Unusual Circumstances

Chapter 2

Welcome to the Family

(Set During "The Western Air Temple")

That first evening with Aang and his friends was less traumatic than Zuko thought it would be, in spite of Katara's implied threat that she would "end" him if she suspected he was even thinking about hurting Aang. After unwinding near their campfire, which Zuko had been able to light much faster than they otherwise could have, she was a little more relaxed.

Sokka had introduced the former prince to the other members of their small band, Teo, the young teen who'd lost the use of his legs, but who was very clever and inventive. It turned out that he and his father had invented those frighteningly effective war balloons the fire nation was now using as an Air Force. They couldn't be held responsible for it though; for Zuko knew they had been blackmailed and forced into creating the damned things.

Then there were 'Pipsqueak', who, despite his name, was a gentle giant of a man; and 'The Duke', a young orphan. They had once been in the band of freedom fighters assembled by Jet. Zuko had met Jet once before, while he and Uncle Iroh were on the run. He'd worked with Jet to secure food from the well-stocked pantry of their ferry ship's captain and distributed it to the hungry passengers.

Later, after Jet had somehow discovered that Zuko and Iroh were fire-benders, he attacked them, trying to force them to use their abilities to defend themselves. This would have exposed them and they would have been arrested by the Dai-li. Jet's plan backfired however, and he was the one dragged away. Zuko felt sorry for him, and often wondered what had happened to the angry young man, who in many ways, reminded Zuko of himself. He promised himself that he owed it to Jet to look after the youngest member of the Avat- AANG'S, he corrected himself again, little group.

Finally, there was another young earth-bender, Haru. All of the earth-benders of his village had been taken to an offshore prison rig where they were forced to use their abilities to separate coal from the rocks that they were also forced to mine. In order to save Haru from the same fate that befell his father and so many other earth-benders from their town, his mother had forbidden him from using his art. He was found out, nevertheless.

In a daring undercover operation Aang, Katara, and her brother, who Zuko was beginning to suspect was a lot smarter than he initially seemed, stole aboard the rig and convinced the earth-benders to rebel and regain their freedom.

Zuko looked around at these friends of Aang, and saw not the fear and disgust that he expected to find in their eyes, but a sense of tentative optimism that not all fire-benders were monsters. There was also a little bit of curiosity in those faces, Zuko reasoned that it was because he was the first fire-bender who they'd ever actually met who hadn't been trying to attack them, or take them prisoner. Usually people from Zuko's land were seen as invaders, bullies, even terrorists by the people of the other three nations. Actually, two, now; Zuko reminded himself. In his zeal to uncover the whereabouts of Aang, Zuko's great-grandfather, Sozin completely exterminated the Air-Nomad civilization.

In Zuko's mind, this was one of the most heinous acts which his family specifically, and his country as a whole, had to answer for. Aang did not seem to hold Zuko personally responsible for this, and whether or not it was his influence, neither did his friends, no they weren't his friends, Zuko realized in a flash of insight; they were his surrogate family. Replacing the Air-nomads and everyone else he had lost more than a hundred years ago. In addition, it seemed like they were willing to adopt the banished prince as another member!

After dinner, everyone helped with the cleanup, and then they gathered around the campfire and talked and joked amongst themselves; to listen to them, Zuko thought, you'd never know they were in hiding, on the run from the Fire-Nation. In addition, for now, at least, they were on the losing side of a war! Zuko kept his distance from the little group, even though they seemed to have forgiven and accepted him, especially after helping them defeat the assassin. In spite of the fact that the night was cold, and getting colder, he didn't feel he had the right to be in the presence of this happy little group, around the warm fire. After a little while, they each retired to their sleeping bags or makeshift tents for the night. Therefore, he sat in the dark, alone with his thoughts.