The Avatar had allies everywhere, it would seem. Obstacles kept popping up, one after another; individuals from every tribe imaginable kept coming to his aid, hoping to stop the Fire Prince in his tracks, to no avail. Zuko was relentless. Nothing was more important to him than restoring his lost honor; he would not be a disgrace for his father to sneer at! He wouldn’t, not when victory was so deliciously close!

For three years he had chased the unchaseable, sought the unseekable. By all accounts, searching for the Avatar was a fool’s errand, but Zuko was nothing if not persistent and determined. Could you imagine his elation when he bore witness to the first beam of light that led him to the Avatar, long thought dead? The first sighting in one hundred years! He would be a fool to let such a thing go unchecked.

It wasn’t easy, it had never been easy. Friends, admirers, and hopefuls of the Avatar’s return stood up against Zuko and his wrath. It was all in vain. There was no way a couple of unskilled, untalented, and incapable plebeians were going to get in his way. Everything he had depended on capturing the Avatar. He would get his way. He must.

And yet…

“Stand still already!” He roared, devastating flames rushing from his outstretched palms toward his target. Another friend of the Avatar, because of course they were. They were elusive, evasive, and swift as a running stream.

A waterbender. He couldn’t tell you from which tribe; frankly he didn’t care. They were standing in his way, a smug-faced obstacle with fancy, misty tricks. Zuko was beyond enraged. Even worse, his flames didn’t get very far before his target extinguished them. “I’ll burn you!” He shouted, trying to hide his fatigue. “I’ll burn you to ashes!”

All he got in response was a tinkling, bright laugh. The sound made his cheeks heat up, for some reason. Maybe he was just that angry, he didn’t know. All he knew was that he needed to burn them before he brunt himself out…