Chapter 8: Wild-Goose Chases

Azimaz was beginning to regret joining hands with the Fire Prince. For an heir to the throne, the boy was quite…incapable.

Following his failure to capture the Avatar at Crescent Island during the solstice (though Azimaz, himself, conceded that the sudden appearance of Avatar Roku had everyone pissing their pants, not just the Fire Prince), the boy proved to be incompetent in other matters— for one, his abject failure to haggle with a group of pirates for the Avatar and his peasant friends. Initially, the prince had utilized a prized waterbending scroll as collateral, having made the pirates bend to their every whim for the said scroll, even if that meant tracking down the "bald boy with the arrow tattoo," and the "Water Tribe siblings with a white rock at the brother's neck." For a split moment, Azi considered the young price worthy of something, and he might as well have felt like a proud father when the boy taunted the sappy Water wench with her mother's necklace.

But then, following a run-in with the said bald boy, the Water Tribe oaf opened his mouth.

"You're really gonna hand over the Avatar for a stupid piece of parchment?" Sokka asked the pirates in near-disbelief over the ridiculousness of the transaction, "I'll bet he'll fetch a lot more on the black market than that fancy scroll."

Zuko's flustered attempts at maintaining the negotiations faltered when the peasant hit the nail on the head with an additional, "I'm just sayin' it's bad business sense. Think how much the Fire Lord would pay for the Avatar." Smirking, "You guys would be set for life."

And the prince never did redeem himself from that chaos, coupled by Azi's own failed attempts at grabbing that Water peasant by the throat and throwing him and the moonstone at his neck in his ship. The tribesboy had whacked him in the eye with the prized scroll before being yanked atop the Avatar's sky bison.

As if that was not enough of a defeat, Azimaz was left with a realization: the Fire prince was really just a softy with a scar. Despite the opportunity to capture the Avatar, the prince bemoaned the fate of his crew after just a few words from his fuddy-duddy uncle. And with increasing yet mute agitation, Azi came to terms with the fact that there were no victories accumulating in his book— a revelation that stung even more after the Dragon Admiral learned that Zhao was promoted to Admiral of the Phoenix Division.

Agni's hell.

Even when the more generous part of Azi became willing to look past the prince's failures, his patience was most greatly tested with what was perhaps Zuko's greatest and least-greatest feat— freeing the Avatar from Zhao's clutches. The Phoenix Admiral, who had joined the hunt with greater vigor than before, sought to rub in Zuko and Azi's faces his success of capturing the Avatar, only for his prized possession to be stolen by the Blue Spirit— which was but a mask veiling Zuko's shame and uselessness. The one useful thing Zuko could've done…and now that, too, was turned to ash when the Avatar— yet again— gave him the slip.

"I know my actions make me seem like I'm helping him," the prince disclosed to the paled Dragon Admiral after the failure of the decade, "But I'm not. He was meant to be our kill."

"If you ask me, you did nothing wrong," came Azimaz's monotone reply, his answer surprising the ever-skeptical Fire prince, "You were only trying to fulfill the mission your father entrusted to you. And from my perspective, it was also beneficial; had Zhao kept him in his custody, it would have been more difficult to track down his friends. After all, they're but unextraordinary Water peasants who could easily blend in with any given crowd. There are very few monks with arrows running around, and that friendship of theirs is the only identifier we have of them."

Zuko sighed, nodding.

"I see that you still do not trust me, Prince Zuko," Azi cast his slit-like eyes on the teenager, doing all he could to hold back a disappointed hiss. "We really could've had him and his friends had you told me about this beforehand. I would've been ready to meet you at a designated spot. We could've held him ransom for those peasants. Not only would he have been our kill; he would've also been our bait." Looking out of the window in the prince's bunker, glaring at the sunset, "I know you have absolutely no interest in those peasants, but I clearly do. No matter how silly you may think my obsession is—"

"I'm as serious about those peasants as you are," Zuko told him. "We're helping each other out, aren't we?"

"Exactly," turning to face him, "That's why I wish you could've told me about this plan beforehand."

Zuko swallowed.

"I don't mean to make you feel bad about this. I only fear I'm not doing enough to earn your trust. There is nothing I can do if you think of me as yet another Zhao—"

"It's really not that," Zuko told him. "I was afraid of becoming a national embarrassment…that's all…"

As if you're not one already, he held back a laugh.

"I wasn't sure if the plan would even work. Father already thinks of me as an embarrassment… and I didn't want to keep embarrassing him…" Zuko turned away, looking very much like a child than a man, "And it didn't work anyway."

What a baby, Azi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I can understand that. And no matter. We will hunt as always…though I am expecting you to not keep anything from me from now on."

Zuko looked up at him, "No one can ever know that I was the Blue Spirit."

"You're not a traitor to the nation, Prince Zuko. I have no reason to disclose this information and brand you as one. We're allies. What happened today will stay between us." Keeping a hand on the boy's shoulder, "Get some rest. Don't think too much, hm?"

The entire interaction left Azi's assistant dumbfounded, and once they made their way to Azimaz's bunker, the assistant couldn't help whispering his outburst, "What are you doing, sir? Why are you being so patient with him?"

"If I rat him out, he'll lose his privileges as the traitor of the nation. And we will be branded traitors, too, for associating with him. That is the last thing I need on my record."

"Then why not break apart? Why still cajole him?"

"Because he's the prince, and that hasn't changed," Azi said. "The resources he has are remarkable. They're the only things keeping me tied to him."

"If we keep being stingy with our resources, we will end up in the streets!" And as Azi glared at him, "I apologize, I shouldn't have worded it that way, but…sooner or later, word might get out that he's the Blue Spirit… What happens then? We will be ruined for associating with a traitor even then. Zhao will be on his trail, and our footsteps are right beside the prince's."

"Keep your britches tight," Azi said, "When the time is right, we will break from the prince. But that time is not now. So long as his status is intact, we will continue to be tethered to him."

"But if I'm being honest, sir, I don't know how much longer he'll be holding onto that status of his. His own father banished him, and now he's done something so scandalous."

His eyebrows furrowed as he absentmindedly fiddled with a fireball in his hand, "That boy has put me in an impossible position with his foolishness… Though I'm surprised at how foolish Zhao was, too, in this matter. If he had it in him, he wouldn't have been so humiliatingly defeated by a human masquerading as a spirit or a twelve-year-old boy who can only do so much with those air blasts of his."

"But he did slip from us several times as well," the assistant noted hesitantly. "And that Water oaf? He fights with his brain, sir. And that Water wench with her tenacity though she can't do yakshit…well, other than freezing people by accident time to time."

"Are you praising them right now?"

"I would never, sir. I'm only piecing together their strengths."

"Hm," was all the Dragon Admiral could respond with as he leaned back against his bolster, mumbling, "I suppose they're really not to be underestimated, weak and whimsical as they seem."

This was ridiculous. They had much more important things to do than wasting their stay at a quaint Earth Kingdom town that relied solely on the words of a psycho (or "fortuneteller" as the locals and Airboy and Katara called her) named Aunt Wu. And against Sokka's will, he found himself seated on a mat in Aunt Wu's place, nibbling on some cream puffs.

"Alright, who's next?" Aunt Wu asked as Katara excitedly stepped out, "Don't be shy."

"Okay, let's get this over with," Sokka stifled a yawn and stood up.

Aunt Wu merely gave him a knowing look before, "Why don't you wait for a while? Maybe the monk would like to go first."

"Ugh," he lay back on the mat, resorting to his comfort food. He rolled his eyes with every giggle and squeal his sister exhibited as she raved on about a tall and handsome man to wed in the future. And much to Sokka's surprise, Aang, too, was moping on about love predictions and whatnot. Clearly they had a world to save, and this was not something that should distract them! He told himself upon entering the fortune reading room that he was determined not to get distracted like them.

"Cloud reading, bone-crack reading, fire reading, face reading, palm reading, foot reading," Sokka drawled as he threw a bone in the fire as per Aunt Wu's instructions, "It's all a bunch of Arctic seal-baloney, if you ask me."

Aunt Wu only smiled at him, "You must be very frustrated."

"Yeah. Clearly."

"You're upset that you're having to deal with more spiritual things than you would like."

"Nothing about fortunetelling is spiritual, per se. It's like a psuedo-science—"

"I mean that you're upset with having to deal with visions that no one believes you're having."

And at that, Sokka paused, widening his eyes.

"You're also upset that the moon maiden isn't visiting your dreams lately."

"What?" he blinked, "B-but you didn't read my palms or anything!"

"I don't need to," she said, amused, "Your desperation is written all over your face."

"Desperation? I'm not desperate!"

Still smiling, "You're the keeper of the moonstone, aren't you?" Pointing to the stone that he wore around his neck, "The one it belongs to is real, and she will come before you soon."

And for a moment, Sokka forgot all of his views and opinions and arguments, pouring in a hopeful, "Really?"

"Your destinies are intertwined," the old woman said. "Your companionship will be one of devotion, loyalty, and love. If it's not for her…well, I think it's safe to say your future would've been full of self-conflicted struggle and anguish."

And despite the frown that played over his lips, he still couldn't resist murmuring, "Love? Like… love as in friendship love or love as in… you know… the making-babies type?" And when she just sat there smiling at his antics, not saying a word as he tried to piece it all together, he pressed, "Baby-making love, right? I mean that's typically what love refers to…" Hiding a flush, "Interesting, interesting. So, uh… am I gonna…I dunno… marry this girl or…? How many kids are we talking?"

Aunt Wu laughed.

"And when exactly am I gonna meet her? Like, exact date and time—?"

"I thought you didn't believe in fortunes," a smug look crossed her face.

And by that point, Sokka's ego was wounded. She was making him fall into this nonsense, too, wasn't she? Brainwashing him just like she did to his sister and Airboy! He was too good for this!

"You know what, you're just telling me what you think I wanna hear," he stood up, "My sister probably blabbered on to you about my 'moon girl nonsense,' and you're taking advantage of that information to get back at me. You're trying to get me to worship you, too, but that's not happening!" He headed for the door, prying it open and stepping out, "Besides, there's no way on earth to confirm—"

"I see four children," Aunt Wu taunted as he stopped in his tracks and turned around. She wore a grin that he couldn't really tell to be devious or otherwise. "The cracks say two girls and two boys." Holding both handles of the door, "Of course, not that you would care for this nonsense." And she closed the door on him, leaving out his flustered form.

"Hey!"

It was another defeat for the books.

Azi's assistant proved himself right when he declared that the Water oaf "fights with his brain." Despite having a deadly bounty hunter on their side as well as a shirshu that could paralyze its prey with its tongue, the Water peasants— though struck by the whipped tongue— nevertheless found a breakthrough. The Water oaf came up with the idea to confuse the shirshu with exotic scents, and his sister bent the fragrances in the shirshu's direction. The result was a crazed shirshu slicing its tongue across the backs of its owner, the Fire prince, and Azimaz.

"Hah! That's called science, folks!" Sokka cackled in victory.

"Sokka!" Katara tugged at his arm, "Come on!"

The Phoenix Admiral lay with temporarily dead senses and a critically injured ego, watching the whimsical trio board their sky bison and head off into the clouds for the hundredth time. This is it. I've hit my lowest.

For a while, he pondered his own incompetence, but in all of these weeks of ups and downs (mostly downs, he admitted it), his takeaway from the ordeal was this: he was having a rough time lately, and Zuko was still trying, dumb as he may be at times. Many times. But Iroh? That man was a different breed altogether. It was uncertain if the General took this mission as seriously as he should — bathing in open nakedness and subsequently being captured by earthbenders, rambling on about lost Pai Sho tiles, indulging in music nights with the crew, raving on about delicious meals to the cook on board, conspiring to embrace paralyzed attractive bounty hunters like a street pervert, flirting with old fortunetellers.

If that old man dedicated at least half of the time he spends on discussing teas to planning actual strategies, we probably would have had a breakthrough, Azi sighed, succumbing to his humiliating defeat. This was the war general he'd been dying to meet and join forces with? No wonder he's unfit for the throne.

Fools, they're all fools, Azimaz told himself, for at the end of the day, failed missions or succeeded ones, the imbeciles he was working with still wallowed in the superstition that the twelve-year-old air monk was the one true Avatar, transcending the limitations of space and time.

These idiots can never know that the true Avatar is connected to that moonstone, Azi sighed, feeling as if his head would burst from both the overwhelming perfumes and the image of the moonstone that danced tauntingly before his eyes.

"And here I was thinking about how to break the news to you when you turn sixteen."

Yue took her seat against the soft oasis grass and cast aside the limited number of belongings she had on her, flustered that she had been caught. She had attempted to sneak out of the tribe in a maid's uniform, but never did he expect an alarmed Kirqut to come running to her in the middle of the night. There was no choice but for her to spill the beans about what she knew and what others refused to tell her— what made her make this decision in the first place.

"How did you know?" Shaman Kirqut asked.

Sighing, "My parents had been…not so subtle about it once… and I overheard them. It's been a few years."

"You should've spoken to me about this sooner, Princess!" the shaman said, joining her on the grass, "I can't imagine how difficult it must be to know before you were ready. And not be able to consult anyone about this…"

"My case isn't so bad," she shrugged, staring at her reflection in the water, "I only feel bad for that airbender before me. He was around twelve when he knew."

Blinking, "How do you know that?"

"I don't know. I just…I just do… I mean, wasn't that me in a past life?"

"Well yes…" the man dropped his further questions, returning to the issue at hand, "I still can't believe you tried to run away."

"Well I feel guilty sitting behind walls and comforts," Yue told him. "People are dying, Shaman Kirqut…and I need to do something. I have nightmares of bodies in bloodbaths, ashes scattered across cemeteries… I have nightmares about parents and children being separated, innocent lives slaughtered by the Fire Army."

Shaman Kirqut sighed as he saw her trying to hold back her tears. "Princess Yue—"

"I know our walls have kept us safe, but what if the Fire Nation advances and reaches our doorstep? Even when I am crowned chieftess, it would still be my job to protect my people, wouldn't it? I might be a woman but I'm in charge of the nation. Why can't my parents understand this? Unless they plan on throwing themselves in front of me then, too…" Shaking her head, "I deserve to not live like a coward. I have the right to protect the people I care about. I have the right to protect innocent lives. I was born thousands of times, and I have died thousands of times, and I need to do it again…"

Kirqut's response got stuck in his throat as he saw her eyes start to glow. He held her hand quickly, "Woah there!"

And her daze went away, leaving her momentarily disoriented. She blinked away her distress for a moment, glaring impatiently at her reflection.

"I keep telling you that you need to be patient," Kirqut told her. "Do you not trust me, Princess? It is my duty to make sure you are on the right path, and I need you to trust that I will be fulfilling that purpose at all times. Even if I couldn't change the social dynamics of our tribe, I wanted you to learn combat for a reason. Not so you can waste away behind these walls as another accessory for some man."

"I know you're trying to help, and I'm forever grateful," Yue said. "But I'm so afraid of being patient…I know it will ultimately be difficult for my parents to get a grip on this, but so many parents have lost their children because of this war. Even if anything does happen to me, the universe will not be burdened by one extinguished life as opposed to the millions that were extinguished during this war. There is great honor in sacrificing yourself for the greater good—"

"Let's not talk like that, Princess Yue," Shaman Kirqut said, alarmed. "If sacrifice was so great, why did thousands of Avatars live their lives to the fullest instead of perishing in battle?"

"It's not like I don't want to live. Think practically—"

"Well we're not talking about any possibility other than you coming back," Kirqut insisted fiercely. "You are the only hope for our world, yes, but you are also the only hope for our tribe. It may be your duty to go save the world, but it is also your duty to return home. You are Tui, our patron mother goddess. You are the spirit of this planet and the only Northern heir…and we as a nation are relying on you in all kinds of ways. We can't have you forsake us. We can't have you take risks…"

The fear in Kirqut's eyes was unlike anything she had ever seen before. She sighed helplessly, "How much longer then, Shaman Kirqut? How long do I have to let this planet suffer? It's killing me from the inside…I can't explain this to you."

"I understand, Princess," he said, holding her hand again before she could launch into her Avatar State, "We need to lay low about this a little longer. Just a little bit longer. There will be a way. There has to be."

"But how can you tell when even you're not sure?"

"We still have several weeks before you turn sixteen. Anything can happen during this time. But for now, we need to keep quiet. If your parents find out, they will expedite your wedding, and none of us want that." With a hand on her shoulder, "Until then, no running away, and no silly risks. Keep an open mind."

There was nothing she could say, nothing she could do other than force a nod.

"You are Tui, our patron mother goddess. You are the spirit of this planet and the only Northern heir…and we as a nation are relying on you in all kinds of ways. We can't have you forsake us."

The duty to go to war and the duty to return home… Would she be able to do both?

The wind was especially cold tonight— not a surprise given it was mountain country they had camped out in. Sokka, having noticed the bald monk shivering in his sleep, got up to offer his blanket, but Katara beat him to it, draping a warm sheet over the airbender. Aang blinked sleepily at her and smiled, mumbling a sweet, "Thanks, Katara," and she grinned and whispered a soft, "Sweet dreams."

The monk fell asleep very quickly after that, exhausted from their eventful day at the Northern Air Temple. Ideally the Water Tribe siblings should also be fast asleep by now, having also engaged in the chaos, but Sokka was occupied by thoughts. Katara joined her brother, and upon seeing his fixation on the moon, she was about to retort a comment about his "moon girl" obsession as of late, but upon noting his seriousness, she decided not to entertain any jabs tonight; he did good today, after all, given his fair share in driving the firebenders away from the mountain.

"All done pampering your boyfriend?"

"Sokka, he's not my boyfriend," she frowned.

"Oh yeah, that explains why you're all kissy kissy over him lately."

"When?"

"When he gave you Mom's necklace back."

"A kiss on the cheek is friendly."

With an unconvinced look, "I've been noticing certain things. He gave you that flower necklace back in Aunt Wu's village 'cause you 'lost your other one.' And then he got this one back—"

"It's Mom's!"

"Maybe, but if I didn't know any better, I'd say you're engaged."

"I'm just fourteen!"

"That's what I'm saying. You're fourteen, baby sister, and he's twelve. So no necklaces. Not yet."

"Don't act like you're Dad," she folded her arms. "Aang's just being a sweet guy."

"I'm just sayin'. I gotta look out for my folks."

This is what I get for being merciful, she frowned but still decided against teasing him. Her brother was rarely one to be serious, yet here he was, thinking deeply about something despite the current teasing.

"That kid was really looking forward to meeting more airbenders," he remarked.

Katara nodded, looking in Aang's direction, "He really misses his people…but he's happy with how things turned out today."

"Oh yeah, me, too. Air power can be badass. I learned that today." His smile then dwindled a little, "Probably would've been nice if his folks drove out the Fire Nation back then, too…but obviously there was a comet involved, and that made things worse."

"Yeah," Katara said somberly, noticing how Sokka gave Aang another wary glance. "Are you worried about him?"

"Of course I'm worried about him," he admitted, staring ahead, "You know, I used to think the concept of us being 'protectors of the Avatar' was a joke. Every time the shamans talked about it back home, I just laughed it off 'cause the Avatar's so powerful and undefeatable. I thought the Avatar wouldn't need us… But Aang's just a goofy kid. Yeah, I was angry when he crumpled our map to Dad a few days ago, but…he didn't wanna lose us…" With a sigh, "A pacifist twelve-year-old in the middle of the hundred-year war…"

She nodded, "Aang doesn't deserve any of what happened to him and his people…"

"He's gotta be protected at all costs. The world needs the Avatar, but at the end of the day, I'm not letting a kid lay his life down like that," Sokka said. "Sacrifice can be overrated sometimes. There's great honor in preserving yourself, too. We're not leaving him in the dust; we're family, and we're saving the world together."

"Well yeah, obviously," Katara smiled at her brother, "What's gotten into you lately? You still thinking about Dad?"

"Yeah... I guess so."

"I know how much you wanted to see him…"

"Yeah, but this is where I wanna be," he said in all sincerity, "This is where we need to be."