Water Lily in a Sea of Fire

Chapter 63: Jumping into a Volcano

As soon as Appa landed at the Western Air Temple,  Zuko jumped out of the saddle and immediately began setting up his war  balloon.

"Are you sure we can't help, Zuko?" asked Aang walking up to him. "Appa'll be faster."

"Last time I checked, prisons don't have bison daycares," he said as he fired up the engine.

While  the balloon was filling with hot air, he pulled his bag from Appa's  saddle along with his dao and Chiara's jian. He stared at them and  sighed.

"I need to leave these here," he said.

"Are you sure?" asked Sokka. "Don't you think you'll need your weapons?"

"My  uncle always said I never think things through. The only way I'm going  to get into that prison is as a guard or a prisoner, and I prefer the  guard option. In either case my dao won't do me any good." He pulled the  canvas with their wedding picture out of his tunic, and after unrolling  it, he gazed upon it for a few minutes trying to impress every detail  of the image into his memory.

Tearing his eyes away from it, he rolled it back up, tied it with the golden ribbon, and held it out to Katara.

"Will you keep this safe for me?" he asked her.

He presumed she would be the most responsible of the group he could entrust with it.

"Of-of  course," she said taking it from him, her eyes wide that he would trust  her with something so delicate and important to him.

"If...if I don't make it back, can you maybe see that my uncle gets it?"

She  looked at him and then nodded her head once. He went to step on the  balloon, but he felt something tugging his sleeve. He looked down to see  Toph clutching the fabric.

"You have to come back, Sparky," she said. "And I'm counting on you to bring Princess back too."

"He's done it before," said Aang optimistically. "Twice. And that was in the center of the Fire Nation Capital. Right, Zuko?"

He turned towards Aang. "Uh...yeah, but...but I had a lot of help..."

"And then there was that time with the Rough Rhinos when you were the Bl..."

"Yes, yes, I get it!" interrupted Zuko sharply. "I'll do my best to bring her back."

He  took a step but was suddenly restrained and nearly knocked over as Toph  had wrapped herself around him in a hug. Seeing that Zuko was not  resisting her, Aang lunged forward and flung himself onto him.

"Are-are you trying to stop me from going?" asked Zuko clearly annoyed by the liberties they took with his personal space.

"We're giving you a hug, Hotman."

"Yep," said Toph. "Get used to it."

He just sighed. "You guys are more sentimental than Uncle."

"If it makes you feel more comfortable, it's for Princess Chiara," she said.

"It doesn't." The solemn tone of his voice did not betray the smile he was hiding.

He  waited until they released him before he quickly stepped onto the  balloon. When he turned around he saw Sokka following him on board and  he brought his hands up and held them out to keep him at a distance.

"Whoa, you should've gotten your hug in when the others tackled me."

"I'm going with you," said Sokka.

Zuko dropped his hands. "But I told you I may not be coming back."

"I  know, but I kind of feel responsible for Chiara getting captured. I  promised you I would help keep her safe, and I feel like I failed."