The minister's words echoed in his ears, and Zuko looked around carefully, realizing that they were surrounded by the soldiers who had moved closer in the meantime. He swallowed hard, and reached for his daos with numb hands. It hadn't been easy to ignore Appa's reproachful look as he had taken them from the saddle, but it seemed that he had correctly predicted he would need them.
Qin watched it with a mix of disgust and amusement. "What's this? The Fire Prince, resorting to blades? Have you abandoned the art of your ancestors along with your honor, or are you simply that desperate?"
Zuko's eyes blazed at the taunt, for he would like nothing more than to burn this smile off of Qin's face. He forced himself to ignore it for now, focusing on the soldiers surrounding him. The ones standing close enough have been listening in to their discussion, but their reactions varied. A few of them have cast their eyes down in shame, but many of them seemed agitated at the thought of a traitorous teenage boy telling them off. However, none of them have moved yet.
Zuko used this moment as the last chance, and pointed the tip of one of his blades at the minister "Call off the attack. You can't fight the Avatar. You're on the lost posi-"
"You won't tell me how to command my army! Seize him!"
With the order given, first soldiers started advancing towards him with their swords raised. Zuko quickly noted that they must be non-benders, as they all wielded the standard weapon. It meant that the firebenders wouldn't shoot as long as these men are close - or at least that's what he'd like to hope for, but he wasn't going to count on luck.
The first soldier lunged, and Zuko's blade met his with a clang that echoed through the camp. He felt his grip on his dao wasn't as firm as he was used to, and he quickly stepped to the side to let the other blade slip off of his on the side to escape the strain. The man fell forward, surprised by the sudden lack of resistance, and bumped into another soldier who was aiming for the prince's back.
"You have no idea what you're getting into, Qin! Leave the temple alone!" Zuko yelled, but he had to turn to deflect another strike; in swift motion he added a kick to push the attacker back. The man stumbled back a little, and gave him a dirty look as he caught his balance again. The prince started to painfully realize that he may not make it if he'll be going for just disarming the soldiers like he did in the stronghold. He needed to start eliminating them from a fight or to get out of there, although it was easier said than done.
Another attacker was a firebender, but he made the mistake of trying to engage Zuko in a close combat. A fire punch flew in his direction, but too slow; and the next moment the soldier layed sprawled on the ground after the boy had undercut his legs. The fight escalated further, with Zuko moving like a whirlwind, his swords flashing. Seeing this the soldiers started to hesitate, casting looks between themselves, their attacks became more deliberate; not that it made the fight easier. The battle raged on, with Zuko's breath forming clouds in the cold air, but his movements were growing more desperate as fatigue started to set in.
"What's the matter, is it such a problem capturing one teenage boy with swords?" Qin shouted over the din impatiently "Eliminate him if you have to, Fire Lord doesn't need him alive!"
His words didn't bring the desired effect, as a few of offencing soldiers hestitated, allowing Zuko to push them back. However, right as he did that, a fire blast flew next to them; the boy barely dodged it, feeling the scorching heat on his face as it went by him and hit another soldier.
Another blast came in from the side, and this time Zuko dispersed the flame with a swing of his hand, remembering that it shouldn't be a problem for him. The blast wasn't strong, but it had obscured another attack from the same side. The soldier's sword slipped under Zuko's raised blade and cut clean through his coat and his upper left arm. The blood started to sip through it, and burning pain spread, making him drop his dao. He brought down his other blade, pushing the soldier away, but the damage was done. He quickly picked the second dao up with his right hand, connecting both swords. Both the pain and the loss of control of his hand warned him that the cut was rather deep.
"If I had some fire to bend too, it-" he thought, and then a crazy idea came to his mind. There was fire, they were making it for him. After they shoot it, they give up the control over it, meaning he should be able to claim it - at least that was the theory he just came up with.
He rolled to dodge another attack from the side, and when he saw another fire ball flying towards him, he focused entirely on the fire. He held out his dao in front of him to increase his reach, and then at the last second he sidestepped and spun around to work with the missile's momentum. As he was moving, he felt the flame aligning to his motions as it gave into his control - and as he made a full turn, he sent the fireball back at the shocked firebender.
Bewildered murmurs sounded among the soldiers. It shouldn't be possible, according to the knowledge they had. No firebending instructor would teach such a move, to redirect someone's fire. Firebenders took a wary step back, wondering if their attacks were going to be useless against him.
Qin has seen a lot of things in his many years, but even he didn't expect that. His first thought was that it could be some kind of secret technique passed in the royal family. However he noticed how it seemed to lower soldiers' morale, and he called loudly: "Silence! What you've seen is just a rare technique, but not an impossible one if a boy is able to use it! Prince Zuko may have surprised you, yes, but he is still just one man. And he is alone. We are the Fire Nation army, united and strong. Do not let the actions of one individual shake your resolve."
Qin's words were measured, his tone imbued with a confidence that seemed to fortify the soldiers' spirits. "That is just another obstacle. Kill the traitor and bring honor to our Nation!"The soldiers straightened, their doubts replaced by a renewed sense of purpose. Qin continued "After you deal with him, the air temple won't stand a chance!"
The soldiers advanced again, emboldened by Qin's decisive command, closing in on Zuko. The prince, his arm bleeding and his breaths coming in ragged gasps, brandished his sword with a grim determination. He was outnumbered, but he would not yield easily.
Just then, a gust of wind heralded Aang's arrival. The Avatar swooped down on his glider, his staff extended.
"Hang on, Zuko!"
With a powerful sweep of his staff, Aang created a whirlwind that knocked the soldiers off balance, giving Zuko the opening he needed. The prince took the opportunity and knocked down the nearest soldier with a swift kick, then he used him as a ramp to leap towards Aang, who caught him in mid-air. Together they ascended into the sky, leaving behind a frustrated War Minister and a camp full of soldiers grappling with the realization that the prince they were ordered to kill had just been whisked away by the very Avatar they were preparing to battle.
"You're not supposed to be here!" Zuko huffed, still breathing heavily. He noticed Aang was struggling to keep the glider steady with one hand while holding him with the other, so he carefully put the swords back to the sheath and reached up with his uninjured arm.
"So are you!" Aang responded stubbornly, as he readjusted his position to let the firebender get a hold of the glider "Why didn't you tell us you were going here?"
"What good would it do?!"
"We could have helped you!" the kid defended "We could-"
"You were too busy preparing for the battle to actually think about stopping it." the prince stated grimly "What brilliant plan did you come up with, you'll use altitude to overwhelm the soldiers from beyond their range, won't you?"
Something about the way he said it made Aang feel guilty, and he responded more quietly "Come on, they are the ones attacking us. They want to burn down the whole temple!"
This time Zuko was the one to wince "It... They shouldn't. I tried to convince them, but..."
"Is that what you were trying to do here...?" the Avatar asked, much calmer this time. He gave Zuko a curious look, but the prince stared blankly in space.
"Among other things."
The knock on the door let the Admiral know that he had a visitor. And right on time, as he was still expecting news from a few subordinate captains. He got up from his desk, and walked over to a map, calling "Come in! Tell me you have good news."
"You could say that."
The voice sent shivers down his spine, and he spun on his feet immediately to face the person, and got down on his knee.
"Princess! Forgive me, I wasn't notified you were coming!"
A smirk crawled on her face "I know. That's why I can dismiss the pathetic state of your troops."
Zhao grit his teeth, and managed a polite smile "I take it that you've come to aid the siege, Princess?"
"Fire Lord has entrusted this task to you, hasn't he? I'm here in the family business." she said, as she walked over to the window "I mean my dear brother, of course. The Fire Lord cannot ignore him disgracing our family name any further."
Zhao was tempted to make a sneering remark about the prince, but he stopped himself, not knowing how she would react. Meanwhile Azula turned to look at his face again "You had reported a few encounters with him already, Admiral, but yet he is still roaming free. Even with all the resources you have been given, it seems this is too much for you. Which is why the Fire Lord sent me to take care of this burden. I will need all the information you have gathered so far."
"I'll be more than happy to aid you in any way I can, Princess, but allow me to offer a certain idea."
It seemed Aang actually knew what he was doing as he steered the glider, because they have reached the temple quite fast. Landing was much nicer too.
"Come inside, you need to warm yourself up." the kid urged Zuko, and he gave him an annoyed look. It only made sense to go inside, yet he knew that the Water Tribe siblings will demand more explanation from him. Not that he owed them any, of course.
He started to walk toward the entrance, and glanced at his arm on the way, pulling the cut fabric on his sleeve. He noted that he needed to stop the bleeding, rather urgently. And warm himself up too, of course. It would be best to find some fire.
"Are you ok?" Aang asked with worry, but Zuko dismissed him with a short nod.
"Is there any fire? Maybe a kitchen?" he asked as they went in, and Aang bit his lip in thought.
"I don't know... Oh, Teo will know for sure!" he called as noticed a boy in a wheelchair strolling towards them.
"Hey, Aang. So you found him?"
Zuko gave him a look, noticing the reluctant tone, and turned away to let the airbender do the talking.
"Yeah, and right on time. He was fighting with the whole squad!" Aang rambled with a smile "Right, do you have a kitchen here?"
"Kitchen? Uhm, yeah, it's that way..." Teo answered confused, pointing to a corridor "But Sokka needs everyone in the workshop right now. I was looking for you, actually."
"Oh, ok." the kid turned to Zuko "Can you join us later, when you warm up? I mean, if you want to. Or, just stay here around, ok...? You really worried us."
The prince looked at him keenly, and glanced at Teo, before turning towards the kitchen corridor. "Sure."
As he walked away, Teo turned to Aang "Are you sure you're not wasting your time on him? He kinda seems like a jerk."
The airbender actually giggled a little "You sound like Sokka. But Zuko is not a bad guy, once you get to know him."
At the end of the corridor was only one room fortunately, and Zuko got in, relieved not to find anyone inside. The fire in the stove was still burning softly, but it was evident that no one was thinking about dinner today. He threw the log into the fire, instinctively reaching out with both hands to feel the heat, but his left arm bursted with even more pain as he did so. He grit his teeth as he gripped it below the cut, taking a few calming breaths. After a while he felt he was ready and he proceeded to take off his coat, removing his left arm from the coat's sleeve with extra caution. Then he actually inspected the wound closely, furrowing his brow. The cut was pretty deep, so no surprise he had trouble moving it around. It was still bleeding too, but he estimated it was overall less dangerous than his previous injury.
With that he moved closer to the stove and reached for the fire with his right hand, when he heard the door slam. He spun immediately in that direction, noticing enraged Katara, marching quickly towards him.
"What were you thinking?!" she yelled as she approached him, and for a moment he felt anxious.
"Aang said you were fighting a squad of soldiers, and got hurt!" she continued heatedly "Why didn't you say you were going to do such a thing?"
"I wasn't planning on fighting them, alright?" he finally defended himself, adding tiredly "I was looking for a way to stop the attack."
She scoffed "Like, you really thought you could stop them? Once Fire Nation sets on a target, they don't listen to reason."
"I'm still one of them, okay?" he hissed angrily "Those are my people you're talking about. They shouldn't be sent to fight in a shameful battle, and throw away their lives just because of their commander's ambition."
The look on her face softened a little "Well you could have told us at least. Maybe Sokka would have come up with something..." she sighed "Where's that injury?"
He turned slightly, putting his left arm behind him "I'll take care of it. You can go back to the battle preparations or whatever."
She noticed the intent behind his movement, and she stepped forward, reaching for his shoulder "Come on. I could try to heal it-"
"I said I'll handle it." he repeated harshly, dodging her hand.
"Why are you so stubborn about it?" she argued, annoyed. "Just let me-"
"No! It's my problem, alright? I failed in the fight, and now I can take care of the outcome. I don't need anyone's help. Neither Aang's or yours."
"Ugh! Fine, whatever!" she yelled back, moving backwards to the door "But if it gets worse, you better let me know!"
She slammed the door on the way out even harder than earlier, and he turned to the stove in confusion. He shook his head slightly, trying to clear his thoughts, and focused on fire. The girl actually gave him an idea - when she used water to heal, she held it directly over the wound. Perhaps he could use the fire like that too? The thought of burning himself crossed his mind, but he had to know. Taking some of the fire out of the hearth would be easy, but he knew he couldn't hold it long before it would go out, since he couldn't fuel it.
He took a deep breath, recalling the calm flow he felt when he was absorbing fire, and he took some into his palm. Then he closed his eyes and put it next to his wound; part of him had fully expected to feel the pain, but there was none. His mind was still calm, and he slowly peeked at his arm. The fire was disappearing quickly, but the prince could have sworn he'd seen an odd tint for a split moment before it went out. Taking a look at the wound let him know that the bleeding has significantly slowed, though the wound was still open, and tissues around it were swollen.
Reassured, he carefully took another fist of flame, repeating the action, but he kept watching it, and there it was - once he held the flame, its color started to change slightly, getting tints of gold, and a deeper red at the same time, even some green, though he didn't think it possible. Fascinated, he took some more, this time not even attempting to absorb it at all, just watching. He wanted to take a closer look at the strange flame, but this time it burned perfectly normal before it went out in his hand. It annoyed him, but he decided the more important thing for now was to take care of his wound.
He thought about mixing both methods he knew so far. He got as close to the flames as he could, and held his hand out to channel the fire directly. Then, closing his eyes for better focus, he started to move the stream of fire towards his wound, trying to absorb it as well. The result was a familiar feeling of the fire's energy fueling his own, but focused more around his wound. He continued it for a while, before he decided it was worth it to risk watching it. The flames were changing below his palm, shimmering with colors - and they were getting absorbed as they went in contact with his body. The sight stirred him, and he let go of the fire. Carefully he took another look at his arm to confirm it, but it was undeniable.
"I can heal. I can heal with fire..."
Everyone was working hard to assemble as much ammunition as possible, but their materials were limited, just like their time. Still, they managed to get a nice amount of bombs of four kinds - smoke, slime, fire, and stink. Teo wasn't so sure about the last one, but his father insisted it was going to be useful as well, even though it was technically harmless.
When Aang came back he briefly summarized how he had found Zuko and brought him back to the temple. Katara quickly stormed out of the workshop as she heard it. Surprisingly, she returned shortly after, even more enraged - however both Aang and Sokka knew better than to ask her about it and agitate her further. It looked like a good choice on their part, as she threw herself back into work; manual labor seemed to calm her down eventually.
Sokka was currently on the top of the balloon together with Mechanist, installing the lid. A few Mechanist's assistants were helping by handing them the parts and tools they needed, so they didn't have to rush up and down the ladder. Sokka had just asked for a wrench, when he noticed Zuko showing up in the door.
"Oh, look who's come!" the teen called from his high position, and the group looked first at him in confusion, and then at the door.
"How was the trip? Aang said that you were at a kicking party!" Sokka added sarcastically.
Zuko crossed his arms over his chest, and responded grimly "Did he tell you about the tanks too?"
Sokka looked at the firebender puzzled, but before he could ask, Mechanist spoke:
"Wait, Tundra tanks? Don't tell me that the Minister has finished this project?"
Zuko turned his attention to him "I thought it was your design?"
"I was working on it some time ago, but I didn't finish it... So how did he solve the problem of fuel?"
"I'd say firebenders. Tanks are big enough to fit a few soldiers. And I didn't notice any fuel container inside."
"That's... one way to do it, I guess..." Mechanist thought out loud "This is bad. If they are as durable as I presumed, we won't be able to damage them with our bombs."
"Wait, armored tanks, with soldiers inside?" Sokka asked unsettled "How many?"
"I've counted twelve. But a part of them might not be a problem if the soldiers didn't have time to familiarize themselves with the engines."
"What did you do?"
"I've tightened the engines' valves, but I didn't have time to get them all." Zuko answered, and Sokka looked at him with confusion, but the Mechanist beamed:
"The exhaust valves? That's genius! Hard to notice, and potentially deadly for the engine. How did you figure it out?"
"They're not that different from our ship's engines. Such a malfunction has stopped my ship once for a few days before we located the problem."
Katara came closer, crossing her arms "Wait, I thought you said you didn't want to fight your people? And you sabotaged their tanks?"
He gave her a look "I did it exactly for this reason. If these tanks break during the fight, or hopefully before they join it, they'll have to fall back."
She looked like she wanted to say something else, but then instead she gave a tired sigh "Did you patch this arm or-"
"But you were actually fighting the soldiers when I found you." Aang cut in curiously "Did you get caught?"
"I wasn't caught! I just thought I could try to use the opportunity to convince the Minister to call off the attack completely." he explained, recalling their conversation. "But he's hellbent on it."
Sokka looked at the prince thoughtfully. He was really annoyed with him, for not telling them all he knew about this place, and then going off alone in the middle of their preparations. But now, he was actually kinda impressed with what that jerk managed to do, though he wouldn't admit it out loud.
"Well, it doesn't really surprise me." he said, directing his steps back toward the ladder. "But it's a good thing we know what we're fighting with."
"Actually, I have an idea! I think bending might be an answer to our problem with tanks too." Mechanist said as he turned to Aang "Tell me, Avatar, can you bend water?"
"I can waterbend too." Katara said eagerly.
Zuko stopped listening to their conversation and squinted his eyes as he took in the details of the balloon. It looked like Water Tribe boy's strategy was quite simple too, but... Disguising this thing as a part of the Fire Nation army wasn't a clean move too. He didn't say anything however, still mulling over what happened earlier in army camp. He looked around the workshop and watched the others work on the bombs; it made him feel sick. He turned and headed for the door, only to have Aang start from his place with worry.
"Hey, Zuko! Don't-"
"I'm not going anywhere!"
The angry scream made the boy cringe slightly, and he stopped, though he was still staring after him worriedly.
"Leave him be, Aang." Sokka called "Even he wouldn't do something that stupid twice."
"I guess..."