The Traitor Princess

Chapter 4 - The Avatar Returns

"Zuko! Let the woman go." Eziri scolded quietly to her brother. He sent her a glare and shoved the old woman back into the crowd. Zuko waited for a response but it was silent.

He shot a wave of fire over the villagers heads as they cowered in fear. Eziri felt sick. How could he treat innocent civilians like this? With a wave of her hand, she dissipated the flames before they could reach any of the small tents and huts behind the villagers. Zuko noticed and shot her a glare over his shoulder. She just looked away.

"I know you're hiding him!" Zuko shouted. The Water Tribe boy picked up his club and charged towards Zuko again. Her brother merely ducked and sent the boy into the snow once again, this time launching a ball of fire at him.

Before the boy rolled out of the way, Eziri threw up a wall of her own blue flames to stop Zuko's attack from harming the boy. Zuko turned his head to Eziri.

"Stay out of this, Ezi" he spit angrily. As Zuko turned back around, he saw a boomerang fly past his head. He looked at the Water Tribe boy with anger as a child from the crowd shouted something and tossed him a spear.

The boy charged Zuko once more. This time, Eziri jumped in. She knew her brother was getting angrier by the minute and she didn't want this poor guy to end up burned. Eziri easily dodged the spear and broke the spear with her wrist guards before ripping the weapon out of the boy's hands and sending a light kick to his chest. The boy was thrown back into the snow once more.

Eziri stepped towards the boy in an effort to move away from Zuko. "Please, just stay down and he won't hurt you." Eziri whispered to the boy. Her voice was only loud enough for the Water Tribe warrior to hear. He merely glared up at her from the snow.

Eziri's ears perked up as she heard a soft whizzing sound in the distance. She turned just in time to see the boomerang strike her brother's helmet from behind. Eziri turned her face away from Zuko to hide the small smile that she couldn't bite back.

She heard Zuko growl and her smile immediately dropped. She turned towards her brother to see two fire dagars in his fists as he stalked over to the Water Tribe boy. Before he could go any farther, he was knocked off his feet by a bald kid on a penguin.

Eziri quickly jumped out of the way to avoid the same fate as her brother. She heard a quick exchange between some Water Tribe teens and the bald boy but she kept her eyes on Zuko. Eventually he stood and got into a fighting stance.

"Looking for me?" The bald kid said. Eziri's jaw dropped.

"You're the airbender? You're the avatar?" Zuko asked, shocked. "I've spent years preparing for this encounter; training, meditating. You're just a child!" The boy stopped for a minute.

"Well, you're just a teenager" the boy said with a shrug. Eziri stifled a laugh. Her brother began attacking the boy but Eziri turned her attention to the villagers.

"Back up, I don't want you to get hurt" She said to a small group of mothers with children that were standing the closest to the fight. Eziri could feel the heat from Zuko's flames on her back. She quickly turned around and threw her hands up to dissipate the flames, protecting the bystanders. She saw the avatar attempting to block the flames with his staff, but he was unable to keep them from reaching the villagers. Eziri ran over to another group of villagers as she heard screams of fear at Zuko's flames. She stepped in front of the group and blocked the flames once again.

"Zuko, enough!" She shouted to her brother. Zuko paused for a moment and glared at her. Aang took this opportunity to turn around and look at the scared villagers.

"If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?" Aang asked Zuko. Zuko paused for a moment before nodding.

Eziri watched as some of Zuko's guards grabbed onto the boy and dragged him into the ship. She tuned out everything else around her and rushed after Zuko.