Too Far Away

Chapter Twelve: They Called For That Big Snow

Zuko and Iroh eventually made it back to their ship, even without the assistance of the cutter-craft or the missing lotus tile. It wasn't even possible to quantify Zuko's anger about that last part, so he didn't even bother trying to rationalize it.

It wasn't until the sun had disappeared from the sky the day after the Avatar had escaped yet again that Zuko finally made it back to his room. He was ready to collapse and go to sleep, but he straightened in surprise when he noticed that Tongyi was waiting for him, and his eyes widened as he felt a sudden, terrible flash of recognition. When the cutter-craft had gone over the side of the waterfall, he hadn't even thought of the messenger falcon. Apparently, though, it hadn't mattered, because it seemed like he'd saved himself and flown immediately to Zuko's ship, where he had to have been waiting for hours. One of the crewmates must have brought him to Zuko's room and provided him with cake, which was obvious from the empty dish sitting next to Tongyi.

"Hello," said Zuko.

Tongyi said nothing. He was, after all, a bird, and neither Zuko nor Song Lee knew how to speak Falcon.

Zuko almost smiled at that thought.

Even though he was more tired than he ever remembered being, he sat down at his desk and drew Song Lee's letter from his pocket. It was almost completely soaked through. Song Lee's calligraphy, which was already pretty difficult to read, had almost completely disappeared as the ink ran over the paper.

He felt that unwelcome burst of shame again. He probably should have left the letter with Tongyi.

He went over what was left of it, though all he could really make out was her signature at that point. He spread it out over his desk so that it would dry. Maybe it was a waste, but he had saved all of her other letters, and he intended to save that one, too. Luckily, since it had been short, Zuko remembered it pretty well. To be honest, though, he remembered all of her letters pretty well because of how often he read and re-read them. It didn't matter. Her words kept him sane.

Song Lee,

You'll never guess what I just went through in an attempt to catch the Avatar.

He wrote about all of it. He wrote about the necklace, the missing tile, the alliance with the pirates, the fight against the Avatar and his friends and the pirates with whom he no longer had an alliance, and the reemergence of the missing tile. He didn't tell her about Tongyi almost getting trapped in the ruined cutter-craft, or how her letter had gotten ruined. He enjoyed receiving letters from her, and preferred to continue receiving them. He didn't want her to think she couldn't trust him with Tongyi.

My Uncle is fine. I'm sorry I couldn't reply to the fifth letter. The Avatar had nothing to do with his capture. My Uncle was almost fine without my help, actually. He's definitely wanted in the Earth Kingdom, seeing as he did try to capture their capital city a couple of years ago. Also, because he is technically also the Grand Duke of the Fire Nation as well as a renowned general, he would be wanted anywhere that people don't want the Fire Nation. We managed to fight the earthbenders off just fine. They got what was coming to them.

He paused, grimaced, and wrote:

Tongyi is doing well. He had a rough time getting here, though. I'm going to let him rest for the night before I send him back to you. If I could speak Falcon, I would ask what happened to him. As it is, I'll just wonder.

Never mind that it was technically a lie. He had been the one too almost kill Tongyi, after all. After that, though, he forced his tired mind to work for a little bit longer. He thought for a long time about what he wanted to write next.