Prologue.

Fire Lord Zuko sat in his study in the Royal palace. It had been 4 years since he had become Fire Lord and took up the unenviable task of rebuilding not only the Fire Nation, but it's reputation as well. Since the end of the war, Zuko in his new role, had set about creating programs and projects that would not only help in the revamping of his nation's economy, but also see to that the 2 other nations of the world ( Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes) would also benefit from this as well. But he had an up hill battle ahead of him. Even though the world was at peace and he had manage to gain trade with both Kyoshi island and the northern Water tribe, there were still some cites in the Earth Kingdom that were unwilling to allow Fire Nations merchant vessels to dock in their port, let alone do trade with the Fire Nation all together and considering that these same cites had suffered unspeakable horrors and hardships under the decades long Fire Nation occupation, Zuko could not really blame them for not wanting to do trade with them. He could only hope that the trade mission that was sent to Ba Sing Se, lead by Fire Lady Mai, would be able to change the minds of the Earth Kingdom rulers.

There was also the problem with groups of Fire Nation solders that had gone rouge when Ozai was defeated. There were reports coming out of the Earth Kingdom of groups of Fire Nation solders that would attack villages in rural parts of the Kingdom and ram sack them for gold, food or just to cause trouble. They would all clam that they were still fighting for the glory of the Fire Nation and that they would continue their "Glorious Campaign" until Zuko is dethroned and Ozai is restored as the rightful ruler of the Fire Nation. But in reality, they were nothing more than bandits and thieves that could care less if Ozai was king or not. They only wanted an excuse continue with there war like ways simply because they liked it and Zuko knew this. He knew as long as these thugs were lose, the task of rebuilding the Fire Nation's reputation would be difficult. Then of course was the reputation that the Fire Nation had already.

As far as the rest of the world was concerned, the Fire Nation was nothing more than a nation of blood thirsty, inhuman, violent creatures that did not care about the lives of others. At least that was one of the things Zuko heard a man say when he was on a state visit to Ba Sing Se. There still was a strong Anti-Fire Nation sentiment in the other 2 nations of the world. On his trip, there were large Anti-Fire Nation rallies all over the city and some of them turned violent. No one was killed, but it was a harsh reminder to Zuko that he had a long road ahead of him when it came to the task of making atonement for the crimes committed by both his father an grand father respectively and he had gained some ground when he began to sponsor 3 orphanages in the Massive city.

But right now as he sat in his private study all these matters were secondary and far from his mind, as there was one matter on his mind that had to be tended to. On his desk, was a letter from the warden of the Boiling Rock prison. For the last 4+ years, her had received letters from the warden about the current condition of a prisoner that had been sent there at the war's end. He was updated about the health and progress of said prisoner since she had been sent there for her own well being, after she suffered a complete mental break down when she was defeated by a young Water Tribe bender. Zuko remembered that day all to well, he was there when his sister descended into madness in front is very eyes. Over the years , he was told about the many states of mind that she had gone through. Of her year of ranting, of her year of threatening the prison guard and other prisoners. But most of all, he was told about the year she spent crying, begging and pleading to see her brother , Mai and Ty Lee so that she could apologize to them of the way she treated them. Of course, Zuko and his wife refused to go see the former princess and friend at first.

Even though Azula was his sister, he could not bring himself to go see the same person who had tried to kill him an his friends. Not to mention, was just as cold blooded and heartless as the same person that was responsible burning that scar on the left side of his face. He would have loved nothing more than to leave that 'monster' locked away forever. But he would remember what his mother once told him. "With out redemption, what hope is there for us?" Plus, he also remembered hat his uncle said to him last time he was in Ba Sing Se.

"You can pick your course in life, but you can not pick who your family are. And like it or not, Azula is family and we must treat her as such, or we would only cause her to only hate us more and show that we are no better than her father."

Iroh had a point, and Zuko knew that. If he were to leave his sister and only other family member locked up, he would only show that he was just a heartless as his father, and Zuko wanted nothing to do with that monster what so ever. He knew that eventually he would have to find a way to help his sister and from what he had read in the letter, she was truly a broken fire bender. All she would do, was sit on her bed in her cell/cooler and wait for her daily meals to be given to her. Zuko knew that the only reason that his sister ended up the way she was, was because of his father's sick manipulation of her mind. Azula took her father's treatment of her as a sign of love, but in reality he did not love her at all. That fact alone, caused her already fragile mental state to crack. The breaking point of course, being on the day of Sozin's and her defeat at the hands of Katara. As it turned out, Azula was just another victim of his father's cruelty and if he were to leave his sister locked away, he would only be a accomplice to his sister's suffering.

But he had to be careful about this. Even though Azula had been imprisoned and striped of her royal title, there were still a number of nobles in the Fire Nation that were still very loyal to the old regime and its imprisoned leader. They would love nothing more than to have a symbol of that old regime to pop up, so they could use it to rally up more support to over throw Zuko and install a new Fire Lord to suit their needs. And Azula would have been the perfect choice to do this, since Ozai had fallen out of favor. But in her current mental state, Azula would have been easily manipulated in to thinking that the population wanted her back. When in reality, she would have only be shut away again and another Fire Lord (of sane mind) would be crowned. That would only send her back into her insanity and she would only be another victim of the old regime. Zuko could not let that happen, he had to find a way to to keep his sister safe.

It was then an idea came to him, but he would need some help in doing this. First, he sent out an letter to his friend Aang and his wife, Katara, asking them to come and see him. Next, he sent out an invitation for an Earth Kingdom citizen only known as "The Mechanist" to come to the palace. But most of all, he began to enlist the aid of some of his loyalist solder. Cause for this plan to be a success, secrecy was key and he had to make sure that he could trust the men that would be the ones to carry this out. A short time later, the royal messenger had came came and collected to 2 letters to be sent to there respective recipients while a call was sent out to a number of naval personnel that had served with him when he was in exile and searching for the Avatar. When that was done, Zuko made a list of items that would be collected and be ready to ship as soon as possible. The only thing that Zuko could do now, was hope that all would go well and if it did, Azula would have a chance to rebuild her life.

Seven Months Later...

It was an rainy morning as Zuko stood on the docks in the Fire Nation capital. In front of him, was a Fire Navy coal carrier named " Rock Fish". On board the vessel, the crew were making there final checks of the 30 year old vessel before it set sail on its covert mission. Just months before, the vessel was selected by The Mechanist to have some modification done to it, which included having a special chilled compartment built in its hole to hold its covert cargo/passenger. As this was going on, Zuko, Aang and Katara had have meetings with the both the Northern and Southern Water tribes in aiding with Zuko's plan an at the end of these meetings, it was the southern tribe that had agreed to help in the construction of a new 'Facility' at the south pole, while the northern tribe would help in Azula's healing process. All that had to be done now, was for the Rock Fish to head to the Boiling Rock and transfer Azula to her new home.

" Remember Captain, this mission is of the up most importance to me." Zuko said to the captain, "Remember, no one must know what we are doing or know where she would be kept. As far as every one is concerned, she is still at Boiling Rock. Do you under stand me?"

"Understood, your grace." The captain said, " but what if she tries to fight back?"

" That would not be a problem. She has been exposed to the cold air for almost 5 years. From what I under stand, her body has been weakened because of this. So I ask you to be careful with her. Or else you will have to answer to me." Zuko replied, the captain just nodded. With a slight bow, the captain made his way up the gang plank as the rest of the crew began to untie the last few ropes that held the ship to the dock.

Within a few minutes, the Rock Fish had cleared the dock and was now making it's way out to sea. Zuko just stood on there and watched the vessel slowly chugged its way out of the harbor for a few minutes. He was glad that the sun had not come up as yet, which meant that most persons would not have been able to see the ship as it left and if all went well no one would ever know what was its true intent. As Zuko turned and headed back to his personal carriage, he could not help but to think if this plan would really work and if it did he would have been successful in preventing his father from taking another family from him.

With that thought in mind, Zuko sat in his carriage and signaled the driver to take him back to the palace.