Chapter 2
Golden eyes watched as a bright light lit up the southern sky. Could this be it? Only one way to find out. Besides, he was heading that way anyway. He turned to his uncle.
"Uncle?" he asked the older man, who also saw the light. "Do you think…?"
"Perhaps," Uncle Iroh slowly said, looking up from his game. "For now, Prince Zuko, how about you sit down and enjoy a cup of calming jasmine tea?"
Zuko smiled at his uncle and after shouting directions to the helmsman, joined him at the small table on deck. He watched as Iroh pricked his finger and let a few drops of blood drip into Zuko's cup before pouring the tea into it
"Uncle…" he started but stopped when Iroh held up a hand
"Now, now, Prince Zuko," Iroh smiled at him. "It's just to sustain you, until tonight. The cold of the poles has affected your inner fire and it's starting to become obvious a little blood seems to help you gain back some of your lost energy."
Zuko reluctantly accepted Iroh's explanation. He took a sip of the tea, tasting the slight spiciness of his uncle's blood under the jasmine tea. Over the last couple of years, he had come to realize that instead of the copper taste he got that one time he bit his lip when he was a kid, blood now seem to have distinct flavours to it, the taste depended on where it came from.
Zuko and his uncle calmly sat drinking tea and discussing Zuko's training as the ship made its way towards the direction the light had come from.
(Scene Break)
The next morning saw Zuko on deck with two soldiers, going through firebending forms, with Iroh sitting in a chair nearby. With Zuko's lower energy levels, they had decided to keep to basics and do revision on them. As Zuko finished one of the sets, they all turned their heads as a flare went up, somewhere near the water tribe.
"Telescope, please," Zuko asked one of the soldiers who placed the equipment in his hand, and he looked through the telescope towards where the flare came from. He spotted what looked like two kids coming out of an old warship trapped in the ice. One kid was definitely water tribe, looking at the blue clothing, but the other kid didn't look at all like water tribe. He turned to the soldiers and said, "False alarm. It looks like a couple of kids set off the flare of one of the old warships still here."
One of the older soldiers walked up to Zuko. "Sir," he said respectfully. "What if this lead turns out to be another dead end?"
"Then, Lieutenant Jee, we continue to do what we've been doing," Zuko answered. "Looking for the Avatar and helping refugees behind my father's back. Besides, even if the Avatar isn't here, we still have that bundle that Hakoda asked us to deliver."
(Scene Break)
The water tribe stood tense as the fire nation ship sailed closer to them. They watched as it turned a little and pulled up just a bit away from their walls. The front of the ship lowered into a ramp, and several people walked down and around to the tribe's entrance. Sokka readied his spear as he, Katara and their GranGran stood in the entrance, with the rest of the tribe just behind them, as four men in red walked up to them, stopping short of them.
The one in front, in simple reds, hair tied up in a topknot and a massive burn scar on the left side of his face, step forward and bowed. "Greetings. I'm Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation," He stood from his bow, then started scratching the back of his head. "Oh, well, Banished Prince Zuko, would be more appropriate."
"And what would a banished fire prince want with us?" GranGran asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"Yeah!" Sokka exclaimed, pointing his spear at the prince. "What do you want?" Ignoring his sister when she gave him a look for his rudeness.
"Well, two things actually," Zuko started nervously. "One, just a little question. Have any of you seen the Avatar? He or she could be an air nomad, possible as old as your elder." The tribe just gave him blank or glaring stares. "I'll take that as a no. Right, well, second order of business…"
Before he could continue, a yellow and orange blur went past the four, spraying them with snow. A young bald kid with blue arrows on his body got off the otter-penguin he had ridden on and turned towards the prince.
"Looking for me?" Aang asked, pointing his staff at the four in red.
"You?" Zuko asked in surprise, recognizing him as the kid he had spotted after the flare went off. "You're the Avatar?"
Aang ignored the water tribe making surprised sounds, keeping his eyes on the scarred boy in front of him as he nodded, confirming the question.
"But you're just a child!" Zuko exclaimed, looking back at the older men in confusion, before turning back to the nomad.
"And you're just a teenager," Aang countered.
"Good point," Zuko conceded after thinking over that comment. Before bowing towards Aang, "Anyway, greetings Avatar, I've been looking for you."
"Well, you found me," Aang said as he lowered his staff. "If I go with you, will you leave this tribe alone?"
"Aang, no!" Katara yelled, while Zuko's eyes widen when he realized what Aang was implying.
"What!" Zuko held up his hands. "No. I'm not going to hurt anyone. I was only looking for you, so I could ask you about spirit curses and how to lift them."
"I don't know anything about that," Aang answered confused. Before either boy could say anything, Kanna walked past Aang and up to Zuko, despite protests from her grandchildren.
She stared into the fire boy's eyes. Her eyes widened slightly when she spotted something in them before her intense expression softened. "You have been cursed by a spirit. Haven't you?" she asked aloud, so the tribe behind her could hear her. They look at each other in surprise when the prince simply nodded with a sad smile. "How?"
"It's a long story," Zuko answered, before remembering the other reason for being here. "But, before I tell you it, there's still that second order of business I mention."
"What kind of business?" Katara slowly asked as she walked closer towards the teen and her grandmother, keeping an eye on the other men.
Zuko smiled at her before turning to one of the older men. "Uncle, the bag." The shorter old man pulled a medium sized sack and handed it to Zuko, who turned back to the water tribe. "Here we go, one bag of letters and scrolls from Chief Hakoda."
"Hakoda," Kanna's eyes widened. "You've seen my son?"
"Seen him," Zuko chuckled a little. "I've helped him out a few times. You'll be glad to know that the entire southern fleet is ok. At least, last I saw them anyway. Which was about a month ago, I think."
"Dad's ok," Sokka asked, as he gaped at the scarred teen. "And you've been helping him?"
"Yep," Zuko nodded. "And he's been helping me move refugees to places of safety."
"Wow," Aang was amazed, but then looked down. "So, there really is a war going on."
"I'm sorry to say yes," Zuko said empathically. "I'm also sorry to say that it's the Fire Nation's fault. Well, those in charge at least."
"Hmm," Aang continued to look down, until he remembered the reason why Zuko was after him. "You said you would explain this curse you were talking about. Said it was a long story."
"Oh, right. I did, didn't I?" Zuko said, as the entire tribe and his men sat around the fire in the middle of the tribe. He cleared his throat, making sure everyone could hear him, "Well, my story actually starts 3 years ago, before I was cursed. You see, I was trying to learn to be a good future Fire Lord and had thought joining a war meeting would help…" And Zuko went on, telling them about his banishment, the conditions to end it, and him secretly committing treason.
"So," Kanna looked at the prince with a sad look in her eyes. "Your own father burned and banished you. Just for speaking out of turn and refusing to fight your own blood."
"Pretty much," Zuko nodded.
"Man, Zuko, your dad really sucks, you know?" Sokka looked at the older boy.
"I know," Zuko couldn't help but agree.
Katara looked concerned. "You said that the only way to end your banishment was for you to capture the Avatar, right?" Zuko nodded at her. "But we only just found Aang a day ago. Where did you even begin?"
"I didn't," Zuko replied sadly. "I knew what the real reason behind the order was. It was just my father's subtle way of telling me to get out and never return."
"Now that I've appeared, do you still want to capture me?" Aang nervously asked the older boy.
"Hmm," Zuko rubbed his chin in thought before a mischievous look entered his eyes. "Come here for a second Aang." Zuko patted the spot next to him. Aang cautiously sat down next him, and Zuko placed his hand on Aang's shoulder. "There, I've captured the Avatar. Ok, you can go." Letting go of the shoulder.
"Wait, what?" Sokka gaped at him.
"What?" Zuko shrugged his shoulders while he smirked. "Orders said to capture him. They said nothing about keeping him." The other fire nation men and some of the tribe laughed quietly at that.
"Huh, fair point," Sokka nodded, before remembering. "But you still haven't explained the curse and how you got it."
"Right," Zuko nodded before explaining what happened in Yu Dao.
"Wait," Sokka held up a hand. "Avatar Roku, the previous Avatar, is your great grandfather?"
"Yep, on my mother's side," Zuko nodded, taking a sip of his tea.
"And he helped you gain control over your curse?" Katara was fascinated by the story.
"Yea, but he said that only a living Avatar, with the training, can completely lift the curse," Zuko explained.
"I'm sorry, I left before I could get that specific training," Aang apologised to the prince.
"It's ok," Zuko smiled sadly at the boy. They all fell into an awkward silence.
"Soo," Sokka looked over at the prince. "You said you can willingly change forms during the day."
"Yes, I did," Zuko nodded, already standing up, he had a rough idea about what Sokka was going to ask.
"Well, I know sundown is still a few hours away, but could we…" Sokka trailed off, blushing at his own curiosity.
"I thought that's what you were going to ask," Zuko smirked at the young warrior, moving a little bit from the main campfire. He exhaled deeply before closing his eyes in concentration.
The tribe watch as Zuko began to grow bigger, almost twice the size of his human form. His skin was covered with red scales, getting darker at the end of his limbs, and his newly grown wings and tail. The place with no scales was his scar and stump of a left ear. Smallish red horns grew out of his head. His topknot fell out into a scruffy mane of fur, the fur growing along his spine to the end of his tail, where it formed a big tuft of fur. His long fangs poked out of his mouth.
As he looked at them with his now slitted golden eyes, Zuko couldn't help but smirk at the gaping expressions on the entire tribe. "Well, what do you think?" His asked in his deeper voice, spreading his arms, and wings, waiting for them to snap out of their stupor.
Katara was the first to snap out of it. She stood and slowly edged towards the scaly prince. She stopped in front of him and looked up into his slightly glowing golden slitted eyes. Katara then looked at his chest and slowly reached a hand towards it. She looked back at his face to see a small smile, and he nodded, giving his permission. Katara placed her hand on his chest and was surprised by what she felt.
"Wow," Katara breathed. "They're so smooth. And warm!"
"I want to try!" Aang exclaimed, using a bit of airbending to jump over to them. Zuko simply chuckled, showing off some of his sharp teeth, before moving his tail to in front of the excitable monk. Along with feeling the warm scales, Aang also got to feel the fur running along the tail.
"Wow, your fur is so soft," Aang smiled up at Zuko.
"Thanks," Zuko smiled back. Soon all the tribe kids were running over to feel the prince's scales and fur. Somehow, some of the kids managed to find Zuko's ticklish spots, and soon Zuko was flat on his back laughing as the kids climbed all over him. The some of the adults laughed while others just smiled at the scene in front of them. Soon, the kids were called off, allowing Zuko to sit on his haunches.
For the next hour or so, the tribe spent the time getting to know Zuko, Iroh and their crew after the rest of the fire nation soldiers came down from the ship and sat among them. The ship's cooks even offered to cook for them, which Kanna accepted after talking with the rest of the tribe, who were very curious about fire nation cuisine. Suddenly, Zuko's scales seem to shimmer for a second before settling down.
"What was that?" Katara asked, wondering what the shimmering meant.
Zuko pointed at the sky, showing that the sun had gone down. "The sun has set, meaning until morning I can't transform back," He explained while shrugging, quite used to it now. He turned to Aang, "Now, you said that you needed to learn waterbending, and you were thinking of heading to the Northern Water Tribe, right?"
"Yep," Aang nodded. "And maybe find Katara a master too. That is, if you still want to?" He looked over at Katara.
"Please, GranGran," Katara pleaded with her grandmother. "I know dad sent me the scrolls, but it wouldn't the same as having an actual waterbending master."
"Very well," Kanna conceded, before turning to her grandson. "Sokka, you will go with your sister."
"What!?" Sokka turned to his GranGran in shock. "But, what about here? Who will defend the tribe? What about food?"
"We'll be fine, Sokka," GranGran assured him. "Our tribe is pretty isolated. As for food…"
"Um," Zuko interrupted. "If you want, tomorrow I could help collect plenty of fish to last you a while. There are advantages to having a strong body like this." He gestured to his scaly body.
"Hmm," Sokka thought rubbing his chin. "Ok, I'll go with Katara and Aang, to protect them." He turned to Zuko. "And we'll take you up on that offer."
Zuko nodded. Before he could say anything, his stomach gave off a loud growl. Zuko rubbed his head in embarrassment. "Sorry." The tribe waved him off. Zuko sighed when he saw his uncle thrust his uncovered arm under his snout. "Uncle…"
"Now, Prince Zuko," Iroh smiled at him. "A prince needs his strength. Besides, you only need to take a little, enough to satisfy your craving."
Zuko sighed in defeat. The leaned down and dug the tips of his fangs into Iroh's arm and started to suck the blood. Once he had had enough, he took his fangs out and licked the bite marks. The tribe watch in fascination as the saliva instantly healed the marks.
Zuko noticed the looks he was getting, "Yea, we found out that after drinking what I need, my saliva has some sort of property to it that helps heal the bites and other wounds. Mind you, only small wounds, not much I can do about burns and missing limbs."
Everyone nodded at his explanation, putting that information away. Soon, the cooks, who had been back on the ship cooking dinner, came back with a couple of pots full of food. There was a curry and rice, along with some fire flakes, which happen to be one of Zuko's favourite snacks, and a vegetable soup for Aang.
Sokka raised an eyebrow when he noticed what was in the curry. "Is that fish?"
"Yea," Zuko answered. "Many forget that the Fire Nation is a chain of islands. So, we're surrounded by ocean full of fish, which we include in some of our dishes."
After eating dinner and more cultural exchange, all the people of the water tribe and fire nation, headed to bed. Not knowing that the next year was going to feel like a long one, full of adventure, love and friendship.
Author Note: I have a pic of Zuko's dragon form on my Deviantart account Jesssnape