A/N: The following is rated V; for violence.

It corresponds, chronologically, with S2E3 "The Swamp."

It contains, where appropriate, dialog from S2E7 "Zuko Alone."

Reader discretion is advised.


The Village


Winter, year 10 in the reign of Fire-Lord Ozai

Things were going poorly.

The only way forward after Omatomo had been south; southeast in fact. North was the direction Zuko had come from and would lead him back to the Colonies and a most likely fatal confrontation with his sister. West led to the sea, and although Zuko had grown fond of the ocean he didn't fancy his chances on the open water in any craft he could pilot alone. Especially not if the Iron Fleet was looking for him. Due east was the great desert, the "Burning Sands", filled with sandbenders, dust storms and a very great chance of death due to dehydration.

To the south was the Swamp of Mists. Zuko had heard a great many rumors about people becoming lost and losing their minds, haunted by spirits in its murky depths. Zuko was of the opinion that he already had enough haunting spirits to be getting on with and he really didn't care to have any more.

That left a single path open to him, an ill-used road that curved southeast around the swamp. It skimmed the edge of the desert and followed a small stream as it ran south, weaving through the badlands he now found himself in.

He'd spent his money foolishly.

After he'd sobered up and left Omatomo he couldn't even look at his remaining ill-gotten money without seeing his uncle's disappointed face. Iroh's words in Kanka, "Family sticks together," seemed to roll around in his brain every time he tried to sleep. So, he'd quickly resolved to remain as drunk as possible, for as long as possible, even going so far as to drink for a whole day and a night at a geisha house (or whatever passed for one here in the barbarous east) in the last city before the badlands. Whatever else they were the girls there were at least well trained enough not to gawk at his ruin of a face.

But now he was starving.

His supplies, meager as they had been, had dwindled to nothing in the vast expanses between towns. Foot traffic had cut off abruptly and it had been almost two weeks since Zuko had run out of the rough millet he had barely remembered to buy in the town with the "Not-really-a" geisha house. Hungry as he was Zuko had been almost unable to stop himself from attacking the last group of people he'd stumbled upon.

The scent of cooking rice had woken Zuko from a fitful sleep and drawn him towards it like a viper-moth to the flame. He'd hovered there at the edge of the firelight, waiting for just the right moment to dash out and slay the lone earth peasant and claim his dinner. But then the peasant's wife, his very pregnant wife, had also come into view.

And for a moment he'd almost attacked anyway.

The sudden impulse shocked and disgusted him so badly it had brought him back to his senses, and he'd crawled away more ashamed than hungry. There was nothing in this world more dishonorable than attacking a pregnant woman, and shame it seemed was a potent appetite suppressant.

Zuko understood hunger now.

He'd only thought he'd been hungry in the days before Omatomo. That hadn't been hunger. That had been a mild craving, the dream of real hunger. Now he had passed all the way through hunger and out the other side into a sort of mindless searing full body ache. His limbs felt light, weak, and cold. He'd had to literally tighten the belt of his dirty green kimono.

That had been days ago.

It was in this state that he'd walked, shuffled, and crawled into the village of Haiya.

Haiya looked, at its core, like a village on the badlands. The town's roads were hard packed dusty tan clay, and occasional blasts of hot wind out of the desert threw sand along the road. Zuko drew himself up as he entered the town, attempting to project strength as he made his way past a seedy looking group of men gaming with dice in an alley. With as much iron in his spine as he could muster he made his way to what passed for a market stall in the center of town.

"Bag of millet. Jug of sake," he said quietly.

"That's one bu, sir," the stall owner said, turning to gather the supplies.

Zuko sighed. "Just the millet then."

As he scraped the bottom of his coin purse, digging out enough of the smattering of copper and iron he needed, he caught sight of a pair of small boys watching the group of gamblers across the street out of the corner of his eye. One of them lobbed an egg, scoring a direct hit, and they ran off giggling to themselves.

Well… shit.

The angry bushi made their way across the road to Zuko and the largest of them, a balding man with long mustaches, spun Zuko around roughly.

"Do you throw that egg?" he snarled, the leavings of said egg still tangled in his hair.

"No," Zuko said.

"Did you SEE who threw it?"

"No." Zuko didn't owe this filth the truth.

"Is that your favorite word ronin, NO?" one of the other bushi asked, scorn dripping from a mouth full of rotting teeth.

"Egg had to come from somewhere," the big one said with a sneer.

"Perhaps… a chicken flew over?" Zuko said dryly.

One of the men chuckled at that until the leader punched him in the mouth, knocking him into the dust.

"Sorry, Gow," the now bleeding man said meekly.

"You think you're funny, ronin?" Gow said, sizing Zuko up.

"No."

Gow gave Zuko a sneering grin as he leaned past him and grabbed the bag of millet he'd just paid for. "Thanks for your contribution to the war effort. The army appreciates your support."

These are SOLDIERS?! Zuko thought in outrage, his inner commander bristling. His eye darted to Gow's belt and he was horrified to find a wakizashi there. And he's a SAMURAI!? How dare they STEAL from- a wave of dizziness chose this moment to pass over Zuko, stifling more thought and any martial response as he fought to keep his back straight and to simply stay upright.

"You had better leave town, ronin," Gow said over his shoulder, walking back to the soldiers' dicing spot. "The price for staying… is a lot steeper than you can afford."

"Sorry about that, sir." The shopkeeper said as Zuko turned back to him. "Those soldiers are supposed to protect us from the Fire-Nation, bandit and sandbender raids. But they're just a bunch of thugs."

"Bag. Of millet," Zuko rasped, too hungry to be truly angry.

The second purchase nearly exhausted his funds leaving him with only a pair of iron fu coins. As carefully as he could Zuko packed the small bag away and began to walk out of town.

He was caught up short by a tug on his sleeve.

"Thanks for not snitching on us!" The boy who threw the egg said, smiling brightly. "I'm Lee! What's your name?"

Zuko said nothing, just pulled his sleeve out of the boy's grip and continued slowly making his way out of town.

"I owe you, Mr. Ronin," Lee said, still walking beside him. "Come back to my farm and we'll feed you."

Zuko's feet seemed to stop of their own accord at the word "feed" and his brain began a furious battle between pride and hunger.

As though I required this peasant's CHARITY!

You… kind of DO though.

So furious was the internal battle that Zuko didn't even notice when the boy grabbed his sleeve again and began to tug him towards his home. An act which, Zuko's feet at least, were of one mind about.

/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\

Lee couldn't have been more than ten or eleven Zuko thought and looked nothing whatsoever like Ping had. Zuko had to remind himself of the fact many many times as they slowly moved out towards the boy's farm. Lee nattered on and on, about his farm, his parents, and his older brother who was off fighting in the war. Zuko allowed most of this information to pass through one ear and out the other, most of his brain being still occupied with a silent war over whether or not accepting charity made him a beggar. He was startled from his brooding, his hand flying to his katana's hilt, by a horrible cacophony of squealing bleats and snorts. They had reached the edge of the farm and the pig-sheep were LOUD.

"It's good, huh?" Lee said with a shrug. "Nobody can sneak up on us this way."

Zuko nodded, relaxing slightly.

They were met at the edge of the homestead, which consisted of a barn and house surrounded by a rough wooden fence, by a broad-faced man who was obviously Lee's father.

"You a friend of Lee's-" his eyes fell on Zuko's lone katana "-Mr. Ronin?"

"This guy stood up to the soldiers!" Lee chirped. "By the end he practically had them running away!"

"Does this guy have a name?" A woman, just shy of middle-age, had exited the main house to join the conversation, smiling gently at her son.

"He doesn't have to say who he is if he doesn't want to, Sela," Lee's father said firmly. "Anyone who can hold his own against those bully soldiers is welcome here. Those men should be ashamed to wear Earth-Kingdom uniforms."

Sela sighed, putting her arm around her husband. "All the real soldiers are off fighting in the war. Soldiers like our eldest son." She turned to Zuko, brightening. "I was just about to call Gensu and Lee in for supper, will you stay?"

Moment of truth, Zuko thought to himself.

"No. I should be moving on," he said aloud, and started to bow but was cut off by Gensu.

"Begging your pardon, Mr. Ronin, but if you would stay it would be a great honor for us," Gensu said hastily. "It isn't very often we have guests out here in the badlands and if you begin to feel you are being a burden on us, a simple worthy task could be found for you," he finished and attempted to wink surreptitiously at his wife.

Clever. Very clever, a part of Zuko mused. Appealing to honor and suggesting that it is a trade, not a charity. Obviously, the man has some experience with samurai. And, really, it's not as if I needed THAT much of an excuse.

Zuko nodded his assent.

/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\

Dinner was stew.

It was, without question, the most delicious thing Zuko had ever had in his life. He could not point to any single element of it which was superior to anything he'd had before, or after, his exile, but it was simply… good. Hearty and savory and, most importantly, filling. It took all of his not inconsiderable willpower to maintain any sense of decorum during the meal as a large part of him wanted to simply stick his head into the bowl and lick it clean despite the mess it would be sure to leave in his few-month-old beard. Based on Lee and Sela's stifled giggles he wasn't too sure he had been completely successful in avoiding that particular outcome. He found himself not caring much in the aftermath; he was FULL. The warmth of the stew seemed to spread outward from his stomach and into his limbs, filling them with life, power, and fire. He placed the bowl, his third, down on the table and bowed almost reverently.

"You had mentioned a worthy task?"

/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\

Zuko was unsure whether or not chopping wood truly qualified as a "worthy" task. He was at this point, however, prepared to overlook anything short of a direct insult or physical attack. The stew had been that good. It had brought him back to life just as surely as Katara-

Best not to think about that.

Katara had not been on his mind over much in recent weeks, a fact which he found both a blessing and a disappointment. He had either been focused on being getting drunk as possible to avoid his feelings of shame, or with simply trying to put one foot in front of the other. Not states of being that allowed for an overabundance of daydreaming.

He had dreamed of her while asleep of course, but that was something that was beyond his control and, like most dreams he had, an entirely unpleasant experience. In his dreams she simply glared at him, scorn and disappointment flaring in her eyes, then walked away.

It does not matter, you will most likely never see her again. And if you do she'll most likely try to kill you.

That thought actually made him smile, and he returned to chopping wood.

Despite his exceptionally minor misgivings, he found the methodical repetitive action of chopping wood to be somewhat meditative, comparable to doing his thousand cuts. He had given up that practice in recent weeks as well, owing to the need to conserve his energy and, if he was being honest with himself, because he'd often been too drunk to do more than a few kata without falling over.

That stops now, he told himself firmly. The thousand cuts is the barest minimum you can do and still call yourself a warrior.

And if he fell out of practice, and he ever DID see the girl again, it would be terribly embarrassing.

He sighed, banishing his extraneous thoughts, and finished chopping the half-chord of wood Gensu had directed him to. After he had finished, Sela, who had been keeping an eye on him from the farmhouse window, brought him a bucket of water and dipper to drink and wash with. He had shrugged his way out of the top half of his kimono when he'd begun chopping and after he'd drunk a few dippers of water he simply threw the bucket over his head, allowing the water to cascade down his body, washing away the sap and sweat.

A faint blush crept into Sela's cheeks.

"Are you alright?" Zuko asked.

"WHAT?! Oh… yes- yes I'm fine," Sela squeaked going even more crimson, as though she had been caught at something.

Odd people, earth peasants, Zuko thought as she walked away quickly, glancing at him once or twice over her shoulder. Shrugging, he retrieved his katana and headed out into a nearby field to do his thousand cuts.

No time to start like the present. Need to get back into the habit.

Somewhere around the eight-hundredth cut, Lee appeared to watch. Though Zuko's back was to him he could sense the boy watching him but, blessedly, he remained silent until Zuko had finished.

As Zuko sheathed his sword the boy finally piped up. "You're really good! Can you show me how to do that?"

"No," Zuko said.

He'd trained a boy before. It hadn't ended well.

"It's ok, I know I'm not supposed to have a katana," the boy said mollifyingly. "That's why I made THIS!" he lifted a wooden stick which had been carved into a rough approximation of a boken, and Zuko's mind was dragged back to Shiro Yoritomo and the ruined corpse of a boy with a boken in his belt.

The boken HE had given him.

"You don't need that," Zuko growled, "it will only get you killed."

"I'm not afraid!" Lee said.

"You should be."

/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\

Zuko spent the night in the hayloft of the barn, sleeping more soundly than any time in recent memory. Not so soundly that he didn't wake to see Lee peeking in, looking for a chance to play with Zuko's sword unless he missed his guess. Every young boy did that it seemed, he himself had made off with his mother's katana when he was five. Ping, displaying his usual common sense, had never gone for Zuko's blade but Lt Rainesu was quite certain, on some mornings, that her katana stand had been moved slightly from the position she had left it in.

Zuko had fallen asleep sitting cross-legged, back to a support beam, his katana firmly grasped by his crossed arms.

Lee apparently had enough common sense not to try for it either and he slipped back out of the barn with a minimum of sound.

Zuko fell almost immediately back into a deep dreamless sleep and did not stir again until the sun crested the horizon.

He rose, did his thousand cuts, meditated and then Sela called him in for breakfast. While just as simple, Sela's egg-fried rice was just as delicious as the previous night's stew had been. Zuko had just finished and was about to ask if there was another "worthy task" that he could do for them when Lee burst into the hut.

"The SOLDIERS are coming up the road," he yelped, out of breath.

"What do you suppose they want?" Gensu said with a scowl.

"Trouble," Zuko answered.

/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\

The bastards were laughing at them.

The soldiers had just sauntered up to the edge of the homestead, laughing and smiling amongst themselves as though they had just returned home from a victorious campaign.

"Just thought you should know, your son's battalion was captured by the Fire-Nation," Gow laughed without preamble.

Gensu and Sela froze in horror.

"You boys hear what the Fire-Nation did to their last group of ashigaru prisoners?" Gow mused aloud to his men.

"Dressed them up in Fire-Nation uniforms and sent them to the front lines. Unarmed the way I hear it," one of the soldiers answered immediately. Obviously rehearsed.

"You WATCH YOUR MOUTH!" Gensu shouted as Sela began to weep.

Gow began to advance, a malicious smile on his face, to close with Gensu, but Zuko, who had been ignored until this point, placed himself between the two men, his left hand on the scabbard of his katana making it both obvious and easier to draw.

They stared at each other for a long moment.

Gow flinched first.

"Pfft. Why root around in the mud with these pigs?" Gow spat, turning his back and walking away.

Coward.

"The Fire-Nation does not do that to ashigaru," Zuko said after Gow had left. "You son will be offered the opportunity to give up his weapons and armor and to swear to never fight the Fire-Nation again. He will agree and be given parole, or he will not." Zuko didn't need to say what would happen if he did not.

Ashigaru occupied a curious place in warfare. Technically they were peasants, but they were also soldiers, legal combatants and due a measure of respect as such. The Earth-Kingdom was a massive place, full of non-bending peasantry, and they used ashigaru units extensively. The Fire-Nation, being smaller but far more militaristic, preferred not to use ashigaru in battle, forming the units only for small-scale local crises. The peasants were a resource, and they were better used where they were more suited, harvesting the Fire-Lord's rice.

"Pack me some supplies. I'm going to go get our son," Gensu said quietly to his wife.

"How old is your son?" Zuko said, interjecting.

"… He'll be seventeen soon," Sela said, trying to wipe her tears away on her apron.

"Then he is an adult and you should stay here," Zuko said looking at Gensu. "Your family needs you. If the spirits will it, your son will return to you in time." The fact that, should he leave, he would expose his wife and younger son to the depredations of Gow and his pack of thieves should have been obvious. Zuko, who, thanks to them, now felt better than he had in a month considered himself honor bound to try and make sure that didn't happen.

"But…"

"You have a duty to your family, your King, and your land. Your son has his own duty, which is his and his alone. To disrespect this is to invite calamity, and to disrespect your son." Zuko bowed, much more deeply than he had ever bowed to a peasant before. "I thank you for your hospitality, but I must move on."

There, that should keep them safe enough.

It didn't.

/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\

Zuko had stopped a few hours after leaving Haiya, to fill his water skins by the riverside, when he caught sight of something moving towards him at speed, kicking up a plume of badland's dust.

"Mr. Ronin!" Sela shouted as she pulled her ostrich-horse to a halt right in front of him. "The thugs came back from town as soon as Gensu left," she said panic clear in her voice.

"I told him not to leave," Zuko said, narrowing his eye.

"I'm sorry but we're not like you! We couldn't just sit quietly at home when our son might be in danger!"

"Then your son and your husband will die."

"Please! When they came back they tried to steal our pig-sheep and Lee hit one in the head with a stick! Then they took him away! They said that if he's old enough to have a weapon, he's old enough to join the army!" She began to weep.

Just like Ping, Zuko thought. I should have taken that damn boken away from him.

"I know we barely know you but…"

This is foolish, they're just peasants, Zuko thought angrily. Peasants who don't even listen when you give good advice! You cannot help those who don't even-

The image of a smiling Ping flitted through his mind, followed by the image of his corpse, head stoved-in, still clutching Zuko's armor.

"I'll go get your son," Zuko said with a growl.

/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\

The sun was beginning to set as Zuko returned to town.

"Hey, there his is!" Lee shouted brightly despite the fact that he'd been tied to one of the support posts of the town's watchtower. "I told you he'd come back!" he said, jeering at the soldiers.

They ignored him, rising from where they had been sitting and joining Gow, facing Zuko, in a line.

"Let the boy go," Zuko said.

Gow laughed loudly, a false thing that was not echoed in his eyes. "Who do you think you are, telling us what to do?" he spat, the false humor disappearing like smoke.

"Who I am isn't important. But I know who you are," Zuko said, acid creeping into his tone. "Honorless cowards and thieves, who abuse the people you should protect and disgrace the profession of soldier."

Gow's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Are you going to stand there and let him talk to you like that?" he said turning to his three soldiers.

The soldier with the rotting teeth said nothing, just sneered at Zuko, leveled his spear and charged.

Pathetic.

Zuko didn't even go for his sword, he simply brushed the spearpoint away with a sweeping motion of his forearm. The unbalanced fool couldn't even stop his forward momentum and Zuko's face twisted into a feral grin as he grabbed him by the throat and slammed him to the ground, feeling the enemy's windpipe crunch in his hand.

The second soldier was just as bad as the first, and Zuko grabbed his spear with his left hand as he charged, just below the point, and broke the shaft with his right. Flipping the spearhead around he rammed it into the man's chest, just below the breastbone, and drove it upwards.

The third soldier just dropped his spear and ran the other direction.

A crowd of villagers had gathered at this point and were watching in frightened awe as Gow snarled and drew his weapons, a pair of hammers.

In a single shrugging motion Zuko flipped off his straw hat and drew his katana.

For a brief moment the two of them were still.

Then, with a quick rush, Gow struck the ground, earthbending a head sized rock into the air and sending it hurtling at Zuko

So, he's a bender, Zuko thought, rolling right. This just became more difficult. He grinned. And ultimately more satisfying.

That his opponent was also a bender made this matter of much greater import to him now. A full samurai, of all people, should not behave this way and Zuko would gain great honor by setting things right.

Gow revealed in the first few moments of the duel that he was not as terrible a fighter as his men had been. This suggested to Zuko that he was just as deficient a leader and trainer of men as he was a human being.

Not that Zuko needed any more reasons to kill him.

He kept Zuko at range by flinging smaller rocks and boulders, a typical strategy for any bender facing a non-bender. Zuko was forced to dodge and roll, avoiding blows where he could, slowly working his way closer.

"You can do it, Mr. Ronin!" Lee cheered from behind the earthbender as Zuko took a glancing blow to the thigh.

Gow executed a spinning kata that Zuko thought would send a stream of stones flying his way but, instead, lobbed a rock backwards, hitting Lee in the shoulder, audibly snapping his collarbone.

"Oops," Gow said, smiling cruelly as the boy cried out in fear and pain.

PING!

Zuko roared wordlessly and flung himself at Gow.

Gow, still smiling horribly, bent earth in a protective shield.

A protective shield that exploded inward at him as Zuko bent FIRE.

Surrounded by cascading red flames Zuko drove the startled earthbender back a few paces and then engulfed him in flames using the "Dragon's Breath" kata. The man screamed in agony as he was consumed, flailing around only for a moment before falling over dead.

The village was still as stone as Zuko sheathed his katana and fought to calm his breathing.

"R-red flames?" one of the villagers gasped, breaking the silence after Gow had expired. "I know who you are! You're the Butcher! The Red Butcher of Matomo!"

The "butcher" of Matomo? Sun's name, that makes me sound like a VILLAIN.

Which in the Earth-Kingdom, he supposed he was.

Sela had run forward to hug Lee as soon as she thought it was safe to do so, and now she stood in front of him, arms outstretched as though to block the sight of her son from Zuko.

"Not a step closer," she said fiercely.

"You are welcome," he replied, growling.

The villagers began to shout heatedly, their previous happiness at seeing their oppressors defeated replaced with terrified anger at finding a firebender in their midst.

"Is the boy alri-" Zuko cut off as a lobbed stone hit him in the head.

"Go away," Lee sobbed, still behind his mother. "I hate you."

Ungrateful savages! Zuko thought, feeling the spot where the stone had struck him. I should- should-

His hand came away from his scalp bloody… and had begun to shake.

BURN it. Burn it all.

Fire burst into being at his feet, causing Sela to flinch back but still remained between Zuko and her son.

"Allow yourself to slip down that road and you surrender yourself to your LOWEST instincts." Iroh had said.

Zuko took a deep breath, ignoring the rocks that flew over his shoulder.

I am better than this. Better than these ungrateful animals. Just- just LEAVE.

And Zuko left, only stopping long enough to pick up his hat.


A/N: Hello! Welcome to the end of the chapter! Mission Accomplished! (unfurls banner, throws confetti.)

So, before anything else, does anyone here know about formatting in FFN? I've started writing in a more traditional book-like style, using a tab at the beginnings of paragraphs instead of a double enter.

It is NOT working.

FFN does not LIKE tabs.

I am mildly annoyed.

If you've got the wherewithal send me a PM, otherwise I've got about 10,000 words to re-un-format.

Ah, the burdens of my Art. (sarcasm meter reads 11 of 10)

Anyway, for the few of you who are, I know, concerned for Zuko be sure that this was probably the low point for him for a good long while. Things are going to pick up from here as I gallivant through canon like a thing… that galivants. (sorry I'm running out of good similes).

You will have, I hope, noticed that I have begun to play with time a bit. In canon, Zuko wasn't due for his "gunfight at the OK corral" moment until much later, after the Gaang had found Toph. Fun times ahead!

Now on with the countdown! (the meta-bits)

Asshole service members (Gow): We all have our little pet peeves and one of mine is assholes who are (or worse only claim to have been) service members. Not to delve to personally here, but I am a vet myself and there are very few things I hate more than seeing the "You're WELCOME for MY Service" Guy. It was a job, I got shot at, I survived. I am always grateful when somebody thanks me for my service, but trying to use that to get favors, or as some sort of bragging right… infuriating.

And don't even get me started on "stolen valor" we'll be here all day.

So right away you understand that those little shits (Gow and Co.) were going to die. I like to think that the one who laughed at Zuko's joke was the one smart enough to run away, maybe had enough sense to know that what they were doing was wrong. Hell, it's my universe! I can do what I want. That guy, Soldier #3, went on to protect the town from numerous bandit raids and redeemed himself in the eyes of the town and his ancestors.

There, now I feel better.

Chopping wood: I didn't like the roofing thing for this version of Zuko. I think Gensu would have given him a task where he could be alone so that if he DID prove terrible at it there would be no one around to see his shame. Roofing, especially in the time period they seem to be occupying, is a pretty skilled profession.

And yes, in case it was unclear, Sela was ogling Zuko. According to every work of fanfic I've read the ladies love him. Who am I to argue with that?

The knife: So Zuko has a lot of issues with training Lee here. First and foremost is the fact that the last kid he trained (Ping, from book 1) got killed, a fact which he blames himself for. Secondly, Lee is a peasant. In Zuko's view it is not his place to learn to fight. L5R culture is very heavily focused on the concept of place. Everyone has a place, as determined by the will of the heavens made manifest by their birth. A peasant's place is to tend the land and to be protected by the samurai, which is their place.

All of these reasons are the first reason Zuko did not give Lee his "never give up without a fight" knife.

The Second reason is because Zuko doesn't HAVE that knife anymore.

"Where is it?" you ask.

"Read on and find out," says I.

Thanks again for reading! Don't forget to like, kudos, subscribe, comment, review and just generally have a good time!

I know that I do.

NEXT WEEK on a very special "Avatar: The Last Dragon"...

Zuko drinks sake! Then learns a new song and says a thing which cannot be UNsaid.

TUNE IN. Same Zuko time, Same Zuko channel!

Original post date: 26 August 2018