𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙴𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝

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Three Years Later

La'kea vehemently hated the cold, and the south pole was bitterly cold.

Three years had passed in Prince Zuko's search for the Avatar. Three years they had spent scouring the four nations, down to every remote location available. Both the prince and La'kea were understandably frustrated, the Avatar was impossibly hard to track down.

Zuko spent every waking moment on the deck of his ship, either scanning the skies or training ruthlessly. In the long years, he had refused to let anyone convince him that the Avatar was dead, refusing to believe there was no chance he could go home. Distracting himself from doubtful thoughts by meditating and sparring against one of the few people who understood how important finding the Avatar was.

He turned to see La'kea emerge from below deck, bundled against the cold wind. The guards on deck gave her a nod that she acknowledged. In three years she had recovered from her time in the mines, and had matured into a young woman. If he was being honest, there were moments she made him feel self-conscious of the scar. When they went into towns, they were stared at by people for entirely different reasons.

Leaning over the side of the ship, she watched the glaciers pass, bringing her hand down in sharp motions, she broke the ice into smaller pieces and watched it float away. Hailing from a warm climate, learning waterbenders could control ice and freeze water was a shock to La'kea and a tricky thing to master. She had watched the waterbenders of these Water Tribes from afar, and they were very different from herself, like most of the people from these nations.

Despite her persisting anger that three years had passed and she still was not home, there was still hope. She had to grasp at the hope that she would return home someday, or else she would have let the ocean reclaim her by now.

"Today's different," Zuko muttered, "I can feel it."

La'kea hesitated, glancing at him, the prince had let his frustration get the better of him in late, it clouded his judgment most of the time. She pushed herself off the rail, his eyes never left the sky as she circled around him to face him. "How can you tell?"

"I just know."

She just hummed in response, wrapping her arms around herself when a particularly nasty gust of wind hit them. "Spirits, I hate the cold." A tremor passed through her senses as the ocean suddenly shuddered.

The prince finally glanced at her, "The faster we capture the Avatar the faster we can both return ho-."

Just a couple miles away, a beam of light shot through the sky, piercing the clouds.

In three long years of traveling this world, La'kea had never seen anything like it, her breath hitched, "Is that..."

He recovered from his shock and glared at the light, "Finally. Uncle, do you realize what this means?"

Iroh looked up from his Pai Sho table, "I won't get to finish my game?" She still hadn't learned how to play the mind-boggling anomaly.

"It means," Zuko turned back towards the light, "My search is about to come to an end."

His uncle heaved a sigh as the prince continued, flinging an arm towards it as it vanished, "That light came from an incredibly powerful source! It has to be him!"

"Or," Iroh countered evenly, "It's just the celestial lights. We've been down this road before, Prince Zuko. I don't want you to get your hopes up for nothing." He spread his hands out to the table, "Please sit. Why don't you enjoy a cup of calming jasmine tea."

"I don't need any calming tea!" The prince shouted, , "I need to capture the Avatar!"

She glanced at him in bemusement, "Three years of searching and we've never seen anything like this."

He nodded, "Set a course for the light."

There was no telling her twice, she widened her stance immediately and twisted her arms in a circle around her. The ship groaned as it's nose was turned in the water. She exhaled, strolling over next to the prince to stare at the direction the light had been in.

"You were right." She said, trying to keep the disbelief from her tone. "About today."

"Of course I was."

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Zuko stayed on the deck well into nightfall, eyes trained on the horizon as they moved. La'kea stood at the bow of the ship, pushing icebergs out of their path. Once they reached a long expanse of open water she joined him on the command tower deck, giving herself time to relax.

"Do you remember what we talked about," The prince asked her, "When we find the Avatar."

She sighed, closing her eyes, how could she forget? Those years ago when she discovered the ability to pull a man's heart through his throat. It had been a battle to recover from the mental trauma, and yet Zuko had come to her and proposed it as the solution to capture the Avatar.

When they did find him, he wanted her to bring the Avatar to his knees before there was even a chance to fight back. It wasn't killing him, the prince insisted, just subduing him long enough to capture him.

"I remember," She admitted. "Zuko, I just- I don't know if I can even do it again." Using her mana through means of violence had given her cruel control over another person's body, but it had left her feeling hollow and cold.

The prince finally turned away from the sky, looking at her as she clenched her jaw before continuing. "The last, and only time, I did that, I felt such... Anger, like it was moving on it's own."

He hesitated, that event was such a sore subject even three years later, but they both needed to capture the Avatar. "We don't need to kill him."

"But I don't know if I can stop." La'kea shook her head, groaning. "What if it all goes-."

Zuko grabbed her shoulder, "I'm going to capture the Avatar."

Iroh coughed from behind them, grabbing their attention, "I'm going to bed now." He yawned, stretching his arms, "Yep, a man needs his rest."

La'kea started walking back towards the stairs, getting the hint, but Zuko only turned back towards the horizon. His uncle's shoulders slumped, "Prince Zuko. You need some sleep. Even if you're right, and the Avatar is alive, you won't find him. Your father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all tried and failed."

She looked back towards the prince, it was always rare to hear about his family. Zuko didn't flinch, "Because their honor didn't hinge on the Avatar's capture. Mine does. This cowards hundred years in hiding are over."

Iroh looked at La'kea helplessly but the islander just shrugged, heading back down to her quarters.

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Early in the morning, after the sun had barely risen. Iroh had coaxed La'kea out of sleep for training. Now her and Zuko stood on the deck facing each other as they circled in defensive stances.

"How come you get to wear armor," She said, hands raised in front of her center.

His eyes narrowed. Silence.

A puff of air from her, "Okay, fine."

Iroh cleared his throat, "Begin."

Zuko leapt forward, swinging his foot down in an arch of fire that La'kea ducked under. With a snap of her wrist, water surged forward from the ocean, gathering into a circle around her. The prince pressed forward with punches of fire each evaded by La'kea bouncing nimbly on her feet. Any fire that came close was evaporated by a shield of water.

When her hands were empty with water vapor, she switched on her heel, spinning past Zuko's outstretched arm. He managed to dodge the kick sent to the back of his knee, whirling around to land a hit on her shoulder, only to be blocked.

La'kea strained against the prince's fist as he pressed downward on her crossed forearms, she knew she wouldn't be able to hold it for long with sheer strength. She ducked underneath his hand, and grabbing his wrist, flipped him over her shoulder. Except it didn't go exactly to plan.

He managed to grasp her shoulder as he went down, making her land with a grunt on her back atop the prince. Zuko quickly flipped her over, pinning her arms behind her back. He had won, much to La'keas chagrin.

"Excellent, Prince Zuko." Iroh commended, standing up from his seat. "But remember, power and firebending come from the breath, not the muscles. You might have been able to overpower La'kea physically, but your opponent with not always be close combatants, and they might be stronger than you."

His breath was warm against the back of her neck, making her skin tingle. La'kea bucked him off, and with an exhale caused a mist to condense on the prince, clouding his vision. He growled and wiped off his face, pushing her away as he stomped towards his uncle. "Enough. I've been drilling this sequence long enough. Teach me the next set. I'm more than ready."

She sighed, there would be no demanding anything from Iroh, and indeed the former general only counter. "No! You're impatient. You have yet to master your basics. Drill it again!"

Zuko snarled, whipping around to kick a burst of fire at one of the guards posted nearby. "The sages tell us the Avatar is the last airbender. He must be over a hundred years old by now. He's had a century to master the four elements. I'll need more than basic firebending to defeat him." La'kea thought uneasily of his failed attempts to convince her to use her bending against the Avatar. "You will teach me the advance set."

Iroh gritted his teeth, "Very well. But first," He pulled out a cooked bird from underneath his seat, "I must finish my roast duck."

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The snowy shore was finally within their sights when the flare arched through the sky. Zuko rushed to the telescope, and pointed it towards the beached wreck of a Fire Navy vessel. La'kea showed up on the command deck, "What is it?"

"The last airbender," He revealed, sneering at the telescope, "Quite agile for his old age. Wake my uncle! Tell him I found the Avatar."

She pressed a hand to her head, "The Avatar. After all this time."

Zuko shifted the spy glass, "As well as his hiding place."

La'kea squinted at the minute village he was referring to, "I could have sworn we've searched that place before."

"The Avatar must move locations," He turned, walking back to his cabin, "And we have managed to be at the same place at the same time."

"Well," She trailed him down the stairs, "His luck had to run out eventually."

They stopped at his cabin door, where he would prepare to battle the Avatar, "La'kea. We're about to face the Avatar. He'll be a master of all four elements."

She was silent, thinking about what he was implying, "I- I still have to think-."

"There is no time for thinking!" He snapped, "You've had three years to think about it. The Avatar is here now." And with that he slammed the cabin door shut.

Muttering unpleasant things under her breath, La'kea marched back to her quarters, where she would remain in her thoughts until they had reached the Water Tribe village. And the Avatar.