Chapter Text
The sailor carries along a tiny stretcher.
So small it could fit a child, but not much else.
Light, smelling like overcooked meat.
Like charred skin, like an accidental battlefield.
Her name is Yua, but that does not matter. Not here and not now, for, in that night, not much matters.
The woman-named-Yua is carrying up an infirmary stretcher, along with her coworker.
His name doesn't matter, and neither does the glint in his eyes, the tense lines of his face, the features lit up by moonlight, white-bathed disgust.
Not much matters but their positions, working as sailors in a Banishment Cruise.
Dropping off the unwanted in the remote shores of the Earth Kingdom's southern province.
Sailors have a tendency to search for reasons to drink. The suspiciously covered, mysteriously light stretcher might be one of them.
A part of her is scared to look down, even as they enter a more well-lit part of the city.
"Who the fuck banishes someone this tiny?" her friend mutters, staring in disgust at the face below him.
Yua doesn't want to look, but she does. Up at her, stares a tiny, skinny face, swathed in bloodstained bandages.
It - he - reeks of burn cream and pasty medicine, but the stink of burned meat is there, in the background.
"Poor kid. Must've pissed somebody off real bad." she says. It's the reason most people end up on the Sunnyside. They're inconvenient. No longer useful, but ignorant enough not to warrant an execution.
Maybe he isn't even banished, a part of her thinks, maybe he's being sent away for some other reason.
But Yua doesn't have it in her to think that, so she scraps it like she's scrapped the letter the boy came with earlier.
They walk out of the old doctor's cousin's home, where they had come to pick up the castaway - an odd practice, but not unheard of -, reaching silence as they pass through the Caldera streets.
Their ship is decked, an old vessel, long since retired. It is dark, and there's nobody in the deck. No tobacco chewing, no alcohol stench.
They probably went to a bar or something, Yua thinks and shrugs.
No procession for the disgraced. No witnesses.
A gentle breeze drifts past them. The board is lowered, and they both know how inconvenient it will be to go up there.
Maybe Yua should convince her friend to throw the boy into the ocean.
"How long do you think he's gonna last?" he asks her, right as she's about to ask him the same question.
"I hope the doc puts him down." she says, gently, ignoring the curious, cruel part of her that wants to see what is behind the bandages. Unwrap the gift, before throwing it away.
"Yeah." he whispers back, as if saying words that the wind won't carry away would stir up angry spirits "It would be the best thing to do."
As they talk, the boy stirs ever so slightly, but doesn't break his opium-induced sleep.
"Shh, lil' fella." she whispers, with a kindness that she usually reserves for pretty women and cute puppy-lizards. "It'll be fine."
That isn't a thing they usually tell banished people. Mostly because they don't deserve niceties, but also because it's a lie. And a bad, cruel one at that.
The boy, who had once been a prince, ascending in the line of succession with his cousin's recent death, drifts back to a fitful sleep, reassured by a voice that, to his delirious mind, sounded like his mother's.
-
Reiki is just a doctor. One might ask why her name is here, if she is just supposed to be a mere bystander to the story.
And that is because she doesn't plan to be. That option, it passes through neither her mind nor her heart.
Because there's a nameless child - no documents, no anything, not even a letter - gently laid on an infirmary cot that night. He doesn't even twitch, as she pokes and prods.
Painkillers. For now, a blessing. His goodbye kiss from that nation.
He doesn't look a day over ten, and most of his face has been burned off. Swiped, erased.
He looks like he was treated by a Fire Healer, actually. She'd only known one of them, in all her life. Curious.
Of course, that doesn't erase the damage. Removed eyeballs, an infection setting into the ugly, twisting wound. It is almost shaped like fingertips, at the corners, before fading into explosions of angry red scabs and white pus.
"They didn't warn me that they were sending off someone this injured." she tells the woman, who was to join the crew for that voyage. "We've got no fucking painkillers. None strong enough for this, at least."
"Yeah, me neither. Didn't even look at its face 'til I got told he was a kid." she says, as Reiki analyzes the wound.
"It's so fucked. Who the hell banishes a kid without even sending off painkillers?"
"That's ya line? The painkillers? Not the child?"
"Well, that too, buddy." she forces out "But still. No painkillers? It's... Weird."
"Don't talk to me like I know jackshit, doc." she says "I sneaked some booze into my cabin earlier, but I can afford to share, if you wait a minute or two."
Reiki doesn't grieve yet, as she applies a generous layer of burn salve, one of the few things their ship is fully supplied with, to the whimpering child's face.
She's glad whoever took care of him shaved the hair off of the wound. Makes the job easier for everybody, even if it looks really ugly. It's gonna grow back uneven, but she argues that the kid won't even be there to see it.
She'd seen many of the inconvenient before. Indebted men, prostitutes, a dancer or two. Overall, nobody much too important.
But she'd never seen anybody that young. Not in all her years.
Maybe she should find that strange. But she's long grown desensitized to that sort of stuff.
"What happened to you, though?" she can't keep the intrigue off her voice. It's morbid, but it's curiosity nonetheless.
She wants the kid to survive to tell her the story.
And, if he stays like that, Reiki can see that he isn't going to get far.
They're setting sail next morning. In two weeks' time, they'll drop off those people at some neutral areas and colonies.
Reiki isn't gonna ilude herself. That kid isn't living for long, especially after he leaves the Sunnyside. But she can't just let him die, can she?
"Hey, doc!" the woman from earlier whisper-yells, setting foot into the tiny infirmary. "Got ya some good shite!"
"It smells like shite, just not the good kind." she states, as she is handed a half-full bottle of some wine, the kind that not even cheap chefs try to use for cooking.
It's gonna serve, though, if its alcoholic enough to put him to bed. And, since it's coming from a sailor, it probably is.
The kid stirs again, his nose contorting when he smells the syrup.
"See, even this kid has better taste in alcohol than you." Reiki jabs, playful for a second. It feels forced, though. Stupid.
Hit with a sudden wave of guilt, she puts the drink down on her desk, the only thing separating the two infirmary beds. The boy just sneezes and goes back to sleep, no more movement of him.
"I'm keeping it." she tells the woman, not worried about how suddenly serious she must seem, and sets it aside.
"D'aw, doc-" she says, lightheartedly "If you change your mind, tell me. That's my favorite."
"Why didn't you bring another one, then?" she gestures vaguely, and then starts re-wrapping the bandages around the kid's face. She can't help but be exasperated at the woman, even if it feels like she's just taking it out on her because of the situation.
"Hey." she drawls "Is he gonna be fine? Like, sure, I'mma miss my stuff, but can you tell me he'll be a'ight?"
She could lie, but she won't. Reiki doesn't have it in her to do so.
"Hopefully. But he's unresponsive right now." she admits, shoulders sagging. She doesn't like the concept of losing someone that young. "Not even painkiller-still. I'm talking borderline earth -oma."
"He looks sturdy, doc. Like a little rock." she gets a pat in the back from the woman. "He'll be fine."
Reiki takes a look at the kid. He breathes out, in a stable, controlled fashion, and the unbandaged part of his face twitches.
She hopes he is stronger than a pebble. La will be rough on him, and even the strongest rock can be eroded by the steady currents of the sea.
-
He comes to in a panic, as they leave the shore. He's been on and off for the whole nigh, and his screaming's already gone hoarse, and Reiki's ears have long grown used to it.
He was loud, a couple hours ago.
"Kid, calm down." she tells him.
"Where am I?" his voice's barely there, as he trashes around blindly, grabbing onto anything he can get to. "Doctor-"
"Are you in pain?" she asks, getting up from her stoll. She had been occupying herself with watching him for a bit, now.
He shakes his head fervently, in a clear lie.
"No?" she asks.
"No." he says, and turns back. "Are you the housemaid? Didn't they tell you to leave me alone?!"
"Yes you are." she takes a hand to his neck, to feel his pulse. "And you're drinking some tea. It'll help with the fever, too."
"No!" he barks. "I am-"
"You're hurt as fuck, and we're leaving shore. I won't stay with you during a month-long trip while you scream nonstop."
She goes to her desk, and opens the cabinet, as he screeches at his greatest capacity. It's of great luck, that the infirmary is, for the moment, empty.
His screaming, coupled with his condition, would be enough for some guards to take matters upon their hands.
Reiki's wonders how much of his condition he is aware of. But, for now, she can't ask him many questions. He has little energy, and his infection has come back - yes, it is minor, and mostly around the eye cavities, not in them themselves -, so he can't be in much more strain than what is needed.
The bottle is in a cabinet. She poursa small dose of it along with some ground-up turmeric, glad the boy won't see the unapetizing color it turns into.
She has to cut the usual dose in half. He isn't an adult, too much would be wasteful.
"Open up the way, royalty incoming." she can't help but say that, because she can't pretend, for even a second, that he is anything but a child.
"I'm the Prince of this nation and you will obey me-" he starts, panting heavily.
"Sure thing." she doesn't even give the lie a good look, because she knows how delirious people can get. Fever can drive a man mad.
"Now come on, open up."
"N-" and it's down his throat. Reiki reasons that it's what her mother would've done.
He coughs, but swallows it down eventually.
"Why did you do that?!" he growls out.
"Because you, little fella, are running a fever high enough to pass as an oven." she resists the urge to give his nose a little boop.
"I'm not a little fella!" he gestures wildly, especially for a little oven fella "I'm Prince Zuko of the fire nation!"
"Would you like to give me your actual name?" She sighs, suddenly realizing that she is incredibly sleep deprived right now. "I'm Reiki, and I'm the ship doctor. We're going to the earth kingdom."
"We're what?!" he yells "Change courses, now!"
She isn't a firebender, but there's a reason they teach breathing exercises at school.
"Kid. Please. Just tell me your actual name."
"I told you!" he gesticulates wildly "I'm Prince Zuko!"
"Fine, if you're not telling me your name, can you tell me if you're a bender or not? We have special care regimens for benders, because they need more sun and more food."
He flinches. With his shoulders tense, he trembles out a "No.", as if he expects her to hit him for it.
She doesn't know who that child is. Maybe he doesn't know, either. She's heard of people driven delusional from trauma, but she'd never seen one herself.
But maybe Reiki can help him.
"It's fine, kid. You want some tea?"
She has nothing else to say. All that she knows is that life must go on.
-
Recovery isn't always linear, but a part of Reiki thinks the boy isn't recovering at all.
His fever runs hotter and hotter the further they get from the island, and whatever she manages to shove down his throat comes back up nearly immediately.
He barely wakes up, and she has to keep him dosed off every night. It isn't the most effective painkiller, but they're not eqquipped for injuries such as the boy's.
Reiki doesn't like giving up. Yes, he is an annoying, delusional little kid. But anyone with working eyes and half a brain can know what he's been through. Maybe he straight up believes what he's saying.
He doesn't match the portraits scattered in posters all around the city-island of Caldera, even before they were replaced by memorials.
"Hey, doc." the sailor from earlier, Yua, comes in. She's been on and off of the infirmary all the time the kid's been there, and she doesn't even fake having a reason for it "how's the little boulder holding up?"
"He's sleeping right now." she says "But he's getting better."
"You're not a good liar." she tells Reiki "I know he's got a sea-fever, you were complaining about it yesterday. Yesternight. Whatever."
"Well, he's awake for longer now. And the infected area is leaking less." she shrugs "I don't know how long he'll survive once we have to leave him at shore, though. You don't happen to have any earth kingdom friends, do ya?"
Yua laughs. It's a loud, snort-honking sound.
"I'm not into dirt eaters, doc." she sits down on an empty cot. It's on the other side of the infirmary from the boy, but they can both see him, turning on his sleep now. "But maybe you can charm a pretty boy to let the kid in for a bit."
Reiki laughs.
"Too old for that, and I don't have the patience either."
"Oh?" she asks "You're not old, you're charming as fuck, doc."
"He'll wake up soon" she can't muster up any other answer for the woman, even as she winks at Reiki "You can stay here and wait. If you want to, of course."
She hopes that the request for company doesn't go unanswered. Because Reiki hopes for many things. It's a natural tendency, for most people.
-
Fire Lord Azulon dies, suspiciously, the night Princess Ursa of the Fire Nation - soon to be Fire Lady - learns of her son's disappearance, and sees bloodstains on her beloved husband's shirt and smells burned meat in the courtyard.
The disappearance of the boy is announced on the next day. The announcement is made, that anyone matching the child's portrait is to be brought to the palace and identified properly.
It is mysterious. Had anyone known of the boy's interruption of his father's meeting with the Fire Lord, it might've been suspect.
But to all concerned, it was a secret.
And to anyone but the doctor who found the boy lying dead-still but breathing, it is a mystery, how, the night Fire Lord Azulon died, Soon-To-Be Fire Lady Ursa and Princess Azula disappeared.
The doctor - his name isn't important - cares for the boy. He disinfects the burns, peels away dead skin, and conducts the necessary procedures when the infection spreads from one eye socket to the other.
He grieves for him, as he travels to a shady area of the town and hands that child - so far away from ever being a man - off to a suspicious ship, where his once-apprentice, a woman of the name Reiki, had a steady job.
Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation is announced dead. To anyone concerned, the boy aboard that banishment cruise, is but a delusional child traumatized by his experiences.
The doctor stands, every night, and wonders what sort of man he would've become.
-
The days pass as a blur, blending together like watercolors.
Reiki has always found it calming, comforting, to slip into a routine and just stay like that.
Her sleep comes in short bursts, caring for an increasing number of patients. Seasickness, hangover sickness, sickness in general. Lots of it.
And she will check on the boy, constantly.
His infection is giving way, she's going to have to start unwrapping the bandages for longer periods of time to let them get air. He's moving more, and she's been doing exercises with him.
Because they're to arrive soon.
She keeps him awake as much as she can, but no willow-bark tea and no burn paste can get through his thick skull, can make him admit his true name.
For he always tells her, with no variation, that his name is Zuko, and that he is the Prince of the Fire Nation.
And she doesn't know what to do.
Reiki has her hands tied behind her back. The boy is mad.
And she can't give up on him.
Yua becomes a constant presence, there too whenever she has free time.
She calls the boy Little Rock, and looks at Reiki and mutters something about how delusional minds don't change from one hour to the next, even if not in those same terms.
They keep the boy a semi-secret. Nobody approaches him, never directly. They learned not to quick enough.
She doesn't know what Yua told them so that would happen, but she's glad.
And so, the days drift by. La lulls her to sleep, and Agni brings her work every day.
The sea is calm, and slowly, the boy can walk a little bit, can go to the bathroom with only minor aid.
He learns on his own pace. Some days, he can't do much.
He is stubborn, though.
He is a little rock, so that's what she calls him in her head.
Reiki is scared of telling Yua that. Because a part of her wonders if she is going insane, too.
-
"How bad does it look?" He asks her, when she leaves the bandages off for an hour.
Reiki's answer comes out far too late to matter.
-
"Shut up, won't you?!" the not-prince tells Yua, as she peppers in an anecdote about how she once faked her identity. "I don't care! I'm speaking the truth, and I do not care for your stupid lack of honor!"
His voice has recovered. The bandages are off, for some of the daytime. But none of that is as important as the sheer vocal range of the boy.
"I've never accused you of lying." even though he can't see it, she raises her hands up. "I'm just saying I faked my passport."
He screams and clearly refrains himself from shoving his face into the pillow.
"You know what you're trying to get me to say!"
"That you're-"
"That I'm not me!" he points to himself. "But I am! I'm still me, alright?"
His voice breaks a bit.
"Nobody ever said you weren't you. Do you want some tea?"
"No." he turns away from her "I don't want your stupid tea."
"All the more for me, then."
"I will not believe that you drink willow bark willingly." he crosses his arms.
"Oh, she does." Reiki peppers in, from where she had been standing on the doorway "She has horrible taste."
"Hmph." he is ignoring them now.
They don't see him grimace when they fake-shout at eachother.
-
The fact that there is a child on the banishment ship becomes an open secret. The doctor and a particularly burly sailor won't let anyone near the kid, but whoever visits the infirmary can see him.
Even if they could, nobody would visit him. He isn't familiar. He is just a tragedy, another life barely hung onto.
But, in nobody's mind, does it ever pass by the thought of that face, unrecognizable from whatever it was before, having any similarity to one that used to be in a portrait of the royal family.
And if it does, then it doesn't matter.
-
Yua had never been there during one of the boy's nightmares.
But Reiki had left that night, and she decided to cover the shift, as there was only one patient. A stable one, at that.
Maybe the privacy is for the best, even if there isn't anyone but her in there to comfort him.
He is thrashing about wildly on his bed, and, as she comes nearer, she hears his pleas become more concrete. Audible. Terrifying.
"Father, please-" he gasps out "I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to, it isn't my fault!"
"Kid?" when she pokes his arm, he flinches away like her hands are on fire. "Buddy, buddy, wake up"
"Please- Don't- I'm- I'm your loyal son-"
"Wake up!" she takes his shoulders. "Just a dream, kiddo."
He snaps out of it, shaking and gasping for breath. How many times had this happened before?
"Go away!" is the first thing he says when he notices he is no longer in his dream.
"Not going anywhere." she plops down on the bed beside him. "Do you wanna talk about it?"
"I don't need to talk about it, I'm not weak." he proclaims, with resolve. "And it won't happen again."
"I'll do something to get him to forgive me." and she knows whatever that is, it's gonna be bad for the boy, but she can't help it.
Yua nods, and hums.
-
They're one week away from the port.
Their time is running out. But the Little Rock, he's growing stronger.
And Reiki can't help but be delighted at that fact, even if he won't ever tell her his real name, or what happened to him, or anything that is true. But that doesn't matter. Not as much as the fact that he's survived this long.
"Good news, kid!" she tells him "Your infection is pretty much gone! You're still going to have to be careful for a while, though. Better safe than sorry."
"Am I gonna be able to cry again?" he asks her.
Reiki would like to think herself decent with people's bodies, but she's far from one that knows much about their minds.
She will just be honest. It isn't like her job is to do anything but that.
"No. Your tear ducts were damaged, but hey-" she nudges him "You're not going to need crying anymore. You're a strong little rock."
He flinches at the nickname, as it slips off her mouth.
Reiki doesn't notice it fully, and thus, doesn't wonder why.
-
Reiki knows homesickness when she sees it.
The boy is homesick. Grieving for what he will never again get to have. It’s a surprise she hadn’t noticed it before. Perhaps it had only hit him now, though.
"Do you want me to tell you a story?" she asks him, as he faces the wall, eerily silent.
"What sort of story?" he turns to her.
"Well, I have a lot of medical books. They have plenty of anecdotes." she tells him.
"Do you have a theater scroll?" he asks, anxiously.
"I don't, and I don't think any of the other sailors have either." she shrugs at him.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I know there guys. They don't read a lot. Especially stuff for kids like you."
"Not a kid." he grumbles, dejected.
"Alright then. But do you wanna hear medical stories or not?" she resists the urge to ruffle his hair. It's growing back, now, even if unevenly.
"Fine, if you have nothing else." Little Rock says, still disappointed.
-
"Can I go on a walk?" he suddenly asks, one evening, as he reluctantly takes a teacup from her hand.
"Uh?" Reiki had been reading to him, another medical scroll with some anecdotes. There's not much in terms of entertainment other than that, especially for a child like him.
"I want to go walking." he says, his legs swinging off the side of the bed. "I'm bored."
"Oh, I-" she starts. A part of her wonders how the rest of the crew, sailors and banished alike, would react to seeing him directly "As long as you hold onto me, I don't see why you can't."
"I don't need to." he whines.
"Yes you do. You've never walked around before, and I don't want you to bump on every single corner. I've heard of a guy who stubbed his toe so many time that-"
"You've read me that one already, remember?" he grumbles, but accepts and takes her hand.
"And I'll keep reading it until you get the point." she tells him, as she helps him up. He's really light. Someone like Yua could throw him like a ball. "Do you mind walking around with no shoes? We've got none, sorry 'bout that."
"No." he says, straightening his infirmary robe.
"Where do you wanna go?" she then asks.
"I want to see the sun." he says, and then shakes his head "Feel it. Whatever."
"Then the deck it is. Tell me if you need help with the stairs, you haven't been walking a lot and your musculature is probably weakened because of it."
"Stop blaming me! It's not my fault you don't let me walk around." he says.
"Well, you're also injured. You told me your face still hurts, right?" she asks "And I don't want to risk you falling on it and opening the scabs again."
He shifts uncomfortably at the word scabs.
"I don't need coddling." he shakes his head. "And you know that."
Thankfully, Little Rock doesn't use "I'm a prince" as an excuse anymore. That is good, if they're planning on bringing him to where more people can see.
It's okay if she never knows his actual name, in the end, because what matters to Reiki is if he will survive.
And, unlikely enough, if he keeps down like he is right now, he just might.
She is delighted at taking small steps with him, up to the deck. Maybe they should’ve picked another time, she thinks, as she realizes her mistake.
The people are here. It’s break-time for the day shift, and snack time for the ones that are firebenders.
And the people watch.
Nobody's hiding it. Not from anyone, not even from the boy himself.
It's because he is a child. Just a little kid, like their sons and sisters and cousins. And they whisper, behind their hands like that will keep him from hearing them.
"What happened to him?"
"Did he get banished?”
“No, no, there’s no way.”
“He’s my niece’s age, Agni forsaken…”
And they watch, like he can't feel their stares, or hear their muttering. Reiki wonders how stupid they are.
He sits down, feeling the wind on his face. And then, he turns to her, and says:
"Reiki, tell them to stop looking at me!" it almost comes out as a whine.
"Can't make an official announcement, but you're pretty loud. I'm sure they've heard you." she gives the crewmen on deck duty a good glare. Reiki may not be very large or intimidating, but she's still got it in her to scare off anyone with the possibility of them becoming her patients.
"Hmph." he groans, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm meditating now. Don't bother me."
And so, they watch as Reiki too sits down, and assumes the same butterfly stance. She sneaks one eye open, and never tunes out the low whispering of the crew.
And if he smiles a bit, feeling the wind on his face, the comforting smell of the sea and the sand, then it's nobody's business. It isn''t like Reiki can see it, after all.
-
As the Little Rock gets better, Yua’s days gets increasingly nicer. Less unhappy. She hadn’t noticed quite how tense she was.
He still goes to bed with the bandages, every night. Reiki told them both that she can't just let his wounds bleed because he twists and turns so much.
They're scabbing over nicely, but even the grafted bits of skin will scar quite badly. The little Rock knows that too, despite his otherwise delusional little head. He still yells at anyone who asks him too many questions, though.
Maybe he isn't approachable, but he's a cute kid, in all his tantrum-prone, destructive glory.
Yua's visits become an increasingly frequent occurrence. She makes sure to take breaks at the same time Reiki takes him up to the deck, and when her shift's over she always brings him a story or two.
Funny enough, she’d never talked to her fellow crew members quite that much before.
"Do you want some?" is a normal question. She always has snacks on her for a reason. Kids - and he isn't anything but that - need food, and a lot of it.
Yua misses her nieces, back at home. They're the same age as the Little Rock.
He doesn't answer. He's facing the sea, smelling the breeze.
"Don't need it." he says, simply.
"You sure?" she chomps on a bit of the fruit "It's black-blueberrie' raisin."
"No." he grumbles, and turns back, frowning.
"Fine, then." she shrugs "What's on your mind?"
"Nothing!" he says "I'm fine!"
"You're sure not acting like it. It's 'cos we're getting there soon, yeah?"
He stands still, and that's enough confirmation for Yua. That kid, he just left all his family. Of course he's going to be anxious, if he's spent all his time 'til now homesick.
"Buddy, don't worry about it. You'll find yourself a good job, and you'll make yourself a good life. Maybe you'll be a-" she doesn't know what else to suggest. She's never met someone quite like him before "Anything."
He tenses like he's about to scream at her. But then, his shoulders sag.
"You want me to have a normal life, but... What if I don't want to?" he says, finally. "What if I want to do something else- something great?"
"You can do anything, kiddo." she pats his shoulder, reassuringly.
"Then." he truly relaxes when her hand drifts away, and there's a bit of hope in his voice. "Then I can get rid of it."
And she stops, and for once doesn't wonder out loud.
-
They arrive at the Gaoling province at sunset.
Zuko had been antsy for days, longing for earth he can step into. For sun, for things other than cold metal against his feet. For the smell of rain and mud, for the heat of the world around him.
Yua gave him shoes, earlier that day. A gift, she'd said to him, patting his half-shaved head. A goodbye, he'd heard.
He doesn't grieve for anything, anymore. He knows what he did, he knows how dishonorable it was.
He knows what made him weak, it turned him into something disposable.
But it's alright, he now knows.
Because Zuko has a purpose.
He isn't fully recovered, but if all goes according to his plan, he won't have to fight much to get where he strives to be.
A part of him wonders how life in the streets is going to go. Because out of the luxury of the palace, everything hurts more and more. He will forever live with the pain, sure, but-
But what, at this point?
It's just... He misses his family so much.
But once he gets rid of it, it will be alright.
When he comes back, he’ll be a firebender, one of the greatest, blessed by the lion-turtles themselves, and Father will take him back.
He won't even be the heir again, sure. You can't just have a disgraced firelord, one that's as burned and broken as Zuko is.
But it's his goodbye to that world.
And, as he steps into the earth, he knows.
He knows that he will be going back.
And he will return home without his cursed earthbending.