Summer 99 AG
Northern Air Temple
Zuko
The trip back was smooth, no problems at all and even the damn mutant animals of this world didn't cause any sort of trouble. Flying is truly the best way to travel, the day will come when I will be able to do it on my own power.
My musings about becoming the man in the sky are interrupted by our landing, the boisterous sounds of my crew as they crowd around the aircraft and from the top of the mountain as they start to celebrate the return of the mechanist from his voyage.
"You should get to the top old man, I'm sure your son will be happy to see you"
"I will follow your advice my prince, it would make me very happy to spend some time with my son, perhaps we can finally play as we did when he was a child"
The man leaves and once he is out of sight I run towards Iroh, I give the man a big hug as I almost tackle him to the ground to the cheers of the crew.
"I missed you uncle, the trip was fun, but it wasn't the same without you"
"I missed you too Zuko" his voice cracks as he speaks "I don't think my heart can take another plan like this young man"
I laugh at his answer even as I know he's lying, uncle would never try to keep me with him, he knows that a parent must let his child grow and learn on his own.
"Well, we have to get going uncle, the south pole awaits. I can tell you about my trip once we are on our way. It was really interesting, the people, the animals, the culture even if it was weird"
"Hahaha. Yes, they can be too traditional even compared to us" he turned to the captain and started giving him orders to prepare to leave.
"Tell me Zuko, did you meet someone, a pretty girl?" his smug tone told me that I hadn't noticed something.
"I did, but how can you tell? And don't say it's my aura or something like that"
"No, nothing so vague. I just saw that you have some rather nail-like marks on the back of your neck" my hand moves instinctively to touch and feel a little bit of tenderness on the skin.
"I hope nobody saw them in the north pole"
We all boarded the ship and after one last look at the temple finally set off into our next adventure, I could feel the improvements done to the ship by the incredible speed we now had, we were going easily twice as fast as before while using less coal.
I can only imagine how much the lives of the common people can be improved with the technology that those serving me will pioneer.
After a little training session with uncle where he demonstrated the proper footing of some techniques as well as more useful moves when it came to defending, we finally got to talk about my adventure.
"You crashed it!"
"I didn't really crash it, I caused it to crash. There is a difference"
Iroh looked at me incredulously. "What could possibly be the difference?"
"The difference is on who was actually directing the balloon, if I was the one moving it then I would be the one crashing, but since I wasn't the one that determined the direction, I caused it to crash"
"Zuko the end result was a crash; it doesn't really matter how you word it"
I would disagree on that one, as someone who once studied law, I can safely say that the wording of any action or event is important.
"Let's agree to disagree on that, I learned a lot from watching the moves of the waterbenders, the way they move seamlessly from attack and defense is fascinating"
"I'm glad you think so, there is much to learn from other cultures" he threw me a look that I recognize from my previous life's parents, that teasing look when your kid finally gets a girl "speaking of learning from other cultures, I hope you weren't dishonest with your partner"
"I can assure you I was very open about myself with the princess" in less than a second, I was drenched in warm tea as my uncle was choking on the rest of it "Uncle this is disgusting, can someone please bring me a towel"
"I'm sorry Zuko but did you say princess, as in the princess of the water tribe?"
"Thank you" I said to the man that passed me the towel "Yes, it's not like I'm not a prince either"
"Isn't she your age?"
"yes" I looked at him very confused about his reaction "What's wrong?"
"It's just surprising from what I know she should be betrothed, maybe even married at her age, your status or Azula's is not really common"
"She is engaged" once more uncle chose to spit tea in my direction "Could you please stop that!"
"You knew about her engagement and still slept with her, that is not very honorable prince Zuko"
"The man she is engaged to is an idiot and she doesn't love him, I'm way better than him, besides she is favored by the moon spirits as I'm favored by the sun. it was meant to be"
"Even if the spirits approve, you must realize that marrying her may not be a possibility. Ozai could still choose a partner for you"
I doubt that, Ozai is still very angry that he didn't get the freedom to select his bride himself and for all that he enjoyed spending time with our family when I was still a child, he never escaped the ghost of my mother's first love.
"If anyone has to worry about that it's Azula"
"Azula is…temperamental and she has never been popular with the boys"
"She is still a beautiful princess, there has to be someone trying to get her affections, right?" I looked at Iroh who had a very sad look on his face
"I'm afraid that Azula may never get a partner Zuko, her personality is too domineering and volatile to form any long-lasting relationship, there were rumors at court that the reason Ozai did not strip you of your titles was that he feared his line may end if he did, as there were no interested parties trying to get Azula's hand then and I may be harsh in saying this but I doubt that has changed much"
Damn, no wonder she had such a frail psyche, she has spent so much time alone, at least I don't have to worry about any potential competition
"She must be very lonely"
"Azula is difficult to be around, and I know you may not want to hear it because you are still close even if you've been distant because of Ozai, but you may have to deal with her. She will not turn her back on Ozai"
"She is not a monster uncle; I know that I can convince her"
We spent more time in silence before the gloomy atmosphere was too much for me, I stood up and started throwing fire around, trying to distract my thoughts before I ended up changing my mind and setting course to the capital before the time came just to see her. I came here for her after all.
Coast of the Western Air Temple
Zuko
We were making incredible time, and soon would be near the coasts of the Fire Nation and while I was barred from coming back to the main island and the capital cities, I could still enjoy the rest of my nation.
The western air temple was shrinking behind us and everything was seemingly going according to plan, once more I found myself on the deck of the ship learning more about firebending and how to most effectively use the heat around me as a weapon.
"Can you feel the heat Zuko? Not the fire, only the heat, can you do it?"
I could if barely, I was at the other side of the deck and uncle had a little ball of fire on his hand and my job was to manipulate the heat without interfering with the flame.
"Yes, it's faint but I can feel it"
"Excellent, that is the first step to manipulating heat and I must say that you seem to have great talent for it, perhaps you will go farther than even Sozin himself and actually freeze something with firebending"
Now that would be the dream, learning how to control heat so effectively that I could sap it out of things in order to freeze them, if done to a human it could be just as fatal as the lack of air, the body would go into shock because of the changing temperature and lack of heat inside the body.
"I still need to learn much uncle, we have barely even started this, but I like your confidence"
"Zuko you've been learning at a fast pace, in fact I believe you to be the greatest genius that has ever been born in the Fire Nation's royal line, your talent is almost overwhelming, but I would expect nothing else of the one chosen by the sun"
There was the cry of a bird in the air, a messenger hawk was circling around our vessel and descending fast. It landed squarely on my uncle's shoulder, and he quickly took the message from its feet before reading it.
"'We are happy to invite you to the celebration planned for the anniversary of the victory against the Airbenders on Ember Island, we expect to see the prince after so long' it has the seal of the Fire Lord"
"We will have to go, ignoring his 'invitation' will bring trouble I'm not ready for, it's a good time as any to prove that the rumors that minister Qin must have spread are not rumors but the truth"
"Are you ready to see Ozai again after so long?"
"As ready as I'll ever be"
I didn't think that things would go this way, but opportunities arise from chaos and this party on Ember Island was going to be a chaotic event indeed.
Author note: i thank you for your patience everyone, today has been pretty hectic and well let's not talk about it, it may be a little short but i decided to push the political stuff forward before going into the south pole part of the story and i got this, as always you can find the next chapter on my and if you are a Patron then you should now that there is a poll to choose which story is getting an extra chapter there since we finally reached the first goal i set, right now Savage-Time is in the lead but if the ones that havent voted yet push towards a single story that may change, anyway i hope you're all in good health and that you have a nice night.
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