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08

Wandering Prince

Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI

08

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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…

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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—”

“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—”

“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—just 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.

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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.

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“Zuko? Where are you taking me?” Yue asked, curious as I led her to Senna’s home—specifically, 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—keeping 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—I’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.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“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—and 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—preferably with as little bloodshed as possible. Assuming that ends in victory, I’ll probably let my sister have the throne and act as advisor—but 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.

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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—where 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—very 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—more 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—specifically, 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—but 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—oh!” 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—what 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—so that I could actually manipulate the material and not have it become runny or mess up—and 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.”

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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…