Fic: Airbender's Child: Earth 6/12
Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, in fact a lot of the dialogue will probably be cadged straight from the show itself, which means I own even less.
Author's Notes: There will be no writing at all for me for the next five days, so I expect you all to act like reasonable human beings and not demand any updates for that period plus one day. After that, feel free to demand importunately for updates again. Also, I really really pushed myself to get this one done before leaving tomorrow, so if it's flawed, well, that's why. On another note, yes, I seem to be canon-suing Zuko a little, but I plan to roll that back at some point. Hope you enjoy, and on with the show!
After many hours of flying, they had finally started getting to the remote and rocky regions that would be the right place for Aang to train his earthbending without interruption, and in relative peace. Reluctantly, Zuko was starting to plan how to approach the Avatar about his firebending as well.
He had been putting off the conversation for a while, ever since Katara had informed him, right after he rejoined them following those happy weeks learning from Jeong Jeong, that Aang had declared he would never firebend again. It didn't really matter until the kid had learned water and earthbending, but now that he was about to start earth, Zuko knew he had to start getting on Aang's case about fire. Shuga made the third protesting noise of the last hour, and so Zuko turned back to Toph and told her sharply. "It's bad enough that you're picking that gunk out of your toes, could you please stop throwing it into Shuga's fur? She doesn't like it."
"So you'll brush it out later," she said dismissively.
Zuko's eyes narrowed at the girl. "You either stop, or I make you. You got that?"
"What are you gonna do?" she taunted. "Smack around the defenceless blind girl?"
"You are about as defenceless as a platypus bear," he informed her. "After camp is set up, it's gonna be you, me, and when I win, you're going to stop throwing your foot gunk into Shuga's fur."
The Blind Bandit grinned. "You're on, Sparky. When you lose, you're gonna stop bugging me about your bison's fur and just deal with it."
"Done." A moment later he added, "Brat."
"Nag."
"Delicate flower."
"You're gonna eat those words."
Not much later they landed. As everyone started getting their things off the bisons, Zuko saw Toph wander around a little, smiling, and he asked, "What's up?"
"Just taking in the scenery," she said. "It's just . . . the earth here is different than at home and I can feel all these rocks and boulders and things." Toph grinned at him. "It's just really neat."
Zuko smiled back, even though she couldn't see it, and said, "It is kinda neat when you finally see someplace that isn't all primped gardens or city streets, isn't it?" Then he leaned in close and told her, "But that's not gonna get you out of a butt-kicking, brat."
"Whenever you're ready, Prince Sparky," she told him with a smirk. Then she wriggled her feet a little and shouted to Aang, "Hey, you guys picked a great campsite. The grass is so soft."
Zuko looked down and moaned. "Oh, Shuga, why didn't you let me know?" He went and grabbed her shedding combs, something he'd made years ago, and said to Aang, "Do you want to borrow these when I'm done with Shuga?"
Aang frowned. "It's just fur, L- Zuko." He blushed a little. "Sorry. I'm just not used to your new . . . real name."
"I'm not used to hearing it either," Zuko admitted. "It's been three years since people called me that." Then he rolled his eyes at Aang. "And about the fur, maybe it doesn't bother you, but it bothers me when I have bison fur everywhere, including in my clothes, food and hair."
Katara got an alarmed look on her face. "What are you talking about, Zuko?" a slight hitch before his name told him she was having to remind herself to call him that as well.
"It's spring," he explained. "The bisons are shedding their winter coats."
"You know," added Aang, "Springtime. Rebirth, flowers blooming, and Appa gets a new coat!"
Katara smiled a little mistily, and replied, "Ah, the beauty of spring." Then Appa wound up and sneezed, getting more fur everywhere. "Stop, Appa! Stop!" Katara shouted from inside the blizzard of fur. When it finally settled, there was fur everywhere. Katara looked very unhappy.
Sokka . . . was Sokka. "It's not that bad, Katara," he told her. Then he scooped up a pile of discarded fur and piled it onto his head in a ridiculous-looking formation. "It makes a great wig!"
Zuko shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose to try to ward off the headache that was sure to develop. After Aang had joined in, Katara said, "I'm just glad we finally have another girl in the group because you two are disgusting."
That was just in time for Toph to make the most disgusting joke yet. Zuko sighed. "Toph, that is positively vile."
"I'm sorry," Katara said. "Zuko. Thank you for not being disgusting," she said. "You said you have brushes for this?"
"Yes," Zuko told her. "There's nothing that sheds like a bison getting a new coat. You mind helping? I know you want to get started with dinner and the camp, but if we don't deal with this, there'll be bison hair in everything for weeks."
Katara just grabbed Shuga's reins and started leading her away from the camp. "Let's do this out in the woods," she suggested. "We can at least keep the amount of hair in camp to a minimum."
They headed off, Appa and Shuga in tow, and Katara left strict instructions with Sokka about getting the camp set up and cooking dinner. It was a great deal more pleasant to brush Shuga with company, than without. They chatted as they worked, getting frequent mouthfuls of fur, and managed to get Shuga done in half the time it usually took Zuko.
"How about a quick break?" Katara suggested. "We can head back to camp, get whatever Sokka and Aang have managed to put together for dinner, and then come back and do Appa."
He nodded. "Sounds good."
When they got back to camp, things were a mess. Toph was taunting Sokka into a frenzy, Aang was still dancing around in Appa's shed fur, and there were no tents up, except Toph's little one made of bent earth, and dinner wasn't anywhere near ready.
"What are you all doing?" Katara shrieked. "Sokka, I told you to get the tents up and a fire started. Aang, I told you to get rid of this fur, not get it into everything! Toph, all I asked you to do was join in and find some way help with the camp!"
While Sokka and Aang both shamefacedly stopped what they were doing and started tidying up, clearing away the fur and setting the camp to rights, Toph just looked at Katara and said, "Hey, I'm fine, I can carry my own weight. I don't need a fire, I've already collected my own food, and," she gestured behind her at her earth structure, "My tent's already set up."
Before Katara could explode, Zuko said, "Let me handle this."
So Katara went off to work her temper off on Sokka and Aang while Zuko said to Toph, "This is about you carrying your own weight, you know."
"So now I'm so helpless I have to pay you back for the favour of coming with you?" Toph snapped.
Zuko snapped right back. "No. It's that when people - all people - travel in a group, everyone contributes to the group's welfare. That means making sure there's firewood for everyone, collecting food and water for everyone, helping every get set up for the night and if we need to, taking turns standing watch for the night."
"What?" Toph said. "Oh. I thought-"
Zuko interrupted. "You thought we were being pitying, right?"
"Uh . . . yeah." Toph frowned. "Wait. So I have to give all this food I got for me to Katara?"
"Yes," Zuko told her. "Then it will get shared out between all of us, equally. Except Sokka will be more equal than everyone else because we get tired of hearing him whine about being hungry. He's bad at collecting food, though, so Katara makes him do more of the tent stuff." He put his hands on her shoulders. "Do you understand? Katara's treating you just like everyone else. Everyone has to do their share, that's part of travelling with a group."
Toph froze. It seemed it had not even occurred to her that there might be another reason for Katara to request her help. "So, wait. I handle all my stuff myself, and I still have to help everyone else?"
"Yes," Zuko told her. "Because that way, you get a hot meal from Katara, and Sokka's and my help with carrying your things and Aang to help you with picking up your part of the campsite."
She pouted. "I don't want to help anyone else, and I don't need anyone else's help. I'll do my things for me, and you guys can do what you want for you."
It was a lesson Zuko had learned after running away from his uncle. Sometimes you needed help, and the best way to get it was to have built up credit with other people so they were more willing to offer you help in return. Toph would find that out eventually. Meanwhile, he would go and make sure Katara left Toph to learn that lesson.
He arrived just in time to see Katara fuming, with Sokka's pants literally draped over her head, and a pantsless Sokka looking at her like she was being irrational. "Hey, you're the mending person," Sokka told her. "If you want me to cook dinner, which is your job too, then fix my pants."
Katara glared. "Just what is your job, huh?" she demanded.
"Hunting," Sokka replied promptly. "Guarding the camp. Starting fires. You know, manly stuff."
Before she could gut her own brother, Zuko grabbed her and dragged her off, leaving Aang to scold Sokka for saying that to his sister. "Come on," Zuko said. "Let's go talk away from the Manly One."
She let him tow her off, grumbling the whole way about Sokka and his pants. "What did you want to talk about?" she asked.
Zuko rubbed a hand over the back of his head. "Toph. I know you want her to help with the campsite, but I think there's a lesson she's going to need to learn on her own, so just let her do her own thing for now. I had to learn it after I struck out on my own."
"What's that?" Katara demanded.
Zuko smiled at her. "That you can't always be totally self-sufficient, and asking for help isn't the same as being helpless. Toph will get her own food and provide her own shelter. What we'll do, is when she finally decides she wants a hot meal or a spot by the fire, is tell her that she didn't help with the camp and wanted to be self-sufficient. Since she didn't trade her assistance, we can't exchange jook or mended clothes or what-have-you." He shrugged. "She'll figure out that being part of a group means participating. Right now, she doesn't understand that because she's never had to work with other people for any reason."
Nodding, Katara sighed. "I suppose I can let it go. But what if she doesn't get food one night? I can't not give her food."
"You tell her that she doesn't get food from you unless she helps with fetching water or something the next day," Zuko said. "Simple enough. Couch it in terms of trade. If she refuses, one missed meal won't hurt her, you know that." He had a sudden thought. Now was as good a time as any, too. "You wanted to know what I got at that flea market a few days ago?" he teased her.
"Oh, now I get to know?" she asked with a mock-sneer.
He grinned and pulled the combs out of his pocket, handing them to her. "I know you think we don't notice you're a girl, except for when someone needs something mended, but I promise you, Aang and I notice. I just wanted to get you a little something for the next time you felt underappreciated."
"Oh, Lee! They're so nice!" Katara said and hugged him. She let him go and said, "Umm. I mean, Zuko. Sorry."
"It's fine," he told her. "You guys should probably keep calling me Lee around other people anyhow."
Katara was turning them around, then she suddenly pouted a little. "I don't really know how to use these, though," she said.
"I could put them in for you," Zuko offered. "I know how my sister's friends used them." She smiled and promptly let her hair down in a silky, curly wave down her back. Zuko carefully collected her hair in the way he recalled seeing Mai do it the one time he'd accidentally pulled her hair out of its combs, and wedged the combs in. It took him two tries, but he managed, and told her, "There. I think that looks okay."
She smiled and hugged him. "Even if it doesn't, thank you. It's one of the nicest things anyone's ever given me."
After all the trouble at sorting out the camp and everything, Zuko and Katara agreed to deal with Appa's fur the next day, while Toph gave Aang his first lesson in earthbending. They all ate, bid each other goodnight, and went to bed. Unfortunately, none of that was to be the next day, because Toph woke them all what felt like moments after settling down to sleep. "There's something coming toward us!"
"What is it?" Aang asked.
Toph frowned, clearly trying to figure that out. "It feels like an avalanche . . . but also not like and avalanche."
"Your powers of perception are frightening," Sokka said sarcastically.
Zuko hit him upside the head, and said, "If it's that big and we don't know what it is, let's just get out of its way."
"Better safe, than sorry," Aang agreed. They hastily packed up the bisons, and Zuko hopped onto Shuga with Sokka and Toph in tow. They took off, rapidly gaining altitude, and Zuko and Sokka found themselves staring down at a Fire Nation tank of a design Zuko had never seen before. It was pulling two . . . wheeled compartments behind it and Zuko had a rather sinking feeling he knew who was behind the monstrosity. "I've got a bad feeling my sister's behind that," he said. "Whatever that is, and it looks a lot like a tank, it's the kind of thing she wouldn't even pause to have commissioned."
"A tank?" Toph asked. "I heard about those. They're like big carts, only they're driven with coal like Fire Nation Ships."
"Close enough," Zuko said grimly. "We have to lose them."
Sokka just shook his head. "You win on the crazy sister stakes," he said.
In spite of himself, Zuko said, "What do I win? I mean, besides bragging rights that I survived growing up with her."
"I'll think about it," Sokka said. "I'll get back to you when I know."
"Don't wait too long," Zuko said. "Or I'll come up with something myself."
They flew until Shuga couldn't any more, landing in a clearing with a thud. "Okay, Shuga," Zuko said, patting her. "You can rest now." She just grumbled and flopped down, not even caring that her saddle was still on. She was snoring a moment later.
"We should do the same," Zuko said. "Forget setting up a camp, we need to rest and then keep moving."
Aang frowned. "But we've lost the . . . whatever-it-is," he said. "Why worry now?"
Zuko sighed. "Because that tank doesn't need to rest. They know our heading and they know we can't afford to be making evasive manoeuvres. They can just keep going all night until they catch up. That means we should just get some sleep and get moving in a new direction in the morning as fast as possible."
"I say we trust L- Zuko," said Sokka. "I mean, if the prince of the Fire Nation doesn't know what he's talking about, who does?"
They all settled down fast, and everyone was tired enough to fall asleep right away. Unfortunately, Zuko's worst fears were realised when Toph came out of her tent, telling them the machine had caught up to them. "How does that thing keep finding us?" Toph asked.
"I don't know, but this time I'm going to make sure we lose 'em" Aang replied.
They all climbed onto the bisons, this time, Katara got onto Shuga. Toph and Sokka had joined Aang on Appa, while Katara had gone over to Zuko to try to ease the burden on the weaker bison. They had taken off and were flying along when Katara's eyes went wide. "Look!" she said, pointing at Appa.
"Look at what?" Zuko asked, frowning.
"Appa's fur!" Katara said. "He's shedding while he flies! We're leaving a trail for them to follow!"
She was right. "Damn! We need to get Appa brushed, but we also need to stay ahead of them."
"As soon as we seem to have lost them at all, we'll land and figure out what to do," Katara said.
As it was the only sensible plan at that point, Zuko started landing Shuga as soon as it looked at all like they'd lost the tank. Sokka was off of Appa and hurrying over the moment they'd landed. "What's going on? Are you guys okay? Is there something wrong with Shuga?"
"Katara figured out how they're following us," Zuko said. "Appa's fur is leaving a trail."
Aang's eyes were wide. "Then we have to get his fur brushed out now."
"We need to split up," Sokka corrected. "You, me and Zuko should take Appa, and get a false trail going away from the girls, and Toph and Katara should head off with Shuga."
"What?" chorused Katara and Toph. "We're benders, Sokka," Katara said. "If anyone needs to be protected, it's you."
"Yeah, Sokka," said Toph. "You're the weak link, you should be the one running away."
"Hey!" Zuko snapped. "First of all, I've been training with Sokka, and you should know that I've been called a swordfighting prodigy. If he can stand up to me, which he can now, he's more than a little competent. Not to mention, Katara, he's a lot smarter than he lets on and more practical than you and Aang will ever be. So don't start with that." He turned to Toph. "Just because you finally have the chance to say what you think, doesn't give you the right to be nasty to other people just for the fun of it."
He was aware of Toph sticking her tongue out in his general direction, but he ignored it. "Actually, though. I think the people who should go on Appa are just me and Aang. Katara, I saw what happened when Ty Lee got to you. You're helpless without your bending and Toph hasn't faced Ty Lee and Mai before. I'd rather, if we faced off with my sister and her friends, that she had someone there if her bending gets taken away. Sokka, you need to be along because you're not a bender. You can fight without bending so that won't get taken away from you. If this weren't about Appa, I'd say we should send Aang out of the field," Zuko added.
"What?" Aang asked, stunned.
Sokka nodded. "You're the Avatar. You're the one person in this group we can't afford to lose. He's got a point." He paused, looking at their little group. The Water Tribesman seemed to come to a decision. "Okay then! Ladies, up on the girl bison, we're getting out of here." He looked at Zuko. "There's an abandoned town nearby." He pointed to the mark on the map. "We'll head that way and wait for you there. If we need to run, we'll leave you a message somewhere about where we've gone."
Before Toph could protest, Zuko had tossed her onto Shuga, collecting his brush kit while he was at it, and Sokka was already chivvying his sister onto the saddle. With a snap of her reins, Sokka had gotten himself and the girls in the air, Toph hollering protests the whole way.
"Well?" Zuko said. "Let's go. We need to lead Azula, Mai and Ty Lee away. Once we've gotten another decent lead, we'll stop and start getting all that extra hair off Appa."
Aang climbed onto Appa's back and with a flick of the reins and a "Yip, yip!" they were off. It was only a moment or two after they'd begun climbing into the air that Azula's tank steamed into view. "Why are you so sure that's your sister?" Aang asked.
How to explain? Zuko ran a hand through his hair. "First, the fact that that thing has been coming after us without stopping fits her personality. Most people would have taken a break, particularly since there was a trail to follow, and picked up. Azula . . . Azula doesn't let petty things like exhaustion stop her."
"But that's not proof," Aang objected. "I mean, she's your sister, right? She wouldn't-"
"She would do anything," Zuko said, flatly. "She was our father's favourite for a reason. She was cruel and mean and manipulative and-"
Aang interrupted this time. "She sounds kinda like your mom." Then his eyes went wide.
"She's not . . ." Zuko started to snap. Then his shoulders sagged. "I don't know. All I know is she teased me horribly when we were children, always making sure to upset me and distract me so that I'd mess up my bending practice in front of my father. She tried to set the turtle ducks on fire and only stopped because mother made her."
Eyes wide, Aang asked, "Set the turtle ducks on fire?"
"Yes." Zuko shook his head a little. "Sometimes I think it would have been better for her if I hadn't been born. Mother would have had to set Azula up as her only chance at getting the throne put back into the hands of someone who wasn't . . . evil."
"Don't say that," Aang told him. "You're my friend, and I wouldn't have had your friendship if you'd never been born." The monk gave him that look of gentle wisdom that always reminded Zuko that Aang may have only been twelve, but he had thousands of previous lives floating around in the back of his head.
"Anyhow," Zuko said, shaking himself out of melancholy. "The other reason I think it's Azula is the money that would have been needed to commission something like that. Only someone with royal backing could."
"Oh," Aang said. "Well, you know the Fire Nation best."
They subsided into silence for a while, but Zuko knew he had to take the moment to bring up something he'd wanted to discuss with Aang. "I wanted to let you know that, once you've picked up enough earthbending to pass effectively as an earthbender, I'll start giving you firebending lessons."
"No!" Aang said sharply. "I . . . uh . . . I mean, do I really need to? The Fire Lord can't-"
"My father is one of the most skilled firebenders in the world," Zuko told him. "You need to know firebending to know what he's capable of. Even if you never firebended again once you'd learned it, you need to know what he's doing so you can counter it."
Aang looked away. "Other benders don't-"
"Other benders don't have the option of learning," Zuko told him sternly. "You need to know this."
The words came bursting out of Aang. "What if I hurt someone again? What if I hurt Katara again?"
"You won't," Zuko said, simply.
"You can't know that," Aang said passionately. "Jeong Jeong told me that I wasn't ready and I was too weak and undisciplined to learn fire, and he was right. Look at what I did to Katara! It's lucky she was able to heal herself!"
Zuko had to take a deep breath himself as he recalled seeing her blackened hands and hearing her crying at the pain. "Aang, that was before. The whole point is the discipline you'll learn from water and earth that will let you understand fire. I'm not saying I'll be teaching you tomorrow, but I wanted you to start learning once you'd gotten a decent understanding of earth."
"But-"
"No 'buts' Aang," Zuko said. "It's part of your being the Avatar. You master your own element, then you master the other three in order. You know that. Not to mention that we only have until the solstice and Sozin's Comet before you have to have mastered everything."
The Avatar's face twisted in a moue of distaste. "Way to add pressure, Lee . . . Zuko."
"It's the truth," Zuko told him frankly. "We've got everyone here. Maybe we'll find you a proper firebending master later, but for now, you're stuck with me."
Aang made another face, then said, "I guess. At least you won't make me do boring breathing exercises forever."
"I won't?" Zuko asked. "Why do you think I spend so much time meditating?"
"Oh, man!"
Zuko laughed and let Aang mutter quietly about why firebending was so boring if it was the most dangerous and scary of the elements. Eventually that eased off and they flew along in silence.
In accord, they agreed to land Appa and start taking his shedding fur off. Appa took a huge amount of time, because unlike Shuga, he didn't seem to get nearly the same joy out of being primped, so Aang didn't brush him as often. They wound up coating the whole clearing in fur, clogging up the small stream and starting to flood the meadow because of the dam created by the piles of shed fur.
Eventually, however, they got Appa cleaned up, and just in time. Azula and her tank came chugging around the bend. "Zuzu!" she cried with that false gaiety she loved to put on before tormenting some poor defenceless thing. "What a surprise!"
Emerging from the tank behind her were Ty Lee and, "Mai."
"Hi Zuko!" Ty Lee said, waving cheerfully. "Hey, where's the cutie?"
He'd forgotten that about the girl in pink. "The who?"
"The guy in blue?" she asked. "The one with the brown hair and the cute ponytail."
"Seriously?" Mai drawled. "Even with the bandages all over his face, Zuko looked better than that."
"That reminds me," Azula said as she started closing in on them, flanked by her friends. "How did you get rid of that scar? The doctors all said you'd never get rid of that mark of shame."
"The spirits of the moon and ocean found him worthy of healing," Aang declared.
Zuko wanted to elbow the kid. "Aang, don't answer anything else she asks," he muttered. Not quietly enough it seemed.
"Oh, is it a secret?" Azula said with a mad, wide, grin. "I'll tell you a secret. Father knows all about how doddery old uncle went to the North Pole to find you, Zuzu."
The image from the swamp flashed through his mind. Sudden terror and the certainty that this was what the place had been telling him filled Zuko. "What did you do, Azula!"
"There's a bounty on his head now, you know," she said. "Yours too, traitor."
He would never be able to tell who moved first, just that they met halfway, sparks flying. There was something different this time, though. It took a moment for him to pin it down, but when he did, Zuko felt an amazing surge of confidence. The last time they'd fought, before his banishment, she'd just grinned maddeningly at him the whole time. Every movement she'd made showed her contempt and just how easy it was for her to beat him. This time, there was nothing in her face but concentration. Slipping under her guard a moment, Zuko struck with the finely honed point of flame he had learned from Jeong Jeong. That same flame that could be used for near-perfect cautery was used as a weapon, and Zuko grinned triumphantly as a fine line of flame erupted, starting at her left hip, crossing her chest on a diagonal and curving up and around to mark a red and black line on her cheek.
She screamed, in fury or pain, Zuko didn't know, but it gave Mai and Ty Lee pause. Which was rather a good thing, because Aang was starting to have trouble keeping up with their double-teaming. "Azula!" Ty Lee called, and Zuko was suddenly trying to dodge a barrage of fists, knives and fire.
Aang came swooping in, hitting Zuko with a blast of air, just as Ty Lee got through his guard as he dodged Mai's senbon and Azula's fire at the same time. A man can only move in so many directions at once, after all. Zuko felt her knuckles hit some points along his spine and shoulders, and suddenly both arms were useless, and it was like his inner flame had some kind of stopper on it. The wind carried Zuko into the air and onto Appa's saddle.
Then they were on the run again, while Zuko lay at the bottom of the saddle, muttering to himself about paralysis and silly acrobats.
They flew as far as Appa could take them, slept uneasily then ran again.
It took a couple days to get to where the others were supposed to be waiting, in particular because of the circuitous route they went by to throw Azula and her tank off. They reached the town, only to discover to their horror that Azula had gotten there first.
Toph was curled into a terrified ball, and wailing, "I can't see!"
"Toph!" Zuko was on the ground, diving for her, blasting his recovered flame at Ty Lee to drive her away from the earthbender. He was aware of Azula fighting with Katara behind him, and another figure he thought looked familiar out of the corner of his eye, but he had to keep Ty Lee from taking away Toph's ability to move as well. "I'm right here, Toph. I promise, your bending will come back. It will."
"It better, Sparky."
Sokka was in Zuko's eyeline, even as he dodged and weaved, trying to keep himself between Toph and Ty Lee. The training he'd done with his friend had paid off, and Mai was hard pressed to keep Sokka at a distance. She'd been reduced to close fighting because she'd used up her throwing knives, stars and senbon. Zuko could see them scattered everywhere. One final strike, and Sokka had knocked Mai out, and engaged with Ty Lee.
Unfortunately, the way she fought and moved was too alien to Sokka, and she was able to slip around him and paralyse the Water Tribesman. "Sorry, Cutie!" she said cheerfully.
Sokka's face said it all about what he thought of Ty Lee's affectionate nickname.
That afforded Zuko the opportunity to knock Ty Lee out, dropping her unceremoniously next to Mai, before joining the others facing Azula in the town square. They were lined up, facing her, him, Aang, Katara, and the last man, who was at the other end of the line, only visible to Zuko in his peripheral vision. He didn't dare take his eyes off his sister.
"Well, look at this. Enemies and traitors all working together," she said. "I'm done. I know when I'm beaten. You got me. A princess surrenders with honour."
Azula always lies.
The brief lull was all that she needed to launch a lightning strike at their line. Zuko reacted immediately, aware that Katara and Aang had done the same. There was a massive cloud of dust raised, but when it was gone, there was no sign of his sister. Zuko turned and saw, "Uncle!"
He was barely aware of the others moving in closer as he cradled his uncle's head in his hands. There was a smoking scorch mark on his uncle's chest where his sister's lightning had struck him. "No," he moaned. Now certain that the vision in the swamp had been about just this.
Suddenly he felt someone tugging insistently at his arms. He tried to shoulder them off, but they kept at it. Eventually, Katara's voice penetrated his consciousness. "Lee! I can help him! He's not dead!"
Sure enough, when he really looked at his uncle, there was faint movement of the hair in the man's beard. Just enough to prove it was being stirred by his breath. Katara moved in, pulling open his uncle's shirt, shoving him aside as she started healing the damage. As Zuko watched, unable to think of anything else, he saw his uncle's breathing ease and the scorch marks shrink, healing before his eyes. When Katara finally stopped, Zuko looked at her, anxiously. "Is he going to be okay?"
She smiled, laying a hand over his own. "He'll be fine. He'll be a little tender and he'll need to take it easy for a few days, but he'll be fine."
"I . . . thank you," he whispered, pulling her into a tight hug.
"You're welcome," Katara murmured into his ear.
Sokka and Toph had recovered while the were waiting, and now that Zuko was paying attention to his surroundings again, Sokka said, "Toph's buried your sister's friends up to their necks in dirt, but I think we should get out of here while we can."
With his friends' help, Zuko carried his uncle up onto Shuga, joined by Katara, who insisted on staying with her patient, and they flew off to find a safe place to camp now that they'd finally shaken the terrible trio long enough to do it.
*******************
Post-fic notes: Okay, here's the thing about Iroh being where he was. First, he knows Zuko, and he knows the kid's tendency to react badly to things like, "betraying" his uncle, not to mention the 'like another son to me' thing, so of course he's still tracking him. Second, we know Iroh is pretty darned awesome at things like that when he wants to be. Third, the White Lotus is everywhere, and I refuse to believe he couldn't manage to get a decent bread on the Avatar's (and thus Zuko's) whereabouts by just asking a few of his pai sho buddies.
Prologue Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12
Go to AtLA Archive