A/N: The past couple chapters have acted as a prologue of sorts. This chapter is where we start following the ATLA timeline a bit more.
—
Three Years Later
On the deck of the ship, Iroh sat at a pai sho board, contemplating his next move. Eziri was in her training clothes, sparring in hand-to-hand combat with one of the crew mates. Zuko was standing at the railing, looking in the distance.
All of a sudden, a beam of light burst up into the sky. Zuko's eyes widen as he stares at the light.
"Finally!" Zuko exclaimed.
At Zuko's voice, Eziri turned her focus to the light and failed to block the punch that was coming straight for her face. Her sparring partner landed a hit right to her jaw. Eziri cried out in pain and clutched her face.
"Shit! Princess I'm so sorry!" Eziri continued to rub her jaw and rolled her eyes.
"Relax, Ju. It was my fault. I got distracted. We're done for today." She bowed, and turned to walk towards her uncle. Zuko sent Ju a glare before turning his attention back to his family.
"Uncle, Ezi, do you realize what this means?"
"I won't get to finish my game?" Iroh asks. Zuko rolls his eyes and turns his attention back to the light.
"It means my search is about to come to an end." Zuko says hopefully.
"Zuzu I don't--"
"That light came from an incredibly powerful source! It has to be him!" Zuko cut Eziri off before she could discourage his excitement.
"Or it's just the celestial lights. We've been down this road before, Prince Zuko. I don't want you to get too excited over nothing. Please, sit. Why don't you two enjoy a cup of calming Jasmine tea?"
"Actually, I'd love--"
"I don't need any calming tea! Helmsman, head a course for the light!" Zuko starts to stalk off before turning back to Eziri.
"You need to get your face checked by the healer." Eziri turns around and looks at him with annoyance.
"Oh please." She waves her hand dismissively. "It's nothing." She turns back around to Iroh but is interrupted by Zuko.
"Ezi." He says sternly. She sighs and turns back around to him.
"Fine." She mutters and starts walking towards the infirmary. As she's walking away she grumbles "I hate when you get all big brother on me." Zuko just rolled his eyes in response.
--
"I'm going to bed now." Iroh says with a yawn. Zuko was still on deck staring into the distance. "Yep, a man needs his rest." Iroh waits a moment before continuing. "Prince Zuko, you need some sleep. Even if you're right, and the Avatar is alive, you won't find him. Your father, grandfather and great-grandfather all tried and failed."
"Because their honor didn't hinge on the Avatar's capture. Mine does. This coward's hundred years in hiding are over." Iroh sighed and turned to walk back inside. Eziri was standing farther down the deck watching the interaction. After Iroh left she walked up and stood next to Zuko, leaning against the railing.
He spared her a quick glance and noticed the deep shade of purple spreading along the left side of her jaw. He made a mental note to return the favor to Ju tomorrow.
"What did the healer say?" Zuko broke the silence. Eziri rolled her eyes.
"That it's nothing. You know, like I said earlier." She said, annoyed. Zuko narrowed his eyes and retorted.
"It doesn't look like nothing."
"I've had worse." At that, Zuko furrows his eyebrows and turns to face his sister. What does she mean by that? Eziri paused for a moment and noticed Zuko staring at her. She regretted her words now. She chose to speak before Zuko could ask her what she meant.
"You better not scare Ju off. He's the only half-decent hand-to-hand fighter that's willing to spar with me."
"He punched you in the face."
"Yeah that tends to happen when you spar." Eziri deadpanned. Zuko just huffed and turned his attention back to the water. Eziri followed his lead and turned back to the water as well.
"Do you really think it's him?" She asked hesitantly.
"It has to be." Eziri took one last glance at the water before turning to head inside.
She secretly hoped that Zuko was wrong. If the Avatar was alive, she couldn't help her brother capture him. She was willing to do whatever she could to keep the Avatar out of Ozai's clutches.
Over the years she received many military reports and a couple letters from Azula. None were ever addressed to Zuko but she would give him the gist of what was happening or just hand him the letters to read himself. With each passing day, she dreaded receiving the letter from her father asking her to return home. It had been three years and so far she received no letters directly from him. All her military reports came from Ozai's closest generals or advisors but she had yet to receive direct communication from him. She was starting to believe that maybe he would never order her to return home.
However, she knew better than to give in to false hope. One day she would receive that letter and she would have to explain to Zuko why she was returning home and stealing his throne.
--
The next morning, Eziri got up earlier than normal. She barely slept; her thoughts kept her up most of the night. Eventually she gave up trying to sleep and just decided to start her day. She put on her training clothes and started towards the deck. She was used to rising before the rest of the ship. The only other person that sometimes woke before her was Zuko. On those days they would spar together until the rest of the crew was up.
Today no one else was awake. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon. Eziri walked over to the edge of the deck and looked down. A couple times before, she had jumped off the ship in the early morning. She loved to swim and she enjoyed practicing in the early morning before everyone else was up. However, she never jumped into the water while they were in the arctic.
She continued staring at the water for a while. Deep down, she knew it was a stupid idea. She knew it would be unbearably cold and even her firebending might not help. However, she hadn't been able to swim in such a long time and the thought was tempting. She leaned over the railing and continued her stare at the water. Just a quick swim will be fine, right? No one will notice.
Her internal debate was interrupted by a voice behind her.
"You better not jump off this ship." Her brother shouted angrily from behind her. She smirked and turned around.
"Or what?" She teased.
"It's freezing and I'm not jumping in after you when you start drowning." Zuko had his arms crossed over his chest and he was glaring at her.
If she was honest, she couldn't take his glare seriously with that stupid ponytail. Especially when it was blowing in the wind.
"You're so dramatic." She said with a teasing smile before turning back around to the water.
"Ezi, I'm serious!" Zuko's voice sounded almost panicked. She sighed and decided to stop teasing. Ever since her breakdown, Zuko had been more protective of her. He was constantly hovering and asking if she was ok. It was almost as if he was watching, waiting for her to break down again. She enjoyed messing with him but she would never push it too far; she didn't want to worry him.
She took a step back from the railing and turned to face her brother. "Spar with me?" She asked, trying to divert his attention away from the water.
"What about your--"
"I swear to the spirits if you mention my stupid fucking jaw again I'm going to lose it." She spit out annoyed. Zuko just scowled and got into his fighting stance. Eziri smirked and held up one finger as she tied her hair back. She then moved forward and got into her own stance.
The two circled each other for a moment. By now they both sparred enough to anticipate each others' moves, which made things more difficult. They were both always testing out new moves and trying to trick each other to gain the upper hand. One thing that always remained the same, however, was the first move. Zuko always struck first.
Zuko took a step forward and sent a horizontal wave of flames at her feet. Eziri jumped up and kicked out a burst of blue flames before landing in front of him. Zuko dissipated the flames and created a fire whip, shooting it out towards her. Eziri ducked to the side and quickly crafted her own whip. She met his hits with her blue whip and managed to wrap her flames around his and extinguish his whip entirely. Zuko attempted to gain the upper hand and sent three quick fire punches in succession towards her torso. She weaved and dodged all three, creating a small fire tornado as she spun and blocked the third. She waved her arms around, adding more fuel to the tornado before shooting it towards her brother. His eyes widened and Eziri panicked for a moment, hoping he would put up a defense.
At the last second, Zuko raised a fire wall to block Eziri's attack. However, he was still thrown back a few feet and landed flat on his back against the deck. Before he had a chance to regain his footing, Eziri had a knee on his chest and a blue fire dagger hovering over him. Zuko huffed, annoyed, and put his hands up in surrender.
Eziri smiled and offered her hand out to him as she stood. Zuko reluctantly took it and brushed himself off.
"How the hell did you do that?" He asked after a moment.
"Honestly I'm not sure. That was the first time I tried that." Eziri shrugged. Zuko scoffed at her response.
"No way. You're lying." He said as he crossed his arms. Eziri snickered at his childish response.
"I'm totally serious! I swear!" She said as she took a step back. "Hang on, let me see if I can replicate it." She backed up farther and got into her stance. "Ok, hit me with a few fire punches." Zuko stared at her for a moment before complying and sending three punches towards her.
As she dodged the last one, she tried to match her movements from before as she spun around and added flames to her small tornado. This time she tried to make it as large as she could and sent the flames flying off the edge of the ship. Both Zuko and Eziri stared in awe as the flames were launched off the ship and dissipated as they went.
"Woah." Zuko whispered. Eziri smirked.
"Top that, Zuzu." Zuko gave her an annoyed look before getting into a stance.
"Show me how you did that." She got into her own stance and demonstrated her moves. All the while, keeping her smug smirk on her face.
After a handful of attempts, Zuko finally got the hang of the move and sent his own little fire tornado off the edge of the ship. All the while, Eziri gave him words of encouragement and corrected his movements when needed.
"You did it!" Eziri beamed and gave Zuko a proud smile. Zuko looked over at her and couldn't help the small grin that spread across his face.
The pair kept practicing, working on perfecting the new move as best they could. Eziri's tornado was always larger and hotter than Zuko's, but neither commented on it. Zuko was just happy he could figure out the move, even if it wasn't as strong as Eziri's.
--
Later in the morning, Zuko was training with two crew members while Iroh was instructing. Eziri was on the other side of the ship practicing knife-throwing. She and Ju were standing in front of a table of knives with targets placed a distance in front of them. The rocking of the ship made it more difficult at first, but the difficulty only improved Eziri's aim over time.
Eziri picked up her next knife and brought her arm back before exhaling and releasing. The knife went spinning towards the target board and hit dead center on the bullseye.
"Ugh. That's like the fifth one in a row!" Ju exclaimed as he threw his hands up in exasperation. Eziri just chuckled.
"Keep practicing, Ju. Maybe one day you'll actually hit the board." She teased. He sent her a glare before returning to his own knives. He threw another one and missed the board entirely, causing the pair to wince.
"On second thought, maybe knives aren't your thing." Ju smiled sheepishly at that.
"I think you're right." He said in defeat. Eziri could hear her brother and Uncle arguing on the other side of the deck. She ignored it for a couple more throws until she heard her brother shout:
"You will teach me the advanced set!" Eziri just rolled her eyes. She knew Zuko had a temper but she hated when he took his anger out on Uncle.
"Your brother is scary sometimes." Ju whispered to Eziri. She smirked at him before saying
"You're scared of little Zuzu? Yikes Ju, I think you're intimidated by the wrong sibling." Eziri winked at him before turning her attention back to her knives. Ju quickly turned away in an attempt to hide his blush.
--
Later Zuko was standing on deck as a flare shot through the sky. He rushed over to the railing and peered through his spyglass and saw two figures on a ship.
"The last airbender! Quite agile for his old age." Zuko turned around to a crew member. "Wake my uncle and find Eziri! Tell them I found the Avatar." Zuko turned his spyglass to a small pillar of smoke a distance away from the ship. "As well as his hiding place."