Zuko squinted, trying to shut out the glare of the sun. It seemed as though the journey into the eastern Earth Kingdom would never end. Mounted on ostrich horses, his party had been moving for days, yet the city of Omashu had not come into view. There was only another rolling hill, another patchwork of green fields, another valley, and another mountain beyond.
It didn't feel like it took this long when I was tracking Azula, Zuko thought wearily. Then again, he'd had a purpose then; one that distracted him from anything else, and allowed no opportunity for contemplation.
Long hours would pass when none of them would speak, and each retreated to the inner world of his own thoughts. Zuko's head drooped, allowing the conical straw hat to shade his tired eyes. He thought of Katara and wished she could be there, riding behind him with her arms about his waist, instead of waiting in the frozen south for the arrival of Azula and her warships. He thought of Uncle Iroh, staying close to her as he could not, and hoped both of them would stay safe until the war ended. He thought of his mother, Ursa, and wondered for the thousandth time what could have become of her. His heart ached with the desire to see her again.
Never forget who you are. Those had been Ursa's last words to him, before raising the hood of her cape and disappearing into the night like a ghost.
But who am I? Zuko found himself wondering.
In his childhood, the answer had been simple: Son of Fire Lord Ozai and Lady Ursa, heir to the throne. But so much had changed since then. Zuko knew he could no longer proclaim himself as the Fire Nation prince, at least not publicly. His life depended on keeping that part of himself secret, as did his plans to overthrow his father and restore the Earth Kingdom's independence. Even the men who served as his guard could not call him by his given name. Only Mai and Ty Lee did, during those rare moments when they were in private. For all intents and purposes, Prince Zuko really had died in Ba Sing Se, and the shadowy figure of Lord Naga had taken his place. He'd only been able to remove the mask once they were in the country.
As it so often did, Uncle's voice crept into his conscience as that quiet voice of wisdom. It's time you begin asking yourself the big questions. Who are you? And what do you want?
Zuko still wasn't sure. If I defeat my father and end the war, who will I be then? Will the Fire Nation welcome me home as its rightful ruler? Or will I still be an outcast among my own people? What if Prince Zuko really is dead inside me, and all that's left is the Blue Spirit? Do I really want to live out the rest of my life in the shadows of Ba Sing Se, as one of the Dai Li?
This inner battle was something he knew Mai could never understand. Zuko respected Mai's courage in sharing her feelings the night before he'd gone, but those feelings were directed at someone he wasn't and could never be. Mai loved the idea of Zuko, the handsome prince of her childhood, the end result of a fairytale coming true. She knew next to nothing about the man he was becoming. Had Zuko never been banished, had he remained in the Fire Nation as Ozai's beloved son, things might have turned out differently. But too much had changed, in his life and in his heart, and now that heart belonged to someone else.
However, his situation was too precarious to deny her openly. Not yet, anyway. Not when she still might turn on me, and Azula is still a threat. It isn't what I want, but what the world needs has to come first. Zuko sighed. He hated to do this to Mai and himself, but his choices were trip to Omashu was a temporary reprieve, putting off the inevitable, but for now that was enough. Well, hopefully this King Bumi will have some tricks up his sleeve, or maybe an army we don't know about. We sure could use any help he can give us.
Traveling uphill, they passed through a wooded area, full of the chirping of hummingbird-crickets and the hooting of cat-owls. As dusk fell, they reached a quaint village nestled just beneath a volcano. Zuko recognized it instantly. He had been there before.
Exhausted, he climbed down. "Let's stop here for the night." He tethered the ostrich horse to a pole outside the town square. His Dai Li entourage and Lieutenant Jee dismounted behind him, and followed him beneath the golden archway into the village.
Since the party had left Ba Sing Se, they'd been masquerading in the green and gold silks of Earth Kingdom merchants. The former lieutenant Jee had rid himself of the trademark Fire Nation sideburns. Only a slight mustache now traced his lip, as was the trend among the wealthier men of the Earth Kingdom. Zuko glanced dubiously around at them. I don't know if this 'disguise' is going to work on anyone very perceptive. The Dai Li's sweeping, calculated movements and piercing eyes stood out like a sore thumb in villages like this where the people were more laid-back, and Jee still had the proud, rigid walk and stiff shoulders of a senior Fire Nation officer. Oh, well. If it gets us to Omashu in one piece, it works for me. No one's looked at us too funny yet.
"Hello!" a man greeted them cheerfully, wearing light blue clothes and red shoes. "Are you here to get readings from Aunt Wu?"
The Dai Li agents glanced around at one another. Taking the lead, Tai Lan shook his head. "We just need a place to stay for the night."
"Of course. The inn is this way. Follow me."
They passed a large home with a round golden door, and Zuko couldn't help but pause. He'd once looked down on this door from a shirshu's back. The girl must have spent a lot of time here, Jun had said. Outside the golden door waited a young man with a shock of pure white hair, dressed all in black. He caught Zuko's gaze with interest, then his head tilted as if in recognition. "So you've finally returned. Won't you come in? Aunt Wu has been expecting you."
Zuko glanced uncertainly at Lieutenant Jee, who was waiting just ahead of him. "She has?"
"Oh, yes. I am to admit you at once." He held the door open, bowing his head slightly.
Zuko hesitated. Something seemed so familiar about this moment, like déjà vu. He knew he should probably go and rest, but his feet wouldn't move to walk away. "I won't be long," he told Jee. The Dai Li agents glanced reticently at one another, but nodded and glided away.
The white-haired man gave Zuko entry, then closed the door behind them. "Remain here, please." He disappeared down the hall into the darkness, leaving Zuko to wait, and wonder.
ooo LL ooo
Screams filled the air as Water Tribe women grabbed the hands of their children and ran to the safety of the shelters. Snow mixed with soot was falling, and half a fleet of Fire Navy ships had appeared like iron ghosts on the horizon. Flaming fireballs arced towards the wall, where a team of waterbenders was struggling to repel them.
"Katara!" Sokka cried as he guided the women and children inland, passing his sister on the way.
"I know, I'm going!" The young master waterbender raced ahead. She had been sleeping when the attack began just before dawn. She dodged a screaming fireball that came down at her head, waterbending a pile of snow into ice that disintegrated the bomb as it fell, then forced herself faster.
She finally reached the icy stair that led up into the defensive outer wall. Entering the blue tunnel, it was deathly quiet. Katara paused on a stair, hearing a strange, low sort of groan. Suddenly a metal spike came crashing through the wall like a giant dagger towards her.
"No!" Katara jumped out of its way, lunging forward onto the stair, only to be dragged down as the spike lowered beneath her and took a section of the wall with her. She slid rapidly down the icy slope, thinking fast and freezing the water into snow to cushion her landing. The spike continued to descend. Katara froze her feet to it before she fell any further. The metal monster finally caught and stopped, and as Katara regained her balance, she saw that it was a landing platform on which she stood, one just like Prince Zuko had descended when he'd invaded their village before. With horror she looked up, and then back. They'd cut off her route up to the top of the wall, but more importantly, they'd also cut off her comrades' route back down, unless they used waterbending - and the crack in the wall was wide open to their invasion.
At the top of the platform, the advance guard of firebenders appeared, their faces hidden behind skeletal white masks. Katara narrowed her eyes and whirled the snow at her feet into an octopus stance. Her blood boiled with hatred. You want a fight? I'm ready.
ooo LL ooo
Atop an ice tower on the defensive wall, Kuvo and Paruda halted yet another flaming firebomb. The ships were practically upon them. The hull of one vessel had already breached the wall, shaking the icy foundation on which they stood. Another was perilously close to doing the same.
"Stopping the fireballs isn't enough!" Master Pakku called across to them. "Help me direct a flow to attack the ships!"
"There are too many!" Paruda called as the team beside him stopped another flaming volley. "Where are the other warriors?"
"The exit's been blown away! They can't get up here!" someone shouted.
Pakku swore under his breath. The defenses were supposed to hold, but they hadn't. A single ship had breached the protective wall and cut off their reinforcements. It was all falling apart too quickly, and the battle had scarcely begun.
ooo LL ooo
Pulling Toph behind him, Aang ran towards the battle. "Come on, Toph! We have to hurry!"
"I already told you, I can't see where I'm going through all this snow and I can't earthbend! What am I supposed to do?"
"You can metalbend," Aang reminded her without slowing down. "If I can get you to one of the ships, do you think you can fight?"
"I'm good, Twinkletoes, but I can't take on a whole ship by myself!" Toph shrieked.
"That's why I'm going with you," Aang replied. "I'll watch your back. Now let's go!"
ooo LL ooo
On the ground, Katara and the Kyoshi warriors were engaging the first of the Fire Nation soldiers. In a flurry of frost and fans, they managed to hold back the onslaught.
Katara saw Mariko bend like a reed just beneath the blow of a Fire Nation sword, grab her attacker's wrist and drag him down with her. Tenshi sliced through a firebender's protective armor with the edge of her fan, downed him and went on to the next.
Katara herself was lashing out at no less than five at a time. They lunged towards her only to be halted in their tracks by the icy grip of her watery tentacles. For now, they had things under control. But it seemed they would never stop coming…
ooo LL ooo
"Hang on!" Whipping open his glider, Aang sailed into the sky and over the wall with Toph holding onto him for dear life. She could hear explosions and the sloshing and slicing of waterbending as the Southern Water Tribe tried to defend their home below. The wind brushed against her cheeks for just a minute before she felt Aang lowering into a dive.
She landed on a deck made of metal; she could feel the iron and steel form of the Fire Navy ship even through the leather soles of her sealskin boots. Immediately springing to action, the little earthbender shifted her hands and lifted them, then pushed her palms forward, rippling the steel floor so that every Fire Nation soldier on it was knocked off balance.
Aang landed just behind her, whipping out a hard air current with his staff and sweeping several of them over the side into the icy waters. "Nice going, Toph!" he complimented.
"Not so bad yourself!" she replied, tearing a piece of the metal floor upwards and bending it into a crude sort of armor. She skated forward in it, mowing down the recovering soldiers and knocking them aside with her metal-covered fists.
ooo LL ooo
From the prow of the command ship, Azula watched with an evil grin across her beautiful face. "Commence landing!" she ordered zealously. "Show them no mercy. And keep an eye out for General Iroh. He's here. I know it."
I only wish Zuzu were here, she thought, so I could kill him myself. Oh, well. Sending Uncle into the spirit world to join my treacherous brother will have to do… that and sending the Water Tribe into an icy grave. And then she began to laugh, barely aware that she could not control the twitching at the edges of her troubled smile.
ooo LL ooo
Settled in a lotus position on the rug, Zuko watched as a gap-toothed little girl with unruly braids came forward with a bowl of bean curd puffs. She offered him the bowl, but he politely shook his head.
"My name is Meng. I'm Aunt Wu's assistant."
"Hello," he nodded.
"So, why are you here? Are you going to ask Aunt Wu about your love life?"
"I didn't know I had to ask her about anything," Zuko murmured.
"Oh, it isn't hard! Just tell her what part of your life you want to know about. She does the rest."
"Do Aunt Wu's predictions usually come true?"
"Oh, yes! Only, sometimes they take longer to come true than you want." Meng gave a forlorn little smile. "Like me. Aunt Wu told me I'd marry a man with big ears. At first I was sad, because there's nobody my age with big ears in our village. I thought I met him not too long ago, but I was wrong. I liked him, but he didn't like me."
Zuko's ears turned a little red; for some reason, that reminded him a little of Mai. "Don't worry. You still have plenty of time," he offered kindly. "Besides, sometimes the person you end up falling in love with isn't the person you would have expected when you were younger."
"Really?" Meng brightened a little. "Thanks. You sound like you're in love yourself."
The banished prince thought of Katara, and smiled softly. "Maybe I am."
"Welcome, young man." The elderly lady with the golden moon on her forehead came forward regally.
Meng blushed, holding the bowl of bean curd puffs out to Zuko again so Aunt Wu wouldn't think she'd been neglecting him.
Aunt Wu gave a sweet little laugh. Meng was always so eager to help. "That's all right, Meng. Our guest is only hungry for answers, I think." She turned to Zuko. "Come with me. I've been waiting a long time for you to show up."
Zuko raised an eyebrow as he stood. "You have?"
Aunt Wu gave him a slightly mysterious smile. "Oh, yes. In here, then."
As if in a dream, Zuko followed Aunt Wu into another chamber, this one built around a central fire with a tiny gold tray of bones sitting beside it. She motioned for him to sit, then she sat beside him.
"First, let me see your hand." Aunt Wu examined the lines on his palm with a tracing finger. "Oh, my. Your childhood was full of sorrow and anguish. Your father is a cruel man, and he was very unkind to you."
Zuko inhaled sharply. So far, this Aunt Wu seemed to know what she was talking about.
"And now… I can tell that you are torn in two. It's like you're living two different lives at the same time, walking a tightrope between them. A little further down the road, you will have to choose, but I see that you make the right decision. And… hmm! This is most fortunate. Your love line shows that despite all the unhappiness in your past, you still have an open heart. A great romance is in store for you, and much joy as a father and a husband."
"Really?" Zuko couldn't keep the astonishment from his voice.
Aunt Wu nodded, closing his palm between her soft wrinkled hands. "You are a powerful bender, and you have a great destiny ahead of you. There will be struggles and sadness, but in the end, you will find the peace you have always longed for, and the love you desire will be there by your side." She paused. "I wish you had stopped here before. I could have told you all this ages ago."
Zuko cocked his head to one side, his hair hanging down as if to hide him from her view. "What are you talking about?"
"You rode through here a few months back, with a woman in black and a very handsome older man. That scar on your face, just there. I recognized you the instant you came into town, young man."
"Oh. Right." The prince hung his head. "Well, if you knew it was me… I was a terrible person then. Why would you want to talk to me now?"
"Let me tell you something," Aunt Wu replied. "I can tell a lot about a person just by looking at them, and you've changed much since I saw you last. A great weight has been lifted off your shoulders. Still, you're very worried. You've been doubting yourself. Don't question your choices so much, honey. There will always be a chance to make new choices, and to make amends for the old ones. Just concentrate on living each moment. Follow your heart. It will never lead you wrong."
Zuko looked at the floor. This Aunt Wu seemed to know everything about him, and he'd told her nothing. "Thank you for your wisdom, and for not judging me." He started to stand, then paused. "Can I ask about something else?"
"Of course, dear. What's on your mind?"
"I'm looking for someone. Well, I mean, I'm not looking right now… I want to be looking for her, but I can't, because…" Zuko sighed. "It's my mother. She's missing. Can you tell me anything about how to find her?"
Aunt Wu cocked her head to one side. "Well, I can try. I can see this means a lot to you, so let's consult the bones. They are the most accurate method of fortunetelling." She held the gold tray of little bones towards him. "Choose one, and throw it into the fire."
Zuko stared at the stack of dried white bones, wondering what animals they'd belonged to. They all look the same. He closed his eyes, and thought of Lady Ursa sitting beside the turtle-duck pond at the palace, then with his eyes still shut, reached into the bowl. As he felt the smooth, cold texture of the bone against his fingertips, he opened his eyes, and without hesitating threw it onto the flames. It settled, then cracked, and cracked again. Aunt Wu peered thoughtfully into the fire.
"Hmm," she said, rubbing her chin. "Your mother is hidden away for her own safety, but she is alive and well. You will find her in a place that is guarding a great secret, with a white flower in her hand."
White flower… Zuko's heart raced. The Order of the White Lotus. What else could it be? Does that mean Uncle might know how to find her? No, it couldn't… why wouldn't he tell me if he knew?
Aunt Wu sighed. "I see the answer to your question has only raised more questions in your mind. I'm sorry I couldn't help you more."
"You've helped me more than you know," Zuko assured her. He stood and bowed respectfully with his fist against his palm. "Thank you, Aunt Wu."