Zuko

I had underestimated the Avatar.

I had underestimated the power he could bring to bear even as tired as he was, a giant tornado that was quickly soaking in the almost freezing water of the South Pole was before me, and even with all the strength I had I doubted that any of my clever tricks could stop it.

It made me envious; I wanted that kind of power.

"You will be judged by me!" the echo in his voice was as friendly as his words, that is to mean not at all, I looked at Iroh who for all his faith in the Avatar looked as shocked as me.

"But Avatar we haven't done anything" the words of Iroh seem to stop Aang but the moment of hesitation passes and the boy riding the tornado maneuvers it so we start getting dragged in.

"The only thing needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing! You deserve judgment" that seemed pretty hypocritical, but I wasn't about to say that to the twelve-year-old that was about to crush me with a tornado.

"But you ran away from your responsibility too!" Iroh, I will miss you dearly if Aang kills you and I will survive to sell the bald kid.

Two more tornados pop up and the ship is now caught in a whirlpool, while I can't see the water, I'm pretty sure that we've been caught in one given the fact that the ship is spinning.

I thought things couldn't be worse but then some of the soldiers on board lose their nerve and start attacking Aang who obviously is unharmed by their attacks as the tornado extinguishes the fire before it can touch him.

The twister on the left side picks up one of the offending soldiers and throws him overboard, I don't hesitate for a second in going after him. I land in the water and barely shiver at the coldness, it doesn't take me long to see the sinking figure of the soldier who entered into shock from the difference in temperature, it takes me a few seconds to catch up to him but as soon as he is close I start making the water around us warmer.

I wasn't going to let Aang kill any of my men, if I kept them all alive I could press them into silence but if one or more died then the others would talk no matter what I did or said to them. Killing them was not an option with my uncle around and I felt somewhat responsible for the men after spending so much time with them.

I made my way closer to the ship and once there I shouted for a ladder, once the ladder had been put, I took the soldier out of the water and passed him to the other firebenders to keep until he stabilized.

"This isn't what I thought would happen when I decided to talk" I spoke casually to my uncle who was throwing fire at the mini tornados the Avatar was sending his way.

"Zuko forget about that and help me! I'm not young anymore" Iroh said so, but I doubted that I would be doing much better than him, then again, I get stronger if I fight with someone stronger than me.

Wasting no time, I launched a barrage of fire at the base of the tornados hoping to disrupt the air currents, it worked for about two seconds before Aang noticed what I was doing, and he adjusted his attacks to include water.

"That isn't fair at all" I murmured under my breath, Iroh shot me a look though and I think he might have heard me. the only good thing about our skirmish was that I felt my ability to control water het better.

"Zuko I have an idea cover me" Iroh retreated a few steps and I was forced to endure several direct attacks by the Avatar a huge wave of water tried to take me off the ship but it was quickly stopped by me doing the freezing trick again.

The Avatar looked at me with glowing eyes and a tilt in his head and I soon realized the mistake of showing the Avatar in the Avatar state a technique he hadn't seen before, the once clear sky was suddenly full of clouds dragged from somewhere else and the cold air got colder as Aang used what he had learned from me to make the world colder.

Snow started falling, slowly at first but quickly it picked up speed, and after barely a minute it was hailing quite strongly. Thankfully for my life expectancy, Iroh was done and he had both his hands covered in lightning, it was more than I had ever seen in the hands of one person in the cartoon and I quickly drop to my stomach and hugged the floor.

It proved to be the correct choice as the arc of lightning stretched to the space I used to be, the attack pierced the twin tornados at the Avatar's side and made them disappear, it also focused the attention of the Avatar on Iroh.

"Avatar! Calm down, I know that you're angry, and rightfully so, but we're as innocent as you" I felt we were more innocent as theoretically, he could have stopped the Fire Nation at least in the Southern Air Temple.

It seemed like Iroh's words had some effect as the Avatar descended from his place at the top of the tornado, Aang stood proudly and confidently, nothing like he was before the revelation, and I suspected that it wasn't Aang in control right now.

"If I find out you're lying then I will send you on a one-way trip to the spirit world" Aang then faints, Iroh and I look at each other hoping for an idea but both of our hopes as dashed as we meet eyes with each other.

"Someone should tell them that nothing bad happened" Iroh is the first to find an excuse to leave but this works for me as I wanted to talk with Katara alone.

Speaking of who, I tell one of the soldiers to go and get Katara and the others that the deck needs to be cleaned before the snow piles up higher.

Katara comes out running from the ship and I wave at her with Aang's limp arm, she opens her mouth but before she can say anything Aang sneezes in his sleep and is sent meters up in the air.

"He received some bad news and decided to sleep on it" Katara looks at me confused but nods, I catch Aang and set him down on my uncle's seat.

"I want you to answer my question"

I look down as I take one of her hands "I'm sorry but they're dead"

Katara breaks down sobbing and she tries to hit me a few times but in the end she settles on crying.

"Why? Why would you kill them?"

"I don't condone their deaths but there was a reason, someone escaped"

"Someone escapes and you kill your prisoners!" she screams at my face and the snow on the deck shifts menacingly for a second.

"I had no part in their deaths, I was as young as you were then and had no power but like I said I don't like that it happened. I investigated why and who did it, right now I can't remember who exactly, but I know why and it was because of a prisoner" I take a breath before continuing.

"You remember the day that they came for the last waterbender of the south" at her nod I continue "they came because they had information that the prisoner had returned to the tribe, it was a lie. I know where she is, she spread that rumor herself to escape the Fire Nation, she sacrificed one of your people to live"

"But what did she do that was so bad that you killed all your prisoners?!"

"She bent blood"

"…What?"

"That's how she escaped the prison, on a full moon when the waterbenders are at their strongest she acted, she took control of the prison guards and freed herself and killed everyone and everything in her way to freedom. She was so dangerous that a full ship was sent to capture her"

"Why didn't she free the others if she killed the guards? And why did the Fire Nation react so badly?"

"No one knows why she didn't free the others, perhaps they didn't approve of her new abilities or maybe she just didn't want to help them, as for the other thing, well, can you imagine knowing that there is someone that can control your body, puppeteer it so you can feel as you kill yourself but are unable to stop. It's terrifying. They hunted her out of fear and accepted that she had been killed with the sacrifice of your fellow tribe member as truth because they hoped it was the truth"

I had dropped a lot of information on Katara and her emotions were fighting, she tried to talk several times but would end up just screaming and looking another way.

Katara marched up right into my face held me by the collar of my robe and screamed out "tell me who killed my mother!"

"I don't know who did it, but I can find out. We're not returning to the South Pole though, if you want answers you will have to come with us, but I can make sure that someone brings you back once your business is done" that would give me enough time to add her to my collection.

Katara responded to my words by getting off the ship.


Author note: Wolo my people, i'm back again and as always i hope you're in good health and that the chapter i gave you was to your liking. As always my is below and i will see you next wednesday.