A/N: Mr. Haziq and LoveToRead613, you both are amazing and the main reason I keep posting on here even though FFnet keeps making things more difficult (currently disabling my email notifs because apparently there's a delivery problem, ugh) Anyway. Thank you so much for all of your reviews over the years and enjoy the new chapter :)

Teaser: "I mean no harm."

Chapter 25 Эвлэрэл

The atmosphere was heavy. Katara was withdrawn, staring into the distance they came from. Aang was sitting on Appa's head, alone and staring ahead. Toph was repeatedly picking at her toes and playing with a handful of sand she'd taken from the beach. Zuko appeared more relaxed than he had in a long time, he wasn't doing anything in particular, he just was.

Sokka, well, Sokka wished he could do the same, but between the sharp loss of having to leave dad, as well as the mission they had now been sent on, he remembered a conversation from not too long ago.

"We should talk, all of us, after we land and have had lunch," Sokka said into the quiet air. "So we have something in our stomachs to sort out these misunderstandings."

Silence plucked at the air as Sokka moved his gaze to Zuko's. He had seen the sharp snap of focus in Zuko's eyes, as he'd drawn his attention. Zuko seemed to consider for a moment, then nodded; his face, in what Sokka had come to recognise as guarded, instead of grim and cold.

"Fine by me," Toph exclaimed from next to Zuko. Aang also quietly chimed in with: "A heavy air makes for slow flying anyway, that's what Gyasto always told me" as agreement. Katara just nodded, sensing the tense mood, and not wanting to sour the pot further.

Now that it had been decided, the oppressive mood turned to one of anticipation, but Sokka could see that Zuko had not tensed up, which he took as a good sign. If his sister was anything to go off of, staying quiet all tensed up was one step away from snapping someone's head off at the smallest thing.

As it turned out, it was to be a late lunch; they had eaten well before leaving, and they had agreed to cover a decent distance before taking any breaks. When the time came, they found a nice spot for Appa to graze on a mountain field littered with verdant shrubs while they cooked and ate. All the while, the tension in the air mounted higher. When they were done, they sat in a circle around their campfire.

"Zuko, can we talk?" Sokka started carefully, his words dancing like the remaining embers of their cookfire in the errant breeze.

Zuko was calm, his eyes calculating, taking them all in. "Okay. Let's talk."

"I want to start this by stating that you are free to leave, should you wish to do so." Sokka took an even breath, glad this was going smoothly. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Toph's hands clench themselves into fists, before she relaxed again, thankfully, everyone stayed quiet.

"We'd prefer to have a conversation about this situation, in an attempt to part peacefully, but it's your choice. You are also welcome to keep travelling with us." he continued. The silence drew out into awkwardness as Zuko's eyes levelly stared at him. Sokka continued: "Alright, from what I heard, there may be some misunderstandings."

"It's not so much a misunderstanding than a disagreement," Zuko replied, voice thankfully tactful, if dangerously neutral.

"Would you mind explaining that?" Katara said, breaking her silence.

"Toph and Aang, and you too Katara, have all claimed that I wasn't indebted to them, which is not theirs to decide, it's my decision and mine alone," Zuko stated, clearly believing his word as fact.

Katara paused, trying to find the right words. "Zuko, in the community, our community in the Water Tribe, it is normal, no, necessary, to work together for the better of the tribe. You have more than shown yourself as capable of that. You helped more than I think any man I have ever known, of the tribe or otherwise."

Aang and Sokka squawked, but a level gaze from both Katara and Zuko stopped them.

"When we found you, we didn't know who you were, and we were acting in good faith. Your past actions against us and the care that was provided to you have now been paid back tenfold by the lives you have saved by helping us plan a way to end this war."

Zuko laughed; a slow and bitter sound which caught the group unawares. "Good faith, ha, good faith gets you nothing but burned hands, and squashed underfoot. You sought to make me a pet project, a 'fix-me-up' like that Earth Kingdom boy. Well I am not, and you don't know all my family has done against yours. It is a miracle that karma, as you people," he said looking at Toph, who looked eager to butt in, "call it, hasn't exacted its revenge on my family long ago. Or perhaps it has, with me now being that 'little ember' that could bring down a dynasty, being snuffed out and ground out into the dust."

"Zuko, do you hear yourself?" Toph said, "You are so much more. You have overcome your father, overcome Commander Sideburns, and otherwise shown everyone that you are so. much. more. When the others told me of you, you sounded like the Dragon of the West come again, but when I met you, I found you were just like your Uncle… ironic I know. A soul caught in the net of the messiest family dynamic this side of the Peony Wars. You have a good heart, and have paid the debts you hold to us and to the world many times over, so quit the o me miserum act and accept that you are here and you are doing your bit to make this world the world that your twathead father will no longer be any part of."

Zuko had stilled halfway through her speech, his eyes flashing dangerously, but they schooled themselves, as he slowly asked, "When did you meet with Uncle…"

Toph looked at the group, sensing the tension growing taut, but no one was looking at her, they all focused on Zuko. "Um…" she stumbled on her words, her bravado lost in the queasy air, "a week, maybe two, before we fou... found you."

The fire lurched as it curdled like sour milk to a cold blue as Zuko rose sharply to his feet. The Gaang scrambled away. "How dare you. First, you withhold meeting my Uncle, the one member of my family who has been with me for nearly all my banishment, from me. Next, you try to paint me as enjoying this life. Lady Beifong," Zuko punched the title with an accusatory finger, "I would remind you that every. last. piece. of gossip you likely heard about the way Ozai treated his children; from the regimens of training, to the injuries with only one explanation that certainly wasn't accidents, all are true. So I already knew what pain and misery were under my father, without mentioning the past months of torture and ruin." He paused and took a deep breath, the fire returning to a warmer orange, as he sat back down, "Don't try to understand the choices I make, all of you already took enough of my choices away, even by merely existing."

Aang stepped in, a leaf in the breeze around the agitated dragon, "Zuko, we are sorry. Truly, and contritely, sorry. You have done more for us than can be repaid. We have never, never, wanted to force you into another prison. Sokka may have bound you back then, but no more, you are free."

Zuko sneered an ugly smile "And yet he did. You have all said I have repaid my dues, and have said that what I have done to you is no longer of concern. How do you weigh the crushing iron fist of the past century under the actions of one boy? My soul is tied to this cycle of reckoning as harshly as those damned. Avatar, you may be lifted from cosmic retribution in some fashion, knowing your spirit must become human in its next life, but you can not deny your duty or your identity any more than I can. So answer me this, any of you, how I am not bound to that vicious cycle of payment and dues."

"Zuko," Toph began, her words noticeably less heated than last time as his golden gaze gravitated gradually her way, "We and, from what I recall, the world, doesn't hold you to your ancestors. I recognise that your ancestors are to be revered and upheld, we do that too, but they are not you. Please Zuko, the crime of the individual is the crime of the individual, and I Toph, Lady Beifong, Lady of Gaoling, absolve you of any crimes you hold to me. I forgive you; in turn please forgive me."

Zuko paused, shaking his head in his hands, as he chuckled, lighter than before. "You guys just don't get it. The world may not behold me to my ancestors' deeds, but people do. I can't get all of their forgiveness, but this is about me and all of you, not about the people."

Zuko cleared his throat: "I need to atone to you: For the blood that stains my hands. Aang, Avatar Aang, for the massacre of the Air Nomads without just cause. Sokka, Katara, children of Umiaktau Hakoda, son of Umiaktau Amajuaq, son of Umiaktau Tiguaak, for the decimation of your culture. Toph, Lady Bei Fong, for the pillage and desecration of your confederate Kingdom. What my people did to your people doesn't excuse how you all treated me, but shows why I must resolve this. Azula can't, Ozai won't, Mother is gone, and Uncle has destroyed too much to balance his book, no matter what he does now."

After a long pause, Toph resumed: "Zuko, I am sorry. Not just for what has happened to you in the Earth Kingdom, not just for allowing what has been done to you under our care to happen, but for misunderstanding you. I had thought you were seeking atonement for what you have done to us, but it isn't that, is it? Because if that were the case, why would you be needing to balance out any debt to me, beyond what you have already done? No, this is about you being The Fire Nation; the enemy, the scourge, the villain, of the world for the past century."

Hearing it put together like that, Katara found Zuko's insistence that he owed them suddenly started to make sense.

Meanwhile, Toph continued: "But Zuko, please, please, see that you are paying us back and doing what you need to do. You did so by your actions at the camp, and you're continuing to do it now, by simply being here. Your debt to the Earth Kingdom, held from your ancestors, is paid. You are free. I promise in turn to pay my part in paying back for the crimes we committed unto you. This is my word, and my bond."

Now Katara also took voice, as Zuko's hard gaze and tense posture began to ease, indicating that he was becoming more receptive to the group's perspective. "Zuko, I too am sorry. For so long, your face, your eyes specifically, were the eyes of the enemy. Sokka and I lost our mother to a raid, and for so long, we wanted to hate all the Fire Nation was and is. But you, despite what you did to us before, have come out the other side of torture a better man. You have paid back your ancestors' debt of destruction to our culture by working to build a better world, or rather helping us to refind the lost, older, one. I have seen the real you, and it is a man who wants the world to be whole again, and one who will fight for that goal. I am sorry that we tried to take that choice from you, and I hope you may stay with us despite it all."

Sokka saw that Zuko's eyes had taken on a soft shine, the barest hint of a smile threatening to break free: it was working. He decided to pick up where Katara had left off.

"Zuko. buddy. I know we had our differences," Zuko's lips twitched at that, while the others glared, but Sokka didn't let that deter him. "and I know I am the cause of those. I took away your freedom, and your rights as a human being; in many ways treating you no better than those who we took you away from. For that, I can not ask your forgiveness, only for you to accept that I did it out of a position of fear. As my sister said, the Fire Nation for so long has been the Nameless Ones of our culture, ones that have taken so much, and never give anything back. But you have. After we rescued you, your actions spoke loud, it never felt to me that you did them out of duty, it has never felt out of duty for you, Zuko,"

Zuko took a breath as if to say something at that, but Sokka continued:

"It was out of compassion, a want to do better, a willingness to help. Your actions in the Gaang have apologised for your actions on us as a group, and your actions in Dad's camp have apologised for you, and for the Fire Nation's actions against our people. I only hope I can apologise enough for what I did to you at the start of your time with us."

Aang was the last to start, as Zuko's composure looked loosely tense, an animal caught in the gaze of something more, potentially about to bolt. "Zuko, Prince Zuko", his tone formal and grave; His eyes took on a steel grey tone, and the voice was that of an Avatar, laden with the weight of a thousand past lives, "You have shown me more about the Fire Nation than I ever could've learned from Kuzon, my friend before the Iceberg, before the War. You have demonstrated to me the integrity that I remember from a century ago. Your sword has never swung to harm, only to deflect. You have protected and respected ideals that your country has forgotten."

Zuko saw that Aang was tapping more and more into his role, for once embracing it. In the meanwhile, the Avatar continued:

"By protecting me, and not going for blood like Admiral Zhao or your sister, you have shown yourself the better by far. Although the Fire Nation is a great threat, you, as blood of its blood, have vaulted and upheld its honour. I forgive you for the things you have done in its name."

Zuko stood, about to start anew, when he felt something shift, the air drew in, and the sun dimmed, as if a hand passed over it, Sokka and Katara preemptively grabbed Toph's hand, as she stood transfixed in confusion as to what was happening, the earth's vibrations untranslatable. The wind and leaves wrapped tightly around Aang, embers caught in the whirlwind, then the fine mist collapsed into cloud and shadow, as the Bridge of the World Spirit coalesced into a new form. Bedecked in fine burgundy robes, and a full foot taller than even Zuko, Avatar Roku now stood where his successor once was.

"Prince Zuko, blood of my blood, I come to you as kin." He intoned, his voice wise and ancient. "Your great-grandfather, Fire Lord Sozin, once strived to be the man I see before me, but Princess Zeitan's deeds corrupted that vision and soured his heart to the world. The burden of the Fire Nation may become yours, but not our actions. Sozin, Azulon, Ozai are not you, and their crimes will be paid for in their time. You have balanced much in the scales of our family's karma. Further, Myself, Jinzuk and Ursa would not want you to be paying for our crimes. You are loved, Zuko, by us and by so many more."

Zuko felt a shudder run down his back at Roku's declaration.

Roku's expression was soft as he advised: "Cherish that love, and know that it is unconditional. You are doing so well, do not fall into the chasm of despair and duty, as the burning soul of the Nation, you are a beacon of hope for a new world to come, and I know you will do well."

Zuko stared at his great-grandfather in awe, throat tight, Roku saw him, praised him, believed in him. It was too much, all of it. Tears were building up, soon threatening to fall.

"You may be Ozai's son in blood, but the ones who raised you were Ursa, and then Iroh. Hold on to their memory and lessons, Iroh is still looking for you, he hasn't given up. Take care, and thrive, be reborn. For you are the true Phoenix, burned and destroyed, but from those ashes of destruction comes new growth. You, the true steel, the lifeblood of the Nation, our true Fire Lord." With one deep bow, the apparition dissipated in a whirl of fire and Aang wobbled back into existence.

Zuko broke down.

Oblivious to the world around him, he felt gentle hands support him as he processed what had happened. His senses were overwhelmed, the touches bordering on too much, yet comforting as he struggled to comprehend what had just transpired: The group truly had forgiven him, he hadn't screwed up. To top it off, his flaming Great Grandfather told him he meant a damn. Wan Shi Tong clearly knew not everything. Despite this, a whisper that came from the dark of his mind, a thought that would not go away."If I had been more decisive, and acted sooner, I could have stopped the war before it started."

He shook the voice away as he absorbed that the others had succeeded in bridging that gap which separated had them by a few words and deeds, they were done holding back. He was a part of the group, the team, now they were determined to make him feel so. And Zuko did. He felt supported, he felt loved, by Roku's words, by the arms that had wrapped around him. Safe. He couldn't even remember when he had last felt this safe. He heard someone repeat that they were sorry, and murmured back words of forgiveness and acceptance, warm in their embrace.

There would still be tension, everyone knew that, but for now, they had been able to put it aside. It was a huge step forward in managing the faltered communication barrier between the group.

Finally, Zuko stood, the group giving him some room, as they noticed his eyes still shining, but his voice came out strong regardless. "Thank you, I… I accept." he addressed the group properly, looking at each of them slowly in turn. "The past is the past, we must move on."

Zuko drew in a breath and collected himself further, eyes still poofy but drying. He had learned from his time at the Water Tribe. His voice hardened, his gaze sure as he looked at them each in turn before he started "But I have some conditions: First, please allow me space if I ask for it."

The group all readily nodded in agreement.

"Second, please share with me where we are going and all the information that is for the whole group. I have been the last to know, and I have been the last to have any voice for too long."

The group glanced at Sokka, who quickly raised his hands in a pacifying gesture. "Hey, don't look at me like that. Zuko and I had this talk already," he protested to them.

Zuko only nodded in confirmation when they looked at him to check, and continued. "I will train again. This will require regular time away from the group, out of sight, so as to not risk hurting you, but I need you all to trust me to return."

Some met this with unease, others, especially Toph, with a smirk, they all agreed, however. It was only fair that Zuko had those freedoms just as they did.

"Finally, since we seem to be going to Ba Sing Se, I will need some way to disguise myself. This," Zuko punctuated the word with a point to his scarred eye, "is far too obvious to anyone, and I don't exactly look enough like any of you to get away with claiming to be a distant cousin. Furthermore, my age makes the notion of me being a hired tough laughable to many."

"That's a good thought, let me think about it; unless anyone else has an idea right now?" Katara looked into the round but was only met by shaking heads. "Okay, we still have time, let's just figure it out before we reach Ba Sing Se."

"Hey Zuko," Aang said smiling, "Welcome to the Gaang! Glad to have you with us at last."

Zuko smiled: "Yeah, we've come a long way."

"Sooo, what do we do now?" Sokka asked and promptly got a bag thrown in his direction.

"How about we pack up so we can make some more headway?" Katara smirked.

Sokka groaned that they had only just unpacked, but did so anyway. The mood had considerably lightened in the group.

00000

"So, I've been thinking," Sokka said after an hour or two of having been airborne again. "A disguise for the city. I agree, I don't think it'd be wise to enter the city just as you are with us, after all, all eyes will be on us, being with the Avatar and all, and therefore you'll be under scrutiny as well, so I think the only way is to cover up the scar somehow."

"It's in my face." Zuko pointed at it, Sokka had said the obvious. "That's the thing, how do you cover that up? I don't think people would take kindly to having a masked man in their midst, even if he's a friend of the Avatar. Even if we say that I'm disfigured, which isn't even a lie. If I try to hide it too well, it will just bring more attention to me."

"Is that scar really that obvious? I mean, from what I've heard, a lot of Earth Kingdom refugees have burn scars." Toph asked.

"Yeh, they do, sadly, but scar patterns are distinctive, and I do look distinctly Fire Nation. There's no real hiding that, I might be able to pass as mixed, but that's about it, people still will be super suspicious. And I do have wanted posters out there. That's why the Sandbenders tried to capture me, they recognised the scar and knew about the bounty, I heard them.."

"You could dress up as a Kyoshi Warrior, that would give you a reason to wear face paint," Aang said.

"Oh yeah, no, I won't do that. For one, it wouldn't cover the texture of the scar, and furthermore, it's an insult to their traditions, I'm not a girl, and I can't pass as one." Zuko continued saying some other things under his breath, but none of the group heard it.

"They let Sokka train with them, under the condition that he followed all of their traditions," Katara said, grinning at Sokka who just rolled his eyes.

"No, what you're suggesting is a direct offence on an entirely different level too, I accidentally burned down their village, remember?"

"Alright, but face paint could work, couldn't it?" Aang said.

"As Zuko said, it won't cover the texture, and if you layer it too much, it will crack." Sokka pointed out. "People would suspect he's hiding something even more so."

The group looked at him funny, but he just pouted, and mumbled something about being told how to apply heavy makeup on Kyoshi Island.

"Well, got any better ideas?" continued Katara, eager to move on from the notion of her brother wearing makeup; she still couldn't believe he'd gone ahead with it back then.

"Sokka and Katara didn't recognise you back when we found you on the market square, why didn't they recognise you?" Toph chirped up.

Zuko sighed and shook his head. "Because I was grimy and beaten up, and starved. Oh, and sunburnt. And I may have been blindfolded at the time you came up close. We are not gonna replicate any of that."

"Hmm, maybe not a blindfold, but what about a veil?!" Sokka chipped in.

"What, so that I look like a robber about to commit a crime, great idea, I love it." The sarcasm was dripping from Zuko's words now.

"Fair, but what if we can make it not look like robbers' attire?" Sokka continued.

Zuko glared. "Are you suggesting I wear a marital gown and pretend to be a bride for weeks? Are you volunteering to be the groom?"

"No, of course not." Sokka flushed, embarrassed as the group snickered, before he continued. "You mentioned the sandbenders, which got me thinking about the way the Sand Nomads dressed. They cover their faces and hair, which leaves only a thin slit for the eyes."

"That's… actually… that idea has potential, it would show just enough of your eye to hint at you being disfigured, so you can justify it, and since you already have the blades from the sandbenders, we could totally make up a cover story that fits it all." Aang noted along.

"Fair, but how do we reconstruct an authentic sandbender look, where do we get the fabric from? Do you know any of the traditional details their clothes may have?" Zuko countered.

"They all looked pretty rag-tag to me." Katara shrugged.

"Doesn't mean they don't have telltale indicators to which tribe, for example, they might belong…" Zuko countered. The group paused, they hadn't considered that.

"Well… we could fly along the edge of the desert and try to find them. We're flying around the desert now anyway." Sokka suggested.

"I don't like that thought. Especially, if I got clothes from them directly: I'm pretty sure they're part of a smuggler network, and the information of what we bought, and why, could be very dangerous if its purpose is to disguise me." Zuko said.

"Maybe we'll find a village that sells something we can make something look alike."

"You're missing the point, if I want to pass as a sand nomad, even if I can't bend, it does need to be authentic, I'm fairly sure, someone will notice if things don't add up, and that will make me just as suspicious."

"I think you're paranoid," Sokka said.

"There are millions of people in Ba Sing Se, from every corner of the Earth Kingdom. Someone will notice."

"If they kicked you out, or if you left, wouldn't it be expected for you to strip your ties to the tribe?"

"Yes and no, it may be details like which side you wrap your shirt and which way you tie your sash. It seems unimportant, but just as an example from the Fire Nation: There's one correct way to wrap a shirt, left over right side. Doing it the other way around is reserved for the dead."

"Oh, okay," Sokka said in a tone of voice that let everyone know that he thought of that as a bit weird.

"Well, I'm out of ideas right now," Aang said from Appa's head and the group fell into silence.

00000

The sun was edging towards the western horizon by the time they set camp on a shallow mountainside. The Si Wong Desert was still visible from afar, but they were protected by the sparse forest surrounding them. The dying sunlight captured a small settlement off in the distance, on the edge of the desert, but the trees quickly hid it from view. Zuko had borrowed Sokka's knife to cut up some tubers while Katara tended to the cooking pod. After the group had eaten a rough meal of said tubers and berries, Sokka had slunk off to get more firewood, not wanting Katara to remember that embarrassing incident of getting stuck in a crack. Toph took Aang earthbending once more, meaning that there were regular shockwaves that rattled the firepit, but Katara wasn't too fazed.

Zuko hadn't left for training yet, which surprised her, but he seemed to be stretching, so maybe he was just warming himself up to it. She focused on the dishes that soon were clean and dry with her waterbending.

Zuko got up from whatever limbering up he'd been doing, suspiciously at the same time she was done and looked at her expectantly.

"What?" she asked. She'd waited to get some alone time.

"I promised your dad to train you in hand-to-hand combat and self-defence."

Katara couldn't suppress an eye-roll and sighed. "Do we have to do that now?"

"Why not? No distractions, no one watching, not yet dark, I think now would be the perfect time to assess you."

"Ugh, fine." Katara sighed again.

Zuko led them to a patch of land that was more or less flat, considering the mountain slope, and not too overgrown with scree or thin grass.

"I'll be attacking you, you should either block, evade, or try to find an opening to attack me. No bending on either side. If you're down and done, tap twice."

Katara just nodded. She'd fought Zuko before, she could do this.

She wasn't prepared for how different Zuko fought when he did so without flames. Fighting her dad had been easier; he'd underestimated her. Zuko didn't. He also was a lot more familiar with reading Katara's movements. Before she knew it, Zuko had grabbed and twisted her arm to her back and wrapped another arm around her, and all she could do was claw at his underarm. His grip was strong.

"I thought you… what are you doing?" she sputtered out as she fought against his hold, and failed to get out before stilling.

Zuko let her go and she stumbled away.

"You were expecting to get hit, you weren't expecting to get grabbed, you need to be prepared for both, I know you're more used to wide-range combat, but in a fight like this, everything is game, I could have gone for the punch, I could have gone for grabbing your hair. Again."

Next round, she could avoid getting hit by sidestepping, but Zuko had anticipated that and was onto her immediately again. She got some hits in on Zuko, but didn't last long either, Zuko somehow flipped her through the air and she hit the ground with a hard thump.

This went on with variation for several minutes, which riled Katara up quite a bit. Especially when she hesitated because she had the instinct to call forth her water.

One time, Zuko just walked right up to her, determinedly, and because she hesitated to do anything because his body language didn't give much clue as to what he was about to do, she ended up getting bumped into.

"What was that?"

Zuko turned around. "Why did you wait for something to happen?"

"Ugh, because you were supposed to attack me."

"I did."

Katara crossed her arms, frustrated and said nothing.

"I think I've got a fair idea of what I should be teaching you, but I think we'll start with that once you've recovered. I wasn't that easy on you, was I?" Zuko said, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

Katara just shook her head, she'd preferred her Dad's approach to teaching, though, if she was honest, that may have had to do with him underestimating her and her trying to prove a point. Zuko had a pretty good idea of what she was capable of, and she suspected this had been a reaction test more than a skills test.

This also made her remember how her little bit of dad time had been cut short, time and time again. And Zuko had been a recurring reason as to why Dad had been busy.

She didn't blame Zuko, but it was still a source of frustration. And he took this so seriously too. At least she knew that he was a person of his word. Zuko had wandered off to the side, and was going through firebending stances while keeping the fire very contained. There wasn't a lot of space to work with and, after all, there were trees all around them.

She turned away, determined to focus on her own bending. She hadn't even realised Sokka had snuck off until Zuko had mentioned it. It didn't fill her with as much worry as it had two weeks ago. She'd been keeping her eyes out for cracks in the ground, you couldn't be too cautious she reasoned, and realised that they weren't very common at all. Maybe Toph had orchestrated that whole incident in order to get Aang determined enough to earthbend. Honestly, she wouldn't put it past her, but now it had led to Sokka sneaking off instead of telling her, which she was less than fond of.

She should let him know that she trusted him, lead with that, then tell him that she appreciated knowing when he was going somewhere, just so she'd know. That decided, she put her focus on moving water, her movements perhaps a tad sharper than her normal, as she let out tensions she hadn't had the chance to do so.

She was just stopping, Zuko's training made her more sore than usual, when the faint earthbending vibrations off in the distance stopped and Aang and Toph returned. Sokka reappeared half an hour later, a bunch of firewood in his arms for the morning cooking.

Zuko came to help him stack it next to the fire. "Hey, can I have a moment of your time?", he asked.

"Uh, sure?" Sokka replied.

Zuko took a stride and stopped when they were just within viewing distance.

"I need your help teaching Katara. Chief Hakoda asked me to teach her hand-to-hand combat, and I'd like to demonstrate some movements, so she can see how they work."

Well, that was unexpected to Sokka. "Uh okay? How do you want this to work?"

"You'll attack and hold me."

"Ehm, last time I attacked you, you ended up with a bloody nose and a panic attack. Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"I promised your father that I'd teach her what is necessary to ensure she can protect herself."

"That's not an answer."

"I can deal with it. I need to learn to deal with it anyway. I can't risk getting a panic attack in a real fight either, so I need to figure out a way to make them stop."

"I'm not sure that's the best to go with it, but if you feel okay with the thought, I'll help. Actually…"

Sokka swallowed harshly. Zuko had taken him off guard by telling him that their dad had asked him to teach Katara. Dad treated Katara differently than Sokka, he'd realised that early on, but this still came as somewhat of a shock. Hakoda had gone and negotiated for Katara to have lessons in hand-to-hand, whereas Sokka had been told to ask Zuko for lessons. It hurt.

Though to be fair, he saw why his dad had chosen to do it this way. Jumping over the sight of his own shadow, mend his relationship with Zuko, and fight for his education. Sokka knew Katara didn't want this, he knew why Dad wanted her to learn though, so negotiating for her to be taught made sense. Sokka couldn't help but be a tiny bit jealous anyway.

However, Sokka and Zuko had a lot of history, it was one of the reasons he hadn't known how to ask. It wasn't that it hadn't been on his mind, actually, it had been on his mind all afternoon, ever since Zuko had agreed to come with them. Neither should he have been surprised at Zuko's head-on approach now, but because he'd been thinking about it the whole afternoon today, it had been.

He remembered vividly how the Prince had just laid there, protecting his face, unmoving. He hadn't fought, and that had come as a shock, even if delayed from the moment because of Sokka's rage at the time.

Now Dad was asking him to ask Zuko to go back into a triggering situation.

"What?" Zuko asked as Sokka didn't follow up with words.

Apparently, Zuko was doing it anyway, even willing to seek it out, might as well ask now.

"Ehm, could you teach me too?" Sokka stumbled over the words. This was his chance. "And well, maybe the art of the sword too? Please." He almost followed up with something like 'I know I treated you like shit' and 'You're my only chance to learn this', but held back in the last second, instead he settled for "I know I don't deserve it, I just want to do my part in protecting our group, and… getting me a teacher to learn how to fight never was a priority, but now you're here, and yeah, I wanted to at least ask."

He didn't dare mention any of his worries about Zuko's mental health to him, and really. He'd already asked the critical questions when Zuko asked him for help, but it still filled him with unease.

Zuko looked at him and Sokka found himself unable to interpret what was going through Zuko's head. It wasn't unusual, but now it was all the more unnerving. He felt himself being mustered, then Zuko looked away.

"If you're willing to do what I tell you to, then yes. But know, I'm not a Master, and it's not as simple as picking up a sword and swinging it. The Art of the Sword is a mindset and philosophy just as much as a skill. If you want my teaching, we're doing it my way…" Zuko said seriously, taking a look at Sokka's eager smile, he sternly added: "and I decide when you're ready for weapons."

The 'not you' was left unsaid, but it echoed in Sokka's mind anyway.

"Please teach me." He repeated and clumsily copied the movement he'd seen Zuko when he was in a formal situation. Making the sign of the flame felt strange, the sign of their oppressors.

"The way of the sword doesn't belong to any nation," Zuko spoke softly, taking Sokka's hands out of the awkwardly shaped flame. "That's what my teacher used to say. You don't need to appeal to my nationality, though your thoughtfulness is appreciated and you should probably learn, should you ever have to blend in with people in the homeland." he smiled.

"Thank you, and yeh, that's probably a good idea." Sokka returned the smile.

The sun was hanging low on the horizon by now, the early stars beginning to twinkle above, so they decided to turn in for the night. There was just one more thing Zuko needed to address before he'd be able to think of sleep, and he'd wanted to get Toph alone for it. He called out to Toph just as she wanted to disappear into her tent.

"Sparky?" She slurred out, clearly eager for bed.

"You met my Uncle, tell me about it… please."

"Uh, sure… look, I'm really sorry for not telling you about it sooner… come on. Sit down." She said, clearly the topic had shaken some of the sleepiness from her.

Zuko sat down in front of her, peering at her as she leaned against her earth tent. Toph began, "So, I met him when I ran away from the Gaang because we disagreed on something. As I was walking, I sensed someone hiding behind a stone, and well. I attacked… It turned out to be an elderly man who, in turn, invited me to tea. He was really nice actually, it came as quite a shock when I learned that this had been the Dragon of the West later."

"How was he?" Zuko urged, desperately wanting to know more, now that he finally had a thread of information to latch on.

"He seemed well. He actually said, I reminded him of you. He said that he'd been trying to track you and that you were lost."

"Oh…" The sound just slipped out of him as relief flooded his mind and body. He'd doubted it so many times. In between spouts of belief, the weeks in captivity that had stretched his belief thin, leaving it brittle as his fire started to stutter.

Uncle had been looking for him, he just hadn't found him. By Agni, he hoped he hadn't stumbled into that village and gotten caught himself…. But then again Iroh didn't have an obvious scar and bad luck, so he probably was fine.

"He seemed fine physically too. I didn't detect anything off about him at all. He mostly just seemed empathetic to my situation, and worried about you."

"I guess he was right."

"We were both lost. What he told me really helped me in the end, it gave me the determination to go back and actually be part of this group."

"What did he tell you?" Zuko prodded, he did miss his Uncle's rambling, even his Uncle's proverbs that sometimes just made no sense at all. Sometimes he wondered if Uncle was just making things up to sound wise…. He was wise though. That was a fact.

"Well, he was actually telling me about you. He went on and on about it too, it was kind of annoying."

"Ugh, I'm sorry," Zuko said, suddenly embarrassed, running his hand over his face.

"Nah, don't be, it was also kind of sweet. I had pretty much been complaining his ear off before that on how everyone around me sees the helpless little girl and wants to take care of me, while I can and want to do things by myself, and he claimed you were the same way. That you pushed everyone away. He mentioned that there had been changes in your life that you struggled with, that you ran away to find your own path."

Toph scooted closer. They were finally back on talking terms. "We both want to be seen as capable, we both don't want pity. We are both fighters, your uncle helped teach me that…" She paused as if to collect herself, then the words poured out of her: "But I stepped in when I shouldn't have, and tried to fight a battle for you, and that was wrong of me. I am sorry, Zuko, I wouldn't have wanted someone to do that for me, and it was not right that I tried doing it for you either. Thinking about your uncle, and when I met him reminded me of this lesson. He introduced me to a different perspective, where offering to help doesn't mean pity."

Toph felt Zuko clench his fist which just increased her determination to lay out her next point well.

"You've shown that so many times, even when you didn't have to. I get it is a penance, but your uncle would be proud of you, I know it. I know that just as much as I know he loves you. He told me all this out of love, for you. He imagined we could cross paths and wanted to remind you that there is nothing wrong with those who you love helping you, and I can only apologise once more that I went about trying to help you the wrong way."

Zuko was quiet for a long while, and Toph felt his heart thumping as he processed her words. She was sure there still were those parts of him that wanted to hold on to the anger at her actions, but there was a conflict inside of him, the news of his uncle, though plenty old by now, probably put him in a malleable state of mind, Toph almost felt bad for bringing this all up within this talk, it was manipulative, but yet it was honest, and it sat right.

"We're both pretty impulsive at times, aren't we." Zuko finally settled to say and Toph breathed out a quiet sigh of relief, just as Zuko spoke onwards: "You did what you thought best within the moment. I've got my fair share of moments like that, and I'm beginning to learn that it's often within those moments where we feel so sure about ourselves and our actions, that we hurt the ones we love the most. I got fixated and lost the bigger picture the last time I saw Uncle, I regret what I said to him. I regret it a lot. I don't deserve him."

Toph sighed at that. "You deserve to be loved, and that man loves you to bits, it's clear as day."

"Yeh, and yet I pushed him away, over and over, whether he was not so subtly trying to manipulate me, or me thinking I knew better… He always tried again, I took him for granted, I treated him horribly… I doubted him." he voiced his regrets.

"I know you feel guilty about feeling like he abandoned you. He hadn't. He said he wanted to be there when you needed him again."

"I… I… the last thing I told him was that we didn't have anything to gain by travelling together any longer, and he just gave me the ostrich horse and let me leave… after that, I must have been too fast and he lost the trail." Zuko's voice wavered. "I do need him."

"I know." agreed Toph. "He just wanted to give you space at the time, by the time I met him, he was worried, he was hiding how much, but he couldn't fool me."

They sat there quietly for a long while, as Zuko held back his emotions and tried to calm down once more. By the time Zuko had somewhat collected himself enough to think clearly again, another question was forming in his head.

"How did you find out who Uncle Iroh was?"

"Uhm, he found us again when we were fighting Azula in Tu Zin. And well, I had told the siblings that a friend was coming, as I had recognised his footsteps… but well, when they saw him, they weren't so fond of Uncle. He did help us though, but after Aang had been injured from Azula's flame bolt, we had to flee before Azula'd come back with backup, as she escaped. Guess she hadn't counted on Katara knowing healing, I think she still doesn't know that particular skill, and that was when we came to Huáng Zhèn. You know the rest."

It shuddered Zuko again at hearing the name of that cursed town and he just hoped that Iroh hadn't stepped foot in and gotten arrested too, while tracking him. At least Iroh wasn't as easily recognisable though, Zuko just couldn't help but worry.

Zuko saw Toph's arm move from the corner of his eye, just in time to see it connect to his arm triggering a nerve.

"Ouch!" he yelped, as his arm jolted.

"By the way, just for the record." Toph grinned. "I get it is a penance, but it's not. You do care. Genuinely. And guess what Sparky, punches are how I show I care." she grinned as she got up to go to her tent. Zuko smiled in return, as he got up to go to his bedroll, rubbing his arm as he did so.

00000

The sun was just breaking the distant horizon when Zuko rose. He had enjoyed getting up right at sunrise, there was something intimately gentle about being awoken by the sun, that delicate time when your inner fire was cradled like a mother's embrace. Early each morning, he could find time to be by and with himself. In tune with the sun, drinking in Agni's light and feeling how it woke up his surroundings.

Before long, however, he moved over to stretching and catching up with some thoughts he'd had the day before, once up he needed something to do. His role in the group had completely shifted; he'd been a rescued prisoner and now he was supposed to teach the water siblings, so he had to think of how to go about that. He felt more had changed, but he couldn't tangibly call it something just yet.

There also was something else: an idea that had sparked somewhen late at night while trying to remember his mother's voice reading him Love amongst the Dragons. It had seemed silly and dumb yesterday, but now that he thought about it, it may actually have potential. Potential to get them what they needed, without being too obvious about it, anyway. At least if done right, but he was working on that now as he moved through the first firebending exercises.

He knew he'd have about an hour or two before the others would awaken, and he had plans to try to compress his firebending energy again.

By the time Katara moved, he'd practised this new technique a bunch of times without anyone the wiser. His flames had taken on a mixed orange-blue hue in his palm that he could hold onto for a time. He was a bit sweaty, but that was fine and didn't rouse any unexpected looks.

He came over to help Katara light the cooking fire once more with a casual flick of his wrist and then went to pack up his sleeping bag. As he laid it out to be rolled up, he felt the bump at the feet of something crumbled up in there. He sighed and grabbed into it.

As he had expected, it was a bunch of clothes, a crumpled linen tunic that may fit him, and a bag with two pairs of socks and a used, but clean, folded loincloth which Zuko promptly jammed back into the bag, hands shaking a little.

He'd rather not explain that one to the Gaang. He hadn't thought about underwear in a while because of that, but now… He knew the person this belonged to was dead, and that thought did feel weird, but he'd accepted this for a fact and had been willing to be fine with it when accepting the sleeping bag, so might as well be now.

He grabbed the bag and got up. "Will be right back." He let Katara know, then disappeared.

00000

He hadn't expected how much more human, how much more comfortable, this would make him feel. He'd just had to do without the garment for so long he'd learned to ignore it.

By the time he had returned, the rest of the group was stirring as well and soon, the whole group was up and they all sat in a makeshift circle, eating what Katara had cooked.

"So," Zuko said into the space. "I have an idea on how to get accurate Sand Nomad clothing. But it's going to require a bit of planning and creativity, and we will probably need to go to a village at the edge of the desert."

"Oh?" Sokka replied. "That's good, my only suggestion was just to hope to meet a Sand Nomad at Full Moon Bay and talk them into trading clothes, so what's your idea?"

Zuko smiled slightly at Sokka's words, shaking his head, amused. "We're going to pretend to be a theatre group, trying to find accurate costumes for our next production in Ba Sing Se. The only thing we'll need to figure out is a reason why we would want a Sand Nomad costume specifically."

He looked into the round. "There are two ways I thought about going about this," Zuko said. "Since I don't know of any theatre pieces that have a Sand Nomad in them, I thought that maybe Toph knew one… Otherwise, we could try to spin a story about, well, The Avatar's return and 'write' a Sand Nomad into it."

"Hmm, I don't really know any to be honest," Toph replied. "The Earth Kingdom classics don't have any Sand Nomads in it, as the higher society looks down on them and there's not too much known about them from writing."

"Alright, then I guess rewriting our story it is," Zuko said.

"Actually, if we go into a town with you, we could claim that the Sand Nomad is the narrator, they travel, they're nomadic, so they would have heard a lot of stories, and that your scar has made you self-conscious on stage or something." Sokka spun the idea further, now excited.

"If they don't recognise me first as the Fire Prince, like those actual Sand Nomads did."

"Well, you could wear a veil either way… or bandages." Katara thought out loud.

Zuko groaned out loud, but he didn't protest.

The next few minutes were spent discussing which town they'd be flying to, and how to make the story more believable, but at the same time, just off enough to how things actually happened, so it would play into the rumours.

Aang had also never seen Zuko argue with so much positive enthusiasm before. He was explaining theatre structures, and discussing the differences of storytelling between the Nations with Toph, who seemed to enjoy it too. Zuko also pointed out that certain theatre art forms did have certain movements and music attached to them, which further complicated things. And then the discussion turned to the fact that apparently, in the Earth Kingdom, women were allowed on stage, but there had been a time period over several hundred years, where they had been banned and men had played those roles. And in the Air Nomad society, theatre was viewed as a higher vanity, and only to be witnessed, but never performed. Katara and Sokka murmured sadly that they didn't know what the Water Tribes did, there had never been enough people to afford such extravagance.

They were getting off track, all noted, as Zuko and Toph lay reassuring hands on the siblings' knees in sympathy.

"So what do you think we need to pull this off convincingly?" Aang chirped up, eager to move on from the unsettled mood

"I don't know. But as long as we act sure of ourselves, people should buy it. But we might be asked for a demonstration, and artists like that usually have at least some skit at the ready to appeal to the masses and gain some extra coins." Zuko explained.

"Well, how about you write us a little script and show us what we have to do," said Katara

"Can't we just tell spooky stories to children or something?" Sokka suggested, none too thrilled to be involved in an impromptu theatre. He'd rather be involved in something much more planned, he was the plans guy, not the on-the-fly guy.

"Maybe not spooky stories, but I'm sure you could try it by telling Water Tribe stories, I mean you do look the part," Zuko said teasingly.

That hadn't quite turned out the way Sokka had wanted, but he could do this. He could be authentic, stories were at least told to him and Katara when they were younger, he internally preened.

"We should get some bending practice in first though. While we're still hidden here." Zuko stated, and the group groaned aloud lightheartedly.

00000

As Toph and Aang left for their earthbending training, Zuko nodded to Sokka who tipped his head in acknowledgement.

"Katara? Let's pick up where we left off yesterday. I asked Sokka to help me with demonstrating, so you can see how basic escapes work for starters."

Katara looked up, basic escapes, her Dad had mentioned that, but they hadn't actually gotten to it. It sent another pang of hurt through her.

Sokka stood next to Zuko, both more relaxed in each other's presence than she was used to. Sokka's expression was serious but he stood there at ease.

Zuko led them to the same spot that he'd picked to work with Katara the day before and started explaining.

"Well, you want to avoid being pinned in any way in the first place, so most escapes start before you even get pinned. Sokka, attack me with a stranglehold.."

Sokka nodded and then quickly took a step towards Zuko, raising his hands to grab Zuko by the neck. It happened quite quickly, Zuko raised his hands and sidestepped, then twisted in some way so Sokka was now bent forward and Zuko raising his knee as if to hit him before stopping.

"Now we're going to slow down and I'll explain to you both why this works."

Sokka went at it again, in a relaxed tempo now, and Zuko raised his hands to his head and turned 90 degrees at the same time.

"You hold up your hands to your head and keep the elbows in front, as you turn, so the hands can't grab your neck. You then use your momentum to press down on the incoming hand with your elbow." He then shifted his stance back towards Sokka. He lowered the arm, previously farther from Sokka, and laid it on top of his neck as Sokka was now bent forward, then he shifted his weight and Zuko's knee was right there at the unprotected side of Sokka's belly.

"You block him from grabbing you again like that, and then you kick him a bunch of times for good measure. Now you try, slowly.

Katara was a quick learner, and so was Sokka. And to his relief, Zuko did not get a panic attack, though he seemed to have a moment or two where he did have to step back and just breathe. Sokka wasn't sure if that had been because of the repetitive physical excretion or something else though.

He also hadn't realised how bony Zuko still was. He hid it under his clothes, and well, Sokka had gotten used to the still sunken cheeks and knobbly hands, but having an up-close encounter and feeling Zuko's body while he demonstrated to get out of one hold and the other, it was somewhat shocking. And he had already filled out a bit in the past weeks. It must all have gone into his recovering muscle mass.

When Toph and Aang got back, it was maybe an hour or two before noon, so they finished packing up and got on with their journey to head to the nearby village.

00000

It took them about two and a half hours to get to the village that had seemed close enough, on the horizon. Katara assisted Zuko in covering his scar in bandages whilst they flew with surprising dexterity. It hadn't stopped Zuko from wearing a sour expression the whole time, but their patience had paid off; the padding covered his scar completely.

"Alright, so, you and Sokka will go search for clothing, and we three will take care of other necessities. Sokka, do you have the money?" Katara asked

Sokka rummaged around for a bit before he held out a leather bag of coins, which showed the Water Tribe insignia. Well, they wouldn't be any more or less conspicuous with that detail. Though he hoped that the currency inside was at least of the Earth Kingdom.

Sokka's step had taken on a rather bouncy quality which Zuko found vaguely suspicious, why was the boy excited?

"Sooo, we do have money, but we're still on a budget. Have you ever bartered?" Zuko said quietly.

They passed some small, organised, fields with what looked like shepherds with their herd in the distance as Sokka replied back, equally quietly. "Of course I have, that's how the Water Tribe works. What about you, Your Highness" Sokka teased.

"Of course I have, I had to manage a ship, remember?" Zuko exclaimed loudly, smiling, then at once hushed as his mind caught up to what Sokka had said: "Don't say that, don't need more attention." He was getting more nervous as they approached the city gates, Sokka noticed.

"You shouldn't put all the coins into the same bag anyway, if you show them that you have money, they can roughly make a guess at how much you carry, and try to charge you more, especially as you're not from around these parts." Zuko continued.

"Okay fair, I'll put some in my pockets instead." Sokka nodded, doing just that.

When they entered the small settlement through its entrance gate, Zuko shuddered internally, suppressing a wince. The architecture wasn't exactly the same, but it was close enough to bring back bad memories, and the shade of the stone was a very similar pale yellow. Probably limestone, he tried to mentally rationalise in an effort to distract himself. There were little tiny dunes of Si Wong desert sand in every corner, showing just how close to the desert they were and how often sand was carried over by the wind. Toph grabbed his hand softly and squeezed it in assurance that all was okay. He smiled at her, the touch helped ground his senses in the now, rather than the then.

The bandages itched, but it was better than being recognised again, even if being blinded in one eye sucked and threw him back to his time having to actually wear bandages over his scar. The days of half delirium as the infection tried to take over, then the months of no depth perception as he had to battle mountains and valleys, storms and droughts. It was honestly surprising that the bandages were able to come off as quickly as they did, he realised, given how much punishment that first, desperate, year out of the Fire Nation had been. How different was he now, walking hand in hand with the greatest earthbender this side of the continent, and the heirs of the Southern Tribe behind him, framing what he had been so desperate to capture. Truly everything had changed. The thought struck him as they rounded into the centre of the town.

There was no market, in the end, the group noticed as they sighed with a variety of emotions. The town was disappointingly small, smaller than it had looked from a distance; just two rows of houses wrapping around a town square which was surrounded by a mixture of houses and stalls, and a couple of women sitting in the shade of a sun sail, weaving outside, singing together. Small children were running around in the dusty street, and an older boy was brushing a camel-sheep, collecting the fur in a small reed basket.

On the other side of the square, there was a woman with a cooking pot. Some men seemed to be working on adding a second storey to a house, manually, much to Sokka's surprise. Though small, it seemed like a lively place. Katara walked over to the lady with the cooking pot, and Toph also started wandering off, following the vibrations of the ongoing construction work, but it was clear that she was staying within earshot of the boys' conversation, in case she needed to step in.

Another thing he noticed was that this town seemed to have an interesting mix of Sand Nomad clothing styles, sand tones, with patches of bright colours on some individuals, and more regular Earth Kingdom farmer fashion, with more grassy tones. A lot of people wore scarves around their necks and faces, probably for when stray sand storms came their way. They were at the edge of the desert after all, he reasoned to himself.

Zuko was walking towards the weaving women who fell silent when he was getting close. One of them rose, eyes mistrustingly flicking across his features and bandage.

"What do you want?" she spat out, distrust lacing her tone at these newcomers.

"Hey wow Lady, hi to you too." Sokka exclaimed, taken aback.

Zuko grabbed onto Sokka's sleeve and held on to it. "Don't." He said under his breath.

The whole circle of weaving women was staring at them, even the kids close by had stilled their work and play, and were watching too.

Zuko didn't meet the woman's eyes, as he stooped his body to a half bow. Not one of submission, but a meeting of an equal. "I know the colour of my eyes bothers you, I'm sorry." without even a hint of a Fire Nation accent. Sokka's eyebrows rose at that as Zuko rose from his half bow and raised a hand to touch the bandage on his face, covering it up, while at the same time, seemingly unwittingly drawing all the attention to it. "I mean no harm."


A/N 24.10.23:

Ystävä: So, ehm, yeh, this chapter initially was meant to cover the entire stay at the village as well. But alas… so much to proofread all at once.

Either way. This chapter contained some pretty important moments. The Gaang really needed that talk with Zuko. Also, I waited so long for Toph to finally mention Uncle. It has been in the back of my mind forever, but whenever it was fit for Toph to be reminded, the time wasn't right, or Zuko was unconscious, if I remember right. Of course, for Zuko to realise that she had met him, pissed him off, but ultimately, it also helped to rebuild the bridge, and Zuko needed to hear those things.

Zuko's grasp on his new type of firebending is getting stronger. I think a lot of it is mindfulness practice. What he's learning has less to do with movements, and more with focus, with being present, his mind being connected to his body, which helps with recovery from trauma.

ML8991: Heh, yeh, as Ystävä has said, this chapter was going to be one big chapter covering the whole of the Gaang's time here, but with so many little nuggets, from the important establishment of boundaries for Zuko and the Gaang, to our cultural diggings which you will see much more of in the next chapter, meant we had to split the chapter into two. Anyhoo, feel I should explain some things.

Firstly, Roku. Firstly, it just felt right to include him in the forgiveness/recognition scene for me. He served many different roles in this scene, and so having him not there would have felt a weak link in it. Firstly, he represents the Fire Nation, and thus will understand most closely to the dilemma that Zuko is facing, both as a noble and Fire Nation citizen. Having his affirmation that Zuko is doing the right thing, and that he is embodying the Fire Nation as it should be is a massive deal for Zuko, whose arc is that of honour, so to have external validation, from one who knows him not that well, is immense for him.

Secondarily, he serves the role of elder and family member which, as I imagine many of you are aware, is a big deal in many cultures, and in particular for East Asian cultures, so to have the affirmation of doing well, showing Zuko as honouring his ancestors and alleviation of the sins of his ancestors, brings Zuko down, and puts Zuko to become as his own individual and not upheld to the broken world his ancestors created. He is there to do what he can, and hopefully right those wrongs, but he is not bound and punished by them. He is to be the Fire Nation, and thus his actions will represent them, but he is not bound to what came before by his prospective people (the rest of the world may not see this… but Zuko is already taking diplomatic efforts to stop this hehe).

Thirdly, Roku invokes Princess Zeitan. Although we may well be disproven by the new novel canons that are seemingly always coming out, our prelude ties Zeitan's actions of linking herself to the Air Nomads, and Sozin's manipulation of these facts into one of hatred for that nation in particular, would lead to the horror that is the Air Nomad Genocide. It was my intent here that, although he didn't side with the act, Roku was still entrapped by the propaganda engine of the Fire Nation, and thus has perhaps some of the failings of that generation ingrained into him, even if he doesn't believe all of it (given his connections as Avatar after all, he knows what the Nomads truly are). Being exposed to a system and knowing its opposite can make for a very difficult mindset.

On another note, not at all related to Roku, I guess I wanted to bring up the Nameless Ones. Inspired by the similar idea in Algonquian Folklore (which I know and fully respect as differentiated from Eskaleut peoples), the intent was to parallel the greed and horror that these spirits could impart on the Water Tribe, and that the Fire Nation, in their always taking mentality, fit into the bill of these unspeakable horrors.

A final point I would just like to point out is that, when Toph is talking about Iroh, she refers to him twice, as the man we know, and the Dragon of the West. We are well aware they are one and the same. The point here was more that Toph would likely have been raised on the horrors that Iroh committed in the Earth Kingdom as Dragon of the West (this is also what Zuko means in earlier chapters when he realises Iroh can't rule, due to his actions as Azulon's general), but once she actually met Iroh, he was very different to the horror story she grew up with, so the two are differentiated in this sense, not as two separate individuals, but rather the two sides that Toph now knows of about this individual.