Avatar; The Royal Firebender.

The Prince's Decision.

Aang, Katara and Sokka were shocked and the two tribe members were horrified at what had happened. The new avatar was among them and he was the son of the Fire Lord. Seeing the fear in their eyes, Iroh decides to speak with them to try to alleviate the situation. "Relax, young ones. My nephew was after the Avatar thinking that you were him. Now that we know Zuko is the avatar he has no reason to hurt you." Iroh tries to explain but his words fall on deaf ears as the trio points their weapons at him. "How do we know we can trust you? You're fire nation!" Sokka declares with Iroh bowing towards them and dropping his guard.

"I know you may have anger towards us, but forgive my nephew for his brash actions. He has been so absorbed in regaining the honor that he thought he lost. Perhaps you can help him realize himself as the Avatar. Young one, you are an airbender. Maybe you can teach him the next element in the Avatar cycle." Iroh explains bowing to them then getting on his knees to get into a deeper bow. "The world needs it's Avatar, it doesn't matter which nation you're from. His destiny now is to bring peace." He says looking up to them, Aang spins his staff in his hand before resting it at his side before walking up to Iroh.

"When he wakes up you need to tell him that he is the avatar." Aang says helping Iroh back to his feet. "I will do my best, his temper is a bit hot and he might act irrational at times. He just needs patience." Iroh says looking towards Katara and Sokka. "He may be the Avatar but he's still a firebender and fire nation. He attacked us and kidnapped Aang." Katara declares.

"I apologize on his behalf, we may be fire nation and our country has done horrible things but please don't take that anger out on him. His destiny is to bring peace to the world but in order to do that, he needs a teacher to teach him airbending. Will you do it, Aang?" Iroh asks before going on to explain Zuko's misplaced anger and why he was searching for the Avatar.

"I want to talk with him after he wakes up before I decide to train him or not." Aang says before turning to face Appa still stuck in the ice. "Can your men free my bison?" He asks. "We will try to do so without startling him, yes." Iroh replies before motioning for the soldiers to free the bison. Appa roars seeing them approach but is calmed by Aang as the firebenders melt the ice surrounding the bison.

"I will be back with prince Zuko shortly, why don't you come inside and get out of the cold." Iroh says motioning for them to follow him into the galley of the vessel. "Might I offer you some tea while we wait for Zuko to wake up?" Iroh asks, showing a small teapot. "Yes please." Aang says quickly getting the older man to smile.

"He could poison it for all we know!" Sokka protests watching Iroh start to heat some water to brew the tea. "He just asked me to train his nephew Air bending, why would he do that?" Aang asks as Iroh starts to add the tea leaves to the water. "He's fire nation! They're evil!" Sokka declares pointing at the jolly fat man. "He doesn't seem bad to me, he wanted to talk and didn't try to burn our faces off." Aang responds before being handed a cup of tea by the old man. "Wow this is amazing! What's in it?" Aang exclaims looking at the brown liquid in the glass.

"It's simple jasmine tea, but I can't tell you. It's a secret recipe." Iroh says with a smile before pouring two more glasses and for Katara and Sokka. Sokka stares at the liquid for a few moments inspecting it, Katara looks over to Aang who is already on his second cup before deciding to drink it.

"I'm sorry we had to meet like this today, Zuko's dedication to finding the Avatar clouded his judgement and now that he is the Avatar I am unsure of how he will act going further. I do not wish for his father to learn that he is the Avatar. Ozai will surely slay him as he sees the Avatar as a threat." Iroh explains causing the others to go quiet.

In the sick bay of the ship, Zuko is being tended to by the ship's doctor. He groggily opens his eyes letting them adjust to his blurry surroundings. The doctor rushes over to him making sure he's alright before being waved away as the prince gets up from the bed. He stumbles slightly before placing a hand to the side of his head to quell a headache before shaking it off and straightening his posture. He breathes deeply before leaving the room and thanking the doctor with a simple nod.

Soon enough the newly discovered Avatar arrives at the galley and sluggishly walks in. Iroh and the others watch silently as he casually plops himself down next to Aang and rests his head in his arms. "Uncle.. could I have some tea please?" Zuko asks in a tired yet polite tone yawning and rubbing the side of his head. "Of course!" Iroh complies and pour his nephew a cup.

Handing the steaming cup of light brown liquid to the scarred teen Iroh hopes Zuko will drink it. Before he poured it he put in some medicinal herbs to soothe his headache. Sokka and Katara keep their eyes on Zuko in case he tries to attack, but otherwise they silently leave him be. The young firebender props his head up using one hand and grabs the cup in the other before taking a few sips and putting the cup back down. "It's good.." He mumbles much to his Uncle's delight.

"Yea! Your Uncle makes really good tea!" Aang chimes in cheerfully being on his fifteenth cup. Zuko lazily looks to his right at the bald airbender but doesn't act, he just stares at him for a few moments. Sokka thinks he's going to strike and grabs the handle of his bone sword but Katara stops him. "If he was gonna strike, he would've done it by now. Sit down." She whispers to her older brother.

"...You shouldn't drink too much. It can make you sick..." Zuko says turning his head and taking a few more sips of his tea. Once at the bottom of the cup he puts his head down again to relax. 'The medicine should be kicking in right about now. While soothing his headache it'll also make him less hostile, so I think now is as good a time as any to tell him that he's the Avatar.' Iroh thinks while handing some cups of tea to the crew members.

"Prince Zuko, do you remember what happened a few minutes ago?" Iroh asks seeing his nephew scan the room and look at the people he was just battling. "I... I remember getting knocked off the ship then waking up on the deck." He responds. "My nephew, a great thing has happened. You rescued the men and yourself from the ocean and brought them back on board." Iroh says gulping down some nervousness for what he's about to tell Zuko. "How did I save them? I thought I was gonna drown." He responds in a confused voice. "You used water bending to pull them from the icy seas and put them back on the ship. You Prince Zuko are the Avatar."

Zuko stayed silent, trying to remember the strange vision he had gotten when in the avatar state. He saw himself standing next to a man in green and gold armor on a cloud and a line of people going down into the distance away from him for what seems like forever. "I'm... the Avatar?" he asks, looking at his hands before turning to Aang and the bunch. "Yes, you blew out of the water attached to a water spout, your eyes were glowing blue like the avatars of the past and in legend." Katara replies with Zuko going silent again.

"I have to tell my father, he will be amazed that I'm the avatar." Zuko replies before Iroh shoots down this idea. "He wouldn't believe you unless you could bend anything aside from fire. He would accuse you of lying and your punishment would be far worse than what has already happened to you." Iroh says, causing Zuko to look down in disappointment. "Maybe... I could learn then?" Zuko asks, turning towards the others and locking eyes with Aang.

"Will you hurt us when you get angry?" Katara asks with folded arms. "No, I'm... sorry for what I did back there." Zuko apologizes which surprises even Iroh. "I can teach you airbending but we should go to the southern air temple since it would be a better place to train." Aang suggests. "Can you be my airbending master?" Zuko asks getting a nod from Aang in return. "Be careful on your journey my nephew, many people will not trust you because of being a firebender but if you learn the elements you can regain your honor." Iroh says standing from his little pillow and inviting his nephew to hug him.

The quartet make their way to the deck of the ship, Zuko having collected his things that he may need and changing his clothes so as to not raise aggression from anyone being that he is firenation. Aang shows him how to board Appa with the beast being reluctant to allow Zuko to board at first but when Aang had Zuko give him an apple, Appa licks him and allows him on his back. Zuko waves goodbye to his uncle as Appa takes flight into the air. As soon as they are out of sight, Iroh turns and addresses the men. "No matter what, the fire lord can not know of the identity of the avatar. Fire lord Ozai will kill his own son deeming him a threat to the firenation." Iroh says. " I solemnly swear this to secrecy, we will tell not a soul the identity of the avatar." Iroh speaks commanding his subordinates to take this oath. The men repeat verbatim what Iroh says as they change course to an unknown destination.