Chapter Text
He’d been pacing across the deck, considering in which direction to search next, when a great beam of light suddenly shot up into the sky far ahead; a beacon, a herald, a return. Surely, such a powerful thing could only come from one source, one which had to be-
Zuko collapsed to the deck before he even had a chance to demand if Uncle Iroh knew what it meant.
He remembered.
Taunting Azula. The lightning. Katara.
By the time Zuko came back to himself, Iroh had ordered the boy carried to his quarters, and sat alone in the dark room with his nephew. He knew several of the crew lingered in the passage outside, concerned in spite of themselves, but none would dare intrude against his orders. The ship’s physician, better versed with treating burns and setting broken bones, could only shake his head warily and announce the prince seemed to be fine, merely unconscious.
Merely. As if Iroh’s heart hadn’t frozen in his chest when Zuko collapsed without warning.
Without anything identifiable to treat, the physician retreated, and Iroh remained with his nephew until the boy began to stir.
“Easy, Prince Zuko,” he murmured, broad hands carefully clasped around a much slimmer one. Iroh knew from their early days of exile that his nephew tended towards two options when waking: a rapid jerk to full awareness, often with flickers of flame coming off his fingers, or a slower, more languid process that involved checking his surroundings for danger first and foremost.
This, thankfully, appeared to be the latter. Zuko blinked, first at Iroh, then their hands, and finally the room at large. His breathing paused for a moment, and Iroh nearly pushed him back down when the boy sat up. “We’re- the Wani?”
Ah. Normally, that question came after a nightmare, but Iroh couldn’t say it surprised him. “Yes, nephew. We are in your quarters aboard the ship.”
“But that’s not-” Zuko growled, rubbing one fisted hand against his forehead. “What happened?”
“We are not entirely certain. One moment, all seemed calm, and then a beam of light appeared from somewhere over the horizon, and you fell-” He stopped when his nephew abruptly straightened, fixing wide eyes upon Iroh’s face.
“We’re at the South Pole?” The boy demanded.
“Yes,” Iroh said in a careful tone. “We’ve begun searching the more remote regions for any signs of the Avatar- Prince Zuko!”
His nephew didn’t heed his admonishing tone, instead jumping clear of the bed and hurrying to pull on his boots and an outer robe. “Did anyone mark down the heading for where the light came from? We need to move quickly-”
Iroh heaved himself up as well, intent on disabusing his nephew of doing anything besides getting back into bed until they knew what was wrong to have caused his collapse, but before he could do more than open his mouth, an alarm klaxon began to sound. Zuko didn’t hesitate to yank open the door and dart out of sight, even without wearing any of his armor pieces.
With a huff, Iroh gave chase.
He arrived back on the main deck where all the trouble started, just in time to see a small orange and yellow blur launch towards his nephew. Zuko let out a startled oomph, staggering back a step, but otherwise didn’t attempt to defend himself. “Aang, what are you doing?”
“Katara said you got hit by Azula’s lightning!” The unexpectedly young and upset voice threw Iroh for a loop, and then another when he registered the actual words. “And I couldn’t just hang around to wait for you to show up, I needed to come make sure you were okay!”
Zuko groaned. “So you just decided to fly around until you found my ship? Before you even knew if I would recognize you?!” That particular exasperated tone Iroh knew well from Lu Ten’s adolescent years, but he’d never heard it from his nephew before.
It... suited him, though.
“Well, Katara and Sokka both remembered, so-” Another groan, but this time it sounded more balanced between exasperation and fondness, and Zuko’s arms visibly tightened around the smaller figure plastered against him, hugging in return.
Iroh did, of course, wish very much to know what exactly was going on, but as his nephew appeared undeniably lighter in mind and spirit than a mere hour before, he could wait for an opportune moment to ask.
“So,” Lieutenant Jee said slowly, “You’re the Avatar.”
“Yep!” The unexpectedly small and entirely too cheerful boy bounced in place.
“And... we’re not taking you prisoner?”
“I don’t think so. Has Zuko mentioned anything about it since he woke up?” Across the deck, the Prince and his uncle were engaged in a low-toned conversation, which presented a reversal of the usual norms - the Prince appeared pretty calm, whereas the old general looked to be getting more alarmed and upset with every word.
“...nnno, he hasn’t.” Jee once again glanced sidelong down at the boy, the child who was supposedly the greatest threat to the Fire Nation’s mission of bringing peace to the world. (Not that Jee himself particularly believed in said mission. He’d seen too many port downs burned to the ground for an officer’s amusement to even remotely believe it - part of the reason he’d spent the last three years aboard a banished vessel, as his choices had been that or desertion. Prince Zuko could have a temper, sure, but he’d also proven to not be the sort of person inclined to setting fire to civilians at the smallest annoyance.)
“Good!” The Avatar chirped. His bouncing suddenly paused, before the boy abruptly bounded over to the ship’s railing. Jee, and several of the guards too, made aborted movements to try grabbing him before the kid fell off the side. “Appa! Guys! Over here!”
Some sort of long, low groan rumbled up from the water below, easily sending Jee’s level of alarm right back up to where it’d been when the Prince first collapsed. Before he could go over himself to investigate what caused it, the rumble was overlaid by the sound of rushing water, and a reverse waterfall rose up and over the railing to deposit a Water Tribe girl onto the ship’s deck.
One who looked extraordinarily ticked off.
Jee got approximately half a second to think they were about to be attacked by a furious waterbender, before the girl froze an orb of water over her palm into a- snowball? - and hurled it right at Prince Zuko’s head. “You idiot!”
Taken by surprise, the Prince only managed to dodge enough that the snowball paffed against his shoulder instead of his face. “Katara, wait-”
“You’re supposed to redirect your crazy sister’s lightning, you moron, not throw yourself in the way!”
“She was aiming at you!”
“And what, you thought I wouldn’t move?!”
“I didn’t think at all!” The Prince protested, hastily backing up even as the shorter girl stalked after him. “I just jumped! And I’m not sorry!” With an inarticulate cry of rage, the waterbender launched herself fowards. Prince Zuko yelped and tried to dart away, but a sudden burst of wind pushed him back across the slippery surface of the deck plating, and the girl caught and- hugged him?
Yep. For the second time in twenty minutes, Prince Zuko became the semi-willing recipient of a child's fierce embrace.
Jee slowly shook his head in disbelief.
“Okay!” Yet another new voice rang out across the deck, as a second Water Tribe kid clambered up onto the Wani. “If that’s enough of an outlet for my sister’s emotions, can we please start figuring out what the new plan is to beat Lord Firepants and save the world?”
Even without looking behind her, the waterbender sent a second snowball whizzing back through the air, and this one did catch its intended target in the face. While her brother spluttered, the young Avatar laughed, and Jee caught Prince Iroh’s overwhelmed gaze from across the deck.
Well. Things certainly were about to become interesting.