I don't own Avatar The Last Airbender

Chapter 8

"Why do I have to wear it, again?"

"You are now part of my crew, people need to know that so they wouldn't bother you with questions like 'Who are you?' and 'Why are you here?'."

"But it's hot in there!"

"You're from the Si Wong desert! Don't complain about the heat!"

Zuko and Mi-Dved were arguing like a mother and a little daughter in a cloth shop because once Zuko returned to his men with the news about the new plan and their new crewmate, he was quick to prepare them for the assault. That includes equipping Mi-Dved with the standard new gear of his crew.

Quite frankly, they were in lick that Mi-Dved was the size of a full-grown man. Zuko didn't have the time and place to create a personally made set for his earth bending acquaintance. He imagined how big Mi-Dved will be when he will be a grown man.

"Why do I even have to be there? I don't know anything about fighting."

"Firstly, because you are part of my crew now, that means you have responsibilities. One of them is to look presentable and ready for action. Besides, you will be a great help when you direct the boulders of the earth navy away from us."

"I still don't think I can do it, the boulders will be too fast and to heavy."

"You don't need to fight against the boulder, just move it right or left without pushing him against his direction. Trust me, you got it."

'He got it, right Sai?'

"Absolutely, his earth bending level should be just enough to intercept a flying boulder."

"If you say so…"

"Anyway, you should be more concerned about what comes after, this is connected to your sister after all."

Now that got the earth bender's full attention.

"When we have control over this sea strip, you and I will go to the north to an area called the Foggy swamp. This is one of the last places described as 'spirit wild', meaning places with high spiritual connection that existed even before the Avatar. One of the effects the swamp has on people is the ability to see visions of loved ones that are believed to be dead or lost."

"Like my sister?"

"Exactly like your sister."

Mi-Dved now looked uncomfortable. Even if his face is hidden by the visor, he rubbed his hand behind his head.

"I… Thank you for doing this for me, I-I don't really know how to repay you."

"Think nothing of it, I was about to go there anyway in the future. You just helped me decide my course of action. This helps me just as much as this helps you, so don't think that you owe me something beyond what we already agreed."

"I see, thank you."

"But I just- never mind."

"He's probably expected you to go against your word or milk his service as much as you can, most likely he doesn't have a good experience with this kind of situation. His opinion no you grew as a result, it's good."

"Go familiarize yourself with the crew, this could make the difference between life and death in the battlefield."

"Yes sir!"

Mi-Dved gave a mock salute and went outside.

Zuko sighed as he was left in his lonesome.

'What do we actually need from the swamp? I doubt you will have me go there just for a charity trip to Mi-Dved.'

"First name base already, your highness? To answer your question, the spiritual energies of the swamp will be a good fuel for me to store for future endeavors. It will allow us to enhance your body with spirit essence and open to door for new kinds of powers and bending styles to unlock, one of you will find very interesting."

'Are you sure it's safe? And what would I find interesting?'

"I'll be fine, thanks for the concern."

'Sai!'

"Don't worry, it will be as safe as Chernobyl. And about what I had in mind, what do you know about phenixes?"

Hmm… Chernobyl probably was some kind of a fortress or a stronghold.

'You mean the legendary birds of Agni?'

"It's much more complicated than that, but yes. A few of the most known qualities of the phenix is that it reborn once it dies and its tears can heal any injury. Another, maybe less known one, is that the phenix can heal itself by his fire, wounds, internal damage and even scars."

'You can't mean!'

"Exactly, with enough spirit essence and practice, you will be able to heal yourself like a phenix. But I warn you, powers such as this come at a terrible price. The process of transforming energy to matter, and building said matter to the biological needs of the body requires a tremendous amount of energy, knowledge and resolve. One wrong step, and there could be dire consequences, in most of you die. So until you have all the required criteria, I will be responsible for this, no questions."

'And I will finally be rid of my scar?'

"In time, yes. The technique must start with small uses, less the body will burn itself. Humans weren't meant to handle such transformation of energy, this is why I must enhance you with spiritual energy at a low phase."

Zuko wanted it now! He wanted to get rid of his mark of shame as early as possible, but Sai had a point. It wouldn't do him any good if he was to die the moment he healed his face, he knew it. Besides, Sai never proved him wrong. Possession aside, Sai was the most valuable help Zuko had, point. So he decided to have a leap of faith and trust Sai with this arrangement, but one thing he had to know.

'When will my scar heal then?'

"Approximately a year after the first implementation."

An entire year was way too much time for Zuko to wait! …But after a few moments to calm himself down, he reasoned that he already had suffered through over a year, he can suffer another one.

'Very well, what more preparations do we need?'

"With your ship repaired, earlier than expected may I add, we have advantage of speed but our durability leaves much to be desired. I will suggest replacing the steel panels of the ship with dura-steel ones when the factory will be fully operational, that is if you don't replace the ship altogether."

'We'll talk more about that when the factory is ready. Speaking of factories, when did Loban say he will build one again?'

"He should arrive to the island in a few days, three to five by his letter, three by my calculations. He seemed very eager to start the process plant. Together with the royal decree from your father, the bureaucratic tape is almost null. Total monarchy has its advantages, I must say. The construction of the factory will take about a month with the right motivation, be it force or fortune."

'I don't know enough about factories, but can we allow ourselves a month?'

"It's the best we can do, a month is an almost impossible time frame for the construction of the factory we need. Once finished, however, it will work around the clock to meet the desired quota. We will have to look for other places as well for construction, risky as it is, the south pole may be the ideal place for factories hidden from the eye."

'The Avatar, yes?'

Zuko remembers all too well that according to Sai, The Avatar hides somewhere in the south pole.

"Yes, the signal continues to be unchanged, as if the Avatar didn't move the entire time you had me on. This is an anomaly that must be answered as soon as you advanced enough in your path as an overlord."

The fact that even Sai is concerned did bring some unease to Zuko, but ultimately, he buried it down. This is a problem for future Zuko, scarless Zuko.

A horn sounded, it was time to prepare for embarking.

Toph felt the person way before the door was opened, she wanted to bury herself underground, yell at him to go away, anything. She couldn't believe that she lost, and so pathetically like that! She was supposed to be the blind bandit, the strongest earth bender alive! Then, out of nowhere, came this guy and played with her like a fiddle, humiliating her in front of the entire audience. No one is going to respect her ever again after this! But that wasn't the worst part, oh no, the worst part is that she couldn't do anything about it. No matter how she tried, she couldn't feel him anywhere. It was like she was totally blind again, and that scared her more than anything.

She heard his deep voice ordering someone to open the door and she steeled herself to face the music, whatever favor she owned him will be a small price to pay for not telling dad.

"What do you want!"

She may be sad and more than a little nervous, but like hell will she show it to him.

"Your end of the bargain, you know your house well, yes?"

"Yes, so?"

She tapped her foot on the floor impatiently, waiting for this entire circus to end.

"A tunnel. Connecting the northern side of the wall, the place with the tall cherry tree, with the small wine cellar two rooms right to the grain storage. Tonight. Big enough for a full-grown man to walk straight."

"WHAT! You're forcing me to help you steal from my family?!"

Toph was shocked, she couldn't believe it.

"No one will get hurt, if you follow my commands. One tunnel, one night and you can see our bet null. Unless, of course, you prefer telling daddy dearest everything."

Toph hated it, she never would have thought that someone would ever dare blackmail her and succeeded at that. She hated his crocked smile and the arrogant expression he had, but she didn't want him to tell dad. He also told the truth, she would have known if he lied to her. So she was conflicted, how will she get out of it… wait a minute!

"Forget it! I'll tell dad everything and you will be behind bars for good!"

The man had the audacity to laugh at her.

"Cute. Go ahead, tell daddy, I will lead you to him myself, see how he'll react. How are you going to explain that you were out of the mansion? I kidnapped you? Then why I'm returning you? And snitching on me? Who will your dad believe more? The daughter that escaped and most likely wants to put the blame on someone else? Or maybe the adult who returned her? Face it kid, there is no way for you to win if you go to that path."

She hated that he made sense, it sounded exactly like what her father would do. The fact that she didn't detect any lies only made her angrier and more desperate.

"Very well, if I don't get an answer from you, then we'll go straight up to Lao, maybe he will even give something in return for finding his daughter."

As he was about to stand up and leave Toph stopped him.

"NO! fine! I'll do your stupid tunnel!"

"Good, midnight sharp. Next to the tree."

She wanted to bury herself in the deepest hole and die there.

War at sea was not as exciting as the stories told. Mi-Dved expected something like many ships from different sides shooting at each other, instead he was hiding together with his new boss's crew under a smoke screen of the larger ship. It was boring, to say the least, but at least they were promised some action soon.

When he first saw the fire nation ships, he was intimidated, he will admit that much. Back in Amora there were more than a few patrons from the territories controlled by the fire lord, they always spoke about how great and mighty the fire nation was. Well, if it is so great, then what are you doing here, he wanted to tell them. But looking at the many large ships at the dock, heavy cursers the boss called them, and the fact that it was a tiny portion of the fire nation's military might, maybe those arrogant pricks had something.

He was sure in one thing, with a ship like this, his sister and he would have never been separated by the storm. Which opened another can of worms. He was sure that his sister was alive, he could feel it in his big brother sense. And the deal he made with the prince… he had some reservations about it, but he was sure he made the best call. He made deals with much less savory men in the past for less, after all.

The prince actually considered his deal and made an effort to locate his sister, they privately discussed the best course of action and decided against public posters. The men that were after the siblings weren't gone only because he and his sister escaped Amora, and they will gladly hunt and put them in chains back if allowed.

In the end, it was decided that they would go to the swamp. He was quite skeptical about trusting the unnatural, but the boss seemed sure enough. The old man will search rumors about his sister when he was playing his Pai-Sho with the rest of the old men.

It was a strange thing to say for him, but he actually trusted the prince. He was enough times near one conman or another, you can't have it any other way if you live in Amora, so he has a good sense of detecting deception. The prince, while indeed using him, didn't give such vibes, and to be fair, he was using the prince as well.

To be frank, the prince, Zuko, gave one of the best first impressions imaginable. Laying low an enforcer, a symbol of the invincibility of the Brigand, was like watching a scene from one of the stories mother told him and his sister when she was still alive.

The fact that the prince allowed him to fight side by side and not hugging all the glory for himself endeared the prince even more, there was some cathartic release beating up the symbol of his tormentors. The drink also helped, he wouldn't lie.

So all in all, Zuko was a pretty swell guy, that's why he didn't mind working for him so much. He of course asked a few crew members some questions about the prince, apparently he was a brat some time ago, but changed a leaf for the better a month ago. It did give him some reservations, but ultimately, he would be a hypocrite to judge the prince by his past.

A whistle sounded, meaning it was time to attack. Good, it was starting to get boring anyway.

He followed the other soldiers to the dock to prepare for the assault. He saw for the first time the opposing force and quite frankly, he wasn't impressed. The biggest ship was the size of the prince's own ship, which he admitted was small and built for speed. Many of them were even made of wood, which he thought was kind of stupid when fighting against fire benders.

Anyway, the only redeeming quality of the enemy was their larger number. For every fire nation ship, were three earth kingdom ones. The prince said it was meant to be five to one in the enemy's favor, but the greater visibility granted by his flying balls gave them the ability to surround small groups of earth kingdom ships and sink them quickly before anyone on the other side could notice.

The plan, as far as he was concerned at least, was to intercept any boulders thrown at the ship. With the superior mobility of their ship, they will spearhead into the enemy the enemy, directing fire away from the main attacking force in the process, and cause as much discord as they can.

This initial disorder will give the heavy catapults a, more or less, immobile target and will use the superior number of the enemy against them as the ships will be hard pressed to move away in their contained environment.

He asked the prince why the enemy didn't encircle them instead, but the prince explained that an earth kingdom ship is much less durable than its fire nation equivalent. They sank to many of the enemy's ships for the enemy to make an encircle that the heavy cruisers couldn't break. If they try the maneuver now the better armored metal ships will just advance forward, making the less durable earth ships surround each ship individually and be quickly sank by the neighboring fire nation ship without causing much damage.

Instead, the enemy's best bet was to use their numbers to focus one ship at a time and sink them by the sheer quantity of the projectiles.

And so, they moved forward at full speed. Immediately boulders started to fly to the ship. Mi-Dved used his earth bending as the prince suggested, and instead of fighting against the moving boulder, he pushed it to the side. He saw that the rock wasn't going to hit the ship and he let go.

By luck, the boulder he moved hit another earth kingdom ship. He supposed he did a good enough job and continued to the next boulder. From the side of his eyes, he saw the prince shooting a ball of fire to quick for him to see that exploded and destroyed the boulder it touched.

He wasn't jealous, he wasn't jealous at all.

The battle continued to rage on around them. To be frank, he didn't really pay attention to the details. He was too occupied with intercepting as many boulders as he can. One or two managed to hit the ship, but thankfully the metal plate protected the ship from sinking.

He could see that the process was taking tall on the prince as well, his movements were more sluggish, had less force in them. His blasts were merely breaking the boulders to smaller rocks that bounced more or less harmlessly of the metal plate.

From experience, he knew that fire benders fight ferociously, but tire quickly as a result. The fact that the prince continued fighting till now, and throwing things that he was sure were more than the regular fire ball, spoke highly of his power and resolve. No wonder he could stand up to an enforcer.

After a while, they were out of the swarm of ships on the other side of the earth kingdom fleet. For now, they had a moment to rest at least, for however long that is. For the first time he had a chance to have a good look on the battlefield, he must admit that he felt a little satisfaction.

The enemy was in clear disarray, ships were directed in every direction and many earth kingdom ships were sunk. Now they had a more or less even number of ships on each side. With the size and quality of the fire nation ones, it was easy to see who had total advantage now.

The prince seemed to have the same thoughts, if the satisfied grin was anything to go by.

"We did enough, the navy can handle things from here. Good job."

He could only grin back in response.

The navy decided to dock at the navy base of the now annihilated earth kingdom navy, it was both practical decision as well as a symbolic one to show the complete fire nation victory. The personal at the port put up a little fight, but inevitably, they surrendered. Zhao decided to have a party for the success of the complete annexation of the Gaoling sea strip, and he was one of the private guests of honor.

Because of Zhao's medical condition, he was pressed to let someone else do the victory speech. However, glory hog as he is, he wouldn't allow anyone else to take the credit, nor miss the looks of admiration of the soldiers.

So in the end, it was decided that he will have his victory speech on stage from his sick bed with a healer next to him. It was kind of awkward at first, but he had to admit, it did give some patriotic image that the common soldiers seemed to like. He also had to admit that Zhao had a way with words.

"You know, he's pretty effective against opponents without plot armor."

'Plot armor?'

"A short of Personally Likable Observed Tale. Some people, or beings, have the interest of a higher power. Said higher power often pulls strings to make sure their personal of interest gets away and win in situations he had no way to win."

'Like a guardian spirit?'

"More like a play writer."

The thought didn't make Zuko relaxed in any way.

'Does the Avatar have a plot armor?'

"Tons of."

'Damn…'

"Tell me about it."

'Do I have a plot armor?'

"Yes, but not enough to stand up to the Avatar."

'Damn…'

Putting aside thoughts about higher power deciding everything he will do, Zuko decided to focus on the things he could control here and now. He walked to his table and began to read the unopened letters that were on it.

The first one was from Loban, it congratulated him on his victory against the pirates, and now against the earth kingdom. After a few paragraphs of flattery that he skipped, the businessman finally got to the heart of the matter.

Loban visited the island Zuko conquered and had a look at the mines. The businessman agreed that the place will be ideal for a large factory like the one Zuko wanted, he also said that the construction would start right away. He promised a complete factory by the end of the month, Zuko will give him another score of diamonds if he could start production in three weeks, that should speed things up.

He also wrote Loban about the possibility of patenting the creation of a new substance called plastic. Sai explained to him the process of creating such a thing and the utility of it, he was sure a savvy businessman like Loban will see the opportunity as well. The substance will be crucial to many inventions that they planned to bring.

He sent Loban a few blueprints of things he wanted the factory to immediately start producing, as well as repeating the importance of silence about their dealings and a vague threat if his conditions will be broken.

After going through the letter three times, he and Sai decided that it was good enough to send and sealed it with Zuko's seal. Now Zuko had his full attention to the other letter on his desk, the one from his father.

He immediately broke the seal and began to read.

It seems that his father congratulated him on his integral part in the subjugation of the pirates. He also commended Zuko on the idea of the eye of Cheng and the immense value of propaganda it gave.

The letter promised that the invention would be studied by the best minds of the nation and would have its rightful place in the army, as the potential of another dimension of war was revolutionary. Especially with an attack on Ba Sing Se.

His father promised to look into captain Zhao's achievements. If the captain is indeed as good as Zuko said, then his father said that he will consider promoting him to the rank of commander before the regular time for good service.

It ended with a reminder that while his deeds were well and good, his main mission is to hunt the Avatar and bring him back in chains, and no other thing could end his banishment.

He was overall happy with the response of his father, even if it was clearly written by another's hands.

He began writing another letter this father. This one will talk about his part in the conquest of the Gaoling sea-strip, as well as ask again about Zhao's promotion. He and Sai decided to ask for a better ship, as well as the ability to take command on the soldiers if his mission demanded the manpower.

After finishing this letter as well, he went to get the falcons to send his messages. After finishing, he went to the party at Sai's insistence, it was decided already that his men will have a day off tomorrow, so there was no risk at staying late. He also had to make sure that Mi-Dved wouldn't cause an incident with the fire nation soldiers.

It wasn't until well past midnight that he returned satisfied to bed.

It was time, Toph was inside her tunnel, walking to the tree they agreed upon. She could feel the men outside, Mi-Sha and the same two bodyguards, waiting for her outside. She thought about attacking them with surprise but decided against that in the end. She didn't know what they could do, but she was quickly defeated against Mi-Sha alone, she didn't want to risk it. If there was one good thing that came from today, it was the severe humbling experience she got.

She opened the tunnel a few feet in front of the trio.

"Good, right on time."

The main a hole said in all its glory. He then pointed at the hole and his two companions went in. Each had a barrel full of some substance that didn't feel like wine to her feet.

Now only the two of them were left, all alone.

Toph was glad that her opponent wasn't the talking type, because se didn't want to acknowledge him, let alone speak with him. From her feet, she could feel the two thugs, for that's what they were, replacing two barrels of fine wine that probably were stored there for decades with the two barrels they brought.

She was confused when only one of them started returning but couldn't question the main criminal about it. The last thing she wanted was for him to know how her senses worked.

When the thug arrived, Mi-Sha spoke for the first time after his men went inside the tunnel.

"All is planted?"

The thug gave some strange sign with his hand, two fingers, then five, then one.

Mi-Sha nodded and addressed her directly.

"Come girl."

Now that caught her by surprise.

"What?! I'm not going anywhere with you! Our deal was the tunnel, and that's it! You said so yourself!"

"The deal with the fight, yes, now I make a new deal. Go with me now, become one of my bandits, and you're your parents won't be blown to pieces."

"WHAT! No! You're bluffing!"

She desperately said as she felt no lie coming from the giant.

Her blackmailer just gave a nod toward the tunnel.

"The barrels my men got in, they are full of explosive jelly. Enough of it to blast the inner mansion sky high. The barrels are on a countdown of five minutes until explosion, that is if my men wouldn't stop it in time. You have…"

Mi-Sha looked at his minion, which showed three fingers.

"Three minutes until the barrels blow up, be mindful that it will take at least a minute for my man here to go back to the cellar. But don't worry, it's just your parent's lives."

"I-I…"

Her earth bending told her that the man was serious, he will indeed blow the place up if she wouldn't do as he says. She tried to find some loophole in his plan, maybe she can stop him this way.

"B-but what about your guy inside?"

"What about him?"

Mi-Dved raised an eyebrow.

"Wouldn't he also be blown up?"

"And?"

Right, heartless bandits. Maybe another direction.

"My dad will have your head!"

He had the gall to bark a laugh at that.

"He should join the line. Better than him tried and failed girl. His money wouldn't help him with me."

Damn! Something! There has to be something!

The thug next to the tunnel raised two fingers.

"Two minutes."

Her bane of existence said.

Damn it! She will just do it herself, consequences be dammed.

She started to move, but suddenly fell hard to the ground. Some outside force was pushing her down, not letting her move a muscle. Her only indication that something happened was Mi-Sha who pointed his hand to the ground.

"You made a mistake, girl. Luckily, I'm in a merciful mood today. Kneel, apologize, and swear loyalty to me, and I will forget your disrespect. Now time's ticking, minute and a half."

"FINE! FINE! I'M SORRY, I SWEAR!"

The pressure on her disappeared immediately. She 'saw' Mi-Dved giving a nod to his companion, and the thug sprinted to the tunnel. She felt his hands on her, suddenly aware how big they were.

Suddenly, with a whush, she lost all her connection to the ground. All she could sense was the man holding her, and here the sound and feeling of wind on her skin. Wherever and how-ever he was taking her, she knew it would be a long time before she can be home.

She wanted to cry but held herself. It would be her act of defiance, she refused to let anyone, especially this monster, see her cry.

It was dawn when he received the letter. Fire lord Ozai was sitting on his throne when the messenger arrived with Zuko's letter. His temper was much more even this time, for he ordered the man to bring letters of importance from the banished boy.

Once the messenger left, he began to read it. It seems like his pilgrim son once again showed he had a friction of the royal blood inside him. He read about the battle report, as well as similar reports from other officers from the battle. All of them confirmed Zuko's roles in both assaults and commended him for his actions.

It seems that the banished started to toughen up the boy. He wondered what the exact cause was but quickly lost interest, it wouldn't do him good to place himself at the position of his disgraced spawn. Whatever happened, the new changes were both for the better, and for the worse.

On one hand, his son finally started to act like a prince was supposed to and stopped being an embarrassment for the family. Rumors about his exploits were starting to grow and his reputation grew as well. The story of the Eye of Cheng in particular touched many subjects.

On the other hand, there were many downsides. It was only a matter of time until people will start wanting the prince to return back to the fire nation. For now, none even dared to whisper such things in the dark, but he saw it in their eyes. They thought him wrong for the banishment, and he will have to make an example off soon enough to show why his word was law.

Another thing he noticed, which perhaps was more concerning, was the disrespect. He made it clear to his son that he would learn respect, and that suffering will be his teacher. Until now, as the falcon master noted, Zuko gradually became more and more respectful in his letters. Asking less, flattering more and always reported on time. In the last month, however, Zuko has been bolder in his writing, less flattery and ever more growing demand.

In his second letter, he asked to build a base of operations on the island he conquered. The only reason Ozai allowed it was because Zuko promised to pay from his own pockets, as if it wasn't the meagre allowance he was getting from the crown. Ozai entertained the idea because he knew Zuko didn't have nearly enough resources for his so-called base and expected that the broken pieces of his dream would bring him some entertainment.

The suggestion of Zhao's promotion was also a cause for concern. It was written as only good words about the captain, but the message was clear. He decided to keep an eye on Zhao, perhaps he was the one pulling Zuko's strings. It also did make some sense for Zhao to use a prince like that to advance in his career. After a little digging, however, he dismissed the theory. The enmity between the two was too great for Zhao to use Zuko as a ladder.

The third letter was the real concern. It showed that his son was indeed growing in power, managing to hold his ship together and break the earth navy swarm like that. It, however, showed once again that his ambitions grew in a dangerous pace.

Zuko once again reminded about Zhao and his achievements, actually told that he thinks that Zhao was a 'commander material'. It was only the fact that his son didn't tell him in any way to give Zhao a promotion that he even considered the offer. Looking at Zhoa's file, the man certainly had potential, as well as the kind of mindset Ozai could work with. He would allow the promotion, but he will have to make sure that the two will not interact anymore.

The last part of the letter, however, caused Ozai to nearly lose his senses. Zuko had fallen so much into disrespect that he demanded a better ship! As well as command over his army!

It may have been phrased in flowery words and logical explanations, but he saw through all those letters. The risk he took when banishing his failed son came to pass, Zuko was beginning to lose his fear from him. and with the potential Zuko started showing, it was not something Ozai could allow.

He debated whether to send Azula as well to balance and sabotage the achievements of her brother, but the same risk he took with Zuko is just as relevant with Azula. She may follow her brother's footsteps and lose her fear of him as well, leaving him with no weapons to command. Worse, the situation may escalate into a usurpation attempt. He would know more than most about how a son could overthrow his father.

He will have to meditate on it.

Kioshi island is famous for many things, it's elephant-koi fish, the Unagi, it's neutrality. But most importantly, it was famous because it was the home of the great Avatar Kioshi And her followers, the Kioshi warriors.

The Kioshi warriors were a group of an all female fighting force that was responsible for guarding the legacy of Avatar Kioshi and the island. Every year, the warriors would receive new recruits that completed their training. One of such recruits was Suki.

Suki from a young age knew what she wanted to be in life, and it was a Kioshi warrior. She adores the deceased Avatar Kioshi and dedicates her life to following the spiritual leader and the creator of their island. Together with other like-minded girls from her village, they began training for their dream.

A few months ago, they completed their training and finally joined the Kioshi warriors as fresh recruits. A month ago, Suki was delighted when she heard that she was on patrol duty across the beach strip near her village, her first real mission. Of course, she was following her senior, but the point still stood!

She also knew that it could be dangerous, in the last years pirate attacks have become more frequent. There was always a chance for an ambush or a raid, there were even some incidents where Kioshi warriors went missing during mission. Her senior told her that while piracy was always a threat, it was only in the last decade when it gradually became the plague it was. As if all the pirates decided to reorganize as a united force.

Anyway, when she went on her patrol, she and her group found a body that was washed on the shore. It was a girl of maybe between twelve to fourteen years, it was hard to tell. Her black hair hid her face, and her clothes were closer to rugs now. When her senior checked the pulse, to everyone's relief the girl was still alive.

They decided to bring the girl to the village. While they may not like outsiders and preferred their solidarity, they weren't going to let a young girl to die.

When the girl woke up, she was understandingly distressed and suspicious. After calming her down, they got her name and heard her story, apparently the boat she was on sank in the storm and she was separated from her brother. The mayor allowed her to stay in the village, but only as long as she followed their tradition and made herself useful in some way.

Luckily, the girl had a way with herbs and healing, so the local healer quickly took her under her wing. Because of that, Suki had talked to the girl many times when she had some injury that needed treating. They even became friends of sort.

On a few occasions, Jasmine asked if the warriors found any clue about the whereabouts of her brother, but each time the answer was negative. One such occasion was now.

"Sorry Jasmine, we still haven't found anything."

The tanned girl before her sighed.

"It's fine, I'm sure something will come up."

Suki now had an uneasy look on her face, she was about to start the awkward part of the conversation.

"Listen… I know it may be hard for you, but it had been a full month. Are you even sure your brother is… well…"

"His alive."

Jasmine said in a final tone.

"He always survived and came back to me, nothing will change now."

Suki was saved from the conversation by the ring of the bell on the door to the herbalist shop.

"Hi Jasmine! Can you help me with this?"

The boy had a cut in his hand that he said was a result of work accident, you could think that he won a fist fight with the Unagi with how he spoke. She also didn't miss how he flexes his hand when Jasmine started tending his wound.

Suki noticed a dramatic increase in work accidents and minor injuries of the young man and boys of the village in the past few weeks, and she highly suspected it had something with the new medical apprentice.

She wasn't jealous, not at all. So what if the new girl got all the attention, or had an exotic appearance, or was a little more mature then the rest of the girls her age. No, no reason to be jealous at all, Suki was a proud Kioshi warrior and was in no way threatened as a woman. And if anyone says otherwise, they are filthy liars.

The doorbell rang once again.

"Hi Jasmine! I need your help!"

Damn it…

In the south pole, a water tribe young man was returning home after a long day of mediocre success with fishing. He returned to his igloo with the spoils.

"Gran-gran, Katara! I'm home!"

He didn't hear any voices.

"Katara? Can you clean the fish and wash my clothes afterwards? Thanks!"

He only heard the distant sound of some otter-penguin.

"Katara? It's not funny!"

He put the fishes down and ran to Katara's part of the igloo. There, he found her crunching into a ball on her bad. She was silently sobbing with rad eyes. The otter-penguin he thought he heard was in fact the sobs of his sister.

"Katara, what's wrong?!"

He ran to her and hugged her. She continued to sob for some time, but he waited un an uncharacteristic display of patient. While he may be a bit of a 'jerk' as his sister liked to call him, he still cared for his little sister as every big brother should. He would go for great lengths if needed, and his sister definitely needed him now.

Finally, Katara calmed enough to speak.

"T-they said dad d-died…"

"Shhh… who told you that?"

"I-I heard some of the women w-whispering each other t-tat dad was k-killed in battle. T-that he fought the f-fire prince and l-lost…"

"Shh… don't believe everything you hear, they probably heard some fire nation propaganda. No way dad will lose to some snotty brat."

"You should listen to your brother this time dear, finally he speaks some wisdom for once."

The voice of gran-gran came out of nowhere, scaring Sokka in the process.

"Thanks gran-gran… hay!"

Katara giggled a little at the response.

"Thanks gran-gran, I needed that. Sorry, I don't know what came over me."

"Hi! What with me? I helped too!"

Sokka cried in righteous indignation.

"You too Sokka."

His crocodilian teared sister said while rolling her, still red, eyes.

"It's fine dear, there is nothing wrong with a daughter being concerned about her father. Those are hard time for all of us."

"Yeah, you're probably on your lady time as well, right?"

He added helpfully, although judging by the enraged and flustered look on his sister's face, she didn't think so.

"You-you jerk! Can't you stop being a sexist pig for five minutes?!"

"What did I do now?!"

Gran-gran only shook her head at the scene.

Zuko used the day off to upgrade his armor. Zhao was kind enough to let him use the workshop of the base they conquered from the earth kingdom. As agreed, Zhao let Zuko use a tenth of his force, so Zuko used this opportunity to make every available engineer and mechanic work for the day to create him a better armor.

It wasn't an easy task, but with Sai's absolute knowledge about the art of blacksmithing he was able to create a new armor. This one had resemblance to his old uniform, but merely in shape. he wore a full plate on his chest, his belly protected by chain armor that head behind thick leather. His arms and legs had graves and sabatons connected to the reinforced metal of the inner part of his limbs be linked pieces of metal, so his entire limbs were protected and none of his maneuverability was harmed.

The best part of the armor was that it many hidden surprises. At Sai's advice, Zuko ordered as many sets as possible of small explosive jelly bombs to be created in the image of the one the enforcer used. He had also upgraded his gauntlets to be able to shoor darts, as well as ordering many darts for lethal and unlethal needs. He hidden antidotes for various poisons there as well.

When the work was done, it was evening. He may get little sleep for tomorrow's preparations, but looking at the mirror, the results were more then worth it. he felt powerful enough to take the Avatar head on.

"Not yet, but you're certainly getting there, your highness."

Zuko left for bed with a smile. The future looked good, and with luck, the swamp will make it even better.

AN

And this is the end of the chapter.

Zuko is starting to have a maybe new (and first) friend with Mi-Dved, I hope I wrote their interactions as real as possible while maintaining some humor. The story will continue bring them closer to each other, as well as reviling more of the earth bender's past. you are free to guess and write in your reviews what his story maybe, I left a few clues here and there.

Zuko got an upgrade! as well as a chance to achieve one of his greatest dreams, getting rid of his scar! I intentionally made the scar fade over time and not immediately like some magic water that most likely consist the piss of some fish spirits. The scar is for me a physical sign of Ozai's influence on Zuko. As our protagonist will advance in his journey, his father's influence on him will weaken (wither by self grows or Sai's counter influence) and his scar is a good reflection for this. So please don't hate me for strangling Zuko's iconic feature.

The Chernobyl joke is about the nuclear powerplant that was blown in Ukraine in 1986 at the time of the soviet union, no disrespect was meant to anyone that suffered from the tragedy and I apologize for anyone who took offence. For those who are interested, you can read about in in the internet, just google Chernobyl. It however raises an interesting point of how exactly Sai knows about it.

Poor Toph, she's going to have a rough time ahead, if only there was someone to help her...

It also showed that no matter how individually powerful you are, you can always be exploited by a more cunning player with the right cards.

For the military experts among you, I personallyapologize of the most likely dozens of mistakes and bad tactics I made while writing the battles ant strategies, both against the pirates and the earth kingdom.

We have another look at Ozai, what he thinks and why he does the things he do. I personally think that while he may be pleased with the newfound power of Zuko, he is much more concerned in Zuko's fear of him. because for someone like Ozai, fear equals loyalty and he would rather have a loyal son then a strong son. A weak and loyal son is a disgrace, but a strong and disloyal one is a threat. I hope the reasons I gave for Azula to not yet take the field are enough, rest assure I have plans for her.

And we had a look at another cannon and original characters on Kioshi, wonder how Zuko's interaction with the island will go this time... Also I do wonder what happened a decade ago to cause such pirate problem...

Poor Suki, even a warrior can still be a girl, as she said in cannon.

And we had a look at things in the south pole with the start of the consequences of the rumor, as well as Sokka being Sokka.

Now for the reviews:

Brenne:

God damn it! you're right! Thank you, I fixed it and updated the chapters. God this is so embarrassing...

Ahm, anyway, I'm glad you liked it.

deniswanheda:

Yeah, arrogance is part of Toph's character, at least early on. As excuse to reread the story as any I suppose, I gave another clues in this chapter. I'm sure some of you already figured it out.

Anyway, be sure to write what you think about the chapter and the story. Don't be afraid to share what you think could and should happen.