"Don't you think it's a little weird we're hiding from the Fire Lord in his own house?" Katara said looking around the courtyard of Ozai's house in Ember Island. Toph and Mari nodded, sitting next to her watching Zuko and Aang train.
"I told you, my father hasn't come here since out family was actually happy." Zuko responded, wiping sweat of his forehead with a rag. "And that was a long time ago. It's the last place anyone would think to look for us."
"You guys are not going to believe this!" Sokka said running out into the courtyard with Suki. "There's a play about us."
"We were just in town and we saw this poster." Suki said, motioning to the scroll in Sokka's hands.
"What how is that possible?" Katara said
"Listen to this. The boy in the iceberg is a new production from acclaimed playwright Pu on Tim, who scoured the globe gathering information on the Avatar, from the icy South Pole, to the heart of Ba Sing Se. His sources includes singing nomads, pirates, prisoners of war, sisters of an abbey, and a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage."
"Brought to you by the critically acclaimed Ember Island Players." Suki read from the bottom.
"Ugh, My mother used to take me to see them. They butchered Love Among the Dragons every year." Zuko groaned.
"Sokka so you really think it's a good idea for us to attend a play about ourselves?" Katara turned to her brother.
"Come on, a day at the theater? This is the kind of wacky time wasting nonsense I've been missing!"
---
Later that evening, the gang stepped into a booth at the theater, each dressed in fire nation attire.
Zuko sat down in a space with Katara on left and Mari on his right, before Aang could.
"Hey uh, I wanted to sit there."
"Just sit next to Mari, what's the big deal."
Mari knew Aang wanted to sit next to Katara but before she could tell Zuko to move the lights dimmed and the play started to begin.
The first scene started representing the South Pole. The actors of Katara and Sokka in a boat.
"Sokka, my only brother! We constantly roam these icy South Pole seas, and yet never do we find anything fulfilling" The actress said dramatically.
"All I want is a full feeling in my stomach! I'm starving!" Said the actor, causing the room to laugh. Katara and Sokka's once excited faces fell at the representation of them on the stage.
"Is food the only thing on your mind?" Stage Katara sighed.
As the show went on, Mari grew even more confused.
"Who are you, frozen boy?"
"I'm the Avatar, silly, here to spread joy and fun!" Said an extremely high pitched voice.
"Is that a woman playing me?" Aang whispered.
"They make me look so stiff and humorless!" Zuko exclaimed.
"I think the actor's pretty spot on." Mari teased.
"How could you say that?"Zuko said extending his arm forward. "Oh just wait until the introduce your character." He said sitting back into his chair.
After scenes Sokka in dresses, an awful portrayal of the blue spirit story, and other corny jokes. The Abbey scene finally arrived.
Mari smiled excitedly, waiting to see her actress. "There I am!" She whispered, pointing to a girl walking up to a paralyzed Zuko and Iroh.
"Hey you. I'm going to help you find the Avatar!" She said dramatically.
"I don't need your help." Said Zuko's actor.
"Yes you do! You suck! and I am a powerful earthbender, you need me!" Shouted the actress
"That's not how it went at all! They make me sound so full of myself" Mari exclaimed.
"I think the actor's pretty spot on." Zuko mocked earning a nudge in the side from Mari.
As the story progressed, Mari felt her mouth drop even wider from the inaccuracy of it all.
"I have to admit Prince Zuko, I really find you attractive!" Katara's actress said in the crystal catacombs.
"You don't have to make fun of me." He responded.
"But I mean it! I've had eyes for you since the day you first captured me."
This made Katara and Zuko exchange uncomfortable glances before shifting away from each other.
"Wait, I thought you were the Avatar's girl!"
"The Avatar?" Actress Katara laughed. "Why, he's like a little brother to me! I certainly don't think of him in a romantic way. Besides how could he ever find out about this."
Stage Katara and Zuko embraced each other as romantic music played in the background. Aang and Mari now shared the same blank expression.
Aang quickly got up and walked away abruptly.
"Oh you're getting up? Can you get me some fire flakes? Oh and some fire gummies!" Sokka whispered to him.
---
When the intermission had finally came, Katara went off to find Aang and Toph, Mari and Zuko sat in the hallway.
"Geez everyone is getting so upset over their characters, even you seem more down than usual." Toph said to Zuko.
"You don't get it, it's different for you. You get a muscly version of yourself, taking down ten bad guys at once, and making sassy remarks."
"Yeah it's pretty great!" Toph smiled, thinking of her actor, a large man with huge muscles and snarky comments.
"But for me, it takes all the mistakes I've made in my life, and shoves them back in my face. My uncle, he's always been on my side, even when things were bad. He was there for me, he taught me so much, and how do I repay him? With a knife in his back. It's my greatest regret, and I may never get to redeem myself." Zuko admitted.
Mari placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him.
"You have redeemed yourself to your uncle. You don't realize it, but you already have." Toph said to him.
"How do you know?"
"Because I once had a long conversation with the guy. You were all he talked about."
"Really?" He asked, turning to Mari. She smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, and it was kinda annoying." Toph continued.
"Sorry." Zuko said looking down.
"But it was also very sweet. All your uncle wanted was for you to find your own path, and see the light. Now you're here with us. He'd be proud" Toph smiled, punching Zuko in the arm.
"Ow, what was that for?" He rubbed his arm.
"That's how I show affection." Toph shrugged.
A boy wearing an Aang costume ran passed Toph but stopped at Zuko and Mari.
"Your Zuko costume is pretty good, but your scar is on the wrong side." He said before running off.
"My scar is not on the wrong side!" Zuko yelled.
---
After a very horrible ending, including Zuko and Aang dying and the Fire Lord winning, the group trudged back to the house, concerned.
"That play wasn't good." Zuko said.
"Terrible." Mari groaned.
"I'll say"
"No kidding"
"Horrible."
"You said it."
The seven continued walking until Sokka paused.
"But the effects were decent."