Zuko trudged up the gangplank onto the deck of the ship and found himself wishing, not for the first time, that he could walk directly into his onboard cabin without having to pass by the main deck first. There on the deck, his uncle and the rest of the crew were in the middle of the weekly music night that he never participated in.
He slouched down as much as he could and tried to skirt around the outside of the deck so as not to be noticed, but of course he should have known that would fail. This was his uncle, after all, and his uncle never seemed to miss anything Zuko did, no matter how hard he tried.
"Prince Zuko!" he cried, cutting off his song abruptly and causing all the other musicians to come to a sudden and discordant halt. "Where have you been? You nearly missed music night!"
For a brief moment, Zuko considered not answering at all, but instead he simply said, "I was out," and continued pushing toward the door that led belowdecks.
"Well, surely you can spare a few moments for your uncle and crew? There's a tsungi horn waiting for you," Iroh called after him, but Zuko had already disappeared down the steps.
A few moments later, as he found his way to his bedroom, he heard the sound of the music restarting on the deck above. Shaking his head, he stepped inside, then closed and locked the door behind him.
Luckily, with the heavy metal door shut and several layers of metal above his head, he couldn't hear the music anymore. That gave him the peace and quiet he needed to sit at his usual meditation table and light the candles.
He sat down in front of them and closed his eyes, trying to ruminate on all the things Aang had told him. Despite himself, he found that the words spoke to some part of him, a part that was buried deep—and that terrified him, but he couldn't help but reach for it anyway.
He found himself falling into the familiar meditation, breathing in and out as the candles' flames flared and shrank in time with his breaths, but it felt different this time.
He sat like that for several minutes, breathing in and out, trying to think about air and wind and being like a leaf. But of course, it wouldn't be a proper meditation for him if it wasn't interrupted, and after those minutes had passed, there was a knock on his door that shook him from his reverie.
He turned toward the door with a frown—and couldn't help but notice the slight breeze circling around the room. It seemed to be coming from nowhere, but it rustled the tapestries on the walls and the sheets on his bed. Swallowing heavily, Zuko shook his head.
"Yes?" he asked the door, not getting up to unlock it yet.
"Prince Zuko?" His uncle's voice, of course. "Are you busy?"
Zuko stood up. After making certain the breeze had disappeared—it had—he walked over to the door and opened it enough to poke his head out. "What do you need?"
"I just wanted to make sure you had eaten. You were gone during dinner again."
"I'm fine, Uncle."
Iroh looked at him for a long moment, and Zuko tried his best not to make it look like he had a secret. Every time his uncle looked at him, Zuko felt like he was peering into his soul.
"Alright," Iroh finally said. "As long as you're sure?"
"Yes, Uncle."
Another pause. "Prince Zuko, you know that we cannot keep aimlessly sailing around for long. The crew needs a goal, and you will need to come up with a plan for where to go eventually."
"I am…working on it, Uncle," Zuko said. It wasn't entirely a lie.
"Hmm. Well, I'll just leave you to it, then. If you feel like coming up and joining in on the tsungi horn, we could use an extra musician."
Zuko pressed his lips together, trying unsuccessfully to hide his annoyance. "I think I'm fine, Uncle."
"The offer is there if you ever change your mind."
Zuko was already pushing the door closed. It shut with a click, and he made sure to lock it tight before going back to his desk and sitting down once again.
He found it harder to get back into the meditation, as his mind reeled with all the worries the conversation with his uncle had brought to the forefront. He was right, after all. The crew had spent the past week with no real direction, and Zuko needed to give them something, sooner than later, or else they might start to get suspicious.
Well, he thought, after these three days are over, they'll have a direction, one way or another.
Holding onto that thought, he tried to calm his mind once again, to focus on the feeling of his breath and the air around him.
When Zuko met with Aang the next day, he felt a little clearer. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
As soon as he arrived, Aang set up the spinning maze again. "Remember," Aang said. "Spiral movements. Stay light on your feet. Change direction as soon as you meet resistance. You ready?"
Zuko closed his eyes and centered himself with a deep breath in and a long breath out. He focused on the feeling of the breath, on the sound of the air rushing around in the mini tornadoes. "I'm ready."
"Good." Aang waved him forward.
Zuko felt something change inside him as he approached the maze this time, like his brain was shifting into a different level of awareness. Suddenly, the air around him felt more present somehow. It was like when you put on a shirt, and for the first few seconds you're wearing it, you can feel its weight before your mind starts to filter out the sensation. He could feel the air shifting around his body as he moved through it, could sense the subtle changes in the currents.
A part of him rebelled at the feeling, but another part marveled at it. Unconsciously, his gait shifted. He wasn't actually airbending, but he felt lighter on his feet.
And when he entered the maze, he knew what to do. The air of the first tornado washed over his body, trying to throw him against the next wall, and he moved with it. Instead of slamming into the wall, though, he simply spun away, following the next current of air as it guided him around the pillar.
Yesterday, he had tried to force himself through, taking the most obvious path straight through the middle, but the air did not like to be controlled, and it had punished him for trying. It had tossed him around, thrown him against walls, and disoriented him. But if he simply flowed with it, letting himself take a nonlinear path, shifting directions and perspectives while keeping his end goal firmly in mind, he could actually make it to the other side faster.
When he exited, he felt the spouts of air around the pillars dissipate with a whoosh, and the next thing he knew, Aang landed in front of him.
"You did it!" he cried, his face alight with joy.
"I… I did." Zuko stared at the maze. "I did."
"Why do you sound so sad? This is great! C'mon, let's get started with the next step."
Zuko allowed himself to be dragged away, but his brain was elsewhere.
The sound of a soft whoosh followed by a thud alerted Katara and Sokka to Aang's arrival. It had been several hours since he'd left, and the siblings, having little to do but wait for him to eventually return, had been sitting around stewing in annoyance ever since he disappeared.
Which is why, when Aang came bouncing into the clearing, a huge smile on his face, the expressions that he found on his companions' faces were anything but happy.
"Hi, guys!" he said, bounding over to the campfire and sitting down cross-legged across from Sokka. "Beautiful night, isn't it?"
"Where have you been?" Katara demanded. "We've been waiting for you for hours."
"I was around."
Katara and Sokka exchanged a look.
"You know, Aang," Sokka said, "if you didn't want to include me and Katara in your plans, you may as well have not invited us to come with you at all. You do realize that every time you disappear for hours on end, we have to sit around bored out of our minds and just wait? We said we were going to do this together, and so far, it seems like you're doing a lot, but we're not doing anything at all."
Aang looked shocked for a moment, then he frowned. "I guess I hadn't really thought about that. I'm not used to being part of a team."
"Well, let us teach you, then," Sokka said, elbowing Katara in the ribs a little too hard. "We've got lots of experience with teamwork, don't we, Katara?"
"If by 'teamwork,' you mean you tell me things to do and I do them, then sure," Katara grumbled. Sokka grinned at her.
"Exactly. Communication is a key component to any successful team."
Katara frowned. "Yeah," she said finally, begrudgingly, and turned to Aang. "So it'd be really nice if you'd let us know what you've been off doing."
"I've been visiting Zuko."
"Have you?" Sokka asked. "And what have you two been doing during these visits?"
"I've been trying to convince him to let me start training him in airbending, to prove to him that he really can do it. He's been in denial about the whole thing, but I finally got him to agree, and we did our second lesson today." His expression morphed into a giant smile, similar to the one that had been on his face when he first arrived at the camp today. "And guess what? I think there was some real progress. I'm pretty sure that during the next lesson, he'll airbend for real."
Katara felt her heart drop into her stomach. "You've been…training?"
She hated the way Sokka's eyes darted to her when she asked that, and she brought herself up taller, trying not to show her emotions on her face. But admittedly, it did hurt. Why was it that a stuck-up, pampered prince like Zuko got to train while Katara was still stuck with no master and no way of learning except experimentation and the scrolls she'd brought with her, most of which she'd long-since memorized? What cruel spirit had decided the Fire Nation's prince should be the Avatar when the Fire Nation was the reason Katara had no one to teach her in the first place? It wasn't fair.
"Yeah! I think I understand why I'm here now. I'm supposed to teach Zuko. Isn't it great?"
"Yeah, Aang," Katara said. "It's great."
Her tone obviously wasn't very convincing, because Aang frowned at her. "Are you okay, Katara?"
"Of course." Katara forced a smile. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Katara…" Sokka touched her shoulder. She met his gaze and read the unspoken prompt there.
She sighed. "Okay. No, I'm not."
Aang's frown deepened. "What's wrong?"
Katara messed with the cap on her water pouch nervously. "I know you came on this trip because you wanted to find Zuko and help him realize his destiny, and I think that's great…but it's not why I'm here. Not really."
She paused, searching his face, but Aang said nothing, just looked at her confusedly.
"I came because I want to find a master. I know we're working on it, but it feels like we've been making no progress, and I guess I'm just a little frustrated. I hope the offer still stands."
"Oh." Aang looked away. "Well, the offer does still stand, Katara. Of course it does. You deserve to have a master. But…what exactly does that have to do with me training Zuko now?"
"I've spent my whole life dreaming of finally getting a waterbending master. I guess I'm a little… jealous that Zuko only just found out he even has these abilities, and he's already getting to learn. I know that's stupid. I mean, getting to the Water Tribe is going to take a long time, and I need to be patient."
"It's not stupid at all!" Aang said. "Besides, that's easy to fix. Just give me one more lesson with Zuko, and then once he realizes he really is the Avatar, he'll join us, and we can get back on track with heading toward the Northern Water Tribe. You'll have a master in no time at all."
"Really?"
"Of course! I'm really sorry if it seems like I've been ignoring you guys. You're right. We're a team, and we should be doing this stuff together. From now on, I promise I'll include you in my plans, and we can work out a strategy together. Okay?"
Sokka and Katara looked at each other.
"Promise?" Sokka asked.
"Airbender's honor."
