Violent Delights, ATLA

chapter eleven, the avatar rises

11
THE AVATAR RISES

"WE'RE HEADING TO THE SOUTHERN Air Temple effective immediately." Zuko instructed the headsman.

It had been three years overall since their search for the Avatar kicked off at sea. They had no luck thus far and zero clues to go off of. Nothing in the Air Temples, nothing in between, nothing. Despite the three years, time hardly seemed sluggish to San at all. She spent her days often playing Pai Sho with Iroh (and frequently losing), cooking the recipes from her mother's recipe book and writing letters to her, enjoying music night, and helping the hotheaded prince train his firebending skills.

"Again? But there's nothing." San said with a frown. "We've been there twice already."

"And the third times a charm." He said stubbornly. "Unless you have a better idea? I doubt it."

Before San could speak, he stormed off the captain's deck. Even out at sea, his temper did little to diminish itself. Like a stream of gasoline easily lit aflame, his fury was triggered over the smallest of things whether it be the crew having fun once in awhile (he noted as slacking off) or Iroh prioritising brewing his tea over training him (his impatience was the fire to his gasoline) or San questioning his decisions and teasing him here and there (he always reminded her that she was lucky he let her onboard to get away from Azula).

"Good morning, San." Iroh greeted, seated before a board game with his eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration despite having no opponent going against him right now. "Would you like to play Pai Sho with me?"

"Of course." San agreed, taking a seat opposite of him.

When she was little, she heard the game was originated centuries ago by spirits. It was a game involving both strategy and chance and throughout the world, there had been multiple variations of the game depending on the culture. However, she was never taught how to play until Iroh kindly asked her if she'd like to learn how to a couple days just after they journeyed across the sea. Since then, she had been gradually getting better at the game. At least she thought so.

"I see you're quite fond of the white dragon tile." Iroh noted out loud, lips curling up into a friendly smile. "It must be your favourite."

"It is. It's almost like my good charm even though I still lose to you." She admitted, sighing when she saw that Iroh had formed a perfect duo of harmonies on the board, each of his tiles forming neat uninterrupted diagonal lines.

"Don't worry, San. One day, you'll beat this old man." He reassured and chuckled. "I think it's already an improvement that you've beaten our cook at Pai Sho."

All of a sudden, a geyser of white was seen from a distance, launching off into the sky like a falling shooting star calling for help.

"Do you know what this means?" Zuko asked, putting down his spyglass.

"I won't get to play another round of Pai Sho with San?" Iroh answered, gathering the tiles on the board so they could restart.

"It means my search has come to an end. That light came from an incredibly powerful source. It has to be him!"

"Or it's just the celestial lights. We've been down this road before, Prince Zuko. I don't want you to get too excited over nothing."