Zuko's fortune-telling session was the last one, because unexpectedly, Aunt Wu announced that she wouldn't be taking anyone else in today. When Sokka was about to fuss over the woman not even talking to him, Katara decided to drag him outside before Meng could do so.
And so the Gaang were back on the streets with Appa, who was waiting for them outside. Aang's curiosity finally got the better of him, and he turned to Zuko cheerfully, asking "So, what did she tell you?"
"None of your business." Zuko answered sternly "Nothing that would matter anyway."
Katara gave a sarcastic laugh "Huh, another one happy with his readings. Well, I liked my predictions. Certain things are going to turn out really well." she added with a pleased smile.
"They sure are!" Aang agreed with a meaningful smile "Katara, do you think we could-"
"Actually, I'll be right back, you can buy some food for lunch, guys!" she called as she rushed off, back to the fortune-teller's house.
"Wait! She said she won't take anyone in-" Sokka tried calling after her, but she didn't seem to have heard him.
"Aaand she's gone." he sighed and looked around. When his eyes fell on Zuko, he remembered their earlier conversation. Getting back on track, he cleared his throat and started casually "Aang, I was thinking... Maybe we could check that volcano? Just to confirm Aunt Wu's words, you know?"
"Yeah, sure..." The Avatar replied absentmindedly. He didn't really listen to him, being too disappointed with how his crush ignored him. He turned to the warrior with his own question instead "Sokka? You know some stuff about ladies, right?"
"Ladies...? Uh, yeah, I do. But, I was saying-"
Aang didn't even let him finish before he continued nervously "Well, there's just this girl I like... I was wondering what should I do to get her to, uh... like me too?"
Seeing that he needed to redirect kid's attention first, Sokka tried to think of an actual answer "Uhh, let's see... Well, the number one mistake that nice guys like you make is being too nice. You have to act aloof to keep her interested, you know? Just keep your distance, take care of some other stuff."
"You think...?" Aang didn't seem convinced.
"Yep. And while we're at it, I was thinking maybe we should go check that volcano? Just to make sure Aunt Wu wasn't wrong about it" he explained, smoothly tossing his arm around the airbender's shoulder. This finally caught Aang's attention.
"But, why would she be wrong? I know it's not nice to get a bad prediction, Sokka. But that doesn't mean she got it wrong, you know..."
Sokka was about to protest, but Zuko finally lost his patience listening to their squabbles.
"Checking the volcano...really?" he addressed Sokka directly. "You know that a one-time check won't make much of a difference? It's about getting these people to understand that they need to be doing this."
Sokka turned to him defensively "I know that! But, what do you want me to do? You saw that Aang and Katara have heard her just once, and they already have no doubt about her! You think I can just walk over to these people, who have trusted her for years, and tell them to ignore her? We can at least check it now, since they haven't done it for so long."
"Wait, what is this about?" Aang was looking at them both confused.
Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose with annoyance "It's about reminding the people here, that they are living on the side of a damn ACTIVE VOLCANO, that could wipe them all out if it erupted! And they are trusting their lives to some old hag, instead of checking it themselves and being able to avoid the danger!"
It has gotten more quiet and they realized that people around them started to stare, since Zuko raised his voice somewhere along his statement.
Sokka let out a tired sigh "Yeah, good luck with that now."
Zuko just glared at him in response, knowing that he had lost his temper again unnecessarily.
"Hey, who do you think you are?" a woman in the crowd couldn't hide her indignation "You think you can just walk in here, out of nowhere, and tell us how to live our lives?!"
"Yeah, you know nothing about us!" her companion agreed with passion, and another man added "We can trust Aunt Wu to keep us safe!"
Aang noticed that Zuko was about to respond, and decided to cut in the discussion.
"Okay, okay, let's go check it ourselves for now." airbender said conciliatory, stepping in front of the prince. "Come on, it's gonna be faster on Appa."
Sokka quickly joined him to get out of the agitated crowd, climbing up to the saddle. Zuko didn't want to leave like this, but he also didn't want to oppose the Avatar here.
He moved to join them, but one look at the bison stopped him in his tracks. He eyed the animal with distrust, gaining himself the same look from Appa. With the Avatar there, he doubted the bison would throw him off, so he climbed the saddle cautiously. The wound kept burning, but he managed to make it look effortless (or so he hoped). But as soon as he positioned himself on the top, he heard the loud "Yep, yep!" and they took off.
Sudden altitude change and roar of the wind in his ears were so unexpected, that he had to grasp the saddle to keep balance. Although he did his best not to show how much his first flight (at least his first conscious one) shook him, Sokka kept smirking as he watched the firebender from across the saddle with folded arms.
The flight didn't take long and soon they found themselves above the caldera. The moment they saw hot lava stirring right by the top, there was no denying it.
"Oh no... Aunt Wu was wrong" Aang said with wide eyes.
Zuko looked at the lava with grim expression. He tried to quickly evaluate how much time they had before the eruption, but the odds weren't looking good. "This is bad. It's a matter of hours at best"
"And those people all think they're safe. We've gotta warn them!" Sokka decided with determination.
This time, Aang didn't complain. He immediately steered Appa back to the village, heading toward the fortune-teller's house where Katara was supposed to be. He spotted her standing in front of it and landed nearby. Both Aang and Sokka rushed over to her.
As soon as she saw them, she started complaining loudly "Guys, can you believe it? She wouldn't even let me in! Meng said that Aunt Wu asked her to leave too. And I still have so many questions!"
"It doesn't matter anymore! The volcano is gonna explode in a couple hours!" her brother said, quickly gaining angered look from her.
"Really, are you going to undermine fortune-telling again now?!"
Zuko got off the bison as well, but he stayed a few steps behind, knowing he wasn't part of the team. He turned his gaze back at the mountain, wondering what plan they could come up with.
"The best we can do in such short time is to evacuate the villagers... Right, the best THEY can do, because nobody here is going to trust me now. I guess I'll be useless again..."
Meanwhile, the other boys tried to convince Katara about the volcano. She refused to believe that Aunt Wu was wrong, but then suddenly the earth shook. They all looked up and saw the smoke and ash starting to spew from the top of Mount Makapu.
"Oh no..." the waterbender whispered, a mixture of fear and disappointment on her face "But she..."
"It doesn't matter right now, we have to get people away from here!" Sokka called as he started to run to the village center. To her credit, the girl pulled herself together really quickly, and soon they all were yelling warnings.
"EVERYONE, that volcano is gonna blow any second! Aunt Wu was wrong!"
The villagers, hearing that however, paid them no mind at first, eventually someone stopped them. "Right, right" he said. "You already said this. You outsiders may not believe Aunt Wu, but that doesn't mean she's wrong."
"I know you may not believe us, but it's true!" Katara quickly took the initiative, still feeling guilty for not believing them at first "I want to believe Aunt Wu and her predictions as much as you do, but my brother and Aang saw the lava with their own eyes!"
"Well, I heard Aunt Wu predictions with my own ears." this time the answer came from another villager.
They Avatar wasn't willing to give up yet. He jumped on the roof of the closest building continuing to call the warnings. Zuko stood in a little distance from their group, watching the scene, though he couldn't quite believe what he was just witnessing.
"Just how stupid these people are?! You can't just ignore that the volcano is erupting, because someone said it won't!"
The Avatar's warnings didn't seem to do any better than the Water Tribe siblings' before, but then suddenly the earth shook again.
"Look! Can your fortune-telling explain that?" challenged Sokka pointing at the Makapu, which was now fuming even more than before.
"That doesn't have to mean anything. We can trust Aunt Wu." some older villager said smiling.
It made Zuko lose his patience again "And can't you trust your own eyes?! Do you really need someone to tell you what to think, when you have the truth before your very eyes? Don't you see the smoke coming out of the volcano right as we speak?!"
Everyone was now looking at him, but it was no time to care what was behind their displeased looks, and so he kept going.
"The earth is literally shaking! I know that the volcano hasn't erupted even once in the past 20 years, since you haven't even bothered to check it, but you won't tell me you don't know what it looks like?! Doesn't any of you remember what the signs are?"
At first, everyone just kept quietly staring at him. But then someone spoke up "You're right. I wish I didn't remember it, but... It was over 50 years ago, so many of us weren't even there yet. I was still a kid myself at that time."
Zuko tried to locate the source of the new voice, and fortunately people around them turned to look at him as well. It turned out to be an old man with a bald head, with a walking stick to support him.
"It was just like this... The earth shook, smoke billowed up, and soon after that, lava poured forth. Not everyone made it out in time; I know I'm not the only one who remembers that." he continued, and as he spoke, some of the villagers began to stir uneasily in their places.
"The village was rebuilt, and after that we were checking Makapu every month, for years... Then at least three times a year... Which later turned into once a year. Until she came and assured us that it's safe." he kept talking, and resentment in his voice wasn't possible to hide anymore. Aang jumped down, listening to him with wide eyes. He felt that he should say something, but he couldn't find the words.
"And we believed that." the old man continued softly, raising his eyes to meet Zuko's gaze. "Who wouldn't want to? After all, her words rarely failed."
He paused, looking at the crowd with sadness in his eyes. "We brought doom upon ourselves, didn't we...?" Zuko could see the pain in his eyes, and he felt for him. There were no other options, so he offered the only reassurance he had.
"You're not doomed yet. There is still enough time to evacuate people. The rest is just buildings, they can be rebuilt again and-" he began, but was interrupted by the Avatar.
"No, there has to be something we can do! We can still save the village!"
"But what can we do...?" some elderly woman asked with barely masked fear.
Aang hesitated, trying to think of a solution, but Sokka outrun him "I think I have a plan. Lava is going to flow downhill to this point. If we can dig a deep enough trench, we can channel all the lava away from the village to the river!"
"Right! If any of you are earthbenders, come with me, we'll start right away!" the Avatar called and turned to leave. Without hesitation, a small group of people followed him outside.
"Everyone else grab a shovel!" Sokka added quickly, as he understood well that non-benders could feel useless when being unable to help. Even though compared to the earthbenders they were far less helpful, they could still make a difference.
Zuko watched the scene dumbfounded.
"It's crazy to think you can stop the lava... Maybe it could be worth a shot, but no one has ever tried that before. But the village should evacuate anyway, there's no telling if it's even gonna work."
He needed a plan. Villagers were now all about the water tribe guy's plan, and he needed to turn their attention back to the original one. It was good enough that they managed to convince villagers that they were in danger, but their priority should be safety. Zuko knew he wouldn't have bigger say than the Avatar, so to actually order the evacuation, he needed someone else. There had to be someone in charge of the village.
He observed the commotion that had started in the village. People were rushing to their homes, presumably to grab a shovel; others had run straight to follow the Avatar outside the village. Hasty shouts came from all directions.
There were a few villagers who just stood there, unable to comprehend the situation; some watched with wide eyes, while others cried. Zuko felt a pang of pity for them, but there was no time for this - they had to get moving. He started walking toward them, when he heard a voice trying to break through the tumult.
"What is going on here?!"
The voice belonged to an older man, who seemed to have missed all the discussion that had taken place earlier. He made his way to the closest person in front of him, but it happened to be one of the women who was already breaking down in tears. Seeing that he wouldn't be getting any information from her, he looked around and noticed a stranger looking at him. Bald, pale, with bruises and a big scar on his eye, he looked quite intimidating.
"Who are you?" he asked carefully, unsure if the man wasn't the source of the ruckus.
It caught Zuko off guard, as he wasn't sure how he should refer to his role in all of this.
"I-, uh, I'm Lee. I'm... with the Avatar" he added after a short pause.
"The Avatar? Is it true? Where is he?" the man asked in surprise, walking closer to the stranger. Up close, he realized that the boy was really young, just a teenager, and some of his distrust eased.
"He just left through the gate to try to save the village from volcano eruption. But regardless of that, everyone should evacuate. Now." the prince stressed out "Do you know who's in charge here?"
Hearing these words finally made the man turn around and notice the huge clouds of ash rising from the volcano. He felt a dread at seeing such a threat, but soon he turned back to assess the state of the village, much to Zuko's surprise.
"In charge... I am, I'm a mayor! But, evacuate... Yes, the forest." the man seemed to think out loud as he took one more look at the people around. He took a few steps forward and called out loudly. "HEY, everyone, listen to me! Makapu is about to erupt! I need everyone to prepare to leave the village!"
Two men who were rushing by with shovels in their hands stopped in their track and looked at him confused "But, the Avatar said we can save the village by digging a trench to redirect the lava! They said we need to go help there!"
"A trench? For lava? And did he say if he would take responsibility for the casualties if it fails? Did he not see the size of this mountain?" the old man asked, astonished at the idea "Because I HAVE seen what it can do. And what is left after it."
The men looked at each other, torn between doubt and hope. "But... he said we could save the village. Is there nothing we can do?"
Although the question was directed to the mayor, it sounded more like they were trying to reassure themselves. The old man apparently heard the silent plea in it as well, because his next words were much calmer.
"I... look... Jiro, Maru, I would like to try to save the village too. But the most important thing is to save all the people."
The older of the two seemed convinced, however sad this choice may have been, but the younger wasn't having it.
"So we're just gonna give up? It's our home!"
Zuko was just about to support the mayor in this exchange, but these words hit him hard. He stepped closer to them.
"No. You don't have to give up, but you shouldn't be reckless either." he said and looked up at the mountain in thought.
They looked at him somewhat annoyed, but didn't interrupt, still in mind his earlier outburst. The mayor just seemed confused. The prince continued, with the plan forming in his mind.
"Proper evacuation is crucial, but there is still time. Not more than two hours, but if every house can prepare everything they need to survive, and bring it to the forest, then you're free to try to save the village itself. Man should expect the best, but be prepared for the worst."
The last words were quiet, and he tried to blink away a memory of hearing them over a cup of tea not that long ago.
The mayor seemed to catch on the new plan, and he turned back to the men. "That's right. Tell the people that everyone needs to come back and prepare for the evacuation before they go back to digging"
"No, wait!" Zuko called before they could leave "Everyone except earthbenders. They should stay there to dig so it had at least a chance to work. The rest can prepare their belongings for them."
The feeling of injustice must have struck the young villager, for he took a step toward the foreigner angrily.
"Wait, so they can stay and actually try to save the village, and we just have to go back and pack their stuff for them? Because they're earthbenders and we're not?"
Feeling growing irritation, Zuko grit his teeth. As a prince he was used to giving orders, and such insubordination was a challenge in itself. Knowing he wasn't in the position to give orders here, he tried to remain calm as he answered "Yes. They are earthbenders, and so they are multiple times better suited to help dig that trench, and that is a matter of fact. And that means that you helping them with their belongings, so they didn't have to stop digging, is more important than if you were digging yourself. Don't try to do what benders do, because you'll never be able to match them. Just think where you can be more useful, and help there. Every job is important"
This time his words seemed to reach the young man. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but then he just turned wordlessly and started walking away in the direction of the gate.
"Wait, Jiro!" the second man called after him, and stepped closer to the mayor quickly "We do that? Call everyone back here to pack first, except for the earthbenders?"
The old man was a little confused by the situation, but he just confirmed it with a nod, and the second villager rushed after his companion. He watched them leave absentmindedly, clearly trying to process something.
"It's a good plan, you know." he said, and turned to look at Zuko curiously "What was your name again?"
Sudden change of topic made the firebender flinch uncomfortably. "It's Lee."
"Are you-"
"We're not done here yet." Zuko interrupted him quickly to stop any personal question that may have followed "They should pass the message to the others outside the village, but you need to start organising everything here. Assing a meeting point, and make sure everyone in the village gets the message"
The silence that met him only made him more nervous. He wondered if he didn't overstep there and disrespect the man's position, so he tried to back off "I mean, that would be probably the best, but you should give the orders. I mean, instructions..."
"No, you're right. There will be time for other things later."
The mayor's words raised a silent alarm in his head, but he knew he will just have to deal with that later.
The old man shouted loudly, "To those who haven't heard! Makapu is about to erupt, and we are evacuating the village! Keep calm and go home to pack the necessities! Everything will be fine; nobody will get hurt, but we need to hurry! Remember, only the necessities, don't burden yourself with anything heavy! We'll meet back here in half an hour and we'll go to the forest on the west side of the village! If you meet someone who hasn't heard that, pass the news! And if you know anyone who is an earthbender, help them pack their things so they can help the Avatar try to save the village as well! We must all work together now!"
It seemed that his voice made it through to the people who were still standing there, and they quickly made their way home.
"I need to go make sure everyone hears the news." the man mumbled as he was about to leave, when he turned back "Oh, right! I didn't even introduce myself, my name is Shen. Lee, may I ask you to stay here and direct anyone who passes through?"
"Yes, of course. But, if I may? It would be better if you assigned a few villagers to specifically go spread the message first. In situations like this people will first take care of themselves before they think about checking on their neighbours, and time is essential here. It will be more effective than trying to reach everyone on your own."
"Ah, you're right again. Thank you" Shen smiled warmly and moved to carry on the plan, calling a nearby woman on the way.
"Now, let's just hope they can organise themselves fast enough to make it work" Zuko thought as he looked at the volcano once again.