When the Wind was Reborn

Chapter One

Someone more poetic might have appreciated the scenery. It was ominous and exuded dread, but in an almost beautiful way - frozen wastes stretched out in every direction underneath a sky the colour of dust, penned in by reaching mountains reminiscent of splintered bones in the distance. Over the edge of the ship the water was like ink, shattered ice floes stark against its rippling surface. Zuko didn't have much of an eye for beauty, but the danger of the water captivated him - even from this height he could feel the deathly cold of it, and he thought that he had never seen water like it.

"This is a waste of my time," Lu Ten raged. He paced back and forth on the deck, hands clasped behind his back, brows knit together and his jaw clenched. "My father has only sent me on this fool's errand because he fears that I am too weak for war!"

"The Fire Lord," Zuko reminded his cousin pointedly. "Fears no such thing."

"Then why send me a hundred leagues away to find a legend that's been missing for a hundred years?" His cousin huffed in a way that was unbecoming of a man his age. "Why not send me to defend our lands from our enemies? The Earth Kingdom armies push at our borders, Water Tribe raiders sail up and down our rivers and the Air Nomad refugees are out there somewhere, biding their time!"

"He sends you here because he cannot risk losing the crown Prince of the Fire Nation, here you are beyond the reach of traitors and assassins," Zuko replied, but it wasn't the whole truth.

"The danger our people face is bigger than me!" Lu Ten insisted. "Just because I can't bend doesn't mean I can't be of use! I have a duty to our people to serve our nation in whatever way I can!" Zuko nodded his agreement - his cousin may have been a tad entitled, but he was a skilled warrior and had rare talent as a military tactician, he was an asset by anyone's standards.

"The Fire Lord is a good man, dutiful and wise," Zuko maintained. "You should trust that whatever he chooses is best for our nation and our people." Lu Ten wasn't without a point - whilst Zuko didn't know for sure, he suspected that Fire Lord Iroh was putting his duties as a father before his duties as Fire Lord and had chosen to forego his son's talents simply to keep him safe and out of the line of fire. Telling his cousin this would solve little, though, powerless as they were to change their predicament.

"And what of you, cousin?" Lu Ten turned to face him and fixed him with those dark, thoughtful eyes of his. He cut a figure, did his cousin, tall and imperious in his royal robes, handsome, fine-featured, with every bit the look of a prince. "Do you not yearn for battle? Do you not think an injustice done to you, denied the right to fight and to fulfil your duty?"

"My duty is to do as the Fire Lord bids," Zuko replied, almost automatically. "He bids me to protect my prince, so that has become my duty and I will do it without complaint."

"How very loyal of you," Lu Ten muttered, a vein of resentment in his voice. He opened his mouth to speak again but instead stumbled and cried out in fright as the ship shuddered and rocked with a crash. Zuko shifted his balance and managed to keep his feet but only barely, heart rate frantic and stomach knotted as adrenaline flooded his body. He whirled on the spot and cast his eyes around at once for whatever was attacking them, a pair of roaring flame daggers already in his hands.

Their small contingent of soldiers poured out of the cabin, spears in hand, but Lu Ten was already holding up a calming hand. "An iceberg, we simply hit an iceberg." He didn't look at them, his eyes were instead fixed over the edge, his attention caught by something. From the look in his eye it must be extraordinary, Zuko thought. He let the fire in his hands die and walked up to meet Lu Ten at the prow of the ship.

"It looks...different," Zuko said, squinting at the iceberg. It wasn't like the others he had seen, those looked ragged, like jagged hunks of stone, as though they had been torn from the south pole itself and tossed into the sea by a giant. This one was smooth, though, polished, as though it was sculpted by a man. There was a marking on it, Zuko noticed, and when he squinted at it a little longer he saw that it was a shadow.

"There's something inside," Lu Ten said quietly, looking at it in a mystified manner. Zuko felt something in his heart, a feeling that set his nerves to buzzing and had his hair standing on end, as though he was in the presence of something truly great.

"What's that noise?" Zuko strained and could just barely detect a crackling sound. A loud snap as a crack ran up the length of the iceberg startled the both of them and they shared a look. Lu Ten's hand went to the sword at his belt and Zuko conjured another pair of fire daggers in his hands, cautious, while he saw out of the corner of his eye the soldiers hefting their spears. The cracks on the iceberg spread, the sound of the ice splintering echoing through the air against the backdrop of the lapping water. Then, all at once, the iceberg buckled, sending pale mist everywhere, and they were assaulted by a howling wind, as though a cyclone had been trapped inside the ice. Zuko crouched low and grabbed the rail for support as the wind tore at him and he struggled to keep his feet, eyes shut against the wind and stinging flakes of ice.

"Hello?" A voice echoed, woven through with the sound of the whistling wind just as it died.

"Show yourself!" Lu Ten ordered, drawing his sword with a hiss of metal. Zuko stepped closer to his cousin, ready to defend his prince. His uncle's last words to him before they left on their voyage echoed in his mind, imploring him to keep his son safe. He would not fail in his duty.

"I'm not looking for trouble!" Came the voice again. High pitched, friendly, it seemed to Zuko - still, he didn't let his guard down, not yet. The mist cleared and standing there on the remains of the iceberg was a youth, not yet a man grown, some years Zuko's junior. He was short, slight and entirely bald, with yellow robes and blue arrows inked on his skin that both cousins recognized all too well. He looked completely and utterly harmless, with big, warm eyes and ears so big they could catch wind and sail a ship.

"Surrender, Air Nomad!" Lu Ten demanded, pointing his sword at the airbender. His soldiers were at his back a second later, spears all pointed inward at the youth. His eyes were wide, fearful, his hands up in a show of peace as he took a few steps back. Zuko's face was like stone and he raised his fire daggers in a display of threat, but there was something in the back of his mind whispering doubts and sowing unease. He was an airbender, the enemy, that much was true, but he was also a child, and one that meant them no harm. Still, they had little choice, he told himself - he might recognize Lu Ten and they couldn't take the chance of letting him go.

"But I haven't done anything wrong!" The airbender protested, confused and afraid, stepping back until his heels were at the edge of the ice and he was near to falling back into the freezing abyss below.

"He's a child," Zuko muttered out of the side of his mouth, so that only his cousin could hear. "Be gentle, don't frighten him or he might run."

"The Fire Nation is not gentle," Lu Ten dismissed him, then turned his attention back on the boy. "Surrender now, or you will die where you stand!"

"Don't kill him!" Zuko hissed. "He might have information!" He's just a child, Zuko thought once again, and at that moment that seemed far more significant than any information he might have. Lu Ten ignored him.

"Why are you doing this?" The boy didn't understand, and it was only making him panic. Zuko could see the set of his body and the look in his eye, he wasn't about to come onboard meekly like Lu Ten hoped.

"Men, seize him." The soldiers leapt over the railing, wielding fire, weapons in hand. They were skilled, the soldiers, among the best the Fire Nation had to offer - only the finest for the prince. The child moved like the wind, slipping and weaving his way through and around spearheads and gouts of flame, panic written on his face. He ducked and dodged, played evasion, but didn't seem to want to attack - not that he needed it, the soldiers were slipping and skidding, falling and bumping into each other, practically fighting themselves.

Zuko had had enough. He stepped onto the rail, jumped and jet stepped once, twice, three times then dropped down to join the fight from directly above. The child only saw Zuko's axe kick at the last second and ducked out the way, just as Zuko's heel came down and shattered a piece of ice instead. Zuko's swords came out with a glint of reflected light and the child brought out a staff to meet him. The blades didn't find purchase, the youth's staff clattered off the flats of the blades, checking each blown while also deflecting spear jabs and fireballs from the soldiers. He really was very good, Zuko thought, ahead of his years.

The child danced away, took a deep breath and let loose with a gale from his mouth that blew every soldier clear off the iceberg and into the frigid waters. Zuko kept his feet only by driving his swords into the ice like a pair of climbing picks and holding on for dear life. The youth looked up, relief on his face for just a split second before he realized that Zuko was still there. Zuko rushed him but it was like trying to pin the air to a tree, an impossible task. He roared and raged, thrusting and slashing, sending arcs of flame every which way, but the Air Nomad seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at once. His smaller opponent ducked, slipped under him and swept Zuko's legs out from under him, sending him crashing to the ground.

Several things happened at once. Zuko landed on his back and looked up at the airbender, whose staff was raised above his head, ready to deal him an incapacitating blow. Behind the youngster a soldier had crawled out of the waters, sodden and shivering, and crept up behind him, knife in hand. Then Lu Ten gave an order.

"Do it!" His cousin bellowed. Zuko kicked out with one foot and sent a jet of flame at the soldier, sending him stumbling, thrashing and screaming, and into the water once more. The airbender gave Zuko a look, his staff frozen above his head, then turned and leaped after a terse pause. His staff opened up into a pair of wings, a glider, and the airbender soared off into the distance.

Zuko climbed back up onto the deck, mind buzzing. He wasn't quite sure why he had done what he had done. The soldiers were at his back, clambering back up onto the deck, soaked and freezing, some so weakened from the water's cold bite that they were leaning on others for support.

"You!" Lu Ten's sword was out in a flash, the point grazing the hollow between Zuko's collarbones. He froze, eyes wide. "Why did you do that?" Lu Ten demanded, eyes blazing with a fire that he'd never wield himself.

"I just wanted to take him alive," Zuko lied. "He could have information." He knew it was a fragile excuse. Just a child, the words echoed in his head again.

"You are to follow my orders, not make up your own whenever you see fit! Do you understand me, little cousin?" Lu Ten's fury was only growing.

"Yes, my prince," Zuko replied, inclining his head as much as he was able to with the blade pointed at his throat. Lu Ten lowered his sword, a scowl still on his face.

"Make after the airbender, men, we can only assume he's an enemy - after all, what would an airbender be doing here?" The soldiers and officers set to moving sluggishly, still shivering from the bite of the cold sea, but move they did - the royal family weren't known to ask for things twice. Lu Ten didn't need to tell Zuko to stay out of his way.

Zuko wondered who the strange airbender was, and why he was out here in the middle of the frozen wastes. More than that, though, he wondered why he had spared the airbender and the fact that he had no answer for it was maddening.