Avatar; The Royal Firebender.

Broken

By the time Ying delivered her baby, Hope, the day had turned from morning to late afternoon. After parting from Than, Ying and Goma, Zuko hops on the back of Appa and relaxes as Aang takes the reins to fly them back to the inn that they had gotten the previous night in the lower ring. As the hours slowly tick by and the sun begins to get lower and lower in the sky, Zuko begins to feel anxious over what he's about to do. What if Azula hurt Mai to lure him out? What if she tries to kill him? What if she accuses Mai of treason for writing him letters? Questions like these plague his mind as he tries to focus on his training with Toph. Try as he might though, he can't hide his anxiety, especially from her. The young earthbender could detect the slightest change in a person's attitude or speaking due to how acute she's tuned both her hearing and touch to be. He still isn't sure just how far away she can 'See' things with her seismic sense. He had tried to kill some time by asking if she could teach him some more about earthbending out behind the inn they're staying at.

"Look Sparky, training is only going to work if you actually focus on what we're doing. What's got you this bothered anyways?" Toph asks which snaps Zuko's attention back to her, he didn't even realize he had spaced out. "And don't try to lie to me, I can tell when you're lying."

"How do you do that?" Zuko asks, trying to evade the question.

"Your heartbeat has been weird today, and I can tell when people lie because their heartbeat speeds up, their weight shifts and I can hear even the smallest shift in their voice too." Toph explains but she then folds her arms and shifts her weight to one leg before asking the question again. "What is bothering you? Katara's been acting weird too since yesterday when you split up from us."

"Fine, if I don't tell you Katara probably will anyway. I'm worried about my girlfriend. Mai, the girl in Azula's group who throws knives and sighs a lot." Toph smirks when he says this which was the opposite reaction he was expecting out of her. "We've been writing to each other ever since we met again in Omashu. But, I got a letter from her yesterday that's been worrying me. It's short, written with no emotion behind it and it's a different handwriting style than hers."

"So you think she was caught?" Toph asks, and all Zuko can do is nod at her question.

"Yes, and I'm afraid for her life. My sister is ruthless, she was groomed since childhood to be the perfect weapon. After Avatar Beifong was killed and I was born, my father ordered the fire sages to start their search for the avatar. Before my banishment we were told that the avatar was a member of the royal family, my father assumed it was my sister and began grooming her to be the perfect weapon." Zuko explains, motioning for her to take a seat beside him so he can tell her this. "However, I was lied to." Toph feels him get angry when he says that, hearing the growling undertone in his voice when he speaks. "I was told that the sages made a mistake and that the avatar was supposed to be an airbender or that Avatar Beifong was still alive. So when I found Aang, I attacked him thinking that he was the avatar and I even managed to capture him without a fight. Then, next thing I know he's broken out and I'm sent flying into the icy depths wearing full steel and brass armor that weighs almost 50 kilos."

"Was that how you learned you were the avatar?" Toph asks. "How did you survive?"

"Yeah, that was the day that I found out." Zuko replies before taking a deep breath to calm the anger in his voice. "As for how I survived, I used the avatar state but you haven't seen me use it yet. Each time I've used it I haven't remembered very much. All I can remember is gasping for air, having the water enter my lungs then I woke up on the deck of my old ship." Zuko says, recalling the events from his point of view. "Uncle says that I exploded out of the ocean with a tornado of water around my legs. With only a wave of my hand I saved my men who were also thrown overboard and stopped Appa from escaping with Aang, Katara and Sokka."