The Search Part Two

The Search Part 2 is the second part of The Search trilogy. Written by Gene Yang alongside Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, this portion of the trilogy will focus on Team Avatar's continuing journey to find Zuko and Azula's mother, Ursa. It was released on July 10, 2013.

Overview
In search of their long-lost mother, Fire Lord Zuko and his sister Azula have brought Avatar Aang and his friends into a mysterious forest, but what they discover within may be more than they can face, and could leave them lost forever.

Synopsis
This second installment of The Search trilogy begins with Azula having yet another hallucination of her mother. In it, Azula is sleeping soundly at the base of a tree when a familiar voice coaxes her awake by calling her name and gently caressing her cheek. Startled, Azula bolts awake and to her shock and surprise sees Ursa kneeling beside her in the flesh. Ursa then tells her daughter to give up her quest to usurp the throne from Zuko because it is his destiny to be Fire Lord and that her true destiny lays elsewhere. But Azula hears none of it. Convinced that its her destiny to have the throne, Azula glares at Ursa and coldly thanks her for finally showing herself and sparing her the trouble of finding her. Reiterating her vengeful promise to end Ursa's life and her meddling once and for all, Azula then goes to shoot lightning at her. But Ursa remains resolute and using the metaphor of a mask tells her troubled daughter that she has worn the mask of fear and intimidation for too long and that she must finally shed that mask so that the beauty of her true destiny can shine through at last. For a brief moment, Ursa's words make Azula doubt herself. Azula desperately reaches out to grab hold of Ursa's arm claiming she has proof of Zuko's unworthiness to the throne. But it is there that the hallucination ends with Azula grabbing Katara's arm mistaking her for Ursa. Katara angrily yanks herself free from Azula's grasp as Sokka rushes over to her sister's aid and throws his boomerang at Azula which she easily deflects with her arm gauntlet. Still trying to get her bearings, Azula goes to read the letter she had tucked away in her boot, only to find it missing. Enraged, Azula promptly demands to know where Zuko is and storms off into the forest in search of him.

Meanwhile, Zuko is sitting on a nearby cliff with Aang, talking about the letter, and how he feels almost hopeful about the content, much to the Avatar's shock. Azula approaches and demands to know where the letter is.

The first flashback begins with Ursa and her children walking in the royal garden. Seeing her brother and mother happily walking side-by-side, Azula burns one of the flowers, and Zuko tells on her. Ursa scolds her for disrespecting the royal garden, and Azula burns Zuko's bottom, calling him a tattletale. Ursa promptly sends her to her room. Ozai witnesses the event and appears very displeased. Next, he is shown talking to Vachir, at the time a Yuyan Archer, and ordering him to find and kill Ikem.

The flashback ends and the story returns to Azula, who is now attacking Aang and Zuko. Aang leaves to check on Katara and Sokka, while Zuko continues to fight Azula. Azula eventually takes the letter back from Zuko, who holds her over the cliff, and asks her why they have to always be fighting. Azula realizes that Zuko has not burned the letter yet despite having it the whole night, and asks him if he is on "her side". The two return to the group, who are still trying to put out the forest fire started by Azula's lightning. Sokka tells Azula, "Nature hates you!" in reference to the forest fire. The group climbs on Appa, and prepares to leave.



The next flashback starts with Ozai, Ursa, Zuko, and Azula eating. Azula tells her father that during firebending training, Master Kunyo told her that her arms were too far apart, but she argued that she could get a bigger fire blast that way. Ozai responds, saying that he will have to send Kunyo to the colonies. Azula says that it "serves him right", and Zuko says that he just wanted her to firebend correctly. Ozai becomes enraged at this, slamming his fist on the table, and proceeding to shame Zuko for not being a better firebender than his younger sister. He continues, saying Azula was born lucky, but Zuko was lucky to be born. Ursa voices her shock and disapproval at that remark, when a servant comes in saying a Yuyan Archer requests an audience. Ozai goes to see him, and he tells him that he could not find Ikem, but he looked in Forgetful Valley for months. Ozai tells him to resign from the Archers, and leaves to see Ursa. He reminds her that contact with her past, especially Ikem, is treason, also telling her that he got rid of Ikem.

The flashback ends, and the group gets off Appa. They all don disguises to conceal their identities in Hira'a. When they get into town, the final scene from Love Amongst the Dragons is playing. Zuko reminisces the times when he and Azula would reenact the part after watching the Ember Island players. After the play is over, they ask around about Ursa. The director of the acting company invites the team into his home, so they can talk about Ursa. His wife discusses marriage with Aang and Katara, while their young daughter shows Zuko and Azula her doll, much to the princess' annoyance. They learn that Ursa was taken from town on official business, and people speculate that she married into the royal family, and that Ikem, her boyfriend, left to Forgetful Valley.

Toward the evening, the group decides to leave, and they gives thanks to the family for sharing their home and time with them. While Azula and Katara get into a heated argument, Aang apologizes with Zuko for reacting the way he did before, and explains that if it was difficult for him to understand, he cannot imagine how hard would it be like for Zuko. He also says that despite sounding harsh, it would be better not to find Ikem, and burn the letter. However, Zuko confesses that he does not have the letter, anymore. He let Azula keep it, and says that they should focus on the task at hand, and then take care of what he should do and be. Upon hearing this, Aang tells Zuko to listen to him, and the Avatar begins to explain that when people come to the Fire Lord's throne, they do not bow down to him, but to the peaceful world he represents, and therefore, no matter who his real father is, he should remain on the throne. When Sokka intervenes the conversation to ask how much longer they would go on with the mission, since the discussion among the women of the group was increasing, Zuko declares that after going to the Forgetful Valley, all was going to end.



The third flashback begins with Azula and Zuko discussing what Azulon had told Ozai to do with the young boy, and when she hears the conversation, Ursa carries Azula to another room to find out more about it. When she gets the information she needs, she goes to talk to Ozai, and when he says he plans to go ahead with Azulon's orders, Ursa proposes a deal. Because her mother was a very talented herbalist, Ursa knows how to make an odorless, colorless poison, and she will give it to Ozai, who can use it as he sees fit, in return for sparing Zuko's life. Ozai agrees, but under one condition, he knows that if Ursa stays in the palace, it will not take long until he finds an odorless and colorless poison in his meal, so Ursa will have to leave the town and never return. She agrees to the terms, but states that she will take their children too, but Ozai then told her she cannot do that. He explained that while she kept her word, the children will not be harmed, but if she tries to approach them or take them with her, he will hunt them as he has done with Ikem. She prepares the poison and gives it to Ozai, and then says goodbye to her children, leaving the palace in a boat, ending the flashback.

Shortly after, Team Avatar arrives at Forgetful Valley. Soon, Aang begins to feel the presence of spirits in his face, and identifies a flutter-bat that leads him to a pond of clear and quiet water. The group comments on how calm everything is, and Aang remembers the pond where Tui and La were, telling everyone that this is a very spiritual place that should be respected. Unfortunately, Azula sees her mother in the pond and shoots a beam of lightning, which initiates a dispute in the group. However, during their discussion, some flowers and vines begin to attack them. Quickly, Katara deduces that a waterbender was behind the assault, manipulates the plants to stop the attack, and demands to know who was behind the stunt. An old woman who leads a masked man emerges from the plants, surprising Katara.

The next flashback starts with Ursa reaching to Hira'a after her exile, where she asks a young girl for Jinzuk and Rina, but the girl tells her that they both died years ago. She heads to the stage of the city, where she cries until almost sunrise, when the new theater director, Noren, sees her and invites her to breakfast, which she accepts.



Back in the forest, the group is eating with the old woman, Misu, and her brother, Rafa. Misu explains that they came from the Northern Water Tribe. When they lived there, she and her brother were completely different, she was studious and obedient, but her brother was rebellious and loud, and used to steal things just to prove he could, but he never got in real problems. But one day, she found him alone in the ice, with his face horribly disfigured. Despite the attempts of the best healers, they could not do anything for Rafa, who was in a state between life and death. Since no one could help him, her sister sought help in the best way he knew, studying. Soon, she found information about a spirit who visited a forest of the Fire Nation once in a while, who had the power to give people new faces. So she devoted her life to take her brother to the forest so the spirit could help him. However, it took them a while, for she had to learn how to use waterbending to fight secretly, because in the Northern Water Tribe, women could only learn healing.

At that time, Azula interrupts the conversation asking about her mother, but the old woman says she has not seen her. She also explains that when the spirit is close, face-like patterns manifest in the woods and animals. Additionally, she reveals to them that during the night, a wolf travels from very far to drink water from one of the ponds located in the forest. Unfortunately for them, the pond where they are is not where the wolf appears. Seeing this, Aang decides to try to do something for the siblings, and tries to meditate.



Meanwhile, Azula complains that instead of looking for their mother, they are wasting time by helping dirty vagrants. Zuko replies that Aang is the Avatar, and helping people is what he usually does; and as his team, that is their job too. Azula responds by pointing out what she believes is the reason why Zuko does not want to be Fire Lord anymore; he would rather travel the world helping poor people. Zuko tries to answer, but Azula enters in another of her episodes, claiming that her mother had orchestrated the situation. She prepares to shoot a lightning bolt and aims it at Rafa and Misu, while Zuko frantically runs toward their aid. And then, Aang crosses the Spirit World. Once there, he finds the flutterfly-bat that tells him to go with it to see what he wanted. Aang rides the creature, which takes Aang to see the forest. Aang notices four ponds, and close to one, he sees the wolf spirit. He tries to convince him to go to the pond where the others were camping, but the animal ran away. Aang grabs his fur and when he stops, the Avatar hears a voice asking who dares to ride its wolf. Aang explains that he is the Avatar, and asks who had spoken. Then he sees a spirit that identifies herself as the Mother of Faces.

Goofs

 * The fire started by Azula in the forest that the group was attempting to extinguish should have been burning a standard orange color, as Azula was not bending it at the time.
 * On page 37, Sokka has six fingers on his right hand.
 * On page 39, in one scene, Ursa's top knot is not there.

Trivia

 * This comic was accidentally leaked about a week before it was supposed to have been released.
 * In Misu's flashback, Rafa is seen holding a helmet in the shape of a wolf's head, similar to those worn by Hakoda and his men during the Invasion of the Fire Nation.
 * This comic marks the third time that Team Avatar has encountered waterbenders while in the wilderness, the first being the members of the Foggy Swamp Tribe in "The Swamp", followed by Hama in "The Puppetmaster".