Chapter 2: The Changes
"The Avatar can do as he pleases, as for my honour..." He paused, thinking about his next words. "Well, we should save that for later..."
"After all..."
"Honour is not an object one can chase..."
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Iroh POV
Iroh felt strange. The night before, his trigger-happy nephew had just had an argument with him over the Avatar, and the pointless hunt for him. The Avatar had disappeared, and although Iroh knew he would reappear one day, he knew his nephew was no match for him, especially if he continued on his current path of self-hatred, and misery.
But just like that, something changed. He no longer seemed like his previous immature self, He looked more confident, more composed, calmer. And yet his subsequent actions were something Iroh never expected. The lack of respect for authority Zuko showed at that moment, surprised him . He had chosen to forsake his claim to the throne, leaving Azula as the only heir. Something he had clung onto before as if his life depended on it.
And the words he muttered were ones he would never have expected him to say...
"Honour is not an object one can chase..."
Something he had been trying to teach to Zuko, since the Agni Kai. Something he assumed Zuko would never figure out on his own, without any teachings, yet here he was breaking away from any expectations Iroh had of him. A sigh of relief escaped him as he thanked all the spirits he could think of. He did not know what was responsible for such change. He was simply grateful.
His sole reason for trying to teach Zuko this concept was to try and stop another person dear to him from falling into the same pit of self hatred, a validation seeking. Under his command and honour of duty, many terrible things had happened, some of which he regretted immensely. Many terrible things had happened during his duty to the Fire Nation, most of which he deeply regretted. The death of his son, while he was too busy trying to break through the Wall of Ba Sing Se. The Agni Kai, where he could do nothing but watch his beloved nephew being disfigured and scarred by his own father.
Iroh took a deep breath, before looking at the figure of the changed nephew. On the morning of his change, the first thing Zuko did was set a new sailing course. It was somewhere in the outskirts of the south of the Earth continent. South of the Great Desert. A town named Gao Ling.
The change in character though was not just noticed by him though. In addition to the now, bald head of the prince, many were curious for the reason of this sudden change in course
The moment when the meeting ended, Iroh quickly walked up to Zuko and was about to ask him for the reason of the sudden change in course when Zuko interrupted him.
"Uncle, can we talk in my room please?"
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Zuko POV
"Uncle, can we talk in my room please?" Zuko motioned with one hand to follow him, before turning around and walking off towards his quarters. He knew the crew would become somewhat confused and suspicious of his sudden change in behaviour. The absence of his former hot-blooded personality, and change in direction of travel, would undoubtedly cause at least some of the more disloyal guards to send a report to their superiors. And while he seriously needed a crew for his voyage to procure the items he wanted, it had to be a crew he could trust, or at least knew they would not betray him.
So, truthfully, although he had not lied when he stated that he needed to visit Gao Ling to get new supplies, it was easy to guess that he had ulterior motives. He would send his ship back to the capital, along with the crew. And as for money, he had enough to replenish supplies for a few months and hire a decent-sized ship with some basic crew members.
He confided these thoughts to his uncle in his quarters. He was not surprised that his uncle offered to accompany him, something Zuko knew would happen, and he welcomed it with open arms. He knew there was no point in trying to do it alone. And having a caring person you can trust next to you, was something he missed dearly
"Zuko, if you don't mind me asking, what made you change to..." Iroh paused while gesturing at him roughly "...well..." It seemed he struggled to find a word that was appropriate for the situation, while Zuko let out a small smile before answering. "It was a nightmare, uncle. An terrifying one." He replied before stopping there
Although it did kind of kill the conversation as an awkward silence filled the room. The two sat like that for a minute straight before Zuko could not take it anymore and quickly left the room, but not without saying something, "I will be on the deck, practicing, bye uncle," he mumbled quickly before vanishing even faster, leaving his uncle behind who just chuckled and shrugged off the awkwardness.
"I guess his lack of conversation skills is still the same..." Iroh muttered to himself before shaking his head and leaving the empty room.
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It took them almost a whole day of sailing for them to reach the port. As Zuko had expected, as soon as the ship docked, two of the night guards quickly left the ship and seemed to be heading straight for a falconry to deliver a message, it seemed.
After leaving to pack all of the important things the duo needed, Zuko left the ship's command room, but not before giving one last order.
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Flashback & 3rd Person POV
"But sir, how will you travel then. This is not a wise decision, what if something happens to you and your uncle. The guards will not be around to help you." The captain tried to argue against Zuko's decision. But he was firm on the matter.
"Do not worry about me and my uncle's safety. I am able of taking care of myself. The same goes for him." He said as he pointed to his uncle, who... was underneath the table, looking for a white lotus tile, making Zuko mutter to himself, "I think...".
Flashback End
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Zuko POV
After a short while, the two got ready and began to pack up most of the essentials as well as most of the gold taels. He took a quick look at the ship he had travelled the world on during his search for the Avatar, before turning around and, with his uncle at his side, began to leave the docks, disappearing into the crowd.
The first thing Zuko planned to do was to find a temporary place to stay. An inn worked fine for both of them, so after a looking around for a little while, they found a decently cheap inn called The Rose Inn. Although it looked pretty shabby from the outside, inside it was a well-cared for bar with a few spruce tables and chairs along and a floor above with some clean rooms.
After leaving almost all of their belongings in their room except, for a few coins in their pockets, the two proceeded to walk towards the market.
The market itself was more or less empty, with only a few stalls open and available and even fewer were selling provisions. It was confusing to walk through the streets, and the similar architecture and height of the building did not help. All in all, the duo managed to get lost. And to make matters worse, it seemed group of hooligans were headed towards them.
"Hello, gentlemen, could you help an old man and his dear nephew get back to the market. It seems we have lost our way while exploring this wonderful city." Asked Iroh politely, but that only made the group more excited. Almost immediately one of the men, a man with an eye patch and a crooked nose, put his arm around Iroh and made a friendly and helpful impression, but his words had the opposite effect.
"Sure old man. We don't mind helping. However we will charge a fee for doing so. After all, we have to earn a living too." The man tried to say with an innocent smile, but the grin did not leave his face, it only grew larger at his uncle's next words.
"Well, how much would it cost?" His uncle asked, before doing something beyond stupid. He opened his purse right in front of the man, almost juggling the gold taels in the man's face.
And it seemed as if the man's greed finally came out, while the feigned friendliness he was obviously displaying disappeared without a trace. "All of them. I want all of your coins." He cackled, with his friends immediately pulling out a few daggers and brass knuckles.
Before they could react though, Zuko struck first, his fist sinking into the face of the eye-patched man. The others were taken aback by the Zuko's sudden attack and hesitated for a moment, something that Zuko took advantage of by landing another blow.
The sound of their friend falling onto the ground unconscious, snapped the group of rascals from their stupor, before one of them lunged towards Zuko in retaliation. The sound of sabre clashing against sword echoed through the empty street. Immediately, he followed the attack with a roundhouse kick, knocking the man to the ground.
Seeing him take out another one of the friends, a third of the group chose to gang up on him, while the last one chose to fight Iroh instead.
With a swift and precise movement, Zuko deflected the dagger of one of the robbers and delivered a quick blow to his chest, causing the man to fall to the ground, gasping for air.
As he parried another punk's blows with ease, his sabre glinting in the sunlight with every swing, he decided to check up on his uncle. It seemed that although Iroh was chubby, he was unexpectedly agile, something he used to knock out his attacker with a chop on the back of the head.
Not even a minute passed before, the group of thieves soon realized that they had chosen to pick on the wrong people. The nephew and uncle were a formidable opponents, even without their fire bending.
The fight lasted for another few seconds before the group lay, out cold, on the floor.
The two men stood in silence in the middle of the street, breathing heavily and drenched in sweat. The silence would have lasted longer if not for an incredibly loud grumble coming from Iron's stomach. To which he let out :
"I wonder if there is a place where we could eat and enjoy some jasmine tea?" Iroh asked with a lack of embarrassment, while Zuko laughed heartily at the coincidental timing.
"Sure uncle, let's have some tea..."
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