Dragon At Heart

Chapter 6

6. The Earth Kingdom Militia

"NO!"

Zuko wasn't sure what he was doing, but he knew that it needed to be done. He moved as fast as he could and was just in time to put himself between the Earth Kingdom boy and Zhao.

In a training fight Zuko would have divided Zhao's fireblast neatly in half and directed the flames to go past him on both sides.

As it was, Zuko was surrounded by by-standers, which made merely redirecting the force of the blow a potential catastrophe for anyone unlucky enough to be standing too close. So instead Zuko used a more powerful block in order to completely dissipate the blast.

Zuko could feel the intense heat of the assault with every hair on his face and arms, but fortunately he had gotten past his fear of such situations years ago.

The last wisps of fire had barely vanished when Zhao got his head around the sudden change in the situation. Looks of disbelief and anger crossed the man's face before he settled for an irritated glare.

"Prince Zuko, what on earth do you think you are doing?!"

A very good question, Zuko thought and took a deep breath. His bending stance did not waver. Zuko had made his move and had no intentions of backing down.

"It's over, Zhao. The Avatar isn't here, and you have no proof that he ever was, or that these people helped him to escape, and I will not let you make the villagers pay for your failure to capture the Avatar. You should take your men, return to your ship and go."

Zhao was enraged. "You are an exile! Such a weak failure even your own father does not want you in his sight! You - do - not - give - orders - to - me!"

"Then it is time you and I settled our differences once and for all", Zuko stated, feeling oddly calm considering that he had just challenged a much older and more experienced firebender to a fight 'til death.

Meanwhile, on top of a nearby building, four figures and a lemur where huddled together behind a decorative tapestry, which completely blocked them from the Fire Nation soldiers' line of sight.

"We have got to do something" Aang said, his voice worried but determined.

ooo

Three hours earlier

"Admit it", Katara said, rolling her eyes.

"Admit what?" Sokka asked without lifting his gaze from the map sprawled before him.

He and Katara were sitting in Appa's saddle. Aang was at the reigns but obviously paying attention to the conversation. They had been flying over a scenic mountain view all morning and the glamor of the grand vista had had time to get pretty old to Sokka's liking.

"You have no idea where we are on the map", Katara said and peered over her brother's shoulder to get a better look at the scroll in question.

"That's not true", Sokka protested. "I'm pretty sure we are not here", he said and pointed at a place on the map. "Because if we were here, we could probably still see the Unagi waving at us in the horizon."

"Wouldn't that be nice. We could go ask Suki for directions. That is of course only if your ego could handle asking help from a girl", Katara rebuked.

"Hey, I've learned my lesson. Girls can fight too", Sokka said. "Though I wouldn't mind seeing Suki again. I had hardly any time to say goodbye when you guys suddenly decided that we were in a hurry to leave."

"It was due time for us to continue our journey if we ever intend to reach the North Pole", Katara replied determinedly.

What she is leaving unsaid, Sokka thought, is that it was due time we did what she wanted us to do.Namely, that was getting Aang away from his hordes of admirers, and making him take his responsibilities as the Avatar more seriously.