Chapter Text
IROH
Iroh never wanted for his beloved nephew to die, never wanted his stance as the crown-prince of the Fire Nation ever since he saw what this war costs him and others: his obliviousness to this War is probably why the War has gone on for so long.
Yet when he watched as Ozai poisoned their own father, Iroh stepped in, stopping Azulon from drinking such a dangerous thing, what Iroh didn’t know at the time was that it cost his nephew.
His Funeral wasn’t that special, not compared to Azulon’s, Iroh stared out from his pavilion, now a retired general, he plays pai-sho staring distantly at the white lotus tile.
Sighing he flips it over and puts it on the chessboard, Iroh knows what he needs to do next.
ZUKO
Zuko blinked open to bright white ceiling, the rest of the days beforehand blurry and indecipherable almost like a haze over his mind, there’s movement around him and Zuko struggles to get up, going to stand only to freeze when what surrounds him is most definitely Watertribe woven mats and beddings.
Well..it’s just a hunch because of all the animal pelts and what Zuko studied tells him that it’s Watertribe..so Zuko flinches when someone pushes the animal pelt at the entrance aside to look in: An older lady, she smiles at Zuko and he freezes.
“Who–Who are you?” Zuko eyes dart around the room, noticing that it’s mostly bare aside from some woven mats and the bed he’s on, and a small unlit campfire with something round and gold resting on top.
“I am Yagoda, you are in the Northern Water Tribe.” The woman–Yagoda–sits down in a kneeling position–seiza–Zuko frowns before looking down, noticing that he is in normal clothing, a plain yellow-ish worn t-shirt and black pants with slip-on shoes.
Zuko narrows his eyes when the woman gets a bowel filled with water, “You're a waterbender” Yagoda frowns, shaking her head, “No, I am a healer, I can heal your wound.” Zuko gapes, “Why should I trust you?” Zuko backs closer to the wall and Yagoda sighs, “Because, young man, your life is endangered if you continue to not allow your burn to heal.”
Zuko notes that the round golden egg shifts, gaining the attention of both of them, Zuko purses his lips as the tension grows when Yagoda moves carefully near the egg and clacks two green stones together to start a fire.
“There are many reasons why I had to change you when you arrived here, you were obviously weary from your travels, I know your Fire Nation..but you told me that you were banished.” Zuko can feel his face contort before he bowed his head, his freed hair now draping over his head and from Yagoda’s view.
“I’ll heal you, and then..Pakku will take things from there.” Zuko narrows his eyes, lifting up his head to look at her, “Who’s Pakku?” Yagoda only swirls up a ball of water, “Straighten your head.” Zuko purses his lips again, “Not until you tell me who Pakku is.” Yagoda sighs, sensing that she’ll tell him, Zuko straightens as the ball of water comes into contact with the side of his face.
Hissing from the pain, Zuko curls his fist against the bedding, Yagoda has an expression of sympathy for a brief moment before there’s a thump and the pelt gets pushed aside, Yagoda quickly puts back the leftover water into the bowl, far less than before.
“Pakku.” Yagoda nods, in a bowing motion and Zuko blinks away the pain to see a older man–persumeably Pakku from what Yagoda said, “Hello, Avatar.” Zuko flinches looking at Pakku with pure horror running through his veins.
“Did–Did you just say I’m the Avatar?” Pakku raises an eyebrow, “Not surprising, by how the Spirit of the World told us themself that you're the Avatar.” Zuko goes to interrupt him–to fix this misunderstanding–when a male voice echoes through his head.
[I did you a favour, Vessel.] Zuko glances around, neither of them react, Zuko thinks it’s a voice inside of his head, [Aren’t you a sharp one?] Zuko pouts and Pakku makes a snuffing noise, almost like a sound of disapproval.
[Answer them or you’ll seem insane.] Zuko nods to the mysterious voice, [The name’s Vaatu] Zuko goes to talk to Pakku, ignoring Vaatu, [Thank you for getting my name correct, atleast].
“What..are you going to do to me?” Pakku sighs, “Thankfully, you are no longer tied to the Fire Nation, so you will be trained here until you master Water.” Vaatu scoffs and Zuko flinches from the loud scoff..but..does that mean they won’t kill him?
And Zuko’s the Avatar?
Doesn’t..won’t that mean that his father will be trying to kill him?
[You are opposite to my opposite: Raava, you will learn in the opposite way] Zuko watches as Pakku bows, going outside when Yagoda whispers something to him, Zuko continues to watch as Yagoda goes back to make a small bowl of water to heal him by.
[The opposite way, and who’s Raava?] Zuko can feel Vaatu nodding to what he said, [For Raava, she is the Avatar that you and the world knows of, Air, Water, Earth then Fire, while ours will be, Fire, Earth, Water then Air.] Zuko can feel a headache bloom in his head, the pulsing of his injured eye dies down.
“You’ll begin tomorrow,” Yagoda says, taking the now empty bowl and exiting, Zuko continues to stay in his curled position against the wall, his eye is no longer pulsing with pain now Zuko can barely feel his eye..but he assumes that’s..normal?
Nothing is normal, right now, Zuko feels like he’s knee deep in a place that he doesn’t know what’s in front or behind him, [Calm down] Zuko chokes, frowning at Vaatu even though he’s not even in this..igloo place..hut?
[I know it won’t be easy, although it will take longer, as your opposite it will take longer than the others, just breathe before you shorten your lifetime by stress.] Zuko scoffs [And who’s fault is that?], mostly to himself but also to Vaatu, there’s chatter around the hut before it disappears and his stomach begins to grumble, Zuko slowly turns to peek out of the pelt.
There are some women chattering amongst themselves, one of them catches his eye: a white haired woman with moon earrings, Zuko can feel..something else within her but he doesn’t know what it could possibly be.
[Idiot] Zuko rolls his eyes, and ignores Vaatu, crawling out of the tent to look at what the girl is doing, watching her with interest until she perks up, finally noticing Zuko’s staring, nervously smiling in a way that thinks that she knows that something isn’t right.
“Um..” Zuko rubs his neck, and the girl gives him a small mercy, “My name’s Yue.” Zuko perks up at the name and frowns, scratching his neck to the point where it burns, “I’m..the name’s Zuko.” He doesn’t go any further, when Yue smiles at Zuko’s attempt to make conversation.
“Nice meeting you then,” She does some..sort of bow?
Zuko mirrors it, eliciting a giggle from Yue..something being hilarious for her, Zuko could only perk up in response when some woman, old in age, calls her over..she seemed nice..not like what the stories told of the other tribes..but they seem..happy.