Spirit of Fire

Chapter 3: On the Road Again

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender

It was early in the morning as the members of Team Avatar were finishing breakfast and packing up their camp. They had decided last night to take some mini-vacations as a way to relax. With all of their stuff packed everyone climbed into Appa's saddle as Aang sat on Appa's head holding on to the reins.

"Yip yip," cried Aang and Appa began to rise into the air.

"So, where are we going Aang?" Katara asked once they were well into the flight.

"There's this field that the monks use to take us to for flute practice," explained Aang.

"Great, a flute practice field," chimed Toph groggily; as she was still not used to flying on Appa.

"You know we could be using this time to gather information on the Fire Nation. Not wasting it in on some field," added Sokka who was against the whole mini-vacation idea.

"Oh lighten up, Sokka." Katara replied to her brother, but even she was wondering what was so great about a field.

Zuko looked around the floor of the abandoned house that he and Iroh had been staying in and made sure that he wasn't forgetting anything. It had been six days since the attack and Iroh was finally well enough to travel for long distances. Which was a good sign because they had already lost enough time. However, at the very least Zuko had gotten some training in. Aoihi's knowledge was harsh, but it was also very informative. Zuko had learned how to summon the healing green fire and the teaching red fire. He also learned how to increase his speed with small, controlled bursts of fire. Zuko had also made it past the first five levels of firebending training. However, he still had several more levels to go. Zuko walked out of the house to where Iroh and Song's stolen ostrich-horse were waiting for him.

"Did we get everything, nephew?" Iroh asked.

"Yeah," Zuko replied as he mounted the ostrich-horse.

Zuko then carefully helped Iroh mount the ostrich-horse behind him. Once Iroh was securely on, Zuko lightly tugged on the reins to get the ostrich-horse moving. With a squawk the animal began moving heading to their next destination; wherever that might be.

The air was calm and still as Yue rode her ostrich-horse along the river bank. She had learned many things in the three days that she had spent training under master Pakku and healer Yugoda. However, she was already well versed in waterbending; so, the night before her fourth day of training she fled the Northern Water Tribe.

Yue knew her father would protest her being Akaimizu's champion and would try to stop her from leaving. At which point, she would have to use lethal force to be on her way. And if Arnook didn't try to stop her, he would at least want her to travel with a unit of warriors; which would be too distracting for her. So, she had gathered her belongings and had waterbened her way out of the tribe. It had worked rather well, as the entire city was made out of ice.

Once Yue had reached the open water, she bended some water into a solid circle of ice thick enough to stand on and simply flew across the ocean until she landed on the northern shores of the Earth Kingdom. After resting in a small town, where she bought the ostrich-horse, Yue continued on her way following the river that would take her to Serpent's Pass. Once she arrived at Serpent's Pass, all she would need to do would be to head north to Ba Sing Se. So far, for a journey that was to be wrought with peril, this was a surprisingly peril-less journey.

The quiet serenity of Yue's journey was quickly brought to a shattering end, as from the forest sprang five Fire Nation soldiers. The ostrich-horse squawked in surprise, as the soldiers surrounded Yue. There were three in front of her and two roughly behind her, but still in her peripheral vision.

"Surrender or be killed, peasant!" shouted the soldier in front of her, as he got into a firebending fighting stance.

This was an unfortunate turn of events, as her journey could not be slowed by any unnecessary distractions. The soldiers would be meeting a cruel end. In a quick fluid motion, Yue stretched her right hand to the river and then swung it towards the forest, while clenching her hand into a fist. With the quickness of Yue's arm, the soldiers were unable to move as five separate streams of water shot out from the river and hurtled towards them. The streams of water froze into large, unforgiving pikes of ice. The pikes hit the soldiers with such force that they were knocked off their feet and hurled back until they were stopped by the trees, where the pikes pinned them. Within moments each of them died due to shock, blood loss, or a combination of the two.

Yue got off of her ostrich-horse and walked over to the dead soldiers. Normally she would never do what she was about to do, but the time for being normal was long gone. She thoroughly searched each of the dead soldiers for valuables. At the end of her searching, Yue had a surprisingly full money pouch, a set of throwing knives, herbs, mini-bombs, and two high-grade swords. 'Hmm, a hundred gold pieces not a bad haul. Though, the throwing knives, herbs, and mini-bombs were a surprise and I never would have expected to find a Fire Nation soldier with a sword. Much less two of them and such fine swords; they'll fetch a nice price if the next town has a weapon's shop,' Yue thought to herself as she stored the items in the saddle bags of her ostrich-horse. Once the items were secure, Yue mounted her steed once more and continued on her journey. Though, she rode a little faster this time as to not be ambushed by any more Fire Nation soldiers.

After about an hour of riding, Yue came upon a fairly moderate sized town. Within a few minutes Yue found the town's weapon shop. She tied her ostrich-horse to the posts outside and got the swords and mini-bombs. With the weapons she wanted to sell in hand, she opened the door and went in.

The shop was fairly plain, it was small with only three aisles and the purchase table in the back. The walls and aisles were adorned with weapons; ranging from swords to spears to gauntlets to daggers and everything else. Yue quietly made her way down the middle aisle and went over to the purchase table to speak with the shop owner about selling the weapons.

"Excuse me; are you the owner of this shop?" She asked the graying, middle age looking man behind the purchase table.

"Yes, I am," replied the man. "I'm Ju Wei. What can I do for you ma'am?"

"I'm looking to sell these weapons and possible buy one for myself," answered Yue as she placed the weapons on the table.

Ju Wei grabbed the box of mini-bombs first and slid the box in front of him. Opening the lid, the man arched an eyebrow in surprise; it wasn't often to find someone selling bombs of any sort. He picked up each of the six mini-bombs; inspecting each of them for quality, imperfections, and possible tampering. When he finished inspecting the last mini-bomb, he placed it back and closed the lid. He then looked at Yue and said, "I can offer you nine gold pieces for these bombs."

"Why are you offering me such a low sale?" inquired Yue, who was hoping to get a larger sale.

"Bombs, of any sort, are not the primary weapon of choice around here. To sell these, I'll have to sell them at a low price to entice someone to buy them."

"Very well then, I accept the price."

Nodding his head, Ju Wei picked up the closest sword to him and unsheathed it. He began inspecting the sword; silently impressed with the quality of it. The sword was light, but still held a good weight to it. It was well balanced and the blade was razor sharp. The crafting of the handle made it a perfect fit for either the right or left hand. Ju Wei sheathed the sword and placed it next to the box of mini-bombs. "I can offer you fifteen gold pieces for the sword," he said to Yue.

"That sword is worth more than that. Twenty-five gold pieces would be a more reasonable offer."

"I can't afford to pay out that much money for a sword that may or may not sell. I'll go as high as twenty gold pieces, but not a piece more," replied Ju Wei.

Yue arched an eyebrow as she stared down the shop owner. After a moment, she replied saying, "Fine, I'll take it."

With the price of the first sword settled, Ju Wei grabbed the second sword and unsheathed it. As he began inspecting it, he took special notice of the crisscrossing twin dragons etched into the blade. 'Could it be?' The man thought to himself. He put the sword down and took out a book from behind the counter. Rapidly, he began to skim through the pages.

'What's going on?' Yue thought to herself, wondering why Ju Wei stopped inspecting the sword and started looking through a book.

She watched as he stopped on a page and looked at it. He then looked at the sword and then back at the book. Three more times he did this, before placing the book down and saying, "I'm sorry, but I cannot buy this sword from you."

"What? Why not?" asked Yue, who had been hoping for a sale.

Ju Wei pushed the sword closer to her and pointed to the twin dragons. "Do you see these markings?" he asked. At seeing her nod, he continued pointing out such as the distinct curve in the blade and the red and blue tassel on the tip of the handle. Ju Wei then pointed to an image in the book and said, "This sword is one of, currently, one hundred War Year Swords."

"War Year Swords?" Yue asked, not seeing what the significance was.

"It is custom, in the Fire Nation that every year a sword is made to commemorate the year. With the war the current swords are known as the War Year Swords. This sword was made by the legendary sword maker Piandao," Ju Wei explained to her. "This sword alone could cover my wages for the next three years."

Yue frowned slightly, having to keep the sword would make her too recognizable and it would be hard to conceal it. Her eyes widened as she realized something. Turning to face Ju Wei, she asked, "Would you be willing to make a trade for it then?"

"A trade?" Ju Wei asked. "A trade for what?"

"A trade for the sword," replied Yue. "I am in need of a weapon, but a sword simply will not accommodate my needs. So, if you have a weapon that fits my needs; I would be happy to trade you the sword for it."

Ju Wei couldn't believe what he was hearing. In all his years of business, he had never had the opportunity for such a great buy, as the sword was easily worth a wagon of weapons. "Well, what kind of weapon are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for something small, easily concealable, and deadly."

Ju Wei leaned back and rubbed his chin for a moment, thinking. "I think I might just have what you're looking for," he said as he went into the back of his shop. He returned a moment later with a small wooden box in his hands. Setting the box down, in front of Yue, he said, as he opened the box, "I believe these will suit your needs."

Yue looked as saw that in the box there were two silver gauntlets.

"I'll show you what they can do," Ju Wei spoke before Yue could say anything. He pushed back his left sleeve and placed one of the gauntlets on. Once the gauntlet was securely on he said, "As you can see, this looks like an ordinary gauntlet." When Yue nodded in agreement, he continued saying, "However, if I do this…" Ju Wei then moved what looked like a very small switch on the underside of the gauntlet against his forearm. "This happens," he continued as he extended out his arm fully at his side. Then with a flick of his wrist, a thirteen inch long blade shot out. With another flick, the blade returned. "Will this suit your needs?" Ju Wei asked as he removed the gauntlet.

Yue was quite impressed. The weapon was small, easily concealable, and deadly. "What sort of weapon is that?" She asked, having never heard of such a weapon.

"This is a hidden blade gauntlet. It's one of five weapons designed by The Mechanist," Ju Wei explained.

"What were his other weapons?"

"I don't know. All I do know is that this one was the smallest of the five. So, will you trade for this weapon?"

"Yes, I'll trade the sword the pair of gauntlets," replied Yue.

"Okay. Now, in this box is a secret compartment," Ju Wei said as he took out the other gauntlet and pulled up the bottom of the box to reveal the compartment. Inside was a small handwritten book, a small set of tools, and what looked like replacement parts. "This book will explain how the gauntlets work, mechanically, and how to repair it. Since, this is a custom weapon; these are the only spare parts that you'll be able to find for the weapon. Unless, you find The Mechanist. Each gauntlet has two sets of parts."

With everything in agreement, Ju Wei slid the box and a bag filled with twenty-nine gold coins to Yue.

"Thank you." Yue said as she took the box and bag. She then nodded her head in a respective bow and left the shop.

Once outside, Yue loaded the box and bag into the saddle bags of her ostrich-horse and untied him from the post. She decided that she would head to the next town before stopping for the night. Hopefully, it would only be another day's journey to Ba Sing Se.

After several hours of riding on the ostrich-horse behind his uncle, Zuko finally broke down and asked, "Uncle, where are we going?"

"Well nephew your comment earlier, about friends who don't want to hurt me, got me thinking and the truth is that I just might have some friends who could help us; instead of hurt us," Iroh replied to Zuko.

Normally, Zuko would have asked why Iroh hadn't said anything about these friends earlier. However, he wasn't in the mood for one of his uncle's cryptic life proverbs. So he settled for asking, "Where are these friends, then?"

"If we're lucky, they should be at the Misty Palms Oasis. Which is located just on the outer edge of the terrifying Si Wong Desert," explained Iroh.

"Oh, okay…" Zuko replied, right before his eye widened at a remark his uncle just made. "What a minute, what do you mean, if we're lucky?"

"Oh, nothing nephew," Iroh replied as innocently as he could.

"UNCLE!!" Zuko cried out in annoyance. He just prayed that whatever it was that Iroh was planning wouldn't result in their death or, worse, capture.

Iroh just whistled to himself as he nudged the ostrich-horse to go faster.

Koto was a proud Earth Kingdom citizen. He had been happily married to his loving wife Xain for seventeen years and had eight wonderful children with her, five girls and three boys. He, his wife, and his four oldest children all had stable jobs to help with family expenses. But still, he couldn't help but feel that he should have been able to do more for his family. He had gone from being the mayor of his small fishing village to being a Ba Sing Se refugee, due to an invasion of pirates. Funny, he had always thought that it would have been the Fire Nation that forced his family and village out. For eleven years, he had been forced to stay in this city, where things just seemed to get slowly worse over the years. Both he and his two eldest daughters held jobs in the Middle Ring, but due to the cost of everything Koto's family had to stay in the Lower Ring. However, it wasn't all bad; the people in the Lower Ring were very friendly. Much more so, than the Middle Ring and, spirits forbid, the Upper Ring.

Nothing ever really changed in Ba Sing Se, for eleven years he had worked as a baker in the Middle Ring. His wife took care of the house, children, and expenses. Jin, Koto's oldest, worked as a seamstress in a dress shop. Shi, Koto's second child, worked as a waitress at a popular restaurant close to Ba Sing Se University. Lin and Routa, Koto's third and fourth children, both worked in the Lower Ring. Lin worked at a laundry service and Routa worked at a wood shop. Tida, Koto's fifth child and fourth daughter, had been working at the Ba Sing Se Zoo, but was recently let go, due to severe cut backs. She now spent her days looking for work and helping her mother around the house.

Even the age the children started working hadn't changed. Each of them started at twelve years old. No, nothing ever really changed in Ba Sing Se. Or at least, that's what Koto used to think until roughly two days ago when his daughter Jin suddenly had two different shades of green in her eyes. Her right eye was still the same green it had always been, the eyes of his mother, but now her left eye was a brighter, more vibrant green, like the grass.

Both he and his wife had asked Jin what happened to her, but Jin had said she couldn't reveal what had happened, only that changes were soon going to come. He and Xain were unsure how to feel about that statement, but Jin had earned their trust and she was an adult. So, they had let it go and trusted her to do the right thing. Koto, just wished he had some idea as to what Jin was doing. The past couple of days, she had been training more and more in her pit. At least, she hadn't missed any work.

Maybe things would soon change.

Yue sat on her bed in the room of the small inn she was staying it. She had arrived in the small town about an hour from evening time. After renting a stable for her ostrich-horse and checking herself into the inn, she spent the next couple of hours just wondering around town gathering information. She then returned to the inn and had an early supper, curtsy of the kitchen's chef, and retired to her room for the evening.

Currently, Yue was going over her supplies before turning in for the night. 'Okay let's see,' the former Moon Spirit thought to herself. 'I've got a hundred and twenty-six gold pieces, a set of throwing knives, two hidden blade gauntlets, some herbs, one change of clothes, a small tent, three vials filled with spirit water form the Spirit Oasis, a map of Ba Sing Se, and my false papers form Akaimizu to prove that I belong in Ba Sing Se.'

Since Yue was on the other of the river, from where Full Moon Bay was she wouldn't be entering like most normal refugees. She was going to be sneaking into Ba Sing Se. 'I guess by this time tomorrow I'll be going by my alias, Kimiko.' Yue thought to herself. She knew that if she kept using her real name, someone could find her. Whether, it would be bounty hunters sent by her father, if he sent any after her, people who would try to use her status against the Northern Water Tribe, or worse, Sokka. During her brief time in the Spirit World as the Moon Spirit, Yue had often looked into Sokka's life to see how he was doing. It was interesting to note how quickly he seemed to have gotten over her death; with how much he seemed to be trying to garner her affection at the Northern Water Tribe. However, she wasn't able to get mad at him or even miffed for that matter. She knew that she had been using him; because in truth, she didn't want to get married. Hahn was the boy her mother had chosen for her when she was a baby and Yue never had a say in the matter. Her being engaged to Hahn was known all through out the tribe, so none of the other boys had ever dared approached her. Then one day, Sokka showed up and directly engaged her. Seeming to not care or not know about who she was. And so, Yue tried to use him. She thought that if, she showed more interest in another guy her father would annul the marriage to Hahn and then she could dump Sokka and be free to choose her own husband. Though the more time she spent with Sokka, the more real his feelings seemed to be. When she realized this, Yue came clean and told Sokka that she was engaged.

Soon afterwards, the raid from the Fire Nation Navy began and the Moon Spirit was struck down. When it was realized that She could sacrifice her life to save the Moon Spirit she did so; not for her people or because it was the right ting to do, but for her own selfish reason. It was her chance to escape and be free. However, it was that act of selfishness that drew Akaimizu to her and made Yue her champion.

Flashback

Spirit World

It was hard to explain the mysterious of Spirit World. Yue knew that she had only been in the Spirit World for a short time, but due to the strange flowing of time, or was it the lack of time; it had felt like a decade had passed. During her time in the Spirit World, Yue learned that she could waterbend. Not only could she waterbend, but she knew the different styles on waterbending.

Yue sat quietly on a large bolder overlooking a large lake. The sky was as black as night, but the area around her was as bright as day.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" asked a voice behind her.

Yue turned to see a red skinned woman with short blue hair. "Who are you?" Yue asked the newcomer.

"I am Akaimizu the Spirit of Water," replied Akaimizu.

"Oh. I am Yue the Moon Spirit." Said Yue.

"Sadly, you are not the Moon Spirit." Akaimizu replied. "You are a human that got lucky. However, it's time to correct that."

"What do you mean?"

"Tui was brought back to life, so there's no need for you. We plan to remove you."

When se heard this, Yue tried to bend the water from the lake and attack the strange woman, but the water would not listen to her.

"Nice try child," laughed Akaimizu. "But you really didn't think you could use water to attack an elder spirit. Much less, using Tui powers that I gave her."

"That you gave her?"

"Yes. I made Tui and La."

Yue suddenly found herself shaking slightly. All her life she believed Tui and La to be the oldest of spirits and here was one that had made them.

"With Tui alive, there's no need for you to be here. So, it's by that decision that you're to be removed form Tui's spiritual energies. Once removed, you'll start to fade into nothingness."

Yue found herself desperately wishing for aid.

"However, there may be a way for you to save yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"I know why you gave up your life to save Tui. You did it so you could be free, but now you are trapped here in the Spirit World. You wanted to be free on the Physical World."

Yue's eyes widened in surprise; at the spirit's knowledge.

"The balance of the world is now imbalanced. The elder elemental spirits are choosing champions to rebalance the world. The champions of earth and fire have been decided. All that remains is picking the champion of water. I want you to be my champion, Yue."

"Why me?"

"Because you're the only one who; can be my champion. The only Southern Water Tribe bender is to close to the Avatar and is to narrow minded to be my champion. I refuse to have anyone from Foggy Swamp be my champion. They may be waterbenders, but they're Earth Kingdom, same for those in the Fire Nation. The only place left is someone from the Northern Water Tribe. Unfortunately, most of the benders there are lacking. So, I thought to bring you back and let you be free; provided that you'd be my champion. Help rebalance the world and for your reward, you will be free to go and do as you please."

Yue thought for a moment before speaking saying, "Alright, I'll be your champion."

A few days later, Yue was brought back to life.

End Flashback

Akaimizu had told her that she would meet her fellow champions in Ba Sing Se. Form there they'd start taking action. The purpose of the champions would be to do what the Avatar couldn't do. Aang was only a child and people wanted him to face and kill the Fire Lord. Even though, he was a monk too. Anyone could see that all he wanted to do was spend his time bending, hanging out with his friends, and riding Appa. Simply put, Aang couldn't be the world's hero; at least not alone he couldn't.

With a soft sigh, Yue put out the candle in the room and lay down for the night.

Zuko mentally growled in frustration. Ever since Aoihi showed him the world's view on the Fire Nation and he became her champion, Zuko had been feeling different. Iroh explained that it was because Zuko had broken free and was now discovering who he truly was. Instead of, living solely to please one person. Zuko found himself being calmer and more relaxed in general. However, that calmness was quickly evaporating ever since they fled the Rough Rhinos.

First, they were stuck riding the ostrich-horse for a few hours. Then, they had to sell the ostrich-horse. Zuko felt bad about selling the bird, he was hoping to return it to Song. Next, they continued their journey on foot to the Misty Palms Oasis. Once there, they spent a couple of hours at a seedy desert tavern; until, Iroh decided to engage some old bald guy in a game of Pai Sho. Instead of playing a game, the two men looked like they were doing some sort of secret hand shake. It was at that moment, two bounty hunters yelled at the top of their lungs that they were there to capture them. Well, this had caused the rest of the people in the tavern to round on them, as they wanted such high reward for their capture. Luckily, Zuko, Iroh, and the old man known as Fung had been able to escape. The three of them walked silently across a couple of sand dunes and into a small desert oasis town. Once inside, the largest building in the small town which happened to be a flower shop, Fung was saying something about being honored to meet such a high ranking member of the Order of The White Lotus; whatever that was. At this point, Zuko had had it.

"Now that you played Pai Sho, are you going to do some flower arranging, or is this club going to offer some real help ?" Zuko asked them annoyed.

"You must forgive my nephew." Iroh said with a chuckle. "He is not an initiate and has little appreciation for the cryptic arts."

'Who cares about the cryptic arts?' Zuko thought to himself. 'The cryptic arts aren't going to tell me what you're planning uncle.'

Seeing Fung and Iroh walking through the door at the back of the shop, Zuko made to follow them but the door was quickly shut on him. Before he could ask what was meaning of closing the door on him, the small peep window of the door opened.

"I'm afraid it's members only. Wait out here," Iroh told him and then closed the window before Zuko could get a word in.

Frowning slightly, Zuko sat on the small cabinet net to the door. Looking around Zuko took in the sight of the shop noticing the many different flowers; especially, the interesting one next to him. Making sure no one was watching him, Zuko cautious leaned over and gave the odd flower a curious sniff.

'Doesn't smell half bad, for a flower,' Zuko thought to himself.

Several minutes passed with nothing happening, except Zuko get more bored with each passing moment. After a particularly boring moment, that was 2.6 percent more boring then the moment before it, Zuko heard the front door of the shop open. Zuko look towards the door to see a beautiful woman walking into the shop. She was tall, maybe an inch or two taller then him, with tanned sun kissed skin. She had long dark brown hair that was pulled back into a tight single braid and deep honey brown eyes.

"Hello, are you new here?" The girl asked.

"Oh, um no. My name's Lee." Zuko replied with a slight blush at the beautiful girl. "I'm here with my uncle. He's visiting some of his friends in the back."

"Glad to meet you, Lee. My name's Malaya." Malaya said introducing herself. "I came to pick up a special order for my mother, could you please see if Fung can get it for me?"

"Okay." Zuko replied as he got to feet. Zuko then faced the door and banged loudly.

"Hey there's a girl out here by the name of Malaya. She says, Fung's got a special order for her mother," Zuko shouted.

The door quickly opened, Fung's head appearing through the crack. "Hello, Malaya. I'm sorry but I'm a bit busy at the moment." He said addressing Malaya. Fung then turned to Zuko and said, "Lee, could you please check her out? Malaya's order is all ready to go. It's right there on the top shelf." Fung pointed to a nice bouquet of orange flowers, before he closed the door once more.

Sighing softly to himself, Zuko looked around the small shop to find the step ladder to get the flowers. After finding the step ladder, he climbed up and gently lifted the heavy pot the flowers were placed into. Once Zuko had the flowers down off the shelf, he went to the small counter that had the money book on it. He took a quick glace to see how they did everything and saw that it was a fairly simple process of writing the person's name down and how much they paid.

Zuko searched around the flowers and pot for the price. Once he found it, he turned to Malaya and said, "Your total is eight silver pieces and three copper pieces."

"Okay," Malaya replied as she dug into her money pouch for the correct amount. She then handed him the money and Zuko wrote her name in the book and the amount she paid.

"Thank you very much for your help, Lee." Malaya replied as she picked up the pot.

"You're welcome." Zuko responded. "If I may ask though, what are you doing out so late?"

"Well, since it's so hot during the day; most of the people do their shopping at night." Malaya answered. "If you're worried about anyone attacking me, don't be. I'm the leader of the Hami tribe, he largest tribe of sandbenders in the Si Wong Desert. If anyone attacks and/or kills me, they'll be risking a tribal war with the Hami."

Malaya then smiled happily at Zuko and turned to leave the shop.

When the door closed after Malaya left, Zuko sat back on the cabinet once again. Seeing that the meeting was going to be taking a while, Zuko closed his eyes and concentrated on a new more that he had been learning from Aoihi's knowledge. It was one of the few moves that didn't actually involve fire and the only move that didn't involve movement. The move was actually a sense. The user expanded his sense around him and he could feel everything around him by there temperatures. It was something like 'Heat Vision'; at least that's what Zuko was calling it.

The technique was developed around the middle of the Sun Warriors peaceful rule, to help those who were blind see. The technique eventually became lost during the three hundred year war. It was never recreated, due to people thinking blindness as being a weakness.

Zuko took to learning this technique for a practical reason; a warrior never knows when he might lose his sight during battle. So, it would be a good idea if he had something to help keep him going. As he concentrated, Zuko began to see the flowers, shelves, and walls o the shop. He could even see into the back room and saw that Iroh was talking to four people. Iroh was easy to spot as firebenders had a higher body temperature then non-firebenders.

'Now here comes the hard part,' Zuko thought to himself as he slowly opened his eyes. As he opened his eyes the heat vision's area of sense lessened and Zuko was just barely able to see into the back room. 'Still isn't strong enough.'

Zuko trained on his heat vision for a couple hours. Eventually, the events of the day began to catch up to him and Zuko slowly fell asleep.

Several hours later Zuko snapped awake as the door to the back room opened. "What's going on? Is the club meeting over?" Zuko asked as he snapped into a defensive stance.

"Everything is taken care of," replied Iroh. "We're headed to Ba Sing Se."

"Ba Sing Se? Why would we go to the Earth Kingdom capital?" Zuko asked wondering if his uncle had become touched in the head

"The city is filled with refugees. No one will notice two more." Explained Fung.

"We can hide in plain sight there and it's the safest place in the world from the Fire Nation. Not even I could break through to the city," added Iroh for emphases of the city's defensive strength.

The front door then opened and a man walked in saying, "I have the passports for our guests, but there are two men out on the street looking for them."

"That won't be a problem, Heto," replied Fung as he emerged from the back room with a cark holding two large urns with flowers planted in them.

"You'll escape inside of these," continued Fung. He lifted up the flowers to show that they actually only went a couple of inches deep. Iroh took the passports form Heto and climbed into the back urn; leaving the front urn for Zuko.

'This is not how I pictured, I'd be traveling.' Zuko thought to himself as he climbed into the urn and made himself comfortable. 'Well, at least I'll get more mediation done.'

The tops were quickly placed back on top and the gentle rocking of the cart started, indicating to Zuko that they were now being moved.

'I really hope this plan of yours works uncle.' Zuko thought as he settled down for the long trip.

Next Chapter: Welcome to Ba Sing Se

There's the end to chapter 3. Please leave a review, it lets me know if you're enjoying the story.