After almost two years I finally found the time to check and publish chapter two. I must insist once again in my need for a beta reader, chapter three is almost finished and chapter fourth is on its way; but don't get your hopes up, as I said before I am an extremely lazy yet busy sort of guy, and college has been a real burden lately, but I only have three more semesters and a thesis to go, so hopefully this won't take as long as I had anticipated. I already know how this story is going to end and have decided on certain twists and innovations that I have, sadly, not seen in this site; I just need to actually write them and think of a way to get where I want. I repeat the offer to become my beta reader to any interested readers out there, their help would be greatly appreciated. Please review, I don't mind the flamming, please notify me of any sort of spelling or grammar mistakes, I am not a native speaker, so it's normal that I make them, specially considering my reluctance to read anything that I have written, so, as you have seen, it could take two years for me to actually check something even if it's finished.
I want to thank my four first, and so far only, reviewers for taking their time to share their opinions; and I apologize to them specially for the long and unjustified wait. Fear not, this story will be finished unless I die or something. Special thanks to AzraelLilith for her kind insight and support. And to Rawwriieheart, I have to say that not really, at least not consciously, and that the plans I have, as far as I could see, have no sort of connection to the series you mention, but I shall take your comment as a great compliment, for I consider myself a fan. I have made a few minimal modifications to chapter one, so I recommend to re-read it.
„Gedanken. — Gedanken sind die Schatten unserer Empfindungen, — immer dunkler, leerer, einfacher, als diese.‟
"Thoughts — Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings, — always darker, emptier, simpler than these."
Die fröhliche Wissenschaft, §179 (KSA 3.502) - F. W. Nietzsche
THE SOUTHERN WATER TRIBE
To say prince Zuko had grown tired of life at the sea would not have been completely true. Annoyed as he was of the almost non existent variety of food, the one thing he and his crew and uncle Iroh wholeheartedly agreed upon; he had to admit that sometimes while he rested on the main deck after a long day of training and some exceedingly boring lessons of whatever subject his uncle thought appropriate for the day and occasion, be it history, war science and techniques, economics, culture, or politics and administration; the young Fire Nation prince would admit to himself that he was fortunate to be able to travel across the world and contemplate its natural marvels and the great architectural constructions of the four nations, or what was left of them; until he remembered the reason behind his travels; then he would angrily scowl and his hand would unconsciously rise to touch the left side of his face.
On this particular day he watched silently as the snow fell around his ship, it felt good to be outside for once, specially after a snowfall that lasted two days. His uncle had decreed that since firebending training could not be carried out, it would be replaced by lessons in history and culture of the Water Tribes. Prince Zuko swore that he would jump overboard if he had to listen to another account of his uncle's unsuccessful attempts at cooking stewed sea prunes or his great disappointment for having been denied the opportunity to travel north or south to study more closely the preparation of seals skins and the making of tents. How or when had his uncle found the time to read or learn half of the useless stuff he was so proud of while he was in charge of the Fire Nation royal army and navy, Zuko would never guess, but what intrigued Zuko the most, was Iroh's devout interest in the culture and traditions of the other three nations. Fortunately for Zuko, today the sun had finally come to greet them and to show them a clear sky with a very light snowfall.
Yesterday's lesson had been about the current state of the Southern Water Tribe organisation. From what his uncle had informed him, there still existed a very small settlement that called itself Southern Water Tribe, despite the fact that they had no cities to speak of, the only one they had had, was destroyed almost sixty years ago when the raids began. According to the Fire Nation records, as of six years ago the whole south pole was considered officially conquered and pacified, since the last waterbender had been dealt with by the Southern Raiders.
The Southern Raiders were one of the many Fire Nation Navy's special forces tasked with raiding any of the southern regions of the Earth Kingdom and the Southern Water Tribe. Fire Lord Azulon had decided that the geographic obstacles and the treacherous weather made any form of prolonged invasion or attempt of colonization to the Southern or Northern Water Tribe a complete waste of time and resources, since the invasion force could be detected with anticipation, and by its arrival, the Water Tribe would be already scattered in the cold regions of the frozen tundra, and any attempt of chase would be a suicide, as they could not manage to supply a large invading force for too long while waiting for the members of the tribe to regroup and present battle. Instead he had selected a few elite navy soldiers and ordered them to raid the Southern Water Tribe and to capture and kill all the waterbenders. Azulon had believed that without benders not only would be impossible for the Southern Water Tribe to mount an organised and powerful attack or to give any considerable aid to the Earth Kingdom, it would also leave its remaining members completely defenseless against the power of nature; and they would eventually submit themselves to the Fire Nation asking for resources and medical aid, "The south pole itself would conquer them for us", he had said to the council when he signed the royal decree that declared the creation of the Southern Raiders. Until this day no messages or help requests had been received by the Fire Nation, but Fire Lord Sozin and his son Azulon had always held patience and caution as values of the outmost importance.
The Northern Water Tribe was a different history, the south pole was all a big plain stretch of frozen tundra very easy to raid, with no physical obstacles and very thin ice on its coasts that allowed the penetration of the Fire Nation's ships, in contrast to the mountainous tundra of the north pole, protected by a ridiculously big belt of icebergs that surrounded the north pole, added to fact that its only colossal city was built inside gigantic walls of ice and was located in an inhospitable tundra terrain, accessible only via small opening in the mainland from the sea. The feeble attempts of a raid had been completely annihilated before they even reached the mouth of the city, defended by a thick wall of ice. Fire Lord Azulon had refrained from attacking it again, and the lack of any sort of response or attempt of attack by the Northern Water Tribe, or of any attempt to send help to the Earth Kingdom or its sister tribe, had convinced him that he didn't need to worry about them, instead he concentrated on his legendary conquests in the Earth Kingdom, satisfying himself by leaving a considerable part of his northern fleet in a permanent blockade of the north.
Prince Zuko wondered why his uncle couldn't just limit himself to what was necessary to know on his lessons; having to learn the political organisation and social customs and traditions of the Fire Nation, boring as it was, was necessary for him as he would one day perhaps, rule over it; but he couldn't even phantom a situation in which the knowledge of the appropriate symbols to carve in a southern betrothal necklace and its different social implications in comparison to the northern necklaces would be useful in anyway to him. Although in their present situation he would perhaps welcome a bit more of practical applications of his uncle's legendary cooking skills, if it meant at least a small change in the flavour of today's dinner. A man could only live on seaweed bread and seaweed soup for so long, and since Zuko had decided that their emergency rations of dried noodles, frozen meat, vegetables and hard bread would be saved in case of an emergency, they had depended completely on the limited natural resources that the south pole had to offer. On their luckiest of days they had caught a few fishes and perhaps a turtle seal, but having fifty men to feed on board and an uncle that counted for at least ten, not to count the ten Komodo rhinos, they had to put up with a bit of hunger, specially during hard weather.
Zuko walked to the command tower and slowly rose to the observation deck, he wanted to search for any form of settlement and quickly begin his quest there. His uncle had already told him of the improbability of the Avatar actually hiding in the south pole, as he would have been discovered no doubt many years ago by the raiders. But still Zuko had insisted on checking on every bit of conquered land before venturing into enemy territory, and wisely so had admitted his uncle, he could use the time and travels to learn more from the world and to train.
Having already visited the four Air Temples and all the Fire Nation Colonies in the three years following his banishment, Zuko had become impatient, he knew the task given to him was not an easy one, and he had known it would take time and luck if he was to succeed; but there was an enormous difference between being aware of the difficulties in front of him and actually going through them and enduring them. As he reached the observation deck and asked the helmsman for a telescope, prince Zuko decided that if they could not find a settlement in the next two or three days he would call off the search in the south pole and travel north, perhaps to Gaipan or the Pohuai Stronghold, the closest possible to Crescent Island, the last island of the Fire Nation and the one closest to the Earth Kingdom. From there he could analyze the situation and decide the best course of action. He didn't have the luxury of time to wait for Fire Lord Ozai's generals to actually conquer the Earth Kingdom and the Northern Water Tribe for him to be able to search them at his pleasure, it even carried the implicit danger of them finding and capturing the Avatar before him; if his search in the south proved as useless as Zuko suspected it would be, he would be forced to infiltrate into enemy territory, he doubted his father would trust him enough to lead a military expedition against either the Earth Kingdom or the Northern Water Tribe. And he doubted he could convince his uncle to come out of from retirement and make another attempt to conquer Ba Sing Se, specially considering what happened the last time he tried to do so. Zuko would never admit it to his uncle in person, but he suspected that the only reason for his retirement was the fact that any young recruit reminded him of his lost son; and Zuko could never thank him enough for accompanying in his exile, despite the bitter memories that a military life, if the life in the ship could be described as such, would bring him.
"What time is it?" Zuko asked the helmsman, never taking his eyes of the horizon. The snowfall was coming to an end.
"One hour before midday, my lord." Answered the old private, he, as the rest of the crew had been selected by his uncle Iroh himself to man the ship, and not once had they complained of their duties.
"Good, change our course to the left, I want to avoid those icebergs, keep a safe distance to the coast but don't take us out of sight; if you see any sing of life, be it persons or animals, inform me immediately. I will be on the main deck training with Lieutenant Jee and his men, inform my uncle of this as soon as he wakes up." Said Zuko as he exited the room, delaying his exit for a moment to hear the expected "It will be done, my lord."
"Again!" Said Iroh, with just a hint of impatience lingering in his word.
Zuko spread his arms in the direction of the two soldiers facing him, he took just a second to calculate the distance, he then tensed his muscles and fired. His opponents blocked his attack without great difficulty. Zuko shifted his weight to doge a blast from the soldier to his left; just as the soldier to his right sent a blast to his feet. Then he propelled himself out of the way and twisted around in mid air directing another set of blasts, with his right hand to the soldier at his left and another with his foot to the soldier at his right. Both soldiers jumped out of the way of Zuko's flames just as Zuko landed and stretched out his fists towards his adversaries, ready to face another attack.
"No!" Iroh sighted and got up. Zuko lowered his arms and looked at his uncle.
"Power in firebending comes from the breath not the muscles. The breath becomes energy in the body. The energy extends past your limbs and becomes: fire!" Said Iroh as he directed a fireblast at his nephew that died out just before it could scorch him. "Get it right this time."
"Enough! I've been drilling this sequence all day. Teach me the next set! I'm more than ready!" screamed Zuko, barely suppressing the anger at being once again, reprimanded.
"No, you are impatient." Said Iroh as he sat on his chair. "You have yet to master your basics. Drill again!" He screamed his last order.
Zuko clenched his teeth and quickly turned around and directed a very powerful fire kick towards the soldier on the left, the soldier was unable to stop the fireblast and was thrown back by its power.
"I'm getting really tired of this basic set, for the last three months I've practiced it every day non stop. If the Avatar is still alive, he must be over a hundredth years old by now. He's had a century to master the four elements! I'll need more than basic firebending to defeat him. You will teach me the advanced set!" He screamed.
Iroh looked at him with firm eyes and a stern expression. "Very well." He conceded with a very dire tone, then his expression changed almost magically to one of delight as he picked his meal. "but first, I must finish my roast duck." he said as he happily started to eat and Zuko's expression tuned to dismay. Zuko was a few meters away before he realized what his uncle had just said.
"Wait? Roast duck? Where did you get it?" He asked as he turned to look at his uncle, who suddenly stopped chewing and looked quickly between his nephew and his meal, before nervously answering.
"I can explain."
"You didn't took that from our emergency reserves, did you?" Asked Zuko as he began walking towards his uncle again.
"O no, Prince Zuko, I swear to you I didn't take anything from our reserves." Stammered Iroh as Zuko caught up to him. "But I may or may not have suggested to the cook that you wouldn't mind having a bit of roast duck today at dinner… ahh to… celebrate the end of the snowfall." Iroh smiled and slowly began to walk away. Zuko's shoulders began tremble as steam came out of his nostrils and his face got really red; he turned around to find that the two soldiers that Lt. Jee had sent to him to practice in his stead where also slipping away slowly, if not for their masks, he could have sworn that they too had badly disguised scared faces beneath. Complicity hung in the air.
Despite knowing that officially, and more since his banishment, his status as a member of the royal family was equal to Iroh's if not a bit lower, owed to the fact that Iroh, though retired, was a general and older than him; Zuko never took it kindly when his orders where disobeyed, this was his ship. Zuko began shooting fireblasts to the air while screaming in anger like a madman, then he began to fire kick also, a few minutes passed before his anger died away and he finally stopped.
"Yep that's it prince Zuko!, if screaming helps to breathe while fighting, do so, but you may have problems if your combat situation requires stealth!" Screamed Iroh already halfway into the control tower and still chewing his roast duck.
Zuko decided that despite the compliment and the fact that tonight he would eat real food for the first time in weeks, he was still a bit angry; all pretensions of learning a new drill today vanished as he heard the loud steps of his uncle hurrying into the common hall, no doubt to see if he could eat all the roast duck before dinner; prince Zuko began to work on his basic drill alone, for what remained of today's sparring time. He hoped today's lesson was at least interesting.
Because of the nature of the typical, simple lifestyle that usually one would expect from a civilization that lived in the South Pole among the frozen tundra, and that most of the times settled not far from the sea. It would have appeared obvious to expect hobbies such as canoeing, fishing, and for the young and adventurous ones even jumping between ice floes; also it was not unheard of accidents occurring in any of those activities, but most children and teenagers usually ignored much of their elder's advice, dismissing it as annoying senseless ramble, until accidents actually occurred.
"I'm hungry." murmured a young water tribe boy. His face, now bleached because of the cold at which he had been exposed, still showed small vestiges here and there of the normally tanned skin that characterized the water tribe people. His head was currently lying on his sister's lap, she also appeared to have suffered the expected effects of having to survive two days stuck on an ice floe.
"I know Sokka, you've been saying that every ten minutes since yesterday." answered her sister trying very hard so stop her own stomach from growling.
"And not once have I lied." He paused for a moment, hoping it had sounded more funny than it actually had. "Katara? I'm sorry, I should have gone to the left." Said Sokka, his voice a little scratchy from the almost complete lack of water. His blue eyes locked right into his sister's, pleading.
His sister, Katara, sighted. "Don't worry about it, just try to move more please. I'm sure Gran-Gran has already sent someone to look for us, they should be here any minute." Katara reassuringly stroke her brother's messy wolf tail.
"That's what you said yesterday Katara." Said Sokka as he tried to get up. His sudden movement caused the floe to shake; he quickly stopped and held on to his sister's waist as if his life depended on it. Last night he had almost fallen to the cold water while tossing in his sleep, had it not been for his sister's quick reaction at his sudden yell when his left hand made contact with the water, he would have been beyond any hope. In fact their hope was quickly vanishing, every second they remained without food and water their chances of being found alive diminished drastically. Also, each second that passed the slow current took them farther away from the icy shore.
It was impressive by itself that they had survived already two days in the open during a snowfall, but fortunately for them, there had been no strong winds and their ice floe had somehow remained a float and intact; Right before the snowfall began, Katara had been able to catch a medium sized fish with her water magic, which she insisted was called waterbending and was some sort important cultural characteristic unique to their people, they had eaten it raw and cold, but they had had no choice; and just this morning they had been tempted to drink a bit of sea water, but Katara had recovered her senses in time to stop them.
Two days ago they had left their village to fish; Sokka had been complaining that he wanted some sort of meat. It had all seemed perfectly normal even when they had begun to argue because Katara had soaked Sokka while trying to catch a fish with her waterbending, allowing the fish that Sokka was hoping to spear to escape. But during their fight they had gotten distracted and a strong current had pulled their little canoe against a barrier of ice floes and small icebergs that were crashing against one another, destroying everything in their path. Sokka had paddled in an attempt to stay clear of any floating chunks of ice, in the end he had barely managed to stay clear of some of the icebergs, but then their canoe had been completely crushed between two ice floes, sending both siblings on top of one of the floes, the impact had been strong enough to separate the ice floe from the rest of the rest of the crushing floes and icebergs, it had sent them right in the opposite direction of the coast and had separated them from all solid objects, had it not been for the calm current, they would have drifted into open ocean, kilometers away from any land or hope of rescue. They could still see the shore clearly but it was about a hundredth meters away from them, and the closest iceberg or floe big enough to support their weight was about twenty meters away. Trying to swim was not an option, even if they could somehow make it to the an iceberg or a floe, they would be frozen to death before they could jump through the icebergs and floes, that and hypothermia would prevent them from reaching the shore, let alone walk through the snow back to their village.
"Katara, I have to tell you something." Said Sokka, sounding serious for the first time in hours.
"I know you're hungry Sokka, I am too, but please be patient; I've told you someone will be here for us in no time, I know it, please bear with your stomach just a little more." Katara playfully grabbed his brother's hand pushed it aside to try and tickle him in the belly. She stopped immediately when she felt his wrist, even through her very glove she could feel his skin was a little tougher than normal and she saw it was very white with a little yellowish here and there. Sokka's hiss just seemed to confirm her suspicions.
"Katara, my arm has been itching and it's beginning to hurt, and my feet are itching a little." Sokka looked once again into her eyes, this time he held on gazing on her now sad and terrified eyes, which were almost on the brink of tears. "I love you little sister, do you know that?" He himself was already being filled with the fear that came with the awareness of the closeness of death, the small cracking on his voice just made it more clear to Katara's ears.
"Sokka..." Was all that Katara managed to say before he gently pressed his hand to her lips, he caressed her cheek, letting his hand go slowly up to play a little with one of her hair loopies and continue up to pat her head.
Ignoring the tears that were falling trough her cheeks, Katara raised her head and looked around, desperately searching for any help, she didn't have any time to lose. If only she knew how to bend correctly, she could have saved her brother somehow.
Tui, please help me!
Katara looked once more to her brother's tired eyes, threatening to close; and once again to the shore and the sea, her heart ached as she tried to push away the thought that perhaps, the help would arrive to late, if it arrived at all.
Prince Zuko busted angrily out of his uncle's room, his eyes still wide with indignation. His features quickly caught up with his feelings and turned into a much more familiar scowl as he heard his uncle scream. "It's all right prince Zuko, you need not go find one right now it's not that important for the lesson!".
As he began descending the stairs, prince Zuko thought again of his uncle's ridiculous proposal of catching a turtle-seal to make some clothing water tribe-style in order to better appreciate the subtleties of the whole ritual that came with the hunting, the celebration to thank the spirits and the whole gutting, cutting, dying, sewing and whatever else needed to be done according to water tribe tradition; he even had prepared a sketch to work. Zuko could simply not believe it, how in Agni's seven cursed fires had this crazy old man managed to do half of what he had done in the battlefield was something that escaped Zuko's comprehension with each passing day he spend with his uncle.
When he was little, uncle Iroh had come rarely to visit him, and he still remembered how he sat in his mother's lap while hearing his cousin Lu Ten, relate to him the latest news form the war front; how the great general Iroh had conquered this or that; or how entire armies had been crushed in hours when facing his forces. And when his uncle actually came home, it was to take him and Lu Ten to Ember Island on vacations; never really showing him the brave fearsome side of him that made everyone speak of him with reverence and fear. When he asked his mother why uncle Iroh seemed to him a kind and normal man instead of someone to be feared, his mother had simply told him that all men, specially royal men, where expected to have to many faces, one loving and one fearsome; the loving one was for family alone, and the fearsome one was for the rest of the world. But no matter how he thought about it then (or even now) the kindly old man whom his sister Azula had taken on calling "His royal tea-loving kookiness" just couldn't be pictured as something fearsome.
Prince Zuko walked to the deck and began to practice his firebending again. Why couldn't his uncle simply concentrate his lessons on aspects that where actually relevant to the war?; Iroh could for example use this trip to the south pole to teach him about the organization of the water tribe's fleet, about their ships, their combat styles and how their military structure worked in actual battle. But no, he had insisted on teaching him about their dressing and how important (for them) it was the whole ritual that revolved around its making.
Quickly he got tired, as was expected after a whole day of rigorous training, a modest meal and an afternoon of listening to his uncle's crazy ideas with too much tea. The night had begun to fall, prince Zuko walked slowly to the side in order to have a better look at the west when the sun's light completely disappeared in the horizon. Dinner would be ready in less than an hour and he probably needed to bathe again, after this unexpected training session. As his sight fought to held onto the last rays of the sun, he quietly thought of home, of his country which he had not seen in three years. His hand went to his left eye and touched the scar that ran across almost half of his face; he thought of his father, of his honour, and this hopeless quest. No matter how much he tried to believe that he would eventually find the Avatar and return to reclaim his rightful place as crown prince, the three years he had spend traveling the world without being able to find even rumours that the Avatar still lived, had slowly began to eat away all hope. He would need to speak to his uncle about his plans of making incursions into the Earth Kingdom and the Northern Water Tribe soon.
"I wish you could give me a signal." he said as he looked directly into the last sun ray before it disappeared and left the whole ship in an almost absolute darkness. Zuko had just begun to walk away when he felt a bump hit the ship, he looked again into the ocean and saw nothing but water and ice floes, he made a gesture to leave when he felt it again; he sent several fireblasts to the side of the ship to illuminate, but still saw nothing; he was about to turn again when he heard it.
"Help!" It was a faint voice, almost completely drowned among the sounds of the waves and the air. The he heard it again "Help! Please stop!", and he felt another bump hit the ship, this time stronger, strong enough to pinpoint its origin. Zuko ran to the prow and quickly fired some blasts to illuminate the path in front of his ship.
Not fifty meters away he saw a very big ice floe, with two figures on it, one was standing and waving madly, the other was lying completely motionless. He saw the standing figure made a throw-like gesture that sent a wave towards his ship, and felt the bump that caused it, then he heard it again "Please stop! Please help us!". It took only a moment for Zuko to return to reality and he began to fire blasts into their general direction so as to let them know they had been spotted. Just then Zuko noticed that the ice floe was directly in front of them, and his ship was currently traveling at half speed, he doubted they could stop in time.
Prince Zuko ran to the base of the command tower and screamed with all his lungs. "Lower the speed immediately! And turn left! Or right! I don't care, but do it now!", then he fired two blasts in front of the command cabin, just to make sure he had been heard. The he felt the bumps again this time strong enough to almost make him slip, and he clearly heard as the last "Stop, please!" turned into desperate scream with the sound of crushing ice accompanying it, as he felt one last bump. Zuko barely made it to the prow to see the two figures, now trying to stay afloat, being carried left by the strength of the waves that his ship made as it advanced.
His mother and uncle, and even his crazy sister and her friends had always recognized, that even if he did not excel at almost anything, he always kept on fighting, that was one of his personals traits. But Zuko also, had faults, the one that was most noticeable, and the one his uncle never tired to remind him of, was that he never thought things through. At that moment, when he saw the two struggling figures in the cold water, he once again proved his uncle right. He fired a couple of more fireblasts, one to the control tower and one in the direction of the almost drowning people before he screamed like he had never screamed before "Man overboard!" as he jumped into the water.
Cold, it was all Katara could feel in the darkness of the ocean. She could feel her body getting heavier and heavier, all the while she refused to let go of her brother's hand, even as she went completely numb and let the darkness embrace her, as she and her brother began to slowly go down into the eternal abyss of the ocean and she felt nothing.
It was in the nothingness that the warm came, right on her lips. It was a very peculiar kind of warm, which she had never felt before, she felt the warmness leave and pressure on her chest, and then the warmness would return, just as she expected the pressure again, she felt pain, right on her throat. She opened her eves just as she coughed all the water out of her mouth, and she kept coughing for a long time until she felt the rash pain in her throat give away, and she struggled to inhale and exhale. Slowly her eyes began focus on what was in front, and more specifically on top of her, she saw two golden eyes and a scar.
Only then did she realize that she was no longer drowning, but before she could begin to ask what was going on, she felt the cold again, she was barely aware that she had begun to tremble all over.
"She's alive but she's freezing, quickly take her to the engine room, find her some dry clothes. How's the boy? And where's my uncle?" Asked the man, or rather boy with the scar, to some Fire Nation soldiers that had assembled around them. He too, was trembling and his skin was as white as the snow. She was about to ask where was Sokka when two men grabbed her and began carrying her, she was still trembling when her body suddenly remembered how tired she really was and the darkness took over again.
It was the sound and the steam that woke Katara, she slowly opened her eyes and found herself in a very comfortable and warm rug, covered by several layers of blankets and some pillows. The room was illuminated by several fires that came from some oven-looking like machines a few meters away, the whole room smelled of fire, coal and ashes; but at least it was very warm. She slowly sat and started to look around, she was about to rise when she felt a movement right at her back, she quickly turned and saw her brother sleeping, also completely covered by many blankets.
"Sokka! Wake up!" She said as she tapped his shoulder.
"Let him sleep." Said a voice coming from the shadows made by the fires of the machines at the end of the room, Katara released a very loud yelp as she turned to the voice, her senses still a bit numb, but very much on guard. She saw as a figure slowly rose from a meditating-like position and as it began to slowly walk at her, as he came closer Katara saw him more clearly, she recognized the scar immediately, as well as those brown golden eyes. He was dressed in a large red gown and apparently some red pants and black sandals. His head was almost completely shaven except for a portion of long black hair in the back-upper part of his head, which was tied in a kind of pony tail.
But Katara was still completely focused on his eyes, though she did not miss the fact that his face gave the general appearance of someone who scowled very frequently. Just as the man stopped a few steps away from her she attempted to rise, almost by reaction. Her legs however were still a bit numb and did not agree to follow her, Katara was about to hit the rug when two arms grabbed hers and held her steady, for a moment she looked again into those golden eyes, but the man looked quickly away, avoiding to look in her general direction, while he slowly lowered her into the rug and blankets; as she sat again, Katara for the first time gave a good look at herself, instead of her blue water tribe clothes, she was wearing a red gown, a very loose read gown, and nothing but her white underwear and her necklace underneath it. She quickly closed the gown and wrapped her arms around her chest area; she felt the blush on her cheeks, and looked again at the man, who still refused to look at her way. Katara was about to speak, just to be interrupted yet again.
"Can you move your arms and fingers?" Asked the man as he carefully gave as small glance at her direction. Katara looked down at her hands and tried to move her fingers, they moved alright, but some of them very slowly and clumsily so. The man sat down right next to her, he put his hands right in front of his mouth and nose and took a deep breath, Katara had just begun to open her mouth to ask what he was doing when he exhaled steam from his nostrils and a small flame from his mouth into his hands. Katara instinctively yelped again and jumped away. The man was a firebender, she realized, and right then all her fussy memories came back at her in a single hit; the ice floe, the fire nation ship she has saw, the fireblasts, the ship crushing their floe, the freezing water, the cold, the darkness, then the warmth on her lips, the pressure in her chest, the coughing, the soldiers, and again those golden eyes and the big scar.
"Give me your hands." He said, the commanding tone did not escape Katara, and she thought about about complaining about it, but before she could begin to gather her thoughts her right hand had extended almost by its own will. Katara felt the heat of the man's calloused hand right on hers, they were very hot, almost enough to cause pain and certainly hot enough to surprise her. Her hand instinctively tried to back away but the man's hands held her's steady, almost forcefully. Katara couldn't help but give a small hiss as those hot calloused hands began to massage her fingers, it was clear that gentleness was not something this man strived to convey on others. She looked again into his eyes, which were completely focused on her hand and she felt the blush rise again to her cheeks; since her father had left with the men of the village, Katara had not seen a man other than Sokka, and certainly, she had never seen any man close of her age ever before, again excluding Sokka; and even then, none of the men she had last seen almost three years ago had had brown eyes, Katara was so focused on them that she almost didn't react when he stopped massaging her fingers and blew another flame and steam into his own hands and asked for her other left hand. She simply extended it and patiently waited until he was done, all the time she kept looking right at him, she was sure he noticed but he seemed to ignore her.
"You were not that long in the water, so the frostnip you have is minimal, but still it seems you spent a lot of time on the floe without moving in the cold wind, the cold water may have accelerated the cooling, so I need to heat your extremities." He said as-a-matter-of-factly, and looked at her; a few seconds passed and he still held her gaze, as if waiting for her to explain him the nature of the universe, Katara was sure she looked as dumbfounded as she felt under his gaze, she was so confused because she truly didn't know what he meant and thus didn't know how to answer to his otherwise obvious statement, and the warmth she now felt in her hands and fingers did not help by distracting her as it began to spread to the rest of her arms, she felt as if a slow fire had began to grow on her hands, a fire like she had never even imagined one could be, always moving and expanding heat weaves in a very gentle pattern, almost like a beating heart. She noticed she could now move her fingers as if nothing had happened.
His face began to look impatient, then a bit exasperated and lastly embarrassed. Resignation and shame were written all over his features when he finally lowered his gaze, blushing and said.
"So... I need to heat your toes and feet and possibly your calves." This he said very, very slowly, almost as a whisper, as if dreading the very words that left his mouth. Katara was sure more than a few seconds passed with her gaping and the man looking at the floor, both blushing like a couple of idiots, before he gulped and dared to look at her again, the implicit request for permission was written on his now very embarrassed eyes. Katara knew perfectly well, being born and raised in the Southern Water Tribe, the dangers of the cold and of falling into the freezing water, she had seen at least once its effects and knew that the man spoke the truth, but it did not make it any less embarrassing. It perhaps took her a few more seconds than it should have taken to answer, and still she managed just a nod, and she stretched her right leg in his direction, but not without first grabbing the lower end of her gown with her left hand and holding it down to the floor so as to not let anything show and using her right hand to hold the gown firmly over her chest as if it the gown wasn't enough to actually cover her.
This only seemed to put more embarrassment to the situation, but somehow the man gathered enough courage to repeat the whole process of heating his own hands with fire and steam, and then to grab her right foot and put it in his lap and begin the whole massage thing. Katara would always remember this as the most awkward and embarrassing moment of her life; and for many good reasons; since her breasts had begun to grow and the women of her village had ordered her to put underwear around them apart from the loincloth that she was used to wear, she had begun to develop the natural sense of reserve and decency that all the women must have, or so had said Gran-Gran; even despite the fact that there where no grown men around other than Sokka, she had also begun to understand why her father and Gran-Gran had forbidden her to sleep with Sokka or Hakoda when she turned seven, it was simply embarrassing although at the time she couldn't understand why they didn't let her seek the warmth of his bed in the cold nights of the south pole like she had used to.
All of this had grown worse when her moonblood began to come, the first morning that she woke up to find that there was a very considerable amount of blood between her legs and blood stains all over her sealskins and sheets, she had shrieked like a possessed man until she woke Sokka up, for her bad luck, Gran-Gran had woken up early that morning to check on their sickly neighbor, so Sokka had tried to find the "wound" but Katara had refused to let him look, and had given him the slap of his life when he tried to look anyway. Gran-Gran had returned to find a very scared Katara and an arguing Sokka screaming at each other, Gran-Gran had severely scolded Sokka and practically kicked him out of the tent to help Katara clean herself, she then had explained Katara about the moonblood and taught her how to use some sponges to bear with it. Gran-Gran had explained that the moonblood meant that the spirits had granted her the blessing of bearing children, but when Katara asked her about the specifics, Gran-Gran had merely said that she'd tell her when she was old enough to marry and that it was improper to speak of such things openly with others. It was a few months later that the women of her tribe that had begun to deliver their babies, fruit of the last time they had seen their husbands nine months ago. And Gran-Grand had had her help with the deliveries, at first it had scared her to death, but after the third time she got the hang of it. This naturally had reawakened her curiosity about the whole subject and Katara had gathered enough courage to ask Tanrya, the dyer of the tribe, about it, after she had given birth to her second son. Tanrya was a kind and gentle woman, and she had understood Katara's curiosity and discreetly told her that of such things no decent woman should talk about, all that she needed to know was that when she fell and in love and married, her husband would know what to do on their wedding night, and she had refused to say more. So Katara, having witnessed several births inferred that it must had something to do with her private parts, but she had never dared to ask again about it, also having no boys other than Sokka around and being in charge of almost all the house duties she didn't even got time to worry about it and had no incentives to reflect on the subject.
As the man sitting in front of her massaged her toes and she felt the heat of his fingers spread to the rest of her foot and leg, the subject somehow returned to memory and her heart began beating rapidly and loudly, like a mad drum, she couldn't understand why. She tried to reason with herself that this man was from the Fire Nation, just like the one who had killed her mother, but she was unable to summon any anger or pain, which only confused her more and made her feel guilty. If he had not interrupted her thoughts to ask if she could now move her toes, she was sure her feelings would have made her dizzy; after a quick check and some movement from her part he asked for her other leg, he quickly finished and told her dinner would soon be brought to them; he raised and walked to the door.
"Wait! What about my brother?" Asked Katara as the man was about to exit the room, all embarrassment forgotten for a moment.
"I've already done all I can for him, the medic said that his toes and fingers might be swollen and will hurt him for some weeks but he won't need an amputation, when dinner comes, wake him up, you both need to recover your strength." Said the man as he walked out and closed the door. He probably didn't hear her say thank you, and her heart did not calm down.
It was no secret that General Iroh was a devout follower of good cuisine and tea making, in fact it was a trait that had identified him since he was a young lad, so it was no surprise to find him roaming the kitchens or deliberately changing the ship's course when an emergency, such as running out of a particular blend of tea or needing to taste a reputed dish of local cuisine, came up. This night was special not only because he had somehow managed to convince the cook to ignore Zuko's orders of saving as much food of the reserves as possible, and got him to make roast duck, but prince Zuko had "fished" two guests, and that always meant a small celebration was in order, even if it had only himself and perhaps the two guests as participants; still Iroh smiled as he took his teapot out of the flames and put it in the tray along with the rest of the guest's dinner. He was on his way to the engine room to meet the guests when he ran into Zuko.
"How are the guests prince Zuko? I trust they are warm enough there." It was then that Iroh met his nephew's gaze and was surprised to find a fading blush on his cheeks, but he attributed it to having spend those hours in the engine room, after all he was a firebender, and after a few minutes of warming and a small help from his fire breath he had quickly recovered from his little fishing trip, so spending any time in that engine room must have been really uncomfortable for him.
"They're fine uncle." Answered Zuko, his mind slowly returning to reality.
"Is that so? Well I hope they don't suffer any lasting consequences of their adventure. By the way prince Zuko, I'm very proud of you, yet I must say that it was very… unexpected of you to actually jump in to the water to save them, some would say it wasn't a very smart move on your part either." Stated the old general.
"They were drowning uncle, who knows how long they had been stranded out there, or if the crew could have gotten there in time to actually lower a rope or a boat and still save them. I didn't think uncle, I just acted." Countered Zuko, he clearly felt a reprimand was coming, another lecture about how important it was for him to stop and think things through before acting. Much to his surprise his uncle just smiled happily and said "And that's why I'm proud of you Prince Zuko, still I feel I must remind you to stop and think before acting."
Iroh continued to walk past him but stopped short when he heard Zuko saying, "Uncle, we must question these people, also there's something I need to talk about."
"Very well Prince Zuko, I'll talk to them during dinner, I believe no interrogation is necessary, you saved their lives, the least they can do is give us some honesty in return. And tomorrow we'll talk about whatever bothers you, now if you'll excuse me prince Zuko, I need to deliver this delicious dinner to our guests before it gets cold". And with that Iroh continued on his merry way.
Shame was a feeling Katara had gotten used to by a whole life around her brother Sokka, his clumsiness and occasional long streaks of bad luck and his poor manners were nothing new to her; but this was perhaps too much. Soon after the scarred man had left the room, leaving her completely embarrassed, confused and with her heart beating non stop, a very kindly-looking old man had come into the room carrying a rather big tray of food and tea.
The mere smell of food had woken Sokka out of his near comatose state and returned his skin a more healthy looking colour, and a big smile to his face. He had devoured all that the old man had offered him and had even asked for seconds and thirds, which naturally meant the old man had to go and bring more food, and had barely muttered a "thanks" resembling sound while gulping down his third plate, just before he returned back sleep, or rather the almost death state in which he was before the food came.
Katara had gaped at him the whole time, blushing, not knowing how to scold him properly or how to apologize to the old man for her bother's rude behaviour. So ashamed was she, that she had barely felt any relief at the sight of his brother being healthy enough to consume such great amount of food and move without any visible pain.
She had managed to send an apologizing look to the old man before her stomach reminded her that it had been almost three days since she had eaten anything. So, much too her dismay, she too had consumed her portion without the calmness and manners she would have liked to show to a stranger. The old man had simply watched them in silence with a gentle smile, it wasn't until Katara had finished her food, which had consisted on more dishes than she had ever thought possible and couldn't really name if she tried; and began to thank the old man for his kindness and for saving their lives that she suddenly remembered that the scarred man had bended fire, and then she noticed for the first time that the old man in front of her was wearing a military-like looking uniform, a Fire Nation uniform. Katara's words began to stumble on each other as she became aware of the many details that she had not noticed until now, the ship she had seen and to which she had screamed for help was a Fire Nation military ship, and the scar she had seen on the young man who had firebended was a undoubtedly made by fire. Her eyes widened and she bleached.
"Is something to matter, young lady? You seem unwell again, would you like me to call for the medic?" asked the old man, and somehow his calm and soothing old voice and the kindness that radiated from him calmed her down a little.
"Are we prisoners sir?"
"No, my dear, you are our precious guests, my dear nephew went to much trouble to get you on board. Please accept our hospitality, tomorrow we'll take your home if you'd like."
"Aren't you Fire Nation, sir? Why would you do that? I mean... we're from the Southern Water Tribe." Asked Katara, to which Iroh responded with one of this typical smiles.
"That makes no difference my dear, my name is Iroh, this is my nephew's ship, and you are our most precious guests, you and your..."
"Brother sir, his name is Sokka; I am Katara, I'm sorry for his behaviour." Said she, blushing at the sounds of her brother's snoring which were quickly becoming louder. To this Iroh laughed in his grandfatherly way, which somehow seemed to calm Katara.
"Don't worry my dear, I am most honoured to make your acquaintance, my name is Iroh, but please call me uncle, your brother seems a very nice young man, both of you are very brave, and lucky that my nephew saw you as we were passing by. Your family must be very worried, tomorrow well take you to your home, if you're kind enough to point us into the right way, of course." Katara nodded and thanked the kind old man once again, before he left her and her brother to sleep for the night.
The next morning had come with a very welcomed lightning sun, and warm air from the north. Katara had almost forgotten the events of the last's few days, so as she woke up in an unusually warm makeshift bed in the engine room, her heart had skipped a bit until she saw her brother sprawled over the floor, surrounded in blankets, in a cocoon shaped form, snoring as if life depended on it. As typical as it was of him, when he woke up, he paid no mind to the fact that he had almost died, or lost a limb, that they were in a Fire Nation ship, full of Fire Nation soldiers; but he calmly asked what was for breakfast, as if she was supposed to just provide for his food and sew his clothes even in these unplanned and scary circumstances. Just as she was about to reprimand him, they heard the steps on the iron floor echoing in the hallway, getting closer to them; this seemed to remind her brother of the actual situation they were in, for he immediately took a defensive stance, or at least as much as his weak body allowed him. It was the old man that came, and as soon as Sokka's brain processed the fact that he bought food with him, he lowered his guard and asked if he could have some.
They quickly finished their breakfast and thanked the old man for his kindness; he seemed a very happy and serene sort of person, one to trust apparently, for neither she nor Sokka felt any danger in his presence. They tried to cover themselves as best as they could with the red gowns they had been given, as the old man led them out of the room to the deck, were his nephew was having his morning training; Sokka seemed to be slowly regaining himself, along with his awareness, slowly at first, but it was evident that each step he took, he took it with more fear in his heart than the previous one. He had left the engine room as if he had just went out of dinner in Gran-Gran's igloo, and his surroundings, the snow, the neighbors, everything had turned suddenly into the Fire Nation ship they were; by the time they made it to the deck, he had checked at least ten times his back and side in search for his boomerang and his club, his nervousness began to affect Katara as well, but she kept her cool.
At the deck were two big tables, one contained weapons, on the far aside of which were Sokka's weapons, the other contained what appeared to be an improvised breakfast, both were under vigilance of two big, full armored guards. For a moment Katara feared that Sokka would immediately try and reach for his weapons and try something imprudent, but to her amazement, he remained calm as the old man told his nephew their names and that both had their health. Katara immediately recognized the man from the previous night, the shaved head and the big scar attracted her brother's attention, perhaps too much attention, the young man noticed and a frown covered his face. The sun was shining brightly and a gentle, warm breeze from the north surrounded the ship, and played with the man's ponytail. He was completely bare-chested, and Katara tried very hard to look away from his well developed muscles, and hoped that nobody noticed the small blush that took over her cheeks, in the years since her father hat taken the men to war, Katara had completely forgotten what men looked like while training. She had completely lost track of the old man' words by the time he introduced them to his nephew.
"Miss Katara, Mr. Sokka, I present you my nephew, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, son of Fire Lord Ozai, grandson of Fire Lord Azulon, and commander of this ship. He apologizes for not consulting you and one-sidedly taking you into his ship, he hopes you will honour him by accepting his hospitality and allowing us to escort you back to your home."
Katara was completely speechless, it was hard enough to her to process the fact that she and her brother owed their lives to Fire Nation soldiers, but to find that the prince of the Fire Nation himself had personally rescued them from certain death, healed them, and provided shelter for them was too much, not only that but they had slept under his roof, and as such, by Water Tribe costumes, not only they were in his debt, but by eating his food and sleeping under his protection they were bound to him by the sacred laws of hospitality. One of the only few laws that was universally accepted no matter what nation you were from, and in the Water Tribes, this was a particularly important and revered law, for the lack of compassion and help in any other part of the world, more often than not was nothing more than a night's sleep in the open field and a couple of days without nourishment, but the refusal of one's hospitality to a stranger in the merciless cold and ice, or the lack of gratitude from the receiver often meant certain death. Sokka must have had the very same thoughts for he immediately deposed his previous defensiveness, and despite his own unspoken objections, and his hate towards the Fire Nation, he went to his knees and thanked their savior.
"My lord, my sister and I owe you our lives, and are in your debt, we cannot possibly repay you for your kindness, and your offer to take us home." Katara had never thought that her brother could have behaved so maturely, had they met this prince in any other circumstances, he would have certainly tried to kill him, no questions asked. Only later in her life, as she reflected upon this day's events, would she come to fully realize that Sokka had been truly honest in his words and actions, that his love for her and his gratefulness to this prince were strong enough to make him forget, even if just for a moment the hate he had for his nation, but what would surprise her the most, was that she too had for a moment forgotten the hate that her mother's death had borne into her heart. She was so stunned at her brother's words and actions that she barely noticed that she too, had kneeled in front of the prince and quietly awaited his response.
The prince had rather quickly reassured them of his hospitality and told them that their clothes and personal belongings would be returned to them after they had been washed, in the meantime, he invited them to take a hot bath, and to speak to his uncle in case they needed anything. But Katara had been too distracted to actually remember the prince's exact words; if that were not enough, the bathroom were they were led to by the old man was big and impressive, almost as impressive as the machinery this ship had that made possible to have fresh and hot water in such big amounts. By the looks of her brother's eyes, he too was completely astounded.
As she was used to, she bathed rather quickly, for even now the old habit of having to take care of the household duties did not left her; and dressed back in her usual attire, which had been left for them in a dressing room adjacent to the bathroom. Sokka took his time, first observing every single detail of the tub, the tap, and what could be seen of the pipes, then playing around in the water, finally cleaning himself, but when Katara returned to check on him and found him sleeping in the bathtub, she decided to let him rest and wait for he old man, Iroh; but out of the boringness of having no tasks to do, and out of mere curiosity perhaps, she decided to return to the deck.
The iron halls were big and labyrinthic for her, and a couple of times she thought she had lost the way, but she kept calm, and finally found a stair that led directly into the open, from were the fresh wind, the sun rays and the sweet smell of the see came. She came out to what appeared to be a balcon, exactly one floor adobe the deck, she could see the prince practicing just below, and only the sight of his fire kept her from getting too close to the handrail, she sat half a meter away from the edge of the handrail, lest she be seen. Katara would not be able to tell if she had spent hours or mere minutes gazing at the prince while he practiced, she watched his sweaty muscles reflect the sun's light and his fire dance around him. Only the sudden appearance of the old man took her, and the prince out of their respective concentrations. She thought about making them aware of her presence, but she decided not to, for whatever reason, that decision would change her life completely, and perhaps that of the entire world.
"Excellent prince Zuko, you've almost mastered the footing technique."
"Uncle" the prince interrupted, made a pause after sighting and looking at his uncle. "I'm tired, uncle."
"That's understandable prince Zuko, you have been training non stop, why don't we take this day off from training and continue our study of the history of the Water Tribes? We may even get to hear first hand one of their beautiful love songs if our guests would honour us tonight. I've read some of them, but as you know the books I possess..."
"Uncle!" Screamed the prince, and only the scream itself and Katara's quick reaction of covering mouth with both hands kept her surprised gasp from being heard by the two men below her.
"Uncle." began the prince again, this time more calm. "It's been three years uncle. We've been to the Air Temples at least twice, we have lost ourselves searching across and through the Earth Kingdom's coasts, we have suffered heat, cold, wind, hunger, and all sorts of problems going from island to island, from one point into the other without rest, we even got attacked by earthbenders when we searched the colonies, I had to dress as a peasant and risked my life along with yours to search the Earth Kingdom cities, following every clue we could get our hands on, going after every rumour, and crazy old lady talk we found, no matter how absurd, and we still have no idea, not even a dumb guess of the Avatar's location. And we have been freezing our asses in this spirit's forsaken place for months with still nothing to show for. I knew this was going to be a difficult task uncle, but I never thought it to be impossible, no one has seen or heard of him for a hundredth years, what if he really is death uncle? What if I never recover my honour?"
Iroh placed a hand on Zuko's shoulder and looked at him. "Prince Zuko, you mustn't despair, finding the Avatar is no walk through the garden, your grandfather and your great-grandfather all spent their entire lives looking for him, and that's precisely why you have an advantage prince Zuko." said reassuringly.
"How uncle? How is it that I'll manage to do with a single ship and a fifty men what they could not do with the armies of the Fire Nation at their backs?" Asked Zuko.
"Prince Zuko, your great-grandfather destroyed the Air Nomads, defeated the fleets of the Northen and Southern Water Tribes and conquered a massive portion of the Eastern Earth Kingdom to settle our colonies. Your grandfather conquered almost the whole Central Earth Kingdom, the Southern Water Tribe and put the Northern one in a siege that has not been broken to this day. And I myself conquered almost all the western cities of the Earth Kingdom and I came close to taking their capital." This last words he uttered not without evident pain that did not escape Zuko's noticing, yet not a single one of these words was spoken as a boasting or prideful remark.
"Now with the exception of Omashu, Ba Sing Se, some small cities and islands, and the Northen Water Tribe, there's not a single spot in the whole world where the armies of the Fire Nation have not gone, and where your ancestors have not looked for the Avatar thoroughly. As soon as we confirm with our own eyes that he is not here, we would have searched in three years in all the places that your forefathers searched over the course of a hundredth. That'll only leave three possible hiding places for the Avatar, without counting the small islands and cities of the Earth Kindom, most of which we have explored on our own already. As you see the collaborative work of your forefathers combined with your efforts have put you in the perfect position to archive your objective, prince Zuko."
Zuko let a single smile scape his lips, and his uncle smiled too. Iroh would never tell Zuko openly, but his own doubts about the Avatar kept him from any real hope of finding him, but it was a hope that he would never deny to his dear nephew; the smile however, did not last and soon the shadow of desperation covered Zuko's face again.
"Uncle, I know that, but even if he's hiding in any of those places how are we going to get there? How can we enter, let alone search, find and escape with the Avatar without conquering those places? Uncle we need an army and a fleet, and even if we somehow managed to get one, as soon as we began an attack on the Avatar's hiding spot there's no guarantee that he won't run away like he has done the past hundredth years without us knowing." Zuko paused for a moment to look closely at his uncle's eyes, deep down he knew that his uncle also shared his doubts and fears, yet only he could help him now, he had considered these things already and had one idea, but he could not do it alone. Before Iroh could answer to any question, Zuko continued.
"Uncle I have given much thought to this, I've wanted to talk to you about it for a while. If we were to try and enter Omashu or Ba Sing Se, we would be killed before we got to the gates, and if by some miracle we managed to get in, we would never be able to get out, even without the Avatar. The cold would kill us even before we found the entrance to the Northern Water Tribe. If I were to wait until our armies got there I'd be twice your age by the time they conquered those cities, and there is the risk that someone else could capture the Avatar before me. Uncle, I cannot wait until that time comes and I must be there when it happens. My father will never let me take command of an army, but he would listen to you if you came out of your retirement, you are also a prince of the Fire Nation and by far the best general alive, the whole army would approve and welcome you."
Zuko got to his knees and bowed before his uncle. "Uncle, would you listen to my request? Would you help me conquer the Earth Kingdom and the Northen Water Tribe?"
"Prince Zuko, I..." Iroh had no idea how to answer to that, the loss of Lu Ten had convinced him to never fight again, and his journey to the spirit world had made him understand the futility of his nation's war; it was only his love for Zuko that made him leave his tranquil retirement and join him on his quest for the Avatar; but no, he would never fight again if not to protect those he loved. Also he had long ago considered the possibility of the Avatar having already reincarnated into the Water Tribe, or even the Earth Kingdom; a hundredth years was a very long time, the current Avatar could be completely unaware of his own identity, it was for Zuko's sake only that he dared to have a fool's hope of finding him. "Prince Zuko, you know I love you, you are all I have left since I lost my son. I lost Lu Ten in a foolish fight for glory, would that he were still alive, even if we were nothing more than common peasants. I promised to help you and guide you in your mission which I will do, but this request I cannot do."
"Uncle, please." Zuko's desperation was evinced on his voice. "No one else can do it. Look at the situation, ever since you left, the army has only lost conquered land, whether my father accepts it or not. That poor excuse of a War Minister that's Lord Qin, has done nothing but waste money, men and resources in his useless inventions. General Bujing has done nothing in the western front but lose all that you conquered while sacrificing the lives of our soldiers needlessly and provoke the wrath of both colonists and conquered alike with his taxation and cruel handling of justice. Admiral Liang seems competent enough, but he's not even half as good as the traitor Jeong Jeong was."
Iroh gently took Zuko' shoulders and rose him, he looked at his eyes and hugged him before speaking. "Prince Zuko, I am vey proud to see that you have matured very much, and thought this trough, I pleases me very much that you have kept an eye on your nation's affairs as befits a prince of the Fire Nation. But I will not do this... you must't lose hope, not everything is going as bad as it seems, Lord Kang has done a great job organizing the southern militia..."
"Uncle! Lord Kang delayed his army's advance for three weeks because he was too busy visiting every pleasure house he could find near Gaipan! I hear he takes to bed any woman that he happens to find, which is why he has sired more than sixty bastards all across the world! I cannot hope to rely on them, I have only you, please uncle."
"Prince Zuko, I have followed you and I will keep doing so, helping in every way I can. But I will lead no army ever again, should you decide to ask your father for troops, or attempt an infiltration in your own, I'll be there at your side always, but I will never fight a war again. I'll go check on our guests, I will see you at dinner Prince Zuko." Iroh left after those lasts words.
Katara was a whirlwind of emotions, anger, hate, fear. She had heard them so easily talk about armies, and conquers and such, without spending a single word to the pain and suffering they had caused and were sure to cause to the innocent, just like her, just like her mother. Moreover, she had always put her faith in the Avatar's return to give peace and justice to the wronged and protection to the weak; the Avatar was her hope, the only hope for her and the world, and yet the prince wanted to take that away from her, from the world, just like the Fire Nation had taken her mother. She was about to scream at that arrogant and cruel prince all the insults she knew, but before she had gotten on her feet, red from her anger, she heard him scream and firebend flames as big as her igloo, big enough to burn half of her tribe from a single shot, she felt the heat near her face, even though the flames were directed in the opposite direction of her current whereabouts, for a moment everything from the sky and the clouds to her own clothes seemed as if they had been painted in red. All the memories she had been suppressing of the day she lost her mother came back at her in that instant, fear stopped in her tracks, and she quickly ran back all the way back from which she had come. Fortunately for her, prince Zuko was caught up in his own wrath, and his screams and his flames were so loud so as to hide the noise she made from running in the metallic hallways, and the echoes from her panting.
Katara arrived to the bathrooms completely covered in sweat and white from fear, but still confused enough from the sudden coalition of emotions that had taken place in her heart. She barely noticed how she washed her face out of pure instinct, or how Sokka came out of his bath and asked her if he had taken too long. She walked immersed in her own thoughts, barely acknowledging the world around her as Iroh led them to the observation deck and asked for directions to their home. Sokka has almost wept from joy when the helmsman told them they would be there in less than two hours, yet Katara's mind was still fixed on the conversation she had overheard, on the prince's plans, on the prince's fireblasts, on the prince himself. Led by her own hate and desire for revenge from her mother more than her natural wish for peace, she decided that prince Zuko was a threat to the world and all the innocent people, and despite her debt to him, he needed to die if the Avatar was to be safe and the world to have hope for peace and justice. She needed to kill prince Zuko.
Prince Zuko's anger was nothing new to his crew, after three years of uninterrupted travels and adventures around the world, they had grown so used to his sudden outbursts of rage, and the following savage-like wrath and fierceness he showed in the training sessions, but this was a little too much, after half an hour of throwing fireblasts the size of a small komodo rhino, and screaming in hate like a madman, Zuko's body finally caught up with him and he stopped just in time to see that half his crew was watching from afar to the mess he had made.
The whole deck was covered in ashes, and everything stank of burned air. It took the natural courage that came from leading a veteran's soldier life, and the sense of security that came with being an above average skilled firebender for Lit. Jee, the ship's third person in command after Zuko and Iroh, to quickly order the men to begin the cleaning and return to their posts. Zuko saw him bow and speak.
"My prince, the helmsman and General Iroh wish to inform you that we shall be arriving at the Southern Water Tribe in less than twenty minutes. General Iroh has requested the honour of your presence at the command tower; and he has suggested that you and him personally greet their chief after returning our guests to their families. I insisted that you should have and escort at all time, we do not know if they will try to attack us, but the decision is your's."
"Thank you Lieutenant, you are dismissed." replied Zuko, still trying to regain control of himself, as he went to his cabin for a bath. Angry or not, Zuko was still a royal prince and knew very well that he had to present himself as such to the water tribe; all the while considering the issue of the escort. His security was of course a priority, but rebels or not, the Southern Water Tribe had been officially conquered and as such it's population were citizens of the Fire Nation on the one hand and if they were ever going to accept that they also needed to see their prince's trust in them, it would also send them a clear message of who was the boss if he were to come unguarded, it meant that they were no threat to him, but on the other hand if any attempt on him happened to be successful, it will demoralize his nation's army, and humiliate himself before his father and his nation once again. So the question was whether he trusted enough in his and his uncle's skill to overpower whatever warriors they found in there.
By the time he had finished his bath and put on his armor, he had decided to trust in his and his uncle's strength, for if the reports of the Southern Raiders he had read on the Water Tribe before coming here were accurate; the Water Tribe's warriors had all but left on a rebellion and joined their small excuse of a fleet to the Earth Kingdom's army; so there would be no more than a hundredth or so warriors, with few weapons and no more than a few warships if any, all made of wood and no challenge to his war cruiser. Besides, according to his uncle's lessons, the water tribe people weren't savage enough to ignore the sacred laws of hospitality, so as long as those two he had rescued acknowledged him as a guest, their families would be bound to protect them from any harm, and no water tribesman would attack one of their own.
As he entered the command tower where his uncle and his guests were waiting for him, along with Lit. Jee's seven men escort, he was informed that they had arrived at their destination and that in a few minutes the raised spiked bow would be lowered to form a loading ramp, it also appeared that the whole village had reunited right in front of them, but they had not yet declared if their intentions were hostile. Zuko took a look at them with his telescope and quickly dismissed the possibility, only women and children were there, he wondered if perhaps the warriors had left in search for his guests, for he could see no man around, nor ships; in fact he saw only a bunch of igloos all equally small and rachitic. Zuko was very intrigued, had the Southern Water Tribe divided into tiny villages? Surely this was not the whole Water Tribe? Zuko gave a glance at his guests, who seemed rather impatient to return to their families, his gut told him that this was so. So there was no need to fear after all; he dismissed his escort, much to the Lieutenant's dismay and his uncle's smile.
He and his uncle did not even exchange a word but they went side by side as they descended through the ramp. His guests remained at their backs until they were in front of the tribe, if a bunch of women and children, all dirty and seemingly malnourished could be called as such.
"Gran-Gran!" He heard his guests behind him scream and run towards the oldest woman, she hugged them strongly and began to cry, they too were crying. He had to remember their names at some point, he was sure his uncle had told him their names, but his attention immediately returned to the matters at hand when he saw that the boy was telling the old woman something, all the while making ridiculous hand gestures, the old lady looked at him, then at the boy a few times while he spoke, at last she looked at him with a confused gaze, as if he had just tuned into a pink chicken-pig, after the boy finished his tale, all three of them came to him, the old woman bowed.
"Thank you, my lord, thank you for saving my grandchildren. Please accept our deepest gratitude and be welcomed to the Southern Water Tribe, you honour us greatly by your presence."
"There's no need for thanking, it's a prince's duty to protect all of his subjects, but I would like to speak to the chief if possible." Answered Zuko, while he looked for any man that he might have not noticed before, he retuned his gaze towards the old woman, confusion was written all over her face.
"My lord, there are no men here other than my grandson Sokka, he is the man in charge." She said gesturing at the boy he had saved.
This time it was Zuko who was surprised, he looked as if they had all turned into turtle seals and began to fly.
Katara followed the prince and the general during their short stay. The general had been very curious about everything he saw, he had asked Gran-Gran about every single detail he could think of of their lifestyle, from the making of igloos to fishing seasons, how they organized their provisions and treated their sickly, the way they dyed their skins and how they got hand on the occasional piece of metal and wood. While prince Zuko had returned to his ship right after they had dined and heard some songs around a fire with the whole village; the general had actually written the songs down in a notebook and then he had asked to be told about their religious rituals. Everyone had liked him, he had even made some of the beverage called tea that he had given to her and Sokka back in the ship for everyone, and he had singed a song for the children. Yet Katara was more amazed by the fact that everyone had almost forgotten that this man was from the Fire Nation, but Katara knew the truth about his intentions, she would not be deceived.
Midnight had already passed when a soldier came from the ship and told the general that they would be sailing at dawn and that his presence was requested. The General had quickly dismissed the man and returned to his questions about their trade routes, Katara thought to herself that most of the information he was receiving was useless and outdated, for they had not traded at all since her father had left with the men and the ships, they had not gone to the islands of the Earth Kingdom to pick wood or hunt, there had been no whale hunt, no marriages no nothing; even some of the things that Gran-Gran told the general were completely alien to her, for she had been born long after the last chiefsmoot, and the last trial against a member of the water tribe had been during Gran-Gran's youth; some of their sacred ceremonies had not been performed in more than sixty years, since the last waterbender had been taken by the Fire Nation, even Gran-Gran had not been alive when the last trader came to their village, and of course Katara had never seen any of the great ice buildings that the Fire Nation had destroyed in its raids.
It was only when the general had asked if they told any legend concerning the Avatar or if they had heard any rumours about him, that Katara began to pay more attention to his questions; even if she knew that there was no reason to fear, since they knew no more than him about the Avatar, she had been prepared to immediately interrupt Gran-Gran from her tales and stories should she reveal anything that might jeopardize her hope, but it turned to be an unnecessary worry; after much conversation and many plates of stewed sea prunes, the general had bid everyone goodbye and wished them all well before returning to the ship; Katara's eyes had followed him, and she had taken notice of the fact that the loading ram had not been lifted.
As usual she had helped Gran-Gran clean, and the women to take the children to bed while Sokka went to sleep. She had gone to bed and sincerely tried to sleep, but rest would not come to her, she had to stop prince Zuko, she could not let the world lose its last hope, she would not lose her last hope. In her mind she thought of her life so far, of Sokka, of the village, her friends, of her father and Gran-Gran, of her mother. She could ignore it all just for this night and tomorrow her life would continue normally, as it always had; then the image of her mother stuck to her once more, she missed her sorely, anger and sadness, and compassion to the weak began building inside her again. Katara began considering the possible outcomes of her next decision, whether she succeeded or failed in an attempt to kill the prince, she would be killed and probably would the whole village; and even if she succeeded, what use would it be?, the general would still be in a position to harm the Earth Kingdom, and her father; it would be hard enough to kill the young man, but killing the two was impossible for her, even if the whole village suddenly joined her; and still it would be meaningless to even try, the Fire Nation would not stop the war just because a prince had been killed, it would just turn their wrath against themselves. Convincing the prince to end the war would be more effective than killing anyone. She thought, immediately her eyes opened wide at her realization, if she could manage to convince the prince to end the war, or at least stop him from his search of the Avatar, then everything would turn out okay, there was not even the need to succeed actually, she just needed to delay him enough for the Avatar to return; and only if the situation became desperate enough, she could try and attack him. But only when we are far away from the village, she decided. Though completely untrained, she was a waterbender still, the spirits would protect her, the Avatar would protect her, yet whatever she planned to do, it had to be done away from the village, she had to stowaway with them.
She quietly left her skin-made bed and dressed, slowly reached for Sokka's biggest hunting sack and threw in as much clothes as she could find, some food and much to her dismay, she found herself taking some of the money her father had left them.
At the entrance to her igloo she dared one last look back and whispered a gentle "I'm sorry." and began the walk across the village that would take her to the ship, she had not even made half the way when she noticed that tears were tuning down her cheeks, she stopped. What was she doing? What would Gran Gran and Sokka do when they found she was gone in the morning? How could she force them to carry the worry of her sudden disappearance? Katara was still crying and pondering over these questions when she heard a voice behind her.
"It's always hard when the questions begin, right when you are still unsure if you should continue or turn back."
Katara turned around and took a few steps behind, afraid that she had been discovered. "Gran-Gran! How did you... ? When...? I..."
"It was not that hard to figure it my child, you have been quiet the whole day, observing; and a door to the wide world came with that ship, and also came a young man, a young man whom you kept staring for the whole afternoon." Even in the darkness, Katara could see Gran-Gran's smile, and she felt a blush come to her checks.
"Gran-Gran, that's not it! I..."
"Then what is it? Are you so tired of your dull life with us that you just want to go without a goodbye?" Gran-Gran advanced towards her and gently washed the tears from Katara's cheeks.
"Gran-Gran, I... I must do this, please don't ask me to stay."
"I won't then, have a safe journey." Answered Gran Gran as she pulled her into a tight embrace.
"Gran-Gran... I... what? I mean... why?" Asked Katara, completely taken by surprise, her grandmother laughed.
"I once met a young woman, Katara, almost as young as you are now, she lived a very normal life with her friends and family, but one day she discovered that her destiny was elsewhere, she didn't know how or why, but she knew she had to leave if she was ever to be happy; she knew her friends and family would try to stop her if she told them, and she'd be forever chained to a life she did not want and was not meant for her, so she left secretly without saying goodbye to anyone, she abandoned everything she had known until then and travelled to the other side of the world where she found love and happiness. That young woman made me promise her that I would never stand in the way of someone's destiny, even if I didn't understand or shared it. I can tell that this is your destiny, and though it pains me to see you leave, I too know somehow that it must be so, do take care my love, may the spirits watch over you, remember to always follow your heart no matter where it may take you or what hardships you must overcome." Katara felt Gran-Gran's tears mingle with her own, she felt her grandmother's hand stroke her cheeks and a gentle kiss in her forehead.
"Now go my child, I'll deal with your brother in the morning, be careful and remember to follow your heart." Katara gave one last glance to her grandmother and ran all the way to the ship, she ran because she feared her resolve would abandon her if she delayed too much. She quietly entered the ship, and took as a good signal from the spirits that the moon was new and the stars did not shine that night, only the spirits know by what chance she managed to avoid all the guards and retrace her steps to the engine room, where she hid behind some boxes on the corner furthest away from the entrance, and as soon the adrenaline left her, a very deep sleep took over her. Katara would later find out that the woman from her grandmother's story was her grandmother herself, and that she had never returned, nor had she seen her family or friends again.
After his uncle confirmed that there was nothing remotely relevant to his quest in the South Pole, Zuko had ordered a full speed return to Earth Kingdom's waters; the weather and the sea had been very propitious, not a single cloud or wind or iceberg had stood in their way, so they had made a straight line to the Earth Kingdom, so quick that just two days had sufficed to take them right past the Southern Air Temple and Kyoshi island. When he had first seen the old war cruiser that had been given to him, he had cursed, but the old machine was incredibly fast. With his telescope he could see the very thin outline that formed the Earth Kingdom's shore, according to his map, right in front of them was an unconquered village called Chin, in honour of Chin the conqueror.
He ordered the helmsman to keep the coast in sight and follow it till the nearest Fire Nation controlled harbor. His uncle would be happy to be able to replenish his blends of tea, but Zuko would not yet tell him the real reason for this stop, almost in the enemy territory, instead of continuing all the way to the Seedy merchants pier or the Pohuai Stronghold. Last night he had sent a messenger hawk to his father, Fire Lord Ozai, for the first time since he was banished. After his uncle's refusal to take help him, he decided that he had to try at least to infiltrate Omashu and Ba Sing Se, so in his letter he had asked authorization to explore and search in the enemy territory and if necessary to cooperate with the generals in charge in order to do so; asking for command would have been folly, so this was the best he could hope for.
Dusk had come, Zuko kept looking in the coast's direction, anxious to find a harbour to wait for his father's response. Light had almost gone and Zuko was about to give up and head to bed when he saw movement, small and barely distinguishable in the near darkness and the distance, but Zuko could make out the shape of ships, a lot of them, they seemed small enough to fit in a nail and still leave free space; at first Zuko thought that it was a Fire Nation fleet, but then he remembered that there had been no reports of any patrolling or passing this far south, his gut told him trouble was near, yet it could have been a merchant fleet for all he knew, in the distance it was impossible to differentiate a warship from a merchander's ship, but Zuko had never heard of a merchant fleet so big in numbers. After continuing in the same direction for another hour Zuko was about to call for his uncle when he felt it, a big rock hit them on the left side of the stern, the whole ship trembled and some of the men in the control tower fell to the floor, immediately the alarm sounded, and then came the screams.
"Incoming! We are under attack!" Was heard below the deck, on pure reflexes Zuko managed to order evasive actions to the helmsman, grab the loudspeaker and order everyone to battle positions, a second rock hit them on the lower side of the stern, and screams and battle cries were heard close by, Zuko searched in all directions for the attackers, he looked through a window and fired the biggest fireblast he could in the sound's direction, it was not enough to hit them, but the light clearly showed the enemy, they were being attacked by an Earth Kingdom warship.