Mercy (Zuko)

Chapter Fourteen: The Darkest Night

Wind and sleet buffet my face as I lean over the edge of Appa's saddle. My fur-lined parka and wooly hood fight against the sharp chill. A thick cover of clouds darken the landscape despite the noontime sun, and my eyes strain to catch any sign of Aang or Prince Zuko.

The tundra is a wasteland. Miles and miles of flat expanse of snowy ground in every direction, dotted sparsely with small outcroppings of rocks. We've been searching for hours now, and we all know that if Aang and Zuko are out here, we should've come across them by now. But that's a truth no one dares to say out loud.

I lean farther when I spot a dark heap on the ground, halfway covered in snow. White and gray spotted print is slightly hidden through the onset of snowflakes, and my heart twists when I realize it's a dead snow leopard caribou. It looks fresh, too.

We have to find them soon or they'll freeze to death.

I pull myself back, straightening up in the saddle. Katara and I make eye contact. I'm sure my face looks just like hers: anxious and despondent. The unspoken timer that has been placed on Aang and Zuko's lives tick away quietly in each of our minds.

"Don't worry, Prince Zuko can't be getting too far in this weather," Yue speaks over the wind, trying to reassure Sokka, Katara, and myself, however her words have the opposite effect.

"I'm not worried they'll get away in the blizzard," Katara mutters. "I'm worried they won't."

A fist of anxiety clenches around my throat. "Zuko needs Aang alive," I say quietly, more so trying to comfort myself than anyone else. Zuko is desperate for Aang — he wouldn't act so recklessly that it would get them both killed, would he? Does he even have a plan?

Sokka scoffs from his position on Appa's head. "Somehow that doesn't bring me much comfort," he retorts sharply.

I refrain from responding — and from letting my thoughts wander any further. Sokka has a point: Zuko needing Aang alive shouldn't bring much comfort, considering the fact that he wants to deliver Aang to the Firelord. But that's all we have to go on.

Yue looks confused. "Why not?" she hesitantly murmurs. "If he needs him alive, then...?"

Sokka glances at her from over his shoulder, but doesn't answer. Instead, Katara does.

"Zuko wants to take Aang to Firelord Ozai, because Aang is the Avatar — Ozai's biggest threat," she explains.

"Right," Yue says, but she still looks puzzled over something. "Why is Zuko doing this, though? He's been banished from the Fire Nation — why is he still helping the Firelord?"

"If your father cast you out, wouldn't you do just about anything to come home?" I ask.

Yue ponders for a moment, an almost-understanding look crossing her face as she does, but before she can answer, Sokka chimes in again.

"Uh — no," he says flatly. "If my father was a power-hungry psychopath, I wouldn't do 'just about anything'. I'd stay far, far away." His voice loses any trace of sarcasm. "Zuko is just another evil Fire Nation freak who doesn't deserve your pity, Kohina."

I frown.

Maybe I'm naive. Maybe I'm a fool. Maybe at the end of the day, Zuko really is just like his father. But I just don't want to believe that — Iroh doesn't want to believe that, and that should tell me something — anything.

We ride in silence after that, and I lean back over the edge of Appa's saddle.

Icy fingers grip the exposed skin of my neck as the freezing wind blows past the line of fur on my hood. The blizzard is getting worse. Appa is struggling to fly into the current of wind, but I know that even if we try to turn back, the beast wouldn't listen to us. He knows as well as we all do that Aang is in trouble, and his loyalty to his owner — his friend — leaves me in awe.