Summer 99 AG
Zuko
Practicing all night was worth it, my skill with waterbending was almost at the level of a beginner. I honestly should be happy given the nominal difficulty of training without a teacher but having the same skills as Katara in the first episode doesn't fill me with much confidence.
Sighing, I look out at the utter whiteness of the horizon and remember that this should theoretically make me blind given enough time, which reminds me that the water tribe should all be affected by the UV rays reflecting off the snow and that I've only seen a few who actively protect their eyes.
Resting outside the place where one would normally be given the cold mornings of the place could be suspicious but honestly who would look for me right now.
As if to mock me, the sound of men coming to my place makes me look in the direction of the city and I see that several people are coming in my direction, they seem to be hunters from the tribe.
"Hey, there he is" the leader of the group "Zuko, are you blind"
"No" moving closer to the group I ask back "Should I be going blind?" I fucking knew the snow was dangerous.
"Well not necessarily if I'm being honest but some people do go snow blind here, normally it doesn't last more than a day, but we have some things to protect our eyes if the blindness lasts longer than it should"
At least the bastards had the decency to look for me just in case.
"By the way, Zuko, did you manage to catch anything?"
"Sadly no, there was a wolf pack not far from here last night and they must have scared anything that was roaming around this place"
"Makes sense, some guys passed around here last night and said they heard howling" that was more than likely Yue screaming but I wasn't going to tell him that.
"Let's get back to the city, that old guy is looking for you"
We walked back to the city making small talk and me asking the odd question about life on the North Pole, apparently one of the reasons the guys didn't tell me anything about the snow blindness was because it's seen as a right of passage, in their own words if you can handle the loss of your sight you can handle the stress of hunting some of the most dangerous animals of the north.
Finally, we went our own ways, they left to hunt on another spot since there didn't seem to be any prey where I was, and I finally reunited with the old man after not seeing him for two days.
The pieces of the war balloon were scattered about on the floor of the hut that was given to him, some leather from the native animals and some wolf skins were also there.
"Prince Zuko, I trust you've been having fun" there was recrimination on his tone, and I really couldn't blame him, I did crash his new invention.
"No need to be so cold my friend, I would also like to formally apologize to you. I should have given you a warning about what I was going to do"
The old man sighed and looked down on to the mess that was all over his lap "Could you at least tell me what a 'plane' is supposed to be?"
"It's going to be a bit difficult to explain right now, besides I came to ask if the balloon is ready, uncle must be worried about me by now"
"We can leave tonight, and I honestly would prefer that we leave at night, with the temperature descending we could use the balloon more effectively"
Tonight, I guess that leaves me enough time. I would like for Yue to come with me however getting her would mean making an enemy of the rest of the tribe. Leaving her would also not be a problem since she already has the stamp even if it hasn't finished forming, making the chances of her cheating on me zero.
The reaction of the fish is also unknown, and I would rather have them on my side for as long as I'm the captain of my ship. Wouldn't want them going all Godzilla on me.
"Very well we leave tonight, do inform our hosts of it, I will continue to explore the city"
My feet took me along for a ride as I thought about the consequences of kidnapping a princess, maybe I could just kill Hahn, that's an option I hadn't considered, there would be a period of mourning for him and in that time, I should have taken back some of the power from the Fire Lord, enough to consider making an alliance via marriage.
On the other hand, if I make her my official wife that could bring political unrest to the Fire Nation and I'm not sure that Azula wouldn't kill her or that Mai wouldn't kill her. She still had feelings for me at this time. Poor canon Zuko couldn't keep his girl because of the pressure he had on his shoulders as Fire Lord.
I didn't notice when, but I had arrived at my destination, just in time too. Pakku was just finishing his class for the day.
"Master Pakku" I said while bowing to him "Could I trouble you for a moment?
"Very well" we walked into a house that was close to the place "this is my home make yourself comfortable, now what do you need?"
"I was wondering if I could copy some waterbending scrolls to take as souvenirs, no secret techniques or anything like that merely the basics of your style and perhaps some about healing"
"I suppose that there is nothing wrong in letting you copy a few of them, as for your other request I'm afraid that you would have to ask Yagoda and let me warn you, that woman is not very keen on sharing what she knows"
He passed me some scrolls that he had on a table, tossing them to me without much care.
"You can use this place and I wish luck against that old woman, now if you excuse me, I will go and eat"
He leaves and I'm not sure if he let me here alone as a test or he really doesn't care if I end up looking around his stuff, deciding that discretion is the better part of valor. I simply copy what he gave and leave his place.
My body hasn't been feeling as good while we've been here, the lack of sunlight compared to when we were at sea is making me anxious.
While walking to the palace in search of food I end up walking into Yue and the people on the street are suddenly very curious about what we're doing, I quickly get up and help her out as any gentleman would do.
"Forgive me princess, I didn't see you there" the stares lessen but there are still enough onlookers to make me uncomfortable, I never really know if they are looking for anything specific or if they're just bored.
"There is no need to apologize it was my mistake too, but if you feel like making it up to me, I could use the company on my walk"
"It would be my pleasure" I take her arm into mine and speak again "you will have to feed me though"
She laughs and starts dragging me away "That can be arranged"
I notice some men gossiping in the background, they look about my age. Perhaps spies from the fiancée of the lovely lady I'm escorting; the guy must have some political clout if he was engaged to Yue so it's not so far-fetched to think that he could spy on me.
After spending some time with Yue, we had to go our separate ways, her sharing a meal with me was weird to some of the more conservative people in the room.
Yagoda was there as well and after a few introductions, I could honestly see why Pakku wished me luck. She was a nice old lady for the most part but the moment I showed any interest in the healing arts she looked at me as if I was crazy.
"Men have no talent whatsoever in healing, even if it's without bending. For generations women have worked the craft and I know that even outside the North Pole, it was women that usually learn the use of medicine" she patted my hand as if I was a little boy and continued "There is no need for you to learn any of that"
Not wanting to end the meal on a sour note, I elected not to say anything but this only convinced me that stealing was the way to go when it came to this matter.
Fianlly it was revealed that we would leave, the news of our departure were well received even if the people generally recommended for us to leave in the morning, Yue didn't take the news very well as she quickly left once she heard.
I'm going to have to do something about it.
Author note: hey guys i'm alive, still a little sick but not sick enough as to be unable to read, as always it's my duty to tell you that the next chapter is up on my for a dollar and the one after that for five, also we are getting even closer to our goal of one hundred dollars and when we finally achieve it, all of you will vote to decide which story will get an extra chapter on so it would be cool if you help, you really don't have to but i will apreciate it if you do. anyway i hope you have a great day and that you are in good health. see you in a week.
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