Part Five: The Dragon King

I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; I do and I understand.
Chinese proverb

Healer Yugoda stands on the deck of the ship and breaths in the cool winter air. She has never travelled before. Never left the confines of her city and yet here she is all of eighty about to have a grand adventure and to see an old friend, Kanna.

For once her people have hope that there will be an end to this war.

She looks over to the young Firebender, who's practicing his stances.

They're to drop off the two Firebenders near the Northern air Temple, there General Iroh would travel to Ba Sing Se and meet a contact of his, someone who could hopefully teach Prince Zuko how to Earthbend.

She approaches Iroh. "You seemed troubled, General Iroh."

He sighs. "We have a saying in our nation, Man's schemes are inferior to those made by heaven."

"And have you schemed?" Yugoda asks.

"Before I truly saw him bend water, I had hoped my nephew would have had the chance to chart his own destiny. He carries so much already, I wish him not to carry more."

There was a look of concern on his face. The Prince has been given a task few mortals would want.

She places her hand on his arm. "Sometimes you must trust the spirits, Iroh."

He covers her hand with his. "I cannot lose another son."

"He is strong and determined. He will survive."

"May the spirits hear your words."

~oo00oo~

They had been trekking since late morning. Prior to dawn the Waterbenders had partially docked along the shore and said their farewells to the two Firebenders.

"Uncle, are you sure about this?"

To travel into Ba Sing Se would be no easy task.

"Ah nephew, surely you don't think I would lead us to danger?" teases Iroh.

"No but even the Dragon of the West was able to penetrate its wall."

"Ah, but we are not leading an army nephew, we are but refugees seeking shelter from the war."

Zuko gives his uncle a disbelieving look.

"Come my little worrywart, we still have much land to cover."

"I have a bad feeling about this." Zuko warns.

Iroh lets out a loud chuckle and Zuko finds himself smiling in return.

~oo00oo~

In his dream, the glimmering glow of the dragon's eyes appraised Zuko.

"You have grown child." The dragon says. "You are a hatchling no longer."

Zuko reaches over to touch the dragon's head.

"It is time for us to reconnect," the dragon informs him. "Wake up, Prince Zuko and come to me."

Zuko finds himself jolting up in his cot, breathing deeply.

"Nephew," a sleepy Iroh murmurs.

But Zuko ignores his uncle, almost as if sleep walking, he gets up and walks to the clearing. He stands there as if he is waiting for someone, but it is not a person that comes to him, but a thing of legend, of myth, hunted out long ago.

A red dragon flies down and comes to rest before the young Prince.

"Fang." There is wonder in Zuko's voice.

The dragon bows and nudges him with the tip of its cold nose.

Zuko laughs as he regains his footing, clutching the dragon's whiskers, tears running down his face.

"Roku," the dragon says.

"Yes," is Zuko's quiet reply.

~oo00oo~

Iroh looks over to his sleeping nephew and the dragon resting by his side.

It is said that each Avatar had a Spirit guide and trusted companion. It seems that Zuko has been reunited with his.

~oo00oo~

Zuko rolls to his side and bumps into something that is cool to the touch.

"What?" he asks, still drowsy from sleep.

It coughs and a small puff of warm air engulfs him.

"Ew."

The dragon's chuckle is low and deep.

"You're real," there is wonderment in Zuko's voice, for a brief moment he sounds younger than his sixteen years.

"You've met before?" Iroh asks from his spot beside the camp fire. He's preparing morning tea.

"I got lost in this cave and there was this dragon –" explains Zuko.

"General Iroh, we meet again." The dragon inclines his head toward Iroh.

"You two know each other?" Zuko asks.

"Long ago." Iroh tells him.

The dragon nudges Zuko, until Zuko is up and pushes him towards the camp fire.

"You smell like him." The dragon wrinkles his nose.

"Are you saying I smell bad?"

Iroh hides his smile and sips his tea as his nephew straightens up, glares at the dragon and lectures him on manners.

Yes, this is a good sign.

~oo00oo~

Zuko looks up at the overcast sky. Riding Fang had helped them travel quite a long distance and they should be nearing Ba Sing Se.

Zuko allows the wind to bite his face. It had been an interesting day mixed with new beginnings and old friends.

His expression softens as he remembers how once a young Fang had pulled at his robes. Since the dragon's reappearance he is remembering more of his past life. It is if he and Avatar Roku are merging. He stands up straight and barks, "Come back here!"

Fang is no longer the mischievous ten-year old dragon, he is a bit more dignified, or so Zuko would have believed - had the dragon not stolen the wild turkey-duck uncle had hunted.

Fang acknowledges Zuko's answer with a slight twist of his narrow, lengthy neck. He drops back down and spits the dead uneaten turkey-duck on the ground.

"That's supposed to be our dinner!"

Fang gazed at the turkey-duck with something like distaste. "I would have preferred an arctic hen," he tells Zuko.

Zuko slaps his forehead. "Yes, because that is so readily available here!" he shouts.

"Nephew, I'm sure Fang means to share tonight's dinner."

"Uncle, stop excusing his behaviour, he should know better."

His uncle coughs.

Dragons were long lived and even though a hundred years had passed, Fang was still young.

Zuko picks up the discarded turkey-duck. They still needed to pluck the damn thing. He sighs as he brings the turkey-duck over to his uncle and together they clean it and cover it completely in mud, then buried it in the coals of the camp fire until the mud hardens.

At least they will have a full stomach tonight.

~oo00oo~

At dawn they prepare for one more flight.

Fang lowers a talon claw for Zuko and Iroh to climb on top of him. The dragon rises swiftly into the air. "Lie flat against me," he tells them as he catches a strong wind current.

It's probably the high altitude that makes Zuko and Iroh fall asleep on top of the dragon, and by the time they awaken they had passed Ba Sing Se and instead are touching down on the Eastern Air Temple.

"Why are we here? Did you nap while flying?" Zuko accused the dragon.

The dragon huffs and flexes his wings.

"Now nephew, I'm sure Fang did not mean to –"

"Ba Sing Se is over there, uncle." Zuko points north. "If we wanted to come to the Eastern Air Temple, we would have stayed with the Waterbenders!"

"Zuko," Iroh admonishes.

I saw you and the Avatar, standing side by side before the world.

He knows he's being childish but the last time he'd been here he had acted like a spoiled Prince who lashed out at the Guru's words.

"It's just –" he voice breaks. "I spend so much time looking for my honour, chasing the Avatar that now – it's hard that everything is so different." Zuko looks down at his hands. On one palm he holds a flame; on the other he has gathered the humidity in the air to form a small globe of water.

He had wanted so desperately to have his father's love. His acceptance. He'd come close to losing himself and harming a defenceless man to end his exile.

Back then, he'd thought he was alone, with still so much of the world to cover, but his uncle had taught him otherwise. He'd lost hope here but he had regained it at the same time.

It just felt odd coming back, to think of the boy he was to the man he is becoming.

The Guru of the temple greets them. "Ah, you're back." There's a calm acceptance in his voice, as if he'd always known Zuko would come back.

Zuko stares at the bald man in loin cloth and then looks beyond him and to the sky-bison who's growling at them.

The sky-bison and the dragon circle each other.

"Um –" This isn't good.

Both animals roar and it looks like they are about to charge each other, so Zuko moves to prevent them form harming themselves and finds the sky-bison has slobbered all over them as he gives Zuko and Fang a friendly lick.

"Agh!"

The dragon chuckles, letting out small warm puffs of air.

~oo00oo~

Sometime later, as he pats Appa's belly the Guru tells them about the sky-bison's plight.

"Avatar Aang and the sky-bison energies are mixed. It is an unbreakable bond very similar to your relationship with Fang. The Avatar must be rejoined with his sky-bison, for the longer they are apart the more angry the spirits would grow."

The sky-bison licks the Guru's face, Zuko wrinkles his nose and whispers to Fang, "Don't get any ideas."

The dragon holds his head up high, looking slightly insulted. Iroh just drinks his tea, amused.

"What should we do?" Zuko asks.

"Avatar Aang is in Ba Sing Se."

"Well then Ba Sing Se it is." Iroh says as he shares a look with Zuko.

~oo00oo~

The world it seems has come to full circle.

They will accompany Appa and ensure he safely rejoins Aang.

This might not have been the destiny he sought, nor the journey he first ventured, but in the end it is the right one.

As his uncle gets on Appa and Zuko straddles Fang, he looks up at the sky.

"I'm ready."

~oo00oo~

THE END

~oo00oo~