Homeless Dragon- Zuko

Ch. 5 Rekindling

Zhao stared at the place in the holding area where he held the Avatar, and he was furious.

One week ago, he was poised to receive the commendation of a lifetime. One week ago, he was poised to be appointed to the highest position underneath the Fire Lord himself. One week ago, he was poised to deliver the Avatar, that pathetic child, to his liege. And one week ago, all of it slipped from his grasp, and to make matters worse it was the ever elusive Blue Spirit, one of the empire's most notorious criminals, who was responsible for his loss. Zhao refused to let any of this leak out, and be the laughing stock of the military and the court. But most of all, he feared what the Fire Lord would do to him if word did get out of this blunder.

Knock! Knock!

"What!" he shouted.

"Sir, th-the records you wanted have arrived," said the fearful voice of a soldier through the door, "They're in the briefing room."

"Finally! Something good for once," said Zhao before storming off to that very location.

He had spoken too soon

He opened his door to the briefing room, and instantly became frustrated when he saw that there was crates worth of documents to go through. Since he became Admiral, he had taken charge of tracking the Avatar, and had ordered all branches of the military and the colonial government to provide him with all the records and sightings, past and recent in an effort to map out any possible routes that the Avatar was taking. And there, evidently, was a lot of records. The Admiral knew that he would lose a lot of time going through it all. However, he was not willing to risk wasting more time hunting blindly. Zhao quickly barked at his men to get to work, as he himself went through the first crate.

xXxXx

In a lightly hazy morning, Zuko walked through the woods by the Northwest coast of the Earth Kingdom continent, a region that was still holding onto it's independence from the Fire Nation. The land was known for its nearly limitless pine forests, and its natural harbors. Its breathtaking scenery and mild climate would enthrall anyone, and normally, he would enjoy the scenery of the area while he could when he went walking. However, he didn't feel comfortable ever since he left the Avatar's group.

'They probably still hate me,' he thought.

He wasn't referring to Aang though; the kid would probably forgive him the first chance he got. It was the Water Tribe siblings that he was thinking about. He remembered how Sokka yelled at him and accused him, and he could see he had hurt Katara just by looking at her eyes. He sighed at the thought.

'Why am I beating myself up over this?' he asked himself, 'I did what I had to do. I had to show them I was a firebender.'

What about your father?

Zuko clenched his hands into fists as he thought about that man.

He groaned in exasperation, and sat down by the road and pulled out a map. He found his position, traced it along to his destination, an abbey, and estimated how long it would take for him to get there. He could get there by midmorning if he pushed himself, but he felt tired and decided to take a break. He pulled out a canteen and some jerky and began to eat.

As he ate, he heard running, and stopped. Zuko looked down the road, in the direction he heard the noise coming from. He saw a young woman wearing white robes running frantically.

"Please sir, help me!" she cried out as she saw him.

Zuko immediately got onto his feet, and the girl nearly ran into him she stopped and pulled herself toward him. He was taken aback by her actions, but after a moment he understood that it was for seeking protection. He gently pried her off of him, and got a good look at her. She was around his age, wore white robes, had long hair that was covered in a white veil, and prayer beads around her neck. He realized that she was an initiate from the abbey he was looking for.