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Emerald Dragon chapter 17
🕑 Added 2021-06-28 21:05:29 +0000 UTCChapter 17-
"Nephew, forgive me, but for some reason or the other I get the feeling that you are not quite happy." Iroh said calmly while sitting and sipping some tea as his nephew paced up and down the room, fire occasionally lighting up on his fists.
"Not happy?!" Zuko repeated angrily, the flames belonging to the candles in the room shot up to the ceiling for a couple of seconds before returning to their original state. "I am far from happy!"
"Perhaps you would feel better after talking about it." Iroh calmly suggested, unfazed by Zuko's anger. "In fact, why not have some tea as well?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Zuko growled before resuming his pacing. "Nor do I want tea!" He said quickly when he saw his uncle open his mouth.
The last thing he wanted to do was talk about the boatload of problems he had, it was bad enough that he couldn't get them all out of his head for more than a couple of minutes at a time. Firstly he had lost the Avatar at the fire temple, the Avatar had escaped with his friends before Zuko got there, though by the time Zuko got there the entire temple was being destroyed, so perhaps it was a good thing that the hadn't been there.
Zuko's ship had then changed directions a short while later because Uncle Iroh had insisted on buying a stupid 'white lotus' tile for his board game, it took a lot of effort to stop himself from yelling at his uncle for that, but he had managed it. Then while at the market he had discovered that the Avatar had been there, it angered Zuko that he had barely missed him but he didn't let it bother for him too long and focused on finding him. His hopes had risen when he came across some pirates that apparently had sold some stuff to the Avatar. He had hoped to have them tell him where the Avatar was, and maybe even possibly help him capture the Avatar.
But that was shot down quickly since the pirates revealed that they ended up giving a lot of stuff to the Avatar and his friends for free, including a rare waterbending scroll, because they were threatened by Harry. They also refused to go after the Avatar when the Emerald Dragon as with him. At this point Harry's reputation made him almost as well known as the Avatar.
Zuko remembered hearing that some people in the Fire Nation and other Fire Nation occupied areas would use Harry's name to install fear and discipline into their children. 'Hurry and fall asleep or the Emerald Dragon will come for you, from the flames he will rise and take the children that don't behave', the parents would say. Zuko wanted to just call those pirates cowards, but he understood why they refused, no matter how much he disliked it.
Zuko knew that because of Harry his job had gotten a hundred times more difficult, he believed that he could have easily handled it before. The Avatar's two travelling companions were simply a bunch of Water Tribe children who had probably never done much beyond stay in an ice cube for the majority of their lives, the Avatar himself would be a challenge but he was still just a young child and could have been taken down. Harry, on the other hand, would be nowhere near as easy. Harry was an excellent hand-to-hand combatant to say the least, plus Harry hopelessly outclassed when it came to firebending.
Zuko stopped his pacing and took a deep breath, he needed to stop thinking about the Avatar and Harry, if only for a few minutes.
"Hmm," Iroh hummed before sighing. "Harry would have liked to have some tea." He said before taking a sip from his cup.
Zuko's eyes snapped open, his left eye twitched slightly before he turned and walked out of the room, slamming the door shut on his way out.
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"Well, that was...an experience." Katara said as she and the group were sat on Appa's saddle as the sky bison flew through the air.
"That's nicer than what I would have called it." Harry snorted.
The group had recently come across two fighting tribes that both wanted to cross a canyon with an earthbending guide but seemed unwilling to cooperate with each other. Aang, being the Avatar, felt compelled to make sure that both tribes had gotten across the canyon safely. Appa would have taken the sick and elderly from both tribes across while the others would have gone on foot. Harry had chosen to go with Appa, partly to make sure that Appa and the people he was carrying were safe, but also because he found both tribes annoying, not to mention Katara and Sokka also appeared to be arguing with each other at the time.
Harry and Appa had gotten there first, then when the others arrived Harry was pleased to find out that Katara and Sokka had finally stopped fighting and was surprised to find out that the two tribes had stopped fighting. When he asked how that happened he was told that the two tribes were fighting over something that had happened a hundred years ago and was then told a rather amusing story where Aang straight up lied to both tribes about the event after claiming that he was there at the time. Harry had honestly never been more proud of Aang.
"So, we had to deal with the two fighting tribes, what about you?" Sokka asked.
"Well, they kept trying to fight each other. The old ones were mostly fine, if a bit too talkative," Harry replied. "the sick ones were fine too, or at least they were after I threatened them."
"You threatened them?" Katara blinked.
"I told them if they sneezed on me then I'd break their noses." Harry shrugged.
"Harry, they were sick!"
"I'm aware, that's why I threatened them, I didn't want to become sick as well." Harry said slowly, as if speaking to a child.
"Harry, that's…" Katara began but trailed off when she saw the smirk on Harry's face. "…you're such an ass." She said in an amused voice as she shook her head.
"Hey, I try." Harry shrugged once more.
"Where are we heading to next?" Aang asked.
"We should stop at market for food." Katara suggested.
"Wait guys," Sokka suddenly said in an alarmed voice. "we shouldn't go to the market!"
"Why not?" Harry asked, frowning.
"Well, you know how this morning Aang had a bad dream? I had one too," Sokka confessed. "and in my dream we go to the market."
"What happens then?" Katara asked, exchanging looks with the other two.
"Food eats people!" Sokka said, his eyes wide with terror. "Also, Momo could talk, he said some very bad things." Sokka said, glaring at Momo.
"Stop bothering Momo." Harry said with a roll of his eyes. Momo nodded in agreement before hoping onto Harry's shoulders and glaring at Sokka.
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The group soon found themselves in a market, buying supplies. Aang, Sokka and Katara were currently standing behind Harry who was arguing with a merchant woman.
"But this is ripe!" She argued, trying to sell Harry some food that was most definitely not ripe.
"This is about as edible as me." Harry said disbelievingly as he gestured to the fruit.
"Yeah, well...you look delicious." She replied, her face turning red slightly.
"Thank you," Harry said calmly, ignoring the looks from the three behind him. "but no, I am not buying this." Harry said before he pushed the fruit back. "Come on guys." Harry said before he walked off, the group following behind him.
"I feel sort of bad for not buying anything." Aang admitted.
"Hey, me too, but we're not wasting money on bad food." Harry replied. "Money, believe it or not, is actually quite important. And, let's be honest, if it wasn't for me then you lot would have likely spent all of your money by now."
"That's not true." Sokka replied.
"Actually," Katara sighed. "he's right. You and Aang have tried to buy a ton of stuff that we don't need."
"Oh, and what about Miss 'Oh, that looks like a really nice earring, please can I get it?', huh?" Sokka asked, a grin on his face.
"That was one time." Katara said, glaring at him.
"Whatever," Harry said, ready to cut off another argument. With how often Katara and Sokka argued, he was becoming somewhat of an expert at stopping them from arguing. "the point is we can't afford to waste money unless one of us is willing to get a job, and that's not a good idea since we have to travel all the way to the other side of the world. "I…"
"Are you kidding? It's like the hottest day ever." A loud voice interrupted, the group stopped and turned to find the owner of the voice, an old man who was currently arguing with his wife.
"Please, the fish can wait. There's going to be a terrible storm." The wife said, seeming very sure.
"Look at the sky," The fisherman said in an exasperated voice. "it's more blue than the sea."
"Maybe we should find shelter." Aang suggested, looking nervous.
"Are you serious? What exactly do we need shelter from?" Sokka asked as he gestured to the sky.
"My joints say there's going to be a storm! A bad one." The wife said in a worried voice.
"Yeah? Well, it's your old joints against my brain." The fisherman replied, rolling his eyes.
"Your old and underused brain!" The wife snapped. "If you go out there then you go on your own, because I am not coming. You hear me?"
"Fine, I'll find someone else and pay them double what I pay you!" The fisherman shouted.
"I am right here!" Sokka said in a cheerful voice as he stopped next to the two, "I'm Sokka, ready to work and catch some fish." he said with a grin.
"What in the everlasting hell are you doing?" Harry asked as he, Katara and Aang walked up to them.
"Well, no such thing as 'too much money', right?" Sokka asked. "We have enough time for one fishing trip, plus he's paying double!"
"You don't even know how much he paid her." Katara pointed out as she gestured to the wife.
"I'm still getting double though." Sokka reminded her.
"Double? Who told you that nonsense?" The fisherman snorted.
"Sokka, I don't think you should go." Aang said, looking very worried. "The weather looks nice now but I feel like it'll get worse."
"Listen to the boy with tattoos! He knows what he is talking about!" The wife said.
"Huh?" The fisherman frowned and looked closely Aang. "Well, well, airbender tattoos, you're the Avatar, aren't you?" The old man guessed.
"Yeah, he is." Katara smiled along with Aang.
"I don't know why you're smiling," The fisherman sniffed. "the Avatar turned his back on the world a hundred years ago, you disappeared and left us all to suffer." The man said, poking Aang in the chest. He was about to continue but was interrupted as he felt himself get pushed, he stumbled and barely managed to stay standing.
"What the hell's your problem, old timer?" Harry asked, glaring at him.
"He left us!" The fisherman shouted. "We needed him and he wasn't there!"
"But you were!" Harry said, shouting louder than the older man. "What were you doing the last hundred years? Huh?"
"What? I don't-"
"I don't care, but whatever it was, it clearly wasn't enough." Harry said, cutting him off. "The Avatar over here found himself trapped and frozen in a solid block of ice, he was frozen for the last hundred years, unable to even move or wake up. What's your excuse? Did you fight in the war? Huh? If you didn't then why not?! And if you did, you clearly didn't do enough since the Fire Nation is still on top of this whole war."
"I...I'm not the Avatar! I couldn't-"
"You might not be the Avatar but that doesn't mean that you're automatically excused from doing anything. Ponytail over here isn't an adult or even a bender, yet he is with us, doing his best to save the world. What good have you done in the last hundred years? Why didn't you save the world? Even if you couldn't defeat the Fire Nation, you could have at least used that brain you apparently have to come with a plan to weaken them."
"Harry," Aang spoke up, his voice was quiet and soft. "it's alright, I…"
"No, it's not." Harry hissed as he glared at the fisherman. "People like you make me sick." Harry told the fisherman. "People like you are fine blaming any and everyone you can find for not doing something when you haven't done anything to significantly help stop the war. You blame him when he is basically still twelve years old! Either do something or shut up!" Harry snarled at him before taking a deep breath. "Your brain is clearly not working as well you had originally thought, if I was you then I would listen to your wife and stay home. Or don't, I'm sure if you get caught in a storm then you'd probably blame the Avatar for that as well. Come on guys." Harry said before he walked off, his three friends exchanged looks before rushing off after him. "Sorry guys," Harry apologized as soon as they were far enough away. "apparently that's a trigger for me."
"Harry, you...you didn't need to say all that." Aang said in a quiet voice. "He was right, I ran away and…"
"No, shut your face-mouth." Harry interrupted. "Listen to me now, you'll never ever be able to make everyone like you. That's a fools dream. Don't listen to people like him, never listen to people like him. I meant what I said, Aang, you're twelve years old, you shouldn't have to be the one to save the world, nor should you be blamed for not doing something that nobody else has done. Do you understand?"
"But...what if he is right? I..."
"He's not so it doesn't matter, you're here now and that's the important part."
"Harry's right, Aang." Katara spoke up. "Since you woke up we've fought against the Fire Nation, rescued prisoners, reunited families, helped a ton of people and have been practising non-stop."
"You're doing more than you should have to and more than most people are doing, so don't listen to guys like him." Harry said.
"I'm in agreement with these two," Sokka said as he gestured to Harry and Katara. "though that does leave us with another problem, we just walked away from what seemed like an easy job. The money we have isn't going to last forever, it was a great way of making more."
"Yeah, but I found another." Harry said suddenly as he and the group stopped and saw a poster on a wall.
FIGHTING TOURNAMENT!
NO BENDING ALLOWED!
BIG MONEY PRIZE!
"Well, that's convenient." Sokka blinked.
"Oh, I am totally entering that." Harry grinned.
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Later that night the group had set up camp and enjoyed a nice dinner in celebration of Harry winning them a lot of money, late at night the group had called it a day and decided to go to sleep. As Aang came close to sleeping he thought about his day, the words of the fisherman had very much upset him, reminding of nightmares he had about how he had ran away from home after discovering he was the Avatar.
'And that went well,' He mentally said, shaking his head. 'I ended up in a storm and then got trapped in a block of ice for a hundred years, still...could be worse.'
Harry's words, blunt as they were, had provided Aang with a great level of comfort, later that day he had also talked with Katara who helped him work through his feelings. He wasn't completely over his feelings, but he felt far better than he had before, the fact that he had these three friends with him made him very happy. He was especially glad that Harry was on his side, Aang had seen the power that Harry possessed and he did not want that directed at him. In the moment Aang couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the Fire Lord.
'Poor guy, he has Harry coming after him.' Was Aang's last thought before he let himself drift off to sleep.
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A.N: Hi guys, hope you liked the chapter. I know I skipped a few episdoes, but I don't plan to do every episode, no matter how good or bad it is.
As for Jet, in this story he just doesn't exist. As far as I remember he fought team Avatar, then stalked Zuko, then got injured/killed near the end of season 2 (I'm not sure, it was really unclear). I'm sure that the story can survive without him, I originally planned to have him in but for better or worse, I changed my mind.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the story, feel free to leave a review.
Comments
Christian Jeffress
Thank you very much for another enjoyable chapter, I have no issue with skipping a few episodes here and there, no need to rehash everything lol. I also like how hairy called out the fishermen on his lack of action as well. If anyone knows the responsibility Aang is going through, it would definitely be Harry Potter. As well as the understanding that others should have to fight their own battles as well, without putting everything on a child.
