- Katara: [trapped with Zuko in a crystal cave] Why did they throw you in here? Oh, wait, let me guess. It's a trap. So that when Aang shows up to help me, you can finally have him in your little Fire Nation clutches.
- [no answer from Zuko]
- Katara: You're a terrible person, you know that? Always following us, hunting the Avatar, trying to capture the world's last hope for peace. But what do you care? You're the Fire Lord's son. Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood.
- Prince Zuko: You don't know what you're talking about.
- Katara: I don't? How dare you. You have no idea what this war has put me through. Me personally. The Fire Nation took my mother away from me.
- [Katara starts to cry]
- Prince Zuko: [sympathetically] I'm sorry. That's something we have in common.
- Azula: [to Long Feng] I can see your whole history in your eyes. You were born with nothing. So you've had to struggle and connive and claw your way to power. But true power, the divine right to rule, is something you're born with. The fact is, they don't know which one of us is going to be sitting on that throne and which of us is going to be bowing down. But I know, and you know.
- [Azula sits on the throne]
- Azula: Well?
- Long Feng: [Bows, resigned] You've beaten me at my own game.
- Azula: Don't flatter yourself. You were never even a player.
- Uncle Iroh: What's on your mind?
- Aang: Well, I met with this guru who was supposed to help me master the Avatar State and control this great power. But to do it, I had to let go of someone I love... and I just couldn't.
- Uncle Iroh: Protection and power are overrated. I think you are very wise to choose happiness and love.
- Katara: I'm sorry I yelled at you before.
- Prince Zuko: It doesn't matter.
- Katara: It's just that, for so long now, whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy, it was your face.
- Prince Zuko: My face?
- Prince Zuko: [touches his scar] I see.
- Katara: No, no, tha-that's not what I meant.
- Prince Zuko: It's okay. I used to think this scar marked me. The mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever. But lately... I've realized that I'm free to determine my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark.
- Katara: Maybe you *could* be free of it.
- Prince Zuko: What?
- Katara: I have healing abilities.
- Prince Zuko: It's a scar, it can't be healed.
- Katara: [pull out the amulet] This water from the Spirit Oasis of the North Pole. It has special properties, so I've been saving it for something important.
- Katara: [walks closer to Zuko] I don't if it would work, but...
- [Zuko closes his eyes and Katara gently touches the side of his face near his scar]
- Uncle Iroh: Did I ever tell you how I got the nickname the Dragon of the West?
- Azula: I'm not interested in a lengthy anecdote, Uncle.
- Uncle Iroh: t's more of a demonstration, really.
- [Iroh breaths fire]
- Uncle: Sometimes, life is like this dark tunnel. You can't always see the light at the end of the tunnel. But if you just keep moving... you will come to a better place.
- Sokka: We should split up. Aang, you go with Iroh to look for Katara and the angry jerk...
- Sokka: [to Iroh] ... no offense.
- Uncle Iroh: None taken.
- Toph: Wait. Someone's at the door.
- [There's a knock at the door]
- Toph: Actually, I know who it is. It's an old friend of mine.
- [Toph opens the door to reveal Iroh]
- Toph: Glad to see you're okay.
- Uncle Iroh: I need your help.
- Azula: We've done it, Zuko. It's taken a hundred years, but the Fire Nation has conquered Ba Sing Se.
- Prince Zuko: I betrayed Uncle.
- Azula: No, he betrayed you. Zuko, when you return home, Father will welcome you as a war hero.
- Prince Zuko: But I don't have the Avatar. What if Father doesn't restore my honor?
- Azula: He doesn't need to, Zuko. Today, you restored your own honor.
- Guru Pathik: [Aang recalls what the guru said] The only way is to let her go.
- Aang: I'm sorry Katara.
- [Aang enters the Avatar State]
- Uncle: You're not the man you used to be, Zuko. You are stronger and wiser and freer than you have *ever* been. And now you have come to the crossroads of your destiny. It's time for you to choose. It's time for you to choose good.
- Azula: [Bursts in and traps Iroh] I expected this kind of treachery from Uncle. But Zuko, *Prince* Zuko, you're a lot of things, but you're not a traitor, are you?
- Prince Zuko: Release him immediately.
- Azula: It's not too late for you, Zuko. You can still redeem yourself.
- Uncle: The kind of redemption she offers is not for you.
- Azula: Why don't you let him decide, Uncle? I need you, Zuko. I've plotted every move of this day, this glorious day in Fire Nation history, and the only way we win is together. At the end of this day, you will have your honor back. You will have Father's love. You will have everything you want.
- Uncle: Zuko, I am begging you. Look into your heart and see what it is that you truly want.
- Azula: You are free to choose.
- Uncle Iroh: Princess Azula is here in Ba Sing Se.
- Aang: She must have Katara.
- Uncle Iroh: She has captured my nephew as well.
- Aang: Then we'll work together to fight Azula and save Katara and Zuko.
- Sokka: Whoa, there. You lost me at Zuko.
- Uncle Iroh: I know how you must feel about my nephew. But believe me when I tell you, there is good inside him.
- Sokka: Good inside him isn't enough. Why don't you come back when it's outside him, too, okay?
- Aang: Katara's in trouble. All of Ba Sing Se is in trouble. Working together is our best chance.
- Aang: So, Toph thinks you give pretty good advice... and great tea.
- Uncle Iroh: The key to both is proper aging.
- Azula: You're so dramatic. What, are you going to challenge me to an Agni Kai?
- Prince Zuko: Yes. I challenge you.
- Azula: [Smiles mockingly] No, thanks.
- Azula: [to the Dai Li] This coup must be swift and decisive. The Earth King, and each of the five generals, must be taken out simulataneously. Long Feng has placed you in my command while we overthrow the government. If I sense any disloyalty, any hesitation, any weakness at all, I will snuff it out. That is all.
- [Iroh jumps out of a hole blasted in the palace wall and lands on a bush]
- Uncle Iroh: Come on! You'll be fine!
- Prince Zuko: No. I'm tired of running. It's time I faced Azula.
- Earth King: Katara's fine. You have nothing to worry about.
- Aang: But, in my vision, I felt so sure that she was in trouble.
- Earth King: Well, she met with the Council of Generals to plan the invasion. And since then, she's been off with your friends, the Kyoshi Warriors.
- Sokka: See, Aang, she's with Suki. They're probably back at our apartment right now talking about makeup or something.
- Aang: Okay, maybe you're right.
- Earth King: Believe me, if there was any danger at all, Bosco's animal instinct would sense it.
- Uncle: Sometimes life is like this dark tunnel. You can't always see the light at the end of the tunnel, but but if you just keep moving... you will come to a better place.