Hey! Chapter—Oh man. Almost forgot.
Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender is owned by Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino.
I just keep forgetting that. Weird.
Now I'm just hoping that I got it right.
Chapter Ten: In Which the Plot Maybe-Sorta-Kinda Starts Moving Again
One of the strangest incidents in Zuko's memory occurred just as he and Suki got aboard. Aang and Azula were hiding in a doorway, carefully watching a trail of Lychee nuts. As it turned out, Aang had become curious as to the identity of the Mechanic, and had decided to see if he could draw the mysterious individual out. Azula was along for the ride. Rather than their expected "guest," however, Lu Ten walked into view, picking up the Lychee nuts and then throwing them over his shoulder.
Zuko couldn't tell why they were surprised. If that wasn't an effective way to catch Lu Ten, he didn't know what was.
His mother was vehemently opposed to going to Crescent Island, and had been rather angry when they ended up going, her argument of "Fire Nation Waters" countered by Iroh's pointing out that the border they were discussing was "not a well-defended position," Zuko's declaration of "If we don't get there, you can kiss the world goodbye," and Lu Ten's utterly random song and dance routine.
"Where did that come from, anyway?" Zuko asked himself. He looked up at the bridge, and decided that he was better off not investigating the perilous depths of his cousin's mind.
His mother seemed to have calmed down and accepted that they had to go to Crescent Island. And so, they were off.
"You know," Suki noted, throwing a rock over the side of the ship and inadvertently yanking Zuko out of his contemplative mood, "I'd forgotten how long sailing somewhere takes."
"Really?" Zuko asked, picking one up himself (When Suki had found her old room on the ship, it had turned out that, for reasons only known to—indeed, only made sense to—Lu Ten, the bunk had been stuffed to overflowing with rocks. Suki and Zuko had found that filling a bucket with the things, taking them out on deck, and throwing them overboard made for a diverting pastime when they had nothing to talk about—which would be for most of the voyage).
"Yeah. Really long time," Suki replied.
"A week, so far," Zuko agreed.
There was silence for a short time, except for the sound of rocks hitting the water below them.
"When do we reach Crescent Island?" asked Suki.
"Don't Know. I asked Lu Ten about it, and didn't exactly get an answer," Zuko replied.
"What was the answer?"
"He looked me straight in the eye and said—and I quote—'Between the sun and the moon and the sun and the moon and the sun and the moon over and over and over stop.'"
Suki paused to look confused, but then shrugged. "That's Lu Ten for you," she said.
"I know that. I have to live with him, remember?"
"Oh, you poor thing," Suki "aww-"ed.
"Not funny," Zuko warned, but he smiled anyway.
"Okay. The first thing we need to remember," Zuko said, looking around the table at Iroh, Suki, Ursa, and Lu Ten's feet (Lu Ten was learning to sit upside down. No one was very impressed, although Aang found it wildly entertaining) (Aang and Azula had been left to their own devices, much against everyone's better judgement). "Crescent Island is not actually that far inside of Fire Nation territory. Once we get finished, we can get out quickly."
"Lucky break," Suki pointed out.
"Yes. The second thing: to my understanding, there is a special room that Aang needs to go in to contact Roku. He has to be in there by himself. The locks on the room require five firebending masters—or the fully realized Avatar—to open."
"Could we get the Fire Sages to help?" asked Ursa.
"That brings me to my third point," Zuko replied. "When Aang got there in the original universe, only one of the Fire Sages was still loyal to the Avatar. We have no idea whether or not they will help us, or try to destroy us."
"I would not be too worried about that," Iroh replied. "With the two of us, we can take anyone!"
Zuko nodded. "Anyway, final point. While Crescent Island isn't very far into the Fire Nation, it is, nonetheless in Fire Nation Territory. We need to move fast, and quiet."
"Steamships aren't very quiet," Lu Ten's voice warned from beneath the table.
"You know what I mean," Zuko shot back. Lu Ten summarily ignored him.
"Maybe… We could build a muffler for the engine! Something that'll absorb the sound!"
"Well, he's gone," Suki stated dryly. Then: "So what's the plan? How're we going to do this?"
Zuko thought for a moment.
"When I followed Aang there—"
"You didn't follow Aang there," Ursa snapped. Zuko turned to her.
"Excuse me?"
"You never followed the Avatar to Crescent Island. In some other life, sure you did. But this is here, now, and it looks like nothing you've done in that past life is going to help us. Or did you have to do this there as well?"
Zuko looked at her. "You don't want to be doing this, do you?"
"No," Ursa shot back. "We are here. We are a family. And you want to give that up?"
Zuko looked down at the table. "I have never had to reassemble the badly broken cosmos in my life," he replied, "but I've done a lot of other stuff in that 'other life' and I can draw on that to do what I need to do. This is Lu Ten's ship. Uncle Iroh used to be a famous war general. You—you're my mother." His voice caught, and he paused for a brief moment. "But I am the one who knows what needs to be done. I am the one who's fought to do the impossible, and I know how to do it. You don't want to do this? You don't have to. I'm not asking it of you. But if there's any chance that this is going to hurt people-and after what happened with Azula, that looks pretty likely-then I'm going to fix this. You don't have to like it. But I'm doing this. I know what to do. I know where to go. And I. Am. In. Charge. Here." He looked around the table. Iroh was nodding approvingly. Lu Ten was trying to clap with his feet, which somehow didn't surprise Zuko very much. Ursa's expression looked like a mix of irritation and pride. And Suki…
"How do I get on the list of impressive people who you're in charge of?" she asked straight-faced. Zuko looked at her, and she broke into giggles.
"I'll think of something for you," Zuko promised. "Last of the—" He stopped. He wouldn't turn that into a joke.
"Now let's get down to this," he announced. He picked up a map, and spread it out on the table. The others leaned into see. There was a muffled "ow" from under the table, then Lu Ten clambered from underneath.
"I found last night's dinner!" He stated proudly. He was summarily ignored.
"Now. When I was following the Avatar, I used a smoke screen…"
Next time! Arrival on Crescent Island! Incredible battles! Complete disregard for the laws of physics! Lu Ten (You were expecting an ostrich-horse?)! Sorry. Lame joke. Anyhoo, please review. Preferably after you read.