They flew inland, over the forest to its inner edge. Camp was made there in a clearing between the thinning trees. The trees were sparse enough for Appa to shelter under them comfortably without feeling trapped. He curled up at the edge of the clearing and grumbled contentedly to himself. He kept one lidded eye on the people as they went about setting up camp and cooking dinner. Momo did the same, sitting at the base of Appa's right horn and turning his head to follow the action.

Aang couldn't help but notice the quiet. Sokka and Katara briefly discussed how the stones should be placed for the firepit. While they were doing that, Iroh looked at the packed-up tea set with a frown. Zuko passed with firewood in his arms and told him not to bother; they would all be going to sleep too soon for a decent tea. It looked so peaceful. It looked like this was how dinner setup should be, like the firebenders and the waterbenders and Sokka should all be part of it. It looked right. And Aang had no idea how this night had come to look like that, or why, or anything else.

Maybe it was because they'd had a long day and everybody was too tired for fighting. Maybe it was because the water spirit had shown up. The water spirit seemed to bring them together somehow. Aang's confusion lifted. Not only did the water spirit bring them together, but now everyone understood what Zuko had been talking about. Maybe all the fighting had been caused by a big misunderstanding! Now that they all knew what was going on, the misunderstanding was over, and there wouldn't be fights anymore. That was a relief!

The group still ate dinner separately. Zuko remained with his uncle, and Sokka and Katara remained together on the opposite side of the fire, far enough for everyone to talk quietly without hearing each other. Aang looked from one side to another. What should he do? Should he try to be neutral and sit in the middle? After thinking for a while, he decided to sit with his friends first, then try to sit with Zuko.

"Hey." He got dinner and made himself comfortable, then said, "It was really nice to meet your dad."

Katara and Sokka smiled. Katara said, "I'm really glad you got to meet each other. Did he teach you anything about peace?"

Aang realized that Kota's advice not to expect very much at once could be applied to interacting with Zuko. "Yeah. He did!"

"Maybe we should have stayed for dinner," Sokka said. "I didn't want to risk getting in a fight with Angr - I mean Zuko, and seeing Dad look at me that way. I was ashamed. But maybe Dad could have helped." He facepalmed.

Katara shook her head. "I don't think he could have. It's not that simple." She almost, but not quite, glanced in Zuko's direction.

This was it. It was time. Aang gulped. He hadn't planned on confronting his friends any time soon, but there was no better chance than this. He had to take it. "Why not?"

"If he wasn't prince of the Fire Nation, it would be easier," Katara said. "But we've lost so much, suffered so much, because of the Fire Nation. It feels like he's responsible for that."

"He's only prince, though," Aang said. "He didn't actually order any of it."

"Except for the parts he did order," Sokka countered. "Which is a lot of them."

"He's just…" Katara clenched her fists. "He chases us halfway across the world, then thinks he can just demand we give him a ride the rest of the way? He hasn't done anything to earn that. He's not our prince. If he's going to stay, he needs to make it fair."

Aang was going to ask what she meant by fair. But before he could, Sokka murmured, "If he stays."

"What?" Aang dropped to a whisper. "What are you talking about, Sokka?"

"We think he should go," Sokka said bluntly.

Aang's eyes widened. They were going to give up? On this night, just when all of them were starting to get along? Katara raised her arms in a calming gesture. "Not because we're angry, Aang. I agreed to bring him, remember? I thought we could help him. But now, I don't think he wants our help."

Her words made sense, but Aang wasn't reassured at all. That wasn't the reason he was upset. "But I want to keep him around. I think he could help me learn to be a better Avatar."

"What?" Sokka dropped his food. "You're talking crazy!"

"What are you talking about?" Katara asked.

Aang stood up. "We should talk together." He walked to the middle and called out, "Hey, everyone! Group meeting." After a pause, everyone shuffled closer to the fire. Momo flew to Aang's shoulder, which was comforting. Aang sat down between the two sides, confident that he could make this work. "Katara and Sokka had a question."

Katara folded her hands in her lap. "Zuko, do you want to travel with us anymore?"

Zuko's eyes widened. "You want to kick me off the bison already?" He glared at her. "At least let me try my idea first!"

"What idea?" Aang asked.

"An idea I had to stop us from fighting so much." Zuko looked at him. "Let me stay at least long enough to try it. I've never made this sort of plan before. I have to see how well it works."

Aang's heart leaped. "Me too! I have so much to learn about making peace. This kind of fight is different from anything I've settled before. I have to see if I can do it." His spine tingled. What was that tingly feeling? Was it him and Zuko completely agreeing? They looked at each other briefly, then turned away. It was an uncomfortable feeling. He wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

Sokka and Katara were surprised. They had not expected Zuko to say yes. Katara scrambled for cover. "Uh, what is it? You didn't tell us what your idea was earlier."

Zuko folded his arms and looked down, away from everyone. "Getting a Pai Sho set and playing together instead of arguing." He tensed, embarrassed. Why? It sounded like a great idea.

"I know Pai Sho," Aang said. "I used to play it with Monk Gyatso all the time. He let me win sometimes, but mostly he kicked my butt." He laughed at the memory. Playing Pai Sho with Zuko sounded better and better every second. Aang wished he'd thought of it. First you started playing games together, and then, before you knew it, bam! Friendship!

Zuko released his breath. The Avatar was sold, and that was good. It meant he would not be kicked out yet. "Great. Can we go to bed now?"

Iroh cleared his throat. "Zuko. Didn't you make a promise?"

Zuko groaned. "Uncle."

"A man does not give his word lightly."

"Fine." Zuko started to get out a blanket to sleep on. "I made a bet with Uncle earlier. If you survived sailing with the water spirit, then I promised to offer myself up for tying." He sat down and put his hands behind his back. "Let's get this over with."

Aang could see how much he didn't want to be tied up. Zuko was so tense. He looked seconds away from jumping off the blanket and running. Aang hadn't protested at first because it had seemed reasonable to tie his hands after he had chained them to walls, but now… Now he felt sympathetic humiliation. It was impossible to watch as Katara tied Zuko's hands. The firebender lay down on his blanket with a controlled expression, but he looked like a captured animal.

Aang assigned himself afterdinner chores as a way to stay up. Iroh reassured his nephew that following through on his word was a noble thing. Then Aang reassured him that he would be untied early. Aang couldn't tell if it worked as a reassurance or not, but it helped him feel better. He planned to follow through on that promise.

.

Nobody followed through with any promise. In the middle of the night, the fire spirit flared and rose like a firework. Zuko's eyes flew open. He did not know why he was awake, but he knew what he had to do.

Zuko was on his feet in an instant. Without wasting time trying to untie himself, he dove into his uncle's tent. "Uncle!" he whisper-shouted.

Iroh's soft snoring stopped. "Hm?"

"Uncle, we have to go!" Zuko wriggled his wrists back and forth. "We've been found!"

Iroh sat up. Zuko turned around so Iroh could untie his wrists. Iroh asked no questions, wasted no time wondering if he should go along with his nephew's intuition. He just did what needed to be done. Zuko was immensely relieved just to know he had someone like that at his back. He spared a moment to wonder how the Avatar's friends trusted him with their safety when the boy was still snoring. How could he defend anyone from attack if he couldn't wake up at the sound of an alert?

They scuttled out into the center of camp. Zuko immediately led them around behind the tent, to the trees. "The Avatar?" Iroh asked.

Momo flew up to them, landing only a few feet away. His pupils were dilated. Of course; he's a lemur. Probably has good night vision so he can be active all the time. "Wake the Avatar," Zuko told him. "Danger!" Momo flew back to the tent. Zuko and Iroh buried themselves in the trees, in a place where they could not easily be seen or reached high up in dense branches, and waited.

Momo screeched. The Avatar stumbled out of his tent making confused noises. Then he saw Zuko's blanket without Zuko on it, and immediately snapped awake and woke everyone else. "Drat!" Zuko hissed. "Should've taken the blanket!" Katara woke Appa, readying him for flight. The entire camp, sound asleep only five minutes before, was now wide awake and ready for action.

They had no trouble hearing the sounds of trees crashing in the distance because of that. The sound wasn't scary, or particularly loud. It would not have woken them. It was just the sound of lots of branches being pushed aside by something very large. Something very, very fast. The Avatar grabbed his staff and stood guard, and his friends picked up the blanket and whatever else was already packed or could be packed quickly. Appa was ready to fly by the time a large, broad-shouldered, long-tailed beast came into view.

Seeing there was no need to hide, the beast trampled a couple bushes beneath its huge claws as it strode directly into the clearing. It was as large as Appa, with a long, slim predator's body and claws to match. Its furry wolflike tail waved in the air as it lowered its snout to the ground. It had a giant star-shaped organ for a nose. Sitting on a saddle on its striped back were a dark-haired woman with a whip and Admiral Zhao.

"The Avatar?" Zhao threw back his head and laughed. "Ha! Oh, won't that be interesting news for the Firelord? His own son, turning traitor and joining the enemy." A red cloak hung from the woman's waist as the beast sniffed at the ground where the blanket had been.

"Stay back!" The Avatar yelled, pointing his staff at them.

"Or what?" Zhao looked around the camp, seeing three people awake and armed, as well as a beast the same size as the one he rode, also awake and ready to defend itself. "You'll defend a traitor? One who's tried to capture you before?"

"You've tried to capture me, too!"

"Don't play dumb, boy." Zhao narrowed his eyes. "All I want is the traitor...for now. Give him to me and I'll go."

The beast sniffed at all of the people there as well as Appa. The woman laughed. "And don't try to tell us you don't have him. My shirshu can smell a rat a continent away. His stink is all over you."

Zuko shook at each repetition of that horrible word, straining to keep himself from just leaping out there and throwing fireballs recklessly. Instead, he patted his uncle's arm, telling Iroh to stay put. Alone, under the cover of darkness and branches, Zuko began to edge around the clearing. He did so at his fastest speed, knowing the beast would pick up his scent on the wind. This had to be quick.

The Avatar continued to serve as a distraction. "When we woke up just now, he was gone! Then we heard you, so we haven't looked for him. We don't know where he is." The beast continued to sniff and roar at Aang, his friends, and Appa, scratching the ground in excitement and probably overstimulation. Zuko smirked. The campsite really must be drenched in his scent. The beast wasn't going to smell his newer traces until he was ready for it to.

The woman used her whip, and the beast lashed out with a long, barbed tongue. The Avatar and Katara leaped back. Sokka tried to attack its tongue with his sword, but missed and was struck on the shoulder. He instantly fell over, unable to move.

Zuko readied for firebending. The beast used scent to see and could paralyze people with its tongue. It looked very maneuverable and quick, able to turn well. Unknown hearing abilities; it would be best to be as quiet as possible. Zhao was sitting at the rear end of the saddle facing forward, not watching his back. He wasn't leaving the saddle any time soon.

Something stealthy and quick was needed, something that could hit Zhao without alerting the beast and causing it to turn. A fire dart from Zuko's fingertips might do that, but Zhao was a firebender and therefore highly aware of fire in his surroundings. He would just duck. In order for any attack to work, Zuko needed a very good distraction.

Zhao growled. If properly provoked, he could lose his temper just as much as Zuko. "STOP STALLING! Hand over the traitor, or I will take the Avatar instead!" The beast roared. Appa roared back.

A blast of fire erupted in the middle of the campsite, forcing everyone to jump back. "No." Iroh stepped out of the trees. "You will not take either of them."

"You're really going to make this your last stand, Retired General?" Zhao huffed disdainfully. "From the pride of the Fire Nation to the protector of a traitor and a traitor yourself. What a disgrace."

"I don't think I'm the one who's a disgrace." Iroh pulled his arm back, telegraphing his next large attack. Zhao blocked it with firebending of his own, not even bothering to move.

Thank you, Uncle! Zuko jabbed the fingers of both hands forward, aiming 10 fire darts at Zhao's head.

"Agh!" Zhao snapped his head forward in order to delicately cradle the back of it. "Behind us!" The woman turned her beast around.

"Hya!" The Avatar struck the beast and its riders with a powerful blast of air. The bison did likewise. Iroh added his fire to the mix. "Can't fight on two sides, can you?"

The beast howled in pain but finished its turn, nostrils flaring. Zuko leaped out of the way just as its tongue struck his former perch. He ran to Iroh's side and pulled him away from the Avatar. Making the beast fight on two sides was a good idea.

Zhao groaned. His head must be badly burned. "Retreat!"

Zuko roared from his former position, "Oh no you don't!" He'd gone around to the back for exactly that reason. He and Iroh now prevented the shirshu from retreating. "I am not a traitor! You are not going to tell my father that!"

"Not a traitor?" Zhao managed to smirk while wincing in pain. "Traveling and camping with the enemy, disobeying direct orders to capture him, abandoning your ship in the middle of the sea. If that isn't desertion and mutiny, I don't know what is."

"I left my ship because it was going to be destroyed! I'm going north to keep anything from being destroyed like that ever again!"

"And then what, turn traitor again to capture the Avatar just when he thinks you're his friend?" Zhao glowered. "Someone with such reversible loyalties can't be trusted, no matter whose side you're currently on."

Zuko yelled in aggravation. "No! I was going to figure it out when I got there!"

"Fail to plan, plan to fail." Zhao came down from the saddle. "I'll have you this time, you little pathetic exile!" Zuko and Iroh readied their flames.

The shirshu rose up on its hind legs, tottering backward. It looked like it was bucking, but the woman in the saddle already had a secure grip. The beast spun on its hind legs and came down facing the firebenders. At the lash of a whip, it struck Zhao with its tongue. "If you die, I'm never going to get paid!" the woman snapped. The beast grabbed Zhao in its enormous jaws and leaped over Zuko and Iroh's heads. They followed it with a blast of flame, but it disappeared into the trees.

"No!" Zuko shook with fear. "He can't!"

"Zuko -"

"I'm going after him!" Zuko spun around to face Appa. "We need to follow him, get to his ship, and keep him from sending that message back!"

"How?" Katara asked. "He'll have all his soldiers around him. We need to go before more firebenders show up."

"The soldiers don't matter." Zuko ran to Appa. "I just need to stop him from sending that message!" He's going to tell my father horrible things about me. I will never be able to go home again. I'll have no purpose, no life. I might as well be dead. He shivered and gasped for breath. He could not relax. There was no such thing as relaxing. The only thing he could think of was surviving, and that meant stopping this horrible message from being sent. Nothing else mattered.

"How?" Sokka asked. "Do you have a plan for this, o master of strategy?"

"Yes!" Zuko leaped into the saddle. "Let's go, already!" With some reluctance, the others joined him on Appa's back, and the Avatar took the bison up into the air. Katara and Iroh held Sokka up between them.

"Who's going to get us killed?" Katara asked. "The water spirit, or you?"

Zuko glared at her with all the venom he could muster. She did the same.

.

"They're following us," the woman said.

"Let them," Zhao told her. "They're following us back to my ship, where there will be plenty of firepower to deal with them. I never expected them to be so cooperative in their own capture."

"I've been a bounty hunter for too long to believe that," she snapped. "I hope the poison wears off fast. You'd better be ready for a fight."

Zhao snorted. "A boatload of soldiers versus five people on a bison? Please. They're idiots."

.

"What's your plan, and how idiotic is it?" Katara asked.

"Very, and you don't really want to know," Zuko admitted.

"What?!" Sokka yelped.

"It'll put me in lots of danger," Zuko said. "But the rest of you should be fine if you stay at a decent height."

Iroh shook his head. "Nephew! You can't confront Zhao and his soldiers alone!"

Zuko looked back at him with an indescribable look. "I won't be."

.

Zhao smiled as his ship came into sight. It was magnificent. If any ship would be selected to demonstrate the might of the Fire Navy, this was it. Twice the dimensions of the little runt of a boat the exiled prince had been given, it possessed much more than twice the capacity. The soldiers onboard probably qualified as a whole platoon, and they practiced regularly in the top-notch training facilities available. The amount of supplies held in the vast cargo holds ensured that each soldier was well fed and at their strongest. There were catapults: 3 of them. There were archers. There were plentiful vantage points from which those archers could sight their target; Zhao's ship was easily the tallest in the harbor, rivaled only by the inland hills.

5 people on a bison. Please.

"They're gone," the woman noted.

Zhao laughed. "It doesn't matter. I know exactly where they will be. When they get there, I'll be waiting."

.

Appa landed in the trees on the edge of the town. Zuko hopped off. "I'll sneak through town, get to his ship, and, uh, that's where the idiotic part begins. Just stay here and hide the bison."

"Begins?" Sokka started to laugh. "The idiotic part begins after you sneak through a whole town crawling with soldiers? You're out of your mind!"

"It's probably not," Zuko argued. "Their forces are probably concentrated on the ship. He'll be expecting us to go there."

Iroh straightened. "Will you be going there?" He raised his left eyebrow.

Zuko smiled at him. "I'm not that stupid, Uncle."

"Then what are you doing?" Katara asked.

"What do you care?" Zuko turned away. "Stay under cover, play games, eat chocolates, whatever it is you do when you have free time. It'll take me about half an hour." Before anyone could question this plan, he ran off.

As expected, the town was not crawling with soldiers. If it had been, their torches would have exploded in their hands. Zuko paused to pant and try to cool down. It didn't work, so he kept moving. Like a shadow, he slipped silently between houses, under carts, and into doorways. Zuko wished he could go back to his weapons instructor and kiss her. She was like Uncle: always insisting that he had to practice this other stuff on top of the things he was there to learn. She couldn't just teach him broadswords. She'd insisted on teaching him proper movements and tactics to go along with it. Now, those movements were just what he needed. He was like a sword himself, carving into the underbelly of this little port town. Of Zhao.

Zuko let himself think of nothing else. All he saw in his mind were his next steps. All he heard was the sound of footsteps, noticed and determined to be from civilians and treated appropriately. All he felt was the rising cold inside. Heat flush was no longer a problem. Now, the cold flowed through his chest and shoulder, pressing forward. He was only too happy to oblige.

That is, until he noticed a soldier. So there were soldiers in town, after all. This soldier was posted at the edge of the trading district, not far from the docks. If he could just get past!

Zuko hid himself behind some signs in order to figure out his next move. Ideas flowed around before snapping into place, crisply and cleanly. He rose, ready to move, when all of a sudden something drew the soldier's attention. The man turned away. He studied the darkness. Then, seeing something that Zuko couldn't, he raised his weapons and ran in the opposite direction.

Zuko ground his teeth together while scurrying past the soldier's post. Sure enough, half a street later, he was no longer alone. The Avatar landed in the shadows on the opposite side of the road. Seeing nobody, he crossed. "You didn't think I'd really leave you to go alone, did you?"

"You were supposed to!" Zuko hissed.

"Why?" Katara whispered as she came around from the other side of the building whose eaves they were huddling under. "So you could get yourself killed?"

"No! So I could -" Zuko glanced toward the docks. "Just - Ugh! You were supposed to stay back!"

"Why?" The Avatar asked. "You can't expect me to leave you to Zhao's soldiers without a really good reason. I'm the Avatar! I'm supposed to keep people safe."

Zuko facepalmed. "Just… Please stay away from me. At least a few buildings away. We can't be all together like this." The Avatar and his friend nodded.

They came across more soldiers as they got closer to the docks. Guess Zhao wasn't stupid enough to keep them all on his ship. He's preparing for me to try something on the docks. Zuko smirked. But I don't need the docks. I only need to be close enough to see them.

The docks came into view. They were long, dark, sturdy, dwarfed by Zhao's ship, and filled to the brim with churning water. Zuko succumbed to a bout of intense shivering at the sight. He barely forced himself behind a cart next to a building. The cart contained an empty sack; Zuko patted the sack flat and put it over his head. He peeked over the top of the cart.

The docks crawled with soldiers. Uncle was right to be horrified. But he doesn't have to worry about me. I'm okay. The cold spread through Zuko's body evenly, as if all his muscles were filled with cool water. He narrowed his eyes. I'm going to be just fine. Zhao isn't going to tell my father anything.

Quiet footsteps fell behind him. The Avatar and his companion flattened themselves against the wall. "Why are you stopped here?" the Avatar whispered.

Zuko shook with rage. "I told you already to stay at least a few houses away!"

"We did! But now that you're not moving, and we didn't see any soldiers around -"

"That's not why I asked!" Zuko took a few seconds to get his voice under control. If it rose above a harsh whisper, they were all doomed. "When I ask you to do something, I want you to do that thing, exactly as I said. Don't wonder why. Don't guess why and try to go above and beyond. Don't assume anything about what I really want. What I really want is for you to do that thing, and I'll do mine, and I don't have to spend all of my time worrying about what you're doing!"

Katara pressed herself more tightly against the wall. Her eyes flashed as she narrowed them. "No. You can't expect us to not question why you're doing things. You could get us all into trouble."

Zuko turned away, fists clenched and eyes squeezed shut. No! I really don't want them to be near this. To see this. I really, really don't. But how could he convince them to go away without revealing what he did not want to reveal?

An order rang out over the docks. "Search!" The soldiers began to move from their posts, sweeping the docks, looking up at the edges of them. Zuko was in sight range of the docks; if he could see them, they could see him. Any moment now, they were all going to be discovered.

If I'm found, Zhao's going to raise anchor and sail off, back to the Fire Nation. He'll tell my father I'm a traitor, that I'm working with the Avatar, that I can't be trusted. I will never be allowed home again, not even with the Avatar bound and gagged. Azula will become Firelord. My entire country will fall to pieces. And I will have nowhere to go, no future, no destiny.

All awareness of the Avatar and the waterbender faded from his mind. Zuko raised his eyes above the cart, searching for and seeing only one thing: Zhao's ship. It must not be allowed to deliver that message!

Zuko spoke aloud. "If there is any goodness in you. If there is any kindness, any mercy, any reason why you are here. If you have any redeeming quality about you at all: show it to me."

A boom echoed over the docks as the end of one dock splintered into pieces. The soldiers glanced toward it, then looked away. Before they could resume their patrol, a series of booming, shattering sounds rang out. The dock rose up into the air like a living thing, and broke apart. Pieces of it rained down on the soldiers moments before an enormous wave did.

There was activity on deck. The water heaved, gathering beneath the bow and pushing upward. The front of the ship rose as if it were a small toy being held in a child's hand. There was screaming and clanging from metal armor as every soldier on deck fell to the back of the ship. More water awaited them there.

The water beneath the bow froze. The ship was almost vertical. Yet the reef of ice continued to rise, higher and higher, until no part of the ship was in water. Waves higher than any of the other boats in the harbor rose, slamming the ship from both sides and freezing on impact. Ice spread to completely cover each side, crawling up and over the deck of the ship.

Zuko shivered and panted at the same time. The shivering was because he was cold. The panting was because of excitement, and perhaps a pinch of anger too. "The bridge," he said. "Just above the highest points of those waves. That's where Zhao's room is." A part of the ocean lifted up and sliced through the air, slamming into the bridge. It didn't fully break through, which was good. That was what he wanted.

Visions of his father, his sister, of Zhao, danced in front of Zuko's eyes. No!

The air filled with the sound of screaming metal. The entire front cargo area of the ship simultaneously caved in and shredded beneath the ice. Then the rear. The bow crumbled downward, and with it the deck. Plates of war metal flew into the air as easily as a butterfly's scales, raining down on the ice. The boat shook as ice spikes punctured its belly. Zuko could feel the fire inside the ship go out as the engine was ripped open and drowned. His hands relaxed. He hadn't noticed that they were gripping the cart so hard. They hurt very badly, especially when he tried to relax them.

The ice retreated, taking with it as much of the ship's innards as it could grab. Everything was thrown away, some landing on the ice, some landing in the ocean and being swept away by the waves that battered the ice hard enough to shake it. It made no practical difference where any part of the ship landed. It was all shredded, all bent, twisted and punctured and completely useless for anything. The ice had carved it all into bits of scrap metal.

Zuko smiled at the sight of Zhao's ship. No other ship of the Fire Navy had ever been so completely destroyed. It was an empty, broken carcass of metal, stranded on a reef of ice with its nose in the air, helpless. It could neither float nor move. Without the ice to support it, it would sink beneath the waves, where it would never be any good to anyone ever again. The ice was the only seaworthy vessel in that area of the harbor. Already, every person who had been on deck or inside the ship was gathered on the ice. None of them took a single step towards the vessel they used to call home. It was not even worth salvaging. There was nothing of value left.

The townspeople were just beginning to gather on the docks. Only about five minutes had passed.

Zuko relaxed. There. Zhao's ship was destroyed. His father would know nothing. He rose from his crouch, gestured to the Avatar and the waterbender, and ran backwards against the flow of townspeople. As he ran, he smiled. Thank you.

A wave splashed in the harbor.

.

A/N: Godsdarnit, the episode 'The Blue Spirit' really messed up continuity. It's one of my favorite episodes, but it makes no sense. There is absolutely no reason for Zuko to be the Blue Spirit at that point in the series. Why would he need an alter ego, when he is prince and has nothing to fear from using his firebending? And how could he possibly have learned to use broadswords? Zhao was present when Zuko was burned; he is clearly knowledgeable about what is going on in the Imperial Palace, so he should have known if Zuko was learning anything to do with weapons. Yet he was surprised. That suggests Zuko learned how to use broadswords after he was exiled and put to sea, but that makes even less sense because 1. why? 2. how? and 3. Iroh would have had to know about the Blue Spirit in that case. He doesn't; there's no hint that Iroh was being anything less than genuine when he said he didn't think the Blue Spirit existed.

That episode served a lot of purposes for the audience and the writers, but character-wise, it would have made more sense if Zuko only became the Blue Spirit after he was on the run. One early episode in season 2 would be the perfect place. While he and Iroh are begging in the streets, a cart rolls by with a number of masks on the side, including the mask of the Blue Spirit. Mask acquired: check. A jerk with broadswords bullies Iroh, and Zuko goes after him and steals his broadswords. Broadswords acquired: check. After that, as I recall, he proceeds to do a bunch of minor robbery to keep them from having to beg just to live. A reason to learn how to use broadswords and a good deal of practice doing so: check. And then, after that, we don't see him taking on whole groups of trained soldiers at once, so using his physical training as a starting point and teaching himself is a plausible way to develop the amount of skill he is shown to have. Everything would make perfect sense if that was the episode where he developed his alter ego.

I love 'The Blue Spirit,' for the same reason as I love 'Zuko Alone,' but it is a headache to account for. I'm just going to have to assume that Zuko did learn broadswords well enough to deal with whole groups of trained soldiers back home in the Fire Nation, and Zhao somehow missed that. Ugh.