《Wandering Prince (Avatar: the Last Airbender)》


 01

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    01


    <hr>


    ¡°Zuko¡­ what are you doing?¡±


    Blowing through the thin, glued together bamboo tube to make sure it was clear, I sent Ursa a smile from where I stood on the bank of the turtle duck pond, naked save for my underwear. ¡°Training.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Training, hm?¡± she asked with an amused smile and a tone that said she was humoring me. Both were very familiar by this point. My mother in this new life was well aware of my proclivities and seemed to enjoy watching me try new, sometimes outlandish things, to explore some aspect of firebending that I wanted to try out. ¡°What sort of training this time?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± I began giving the excuse I¡¯d come up with, ¡°Uncle Iroh says that the key to firebending is the breath.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Ursa allowed, curiosity in her words as she encouraged me to continue.


    ¡°Under water, you¡¯re mostly cut off from the outside world. Sounds are muted, you can¡¯t smell, can¡¯t see well and you¡¯re better off closing your eyes, all you can really feel is the water around you and your own body, you¡¯re almost weightless. All you really have to focus on is your breathing and your own thoughts. It¡¯s relaxing.¡±


    ¡°And you can¡¯t do this while just floating on the water¡¯s surface?¡±


    I grinned. ¡°I could. But where¡¯s the fun in that?¡±


    Ursa laughed and gestured one hand at the water. ¡°Well, go on then, Zuzu. Show me.¡±


    Tucking the end of the snorkel into my mouth and biting down a bit to hold it in place, I waded out into the small but deep pond and slipped beneath the surface. The water was nice and cool in the late summer heat and I closed my eyes, enjoying the sensation of weightlessness as I treaded water slowly to stay under the surface. Focusing on my breathing, I slipped into the familiar meditative trance as I focused on my firebending, trying to recall the dream I¡¯d had the previous night, of firebenders who used what I was more familiar with calling pyrokinesis¡ªthat is, the ability to start fires with the mind, instead of the traditional firebending method of conjuring fire using the rest of the body.


    As always, the details had been vague and it was only with the latest dream, one in a series of them this last month, that I was able to piece together enough information to have some idea as to how to even begin trying to train to learn the skill myself. What I had put together was that it required the trainee to submerge themselves, for them to have uninterrupted and clear ki flows, and a clear focus. That was all I had to go on.


    I¡¯ve done more with less, the thought slipped to the surface, before I pushed it away and cleared my mind. I wasn¡¯t expecting immediate results. After several years of this, of learning through trial and error¡ªlots, and lots, and lots of error¡ªI had learned to temper my expectations. Consistent effort and practice were the only way to really get anywhere, just like with learning any other skill.


    Eventually, however, when the sun started to dip below the horizon, the pond darkened, and my stomach reminded me it was almost time for supper my focus slipped. I pushed myself to the surface and pulled my way over to the bank, where I found Ursa waiting with a smile¡ªalong with a towel and my clothes.


    ¡°You were under for a long time. Did you learn anything?¡±


    I hummed, considering the question as I dried myself off. ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°What did you learn?¡±


    ¡°That I should probably just take your advice on it and stick to staying on the surface,¡± I admitted.


    Ursa chuckled as she took the towel herself and started helping to try me. ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°Mouth breathing messes with the ¡®in through the nose, out through the mouth¡¯ flow.¡± At her amused grin, I asked, ¡°You realized that right off the bat, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Perhaps,¡± she admitted, voice teasing. ¡°But because you learned it for yourself, the lesson stands out more.¡±


    ¡°You learn more from failure than success.¡± She nodded at that and picked up my robe, holding it open. ¡°Let¡¯s go inside. Azula came by while you were under, when she got home from school. She brought her friends with her.¡±


    ¡°Surprised she didn¡¯t join me,¡± I murmured, pulling on the last of my clothes and walking beside Ursa as we went inside.


    Azula was¡­ not what I was expecting. Thankfully.


    When I had first reincarnated into this world and figured out just where and who I was, I had been a bit¡­ worried. I knew what AtLA was mostly through osmosis and, admittedly, porn. I knew the rough story beats.


    The world was divided into four nations, along classical elemental lines¡ªearth, wind, fire, and water. The fire nation started a war and conquered or killed the other nations when a comet overhead gave the firebenders a boost to their firebending. The titular ¡®last airbender,¡¯ Aang, somehow managed to time capsule himself for a hundred years just as the fire nation decided to kill his entire people to kill him and break the Avatar reincarnation cycle, only to be pulled out of the deep freeze by two water tribe kids. From there, they went on a journey across the world pursued by yours truly¡ªor the original version of Zuko¡ªfor Aang to learn the other three elements in time to stop the fire lord, before the comet that kicked off the war came around a second time. I, or I guess some version of Zuko, had at some point in his early life gotten his face burned badly and been exiled by his father, so spent much of the series chasing after Aang to capture him and restore his lost honor. The power of friendship won in the end and the bad guy was defeated.


    What I remembered about Azula specifically was that she was crazy. Certifiably batshit insane. Whether that was due to her upbringing or just that she was a bad egg, I wasn¡¯t certain. I just remembered that she was nuts.


    Either explanation was viable, really. I¡¯d seen it played out in my first life time and time again. Being born into wealth, power, and privilege tended to ruin someone, unless their parents went out of their way to keep it from happening¡ªwhile on the other hand, being born without those things tended to make one more appreciative of them once they got them. Sure, it wasn¡¯t true universally in either case, but stereotypes exist for a reason. As for it being a legitimate case of mental illness, it pretty much took a ¡®wait and see¡¯ approach to discover that anyway.


    So¡­ I had tried to head at least one of those off at the pass and mitigate the other if at all possible. I had tried to make myself the best big brother Azula could want, and I think I had done pretty well on that front¡ªin spite of our father trying to whisper poison into her ear and heart and turn her into his mini-me.


    At seven, Azula wasn¡¯t more of a pill than I remembered other kids her age being in my first life, from interacting with nieces and nephews. If anything, she was kind of clingy¡ªnot that I was complaining. When she wasn¡¯t in school, Azula wanted to be around me. She liked bringing around her two friends and having the four of us play¡ªand mostly just show off her ¡®cool older brother¡¯ to her friends.


    I was pulled from my thoughts by the girl in question latching onto my back as she jumped on me, having hidden behind the doorway and waited for us to enter. Her hands covered my eyes as her legs wrapped around my waist from behind and she held on. ¡°Guess who!¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­ Is it¡­ Mai?¡±


    ¡°Nope!¡± Azula giggled. ¡°Try again!¡±


    ¡°Oh, then it must be Ty Lee.¡±


    ¡°Nunuh! Guess again!¡±


    I hummed quietly, then nodded. ¡°Ah! Mom must have somehow snuck behind me and ambushed me.¡±


    Ursa laughed and Azula giggled. ¡°No~!¡±


    ¡°Oh, well, then it must be my favorite little sister.¡±


    Azula snorted. ¡°Idiot, I¡¯m your only little sister!¡±


    Reaching around, I tickled her side, making her laugh and squirm, but she refused to let go. So, instead of trying to dislodge her, I focused my senses outward, into my firebending. The hallway lit up to my senses all around me¡ªmyself, Azula, Ursa, and the torches lining the walls all brighter glows against the slightly cooler backdrop of the walls, floor, and ceiling. ¡°Just because you¡¯re my only sister doesn¡¯t mean you can¡¯t be my favorite, foooolish girl.¡±


    ¡°Dummy!¡±


    ¡°Brat.¡±


    ¡°Nuhuh!¡±


    ¡°Uh huh,¡± I teased her as Ursa chuckled quietly, reaching out and running a hand through Azula¡¯s hair before patting my own head.


    ¡°Now now, you¡¯re both my favorite,¡± she sent us a happy smile.


    Unfortunately, our little happy family moment came to an end all too soon, as we entered the dining room and found Ozai¡ªmy and Azula¡¯s father¡ªwaiting for us with a frown. Lately, the man had been taking his meals in his office as he went over reports and other things concerning the war effort, but occasionally, he liked to poke his head out and remind us that he existed.


    ¡°What kept you?¡± he demanded of Ursa, but from the way his eyes shifted to me, it was clear he knew I was ultimately the cause of any percieved delay.


    Not that there actually was one. That was one of the perks of royalty¡ªeven if Ozai was Emperor Azulon¡¯s second son, and so not in the line of succession unless things changed drastically. Things like meals tended to happen on our schedule in the palace. Meaning that he had just come in, seen that we weren¡¯t here, and opted to complain. I was certain that if we had been here when he arrived, he would complain that we had attempted to exclude him, and if mother went to fetch him, he would complain about her rushing him. There was literally no right answer and we all knew it.


    ¡°Good evening, husband. How was your day?¡± Ursa greeted instead, neatly sidestepping the issue by dint of long experience. If he wanted to complain more, he would have to repeat himself, and they both knew that if he brought it back up, he was simply being petty.


    Ozai¡¯s frown deepened as we sat, but apparently he decided it wasn¡¯t worth it. ¡°News from the front.¡±


    ¡°Ah, that reminds me. Children, I¡¯d like to speak with you later. Your uncle sent you gifts and a letter,¡± Ursa smiled at us, making Azula perk up. ¡°He got us all something.¡±


    ¡°Yes. Earth Kingdom swill Iroh mistakenly labeled wine,¡± Ozai pulled a face as servants began drifting in with dishes and setting out the evening meal for us. ¡°Let us speak of something else. Azula, how are your studies going?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re going well, father!¡± the girl beamed as he sent her one of his rare smiles. ¡°Would you like to see what I learned today?¡±


    ¡°Show me,¡± he nodded, and Azula bounced to her feet. My sister began to go through a short kata, throwing out blasts of flame from her hands and feet¡ªthankfully, aimed away from the table. Ozai smiled and nodded. ¡°Good, Azula. Very good.¡±


    Azula made her way back to her seat, beaming a happy smile as she did. Quietly, Ursa pulled Azula into a hug against her side. ¡°That was great, Azula.¡±


    Ozai¡¯s smile fell off and he shifted a disapproving gaze to me. ¡°Zuko, why can¡¯t you be more like your sister?¡±


    I sent him a guileless smile. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you more like your brother?¡±


    The room went silent. The servants, who had been standing against the walls, hurried for the exits. The temperature crept upwards, a heat haze forming around Ozai as his face reddened. I simply picked up my rice bowl and began eating. Finally, he quietly demanded, ¡°What did you say?¡±


    ¡°I said, why aren¡¯t you more like your brother, father,¡± I repeated, looking up and meeting his gaze as I set my bowl down. ¡°Uncle Iroh is a great man, just as Azula is a very talented girl. I¡¯m not as naturally talented as my sister, but I work hard every day to close the gap between us.¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    That was a blatant lie. I was just as talented as Azula. Some of it was from hard work and being willing to think outside the box. Most of it came from being an adult mind inside a child¡¯s body, and having knowledge of science and physics this world hadn¡¯t discovered, which let me do things with fire that most would consider the realm of masters for even considering them, but I tried as a case of trying to duplicate something I had seen in real life¡ªlike my heat vision skill. The rest was whatever gift I had been given, in the form of those dreams showing me hints about what might be possible.


    But I didn¡¯t advertise any of that, and only Ursa really suspected that I might know more than I let on. Mom was observant like that, but also perfectly happy to keep my secrets to herself.


    ¡°Is that so?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I don¡¯t resent Azula for being blessed with skill as a bender. That¡¯s Azula¡¯s talent and I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll discover my own, eventually.¡±


    Ozai snorted quietly. ¡°And what talent might that be, if not the one thing you should be great at?¡±


    ¡°I have no idea. But I¡¯m not Azula, which is why I¡¯m not going go try to be more like her. I¡¯m going to be the best Zuko I can be¡ªnot the best imitation of Azula I can be. If I did anything less, I¡¯d spend the rest of my life living in her shadow, jealous of her achievements, her successes, and probably wind up a bitter, impotent, conniving, backstabbing old man who¡¯s only happy when my beloved little sister fails. I¡¯ll take my example from you, father, and be happy with my sister¡¯s successes, while striving to make a name for myself and stand outside of her shadow¡ªto stand on my own merits.¡±


    Ozai¡¯s jaw clenched, the heat around us increasing as his teeth ground in his head. But the truth was, he couldn¡¯t do anything. Not here, not now. He¡¯d sniped at me and I had clapped back hard, but I had worded it in such a way that the assumption was that he didn¡¯t resent Iroh. Any action on his part now would only contradict that and show him for exactly what he was. The second son, jealous of his older brother¡¯s achievements, position, and a man who lusted for power¡ªseeking the throne when he wasn¡¯t the heir, hadn¡¯t distinguished himself enough to earn it, and was frankly unfit to lead given his temperament.


    It paid to pay attention. To sit down, shut up, listen, and watch. To speak with my elder relatives¡ªeven the scary old man sitting on the throne. I had learned all I really needed to know about Ozai from how he treated and spoke about Uncle Iroh, and the things grandfather Azulon said about him¡ªusually in the form of warnings to not do the things my father had done.


    Just to rub salt in the wound, I picked up my tea cup and took a sip. ¡°Ahh, nice. You should have some, father. Some soothing jasmine tea will do wonders to help you relax after a long day.¡±


    Ozai stood up and left, storming out of the room. As soon as he was gone, Ursa sighed. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t antagonize your father, Zuko.¡±


    ¡°A great man is hard on himself; a small man is hard on others.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve been spending too much time around Uncle Iroh,¡± Azula pulled a face.


    ¡°No such thing.¡±


    Ursa sighed, shaking her head. ¡°Well, let¡¯s finish our meal and go get those gifts.¡±


    Azula ate quickly after that, while Ursa and I ate at a more sedate pace, knowing that the delay would only make my little sister more antsy. When we were finished, we made our way back to our sitting room and Ursa retrieved two small packages, along with a scroll. ¡°Let¡¯s see. It says¡­¡±


    I listened with half an ear as the servants brought two boxes out. ¡°For Zuko, a pearl dagger from the general who surrendered when we broke through the outer wall. Note the inscription and the superior craftsmanship.¡±


    I took the dagger in hand and unsheathed it, whistling quietly as I looked it over. It was a very fine piece of work. Sheathing it, I looked over to see what Azula had gotten.


    ¡°And for Azula, a new friend. She wears the latest fashion for Earth Kingdom girls.¡±


    Azula pulled a face as her eyes turned towards my dagger. Internally, I sighed, resigning myself to what I was about to do. ¡°Huh, that¡¯s funny. I think he got the names wrong.¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡± Ursa asked, and I nodded. ¡°What do you mean, Zuko?¡±


    I offered Azula my dagger and casually took the doll from her, to my sister¡¯s surprise. ¡°Well, it¡¯s just that I think he forgot how much I love I enjoy collecting those dolls and seeing the fashions the different kingdoms¡¯ ladies have to offer. After all, I need to have some idea what sort of dress any future wife of mine would enjoy receiving as a gift. And what better way to model them than on a doll? Uses less material but still lets you see what it¡¯ll look like, without taking up much space.¡±


    I tucked the doll away in the fold of my robe as I turned a grin on Ursa as Azula looked reverently down at the blade, clutching it tightly to her chest. ¡°I think I¡¯ll send Uncle a note thanking him for his thoughtful gift.¡±


    Ursa looked between the two of us as a smile pulled at her lips. ¡°That sounds like a great idea, my son.¡±


    ¡°Yeeeah, how could Uncle make such a dumb mistake. Must be getting forgetful in his old age,¡± Azula muttered, before hurrying from the room. ¡°Goodnight!¡±


    ¡°Goodnight, mom.¡±


    ¡°Goodnight, dears.¡±


    I left to go put the doll on a shelf in my room and grab a bath. Not too long after I¡¯d gotten into bed and put out the lanterns lighting the room, my door opened and I felt a light weight bounce onto my bed, before a familiar form slipped under my covers. Azula wrapped her arms around me and sighed. ¡°Thank you, Zuzu.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome, Azula. I know how much it meant to you.¡±


    ¡°Mm,¡± she nodded. A few moments later, she demanded, ¡°Tell me a story.¡±


    ¡°Is that how we ask for something?¡±


    ¡°A princess doesn¡¯t ask.¡±


    ¡°You do if you want something from your older brother,¡± I chuckled, earning a quiet sound of discontent from her.


    Eventually, she caved. ¡°Will you read me a story, please?¡±


    Giving her a squeeze in response, I nodded. ¡°Sure. How about the story of¡­ King Arthur. The greatest king to ever live.¡±


    ¡°Are there any girls in it?¡±


    I laughed quietly. ¡°Oh ye of little faith. Little did the kingdom know, but Arthur had a secret. For he was really Artoria, but was raised as a boy by his father, because no one would have accepted a queen ruling by herself in that time.¡±


    ¡°No benders, either?¡±


    ¡°No benders, no. But there is magic. After all, this is the tale of how Artoria met the great wizard Merlin¡ªwho became her teacher and advisor, and was herself a half-succubus.¡±


    ¡°Ehh? What¡¯s a succubus?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a type of spirit who looks like a woman and seduces men, showing them love in exchange for a little of their life essence, so she can live. Anyway. Arthur¡­¡±


    <hr>


    Two years later¡­


    I sighed as I finished the climb from where the cart had dropped me off through the town of Shu Jing, up the path to one of the cliffs overlooking the town, where a castle had been built. Walking up to the front gate, I grabbed the rope beside the gate and pulled, ringing a bell to announce my presence.


    A few minutes later, the door set in the gate opened and an older man with the top of his head bald and the rest of his hair in a topknot greeted me with a bow, which I returned. ¡°How may I help you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Zuko, here to learn from master Piandao.¡± I still wasn¡¯t used to appending ¡®prince¡¯ to my name and doubted I ever would be.


    ¡°I am Fat. I¡¯ll take you to him,¡± the man answered curtly, before turning on his heel and entering the castle.


    I shifted the bag on my back to a more comfortable position and followed him inside. Fat led me to an inner courtyard, where a man sat drinking tea in front of a Pai Sho table. Studying me as we approached, he hummed quietly. Fat left me with him, after pouring a second cup of tea.


    I bowed politely. ¡°Master Piandao. I am¡ª¡±


    ¡°I know who you are, Prince Zuko,¡± he cut me off and I fell silent. He waited a few moments before asking, ¡°Do you play?¡±


    ¡°A bit.¡±


    ¡°Sit. Let us have a game.¡±


    Placing my bag down, I reached into it and fished out the one tile I carried with me, before taking the pieces he offered and beginning to set up. The game began and I started with the opening move I¡¯d learned from watching Iroh play others. Piandao raised an eyebrow and responded as I had expected him to. ¡°Many young nobles of the Fire Nation come to me every year, demanding I teach them, and of those I take on only a rare select few. Your uncle, brother to the Fire Lord, sent you to me, along with a letter asking that I instruct you. So tell me, Prince Zuko. Why should I spend my limited time instructing you? What do you know of the sword?¡±


    I was silent for a while myself as we played and slowly, a form began to take shape on the board between us.


    ¡°Nothing,¡± I admitted freely, placing down my lotus tile in the middle of the formation. ¡°But isn¡¯t it true that a bowl is most useful when it is empty?¡±


    Piandao chuckled and began resetting the board. ¡°How is Iroh?¡±


    ¡°He wasn¡¯t well for a while, after losing his son, then his father.¡± Azulon was not a good man, but I had spent years cultivating a relationship with him. I would bring him tea and snacks when he wasn¡¯t seeing anyone in court for the day, then get him to tell me stories from his youth, and about our grandmother. Eventually, the man opened up. I think he even liked me, by the end.


    It was a shame he had to die, because he ordered Ozai to kill Azula, after our cousin Lu Ten¡¯s death. In Azulon¡¯s words, he wanted to make Ozai know the pain of the loss of a child, but grandfather knew that his relationship with me could politely be called ¡®strained,¡¯ though more honestly ¡®hostile¡¯ fit better. Since Ozai would feel nothing at my death, he instead ordered our father to kill the child he did love¡ªthe one he was trying to mold into his own image. Azula.


    Ozai had protested, vehemently, which only made his father more certain of his choice. I¡¯d had to drag Azula away and she had been¡­ inconsolable, after. Ursa had found us in my bed, Azula clinging to me and begging me not to let father kill her. After I¡¯d explained what was going on, she had left for a while, then returned in the middle of the night to tell Azula and I goodbye. We hadn¡¯t seen her since, and the next morning, Azulon was found dead. Ozai was crowned Fire Lord the very next day and since then, my life at the castle had been spent either walking on eggshells, or with uncle Iroh.


    That was why I was here, actually. Iroh sent me here to get me away from Ozai. Out of sight, out of mind. I¡¯d spend six months to a year here, or until Piandao decided I was good enough. Once I was finished here, and since Iroh thought keeping me away from Ozai may give my father in this world some appreciation for me with my absence (I doubted it, but stranger things had happened), I had actually asked to go train with the Yuyan archers. They were a group I had heard about in passing, after Ozai hired one to assassinate someone.


    ¡°But Uncle is doing better, I suppose. Keeping himself busy with Pai Sho, his tea, and singing. And awful poetry.¡±


    ¡°Hah! Yes, that sounds right. You should tell him to visit, the next time you see him.¡±


    ¡°I will,¡± I agreed, as we began a new game.


    ¡°I think I am going to enjoy having you as an apprentice, Prince Zuko.¡±


    ¡°Please, just Zuko.¡±


    ¡°Tell me, which do you think stronger. Your firebending, or a blade?¡±


    ¡°I suppose that depends on the situation. Can¡¯t use firebending to cut a slice of bread. Can¡¯t use a blade alone to start a fire in the winter. Bending is a skill you learn, if you have the talent. It takes up no space in your bag or on your belt. A sword takes up space, but it¡¯s space worth taking. If I had the option, I¡¯d prefer to have both.¡±


    ¡°Good answer.¡±


    <hr>


    ¡°Zuko.¡±


    ¡°Azula. It¡¯s good to see you again,¡± I sent my sister a smile. ¡°You¡¯ve grown.¡±


    ¡°You missed my birthday,¡± she frowned, glaring at me. ¡°Again.¡±


    Pulling my pack off my back, I gestured for her, Ty Lee, and Mai to follow as I moved over to one of the stone benches in the courtyard and sat down. ¡°I did. But I think this might make up for it.¡±


    Untying a leather wrapped bundle from the side, I untied the leather holding the bundle together and stood up again, stepping closer to her. Azula was still a couple of inches shorter than me I noticed, as she stared up at me with her pretty gold eyes. Her expression said she was angry, but I could tell from the way her hands fidgeted towards the package that she was excited.


    I offered the bundle and she accepted it, clutching it to her chest. Carefully, I pulled the leather away from it and her face lit up with a smile as I revealed a traditional straight jian sword with a red tassel tied to the pommel. Taking the sword and sheath in hand, I pulled it from the scabbard just enough for her to see the blade.


    ¡°<sub>It¡¯s beautiful</sub>.¡±


    ¡°I might have bribed master Piandao into making it for you.¡± Sliding the blade back into its sheath, I covered it again and pulled her into a hug. ¡°I¡¯ve missed you.¡±


    ¡°<sub>I missed you too, big brother</sub>.¡±


    ¡°So cute~!¡±


    ¡°Ty Lee,¡± Mai hissed at the excitable girl. ¡°Can¡¯t you see they¡¯re having a moment?¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah!¡±


    I sighed and let go of Azula, turning a grin on her two friends. ¡°Don¡¯t think I¡¯ve forgotten you two.¡±


    Mai raised an eyebrow. ¡°Oh?¡±


    Ty Lee bounced on the balls of her feet. ¡°What¡¯d you get me?!¡±


    Chuckling, I dug through the bag, pulling out two more small wrapped bundles. Gesturing the pair closer, I opened the first and pinned it in Ty Lee¡¯s hair, before doing the same with Mai. Behind them, Azula frowned, her glare returning as the girls pulled out the hairpins I¡¯d stick in their hair.


    ¡°What is this?¡± Mai asked, studying hers. ¡°A dagger?¡±


    Ty Lee pulled hers apart. ¡°A lock pick?¡±


    ¡°Both. They separate into a small dagger and a pick,¡± I explained. ¡°Practical and beautiful, just like you.¡±


    Mai eyed me skeptically, but though her expression was hard to read, I could tell she liked it¡ªboth the gift and the complement. ¡°Who are you trying to sweet talk with that line?¡±


    ¡°You. Did it work?¡± I grinned.


    ¡°It totally did!¡± Ty Lee laughed, throwing her arms around me in a hug and planting a kiss on my cheek. ¡°Thanks, Zuko! Mai, come on! Get in here!¡±


    ¡°I will not¡ªah!¡± Mai yelped as she found herself pulled into a three-way hug by an overly enthusiastic Ty Lee. The girl¡¯s expression of long suffering told me that things hadn¡¯t changed much between them since I¡¯d been gone.


    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s enough!¡± Azula growled, grabbing the girls and pulling them away. ¡°Zuko just got back. I¡¯m sure he¡¯s tired from his travels and would like to clean up and rest. I¡¯ll see you two tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Someone¡¯s jealous~,¡± Ty Lee teased, only to yelp as a spark of lightning danced briefly between Azula¡¯s fingers. ¡°See you later! Thanks again, Zuzu!¡±


    Mai sighed, shaking her head. ¡°Thank you, Zuko. Later.¡±


    ¡°Bye girls. Come by again tomorrow and we¡¯ll catch up.¡±


    ¡°Tch. No you won¡¯t. You¡¯re spending the day with me,¡± Azula grumbled quietly as they fled, pulling me towards the doors leading inside. ¡°Let¡¯s go take a bath.¡±


    ¡°A bath sounds good.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll wash your back.¡±


    ¡°You must have really missed me. We haven¡¯t done that since we were little,¡± I sent her an amused look, earning a glare in response.


    ¡°Not really,¡± Azula denied, and I heard the pout in her voice. ¡°Tell me about your travels.¡±


    As we passed a servant, I sent the woman a smile and offered her my bag, asking, ¡°Would you please take this to my room?¡±


    ¡°Certainly, Prince Zuko. And welcome home!¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Lily,¡± I sent the woman a smile, and she beamed in response as she hurried away.


    Quietly, I heard the woman whisper, ¡°He remembers my name!¡± as she scurried down the hall.


    It paid to treat the staff well. Little things like remembering their names and birthdays went a long way towards making life easier, and lowering my worry that one day, I might take a sip of tea and abruptly wake up in the spirit realm, dead.


    Sending her a smile as we entered the bathroom, I teased, ¡°Is that how we ask for something?¡±


    ¡°Nn! Would you please tell me about your travels, Zuzu?¡± she whined petulantly as we began to undress.


    ¡°Sure, sure,¡± I agreed as Azula filled a bucket with water. ¡°So there I was, hanging upside down from a tree¡ª¡±


    ¡°Start at the beginning like a normal person!¡± Azula demanded, slinging the bucket of water at me and catching me in the face with it.


    ¡°Pfft,¡± I sighed, wiping water out of my eyes. ¡°If you insist. So there I was, hanging upside down from a tree¡­¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    <hr>


    Story created using my own CYOA, Sine¡¯s Catalog of Companions Knockoff. [ https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/sines-catalog-of-companions-knockoff.25181/ ]


    If you¡¯re interested, you too can play with my COCK.


    Options chosen:


    Difficulty: Hard Mode + Legendary Mode.


    HM: x1.5 starting points values, no controls, no defenses.


    LM: Can¡¯t earn or spend points after character creation.


    Challenge Rating: CR 5, Avatar the Last Airbender.


    Starting Points: 75.


    CR 5: 50.


    HM: x1.5


    Earning Points: Disabled by difficulty selection.


    Purchases:


    Total: -75 points.


    Insertion Method:


    Reincarnation. Target: Zuko. -10 points.


    Physical Enhancements:


    Get Swole: -10 points.


    Mental Enhancements:


    It Came to me in a Vision: -20 points.


    Erudite Learner: -5 points.


    Spiritual Enhancements:


    Charles Atlas Super Powers: -10 points (Tier 1).


    Utility Purchases:


    Grimoire: -10 points.


    Performance Enhancers:


    Marital Arts: -4 points.


    Happy End: -3 points.


    Capture Methods: (Earns no points for captures, otherwise functions as stated.)


    Love ¡®em and Keep ¡®em: -3 points.

 02

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    02


    <hr>


    My hand shook as I rubbed my chest until the pain returned to a manageable level. Forcing myself to breathe evenly, I focused on the way my chi flowed within myself. It didn¡¯t do anything to heal the damage done, but it did give me something else to think about for a few moments.


    The pain slowly faded and I exhaled a hot, steamy breath. Grabbing the last of my supplies, I secured them in the bottom of my boat, bobbing on the waters of the Hari Bulkan harbor. The sun was already below the horizon and the last bit of twilight still lit the sky, but not for much longer¡ªperfect conditions for a small, lone vessel to make a quiet exit from the city.


    Untying from the dock, I stepped into the boat and used a long handled oar to cast off from the pier. Once I was a bit away from the pier, I sat down in front of the engine and tiller, grabbing the tiller with one hand and focusing a stream of fire into the engine with the other. Within moments, the engine began to putter, then puff, and the boat began moving away, leaving a small steam trail behind me as I turned the tiller and directed the boat towards the mouth of the bay the harbor city sat on.


    ¡°Zuko! Wait!¡±


    Looking back towards the pier, I frowned as I spotted Ty Lee and Mai running towards the docks. Chuckling, I tossed them a wave. ¡°Sorry, girls! I can¡¯t stick around!¡±


    ¡°Azula sent us!¡± Mai called. ¡°She wants you to come back!¡±


    ¡°Sorry Mai, no can do!¡±


    Ty Lee didn¡¯t let the fact that I was pulling away stop her as she ran down the pier, grabbed a rope, and swung herself up onto a docked warship. I watched, my mouth slowly falling open as she ran along the ship edge and jumped through the air, her path sending her on a direct course for my boat. Rolling my eyes, I turned the tiller a bit and sped up.


    ¡°Zuuukooo!!!¡± the acrobat whined, tucking into a toothpick dive and landing with a splash behind me, before coming up and spitting out a stream of water. ¡°Come back! It¡¯ll be fine!¡±


    ¡°Somehow, I doubt that. I¡¯ll keep in touch by way of Mai¡¯s family. Catch you later.¡± With that, I turned away from the fuming, soaked girl turning to pull for shore.


    ¡°We¡¯re gonna come after you!¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t stop you,¡± I shrugged. ¡°Have fun!¡±


    ¡°Jerk!¡±


    I gave the boat a little more steam and powered through the harbor, heading east. The sun set fully by the time I decided I was far enough away and stopped running the engine. Pulling a map and compass out of my bag, I began working out some quick and dirty math as I plotted a course. Once I had that taken care of, I adjusted the tiller a bit, put the map and compass away, and began working on the rigging to unfurl the sails and get going on good, old fashioned wind power. Once I had everything set up and the tiller tied off, I settled down at the back of the boat and made myself comfortable on my sleeping bag as a bit of extra cushioning.


    I relaxed and tried to catch some shuteye. As I did, my thoughts lingered on the last few days, by my reckoning. I had been back less than a month and already, I was leaving again. On another fight my ¡®father¡¯ instigated. My own response, mouthing off when I should¡¯ve known better now that he was the Fire Lord. Ozai smiling as he whipped his arms through a form I hadn¡¯t seen before, and then a bright flash, the crackle of electricity, and pain. And for just a moment, a glimpse of another place, and an old man I felt I should recognize wearing Fire Nation robes telling me it wasn¡¯t time yet, before I found myself back in the present. Then nothing.


    Nothing at all but pain and fever dreams for what felt like days. Dreams of things I had seen before and things I hadn¡¯t. People using pyrokinesis to light fires and cause explosions with their mind. Ozai, Iroh, Azula, and myself all using lightning. Dragons breathing fire in a rainbow of colors, not all of which destroyed everything it touched. Sozin¡¯s Comet and its hundred year cycle. The coming solar eclipse. A giant lion turtle with a forest on its back that could speak and a wandering island. A library buried in the sand.


    On, and on, and on¡­


    And then I had woken up in a cold sweat, pained and scarred from Ozai¡¯s attack. That was this afternoon. I hadn¡¯t stuck around after that. I¡¯d gathered my things, stolen a sack full of coin, and fled to the lower city, into Hari Bulkan. From there, I bought myself some new clothes and supplies for a journey. Changed into peasant clothes and let my hair down, cutting off much of the length that had been pulled into the topknot I¡¯d been expected to keep it in to do something to disguise my features a bit and not look like a noble. Then I found someone willing to sell me a boat at a decent price.


    And apparently, I¡¯m being pursued. Well, at least it¡¯s friendly faces and they¡¯re not trying to kill me. Not immediately. Azula told them to chase me down and bring me back, but as long as Ozai is still alive, I¡¯m in danger, so that¡¯s a no for me.


    Eventually, I managed to drift into a fitful sleep¡ªdeep enough to rest, shallow enough to wake up every hour or so and make sure I wasn¡¯t going to run into anything.


    <hr>


    I frowned as I looked at the storm blowing in from the west. It stretched across the sky as far as I could see and looked like it was approaching quickly. There was no way my little boat would survive it.


    ¡°Fuck. Should¡¯ve listened to that fisherman,¡± I muttered.


    I¡¯d made land on Ember Island to pick up a few extra supplies and things I hadn¡¯t had time to grab in my flight from my former home, along with some entertainment. I was going to be gone a long time, so I¡¯d picked up something like a guitar to try to teach myself to play on the journey.


    That was yesterday, and I¡¯d since sailed around the island and turned for the north, and the old Western Air Temple located on a mountainous island chain north of the Fire Nation islands. As near as I could tell, I was still a week or more out from the islands¡ªmeaning I was too far out to turn back and make it back to land and nowhere near close enough to those islands to take shelter there.


    Locking the tiller in place, I carefully climbed up the mast to get a look around, hoping against hope that there might be a larger ship I could make it to and take shelter on, even if it meant losing my smaller craft if the water got too rough. A shadow on the horizon to the northeast had me squinting and pulling out my spyglass as I spotted something.


    In the telescope, it looked like a small, forested island. I didn¡¯t recognize it from my charts, so it was possible that it was either uncharted or too small to bother with. Either way, it was potential shelter in the storm¡ªat least, more so than my small boat. The fact that it had trees that big on it told me that it had likely weathered many such storms in the past and would continue to do so in the future.


    Dropping down from the mast, I adjusted the sails and tiller to tack for the island, then poured on the steam, watching the pressure gauge on the little steam engine climb and carefully controlling my output to keep from redlining it and blowing the engine up, leaving me with only sails. The next half hour was nerve racking as I watched the storm getting closer and I crept closer to the island. Mental math told me I should be much further away than I was even if I had seen it in the distance, that it should be taking longer to reach it, but that was impossible because the island would have to be moving into the storm for that to be the case.


    Lightning cracked and popped in the distance and the sea grew choppier as the wind began to pick up. Several times, I had to adjust the sails to keep from getting blown off course. But eventually, I cut the engine and brought the sails in as my boat coasted to a stop alongside the island.


    Grabbing a line, I hopped onto the island and climbed a ways uphill, finding a decently sized tree that looked sturdy. Tying the boat off, I went back and picked up a block and tackle and some more line, then spent the next several minutes hauling the boat up away from the shore. Seeing a clear path through the trees, I hauled the boat far enough that I didn¡¯t think any big swells would reach it.


    Taking a moment to look around and stretch the kinks out, I hummed as I took in my surroundings. The island was a lot bigger than I was expecting, now that I was on it. The trees were tall, thick and sturdy, and looked like they would weather the storm just fine. But just in case, I¡¯ll take some time to prepare.


    Finding a nice spot between the trees, I went few feet back the way I came and found a thinner tree that looked like it could stand to be felled. Fire sprang to my hand, shifting from orange to blue as the sound changed from that of a roaring fire, to something more akin to a cutting torch. It only took a minute to cut/burn enough of the base of the tree to fell it where I wanted it, getting it good and stuck between several of the other trees and blocking off the path back down to the water.


    Taking my things out of the boat, I carefully flipped it over and settled it against the downed tree, using some limbs to keep the engine elevated and from getting damaged. Then, I repeated the process with a second tree further up, felling it in the opposite direction, creating a little sheltered area between the two trees. I lashed the boat into place and put my things under the shelter of its hull, then grabbed my hatchet from my pack and set about cutting a few limbs and tying them together to form a lean to, which I put over the boat. A few more limbs had some fire wood, and some quick fire bending dried them out enough to use.


    That was when the sky opened up and it began to pour down rain. Hurrying back under my shelter, I settled in and started a small fire. Wind shook the trees above me, but in my little shelter, I barely felt it at all.


    Breaking out some food, I cooked myself a quick meal of fish and grilled vegetables and ate. With nothing else to do, I settled into my sleeping bag for some rest, to catch up on the sleep I¡¯d lost the last few days, having to sleep off and on to keep from running into anything. As I drifted off, I sighed as the phantom sensation of bobbing up and down on a boat returned, feeling like the whole island was bobbing in the water under the force of the waves and storm.


    The worst of the storm passed in the middle of the night, but it was still raining pretty hard the next day, so I spent that time meditating and resting. The following morning, I woke up and saw that it was a bright, sunny day. I crawled out of my shelter and stretched, before running through my usual morning exercises. Once I was good and warmed up, I set off exploring the little island I¡¯d found myself on. I started by making my way further uphill.


    Finding what looked like the tallest tree on the island, I climbed up into the top of it and had a look around. In the distance to the south, according to my compass, I could make out a set of islands rising out of the water¡ªwhat must be the north western Fire Islands, as though I had circled around Ember Island and just kept going west.


    ¡°The hell?¡± I muttered, pulling my spyglass from one of the pockets on my vest and having a look to confirm. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ not possible.¡±


    Shifting in the tree, I had a good look around, seeing nothing but water to the east and west, the line of islands and more water to the south, and even more water to the north. Panning over the shore again, a glint between the mountains that seemed to be getting closer caught my eye. In between mountains, I caught sight of some kind of Aztec looking pyramid or ziggurat, and something at the top shining.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    I¡¯m not where I wanted to be, but¡­ nothing is stopping me from just making land and going to explore. I¡¯m not exactly on any sort of a time limit here, until they free Aang, and I seem to recall that probably won¡¯t be for another year or two. Plenty of time to explore and work on getting stronger. Yeah, screw it. I¡¯ll go poke around and see if I can find something interesting.


    I put the glass away and, as I was getting ready to get down, I happened to look at the water closer to the rear of the island, where I spotted a wake. ¡°Okay¡­ we¡¯re moving. Islands don¡¯t move.¡±


    Making my way back down the tree, I spotted a clearing on the way down with a big divot in the ground. Heading over to investigate, I found a big hexagon dug into the surrounding dirt and rock, where it looked like someone had clearly excavated it. Inside the hexagon, the bottom was pale brown and covered in layers of hexagons, one inside the other, and a big central design that looked like of like a butterfly or moth.


    Making my way down into the excavated area, I knelt down and touched the brown surface, finding it smooth to the touch. A look at the rock and dirt around it showed that it was only about five feet deep, maybe less¡ªthat is, if the surface below me covered the entire island. Humming, I placed my ear to the surface and knocked.


    ¡°Bone?¡± I wondered, before my mind turned to one of my fever dreams. An island that moved and a giant lion turtle. ¡°Shell,¡± I grinned.


    Making my way back to the boat, I quickly turned it right side up and loaded my things inside, then carefully lowered it back down into the water. It was as I was getting ready to cast off that the island, the lion turtle, shuddered and came to a stop. Sitting down in front of the tiller, I fired up the engine and pulled around slowly to the front of the big animal. As I approached, the turtle raised itself a bit higher in the water and, clearing the side, I saw the gigantic head had turned to face me¡ªtwo gigantic eyes studying me intently.


    Coasting to a stop in front of it, I stood carefully and bowed. ¡°Thank you for the shelter last night. I would have surely capsized and drowned without your aid.¡±


    The big animal nodded, before one of its paws left the water. I watched as two of the gigantic claws approached and held still, curious as to what it was doing. There was a faint touch of contact at my forehead and heart and a flash of green light. Inside me, I felt everything change. My chi, my bending, as new power, potential, and knowledge filled me.


    I blinked as the turtle lowered its paw and ponderously turned away. ¡°Uh, thank you!¡±


    Dropping into my seat on the boat, I stared after it for a few minutes as it quickly swam away, pondering the gift I¡¯d been granted. I had no idea why it had chosen to do so, but who knew with spirits and other such ancient beings.


    I still felt somewhat out of sorts when I finally managed to pull myself together enough to turn the boat for shore and fire up the engine. Once I pulled onto the sandy beach, I made sure to tie off to a tree, then gathered some supplies for a trek and maybe a bit of hunting on the way back¡ªif I could find some wild game, I¡¯d take the time to smoke it so I could add it to my supplies.


    My sword went onto my left hip, storage pouch on my right hip, while my bow I left in its leather case attached to its quiver on the side of my pack. I was packing light for this little excursion, so only brought some food and water to last a couple of days along with my bedroll. Then, it was time to start walking.


    Well, at least the hike will give me some time to think.


    And I had a lot to think about, as I turned my mind towards the gift I¡¯d been given. I thought it was called ¡®energy bending,¡¯ but that didn¡¯t really do it justice, or at least what I felt it might be capable of. Or rather, the name did accurately describe exactly what it seemed to be capable of¡ªbut what I seemed to remember from the first series, the ability to grant and remove bending, was just scratching the surface. It was the ability to bend energy directly. Not just chi, not just yin and yang, but energy of all forms.


    There was a lot to unpack there. Shaking my head, I opened the pouch at my side and took out my journal and pen. As I cracked open the journal, its pages flipped to a blank page. I started writing down everything I could remember as I walked.


    Pens were actually a new thing I was kind of directly responsible for. I¡¯d shown Master Piandao some technical drawings I¡¯d made in my journal using a charcoal pencil of a simple pen¡ªjust a glass tube full of ink capped in a metal nib with a ball point and a metal shell around the exterior. The man had liked it so much he¡¯d given me half a dozen very fancy handmade pens made of an assortment of materials¡ªwood, various metals, and jade¡ªand a bunch of ink tubes I could refill myself. Then he¡¯d pretty much gone on to corner the market on them. Not that I could blame him.


    As for the journal¡­ it might be more accurate to call it a grimoire. The book was magic. I¡¯d had it as long as I could remember and I wasn¡¯t entirely sure where it came from. I thought Ursa got it for me as a birthday present, but I wasn¡¯t sure and had never bothered to ask. The thing was self-repairing, always found its way back to me if I lost it, sorted and organized everything written into it into sections, and was even searchable¡ªflipping to the page I needed if I was looking for something in particular. My best guess was that it was something related to the spirit world.


    Meditation and astral projection via bending of one¡¯s own energy¡­


    <hr>


    The sun had set by the time I made it to the outskirts of the city¡ªor what had been a city. It was long deserted ruins now, from a long dead civilization. Deciding to explore it tomorrow in the daylight, I started the process of making camp, only to pause as something caught my eye. I settled down and waited until the sun was fully behind the mountains and twilight had descended to confirm what I thought I¡¯d seen¡ªa fire on the side of one of the mountains surrounding the old city.


    ¡°This place isn¡¯t so abandoned after all.¡±


    Picking up my bag and bending myself a fireball to see by, I trekked my way through the forest, to the foot of the mountain. I didn¡¯t bother trying to hide my approach. If the natives were peaceful, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem. If they weren¡¯t¡­ Well, I had my sword for a reason.


    I only made it a few steps out of the treeline before I found myself confronted by a hunting party of some sort, or maybe guards. There were six of them¡ªtwo armed with swords, two with spears, and two with bows, and all of their weapons were pointed at me.


    ¡°Hey, fellas,¡± I chuckled, holding up my hands, the fire still burning in one of them to see by.


    ¡°What do you want?¡±


    ¡°Where did you come from?¡±


    ¡°How did you find this place?¡±


    Looking over the group, I grinned and asked, ¡°Would you believe me if I said a lion turtle brought me here?¡±


    The group looked at each other uncertainly, before the apparent leader spoke up. ¡°Bring him before the chief.¡±


    The others all nodded, and I found myself in the center of a formation being led to the village. But they weren¡¯t disarming me, restraining me, or poking me full of holes so I took it as a good sign. Or at least a sign that they had decided that I was a problem above their pay grade and they¡¯d rather let their boss handle it.


    The chief turned out to be a tall older man wearing a feathered headdress, red and white face paint, and red and gold clothes that fit the Aztec theme. A group of villagers had come with him and they all stared at me suspiciously as the chief studied me in silence for a few moments. Finally, the big man asked, ¡°Why have you come?¡±


    ¡°I was caught out at sea when that big storm hit. I came across an island that I thought was moving towards me and took refuge until it passed. Turns out, it was moving towards me, and it wasn¡¯t an island. It was a lion turtle, and he brought me here¡ª¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s obviously lying!¡± a skinny man who looked so much like a Disney villain that I almost laughed at him pointed at me. ¡°He¡¯s clearly a thief here to steal Sun Warrior treasure!¡±


    I frowned as that name tickled my memory. ¡°Sun Warriors? Weren¡¯t they the first practitioners of firebending? Well, the first humans the dragons taught, anyway.¡±


    ¡°We are,¡± the chief nodded.


    Nodding, I introduced myself. ¡°My name is Zuko. Would you be willing to teach me the original way of firebending¡ª?¡±


    ¡°What? No!¡± the Disney villain yelled.


    The chief, on the other hand, hummed and reached up to stroke his short goatee. Finally, he nodded. ¡°Come, join us for a meal. Tomorrow, if you wish to learn the ways of the sun, you must learn them from masters Ran and Shaw. You will present yourself to them and they will read your heart, your soul, and your ancestry. If they deem you worthy, they¡¯ll teach you. If they don¡¯t¡­¡±


    The guy who I was beginning to think was some priest figure, giggled. ¡°You¡¯ll be killed where you stand!¡±


    ¡°Sounds fair,¡± I nodded.


    I followed them back to their little village. The place was all relatively new construction of log cabins or huts and adobe shingles, with open windows covered in tightly woven nets to keep the bugs out while letting in a cool breeze since I imagined it stayed hot and humid here nearly year round, just as it stayed warm year round in the capital.


    In the square, they had a large bonfire going and were roasting something that smelled delicious. Apparently, the village had more people than I thought, as the square was full of villagers dancing, eating, drinking, laughing, and having a good time.


    I sat my pack down near the edge of the fire and pulled out my bedroll to sit on, before pulling off my sword and other kit. I caught the chief talking to a young woman out of the corner of my eye and, a few moments later, she approached with a plate covered in meat and vegetable skewers and two cups.


    I looked up, taking in her athletic form with a grin. I could get to like this place, if all the girls look like this.


    ¡°For you,¡± she offered the food and drink and I accepted, before sitting down and patting the seat beside me.


    ¡°Thank you. I¡¯m Zuko,¡± I began, and she nodded.


    ¡°Mali,¡± she introduced herself as she sat, and we began to eat.


    ¡°So, you do this every night?¡±


    ¡°Mm. Most nights. There isn¡¯t much of anything else to do in the village, so we make our own entertainment,¡± she giggled.


    ¡°Must be nice.¡±


    ¡°Where did you come from, Zuko?¡±


    I hummed, chewing on a mouthful as I considered what to tell her. Taking a sip, I briefly choked at the alcohol content and Mali giggled. ¡°As I said, we make our own entertainment.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s some strong ¡®entertainment,¡¯¡± I coughed. Finally, I shrugged and decided on the truth. ¡°The capital. My father tried to kill me. I think he did, for a few seconds there. I left as soon as I woke up and was able to move. Got caught up in that big storm¡­¡±


    The night wore on and when we finished eating and exchanging stories, Mali took my hands and pulled me to my feet, demanding that I dance with her. The dance was¡­ not actually a dance. I¡¯d been studying some of the other villagers doing it while we spoke and it looked to my eyes more like a firebending kata¡ªthat is, when they weren¡¯t doing something more like normal dancing. Sure, one I had never seen before, but I recognized motions for stances, punches, kicks, and techniques intended to launch fire.


    Despite being a few cups in, my instructor knew exactly what she was doing, and it wasn¡¯t long before we were moving through the mirrored form together. As we moved, I noticed the swaying, almost serpentine movements involved. It seemed less like the firebending I knew and more akin to waterbending.


    ¡°What¡¯s this technique called?¡±


    Mali smiled as we started again. ¡°The Dance of the Dragon.¡±


    That explains the flow of the movements, then, I mused, nodding as we danced.


    Eventually, people began making their way to bed for the night. Mali politely excused herself the moment her husband came by and introduced himself, before asking if she was ready to turn in. I thanked her for the instruction and the hospitality and made my way to my sleeping bag, where I crashed for the night.


    <hr>


    Of course the masters would be dragons. Not surprised Uncle Iroh lied to protect them, I mused as I loaded up the boat.


    I had taken part in their ritual the following morning, ending up before the masters just as the sun was hitting its zenith. I¡¯ll be honest, I nearly shit my pants when a pair of huge fuckoff dragons rushed out of their caves at me.


    I¡¯ll just skip that part of the story. If I ever tell it. As far as anyone else will ever know, I didn¡¯t so much as flinch and I knew I was safe the whole time.


    After the dance, the dragons had apparently decided I passed their test. Their demonstration of firebending was¡­ enlightening. I¡¯d dreamed of different ways to use firebending over the years, and I had a lot of old memories of things I had been experimenting with from my old world, but what they taught me was so much more.


    For instance, fire didn¡¯t have to destroy. Fire burned away the old, yes, but it cleared way to make room for new growth. Fire was the very spark of life. It cleansed and purified, body and soul alike.


    I had been using my newfound knowledge from the moment I learned it, changing my breathing and internal chi flows. I¡¯d stayed up late last night just to get a head start on it. Even now, I could feel the damage Ozai had done healing.


    I spent another night in the village before setting out this morning. I¡¯d offered to trade or barter for provisions, but the chief would hear none of it, and had a few of his people pack up some smoked meat, fruits, vegetables, and some jugs of their fruity liquor and carry them down to my boat for me.


    Finished securing everything under a tarp in case it rained, I sat and waited a bit, watching the tide come in. Eventually, it got high enough, and I shoved the boat back out into the water. Firing up the engine, I got the boat turned around and pointed the direction I wanted to go, then deployed the sails. From there, I locked the tiller in place. I planted my foot near the engine to keep it going, took out my grimoire, and started writing down everything I had learned.


    My pen made neat lines as I drew out the stances for the Dance of the Dragon. Once I was finished with that, I moved on to the wisdom I¡¯d gleaned from the dragons¡¯ display and my own thoughts on it, filtered through the knowledge of my past life.


    <hr>


    ¡°Take your time. Make sure we have plenty of supplies. Who knows how long we will need to go between resupplies, chasing after my wayward nephew. Also, make sure everything is secure. The rainy season is approaching, you know. We want to be sure we make it there in one piece. Better to do everything right the first time,¡± Iroh smiled at the captain of the ship he had been assigned.


    The captain hesitated only a moment as he contemplated the underlying order¡ªthat is, to drag his feet. After a moment, he nodded. ¡°Of course, sir.¡±


    Iroh nodded, picking up his teacup and taking a sip. Ozai may be fire lord now, but Iroh had been in the military for a long time, while his brother had only served briefly before moving on to courtly politics. Ozai had no idea of the multitude of ways the soldiers under his command could disobey while appearing to follow his orders diligently.


    If we¡¯re thorough, we can buy Zuko another week just sitting in port, waiting on a shipment of fresh produce, he mused.


    Eventually, my brother¡¯s attention will waver. Until then, Zuko must do his best not to draw his father¡¯s attention.


    A frown pulled at his lips and he sighed. Quietly, he murmured, ¡°That a father would try to kill his son¡­ My brother has no idea what it is he¡¯s thrown away. If I had one more day with Lu Ten¡­¡±


    Iroh trailed off as his thoughts turned to better times. Happier times, spent with Lu Ten, Zuko, Azula, his wife, and Ursa.

 03

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    03


    <hr>


    Looking out at the rain from under the shelter of my tarp, boat, and lean-to, I sighed as I plucked away at my¡­ I guessed it was a lute of some sort. It had five strings as opposed to the koto¡¯s three, and I¡¯d seen them from time to time used in the plays our mother loved to take me and Azula to. They were some of the few times Ozai actually pulled his head out of his ass and acted like a civilized human being.


    As it turned out, the airbender temples were all built high up on mountains and nearly impossible to get to from the ground without special equipment or techniques. Equipment I didn¡¯t have. The technique, on the other hand¡­ Well, if the rain would ever stop, I¡¯d be able to get in some more practice. I¡¯d figured out how to use small explosions with every footstep to propel myself up into the air. Now, I was just working on my fine control and the ability to land and not potentially hurt myself. I had some ideas about jet propulsion for powered flight, but I wasn¡¯t there yet.


    Reaching out with one hand, I turned the skewers of meat and vegetables dipped in the fruit wine I was cooking over a small pit of rocks I was using my firebending to keep it hot. The smell of cooking food was heavenly and my stomach growled.


    Eventually, I set the guitar? aside and took one of the skewers off the rack. Watching the storm hammer the water and lightning pop and dance, I decided that as far as vacation trips went, this one was turning out well so far. Away from the city, the politics, and Ozai. Beautiful vistas. Peace and quiet. Solitude. Nothing but time on my hands to learn, practice, and grow at my own pace. No need to hide what I could do, to keep from drawing Ozai¡¯s attention.


    Sure, I had a few regrets. I regretted having to leave Azula behind, with Ozai pouring poison in her ears. I regretted leaving Uncle Iroh, when it was clear the man wanted nothing more than to settle down and spend his last days with family, in peace. And as nice as peace and quiet were¡­


    ¡°I could do with a volleyball or something,¡± I mused.


    <hr>


    It took a couple of days, but eventually, the rain cleared out and the sun returned. As soon as it cleared up, I went back to my normal routine. Training as the sun rose¡ªunarmed, with my swords, and with bending. Following that, meditation and working on advancing one technique or another.


    I was getting to the point where I could cause fires and small explosions out in the water with the power of my mind alone, but practicing the pyrokinesis technique had highlighted some flaws¡ªnamely, that anything obstructing the path of ¡®casting¡¯ the technique would cause it to detonate prematurely, unless I adjusted the course of the invisible ¡®projectile¡¯ of chi around it. I¡¯d learned that when it detonated on sea spray only a few yards from me, instead of the hundreds of yards away I had been aiming. So unless I could work out that basic flaw, I¡¯d be holding that technique in reserve either for surprise attacks at nearly point blank in combat, or very long range alpha strikes when I wanted to stay concealed.


    Lightning generation was coming along. I could separate yin and yang chi and join them to create lightning, and even direct it. It was just a matter of getting it faster, stronger, more range, and more control. For that last part, I used some pieces off of some extra metal panels stored in the bottom of the boat for patches and began practicing using lightning generation to weld the pieces together, then cut them with fire and did it over again. Lightning was much easier and cheaper to use at the small scale, but no less deadly.


    As the day wore on, I moved on to practicing what I¡¯d come to call ¡®jet-stepping,¡¯ after dreaming of a firebender woman who traveled with who I thought might be Avatar Kyoshi. That, I practiced low over the water just off the shore, moving through all of my firebending and sword forms as I got used to it¡ªuntil I could use the technique as easily and regularly as breathing or walking. After a few days, I even figured out the whole ¡®landing¡¯ thing¡ªeither by stepping my way down as though walking on a set of stairs, or ¡®sliding¡¯ down, not quite holding up my entire weight as I descended in a continuous burn and then catching myself at the last second before landing and just stepping onto the ground.


    Eventually, I got the technique down enough that I felt like I wouldn¡¯t accidentally fall out of the air and get myself killed. From there, I packed up some supplies and started my march, up parallel to the nearly sheer cliffs overlooking the ocean and the small beach I¡¯d landed on. I cleared the top and frowned as I looked out over a mostly flat plateau.


    ¡°Well, my dreams haven¡¯t steered my wrong so far.¡± With that in mind, I went a bit higher and got a look around, eventually spotting a crevasse some distance away. Making my way over, I found what I was looking for¡ªseveral recessed sets of stairs leading downwards and, walking into the gap myself, a series of buildings built upside down inside the gap.


    Walking down to solid ground, I found a building with a running fountain outside and rooms inside and made myself at home. Once I¡¯d established my camp, I set out exploring.


    I stayed out until sunset, poking around the place. From what I could see, it was pristine. There were no corpses, no signs of battle¡ªnothing obvious to give any indication as to what had happened to the inhabitants. I couldn¡¯t remember if this was supposed to be one of the temples with all male or all female practitioners and I saw no signs either way, seeing as all the statues I¡¯d come across were of both men and women.


    Just as the sun was starting to set and I was getting ready to call it a day, I found the mother lode. A pair of thick stone double doors led to a large library that looked and smelled to have been sealed all this time. I held up a hand, about to create a flame and go looking, before I thought better of it.


    A library full of books and scrolls, dry with age, and an open flame? Bad idea.


    Instead, in the fading light and using my heat sense to navigate, I found my way to some sort of central office located near the top. Opening the door, I found a shuttered window on the opposite side of the room¡ªthe same side as the chasm outside. Once I got it open, it let in just enough of the fading light to look around. I found a single book sitting on an old, low table in the center of the room. Having a look inside, I found it to be a journal kept by the last head monk of the temple. Tucking it under my arm, I closed up the room and left the library, before making my way back to camp.


    Having found some bathing facilities earlier, I used fire to scour them clean. Surprisingly, the water still ran, so I was able to take a relaxing, hot bath. Once I was done with that and a meal, I settled in for some reading before bed.


    Skipping right to the end, I discovered what happened to the monks¡ªor nuns, rather¡ªwho had lived here. They learned of the attack by the Fire Nation as Sozin¡¯s Comet passed overhead. Not wanting the temple to be destroyed in any attack, they planned to do as nomads do and scatter to the four winds. The plan was to have the flying bison scatter. A large force of adult airbenders would act as a diversion, drawing the attention of the fire nation, while the others escaped with the children, where they would scatter and lie low wherever they found themselves. They would hide among the populace once their hair grew back out and use other means to disguise themselves, and stop practicing airbending. With any luck, even if all of them were eventually discovered, they would have had time to have children themselves by that time so that those who carried the ability to airbend wouldn¡¯t be lost completely.


    I had no idea how well that worked out for them, but I hadn¡¯t heard of any airbenders in the last hundred years. It was possible that they were all dead. It was equally possible that some were alive and in hiding, and the people of other nations had hidden them after the attempted genocide. It wasn¡¯t like the Fire Nation was all knowing and ever present, and even if they were, I hadn¡¯t exactly had a line on military intelligence. I hoped it had worked, but if it hadn¡¯t, there was still one on ice somewhere at the south pole.


    The rest of the journal was pretty mundane, all things considered. Mostly the important happenings around the temple and at the other temples. I closed it up and tucked it away into my bag, before heading inside to turn in for the night.


    <hr>


    So, how do I apply airbending to firebending? I mused, studying an airbending scroll laid before me, detailing the most basic basic airbending forms as I copied it into my grimoire. Not by hand¡ªthe grimoire would let me lay out a scroll, book, or other written material on top of it and copy its contents automagically somehow.


    It was one of many scrolls that had caught my interest and had been copied over the last few days. Some of those were on the airbender fighting style, meant to incorporate wind manipulation into their martial arts. A few were more advanced airbending scrolls. I had even found some older water, earth, and fire bending scrolls. There were some on chi and its flow within and outside the body, detailing the chakras, even one on how to unlock them¡ªwhich I planned to investigate more thoroughly later.


    I was going through and making copies of as much of the more important looking information as I could, while I had a chance. Some of it, like my personally chosen selections, I wanted to dig into later on. The rest, I figured it might be handy to have at some point¡ªthe old ¡®better to have it and not need it¡¯ mentality in action.


    The first hurdle to clearing the library was light. I couldn¡¯t bring fire into it for fear of accidentally destroying its contents. For the first week, I worked to search and copy things during the daytime, and at night I spent my time delving into my knowledge of bending and meditating upon energy-bending. Eventually, I grasped one of the healing aspects of fire and was able to conjure a green flame that didn¡¯t burn me when I touched it, but¡­ I didn¡¯t trust it entirely. Fire was still fire. Thankfully, I did eventually figure out enough energy-bending to just create a ball of raw, non-elemental chi in my hand as a light source¡ªand from there, a mote of the stuff floating around my body at my direction, casting pale moonlight over everything.


    With the light hurdle cleared, I was able to work at night, allowing me to work much longer hours at copying things. The next big hurdle was in searching the library¡¯s contents. That actually turned out to be fairly easy to figure out, once I found their index. The monks had developed a storage system and kept a massive tome detailing the entire contents of the library in one of their back offices. Once I found that and copied its contents to my grimoire, the grimoire had produced an actual spreadsheet for me¡ªmultiple fold-out pages detailing the library¡¯s contents and where to find each entry. Amusingly, the spreadsheet actually worked like a computerized version¡ªin this case when I sorted by various tables and columns, the text on the pages magically rearranged itself.


    I was three weeks into my exploration and making my way down to shore to do some fishing for more food since I wanted to save the dried rations for as long as possible, when I spotted smoke on the horizon. Taking out my spyglass, I had a look out to sea and sighed when I spotted a Fire Nation naval vessel heading towards the island.


    Turning around, I hurried back to the temple and closed up the library. I gathered my things and took off, jet stepping back up to the top of the plateau and running to the edge. Jumping off into a jet-step slide, I rode all the way to the bottom, dropping down beside my boat and throwing my bag inside. I¡¯d made sure to keep the boat ready to go just in case of something like this, so it didn¡¯t take long at all to uncover it, untie it from a tree, raise the mast, shove it out a bit further into the water, and get the engine fired up.


    I turned the boat around and skirted the edge of the island, the much larger vessel now in sight¡ªand clearly having spotted me, as they began belching smoke and poured on the speed. Unfurling my sail and edging up to nearly redline on the small boat¡¯s little motor, I was just able to keep ahead of them, but I knew I couldn¡¯t keep it up.


    ¡°They¡¯ll run me down eventually, when I run out of juice to power this thing¡­¡±


    I eventually dug into my pouch and pulled out the grimoire. It split open and pages blurred, before stopping on a detailed map of the islands surrounding the temple. Noting where I was now based on the coastline, I considered the bigger ship¡¯s size and maneuverability and eventually came up with a plan.


    The bigger ship followed as I tacked north, following the coast. Spotting the next island in the chain, I adjusted my course as the bigger ship moved to intercept.


    The next hour or more was tense as we circled the island, my smaller boat able to move into shallower waters, cutting much closer to the island and gaining some ground. On the north eastern side, I spotted what I was hoping to find¡ªseveral much smaller islands to the north, marked on the map for accuracy and navigation purposes (specifically, in the case of the airbenders, marked as being a good place to catch an updraft). I¡¯d managed to gain enough ground to put the horizon between me and the other ship, so I took a moment to pull in the sails and drop the mast down, before resuming my run. Instead of moving off towards the other islands, I stuck to the coast, running hard and fast as I could.


    Eventually, I turned hard to the east¡ªtowards the Earth Kingdom. Locking the tiller in place and pointing the boat at open water, I turned around backwards in my seat and braced myself against it. I was getting tired, but I had enough in me for this, I hoped.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Breathing deeply, I gathered fire to my hands, holding them to either side of the boat. The pressure built until I released it, blue flames bursting to life with a whoosh that picked up in pitch and intensity as I adjusted the flames on the fly. The boat began moving, quickly picking up speed as it began to skim over the water¡¯s surface¡ªrunning much faster than it was ever intended to go. I could only hope I didn¡¯t capsize before I ran out of juice as my jet propelled me away from the island.


    I held the jet as long as I could, doing my best to focus my breathing, taking in more ki from the air and the world around me to prolong it. Eventually however, I just couldn¡¯t go any further. The jet died out with a quiet whump of air and I sagged where I sat. Forcing myself to move, my body trembled as I grabbed the right ropes to raise the mast and locked it into place, then unfurled the sails and tacked north, north east to run towards the Earth Kingdom coast while also heading towards my destination. I¡¯d hug the coast for a while before turning north and cross the Northern Sea.


    Finally, I pulled out my sleeping bag and bed roll and allowed myself to collapse into my seat. Closing my eyes, I meditated, drifting into nearly a nap to recharge.


    Night had fallen by the time I had enough energy to do more than lay there and occasionally crack my eyes open to make sure I wasn¡¯t going to run into anything. I broke out my fishing rod and used some dried meat as bait. After catching and eating my supper, I took a few minutes to relieve myself over the side and then settled in to run the motor some more, to put some more distance between me and that fire nation ship. When I got tired again, I settled in for some more sleep.


    <hr>


    <u>Weeks ago¡­</u>


    ¡°What do you mean, ¡®he¡¯s gone?!¡¯¡±


    Ty Lee winced and Mai stifled a sigh at the sound of Azula¡¯s yell. The princess came storming out of her brother¡¯s room, spotting them immediately. Ty Lee smiled. ¡°What¡¯s, uh, what¡¯s the matter Azula?¡±


    Azula bit back a growl. ¡°Zuzu is gone.¡±


    ¡°How?¡± Mai asked, frowning minutely. ¡°He was wounded¡ª¡±


    ¡°I have no idea,¡± Azula grumbled, storming off past them, with the expectation that they follow. She fell silent, leading the pair through the halls and outside. Standing in front of the familiar turtle-duck pond, she turned to Mai and Ty Lee. Gold eyes studied them for a moment before she nodded. ¡°Father will know of this by now. He¡¯ll want Zuko tracked down and brought back.¡± Quieter, she muttered, ¡°Probably to finish the job.¡±


    ¡°So¡­ what do you want us to do?¡±


    Sharp eyes cut to Ty Lee and narrowed in thought. Eventually, she quietly said, ¡°Find him first.¡±


    Mai nodded. ¡°And?¡±


    ¡°Bring him back. If you can¡¯t, then stick with him and keep him out of trouble until you hear from me. I¡¯ll¡­ deal with father in the meantime.¡±


    Mai and Ty Lee shared a look. After a moment, the pair nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll go look around where he usually hangs out¡ª¡±


    ¡°The docks,¡± Azula shook her head. ¡°He packed a bag. He doesn¡¯t intend to come back.¡±


    Frowning, Mai asked, ¡°How do you know for sure?¡±


    Azula looked away with a sigh. ¡°He packed the stupid doll.¡±


    The pair of girls shared another look, Ty Lee wincing. ¡°Alright~. The docks, then!¡±


    With that, the two of them left Azula to her thoughts.


    <hr>


    <u>A few weeks later¡­</u>


    Mai kept her face neutral, despite her frustration. It had taken entirely too much time for Azula to get them a ship. She was almost certain that the fat old man, Zuko and Azula¡¯s uncle Iroh, had something to do with the delay. The man had spoken with them and asked where they intended to search. Mai had made a judgment call based on what she knew of Zuko.


    If Zuko had truly decided to leave, then he wasn¡¯t going to fuck around about being found. He also wasn¡¯t going to be obvious about it, either. So, after consulting a map, she had decided to head north, checking the ports along the way for sign that he had stopped for supplies, since he couldn¡¯t have had enough time between waking up, escaping, and leaving to get much in the way of provisions for any prolonged journey and Zuko was smart enough not to go out to sea without enough food and water to last a while. Her first best guess was the Western Air Temple. It was deserted, hard to get to, a relatively secure location, and close enough to the fire nation that most would overlook it as being too close¡ªlikely thinking he would have made for the Earth Kingdom. It was right under their noses, so to speak¡ªand that had ¡®Zuko¡¯ written all over it.


    Iroh had decided to go east instead, straight to the Earth kingdom, to begin checking in with all of their outposts, colonies, and shipyards along the coast. Mai had wondered why he would do it himself when a hawk would be faster, before realizing that that was the point and Zuko¡¯s uncle was intentionally dragging his heels.


    Once they departed, it took more time to stop at every port on the north part of the Fire Island chain before finally catching a lead. Zuko had stopped on Ember Island and bought provisions, just as she had suspected he would. She worried that he might have been caught in the storm that came not long after he had passed through, but¡­ she knew Zuko was smart. He wouldn¡¯t take on more than he could manage. He wasn¡¯t dumb enough to sail into a storm.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Ty Lee¡¯s chipper voice pulled her from her thoughts as the other girl settled into place against the rail beside Mai, pressing into Mai¡¯s side in the clingy way Ty Lee did.


    ¡°Mm.¡±


    ¡°Captain says the island the air temple is on should be coming into sight soon. You think Zuzu¡¯s there?¡±


    Mai hummed, before nodding. ¡°Probably. Knowing him, he set up camp in the temple itself and started training or something.¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Ty Lee put a finger to her lips in thought, before grinning. ¡°Yup! That sounds like Zuzu!¡± Mai could hear the grin as Ty Lee turned to look at her. ¡°So~¡­ You, me, and Zuzu. All alone up in some lonely mountain temple. We¡¯d have to keep him tied up so he wouldn¡¯t try to run away again¡­¡±


    Mai felt her face light up in a blush and her hands clenched the railing. ¡°Quiet.¡±


    ¡°Ehehehe~! You like that, huh?¡± the acrobat teased.


    Shaking her head, Mai narrowed her eyes at a smudge in the distance. ¡°There. That¡¯s the island.¡±


    ¡°Oh! Yup, there it is!¡± Quieter, she added, ¡°I¡¯m just saying, Azula doesn¡¯t have to know¡­¡±


    ¡°Azula always knows.¡±


    Ty Lee shrugged. ¡°Yeah, but have you known her to be able to say no to her big brother?¡±


    Mai thought about it for a moment, before shaking her head. ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°So we just make sure it¡¯s Zuko telling her, not us!¡±


    Mai snorted. ¡°Throw him under the boat?¡±


    ¡°Yep!¡± Ty Lee chirped with a giggle. ¡°Worth it~!¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡± Sending the other girl a skeptical look, Mai asked, ¡°Why did I agree to share with you again?¡±


    The overly energetic monkey of a girl grinned. ¡°Because otherwise, Azula¡¯d get him all to herself!¡±


    Mai sighed. ¡°Right.¡± A flash of light caught her eye and she pointed at the island. ¡°What is that?¡±


    Ty Lee studied it for a moment as it fell from the top of the cliff down towards the water, before she cheered, ¡°It¡¯s Zuko!¡±


    ¡°But why¡ª¡± she started, only to turn and yell at a crew member, ¡°Tell the captain to increase our speed! He saw us!¡±


    ¡°I mean, it¡¯s not like this ship can just sneak up on an island,¡± Ty Lee murmured as the crewman hurried off and, a moment later, the ship shuddered beneath them as the engine began working harder.


    The pair of them moved back towards the tall tower and climbed to the top for a better view. Ty Lee whistled. ¡°Wow, he¡¯s really determined not to be caught!¡±


    Mai nodded, leaning against the railing as she did some estimates in her head and came up short. ¡°We¡¯re not going to catch him at this rate. It¡¯s going to come down to how long he can keep up his firebending.¡±


    ¡°Zuzu can keep it up for a while~.¡±


    Mai sighed, rolling her eyes as Ty Lee giggled. They both watched as Zuko led them on a chase around the island, then around another, his ship eventually disappearing over the horizon as it gained enough ground to leave them behind. They came upon a spot where several smaller islands sat off to the north and the captain took the ship around to check the back side to make sure Zuko wasn¡¯t hiding behind them in a simple ploy to just let them pass while he waited them out. Mai could almost feel him slipping further away at this point, as she realized he¡¯d have known they would have to move to check the obvious and would¡¯ve used it to gain more distance.


    A sound in the distance made both girls look up in confusion. It sounded like a low roar, but quickly picked up in pitch as it grew fainter. After a few moments, Ty Lee asked, ¡°Do you think that was Zuzu?¡±


    ¡°Possibly,¡± Mai murmured. ¡°It sounded like it was heading east to me.¡±


    ¡°Same. Go tell the captain?¡±


    ¡°Mm.¡±


    Ty Lee nodded and scurried down the ladder, while Mai resumed her watch out over the sea with an annoyed look. Stop running from me already, Zuko.


    Thinking back to the map she had studied, she wondered where he would head next, now that they had chased him off from his first hiding place. Once more, she reminded herself that Zuko was unconventional compared to other firebenders. It may look like he was running to the Earth Kingdom, and that would be the logical move if he were anyone else¡­


    Which means I need to consider the illogical option. The option no other firebender would dare risk alone.


    When she thought about it like that, the choice was obvious, really.


    He¡¯s going to pick up some Earth Kingdom garb, disguise himself, and head north. To the Northern Water Tribe.


    It would be cold, windy, and otherwise miserable. Firebenders would be uncomfortable at best and would need to almost continuously expend energy to keep warm. He would be surrounded by enemies who wouldn¡¯t hesitate to attack, maybe even kill him, if they discovered who he really was¡ªassuming they didn¡¯t take him hostage and try to ransom him, which wouldn¡¯t work out how they expected. She doubted a bunch of waterbenders living on the north pole knew or cared about the ins and outs of Fire Nation politics or the royal family.


    It was insane. Suicidal, really.


    And it was so Zuko that it couldn¡¯t be any other option. So, with that, she took the ladder down to speak to the captain.


    We¡¯ll just do the same thing he is. Go ashore near an Earth Kingdom village. Get some clothes and a boat. Set out and meet up with the ship again. Tow the boat closer. When we get close enough, Ty Lee and I can take the boat the rest of the way. Claim we¡¯re Earth Kingdom refugees looking for our friend, who might have been dumb enough to come their way.


    Infiltrating the northern water tribe sounded fun, but the trip there was just going to be more riding on the ship and finding ways to kill time.


    So bored just thinking about it. Almost bored enough to take Ty Lee up on her offer to ¡®practice¡¯ for Zuko.


    By which the other girl meant, ¡®fool around and make out so they could put on a show for Zuko when they caught up to him.¡¯ Mai had to admit, it wasn¡¯t a bad idea. Despite how different he was, she had seen the way Zuko looked at herself, Ty Lee, and even Azula. He was still a man. He wouldn¡¯t say no to watching two beautiful girls put on a show.


    On the other hand, it would mean letting Ty Lee be even clingier than normal.


    It was a hard choice. Do something Zuko would like, but have to endure Ty Lee¡¯s antics, versus not doing that and not having to put up with Ty Lee¡­


    ¡°Captain,¡± she called as she stepped onto the bridge. ¡°I know where we need to go next. I need the map.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± the man nodded, and led her over to their navigation charts, laid out on a table in the corner.


    Ty Lee pressed herself into Mai¡¯s side as they looked over the map. ¡°So~? Where¡¯s our Zuzu going?¡±


    Ugh. ¡­Maybe she¡¯ll let me gag her so I can get some peace and quiet. It has to be more entertaining than staring out at the ocean.


    <hr>


    Iroh sat on the deck of the ship, sipping at a cup of tea as he looked out over the waves. Before him was his calligraphy set, ready for him to compose a poem. Footsteps approached from behind and stopped beside him.


    ¡°We should be at the southern air temple soon, sir.¡±


    ¡°Ah, good, good,¡± Iroh nodded. ¡°No need to rush, captain. Better that we get there in one piece than not at all.¡±


    ¡°Of course. Do you think it¡¯s possible that Prince Zuko is taking refuge in one of the temples?¡±


    ¡°Taking refuge?¡± Iroh laughed, shaking his head. ¡°No. We heard no sign of him along the coast of the Earth Kingdom on the way and my nephew is an honorable young man. I don¡¯t believe he ran away, as some are suggesting. Knowing Zuko, he¡¯s concocted some scheme to regain his honor. One hundred years ago, the Avatar escaped the purge of the air nomads, only to disappear. Zuko is most likely searching for signs of the Avatar. If he were captured or killed, then that would surely restore Zuko¡¯s honor and resolve any¡­ ill will with the Fire Lord. The most reasonable place to start our search then is the air temples. His young friends should have searched the western temple by now, so it falls to us to search the south, then the east, and the north if we do not hear from them.¡±


    ¡°That could take a while, sir.¡±


    ¡°Could it?¡± Iroh asked, a smile pulling at his lips as he glanced up at the captain, who chuckled quietly.


    ¡°Oh, yes. Perhaps as much as two years, in fact. If not more.¡±


    Iroh sighed. ¡°Such a shame. Oh well.¡± Looking around and seeing no one else on the deck, Iroh asked, ¡°Care for a game of Pai Sho?¡±


    ¡°I would be honored.¡±


    Iroh cleared off his writing utensils as the captain left to go retrieve a Pai Sho board.

 04

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    04


    <hr>


    ¡°What do you think, young master? Masterful work, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s pretty,¡± I agreed, running my fingers over the great coat. ¡°But is it warm? Proof against the elements?¡±


    ¡°Very much so!¡± the old Earth Kingdom merchant nodded. ¡°The outside is polar leopard hide.¡± That explained the white fur and the familiar pattern. He opened it to show the inside, with a different, longer fur that felt very soft to the touch. ¡°Arctic wolf fur interior. Very warm and dries quickly if you get it wet. But the real secret,¡± he leaned in close, looking around as if worried someone might be spying on us, ¡°is a lining of owl wolf leather with the down and feathers still on between them. It insulates and is virtually waterproof. Very lightweight, thin, and flexible for the warmth it provides¡ªunlike the bulkier parkas the northerners wear. I can dye it in any color you like, but honestly, with this pattern it would be a waste.¡±


    ¡°Alright. How much for that plus the boots, sweater, scarf, gloves, thermals, and overalls?¡±


    We dickered a bit on the price and I wound up trading away a small cask of the fruit wine I¡¯d gotten as a gift from the sun warriors, but in the end I felt like I didn¡¯t come away too bad from the deal. Frostbite was no joke and I wasn¡¯t willing to freeze my balls off or die of hypothermia to save a few coin. With that in mind, I had even ordered some furs to put into the boat.


    Chenbao wasn¡¯t actually my first stop on my trip north¡ªit was my last stop, in fact. The first village I¡¯d stopped in on the Earth Kingdom¡¯s west coast, I¡¯d traded, done some mercenary work, and gotten enough materials to modify the boat. Then, I¡¯d taken it away from the village and used lightning bending to do some welding. Now, my boat was a trireme style boat with three hulls. I¡¯d removed the assembly with the mast and installed a short cabin with windows. Not glass windows, sadly, but metal slats on rods that could be opened and closed as needed.


    The mast, I reinstalled on top of the cabin and used some clever rigging to get it so that I could adjust the sails from inside the cabin. I found another boat like my own that had been damaged and scrapped, but the engine seemed good. The new engine went into the cabin as well, with a length of metal welded between it and the gearing for the propeller so it would run. As for the tiller, I left the setup in the rear, but also added some cabling to be able to control it from inside.


    The new furs went into the cabin, on the floor to provide some insulation against the cold, along with a pile of blankets I¡¯d collected in the last town. After securing the hatch, I took my clothes purchases to the room in the small inn I was staying at for the night. They had a communal bathing room in the back of the inn and I was finally able to get myself a proper scrub in, discretely using my firebending to warm the water up a bit above what it was at until the room was nice and steamy and I could take some time to just sit and relax with a long soak. Eventually however, I finished up and made my way back into the inn proper for supper.


    Looking around, I spotted an older, steel haired trader woman sitting at a lone Pai Sho table in the corner and made my way over with my bowl of stew and a mug of tea. ¡°Fancy a game, old timer?¡±


    ¡°Pah! Sit down, young man. I will give you the lesson in manners your father failed to,¡± she scoffed and I laughed, pulling a chair over to set my bowl and cup on.


    The woman wore a dark blue parka and, from her features, I¡¯d place her as probably from the Northern Water Tribe. I made a mental note to ask later, as I began setting out tiles. ¡°Well, my father wasn¡¯t much of a man and didn¡¯t have much use for manners, unless they benefit him. I¡¯m sorry to say, you¡¯ve got your work cut out for you. I¡¯m Zuko, by the way.¡±


    ¡°Senna,¡± she answered, setting up her own pieces.


    The game began and, only a few moves in, she grumbled, ¡°An uncouth strategy for an unruly brat. Fitting.¡±


    ¡°Actually, my uncle taught me this one,¡± I chuckled. ¡°Uncle is a gentleman and a scholar, but as he loved to tell me,¡± I cleared my throat and put on my best Iroh voice. ¡°Zuuuko! Youth and enthusiasm are wonderful things to have¡­ but they are no match for old age and treachery!¡±


    ¡°Rude,¡± the older lady smiled. ¡°He sounds like a scamp. So,¡± her eyes trailed over me for a moment before going back to the board. ¡°Fire Nation?¡±


    ¡°That obvious?¡± I sighed, and she made a quiet noise of agreement. ¡°I left home after earning myself a little something to remember the place by,¡± I pulled the collar of my robe open to show a bit of the scarring left over from Ozai¡¯s lightning. ¡°So now, I¡¯m wandering the world. Exploring. I guess you could call it a¡­ spiritual journey? Pilgrimage? Walkabout? I¡¯ve been doing a little trading to get by. I was thinking of heading north and seeing what they had to offer.¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯ve got a death wish.¡±


    I winced. ¡°That bad, huh?¡±


    Looking up, blue eyes met my gold as she considered it. ¡°Can you bend?¡±


    ¡°Yes, actually. That¡¯s part of why I wanted to go.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going to have to explain that one, young man,¡± Senna murmured, advancing another piece and taking one of mine.


    ¡°Well, I had a little revelation. Some insight into the nature of fire,¡± I explained, glancing back to make sure that the only other few patrons weren¡¯t paying attention. Bringing my left hand up to my chest, hidden from view of the rest of the room, I summoned a single candle¡¯s worth of flame into my palm¡ªbright green and steady.


    ¡°Put that out!¡± the woman hissed, and I closed my fist around it. She slapped her next tile down forcefully enough to rattle the table as she breathed out an irritated huff.


    I took a moment to eat some of my strew and wash it with, using my off hand to move tiles as we played in silence for a time. Finally, Senna asked, ¡°Why was it green?¡± Frowning, she muttered, ¡°Probably better for killing.¡±


    ¡°The opposite, actually.¡± The older woman looked confused. ¡°That¡¯s why I wanted to head north. The water tribe have amazing healers and I¡¯ve heard there¡¯s one up there that¡¯s been around a while. I¡¯ve been playing with this since I figured it out and it heals most things, including scars. I¡¯m not talking about just scarring over to close a wound, or cauterizing. I mean, I gutted a fish I caught, tested it, and the fish regrew. It was thoroughly dead one minute, then started flopping around on the deck the next. Jumped right in the water and swam off. It looked a little thinner after, but it was otherwise intact.¡±


    ¡°Well, ain¡¯t that the damndest thing,¡± Senna murmured. ¡°If that¡¯s so, I can see why you¡¯d want to visit old Yagoda.¡±


    ¡°Yagoda?¡±


    ¡°Agna Qel¡¯a¡¯s master of healing.¡±


    I nodded at that. ¡°Well, too bad they¡¯d probably kill me before I made it to the gate if it¡¯s as bad as you say. Disappointing, but understandable.¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡± Senna clicked a piece down and glared up at me. ¡°You don¡¯t get to be my age in this business without learning how to spot manure, and your story stinks. Not the whole thing, but enough. That sword on your hip tells me you came from money at one time, but the way you carry it and your callouses say you¡¯re serious about it, at least. You¡¯re well-spoken and in spite of being a brat, you¡¯re actually polite. You eat like you¡¯ve got all the time in the world. You¡¯re too clean to be anything but a noble, because commoners wouldn¡¯t care.¡±


    I hummed, making my own move. ¡°You¡¯re not wrong. My father is a noble. My family has money. I studied the sword under Piandao, as many noble born young men do. And none of that matters, because I left it all behind. Saying which noble family wouldn¡¯t matter one way or another, because I¡¯m an exile. No one would pay to have me back, if someone tried to ransom me. My father would laugh in their faces.¡±


    Senna nodded, studying the board for a moment longer before moving a final piece. ¡°It¡¯s my win.¡±


    I looked over the board, checking for any counter, before finally smiling and nodded. ¡°Congratulations. Well, if you¡¯ll excuse me, I¡¯m going to go turn in early. Want to get an early start before I head north.¡±


    Senna raised an eyebrow. ¡°You¡¯re still going?¡±


    I shrugged, grinning. ¡°Agna Qel¡¯a isn¡¯t the whole of ¡®the north.¡¯ There¡¯s lots more north up there outside of the city. I¡¯ll make land, poke around a bit, see what I can see.¡±


    ¡°You damn fool! It isn¡¯t safe! There are ice shelves, crevasses that open into bottomless pits, predators that you can¡¯t see until you¡¯re right on top of them. There¡¯s nothing to burn up there, except blubber or whatever you bring with you. There are entire tribes of hundreds, if not thousands, who roam the frozen wastes! Everything outside of the cities belongs to them and they don¡¯t take kindly to strangers. Then, there are the deeply spiritual places, like the forest. Place where if you make the wrong move, you¡¯ll find yourself suffering a fate worse than death!¡± Taking a breath, she leaned in and whispered, ¡°And you, young man. Every step will feel heavier. Every breath harder to take than the last. Some firebenders just collapse and die up there. Most only lose the ability to bend. Although¡­ it was said that a very rare few who visited, before the war, retained their ability to bend fire. Look down at that scar and tell me if you feel particularly lucky, young man.¡±


    ¡°Heh. You¡¯re right. It¡¯s absolutely a dangerous place. But that¡¯s part of why I want to go there. If I can survive the cold and retain my bending, I¡¯ll be better off for it. Nothing worth it is free, you know.¡± Standing up, I excused myself and made my way up to my room.


    The next morning, I woke early, dressed in my new clothes, packed up my things, and made my way down to my boat. I raised an eyebrow at what, or rather who, I found waiting for me.


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t expecting to see you again.¡±


    Senna made a quiet noise of dismissal. ¡°I¡¯m heading home anyway. I¡¯m getting on in years and a strapping young lad such as yourself could surely ward off any pirates if we encounter them.¡±


    Blinking, I asked, ¡°Is that actually a possibility?¡±


    ¡°It certainly is. They sail the waters between the Earth Kingdom and the North Pole and prey on unwary traders. Now, are you going to stand there flapping your gums all day, or are you going to escort an old lady home?¡±


    Shaking my head, I tossed my bag into the bottom of the boat and undid the mooring lines, before tossing those in as well. Climbing in after them, I took a minute to spool and tie the rope off and toss my bag into the cabin, before grabbing a long bamboo pole I kept on hand for pushing off of things and shoving off from the pier. As soon as we were clear, I raised the sails and sat down at the tiller. Propping my foot on the engine, I got it warmed up and soon had us moving along.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    ¡°Much faster than anything I¡¯ve seen that wasn¡¯t powered by waterbenders,¡± Senna commented.


    ¡°Not surprising. And they probably keep their ships going all day.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± she shook her head. ¡°But they¡¯re larger.¡±


    ¡°How long is the trip, usually?¡±


    The old woman hummed. ¡°Typically, three days by sea, if the winds are fair. At this rate? A day at most. Perhaps less. Is this as fast as it goes?¡±


    ¡°About half speed,¡± I shook my head. ¡°You said there might be pirates, so I¡¯m saving my energy. I can hold this speed all day and night if need be.¡± We were moving about twenty miles per hour by my estimate. I could push it faster, but I didn¡¯t want to blow the engine.


    We were quiet for a while, looking out over the water as the town faded into the background behind us. Eventually, I asked, ¡°You said you¡¯re a trader? You¡¯re not bringing anything back?¡±


    The older woman chuckled. ¡°Not that kind of trader. I don¡¯t move goods myself. I negotiate a few trade deals on behalf of a few shops in Agna Qel¡¯a. Imports of metal and metal products, food, wood, coal, and other resources in exchange for things we can provide. It¡¯s a lucrative business for anyone willing to brave waters where they might encounter either pirates or fire navy ships.¡±


    ¡°Mm. So, I¡¯ve heard that in the north, they only allow men to do offensive waterbending and women are relegated to healers?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± Senna agreed, before a smirk pulled at her lips. ¡°But don¡¯t underestimate a lady¡¯s resourcefulness, young man.¡±


    I laughed as she moved her arms and a stream of water leapt from one side of the boat, over the top, to splash down on the other side. ¡°Probably good advice for everyone, not just women.¡±


    Studying me, she asked, ¡°And you aren¡¯t having any trouble with your fire, despite the cold?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s getting a little harder,¡± I admitted. ¡°But the key to fire is in the breath,¡± I parroted Iroh. ¡°I use a breathing exercise to keep the inner flame stoked, so to speak. It¡¯s not entirely metaphorical.¡±


    We passed most of the day with idle chat. When lunch time came around, Senna caught us some fresh fish and I cooked them in a pan with some salt, herbs, and thinly sliced potatoes to make chips. We washed it down with tea that I heated from the seawater she bent into fresh water. Eventually, it grew dark and the temperature dropped, and the two of us retreated inside.


    <hr>


    I woke to the sound of a thud that reverberated through the bottom of the boat. Cracking my eyes open, I sat up to find Senna passing me my sword.


    ¡°Pirates,¡± she whispered, and pointed to the starboard side of the boat. ¡°They¡¯ve launched a boat and are rowing towards us.¡±


    Frowning, I slipped the sword into my belt and made for the hatch. ¡°Let¡¯s go give them a warm welcome. You see that lever?¡± I pointed to a series of them mounted on the walls. ¡°Third one, left side. Grab it and yank tit down. When everything stops spinning, pull the next one to the left.¡±


    Senna did, and a moment later, line began spooling as weights released and the sails dropped, the geared pedal system I¡¯d rigged for them spinning as the line wound onto its spool. Above, the arms of the mast folded down, followed by the mast itself collapsing backwards and down as Senna pulled the second lever.


    I rushed out of the cabin in time to see some idiot on one of the boats jump into the air, aiming to board my boat. Rolling my eyes, I grabbed the tiller and stuck my hand on the engine. It sputtered to life and I gunned it. The look on the guy¡¯s face was priceless in the moments before he splashed down into the icy water.


    ¡°Firebender!¡± someone yelled, but by then it was too late.


    I wheeled the boat around, aiming to drive it past their rowboat. As I passed, I whipped my arm through part of a firebending movement. What came out wasn¡¯t particularly strong, but it did the job. A flamethrower washed over the first rowboat, setting hair, clothes, and the pitch coating the wood on fire. One boat down, I angled for the second. Someone had the bright idea to throw what looked like whaling harpoons at me, but I swerved around them and got close enough to repeat the trick a second time.


    With two of their boats going up in flames and their boarding party diving overboard to douse the flames, hopping out of the fire and into the freezer, I made for the ship. Senna chose that moment to step out of the cabin. A waterbending form from her had the two flaming rowboats capsized, shattered into debris, and scattered under a jet of water.


    I killed the motor as we drew alongside the pirate ship¡ªwhich looked like some kind of Chinese ship, maybe, with the three big red sails. They were already turning to try to flee, but the ship was wind powered and slow, so that was pretty much pointless.


    ¡°What are you going to do?¡±


    ¡°How do you normally deal with pirates? Fire navy burns them alive. One of the few practices of theirs I agree with, considering pirates are usually also slavers, rapists, and murderers.¡±


    ¡°Agna Qel¡¯a warriors kill them and sink their boats, after claiming anything of value,¡± Senna nodded. ¡°I was worried you would go soft, when it came time to get your hands dirty.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t like war or fighting for anything but sport. But leaving them alive means they can go out and keep doing what they have been. I¡¯d be releasing more suffering into the world letting them go than I would be in killing them. So, if you¡¯ll excuse me?¡±


    Grabbing a mooring line and tying a quick knot in the end of it, I jumped from the boat and jet-stepped my way up to the pirate ship¡¯s deck, where I quickly tied off the line. The fight that followed was quick and dirty as the pirates attacked¡ªnot so much a fight as a slaughter. They had nowhere to run and were fighting against a firebender¡ªthe dozen or so men left who weren¡¯t in the water obviously felt they had nothing left to lose as they rushed me, hoping to overwhelm me.


    Pulling my sword, I waited until they were nearly on top of me before closing my eyes and throwing out my hand. Everyone expected the firebender to bend fire¡ªthat was just common sense. They all kept their eyes fixed on me to see what kind of flame I was going to make and which way it would go, so they could dodge.


    A blinding light flashed over the deck like a camera going off several times over the course of a second. In the dark, at less than ten feet away, they were blinded instantly by energy bending. They stumbled this way and that, clutching their eyes in pain and I went to work taking out the trash. My sword flashed, taking heads, slipping between ribs, and scoring hits on other vitals. A few of them had the good sense to try to run, but without their sight and confused, they didn¡¯t get far before I chased them down and picked them off.


    Once I had the deck cleared, I checked the captain¡¯s cabin up top first. I found him standing just inside the door as he swung a sword at my head as I stepped inside. Grabbing his arm, I yanked the larger man back out of the cabin and kicked him several feet across the deck. He made to stand, only to slip in a puddle of one of his men¡¯s blood and fall. I was on top of him a moment later, slashing my sword through his neck.


    After another check of the captain¡¯s cabin, I made my way belowdecks. Thankfully, the only other pirate I ran across was the cook, who actually managed to get me with a thrown meat cleaver before I got to him. The gouge he¡¯d left on my face felt nasty, but a few moments of running green fire over it had it feeling fine.


    With the ship cleared, I began the time honored tradition of looting. Checking the hold first, I found only booze, water, and food. Likewise, none of the individual pirates had anything of value in their footlockers other than coin, which I happily collected.


    Eventually, I came across a room locked by a padlock. Burning through the metal of the lock, I took a look inside and whistled. Holding up a hand, I conjured a light from ki and had a thorough look around. They had a lot of weapons, pottery, rugs, and other junk it looked like they had taken from the ships they¡¯d robbed. Aside from some expensive looking gold and silver jewelry and a bunch of loose gemstones however, nothing really stood out as particularly valuable and I had only limited space on board. I stuffed the jewelry and gems into an Earth Kingdom vase that looked to be made of jade and made my way back to the captain¡¯s cabin, figuring that any proper captain would likely take first pick of any loot.


    I wasn¡¯t disappointed, as a proper inspection showed it to be filled with goodies. A footstep behind me had me turning, my hand going to my sword, only to find Senna stepping inside. ¡°What have you found?¡±


    ¡°Just started searching the captain¡¯s cabin. Found a sealed off room below with a bunch of stuff inside, but I didn¡¯t personally see a point in taking anything other than this,¡± I hefted the vase. ¡°Gold, silver, and gems. If you want, feel free to grab whatever you like. I¡¯m probably just going to burn this thing behind us. Just remember, space is at a premium.¡±


    Senna chuckled and nodded as we searched the cabin together. We found an entire chest full of gold, silver, and copper coin and agreed to split it between us. I found several maps and added those to my collection, transferring them to my journal when Senna went below to check the other room. Other than a few good, unopened bottles of alcohol that I kept to trade later, I didn¡¯t see much of a point in taking anything else. Everything I¡¯d taken was small and could be traded easily for some quick money. I wasn¡¯t intending to make the boat my home forever, so eventually I¡¯d probably wind up ditching it. Which meant that the only things should be taking with me were those that I could carry on my back.


    In the end, Senna picked out a couple of rugs and some pottery for herself and together, we lowered everything down into my boat. I cut it loose and Senna used waterbending to get the boat far enough the ship, then I went belowdecks and carried their alcohol around the rest of the ship, before breaking open the casks and letting it pour everywhere. I tossed a fireball behind me and ran topside as it caught. A second fireball into the alcohol I¡¯d spilled on the deck had that going up as well, and then I leapt off the ship, jet-stepping my way back to my boat.


    Senna and I watched from the boat as I put the ship behind us and nearly topped out the engine getting us away. Timber, pitch, alcohol, and sailcloth burned brightly enough that we saw it long after we were over the horizon from the wreck. Eventually, we made our way back inside and I closed the cabin up, opening the forward viewing slits so I could see where I was going. The heat from my bending and the furs and blankets kept us warm enough, until I closed the slits, raised the mast and sails, and left it to the wind from that point on.


    <hr>


    ¡°They¡¯re here. Let me deal with them.¡±


    I cut the engine and lowered the sails as we drifted in a path through a series of very sharp looking icebergs. We didn¡¯t have long to wait before, sensing we weren¡¯t going to rush headfirst into their trap, a group of six boats¡ªeach carrying a group of waterbenders and armed warriors¡ªrushed out from behind their hiding places behind the icebergs.


    A line of ice rushed at us over the water and Senna stood. She twisted, dancing a few steps in the boat, and the line of ice erupted in a splash of water and ice¡ªa circle around my boat. ¡°Knock it off, you damn fools!¡±


    The waterbender boats slowed as they began looking unsure of themselves. From one of the boats, someone called, ¡°Old Senna? That you?¡±


    ¡°Old? Old?! Who said that?!¡± the older woman demanded, and I hid a smile behind my hand.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s her,¡± someone else said, and several of the waterbenders laughed.


    ¡°Quiet, fools,¡± an older man rumbled, pointing at my boat. ¡°That¡¯s a Fire Nation boat. It runs on bending. And he¡¯s a firebender. Senna, what are you doing bringing one of them here?¡±


    The old woman scoffed. ¡°Zuko? He¡¯s my bodyguard. Did you see the fire last night?¡±


    ¡°Couldn¡¯t miss it. It smoked all morning.¡±


    ¡°They attacked us in the night. Aren¡¯t you glad I hired some protection?¡± Senna arched an eyebrow. ¡°Now, are you going to let us in or are we going to stand out here all morning freezing our noses off?¡±


    There was some quiet discussion amongst the benders and warriors, before the one who looked to be in charge nodded. ¡°You can go in. Boy! You enter Agna Qel¡¯a only because old Senna vouches for you. If it were up to me, you¡¯d already be chum feeding the fish. One wrong move, one toe out of line, and that will change in an instant. Don¡¯t cause trouble.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± I nodded.


    The boats spread out, four of them returning to their ambush positions while two led us towards the ice wall of the fortress city. I pulled the mast down and ran the engine. There was no point hiding what I was now. If the whole city didn¡¯t know they had a firebender in their midst by tonight, I¡¯d be surprised.


    Curious, I quietly asked Senna, ¡°You never did tell me how you knew Yagoda.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t, at that,¡± Senna murmured, a smile pulling at her lips. ¡°She¡¯s my aunt. I was a bit of a wild child and left home when they wouldn¡¯t let me learn waterbending the way I wanted. So I went south, to our sister tribe, where I studied for a time. I¡¯ve been traveling the world and making contacts, establishing trade routes home since.¡±


    ¡°Impressive. And you¡¯re still going out at your¡ª¡± I caught myself, but Senna shot me a glare.


    ¡°At my age?¡± she asked, and I winced. The woman rolled her eyes. ¡°I¡¯m only forty, boy.¡± Quieter, she grumbled, ¡°Damned premature gray hair runs in the family.¡±


    I laughed, ignoring her ire. ¡°So, what now?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll speak with aunt Yagoda and arrange a meeting. You¡¯ll be staying with me while you¡¯re here. I plan to be here between one to three months, depending on how long it takes the shipments to come in and see what we need. Some may not take kindly to a firebender walking around Agna Qel¡¯a however, so for the first week or so you¡¯ll mostly be sticking with me, unless you like the idea of getting killed by angry waterbenders looking for an excuse to take out their frustration at the Fire Nation on a convenient target. After that, once they¡¯ve settled down and seen you aren¡¯t going to roast their children alive or anything like that, you¡¯ll be free to do as you like while you¡¯re here, so long as you stay out of trouble. If you¡¯re willing to wait, I could use an escort back down to Chenbao. That should give you plenty of time to do whatever it is you came here for. This ¡®spiritual journey¡¯ of yours.¡±


    ¡°Thanks. I¡¯ll take you up on that,¡± I nodded.


    We fell silent as we approached the wall and the waterbenders opened it for us. Their bending powered locks were pretty impressive, eventually raising us to the same level as the city. Then, we were through the locks and into an open canal that other, bending powered boats or boats pushed along with poles navigated.


    People were staring.


    I felt the weight of their gazes as I sent us cruising forward, the sound of the engine drawing more eyes as we went. ¡°Left here,¡± Senna instructed, and I followed her directions down the canals. Quietly, she muttered, ¡°Damned gawkers.¡±


    ¡°Yes. You¡¯d think they¡¯d never seen a firebender before,¡± I muttered.


    ¡°Don¡¯t sass me,¡± Senna frowned back and I sent her a smile. ¡°You¡¯re not too old to take over my knee.¡±


    ¡°Mm, I¡¯m more into doing it the other way around.¡± She turned, blue eyes narrowing into a glare at me and I grinned. ¡°Forty isn¡¯t old at all, you know.¡±


    Senna blew out a breath that turned into a quiet laugh. ¡°Clearly your mother should¡¯ve done so more often, with that smart mouth of yours.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯d be kind of difficult for her to do, seeing as she¡¯s been done for a few years now. Ran away from our father and the politics of courtly affairs in the capital and left my sister and I to fend for ourselves in that nest of vipers. If I get the chance to ask her why she did it instead of taking us with her I will, but I¡¯m not going to go hunting for her. I figure if she wanted to speak with me or my sister, she¡¯d have found a way to get in contact with us by now.¡±


    Senna sighed, her ire dropping away. She turned back towards the front. ¡°The more I hear of your past, the angrier I get. I¡¯m reminded that it¡¯s not just everyone else the Fire Nation have hurt.¡±


    ¡°As a driving force, fire is powerful. It lights up the dark and keeps the cold at bay. The revelation I was given is that fire is the spark of life itself. But fire is dangerous. Indiscriminate. It consumes almost everything it touches, if it¡¯s not carefully controlled. It will guide us to a bright future, one day, certainly. And I think, originally, that was Sozin¡¯s dream. Then the comet came and he lit the fire of war, and it¡¯s been left to spread a hundred years too long. If we aren¡¯t careful, it will consume the dream that brought it about. Which would be a shame, because it¡¯s a good dream,¡± I murmured.

 05

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    05


    <hr>


    Go down to the market and get some seaweed, Zuko.


    I rolled with the blow, stumbling slightly at the force of it. That only seemed to incite their ire more as the next one hit me in the gut hard enough to lift my feet off the ground. I exhaled explosively, thankful I hadn¡¯t eaten breakfast, because I was pretty sure I¡¯d have just lost whatever was in my stomach if I had.


    Don¡¯t start any trouble, Zuko.


    I steadied myself on my feet, keeping my hands at my side as I met the eyes of my attackers. Someone behind me punched me in the kidney and I winced, before a foot kicked my knee out, sending me to the ground. From there, the circle of men and boys closed in, kicking and stomping as I rolled to protect my vitals.


    I hadn¡¯t needed to start trouble¡ªtrouble had found me. It had been a week and Senna figured that people had had long enough to adjust to the idea of my presence.


    The market had fallen silent the moment I entered, people recoiling away, giving me a wide berth as I made my way to a vendor selling seaweed. Pulling out the coin Senna had given me, I gave the man a polite bow¡ªtoo polite in my opinion, given that I hated bowing and scraping, but it was part of the culture in most of the world here. Setting the coin on the stall (made of ice), I had gestured at the seaweed and asked, ¡°How much will that buy?¡±


    The vendor swiped up the money and counted it slowly as, around us, a crowd began to form. Finally, he shook his head and pocketed the money. ¡°None.¡±


    ¡°None? Not a single piece?¡± I asked.


    I watched his eyes flick over the crowd around us before he shook his head again. ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Alright then. That¡¯s fair.¡± I held out my hand and smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll have the money back, then.¡±


    ¡°What money?¡±


    I frowned at the stupid game, biting my tongue. ¡°The money I put on the table. Which you just put in your pocket.¡±


    ¡°I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about. Are you accusing me of stealing, Fire Nation?¡± the man demanded, loudly.


    The crowd grew restless at that and I took a breath, smiling. ¡°No, absolutely not. You must have gotten confused. The money I placed on the counter wasn¡¯t a donation, you see. That was Senna¡¯s money, for buying seaweed. So, if you¡¯re not selling seaweed today, then I¡¯m going to need that back.¡±


    ¡°Oi! You heard him, Fire Nation! Get lost!¡± someone yelled.


    I held the merchant¡¯s gaze for a few more moments, before nodding. ¡°Old man. Scar under his right eye. Beard. Sells seaweed. I¡¯ll let her know where to collect her money from.¡±


    And that was when someone clocked me from the side and I found myself surrounded by a group of angry Water Tribe.


    Eventually, they got bored and dragged me over to one of the canals, before tossing me into the freezing water. The cold soothed the forming bruises and I allowed myself to be carried away a good distance, before pulling for shore and hauling myself onto the street. Steam curled off of my body as I focused on my breathing, limping my way back to Senna¡¯s house. The few people in the street gave me a wide berth.


    Stepping into the house, I shut the door behind me and began stripping out of my soaked clothes as I headed for the bathroom. From the kitchen, Senna called, ¡°Where¡¯s that seaweed?¡±


    ¡°They were sold out.¡±


    The woman scoffed. ¡°Sold out? They don¡¯t sell out.¡±


    She stepped out of the kitchen and frowned as she took in my shirtless form crossing her living room as I worked at my pants. Her lips pulled into a tight line. ¡°Who did this?¡±


    ¡°An angry mob,¡± I grunted, pushing open the door to the bathroom and stepping in. Hanging up my clothes, I finished stripping and stepped into the cold water in the tub. Focusing on my chi, I quickly had the water to a nice, steamy temperature in moments and leaned back to soak. The older woman stood in the doorway watching as I closed my eyes and focused. After a moment, green fire began to dance over my body and my bruises and aches began to fade.


    ¡°And you just let them?¡± she demanded.


    ¡°They were just people,¡± I sighed, shaking my head. ¡°Besides, there were waterbenders in the crowd, waiting. If I¡¯d done anything to defend myself they wouldn¡¯t have hesitated. They probably would¡¯ve attacked even if I tried to run. Better to let them get it out of their system and see they aren¡¯t going to get burned to death just because they make me angry.¡±


    ¡°Stupid. They could¡¯ve killed you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d have healed myself if there was any real danger. I¡¯m not stupid, Senna. Nor am I some kind of martyr, or a masochist.¡±


    She fell silent for a few moments, before eventually asking, ¡°And the money?¡±


    ¡°Old guy. Had a scar under his right eye. He pocketed the money then wanted to play dumb¡ª¡±


    There was a knock at the front door and Senna turned away, closing the bathroom door and going to answer it. I relaxed and focused on healing myself as I listened.


    ¡°What do you want?¡± Senna demanded.


    Quietly, I heard the jingle of coin. ¡°Next time, come to the market yourself.¡±


    The old man. Well, guess he¡¯s not as much of an asshole as I thought. He just understood the situation.


    ¡°No. He needs to be able to buy and sell like anyone else.¡±


    ¡°And you want me to jeopardize my other clients for one outsider, Senna? I have to live with these people. I can¡¯t just pick up everything and fuck off for a year or more at a time. I do business with him, they stop doing business with me. Don¡¯t send him by again, for his own sake. Don¡¯t know if he noticed, but a few of the more eager hunters were in the market waiting for their chance. He¡¯s lucky he took the beating. Next time, he¡¯ll be lucky if someone doesn¡¯t gut him.¡±


    I heard footsteps, followed by the door closing. Quietly, Senna grumbled, ¡°This is all so stupid.¡±


    Eventually, I finished healing up and got out of the tub. A bit of fire got my clothes dry and I got dressed. The trader met me in the living room with an expectant look. ¡°Come on.¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡± I asked, stretching and popping my back.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to see my aunt.¡±


    I considered her for a moment before asking, ¡°Is that really a good idea right now?¡±


    ¡°You looked like shit when you came in. I say we walk right back through the market like nothing happened on the way.¡±


    Chuckling, I shook my head. ¡°Alright. I¡¯m game.¡±


    With that, we left and made for the palace. As we passed into the market, they fell silent again at my presence. I actually recognized a few of the ones from the first time, still hanging around and laughing¡ªa few faces of those who had gotten their licks in. I met their eyes expectantly, as if daring them to try again. Seeing me completely unharmed seemed to spook them however, and they kept their distance.


    Senna went right up to the old man¡¯s stall and slapped down her coinage. ¡°Seaweed.¡±


    He frowned, glancing over to me, before answering. ¡°We¡¯re closed for the day.¡±


    Louder, the older woman asked, ¡°Oh? Are you? Well, listen up, all of you.¡±


    Looking around, I winced as I realized just how much attention she had. ¡°<sub>Senna</sub>¡­¡±


    ¡°Quiet,¡± she shushed me. ¡°Kuruk, how are you enjoying those eggs, hmm? How about the fresh vegetables? Leeks and potatoes are in season right now and they do add a little extra something to the same bland old soup, don¡¯t they?¡± Turning, she looked to another merchant. ¡°Ujurak, you¡¯re turning quite a profit off the fish you¡¯ve been selling to the southerners, aren¡¯t you? Massak, how is your brother faring with all of the steel he¡¯s been getting from the south to make into tools?¡±


    Senna¡¯s glare turned to the crowd now. ¡°A word. One word from me. And it all goes away. The merchants I do business with stop trade with the north entirely. Their competition won¡¯t bother, because they know their ships won¡¯t be allowed in. If you think you can go around me on this, if you want to get off your asses and brave the outside world, you¡¯re welcome to try. I¡¯ll spread word and no one will do business with Agna Qel''a. The things you enjoy, the things you depend on, will disappear overnight.¡±


    People in the crowd looked away, refusing to meet her eyes. There was some grumbling, but no one said anything against her. ¡°Zuko is my employee. I¡¯ve hired him as my bodyguard. Refusing to sell to Zuko is the same as refusing to sell to me. Attacking him is the same as attacking me. The only reason those of you who did so earlier are alive is because the boy is a saint. Go ahead, show them what you can do.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure that¡¯s wise¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m making a point, Zuko. Show them.¡±


    ¡°Fine,¡± I sighed and held out my hand, conjuring a simple flame in my palm.


    Several of the crowd gasped and backed away. Senna grinned and waved, and I extinguished it. Turning back to Kuruk, she growled. ¡°Now, where¡¯s my damn seaweed?¡±


    The old man sighed, before grabbing a wad of the stuff and offering it. Senna stuffed it in a hide bag hanging from her belt and nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    <hr>


    Yue sat quietly beside Yagoda as the old woman went through her lessons. It was always the same. Just healing. She knew the lessons by heart¡ªwell enough to teach them, as she sometimes did, when Yagoda was feeling under the weather or wanted to take a break. She wanted more, but what she wanted and what was expected of her were two different things¡ªa fact she was quickly growing to resent.


    I wish something interesting would happen, just once, she mused, going through the ingrained motions of waterbending to practice her healing on the practice dummy, lighting up the ki paths within it all at once and then in sequence, in key areas of the body.


    The ladies in the class liked to gossip and the current talk of the town was that of a young man who had come in with old Senna. Some claimed he was a firebender, others that he was just of the Fire Nation. Many of the ladies in their class claimed to have seen him come in and swore he was quite handsome. No one had seen him in the week since he had arrived, however.


    I don¡¯t care if he¡¯s a firebender. I think I¡¯d enjoy meeting someone who isn¡¯t from Agna Qel¡¯a. At least, as long as they aren¡¯t horrible to talk to. A small smile pulled to her lips as she wistfully added, Especially a cute boy. It would be nice to speak with someone who can go two minutes without talking about the war or politics, or ¡®our future.¡¯


    Unfortunately, that seemed to be all Hahn was capable of speaking on. She couldn¡¯t entirely blame him for that, seeing as he was set on becoming a career soldier. All he knew was war. Which was unfortunate. He was rising rapidly through the ranks and had taken an interest in her. There was a very real possibility that he would propose soon and she would be expected to accept, for the good of the tribe.


    But what about for the good of me?


    Before she could get too deep into those thoughts, the door opened at the far side of the room. They were almost finished with their lessons for the day and weren¡¯t expecting guests or visitors, so everyone in the room paused to look up and see who was interrupting their lesson.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Yue recognized Senna, of course. The trader wasn¡¯t around much, but she always stopped by to visit her aunt when she returned to Agna Qel¡¯a. The man beside Senna was unknown to her, however. His clothes were clearly those of an outsider, even if they looked suited to the cold. But it was his features that gave away who he was and where he was likely from.


    He had his somewhat long hair pulled back into a loose tail at the back of his head, but the front of it had been cut short, leaving it as a bit of a mess that looked like it needed a comb. He wore an easy smile on his lips as his golden eyes swept over them. Those eyes found and met her own and his smile widened just a bit, showing off straight white teeth, and Yue felt her heart pound in her chest.


    Oh no. I¡¯m in trouble~.


    ¡°Fire Nation,¡± one of the girls whispered and a buzz of hushed whispers filled the room, even as they moved away from the door.


    ¡°What¡¯s he want?¡±


    ¡°Why is he here?!¡±


    ¡°¡­He¡¯s kind of handsome.¡± There was a quiet smack, followed by a hissed, ¡°What?! You¡¯re all thinking it too!¡±


    ¡°Yagoda, I¡¯m back,¡± Senna announced, cutting through the chatter.


    ¡°Heh heh. Yes, I see that. And you¡¯ve brought a friend,¡± Yagoda nodded. ¡°We¡¯re done for today, girls. Go home.¡±


    The other ladies cleared out, leaving just Yagoda and Yue behind. Senna eyed her and jerked a thumb at the door. ¡°You too.¡±


    ¡°She can stay,¡± Yagoda countered. ¡°Yue is the best healer among this generation. She may as well be my apprentice at this point. Now! Who¡¯s your friend?¡±


    The boy brought his fist and palm together and bowed politely. ¡°Zuko, master Yagoda.¡±


    ¡°Polite,¡± Yagoda murmured, raising an eyebrow. ¡°I¡¯m no master, boy.¡±


    Zuko stood, looking confused. ¡°Do you not have years of experience in your field of expertise?¡±


    Yagoda¡¯s lips twitched. ¡°I do. Thank you for not saying ¡®decades.¡¯¡±


    He chuckled at that and asked, ¡°And are you not the most experienced and learned in your field?¡±


    ¡°That I am,¡± the old woman nodded.


    ¡°Then, as far as the outside world is concerned, that makes you a master of your craft.¡±


    Yagoda shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not our way.¡±


    ¡°If you say so.¡±


    Senna reached out and swatted at the back of the boy¡¯s head, sending his hair flying briefly. ¡°Oi, knock it off, brat.¡± Turning back to Yagoda, she asked, ¡°Can we sit?¡±


    ¡°By all means,¡± Yagoda gestured to the empty pillows in front of her.


    Yue watched as Senna waved off Zuko¡¯s offer of a hand getting seated, before the boy seated himself between Yue and Senna, sending her a smile that made her stomach do a little flip and her heart pound. Remembering her manners, Yue bowed in place where she sat. ¡°Ah! I¡¯m Yue.¡±


    ¡°Pleasure to meet you,¡± the boy grinned and Yue had to look away.


    He, he¡¯s Fire Nation! I shouldn¡¯t feel this way! she mentally scolded herself, only to turn her eyes back to him and immediately lose that battle.


    ¡°So, what brings you? Surely not just to catch up, given your traveling companion,¡± Yagoda asked, curiosity in her voice.


    Senna gestured to Zuko. ¡°Well? Go on. Show her.¡±


    Zuko sighed and rolled his eyes, before holding out his hands. A fire sprang to life between them. Given he was a firebender, that normally wouldn¡¯t be anything unexpected¡­ but the color threw her off. From what Yue understood, fire from most firebenders was somewhere between red and orange, with a rare few exceptional examples being blue¡ªusually past Avatars.


    The flames between Zuko¡¯s hands danced and wavered, throwing off an eerie but somehow calming green light.


    ¡°Pretty,¡± Yue breathed, earning a nod from Senna.


    ¡°That it is,¡± Yagoda murmured. ¡°But you learn quickly that sometimes, the most beautiful things in nature are the most dangerous. So, young Zuko. What fresh horror does this green fire bring?¡±


    ¡°I was hoping you could tell me, actually,¡± he explained. ¡°As far as I can tell, it heals anyone it comes in contact with. People, animals, plants. If it can be healed, it does. It doesn¡¯t burn people to the touch but it¡¯s still fire, so it will catch clothes, wood, and other things alight.¡±


    ¡°Is that so?¡± Yagoda hummed, before abruptly shooting her hand forward.


    ¡°No!¡± Yue yelped, reaching out to stop her as the old woman put her hand in the flames. Her eyes went wide when nothing happened. Or at least, not what she was expecting. Instead of burning to a crisp, Yagoda¡¯s hand looked fine. Perhaps better than fine, even.


    Yue¡¯s eyes narrowed as she saw one of the liver spots on the old woman¡¯s hand slowly shrink and eventually disappear. Yagoda pushed her other hand into the flames and sighed in what sounded like bliss, closing her eyes.


    ¡°It¡¯s not healing,¡± Yagoda murmured, and Yue reached out and laid her hands on Yagoda¡¯s arm, trying to feel for herself what was going on. ¡°You see, the funny thing about healing is that while it can do things like reduce swelling and inflammation and relieve pain, it can¡¯t actually fix or reverse the toll nature takes on the body. Things like arthritis, joint problems, aching in the bones? All the little signs of aging? No amount of healing can truly fix it. It can only temporarily alleviate the symptoms, but never fix the cause. Likewise, healing does not remove or heal scars.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Zuko agreed, nodding. ¡°Old age happens as cells divide and telomeres break off the end of¡­¡± he paused, then chuckled, shaking his head. ¡°The body breaks down the older it gets, because every time part of it heals, repairs, or grows it breaks a tiny piece off on the inside. And people and most animals don¡¯t regrow things because they scar instead, because it¡¯s faster. That¡¯s normal, unfortunately.¡±


    Yue watched as Yagoda¡¯s faded eyes opened wide, the old woman staring at the young man across from her. ¡°You understand.¡±


    Zuko shrugged, looking away with a smile. ¡°A bit.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± the old woman nodded. ¡°Then that should make this simpler. You understand how the body divides parts of itself to make new parts. That is not what your fire does. It burns away the old piece and from the part that burns, makes an entirely new part in its place. Not just new, but whole and healthy, as it should be had it not been damaged by time. I¡¯ve seen similar in sponges, starfish, octopi, squid, and the like. I¡¯m not entirely sure of the mechanism, but¡­ it feels to my chi as though there is a spiritual element. As though the fire restores what should be from the spirit, from the memory contained within those pieces.¡±


    ¡°Wait. You¡¯re saying it¡¯s regenerating cells?¡± Zuko¡¯s eyebrows went up as he looked down at where he held Yagoda¡¯s hands.


    ¡°If that¡¯s what you call it, yes. Why, these old hands feel better than they have in years already. Look.¡± Yagoda pulled her hands from the flames and they all leaned in to look. Yue knew the feel of Yagoda¡¯s hands well and, as she reached out and touched them, she found them smooth and supple to the touch¡ªas though they belonged on a somewhat younger woman who wasn¡¯t constantly exposed to the bitter cold of the north. Most of the liver spots were gone, as were the wrinkles, and her skin felt tighter. To her healing power, the difference was obvious as night and day, between Yagoda¡¯s hands and the skin of her wrists up.


    ¡°Amazing,¡± Yue whispered.


    ¡°Well, that does answer a few questions,¡± Zuko murmured, before sending Yagoda a smile. ¡°Thank you for your help.¡±


    The old woman considered for a moment, before reaching out and taking Zuko¡¯s hand, probing him with a diagnostic technique. ¡°Mm. No more strain than if you were bending normally?¡±


    ¡°Not really,¡± Zuko shook his head. ¡°It requires more concentration, but I could keep it going pretty much all day if I needed to.¡±


    ¡°And you¡¯ve adapted to the cold here quite quickly.¡±


    Zuko shrugged at that. ¡°It¡¯s all in the breath. I¡¯ve been working on breathing techniques since I was little. It was a bit of a strain once I got here for the first few days, but I got over it. It was a lot like going from a normal elevation to climbing a mountain where the air is thin. Eventually, you adjust. The chi up here is more closely aligned with the water element, but it¡¯s still just chi.¡±


    Nodding, Yagoda took her hands back, staring at them as she held them in her lap. Senna shifted in her seat, preparing to get up. ¡°Well, if that¡¯s it¡­?¡±


    ¡°Actually,¡± Yagoda began, drawing their attention. ¡°I would request a favor of you, young man. If you would hear me out?¡±


    ¡°Of course. You¡¯ve helped me a lot here. I can use this safely and not worry about hurting someone,¡± he grinned, and Yue again felt her heart skip a beat.


    ¡°Tell me¡­ what do you think would happen, if you were to use that fire on a person, in whole?¡±


    Zuko frowned, sitting back on his cushion as he considered. ¡°I¡¯m not entirely sure. I¡¯ve used it on myself several times. I used it today after, well¡­¡±


    ¡°After you let yourself be beaten in the market,¡± Senna grumbled.


    ¡°What?!¡± Yue gasped, going wide-eyed. ¡°What happened?¡±


    Yagoda reached out and took Yue¡¯s hand, sighing as she squeezed it. ¡°What do you think happened, silly girl? Fools didn¡¯t take the time to think their actions through. They let themselves be led by their feelings. Anger. Hatred. They saw only Fire Nation and attacked.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s about right,¡± Zuko confirmed. ¡°Don¡¯t like it, but I understand it. I¡¯m a guest here and a problem besides. As much as I¡¯d have liked to fight back¡­ Here, in the heart of the northern capital? Surrounded by warriors and waterbenders? I would have probably been killed before I could begin to explain that it was self-defense.¡±


    Turning a smile on Yue, Zuko reached out and laid his hand on hers. The contact was only for a moment, but it left her feeling warm where he touched¡ªa warmth that spread through her body and left her biting her lip to stop the sound she wanted to make from escaping.


    So warm! What¡­ what would it feel like, to be in his arms?


    Her thoughts were put on hold as Zuko shifted his attention back to Yagoda. ¡°So what? You want to try it and see what happens?¡±


    Yagoda nodded. ¡°If you wouldn¡¯t mind. At worst, it gives me a few extra years puttering around. At best¡­ Well, I suppose we¡¯ll see. Surely you must be curious.¡±


    ¡°I am,¡± Zuko admitted. ¡°Not sure how long it¡¯d take, though. I¡¯m willing to try if you are.¡±


    The old woman nodded. ¡°Good, good. I can set aside tomorrow to try, if you like.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fine by me.¡±


    ¡°Yue,¡± Yagoda looked up at her. ¡°I¡¯ll want you there with me to keep an eye on things. I trust young Zuko is wise enough not to intentionally harm me, but all the same, I would feel safer if you were there in case of any accidents.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± Yue nodded. She happened to agree that it was better to be safe than sorry. She could also admit to curiosity towards seeing the procedure done over the whole body. What she wouldn¡¯t admit to was a desire to spend more time around Zuko. If the process wasn¡¯t too mentally taxing, there was a good chance that they would be in proximity for hours with nothing to do but talk¡­


    ¡°There¡¯s just one question,¡± Senna murmured. ¡°What happens if it works?¡±


    Zuko opened his mouth, only to pause and frown. ¡°Ah. Good point.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Yue asked, confused.


    ¡°Well, suppose it restores Yagoda by ten years, down to thirty.¡±


    The old woman laughed, reaching out and shoving Zuko¡¯s shoulder as he smiled. ¡°Sweet talker.¡±


    ¡°People are going to be very interested in anything that can restore even a modicum of youth. Even if it only gave her a few more years, that¡¯s something people would kill for. If it could restore someone to their prime? Well, I imagine that¡¯s something that might be worth starting a war over.¡±


    ¡°We wouldn¡¯t¡ª¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be naive, girl,¡± Yagoda scolded. Sending Zuko a considering look, she continued, ¡°I will vouch for you.¡±


    ¡°And what happens when I decide it¡¯s time to leave? I¡¯m not planning to stick around forever. There are places I need to be.¡±


    Senna chuckled at that. ¡°He says he¡¯s on a spiritual journey.¡±


    ¡°Hoh?¡± the old healer murmured. ¡°And how is that going for you?¡±


    Zuko smiled, before holding out his hand and creating a normal, orange flame. A moment later, the flame shifted to blue and the air of the room warmed quickly. Then it turned green, and finally a mesmerizing purple. ¡°There were more colors the firebending masters taught me, but these are the only ones I can produce at the moment. And then there¡¯s this.¡±


    The fire winked out, only to be replaced by a pure, glowing white sphere¡ªbright and as pure and entrancing as the full moon. Yue¡¯s eyes went wide and she carefully reached out, her fingers just brushing the surface of it. ¡°It¡¯s pure chi.¡±


    ¡°Mm. Yes, I see,¡± Yagoda nodded, a smile on her lips as the light winked out. Humming, she murmured, ¡°The old men will want to find some way to tie you to the tribe and ensure you come back at some point.¡±


    ¡°What? You mean¡ª?¡± Senna began, only for Yagoda to wave her off.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯ll speak with them.¡± Looking to Zuko, she instructed, ¡°Tomorrow. Be here bright and early.¡±


    ¡°After my morning practice,¡± he confirmed. Frowning, he added, ¡°Too bad I don¡¯t really have anywhere to actually practice. I imagine if I head out the doors and into the tundra far enough to not cause problems, they¡¯ll be locked behind me.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll take care of it. Give me a day or two. In the meantime, I want to catch up with my niece. Yue!¡±


    ¡°Ah! Yes?¡± Yue startled as the older woman grinned at her.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you show Zuko around? Go sit down, have some tea.¡±


    ¡°Very well,¡± Yue nodded, pushing herself to her feet. Zuko stood and followed her from the room.


    The door shut behind them and Zuko asked, ¡°So, what do you do for fun around here?¡±


    Yue hummed. She considered it and frowned as she realized that there was little in the way of ¡®fun¡¯ in her life. Frowning, she admitted, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m not really allowed outside the city. I read books and scrolls when they come in from the south. We do occasionally get a theater troupe here to perform. We have our own troupe as well, but¡­ well, there isn¡¯t much that everyone hasn¡¯t already seen a hundred times. I like going for walks in the city, or riding in the canals, especially at night. What about you? What do you like to do for fun?¡±


    He was a firebender, so of course they had a common interest in bending. She really, really hoped it wasn¡¯t something military related.


    Zuko sent her another of those smiles she was quickly coming to think of as being entirely too dangerous for her especially, the way they made her heart leap. ¡°Bending, of course,¡± he said, and she nodded at the expected answer. ¡°Travel. I picked up a pipa and I¡¯m learning to play that.¡±


    ¡°You play?¡± Yue asked, her interest piqued as she turned and sent him a hopeful look.


    ¡°Terribly,¡± he admitted with a grin. ¡°I sing too, but it¡¯s like squealing cats.¡±


    Yue reached up to cover her smile as she giggled. ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not that bad. Perhaps you¡¯ll play for me later?¡±


    ¡°Sure. I wouldn¡¯t mind giving you a laugh,¡± he rolled his eyes. ¡°I play Pai Sho and know a few other games, if you¡¯re interested in learning.¡±


    Yue bit her lip as she thought about it. ¡°Pai Sho is considered a man¡¯s game¡­¡±


    Zuko waved the words off with a scoff. ¡°Please, I¡¯ll be happy to teach you if you want to learn. Honestly, outside of a very few things where one or the other of us is just better suited to something by nature, the whole ¡®man¡¯s role¡¯ this, ¡®woman¡¯s role¡¯ that thing is garbage. You should be able to cook, do your own laundry, and clean up after yourself regardless of your sex. Likewise, bending used by a woman is just as dangerous as that used by a man. Both will kill you dead if you aren¡¯t careful.


    ¡°Would I put a woman on the front lines during a war? No. Absolutely not, if I had any choice. That¡¯s just asking for her to be captured alive and for awful things to happen. Doesn¡¯t mean she can¡¯t stand behind a few lines of men and lob bending techniques over their heads into the enemy lines. Or act as a healer, to get your people back into the fight faster than the enemy can do the same for their own. Or some sort of highly trained, elite unit of special forces, but that¡¯s the exception, not the rule.¡±


    Quietly, Yue asked, ¡°Were you part of the military?¡±


    Zuko shook his head. ¡°No. As a noble¡¯s son, I had private tutors and training. My training was pretty eclectic. I learned bending at the academy, under men and women alike. The master I learned the sword from was a bit of a hermit. Some of the best archers and trackers I studied under were women. Honestly? I was sent away as much as I was because I was kind of a thorn in my father¡¯s side.¡±


    Grinning ruefully, he rubbed his chest, adding, ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m here now, instead of back in the capital with my sister. I mouthed off and my father tried to kill me for it. So I left as soon as I was able.¡±


    ¡°Oh!¡± Yue gasped, her eyes going wide as she reached out and laid a hand on his, searching his body for signs of damage with a technique. To her surprise, while there were some lingering signs of damage, it seemed that most of it was gone¡ªlikely by means of the green fire, at a guess. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be. He¡¯s¡­ not a good person,¡± Zuko shook his head, squeezing her hand. ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s talk about something else. Literally anything else.¡±


    Nodding, Yue led them to a kitchen area where she could start preparing tea. ¡°Where have you been so far, in your travels?¡±


    ¡°Not many places, yet,¡± Zuko admitted. ¡°I left from the Fire Islands and went straight to the closest Air Temple to get a bit of a breather and figure out my next move, but I got caught in a storm¡­¡±


    Yue listened, wide eyed, as Zuko told her of his adventures. Of the wandering island that turned out to be a lion-turtle. Of the ancient firebending masters, who from his descriptions, she intuited to be dragons. Of the abandoned air temple¡­


    The tea was almost forgotten, until Senna eventually came to retrieve Zuko and Yue realized she was running late for the evening meal when Yagoda pointed it out and asked Yue to accompany her. Zuko said his goodbyes to the two of them and, to her delight, Yue managed to extract a promise from him to continue their conversation tomorrow.


    It was as they were nearing the dining hall that Yagoda quietly asked, ¡°Well? What do you think? Do you like him?¡±


    Yue laughed quietly, a happy smile on her face. Yagoda raised an eyebrow as she studied Yue¡¯s face for a moment, before quietly snorting. ¡°No, don¡¯t bother. It couldn¡¯t be more obvious.¡±


    ¡°It, it is not! I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about!¡± Yue denied, looking away as her cheeks turned red.


    ¡°Of course,¡± Yagoda patted her hand. ¡°Of course, dear.¡±

 06

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    06


    <hr>


    ¡°You should be honored. I was quite the beauty in my youth, young man.¡±


    Yue hid a smile behind her hand and stifled a giggle as I let out a sigh. ¡°Fine. Let¡¯s just¡­ get this over with.¡±


    Fire burned. It was simple physics and chemistry. And as I had come to learn, even if the green fire didn¡¯t burn living things in the normal way, it would absolutely burn inanimate things. Things like clothing. There was a reason I had gone to the bath when I used it on my whole body, and not just because a warm bath relaxed abused muscles. Firstly, because I couldn¡¯t wear anything anyway. Secondly, to protect the rest of Senna¡¯s home from the heat.


    ¡°What are you giggling at, young lady?¡± Yagoda scolded Yue as she stripped down. ¡°You¡¯re going in there with us. Start stripping.¡±


    ¡°W-wha?!¡± the girl¡¯s eyes went wide and Yagoda leered, laughing.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to need to be right there beside me. How long do you think it¡¯ll take your clothes to become unbearable, hmm? For them to catch fire around you?¡± Yagoda raised an eyebrow. ¡°I imagine young Zuko may be able to stand the heat better than us, but even he won¡¯t be able to keep his own clothes from catching alight. Not while also focusing on what he needs to.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s right,¡± I agreed, much as I didn¡¯t want to. I hadn¡¯t woken up this morning and thought to myself how nice it would be to see floppy, wrinkly old woman bits, or that I¡¯d like to strip down in front of said old woman, even with the sexy Yue going in as well as a consolation prize. ¡°Look, you¡¯re a healer, right? You¡¯ve seen more than your fair share of naked people by now, surely. Just think of it like that. It¡¯s for a medical thing, so it¡¯s fine. Nothing to be worried about.¡±


    Yue stared as I began taking off my clothes. Pink tongue darted out to lick her lips as her eyes went wide and she stared as my shirt came off, followed by my pants. She covered her face with her hands as I got to my underwear, but I caught a hint of one blue eye peeking between her fingers and her light brown skin turned beet red as she squeaked.


    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go in. Yue, hurry up!¡± Yagoda demanded, grabbing my hand and dragging me into the room beyond.


    Apparently, Yagoda had thrown around her weight somewhere, as we had this entire section of the building to ourselves at the moment. They had what was effectively a hospital wing in the palace, which hadn¡¯t made sense to me initially, until I thought about it from a tactical mindset. Namely, the palace was the place with the thickest walls and the most ice for their benders to use. Keeping the healers here, behind these thick walls, and bringing the injured to them here was the smartest move in any defensive engagement.


    ¡°Ahh, it¡¯s cold on these old feet,¡± Yagoda complained. I couldn¡¯t blame her, given that we were walking on ice, inside a building made of ice, at the north pole.


    ¡°It¡¯ll warm up in a minute. As soon as Yue gets in here,¡± I reminded her, as I helped her climb up onto a person-sized slab of ice erected for laying patients out on, before sitting down with a quiet yelp as my nuts touched the ice.


    ¡°Hehehe! Cold on the old twig and berries, isn¡¯t it?¡± the old woman cackled.


    ¡°Not pleasant,¡± I grumbled, focusing on my breathing and warming my body up.


    The sound of rushing feet announced Yue¡¯s entrance and I glanced up in time to see her rush past me to the other side of the ice block, both hands covering her sensitive bits. She met my eyes and wailed, ¡°Don¡¯t look~!¡±


    ¡°The way you didn¡¯t look?¡± I challenged, and she whimpered.


    ¡°That¡¯s different!¡± the girl protested, as she settled in on the ground in front of me, the raised block of ice preventing me from seeing anything interesting.


    ¡°It¡¯s really not,¡± I shook my head. Still, what I saw was very nice, I mused, the mental image of a nude Yue dancing in my mind¡¯s eye. She was surprisingly fit for a girl who didn¡¯t get out much, and looked deliciously soft. A bit plump, but that was fine.


    ¡°Ee! Stop imagining it!¡±


    Yagoda cackled again, drawing Yue¡¯s attention. ¡°Come now, girl. You should be flattered! It¡¯s not every day you get the attention of a boy like Zuko here. Now, if you don¡¯t mind, get that fire going so I stop freezing my wrinkly old ass off!¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes. One fire, coming up,¡± I shook my head. Focusing on my breathing rhythm, I conjured green flames to my hands. Holding them out, I considered how best to do this.


    Probably not a good idea to do one body part at a time. I doubt the body will react well to parts of it suddenly being younger. Could put strain on her and cause problems. So¡­ wide dispersal. Need to cover her whole body at once.


    Green flames rushed out of my hands and Yue ¡®eep!¡¯ed, jerking back for a moment as they washed over Yagoda. I closed my eyes, feeling out my chi in the fire, and how it interacted with Yagoda¡¯s, in order to paint a mental picture of the shape of her body. It took some finagling, but I managed to get a layer of flames under her, between her body and the ice, which quickly began to melt where it was in contact and drip down the larger structure. Eventually, I got to a point where all I had to do was maintain the fire.


    ¡°This is amazing,¡± Yue murmured, her hands touching Yagoda¡¯s arm as, at a guess, she used some sort of diagnostic technique to see what was going on inside the old woman. ¡°I can see her getting healthier, a little at a time.¡± She moved her hand over to lay it on my arm. ¡°The technique is much more draining than yesterday.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, yesterday I was just making a small flame. Now, I¡¯m trying to keep up a bonfire,¡± I chuckled, sending her a smile. ¡°I¡¯m fine for now. I¡¯ll need something to eat and drink later, and a short break. I¡¯ll be fine until then.¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯re sure?¡± Yue asked, and I nodded. She looked down at Yagoda, who looked to have fallen asleep at some point once the fire started, before her eyes shifted up to meet my own. ¡°So¡­ There isn¡¯t much to do right now but talk. Will you tell me more of your travels?¡±


    Chuckling, I admitted, ¡°I covered pretty much all of it so far.¡±


    Nodding, the girl hummed, before hesitantly asking, ¡°What was it like? The fire islands? We¡¯ve heard stories, but¡­ somehow I doubt it¡¯s home to demons who roast and eat the infants of the other nations alive.¡±


    I winced, making a disgusted face. ¡°No. Not at all. The preferred method is raw. Kinda like sushi.¡±


    Yue¡¯s mouth fell open and I chuckled. ¡°Sorry, that joke was¡­ in bad taste.¡± Her hand twitched, half-raising as she glared and I grinned.


    ¡°You¡¯re horrible!¡±


    ¡°Yep,¡± I laughed. ¡°And I guess it depends on where you were in the Fire Nation. Most places, I suppose it was just normal people living out normal, ordinary lives. People are happy and healthy. Aside from the occasional group of soldiers who come through on patrol or a passing Fire Navy ship, you wouldn¡¯t know we were at war. It¡¯s not some kind of caricature, like you¡¯d see put on in some sort of stage play or puppet show. Everyone isn¡¯t all, ¡®Haha! I¡¯m of the Fire Nation and today, I will make the world just a little more miserable! And then tonight, I¡¯ll eat some Earth Kingdom baby! Or perhaps I¡¯ll have some Water Tribe child instead! It¡¯s too bad Airbender children are out of season! Ha ha ha!¡¯ while twirling their mustache or stroking their beard, you know?¡±


    Yue¡¯s face looked conflicted. On the one hand, I could see she was a bit horrified at the description, but on the other I could see she kind of wanted to laugh. Eventually, she asked, ¡°What about where you lived?¡±


    ¡°Ah. That would be Caldera City, on the largest, westernmost island. As the name suggests, it¡¯s a city built inside a caldera.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s a caldera?¡±


    ¡°Do you know what a volcano is?¡± I asked, and Yue shook her head. ¡°Alright. How do I explain this?¡±


    Considering for a few moments as I glanced down at Yagoda¡¯s face, I raised an eyebrow as I realized the old woman had already begun to show signs of losing years. Yue¡¯s right. It really is amazing.


    Catching sight of the ice the old woman was lying on gave me an idea, however. ¡°Icebergs.¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡± Yue asked, tilting her head cutely in confusion, sending her white hair falling partially over her shoulder.


    ¡°You¡¯ve seen icebergs,¡± I said, and she nodded. ¡°So you know the top is only the smallest part, sticking up out of the water.¡± She nodded again. ¡°Imagine a whole bunch of ice bergs, all pressed together. It they¡¯re joined at all, it¡¯s only because of the pressure of them pushing against each other. Those are the continents. The great big masses of land sticking out of the water. But below the water, there¡¯s more land, on the bottom. And deep, deep below that, is a layer of molten, liquid rock. What we call magma when it¡¯s underground, or lava when it¡¯s on the surface. Those continents are like ice bergs, floating on top of a sea of magma. Because they aren¡¯t resting on anything solid, they move with the waves and tides.¡±


    ¡°Ah! I¡¯ve seen icebergs shift like that, yes!¡± Yue nodded, beaming a smile so beautiful it hurt to look at.


    Damn, this girl really is too cute. How is this even legal?


    ¡°You know how sometimes, water shoots up between the cracks, because of the pressure?¡± I asked, and she nodded again. ¡°Same concept. Pressure builds, magma gets pushed to the surface, it erupts. We call that volcanic activity. But rock isn¡¯t water. Rock is solid, when it¡¯s colder than its melting point. And as it¡¯s exposed to water, or air, or anything other than extreme heat and pressure, lava cools and solidifies.?A volcano is when enough lava builds up into a mountain. There¡¯s still usually a vent below it, where more lava leaks up to the surface, but it¡¯s held in place by the rest of the rock of the volcano around it. A caldera is the inside of a volcano. A bowl-shaped depression where the interior has solidified and collapsed. Sometimes, the volcano goes dormant and stays that way for hundreds, even thousands of years. Sometimes, pressure builds and it eventually goes up.¡±


    Yue¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°Wait! Your capital is built on top of this caldera, which might suddenly explode one day?!¡±


    ¡°Yep. Theoretically, we¡¯d have a few months of warning if it were getting ready to explode. Assuming they recognized the signs. Assuming the reports didn¡¯t get buried in bureaucracy. Assuming the warnings weren¡¯t ignored¡­¡± I shrugged, grinning ruefully. ¡°I can¡¯t say it¡¯s the safest place in the world to live, just because of that. Most people don¡¯t even realize the potential danger.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ terrifying.¡±


    ¡°A bit, yeah,¡± I agreed. ¡°Once you get past that, I guess it¡¯s probably like any major city. You¡¯ve got your normal, honest folk just trying to make a living. Then you¡¯ve got your minor government functionaries, trying to keep things running. Then the upper government, politicians, and nobility doing more to make themselves a nuisance and line their pockets than to actually help the country. Military, of course. Lots of police, guards, army, and navy¡ªbut for the most part, the lower ranks are all made up of normal, decent enough people who are, again, just trying to make a living for themselves and their families. Or conscripts, who were forced to join for one reason or another¡ªdebts, commuted prison sentences, that sort of thing. Then you¡¯ve got the upper nobility, ranking officers, and finally the royalty. They don¡¯t actually go out in public much, so it¡¯s not like most people would recognize one of them on sight. Aside from the emperor, you could be sitting across from one of them and you wouldn¡¯t know.¡±


    Yue scoffed, sending me an amused look. ¡°I think I would be able to pick out royalty if I saw them.¡±


    Chuckling, I asked, ¡°Oh? Why¡¯s that?¡±The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°Mm,¡± she put a finger to her lips, then smiled. ¡°Like recognizes like.¡±


    ¡°Yeah? You saying you¡¯re some kind of princess or something?¡± I challenged, and her smile turned impish.


    ¡°Something like that,¡± she agreed. ¡°It¡¯s refreshing, to not be recognized on sight. To have someone treat me as¡­¡± she hesitated, then admitted, ¡°as an equal. Not a prize to be won, or a doll to sit silently in a corner and smile.¡± Her blue eyes bored into my gold for several moments, the green light of my flames flickering in them, before she giggled. ¡°And you don¡¯t even care, do you?¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t say I do,¡± I admitted. ¡°I mean, we¡¯re kind of laid bare before each other here, in the most literal sense. I¡¯ve never put much stock in rank or position.¡±


    Her eyes narrowed in challenge at that and, perhaps deciding to test that theory, she straightened up where she sat¡ªnot quite exposing her breasts to my sight as she adopted what I recognized as a very official bearing. A royal bearing, in fact. I recognized it from my own training in preparation for the royal court. ¡°I am Yue, daughter of Chief Arnook, princess of the Northern Water Tribe.¡±


    I stayed right where I was, slouched down in as relaxed a position as I could get while I kept the fire around Yagoda going. Meeting the princess¡¯s eyes, I held her gaze as I answered, ¡°And I¡¯d rather be just Zuko, a wandering student.¡±


    Yue relaxed a bit, even as she eyed me critically. ¡°You didn¡¯t even react.¡±


    ¡°Was I supposed to?¡±


    ¡°Most people would,¡± she murmured. ¡°Even a noble of another nation would.¡±


    Sending her a smile, I said, ¡°You want to know, but you don¡¯t actually want me to tell you. You want to guess, but the mystery is more fun than the truth would ever be. You¡¯re thinking, ¡®Maybe he¡¯s some second or third prince, outcast by the royal family. Or maybe he¡¯s not the emperor¡¯s son, but is in the line of succession.¡¯¡±


    Yue pouted, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared halfheartedly. ¡°How did you know?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a woman,¡± I chuckled. ¡°I will tell you this, since it¡¯s public knowledge: the emperor has one older brother, a son, a daughter, and a deceased nephew. If there are other relatives or bastards somewhere, the public isn¡¯t aware of it. The emperor¡¯s name is Ozai and his brother¡¯s name is Iroh¡ªwhich is a name the Earth Kingdom knows well given his siege of their capital, before quitting the field after his son died.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard of the Dragon of the West before.¡± Yue hummed, thinking about it as she considered me. Finally, she smiled and shook her head. ¡°Perhaps you¡¯re right, and the game is more fun than the answer. Let us speak of something else, then.¡±


    ¡°Sure. Feel free to ask whatever you like. I can¡¯t guarantee I¡¯ll answer, but I promise not to lie to you.¡±


    Nodding, the young woman across from me eventually smiled a mischievous little smile, before asking, ¡°Do you have anyone waiting for you, back home?¡±


    ¡°A little sister and two friends.¡± Remembering my last encounter with Mai and Ty Lee, I corrected myself. ¡°But those two friends may have been sent by my sister to track me down and drag me home, so they might not actually be waiting for me back home.¡±


    Frowning, Yue narrowed her eyes. ¡°That isn¡¯t what I meant.¡±


    I grinned. ¡°I know.¡±


    ¡°Nn.¡± I laughed at her little frustrated noise. ¡°Do you enjoy tormenting me?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I answered immediately. ¡°Your frustrated face is cute.¡±


    The girl looked away with another frustrated sound, blushing down below the level at where the ice cut off my sight of her body. ¡°<sub>Only when I¡¯m frustrated</sub>?¡±


    ¡°Of course not. But it¡¯s so easy to fluster and frustrate you that it¡¯s quickly becoming my favorite new game.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re awful,¡± she sighed, sulking. ¡°Is there anyone,¡± she hesitated, carefully choosing her words now, ¡°that you¡¯re romantically involved with, in the Fire Nation?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Not to my knowledge. No engagements, no arrangements, no special friends or even lovers. What about yourself? Is there some special person in your life?¡±


    Yue looked down, thinking about it for a moment, before looking up and meeting my eyes with a smile. ¡°Yes. There¡¯s someone who has caught my eye. Unfortunately, as the chieftain''s daughter, I will be expected to marry for the good of the tribe. There is one young warrior in training who is intent on pursuing me.¡±


    ¡°And how do you feel about him?¡±


    Yue looked away. ¡°How I feel doesn¡¯t matter.¡±


    ¡°It matters to me.¡±


    The girl blinked, turning back to meet my eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t dislike him, but I don¡¯t like him either. I barely know him, so I don¡¯t feel one way or the other about him, mostly. I¡¯m sure he¡¯s strong and I suppose he¡¯s handsome enough. But the truth is, he¡¯s very¡­ dull. All he knows how to talk about is war and politics, himself, and his own career.¡±


    Biting her lip, Yue looked away and murmured, ¡°He does not tell me stories of strange and beautiful lands. He does not consider my feelings on matters. He does not attempt to teach me something new so we can have a common interest. Nor does he treat me as an equal and a woman.¡±


    ¡°How does he treat you?¡± I asked, having a suspicion given the type of man she was describing.


    ¡°As something to be won and possessed.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± I murmured, drawing Yue¡¯s eyes to me as I sent her a smile. ¡°You are worth fighting for and winning, and absolutely someone I would possess and guard jealously. And if you were my woman, I would expect the same from you. To see your man as a prize worth keeping out of the hands of others who would try to steal him away.¡± Yue worried her plump bottom lip between her teeth at that, lowering her head to look at me through dark lashes. ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with that. It¡¯s human nature. But there¡¯s a difference between treating you like someone precious and to be protected and treating you like a thing, like a trophy to collect.¡±


    Taking a breath, Yue quickly pushed herself to her feet and rushed towards the door, incidentally flashing me with a glimpse of her large breasts and the white hair of her neat little bush. She paused at the door. ¡°It,¡± she swallowed thickly, ¡°I think we should take a short break so you can rest. I¡¯ll go fetch some tea and snacks.¡±


    ¡°Sure. Thanks, Yue,¡± I nodded, and she left the room in a hurry. Turning my gaze to Yagoda¡¯s face, I sighed as I tried to gauge how much progress I had made. She had gone from a woman in her eighties to maybe in her sixties. The change wasn¡¯t easy to judge, but it was obvious. ¡°Maybe I said too much.¡±


    <hr>


    It was late into the night when I finally felt done.


    Yue had returned and left several times during her watch over Yagoda, to collect food and drink for us. I had only left once myself, just long enough to use the restroom. I would never get used to sitting on a toilet box made of ice. That was just not how I wanted to ever have to use the restroom again, once I left this place.


    With my hands occupied with Yagoda, Yue had taken it upon herself to see to my needs¡ªnamely, feeding me and holding a cup while I drank tea. I think something about my comment about if she was my woman must have set something off in her mind.


    After that first time exposing herself to do so and me studiously keeping my eyes on Yagoda the entire time, she had taken it as some sort of challenge, and found new positions to sit in to get a rise out of me. And though I could control my eyes, my dick was another matter entirely, as it decided it liked the show I was getting in my peripheral vision and wanted to show its appreciation for the beautiful young woman trying to get my attention.


    Thankfully, the torture that was being blue balled for most of the day looked to be about to come to an end. I let the fire die down and sat back, resting my hands in my lap. ¡°I think we¡¯re done. How¡¯s she look?¡±


    ¡°Everything seems normal. Healthy. Better, even. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen someone this healthy,¡± Yue mused as she ran her hands over Yagoda¡¯s skin. ¡°We eat a lot of fish, so we see some toxic things accumulate in the body. They¡¯re things we¡¯re trained to remove, but they can be harmful. But there are none! Or any of the other toxins that build up over time and have to be cleaned. It¡¯s like they¡¯ve all¡­ been burned away.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good to hear,¡± I yawned, stretching where I sat. ¡°Can you wake her?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s coming around now,¡± Yue nodded.


    A few moments later, Yagoda¡¯s eyes opened and she took a deep breath. A smile pulled at her lips as she sat up on the wet, half-melted slab of ice. To be honest, she hadn¡¯t been lying. As she was now, returned to the prime of her life at what I guessed was maybe her early twenties, Yagoda was quite the beauty.


    Long, dark hair that came down to her back, before bleeding into gray, then a pile of white bundled on the floor. Smooth, tight, very warm-looking ambiguously brown skin. Plump lips. Full breasts. Thick thighs. Narrow waist. Bright blue eyes that swept over me and danced with amusement as she preened under the attention, unashamedly turning her body to show off more of herself.


    ¡°I told you so,¡± the healer chuckled, reaching out and patting my shoulder, before turning her eyes to Yue. ¡°Be a dear and fetch me some scissors, would you?¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± Yue bowed, hurrying from the room.


    ¡°And some fresh clothes! Mine aren¡¯t going to fit anymore. Bring me a set of yours, would you?¡±


    ¡°I will,¡± Yue promised, as she hit the door and stopped only long enough to pull on her clothes outside.


    I stood, working the kinks out and groaning in relief as I got off the cold, hard floor. ¡°In the meantime, I¡¯m going to get dressed.¡±


    Yagoda nodded, waving me off. I stepped outside and used fire to dry myself off and warm up, then enough heat to warm up my very cold clothes before pulling them on. Grabbing my coat, I made my way back inside and over to Yagoda, who I found studying her body¡ªprodding herself this way and that. Her hands touched each other, then her tight belly, then hefted her breasts and tweaked her own nipples, before sliding up to her beautiful face.


    ¡°Zuko my boy, you have no idea what this means to me,¡± the woman murmured as I stepped up and draped my coat around her shoulders. She slipped her arms in the sleeves, then took my hands in her own.


    ¡°I can imagine.¡±


    Sighing, the woman pulled me in close and wrapped her arms around me, burying her face in my stomach as she hugged me tightly. I returned the hug, rubbing her back. ¡°Thank you,¡± she sighed, then rubbed her face against my stomach. ¡°Ah, I had almost forgotten how good it feels to touch another person. To not feel like an old, aching bag of bones.¡±


    A quiet, mischievous chuckle escaped her throat and her hands shifted down. I jumped a little as both her hands latched on and squeezed my ass. ¡°Uh, am I in danger?¡±


    ¡°Very much so,¡± the woman laughed. ¡°I need to find some young buck to enjoy this new lease on life with.¡±


    ¡°Ah, well¡­¡±


    Yagoda cackled, shaking her head. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m only teasing. I think Yue would strangle me if I stole you out from under her.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not like we¡¯re dating.¡±


    The newly young woman pulled back and looked up at me, digging her chin into my stomach. ¡°Don¡¯t play dense, Zuko. I said it last night, didn¡¯t I? Arnook will look for some way to tie you more closely to the tribe, after this. So, congratulations on your engagement.¡±


    I rolled my eyes. ¡°I highly doubt he¡¯s going to throw his daughter at me¡ª¡±


    ¡°If he doesn¡¯t, he¡¯s a fool, and I¡¯ll step in to see that he does,¡± she countered. I sent her a skeptical look and Yagoda shook her head. ¡°Answer me this, Zuko. Do you like her?¡±


    ¡°I just met her. Ack!¡± I yelped as she squeezed my ass with both hands.


    ¡°That wasn¡¯t what I asked, boy!¡± the healer glared up at me. ¡°A simple yes or no. Do you like her? Do you find her beautiful? Is she charming? Could you see being married to her, one day? Yes or no.¡±


    I didn¡¯t even have to think about it. ¡°Yes. But¡ª¡±


    ¡°Ah, ah, ah!¡± Yagoda shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t care for anything else. The ¡®yes¡¯ is all that matters.¡±


    ¡°Yagoda, it is way more complicated than that.¡±


    The woman shrugged. ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be. And it won¡¯t. You said you want to leave and continue your journey. The ¡®walkabout¡¯ my niece spoke of? That¡¯s fine. They aren¡¯t going to deny you that, if the alternative is risking angering the man who can restore their youth and vigor. In fact, after tonight, you¡¯ll find you will have much sway within the tribe. You just need to prepare beforehand.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, after tonight? And prepare how?¡±


    Chuckling, Yagoda shook her head. She made to answer, only for the door behind us to open. ¡°I¡¯ve bought what you asked for.¡±


    ¡°Ahh, thank you Yue. You¡¯re such a good girl,¡± Yagoda giggled, letting me go and standing. She stripped out of my coat and handed it to me, before gathering her hair in one hand and taking the scissors on the other. She took a few moments to cut the end off, leaving behind a pile of old, white and gray hair on the ground. A bit of waterbending had the water off of her and she took the clothes Yue offered.


    Quietly, Yue asked, ¡°When did you learn how to¡­?¡±


    Yagoda sent Yue an amused look. I noticed that now that her youth had been restored, Yagoda was actually a little taller than Yue, now that she wasn¡¯t hunched over on herself and shrunken with age. ¡°Girl, use your head. Just because Pakku refuses to teach waterbending to women and it¡¯s tradition that women learn to heal doesn¡¯t mean you can¡¯t study and learn on your own. What are they going to do if they catch you using it, hmm? Tell you to stop? Ha! I¡¯ve found the simplest response to that is to ask old Pakku if he¡¯d like his joint pain to go away or not. It shuts him up for a while.¡±


    ¡°The whole system is stupid,¡± I muttered, and Yagoda turned a raised eyebrow my way. ¡°If men and women can both learn how to heal and how to fight using waterbending, then they should. If you told a Fire Nation general or admiral that you had a squad of twenty healers, he¡¯d sequester them behind walls, far from the front lines. If you told him those healers could also act as reinforcements for the fighters? He¡¯d stick them on the rear lines, where they could act as artillery, supporting the front lines. If you told him every single firebender under his command could learn how to heal with just a few years more training? He¡¯d be kicking down the emperor¡¯s door demanding that all of them be pulled in rotation to undergo immediate retraining, to ensure the entire firebending force would be capable of both fighting and healing. And for as much of a prick as Ozai is, he¡¯d agree, because it makes sense from a strategic standpoint. I¡¯m sure the Earth Kingdom would do the same if they could. You¡¯re shooting yourselves in the foot by not doing it. You have an advantage over the Fire Nation and you¡¯re squandering it. Why?¡±


    ¡°Because that is what a previous Avatar decreed. It was faster to train one group on healing and the other with combat.¡±


    I groaned quietly at that. ¡°Yeah. You rotate them. Split them into multiple, smaller groups. Then, when their training is complete, one of each group goes active duty, while the other two groups cross-train. Then when they¡¯re done, the ones who were active rotate back in for their cross-training, and you end up with four groups capable of both skills.¡±


    ¡°Hehe. Perhaps I¡¯ll bring it up with Arnook and let you tell him yourself,¡± Yagoda suggested as she finished getting dressed, now that her hair was trimmed up how she wanted it. ¡°You¡¯ll have an opportunity soon. Come! I want you to sit beside me for the evening meal.¡±


    I found my arm grabbed and pulled tightly to the woman¡¯s chest. Yue joined on the other side of Yagoda as they led me from the room. Frowning, I asked, ¡°What, now?¡±


    ¡°Of course. Tonight is the best time for it,¡± the older woman nodded. Quieter, she let out a dark chuckle. ¡°This is going to be fun~.¡±


    Looking over to Yue, I asked, ¡°This is going to be trouble, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± the white haired girl smiled. ¡°Thankfully, my seat is a few places down from where you¡¯ll be sitting, so I won¡¯t be caught up in what comes next.¡±


    ¡°Traitor,¡± I grumbled, earning a giggle.Yagoda patted my hand as we neared the doors. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry, Zuko. Yue is going to get hers, soon enough.¡±


    ¡°Eh?¡± Yue asked, looking suddenly nervous. ¡°Yagoda? What do you mean?¡± Yagoda sent her a smile and Yue whimpered. ¡°Yagoda please?¡±


    ¡°Hush, girl. You¡¯ll enjoy this. I promise. Now, let¡¯s go say hello¡­¡±

 07

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    07


    <hr>


    Chief Arnook was not a particularly large man, nor was he very imposing. In fact, he looked like a man who had aged too fast, carrying the weight of his people on his shoulders for too long. He was worn down, with deep crags of lines and wrinkles on his face. His once black hair was still more pepper than salt, but the signs of stress were starting to show. The man had inherited a war from more than one chieftain before him though, so I couldn¡¯t say it wasn¡¯t earned.


    By comparison, his wife looked healthy and young. She had a few smile lines at the corners of her mouth, but otherwise I would have put her at about thirty¡ªmid-thirties at most. I see where Yue gets her looks from.


    This wasn¡¯t some grand ceremonial gathering room Yagoda had dragged me and Yue off to, but rather a small room apparently close to the kitchen judging by the smell, with only a single table and seats inside. Seated at the table were of course, Arnook and his wife, Yue taking her place beside her mother, an older man, and a few empty seats.


    Arnook looked at Yagoda like a stranger as she took what I assumed was her normal seat and directed me to sit beside her. ¡°Young lady, that seat is reserved. And why did you bring him?¡± he began, only for Yagoda to cut him off with a cackle.


    ¡°Show some respect for your elders! I changed your diapers, Arnook!¡±


    A few places down, the much older man leaned forward to stare at Yagoda¡ªthis one bald up top but with long hair on the back and sides of his head and a Fu Manchu beard. After a few moments, he asked, ¡°Yagoda?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right, Pakku,¡± she grinned, starting to fill her plate before turning to me. ¡°Go on, don¡¯t be shy.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I nodded and began doing likewise.


    ¡°What happened to you?!¡± Pakku demanded, the room having fallen silent as we now had the attention of everyone at the table¡ªArnook and his wife clearly wanting an answer to that question as well. Yue shrank down into herself a bit, staying quiet as she began to eat, visibly trying to avoid the conversation but still paying attention.


    Yagoda reached out and patted my hand. ¡°That would all be thanks to this young man here. The dear boy discovered a way to heal using fire¡ª¡±


    ¡°Fire Nation lies!¡± Pakku spat.


    ¡°Shut your mouth, you old goat!¡± the woman beside me glared. ¡°You¡¯ll not speak ill of my guest, or you can fix your own creaky knee.¡±


    Pakku¡¯s mouth snapped shut as he glared back, before stabbing something on his plate with entirely too much force. Arnook began opening up a crab of some kind on his plate as he asked, ¡°Is this true?¡±


    ¡°It is,¡± Yagoda confirmed. ¡°Ask Yue. She was there.¡±


    Arnook turned to his daughter, who winced at being put on the spot, but nodded. ¡°It¡¯s true, father. I oversaw the entire process. It was¡­ miraculous.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure,¡± Pakku muttered.


    Humming, Arnook met my eyes across the table as I ate quietly, holding my peace. Etiquette in this situation dictated that I wait to be addressed before involving myself. I was a guest here and, unless my opinion was asked for, it was assumed that it wasn¡¯t wanted.


    At least, according to one school of thought in my formal etiquette classes. The other said that as a noble, especially as a member of the royal family, and most especially as a prince I should try to contribute meaningfully¡ªbut respectfully¡ªand not be a passive observer, as that was a sign of weakness. The only time passive observance was permitted was in the ¡®information gathering¡¯ phase, where one studied the debate at hand and the personalities of those involved and drew their own conclusions. That was supposed to end with either an impressive display of insight into the topic at hand or an attack on one of those debating to point out the flaws in their argument.


    The ¡®attack¡¯ course of action was, of course, to be undertaken with caution and only with an awareness of the rank and social standing of the person one was using the tactic on. For instance, it would be permissible to use it against some foreigner or lesser noble, but not permissible to use against a high ranking military officer, unless you had a constructive alternative to whatever he was suggesting. Even in the latter case, that could still be grounds for Agni Kai¡ªwhich is what those classes were meant to prevent.


    Yes, that¡¯s right. Young Fire Nation nobles putting their feet in their mouths and getting themselves Agni Kai¡¯d out of the gene pool had led to mandatory training for how to avoid that. It was just a shame that the lessons didn¡¯t stick for so many who thought they were hot shit. I paid attention because I didn¡¯t like the idea of being randomly challenged, or putting myself in a position where Ozai might have actual grounds to challenge me himself for any sort of perceived attack on his authority, competence, or anything else to cause him to lose face.


    Apparently, keeping my smartass comments to the dinner table where it was just the three of us wasn¡¯t good enough. In retrospect, I knew I was playing around with fire¡ªI¡¯d just made the critical mistake of thinking that if I didn¡¯t push too far, or in front of others where he would have to respond, that I would be safe. I was dead wrong.


    ¡°Let¡¯s hear the truth of it from our guest. Please, introduce yourself,¡± Arnook instructed.


    I took a moment to wash my food down with a sip of tea before giving a shallow bow where I sat. ¡°I¡¯m Zuko. Thank you for having me here. It¡¯s true, I am a firebender and yes, I fled the Fire Nation. Since then, I¡¯ve been on what I guess you¡¯d call a spiritual journey, learning what I can, where I can, and deepening my understanding of both firebending specifically, bending in general, and the world as a whole. In my travels I encountered two ancient firebending masters, Ran and Shaw, who gave me a revelation about the nature of fire. Namely, that it could be used for things other than destruction. That just as fire consumes, it¡¯s the spark of life. It is a living element. It breathes, it eats. It burns away the old and brings new life. It purifies and cleanses. That¡¯s why I came here, seeking the best healers in the world. I wanted to learn more about it, where it differed from healing with water, and learn if it was truly safe to use.¡±


    Holding up my hand, I conjured a handful of green flame, making Arnook, his wife, and Pakku all flinch¡ªthe old waterbender bending part of the ice floor into water and holding it ready at his side. Holding out the flame to Yagoda, the newly young woman stuck her hand into it, leaving it in for long enough that a normal fire would¡¯ve left her hand a charred mess, before pulling it out and wiggling her perfectly healthy fingers for all to see. I let the flames die and took up my fork again.


    ¡°You see?¡± she grinned. ¡°I¡¯ve had some time to study the fire. It has strong healing properties¡ªmuch stronger than healing by waterbending. What it lacks is an ability to do anything about chi pathways, other than rebuild them. It could not fix a chi pathway afflicted by some sort of curse by a spirit.¡±


    Not the green fire, no. But I think maybe that¡¯s what purple is for, I mused, but kept that to myself for now, since I had nothing to test it against. I suspected it was something to do with spirits, anyway.


    ¡°And this somehow restored your youth?¡± Arnook asked, and Yagoda nodded.


    ¡°It took the better part of the day, but yes. And let me tell you, it feels great! No more aches and pains. I don¡¯t feel tired anymore. Actually, I feel like I could run across Agna Qel¡¯a if I wanted. I can see clearly for the first time in decades! I can hear again.¡± Beaming a wide smile, she added, ¡°My damn teeth grew back! I want a steak so bad I can practically taste it!¡±


    ¡°And what was the cost?¡± Pakku demanded, finally lowering his sphere of water and letting it splash harmlessly onto the floor. ¡°What did he ask in return?¡±


    ¡°Nothing,¡± I shrugged. ¡°I did it as thanks for helping me to understand the technique and confirm that I wouldn¡¯t accidentally hurt someone using it.¡±


    ¡°Somehow, I doubt that was your only motivation.¡±


    ¡°Doubt all you like. I came here with a few goals in mind. First, to better understand how the green fire works, which I¡¯ve achieved. The second, to practice my firebending in the environment most adverse to it, and I¡¯d say I¡¯m doing pretty well so far. And finally, to try to gain some insights into the nature of fire by looking at it through the lens of water.¡±


    ¡°I beg your pardon,¡± Pakku recoiled, an offended look on his face.


    ¡°My uncle discovered how to redirect lightning by taking inspiration from waterbending. I want to see how the various styles of bending can interact with each other. Fire, with a greater understanding of water, air, and earth.¡±


    ¡°No doubt so you can take it back to your people to better understand how to kill the rest of us.¡±


    Chuckling, I shook my head. ¡°I can¡¯t go back and wouldn¡¯t if I could. Not right now.¡±


    ¡°Pakku, you¡¯re being rude,¡± Yagoda cut in before Pakku could open his mouth again. Turning to Arnook, she said, ¡°Do you know how many fighting men are out of commission due to permanent, crippling injuries that I can¡¯t heal? I do. Do you know how many people have been permanently maimed or disfigured and left scarred for life from fire? I do. How about how many of our warriors and healers have left service due to old age?¡± Yagoda paused, before grinning and admitting, ¡°I don¡¯t actually know that number, but it¡¯s a lot. Even the old goat here could do with having a few decades shaved off.¡±


    Arnook folded his arms, leaning back in his seat as he considered what Yagoda was proposing. Finally, he looked to me and asked, ¡°And how many could you restore in a day?¡±


    ¡°I have no idea,¡± I answered honestly. ¡°For minor to moderate wounds that normal healing can¡¯t fix? Probably several. Regrowing limbs would take more time, and they¡¯d need to eat a lot to have material for me to use so their body isn¡¯t weakened by the process. That might actually take the longest of all. I know for a fact I can do at least one per day as I helped Yagoda, but I¡¯m close to tapped out. So whatever you decided, you¡¯d want to prioritize. Do you want able-bodied fighters, do you want to restore the youth of older soldiers, or do you want heal burns and such that are keeping otherwise fit people away from duty? Also, keep in mind that I¡¯m not planning to stay here forever. I¡¯m going to leave eventually to continue my journey.¡±


    Quietly, Pakku muttered, ¡°Assuming you leave here.¡±


    I fixed the old man with a smile. ¡°One.¡±


    He frowned as he met my gaze. ¡°One what?¡±


    ¡°If you want my help, that¡¯s one concession you¡¯ll be making.¡±


    ¡°And who do you think is going to enforce such a deal, hm? You presume you¡¯ll be allowed to leave with such a valuable skill. Keeping you here keeps it out of the hands of our enemies.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re right, you could keep me here. I¡¯m not stupid. I can¡¯t fight my way out with an army of waterbenders and soldiers standing between me and the exit. But you can¡¯t compel me to help you. So really, the end result of that is the same as if you choose not to honor any deal. You can die old and bitter, and I¡¯ll outlive you. If you imprison me, I¡¯ll be young and strong a hundred years from now, and by then your descendants will have forgotten why they were even holding me. Eventually, their guard will slip and I¡¯ll escape. That¡¯s assuming the Fire Navy doesn¡¯t make a big push and take Agna Qel¡¯a within the next few years, as some of the higher ups have been urging.¡±If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    The old master sneered. ¡°Who said you would live through the night?¡±


    I scoffed. ¡°We both know you won¡¯t kill me because I¡¯m too valuable alive. As long as I¡¯m alive, there¡¯s always a chance you might actually convince me to work for you, either through bribery or coercion.¡±


    ¡°I think you would change your tune after a few nights in a cold cell.¡±


    ¡°By all means, if you¡¯d like to try, I can¡¯t and won¡¯t stop you. I won¡¯t fight. I¡¯ll go peacefully to whatever hole you want to stick me in. Or,¡± I looked to Arnook, ¡°we can be reasonable here and come to some sort of agreement. The choice is yours, chieftain. Unless Pakku is the one making the decisions?¡±


    ¡°He is not,¡± Arnook murmured. Looking between Yagoda and Pakku, Arnook asked, ¡°What do you propose?¡±


    Yagoda grinned. ¡°Yue, why don¡¯t you and Zuko go for a walk? Give us some time to talk. If you¡¯re still hungry, swing by the kitchen and get something.¡±


    Yue looked uncertainly at her father, who nodded. She stood and I followed her lead, letting her lead me from the room and down the hall. Once we were far enough away, she sighed quietly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry about that. Master Pakku¡­¡±


    ¡°Is old and set in his ways?¡± I sent her an amused look, and she chuckled.


    ¡°He cares for our people very much. He has also seen much fighting, between our peoples.¡±


    I nodded as she found a set of stairs leading up and we began to ascend. ¡°I understand. I don¡¯t blame him. He¡¯s got a lifetime¡¯s worth of experience with the Fire Nation being the enemy. Doesn¡¯t mean I enjoy being on the receiving end.¡± Blowing out an annoyed breath, I asked, ¡°You¡¯ve lived here your entire life. You¡¯ve seen negotiations between your father and others before, right? How do you think it¡¯s going to go?¡±


    ¡°Hmm,¡± Yue let out a quiet hum as she considered. ¡°I can¡¯t say for certain.¡±


    ¡°Best guess, then,¡± I pushed, sending her a smile. ¡°I won¡¯t hold you to it or be mad if it turns out you¡¯re wrong.¡±


    The white haired girl nodded and we left the stairwell. It emptied out onto a balcony that overlooked much of the city. Making out way outside, we leaned against a railing and I whistled quietly at the view. The light of the setting sun burned orange and pink, reflecting off the walls surrounding the city and down onto the homes below¡ªcasting the city into an odd play of light and shadow, and dim areas where light passed through enough ice to partially illuminate some places. A few buildings, closer to the southern, sea-facing wall, had already started to light torches as that entire area was now shadowed.


    ¡°I come up here every morning and evening, to watch the sun rise and set,¡± Yue said quietly. Looking over and slightly up to me, she asked, ¡°What were they like at your home?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°You couldn¡¯t really see either from inside the caldera. By the time the sun was overhead, it was close to midday. Then we only had a few hours before it was back down. Most of the time in the caldera was spent in shadow. Likewise, seeing the moon at night was a rare treat. Most people there didn¡¯t bother, for obvious reasons, but I liked to stay up late during the times of the year when it would be visible just to see it.¡±


    ¡°That,¡± Yue murmured, looking around at the steep walls surrounding us, ¡°sounds remarkably similar to Agna Qel¡¯a, in some ways.¡±


    ¡°Your walls are lower, but you don¡¯t get to really see the sun dip below the horizon because of your walls, yeah,¡± I agreed. ¡°The light show makes up for it.¡±


    She smiled, nodding once, and we fell into a companionable silence. After a while, Yue eventually asked, ¡°Yagoda has already told you what will likely happen, hasn¡¯t she?¡±


    ¡°She gave me her thoughts on it, and what she plans to suggest. I want to hear what you think.¡±


    Yue sent me an inquisitive look. ¡°Do you?¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah,¡± I nodded. ¡°You¡¯re the expert here. This is your country. They¡¯re your people. The chieftain is your father. If anyone can guess at his next move, it¡¯ll be you. I¡¯d be an idiot not to ask for the opinion of the person closest to the ones making the decision, and a fool not to listen. Yagoda¡¯s just a healer and a meddlesome old woman, from what I can see. Someone respected in your tribe, but not the one calling the shots. She can only suggest. It¡¯s up to your father to decide.¡±


    A faint smile crossed her face and Yue looked away. ¡°I think Yagoda is correct, in this. The traditional way is through marriage. I¡¯m not quite of age for a suitor to propose yet, but I¡¯m close enough that father would do it.¡± Her hands clenched on the railing and she asked, ¡°Is that what you want?¡±


    ¡°It takes two to tango,¡± I countered. ¡°What I want or don¡¯t want alone shouldn¡¯t be the sole deciding factor here. Your opinion matters and I¡¯d like to hear it.¡±


    ¡°Mm. May I hear yours first?¡±


    ¡°Alright. Listen. We¡¯ve known each other for all of two days at this point, Yue. Yes, you¡¯re beautiful, and any man would be lucky to have you for that alone. But I¡¯d like to get to know you better before we get to that point.¡±


    Her blue eyes stared into my gold as she listened intently, a bit of a blush on her face at being called beautiful, but she nodded to my point of wanting to get to know her better. ¡°I would like that as well. To get to know you better, I mean,¡± she clarified, smiling.


    Sending her a grin, I added, ¡°I mean, for all I know, you snore. That¡¯s a huge deal breaker for me. And I know I drool in my sleep, so if that turns you off, we¡¯re just not gonna make it.¡±


    The girl giggled, bringing a gloved hand up to cover her lips. ¡°Yes, and I don¡¯t think I could marry a man who doesn¡¯t enjoy stewed sea prunes.¡±


    I made a face. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s not happening. I don¡¯t even like seafood all that much.¡±


    Yue gasped, making her eyes go wide as she fought down a smile. ¡°To say such a thing in the heart of the northern water tribe? I should push you from this balcony myself!¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah, you¡¯d smother me in my sleep the first time I told you your prunes were only okay,¡± I grinned, and she stuck her tongue out, giggling. ¡°We¡¯d better go tell your dad to reconsider immediately.¡±


    We shared a quiet laugh and when Yue shifted beside be and bumped me with her hip, I lightly pushed back, until we were standing pressed against each other. After a few moments, a quiet sigh left her lips. ¡°But my duty¡ª¡±


    ¡°Forget duty,¡± I shook my head. ¡°What do you want? I¡¯m not asking Yue, the water tribe princess. I¡¯m asking Yue, the woman. If duty weren¡¯t a consideration, what would you want?¡±


    Yue bit her lip, looking out over the city as the light began to dim. Eventually, she gave her answer. ¡°Your stories of other places are so fascinating. I, I want to go. To see them for myself!¡± Her hands clenched the railing tightly. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be trapped behind these walls for the rest of my life. I want to go out and see the world. I know it¡¯s dangerous, but other people take that risk every day and are just fine. I want to travel the Earth Kingdom and see the sights of Ba Sing Se. I want to visit our sister tribe in the south. And I want to see the place you called home.¡±


    Turning slightly, she met my eyes and continued, ¡°I want to meet the sister you spoke of, and your friends.¡± A frown crossed her face as her eyes shifted down to my chest. She¡¯d had a pretty unobstructed view all day, so I had a good idea that the sight of my scar was still fresh in her mind. ¡°Perhaps find your father and give him a piece of my mind.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s not go inciting any international incidents, hm?¡± I chuckled, shaking my head. I honestly hadn¡¯t thought Yue had it in her to get that worked up over something, let alone someone who was effectively a stranger, but I had to admit that her angry face was kind of sexy. ¡°Can¡¯t say I blame you for wanting to travel, though. The journey so far has mostly been wonderful. A bit lonely, though.¡±


    Yue nodded. ¡°Making the journey alone wouldn¡¯t be as much fun as taking it with a companion.¡± Raising an eyebrow, she asked, ¡°Perhaps someone who could keep me safe?¡±


    ¡°Or you could learn to keep yourself safe,¡± I grinned, playing obtuse and earning a pout in response. ¡°If this deal goes through, that¡¯s what I¡¯m going to demand of Pakku if he wants anything out of me. That he start training the women to do normal waterbending.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Yue asked, curiosity in her voice. ¡°I know you said yesterday that it just made sense to do so, but why would you push so hard for it yourself?¡±


    I considered her for a few moments, trying to decide how to answer. Eventually, I shrugged. ¡°They never found the Avatar, a hundred years ago. He, or she, escaped to somewhere. If there hasn¡¯t been a new one born in one of the water tribes yet, which we¡¯d all know if there was, then he or she would be a very old airbender who may or may not have mastered other elements yet. Or suppose that airbender died, the waterbender after them died in some attack or by accident, and the next Avatar is an earthbender who doesn¡¯t know what they are yet. Or a firebender. Either way, they¡¯re going to need training. There¡¯s a fifty/fifty chance that they¡¯ll be female. If the Avatar wants to learn from the best, and happens to be female, then would Pakku teach them now?¡±


    Nibbling at her bottom lip, Yue thought about it for a moment before giving her answer. ¡°Perhaps. He might make an exception for the Avatar.¡±


    ¡°And if I forced the issue and got him over that hurdle now, then he wouldn¡¯t complain if a female Avatar showed up on his doorstep in need of training a year from now,¡± I pointed out, and Yue nodded. ¡°Or if the cycle has already looped and the next Avatar is born tomorrow up here as a waterbender, then he won¡¯t cripple their development.¡±


    Nodding again, Yue asked, ¡°Is that what you¡¯re doing? Searching for the Avatar?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s one of my goals,¡± I told a half-truth. I was pretty sure the Avatar was Aang and at the south pole, on ice. I was just putting off heading down there, partly in the hopes that he¡¯d have thawed out by the time I got there, partly because I really did want to travel and have time to grow. ¡°More of a side-project. If I find them, or evidence of them, that¡¯d be nice. If not¡­ well, the goal of the journey isn¡¯t the destination.¡±


    Footsteps from the direction of the stairs interrupted us before Yue could say anything and we turned to see one of the water tribe warriors walk up. He was young¡ªor at least, the same age as myself and Yue. He wore the typical blue and white of the water tribe and had what looked like a whale bone sword strapped to his side. He had the typical dark hair and blue eyes of the water tribe, a particularly square jaw, and what I felt was a very punchable face¡ªespecially with the way his eyes trailed over Yue, before glaring at me.


    ¡°Princess, your father sent me to fetch you and our¡­ guest,¡± he said, before gesturing back towards the stairwell.


    ¡°Thank you, Hahn. We¡¯ll be down in a moment¡ª¡±


    ¡°He said now,¡± Hahn frowned.


    I plastered a grin on my face and turned to Yue. ¡°Wow, Yue. You didn¡¯t tell me you had a brother!¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± Yue shook her head, looking confused, and likely wondering where I was going with that.


    ¡°You don¡¯t?¡± I asked, playing up my supposed confusion. I jerked a thumb at Hahn. ¡°So, this guy isn¡¯t the son of the chieftain? He must be someone important in the military or some master waterbender though, right?¡±


    ¡°No. Hahn is just a regular soldier in training,¡± Yue shook her head, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Hahn¡¯s jaw and fists clench. ¡°Why do you ask?¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s just that from his attitude, it seems like he thinks he has some sort of authority to tell you what to do,¡± I laughed, shaking my head. ¡°I mean, could you imagine, a rank nobody trying to use your father¡¯s authority to boss you around? That sounds like career suicide to me.¡±


    ¡°Enough¡ª!¡± Hahn tried, but I spoke over him.


    ¡°I know that back in the Fire Nation, if some absolute nobody rank and file trainee came up to Princess Azula and took that kind of tone, there wouldn¡¯t be a body to bury.¡±


    ¡°Is that a threat, Fire Nation?¡± the would-be soldier demanded.


    I sent him a skeptical look. ¡°Did it sound like one? In case you¡¯re confused, a threat sounds something like, If you don¡¯t fuck off, I¡¯m going to burn your face off.¡±


    Hahn reached for his sword and Yue stepped between us. ¡°Enough!¡± Taking a breath, she demanded, ¡°Hahn, go tell father we¡¯ll be down in a minute.¡±


    ¡°But¡ª¡±


    ¡°Now Hahn.¡±


    Turning on his heel, Hahn stomped down the stairs. Yue waited until he was out of sight before spinning around and glaring at me. ¡°And you!¡±


    ¡°You know you¡¯re sexy when you¡¯re angry?¡± I grinned. I thought she was some kind of wallflower. Your typical shut in princess type. Definitely liking this side to her.


    Yue¡¯s anger guttered out like I¡¯d doused her with cold water. She looked away, lips pulling into a pout. ¡°You didn¡¯t have to antagonize him.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I agreed, ¡°but he was being a dick. And was I wrong?¡±


    Yue blew out a breathy sigh. ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a princess, Yue. I¡¯m sure you know this, but there¡¯s a time to act like Yue, the woman and a time to act like Yue, the princess. If you let jackasses like that walk all over you, what¡¯s going to happen when you get older? If you married that clown, he¡¯d be the one in charge of the tribe, not you¡ªand forget being treated like a wife.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± she nodded. ¡°I just¡­ don¡¯t enjoy it.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡± Yue sent me a confused look and I smiled, taking her elbow as I led her down the stairs, back to where the others were waiting. ¡°The problem with royalty is that eventually, they get full of themselves. You¡¯re much more grounded than they are. You¡¯re aware of the duties and responsibilities, but from what I¡¯ve seen, you don¡¯t even use, let alone abuse your power. You just need to stand up for yourself more and you¡¯ll be perfect.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± she murmured, wrapping her arms around mine as we walked. We were nearly out of the stairwell when she asked, ¡°Didn¡¯t you tell me that your sister¡¯s name is Azula?¡±


    ¡°I did, didn¡¯t I?¡± I sent her a smile.


    Yue gave me the side-eye. ¡°And the princess¡¯s name is also Azula.¡±


    ¡°It is,¡± I confirmed, nodding. ¡°You see, the previous emperor before Ozai was Azulon, and Azula is the female form of that. It¡¯s considered bad form to name a child after a sitting Fire Lord, but naming them after a dead one is fine¡ªeven if it¡¯s only a day gone. Once the emperor died, it became a very popular name. Things are going to be very confusing in the academy in a few years, when they have an entire class of Azulons and Azulas¡ªespecially since we don¡¯t do family names in the Fire Nation, unlike some places in the Earth Kingdom.¡±


    Yue chuckled at that image even as she eyed me skeptically. ¡°You¡¯ve never told me, but how old is your sister, Zuko?¡±


    I thought about it for a moment, trying to determine the date. ¡°Twelve or thirteen. Her birthday should be soon. She¡¯s a year and change younger than me.¡±


    ¡°And emperor Azulon died¡­?¡±


    The door to the room adjacent to the kitchen came into sight and I sent her a grin as I put off answering until we got closer. Just before we entered, I said, ¡°Oh, a few years back now.¡±


    Yue made a quiet, frustrated noise and glared at me as we entered and had to cut our conversation short. The others looked up at our entrance and Yagoda grinned. ¡°I see you two are getting along,¡± she leered, turning a pointed look on Arnook, who merely frowned.


    Yue and I retook our seats and Arnook spoke up. ¡°We¡¯ve come to a decision.¡±

 08

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    08


    <hr>


    Sitting on the smooth, flat ice feature that was the waterbender training area, I watched the sky lighten as dawn approached. I was here to meditate, but at the moment, I was finding it difficult to focus as my thoughts kept wandering back over the events of the last two weeks.


    True to my suspicions and Yue¡¯s guess, her father had made the offer to have Yue betrothed to me¡­


    <hr>


    The words hung in the air for a moment and Yue¡¯s eyes sought mine out. A small, rueful smile pulled her lips upwards and she nodded. ¡°I will¡ª¡±


    ¡°How about,¡± I held up a hand before she could finish and Yue fell silent, ¡°you give us some time to decide on that?¡±


    ¡°Some time,¡± Chief Arnook echoed, raising an eyebrow. ¡°This is a¡­ delicate political matter. Once word spreads, and it will, it could lead to problems that we, as a nation, do not need right now. I think it would be best for everyone involved if the matter were settled here and now.¡±


    Civil war. He means revolt. He¡¯s worried that if he doesn¡¯t lock me down, one of his local rivals will take the chance to do it himself, and probably won¡¯t be as willing to compromise. There¡¯s also the possibility of actual Fire Nation spies reporting it back home and prompting a response from ¡®father.¡¯


    A member of the Fire Nation discovering how to heal with fire? Yeah, they¡¯d want that. That person betraying the Fire Nation to help the Water Tribe? They¡¯d shit a brick. Learning that the person responsible is named ¡®Zuko?¡¯ I¡¯m pretty sure Ozai would personally see the entire north pole melted down and the world flooded out of spite that he can¡¯t have it for himself.


    Then again, it was always a possibility that they would send someone for me officially. Being able to do what I do and choosing to ally with the Water Tribe just bumps it up on the list of priorities.


    ¡°I understand that, but I¡¯d like to have some time for Yue and I to get to know each other better and give her an actual say in all of this. If she doesn¡¯t want to, we could arrange something else.¡±


    Frowning, Arnook asked, ¡°Yagoda tells us you are some kind of noble in the Fire Nations. Do they not instill the concept of obligation to your people there?¡±


    ¡°They do, and I understand it better than you probably think. My mother¡¯s marriage to my father was out of duty. She did her duty, obviously, but she was never happy with my father and it eventually destroyed our family. And yes, I know that you don¡¯t have to be happy for it to work. That the happiness of those involved isn¡¯t a consideration.¡±


    Arnook made to say something, only for his wife¡¯s hand to settle on his own. He turned to send her an inquisitive look and she smiled. ¡°Perhaps a few days wouldn¡¯t hurt anything, dear?¡±


    Pakku spoke up from the other side of the table. ¡°If you¡¯re going to go through with this insanity, then it¡¯s best to get it done and over with quickly, chieftain. Even a few days would give the other chiefs time to plan and prepare.¡±


    ¡°So, why not do something to dissuade them from acting rashly?¡± I asked, drawing their attention. I gestured at Pakku. ¡°I imagine master Pakku here restored to his prime would be a pretty significant deterrent.¡± The old waterbender smirked and I added, ¡°After he agrees to start teaching everyone who can learn waterbending. Starting with Yue. Reading between the lines here, she¡¯s in danger now and will be in more danger when I eventually leave. I¡¯d feel better about it if she could defend herself.¡±


    Pakku frowned, his jaw clenching. A frustrated breath escaped his nose before he nodded once and looked to Arnook. ¡°That would shore up your position, for a time at least. Perhaps enough for them to make up their minds.¡±


    Arnook raised an eyebrow. ¡°Pakku¡¯s personal feelings on the matter aside, it has been our way not to teach our women the combat arts since the time of Avatar Kuruk. Why should we change that now? I see the necessity of Yue learning, but if the unthinkable happens and the Fire Nation were to somehow invade, that would make them targets¡ª¡±


    ¡°Kill the healer and officers first.¡± Arnook went silent at my words. ¡°Killing officers disrupts the enemy¡¯s ability to coordinate. Killing the person who can get your wounded back up and into combat is just as high a priority. That they don¡¯t know how to defend themselves makes them an even more appealing target. Giving them the ability to do so frees up some of the defenders you would have needed for that role to be used elsewhere. I¡¯m not saying to put them on the front line¡ªjust to make it harder for a stray arrow the defenders miss to put one down for good.¡±


    ¡°It sounds a bit more pressing, coming from the mouth of someone from the Fire Nation, instead of one of your own people who is just complaining about her lot in life, doesn¡¯t it?¡± Yagoda needled, her bitter tone hinting that this was a subject that had come up more than once and she¡¯d likely been given exactly that answer.


    ¡°Whether you choose to allow everyone to learn is up to you,¡± I tried to assure Arnook, ¡°I just want Pakku¡¯s word that he won¡¯t refuse if that¡¯s what you decide, and for him to teach Yue, and possibly one other, later.¡±


    ¡°Hoh? Have someone in mind?¡± Yagoda asked, curious.


    I shook my head. ¡°It¡¯s too early to say.¡± Looking between Pakku and Arnook, I asked, ¡°So, is that it? Does that settle things for now?¡±


    The chieftain looked to his master waterbender, who nodded. ¡°I believe so. You have a week to decide. Two at the latest. How soon can you restore Pakku?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll do it tomorrow.¡±


    Yagoda sighed. ¡°Just what I wanted to see: a wrinkly old man. But I suppose, if I must.¡±


    ¡°Also,¡± I spoke up, remembering my own need for facilities, ¡°I need somewhere I can practice. I don¡¯t want to accidentally burn anything down. And I¡¯d like some time to observe the waterbenders, their practice, and Yue¡¯s training.¡±


    ¡°Pakku, see it done,¡± Arnook gave the order, and Pakku sent me a considering look.


    ¡°You could probably use a sparring partner and if I¡¯m going to have my youth back, I would like to test myself against a firebender.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine with that,¡± I agreed.


    With that, the meeting was over, and I made my way back to Senna¡¯s to rest.


    <hr>


    The next day, Yagoda came by and fetched me bright and early. After a quick breakfast from the market, we made our way to the same area of the palace we had used to restore Yagoda, where we found Pakku waiting. The old man was a bit surly at being forced to strip, but eventually we got into the room and got ourselves situated, and I got the fire going.


    Yagoda apparently enjoyed showing her restored youth off and gave me an eyeful every chance she got, but given that she was playing matchmaker for Yue, I was pretty sure it was just harmless fun on her part. That is, she liked being looked at and enjoyed her own share of looking, as she took any chance she got to eye me up.


    I¡¯d never felt more like a slab of meat than under that woman¡¯s eyes. I had a feeling that whoever she decided to eventually break her celibate streak with was going to end up with a limp that waterbending wouldn¡¯t cure.


    Eventually, Pakku was finished, and in the old man¡¯s place was a young man with a head full of hair and a full beard, that he quickly used a razor and mirror made of ice to clean up before getting dressed. We parted ways for the day and I went to go find Yue and spend some time with her.


    <hr>


    ¡°Zuko? Where are you taking me?¡± Yue asked, curious as I led her to Senna¡¯s home¡ªspecifically, the canal beside it.


    ¡°Out,¡± I grinned, my boat coming in sight.


    ¡°Out?¡± Yue asked, eyes going wide. ¡°Out out?!¡±


    ¡°Out out,¡± I confirmed with a grin, climbing into the boat and offering her a hand.


    Yue practically leapt into the boat and I had to brace to keep from getting knocked down as she thumped into my chest, her arms wrapping around me. I eased her down into the seat beside me and laid a hand on the engine. It took a bit more juice than usual to get it running due to the cold, but eventually we were putting along at a respectable pace down the canal, towards the exit.


    This time, they didn¡¯t bother with the big show. I wasn¡¯t surprised as, even with a legion of waterbenders on hand, it was wasteful. Instead, they opened a series of smaller openings in the walls and lowered the water in the lock system, before we made it out into open water.


    Yue pulled off one of her gloves and her hand found mine as she looked around, wide eyed, as I navigated us through the ice bergs protecting the entrance to Agna Qel¡¯a. We passed one of the ice barges the waterbender patrols used and, as soon as we went by, they began shadowing us¡ªkeeping enough distance to give us the illusion of privacy, but a reminder that it would be difficult at best to try to run away with the princess. They were also our escort, that I¡¯d had to agree to have if I was going to take Yue outside the walls.


    ¡°It¡¯s beautiful,¡± Yue whispered as we finally cleared the icebergs. ¡°It looks so much smaller from the palace. I can¡¯t see nearly as far, either.¡±


    ¡°It gets better,¡± I promised as I turned the tiller westward and let go of Yue¡¯s hand, so I could deploy the sails. She watched as I got them into place and got us moving under wind power.


    Yue stood and made her way to the cabin door. She sent me an impish look and ducked inside. Raising an eyebrow, I went in after her, to find her looking around. Taking off her other glove, she reached out and plucked a doll in an Earth Kingdom green dress off the shelf it was sitting on.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t take you for someone who collected dolls,¡± she hummed, sitting down on one of the furs covering the bottom of the boat.


    I took a moment to open the window slats enough to see, before warming up the second engine enough to knock the chill out of the cabin. As I did, I answered the unspoken question. ¡°There¡¯s a story behind that, actually.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± Yue looked up and smiled, her fingers going over the dress and hair appreciatively. Both were amazingly soft to the touch and the thing was of superb quality¡ªI¡¯d have expected nothing less from a gift from uncle.


    ¡°When we were younger, our uncle Iroh went to the Earth Kingdom.¡±


    Yue blinked at that, frowning minutely. ¡°Wait¡­¡± Looking thoughtful, she asked, ¡°Wasn¡¯t there a Fire Nation general who tried to get into Ba Sing Se a few years ago? The Dragon of the West?¡±


    ¡°Uncle Iroh was there,¡± I confirmed. ¡°He left when my elder cousin, Lu Ten, was killed.¡± The girl looked at me skeptically and I smiled, continuing before she could ask further. ¡°He got Azula and I presents and sent them just before the battle that killed his son. For me, he sent a pearl dagger, given to him by the opposing general who surrendered to him when they broke through the outer wall. It was beautiful, really. Pearl, with an inscription that read, ¡®never give up without a fight.¡¯¡±


    ¡°Then this was¡­¡±


    ¡°For my sister, yeah. But Azula is not the kind of girl who likes dolls, or dresses, or most of the things a girl her age should like.¡±


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°So you traded.¡±


    ¡°Well, I saw the dagger would mean more to her and I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was considering setting the doll on fire. So yeah, I swapped. It made her happy. Iroh got a good laugh out of it when he found out. That reminds me, I need to find her a sister while I¡¯m here. I figure, if I collect one from each of the other nations, I can eventually give them all to her to tease her with a full set later, when I return.¡±


    Yue giggled and set it back on the shelf where she¡¯d gotten it, before she began perusing the rest of my modest little collection of loot. ¡°Where did you get all of this stuff?¡±


    ¡°Most of it came from pirates who tried to jump us as I was bringing Senna here. A few of the books and scrolls came from the western air temple, others from a couple of Earth Kingdom villages in the north, where I made a few stops before coming here.¡±


    Sighing, she thumped down onto the rugs, sitting cross-legged. ¡°I wish I could join you. It sounds wonderful.¡±


    Humming quietly, I asked, ¡°How hard would it be to convince your father to let you go with me?¡±


    Yue gave a quiet laugh and shook her head. ¡°Impossible. He almost lost me once, when I was born. I don¡¯t think it would be possible to convince him.¡±


    ¡°What about your mother?¡± At Yue¡¯s questioning look, I continued, ¡°Maybe she could convince him. Privately. He did say that there was a potential danger of the other tribes¡¯ leaders making a fuss. Maybe it would be better for you to leave for a while.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps,¡± she looked thoughtful, considering it. ¡°But, I think she would only approve of it if we went through with the engagement. On the grounds of wanting to spend more time together before we were married.¡± A smile crossed her lips. ¡°Thank you, by the way. For giving me the choice.¡±


    ¡°Like I said, if we do go through with it, I¡¯d at least like us to be friends. Much easier to build a relationship from a friendship, or at least not resent each other.¡±


    ¡°True,¡± Yue nodded in agreement. Her tone became teasing, ¡°I¡¯m not sure, though¡­ I don¡¯t even know who you really are. The mystery is fun, but I think that with father having made his decision, I¡¯d like to know for certain.¡±


    ¡°You sure? It¡¯s really boring.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure,¡± she nodded, her blue eyes boring into me expectantly.


    With a resigned sigh, I sat up and assumed the formal posture expected of a prince addressing an equal. Yue reflexively shifted, tucking her knees under herself as she did likewise. ¡°I am Zuko. Son of Ozai, the current Fire Lord, son of Azulon, the previous Fire Lord¡ªand Ursa, granddaughter of Avatar Roku. Nephew of Iroh, the Dragon of the West. Brother to Azula, the first princess of the Fire Nation.¡±


    Yue¡¯s eyes grew progressively wider as I spoke, before a quiet gasp left her lips. ¡°Oh.¡±


    I nodded and relaxed back against the hull. ¡°Like I said, I¡¯d much rather just be Zuko the wandering student.¡±


    Glaring at me, Yue reached out and smacked my knee. ¡°You should have told me!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not something I just announce everywhere I go, you know. That would defeat the purpose of traveling incognito. And I¡¯m telling you now, now that it¡¯s actually relevant.¡± Grinning, I added, ¡°Besides, your frustrated face was too cute to pass up.¡±


    ¡°You insufferable man,¡± Yue grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest as she pouted, a blush coloring her cheeks.


    I gave her a few minutes to think, and sulk, as I checked outside to make sure we weren¡¯t going to run into anything. I ducked out of the cabin and found our escort keeping pace. I sent them a wave and adjusted the sails and tiller, tacking closer to the shore as the steep iceberg cliff faces bordering Agna Quel¡¯a fell away for actual land and the first signs of wildlife.


    ¡°Zuko, get back in here,¡± Yue called as I passed by the cabin heading towards the front of the boat.


    ¡°Give me a minute,¡± I nodded, making a few more spot inspections before heading inside and sitting down.


    Yue was silent for a few moments as she thought. Finally, she asked, ¡°What are you planning?¡±


    ¡°Short term or long term?¡±


    ¡°Both.¡±


    ¡°Short term, exactly as I said. Travel the world. See the sights. Study and learn where I can. Meet new people. Make friends and allies in different places, different nations. Keep an ear out for rumors or sign of the Avatar. Long term, eventually I¡¯ll have to return home and deal with my father, one way or another¡ªpreferably with as little bloodshed as possible. Assuming that ends in victory, I¡¯ll probably let my sister have the throne and act as advisor¡ªbut that one could go either way, depending on Azula¡¯s mood. End the war. Put those connections to good use trying to heal the rift between the Fire Nation and the rest of the world.¡±


    ¡°Then that¡¯s all the more reason to go through with the betrothal,¡± Yue leaned forward where she sat, staring into my eyes as her voice grew louder, more passionate within the confines of the metal cabin. ¡°Don¡¯t you see? A Fire Nation prince and a Water Tribe princess being wed. The message that would send? We have an opportunity here to advance peace after the end of the war! We both have a duty to see it through!¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care about the message or duty if we would make each other miserable. It¡¯s not worth it.¡±


    Yue let out a frustrated little sound, her fists balling in her lap. She fell silent and stared at me for several moments, before asking, ¡°Do I displease you?¡±


    I blinked. ¡°No? You seem like a genuinely good person. Someone I¡¯d like to get to know better.¡±


    ¡°Then I don¡¯t make you miserable?¡±


    Seeing where she was going, I rolled my eyes. ¡°We don¡¯t know each other well enough for you to, but I don¡¯t think you would.¡±


    Sitting up a bit straighter, she asked, ¡°Then will you not trust my own judgment of your character? I don¡¯t believe I would be unhappy with you, Zuko.¡±


    ¡°And we won¡¯t know that for sure without time spent together.¡±


    She huffed quietly. ¡°You are arguing sentimentality over practicality, with the future of the entire world at stake.¡±


    I sent her a smile. ¡°Maybe I¡¯m just a romantic, who would put the happiness of his future wife over that of the rest of the world?¡±


    ¡°Then you¡¯re a fool!¡± Yue actually growled, before looking away. ¡°¡­But that doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t appreciate the consideration. Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Yup, that¡¯s me. Prince of fools,¡± I chuckled, shaking my head. ¡°We don¡¯t have to come to a decision right this minute. Restoring Pakku bought us some time. So, let¡¯s just keep doing things like this. Little dates and outings where we can spend time together, getting to know one another, away from prying eyes.¡±


    Yue bit her bottom lip, then nodded. ¡°I¡¯d like that.¡±


    ¡°Great. You pick next time.¡±


    In the end, I found a nice spot to drop anchor and Yue and I moved back out onto the deck, where we sat and watched the sun set and the moon rise together, before we turned around and made our way back to Agna Qel¡¯a.


    <hr>


    The very next morning, I made my way up to the training area, an hour before sunrise. I spent the time warming up and going through my usual exercises, before moving on to practicing with my swords, before settling down to meditate as the sun rose.


    I had noticed it before, but it was even more obvious here in the north, where it was much harder to firebend¡ªwhere the environment itself was adversarial to my presence. The rise and fall of my power with the sunrise and sunset was even more pronounced, making it much easier to focus on and draw from. Sitting beside Yue and holding her hand, I had felt the waxing of her own power with the moonrise.


    One rises and sets with the sun, the other with the moon¡­


    I felt like I was getting close to something, the more I thought on it. I let the thought percolate while I worked through my firebending exercises, shifting the color of my flames through what I had learned from the dragons as I went.


    Pakku eventually showed up with Yue in tow. As I¡¯d expected, the sparring match that followed was downright nasty. Thankfully, neither of us was trying to kill the other, or I¡¯d be dead. So would Pakku, but that was a pyrrhic victory at best.


    The formerly old man was good¡ªvery good. The only thing that gave me any kind of edge was my speed and maneuverability thanks to jet-stepping. He hadn¡¯t been expecting it and it was so far outside the norm for a firebender that it kept him far enough on the back foot that it wasn¡¯t an entirely one-sided affair.


    For my own part, finally getting some experience fighting another bender of a different element was nice. Even just studying his tactics and techniques as we fought was giving me ideas for how to hone my own style and tactics against possible future encounters.


    For one thing, I¡¯d need to develop some way of punching through physical defenses that didn¡¯t use so much power that I was left winded after, or take so much windup time that it gave the enemy time to launch a counterattack. I already had the beginnings of some theories, based on things I had read in the air temple about the airbender styles, I just needed to do a little reviewing and field testing¡­


    The biggest draw of the morning was getting to watch Pakku teach Yue, and then the practice session when the rest of his students showed up. Yue already had some of the basics down thanks to using waterbending for healing, so it didn¡¯t take her long at all to start moving water around and flicking around a water whip and making improvised ice shields.


    As I watched the later practice of the other students, I let my mind wander as I focused on their movements, trying to work out how to apply what I was seeing to firebending. The fundamental problem I saw was that waterbending used an actual physical medium in the form of water. It had mass and substance behind it. Any physical force imparted by firebending was typically concussive, in the form of an explosion, or came in the form of thrust such as when I used jet-stepping or used fire to cut.


    Firebending was actually a lot closer to airbending than any other element in that way, because it depended on moving and igniting air in the atmosphere for a lot of things. As uncle Iroh liked to say, firebending was all in the breath.


    It was a stray thought that changed my whole perspective on applying waterbending to firebending. As the sun rose behind the waterbenders and their water caught the light, I realized that I had actually seen fire move like water¡ªmore than once, in fact.


    The first, and most obvious, was any sort of flammable liquid spreading. Gasoline moving as it burned. Oil burning on water from oil spills. There were plenty of examples to look to.


    The second was from memories of footage taken of the sun itself¡ªspecifically, solar flares. The way the surface of the sun seemed to move like liquid in all the videos I remembered seeing.


    I felt like I was a hair away from figuring it out when Yagoda interrupted my meditation and playing with a green fireball between my hands that had begun to swish and slosh back and forth¡­


    ¡°Zuko, boy!¡±


    I blinked, looking away from the deformed sphere of fire in my hands as I let it dissipate. ¡°Yagoda. Morning.¡±


    ¡°Afternoon, actually,¡± the woman smirked. ¡°You¡¯ve been up here for a while.¡±


    My stomach grumbled and I shrugged. ¡°I guess I have. Did you need something?¡±


    ¡°Just meddling,¡± the troublemaker grinned. ¡°Come on, we don¡¯t have all day. We need to get this done, while Yue¡¯s occupied.¡±


    I pushed myself to my feet and followed the healer, my eyes idly wandering down to her hips and idly remembering exactly how shapely she was under those robes. Shaking the thought off, I asked, ¡°What are we doing?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s more what you¡¯ll be doing. And you¡¯ll see,¡± Yagoda gave a non-answer as she led us down to the market.


    I followed along, taking in the sights and occasional dirty looks as we went¡ªbut it seemed that with Yagoda there, whatever comments they might have had, people kept them to themselves. ¡°You still haven¡¯t made up your mind, have you, boy?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s going to take some time, Yagoda.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll see about that,¡± she murmured, giving me the side eye. ¡°Better to be prepared for when you do, though.¡±


    ¡°Assuming we do,¡± I allowed, ¡°what did you have in mind?¡±


    Yagoda fell silent for a few minutes, until she pushed aside a fur door, leading into a small shop. Inside were display cases made of ice, and beneath the clear ice, a selection of blue gems. Nearby, in a separate case, were lengths of ribbon in various colors. Recognizing the material, I looked to Yagoda. ¡°Is that¡­?¡±


    ¡°Blue jade. For making an engagement necklace,¡± the meddlesome woman smiled as another woman exited the back of the shop.


    ¡°Oh? Is someone getting¡ªoh!¡± the woman gasped upon seeing me.


    ¡°Now, now. Don¡¯t make a fuss,¡± Yagoda chuckled. ¡°Zuko here is just another customer.¡±


    ¡°I, um, very well. Who¡¯s the, ah, lucky lady?¡± the saleswoman asked nervously.


    Yagoda latched onto my side, pulling my arm around her shapely hip. ¡°Can¡¯t you tell?¡±


    ¡°Congratulations,¡± the clerk managed to force out.


    ¡°Now, dear Zuko,¡± Yagoda leered up at me. ¡°Why don¡¯t you pick out something you think I¡¯d like, hmm?¡±


    Nodding, I began perusing the pre-cut blanks as the clerk gestured and the ice covering the displays melted away so I could handle them. They were all roughly the same size and shape, with a smooth exterior that spoke of most likely having been cut with waterbending. The only real difference between them was in their color, ranging from a blue so dark as to be almost black to so light as to be nearly white and even a few that were almost as transparent as glass, and their impurities, with some being nearly pristine and others having flecks of white that looked like snowflakes.


    ¡°So,¡± I glanced at Yagoda, before turning my attention back to the blanks. ¡°What am I supposed to do with one of these?¡±


    ¡°You carve it into whatever shape and pattern you feel best represents the woman you¡¯re marrying,¡± the clerk answered, sounding happy to be on familiar ground. ¡°We sell tools here, if you need them.¡±


    I considered for a moment, before asking, ¡°Do you have some waste chips? I¡¯d like to test, if you don¡¯t mind?¡±


    At that, the woman raised an eyebrow, before smiling. ¡°Actually, yes! I¡¯d love to see that! I¡¯ll be right back.¡±


    Only a few moments later, she came back with several irregular chunks of the same gemstone and raised a table of ice to place them on. ¡°Here we are.¡±


    I created a flame on my fingertip and the clerk and Yagoda both crowded in close to watch. Bringing the fire in close, I slowly and carefully began increasing its potency. ¡°I¡¯m trying to see if I can find the melting point. If I can¡­¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll need something to manipulate it. One moment,¡± the clerk nodded and hurried off, before returning with some tools¡ªwhat looked like a small pick and scalpel.


    ¡°How do you normally cut this stuff, without waterbending?¡± I asked as the color of the fire I was putting out shifted up to cherry red and the gem had yet to start to deform.


    ¡°Most people use a knife or hammer and small chisel. It takes a lot of very delicate work to get a good design.¡±


    ¡°The best necklaces come from waterbenders,¡± Yagoda nodded. ¡°Much easier to do what you want with water than a chisel.¡±


    I nodded and increased the fire¡¯s output up to orange. Finally, I saw the surface begin to melt. Taking the tools from the clerk, I cut off the flame and began drawing in the material. It took a bit of practice, but eventually I figured out just how hot I needed to get it so that it was softer than taffy but not entirely liquid yet¡ªso that I could actually manipulate the material and not have it become runny or mess up¡ªand how much force I needed to use with the tools to make the sorts of designs I wanted.


    ¡°That¡¯s amazing,¡± the clerk breathed as I finished up making an intricate wave pattern in the latest chip. Her eyes went wide and she snapped her fingers. ¡°Wait, do you think you could melt them down and fuse them together?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I nodded. ¡°Getting it to liquid isn¡¯t too much further off of what I was doing already. Why do you ask?¡±


    ¡°Obviously, blue jade is highly sought after, especially outside of the Water Tribe. When we carve out blanks, we always try to make as little waste as possible, but sometimes we just can¡¯t help it. There¡¯s always some left over, but the pieces are usually too small to do anything with. But we keep all the waste, so¡­ If you could melt down a few blanks for us, I¡¯ll gladly let you take one for free. I¡¯ll throw in a band, fastener, and the tools as well!¡±


    I looked to Yagoda, who grinned. ¡°That sounds like a steal to me.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sounds good,¡± I agreed. Thinking about what I was going to carve, I asked, ¡°Do you know where I could find some silver and gold?¡±


    ¡°We have some here for clasps. I¡¯ll gladly give you some for more blanks!¡±


    ¡°Hoh? Have something in mind already, Zuko?¡±


    ¡°I think so,¡± I nodded, remembering my thoughts from earlier in the day, about the sun and moon. ¡°We¡¯ll see how it works out.¡±


    <hr>


    Unfortunately, my time in Agna Qel¡¯a would be coming to an end soon, thanks to the machinations of old men and the jealousy of young fools¡­

 09

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    09


    <hr>


    I watched Yue move as she and Pakku sparred. She had improved at a frankly phenomenal rate since she first started learning how to waterbend for combat. Honestly, it was kind of scary how fast she picked it up. She had a real affinity for it. Of course, given her connection with the moon spirit, that wasn¡¯t exactly a stretch of the imagination.


    There were still some areas where she could use improvement, of course. Namely, Yue fought like a caster instead of what amounted to the mini-cultivators that benders were. She didn¡¯t like to move much, if at all. Unfortunately she was strong enough that Pakku couldn¡¯t actually force her to move, and Pakku himself leaned towards the caster fighting style, possibly due to his age, so it wasn¡¯t a lesson she was picking up. She was getting much, much better at static defense and offense, and her control of any water in her vicinity, but what she was missing was a vital part of bender combat.


    She just needs more practice, I mused, my hands slipping into my pockets as I watched. Finding the smooth, warm surface in my right pocket, my thumb ran over it, feeling the designs on the face and the subtle differences in blue jade, silver, and gold as it warmed a bit more to my touch.


    The little necklace was always warm to the touch now. I¡¯d been experimenting a bit with it, using both fire and energybending, and it had a piece of my chi stuck inside it. This close, I could barely feel it, but if I set it down and walked away from it, I could close my eyes and point to it anywhere in the city¡ªlike knowing where my own arm was.


    I had finished my little project making Yue¡¯s necklace and was happy with the result. We were coming up on the end of the two weeks we had been given to make a decision by Yue¡¯s father and I was willing to take the dive. At the very least, going this route would buy a bit more time for Arnook, as it would solidify his position among the chiefs, and we wouldn¡¯t have to worry as much about a potential civil war breaking out.


    Now, if Yue can convince her mother to let her take a little trip away from home for a while, I mused as I watched the beautiful woman move, flowing through her waterbending forms.


    Letting go of the necklace, I moved my hands into my lap and conjured a ball of green fire, slowly bouncing it from one hand to the next as I studied her. The way her movements flowed. The weight behind the water she used. As I did, my mind wandered to thoughts of oil on water¡­


    The fireball in my hands shifted from a bounce to a roll as the movements of the flame became more fluid. It slowly built, gaining a modicum of substance to it, until it felt more like rolling water between my hands in the tub. Until eventually¡­ it splashed. I cursed quietly and extinguished the fireball, then patted out the droplets that had started to catch on my pants. Once I was sure I wasn¡¯t about to burn myself, I made another fireball.


    Eventually, her practice for the day ended and I stood up, brushing my pants off. Yue smiled, saying a quiet thanks to Pakku for the instruction, before making her way over. ¡°How about we get out of here?¡±


    ¡°Out, or out?¡± Yue asked with a smile.


    ¡°Out out,¡± I confirmed, and she nodded happily.


    I had come prepared and my boat wasn¡¯t parked too far away, so we didn¡¯t have far to walk before we were seated and moving through the canals at a decent clip. Now that she could, Yue took great pleasure in using her own bending ability to open up holes in the walls for us, then closing them behind us, as we made our way down through the locks. We made it outside the wall and I cut the engine. We could see the ice bergs hiding waterbender patrols ahead of us and there were guard towers on the wall behind us, but at the moment we were hidden by those same ice bergs and too close to the wall for either group to see us.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go right this time,¡± I said quietly, and Yue nodded as I turned the tiller to move us to starboard and Yue began using easy back and forth motions in her seat beside me to move us along silently. Standing, I moved over to my lowered mast and got ready to raise it, as I kept an eye out for the watch towers. We moved past the ice jutting out from wall and around the bend, out of sight of the wall.


    ¡°Well? How was it?¡± Yue asked, just as quietly.


    ¡°Sight line from the wall is spotty if we stay close to the cliff. Only the far observation tower has eyes on us and since it¡¯s lunch time, they¡¯re busy,¡± I confirmed, raising the mast and deploying the sails. ¡°You tired at all?¡±


    ¡°Nn,¡± she shook her head as she stopped bending and the sails caught the wind. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±


    This was our little secret, and the plan we had worked out together since first leaving the walls in the boat. On our second date, Yue took me on a romantic moonlit stroll along the top of the wall, where we had ourselves a nice little picnic and I heated food and tea for us, while we took in the sights. It was as we sat there, staring out at the moon hanging over the ocean, that Yue again voiced her thoughts on simply leaving with me. Training from my time with the Yuyan archers kicked in and I found myself observing sightlines, guard rotations along the wall, and the much reduced waterbender patrol presence out on the water¡ªwith only two boats instead of the usual six to eight they kept during the daytime.


    From there, we had begun using our dates to plan a hypothetical escape, if we wanted to leave in a hurry. When we went out on my boat, we used the time to survey the area around the wall outside the city. On Yue¡¯s dates, we walked around the outskirts of the city, climbing to the top of the inner walls with the help of Yue¡¯s waterbending to make a path, to look out over ice sheet the city was carved into and at the waterfall pouring down. From there, we had begun to make a plan, just in case her father nixed the idea of Yue traveling with me.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Yue asked as I settled down beside her.


    ¡°It¡¯s going to be safer to stow the boat out here and walk up and over, than to try to leave by the front gate.¡±


    ¡°The ice sheet is dangerous, but think you¡¯re right. We won¡¯t be going out far anyway. If we plan our route now, it should be fine,¡± Yue smiled at me.


    ¡°Great. As soon as we¡¯re out of sight of those icebergs, let¡¯s find a place to park. Oh, and before I forget,¡± I reached into my pocket and pulled out the necklace I¡¯d made for her.


    Yue¡¯s eyes went wide as she took it and turned it over, examining it intently. The stone blank I had chosen matched the blue of her eyes. I had carved waves into the outside, giving the impression of a whirlpool, with the only irregularity being slits at the left and right side, where the ribbon that would go around her neck threaded through. In the center circle, I had carefully etched in a scene of the moon in all of its phases over ocean waves¡ªwith the center, full moon eclipsing the sun behind it. The moon phases I had scooped out and filled with silver, while the sun was a ring of gold around the silver of the moon. As for the ribbon, for that I¡¯d chosen a nice, Fire Nation approved shade of red. I figured, if people were going to be pissy about the engagement when they heard about it anyway, we might as well flaunt it.


    ¡°It¡¯s beautiful,¡± Yue whispered, before handing it back to me and turning around, gathering her hair up away from her neck.


    Seeing her intent, I tied it in place. ¡°Too tight?¡±


    ¡°A little tighter,¡± she requested, and I pulled the little bit of slack I¡¯d left in it closed, before tying it in place. Yue made herself a mirror out of ice and beamed a happy smile as she took in her reflection. ¡°I love it.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t long after that when I turned us towards the cliff and brought the sails in, then lowered the mast. Yue brought us the rest of the way in to the cliff, before standing up. Her arms came up, then down, and a large section of ice flowed down into water, leaving behind a hollow just large enough for the boat. She turned us around and carefully backed us in, before raising a thin sheet of ice over the opening to hide my boat.


    I provided a ball of light for us to see by using energybending, then Yue froze the rest of the water in the cave. We stepped out onto solid ice and she quickly began making a set of stairs upwards, with a rail along the side to hold onto, as we ascended up out of the newly made artificial cave. After a bit of a walk, we made it up to the surface and into the too bright sunlight, blinding as it was reflected off of the ice sheet. I dispelled my ball of chi and Yue took a moment to mark the location of our hidden stairwell, raising a couple of pillars of ice that looked like they might be natural.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s keep back from the edge here,¡± I said, moving us a few yards inland from the edge so we wouldn¡¯t silhouette ourselves. Then, it was an hour or so trek through the snow with Yue walking at my side, arm in arm, creating a big divot in the ice that led to the edge of the cliff, all the way back to the basin Agna Qel¡¯a was dug into.


    We approached from the north, where the waterfall fell into the spirit oasis, with Yue making us a path down through the ice that came out at the back of the oasis, which she hid as soon as we were through. Once we were out, I took a look around the warm, green area and whistled quietly.


    ¡°Amazing.¡±


    ¡°It is,¡± she smiled. ¡°Come see,¡± she gestured for me to follow.


    I did and she led me to the moon shaped spring in the heart of the oasis, sitting down on her knees on the grass in front of it. I dropped down beside her and took in the two fish there¡ªone black with a white spot on its head, the other white with a black spot on its head.


    ¡°I like to come here, when I want to be alone,¡± Yue murmured.


    I reached out and took her hand in mine and the girl smiled. ¡°We had a pond back home that the koi and turtle-ducks shared, and I liked to sit and feed them.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll have to show me.¡±


    ¡°Absolutely,¡± I agreed with a chuckle, before shifting my attention to the fish as Yue leaned against my side and we fell into a comfortable silence together. They provided no sudden revelations or inspiration as I studied them and thought on applying waterbending elements to firebending. After all, I already understood the complex interplay of gravitational forces between planetary bodies and water, leading to tidal forces, waves, shifts and movement within the planet itself, wind, and more.


    Although, I mused, that might be the best way to start it out. Like a tide rushing in, carrying an oil slick on fire¡­


    ¡°Zuko?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡± I hummed in question, turning to Yue¡ªjust in time to catch her lips as they pressed into mine.


    ¡°Mm~,¡± the girl smiled against my lips.


    The kiss was chaste but sweet, as Yue explored and I teased her lips. The white-blonde girl¡¯s eyes opened as she broke the kiss, resting her forehead against mine. ¡°That was¡­ very nice.¡±


    ¡°Only nice?¡± I chuckled. ¡°Ouch. I¡¯ll have to work on that. Can¡¯t leave you with just ¡®nice.¡¯¡±


    Yue raised an eyebrow as a blush dusted her cheeks. ¡°I¡¯d like that.¡±


    Sighing, I pushed myself up to my feet and offered Yue a hand up. ¡°Come on, we should get back before they send a search party. We¡¯ve already been out of sight too long. And if we stay here, I¡¯m going to do what they likely suspect we slipped off to do.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Yue asked, sending me an innocent, confused look.


    I met her eyes and grinned, wagging my eyebrows. ¡°More than just ¡®nice.¡¯¡±


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°Oh!¡± she gasped, covering her lips with a hand as she giggled. ¡°They¡¯ll think we¡ª?!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re wearing that,¡± I pointed to the necklace plainly visible for all to see, ¡°and we were alone together. Actually, probably a good thing if they do. Better than suspecting what we were actually up to. In fact¡­¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡± she hummed curiously as I reached up and carefully pulled her hair out of the loop she kept it in, handing her the hair ornament she used to keep it in place. Her long, white hair fell down her back, leaving it straight in the back and in the two braids she kept as the front. A little playing with it had it just out of sorts enough to give the wrong impression.


    ¡°There you go. You look properly mussed now.¡±


    Yue¡¯s blush grew, but she captured my arm in hers and pressed herself into my side. With a nod and a smile, she said, ¡°Then I may as well act the part.¡±


    She really is too cute.


    We left the oasis and I walked Yue back to the palace, dropping her off so I could go see about gathering some supplies, now that the merchants were actually taking my coin. As I left however, I spotted Hahn as Yue passed him, the other man¡¯s eyes falling to Yue¡¯s throat, then tracking to me as a look of rage passed over his face. I turned my back on him and left.


    Let¡¯s not be here when he decides to make a nuisance of himself. I need to see about restoring Senna, then make sure she knows to have a bag packed, because we¡¯re probably going to leave in a hurry.


    <hr>


    ¡°I never thought I¡¯d say this to one of you, but thank you,¡± the soldier whose scars I¡¯d just healed nodded brusquely, before leaving the room.


    ¡°Could¡¯ve done without the preface,¡± I sighed, earning a chuckle from Yagoda.


    ¡°They¡¯re warming up to you. Give them time, my boy.¡±


    Nodding, I stretched and stood, then offered Yagoda a hand up, which she took. ¡°I¡¯m going to go visit Yue.¡±


    ¡°I saw that necklace you gave her. Very nice,¡± the meddlesome woman grinned. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen her this happy before.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s kind of sad.¡±


    ¡°Water under the bridge,¡± Yagoda dismissed. A frown pulled her lips down as we left the area we¡¯d been using to treat patients. ¡°What isn¡¯t is little Hahn¡¯s reaction.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s a nobody,¡± I shrugged.


    ¡°He¡¯s got some important friends, and now that word has come out about the betrothal, several of the other chiefs are protesting and trying to offer alternatives. They want our princess married to one of our own, because they fail to grasp the bigger picture.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow, sending the woman beside me a curious look. ¡°What do you think that is?¡±


    Yagoda sent me an amused look. ¡°Zuko, my boy. Who do you think Yue confides in, here? Her mother and myself.¡±


    ¡°So she told you.¡±


    ¡°Just so,¡± Yagoda nodded, before sending me a leer. Quietly, she murmured, ¡°If I didn¡¯t think it¡¯d break her heart, I¡¯d take my shot. It¡¯s not every day you can say you bagged a prince, you know?¡±


    Chuckling, I shook my head. ¡°You don¡¯t want me. I¡¯d drive you crazy inside a week.¡±


    ¡°Who said anything about keeping you? I¡¯d settle for a romp in the sack at this point. Suddenly being young again has awakened things I¡¯d thought I¡¯d long forgotten. Unfortunately, of all the young men who call this place home, I delivered most of them and they all know me as an old woman.¡± Humming, she smiled and said, ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll take a trip down south and visit our sister tribe. See if I can¡¯t find some handsome young buck to break in¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m heading that way eventually,¡± I offered, and Yagoda shook her head.


    ¡°I appreciate the offer, but you and I? Together? On a boat, in the middle of the ocean, with nothing to do? I¡¯d break poor Yue¡¯s heart inside a fortnight, wearing a groove in your hips.¡± I laughed and she giggled. ¡°You think I¡¯m joking.¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m pretty sure you¡¯re not. That¡¯s what makes it funny.¡±


    We came to an intersection and paused. ¡°Alright, go show Yue a good time. And remember, keep an eye out for Hahn. That boy¡¯s too ambitious by far.¡±


    ¡°I will. Thanks for the warning, Yagoda,¡± I nodded and went on my way. I found Yue in the usual place, waiting for me with a smile looking out from the balcony at the sea. ¡°So, what have you got planned for our date today?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll see,¡± the girl winked, taking my arm and leading me back through the palace and outside. She stopped only to collect a picnic basket, which I wound up carrying. I recognized the route she was taking and quickly realized we were going out to the front wall again.


    Sure enough, we soon stepped out on top of the wall and Yue took us out to the middle of it, where we¡¯d be out of the way of the few patrolling soldiers and where we wouldn¡¯t be overheard by them where they were spending most of their time in their posts, sheltered from the wind. Yue let go of my arm long enough to gesture and create a bench, then opened up the basket and took out a couple of blankets. One, she threw over the top of the ice for us to sit on, while the other she pulled over us when we sat.


    I tried to take a peek in the basket only to have her pull it away and set it to the side. ¡°You¡¯ll see later.¡±


    ¡°Alright then, keep your secrets,¡± I chuckled, putting an arm around her shoulders as she pressed herself into my side. Making sure the guards weren¡¯t watching or close enough to overhear, I quietly asked, ¡°Did you pack?¡±


    ¡°Mm,¡± Yue confirmed with a nod. ¡°I did what you said. I went to the market with Yagoda and bought a new set of clothes. I¡¯ve never worn anything so tight before. It¡¯s kind of embarrassing,¡± she murmured.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll look fine,¡± I assured her. ¡°But you needed something you can move and fight in, and robes don¡¯t really cut it.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± she sighed. ¡°I also got everything else on the list. Did we need so much food? And why wine?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d rather have the option for something other than fish for a while. As for wine, alcohol is a universal trade good. It also helps loosen tongues, if you share some around a campfire.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± the girl nodded. ¡°When are we leaving?¡±


    ¡°Soon. I want to tell your father I¡¯m leaving one day, then have us leave the night or so before. That way we¡¯ve got a twelve hour head start¡ª¡±


    I cut off at the sound of boots approaching. Yue and I turned to find an unpleasantly familiar face storming up to us¡ªHahn, flanked by a few of his buddies. Warriors and waterbenders both, from what I could tell. We stood to face them, Yue frowning at their approach and lifting her chin, exposing her necklace. From the way Hahn¡¯s face went red and his jaw clenched, he apparently saw it.


    Hahn and his cronies stopped a few feet from us. ¡°Fire Nation!¡±


    ¡°Water Tribe,¡± I nodded, and he and his friends looked taken aback for a moment, unsure if they should take that as an insult given I hadn¡¯t spat it the way Hahn did. ¡°What do you want?¡±


    Hahn quickly gathered his wits however, as he was reminded of his reason for being here. ¡°I¡¯m here to challenge you for Princess Yue.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I denied immediately. ¡°Even if I wanted to, and I don¡¯t, the matter¡¯s settled. There are bigger things at play here than you and me, or even Yue.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± Yue confirmed. ¡°My duty to the tribe¡ª¡±


    ¡°Shut up, woman! This is a matter of honor between men!¡± Hahn cut her off, before fixing his gaze back on me. ¡°Just you and me. A duel between swordsmen. Sunup tomorrow. Or are you too much of a coward to face me, without your precious firebending? Is that sword you carry around just for show¡ªa trinket that daddy gave you, that you didn¡¯t earn, noble boy?¡±


    Yue¡¯s hand squeezed mine hard enough to pop my knuckles as she took a deep breath, her eyes closed as Hahn spoke. When she opened them, those pretty eyes were ice cold. She gestured and Hahn yelped as he found himself encased up to his mouth in ice.


    ¡°Hahn,¡± Yue began, her quiet voice strained with her anger. ¡°I will not marry you. Not now, not ever. Tradition be damned. And if you ever speak to me like that again, they¡¯ll need to sweep the frozen chunks up to bury you. I am a princess and you are one of the soldiers under my command, not the other way around. Now, leave us. You can expect me to report this rank disrespect and insubordination to your commanding officer. I¡¯ll leave it to him to think of an appropriately creative punishment for you.¡±


    Yue¡¯s gaze shifted to Hahn¡¯s friends, who were now looking unsure. ¡°Take him and go. Now.¡±


    I felt Yue¡¯s body trembling through her hand as they turned and the waterbenders detached Hahn¡¯s icy prison from the ground before pushing it away. When they got to the stairs leading down, one of them removed the ice and they hauled him down quickly, out of sight. I turned to Yue with a smile. ¡°I¡¯ve said it before, but you¡¯re sexy when you¡¯re angry.¡±


    Yue let out a quiet breath and turned, burying her face in my chest. I caught a glimpse of tears in her eyes before she hid them as she clung onto me and trembled silently. ¡°I¡¯m glad you think so.¡±


    I hugged her, rubbing her back. ¡°Let me guess. Jitters?¡±


    ¡°Mm,¡± she nodded, clutching me tightly. ¡°I¡¯ve never done something like that.¡±


    ¡°I figured. Didn¡¯t take you for the threatening type.¡±


    Yue giggled and looked up, her eyes a little red as she smiled up at me. ¡°I just asked myself, what would Princess Azula do?¡±


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s a bad idea. You really shouldn¡¯t take inspiration from my sister.¡±


    ¡°You said it was sexy,¡± Yue pouted.


    ¡°Oh, it was,¡± I agreed. ¡°But Azula doesn¡¯t threaten. She would¡¯ve torched him on the spot.¡±


    Yue stuck her tongue out before putting her face back in my chest. ¡°He¡¯s not going to back down now. I know Hahn. He¡¯ll find you tomorrow, regardless of what I¡¯ve said.¡±


    ¡°Alright. That¡¯s it, then,¡± I nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll leave tomorrow night.¡±


    Yue frowned up at me. ¡°Why not tonight?¡±


    ¡°Two reasons. Firstly, it gives me a plausible reason to need to leave in a hurry, assuming I win¡ªwhich I plan to.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s going to cheat. He¡¯ll have his friends with him.¡±


    ¡°Yep. That¡¯s why you¡¯re going to get master Pakku to show up a little early to watch the whole affair, out of sight. If his friends interfere, I¡¯m going to cut loose, and I want to be sure no one thinks I¡¯m actually trying to kill them.¡±


    Yue nodded. ¡°And the second reason?¡±


    ¡°Personal. I¡¯d like to settle the score. Hahn¡¯s buddies were in that little crowd at the market, waiting to jump me, so there¡¯s a good chance he was probably there somewhere. I recognize a few of them.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± the princess murmured.


    ¡°Come on, we should probably get back. I need to let Senna know¡ª¡±


    ¡°No!¡± Yue shook her head. When I sent her a questioning look, she glared up at me. ¡°I worked hard to cook something myself and I want you to try it.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I chuckled, gently pushing her towards the bench. ¡°Let¡¯s see what you made, then.¡±


    The smoked arctic hen was juicy and delicious, the small loaf of bread dark, fluffy, and sweet, and mushrooms that I politely tried but ultimately left to Yue¡ªto her amusement.


    <hr>


    And that brings us to Hahn trying to kill me, under the guise of a duel¡­


    ¡°Well, Fire Nation? Are you ready? Or are you too afraid to fight me?¡±


    I sighed, taking a last moment to look at the sunrise before pushing myself to my feet and turning to find my challenger waiting. Hahn stood in the middle of the practice area wearing a smug grin on his punchable face, one hand resting on the hilt of his sword. Amusingly, his head had been shaved bald at some point between when I had last seen him and now. A mixed group of eight other waterbenders and warriors around his age had formed a circle around the perimeter of the practice area.


    ¡°Hahn, you don¡¯t have to do this, you know? It¡¯s pointless. It won¡¯t accomplish anything. The decision¡¯s already been made and it¡¯s out of your hands,¡± I tried one last time to convince him to back down.


    ¡°Tch. That¡¯s what you think, Fire Nation. I¡¯ll beat you and show Chief Arnook that I¡¯m the one who should be with Yue!¡±


    I nodded, moving into the center of the circle to join him. ¡°Suppose you win. Do you have the power to restore limbs? Remove scars? Make the elderly young and fit again?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Hahn looked confused. ¡°None of that means you get to steal Yue from me!¡±


    ¡°She was never yours to steal,¡± I shook my head, before pulling my sword. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get this over with.¡±


    Hahn drew his sword and charged with a roar.


    Hahn¡¯s form was shit as he came in swinging wildly, all brute force, no finesse, looking to cave my chest in with his whalebone sword. I slid backwards on the ice, letting the swing go wide before coming in with a strike of my own, catching him diagonally, low and left to high right across the chest and ripping his jacket. I felt the pull of flesh beneath the blade and Hahn yelped, jerking back as I pursued him with the follow up swing, right to left aiming for his stomach as he frantically brought his sword up.


    Hahn wasn¡¯t incompetent, unfortunately. His anger had just pushed him into acting rashly in those first moments. With the realization that I wouldn¡¯t cave under the initial assault and wasn¡¯t just some unskilled noble brat he could beat like a rug, Hahn got his shit together and quickly mounted a defense and counter attack, knocking my swing aside and coming in with a thrust for my chest.


    I spun with the momentum, stepping out of the range of the thrust as I split my sword. The left came around, catching his blade with a dull thunk and holding it in place as I forced him into a blade lock. It wouldn¡¯t hold for long given that he was using both hands and I was only using one, and even without being a bender all of their warriors could use chi to enhance themselves. Thankfully, it didn¡¯t need to.


    The sword in my right hand came around following it as I completed the twist and Hahn¡¯s eyes went wide as he realized the danger, jerking his head back and trying to backpedal. I followed but he got enough range that the strike didn¡¯t take his head and only swiped across his face, tearing a very straight line from his left cheek, under his nose and through the corner of his lips, before catching on his opposite cheek and leaving a ragged gash as the skin folded before the blade pulled through.


    Hahn yelled, spitting blood as he backed away. ¡°What are you waiting for?! Help me!¡±


    The battle shifted immediately as four waterbenders attacked as one and the four warriors lowered their spears, getting ready to strike. The ice under my feet shifted, turning from rough to smooth as glass in an instant. A rolling wave passed through the ice from my right, forcing me to jump over it or be thrown, at the risk of slipping on the landing. A water whip flicked at my midsection while a torrent of sharp ice spears fell from above and more rose from below.


    With the intervention of Hahn¡¯s friends, all bets were off, and this farce of a ¡®duel¡¯ was over.


    I caught my myself in the air, jet-stepping into a spin as I conjured fire to my blades. It built slower than normal fire based attacks, but what came out was worth it. A wave of green fire rolled over the practice area. The waterbenders tried to shield themselves¡ªeither with ice or by pulling up waves of water, while the warriors hit the deck, trying to dive under it.


    Fire hit ice and water and, instead of dissipating, rolled around them¡ªflaming oil rolling across water. Worse, trying to disrupt it sent it splashing over the area, droplets flying everywhere and sticking where they landed, like napalm, burning brightly as they clung to skin, hair, clothes, ice weapons, and whatever surface they found purchase on.


    They panicked and the screams started as clothes caught fire. I landed, planting my swords in the ice as the smooth surface melted beneath my feet, leaving tracks where I stepped as I made my own footing. I turned, directing the fire as I began the first steps of the hybrid fire/water bending form I had been working out in my head from my time observing the waterbenders.


    Green fire surged, turning in on itself in a spiral around the platform¡ªa whirlpool. Clothes flared brightly as they burned, before turning to ash. Those few metal weapons and jewelry they wore glowed red hot and were either dropped, or burned patches into flesh. Bone weapons shattered under the heat. Steam rose, shrouding the platform and leaving the surface covered in an inch or more of water as it went from a platform to a bowl¡ªthat is, everywhere but the center, the eye of the firestorm where I stood on a platform of ice starting to sweat in the heat.


    When I finished stepping through the last few movements, I let the fire dissipate and took in my handiwork.


    Eight men lay sprawled out, naked aside from a coating of ash and insensate but whole, in a puddle of quickly cooling water. Even Hahn¡¯s wounds were gone without a trace. Looking down, I found a pattern of footsteps melted into the ice and hummed as I studied them for a moment.


    Need to tighten up the last part of the spiral there.


    ¡°They¡¯re not dead, I take it.¡±


    Looking up, I found Pakku and Yue approaching, Pakku taking in the scene dispassionately and Yue looking away from the naked men. Shaking my head, I picked up my swords, put them back together, and slipped them back into their sheath. ¡°Nope. Green fire only.¡±


    ¡°Why are they like this?¡± the old man asked, curious. ¡°I remember the first few moments being engulfed in it, before Yagoda put me to sleep. It just felt warm.¡±


    ¡°Ah, well. As I keep telling people. Clothes burn. Metal gets hot.¡±


    He took in their nude, ash-covered forms again before a quiet, ¡°Ah,¡± left his lips and he nodded. ¡°I see. You should speak with Arnook. I¡¯m afraid to say that after this incident, you¡¯ve likely worn out your welcome for the time being. At least, until tempers have time to cool. But first¡­¡±


    Pakku created a slab of ice nearby. ¡°Show me what you did with that fire. It moved less like fire and more like¡­¡±


    ¡°Like oil spilled on water,¡± I finished for him, and went on to show him the technique.


    Following that, Yue and I made our way back to the palace to speak with her father. As we went, the princess quietly asked, ¡°Tonight?¡±


    ¡°Tonight.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be ready.¡±

 10

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    10


    <hr>


    I woke from my nap and gathered my things. Leaving the spare bedroom, I set my bags by the door and made my way to Senna¡¯s bedroom. Pushing aside the fur divider, I found her laying on top of her bed, fully clothed. For just a moment, I almost mistook her for Yagoda, given how closely they resembled each other now that she had also had her youth restored. Her eyes snapped open when I shook her shoulder and, after only a moment, she was up and moving, grabbing her own bags.


    We left her home, Senna bending her door closed with ice, and quietly made our way through the streets, sticking to the shadows and alleys as we made our way towards the oasis. We spotted Yue standing in a shadow beside the small, round door, her bright hair hidden by the hood she wore. She smiled and waved a silent greeting, then opened the door and we piled in. Yue¡¯s bags were just inside and she shouldered them before we hurried to the back of the chamber.


    ¡°Just a moment,¡± Yue paused, opening her backpack and producing two large, metal thermoses. She hurried back to the pool and bent a stream of softly glowing water into both.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t they gonna get pissy that you took that?¡± I asked, as she hurried back and put the containers back in her bag.


    ¡°Not really,¡± Senna shook her head. ¡°The gift of the water and moon spirits is our legacy. No one can fault her for taking it. Now, let¡¯s get a move on.¡±


    Yue got her bags back in place and we hurried to the false wall in the back she had made on our little trip outside the walls. Once she lowered it, I conjured a light and we hurried into the stairs. Yue closed the wall behind us and filled in the stairs for the first several yards after that, before we began the long, winding trek up to the top of the ice sheet. Once we were up top, I dispelled the light sphere I was using and Yue closed up the top the same way she had the bottom, but left a pillar to mark its location.


    It was the night of the new moon, so there was no moonlight to guide us, but the stars were bright enough and the sky was clear. We found the groove Yue had cut in the ice sheet and hurriedly followed it. Eventually, we spotted the pillars she had left to mark the parking spot for my boat and Yue led us down and closed the path behind us as I once more provided light.


    Once we got to the boat, we stowed our things in the cabin and I got the engines warmed up, but didn¡¯t start them yet. Yue lowered the wall and flooded the inside of the chamber enough to get us out, using her bending to pull us out before again closing it behind us. ¡°Alright Yue, the next part¡¯s all you,¡± I told her, taking a seat at the tiller.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got it,¡± she nodded and moved into place in front of me.


    ¡°Show me what to do. I can help,¡± Senna offered and Yue nodded. After a few moments of speaking quietly and demonstrating, the two waterbenders had us moving along quickly on a continuous wave of water. I kept watch around and behind us, ready to start the engine if we were spotted.


    Eventually, the cliffs of the ice sheet and Agna Qel¡¯a disappeared over the horizon. I waited several minutes more before raising the mast and climbing to the top. Seeing as the ice bergs were also below the horizon, I climbed down and raised the sails.


    ¡°Alright ladies, I¡¯ll take it from here,¡± I offered as I turned us for Chenbao.


    ¡°I can go for longer,¡± Senna shook her head.


    Yue nodded. ¡°So can I.¡±


    ¡°And I¡¯d rather get to shore faster, in any case,¡± the elder of the two said.


    Shrugging, I took my seat and fired up the engine, sending us shooting forward and the ship rising a bit in the water. It took them a moment to adjust, but soon enough we were flying along and, as I saw the sails were doing more to hinder than help, I lowered them and the mast again.


    ¡°So Senna,¡± I asked after a while, ¡°how do you plan to explain how you look?¡±


    ¡°Easy,¡± the woman turned a grin over her shoulder. ¡°I set things up in advance for a successor. I¡¯m old Senna¡¯s niece, young Senna.¡± Yue and I laughed at that and she ignored us as she continued. ¡°I¡¯ll talk to the right people, say the right things, and everything will transfer over to me.¡±


    ¡°Where are you going, once we reach Chenbao?¡± Yue asked, curious.


    ¡°Ba Sing Se. Then Gaoling. Then mostly stick to the coast as I head back north, visiting all of the Earth Kingdom villages and Fire Nation colonies and stopping by Omashu. All the way to the Abbey, then cut back east to Zigan, get on a boat, and return to Chenbao. From there, back up north. That¡¯s the route I established, years ago. By then, they should have cooled down. What about the two of you?¡±


    Yue beamed a happy smile. ¡°Wherever we want.¡±


    Chuckling, I gave a more definitive answer. ¡°Well, I¡¯ve already visited the western air temple, I figure we can go see the northern one next, since it¡¯s not far.¡± Yue perked up at that, looking excited. ¡°After that? Not sure. I think I¡¯ll avoid Ba Sing Se for the time being. The other air temples are on the list. So is Gaoling and Kyoshi Island. Eventually, we¡¯ll head south and visit the southern water tribe.¡±


    ¡°Why avoid Ba Sing Se?¡± Yue asked, curious.


    Senna chuckled. ¡°You¡¯ve heard the rumors, haven¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Which ones?¡±


    ¡°Of a secret police force who does the kingdom¡¯s dirty work of removing political dissidents, so their precious Earth King doesn¡¯t have to be troubled by unsightly things.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°That¡¯s the one. You know if there¡¯s any truth to it?¡±


    Senna shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t say for certain. Damn near every drunk in every bar in that place claimed to have seen them.¡±


    ¡°Maybe later, then.¡±


    I fell silent, focusing on the engine and putting miles between us and Agna Qel¡¯a. With the help of Yue and Senna, we got most of the way there before we agreed to take a break and I raised the sails again. The ladies went into the cabin to try to sleep for a while and I rested my eyes after locking the tiller in. Eventually, we reached Chenbao as the sky was beginning to lighten.


    I pulled into a berth at the end of one of the docks and tied us off, then Yue and I helped Senna take her bags to the same inn I had met her in, where she booked a room for a few days. Turning to look at us, she sighed and smiled. ¡°Safe travels, you two. Stay out of trouble.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s Yue that¡¯s the troublemaker,¡± I teased, and the princess stuck her tongue out.


    ¡°I¡¯ll make sure he behaves,¡± she promised.


    We said our goodbyes and Yue and I made our way back out to the boat, where I quickly cast off and Yue got us turned around. Then, I set course east, along the coastline, following my map towards the mountains where the northern air temple was housed.


    ¡°You know,¡± I spoke up as Yue sat beside me, looking around and taking everything in. ¡°If you¡¯re going to come with me, you¡¯ve got to look the part. Can¡¯t look like a princess.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Yue asked, confused.


    Chuckling, I reached up and once again took her hair down, before handing her Water Tribe themed hair ornament back to her. I did the same for the two decorations on her braids, earning a pout.


    Yue gestured and pulled water over the side of the boat, freezing a stand in place in front of her with a mirror made of ice. From there, she undid her braids and made herself a comb, and began straightening her hair.


    ¡°Maybe I should cut it¡­¡±


    I considered her for a moment before nodding. ¡°It¡¯d look good shorter. I also like it long, so I¡¯m not the best person to ask.¡±


    Yue giggled, shifting and bumping me with her shoulder. Pulling her hair together, she began tying it in a braid just above her left shoulder, the length of it reaching down to pile in her lap. Humming, she made a pair of scissors when she was satisfied and cut of off just above her breasts. ¡°There,¡± she said, and began gathering up a length of the leftover hair, weaving it into a rope.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± I wondered, eyeing the excess hair curiously.


    Yue dumped the leftover hair overboard and turned to me with a smile. ¡°Hold still.¡±


    ¡°¡­Where do you think you¡¯re going with those?¡± I eyed the scissors skeptically.


    The woman merely smiled, taking my head in both of hers and turning me away from her. I felt her playing with the tail I kept the back of my hair in and heard the snip of scissors. A moment later, she pulled the leather tie I kept it in loose before retying it. ¡°All done.¡±


    ¡°Did you,¡± I started to ask, before sighing as I saw her tying together a lock of my own hair in her lap, before using the resulting cord to tie the end of hers off. ¡°Never mind.¡±


    Yue looked happy and I¡¯ll admit it was kind of cute, so I left it alone.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t tie it in a bow, did you?¡± I asked, and received only an impish smile and a giggle in answer. ¡°Yue? Come on!¡±


    <hr>


    Senna yawned as she sat near the fire, sipping on a cup of tea. The door opened and a pair of young women walked in. The taller of the two, a stoic looking thing wearing dark clothes under a thick coat, looked around before grabbing the shorter of them by the elbow and pulling her towards the counter. The shorter of them likewise wore a thick coat, but under it some kind of loose outfit with entirely too much pink for Senna¡¯s taste.


    ¡®Grumpy cat with too many knives and a hyperactive monkey,¡¯ Senna mused, remembering some of the stories she had pried out of Zuko. Could it be them?


    ¡°We need a room for the night,¡± the tall one said, pulling out a coin purse and laying several silver coins on the counter. ¡°And we¡¯re looking for our friend.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s he look like?¡± the man behind the counter asked, swiping the coins up and handing them a key.


    ¡°My friend¡¯s height,¡± the shorter one beamed. ¡°Black hair, eyes like molten gold. Reeeally cute, but also kinda dangerous, you know?¡±


    The innkeeper frowned, but eventually nodded. ¡°Yeah, the wife told me about someone like that a couple of weeks back. Hired on as Old Senna¡¯s bodyguard and left out of here the next morning, heading north.¡±


    The two young women exchanged looks before the taller one asked, ¡°What¡¯s on the menu tonight?¡±


    ¡°Stew and bread. Got a nice ale if you want.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll take two,¡± she said, placing down another coin and pulling her friend along to a table. Senna focused on her own meal as she listened.


    ¡°Did you hear that, Mai? Zuko¡¯s been here! You were right!¡± the shorter girl gushed quietly.


    ¡°Mm. But our detour cost us time,¡± she sounded displeased. ¡°I blame you.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not my fault we came over land!¡±


    ¡°I blame you.¡±


    ¡°So mean~.¡± Sighing, the smaller girl asked, ¡°So, you think Zuzu is still up north?¡±


    ¡°Possibly.¡±


    ¡°Too bad we can¡¯t get ahead of him.¡±


    The girls fell silent as the innkeeper brought them their food and drinks, before making his way back to the kitchen. Senna picked up her bowl and glass and made her way over to their table. The tall one eyed her warily while the short one smiled brightly as Senna sat.


    ¡°Can we help you¡­?¡±


    Senna smiled. ¡°No, but maybe I can help you. Mai, isn¡¯t it?¡± she asked, before turning to the much more cheery girl, ¡°And that makes you Ty Lee, doesn¡¯t it?¡±


    Ty Lee gasped quietly. ¡°How did you know?!¡± She turned to Mai and gestured to Senna. ¡°How did she know?!¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Mai frowned, humming quietly. ¡°You¡¯ve been speaking with Zuko.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Senna,¡± she introduced herself.


    Mai raised an eyebrow while Ty Lee tilted her head curiously. ¡°You don¡¯t look old¡­?¡±


    ¡°Old Senna is my aunt,¡± she chuckled.


    The shorter girl frowned minutely. ¡°You¡¯re lying. Why?¡±


    Senna raised an eyebrow at that. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t believe the truth without seeing it for yourself, girl. I have met your friend, though.¡±


    ¡°Prove it,¡± Mai demanded, and Senna blinked as she felt something sharp poke her in the inner thigh. Looking down, she found a bare foot between her legs, toes clutching a small, jagged little knife hovering right over a major artery. If the girl decided to do it, she¡¯d bleed out in moments.


    Senna shrugged, before reaching up and touching her chest. ¡°Lightning scar on his chest.¡±


    The dagger left her thigh and Mai nodded. Leaning forward, Ty Lee asked, ¡°He told you about us? What did he say?¡±


    ¡°Just that you were his friends and his sister had likely sent you to drag him back home.¡±


    Ty Lee seemed to deflate. ¡°Aw. Is that all?¡±


    Senna laughed. ¡°What were you expecting, girl?¡±


    ¡°I dunno. Maybe that he missed us?¡±


    Mai sighed, shaking her head. ¡°Focus, Ty Lee.¡± Turning back to Senna, she asked, ¡°When did you see him last?¡±


    ¡°Oh, that would be this morning.¡±


    The girls shared a look of frustration, before turning back to her. Ty Lee beat Mai to the punch as she asked, ¡°Where did he go?!¡±


    Chuckling, the trader shrugged. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t matter. By the time you got there, he¡¯d be gone.¡±


    Mai frowned, but nodded. ¡°Then do you know where he¡¯s going?¡±


    ¡°I do. In so much as Zuko himself knew where he was going. He didn¡¯t seem terribly sure.¡± When the girls leaned forward expectantly anyway, Senna sighed. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll tell you. He had a short list. Gaoling, Kyoshi Island, the other air temples, and then the south pole. It seemed like he was saving that one for last.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of Kyoshi Island,¡± Ty Lee hummed, looking to Mai, who shrugged.


    ¡°Not many have. It¡¯s small and off the normal seafaring trade routes. Legend has it, Avatar Kyoshi made the island. It doesn¡¯t get many traders in or out, mainly because they don¡¯t have much to trade and don¡¯t want for much.¡± Quieter, she added, ¡°I think they would react poorly to you showing up on a Fire Nation cruiser.¡±


    ¡°So, Gaoling or one of the air temples, then,¡± Mai hummed. ¡°Gaoling will have readily available supplies and somewhere to stay, but if it¡¯s a large city¡­?¡±


    ¡°It is,¡± Senna confirmed. ¡°Third largest in the Earth Kingdom, behind Ba Sing Se and Omashu.¡±


    Mai sighed. ¡°Then finding him will be difficult. The air temples are our best bet, then.¡±


    Ty Lee looked confused. ¡°Why¡¯s Zuzu going to those old things, anyway? Weren¡¯t all the monks, you know?¡± She drew a finger across her throat. ¡°A hundred years ago?¡±


    ¡°He did say he was searching for sign of the Avatar, if he somehow survived into the present, or had reincarnated already,¡± Senna supplied.


    ¡°Either way, the Avatar would be drawn to remnants of the Air Nomads, either out of sentimentality or to try to learn airbending,¡± Mai nodded. ¡°So that was his plan.¡±


    Ty Lee studied Mai for a moment before her eyes went wide. ¡°You mean¡ª?¡±


    ¡°Shh,¡± Mai shushed the other girl. ¡°Later.¡± Looking to Senna, she guessed, ¡°He¡¯s heading for the northern air temple now, isn¡¯t he?¡±


    Senna nodded. ¡°Aye.¡±


    ¡°Chase and stay a step behind, or rush ahead, and hope he comes soon, and we didn¡¯t miss him?¡± Mai wondered.


    ¡°We¡¯ve got a day or two to figure it out before they get here. We may as well stay and wait for the ship,¡± Ty Lee shrugged, earning a nod from Mai.


    ¡°Fine,¡± Mai agreed. With the decision put off, she began eating.


    Sending Senna a grin, Ty lee asked, ¡°So? How is he?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I imagine he and his fiancee are doing well.¡±


    Mai choked on her stew as Ty Lee¡¯s mouth fell open. ¡°His what?!¡±


    Senna picked up her drink and took a sip, smiling into her ale as the girls demanded explanations. He was right. They are fun to tease. I should be gone before their ship gets here though. Just in case.


    <hr>


    ¡°Amazing view, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Breathtaking, sir,¡± the captain agreed, looking out over the island they were on and the sea, their ship looking tiny below.


    ¡°A shame those who once called this temple home are no longer alive to see it,¡± Iroh sighed, his hands clenching on the stone railing.


    ¡°Sir?¡± the captain asked quietly, aware that they had the area to themselves for the moment. But still, to voice disapproval of Fire Lord Sozin¡¯s actions could be considered almost heretical. It certainly spat in the face of the hundred year long war they had fought, trying to bring the light of civilization to the rest of the world.


    Iroh nodded. ¡°Of all Sozin¡¯s mistakes, of which there were surprisingly few, this was his greatest. His second greatest being the betrayal of his friend, Avatar Roku.¡±


    ¡°But that¡¯s¡­¡±


    Iroh scoffed. ¡°If we cannot look back upon our past actions and question them, call them out for the mistakes they were and learn from them, where does that leave us going forward? Unable to learn from the past. Always repeating the same mistakes. Unable to question those in command. Blindly carrying out orders we know are wrong. We would be little more than slaves. Worse, even. Insects.¡±


    ¡°What do you believe we should have done, then?¡±


    Iroh shook his head. ¡°It is an easy thing, to sit and criticize the actions of those who came before us, knowing what we know now. With the weight of history showing us the results of those decisions and information that those in the moment didn¡¯t have. To say we should have done something differently. I do not know what Sozin could have changed to avoid the war, or to keep it as short and bloodless as possible. I can only say that betraying the Avatar, and his fear of the Avatar seeking revenge for that betrayal leading to the murder of the air nomads in a desperate and foolish attempt to disrupt the reincarnation cycle when he could not be sure it would even work, were folly. What we can do is learn from our mistakes and move forward.¡±


    Nodding, the captain quietly asked, ¡°It¡¯s not Fire Lord Sozin¡¯s mistakes you¡¯re referring to, is it sir?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Iroh murmured. ¡°I have made more than my share of mistakes, blunders, poor decisions, and failing to take responsibility when I should have. I feel like I¡¯ve made a mess and I should be the one to clean it up. If only it were as simple as daubing up spilled tea and sweeping away shards of a broken teapot.¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯ll pardon my saying, general,¡± the captain paused for a moment and Iroh nodded. ¡°The nobles and the upper ranks may have favored your brother, but I speak for most of the enlisted men when I say, we always hoped it would be you who led us, when you father stepped down or passed on. We would have preferred to have someone who had served on the front lines and understood the war, if we could choose.¡±


    Chuckling, Iroh turned and patted the captain on the shoulder briefly, before making for the stairs. ¡°Then I failed all of you as well, when I stepped aside in my mourning for the loss of my son and father.¡±


    Their footsteps echoed off the stone steps and the curving mountain path for a time, before the captain finally asked, ¡°Between your nephew and niece, who do you think will succeed? That is, assuming¡­¡±


    ¡°Assuming Zuko survives,¡± Iroh finished. ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. I spent much time away from them. More than I should have, really.¡±


    Reaching up, Iroh stroked his beard as he considered. ¡°Azula is aggressive, decisive, and relentless. Once she has set her mind on something, she will not hesitate and will stop at nothing to see it through. She is a prodigy. Blessed by the heavens, or fate, one might say. But for all her strength, she lacks wisdom, temperance, and I fear even empathy at times. She would be a strong leader, certainly, but one who rules with an iron fist.¡±


    ¡°Just like her great grandfather, grandfather, and father.¡±


    ¡°No. Sozin only changed in his later years. In his early years, Roku tempered him,¡± Iroh shook his head. ¡°Sozin in his early years was a strong leader who managed to avoid most of the pitfalls of leadership. His dream of advancing the world came from those early years, but it was a different, much harder man who tried to see them through, and chose the methods he did.¡±


    ¡°And prince Zuko?¡±


    ¡°Zuko¡­ is a hard young man to pin down,¡± Iroh hummed. ¡°He is not the prodigy that Azula is, but he is able to think outside the box that the mindset for bending puts most of us in, and is willing to try new things. He once told me that it didn¡¯t matter if he tried and failed ninety-nine times, so long as he succeeded on the hundredth. Where Azula is aggressive, Zuko is humble. Where she is decisive, Zuko is meticulous. Where she is relentless, he shows temperance.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re opposites, then?¡±


    ¡°Not quite,¡± Iroh denied. ¡°They would work best together, in my opinion. With Zuko to temper the worst of Azula¡¯s tendencies and Azula to drive Zuko to do more.¡±


    The captain sent Iroh a considering look. ¡°That hasn¡¯t been done in a while, has it?¡±


    ¡°No, but it¡¯s not unheard of.¡±


    The captain fought down a smile as he said, ¡°I just hope I¡¯m there for the conversation where you sit them down and tell them the best thing for the country is for them to marry each other.¡±


    Iroh let out a sigh, even as he chuckled. ¡°I am not looking forward to it.¡±


    A thought occurred and the captain asked, ¡°What if he¡¯s already found someone, before then?¡±


    ¡°That is not unheard of either.¡±


    Unspoken was the fact that, in order for it to happen, the current Fire Lord would have to be dealt with, one way or another.


    <hr>


    ¡°Is that it?¡±


    Passing Yue my spyglass, I grinned. ¡°See for yourself.¡±


    She brought it to her eye and took a moment to sweep it around, before landing on what we had spotted from the sea. Just barely visible on top of a mountain, in the middle of a white capped mountain range miles distant, through a gap in the clouds I had spotted something that looked funny on top of one of the mountains. Through the spyglass, it became obvious that it was a manmade structure.


    ¡°It is! The northern air temple!¡± Yue gushed, before handing the glass back.


    I pressed it together and slipped it back into my pocket and took the tiller, pointing us at the shore. ¡°You ready to go ashore?¡±


    ¡°Absolutely. I¡¯d like to stretch my legs. I could use a bath, too.¡±


    ¡°Same,¡± I agreed. ¡°But unless we make one ourselves, we¡¯re kind of out of luck on that front, unless you want to take a river bath in freezing water.¡±


    Yue blushed and looked away. After a moment, she nodded and sat up straighter, before sending me a smile. ¡°We¡¯re engaged. We¡¯re going to see each other eventually anyway. And as I¡¯ve had to learn over the last few days, privacy when you travel is a rare thing.¡±


    The reality of traveling by boat meant that eventually, someone needed to take care of basic biological functions, and we weren¡¯t always close enough to land to pull over and run into the woods. That, and stopping every time someone had to go was impractical. That meant going over the side of the boat, or using the bucket with a wooden seat I kept for that purpose. Either way, whoever was doing their business was exposed to the world.


    On a side note, that this world actually had something resembling toilet paper was a minor miracle. One I was thankful for every day.


    ¡°Alright. You make a tub out of ice and fill it with water, I¡¯ll heat it, and we can both climb in and scrub?¡± I offered, and Yue nodded.


    ¡°I brought my soap!¡±


    I chuckled, shaking my head. ¡°I brought a few bars, but not much. Didn¡¯t like the stuff they were selling up north. Going to need to hit a town and restock.¡±


    We made landfall not long after and Yue used water to move the boat further inland. ¡°Are we just going to leave it here?¡±


    ¡°For now,¡± I confirmed. ¡°We¡¯ll take what we need and come back for it later.¡±


    I grabbed my main bag and pulled it out of the boat, while Yue had to do a little repacking under my direction, so she wasn¡¯t carrying a bunch of stuff she didn¡¯t need. Taking out my bow, I went ahead and strung it and set my quiver in place, before we started walking, following a stream that seemed to come from the direction we needed to go. As we went, I kept an eye out for edible plants, showing Yue and gathering things to go with our food¡ªonions, garlic, berries, and mushrooms for her.


    ¡°It¡¯s all so beautiful. There are so many trees. But I didn¡¯t expect this much snow,¡± Yue mused, looking this way and that as we walked, taking in everything she could with wide eyes.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯re still pretty far north. It stays pretty cold year round.¡±


    ¡°This is all south to me,¡± she giggled.


    We walked for hours, until eventually, I spotted what I had been hoping for and heard a call in the near distance. Holding up a hand, I motioned Yue to be quiet and get down. Moving closer as she crouched, I pulled off my bag and set it down, untying a length of rope from the side and hooking it to my belt. ¡°Stay here. I¡¯ll be back in a few,¡± I whispered, and she nodded.


    The pine needles underfoot were wet with snow and meltwater and made not a sound as I slipped along slowly through the trees. Eventually, I spotted a small herd of animals that looked like a cross between an arctic fox and an antelope. They were the size of an antelope, with fox-like bodies and tails, but the head of an antelope.


    Drawing an arrow, I took aim at the closest and let fly. The animal squealed as it was struck and started running, spooking the rest of the herd into fleeing. After only a few steps however, the fox antelope fell over onto its side and lay still. Pulling my knife, I made my way over and finished it off. I took a few minutes to hang it from a tree, open it up, field dress it inside the skin, and let the blood drain before cleaning my hands and knife in the stream and making my way back to Yue.


    ¡°Come on, I¡¯ve got dinner. I¡¯ll need you to carry my bag, though.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Alright,¡± she agreed, and followed after me. Upon seeing the fox antelope she made an appreciative noise as I picked it up and tossed it over my shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s big.¡±


    ¡°I just hope it tastes good,¡± I chuckled, following the stream further for several miles, away from where I¡¯d made the kill and had left the remains.


    Eventually, we found a good spot to make camp for the night, near enough to the stream and with some natural cover in the form of several large boulders jutting out of the ground. I hung the fox antelope up and got to work making camp for us. Fire burned and dried a circle of ground around the rocks, leaving a nice, clear, dry area for us to camp on.


    ¡°So, what do we do next?¡±


    ¡°Shelter first,¡± I explained, and she nodded, watching as I worked and explained everything I was doing as I did it.


    I took my bag from Yue and set up the tarp inside as a tent, before cutting down some limbs to make a lean-to over it. Our sleeping bags went inside and backpacks outside. With shelter taken care of, we gathered up some fallen limbs to make a fire. I took care of drying them and got a fire going, then moved onto the fox antelope, showing Yue how to remove the hide.


    Despite being a sheltered princess, she was eager to learn whatever I wanted to show her, and not squeamish at all about helping. Her waterbending made cleaning the meat of any remaining blood an easy task, and then we got it set up on a spit over the fire, as soon as it died down a bit. Pulling one of the bottles from my bag, I had her use her bending to coat the meat with a bit of the hooch I¡¯d gotten from the Sun Warriors for flavor. Combined with fresh garlic and onion, it quickly started to smell great after a long half-day¡¯s worth of hiking.


    With everything set up for the night except our defenses, which I would leave to Yue later to make an ice wall around our campsite, we made our way down to the river with our soap, rags, and towels. Yue quickly had us a large, thick tub made of ice and filled with entirely too cold water from the stream. A bit of fire had that steaming nicely, and a bit more bending on her part had the water inside soapy.


    Yue eyed me nervously, hesitating at taking the final plunge. Chuckling, I shook my head and began stripping. The girl blushed, covering her eyes, but I caught her peeking through her fingers more than once.


    I tossed my clothes, except for my jacket and boots, into the tub first and climbed in after. She dropped her hand and stopped pretending not to watch as she asked, ¡°Why did you put your clothes in?¡±


    ¡°They need to be washed or they¡¯ll start to stink,¡± I explained. ¡°You should do yours too while we¡¯re at it. Actually, with your waterbending, you could probably do them in like, thirty seconds, then just pull the water out.¡±


    ¡°Oh! I¡¯ve never washed my own clothes before,¡± she murmured, then began undressing. When she saw I wasn¡¯t even pretending not to look, she blushed down below her neck, but didn¡¯t try to hide as she quickly stripped down.


    Yue was sexy, but it was the soft kind of sexy of a healthy, fit young woman who didn¡¯t really have that much physical activity in her life. She had a nice, full set of breasts, thick thighs, a trim belly, and a plump ass that looked like it had a good squish to it. It wasn¡¯t the athletic, harder physique of some of the other girls in my life¡ªAzula, Ty Lee, and Mai, for instance, I knew from experience were all much more active girls with more athletic builds. But what Yue had was just fine too, in my opinion.


    ¡°Don¡¯t stare,¡± Yue pouted as she flung her clothes into the bath and climbed in, exposing a white bush and puffy lips briefly, before slipping into the water up to her neck.


    ¡°Can¡¯t help it. You¡¯re nice to look at,¡± I grinned, earning a pout, even as she preened a bit under the attention. ¡°Come here, I¡¯ll wash your back.¡±


    Somehow, through some Herculean act of self-restraint, we kept it to just a bath¡­ and a little kissing and cuddling, once she settled down enough to relax. When we got finished, we dried our clothes and got dressed, ate a nice meal of fresh venison before I strung the leftovers high up in a tree, and Yue erected a wall of ice around the campsite to keep us safe for the night. I tossed a few more logs on the fire and we turned in for the night.


    ¡°I should do something about our sleeping bags,¡± Yue yawned as we lay in the tent and it began to snow outside.


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Mm. I¡¯ve got a sewing kit. I¡¯ll pull out the stitching and put them together.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Why¡¯s that?¡± I teased.


    Yue pouted. ¡°It¡¯d be warmer.¡±


    ¡°Is that the only reason?¡±


    ¡°Shut up and go to sleep!¡±


    ¡°Regretting this already, huh?¡±


    Yue shook her head. ¡°No. Not even a little.¡±

 11

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    11


    <hr>


    I stared out across the clearing at my opponent, assessing. Yue stood opposite me, water from the stream swirling around her through the air at the ready.


    Green fire lit up in my hands and I stepped into the first movements of the standard firebender attack¡ªlaunching fireballs at range to probe the enemy¡¯s defense and distract them. Yue handled them easily, intercepting them all with a continuous stream of water, not moving from where she stood. A smile lit up her face and she gestured. One of the streamers grew colder and sharp ice daggers shot out at me.


    I ran into the stream of attacks, dodging, ducking, and occasionally batting them aside as I closed the distance between us. The girl frowned as she saw she wasn¡¯t getting through and increased the pace and density of her attack. I countered with a wave of fire, melting the icicles and creating a cloud of steam. I launched myself up and over the cloud as Yue shifted to octopus form, multiple water whips extending out, sweeping through the cloud and searching for me.


    I fired off a quick series of jabs with my hands and feet as I descended, forcing her to look up. Yue¡¯s eyes went wide and she brought up a shield of water, before freezing it into ice. Taking a deep breath, I charged a blast in my right hand as I fell the last few remaining feet. Exhaling sharply, I punched forward, twisting my fist as I did, willing the fire not to simply shoot out, but to spiral. Fire struck ice and, if it had been a normal fireball, it would have simply dissipated. Instead, when it hit, it dug in, burning through the surface before exploding, showering the area in ice shards.


    Then, I was inside her guard. I was three hits into my combo and Yue was halfway to the ground before I realized she wasn¡¯t fighting back, not doing anything but bringing up her arms to try to shield her face, which I¡¯d already struck twice, before kicking her in the gut and folding her over.


    ¡°Okay, stop. Fight¡¯s over!¡± I called as I fell to my knees beside her and rolled her over onto her back. ¡°Come on, uncurl and breathe.¡±


    ¡°Hurts,¡± she whimpered, holding her nose with one hand and her stomach with the other.


    ¡°Yeah, and it¡¯s gonna hurt less when you stop curling in on yourself,¡± I urged her, forcing her to straighten out and breathe. ¡°Let me see it.¡±


    I eased her hand away from her nose and winced. I¡¯d gotten her good, it seemed. It wasn¡¯t broken, but I¡¯d smashed it to the side and it was bleeding profusely. Her cheek was also starting to swell. Sighing, grabbed her nose and straightened it, earning a squeal from the teary girl. I conjured green fire and held it to her face and, only a few moments later, she relaxed.


    ¡°I¡¯m not cut out for this,¡± she sighed, rubbing her stomach tenderly.


    ¡°No, you just need to learn,¡± I countered, helping her to sit up. ¡°You¡¯re an amazing bender, Yue. You¡¯re strong and you¡¯ve got natural talent. I think the only person I¡¯ve seen catch onto bending as quickly as you is my sister. The thing is, bending isn¡¯t just about controlling an element and flinging it at your opponent, or using it to block their attacks. You need to move. It takes less energy to dodge an attack than block it, or even parry. You also have to be able to throw down with fists and feet when they get in too close to use your bending effectively. That¡¯s the biggest part you¡¯re lacking, and it¡¯s why I did what I did. I wanted to show you what was going to happen, when someone got through your defenses. It hurt, right?¡±


    ¡°Mhmm,¡± she nodded, pouting at me.


    ¡°And if it wasn¡¯t me doing it, but someone else? They wouldn¡¯t have held back. As soon as you hit the ground, they¡¯d have set you on fire and moved on.¡± Yue winced at that but nodded. ¡°So. We know what we need to work on. You¡¯re going to practice moving, with and without bending. Having chi means we¡¯re faster, stronger, and can just do things that normal people can¡¯t, even without using bending. You need to learn how to take advantage of that. I¡¯ll give you the Yuyan crash course.¡±


    ¡°Eh?¡± she asked, blinking in confusion.


    ¡°Dear old dad liked to keep me away from home as much as possible and I figured I¡¯d collect some useful skills, so one of my training trips was spending time training with a group of archers and assassins. They taught tracking, counter-tracking, hunting, shooting, survival, stealth, navigation, fast movement through any terrain¡ªall without bending. We¡¯ll be starting on that today, while we¡¯re traveling.¡±


    ¡°And the other stuff?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll take breaks for it,¡± I assured her. Taking her hands, I squeezed them. ¡°I want you to be able to take care of yourself, so I can¡¯t go easy on you. It¡¯s gonna hurt, and it¡¯s gonna suck.¡±


    Yue hesitated, before nodding. ¡°I understand.¡±


    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s begin,¡± I nodded, standing and pulling Yue to her feet.¡°Now?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Now,¡± I confirmed, before I started adjusting the way she stood and held herself. ¡°I can¡¯t teach you the martial art your northern waterbenders use, because I don¡¯t know it. What I can do is teach you how a firebender fights, and how to fight against it. We¡¯ll try to adapt your bending as we go.¡±


    <hr>


    We took our time getting to the mountain range where the northern air temple was located. I used that time to try to cram as much training into Yue as I could. She endured it all without a word of complaint, thankfully.


    When she fell or I knocked her down, she got back up and went right back to it. When I hit her, she quickly learned what she¡¯d done wrong and corrected it, closing up gaps in her defenses. When she was tired and sore after a long day, she forced herself to do just a little more, go just a little further. Then, at night, she slipped out of our tent and practiced her waterbending by herself¡ªlearning how to create slides, steps, launch herself into the air or catch herself, even using water whips and octopus form to move herself around through the trees and over the ground at speed.


    Eventually, however, we made it to the foot of the mountain where the northern air temple was situated. Looking up the mountain, I considered the trail as Yue hummed. Finally, sending me a mischievous grin, the girl took off running, launching herself from the snow with a pillar of ice. ¡°Race you!¡±


    Laughing, I followed after, jet-stepping and launching myself into the air after her. I hung back, watching Yue move as she demonstrated her new traversal skills.


    Eventually, we broke through the clouds shrouding the top of the mountain and hiding the temple from below. People, mostly children, flew past on what looked like primitive hang gliders. Several of them pointed at me and there were sounds of alarm as they turned for the temple. Yue and I made it to a flat stone deck looking out over the mountains, where the kids on gliders had gone.


    Touching down on the platform, we found abandoned gliders. An older man wearing a monocle, missing much of his hair, and his eyebrows looking freshly burned off hurriedly approached from inside the temple. ¡°Please, wait! I promise, I have what you¡¯re here for!¡±


    I exchanged a confused look with Yue, before shrugging. ¡°Alright?¡±


    ¡°Come, this way,¡± he gestured and ushered us through the temple. As we went, he began to ramble on about delays caused by working out some counter balance system.


    Those few people we encountered scattered and hid as we passed. Beside me, Yue whispered, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°Not sure. Let¡¯s find out.¡±


    We were eventually led to a room guarded by a large door, locked by some sort of airflow mechanism. The older man pulled something from his pocket and dug a stone out of the wall, before slipping what looked like some kind of handle inside. He pulled it and the doors opened, revealing a room full of weapons, tools, and other things¡ªwith lots of Fire Nation flags hanging here and there.


    Yue gasped quietly as we entered, her eyes going wide as she took it all in. I¡­ was not shocked at all. I¡¯d been having dreams about this place off and on since reaching the north pole and had remembered the situation from the show after the first one. I knew the old man and his people were refugees. He was an inventor and offered his services to the Fire Nation to keep them from destroying the temple. He would be the man responsible for air travel in this world, and much more. Such as tanks, just like the one sitting in the middle of the room that he was gushing over.


    Grabbing the big doors, I pulled them closed behind us. Waiting for a lull in his rambling, one eventually came and I got his attention. ¡°Listen, I think there¡¯s been some kind of mistake?¡±


    ¡°A mistake? What do you mean? This is what you came here to get, isn¡¯t it? I don¡¯t, I don¡¯t have anything else yet!¡±


    ¡°No, I mean, we¡¯re not who you think we are,¡± I clarified.


    ¡°You¡¯re not with the Fire Nation Army? You¡¯re not working for War Minister Qin?¡± he asked, going wide eyed. I recognized the name as one of Ozai¡¯s higher ranking men, this one in charge of technology and weapons development. ¡°But, but the children saw you! You¡¯re a firebender!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m a firebender, but I¡¯m not with the army. We uh, we just came here to see the temple,¡± I told him, Yue nodding beside me.


    ¡°I¡¯m actually a waterbender,¡± she smiled, opening the water skin at her side and bending out some of the water to show off, before putting it back.


    ¡°Oh. Oh dear.¡± The old man placed a hand on the tank, looking a bit faint as he slowly collapsed to sit on the ground. ¡°Oh dear.¡±


    ¡°So,¡± I began, gesturing at the tank. ¡°Doing work for the Fire Nation?¡±


    The old man winced. ¡°You don¡¯t understand!¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you explain it, then? How could you create weapons of war for them?¡± Yue demanded, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared.


    ¡°I did it to protect everyone!¡±


    I listened with half an ear as the old man told pretty much exactly the tale I was expecting. As he did, I moved around the room, inspecting its contents. In the back, I found a large cloth with the Fire Nation symbol draped over what looked vaguely like a boat. A smile came to my lips as I realized it wasn¡¯t a cloth or a boat, but a dirigible. An early one, but that was good enough.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I called as he trailed off and Yue sighed, looking frustrated. ¡°Does this work?¡±


    The old man turned, saw what I was looking at, and sent me a quizzical look. ¡°Do you even know what it is, young man?¡±


    Probably better than you, I didn¡¯t say, instead nodding. ¡°A dirigible. A hot air balloon.¡±


    He perked up at my words, while Yue looked confused. ¡°A what?¡±


    ¡°You ever seen a lantern with an enclosed top lift into the air?¡±


    ¡°No, but I¡¯ve heard there are such festivals held elsewhere. I¡¯d like to see one,¡± she prompted hopefully, and I nodded.


    ¡°It works like that. Hot air expands and fills a balloon or other structure. The hot air is lighter than the cold air around it, since it¡¯s taking up more space. This causes it to rise. It¡¯s like¡­ an air bubble coming up underwater,¡± I simplified, and Yue nodded.


    The old man leapt to his feet at that, his eyes going wide. ¡°You do understand! But I can¡¯t get it to work. Once it goes up, it stays up, with no way to make it come down, without cutting off the fire. But then it gets too cold and falls too quickly, which could cause a deadly crash.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it needs a vent on the top,¡± I nodded. ¡°Preferably on the inside, so the internal pressure is prone to keeping it sealed and you have to pull against that, instead of trying to pull and keep it closed against pressure from the outside.¡±


    His eyes went wide and he turned, running for the door. Pushing it open, he turned back to use. ¡°Come with me!¡±


    I shrugged and followed, Yue sending me a questioning look as we went. Quietly, she hissed, ¡°Why are you helping him?! Those things will end up in the hands of the Fire Nation and be used against everyone!¡±


    ¡°Probably. Assuming they don¡¯t leave, which they will if they have sense. I¡¯ll try to talk him into heading deeper into the Earth Kingdom. But when the war is over? You¡¯re looking at the future, Yue. Air travel,¡± I whispered back. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    Yue stared at me, her mouth falling open. ¡°You mean¡­ like a boat? But in the air?¡±


    ¡°Exactly so,¡± I agreed.


    Yue fell silent at that and we followed the old man to an elevator, then up to his office. He broke out some paper holding what looked like designs for the small airship we¡¯d seen down below. Flipping to a new page, he quickly began a new sketch. ¡°On the inside, you say?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. You make the cut smaller than the vent, or lid, or whatever you decide to use by like half¡ªmaybe even two thirds. That way, it doesn¡¯t slip. Attach it to the inside somehow in a way that doesn¡¯t damage the balloon material. Add a rope and pulley system that comes down into the basket for whoever¡¯s flying it to control. And there you have it. You can control descent with the pull of a cord.¡±


    ¡°Brilliant,¡± the old man nodded.


    ¡°I¡¯m Zuko, by the way. This is Yue. And you are?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡± the old man asked, briefly looking up from his sketch, before laughing. ¡°Oh! Bo! But feel free to call me ¡®old man.¡¯ Everyone else does,¡± he waved it off, before returning to his sketch.


    ¡°How are you powering the balloon?¡± I asked, taking the other sketches and flipping through them. ¡°I saw an engine of some kind on that thing, so it¡¯s obviously meant to be used by a non-bender.¡±


    ¡°Oh, coal, of course. But it will take anything that burns,¡± he answered absently.


    ¡°It looked heavy,¡± I mused. ¡°Could ditch it if you had a firebender aboard.¡±


    ¡°Certainly,¡± Bo nodded. ¡°But then no one who wasn¡¯t a firebender could operate it. Nor could it be used overnight, without a second firebender to use in shifts.¡±


    I frowned, but nodded. ¡°Have you ever seen a bending powered boat engine?¡±


    ¡°I have,¡± the old man confirmed. ¡°Why do you ask?¡±


    ¡°One of those, a water tank to provide fresh water, a series of copper coils to act as a condenser that it vents into to cool and return to water, a second tank to collect the return water and then feed back into the main tank. At altitude, or with the help of waterbender,¡± I gestured at Yue, ¡°you could have a system with almost no loss of water.¡±


    ¡°But why¡ª¡± he paused, then nodded, ¡°Ah, yes. To drive propellers. But why not use the coal engine?¡±


    ¡°Does it produce the sort of RPM that one of the steam engines would?¡± I asked, and he hummed, considering.


    ¡°Perhaps not. But if it weren¡¯t also being used to run a propeller, it could be made much more compact¡­¡±


    Grinning, I asked, ¡°What do you say? Want to try to modify a boat to test with?¡±


    ¡°Do you have one?¡± he asked, perking up in interest, and I nodded.


    ¡°I do. If you can provide a means of transportation.¡±


    ¡°We can arrange a wagon and something to pull it,¡± he nodded eagerly. Finishing the sketch, he turned it so I could see. ¡°What do you think?¡±


    I looked it over and nodded. ¡°Looks good.¡± Considering him for a moment, I added, ¡°You know you have to leave, right?¡±


    Bo sighed, suddenly looking much older and more worn down. ¡°We have made this place our home.¡±


    ¡°And you¡¯re being threatened into creating weapons for the Fire Nation,¡± I countered, and he nodded. ¡°You can rebuild. You can go somewhere quiet and hide. Or go to somewhere like Omashu or Gaoling and get someone to fund your efforts there. Pretty sure King Bumi would gladly agree to settle you and pay for whatever you needed.¡±


    ¡°But how do we escape the Fire Nation army?¡±


    I reached down and tapped the design he was working on. ¡°Build a bigger one. You said it¡¯s Qin giving you trouble? I know the guy. He¡¯s a coward, but the man¡¯s intelligent. Tell him you¡¯ve got something big in the works and he may even provide you supplies to build it himself.¡±


    ¡°He has before,¡± Bo nodded. ¡°Very well. We¡¯ll try.¡±


    ¡°Just wait until we¡¯re gone before making a run for it.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± the old man nodded. ¡°Now, let¡¯s see about getting that boat¡­¡±


    <hr>


    With access to materials and the mad scientist that was Bo, we had redesigned my little boat into a sleek airship capable of making air or water landings, cutting down the weight significantly while still retaining functionality. The mast and rigging were removed entirely for the moment. The cabin on top had to go to make room for the balloon and rigging to hold it in place and keep it balanced when it was inflated. I¡¯d also cut off the pontoons that made it a trimaran for the moment. I¡¯d also had to remove the engines and linkage for us to work on it.


    What we¡¯d done instead was hammer out support struts and weld them into the hull, and now I was welding on a much thinner skin over the top of that to make a cabin that ran almost the entire length of the boat. We¡¯d be able to stand inside, but we might have to stoop. I would be adding view ports along the sides and at the front so we could see out or close them up, like the old cabin. I¡¯d left a spot at the back open for a coal box and the main coal fired heater to blow hot air and keep the balloon filled with pipes that ran along the inside of the cabin on the ceiling to double as a source of heat at altitude, but we would be adding a second, bending powered heater in line with that to do the same thing.


    When we put the engine back in, it would be linked to a lever that would switch it over between either the screws for when it was in the water, or to a propeller mounted on the roof, under the balloon, inside a protective enclosure much like a fan boat¡ªwith a set of rudders to control the craft¡¯s direction. I¡¯d be mounting a water tank on either side of the outside of the hull, then putting a set of much smaller pontoons back on the sides, closer than the originals to give it a more narrow profile, so it would be stable on land and not tip over.


    The balloon would be mounted on top with a case below it to roll it up and latch it in place when it wasn¡¯t in use. That was where the mast would come back in¡ªresting under the balloon normally, until it was needed. If we needed to, we could land in water, roll up the balloon and keep it hidden in its enclosed case, and raise the mast to look like a normal ship. The propeller could be detached and reattached without tools and stored in the cabin if need be, and with the pulling of a few levers, the redesigned coal furnace could be used as a boiler to power the props.


    There was, of course, the problem of visibility. Unless we were very high up or hiding in the clouds, we¡¯d be highly visible from the ground. So, I set out to mitigate that problem the tried and true way they did on Earth. I¡¯d be painting the underside and sides of the boat sky blue and the top gray, while the balloon was made from blue and white cloth. It wasn¡¯t going to be perfect, but it would at least reduce visibility from the ground somewhat.


    ¡°Zuko, I¡¯m worried.¡±


    I paused in making a new weld on the hull of the boat to look at Yue. ¡°What about?¡±


    ¡°Can we really just leave these people to escape the Fire Nation on their own? And what about once they¡¯re away? Their fuel will only last so long, and then they¡¯ll be vulnerable.¡±


    I considered her question for a moment before asking, ¡°What do you suggest?¡±


    Yue sent me a smile. ¡°I¡¯ve been studying the map. If we can make it back to Chenbao, we can destroy the flying machine so it can¡¯t be used by the Fire Nation. After that, they can board a ship and then take the river inland, then back out to sea, around the coast, and eventually make land and take the relatively short trek across land to Omashu.¡±


    ¡°So, you want to escort them back to Chenbao and destroy the war balloon?¡±


    ¡°If that¡¯s okay? We don¡¯t have to take them the rest of the way. Just away from here.¡±


    Humming, I reviewed my mental map, before nodding. ¡°Sure. I¡¯m fine with that.¡±


    ¡°Really?!¡± Yue asked, and I sent her a smile.


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    She beamed, moving closer and wrapping me in a hug, before kissing my cheek. ¡°Thank you!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not a big deal,¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Oh! There is one more small thing.¡± I raised an eyebrow in question and she began explaining. ¡°I¡¯ve been speaking with the children and getting to know them. Doing some healing here and there as needed, for some issues that have been lingering a while.¡± When I nodded, she asked, ¡°Have you met Bo¡¯s son, Teo?¡±


    ¡°Which one is that?¡±


    ¡°The one in the chair.¡±


    I snapped my fingers. ¡°Oh, right! Yeah. Good kid. Smart. He likes to come by and help out.¡± Yue stared at me, expectantly. I smiled back, waiting. I knew what she wanted to ask, I just wanted to make her say it.


    Huffing, Yue glared at me, realizing I was pushing her buttons. ¡°Could you heal him?¡±


    ¡°Sure. He hasn¡¯t asked me about it though, and it¡¯d sound weird if I offered¡­¡±


    Yue rolled her eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve examined him already and it looks like you only need to heal one area. His spine, in the lower back area.¡±


    ¡°Well, if you want to go get him, I can do it now,¡± I offered, and she nodded, before hurrying out of the room.


    I went back to making welds and, a few minutes later, I heard the sound of footsteps and wheels approaching. ¡°Hey, Zuko,¡± the young boy called as he stopped nearby. ¡°Yue said you could um, maybe¡­ fix my back?¡±


    Sliding down off the boat, I wiped my hands off on my pants. ¡°Is that what you want?¡±


    ¡°Haha yeah! I mean, who would say no to being able to walk again?!¡± the boy laughed, like I¡¯d asked the dumbest question he¡¯d ever heard.


    ¡°Well, some people are stubborn like that,¡± I shrugged. ¡°Alright, Yue, can you help me get him up?¡±


    The waterbender nodded and together, we pulled him out of the chair and laid him out on his stomach. I reached down and pulled his shirt up and asked, ¡°So, where am I aiming?¡±


    ¡°Here,¡± Yue pointed to the boy¡¯s lower back, just above the hips.


    ¡°Is it gonna hurt?¡± Teo asked as I laid my hand on his back and conjured fire.


    ¡°Well, I suppose we¡¯ll see. I¡¯ve done a few limb replacements and other things,¡± I spoke, distracting him as I felt the fire working away at him. Yue¡¯s hand rested beside mine and, after a few moments, she nodded. Rolling the boy over onto his front, I asked, ¡°How about you tell me? Does this hurt?¡±


    I reached down and smacked him just above the knee with the knuckle of my middle finger. Teo¡¯s entire leg jumped and yelped. ¡°Ow!¡± The boy blinked, then his eyes went wide. ¡°I felt that! And my leg moved!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s try the other one,¡± I chuckled and smacked him again, to the same knee-jerk response¡ªthough this time he didn¡¯t cry out, and instead started laughing.


    ¡°Oh man, this is great! Wait until dad sees this! Can you help me stand?¡±


    ¡°Ah, about that,¡± I hedged. ¡°Your legs have atrophied. Technically there¡¯s nothing wrong with them. It¡¯s just like you¡¯ve done nothing but sit on your butt for years and not use them.¡±


    ¡°¡­But I have just sat on my butt and not used them,¡± he pointed out, and I nodded as I motioned to Yue and we helped him back into his chair.


    ¡°Exactly. Not broken, so I can¡¯t heal it. Which means you get to do it the long way. Good old fashioned hard work. First working to stand, then to walk, one step at a time. But if you keep at it, in a couple of months you should be able to walk normally. Six months to a year, at a guess, you¡¯ll be able to run around like any kid your age. I¡¯ll show you some exercises to work your legs to get you ready for it.¡±


    If something wasn¡¯t broken, I couldn¡¯t fix it. As far as limitations on the green fire went, it made sense. Not being able to heal anything spiritual was the other big one we¡¯d found so far. Ty Lee had demonstrated her chi blocking before, once upon a time when I was hanging out with her, Mai, and Azula. At a guess, it wouldn¡¯t heal that since it was a blockage, not damage, and entirely spiritual. I was still discovering the limits though, and it was a learning process. Given who my sister and father were, I was keen to find out whether it could fix madness, just in case¡ªbut I¡¯d yet to run across anyone to test it on. I was of two minds on it. If the problem was entirely biological, maybe. If the problem was mental, that is if I tried to, say, cure Ozai of his raging narcissism, I doubted it would work. And of course, if there was some sort of spiritual malady, I was shit out of luck.


    The boy reached up and wiped at his eyes as he sent me a huge smile. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to say¡ª¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t get all emotional,¡± I chuckled, patting his shoulder. ¡°Come on. How about we go give your dad the good news?¡±


    ¡°Y-yeah,¡± Teo nodded, clearing his throat as he started using his sleeves to wipe his face.


    Beside me, Yue beamed a happy smile. Her hip bumped into mine and she pulled me into a side on hug as we walked and I pushed the kid¡¯s chair. ¡°We should do more things like this. It feels good, being able to help people.¡±


    ¡°When we can, safely,¡± I allowed.


    Not everyone was going to be okay with a firebender from the Fire Nation running around in their country, even if that person was some kind of wandering healer. I had a feeling most of the Earth Kingdom might take exception. And, well¡­ while we had about two years before I needed to be at the south pole, I didn¡¯t want to get bogged down healing every scrape and boo-boo between here and the south, as getting absolutely mobbed with people begging to be healed was the other potential outcome.


    I wanted to help people, yes. Absolutely. And it¡¯s not like I¡¯d let someone die to keep my secret. But at the same time, I had to take a wider view on things than trying to fix the world one cut or skint knee at a time. It was basic triage. You don¡¯t tend to a cut before a stab, unless it¡¯s nicked an artery. You don¡¯t try to tend to a stab before dealing with the person holding the knife, who did the stabbing in the first place. Which circled back to something I¡¯d been thinking on for a while now. Aang needed to be taken off ice and Ozai needed to go, ASAP. We could deal with everything else after that.


    Turning my attention back to Teo, I asked, ¡°Is everyone ready for the move?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± he nodded, sounding grateful to be given something else to think about. ¡°They know to pack light. Dad¡¯s almost finished with the other, what¡¯d you call it? Dirt ridge able?¡±


    ¡°Dirigible. And that¡¯s good to hear. I should have the modifications made to mine some time tomorrow. If we take a day to do quick testing, then we should be able to leave night after tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll let everyone know, after we talk to dad,¡± the boy nodded.


    Needles to say, Teo¡¯s dad was beyond happy. The man broke into tears and hugged his boy when Teo showed off his ability to move his feet what little bit he could at the moment. Yue and I left them to their moment and headed back to the open courtyard so I could get back to work.


    <hr>


    ¡°Okay. Here we go,¡± I murmured, firing up the coal engine.


    Yue helped me hold the balloon¡¯s mouth in place for long enough for it to start filling and hold itself up, then we slid back down the hull to the back of the ship. Dropping from the roof onto the deck, we waited as the balloon filled. I made a few last checks, making sure the new built in compass was moving as it should and the drive shaft for the main engine was switched over to the propeller.


    After only a minute or two, the ship lifted up and stopped as it hit the end of the mooring lines keeping it in place. I gave it another minute before nodding to Yue and we pulled the knots holding the ship down loose. The ship rose quickly and I fired up the engine, bringing it about with the wheel we¡¯d added for that purpose. A check of the lever controlling the rope connected to the vent slowed the ship¡¯s ascent, before I opened it up enough for us to drop a few feet, then adjusted it until I got at the altitude I wanted to clear the temple.


    ¡°Look, there are the others,¡± Yue pointed off to port and I nodded, turning that direction and throttling up on the engine, sending us that direction before cutting thrust as we got closer, not wanting to cause an accident right out of the gate. A lamp light flashed three times from the other ship. ¡°That¡¯s the signal.¡±


    ¡°Alright, take the wheel,¡± I instructed her, and Yue took my place.


    Grabbing onto the tow line we¡¯d made, I checked that it was secure before going overboard as the other ship came to level. A few blasts of jet-stepping got me onto the other ship¡¯s deck and they quickly tied the line off to the prow.


    Turning to Bo, I reminded him, ¡°Match altitude and once we¡¯re clear of the temple, we¡¯ll maintain that until we get outside Chenbao. If we start to go down for any reason, cut us loose. Likewise, if you start dropping, I¡¯ll cut you loose and try to come help.¡±


    ¡°Right, right,¡± the old man nodded. Casting a glance back at the temple, he sighed. ¡°It¡¯s just a shame to leave it all behind.¡±


    ¡°You did get your notes and burn everything you weren¡¯t taking, didn¡¯t you?¡± I asked, just to be sure. I had copied everything he had into my journal for later study, but I wanted to make sure there was nothing left behind for Qin to find.


    The old man nodded. ¡°I did. I have everything here,¡± he confirmed, patting the leather satchel at his side.


    Looking back over to my ship, I saw we had come up level. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m going back over. I¡¯ll ease her up on the throttle. Signal if something¡¯s wrong.¡±


    With that, I crossed back over to land beside Yue, who quickly moved aside as I took my seat. Giving the engine a little more fire, I slowly throttled up. The ship moved forward and jerked slightly when it hit the end of the slack between our two vessels. Yue didn¡¯t say anything about a signal, so I increased speed and turned us northwest.


    ¡°It¡¯s amazing,¡± Yue breathed, looking out over the sea of clouds beneath us, lit up by the moon and stars above. She clung tightly to my arm at my side, head turning this way and that to try to take in everything. ¡°Like something out of a fairytale.¡±


    ¡°It is something to behold,¡± I agreed, turning to send her a smile, enjoying the way her face lit up in joy.

 12

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    12


    <hr>


    We set down on the shore just outside of Chenbao, within walking distance of the village but out of sight. Thankfully, night was coming on when we landed, so it was less likely for anyone to see us. Everyone in the second balloon quickly got their things and got out and, as soon as we were sure they had everything, I set fire to it. I could see the pain in Bo¡¯s eyes at watching something he made with his own hands be destroyed, but everyone knew it was safer this way.


    Yue insisted on seeing everyone to the inn, so I kept the engine running while she left with them. It wasn¡¯t but a few minutes later before she came hurrying back and climbed in.


    ¡°How did it go?¡± I asked as I closed the vent and sent us up.


    ¡°I left them at the inn where we left Senna. The innkeeper recognized me. He said some things that worried me,¡± she explained, and I gestured for her to go on as I turned us for the south, following the line of the river. ¡°Firstly, a Fire Nation cruiser came through, just after we left Senna here. Apparently, two women who were staying here left in a hurry when it did. He suspects they were passengers.¡±


    ¡°He say what they looked like?¡±


    Yue shook her head. ¡°I didn¡¯t think to ask.¡±


    ¡°And the other thing?¡± I asked, curious.


    Biting her lip, Yue murmured, ¡°Several men of the water tribe came through, looking for us by description. He said they were very vocal about a ¡®Fire Nation bastard¡¯ kidnapping their princess.¡±


    I had my suspicions on who that was. ¡°Any idea which way they went?¡±


    ¡°Downriver, two days ago.¡±


    I did some mental math, estimating their speed to put them an eighth of the way down the river to the West/East Lake, divided by Serpent¡¯s pass, with the cruiser probably already three quarters of the way through. But that¡¯s assuming they aren¡¯t stopping at every major settlement to ask around.


    Checking our fuel reserve and comparing it to how much we had already used, I frowned as I did some more estimates. Grabbing my journal from the pocket I kept it in, I opened it up and flipped to the map, unfolding the pages and studying it. My map wasn¡¯t the most up to date, but I imagined the pirates I¡¯d taken it from had been pretty damn meticulous about where all the Fire Nation bases they were aware of along their trade route were.


    ¡°We¡¯ll need to make a stop for fuel at some point and I want to avoid those guys. So we¡¯ll be cutting inland and heading to this old colonial village. Looks like it¡¯s on the water and it¡¯s near Pouhai Stronghold,¡± I pointed to where I remembered the place to be, despite it not being marked on this map. ¡°I doubt the people looking for us are going to come that far inland to do it and getting there by water would mean going around and cutting back north. The lakes are heavily patrolled by Fire Nation cruisers blockading Ba Sing Se, so they¡¯re definitely not going to cross it. They don¡¯t know we can fly, so they¡¯ll think we have the same limitations they do and would be just as cautious as we would, meaning they¡¯ll stick to the west coast and head south. So, over land, hit the colonial village, then there¡¯s an old coal mining town that looks to be within range almost directly south. Then it¡¯s southeast, over the mountains, to Omashu. We should be weeks, if not a month or more ahead of them by the time we get there and we¡¯ll have nothing to worry about.¡±


    ¡°Does that mean we have time to stop and see the sights?¡± Yue asked hopefully.


    Chuckling, I nodded. ¡°Yeah. And time to spend on your training.¡±


    Yue cheered happily and pulled me into a side hug. I looked at the compass and adjusted course, turning southwest and inland. I didn¡¯t take us very far inland before finding a nice, open grassland that looked well away from any villages to set down in. It was nothing but miles upon miles of tall, swaying grass and the occasional herd of animals we couldn¡¯t identify at altitude and in the dark.


    We landed and I pulled the lever to shunt the heat from the furnace to the pipe directly over it, so it would stop trying to fill the balloon, then I pulled another lever to cut off the vents for airflow into the furnace, smothering the coal inside to hopefully save a bit on fuel. Then, we deflated the balloon and rolled it and the net around it up and stowed them. Once that was done, Yue and I made our way inside the cabin to turn in for the night.


    The interior of the now much larger cabin was arranged a bit differently, with the sleeping area all the way forward and storage towards the middle with everything large lashed down with nets, to better distribute the weight and keep anything from shifting. We each had a footlocker for our clothes and there were hooks on the wall for coats.


    At the furthest end of the cabin, we had moved a low wooden bed frame in. The mattress wasn¡¯t anything special, but it beat the hell out of laying on rugs laid out on the metal floor, especially with the new support struts creating regularly spaced two inch jutting pieces of metal it would be impossible to sleep on.


    Yue looked over her shoulder at me as she undressed, biting her lip before pulling a light green night gown out of her locker¡ªbought at a village not far from the northern air temple. I settled for my usual drawstring boxer shorts¡ªa custom job I¡¯d had made years back and had gotten new, appropriately sized versions of as I¡¯d gotten older. The design was being sold in the markets in Hari Bulkan last I checked, but I had no idea if it had spread further, nor did I really care.


    I climbed into bed and Yue hurried in after. A moment later, she was wrapping herself around my side and snuggling close, making a quiet, contented sound as she did. ¡°This is nice,¡± she murmured, sighing against my chest.


    Shifting a bit, I captured her chin and tilted her head up, before kissing her lips. Yue whimpered quietly as she kissed back, her arms squeezing me tightly. After a few moments, I broke the kiss with a smile. ¡°Goodnight.¡±


    ¡°You,¡± Yue panted quietly. ¡°You can¡¯t tease me like that!¡±


    ¡°You enjoy it.¡±


    ¡°Yes~,¡± she moaned. ¡°Nn, mean!¡±


    ¡°Mhmm,¡± I nodded, kissing her forehead. ¡°Shh. Sleepy time now.¡±


    Yue made a quiet noise of frustration but eventually relaxed. As for myself¡­ At this rate, I¡¯m going to push her down and make her squeal soon. I think she¡¯s about ready to snap from all the teasing. When she does, I¡¯ll make my move.


    <hr>


    Instead of flying straight to the town and risking having my balloon seen, I set us down the next morning on the river that ran down to the town. I was currently running with the sail out and powering the engine, setting a modest pace downriver as we took in the sights.


    Sitting beside me and taking in the trees and the moss hanging off of them, Yue eventually wiped at her brow and began pulling her coat off. ¡°Why is it so much warmer?¡±


    ¡°Lower elevation, for one. No cold wind coming down off the snowy mountains. We¡¯re a bit further south, too. It¡¯s actually still pretty damn cold,¡± I chuckled. This place wasn¡¯t quite Florida in the summer warm, but it was definitely a lot warmer than it had been in Chenbao or the northern air temple. The north pole had been below freezing the entire time, save for indoors or in the oasis, and everywhere outside Agna Qel¡¯a had been subject to freezing winds. The air temple had been below freezing, due to altitude. Chenbao was just barely above freezing. Where we were now, in what looked almost like a swamp, I¡¯d say it was about forty Fahrenheit¡ªstill cold, but not terrible.


    But then, Yue was this world¡¯s equivalent to an Eskimo. She grew up in the cold and was used to it. Outside of the oasis, this was likely the warmest place she had been that wasn¡¯t right beside a fire. I, on the other hand, had grown up in this world not just on the Fire Nation mainland, but in the capital. I was used to heat. Acclimated to it. Summers there frequently hit over 100F at a guess, with winters never getting below 50F. So while Yue was close to sweating, I was still comfy in my coat, since it meant not having to use the Breath of Fire to keep myself warm.


    Eventually, we stopped for the day and set up camp¡ªwhich was really just going out to gather wood for a cooking fire and then tracking down something edible. Once we had food cooking, a wild turkeyduck in this case, Yue and I got to training. First with basic stretches and exercises to get her warmed up. Then came movement practice¡ªwhich I¡¯d found the most fun way to do that was to play chase and, every time I caught her, tickle her mercilessly, then let her go to do it again. After that was hand to hand training.


    Yue was coming along fairly well on that front. We hadn¡¯t been at it long, but she was picking up the basics quickly. Learning how to move, dodge, parry, block, and strike when she saw an opening. How to roll with a blow. How to take a hit and get back up, to come back harder instead of curling up in pain. That last one was a particularly hard lesson I didn¡¯t enjoy teaching, but we both knew it was necessary.


    Finally, we tied in bending to the fighting style I was teaching her. Yue wasn¡¯t entirely sure about this whole waterbending through the lens of fire thing, but I could already see where it would work. It was just getting her mentally in the right place. My answer to that was simple: the tide may be slow, but a raging river or a whirlpool is anything but.


    Fast strikes that sent water out, only to pull it back to reuse. Parries and blocks using less water, to swat aside fire or other attacks. Shifting water between its different states unexpectedly, to strike with ice, water, or steam, then bring it back and do it again. There was much less windup to it than the usual waterbender fighting style, and I was slowly increasing her pace to force her to keep up with me. If she could, the advantages a physical medium gave her might allow her to outlast or even outpace most firebenders, as she¡¯d have them completely on the back foot, not expecting her to come out of the gate at their own speed.


    It was as we were really getting into our sparring, with me chasing her around the camp, carefully keeping my fire blasts pointed out at the water, and Yue doing her best to actually hit me that we were interrupted.


    I leapt for her, a green fireball building in my hand as I got in close, only for Yue¡¯s eyes to go wide. ¡°Zuko!¡±


    Reacting on instinct, I dodged, and just barely missed getting skewered by a spear. Our sparring practice came to an abrupt halt as we stood back to back, breathing heavily as we looked for our attackers. A torrent of water flowed up from the river, becoming several bands surrounding us, waiting for Yue to do something with them.


    After a few moments, a group of men in straw hats, half cloaks, what looked like kilts, and leather armor on their arms and legs walked out of the trees. They carried spears identical to the one that had been thrown, and pointed them at us as they surrounded us.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± one of them demanded¡ªan older man with a mustache.


    ¡°Travelers,¡± I answered simply and Yue nodded.


    ¡°We want no trouble. We¡¯re just going to camp for the night and then leave.¡±


    The men exchanged looks, before the apparent leader said, ¡°You will come with us.¡±


    ¡°No.¡± The answer was simple but final, with the weight of a glacier behind it as Yue started turning water into very sharp and pointy lengths of ice. Once again, I was reminded just how sexy Yue could be when she got serious.


    Shaking my head, I asked, ¡°Why? You attacked us with no warning and no explanation. You¡¯re not exactly instilling confidence that we won¡¯t end up with our throats cut, laying in a ditch somewhere.¡±


    Looking annoyed, the leader lowered his weapon and motioned for the others to do so as well. ¡°You will not be harmed. Master Jeong Jeong will wish to speak with you.¡±


    The name sounded familiar and, after a few moments, I remembered where I¡¯d heard it from. ¡°The Deserter?¡± I asked, and he nodded.


    ¡°Zuko?¡±


    ¡°It was before I was born. A Fire Navy admiral deserted and became kind of a legend, because he actually survived it. Just walked away and they couldn¡¯t do anything about it, or so the story goes,¡± I explained. Looking to the leader, I said, ¡°We¡¯ll speak with him. Is he on the river or in the forest?¡±


    ¡°On the river. We¡¯ll take you there.¡±


    ¡°Nah. We¡¯ll take my boat,¡± I denied, and turned away. Yue sent her water back into the river and helped me start breaking camp, collecting the meat and the rack I¡¯d made for it while I put out the fire. The leader of this little band of warriors looked put out, but seeing as we weren¡¯t giving him much of a choice, he finally climbed onto the boat with us while the rest of them fled back into the forest.


    The camp we were directed to was a bunch of wood, grass, and hide huts, built on the banks of the river. A few campfires provided light and I could see several people moving around the camp. I pulled the boat up along the shore and hopped out, tying off to a tree as people began standing up and heading our way to see what was going on.


    ¡°Stay here,¡± the hunter, or scout, or whatever he was instructed, before heading for the building closest to the shore.


    ¡°Should we finish the food?¡± Yue asked, and I nodded.


    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ll just do it with bending.¡±


    We moved the meat onto the bank and sat down, and after setting up the rack again, I used fire to cook the meat evenly while heating a pot of tea. Yue occasionally turned the spit and added seasoning or some of the wine we¡¯d brought from the north. Before too long, an old man wearing ratty clothes came and stood next to us. He watched Yue and I work together for a few moments before nodding.


    ¡°That smells wonderful. May I join you?¡±


    ¡°Sure. It looks like it¡¯s pretty much done,¡± I nodded.


    Yue pulled water from the river and, after a moment of some particularly dark green water dripping away from it as she strained it, created a set of clear plates made of ice. I used my knife to part out the bird for everyone while Yue used waterbending to fill cups with tea. The old man took his plate and cup and made an appreciative noise as he dug in.


    ¡°Mm. Excellent.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± Yue smiled.


    ¡°So,¡± I began, taking a sip to clear my throat. ¡°You¡¯re Jeong Jeong.¡±


    ¡°I am.¡± Looking between myself and Yue, he hummed. ¡°A firebender traveling with a waterbender. It makes for an odd sight.¡± His eyed trailed down to Yue¡¯s neck, before he raised an eyebrow. ¡°Is that not¡­?¡±


    ¡°A betrothal necklace,¡± Yue beamed, nodding as she leaned close enough to bump me with her shoulder, making the implication clear.


    The old man chuckled, shaking his head. ¡°Strange bedfellows indeed. I wish you two luck. You¡¯re going to need it.¡±This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    Yue nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll make our own, but thank you.¡±


    ¡°Mm.¡± The old master spent a few minutes eating his turkeyduck, before looking to me. ¡°Kim told me the fire you used was green. I told him it was probably just a trick of the light. After all, rare is the firebender who advances even to blue flames. I¡¯ve never heard of green, except when burning certain metals.¡±


    Holding out a hand, I produced a ball of green fire in my palm. ¡°He wasn¡¯t wrong. There are even more colors,¡± I shifted the flames to purple, then blue, before letting them dissipate. ¡°But those are the ones I can do right now. I¡¯ve seen dark red, pink, white¡ªbut I haven¡¯t quite grasped their meaning yet.¡±


    Jeong Jeong¡¯s mouth fell open as he stared. ¡°Where did you learn this?¡±


    ¡°From the firebending masters, Ran and Shaw,¡± I grinned.


    ¡°Ran and¡ª¡± the old man snorted quietly. ¡°The last person to tell me that tall tale was Iroh, and that was after he was well into his cups.¡±


    I hummed at that, nodding. ¡°You met uncle Iroh? What am I saying? Of course you did. You were colleagues.¡±


    Jeong Jeong raised an eyebrow, before leaning in and studying my face closely. ¡°¡­You really are his kin. Just who are you, boy?¡±


    ¡°Just Zuko,¡± I waved the question off, earning a knowing look in return. ¡°I found the firebending masters by chance. You should go see them, if you have time. There¡¯s an island north of the mainland, between it and the land where the western air temple is located.¡±


    The old master sighed, before shaking his head. ¡°My days of learning better ways to kill people are long done.¡±


    Setting down my plate, I pulled my knife out. Before the old man could react, I ran the blade over the back of my arm, drawing a long, bloody line. Jeong Jeong dropped his plate and tried to knock the knife from my hands. ¡°Are you insane?!¡± Looking to Yue, he asked, ¡°Girl, can you heal?¡±


    Yue nodded, even as she sent me an exasperated look. ¡°I can, but why don¡¯t you watch?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± the master asked, turning back to me in time to see me conjure green fire and send it rolling over my arm. Blood flaked away as the cut closed before his eyes. ¡°That¡­ How? Fire¡¯s nature is to consume! It spreads to destroy everything in its path! So how is this possible?¡±


    ¡°Fire is also the spark of life. It burns away the old to make way for the new. The sun can give life just as easily as it takes it. Think of a forest fire, and how some plants need fire to grow and continue their life cycle, and how it clears out underbrush and clutter.¡±


    Jeong Jeong collapsed back onto his ass, stunned. When he said nothing, I picked my plate up and continued eating. Seeing that, he picked up his own plate and cut off a fresh slice of turkeyduck. ¡°And you learned this from the masters?¡±


    ¡°One of many things, yes,¡± I confirmed.


    The old man sighed and nodded. ¡°Then I shall have to visit them for myself.¡±


    ¡°Just¡­ keep an open mind,¡± I warned.


    ¡°I suppose I must,¡± Jeong Jeong nodded, sounding like he had aged thirty years in that moment. Taking up his tea, he took a sip and asked, ¡°You are Iroh¡¯s nephew. Tell me, did he teach you to play Pai Sho by any chance?¡±


    ¡°A little bit here and there,¡± I smiled.


    ¡°Don¡¯t fall for that,¡± Yue warned. ¡°I watched Zuko beat every Pai Sho master in the northern water tribe.¡±


    ¡°Yue! You¡¯re not supposed to warn them!¡±


    The girl grinned, sticking her tongue out. ¡°It¡¯s more fun for me if I do.¡±


    The old man laughed, before pushing himself to his feet. ¡°Come, let us see how well you fare. And you, young lady. After I finish with your fiance, I¡¯ll test your own skill.¡±


    ¡°Oh no, I¡¯m just a humble beginner¡ª¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t fall for that,¡± I warned, earning a pout from Yue. ¡°My score against her lately is tied.¡±


    ¡°Even better!¡± Jeong Jeong nodded.


    Given that he was a friend of Iroh¡¯s, I opened with the white lotus tile. To my absolute lack of surprise, he followed step for step as together, we laid tiles to create a lotus in bloom.


    ¡°I see,¡± the old man murmured. Glancing at Yue, he asked, ¡°If you came from the north, you must have played against Pakku at some point.¡±


    ¡°No, it never came up,¡± I shook my head as we began resetting the board. ¡°Most of the time I was playing Pai Sho was to teach Yue.¡±


    ¡°You should have,¡± he clicked his tongue.


    Humming, I asked, ¡°Is he a member?¡±


    Jeong Jeong raised an eyebrow as he laid down a tile and we started on a new game. ¡°Iroh didn¡¯t tell you? Where do you think he learned his fancy counter for lightning bending?¡±


    I considered it for a moment, before nodding, putting down my own piece. ¡°That sounds like uncle.¡±


    ¡°So tell me, girl,¡± he murmured, glancing at Yue, ¡°just who are you, really?¡±


    Yue smiled. ¡°Yue, daughter of Arnook, chieftain of the northern water tribe.¡±


    Jeong Jeong snorted. ¡°So, a princess then.¡± Looking between the two of us, he chuckled. ¡°Ozai isn¡¯t going to like that¡­¡±


    ¡°What he likes or dislikes will hopefully not be relevant for much longer.¡± My tile clicked down with a little more force than I had intended.


    Raising a bushy eyebrow, the old man asked, ¡°What¡¯s your plan, then? Usurp your father, marry an enemy princess, and hope that fixes everything?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s part of the plan,¡± Yue nodded.


    ¡°The other part is finding the Avatar.¡±


    Jeong Jeong snorted quietly. ¡°The entire world has been hunting for him for the last hundred years. If they haven¡¯t found the Avatar by now, what makes you think you can?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m aware that the possibility for failure is high. I¡¯m going to try, regardless. I only need to succeed once. And if I don¡¯t? Well, as I go, I¡¯ll be meeting new and interesting people, making friends, establishing connections¡­ I¡¯ve already got an in with the north,¡± I gestured to Yue, who nodded. ¡°Why not do the same with the Earth kingdom?¡±


    ¡°Mm. Not a horrible strategy,¡± Jeong Jeong murmured. ¡°Naive, if you think it will be at all easy.¡±


    ¡°Nothing truly worth it is ever easy.¡±


    The old man nodded. ¡°Then are you willing to take on a political marriage with some Earth Kingdom princess as well?¡±


    I frowned and Yue turned a smug look on me. It was a conversation we¡¯d had in the past and I didn¡¯t like it for the same reason I didn¡¯t like the idea of marrying her for politics. ¡°I¡¯m trying to convince him, but it¡¯s¡­¡±


    ¡°Like talking to a brick wall sometimes?¡± Jeong Jeong supplied with a bark of laughter.


    Yue smiled. ¡°Yes. It¡¯s fine though. Even stone eventually gives way to water.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not going to be enough. What will you say, when the other nations demand reparations? If you seek peace, they will take it as a sign of weakness. That you, and thus the rest of the nation, lack the stomach to finish the war. They would try to cripple the Fire Nation to remove the possibility of another war. Financially, militarily, technologically. They would demand you ruin the nation to assuage their fears over a second Hundred Year War.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not going to happen,¡± I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯m not interested in destroying our industry or going bankrupt. We¡¯ll find other ways to heal the damage done, but destroying ourselves to do it isn¡¯t the way.¡±


    ¡°And how do you feel about that, princess?¡±


    Yue bit her lip and looked away. After a few moments of thought, she nodded. ¡°Zuko is right. If¡­ if your buffalo yak gets loose and crashes through the market, you don¡¯t slaughter the beast, you punish the owner. You don¡¯t have to take his livelihood or destroy his means of making money to make up the cost of the goods that were destroyed. You can have him pay over time, or work the debt off. In the north, if he didn¡¯t want to do either of those, we would exile him. I suppose in this case, between nations, that would mean cutting off trade?¡±


    ¡°Which leads back to war, when the nation you¡¯re trying to sanction or embargo can¡¯t get the things they need,¡± I shook my head. ¡°Do you know why Sozin started the war in the first place?¡±


    Yue shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t. Everyone thought he went mad, or just took advantage of the power of the comet to advance the Fire Nation.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s wrong,¡± Jeong Jeong shook his head. ¡°It was industry. Being able to use fire to automate labor and advance science. He saw a bright future for everyone and wanted to share that dream with the rest of the world.¡±


    ¡°Personally, I¡¯m of the opinion that he wanted to see it done before he died, and that¡¯s why he rushed. Because Roku, like most Avatars, wanted to keep the four nations separate and felt like this would be a step too far. That¡¯s the problem with giving one person so much power.¡±


    Yue frowned. ¡°He didn¡¯t start the war because he craved power and territory?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± the old man denied. ¡°Certainly, there was some expansion to secure resources that the fire nation didn¡¯t have and the other nations didn¡¯t want to trade, or do the work required to produce them. The Fire Nation colonies on the Earth Kingdom mainland were for this. But they were colonies. We did not come and occupy villages and towns that were already populated. We built them new from the ground up and those colonies lived in relative peace with their Earth Kingdom neighbors. After all, they had to live there and the entire goal was trade with the locals. There is history behind this, however.¡±


    Shifting a bit where he sat, the old man made himself more comfortable as he looked up at me. ¡°You know this, don¡¯t you, Zuko? The folly of your great grandfather.¡±


    ¡°Volcanic activity. Crescent Island went up because Avatar Roku, in his efforts to master the Avatar State, triggered that state using the winter solstice. The volcano erupted and half the temple was destroyed¡ªeither because of Roku or the volcano, history is unsure which. The eruption triggered seismic instability in the eastern Fire Islands, leading to more quakes and a few minor eruptions. Several villages were damaged or destroyed. Roku helped rebuild, but,¡± I shook my head.


    ¡°The damage was done. People were scared. They wanted to move to safer ground. The main island doesn¡¯t actually have that much land suitable for living. Not without extensive modification from earthbending to turn the rocky terrain into arable farmland. And the jungle is no good for most people, because it requires too much effort to clear, make into farmland, then keep clear¡ªand that¡¯s not to mention the issue of dealing with spirits who don¡¯t like having their homes destroyed. The Earth Kingdom offered no aid or shelter and, when they petitioned Earth King¡­ Was it Jialun?¡± I asked, and Jeong Jeong nodded.


    ¡°When they petitioned him to send their people to Natsuo Island, which he claimed at the time despite being part of the Fire Islands chain, he refused. So they did it anyway and Sozin encouraged it. Roku tried to stop it, but he thankfully didn¡¯t actually go around smiting normal people just trying to make a new, safer home for themselves. Instead, he went to Sozin and told him to knock it off. So official efforts at founding colonies were put to a halt. Those people were abandoned in the Earth Kingdom to fend for themselves for the latter part of Roku¡¯s life. And they still succeeded. They carved out several colonies for themselves and established trade across the Earth Kingdom and back home, achieving Sozin¡¯s goal there even without military aid. All of it done peacefully.¡±


    Jeong Jeong sighed as he placed a final tile down and I looked over the board, before nodding and acknowledging my loss. I swapped positions with Yue, who took my place and began resetting the board. ¡°Of course, even if the colonies themselves were peaceful, their very presence was an act of war. The Earth Kingdom were rightfully angry at the Fire Nation for making colonies in their territory. And yet, no one speaks of the Earth Kingdom atrocities committed against these colonies. About the constant attacks by Earth Kingdom forces that the residents, who at the time were a mixture of both firebenders and earthbenders, were forced to defend against and entire settlements wiped off the map by landslides, or falling into sinkholes, or simply falling into the ocean. And all of that before the Hundred Year War. Why is that, do you think?¡±


    ¡°I,¡± Yue frowned as she hesitated, thinking it over as she began laying out pieces. They were several moves in before she sighed. ¡°Because it was more convenient to paint all of the Fire Nation as the enemy.¡±


    Jeong Jeong nodded, his face grim as he did. ¡°Correct. It is easier to hate your enemy when he is a monster, not a man. Yes, Sozin killed the airbenders, when he sought to disrupt the Avatar cycle. However, the Fire Nation did not immediately wage violent war against either the Water Tribes or the Earth Kingdom, even when Sozin had cause to retaliate against the Earth Kingdom. The war was cold for the first few years. A bloodless war of territorial expansion into areas previously unoccupied by the Earth Kingdom and a colony each in the North and South to facilitate trade, much the same way. And then those peaceful colonies in the north and south somehow mysteriously fell off the ice shelf, all souls lost to the freezing water. How did that happen, I wonder?¡±


    Yue¡¯s mouth fell open. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard¡­¡±


    I sighed. ¡°Of course not. Why would they? It¡¯d be admitting that, while Sozin did technically start it by expanding and establishing colonies, your people chose murder first. That¡¯s bad for morale. A war of Fire Nation aggression and expansion is a lot easier to justify than a legitimate war because the Water Tribes wiped out peaceful Fire Nation settlers.¡± Turning an amused look on Jeong Jeong, I asked, ¡°Were they actually settlers?¡±


    The old man chuckled. ¡°Certainly. It doesn¡¯t matter if, before that, they were criminals. Sozin pardoned and freed them, on the condition that they settled and established colonies in the North and South, and supplied them with everything they needed to build their homes. They were Fire Nation citizens in good standing at that point in time and it was not a military expansion. There were no troops sent with them.¡±


    Yue blinked as she looked between us. ¡°Sozin¡­ used them as bait?¡±


    I nodded and Jeong Jeong sighed. ¡°If it meant being able to justify retaliation when, not if, the Water Tribes acted against them and gave the people what they felt was just cause to go to war? To drive up recruitment numbers for the army and navy? Yes. Better to sacrifice criminals to the cause than honest citizens. It was practical, pragmatic, and brutal. But none of it would have happened, had the Water Tribes not cut off the ice shelf and sent them into the ocean.¡±


    ¡°So then¡­¡± The girl sighed, considering the board before her. ¡°So it¡¯s all a lie. A series of lies.¡±


    ¡°That is the nature of war. Of life. And of dealings between nations. History is learning to sort the lies from the truth of things.¡±


    Leaning back against the tent wall, I sent Yue a rueful grin. ¡°Despite the propaganda, there is no real good guy or bad guy in this war. Everyone tries to point the finger at the Fire Nation, while ignoring or hiding the blood staining their own hands. The Fire Nation isn¡¯t innocent in this, sure. But neither are the others. The only ones who are are dead, or scattered to the wind.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s awful.¡±


    Jeong Jeong nodded, reaching over and grabbing a tea pot and a packet of leaves, before offering the pot to Yue, who took the hint and refilled it. The old man heated the tea and refilled our cups. ¡°If it¡¯s so awful princess, what do you intend to do about it? I¡¯ve lived a very long life. I¡¯ve seen much conflict. If there is one lesson I¡¯ve taken away from that, it¡¯s that nothing will stop until everyone, on all sides, agrees to stop. I can choose to live peacefully, but if my neighbor attacks me, I must defend myself if I want to survive. You cannot sleep next to a rabid dog. However, in doing so, my neighbor can claim I attacked him and go to ask his friends for help. I must call upon my friends, and so on, and so forth, until the fires of war spread to consume entire nations. Both sides must agree to lay down their arms, otherwise one side will always live at the mercy of the other.¡±


    ¡°Traditionally, that¡¯s been the job of the Avatar,¡± I supplied.


    Jeong Jeong nodded. ¡°But when the Avatar is a fool who can¡¯t see that his or her actions can do more harm than good in the long term, or when they get so wrapped up in earthly affairs that they forget the spiritual, the world becomes unbalanced. At the same time, expecting so much of one person is unfair. Giving one person the ability to decide national policy on a whim is also unfair to the people of those nations who don¡¯t agree with the Avatar. This is why the Avatar should, ideally, not be involved in earthly affairs at all and only focus on their duties as the bridge between the spiritual world and the physical.¡±


    ¡°And yet, you can¡¯t expect someone to divorce themselves entirely from earthly affairs and turn a blind eye to monstrous acts happening in the physical world,¡± I pointed out, and the old man sighed.


    ¡°That is the burden the Avatar must bear. That he or she must regain the wisdom, time and time again, to know when their power is needed and when it is not. To know what actions to take, so as to not unbalance the world fifty years in the future, leaving a mess for a future Avatar to clean up. Which is where we are in the cycle, thanks to the actions of Yangchen, Kuruk, Kyoshi, Roku, and whoever the current one is.¡±


    ¡°Then,¡± Yue murmured, considering the board as she placed her last piece and Jeong Jeong immediately capitalized, ending in her defeat. ¡°The Avatar may not be the best person to end this war after all?¡±


    ¡°People will only change if they want to change, or if they are forced to. But if they are forced to, resentment builds and eventually, they return to their old ways. True change must come from within.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like uncle talking,¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Where do you think I heard it?¡± Jeong Jeong asked, raising an eyebrow as he sipped his tea. ¡°Now. Tell me. Where do you intend to go after this?¡±


    <hr>


    The door to the bar opened and conversation stopped. Seven men wearing the blue and white garments of the water tribe stomped their way inside as the tables and bar began to empty, leaving only one person sitting at the bar.


    Hahn crossed his arms as he took in the woman still seated with her back to them. Controlling his anger at the disrespect, he said, ¡°Word around town is that you¡¯re a bounty hunter. That you can track anyone, for a price.¡±


    That got the woman¡¯s attention. She sat up a bit straighter and slowly spun on her stool. Leather creaked as she leaned back against the bar and crossed her legs. Dark eyes surrounded by kohl swept over them and dark red painted lips curled into a grin. ¡°Well, well. What do we have here?¡± the woman¡¯s voice purred.


    ¡°We¡¯re searching for one of our tribe. Princess Yue was kidnapped by a Fire Nation bastard,¡± Hahn explained, as he took in the woman¡¯s curves under her armor. She could warm my bed any night.


    ¡°And you want someone to find your princess,¡± the woman surmised, and Hahn nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t work for free.¡±


    Frowning, Hahn pulled a pouch off of his belt. ¡°We don¡¯t have gold, but I¡¯ve heard this is better.¡±


    The woman caught the bag tossed to her and opened it, peeking inside. One fine eyebrow went up at the contents as beads of blue jade clicked against each other. ¡°Yep. That¡¯ll do,¡± she nodded, cinching up the pouch and tucking it into her pocket. ¡°You have anything that belonged to either of them?¡±


    Hahn looked to one of the warriors with him, who opened a bag and pulled out a shirt. The woman nodded and waved for him to put it away. ¡°That¡¯s good. It¡¯s late. We¡¯ll set out at first light.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± Hahn chuckled, before turning his attention briefly to the man standing behind the bar, who had relaxed as it seemed they weren¡¯t about to throw down. ¡°Bartender, a round of drinks for us.¡± The bartender began taking out cups and filling them and Hahn turned a grin on the woman. ¡°So, you got a name, beautiful?¡±


    ¡°June,¡± the mercenary answered with a smirk, before turning back around in her seat and holding out her cup for a refill. ¡°Now, tell me more about the targets. This ¡®Fire Nation bastard.¡¯ Is he just Fire Nation, or is he a bender? Is this princess going to come along quietly, or did she maybe run off with the handsome bad boy and will she put up a fight?¡±


    Hahn settled into the seat beside her. ¡°He¡¯s a firebender. A coward who likes to talk a lot. As for princess Yue, leave her to me. We don¡¯t need you to fight them, just get us to them.¡±


    ¡°Tell me more.¡±


    Hahn grunted, slugging back his first drink and demanding another. ¡°The princess is a waterbender. She may fight back. Zuko,¡± he practically spat the name, ¡°is a coward, so they will likely run at the first sign of trouble¡­¡±


    June sipped on her drink as she listened. As she did, her mind wandered.


    Yeah, sounds about like I thought. Fire Nation bad boy rolls into town, seduces the local princess, and makes off with her. Gotta be pretty good looking to make a girl run away from home. The princess sounds like she¡¯s going to be trouble herself. I¡¯d prefer not to fuck with a firebender and risk Nyla getting hurt, so not taking this head on. Find the target, lead baldie here to them, and go our separate ways. Not being paid to fight and he even said to let them handle it. Simple jobs where I get paid and don¡¯t have to fight are best.

 13

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    13


    <hr>


    ¡°Well? How does it look?¡± Yue asked, a hint of a smile pulling her lips up as she turned this way and that, showing off a new outfit in Fire Nation reds, black, and gold. Looking her over, I smiled at what I saw.


    A long, bright red silk dress with darker red and gold embroidery in a flower pattern clung to her curves down to her knees, with slits at the side of her leg that showed off a generous view of her light brown, toned thighs. Over that was a second garment, though I wasn¡¯t sure what to call it, as it acted something like a belt, vest, and went down to her thighs like a second skirt. The second one was mostly black, with gold along the edges and more flower patterns.


    Stalking closer, Yue backed up a step as I approached, staring up at me with those bright blue eyes as I took her by the hips. Her lips parted and she gasped quietly as I squeezed her, pulling her body flush against my own. I felt the warmth of her body through our clothes and I assume the effect was even greater for Yue, given just how thin the material was. She bit her bottom lip, eyes going half-lidded as she took on a hungry look I¡¯d never seen from her before.


    Yue¡¯s hands came up, settling on my chest, before fisting in my shirt. Slowly, she pulled me down to her and stood up on her tiptoes. I met her in a kiss, my hands leaving her hips to trail back and down, squeezing her ass in a way that drew a quiet moan from her. Yue¡¯s mouth opened and her tongue darted out, flicking experimentally at my own¡ª


    ¡°Ahem.¡±


    Yue quickly let go and backed away with a giggle, blushing brightly as the sales girl who had been helping her sent us both an exasperated look. Thankfully, she didn¡¯t say anything about it.


    ¡°Get it,¡± I told Yue, and she nodded immediately and ducked back into the changing booth.


    I knew women and clothes¡ªI¡¯d had a lifetime of that and more of the same here, between Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee when the three of them dragged me out into the city for shopping trips. We weren¡¯t going to load down my little airship/boat with nothing but the spoils of Yue¡¯s shopping. However, we did need some lighter clothes, and in kingdom specific colors.


    The world was a bit color coded like that. Wearing too much red in the Earth Kingdom was as likely to get you harassed or put you under suspicion as wearing blue or brown in the Fire Nation. Even if you could prove you were a bender of that type, i.e. a firebender in the Fire nation, they would still ask why you were wearing the enemy¡¯s colors. They were almost a uniform, really. And while it was an easy way to try to show your identity or loyalty to a specific group¡­ it was also extremely exploitable against people who were so used to thinking in those terms that they never asked themselves, what if the enemy puts on our colors? It was an exploit I planned to abuse, so Yue and I could better blend in.


    The village of Hongcun was an inland port city on a river that connected to the ocean on the western coast of the Earth Kingdom. Given its central position on the northwestern island that made up almost a sixth of the Earth Kingdom¡¯s landmass, it was one of the largest trade hubs outside of major cities like Omashu and Gaoling, with trade from all three nations running through it. So, while it was a Fire Nation colony and even held a garrison of Fire Nation troops, it was an open port with a lot of people from across the land passing through it and we didn¡¯t stand out all that much.


    Even Yue, who was clearly a member of the Water Tribe, was greeted with smiles in the streets. The Fire Nation guard patrols hadn¡¯t given us any trouble. That had surprised her, until I reminded her that these were just people. Common folk. Fishermen, craftsmen, traders, and travelers. Just normal people going about their daily lives, trying to make a living.


    The guards, while ostensibly Fire Nation soldiers, were more concerned with the security and goings on of the city, the place they called home, than they were with the war effort. These were their people and those from other nations who passed through were guests, without whom trade would dry up and the city would die. They had to live here.


    I think that, despite my assurances that the people of the Fire Nation weren¡¯t baby eating monsters, it was hard for her to shake years of being told that¡¯s what we were. Yue had clearly made an exception for me, but I think she had been reserving judgment on the rest of the Fire Nation. Seeing them like this, having them treat her like just another person, had shaken her a bit at first but she seemed to be adjusting and taking it better the longer we spent here. This was our third and last day in the city and so far today, she had been all smiles.


    ¡°And for yourself, sir?¡± the sales girl asked as we waited for Yue.


    ¡°Just these,¡± I hefted the very bland set of clothes I¡¯d picked out in gray, black, and muted brown¡ªsomething that wouldn¡¯t stand out. A simple, conical straw hat went with it. All of it would be going in my trunk on the boat and stay there until it was needed. On my urging, Yue had picked out an outfit in similar colors along with a more sensible set of boots since her insulated boots would eventually become unbearably hot and I didn¡¯t want to deal with jungle rot.


    We waited around for Yue to finish and eventually, she came out carrying her chosen outfits¡ªthe red dress and a bright green and gold set of robes that I thought suited her well. It would definitely draw attention¡ªthere was no avoiding that, given Yue¡¯s beauty and the fact that she was a bit on the more ¡®exotic¡¯ side, with her Water Tribe looks and the white hair. But it would do it without looking too flashy. That is, it didn¡¯t scream ¡®wealthy¡¯ or ¡®princess.¡¯


    We paid and the clerk wrapped everything up for us in wrapping paper and twine, and we headed out arm in arm. ¡°So,¡± I said, looking up at the sky starting to turn the pink and orange of sunset, ¡°you ready to head out?¡±


    ¡°I think so,¡± Yue agreed. ¡°Do you think we can get something to eat before we go? I want to try more different food!¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I chuckled, and we followed our noses and some local direction from a vendor to a restaurant.


    I wonder how Azula is doing? I mused as I ate, sharing a plate of komodo chicken, steamed meat dumplings, and sauce with Yue¡ªwho seemed to enjoy everything. I really hope she didn¡¯t actually send Mai and Ty Lee after me. I mean sure, it¡¯d be good for them to get out and see the world, but¡­ it¡¯s kind of dangerous.


    ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± Yue asked quietly, one hand reaching out and settling on top of my own.


    ¡°Friends. Family,¡± I dipped a dumpling in sweet and sour sauce and pointed it at her. ¡°The food has me feeling a bit nostalgic.¡±


    ¡°Mm,¡± Yue nodded, taking a bite from her own dumpling and chewing for a few moments. Eventually, she asked, ¡°What do you think your family will think of me?¡±


    Picking up my tea, I took a sip as I thought it over. ¡°Well, uncle Iroh is going to be pleased. He¡¯s probably going to tease. And meddle. Besides that, he¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    ¡°What about your sister and your friends?¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡± I had to wonder about that. I knew for a fact that Mai had a thing for me. I wasn¡¯t blind or stupid. She¡¯s probably going to be upset.


    A thought occurred as I recalled my talks with Yue about political marriage and I snorted quietly. She raised an eyebrow and smiled. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Well, assuming she doesn¡¯t try to kill you,¡± I led and Yue chuckled. I almost told her that I really meant that and that she should be worried, but I left it be. ¡°I think you¡¯ll get along with Mai. Maybe. You¡¯re her main competition.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± Yue asked, tilting her head slightly as she considered me. A moment later, she smiled. ¡°I see. So she¡¯s interested in you.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I admitted. ¡°I didn¡¯t see any reason to rush and¡ª¡±


    ¡°Felt like you would rather build a healthy relationship from a solid foundation of friendship,¡± she smiled, sending me a knowing look. I nodded and Yue asked, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say she was a noble¡¯s daughter?¡±


    ¡°I did.¡±


    ¡°Having a visible tie to the Fire Nation to balance that with the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom would be wise¡­¡±


    I rolled my eyes. ¡°Highly doubt you¡¯re going to convince Mai to share. You haven¡¯t convinced me yet.¡±


    Yue simply smiled. ¡°Yet. Give me time.¡±Shaking my head, I moved on. ¡°Ty Lee is the very definition of a free spirit. If I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d think she was an airbender. She¡¯ll be happy and probably gush about our auras or something like that. Just smile and nod and you¡¯ll be fine. As for Azula, I honestly can¡¯t say. My sister can be¡­ mercurial at times. She may decide she likes you, or she might decide to fight you. There¡¯s no telling which she¡¯ll pick. If she does choose violence, the best option is to kick her ass. She only respects people stronger than herself.¡± Wincing, I quickly added, ¡°On the other hand, she¡¯s also highly paranoid of anyone stronger than herself, so¡­¡±


    ¡°She sounds¡­ fun.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. You can say it. Crazy. She sounds crazy,¡± I sighed. ¡°I¡¯ve done my best to manage it over the years, but Azula still has her moments.¡±


    There was also the fact that I was pretty sure I had done something to flip Azula¡¯s switch at some point. Again, not blind. I¡¯d seen her change in behavior towards me. How she wanted my attention and approval more and more as time went on. Wanting to share the bath and sleep together, even well past the time when most would say that was inappropriate. I hadn¡¯t encouraged it¡­ but then, I hadn¡¯t exactly discouraged it either.


    The problem is, ¡®brocon Azula¡¯ is a hell of a lot easier to deal with than an Azula who can¡¯t decide if she wants to kill me or not.


    ¡°What,¡± Yue started, only to hesitate. I sent her a curious look and she asked, ¡°What would your mother say?¡±


    ¡°Tough question. If I ever find her, I¡¯ll add it to the list of things I want to ask her. But it¡¯s not high on my to-do list right now.¡±


    Honestly, I still wasn¡¯t entirely sure how to feel about Ursa leaving, and I wasn¡¯t sure I ever would be. On the one hand, I was mentally a grown man in a child¡¯s body. Ursa had been a good mother and I¡¯d loved her as family, even come to accept her as my mother, but I didn¡¯t need her the way a child would. On the other hand¡­ I knew what she¡¯d done and why, but not finishing the job and taking care of Ozai was sloppy, and leaving Azula to Ozai¡¯s machinations was damned negligent. I was honestly more upset at her for leaving Azula where Ozai could pour poison in her ear than leaving.


    We finished our dinner quietly and left the restaurant, heading for the docks and my boat. As we went, Yue made a surprised sound and took off towards a stall, pulling my hand to drag me along. I allowed myself to be pulled and raised an eyebrow at what she found. Letting go of my hand, Yue grabbed a mask painted to look like a white koi¡¯s head and held it up to her face, before turning around and showing it off.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it cute?!¡± she asked, her excitement obvious.


    ¡°You should get it,¡± I encouraged her with a nod, as my gaze turned over the other masks. I raised an eyebrow when I spotted one that seemed familiar¡ªa blue oni mask with its face pulled into a snarl and horns atop its head.


    Yue spotted my interest immediately. Picking it up, she took out her purse and quickly paid for both, before handing me mine. Chuckling, I brought it up and held it over my face. The girl giggled, covering her lips. ¡°It¡¯s very intimidating.¡±


    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m sure,¡± I rolled my eyes, flipping my new hat upside down and dropping the masks into it.


    Yue managed to stop one more time before we got to the docks, grabbing a bag of fire flakes. I hid a grin as I watched her toss a handful into her mouth, only to go wide-eyed and nearly choke. ¡°Careful,¡± I teased. ¡°There¡¯s a reason they¡¯re called fire flakes.¡±This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    The woman shot me a glare as she opened her water skin and washed out her mouth. It turned into a pout as I pulled her against my side and we stepped onto the docks. ¡°You could have warned me!¡±


    ¡°And let you miss out on the experience? Never.¡±


    Yue huffed and took our things from me. I raised an eyebrow, only to find her hip bumping into mine and shoving me off the dock and into the water below with a splash. When I surfaced, the impish woman was already disappearing inside the boat, laughter following her.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m going to get you back for that,¡± I promised quietly, pulling myself up onto the walkway. ¡°Not sure how yet, but it¡¯s coming.¡±


    <hr>


    We followed the river downstream to the ocean, then hugged the coast for the next several days. We passed by a harbor town and, early one night, came across a seedy looking pier tucked away in a cove that seemed to be in use by pirates. A check of the copy of my stolen map in my journal showed it was marked as a port controlled by pirates. Humming quietly, I turned to Yue, yawning in the seat beside me.


    ¡°What are your thoughts on pirates?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡± she asked, perking up a little. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    I pointed back to the inlet leading to the cove and the lights from torches and other sources of fire we could still just barely see. ¡°That little port back there serves the pirate fleets that ply their trade around here. Repairs, supplies, trade, that sort of thing.¡±


    Yue frowned. ¡°Pirates are a menace. They¡¯ve raided our traders before and even captured some of our people in the past, to sell them into slavery.¡±


    Sending her a smile, I turned the tiller for shore. ¡°How do you feel about crippling their ability to do business, then?¡±


    The girl nodded. ¡°That sounds good. How should we deal with them?¡±


    ¡°Burn it to the ground and make sure no one escapes,¡± I gave the simple answer.


    Yue¡¯s eyes flew open wide at that and her mouth fell open, before she shook her head. ¡°We can¡¯t!¡±


    I blinked, sending her a confused look. ¡°Why not? They¡¯re pirates.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re people!¡±


    I stared at her. Yue stared back. I cut the engine and eased us onto the shore, before climbing out and tying us off to a tree. I took my time doing it as I considered how to say what I wanted.


    When I came back, I found Yue inside the cabin, only a single oil lamp lit to provide light as she changed behind a bamboo and silk paneled divider we¡¯d bought for that. ¡°Listen, Yue,¡± I began, opening my footlocker and pulling out my dark outfit, along with my mask. ¡°Pirates are the worst of the worst. Murderers, thieves, rapists, and slavers.¡±


    Quietly, she murmured, ¡°They said the same about you.¡±


    I sighed, nodding as I began changing quickly. ¡°I know. This is different.¡±


    Yue made a quiet noise of discontent. ¡°If I asked you not to kill them, would you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d ask why,¡± I stalled, tying off my belt and settling my sword into place on my back.


    ¡°It¡¯s not right,¡± she answered, grabbing the divider and folding it up, before standing it against the wall.


    I looked Yue over, taking her in for a moment as I considered it. What she wore was a long, flowing set of black and gray robes, with a hood over her head to hide her distinctive hair. Seeing me holding my mask, she grabbed her own and pulled it on. ¡°How do I look?¡±


    ¡°You look good,¡± I nodded. ¡°Very spooky. Someone might even mistake you for a spirit.¡± Yue nodded and crossed her arms, waiting. After a moment, I asked, ¡°Would it be okay to kill them if we were out on the water and they attacked and tried to kill us?¡±


    Her head tilted down a bit, but with the mask on it was difficult to read her. ¡°¡­If we had no other choice. But we do have a choice.¡±


    ¡°And suppose we leave them alive but beaten. They get angry and go even harder after the next target, and the next, and so on, trying to recoup what they feel are losses. Realistically, we would do less damage in the long term leaving them alone than burning that place down.¡±


    ¡°But we can¡¯t just leave them there, or they¡¯ll keep hurting people,¡± she sighed, beginning to pace. After a few moments, she asked, ¡°What if we left them alive, but crippled them?¡±


    ¡°Financially, metaphorically, or literally?¡±


    ¡°All of the above? Take their money, destroy their ships and buildings, and¡­ hurt them. Hurt them in a way that makes sure they can¡¯t hurt anyone else, but leaves them alive?¡±


    That¡¯s almost more cruel than just killing them, I mused, but considered the idea. It wasn¡¯t terrible and I liked that Yue was willing to consider ways of permanently disabling enemies, but it required too much time and came with too many complications. We were outnumbered and we didn¡¯t know the makeup of their forces. We couldn¡¯t be guaranteed to round them all up and hold them. And even if we could, I doubted Yue had the stomach for it.


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t work. They aren¡¯t going to just sit still for that and I¡¯m not rounding them up to do it. Also, they might have benders, and there are only two of us. Besides¡­ killing them is one thing, but that¡¯s torture, and I won¡¯t go there. So, I guess we¡¯re leaving them alive,¡± I shook my head and her shoulders slumped somewhat as the tension left her body. I grabbed a bag and emptied it onto the bed, before tossing it to Yue, then doing the same with a second bag, pulling it over my shoulder. Slipping my mask on, I headed for the hatch. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    Yue nodded and followed as we left the boat behind and stepped out onto the sandy bank. ¡°Can you make an ice platform and carry us in?¡±


    ¡°Mm,¡± the girl nodded and quickly made a sheet of ice big enough for us to stand on. As soon as we were both situated, she began moving us up the water. ¡°Won¡¯t they see us?¡±


    ¡°Make a fog bank.¡±


    ¡°Oh!¡± She giggled, and a moment later, a dense fog surrounded us, pouring out over the water ahead of us with a forward motion of her arms. Quietly, she asked, ¡°So, how are we going to do this?¡±


    ¡°Start with the ships. We¡¯ll go quickly and quietly. We want to scout first for anything of value. Gold, jewels, that sort of thing. Think you can use waterbending to move coins around underwater?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Yue agreed.


    ¡°Then we¡¯ll move everything we find off onto the shore, away from the village and out of sight. We can come back for it after. Anything that needs to be kept dry goes in the packs. Scrolls, paperwork, and especially maps. I¡¯ll transfer it all to the journal later. Once we¡¯ve stripped the ships bare, we¡¯ll move out into the village. Find anything that looks like it belongs to a trader and do the same. Take what money we find. Then I¡¯ll start a fire. That will give you a chance to sink their ships. While everyone is tending to the fire, I¡¯ll see about moving it so it forces them out into the forest so I can burn the rest of the buildings.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    We fell silent after that as the port came within sight. There were three pirate ships docked already, but something about their setup seemed off. It took me a few minutes of peering through the fog as we got closer, but eventually, I figured it out. They¡¯re too close and it¡¯s too narrow. There¡¯s no way to turn them around unassisted, and I don¡¯t see any sort of tug, or even a rope and pulley system to do it with manpower. Meaning they probably have a waterbender on hand. That¡­ hrm. I¡¯ll have to see what I can do.


    ¡°They probably have a waterbender to move the ships, so be careful,¡± I quietly warned Yue, and she gave a little noise of acknowledgment.


    As we got closer, the sounds of music, singing, and laughter filled the air from deeper in the town. It was clear that at least some of them were awake and still enjoying themselves, likely at whatever watering hole this place called a bar.


    When we got close to the first ship, Yue used a tentacle of water to pull us both up the side. We peeked over the railing to see the deck unoccupied, so hauled ourselves the rest of the way over. From there, we hit the captain¡¯s cabin first. Thankfully, its occupant was out¡ªlikely taking leave ashore at the bar.


    I began rifling through the desk while Yue used water to open a locked chest. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s a lot,¡± she breathed, and I glanced over my shoulder from stuffing documents into my bag to see what she was looking at. A small mountain of gold, silver, jewels, and jewelry sat in the chest.


    ¡°Nice find,¡± I chuckled, stuffing the last of the documents into my bag. Checking the desk for hidden compartments and drawers, I left it when I was satisfied and looked over the rest of the captain¡¯s collection of stuff. Nothing really caught my interest, so I had Yue re-lock the chest and move it out of the cabin, before we went down to the cargo hold. The ship wasn¡¯t empty, but those on it had apparently already turned in for the night and were sleeping soundly below deck, so we were able to slip in unnoticed. We found another chest with almost as much gold, along with a bunch of high value trade goods¡ªthings like bolts of silk. The gold we took, the rest we left.


    The next two ships were pretty much just more of the same¡ªquick in and out raids where we grabbed the money and ran. We took a few moments to move the chests to shore for later pickup and I tapped Yue¡¯s arm. ¡°Cancel sinking the ships. Let¡¯s shove them out away from the docks. The mouth of the inlet is narrow enough that we could easily block it. Set them on fire first, break the keels, punch holes in the bottom, and let them sink as they burn. Should cut off the inlet for a while as they¡¯re forced to clean that out. I¡¯ll light those last as we¡¯re leaving.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡± Pulling her mask up, Yue did the same for my own and gave me a quick peck on the lips, blushing as she did, before pulling her mask back down. ¡°Be safe.¡±


    ¡°You too,¡± I nodded, and we split up for the moment. I made my way through the village, doing a quick recon of the buildings. Unfortunately, while I did find stalls and shops, I didn¡¯t actually manage to find where they kept any of their funds and I didn¡¯t want to take all night looking. So, I went with the plan.


    At the end of the docks, away from the other buildings, I found a building locked by chains with a written warning painted on the door, labeling it as oil storage. I used my swords to cut the chains and hurried inside, where I found several barrels of oil. They were heavy, but I was able to pick up two and carry them outside. Moving them into the town, I began setting them up where I wanted them and punching holes in the bottoms with a sword, so they began to leak. It was only a few minutes later that I had everything where I wanted it.


    Climbing onto the top of the bar, I pulled off my mask for a moment and focused on the far side of the dock and the oil storage building. Taking a breath and focusing my chi, I projected chi outwards, aiming at one of the barrels I¡¯d left outside. I couldn¡¯t quite see the chi in flight, but I could feel it as it moved. It hit the oil barrel and exploded, throwing flaming oil everywhere.


    ¡°Fire! The oil¡¯s on fire!¡± I yelled, and the racket below in the bar went silent for just a moment, before people began streaming out.


    ¡°Someone find those damn benders and get that fire out!¡± someone from below bellowed, and I crouched down and pulled my mask on again, waiting as people spread out and began rousing their neighbors nearest the blaze as smoke quickly began to fill the town.


    After a few moments, a couple of men came running down the streets. They moved towards the docks with purpose and, as soon as they saw the blaze, they began working together. One of them stomped a foot, sending a wave of dirt towards the fire, while another made the usual back and forth motions of a waterbending kata and water rose from below the dock.


    Taking that as my cue, I spun up a fireball in my hand and tossed it at the other side of town, towards a glistening trail of oil I¡¯d left. Making sure it caught, I focused on my chi, bringing my hands together as I leaped down, towards the two unsuspecting pirate benders. I pulled my hands apart, pulling pure yin chi to my left hand and yang chi to my right, as my fingertips began to glow. I landed nearly on top of the two and rolled forward, touching my fingers to their spines and completing the circuit. There was a bright flash and a brief pop, before both jerked and fell over, limp.


    Turning as pirates quickly figured out they were under attack, I tossed out another fireball at another oil barrel sitting between us. It went up beautifully, splashing the area and cutting me off from the pirates. The fire quickly began to spread and, without their benders to put it out, the pirates began to retreat.


    Grabbing the two pirate benders up and tossing them over my shoulders, I jet-stepped my way across the little bay to the ships. Spotting Yue, I landed on one of them.


    ¡°Who are they?¡± she asked, confused.


    ¡°Enemy benders. Don¡¯t worry about it for now. Start putting holes in the bottoms of these things, then go grab the loot and meet me back at the boat.¡±


    She took off, leaping down to the water and I waited for her to get started smashing them before setting all three ships on fire. Once I was satisfied, I took off for the boat.


    I made it back before Yue and found some rope, then quickly tied up my two prisoners, before making sure they didn¡¯t have any weapons on them. Then, I untied the boat and cast off, pushing it back and starting the engine as I waited. I heard Yue before I saw her and, a few moments later, she came rushing around the bend in the shore on a wave, the boxes with her. She hopped up onto the boat and sent the boxes into the cabin. As soon as she was onboard, I gunned it and sent us flying away from shore.


    Yue pulled off her mask and pulled her hood back. She was breathing hard and had a flush to her face, her hair a bit messy and sticking to her forehead. ¡°That was¡­ that was fun!¡±


    ¡°It was, wasn¡¯t it?¡± I grinned as I pulled my own mask off and handed it to her to go put away. She came back a few minutes later, changed into her normal clothes, and settled in beside me.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± she murmured, leaning in and kissing my cheek


    ¡°For what?¡±


    Yue hummed. ¡°For being you.¡±


    I rested my hand on her hip and gave her a squeeze. ¡°I don¡¯t agree with it, but you asked. Just remember, we won¡¯t always have a choice, and even if we do, bad things could come from it.¡±


    ¡°I know. But killing them in cold blood isn¡¯t something I can do, even if they¡¯re pirates.¡±


    ¡°I understand,¡± I nodded, squeezing her again.


    Yue glanced down and toed one of the men at our feet. ¡°So¡­ are you going to tell me?¡±


    Chuckling, I nodded. ¡°I need them to practice.¡±


    ¡°Practice¡­?¡± she asked, and I held up a hand, conjuring a sphere of energy.


    ¡°I think I can remove someone¡¯s ability to bend, maybe even give someone the ability to bend. But I need someone to practice on.¡±


    Yue¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°What?!¡±


    <hr>


    ¡°Well?¡± Hahn demanded.


    ¡°They were here,¡± June murmured as her mount moved through the city. ¡°The way Nyla¡¯s acting, they were here a while. A few days, at least.¡±


    The shirshu made her way through town as people scattered around them in the streets. A group of guards approached and she waved in greeting.


    ¡°You¡¯re causing a disturbance,¡± the one in the lead grumbled.


    ¡°Bounty hunter,¡± June countered, and he nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll be out of your hair in a few minutes.¡±


    The guard nodded and turned the patrol around to move on. ¡°See that you are.¡±


    Eventually, the shirshu moved back to the dock, before turning and running towards the bank, then beginning to run down it. ¡°They went downriver. It couldn¡¯t have been too long ago.¡±


    Two of Hahn¡¯s men quickly made a boat of ice and June directed the shirshu onto it, before they began bending it downriver. Sliding down off the mount to stretch her legs, June stretched and popped her back. She looked up as the bald form of Hahn made his way over, crossing his arms as he stared at her. She ignored the way his eyes wandered down her leather-clad body.


    ¡°How far away are they?¡± Hahn demanded.


    June shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. Nyla¡¯s picking up the scent over water, so it can¡¯t be more than a day or two at most. You said he had one of those bending powered boats?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Those go pretty fast, so it¡¯d really depend on how long he can keep it up. I suppose we¡¯ll find out.¡±


    Hahn frowned but moved off to speak with one of his men. June turned away, looking out over the water and occasionally checking her mount¡¯s reactions to make sure they were still on course.


    Something still bothers me about this, though. How did they get from Chenbao to Hongcun that fast, without going around to the west or coming down to the West Lake and turning back north? They could have cut across land, but not with a boat that large, unless the waterbender carried them somehow, but there would have been signs of that. Something weird is going on.


    Whatever it was, June would have to try to plan around it somehow. She couldn¡¯t have the target escaping once she found them, if she ranged ahead of the client to scout.


    These two just keep getting more interesting¡­

 14

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    14


    <hr>


    ¡°Ugh,¡± one of the men I¡¯d captured groaned pitifully where he lay on the ground. The other was completely insensate, staring up at the sky with a sort of broken look.


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ mildly terrifying,¡± Yue murmured.


    ¡°Yeah, kinda,¡± I admitted, looking down at the two in disgust. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°Mm.¡± Yue followed me the short distance back to the shore and we climbed onto the boat. I got it moving, pointed southwest.


    In the distance, we could make out mountains covered in forests. To the left, east, the river leading back to West Lake emptied out into the ocean. I estimated we were maybe a day¡¯s travel from where the coast in front of us would turn south. According to my newly updated map, the nearest town was Senlin Village, maybe a day and a half to two days away. The map seemed to indicate that it was either haunted or home to a spirit. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t remember which one, if any¡ªbut I was very interested in meeting my first spirit, so I wanted to go investigate.


    ¡°So¡­¡± Yue spoke up after some time of riding in silence and simply sitting at my side. I glanced over at her and sent her a raised eyebrow. ¡°Where did you learn to do that?¡±


    ¡°The lion turtle I met, I think. I¡¯m still figuring out energybending, but that aspect seemed kind of¡­ instinctive?¡± I hummed, scratching my head. ¡°It felt natural. I felt their chi. I felt my own. I reached out with mine, grabbed the part of theirs that felt like either water or earth, and pulled it out. Then poof, no more bending. They still have chi, but no ability to bend elements.¡±


    ¡°And giving them the ability to bend fire?¡±


    ¡°Just shoved a bit of my own fire chi in there and it sort of lit up. To make a comparison, it was like lighting a candle with one I already had lit.¡±


    That was perhaps the most unsettling part of the whole experiment¡ªjust how simple it was to remove their ability to bend. The mechanics of it was simple, anyway. Actually doing the deed required me to overpower them. And while I was fairly strong as a bender, I didn¡¯t have as much raw metaphysical strength as a lion turtle, or the Avatar, or even Yue, blessed by the moon as she was. I could do it, but my playing around with a couple of random pirates to figure it out had shown me that it was likely never going to be truly easy. Not unless I became some monster bending prodigy on par with the Avatar in my own element.


    Which, if I don¡¯t have to worry about getting old, might actually be within reach. Eventually.


    ¡°So you could turn me into a firebender?¡± Yue asked, pulling me from my thoughts.


    ¡°Sure, maybe. If you didn¡¯t fight me taking away your waterbending. And assuming I even could, miss blessed by the moon spirit.¡± Yue giggled and I added, ¡°It¡¯d be easier to make you an energybender.¡±


    Yue blinked, before raising an eyebrow. ¡°You can do that?¡±


    ¡°Maybe. Want to try?¡± I offered, and the girl nodded. Reaching out, I took her hand and focused on trying to pass on that particular skill.


    After several minutes, Yue said, ¡°I don¡¯t feel any different.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not working. It feels like I should be able to, I¡¯m just not there yet.¡± To put it in more mundane terms¡­ it was kind of like being spiritually constipated. I knew I could, it just wasn¡¯t coming.


    Yue hummed, before smiling. ¡°We can keep practicing until you get it.¡±


    I nodded, before letting go of her hand and putting my arm around her, earning a happy sound from Yue. ¡°I¡¯ll try again later. Don¡¯t want to try to force it and get something wrong.¡±


    ¡°Mm.¡±


    We settled in and enjoyed the ride as we grew closer to the opposite shore, and the Earth Kingdom¡¯s mainland. As we went, I wondered how everyone else was doing. What my sister and our friends were up to in the capital. I hoped uncle Iroh was keeping Azula out of trouble, but somehow, I doubted it.


    <hr>


    June considered the bank and the two men laying there, insensate. Nearby, there was sign that a boat had landed briefly, before pushing off again. Judging by the way Nyla acted, the cues the well-trained shirshu was giving off, they weren¡¯t far behind. Their quarry had been here as recently as only a few hours ago.


    ¡°Hahn,¡± one of the waterbenders called as he checked out the two other men. ¡°Something¡¯s wrong with these guys.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re pirates. Who cares?¡± June asked, rolling her eyes. ¡°We¡¯re close. I would say half a day, but¡­¡±


    ¡°But?¡± Hahn demanded, and June pointed south.


    ¡°They¡¯ve got a boat and your guys are tired.¡± Whoever this Zuko guy was, she had to admire his stamina. He had enough to outlast four waterbenders trying their hardest to close the distance between them. ¡°There¡¯s a bridge not far from here. We can go up, cross over, and follow the shore. From there, it¡¯s a couple of days on foot to the nearest village. If you¡¯re planning to fight them, it may be best to take some time to rest first. I can scout ahead with Nyla and see if they decided to stop or move on.¡±


    ¡°What makes you think they stopped?¡±


    ¡°You said this guy was some kind of scholar or something.¡±Hahn scoffed. ¡°Or something,¡± he agreed. ¡°I think he¡¯s a grave robber who can tell a good story.¡±


    June shrugged. ¡°Either way. A place like Senlin would likely be on his list, if he knows about it.¡±


    Hahn looked confused. ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡±


    The mercenary grinned, shifting in her saddle as she recalled the tales she¡¯d heard in the bar, the few times she¡¯d passed through. ¡°Forest¡¯s haunted. They say a spirit protects it.¡±


    The water tribesman rolled his eyes. ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Hahn!¡± one of the men called, and he and June looked over to see one of the pirates sitting up.


    Hahn stomped over and crouched down to the pirate¡¯s eye level. ¡°We¡¯re looking for a guy. Fire Nation. Black hair, gold eyes. Traveling with a water tribe woman with white hair.¡±


    The pirate¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°D-d-demon! Evil spirit! You can¡¯t! Stay away from him!¡±


    June frowned at the rambling, wondering what could have turned a hardened killer into a blubbering child. Hahn reacted by slapping the man across the face. ¡°Talk sense, or I¡¯ll put you out of your misery now!¡±


    The pirate focused on Hahn and nodded shakily. ¡°We, our port was attacked in the night. There was a fire and we,¡± he gestured between himself and the other man, who was still staring blankly at the sky, ¡°were called to put it out.¡±


    Hahn looked between the two, clearly recognizing as June did that the one still out of it was water tribe. ¡°Benders?¡±


    ¡°Y-yeah. He¡¯s water, I¡¯m earth,¡± the pirate confirmed. ¡°We was in the middle of putting it out before it spread when there was this crack like thunder and I felt like I¡¯d been kicked by an ostrich horse. It knocked us both on our asses. I was too out of it to fight back. Someone carried us out and threw us on a boat. Then,¡± he trembled, clamming up for a moment before Hahn laid a hand on his sword. ¡°The guy did something. He put his hand on my head and reached inside where he shouldn¡¯t¡¯a. I tried to fight it, but it was¡­ it was like trying to fight a landslide. He grabbed something inside me and pulled it out, and I couldn¡¯t sense the earth anymore. I can¡¯t bend! He took my bending!¡±


    Frowning, Hahn stood up and looked to the four benders in their group, who all wore disconcerted looks. ¡°Is that even possible? Or is this guy just nuts?¡±


    ¡°Ehh,¡± one of them hemmed, before answering, ¡°You know those old stories about how we used to live on the back of a lion turtle?¡± When Hahn nodded, he continued, ¡°Supposedly, the lion turtles gave men bending when they went out to hunt and took it away when they came back.¡±


    ¡°But those are just stories,¡± another of them murmured.


    ¡°So he¡¯s crazy.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not crazy!¡± the pirate roared, surging to his feet¡ªonly to get a spear through the heart an instant later as one of the water tribe warriors reacted.


    As the Earth Kingdom man fell onto his back, Hahn nodded to the other pirate. ¡°The traitor too. Then we¡¯ll start walking.¡± He looked at June and asked, ¡°Which way to the bridge?¡±


    June gave Nyla a nudge and started the shirshu moving, following the bank at an easy pace the men should be able to keep up. As she went, she hummed quietly, turning over the pirate¡¯s words.


    Sure. Maybe he was crazy. But¡­ I¡¯ve seen weirder shit. Spirits and bender shit are all kind of out there, so why not a bender who can remove someone¡¯s ability to bend? Maybe I¡¯ll ask when I run him down. Not like it can hurt me if he can somehow do it.


    It was nearly noon when they made it to the bridge and began to cross. June whistled quietly as, below them, she spotted a Fire Nation cruiser puffing along at full steam down the river. ¡°They¡¯re in a hurry.¡±


    ¡°Not our problem,¡± Hahn grunted, before seeming to reconsider. ¡°But if the opportunity arises, maybe we can steal their ship. If we can figure out how to get it to move, it¡¯d make an excellent prize to cement my position as the next chief when I return with Yue, and Zuko¡¯s head.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not being paid enough to assault a Fire Nation cruiser,¡± June shook her head. When Hahn looked to one of his men, who began taking out another pouch of beads, June cut them off. ¡°Nyla¡¯s not fireproof. You can¡¯t pay me enough to risk her.¡±


    ¡°Tch. Fine.¡±


    <hr>


    ¡°Come on, Mai~! You can¡¯t still be mad we missed him!¡± Ty Lee sighed, leaning against the railing beside her friend.


    Mai shot her a look out of the side of her eye. ¡°I¡¯m not.¡±


    ¡°Hmm,¡± Ty Lee hummed skeptically, before smiling. ¡°Then it¡¯s because of this fiancee.¡±


    Mai¡¯s hands clenched on the metal railing and she felt her eye twitch. ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°But think about it! Isn¡¯t it romantic?! A prince in self-exile. A sheltered princess. Both from nations at war with each other. Then, they run away together because her tribe wouldn¡¯t approve and his father would see them both executed before allowing anything to come of it! Huge star-crossed lovers vibes there!¡±


    ¡°Would you shut up?¡± Mai sighed, looking up at the sky and sending a silent prayer to her ancestors to give her patience to deal with Ty Lee for another day without smothering the girl with a pillow. Blinking, she spotted a bridge crossing the canyon they were passing through and some kind of large animal with a rider. Squinting, she could make out what looked like a group of water tribe traveling with the rider. ¡°What is that?¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Hm?¡± Ty Lee blinked, tilting her head back and following her friend¡¯s gaze up. ¡°Oh! That¡¯s a shirshu! They¡¯ve got a reeeally long tongue that can paralyze if it feels threatened.¡± Humming, she tilted her head slightly. ¡°Those guys look like bad news. Water tribe though.¡± Perking up, her eyes went wide and she grinned. ¡°D¡¯ya think they¡¯re looking for their lost princess?!¡±


    Mai hummed. ¡°Water tribe, in the middle of nowhere in the Earth Kingdom, heading the same general direction we are and we¡¯re following what we believe to be Zuko¡¯s most likely route, and he¡¯s got their princess with him. What do you think?¡±


    ¡°I think this is going to be fun~!¡±


    Sighing, Mai shook her head. ¡°Well, there¡¯s nothing we can do about it for now.¡± Glancing at Ty Lee, she asked, ¡°What makes you so sure that Zuko¡¯s going to stop in the next village? Aren¡¯t you usually the one asking me what I think?¡±


    Ty Lee¡¯s head tilted slightly and she grinned at Mai. ¡°That¡¯s easy. He¡¯s here for that,¡± she pointed ahead, to where the canyon they were in fell off and a forest came right up to the shore. ¡°You can¡¯t feel it?¡±


    ¡°Feel what?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a powerful spirit in that forest. It¡¯s protected! You know Zuzu¡¯s always had a thing for stuff like this! The map says that village is the closest, so he¡¯ll probably stay there for a few days to explore the forest and try to meet the spirit.¡±


    ¡°You sure he wasn¡¯t just humoring you?¡± Mai sniped cattily.


    Ty Lee stuck out her tongue. ¡°Unlike someone, our Zuzu has an open mind!¡±


    ¡°Uh huh,¡± Mai sighed. Standing up, she stretched and headed for the ladder. ¡°Come on. We should get some practice in while we can. Just in case he doesn¡¯t want to come with us and this¡­ fiancee wants to put up a fight.¡±


    ¡°And in case we have to fight the water tribe,¡± Ty Lee nodded, hopping up onto the railing and launching herself onto the ladder, before sliding down. ¡°Race you to the deck!¡±


    ¡°Cheater.¡±


    <hr>


    I considered my clothes for a moment before hanging my jacket up and deciding against it. Right off the ocean, and further south as we were, the temperature had gotten much milder. The nights were still cold, but days were warm enough that I could do without¡ªespecially given that I planned for us to do some hiking. Yue was wearing one of her new silk outfits in Earth Kingdom colors and had been since we torched the pirate town, as she had started feeling uncomfortably warm during the days. I almost felt sorry for her, knowing that it was only going to get warmer from here.


    I left the cabin and took my seat at the tiller as Yue moved aside. Sending me an excited look, she asked, ¡°Is there really a spirit in the forest?¡±


    ¡°Maybe. That¡¯s what the map says. I guess we¡¯ll find out.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m so excited! I¡¯ve never seen a spirit before!¡± Yue gushed, and I turned an amused look on her. Blinking, she giggled. ¡°Outside of the Water and Moon spirits, but those don¡¯t count! I saw those every day!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll make sure to tell them they don¡¯t count next time we¡¯re up north.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare!¡± Yue pouted and I chuckled. Turning her attention forward, she eyed the village ahead of us. ¡°So, where do we go after this?¡±


    I hummed, thinking it over. We had some time before we needed to be in Omashu to see if we could arrange seeing Bumi, to let him know about the visitors heading his way.


    On the one hand, I don¡¯t like doubling back. It kind of annoys me. On the other, it¡¯s not like we¡¯re on a time crunch. Yue doesn¡¯t mind and we¡¯ll be flying that leg of the journey so it won¡¯t take long anyway. I want to see if we can find Toph and convince her to come with. So¡­


    ¡°Gaoling. Stop off for coal, then we¡¯ll fly for Gaoling. But first, let¡¯s see if we can find a spirit.¡±


    Only a few minutes later, I was lowering the sails and cutting the engine, and the boat eased up onto the sandy bank, before Yue gave us a push¡ªbending the water under us to send us further up the bank, well out of the reach of the water at high tide. I lowered the mast and took a few moments to tie off to a tree as a force of habit, then we collected our bags from inside the cabin. Grabbing a spare bit of metal, I took a moment to spot weld the cabin door shut to keep out unwanted visitors, then we left the boat and started up the beach for the village.


    The gates were open and unguarded aside from a man standing in a watchtower, so we made our way inside and started looking around. The place was a tiny, walled in village¡ªthe walls clearly erected by an earthbender. There couldn¡¯t have been more than thirty buildings total, including the big one on the far side of the village. Walking up the streets, we saw there was a general store, a smith, a carpenter, and a small bar with the rest apparently being homes.


    Yue smiled at an old lady walking down the street carrying a basket full of bread. ¡°Hello! My name is Yue. I¡¯m a healer. Do you know if there¡¯s anyone in need of aid?¡±


    ¡°These old joints could use some care. Beyond that,¡± the old woman jerked a thumb back behind her, towards the largest building in town, ¡°why don¡¯t you go ask the headman?¡±


    ¡°Mm! Thank you!¡± Yue smiled and gave a little bow, before taking my hand and dragging me along. It wasn¡¯t long before we had spoken with the headman and Yue was set up in his front room, with a line of villagers coming in to have their bumps, scrapes, aches, and pains soothed away. While she did that, I politely interrogated the headman about the spirit in the forest.


    According to the headman, the spirit in the forest was a forest spirit. I contained my eye roll as he went on to tell tales of how it looked after the forest, supposedly showed them which trees to fell, and generally peacefully coexisted with the village. From what I gathered, it was benign and generally kept to itself, unless it got curious. There were rumors that it took the form of a panda, but no one could truly confirm that, according to the chief.


    Once the well ran dry on information about the spirit, I checked in with Yue and saw she would be a while¡ªthe rest of the day, most likely. Seeing as she was occupied and I didn¡¯t think there would be any trouble in this small town, I made my way outside and down to the beach to get in some practice.


    I fell into my usual routine, doing my standard physical exercises first, before moving on to my swords, then on to bending. When I finished my run through of the standard firebending katas, I began on a new one I¡¯d started putting together based on what I had seen of waterbending and how my fire-as-water bending worked.


    Arcs of fire rolled out over the water, hitting the surface and spreading as they quickly burned off. Fireballs went out over the water with the same launch velocity as my normal fireballs, only to explode either on impact with the water or after a short distance, spraying the area with flaming sheets and droplets of fire. Large waves of fire moved like oil over the surface of the water, several feet tall but growing shorter the further out they went, spreading in a wide arc from where I¡¯d launched them and engulfing a large area in front of me.


    Once I was satisfied with my practice with fire-as-water for now, I moved on to my latest project. I didn¡¯t have an airbender to study from, but I did have copied scrolls in my journal, detailing their forms and bending style. Without someone to observe, I¡¯d have to make it up as I went along, but honestly that was half the fun. Now that I had some experience with water, I was trying to move on to air to see what I could do there.


    The simplest use was, ironically, something I had figured out ages ago. Blue fire was really just getting fire up to the right temperature to shift to blue. This could be done one of two ways. The first was simply adding more energy¡ªwhich is what Azula did. She had burned way more chi to get her fire hotter, until she figured out the other method. The other method being, using chi to draw in more fuel.


    So, I practiced drawing in more fuel, then producing jets with my strikes. I already did similar when I wanted to cut something. It was basic, but as I practiced, I slowly gained more of a feel for how fire and air interacted, now that I was looking for it. As I worked, I began experimenting. Trying to cram more fuel into fireballs without burning it until I was ready. Trying to increase the velocity of my fireballs, or even find a way to launch them further. If I could mimic a cannon using air and fire, I thought that would be ideal for launching fireballs at range.


    Eventually, as it got dark, I moved on from fire to energybending. Practice there was much slower than it was with fire. I was still trying to figure out what it could do, so I was pretty much just throwing things at the wall to see what would stick. Today¡¯s experiment? Cramming as much chi as I could into a ball and flinging it out over the water like a fireball.


    It was well past dark when Yue stopped behind me as I threw out one last ball, watching it zip over the water before exploding in a concussive blast that rattled my teeth in my skull even from this distance. Soft, warm hands landed on my bare shoulders and she pressed herself against my shirtless back.


    ¡°The village is throwing a feast as payment for healing everyone. Come eat with us.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I agreed. ¡°If you¡¯ll give me some water to wash off. I worked up a sweat.¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t smell bad,¡± Yue chuckled, but did as I asked. Once I felt clean, I dried off and pulled on my shirt and joined her on the walk to the village. They had roasted something that looked vaguely pig-like and it smelled delicious.


    <hr>


    So, that¡¯s the boat, June mused as Nyla stopped beside it, sniffing around.


    It¡¯s got one of those bending engines on it, like Hahn said. And a coal engine. Must be new, because he didn¡¯t mention that. But what¡¯s the rest of this crap? Mounting point on the top that ties into the drive shaft¡­ Why would you put a screw on top? Something big in that case along the left side of the top. Some kind of¡­ smoke stack coming from the top? Why would you route it through the cabin, then have it come up there? Seems like it¡¯d just get in the way of the sails and whatever is in the case. Sails aren¡¯t painted black from soot, so it¡¯s obviously not actually smoke coming out of there.


    Sliding off Nyla, June dropped into the sand and climbed onto the boat. Finding the latches on the tube shaped case along the top, she popped them open and lifted the case open. ¡°Cloth?¡± she murmured, fingering the blue material she found inside.


    Spare sail maybe? No, doesn¡¯t have the same consistency as sailcloth. It¡¯s lighter. Thinner. Ropes over it, too¡­


    Moving down the tube and getting ready to close it, she paused as she spotted something near the ¡®smoke stack¡¯ on top. Pulling out the material, she found a hole that roughly corresponded to the location of the stack and was just a bit wider.


    So, this goes over the hole. Why? It¡¯d just fill up with smoke. ¡­Or hot air.


    Slowly, an idea began to take shape in the bounty hunter¡¯s mind, as memories of the Fire Festival held in some colonial villages surfaced¡­ and the lanterns they lit and released, that filled the sky. June¡¯s eyes widened as everything fell into place. How they had crossed the land with the boat. Why there would be a screw on top of the boat. Why they would route hot air up into a balloon the size of a boat.


    Is that even possible? she wondered briefly, before shaking her head. No, it must be, otherwise there¡¯d be no point to all of this and they couldn¡¯t have crossed miles and miles of forests, even with a waterbender moving it over the land somehow.


    Carefully putting the balloon back in, she closed everything up and left it as she¡¯d found it, before climbing back into Nyla¡¯s saddle. She kicked the shirshu into motion as she turned over what she now knew. Nyla circled the village, then took off heading north, following a trail into the forest¡ªand from all the signs she was giving off, the trail was fresh.


    Air travel hasn¡¯t really been a thing since the airbenders were killed off and the flying bison went into hiding. If someone¡¯s figured out how to do it with mechanical power, the same way the Fire Nation moves their ships, then this is big. As big as coal engines and steam powered ships. Haven¡¯t seen the Fire Nation flying around in big fucking war balloons, so it¡¯s new. Either this Zuko guy stole it, bought it, or he came up with it. First case, there¡¯s someone else out there who knows how to make flying balloons. Last case, it¡¯s just this guy. There¡¯s going to be a lot of money in this. A lot of power, too. Do I really want to piss off the guy who¡¯s probably going to be some rich lord very soon?


    Nyla slowed and June walked her into the forest a few yards before she eased back on the reins, bringing the shirshu to a stop. ¡°Stay here,¡± she murmured, slipping out of the saddle and moving silently through the forest while following the trail. It wasn¡¯t long before she heard voices and shortly after, she got her first look at her quarry.


    That¡¯s definitely a water tribe princess, June mused, crouching in the undergrowth as she watched them stop to gather edible plants. The girl she assumed to be Yue picked a large mushroom and offered it to the man, Zuko, who made a disgusted face and offered a bag for Yue to toss it into with a giggle.


    Cute. Shame I have to break this up, she mused, silently following them as they moved.


    She followed for over an hour as they moved through the forest, before Zuko made some hand signs and Yue nodded, falling silent and crouching. Zuko jumped into a tree overhead and moved along above the trail, silent as a ghost as he drew an arrow and disappeared in the canopy. A few minutes later, an animal squealed. Shortly after that, June heard a whistle and Yue stood, following down the path after Zuko. June caught up in time to see them enter a clearing with some sort of statue depicting a family of bears in the middle and stream off to the side¡ªZuko carrying a freshly killed fox deer over his shoulder.


    One shot, clean kill.


    Over the course of the next few minutes, the pair cleaned and prepared the animal, then broke up to begin setting up camp. They were quick and efficient about it and it wasn¡¯t long before they had the animal over a spit, roasting over a fire Zuko lit.


    The longer she watched, the more she felt certain that Hahn was trying to bite off more than he could chew. But that wasn¡¯t her problem. June wasn¡¯t being paid to fight or advise, she was being paid to track¡ªand she had. And from the looks of things, her quarry were making camp for the night, which would give her client an opportunity to ambush them.


    June followed her trail back through the forest, then once she was certain she wouldn¡¯t be heard, stepped out onto the trail and started jogging back to where she had left Nyla. It wasn¡¯t long before she was riding her mount back out of the forest and down the beach beside the treeline. Eventually, she found Hahn and his band walking up the beach towards the town.


    ¡°Well? Did you find them?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I found ¡®em. They¡¯re in the forest, camping for the night. It¡¯ll be easier to head up to the town then take the trail straight to them.¡±


    Hahn leered and started marching just a bit faster. ¡°Finally, some good news! We¡¯ll get close and set our own camp and get a few hours of sleep, then attack in the middle of the night.¡±


    There were rounds of agreement from his men and June nodded, following along. ¡°Then this is where we part ways. I¡¯ll be in town, spending some of my hard earned money.¡±


    ¡°You know,¡± Hahn sent her a considering look, ¡°the north could use someone like you.¡±


    June shook her head. ¡°Thanks, but no thanks. I¡¯m more of a come and go as I please kind of girl. When you get to the village, cut east along the treeline and you¡¯ll find a path heading north. They¡¯re a few hours¡¯ hike in, camped in a clearing. Less if you run.¡±


    With that, she kicked Nyla into action and took off, not wanting to spend another unpaid minute with Hahn and his tagalongs. Behind her, she faintly heard Hahn grumble something along the lines of, ¡°What a bitch.¡±


    <hr>


    ¡°Ahh, it¡¯s locked,¡± Ty Lee sighed.


    ¡°Welded shut,¡± Mai shook her head, pointing to the join Zuko had made to keep the door to the boat¡¯s cabin closed. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s¡ª¡±


    ¡°Oh hey, it¡¯s that shirshu!¡±


    Mai paused, watching as the big animal and its rider approached from the north. Remembering who they had seen that rider with last, she leapt off the boat and motioned for Ty Lee to follow as the big animal slowed and leapt over the gate leading into town, ambling down the street. They watched as the rider dismounted and led the big animal into a small side street beside what looked like the local watering hole.


    ¡°Nyla, stay,¡± the leather-clad woman ordered, heading into the bar.


    Mai and Ty Lee exchanged a look before Mai pointed up the street, towards the largest building in town. ¡°Ask around. See if anyone¡¯s seen Zuko. I¡¯m going to go keep an eye on the mercenary and see what I can learn.¡±


    ¡°Right. If she¡¯s here, those Water Tribe guys won¡¯t be far. We need to find Zuzu before they do and warn him!¡±


    Mai nodded and the pair split up, Mai making her way into the bar. Looking around, she spotted the older woman sitting on a stool at the small bar itself. Making her way over, Mai dropped into the seat beside her.


    ¡°What¡¯ll it be?¡± the man behind the bar asked, and Mai shrugged, opening her coin purse and producing a gold coin.


    ¡°What will that get me?¡±


    The man quickly swiped it and bit into it, before nodding. He pulled something down off the top shelf and dropped the dusty bottle on the counter with a glass. ¡°Enjoy.¡±


    Beside Mai, the older woman turned an amused look on her. ¡°Let me guess¡­ Rich noble girl and this is your first trip away from home? Fire Nation too.¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± Mai shrugged, pouring herself part of a glass. ¡°Do you know anything about the area?¡±


    ¡°Heh. I¡¯ve come through here a few times. I¡¯ll tell you what I know if you¡¯d be willing to share,¡± she nodded at the bottle. ¡°It¡¯s always more fun to drink with company than alone.¡±


    Considering for a moment, Mai nodded. The older woman stood and nodded her head towards a table in the back and she followed. They sat and the older of the pair finished off her glass before holding it out for a refill. ¡°June.¡±


    ¡°Mai,¡± Mai introduced herself as she sat and poured.


    ¡°The first thing you should know is to stay out of the forest at night. There¡¯s a spirit that doesn¡¯t like to be disturbed¡­¡±

 15

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    15


    <hr>


    Mai hummed, considering what she¡¯d been told as June leaned back in her seat, sipping at her drink. So, Ty Lee was right. Zuko is likely here for the spirit. The question is, would he be crazy enough to go out hunting for it in the forest at night?


    Before she could come to an answer, the door to the small bar opened and, a moment later, quick and quiet footsteps rushed up to her side. ¡°Mai!¡±


    ¡°Hm? Who¡¯s your friend?¡± June arched an eyebrow, looking Ty Lee over with a curious gaze.


    ¡°Ty Lee. Did you find something?¡±


    ¡°I know where Zuzu is! He went out into the forest!¡± the acrobat grinned.


    June blinked. ¡°Zuko?¡± Mai acted instantly and the mercenary bounty hunter looked down, suddenly finding something sharp poking at her inner thigh, where the light armor on her legs didn¡¯t cover. ¡°Well, that¡¯s just rude.¡±


    Mai leaned forward, applying a little bit of pressure. Beside her, the normally upbeat Ty Lee had tensed and grown serious. ¡°How do you know that name?¡±


    June snorted quietly, before tossing back the last of her glass and pouring a refill from the bottle. ¡°Threats aren¡¯t going to work on me, girly. But you know what will? Cold, hard money. I¡¯m a mercenary. I can be bought.¡±


    The girls exchanged a quick look before Mai pulled out her coin purse and flipped a gold coin onto the table. June looked at it, then back to Mai, expectantly. Frowning, Mai added another, and another. It was at five coins and Mai seriously considering poking a hole in the woman when June swept the coins up and spoke. ¡°I was hired to track a couple of people, one of whom was a guy named Zuko. The trail led here.¡±


    ¡°So, you were with those water tribe guys,¡± Ty Lee asked, and June nodded.


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    ¡°What do you know?¡± Mai demanded.


    June hummed. ¡°Just what I¡¯ve been told, and what I¡¯ve observed firsthand. They¡¯re a northern water tribe war band, led by a guy named Hahn. He¡¯s kind of a clown, but they¡¯re competent and dangerous enough. At least four of ¡®em are benders. As for who they¡¯re chasing, according to them, some minor Fire Nation noble went up north and kidnapped their princess, and they¡¯re trying to get her back. I got the impression it¡¯s a lot more complicated than that.¡±


    ¡°No kidding! Zuzu didn¡¯t kidnap princess Yue. It would be more accurate to say they eloped!¡± Ty Lee grinned.


    ¡°They¡¯re not married yet,¡± Mai growled quietly, glaring at her friend briefly, before shifting her attention back to June. ¡°You tracked them. Where are they?¡±


    June smiled and sipped her drink as her eyes cut over to the coin purse. Mai made a frustrated noise and pulled out more coins. Once more, June waited for five coins before sweeping them into her own purse. ¡°There¡¯s a trail into the forest to the north of town, several hours of hiking out. They¡¯re camping in a clearing with a big statue and a bunch of smaller ones. The trail runs right into it. Can¡¯t miss them.¡± She took a sip as Mai removed her foot, then added, ¡°Oh, and you might want to hurry. I got here first, but Hahn and his goons won¡¯t be far behind.¡±


    ¡°Alright! Let¡¯s go!¡± Ty Lee grinned, pulling at Mai¡¯s hand.


    Mai twisted her hand out of Ty Lee¡¯s grasp and considered the mercenary and what she knew of Zuko. If we confront him, there¡¯s a chance that he could give us the slip. But we know where he¡¯s going. Back to his boat. So, why not cut off that avenue of escape?


    ¡°How much to hire you for guard duty?¡± Mai demanded and June grinned.


    ¡°Now we¡¯re talking. Who, what, or where am I guarding? What duration? Is combat expected?¡±


    ¡°A full day, starting now. Here, on the beach. Zuko¡¯s boat. No combat expected, but maybe possible if this Hahn guy tries to torch it. Definitely possible if Zuko shows up first. You don¡¯t have to fight them, just stall. Get him to talk and he¡¯ll stall himself. If he shows up before us, just keep him busy until we get there.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s a firebender. He¡¯s not going to try to torch me or Nyla, is he?¡± June asked, and Mai and Ty Lee shook their head.


    ¡°No way! Zuzu wouldn¡¯t burn a pet! And he won¡¯t fight unless you start it, or you give him a reason to!¡± Ty Lee defended their friend.


    ¡°Fifty.¡±


    Mai winced. ¡°That¡¯s a lot.¡±


    ¡°Short term mission. Low danger but at least some expected. Two gold an hour for twenty-four hours plus convenience fee,¡± June explained.


    Narrowing her eyes, Mai countered, ¡°Twenty-six. You get the rest if you have to fight.¡±


    ¡°Thirty-five. Take it or leave it, rich girl. But if you leave it, I¡¯ll sit there on the beach and watch as lover boy takes off and leaves you behind. Again,¡± the mercenary leered.


    Making a quiet noise of frustration, Mai counted out the coin and tucked her purse away. June stood and followed them outside, before pointing towards the northern gate. ¡°Better hurry.¡±


    Mai and Ty Lee took off running, leaving the older woman behind. As they crossed the open area between the village and the tree line, Ty Lee glanced towards the beach, then quietly called, ¡°Mai! Those water tribe guys are here!¡±


    ¡°Run faster!¡± Mai grunted as they hit the trail.


    Unfortunately, while their stamina was good, they couldn¡¯t run forever¡ªespecially not through the forest and in the dark. They had to slow down when the canopy grew too thick to see by the moonlight. They stopped to make themselves a couple of torches and took the opportunity the total darkness provided to catch their breath, knowing that the water tribesmen would have to slow down as well. Still, a jog was better than a walk, and Mai felt like they were making good time, even if the irrational part of her mind worried that Zuko would be gone again by the time they got to the clearing.


    It was some time later when they caught sight of something on the trail ahead of them and Ty Lee reached out and grabbed her sleeve. Quietly, Mai hissed, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You really can¡¯t see it,¡± Ty Lee shook her head. ¡°Come on. Slowly.¡±


    Seeing as her usually silly friend was unusually serious, Mai fell silent and did as she was told. As they advanced, the figure became clearer in the torch light, eventually resolving into a large panda shuffling along down the path. Mai sighed. ¡°It¡¯s just a panda¡ª¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s not,¡± Ty Lee shook her head. ¡°Be quiet and do what I do.¡±


    Frowning, Mai shut her mouth and followed as Ty Lee led them to the right side of the road. The panda¡¯s head shifted, one ear flicking as it glanced at them over its shoulder, before plodding a few steps over to the left side. When they drew even with it, Ty Lee turned and bowed. Mai raised an eyebrow, only to have to force herself not to respond when Ty Lee grabbed her shoulder and forced her into a bow alongside her¡ªthe other girl¡¯s grip like iron on her shoulder, even as her arm trembled.


    The panda paused in its shuffling gait and, to Mai¡¯s surprise, nodded its head, before turning away and continuing on. Ty Lee pulled at her shoulder and hurried her down the path at a fast walk. Mai held her tongue until Ty Lee let go and breathed a sigh of relief.


    ¡°Oh wow, I thought we were gonna die~!¡± the girl whimpered, her breaths coming in short pants.


    Mai eyed her friend skeptically. ¡°You¡¯re saying that was a spirit? It looked like a panda.¡±


    ¡°It was definitely a spirit!¡± Ty Lee shook her head. ¡°A strong one, too.¡±


    Mai had some doubts, but she couldn¡¯t readily disprove it. And it was kind of weird that it nodded back to them.


    Shaking her head, Mai picked up her pace a bit. ¡°Come on. It shouldn¡¯t be much further.¡±


    Finally, they came to a clearing. Off to one side, the remains of a camp fire sat in front of a tent, coals glowing in the dark. What drew the eye most was the ice formation around the tent¡ªa series of spikes sticking up from the ground that looked razor sharp.


    ¡°Sooo¡­ How do we want to do this?¡± Ty Lee wondered. ¡°We never talked about that.¡±


    Mai sighed, before marching across the clearing. Picking up a rock off the ground, she tossed it at the tent, where it hit the material with an audible thump. There was a quiet sound of shuffling from inside and she called, ¡°Zuko.¡±


    A groan sounded from inside the tent, then the flap opened and the familiar form of their friend stepped out¡ªshirtless and wearing only a set of the under-things Mai knew he preferred. ¡°Mai? Ty Lee? What the f¡ª¡± He sighed, reaching up and palming his face.


    ¡°Hi Zuzu~!¡± Ty Lee chirped.


    ¡°Hey, Ty Lee,¡± he grunted, before shooting an annoyed look at Mai. ¡°Do you have any idea what time it is? This couldn¡¯t have waited until morning?¡±


    Mai narrowed her eyes. ¡°Sure. We¡¯ll just come back after the water tribe ambush.¡±


    The tent flap opened again and a head of loose, bright silver hair poked out. ¡°The what?¡±


    ¡°Oh, some guys from the water tribe have been following you! I think their leader¡¯s name is¡­ Ham?¡±


    ¡°Hahn,¡± Mai rolled her eyes.


    ¡°Riiight! Him!¡± Ty Lee nodded.


    Zuko cast a look at the girl with her head poking out, before turning back to them. ¡°Stay there. We¡¯ll get dressed.¡±


    Mai nodded as Zuko ducked back into the tent.


    <hr>


    ¡°Are those your friends?¡±I sighed, pulling on my clothes and mostly ignoring Yue as she did the same. This wasn¡¯t the time to get distracted, no matter how nice the view was. ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± Yue murmured, and for a moment I wanted to ask what she thought she saw, but it could wait.


    ¡°How the hell did Hahn track us down?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Yue hemmed, ¡°the water tribe are good trackers. We kind of have to be, to get anything other than fish in the north. And they¡¯re warriors, so they¡¯re the best we have.¡±


    I turned and sent her an incredulous look. ¡°We didn¡¯t leave any tracks to follow. Someone must have spotted us.¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± Yue shrugged. ¡°Let¡¯s ask your friends. Maybe they know.¡±


    I conceded the point as I finished tying everything into place and adjusting my sword where I wanted it, in case this got messy. With that, Yue and I stepped out of the tent and Yue waved her hand, shifting the ice around us into water and sending that into the nearby stream. We joined Mai and Ty Lee at the camp fire, all of us keeping an eye on both the trail coming from town and the woods surrounding the clearing, in case they got cute and circled around.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    ¡°Alright, tell us what¡¯s going on.¡±


    Mai nodded. ¡°We intercepted a mercenary in the nearby town and got the story out of her. Hahn paid her to track you here. She led him right to you.¡±


    Frowning, I thought on what I knew before asking, ¡°Sexy older lady, wears a lot of black leather? Rides a big shirshu?¡±


    ¡°How did you know?!¡± Ty Lee asked, grinning.


    Mai¡¯s eyes unfocused for a moment as she quietly admitted, ¡°<sub>She </sub><sub>was</sub><sub> sexy. Maybe I should invest in some leather¡­</sub>¡±


    ¡°Lucky guess,¡± I grumbled. Though I suppose, if anything in this world would be able to track us by scent despite being in the air, it¡¯d be a shirshu. Well, if she¡¯s not here, we don¡¯t have to worry about fighting it.


    ¡°How any men did he bring?¡± Yue asked.


    ¡°Eight others. I think half of them are benders,¡± Ty Lee supplied.


    ¡°A full war band,¡± the princess murmured.


    I thought back to my time in the north for a moment. ¡°Sounds like the same assclowns who were hanging out with him.¡±


    Yue covered a smile at the description, but nodded. ¡°Yes. Units are formed during training and aren¡¯t often disbanded or changed unless a member dies. Those nine will be with each other for the next ten to twenty years.¡±


    ¡°So, how do you want to deal with them? Counter-ambush?¡± Mai asked, and I shook my head.


    ¡°Just wait for them. If they see us awake, I don¡¯t think Hahn¡¯s going to be able to contain himself. He¡¯s kind of an idiot like that. After that,¡± I glanced at Yue, ¡°I suppose we¡¯ll see.¡±


    My fiancee frowned minutely, but nodded. ¡°I would prefer we just send them home.¡±


    Mai met my eyes and raised an eyebrow, tawny eyes briefly glancing at Yue. That look spoke volumes, but I shook my head. ¡°So~,¡± Ty Lee grinned, ¡°if we¡¯re just waiting up for them to get here¡­ What have you been up to and how did this,¡± she gestured at Yue, ¡°happen?¡±


    ¡°How indeed,¡± Mai murmured, eyes narrowing minutely at me. Those usually warm eyes, a few shades off from my own gold, felt particularly hot at the moment.


    That was the thing most people failed to understand about Mai. She wasn¡¯t the cold type. Far from it. She just kept it all inside. She may seem cold and aloof to outsiders, but I¡¯d had years to study the creature that was Mai in her natural habitat and I knew her better than anyone.


    She is pissed. I¡¯m going to have to do some sweet talking if I don¡¯t want her trying to tie me up and drag me back.


    ¡°Well, you see, it all started when I got lost in a storm. I was already out to sea by the time I realized it was coming¡­¡±


    I kept my eyes on the path from the forest as I spoke, waiting and listening for any sign of Hahn as the others, despite paying rapt attention, likewise kept an eye out for trouble.


    ¡°¡­And that was when I spotted a Fire Nation cruiser coming for the island, so I took off.¡±


    ¡°We knew that was you!¡± Ty Lee laughed.


    ¡°But a lion turtle? You really expect us to believe¡ª¡±


    We all jumped as the night was rent by roar, followed by a high, womanly scream from nearby¡ªand then the screams of men¡­ Then silence, as even the sounds of the forest fell off. I summoned fire to my hands as Yue pulled a streamer of water from the creek to surround us.


    Mai cast a glance at me before nodding towards the trail. ¡°Zuko, go check it out.¡±


    ¡°Why me?!¡± I hissed.


    ¡°You¡¯re a man, aren¡¯t you?!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s sexist! Equal rights, equal frights. You go check it out!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve got your own light!¡±


    ¡°Fuck that, I¡¯m not getting ganked by something nasty in the dark.¡± I shook my head and put out my flame, before creating a sphere of bright chi and tossing it towards the trail. We tensed as a figure loomed large in the darkness¡­


    <hr>


    They were so close Hahn could taste it. Soon enough, he¡¯d have Zuko¡¯s head in a bag, and then Yue¡­ Well, he wasn¡¯t going to wait. No, better to claim her on the spot. Teach her her place and keep anyone else from getting any ideas about going after her.


    One of the men signaled for his attention and, when Hahn looked over, quietly said, ¡°I smell smoke. We¡¯re getting close.¡±


    Hahn nodded as he and the others started getting ready, checking their weapons and water for the benders of the group. They slowed down to a crawl and soon enough, Hahn could hear voices through the trees. His jaw clenched as he recognized the tones of Zuko¡¯s voice, but not the words he was saying.


    ¡°They¡¯re awake. Should we wait?¡± one of the men asked, and Hahn shook his head.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get closer and observe first.¡±


    They moved up the trail and eventually, ahead of them, the trees opened up into a clearing. With the more sparse trees and thinning of the canopy, some light made it through from the moon and stars, and they could even make out the very faint red glow of warm coals. Through the trees, they could see the shapes of four people sitting around the remains of a camp fire.


    Perfect. Their night vision will be ruined and they¡¯re distracted. We¡¯ll get a bit closer and plan out how we¡¯ll attack. We may need to circle around. Or not¡­ Send two of the men to circle around, wait for them to get into position, then have the main force step out and draw their attention. Zuko runs his fucking mouth, so he¡¯ll be easy to distract while the others slip up from behind.


    That was when something on the path ahead caught Hahn¡¯s eye. Moonlight splashed off the large, lumbering form of a bear. It was black and white, and not a breed he was familiar with, but it was definitely a bear¡ªthough much smaller than the polar bears they had up north.


    He would have ignored it and let it continue on its way, but there was just one problem with that¡­


    It¡¯s heading right for the camp. It¡¯ll alert them. As an afterthought, the idea of bringing back an exotic black and white bearskin rug was kind of appealing and would definitely be something to brag about.


    Making a snap decision, Hahn drew his sword. He rushed forward, the others close behind, moving as silently as he could. Hefting his sword, Hahn aimed for the animal¡¯s head. He¡¯d only get one shot at putting it down silently, so he had to make it count.


    Something must have given him away however, as the animal¡¯s ears flicked and its head abruptly turned. Hahn swung down with all his strength, but the bear moved and instead of hitting its skull, the whale bone blade landed in the thick fat and fur around its neck¡ªdrawing blood, but only working to infuriate the animal.


    The bear reared back and stood up.


    And up.


    And up.


    The group froze as the ¡®bear¡¯ swelled in size, its form changing into some grotesque, four armed monstrosity with a mouth that looked like it could swallow them whole. That mouth opened and it roared. Someone screamed¡ªdefinitely not Hahn, if he survived to tell the tale. It was¡ª


    The monster swiped its claws and everything went black.


    <hr>


    Mai was the first to recognize it as she sighed and the tension drained from her body. ¡°Oh. It¡¯s just the spirit bear.¡±


    The black and white form of a panda lumbered into camp and I grinned, even as Ty Lee tensed and Yue looked unsure. They looked even more unsure when its plodding gait took it straight towards us.


    ¡°Uhh, maybe we should leave,¡± Ty Lee murmured, backing away slowly.


    Looking at the bear, I followed its gaze and chuckled, before reaching out and grabbing Yue. ¡°Don¡¯t bother. He¡¯s just coming to say hello.¡±


    ¡°Eh?!¡± the princess blurted, confused but not resisting as I pulled her towards it. ¡°Zuko?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s Hei Bai, the local spirit. He¡¯s harmless. Friendly, even. Well, that is, unless you piss him off,¡± I explained, as seeing the bear jogged my memories of what I¡¯d actually seen in the show. ¡°I saw some bamboo nearby. Ty Lee, could you bring us some?¡±


    ¡°¡­Alright, Zuzu,¡± the acrobat murmured, and I heard her move to do so.


    The bear came to a stop and plopped down on its ass as we got close, then inclined its head in a bow. We stopped a few feet from it and Yue quickly returned the gesture. ¡°Um, hello?¡±


    The bear chuffed and shifted forward, before thumping Yue¡¯s hand with his head. She hesitantly reached out and petted the big animal¡¯s head. Hei Bai¡¯s eyes closed and Yue, seeing he seemed to enjoy it, grew more sure of herself and more enthusiastic as she scratched the spirit¡¯s head. Ty Lee approached with a small bundle of bamboo, then quickly backed off after handing it to me. I offered one of the sprigs to the bear and he happily took one and began chewing.


    ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s a good boy. Come on, Ty Lee. Mai. Don¡¯t be shy.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m good!¡± Ty Lee squeaked, shaking her head.


    Mai considered, before shrugging and moving up to take one of the sprigs and feed the bear herself. ¡°This wasn¡¯t how I was expecting tonight to end.¡±


    ¡°Could be worse,¡± I shrugged, handing her the bundle of sprigs. ¡°Here. I¡¯m going to go check out that noise. I¡¯ll be back.¡±


    I conjured another sphere of chi and Hei Bai¡¯s eyes snapped open. The spirit studied me and I held its gaze for a few moments, before heading towards the forest trail, feeling the bear watching the whole time. Apparently, that little trick had caught its attention.


    Moving onto the trail, I walked down it a ways, following our tracks and those of the bear as I went, until I found what I was looking for. More tracks¡ªa group of nine other people, who had been following the trail. A place where bear tracks shifted into something enormous. The fading stench of human urine and fecal matter, but no actual sign. A few drops of blood splattered on the ground.


    ¡°The hell happened here?¡± I muttered, crouching and studying the blood and where it lay, right where the set of bear tracks shifted into monster tracks. ¡°Did¡­ did those idiots attack it?¡±


    Standing, I inspected the woods to either side of the trail. I found neither hide nor hair of what I suspected to be Hahn and his men. No bodies. No blood. Just a bit more bamboo than I remembered there being on the sides of the trail.


    Didn¡¯t the bear send people to the spirit world when it got pissy? I mused, thinking back to the show I only vaguely remembered. Is that what it did here? I don¡¯t think it even eats meat.


    Shaking my head, I headed back to camp, extinguishing the floating lights once I made it into the clearing. The others turned to look as I approached and Mai asked, ¡°Well? What was it?¡±


    ¡°Pretty sure that scream was Hahn and his boys.¡± Moving closer to Hei Bai, I studied the spirit for a few moments before finding what I was looking for, where the fur transitioned from white to black. I carefully poked it and the bear grunted. I pulled my hand away, covered in blood. ¡°They attacked him alright.¡±


    ¡°Oh no, that¡¯s bad,¡± Ty Lee whispered. ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°Pretty sure they got¡­ spirited away.¡± The response was instant as Mai reflexively smacked my arm and glared. ¡°Ow. Help. Abuse.¡±


    ¡°You deserved it,¡± she grumbled, as Yue giggled.


    Looking up at me, she asked, ¡°Could you get the spirit water?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I nodded, and headed to the tent. It only took a moment to search Yue¡¯s pack, and I came back with the metal jug she kept in the bag¡ªwith the second one being in the boat.


    Yue opened it up and pulled a small streamer of glowing water out. Hei Bai turned his head and offered his neck/shoulder where the blow had struck. We watched as Yue quickly knitted the skin back together, the glowing water sinking into the spirit before disappearing entirely. ¡°There! All better!¡±


    The bear chuffed and bumped Yue¡¯s leg with his head again, before standing and plodding off, towards the tree line. Chuckling, I pulled her into a side on hug. ¡°I think you made a friend.¡±


    ¡°I did,¡± she nodded, beaming a happy smile. ¡°I bet I can make two more.¡±


    Shaking my head, I pulled her towards the tent. ¡°How about we save it for in the morning? It¡¯s late¡ª¡±


    Yue pouted up at me. ¡°Why don¡¯t you go to bed? I need to talk to Mai!¡±


    ¡°If you say so. Turn in when you¡¯re finished. We¡¯ve got an early start.¡±


    ¡°Mm!¡± Yue nodded.


    I sent a look towards Mai, who glared at me. ¡°We should be okay to just turn in. Don¡¯t think we have anything to worry about. Pretty sure Hei Bai¡¯s hanging around nearby somewhere.¡±


    ¡°Are you just saying that so you can run away the moment we¡¯re asleep?¡±


    I laughed. ¡°No, Mai. I promise we¡¯re not going to run away from you in the middle of the night.¡±


    She eyed me skeptically, before speaking the part I¡¯d left unspoken. ¡°You¡¯ll wait until the morning to do it.¡±


    Grinning, I shrugged. ¡°You know me too well.¡±


    ¡°Promise not to run off at all,¡± my friend demanded.


    ¡°Ah, fine, fine. Go on, enjoy your girl talk. I¡¯m going to catch some sleep.¡±


    I left them to it, starting to undo my belt as I made my way to the tent. Ty Lee wished me a good night before joining the others, probably to gossip. I finished undressing and dropped back onto my bed roll, climbing into the extra large sleeping bag Yue had sewn together and was out in moments.


    <hr>


    I carefully disentangled myself from Yue drooling on my arm and crept silently out of my sleeping bag just as the first rays of sun started to lighten the clearing. After taking a few moments to get dressed, I slipped outside and stretched, then took a few minutes to take care of the usual morning necessities. Not seeing any sign of Mai or Ty Lee aside from their tent, and Ty Lee¡¯s snoring sounding more like a bear, I pulled out my knife and grinned as I got to work.


    It was a few moments of work to carve a quick release stake and plant it in the ground, then bend a nearby sapling over and put tension on it as I tied it off. It was as I was securing the bottom of the tent to the sapling with ropes that someone fake coughed quietly behind me.


    ¡°Ahem.¡±


    I sighed and turned to find Mai standing there, hands crossed under her breasts as she glared at me. Giving the trap up as a bad job, I let the tree go with a whoosh that startled Ty Lee out of her snoring. Standing, I dusted my hands off and made my way over to Mai.


    Her glare intensified as I rested my hands on her hips. ¡°Anyone ever tell you you¡¯re sexiest when you¡¯re angry. Because you are.¡±


    A faint blush dusted Mai¡¯s cheeks, but her expression didn¡¯t change. ¡°Stop running from me.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not running from you,¡± I countered.


    ¡°Then you¡¯ll come back with us?¡±


    ¡°Mm, no,¡± I shook my head.


    ¡°Why not?¡±


    I blinked, before sending her a look that questioned her intelligence, or sanity. ¡°Because I don¡¯t want the old man to finish the job. Give me some time and I¡¯ll be back to boot his ass out of my chair.¡±


    ¡°Azula wants you to return now.¡±


    Sighing, I shook my head. ¡°Things are going too well for me to come back any time soon. I¡¯m making connections. Inroads with the other nations,¡± I gestured at my tent, where I could faintly hear Yue stirring. ¡°I¡¯ve advanced my bending further in the last few months than I have in years. I just need time.¡±


    Mai took a deep breath in and let it out in a huff, before turning her head away. Her arms uncrossed and she stepped closer, wrapping them around my waist and dropping her chin on my shoulder. Quietly, she asked, ¡°<sub>Do you love her</sub>?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re working on it,¡± I admitted.


    Nodding once, she was silent for a few moments before saying, ¡°Yue told us what she intends. I don¡¯t like it.¡±


    ¡°Neither do I.¡±


    ¡°Shut up,¡± Mai demanded, digging her chin into my shoulder. I shut up and after a moment, she continued. ¡°I don¡¯t like it, but I¡¯ll go along with it. But you can¡¯t neglect me.¡± I felt her finger nails dig into my back. ¡°I don¡¯t even know where I stand with you.¡±


    I gave her a squeeze and pulled back. A flash of disappointment crossed her face, before I cupped her face and leaned in, pressing my lips to Mai¡¯s in a kiss. A quiet sound escaped her throat and her hands tightened on me, as her mouth opened and her tongue darted out.


    We broke the kiss and Mai sighed, resting her head against my chest. ¡°I missed you.¡±


    ¡°I missed you too, Mai.¡±


    ¡°Aww, it¡¯s so cute~!¡±


    Mai growled quietly and turned a glare on where Ty Lee and Yue were watching with amused looks. Leaning forward, I pecked her cheek, then let go. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s break camp and head back to town. Where did you two leave your ship? We¡¯ll give you a ride.¡±


    ¡°You say that like you think we¡¯re not coming with you, Zuzu,¡± Ty Lee turned an amused look on me.


    I shook my head. ¡°You¡¯re not. You¡¯re going back to Azula.¡±


    ¡°Huh? Why would we go back without you?¡± the girl asked.


    ¡°Because I need you to spin a tale for me. Something that will keep Ozai off my back. Give me a few minutes and I¡¯ll explain along the way.¡±


    ¡°You mean give you five minutes to make up the plan on the spot?¡± Mai asked knowingly, and I sent her an amused look.


    ¡°Maybe. Does it matter if I planned it out months ago or just now, as long as it works?¡±


    The three girls exchanged looks before Ty Lee answered, ¡°It definitely does!¡±


    ¡°Absolutely,¡± Yue agreed.


    ¡°Ganging up on me already,¡± I grumbled, hiding a smile as I moved to gather our things.


    Soon enough, we were on the road back to Senlin village and I began laying out what I had in mind. ¡°So, you¡¯ll go back and tell Azula I refuse to return from my voluntary self-exile until I can restore my lost honor and my worth in our father¡¯s eyes by hunting down the Avatar¡­¡±

 16

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    16


    <hr>


    ¡°¡­And did I mention your auras are so cute together?!¡±


    Yue met my eyes and I mouthed, ¡®I told you so.¡¯


    ¡°You didn¡¯t, but thank you for noticing,¡± she smiled at Ty Lee, even as Mai rolled her eyes.


    I stretched my hands over my head as we left the forest, cracking my back and shifting my pack around to a more comfortable position. Turning towards the beach, I squinted as I spotted a big lump sitting beside my boat. ¡°The hell is that?¡±


    The others followed my gaze before Mai answered. ¡°Oh, that. We hired a mercenary to guard the boat.¡±


    ¡°By which you mean, make sure I didn¡¯t leave without you,¡± I translated.


    The corners of Mai¡¯s lips twitched as she threatened to smile. ¡°You know me too well.¡±


    ¡°I mean, what did you expect, Zuzu? You¡¯ve been running from us for months! We were getting tired of it!¡± Ty Lee complained. ¡°It was starting to turn into something out of those plays where they start running through the audience.¡±


    That was my own personal contribution to theater here, the last time we had gone to see a play as a family. I¡¯d written out a few short skits from what I remembered of Benny Hill and the Three Stooges, found a few moments to slip away during an intermission to ¡®use the restroom,¡¯ slipped into the back rooms, and had eventually found where the theater troupe¡¯s manager was set up before dropping the scroll off among his things. We¡¯d never had a chance to go back, so I wasn¡¯t sure it had even been read, let alone taken off.


    ¡°Well, can you blame me? As far as I knew, dear old dad had put the word out and every Fire Nation asset in the world was looking to mount my head to send it back to him.¡±


    Ty Lee nodded, before pouting. ¡°Still can¡¯t believe we¡¯re going back.¡±


    ¡°For Azula,¡± Mai reminded, before turning a knowing look on me. ¡°She¡¯s going to set off after you the moment we tell her what we¡¯ve learned.¡±


    ¡°Probably,¡± I nodded. ¡°Just make sure you keep the truth from her until you¡¯re alone and far away from the Fire Nation and any potential eavesdroppers.¡±


    ¡°So I¡¯ll get to meet her?¡± Yue perked up with a smile.


    Mai, Ty Lee, and I all exchanged looks. The acrobat laughed awkwardly. ¡°Maybe we should put that off¡­¡±


    ¡°It can¡¯t be that bad,¡± Yue shook her head.


    Mai raised an eyebrow. ¡°Just what has Zuko told you about his sister?¡±


    Yue shrugged. ¡°He told me she could be¡­ difficult.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s putting it mildly,¡± Mai murmured.


    ¡°Haha, yeeeah¡­ she¡¯s crazy.¡± Ty Lee¡¯s eyes went wide and she frantically hissed, ¡°Don¡¯t tell her I said that!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t tell her that. Or call her crazy to her face,¡± I sighed. ¡°Azula¡¯s a good girl, she¡¯s just¡­ troubled.¡±


    Mai scoffed. ¡°She only listens to you, and she only keeps us around because we¡¯re useful.¡±


    I nodded, and Ty Lee picked up from there. ¡°When she hears Zuzu¡¯s engaged, Mount Azula is gonna go up! The only question is how much of the Fire Nation she takes with her!¡±


    Blinking, Yue asked, ¡°Why would she be upset that her brother is engaged? You would think that would make her happy.¡±


    Mai and Ty Lee traded another of those looks before focusing on me. I let out a quiet half sigh, half groan. ¡°Do you want to tell her, or should we?¡± Mai asked. I waved in her general direction and Mai nodded, before fixing Yue with an amused look. ¡°Azula is a, what was it you called her?¡± she looked to me, before apparently remembering. ¡°Brocon.¡±


    ¡°A what?¡± Yue asked, confused.


    I groaned louder and Ty Lee giggled. ¡°She just loves her big brother very much.¡± Yue sent her a confused look and Ty Lee emphasized, ¡°Really loves her brother.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± Yue blinked, then her eyes went wide as she looked to me and blushed. ¡°Oh! Really?!¡±


    ¡°Unfortunately,¡± I confirmed.


    It was my turn to be on the end of one of Yue¡¯s confused looks. ¡°¡­I don¡¯t see the problem? I¡¯ll just talk to her and tell her¡ª¡± Yue trailed off as Mai and Ty Lee laughed. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°If I can¡¯t have him to myself, no one can,¡± Mai did her best Azula impression.


    ¡°Mai, Ty Lee! Kidnap Zuzu for me while I put this ¡®fiancee¡¯ on a boat back to where she belongs!¡± Ty Lee added, fighting a grin.


    I couldn¡¯t help but get in on the act. ¡°Dear brother, this is for your own good. A future Fire Lord doesn¡¯t need some water tribe hussy whispering in his ear. What would the people think?¡± Shaking my head, I had to admit, ¡°That¡¯s actually a valid argument and one she¡¯s definitely going to make.¡±


    Mai nodded. ¡°The first of many. I hope you have your defense prepared well ahead of time.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve got a few arguments handy,¡± I confirmed.


    Yue frowned, studying the ground as she walked for a moment before asking, ¡°You once told me she only respects strength. What if I show her I¡¯m her equal?¡±


    Ty Lee burst out laughing while Mai snorted. ¡°That, I¡¯d like to see.¡±


    ¡°She might actually be able to do it,¡± I countered, and both of my friends stopped laughing. ¡°People say Azula was blessed by Agni, Yue is actually blessed by Tui.¡±


    ¡°So that¡¯s why the spirit¡­¡± Ty Lee murmured, and I nodded.


    ¡°Then she might have a chance,¡± Mai hummed.


    Our conversation came to a pause as we neared the boat, where the big, furry form of a shirshu lounged on the beach. Sitting atop the animal was a very fit older woman in dark leather, whose eyes sought out first Yue then myself as she looked us over as we approached. A smirk pulled one corner of her lips up and she slid down off of the animal to land lightly on her feet.


    ¡°I can see why she left home.¡±


    ¡°Well hello to you too,¡± I sent the mercenary a grin, offering my hand. ¡°Zuko.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m June,¡± the woman introduced herself, shaking my hand.


    ¡°This is the mercenary who tracked us down?¡± Yue asked, arching an eyebrow.


    ¡°Bounty hunter, mercenary, tracker. Pretty much whatever you need done, if you¡¯ve got a job and the coin to pay to see it gets done.¡±


    ¡°Speaking of,¡± Mai turned a look on June. ¡°There wasn¡¯t any combat¡ª¡±


    ¡°No refunds,¡± June immediately countered.


    Mai looked annoyed at that and I reached out and patted her shoulder. ¡°Just give it up, Mai.¡±


    June grinned. ¡°He gets it.¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯ll excuse us, we need to start packing and getting ready to depart,¡± I nodded, then moved around the shirshu and hopped onto my boat. I took a moment to cut the spot welds I¡¯d made to the door and Yue and I headed inside. Behind us, I heard three sets of footsteps following and turned to see Mai, Ty Lee, and surprisingly June as well. The three of them looked around the interior of the cabin as I opened the shades to let in some light to see by.


    ¡°What is all of this?¡± Mai asked, moving over to one of the chests I¡¯d secured to the floor with ropes.


    ¡°A little of this, little of that,¡± I shrugged as I began putting away dirty clothes into the box for them, to wash later.


    Mai untied one of the ropes and opened the chest, revealing it to be filled with gold and jewels that shined the moment the light caught them. June whistled at the sight. ¡°So that¡¯s why you hit those pirates.¡±


    ¡°No, we hit them because pirates are assholes,¡± I shook my head and the woman nodded. ¡°The spoils were just a bonus. I¡¯d have done it for free and considered it a service to the rest of the world.¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say free, but yeah,¡± the woman agreed.


    Yue turned around as she finished stowing her things, eyeing the older woman curiously. ¡°Your job is finished, isn¡¯t it? Not to be impolite, but why are you still here?¡±


    ¡°Color me curious,¡± June shrugged.


    ¡°She wants to see it,¡± Mai answered, and I sent her a questioning look.


    The mercenary nodded. ¡°Yup. I figured out how you two cut across land with this thing, but I want to see it for myself.¡±


    Frowning, I closed the chest with my clothes and secured it, before eyeing the woman skeptically. ¡°What¡¯s in it for me? I trust these two,¡± I gestured to Ty Lee and Mai, ¡°but I just met you. You¡¯re a merc. Your loyalty is for sale, by definition. Right now, you suspect, but you don¡¯t actually know the method. If we answer that, what¡¯s to stop you from selling the information to the highest bidder? Honestly, the argument for silencing you permanently is pretty strong, versus the risk of the secret getting out before I want it to. So¡­ make your pitch. Sell yourself. Convince me you¡¯re worth keeping on the payroll as something other than a liability.¡±


    ¡°Heh. Alright,¡± June nodded, crossing her arms as she leaned against the door frame, not looking bothered in the least at me just putting it out there that killing her to keep her quiet might be on the table. She began ticking off points on her fingers, ¡°I can track anyone, anywhere. I¡¯ve been across the Earth Kingdom and much of the Fire Nation a few times now and I know them like the back of my hand. I know all the secret ways in and out of every Earth Kingdom city that they don¡¯t want anyone knowing about, including Ba Sing Se. I know the secret to the tunnel to Omashu. I either personally know or know someone who knows every mover and shaker in the Earth Kingdom, on both sides of the law¡ªand about half of those in the Fire Nation. I have friends in low places and people love to talk, so I either have or can get dirt on just about anyone. And most importantly, you said it yourself, Prince Zuko. I can be bought. I don¡¯t owe allegiance to any one nation or group. As you said, I don¡¯t know what you have planned, but I suspect some things, and if I¡¯m right, you need all the help you can get. You¡¯re going to need someone like me, with an ear to the ground and all the connections that you can¡¯t be seen to have, especially once everything settles down.¡±


    I considered it for a moment before nodding. ¡°Friends in low places, huh? Alright. How much to put you permanently on the payroll?¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°Mm, that¡¯s going to be expensive,¡± the mercenary murmured, a smirk pulling her dark red painted lips up. ¡°How about we try it on a trial basis and see how we like it, instead? Say, you pay for my services for a year?¡±


    ¡°Five years,¡± I countered.


    ¡°Three,¡± came the immediate counter offer. ¡°And I¡¯ll take one of those chests.¡±


    I chuckled. They weren¡¯t small chests. The smallest there was about 2¡¯x1¡¯x1.5¡¯. ¡°I¡¯m sure you would. But I¡¯d rather have an actual number and formalize everything with a contract.¡±


    June nodded. ¡°Alright.¡±


    ¡°Uh guys? How long is this going to take?¡± Ty Lee asked, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other, as though the act of standing still and listening to negotiations physically pained her.


    Thinking about it for a moment, I guessed, ¡°About an hour or so.¡±


    ¡°You mind if I¡­?¡± she asked, jerking her thumb towards the door.


    I rolled my eyes and nodded. Yue giggled. ¡°I¡¯ll come with you. I sat through enough negotiations at home!¡±


    ¡°Traitor,¡± I accused, and the girl stuck her tongue out as she hurried out the door with Ty Lee. Turning to Mai, I sent her a smile. ¡°Mai. I could really use your help.¡±


    Mai hummed, seeming to consider it for a moment, before asking, ¡°What¡¯s in it for me?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll rub your feet the way you like,¡± I offered.


    Mai scoffed. ¡°You¡¯ll need to rub more than that.¡±


    ¡°Full body massage. You¡¯ve got a deal,¡± I grinned.


    Sighing, Mai gestured towards the small writing desk secured to the floor. ¡°Let¡¯s get started.¡±


    Perhaps an hour later, maybe a little longer, we had coin counted and filling the smallest chest and an agreement hammered out. I thought the terms were more than generous myself, while Mai thought I was giving away far too much. It was effectively a retainer contract, similar to what one would see for a hired bodyguard. Other than the pay being higher than what Mai would have liked, I¡¯d also thrown in some bonuses¡ªnamely, agreeing to reimburse any of June¡¯s expenses while she was actively on the job as long as she kept detailed records, along with offering her lodging when possible.


    Because I was worried that my potentially being on the outs with the Fire Nation would cause her problems, the contract stipulated that it was actually Mai employing June¡ªMai, who was herself technically employed by Azula. It should keep any issues from arising with Fire Nation troops or the command structure. June didn¡¯t hesitate to sign after reading it over thoroughly for any potential legal traps, quickly followed by Mai, with each of them keeping a copy for themselves and a third copy being put into my journal.


    ¡°Alright,¡± I stood, cracking my back. ¡°Let¡¯s go round up the others and I¡¯ll take you up so you can see what all the fuss is about. Then you three can get on that cruiser and go break the news to Azula.¡±


    Soon enough, Yue and I were unrolling the balloon from its storage container on the top of the boat with help from the others. Yue held the opening in place over the hot air pipe and the balloon quickly filled. Once it was full enough to stand on its own, everyone moved back to the rear and I got us in the air.


    ¡°Whoooa~! This is amazing!¡± Ty Lee yelled, leaning so far out over the railing that if it weren¡¯t her, I¡¯d be worried she would fall.


    June whistled quietly as she took in the surrounding landscape. ¡°Looks like I bet on the right ostrich horse,¡± she murmured, turning her dark eyes on me and sizing me up.


    It was Mai who pointed out the obvious. ¡°This thing doesn¡¯t just sit in one place though, does it?¡±


    ¡°It does not,¡± I shook my head. Pulling the lever to switch the gearing over from the screw to the propeller, I settled in beside the engine and got it going, turning us back northwest and sending us over the forest as we ascended further before I leveled us out. I cut back towards the ocean after we passed the clearing with Hei Bai¡¯s statue. Once we were over open water, I left the engine to run on residual heat for a moment before moving to the railing, where I sent a series of fireballs down into the water, where they exploded into gouts of steam.


    I saw the moment it began to click what they were seeing¡ªfirst with June, followed an instant later by Mai, before even Ty Lee caught on and her usually chipper attitude abruptly took a nose dive as she went still and silent. Sending the three women a smile, I asked, ¡°So¡­ we¡¯re going to keep this quiet for now, right?¡±


    ¡°Mhmm,¡± June nodded.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Mai confirmed.


    I turned to Ty Lee, who abruptly smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about, Zuzu! Nothing interesting happened at all today!¡±


    ¡°Good answer.¡±


    I put us down in the water just off the beach from where we¡¯d started. Sending Mai and Ty Lee a smile, I said, ¡°Take care of yourselves.¡± I turned a look on June and grinned. ¡°Try to keep them out of trouble.¡±


    ¡°Do I get paid extra for that?¡± the woman grinned.


    ¡°It¡¯s in your contract, under ¡®hazard pay.¡¯¡±


    ¡°Later, boss,¡± the merc chuckled, before making her way to the railing and walking out until she could drop onto the sand as opposed to into the water.


    Ty Lee stood up on her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around me in a hug. ¡°It was good to see you again, Zuzu! We missed you!¡±


    ¡°I missed you too,¡± I squeezed her back. ¡°If everything goes to plan, we can all meet up again soon anyway.¡±


    ¡°Mm!¡± Ty Lee nodded, before pulling herself up a little bit more and pressing her lips to my own. She giggled and let go, before running away along one of the boat¡¯s railings and jumping onto the beach.


    ¡°It was nice meeting you!¡± Yue called after the acrobat, who waved back from the beach.


    It was Mai¡¯s turn next. She didn¡¯t waste time with words and instead stepped up and kissed me¡ªa kiss I returned as Yue giggled nearby. Breaking the kiss, Mai pressed her forehead into mine and glared at me. ¡°You owe me that massage.¡±


    ¡°Next time. I promise.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll hold you to it,¡± she murmured, stealing one more peck before sighing and pulling away.


    ¡°Think about what we talked about,¡± Yue told her as Mai followed June and Ty Lee¡¯s example of using the railing.


    Turning back, Mai considered Yue for a moment before nodding. ¡°I don¡¯t like it, but I¡¯ll go along with it. I¡¯ll try to convince Azula, but you should probably start preparing to fight for your life.¡± She glanced at me before turning a threatening look on Yue. ¡°Look after him. Don¡¯t let him do anything stupid.¡±


    Yue giggled and turned an impish look my way. ¡°It¡¯s far too late for that, but it worked out last time¡­¡±


    Mai left with a quiet huff and Yue moved over to sit beside me. I got us into the air but kept us just above the treeline for now, moving east and inland towards the mountains, well away from where the girls¡¯ ship might spot us before I would climb and adjust course south.


    ¡°Your friends are nice. I like them,¡± Yue beamed from beside me, clinging onto my arm.


    ¡°They¡¯re pretty great,¡± I agreed. Deciding to address the conversational elephant, I asked, ¡°You¡¯re sure about this whole ¡®a wife from every kingdom¡¯ thing?¡±


    ¡°Mm. I¡¯m sure,¡± the blonde nodded.


    ¡°I meant Yue the woman, not Yue the princess.¡±


    Turning her head up, she pecked my cheek with a quick kiss. ¡°I know. I¡¯ll admit, it¡¯s not what I was expecting. Part of me wants to say I hate it. That I want to keep you to myself. Another part thinks, maybe it would be nice to have sisters.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t actually want or need that in my life, you know.¡±


    Yue nodded, before asking, ¡°But do you hate it so much that you can¡¯t do it?¡±


    Blowing out a sigh, I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯d be lying if I said I did. I¡¯m a man. The idea is appealing, even if I know it¡¯s going to take a lot of work. And then there¡¯s the practical aspect. You¡¯re right that tying the Fire Nation to the other nations through marriage is probably the best chance we have at lasting peace. I¡¯d be neglecting my duty if I didn¡¯t at least consider it seriously. Luckily, we¡¯ve got a few years before we have to make any kind of decision.¡±


    ¡°And we still have to find someone from the Earth Kingdom to fit that role,¡± Yue mused. ¡°But isn¡¯t it more, the Earth Kingdoms, and they¡¯re not really unified? Wouldn¡¯t picking a noble or even a princess from one upset the others?¡±


    ¡°They are. And probably,¡± I agreed. ¡°It¡¯d be a miracle to find the one girl in all of the Earth Kingdom who isn¡¯t explicitly tied to any one kingdom but who they would all have to respect.¡±


    Glancing at my compass and checking my journal¡¯s map, I adjusted course slightly for our fuel stop before plotting the route I¡¯d take to Gaoling. As I did, Yue sighed and leaned back in her seat. ¡°What are the odds of someone like that even existing, let alone finding her?¡±


    ¡°About one in a few million,¡± I mused, closing the journal. ¡°But we only have to get lucky once.¡±


    <hr>


    ¡°Toph? Where¡¯d you go, sweetie?¡±


    Toph forced herself to hold in her sigh as she felt her mother approaching, her steps along the garden path letting Toph know exactly how close she was¡ªand how much time Toph had to get her ¡®perfect, helpless, doll daughter¡¯ mask back on. Not to mention making sure the ground wasn¡¯t uneven and didn¡¯t show signs of her bending.


    ¡°Here, mother,¡± Toph called, once she finished smoothing out the ground.


    ¡°There you are!¡± her mother sighed as she rounded a bend in the trail and found Toph waiting, sitting on the grass. ¡°Your maid just left you here?! You¡¯re going to stain your dress!¡±


    Toph turned her face up towards her mother, her lips pulling down as she did. ¡°What color is grass again?¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s green. Why do you ask?¡±


    Toph mimed looking down, patting the dress in question. ¡°Did I put on the white one this morning, or the green one?¡±


    Her mother paused, then let out a quiet, annoyed sound. ¡°The green one. It can still stain.¡±


    Toph pushed herself to her feet and brushed herself off. ¡°It feels fine. As for Su, I sent her to go get lunch for us. We¡¯re going to have a picnic in the garden.¡±


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be so familiar with the help, dear,¡± her mother murmured.


    Toph wanted to say that the help were the only people in the household who didn¡¯t treat her like glass, but she somehow managed to contain herself. Instead, she asked, ¡°Was there something you needed?¡±


    ¡°Oh, right! Yes. We¡¯ll be having a few guests over tonight, so I¡¯ll need you to look your best,¡± her mother said, her tone excited and her heartbeat even picking up a little at the thought, giving Toph a good idea that whatever this was, it was important to her mother and she really wanted it to go over well.


    Resisting the urge to groan, Toph asked, ¡°Is this another marriage interview?¡±


    Her mother¡¯s heart jumped¡ªpanic. ¡°What? No! What makes you think that? I know you hate those boring old things.¡±


    Your tone, Toph mentally groaned as her mother immediately confirmed her suspicion. Forcing a smile onto her face, she said, ¡°Oh, that¡¯s great news. I¡¯m so glad I won¡¯t have to disappoint someone, because I¡¯m not really feeling well, and I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll be able to come tonight. I was honestly thinking I might have to turn in early¡ª¡±


    ¡°No!¡± her mother yelped, waving her hands back and forth as her heart rate spiked again, panic increasing. ¡°No, no. You can¡¯t!¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t? But I¡¯m really¡ª¡±


    ¡°It, it won¡¯t be for long, I promise!¡± her mother lied, before her tone shifted to pleading. ¡°Listen, honey, we reeeally need you to be there tonight. Everything has to go well. This is really important to us, okay?¡±


    Toph shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t make any promises¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not asking,¡± her mother¡¯s tone firmed. ¡°You will be there, you will look your best, and you will be on your best behavior. Your father and I don¡¯t ask much of you, and when we do, you know it¡¯s always with your best interests in mind. So you are going to do this for us, Toph. Do I make myself clear?¡±


    Considering it for a moment, Toph smiled. ¡°I understand, mother.¡±


    Her mother breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Good! I¡¯m glad. Now, if you¡¯re really not feeling well, why don¡¯t you go lie down and have a nap before dinner. That way, you¡¯ll be rested and refreshed for tonight.¡±


    ¡°I think I will,¡± Toph forced her smile to stay in place as her mother¡¯s hand sought out her own and pulled her towards the house, as though she couldn¡¯t find her own way. And as they went, she began to plan.


    Looks like the Blind Bandit may be making a comeback soon. I still have my winnings hidden away from the last few times I¡¯ve fought. Bet it all on myself, win big, then¡­


    Cold, hard reality brought her plans up short. While she could navigate the world just fine without sight, and she felt confident that she could probably survive most threats in the wilderness or on the road, the fact was that being blind meant certain things were beyond her. She didn¡¯t actually know how to survive on her own, for one. For another, she had no actual survival skills¡ªno knowledge of where to find food or water, no knowledge of how to prepare meat if she actually killed something to eat, nor the knowledge of how to start a fire. She was strong, but Toph didn¡¯t believe she could carry food and water enough to walk the distance between Gaoling and wherever she decided to go.


    Then, there was the problem of actually getting anywhere she wanted to go. She would be almost entirely dependent upon strangers for kindness, and Toph knew better. She left the Beifong estate grounds alone frequently and had learned the hard way that if people saw what they thought was weakness, they would absolutely try to take advantage. She couldn¡¯t count the number of times people had tried to scam her out of paying the right amount, giving her back her change, giving her the wrong thing¡ªand those were the cases where people just tried to get away with petty shit. She¡¯d been stalked through the streets before. Followed until she lost her pursuers. Surrounded and attacked by sore losers. Some creeps even thought she was naive enough that she either wouldn¡¯t understand what was going on or wouldn¡¯t fight back if they suddenly dragged her into an alley and went to pawing at her tits¡ªthose might actually still be wandering the sewers below ground where she left them, for all she knew or cared.


    It was just so frustrating, having so little control over her own life. She hated feeling weak and helpless, especially when she actually wasn¡¯t in most ways. She hated having to rely on others for things other people took for granted. She hated that, as much as she told herself that she wasn¡¯t some fragile princess in need of protecting, she kind of was in a lot of ways.


    Shaking her head as her mother dropped her off at her room, Toph flopped onto her bed and huffed out a sigh. Moping about it isn¡¯t going to change anything. So. How badly do I want to run this guy off?


    Toph had the feeling that whoever it was, this was someone fairly important¡ªat least in her parents¡¯ estimation. That meant she couldn¡¯t ruffle too many feathers here. She kind of wanted to though. Maybe embarrass her parents enough that they stopped trying to marry her off.


    I¡¯m only fourteen! Can¡¯t it wait a few more years, at least?! she yelled in the privacy of her own mind, thumping a fist down into the bed in irritation. What if I don¡¯t want to get married at all, huh?! Ever think of that? No! Of course they didn¡¯t!


    Well, it wasn¡¯t as though she didn¡¯t have practice driving off potential suitors. Shift the floor under them to make them uncomfortable even on a cushion, bump the table or tilt it just enough to spill something when her parents weren¡¯t looking, crack a teacup to spill hot tea in someone¡¯s lap¡ªearthbending gave her a lot of options. Even if Toph preferred the brash, jump in fists first approach, she¡¯d had years to perfect a more subtle touch. Things that could be brushed off as clumsiness on someone else¡¯s part, coincidence, or even just bad luck.


    Eventually, Su came and found her, some time before dinner. ¡°Young miss, the bath is ready.¡±


    ¡°Sure. Thanks, Su,¡± Toph sighed, making her way to the bathroom, where another of the maids waited to help her scrub and wash her hair. Not too long after that, Toph found herself being stuffed into one of her more complicated dresses as Su helped put it on and the maid from earlier combed out and styled her hair.


    ¡°So, who is this guy they¡¯re trying to throw me at this time?¡± she asked, knowing the servants wouldn¡¯t report it back to her mother.


    There was silence for a few moments as the two older women turned their heads towards each other and somehow had some sort of silent conversation. Toph still wasn¡¯t entirely sure how normal people did that, even after all these years. Eventually, Su answered, ¡°The young master is the son of a wealthy businessman. I believe the father owns several mines across the Earth Kingdom, which sell iron, coal, and other materials.¡±


    ¡°Uh huh,¡± Toph murmured. It made sense why her parents were pushing for this one, then. Being a family who made their wealth in the mercantile industry and became pretty much the merchant family of the Earth Kingdom, the Beifong family stood to gain much from this deal¡ªboth families, really. It was a good match, on paper. As much as she wanted to, she couldn¡¯t fault her parents for trying with this one. There was a lot of money riding on this.


    Too bad I¡¯m not interested in being the linchpin of some deal between our families.


    She knew her parents would probably try to find a way to force the issue at some point in the future, but it wouldn¡¯t be today. So, sitting quietly as the maids applied makeup to her face and scented oils to her hair and body, Toph felt out the house and the surrounding grounds as she fought to keep her freedom just a little longer.


    Spotting a pair of men coming up the drive, one of them taller and fatter than the other, she shifted faintly in her seat and thumped her heel on the floor. Outside, the soil of the path loosened and the stepping stone atop it turned brittle. The men stepped onto it at the same time and it gave way, causing them both to slip. The fat one fell face first onto the path, while the shorter one screamed loud enough that the whole house heard him as he twisted his ankle and began to curse.


    A smile ghosted across her lips. Let¡¯s fuckin¡¯ gooo!

 17

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    17


    <hr>


    The town of Gaoling was, unfortunately, not close enough to the coast to just dock the boat there. No, it was up in a mountain range, several miles away from the coast. It was actually closer to drop the boat in a river nearby. So, after a little night time aerial survey of the area, that was what we had done. Then, Yue had pushed it up onto the bank and we took the time to hide it in a thick, untraveled part of the forest, by downing some trees and covering it in debris. After that, Yue had changed into her Earth Kingdom colored dress, we¡¯d packed our bags with some extra clothes and money, and we traveled downriver on an ice barge courtesy of Yue just far enough to come ashore without giving away where the boat was hidden.


    From there, it was a few hour run to Gaoling if we wanted to rush, but we took our time, stretching it out to a couple of days. We took the extra time to enjoy walking through the countryside as the forest cleared out into fields, hills, and mountains not far away from the river. Also, we used that time to get some much needed training in.


    ¡°So, we¡¯re going to do something different today. And by ¡®we,¡¯ I mean you,¡± I told Yue on the start of the third morning. We¡¯d seen the lights from Gaoling on the horizon the night before, so we knew it wasn¡¯t more than a couple of miles away now and expected to be there by midday.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± she asked, sending me a smile as we walked through a thick bank of fog rolling in off the mountains. It would probably burn off soon, but at the moment, it was a sight to behold¡ªwith mountains looming out of the fog and the play of light and shadow making it just a bit eerie.


    ¡°Give me your bending water,¡± I instructed, and Yue handed me her water skin, which I tied off to my belt. ¡°Alright. You¡¯re unarmed. How¡¯re you going to fight me?¡±


    I gave her some time to think on that as we came across an outcropping of rocks and I set my bag down, Yue following suit with her own. After a moment, she answered, ¡°The fog.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Yeah, normally. But that¡¯s not what I¡¯m looking for here.¡±


    Yue looked confused. ¡°It¡¯s not?¡±


    ¡°Nope,¡± I shook my head, before moving away from the rocks and into a nice, grassy spot and motioning for her to follow. ¡°Water is all around us. There are the obvious sources. Lakes, rivers, streams, snow, ice, clouds,¡± I gestured around us, ¡°fog. It¡¯s also below ground. There are underground rivers, yes, but there¡¯s also the water table, where we get groundwater. It can be as shallow as just below the surface or hundreds of feet deep depending on where you are. And you¡¯re going to pull it to the surface. Create a spring. Then we¡¯ll move on.¡±


    ¡°Below us,¡± Yue murmured, nodding. ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°While you¡¯re doing that, I¡¯ll be over here getting in some practice myself,¡± I nodded back towards the rocks, where I could throw around fire without much risk of hurting anything.


    I left Yue to it and took off my shirt, enjoying the cool air as I settled into my usual routine. As I went, I let my mind wander. My breath came in a deep, even rhythm, cycling ki through my body and stoking the fire within me as I moved through sword forms, then unarmed forms, then moved on to throwing out fire. As the flames danced, burning off lichen and moss from the rocks before flickering and going out, a thought occurred.


    What is fire?


    There were a multitude of answers to that question, most of which actually applied. It was one of the four major elements of the world. It was light, flame, and heat. More poetically, it was associated with ardor, with desire and passion¡ªand I could attest that most firebenders tended to be ¡®passionate¡¯ by some meaning of the word. It was also seen as inspiration, intellect, knowledge¡ªit was Prometheus who gifted fire to man, but the fire was more than literal, it was the metaphorical spark of human ingenuity. But that was getting philosophical and while all of that was true, I was thinking of something simpler, more¡­ fundamental.


    At its most basic, fire is combustion. You can get into the chemical processes behind it, but at its simplest, it¡¯s releasing stored energy from matter and that energy is in the form of heat, light, sound, radiation, and so on. And energy is all around us¡­


    Maybe it was because I had been doing the ¡®fire as water¡¯ thing lately, but I found myself moving through those new forms, without actually creating fire. Instead, I closed my eyes, focusing instead on the heat I could sense, and reached out to the world around me. Nothing happened at first, but slowly, I began to notice the way heat currents shifted. From there, it was just like trying to direct fire I¡¯d already tossed out, made to behave like liquid.


    I saw large swathes of the space around me go ¡®dark¡¯ as the heat rushed to my hands, growing brighter before winking out¡ªbut I felt the energy resting in my palms. Opening my eyes, I saw trails of ice glittering in the light as they fell, an entire section of the fog bank flash frozen as it¡¯d had its heat stripped away from it. Looking down, I saw familiar glowing spheres of energy in my hands¡ªenergy that hadn¡¯t come from my body, but which I had gathered from the world around me.


    Makes sense that heat would be easiest, since it¡¯s connected to fire. So, what can I do with it? No, first, can I repeat it?


    I tossed the energy spheres up into the air, letting them hang there, then tried again. This time, the entire process came much faster, and I watched as large sections of the ground were coated in frost.


    Uses way less energy than normal bending. Infinite energy glitch? Maybe bend the energy from the surroundings to throw at enemies, I mused, tossing one of the spheres in my hand. Wait¡­


    Feeling inside myself, I could tell that even with my continuous absorbing and cycling of more chi via breathing, I was still about a quarter down on my reserves due to my practice. But I¡¯ve got a lump of pure chi right here. So, can I just¡­?


    I focused on pulling the chi in. On taking it into my body the same way I would have expelled it, just in reverse. The same way I was constantly breathing in more chi with my breathing exercises.


    Slowly, the sphere in my hands shrank and I felt the pure chi settle inside me, mixing with my own fire attuned chi and restoring my vitality. I sighed at the sensation. Getting so much at once left me a little lightheaded and I took a moment to adjust to it. More than that, the chi in my hands had been concentrated¡ªnot the loose stuff I pulled from the air in breathing exercises. It rapidly expanded to fill my body, filling me to capacity and a bit beyond, and leaving me feeling spiritually stretched. It didn¡¯t feel dangerous yet, but I could definitely tell there was a limit to how much I could hold at once. However, just as with expanding my chi reserves the normal way through exercise, it felt like if I did this regularly, I could expand my natural reserves further and faster than normal bending routines ever would.


    But why not combine them? Exercise to exhaustion, refill with energybending, repeat. Get experience and more exercise out of it.


    ¡°Zuko!¡± Yue called, pulling me from my thoughts. I turned and found her grinning as clear water ran from the ground, directing it around her body. Her eyes narrowed into a glare at me as she pouted. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me I¡¯d be trying to pull it through rock!¡±


    I looked around, taking in the mountainous terrain and the abundance of rocks in our general vicinity. Yue followed my gaze, then blushed as she realized what I was getting at. ¡°Good work, Yue.¡±


    ¡°¡­Thank you,¡± she chuckled, back to smiling.


    ¡°You can practice doing that faster later, because you¡¯re definitely going to need to be able to use the water you¡¯re pulling to saw through the rock and ground between you at some point. But first, the other lesson.¡±


    Yue nodded eagerly and let the water around her drop to the ground. ¡°Is it going to be harder than pulling it up through a mountain?¡±


    ¡°No, no. Should be super easy,¡± I sent her a grin. ¡°So, fun fact. Humans are about sixty to seventy percent water by volume. Plants can be up to ninety percent. That water¡¯s just there, waiting to be used. Your next goal is to be able to strip water from plants to use for bending, with the end goal being to eventually get good enough to bend the blood within someone¡¯s body.¡±


    I knew bloodbending was a thing from the series, but I seemed to recall it could only be done during a full moon. However, Yue being moon blessed and as much of a prodigy with water as Azula was with fire, I had a sneaking suspicion that maybe, just maybe, she might be able to do it on her own.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll try that next,¡± Yue smiled, turning away to go back to her practice.


    As for my own, I considered what I¡¯d learned so far. The fire-as-water thing apparently worked really well for energybending for some reason¡ªor at least, using it as a base had. So, I decided to lean into the water aspect and see what happened. Pulling another ball of ki from the air, I sat down and began to roll it between my hands, emulating the back and forth movement of waves as I thought on it.


    What if I sent it out then tried to pull it back? That¡¯s pretty much the basis for a lot of water techniques, so¡­


    Shrugging, I sent the ball out into the air, waited for it to get a short distance away, then abruptly pulled back with energybending. The ball reversed course and streaked back to my hand, where I caught it and sent it out again.


    Alright, that works. So, can I shape it into something other than a sphere? A wave maybe? A crescent, that is.


    It took a little playing around with it, but I eventually figured out how to shape the energy in my hands how I wanted and was soon sending out and pulling back a crescent shaped wave of energy. With my success there, I decided to try to see if I could compress the leading edge to make it sharp, then fired it off at one of the rock formations nearby. The rock split and cracked where it was struck and the energy wave dispersed, but I could sense all of the energy still right there, just a rapidly expanding cloud of chi. It took a bit more effort this time, but I managed to pull it back and condense it down into a sphere again.


    I practiced that way for a while before a silly idea occurred and I chuckled. Pushing myself to my feet, I shook my head. ¡°Fuck it, why not?¡±


    Drawing the sphere to my side, I focused on trying to push it outwards in a blast of energy. I want to call the name, but I think I¡¯d actually die of embarrassment if Yue saw me doing it.


    Unfortunately, my knockoff kamehameha went absolutely nowhere. Oh sure, the energy rushed outwards, but instead of a torrent of power blasting through the rocks in front of me, it was more of a¡­ fart on the breeze, by comparison. Pulling the energy back, I frowned as I compressed it again at my side. I tried it again, this time trying to hold it together as much as possible, to much the same result.


    Okay, so, that¡¯s not gonna work. Why?


    The answer was pretty obvious when I actually thought about it. The problem there was twofold.


    Firstly, Goku, even kid Goku in the original Dragonball, had a ridiculous amount of power. I did not. If I was going to compare power levels, which was dumb because the systems between this world and the world of Dragonball were different, then the world of Avatar was generally on the low end of the Dragonball scale. The Avatar might be able to throw around an energy blast like that, but I wasn¡¯t the Avatar. Energybending might give me a way to skirt around that limit however, if I pulled the energy from my surroundings to supplement my own¡­


    Secondly, it was a physics problem. I might actually be able to emulate it with the power I did have, but I was going to have to lower my expectations. Thinking of it like water, I was effectively trying to force a five gallon bucket¡¯s worth of water down a fire hose. It¡¯d go, but there wouldn¡¯t be any pressure¡ªit¡¯d just be a trickle. But even a single gallon, forced through a small enough aperture, could cut stone¡­


    I tried it again, but this time, I compressed the sphere down smaller and pulled more energy from my surroundings. The air around me got colder as the fog began to clear, falling as ice to the ground. When I was ready, I pointed the sphere at the rock ahead of me and opened a pinhole¡ª


    A flash of light nearly blinded me while a clap of sound and force knocked me on my ass. Faintly, over the ringing in my ears, I heard Yue yell, ¡°Zuko?!¡± Through the ground however, I felt a rumbling and thumping.


    Opening my eyes, I sat up as Yue helped me to my feet. ¡°Are you okay? What happened?¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    I flexed my jaw, popping my ears to try to relieve the feeling, but after a moment I gave it up and lit my hands up with green fire before pressing them over my ears. I felt my inner ears tingle and pop, then pulled them away. ¡°Say something else.¡±


    ¡°What did you do?¡±


    I chuckled and explained as I looked at the damage. The rock face I had aimed at had collapsed, blasted to rubble. ¡°I was trying a new technique. Got a little carried away.¡±


    Yue glared, before smacking my arm. ¡°You could have hurt yourself. You made me worry.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I pulled her into a hug, which Yue returned with enough force to pop my back. ¡°I¡¯ll be more careful next time.¡±


    ¡°Mm.¡± Eventually, she let me go and returned to her own training, but I noticed she had turned so she could keep an eye on me.


    So, what went wrong? I wondered as I went back over what I had done. Playing it back in my head, I figured it out pretty quickly. I had used a lot more juice in that attack than I usually threw around in even the most explosive firebending. That power was compressed down as tight as I could make it and when it hit the rock, it exploded as it expanded. The rock reflected some of that explosion back my way and knocked me on my ass.


    In short, I stood too close and used too much force. I couldn¡¯t think of it only like water, because it wasn¡¯t. It was energy. The rules regarding fire and explosions might be more appropriate when using it as a weapon. Every firebender was taught early on not to do stupid things like catch themselves in their own explosions, suffocate themselves by burning off all the oxygen in a room, and so on. I¡¯d have to keep them in mind in the future.


    But it worked really well as a weapon. It was my own fuckup that saw me getting caught in the back blast. Ruling that out, my only complaint was the time it took to gather it. Need to work on that. So¡­ why not kill two birds with one stone? Smaller, faster, less likely to blow me up, but keep it compressed so it¡¯s just as dangerous if it hits as the big one. Kind of like a gun¡ª


    I blinked.


    Oh. Not a kamehameha. It¡¯d be better as a¡­


    I pointed towards the rocks, gathering energy from around me into a brightly glowing sphere the size of a marble at my fingertip. Taking aim, I kept count in my head of how long it took to charge. At the three second mark, I let it go.


    ¡°Spirit gun.¡±


    There was a much smaller flash and crack from the pile of rocks, but the rock I¡¯d been aiming at¡ªabout the size of a torso¡ªexploded in a shower of debris. I grinned and did it again, and again. Then, I began pulling in energy from my surroundings and holding it around me without actually condensing it. After a few seconds of buildup, I began condensing and firing what I had as fast as I could. I got it down to about a shot every half second before I was satisfied.


    I can¡¯t wait to actually try this in a fight¡­


    <hr>


    I watched Yue as she turned this way and that, eyes wide as she tried to take in everything about Gaoling at once. Chuckling, I pulled gently on her arm in mine, making my way towards an inn that several locals had suggested when asked. We made our way inside and quickly stowed our things in our room, before heading out again to see the sights. Yue, of course, made a beeline straight for the marketplace.


    Watching her look over pretty dresses and other things, I took the time to chat up a few more merchants while she was occupied. Unfortunately, most of my queries towards a certain underground fighting ring were met with confusion. It was only as I was getting dinner for us from a street vendor that I finally struck pay dirt.


    ¡°Thank you, sir. Before I go, you wouldn¡¯t happen to know of anywhere I could take my girl to see something exciting, would you? We¡¯re both into bending, so any kind of local tournaments or anything would be great.¡±


    ¡°Oho!¡± the vendor grinned. ¡°I just might.¡± I transferred the shishkebabs I was holding to one hand and fished out a silver coin, sliding it across his counter. He swept it up and disappeared it into his coin purse. Leaning in, he whispered, ¡°The Rumble is back.¡±


    ¡°The what?¡± I asked, putting on a confused look.


    ¡°The Earth Rumble! It¡¯s exactly what you¡¯re looking for, if you¡¯re into a little bloodsport! Eh, eh?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯re looking for. Something to get the blood pumping, you know?¡±


    He glanced at Yue at another stall a short distance away. ¡°She doesn¡¯t look the type, but I guess you just can¡¯t tell by looking. It¡¯s always the quiet ones,¡± he chuckled, wagging his eyebrows. ¡°The Rumble is held just outside of town to the north, beneath a mountain. Just take the road out of town and¡­¡±


    I listened, nodding along as he gave directions, then thanked him and made my way over to Yue. She looked up and happily accepted one of the skewers I offered her, along with a paper cup of tea. ¡°We should look for somewhere to train, while we¡¯re here,¡± I suggested.


    ¡°Mm! But um, what about,¡± Yue trailed off, looking around.


    ¡°Then we¡¯d better find somewhere secluded,¡± I sent her a grin, and she nodded.


    We left the market, eating as we went. Thinking back to our aerial reconnaissance, I remembered seeing a large, walled in estate on the north side of the city, with a stream running beside it¡ªthe same stream that fed into the center of the city, in fact. Turning us towards the north, we wandered along until we found the stream and turned down a street to follow it.


    Eventually, the buildings thinned out and became homes and small estates¡ªthe clear divide between the rich and the poor of Gaoling. Yue looked around in interest at all the homes. ¡°I can tell the ones made by earthbenders, and I understand those, but how do they build the other ones if they can¡¯t just bend them into the shape they want like we do?¡±


    ¡°Hard work. Men come and level the land, then lay a foundation. Then, they put up the wooden frame of a house. Then build up walls brick by brick. Put a roof over it. Until eventually, it¡¯s a house. It usually takes a few months.¡±


    ¡°Months? That¡¯s awful,¡± Yue made a face and I shook my head.


    ¡°Earthbenders have it lucky that way. They¡¯ll never want for shelter and a halfway competent one can sell his services either building houses or just making building materials. I¡¯d love to be able to just wave my hand, stomp my foot, and create whatever I can imagine.¡± Sending Yue a smile, I added before she could ask, ¡°But I wouldn¡¯t trade away what I have for it.¡±


    She hummed, pressing herself into my side and pulling my arm around her hips as we walked. ¡°Zuko the builder. Hmm. I can¡¯t see it.¡±


    Eventually, we spotted the walls surrounding a large compound¡ªlarger than the others we¡¯d come across so far. The image of a flying boar was painted over the front gates¡ªwhich themselves were guarded by a pair of men in uniform. Yue perked up a bit. ¡°It¡¯s big. Is that the one we saw from above?¡±


    ¡°I believe so,¡± I nodded, turning us to follow the stream running beside the compound, to its east. ¡°I think it belongs to some local merchant family. I saw a bunch of places with that heraldry in the marketplace.¡±


    Yue thought for a moment before nodding. ¡°Right, I remember. They must be pretty wealthy then.¡±


    We passed the compound and followed the stream until we were clearly out of town. Circling back, we found the north road leading out and with a bit of scouting, I found the mountain that would hold the Earthen Rumble. Yue arched an eyebrow as she took in the entrance to the cave. ¡°Why are we all the way out here?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a surprise,¡± I sent her a smile, before nodding away from the mountain, towards a grassy hill nearby. ¡°Let¡¯s go sit a while.¡±


    Yue eyed me skeptically, but agreed and we made our way over to rest. We ended up laying down in the grass as the sky darkened and the stars began to come out. Eventually, the sounds of people and carriages reached our ears and Yue sat up. ¡°Zuko? Why is everyone going into that mountain?¡±


    Kicking myself to my feet, I offered her a hand up. ¡°Let¡¯s go see.¡±


    ¡°¡­Where are you taking me?¡±


    ¡°A little event I heard about from some of the vendors. It¡¯s a bending tournament, of sorts. I thought it¡¯d be fun to watch.¡±


    Yue considered it for a moment before smiling. Taking my arm in hers, she pulled me forward faster. ¡°Alright! Let¡¯s go!¡±


    <hr>


    ¡°And it¡¯s another win for the Blind Bandit! Is there no one brave enough, MAN ENOUGH to challenge her?!¡±


    Toph smirked, crossing her arms over her chest as she observed the crowd with her senses. The first night of Earth Rumble always drew a big crowd¡ªthe last night being the only bigger draw. Her heart soared as they stomped their feet and chanted her name, the sound washing over her in waves.


    ¡°BANDIT! BANDIT! BANDIT!¡±


    Man, I can¡¯t believe I thought I could give this up. What was I thinking?! This is awesome! Oh. Right. The owner told me to fuck off for a year so he could shake up the betting pools and get some fresh suckers and new talent in, or I wouldn¡¯t be allowed back.


    ¡°How about you? You¡¯re a big man! What¡¯s the matter? Scared of a girl?!¡± the announcer, Xin Fu, yelled as he began singling people out from the crowd. This was just part of the routine. He did it for everyone who won enough matches. It got the crowd riled up and introduced the element of a potential wild card. She could count on one hand and have fingers left over for the number of times an actual, genuine challenger had appeared from the crowd. And just as she¡¯d thought, tonight was no exception.


    ¡°Well, since none of you are willing to face the Blind Bandit, you¡¯ll just have to come back next week! Perhaps by then, we¡¯ll have a worthy challenger!¡±


    Toph left the stage to the sound of cheers, feeling a hundred times better than she had when she¡¯d entered. For one night, she could forget about being Toph Beifong, heiress of the Beifong family and all the things that came with it. No one treating her like an invalid. No one talking around her, like she wasn¡¯t even in the room or a part of the conversation. No suitors hounding her to get her family¡¯s money. No surprise arranged marriage negotiations and her parents trying to marry her off. For the night, she could just be the Blind Bandit¡ªa fucking badass with the earthbending skill to back it up, and put her foot in the ass of anyone who tried to deny it.


    She collected her earnings, counting everything to make sure it was there, before stowing it in her purse and making her own exit from the arena. It¡¯s not enough. The spread wasn¡¯t good enough. The moment they saw my name, the odds changed. Shit. At this point, I¡¯d make more money betting against myself and throwing the next fight. But fuck that! I won¡¯t do it!


    Toph took her time making her way home, following the familiar sound and feel of the stream that ran beside her family¡¯s home as she let her mind wander to how she could make some fast, easy money. After some thought since her initial decision to try to escape, she had decided that if she needed someone to be her eyes in the world, then it might be easiest to just buy out Su¡¯s contract from her parents and get the maid to help her escape. She needed money though, and everyone in Gaoling¡¯s underbelly knew of her scams by now. That had dried up when she was twelve and she¡¯d had to give it up.


    It was as she felt she was about halfway back to her home that an unfamiliar rumble through the ground pulled her from her thoughts. Toph frowned as she felt the rush of water leaving the stream, felt it splash on the ground, felt lots of heavy, thick pieces of ice slam into the ground. As she got closer, she felt footsteps and her senses showed her what was going on.


    Two people were fighting around the stream. One of them¡ªa woman and apparently a waterbender¡ªwas using the stream itself as a weapon, sending out blasts of water, using tentacle whips, and shooting off chunks or ice or raising walls of ice to block attacks. The other was a man, a head or so taller than the woman, who attacked furiously as he worked his way through her defenses¡ªsomehow knocking aside or disrupting streams of water at the last moment, punching his way through walls of ice, and always staying one step ahead of the continuous barrage of chunks of ice the size of his head that would have surely brained him.


    Unsure who to root for, what to do, or even if she should do anything, Toph just stood there and observed through her senses as they fought it out. Until finally, something pushed her to action. Heat registered against her skin and something exploded, shattering one of the ice walls.


    Firebender!


    Indecision gave way to action and she moved, rushing forward to help the waterbender. When his back was turned, she stomped the ground and sent a boulder up, then kicked it at his legs. The boulder hit with a solid crunch of bone and the man yelped as he went down. Toph followed through by burying him up to his neck.


    ¡°Zuko?! What happened?¡± the other woman yelled as the fight came to an abrupt end.


    ¡°Oww,¡± the man buried in the dirt groaned. ¡°Something broke my leg.¡±


    ¡°That was me,¡± Toph answered.


    ¡°Why would you¡ª¡± the other girl began, before shaking her head and gesturing at the firebender. ¡°Get him out of the ground!¡±


    Toph tilted her head in confusion. ¡°But¡­ he¡¯s a firebender. He was attacking you¡ª¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s my fiance! We were sparring!¡±


    Toph felt her cheeks heat in a blush. ¡°Oh. ¡­Oops.¡±


    ¡°¡®Oops,¡¯ she says,¡± the man, Zuko grunted.


    ¡°Well can you blame me?!¡± Toph yelled back, even as she pushed him up out of the dirt. ¡°What¡¯s a firebender even doing in Gaoling? And with a waterbender? What the actual hells?¡±


    ¡°It¡ª¡±


    ¡°Yue,¡± Zuko groaned. ¡°Explain later. Set the bone now please.¡±


    Yue winced and dropped to her knees beside him. ¡°Sorry! Hang on.¡±


    Toph listened and followed along with her senses as Yue pulled some water from the stream and surrounded Zuko¡¯s thigh with it. She hid a wince at the sound of bone against bone as Yue pulled and pushed, realigning the bone. Not just the sound, but the sense of it. Ever since learning how to sense through her earthbending, everyone she ¡®saw¡¯ looked like sacks of flesh wrapped around much more solid bone that she could perceive better than the flesh itself. She could recognize someone by their skeleton but never by their face. So she had a front row seat to the spectacle that was Yue lining everything up and moving all the little pieces back into place.


    ¡°Nnn!¡± Zuko bit down on a yell as Yue set it into place, before sagging with a groan.


    ¡°Wow, I think every dog around for miles heard that,¡± Toph blurted.


    Shit! Good going Toph! Just let your mouth run off ahead of your brain, when you¡¯re the one who fucked his leg up in the first place. Ugh. Maybe I can just sneak away? ¡­No, I¡¯m not that asshole. Besides, they might see me head home.


    Zuko let out a ragged chuckle. ¡°Yeah, probably. You should hear me when I stub a toe.¡±


    Toph blinked, her mouth falling open. He doesn¡¯t sound mad?


    ¡°Alright, hold it still,¡± Zuko instructed, and Yue nodded. A moment later, Toph felt fire warm her skin again.


    ¡°What are you doing? It¡¯s not sticking out, right?¡± she asked, as in her senses, Zuko pressed his hands¡ªwhich were probably on fire given the heat¡ªto his leg.


    Instead of answering, he groaned. ¡°Oh fuuuck~ that¡¯s better.¡±


    Toph¡¯s mouth fell open again as she saw something impossible. Sure, she¡¯d heard of healers from the water tribe, had even met one or two when her parents hired them to try to cure her blindness. She¡¯d never heard of using fire to heal, however. And yet, as she ¡®watched,¡¯ the man¡¯s femur fused back together and the swelling retreated. After only a few moments, it was like he¡¯d never been injured at all.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Yue asked, and Zuko sighed, collapsing back onto his back.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m good. Just give me a minute to lie here.¡±


    Toph shook her head. ¡°Hang on. What are you even doing here? A firebender with a waterbender? Sounds like there¡¯s a story there.¡±


    The pair on the ground were silent for a moment, before Zuko¡¯s head turned towards her. ¡°Oh hey, aren¡¯t you the Blind Bandit? We saw your fight earlier. Good stuff.¡±


    ¡°¡­Yeah?¡± Toph asked. ¡°What about it?¡±


    Zuko hummed. Yue, meanwhile, turned to face Toph, then back towards the Beifong estate. ¡°Do you live there? We¡¯re sorry, we were just trying to find somewhere to practice.¡± Standing, she abruptly bowed. ¡°Where are my manners? I¡¯m Yue and this is Zuko.¡±


    ¡°¡­Toph,¡± the earthbender replied as she studied the two, listening to their voices, paying attention to their heart rates. Yue was telling the truth, which just made Toph more curious. ¡°So?¡±


    ¡°Your turn to tell it, I did it last time,¡± Zuko grunted, pushing himself to his feet. ¡°I¡¯ll go grab some firewood.¡±


    Yue sat down and patted the ground. ¡°Come sit with us, Toph! But if you reeeally want to know¡­ you¡¯re going to have to share a story of your own.¡±


    Toph considered for a moment before shrugging. Stomping the ground, she raised a seat for herself and sat down. ¡°Fine. But it¡¯d better be a good one.¡±

 18

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    18


    <hr>


    The smile wouldn¡¯t leave Toph¡¯s face as she lay in bed, listening to the sounds of the house around her and thinking about her meeting with the unlikely couple that were Yue and Zuko. Sure, they hadn¡¯t told her everything¡ªthat much was obvious. Expected, even. Toph would think they were dumb if they had just spilled the beans and opened up to a complete stranger like that. But they hadn¡¯t lied to her, and what they had told her had been enough for her to begin filling in the blanks.


    After fourteen years of living among high society and having had to find other ways to tell the bad actors from the good to compensate for her lack of sight, Toph liked to think she could spot certain kinds of people a mile away. Nobles, for instance. She couldn¡¯t see their clothes to tell how flashy or fashionable whatever they were wearing was, couldn¡¯t see whatever makeup someone put on, couldn¡¯t see hair styles. So, she¡¯d found other ways.


    It was in the way they carried themselves, the way they moved, the way they spoke. They all had a certain level of training in decorum and other things, and she could generally tell where they were from and what level of training based on those things. Earth Kingdom nobles were easy to tell apart, because she interacted with them so often, thanks to her parents¡¯ business. But that same business also brought her into contact with the occasional Fire Nation noble, looking to do business and establish trade. The Beifong family were very much in support of the Earth Kingdom, but¡­ they weren¡¯t so loyal as to turn down trade of high quality goods for lots of money¡ªespecially when it was just luxury goods like silks, cash crops like tobacco or tea leaves, and other things that wouldn¡¯t actually further the war effort on either side.


    Zuko was a Fire Nation noble¡ªthere was no doubt in her mind. She wasn¡¯t quite sure how she was sure of it, but she was.


    He didn¡¯t act like a noble, like his shit didn¡¯t stink and he was better than everyone around him. He didn¡¯t talk like one, like he was talking down to everyone. He didn¡¯t even sit like one, with the usual straight back seiza position common to Fire Nation nobles. He acted like a normal person. He spoke to her and Yue like equals. He lounged, like he owned the place, but always in a position where he could easily and quickly either roll away or get to his feet.


    Yue, on the other hand, was something she had never seen before. The other woman seemed relaxed in everything she did, while also maintaining proper etiquette¡ªlike she had lived and breathed it for so long that the formalities just weren¡¯t for her. She had the speech of a noble, without the shitty attitude most had. She sat formally, but didn¡¯t seem bothered at all by it. Most of all, she acted like what Toph imagined a princess would¡ªkind, friendly, polite, warm even¡­ and just a hint of steel beneath it all. The subtle expectation of respect.


    And yet, neither of them threw around dumb titles or asked Toph to treat them as anything but commoners. They did away with rank entirely. They never once asked about her eyes, even when it quickly became obvious to both of them that she was actually blind and ¡®Blind Bandit¡¯ wasn¡¯t just a stage name.


    The story itself was pretty wild, even without reading between the lines. Zuko¡¯s father had tried to kill him, so he left home to see the world. He went north, where he met Yue and Yue¡¯s master in the art of healing. For some reason, Yue¡¯s father had wanted the two of them to get together, but they had bought some time to get to know one another, and eventually decided to move forward with the engagement themselves. A few of the locals hadn¡¯t appreciated that and had tried to jump Zuko, but he beat them down. He couldn¡¯t stay, so he prepared to leave, and Yue went with him as they made a daring night escape from Agna Qel¡¯a¡ªthe north¡¯s equivalent to Ba Sing Se in that it was an icy fortress city and damn near unassailable according to everything Toph knew, which should make sneaking out almost as difficult as getting in. The pair had been working their way around the Earth Kingdom since and that¡¯s how they wound up in Gaoling.


    Putting together the clues and what wasn¡¯t said¡­ Zuko was some kind of Fire Nation noble. Yue was some kind of noble from the Northern Water Tribe. They¡¯d basically run away from their families and eloped together and were now on a journey to see the world.


    It¡¯s disgustingly romantic, Toph sighed, turning over and burying her face in the pillow. Why can¡¯t I have that?


    In exchange for the story from Yue, Toph had told them a little about herself. Of course, she¡¯d done it in her own style, and she hadn¡¯t exactly been¡­ subtle about some things. Leading with ¡°I¡¯m blind¡± just to put it out there had kind of set the tone. She had confirmed that she was heading home when she came across them and told them a bit about why she had gotten into the whole ¡®sport fighting¡¯ thing, to work off some frustration about her family affairs.


    Strangely, nothing had changed after that. They hadn¡¯t treated her differently. They hadn¡¯t sounded like they pitied her. Even when Yue had reached out and laid a hand on Toph¡¯s, she hadn¡¯t sounded pitying or patronizing, just¡­ understanding. Supportive. It was so different from what she was used to that it put Toph on the back foot.


    And that¡¯s when Zuko struck, verbally.


    ¡°You snapped my femur from thirty yards while I was moving before we knew you were here. You spotted us, you waited, assessed the situation, stepped in decisively when you came to a conclusion, then put down a moving target in two moves non-lethally. You¡¯re not weak or helpless. If you don¡¯t have a way to sense your surroundings through vibrations, I¡¯ll eat my hat.¡±


    He wasn¡¯t mad at her for taking him down, he was impressed. That was a bit of a change from what she was used to getting when she fought other people in the Rumble. And in one encounter, he had figured out exactly how she had done it. It was kind of scarily impressive. Also, it made her feel¡­ warm inside, for some reason. She liked the idea that he had immediately disregarded her eyes and treated her like a serious opponent.


    After that, the conversation had moved on to ¡®talking shop¡¯ as her parents put it. Both of them were benders and, as she was apparently the first earthbender they¡¯d actually met, they had a lot of questions. Toph was just as curious about other styles of bending, especially about fighting against them, so that had been a lot of fun. That led to the best part of the night. The pair had invited her out tomorrow.


    Is this what it¡¯s like to have friends?


    She wouldn¡¯t know. She¡¯d never had any. For some reason, other people her own age just didn¡¯t like her. They said she was a jerk. She thought they were weak. The world may never know the truth of it. But for some reason she couldn¡¯t fathom, those two had wanted to spend more time with her. Even though she hadn¡¯t kissed their asses, or acted like a prim and proper lady as her station demanded. She was just herself and it hadn¡¯t scared them off!


    I like it! I really like it!


    <hr>


    ¡°Su, can you do me a favor?¡±


    ¡°Of course, young miss. What would you have of me?¡± the slightly older girl asked, sounding pleased at the idea of being able to help her.


    ¡°Can you cover for me?¡± Toph asked, as she allowed the other girl to help her get dressed.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    Toph sighed quietly. ¡°I need you to lie to my parents.¡±


    Su hesitated, before asking, ¡°About what?¡±


    Seeing that it wasn¡¯t a ¡®no,¡¯ Toph smiled. ¡°I want to go meet with some friends, but I don¡¯t want my parents to know. I wanted to stay out most of the day.¡±


    Su hummed for a moment, then nodded. ¡°Very well. But only on the condition that I meet these friends. I wouldn¡¯t want to hand you over to some unsavory characters.¡±


    ¡°Sure, sure,¡± Toph agreed. ¡°Could you pack a bag with my other clothes, too? These aren¡¯t exactly great for practicing in.¡±


    The servant sighed, chuckling. ¡°Very well.¡±


    Not long after, Toph and Su hurried through the compound, only for Toph to wince as she sensed her mother approaching. ¡°Damn,¡± she hissed, before straightening up and taking Su¡¯s hand, putting on the mask again.


    ¡°Toph, there you are! Where are you going?¡± her mother asked, stopping right in front of them¡ªbetween them and the gate leading out.


    Toph fought down her urge to sigh. ¡°Into the city, to see the sights,¡± she smiled instead, turning her face up and knowing her mother was likely looking at her eyes based on how her head was tilted. And yet¡­ etiquette wouldn¡¯t let her mother do what Toph would, in her shoes¡ªjust blatantly call bullshit. ¡®You¡¯re blind, you don¡¯t see sights.¡¯


    Her mother shifted uncomfortably, before asking, ¡°When do you plan to be back?¡±


    ¡°I wanted to take the whole day out. I¡¯ve been feeling kind of penned in lately.¡±


    The older woman made a displeased sound. ¡°I can send the guards¡ª¡±


    ¡°For a trip into the city?¡± Toph asked, shaking her head. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine, mother.¡±


    She clearly didn¡¯t like it, but her mother eventually sighed and capitulated. ¡°Fine.¡± Turning to Su, she added, ¡°Have her home in time for dinner.¡±


    ¡°Of course, ma¡¯am,¡± Su bowed her head.


    After a moment, Toph felt her mother leave and she quickly pulled Su¡¯s hand towards the gate, before her mother changed her mind. Then they were out and heading into the city. ¡°Where to, young miss?¡±


    Toph told Su the name of the inn where Zuko and Yue were staying and allowed herself to be guided since, while she could navigate structures just fine, unless she knew what building was what trying to find something specific was hard without asking around. It was much easier to just let Su lead her¡ªwhich was another reason to bring the maid, if she decided to leave.


    Eventually, they made it to the inn and up to the second floor room where the couple were staying. Su knocked and, a moment later, Yue answered the door. ¡°Toph! It¡¯s good to see you again. Who¡¯s your friend? I¡¯m Yue!¡±


    Su let go of Toph¡¯s hand and curtsied. ¡°Su. I am employed by the Beifong family to see to the young lady¡¯s needs.¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s nice to meet you. Come in, come in!¡± Yue waved them in, stepping aside to let them pass.


    Toph felt Su hesitate the moment they were inside, her head turning towards where Zuko sat on the bed, getting his boots on. ¡°A young man and woman sharing the same roof?¡±


    Yue giggled and Zuko shook his head. ¡°We¡¯re engaged,¡± he answered, before turning his head towards Toph. ¡°You look nice, Toph. But I don¡¯t think that pretty dress and makeup is going to survive sparring.¡±


    For some reason, Toph¡¯s heart thumped in her chest and she felt her cheeks heat up¡ªa brief thrill of something running through her. Pride? Excitement? She wasn¡¯t sure what, but whatever it was, it felt good. She¡¯d never felt that way before. Shaking her head, she pushed it to the back of her mind.


    ¡°She does!¡± Yue giggled. ¡°But you¡¯re right!¡± Toph found her hand taken between Yue¡¯s own soft, warm hands as she was pulled further into the room. ¡°Did you bring a change of clothes?¡±


    ¡°I have them here,¡± Su confirmed.


    ¡°Good!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be outside,¡± Zuko nodded, standing up from the bed. He put his hat and sword on and paused at the door. ¡°Any preferences on breakfast and lunch, or surprise you?¡±


    ¡°Surprise me!¡± Yue answered happily. ¡°Toph, do you want anything?¡±


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Toph shrugged, even as she felt herself smiling. ¡°Whatever is fine.¡±


    ¡°¡®Whatever¡¯ it is,¡± Zuko chuckled, closing the door behind him.


    ¡°Now, let¡¯s get you out of that dress~,¡± Yue murmured, and for some reason she couldn¡¯t explain, Toph suddenly felt like she was in more danger than if Zuko had stayed.


    She couldn¡¯t say she hated it, though.


    <hr>


    Laying on the grass, Toph panted. Sweat covered her body and her fighting clothes stuck to her. Her heart was hammering away in her chest and she was grinning so wide it felt like her smile threatened to break something. She had never felt more¡­ alive than she did at this moment.


    ¡°That was fun,¡± Zuko chuckled, and a moment later, Toph raised an eyebrow as it felt like all the heat her body was putting off just evaporated. It wasn¡¯t quite like a cold breeze¡ªmore like the heat from her body didn¡¯t linger in the air, like when she exercised on a cool day. It felt nice and she felt herself relaxing under the sensation.


    ¡°It was,¡± Yue added, stepping up near Toph¡¯s head. ¡°Water?¡±


    ¡°Please?¡± Toph asked.


    Yue giggled. ¡°Open your mouth.¡±


    Toph did so and a cold trickle of water filled her parched mouth. She swallowed a mouthful, then more. Not a drop spilled on her and she never felt in danger of drowning. When she sighed and cracked her neck, Yue made her way over to Zuko, likely to do the same.


    ¡°It¡¯s getting late. We should return soon, young miss,¡± Su reminded her from off to the side, where she had sat and watched them the whole day. Surprisingly, the maid hadn¡¯t said anything at all when Zuko began using firebending. Her heart had begun racing as she got a bit nervous, but it had quickly settled down when Toph showed that she wasn¡¯t afraid of a little fire and could protect herself just fine.


    Lifting her arm, Toph gave herself a sniff and made a face. ¡°I think they¡¯re going to figure it out if I go home smelling like this. Gonna need to take a bath at the inn.¡±


    ¡°We can do that now!¡± Yue suggested, and Toph raised an eyebrow.


    ¡°What, just¡­ out in the open? Is that a thing people do?¡±


    ¡°No one¡¯s around and we¡¯re cut off from the town by the hill, so they aren¡¯t going to see anything,¡± Zuko shrugged.


    ¡°Come on,¡± Yue bent down and grabbed Toph¡¯s hands, pulling her to her feet. The other girl led her over to the spring and small stream coming from it that Yue had been using as her water source for bending all day. ¡°Can you make a tub big enough for us? About chest height? I¡¯d do it out of ice, but then the water will get cold too fast.¡±


    A small smile pulled at Toph¡¯s lips and she nodded. A stomp and a gesture had the ground leveled out and a circle of stone, then walls that came up to the height of her chest. Seeing it would be a pain to get in and out of, she made stairs, then made a ring around the inside to sit on. ¡°What do you think?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s good! Thank you, Toph!¡± Yue clapped.


    Being praised wasn¡¯t new for Toph, for being praised for the one thing she was actually proud of and good at was. At least, in a context that didn¡¯t involve kicking heads in. It made her smile and feel all warm inside, and kind of made her want to show off some more.


    Yue pulled more water from the spring, quickly filling the bath. ¡°Zuko~!¡±


    ¡°Hah. What am I, your personal water heater?¡± he sighed, but Toph could hear amusement in his voice as he made his way over and stuck his hand in. A moment later, the water heated up and Toph felt steam coming off of it. ¡°There you go. I¡¯m going to go get in some more practice.¡±


    ¡°Mm! Su, will you join us?¡± Yue called, already starting to strip down.


    The maid considered for a moment, her head tilting between them and where Zuko was walking up the hill and around to the other side. ¡°No, miss Yue. I will be over here.¡±


    ¡°Suit yourself,¡± Yue called. ¡°Now, where did I put that soap? ¡­ Ah! Found it. Are you coming, Toph?¡±¡°Sure,¡± Toph nodded and began stripping. ¡°Want me to wash your back?¡±


    Yue giggled and Toph observed her shake her head. ¡°No need! Just get in. You¡¯ll see~.¡±


    Toph opened her mouth, almost reflexively point out that she wouldn¡¯t see, but then bit back on the impulse and shook her head. Yue hadn¡¯t made a big deal out of the whole sight thing, nor had she or Zuko felt like they were walking on eggshells around her about it. The only time it had even come up today was right before they started sparring using bending, with Zuko verifying that she could sense and dodge blasts, and Toph found she wasn¡¯t even upset about it since it was just common sense to make sure he wouldn¡¯t accidentally hurt her. So she cut off the usual verbal jab and decided to take a¡­ softer approach, instead.


    ¡°Okay.¡± Climbing into the tub, she settled into place on the seat she¡¯d made. Yue slid through the water, sitting beside her, their sides pressed together under the water. ¡°So what¡¯s the surprise?¡±


    ¡°Hehe~!¡± Yue giggled again and the hot water around them came alive.


    ¡°Eep!¡± Toph yelped, but Yue grabbed her around the hips, pulling Toph into her lap as she laughed.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay! You¡¯ll get used to it in a minute,¡± the other girl promised, as the water swirled and moved around them, carrying the scent of soap with it.


    True to Yue¡¯s words, after only a few seconds, it stopped feeling like she was being tickled all over her entire body at the same time and the sensation faded to a gentle, all over rubbing. Toph groaned, her body going limp in the other girl¡¯s lap.


    ¡°Oh wow,¡± she managed to get out, feeling like all the tension was being drained out of her body at once.


    Not just that, but all of the little aches and pains, the forming bruises, began to fade. Oddly, while Zuko had tagged her with his fire more than once, it had never actually hurt and hadn¡¯t left behind burns¡ªit hadn¡¯t even caught her clothes on fire, as the moment it hit, it had immediately gone out. All of the damage was either from fists and feet, or getting smacked around by the girl now soothing the aches she had left. Not that Toph hadn¡¯t gotten her fair share of licks in.


    ¡°It¡¯s nice, isn¡¯t it?¡± Yue asked, resting her chin on Toph¡¯s shoulder, to which she nodded. ¡°Same time tomorrow?¡±


    ¡°Sounds good,¡± Toph sighed.


    ¡°So, we saw you last night. Is that an every night thing?¡±


    Toph shook her head. ¡°Once a week. It gives people time to do a little training and for the betting pools to change. But since I came in yesterday, if they decide I¡¯m back, they¡¯re just going to bet on me to win and I won¡¯t make much off of it.¡±


    A hum directly into Toph¡¯s ear sent a shiver down her spine and Yue giggled. ¡°Do they let other benders compete?¡±


    ¡°Not sure. Never heard of one. Why?¡±


    ¡°Well, if you need money,¡± Yue hummed, not asking what Toph needed it for, ¡°then if Zuko and I are allowed to enter, you could bet on us.¡±


    Toph shook her head. ¡°There¡¯s no way they¡¯d allow a firebender. A waterbender, maybe. I know who to ask. We can do that tomorrow, if you want.¡±


    ¡°Mm! Please.¡±


    Chuckling, Toph admitted, ¡°I¡¯d love to hear them bitching when you wipe the floor with them. If it¡¯s anything like today, then you don¡¯t have anything to worry about from the rest of those rock heads.¡±


    ¡°Only you, huh?¡±


    ¡°Yup,¡± Toph grinned. ¡°We should work on your stage name. Something like¡­ The Geyser?¡±


    Yue laughed. ¡°That sounds lewd.¡±


    Toph snorted. ¡°Yeah, that sounds like some kind of sex act involving bending.¡±


    ¡°How about¡­¡±


    <hr>


    ¡°You¡¯re late.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s my fault, madame. I¡ª¡±


    ¡°I wanted to listen to a play,¡± Toph cut in, before Su could take the blame. Her mother huffed a sigh, before leaning closer.


    ¡°¡­Did you change your makeup?¡±


    ¡°Su had to reapply it after lunch. We had soup.¡±


    The short answer caused her mother to lean away, her head turning towards Su briefly. ¡°¡­Was this is public?¡±


    ¡°No, ma¡¯am,¡± Su shook her head.


    Another sigh escaped her mother¡¯s lips. ¡°Thank goodness for that, at least. Toph, I know you like to try to do these things for yourself, but that is what we pay Su for.¡±


    Toph simply smiled. ¡°Well, if it gets to be too much trouble, I¡¯ll just stop wearing makeup.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t¡ª!¡± her mother began to protest, but Toph cut her off.


    ¡°If the choice is between feeding myself and ruining my makeup, I¡¯d rather have the soup.¡±


    Toph¡¯s mother made a frustrated sigh. Quietly, she muttered, ¡°At least you didn¡¯t ruin your dress.¡± Toph heard, but chose not to comment. She was in such a good mood that even putting up with her overbearing mother was tolerable for a change. ¡°Go get cleaned up and meet us for dinner. We have a guest.¡±


    Containing her frown, Toph asked, ¡°Oh? Who?¡±


    ¡°Master Yu. We asked him to come visit and check up on you, as his student,¡± her mother answered, turning and walking away. But there was something there. Something Toph felt like she was missing. It was in the tone, and the way her mother¡¯s heartbeat picked up. Something about this visit made her¡­ nervous? Anxious?


    It wasn¡¯t until after a very boring dinner and a brief test from Master Yu, followed by being sent to bed, that Toph found out why he was visiting. Perceiving people using vibrations through the ground was the least of her sensory capabilities. She could easily make out their conversation as she sat in the bath, one foot pressed to the floor of the tub as she relaxed and let her mind wander back to the bath she¡¯d taken with Yue earlier.


    ¡°Well?¡± her father asked¡ªno, demanded, by his tone.


    ¡°What did you discover, Master Yu?¡± her mother asked.


    ¡°Lao, Poppy,¡± Yu began slowly, the clink of a teacup interrupting his words briefly. ¡°I hate to be the bearer of bad news.¡±


    ¡°Go on,¡± her father prompted.


    Oh great, what¡¯s this idiot going to try to sell them now? Maybe he¡¯ll tell them I have bending-itis or something and only he can help cure it, for a small fortune of course¡ª


    ¡°There are¡­ signs,¡± Yu sighed. ¡°Your suspicions may be correct. The ill luck, inauspicious omens, and injuries¡­¡±


    Heh. Fun times!


    ¡°I do not believe them to be the work of spirits.¡±


    Her mother sat up straighter. ¡°Not poor wa, then?¡±


    Yu shifted where he sat, humming quietly. ¡°That depends on the source. I don¡¯t believe it myself, but there are¡­ rumors circulating among certain less than reputable individuals. I would need to see it to confirm for myself.¡±


    Pfft. Yeah, it¡¯s the ¡®wa¡¯ alright, dumbass. That¡¯s what happens when you try to force someone into something they don¡¯t want. I¡¯ll disturb your fucking harmony until you quit it. Something about Yu¡¯s tone was off there, too. He sounded annoyed, and from his heartbeat, Toph could tell he was lying for at least part of it. There may be ¡®rumors¡¯ of whatever he was talking about, but her senses told her he probably actually had firsthand knowledge. So, why¡¯s he lying? And why¡¯s he sound so pissy?


    Shaking his head, her father grumbled, ¡°We don¡¯t care for rumors, only facts. What can you tell us? The facts, Master Yu.¡±


    ¡°Facts, then,¡± Yu nodded. ¡°As I said, there are signs. Small, minute traces, all over the compound. Or rather, below it.¡±


    Wait. Hold on. What?


    Her father sat up in his seat. ¡°Traces of what? Do we have to worry about another assassination attempt?¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t believe so. As I said, they¡¯re small. Subtle. If I hadn¡¯t been looking for it, I wouldn¡¯t have noticed. An assassin wouldn¡¯t stay around for the time required. This is something that had taken place over the course of years.¡±


    ¡°Years?!¡± her mother¡¯s voice climbing made Toph wince.


    ¡°Yes. An earthbender of great skill has been subtly changing the earth beneath the Beifong household for years. Someone whose skill may even come close to rivaling my own¡­¡±


    You don¡¯t have any skill. You¡¯re a hack. A mid-level earthbender barely capable of teaching nobles¡¯ children just enough to defend themselves from bandits, making his fortune off of people who don¡¯t know better, like my parents.


    ¡°With your permission, I would like to investigate further.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± her mother agreed easily, falling for the scam.


    Nodding along, her father asked, ¡°How long do you think it will take?¡±


    ¡°Oh, not long at all.¡±


    Toph didn¡¯t like Yu¡¯s smarmy tone at all. Something about it made her hackles rise. Made her want to punch his face in.


    ¡°There are legends among earthbenders. Most brush them off as old wives¡¯ tales, but perhaps there is a grain of truth to them. Let us find out.¡±


    Toph frowned as Yu lifted his foot, then brought it down on the floor. A sound resonated through the floor, and through her body, like an explosion going off inside her head. Toph yelped, jerking her foot off the floor and losing her balance, immediately going under. Her jaw clenched in pain and she got her bearings, standing in the tub and coughing out a bit of water.


    ¡°Toph?!¡± her mother yelped from the living room.


    Yu reached up and made some sort of stroking motion in front of his face. His tone was smug. ¡°So it is as I thought. Why don¡¯t we wait for Toph to get out of the bath before we continue. Or, should I say¡­ the Blind Bandit.¡±


    Toph¡¯s whole body tensed for a moment, before she ground out a quiet, ¡°Fuck.¡±


    Su was there a moment later, helping her out of the bath and wrapping her in a towel as she began drying the younger girl. ¡°Young miss? Are you injured?¡±


    ¡°Just my pride,¡± Toph huffed, using her own towel to try to dry her hair.


    It wasn¡¯t perfect and she was still damp in places, but eventually, she was dressed enough to be presentable. ¡°You should stay here,¡± Toph warned, and Su nodded.


    Stomping through the house, Toph sent out active pulses of sound through her feet, verifying the positions of everyone on the property and making sure they didn¡¯t have any surprise guests. She found her mother and father waiting in the living room, along with Yu. The man chuckled. ¡°I knew the moment I saw you fight, who you had to be. You cost me quite a lot of money, you know? I believe your parents should cover this debt¡ª¡±


    ¡°Your gambling debts are your own problem. Get out.¡±


    ¡°Toph, you can¡¯t speak to a guest like this!¡±


    ¡°Shut up, mother.¡± The room fell silent¡ªin fact, it felt like the whole house fell silent, taking a collective breath to see what would happen next. She turned her head towards Yu again. ¡°Last chance. Get out or I¡¯ll throw you out.¡±


    Yu rose to his feet slowly, dusting himself off as he did. ¡°I would very much like to see you try, pupil.¡±


    Toph snorted softly. Below her, she felt the ground shift¡ªslowly, carefully. But the thing was, Yu was right on that account. This was her home and she had been training and refining her bending in secret for years. Even as little as two years ago, Yu might have stood a chance.


    As things were now, however? She knew every inch of dirt, every pebble, every speck of sand under their feet¡ªand they were all hers. They held her chi and jumped at her touch. She disrupted his attempt with a thought. From the way his heart sped up and the quiet intake of breath, she knew he realized it now. I just wish I could see his face.


    ¡°Please. You were never my master. I learned everything I know about bending from the badger moles. You¡¯re a scam artist taking advantage of nobles wanting to have someone teach their little brats. Gotta say, normally I¡¯d respect the hustle¡­ but then you went and conned my parents.¡±


    She shifted slightly and the floor opened up, swallowing Yu up to the waist. The man squawked, but that quickly turned into a yelp as he went flying, the ground parting around him like water as he was dragged from the house, through the stone wall, and outside. Stone rose from the ground into a ramp and the man screamed as she threw him from the property, straight over the wall. Another minute movement and everything smoothed out, like it had never happened.


    Toph smiled, but it was nearly wiped from her face when she felt her parents¡¯ hearts, fluttering in fear. Shaking her head, she took the cushion Yu had been seated on. Su entered the room a moment later with a fresh tea cup, which she quickly filled and handed to Toph.


    ¡°So¡­¡± Toph drew out the word for a moment, not quite sure where to go from here.


    Well¡­ cat¡¯s out of the bag now. Might as well take advantage, now that they know what they¡¯re dealing with.


    She was tired. Tired of having to tiptoe around her parents. Tired of having to wear the mask of the dutiful, invalid daughter. Tired of not having any respect from her own family. In the end, she decided to do what she did best: be blunt.


    ¡°Let¡¯s talk about those arranged marriage meetings, and how there won¡¯t be any more.¡±

 19

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    19


    <hr>


    ¡°Listen, Yue. I want to help. I do. But you know why I can¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°We can do it safely! We¡¯ll make them agree to leave the room and then you can heal her¡ª¡±


    Toph raised an eyebrow as she slowed her steps. The argument coming from inside the couple¡¯s rented bedroom was quiet, too quiet for someone who wasn¡¯t leaning against their door to hear, but she was kind of cheating.


    Are they talking about me?


    For a moment, just a second, hope stirred in her breast¡ªand she ruthlessly crushed it under heel. She was pretty sure Yue was a good healer¡ªapparently, that first night after she had left them in their inn, they had gone out together and Yue had begun offering free healing to anyone who needed it. There were already rumors circulating the town about the miracle healer. But other Water Tribe healers had tried with her eyes and failed before. Zuko¡­ she had nothing to go on there. All she¡¯d seen him do was heal his leg, then maybe heal a few bumps and bruises after their first spar, if the blast of heat from him she felt after the spar was him lighting himself on fire to heal himself.


    I¡¯ll tell them I don¡¯t want it¡ª


    ¡°And when she walks out of that room, someone¡¯s going to ask the obvious question of how a girl who¡¯s been missing part of a leg since an accident with a cart suddenly has her leg back. More people are going to come by and ask for the same thing.¡±


    Oh. Not me then. But he can regrow a leg? That¡¯s pretty cool.


    ¡°We can put them to sleep as one of the conditions to heal them,¡± Yue offered, her voice sounding a bit strained now.


    Zuko sighed. ¡°And when someone gets cute and decides to spy on us? They¡¯re going to see what I can do and if we¡¯re lucky, we¡¯ll only get run out of town. I don¡¯t want to have to fight my way out of an Earth Kingdom city. The potential collateral damage¡­ One wrong move, one errant ember, and the entire place could go up. And then, instead of helping one, or ten, or even a hundred people best case scenario is that I destroy that many people¡¯s livelihoods, homes, goods.¡±


    Yeah, that sounds bad. Couldn¡¯t even really blame him at that point, if he said he didn¡¯t want to, did it anyway, got caught, and had to fight his way out. Shaking her head, Toph leaned against the wall outside the inn room and waited for the argument to end.


    ¡°We could do it outside of the city.¡±


    ¡°Why would we need to do it outside of the city unless we had something to hide?¡±


    Yue made a quiet, annoyed noise. Toph thought it sounded kind of cute, like an angry kitten, but she didn¡¯t think it¡¯d go over well to tell the girl that to her face right now. She took a breath and let it out in a quiet sigh, before her tone changed. ¡°Please? For me? We can wait until we¡¯re ready to leave and do it on the last day. That way, we should hopefully be gone before anyone has a chance to ask inconvenient questions. It doesn¡¯t have to be everyone. Just, just the one. It¡¯s not fair for a girl to grow up maimed.¡±


    Life¡¯s not fair¡ª


    ¡°Life¡¯s not fair.¡± Toph blinked, before the corners of her mouth pulled up into a smile. Zuko sat down on the bed with a sigh of his own. ¡°This is the pirates all over again.¡± His head tilted to look at Yue, who remained silent, staring back with her hands clasped in front of her waist in a gesture Toph hadn¡¯t really seen before. The man was silent for a few moments, before flopping back on the bed. ¡°Just the one and I reserve the right to say I told you so.¡±


    Yue made her way over and sat down beside him, her hand coming to rest on his thigh. ¡°Thank you, Zuko.¡±


    Toph chose that moment to push off the wall and knock on their door. ¡°It¡¯s Toph. You guys in there?¡±


    Yue stood and got the door, and Toph slipped inside. ¡°You¡¯re not with your servant today?¡±


    ¡°Eh, some things happened last night and now I don¡¯t need one when I go out,¡± Toph shrugged.


    Zuko sat up, his head turning towards her. He studied her for a moment before chuckling. ¡°How¡¯d they find out?¡±


    Toph made a face, wondering how he figured her out so easily. ¡°They called a guy who runs a dojo for earthbending. He¡¯s an arrogant old asshole, but he figured it out.¡±


    ¡°How did your parents take it?¡± Yue asked, her voice soft, expecting the answer from the tone of it.


    Toph shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk about it. I¡¯d rather go beat on something.¡±


    Pushing himself off the bed, Zuko stretched briefly. ¡°Sounds fun. Yue?¡±


    The girl hesitated, then shook her head. ¡°Not today. If you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯d like to spend more time healing.¡±


    Zuko paused where he stood, his head turned towards Yue. After a few moments, he nodded. Despite the earlier argument, there was worry and care in his voice as he said, ¡°Be careful.¡±


    Yue chuckled quietly. ¡°I will.¡± She turned towards Toph. ¡°Have fun~!¡±


    Together, the two of them left the inn, heading out of the city, back towards the mountain where they had practiced the day before. Toph was content to walk in silence as they left the city and the crowds thinned. Once they stepped off the road, and she was sure no one was around, she asked, ¡°So¡­ trouble in paradise?¡±


    ¡°You heard that, huh.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t a question, but Toph nodded anyway. ¡°Yeah. Sorry.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± They fell silent for a bit longer, before the man said, ¡°Differences in opinion are normal in any relationship. They¡¯re something you work through.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Toph agreed. ¡°But it kinda sounds to me like she wants to do something nice for someone, but doing it might cause more trouble than it¡¯s worth.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s basically it.¡±


    Toph shook her head. ¡°Sometimes, you have to cut your losses. It¡¯s like¡­ you can¡¯t just give handouts to beggars. Yeah, they¡¯re beggars, but not all of them are actually poor. That was one of my favorite scams before someone tried to take me home and I had to stop using it. Then there¡¯s the ones who could work, but don¡¯t. Or they got there because they were stupid. They¡¯re healthy, there¡¯s nothing wrong with them, but they¡¯d rather beg than work. Or they spend all their money on gambling or booze. And even if you sorted out the ones who were really poor through no fault of their own and honestly in need of help, eventually you¡¯d make yourself poor trying to feed and clothe all of them. Or they¡¯d come to expect it.¡± Frowning, she muttered, ¡°Someone will always try to take advantage of that kind of kindness.¡±


    Zuko hummed. ¡°You think she¡¯s naive?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Toph didn¡¯t hesitate.


    ¡°So do I,¡± Zuko sighed. ¡°But the thing is¡­ as much trouble as it could be, there are things I like about it. I¡¯d much rather Yue think the best of people, find ways to help people, and generally be a good person than turn into a jaded, cynical asshole. Sure, yeah, she¡¯s eventually going to make a mistake in trusting someone she shouldn¡¯t, or not being able to permanently deal with a problem only to have it bite her in the ass later. But it beats the alternative. I admire her ability to see the best in people and make friends with anyone she meets. I¡¯m just hoping that time and exposure to people will temper that a bit. I¡¯d like her keep all the good parts but stop looking at the world like, well¡­¡±


    ¡°Like everyone is as good a person as she is, until they prove her wrong?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°She sounds kinda¡­ sheltered.¡± Deciding to ask one of the questions she¡¯d had since Yue had first told her the story, she asked, ¡°What¡¯d you do, kidnap some water tribe princess?¡±


    Zuko laughed. ¡°Something like that.¡±


    His heartbeat gave him away. She had hit pretty close to the truth. She knew Yue didn¡¯t think she¡¯d been kidnapped, which probably meant¡­ She¡¯s not a noble, she¡¯s a princess. That explains some things.


    His head turned to regard her for a moment before asking, ¡°Sounds like you¡¯ve got some personal experience.¡±


    He didn¡¯t ask, which Toph appreciated, but she decided to answer anyway. ¡°My parents. It¡¯s like¡­ how are you this dumb? I¡¯m blind and I can see this guy is trying to screw you over! I don¡¯t get it. When it comes to the business, they¡¯re fine. They have no problem spotting a bad deal and walking away. It¡¯s just¡­¡±


    Chuckling, Zuko asked, ¡°They have a blind spot when it comes to you.¡±


    ¡°Ha ha,¡± Toph rolled her eyes, took a step closer, and punched the taller man in the arm. For just a moment, Toph winced. Wait, did I screw up?


    ¡°Ow,¡± came the completely flat response. ¡°So, Yue mentioned that the tournament¡ª¡±


    ¡°Earth Rumble,¡± Toph supplied.


    ¡°That,¡± he nodded. ¡°She said it was a weekly thing. She also told me you were looking to make some money off of it and having trouble, because everyone knows you¡¯re going to win. Or at least enough people to skew the odds.¡±


    ¡°Yeeeah,¡± Toph sighed. ¡°It sucks. She said she might help me out though, if they¡¯ll let a waterbender enter.¡±


    ¡°I have no doubt Yue will win,¡± Zuko nodded, sounding absolutely confident of that. ¡°The only person that might give her trouble is you and even then, I think I¡¯d still bet on Yue.¡±


    ¡°Psh please, I¡¯d kick her butt!¡± Toph boasted, but there was no real heat in it. As confident as she was in herself, she also wasn¡¯t dumb. Yue was strong and good. Like, freakishly so. The only reason she was pretty sure she would win in the Rumble was because there was no water in the arena, so Yue would be limited to whatever she brought with her. As her spar the previous day had shown, the waterbender could easily get one over on her if she wasn¡¯t careful, and Yue had a source of water nearby.


    ¡°Maybe,¡± Zuko shrugged. His head turned towards her again as they climbed over the hill that would block them from view of the city. ¡°Your family¡¯s rich. If you wanted to buy something, couldn¡¯t they just buy it for you?¡±


    ¡°Normally, yeah. They would,¡± Toph agreed. ¡°But it¡¯s something only I can buy.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Chuckling, he asked, ¡°Well, now I¡¯m curious. You gonna keep me in suspense? Give me a hint?¡±


    Stopping, Toph slid into a wide ready stance, a smirk pulling at her lips. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you if you beat me. Ten good hits or you knock me out. If I win, you¡¯ve got to fill in the blanks of that story Yue told me when we met.¡±This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°Heh. Sure. You¡¯ve got a deal. One thing though. You mind if I use something other than fire? I need to practice it against an earthbender.¡±


    Toph tilted her head, curious and confused. ¡°What do you mean, ¡®something other than fire?¡¯¡±


    ¡°You know there are four basic elements,¡± he began, and she nodded. ¡°And then you¡¯ve got your derivative stuff, like bloodbending, lavabending, or metalbending.¡±


    The shorter girl scoffed. ¡°You can¡¯t bend metal.¡±


    ¡°Yes, you can,¡± Zuko said, and something about his tone and the steady beat of his heart told her that he knew it for a fact. ¡°Anyway. Then you¡¯ve got lightning, which a lot of people say is advanced firebending, but it¡¯s not, and I¡¯m going to prove it one day. Then we have the last one. Or maybe the first. Bending energy itself.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a thing?¡±


    ¡°Yep. Kind of a lost art, usually exclusive to lion turtles and avatars. But apparently, it can be passed on. I learned how to do it, but it didn¡¯t exactly come with an instruction manual. No forms that people have been building on for hundreds or thousands of years. So I¡¯m having to make it up as I go along. And for that, I need a sparring partner. But, and here¡¯s the part I think you¡¯ll like,¡± he said, and Toph perked up a bit in interest. ¡°If they¡¯re going to let Yue compete and we can take them for all they¡¯re worth, why not do the same scam twice?¡±


    Toph found herself grinning from ear to ear. ¡°You can¡¯t enter as a firebender, but if you say you¡¯re some kind of new type of bender¡­ They won¡¯t be expecting the same trick twice in a row.¡± Bouncing lightly on her feet, she slid out of her stance and moved away, taking in the valley they were in.


    ¡°If we¡¯re going to do this, then we should change the scenery, so you¡¯ll know what you can expect.¡± Stomping a foot, she began raising a platform of stone, leveling it out and walking it off to fit the exact dimensions of the one used in the rumble. She made sure to leave Yue¡¯s spring (and the bath she had made for them) alone as she worked, but otherwise began shaping a copy of the arena inside a bowl-shaped depression. When she was satisfied, she nodded. ¡°Come on up!¡±


    Zuko jumped and did something that made a small explosion, before landing lightly on the arena. ¡°Looks good.¡±


    ¡°Thanks. So, Rumble rules are get knocked out of the ring, or knocked out, and you lose. You ready?¡± she asked, sliding back into her ready stance.


    The man across from her did likewise, though there was something off about it. It took her a moment, but Toph placed it as something closer to Yue¡¯s opening stance than the one Zuko had used for firebending the day before. ¡°Whenever you are.¡±


    Toph grinned and stomped her foot, raising a boulder and stepping forward to punch it and test his response. Zuko moved out of the path, sliding through a few quick motions that again, reminded her of Yue¡¯s waterbending form. She felt no heat at all from him. Actually, the air was getting colder. Disregarding the oddity, she launched another rock, another, and¡ª He shifted from ¡®water gathering¡¯ to ¡®launching fire,¡¯ a basic punch forward that would have sent a fireball her way.


    Toph reacted on instinct, diving to the side. Something disturbed the air as it zipped past her, much faster than a fireball, and the only warning she¡¯d had was recognizing the stance. ¡°Okay! That¡¯s different!¡±


    ¡°Right?¡± Zuko laughed, then Toph watched as his extended hand opened, made a grabbing motion, and he pulled back towards himself.


    Toph felt a moment of confusion, before something slammed into her back and exploded, knocking her forward and onto her face. She rolled out and back to her feet, watching as Zuko made another ¡®come here¡¯ motion. ¡°What the fuck was that?!¡±


    ¡°I believe that was a point.¡±


    Toph¡¯s eyebrow twitched at the amusement in his voice. ¡°Jerk.¡±


    Alright, you got me with that one. Whatever it is that energybending does, he can pull his attacks back. So, think of it like a rock. He¡¯s throwing a rock really fast, then pulling it back. But it¡¯s energy, not a rock. So maybe, like water or fire, it can change shape. I¡¯ll need to be careful of that.


    Shifting her foot forward, she sent a small wave of earth rushing for Zuko¡¯s feet, hoping to knock him off balance, followed by a chop of her hand that created a series of dull spikes rushing up from the ground towards where she expected him to move. Toph frowned as he jumped into her attack, kicked off of it, and rushed her¡ªtrying to close to hand to hand range. She could hold her own in hand to hand most of the time, but after her first spar with the pair, Toph had learned that Zuko just had her outclassed when it came to throwing hands. He had a longer reach and was a bit faster, and just as strong as her. Letting him get up close and personal was a bad idea.


    Raising a foot, she stomped the ground and exploded it out in a wave ahead of her, launching hundreds of rocks and throwing up dust that would leave him just as blind as her¡ªmore, even, considering she could ¡®see¡¯ through the ground. Except, Zuko didn¡¯t do what she was expecting. She had thought he would either get hit by the explosion (and score her some points), or he would launch himself higher to evade. Instead, there was a faint sound almost too low to hear, a vibration in the air, like a drop of water hitting a still pond. The next thing Toph knew, a boot was hitting her face and she found herself spinning through the air, disconnected from the earth and truly blind. The follow-up came immediately as he kicked her in the stomach, then punched her in the back, throwing her towards the edge of the ring¡ªand she¡¯d consider a ring-out a full loss.


    Her heart was pounding. Her face and body already hurt. She tasted blood and her head was ringing from the blow. And despite it all, Toph couldn¡¯t help but smile. Zuko wasn¡¯t going easy on her. He wasn¡¯t pulling his punches. He was treating her as a threat¡ªsomeone he had to take seriously if he wanted to beat. Sparring match or not, short of throwing around fire, he was going all out. She loved it, and she couldn¡¯t help but want to answer with the same.


    Her hand touched the ground, slipping into it like water and pulling her to a stop. More of those faint whistling sounds filled the air¡ªmany more, but this time there was no windup. He didn¡¯t telegraph it with a firebending form. He just stood there and launched some sort of barrage. Crouching low, Toph slapped the ground and raised a barrier in front of her, point facing towards Zuko and sides angled to deflect whatever he was throwing at her. Not a moment too soon as, an instant later, she registered a dozen hits crashing into her barrier and exploding on contact, cracking and threatening to break it, forcing her to reinforce it.


    He moved to gather up what he¡¯d thrown at her again and Toph took the opening for what it was, launching her barrier at him in parts. At the same time, she stomped and shot a small rock from behind him, aimed at the back of his head¡ªor the middle of his back if he moved as she expected. A solid thump sounded and Toph grinned as she heard Zuko grunt, landing on the ground with a wince.


    Raising her hands, she exploded the surface of the arena again, turning it into more dust¡ªthick enough that she could feel it faintly outlining them both. Then, she dove forward and slipped into the ground, moving through the stone like it was water as she held her breath. She felt him above her as she moved around beneath him. A bit of bending had a rough copy of herself, a Toph-shaped pile of rocks and dirt, rising up where she had been and charging¡ªlooking much like she did when she covered herself in rock armor. Zuko went after it, launching more attacks and rushing to close into hand to hand range. Toph waited and, as soon as he engaged, she popped up behind him¡ª


    A boot caught her in the face and Toph yelped as she felt her nose break. ¡°Fuck!¡±


    Rolling out, she went underground again and popped up off to his side, only to have to dive again as she felt the dust disturbed. How is he tracking me?! He¡¯s supposed to be as blind as I am¡ª


    Toph¡¯s thoughts froze on the spot as the answer became obvious. Opening a small hole to the surface of the ring, she asked, ¡°Did you train for fighting blind?¡±


    ¡°Yep. I can see heat. Nice trick with the clone, by the way. Almost fooled me, because I couldn¡¯t see through the stone around it.¡±


    On the one hand, Toph was kind of impressed. Also, learning that someone else had gone to the effort to learn to see with their bending made her feel¡­ something. She wasn¡¯t sure what yet and didn¡¯t have time to figure it out at the moment. On the other hand, she was kind of pissed. He¡¯d landed five hits to her one and had broken her nose! Her competitive streak wouldn¡¯t let that stand¡­ and Zuko had just told her how to beat his little ¡®seeing heat¡¯ trick.


    Toph launched herself to the surface, covered in rock armor. At the same time, she created four ¡®clones¡¯ as he called them around him. All of them attacked at once, under her direction. To keep from giving herself away within the crowd, Toph limited her bending to just controlling the copies.


    ¡°Well, shit,¡± Zuko muttered. He shifted, lowering his stance and sweeping first one hand forward in an arc, then spinning and sweeping the other behind him. Toph (and her clones) raised her arms instinctively to block and found herself and her copies slammed with two waves of something¡ªas she¡¯d thought, he could change the shape of whatever it was he was using. The attacks cut through the outer layer of rock, but didn¡¯t do anything otherwise. Zuko moved to gather his energy back up and Toph struck.


    In response, she and her copies stepped forward, each shooting off a fist made of stone¡ªthen she repeated it as she regrew the fist, sending a barrage of small, fast attacks at the man and forcing him on the defensive. Zuko ducked, dodged, and weaved through the attacks, occasionally blocking, punching, kicking, or shooting a stone as he tried to get out of the barrage. Toph felt him do something, making that ¡®drawing¡¯ gesture again, and some of the stone flying at him fell out from under her control, as though the ki she¡¯d launched it with had been stripped out¡ªbut the stones were still moving fast enough that it didn¡¯t matter and he had to evade anyway.


    Picking up the pace, Toph added kicks to the barrage. Zuko lasted another few seconds before he took the first hit¡ªthen another, and another, as she hit him with enough force to spin him around and send him to the ground, where a volley of three more hit him at the same time before he could roll out. ¡°That last one only counts as one,¡± he grunted.


    ¡°Nope! It¡¯s seven to five!¡± Toph jeered, only to realize her mistake an instant later as her armor exploded around her and a barrage of blasts launched her through the air. In the moment she spent airborne, she thought back to Zuko¡¯s movements as he dodged and nearly kicked herself for not realizing it sooner. The entire time he was dancing around, he had been gathering and preparing more of those attacks and waiting for the right moment to identify her and strike decisively¡ª


    Toph slammed into the bowl on the outside of the ring and slid down to the ground. Coughing, she groaned as something shifted uncomfortably in her chest. Reaching down, she carefully probed her ribs below her right breast. Yeah, that¡¯s cracked. Shit.


    Still, she couldn¡¯t help but laugh as Zuko jumped out of the ring and landed in front of her, stumbling as he did. He might have won, but she¡¯d made him fight for it every step of the way, and had given as good as she got. And now that she had seen what he could do, she could prepare for the next time. She wouldn¡¯t lose the same way again.


    ¡°That was fun,¡± she chuckled, then whimpered at the pain in her rib.


    ¡°It was. Wasn¡¯t sure I was gonna win there at the end, so I might have overdone it.¡± Zuko limped over and reached down, carefully lifting her up to her feet.


    They leaned against each other as they made their way out of the bowl, Zuko leading them towards the bath. ¡°If you apologize, I¡¯m going to hit you,¡± Toph growled. ¡°Don¡¯t ruin it for me.¡±


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t dream of it,¡± he laughed, and Toph felt that he meant it. ¡°How¡¯s your chest?¡±


    ¡°You hit me in the titty,¡± Toph grumbled, reaching up to rub her sore boob. ¡°Cracked a rib, too.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll take care of it.¡± Toph snorted as Zuko paused, then immediately added, ¡°Healing.¡±


    ¡°Uh huh. Sure. That¡¯s what you meant.¡±


    ¡°Shut up,¡± he shook his head, then sighed. ¡°Really not gonna help my case when I tell you that you need to strip.¡±


    Toph laughed, then immediately regretted it. ¡°What would Yue say?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯d probably laugh and enjoy someone else suffering being awkward about it, because I made her do it shortly after we met, when I healed her master. Yagoda thought it was hilarious.¡±


    ¡°Awkward? You, maybe.¡± Pushing him away, she began undoing her robe. ¡°Out of curiosity, what happens if I don¡¯t undress?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Zuko began, doing the same as he turned away from her. ¡°I can set myself on fire and not burn my clothes, no problem. For someone else? Not so much. And as it turns out, even if you¡¯re getting healed faster than damage can accumulate, having all your clothes burn off of you hurts like a bitch.¡±


    ¡°Do I need to be out of the water for this, or¡­?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d prefer it. Don¡¯t want to accidentally boil you,¡± he chuckled, and she nodded. ¡°You ready?¡±


    Toph dropped the last of her clothes and kicked them to the side. ¡°Yup.¡±


    Zuko turned around, but she noticed his head wasn¡¯t exactly turned towards her body. Considering him for a moment, she asked, ¡°Did you close your eyes?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. So, unlike Yue, I can¡¯t exactly tell where something¡¯s injured. You¡¯re going to need to direct me¡ª¡±


    Toph reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling it to her ribs, just below her right breast. ¡°Here.¡±


    His hand felt warm on her body and Toph felt herself growing warm. It wasn¡¯t the first time she¡¯d been touched¡ªSu both dressed her and helped her bathe most days. But it was the first time it was a man doing the touching¡ªand the first time it was someone she might kind of like. As a friend! Someone who treated her like an equal, not an invalid.


    Then, her whole body below the neck felt warm¡ªlike standing in a warm breeze, with the majority of the warmth centered under Zuko¡¯s hand. She felt and perceived her rib as it healed and the pain became a distant memory. The big bruise her left tit was becoming faded as well, along with a bunch of other bruises, aches, and pains over the rest of her body. Finally, Zuko pulled his hand away from her chest and up. Toph gasped quietly as his hand slipped over her nipple.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± he muttered, both hands coming up and resting to either side of her nose. ¡°This is going to hurt. On three. One¡ª¡±


    ¡°Ee!¡± Toph yelped as he snapped her nose back into place. ¡°Shit! You said three!¡±


    ¡°I lied,¡± he shrugged, and then the pain faded as she felt warmth on her nose. ¡°There. All better. I¡¯m getting in the bath. You can wait or you can¡ª¡± Toph launched herself with a small rock pillar, tucked into a ball, and splashed down into the cold spring water filling the bath. She surfaced with another yelp, shivering. ¡°Or you can just jump in, yeah. Hang on.¡±


    Zuko stuck his arm in the tub and, a moment later, Toph sighed as the water heated around her to the perfect temperature. ¡°Much better.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± he said, and she felt a brief flare of heat around him before he climbed in and sat down across from her. Yawning, he leaned back and rested his head on the ledge. ¡°So. What can¡¯t you buy with your parents¡¯ money that you can buy with your own?¡±


    Toph sighed, considering the man across from her. After a few moments of thinking, she answered, ¡°Independence.¡±¡°Hm?¡±


    ¡°My freedom.¡± He sat up a bit and tilted his head towards her. He didn¡¯t ask more, just waiting. Giving Toph the chance to decide if she wanted to say more. Eventually, she decided to. ¡°You have no idea what it feels like to be a prisoner in your own home.¡±


    Zuko chuckled once, shaking his head. ¡°You¡¯re wrong. Yue and I are probably the two people who understand it best. Differently for each of us, but close enough.¡±


    ¡°My parents treat me like I¡¯m made of glass and I¡¯ll break if someone looks at me wrong, or says the wrong thing.¡±


    ¡°After our mother left, my sister and I had to learn how to act and speak around our father to avoid him lashing out.¡±


    Toph frowned. ¡°My parents keep trying to sell me off for marriage, like I don¡¯t even get a say.¡±


    Zuko shrugged. ¡°Welcome to a day in Yue¡¯s life. Her father tried to engage us to tie me to their tribe when they learned what I could do. The guy who thought he was going to marry her before I came along chased us across the Earth Kingdom until he got himself spirited away.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, an assassin tried to kill my parents before I was born and that¡¯s why I¡¯m blind and my mom can¡¯t have any more kids!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not a competition, Toph,¡± Zuko sighed, before his voice changed, filled with amusement. ¡°But if you want to compete¡­¡±


    She felt him move through the water towards her, stopping right in front of her. ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    ¡°Give me your hand,¡± he said instead. Rising to the challenge, Toph reached out a hand towards him. Zuko took the offered hand and brought it up. ¡°You can¡¯t see it, so let¡¯s do the next best thing,¡± he murmured, before resting her hand on his chest.


    Toph nearly pulled her hand away, but Zuko held it there. She stopped as she realized what it was she was feeling. Beneath her fingers was raised tissue that stood out from the smooth skin of the rest. Zuko let her hand go and Toph slowly brought up the other hand, tentatively exploring. The right side of his chest was mostly smooth, firm pectoral, with the occasional streak of raised tissue. The left side was a mess, where all the raised parts seemed to radiate outwards from one spot in particular, just above his heart.


    ¡°What is it?¡± Toph asked quietly.


    ¡°That is scar tissue. I could remove it, sure, but I keep it as a reminder. My father tried to kill me, because I mouthed off to him. Not in an Agni Kai, that is an official duel, but at the dinner table. In front of my sister.¡± He reached up and his hand settled over the top of hers, squeezing it briefly before pulling it away. ¡°So when I say we understand¡­¡±


    ¡°You really do,¡± Toph murmured as Zuko settled in beside her.


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    They fell silent for a while at that. Eventually however, Toph smirked. ¡°I¡¯m gonna make you tell me the rest of that story next time.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome to try. Now, let¡¯s talk about the Rumble. How much money could we bring in on a bet before they decided it wasn¡¯t worth it, or that something was up?¡±

 20

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    20


    <hr>


    ¡°Wish me luck!¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t need to. I know you¡¯ll win,¡± I sent Yue a smile and the girl stuck out her tongue, before darting in and giving me a peck on the lips. Turning away, she pulled down her veil and hurried off to where the other people participating were waiting.


    ¡°You two make my teeth itch,¡± Toph complained from beside me, where she was carrying one of the two boxes we had with us. Hers contained all of her saved winnings from her time as the Blind Bandit. The one in my own hands contained an equal amount, pulled from the treasure on the boat.


    ¡°Jealous?¡± I teased, reaching down with my free hand to brush some dust off of my uniform¡ªthe same one the Beifong family¡¯s guards wore¡ªand adjust my sword at my side, to sell the look.


    To my surprise, Toph nodded. ¡°A little. Every other man I¡¯ve met either treats me like glass because of my eyes, or they¡¯re so obvious about wanting to marry me for my family¡¯s money that it¡¯s embarrassing.¡±


    I reached out and patted her on the shoulder. ¡°Well, cheer up. It could be worse. At least your parents aren¡¯t still trying to marry you off.¡±


    Toph considered for a moment before smiling brightly. ¡°You¡¯re right.¡±


    ¡°How are they taking it? Still upset?¡±


    ¡°Tch. Yeah,¡± Toph grunted. ¡°They¡¯re not sure how to act around me now. That place is starting to feel less and less like home¡­¡± Toph trailed off and shook her head. ¡°But with any luck, they¡¯ll see I can take care of myself with more than just my bending after tonight. Come on, this way. Bookies are over here.¡±


    Following the girl¡¯s lead, we made our way towards where people were placing bets. After only a minute or two, we made it to the front of one of several lines, where one of the bookmakers there wearing a China dress in bright green and gold looked up and smiled brightly at me, before her eyes fell to Toph and her smile fell off. Without preamble, she asked, ¡°¡­We weren¡¯t notified you would be fighting today, Ms. Bandit?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not! I¡¯m just here to watch,¡± Toph grinned, and I rolled my eyes as the woman glanced at Toph¡¯s eyes briefly, before making a face.


    ¡°Yeees. I see.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m glad you do,¡± the little shit stirrer needled the woman again.


    The bookie recovered quickly however and got down to business. ¡°Very well then. You¡¯ve come to place a bet?¡±


    Toph thumped the small chest she was carrying down on the table. I put my own box down beside hers. ¡°One thousand gold pieces in this one,¡± she tapped her box, ¡°Another thousand in this one.¡±


    ¡°My apologies, but it is company policy that bets in excess of eight hundred gold will need to be weighted by an approved Official of Scales and¡ª¡±


    Toph¡¯s hand slapped a stamp down on the table¡¯s stone surface. ¡°How about now?¡±


    The bookie paused in her droning as she caught sight of what was on the stamp: an emblem of a winged pig. The same winged pig emblem recognized, honored and even enshrined by every institution in the whole region of Gaoling. She paled, glancing back at Toph. For just a moment, her mouth fell open and she stared.


    ¡°What are you eyeballing me for?¡± Toph crossed her arms, ¡°If you think I¡¯m not good for my gold, then feel free to count it if you like. You can even send that stamp along with the chest, but just keep in mind that I¡¯m gonna want it back.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no need, Ms. Beifong! No need at all!¡± the woman laughed nervously as she bowed at the waist, low enough to almost knock her head on the table. ¡°So, which bets would you like to place?¡±


    The rumors of the Blind Bandit¡¯s identity had indeed spread, but having Toph actually own it was a bit unexpected. This wasn¡¯t actually an uncommon reaction. Apparently, Toph¡¯s former teacher, one Master Yu had spread the knowledge around town and we¡¯d seen more than one person approach her in the street just to tell her how much they loved her alter ego. And so, despite being blind, Toph actually glanced up at me, likely just to show off her shit-eating grin.


    ¡°Told ya we wouldn''t have trouble making huge bets.¡±


    ¡°Show off.¡±


    ¡°Yup,¡± she smirked, before turning back to the bookie. Humming, Toph pretended to think about it. ¡°Zuko, what was the name of that new talent we heard about? The rumored waterbender?¡±


    ¡°The Lady of the Lake,¡± I answered with a straight face. In the end, it had become a group effort to think of Yue¡¯s stage name. Toph wanted something fierce sounding. Yue wanted something elegant and pretty. I split the difference and suggested something that would imply social status without giving away anything about her identity.


    The bookie perked up. ¡°Oh yes. She will be in the second match, against the winner of the first match. The Headhunter is in the first match against Fire Nation Man. If you would like, I have a scroll detailing the odds for each successive match¡­¡± She blinked, then quickly added, ¡°I can read it for you.¡±


    ¡°Zuko?¡±


    I held out my hand and took the scroll. ¡°First match, Headhunter vs Fire Nation Man. Two to one odds favoring Headhunter. Second match, Lady of the Lake versus either of them. Odds are one point five to one against her for Fire Nation Man, three to one against for Headhunter. If she moves to the next match, it¡¯s against Gecko. Odds are three to one against. Next would be Gopher, four to one against. Then Hippo¡ª¡±


    ¡°You mean Big Bad Hippo¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not saying that,¡± I shot the woman at the table a grin before turning back to Toph. ¡°Eight to one against for Hippo. Boulder last, ten to one odds against.¡±


    Toph nodded, then sent a smile towards the older woman. ¡°All of it on Lady of the Lake, and let it ride.¡±


    ¡°Are¡­ are you sure, Ms. Beifong? I know you¡¯re familiar with our other competitors, but this is the Lady¡¯s debut. She¡¯s a complete unknown. A dark horse.¡±


    I sighed, playing up the act of the beleaguered bodyguard putting up with the noble brat. ¡°Boss, you shouldn¡¯t just throw your money away like this. There are better things you could use it for.¡±


    ¡°Gotta spend my allowance somewhere, right?¡± Toph laughed, a very fake sounding¡ªat least to my ears¡ªojou-sama style ¡®ooohhh ho ho ho~,¡¯ drawing quiet murmurs of discontent from those around and behind us. ¡°I¡¯m sure! It¡¯s just pocket change. I won¡¯t miss it if I lose it. And hey, with those odds and two thousand gold coins on the line, you¡¯d have to be an idiot not to bet against me.¡±


    The bookie sighed, before marking something down on a scroll and handing Toph back her stamp. ¡°Very well, Ms. Beifong. Two thousand on the Lady, to ride. Please enjoy your night. If you like, the VIP booth still has seating available.¡±


    ¡°Psh, no thanks. I want to be down close to where the action is, so I can feel it in my bones,¡± Toph waved her off and I followed as we moved through the crowd towards the entrance to the stadium.


    ¡°Snacks! Snacks here! Get your rock candy! Get your carameled corn! We¡¯ve even got fire flakes!¡±


    Toph paused, then turned a smile at me. ¡°Hey Zuko¡­¡±


    ¡°You want snacks?¡± I asked, and she nodded.


    ¡°I want snacks. Never been here as a spectator before. Well, not officially.¡± Tilting her head slightly, she tilted her head off to the side and added, ¡°And uh, some of that fizzy water stuff. You know, the fruity kind.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± I agreed, and we got in line to wait for concessions. Quietly, I asked, ¡°Did they buy it?¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± she nodded. ¡°They¡¯re just throwing money at every fight against Yue.¡±


    ¡°Excellent,¡± I chuckled, stepping forward with the line. ¡°There¡¯s a sucker born every minute.¡±


    We got concessions and made our way into the stadium. I directed Toph to a nice set of seats somewhat near to the front where no one was sitting¡ªright in the splash zone where she wanted and far away enough from other people that we could talk with some privacy. Toph immediately began stuffing her face and I shook my head as she made quiet, happy noises as she tried a little of everything we¡¯d gotten¡ªwhich was one of everything they had. The ¡®fizzy water¡¯ was, to my surprise, some kind of carbonated water mixed with various fruit flavors. Toph had gone with cherry, while I¡¯d found one that tasted kind of like cream soda.


    Going to have to ask for or steal the recipe before we leave, and figure out where they¡¯re sourcing their carbonated water. Or see if Yue can make it. It¡¯d be nice to have something different once in a while. Tea gets old.


    Eventually, the announcer made his appearance and began warming the crowd up. The place thrummed with the sounds of shouting and stomping. Then, the first fighters came out, to the sounds of boos for Fire Nation Man. Beside me, Toph wore an ear to ear grin.


    ¡°These guys are total clowns. They¡¯re just here to get everyone in the mood for the main event. Kinda surprised they have the Boulder coming in so late though. Usually, they bring him in early and let him work his way through the others. He¡¯s the fan favorite. The star.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I asked, and she nodded.


    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s not fake, but it is kinda scripted. Fire Nation Man,¡± she gestured vaguely towards the arena, where the man in question was dodging rocks thrown his way, ¡°is the Evil Foreigner. You can¡¯t use someone from one of the other Earth Kingdoms, but everyone hates the Fire Nation, so¡­¡±


    ¡°I get it. So he¡¯s there to lose.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah. He¡¯s there to throw the fight and make the crowd feel good. He does win sometimes, just to turn up the drama and keep the betting pools from getting stale, but it¡¯s rare. Then there¡¯s the acrobats. We call ¡®em ¡®high flyers.¡¯ Middle weight guys who are all fast and like to use a lot of acrobatics in their acts. The Star is supposed to work his way through those first, then go up against the Big Guy, someone even bigger than him. Usually, that¡¯s it, unless a returning Champ shows up. That¡¯s me and a couple of old timers. We don¡¯t do that often though, because it screws with the bets. That¡¯s why I was kinda sorta banned for the last two years.¡±


    ¡°So, what do you call Yue?¡±


    Toph hummed. ¡°The New Guy or a Sweeper. Depends on if they¡¯re good or not. If she cleans the floor with them, she¡¯s a Sweeper.¡±


    Toph held up her hand and I looked back to the ring, where Fire Nation Man was being thrown out on a boulder. ¡°Looks like she¡¯s up.¡±


    The girl beside me brought a mouthful of caramel corn to her lips and grinned. ¡°This is gonna be good. She is gonna drag it out, right?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯ll stick to the plan,¡± I confirmed as the announcer roared Yue¡¯s introduction. ¡°It¡¯s Yue. She¡¯s not exactly a hothead. It¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    <hr>


    Yue¡¯s heart pounded in her chest as the announcer called her name. Taking a breath, she stepped out of the waiting area and started walking towards the stage.


    Zuko and Toph both said I should make an entrance. So something flashy. So¡­


    Releasing the bending water from her water skin, she jumped and used it to launch her into the air, drawing it with her and shifting it into mist as she flew through the air. Mist exploded out from around her as she landed, before swirling back around her body and condensing into a stream of water, waiting for her to use it as the crowd went wild.


    Yue ignored them as she reached out to the water below her. As part of their preparations for this event to help their friend, they had done some scouting in the days ahead of the fight. There was an underground river that ran below the mountains and, between Toph and Yue, they had redirected it a bit to run directly under the mountain where the Earth Rumble was held. Yue could feel it moving, just below the surface, waiting for her to call on it. So she did¡ªseveral little streamers reaching up from below, starting to cut their way through the rock between the underground river and the stage.


    Yue was pulled from her focus on the water below her by the man in front of her. He had been saying something rude but, per Toph¡¯s instructions, she had ignored it. They had worked on her ¡®character¡¯ for this together. It was kind of exciting, actually. The entire thing was one part play acting show, one part bending fight. They had decided that it would be best if Yue¡¯s ¡®Lady of the Lake¡¯ character remained aloof and detached, above the petty taunts of the other fighter, to lean into the air of mystery and nobility around her character.


    And Yue was perfectly fine with that because the truth was¡­ she was terrible at witty banter. Embarrassingly so. The one time she and Toph had practiced, Yue had nearly broken down into tears because she took the insults, the ¡®shit talk¡¯ as Toph and Zuko called it, too personally. Worse yet, she felt bad saying anything negative back and the few attempts she made had just left her blushing as the other two fought not to laugh at her. So, silent mysterious lady it was.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Oh, he¡¯s leaping, Yue blinked, as the bare-chested, masked man with wild brown hair before her¡ªthe announcer had called him The Headhunter¡ªlaunched himself into the air with a rock pillar, taking a boulder the size of his head with him in one hand as he wound up like he was planning to smash Yue with it. A small frown pulled at her lips as she took in his arc and estimated that he would land pretty much right on top of her. Something seemed off, however, and it took her a moment to figure it out as he hit the top of his arc and began to fall.


    He¡¯s so¡­ slow.


    Reacting instinctively, she shifted backwards one step, left arm coming up as the water circling her shifted and reached out into a whip. If it were Zuko, he would have dodged. If it had been Toph, she would have heard the counter coming and used whatever rock she took up with herself to either launch herself away, or throw it at Yue. The Headhunter did neither. Beneath his mask, his face shifted into an expression of bewilderment as Yue¡¯s water whip caught him around the midsection.


    Another step and Yue pulled, turning the falling man¡¯s momentum against him and directing it, adding a bit of force of her own. The water connecting them whipped forward and down and she let go as she completed one full rotation with a final step. The Headhunter yelled as he flew out of the ring, landing in among the first row of seating with a crash that sounded painful even from where Yue stood.


    For a moment, the arena was dead silent. Then, it erupted into a wave of sound that Yue felt in her chest. A smile pulled at her lips as she turned around to take in the crowd, her eyes shifted over those gathered, until she found Zuko and Toph sitting almost directly to her right from where she¡¯d started, right up front. Toph was cheering, both hands in the air as she stomped her feet. Zuko¡­ Zuko wore that look of exasperation she had grown to enjoy bringing out in him during their time together.


    <hr>


    Seven seconds. Less time than it takes to ride a bull.


    I sighed as Toph cheered loudly at my side. ¡°Well, there goes that plan.¡±


    ¡°Screw the plan, that was awesome! That chump didn¡¯t even see it coming!¡±


    Soon enough, the announcer called the next match. The Gecko lasted a bit longer¡­ but only because Yue let him land, only to create an ice slick beneath him and kick him towards the edge. The ice behind him rolled up into a small wave of water that carried him the rest of the way and the Gecko shot off the side of the ring like he¡¯d been greased.


    Frowning, I squinted a bit as I studied the announcer¡¯s face while the crowd laughed. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say the announcer was also the owner?¡±


    ¡°Huh? Oh, yeah. Xin Fu. He was in the Rumble himself years back, apparently,¡± Toph nodded.


    ¡°He looks pissed.¡±


    ¡°Heh. Yeah, I can hear it,¡± she laughed. ¡°He¡¯s watching his money evaporate in front of him. The house takes a cut of all winnings, but he probably had his own bets lined up. He knows his guys. He doesn¡¯t have to try to play the odds when he can pretty much guess who¡¯s gonna win each round, if they haven¡¯t agreed to have someone take a dive. He just bets on the one most likely to win. It¡¯s not a huge return, but it¡¯s stable. And now, Yue¡¯s shaking that up and he¡¯s losing money.¡± The girl leered. ¡°Sucks to suck!¡±


    The next fight against the Gopher saw the man diving underground, only to come up spluttering and covered in mud, as water began to pour out of the holes he¡¯d made in the arena. ¡°Shit,¡± I grumbled. ¡°Looks like he found the surprise.¡±


    A gesture from Yue had the coughing, mud-covered man crashing out of the ring in a torrent of water. Another gesture had the water spreading across the ring¡¯s surface.


    He knows he¡¯s lost control now, I mused, listening to the announcer call in the next contestant. Hippo leapt onto the stage with a rumble that shook the floor through my boots. Lifting his foot, he stomped the ring and it began to rock from one side to the other. Water swirled around Yue¡¯s feet, holding her in place as the stage quickly began to climb closer to a ninety degree angle with every step Hippo took. And then the wet ground under his feet iced over on the next stomp, sending him careening off the edge as the stage tilted one last time before settling back into place¡ªnot quite level again.


    ¡°These guys kind of suck.¡±


    Toph snorted quietly. ¡°They¡¯re idiots. Rock heads. They¡¯re good at what they do, but you can tell they¡¯ve never faced another kind of bender.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow skeptically, then remembered she couldn¡¯t see it. ¡°You didn¡¯t have that problem.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t suck,¡± she shrugged, wearing a cocky little grin. ¡°Oh, here comes that asshole, Boulder!¡±


    <hr>


    They¡¯re really¡­ not good at this, are they?


    Yue only had a moment to contemplate that before someone jumped in from the entrance. She raised a tentacle from octopus form to snag him, only for the big man to chop his hand down and tear through it, leaving Yue to skip away from him as he landed with a much smaller quake than the Hippo had.


    ¡°You¡¯ve done good to make it this far little girl, but now you face THE BOULDER!¡± the man roared as he¡­ took a moment to stand and pose, flexing to show off his enormous muscles.


    Don¡¯t really see the appeal of stacking muscles like boulders, Yue mused, giving the man a moment to showboat as she focused her attention below. He¡¯d crush me, and not in a fun way.


    Toph and Zuko both had insisted that she end everything with a big finish, so that was what she was going to do. Reaching down, she pulled on the water below, drawing it to the surface. A geyser erupted out of the floor, from the holes the Gopher had made, rising several feet in the air and pouring over the surface of the ring.


    ¡°You won¡¯t roll the Boulder with a little water!¡± the man across from her roared, before stomping down and closing the holes in the arena floor with earthbending.


    Yue smiled and shifted, tapping her foot on the floor. Three more water spouts sprang up across the ring. An instant later, the Boulder stomped again, closing them up and raising his namesake from the ground, before launching it at her. Yue shifted, sliding to the side on a thin layer of water as the boulder passed her by, making more water spouts rise up across the ring.


    Just a little more. Focus on the ring, not the floor¡­


    They traded blows back and forth, the Boulder sending waves of rock and tossing stones at her, Yue dodging, then countering with waves of water or ice. Until finally, a rumble and a loud crack sounded and brought the match to a pause as water erupted in the floor space between the ring and the seats. Waterspouts rose several feet in the air, one after another as more and more stone broke under the pressure of the underground river, following the paths Yue had made for it. Water quickly began to fill the area outside the ring and as she watched, the Boulder¡¯s eyes went wide.


    Yue twirled and the water around them swirled, frothing as it began to spin with a roar that drowned out the sound of the crowd. She thrust her hands forward and a huge wave swelled over the ring. The Boulder dropped to his knees, slamming a fist against the ground and raising a barrier of stone around himself as water crashed down around him.


    Another gesture, a thought, and water dug into every crack and imperfection in his barrier¡­ then shattered as it shifted to ice. Stone cracked as water expanded into ice. Ice shifted back to water, allowing more water to fill the gaps, before it expanded again with a louder crack. Then again, and again, until finally the barrier gave way and the Boulder screamed as he was swept away in the tide, thrown into the stands and stuck in place by a wave of water that froze around him.


    The crowd erupted. It was pandemonium. People cheered, jeered, screamed, stomped, threw things¡ªat her and at each other. Multiple fights broke out in the stands.


    The announcer dropped down into the ring beside her, carrying a large bag and wearing a sour look. Quietly, so quietly only she could hear, he glared at her and growled, ¡°Take your earnings and leave. Don¡¯t come back.¡±


    He handed Yue the bag, then lifted her hand. ¡°YOUR WINNER! THE LADY OF THE LAAAKE!!!¡±


    <hr>


    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go collect before they try to welch on the bets!¡± Toph laughed, popping to her feet. I followed as we made our way out, sticking close as we avoided the brawling crowd. ¡°Oh man, that was great! We should do stuff like this more often.¡±


    ¡°It was fun to watch,¡± I nodded. Yue had done great. The problem was, well¡­ it wasn¡¯t exactly sporting. These people were fighters. Little more than professional wrestlers with some bending moves. They were here to put on a show. Yue, on the other hand, was a waterbending prodigy (at least, once she had been allowed to learn anything other than healing) and I was turning that prodigy into a warrior. Even if she lacked the mentality for it, she had the skills and the power. It wasn¡¯t fair to drop her in on them like that.


    We weren¡¯t here to play fair though, we were here to rake in cash. And if I was doing the math right, then they owed us a lot.


    ¡°I¡¯m here to collect my winnings,¡± Toph leered, slapping the table of the same bookie she¡¯d placed the bets with.


    The woman in question was looking awfully pale¡ªa bit green around the gills, in fact. ¡°I, uh, that is, Ms. Beifong¡­ The um, the amount. It¡¯s¡ª¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± Toph grinned. ¡°I can do math. Five point seven million gold coins that the house owes me. The Beifong family can back that amount up easily and would have, if needed, had I lost. But I didn¡¯t lose. You did. So. Where¡¯s my money? You can pay, right?¡±


    ¡°I.. I need to speak with the owner!¡± the woman yelped, before turning and running away, only pausing to speak quietly with another woman before she fled.


    ¡°I think you scared ¡®em.¡±


    ¡°No shit,¡± Toph chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s great!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s kind of awesome,¡± I nodded, before pointing out the obvious. ¡°They don¡¯t have the money.¡±


    Toph scoffed. ¡°Not a chance. We knew that going in. Just didn¡¯t expect the odds to be that good.¡±


    We fell silent as another woman approached. ¡°Ms. Beifong, if you would please come with me. We have a room prepared where you may wait. Can I offer you or your bodyguard any refreshments?¡±


    ¡°Sure! We¡¯ll take whatever you¡¯ve got,¡± Toph nodded.


    ¡°No alcohol,¡± I clarified as we followed the other woman up a set of stairs, to a room near what felt like the back of the place. ¡°Those fizzy fruit drinks they had at the concessions were good though.¡±


    ¡°Of course, sir. We¡¯ll bring everything right up,¡± the woman bowed as she left us.


    Looking around, I whistled as I took in the waiting room. ¡°Nice place. Very fancy.¡±


    Toph shrugged and sat on the overstuffed couch, keeping one foot on the ground as she made herself comfortable. ¡°They¡¯re trying too hard. It even smells like money in here. And something else.¡± She wrinkled her nose. ¡°Booze and¡­ something.¡±


    Looking around, I spotted a large hookah in the back of the room. ¡°Drugs, probably. They¡¯ve got a hookah.¡±


    ¡°A what?¡±


    ¡°Water pipe.¡±


    Toph made a face. ¡°Of course they do.¡±


    I dropped down onto the couch beside her and she turned her head slightly to face me. ¡°So, how do we want to play this? I didn¡¯t think they¡¯d be stupid enough to take the bet, if they knew how much they stood to lose.¡±


    ¡°I told you they were stupid. We stick to the plan. Take ¡®em for everything they have,¡± the girl grinned, shifting and planting one of her feet in my lap after pushing off the sandal covering it. Thankfully, the foot in question wasn¡¯t dirty. According to her, when we got the story out of her, apparently Toph had hated shoes and had gone barefoot for years, until she¡¯d finally stepped in a pile of manure in the street. After that, she began fashioning her own sandals made of stone and leather straps.


    Reaching down, I took the foot in my hands. Squeezing her foot, I asked, ¡°Is there something you want here?¡±


    Toph grinned. ¡°You kidding? I¡¯ve heard the sounds Yue makes when you rub her feet. Either she¡¯s faking it or you¡¯re that go¡ªoood~! Mmf!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m that good,¡± I chuckled, digging my thumbs into her foot and squeezing.


    Toph closed her eyes and went limp beside me, letting out a quiet, throaty little groan. ¡°Unf~. Maybe you are. That is so not fair.¡±


    I shrugged and kept working on her foot. After some time, the woman who brought us up returned with a tray of food and drinks, before quickly leaving. Toph very blatantly turned her head towards the plate, then back towards me, then back to the plate again. Finally, she wiggled her toes. ¡°That smells good, but I don¡¯t wanna get up.¡±


    ¡°What am I, your manservant?¡±


    The girl stuck out her tongue. ¡°If you¡¯re lucky.¡±


    Rolling my eyes, I picked up the tray and sat it on her stomach. Picking up a dumpling, I dipped it in the available sauce and leaned in. ¡°Open.¡±


    Toph opened her mouth, rolling her tongue on the way out in a way that caught my eye and had to be intentional. Shaking my head, I waited for her to finish with her bite before dipping it again and popping the rest into my mouth. ¡°They¡¯re pretty good.¡±


    ¡°Mm. Yeah, but most places don¡¯t serve dumplings with a complementary foot massage. Gotta say, the service here is excellent,¡± she chuckled.


    ¡°Brat.¡±


    Eventually, we finished the food and returned the tray to the table, then it was more waiting. Getting bored, I decided to see just how far up I could go with this little massage before Toph said anything¡ªif she would at all. I was nearly up to her knee, with Toph twitching and trying very hard not to react, before she finally jerked her foot away and shifted upright, slipping her sandal back on. ¡°They¡¯re coming.¡±


    ¡°Damn, and it was just getting interesting,¡± I said, standing and taking my place to her side and just in front of the couch, one hand resting on my sword hilt.


    ¡°Tell me about it,¡± Toph sighed. ¡°You think Yue would mind if I borrowed you for the other one later?¡±


    ¡°Probably not, but ask her first.¡±


    The girl nodded and we fell silent. A few moments later, I heard footfalls approaching and then, the announcer and owner¡ªXin Fu¡ªstrolled in, with the Boulder just behind him. ¡°Ms. Beifong¡ª¡± he paused, then frowned. ¡°So, it¡¯s true. You are the Blind Bandit.¡±


    ¡°The Boulder thinks¡ª¡±


    ¡°You can think?¡± Toph cut in, earning a growl from the man. ¡°D¡¯ya have my money or not, Xin Fu?¡±


    Xin Fu crossed his arms over his chest. ¡°I think you cheated me, somehow.¡±


    ¡°Prove it,¡± Toph shrugged. ¡°Oh wait, you can¡¯t, or we wouldn¡¯t be having this discussion.¡±


    ¡°Nn. I have no proof, yet.¡±


    ¡°And you¡¯re not gonna find any,¡± Toph smirked.


    The Boulder smashed his fist into his palm. ¡°Just say the word and the Boulder will beat it out of her!¡±


    A click of metal on metal caused the room to fall silent. Slowly, two sets of eyes turned to where I¡¯d just thumbed the first inch of my swords loose from their sheath and had moved my other hand into a drawing position. I didn¡¯t need to say anything as I met the eyes of both men. Xin Fu took a small step back and the Boulder lowered his hands to his sides.


    ¡°I really don¡¯t think that¡¯d end well. For you,¡± Toph chuckled. ¡°So, let¡¯s just skip the bullshit. You owe me a lot of money. Like, a lot by my standards.¡±


    Xin Fu made a quiet, annoyed noise, before nodding. ¡°Yes. It¡¯s a ruinous sum. Obviously, I don¡¯t have the gold to cover it all right now. It would take years. Decades. Even if you seized my assets and sent me to debtor¡¯s prison, you would never see it all. At most, you would see a tenth of the total.¡±


    The girl nodded. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m aware. I probably have a better idea of how much you¡¯re worth than you do. You¡¯d be surprised what sort of information the Beifong family name can get me. But that¡¯s fine! I don¡¯t want your money. The only money I¡¯ll be walking out of here with today is what I came in with.¡±


    ¡°Then,¡± Xin Fu frowned, studying Toph as a confused look spread over his face, ¡°what do you want?¡±


    ¡°I want the Earth Rumble. This place. And you. Him, too,¡± she pointed to the Boulder with a grin. ¡°You¡¯re gonna sign this place over to me. I¡¯ll own it. I can¡¯t be fucked to run the day to day operations or manage fighters, so you¡¯ll be doing that. I get ten percent off the top of whatever we make from sales. You take an eight percent cut. Keep the fighters¡¯ pay whatever it is now. The rest goes back into the business.


    ¡°¡­But I was taking forty before¡ª¡±


    ¡°And that¡¯s why it was failing, dipshit!¡± Toph shook her head. Sitting forward, she sighed. ¡°Listen, you¡¯ve got the beginnings of a good thing here, but you don¡¯t see the bigger picture.¡± Toph chuckled derisively. ¡°Funny, the blind girl sees it better than you apes.¡±


    Xin Fu didn¡¯t look happy, but he did look interested. Stepping forward, he made a chair of stone in front of Toph and sat down. ¡°What ¡®bigger picture¡¯ do you see, then?¡±


    Instead of answering, she asked, ¡°Did you hear that crowd tonight? They were louder even than when I came last week, weren¡¯t they?¡±


    Slowly, Xin Fu nodded. ¡°They were¡­¡±


    ¡°And why d¡¯ya think that was?¡±


    ¡°Something new,¡± the man answered, and Toph nodded.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. So, here¡¯s what we¡¯re gonna do. We¡¯re rebranding. We¡¯re gonna dump a bunch of money into advertising and putting up a big pot. Then, we¡¯re gonna hold a Professional Bending Tournament. All benders of all styles welcome.¡±


    Stroking his beard, Xin Fu hummed. ¡°Even firebenders?¡±


    ¡°Especially firebenders. Because we don¡¯t get them around here.¡±


    ¡°What about the war?¡±


    Toph shook her head. ¡°We¡¯re at war with the Fire Nation, not all firebenders.¡± She shifted her head to look at the Boulder. ¡°Oi, rock-for-brains. You got a problem with that?¡±


    The big man crossed his arms over his chest and hummed. ¡°Gonna need more healers.¡±


    ¡°So offer to pay for them,¡± Toph shrugged, before shifting her attention back to Xin Fu. ¡°Well? We got a deal, or are you gonna be stupid and make us take this to the local Earth King?¡±


    The man considered for a moment before nodding. ¡°We have a deal.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± Toph popped up out of her seat. ¡°I¡¯ll have my people draw up the paperwork and we can get everything signed over in the next couple of days. Keep a lid on this until we¡¯re ready to push the ad campaign.¡±


    I set my sword back in place and followed Toph out of the room. The girl was practically dancing on air as we left the mountain. Yue joined us not far away from the exit.


    ¡°Well? How did it go?¡±


    Toph grinned, putting her hands behind her head. ¡°Made out like a bandit.¡±

 21

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    21


    <hr>


    ¡°Toph¡­ what is this?¡±


    ¡°And who are¡­ your guests?¡±


    Her parents sounded confused¡ªnot that she blamed them, when she had walked into the living room just as they were taking lunch, bringing Yue and Zuko with her, along with scrolls, books full of notes, and even loose papers from the printer that her friends assured her had what they wanted on it. They had been very busy for the last several days and it showed in the small mountain of legal paperwork.


    Friends, the thought crossed her mind briefly, and she smiled. The first friends she¡¯d ever had. Su was nice, but as much as she liked the maid, she was a servant and had maintained a professional distance that it took having real friends to see the difference.


    ¡°These are Zuko and Yue. I¡¯ve hired them to be my new bodyguards,¡± Toph explained. It even had the benefit of being true. Officially they were both on Toph¡¯s personal payroll, not the Beifong payroll. At least, for now.


    Until they leave, she was again reminded of the pair¡¯s stated goals for their trip around the world. Which just reminded her that lately, she had caught herself daydreaming of just¡­ walking up, throwing her bags into their boat, and telling them she was coming with.


    Shaking off the intrusive thought, she gestured to Zuko, who moved forward and placed the collected bundle of papers on the table, after clearing a spot for them. As he began unrolling scrolls and turning to specific pages, Toph continued. ¡°And this is all of the paperwork for my new business.¡±


    ¡°Your what?¡± her father asked, reaching out and picking up one of the fliers. ¡°¡®Professional Bending Arena?¡¯ What?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, so you remember the Earth Rumble?¡± she asked, and her parents both nodded. From their heart rates picking up, she could tell they didn¡¯t exactly remember it fondly, given they now knew she had been competing in it for years. ¡°I own it now. The stadium. The business. The whole gimmick. All thanks to some¡­ creative investments with a little seed money. Over the last few days, we¡¯ve finalized the paperwork to turn it all over to me. I¡¯ll be leaving the day to day operations to the current manager and I¡¯ve got one of our family accountants to make sure no one¡¯s doing anything funny with the money. We¡¯ve invested in an advertising campaign and are looking to recruit new talent for a rebrand. Gaoling is going to be home to the world¡¯s first bending tournament. Benders of all disciplines welcome. We¡¯re going to try to make it a weekly thing, let it go on for a year, then have a bigger tournament with a big prize to draw in people from all over¡ªthen just make that a yearly thing.¡±


    Turning her head towards Zuko, she said, ¡°Show them the projected earnings report.¡±


    Zuko handed over a scroll and her father and mother leaned in to look at it. Toph grinned. ¡°As you can see, by itself it¡¯ll make as much as one of our average trade deals. So, what do you think?¡±


    Her parents were silent for a time, before her mother spoke up. ¡°Well, this is, it¡¯s all so sudden.¡±


    ¡°I find myself torn,¡± her father sighed. ¡°On the one hand, this deal is amazing. Brilliant, even. I want to be proud of you for it.¡±


    Toph frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. ¡°I hear a ¡®but¡¯ coming.¡±


    ¡°But,¡± he nodded. ¡°We didn¡¯t want this for you. You shouldn¡¯t¡­ You were never expected to take over the Beifong business, Toph.¡±


    ¡°Honey,¡± her mother¡¯s tone was hesitant. ¡°Why do you think we were trying to hard to find a good match to marry you off to? We weren¡¯t trying to tie you down, get rid of you, or keep you locked away for your own good, even though¡­ even though we very much wanted to, when we learned what you¡¯ve been doing.¡±


    ¡°Then why¡­?¡±


    ¡°We were looking for someone to take on those duties,¡± her father answered. ¡°Someone to take over the running of the company, until our grandchildren came of age.¡±


    Toph blinked, her mouth falling open¡ªalong with a pit in her stomach. ¡°Wait. You mean you weren¡¯t even considering having me run it? I¡¯m not just some dumb muscle brain who can only punch things and bend good! I can take care of myself!¡± Gesturing at the table, she added, ¡°You¡¯ve seen what I can do!¡±


    ¡°Well, no, honey. We see that now. It¡¯s just¡­ You¡¯re¡­¡±


    ¡°Blind,¡± her father sighed. ¡°It would be inevitable that you would miss things. That someone would try to hide things from you. This is not something you can overcome by relying on friends and hired help alone. Money changes people, and enough money can tempt even a monk into a thief. The best thing would be to have your husband run the company while your mother and I take on an advisory role and have our people keep us appraised of things, to make sure nothing untoward happens under his stewardship, until we can pass it along to your children.¡±


    For just a moment, the ground rumbled beneath them, making the plates and cups on the table clink. It stopped and Toph took a deep breath in through her nose. ¡°I understand.¡±


    Standing, she dusted her robe off and turned away, stone sandals clacking on the floor as she walked¡ªnot stomped¡ªout. Yue followed immediately, while Zuko stayed behind for a moment. She was out the front door when he spoke. At the same time, Yue asked, ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°Shh.¡± Toph held up a hand, making the other girl fall silent as she realized Toph was listening.


    ¡°She can do more than you think she can.¡±


    Her father sighed, nodding minutely. ¡°I believe Toph can do anything she sets her mind to. Our little girl is¡­ stubborn like that. But willfulness will never make up for a lack of sight.¡±


    ¡°Hm. She might just surprise you.¡±


    ¡°And who are you to speak to us in this manner?¡± Her mother demanded. ¡°You speak out of turn. Beyond your station.¡±


    Toph scoffed quietly. If you only knew¡­


    Zuko chuckled, shaking his head and turning to follow Toph and Yue. ¡°Yeah, what do I know? I¡¯m just a bodyguard.¡±


    A moment later, he was out of the house. ¡°So, now what, boss?¡±


    Toph could hear the amused smirk in his tone. Something about it gave her conflicted feelings. On the one hand, it made her want to strangle him. On the other, that strangling might be done with her on top of him¡­ and they might or might not be naked when she did it. Assuming Yue didn¡¯t kick her ass for the attempt.


    ¡°I want to go punch something.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good,¡± Zuko nodded. ¡°Yue, you in?¡±


    The other woman hummed for a moment as she considered them. Her head turned towards Zuko and they had one of those silent conversations with faces that Toph didn¡¯t really get. After a moment, a defeated sigh escaped his lips and Yue giggled happily. She turned back to Toph, bouncing up and grabbing her by the arm. It wasn¡¯t the type of grabbing of her hand and leading her places that Toph hated. The gesture was¡­ friendly. Intimate even, as Yue pressed herself into Toph¡¯s side and they started walking towards the exit to the property, Zuko moving up to Toph¡¯s other side, but not taking her other arm.


    ¡°I¡¯ll come with. There are some things we should talk about. After, though,¡± Yue nodded.


    ¡°You realize we¡¯re turning this into a three way. You¡¯re not getting out of sparring practice,¡± Zuko chuckled, turning to look at Yue over Toph¡¯s head. Yue turned and made the sound Toph associated with sticking out her tongue. ¡°Careful princess, it¡¯ll get stuck like that.¡±


    ¡°That wouldn¡¯t be so bad, would it? I can think of some uses for someone with their tongue permanently stuck out,¡± Toph leered. Turning, she tilted her head up specifically so Zuko could see her face. ¡°You still owe me the rest of that foot massage.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± Yue asked, interest in her tone. ¡°If you¡¯re giving them out, I want one too.¡±


    ¡°After sparring,¡± Zuko shook his head.


    ¡°Ooh~ we could do it in the bath,¡± Yue suggested. ¡°What do you say, Toph? All three of us. Hot water. We can take turns rubbing each other¡­ really work out those sore muscles.¡±


    Toph tried and failed to fight down her blush as Yue somehow spoke one of her favorite nighttime fantasies she used to entertain herself aloud. ¡°Uh, sure. Sounds, sounds good.¡± Yue giggled and she tilted her head down, hiding her face. ¡°Shut up.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t tease her too much, Yue. She might finally come to her senses and run away,¡± Zuko chuckled.


    ¡°Psh. Not happening.¡±


    <hr>


    ¡°Ugh. My everything hurts,¡± Toph groaned quietly as she slumped on the ground.


    Nearby, Yue giggled as she began gathering water to fill the new tub Toph had made. They weren¡¯t in their usual practice ground this afternoon. Instead, they had gone out further¡ªmuch further. And now that their sparring practice was over, Zuko had gone out for a bit to hunt them something to eat.


    Still, it kind of bothered Toph. She couldn¡¯t stop thinking about it. They had stopped at the hotel where Zuko and Yue were staying and the couple had gathered their things, including the chest of gold they had contributed to Toph¡¯s wager. It could be that they were just taking those things back to their boat. There was another option, however¡­


    On the walk over, that had been the most pressing thing on Toph¡¯s mind. Not that her family still saw her as an invalid and couldn¡¯t see past her blindness. Not that they were planning to keep her from her rightful inheritance, to keep other people from taking advantage of her blindness and harming the company. But the fact that her friends had packed up and looked to be preparing to leave, even if they hadn¡¯t actually said it or discussed it where Toph could hear.


    That Yue had convinced Toph to leave with her while Zuko stayed behind for a while, only to come running to catch up to them¡­ she kind of suspected he had used that time to heal that girl¡¯s leg and they were now running to put distance between themselves and Gaoling. It was with a sinking feeling that she realized the truth. I don¡¯t want them to leave. I don¡¯t want this to be over. It¡¯s been¡­ fun. The most fun I¡¯ve ever had.


    And then Yue went and said something that froze Toph¡¯s thoughts in their tracks. ¡°It¡¯s cute, how you wanted to show off to Zuko.¡±


    ¡°What?!¡± Blind eyes flew wide open as she sat up, followed by a furious blush rushing across her cheeks. ¡°You¡¯re delusional! Like I¡¯d ever do that! Especially for someone like Zuko!¡±


    ¡°Someone like Zuko, huh?¡± Yue teased.


    ¡°He¡¯s a jerk!¡±


    ¡°Sometimes!¡± Yue giggled, nodding. ¡°But he grows on you.¡± She hummed, her tone turning teasing again. ¡°Are you sure though? What about that time Zuko told me about, where you threw around your family name in front of some poor bookie to kickstart our journey?¡±


    ¡°I¡ª That¡ª I wasn¡¯t doing it for him or anything!¡± Toph denied, hands clenching in her lap as Yue laughed. Then, she blinked as what Yue had said registered. ¡°Wait. What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Hm? I thought you knew?¡±


    ¡°Know what?!¡±


    The other girl sighed, shaking her head. Leaving the tub, she moved over and sat down in front of Toph. Reaching out, she took Toph¡¯s hands in her own, and Toph again marveled at just how soft and warm Yue¡¯s hands were. ¡°Of course he didn¡¯t tell you. He was probably just going to do something dumb, like waiting for you to get on and then take off, and claim we kidnapped you,¡± Yue grumbled. ¡°He¡¯d think it was funny.¡±The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°¡­Okay, that would be kinda funny, yeah,¡± Toph chuckled.


    ¡°Well! I guess this gives us an opportunity to have that conversation I wanted to have,¡± Yue let out something halfway between a laugh and a sigh. ¡°I know you don¡¯t like beating around the bush, so I¡¯ll just ask. We¡¯re leaving. Zuko has been getting antsy.¡±


    ¡°I heard him say you had stayed too long,¡± Toph murmured.


    Yue blew out a frustrated breath. ¡°He calls it the ¡®Kino Rule,¡¯ after a story about a girl who became a traveler, and nearly died because of a volcano. He doesn¡¯t want to stay in one place longer than a month, at most.¡± Shaking her head, Yue squeezed Toph¡¯s hands. ¡°Come with us.¡±


    ¡°You, you really want me to go with you?¡± Toph asked, and for just a moment, her defenses were completely down. She felt more vulnerable than if she had been naked.


    ¡°Mhmm! We want you to come with us. Will you?¡±


    Toph turned her head away as her eyes watered, a smile so wide it hurt on her lips. ¡°Well, I guess I could.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Toph,¡± Yue said, then pulled the shorter girl into her lap, wrapping Toph in a tight hug. ¡°This is going to be so much fun!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, don¡¯t make me regret it,¡± Toph protested, struggling to get out of Yue¡¯s grasp, but not actually fighting too hard to get away. Being hugged was nice, and Yue was soft. Especially in the chest and thigh areas. Eventually, she settled down to just enjoy the sensation. Tilting her head back until it rested on Yue¡¯s shoulder, she asked, ¡°So, you gonna tell me the big secret now?¡±


    Yue giggled. ¡°Hm? Which one?¡±


    ¡°About who you two really are,¡± Toph specified. She figured there were others, but that was the one that had gotten her curious from the very first day.


    ¡°I guess I can,¡± the other girl teased, and Toph made an annoyed sound at having her words turned back on her. ¡°It¡¯s not going to change how you treat us, is it?¡±


    ¡°What? No,¡± Toph shook her head.


    Yue hummed, then nodded. ¡°Very well, then. I am Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe, daughter to Arnook, chieftain of the Northern Water Tribe.¡±


    Toph blinked. ¡°Huh,¡± she murmured. ¡°You know, I can¡¯t say I¡¯m actually all that surprised. Walks like a turtle-duck, talks like a turtle-duck, probably a turtle-duck.¡±


    Giggling, Yue squeezed Toph a bit harder, before reaching down and grabbing Toph¡¯s thigh with her hand in a bill shape. ¡°Quack.¡±


    ¡°So, when I joked about Zuko kidnapping a princess¡­¡±


    ¡°You were closer to the truth than you knew,¡± Yue confirmed.


    ¡°So whats Zuko? I figured he was some kind of Fire Nation noble, but he doesn¡¯t really act like one most of the time. It¡¯s¡­ weird. He doesn¡¯t act like one, or talk to people like one, but sometimes there¡¯s this¡­ I don¡¯t know. Expectation? It¡¯s hard to explain. Like with my parents.¡±


    ¡°Heh. I know what you mean,¡± the princess holding her confirmed. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t think he acts like a prince, but I think he does a better job of it than I do as a princess. I still have trouble accepting that I¡¯m the one who sets my own standards. He just does whatever he wants¡ª¡±


    ¡°Wait. Hold on. Prince? Zuko?!¡± Toph turned where she was seated in Yue¡¯s lap, so the other woman could see her face. ¡°Bullshit.¡±


    Yue covered her mouth and fought down a snort. ¡°I¡¯ll be sure to tell him you said that. It¡¯ll make him happy.¡±


    ¡°No, no, no,¡± Toph shook her head. ¡°There is no way that guy is, is prince of the Fire Nation! Just, no way.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± Yue countered, amusement in her voice. ¡°He doesn¡¯t like to flaunt it. I think a big part of this journey is that he knows that when it¡¯s over, he isn¡¯t going to have much time for travel, or anything else really once he takes over his official duties.¡±


    Frowning, Toph considered what she knew for a moment before asking, ¡°So, when he said his dad tried to kill him¡­¡±


    ¡°He told you that?¡± Yue asked, and Toph nodded. ¡°He meant the Fire Lord, yes.¡±


    ¡°And you¡¯re gonna marry him¡ªmf?¡± Toph fell silent as Yue pressed a finger against her lips.


    ¡°That¡¯s another conversation for another day,¡± Yue said, and the tone told Toph that that wasn¡¯t a request and it wasn¡¯t Yue saying it as a woman, but as the princess. ¡°It¡¯s a complicated issue and I¡¯d like to ask for your help with it, eventually. Not today. Zuko has done everything he could from the very beginning to avoid turning this into a political marriage and I¡¯d like to do what I can to help with that, but there are a few elements we can¡¯t avoid. But we can put them off for now. Okay?¡±


    ¡°¡®kay,¡± Toph agreed, and Yue removed her finger. Toph¡¯s tongue flicked out to lick her lips reflexively, warm and a bit tingly from where Yue¡¯s finger had been. ¡°So, I guess that¡¯s why he doesn¡¯t want to stick around too long in one place, or show that he¡¯s a firebender. Well, other than the whole thing with stupid people thinking all firebenders are evil.¡±


    ¡°Partly. The other part is his healing. He¡¯s worried it¡¯ll attract the wrong sort of attention.¡±


    Toph frowned, tilting her head in confusion. ¡°I don¡¯t get it. So he can regrow limbs. That¡¯s pretty cool, but not exactly world-shattering.¡±


    ¡°Heh,¡± Yue let out a quiet laugh, before pulling Toph closer and sighing into her hair. ¡°It¡¯s our fault. The Northern Water Tribe. Zuko came to the north just after he learned how to use green fire to heal. He wasn¡¯t sure it was safe, so he wanted to check with a healer, and we have the best. My master, Yagoda, confirmed that it was safe, but this led to more testing and¡­¡± Yue sighed again, shaking her head. ¡°He says I am naive and too kind, but he¡¯s the one who repaid my master by restoring her youth. We sat together and I watched as she went from a frail woman of over eighty years to a strong, healthy, fit, beautiful young woman my own age over the course of a day.¡±


    ¡°Holy shit,¡± Toph whispered. ¡°That uh, yeah. That¡¯s big. All the old fuckers would definitely want that. Like, lock him in a room, throw away the key, and only bring him out to keep them healthy.¡±


    ¡°Which is almost what happened. Were anyone other than my father the chieftain, it would have happened. Well, that, and Zuko making the argument that he could out-stubborn them and just outlive all of them and their descendants, and escape in a century when they forgot why he was locked up in the first place. That led to our initial betrothal and things progressed from there.¡±


    Nodding, Toph¡¯s mind spun. So, he¡¯s a way stronger healer than I thought. He can regrow limbs, de-age people. What else can he do? Can he¡­? Then why wouldn¡¯t he offer, if he could?


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Yue asked, pulling Toph from her thoughts.


    ¡°Nothing.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not ¡®nothing.¡¯ You¡¯re tense and you¡¯re frowning. Tell me.¡±


    Toph shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ll ask Zuko when he gets back. Anything else I need to know?¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Yue hummed, but left it alone. Instead, she shook her head. ¡°Not immediately, no.¡± Then, she paused and giggled. ¡°Well, there is one thing. The boat only has one large bed and doesn¡¯t really have room for more. The floor also isn¡¯t really made for putting in a sleeping bag. So¡­ I hope you don¡¯t mind sharing!¡±


    Toph snorted out a quiet laugh. ¡°As long as I¡¯m getting away from this place, I¡¯ll manage. I don¡¯t think I have anything to worry about.¡± Then, turning her head so Yue could see her face again, she grinned. ¡°Just try to keep the hanky-panky to when I¡¯m out of the boat. If you start fooling around right beside me, don¡¯t be surprised if I decide to join in.¡±


    Yue¡¯s heart thumped at that, her pulse picking up to Toph¡¯s senses as the other woman grew warm against her. Yue moved closer, her lips brushing Toph¡¯s ear and drawing a shiver from the shorter girl. ¡°I don¡¯t have a problem with that~.¡±


    Nope! Dangerous! Can¡¯t tease Yue or she¡¯ll take it as an invitation! Toph realized, feeling her own body growing warm. But would that be so bad?


    Before she could decide one way or another, she felt Zuko¡¯s footsteps approaching through the earth below her feet. He felt heavier and a brief pulse told her he was carrying some kind of animal over his back. He joined them a few moments later and dropped the carcass in question on the ground near their fire. ¡°Found a pack of wild pigs, so I¡¯ve got supper. Yue?¡±


    ¡°Right!¡± the waterbender let go of Toph and stood, moving over and drawing water from the stream.


    ¡°Hey Toph, think you can make a smoking rack?¡±


    Frowning, Toph decided to hold off on her question for the moment. She was hungry and food sounded good. Besides, if she was going to be joining them, then she wanted to prove she could pull more than her own weight. ¡°Sure. Describe it for me?¡±


    Zuko moved over and crouched in front of her, picking up a stick to draw in the dirt. ¡°Can you feel this?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Toph nodded.


    With that, he began drawing. ¡°Tall rectangle with a square base. It¡¯ll be walled on three sides initially. Space in the bottom for wood. Racks starting three feet up, every one foot, with gaps between them like this¡­¡±


    Toph watched as he drew out what he wanted. After a few moments, she gestured towards the ground and began pulling up rock, making a small version first. ¡°Like this?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Oh, almost forgot. Put a hole in the top about the size of your fist, and when you close up the front, put a rectangular hole on the bottom, for airflow and so we can feed it,¡± Zuko instructed.


    Toph pushed herself to her feet and moved over to where Zuko indicated the smoker should go. A bit of bending later had it set up, and then Yue carried over the meat and began filling the smoker while Zuko left to gather more wood. He came back a few minutes later and they finished setting up the boar, with Zuko digging in his bag and adding some spices and what smelled like fruit before he lit the fire and Toph closed it up.


    Yue and Zuko washed their hands in the stream, then the three of them sat around the camp fire, where Toph could sense a spit set up and a chunk of something¡ªprobably meat¡ªabove the fire. She could smell the seasoning and a hint of citrus juice. He and Yue shared one of those silent conversations for a moment before Zuko turned towards her. ¡°So, Yue tell you we¡¯re leaving¡ª¡±


    ¡°Can you heal my eyes?¡± Toph blurted, and the campsite fell silent, save for the sound of the coals crackling and their breathing.


    After a moment, Zuko shrugged. ¡°Maybe? I¡¯m not sure. I haven¡¯t done eyes before.¡±


    Toph¡¯s entire body clenched for a moment. She felt butterflies in her stomach. Her heart was racing in her chest. The muscles in her lower back were especially tight and left her trembling minutely. It felt hard to breathe, but she forced herself to take slow, deep breaths. ¡°Why haven¡¯t you offered, if you thought you might be able to?¡±


    ¡°A few reasons.¡± His voice was steady, as was his heartbeat. Somehow, he was calm about this¡ªas though he¡¯d been expecting it. ¡°Do you want to hear them or do you want to be angry?¡±


    ¡°I can do both,¡± Toph hissed, picking up a clod of dirt and flinging it in his general direction.


    To her surprise, he didn¡¯t move and let it smack him in the chest. ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll give you three. Firstly, if I¡¯d offered when we first met, you¡¯d have thought I was some kind of scam artist or snake oil salesman. You wouldn¡¯t have trusted me and I don¡¯t blame you for it. As far as you knew, it just wasn¡¯t possible.¡±


    Toph turned her head away, then nodded jerkily. He was right, the jerk. She would have laughed in his face and fucked off, if he made the offer before she got to know the both of them. She motioned for him to continue.


    ¡°Secondly, I didn¡¯t want to get your hopes up, then maybe fail. We searched the city for someone else to test it on.¡±


    The earthbender frowned. ¡°Wait, I heard you arguing. You didn¡¯t want to even use your healing at all, until you were ready to run away.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Zuko nodded. ¡°And if I had found someone with your condition or something similar, I¡¯d have done it anyway and damn the risk.¡±


    Letting out a quiet sigh, Toph picked up another clump of earth and flung it at Zuko¡¯s head. This time, he actually dodged. ¡°Fine. I get it. But I¡¯ve had my hopes crushed enough that it wouldn¡¯t have bothered me that much.¡±


    ¡°You say that, but I think we both know that¡¯s not how you really feel.¡± At his quiet words, she let out a sigh. She didn¡¯t answer one way or another, which was an answer in and of itself. ¡°As for the third reason¡­ I didn¡¯t want you to feel like you were being manipulated. Like being healed was contingent upon being our friend, or that we were trying to use you, or anything along those lines. And you can¡¯t say the thought wouldn¡¯t have crossed your mind.¡±


    Picking up another dirt clod, she flung it at his chest and felt her lips quirk up a bit at the nice thump it made when it landed. ¡°Yeah. You¡¯re right. You¡¯re still a jerk though.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± Zuko nodded. ¡°So, do you want to try?¡±


    Toph blinked. ¡°Do I want to try to be able to see? With my eyeballs? The thing all the normal people can do? Oh, I don¡¯t know, let me think about it¡ªyes I want you to try! What are you, brain dead?!¡± Turning her head towards Yue, she asked, ¡°What do you see in this idiot? Is the sex that good?!¡±


    Yue squeaked and Toph could practically hear the blush. ¡°We uh, we haven¡¯t¡­¡±


    Turning back towards Zuko, she rolled her eyes. ¡°So you are brain dead.¡±


    ¡°Shut up,¡± Zuko laughed, and to her surprise, he flung one of the clods she¡¯d hit him with back, smacking her in the arm. Standing up, he brushed himself off and moved over to sit in front of Toph. Yue followed, sitting down beside him. Zuko raised his hands towards Toph¡¯s face¡ª


    ¡°Wait!¡± Toph called, and Zuko paused. Rubbing her hands off on her robe to clean the dirt off, she lifted them towards his face. ¡°Can I?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    Closing the remaining distance, Toph cupped the man¡¯s face. His skin was smooth and warm beneath her fingers, bare of hair aside from the trace of stubble where he had shaved. She traced along his jaw, nose, lips, eyes, forehead, ears¡ªmaking a mental image of what his face ¡®looked¡¯ like, eventually moving on to his hair, before pulling away.


    Turning her head towards Yue, she didn¡¯t even have to ask before the other woman took her hands and brought them up to her own face. Yue¡¯s skin was much smoother and warmer than Zuko, and she giggled under Toph¡¯s touch as the earthbender explored.


    Eventually, Toph pulled her hands back. ¡°Okay. I¡¯m ready.¡±


    ¡°Close your eyes,¡± Zuko instructed, and Toph did so. He brought his hands up and she felt him touch her, his fingers resting on her temples and over her closed eyes. Then, she felt warmth on her face¡ªlike a warm breeze.


    Slowly, she felt her eyes begin to tingle. Then itch. Toph forced herself to sit still, to not squirm or flinch away as the sensation grew, then eventually faded¡­ and everything changed. Something hurt her eyes and she flinched away, her head turning to the side. It felt strange. First, there was nothing. Then, there was something that felt like heat, and a feeling like a cramp in her eyes. When she pulled away, the whatever it was went away and everything changed again. It wasn¡¯t the nothing she was used to, but it was¡­ cool? Soothing? It didn¡¯t hurt.


    ¡°What was that?¡± Toph asked, reaching up and rubbing at her eyes. The sensation felt strangely amazing, and jolts of something appeared before her eyes, sort of moving with the motion of her fingers.


    ¡°Come here, let me check,¡± Yue instructed, and this time she felt Yue¡¯s warm fingers on her closed eyes and temples, then cool water. ¡°Hm.¡±


    ¡°Well?¡± Toph demanded.


    ¡°It feels normal.¡±


    Toph let out a frustrated sound. ¡°Normal for me, or normal for you?!¡±


    Yue giggled. ¡°Normal for me. They feel whole and healthy. Unscarred.¡±


    ¡°So¡­ can I open them?¡± Toph asked, and felt Yue nod and pull away.


    ¡°Go ahead,¡± the princess instructed, excitement in her tone.


    ¡°Slowly,¡± Zuko urged. ¡°It¡¯s dark out, so I¡¯m hoping that¡¯ll help you adjust. But as far as you¡¯re concerned, you might as well be a¡ª¡± Toph¡¯s eyes flew open wide, taking in everything at once. ¡°¡ªnewborn.¡±


    Toph tuned out as Zuko sighed, trying to look at everything at once. She had no frame of reference for most of the things she was seeing, while the rest she kind of just associated with things her senses told her. Ground, grass, trees, leaves, fire, rock, people¡ªthese things she could identify, but it was¡­ overwhelming. Way too much.


    Her eyes watered and hurt, and she had to shut them again. After a few moments, the pain faded and she opened them again. This time, she looked directly ahead, focusing on the two people in front of her. Taking in their bodies, clothes, faces, hair. She had nothing, no one to compare them to, but it didn¡¯t matter.


    They¡¯re¡­ beautiful. The best thing I¡¯ve ever seen.


    ¡°Are you¡­ crying?¡± Zuko asked, a hint of teasing in his tone. His¡­ lips? Were those lips? Toph reached out and touched his face, putting everything together with what she had felt before. They were lips and he was smiling.


    ¡°No! I¡¯m not crying. You¡¯re crying,¡± Toph glared.


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t tease her,¡± Yue giggled and Toph turned to see the other woman reach up and brush a strand of hair behind her ear. ¡°You have such pretty green eyes.¡±


    ¡°I,¡± Toph¡¯s throat felt thick and she swallowed. ¡°I have no idea what that is.¡±


    The pair shared one of those looks and this time, Toph watched, studying their faces. Yue smiled, her eyes flicking to Toph and back to Zuko as she raised an¡­ eyebrow? Yes, an eyebrow. Zuko¡¯s eyes shifted up¡ªrolled! He smiled, but it wasn¡¯t the same kind she had seen from him before, or like the one Yue wore. He shook his head, then turned back to Toph. Reaching up, he took her hands and pulled them away from his face.


    ¡°Well, sounds like we¡¯ve got a lot to teach you, then. You ready to start?¡±


    Toph grinned. ¡°I¡¯ve never been more ready for anything in my entire life.¡±

 22

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    22


    <hr>


    The world was dark and Toph once more relied upon her bending senses to see the world around her. She went to sleep under the moon and stars last night¡ªthings she had heard described, but had no idea what to expect until she looked up and saw them up there, glittering in the vast expanse that was the sky. Like the fire, the moon was bright, but its light was a different color. Cooler, she felt. It only made her squint a little when she looked up into it, whereas she could barely look at the fire directly for a few moments before she had to turn away.


    When morning came, pain came with it. Yue and Zuko called it bright, and the black she saw when she closed and covered her eyes with a piece of cloth Yue had made into a blindfold as dark. Even with the pain, she was still happy. They told her she would adjust eventually¡ªthat she would get used to it and it¡¯d just take time. Toph wanted to see everything now, but she wasn¡¯t dumb enough to hurt herself more than necessary trying.


    ¡°Alright, break time,¡± Zuko called, pulling off his pack and dropping it to the ground before taking a seat. ¡°Toph, come here. We¡¯re gonna try this again.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± she agreed, moving over and sitting down beside him. Yue sat down beside Zuko, leaning against his other side. Toph squeezed her eyes tightly shut and Zuko took off the blindfold. Everything went from dark to red¡ªthe color of seeing light coming through her eyelids and the blood in them. It didn¡¯t hurt, though¡ªpossibly because they were sitting under a tree, in the shade as it blocked much of the sun¡¯s light.


    ¡°This is so weird,¡± Toph sighed.


    Yue giggled. ¡°Just give it time.¡±


    ¡°Open them slowly,¡± Zuko instructed from beside her, and Toph slowly cracked her eyes open. It was bright and it stung her eyes, but it didn¡¯t actually hurt. So, she kept going until they were fully open. ¡°How¡¯s it feel?¡±


    ¡°I keep blinking,¡± Toph muttered, trying to keep from blinking and flinching so much.


    ¡°That¡¯s normal,¡± Yue nodded.


    Humming, Zuko considered the blue? Toph thought it was blue. Either blue or green. She looked at the blindfold he was holding.


    ¡°What color is that again?¡±


    ¡°Blue!¡± Yue answered with a smile. ¡°Like my eyes.¡±


    Right. Her eyes are blue. Zuko¡¯s are gold. Mine are green, like most of my robe and Yue¡¯s, except for the gold parts.


    Zuko tossed the blindfold to Yue. ¡°I think the blindfold is too thick. She needs something to let in more light, to force her to adjust faster. It¡¯s probably going to suck, but better a headache from a bit of eye strain than taking months to adjust.¡±


    Yue hummed, considering it for a moment, before nodding. ¡°I have something that will work on the boat. Some lace that I kept when we raided the pirates. I can layer it a few times and it should be good for a while. Just remove a layer every day or so until we remove the blindfold entirely.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good,¡± Zuko agreed. ¡°Toph, you ready to start?¡±


    ¡°Mm,¡± Toph nodded. Looking around, she pointed. ¡°What¡¯s that? Feels like a bug?¡±


    A tentacle of water flicked out and caught it, before bringing it close. ¡°It¡¯s a¡­ Actually, I¡¯m not sure,¡± Yue admitted.


    ¡°Right, you wouldn¡¯t have had many bugs up north. It¡¯s a ladybug. What color is the shell?¡±


    Toph studied it for a few moments. ¡°Black and¡­ gold? Like, really light gold.¡±


    ¡°Yellow,¡± Yue corrected. ¡°Gold is actually a shade of yellow.¡±


    ¡°¡®Shade¡¯ like,¡± Toph gestured around them.


    ¡°No, that kind of shade is a shadow,¡± the princess smiled. ¡°It¡¯s part of a range of colors. Colors aren¡¯t like¡­ numbers. They aren¡¯t precise. It¡¯s more like¡­¡±


    ¡°Temperature,¡± Zuko supplied. ¡°That¡¯s how they measure the shade of colors. They call it by temperature, because of the wavelength of the light¡­¡± He trailed off, then shook his head. ¡°Never mind. So, you know the primary colors?¡±


    ¡°Um,¡± Toph winced, closing her eyes as she thought back. ¡°I mean, they never really applied, so I didn¡¯t bother memorizing them.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fine!¡± Yue giggled. ¡°You can learn now. There are seven¡ª¡±


    ¡°Ten,¡± Zuko countered, his tone sounding amused.


    Yue sent him a look and Toph tried to figure out how to call it. Her eyes narrowed, lips thinned, eyebrows drew down a bit. After a moment, Toph had to decide it was probably annoyed. Looking at him like she knew he was messing with her. When Zuko continued, Yue¡¯s face relaxed and she rolled her eyes.


    ¡°There are ten you should know. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, black, white, and clear. Yue, do you have something with more¡­?¡±


    Yue opened her backpack and began pulling out clothes. One by one, they went over them and Toph began learning what to call things.


    Eventually, they ate lunch and, when her eyes started to ache, the blindfold went back on and they started walking again. Eventually, it started to cool off and Toph sensed that the sun was setting. Zuko called another halt to set up camp and he and Yue quickly busied themselves. Hesitating for a moment, since there was nothing obvious for her to do, Toph eventually decided to ask.


    ¡°Hey, uh. What should I do?¡±


    ¡°Hmm,¡± Yue hummed, looking up. ¡°Feels like it¡¯s going to rain?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, think so,¡± Zuko nodded. ¡°Can you help me set up the tent?¡±


    ¡°Sure. How do we want to do this?¡± Toph asked, a grin on her face as she felt useful.


    Before long, they had a bit of a raised platform of level stone to keep them off the ground, with the pitons for the tent sank into the corners. Because they were worried it might get windy, Toph closed it off over the top and back with angled stone and, once they turned in for the night, she would close up the front as well. She noticed there was only one tent and she hadn¡¯t exactly prepared for this, so she didn¡¯t have a bedroll of her own, nor was Zuko making any preparations for her to sleep separately.


    Well¡­ Guess we¡¯re going to be getting close tonight, then, she mused, fighting off a smirk as a bundle of nervous energy settled in her stomach¡ªalong with a tingle of arousal. She had so much new material to go with the little fantasies she¡¯d been entertaining herself with at night, now that she could actually see what her friends looked like¡­


    ¡°Clothes are finished,¡± Yue announced as she began packing them away in her and Zuko¡¯s bags. ¡°Toph, do you want me to wash yours, after we take a bath?¡±


    Lifting her arm, Toph sniffed herself and winced. ¡°Would you?¡±


    Yue giggled. ¡°Sure.¡±


    Sighing, Toph reached up and began undoing her blindfold. ¡°Maybe we should head back to Gaoling and pick up some things?¡± Getting the piece of cloth off, she slowly opened her eyes. The light was fading fast and not nearly as harsh as it had been during the day. Everything was lit by a kind of reddish orange glow. ¡°I¡¯d kind of like to show off being able to see.¡±


    ¡°Nn,¡± Zuko winced. ¡°You uh, you think you can put a pin in that for a while? Let things settle down a bit? Give people some time for forget about me and Yue?¡±


    Considering it, Toph shrugged. ¡°Sure, I¡¯m not in a hurry. They can wait. Let ¡®em sweat a bit, wondering where I went.¡±


    Looking up through the trees, Toph¡¯s mouth fell open as she took in the sky¡ªfull of bright pink, red, orange, and other colors. And there were clouds¡ªbig, dark clouds rolling in. How can anything be so huge?


    Yue paused in setting up some food over the fire to look over at Toph. Standing, she moved over and rested her hands on Toph¡¯s shoulders. ¡°It¡¯s a beautiful sunset,¡± she murmured, pressing herself into Toph¡¯s back and resting her chin on top of Toph¡¯s head. ¡°Zuko and I liked to go up to the top of the wall surrounding Agna Qel¡¯a and watch them together.¡±


    ¡°Those were nice,¡± Zuko chuckled. ¡°Froze my ass off, but it was worth it.¡±


    They enjoyed the sunset a while longer before they all sat down to eat, with Toph providing plates, cups, and forks, while Yue provided water and Zuko heated tea for them. Patting her full belly, Toph turned her plate and cup back into dirt, kicked off her sandals, and dropped her feet into Zuko¡¯s lap as he finished up his tea. A belch worked its way up and she grinned as Yue made a disgusted face.


    ¡°Nice one,¡± Zuko chuckled.


    ¡°Not at all ladylike,¡± Yue sighed.


    Toph stuck out her tongue. ¡°Just because I can act like a lady doesn¡¯t mean I want to. I¡¯m not trying to impress you guys.¡±


    ¡°Well, you already have,¡± the princess sent her a smile. ¡°So I suppose it¡¯s fine, if you want to let your hair down and just be yourself.¡±


    ¡°Glad I have your permission, princess,¡± Toph rolled her eyes, earning a pout from Yue. Not getting the reaction she wanted, she wiggled her feet in Zuko¡¯s lap, completely by coincidence rubbing the top of her foot against his crotch. ¡°How about you finish that foot rub you started the other day?¡± Smirking, she added, ¡°Not many people can say they got the royal treatment.¡±


    ¡°Is this gonna be a thing?¡± Zuko asked, his tone exasperated, and Toph memorized the look he sent her way for future reference.


    ¡°Mm¡­ for a little while. Or any time I want to poke you,¡± she smirked, shifting her foot and thumping his crotch again, only to blush as she felt something hard in his pants. Oh crap, that¡¯s¡­ That¡¯s big. Su told me what they look like, even drew one out in the dirt for me so I could ¡®see¡¯ it, but feeling it for myself is way different! Maybe I should stop?


    She wondered over stopping while she was ahead for exactly two seconds, before grinning. Nah! Let¡¯s see where it goes! Hopefully all the way! Yue keeps flirting and hinting. I don¡¯t think she minds. Actually, she looked over towards Yue, whose blue eyes had locked on Toph¡¯s feet on Zuko¡¯s lap, and where her foot rested on his cock. The water tribe girl sported a light blush as she licked her lips. Yeah, I guess she¡¯s weird like that. She¡¯s into it.


    ¡°We uh, we should take a bath! Before the storm gets here!¡± Yue suddenly jumped up, turning and rushing towards the small stream they¡¯d camped beside. ¡°Toph, are you coming?!¡±


    ¡°Not yet,¡± Toph murmured, meeting Zuko¡¯s eyes and wagging her eyebrows, before pulling her feet off his lap and going to make a tub for them.


    Behind her, she heard Zuko quietly mutter, ¡°<sub>Give me patience. Don¡¯t give me strength, or I¡¯m going to </sub><sub>correct this brat</sub><sub>.</sub>¡±


    Pfft. I¡¯d like to see that. That sounds like fun.


    A few moments later, Toph had a tub made, Yue had filled it, and Zuko heated the water until it steamed. Without a care in the world for her friends seeing her, Toph pulled her robes over her head and tossed them aside, before grabbing the sides of the tub and jumping in with a splash. She popped up to the surface a moment later, her long hair sticking to her body. Grabbing the long, black mess it had become out of its bun, she pulled it back until it hung down behind her. Turning her gaze on Yue and Zuko, she grinned. ¡°Well? What¡¯re you waiting for?¡±


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Yue sighed, shaking her head and gathering up Toph¡¯s clothes, before tossing them into the tub as well, before pulling hers off and neatly laying them over a nearby tree limb. The water tribe girl climbed in a moment later and settled in beside Toph. Toph was certain Yue¡¯s hungry look mirrored the one on her own face as they turned their gazes towards Zuko. The prince considered for a moment before shaking his head.


    ¡°I¡¯ll wait until you two are done. It won¡¯t take me long¡ª¡±


    ¡°So, now that I can actually see you, you¡¯re too scared to get in?¡± Toph taunted, smirking.


    ¡°You should join us, Zuko. There¡¯s no point in fighting it~,¡± Yue giggled, shifting closer to Toph and pressing herself against the smaller girl¡¯s side.


    Reaching up, the firebender pinched the bridge of his nose. ¡°Alright. Fine.¡± He looked up and met Yue¡¯s gaze. ¡°You win.¡±


    ¡°Good!¡± Yue grinned, and Toph got the feeling that they¡¯d just had an entirely different conversation. What that was however was pushed to the back of her mind as she watched Zuko move over to the tree with Yue¡¯s clothes and strip. Her eyes took in all the little details that she¡¯d never been privy to before. All of the things her bending didn¡¯t allow her to see as more than fleshy sacks of water over bones.


    Now, she could see the lines and curves of well-defined muscles. The way those muscles moved on his arms, legs, back, chest, ass. And then the thing she had been hoping to see as Zuko turned and walked to the tub, the thing her foot had found swinging between his legs.


    Not that Toph was only studying Zuko¡ªhe was just her focus for the moment. Yue was plenty nice to look at as well. The contrast between the two was nice, between Yue¡¯s soft curves and Zuko¡¯s hard lines, even down to his light skin versus Yue¡¯s darker shade of light brown¡ªToph wasn¡¯t sure whether it was tan or just something to do with the water tribe, and didn¡¯t particularly care. They were both darker than her, whose own skin was so pale that it looked like snow even under the light of the fire.


    Yue giggled and squeezed Toph¡¯s hip as Zuko climbed in and settled down across from them. A moment later, the water started moving and Toph sighed as she relaxed, leaning into Yue¡¯s side. The other girl reached up and began combing her hands through Toph¡¯s hair, scrubbing in soap and washing it out with tentacles of water.


    ¡°You should let your hair down more often. You look good with it down,¡± Yue said, and Toph could hear the smile in the girl¡¯s voice.


    Toph blinked. ¡°I keep it up to get it out of the way,¡± she murmured. Shifting slightly, she glanced between Zuko, who had his eyes closed and was resting his head against the lip of the tub, and Yue behind her. ¡°¡­I do?¡±


    ¡°Mm! You do!¡± Yue nodded.


    ¡°It¡¯d be good for a change of pace,¡± Zuko threw in, not bothering to look up as he yawned. ¡°You know, something to do if you¡¯re not expecting a fight, or if you want to dress up nice for something.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t even know what it looks like,¡± Toph admitted, before chuckling. ¡°I don¡¯t know what I look like.¡±


    This time, Zuko did raise his head, meeting Yue¡¯s gaze in another of those silent conversations. Toph¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°That better not be pity I see!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not!¡± Yue assured her. ¡°Here, I¡¯ll just¡­¡±


    Toph raised an eyebrow as Yue pulled some of the water over and made something out of ice, as she shifted behind Toph and pressed herself against the smaller girl¡¯s back. Toph blinked as she saw something on the surface of the ice, until Yue turned it and it showed her¡­ Yue, and a pale, green eyed girl with wet hair plastered to her body staring back at her in shock.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Toph asked, watching as the girl in the ice sculpture¡¯s lips moved, then eyes blinked as Toph blinked, mimicking her movements. ¡°That¡¯s me?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a mirror,¡± Yue nodded behind her, smiling as she pressed her face up against Toph¡¯s, smooshing their cheeks together. ¡°You¡¯re beautiful. We just need to fix your hair when we get out,¡± Yue stuck out her tongue and grinned.


    ¡°Alright. Give me those feet,¡± Zuko said, moving over so he could start working on Toph¡¯s feet.


    Toph opened her mouth to say something, only for a flash of light in the distance to draw her eye up. Somewhere in the sky, something bright blue and jagged arched down towards the ground. ¡°What was¡­?¡±


    ¡°Nope. Never mind.¡± Zuko immediately got out of the tub, green fire flickering over his body for a moment and sending steam rolling off of him as he went to collect his clothes. ¡°Time to get out.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Toph asked as Yue began moving behind her, urging Toph to get up and climbing out herself. ¡°But my feet!¡±


    ¡°That was lightning,¡± Yue explained, as she bent the water off of her body and out of her hair. ¡°Come on, we need to get out. It¡¯s not safe anymore.¡±


    ¡°That was lightning? I didn¡¯t hear any thunder?¡± Toph asked, quickly climbing out behind Yue. For just a moment, she felt her heart thump as Zuko¡¯s head turned slightly, his eyes running over her body with the same sort of attention she had given him when he¡¯d taken his clothes off. It made her feel¡­ proud. And excited. Happy that he was paying as much attention to her as he did Yue. She wasn¡¯t jealous of Yue, but she was quickly discovering that now that she could see what other people were like and how they looked at each other, that she liked the attention.


    ¡°Give it a minute,¡± Zuko shook his head, bringing Yue¡¯s clothes over and handing them to her as Yue quickly dried Toph and pulled the shorter girl¡¯s clothes out of the tub, before pulling the water out of those and handing the robe to Toph. ¡°That strike was miles out, but the rule of thumb is, if you can see it, you¡¯re not safe.¡±


    Toph held her robe against her chest and followed them to the tent under her stone shelter, not bothering to pull it on since she was just going to get changed to sleep in a moment anyway. They were nearly in the tent when Toph felt the familiar rumble of thunder through her feet and, a moment later, heard it in the air¡ªa distant, long, drawn out rumbling.


    Once inside, Zuko held out a hand and created one of those balls of chi that lit up the tent and he and Yue stripped down again, Zuko down to his under clothes, Yue nude as she dug in her bag until she found a much thinner, blue silk robe that she pulled on. Toph sealed off the entrance, leaving cracks along the sides for air but otherwise making sure they¡¯d be safe from the storm.


    Considering the sleeping bag and her lack of other clothes, Toph shrugged and tossed her robe on top of Yue¡¯s bag, leaving her nude as she climbed into the middle of the bag. Settling down on her back, she sent the pair above her a smug look as they finished their preparations for bed. ¡°What¡¯s taking you two so long?¡±


    Yue giggled while Zuko chuckled quietly. The other girl continued digging in her bag however, until she came up with a comb. Moving over to the bag, she urged Toph to sit up and sat down behind her, then began gently pulling the comb through Toph¡¯s hair. Yue¡¯s bending water moved, freezing into another mirror on a stand in front of Toph, letting her see herself and Yue behind her as Yue worked. Zuko sat down beside them and Toph raised an eyebrow as a leather bound book somehow found its way to his hand¡ªabsent one moment, there the next. He opened it up and the pages flipped themselves for a moment before stopping. He took out something that looked kind of like a fountain pen but not quite and began scribbling in the book.


    ¡°What¡¯s it say?¡± Toph asked, curious. She technically knew how to read¡ªby shape, with her seismic sense. She could read shapes in the dirt, or in signs that were dense enough for her to see, like stone or metal. She couldn¡¯t actually read ink on paper and wondered if she would have to relearn everything, or if she¡¯d be able to recognize the squiggles she knew.


    ¡°This book¡¯s a bit special. It remembers things it¡¯s seen and it can store far more than a normal book of its size can,¡± Zuko explained absently as he wrote. ¡°And I¡¯ve been busy copying things with it, so it says a lot. Right now though, I¡¯m getting started on basic lessons to teach you how to read.¡± He paused, then looked up. ¡°You don¡¯t already know, do you? I figure it would¡¯ve been difficult, but not impossible, to learn.¡±


    Toph grinned. ¡°I know some. I can recognize signs. But seeing and feeling with the earth are different, so I guess we¡¯ll see.¡±


    Zuko turned the book so she could see it. ¡°What do you see?¡±


    Studying it for a moment, the earthbender shrugged. ¡°Squiggles.¡±


    Nodding, Zuko took the book back and went back to writing. ¡°Then we¡¯ll start from the beginning. That was the main reason your parents didn¡¯t want to turn things over to you¡ªthat you couldn¡¯t read the contracts and other documents you would need to, in order to run the company.¡±


    ¡°So when we come back to show off how I can see now, I can show them I can read too,¡± Toph grinned. ¡°I like it.¡±


    By the time Yue finished up with Toph¡¯s hair and Zuko closed up his book, it was pouring down outside. Water beat down on the stone over the tent and wind howled, shaking the trees around them as lightning popped frequently. Zuko reached out and did something with the floating sphere of chi and it disappeared, leaving the inside of the tent dark. For just a moment, Toph¡¯s heart clenched as she found herself blind again. Gritting her teeth, she shook her head as Yue pulled her down into the sleeping bag and promptly wrapped around her side, latching on and squeezing her tightly.


    I¡¯ve been blind my whole life, so why does being in the dark suddenly bother me? ¡­I hate it.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like storms,¡± Yue murmured, shivering against Toph, as Zuko settled in on her other side with a yawn. ¡°We never got them like this in the north.¡±


    ¡°I love it. Perfect sleeping weather.¡± Zuko yawned again, stretching a bit and making himself comfortable. ¡°Try to get some sleep. We should reach the boat tomorrow, then we can head out.¡±


    ¡°Where are we going next?¡± Yue asked, and Toph found herself curious to hear the answer.


    ¡°Hmm. We need to circle back around to Omashu here soon, but we¡¯ve got some time. As for how we get there, we can go east or west. West takes us back out over the ocean. We¡¯re near Kyoshi Island, so we might stop there. Take a month or so for Toph to get used to things and adjust to being able to see in a fight somewhere relatively safe.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the alternative?¡± Toph asked, rolling onto her side in Yue¡¯s clingy grasp, onto to have the taller woman pull her in closer, until she was spooned up against Toph¡¯s back.


    ¡°East, into the Si Wong Desert. There¡¯s a library hidden somewhere in the desert said to belong to a spirit that I want to visit.¡±


    Toph made a face. ¡°I hate sand.¡±


    ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡± Yue asked, right in her ear, and Toph shivered from head to toe, stifling a yelp in response.


    ¡°It¡¯s too loose. Hard to sense anything. Hard to manipulate.¡±


    Zuko hummed, then nodded. ¡°Kyoshi, then. There¡¯ll be sand on the beach and you can practice until you overcome that hurdle, somewhere we can get a steady supply of food and water.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good,¡± Toph yawned. ¡°So, does the desert have rivers through it or something?¡±


    ¡°No rivers.¡±


    ¡°So we¡¯d be walking? Screw that!¡±


    Yue giggled while Zuko chuckled. ¡°We¡¯ll just take the boat!¡±


    Toph blinked. ¡°I¡¯m blind, not stupid. Was blind. Whatever. Boats go on water, not sand.¡±


    ¡°Actually, there are apparently sandbenders in the desert that use boat-like craft specifically for the sand,¡± Zuko shook his head.


    ¡°But that¡¯s not what we¡¯re doing~,¡± Yue¡¯s tone was teasing.


    ¡°Then what¡­?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll see~!¡±


    ¡°Ugh. You suck.¡±


    <hr>


    Toph squinted, under the shade of numerous trees as she took in the boat hidden well up from the shore. ¡°This is it?¡±


    Zuko sent her one of those looks she didn¡¯t have a name for yet. His tone, however, told her all she needed to know. ¡°What were you expecting?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Not a big hunk of metal?¡±


    Zuko sighed and turned back to cutting away branches and fallen trees, clearing the debris off of the boat. Toph turned as she felt Yue approaching from the river behind her, bringing water with her. In just a few moments, Yue had the boat lifted off the ground and moved gently back out of the mess it had been hidden in. The waterbender dragged it down to the water and Zuko took a moment to tie it off. Toph had to close her eyes and put on her blindfold at that point, as they had exited the trees and it was nearly noon¡ªthe sun was beaming down from overhead and it hurt to be in.


    With nothing else to do at the moment, Toph sat on a rock on the shore and waited as Zuko and Yue cleaned off the boat, moved their things inside, and got it ready to travel. She heard, and smelled, as Zuko fired up a coal engine on it and he and Yue moved around on top of the boat for some reason.


    ¡°Are you ready to go, Toph?¡± Yue called, and Toph nodded.


    ¡°Just waiting on you.¡±


    ¡°Oh! I just remembered! Give me a couple of minutes!¡± Yue ducked into the cabin and Zuko chuckled, jumping down onto the beach. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s get on. Can you get on yourself, or do you want help?¡±


    Toph considered it for a moment, before a mischievous grin spread over her face. Pushing herself to her feet, she made her way over to Zuko and put one hand on his shoulder, then jumped. He caught her reflexively, as she had hoped he would. ¡°Carry me.¡±


    Zuko snorted. ¡°I should throw you in the river.¡±


    ¡°Sure, if you wanna die,¡± Toph glared up at him, much of the expression lost to the blindfold.


    Laughing, Zuko jumped and landed lightly, before setting Toph on her feet. Yue joined them at the back of the boat a moment later and began pulling off Toph¡¯s blindfold. ¡°Here, try this.¡±


    The heavier blindfold was quickly replaced with something lighter, leaving Toph¡¯s eyes and face feeling cooler under it. It let in enough light that Toph could tell it was daytime, but not so much that it hurt her eyes. ¡°Huh. That¡¯s pretty nice. Thanks, Yue.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome. Now, let me just¡­¡± Yue untied the blindfold and did something, before pressing it back to Toph¡¯s face but not tying it. It let in more light than before, but wasn¡¯t what Toph would call painful.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. I can deal with that.¡±


    ¡°Great. Now open your eyes,¡± Yue instructed.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Toph asked, confused.


    ¡°It¡¯s lace. It¡¯s got holes in it. You can see through it,¡± Zuko explained.


    Slowly, Toph cracked open her eyes. She winced slightly at the burn, but after only a few moments, she got used to it. ¡°It kind of hurt at first, but it¡¯s fading. I can kind of see. It¡¯s blurry. Hard to make out anything specific. But it¡¯s better than nothing!¡±


    ¡°Try another layer,¡± Zuko instructed, and a moment later, Yue unrolled the blindfold again.


    This time, Toph could see better, but it left her with a persistent sting and, after a minute or so, her eyes started to ache. ¡°That¡¯s about the limit.¡±


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll cut it here,¡± Yue nodded, and Toph closed her eyes again as Yue pulled it away. She heard scissors and then, a moment later, Yue handed her the blindfold.


    Toph tied it into place and briefly opened her eyes, only to close them again a moment later. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll have to get used to it a little at a time.¡±


    ¡°We expected as much,¡± Zuko agreed, before moving to sit down on one of the boat¡¯s seats. ¡°Everyone ready?¡±


    ¡°Ready!¡± Yue giggled, grabbing onto Toph and holding her tightly from behind, before slowly marching Toph up to the edge of the boat.


    ¡°Uh, what are you doing?¡± Toph asked, wondering if it would be Yue who threw her overboard and sent her into the drink. ¡°Just so you know, I can¡¯t swim.¡±


    ¡°Hm? I¡¯m not going to throw you into the river, silly! I¡¯m holding you so you don¡¯t panic and fall.¡±


    ¡°Why would I panic and fall?¡± Toph wondered. ¡°It¡¯s just a river.¡±


    Instead of answering, Yue giggled quietly and Toph heard and sort of felt Zuko move behind her, adjusting something. And then, the whole boat moved under her, forcing her down. ¡°What the fu¡ª?¡±


    No, I didn¡¯t go down, the boat went up?


    ¡°Quick! Open your eyes!¡± Yue whispered.


    Toph did so and her jaw fell open. The ground fell away below them, as did the trees. The entire boat rose into the air. Uncaring of the pain, Toph reached up and jerked her blindfold off as they went up, and up, and up. Her eyes burned, tears streaming down her cheeks and forcing her to blink, but she didn¡¯t want to look away. Trees, animals, the river, valleys, mountains¡ªeverything unfolded before her as the boat rose. Until eventually, in the distance, she thought she could make out a blurry smudge that might be Gaoling.


    Yue¡¯s hands came up and cool water ran over Toph¡¯s eyes, making her blink again, but relieving the strain for a moment. They stayed like that, Toph forcing herself to look even as it hurt and Yue easing the pain so she could, until they stopped rising. Something thrummed above them and the boat began to move, the world below them shifting as the boat turned in the air as easily as it might on water.


    After a few moments of watching, Toph felt her knees go weak. Yue guided her over to sit beside Zuko and Toph collapsed into the seat, with Yue dropping down on her other side. Slowly, Toph pulled the blindfold back on.


    ¡°I feel like I just stepped into one of the fairy tale books Su read for me,¡± Toph murmured, for once almost entirely at a loss for words.


    ¡°Hehe! That was how I felt, the first time I saw the tops of the clouds,¡± Yue nodded, and Toph could hear the smile in her voice.


    ¡°You¡¯ll be able to see more and for longer when night falls. We should be over the ocean by then,¡± Zuko told her, and Toph blinked slowly.


    ¡°From Gaoling to the ocean is days of travel by cart.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the benefit of air travel.¡± Turning, he looked at Yue. ¡°Did you get what I asked for?¡±


    ¡°Here,¡± Yue pulled something out of her belt and handed it to Zuko. It was metal, whatever it was, judging by the clinking.


    A moment later, Toph knew for sure as Zuko took her hands¡­ and fastened them into a set of steel bracelets joined by a short chain. Shackles. The kind used to bind prisoners. Toph blinked, turning a confused look up at him. Her mouth ran off ahead of her brain. ¡°¡­If you wanted to tie my hands up and have fun, all you had to do was ask.¡±


    Yue made a strangled sound and covered her mouth as Zuko laughed. ¡°Maybe later. No, this is for a different kind of fun. Training. Bend your way out of them.¡±


    Toph¡¯s reply was flat. ¡°It¡¯s metal.¡±


    ¡°Yep. I believe you can do it.¡±


    Pressed into his side as she was, Toph could feel his heartbeat. She could hear his voice. He was lying. Zuko didn¡¯t believe she could do it, he knew she could, somehow, and it was like he was just¡­ waiting for her to figure out that she could. And some part of her, a large part of her in fact, didn¡¯t want to disappoint him.


    So, Toph turned her attention down to the shackles on her wrists and closed her eyes. Before she started however, she elbowed him in the ribs. ¡°We¡¯re keeping these when I¡¯m done. I wasn¡¯t kidding.¡±


    ¡°You keep saying things like that and I¡¯m gonna call your bluff,¡± Zuko threatened.


    Toph smirked. ¡°Who said I was bluffing?¡±


    ¡°But, why shackles?!¡± Yue squeaked, and Toph could hear the blush.


    ¡°¡°Because it¡¯s fun.¡±¡±


    Toph¡¯s eyes opened and she turned to look at Zuko, who in turn turned to look down at her. She could just make out a smirk on his lips that almost mirrored her own grin.


    Stupid sexy, nnf. Bending first, ¡®bending¡¯ later!

 23

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    23


    <hr>


    Commissioned by darkestcalling.


    <hr>


    In the short time Toph had been able to use her eyes, she had seen so many new things and made so many new, happy memories that it was hard to say which was her favorite, behind the very first¡ªthat being the day she was healed and saw her friends for the first time. Since then she had seen trees, mountains, rivers, animals, the sky, huge clouds and lightning dancing in the distance, the moon and stars, sunset and sunrise¡ªbut those were all apparently mundane, normal things. Things normal people just took for granted.


    Today however, things had taken a more fantastical turn¡ªthe sort of things her former maid had read aloud to her from books. She had joined the ranks of only a handful of people alive today who had seen the view of the world from the sky¡ªsomething no one had seen in the last almost hundred years, since the death of the airbenders. Sunset over the ocean from so high up that animals looked like insects moving around below was right up there in her top five favorites, but being able to take the blindfold off and look out over the land and water under the cool, blue light of the nearly full moon was right behind it.


    Looking down over the water, glittering silver in places, and the coast, Toph grinned as she held onto a rope tightly and leaned a bit further out over the edge of the flying boat. Off to the side, she heard Yue yawn before speaking up. ¡°What do we want to eat tonight?¡±


    ¡°What are you feeling like?¡± Zuko asked, before adding, ¡°You too, Toph.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t really care. Whatever you¡¯re having,¡± she shrugged, not looking away from the sights below. Along the dark line of the coast, the orange light of numerous fires glowed in the dark, stretching nearly as far as she could see. They were fairly spaced out, but there were a lot of them, and Toph had seen maps of the Earth Kingdom before rendered in stone at scale¡ªbecause Earthbenders loved doing that kind of thing and her parents kept a few on retainer just for that sort of service. To her knowledge, there weren¡¯t that many villages along the coast.


    ¡°That¡¯s weird, right?¡± she asked just as Yue ducked into the cabin.


    ¡°What¡¯s weird?¡± Zuko asked, and Toph gestured off the side of the boat with her free hand.


    ¡°That. There are lots of camp fires along the coast. I count over thirty.¡±


    ¡°Let me see.¡± She felt his footsteps through the metal of the deck approaching, before he stopped beside her. ¡°Huh. That¡¯s weird.¡±


    ¡°Right? I told you! What do you think it is?¡±


    He pulled out some kind of tube that extended when he pulled on it and brought it to his eye. ¡°Lots of camps and a lot of people. But they¡¯re¡­ under-provisioned for any kind of trip. Just the clothes on their backs, maybe a few bags. A few wagons and animals here and there. Look kinda ragged, too.¡±


    ¡°You can see all that? How?¡± Toph asked.


    Zuko pulled the tube from his eye and sent her a smile as he offered it to her. ¡°It¡¯s a spyglass. Or a telescope if you wanna get technical. Have a look for yourself.¡±


    Toph took the spyglass and held it to her eye as she¡¯d seen Zuko do. ¡°Whoa!¡± she yelped, reflexively taking a step back and nearly stumbling, before Zuko¡¯s hand on her arm caught her. ¡°They got close! No, wait,¡± she pulled the spyglass away from her eye and looked again, before putting it back. ¡°Ooh! I get it! Neat!¡±


    ¡°I thought we could have stew¡ª What¡¯s going on?¡± Yue called as she stepped outside, carrying a lidded pot and a metal stand to put it on.


    ¡°Remember the smoke we saw earlier in the day? I think we know what was burning now,¡± Zuko murmured, waving Yue over.


    The princess quickly set up the stand and hung the pot on it by the handle before moving over to stand beside them. Toph offered her the spyglass but Yue waved her off, instead drawing water from her bending pouch. A couple of large blobs of water formed in the air as Yue held them up and Toph realized she was making her own, much larger version of the tool she held. Zuko took back the spyglass instead and they crowded in around the smaller sheet of ice as Yue fine tuned things, creating an icy shell around the outside and attaching the whole thing to the side of the boat with more ice.


    ¡°It¡¯s upside down,¡± Toph complained.


    ¡°You need a mirror angled at forty-five degrees to flip the image and a smaller lens to look through on the back end. Here, narrow it down,¡± Zuko directed and the water flowed as Yue followed his instructions. A few moments later, he was looking through a much smaller eye hole. ¡°Alright, yeah, that did it. Have a look.¡±


    Yue took Zuko¡¯s place as he moved out of the way. Studying the ground below she frowned, before moving away and letting Toph have a look. What she saw was much closer and in better detail than the spyglass had been. The people she made out around the camp fire looked only a few yards away. As Zuko had said, they looked pretty rough to Toph¡¯s eye. Some were covered in some black or gray substance that looked like the soot and ash that came from the coal engine keeping the ship up. Some wore bandages and had big stains of what might be blood, but it was hard to tell in the moonlight.


    ¡°We have to go down there,¡± Yue spoke up as Toph turned away from the telescope. A gesture from the waterbender had the ice turning to water and flowing back into her bending skin.


    Zuko considered Yue for a few moments before he smiled. Letting out a sigh, he nodded. ¡°Alright. Tomorrow.¡±¡°We should go now. There are injured¡ª!¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ve clearly been on the road for a couple of days. Anyone who was going to die of immediate, life threatening injures has likely already done so. Anyone with an infection can probably wait for sunrise.¡± When Yue crossed her arms over her chest and frowned, Zuko continued, ¡°Besides, let me ask you something. Suppose you¡¯ve been on the run for a few days after some tragedy forced you from your home. It¡¯s the middle of the night and some strangers approach your camp. How do you react?¡±


    Yue looked away. ¡°I would see what they wanted before making up my mind.¡±


    Moving over to the pot and taking off the lid, Zuko checked its contents for a moment before closing it up and sitting down in his seat. Putting his hand under the bottom, orange flames spilled out of his hand and cast a warm glow over the boat¡¯s deck. ¡°You really would, wouldn¡¯t you? Toph?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡± she asked, looking away from the fire coming from Zuko¡¯s hand. ¡°Oh. Middle of the night? Yeah, they¡¯re definitely there to fuck around and cause trouble. I¡¯d bury them up to their necks first and go from there.¡±


    Zuko arched an eyebrow and Toph blushed as she remembered that was pretty much exactly what she had done to him on their first meeting¡ªexcept she¡¯d also caught him by surprise and broken his hip first, for good measure. When he only chuckled, she looked away and held in the apology she kind of almost felt obligated to give again. She didn¡¯t though, because if he had wanted to hold it over her head, he would have before now.


    Making a frustrated sound, Yue dropped into her seat beside Zuko and propped her elbows on her knees, before dropping her chin in her palms and pouting. ¡°I hate it when you do that.¡±


    ¡°Do what?¡± Zuko asked as Toph joined them on his other side. Grabbing the lid, he opened the pot for a moment and Yue flicked a finger in its general direction, making the contents swirl.


    Toph leaned in to see what it was and sighed at the smell of meat and vegetables in soup. Zuko covered it again and Yue answered, ¡°Making me feel bad for wanting to help people.¡± He started to open his mouth and she cut him off. ¡°I know that¡¯s not what you¡¯re trying to do. I know you¡¯re looking out for me. I¡¯m not as worldly as you, or as jaded as Toph. One day, giving someone the benefit of the doubt is probably going to come back to bite me, but I would rather that than treat everyone as a potential threat.¡±


    Turning, her eyes bored into Zuko¡¯s and at that moment, Toph felt like an outsider¡ªlike she was intruding on something private. But it would be awkward to get up and leave, or otherwise draw attention to herself and break their moment, so she kept silent.


    ¡°If I did, I wouldn¡¯t be here today. With you.¡±


    Yeah, definitely feeling like I should make a hole and crawl into it for a while¡ª


    Yue leaned around Zuko and sent Toph a smile. ¡°Or you.¡±


    Toph couldn¡¯t help the smile that came to her lips, so she turned away to avoid embarrassing herself. Beside her, Zuko reached up and rubbed at the his forehead. ¡°You can do that and minimize risk and potential conflict, just by being aware of the situation. Like this,¡± he gestured with his free hand towards the side of the boat and presumably to the coast down below. ¡°Look before you leap. That¡¯s all I¡¯m asking. You don¡¯t have to change who you are and honestly, I don¡¯t want you to. Just be aware of the risks and be more careful.¡±


    Yue bit her bottom lip and nodded. ¡°I guess it can wait until morning. But we¡¯ll go at first light!¡±


    ¡°We will,¡± Zuko agreed. Opening the pot again, he considered the contents before nodding. ¡°Looks done to me.¡±


    ¡°Toph, come help me get everything?¡± Yue asked and Toph nodded, following her inside and grabbing their dishes and the tea pot while Yue brought out a pot of leftover rice and a blanket.


    Soon enough, they had set up together on the blanket outside, Zuko locking the tiller into position and joining them. Toph was all smiles as she happily shared a meal with her friends. After, she and Yue laid out on the blanket, the taller girl pulling her in close as they looked at the stars, while Zuko stood and made his way over to the railing, looking out below while sipping another cup of tea.


    Toph had nearly drifted off when Zuko spoke up. ¡°Well, looks like I was right.¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡± Yue asked, stirring Toph slightly as she shifted to look at Zuko.


    ¡°Just spotted the remains of a coastal village. I say remains because it¡¯s been burned to the ground. There¡¯s a little smoke, but it looks like it¡¯s been days. It probably happened that day we had that big storm move through.¡±


    ¡°You think it was lightning?¡± Toph yawned, and Zuko shook his head.


    ¡°Doubt it. Not with that many people moving and apparently more than one village affected. Could be¡­¡±


    ¡°Fire Nation,¡± Yue murmured, and Zuko nodded.


    ¡°Maybe, but I doubt it. This isn¡¯t their usual thing. The navy doesn¡¯t tend to burn random villages down, especially when a lot of these villages on the coast were originally founded by the Fire Nation and trade with us. No, this is something else. Pirates, maybe. Earth Kingdom getting it in their heads to do another purge. This many, across this large an area, means it¡¯s coordinated either way. We¡¯ll find out what it is tomorrow.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Toph felt through the metal of the ship as he moved around to the front and swept the spyglass over the water. After a few moments, he returned. ¡°Spotted a boat. They¡¯re not flying any flags and hauling ass west.¡±


    Yue sat up. ¡°Where do you think they¡¯re going?¡±


    Zuko thought about it for a minute, taking Toph¡¯s hand and pulling her up when she reached out for him. ¡°That¡¯s the general direction of Kyoshi Island, I think.¡±


    ¡°So, if they¡¯re pirates, think we should follow?¡±


    Zuko opened his mouth, then closed it with a click. ¡°Might have just been a merchant trader. I¡¯m not one hundred percent sure. It was pretty far and running dark, so it¡¯s hard to make out.¡±


    ¡°Running without lights is usually a sign of a pirate. Or at least, that¡¯s what the warriors who dealt with the pirate raids said,¡± Yue hummed, gathering the blanket in her hands. ¡°Oh, but sometimes, traders run without lights on the deck if they suspect there are pirates in the area.¡±


    Zuko shook his head. ¡°Doesn¡¯t help us make a decision then. We¡¯ll go check out the refugees and see what¡¯s going on. In the meantime, I¡¯m going to put us down and set the tiller to follow the coast, so we can get some sleep.¡±


    ¡°Can I watch?¡± Toph asked, and Zuko nodded. She joined him at the helm as Yue made her way into the cabin. Zuko adjusted things and pulled a couple of cables, and Toph felt as they began to slowly descend. Eventually, they touched down with a soft splash and Zuko pulled a lever to shut off the vent leading up to the balloon, before locking the tiller into place.


    ¡°Come help me roll this thing up and put it away, would you?¡± he asked, and she followed him up to put away the balloon.


    Once they were done, they made their way into the cabin and climbed into bed. Toph went to sleep with a grin on her face as she once again found herself the meat in the middle of a Zuko and Yue sandwich.


    <hr>


    ¡°Hello the camp,¡± I called as we approached the group of people sitting just off the beach, under the trees. They eyed us with suspicion and had been watching us since Yue beached the boat.


    ¡°Good morning!¡± Yue called, hurrying ahead, while Toph and I hung back a bit. ¡°Is anyone injured? I¡¯m a healer.¡±


    The people all looked at each other before one of them waved her over. ¡°Yeah, I got cut real bad. If you could do something about it, I¡¯d appreciate it.¡±


    ¡°Of course!¡± Yue nodded, pulling her bending water from her water skin as she took a knee beside the injured man and began to unwrap the makeshift bandages around his chest. ¡°How did this happen?¡±


    ¡°Pirates, that¡¯s how,¡± an older woman spat. ¡°They took everything we had. Took the young women and children onto their ship and killed anyone who tried to fight back. Then they burned the village to the ground when they left.¡±


    A man nearby sighed as he nodded. ¡°We ain¡¯t the fist and we won¡¯t be the last. We¡¯ve met a couple of other groups. All got the same story. Pirates are going all up and down the coast from the far southern coast to Yu Dao, looting everything that ain¡¯t nailed down and burning what is. Lot of ¡®em are taking slaves, too. Some are killing everyone they come across. It¡¯s like someone picked the bunch hornet nest and pissed ¡®em off, but usually when the Fire Nation Navy comes along and clears out a bunch of pirates, they keep their heads down for a while.¡±


    ¡°So, where are you all going?¡± Toph asked, moving over and making herself a stone seat to sit in as she dropped down near the group. I moved away a bit, taking in their supplies and ration situation versus how many people were there, and coming up short with a wince.


    ¡°Most of us are heading for the fishing villages near Omashu. The city sends people out to protect the coastal villages because that¡¯s where they get a lot of their food, so those have always been safe from raiders. Some are willing to stop and stay if we find a place what ain¡¯t been raided yet, but I told those idiots it¡¯s only a matter of time before they¡¯d get raided too,¡± the man pitched his voice at the others, some of whom looked surly and like they didn¡¯t want to believe it.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be back in a few,¡± I called to Toph and Yue. Yue sent me a quick look and a nod. Toph made to stand but I motioned for her to stay and nodded towards Yue. She nodded and turned her attention back to the group around them.


    I made my way back to the boat and slipped inside the cabin. Grabbing my bow and quiver, I took the bow from the case and strung it, before settling it into place on my back and heading out. Then, it was up the beach and into the forest. The hunt didn¡¯t take long and within the hour I was back with a fresh boar. The people on the beach perked up as they saw the cleaned animal and those who could move quickly began gathering more firewood and setting up a spit to roast it. Together, we got the skin off and put it over the spit.


    ¡°Listen,¡± I spoke up, drawing the refugees¡¯ attention. ¡°This isn¡¯t going to last forever. A few days at most. Who among you can hunt?¡±


    ¡°Lad, we¡¯re from a fishing village. Pirates burned our nets and boats,¡± one of the older men spoke up, drawing nods from several of the others.


    ¡°Okay, I think I¡¯ve got a spare net,¡± I nodded. ¡°As for a boat, that¡¯s doable, and it¡¯s be faster to travel by boat. How many do you need? And how large?¡±


    The fishermen discussed for a few moments before coming to a decision. They drew out the rough length of the two boats they¡¯d need in the sand and I walked it off, before writing everything down in my journal. Once I was finished, I looked over to Yue, working on an old woman. ¡°Yue, you finished with that?¡±


    ¡°Nearly,¡± she confirmed.


    ¡°Alright. Toph, want to help?¡±


    The earthbender grinned and hopped up, following me as I headed back into the woods. ¡°So, what are we doing?¡±


    ¡°Cutting down a tree.¡± I pointed to one in particular, ¡°That one. I¡¯m going to cut it. I need you to lift if off the ground with stone so I can work on it.¡±


    She nodded and we got to work. Considering how to do what I wanted without giving away that I was a firebender, I eventually came up with an idea. Summoning a sphere of chi to hand, I reshaped it, stretching it out and making it thinner, until it took on a vaguely sword-like shape. Then, I began oscillating the chi along the edge, giving it a bit of a spin as well. Pressing the bar of chi against the tree, I felt the movement of it slow down as it bit into the wood and sprayed sawdust. Adjusting the speed upwards, I pushed it deeper into the tree until it cut through and the tree cracked as it began to lean. Eventually, I felled it entirely.


    ¡°Gonna have to remember that one,¡± I mused, eyeing the quietly humming blade in my hand, before moving up the tree and beginning to cut the limbs off.It was the work of a few hours to cut the limbs off, section it how I wanted, and then remove the bark. I felled a second tree and began working on it for the second boat. Yue finished with her patients during that time and rejoined us, and I had her remove the water from the wood to cure it. Then, between the two of us, we began using our bending techniques to start carving.


    While she had never actually built a boat from wood, Yue was a proud member of the Northern Water Tribe, and I was pretty sure she would die of shame if she couldn¡¯t make her own boat out of ice now that she could use waterbending for something other than healing. She had lived her life in a city which was heavily dependent upon fishing and hunting for its food, so she had seen the sorts of boats her people used for fishing, hunting, and traveling. With her water acting as a saw, her boat quickly began to take shape.


    As for myself, I knew boats well enough, especially given just how much time I had spent recently living in one. There wasn¡¯t really enough material to make anything big, but it didn¡¯t need to be¡ªnor did it need to be complicated. I didn¡¯t worry about any of the frills or details Yue was putting into hers. It needed to float and seat four people, and that was it. A dugout canoe was simple, quick, and left me with plenty of material to work with to make enough oars and seats for everyone. When I got the interior finished, I took a few minutes to have Toph flip it over and smoothed out the bottom, before calling it good enough.


    The two boats Yue floated down to the beach on a stream of water were very different, in terms of looks. They were both roughly the same size, but Yue¡¯s looked like she had squeezed in an extra two seats. One of them was covered in intricate little Water Tribe carvings and even had a figurehead in the shape of a dragon. The other was plain, with a smooth surface and no frills at all.


    ¡°This uh, this thing looks fit for royalty,¡± one of the men complained, running his hand over the figurehead on Yue¡¯s boat, earning a smile from the girl. ¡°Almost afraid to take it out on the water.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s actually very sturdy!¡± she assured them, lifting it with a bit of water and moving it out into the waves. ¡°Please, go ahead.¡±


    Chuckling, I left her to try to convince them to actually use the work of art she¡¯d given them and made my way back to my own boat. A few moments of digging later and I had a large, rolled fishing net tossed over my shoulder. I made my way back out and dropped the net off over the top of the boat I¡¯d made. ¡°That should do it. Good luck, folks.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re leaving?¡± Yue asked, and I nodded. She quickly said her goodbyes and joined me and Toph as we climbed up into our own boat. ¡°You¡¯re sure we can¡¯t stay a while longer? Just to make sure they¡¯re okay?¡±


    ¡°You saw how many people just like this there were last night,¡± I reminded, and she frowned, but nodded. ¡°So, princess.¡± Yue perked up and her face turned serious as I used her title. ¡°We now know what happened: they were raided by pirates and their people taken. We know where they¡¯re going: up the coast, to some villages near Omashu. We know that Omashu is interested in keeping pirates away from their easy food supply and the people that work to supply it. What do you think we should do?¡±


    I held out one hand for emphasis. ¡°We can stop and help every group of refugees as we did here, tending to their injuries and giving or making them whatever they need. I estimate, based on just how many lights we saw, that could take a month or two if we take a day to stop and help every group¡ªif not more, since the horizon cut off the view further up the coast, and there are little villages all up and down the coast that could have been hit or are currently being hit.¡±


    Holding out the other hand, I continued, ¡°Or we can make for Omashu and get there in a few days by air. Seek an audience with the king there. Let him know what¡¯s going on. Ask him to send aid and people out to escort those who need help. This frees us up to go hunt down the pirates and maybe rescue those people who have been kidnapped before they can be sold off as slaves.¡±


    Yue bit her lip as I moved my hands up and down, visibly and metaphorically weighing her options for her. Eventually, Yue asked, ¡°Toph, who¡¯s in charge of Omashu? Could they help? And would they even be willing to?¡±


    ¡°King Bumi,¡± the earthbender answered after a moment of thought. ¡°He¡¯s an old guy and kind of crazy from what I¡¯ve heard, but a good king. He¡¯d definitely do whatever he could to help.¡±


    ¡°Nnn,¡± Yue made a frustrated sound, but finally nodded. Letting out a defeated sigh, she gave her decision. ¡°A good leader has to know when to delegate, and when to ask for help. And, and a healer has to know when it¡¯s time to triage and focus on the most important things first. We¡¯ll hurry to Omashu.¡±


    Even as she said it, I could tell that Yue didn¡¯t agree. That she knew what she needed to do, but felt like she was making the wrong choice. It hurt and left her feeling conflicted, and I could tell she hated it. Nothing I said would make her feel better about it though. So instead, I got to work. We got the fire lit and the balloon out, and lifted off, turning for Omashu.


    To my surprise, Yue didn¡¯t take her normal seat beside me. Instead, she wandered off to the front of the ship and made herself another telescope of ice, looking out over the beach and the surroundings. I frowned, unsure whether to go to her or give her space. Toph made the decision for me as she sat down beside me and leaned against me. Taking out a lump of metal from the pouch at her belt, she began playing with it, shaping what had been a set of cuffs between her hands.


    ¡°She¡¯ll get over it,¡± she murmured.


    ¡°Hm?¡± I asked, raising an eyebrow.


    ¡°It sucks now, but she¡¯s going to realize it¡¯s the best decision eventually.¡± The metal between Toph¡¯s hands twisted and stretched as she played with it, not looking up. ¡°It¡¯s like¡­ You own a company, right? If somebody robs one of your stores, you go to the city guard and maybe hire some mercs for protection. If someone robs all of your stores, you go to the king. If they hurt your people when they were doing it, you send them to a healer, but you don¡¯t wait around to make sure they¡¯re okay¡ªyou go try to stop it from happening again. You¡¯ve got a duty to look after your employees and if you leave the people hurting them out there, running around free to do it again, you¡¯ve failed them. Because they¡¯ll definitely be back. Maybe tomorrow, maybe in a year or two, after you¡¯ve had time to rebuild and make more money and stuff for them to steal. Pirates are a fucking scourge and every one you kill saves someone else from them in the future.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but Yue doesn¡¯t like fighting. She really doesn¡¯t like killing,¡± I pointed out and Toph nodded.


    ¡°She¡¯s soft. It¡¯s not bad, but sometimes¡­ sometimes, you just don¡¯t have the luxury to be soft. That¡¯s why my family hires guards for caravans and ships, and they¡¯ve got orders to handle bandits and pirates one way. I¡¯ve heard the reports. Some years it can get pretty bad¡ª¡±


    Crack-boom!


    Toph and I both flinched and I heard Yue yelp from the front of the boat. My head jerked towards the source of the sound as I stood, looking behind us¡ªtowards the southeast. Down on the water a few miles out, I spotted a Fire Navy cruiser burning hard towards us. A moment later, a streak of fire shot into the air above it.


    Crack-boom!


    ¡°What is that?¡± Toph asked, lifting her blindfold and shielding her eyes from the sun with her hands as she squinted at the water.


    ¡°Zuko?¡± Yue called as she hurried up, stopping beside Toph. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°Signal flare. Shit,¡± I sighed as a third flare went up and detonated. Looking around, I didn¡¯t spot any other Fire Navy boats, which meant that those flares were meant for us. ¡°Maybe I can convince them to go away.¡±


    Remembering my lessons on signaling, I shot off a flare of my own in answer to confirm I¡¯d seen their flare and get them to stop sending up noisemakers. The sound from those things carried for miles and miles, and there was a chance that while I might not see another Fire Nation Navy boat, one over the horizon might have heard. They were entirely distinct and couldn¡¯t be mistaken for thunder or anything else, and if a boat heard one, they were obligated to respond unless running under orders to the contrary¡ªwhich they were required to signal.


    As I watched, a series of smaller fireballs shot up into the air before going off¡ªthese not making any noise. Yue frowned, asking, ¡°What are they doing?¡±


    ¡°Communicating. It¡¯s code. Hang on,¡± I told her, taking a moment to decode it from what I remembered. ¡°It says ¡®unknown vessel, identify yourself and state your purpose for being here.¡¯¡±


    ¡°All that from a few fireballs?¡± Toph asked, sounding impressed.


    ¡°Individual words and phrases. What they actually sent was unknown, identify, purpose.¡±


    ¡°So, what are you going to say back?¡±


    I considered for a moment before sending a reply. ¡°Secret. Research. Identify. Identity is secret, we¡¯re here for research, you identify yourself because I don¡¯t believe you have clearance to know who I am and why I¡¯m here. Basically, anyone below admiral can go blow smoke and doesn¡¯t need to know why we¡¯re here, and they¡¯ll know it. Given that we¡¯re on a flying ship, that should convince them we¡¯re legit and likely working for War Minister Qin. He¡¯s the guy in charge of projects like this. They¡¯ve got no way of verifying or denying that, so standard operating procedure would be to send us on our way. Unless there¡¯s an admiral on that boat¡ª¡±


    Signal flares went up and I blinked as I decoded the message. ¡°Or a general.¡±


    Shaking my head, I laughed and sent off a return message. ¡°Heave to and prepare for boarding,¡± I translated for Yue and Toph, before hurrying to the helm. Cutting the throttle back, I turned the ship towards the Fire Navy boat and began dumping altitude in a fast but controlled descent.


    ¡°Why are we going towards the Fire Nation boat?!¡± Toph yelped, grabbing onto the railing and holding on for dear life. ¡°And don¡¯t drop so fast or I¡¯ll puke!¡±


    ¡°Zuko? What did they say?¡±


    I turned and sent Yue a grin. ¡°I got to meet your family. Now it¡¯s your turn.¡±


    ¡°Are we gonna have to fight our way out?¡± Toph asked as she sat down. ¡°Because I don¡¯t do so well on boats. Sure, I can bend the metal now, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯m ready to use that for fighting.¡±


    ¡°No fighting, I promise,¡± I chuckled. ¡°Well, I take that back. I might have to fight, but you two should be fine.¡±

 24

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    24


    <hr>


    Commissioned by darkestcalling.


    <hr>


    I circled around and put us on the Fire Navy cruiser¡¯s port side, lowering my ship enough that we could easily jump down. ¡°Yue, could you toss them the line from the bow?¡± I asked, as I gathered the one from stern up and flung it over to a waiting sailor on the deck below. She nodded and hurried forward, securing the second line at the bow and likewise tossing it over, where it was quickly secured.


    ¡°So, we¡¯re just gonna go over there?¡± Toph asked as Yue rejoined us. ¡°And that¡¯s gonna be okay?¡±


    ¡°Yup,¡± I confirmed. ¡°You good to jump, or¡­?¡±


    Toph grinned and jumped up, forcing me to catch her. ¡°Carry me.¡±


    Yue giggled, rolling her eyes at Toph¡¯s antics. ¡°You¡¯re spoiling her.¡±


    ¡°Like you don¡¯t?¡± I countered, raising an eyebrow.


    ¡°That¡¯s different!¡± Yue huffed, sticking her nose up in the air and looking away, but I caught the edges of her lips twitching as she fought a smile down.


    Leaving it at that, I moved up to the side of the boat. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go.¡±


    Hopping down, I slowed my descent and ¡®slid¡¯ down to the deck, earning a brief yelp from Toph before we set down. I eased her down onto her feet and turned to see Yue step off of the ship and onto an ice-topped column of water rising up from the ocean below, which lowered her easily to the deck, where she hopped down to land beside us. A group of sailors met us on the deck. There were eight rank and file men wearing standard Fire Nation uniforms, though they were technically out of regulation at the moment given they had their helmets off, and in front of them stood two older men. One of them wore the uniform and markings of a lieutenant, while the other wore a simple robe in Fire Nation colors.


    I¡¯d had Army and Navy protocol and etiquette drilled into me by various instructors over the years, so I knew the score here. If the lieutenant was standing there with a retired general, then they were the two highest ranking officers on board. Given that Uncle was retired, that made the lieutenant the highest ranking officer among the crew, which granted him the title of captain but not the rank by the same name. Regardless of their rank, proper etiquette demanded you address the commanding officer on a ship by the title of captain, unless the rank outstripped the title¡ªas in the case of an admiral, where an admiral acting as captain would be addressed as admiral formally, but could be addressed as captain less formally such as in the case of acknowledging orders or passing along reports. That is, if the admiral gave an order in combat and someone responded with an ¡°Aye cap,¡± the admiral had no official grounds to complain about the brevity.


    Looking to the lieutenant, I saluted. ¡°Permission to come aboard, captain?¡±


    The lieutenant smiled and returned the salute. ¡°Permission granted, your highness.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± I nodded, before turning my attention to the much older man beside him. ¡°Uncle, it¡¯s good to see you again.¡±


    ¡°Zuko! Come give your uncle a hug!¡± the old man grinned, stepping forward and opening his arms. I quickly did as asked and let out a quiet wheeze as he squeezed hard enough to crack my back. He let me go and stepped back. ¡°Let me look at you,¡± he hummed, looking me over. One hand reached out and prodded my chest and when I didn¡¯t react, he raised an eyebrow. ¡°Let¡¯s see it.¡±


    Sighing, I tugged my robe open and he winced at the scarring. ¡°It¡¯s fine, Uncle. It¡¯s healed. This is all just surface layer stuff. Just¡­ a reminder.¡±


    ¡°Hmm,¡± his frown deepened, resting a finger against against the raised scar tissue for a moment before letting his hand fall. Looking around me, he eyed Yue and Toph briefly, before his eyes cut back to me as I straightened my robe up. ¡°Made a trip up north, did you?¡± he asked, and I nodded. ¡°Come, introduce me to your friends! We have much to discuss, I imagine.¡±


    ¡°Much indeed,¡± the cruiser¡¯s captain murmured, and I sent him a questioning look. He nodded towards my ship and introduced himself. ¡°Lieutenant Jee. My prince, if you don¡¯t mind, could we have a look at it?¡±


    ¡°How about I give you the tour in a moment?¡± I suggested, and he nodded. Turning back to the girls, I grinned and patted Uncle on the shoulder. ¡°Ladies, this is my uncle, the Dragon of the West, General Iroh.¡±


    ¡°Please, nephew. No need for all that. I¡¯m retired now. Just an old man spending his days enjoying his tea and Pai Sho,¡± he waved a hand dismissively, grinning.


    ¡°Uh huh. Pull the other one Uncle, it¡¯s got bells on it,¡± I rolled my eyes. Gesturing to the girls, I continued, ¡°Uncle, these are my friends, Yue of the Northern Water Tribe and Toph Beifong.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you,¡± Yue gave a short bow as she smiled. ¡°Zuko¡¯s told me a lot about you.¡±


    ¡°First time I¡¯m hearing it,¡± Toph shrugged. ¡°Still, uh, yeah. Nice to meet you, I guess.¡±


    ¡°So,¡± Iroh drew the word out, before turning a curious look my way. ¡°I would much rather spend some time catching up, but¡­ a flying ship? I would never forgive myself if I passed up this opportunity, nephew. Surely you understand?¡±


    ¡°Of course, Uncle. Come on, why don¡¯t the five of us take her up for a few and you can see how it works?¡± I suggested, and Uncle¡¯s face lit up in a huge smile. I couldn¡¯t say I blamed him, as I was pretty sure I was wearing that same expression the first time we went up in it.


    ¡°Thank you, nephew. Come lieutenant, let us have a look!¡± Uncle chuckled.


    I picked up Toph again, much to her pleasure, and made the leap up to the boat. Yue shook her head and made a set of stairs out of ice for herself, Uncle, and Lt. Jee. The three of them stepped onto the small ship and the lieutenant sent me a smile. ¡°Permission to come aboard, captain?¡±


    ¡°Granted, lieutenant,¡± I chuckled.


    Uncle and Jee followed me to the back, where the engine sat chugging away while Yue moved to the front. A moment later, the cruiser¡¯s crew cast our lines off and we pulled them in and set them back in place. Yue rejoined us just as I was taking my seat and opening the valve to increase altitude. Throttling up a bit, we slowly climbed as the ship pulled away from the cruiser.


    ¡°Mm, I see,¡± Uncle mused, studying the mechanisms. ¡°You fill the balloon with hot air and it rises, like a paper lantern.¡±


    ¡°Precisely, Uncle,¡± I confirmed.


    ¡°And the propeller up there works just like the ones on our ship?¡± Jee asked, and I nodded.


    ¡°It¡¯s thinner to be able to work better with the air, but it¡¯s the same principle. This is just a standard coal-fired steam engine. We¡¯ve got water tanks on the sides and coal storage here,¡± I thumped the box in question. ¡°Exhaust to the rear. Steam flows through the pipe and cools in the return lines and tanks, allowing it to condense. It pipes hot air up through the cabin to the balloon on top when the vent is open. It really is just a standard boat I slapped some spare parts on, did a bit of welding to put a cabin on it, and tied a hot air balloon to.¡±


    As we rose, Uncle and Jee moved to the sides and looked over, taking in the cruiser below, the water stretched out around us, and the distant coast. Uncle sighed contentedly, leaning against the railing. ¡°Amazing.¡±


    ¡°It really is,¡± the lieutenant nodded. ¡°This could change the war entirely.¡±


    ¡°Yes. Which is why it¡¯s going to stay safely out of father¡¯s reach, until I¡¯m ready to deal with that problem.¡±


    Jee cast a glance back at me before nodding once. ¡°Understood. I¡¯ll make sure the men know.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, lieutenant.¡±


    We were up roughly an hour just circling before I brought us back down as the sun started to set. This time, I came in behind the cruiser and set her on the water. Uncle and the lieutenant watched with interest as I shut down the engine and Yue and I rolled and stored the balloon. With some help from Yue creating a platform for us, we were quickly back aboard the cruiser and I had my ship tied off at the rear where it could be towed.


    ¡°How about some tea while we talk?¡± Iroh suggested and I nodded.


    ¡°Sounds good. If we could have it inside? It¡¯s still a bit too bright out for Toph,¡± I suggested, laying a hand on the shorter young woman¡¯s shoulder as she shifted and bumped me with her hip.


    ¡°Of course,¡± Uncle agreed and we quickly made our way inside. He led us through the ship¡¯s narrow hallways to a room that had apparently been made up as a casual sitting/meditation room. Jee excused himself citing duties and Uncle busied himself with the tea pot for a few moments before joining us at the table, putting the pot down between us to steep as it steamed away.


    ¡°Now,¡± Uncle began, setting out some snacks as well and taking what looked like a rice cracker for himself, ¡°tell me of your travels, Zuko. How did you meet these two lovely young ladies?¡± He shifted his amber gaze to Yue, focusing on her neck¡ªspecifically, the necklace there, tied on by its Fire Nation red ribbon. Leaning forward, he studied it and quietly asked, ¡°Is that what I think it is?¡±


    ¡°How about you let me tell the story and stop trying to skip ahead, uncle?¡± I sighed, even as Yue giggled and nodded, pressing herself into my side.


    ¡°It is!¡± she gushed, a happy smile on her lips.


    ¡°I want one,¡± Toph sighed, eyeing the necklace in question with a bit of jealousy.


    Yue leaned over to look at her from my other side. ¡°Then we should get Zuko to make you one!¡± she grinned, earning a smile and a nod from Toph¡ªand a raised eyebrow from Uncle Iroh, who then turned a speculative look on me. ¡°I think green would look better on you though.¡±


    ¡°I like green jade,¡± Toph nodded. ¡°I always liked the way it felt, before. Smooth in the hands and easy to ¡®see¡¯ through with my other sense.¡±


    ¡°We can get you a red band to go with it so we match,¡± Yue suggested, and Toph nodded.


    ¡°Sounds good.¡±


    I sighed. ¡°Toph. It¡¯s a betrothal necklace.¡±


    The girl turned green eyes on me and glared, her cheeks turning pink. ¡°I knew that!¡±


    ¡°If I get you one¡ª¡±


    ¡°I know what it means, shut up~!¡± the girl growled, punching my arm with a solid thump.


    ¡°So violent,¡± I hissed, rubbing my arm as Uncle chuckled.


    Taking up the pot, I began pouring us tea. ¡°So, as you know, I left after father lost his temper¡­¡±


    The retelling took a couple of hours and by the time we were finished, the sun had set outside. Uncle had fallen silent in thought for some time as I finished up. ¡°¡­And that¡¯s when you spotted us. So, what were you doing out here, Uncle?¡±


    ¡°Mm,¡± he pulled himself from his thoughts and took a sip of his tea. ¡°We were initially here searching for you, Zuko. Then, much like you, we saw evidence of pirates and investigated. Now, we are here hunting pirates. Something has them riled up. This is the worst I¡¯ve ever seen it.¡± Sighing, he pushed himself to his feet. ¡°You¡¯ve given me much to think about. In the meantime, let¡¯s go up and see if you¡¯ve been keeping up with your forms. And then¡­ music night!¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Yue giggled as I stood and offered her and Toph a hand. ¡°Are you going to play for us, Uncle?¡±


    ¡°Of course! I play a mean tsungi horn! I¡¯m pretty good with a pipa, if I say so myself. Just ask Zuko,¡± the old man grinned.


    ¡°He really is,¡± I nodded. ¡°And that reminds me. I found something you might like, Uncle. Took a nice tsungi horn off of some pirates a while back.¡±


    ¡°Hoh?¡± he asked, reaching up and stroking his beard as we made our way down the halls towards the hatch leading outside. ¡°That does sound nice. You should play with us tonight, Zuko.¡±


    ¡°Only if I get to play my pipa.¡± I still wasn¡¯t sure of the name of the thing I¡¯d found, but it wasn¡¯t actually a pipa¡ªhaving more in common with a guitar instead. The name didn¡¯t matter, I just didn¡¯t want to spend the night blowing a damn horn. I could do it, and I was actually pretty good at it according to Uncle¡ªI just didn¡¯t really like the instrument.


    ¡°Of course, of course,¡± Uncle waved me off. ¡°Do you ladies play anything?¡±


    ¡°Zuko¡¯s been teaching me to play the pipa,¡± Yue nodded. ¡°And I sing.¡±


    ¡°Uh,¡± Toph murmured, and I sent her a look. ¡°Actually, yeah.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± I asked, surprised. ¡°I didn¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t ask,¡± Toph stuck her tongue out. ¡°It¡¯s one of the things I could do entirely by feel. I couldn¡¯t read the notes or anything, so I just memorized things and played from memory.¡±


    Uncle nodded at that. ¡°Very impressive. What do you play?¡±


    ¡°Flute and the drum. Drums were really good for making more vibrations,¡± she admitted. ¡°I brought my flute with me. Should I¡­?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll get it when I get my pipa,¡± I told her and she grinned.


    We stepped out onto the deck and Uncle waved to one of the sailors nearby. After a quiet word, the man hurried back inside and Iroh and I made our way out into the open space in the middle while Toph and Yue kept a respectable distance from the sparring match that was about to take place.


    ¡°You should warm up,¡± Uncle advised as he began stretching, and I heard his old bones popping from where I stood.


    Taking the advice, I began going through my own warm-up stretches. ¡°It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve fought another firebender. Lately, it¡¯s just been Yue and Toph.¡±


    ¡°Are they any good?¡± Uncle asked, turning a considering eye on the pair.


    ¡°If I said they weren¡¯t, Toph would kick my ass and Yue would throw me overboard,¡± I chuckled, then waved at the earthbender. ¡°She can hear us from there, you know. Vibrations through the metal.¡±


    Uncle nodded. ¡°She was really blind?¡±


    ¡°She was,¡± I confirmed. ¡°I healed her. Surprised you haven¡¯t said anything about that.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m still thinking it over,¡± he murmured. ¡°You really made someone my age young again?¡±


    ¡°You aren¡¯t that old Uncle. She was almost twice your age.¡± Grinning, I lowered my voice and quietly asked, ¡°Want me to introduce you?¡±


    Uncle chuckled, straightening from his stretching. ¡°If we¡¯re ever up that way, I¡¯d be delighted.¡±


    I straightened as well, glancing back and seeing that someone had brought out chairs for Yue and Toph, and most of the rest of the crew had joined them in taking up positions to watch. ¡°Seems like they¡¯re expecting a show.¡±


    ¡°Then let¡¯s give them one,¡± Uncle grinned, sliding into the opening stance for most firebending katas.


    Shifting into the same stance, I nodded, watching his form and reaching out with energybending to feel the chi flows around us. Watching. Waiting. I would let him have the first move to set the tone for this spar¡ª


    Iroh moved, flying through the motions of a firebending kata, his arms whipping out in fast punches and his legs snapping out kicks¡ªall of which launched watermelon sized fireballs at me. Despite being on the older side, Uncle was still strong and fast, and he went hard right from the start as he poured on a barrage of fire and sprinted at me to close the distance.


    I countered with my own barrage or fireballs, striking those he sent my way with every step out of the air¡ªgreen and orange flames colliding and exploding like fireworks between us. I didn¡¯t try to close range as the standard firebending forms dictated, however. Instead, I began falling back, my return barrage slowing as I limited myself to one hand and both legs, my left hand collecting a ball of green flame that turned into a stream that I directed to flow around myself as I moved, falling into a modified waterbending kata as I drew him in.


    The barrage from Uncle stopped as he closed to hand to hand range and the old man sprung at me in a kick aimed at my head. I raised the wave of green fire over myself to shield and he drew a breath, slapping his palms together and exhaling hard as he tucked his leg back in. Exhaling a stream of fire, Iroh managed to both give himself enough lift to clear the shield and bathe the shield in his orange fire, which was swept away under the weight of the tide.


    He landed and I flung my left hand out at him in an arc, sending the entire wave out, expanding and growing taller as it rolled over the deck and threw off flaming droplets. He jumped to clear the wave, then had to counter as I began raining down my own hard and fast barrage as the green wave splashed over the side of the ship and onto the water below, where it continued to burn, like spilled oil. When Iroh landed and found the deck he¡¯d touched down on covered in flames that began to catch his robes, he took another deep breath, then created a much larger fireball. He jumped, slamming the larger fireball into the deck where it exploded. The green flames flickered for a moment before dimming, then going out as they were deprived of oxygen.


    Landing in a clear area, Iroh took a moment to cut off the hem of his robe, letting the burning piece fall to the ground before he closed again. This time, I met him head on with fists and feet. The old man outmassed me by almost twice over and had more than thirty years of experience on me. My only saving grace was that he had lost a step or two in letting himself go¡ªhe wasn¡¯t any weaker, but he was slower. It was enough of an edge to keep him from outright handing me my ass, but only just.


    Every punch and kick he threw was shrouded in fire and ended in what should have been a blast that would force me to counter or send me reeling. The look on his face when they did nothing and instead fizzled out as I jerked the chi out of them was priceless. He figured it out when the first chi orb formed over my shoulder, waiting ominously.


    Iroh kept a wary eye on the orb as he stopped feeding it, instead switching to purely hand to hand. I grinned and fell back, allowing him to push me¡ªback the direction we had come from as I began collecting the leftover chi hanging in the air, making more orbs as I went. The old man began to sweat as he did the mental math and apparently realized that all of the chi we had just been throwing around, I was collecting and about to rain down on his head. He pushed harder, trying to end the fight decisively, but I was just fast enough to stay a step ahead of him.


    I also quickly realized that while I had stamina for days¡ªand more besides, if I started consuming chi orbs¡ªUncle did not. He hadn¡¯t just lost a step in terms of speed, his stamina was diminished as well from what I remembered just a few years ago. He seemed to realize that as well, but his pride wouldn¡¯t let him call it quits, and I could tell the warrior in him was curious to see this new type of bending in action.


    Deciding to cut the math short, I shot one of the orbs at him and detonated it practically in his face, making him flinch back at the sound and light of it. That gave me a moment to jump back and make space and, by the time his vision cleared, the air was full of little white spheres of chi flying his way. The old man yelped and began to duck, dodge, and weave through the barrage¡ªcontorting himself in ways I was pretty sure I heard made bones pop from where I stood.


    Finally, the barrage stopped and Uncle stood huffing. He sagged, planting a hand on a knee and holding up the other, signaling for me to stop. ¡°How, huff, about we stop it here,¡± he gasped out.


    ¡°But Uncle, I¡¯m not done. Look behind you,¡± I grinned.


    Slowly, Uncle turned and looked over his shoulder, where the spheres were looping around from the other side of the deck and coming back at him. ¡°Oh dear.¡±


    Chuckling, I jerked my hand up, sending most of them into the air above us and letting them detonate, giving our audience a flashy end to the fight. Bringing one of the orbs down, I absorbed it and sighed as I felt my chi topped off and my capacity stretched just a little. Stretching where I stood as Uncle caught his breath, I asked, ¡°So? What do you think?¡±


    ¡°Give me a moment,¡± he huffed, moving towards the hatch leading inside as everyone began going back in.


    ¡°Sir,¡± the lieutenant spoke up, and Uncle sent him a questioning look, ¡°dinner is ready, if our guests would like to join us?¡±


    Uncle perked up at that before nodding. ¡°Yes, of course.¡± Sending a smile towards Yue and Toph, he asked, ¡°Would you be so kind as to humor this old man with your own tales over a meal?¡±


    ¡°Of course!¡± Yue nodded, beaming a happy smile.


    Toph chuckled, nodding. ¡°Sounds good. I was getting hungry enough to see if I could find a kitchen to raid anyway.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t let her size fool you. She packs away more than me and Yue put together,¡± I shook my head, earning a stuck out tongue from Toph in reply.


    ¡°Zuko, you said you had an instrument? Why don¡¯t you go get it now? Give me time to talk with them for a minute,¡± Uncle suggested¡ªin that tone that told me he was telling, not asking. Politely, but it wasn¡¯t a request.


    ¡°Sure. Toph, where¡¯d you leave that flute?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s in my pack,¡± she answered and I nodded, making my way to the stern of the cruiser and jumping off, jet-stepping my way across the distance and landing on the roof of my own boat. Heading inside, I took my time gathering our things, then digging through our spoils before finding the horn I¡¯d promised Uncle.


    I did make a note, after digging through Toph¡¯s bag, to talk to Yue and do Toph¡¯s laundry again. She had a bad habit of letting her dirty clothes just pile up in her pack instead of taking the time to clean them. I got it¡ªsometimes you just wanted to be lazy and not worry about it. But I¡¯d long since gotten to the point where I¡¯d rather just do it and get it taken care of while the task was still small.


    I decided to give them a few more minutes before making my way back. I had my suspicions on just what it was Uncle was asking them and I didn¡¯t need to be there for that conversation. In all likelihood, he had just come right out and asked what their intentions were. What Yue¡¯s plans were specifically, actually.


    I was pretty sure that Uncle had her figured out the moment he saw her. I hadn¡¯t introduced her as the princess, but I didn¡¯t exactly need to. Yue¡¯s bearing and presence was enough to give her away. She would never be able to hide what she was. Unlike Toph, who had immediately devolved into a belching, nose picking, ass scratching in public absolute gremlin of a street kid the second we were out of the city, and while she was being polite now that we were in mixed company, she was still much less formal than Yue at her most relaxed.


    It was a conversation we¡¯d had more than once and I didn¡¯t particularly feel like revisiting it. Instead, I took a few extra minutes to tune my not quite pipa, sort of guitar and make sure it was good to go. When I felt like I couldn¡¯t reasonably delay any further, I made my way back onto the cruiser, putting put our instruments where I saw someone had already put out chairs and most of the instruments the crew would be using¡ªapparently, they had themselves nearly a full band here.


    Heading inside, I found the officers¡¯ mess and entered to the sound of Yue, Toph, Uncle, and Jee laughing. They went quiet as I entered and I raised an eyebrow. ¡°What?¡±


    That got another round of laughter, and given the way Toph pointed at me, I realized Uncle had been telling stories again. Shrugging, I made my way over to the open seat between Toph and Yue. ¡°Look, it was one time and I only did it to make Azula feel better. It¡¯s not my fault they thought I looked better in that dress than her.¡±


    The room fell silent at that and I began putting food on my plate. After a few moments, Toph asked, ¡°Wait. Hold on. What?¡±


    ¡°Hm? Oh, Uncle wasn¡¯t telling that story? Don¡¯t worry about it then.¡±


    ¡°No~! You can¡¯t bring up something like that and then just not tell it! I want to hear it!¡± Yue protested and Toph nodded.


    ¡°Nah, you don¡¯t want to hear that. So anyway, what lies has Uncle been telling you?¡± I asked and Uncle chuckled.


    ¡°Nephew, you hurt my feelings. You know I don¡¯t need to lie when the truth is so much more embarrassing,¡± he grinned.


    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°More embarrassing than the time you¡ª¡±


    Uncle coughed into his fist. ¡°Ahem. Yes. We promised not to speak of that.¡±


    Toph snorted quietly. ¡°Okay, that sounds way too good to pass up.¡±


    ¡°Oh, it is. And if Uncle¡¯s been telling tales, it¡¯s only fair that I return the favor. You see, Uncle only has three weaknesses: tea, food, and women. And when it comes to the third, he is willing to make an absolute fool out of himself.¡±


    Taking up his tea cup, Uncle took a sip and nodded. ¡°A good woman makes every man a fool, Zuko.¡±


    ¡°Then how is it that it happens so often, Uncle?¡±


    The old man waved away my complaint dismissively. ¡°I was in love!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯d just met her!¡±


    ¡°Sometimes, that¡¯s all it takes,¡± he smiled, and Yue nodded sagely. To my surprise, I found even Toph nodding along, but she stopped when she saw I¡¯d noticed.


    We ate and talked, sharing stories and laughter over dinner. Eventually, we finished up and made our way outside. The rest of the men soon joined us and after a few moments of checking over instruments, we struck up a tune. Uncle, being the ham he was, had apparently worked out our first song of the night and I rolled my eyes we I realized what it was and began following along.


    ¡°Oh, Water Tribe girl with eyes so blue~!¡±


    Yue laughed and clapped and, having made the mistake of encouraging Uncle¡¯s shenanigans, he turned to Toph for the next one for a rendition of ¡®Girls from Ba Sing Se.¡¯ ¡°¡ªBut the girls in the city, they look so pretty! And they kiss so sweet¡ª¡±


    A hand grabbed my robe and pulled me down, and a moment later Toph¡¯s lips were smashed against mine. Her tongue poked into my mouth for a moment before she pulled away and cackled as the crew wolf-whistled. ¡°Was it sweet, Zuko?¡± she asked, and in the orange light of the fire in the middle of the group, I could see she was blushing.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯d need another to confirm,¡± I teased, and the girl huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.


    ¡°You¡¯re not supposed to say that,¡± Yue giggled, pulling Toph into a hug. ¡°You¡¯re supposed to tell a girl it was the nicest thing you¡¯ve ever felt.¡±


    I rolled my eyes. ¡°Yeah, but that¡¯d just open me up to you asking, ¡®What about me,¡¯ and trying to put me on the spot.¡±


    ¡°Mhmm!¡± Yue and Toph both nodded.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you try singing something instead,¡± I rolled my eyes and picked up a tune, which the others quickly joined.


    Yue grinned. ¡°I¡¯ve got hair like the moon above, it shines so bright when I smile for my love¡­¡±


    <hr>


    I left the girls in bed as I rose early and got dressed. Closing up the cabin, I made my way up to the cruiser and onto the deck, where I found Uncle sitting with tea and breakfast. I joined him and poured myself a cup. We sat in silence as the sky slowly lightened.


    ¡°So,¡± I finally asked as the sun peeked over the horizon. ¡°Have you made a decision?¡±


    ¡°Mm,¡± he hummed, taking a sip. ¡°I¡¯ve earned these gray hairs and scars. I¡¯m not sure I would trade them away, even to have my youth back.¡±


    ¡°Uncle,¡± I sighed, sending the stubborn old man a knowing look. I knew what he was thinking, but I didn¡¯t want to say it outright and hurt his feelings. Instead, I worked my way around the subject. ¡°You¡¯ve spent much of your life in the army. On various battlefields. You haven¡¯t really had much of a chance to have a life of your own outside that. I just want to return what you¡¯ve spent on our people. You deserve that much.¡±


    ¡°I had my chance, Zuko. I¡¯ve lived a long, fulfilling life and I¡¯ve still got many more years left. I like to think it was more happy than sad, and I intend to fill my remaining days with more happiness.¡±


    ¡°Damnit,¡± I hissed. Setting my teacup down, I opened my mouth, the words on my tongue¡ªthat Lu Ten wouldn¡¯t want him to waste away his remaining years alone.


    The words died on my lips as I met his knowing gaze. Letting the frustration out in a sigh, I turned away, shifting my gaze back out to the horizon and the rising sun. ¡°If that¡¯s what you want, Uncle. The offer stands.¡±


    Uncle chuckled quietly and his hand reached out, patting my shoulder. ¡°You¡¯re a good son, Zuko.¡±


    He put his own cup down and stood, cracking his back. ¡°Come. Let¡¯s begin.¡±


    ¡°Did we miss it?¡± Yue called as I stood, and I turned to see her and Toph approaching from the rear of the boat.


    ¡°We¡¯re just starting,¡± Uncle grinned as we moved away from the table and settled into our stances. Humming, the old man stroked his beard for a moment as we prepared. ¡°All we need now is an airbender.¡±


    ¡°¡­I might know where we can find one. Or at least start looking.¡±

 25

    Wandering Prince


    Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI


    25


    <hr>


    Commissioned by Lord Belly.


    <hr>


    As it turned out, dropping the revelation that I might know where to find the Avatar had required some answers on my part. So, I¡¯d given them the explanation I came up with, and my excuse for not going straight there and breaking him out of the ice, assuming that¡¯s where he was.


    ¡°So, he fled around the night of the massacre, but probably not on it. We know what temple he was staying at. There are only a few explanations for why he would have disappeared for all this time and why we haven¡¯t seen another Avatar since. The first being, of course, that he died and somehow it stuck. The second, that he ran away and hid. The third option is that he physically journeyed to the spirit world. The other option is that he was crippled, trapped, or otherwise incapacitated but not killed and he hasn¡¯t reached the end of his life yet. If we assume it¡¯s the fourth option, we need to look at why that was. History tells us that it was typhoon season around the time of Sozin¡¯s Comet, so it stands to reason, he might have been injured in a typhoon. If we knew his starting position and where in the area there was a typhoon at the time, we can reasonably guess his potential course and from there determine where he might have gone down, and set up a search grid. And for that, we need historical records. I know of one place that is almost sure to have those records. The library, hidden somewhere in the Si Wong Desert.¡±


    So it was decided that we would first be doing something to help with the pirate situation, then making our way to the desert to try and dig up information on storms around that time to give me an excuse to move the search grid down south and luck my way into finding Aang¡­ assuming I could. Uncle wanted to visit the library as well, so I promised that after we went to ask the local Earth King for aid, we¡¯d come back and pick him up for that trip.


    Unfortunately, as much as I¡¯d like to spend a few days catching up with Uncle, we really did need to get a move on. So, we agreed to come find him again after seeing the Earth King and help more directly with the pirate issue. Yue hadn¡¯t liked the sound of that, but she¡¯d kept quiet as we packed our things and took to the sky, heading for Omashu.


    Taking out my map, I planned our route and adjusted course slightly more to the north. ¡°So, Omashu is here,¡± I tapped the map, ¡°but it¡¯s situated on a mountain in the Kolau mountain range. If we come in during the daytime, they¡¯re going to see us approaching for miles off. Our best bet is to circle around behind it and approach from the north, at night, then set down on a neighboring mountain out of sight. Toph, do you think you can make a cave or something to hide the ship and seal it up so we can leave it and approach on foot?¡±


    The girl studied the map through her blindfold and nodded. ¡°Sure. It shouldn¡¯t be a problem. But it¡¯d be better to just sink it. Land, then I lower it underground, then put up a stone ceiling above it, then cover that with dirt. Easier than trying to move it in and out of a cave, right?¡±


    I chuckled. ¡°Whatever you think is easier. I was going to rely on Yue to use some water to move it. Yue?¡±


    The white haired girl hummed, looking up distractedly. ¡°What? Oh! Sorry. My mind was elsewhere. Um,¡± she thought back for a moment and nodded. ¡°Toph¡¯s idea sounds better.¡±


    ¡°Are you alright?¡± I asked, and Yue bit her lip, before shaking her head.


    ¡°I can¡¯t help but worry that this is our fault,¡± she admitted, then sighed. ¡°No. My fault. We attacked the pirates and destroyed their base, but we only scattered them. Could this be their retribution for that? Is it even the same group of pirates? I don¡¯t know.¡±


    Toph and I shared a look before the earthbender shrugged. I turned back to Yue. ¡°It¡¯s possible. We knew there would be consequences of hitting the pirates and not finishing the job.¡±


    Yue winced. ¡°You said there would,¡± she murmured. ¡°But I still believe I made the right choice. What if it¡¯s just a coincidence?¡±


    ¡°Could be,¡± I agreed. ¡°Only way we¡¯re going to be able to tell is if we capture and interrogate some pirates. There¡¯s no point to worrying over it right now.¡±


    Studying my face for a while, she finally asked, ¡°You¡¯re going to hunt and kill them, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Duh,¡± Toph rolled her eyes. ¡°Can¡¯t leave guys like that to roam around!¡± She gestured towards the coast in the distance. ¡°You¡¯ve seen what they¡¯ll do if they¡¯re just left unchecked! The only way to stop it is permanently.¡±


    Quieter, I asked, ¡°What do you want to do about them?¡±


    Sighing, Yue brushed a strand of hair out of her face that the wind had pushed in front of her eyes. ¡°Can¡¯t we just capture them and turn them over to Earth Kingdom forces?¡±


    I opened my mouth, but Toph beat me to it. ¡°Uh, Yue, what do you think the Earth Kingdom is gonna do to them?¡±


    Yue winced. ¡°Execute them?¡±


    ¡°Yup,¡± Toph confirmed, and Yue made a quiet, distressed sound. ¡°Well, that, or enslave them and make them work off their debt. Either/or. Bumi¡¯s got a few screws loose, but he¡¯s not crazy. He¡¯s gonna do whatever he feels is best for this part of the Earth Kingdom.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no good answer as to what we should do about them,¡± I shook my head. ¡°We have the ability to do something, but that doesn¡¯t mean we have the responsibility. We have the fastest ship in the world at the moment. We can fly and do reconnaissance for miles further than anyone else can. We have people here who can handle nearly any group of pirates we come across, at least so long as it¡¯s individual ships. If we do run across something we can¡¯t handle, we have backup in the form of a Fire Nation cruiser, some firebenders, and Uncle. We have two healers who can handle any wounded and an earthbender who can provide temporary shelters to anyone who¡¯s been hit by them, if we want to provide relief instead. Thing is, we¡¯re better suited to hunting down and dealing with the problem before it spreads further and does more damage, than we are to running everywhere they¡¯ve hit and helping. We¡¯d do more good that way. Better to stop the firebug than try to put out all the fires he¡¯s making.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ I don¡¯t think we should be the ones deciding who lives and who dies, or turning people into slaves,¡± Yue murmured.


    ¡°Even when those people are murderers and slavers themselves?¡± Toph scoffed, and Yue frowned.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t make it right.¡±


    ¡°But you¡¯re okay with turning them over to the authorities, who will?¡± I asked, and she shook her head. ¡°Then what?¡±¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she sighed.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Toph opened her mouth, but I laid a hand on her arm and cut her off. ¡°Well, there¡¯s no point going through this again. Let¡¯s just focus on getting to Omashu and speaking with Bumi. We¡¯ll decide what to do then.¡±


    Yue blew out an annoyed breath, but nodded. Moving closer, she pressed herself into my side. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I know I¡¯m being difficult.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re fine just how you are. Better than deciding every problem is a nail to be hammered down.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, what about me?¡± Toph asked, pressing into my other side.


    I chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re easy. Problems are for smashing,¡± I sent her a grin and Toph rolled her eyes, sticking her tongue out.


    ¡°No but seriously, compliment me too!¡±


    <hr>


    ¡°So that¡¯s what it looks like from above,¡± Toph mused as we came in from the north and descended slowly.


    The night was thankfully overcast, with only a sliver of moon peeking out. Just in case however, Yue was creating a blanket of fog around us as we descended to a nearby mountain¡ªin sight of Omashu, but it didn¡¯t look traveled. Below and ahead of us, Omashu sat on top of a mountain, carved¡ªor shaped¡ªinto the top of it as a series of pyramidal structures surrounded by a large wall, with only a single path leading in. We couldn¡¯t make out many details from here, but that was good because it meant that they probably couldn¡¯t see us at all, especially not obscured by a cloud as we were.


    We dipped down, putting the mountain peak between us and Omashu. When we reached ground level, Toph hopped out and the ground rumbled.


    ¡°Okay, lower it down slowly,¡± she called, and I eased open the vent on the balloon. ¡°A little more, little more¡­ Okay!¡±


    The ship thumped, shifting slightly, before it settled. I bled out the rest of the air and Yue and I hopped up on top and began rolling the balloon up and putting it away under the light of a few of my chi orbs. As we did, the ship shook under our feet and we had the sensation of slowly sinking. Soon enough, I looked up and saw we had slipped below ground level. Once we were a bit deeper, Toph hopped down onto the deck to join us.


    We finished up securing everything outside and headed into the cabin, grabbing our packs. Looking around, Yue asked, ¡°Do you think we should bring a gift? It¡¯s typically polite when meeting with royalty.¡±


    ¡°Only if you¡¯re trying to suck up,¡± Toph snorted.


    ¡°That depends. If you¡¯re someone¡¯s subject, it¡¯s not out of the ordinary. If you¡¯re a visiting dignitary, then you can, but it would be something culturally appropriate, either to the nation you¡¯re visiting or from your own home. If someone from the Earth Kingdom were to visit the Fire Nation, they might bring a painting of the Fire Islands, for instance, but they might also bring a fine Earth Kingdom steel sword. But we¡¯re not really either of those. We¡¯re just messengers, coming to ask for help. And I doubt King Bumi is the kind of guy who cares about that.¡±


    ¡°Mm. He¡¯s not,¡± Toph shook her head.


    ¡°No gift, then,¡± Yue nodded.


    Once we were sure we had everything, we locked up and I spot welded the hatch just in case. Then, we leapt out of the hole and Toph sealed the top with a slab of stone, before covering the whole thing over with dirt. Then, we made our way quickly down the mountain, into the valley and up a neighboring mountain. We had spotted the road leading to the city from the air, so we pushed through the the night to get there.


    The terrain was extremely rocky and dry, with most of the mountain tops being bare, save for a few snow covered peaks on the tallest mountains. The valleys were sparse, but there was vegetation and tree cover, the occasional stream or pond, and game to hunt. It reminded me a bit of the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains back on Earth, in some places.


    Finally, after winding around and disguising where we¡¯d come from so as to not lead anyone directly back to the ship, we made it to the road. We set up camp well back from the road itself, but there was really nothing we could do about being exposed other than having Toph create a bit of cover and some alarms for us in the form of a thin layer of ground that would crack loudly when stepped on for a hundred yards around our camp.


    I didn¡¯t like it, given just how many people were around. The road was packed with bedraggled refugees clustered in little groups, huddled around campfires here and there, along with the occasional trader. Yue took them in in the dark and I could see her heart breaking as she wanted to go help them, but forced herself to stay with us.


    I let the girls get some sleep while I kept watch most of the night. Just before sunup, only four or so hours after turning in, Yue woke up and relieved me, and I was able to get a few hours of sleep. The next morning, we broke camp and took to the road, just another small group of travelers starting to move on their way to Omashu.


    We had joined the trail about half a day¡¯s walk from the city, coming in behind a supply caravan bearing the familiar winged boar of Toph¡¯s family. For the most part, we kept silent as we approached¡ªnow that we could see the state of the people around us, the mood was a bit too somber for conversation. Yue looked like she wanted to cry and Toph just looked angry¡ªand I couldn¡¯t blame them. The pirates had not been kind to these people, and the trek from the coast to Omashu wasn¡¯t an easy one.


    Listening in to the conversations around us, it became apparent that the local bandits had learned what was going on and deciding to pile on more shit, they had gone around taking what little many of these people had managed to save, then when they didn¡¯t have enough to satisfy them, took their anger out on the women for the most part. Between whatever wounds they had taken during the pirate raids, the march, the bandits, the rapes, and the fact that these people just hadn¡¯t been prepared to survive in the wild so most of them hadn¡¯t been able to hunt and provide for themselves, many of them had died along the way and those that didn¡¯t were looking pretty starved.


    As we approached the gates, Yue finally broke the silence. ¡°I want to hurry to the palace and see King Bumi.¡±


    ¡°Nunuh. It doesn¡¯t work like that,¡± Toph shook her head. ¡°Maybe where you¡¯re from any stranger off the street can demand an audience with your leaders, but not here.¡±


    Yue let out a frustrated noise. ¡°It doesn¡¯t,¡± she murmured. ¡°How does it work, then?¡±


    ¡°Heh heh! Just leave it to me! You have no idea how much you lucked out, that I decide to come with, you know?¡± the earthbender grinned.


    ¡°Realistically, how long do you think it¡¯ll take?¡± I asked Toph, and her smug grin dropped off as she turned considering.


    ¡°A day or two, probably. We always get high priority when we visit. It¡¯s not that King Bumi is being a jerk about it or anything, just that the guy¡¯s busy. Also, uh¡­ don¡¯t piss him off. This whole city is his domain.¡±


    Yue sent Toph a confused look. ¡°He rules the city. Of course it¡¯s his domain.¡±


    Toph shook her head. ¡°No, I mean, he¡¯s made the city his. He¡¯s an earthbender. He¡¯s old and really strong. The ground below us, the stone making up the buildings and structures, all of it is full of decades worth of his chi. The whole mountain is a weapon he could bring down on someone¡¯s head if they threatened it. I did the same thing back home, with our family estate. He¡¯s just had a lot longer to do it. He may act like a kooky old man, but he¡¯s the most dangerous thing in this city.¡±


    ¡°Well then it¡¯s a good thing we don¡¯t intend to start trouble,¡± I shook my head as we advanced in line.


    After a few more minutes, the caravan ahead of us passed through and the guards to either side of the gates waved us forward. Looking us over, it only took a moment for the one who appeared to be in charge to say, ¡°You don¡¯t look like refugees.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re not. We¡¯re¡ª¡± Yue began, only for Toph to cut her off, holding out her family seal.


    ¡°Oh! Ms. Beifong! The caravan ahead of you didn¡¯t tell us you were traveling with them!¡± the man¡¯s attitude changed immediately as he realized he was dealing with someone important, not just another traveler.


    ¡°That¡¯s cause we¡¯re not,¡± she grinned, tucking the document away in her robe¡¯s belt. Leaning in, she lowered her voice, forcing the guard to lean in. ¡°I¡¯m traveling on vacation with my friends, but I want to do a surprise inspection of our holdings here in Omashu. If those guys knew, they¡¯d just tell them we were coming, then the surprise inspection wouldn¡¯t be a surprise anymore, would it?¡±


    The guard chuckled, nodding. ¡°I see. Very well. I suggest sticking to the upper quarters. The lower quarter is where we¡¯re housing the refugees and while we¡¯re patrolling heavily, we weren¡¯t expecting this many people.¡±


    ¡°Yeah? What¡¯s King Bumi doing about it?¡± Toph asked, and the man shrugged.


    ¡°What he can, I imagine. We¡¯ve set up temporary housing and have begun distributing food. I¡¯m sure that if the Beifong family would like to contribute, our king would be grateful.¡±


    Toph nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll arrange a meeting to speak with him about it and see what we can do.¡±


    ¡°That would be most appreciated. Please enjoy your stay in Omashu, Ms. Beifong and friends,¡± the guard bowed, then waved us through.


    We passed through the gate and into the city proper. Toph turned an expectant look on us, looking particularly smug as she waited.


    Reaching out, I patted her head and the girl lit up with a blush. ¡°I¡¯m impressed. Good job.¡±


    ¡°Yes, you handled it well,¡± Yue chuckled, taking Toph¡¯s arm in hers and pulling her along. ¡°Which way to the castle?¡±


    ¡°Uh,¡± Toph had to take a moment to get her bearings, and fight down the blush. ¡°It¡¯s this way!¡±


    Shaking my head, I followed after the pair. Hopefully, getting in to see Bumi would be just as easy, but somehow, I doubted it.