Chapter Four
New Eyes
Zuko glowered in his room, awake. Two days had passed since his excursion on the solstice. When uncle Iroh had untied him, he had been indignant. That buffoon had gagged him with the most disgusting thing he could find, and then thrown him onto his face. He did that purposefully, Zuko was sure.
The lieutenant had asked if they should follow them, and Zuko had been silent for a moment. When he finally spoke he told his subordinate to plot a course for Earth Kingdom waters. They would find the Avatar after they reached safety.
Zuko got up from his cot, walked to his desk and sat cross legged on the cushion. He breathed deeply and exhaled slowly, lighting the candles before him. He opened his eyes and looked at his twin broadswords; a gift from his sword master, Piandao.
The door to his room opened and his uncle stepped inside. Iroh bowed slightly before he spoke. "Good morning Prince Zuko," He said, "It has been a while since you returned and I thought you might like to share the details of your mission with me."
Zuko was silent for a moment, his nearly ever present anger telling him to send his uncle away. He thought better of it, after a moment of consideration. He sat, facing the swords upon his wall. Closing his eyes he breathed in, and out. In, and out. The candles on the desk burned brighter and dimmer as he breathed. A minute passed as he calmed himself, and Iroh spoke again. "I'll just come back later," he said, turning to leave.
"No, Uncle. Stay." He said calmly. Iroh raised his eyebrows in surprise. His nephew was… well the calm was unexpected. Zuko gestured to the cot, the only other seat. "Would you like to sit?"
"Okay.." said Iroh, apprehensive as he sat. Zuko remained where he was, his eyes still closed. "I followed the Avatar to a temple. By the time I arrived, there had been fighting in the entryway. I went to the sanctuary where I was sure I would find him, and I did."
Iroh watched him as he spoke. He watched as lines began to form as his eyebrows furrowed, the calm slipping from his face.
"When I found them, there was a fight between them and the sages. One of the sages had turned against the others. I managed to subdue the airbender, but he escaped into the sanctuary and sealed it behind him."
General Iroh stroked his beard. "Was anyone injured?"
"One of the sages. The Water Tribe boy dislocated his shoulder. Sprained his wrist as well. I subdued the oaf and we restrained them." As he spoke his anger returned, his voice losing its composure and becoming more volatile.
"And then Zhao came!" He snarled, the candle's fire growing in magnitude, reaching the ceiling and leaving soot in their wake. "His men restrained me as well! Chained me as if I was their enemy!"
Iroh was silent for a moment, thinking before he spoke again. "I had not foreseen this. That Zhao would openly oppose you is one thing. But to hinder you on your quest to capture the Avatar? He goes against the will of the fire lord. Zhao has always been rash, but even as a boy he would show more restraint. He's planning something, otherwise there's no way he would act in such a manner."
Zuko nodded and breathed slowly again, reaching for the calm that had escaped him. Iroh continued speaking. "Your victory in the agni kai disgraced him. He became even more so when he tried to strike you after his defeat."
Zuko nodded again. "While we waited for the Avatar to emerge from the sanctuary, Zhao discovered that the Avatar's companions were not the peasants we thought they were. To think that they were living in that pathetic collection of tents… The son and daughter of Hakoda.."
Iroh's eyes widened slightly. "The Southern Fox." He said softly. " A clever foe, and one of the greatest commanders I have faced."
"If he's so clever then why was his family left defenseless in that village? Should they not have been guarded in a palace somewhere?'
Iroh chuckled softly in his throat. "I see why you would think so, my nephew. But the southern Water Tribe has no great cities anymore. Hakoda hid his children in plain sight where nobody would look for them."
"We found them there." Said the prince.
"And only now, half a world away, have we learned their identity. Tell me Prince Zuko, do you know why there has only been one military expedition to the south pole in the last forty years?" Iroh said. His nephew turned to face him for the first time.
"Because there are no waterbenders in the south." he said, raising an eyebrow.
"That's the official reason, but reality is much different. After the destruction of the Air Nomads, Fire Lord Sozin set his eyes on the south pole. He knew that the waterbenders were the greatest threat to the Fire Nation. The south pole was far closer than the north, and they have close ties with the earth kingdom to this day. My father led the attack on the Water Tribe, and he devised a plan to neutralize the threat and suffer few casualties. When he would attack a city, he made sure to capture as many waterbenders as possible. He would attack, capture, and withdraw, repeating the process until there were no waterbenders to be found in the south."
"I know this already!" Zuko said, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation.
"The previous chieftain realized our plan too late, but he was a shrewd man nonetheless. He knew that without the water benders they stood little chance of surviving. He ordered the cities abandoned, and overnight his people vanished into the falling snow. My father attacked each city and found them empty. Many expeditions were sent out into the tundra but few men ever returned. The ones who did spoke of phantoms in the night, of men in white who would strike and fall away, again and again depleting their numbers until few remained, if any."
"They used Fire Lord Azuon's strategy against him," Zuko said.
"Yes. And far more effectively. In a matter of months more than ten thousand soldiers, firebenders and spearmen alike, were lost. Chief Vurak, father of Hakoda, knew the terrain of his country quite well. He chose the best captains for the mission. The Fire Nation does not have animals suited for the tundra, and our soldiers are unaccustomed to the frigid environment. Many of them died from exposure, and the food they brought with them was frozen and inedible. After a years-long campaign my father returned, and declared victory over the waterbenders. He did not lie, but he did not tell the whole truth. He defeated the waterbenders, and yet was defeated by the Water Tribe. When he took the throne, he forbade me and Fire Lord Ozai from invading the Water Tribes. The southern Water Tribe never again returned to its cities, for Vurak and Hakoda knew well that their greatest advantage. They could not be cornered and boxed in on the tundra."
Zuko stood and walked to the porthole. It made sense to him. His firebening had been weaker in the south. He was slower. If the Water Tribe was spread thin across the southern continent then there was little hope of ferrating them out. Hakoda hiding his children in plain sight, a simple, effective strategy.
"But still, that rube is the First Son. It's hard to believe." Zuko said, shaking his head.
"Do not underestimate him, Prince Zuko. The men of that family have foiled our plans many times. My father was defeated by Vurak, and Prince Ozai, my uncle and your fathers namesake, was slain by him. I myself have been bested by Hakoda on more than one occasion." The old general said.
"Though, I have outsmarted the Southern Fox just as often. " Iroh continued, "Zhao has a particular hatred for him; they have faced each other many times. Zhao has never beaten him."
"He must be quite formidable, to outsmart you, Uncle." Zuko said, turning to face Iroh.
"Well," said iroh, blushing slightly. "You're very kind Prince Zuko. The royal family of the southern Water Tribe is considered to be as powerful and cunning as that of the Fire Nation. Unlike our family, however; not every member is a bender. Despite this, they have endured for the last eight and a half centuries, an unbroken chain of succession. It is said that the line of the First Son shall never die out."
"It is odd," Mused Zuko, "That the heirloom of their people is a boomerang. I've not seen anything like it though. Zhao cut himself by just brushing against its edge. When he dropped it, it rang like a bell, loud as thunder."
"Yes," Said Iroh. "It does seem odd, having grown up in the Fire Nation. But the Water Tribe is a different culture entirely. The south in particular does not stand on ceremony. But that particular weapon is an oddity. Legend holds that it was forged by Avatar Kuruk, tempered in lightning and quenched by the ocean spirit. It is thought to never tarnish or lose its edge. When the heir reaches the age of thirteen his father passes the boomerang onto him. Even with this fabled weapon there's little pomp. They are a practical people, and in times of hardship even more so."
"Prince Zuko," He said again, "I know I have gotten a little side tracked with this impromptu history lesson, but tell me. How did you come to be tied up by the Avatar and his friends?"
Zuko scowled looking away and to the floor. "After the sanctuary opened, Zhao and his men unleashed a wave of firebending inside. And then Avatar Roku walked out. The next thing I remember I was tied on the Avatars bison. The temple was collapsed and burning. The avatar told me that they rescued me."
"So that's why…" Iroh trailed off. He looked at his nephew carefully. The young man had spent the past days in his room. He had taken no meals, and there was a shadow under his unmarked eye. He stood tall, but his shoulders slumped inwards. He had slept little, if it all. More than this, Zuko had not ordered the crew to pursue the avatar. No, instead he had steered the ship northeast, out of Fire Nation territory.
"You have not slept, Prince Zuko." Iroh said to his nephew. It wasn't a question.
"No." Zuko answered anyway. "I haven't."
Zuko sat beside his uncle, and Iroh guessed at what was keeping him awake. He had been saved by the Avatar and not taken prisoner, something he never would have expected. He had been returned to his ship unharmed, though rather embarrassingly. Iroh placed a hand on his shoulder. "Sometimes," He said, "We find allies where we least expect them. There is no shame in that."
Iroh stood then, and bowed once more to his nephew. "I shall take my leave, Prince Zuko." he said, and left.
Zuko undressed and laid on his cot. He looked at the Fire Nation flag on the wall, and after a moment he turned away from it. He closed his eyes and slept.
Katara moved her arms carefully, watching as bandits surrounded her brother. One struck out with his spear but Sokka deflected the blow with his boomerang, breaking the point from the shaft. Katara grit her teeth in concentration as she moved as much water through the air as she could without giving away her position. Sokka had come up with the plan after Aang had been captured. He would act as a distraction while she trapped the bandits in ice.
One of the men seemed to notice something and began to turn around, and Sokka moved like lightning. One moment his back was to a tree and the next he stood in front of the man, throwing a savage kick at his knee. There was a hideous cracking sound and the man's leg bent inwards, and he collapsed to the ground. The fallen man's companions lashed out with knives and swords trying to wound Sokka, but he twisted away. One man managed to score his arm, but the knife caught on something and was jolted from his hand.
Katara eased the water through the air until it was directly above them, and Sokka shouted the signal, leaping into the lowest branches of the tree. Katara pulled the water downward, and closing her fists, froze it into place.
Some of the bandits were encased in ice completely, and others were just frozen to the ground. None had escaped. Sokka Leapt from the tree, avoiding the bandits. He pulled the knife from his arm, and pocketed it,
"You're hurt." Katara said, reaching out to inspect his tricep. Her brother turned away to avoid her. "We can worry about it later. Right now we need to get Aang and get out of here,"
Katara looked at him, concerned. She agreed that it could wait; there wasn't much blood. But it wasn't like Sokka to brush off an injury without whining about it. Perhaps it was because this was the first time he had been wounded in battle, or maybe he was trying to be tough. She didn't know. All the same she nodded. The two of them ran into the woods towards the bandits hideout.
They had been ambushed that morning, just a few hours earlier. The bandits came in a rush, blowing darts at the three of them, hitting Aang first and then Katara paralyzing them. How Sokka had avoided them she had no idea, but when the criminals began to tie up her and Aang Sokka had leapt to his feet and begun to fight. Aang had told him to save Katara, and he had done so, hoisting her over his shoulder and sprinting back to Appa. The bandits gave chase but couldn't keep up with them. At the time Katara was too angry at her brother for leaving Aang behind to think about it, but now that the bandits were taken care of she thought it odd. Sokka had never been that fast, even when children she had outpaced him.
Appa had been over a mile away at their camp by the river, and when they got to him and flew back Katara could move again. They had returned to the spot of the attack, and Sokka managed to track the bandits to a cave in the base of a cliff, where they were gathered outside, and one of the men carried Aang inside, using a lantern to light his way. The others had talked outside and Katara and Sokka had listened in on their conversation. The man from the fire temple, Commander Zhao, was offering a steep reward for the capture of the Avatar and his Water Tribe companions.
Sokka hatched a plan then, and the two of them put it into action. Katara hid herself by the river, and Sokka lured the bandits over to her so she could trap them.
Now that they had succeeded they sprinted back to the cave, calling Appa to them as they ran. The bison landed next to the cave and groaned, reaching his arm into it to reach his master.
"It's no good big guy. We'll get him out." Katara said to the bison. At her words Appa backed away to let them into the cave. Katara couldn't see anything inside. She looked around the entrance for a lantern but Sokka just walked inside without a moment's hesitation.
"Sokka! It's dark in there we won't be able to find him without light," She said to him when he passed into the shadow of the earth. "I can see him. He's tied up not far from the entrance."
She stared into the darkness, eyes straining to catch a glimpse of anything beyond the first few feet. She walked in, thinking that maybe her eyes would adjust once she got inside. She took a few tentative steps into the cave and immediately smacked her head into something. A hand took hers and her brother spoke. "Katara are you blind? Watch where you're going."
She grew angry at his words. "How can you see anything in here? Its completely dark! I can't even see my nose in this!"
"Katara? Sokka? Is that you?" It was Aang, "I can't see anything!"
"See! I told you!."
"Maybe non-benders just have better night vision." Sokka said.
"I'm more than happy to discuss the differences in vision between benders an non-benders, but
Could you hurry up and untie me? I really have to go to the bathroom." Aang said. Katara could hear him shuffle towards them. "Sure Aang." Sokka spoke again and Katara heard him cut through the cord binding him. "... This is the worst rope I've ever seen. It's just grass woven together."
Katara made her way slowly back to the light at the end of the cave. She stepped inside and Aang popped out shortly after, and ran into the woods to relieve himself. Sokka was nowhere to be seen. She stared at the mouth of the cave expectantly, and Aang returned to stand beside her. As seconds became minutes she called out to him. "Sokka? What are you doing in there?"
Her brother's voice drifted out to them. "I'm stealing their stuff. Normally I'd be against it. but considering that they were going to sell us to Zhao I'll make an exception. Do either of you know how to use nunchakus?"
"I'm more of an airbender myself." Aang said, a lopsided smile on his face. Katara snickered despite her agitation. She expected Sokka to laugh or make a joke back, but he didn't. Instead he came out with a bag on his hip and a heavy pack, his face completely neutral. "What's in those?" Aang asked.
"Money." He said, patting the bag at his side. Then he gestured to his new pack. "Food. Let's go before they come back."
Aang leapt onto Appa's back, and gestured for Sokka to throw his pack up. Sokka did, and over shot it. Aang had to leap into the air to catch the bag. "Nice throw." he said, surprised. Sokka said nothing and climbed into the saddle. Katara joined him and Aang steered Appa into the sky.
"Let me see your arm. I saw the bandit's knife get stuck while you were fighting." Katara said, rummaging in her bag for a bandage as she spoke. She found one and went to inspect Sokka's wound. There was more blood than she realized, and she washed it off. To her surprise, the wound had already scabbed over, closing itself. "Well?" Sokka asked. "Is it bad?
No. it's… it's already closed up. That shouldn't be possible, it hasn't even been an hour."
Sokka blinked and brushed his fingers over the mark, wincing slightly. Then he shrugged. Settling back in his position against the far side of the saddle.
Katara watched him, curiously. Her brother stared off into the distance. She watched his eyes and thought it was as if a great weight had settled over him, an ever present shadow dragging along in his wake. Was it because he had broken the bandits leg? She decided to try and talk with him to cheer him up.
"You fought amazingly today. I've never seen anyone but Aang move so fast." She said, smiling at him. His eyes flicked over to her, a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth for a moment and then fell away. "Thanks." Was all he said. Worry began to knot itself into her stomach then. Not whining was one thing, but Sokka never passed a compliment so casually. She looked over at Aang. He too had noticed Sokka's odd behavior. They exchanged looks briefly, and then Aang's face brightened as he seemed to have an idea.
"Maybe we should go back. Make sure they're okay." The Avatar said.
Sokka snorted. "That's a great idea. Let's go ask the men who we robbed and beat up how they're feeling. It's not like they wanted to hand us over to the Fire Nation or anything."
"Do you really think so?"
"What? Are you ser-" Sokka spluttered as he turned his head to look at the Avatar, who for his part was failing to suppress a laugh. "Oh. You're messing with me." Aang laughed openly then, seeing the expression on his friend's face. Katara joined in, and after a moment Sokka laughed too.
When they were finished, Sokka upended the contents of the pack into the saddle. He and Katara took stock of their supplies. Most of it was food, with some knick-knacks mixed in. Sokka picked up a whistle in the shape of a bison and blew on it. Appa grunted loudly. Sokka paused, and blew again. Appa roared this time and Aang looked back to see the cause of the disturbance. "Is that a bison whistle?" he asked, jumping back to join them for a moment.
"I guess so." Sokka handed it to Aang. The Avatar pocketed it and grinned. "This ought to come in handy, I lost mine when I left the air temple."
Katara spoke up after packing away the rest of the food. "It looks like we got lucky. There's enough food here to last a few weeks, we won't have to stop for supplies for a while. That should take some time off of our trip to the north pole."
"Good," her brother said. "Time's one thing we don't have enough of."
Katara and Aang sat next to each other in front of their campfire. Having finished their evening meal they rested in a comfortable silence, neither speaking while they enjoyed each other's company. Sokka was across the campsite from them, snoring loudly in his sleeping bag. The young prince had been acting… different for the last few days. Katara thought at first that it was because of the events at the temple, but now she began to realize that it had started when he had come out of the spirit world. He had been quiet, his jokes and sarcasm less frequent. When he laughed it was quiet, his smile not as broad.
"I'm worried about Sokka." She said, breaking the soft silence that covered them. "Ever since he came out of the spirit world he's been different."
Aang nodded. "I've noticed that too," He said, "I can't quite put my finger on it. It's almost as if he's Sokka, but also not Sokka." Aang turned and watched his friend sleep. His snoring slowed, and stopped. He slept silently, as if far away in his dreams. "Almost as if there's two people where there should be one."
"When we were fighting those bandits," Katara said, "He moved so fast. He shouldn't have been able to keep them at bay but he did. It looked like one of them was about to notice me, and Sokka moved ten feet in the blink of an eye. He kicked him in the knee and broke his leg. He's never done that before, he never tried to injure someone so bad in any of our other fights."
Katara stared at her brother as well. Watching him she could almost see something there, a flicker of movement. A shadow just out of sight. As she pondered him, she thought back to their flight over the blockade. Sokka had moved faster than she believed possible when he started to fall from the saddle. He had been the one to notice the Fire Nation ships. He had seen Zuko's ship in the darkness when she could barely see Aang across Appa's back. And he could see in the cavern that Aang was trapped in, too.
"It must have something to do with that spirit he met," Aang said, "Koh. Did he tell you what happened with him?"
"... No." Katara responded, shaking her head slowly. "After the Fire Navy and everything that happened at the solstice, I didn't ask him."
Aang nodded. After they had returned Zuko to his ship, he told them about what he had learned from Roku.
"Do you think we should ask him?" The avatar asked
"Yeah," She said slowly, "I do."
"I'll wake him up!" Aang said, moving to loose a gust of wind at Sokka. Katara stretched out an arm and stopped him. "Not now," She said exasperated. "Tomorrow. You know how cranky he gets when you wake him up."
"There's no need to wait. I'm up."
Katara started at the sound of her brother's voice. She was sure he had been sleeping. She wasn't sure how to begin, now that it was time. Fortunately, Aang had no such hesitation.
"What happened when Kuruk took you to meet that spirit?"
Sokka looked up at the stars for a while. He debated lying, or just not answering them at all. Eventually, he decided to tell them. He sat up, and got out of his sleeping bag to sit by the fire with them. He began to tell them what had happened in Koh's lair, keeping some of it to himself.
"So Koh told Sozin about the comet, and now he wants to fix the mess he made." Aang said, once Sokka had finished speaking.
"I don't think so," Sokka said. "I think he just wants the world to be put in order, so he offered me power and gave me a task."
"You took the deal." Katara said. "The power."
"You agreed to become his avatar." Aang said, realization on his face.
"I don't know about avatar," Sokka said, "More like his champion. Either way, I can do things I couldn't before. I'm faster, stronger. My senses are sharper and my reflexes quicker. I can see things that were hidden."
"That's great!" Said Aang. He started moving around making punches and kicks at the air while he spoke. "When I face the Fire Lord you can unleash a crazy amazing spirit attack on his soldiers!"
"Uh, I don't know about that Aang. It seems that it's mostly just that I can do stuff better than before, and see things. I don't think I'll be shooting lasers out of my eyes or anything."
"See things?" Katara asked. He had said he knew Shiyu could be trusted because he had seen it. Then she frowned, "is that why you could see in that cave?"
"Or how you spotted Zuko's ship?" Aang added.
Sokka nodded. "Yeah, I guess. That's not all, I can see people. On the inside, what kind of person they are. Their chi. Some of them have been corrupted, it looks like they're sick. As if a disease has gotten into them. Sozin's light, Koh called it. He wants me to snuff it out."
"How?" She asked him.
Her brother shrugged. "I don't know. The Sages had it, at least partially. Zuko too, but there was something else, something more. There were two fires burning within, fighting each other. But then Zhao…" He trailed off. "He's too far gone. There was no good in him."
Aang spoke again. "Sokka, I think I know what Koh did to you, at least part of it."
"What did he do?"
"He opened your third eye. The one that can see into the spirit world." The airbender said, pointing at his own forehead. Sokka looked confused and tried to look at his forehead. When that clearly didn't work he touched it gingerly with his hands.
"It's not an actual eye." Aang said, laughing at the odd sight. "Some of the monks had mastered it. They could open and close it at will."
"That must be nice." Sokka huffed. "Because watching you two glow all the time is distracting."
"I can teach you some of the exercises the monks taught me. I haven't managed to unlock it yet, but maybe it could help."
"That would be very helpful," Sokka said, smiling at Aang. The Avatar sat down cross legged and motioned for Sokka to the same. When his friend had mirrored him he spoke.
"Put two fingers on your brow like this," he said, placing the first two fingers of his right hand in the center of his forehead. "Take five deep breaths, seven normal breaths, and five more deep ones. Close your eyes slowly, and imagine a third eye where your fingers are doing the same."
Sokka did as he was instructed. Once his eyes were closed Aang told him to open them and repeat the process again, only this time to try and close only his third eye. Sokka did, and to his surprise the light inside of the Avatar was dimmer, not as defined as it was before. "That's a little better."
Aang smiled at him. "I"m glad. Keep practicing and eventually you'll be able to open and close it with just a touch or a thought. Monk Gyatso said that opening it for the first time was the hardest part, and you've already got that covered."
"I don't know about you two, but I'm ready for bed." Katara told them as she got into her sleeping bag. Aang lifted himself with airbending and laid on appa's tail. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea."
Sokka for his part was already asleep, and dreaming. As he slept he saw an ever present shadow, a darkness that drank the light. In the distance a pair of golden eyes, and a billowing azure flame. He stared at it with slumbering curiosity, wondering what it meant
Zhao marched along the prow of his ship. He had seen the banished prince carried off by the avatar. He had been tied up, and unconscious, but his men hadn't seen that. No, they had seen the disgraced royalty on the back of the Avatar's pet, only his head visible from their vantage point. Zhao had been the first to see them, and the only one to see him dropped unceremoniously. The only witness as the Water Tribe buffoon had tied him. But that didn't matter. No, what mattered was that his soldiers had seen Zuko with the Avatar and came to their own conclusions. Zhao smiled as he remembered their words. Traitor, they had said. In league with the Avatar. That suited him just fine.
"One down," He said, watching as a messenger hawk soared westward.
