zuko." Iroh said and put a hand on the Prince's shoulder to prevent him from walking any further. "Show Commander Zhao your respect." He turned to Zhao. "We would be honoured to join you. Do you have any Ginseng tea?"
Zuko let out a low growl when Iroh was guided to the Commander's tent. The Earth Kingdom harbour was also a naval base for the Fire Nation's fleet. The entire area was filled with tents and fires.
"That's a nice world map you have there, Commander." Iroh said while admiring a huge, painted map on the wall after we had settled. The General had his tea, Zuko was being awfully quiet and I stood next to his chair with a hand on my sword, just in case.
"Thank you, we have taken a great deal of the south, and by year's end the Earth Kingdom capital will be under our rule. The Fire Lord will finally claim victory in this war." Zhao said and turned his back to us as he looked at the map.
"If my father thinks the rest of the world will follow him willingly, then he is a fool." The prince said. He watched the Commander take the chair next to him.
"Two years at sea have done little to temper your tongue." Zhao narrowed his eyes as he looked at Zuko. "So, how is your search for the Avatar going?" He obviously knew there was something going on.
"We haven't found him yet." I said before Zuko could. "I wonder if we'll ever find him. He probably died a hundred years ago, along with all the other Air Nomads." I saw Zuko glance away from me as I lied, Zhao saw it too.
"It seems our Prince doesn't agree with that." He got up and stood before me, glaring. "The Avatar is the only one who can stop us from winning this war, if you have any information of his where about, I suggest you tell me."
"We haven't found anything, Commander Zhao." Zuko said and he stood up from his chair, standing between Zhao and me. "It's like my Captain said, the Avatar died long ago."
We were about to leave when a soldier came in. "Commander Zhao, we have interrogated the crew as you instructed. They confirmed, Prince Zuko had the Avatar in custody. But let him escape."
"Remind me again, how was your ship damaged?" The Commander asked.
"We found an Airbender." He began hesitant.
"Zuko." I hissed at him and when Zhao looked at me, I noticed I slipped with the title.
"An Airbender, interesting, very interesting considering they all died a hundred years ago. Didn't they, Kunari?" Zhao said. I was caught in my lie.
"Commander, the crew said the Avatar was a sixteen year old teenager. He was definitely an Airbender and he had tattooed arrows on his head, hands and feet." The soldier said. I was starting to hate that man.
"A sixteen year old bested you and your Firebenders. You're more pathetic than I thought." Zhao said, lowering his head to Zuko's eye level.
"I underestimated him once, it won't happen again." Zuko spat to him.
"No, it will not, because you won't have a second chance." The Commander paced through the tent. I noticed that Iroh had been quiet for a very long time. He was still drinking tea. His eyes peaked over the cup and following everything.
"I've been hunting the Avatar for four years and I-"
"And you failed!" The Commander interrupted the prince, losing his cool. "Capturing the Avatar is too important to leave to a youth such as yourself. He's mine now."
Zuko flew at Zhao, but before he could touch the man in front of us, I put my hand on his chest. For a moment he just looked at me and then, in frustration, Zuko kicked the small table. The cups and tea fell on the flood, staining the rugs.
"More tea, please." Iroh said after a second of watching the liquid drip in a pool.
"My search party is ready." Zhao said after a soldier whispered something in his ear. "Once I'm out on the sea my guards will escort you back to your ship and you'll be free to leave."
"Why? Are you afraid I'm going to try and stop you?" Zuko asked.
"You, stop me, impossible." The Commander laughed.
"Do not underestimate me, Zhao. I will capture the Avatar before you." Zuko said.
"Prince Zuko, that's enough!" Iroh said, trying to call his nephew down. He and I both saw where this was heading.
"You can't compete with me. I have hundreds of warships under my command. And you, you are just a banished prince with just one ship, a traitor uncle and a burnt girl. No home, no allies, your own father doesn't even want you." Zhao eyed each of us as he mentioned us.
"You're wrong. Once I deliver the Avatar to my father he will welcome me home with honour and restore my rightful place on the throne." The Prince stood tall and broad with his believe.
"If your father really wanted you home, he would have let you return by now. Avatar or no Avatar. But in his eyes you are a failure and a disgrace to the Fire Nation." Zhao was deliberately provoking Zuko. "You have the scar to prove it." That did it.
Zuko leaped forward. "Maybe you'd like one to match!" He said powerful, looking up at the Commander as he stood face to face with him. "An Agni Kai at sunset."
"Very well."
The last time Zuko fought a fire duel was when he got his scar. I had watched how the Fire Lord put his hand on the Prince's face and scorched it with touch alone. When the flames came from the man's hand, the skin on Zuko's face seemed to melt, leaving blackened flesh.
"It's almost sunset. We should go." Iroh told us, setting his tea cup down and got up. Zhao had left a while ago, he said he needed to prepare.
I felt tired and the thought of an Agni Kai always made me sad. A Fire Dual that is only won until one opponent has burnt the other, a strange way to proof honour.
"You think I'll lose?" He said silently when I didn't move.
"No, I think you will win. Zhao is way too confident and has a bad temper which will be fatal one day." I said.
"But you don't want to watch." The prince stated. "Go back to the ship."
"Thank you, Prince Zuko." I said and bowed to him before leaving.
Once back at the ship I set five long candles on the deck in front of me, sat down cross legged and closed my eyes. Images of the nightmare came back, rushing before my eyelids. After taking a deep breath I concentrated on the candles, hearing a soft swoosh as they lit, making the cold ice of that night melt away. Focussing on the flames, I made them as long or short as I wanted them to be, but they had to be shielded from the tugging winds as well. I opened my eyes, looking at the result while still fixed on the red flames. The outer two fires were long and thin, the inner two were very small, almost extinguished and the middle one was a fat flame. I gently breathed out, letting the flames go to their original size and eventually they were blown out by the wind.
We had been tracking the Avatar for almost a week, he kept bouncing from island to island. Prince Zuko stood on the deck, hands on the railing and staring into the sea. Every day we didn't know where the Avatar was, Zuko got more depressed. He had dark circles under his eyes, he didn't eat much and at night I often heard him leave his room.
"We'll find him." I said, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"Then what?" He said, not turning to me. "Every time we find him, we lose him again. And the one time I did have him, I underestimated him and he escaped. Maybe this was all a mistake."
A while ago I had that same thought about coming with the Prince. "Everything will work out, Prince Zuko."
"Prince." He scoffed quietly. "Prince of what?" His face looked tired and almost ashamed. It took me back to the time when we were only about twelve years old, we were practising our bending. He made me tumble and I fell. I didn't bother to get up, the grass was so soft and the sight of the clouds was so peaceful. After a while he lay down next to me, he talked about his mother. She had disappeared a few days ago, his father was the new Fire Lord, he was the Crown Prince and his sister was jealous. His father was so proud of her, but it was almost as if he despised Zuko. There was a great sadness on the Prince's face when I had turned my head. I had taken his hand and told him everything would work out somehow.
"Let's get some dinner." I took his hand again, I saw a small smile curls his lips and he nodded.
The cook set down a roasted fish on the table. "The fish trader said this one came from the island of Kyoshi." He said, bowing to the Prince. "He also said an Airbender and his friends are staying there."
"The Avatar?" Zuko asked. "The island is close by. Ready the rhinos, Kunari. He won't get away this time." He said, giving me a single nod.
"Yes, Prince Zuko." I took my bowl of rice and as I left the room, I heard them argue about who would eat the fish. The bowl of rice was empty before I got to the lower deck and sounded orders.
Kyoshi was a beautiful island. It was said that the last Avatar of the Earth Kingdom had used her bending to break this island off of the main land. She did it to protect her people and so it was named in her honour.
Within the hour we landed on the island and made our way to the small village. "Come out, Avatar. You can't hide from me forever." Zuko's voice carried through the empty village. "Find him." He commanded the other rhino riders when it stayed silent.
Just as I was about to follow them, grunts and fighting sounded. A girl with makeup and green dress armour sped toward us with metal fans at the ready. Zuko turned his rhino around, the tail swept the girl from the air as she jumped at him. He shot fire at her but the boy from the South Pole, Sokka, blocked it with a fan. My lips curled into a laugh when I saw he too was wearing makeup and dress armour.
Just as Zuko was about to attack again, he was pushed off his rhino by another warrior. I quickly got off as well and used my shield to bash the warrior girl off of the prince. Sokka and the other warrior were ready to attack when Zuko got up, swirling his feet in the air and making a fiery ring, knocking them both off their feet.
Everything in the village was set ablaze by our fighting. That was the only thing the war did, destroying everything. I felt a wave of doubt run through me, if the Avatar was captured, the Fire Nation would win the war. But winning the war meant even more destruction and death.
"Hey! Over here." The Avatar yelled staff in hand. Zuko immediately shot streams of fire at the boy, not caring for the people of the village.
I charge at one of the warriors who just got back up and bashed her away, against the prince and making them both fly into a building.
"Leave this island." I said to the Avatar when he was about to attack me. "Look around." I gestured to all the burning houses and scared people that left their homes. "Zuko will leave Kyoshi and follow you."
Aang looked around and horror struck his face. He still seemed hesitant after all I was Fire Nation. He quickly nodded and yelled to his friends to get to Appa.
Zuko emerged from the building and ordered us back to the ship when he saw the beast fly over.
When we got back, the Avatar was already gone from our sight.