After leaving Omashu, the Gaang continue their journey towards the north pole heading east north east away from Omashu. As the sun begins to make its way beneath the horizon once again, Aang brings them down for a stop in a small forest near a mining town in the eastern earth kingdom. "Ok Zuko, your airbending so far is pretty good but it definitely needs some work. You're still firebending when you go to move the air and its making you strain to actually bend it." Aang begins as he hops off the back of Appa and slowly descends to the ground. "Hey Sokka, can you set up camp? I'm gonna give Zuko a new lesson in airbending."
"Yeah yeah sure, you two airheads get to go and play with the breeze and leaves while I do all the work." Sokka responds sarcastically, giving Aang the stink eye. Zuko merely grabs one of the bags on the back of Appa and slides down the bison's tail to the ground.
"It isn't that hard Sokka, besides Zuko already grabbed the tents, it's just the ropes and bedding left." Katara encourages before grabbing what's left of their food and water supplies and climbing down Appa.
"I thought I was already over that problem, but when I fought Bumi there was a few times that I ended up firebending instead of airbending." Zuko questions as he sets down the rolled tents and follows Aang up a small hill to a clearing.
"Yeah, but I think I know why that keeps happening, it should be an easy fix though. It starts with your movements and breathing. Air and Fire are linked, Fire can't burn without air and Air moves because of the heat of fire and the sun. It moves in circular movements around and through anything in its path. That's why the monks told me it is the element of freedom." Aang begins as he sits cross legged facing Zuko. "Airbending is from the breath first and then flows through your movements. You are trying to control and keep it from doing what it wants."
"My uncle said something similar about firebending. He said it comes from the breath and not the muscles, but I have to control fire. If not, it'll go out of control and burn everything." Zuko responds taking a seat in front of his airbending master.
"You can't treat airbending like it's firebending. Air naturally evades and moves out of the way of trees, land and even people. Even now we can feel the wind flowing through the trees and around us. Air likes to move in spiraling motions, twisting every which way and flowing around anything in its path." The air nomad continues. "First things first. You need to relax, if you're tense you can't bend air as well. Let's start today with simple meditation." Aang begins by leading the meditation with Zuko. Closing his eyes and breathing in deeply.
Zuko copies Aang's lead and closes his eyes trying to focus on the air around him. Slowing his breathing and concentrating. Around the two the air starts to flow with their meditation and breathing. Sokka's tent he's trying to set up ends up falling over due to their unconscious airbending. "Ugh! Will you two jerks stop with the jerk bending and come help us! The least you could do is help us take stock of provisions." Zuko twitches his face in annoyance at Sokka's complaining.
"Ugh! Fine, I'll help! Its a wonder how you survived in the arctic when you cant set up an agni damned tent by yourself!" Zuko yells abruptly standing and storming over to Sokka. Aang sighs seeing his pupil storm off towards Sokka.
"Finally. Here, go through the bags to see if we still have some smoked meat left." Sokka grins now that Zuko is helping and hands him a sack that feels so light it's practically empty.
"Sokka this thing is empty! There's only three nuts in here. Why are you wasting my time?" Zuko shouts, as he turns the bag onto the ground, 2 walnuts and a single almond fall out of the bag and onto the ground. "And there's a stupid rock in here!" During Zuko's tirade Momo flies over and steals one of the walnuts and skitters off towards a rock in the clearing. Momo raises the walnut with both hands and smacks it on the rock trying to crack it open. Suddenly a massive boom echoes through the woods alerting the other four.
"What was that?!" Sokka yells, turning to face Zuko and Aang who are just as shocked.
"Don't look at me! Aang responds, across from him Momo bounces the walnut on the rock again with no large boom happening. It's only when he does it a third time does the sound once again echo through the wood. Momo jumps back in fright and hisses at the walnut and flies off towards Appa for protection.
"Let's go see where it's coming from, someone might be in trouble!" Katara says taking off in the direction of the noise. Zuko and Aang are quick to follow her into the woods leaving Sokka trailing behind them.
"You know it's customary to run away from large booms!" Sokka calls off after them, drawing his sword and running.
Sprinting through the trees the Gaang comes across a small empty river bed, continuing up the small stream at the bottom a rock is suddenly thrown into the riverbed itself. Hiding around the corner Aang, Katara, Sokka and Zuko pop their heads around a corner to see what is going on. The quartet is greeted by the sight of a young man gabred in earth kingdom clothing going through the motions to lift a stone from the ground and levitate it in front of him. Punching the stone in a rigid stance sends the rock flying into the riverbed. Turning and stomping his foot on the ground causes three more small boulders to levitate out from it before being thrown into the riverbed like the others.
"He's an earthbender! Maybe he's friendly?" Aang asks, turning to face Zuko and then Katara. "We could ask him to be Zuko's earthbending teacher since he still needs one." He suggests.
"That's all well and good but we still need to be ca-" Sokka says before stopping as he watches his sister rush out from behind cover and towards the young earth bender.
"Hey! I'm Katara! What's your name?!" She calls out yelling to the man. The earthbender turns and looks at her in horror. His pupils shrink as the adrenaline kicks in, his emerald green eyes filled with fear upon seeing Katara. He turns and sprints down the riverbed away from them before causing it to collapse behind him blocking their path.
"Well that could have gone better." Sokka once again sarcastically snides his sister walking up to her.
"On the bright side we have to go to the village anyways so we can get supplies and not have to eat nuts for dinner. Hopefully when we're there we can find him." Katara responds getting Sokka to deadpan and glare at her as she follows in the direction where the young man ran off to.
"Plus we can get more meat for me to smoke so it'll stay and we don't have to stop again so soon." Zuko suggests patting Sokka on the shoulder and following Katara. "When we're in the village. Remember to call me Lee. Don't screw this up like in Omashu."
An hour's journey west of their camp the four finally come across a small village. Tucked away in the middle of the woods, buildings of stones and shoppes of the same like all sit protected by a short wall. The river bed from earlier had opened up to a large rushing river where boats and trade came in and out. Getting down to the entrance, with Zuko and Sokka looking about for food Aang and Katara go around looking for the man that they had seen earlier. The earthbender that they had seen earlier sneaks inside a corner store but not without being spotted by Katara, even through the hustle and bustle of the city goers. After seeing the man enter the store, they regroup before entering the store.
"Haru! Where have you been? You were supposed to be helping with the shipment of goods but instead you disappeared for 4 hours." Haru's mother, an older woman behind the counter of the small store yells at her son.
"I was out in the woods, near the mines." Haru answers just as the Gaang enters the small shop. Haru turns to look at the group who had just entered, his eyes widened with horror yet he doesn't let his expression show it.
"Hey, you're the earthbender from earlier." Katara greets, happily walking up to Haru who backtracks upon her greeting her.
"What?!" Haru's mother questions hearing what Katara had said.
"Sh-she's mistaken, you're probably thinking of someone else." Haru tries to defend but the others continue.
"No we're not mistaken, you were the earthbender from the riverbed. We wanted to talk to you." Aang continues, causing Haru to look to his mother, who is mortified at what Haru has done. Giving her son a stern look she heads over to the windows and closes the shutters before closing the door as well.
"Haru! You know that Earthbending is forbidden!" His mother raises her voice slightly but not loud enough to alert passers by.
"You can't forbid him from earthbending. It's like keeping me from waterbending or Aang from airbending!" Katara protests when a sudden knock at the door is heard. Sokka quickly rushes over to the shutters and opens it a hair to peer outside.
"The firenation is here." He whispers before ducking down again under the blinds. "Lee, you need to hide. Go into the closet." Sokka exclaims before shoving him into a side room much to Zuko's protest. "Act Natural." Sokka responds as Haru's mother heads over to the door to let the firenation soldiers inside the shop. As they enter the shop, Sokka is posed next to Haru pretending like he is talking to him. Katara is holding an arm full of crabapples and eating one and Aang is posed on a barrel smiling at the soldiers. However the lid of the barrel snaps and he ends up soaking himself in water.
"W-what are you doing here? I've already given you your payment for the week." She pleads as the firebenders enter her shop.
"We've just gotten word that the firelord has doubled the taxes for the colonies and occupied regions. I'm here to collect the rest. You wouldn't want an accident happening right?" The bearded firebender states creating a controlled flame between his hands. "Fire is such a difficult element to control."
"Fine. Fine. Just put that out. I'll give you what we have for the day." Haru's mother pleads, causing the firebender to snuff out the flames he is creating. "This is all we have." She says bringing over a small coin chest with only a handful of small coins. He rummaged through what's there grabbing each of the coins before counting them out. Once done he separates the coppers from the silvers before dropping them on the ground.
"You can keep the coppers. The next taxes are due on the first of the week." He responds, motioning for the other soldiers to exit the shop.
"Nice guy." Sokka responds sarcastically as Zuko falls out of the closet before being smacked on the top of the head by a broom. "How long has the firenation been occupying the town for?"
"Yeah, why haven't you or the other earthbenders fought back yet?" Katara continues.
"Because they've all been taken away by the firenation and the reason why I've forbidden Haru from earthbending is because they can take him too! Just like his father." Haru looks away from them at the mention of his father.
"Well that's no reason not to lose hope. We were going to ask if Haru could come with us and teach the avatar earthbending!" Katara says walking up to the older woman and pleading with her to allow him to join them.
"The Avatar… the avatar has returned… are you?" Haru's mother asks Aang, prompting the young airbender to shake his head no.
"No, he means me." Zuko says collecting himself from the floor and dusting himself off from being shoved into the broom closet by Sokka.
"What nation did you come from? Which step in the avatar cycle are you?" Haru asks, looking over to Zuko and studying the scarred man.
"Don't freak out… but I'm a firebender. I was born in the colonies. I am Avatar Lee." Zuko says using his allious. Before Haru and his mother react Zuko demonstrates this fact by airbending Aang dry of the water he spilt on himself, then creating a small flame on the tip of his finger and relighting the candle that he had blown out with the air.
"So it's true… The avatar has returned… y…you can't stay here even if you're the avatar you're still a firebender." Haru's mother quickly tries to kick them out of the store before Aang stands in her way.
"Please. Lee isn't like any of the other firebenders, he's the key to restoring peace but he needs an earthbending teacher. Maybe we can prove to you he isn't a bad guy." Aang pleads finally getting the older woman to relent.
"Fine. But it depends on what Haru thinks of the matter, if you were to start teaching him it would have to be far away from the city where nobody could hear or see you." She relents, after this Aang pays for some fruits with some of the money that King Bumi had given them before leaving the store with Haru and the others.
Heading back out to where Haru was training, Zuko is lost in thought as he follows Haru and Katara who are speaking with each other on what they have lost. Zuko does however hear when Katara mentions that the firenation took away her mother. That fact hit him like a flying bison at full speed. He had yet to tell any of the others of his past, who scarred him and his most vulnerable side. What he hangs onto no matter how hard things get. He always held onto the memory of his mother, the memories of times where they were a family. The times long since past. His goal now is to try to regain that, regaining his honor so that they could be a family once again. Part of him, though in the recesses of his mind, knows that this is a fantasy, but he doesn't want to admit it to himself yet. It's only when he practically walks into Haru does he snap out of his train of thought.
"I don't like firebenders, let's make that fact clear, but I hope I can trust you. You're the avatar, the hope of the world. Your job is to learn the elements, you already know fire right? And you're learning air right now. So let's get started." Haru begins by showing Zuko a wide sturdy stance, similar to that of firebending katas. "In order to earthbend you need a wide sturdy stance, to be unmovable like the earth normally is."
"That's… the complete opposite to how airbending is." Zuko comments, studying how Haru is standing and then copying it. Shuffling his feet out further apart and holding his arms in next to his sides.
"That's a good stance to begin with, now follow along with what I do." Haru begins lifting his left foot and planting it firmly in front of him. Shifting his arms so that his left arm is flexed, pointing upwards, his opposite arm is pointed towards the ground and flexed in a similar manner to his opposite arm. The shift in the stance causes a small rock to be ejected from the soil as he stamps his foot. Afterwards Haru shifts his stance and punches the boulder with his right arm. "Now, copy as I do. Take the same solid stance and follow my movements to the letter."
Zuko breathes in deeply, calming himself before stamping forwards and shifting his arms in the same manner that Haru did. Katara is perched on the river bank watching the two start the lesson. Her eyes widen in amazement as Zuko's stance and actions succeed in lifting a stone from the dried up river. Surprising even himself, Zuko let's slip a smile in awe of what he's doing before punching the rock. However he doesn't realize that Haru is right in front of him and he punches the small boulder right into him. Zuko's eyes widen in realization but he calms down when Haru catches the boulder with his hand and grins at the avatar.
"Good, you're a fast learner Lee. It took me weeks to figure out the basics but you're picking it up quickly." Haru is shocked at how quickly Zuko picked up the mere basics of earth bending. "Let's move on to some mobility. You can use earthbending to create platforms to launch yourself off of. Like so." Haru shows by crouching down into a squat before flexing his arms downwards against the rocks below. This causes the rocks under his feet to protrude upwards propelling him off the top as he finishes the jump and up on top of the river bed. "Oh and if you try to climb out the normal way I'm gonna earth bend you back down."
"You don't have to be rude." Katara says over Haru's shoulder prompting the earth-bender to turn to her.
"You can't look for ways to get around the problem when it comes to earth bending. You have to face it bluntly and head on." He replies before turning his attention back to watch Zuko. "Remember. Wide stance and rigid. You're not getting out of there till you earth bend yourself out."
"Hmm." Zuko mumbles in thought before copying the same stance as Haru did. Squatting down with his arms tucked in towards his sides and pushing off on the ground and flexing both arms towards the soil. This causes another pillar of rock to raise from underneath him pushing him off the ground as he follows through with the jump. However when Zuko tries it he ends up jumping too high and ends up crashing into the trees.
"I guess you'll need to work on it a little bit but I'm impre-" Haru is interrupted by a sudden loud bang echoing through the woods. Haru turns towards the sound with his eyes widening in shock. "THE MINE!" He shouts in realization, taking off in the direction of the town's coal mine.
"Hey wait up, we can help too!" Katar shouts, picking Zuko up off the ground and following the direction Haru ran off in.
"It just had to be when I was learning earth bending." Zuko grumbles to himself before getting to his feet and following the two of them.
As the three sprint in the direction of the mine, they follow the snaking path of the river bed. Haru sprinted as fast as he could, shortly followed by Katara and then Zuko who had to use airbending to catch up with the others. Rounding the last bend in the riverbed he came across the collapsed entrance to the mine, an elderly man calling out for help crushed under the rubble dirt and stones of the mine. "P-please… help me!" he shouts in a frail voice, wincing in pain from the rubble on top of him. Seeing the man in danger, the trio make their way to the entrance of the mine where the man is trapped. Zuko and Haru make an attempt to try to pull him out from under the rubble. Switching with Katara, Haru slams his shoulder into the rocks trying to push them off of him.
"Ugh! It's no use! Lee, Haru, you're the only ones who can help him." Katara pleads to the two of them. Haru looks to Lee who nods before the earth bender and avatar back away from the mine. Following Haru's movements to the letter, Zuko widens his stance and extends his arms away from himself before flowing his right arm to his left then foisting both forwards in tandem with haru. This causes the collapsed rocks to be thrown down the mineshaft freeing the man.
"Y… you saved me! Thank you." he says, walking up to the two and bowing to them.
"If you want to thank us, you'll keep the fact we used earth bending from the soldiers." Lee says in a stern tone, helping the man to his feet. "Think what would happen to you if the townspeople figure out you betrayed the avatar?"
"You? You're the avatar? Oh! Thank you, thank you for saving me, young avatar. In truth there is a reward out for any information leading to the arrest of earth benders, but I'll keep your secret safe. I promise." He thanks profusely, causing Haru to raise an eye towards Zuko as the man walks away.
"Why did you tell him that?" Haru questions as the three head back towards the town. "He could turn you in instead!"
"Because, I don't trust him. I had a feeling he'd betray us." Zuko counters by talking under his breath out of earshot of the old man.
"I might have an idea, they're taking away earthbenders to some sort of prison right?" Katara asks, shifting the tone of the conversation.
"Yeah, they're taken to a prison out to sea, fire-navy ships go in and out of the harbor with prisoners heading there. You can see a smoke stack off in the distance that isn't moving. That's probably where they're taking the others." Haru responds, causing Katara to bring a finger to her chin in thought.
"We can't afford Lee getting captured and we promised your mom that you wouldn't either but, what if we devise a plan to get me arrested for earth bending?" Katara suggests getting both Haru and Zuko to stare at her in total confusion.
"Katara, that idea is insane and isn't going to work. First off you're a water bender, secondly there's a chance they already have taken enough earth benders for the prison and may just outright kill you instead of taking you prisoner." Katara's expression fades when Zuko says this. "However, that doesn't mean we can't do anything. What we could do is follow one of the ships from the port and follow them to wherever they're bringing the earth benders. From there we free them under the cover of night."
"From there we can free my father."
"Lee you were a part of the firenation why do you want to do this?" Katara asks, shocked that Zuko of all people came up with this idea.
"They're using the earth benders as slaves." Zuko says firmly. "My mother taught me from a young age that slavery is unforgivable and she hated the fact that the firenation kidnapped waterbenders and earthbenders to work in our shipyards and factories. If I'm going to set the world right, this will be the first step."
"We need a plan to infiltrate the prison or wherever they're taking the earthbenders. Any ideas?" Katara begins, taking a seat on a rock and grabbing a stick to begin drawing up the plan.
"They're most likely being taken to an offshore shipyard where they're building ships for the firenation navy. Some place where it's completely made of metal and where they can't bend. However they can bend, they have to refine the metal at the shipyard rigs out at sea so there's plenty of coal there being used to melt down iron ore into steel. The mines around here are all coal mines, since we've seen the soldiers taking shipments of coal from the town to the docks as we were leaving." Zuko says, drawing out a rough guess of what the shipyard prison rig looks like in the dirt.
"From there, Haru and I can sneak in and try to convince the earthbenders to escape when we get access to the coal, but how are we going to do that?" Katara questions leading the three to ponder in thought for a moment.
"Since the forges require fire, and fire requires air to burn, there's bound to be a ventilation system of some sort for the forges and for the coal to siphon any of the dust out and away from the workers. Maybe we can use that to our advantage." Haru surmises getting the other two to agree to the idea.
"We'll have to wait and see once we get there. We should head back to your mother's farmhouse. We'll leave under the cover of night. Around midnight." Katara suggests, before wiping away the dirt with her foot and standing up. "We'll need Aang and Sokka for this too."
"I'll bring them up to speed when we get back there." Haru suggests as he gets up and begins walking back towards the village, leaving Katara and Zuko alone.
"I didn't think firebenders knew right from wrong." Katara says after Haru leaves, getting Zuko to turn and face her. "I always thought they were all warmongers."
"My mother wasn't. She hated what we were doing, hated that she had to marry my father and hated the way he treated me. My father said that I was lucky to be born and that my sister was born lucky. He thinks she's the Avatar and has servants come to her every beck and call." He rants before taking a deep breath and looking her in the eyes. "Katara, I'm still conflicted about actively going against the firenation, the only reason I fought against Zhao because he was trying to capture me and he was going to burn down that city. I'm on this journey to regain my honor, to become a fully realized avatar so I can absolve my own banishment. But that's the problem! People are depending on me to end the war but... can I really go against my home? What if they brand me a traitor and I can never return home?" Katara listens quietly to the questions Zuko is asking, thinking what to respond with. Her attention is drawn to the gnarled burned scar on the left of his face, his amber colored eye having turned an off milky white over the pupil.
"How did you get the scar?" She asks, causing him to turn and look shocked at her abrupt question.
"I got it a duel, against my father. He maimed and banished me for speaking out of turn in a war meeting. Challenged me to an Agni Kai, a fire duel, when I was only thirteen." He answers, almost under his breath but it was just loud enough to be picked up by Katara. She stays silent for a moment taking in the information. "Im blind and deaf on that side now." A moment of silence passes between the two, as Katara resists the urge to lean up and touch his scar.
"Zuko... you said that your mother hated what the firenation was doing...What would she do if she was in your place?" Zuko turns to face her with his resolve hardened and answers her.
"She'd do what's right." Zuko says sternly.
As the sun begins to dip behind the horizon, Haru leads the quartet into the stables beside the house. "My mother said you can stay in here for the evening, we only have two rooms in the house." Haru says, as he opens the doors revealing the small barn with a large hay pile in the corner of the room. "Lee, Katara? Can you bring the others up to speed on what we're going to do?"
"Yeah, we'll let them know, and we'll make sure Appa doesn't eat all your hay." Katara responds queuing the flying bison to look over at her and Haru with a mouthful of hay. He stares at them for another moment before continuing to munch on it. Hair brings in some blankets and a small cooking stove for a fire to be safely burned under before returning inside for the evening.
"So what's this plan you and your new bending teacher came up with, Zuko? Are you replacing Aang or something?" Zuko just ignores this comment from Sokka, opting to instead focus on lighting the fire so they can prepare their dinner and maybe some tea as well.
"We're going to free the earthbenders that the firenation has taken prisoner and are using as slaves to build their ships. Zuko said that the ploom of smoke off the coast is where they're being held. It's a firenation shipyard. Our plan is to rally the earthbenders, get the coal fueling the furnaces and use it to help them escape the prison." Aang and Sokka sit silently for a moment thinking about what she said.
"And who came up with this plan exactly? It definitely wasn't prince hotfoot over here." Zuko groans at Sokka's pestering before placing a pot above the fire on the cooking stand.
"For your information Sokka, it was Zuko's idea." Katara proclaims a matter of factly causing Sokka's mouth to drop to the floor upon hearing that statement from his sister. He stammers out a bewildered response pointing at Zuko, trying to form any sort of coherent form of speech.
"Yes, I came up with the plan, but I don't want them recognizing me. If that happens, then I'll be branded a traitor to my home and I'll never be able to return." Zuko responds, stirring the pot with a stick that he had carved. "Not all firebenders are evil. My mother was a very gifted firebender and a kind woman."
"What about commander mutton chops who attacked us at Kyoshi Island?" Sokka questions.
"Commander Zhao is a narcissist and an idiot."
"Speaking of that, why did you think he was the avatar?"
"It's because the fire sages believe that if my sister wasn't the fire avatar, it would be an airbender. I'm sure now that they lied to me about that. Zhao on the other hand, he does as he pleases, he's only under the generals and admirals in rank. He probably thinks capturing the Avatar would put him either in the fire lord's personal advisor board or even get my father to name him his successor. It's all about the glory for him." The banished prince responds, sitting back on the dirt floor of the barn and draping an arm over his eyes.
"Do you really think they'll let you come home when you master all four elements?"
"I hope so, but a part of me is afraid that once they learn what I am, they'll try to kill me." Zuko warms up his hands with a small puff of fire from his mouth, keeping his extremities warm as he slowly lets exhaustion take over.
Katara watches the teen Avatar as she drapes a blanket over her body. "Well, for what it's worth, we'll always be here if everything doesn't work out at home." She says, unfurling his brown hair and letting it fall behind her. "And if they attack, we'll be right there with you."
"Thank you, Katara." With one last smile, Zuko and the rest of the gaang fall asleep, hopeful for the prison break they were about to do.
Zuko turns over onto his scarred side, sleeping with his other ear out in the open so that he can hear better. When around those he trusted, like his uncle and new friends, he slept on the side without the scar. This decision would alert him to the rhythmic stomping of boots in the night. His eyes snap open when he hears the marching and he springs up from his spot on the hay. He climbs over the sleeping form of Appa up towards a window at the top of the barn looking for the incoming soldiers. Almost 2 dozen of them were being led by the captain from earlier in the day and the elderly man that he had helped Haru rescue from the mine collapse. He sees them knock on the door to Haru's home, he watches on in utter silence and disbelief as the old man points out Haru and the soldiers grab him. Part of him however was relieved to see they shackled him and didn't kill him right then and there.
"That miserable old bastard. He sold us out for a lousy ten gold pieces." Zuko curses to himself under his breath before sliding down Appa's tail and towards Aang. Zuko puts a hand over Aang's mouth causing the airbender to snap awake almost instantly. He looks around the dim room surprised before Zuko holds up a finger to his lips. "They're taking Haru. We need to move." He whispers getting the airbender to nod before blowing the sleeping bags off of both Sokka and Katara. Both watertribe siblings spring up from the sudden rush of cold air from Aang before seeing Zuko holding his finger to his mouth telling them to keep quiet. Appa lets out a low groan as he's woken up by Aang who climbs atop his reigns and Momo chirps upon being picked up by Katara. The four wait silently as the guards lead Haru away in shackles before discreetly opening the door to the barn and leading Appa outside.
"Appa. Quietly. Yip Yip." Aang coaxes, getting Appa to raise his tail and slam it back down, propelling him and the team into the sky with hardly a woosh of air. Below them, Zuko watches leaning off of Appa's head at the lanterns lighting the way for the soldiers.
"That old gasbag betrayed us. I knew we couldn't trust him." Zuko grumbles, half tempted to give the disgusting old man a fireball for his troubles. "Some of them just checked the barn as well, they were definitely after us."
"What we need to do now is wait and follow them, they'll take us right to the other earthbenders." Sokka responds by getting Zuko to sit back in Appa's saddle. "I'll keep up with them and stay awake, knowing our previous track record we probably have a fight ahead of us."
"Alright, just don't fall off, Sokka." Aang replies switching spots with the water tribe warrior allowing him to take Appa's reins. The young airbender sits back against the rim of Appa's saddle, bringing one of the rolled tents under his head for a blanket.
Through the cover of night they fly hundreds of feet above the soldiers, watching as they make their way from the home above the town down the roads towards it. The lights below bouncing in rhythm with the soldiers' footsteps. Sokka leans over the side of Appa's head to make sure they're still on the right trail. He watches as they make their way through the darkened town, the light of the moon illuminating only the vague shapes below. Sokka observes as the soldiers continue through the city then towards the port near the coast. From there the light of the lanterns is replaced by the lights on the bridge of the ship as it raises it's anchor and sets sail from the coal town port and out to sea. He hardly realized how much time had passed as he follows the slow moving ship from the air, however it doesn't take long for the first rays of light to project over the horizon. The warmth of the morning sun raises Zuko first out of the ones still sleeping. The firebender stretching before breathing out a small puff of fire to warm his cold body.
"Jeez! Don't do that!" Sokka yells but Zuko ignores him, opting to yawn widely before rubbing his unblemished eye. "Why did you do that anyways?"
"We're thousands of feet in the air and I'm cold."
"You're wearing 2 parkas."
"I'm cold." Zuko grumbles shifting along Appa's saddle towards Sokka, being careful not to wake Aang and Katara. "Can you see the rig yet?" He asks, gently rubbing his burned eye to wipe away the blurriness of his vision.
"We're probably a few miles from it, but you can see the smoke plumes from here, we're getting close, and the boat is speeding up." Sokka responds, seeing the boat now ahead of them. "Go wake Aang and Katara, we'll be there soon." Zuko shifts back to where the two were sleeping before nudging Katara on the shoulder.
"Aaagh… it's too early." She groans feeling the paradise of her dreamscape leave her returning her to reality.
"We're almost there." Zuko responds, causing her to groan even more before stretching and sitting up. Her hair wild with bedhead having fallen asleep with her hood up the night before. "Wake up airhead." Zuko says nudging Aang and getting nothing.
"I didn't take him to be a heavy sleeper." Zuko grumbles before flicking his wrist and blowing a gust of cold air in Aang's face. "Come on airhead we're about to get there." Sokka calls out. The gust of air to the face was what woke the young airbender, who was none too pleased about having been woken up. However his displeasure in the matter leaves him shortly as he rubs his eyes and stretches as well. "I'm not sure how to land so you're gonna have to do it Aang."
"Hopefully we'll be done in time for breakfast, I could really go for some rice porridge." Aang says in his usually chipper attitude, switching places with Sokka.
"Well you're gonna have to settle for some bread, mango or nuts for the moment since you don't want any of the smoked fish we have." Katara says offering Aang one of the bags of food. The young airbender withdraws a mango and a bit of bread before retying the bag and passing it back.
"Anyone need a reminder on what the plan is for today?" Sokka asks, digging into a piece of smoked salmon that Zuko had prepared for them the previous night.
"I think we're good but the prisoners might need convincing." Katara reasons.
"They've been here for over five years by this point, a simple speech won't be enough to rally them, they'll need an example. What I'm thinking is that you sneak into the base and gather all of the prisoners in the yard and distract the guards." The others nod, hearing the explanation from Sokka as Aang flicks the reins and causes Appa to speed up and descend towards the rig.
"Well a speech wouldn't work anyways, it'd be almost impossible to sneak into where the prisoners are being held. Our best bet is to sneak into the ventilation and then expel all the coal into the yard. We'll have to figure out which vents if any lead there as well. We can't do this stealthily unless it was still night time, so we're going to go in there fires blazing." Aang, Momo Katara and Sokka stared blankly at Zuko who arches his remaining eyebrow at their confused looks. "What? Was it something I said?"
"Yeah… fires… blazing?" Aang questions, he too raises an eyebrow at this.
"It's an expression." Zuko says sheepishly. "Just forget I said it."
"If we're done wasting more time, let's go rescue Haru and the others."
"Why'd you specify Haru? Is he your Boyfriend?" Sokka earns himself a backhand from his sister for this statement.
"Stop fooling around and hold on, Aang take us lower." Aang taking her orders, flicks the reins on Appa's horns causing the flying bison to descend. "Take us into the smoke, we'll use it as cover."
"I'll bend us, or try at least, some air to keep from breathing in that crap." Zuko says quickly standing up in Appa's saddle and beginning one of the katas that Aang had taught him.
Aang feels a bit of pride knowing his teachings are resonating and finally starting to click for the reluctant avatar. Though his technique could still use a little work, Aang switches from watching Zuko flow his arms about his body swirling the air around them and the smoke away. While it is far from perfect, the sphere of air Zuko is generating is enough to keep the smoke from the plant out of their lungs and faces, though there isn't much they can do about the smell of burning coal. Now completely inside the smoke emanating from the ploom below, Sokka surmises that so long as he can't see the guards or anything below them they can't see the group either. Appa's descent is shifted to stay within the smoke plume as long as possible to hide them until they get to right above the opening. Aang flicks the reins hard causing Appa to accelerate quickly below the main platform of the rig. In a matter of a few moments they manage to evade sight lines from any of the guards posted around.
"That was a bit stressful, Aang, take us closer to one of the support pillars and let's see if we can find a vent." Sokka says just above a whisper, though the pounding noise of people working metal above them seems to drown out any noise they could be making. Doing as he's told, Appa is led by Aang up towards the large metal columns holding up the main platform itself. It isn't long before Katara spots a vent they need to get into.
"Ah, there's one. Right at the top of one of the pillars." Katara points to the metal allowing Aang to spot it then fly them closer. "Oh it's bigger than I thought. You two should be able to fit inside no problem."
"Let's try to find a second one in case this one is a dead end. That and so Zuko doesn't have Aang's feet in his face the entire time." Sokka suggests before looking around the two nearest pillars. "We're just in luck, there's one on the far pillar over there as well."
"Good, give me your sword so I can pry this open." Aang asks, prompting Sokka to give him the clipped point whale tooth sword. Aang wedges the tip under the seam of the ventilation grate before wrenching it upwards and popping the two rivets holding it from the bottom off. This pops the entire cover off the vent and sends it plummeting into the ocean below. "Welp looks like they won't be needing that any time soon." He jokes before handing Sokka his sword back and climbing into the vent with his staff.
It isn't long before Zuko soon finds himself in the cramped and drafty vent. That voice in the back of his head asking him "What the hell am I doing?" at the current moment. If any of them recognized him it'd all be over. He'd be branded a full traitor and never allowed to return home or face death for treason. He wanted to stop, continuing to crawl and shimmy along the vent slowly towards the coal reservoir. He wished that at any moment now he'd wake up back on his ship out of this fever dream. Then again, the pain in his cramping leg was more than enough of an indicator that this indeed was reality. Inching his way onwards though, a single phrase from his mother pushes him onwards. Pushes him to do what's right. "Never forget who you are, Zuko." Her soft calming voice echoes in his mind encouraging him to continue on. He was the avatar, and he had a job to do. Restore balance to the world, and bring peace. Though he didn't quite know how to do that quite yet. It feels like he was shimmying in that cramped vent for over an hour, or maybe even half a day by the time he makes it to the reservoir.
"That's a tight fit isn't it?" Aang asks, floating on an air scooter above the coal. "Need a hand?"
"Yes." Zuko says shamefully, having gotten stuck at the entrance to the room they now found themselves in.
"Grab this." Aang holds out his staff for Zuko to grab before pulling the squeezed prince out of the vent. "I've already figured out which vents lead where, I closed the other ones so once we close the one you just came through it has one place left to go. Up and out."
"I'm definitely going to need a bath after this." Zuko complains before reaching up and closing the vent. "Let's get this started."
"Alright, copy what I do. First breath in and out." Aang begins taking a deep breath and starting to move the air.
With Katara and Sokka
"I'm pretty sure we're going to get shot out of the sky because of your idea Katara." Sokka groans, flicking Appa's reigns in the same manner Aang does. "Let's just hope we've waited long enough for them to get to the coal and figure out which vent leads to the yard."
"We just have to have faith that they're already there. Take us to the yard." Katara orders, Sokka rolls his eyes at her, still untrusting of both Aang and Zuko respectively but none the less he does as his sister tells him.
The first person to notice the flying bison is predictably a guard of one of the watchtowers on the far side of the prison yard. The attending guard immediately runs to grab a long horn to signal the other towers of the unknown intruder. Just as he goes to press the mouthpiece to his lips the flittering sound of a steel boomerang flying towards him suddenly bashes into the side of the alarm horn with a loud clang. This knocks the horn from his hands and over the side of the railing into the water below. Now without the alarm horn, all the non firebending guard can do is watch as the bison circles overhead a couple of times before descending towards the yard below. With the appearance of the flying bison the earthbending prisoners look astonished at what they're seeing, one of these creatures has not been seen for over a century and even then they were elusive creatures. Haru specifically is shocked to see that they had come to rescue him and the others.
"Earthbenders! We've come with great news and to free you from this firenation prison! The avatar has returned and we're here to help save you all!" Katara declares standing from a top the saddle of Appa.
"Foolish girl. There's no point in giving them any sort of hope. The avatar is dead, and the avatar cycle is over. I suggest that you drop whatever primitive tools you consider weapons and surrender. You are moments away from dying where you stand." Katara's face turns sour when she sees the tall dark haired warden standing in the midst of the yard with several more guards at his side.
The warden raises his hand to signal the firebenders behind him to launch their attack on the flying bison. Katara's eyes widen as she sees him begin to move his arm down finishing the signal before a sudden puff of black dust escapes a nearby vent. That puff soon turns to a constant stream of coal dust before the rattling of hundreds of thousands of pieces of coal come rattling up through the vent. It quickly pushes through and breaks the metal grate over the vent as the coal erupts like a geyser out of the vent and into the yard. The geyser of coal soon petered out with the last few pebbles, the surrounding small hill of the stony fuel now covering a good majority of the yard. This was soon followed by Aang jumping out of the hole and then Zuko using a burst of airbending just like Aang. The bald monk quickly blows the coal dust off of himself and Zuko after escaping the vent.
Zuko is slightly taken aback when he sees the faces of the earthbender prisoners, knowing that as he looks at them, they look at him, more specifically his scar. The mark that is his shame will soon become how the world knows him. The scared avatar, how pathetic he thought. Katara's words of encouragement to the earthbenders were lost on him, at the moment, he was wondering how the world would see him. His home country would see him as the enemy, the world their savior, but what would he see in himself? The choice needed to be made, and his body reacted for him. After Katara finished her speech, the prisoners did nothing and the warden gloated over her naivety. However, one of them did move. Haru did, he picked up a coal stone and beamed it at the balding head of the warden, whistling through the air as it impacted his head. The Warden reacted in the manner most firebenders would, by using fire on Haru and in that moment, Zuko reacted before he could think.
Zuko jumped off the mound of coal he was positioned on and towards the stream of fire released from the warden's fist. Behind him, a large framed bearded earthbender moved to block Haru from the fire, presumably his father was the one who saved him but Zuko didn't notice. Instead he forms his hand into a flattened palm and stops the on coming blast of fire, dispersing it against his hand. The familiar warmth of the flames lingering on his flesh for a moment, but not long enough to burn him. The deflected fire was followed up by the swift motion of his opposite hand flowing into an open handed strike. The warden watches as prince Zuko seemingly attacks him with nothing but the dust being disturbed along the metal floor is a clear indicator that this was bending. Though he didn't have time to react, the wall of air that Zuko had bent towards him slams into the warden, blasting his hair back and moving him backwards against his will and almost off balance.
"Men! On me! We're going to put down this petty prison riot and capture the traitor, Prince Zuko!" The Warden declares as from the side doors leading into the yard a dozen firebender guards come running to the warden's aid.
"P-prince zuko?" Haru says with a gasp of both horror and bewilderment. "He said his name was Lee…" Haru mutters to himself. "I'm going to need to talk to him when this is over."
"Show No Mercy!" the warden cries out as he and all six of the firebenders flanking him launch a massive wall of fire towards Zuko and the others. Suddenly, the coal stones move on their own shielding Zuko from the fireball coming straight for him. Turning to face the earthbenders that came to his aid, Haru's father along with Haru and several other prisoners raise the wall high above Zuko. The young avatar closes his eyes bracing for them to attack him but it never comes, his eyes snap open when the commanding voice of the elder earthbender commands the prisoners.
"For the Earth Kingdom! Attack!" Haru's father declares as all of the earthbenders participating in defending the avatar launch the coal stones towards the firebenders. The warden and some of the masked soldiers were forced to create disks of fire to shield themselves from the attack.
With a loud war cry, the prisoners begin their revolt, charging right up to the firebenders and throwing punches towards them. The heavy uppercut causes a clump of coal stones to be sent into the armored chest of one of the soldiers as other earthbenders press the attack. An elderly woman displaying a great deal of agility as she ducks out of the way of a blast of fire aimed at her midsection, from her crouched position she swings her right hand hard sending a collection of stones careening into the side under the arm of the same soldier that attacked her. Deciding that he has been an onlooker long enough, Zuko and Aang join into the fight. The firenation price spinning a small tornado up in front of him and with the help of Aang sending it towards a group of spear wielding firebenders that are trying to join the fight. This easily disarms them and sends them spinning and flying about the miniature vortex with ease. With a nod, Aang runs off to go and help Katara and Sokka fend off some of the firebenders separating from Zuko.
The Avatar now alone displays his bending abilities in fire and air, creating a sweeping current of gale force winds towards the direction of several more spear wielders as well as some of the firebenders. This sweep quickly followed up by deflecting an oncoming fireball sent at him by the warden himself. "You foolish boy. You had everything, then you were banished and now you're nothing more than a traitor." Zuko scowls at this statement before retorting.
"I am no traitor. I am Avatar Zuko." He declares, now officially accepting this as the truth. As the warden processes his words, Zuko provides proof to this statement by grabbing one of the staves from off the ground and spinning around himself guiding the air for his next attack. The feathered end of the staff is the only indication of his bending to the warden, as he's seemingly struck by wind the likes are only created by storms and nearly flattened to the steel floor.
"I'm…Impossible!" the warden gasps seeing this from Zuko. As he tries to stand, he's struck in the gut by more storm force winds as Zuko uses the makeshift staff to launch an offensive. "You're the avatar!?" Suddenly from behind him the sound of breaking steel is heard causing both the warden and Zuko to look over towards what is going on.
"Get to the ship! We'll finish this." Haru's father declares, suddenly all the bits of coal strewn about the prison yard are gravitated towards a group of guards. These stones picked up the warden and dragged him and several other firebenders towards a massing giant clod of coal. Now trapped within the mass of moving earth. The firebenders are helpless as they are lifted over the wall of the prison and over the ocean.
"N-no… p-please! I can't swim!" The warden pleads, begging not to be dropped into the water.
"Don't worry. I hear cowards float." The old earthbender says firmly before rotating his hands inwards towards his chest then pushing towards the ground. This drops all the coal out from under the firebenders dropping them into the waves dozens of feet below.
With the battle over, Zuko walks towards the once prisoners are headed to board the boats. As he does so, a blue strand catches his eye. Lifting a piece of coal off of it, he sees Katara's necklace had fallen off during the battle. The avatar picks up the sentimental piece of jewelry and pockets it needing to return it to her later. The evacuation of the prisoners took several hours as they had to find any and all personal items that were confiscated by the guards, deal with any stragglers and make sure that no one was injured. By the time it is all over Zuko is able to breathe a sigh of relief as he falls into the saddle of Appa. Katara saying her last goodbyes to Haru and his father Tyro before they depart as well.
"Before you go. Prince Zuko, I wish to speak with you." Tyro declares, causing Zuko's blood to run cold for a moment. The avatar sitting up and moving over to the edge of the saddle to make eye contact with the bearded bender. "For a long time I believed that all firebenders were evil. You today changed that, the Avatar, the symbol of peace and balance of our world. Who'd have thought you'd reincarnate as the prince of the nation causing this war. You're a good man, Prince Zuko. We'll be sure to spread the word about The Good Firebender."
"T-thank you for your kind words Tyro, but if you're going to be talking about me please call me Lee" Zuko says, trying to hide his shock that they didn't attack him. "I apologize for not being entirely truthful when we met, but if the world knew my real identity then it would be a major problem."
"Hey, don't sweat it, I understand. Hopefully we'll be seeing you all around." Haru responds.
"You're not going to be Zuko's earthbending teacher?"
"I'm sorry but no, I'm going to join the earth kingdom army to make sure what happened to our homes never happens to anyone else's." Haru declines as Katara climbs into Appa's saddle and they take flight away from the ships.
"Well I'm exhausted." Sokka complains, slumping against their supplies in a tired huff.
"Saving the world is a lot of work, Sokka. Now they can return home and we can head to the north pole." Aang chimes in before they hear a sudden gasp from Katara.
"My Mothers necklace! It's gone!" She shouts feeling the spot on her neck were it used to be. Taking this as his opportunity to return it, Zuko produces the necklace and brings it around Katara's neck before speaking.
"Looking for something?" Zuko questions in a slightly triumphant tone with a confident smirk on his face, he begins tying it around her neck in a manner it won't as easily fall off. However this action causes Sokka to stare at him horrified and for Katara to suddenly turn around and slap him. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR!" He roars, a red handprint visible on his cheek on the side opposite of his scar.
"Zuko you idiot, you just proposed to my sister!"
"WHAT?!" Both Aang and Zuko shout in surprise at this before Zuko tries to defend himself.
"That's not- I didn't kn- All I did wa-" He stammers. "I found it after the battle. All I was trying to do was tie it in a way it wouldn't fall off that easily!" He shouts in defense.
"W-well since you didn't know I think we should at least fill you in. This necklace is a unique carved engagement necklace made by my grandfather for my grandmother. It was passed down to me by my mother. What you did in tying it on for me is what we in the south pole do as a traditional proposal… I'm sorry I slapped you, I kinda thought that you were well…" Katara explains before trailing off.
"You could have at least said thank you." Zuko scoffs before relaxing against the rolled up tent.
"Yep, back to mister moody again." Sokka groans as Aang continues to laugh as they make their journey north once more.