set my heart on fire (slow updates)

Search Party of One

Y/N's POV
Prince Zuko had barely returned before he set out on one of the rhinos; I considered taking one and starting after him but thought better of it.

His problems are not of my concern.

I stayed with my soldiers and ran drills with them until nightfall but Prince Zuko and General Iroh still hadn't returned.

I had decided that if they did not return by midday, I'd set out to find them myself; I didn't have time to be waiting around for them, I had a job to get back to.

In the prince's absence, the difference in the way things were finally sunk in- this wasn't what we were like in our childhood. Since my parents were members of the royal court, I grew up around the palace, and even though we were raised through the war, it wasn't like this.

When we were growing up, we were the next generation of the royal family and the nobility; sure, we learned about the war and trained in martial arts and in our bending, but we also went to social events in the palace where the adults would joke about the children growing up and getting married, with tiny food on fancy plates and a lot of dancing.

We had attended balls and sat in the throne room as other nobles requested audiences with the Fire Lord- it wasn't as glamorous as I read life was like before the war, but it was so innocent compared to what we experience today.

Don't get me wrong, the life I have on the front lines is something I worked really hard for and I would do it all again if I could, but sometimes at night when I think about how many men under my command will die in the next battle we're sent into, I take comfort in the days when I was oblivious to the horrors of war.

And I knew that things were different before I crossed paths with Prince Zuko, but looking at him now, a shell of the boy I once knew, it just makes it that much more real.

I was eating my lunch when I concluded that something must have gone wrong for Prince Zuko and General Iroh to still be missing, I took one more bite of my food before turning to one of my soldiers, "get me a rhino, I'm going to search for them"

A couple of my soldiers offered to accompany me but I disagreed, telling them that if they hadn't heard back from me by the same time tomorrow to send out a search party lasting no more than three days, if I still wasn't found, then declare me dead and report back to the general.

Zuko's POV
Uncle had been kidnapped by earth benders, but once I found him and freed him from his chains, it didn't take us very long to leave the earth benders buried in their own rubble.

When we finally got back to the ship, Y/N's soldiers came running to greet us, all of their faces dropping when they did.

"Prince Zuko, we're glad to see you safely returned"

I scowled at the soldier who stepped forwards, shoving past their group, "whatever"

"Was the captain with you? Did you see her?"

I stopped in my tracks and turned around, "when I left she was still on the ship"

They exchanged glances before the same man explained, "she left about a day and a half after you did, sir, she was searching for the both of you"

I dropped my head backwards and sighed, muttering, "I don't have time for this"

I glared over at my uncle, "when I'm back, I don't want to have to search for you again, uncle, so please just stay on the ship"

—

I had been on the road for ages before I finally found her tracks, heading in the same direction that uncle and I had gone.

Why couldn't she have just stayed put?

It was almost nightfall- another day that I could've spent getting closer to finding the avatar wasted.

She was always like this, doing things she wasn't supposed to do- like joining the army. When I saw her in that Earth Kingdom town I was in disbelief but not surprised at the same time, it was unbelievably typical of her.

It was a while before I finally caught sight of her, and before I even called out, she turned around and yelled to me, "Prince Zuko! I've been looking for you everywhere!"

I sighed, "I don't see why you can't just follow orders and stay on the ship"

"You didn't tell me to stay on the ship, you just left without a word... and I don't take orders from you anyway, your highness"

I didn't reply and after a few moments of silence she asked, "so, where's your uncle?"

"Back on the ship, where we should be"

She let out a long exhale, "I don't know what's gotten you in such a foul mood, my squad and I could've left in your absence but we stayed so I could make sure you were okay"

"I didn't ask you to do that"

"No, but it's human decency"

"It was unnecessary"

She shrugged, "so, you leave the Fire Nation and lose all your sense of manners?"

"No! Ugh, just hurry up- I should be close to the avatar by now, not out here looking for you!"

Again, unbothered, she hummed, "and I should be off to the Earth Kingdom colonies, but hey, here we are"

So annoying.

I ignored her and headed back towards the ship- the avatar will not escape me this time.