Avatar; The Royal Firebender.

Book 2, Water.

Chapter one: 

Extinguished. 

Repairing the damage from the invasion is going to end up taking the northern watertribe weeks to undo. Luckily, while they had numerous military casualties there were no civilian casualties during the invasion. The same can't be said for the firenation invasion fleet, out of 250 ships, all but 15 were obliterated by the fury of the avatar and the spirits. Only 6,000 men from the initial invasion force of 100,000 managed to escape. While a great deal were captured, with nearly 15,000 prisoners from the invasion itself the rampage from the avatar and spirits drowned over 50,000 men, the rest were defeated through the course of the battle. The single most devastating loss in firenation history and it was brought about by the son of the firelord himself. Iroh believes that once news of the devastating loss reaches the firenation support for the war effort might waver but it'll still rage on under the firelord's totalitarian regime. For the most part, Iroh's concerns have been over how Zuko is taking his role in the destruction unleashed. At a surface level, Zuko says that the only thing he regrets is killing Zhao and he's seemingly disconnected his actions in the avatar state from himself but that's a dangerous mentality to have. Iroh can tell that it's some sort of coping mechanism, trying not to come to terms with causing the deaths of thousands of your fellow countrymen, but he knows that Zuko will need to accept that it was a cost of war.

Three weeks have passed since the invasion, and for the most part Iroh believes that Zuko has come to terms with his role but he knows that his nephew has been one to bottle up his emotions and not find a healthy outlet for them. Though the events are still far too recent to be brought up and talked about, he makes the wise decision to give Zuko time to come to terms of what happened and what will be required of him in the future. A more notable change in the members of team avatar is Yue, her demeanor is like that of someone given a new lot in life. She's excited, amicable and almost impatient to begin the journey with her husband and team avatar. That excitement continues to bubble up as they begin making preparations to continue their journey. A few days ago Pakku had sent a snowy owl from the north pole to the northernmost peninsula of the earth kingdom. This morning it returned with a message stating that General Fong of the earth kingdom is expecting them and is willing to escort them to Omashu.

On the day they are to leave for the Earth kingdom fortress, Zuko finds himself sitting in front of the spirit oasis using the water to continue to try to heal his scar. There has been some definite progress in removing the blemish from his face, though the skin there is still discolored and slightly ragged it is looking far healthier than it had been. It's no longer the dark red that it once was, now just a slightly flushed pinkish red where the scar is. "The water here is a lot better for healing than anything else I've used..." He thinks to himself before doing something impulsive. He quickly looks around the repaired spirit oasis making sure that he's alone before grabbing a small waterskin from within his parka before filling it with the water. Probably half a liter worth of liquid is now within his secret pouch as he shoves a cork back in the opening then ties it as tight as he can so that no water can leak out. Once done he makes his way out of the oasis and through the city heading towards the docs where the rest of the members of his team avatar are preparing to leave. He makes sure that the small pouch of water is hidden before assisting his friends get ready to leave. As a last gift from the watertribe, Pakku and a few of his waterbenders charter them out to sea to shorten the distance Appa has to fly.

"Three months ago, if you told me that the prince of the firenation and General Iroh would be fighting on the side of the water tribe, I'd have thrown you off the bulwark into the ocean." Arnook jokes as he pats a hand roughly on Zuko's shoulder. "You have our thanks, Avatar Zuko."

"Before you go, we have some things for you. For Katara," Pakku begins as he grabs a wooden chest from Lon'qu before sliding open the lid revealing its contents. "This amulet is filled with water from the spirit oasis, it has special properties that make it more potent when healing." Katara takes the cone shaped amulet before tying it around her neck and stepping to the side. "For Yue, this bone knife was carved from the bones of the walrus-yak you and Sokka had hunted for your wedding. May it serve you well." The white dagger length bone knife is serrated along the belly of the blade, sharpened to a fine point and along the spine there is a gut hook to make cleaning animals easier. "For you, Aang. This is the pendant of an airbender nun who fled here a hundred years ago. She and a few children managed to escape the attack and their descendants live amongst our people. This should belong to you." The pendant itself is made of wood with the symbols for the air nomads etched on the face of it.