Chapter Text
The Great Divide is the greatest canyon in the whole world, his teachers used to tell him.
Not that impressive in person, Zuko thinks.
He stays near the canyon for a few weeks, taking all the jobs he can get from the people in the nearby town of Taku. He knows he can't stay long, he hates any chance of attracting any unwanted attention, mostly because of his “spirit- work” (Though since he hasn’t had one mission from them in months, he's sure he can stay for longer than usual) and his recognizable face.
The fact that the Fire Nation built a massive fortress guarded by masterful archers close to Taku and is sending soldiers out on patrols often is the only caveat to his campsite, but Taku is so small, most of the time they don’t bother patrolling that specific village.
Its nice to settle down for now, still. Zuko has thought about staying someplace after all this spirit business is over many times already, but he has no place he's bound to anymore.
He thought about staying on Kyoshi Island, with the warriors and the safety of their neutrality, or Gaoling, the rising trade hub of the south, but neither excite him in any way.
His home in the Fire Nation, the place he truthfully wanted to return to at some point in his life, is completely off- limits for all eternity. His state funeral made sure of that, and with what he has seen in the last two years in the Earth Kingdom-
Refugees, famine, death and all the pain that comes with it
He doesn’t think he could ever go back to being a prince, fueling the fires of war and ignoring those suffering beyond his country's borders.
He can't believe he ever thought the stories of spreading the progress of the Fire Nation with the world were completely true.
It seemed so real seeing the cold steel and flame of the fire nation battle the brutish earthbenders of the continent, like the new replacing the old.
-
Word of the Avatar spreads fast, stories about his reawakening and his travels reach Taku, and lots of people hope it’s a sign of changing tides, even in the colonies.
They say he visited Kyoshi Island and battled a small flotilla all by himself.
They say he visited Omashu, battled the old King and tamed a wild, vicious beast all at the same time.
They say he travelled to Crescent Island, besting the naval blockade and destroying the island just a short time later.
Zuko is not so sure he believes all that, even with the fastest ship ever conceived by the best engineers no one could travel that fast.
Most stories must be made up.
-
The stories mustn’t all be made up.
At least not the one about how fast the avatar travels.
He is here, caught, held at Pohuai Stronghold just downstream. Zuko listened in on the patrolling soldiers, they were taking bets on how many firebending masters it took to imprison him.
He guesses, if that part of the stories is true, it wont be long until the avatar is free again.
-
“You need to free him.”, the messenger says, “That’s your next mission. We demand this as part of our contract.”
Zuko stares at them, dumbfounded.
“He’s the Avatar, I’m sure he can handle himself.”, he tells the spirit, whirling around and marching away as fast as he can.
Popping up in front of him, they block his way: “You cant refuse, you know that. That is what the contract demands.”
Zuko gives the messenger his best glare, not to dissimilar to the ones he gave all the time on his ship not so long ago, before he deflates.
“Fine.”, he says at last with a sigh. Its not like he can say no anyway, this is more like a ritual than anything else.
The messenger grins: “Always a pleasure doing business with you.”, they tell him, before vanishing faster than one can blink.
Zuko stares at ground where the spirit just stood.
-
Zuko does not want to break into a fortress.
He has no disguise, no idea of the layout of the place and no clue where the avatar is kept in the fortress’ prison.
Perfect conditions for the spirits to demand urgency, he thinks.
A disguise should not be a problem, stealing a theatre mask should be enough, he has done that before numerous times, and he might find out where the avatar is kept by interrogating some soldiers, but still…
… he would have liked to not have to do this at all.
-
He should have really stood his ground when accepting this mission. Not going would have been far better than whatever this is.
First off, the avatar could not have broken out himself, he’s like, twelve.
Second, “master archers” might even be an understatement for these guys.
And third, the child is really bad at sneaking.
All these thing flow together and now he is aiming his blades at the kid’s throat, slowly walking down the main road without his eyes ever leaving the fortress’ walls.
Of course Zhao was the one who captured the kid, it had to have been him out of all people.
This is the worst, he realizes.
Despite keeping his eyes trained on the fortress, he still did not see the arrow aimed directly at his head.
-
When Zuko wakes up, his head drones like the first time he didn’t follow the Spirits' orders.
It takes a second for him to get his bearings: He seems to be in some ruin, build into a mountainside. He can see over the nearby forest all the way from the ocean from here.
Then he remembers how he got here: Breaking the Avatar out of prison.
(Wait, how did he get here?)
He takes a good look at his surroundings again, looking closer this time. There is a bunch of stuff piled up on one side of the room, with two sleeping bags in front of it. Right beside it is…
… a ginormous six-legged beast with white fur and the Avatar sitting on it’s back.
Great.
If that’s not enough, opposite the beast, there are two blue clad people packing a wild array of camping equipment into a few backs at incredible speeds.
This is the exact moment he regains his hearing: “… So you tell me, you got caught and put in Fire Nation prison, busted out by some mysterious stranger who took an arrow to the face and lived, went back, all the while carrying the guy, treated our fever, and then went to bed?” , one of the figures says, talking faster and higher the longer the sentence gets.
“Yes?”, the Avatar answers, a small grin growing on his face.
“You should have carried us onto the saddle and flown away, Aang. Who knows how close the soldiers searching for us are.”, the other figure states, not taking a break from packing to look at the kid.
Unbelievable, how many crazy people can you actually meet in one day, Zuko thinks, and closes his eyes again.
He must have pressed his eyelids together for at least ten minutes, trying to block out the reality of this new situation.
(The Avatar is a child, there is a monster that looks hungry, two absolute insane people…)
Even if he had all the time in the world, he is not sure he could deal with this in sufficient time.
Alright, better to get this over with, he figures eventually, and rises out of the makeshift bed made for him in one, smooth movement.
The mask is still on, good.
At his move, all people in the ruin stall. Everyone turns their eyes on him, and for one, agonizingly long moment he thinks he is about to be killed on the spot.
That is, until the Avatar bolts at him, talking so fast his words barely register.
“-- You’re alright, great! I thought that arrow did a number on you, but it seems this went better than expected!”, the kid rambles out, all while moving lightning fast in front of him.
The Avatar looks at him with big eyes, almost as if waiting for his answer.
Saving him from an embarrassing answer, one of the blue -clothed people asks: “Aang, why is there a guy with a spooky mask in our camp?”
“Why didn’t you tell us you brought someone? What if they are trying to kidnap you like that other guy?”, the second figure says, planting their fists on their hips.
The first one, with shorter hair, Zuko now realizes, had a deeper voice, while the second had a higher tone. They also seem a bit shorter.
A boy and a girl then. Siblings or Lovers?
The Avatar’s head snaps back around looking over his shoulder at the two people.
“Uhhh, - “, he starts, scratching the back of his head, “… this is the guy that broke me out of that prison! He fought all those guys in the fortress and escaped with me.”, he says.
“But he got hit by an arrow, so I carried him here and then went to get the cure for your fever. After you woke up and I told you I got captured you immediately started packing, so I kinda forgot about telling you he was here.”, the kid adds on, shrugging casually after he is done.
The two figures sigh, it feels like this has happened to them before.
“You need to work on your `telling us when you do something` skills, this will be the end of us one day if this goes on.”, the guy says, crossing his arms in front of him as he does so.
The Avatar answers fast, gesticulating wildly in Zuko’s general direction: “Don’t worry! I told you he broke me out, there’s no way he’s a bad guy! He took an arrow for me!”
If this goes on, we’ll be here all day, Zuko thinks, mentally already planning the best route to leave as fast as possible when this goes sour.
“If that’s true, then why is he still wearing his mask? He wouldn’t need to hide his face if he was on our side!”, the girl says, aiming an accusing finger at him.
In a much calmer, more calculated voice than the girl, the boy asks: “Why did you save Aang?”, tapping his finger on his arm and raising one eyebrow.
Zuko freezes, knowing exactly that his figure towering over the much smaller Avatar and his apparent muteness must intimidate the group. He needs to think of an answer fast to avoid having this end in another fight.
“I… had to save him.”, he answers, looking off to the side, into the forest.
“I had no choice in this. I mean you no harm, I don’t care about what you do.”
The group visually relaxes, even the Avatar, who anxiously looked at him once he started talking, loses some tension in his shoulders. Still, they don’t look fully convinced.
“If you don’t care, then why did you do it? Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, Mr. masked guy.”, the guy questions. One of his eyebrows rises high enough to almost reach his hairline. If the situation was not about to escalate just a second ago, Zuko might laugh at how comical it looks.
“Like I said, I didn’t choose this. I was given this order and had to save him. It’s as simple as that.”, Zuko replies, happy the mask hides his scowl, but he can’t keep the defensive tone out of his voice.
The girl cuts in: “Who gave you the order then? Who do you serve?”, leaning forward, putting her fists back on her hips.
“I can’t tell you, and it doesn't matter. Hopefully you’ll never see me again.”, he states, turning around to leave, a quick exit now might still save him many future headaches.
“Wait! Even if you can’t tell me who told you to save me, you still saved me! In my book, that makes you a good person!”, The kid calls after him, “Whoever wanted you to save me, they surely are on our side. Why else would they make you do it?”
Zuko sighs, that child will not let him get this over with the easy way, he stops, but only turns his head around.
“What are you getting at, Avatar?”, he questions, trying bis best to appear as aloof as possible.
The kid’s eyes go big and hopeful, and Zuko can see a smile start to firm on his face: “I think you should come with us, it feels like you fit right in!”
What?
“Why would you want that? I just told you I have no interest in helping you, and those two thought I was just doing this for my own benefit! That makes no sense!”, he snaps, turning around and gesticulating angrily with his hands.
"You helped me, that’s reason enough.”, the boy says, a grin now fully on display.
Zuko is dumbstruck, he did not expect the Avatar to be so naive to trust anyone who crosses his path with vaguely helpful motives. If he had met him before he was pronounced dead by father, he could have…
“Not so fast! Before anyone gets to travel with us, we need to decide as a group to let them join!”, the girl says, cutting off whatever would have happened next.
The guy adds on: “Yeah! And that includes us knowing what they look like, so you better get that mask off!”
Zuk contemplates, the last two years he always travelled alone, it was simply easier to do so when you must oblige to the spirits whims all the time. Even if he wanted to stay somewhere or travel with someone, it would have been hard to justify his frequent journeys.
With the Avatar however, he is likely to stumble into spirit encounters all the time. The more encounters, the higher the chance of him being able to get this “deal” called off. And if this does not work, he can always vanish and never look back. It seems he can get something out of this.
Zuko, loosening the tension in his body still held by his outburst, straightens.
“Alright, I guess there- “, he struggles to find the right wording,”… will be some overlap between your goals and … my missions. I’ll come along… for now, if you really want me to.”, he says, hands reaching up to remove his mask.
As his hands slowly lower the mask down from his face, he grows anxious. This deal could mean a lot for his future, a future free from the spirits meddling, a way for him to find a new home. If they reject him because of his obvious Fire Nation heritage, he would have to continue this wandering lifestyle for much longer.
The moment the Avatar and his companions take sight of his face, the camp falls silent, except for the sharp breath the guy and the girl on the other side of the room take in.
The Avatar stays calm however, showing no reaction to either his features nor his scar, he seems merely happy that Zuko took him up on his offer.
“What’s your name?”, the kid asks, cutting through the tense silence that permeates the group.
“I don’t really have one. Call me what you want.”, Zuko replies automatically, the sentence practiced after having said it to anyone who asked him the same question.
-
The Avatar’s group is weird.
Aang, the kid, and also the Avatar, has nothing to do with the character the stories told of on the market squares Zuko visited. He is just stumbling through all these events and somehow getting out unscathed.
Sokka, the guy around his age, seems to plan most of the groups routes and is often responsible for them getting out of all those impossible situations. He is acutely aware of the importance of Aang’s journey of this war.
Katara is responsible for pretty much everything Sokka doesn’t do, which is a very long list. She is really the rope keeping them together. She wants to learn waterbending at the Northern Water Tribe, along with Aang.
Would you believe that the Avatar has only mastered one element after 100 years?
It seems Zuko, indirectly blackmailed into this by the spirits, without another purpose in life beyond settling spirit disputes, fits right in.
It’s a wonder they made it this far.
-
Of course they would be sidetracked by a fortune teller of all things, it’s not like there are more important things to do.
-
Of course they have to fight a volcano now, they definitely are trying to get stories made up about them now, Zuko is sure of it.
Otherwise, there must be something about travelling with the “bridge- between- worlds“ that causes everything to take the worst course imaginable, and he hopes that it’s not that.
-
They meet someone from Katara and Sokka’s tribe at some abbey a few days of travel further north. Bato is some kind of uncle- figure to them, he fights side- by- side with their father as part of the Southern Water Tribe fleet.
The two try their best to get information about their father and talk with Bato for almost the entire night.
Zuko lets them be, content to have time to himself after travelling for days with what must be some of the nosiest people on the planet.
-
Aang seems to worry that the siblings father is going to break up their little group. It’s evident in how downtrodden he looks whenever the two talk about visiting him.
Zuko can’t believe why the kid is so sure Katara and Sokka will stop accompanying him on his journey when they already came so far. Sure, he doesn’t know Chief Hakoda, but he has learnt that most fathers aren’t Ozai. If his children are on this trip, then he probably won’t expect them to stop and report back to him immediately.
Zuko tells Aang just that, of course without the “Ozai” part. He seems to be in a better mood afterwards, and when Zuko tells him he’ll keep travelling with him even if the siblings leave, He earns himself a hug. He goes rigid and doesn’t really know how to hug back, but the gesture is appreciated.
-
He is invited to go “ice dodging” with the others, which apparently is great sign of trust in Water Tribe culture and also a rite of passage for younger members. Sokka manoeuvres them through the “ice” without any major complications, which knowing Sokka, was either obvious or the most unlikely outcome.
-
Bato leaves eventually, rejoining the fleet. The siblings leave a message for their father with him so they can continue their journey north with Aang. The kid is absolutely elated his friends will stay him.
It doesn’t last however, as Zhao breaks down the doors of the abbey just an hour later.
-
It’s after a few days of travelling that the messenger pops up again.
It’s a regular morning too, nothing out of the ordinary. Everyone part of the camp just got up and Zuko could see the question of “breakfast” almost spill out of Sokka’s mouth, when one moment to the next, the messenger is standing right in front of him.
“It seems you have more than met our expectations.”, the spirit says, staring directly in his eyes. “You were only supposed to save him from that prison, everything else you did out of your own will. Not that we disapprove.”, it adds on, not breaking eye contact.
Zuko snaps back, just like he would usually do with the messenger: “Well since he is the one who should deal with your kind, I thought I’d come with as… back- up!”
“You were going to send me to help them anyway, I know you would. That’s exactly how it always goes with you!”, he goes on, happy to be able to vent his frustrations about how the spirits use him, all the time.
It is then that he notices everyone is staring at him. For one moment he thinks they can’t see the messenger and must believe he just snapped completely, shouting at the ground without any reason to.
He is just about to start explaining himself when Sokka opens his mouth: “What in the spirits name is that?”, he screams, rising in volume as he speaks, pointing at the messenger.
At least they won’t have that conversation, he thinks.
The spirit’s head turns, now looking at Sokka: “Us? Don’t concern yourself with us, we are only here because we have business with the wanderer.”, they say, turning their attention back to Zuko.
“We have a new offer we’d like you to work on. The Fire Nation is planning to attack the Northern Water Tribe. You must find out what they are playing. It disturbs us. We worry it might cause upheaval not just in your, but also in our realm. Time is of the essence here. Act swiftly.”, they explain. Their usual sing- song voice and direct way of talking bothers Zuko just as it always does.
Then, similar to how they popped up, the messenger leaves within a blink of an eye.
“What was that?”, the siblings shout in unison, or at least Zuko thinks they do, it might just have been Sokka screaming louder than the first time, he’s not really sure.
How do you even explain that, he asks himself. There is really no way to do this without sounding crazy.
“That was- ...the messenger, he gives me… my- orders.”, he states eventually, looking up at the sky, his face flushing red, hoping the answer is enough to satisfy the group.
Aang is the first to speak up, weird considering how he kept himself back while the messenger was in the camp: “You get missions from a spirit? Are you, like, a monk?”, he asks, tapping his finger on his chin.
“Or, or… Indebted to them and now forced to do their bidding?”, he adds on.
“Something like that.”, Zuko replies in a mumble. It’s weird how he got so close on his second guess.
Before Aang can go on asking him about the details of his predicament Katara interjects: “Blue (which is the name they call him now, much better than the usual boy or kid he goes by, he thinks), is that the one who made you save Aang? You did say you didn’t do it out of your free will.”
“Yes, the messenger gave me the order. Their work for me is always only about the Spirit World, so this was a bit out of the ordinary.”, he says casually, no need to mention he didn’t want to save Aang back then.
Of course, disagreeing with the spirits is useless, but looking back, he kind of feels bad about it.
“Anyway, it seems I got a new mission now. ...This is pretty direct for them, usually their missions are far more… spiritual.”, he states, trying to get back on topic.
“An attack on the North Pole, that’s what they always do. It’s not that hard to find out. There’s your info.”, Sokka says, extending his hand as if offering his words via paper.
Zuko answers, wanting to clear the obvious confusion about the nature of his orders: “The missions are always about the Spirt World in some way. They wouldn’t care about a normal battle, there will be something spirit- related to the plan of the Fire Nation that worries them enough to send me.”
“How will you get info about that? Do the spirts give you like, a hint or something?”, Sokka asks while rubbing his chin with one hand. “There’s lots of ways to find out about that, so how do you know what the spirits want to know?”
“Usually it’s pretty obvious, considering most mission are just disputes between spirits, these missions are new to me.”, he answers. “But since it must concern the spirit world somehow, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out what they want. The bigger problem is getting to it.”
The others look at him with big eyes, like they got lost somewhere in his explanation, so he tries to specify: “As far as I know, the Fire Nation doesn’t really believe in spirits, they seem to respect their influence, since they don’t usually destroy shrines, but they also don’t maintain them. You only see worship for the fire spirits, all others were kind of dropped.”
“How do you know all this stuff? How long have you been watching the Fire Nation?”, Katara asks, crossing her arms and raising one eyebrow, just like her brother often does when he asks questions.
“You, - You know I deal with Spirts a lot, and I – trail some soldiers sometimes – for, for supplies. You overhear a lot when following them.”, he explains, rubbing the back of his head while flushing red.
Almost got caught there, he thinks. It’s not like he has any connection to his homeland anymore, he is really just nationless, but their reaction finding out about it wouldn’t be pleasant at all most likely.
“Sure.”, she says, drawing the word out like it has three syllables. “So, how do you go about this? What’s your plan?”
That’s the thing he is worried about, most often he doesn’t need a plan to get these missions done, so he is a bit out of his depth here.
“I...-I have to get close to the leaders of that attack and stay there long enough to eavesdrop on their plans.”, he explains. “I’ll need to infiltrate their operation and survey the invasion force to gather what I need.”
That seems to be the fastest way to go about this, at least he thinks this way.
"Meanwhile, you’ll continue your journey to the North Pole and hopefully they’ll believe you there’s an attack coming. I’ll gather all I need and inform you about the Fire Nations plans so you can better defend yourself.”, he adds on, trying to sound confident about this plan he just came up with a minute ago.
This is treason, this is treason, this is treason, this is trea-, he tries to make the voice that sounds like his father in his head to stop, but it won’t.
-
They luckily meet the deserter Jeong Jeong next on their journey north, and while Aang begs the ex- admiral to teach him firebending, Zuko is trying to get his hands on a Fire Nation uniform that fits him. There’s many left over pieces at the camp, so it only takes a few hours to find all the right pieces.
Wearing the navy standard armor after all these years again is making him feel all kinds of weird feelings. The hard metal and leather make him sit and stand much straighter, and it feels like he is kept in line by an invisible armor mentally as well.
But it is not all like back then, it might just be that the uniform isn’t tailored, but it feels all wrong when Zuko stops to actually think about the fact that he wears it. It cuts his flesh in some places and sits to loose in others. It’s all wrong somehow.
-
Of course Aang is not ready to control fire, it’s obvious the second you hear him actually speak. It’s a wonder Jeong Jeong even decided to train him, and no surprise he would burn someone.
-
Zhao is here, and it’s Zuko’s best chance to infiltrate the invasion force. He introduces himself as “admiral” now, so the chances are high Zhao is involved in the North Pole Invasion.
As Aang and Jeong Jeong distract him, Zuko sneaks into the strike team that accompanied the admiral and hopes there won’t be a head count before they return to the main fleet.
-
Thankfully, Zhao is to fired up to care how many soldiers return back and Zuko is able to sneak onto his enormous personal ship, slipping into the masses of other people, enjoying the anonymity the helmet brings him.
Now to get the stuff I need, he thinks.
-
Being part of the Admiral’s private guard was easier than Zuko expected, nobody really wants to guard Zhao, he finds, and the soldiers often fill these positions by rolling dice (swearing included when you are chosen).
So when he volunteers to guard the most arrogant man in the navy, the other soldiers take him up on it immediately.
-
Uncle is on the ship, Uncle is on the ship, Uncle is o- , Zuko’s thoughts are racing, making him almost keel over right where he stands flanking the entrance of the bridge.
Iroh is standing at the mapping table in the middle of the room, on the opposite side of Zhao, who inspects the maps with utmost scrutiny.
Why is he here? He must know that Zhao can’t be trusted, he destroyed my ship with him on it, they scream at him from all sides.
“Admiral, I am sure your plan to invade the Northern Water Tribe has already taken every little detail into consideration, however, if I am not mistaken, with our current speed we will reach the North Pole during a full moon.”, Uncle says, in the same calm voice he always used with Zuko during his banishment.
Zhao looks up from the maps which captured his attention until now, and answers Iroh with an incredibly ugly smirk: “Correct, General. We plan to attack while the moon is at it’s highest.”
“You must know that the circle of the moon influences the efficiency of waterbending, Admiral Zhao. If you attack at such a critical time, your forces will face a strong opponent empowered by the moon.”, Iroh replies sternly, his words spoken with the knowledge of a thousand battles in his head.
“Old age has you worry to much, General. I knew of this from the start. This attack will deal a significant blow against the savages up north. If you wish to know, I have a plan to destroy the waterbenders as well as the morale of all soldiers fighting against our nation. Just wait and see, that won’t be to hard for you, considering what you did the last few years, General.”, Zhao explains, the satisfaction of being able to belittle the Dragon of the West written into his face plainly.
The conversation ends there, probably for the better, since whatever Iroh could have said as a retort would have caused Zhao to go into a wild fury.
However, to Zuko this is the first solid lead on his mission to find out about the Fire Nation’s plan at the North Pole: Destroy the waterbenders and the morale of the Tribe.
Is this what the spirits want to know?
-
The rest of the fleet’s journey to the North Pole goes by uneventful, there are no new meetings discussing the attack, and Zhao and Iroh barely talk, except for a few “Are you sure about this?” spoken by Uncle, who Zuko finds out is the greatest sceptic of this whole invasion on the ship.
Weirder still is that he seems to not be involved in the plan, there’s no reason for him to be here at all. It would only put him into harm’s way.
Again, his uncle is a complete mystery to Zuko.
-
The ships are taking up battle formations already, the battle for the Northern Water Tribe is only a few hours away, and Zuko has no new information on the plan the spirits mentioned.
At least he hasn’t gotten a headache yet, so he’s doing everything right in the spirit’s eyes.
He really only has two choices left right now, either go with the fighting force, find Zhao and trail him until he reveals his plan, or reach the North Pole before the first landing groups and inform the tribe, in hopes of them being able to figure out what the Fire Nation plans.
And if they don’t know, he can follow Zhao afterwards still, he figures.
It seems obvious what he should pick.
-
The boat he prepared to flee with should get him to the Water Tribe before Nightfall, which should leave him a few hours before Zhao enacts his plan, given he leaves now.
So it’s a real wrench in his plans when he hears two familiar footsteps behind him as he goes to climb into his boat.
“Deserters are the lowest of the low in Fire Nation, are they not? And traitors even more so.”, the voice speaks even, no judgement in their tone, but rather a sound of amusement swings with it.
Uncle.
“There is no shame in leaving, many of my greatest regrets are not leaving earlier. I won’t notify anyone of your departure, not that I would even know who to tell on, given I have not seen your face.”, he continues.
Zuko refuses to turn around to face him, rather staring out at sea. His entire body feels like it became one with the metal of the ship.
Uncle goes on, unaware of the emotions clashing within the young soldier: “I merely wish to ask you, why now? The invasion has been prepared for weeks, everyone knew of it while we were still in Earth Kingdom waters. It would have been easy to take a boat to nearby land. But now, a few hours before the first ships land at the North Pole, you decide to leave. There is only ice for miles around here, and the Water Tribe will not invite a soldier in, even if he rejects the orders of the Navy. So I ask, why leave now, when death is so certain?”
Iroh’s question hits Zuko like an arrow piercing through his chest, there is no answer that won’t reveal his plan, and more importantly, his face.
What would he do if he found out now? Would he help? Would he arrest him for treason? He is part of the fleet, so he must be loyal. He is dangerous!
Zuko’s thoughts race faster than he can even comprehend. He thinks so hard he doesn’t realize how long he stands still, only the sound of the ocean fills the tense air.
“You don’t have to answer. I will not break my promise. Think of this as the musings of an old man.”, Iroh says after Zuko doesn’t answer, turning slightly to face the door he must have come from.
It’s Uncle, if he can tell anyone, then it‘s him. He doesn’t need to tell the whole truth, just enough to satisfy Iroh’s curiosity.
He owes him something after sticking with him during his year of banishment.
His words are reluctant, careful and calculated, so unlike him Uncle will never be able to tell who he is even if he could recognize his voice: “I – I’ll try to warn the Tribe, … of what Zhao plans to do to the waterbenders. It can’t be good if it came from that man, and I don’t want to be responsible for anyone suffering because I didn’t do anything.”
Zuko’s hands shake a little after he finishes, adrenaline rushing through him after taking such a risk. If Iroh disapproves, it could mean he dies here.
“How commendable. It seems they do still teach the young recruits what real honour is. If these are your true intentions, then you will find the Tribe welcoming you with open arms. With more people like you, the world would probably be better off.”, Uncle says, speaking with such sincerity Zuko can feel it reverberate in his chest.
“I wish you save travels and wish to see you again in more favourable circumstances.”, he adds on, the “alive” all but implied, as he leaves out the metal door separating the inside of the ship from the harsh winds of the arctic.
Zuko can barely feel the cold on his face.
-
The boat took him to the shore of the Pole just fine, the only question remains how does he get behind the walls of the Tribe.
He has to meet Aang, Katara and Sokka, so they can vouch for him otherwise the guardsmen will most likely kill him on sight, given how he looks.
Therefore, his only choice is to break in first, and the announce himself afterwards.
-
Swimming through seal tunnels will go high on his list of worst ideas.
-
After this week’s near-death experience, Zuko finally arrives within the confines of the city of ice. The light of the setting sun casts the entire city in bright orange, only helped by the reflective nature of all buildings.
Now to find the others.
Thank the spirits for the giant ball of fur blotching out the sun, flying towards the palace on the northern end of the city.
-
Breaking into the palace is easy enough, as he remembered to take ice climbing equipment with him, so scaling the walls is a breeze.
Finding the right room however will probably prove far more difficult, since the building seems to stretch indefinitely from the inside with the same repeating patterns of ice marking the walls.
At least there is one way to find the three reliably: Follow the loud arguing further down the hallway.
-
Their argument seems to have quieted down some time ago now, but Zuko has a good enough grasp on where they should be to continue without the guiding voices.
Continuing down the ever-the-same corridor, there is one detail that sticks out: a single door left open just a bit.
He doesnt't even need to guess to know exactly what is behind that door.
As soon as he pushes the door open the rest of the way the eyes of everyone in the room are on him.
“Blue!”, the three all call in unison from where they stand in the room, rushing forward to greet him.
There is a fourth person in the room, but Zuko can only see white hair for just a second before he is crushed in a hug by a twelve-year old child who reached terminal velocity on his way towards him.
“You know, we almost thought you ran away, and we wouldn’t see you ever again.”, Aang says after some time, just as the hug start to feel like it will leave bruises.
“Remember, I have to come back, I’m still part of the spirits schemes.”, he replies, not wanting to acknowledge the feeling brewing in him.
“Did you get what the spirits wanted you to find out?”, Sokka asks, his arms crossed in front of his chest.
“Not really, I couldn’t get too many details, I only have the broadest grasp of their goals right now.”, he answers truthfully, no need to make this look better than it is.
“I had to leave, they already plan to attack tonight, probably to surprise the Tribe’s defenses.”, he adds on.
Katara piques up: “How did you get in? The gates are all closed due to the fleet, and the city is impenetrable beyond that.”
“I swam through some tunnels the seals use to travel around. It was a terrible idea, but I did get here eventually.”, he explains.
“The seals around here can hold their breath for hours, swimming through their tunnels is considered suicide by most members of the Tribe.”, the fourth person says.
"I... figured that at some point, too.", he admits, reluctantly.
The girl with flowing white hair, probably around his and Sokka’s age, speaks with an even tone, with enough worry laced into her voice to make Zuko feel worse about his idea than he already did.
“Let me check you for injuries Blue.”, Katara states as she walks towards him with the same amount of determination as a marching regiment: "How many times have you run out of breath while diving through the ice?”
So the next few minutes are spent with trying out various tests to determine if he actually has given himself brain damage.
A reunion like expected, he thinks.
-
After doing the same test for a third time with the same results as before, Sokka asks: “So what did you find out exactly? You haven’t really told us anything about your time as a spy.”, as he wiggles with his fingers to underline the “spy” – aspect.
Right, the mission, he almost forgot with all the questions aimed at him.
“Zhao is commanding the fleet, and he plans to attack tonight, while the moon is at it’s highest. He knows that that would give waterbenders an advantage, but he has some kind of plan to ´destroy` the waterbenders altogether. He never went into more detail then that, but I hoped you would be able to figure something out from that.”, he explains, shrugging as he finishes his sentence.
Aang, Katara and Sokka all look at him with the same lost expression, it seems like they have no idea either, then.
It’s only a few seconds later he catches the horrified expression of the white-haired girl, large blue eyes welling with tears.
It looks like the others caught it too, and at their questioning looks, she explains: “I think I know what he plans to do, there is only one way to destroy waterbending.”, she takes in a deep breath and hunches in: “To kill the moon. You must follow me, quick.”
Now that’s something the spirts would be interested in, he thinks, and stands up to follow.
-
“The moon and the ocean spirit are closest to our realm here, at this pond. If there’s any way to destroy waterbending, then it is through destroying this oasis.”, princess Yue says, whose name and status he just learned on his way to this beautiful garden in the coldest place on earth.
Really, she is all Sokka can talk about at the moment, so finding out about her seems to have been inevitable when spending time with him, which is weird considering there will be a battle for their lifes soon and therefore most likely more important things to discuss than princesses.
At least she's not like the princess he already met.
-
“So, how do we stop Zhao from using the oasis against us? It’s not like we can make it disappear, and if he already knows about it, as Blue thinks he does, then we also can’t lure him into a wrong direction.”, Katara asks eventually, after they all take in the fish’s garden during their tense silence.
“I know! I’ll try to talk to the spirits! I can feel how close the Spirit world is in here, so if I meditate correctly, I should be able to get there in no time!”, Aang exclaims, sure that “entering the Spirit World” can be done in just a few minutes: “Then I’ll just find the Moon and Ocean spirits, and ask them to flee!”
You’re not one to judge when it comes to spirits, you literally stumbled into them, Zuko thinks, and decides to cut out any sarcastic comment he might have thought about.
“Not a bad idea, in the meantime, we should try to get ready and set up some defences so the Fire Nation has a hard time getting in at all, maybe we could even get a warrior patrol from the tribe to help us out, …if we find one”, Sokka adds on, using his index finger to thoughtfully tap onto his chin.
Sounds like something that should be easily done with his skillset, afterwards he could chase Zhao down without anyone getting caught in the crossfire, hopefully before he reaches the oasis at all.
Perfect.
“I’ll go look for a warrior regiment and send them here.”, he says: “Then I’ll keep on the lookout for Zhao, maybe I’ll be able to get a drop on him before he even reaches this place.”
He could finally get his revenge for what happened to his ship, for his death, for being left all alone in the Earth Kingdom for years.
Before he can turn around to leave however, Katara reaches out and interjects: “Wait! Zhao is strong, I know you can fight, but are you sure you can take him on? He’ll have guards too, so it won’t even be an even fight.”
Her words ring true, but he wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t try even if he doesn’t have a plan, just like always.
“Don’t worry, I’ll figure something out. I won’t be bested by that man.”, he settles on, and refuses to listen to any more arguing that is sure to follow.
At least this time the spirits have a mission for him that he can get behind.
-
The moon turns red, and then vanishes from the sky.
Oh no.
He hurries back to the oasis as fast as he can.
-
His breathing is ragged and out of control when he reaches the entrance to the oasis after running through what must have been half the city.
Just in time to see Zhao run away back to the fleet like the coward he is.
He won’t let him get away.