Chapter 4

Zuko's POV

I have walked the Palace Grounds for years now. Everything has been perfect here. The perfect blossoms are produced from the trees at the precise time. The weather has always been perfect, and is never gloomy. My fiancé, Mai, is everything I could ever hope for. She never talks out of turn, she always takes care of my personal needs and wants, and she is the perfect woman for me. Perfect…

The only imperfect thing would have been the Fire Nation Rebels, who constantly attack the outer walls of the Fire Nation. They attack the innocent, preying on the one day that they will kill me and overthrow the government. They hate anything that has to do with me, or the idea of a better world made of the ideals of peace. Everyday I hear reports about the Fire Nation Rebels, slaughtering children and raping women out of fun. Yet, everyday we are one step closer to taking them down…

"My Lord, Captain Jee's ship has been spotted at the pier, they are to be there soon."

Sighing, I looked up from where I was staring at the potted plant sitting on my desk, its blue petals had entranced me with their beauty. His ship was suppose to bring some of the Water Tribe members up here, who wanted to strike up some kind of proposal with us. Really I didn't want to deal with them right now, but I knew that when Chief Hakoda had written to me about the whole ordeal, that it was something surely important.

Turning back to the servant, I said, "Thank you for telling me this, please, tell my palanquin bearers to prepare to take Mai and I to the piers and to arrange for some carriages for the arrivers."

Brusquely bowing out of my private chamber, the servant walked away. Glancing back to the plant, I remembered her azure eyes, like the raging ocean with all of the emotions that she kept inside of that mind of hers. I have always wondered what she was doing after our paths went in different directions, but I also always remembered that she was the one who never loved me back, and that I love Mai…

Perfect Mai…

The pace of the palanquin bearers had made me almost think back to when I was on my ship with uncle and his silly proverbs…

"Life happens wherever you are, whether you make it or not."

Uncle always knew what to say whenever I needed help. At the beginning of my rule, he stayed with me at the palace for a while, but then I soon realized that he wasn't truly happy being there, so I told him that he should go back to Ba Sing Se and make tea again. At first he was shocked at what I had said…

"Zuko, what would you do then? Do you not still need my help with the politics, or am I overstepping?"

I smirked at his immediate response and said, "Uncle you know I love hearing your input on how the government should be carried, but I know you do not like this life. I only want you to be happy."

The old man gazed upon me with wisdom evident in his brown eyes. His face reflected the worry lines of his son's life in the military, the laugh lines at the many conversations that they have held together with each other, and the sorrow he showed after the death of his only son.

"Zuko…"

I shook my head at him, "No, uncle, you are going back to Ba Sing Se to bring back the Jasmine Dragon. I do not think that the Earth King would want anymore of that "hot leaf juice." What about you?"

He looked up at me, and gave a hearty laugh, that soon turned into shaking tears. We held onto each other for the longest time. Uncle Iroh deserved to have his dream, so I wrote a letter to the Earth King.

Now he is running his own shop with a misbehaving teenaged boy named Tatsuya, and every day he gets the chance, Uncle will write to me about how much he was so much like me when we were traveling.

I miss Uncle, too much to even bear, and I wish that he was here right now, but I know that he is happy where he is, and that I should respect that.

Mai was sitting in the palanquin coming along next to me on the right. Her head was held up high, scrunched up like she smelled something disgusting in the air. She had the most bored expression on her face, and when she saw me staring at her, she smirked and then went back to looking bored again.

Upon seeing the pier, I asked the palanquin bearers to stop, so that I may walk up to my guests. There were about ten Water Tribe men that traveled on the ship with Captain Jee, Chief Hakoda being in the front of them all, probably making a head count of all of his men. His faced was drawn up into confusion, and he turned to a man on his right, that I remembered to be Bato of the Southern Tribe. They spoke rushed and hurriedly, and then when Bato pointed out that I was standing there, Chief Hakoda quickly turned to face me.

"Fire Lord Zuko, a pleasure to see you again."

"The pleasure is mine Chief Hakoda, were there any problems on your travels here?"

He looked back to his men and then back to me, and said, "Well I am afraid to say that we lost some of our people. I cannot seem to find… Ah there she is," looking back once again to the ship.

I looked up and saw a sparkling night sky within her beautiful, azure eyes…

AN: Hey guys, thanks for still reading my story. I just wanted to say that if you did not understand the last line of this chapter, than you clearly did not read my other stories. But if you did, yahoo! Anyways, thanks you guys for reading and please keep reviewing. I have been having some difficult times with writing for a while now, but I am getting into the groove of the story again. I hope you guys keep reading.