Avatar: The Last Dragon Prince

Chapter Ten: Prices and Balance

Soren, to his own surprise, was glad for this brief intermission in their mission.

It had been a few days since the battle in the deserted town. Claudia had been working her magic to get Iroh's pulse strong again. So far, it was weak. He was alive, but weak.

Zuko had been shockingly calm about the whole situation. He imagined that there was some serious turmoil going on inside of him and that this unfeeling going-through-the-motions was just a coping mechanism. He had been there before, back when his mother left them...

Nope. Not going to address that right now.

Soren leaned against the window of the abandoned derelict house they took shelter at and looked out the window. The land around the house was barren with only a few patches of grass fighting to grow. The trees bore no leaves either. If he was superstitious, the lack of thriving life around them would have been a bad omen.

He thought about how he let the chance to capture Callum slip through his fingers, not that he even had a plan of how he would have done it. He wanted to go after him. But what would he do if he got to him? What wouldn't he do?

Viren gave him specific instructions. He needed to think things through. He'd gone on about how urgent the situation was but, now that he stopped to think about it, he didn't have much of a plan for the after-situation. Would he kill Callum? What about Ezran? How would he – with his sword? With a slash to their throats? Decapitation? His mouth suddenly had a bad taste to it, like a lemon rot in it.

"Soren." He turned to his side to meet his sister's curious eyes. "What's on your mind?"

Oh yeah. And Claudia knew nothing of this secret assassination mission of his so he couldn't even confide in her. He didn't want to admit it but taking up this mission this made him as bad as the Moonshadow elf assassins. Maybe even worse since he knew his targets personally.

"You're not still thinking about Callum, are you?"

His blood ran cold. "What about him?"

"We'll find him again, don't worry." She nudged him playfully. "They're with the avatar and Zuko's tracking the avatar. You don't need to go pondering into the horizon because of that. Whatever's going on with him and the elf, we'll rescue them and the dragon and go home."

Secretly, he was relieved that she hadn't somehow figured out his omission of the truth. Callum was a concern of theirs for wildly different reasons. She thought she would save them while he knew he would have to end them.

"I wasn't pondering into the horizon!"

"You totally were," she smirked. "You were a strong breeze away from launching into a dramatic monologue of your life story."

"Was not," he denied. "Can't a guard look out a window without it being a whole thing?"

"That's more of a princess thing so no."

He rolled his eyes. "Don't you have a... potion to brew or something that doesn't involve making me the butt of your little jokes?"

"Who said I was joking?" she asked in the most deadpan tone. Then she snorted with laughter. "Getting you worked up is too funny, I'm sorry."

"Oh yeah. I can really hear how sorry you are."

"But," she said more solemnly, "I've done all that I can with Iroh. I've tried all the spells and elixirs I could think of. He's in recovery so we know he's not dying at least. He'll be fine."

"Glad to know my excursion yesterday to find those dumb lizards in this scorching desert wasn't for nothing." His only response was another elbow to his side. "And I'm glad Zuko's uncle is okay. Obviously." He cast a furtive glance at Zuko sitting beside his uncle with the wet towel he used to keep him cool. "Is Zuko okay?"