Chapter 13: Reunited
An ostrich horse could be heard. Zuko sat up. He and Isla looked to the road to see Sela riding towards them in a carriage. She looked frantic and panicked.
"What happened?" Isla asked, concerned.
"You have to help! It's Lee – the thugs from town came back as soon as Gansu left. When they ordered us to give them food, Lee pulled a knife on them! I don't even know where he got a knife! Then they took him away." she started to sob, "They told me if he's old enough to fight, he's old enough to join the army. I know we barely know you, but …"
Isla hugged her as comfort. She watched as Zuko stood up.
"I'll get your son back," he said.
He looked at Isla. She nodded to him. They rode off to the Earth Kingdom town people scattered when they saw the two approaching on their ostrich horse. Isla caught sight of Lee who was tied to a tower. He seemed sad.
"Hey! There he is! I told you, he'd come!" Lee brightened up when he saw Zuko.
Isla dismounted. Zuko came down after her. He took off his hat, giving it to Isla. The soldiers approached them, along with Gow.
"Be careful…" she whispered to him. He gave a nod.
She watched as he took a few steps forward. "Let the kid go."
Gow laughed out loud. "Who do you think you are, telling us what to do?"
Zuko replied, "It doesn't matter who I am. But I know who you are. You're not soldiers; you're bullies. Freeloaders, abusing your power. Mostly over women and kids. You don't want Lee in your army – you're sick cowards messing with a family who's already lost one son to the war."
Gow glanced at one of his soldiers. "Are you gonna let this stranger stand there and insult you like this?"
The soldier ran forward, spear in hand. He went to attack Zuko, who pulled out his sword and punched the other man in the stomach with the hilt without fully unsheathing his sword. Zuko re-sheathed his sword while the man slid backward and ran away, panting heavily in fear.
A second Earth Kingdom soldier groaned and ran to attack Zuko with his spear this time. Zuko punched the spear upward to move it out of the way, grabbed onto the man's forehead, and shoved him to the ground. The man got up slowly and fled as well.
A third Earth Kingdom soldier charged toward Zuko with his spear as well. Zuko stood there, waiting, until the spear was close enough and kicked the spear right in the middle, snapping it. The spearhead, along with half of the spear, went flying in the other direction. The soldier gasped and ran away from Zuko like the two men before him.
Lee laughed in satisfaction. A crowd has gathered. Isla saw Sela, looking worried.
With the last of his cronies gone, Gow stepped up to the plate to fight Zuko, dual hammers against dual swords. They drew their weapons, and Gow threw the first blow, a rock he has earthbent, and powerfully thrusted over to Zuko. Zuko deflected it readily with his swords. Gow struck again, this time with three large rocks instead of one. He sent them over in rapid succession to Zuko, who deflected the first two easily. However, the third rock hit him in the stomach and he stumbled backward. Isla was concerned. Should she interfere?
Zuko did not falter, so he charged at Gow. An old man in the crowd cheered him on.
The old man shouted excitedly, "Give him a left! A left!"
An old woman chimed in, "It's not a fistfight…"
"He's got a left sword, don't he?" the old man replied.
Gow did the same earthbending trick as earlier; he threw three large rocks at Zuko. Zuko responded the same as before, deflecting the first two but the third one hitting him square in the abdomen. However, this time, he fell over and somersaulted backward, and managed to get up, although weakened and still stumbling around. Gow smiled.
"Look out!" the old man called.
"Behind you!" Lee shouted.
Gow earthbent again, but with increasingly larger rocks each time. He shot four rocks at Zuko, who managed to destroy each, one by one. It continued this way, Gow no longer giving little recovery breaks to Zuko. Isla was concerned. She wanted so badly to help but she knew Zuko would not let her interfere. Both were fighting at full force, although Zuko is so busy being defensive of the large flying rocks that he cannot become offensive to Gow. However, finally Gow created a rockalanche and directed it at Zuko. The crowd gasped collectively. Zuko was sent flying.
"No!" Isla exclaimed, running up to him.
She was relieved to see he was still breathing. Gow approached them.
"I won't let you!" Isla said, in her battle stance.
"What can you do?" Giw mocked.
Isla wanted to waterbent but she knew the consequences if she did. Before she could react, Gow locked her inside his earthmade cage. Isla growled, angry. Her eyes widened when she saw Gow raising his hammers to deliver the final blow.
Zuko's eyes opened. He reached for his swords and got up, creating a hurricane of flame. Gow dropped his hammers and was pushed over, and landed on his back. Zuko stood there, seething at Gow. Although unarmed, Gow stood up and raised his fists, determined to finish the fight. Zuko charged at him, sending various fire blasts. Gow tried to deflect them with earthbending, but the blasts were too powerful and he was sent backward again. Rocks hit his head as he landed in, with a cloud of dust.
"Who … who are you?" Gow asked.
"My name is Zuko. Son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai. Prince of the Fire Nation, and heir to the throne."
The old man shouted, "Liar! I heard of you! You're not a prince, you're an outcast! His own father burned and disowned him!"
Zuko knelt down toward Gow, who shuddered in fear. However, Zuko did nothing to harm him; he only took Lee's dagger back. Zuko walked toward Lee to give it back, but Sela intervened.
Sela said, "Not a step closer."
Zuko knelt down in front of Sela, with Lee peeking through, around his mother's back. He offered the dagger back.
"It's yours. You should have it," he said.
"No! I hate you!" Lee shouted. He left with Sela.
Sela pulled Isla to the side and whispered, "You shouldn't go with him."
Isla forced a small smile. "He needs me as much as I need him… Thank you for your concern."
Zuko and Isla rode out of the Earth Kingdom town. The villagers stood in lines on either side of them with various possible weapons in their hands: a hoe, a pitchfork, a rock for throwing. They watched the two leave. Isla could see the anger and hatred in their eyes. As they passed Lee, the boy looked the other way. Zuko ignored them, and rode off.
Isla hugged his waist tight and rested her head on his back. "I'm sorry…" she whispered.
Few days had passed since their encounter with Gow. Isla and Zuko finally found a river to stop by. She got down and ran excitedly to it. Zuko was busy tying the leash of the ostrich horse on a tree branch. Then he fed it with what little feed they had left. He turned around, but turned away after. Isla was in the waters in her bathsuit. Her warrior suit was neatly hung on a branch.
"Sorry, I needed a bath…" she said.
Zuko did not respond. She saw a few fish swimming around. Using her waterbending, she threw them to Zuko.
"You can prepare dinner first," she suggested.
Zuko was quiet. He readied a campfire and started roasting the fish. Nighttime came. Isla was feeling so refreshed after her bath. She sat by the fire Zuko had made.
"How are you doing?" she asked Zuko, who was busy eating.
Zuko swallowed his food. "I've been doing some thinking."
"You have? About what?" Isla took a fish and started to munch on it.
"I still have a feeling that I should capture the Avatar… but Azula is going to get in the way," he explained.
"Well, that is a good theory, but as father said, is capturing the Avatar really the only way?" Isla remarked.
"I don't know..! What do you think is the best way?!" Zuko almost shouted at her. He froze when he realized what he just did.
Isla had her eyes closed. "Please be reminded that you are not speaking to your uncle at the moment…" she muttered.
Zuko looked away from her. He felt guilty. They were done with dinner. Isla took a seat closer to Zuko. She was concerned. He had his eyes at the fire he made, trying to ignire her presence.
"I know how much it means to you to return to the Fire Nation. I want the same thing for me," Isla said, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"You can't return?" he asked.
Isla chuckled and smiled, "Trust me, there is more to me than what you are seeing…"
Zuko looked at her face. She was staring at the fire. He waited for her to speak again but she did not say a word.
"Are you…" his words were interrupted.
"Well, let's get some sleep, We have a long day ahead of us," Isla said, flashing a genuine smile.
When she stood up, Zuko held her hand to stop her from walking away. She turned to look at him and their eyes met. They stayed at their spots for a few minutes before she snapped her gaze away from him. She stood there, embarrassed. Zuko stood up and looked at her.
"You've been a great help…" was what he said. They went to sleep after that.
Isla was awoken by shaking grounds. She stretched her arm up. She noticed, clumps of fur fallinb from the sky. She took them inside her hands and recognized what it was; Appa's fur.
"What is going on?" she mumbled, standing up.
She went atop a cliff. When she looked over, she saw some sort of tank train mechanism. Close to it were three girls. Isla squinted her eyes to make out who they were.
"Oh shoot…" she exclaimed.
She jumped off the cliff and ran to Zuko. Who was already packing up.
"What's wrong?" he asked, confused.
"It's Azula!" Isla said.
Zuko widened his eyes in surprise. Soon, they were on their way, following the trail left by Azula's transportation.
"What are you gonna do when you see her?" Isla asked.
Zuko didn't answer but he looked determined. Isla heaved a sigh, her hands wrapped around his waist to comfort him.
Isla and Zuko soon reached an abandoned village, Tu Zin. They pursued Azula who was following the trail Aang had left. They could hear her talking.
"Do you really want to fight me?"
"You're going straight to a wall…" Isla muttered to Zuko.
They crashed onto the wall in front of them. Isla jumped off and hid away while Zuko leaped off the ostrich horse onto the ground. He stood up straight and threw his hat away.
"Yes, I really do." Zuko said.
"Zuko!" Aang was alarmed.
Azula raised a brow at him. "I was wondering when you'd show up, Zuzu."
Aang stifled his laughter, "Zuzu…"
"Back off, Azula! He's mine!" Zuko assumed a fighting stance.
Azula was calm. "I'm not going anywhere."
Isla hid behind a wall. She watched as the three stood, all prepared for battle. Aang fixed himself into a fighting stance, pointing his glider at Zuko. Isla sensed he was frightened. She was ready to butt in anytime.
Azula moved her arm forward and shot a blue fire at Zuko. He conjured a fire shield to deflect. Aang was shocked at the sudden movement.
"Aang, look sharp!" Isla shouted.
She ran in with a wave of water to stall Azula's pursuit towards him. He fled and leaped out of the way. Azula frowned. She sent a lightning at Isla who dodged in time. Azula aimed her blue fire blast at Aang. Aang began alternately jumping between two buildings, with Azula firing blasts at each spot he lands on. Aang finally reached the rooftop of the left building and scrambled to prop himself up.
Isla jumped in with ice shards to cut her streaks. Azula was not amused.
"You are one annoying meddler!" Azula shouted.
Azula sent off multiple blasts of fires towards Isla. The girl blocked each blast with waterbending, but the last one was another lightning. It sent her off, crashing onto a building.
Aang was watching. "No…"
He caught sight of Azula aiming fire blasts at him. Aang leaped off to another spot on the roof, only for Azula to repeat the same action. Soon, Aang landed on the ground inside the building, trapped beneath a pile of wooden planks. Azula entered the building through the doorway and sent two streams of fire along the sides of the wall. The blue fire spread around the perimeter of the room and turned an orange hue. Aang looked horrified as he attempted to break free.
Iroh came up to his daughter. "Are you okay?"
"We have to..help Aang…" Isla muttered, struggling to stand up.
"Let's go get Zuko," her father said.
Isla's blurred eyes caught Katara's figure. She smiled when she saw Katara running into the building and then out again. Azula followed her, but was stopped by Sokka, who emerged from another doorway and swung his machete her way. Sokka began chasing her. Azula was finally surrounded by Sokka, Katara and Aang.
Isla sat down beside Zuko. She wrapped water around her hands and touched his head. He regained his consciousness. He saw Iroh.
"Uncle…" he muttered.
Iroh nodded to him. "Get up!"
Isla and Iroh helped Zuko up. They ran to catch up with Aang's team who managed to corner Azula. Isla, Iroh and Zuko joined them.
Azula glanced up at each of them. "Well, look at this. Enemies and traitors, all working together. I'm done." She raised her hands up, "I know when I'm beaten. You got me. A princess surrenders with honor."
Iroh averted his gaze toward the other members, who remained on high alert. Azula suddenly smirked, took a step forward, fired a blast at Iroh, who got hit. He screamed in pain and fell to the ground.
Zuko was horrified, "Aaaah!"
"Father!" Isla ran up to him.
The remaining five turned to face Azula, four of them bending their respective elements and Sokka throwing his boomerang straight for her. The impact of the elements created a minor explosion, sending a thick cloud of smoke everywhere. The smoke disappeared and Azula had managed to escape. The blast caused fire to the remaining buildings.
Zuko knelt down beside his uncle. Isla was trying hard to heal him. Aang's team approached them.
"Get away from us!" Zuko shouted.
Isla could hear faint breathing. She glanced up at Katara.
"Zuko, I can help…" the girl said.
"Leave!" Zuko blasted fire at them.
Isla's and Katara's eyes met. Isla nodded to her and smiled as gratitude for offering to help. They ran away after that. Isla focused her whole energy in healing Iroh. Zuko decided to help patch him up. They looked for a building to rest in.
