Hot Ice, Strange Snow

by Redbayly

Destiny is a funny thing. A split-second decision results in Zuko being injured during the escape from Pohuai Stronghold. Aang is determined to turn an enemy into a friend and, despite their doubts, Sokka and Katara find themselves also starting to better understand their erstwhile pursuer. For Katara and Zuko, this new understanding could even lead to something more.

10. Heating Up

More worldbuilding! More worldbuilding everywhere! I had a lot of fun with this.

Warning: Bigotry and violence. Also, more of Zuko not understanding that he was the victim of abuse and trying to rationalize and excuse his father's behavior towards him.

Heating Up

Zuko had the feeling they were being followed.

He didn't think it was Zhao or one of his cronies. They'd done a lot of flying and had put a fair bit of distance between themselves and Zhao. He would have to double-back to Pohuai and then come up the river in order to find them. They were also deep into Fire Nation colonial territory, and what were the odds that anyone would look for the Avatar there?

Sokka agreed when Zuko voiced these thoughts and also agreed that they were being watched by someone.

"He's been on us for a while, now," Sokka said as Aang and Katara rushed ahead to check out the notice board at the crossroad.

"We should tell Aang and Katara," said Zuko.

"Let's wait for a bit. Whoever is following us hasn't acted yet. If they get suspicious that we're onto them, they might attack."

"Maybe we should fly further away. He can't follow us on foot."

The two nodded and joined up with the others, who were looking over all the announcements.

"Hey, we've found some interesting things about the local area," said Katara.

"Is one of those things a menu?" said Sokka. "I'm starving."

They were running low on food supplies. There was only so much that could be scavenged from the woods, especially as they were getting deeper into winter.

"I bet we'll find something to eat here," Aang said, pointing at the big, fancy poster on the board. "The Fire Days Festival. 'Fire Nation cultural exhibits. Jugglers, benders, magicians…'"

"Hey, Zuko, you know a thing or two about Fire Nation stuff," said Sokka.

"You don't say," said Zuko.

"What kind of food do they have at this thing?"

"Uh, festival food. I guess."

"You guess? You're not sure?"

"How would I know?! I've never been to a Fire Days Festival. That's a colonial holiday."

"Huh, I wondered why I'd never heard of it," said Aang. "I used to go to lots of festivals with Kuzon. This will be a new experience for all of us. Plus, this is a great chance for me to watch some firebending masters up close."

Zuko and Sokka, however, immediately found a slight flaw in Aang's plan. Having circled to the other side of the notice board, they found it plastered with wanted posters. Including two very accurate, very recent ones of Aang and the Blue Spirit.

Perfect. Really, just what Zuko needed to see to make his day so much better. A glaring reminder of the fact that he'd committed treason and was now in a sort of continuously treasonous phase with every passing second that he spent with Aang, Sokka, and Katara.

"I think we'd better keep moving," said Katara.

"I have to learn firebending at some point," Aang insisted. He then threw a glance at Zuko. "And since someone isn't willing to be my teacher…"

"Aang, I've already committed enough treason, as it is," said Zuko. "I'm not looking to expand my treason portfolio for the foreseeable future."

"Fine, I understand. But that just means I need any chance I can get to learn some moves. Besides, don't you want to have a little fun? Maybe have some food from home?"

That stung. Of course Zuko was tempted to go to the Fire Days Festival, if only to get some fireflakes and watch the street performers. It had been a long time since he'd last been to any Fire Nation festival. But the manipulative little airhead didn't have to point that out.

"I guess we could go check it out," said Katara.

"What?" said Sokka. "You want to walk into a Fire Nation town where they're all fired up on their, you know, fire?" He threw a look over at Zuko. "Uh, no offence, Zuko."

"Why would I find that offensive?" he said, genuinely confused.

"We'll wear disguises," Katara continued. "And, if it looks like trouble, we'll leave."

"Yeah," Sokka drawled. "Because we always leave before we get into trouble."

They reached the outskirts of the town by sunset. Zuko wasn't feeling enthusiastic about their disguise options, which consisted of ominous-looking, black, hooded cloaks. Except for Aang, who just pulled the back of his shirt over his head. At least Zuko had the veil on his hat to hide his face, but they were, all of them, wearing clothes that were in every color except Fire Nation red.

"Well, even if we slip into town to buy some new clothes," said Sokka, "you and I can't exactly change into them." He gave the handcuffs a yank to emphasize his point.

That was another thing that had been getting more and more irritating for Zuko. It had been several days since he'd been able to wash his clothes properly. Spirits only knew when Sokka last bothered to do so.

"Hopefully, everyone will be too engaged with the attractions to notice," said Katara.

"The Fire Nation does have some of the best parties," said Aang. He turned to Zuko. "I still can't believe no one does dances in the Fire Nation, anymore."

"Dancing was deemed frivolous and too much of a distraction," Zuko explained. "It was one of my grandfather's laws. He's also the one who implemented mandatory military service for all citizens, except in special circumstances."

"Wait, so everyone has to fight?" Katara said.

"Well, not always. Some acts of military service can be in intelligence or resource management or national defense. And there's not really a set period you have to do it, so long as you enlist in something before the deadline."

"What happens if you don't?" said Sokka.

"If you don't do something by the age of forty, you get drafted and they make you serve."

Draft-dodging was seen as an act of treason. If you were caught, the lightest sentence you could get was imprisonment at the Boiling Rock.

"…How about we turn our attention back to the festival?" Aang said, giving an uncomfortable smile. He looked over at Appa and Momo and told them to stay out of sight.

Momo ducked down behind a bush. Appa followed suit, though with considerably less effectiveness.

As they walked into town, Zuko still felt like there were eyes on them. However, his worries about their stalker were put aside as he saw the sea of red and gold before him. He blinked and rubbed at his eyes with his free hand, feeling a wave of nostalgia wash over him.

It was like he was back home in the Fire Nation. Of course, it was a Fire Nation colonial town, so there would naturally be the same architecture and clothing, but it was more than that. The soft glow of the red paper lanterns that had wishes written on them in gold ink. The rich spices that filled the air with the smell of saffron, red chili, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, and turmeric. The flash of sparklers, torches, and firecrackers and the beginnings of a fireworks display overhead. A group in a dragon costume rushing past. Crowds of people in vibrant masks.

"I think we need some new disguises," said Katara.

"Where are we gonna get masks like that?" said Sokka.

"Get your genuine fire festival masks here!" a nearby vendor called out.

"That was surprisingly easy."

"Ask and Agni shall deliver," Zuko said with a shrug.

Katara had a bit of fun picking out masks for everyone, even switching Aang's and Sokka's masks around to better suit them. She then chose one for Zuko that looked suspiciously like his Blue Spirit mask. Zuko grumbled a little but was actually relieved to be able to have his vision a little freer. Even if the mask impaired it a little, it wasn't was cumbersome as the veil and hat. It also only covered the upper half of his face, leaving the lower half free.

"So, how much for the masks?" Sokka asked the vendor.

"No worries, fella," the vendor said with a chuckle. "This is the Fire Days Festival. Everything was paid for."

"Wait, everything? Even the food?"

"Sure. Governor Mayu got a special stipend from the homeland so she can host the festival. Food, entertainment, and souvenirs are all covered."

Zuko had heard a little about that. While he'd never actually been to a Fire Days Festival, he knew it was a government-sponsored group that ran it as a way of bringing the culture of the homeland to the colonies so they wouldn't forget their roots. The colonial governors would be in charge of ensuring the event ran smoothly and would be provided with a special recreation fund to keep the festival on track.

"Well, you guys wanted to see what this was all about," said Zuko. "Let's get moving."

They didn't have to go far before they spotted a fireflakes stall. Sokka immediately got a bag from the vendor and started scarfing them down, only to have a near panic attack when he realized they were hot.

"'Flaming fireflakes,'" Katara said in a sing-song tone. "Hot."

"No kidding," Zuko added. "If you don't want them, Sokka, I'll finish them for you."

Sokka seemed to take this as a slight to his honor and held the bag of fireflakes out of reach. He then started eating them slowly and with more caution, though his eyes were watering profusely as he did so. Zuko got his own bag of fireflakes and happily started snacking, even offering some to Katara and Aang. Aang seemed to have the most spice tolerance out of the others. Katara didn't complain about how spicy the fireflakes were and even said they were good, though she did fan her mouth a little.

"What other things do they have?" said Sokka.

"Well, what are you guys in the mood for?" Zuko asked.

"Do they have anything sweet?" said Katara.

Zuko gave a small smile when he found a perfect option just a few steps ahead.

"Have any of you guys ever had tanghulu?" he asked.

Katara and Sokka shook their head, but Aang nodded eagerly and zipped over to the nearby vendor when Zuko pointed him out.

"It's candied fruit on a stick," Zuko explained to Katara and Sokka. "It can be any fruit, really, but the most common one is hawthorn fruit."

The tanghulu vendor was distributing many different kinds. Hawthorn, strawberry, grape, orange, and even ash banana.

"I haven't had these since I was a kid," Zuko said. "Mom used to take me and Azula to festivals all over the Fire Nation."

"That must have been fun," said Katara.

"It was. Mom said it was important to know the customs of the different islands and to understand the people of the Fire Nation. She also said it was important for us to just act like children, for once."

A heaviness fell over Zuko's heart. He'd loved those trips when he was young. Watching the boat races at the Dragon Boat Festival. Eating peach cakes and red bean buns at the Midsummer Twin Suns Festival. Lighting memorial lanterns for the ancestors at the Lantern Festival. Staying up until sunrise to watch the dawn break on Kochi Island on the Summer Solstice. Painting masks to wear in the New Year's parade on Mayon Island. Or the time he was invited to play first tsungi hornist at the Unification Day celebration in the capital.

His cousin Lu Ten often joined them on those excursions when he could. Even Uncle would sometimes be there when he wasn't on a campaign. His father never bothered.

Those trips stopped when his father became Fire Lord.

"My mother would've loved something like this," he said quietly.

A gentle hand rested on his shoulder. Katara had lifted up her mask and was looking at him with a kind, sympathetic expression. Zuko's face suddenly felt very warm.

"Uh, anyway," Zuko mumbled. "Tanghulu. Candied fruit."

They enjoyed the sweet, crunchy snacks as they continued their circuit through the festival. Occasionally, Aang would get excited about a new thing and ask Zuko to explain it. Things were a bit awkward when they passed a children's show portraying a puppet version of Zuko's father incinerating an earthbender puppet to the delighted cheers of the local kids.

They wisely decided to hurry past that.

"Oooh, what's that?" Aang said, pointing towards a group of performers in elaborate costumes and makeup acting out a scene on a small stage.

The lead actress had a huge, ornate headdress and seemed to be engaged in a fight with a man in demon-like makeup while another man lay wounded in the background and a third man was bound in chains.

"It looks like they've got some regional culture, too," Zuko said. "This is a folk play from Mayon Island. According to legend, Princess Mayumi created the island by causing a volcanic eruption during an Agni Kai against a former suitor who kidnapped her father. Mayumi and her lover, Makisig, went to rescue her father, but Makisig was struck down. In the end, Mayumi won the fight; however, seeing her lover was dead, she threw herself into the volcano to be with him. The volcano went silent and Mayon became a peaceful place ever after."

"Seems a bit extreme to throw yourself into a volcano because your boyfriend died," said Sokka.

"Maybe. Some say it's similar to an old Earth Kingdom legend from Omashu, but the whole 'star-crossed lovers' thing is pretty common in old stories."

The acting was pretty good and the costumes were very high quality. The actress playing Princess Mayumi was also a fairly talented firebender and was graceful despite the bulky robes and enormous headdress.

"Theater is a big part of Fire Nation culture," Aang explained to Sokka and Katara. "They always have plays at festivals."

His point was reiterated when they turned down another street and saw a sign advertising a special preview of an upcoming performance of Twin Flower Princesses. Zuko really wanted to go in and check it out, but wasn't sure how to ask. He didn't have to, though, as Katara suddenly said she was curious about it. It wasn't really a full play; rather, it was a collection of highlights.

While the play, itself, was a drama, it had a strong comedic focus for much of the first two acts, only to become darker and more tragic as things went on. Mostly, the preview focused on the humorous aspect, though the opening was a bit heavy.

Twin daughters were born to a Fire Lord of ages past, Princess Kui and Princess Tantan. The princesses were the reborn petals of the supreme flower spirit of a magical tree that lay between the real world and the Abyss of Chaos which was destroyed by the rulers of the Human, Spirit, Celestial, and Demon realms. As the princesses grew up, they led very different lives. Princess Kui was loved by all who knew her and regarded as a blessing to the nation; in fact, she was so wonderful that the emperor of the immortals wanted her to marry his eldest son. Princess Tantan, on the other hand, was blamed for her mother dying in childbirth, treated as a curse, and rejected by the people, the servants, and even her father. The Fire Lord decided to promise her to the Crown Prince of the demons.

"That's awful," Katara said as the story's premise unfolded. "How was any of that her fault? She was just a child."

"It's explained later," Zuko said.

The play soon shifted into comedy. Princess Tantan witnessed one of the demon princes attempting to murder his older brother. When the would-be assassin realized who she was during the wedding procession, he switched the marriage palanquins around so Tantan went to the Celestial Realm and Kui went to the Demon Realm. Tantan ended up causing all kinds of chaos and mischief, and her new groom-to-be was torn between irritation and admiration for her. She broke through the dull, quiet world of the immortals and brought a little fun into the Celestial Realm, and ended up gaining the love and friendship that she'd barely known in her old life. Among the demons, Kui's gentle and honest nature was tested and she ultimately had to learn to be sneaky and even a little ruthless. She ended up proving to herself that she didn't need anyone to protect her all the time and that she could use her wits and medical knowledge to get her out of trouble, and even gained respect and adoration from the people she'd once feared.

The thing Zuko liked most about the story was that the sisters never turned on each other. No matter how often the narrative seemed to be trying to make them into rivals. Twin Flower Princesses broke a lot of old tropes.

"Well, that was interesting," Aang said as the preview ended. "Wish we could've seen it all the way to the end, though."

Zuko was about to promise to take them to see it performed at the Phoenix Flame Theater in Caldera City, only to bite his tongue when he remembered that would almost certainly never be possible. It was a pity. Everyone seemed to enjoy what they saw and Zuko had a special fondness for the play.

Princess Tantan had once been his childhood crush, even if she was only fictional.

"How about we get something else to eat?" said Katara. "We've only had a few snacks, so far."

Zuko happily steered them back to the food stalls.

Sokka was quick to go to any spot that had meat on offer. Which, being Fire Nation cuisine, meant most of them. Braised pig-chicken belly, smoky komodo sausage, dumplings of all varieties, glass noodle soup with shredded roast duck, hotpot, sweet and sour hippo-ox ribs, different types of skewers, and so much more. Of course, with Aang being a vegetarian, Zuko could see the kid was uncomfortable with the abundance of meat consumption.

"How about that stall, Aang?" said Zuko. "They have Kochi Island dishes. Those should be mostly vegetarian."

"Oh boy!" Aang said, hurrying over.

A smiling young woman dressed in red and saffron yellow lehenga greeted them as they approached her booth. She introduced herself as 'Lalita' and happily presented them with a tray of panipuri to start them off.

Aang carefully lifted up the bottom of his mask so he could eat without having his arrow on display.

"Mhmm, these are good," he said.

"This is an old family recipe," Lalita the stall-owner told him. "Oh, excuse me a moment," she said, turning her attention to the next patron.

"These kind of remind me of a snack I had while visiting Kuzon, once," said Aang. "There were these girls from Kochi Island who came by to do blessings and one of them made something just like this."

"Those girls were probably disciples from the Golden Lotus Clan," Zuko explained. "They do a lot of spiritual stuff. Kind of like the Fire Sages, but not as influential."

"Is there anything else I can get for you?" Lalita said, returning with another young lady. "We have all kinds of other Kochi specialties."

The second woman didn't look like she was from Kochi. In fact, Zuko noticed that she had bright green eyes.

A mixed-breed, his father's sneering voice intruded into his thoughts. The last time Zuko had seen Fire Lord Ozai, the man had become increasingly disdainful of the colonials and especially of those who intermarried with Earth Kingdom people. It was an attitude that an unfortunate number of people in Caldera City had adopted.

"Anything's great as long as it's vegetarian," said Aang.

Lalita gave a laugh.

"That's everything on the menu," she said. "All Kochi Island food is vegetarian."

"Wait, you guys don't eat any meat, at all?" Sokka asked in clear disbelief.

"Nope. Well, a few people do, but most native Kochi Islanders prefer to follow the example of the Devi."

"The who now?"

"The Devi," the second woman said. "She's the head of the Golden Lotus Clan."

Lalita prepared them some more dishes while they asked for further details.

"Is Devi Jayanti still in charge?" asked Zuko.

"She is," said Lalita.

"Really? That woman has to be well over a hundred at this point."

"Before I left the Fire Nation, Devi Jayanti announced that the spirits said she wouldn't die until she laid eyes on the next incarnation of the Queen Mother of the Dawn."

The others' faces were still obscured by their masks, but Zuko could tell they were confused.

"She's a powerful spirit," he explained. "It's said she was the one to teach firebending to Fire Lord Hiroto and told him to begin unifying the islands."

"She also took on a human form to be with him," said Lalita. "And reincarnates over and over so they will never be apart."

"Always sounded kind of stalkerish to me," said the second woman.

Zuko had the strangest feeling that he'd seen her somewhere before, but he couldn't say for certain.

"Trang, if you don't have anything useful to add, go make some more chickpea paste," Lalita said sternly.

"What did I do?"

Lalita fixed her with a stare and Trang went to the back of the stall with a grumble.

"The Queen Mother of the Dawn is the sacred defender of Kochi Island," Lalita said firmly. "It's said that the other reason she took on a mortal form was to guide us and to bring prosperity to the Fire Nation. One day, she will return and lead our people to greatness."

There had been a number of women in Fire Nation history who had been given the title of "Queen Mother of the Dawn" as a special honor, without the spiritual connotations. It was usually a female Fire Lord or a princess or a Fire Lady, but it was always held by the most powerful woman in the Fire Nation. Needless to say, the nobility in Caldera viewed the title very differently from how the Kochi Islanders did. In the capital, it was more of an earned title, but the Kochi Islanders believed that the real Queen Mother of the Dawn had to be born with the spirit inside her for the title to be legitimate.

Zuko recalled that there had been some people in the capital who whispered that Azula was the next Queen Mother of the Dawn, as in the living incarnation of the ancient spirit. He also remembered very clearly the day that Devi Jayanti, herself, came to the palace to find out if that was true. Sometimes, it was easy to forget that Azula could throw massive temper tantrums, as she always seemed so in control of herself. When Devi Jayanti took one look at her and said "no," the fury Azula demonstrated in response had been a horrifying sight to behold.

The poor turtleducks hadn't stood a chance.

"This is her," Lalita continued, drawing back a curtain from the side of her stall to reveal a small shrine.

The shrine consisted of an icon with an assortment of offerings in front of it. The central figure of the icon was an eight-armed woman in ornate clothes and jewelry with her head surrounded by a fiery halo; however, the woman had two distinct and very different sides. The left side showed a peaceful, serene young lady seated on a pink and gold lotus as she cradled a baby in her lap with one arm, while the other three on that side carried fruit, flowers, and a medicine jar. The right side was something else, entirely. A snarling, furious, and terrifying woman with skin that seemed to be the red and black of a volcano, who rested one foot upon the heads of her slain enemies. In each of her four hands, she held a flaming spear, a mace, a sword, and a blazing, multi-colored ball of dragon fire.

"The Queen Mother of the Dawn embodies the two halves of the maternal spirit," said Lalita. "There is the gentle, nurturing, and healing side, called 'Mataji,' and the side that is unstoppable, destructive fury that consumes all evil, known as 'Maha.' She is a protector and healer, but also a bringer of chaos and destruction if she has to be. Though she is never cruel without provocation."

Yeah. Zuko wasn't surprised that it wasn't Azula.

---

Katara never thought she'd be so fascinated by Fire Nation culture.

Growing up, she'd simply assumed the Fire Nation was full of nothing but angry, violent monsters and endlessly erupting volcanoes. Instead, she found herself caught within the threads of an elaborate tapestry of diverse foods, clothes, art, and customs she could never have imagined. Each island had its own little quirks and traits and beliefs, it was impossible to lump them all together and definitively say "the Fire Nation is this way."

And the entertainment was enthralling.

Watching firebenders use their abilities in ways that were fun rather than fear-inducing really threw her for a loop. In fact, the forms and tricks the performers demonstrated were so beautiful at times that Katara had to keep reminding herself that those people could and would just as easily use their bending to hurt her and her friends if their identities were revealed.

But she couldn't help but be awed by what she saw.

She also took care to note how the benders were moving, their stances and styles. Katara wondered if, maybe, there was a way to use the other bending arts as a guideline for her waterbending. It was all bending, at the end of the day. Perhaps if she applied some of those skills, it could make her own a little more refined. She dismissed the thought. It probably wouldn't work. Fire and water were natural opposites. It was unlikely that one style could be applied to another.

"Ooh, what's this?" Aang said, dragging her over towards another performer's stage.

It was a magician who was using his firebending as a medium for magic tricks. Aang was especially excited by what he saw. He even raised his mask up off his face so he could see the show better, putting himself dangerously at risk of being exposed. Honestly, Aang's enthusiasm about the firebending they'd seen was starting to concern Katara a little. She understood that he had to learn it and she was even beginning to find something endearing about the art, herself, but there was something unsettling about Aang's level of exuberance.

It was like he'd just discovered a new toy to play with, which was the exact opposite attitude someone should have when it came to fire.

If you play with fire, you'll get burned, the old warning of her elders echoed in her mind.

"Thank you!" the magician said over the applause. "For my next trick I need a volunteer from the audience!"

Aang frantically started waving his hand and trying to catch the magician's eye. Sokka, who was hovering just behind them along with Zuko, firmly grabbed Aang's hand and pulled it down.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sokka demanded.

"I want to get a closer look," Aang said simply.

Katara held back a groan of frustration. She wasn't normally the one to try and put a damper on the things Aang enjoyed, but this would put all of them at risk. So, in her softest, gentlest voice, she leaned in and told Aang that they shouldn't draw attention to themselves.

Only for the magician to notice her and invite her onto the stage.

She tried to back out, but someone in the audience pushed her forward at the magician's insistence. This was very different. This was being made part of a spectacle. It was the last thing any of them needed. What was more, Katara would be right there in the midst of all that fire. It was one thing to admire a performance from a distance, but this was definitely not what she had hoped to experience that evening.

Finding herself tied to a chair and unable to bolt back into the crowd was also not high on her list of pleasant things to do on a night out.

As the magician conjured up a stream of fire that looked like a dragon and began to spin it round and round the stage, getting ever more precariously close to Katara, she felt her fear spiking. She knew, logically, that it was all just an act and that the magician was a professional and it would be a bad look to kill random audience members, but that didn't change the fact that there was fire getting terrifyingly close to her.

She turned her eyes out into the crowd, away from the searing blaze that drew ever nearer. Her gaze landed on the others. Sokka and Zuko were doing everything they could to restrain Aang, who seemed to be trying to leap onto the stage and save her. Zuko was watching and must have figured out that she was looking back, because he gave her a reassuring little nod and, all of a sudden, those fears weren't so strong.

If he didn't think there was any reason to worry, then why should Katara be afraid?

Reason kicked back in and she could really process that it was, in fact, just an act. If anything, this should be a test for herself. The road ahead would be paved with plenty of fireblasts. If she couldn't even handle something fake, how would she handle the real thing? So, she sat up straight, took a breath, and turned her eyes up towards the fire dragon as it came roaring down at her.

It exploded into a shower of confetti and sparkles, and the air was filled with the cheers of the delighted crowd. The magician untied her and led her to the front of the stage.

"Thank you, everyone!" he said. "And please give a cheer for my lovely assistant!"

Katara joined the magician in giving a bow to the audience before she got down from the stage to join the others.

"Are you all right, Katara?" Aang said. "That was probably really scary."

"I'm fine, Aang," she assured him. She was feeling a little shaky, but it was already starting to pass. "Just doing what any 'captured princess' would do."

Zuko gave a snort.

"Something funny?" she asked him.

"The thought of you sitting there doing nothing if you were captured," he said. "I just have a hard time picturing it."

"Oh?"

"Honestly, if you really were captured and left for a dragon, I'm sure you'd try to fight it. You don't strike me as the passive damsel-in-distress type."

Katara was grateful that the mask was hiding her face as she was certain she was blushing. That was very sweet of Zuko to think that of her. She was actually kind of embarrassed of the times she'd really been a damsel-in-distress.

"Why do you say that?"

"Considering how things went that time…uh, you know, with the pirates?"

Oh, right, that. She had back-sassed him the entire time she'd been tied to that stupid tree and thrown out some choice insults, absolutely refusing to tell him where Aang was, but she'd only really been saved thanks to Sokka instigating a fight. And Momo chewing through the ropes, of course.

It still itched at her sense of pride that she'd been captured, though. Once she became a waterbending master, she'd see to it that no one took her prisoner again.

"This looks interesting," Sokka said, pointing towards an exhibit hall. "Blaze of Glory: An Artistic History of the Fire Nation," he read off the placard.

Entering the building, they found it packed full of many different types of artifacts. Watercolor paintings done by master artists, calligraphy samples from famous Fire Nation scholars, artifacts unearthed from the ruins of an ancient firebending people known as the "Sun Warriors," and so many other things that Katara was having trouble keeping up with it all.

Zuko was being as helpful as he could be.

"I did tell you I don't know as much about this stuff as my sister," he said. "History was always more her thing than mine."

He still knew more than the rest of them and he did add in some details that even the exhibits didn't have.

"Oh, those poems were written by Master Bo-kyung in the days before he was executed for instigating Princess Jingyi to usurp the throne from her older sister."

"Those swords were used in a duel between two suitors for the hand of Fire Lord Shigeo. Master Katsumi won the fight and became his Fire Lady. Yes, Sokka, women have fought duels over men."

"That dragon statue was used by Prince Kazuya to bludgeon his sister to death to become heir to the throne. He was later found out by his younger brother, who used the same statue to bludgeon him to death and become the heir."

"Those necklaces over there? They were love tokens Fire Lord Ayumu gave to women while he was sleepwalking. No, I'm not kidding. He would sleepwalk and leave the palace to be a masked vigilante and notorious flirt."

"Yeesh, Zuko," said Sokka, "your family really is nutty as all get-out."

Zuko opened his mouth to protest, but snapped it shut a moment later. It was kind of hard to refute that when he, himself, had just aired a lot of dirty laundry about his ancestors.

"What about this painting?" Aang asked.

It was a large watercolor scroll painting. It showed an elaborate, regal-looking celebration with lots of people in fancy robes. Something about the composition drew the eye to two figures. One was of a female Fire Lord – Katara had started to recognize who was a Fire Lord in the paintings thanks to Zuko noting the crown shape. The other main figure was a very pretty man in loose, long-sleeved, silky robes who was playing a koto. The man was so pretty that Katara almost thought he was a woman.

"Oof, this one's pretty scandalous," said Zuko.

"More scandalous than killing your family members?" Sokka asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah. It's one thing to kill someone, it's another to humiliate and shame them."

That was very messed-up reasoning. But, then again, it was the Fire Nation's royal family.

"Whoever this artist was, they were walking a very thin line between indecent and outright treasonous."

"What's so bad about it?" said Katara.

"This is 'The Birthday Banquet of Fire Lord Ailan.' She's my…" He counted on his fingers. "…my seven-times-great-grandmother."

"So, what's so scandalous?" said Sokka. "Did she stab someone in the neck with her chopsticks or something?"

"That wouldn't have been as big of a deal. Look, I've told you guys that men and women have equal status in the Fire Nation, right? And women can become Fire Lord and have the same perks of the position? Well, a couple generations ago, it was pretty common for Fire Lords to have concubines in addition to their legal consort."

Katara felt herself choke a little. She knew what a concubine was, but the concept was still very foreign to her. In the Water Tribe, marriages were monogamous. There were stories of how, in past times when resources were scarce, men would sometimes share a wife. Usually, it was brothers, though it was said to sometimes happen between two men who were close friends. Even in those stories, marriage was a partnership between equals.

The thought of one person basically 'owning' multiple other people for their own desires grossed her out.

"It doesn't happen anymore," Zuko said, holding his hands up defensively. "My grandfather, Azulon, banned the practice. He said it was 'outdated' and 'unnecessary.' Anyway, Fire Lord Ailan had a very large harem of male concubines. Normally, for a female Fire Lord, she could have as many lovers as she wanted but she's supposed to only produce children with her official husband."

"How can she be sure of that?" said Katara.

"Well, there are all kinds of tonics and medicines to keep from getting pregnant. You can buy them at any medical shop in the Fire Nation."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Really. So, Fire Lord Ailan knew what was expected of her when she had her marriage arranged. The problem was that she hated her husband, Prince Consort Chengbao. Like, she could barely stand being in the same room as him. She even refused to change his title to 'Imperial Consort' when she became Fire Lord just because she hated him. She then took it a step further when she brought in a new concubine, a musician from an art pavilion. He was said to be stunningly beautiful and could play just about any instrument set before him."

"So, she got a pretty boy-toy," said Sokka. "That doesn't sound too bad."

"Sokka, in Caldera City society, that guy was considered barely a step above a prostitute. In fact, there are some rumors that he was a prostitute."

"What's a prostitute?" said Aang.

"…"

"…"

"…"

Katara, Sokka, and Zuko all exchanged looks.

"It's someone who…who kisses and cuddles with someone for money," said Sokka.

"Oh, well, that's a bit odd," said Aang. "But it doesn't sound like a reason to dislike someone."

"You're right, Aang, it's not" said Zuko. "But there are a lot of weird social rules in the Fire Nation. So, when Fire Lord Ailan brought this guy into the palace, it was seen as an insult to her husband. And then, when Fire Lord Ailan had children, people noticed that none of the kids looked like Chengbao. Some people even said that she deliberately chose to have that musician father all her children just so she could spite her husband."

"Is it true?" said Sokka.

"Well, no one can really say for sure. What is known is that Fire Lord Ailan's children and grandchildren made certain that the name of that musician was stricken from the record. Even I don't know what it was. Actually, this is the first real painting I've ever seen that depicts him."

Zuko examined the painting with a sharp eye, as if he was trying to find something similar between himself and the musician. Due to how stylized it was, though, the only things they shared that Katara could see was that they both had dark hair and very nice hands.

"You know, for a guy who says he's not a history buff, you sure do know a lot," said Katara.

Zuko blinked in surprise, as if no one had ever said something like that to him. Now that she thought about, maybe no one had. With how much Zuko put himself down, it wouldn't surprise her if people back in the Fire Nation called him 'stupid' on the regular. His father was probably the worst offender of all. It made that angry, protective side of Katara flare to life at the thought of another injustice being inflicted on Zuko, and she wanted so badly to march up to Fire Lord Ozai and stab him with an ice-dagger.

Repeatedly. In a very painful place.

"I…well, it's not really a lot," Zuko said, looking bashful. "I only remember because I liked reading about the weirder and crazier things in history. It's actually one of the few things my sister and I have in common. She likes all kinds of history and is better at names, dates, and battles than I am, but we both enjoyed the wilder tales we found in the history books. Some of which were things only the royal family is allowed to know."

"Does that include being descended from peasant musicians?" Sokka said.

"Yeah. And, really, that might explain why everyone in my family is good at music."

"They are?" said Aang.

"My uncle and I both play tsungi horn pretty well. Azula plays erhu. My cousin Lu Ten was the best of all of us, though. He could play, like, fifteen different instruments. He was…"

Zuko suddenly turned very quiet. Katara didn't need to be a genius to read between the lines. She reached down to hold Zuko's free hand and was taken-aback when he gave a little squeeze in acknowledgement.

"It's getting kind of late," said Sokka. "How about we go get a little more food before we head on out?"

---

They really should have seen it coming.

The night had been going much too smoothly for their little group. Really, the most strenuous thing for Sokka was trying to wrap his head around what he'd seen. Sure, he'd seen kids cheer for puppet-Fire Lord Ozai roasting an earthbender to death, but that was as violent as it got. He'd been certain they'd, at some point, have to save some innocent Earth Kingdom civilians from being burned at the stake for the crowd's bloodlust, but no.

So far in his experiences with Fire Nation people, Sokka had been under the impression that Zuko was the exception rather than the rule. That he was "one of the good ones." Instead, the uncomfortable realization had been creeping up on him all evening that Fire Nation people were just that. People. There were no "good ones," because there really didn't seem to be an overwhelming number of bad ones.

Yes, there were still plenty of horrible Fire Nation people out there, but most of the rest of the population was not much different from what one could find anywhere in the world.

Sadly, they were doomed to encounter vicious jerks even when surrounded by mostly decent people. The jerks, in question, were a group of square-headed thugs who were messing up one of the food stalls.

"This town is only open to real Fire Nationals," the lead moron sneered at two people whom his goons were restraining. "We don't have a place for scummy Outer Islanders and half-breeds."

Sokka recognized the victims of the attack as the ladies who were running the vegetarian stall, Lalita and Trang. Trang was pretty banged up; half her face was swollen with rapidly purpling bruises and there were bloody streaks from her mouth and some nasty cuts. She was also snarling and spitting out fire as she let forth a volley of the most vicious curses Sokka had ever heard. Lalita didn't seem to be as badly hurt, though it looked like someone had dunked her face in mud.

No one in the crowd was standing up for them. They all just turned their faces towards the ground, as if pretending they weren't seeing anything.

Sokka looked at Zuko, whose mouth was pinched in a thin line, then over to Katara, whose fists were shaking from how hard she was clenching them. Even the perpetual ray of sunshine and peace that was Aang seemed to be half a step away from going into Avatar Mode.

"You shouldn't be doing this," Lalita told the idiot, her previously sweet tone replaced with something as cold as frozen steel. "You're inviting very bad karma and you'll have no one to blame but yourself for the consequences."

"Tch, you Kochis are all alike," the idiot said. "Just a bunch of superstitious, ill-bred yahoos who bow to even more ridiculous spirits. You're barely any better than those Earth Kingdom pigs."

Sokka could feel Katara's gaze burning through the eyeholes of her mask, practically demanding that they intervene. Honestly, at this point, he couldn't think of a reason not to. It was basically another average day for them to draw attention and get themselves exposed.

And, really, the idiot was just begging to get a smack-down.

In a move that he and Zuko were starting to get surprisingly good at, they sprang forward and extended the chain between them as they dropped into knee-slides. The idiot went tumbling back and his goons let go of the two ladies in shock.

Sokka noticed Trang punch one guy in the nuts before grabbing Lalita and disappearing into the crowd.

Ouch. But also, fair.

The idiot was soon up on his feet again and his posse weren't well pleased by what Zuko and Sokka had done. That was when Aang and Katara jumped in. Sokka felt an unexpected surge of pride when his sister grabbed one of the goons from behind as he was about to send a fireblast their way and rammed her knee up into his stomach.

He'd have to teach her to aim for the nuts like that Trang lady did, next time. It was more effective.

Aang got in on the action by doing his signature avoid-and-evade. The couple of guys that tried to tackle him found themselves knocking heads and tripping over their own feet as Aang ducked and weaved and spun around behind them. He didn't land a single punch, but his opponents ended up collapsed in a heap.

"Don't you know who I am?" the lead idiot shouted. "My mother is the governor!"

"Does your mommy know you're nothing but an idiotic bully?" Sokka said in a mocking voice.

"Shut up! You're just some worthless peasants!"

Sokka rolled his eyes. It hadn't been a good insult when Zuko said it, so why should some random idiot saying it make it work? He'd have to have a talk with Zuko about the lack of creativity among Fire Nation nobles.

"Considering we just whooped your butt, what does that make you?" said Sokka.

The idiot sent a sudden fireblast towards them, but they split apart as far as the chain would allow. This had the unintended effect of causing the fire to strike the chain, finally splitting Sokka and Zuko apart and sending them tumbling to the sides.

Unfortunately, Aang was right behind them when this happened and, out of instinct, airbended the fire away from him. In the process, Aang's mask was knocked loose and his very recognizable face was now on full display.

"Hey, that kid's the Avatar!" someone yelled from the crowd.

The town guards, who'd been standing around and letting the idiot and his lackeys harass and abuse young women, finally decided to spring into action.

"I think it's time to go," Sokka said.

He then led the others on a mad dash for a nearby alley. As he scanned the paths before him, a cloaked figure popped out from one.

"Follow me," the man said. "I can get ya outta here!"

Faced with the choice of either questionable assistance from a stranger or certain capture from the guards rapidly in pursuit, Sokka decided to go with his gut and follow the stranger. The stranger then threw a smoke bomb behind them to cover their escape. It did buy them some time, though they were soon spotted again and eventually driven into a corner.

Thankfully, Aang had enough situational awareness to use his bison whistle to call in Appa for emergency extraction.

As they took off into the sky, their mysterious helper threw a flashbang down into a huge stockpile of fireworks to cover their getaway. Safely in the skies, once more, Sokka could finally allow himself to relax a little. His tension quickly ramped back up, though, when he realized their new friend was a Fire Nation soldier.

"Was," the guy stressed on being called out. "My name's 'Chey.'"

Once they had found a safe spot to camp out deep in the woods, Sokka began his interrogation.

"Why would you help us?" he asked. "If you're a Fire Nation soldier, shouldn't you be out fighting somewhere?"

"I've left the war behind me," Chey said. "After all the things I've seen and all the things I did, I'm trying to do some good to make up for it."

"You worked in a demolition unit, didn't you?" said Zuko.

"Yeah. I was a captain and the head of a whole team. It was our job to make things go 'boom' whenever the ones in charge said. But after seeing the results of my handiwork…" Chey went quiet for a moment, hanging his head in shame. "They told us that village was filled with spies, rebels, and Earth Kingdom collaborators. The higher-ups said to make the village disappear. So, we did."

Chey gave a shudder.

"It wasn't a real threat, was it?" Sokka said, his mouth going dry.

"No. After that day, I swore not to kill except in self-defense. I left the army and found a new purpose. Now, I have a cause worth supporting. I serve a man…more than a man, really. He's a myth, but he's real. A living legend. Jeong Jeong the Deserter. He was a Fire Nation general." He paused and scratched his head. "Or, wait, was he an admiral?"

"He was an admiral," Zuko said.

"Yes, exactly! Way up there in the ranks. But he couldn't take the madness anymore. He's the first person ever to leave the army and live. I'm the second, but you don't get to be a legend for that. It's okay, though. Jeong Jeong's a firebending genius. Some say he's mad. But he's not. He's enlightened."

"You mean there's a firebender out here who's not with the Fire Lord?" Aang said eagerly. "We've gotta go see him. He can train me!"

"We're not going to go find some crazy firebender," Sokka said firmly.

He was willing to budge on a lot of things, but he was definitely going to put his foot down on this. He'd been freaked out enough by Chey's admission that he'd killed innocent civilians, even if he clearly regretted it, but Sokka was not going to let them waste time with seeking out a supreme-mega-ultra-dangerous lunatic Fire Nation admiral.

Aang's child brain didn't quite seem to grasp the seriousness of the situation.

"He's not crazy," Chey insisted. "He's a genius! And he's the perfect person to train the Avatar. That's why I followed you into the festival."

"Why didn't you come forward sooner?" Zuko asked. "There wasn't anyone around us for a good couple of hours until we went into that town. You could've approached us, then."

"I wasn't entirely sure how to make my pitch without you thinking I was suspicious." Chey seemed embarrassed about that. "That scuffle you got drawn into gave me an opportunity to prove I was on your side."

Zuko paused.

"So, there really are Fire Nation people who want to help the Avatar?" he said.

"Of course! There are even a few others back at the hideout." Chey gave Zuko a once-over. "You trying to desert, too? It's okay, this is a safe place."

"I'm not a deserter." Zuko was getting defensive and the campfire flared with his temper. "I just…I knew there were problems in the military, but I didn't know how far things were going."

"Kid, I gotta be honest with you. What the Fire Nation has been doing is well past a 'problem.' What I was part of was just routine 'clean up' as far as the top-brass were concerned. I've met some who saw and did much worse. I'm telling you, for your own sake, you have to get out before you do something you'll regret for the rest of your life."

That sent a chill down Sokka's spine. If blowing up civilians was 'routine,' he hated to think what was worse than that.

"I can't," Zuko said.

Everyone stared at him.

"Even if I want to, I can't leave." He removed his mask. He'd been the only one in the group not to remove it, for obvious reasons.

"Sweet Agni! You're Prince Zuko!" Chey reeled back in shock. When he'd collected himself, he gave a deep bow. "Your Highness, it is a great honor to meet you in person."

Zuko looked utterly bewildered.

"Uh, why?" he said.

"You're the only person in the capital who ever spoke up for the common soldiers," said Chey. "Your father tried to hush-up everything about your Agni Kai and how you defended the Forty-First Division, something about how you were in a training accident. But rumors about what really happened still got out to some of us."

"They did?" Zuko started rubbing the back of his head. Sokka noticed he tended to do that when he was embarrassed or uncertain.

"Of course! And Jeong Jeong mentions what you did in some of his speeches. He says that, 'it is a travesty when a child's words of truth and compassion are rewarded with only savage cruelty.' He sees you as the rare spark of hope for peace among your generation and I'm sure he'd be thrilled to see you alongside the Avatar."

Zuko clearly didn't know how to even begin processing that. He wouldn't need to, though, as Sokka was not going to let this insanity go on.

"Look, thanks for the help, but we're leaving for the North Pole in the morning," he said, hoping that would be the end of the discussion.

"Sokka," Aang said with that pleading, naïve voice of his, "this could be my only chance to meet a firebending master who would actually be willing to teach me."

"It can't hurt just to talk to him," Katara added.

"That's what you said about going to the festival!" Sokka wailed, feeling his braincells dying at the stupidity of the whole matter. "Why doesn't anyone ever listen to me?!"

Not even two seconds later, Sokka's paranoia was vindicated when a group of angry-looking guys in straw hats dropped down on them and pointed spears in their faces, ordering them not to move.

Sometimes, it was a terrible burden being right all the time.

---

Jeong Jeong had to restrain himself from yelling at Chey when the man meekly shuffled into the hut.

Chey didn't deal well with being yelled at. Instead, Jeong Jeong opted for stern disapproval and profound disappointment as he gave a lecture on the importance of listening to instructions. He'd told everyone in the camp not to approach the Avatar. The boy was nowhere near ready to begin learning firebending, so he had no business meeting with Jeong Jeong.

"But, Master Jeong Jeong, that kid needs to learn firebending," Chey said. "And who better to learn from than you?"

"That is not the point," Jeong Jeong snapped. "I saw the way that child walked into camp. Naïve and carefree and undisciplined. He has yet to master waterbending and earthbending. Without the principles instilled by study of those elements, how could he be ready to learn firebending?"

Regular firebenders had to dedicate their lives to honing their skills successfully. Even then, some only achieved the most basic control, while others disregarded control entirely and simply chose to let their fires burn until they reduced everything around them to ashes. The Avatar needed the balance of the other elements to keep his power in check. Without the other elements, the Avatar's firebending power would be too much for any ordinary person to control.

It was why Fire Nation Avatars often started out as weaker firebenders and became stronger with age. If they were able to access the full range of their firebending power when they were still untrained, it could level an entire island.

This Avatar was an airbender, though. His firebending would be far too much for him to handle at this point in time. Air fuels fire and makes it bigger, more dangerous, more difficult to control. Airbending, itself, could be overwhelming which was why the Air Nomads focused so heavily on honing their spiritual lives through austerity, prayer, service, and meditation.

"Tell the Avatar and his friends that they are to leave, immediately," Jeong Jeong said.

"But, Master-"

"Did I stutter? Go."

Chey scrambled out of the hut.

The young Avatar, however, did not heed Jeong Jeong's instructions and came to see him directly.

The boy clearly did not pay enough heed to the lessons of his Air Nomad teachers. As a monk, the boy should know better about patience and to not allow his desires to cloud his judgement. He didn't understand what he was asking of Jeong Jeong, the weight of responsibility that would fall upon him the moment he started to use firebending. The terrible cost that such an ability brought with it.

Jeong Jeong's own master had warned him of the dangers ahead.

Once you make your first spark, you become a threat. And the first time you kill, everything changes. Everything.

He'd been young and foolish back then, himself. He only saw the greatness that lay ahead of him and the prestige of becoming a renowned firebending master. Perhaps if he'd listened more attentively to his master's words and understood what he was really trying to say, there might be fewer ghosts haunting his nightmares.

But the boy seemed unable to grasp Jeong Jeong's attempts to guide him to the right course. He was too eager to do things quickly, and not for the right reason. Jeong Jeong could understand if it was just his determination to save the world, but that wasn't what was driving the child down his destructive path. The Avatar was too obsessed. He'd seen the beauty and wonder of fire and regarded it as an amusement, a plaything, a distraction rather than an obligation.

And Jeong Jeong had to admit he was afraid.

He feared what that child could do and what he could become if he continued in that line of thought. Only twelve years old, and his airbending masters had seen fit to give him his tattoos. Jeong Jeong had taken to studying the fragments of knowledge that remained of Air Nomad culture and learned of the requirements needed to attain those arrows. Fire Nation Avatars were supposed to be weaker in their element to start with, it was true. But no Avatar was born exceptional. They had to earn their abilities through their own merits. What did it say, then, that this boy was already a master in airbending? The effects that could have on his firebending could potentially make him the most powerful Avatar in recorded history.

And that could be either the world's greatest blessing or its ultimate downfall.

In the end, the choice was not in Jeong Jeong's hands. As he shouted at the boy before him, urging him to see the reality of his unpreparedness and unsuitability, he was overcome by an ethereal haze and was confronted by the harsh face of Avatar Roku. In the presence of such a venerable figure, Jeong Jeong could do nothing but bow his head and acquiesce to Avatar Roku's command that he teach the boy.

"Yes, yes," Jeong Jeong said. "I will teach you."

"Really?!" the child's voice cut through the heaviness, jolting him back into the real world. "That's great!"

Jeong Jeong heaved a sigh.

Avatar Roku wanted the boy to learn something from him and Jeong Jeong would not disobey. But what the boy learned would depend on his own decisions and whether he chose to actually listen. Perhaps there was some deeper lesson that Avatar Roku wished to instill in his young reincarnation that Jeong Jeong could not yet perceive.

As it was, Jeong Jeong would do his best for the boy. And he would also take the opportunity presented to share some much-needed guidance with another young person who had stumbled into this whole mess.

"When you return to your friends," Jeong Jeong told the Avatar, "You will send Prince Zuko in to see me."

"Oh, okay, but why do you need to see Zuko?" the boy asked.

"That is a matter that does not concern you. It is something for he and I to discuss. Now, go."

The Avatar pouted at the dismissal, but did as he was told. A few moments later, Prince Zuko appeared before him.

Jeong Jeong felt his anger sting when his eyes fell upon the boy's scar. That a parent should be so cruel as to disfigure their own child for daring to show compassion was a testament to how terrible things truly were in the Fire Nation. It was no longer just the savagery they inflicted on the people of other nations that tainted the land Jeong Jeong once called home. Now, the evil had infected them so much that they could behave like that towards their own countrymen. Their own family. Their children.

He'd never been a paternal sort of person, but Jeong Jeong hated seeing the goodness of children treated with contempt. He was only harsh with his students and any young fools who sought his guidance because he was so desperate to keep them from harming themselves and others. In truth, he did care about them and wanted them to succeed, but they could be so stubborn that he needed to get through to them in some way. There was never any true malice behind his words, only concern.

"You asked to see me?" Prince Zuko said, clearly nervous and unsure.

"Yes. You know, a thorn defends a rose, harming only those who would steal the blossom."

"What?"

Jeong Jeong stared at him. Surely the boy knew one of the simplest code phrases. He'd been traveling with Iroh for nearly three years, he must have learned something.

"Even the whitest lily casts a shadow," he tried again.

"Is this why you wanted to see me? To talk about flowers?" The young prince was becoming irritated.

So, Iroh never bothered to induct him as an initiate in the order. That would be troublesome. He would have to cover for his failed attempt at communication.

"It is not about flowers, Your Highness," he said. "You should have heard plenty such proverbs from your uncle. I would think you would understand."

The boy scowled like the grumpy, mopey teenager he was, muttering something that sounded like "old geezers and their cryptic gibberish," and Jeong Jeong gave another tired sigh. This one was very hard-headed and prideful, but he wasn't unsalvageable. Subtlety wouldn't work, so Jeong Jeong would have to be direct and blunt to get him to start thinking.

"Tell me, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, are you still attempting to capture the Avatar?"

"I…well, I…"

He doubted himself.

"Let me rephrase that. Do you want to capture the Avatar?"

He went silent and hung his head.

"You may answer honestly, but you must answer."

"I don't know," the young prince snapped. The candles in the room flared up. "Why are you asking me?"

And there was the temper.

"Because, if that is your aim, I must warn you that it will all be for nothing."

"It's not for nothing! If I capture the Avatar, I can go home. I can get my honor back. My father…"

He looked at the ground and didn't finish that thought.

"Yes, capturing that boy will end your banishment from the Fire Nation," Jeong Jeong said slowly and patiently. "But it can hardly be considered an honor. What do you think imprisoning and mutilating that boy will really accomplish?"

The young prince's eyes went wide.

"I wouldn't-"

"You wouldn't, but your father would. Happily. Fire Lord Ozai would see that child suffer so terribly he will wish he was dead. What's more, with the Avatar gone, the Fire Nation will march to the ends of the earth, spreading pain and horror and fire until all has been consumed. Is that what you wish for the future of the world?"

"…no," the young prince said quietly. "But I don't know what else I can do. The Fire Nation is my home, my country, my responsibility. I'm the Crown Prince and it's my duty to obey my father serve the Fire Nation."

"And what if obeying your father is the opposite of serving your nation? What if your father's will is not in the best interests of your people? Which one is more important? The people or your father?"

"I don't know!" The young prince gave a growl of frustration.

Children. So melodramatic.

"Of course you don't," Jeong Jeong said. "It is because you do not even know what you truly want."

"I do know what I want. I want to go home."

"And after that? What will you do when you go home?"

"I will do my duty as Crown Prince."

"What else?"

"I…what do you mean 'what else'?"

"What else do you want from your life? What gives you meaning and purpose?"

The young prince started staring at his hands, clearly straining to think up an answer.

"Your Highness, have you never stopped to ask yourself why you are doing all this? What is the best course for yourself?"

"It's not about me. It's about the Fire Nation."

"I see. And what will you do for the Fire Nation? If your banishment was lifted and, the next day, your father died and you suddenly became Fire Lord, what would you do? Will you continue sending wave after wave of men and women to die on the front lines or command your officers to burn villages and tear families apart? Will you sit in your grand palace and enjoy the perks of your office while, outside, your own people are struggling to get by or else turning into vicious monsters? That fight you got involved with in town wasn't an aberration. Caldera Supremacy is festering inside many young people, turning them against their fellow Fire Nationals just because they refuse to conform to the ways of the capital. Will you turn a blind eye to that?"

"No. I hate seeing things like that."

"You hate seeing them. But if you turn a blind eye, you won't have to. You can go about your day pretending the problems aren't real. That your nation is the most wonderful, perfect place in the world and that, because no one is dying in front of you, everything is fine. Is that the kind of ruler you wish to be?"

"No. I don't want that."

"Then I ask you again: What do you want?"

He took his time, silently mulling over those turbulent thoughts that were no doubt pummeling his poor, sixteen-year-old brain.

"Think on that and come see me again when you have an answer."

---

What did he want?

What did that even mean? Zuko already knew what he was supposed to do. He had to capture the Avatar to regain his honor and go home. His father would reinstate him as Crown Prince and heir to the throne. Then, one day, he would succeed his father as Fire Lord.

Because that was his destiny.

It was what his father expected of him and, therefore, it was what Zuko had to do. If he didn't pursue that with everything he had, then what was the point in everything he'd done up until then? His father ordered him to capture the Avatar and that was what he was going to do.

Except…

Zuko rolled over on the bamboo mat and peered through the darkness at Aang's sleeping form. There was just enough light to see the kid's outline. He looked contented, at peace. Snuggled up on the floor with Momo curled up next to him.

Just a kid. An innocent kid who'd lost everything and everyone he knew and loved. A kid who was expected to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders and fix problems he never started.

The only obstacle to going home, that old, intrusive thought reminded him.

But how could Zuko capture Aang, now? How could he subject him to that kind of fate? Just the reminder from Jeong Jeong about what would happen to Aang in the Fire Nation was enough to make Zuko feel sick to his stomach. He wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy.

But what else could he do? How could he go home?

A crazy, ridiculous, naïve part of him said that, maybe, if he helped Aang, Katara, and Sokka to end the war, he could go home that way.

He immediately stomped that thought down into the deepest recesses of his mind and hid it behind a door he mentally dubbed the "treasonous, unfilial thoughts that should never see the light of day" door. He could never go against his father. No matter what his father did or said, Zuko was certain he actually cared. He just wasn't good at showing it. He wasn't a warm and affectionate type of person. Even Zuko's mother said that his father didn't handle emotions and relationships the way most people did, but it didn't mean he didn't care.

There had been times when Zuko was younger that his father did show his love for his family. Zuko even remembered seeing his father smile, at times. And not even in a cold or mocking way.

His father did love him, he was sure. He just struggled with how to show it and he was under so much pressure as Fire Lord that being too affectionate towards his children could be seen as weakness. He just wanted Zuko and Azula to be strong and capable so they could be effective leaders of the nation in the future. He didn't mean to be so harsh; he was just trying to help them. It was Zuko's fault for undermining his father's position through his shameful, childish behavior.

Except, your friends think what your father did to you was monstrous, another thought popped up. Zuko ruthlessly shoved it behind that mental door.

They weren't his friends. Or, at least, they weren't supposed to be. Zuko shouldn't have friends. His father had made that clear a long time ago. The only person Zuko needed to look to for guidance was his father. It was his father's words and wishes that were meant to be the focus of Zuko's entire life.

But it was getting harder and harder to remember that. Especially when everything else was screaming at him to stop and listen to what other people were trying to tell him. To listen to his uncle's advice. To listen to Aang, Katara, and Sokka when they talked about the suffering of the other nations. To listen to Jeong Jeong about what was happening to the Fire Nation.

Each time he stopped focusing on what his father wanted, he could only hear a chorus of, "This is wrong. This is cruel. This shouldn't happen."

And, as much as he tried to deny it, Zuko wanted to agree with them.

He must have drifted off at some point, because he soon found himself being woken by a hand gently shaking his shoulder. He blinked through the haze of dawn and realized he must have been so tired and lost in his thoughts that he hadn't even felt the sunrise empowering his inner fire. If anything, the flame inside him didn't burn as hot as usual.

He hoped it was just lack of sleep.

"Hey, rise and shine," Katara said, giving his shoulder another shake. "Do you want breakfast or not?"

Zuko rubbed at his eyes and stretched. He was momentarily surprised when this didn't prompt annoyed grumbling from Sokka, only to remember that the chain tying them together had been broken last night. He fidgeted with the shackle still around his wrist. He'd still need to get a locksmith to get that part off, but at least he had his freedom back.

He followed Katara outside where the others were waiting. Chey was also there again, distributing steamed buns to everybody.

"Oh, Your Highness, there are some fellas here who want to meet you," Chey said as he handed Zuko his ration.

"Really? Who?" Zuko replied, genuinely curious.

Chey nodded towards the woods and several figures emerged. They were dressed like the local river-people who had captured them and brought them to camp the previous night, but Zuko could tell something was different about them. There were about ten of them in total, but only two approached while the others hung back near the trees.

The two who came up to him were a man and a woman. As they got closer, Zuko realized they were both very young, maybe a few years older than himself.

"Prince Zuko?" the man asked. "You are Prince Zuko?"

"Y-yes," Zuko said, his sense of paranoia spiking. Only to change to confusion as the man and woman both dropped to their knees, followed by the rest of their group.

Zuko looked to Aang, Katara, and Sokka for some kind of explanation, but they just shrugged.

"It is our great honor to meet you, Your Highness," said the man. "I am Master Sergeant Nobu and this is Corporal Shun…of the Forty-First Division."

Zuko nearly started choking.

After giving himself a mental prod back to awareness, he told them not to kneel to him and to stand back up.

"I…I'm sorry," he fumbled, unsure of what else he could say. "I'm sorry for what happened to you."

"It wasn't your fault, Your Highness," said Corporal Shun. As Zuko looked more closely at her, he realized she had a line of deep scars down one side of her face which she was trying to keep hidden by covering it with her hair. "It was the Fire Lord's decision to approve using us for bait. And that butcher, General Bujing, was the one who came up with the plan in the first place."

"Your Highness was the only one to speak up for us," said Master Sergeant Nobu. "Out of everyone among all the elites of the capital, only you had the guts to stand up for us."

"I…" Zuko felt a lump in his throat. "I wish I could've done more. Me speaking up didn't help anything."

The 41st Division had still been slaughtered. Zuko's actions had accomplished nothing except getting him banished.

"I won't lie to you, Your Highness," said Corporal Shun. "What you said in that war room didn't change what happened to us. But it did prove to us…" She swept her hand towards the other survivors. "…and to the Fire Nation military, as a whole, that someone still cared about us. None of us are high-ranking military and we all come from commoner backgrounds. Nobu and I were only promoted to our current ranks because the people further up the chain didn't want to send their own children on a suicide mission."

"What you did proved to us that you are someone worth fighting for, Your Highness," said Master Sergeant Nobu. "The only person in the capital who genuinely cares for the regular folks is you."

The other survivors came closer until they were lined up in front of Zuko. They held themselves proudly, like the soldiers they were. Zuko committed each of them to memory. Each scar, each limp, each missing arm or eye, each thin, haunted face. Their two commanding officers led them in a military salute which Zuko, trembling, returned.

"We hope Your Highness will continue to fight on, to save the Fire Nation, and to protect the common people," said Master Sergeant Nobu. "Long life to His Highness, Crown Prince Zuko."

"Long life to His Highness," the others echoed.

Zuko genuinely couldn't think of how to take all of this in. Thankfully, he was given an out when Master Jeong Jeong appeared and told everyone to get back to their duties before ordering Aang to come forward to begin his training.

---

It was so strange seeing people treat Zuko like a prince.

Obviously, Katara knew he really was a prince and he'd certainly shown a haughty, arrogant attitude before. But, after all the time she'd spent around him, it was so easy to forget that people viewed Zuko as someone to be deferential towards. Sometimes, Katara genuinely forgot that Zuko was royalty, because he was just so…so Zuko that the 'Prince' part of his name seemed almost unreal.

Even after having had a group of people bowing to him, Zuko just went quiet and set to work washing his clothes in the nearby river. He said he was tired of feeling grubby after spending so long bound to Sokka. Katara used her waterbending to help him speed up the drying process.

The very idea of a prince who washed his own clothes and assisted her with cooking still left Katara reeling. Of course she knew the importance of everyone contributing, as it was a key part of her own culture, but she'd always heard that royals were stuffy and lazy and couldn't be bothered to do anything so utterly beneath them as chores. Maybe Zuko was just the odd one out among Fire Nation nobility.

Those soldiers certainly seemed to think so.

The very reason they'd bowed to him was because he'd shown he was different from the Fire Nation elites who casually threw away the lives of their own citizens. They recognized that there was something special about Zuko. They saw how much he cared.

Zuko cared. He cared so much that Katara could see how much it was tearing him apart. He didn't have to say anything, because his expression told her everything. He cared about his people, he cared about his country, he cared about the victims of his father's regime, and he cared about what people thought of him.

Ever since he'd started chasing them from the South Pole, his face had been the first one she thought of when she thought of the enemy. Now, all she saw was a hurt, frightened, teenage boy who wanted to do the right thing, but who also craved validation from others yet didn't know how to accept it when it was given.

Zuko was as lost and alone and in need of kindness as anyone else in the world.

"Katara?" Zuko said.

Katara blinked in surprise when he shook her out of her concentration.

"Yeah, Zuko?" she replied.

"I was just wondering…about your waterbending."

She looked over the water she'd been bending for practice after she'd finished helping him dry his clothes. She felt it was important to keep up her own training as Aang was busy learning from Master Jeong Jeong – or, at least, getting continuously shouted at by Master Jeong Jeong in a way that sounded like training.

"What about my waterbending?" said Katara.

"It's just, there aren't any other waterbenders in the South Pole," he said, looking uncomfortable. Probably because he knew exactly why there weren't any waterbenders in the South Pole. "So, I was just curious about how you've been getting training without a master to teach you."

"I've mostly just been going off intuition. Some of the older members of my tribe remember little snippets and hints of the forms the waterbenders used to use, so I've tried practicing them from how they were described."

She suddenly felt very small.

"It's never really been enough, though. I've been practicing as often as I can, but it's difficult."

"That's why you stole that scroll from the pirates, right?" said Zuko.

"Yeah. I just…I want so badly to become a master waterbender. To bring back a piece of my people's heritage that's been lost. And, maybe, if more waterbenders are born in the South Pole in the future, they can have a teacher."

I want to be the teacher I should've had, she thought to herself.

"…I'm sorry," Zuko said. "I'm sorry it's been so tough for you. That you couldn't get waterbending training sooner."

Katara poked him in the forehead.

"What was that for?" he said, frowning.

"Because you're being a meat-head," said Katara. "You don't have to apologize for everything, you know. You aren't the one who caused all…all of that."

"I know. But I still feel responsible." He turned thoughtful for a moment. "You know, since you never got training, maybe I could show you some of the basics I know."

Katara stared at him.

"Firebending moves for waterbending?" she said. "Are you sure that would work?"

She'd briefly contemplated it the night before when she'd been watching the performers, but it was different now that they were actually talking about it. It was untested waters, so to speak. Using the bending styles of other elements for her own was fine to consider in theory, but to actually go so far as to put it into practice was something she was very dubious about.

"I mean, I don't know. My uncle once told me that all bending is formed from the use of internal energy. How we power it is different, but it's still energy. I don't know where waterbenders draw power from, but I know power in firebending comes from the breath."

"Is that why Master Jeong Jeong is having Aang practice breathing?"

She threw a glance over at Aang, who was looking more and more restless the longer he had to stand there breathing.

"Yeah. Air empowers fire, so the intake of steady, controlled breaths is essential to not burning through your power too quickly and tiring yourself out, as well as to moderate the amount of energy you put into an attack."

"And you think that might help me with my waterbending?"

"Maybe. At least, I don't think it would hurt."

"All right, I'll give it a go. But, wait, didn't you refuse to teach Aang firebending because it would be treason?"

"I'm not teaching Aang firebending. I'm teaching bending basics to you."

"Still, teaching a waterbender? You sure you want to add something like that to your growing criminal record?"

"As far as I know, there's no rule about teaching firebending to a waterbender."

They started with meditation.

"One of the ways that makes keeping control a lot easier is elemental meditation," Zuko explained. "I normally use candles to help me focus my breathing, but I can also use the sun as a guide."

"I don't think that will work for me," said Katara.

"Right. So, I was thinking you could focus on the water in the river."

"What, just stare at the water?"

"It's not about staring. It's about connecting to the element. Feeling its presence. Listening and reaching out."

Katara frowned in thought. She wasn't sure exactly what he meant, but she was willing to give it a try.

She sat cross-legged on the ground beside Zuko, mimicking his pose, and closed her eyes. It was difficult to focus. In the background, she could hear Sokka retracting and casting out his fishing line again, the rustling of the wind through the forest, the faint hum of insects. The ripple of the water.

She squeezed her eyes tighter and concentrated on that.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

In. Out.

The gentle flow of the river. The delicate swirls formed from a leaf dropping into the water. The splash of a fish jumping out and back in. The cold moisture that hung in the air. Suddenly, she wasn't sitting by a river in the Earth Kingdom anymore. She was surrounded by falling snow as the frosty winds of the South Pole rushed past. She heard the roar of the ocean and the cracking of ice. The soothing, familiar pull of a full moon's glow.

It was there. A thrum of something. That energy Zuko described.

Then, all at once, it was gone as she snapped back to awareness.

Zuko was watching her.

"Are you okay?" he said.

"I…" she said, feeling strangely breathless. "I'm fine. It was just…a lot."

"Yeah, it can be a little weird, at first. What did you see?"

Katara described the sensations leading up to the faint impression she'd gotten of the energy and the images that entered her mind.

"I know what you mean," Zuko said with a nod. "I was actually pretty shaken the first time I saw it."

"What was it?"

"Uncle told me that elemental meditation opens up the bond between you and your element, enabling you to have more control. He said it can sometimes make you remember or imagine things related to your element that feel comfortable and familiar."

Those thoughts that passed through her head while she was meditating had been reassuring. They gave her a sense of place, of belonging, of strength. They felt like home.

"So, what do I do now?" she asked.

He gestured towards the river in front of them.

"Try practicing your waterbending," he said.

She stood up and got into a stance. Taking a deep, steady breath, she reached out.

And the water answered.

It rose more steadily, more evenly than the last time she practiced. Like the water was finally willing to cooperate with her instead of stubbornly trying to resist her. It slid in between her hands and followed her movements with an ease Katara had never experienced before. She remembered to follow Aang's advice to shift her weight through the stances and, combined with this new connection to her element, the forms became less tiring and more natural.

As if she was part of the water, itself.

She looked at Zuko, who was watching with a smile. He really was quite handsome when he smiled. Katara suddenly felt her cheeks turn warm and turned her attention back to practicing.

---

Zuko felt a sense of satisfaction as he watched Katara.

He'd seen her struggling with her bending before, as if it was straining her to use it. Realizing that she had never gotten any sort of instruction in bending basics irritated him a bit. Benders were supposed to get training. If they didn't, they could cause dangerous accidents because their element wasn't properly attuned to their control and was more likely to act up in instances of emotional outburst.

Even after a lifetime of firebending training, Zuko still struggled to maintain that control, himself.

Honestly, it was worse when he was younger, even if his temper wasn't as bad back then as it was currently. The style of firebending his instructors taught him always left him feeling drained and frustrated and almost distant from his inner fire. It got better after his uncle began rigorously training him in the basics and insisted on Zuko having daily meditation sessions.

Damn that old man's propensity for being right about things.

Katara had never had that, though. Everything she knew about waterbending came from her own experimentation with the element, snippets of conversation from people who hadn't seen waterbenders in decades, and a scroll she stole from those moronic pirates.

It made Zuko want to help. Agni, forgive him, but he wanted to help.

Why are you always wasting your time? Azula's voice sneered at him in the back of his mind. You can barely even be called a firebender. Now you think you can teach someone else? And a waterbender, at that? Our ancestors are probably turning in their funeral urns.

Furiously, he shoved the thought away. It was getting easier to do the more time he spent around Katara, Aang, and Sokka. Initially, his anxiety over what his family would do if they found out about his treasonous behavior would almost consume him, but now…now he wasn't so sure he cared what they thought.

And, then, his old anxiety came flooding back. Screaming at him about treasonous thoughts and sympathizing with the enemy.

A soft hand rested on his and Zuko turned to see Katara watching him in concern.

"Is everything all right?" she said. "You look like there's something on your mind."

"I…"

He almost said "I'm fine," but he got the sense that she would see right through that.

"I've been thinking about something Master Jeong Jeong told me last night," he said.

He gave her a summary of what the admiral-turned-deserter had talked about. About how Zuko didn't know what he wanted and how he didn't have a true goal for his life.

"The thing is…he's got a point," Zuko explained. "I'm not entirely sure what I want anymore. It's so confusing and stressful and, the more I think about it, the worse it gets." He ran a hand over his face. "I don't want to capture Aang. I know that much. And I don't want any harm to come to you or Sokka. But I also want to go home. I want to go back to the Fire Nation. I can't abandon my people."

"I think I understand," said Katara. "When I first thought about leaving the South Pole with Aang, Sokka told me that doing so would mean abandoning my home and my family. But when you took Aang away, I realized that he was part of my family, too. When we finally left, it did still feel like running away. But I didn't turn back and I won't in the future, no matter how much I miss my home.

"You want to know why?" she added.

Zuko gave a small nod.

"Because the only way to make sure my home and family will be safe and happy is if I do everything I can to end this war. I'm going to become a master waterbender. I'm going to help Aang bring peace. And then, after everything is done, I will help my tribe rebuild."

She gave him a meaningful look.

"I think you know what the right thing to do is."

"What are you saying, exactly? That I should join your group?" Zuko asked.

It didn't feel like such an outlandish and ridiculous suggestion as he might once have thought. As ashamed as he was to admit it, it actually sounded nice. It was horrendously treasonous and would absolutely, positively be the point of no return as far as his banishment was concerned, but it was still such a tempting possibility.

"You could, if you want," she said. "If you want to go back to your ship and keep sailing around the world until the war ends, that's fine. We'll get you back there like we promised. But I – we'd miss you."

She was actually giving him a choice. He could continue to travel with them as a full-fledged member of the team and accept his status as a traitor. Or, he could go back to his ship, pretend everything was the same old Avatar-hunting mission, and just wait out the war. And still be a banished prince.

Katara seemed to read his thoughts.

"You know, once Aang defeats your dad, we'd need someone in charge of the Fire Nation who's actually willing to accept peace."

Zuko's eyes went wide. This was going even deeper down the treason fox-rabbit hole. Actively planning a usurpation of his father's throne was one of the most unfilial things he could ever do.

Except, it's not his throne, that inner voice of his called out. It's Uncle Iroh's throne.

For once, he didn't shove the thought behind his mental 'treason' door. On some level, he knew that his father was not meant to be Fire Lord. He was the younger son and had never been highly favored by Fire Lord Azulon.

Half-buried memories began to rise through the fog. His father's shameless attempt to get Uncle Iroh's birthright revoked. Azula's mocking words about their father being ordered to kill him. Grandfather's sudden death.

His mother's disappearance.

Something wasn't right about any of it. He'd tried to repress the memory of that night for years, but it always came back in the end. If his father really had done something terrible, Zuko wasn't so sure about being an obedient and loyal son. He'd already started to have his doubts with how fervently insistent Katara, Aang, and Sokka had been that what Fire Lord Ozai had done to him was abhorrent and inexcusable.

Katara gave his hand another reassuring little squeeze.

"Whatever you feel is best for you," she said. "It's your decision."

---

The Avatar was proving a truly difficult student.

His lack of patience, restraint, and discipline were worrying signs. If the boy wasn't more careful, he would end up hurting someone. Likely very badly.

After explaining his concerns to the boy about his behavior, the Avatar left and hadn't come back to pester Jeong Jeong about his lessons since. Hopefully, the boy would take his warnings to heart and contemplate the severity of the situation before acting on his desires and impulses.

Behind him, Jeong Jeong heard the rustle of the door covering being moved aside.

He was about to heave a sigh, thinking the Avatar had returned to renew his string of complaints, only to find the young prince standing there. Still unsure of himself, but with perhaps a touch more awareness than before.

Jeong Jeong set to making a fresh pot of tea.

"Have you thought about what I asked you?" he said, motioning for the young prince to sit.

"I have."

"And do you know what you want?"

"I'm not entirely sure yet."

"…You do know that's not an answer."

"I know. There are still some things I need to figure out, first. But I think I know where to start."

They sat in silence for a moment as Jeong Jeong added the tea leaves to the pot.

"Tell me what conclusions you've reached, so far," he said.

"…I want my people to be happy," the young prince answered at last. "I want them to have peace and stability. To not have to worry that someone they love is going to get sent off to die or that they're going to be targeted by their own neighbors. And…I want them to stop hurting the rest of the world."

"Very good, Your Highness. You are finally being honest with yourself."

Jeong Jeong poured them both some tea.

"If you want to make this world a better place, I suggest you start thinking about how you're going to do it," Jeong Jeong said after a while. "Being a capable leader and a good person are difficult things to balance."

He took a sip from his cup.

"You've seen the play 'Twin Flower Princesses,' haven't you? I understand they were doing a preview for it in town." The young prince nodded. "In the play, what was the biggest mistake that the rulers of the different realms made?"

"When they killed the flower spirits," the young prince said. "They assumed that the flower spirits were going to use the magical tree they were guarding to open the Abyss of Chaos and destroy the universe. So, they slaughtered them and destroyed the tree and the supreme flower spirit, only to cause the very thing they were trying to prevent."

"Yes," said Jeong Jeong. "All those deaths, all the suffering the characters endured, it was all because a group of fools thought they had all the answers and would not stop to consider the evil of their actions. And how did it all end when their mistake finally came back to them?"

"It was the princesses who saved them."

"Exactly. Two young women, whom those same fools rejected and persecuted and tried to destroy out of ignorance and fear, saw enough good in the world to make the right choice and save even those who had wronged them. They gained loyalty and love from those around them because, despite everything, they stood by their morals and refused to become what their enemies assumed them to be."

"What does this have to do with being a good ruler?"

"When you are in a position of authority, sooner or later, you will be faced with difficult decisions. And you won't always know which is the right one until it is too late to change your mind. Sometimes, there won't even be a right answer. Just a question of which is the least terrible or harmful. In the play, the most despicable of the antagonists were the ones who believed their actions were just, and that all their crimes were excusable because they were certain of a threat that wasn't even real. Instead of looking for other paths and seeing the worth of the people they were hurting, they pressed on and dug themselves deeper and deeper into their errors, even when their loved ones were begging them to see reason. All because they couldn't accept that they were wrong."

A heavy silence passed.

"Why are you telling me this?" the young prince asked.

"Because I believe you can become the leader the Fire Nation needs. I asked you before if you knew what you wanted, and your answer is exactly what I hoped you would say, but another question remains: Are you ready to take on the challenge of getting it?"

The young prince still wasn't certain. He wanted so much for someone to tell him what he should do, but what he needed was to make those decisions himself. His problem wasn't that he was unwilling to listen to others, but that he was too quick to let others dictate what he should do. And, even worse, he listened too much to the wrong people. He listened to his father, his sister, and the sycophants and toadies at court rather than the ones who genuinely had his best interests at heart. Being open to the ideas of others was good, but being too prone to suggestion left one weak to being used and manipulated.

That was why Jeong Jeong brought up the play.

The work reflected the dangers of both being too stubborn about one's convictions to the point of ignoring the wisdom of others and of being too easily swayed by the whims of people who either are ignorant of the full context of a problem or else have an agenda they wish to fulfil. If the young prince was going to lead the Fire Nation out of its evil and destructive course, he needed to know how to walk the delicate balance.

The young prince soon left and Jeong Jeong turned his attention back to the matter of the Avatar.

The boy was waiting outside his hut, sitting quietly and waiting for instruction. He promised to be more patient and Jeong Jeong wanted so badly to trust that the boy had understood his teachings that he finally relented and agreed to allow him to work with fire.

"Oh, yeah!" the boy exclaimed, cheerfully doing a flip through the air before straightening himself up. "I mean, let us begin."

---

Katara was getting worried.

After Jeong Jeong left, Aang just seemed moody and restless. He'd been told to concentrate on a leaf that had a tiny singe in the center to keep it from being burned up for as long as he could. Katara understood that Aang was impatient to learn more advanced firebending moves, but he really should listen to his teacher.

"Aang, he's just trying to make sure you've got the basics covered," Zuko explained. "Firebending relies on the breath."

"I know, I know! But I'm ready to do so much more!"

Instead of following Jeong Jeong's instructions, Aang caused the entire leaf to ignite. Katara hesitantly congratulated him but added that he should be careful. Aang didn't seem to hear her and started playing with the fireball.

"Aang, you'll hurt yourself!" she said, fear coiling in her stomach.

He kept tossing the flame around like it was a harmless toy.

"Aang, stop goofing around!" Zuko yelled.

But Aang was too lost in his fun.

"I wonder how that juggler did it," he said.

That was when he suddenly swirled the fire out around him. Right towards where Katara was standing. All she could see was a wall of flame coming at her. And, this time, it wasn't a harmless little trick.

The next thing Katara knew was blinding pain in her hands as the heat licked over her skin, burrowing down beneath the surface.

That was when Zuko jumped in and broke apart the rest of the blaze, dispersing it. Katara heard Zuko shouting furiously at Aang, but she was in too much pain to make out the words. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she tried to will herself to stop hurting. Aang was stammering out apologies. Sokka had shown up and tackled Aang to the ground before yelling at him. Jeong Jeong returned, as well, and Sokka lashed out at him, too.

It was too much. Too much pain. Too much noise.

She just wanted to run away and hide.

So, she did.

She ran. She ran until she found a quiet little spot near the water. Behind her, she heard someone approaching. She was about to snarl at whoever it was to go away and leave her alone. When she saw it was Zuko, however, her anger began to fade. He walked over to her and helped guide her towards the water.

Water. Cool. Calm. Healing.

She could make the pain stop. She just needed the water.

"It's going to be okay, Katara," Zuko said. "Just focus on healing."

She nodded, feeling more like herself as she reached her hands into the comforting chill of the river. She took a deep, calming breath and concentrated on the energy that began to swirl around her hands. She felt the familiar tingle of the healing energy as she untangled the tiny chi paths deep inside her own skin. Steadily, the pain receded and the burns vanished.

"You have healing abilities."

Katara and Zuko both glanced up to see Jeong Jeong approach.

"The great benders of the Water Tribe sometimes have this ability," he said, turning to stare solemnly towards the river. "I've always wished I were blessed like you. Free from this burning curse."

"But you're a great master," said Katara. "You have powers that I will never know."

"Water brings healing and life. But fire brings only destruction and pain. It forces those of us burdened with its care to walk a razor's edge between humanity and savagery. Eventually, we are torn apart."

Katara and Zuko shared a look. However, before they could respond, Jeong Jeong sprang to his feet to deflect an incoming fireball. A short way down the river were several Fire Nation riverboats. On the lead boat, a figure in Fire Nation armor stood, directing more attacks.

"Zhao," Zuko growled.

"Go get your friends and flee!" Jeong Jeong shouted. "Do not come back here or you will all be destroyed. Hurry!"

Katara and Zuko bolted back towards the camp. The place was in pandemonium as the villagers and the Fire Nation deserters scrambled to get out. As they passed, Zuko stopped for a moment when he saw Corporal Shun and Master Sergeant Nobu. The two former soldiers paused and gave a last bow to Zuko before following the rest of their group.

"Katara!" Sokka exclaimed as he saw. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she said. "We've got to get out of here. Where's Aang?"

Sokka pointed towards Jeong Jeong's hut.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"We have to hurry," Zuko said. "There's no telling how long Master Jeong Jeong can keep Zhao distracted."

"Aw, great, freaking Zhao, again?"

"You two finish packing up," said Katara. "I'll go get Aang."

She hurried down to the hut and found Aang hunched over in the darkness.

"Jeong Jeong tried to tell me that I wasn't ready," he said. "I wouldn't listen. I'm never gonna firebend again."

He sounded so disappointed in himself.

"You'll have to, eventually," Katara told him.

"No. Never again."

"It's okay, Aang. You know I can heal myself. The burns are all gone."

"I know. But what if you couldn't? What if I'd scarred you for life? I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Katara. I was reckless and stupid and it was all my fault."

"Aang, we can talk about this later. But, right now, we need to get out of here. Zhao and his soldiers are attacking."

Aang shot up.

"Where?"

"By the river. They captured Jeong Jeong."

"I have to help him!"

He shot past her and out the door before she could say another word. Katara rushed back over to where the others were waiting.

"Where'd Aang go?" said Sokka. "We need to leave."

"He went to try and help Jeong Jeong," said Katara.

"Is he nuts?!"

The sounds of fireblasts shook the air. Cautiously, they headed towards the noise and managed to reach the site of Zhao's attack just in time to witness Aang jump into the river.

"Have a nice walk home!" Aang called out to Zhao, who was yelling furiously as his boats went up in flames.

"Aang, come on!" Sokka shouted. "Let's go!"

Aang hurried over to them and, within moments, they were up in the air once again.

"Wait, where's Jeong Jeong?" Aang asked.

"He disappeared," said Sokka. "They all did."

Down below them, the river village was empty and still.

---

Ambling down the path, Chey was confused at what he saw.

Or, rather, what he didn't see. He'd been out on a recon mission that afternoon and had been delayed due to the patrols. Returning to camp to find it totally devoid of human habitation was not what he expected.

"Hey, where'd everybody go?" he said to himself. "Very funny, guys!"

No one responded. And, as the silence dragged on, Chey began to suspect it wasn't a prank.

---

Author's Note: Sorry I'm still going kind of slowly. My laptop got messed up and now I have to get a new one because the stupid company won't fix it a second time, even though it's still under warranty.

The folk play and the reference to "Mayon" are a little nod to Filipino legends. Mount Mayon, an active volcano, is a major landmark and is said to have been formed from the grave of the lovers Magayon and Panganoron.

I also wanted to include some Indian-inspired Fire Nation culture. Throughout the series, there was a lot of Indian religion and even some Hindu names sprinkled in, but not a whole lot of Indian-coded characters (a few but not very many). The Queen Mother of the Dawn is largely inspired by the dichotomy between Parvati and Kali in Hinduism, but also a little of Amaterasu in Japanese tradition.

What can I say? I love learning about other cultures.

Also, I think the Fire Nation islands would have some fairly distinct and diverse local cultures. Of course, with the strong emphasis on nationalism, many regional cultures would probably face discrimination and suppression. In other words, "Caldera Supremacy," as I call it, is the attempt by the elites to target diversity in the Fire Nation in favor of a unified identity based on the culture of the capital. We already know there is canonical discrimination in the Fire Nation against the colonials, so I don't see why it wouldn't apply in the homeland, as well.

A lot of fics treat Chey as just another joke. Even in canon, he's kind of a punching bag for the humorous side of the episode. But, let's not forget, this was a guy who saw the evils his country was committing and chose to risk his life to follow his conscience. My interpretation of Chey's decision to desert and his war-related trauma is based on the war crimes the U.S. army committed in the Vietnam War, to keep with the whole "Apocalypse Now" theme the original episode had going. If you have any questions about what those specific U.S. war crimes entailed, I suggest you look up the "My Lai Massacre." Or don't if you don't want nightmares.

You know, I've noticed people draw comparisons between the Fire Nation and the Nazis, imperial Japan, the British Empire, and even North Korea, but not many seem to see the parallels between the Fire Nation and the U.S. Funny how that works. Just to clarify, I am an American and I do love my country, but I am not going to pretend that the U.S. hasn't been responsible for truly terrible things. Only massive hypocrites and bigoted idiots would do that.

The C-drama recommendation for this chapter is "The Starry Love," which is what "Twin Flower Princesses" is inspired by in this fic. Two princesses are the human incarnations of two petals from the flower spirit of a magical tree that was destroyed because it was believed the tree would unlock a world-annihilating chaos. The two sisters live very different lives; Qingkui is loved by all and seen as a blessing whereas Yetan is hated and seen as a jinx. Qingkui is arranged to marry the crown prince of the Heavenly Realm while Yetan is arranged to be the bride of whichever of the Void Tyrant's three sons is chosen to be crown prince of the Void. However, Yetan witnesses something that results in the Third Void Prince switching the princesses around on the day they depart for their new homes. The princesses have no choice but to play along with their new roles for their own safety. In doing so, they are finally able to experience the things they were missing. Yetan is able to feel loved and respected, and is even able to go to school. Qingkui gets to put her medical knowledge to use and is able to make life a little bit brighter for the Voidwalkers, as well as finally learn how to rely on her own cleverness to get her out of trouble instead of being a damsel-in-distress.

It's a really funny and sweet show, though it does get more serious and tragic in the last ten episodes. It has a very bittersweet ending (if you want a happily-ever-after, stop watching after the lead couple finally gets married), but it does have a hopeful undercurrent and implied future happiness. All in all, I'd say it's definitely worth a watch, especially for all the comedy and hijinks. It also subverts some of the clichés and tropes associated with the genre and that was very refreshing.