Solstice Struggles 1
Zuko and his crew were still on the trail of the Avatar, though it had been several days since their last contact with him, and they were certainly trailing behind. Zuko was out looking for his Uncle and cousin, who had gone off to explore when the ship had stopped. He would have gone with, but it was approaching the Winter Solstice. As such, he'd stayed on the ship and penned a letter to Mai.
Mai had sent a letter back. Zuko had been eager to read it, though he hadn't expected too much in the way of emotional content. Even in her writing, Mai wasn't very expressive usually, unless something was seriously bothering her. Still, he always put a lot of effort into conveying his emotions.
Her letter, however, had caught him off guard. The first line was, "I had a dream about you last night." She had then gone on to describe the dream to him. In detail. Far too much detail, in his opinion.
He had told the crew he was looking for his Uncle and cousin...but he was actually looking for the springs he'd seen on the map of the local area, letter still clutched in his hand. Much to his chagrin, he found all three at once.
"Hi Zuko!" Cadence called out as she caught sight of him, waving from where she floated in one of the smaller, higher springs. "Come to enjoy the springs, too?"
"Yes, nephew!" Iroh agreed. "Come enjoy the hot springs. Soak and let your troubles ease. They're the perfect temperature. I heated them myself." To prove his point, Iroh exhaled hot steam from his nose into the spring, increasing the temperature.
Zuko glanced away. "I was hoping for cold springs," he muttered under his breath.
"Why would you want a cold spring?" Cadence called out in confusion, making Zuko flinch. He had forgotten how good her sense of hearing was. She then gasped, her eyes locked on his hand. "Ooh! Is that a new letter from Mai? What does she have to say?"
"Nothing!" Zuko countered quickly, hiding the letter behind his back. "J-Just get back to the ship quickly! We're heading out!" Spinning around on his heel, he raced back to the ship, his cheeks burning.
As soon as he was out of sight, Iroh let the laughter he'd been holding in out. "She's going to break that poor boy if she keeps that up," he managed to gasp out as he lay back in the water.
"How is Mai going to break Zuko? Cadence asked in confusion. "And why would she? I thought she liked him!"
"Oh, she does," Iroh hasted to reassure his equine daughter. "That's how she's going to break him."
Cadence tilted her head, clearly still perplexed. "I...I don't get it."
Iroh started to open his mouth to explain, but then remembered that Cadence, despite her somewhat adolescent appearance, was only five years old. "I'll explain when you're older," he promised.
Cadence turned away with a pout. "Always that..." she grumbled.
Chuckling, Iroh lay back in the spring as his eyes slowly closed. Yawning, Cadence followed his example.
Cadence was startled awake as she felt the earth moving under command. Struggling out of the water, she spun around, trying to see the threat. Seeing Iroh trapped in his spring - now drained - by spires of rock and surrounded by Earthbending soldiers, she did the first thing that came to mind and exhaled a blast of fire at them, letting her anger at them hurting her Father add intensity to her flame.
Unfortunately, she had missed the fact that they were surrounded. Her flames were cut off by a yelp of surprise as her spring closed around her, trapping her in a sphere of stone that was too tight to move in, and only left her with a thin slot through which to breathe.
"We surrender!" Iroh said quickly. "We surrender! Just don't hurt her!"
Cadence could hear other words being said, but she didn't quite catch them. Trapped in the stone, she found herself hyperventilating, staring around, desperate for a source of light, a cross breeze, anything...
When neither Iroh nor Cadence returned well after sunset, Zuko brought several of his troops with him as he went to search for them. When they found the damaged springs, one of the troops started to suggest a landslide.
"You've seen Cadence Earthbend," Zuko interrupted firmly. "You know the signs." He stared down at the two damaged springs, and he could feel his anger growing.
"Do you think they've been captured, sir?" another troop asked.
Zuko nearly rounded on the soldier, feeling an enraged, insult filled remonstrance coming. Desperately, he caged his rage once more. I need a cool head right now, he told himself. He's not the one I'm angry with. Plenty of time for anger when I find Uncle and Cadence...and plenty of anger if either of them are hurt. "Likely," he replied calmly. "Spread out and search for any sign. Some trail is bound to have been left-"
"Sir! Look!" One of the soldiers pointed to part of the forest.
Zuko looked. "I don't see-"
"All the plant life in that direction is wilted," the soldier pointed out. "It's subtle, but it's more than any other plant life around...and it's in a more or less straight line! That's not natural!"
"Say, doesn't plant life bloom when Cadence is near?" another soldier asked. "Do you think maybe the plant life wilted in response to her distress?"
Once more, Zuko could feel his anger growing. Back before he'd left on this journey, Azula had made her hostility towards Cadence quite plain, at least to him. As a result, he'd grown rather protective of his young cousin. The idea that someone had made her experience such distress... "Follow that trail!" he barked out, mentally chiding himself for letting his soldiers see his anger.
Although the weakened vegetation trail lasted for quite some time, it ran out as the trail led to a wide path. Apparently, the foliage was too far apart at that point to be affected by Cadence's mental state. However, he did find one of Iroh's sandals, which carried his distinct fragrance. Nearby were a great many ostrich-horse tracks. Zuko immediately set his rhino to race down the path.
Following the trail, his attention was drawn by a noise he recognized, despite never having heard it before. It was Cadence screaming in terror. Turning towards the sound, he led his rhino charging straight into the Earthbenders who were about to crush Iroh. Leaping off the rhino as it flattened three of them, Zuko brought his heel down to shatter the chain keeping Iroh trapped.
The rest of his troops swarmed down into the pit, surrounding the Earthbenders. One of them held up a small sphere of stone...a sphere that was screaming. "Stay back, or I'll-"
He didn't get another word out. Blasting his flames from his feet, Zuko launched himself at the Earthbender faster than he could react. An act of supreme self control kept his flames from his fist as he delivered a solid right cross to the Earthbender's chin. The force of the punch sent him flying into the side of the stone pit, dropping the sphere.
Several of Zuko's soldiers rushed forward with hammer and chisel, working quickly but carefully to free Cadence, who hadn't stopped screaming the entire time. As the stone sphere crumbled, Cadence gasped out, "Air!" Lunging forward, she flew up into the sky, clinging in a panic to the closest tree branch.
Carefully, Zuko climbed the tree to the branch, gently scooping Cadence into his arms, his concern for her pushing his rage down anew. Climbing down, he turned to face his Uncle...only to freeze, staring.
Iroh's face held an expression no one had ever seen before. His eyes were hard and flinty. His mouth was turned in a fierce scowl. Bursts of flame leapt from his nose and between his bared teeth with every breath as he stared down at the one who'd held Cadence captive. His hands clenched and unclenched reflexively. The family resemblance to his brother had never been more prominent.
With a sudden scream of anger, Iroh slammed his fist into the stone wall. The stone around his fist turned red and started to melt. After a time, he got himself under control, pulling his fist back and staring at it. "...I need tea," he finally muttered, turning back to join Zuko. Cadence immediately leapt into his arms. Other troops rushed forward with blankets and a tea set.
"Are you alright, Uncle?" Zuko asked in concern. "I've...never seen you so angry."
"I've never been so angry before," he murmured softly. "I begin to understand your frustration with my lessons on controlling your anger." He held up his hand before Zuko could speak again. "I know where we need to go next, and we must hurry. The Avatar seeks the Temple of the Fire Sages. I saw him heading there atop the spirit of Avatar Roku's dragon."
Zuko nodded. "We'll get back to the ship immediately and set a course."
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Rekt.
It's official, you do NOT want to anger Uncle Iroh! There's a reason he was known as The Dragon of The West.
So they tried to smother Cadance?! Harsh.
Is the claustrophobia part of her pegasus nature, or is there more to it than that?
First view.
6570436
Pegasus nature. Any creature with wings hates being confined.
Yay! A new chapter and I enjoyed it! Keep it up!
OH SHIT ANGRY IROH CAN LAVA BEND!
Yikes.. Never piss off papa bear am I right?
6570450 Welp I guess we know where the asshole's from Season three Korra learned it from.
Don't fuck with Iroh. His anger was amazing when Zhao defied his demand to release (or was it not to harm?) Tui and La.
6570450 Um... that wasn't lava bending, that was just Iroh generating enough heat to melt it instantly, which is in all actuality, scarier.
Where did these Earth solders come from?
Can't blame them. There is a war going on. Zuko and crew are valid targets.
6570450 No, he can just melt rock. Although that does mean he can get his fire extremely hot, rock-melting heat is Mantle temperature.
And the moral of the story, don't hurt Cadence. You make master benders very angry. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
6570632 One does not simply hurt Cadence and get away with it
Another enjoyable chapter. Well done.
6570660 i.imgflip.com/t609i.jpg
Well, she IS voiced by Maud, or rather, since she came first, Maud is voiced by her.
Poor Zuko.
She does. That's how.
You're only five, kid.
Oh dear, this won't end well, they triggered Cadence's claustrophobia.
Clever soldiers.
Don't fuck with the Prince.
...
Eep, doesn't quite cover it. Remind me never to fuck with the Dragon Of The West.
6570797 Mai = Maud?
This seems pretty familiar.
6570714
No, one does not force Iroh to be Papa Wolf.
6570608
This is actually an episode in the TV show. In the show it's Iroh who is captured while alone.
6570454 more like papa dragon.
6570608 Your right about the capture part being war. From there they should have been treated as prisoners of war not bandits or slavers. In the TV show Iroh had it coming from trying to escape. In this fic Iroh complied with the Earth soldiers to protect Cadence but the fic had the earth soldiers turn evil.
6571130
Actually, I just didn't cover the escape attempt, since the rest of the chapter was told from Zuko's perspective. They kept Cadence in that rock sphere because they didn't have chains for a pony and couldn't let her fly off, and the last one was afraid he was about to get killed.
Welp, time for Zuko to... Spring into action.
Trapping Cadance in rock is like killing two birds with one stone. With the warden being the bird.
Good thing their capture wasn't Dragon, otherwise Iroh would've erupted.
I can probably assume Cadence doesn't really want to involve herself with Rolling Stones closely after this.
6571320 I'm sorry sir, but we're going to have to suspend your pun license. You're free to use any other forms of figurative speech or word play, such as irony and sarcasm. The suspension ends if you can give me a paradox.
6571664
Hawkeye Pierce and BJ Honeycutt.
6571320 Sir, you've ruined puns for me, your puns are pitiful. Hopefuly you delete that comment or edit it so my eyes and brain won't burn in agony. Please apologize for this act of tyranny. (I'm being sarcastic for the last two sentences)
6571688 Unfortunately, I haven't watched M.A.S.H...something to add to my list of things to watch in November.
6571852
Well, you asked for a pair o'docs.
Hey I have an idea, why not have cadence join aang and the group by staging a sort of fake story that they don't really see her as family or that she was just a tool or something of that nature and have aang and them try to "help her" when she really is just helping zuko and iroh track aang? You could do it during the episode with all the captured earth benders but have cadence inspire them and actually order/convince the guard's to let them escape then have katara ,who's all says kinda like the group mom, insist they bring her with them giving cadence the experience of a mother which she.likely never had. And then at some point have the group learn after getting to know and accept her that she's still on zuko and irons side. Even do a thing where she leaves the group only for them to realize the miss and need her.
I dunno it's just some ideas that I think would be great
6571708 Aww, come on. He was just horsing around.
It's not like he ground that one in, just spreading his earthly delight.
I should take a cough drop, my voice is starting to sound gravelly.
I bet that soldier is glad it was a controlled Zuko who punched him rather than the Dragon of the West demonstrating why he is called Dragon on him specifically. Melted armor flash sealed to his skin, the areas not protected by armor being introduced to class four burns, his face becoming just burned scar tissue, and then Iroh would calm down. No one fucks with Cadance.
6572136 Slow clapping
Lovely, just lovely
6571871
Take it...just take it.
3.bp.blogspot.com/-3R5jyC59rDQ/T9FY9AcJ9EI/AAAAAAAAAU8/5sd6xnh8hRo/s1600/Fluttershy+seal+of+approval.png
6570991
Well, they share the same voice actress...
6571062
Which is why I used it.
6572504 I didn't know that. Whoever voiced Maud and Mai must be the go-to person for flat-toned deadpan people.
6572510
Hm, that, or Tara Strong, who apart from being Twilight, also voiced that deadpan pony in Canterlot Carousel or whatever it was called, Sassy Saddles's debut, using her Raven voice.
And thus we head into another of Zhao's moments of stupidity.
6572514
From before they made Teen Titans stupid I hope
6573044
Naturally.
6570714
Whooo! Awesome chapter well done dude.
Nice job, nice job.
Now we wait.
*sits down*
6570660 is it bad that i want to hug your icon
And the moral of today's chapter is... don't piss off Iroh!
Zuko, promote these two ASAP, they've got actual brains in their heads that work and use them.
Angry big brother Zuko is scary.... Papa Wolf Iroh.... RUNAWAY!!!!!
Damn, those bandits are lucky they didn't get burned to cinders by Iroh and Zuko.
I really didn't follow the series all that much...what was with the Earthbenders? Was it due to the ongoing war with the Fire Nation?
6573973
Yes. They captured a fire nation soldier, and recognized him as General Iroh who - by their lights - was a war criminal.