Steam Will Rise

6.Found

Zuko kneeled and inhaled and then exhaled slowly. Breath control was the first lesson you learned as a firebender. The second was control of the flame. Zuko thought back to all the hours his firebending teacher made him keep the flame burning on a candle without melting the wax. Control and power. That's what it was all about. He could take General Anzai in the agni kai. The general was old, slow, and battle worn. He did not have as much control as he once did and his bending lacked power. He couldn't lose.

Though his heart was pounding fast he was not scared. He was not excited either he was ready to show his father how much his firebending had improved, and Azula too. They would see finally that he was not weak and that his ideas had merit. After this his father would honor him in the same way that he honored Azula. He rose to his feet ready to fight. This would be a short agni kai he was sure of it. He turned to face his opponent and saw not General Anzai, but The Fire Lord. His father. Zuko's breath caught in his throat. There had to be some mistake. Surely his father didn't expect him to duel against him in an agni kai.

"Please, father, I only had the fire nation's best interest at heart! I'm sorry I spoke out of turn!"

"You will fight for your honor."

This was a nightmare and any minute now he'd wake up. Or perhaps a test of loyalty. Yes, that had to be it. All his father wanted from him was an act of contrition to make up for the way he'd disrespected him. Once his father saw how sorry he truly was all of this would be over. "I meant you no disrespect. I am your loyal son." He lowered himself to the ground kowtowing before his father in complete supplication.

"Rise and fight, Prince Zuko!"

"I won't fight you." He couldn't fight his father, and not just because his father could out bend him, but because it was his father. How could he even think of bending at him? What if he burned him? He couldn't and wouldn't do that to his own father and he refused to believe that his father would do that to him.

"You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher."

Crying was the trait of a weak and shameful person he knew it, but no matter how hard he fought against them the tears still came.

***

"Zuko! Zuko! Are you all right? Can you hear me?"

Zuko blinked several times as the sights and sounds of Ba Sing Se slowly came back to him as if he were looking through a pair of binoculars that were slowly coming into focus. He wondered how long he been lost to his memory because he felt as if he'd been lifted out of a dark cave he'd been living in for weeks.

"I'm fine Katara."

"Are you sure?" I was calling your name for awhile."

She looked scared for him. He could see it in her eyes that she thought he was some poor fragile thing and any second now he would completely break down.

"I told you I'm fine!" He snapped.

"Then can we get going." She snapped back.

He sighed. Great now he'd made her angry. "Look just stay close to me and keep an eye on your surroundings." Zuko instructed. "The moment you let your guard down is the moment you get hurt."

He had a love hate relationship with Ba Sing Se. It wasn't long ago that he was among one of the nameless faceless people who walked the streets in the city of walls and secrets, and everyone in the city had secrets. Secrets of their own that they'd like to forget, but it was a futile effort secrets were like the past; you couldn't forget them any more than you could out run them.