Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The great spirits do not understand time as humans do. Eons can pass in a blink and the life of a mayfly-spider can last as long as that of a star.

So when his children slaughter the Air Nomads, Agni's reaction is both immediate and delayed. Long seconds pass as he hesitates, wary of stepping in; lesser spirits might indulge in games and mischief here and there, but the great spirits rarely interfere too much in mortal affairs, preferring to let mortals learn from their own mistakes. As he hesitates, fires rage across the Earth Kingdom, the dragons are hunted down and killed, and Tui wails as her children are taken.

This is more than the usual petty arguments among mortals. Something should be done. But should Agni really step in where he normally tries to avoid doing so? And besides, isn't this precisely what the Avatar is for?

But the Avatar remains sleeping in the ice, and brief millennia go by as Agni waits for him to wake.

Decades have now passed as the humans measure the passing of time. The one who started this conflict, a man who is meant to represent Agni's will upon the mortal realm, is now dead, as is the man who followed him.

The world burns, and lives are reduced to ashes.

Agni wonders if there is any worth in stepping in. The lives already lost will not be restored. The homes already burned will not rebuild themselves. People who do not remember a world where they didn't hate will not easily hold out a hand of friendship to those they'd been fighting.

And then the man who now leads his children, the grandson of the man who started this all, who claims authority from Agni in this crusade, invokes his name in order to burn his own child in front of a cheering crowd who do nothing to prevent it.

All because that child had asked for mercy for his people, and begged for it for himself.

No.

No more.

⁂

Iroh turned away the moment he saw his brother's hand moving towards his nephew's face, but he was unable to block out the screams.

He should have stepped in. He should have done something. He should have prevented this farce of a duel – even believing it had been some old General, he should still not have allowed it to go ahead. He should have challenged Ozai when he'd usurped the throne with the flimsy excuse of a convenient and sudden death and a last minute change to their father's will. He should have stepped in more when Ozai berated his son over small mistakes.

But he hadn't.

It felt as if the screaming went on forever...

And then, at last, it stopped, and there was the soft sound of a body hitting the floor in the sudden silence.

And then everything stopped. Darkness fell as the sun itself disappeared and every flame burning in the hall was snuffed out.

And Iroh felt suddenly cold inside.

The sun reappeared a moment later, but the torches did not re-light and the cold emptiness didn’t dissipate.

He held out a hand, already knowing what he would find, but needing to confirm anyway. No flame appeared in his palm. Around him he could feel panic sweeping the crowd as other people made their own attempts with equally successful results.

He looked out again, to see his brother still standing near his prone son, looking increasingly incredulous as attempt after attempt to summon so much as a spark ended in failure.

Zuko was too small, too still... Please, he can cope with the loss of his Fire, but not his nephew, please Agni no...

Then the small form twitched slightly, and he almost wanted to collapse with relief. Zuko is alive. But he couldn’t, because if he didn’t do something right now, his survival will be short-lived.

Iroh knew his brother will not see this sign for what it was, will not accept that this was a judgement from Agni himself for his cruelty; he will blame Zuko for this.

Taking advantage of the chaos, he dashed onto the stage far quicker than people would expect a man of his size to be able to move, and grabbed his nephew.

And ran.

⁂

He wanted to run straight out of the palace, but you didn’t rise to the rank of General without learning that the preparations and strategising that went into a battle was as important as the fighting itself – often more so.

So he stopped by Zuko's rooms, to grab something for him to wear that didn’t smell of burned flesh. Perhaps some familiar reminders of a home he will likely never see again, too?

He did not even think of stopping by his own rooms; he could manage.

(He refused to consider the possibility that Zuko might not survive, may never have any need for clothing or mementos, that the only thing he might need to provide could be funeral rites.)

For all his commitment to preparations, his packing was both hasty and haphazard, and he was sure that when he checked the bag later he will find he had picked up one or two things that are useful and the rest will be junk.

Meanwhile he went over his options for getting himself and Zuko out of the Fire Nation. He had enough contacts in the military that finding a ship in port commanded by someone who owed him a favour or two shouldn’t be difficult. And failing that, there were fishermen who would happily take passengers without any questions, in exchange for a large enough payment.

"Will he be okay?" came a quiet voice from the door, and he whirled round, automatically moving into a firebending stance before he could remember Agni's judgement.

It was the tall, quiet girl who was friends with Princess Azula (although the princess seemed to view her friends more like he'd viewed his troops than actual companions) and he briefly wondered whose interests she had in mind.

But she was looking at Zuko with worry in her eyes, though she tried to keep her expression blank.

"He will," he answered as he relaxed his stance, hoping it was the truth.

She nodded, accepting the words, though he didn’t know if she believed them or not.

It was only when she entered the room and approached the bed he'd laid Zuko on, that he saw what she was carrying. She was smarter than him, perhaps, in some ways; she had brought burn salve and bandages.

He continued packing, as she applied the salve, inexpertly. There was much more to treating a burn this serious than simply dabbing on some salve, but it was better than nothing, he supposed, so he didn’t stop her. She flinched as skin came away on her fingers, and Zuko whimpered, but she was not deterred.

He came round once, blinking up at her with his good eye (Iroh wonders if the other can be saved). "Mai?" he asked blearily.

"Hey," she said in response, gently stroking a hand down the unburned side of his face, leaving a smear of blood and skin behind, but he was gone again before she could say anything more.

Finally she wrapped the bandage around his head, cutting the excess off with one of the many knives she carried.

He took the salve and the excess bandages and added them to the bag before closing it. He was done, and they cannot afford to tarry any longer.

He was amazed that Ozai had not come for them already. Likely he had his hands full trying to stave off a crisis that could cost him his power and his throne. His constant firebending training had kept him physically fit, but without his bending he was vulnerable, and it was his own actions that had brought this upon them. If he allowed people to think, to realise all this, to allow the knowledge to take root in their minds, then he would lose everything.

He had to assert his authority, to remind them that he was their ruler, to snuff out the dissent before it could happen.

But that wouldn’t last much longer before he managed to spare enough time to order some loyal guards to find his son, who made the ideal scapegoat.

He bowed to the girl – Mai – before picking Zuko up, wrapping him in the blanket in a flimsy disguise that was the best he could do, and turning to leave.

"Wait!" she called out as he was nearly to the door. He turned back to look at her.

"Let me come with you!"

He shook his head. "I'm sorry. But it's too dangerous. Zuko will be hunted. I can't risk anyone else coming along."

She nodded, understanding, and didn’t argue. She knew she couldn’t go with them. You didn’t spend time in Azula's orbit without learning practical lessons on basic survival. But she'd felt she needed to ask anyway.

Then she reached into her pocket and pulled something out, before darting up to him and thrusting it into the bag. "Give this to him, will you? Please?"

He bowed once more, and she returned the gesture.

Then he fled through the chaos that the palace had fallen into.

Chapter Text

Iroh sat in the brig of a Fire Navy ship, holding his nephew’s hand as he absorbed the news.

⁂

In retrospect, the signs were obvious.

⁘

The medic shaking his head in concern, saying that the infection had cleared up, and he no longer appeared feverish, but his temperature was higher than it should be. “Normally I’d consider it normal body temperature for a firebender, but now…” He trailed off, not needing to finish the sentence. Now there are no firebenders.

It was just the last lingering traces of the fever, they’d agreed.

⁘

Zuko waking up and seeing his uncle sitting at his bedside, holding his hand. “You should go to bed, uncle. It’s the middle of the night,” he’d murmured, before falling asleep again.

Of course, the cell had no windows and he’d been barely conscious. Naturally he’d woken up to a dark room and assumed it was night time, and the fact that he was correct meant nothing, since he’d had a 50/50 chance of being right.

⁘

Explaining to his nephew what had happened at the Agni Kai, reassuring him that it was not his fault, that Agni’s judgement had fallen upon his father, not him, no matter what Ozai might be trying to claim by attempting to make his victim into a scapegoat, no matter that they were hidden away in the brig of a ship like criminals. He’d held Zuko as he’d wept, and asked if he felt alright, concerned that the cold emptiness where his inner flame had once burned would be too much for his nephew in the state he was in. Zuko had reported that he noticed no difference.

It was perhaps understandable that he wouldn’t notice, he thought. The poor child was in so much pain and confusion. Of course it would be hard to him to discern any changes.

⁘

With Zuko now awake and fairly lucid, he’d attempted to make some calming tea for him (it hurt to be reliant on spark rocks, but that was how things were now). But the fire kept going out as soon as it lit. Strange, he’d thought. He’d managed fine previously. Mindful that his frustration was probably upsetting his nephew, he moved the teapot away from the bed, before changing the fuel. His next attempt worked.

Must have been defective fuel.

⁘

The Captain, one of the few trustworthy crew onboard, came to hand Iroh his correspondence from his ‘concerned friends’ (actually fellow White Lotus members, but he didn’t trust the man that much) and pass on what little news they got on a ship at sea. As Iroh read through a delightful piece of propaganda where his brother blamed everyone but himself for the situation, the Captain sought to entertain the quiet boy curled up on the bed, telling him about how they had to use tools to navigate now, no longer being able to unerringly sense the position of the sun. Then he’d asked Zuko what direction he thought the sun was at that moment. The boy had pointed in a particular direction with perfect confidence. The Captain had raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You know,” he’d chuckled. “I think he’s right.”

It was just a simple guessing game. And if he knew the time of day & that they were sailing east, then that would narrow down the possibilities. It was a lucky guess.

⁘

The next time the medic visited, he’d decided it was time to run some tests on the eye while changing the bandages. It was too early to do any kind of proper assessment of how much vision he had, but it would be good to know if the eye was at least functional. He had Zuko cover his right eye and moved a finger in front of the boy’s face, noting the pupil’s movement with satisfaction. Then he’d called for his assistant to move the lamp close to Zuko’s face to check whether the pupil dilated in response to light changes… And Zuko had thrust his hands in front of his face, and the flame had jerked sharply away from him, before being extinguished.

Iroh, the medic, and the medic’s assistant had looked at each other in the dim light of the covered wall lamps. That couldn’t have just happened, right?

⁘

Gently, Iroh sat on the bed next to him, gathering his nephew into his arms. “It’s alright,” he told him. “You’re safe. Nobody will harm you here.”

He continued holding him, rocking him gently, waiting as the shaking decreased, while the medics stood watching, the assistant still holding the unlit lamp. Eventually he felt Zuko pull away from him, just a little. Because he knew he should be too old to need comfort, but craved it nonetheless.

He needed to confirm what he’d just seen, and unfortunately it meant asking Zuko to do something that would distress him. But he had to know.

“Zuko, nephew. I want you to try something for me. Can you make a flame? Just a small one?”

“But… you said nobody can firebend anymore? Because of me.”

“Because of your father, not you,” he corrected, gently. “And… just humour me, alright?”

The part of him that was so sure the flame had simply gone out on its own somehow wanted to tell him it would be fine, because there would be no fire, there couldn’t be. But deep down, he knew the truth of what he’d seen, and he couldn’t bring himself to lie to the boy.

Zuko screwed his face up in confusion, but nodded and held his hand out. Nothing happened, and after a long moment, he began shaking.

“Uncle, I can’t, I-”

He pulled Zuko back up against him, stroking a reassuring hand up and down his arm. “It’s alright, nephew, I’m here. I swear to you that I will keep you safe.”

Zuko breathed, tried again, and this time, a tiny flame bloomed in his palm…

Only to be quickly extinguished, as he gave a squeak of fear of and curled into his uncle’s side, shaking.

The reactions of everyone else present were just as shocked. It couldn’t be true, but it was.

Zuko still had his Fire.

⁂

His next letters to his White Lotus contacts carried considerably more urgency. This was no longer about simply finding a place to lie low until Ozai gave up looking. His brother would tear the world apart to find him if he learned of this.

Zuko wasn’t just a scapegoat anymore; he was a threat to Ozai's power – or a weapon for him to use.

And there was no way Ozai wouldn’t find out. It was one thing to trust the Captain and a few select members of his crew to keep quiet about the presence of a few stowaways, but this? Even if they didn’t actively sell Zuko out, they would talk (how could they not talk?) and someone would overhear.

Word would spread.

The code the White Lotus used to communicate in secrecy had barely been up to the task of explaining how an entire element had been stripped from its wielders. This? How could he properly convey this?

Iroh did his best.

⁂

Iroh held out a hand to help Zuko onto the jetty, but he refused it, jumping off the boat by himself. He took no offence at this, knowing that his nephew was clinging to his pride to cover his shock and pain.

In return, Zuko said nothing when his uncle had to step forward to prevent him from tumbling into the water when he stumbled, still a little unbalanced from the pain in his face and the lack of depth perception.

Now that they and their bags were on land, he adjusted the knot on the rope securing the boat to the jetty. Anyone looking would assume that he was making sure it was tied tight, but in reality he was doing the opposite. It was now tied so loosely that a strong wave would tug it undone and allow the boat to drift away. A simple mistake by a clumsy sailor, and nothing to connect a couple of newcomers to the port to a Fire Nation naval vessel.

He made sure the hoods of their cloaks hid their faces, before leading his nephew through the town towards the shop where he would be meeting his contact. It risked making them look suspicious, but better someone assume they were common thieves than to see their faces and know them as wanted traitors.

Next to him, Zuko peered around curiously, trying to take everything in through his unbandaged eye. This was his first time outside the Fire Nation – a home that Iroh could only hope that he’d one day see again – so everything was so new to him. He’d only heard stories (probably unflattering at worst and patronising at best) of what a Fire Nation colony was like.

More people than he’d expected were waiting for them in the shop’s backroom, and Zuko shied away from them, staying close to his uncle, while trying not to look like he was nervous.

Then he spotted someone he recognised. “Master Piandao! What are you doing here?!”

The swordmaster smiled. “I’m concerned for the wellbeing of my best student.” He nodded at the sheathed swords visible over Zuko’s shoulder. “I hope you’ve been practicing.”

Iroh raised an eyebrow. “I must echo my nephew’s question. I would think you’d be rather popular in the Fire Nation right now, and I doubt his wellbeing is all that prompted your exit?”

This got a grimace. “A little more popular than I’d like.”

The news he’d been able to get on a ship at sea had been limited, leaving him with only a vague sense of the chaos unfolding out in the world, and his colleagues quickly rectified that, filling him in with all that he’d missed on his journey.

Ozai had managed to cling to power, blaming everyone but himself (it was because of his son’s cowardice, the propaganda said, it was because the Fire Nation’s military had failed to fight hard enough, failed to win the war already, it said), and relying on his citizens’ almost fanatical obedience to the throne. (There were undoubtedly people who thought he should be removed from power, but if so, no faction had managed to unite enough people into any kind of organised movement.)

He’d directed their anger and panic outward at the rest of the world, who had been all too happy to seize upon this opportunity. The Fire Nation had spent a century waging war across the world, and if they were to lose now, then their enemies would not be gracious victors.

So the Fire Nation fought on, out of a desperation to avoid a fate that the more self-aware amongst them knew they’d brought upon themselves.

Non-benders were doing their best to train former firebenders (who had previously scorned them) in weapons and non-bending martial arts as quickly as possible, as the latter group learned that there was a lot more to fighting with sword and knife than simply waving a piece of metal around, and an actual art to throwing a punch or kick.

Troops were digging in and fighting to hold their positions however they could. They found creative ways to use fire in battle without bending, and factories had been tasked with producing machines that would help with that. Rumours abounded of underhanded tactics that would formerly have been considered too dishonourable to even contemplate.

The tide of the war had definitely turned, and many areas long under Fire Nation control had been taken back by the Earth Kingdom, but it was far from over. Perhaps if there were still airbenders, if the only remaining waterbenders weren’t so determined to remain neutral, if the Earth Kingdom wasn’t so vast and fragmented, the nations could have banded together and seized the advantage to defeat the Fire Nation.

But all that had happened was that the war had entered a new, much bloodier, phase.

How long this new state of affairs would drag on for, and whether it would end in the Fire Nation’s defeat, or if they could still claw their way to victory through desperation and sheer force of will, it was impossible to say.

In turn, Iroh shared his account of the Agni Kai.

“So, is it true?” asked one of them, as the exchange of news came to an end. He was eyeing Zuko in an almost hungry way, and there was no doubt what he was referring to.

“Zuko, could you show them a flame, please?”

He’d avoided asking him to firebend again since his little demonstration a few days ago, cautious of his obvious fear (and even more conscious that Zuko would ignore that fear and push himself too hard in trying to get over it, to his own detriment), but had asked the Captain for more lanterns, and had carefully placed them around their little cell, though not too close to the bed, allowing his nephew to become accustomed to the flames, safe behind the glass.

It was still asking too much too soon though, especially in a room filled with strangers, who had just discussed the misfortune that had befallen the Fire Nation – a misfortune that Zuko alone had escaped.

But it was necessary. They needed the protection of the White Lotus to avoid Zuko being discovered by either the Fire Nation or the Earth Kingdom (it was hard to say which would be worse). And he trusted all these people, even the ones not personally known to him. They had all been vetted, were all people known to have a desire to set aside conflict and pursue peace and philosophy.

He placed an arm around his nephew’s shoulders, squeezing his shoulder in support instead.

“It’s alright, nephew. Just a small one. You’re perfectly safe.”

Zuko glanced warily around the room at the strangers eyeing him curiously, but did as his uncle asked, cupping his hands and summoning a small flame. It flickered erratically in his hands, showing his nervousness at both the presence of fire and of being watched, but was undeniably there.

There were gasps and loud mutterings, and Zuko jerked, startled by their reactions, the flame going out.

“I think the course of action is clear.” Chumeng, who had done most of the talking so far, was the one to recover first. Iroh hadn’t met him previously, but he knew the man was widely respected and a Grand Lotus like himself. He would surely have made arrangements for him and Zuko to hide somewhere.

“The boy must take the throne, immediately, and bring the war to an end.”

…or not.

“You can’t be serious!”

“Iroh, think about it,” pleaded Mahu. “Ozai’s position is precarious, and the Fire Nation is in chaos. This is the perfect opportunity! The longer we wait, the harder it’ll be.”

It was so tempting to say yes, to agree to put Zuko on the throne, to end the bloodshed… To save so many lives…

But what of Zuko?

Putting him on the throne, even if the burden of ruling was mostly taken up by others, would be too much for him in his current state. And being asked to wield the element that had scarred him to demonstrate his right to rule?

It would break him.

“Don’t you want to end this?” asked Chumeng, clearly frustrated that Iroh wasn’t jumping at this opportunity. “Think of the greater good!”

“The greater good,” intoned several others, in agreement.

“Of course I do! But not at the cost of my nephew’s wellbeing! He needs time to heal!”

His concerns were waved off. “He will be fine. And what is one boy versus the fate of the world?”

“To me? Everything!”

It hurt that Piandao was remaining silent. He knew how fragile the boy had been even before all this. Iroh knew how hard he’d needed to work to overcome Zuko’s issues after years of harsh firebending lessons had eroded his self-confidence.

And they surely couldn’t think it’d be that easy? That Zuko would be able to take and hold the throne as easily as anything? A sudden change of leadership, in the wake of a crisis, risked causing more chaos, destabilising things further. And Ozai would have loyal supporters (he must have, to have kept the throne), who would believe the story that the loss of their firebending was all Zuko’s fault.

Even with the wide influence of the White Lotus, it would be a constant battle. Not something he would want to put a traumatised child through.

They were probably fully aware, he realised. They just saw any lives lost in any potential civil unrest as yet more sacrifice for the greater good.

His arm was still around Zuko’s shoulders, and he could feel him growing more and more tense.

“Enough!” Chumeng snapped, stepping right in front of Iroh and staring him down. (None of them had made any effort to engage with Zuko; he was just an object to them.) “This is necessary.”

Zuko began shaking uncontrollably, breathing frantic, before his legs collapsed under him. Iroh caught him before he could hit the floor, carefully lowering him onto the mat.

Iroh glared up at the other White Lotus members. “As you can see,” he bit out, doing everything in his power to remain calm, glad for the first time that he was without his firebending, because he would have been spitting sparks otherwise. “My nephew requires some time to rest. If you are so determined to have a new Firelord, then it might help to have one you haven’t already driven to his grave.”

He stared them all down, one after another, and eventually they conceded defeat – at least for the time being – and filed out of the room. They would not go far, and there would be people around watching all the exits, he was sure. But at least they had some semblance of privacy.

Piandao knelt next to his former student for a moment, grasping one of Zuko’s hands in his, while resting the other against his forehead.

Well, at least he felt some concern for his student.

Apparently assured, he got up and followed the others out of the room, door closing behind him.

Iroh sighed. Now what? He’d been relying on the White Lotus. He wasn’t sure he could hide Zuko alone, not with his firebending making him a target. And that was assuming that going it alone was even an option anymore. The White Lotus was not going to simply let them leave.

(Well, he would probably be allowed to walk away, but not Zuko.)

If he still had his firebending, and if Zuko was in any state to fight, then that would be a mild inconvenience at best. But taking on multiple people, including a couple of earthbenders and a master swordsman?

He’d tried to help his nephew, but it seemed he’d led him to his doom.

Zuko struggled to sit upright, and he moved to help his nephew, knowing better than to try getting him to lie down for a while longer.

“I’m sorry for bringing you here, truly. I thought they would help us.”

“Uncle, I don’t know how to be Firelord.”

“I know, nephew. I know.” He attempted a smile. “One day, I’m sure you would make a great one. But that is too much for one so young, and you need to recover from this first.”

“But-” he hesitated. “What about the war?”

Iroh sighed.

“I meant what I said. I want it to be over. But I won’t sacrifice another son to the madness.”

It was only after the words were out of his mouth that he realised what he’d said. Zuko’s good eye widened.

“Uncle, I-” And then forgetting his usual determination towards teenage aloofness, he threw his arms around his uncle and began crying. Iroh returned the embrace, rubbing circles on his nephew’s back in reassurance.

Eventually Zuko ran out of tears and pulled away. As he did so, something crinkled in one of his hands.

“What’s that?” Iroh asked.

“I don’t know. Master Piandao gave it to me.” He held out a crumpled piece of paper.

Iroh took it and unfolded it. Then he smiled as he read.

It seemed that Piandao hadn’t abandoned his student after all.

⁂

The two of them watched the boat drift off as they stood on the beach. Kyoshi Island was perfect. Technically part of the Earth Kingdom, but an autonomous territory with no Fire Nation occupation or Earth Kingdom military presence. The downside was that their determination to maintain their independence meant they were suspicious of strangers. But Iroh was sure he could find a way to get past this somehow. Surely nobody would concern themselves with an old man and an injured child?

There was a swish of fabric behind him, and then everything went black.

⁂

He woke up tied to a wooden pillar and blindfolded. He panicked for a moment, then relaxed as he felt Zuko’s warmth at his side. There was movement, and the blindfold was pulled off revealing a man about Iroh’s age, and a group of girls in makeup and clothing that resembled that of Avatar Kyoshi. Behind them lay a small village.

The man got right to the point, not wasting time on even a pretence of greeting. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

“Please,” Iroh pleaded. “We mean no harm. I’m simply looking for a safe place for my nephew to recover from his injuries.”

The group’s eyes flicked towards Zuko for a moment.

“And how do we know you aren’t Fire Nation spies?” asked one of the girls.

He decided that honesty was his best bet here. “We are from the Fire Nation, but I swear to you all, that we are not spies.”

This did not help.

“Throw them to the unagi,” the man ordered, turning away. Iroh had no idea what an unagi was, but he didn’t want to find out.

“Wait, please!” He was about to reveal Zuko’s firebending, but hesitated. Was that really a good idea? He doubted they were going to send them back to the Fire Nation. But the fewer who knew, the better.

But how else could he persuade them to let the pair remain on Kyoshi Island?

Kyoshi Island. The home of Avatar Kyoshi, and named in her honour. And each Avatar was a reincarnation of the previous Avatars…

They were waiting for an answer, and he played the last card that he could think of.

“You serve the memory of Avatar Kyoshi, yes?” He looked around at them, but continued without waiting for an answer. “This boy is the great-grandson of Avatar Roku!”

This earned disbelief from everyone present.

Which unfortunately included Zuko.

“Wait, really?” He could only see his nephew’s bandaged side, but knew his face was screwed up in confusion. “Nobody ever told me that.”

The disbelief on the faces of their captors turned to doubt.

And then Iroh was the one to screw up. “Yes, well,” he sighed. “The royal family is more than happy to benefit from an Avatar’s bloodline through an advantageous marriage, but not particularly interested in advertising it.”

And now the doubt transformed back into suspicion again.

“Royal family?” Weapons were pulled out of sashes.

Uh oh.

Zuko turned the unbandaged side of his face into the pillar and kicked out desperately in a futile attempt to keep the warriors back. Only, not so futile. Flames trailed his foot, and their captors all took a step back, shocked.

“But- we’d heard that there was no more firebending!” stammered the old man. “That the Fire Nation had been judged by the spirits for their crimes and found guilty.”

“Guilty, indeed. But my nephew alone was spared, and now he is in danger because of that. Please, I am telling the truth – we only seek safety! I can explain everything.”

After several long moments of trying to have a conversation through facial expressions, their captors retreated to have an actual, verbal discussion. He could feel Zuko shaking next to him.

“I’m sorry, uncle. I ruined everything.”

“No,” he reassured him. “You did great. This wasn’t how I wanted you to find out about being a descendant of Avatar Roku, and I cannot blame you for being surprised.”

“He’s really my great-grandfather?”

“Yes, really.” He resisted telling him how it had been foretold that mixing the bloodlines of Sozin and Roku would bring great power to the family. The boy had enough pressure on him as it was.

The discussion seemed to have reached a conclusion, and they were approached again.

“Very well. We will hear your story.” The old man levelled them both with a glare. “But if we are not satisfied with your explanation, then I’m sure the unagi will be satisfied by its meal.”

⁂

They were led into the village past the curious stares of the villagers, though their curiosity lacked any true fear, so they’d fortunately failed to see Zuko’s display of firebending.

He did his best to explain the situation to the village elder, who introduced himself as Oyaji, and the Kyoshi Warriors, who did not introduce themselves at all. He described the Agni Kai, and the events leading up to it (putting an arm around Zuko’s shoulder as he did so), how he’d fled the palace with his badly-injured nephew to avoid his father’s inevitable wrath, only to later find that he alone had retained his Fire, how he’d sought allies only to have them express a desire to use Zuko as a puppet.

Their captors (hosts?) absorbed this mostly in silence, with the occasional clarifying question, and it was hard to judge how sympathetic they were.

“Please. His father wants him dead, and there are people who would hunt him down to put him on the throne.”

“Don’t you want that?” asked one of the warriors.

“Yes,” he admitted, resting a hand on Zuko’s shoulder, wanting to show his pride in his nephew. “But not yet. He is too young, too hurt. He is not yet ready for such a destiny.”

“Kyoshi Island is neutral,” another chimed in.

“All the more reason to not let anyone know he is here.”

There was a long silence, everyone looking around at each other to see if anyone else had anything further to add to the interrogation. When nothing more was forthcoming, they fell into a discussion about what to do with their guests.

He reached out and grasped his nephew’s hand in his, not sure if he was trying to reassure the boy or seek reassurance for himself. Zuko, nervous as their fates were debated in front of them, allowed it, gripping his hand tightly as if scared he’d be torn away at any moment.

Eventually the group came to a conclusion, nodding at each other, before turning back to him and Zuko.

Oyaji fixed them with a severe look. “Well, I suggest the pair of you come up with new names then, if you want to blend in.”

Chapter Text

“Excellent, Prince Zuko!” called uncle enthusiastically from the sidelines as he completed the last step of the kata, emitting a perfect arc of flame from each hand.

“Uncle!” he snapped. “How many times? Don’t call me that! People might hear!”

Uncle smiled, waving off his concerns. “And once again I must remind you, nephew, that anyone close enough to hear some much-deserved praise, would have observed you firebending, making my words superfluous to their conclusion.”

He sighed, knowing that his uncle was right, but unable to dismiss his worry so easily.

His uncle placed the teacup back down. “Now, one more time.”

He did so, concentrating carefully. It was a complicated move, from a highly advanced set and he still struggled with it. To his relief, he managed to pull it off. At least well enough – he was sure that father and Azula would have not only performed it more smoothly, but added their own flair. And they wouldn’t have needed one hundred attempts to get it right in the first place. But he’d still done it, so that was something, he supposed.

It hadn’t been easy getting to this point. It had been weeks before Zuko was able to tolerate even a small candle flame, and even after that, uncle had insisted on starting from scratch and going through the basics. There was also the small matter of being instructed by someone unable to perform any firebending himself, instead having to demonstrate the movements while describing how the flow of chi should feel and what the effect should be.

But there’d been little else to do – keen to hone his non-bending fighting abilities, Zuko trained with the Kyoshi Warriors, and uncle did love a good pai sho game, but training only took up so much time and the villagers could only put up with losing to uncle for so long. So progress had definitely been steady and constant.

Uncle beamed proudly at him, and it felt amazing, though with the ever familiar stab of pain as he wondered why his father had never looked at him like that.

(Why had he never been good enough? Were uncle’s standards just lower?)

Uncle seemed about to say something, but then there was the sound of branches rustling as someone pushed their way through the bushes.

Zuko quickly moved into a ready stance, but relaxed when Suki stepped into the clearing.

She looked Zuko up and down and nodded. “Oh good, you’re already in your uniform.”

“Yeah, l was heading to training after finishing up here. What’s up?” Something must be – she looked too serious to just be calling him to training early. Inter-village meeting, perhaps?

“Intruders. On the beach.”

Shit. “Fire Nation?” he asked, applying the makeup as quickly as possible, well-practiced at it by now. He was pretty sure that making him wear the uniform and makeup had been intended as a joke when he’d first asked to train with them, but he hadn’t objected – why would he, when the kimonos reminded him of the formal robes worn at home, and the makeup hid his scar, allowing him to blend in with the others (even though everyone knew it was there, underneath). And nobody who spent any time around Azula would make the mistake of thinking girls couldn’t fight.

She frowned. “Not sure. But whoever they are, they’re not supposed to be here.”

Makeup finished, he snatched up his swords and fans, strapping the former to his back and shoving the latter into his sash. Then he stood, nodding to indicate he was ready.

These people had offered them sanctuary, kept them safe, and the handful of people who knew who he and uncle really were had kept their secret despite rumours of a substantial reward that had made its way to the island via traders.

It was time to return the favour. Whoever these people were, they’d regret setting foot here.

⁂

Well, they weren’t Fire Nation spies, that was for sure. They didn’t seem to be refugees either, not when the first words out of them were insults. They certainly weren’t doing much to endear themselves to anyone, especially not the boy in Water Tribe clothing (who was the source of the insults).

So far, so boring. Another group of idiots who saw an island minding its own business and decided to make it their personal playground – or worse, a gang set on using this as a base from which to stage raids that would bring either the Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom (or both) down on everyone’s heads.

Either way, fish food.

And then the kid with the arrow tattoos declared that he was the Avatar.

He had a horrible feeling that the nice peaceful life that he and uncle had made for themselves here was over.

⁂

The next day’s training session was more entertaining than usual thanks to the Water Tribe boy – Sokka. The idiot actually thought the only reason he’d been taken down so easily yesterday was because he’d been taken by surprise, boasting that he was the best warrior in his whole village.

Zuko could only assume that he was the only warrior in his village.

Though in fairness, he wasn’t completely terrible once he came back to apologise and actually made an effort to take the training seriously.

Zuko hung back and stayed silent, not wanting to draw attention to himself, even when Sokka made a small fuss about wearing a dress, as if the Kyoshi warrior uniforms were all that different to long robes worn by men and women alike, beyond a few minor differences in cut.

Then again, maybe long robes weren’t a thing in the Southern Water Tribe? They’d probably be an inconvenience in deep snow. Zuko had never seen snow before coming to Kyoshi Island, and it had been tough adapting to fighting in. And apparently what they got here was nothing compared to the poles. He could see why long skirts could be a problem.

Or maybe he was just an idiot. That was also an option.

Either way, he wasn’t about to draw attention to himself, not until he knew the Avatar’s intentions. What if he was hunting the last remaining firebender? And even if he wasn’t, Zuko wasn’t sure about the wisdom of revealing himself. Doing that meant standing out, inviting the wrath of his father, of firebenders who surely blamed him for losing their bending.

Even just admitting he was a boy was a risk – it made him stand out when he needed to stay hidden. And if they were actually looking for him, better to let them think he was a she. Depending on how long they stuck around, they’d probably figure that out anyway, but Zuko would rather give as little away about himself as he could for as long as he could, while he tried to figure out what to do.

So he stood back and watched, hoping none of the others gave him away. They didn’t. Suki gave him the smallest sideways glance after telling Sokka that they normally didn’t take boys or outsiders, but said nothing to suggest that an exception to the rule was standing in the room, all-too-aware of the danger of revealing Zuko was here.

Besides, it was funny watching that guy having a crisis of masculinity.

And watching Sokka get thoroughly schooled by Suki distracted him from thinking about what the reappearance of the Avatar after a century of absence meant for his and uncle’s life here. His uncle hadn’t said anything about it so far – not at the Avatar’s welcome feast, or when he and Zuko were alone in their small house. But he’d thrown his nephew significant glances all evening, and dropped several proverbs on the subject of change (or at least, that’s what Zuko guessed they meant).

He had a horrible feeling that this might mean they would be leaving soon. But Zuko didn’t want to leave.

Leaving meant that the hazy someday that uncle had mentioned where he was supposed to be Firelord was upon him, only Zuko didn’t feel any more ready to be Firelord than he did in the backroom of that shop, face swathed in bandages and flinching equally from his own flames and the stares of a group of old men.

Eventually he felt he’d trained enough for the day and left with some of the other girls, leaving Suki to her fun. They had just gotten into an animated discussion on what sword was the best. Zuko favoured dual dao, obviously, but Akami insisted that the katana was far superior.

And then came the moment Zuko had been dreading since he and uncle had arrived.

“The Fire Nation has arrived!” gasped out a terrified villager, running up to them. “A ship just landed in the cove, and they’re riding up here right now!”

⁂

“I am Commander Zhao!” declared the man leading the line of soldiers on komodo rhinos. “You will hand over the Avatar or face the consequences!”

Really? He’d been here for almost three years and managed to keep his presence here secret. The Avatar had been here less than a day and already people knew he was here. See? This was what happened if you stood out.

Silence.

“Very well.”

He gave a signal and several soldiers raised long metal tubes to their shoulders. There was another pause as Zhao looked around.

“Then I suppose we’ll have to burn you out.”

He gave another hand signal. The soldiers all pulled levers on the devices, which spewed out huge jets of flames.

“Well, shit,” muttered the woman whose house he and Suki had chosen as a vantage point. “I’d really hoped those stories of them finding creative ways around having no bending were just stories.”

The other warriors darted out of their hiding places to engage the enemy, but Suki hung back, eyeing the flames that were eating at the wooden houses, before looking at him.

“Do you think you can do anything about the fires?” she asked, quiet enough that the other people in the room wouldn’t hear.

He nodded.

She clasped his shoulder. “Then I’ll leave that to you.”

He slipped out the back as she joined the fray, circling round the back of the houses, staying out of sight of the Fire Nation troops while doing his best to either extinguish the flames, or at least keep them for spreading, without being seen.

The village was small, but not that small, and it would have been tricky to manage alone. Luckily Katara was busy using her waterbending to deal with the fires on the far side of the street, so Zuko could concentrate on managing the ones closest to him, or fires too large for her to easily control with the water she could find.

(He’d never had to consider before what it must be like to have your bending be limited to what was resources you had available. It seemed… inconvenient.)

Gusts of wind from the Avatar’s battle with Zhao put out a few fires as well, though others it fanned into blazes, so he was as much a hindrance as a help to him and Katara.

Between the airbender and the waterbender and the chaos of battle, hopefully the Fire Nation soldiers wouldn’t think too much about the fires failing to take hold. Or perhaps they would think that the Avatar could firebend.

(Wait, would the Avatar be able to firebend? Would he be affected by Agni’s judgement?)

There was a temporary lull after Zhao got blasted into a building and his troops were busy trying (and failing) to land a hit on any of the Kyoshi Warriors.

He saw Suki and Sokka crouched together. It kind of looked like they were maybe having A Moment, but they couldn’t keep this up forever and a better plan was needed, so he was going to have to interrupt.

Suki turned to him as he ran up. “Li here will go with you.”

Wait, what now?

“Wait, hold on-” began Sokka.

“There’s no time! You have to get out of here. They’re only here for the Avatar – as soon as you go they’ll follow you.” She turned to look at Zuko. “And you know why you can’t risk being caught here.”

“But my uncle…”

“Is right here. With your bag.”

He turned to find uncle standing right behind him. He was indeed holding out a bag. The same one he’d brought with them when they fled the Fire Nation. It was packed.

Your bag, he’d said.

“You’re not coming?”

He shook his head. “This is your destiny. It is your path to walk, and yours alone.”

“But-”

Uncle embraced him, holding him for a long moment. “We will meet again.”

Zuko wanted to object, but Sokka grabbed his arm and dragged him away. “Okay, look, this is emotional stuff and I can’t say I’m okay with a random person getting added to the group without warning, but we gotta get out of here before Commander Sideburns drags himself back out.”

He was right. Uncle was right. Suki was right. And what does it matter anymore whether or not he felt ready to leave? The war had found him anyway. The decision has been made. Zuko hated it, but he didn’t fight as Sokka dragged him to where the sky bison was waiting.

Looking back as they took off, he saw Zhao stagger out of the hole in the wall he’d made. He pointed up at them, shouting something at his troops, and they all immediately disengaged the attack, running towards their mounts to head back to the ship.

He sighed with relief.

Sokka cheered. “It’s working! They’re following us!”

From the other end of the saddle, the Avatar sighed too. “It’s my fault they were here in the first place.”

Katara leaned over and put a hand on his shoulder. “Aang, I told you, it’s not your fault. I guess word that you were there must have spread pretty fast. We’ll just have to try to keep a low profile in future, that’s all.” She grinned at him mischievously. “No more flirting with adoring girls, okay?”

He blushed. “Okay. Oh! And good work, Katara! You kept the fire from burning the village down. Great waterbending!”

Zuko said nothing.

But it wasn’t as if he could hide in a saddle on a beast that was flying through the sky, and attention inevitably turned to him.

“So who are you?” the Avatar asked with an enthusiasm that even Ty Lee would have struggled to match, as the flying lemur prodded at him curiously.

Sokka handled the introduction, sounding much less enthusiastic. “This is Li. Suki apparently thinks we need a bodyguard, but she wouldn’t come herself.”

Zuko scowled. “She’s the leader. She can’t just abandon the other warriors.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say no to some help.” Katara gave him a welcoming smile. “Though these two are their own worst enemies. You’ll mostly be protecting them from themselves.”

“You have a pretty weird voice for a girl.”

“Sokka!” gasped Katara. To Zuko, she said. “I’m sorry. I swear he was raised better than that.”

That last part was said through gritted teeth, with a significant sideways glance at her brother.

“Um, actually I am a boy.”

“What!?” shouted Sokka. “But why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t want to interrupt your dance lesson,” Zuko replied sweetly.

Sokka scowled as Aang and Katara both burst into giggles, which only made him scowl harder.

The lemur figured out that this new person was a great source of warmth, and Zuko acquired a new scarf.

“Hey, he’s got the Momo seal of approval!” Aang beamed. “Welcome to the group, buddy!”

Well, if nothing else, he supposed, this was certainly going to be interesting.

Chapter Text

Of course, assimilating into the group wasn’t as simple as simply saying ‘Hello’ and exchanging (fake) names. Eventually, he had to remove his makeup.

“That’s a wound from firebending, isn’t it?” asked Katara.

“I thought you said there wasn’t any firebending anymore?” said Aang, looking confused.

“There isn’t!” snapped Sokka. “Uh, is there?”

Zuko flinched. “Umm no. This is… It was… Uh. I got this right when it happened.”

“Wow, unlucky.”

“Um. Yeah.”

⁂

“Why are you still dressing as a Kyoshi Warrior?” asked Sokka, having finally crawled out of his sleeping bag and joined the rest of them, as Zuko finished doing his makeup. “You don’t need all that anymore. You don’t have to pretend to be a girl to fight.”

“It’s not that. I just-” He hesitated. Telling them that he was on the run might make them suspicious. But he couldn’t come up with a convincing lie that would explain it. “I can't risk anyone recognising me and telling the Fire Nation. That’s all."

Aang peered at him, eyes alight with curiosity. "Really? Are you famous or something? Who would recognise you?"

His hands shook a little as he put the makeup back in his pack. "My father."

"And what, you're worried he might be hiding behind a tree, ready to pounce?"

He glared. "No. But he- He's got contacts. And this scar is pretty distinctive. Anyone we run into from the Fire Nation might have heard he's looking for me."

"So he's kinda high up in the Fire Nation, huh?" Katara asked, looking thoughtful. (Intrigued-thoughtful, or suspicious-thoughtful, Zuko wasn’t sure.)

"Uh, yeah, kinda."

Sokka frowned, and that look was definitely a suspicious one. “Wait, hold on. So are you Fire Nation?”

He swallowed before answering. “Yes.”

Sokka jumped to his feet, brandishing his boomerang. “So that’s your game, huh? Trick us into taking you in, and then killing us in our sleep?!”

“If that was my plan, I’d have done it last night,” he pointed out. Which. Was definitely the wrong thing to say.

Katara got to her feet and pulled him back. “Sokka, he didn’t trick us. Suki sent him with us. I’m sure she wouldn’t have sent someone she didn’t trust.”

She shot him a distrustful look though; an endorsement by someone they’d just met only counted for so much, he supposed, especially when it concerned somebody from the nation of her enemies.

Zuko tried again, getting to his feet to properly look Sokka in the face. “Please. I- What the Fire Nation is doing is wrong, and… I said so. My father… wasn’t happy. We – that is, my uncle and me – had to leave.”

Sokka stood for a long moment, considering this, before nodding. Then he reached out his arm. Zuko stared at it, not sure what to do. Behind her brother, Katara mimed for him to do the same, so he did, and Sokka clasped his forearm by the elbow, and again Zuko copied the gesture.

Sokka gave a terse nod of approval as Aang grinned at what was hopefully a gesture of friendship.

“Welcome to the group, buddy.”

“I thought I was alre- Uh, thanks.”

Aang dashed forward, grinning at him. “Before the war, I used to always visit my friend Kuzon. He was one of the best friends I had, and he was from the Fire Nation, just like you.” He hugged Zuko, who froze a moment before awkwardly returning the gesture. “I bet we’ll be best friends too, Li.”

“Hey!” yelped Sokka.

Aang turned and grinned. “Don’t worry, Sokka. I can have more than one best friend! Now come on – I can’t wait to show you guys Omashu!”

⁂

Zuko really didn’t want to visit Omashu. He was sure it was a great place, but uncle had told him everything he could about the Order of the White Lotus, including all the members he knew of. And one of them was the King of Omashu.

Still, he thought, as they strolled up the road, it was a big city, after all, and having learned their lesson on Kyoshi Island, the group were going to try to keep a low profile. It wasn’t like they were going to be visiting the King or anything.

And then as they’d walked up to the gates, Aang had explained the reason he was so keen to visit was because he’d used to come here to visit his friend.

His friend Bumi.

Okay, calm down Zuko. It’s probably a perfectly common name in the Earth Kingdom. Except that the King was the right age…

“Wait, you don’t mean King Bumi do you?” he blurted out before he could think better of it.

Aang turned to stare at him, grinning with delight. “Bumi is the King?!” He spun around, shedding his disguise, and began bounding down the path. “That’s great! Come on, guys!”

By that point, they were almost at the gate. It would look too suspicious if he suddenly refused to go in, even if he came up with a good excuse, like keeping Appa company.

He would just have to hope that King Bumi did not recognise the scarred Fire Prince under the Kyoshi makeup.

⁂

Luckily, he did not. Aang had begged with the guards for an audience with his old friend, who had greeted him with enthusiasm and thrown a feast in their honour.

Zuko had simply nodded when Aang had introduced him as Li, and spoken as little as possible. Uncle had warned him that Bumi was actually pretty sharp under all that crazy, and he didn’t want to draw any kind of attention.

He did have some strange ideas on what constituted fun party games, but Zuko was used to social occasions where he constantly felt like he was being tested and could be the victim of a random prank at any moment; at least Bumi’s games were more eccentric and less humiliating than Azula’s.

He was worried that Aang or Bumi would insist on them staying, but the King agreed with Katara that they had much to do, and should get going.

⁂

There had been one tense moment though…

Zuko had lost the thread of conversation, preoccupied with trying (and failing) to stop Momo stealing from his plate, but he very definitely began paying attention again when he heard.

“-no firebenders anymore, according to Sokka and Katara.” That had been Aang.

Zuko stared at his plate, breath freezing in his throat, not daring to look up. Momo got away with the dumpling he’d been trying to eat.

“Not quite,” Bumi told him.

“Oh, come on!” Sokka folded his arms. “You don’t seriously believe that dumb story about there being some lone firebender wondering around?” He gave a frustrated shake of his head. “If the Fire Nation lost their bending, then that means everyone lost their bending. Stands to reason.”

Katara agreed with her brother. “It’s just a silly campfire story.” She hunched her back, forming her hands into claws, and put on a spooky voice. “Somewhere out there, lurks a lone firebender, just ready to strike!”

Bumi shook his head, looking serious for once. “It is not just a story.” He fixed them all with a look, and Zuko did his best to appear confused and sceptical. “There is indeed one firebender who was spared. The Fire Nation’s own prince.”

Sokka looked horrified. “So that last remaining firebender is with the Firelord?”

It stung a little, the easy assumption that a son should be with his father.

“No,” was Bumi’s straightforward reply.

“So where is he?” asked Aang.

Bumi imitated the pose Katara had made (he was already pre-hunched) and harshly croaked, “Nobody knoooows!” Then he laughed. “But he’ll show up eventually. People are looking.”

Zuko offered the rest of his food to the lemur; he wasn’t hungry anymore.

⁂

The subject came up again as they were flying away on Appa, and Zuko gave a brief, mad thought to revealing himself… They’d welcomed him into their group, accepted him after they’d found out he was Fire Nation, and he was sure they’d understand that he meant them no harm…

But…

Sokka, while still refusing to accept that there was a firebender left, vowed to wipe him out if they did find him even though he absolutely did not exist.

Katara was willing to believe in the story, but saw this last remaining firebender as a symbol of the raiders who had attacked her tribe and killed her mother.

Aang brought up the fact that he would need a firebending teacher (“If you can firebend,” Sokka pointed out. “Maybe yours got taken away too.”), but the others immediately dismissed it, pointing out that it would be a waste of time to learn a whole bending discipline that nobody else could use, when they really needed to end the war as soon as they could.

Zuko stayed silent.

⁂

Despite Katara insisting that Aang and Sokka were the troublemakers of the group. she was the one who decided to get arrested for earthbending. This entire group was trouble.

Zuko had very nearly given himself away fighting on the rig. The guards there had been armed with more flamethrowers, and while Zuko had managed to dodge most of the jets, there’d been a few times he’d had to block with firebending, but he was pretty sure that nobody had noticed in the chaos.

It had been the right thing to do though. And maybe it was better to be frustrated at someone than to think too hard about how he could have prevented this. If he wasn’t such a coward, he’d be Firelord. He could tell these people to stop imprisoning people just for being benders, and deal with the corrupt guards using their power to extort money. And maybe… maybe they wouldn’t be doing this if they hadn’t lost their bending?

(Was all this his fault?)

Frustrated and conflicted, he almost left Katara’s necklace on the ground when he saw that it had fallen from her neck. But he knew that wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair to blame her for him being a failure.

Katara smiled when he handed it back to her later,and would probably have fallen off Appa if the edge of the saddle hadn’t been holding her upright. “Oh, thank you, Li! I don’t know what I’d do if I lost it! It’s all I have left of my mother.”

Zuko turned away. He had nothing to remember his mother by.

⁂

At least the next few days were uneventful. Until Zuko was pulled out of sleep one night by a yelp and the sound of movement. Rolling over and reaching for weapons, he looked to the source of the sound to see… Aang sitting up in his bedroll.

Oh, good. False alarm. Probably a nightmare. Though Aang looked strangely happy for a bad dream.

“Aang, what’s the matter?” Katara asked, voice a little slurred from sleep, as Sokka brandished his boomerang, looking round for attackers.

“Avatar Roku spoke to me!” he told them, eyes shining with excitement.

“Ugh!” Sokka flopped back down with maximum drama. “You woke us all up for a weird dream?!”

Aang shook his head. “I don’t think so. It didn’t feel like a dream.”

Sokka was unmoved. “Dreams never feel like dreams when you’re in them.”

Zuko wanted to dismiss it as well, but… “It is the Winter Solstice…”

“So?”

Katara answered for him. “Gran-Gran used to tell us that the barrier between our world and the spirit world blurred on the solstices. Didn’t you ever listen?”

This got an eyeroll from her brother. “Warriors don’t have time for spirit tales.”

Zuko matched his eye roll. “In case you haven’t noticed, you’re hanging out with the Avatar; you’re basically in a spirit tale.”

“Ugggghhhhh.” He sat up, a picture of reluctant resignation. “Fine. What did he have to say for himself?”

Aang went still (unusual for him), his face taking on a look of concentration as he considered whatever it was he’d just been told. “Just that it was really important that I master all the elements in order to restore balance.”

“You knew that already!” was Sokka’s retort.

Zuko frowned. “All the elements? Including fire?”

Aang shrugged.

“Can you even firebend?” asked Katara.

Aang shook his head. “I don’t know.” His thoughtful look deepened. “I asked Roku, and he just smiled and said that help was closer than I thought.”

Zuko froze.

“I tried to ask what he meant by that, but then the dream – or vision, I guess? – ended and I woke up.”

Zuko knew he should stay quiet, but he wanted to know. “He didn’t say anything about-” He stopped himself just in time. “About whoever it was?”

Another headshake from Aang, along with a sigh. “Nope, sorry.”

“Spirits,” muttered Sokka as he flopped back down again, clearly unimpressed.

Zuko lay awake for the rest of the night.

⁂

And now Katara was getting them into yet more trouble, this time stealing from pirates.

It was pretty funny for them to be the ones stolen from for once though, and they had managed to get away. Mostly Zuko was mad at himself for not having the same idea. Some of that stuff had looked interesting.

Katara didn’t seem particularly happy with the result of her ‘high risk trading’ though, growing increasingly frustrated as she failed to master the demonstrated moves. Zuko wanted to tell her that he understood, that he was a terrible bender (father had always said so), but he couldn’t.

Watching Katara struggle, as Aang grasped the moves easily, brought back memories of struggling to figure out moves that Azula picked up so fast it was as if she’d always known them. At least Aang was nice about it.

Sighing, he went back to rearranging the contents of his pack. Uncle had interesting ideas about what constituted ‘essential supplies’ both on their initial escape from the Fire Nation, and his leaving with the Avatar. For what felt like the hundredth time since leaving Kyoshi Island, he considered ditching some of it, but eventually, once again, he packed everything right back in again.

The last thing to go in was the heart shaped rock that he’d kept for nearly three years now.

Would Mai still remember him?

A series of splashes, accompanied by Momo screeching, caused him to look up at the waterbending practice that seemed to be turning into an argument. He felt like he should step in, but he’d probably just make everything worse.

The scroll was placed in Aang’s bag, where it wouldn’t cause any more arguments.

⁂

Zuko jerked awake in the middle of the night, not sure why. He looked over at Aang, but he was sleeping peacefully.

Then he saw Katara’s bedroll was empty. And Aang’s bag had been moved.

He thought about going back to sleep. They were far enough away from the town, and the pirates had enough loot that they would most likely cut their losses rather than waste their time searching… But if their pride had been stung badly enough…

Sighing, he got up. How in Agni’s name did people think he would be a good Firelord when even trying to deal with this small group was a headache?

⁂

He found her by the water, obviously.

She spun round, startled as he pushed aside some bushes and stepped out onto the riverbank, and then relaxed, seeing that it was him. Mostly relaxed, anyway. She glared suspiciously for a moment before going back to what she was doing, challenging him to tell her to stop.

He didn’t. It probably wasn’t a good idea, but he was around to keep a lookout for trouble, and those pirates hadn’t struck him as particularly smart.

He sat and watched her for a while, hoping to learn something. Uncle had explained that you could learn a lot from watching other benders, and that he’d even invented a special firebending move for redirecting lightning, based on waterbending. (He’d demonstrated it for Zuko, even though he wouldn’t be needing it – at least not any time soon; maybe not ever, if firebending never came back.)

She didn’t seem to have much more luck than before, even with the full moon boosting her bending. Eventually she stomped over and sat down next to him, grumbling in frustration.

“I’m following the diagrams, but it’s like there’s something missing.”

“There probably is,” he replied without thinking, and she glared at him. He realised she must think he was blaming her, and he hastily added, “I don’t mean with you. But it’s hard for diagrams to get across things like how the movement between one picture and the next should flow. And the pictures don’t show the little things; even a foot placed a little wrong can be enough to throw off a stance.”

She nodded, absorbing what he’d just said, but frowned suddenly.

“How do you even know this? Are you a bender? Why didn’t you-” She placed a hand over her mouth, eyes wide with shock. “Oh. You… You said your father was Fire Nation… You’re Fire Nation! You were a firebender?”

He looked away, scared she’d see his reaction.

“Li, I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine what it must be like to lose your bending.” He could hear her moving a little closer, but didn’t look round. “Mine feels like it’s a part of me. I don’t know what I’d do if it went away. It must feel horrible.”

“Yeah. Horrible,” he managed. He knew uncle missed it.

She reached for him then, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Come on, we’d better get back to camp. I’ll ask Aang for his help tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

Zuko put up his hood in a vain attempt to keep the rain off; it was coming down so heavily that the fabric was soaked within moments, and there wasn’t any kind of shelter on Appa’s back. He was at least able to keep himself warm, but Katara would notice his clothes being miraculously dry whenever they found Aang and were able to get out of the rain.

And it could have been worse – he could have volunteered to go fishing with Sokka. He glanced at the waves, which looked huge even from up here. Maybe that old woman had been right about the danger… He shook himself and went back to scanning the terrain for the wayward Avatar. Sokka would be fine, he was sure. He was Water Tribe; he must know how to handle himself. And the fisherman hadn’t seemed concerned even when the stormclouds had begun to gather on the horizon.

“There!” Katara suddenly shouted, and Zuko followed her pointing finger to a cave in the side of a mountain, a ledge outside providing a convenient landing spot.

Aang sat facing away from the entrance, shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry for running away.”

Zuko stood awkwardly as Katara tried reassuring him, not sure what to say. He’d never been good at this sort of thing.

A soaking wet Appa pushing his way into the cave gave him something to do.

“I’ll light a fire,” he volunteered.

The only ones in the cave who noticed that he was only pretending to hold spark rocks were Appa and Momo. But they had watched him sneaking away to practice firebending and not told, so he was probably safe.

He listened as Aang told his story about feeling pressured by the role that destiny had thrust upon him. A group of old men pushing a child into a destiny he didn’t feel ready for, out of their own fears and wishes.

He spoke without meaning to. “I know how you feel.”

Aang got to his feet, angry. “Really? Does your life have to be for the good of the world, because of some stupid idea of- of destiny, never mind what you want?” The arrow on his head began to glow. “Do you know what it’s like being the last person who can bend your element?”

“…No.”

His voice was quiet, and he wasn’t sure Aang even heard him. Perhaps he should have told the truth, but… It hadn’t occurred to him to be scared of Aang before. Knowing he was the Avatar was different from seeing it.

He wanted to apologise for upsetting him. But would that help?

(“I meant you no disrespect. I am your loyal son!”)

Katara yelped as cinders went flying, and the spell was broken.

Aang slumped to his knees, glow fading. The sparks that had been swirling around dropped with him. “I was afraid and confused. I didn’t know what to do, so…”

“You ran away,” Zuko finished for him, wondering if he was allowed to speak, or if this would set the Avatar off again.

But Aang just nodded, and he relaxed, just a little. “Next thing I knew, I was waking up in Katara’s arms after she found me in the iceberg.”

Katara put an arm round him, but Aang didn’t seem to notice, staring into the fire, looking guilty. “And then the Fire Nation attacked our temple. My people needed me, and I wasn’t there to help.”

Zuko quietly slipped out of the cave. Suddenly, he didn’t mind the rain so much.

⁂

Sokka and Katara were definitely sick.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Aang asked for what felt like the fiftieth time, as Zuko tried to get ‘Sokka the earthbender’ back into his sleeping bag.

“I’m fine!” he reassured him.

“That’s what Katara said too! And now look at her.”

Katara attempted to reply, but whatever she was about to say was cut off by a coughing fit.

“I’m only fine because I can use airbending to regulate my body temperature. But it’s not like you could keep yourself warm with bending.”

“Uh, yeah…” Maybe he should tell them…

But just then, Sokka made a wobbly attempt at what he probably thought was an earthbending move. “Haha! Got you, Fire Nation scum!”

He closed his mouth. Perhaps not.

“Don’t worry,” Aang reassured them, opening his glider. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

Then he looked at the weather, and snapped his glider closed again.

“Uh, maybe a little longer than that. But I’ll be quick!”

He bounded off the ledge and down the hill.

⁂

Aang was not quick.

“What’s taking Aang so long?” Katara blearily asked, when Zuko brought them some more water. “I’m starting to hallucinate as bad as Sokka. I swear I saw flames coming from behind that wall earlier.”

Zuko, who had been passing the time practicing firebending, grinned awkwardly. “Haha. Crazy the things a fever makes you see, right?” He helped Sokka to drink. “Don’t worry, I’m sure Aang will be back soon…”

But he really should have been back by now. Even if the herbalists needed time to make the medicine, surely he would come back to tell them.

“It can’t hurt to look though. You guys mind if I borrow Appa?”

Katara groaned as she realised that meant moving from her soft fluffy spot, but acquiesced. The weather had calmed enough to fly now, and there was too much chance of missing each other with a search on foot.

⁂

Aang was not at the herbalist institute. But an old woman told him that Aang had been and gone, and that she’d told him to collect some frozen frogs, of all things.

His next stop would probably be the river, so that would be Zuko’s next stop too.

He never got there. On his way through the grass, he stepped on something, looking down, he saw an arrow.

Okay, calm down, Zuko. It’s just an arrow. Yes, Pohuai Stronghold is a few miles away. But it doesn’t have to mean anything. Maybe the old lady likes archery.

But Aang hadn’t come back, and red fletching seemed an odd choice for an Earth Kingdom arrow…

He found a few more embedded in a tree, and another by the river. There’d probably been more loosed, but they’d been collected.

Pohuai Stronghold was where the Yuyan Archers were based.

He looked down at the arrow in his hand.

Dammit. He should have warned them when Aang and Katara had suggested stopping here. But he’d been so sure they’d escape notice – they were well out of range of patrols. Looks like he’d been wrong.

⁂

Getting in had been extremely easy. Impregnable fortress indeed. Now he just had to find Aang and get out again. Ideally without being spotted, since he didn’t have his Kyoshi Warrior outfit and makeup on to disguise himself.

He’d considered going back for it but didn’t want to risk something happening to Aang in the meantime.

Helpfully, Zhao was giving a grandiose speech about how their firebending would surely be restored any day now, all they had to do was fight harder, to regain Agni’s favour. Ridiculous, but it kept everyone nice and distracted and gathered in the yard, so he was able to navigate the fortress without running into too many people.

Right up until Aang’s cell, which was guarded. Even Zhao’s ego had limits.

Four of them, heavily armed. Though the weapons weren’t the real problem; that horn hanging on the wall was. As soon as he turned that corner and stepped into their line of sight, he was done for.

Better get them to come to him, then.

He summoned flames into his hands, lighting up the corridor. Just as he’d hoped, someone came to investigate. Unfortunately only one, but when he was dealt with, two of the others immediately followed, not even thinking of summoning backup.

That left one, who was reaching for the alarm horn, finally realising he should be making use of it. Zuko ran forward, throwing fire to drive him away. The guard staggered back, startled, and Zuko quickly rushed forward and took his legs out from under him with a kick.

The smart thing to do was kill them. They’d seen him. They’d even seen him firebend.

But when had Zuko ever done the smart thing?

⁂

Aang had to be dragged out, insisting on attempting to retrieve his frogs. As if he couldn’t just get more – there’d been plenty of them at the river. These frogs didn’t even look frozen anymore.

Someone must have found the tied-up guards, because an alarm was sounded and someone was alert enough to spot them trying to scale the wall. They ran, not sure where they were going, just hoping for an opportunity for an exit. Guards blocked their path, of course, but they were blown out of the way. More tried to cut them off, and out of desperation, Zuko let out a burst of fire at them, causing them to fall back, stunned looks on their faces.

He didn’t wait for them to regroup, instead turning and following Aang, who didn’t even seem to have noticed, too focused on what was in front of him. The good thing was that was the front door. The bad thing was that it was locked.

They turned to face the soldiers surrounding them, who showed no signs of rushing to capture them. Odd. He’d expected some hesitation – the Avatar was a formidable opponent, and now they were faced with a firebender – but something seemed off. They seemed strangely nervous for trained soldiers assigned to a prestigious post. Many of them looked uncertain. A few had even lowered their weapons.

Were they waiting for an archer to get into position to take them out from afar? He tried to remember if the price on his head was for him dead or alive, but he’d heard conflicting reports. Even if the orders were to take him alive, he wouldn’t put it past Zhao to give a kill order if it came down to him or Aang.

Hold on… Him, he wasn’t sure about, but Aang? They’d want him alive, right? Otherwise the Avatar Cycle would continue and the Fire Nation would have to start searching all over again.

Hoping he was correct, he stepped behind Aang, whipped his swords out, and held them to the boy’s neck.

“What-?”

“Just go with it,” he muttered, staring at Zhao.

He really hoped this worked, because otherwise he just given their opponents the perfect opportunity to attack…

“Open the gates.” It clearly killed Zhao to give that order, but give it he did.

A brief argument ensued between Zhao and a subordinate, but the gates were opened. Zuko backed out, swords still held to Aang’s neck, hoping he didn’t cut him by accident.

As soon as they were out, they both turned and ran, Aang blowing frantically on the bison whistle to summon Appa.

An arrow thudded into the ground in front of them, causing them to stop. Zuko turned to deflect further shots with his swords, but the next few also missed. He frowned. The Yuyan were legendary. For one arrow to miss? Well, that could be a fluke. But several misses was deliberate.

More arrows hit the ground, this time between them. Zuko blocked a few with his swords, but he couldn’t stop all of them, and they were forced apart.

They’re just separating us and keeping us pinned down.

He could see troops emerging from the still-open gates, ready to press the advantage.

Appa landed with a roar and a mighty gust of wind, knocking back the next volley of arrows, and they leapt on before the soldiers had a chance to recover.

“Yip yip, buddy! Let’s get out of here!”

⁂

Zuko had been half sure that the herbalist had been messing with them about the frogs, but they actually did work.

Not that Sokka or Katara appreciated them much though.

He was too tired to care

⁂

“The bones are the most reliable method for telling your future.” The fortuneteller informed him. “Now, choose one to cast on the fire, and let us find out your destiny.”

Zuko had had enough of people trying to tell him his destiny. He already knew, thanks. So when he threw the bone on the fire, he extinguished it with a quick gesture, hand hidden behind his back.

Aunt Wu made several further attempts, but all to the same effect.

“So what does that mean, then?” he asked.

She stared at the pile of ashes for a moment, eyebrows raised, and then gave a smile. “It seems your destiny is perhaps… a little unclear.”

“Fine with me.”

⁂

It wasn’t that Zuko resented Sokka and Katara’s happy reunion. But… it seemed so unfair that they got this taste of home. All that Zuko had had for the last few years was what his uncle had tried to teach him of it. History lessons. Politics. The philosophy of firebending (which didn’t quite match up with what his firebending instructors back at the palace had taught).

He certainly didn’t have any fun anecdotes about wacky adventures his uncle and father had gotten up to.

Hearing them excited at the prospect of seeing their dad again was the worst. Zuko did miss his dad, but the price on his head suggested that the feeling wasn’t mutual.

When Aang slipped out of the hut, he followed.

⁂

He caught up with Aang at the boat, just in time to see him receive a scroll from a messenger.

“What is it?”

Aang unrolled it. “It’s a map to Sokka and Katara’s dad.”

He sounded angry, which confused Zuko.

“We’d better get it to them then.” He started back up to the abbey, but turned to look back when he realised Aang wasn’t following. The kid was just standing there, staring at the paper as he gripped it so hard it was scrunching up in his hands.

“Aang, what’s wrong?”

The words seemed to burst out of him. “They’re going to leave! They’re going to go and find him!” The paper was starting to get really crumpled. “They’re my friends, but they’re going to leave me.”

Zuko wasn’t so sure, but he wasn’t the best at people. “I don’t know, Aang. But he’s their dad. They miss him. You can’t blame them for wanting to see him again.”

He turned away, not wanting Aang to see his face, but something must have given him away.

“Do you miss your dad?”

Zuko simply nodded.

“Didn’t you say he was hunting you?”

Zuko turned to look at him.

“He-” He cut himself off. He’d been about to say that his father had given him his first firebending lesson. (He’d been so proud of Zuko that day. What had changed?) “He taught me a lot. He’s not a nice person, but… he’s still my dad. I do actually miss him.” He sighed. “Even if it’s maybe not a version that exists anymore. Or perhaps ever did. I don’t know. So I get it, okay.”

“But… if they leave…” Aang wasn’t crumpling the paper anymore, instead letting it hang limply from his fingers.

“If they leave, I’ll still be here,” Zuko pointed out. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

And he already knew where his father was.

Aang managed a smile. “Thanks, Li.”

He clapped a hand on Aang’s shoulder, trying to copy his uncle’s reassuring manner. “Come on, we’d best get the message to them.”

Aang nodded, sighing. “Yeah, I guess.”

They both trudged back towards the abbey, deep in thought.

Chapter Text

There was a poster. A wanted poster. Of him. It shouldn’t have been a surprise; he knew his father was after him and this would naturally involve posters advertising that fact in any Fire Nation controlled areas. But this poster featured a sketch of his face.

He should have known that running around Pohuai with his face uncovered was a bad idea, but he’d never guessed that they’d connect his face and his name. Stupid. Of course they’d figure out that the teenager who had a burn scar over his left eye who could miraculously still firebend was the same person as the missing teenage Fire Prince who had been burned over his left eye and still had his firebending.

He began reading what it said, wanting to know what information on him was being shared, but hearing footsteps, he hastily pulled the poster from the board and shoved it in his tunic. Sokka ambled round to stand next to him. He groaned, seeing the poster of Aang.

Hearing the others talking about visiting the local festival, he called them over.

“Hey, a poster of me!”

“A wanted poster,” Sokka pointed out. “This is bad.”

Taking advantage of their distraction, Zuko ducked round the other side of the board and burned his own poster.

“Hey, Li!” called Sokka. “Tell these two idiots that it would be way too dangerous to go to the festival.

Zuko opened his mouth to agree. Of course it was too dangerous. He and Aang were right at the top of the Fire Nation’s Most Wanted list, and Sokka and Katara couldn’t be far behind. Walking into a Fire Nation town would be tantamount to suicide.

He looked at the Fire Days Festival poster.

Fire Nation cultural exhibits.

It had been so long since he’d had a taste of home. Uncle did his best, but lessons and (very long, rambling) stories were no substitute.

He missed home so much…

⁂

It was awkward trying to take in all the sights around him, each one invoking in him a pang of longing, while also keeping his hood pulled over his face. The Kyoshi Warrior garb wasn’t an option this time, as an Earth Kingdom fighter walking around a Fire Nation festival would attract almost as much unwanted attention as walking around with his face uncovered and firebending.

They probably wouldn’t actually stop him (while the festival was for the benefit of the Fire Nationals, outside the islands a secondary goal of celebrations like this was to promote Fire Nation culture, and you can’t really do that if you run your audience out of town), but he would definitely be watched closely by the guards.

So a cloak would have to do.

It only had to last until they found a stall offering masks. There should be one. He just hoped he had enough money...

They were in luck – apparently masks were free, at least at this particular festival. He wasn’t sure if that was normal; the royal family held itself separate, and he had only a vague, abstract idea of how ordinary people celebrated. And if he did find himself wandering a festival like this, nobody would think of asking him to pay for things.

Face hidden behind a dragon mask and able to properly look around without risking blowing his cover, Zuko allowed himself to relax a little. He wasn’t sure how much the others were learning that would be useful in helping them win the war, but Zuko was glad he came.

Mostly. Watching a puppet version of his father setting someone on fire before a cheering crowd was… very upsetting.

He looked down at his bag of fire flakes, appetite gone. Suddenly, the crowd around him was too much. He felt trapped. He had to get away.

Slipping into an alleyway, he scaled a wall and pulled himself onto the roof. The building wasn’t particularly tall, and was still overshadowed by others around it, but he no longer felt hemmed in by the press of people.

Looking down on it all, he realised that, for a Fire Nation Festival, there was very little fire. Plenty of torches lit the streets, cookfires burned in the stalls selling hot food, candles in lanterns strung about, but it all seemed so limited somehow. Nobody was doing anything with it.

All his fault… And he was supposed to fix it, but he didn’t know how.

Below him he could see the others watching a magician, using wires and shimmering pieces of silk and plenty of stage tricks to simulate firebending as best he could. The crowd clapped and cheered, but there was a despondent air; they knew this wasn’t how the performance was meant to be. The magician was doing his best, but it was no substitute for firebending.

He watched each movement of the silk, trying to imagine how the tricks should look. A phoenix, perhaps? No, he could see Katara being tied to a chair on stage. A dragon, then.

He’d loved performances like these. His father had seen such uses of firebending as frivolous, but his mother had loved them, and so Zuko had done his best to learn some of the tricks she’d liked best. They’d been really hard.

Without thinking, he found himself moving into a stance, moving his hands to imitate the magician. He didn’t pay attention to the gasps and exclamations from the crowd, so caught up in memories of performing his new skills to his parents, his mother watching with delight, his father with apparent indifference (though Zuko could see his eyes carefully noting every movement, and afterwards had commented that Zuko should put that much work into proper firebending, which meant he knew how hard Zuko had worked, so that was praise. Sort of.) Azula, also watching, who had kept forgetting she was supposed to be sneering at his efforts.

Then his foot shifted on a loose tile, throwing off his stance, and he snapped back to reality. The fire he’d been playing with dissipated into nothingness, and the town went dark as all the torches and lanterns were extinguished.

Too late, too late. Everybody had seen.

“He’s up there!” he heard someone shouting, and an arrow thunked into the roof nearby.

He ran across the roof and leapt over an alley, grabbed the corner of a higher roof and pulled himself up and over. Looking back to see if anyone was following, he saw a cart parked in the alley he had just jumped, loaded with fireworks. Perfect.

A flick of the wrist and then he dropped down into a (thankfully-empty) street as the fireworks exploded, then he slipped out into the main thoroughfare which was packed with people, some flocking to the main square to see what the fuss was about, others trying to flee the chaos.

Nobody paid him any attention as he leaned against a wall and took several deep breaths. He didn’t think they’d gotten a good look at him – either that archer had been a terrible shot, or they’d been firing blind. If any guards came this way, he could just mingle with the crowd.

But how was he supposed to find the others in all this?

They ran straight past him, Sokka grabbing him and dragging him along. “Li! Where have you been? We gotta get out of here!”

A man with his face covered by a scarf stepped out in front of them, but they pushed past. He called after them, but Zuko couldn’t hear what he said, and none of them stopped.

⁂

“What happened to you?” asked Katara, once they were safely back in the woods.

“I… er… I felt sick. I think there was something wrong with those fire flakes.”

“Ugh, tell me about it,” Sokka groaned.

“Did you see who it was?” Aang asked, eyes so wide Zuko thought they might actually fall out.

“Who what was?” he asked, trying not to let his nervousness show.

Aang bounced up and down. “There was a firebender in that town! An actual firebender.” He turned to look back at the town, eyes shining. “We have to find them!”

Sokka whirled round and grabbed him, pulling him along. “What? No! We have to get as far away from any firebender as possible!”

“But, Sokka! This is what Roku meant! That this person is closer than I thought.” He looked around at them. “Who else is going to teach me firebending?”

“Can you even firebend?” Zuko asked, genuinely curious.

“And do you even need to?” asked Sokka. “Nobody else can, except for this one guy who is apparently hanging out in the Earth Kingdom for some reason, and you need to stop the Firelord.”

Aang looked at Katara, obviously hoping for some support, but she shook her head. “I’m sorry, Aang. I agree with the others. It seems dangerous. And we don’t even know what we’re looking for – none of us got a good look at the guy with all that fire they were making getting in the way.”

Zuko hoped that would be it, but Aang turned to him. He fought hard not to panic. “Li, you’re Fire Nation. Don’t you want to find this person.”

He managed to get his throat working. “I… don’t know if this person wants to be found.”

Aang seemed to deflate.

“Fine, I guess.”

Zuko allowed himself a quiet sigh of relief.

⁂

As usual, Zuko was up before the others, waking as dawn’s light broke over the horizon. Normally he meditated (without fire, unless he could find a way of sneaking off some place where he wouldn’t be seen), but today he was thinking too hard to settle.

Should he tell them?

Aang seemed to think that Avatar Roku had wanted him to find the last remaining firebender. So that must mean this was part of the grand destiny that everyone seemed to think he had, right? And Avatar Roku was his great-grandfather, so he wouldn’t do anything to hurt Zuko…

Then again, his mother had abandoned him while claiming it was for his own good, his father had burned him to teach him an important lesson in respect, his sister claimed that she only said awful things to him because she was trying to help and he needed to stop being such a baby, and his uncle had thought that the White Lotus would keep him safe.

Someone being related to him did not guarantee that what they thought was best would work out for him.

Still, he was leaning towards maybe speaking up. He was pretty sure Aang would understand if he didn’t feel ready to actually do anything about his supposed destiny.

But when Aang once again brought up the subject of seeking out this mysterious firebender over breakfast, Sokka denounced the idea so thoroughly that the words died in his throat. Katara was at least nicer about it, aware of ‘Li’s’ nationality and (supposedly-former) bending status, and understanding of Aang’s curiosity, but she was equally against looking for or allying with a firebender.

(What would they say if they knew it was him? They obviously didn’t want a firebender around, so would they send him away?)

Reluctantly, Aang gave in, and they packed up their campsite, but just as they were ready to climb onto Appa, a man ran out of the woods, waving his arms and shouting, “Wait!”

⁂

The man’s name was Chey. He explained that he had spotted them in town last night, and had followed them around wondering if that was really the Avatar.

”But then I lost you in the crowd, and there was all that firebending, and the guards started looking around for the culprit. I tried to help, show you a way out, but you were kind of in a hurry. And uh, I guess you found your own way out.”

“Yeah, we did,” agreed Sokka, eyes narrowed. “So why are you here?”

“I serve a man. More than man, really. He’s a myth, but he’s real – a living legend, Jeong Jeong the Deserter!”

Zuko froze. Jeong Jeong was White Lotus. Had he been caught? But Chey didn’t even look at him; his attention focused on Aang, as he continued to sing Jeong Jeong’s praises.

“He was a Fire Nation General.” His face scrunched up in confusion. “Or wait, was he an Admiral?”

He’d been an Admiral. Highly respected and feared. And then he’d snapped one day, declared that firebending was a curse, and disappeared.

Sokka rolled his eyes. “He was very highly ranked, we get it.”

Chey didn’t seem to pick up on his obvious annoyance. “Yeah! Way up there! But he couldn’t take the madness anymore. He’s the first person to ever leave the army – and live. I’m the second, but you don’t get to be a legend for that. That’s okay though. Jeong Jeong’s a genius. Some say he’s mad, but he’s not – he’s enlightened!”

It felt as if Chey was trying to convince himself as much as he was them.

“That’s very interesting,” Katara offered. “But what does this have to do with us?”

Chey grinned. “He wants to meet you!”

“Really?” Aang asked excitedly, as Sokka and Zuko shared a sceptical look.

Chey’s grin flickered for a moment before returning stronger than before. “Sure! Okay, he didn’t actually say so exactly… But I know he’d want to meet with you! I think it would really help.”

Help with what? But before Zuko could ask, Aang leapt up, grabbed his staff from Appa’s saddle, and landed in front of Chey beaming.

“Of course I’ll meet him! Lead the way!”

Katara grabbed his arm as he followed Chey into the woods. “Aang! What are you thinking?”

He pulled away, staring at her pleadingly. “C’mon Katara! He must be the firebender from last night! He didn’t do any harm, and he wants to meet me. We have to see this firebender, I just know it!”

Without waiting for an answer, he turned and bounded off to catch up with their guide. Katara just shrugged and followed. “Well I guess that’s decided. I suppose it can’t hurt to talk to him.”

Sokka groaned and dragged his hand down his face, but stomped after them. Zuko thought about staying behind. It was best to stay out of the way of White Lotus members. But Jeong Jeong was supposed to have amassed a small army of followers. If something went wrong, Aang would need all the backup he could get.

“Better be ready for a quick getaway,” he told Appa, who grunted in reply and settled down for a nap. Momo curled up into his fur, not interested in experiencing Jeong Jeong’s ‘genius’.

He made a quick check of his weapons, and then followed the others.

⁂

The camp wasn’t what Zuko had expected. For a start, it was less a camp, and more… Well, it was two tents, with a campfire in between them, even though it wasn’t cold and there was no food cooking. A large bundle of tattered fabric was piled next to the fire, so possibly it was to burn that.

“Is this it?” Aang looked around, as if more tents would just suddenly appear if he looked enough.

Chey winced. “Well, you see… There, uh, used to be more people. Lots more! But, um…” He looked awkward. “They all kinda… left…”

Sokka stared at him. “They left?”

Katara frowned. “You said he was a great man, a genius,” she reminded him.

Chey flailed his arms. “He wa- He is! It’s just that when firebending disappeared, he kinda just, well…”

He waved his arm in the direction of the campsite, and now that they were closer, and he was looking properly, Zuko realised that the bundle of rags was actually an old man, sat staring vacantly into the fire.

“He’s been like that ever since it happened.” Chey spoke quietly, as if scared of disturbing something, though Jeong Jeong showed no signs of noticing their approach. “Well, a little after actually. At first, he celebrated it, called it a sign that firebending truly was a curse, and that Agni had spoken. But as days passed, then weeks, he just sorta… Well.” He shrugged. “You can see.”

They stood there, looking at the man staring into the fire like it was the portrait of a dead loved one. As they watched, he lifted a hand and actually reached towards the flames. Zuko twitched in panic; a firebender had some resistance to their own element (though as he knew all too well, this had limits), but Jeong Jeong wasn’t a firebender anymore. But thankfully he pulled his hand back before he could burn himself, and Zuko let out a sigh of relief.

“He’s always like this?” Katara looked concerned.

“Pretty much. There are days where he’ll wake up and he’ll actually have some, well… maybe fire isn’t the right way to say it, but y’know. He’ll storm around and rage that firebending deserves to be gone. Then turn right round and curse Agni for taking it away.” He sighed. “But he… well he burns himself out.” He winced at the turn of phrase. “And he goes back to this again.”

Sokka did his best to look sympathetic (it was a terrible attempt). “That’s awful. Really. But, no offence, what exactly does this have to do with us?”

Chey looked pleadingly at Aang. “I thought that maybe if he saw you, it might cheer him up, give him some hope.”

Aang nodded, but looked faintly intimidated. Many people saw the Avatar as a symbol of hope, but Jeong Jeong looked like he’d be a lot tougher to impress.

“Okay, but I’m not sure how I can help...”

Chey looked enthusiastic. “Just show him what you can do. Maybe if he sees you firebending, that’ll help?”

Aang blinked, then winced, looking down at his feet. “I’m sorry. I don’t know how to firebend.” He looked back up at Chey and spread his arms apologetically. “I don’t know if I even can.”

Chey’s enthusiasm turned into confusion. “But you did it last night! Really well!”

Aang shook his head. “No, that wasn’t me! I can’t even properly waterbend yet. I’ve only mastered air!”

Katara chimed in. “We thought Jeong Jeong was the firebender.”

Chey shook his head. “No. The only firebender left is Prince Zuko.” He shrugged. “And maybe the Avatar?”

“Okay, who is this Prince Zuko guy?” Sokka demanded. “We keep hearing about this guy everywhere. If he’s a prince, how come he’s just running around the world and no-one knows where?”

Because I’m terrible at being a prince, Zuko thought.

He wondered if Chey would say anything about the circumstances of his leaving his home, or the White Lotus’ search for him, but he just shook his head and shrugged. “I don’t know. I heard he was spirited away from the palace on the very day our bending was taken.”

“He was kidnapped?” asked Katara.

But Chey wasn’t listening anymore. He walked the rest of the way into the ‘campsite’ and crouched next to Jeong Jeong. “Hey, Master Jeong Jeong. I brought someone to meet you.”

Nothing. Jeong Jeong didn’t react. Frantically he waved Aang over. Aang plastered a bright smile on his face and strutted up, waving. “Hey, there! I’m Aang!”

Slowly, Jeong Jeong looked up. His gaze passed over Zuko for a brief, terrifying moment, before his gaze focused on Aang.

“Um, so I’m the Avatar…?” He did his marble trick. Jeong Jeong failed to look impressed.

Not to be put off, Aang knelt down next to him. “Please, Master Jeong Jeong, I need to learn firebending.” He paused and added, “Probably.” In a mutter.

Sokka and Katara moved closer, and Zuko followed, knowing it would look weird if he hung back now. Even though this whole situation was weird. None of them wanted to get too close though – Jeong Jeong had apparently decided that bathing was a curse as well.

“Go away.” And then he turned back to the fire and resumed his staring.

“Please,” Aang begged.

“Have you even mastered water and earth, yet?” asked Jeong Jeong, without even looking at him.

Aang slumped, looking sheepish. “No… but-”

“Then no.”

“But-”

Jeong Jeong whirled to glare at him. “There is no ‘but’! Fire is dangerous, a tool of destruction, a curse! Why else would it have been taken from the world?”

Sokka muttered. “Can’t argue with that.”

“But it’s the Avatar’s duty to master all the elements! That includes firebending. And this could be my only chance!”

Jeong Jeong made a barking sound that might be a laugh. “Your only chance is a boy that does not want to be found!”

Zuko, sitting with Sokka and Katara on the other side of the fire, shrank back a little.

Aang was getting visibly frustrated now. “Can you at least help me figure out if I can firebend?!” He made an effort to look calm. “If this guy is so hard to find, isn’t it a good idea to figure out if I need to go looking for him?”

Jeong Jeong frowned thoughtfully at that; the idea that Aang might be as affected as (almost) every other firebender obviously hadn’t occurred to him. “Hmm…”

Aang leaned forward a little in anticipation.

Eventually the man gave a slight nod, though he still looked reluctant. “Very well. I suppose it would be a good idea to determine this before you go seek out your destruction.”

“Woo hoo!” Aang leapt up and spun round in midair. Only to catch sight of Jeong Jeong’s deeply unimpressed look. He sank quickly back to the ground, sheepish.

“Fire is an element that demands both discipline and respect.” He jabbed a finger at Aang.

“Discipline and respect! I can do that, no problem!” He did his best to look serious, but his excitement shone through. “So what are you gonna teach me? Fire blasts?!”

Zuko resisted the urge to sigh. Even his father hadn’t thought fire blasts appropriate for a first lesson.

Jeong Jeong simply glared at his unwanted student for a long moment, before sighing.

“First, you must concentrate.”

Aang nodded, a look of focus on his face. “Concentrate. I can do that!” A pause. “What am I concentrating on?”

“The sun,” Jeong Jeong snapped. “It is the greatest source of fire, yet it is in complete balance with nature. Feel its warmth.”

Aang obediently closed his eyes and did his best to stop fidgeting. “Now, feel the warmth of the fire in front of you.”

Aang nodded, but after a few seconds, he cracked an eye open. “Okay, now what?”

Jeong Jeong glared at him, and he quickly shut his eye again. “Power in firebending comes from the breath. That is why you must master proper breath control.”

Aang opened his eyes and grinned. “No problem there! I’m an airbender – breath is kinda my thing!”

“Well, I’m a-” He cut himself off. “I’ll be the judge of that, boy. Breathe. Properly.”

He nodded in satisfaction as Aang fell into a meditative breathing rhythm. Clearly realising that he was fighting a losing battle against Aang’s attention span, he moved onto the next part quickly.

“Now, look within yourself. Seek out that warmth. The source of chi should be in your stomach.” He added, in a mutter. “If it’s there.”

Aang frowned. “I… think I feel something.”

“You sure it’s not just your breakfast?” Sokka joked.

“And when I’ve found it, I can make some fire?”

“Concentrate!”

“Hey!” Katara pointed at the fire. “It did something there!”

Zuko froze, panicked. It had been so similar to his own first firebending lesson (though father had actually snapped at him much less than Jeong Jeong – his impatience at Zuko’s progression had come later), that he’d found himself following along with the instructions, and then had automatically been moving on to the next step: Manipulating a flame.

Or… perhaps that had been Aang?

“Woah! Did I do that?!” Aang leaned forward, grinning, reaching out towards the fire in an attempt to repeat what he’d (maybe?) done.

“I didn’t tell you to stop concentrating!” snapped Jeong Jeong, sounding a little worried now as he realised he was losing control of the lesson, as Sokka mumbled that he hadn’t seen the fire do anything.

But Aang wasn’t listening, focused only on the fire in front of him as he tried to bend it to his will. But it remained stubbornly burning away on its own, with no sign of obeying any commands but its own. Aang began frantically gesturing, and Zuko realised he was trying to copy the moves of the magician from the festival. Now the fire did move, flickering and shifting, but gusts of winds were accompanying Aang’s movements and Zuko wondered if there was any actual firebending going on.

Aang certainly seemed to think so, and, ignoring Jeong Jeong’s demands for him to stop, and Katara’s pleas to be careful, began playing around with the fire in earnest, determined to show that he could firebend.

A large gust of wind blew the flames away from Aang… and straight towards Katara.

Zuko, frantically extinguished the fire, not even caring it if gave him away, as Sokka lunged towards Aang, tackling him to the ground, but they weren’t in time. Katara was whimpering with pain, her hands, which she’d raised to protect her face, were really badly burned.

“There’s a river, down there!” Chey pointed, and Zuko didn’t hesitate, just grabbed Katara and ran, brain going through all the ways he knew to treat burns.

Katara lifted her hands up as they reached the riverbank, and he could see they were burned pretty badly. He winced in sympathy, remembering how much his own burn had hurt. It would be a while before Katara had any use of her hands without enduring excruciating pain.

She pushed her hands into the water, grimacing with pain, before relaxing a little.

And then…

Her hands started glowing.

She pulled them out of the water, looking as shocked as he did, and the glow faded.

So did the burns.

She turned her hands over, examining them with amazement. “What just happened?”

“You healed yourself.”

“I can do that?”

“Apparently?” Uncle had said something about the Northern Water Tribe (or had it been the Southern? Or perhaps both?) having been renowned for their healers, but Zuko had assumed he just meant they were skilled in medicine and just really knew what they were doing.

Sokka came marching over the hill. “Okay, never thought I’d agree with a firebender, but Jeong Jeong wants us to leave, and I’m with him.”

Aang lagged behind him, looking guilty and dejected. “I’m sorry, Katara, really I am. He tried to tell me I wasn’t ready, but I wouldn’t listen. Even if I can firebend, I’m never going to do it again.”

“It’s okay, Aang.” Katara held up her hands for him and Sokka to see. “I’m healed.”

They both stared in shock.

“What?” asked Aang. “How?”

“I don’t know. I guess somehow I’ve always known.”

“Oh, well thanks for all the first aid over the years,” groused Sokka.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Zuko suggested, as Sokka continued with a long list of grievances, not wanting to hang around any longer and risk Jeong Jeong stopping to think about the fire going out so suddenly and wondering whether it really had been Aang.

Aang blew on the bison whistle, still looking guilty, even after finding that there’d been no consequences this time. He’d thrown himself into what he had been told was his destiny, and someone had gotten hurt for it.

There was a lesson there.

⁂

“Wait, though,” said Aang suddenly, turning around in Appa’s saddle to look at them. “Who was firebending at that festival? Because it wasn’t Jeong Jeong, and it wasn’t me.”

Momo pointed at Zuko, but nobody noticed. He handed the lemur a piece of fruit, distracting him.

“It must be this missing Fire Nation prince,” Katara replied.

Aang frowned. “But it can’t be. Why would he be in a random town in the Earth Kingdom? Didn’t Chey say he was kidnapped?”

“I bet it was that magician,” said Sokka. “It was some really good illusion or other that was all part of his act, but people freaked out and he never had a chance to explain.”

It sounded like a completely ridiculous explanation, but Aang and Katara were nodding thoughtfully.

Zuko laughed awkwardly. “Hah, yeah. That must be it.”

Sokka shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a man of science. This idea of some firebender just hanging around who just happened to go to the same festival as us? Come on. Totally implausible.” He shook his head. “People will really believe anything.”

“I know, right?”

⁂

Zuko stared back at the Northern Air Temple as they flew away. He’d been so looking forward to seeing it; Aang had shared his memories of the place, and Sokka and Katara ad quietly filled him in with what they’d seen when they’d visited the Soutern Air Temple.

He hadn’t expected them to find airbenders, but the stories of those ‘air walkers’ had sounded interesting.

None of them had expected what they’d found though. The place had basically become a glorified Research and Development department for the Fire Nation military.

They’d put a stop to it, of course, but Zuko had a horrible feeling that it was too little, too late. The Fire Nation already had plenty of weaponry, and plenty of smart people who could adapt and develop what had already been designed and produced.

They were his people. It was his duty to stop it.

But what was he supposed to do?

Chapter Text

The city was huge. From Sokka and Katara talking about their home village, he’d pictured the Northern Water Tribe as something similar. Maybe a little bigger (the raids – sorry, ‘reprisals for attacks on brave Fire Nation ships by the cowardly bands of pirates that these people supported’ – that his tutors had told him about had been focused on the South), but nothing like this.

Yep, he was definitely lost. Again.

He did his best to retrace his steps through the streets, half-tempted to ask his watchers for directions. Okay, so maybe he was wrong; he hadn’t spotted anyone tailing him yet. But his neck itched.

Though maybe that was just the fur lining of his collar.

No, it was just his imagination. Pakku had thrown plenty of suspicious looks his way during the opening speech, but from the way he’d spoken to Aang, he seemed to be crotchety in general, and he didn’t seem to have said anything to Chief Arnook, who had been friendly enough. And anyone he had passed in the streets had stared at his pale features and gold eyes (and his scar) with curiosity rather than hostility. And nobody had tried to stop him from wandering. When Sokka had suggested Zuko accompany him to warrior training, the guide who’d been sent to show him the way there hadn’t batted an eyelid.

So maybe Pakku had missed out on some White Lotus gossip, stuck all the way up here, and didn’t actually know what he looked like. Zuko wasn’t sure how long that would last though – he would definitely be informing his colleagues that he was training the Avatar, and when he did he might also think to mention this mysterious Fire Nation teenager who’d shown up alongside him, and someone would figure it out.

With luck he’d be too busy bragging about being the Avatar’s waterbending master to say anything about his travelling companions.

Eventually he found the way back to the house they were living in, and decided to remain there. It would be boring, but better safe than sorry.

⁂

It turned out that, paranoia over (possibly) being followed or not, he’d had a better day than the others.

⁂

Zuko had been excited to see what a fight between waterbenders would look like. He swiftly learned his mistake when he recognised certain familiar things.

A teenager, going up against a master, with no hope of success.

“You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher.”

Zuko fled.

⁂

Somehow, Katara losing the fight still resulted in her being allowed to join in with the lessons.

He did not understand Water Tribe customs, at all.

⁂

Several weeks went by, and Zuko began to relax. Pakku still shot him suspicious glances, but he was pretty generous with sour looks, and he didn’t seem to have said anything, and nobody seemed to object to him tagging along to watch Aang and Katara’s waterbending lessons.

(Uncle had developed his lightning redirection move from observing waterbenders, so maybe he could learn something new. And besides, he was curious.)

One person still wasn’t happy though.

“She keeps mentioning this guy she’s engaged to,” Sokka growled, punching the wall. “But I’m not sure if she even likes him or not – whenever I ask about why she’s marrying him, she says it’s for ‘the good of the tribe’.”

He put on a sarcastic tone and made finger quotes for that last part.

“Well, yeah,” said Zuko, shrugging, wondering what he was missing.

Sokka glared at him. “Oh, come on! Don’t tell me you agree?”

He wasn’t sure what he was agreeing with, but Sokka seemed pretty mad, so he tried to explain. (Explaining himself usually made things worse, but it was worth a shot.)

“No! It’s just… she’s royalty. That’s just how it works. It’s not necessarily about what she wants. If she does like this guy, that’s a bonus.”

“That stinks,” muttered Katara, fixing the dent her brother had made in the wall.

Zuko shrugged. “Maybe. But you have to understand that marrying into a royal family, or even just upper nobility, isn’t just about wanting to spend your life with another person, it’s basically a job”

“A job?” asked Aang. “How?”

“It’s… well. You’re acting as a representative of your spouse’s family, or clan, or nation. You might have to make decisions on their behalf, or negotiate deals. You’ll probably be expected to manage people, whether that’s a household of servants, or a town the family holds power over, or a whole country.” This was stuff that had been made clear to him his whole life, even when he’d only been the son of the second prince; it felt weird for this to be new information to someone. “Often the marriage is all about reinforcing an alliance or treaty, so you’re also acting as a representative of whatever family you’ve come from.”

Katara was frowning thoughtfully. “I bet that’s especially the case with Yue.” Her mouth twisted sourly. “If they won’t let girls fight, I bet they don’t think our feeble girlbrains can possibly make hard decisions!”

“Well-” Sokka began.

“Sokka, I swear to La…”

Sokka wisely didn’t continue with what he was about to say, instead returning to the subject at hand. “Okay, but I don’t see how that helps me at all? I mean, great, I know why she has to marry someone who isn’t me. But that doesn’t make me feel any better.”

“That’s not what I’m saying.” He hadn’t been trying to help, just explain the situation. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, look. It’s a job, so you’ve just got to prove that you’re a better candidate than this guy.”

“How?”

“What about what you were saying at the welcome feast?”

“You mean that nonsense about being a prince?” giggled Katara.

“It’s not nonsense,” Zuko insisted. Then, “Okay, it is, but not total nonsense. Look, Sokka, you are the son of a chief – go with that.”

“Yeah,” said Aang. “And being from the Southern Tribe means it counts as an alliance.”

“Exactly.” Zuko nodded. “And if Chief Arnook is particular about wanting heirs that are benders, your sister is proof that your family can produce waterbenders.”

Sokka had his ‘planning’ face firmly on, as he began checking off points on his fingers. “And I’m a mighty warrior-” Katara looked like she was about to say something, but instead simply shrugged, looking amused. “-I’ve travelled across the world, with the Avatar who just so happens to be a good friend of mine.” He nodded, looking much more cheerful. “Yeah. That could work! Thanks, Li!”

“No problem.”

“Maybe I should ask Yue if she’s got a friend.”

“I’m sure she has lots of friends,” Zuko said, confused.

“No, I mean. Maybe I should see if we can set you up with someone, for your help.”

“What? Oh! No! I don’t- That is, I have someone, already.”

Maybe, unless she’d moved on, without him.

“Really?” Aang was curious. “You’ve never mentioned anyone.”

He’d never mentioned anything much of home, because there was too much risk of giving himself away.

“Is she a princess too?” Katara teased.

Zuko flushed. “No! But… she could be.”

“What’s she like?” Aang leaned forward. So did the others.

“Uh, well…” How to describe Mai? “She kind of tall for a girl, and quiet. She’s really good at hiding her emotions, and people think she’s mean, but she’s not.” He probably wasn’t selling her well at all. “She’s not a bender. Uh, even before, I mean. But she’s really good at throwing knives. Or was? I suppose she still is. I just… haven’t seen her in a while… Oh!” He pulled out the heart-shaped rock and showed it to them. “She gave me this.”

“Huh,” said Sokka, peering at it. “So that’s why you carry around a random rock.”

“So, Katara, do you have anyone?” Aang asked, a weirdly hopeful expression on his face.

Katara seemed about to answer, when she caught sight of the position of the sun. “Oh no! Master Yugoda offered to give me some lessons on healing, and I’m going to be late!”

She hastily ate the last few mouthfuls of her meal (which had probably gone cold by now while they’d been discussing Sokka’s love life) and scrambled to her feet.

“You’re still learning healing?” Aang asked, looking strangely annoyed. “But you’re learning proper waterbending now!”

Katara frowned, looking as confused as Zuko felt. “Healing’s a useful skill, Aang, and it’s important for me to learn.” She turned to go, then looked back over her shoulder. “You should come too – I’m sure she won’t mind.”

But Aang shook his head, looking grumpy.

Katara raised an eyebrow at his strange behaviour, but then shrugged and left.

Zuko looked at Sokka, but he just shrugged.

⁂

The next day was when things went wrong. It started normally enough. Aang and Katara left for their bending lesson first thing in the morning, with Zuko tagging along to watch. Sokka pulled his sleeping bag over his head and rolled over, determined to get a few minutes extra sleep before going off to warrior training or to find Yue.

And usual, Aang seemed to treat the lessons as a joke, which Zuko could see frustrated Katara, who had had to fight for the opportunity of these lessons that Aang took for granted.

Zuko didn’t understand. Didn’t he know how serious this was? Zuko could understand being scared of an impending destiny that you’d never asked for, and the pressure that came with it, but not acting like it was no big deal; he’d never have dared goof off in lessons.

Pakku’s disdainful look moved from Aang to Zuko, and a sudden gleam appeared in his eyes.

Uh oh.

“Pupil Aang, since you seem to believe that these moves are so complicated that you cannot possibly understand them, perhaps our guest should demonstrate how if you actually pay attention, even a non-bender can pull them off?”

Was it Zuko’s imagination, or had he paused slightly on ‘non-bender’? Was Pakku hoping that he’d accidentally firebend while going through the movements? Was this a trap?

Would he be punished for failing to execute the move properly?

But everyone was looking at him, and he couldn’t think of a way of refusing without making Pakku suspicious (if he wasn’t already). He got to his feet and stepped forward.

“Now, please kindly demonstrate that last move to Avatar Aang.”

Don’t firebend. Don’t firebend. Don’t firebend. Even though this wasn’t a firebending kata, it was still designed to manipulate the flow of chi, and as uncle’s lightning redirection technique showed, it was possible to use moves from one bending discipline in another. What’s more, as unfamiliar as the moves were, it was still bending, and a lifetime of trying to please disapproving tutors meant that his instinct was to strive to bend as well as he could (which was often still not good enough). He was actively having to force himself to go against years of habit.

And to make it harder, he was actually firebending right now. At least a little. It was fucking cold here, and he’d been using the Breath of Fire pretty much constantly since he’d arrived. Even with all these furs he was pretty sure he’d freeze to death otherwise.

To his relief, he managed to pull off the move without stumbling or falling over or forgetting any part of it. (And without firebending.) Beyond that it was impossible to say how well he’d done, since it wasn’t as if he could actually waterbend, and he’d been concentrating so hard on not giving himself away that he hadn’t paid any attention to how well his motions matched up to the other students. Pakku looked pretty sour (though that didn’t mean much) but he gave an abrupt nod.

“As you can see-” he began, turning to Aang only to see he was playing with marbles. “Pupil Aang!”

Aang looked up guiltily, marbles falling to the ground to be scooped up by Momo.

Zuko felt a flash of irritation. He’d been in danger of blowing his cover, and Aang hadn’t even bothered to look.

At least he had the decency to look contrite. As Zuko stomped off back to his spot against the wall, Aang was doing his best to pay attention. But as Katara began sparring against another student, he went back to playing with Momo.

Didn’t the fate of the world mean anything to him?

Though wasn’t it hypocritical of Zuko to criticise, since he’d run away from his responsibilities? Sure, he wasn’t playing with marbles, but if he hadn’t run away, if he’d stayed in the Fire Nation like the White Lotus had said he should, woudn’t the war be over by now?

Zuko slipped away, needing to be somewhere else. Anywhere else.

⁂

He didn’t pay much attention to where he was going, just aimlessly wandering.

And then flakes of black snow began falling all around him.

Catching one, he smeared it in his gloved hand. It was soot. Why would soot be falling from the sky? And so much of it?

Oh.

Oh no.

He began running, hoping he could find his way back to the house. He needed to find the others.

⁂

Finding his way turned out to be easier than he’d expected. He wasn’t the only person to have figured out what the strange ‘snow’ meant. People had abandoned what they were doing and were hurrying off with obvious destinations in mind. Some, herding children in front of them, or supporting elderly people, were clearly going to seek shelter, probably in their own homes. But many were clearly warriors or benders, heading in one direction with shared purpose.

Zuko followed them. It probably wasn’t a good idea – showing up to war meetings uninvited hadn’t gone all that well for him in the past. But it might look bad if he hid.

Approaching the stairs to the meeting hall, he spotted Sokka. Great, he could just tell his friend that no offence meant but he’ll sit this meeting out. Sokka would be able to explain if anyone asked where he was, and then he would just sit out here where people could see him, so they’d know he wasn’t up to anything.

But before he had a chance to speak, Sokka grabbed him and began dragging him up the stairs. “Li! There you are! Come on, we’re gonna be late!”

He tried pulling his arm free, but Sokka was refusing to let go. “Wait, I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to attend.”

“Why not?”

“Because my people are the ones attacking!”

Sokka paused a moment and looked back, but only to shrug at him, before resuming his manhandling of Zuko. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not like they’re really your people, you know?”

Zuko slumped and stopped fighting him.

Chief Arnook appeared at the top of the steps, a group of waterbenders with him, blocking their way. For a moment, Zuko was relieved; the Chief understood the wisdom of keeping a Fire National (even one working with the Avatar) out of a strategy meeting.

Then he saw the Chief’s face.

Two of the waterbenders stepped forward, grabbing him and pinning his arms behind his back.

“Hey,” Sokka demanded, “What are you doing?”

Behind the small group, he could see Katara and Aang emerging from the meeting hall to see what was taking them so long.

“So,” he began. “I didn’t believe Master Pakku when he told me, but I have never known him to lie, and I can’t see why he would now. But I will ask you anyway, is it true?”

Zuko didn’t need to ask what he meant. Are you a firebender? He looked down, not sure if he was refusing to meet the Chief’s gaze, or unable.

Pakku stepped forward. “Answer him, boy. Tell everyone what you really are, firebender!”

Still looking down, suddenly feeling so, so tired, he nodded.

“Show me,” came the Chief’s voice.

The men behind him shifted, obviously unsure if they were meant to let him go. Zuko snorted. That wouldn’t be necessary.

He swept his leg out, flames trailing his foot. Pakku jumped back, but not quickly enough to avoid the bottom of his robes catching fire.

He hastily put the fire out by calling up some water. Unfortunately several of his students had had the same idea, and he ended up more soaked than he intended. With a glare at them, he bent the water out.

“Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, you are being taken into custody.” Chief Arnook nodded at the men holding him. “Take him away.”

As they dragged him away, he caught sight of Aang, Sokka and Katara staring after him, looking horrified.

⁂

He was thrown into a cell. It was cold, even with his Breath of Fire, and he was tempted to start a fire – it wasn’t as if he needed to hide his bending anymore – but it was probably a good idea not to antagonise his captors. There was a chance his friends might argue for his release.

Then again, looking at their faces when they’d found out the truth about him, he wasn’t so sure they were his friends anymore.

Maybe he should escape? It wouldn’t be hard – these cells were clearly designed with waterbenders in mind; the stone walls wouldn’t faze an earthbender, and a firebender could reduce the wooden door to ashes in a matter of minutes. An airbender might be stuck though, but that probably wasn’t an intentional part of the design.

But where would he go, once he was out?

He did light a fire, just a small flame to meditate with. He had nothing else to do to pass the time.

⁂

He was jerked out of his meditative trance by the sound of feet marching down the hard packed snow of the corridor, followed by the bolts of his door being drawn back. From the position of the sun, he’d been here a few hours.

He got to his feet, wanting to be ready for whatever they were here for.

Waterbenders stormed in, wrenching his arms behind his back and fastening them there with manacles.

“His feet too,” said Pakku, from the doorway.

Once he was trussed up to the satisfaction, he was dragged out of the cell, stumbling with his ankles chained. Waterbenders surrounded him, and once outside, a group of fierce-looking warriors fell into step behind them.

There was no sign of his fr- of Katara, Sokka, or Aang.

“Where are you taking me?” he demanded.

No answer.

It quickly became clear though, the sea wall looming above them as they approached. They climbed the steps (well, the others climbed them, he was half dragged along, barely able to get his feet on the steps without tripping).

Once they were at the top, he could only stare at the sight before him. So many ships. This must be the entire Northern Fleet!

Distracted as he was, it took him a moment to realise that Chief Arnook was also there.

Looking around, he saw Sokka. He tried to catch the boy’s eye, but he turned away. Zuko slumped in his guards’ hold. He shouldn’t be surprised, and yet…

Someone handed the Chief an elaborately carved horn, and he spoke into it, voice magnified.

“I am Chief Arnook of the Northern Water Tribe. You are not welcome here. Turn around and leave right now, and we shall allow it. Remain, and we shall show no mercy.”

There was a long silence. Then the catapult on the deck of the flagship jerked upwards, followed by a splash as something landed in the water in front of the wall. Not a large splash – no point wasting any of the larger ammunition on a warning shot – but the gesture was clear in its intent.

The Chief sighed and shook his head but did not look surprised.

“I thought that would be your answer.” He made a beckoning gesture, and Zuko was dragged forward. He went cold as he realised what was going on. They were going to display him as a trophy.

Maybe they would even kill him, right here, to show the Fire Nation that they meant business.

“You should know that we have here your own Prince Zuko, the last person in the world who can firebend. If you do not leave, then we will kill him.”

He looked over at Sokka. Surely he couldn’t be okay with this…? But he still wouldn’t meet Zuko’s gaze.

Pakku approached, bending a dagger of ice in one hand. They were going to kill him now? They weren’t even going to wait for the Fire Nation to respond? (Even if it would be a waste of time – the only response they’d get was laughter.)

Then he grabbed a handful of hair from the top of Zuko’s head in the other.

They were going to cut his hair!

He struggled, but Pakku only laughed. “What are you going to do, Your Highness? You can’t firebend like this!”

Oh, you think, huh?

Never give up without a fight, said the inscription on his knife.

Zuko breathed a great jet of fire from his mouth, Pakku right in its path. This time his robes were almost entirely consumed, and the mass of sea water he called up in a panic wasn’t able to save his outer clothing, leaving him in his underclothing, covered with only a few scraps of singed fur.

He stomped off the wall, bending water off him as he went. “Get him out of here before he causes any more trouble!”

A gag was forced into his mouth and his guards began dragging him off the wall as Chief Arnook resumed speaking. He should probably listen to what he was saying, to hopefully learn what he could expect from his captivity… But as he glanced at Sokka, he saw that the other boy was wearing a huge smirk, though it quickly vanished. His gaze snapped to Zuko, and then it was Zuko’s turn to look away.

His friends had abandoned him now that they knew the truth, just as he’d feared they would.

⁂

Damnit, thought Zhao, lowering the telescope with a scowl. He had spent months planning this invasion. Just trying to get Firelord Ozai to approve it had been the biggest battle of his military career - trying to take on the Northern Water Tribe, which would have had the opportunity to learn from the decimation of their Southern cousins, and with its benders not worn down by decades of fighting, while they were still struggling to keep things going in the Earth Kingdom, was an insane idea. It had only been the prospect of ending waterbending, of bringing another nation down to their ignominious level, that had won him over.

He'd had barely any time left to pursue the Avatar, but it had been worth it because this was the greater glory. If he pulled this off, then he would be a legend.

But now it was all falling apart, because of this brat.

Zhao's orders regarding Prince Zuko were clear: He was to be captured and brought back to the Fire Nation. The Firelord had made it very plain that he was not to be harmed, or he would be displeased.

Normally, Zhao would be tempted to attack anyway, then claim later that he'd assumed the boy was an imposter the Water Tribe was using to bluff with.

However...

"Well," said Princess Azula, raising one perfect eyebrow. "This certainly wasn't how I expected to see my brother again."

Chapter Text

Even with all the layers of wool and fur she was bundled in, she felt almost naked without her armour. Zhao had tried to argue against her not wearing it, as well as her decision to only be accompanied by Mai and Ty Lee (she would have to have a talk with father about him when she got home – all these promotions had clearly gone to his head and allowed him to think that he could command her), but she had ignored him. She had had little time to prepare after father had suddenly announced that she would be accompanying the navy’s newest Admiral in his attack, but all she had learned about the Northern Water Tribe in both her history lessons and the quick research in the Palace Library that she’d managed to do before leaving told her that women of the North were relegated to being healers and caregivers.

A foolish notion, but one that she could turn to her advantage. Let them think she was some weak, fragile thing, here to beg and plead for her brother’s life.

Zhao had objected even more strongly when he learned she would be going weaponless for the same reason, even though Mai would be carrying enough hidden knives on her to outfit a small armoury, and Ty Lee had her chi-blocking. When he had tried to insist she take her sword anyway and tell the Tribesmen that it was decorative, ornamental – the hilt was so nicely designed that it would be an easy sell – she had lost her temper and dismissed him.

Because what he didn’t know (or if he did, then never mind talking to father – she would have to arrange an accident for him) was that her sword was decorative.

She couldn’t use it, not with any degree of skill (which to her, was the same as being unable).

For the first time in her life, she had failed at something.

⁂

She had been devastated to lose her bending. Her fire had come so easily to her, and it was the most sure way to earn father’s praise. So she had constantly striven to improve, pushing herself ever harder, measuring her life in katas mastered rather than years lived.

And then it had gone away. Because of Zuko. (Because of father, a small voice whispered in her head. She ignored it.) And it had almost broken her. But she was her father’s daughter, and she was resilient and perfect (because nothing less was good enough for him), so she couldn’t break.

She would get her bending back, she was sure. Father insisted that this was temporary, and he was surely right, because it seemed so impossible that she could be denied her gift.

But however temporary, she needed to find some other fighting art to pursue in the meantime, both to defend herself with and as something to strive for. Of course, the katas she had mastered could easily be used to fight with – a punch could still deal damage, even without flames. You just needed to be closer to your opponent. But it… lacked something without her fire. And other former firebenders were taking up weapons training.

Even father, who it turned out was more than capable armed with a bow and arrow. She had only ever known him as a firebender, and it had never occurred to her that he might have had weapons training. Lo – or perhaps it had been Li? – had told her that Firelord Azulon had insisted both his sons received training in non-bending fighting arts. Watching as arrow after arrow had hit their targets dead centre, she knew that he would expect her to master a weapon. (Perhaps he thought that she should have mastered one already – Zuko had, but she hadn’t, and she was supposed to be better, but she had fallen behind… And she couldn't fall behind, not for a moment…) Simply adapting her katas to non-bending fighting would not be sufficient.

But what? It needed to be something where she could at least pick up the basics relatively easy – she didn’t want to look like an idiot as she fumbled around like Zuko learning firebending.

Father had made archery look easy, and copying him was always a smart plan. But just trying to string a bow had been difficult enough, and the archery master had had to be bullied into letting her actually loose any arrows, having tried to insist that trainees were not allowed to even touch an arrow until she was satisfied that they could string the damned bow in their sleep.

She was lucky if the arrows even ended up on the same side of the training field as the target.

The archery master had put her foot down against any further target practice until she’d done the baby stuff, and this time she had looked so adamant that Azula hadn’t dared to argue; the woman had trained alongside father, and might decide that this allowed her the right to complain to him about his daughter. And he would learn about this absolute disaster.

Throwing knives seemed a good option – no having to deal with bows and strings, and she had enough practice from throwing small jets of flame that she was sure she could easily adapt. Unfortunately, she would be nowhere near as good as Mai, who had spent years practicing with knives and darts and shuriken as hard as Azula had at firebending. She was not going to be overshadowed by her friend.

(“You’ll never catch up.”)

There were knives of the non-throwing variety, but it seemed such an unsophisticated option, the sort of weapon wielded by someone who just wanted something small and sharp and simple to use for self-defence.

There were spears of course – any idiot could use a spear. But that was the problem. Any idiot. Polearms were peasant weapons.

After watching someone training with a meteor dart, that seemed like the most obvious choice for her. Out of all the weapons she’d seen or tried, this one seemed the most like firebending, shooting the dart out in a fast and precise strike, pulling it back, and then quickly being able to sweep the blunt end out to either knock people out of her way, or as more of a blunt force attack, and all done so smoothly. Yes, this was the perfect choice.

But it did not obey her as her flames had.

Practice sessions resulted in her getting tangled up with the rope, on one occasion so badly that she’d needed help to extricate herself.

And people had been watching.

Someone had actually laughed. Though she couldn’t tell who. She was tempted to order everyone punished, but father would definitely hear about that, and he would probably want to know why, would find out she wasn’t good enough.

Worse was the time she had knocked herself out with the blunt end. At least only a small number of people had seen that.

She’d been ordered by the physician to rest for several days (Days? Days??! She couldn’t slack off for that long! She would fall behind, even further than she already was! She couldn’t fall behind!). She had angrily objected to this, of course, but had been forced to acquiesce when he’d offered (threatened!) to tell father that she required a break to recover (No! He couldn’t find out!). Those long days had been torture, as she worried that father would find out that she was just lounging around doing nothing.

(The next time she had ventured onto the training grounds, after her enforced rest, she received concerned looks. How dare they! Did they think she was weak? An object of pity?)

She hadn’t touched the weapon again, even in private.

She had avoided swords at first, simply because Zuko had used them, so they couldn’t be that good as far as weapons went. But then father had asked about how her weapons training was going, and which one had she picked up, and it had been months after she’d lost her bending, so ‘I haven’t decided yet’ wouldn’t be an acceptable answer (Azula would not be acceptable…). She had panicked and blurted out that she had taken up the sword, praying that he would not ask her to demonstrate.

Thankfully he had not, merely nodded and moved on to another subject.

Oh well. Swords it was. And if Zuko had been considered good, then how hard could it be?

Very, it turned out.

Oh, she could hold one, and sweep the blade through some basic cuts and thrusts – it was all stances and movements – but the weapon felt unnatural in her hand and the movements clumsy, and she kept instinctively following bending movements instead of what the swordmaster was trying to teach her, and the fighting techniques did not come easily to her.

Even after a little over two years of practice, she struggled to beat an opponent who wasn’t a beginner.

The foolish instructor had tried to reassure her, bleating useless platitudes.

“You’re allowing your own frustration to get the better of you, Princess. That is one of the toughest opponents you will ever face, and the biggest barrier to your progress.”

How dare she say that Azula was the one to blame? Clearly it was her subpar teaching. Everyone insisted that, with Master Piandao having gone conveniently missing, Master Setsuko was the best in the Fire Nation. Well, they were obviously liars.

“Some people take longer than others to master the blade. Just relax and keep practicing, and you will get there eventually. A slower approach is often the surer one.”

Azula had bristled at that. It sounded like the sort of thing an instructor might say to Zuko to spare his feelings. And she was not Zuko!

But the worst, most crushing thing she had said, had been:

“You needn’t worry yourself so much. You’re actually decent for a beginner.”

Decent.

That was her highest praise for her student.

Crown Princess Azula, heir to Firelord Ozai, should never be described as decent.

What was she if she wasn’t perfect? What was she if she wasn’t the best? Father had no interest in mediocrity.

Why couldn’t she be good enough?

⁂

So now she drifted closer to the wall of the Northern Water Tribe, all the possible plans she’d come up with on her journey thrown aside because somehow Zuzu had blundered into the situation. Because of course he had.

(Why had he, of all people, been allowed to keep his firebending? He didn’t deserve it, not like her…)

And she had to extricate him from this mess, because father had ordered him to be captured and brought home alive. What was to happen to him once he got there, Azula had known better than to ask (hadn’t wanted to ask), but the loss of firebending had caused so much damage that father must have a particularly harsh punishment in mind, as the order had been given the highest priority, superseding all others, no matter how important.

Zhao, the fool, had cursed the appearance of her brother, and she suspected he might have gone on with the attack he’d planned anyway, orders be damned, if he’d thought he could get away with it. He was completely unable to see that the Water Tribe had actually handed them an advantage.

Because a hostage invited a hostage negotiation, and that was something best done face to face.

Zhao had intended to stage a direct assault, pounding the walls with ammunition until he made enough of an opening to allow an invasion force inside. A tried and tested strategy, but a risky and possibly lengthy one – Ba Sing Se had held its ground for two years, eventually killing her cousin and breaking her uncle. But it was the only way, since it wasn’t as if the Northern Water Tribe would simply invite them in.

And now here they were, inviting her in.

A small flotilla of boats surrounded them, ostensibly as an honour guard, but actually to obscure the fact that they were not the only representatives from the Fire Nation intent on entering the city. Zhao was going to find a way to slip inside while all eyes were on the Princess and her retinue, aiming to seek out the Moon Spirit, which he insisted resided in the city as a mortal being, and kill it, thus ending waterbending.

Whether he was successful or he got killed in the attempt was of no concern of hers; either way it would prove an excellent distraction.

She was startled when her boat suddenly began to rise up, a column of water lifting them to the top of the wall, before quickly covering it. Then she remembered she was supposed to be playing a weak, sheltered princess unworthy of the title, and allowed her curiosity to show.

Going against all her instincts, she let herself act intimidated before the welcoming committee of fierce-looking Water Tribesmen who awaited them at the top of the wall. Not too much though; she needed them to take her somewhat seriously enough to negotiate with her.

They were openly contemptuous of their guests.

“An insult,” muttered one, not quietly enough. “Sending girls to negotiate. They clearly don’t take us seriously!”

He was shushed, but none of the others looked any more pleased.

“I assure you, we are taking this matter with extreme seriousness,” Azula informed them graciously.

“Why are a bunch of girls in a war fleet anyway?” asked one rather sour-looking old man, frowning suspiciously, who she recognised as the one who had had the misfortune of being in the way of her brother’s little bending display. He seemed to be the leader of this little group.

Unfortunately she did not have a ready answer for him. (Why didn’t she have an answer? She should have thought of this! She should have thought of everything!)

“For luck, of course!” Ty Lee chirped, brightly. “Surely everyone knows that?”

A stupid answer, and she almost glared at her for giving the game away. (She would have come up with something in just a moment, didn’t her friend have faith in her?) But the men around them simply gave contemptuous frowns and shrugged, accepting the answer.

Wow, this was going to be easier than she’d thought.

There ensued a brief discussion about searching them for weapons. They clearly didn’t see three teenage girls as a threat, but to not search them seemed like a huge security breach under the circumstances. And would it even be appropriate for a bunch of men to lay hand on young ladies?

Azula fought the urge to roll her eyes.

Eventually they summoned someone to do the search for them, a brisk older woman who patted them down and completely failed to find any of Mai’s hidden weapons.

And none of them noticed Mai slip her one of those knives as they were led down from the wall.

She wasn’t used to looking worried, but she knew what it looked like. Forming her face into something approximating that annoying pathetic expression Zuko had worn constantly after mother had left (she’d abandoned them, didn’t he get it?), she allowed the guards to herd them along.

They were led to a hall that was presumably supposed to be grand and impressive, but paled in comparison to even the plainest corner of the Fire Nation Royal Palace. But there were appearances to be kept up with, and she glanced around her in apparent awe as he walked up to where the Chief awaited her.

No Avatar, as far as she could see. Good. That had been her one concern. He was an unknown quantity that she wasn’t certain she could account for. She was quite sure that her plan would still have worked with him there, but it was nice to not have to deal with that small uncertainty.

A small group of people stood around the Chief, some clearly advisors and tribal elders, but others were waterbenders and warriors, there as guards. All were men of course, aside from a white-haired girl a little older than her who could only be the Princess.

She covered her smirk with a polite smile of greeting. It didn’t matter how many people they had.

“Greetings, Chief Arnook, I am Princess Azula, here on behalf of my father, Firelord Ozai. These are my friends, Ladies Mai and Ty Lee.”

The three girls bowed.

The Chief nodded in acknowledgement. “Greetings, Princess Azula, Lady Mai, Lady Ty Lee. I won’t waste time on further pleasantries, because we both know why you’re here.” He paused, a slight crease between his eyebrows that would have been a frown in someone not used to wearing the mask of a politician. “But I must admit, you’re not who I was expecting.”

Azula smiled, ignoring that implied insult (for now, at least).

“Unfortunately Admiral Zhao has… other things to attend to.”

There were some looks exchanged amongst some of the warriors present, and a few slipped out of a side door, presumably to report what they’d heard, and the possible implications her strange pause carried.

She’d been intending to tell them he was simply delayed with matters about his own ship. She might be somewhat sceptical of his plan, but she’d had no particular need or wish to sabotage him. But the Chief had, without knowing it, offered her a huge advantage, that would provide her with the opportunity to win control of the Water Tribe though much simpler means, and without the potential risk to the fishing industry.

Besides, if Zhao was as smart as he should be to justify all those promotions and father’s trust, then a few slightly-more-alert waterbenders on the lookout for trouble wouldn’t be any kind of impediment.

If the Chief had any concerns over her words, he didn’t show it. “I see. Well, we had best get down to business, although-”  

Azula gave a slight twitch to her hand, something that would be easily dismissed as a nervous fidget, but Mai knew her cue for what it was.

“Oh please, Mighty Chief, please let me see my beloved!”

Her acting was atrocious, but there was enough genuine feeling behind it to give her performance an almost charming authenticity.

“Please, I haven’t seen him in so long!”

It was enough to make the Ember Island Players weep. Their audience shifted uncomfortably at the display.

“Do you… Do you have any proof of this... assertion?” asked the Chief, obviously praying for any excuse to dismiss the seemingly-hysterical girl.

“Only my feelings!” She wailed, then, “Oh, and I did give him a heart-shaped rock, for him to remember me by!”

“We did find such a thing when we searched his bags,” said a warrior.

Mai covered her face with her hands, fake-sobbing loudly.

“Perhaps we should allow this young lady to see the Prince…?” suggested the elderly waterbender that Zuko had set on fire. His expression was… interesting. There was a story there, she was sure. Perhaps Zuko would know it. Or maybe not – he never seemed to know anything worth knowing.

The Chief gave a reluctant nod. “If you think so, Master Pakku, then I trust your judgement. Very well, fetch Prince Zuko.”

“Th- Thank you, o wise Chief,” said Mai, muffled from behind her hands. Ty Lee handed her a handkerchief and patted her on the back, while the gathered men avoided looking at them. Only Princess Yue’s attention remained on them, the girl looking on sympathetically.

They didn’t have long to wait before Zuko was dragged in, chains clanking. And with a flying lemur clinging to him, for some reason. Oh well. Not her problem.

Mai immediately threw herself on him. “Oh, Zuko, my love! I’ve missed you so much!”

Zuko froze, clearly confused at Mai’s uncharacteristic behaviour, even with half his face hidden by a gag to prevent him from breathing fire, and another quarter distorted by a nasty burn scar (somehow, she’d expected him to look the same, for the Agni Kai to have left no mark on him…). But as Mai threw her arms around him and inserted a lockpick into the lock on his wrist manacles, her efforts hidden by the handkerchief, his remaining eyebrow relaxed in understanding. That was a relief; she’d worried he'd be so dense he’d fail to notice.

There wasn’t much they could do about the chains on his ankles though, not without it being obvious. They’d either have to hope they could seize an opportunity during their escape, or simply drag him along.

One of the warriors, looking frustrated, made a gesture, and a pair of men stepped forward and dragged Mai off their prisoner. The handkerchief and lockpick fell to the ground unnoticed by all but the lemur, which was examining them with curiosity.

Zuko gave her a nod that he probably thought was subtle, but far too obvious for her liking. Presumably to indicate the success of the ruse. Luckily everyone’s attention was still focused on Mai, now calmer and being led back towards her companions by the guards.

Mai, taking her place back beside her Princess, made a much more discreet gesture, confirming that she had been successful.

The creature picked up the lockpick with nimble fingers, looking at it, before staring up at Zuko’s hands, then back at the pick, then at the chains fastened to Zuko’s ankles.

The Chief cleared his throat. “Anyway, as I was about to say before all that, I’m not sure there is much to discuss. Our terms remain the same: Leave, and he will not be harmed.” He paused, then continued. “I assure you, we will keep our word, and he will live in comfort.”

Zuko rolled his eyes at that, clearly not a fan of whatever his current accommodation was.

“I understand, Chief Arnook,” Azula interrupted smoothly. “But our father is desperate for him to return home, and willing to pay any price.”

Her audience startled at that, but no one more than Zuko. Eyes widened over the gag (well, one eye widened, and she wondered if he could even see with the other… No, not important right now.) at hearing that father wanted him. You’d think he’d know better.

The Chief recovered quickly, frowning and giving a terse shake of his head. “I’m sorry, but you have nothing that we want.”

“Father, please. I think we should listen,” said his daughter, speaking for the first time. She smiled at Azula, walking towards her. “It seems wrong to separate a family that cares so much for each other.

“Princess, I think you should-”

“No, Master Pakku. I feel very strongly that this is the right thing to do.”

Azula almost forgot her concerned-sister act in surprise. She had a signal planned, ready to be given at the right moment, for Ty Lee to dart forward and grab someone, plus a few more if there had turned out to be no obvious choice and Azula had to select someone while they negotiated.

And here was her perfect target, walking right up to her of her own accord!

She recovered quickly (of course she did) and grabbed the other girl, pinning her arms and holding Mai’s knife to her throat.

“Sorry, Princess, but I’m afraid I am not here to ask nicely.” To the others, she added, “I would like to reassure everyone present that I have very steady hands. But were anyone to make any sudden moves, then, well, there might be an unfortunate accident.”

A waterbender ignored her, stepping forward and conjuring a water whip. Before he could even begin to wield it, Ty Lee summersaulted over, landing perfectly behind the man and chi-blocking him. She leapt around, disabling a few others who looked to be having similar ideas.

Master Pakku formed water into a cluster of lethal-looking ice shards hovering around him ready to be thrown, assuming that the knife Azula held was the only one they’d brought, and that Mai wasn’t a threat. Wrong on both counts.

The guards on either side of Zuko reached out to grab him, a wicked-looking sword held by one ready to return Azula’s threat with their own hostage, but he twisted away from them, dropping the wrist manacles and pulling off the gag, before driving them back with a burst of flame from his hands. A spinning kick (wait, how had he managed to unlock the ankle chains?) cleared the area around him, and he launched himself towards them, standing beside her with hands raised, ready to firebend if needed (because he could firebend, if he wanted).

While things had gone well, this was messier than she would have preferred. These people had a shocking lack of discipline. Pitching her voice to be heard over the hubbub, she said, “Any further tantrums, and your princess dies!”

“You’re bluffing,” snarled Master Pakku, as a subordinate attempted to staunch the flow of blood from his stab wound.

“Look at me and tell me I’m bluffing.” Though it was the waterbender she was responding to, it was the Chief she addressed, holding his gaze. This was where it could all go wrong if he made the smart choice and prioritised his role as a leader over his role as a father, and ordered his men to kill them, his daughter included.

Father wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice either of them, of course. Which was the right choice. (But… if it was the right choice, why did the idea hurt her so much?)

But she’d guessed his character right, and eventually he slumped, defeated. “Let them go.”

It was barely more than a mumble, but his warriors heard him. “But-”

“I said let them go!” he roared, voice laced with fear. So shameful, but a father being concerned about his daughter was what she wanted, so she couldn’t complain.

They slowly backed towards the door. She hated to admit it, but she wasn’t sure she liked her odds of getting out of this. She’d been counting on them showing obedience to their leader, but several of the warriors and most of the waterbenders looked ready to disobey their Chief’s order. If she was careful, if she didn’t give them anything they might have an opening, if Zuko didn’t screw this up somehow... She should be fine…

They were at the door now and moving outside. As they moved backwards, the Water Tribesmen were inching forward, almost imperceptibly. She was tempted to dig the knife in, draw a little blood to warn them back, but she was pretty sure they didn’t even realise they were doing it, and the move might backfire and incite them to attack.

Dammit, what had happened to Zhao? She had been relying on his plan to cause a distraction, ideally by removing the waterbenders’ bending. Or at the very least failing miserably and trying to take as many tribesmen down with him as he could. Then while the Chief and his advisors reacted to the chaos, they would strike and flee with their hostage.

But he had so far failed to make his move, meaning all attention was on her, and if the Avatar were to show up, then the balance would definitely tip in the Water Tribe’s favour.

And she couldn’t fight while lugging a hostage around (couldn’t fight at all, really – worthless, useless…)

No, she could do this!

And then, as if summoned by her thought…

A giant ball of light erupted in the middle of the city, followed by screaming as it destroyed buildings. Yue gave a small whimper as Azula accidentally nicked her neck.

“What’s that?” asked Ty Lee, wide-eyed with horrified awe.

“I think it’s the Avatar State,” Zuko replied.

And it wasn’t centred on them, which meant that the Avatar was busy fighting Zhao, and wouldn’t be coming after them until he was finished with that, and the tribesmen would be too distracted with trying to save their city from destruction to stop them from leaving.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Admiral Zhao?” asked Ty Lee, hesitant and clearly knowing that there was no point, but feeling the need to waste her breath anyway.

Mai pointed at the chaos. “You really think there’s gonna be anything left of him to wait for?”

Ty Lee stood staring at the destruction for a moment, before nodding and turning away with a sigh.

But now it was Zuko’s turn to hesitate, stopping and glancing back over his shoulder “But what about my friends?”

Azula rolled her eyes. “If they’re your friends, then where were they while you were a prisoner?”

Princess Yue tried to say something, but Azula twitched the knife against her throat and she took the hint.

Zuko slumped, looking defeated for a moment, as if she hadn’t risked herself to save his worthless ass. But he recovered as quickly as Ty Lee, straightening his shoulders and steeling his expression, and continued walking with no further objections to his rescue.

He still lagged behind a little, but that was fine, and she would have told him to do that anyway even if he hadn’t chosen to himself. Ty Lee in front to leap at and chi-block anyone in their path, Mai in the middle acting as a guard for Azula and their hostage, and Zuko bringing up the rear to firebend at anyone persuing them was the most effective order.

She realised the lemur was also with them, but it wasn’t harrying them in any way, so she ignored it.

They had reached the wall now, and the guards there raised weapons or moved into bending stances, through with cautious looks at Princess Yue.

“Don’t disable all the benders,” Azula reminded Ty Lee, “We need some to get back to our boat.”

The reminder turned out to be unnecessary. The guards were already torn about having to stand by and watch helplessly while a crisis was unfolding elsewhere, and hesitant to attack them with their hostage. Ty Lee only had to deal with a few people who tried to be heroes, and the rest surrendered without a fight.

The descent of their boat into the sea was much bumpier than their ascent, but that was likely more down to nerves than any possible attempts to toss them into the water, so she chose to be gracious and not yell up at them about it.

The lemur had attached itself to Zuko, which explained why it was following them, she supposed. As a firebender (the only firebender), Zuko would be the warmest body anywhere close to here. The dumb animal was simply instinctively seeking out warmth. Probably (rightly) saw her brother as a soft touch that it could beg for treats from too.

The moment they got back to their ship, she gave orders to turn the fleet around and return to the Fire Nation. They had what they needed. With its Princess in their possession, the Northern Water Tribe would do whatever they asked. No having to waste resources on a siege which – as her uncle had so perfectly demonstrated – could fail ignominiously. Or station troops that would be better employed elsewhere to occupy it and pacify its people. Or send poor Fire Nation citizens to colonise somewhere so damn cold and inhospitable. No. No need for all that. They had effectively taken control of the place with a minimum of fuss.

Shame about Zhao though. Oh well.

She wasn’t dumb enough to think that the Water Tribe wouldn’t try to stage a rescue though. And the flagship would be an obvious target for those attempts. So as soon as they were out of even a telescope’s visual range, she gave orders for her, Zuko, her friends, and Yue to all be transferred to a different ship. It would probably be better to spread them over different ships, but she wanted people she could reasonably trust and rely on around her. And in the event of an attack, it would be harder to co-ordinate if they were separated.

She selected a medium-sized, fairly unobtrusive-looking one. The bigger ships would be more likely to be searched by rescuers, and the smaller ships might get picked off in convenient accidents designed to cause what little trouble the tribesmen thought they might be able to get away with.

It was somewhat less luxurious that she deserved, but it was only for a few weeks.

She couldn’t wait to see father’s reaction when she brought not only such a valuable hostage, but Zuko as well.

So distracted was she by pleasant fantasies of father rewarding her beyond her wildest dreams for giving him these gifts, and punishing Zuko for keeping his bending, that when the lemur – Momo, Zuko had said it was called, which was a silly name in her opinion – waved at her, she absently returned the gesture.

Chapter Text

Zuko stood in front of the small mirror, smoothing out imaginary wrinkles in his outfit.

He’d become used to wearing Fire Nation colours again during the journey from the Northern Water Tribe – he couldn’t keep wearing the warm Water Tribe clothing he’d been wearing when he’d escaped, so had been wearing naval uniforms from the ship’s stores – but the fine red and black silk garments still felt strange.

Azula had dispatched someone to purchase proper clothes for him as they passed one of the outlying islands. He’d wanted to go himself, but he’d been denied, supposedly due to security concerns. But the men who’d barred his way had looked at each other nervously.

There was a knock on the door. Mai stuck her head in without waiting for a response.

“Are you ready? The helmsman just sighted land, so we’ll be there soon.”

“Nearly. I just need to do my hair.”

“Here, let me.” She picked up the brush and began working it through his hair. Her touch was soothing, and he relaxed a little, trying to forget his worries about what would happen when they arrived at their destination.

Having his hair styled like this was another thing that felt strange. He’d gone almost three years without thinking much about his hair. Kyoshi Island didn’t view their hair as any kind of symbol of honour or status as the Fire Nation did, with many choosing to cut their hair short, which he couldn’t bring himself to do, so he’d simply tied it into a simple tail at the nape of his neck, except when in Kyoshi Warrior garb, when he’d tied his hair lower down its length, as most of the other Warriors did.

Once he was among his people again, he’d thought to go back to his old phoenix tail. But his hair was much longer now and it had looked ridiculous.

So a topknot it was to be, then. Since his hair had already been all tied up in a tail, he had tried forming it into a knot with no loose hairs, like Lu Ten had worn after he had joined the army, but either he had much more hair than his cousin, or Lu Ten had had some sort of knack to getting it to look so small and neat. And asking Azula how she did hers had seemed like a recipe for endless mockery about how he couldn’t even do his own hair properly.

It was a shame, he’d thought, as it was a more practical style, and Lu Ten had looked so smart, like everything a proper Fire Nation Prince should be, but leaving some hair loose was a style that was more favoured at court, including within the royal family itself.

It hadn’t seemed like a momentous decision. It was just a hairstyle.

And then Azula had swung the door open and marched right into his cabin without even bothering to knock, some demand or other ready on her lips.

“What?” he’d snapped, turning his head to glare at her. He knew he should be somewhat grateful that she had gone to the trouble of rescuing him, father’s order to retrieve him alive or no, but she’d made constant digs about him since he’d gotten on board, about how he didn’t deserve his bending, and that it was unfair that hers had been stripped from her, and it was all his fault, and he had just lost his temper.

He hadn’t seen how it could have mattered anyway – she would never be even vaguely bothered by any show of annoyance he might make, in fact, would simply turn it and use it against him.

But… She had frozen, just staring at him.

Then she’d seemed to recover, but instead of launching some vicious barb that would cut more deeply than any weapon forged, had simply glared at him, and then she had fled.

He’d stared at the doorway, blinking in confusion and wondering what that had been about.

Turning back to the mirror, he had stared at his reflection, wondering what might have been wrong with his appearance. It couldn’t have been the scar – she’d already gotten a good look at that, and he’d been looking over his right shoulder at her, so the marred side of his face was hidden. Nonetheless, he had placed his hand over that part of his face, hiding it.

And that’s when it had clicked.

Oh.

On some level he had always been aware of it. People had always said that he looked like his father. It was simply one of those things that people had said around him, just like how they said that Azula looked like mother (she did, and he wondered if she would look even more like her as she got older, and if that would hurt).

But it was one thing to hear it, another to see it clearly in the mirror.

Was it a good thing to remind people that he was his father’s son? Or would he just be reminding everyone that he could never measure up to the standards that Ozai set?

Mai finished brushing his hair and began forming it into the topknot. But instead of using the ribbon that Momo was helpfully holding out to her, she pulled a golden headpiece out of her pocket and pinned it into his hair.

Zuko stared at it. The royal headpiece.

He reached up to pull it off, but Mai stopped him, pushing his hands back down. “Mai, I can’t wear this!”

“Yes, you can. In fact, you should. It arrived by messenger hawk, with instructions that you were to wear it.”

Did this mean he was forgiven? That father wasn’t angry at him keeping his bending while everyone else (including him) lost theirs? Or was this just a courtesy, a reminder of a title he did not deserve? Or some kind of test that he would fail, as he had at the Agni Kai?

“When did it arrive?”

She shrugged. “No idea. Azula just gave it to me and told me to give it to you.”

So maybe this was one of Azula’s pranks. She’d been… weird towards him. He understood her anger at losing her bending, though she was so perfect at everything he was sure she was doing just fine without it. He’d tried to make it up to her by asking about her swordfighting and offering to spar with her – he was good (even father had acknowledged that, though with a comment about his poor progress in firebending tacked on), but knowing Azula, she’d probably mastered the blade within a month, and maybe beating him would cheer her up a little, so she’d leave him alone. And it had made her even worse.

But he couldn’t see why she would need to sabotage him. It was obvious he was going back to face his punishment. The best he could hope for was imprisonment. At worst…

He should try to escape. But he was so tired of running.

He wanted to say something, but he didn’t know what. So he just grabbed one of Mai’s hands and squeezed it. She returned the gesture. He leaned forward and kissed her, as if it was for the last time. Because it might be for the last time.

Eventually she pulled away, though for once she didn’t try to hide her feelings. He didn’t want this moment to end either. But it had to.

“Come on,” she said. “Azula’s waiting. She wants us all on the deck in perfect formation before we’re even close to the harbour.”

⁂

People’s reactions to him over the journey had been… interesting. Crewmembers had stared at him, and bowed or saluted, but seemed nervous if he interacted with them in any way. It was even worse when he tried to practice firebending. Naval vessels weren’t exactly overabundant with space, so nowhere outside his cabin was really private or out of the way, so any practice sessions would quickly attract an audience. It was nerve-wracking to have people staring at him and scrutinising every mis-step and graceless kata. Were they judging his performance? Did they think it was a horrible joke that he of all people was spared the loss of his bending?

Being the focus of so much attention felt like an oppressive weight pushing down on him, and he’d avoided leaving the safety of his cabin unless he absolutely had to.

Possibly things would get easier once they’d had a chance to get used to him. But Azula had moved their group from ship to ship, never staying on any vessel for too long, lest anyone trying to retrieve Princess Yue attempt an attack. They could not be predictable.

As he and Mai made their way through the ship on their way to the deck, the stares were even more intense. It reminded him of the way the White Lotus members had looked at him, not necessarily hostile (though some seemed angry) but… expectant. Too expectant. There had always been so many expectations placed on him that he could never meet, and then Agni had decided to add new ones.

And the bows... Some of them bowed as low as they would to father…

He wasn’t sure what to make of it. Did they respect him? Or were they terrified of this reminder of all that they’d lost? Were they angry at him keeping his bending when they’d lost theirs? Did they believe he could bring back firebending somehow? Because he didn’t know how. He had no idea what he was supposed to do!

⁂

They emerged on deck and took their places next to Azula and Ty Lee. The latter acknowledged their appearance with a cheery wave, and his sister smiled, though no-one who knew her would mistake it for anything friendly.

“Ah, Zuko! Here at last, I see! And looking so smart on this fine morning! I only hope we’ll be able to see each other this evening!”

Her tone sounded perfectly pleasant, but something about the wording felt like it was Azula delivering a threat. Did she know what was going to happen? Or was she just trying to scare him?

“I hope so,” was all he could say in reply.

The Gates of Azulon loomed ahead of them. He’d soon be home, but then what?

Mai, probably sensing his nervousness, pulled him towards her and kissed him again, trying to give what reassurance she could, even though she knew no more about what awaited him than he did.

Azula rolled her eyes and sneered. “Ugh. Get a room.”

He sighed and forced down the response he dearly wanted to make. It was a bad idea to fight with his sister. Not just because she seemed to want a fight (which was weird, because she was usually more subtle about needling him). But because father favoured her, and any argument between them was always assumed to be Zuko’s fault, and he would be the one punished. He wasn’t sure anything could actually make his chances worse at this point, but it wasn’t a good idea to risk it.

At that moment, Yue was led up and stood next to them. During the journey she had been wearing a mishmash of clothes borrowed from Mai and Ty Lee (not Azula, of course) and a few things from stores, but now she was back in her Water Tribe finery, to be presented as the captured Princess of a conquered nation.

They hadn’t bothered restraining her; there was no point.

Though it was fairly early in the morning, and they were all standing under shade, it was still probably much warmer than she was used to and those clothes were definitely not designed for the Fire Nation’s climate, and she had to be suffering, but she didn’t show it.

He looked away. She was here because of him. But the only reason he was free was because she had been captured.

⁂

As they sailed into the harbour, he saw that the plaza was filled with people. A huge crowd had gathered to witness his sister’s triumphant homecoming. Guards had cleared a way through, but they had their work cut out trying to keep people back. Zuko tried not to look, scared of what he would see on their faces as they looked at him. He wished Mai was still here, even if protocol would frown on her offering him any kind of comforting gesture. Momo, crouched on his shoulder, did his best, but even he seemed intimidated.

They made it through the crowd, and he was greeted by an encouraging sight. Sitting at the base of the tower where their arrival would be proclaimed from (as if anyone had missed it), were two palanquins. His heart lifted.

One for him. One for Azula.

And then the curtains of one parted, and his father stepped out and began to walk towards them.

Zuko was stunned. For the Firelord to come down to the harbour to greet someone, even his own children, was unheard of. Even for something like the conquering of the Northern Water Tribe. He would await them at the palace. Yet here he was.

And then the reality sank in. One palanquin for father. One for Azula.

But when Ozai reached them, it was Zuko he greeted. “Zuko, my son! You have returned!”

He was smiling, but it didn’t meet his eyes. He was probably just tired. The war must be extremely difficult right now.

“Come, come! We must announce you to the people, so they know that you’ve returned to me!” He gestured to the tower’s entrance, placing his other hand on Zuko’s shoulder to push him forward. Momo hissed.

Ozai glared at the creature. “What is that?”

“Um…” He couldn’t say it belonged to the Avatar. “Just a pet. That I picked up on my travels. He’s very well-trained, really.”

Though Momo was looking at Ozai’s hand as if he meant to bite it (weird, as he normally liked everyone), and his father would not take that well at all.

“Here,” he said to Yue, hastily handing the lemur over to her. “You’d better hold him for the moment.”

As his father resumed pushing him towards the stairs, Azula let out an indignant squark behind them, and Zuko realised that their father had not even looked at her; he’d paid more attention to Momo than his own daughter.

Ozai didn’t notice, focused entirely on Zuko. It was strange. He couldn’t remember ever being the sole focus of his father’s attention like this. Even in his childhood memories, where his father had been less harsh, had occasionally praised him and shown pride in his accomplishments, there’d been Azula to share that with.

(There must have been a time before Azula, but he couldn’t remember what it had been like.)

He looked almost… hungry.

Zuko was barely aware of climbing the stairs, conscious of nothing but his father’s hand on his shoulder. Proud. Proud of him. He felt awkward and unsure of what to say (scared of saying the wrong thing, like he always did), but father didn’t seem to expect him to say anything.

Li and Lo announced them, introducing him as Crown Prince Zuko, and as they walked out together, his father put an arm round him. The loud cheering of the crowd faded to a dull roar, the rest of the world fading away as Zuko’s awareness narrowed to this one thing.

Father had never been all that demonstrative with gestures of affection, especially not in public, so for him to embrace his son in front of all these people…

He must really have missed him.

How could uncle have taken him away from this? He’d claimed he was protecting him. But from what? His father had punished Zuko for being a bad son, but he clearly still cared.

He wondered if it was the lack of firebending that made the arm wrapped around him feel so cold.

⁂

A Princess should never run. Unless she was in pursuit of some quarry or other, anyway. Running was for people who were late, or desperate, or both. And she couldn’t get too far ahead of Princess Yue, who, as her prisoner, had been presented alongside her to a crowd who seemed significantly less enthusiastic than they’d been of her brother.

But she very nearly ran. Because obviously father would be waiting at the foot of the stairs. His approval of Zuko’s return had been unexpected (not only was he not being punished for taking away her firebending, but he was Crown Prince?!), and his failure to even acknowledge her had stung, but surely that was because he was waiting until the formalities were over to greet her properly.

But when she emerged from the doorway, he was striding towards one of the palanquins, a hand on Zuko’s back guiding her unworthy brother along.

She had brought her brother back! She had conquered the Northern Water Tribe without losing a single person! (Okay, except for Zhao, but that was his own fault.) She had brought back a high profile prisoner!

And not only did she get no acknowledgement, but her worthless brother got the honour of riding with him while she was relegated to a separate conveyance.

“Father, wait!” she called out, as Princess Yue emerged behind her

He turned slightly, looking annoyed, like she was some minor inconvenience he had to deal with before getting on with more important things.

“Aren’t you- Aren’t you pleased with me?” It took all her control not to cry as she asked that. She’d done her best to make him proud. Why wasn’t he proud? Had she not done enough?

He sighed, as if she was being unreasonably demanding. (Was she? Perhaps she was asking for too much…) “Yes, yes, you did very well.”

Well. Well? Was that all she got for all her efforts? It was nice that he was giving her some praise, but he was already turning away, like she didn’t matter.

Her control slipped, just a little, but too much. “It that it? Father, I did everything for you! You can’t just-”

That was as far as she got before his bland, tolerant expression twisted into anger.

“I can’t just what?” he snapped.

“You can’t… You can’t treat me like…” She trailed off. She was about to say ‘like Zuko’. But what did that even mean now their positions were flipped? He was now treating Zuko like he’d treated her.

And her stammering and hesitation only made her look weak.

“How dare you even think that you can talk back to me!”

She froze. Oh no. Oh no no no. He was angry. She’d been so stupid!

But she was loyal! He must know that? Surely that mattered?

(“I am your loyal son!”)

She was Zuko, now.

Was he going to burn her? No, he couldn’t. (She wasn’t grateful for the loss of firebending now, not even a little…) But as he stepped towards her, she knew that his hand would hurt even if it wasn’t on fire. She took a step back. (Weak, so weak.)

Zuko looked between them, opening his mouth to say something. Shut up shut up shut up, she thought at him. Whatever he said would only make things worse.

She should say something. But what? To apologise? To beg? To assert her position and explain herself properly? None of those would help her. And how could she speak when her breath was catching in her throat and…

And then Yue fainted.

The Firelord turned his attention to the other Princess, regarding her prone body with contempt. “How pathetic. Is this really the best of the Water Tribe?”

But she was an important hostage, and their sole means of keeping the Northern Water Tribe in line, so he gestured towards some nearby attendants and pointed to the other palanquin.

“Get the girl back to the palace and have the Royal Physician attend to her.” Yue was duly picked up and carried over to the palanquin. “And get her some water.”

Then he simply turned away, pushing his son into the first palanquin, his daughter forgotten.

Zuko’s stupid lemur, who had been following him, turned to look at her. Then it looked back at Zuko as he settled into the palanquin, before looking back to Azula again. It flicked its ears, considering. Then it scampered over to her.

“Go away!” she snapped at it. “I don’t want you!”

She stormed off towards the palanquin bearing Yue. It was that or walk home.

The creature flew alongside her, unaffected by her words. If she had her firebending she would fry it. But she didn’t, and trying to catch it to dispose of it through other means would probably be an undignified affair, so she settled for ignoring it as it settled into the cushions beside her, snuggling close as if it expected her to have the same warmth as stupid perfect unworthy Zuzu.

The curtains fell closed, and the palanquin jerked slightly as its bearers lifted it. Azula sighed and closed her eyes, relieved there was no-one around to see her drop what was left of her perfect mask as she slumped in defeat.

There was movement next to her and a voice said, “Well, that was certainly interesting.”

She opened her eyes. Yue was sitting upright, looking perfectly fine. Not at all like she’d just collapsed from dehydration or heatstroke.

Azula narrowed her eyes accusingly. “You were faking!”

Yue shrugged, unapologetic. “I thought you could use a distraction.”

How dare she? Princess Azula did not need help from anyone! “Well, I didn’t!”

The other girl smiled, annoyingly unmoved. “Well then, I apologise for my mistake.”

“Yes. Just like the mistake you made in thinking that trusting me was the right course of action,” Azula sneered.

Yue looked thoughtful. “You know, it’s odd, but somehow, I don’t think I was wrong about that.”

That was such a stupid thing to say. Azula scratched the stupid lemur behind its stupid large ears, just to give herself an excuse to ignore the other girl for the rest of the trip.

Chapter Text

Zuko parted the curtains nervously and stepped into the throne room. He wasn’t sure why he had been summoned – his father had already welcomed him home, and he had never been invited to court, or important meetings (in fact it was barging in where he was uninvited that had earned him his burn). Had his father changed his mind?

It didn’t help that the room was so dark. A few torches on the walls were lit, enough to see by but not enough to properly illuminate the room, and no flames blazed in front of the throne itself.

Zuko abased himself before his father, scared to even glance at him in case that made things worse.

“Rise, my son.”

His father did not sound displeased. Allowing himself a very small sigh of relief, he raised himself upright to look at his father.

He beckoned to Zuko, smiling. “Come, my dear son. Sit up here next to me.”

He gestured to his right, where a small platform had been set up, slightly lower than the throne.

Zuko’s breath caught in shock as he scrambled to his feet as gracefully as he could, barely able to believe it. He could remember occasions where his uncle had been seated next to Firelord Azulon sometimes (though father had never been allowed to sit on his other side). But even Azula had never been allowed to sit up there. And now here he was being offered the honour!

He settled next to his father, smiling up at him. How had he ever come to think his father didn’t care? A memory of the Agni Kai flashed through his mind but he pushed it away. He’d deserved that.

“It is time you learned-” Zuko’s breath caught for a moment. “-about what it means to be Firelord. Someday, far in the future, it coul- will be you, and it’s about time you knew what it entailed.”

Zuko had to struggle to keep the huge grin off his face. This just showed, didn’t it? “You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher.” Zuko had suffered while recovering from his burn, and he had learned respect while he’d been away. His father recognised that he had learned from his mistake, and not only was he forgiven for what he’d done, but father was even going to let him in important meetings.

(A whisper in the back of his mind reminded him that uncle had placed a lot of value on respect, but had never burned him. He ignored it. Uncle had lied to him and kidnapped him from his home.)

“Your first task is to light the torches.”

Zuko took a deep breath, trying to calm his sudden spike of nerves at such a simple request. But this was an easy one. Even he couldn’t fuck this one up, surely?

(He tried to forget stumbling right in front of where he now sat, trying to impress his grandfather and only ending up embarrassing his family.)

He pointed his fingers, directing a series of small fire darts at the torches, lighting them. To his relief, he managed to pull it off without a hitch, all of the strikes hitting their targets, the torches all lighting in one go.

“Good,” his father purred. “Very good.”

Zuko basked in the praise.

“And now, you must light the fire.” He pointed at the trench in front of them, filled with oil for that purpose.

More confident now that he’d managed the torches with no issues, Zuko did as he asked, and Ozai nodded in apparent satisfaction. “Now, I want you to watch me, and when I raise my hand like this-” he raised his right hand, palm up, low enough that it would be hidden from anyone on the other side of the fire. “I want you to make the flames higher.”

Zuko swallowed, remembering the flames blazing high around the throne at the war meeting (which he’d noticed far, far too late) but nodded.

“And when I do this-” He turned the hand palm down. “You must lower them. Do you understand?”

He nodded again. Then he held his hand out, palm up. Zuko obediently raised the flames. Ozai shook his head and twitched his fingers. Zuko, fearing a reprimand, pushed the flames higher. A nod, then a lowered palm.

“Good, good.”

It was baby stuff, but having his father appreciate his skills, however basic, was a wonderful feeling.

“Now, remember you need to be constantly concentrating on the flames. Do not embarrass me by having them go out of control. Remember, Zuko. I am placing a great deal of trust in you.”

Zuko bowed. “Father, I swear that I will strive to be worthy of that trust.”

“See that you do.”

A gong was rung somewhere, and guards took their places as courtiers and petitioners began to file in.

Ozai surveyed them, but his words were clearly meant for his son. “Remember, you are here to observe and learn only. And to practice keeping the fire burning.” He turned to Zuko, fixing him with a severe look. “I don’t think I need to remind you of the consequences for speaking up when you haven’t been called upon to do so.”

He reached out and brushed his fingers over Zuko’s scar. Zuko froze, but by the time he could even begin to figure out how he should react to that, the hand had dropped and his father had turned back to face the room once more.

⁂

Zuko had made it through the morning’s court session, and the meeting that took place immediately afterwards, and he felt he’d done his father proud.

(His uncle too, he tried not to think. He’d insisted that Zuko meditate every day to gain better control of his flames.)

People had certainly seemed interested to see him sitting there next to his father, though they’d mostly tried to be less obvious about staring than the ships’ crews had. Ozai had glared at those people possessively. No, protectively. That was it. Generally, the courtiers had done their best to act as if he wasn’t there.

At least one person seemed to think otherwise though. An official who father had addressed as Lord Shai had suggested that Zuko should perhaps take on further duties, which would surely be for the benefit of the nation. (Though, there was something in his tone that made Zuko wonder if he wasn’t suggesting something entirely different.) Ozai had glared and snapped that Prince Zuko was exactly where he needed to be.

And he’d learned a lot about what being Firelord was like. This would help him so much in the future, even if – as his father had said – that future would not be arriving any time soon. It was a relief to not have someone pushing him towards the throne.

This was the longest he’d ever spent in his father’s company without either mother or Azula, and he expected his father to have had enough, but to his delight he motioned for Zuko to follow him as they left the throne room.

His delight turned to apprehension when they reached a firebending training room. His father was going to be watching him firebend, and Zuko had never been able to meet his standards, so he was all-too-used to that resulting in sighs and impatience and reprimands for him to work harder. It had been both a disappointment and a relief when Ozai had put his lessons in the hands of instructors rather than doing them himself. It hurt that he didn’t think his son was worth bothering with, and he really wanted to show him that he was trying, really he was… But it had meant he didn’t have to feel his father’s disappointment as he watched Zuko fail, which had only made trying to bend even harder. Then again, it wasn’t as if the instructors had been any better.

“Now, let us see how badly your traitorous uncle has sabotaged your training.” He settled into a chair and called for a servant to bring him some tea. “Show me what you can do.”

He didn’t specify what he wanted to see, but Zuko knew better than to waste time demonstrating some baby katas. He did his best to relax, taking several long, deep breaths, before working through a few intermediate moves, then upper intermediate, before attempting a few more advanced moves. He did stumble a few times, hyper-conscious of his father’s eyes on him, but his mistakes were at least minor ones.

He turned to face his father, worried about the reaction he would get. However minor those mistakes might have been, Ozai was not someone who accepted anything less than perfection. He expected to see anger, or contempt.

But his father just looked… lost, staring at Zuko, but it was like he wasn’t even seeing him. The teacup in his hand shook.

And then suddenly he roared, throwing the teacup onto the floor, shattering it into pieces, before covering his face with his hands. Zuko wasn’t sure what to do. The proper thing would be to ask if the person was okay, but he doubted his father would like any acknowledgement of him showing anything that might be perceived as weakness. Which didn’t bode well for him when his father came back to himself.

His reaction didn’t even seem to be about Zuko; it was like it was directed inwards.

He settled for bowing his head, looking down at his feet and waiting. He heard a rustling of fabric, and the sound of a fresh cup of tea being poured, but he kept his head down, awaiting acknowledgement.

“Well,” he said eventually, his voice betraying no trace of whatever had just happened. “There is significant room for improvement, but that wasn’t quite as bad as I expected.”

Zuko raised his head to see his father taking a sip of his tea, the perfect picture of calmness. He wasn’t sure if he should thank his father for the faint praise or apologise for still needing to improve. So he merely bowed to acknowledge his father’s words, which he could interpret however he wished.

His father began to quiz him on which katas he’d learned. To his relief, he was able to report that he had learned all the moves that his father asked about. Perhaps not mastered, exactly. But he had definitely learned them.

Then he asked about lightning.

Zuko shifted nervously. “Well, uncle taught it to me…”

Taught it to him, but Zuko hadn’t been able to manage it at all. Every single time, it had just kept exploding and knocking him over.

Would his father be mad that he couldn’t do it?

“Show me.”

Heart sinking, Zuko did is best to calm his thoughts as uncle had instructed him, swirling his hand to draw the energies, and pointing to direct it.

But as it had every time he’d tried it in front of uncle, it failed miserably and he found himself sprawled on the floor.

He eyed his father nervously, but he didn’t seem displeased. He didn’t seem happy either. Just thoughtful, like he was weighing up something in his head. Was he wondering if Zuko was worth training after all?

“I’m sorry, father. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.” His father hated it when he made excuses, but he felt compelled to add, “Maybe I just wasn’t understanding his explanations. It wasn’t as if he could demonstrate, and it seems so different to normal firebending. I’m sure I could get it right with proper instruction.”

Ozai looked sceptical at that, and he cast about for something that might reassure his father that he was worth teaching.

“I’m sure I can do it if I try. He taught me how to redirect lightning!” he blurted out, and Ozai looked at him, eyes alight with interest. “He has a lightning redirection technique that he came up with himself, and he taught it to me. And well… we obviously couldn’t test it out, but he said I’d got it really well.”

A slow smile spread across his father’s face. “That sounds extremely interesting, my son. Perhaps you can show it to me. And then I can properly help you figure out where you’re going wrong with your lightningbending much better than your lazy old uncle.”

Zuko practically bounced with excitement, nodding enthusiastically. Father was – had been, would be again – the best firebender in the world! And Zuko would get to teach him something!

Instructing his father felt… extremely awkward. But Ozai picked up the movement easily, and was perfectly performing it in no time at all. Though Zuko only had uncle’s word that it even worked, or that he’d been doing it correctly. He suggested going to find a storm somewhere so he could see if the redirection technique actually worked. Unlike uncle, Ozai seemed tempted, but shook his head after a few moments of thought.

“No. If you fail to execute the move properly, I would lose the onl- That is, I could lose my only son.”

It was wonderful to have his father so concerned for him.

Once he felt he had mastered it, they moved on to proper lightningbending. Zuko attempted the move that uncle had taught him, hoping desperately that he would pull it off properly this time.

He did not.

He tried again and again, but with no further luck. Ozai shook his head contemptuously, and Zuko cringed, expecting a reprimand, but his father simply muttered something about his brother’s poor teaching methods.

He put his teacup down and stood up, moving to the middle of the floor near Zuko. “Observe.”

Zuko was interested to see that his father’s technique was completely different to his uncle’s. Uncle had conjured and separated the lightning with one hand, and used the other to direct it, while father used both hands at once to draw the lightning, before bringing them together to direct it. His version looked much quicker. And while Ozai could only go through the motions of bending lightning, with none of the results, it looked like it would be much more powerful.

He mentioned that it looked different to his uncle’s version, even gathering enough courage to ask why. Ozai scoffed. “That’s because this technique was something I came up with on my own. When I was about your age, actually. I was determined to find every way I could to improve my bending so I could catch up with- So I could show my father that-” He broke off, and growled. “The point is, it’s important to push yourself.”

It was weird to think of his father needing to catch up to anyone. He was sure he must have impressed Firelord Azulon though, just as Zuko was determined to impress his father.

But he’d failed all those other times he tried to bend lightning, and his father was sure to be disappointed on him if he failed…

His father placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder before stepping back, and Zuko felt a new determination. His father loved and supported him and wanted him to do well, and he would do well.

Taking a deep breath and steadying himself, he reached for that feeling of inner calm that uncle had tried to describe. And for once, he didn’t have to search for it, so focused was he on his determination to prove himself to his father. Moving his hands in the motions he had just been shown, he felt as much as saw the lightning gathering at his fingertips. He built it up as much as he dared, before releasing it in a powerful blast that made a significant dent in the wall.

He turned to see his father’s reaction, fearing criticism and rebuke despite his success. His fears surged at the sight of the unreadable expression on his face. Puzzlement, maybe? Concern? Disappointment? But as he watched, a slow smile spread across his face.

Elation overtook Zuko. Father was proud of him! Impressed, even. He had what he’d always wanted.

(Only, if that was the case, then why did it feel like there was something… not quite right…?)

He shook it off and resumed practicing. To be worthy of his father’s love, he had to work hard.

⁂

Zuko wandered through the palace, at a loss as to what to do now. His father had gone to work in his study, leaving him to his own devices for the rest of the afternoon.

He tried not to be disappointed. His father had already spent so much time with him, and he was a busy man with a whole nation to run.

But what to do now?

Perhaps he should relax in his room, read some scrolls? But it felt weird to shut himself away in his room on his own, after spending most of his time for the past few years outside.

But where could he go?

Of course! Mai! He would go and see her!

⁂

But the guards at the entrance barred his way.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness,” one of them explained, looking nervous at having to deny a member of the royal family. “But we cannot allow you to leave.”

He looked to his colleague for support, and she added, looking somewhat sympathetic, “I’m afraid that your honoured father himself has ordered this, for your own safety.”

She looked just as anxious though, and both reluctantly allowed him through when he persisted. But once he reached the gate, he found himself up against a much more insurmountable barrier in the sizable crowd gathered outside. He thought the entire plaza in between the palace and Mai’s house must be packed with people.

When they caught sight of him, they cheered. Some of them shouted things, but he couldn’t make out what in all the noise. Support? Or insults? Either way, going out there, even if he used a palanquin for such a short distance, would certainly be a bad idea.

He gave a nervous, awkward smile and waved, before fleeing back inside. The crowd roared behind him.

Perhaps he should practice his swords instead.

⁂

On his way to the practice yards, he ran into his sister. Expecting an attack, because that’s what he’d received from her so far, he made the flames in the lamps blaze higher as he passed them, just to show her that he could.

Her face twisted with anger. “Oh, you think you’re so great, just because father is paying attention to you finally?”

He ignored her. He wasn’t going to let her get to him…

“He only wants you because you’re useful to him,” she sneered. “Even though you’re not any good!”

“You’re lying!” The lamps blazed again, but this time it was involuntary. How could she say such a thing?

She smirked, knowing she’d got to him, but rage burned in her eyes, brighter than the lamps. “Think what you like.” She sauntered past him, nose in the air. “But he was going to kill you right after it happened. He wanted you dead, Zuzu.” She smirked. “And now, he doesn’t. Perhaps you should ask yourself why?”

She tossed a contemptuous glance over her shoulder, and then was gone, leaving Zuko standing alone in a dark patch of corridor, lamps extinguished.

Azula always lies. Azula always lies. Azula always lies.

Chapter Text

“And now I’m not even allowed into meetings anymore!” Azula complained to her companion, as she lounged on a balcony watching court officials passing below her on their way to something she hadn’t been invited to. “Can you believe it? Three days I’ve been trying to get into anything worth attending. And the guards won’t let me in to see father either!”

The lemur offered her a cherry from the dish the servants had left.

"No, the pits haven’t been removed." She had already tried three and none of them had been prepared properly. She should find whatever servant was responsible and have them banished. But then again, they probably outranked her now.

It tossed the cherry into its mouth, munched for a moment, and then spat the pit at a passing official with an accuracy that Mai would envy. Azula laughed. Then caught herself. A princess should not lower herself to such frivolity. She needed to figure out how to win back father's love.

The lemur selected another cherry.

"That's not quite what I meant. I don't have time for- Ooh that was a good one!"

War Minister Qin glared up at them, rubbing the side of his head, but obviously thought better of yelling at her and stomped off instead.

“I can’t believe Mai and Ty Lee had to run off so early! They used to spend much longer at the palace, but ever since I came back, it’s like they’re barely here!”

She wondered if they had noted father’s treatment of her and were treating her according to her drop in status.

“Everyone is abandoning me!” Father, Zuko, even her friends. “It doesn’t matter what I do, how hard I work – people always leave me in the end.”

(Just like mother did.)

The creature reached over and patted her hand.

“Ugh. What’s the point? You don’t even understand anything I say anyway.” She selected a cherry. Maybe all the previous ones were a fluke. Maybe this time would be different. “I don’t even know why I’m talking to you.”

Her teeth hit something hard. Ugh!

Sulkily, she spat the pit out, just missing Admiral Chan; the lemur gave her a thumbs up.

⁂

She was on the way to the practice yards when she ran into her father. Naturally Zuzu was with him, along with a clerk who was scuttling along reading urgent matters of business off of a scroll. Matters that she was no longer worthy of being kept informed of.

“And of course there’s the matter of…”

Azula stopped and bowed. “Father, brother.”

Father gave a curt nod, and made to continue on, but the clerk seemed to have other ideas.

“Your Majesty, perhaps the Princess should be added to the display? Since it is about showing the power of the Royal Family?”

“Display?” piped up Zuko, nervously.

Father sighed. “Yes. I was going to break the news after firebending practice.” He gave the clerk a glare. “But I suppose a little sooner makes no difference. There will be a grand display, in a month’s time, to show the people your abilities.”

Zuko looked like he was going to be sick.

Abilities, indeed. Azula wanted to roll her eyes, but father turned his gaze on her, and she dared to allow herself to hope…

His eyes landed on the sword she carried. “I suppose, since they are both capable with swords, a display of weapons skills is in order.” He nodded, decision made. “See that it is arranged.”

“I shall add that to the list of planned events, Your Majesty,” the clerk replied, with a bow.

Zuko looked even more worried now, probably expecting her to kick his ass. If only. She’d revel in how wrong he was, if it wasn’t going to come at her own expense.

Father walked on down the corridor, Zuko and the clerk trailing after him, leaving her alone once more. The first attention she had received from him in days, and he was announcing her certain humiliation.

⁂

She moved the sword through the manoeuvre that she’d carefully studied and watched other people pull off effortlessly. This time, she was sure she would get it right. But her sparring partner knocked the blade from her hand with a mere flick of her wrist, as if Azula was no more troublesome than a fly.

She stomped back to her rooms, dejected and hoping it didn’t show. Despite her hard work, she was still nowhere near close to the standard she needed to be. Somehow, naively she had hoped that it would just magically happen. In those stupid plays that mother had dragged them to, complete idiots became masters all of a sudden, right when they needed to prove themselves.

But of course it didn’t work like that; those were just stupid stories. As father had reminded her time and time again, stories were for children, and she was no foolish child.

“What am I supposed to do, Momo?” she asked the creature in her arms, but its only answer was to snuggle deeper into her embrace.

It didn’t help her figure out a way to impress father, but she did feel a little less like she was going to choke on her own breath, so she gave it a scritch behind the ears regardless. A princess should reward her loyal subjects, after all.

⁂

She doubted that today’s practice would go any better than yesterday’s, not when she’d barely slept last night, so focused was she on her impending doom, and even her friends failed to be the distraction she needed.

“Why don’t we go outside?” Ty Lee suggested. “It would be nice to look at the flowers, don’t you think?”

Mai agreed, and Azula wanted to snap at them for their fake concern. She didn’t need people worrying about her like she was something weak and pathetic! But whatever, why not go outside?

But of course, because her luck was like that, Zuko was there feeding the stupid turtleducks.

“Mai!” he jumped up and ran to her, like a pandapuppy, so pathetic and eager-to-please. “I’ve been trying to see you! But they won’t let me leave the palace, and I know you come here for Azula but I’ve been spending so much time with father that I keep missing you!”

Oh, poor him, Azula thought, glaring at the happy couple (both of them, actually – even Mai seemed cheerful for once, when she never was with Azula) as they went to sit by the pond, completely ignoring her.

She turned away, determined not to let it get to her. So what if her stupid brother was monopolising her friend. It was just one afternoon. Mai would have to come back to her.

But as she turned back to Ty Lee, ready with a cutting remark about soppy idiots in love, she caught sight of father.

He was standing in a doorway. Evidently, he had been on his way out, either to summon Zuko for some reason, or simply for some air. But instead of actually stepping into the courtyard, he just stood there. Watching Zuko with Mai.

And as she watched, a speculative expression crossed his face, followed by a slow smile.

No. No, he couldn’t do this!

First her favoured position, now her friends!

Was Zuko to be given everything that had been hers?

⁂

Mai appeared as unconcerned as ever when she visited the next day. Azula had somehow expected that she would sweep in arrogantly, revelling in her imminent promotion to Princess Mai, but she acted no different. Perhaps it was nothing. But her parents had been invited for tea with the Firelord…

No, it was fine. They were her friends. They were loyal to her and her alone. She was indulging in paranoia.

She did her best to focus on what Ty Lee was saying.

"You know how I wanted to join the circus, but then all this happened and my parents were so worried about letting us out of their sight, I couldn't do that to them. But it's my calling, and Yue said... Uh."

Azula frowned. "When have you been speaking to Princess Yue? And since when are you on such informal terms?"

Ty Lee swallowed. "Well, we got talking on the ship, and she's really really nice, and so lovely to talk to."

"Are you saying I'm not nice?"

"No, no! Of course not! But… Yue is nice in a different way, and the guards don't mind me and Mai- Oh."

"You too!?" She stared at her other friend in betrayal.

Mai raised an eyebrow, looking unconcerned, though her posture was tense. "You're welcome to join us."

Azula just turned and stormed out. How dare her friends go make friends with another princess!

⁂

Yue was wearing clothes more appropriate to the Fire Nation climate, though still in Water Tribe blue. This wasn't entirely a courtesy - if she tried to escape, even if she covered her unusual hair, she would stand out until she managed to find some other clothes.

She looked up, startled, as Azula burst into her room, feeling as if she would be breathing fire if she still could.

"Princess Azula, are you alright? You seem distressed."

"I'm distressed because you're trying to steal my friends!"

The girl had the nerve to look confused! “I don’t understand? I haven’t stolen anyone. Or anything.”

Liar! “Oh, come on! Don’t pretend you haven’t been talking with Mai and Ty Lee behind my back!”

Yue was looking at Azula like she was crazy. (Like she was a monster.) “Azula- May I call you Azula?”

“No, you may not!”

“Very well. Princess Azula, I don’t deny they’ve been visiting, but I never invited them, and I meant no offence by talking to them. And I’m not sure how that would be stealing anyone? In fact, you’re welcome to join us.”

Oh, she was welcome to join them? How lucky for her that they were bothering to include her!

“No! No, you can’t just walk in here and-”

Yue actually looked stern, and her voice had a sharper edge than Azula had heard from her before. “Princess Azula, you know very well that I didn’t walk in anywhere. If anyone here was stolen, it was me.” Her expression softened slightly. “Please, I really think you should sit down.” She reached towards Azula. “Let me get you some water-”

Azula jumped away. “No!” She wasn’t weak or fragile. “Stop trying to act helpful! I don’t need anyone’s help! I don’t need anyone!”

Princess Yue’s face was full of concern. No, not concern. Pity. Azula was not an object of pity!

“I don’t think this is entirely about your friends.” Her gaze sharpened, and she looked Azula over. “Did he hurt you?”

She didn’t have to ask who Yue meant. Anger swept through her like an inferno. “Shut up! You don’t know what you’re talking about! Leave me alone!”

Father would never hurt her. Never!

(But he’d been about to, at the harbour…)

(No! No, he would never have done anything! It was just her being stupid!)

(Did Zuko once think father would never hurt him?)

She ran from the room before the other girl could respond, not wanting to hear what nonsense she’d say next.

⁂

She threw herself on the bed, startling Momo, who’d been dozing on the pillow, causing him to flutter up near the ceiling, chittering in panic. Then she curled up and began crying. Like she hadn’t cried since she was a baby.

The lemur nestled up against her, stroking her hair. It reminded her of when mother would do the same thing. But she was gone now.

It would be humiliating if anyone found out about this. But it was alright. Momo would never tell anyone.

She put her arms round him and stroked his fur.

At least there was someone who hadn’t abandoned her.

Chapter Text

Zuko walked down the corridor to the private practice courts. Everything was going great. He was home. He was the Crown Prince. Most mornings he accompanied his father as he held court, and in the afternoons he often received firebending instruction (though sometimes father would leave him to practice alone, which was disappointing, but he was so busy, and it was unfair of Zuko to monopolise all his time). His life was perfect.

So why did something feel wrong?

“He only wants you because you’re useful to him.”

He shook his head, as if that would help to dispel the thought.

He just needed to practice with his swords, that was all. He always felt better when he got to do that, and he’d really need to practice if he was going to be fighting Azula. He hadn’t seen her use her sword, but knowing her, she would have probably been able to fight Master Piandao to a standstill mere hours after picking up the blade for the first time. She was just like that.

There was a clanging noise from inside, the sound of a blade hitting the floor. He frowned. He’d hoped to have some time alone, that’s why he’d chosen these more out of the way rooms to practice.

Well, he wasn’t going to turn tail and run now. Whoever it was, he could just tell them to leave. Squaring his shoulders, he marched in, and then stopped.

It was Azula, and aside from Momo, perched on top of a practice dummy, she was alone

He watched as she bent to pick up her sword (how had it ended up on the floor? She couldn’t have dropped it, surely?) and assumed a stance he was familiar with, the beginning of a lower intermediate move that looked much tougher and more impressive than it actually was. A warm-up move, probably.

But her movements were awkward and she quickly fumbled it, sending the sword flying out of her hand to land in between them. She let out a frustrated growl and turned to retrieve it, then froze as she spotted him standing there.

He’d assumed she’d noticed as soon as he’d walked in, but really, the moment that she’d mis-stepped it should have been obvious that she hadn’t; Azula would never allow someone to witness anything less than perfection.

He stood staring at her for a long moment, not sure what to do.

“Well, go on! Say something!” she shouted at him, and he wondered if it was the light that made it look like there were tears in her eyes. (It must be the light – he hadn’t seen his sister cry since she’d been a baby.) “I know you want to!”

“You can’t fight,” he said, more to himself than to her. But she heard him.

“Yes, thank you!” She bowed, mockingly. “I am so glad that the Crown Prince himself has come to pass judgement on my progress, because I was so totally unaware!”

“But- But-” he stammered. “But you’re good at everything!”

He… wasn’t so sure it was just the light anymore.

“Well, I’m not good at this! Are you happy?”

He stepped forward and picked up the fallen sword. “I’m never happy. Even when I should be.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll be really happy when you get to beat me in front of everyone! Especially when father punishes me for humiliating him with my failure!”

He stared at the sword in his hand for a moment, thinking, before handing it back to her (hilt first, of course). “Come on,” he said, drawing his own dual blades.

She glared at him. “Oh great. So I get a preview of being beaten? Lucky me!”

“Not exactly,” he told her, absently, trying to work things out. “Look, I’m going to come in like this…” He showed her. “And I want you to block it like this…” He held up one of his swords to demonstrate. “Ready?”

She nodded.

He moved much less quickly than he normally would have, making sure to telegraph his movements; as directed, Azula brought her sword up against his. At least her grip was solid (if he’d actually been using his full strength her block would have jarred his arm pretty badly), though her stance was so rigid that it would have been easy enough to get around and he could have disarmed her in moments if he’d wanted to

“Now this…” He showed her a thrust with one of his swords. “And I’ll block it.”

She did as he’d asked, and he blocked it as he’d promised.

“There, see? You did just fine.”

“But this is a sequence of pre-arranged movements! It’s not as if you’re going to do those during the actual fight.”

“Yeah, but what if I did?”

She was so rattled and off her game, it took her a few seconds to get it, but she did, and he saw comprehension dawning in her eyes. “You want to stage the fight?”

“I guess so, yeah. If that’s how you want to put it? It’s already staged anyway, in a way.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“What do you mean, why?”

“I mean, what’s in it for you? Why bother to help me?”

“Because I know what it feels like to be terrified of how father might react if you don’t perform well enough.” Of course, this was Azula; he was sure she would be fine. But he remembered all too well his stomach tying itself in knots as he desperately attempted the same kata over and over again, failing more each time, knowing that anything less than absolute perfection would be met with missed meals and cutting remarks that were sharper and more painful than any blade could ever be.

“I’m not scared!” she snapped. “And I don’t need anyone’s help!”

“Fine! Suit yourself!” He turned on his heels and stormed back to the door. Blast it all. This was the most suitable practice area, but he’d have to find somewhere else; he wasn’t about to share space with an angry Azula.

“Wait!” He stopped, but didn’t turn around. He swore he could hear her grinding her teeth. “Fine. Show me what to do.”

⁂

She’d expected the lesson to be an exercise in humiliation, with Zuko taking every chance to show how inept she was, but her brother was a surprisingly good teacher, showing her attacks and blocks, going over each one until they looked natural. He made occasional adjustments to stances, but managed not to make it feel like it was her fault for doing it wrong.

She thought she might actually be enjoying herself.

Eventually he mentioned he had to leave. He didn’t say what for, but as Crown Prince, there was only one person who could command him.

At least she wasn’t alone though.

“Hey, Momo, watch this!”

She practiced some of the moves Zuko had shown her, and if she fumbled a few of them here and there then, well, her audience did not comment.

⁂

Afterwards, she meant to go back to her own rooms, but, lost in thought, her feet took her of their own accord to Yue’s rooms.

Where she found Mai and Ty Lee. Who both looked faintly guilty but showed no signs of getting up to leave, absorbing themselves in their tea rather than looking at her.

“Ah, Princess Azula!” Yue beamed in welcome and poured a cup for her, her movements perfectly graceful and practiced, even though to the best of Azula’s knowledge, she’d never even encountered the beverage before coming here.

“And here’s some fruit for Momo.” The creature immediately jumped from her shoulder. Traitor.

She wanted to yell and scream, but somehow she found herself sitting between Mai and Yue as the others resumed their discussion, which seemed to be about differing fashions in the Fire Nation and Northern Water Tribe. She had to admit that wearing the bones or hide of something you had personally hunted down and killed had a certain appeal. If only her useless uncle hadn’t killed the last dragon. She allowed herself to fantasize about wearing dragonscale armour, just for a moment.

"I like your necklace," said Ty Lee. "Is it a special princess thing?"

"Oh, no, it's a betrothal necklace."

"Oooh!" Ty Lee's eyes widened with excitement at this little revelation. "What's he like?"

"Well, he..." Yue paused, searching for words. "He's very handsome, and a strong warrior. And his family is very powerful and influential."

This rather passionless description didn't surprise Azula; that's simply how things were done. Your parents found someone suitable who would be an asset to the family line, rather than you picking someone based on soppy feelings. Ty Lee, a romantic at heart, sighed a little, but nodded in understanding with the other girls.

"Well, I suppose it'll be nice to have something to look at while you're running the tribe," said Mai.

Stupid, to be talking as if she would be going back.

"Oh, I wouldn't be running the tribe. He would. I'm a girl. Girls can't inherit..." She trailed off, seeing the horrified looks she was getting. Azula's jaw had actually dropped, and Mai had thrown her blank mask aside entirely. "What? What's the matter?"

"But... That's ridiculous? Why couldn't you inherit?"

"But... I couldn't... That's not the way things are done!"

"Well, those ways are stupid, " Azula sneered. "I'll inherit from father. Okay, maybe not now that Zuko is back. But I was the heir before that, and if he messes up, or dies, or father changes his mind, then I will be again."

"So you would be Firelady, and nobody would object?"

"Firelord. Firelady is the Firelord's wife."

"So what would your husband be called if you were Firelord?"

"Grateful."

"And you wouldn't have to marry someone?"

Azula wrinkled her nose, not wanting to think about it. "I suppose I'd have to in order to get some heirs of my own. But he'd still have to do whatever I said."

Noticing that Ty Lee’s teacup was empty, Yue refilled it with slightly less grace than before.

⁂

Zuzu actually wasn’t totally annoying to spend time with. They didn’t talk much (too many subjects were treacherous ground liable to give way if a foot was put wrong), but they shared a few stories of their time apart.

Earth Kingdom or not, she would quite like to meet these Kyoshi Warriors.

⁂

Once again, Azula found herself sipping tea as another Princess held court. She was sure she had many better things to do with her time. And yet here she was.

“I wish I could travel,” Ty Lee was saying. “See more of the world. Even see more of just the Fire Nation.” Her face took on an uncharacteristic frown. “But my parents haven’t stopped freaking out since everyone lost their bending. I don’t even know why – it’s not like any of us were benders, so nothing changed for us.”

Lucky you, thought Azula, sourly.

“But they became scared even to let any of us just got to the next island. Especially mom. As if something would happen to us if we were out of her sight. I think they thought that everything was going to fall apart at any moment, what with all the calls for-”

She remembered herself just in time, having come dangerously close to the treasonable offence of acknowledging there’d been calls for revolution against the Firelord.

She smiled. “Anyway. Maybe it’s just as well. It’d be a shame to leave my friends.” She threw an arm round Mai, who accepted the hug with an air of long-sufferance. “And Mai didn’t end up leaving either.”

“Oh, were you going to join a circus too?”

“No.” Mai shook her head. “My father was in with a shot for the position of governor of the next conquered city in the Earth Kingdom.” She shrugged. “But then progress stalled. Well, stalled isn’t the best way of putting it, but my mother doesn’t let me use language like that.”

“What’s she like?” asked Yue.

“She’s great. As long as I do exactly what she wants, behave exactly as she wants, and never ever speak.”

Yue looked like she was thinking of questioning that, but Ty Lee jumped in. “What about your mom? We didn’t see her when we were… er, visiting?”

Yue was silent for a long moment, not really looking at them. “My mother died when I was small.” She swallowed, fingers fiddling with the teacup in her hands. “I wish I had more memories of her. All I have are the stories my father told me.”

“Was she a bender?” Azula asked, curious despite her determination to remain aloof in these gatherings.

Yue nodded. “She was one of the best healers in the tribe.” She stared into her tea, looking as if she were far away. “But she couldn’t save herself. Nobody could.”

Ty Lee tried to cheer her up. “I’m sure she’d be proud of you.”

Yue smiled. “I hope so.” She took a sip of her tea. “And maybe your mother will relax a little about you travelling now that Prince Zuko is back home? People seem very happy about that.”

Azula scowled. “Oh, of course. Zuzu’s own mother loved him, so I bet Ty Lee’s does too!”

Yue looked puzzled. “But of course your mother loved him? She would have loved both of you?”

"Not me.” She laughed bitterly. “She hated me."

"I'm sure she didn't."

"She thought I was a monster!"

The other princess had that infuriating concerned expression again, like Azula was wrong. "She said that?"

"No, well... But she told me off for burning things and being mean to servants. She thought there was something wrong with me just because I said that father would make a much better Firelord than uncle, so it would be better if uncle didn't come back from the war."

"But that's horrible!" Yue looked shocked. "Azula, your mother was trying to help you..."

"No, she was trying to hold me back! My behaviour was perfectly normal! I'm not bad, am I?" she asked her friends, and no there wasn't a trace of desperation in her voice...

"Of course not," Mai replied, smoothly. But there was something in her eyes…

"No way!" said Ty Lee, but she avoided eye contact.

"I'm not a monster!"

"No, you're not," Yue told her, gently. "But you do act like one, because you want to scare people away. Then they won't come close enough to hurt you."

"Well, she could have tried harder! But she didn't! She abandoned me. She abandoned us!"

“Um… Azula?” Ty Lee piped up. “Are you sure she actually abandoned you?”

“What do you mean? Of course that’s what happened!”

“It’s just-” She stopped, clearly thinking better of what she was about to say.

Azula glared at her. “I order you to speak plainly. Say what you mean!”

Ty Lee swallowed and looked at Mai, who gave a ‘why not?’ shrug.

“Well, it’s just that… Um… One day she was there, and the next day she was gone, but your dad didn’t seem bothered and you’d think he’d be angry if she’d run away from him. And you know from all the games of hide and explode we played that it’s hard even for kids to sneak around the palace so there’s no way she’d have got out without someone seeing her. And they’d definitely have said something if they had but there’s not been a trace of gossip, just stuff about how it’s weird she just vanished, and…”

“What are you trying to say?” Azula snarled. That her father would- He would never!

“I-” she had to swallow several times before she could answer. “I’m saying nothing. Nothing at all.”

There was a long, very tense silence.

“So,” drawled Mai. “I’m bored. Anyone fancy a game of pai sho?”

“I’m not very good,” Yue replied, her smile a little forced. “But I’ll play.”

Her mother had abandoned them. That was what had happened. Because Azula had lied. And then she’d lied again. And everything that had happened was all her fault.

Chapter Text

Zuko concentrated on keeping his breaths even – he was practiced at tis now, and confident in his ability to keep the flames steady, but the slightest slip of control could send the flames haywireand his father would not tolerate such a lapse. He had sat beside his father, observing him at work, for a few weeks now (he was learning so much!). But this was different.

Today, his father was presiding over a war meeting.

Deep even breaths. It’ll be fine. You learned your lesson last time. And you’ve attended meetings about other things since you’ve been back…

He knew he was supposed to be observing and learning how to be Firelord, but he could barely pay attention at first, so focused was he on controlling the fire (controlling himself). Gradually, he relaxed enough that he dared to open up his focus and actually listen.

“Naturally we had no choice but to burn the village,” a General was saying, as he finished off a report on some military manoeuvre that Zuko should probably know about.

“And the villagers?” queried an Admiral, in a tone of idle curiosity, as if he was asking about what the weather conditions had been like.

The General shrugged. “Who cares? They weren’t important.”

The flames flickered as his breath froze in his throat. Ozai glared at him and he hastily resumed breathing.

He vowed to stop paying attention, not wanting to risk another lapse. (He should be listening; this was important information that he needed to know. But… perhaps he could get a look at the reports later?) To give himself something to focus on, he ran through the movements of the ‘fight’ that was practicing with Azula. He’d come up with a good series of moves that showed them both off as apparently expert fighters, and ended in a stalemate, so neither of them had to actually lose.

His thoughts – and the meeting – were interrupted by the arrival of a messenger; he managed to keep his composure, and the flames remained steady. Then he wondered if he should have let them flicker – these flames were supposed to reflect father’s mood, and wouldn’t he be displeased at something like this?

No, there was a black ribbon attached to the scroll. This was an appropriate interruption.

“Urgent message, Your Majesty!” She must have run all the way from the palace mews, but showed no signs of being ruffled or out of breath. “The Avatar has been sighted in the Earth Kingdom.”

Startled, Zuko lost control of the flames for a moment, but Ozai didn’t seem to notice, gesturing for the messenger to approach and hand him the scroll. He read through it, frowning. Zuko tried to sneak a peek without being too obvious about it, but the angle was all wrong.

“Sire, I will hunt him down myself,” announced one of the younger Generals. (Should he know their names? He should, shouldn’t he?) “You have only to give the order!”

Another General gave a snort of derision. “Your troops are all stationed in the southern parts of the Earth Kingdom. The Avatar will surely be travelling from the north!”

“Ha! You think I need troops? I can do this myself!”

His father had stopped frowning at the scroll, and was now frowning at the bickering Generals. Not enough for most people to recognise, but that slight crease between his eyebrows was familiar to Zuko from so many instances where the noise of his and Azula’s playing was beginning to get on his nerves. Knowing his cue without the need for a hand signal, he let the flames blaze higher.

The Generals stopped and turned to look at their Firelord. He waved a hand dismissively. “I appreciate your enthusiasm, but it is unnecessary. I already have a candidate in mind.” He rolled up the scroll. “This meeting is over. You are all dismissed.”

He hastily extinguished the flames as Ozai got up to leave, following him out the door. “Father, who will you be sending to hunt the Avatar?”

He hoped it wasn’t him. He wasn’t sure he could do that to people who had been his friends. Even if they’d only really been ‘Li’s’ friends.

“Your sister, of course. She completely failed to capture him despite being in the same city.” He idly tapped the scroll against his hand. “The least she can do is make up for her failure.”

He turned and walked away as Zuko stared after him.

But… Azula had rescued him and brought the Northern Water Tribe under Fire Nation control! Even she couldn’t have managed to capture the Avatar as well! It would have been impossible, even for his sister.

And if even she couldn’t live up to father’s standards, how was Zuko expected to do it? His father loved him right now, but how long until he messed up and ruined things again?

Was it even possible to win father’s love?

⁂

As usually happened when he was confused, he ended up by the pond, watching the turtleducks swimming about and quacking at each other. Their lives seemed so much easier than his.

He shouldn’t care that Azula was going. She would probably be happy at getting another shot at glory. But father’s reasoning for sending her seemed unfair. And he’d actually been enjoying spending time with her. She’d become increasingly mean to him during their childhood, as their father encouraged them to compete with each other, and he’d have been happy to be away from her. But now they were working together, they were actually getting along quite well.

And it was very lonely here. There was Mai and Ty Lee of course. But Azula would probably want to take her friends with her, and probably Momo too, leaving Zuko with just the turtleducks.

“No offence, guys, but you aren’t enough.”

Maybe he could make some friends of his own. He’d never really been that good at it as a kid. But there were plenty of nobles with sons about his age, and surely there’d be someone to talk to and just hang out with. That firebending display would be perfect for meeting people.

Oh! The display was in three days! And there was no way that father would wait before sending Azula out on her Avatar hunt. But she’d practiced so hard!

Maybe he could talk father around? Persuade him to send someone else? Or at least wait until they had more reports of the Avatar’s whereabouts – what if that message he’d received was wrong in some way? Yeah, that could work.

⁂

He paused outside his father’s office, trying to think of what to say. He had a bad habit of making things worse by opening his mouth, and he didn’t want to do that here.

As he raised his hand to knock, he heard voices, and realised his father was talking to someone. He lowered his hand. He’d better wait until they were finished. It’d be rude to interrupt, and if he wanted to succeed in talking father round, it’d help not to annoy him before he’d even gotten started with his actual arguments.

He recognised the second voice as that of one of Ozai’s advisors. Zheng. Or was it Cheng? “You still need to select a replacement for Lord Shai.”

That name was familiar. Zuko frowned, trying to figure where’d heard it. Then he remembered – that was the courtier who had suggested to his father that Zuko should take on further duties, the very first tie that Zuko had sat beside his father as he held court. He hadn’t seen the man since, and when he’d asked, Ozai had told him he’d gone to live in the colonies.

His father gave a frustrated snarl. “I thought we’d gotten rid of all the Zuko supporters at court!”

Zuko… supporters…?

“Alas, My Lord, these traitorous vermin are like cockroach-ants.”

“But twice as troublesome! We’re running out of space in the prisons.”

Prison? Father had been sending people to prison for offering him support? But… what was wrong with supporting him? Wasn’t that a good thing, since he was father’s heir?

“How is Prince Zuko getting along, anyway?”

He leaned closer to the door, eagerly expecting praise.

“Ugh. Better than I expected, but that’s still barely more than adequate.”

His next words were drowned out by a rushing in his ears. He made out, “mother spoiled him far too much”… “Iroh too lax”… “no discipline”… “far too soft-hearted”… but the rest was just noise.

He forced himself back to awareness when his ears picked up Azula’s name.

“-Azula as your heir again?”

“No, the Nation needs to see Zuko at my side. The only remaining firebender belongs to me, is my tool to use as I see fit.” A pause. “And there’s still a possibility I can remove the weaknesses that are holding him back and forge him into a weapon. In the meantime, at least...” Another pause, and a soft clink (Zuko thought it might be a teacup being placed back on a tray). “There is that theory that the Fire Sages came up with.”

“That any children Prince Zuko sires may inherit his firebending?”

“Yes, that one.” There was a rustling of papers. “Lord Ukano is pleasingly loyal and has a daughter who Zuko seems enamoured with, which means he’ll hopefully whine less over the marriage.”

He… was going to be marrying Mai? Well, okay. It’s not like it was something either of them disliked, and even though arranged marriages were the norm, there was a high likelihood that they’d been see as a good match. So, hardly unexpected. And though they were still young, it wasn’t uncommon for betrothals to be set up at even younger ages.

Still, he’d naively expected some warning.

Another rustle of paper. “When will you be announcing the betrothal? Shall I schedule it for-”

He broke off suddenly. Zuko assumed his father had made some facial expression or gesture to stop him.

“I see no reason to waste time with a betrothal. If there’s a possibility that my grandchildren will be benders, then I want them now. I will be announcing the match at the display.”

“Isn’t she a little young for children? Especially with how thin she is. There’s a risk-”

“A small one. And there are plenty of others lining up to bear a royal heir. She is easily replaced.”

Zuko began backing away from the door, staring at it in horror. Hearing his father be so dismissive of him and Azula was bad enough, but the callousness towards Mai appalled him.

He backed further and further down the corridor. And then, suddenly, he turned and ran. He didn’t even know where he was going, just away from his father.

Finding himself in his rooms, he slammed the door shut and leaned against it as if he expected his father to have followed him. (As if that would help if he had.)

He’d thought the firebending display was a sign of his father’s pride in him, that he was so happy to show him off. But no. He was just a trophy to be shown off, a resource to be exploited, a weapon to threaten people with. A possession. A thing.

His father didn’t care about him. Or Azula. He might not even have cared about mom. He only cared about himself.

He sank to the floor. What was he supposed to do now? Escaping from the Northern Water Tribe had just been about replacing one prison cell for another, just with servants and nicer décor.

And nobody was coming to break him out of this one.

Okay, no. He could figure something out, somehow. He couldn’t just give up. He just needed to think, that’s all. Perhaps he should meditate? Yes, that was it. That would help. He needed to calm himself so he could think properly.

He grabbed a couple of candles and placed them on a low table. Sitting before them, he took a breath… but the flames didn’t come.

The flames didn’t come.

The flames didn’t come!

Chapter Text

Azula arrived at the training room exactly on time, as always. She was surprised that Zuko wasn’t there; he was generally useless at most things, but he was usually punctual at least. Still, the key word there was ‘usually’, so she didn’t think much of it, and concentrated on working through some stances he’d taught her while she waited.

But when a quarter of an hour went by with no sign of him, she started to get annoyed and stormed off in search of him.

First she checked the firebending training rooms, which she normally avoided, assuming that father was giving him extra training (he probably needed it). But they were still and empty, reminding her of the void where her inner flame had once been, and she fled.

Next she tried the gardens, thinking maybe the idiot had got distracted brooding by the pond. But there was no sign of him.

She stopped a passing servant, who could only tell her where Prince Zuko wasn’t – he’d accompanied father to a meeting, but that had been over for a while now and the Firelord was currently alone in his office going through paperwork.

⁂

She found him in his room, curled up on his bed. She sighed.

“Wake up, idiot. You know how dad is about slacking off.”

No answer. Momo jumped off her shoulder and flew onto the bed to prod at him; he didn’t even twitch.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll never be good enough for him. Neither of us will.”

How dare he suggest that she might not be worthy of father’s love! She opened her mouth to yell at him to leave her out of his self-pity party…

“He only cared about me for my bending, and now I can’t even do that.”

What?

No. No. This couldn’t be happening!

She should be happy that Zuko had lost his advantage over her. But…

But father would be displeased. There had been treasonous whispers in the wake of Agni’s Judgement (even her calling it that in the privacy of her own mind, was technically treason, because to call it a judgement implied that somebody had been judged and found lacking), claims that this was a sign he had lost his right to rule. Only the fact that everyone else had lost their bending too, not just the Firelord, and the fact that those who wished to overthrow him had fallen to fighting amongst themselves, had prevented an immediate coup. And when news of Zuko retaining his bending had reached the court, Ozai had staked his claim to power on his son’s abilities, as a weapon that belonged to Ozai and Ozai alone, but stolen away by his treacherous uncle.

Zuko’s return (and their father’s possession of the only remaining firebender) had been announced far and wide, and this new development threatened to throw a wrench in things.

She hated that Zuko had gotten to keep his bending. But she feared what would happen if he lost it. The only remaining firebender losing his bending right after arriving home was a sign of ill omen. The situation would become tense, and father would react to that tension indiscriminately. She could not rely on Zuko bearing the brunt of it.

(He shouldn’t have to bear the brunt of it though.)

(But he had to! One of them did and it wasn’t going to be her!)

(Maybe he shouldn’t be hurting either of us?)

“What do you mean you can’t bend?!”

He didn’t even look at her, just stared off into the distance, “I tried to bend. I couldn’t. What more do you want?”

Momo patted his head.

She pushed down the panic that was trying to climb up her throat and choke her. His breathing was atrocious. She was amazed he could even talk.

(Please let that be it!)

“Couldn’t bend, or couldn’t bend?”

He lifted his head at that, brotherly exasperation winning out over being a dramatic baby. “That doesn’t make any sense!”

“Good! Because if it made sense there’d be an actual problem!” Hopefully. Because he was actually dumb enough to not know the difference between his own inability and an empty void where your inner flame had been. Desperately ignoring the possibility that it could still be the latter, she folded her arms and glared. “Show me!”

“No!”

He tried to burrow into his pillow, but she wasn’t about to let him. She had to know. She needed to know. She grabbed his arm and pulled him off the bed. “Show me!”

He could probably have stopped her – a few years of constant training had put some muscles on that scrawny frame of his – but he didn’t bother fighting. Didn’t bother cooperating either, and her efforts only ended up with him sprawled on the floor. He at least pushed himself to a seated position instead of just lying there, which was small progress of a sort.

He glared up at her. “What do you want me to do? Wave my hands and show you nothing happening?”

She kicked him. She didn’t care how much he resembled father – he had to be adopted; there was no way she could be related to someone this stupid.

She picked Momo up and shoved him into Zuko’s arms.

“Watch him,” she told the lemur, which curled up against her brother’s chest, snuggling into him in a way that made her hopeful that there was still warmth there.

Grabbing one of the meditation candles that were lying on the floor (Zuko must have knocked them over in a fit of dramatic pique), she stomped out into the corridor and used a torch to light it (hating that she was reduced to such an indignity). A servant scurried past, and a thought occurred to her.

“My brother and I require tea.” He bowed and left.

Uncle might be fat and lazy and stupid and as much of a failure as Zuko (maybe more), but he knew how to talk to people in a way even she had never quite managed. (Yue seemed to have the same knack.) And he was good at talking to Zuko. It couldn’t hurt to use some of his techniques. Just some though; she wasn’t about to start spouting nonsense, or walk away when things became too much trouble.

She placed the candles in front of him and lit them with the one she carried. Then she went and sat next to Zuko, leaning against the bed. Weirdly, the sight of the lit candles arrayed in front of her was calming, her mind associating the sight with a relaxing meditation, though it had been something she’d rarely bothered with.

Next to her she sensed Zuko relaxing a little as well, though he was still so tense he’d have better luck trying to earthbend. Whatever. They’d helped her at least, clearing her mind and helping her to think clearly. If he had lost his bending, something must have happened to cause it. When she had lost her bending (along with everyone else) the Agni Kai between her father and brother had been the obvious cause for Agni’s displeasure (even though, as father had repeatedly said, it couldn’t have been anything he’d done). And if he hadn’t actually lost his bending and was freaking out over nothing like an idiot, then something must have caused him to freak out. And it couldn’t just have been him messing up because he did that all the time. It had to have been something big.

“So,” she asked. “What happened?”

He got out of answering though, because the servant came in with the tea that she’d already forgotten ordering. If he saw anything odd about them being seated right next to the bed, instead of at the low table in the corner surrounded by cushions that was there for that purpose, he knew better than to show it. He placed the tray down next to them, and picked up the teapot, but she waved him off.

“Thank you. You may go.”

He bowed and left.

“Now.” She poured tea into the cups and shoved one at him. “What. Happened.”

He opened his mouth.

“And don’t even try telling me it was nothing. You are nowhere near a good enough liar to make me believe you, so you’d only be wasting your breath.”

He closed his mouth again. Then he sighed and took a sip. Then he drained the cup.

“I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to savour that, but okay.” She poured him another.

Trying to take a drink of her own, she found it too hot; she’d have to wait for it to cool a little before drinking. That was a good sign, right? Zuko just being able to knock hot tea back like that meant he still had his resistance to heat, which meant he still had his bending.

She relaxed a little.

(Unless he was an idiot who had just burned his throat and was too dumb to care.)

“It was wrong!” he suddenly blurted out, startling her and almost making her spill her tea. “He shouldn’t have done it! It- it was cruel!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Burning me. He- He shouldn’t have done it! It was- It was just cruel!”

“He was teaching you a lesson!” Why didn’t he understand?

“No!” Momo fluttered up to land on the bed, startled by the abrupt shout. “No, he wasn’t!”

She opened her mouth to argue, but he interrupted. “Tell me, what lesson was he supposed to be teaching me? What?”

“Obviously, to teach you not to speak out of turn.”

“But I was right!” She opened her mouth to ask him what that had to do with anything, but he continued. “And how does that justify an Agni Kai? He could have just told me to be quiet and kicked me out of the meeting, given me some super boring punishment like… I don’t know… sorting scrolls for the Fire Sages for a month while they lecture me about respect, or something.”

None of what he was saying was actually wrong, but it had to be! But before she could dispute any of it, he went on.

“And I apologised! Right there in front of everyone!”

“You made him look weak by showing cowardice!”

“But that makes no sense! One moment I’m being too arrogant, next I’m not being arrogant enough! Which is it?”

“You should have fought!”

He laughed; there was no humour in it. “How was I supposed to win that?” He turned to her. “Even you couldn’t have done it! Even if you still had your bending and practiced every day and got better even faster than you already were and he challenged you now, you wouldn’t win. So what was I supposed to do?”

She hated anyone saying that someone else was better than her, but… father was better than her.

(And if she couldn’t have won, how could Zuzu?)

“No. No. You messed up. You just have to not mess up, idiot.”

“Right, so what happened at the harbour? What would have happened if Yue hadn’t fainted?”

“I should have been better! I have to be better!”

“You keep saying that. But when are you going to be good enough?” She tried to answer, but her throat wasn’t working. He put an arm round her. “He’s going to send you away. He says he’s doing it because you’re a failure, even though you’re not.”

She stopped struggling against him. “What?”

“He got a letter this morning. There’s been a sighting of the Avatar, and he says because you didn’t capture him at the North Pole you should have to make up for that.”

“Well. He’s right. I did fail. I should have done better!”

“What were you supposed to have done?” he asked. “Tell me. How could you have rescued me, and defeated the Water Tribe, and captured the Avatar? With only three people.”

“Don’t forget Zhao.”

“Okay, four. Point still stands.”

There was a way. There had to have been.

“Azula, you’re the smartest person I know. And even you couldn’t think of a way. You know deep down it’s impossible.”

“But- But father says-”

“Father is wrong!”

It was shocking. Unthinkable. Of course he wasn’t wrong. He couldn’t be. She’d lived her whole life to please him. If he was wrong, then…

Then what had it all been for?

“No. No, you were wrong. Father wouldn’t have punished you if you’d-”

“What happened immediately after he burned me?”

“But that’s not fair! Why did the rest of us lose our bending too?!”

She realised what she’d just said as soon as the words were out of her mouth. So how come the innocent were punished along with the guilty? Which meant she acknowledged her father as guilty.

(Just as Agni had.)

“I don’t- I don’t think it was just him.” Zuko looked away for a moment, then back at her. “I saw things on my travels. Heard things. The Fire Nation has done horrible damage to the rest of the world.”

His arm was still draped around her shoulders, and she shrugged it off, angry at this accusation. “We’re helping them!”

“We really aren’t. We’re hurting them. They hate us. The whole world hates us.”

“But-”

“And the Air Nation didn’t have an army! They were pacifists! And our great-grandfather wiped them all out trying to kill a kid!”

“No, that can’t be right! If we aren’t helping them, what has it all been for?”

He just stared at her, sadly. “Nothing.”

⁂

They both sat there for hours, lost in thought. Okay, it probably wasn’t actually hours – the position of the sun had barely changed – but the cup of tea she held was now cold, and Momo had resumed his position in her brother’s lap.

“So, what makes you think you’ve lost your bending?” She sounded as emotionless as Mai; it was like she’d reached a point beyond caring about anything.

He sighed. “I needed to meditate, so I set up the candles, but I couldn’t summon a flame. Nothing happened!”

The last two words had a slight panicky edge, but it was nowhere near as bad as he’d been before.

“Okay, and what made you feel like you needed to meditate?” She let her head loll back on the bed, staring at the ornate ceiling.

“I-” There was enough in that one syllable to cause her to raise her head again to look at him. “I told you he got a letter about the Avatar, right? And he was going to send you after him?”

She gestured for him to get on with it. He was too busy staring into his tea to notice, but he continued anyway.

“Well, I thought that was unfair, so after I thought about what I could say, I went to his office to try and persuade him that you’d done enough and he should send someone else.” She barely managed to bite back her groan. He heard her anyway. “Hey! I wasn’t going to go in there and start yelling at him! I’d actually planned exactly what to say! But… but I heard him talking…”

He trailed off, and was quiet for long enough that she was about to snap at him.

“He hates me. He hates both of us.” Momo snuggled against him, patting him with a paw. “He’d been throwing people in prison for supporting me, even while saying that we’re working together, so support for me should be support for him if he actually meant that. But he doesn’t.”

She didn’t know what to say. It shouldn’t have been a surprise. She’d known there’d been whispers of dissent, people saying that Zuko being spared was a sign of some kind. And obviously father had to be strict on things like that…

“And he doesn’t care if Mai dies.”

She frowned. This seemed to have come out of nowhere. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s going to make us get married! And… it’s not like I mind. But… he says we have to have babies right away, and that it doesn’t matter if she dies if the baby can firebend…”

Azula didn’t know what she was supposed to say to that. She shouldn’t have been shocked, and yet somehow she was.

“I just... ran. I couldn’t even think straight. I tried to meditate and…” He waved his hand at the candles in front of them, trusting her to get the rest. ‘And then I knocked them over because I’m stupid.’

She sighed. So she was right; this was just him being an idiot. “Try again. Properly this time.”

He glared. “I did try!”

She glared right back. “I said try properly!”

“I did!”

She absolutely positively did not roll her eyes. “Okay sure, you totally tried. Whatever. Your bending just went poof for no reason because dad said some mean things about you like he has a million times before. So how about you look for your inner flame. Tell me what it feels like to not be there.”

He obviously wanted to protest, but she glared at him until he gave in.

“Fine.”

And Agni be praised, he actually did as she asked, focusing on the candles and letting his breathing slow. She removed Momo from his lap, transferring him to hers to make sure he wouldn’t ruin Zuko’s concentration. She found herself doing the same thing, the association of meditating for calm persisting even without her bending.

But she was still paying enough attention when the flames of the candles began burning with the slow, steady rhythm of breathing. (And some very faint snores; Momo had fallen asleep.)

She nudged him. “See? This is why you should listen to me. I’m always right.”

The flames flickered as he sighed. “Okay, fine. I’m an idiot. Happy now?”

“I knew that anyway.” She took a sip of tea, then thrust the cup at him with a grimace. “Ugh! Here, make yourself useful!”

He obediently warmed her drink and handed it back, before heating the teapot. “I’m sorry you lost your bending. I swear I don’t know why I got to keep mine.”

It was hard to sneer while drinking tea, though she did her best. “You apologise too much.”

“Or maybe you don’t apologise enough.”

She sniffed haughtily. “Excuse me, but what do I have to apologise for?”

He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped, obviously knowing she was right and thinking better of it. Instead he sighed, absently stroking Momo. “I mean it, really. If I knew a way to fix firebending, I’d do it.”

Her heart leapt at the idea of getting her bending back, but desperation made you look weak, so she kept her voice as neutral as she could. “Well, any ideas?”

He groaned and let his head fall back onto the bed. “A lot of people seem to believe it’ll magically come back when I’m Firelord. But that seems so… so…”

“So like something out of a stupid play?”

“Yeah.” He poured another cup of tea and she held out her own cup for a refill. “And what happens if that idea is wrong? I doubt people would listen to me trying to say I’ll look for another way.”

“No kidding.” If firebending didn’t return within seconds of the crown being placed on his head, he would no longer have a head – or at least, it wouldn’t be attached to his body anymore. “It would have been really helpful if Agni had just said what we’re supposed to do,” she grumbled.

Stupid spirits being stupidly mysterious.

“Maybe we could ask him?”

She turned and stared at him, incredulous. “You can’t seriously be planning to just wander into the Spirit World and ask him or something, just like that?! As if you can just wander into the place!”

He hunched in on himself, looking embarrassed, but refused to concede, “Uncle did! I mean, not to Agni. But he said he visited the Spirit World.” His brows drew together in a frown. “Or at least that’s what I think he said he did…”

She snorted. “He probably just got lost in the woods, tried to boil some weird leaves to make tea, and thought he was in the Spirit World.” He winced, clearly knowing what uncle was like from having spent longer than anyone should have to in his company, but looked ready to defend him anyway. She didn’t let him. “Besides, I’m pretty sure that’s what the Fire Sages have been doing. But the last time I checked, they’re still pretty short on answers, and this sort of thing is literally their job.”

“Well, you’re supposed to be the smart one! What do you think we should do?”

“I don’t know!” she snapped. “But I bet I can come up with something better than just...” Looking skyward, she contorted her expression into one of vapid piety, forming her hands into the flame. “Dear Agni, pretty pretty please will you give me my firebending back, you absolute jerk!”

The candles were suddenly snuffed out.

She stared at them in horror. Oh no! No no no! She hadn’t actually meant it! Really she hadn’t! “No! No, mighty Agni I’m-”

She caught sight of her brother’s expression a second before he lost it and burst into laughter. “You asshole!”

He began shaking with laughter, startling Momo awake. “Your face! I can’t believe you fell for tha- Ow!” She continued hitting him, his feeble efforts at defence sabotaged by his own inability to stop laughing. Momo wisely got out of the way. Then he joined in, though she was unsure of how much damage his tiny paws could do. Still, she appreciated the effort.

It was always good to have an ally.

Chapter Text

“You know,” he said, still sprawled on the floor and not making any effort to get up. “For some reason I keep thinking about mom. I feel like that advice she gave me, the last thing she ever said to me, is important. Even though she couldn’t possibly have known this would happen.”

Her breath caught in her throat. “What? What advice? When was this?”

(Did he know something? Had mom told him?)

He pushed himself upright, looking confused at her abrupt tone. “Yeah. I don’t know when it was. I just woke up sometime in the middle of the night, and she was in my room.” He frowned. “The weird thing is, it felt like she was looking for something. It was like she wasn’t expecting me to wake up?” He shook his head, as if it would shake something loose. Maybe it would – that last screw holding his brain together. “I don’t know. It felt like a dream. But then I woke up the next day and she was gone…”

She rolled her eyes. “Never mind what you think. What did she say that was so important?”

He scowled at her demands. “Just that I should never forget who I was.”

She was torn between relief that it wasn’t something about her and how everything was all her fault, and annoyance that it was something so… stupid.

“That doesn’t make any sense! Who says things like that? How would you forget who you were?”

“I know!” he shook his head again. “That’s one of the reasons I thought it was a dream! It seemed like something someone would say in a dream.”

“It doesn’t sound like important advice either though,” she sneered. “It sounds like something someone would say if they wanted to sound like they were giving important advice and had to come up with something in a hurry.”

“But why would she need to make something up like that? She must have meant to talk with me – why else was she in my room? How come she wouldn’t have known what to say?”

Azula glared at him. “How should I know?”

“Well, you were talking to her earlier! After you said all that stuff about father wanting me dead, which was obviously not true!” He swallowed as he re-evaluated that based on what he’d just learned about how his father viewed him. “It wasn’t true, was it, Azula…?”

No, it wasn’t. But she’d said it was, and then…

Someone was shaking her, hands around her upper arms, pulling her upright, and a small furry body was curling up against her.

Zuko was looking at her. “Azula, was it true?”

She sagged, and would have slumped to the floor if he hadn’t still been holding her up.

“No. No, it wasn’t true, but…”

~5 years ago~

Azula wandered down the corridor to her room, chewing her lip as she thought about what she’d just heard.

Father was being sent away to the front lines. And not as an officer either – as a common foot soldier, to truly understand what Lu Ten had gone through and the sacrifice he’d made for his nation. She was sure he would be fine; he was a better firebender than even the Firelord himself (though mom got mad at her if she said that out loud), but… She had studied enough battle tactics to know what the casualty rates were like for those fighting on the ground against people who could literally use the ground as a weapon. And father was being put under the command of General Bujing, who had an excellent success rate, but whose casualty rates were always abnormally high.

No, he would be fine! He had to be!

But she couldn’t get rid of her fears.

Well, a tried and true method of pushing fear away was to offload it onto somebody else…

She reached the doorway to her own room, but continued past it, pushing open the next one instead. Zuzu was always so gullible.

⁛

Her mother looked down at her, stern and unyielding, far from the gentle noblewoman she usually was. “Now, young lady, you are going to tell me what your father supposedly will or will not do to your brother.”

Azula shuffled her feet. Zuko was one thing; even though he was two years older than her he was a total baby who would believe someone if they said the sky was green. But her mother was different.

Or was she? Azula had been able to fool her before. Just with small things that she wanted to believe (like how she actually wanted to play with Zuzu, or how she had no idea how that piranha-lizard had ended up in that guy’s bed). And this was a bigger thing, but if she sold it well enough…

She would be in trouble either way, whether it was now, or after she went to father and found out what had actually been said in the throne room. It probably wouldn’t even be a bad punishment either, and she’d probably be able to get around it (not being allowed sweets or having to go to bed without supper wasn’t much of a hardship when Zuko could always be relied upon to sneak food to her if she begged enough).

She did her best impression of Zuzu’s normal pathetic expression. “Oh mother, you’ll never believe what grandfather said…”

⁛

Azula groaned as, according to the position of the sun, far away as it was on the other side of the world, another hour had passed without sleep.

Lying to mom had seemed like a great idea at the time, and she was still convinced she would come out of it fine and bear any punishment. But it turned out that waiting for the axe to fall was worse than the blow itself. Especially with the worry that it might not be mother who meted out her punishment. Father could be both harsh and extremely creative. And even if it was something she was able to bear, (She could! She could handle anything!) she hated the idea of disappointing him. 

Eventually she gave up on sleep. Not only was it clearly futile, but s true warrior should face her fate head on. Or at least scout out the terrain she would be fighting in.

She stepped out of her room and padded down the corridor to her parents’ rooms. She could hear voices as she approached the door, and gently pushed it open a crack, hoping to overhear something useful. She was careful, not wanting to be noticed. But she wasn’t careful enough.

Heavy footsteps marched to the door, and then it was wrenched open and father was standing there looking out with rage. Her heart stopped.

But then he looked down and saw her, and his anger was replaced by a smile. There was something off about it though. It looked almost more like a smirk than a smile. No, it was just her imagination.

“Ah, Azula! Perfect! Please join us – I’m sure your mother would be delighted.”

There was something strange in his voice, and mother did not look at all delighted that she was here. And considering she had firebending practice first thing in the morning, she’d have expected him to tell her to go back to bed, rather than encouraging her to stay up even later…

No, she was being silly.

She sat down next to her father, proud at getting to be included, and relieved at receiving no hint of any punishment for barging in uninvited. It hurt that mom wasn’t happy about her being here, but it also made her want to be there even more.

“Now,” he said, handing her his own teacup rather than waste time pouring her a new one. “Why don’t you drink this?”

She took the cup from him, beaming. Father was being so nice. Not only did it make her feel so grown up being served tea like this, but mother must have told him what she had said but he obviously wasn’t mad at her. All her worrying had been for nothing! Relieved, she raised the cup to her lips.

“No!” Ursa cried, reaching out as if she wanted to slap the cup out of her hands.

This made Azula angry. Mother was always trying to stop her doing anything. It wasn’t fair! Rebelliously, she took a rather large gulp.

Ugh. She’d forgotten that father liked horrible smoky roasted green teas. Mostly she was served fruit juice, but any time she did drink tea, she preferred delicate white teas. This stuff tasted like dirt. She wasn’t going to admit it tasted nasty though, because then mother would have an excuse to take it away from her, and nobody should take anything that was hers.

She drank more, enjoying her mother’s horror, even as she didn’t understand it; it was just tea, not poison.

“Ozai, please! She’s just a child!”

How dare she! Azula was nine! She was very nearly a grown up! She wanted to yell at her, but for some reason her tongue wouldn’t work properly.

“Oh, and where the harm in her having a little tea?” There! At least father understood. Though what was with the weird emphasis on the last word?

She wanted to say something in her own defence. Something really witty that would totally show mother. But even as she tried to take control of her tongue to form words, she couldn’t come up with anything; her thoughts even more sluggish than… than… something really sluggish, that’s what.

She raised the cup to her lips again, just to show how much she totally didn’t care about what mom said, and this time her mother did reach over and snatch it from her hand. She wanted to protest, but… Her fingers didn’t seem to want to obey her, and in another second she might have dropped it anyway, which would have made father mad. Some mild indignity was better than being rebuked for embarrassing him with her clumsiness.

“What’s the matter, wife dear? Is something wrong?” Is tone sounded perfectly pleasant, but Azula found that, however tired she was feeling, the hairs on the back of her neck were able to respond just fine.

“It’s just…” her mother hesitated. Which was strange; normally she always seemed to know what to say. “She doesn’t like the teas you like! It would- It’s too much for her!”

“But how much would be too much for me, hmm?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her voice seemed… distant somehow, even though she was just across the table and not far away at all. But her tone still sounded weak to Azula’s ears.

“Oh, really? Well, if you’re so concerned about the tea not being to your daughter’s tastes, why don’t you drink it yourself?”

She was pretty sure her mom meant to smile, but it looked more like a grimace to Azula. “You’re quite right, I should- Oh dear!”

Her mother, the most graceful women she’d ever met, fumbled the teacup like an idiot.

Her father smiled, and this one didn’t look like a grimace… but it didn’t exactly look like a smile either. “And what about your tea? You haven’t even touched it.”

Ursa obediently reached for her own cup… And father reached for Azula! He put an arm around her and pulled her close against him! Azula was shocked. It was so rare for him to be affectionate with anyone (except for mom, sometimes, but only when he thought nobody was looking). She basked in the attention, burrowing into his side. Maybe it wasn’t so bad that she was sleepy; she could fall asleep like this…

In the hand not holding her, he lit a flame. She should probably find that strange, but she was so relaxed and happy, and it was nice to look at…

“What are you doing?” The sharp tone of her mother’s voice pulled her out of her reverie. She blinked and focused on her face. Why did she look so terrified?

“Why don’t you drink your tea, while I watch over your darling daughter?” Azula was trying to put everything she had into staying awake (She’d been trying to sleep in her actual bed for ages! How come now was when sleep finally decided to come for her!), but some distant thought sparked with confusion. It was weird for him to call her ‘your darling daughter’. Normally she was ‘his’ or ‘ours’. He would sometimes refer to Zuko as mother’s alone when he was extra disappointed in him; had she disappointed him somehow?

Ursa did nothing for a moment, until father moved the hand closer to Azula. She picked up the cup and began drinking.

The arm around her tightened. “All of it, my dear. Every. Last. Drop.”

When Ursa slammed her empty cup on the table, her father withdrew his arm so suddenly that she almost fell. What had happened? Had she done something wrong?

Perhaps mother noticed. “Azula, will you please leave us now?” Her hands shook, and she folded them into her sleeves. “It’s well past time you were in bed.”

She wanted to object, but then father added, “Yes, you should leave. I need to talk with your mother alone.”

She couldn’t argue with him. So she got up without comment. The room spun dangerously around her, but she’d had enough firebending lessons where she’d become dizzy after practicing flaming spin kicks that she managed to keep her feet through ease of long practice.

She made it all the way into the hallway before having to lean against a wall for balance. She needed to go back to her room, but she was so tired…

No! She could do this! With what felt like a monumental effort, she pushed herself forward, still leaning against the wall for balance. It wasn’t dignified, but there was nobody around to see, and if anyone did happen to pass then they probably wouldn’t even see her – barely any of the torches were lit, leaving the corridor very dark. If any servants or guards did spot her then she’d just have them banished.

She made it only a few feet before a statue blocked her path. She tried to push herself away from the wall to go around, but instead found herself stumbling. She tried to grab onto something, and her fingers latched on to fabric (a tapestry perhaps, or a curtain), but she only succeeded in bringing it down with her.

She wound up on the floor, between the statue and the wall, with a bundle of fabric covering her. She should get up. She needed to get back to her room. She needed to keep going. Father would be mad if he found her here.

She needed to get up… But, in a moment. She’d would just rest for a while, gather her strength and focus.

Just… In a moment…

⁛

Azula came to wakefulness slowly. Ugh, what had happened…? Wait, this wasn’t her bed, and this fabric covering her wasn’t her bedsheets! She threw off the material, frustrated and confused, looking around her. She was slumped against a really ugly statue next to her parents’ sitting room. At the end of the corridor, the faint light of dawn was peeking through the window.

What…?

And then it all came back to her. The scene in the throne room, the prank she’d pulled on her brother, her mother catching her, not being able to sleep, having tea with her parents, and then finally falling asleep in the stupidest place possible.

She rubbed her face, hoping it would get rid of the groggy feeling, but it didn’t. Today was going to suck.

She pushed herself to her feet, thankfully only swaying a little, and was about to head back to her room. (It’s not like there was any time to have a proper sleep in her actual bed, but she obviously couldn’t go to firebending practice in her nightclothes.) But… Something made her turn round. She stared at the door to her parents’ sitting room. What had happened last night?

The door was ajar, and she nervously pushed it open. Stupidly, she’d somehow expected her parents to still be sitting there, drinking tea, but of course the room was empty. They’d obviously gone to bed.

Strangely though, the tea set hadn’t been cleared away. The cup that mom had dropped lay on the floor where it had fallen, and the one she’d drank from was on the table where she’d left it, with no sign that it had been refilled and drunk from again.

She shook her head. Why was her brain latching on to some insignificant detail. So what if the tea was still here? For some reason her parents sometimes seemed really keen on going to bed, as if they thought sleeping was super exciting or something. That was probably one of those times, and they just hadn’t bothered to call a servant to clear it away.

But as she turned to leave, she spotted something on the floor next to mother’s chair. Picking it up, she saw it was a sheath. A very familiar one. What was the sheath to Zuzu’s knife doing here? And where was the knife itself…?

Looking around, she saw it lying in a corner. She approached it nervously, suddenly afraid. Why was there a knife here? And the tea was still out and her parents were gone and what if someone…?

But when she picked it up, it gleamed mirror-bright and unmarred in the faint light coming through the curtains, not a trace of the blood she had feared to see upon the blade.

But if it hadn’t been used as a weapon, why was it here? Zuzu never let the thing out of his sight.

She turned the blade over, examining the inscription. Never give up without a fight.

~present~

“I thought you stole it!” Zuko burst out, pushing himself away from the bed and glaring at her

“I’m not a thief!” she snapped. Momo nodded, supportive as ever.

“Well how did it get there?”

“How should I know?” She rolled her eyes. “Just because I know more than you do about everything doesn’t mean I actually know everything?”

She took a sip of tea – her throat was parched from all the talking she’d done – only to find it was cold again. She shoved the cup into her brother’s hands. “Here, make yourself useful.”

He grumbled but complied. After a few moments, he handed it back to her, looking much calmer. “Well, okay. Did father say anything?”

“No, he…” She hesitated.

~5 years ago~

After going back to her rooms to dress, she’d gone to look for her parents, even though it would make her late for her firebending lesson. If her father had found fault with her behaviour the previous night she needed to know. And she wanted to tell her mother to stop treating her like a baby.

She couldn’t find either of her parents anywhere. Eventually she stopped a passing servant and demanded to know where they were.

That was how she learned her grandfather had died, having passed away peacefully in his sleep. She couldn’t understand the man’s distress; the Firelord had been 95 so it was hardly a shock. Though, it would feel weird for him to not be around anymore. He’d been a constant background presence in her life, even if he’d never actually taken an active role in it.

She supposed she’d have to get used to Firelord Iroh now. Great, they’d probably lose the war because he gave up on every battle at the slightest hint of resistance. Father didn’t even like Zuko that much and she was sure that if he’d been the one to die, he would not rest until he had levelled the city. Uncle was weak.

The servant informed her that her father was in the Royal Gallery, but couldn’t tell her where mother was. Well, father would probably know.

She found him looking up at the portrait of his father, but seeing he wasn’t alone, she approached slowly.

As she came closer, she recognised the man as one of her father’s clerks, Zheng. “You have seen that it is done, then?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. She has been disposed of, as you asked.”

She stopped, frozen. She should be wondering who had been disposed of, but her brain had caught on the first part. Your Majesty. Father… was Firelord? But Firelord Azulon had refused his request, and he hadn’t looked likely to change his mind.

Would father be mad at her because she’d overheard something that disputed his claim to the throne? (Because she wasn’t going to say anything; he totally deserved it more that her stupid uncle, so what did it matter if her grandfather hadn’t changed his mind?)

She turned and tried to slip away without being noticed, but she should have known better than to try.

“Azula.” She turned back. “I hope you understand that your mother is never to be spoken of again, do you understand?”

She said nothing, merely nodded.

“Good. Now you’d better go.” He looked to the space on the wall to the right of Firelord Azulon’s portrait, where the next portrait would hang, and smiled, though it looked a little forced. “I have a coronation to prepare for.”

Azula fled, while not trying to look as if she was fleeing.

~present~

“He killed her.” Zuko looked sick. “I should have known. I should have guessed. She’s been dead all this time, and-”

“No!” She refused to believe it. “Father would never!”

“A few years ago, I’d have told you he’d never burn me! And he did!” He folded his arms, glaring at her. Though the effect was spoiled by Momo viewing the crossed arms as a convenient resting place, causing Zuko to have to adapt the gesture into a hug. He continued to glare, but the edge was taken off. “And that clerk said she’d been disposed of!”

“You can dispose of living people!” she retorted.

He looked like he wanted to say something, but then slumped, giving up. Momo shifted in his arms until he took the hint and began giving scritches. “Yeah, I don’t want to believe she’s dead either. But we have to face the truth.”

Her objection was cut off by the entrance of a servant. She assumed he was here to ask if they required more tea, but instead he bowed and informed her that her Mai and Ty Lee had arrived and were witing in the garden with Princess Yue.

Her initial instinct was to refuse, but… well it was important to make good use of advisors.

“Come on,” she told him. “This requires a council of princesses.”

Chapter Text

If any of them were surprised to see him arrive with Azula, they didn’t show it.

He sat down next to Azula, a little awkward in this setting, and accepted the offered tea (though even uncle would probably accept that he’d had enough tea for now). There were snacks laid out, though they went forgotten by all of them except Momo as Azula explained the situation, with him adding things here and there.

There was silence after Azula had finished speaking.

Yue took a thoughtful sip of her tea. It must be cold by now, but she didn’t seem to mind. “Is there any way of finding out what happened? Records? Witnesses?”

“Like what?” Ty Lee asked, uncharacteristically serious. “There wouldn’t be a death certificate for someone nobody is allowed to acknowledge existed in the first place.”

“There wouldn’t be a death certificate anyway because she’s not dead,” Azula snapped.

Ty Lee shrank away and said nothing.

“There’s that clerk,” Mai pointed out. “He must know something. Though is he even still around?”

“He is,” Zuko told her. “He’s father’s Chief Advisor now.”

Looking at Azula’s face, he almost pitied Advisor Zheng. Almost. He had helped get rid of mother’s bod- Of mother.

⁂

Zheng looked up as they stormed into his office. “How dare- Ah, Prince Zuko, Princess Azula.” He bowed. “How may I be of assistance?”

He glanced at Mai, Ty Lee and Yue, but aside from a slight raise of an eyebrow at the presence of the Water Tribe Princess, made no comment.

“You can tell us what happened to our mother!” snapped Zuko.

The man’s face froze for a moment before he covered it up with a nervous-looking smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Zuko grabbed him by the front of his robes, dragging him upright, and shoved him up against the wall. He lit a flame in his hand. “Tell. Me. Right. Now. Or…”

Zheng failed to look intimidated. “Or, what? We both know you don’t have the guts to do anything.”

Azula shoved her brother aside. “What about me?” She pressed one of Mai’s knives to his throat. “Look me in the eye and tell me I wouldn’t.”

He tried to struggle. Foolish. He had no chance of getting away. But if she accidentally cut his throat then there would go their only witness... “Ty Lee.”

She didn’t even need to give a specific order. A few jabs and the man sagged against the wall, her hold on his clothing the only thing holding him up until Mai and Zuko stepped forward and pinned his arms to the wall.

“Now,” she said, in a voice that could only be described as ‘deceptively calm’. “How about you tell us what happened that night, and in return for a nice little story, I’ll refrain from slitting your worthless throat.”

He gulped, his adam’s apple brushing against the blade as it bobbed. “Please! I just did as I was ordered!”

“And what, pray tell, were you ordered to do?”

~5 years ago~

Ozai glared at the body of his wife, sprawled on the floor where she had fallen when the tea had taken effect. Whatever it was had worked quickly. Though she’d probably used a high dosage to be sure of it affecting him. Idly, he wondered how Azula would fare; he supposed he’d find out in the morning. It would be a shame to lose her, but she had been fortuitously nearby.

There was something on the floor; it seemed to have fallen from her sleeve. Picking it up, he recognised it as the war trophy that his brother had given Zuko, and his lip curled into a snarl. His own wife truly had meant to kill him. She had tried poison, the weapon of a coward (however convenient a weapon it might be), and the knife had been her backup plan.

But no, he realised now; she was still breathing. A sleeping draught then. And the knife to kill him once he was vulnerable.

How could she? He had given her everything! Had shared his heart with her! But she was constantly trying to drag him and his children back. And now she showed where her loyalties lay.

Well, now the tables had turned.

He unsheathed the blade, raising it above his head to strike. He brought it down... But stopped, his arm unable to move any further. He tried to continue the movement, but his hand shook.

With a snarl, he threw the knife away, not caring where it went.

He just couldn't do it. He was weak. Pathetic. Just like father had always said. (Well, he wouldn't be saying anything anymore, thanks to the – unwitting – efforts of his wife.)

Perhaps it was more than weakness that stayed his hand. Despite trying to kill him, she deserved mercy for doing him such a favour. Yes, he would let her live. Have her sent away and dumped somewhere to live out her life somewhere far from here.

He summoned one of his clerks. The man had disposed of a few corpses for him already, and proved himself extremely discreet at the task. He could handle one that wasn’t yet dead.

What happened to her afterwards, well it would not be on Ozai’s conscience.

But he swore to himself that the next time a member of his family crossed him, he would not hold back.

⁛

Zheng surveyed the problem he’d been commanded to deal with. He had disposed of a few people on the prince’s behalf, but the dead were much easier to get rid of then the living. You found somewhere you wouldn’t be disturbed, burned the body, and then threw whatever remained in the sea. Even if one did turn up, washed ashore by a fluke tide, then there would be nothing left to tell investigators anything useful about who the person had once been or who might have brought them to their end.

A living person was a different matter entirely. They could talk, make accusations, and they would not remain lying where they were dumped. He could fix that by making her dead, but he’d never actually killed anyone before, and nothing in his orders said anything about killing. Just that she was to be sent far away from here, where she couldn’t cause any problems.

But how far was far enough? The colonies? She would definitely be out of the way there. But it would mean whatever ship was transporting her would be subjected to checks and searches, and whatever was rendering her unconscious would have worn off by that point.

The Fire Nation then. One of the more distant islands. But which one?

Looking down at her, he shook his head. Prince Ozai hadn’t explained the circumstances, but you don’t last this long in the court by being an idiot, and he could see a knife sheath by her hand.

It shouldn’t be surprising – her grandfather had been a traitor, and blood will out.

Wait, that was it! The perfect place!

~present~

“How dare you try to fool me with such a pathetic lie! There’s no such place as Qen Wing Island!”

“Yes, there is.”

They all turned toward Yue (carefully, in the case of Zheng). She looked surprised at their reaction. “What’s the matter? There is. Or at least, there was. My history tutor mentioned that that’s Avatar Roku lived.”

Zuko resisted the urge to groan. “Oh, so that’s why you thought it was an appropriate place to dump her. I bet you were so proud of yourself for coming up with that.”

“Why?” Azula asked, annoyed at not knowing something.

“We’re descendants of his. Mom’s his granddaughter.”

“What?” There was a whimper from Zheng as she accidentally cut him. “Oh, never mind. So that’s where you left her?” A careful nod. “Well, that sounds simple enough. There was no need for you to make such a fuss.”

“There! I told you what you wanted to know! Now let me go!”

Azula almost seemed to be withdrawing the knife for half a second, before thinking better of it. “If I let you go, the moment you get the use of your body back, you’ll run straight to father and tell him where we’re going. So I’m afraid I’m going to have to kill you.”

She moved the knife to one side of his neck, ready to slit his throat… and then stopped, frozen. Her hand shook.

Yue stepped forward, placing a conciliatory hand on her shoulder. “Now now, Azula. That would be very wrong. This is an unarmed man who is at your mercy; to kill him would be a grave dishonour.”

Zuko blinked in surprise. Yue’s voice sounded as pleasant as ever, but there was an undertone that, if it was Azula speaking, would have had him diving for cover. And while her smile looked perfectly calm and serene, there was an… edge to it. Zheng regarded her with hope at first, which quickly turned to suspicion; he knew nothing of Yue, but he did know that no good ever came from royals smiling at you like that.

Yue gently pulled Azula away, still smiling. “I’m afraid we’ll just have to take our chances and trust that the spirits will protect us.” She turned to Zheng. “After all, I don’t think anything short of death will prevent such a loyal servant from revealing what we intend to do, is there?”

He hesitated a few moments before responding, not sure if this was a question he should answer honestly. “I-” He took a deep breath and pulled himself as straight as he could with Ty Lee’s chi blocking still active. “I serve the Firelord’s will, Your Highness.”

Yue beamed at him. “Such dedication! So commendable! I am sure Firelord Ozai will reward you when he hears what you have to say!”

Zheng was nodding along, slowly, warily; her words were true, but he was sure there was a trap coming.

“Especially the part where you told us everything, and then failed to stop us as we made our escape.”

Zheng looked like he was going to be sick.

“Of course, you were held at knifepoint, and outnumbered too.” She took the knife from a stunned Azula, allowing a frown to creep onto her face as she made a show of examining it. “Although... it is a rather small knife. And we are all children…” She shook her head and smiled again. “But of course he will understand.”

Zheng nodded, but jerkily, as if he was too terrified not to. Then his eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped in Mai and Zuko’s hold.

Zuko prodded him. “Did he just… faint?”

“Yup.” Mai let him fall, and Zuko followed suit, leaving him to collapse to the floor in a heap.

“Here’s your knife back, Mai.”

“Uh, thanks.” Mai stared at it for a moment as if she’d forgotten what it was for, before stashing it with her others.

Azula was looking at Yue with what could only be described as awe. “You show respect in the Water Tribe with that forearm thing, right?”

“Uh, yes…?”

Azula held her arm out, and after a moment Yue responded.

“Uh oh,” muttered Ty Lee, in a whisper that wasn’t quiet enough. “Now there’s two of them.”

Mai, in her usual deadpan tone, replied, “We’re doomed.”

The moment was interrupted by a moan from the figure on the floor, which was interrupted in turn by Ty Lee jabbing him. “There. He won’t be able to move for a few hours.”

“I can’t believe I’m asking this,” said Mai. “But is that really necessary? We’re going, and we’ve established he’s not going to tell anyone where we’ve gone to.”

“We’re going right now literally this second? Without packing food or camping gear or a change of clothes, or figuring how we’re actually going to get to where we’re going?”

The group stared at her, not used to Ty Lee being the practical one.

“She’s right,” added Zuko. “Some money would be useful as well.”

Before he’d left the Fire Nation, money had been an abstract concept that existed solely in lectures from his economics tutor, and Kyoshi Islanders had mostly used a barter system amongst themselves, but after travelling with the Avatar and his friends had taught him what a necessity it was.

“Fine.”

⁂

There wasn’t much room to pace in the basket of a war balloon with three other people aboard, but Azula did her best. Where was Zuko? Had he been caught? Had someone found Zheng shoved into that cupboard in his office?

She was about to announce they were leaving right now – his bending would help fly the balloon far better than the provided spark rocks and bellows, but they could do without if it meant they got away without being caught – when she finally saw him coming down the path.

He was moving fast, but not in a way that suggested immediate pursuit, and she relaxed a little.

That did not mean she was happy though. “What took you so long?”

He threw a couple of bags into the balloon’s basket and stepped in after them. One of which was heavy, and clinked as it landed. “Calm down. Do you know how many guards I had to sneak past to get into and out of the treasury?” He grinned. “Besides, I had to say goodbye to dad.”

Fear flooded her. “You spoke to him?” There was no way Zuko would have been careful enough in his words to avoid giving them away. “You idiot! I can’t believe-!”

“Relax. I just left him a message.” He bent a flame into the furnace and coaxed it into a blaze.

“He didn’t see you?”

“Don’t worry, I was careful. He didn’t even wake up.”

“What exactly did this message say?”

⁂

Ozai groaned as he came to wakefulness. Then he became alert as he wondered why. He couldn’t instinctively tell the time anymore, but not even the tiniest trace of sunlight shone through the window, and he wasn’t in the habit of waking up in the middle of the night for no reason. But he could sense nobody in the room with him. Opening his eyes just a crack, he scanned his surroundings; his bedchamber was still, the soft glow of the lamp next to his bed illuminating no lurking assassin standing over him, poised to strike.

Ugh. He closed his eyes once more, allowing the breeze and the sounds from outside to lull him back to sleep…

Hold on. He hadn’t left any windows open! Or lit that lamp!

He jerked upright and launched himself out of bed.

“Guards! Guards, there’s been an intruder!”

He door burst open and a pair of guards ran in. He pointed at the window. “Someone has been in here! Search the palace at once! I want-”

He stopped; the guards were both just staring at him in horror. “What? What are you staring at! Get to it!”

“Your Majesty! Your- your hair!”

“What are you babbling about?!” He reached up to pat his hair. “What’s wrong with… my…”

His patting became frantic as he found, not the long strands he’d expected, but short tufts. He turned to stare at the mirror, as if it would somehow show him that his sense of touch was wrong. It didn’t.

His hair was gone.

Someone had snuck into his room in the middle of the night, armed with a sharp object, and instead of killing him, had slowly and carefully cut off his hair. There were a few longer hanks on one side next to his face that had been trapped between his head and the pillow, out of reach of the perpetrator of this… atrocity. But the rest had all been roughly cropped to around a few inches in length. Even his goatee had been chopped.

Forgetting the guards, he desperately attempted to scrape his hair into a topknot. The result was rough, but with some work by a skilled hairdresser and something to pad out the topknot, make it look as if all his hair was crammed into it, he could hopefully convince the court he had chosen a more austere style.

Yes, that could work… He was about to propose raising taxes again to fund the war effort; he could spin this as an effort to show that even he was willing to tighten his belt a little – or at least give the appearance of doing so. And at least he still had enough hair to wear the crown.

His hand reached for the crown on his table, only to close on an empty stand.

~meanwhile~

In a war balloon flying some way east of the Fire Nation Royal Palace, a figure opened a bag and emptied its contents over the side. The silky black strands drifted away on the wind to scatter over the ocean.

Chapter Text

They looked down at the island. Then at each other. Then back at the island again.

“Maybe there’s something on the other side?” Ty Lee suggested.

Azula doubted it, but they’d come all this way. She nodded at Mai, who was taking her turn at the rudder, and they all peered down as she steered them in a circle around the island, before turning them to search inland.

But no matter where they looked, there was nothing aside from rock and ash. The only life was a few hardy plants growing in crevices, and the occasional bird passing overhead.

“Bring us down,” she ordered.

Zuko stared at her, confused. “Are you seeing something I’m not? Because I’m not seeing anything!”

She rolled her eyes. “Neither am I, idiot. But maybe we’ll find some clues down there.” Ty Lee tried to stifle a yawn and failed. “Besides, we travelled all night, and I don’t know about you, but I rather fancy being able to sleep somewhere designed to be slept in, like, say, a sleeping bag, not the basket of a war balloon.”

“Ugh, fine.”

After scanning the area below, he and Mai landed them in a small hollow, about as sheltered as they could be from the elements.

⁂

The island wasn’t particularly big, and it didn’t take any of them long to check the areas she had assigned each of them.

She refused to give up though; there must be some sign that mother was here. There had to be something! Even if it was just a dropped hairpin or a piece of discarded clothing or a footprint… Anything. She insisted that they should try again tomorrow, starting at dawn, slowly scouring every inch and working together so even if one person missed something, there was no way they all would.

She was pretty sure they all thought she was crazy, but they didn’t argue.

Momo chose Zuko’s sleeping bag, not hers. Traitor.

⁂

Waking up the next morning, doubts began creeping in, as if poor sleep had been keeping them at bay. But it seemed to have had the opposite affect on anyone else (or at least, there were no doubtful glances being shared over breakfast). Particularly Zuko, who hadn’t been able to rest in the balloon because even though they’d had spark rocks and bellows, if those failed to be enough to maintain the fire and he slept a little too heavily, they would all have plummeted to their deaths. And when she harried them into resuming the search, they all went without complaint and seemed to be taking things seriously.

But while they found some things along the shore, it was clear they were things that had been washed up by the sea, and there was nothing that seemed to have belonged to their mother.

There was no trace that anyone had been here in over a century.

And then they’d reached the top of a rise and there was an old man strolling along the beach (if it could be called that) below.

⁂

It was so shocking, after becoming accustomed to the island’s desolation, that they almost didn’t believe it at first, until they looked around and realised that if they were seeing things, then it was a collective delusion.

And then they scrambled down to the shore, as if scared he would disappear before they got there.

He seemed as surprised at their presence as they were at his, stumbling and placing a hand to his chest. “Agni above, where’d you kids come from?”

“Never mind where we came from.” Azula responded abruptly, eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Where did you come from? And what are you doing here?”

He frowned, a little offended by her accusing tone and lack of manners, but still, he pointed at the boat next to him. “Came from the next island. As fer why I’m here…” He held up a bag full of the nasty-looking seaweed they’d come across all along the shore. He laughed at their expressions. “Hey, good eatin’ on that when ya cook it all good ‘n’ proper.”

“And you can’t find it on your island?” Yue asked, sounding more curious than suspicious.

He shook his head. “Not as much, and there’re other people gatherin’ it. But…” He swept an arm out. “Nobody bothers comin’ ‘ere. I find other stuff too! Crap that washes up with the tides, that I can make use of.” He pointed at the hat he was wearing. “Found this hat ‘ere, few months back. Nice, huh?”

Privately, Azula felt the hat should have been thrown back in the sea, but she nodded politely.

“And what about you? You clearly ain’t here fer the seaweed.”

Zuko opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated before answering, sharing a glance with her. They obviously needed to talk to people to find out about their mother. But it was hard to get over the in-built suspicion about sharing information with strangers.

“We’re looking for our mother. We know she came here.” Damnit, they had brought some portraits of her, but they were back at the camp; she’d hardly expected to run into anyone to show them to. “She disappeared abou-

“Wait, ya don’t mean that nice lady I found ‘ere ‘bout five year back, do ya?”

Zuko’s mouth was hanging open. The others looked equally as shocked. “Wait, you saw her?”

“Yup. Sweet as anythin’. Never said how she ended up ‘ere, but she were nice ‘nough to help me gather seaweed.”

Azula snarled. “And then what, you left her here?”

He raised an eyebrow. “What? Now where’d I say that? What kinda guy do ya take me fer? I gave ‘er a ride to the next island, obviously, ‘n’ then I gave ‘er directions to the big town close by, where she could maybes catch a boat to where she needed to get to.”

“And where did she need to get to?” asked Zuko. Was this it? she wondered. Was finding her that easy.

This was met with a shrug. “No idea, sorry. All I know is she were tryin’ to get back to her family.” He hesitated then, a sad look falling over his face. “Look, I don’t wanna crush people’s hopes or anythin’ like that, but…”

“But, what?” snapped Azula.

“But she said the only thing that’d stop ‘er getting back to ‘er kids was death itself, so if-”

“Where. Did. You. Take. Her?”

Chapter Text

Wherever their mother had ended up, Zuko really doubted that it was South Chung-Ling; it was nobody’s idea of a happening tourist destination. A factory in the centre of town churned out flamethrowers for the army, and those not employed there were involved in the fishing industry; there didn’t seem to be much else (at least legally – three separate people attempted to rob them on their walk through town). The air was filled variously with smog and the smell of fish.

By the time they reached the port they were tired; they’d landed the balloon out of town and walked all the way. Yue was definitely suffering, though she had made no complaints, but even Zuko, used to travelling and extended training sessions, really wanted to get off his feet for a while.

Deciding it was better to be well-rested before they began searching, he called a halt, and pushed open the door of a nearby inn. Considering that their mother was almost certainly long gone from here, there was no rush. Well, there was – they wanted to find her, or at least answers about what had happened to her – but it had been five years. If she was still here, it was unlikely she was going to hop on a ship tonight.

Azula clearly wanted to object, and the fact that she swallowed her words meant her feet must really have been aching.

The place appeared nice enough, though Azula looked disdainfully at a gouge in their table that had been improperly repaired. Still, it was clean, the other patrons looked fairly respectable, and when their food arrived it seemed edible enough. There was even a portrait of the Firelord on the wall. They tried to avoid looking at it, but… it was a good sign, right? This was a law-abiding establishment.

Even if there were signs that the portrait had been damaged and poorly repaired…

Though there was a tense moment when he tried to pay both for the meal, and for rooms for the night. The treasury had been full of gold and jewels, but not exactly an abundance of coppers.

The innkeeper stared at the gold in his hand. Then up to his face. She looked at him for a long moment, before her eyes flicked to the lamps on the walls, burning much more steadily in their corner than elsewhere in the room. And then, to his horror, she turned to stare at the portrait of his father on the wall, before looking back at him again and peering into his face. He tried to subtly turn his head so that his scarred side was more towards her.

“Uh, and keep the change?” He grinned nervously, as the others shifted, checking that they could easily reach their weapons if this turned into a fight.

The woman turned her head, looking around, before bowing to him. “Of course, Your Majesty. We have some rooms free. Please, follow me.”

She led them upstairs. There were two rooms free, right next to each other, which was good. But each one only had two beds. The innkeeper looked nervous. “Of course, I can free up one of the other rooms…”

“No, no, it’s fine,” he assured her. “We can manage. Two people will just have to share, that’s all.”

Even if it turned out whichever luckless guest was forced to give up their bed was just about to leave anyway and didn’t mind being kicked out, it made sense to stick together as much as they could. It was a bad idea to split the party at all, but if they really had to so they all got to sleep in a bed, then being split across two rooms was better than three, with one person being alone.

Azula rolled her eyes. “Well, if you share with Mai, I call dibs on a bed in the other room, because I am not sleeping next to that.”

Ty Lee grinned, wrapping an arm around Mai. “It’s fine! Mai can share with me! It’ll be like a sleepover!”

Mai sighed. “Sure, whatever. But you’d better not kick me in in your sleep.”

The landlady bowed. “Very well, Your Majesty. Will that be all?”

“That’s fine, thank you.”

She bowed again and left. She didn’t take the money though. Oh well, he was probably meant to pay later, now that she knew he was good for it.

“It’s weird how she addressed you as ‘Your Majesty’,” commented Yue, staring after the woman. “Not ‘Your Highness’.”

“She probably doesn’t know the difference,” suggested Ty Lee. “I doubt she had a protocol teacher.”

“Lucky her,” muttered Mai.

⁂

The next day they went to the port to ask around, which managed to be more tedious than walking around looking at rocks. Asking the same questions over and over and over, getting the same answers again and again. Not only that, but it was considerably more dangerous than looking at rocks. Their father had probably sent word out to look for them; Yue was keeping her hood up to hide her distinctive hair, while Zuko did his best to style his hair so that some draped over his scar.

They’d at least given the innkeeper the benefit of the doubt, if only because Mai had pointed out that if she meant to betray them, she’d have taken the money first, even if she expected a reward for turning them in. But not everyone could be guaranteed to keep quiet, so they needed to avoid attracting attention. But asking everyone questions was basically forcing people to pay attention to them.

Still, it wasn’t like there was any other way. Hopefully they’d find answers before they others starting asking questions of their own.

But the day went on, and they received one negative response after another; nobody remembered seeing her. And worse, a few ‘Your Highnesses’, and someone mistakenly addressing him as ‘Your Majesty’, plus a few more that stared at them a little too long, as if comparing them to a picture in their heads.

Finally, late in the afternoon, a spot of luck. Well, luck for them, anyway. Less so for the hapless merchant, apparently the victim of poor loading on the part of the dockworkers, as the door of his cart fell open, spewing merchandise everywhere.

“My cabbages!”

Zuko and Yue immediately stepped forward to help the poor man (who he was sure looked vaguely familiar somehow), quickly followed by Ty Lee, who dragged Mai along with her. Momo tried to help too, though mostly he just rolled cabbages about and chased after them. Azula stood back with her arms folded, annoyed at this distraction.

Eventually they got all the cabbages loaded back onto the cart and secured properly this time.

“Oh, thank you all so much! Spirits, I’ve had the worst luck.” He chattered away, explaining that he was from one of the colonies, and had been travelling around the Earth Kingdom, but every step of the way seemed to have been beset by disaster, often at the hands of a gang of kids who sounded like absolute hooligans. Zuko was just trying to think of a polite way of extricating them from the interaction (before Azula went with a less polite option), when he mentioned, “So I thought I’d try my luck in the Fire Nation again. Though I must say, this town looks like it’s changed a lot in the five years since I was here last!”

“You were here five years ago.” Ah, now Azula was interested.

It didn’t necessarily mean anything. Most of the people they’d spoken to today had probably been here then too.

“Yes, but back then the factory wasn’t as-”

“Yeah, yeah.” She pulled out the portrait she was carrying and held it out. “Did you see her while you were here?”

He squinted at it, and then his face lit up in recognition. Zuko felt a thrill of excitement. “Why yes! Delightful woman. I remember I found her sitting over there, crying.” He pointed. “So I asked what was wrong, and she explained she was trying to get back to her family, but didn’t have money to pay for a fare. She’d tried asking the crews of cargo ships, but they refused to take on a passenger.”

“I don’t suppose you know what happened to her?” Zuko asked, trying not to crowd the man in his desperation.

“Why yes! I had a friend who ran a shop selling fruit, over in North Chung-Ling, and she had a lot of contacts within the local shipping companies there, so she was sure to find someone would could take her wherever she needed to go.”

Mai unrolled the map and peered at it. “I can’t see any town by that name. You sure it’s around here?”

“Of course!” He peered over her shoulder, squinting at the map, then pointed. “Ah, there! Where it says Fire Fountain City. That must have renamed it.”

“Oooh. I think I heard about that,” said Ty Lee. “They built a huge statue of your da- That is, of Firelord Ozai there, and it got named after that.”

“And you’re sure she went there?” asked Azula.

“Sure! I was going there myself, so I gave her a ride on my cart.”

⁂

Azula thought he was being ridiculous in giving the man money, just as she’d complained about him paying the fisherman. But both of them had helped point them in the right direction, and it seemed like this guy in particular could really use a break.

Judging by all the people they’d heard muttering complaints about taxes and the price of goods, a lot of people could use a break.

As for the innkeeper, who they did owe money to, she refused to accept it, even after he tried calling it a tax rebate. In the end, Yue somehow persuaded her to accept it by talking at her really nicely and earnestly.

“These people should be honoured to serve us,” muttered Azula (though he noticed that, despite her complaints, she’d never actually tried to stop him paying anyone).

“Yeah,” he replied. “But it still seems right.”

⁂

‘WELCOME TO FIRE FOUNTAIN CITY’, the sign declared. And then, in slightly smaller lettering, ‘HOME OF THE WORLD-FAMOUS FOUNTAIN IN THE LIKENESS OF OUR GLORIOUS FIRELORD OZAI, LONG MAY HE REIGN.’

Or at least, that was what it was meant to say; it had been heavily defaced. Someone had messily painted ‘North Chung-Ling’ over the place name, and similarly replaced ‘glorious’ with ‘false’. ‘Long may he reign’ had a stark line slashed through it.

A man was busy cleaning up the damage.

“Third time this month,” they heard him mutter as they walked past.

⁂

They stared at the boarded-up shop. ‘Nayumi Fruits’, read the sign. ‘High quality produce! Best prices in town!’

Peering through gaps in the boards showed only empty shelves and dust.

“Excuse me,” Ty Lee asked a passer-by. “Do you know where we can find the lady who ran this shop?”

The woman shook her head. “Sorry, dear. She died three months ago. Heart attack. Such a shame.”

Another dead end.

⁂

Since they were here, they might as well look around. Maybe they would find something useful.

They found themselves in the main plaza, staring up at…

“It doesn’t even look much like him!” complained Azula.

“It’s not even a fountain,” added Ty Lee. “The city’s name is all wrong now.”

Zuko wondered if there’d been a fraught discussion at some point after the loss of firebending, about whether to produce the flames artificially, even though that would divert technology and fuel from the war effort, or to leave it as just a statue and make a lie of the city’s new name, or to use water instead (which could be seen as mocking the loss of firebending by using another element).

Like the sign, it was marked by graffiti. Or at least the parts that people could easily reach. Again, there was someone cleaning it off.

She glared at them suspiciously. “Don’t even think about it. I don’t get paid enough considering how often I have to clean this damn thing.”

They all made protestations of innocence.

“We’re just looking for someone,” Zuko assured her, pulling out a portrait. “Have you seen her?”

“Yup.”

Wow, first person they asked too! Things were going their way for once! “Do you know where she went?”

“Last I heard? Jail. That’s where.”

Chapter Text

They stared at the City Magistrates' Office and contemplated Plan B.

Plan A had involved Zuko sneaking into the office records to look for anybody arrested for the crimes the cleaner had told them about (it seemed that some guards had found her loitering around the docks and taken her for a beggar, and when they had tried to move her along ‘in the name of the Firelord’, she had become hysterical and started shouting, “Fuck the Firelord! Fuck Ozai!”), at around the date Ursa would have been here.

He had managed to find a woman who gave her name as ‘Noriko’ and refused to give any further information, who had been arrested for the crimes of begging, breach of the peace, resisting arrest, and treason. But there was no information about what had happened to her. Nothing about whether or not she had been formally charged with any of those ‘crimes’, or what her sentence had been, or where she had been sent.

So now they were back to asking people again. This time though, it was one person in particular, and they had no intension of asking nicely.

“Can I help you?” asked the receptionist, in a tone which made it quite clear that she would rather do literally anything else.

“We need to see the Chief Magistrate,” he told her. “Immediately.”

“Do you have an appointment?” Her voice dripped with doubt.

“No,” said Azula. “But we do have this.”

She placed a few gold coins down on the desk.

The woman’s eyes widened a little, and her eyebrows rose almost to her hairline, but she otherwise managed to keep her composure. “Well… I can see that it’s an extremely urgent matter. Please go right through.”

She pointed behind her, and they followed her direction down the corridor until they came to a door with a heavy brass nameplate telling them that this was where the Chief Magistrate could be found.

They did not bother knocking.

“What is the meaning of this?” The man reminded him of uncle in some ways, though he was a little taller, and radiated irritability in the way Iroh radiated calm.

“We just have a few questions!” Ty Lee announced brightly, before somersaulting over and chi-blocking him.

He slumped back into the chair he’d been rising from when they’d stormed in.

Mai and Yue took positions on either side of him, more to give Zuko and Azula the floor than because he needed guarding. Momo, spotting a fruit bowl on the desk, leapt up to help himself.

“Don’t worry,” Azula told him as he tried to move. “It’ll wear off soon. Although, of course, if you fail to answer our questions, ‘soon’ will cover the rest of your very, very short life.”

The man looked terrified, but he attempted to bluff anyway. “I’ll never talk! Never! I serve the Firelord’s justice!”

There was a portrait of their father, right behind him. It felt like it was smirking at him. He launched himself forward and grabbed the Magistrate by the collar.

“Where is she?”

He stared at Zuko in confusion. “Where is who?”

Azula smiled, throwing the man a faux-sympathetic look. “I am so sorry about him. No manners whatsoever! And such a temper!” She unrolled a portrait and held it in front of his face. “Here. She said her name was Noriko. Arrested five years ago for begging and treason. Ringing any bells?”

He gulped nervously, eyes darting from side to side, as if looking for help. But Mai was balancing a knife on her fingertip with a bored expression that suggested she would jump at the chance of doing anything interesting – like using it. And Yue was standing with her arms folded, giving no sign that she would be of any help.

“Come on,” Ty Lee chirped, leaning from behind him. “All you need to do is say where you sent her. Easy peasy!”

“But, I- I didn’t send her anywhere!”

“Wow,” said Mai, not sounding remotely impressed. “So, you’re telling us that you’ve had her languishing in a cell for half a decade without even being charged? Not exactly swift justice.”

“No! We were going to! But the prison was attacked and she escaped!”

“Someone broke her out?” That seemed odd. As far as they knew, her only ally here had been the fruit seller, and from what that cabbage merchant had told them about her, he doubted she had been involved in the criminal underworld.

He shook his head, frantically. “N- No, no! Uh… The man in the next cell, Ijomu, s-smuggling kingpin.” Zuko nodded, he’d seen that in the records, so the man was telling the truth, at least about this. “His gang, they came to break him out. Used a little too much blasting jelly.”

Zuko tightened his hold. “You’d better not be lying to us.” He lit a flame in his hand; unlike Advisor Zheng, the magistrate had no idea Zuko wouldn’t actually burn him, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

“I am, I swear!” He tilted his head slightly. “Look! In that filing cabinet! Top drawer; there’s a folder marked ‘Construction’. The last few documents in there are all about the building repairs! You’ll see I’m telling the truth!”

Mai glided over to check. They watched as she opened the drawer, spotted the folder and pulled it out. She flicked through some papers, and began skimming one of the pages. “Well, if he is lying, he certainly committed to the lie. The city paid to have the walls of the prison rebuilt, reinforced with steel bars, after, and I quote, ‘An incident involving blasting jelly, causing extensive damage to the wall of one cell, and a small amount of damage to another, and leading to the escape of two prisoners’.”

She turned that page over and looked at another sheet. “And this one has an assessment by a surveyor; there are even sketches showing the damage.”

She held it up so they could see. The drawing was pretty detailed and showed a large hole in the outside wall of the prison, giving a view of one cell, extending slightly into the corner of the next one, not by much, but enough for a slim and determined woman to wriggle out through.

She fished a bundle of smaller pieces of paper out. “There are even receipts for the building work; seems it was pretty expensive.”

They turned back to the magistrate. “There, see? I’ve told you all I know, I swear to Agni!” He stared at the flame in front of him.

“And you’ve no idea where she went?”

“Of course not! If we had, we’d have recaptured her! But we were more concerned with the smuggler than some beggar woman that none of us had ever seen before, even one with treasonous impulses.”

Zuko wanted to keep questioning him anyway; they hadn’t got any answers at all, not helpful ones at least. But the problem was, there weren’t any questions they could ask this guy that would get them the answers they needed.

Reluctantly, he extinguished the flame, and the man allowed himself a sigh of relief.

“I don’t advise you to tell anyone that we were here,” Azula told him as they left, Momo fluttering to her shoulder clutching a peachplum. “Trust me, you would end up in a whole world of trouble.”

⁂

Despite the threat delivered with Azula’s usual perfect conviction, they made their way through a maze of alleys and side streets, doubling back and circling round, and taking a few unauthorised routes over walls and through shops.

When they were sure that they’d thrown off any chance of a pursuit, they ducked into a café and found a table in the corner. The food didn’t exactly look like gourmet cuisine, but it was crowded enough to hide them from anyone walking past who happened to glance through the doorway.

“Alright,” said Yue. “Now what?”

“We could ask around at the port?” suggested Ty Lee. “See if anyone remembers taking her on their ship?”

“But we tried that at the last town,” Zuko reminded her. “It took all day, and in the end, we just got lucky with that cabbage merchant.”

“We’ve been pretty lucky so far,” said Mai.

“We’ve been pretty unlucky too,” he reminded her.

“We could at least try?” suggested Yue, as always attempting to broker a compromise. “Even just for an hour or two.”

The server arrived with their tea, and bowed low. Too low for it to have simply been passed off as over-enthusiastic customer service.

“Damnit,” muttered Zuko, as he walked away. “Even if that magistrate says nothing, people will talk.”

“Well, that settles that.” Azula pulled the map from her bag. “We know she was heading back to the capitol. And we know she didn’t arrive there.”

Unless she had arrived there, and father had killed her after all that…

“Shut up!”

“I wasn’t saying anything!”

“Yes, but you were thinking too loudly!” She unrolled the map. “We just have to look at where she might go next.”

“It could be anywhere though,” said Mai. “Whatever ship she travelled on could have dropped her off anywhere between here and the capitol.”

Azula looked irritated. Probably because she knew Mai was right.

“We have to start somewhere though,” Yue pointed out. “And if it turned out she stopped somewhere along the way for some reason, it’s better to take shorter journeys between towns than to skip places and risk missing her.”

Ty Lee nodded. “She’s right.”

“Well, this is here,” Zuko pointed at the spot marked ‘Fire Fountain City’. “So…”

They all leaned over the map, and everyone seemed to spot the problem at the exact same time.

The south-western tip of the Fire Nation’s crescent-shaped main island was directly west of them, just a short distance away.

But… his eyes were drawn to a small island to the north-west; It was much smaller, and didn’t seem anything much, but it was just off the north-eastern tip of the main island. What was more, north of it was Ember Island. More boat trips would be involved to get to the mainland, but Ember Island’s status as a popular resort destination meant there were probably more ships headed that way.

Azula obviously disagreed, pointing firmly at the land to the west of them. “There. It’s closer, and the most direct route.”

“And it involves less sea travel,” Mai noted, with a slight twitch that for anyone else would have been wrinkling their nose in disgust. “Just a short trip, and the rest of the journey is on land.”

“You know not everyone gets seasick, right Mai?” Ty Lee teased her.

Her friend sniffed. “I simply refuse to believe that anyone would spend more time on a boat than they have to.”

“Mother never got seasick,” Azula informed them. “But avoiding sea travel does make sense. Going by boat means that she has to find a crew willing to take her, or she’s stuck. But once she’s on the mainland, she wouldn’t have to worry about begging for a boat to take her; if necessary, she can walk.”

Her logic was sound, and maybe it was just nostalgia speaking, but…

“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “I think the island to the north-west makes more sense. Ember Island is a popular resort destination; there’ll be plenty of passenger ships going in that direction. But west of here…” He pointed at the map. Specifically at the rocky terrain and scarce place markers. “Look there. It’s just a few clusters of small villages. Not exactly a happening destination.”

“But smaller, isolated settlements with limited farmland means more need for trading for things they can’t produce themselves,” Azula argued. “That means more merchant vessels!”

“Yes, but merchant vessels are less likely to take on passengers – certainly not one who can’t pay!” She opened her mouth to say something else, and he added, “And besides, she always loved the times we spent on Ember Island. Somehow, I think she’d go that way, even if that just took her near it.” He shrugged. “Maybe she’d even go there, even though it’s a little out of her way. She knows the place pretty well, and if she was worried that the Magistrate had figured out who she was, it’d be a good place to lie low for a bit.”

Azula rolled her eyes. “You really think that she’s been there the whole time?” she sneered. “Just hanging out at the theatre or something?”

He glared at her. “No! I just think-”

She sighed. “Okay, fine. Let’s put it to a vote. Zuzu says we go north-west, which is clearly stupid. While I say we go west, and I’m never wrong. So that’s one vote for each. Momo?”

They looked at the lemur, who was napping, curled around the still-warm teapot.

“Never mind then. Mai.”

“West. Obviously.”

“Yue?”

The other princess thought for a moment, gracefully taking a sip of tea. “Both parties raise excellent points, and I can’t say I’m much of an expert in the geography of the Fire Nation, and how people travel around it, but I find myself moved by Zuko’s reasoning.”

“Ugh, fine. Ty Lee, you’re the tiebreaker.”

She grimaced, and Azula narrowed her eyes, suspecting why she was reluctant to answer. “I just- Look, something tells me that north-west is the way to go.”

She quailed under the fierce glare her friend gave her, but did not retract her answer. And looking out the corner of his eye, Zuko could see more and more people looking at them and whispering to each other. They probably weren’t certain of who was in their midst yet, but it was only a matter of time. They had to get out of here.

Azula rolled up the map. “Fine. Ugh. North-west it is. But I will absolutely be ready to say, ‘I told you so’ when you turn out to be wrong.”

Chapter Text

They landed close to a small town on the south-western coast of the island, and Azula absolutely refused to eat her words when, after a few hours of asking around, someone recognised Ursa.

“She only said she thought she might maybe have seen her!”

Another woman also recalled seeing someone resembling Ursa, and spoke with a little more conviction, even telling them that the woman had mentioned her intention to travel to the other side of the island to catch a boat to the mainland.

“She wanted to find a cart going that way, but, well, she couldn’t find anybody to take her.” She shook her head, in apparent disdain at the unhelpfulness of some people. “I didn’t see her after that.”

“Thank you so much for your help,” Yue told her.

“No problem.” She peered at them. “Now, you kids travel safely, alright?”

And then she hoisted her basket and went on her way.

“She was nice!” said Ty Lee. “Don’t you think so, Azula?”

Azula scowled. Momo, perched on her shoulder, patted her hair, earning a scritch behind an ear.

⁂

Zuko wanted to stick around to ask more people, just to make sure. Maybe that lady had been wrong about her being unable to find someone to give her a ride. Or, if she had failed to find someone and decided to walk, perhaps someone had provided her with directions, or a map, or supplies. But a pair of guards ambled past… and then turned and stared at the group a little too closely…

It was late afternoon by this point, and they had all had enough for the day. Best to quit while they were ahead and find somewhere to grab a meal and a bed.

They found a pleasant-looking inn that seemed perfect, and it was big enough that there would hopefully be rooms free.

There was another portrait of his father on the wall. Great. It was as if the guy was following them everywhere they went, like they would never be able to escape him no matter how much they tried. Like the one they’d seen at the previous inn, there were signs of repairs.

Well, if a brawl broke out, it would probably be easy for things to get damaged. Although, the place looked much too nice for that…

They ordered some tea and sat down at a table to make plans for tomorrow’s search. As they talked, Zuko swore he could feel people staring at him, but when he looked around, everyone was busy eating, drinking, and talking.

But when their food arrived, it was brought by the innkeeper himself, not by the barmaid they’d ordered from. And he bowed low, addressing Zuko (quietly, thankfully) as ‘Your Majesty’.

Looking around, nobody seemed to notice, but he still felt like he was being stared at. And it wasn’t just him; Azula was darting her eyes around suspiciously, so she’d obviously picked up on something too.

“Uh, do you have any rooms free?” He caught Mai fiddling with her sleeves in a way that said she was checking her weapons were easily accessible; Yue had pulled her hood as far over her face as she could, obviously worried about her unusual hair and bright blue eyes; Ty Lee’s smile looked more like a rictus; Even Momo was twitching his tail nervously. “Actually, uh… Just one room? I don’t suppose you have one with five beds?”

The innkeeper bowed again. “Of course! Of course! No trouble at all!”

He darted off to give orders to his staff, but he was soon back, and back to stay, it seemed. He hovered endlessly, refilling their teacups, asking if they required more food. Perhaps dessert? It wasn’t as if Zuko wasn’t used to being waited on, but he was used to servants who backed off when you told them to, and watched for cues that you required something. This was surely attracting even more attention.

“Actually, we’re all really tired. Can you show us to our room now? Please?”

⁂

But even that didn’t spare them the man’s determination to be of service. He showed them to their room personally, apologising for the somewhat haphazard arrangement of the beds, a few of which had clearly been dragged in from other rooms. Then asking if they required different sheets. Or perhaps more blankets? Extra pillows? Did their pet require a basket or a cushion?

They assured him they were fine, and he mercifully left. Even though it was still only evening, they shrugged out of their boots and outer clothes, trying to shake off the tension from downstairs, and pulled back the blankets, getting into whichever bed they’d chosen. It wasn’t as if they had anything better to do, not if they watched to avoid drawing attention. Maybe they could sit and talk for a while, tell some stories or something.

And then he was back again, this time with a jug of water to fill up their already full washbasins by another fraction of an inch. Then effusive apologies as he realised that, while beds had been brought in, no extra washbasins had been transferred over. They only had two, between five people.

Mai, through gritted teeth, even her control slipping the tiniest bit, informed him that they were more than happy to share, thank you, and they wished to not be disturbed for the rest of the night.

Several minutes went by, and he did not return, but none of them were able to relax, half expecting him to burst in again at any moment.

“Okay, screw this!” snapped Azula, throwing the sheets back. “You guys can stay here if you like. But I am going to camp out in the woods. At least there I won’t have to worry about some weird old person being way too nice!”

⁂

After leaving a stack of coins as payment (It wasn’t as if the service had been bad, as such.), they’d left, heading for where they’d left the balloon. Since there was still some daylight left, and it wasn’t as if it was a good idea to stick around in this town anyway, they decided to fly onwards.

Ursa’s destination had been a town on the west side of the island, but the mountain in the middle of the island was right in their path, and they didn’t want to risk navigating around it in the dark, even though the moon gave plenty of light.

There was a town low on the slope of the mountain, but they ignored it, more focused on finding a good place to camp. Spotting a nice clearing in the woods, Azula declared that their campsite, and nobody had any objections, aside from Ty Lee, who declared the mountain to be “creepy”.

Zuko lit a fire, and they all got into their sleeping bags. Though Ty Lee was annoyingly fidgety.

“Zuko,” snapped Azula. “Please can you set Ty Lee on fire? Just so she’ll stop, for the love of Agni.”

“I’m pretty sure that’ll just make her twitching worse,” Mai noted drily.

“Only very briefly,” muttered Azula.

Still, despite that, they began drifting off to sleep… Until the rain started.

They huddled under the scant shelter of a tree, waiting for it to stop – after all, it was probably just a light shower that would pass as quickly as it came. But it went on and on and only grew heavier.

Zuko was able to keep himself dry, while warming the others, and he kept their fire burning, since it was still close enough to give them some warmth. But it was draining to keep it up when he was already tired, and he couldn’t do much to keep the others properly dry. And trying to keep the fire going only got harder the heavier the rain got.

There was some debate about getting in the war balloon and heading onwards, just being careful to give the mountain a wide berth. But they were all snappy and irritable by this point from interrupted sleep and - in Zuko’s case – constant firebending. Even Yue was grumpy.

They should never have left that inn, he thought, staring out at the pouring rain. Had it really been all that bad? They’d just been a little paranoid downstairs, that’s all. And the innkeeper had just been trying to be helpful. Of course he’d been worried about his simple inn being considered wanting by royalty. They should have been better about explaining to him that they really were fine. And all that extra bedding he’d been offering sounded really nice right now.

“Are you absolutely sure you can’t waterbend?” Mai asked Yue. “Because that would be pretty useful right now.”

“No, sorry.”

A twig snapped, and suddenly they were all alert.

But it was just an old lady, who held her hands up placatingly. “Oh my, I am so sorry to have startled you! I was simply passing by. You kids shouldn’t be out here in this weather!”

Zuko realised that he had flames on his hands, and quickly extinguished them; thankfully, the woman didn’t seem to have noticed – her attention seemed focused on Yue.

“Passing by, here? At this time of night?”

Zuko stared at Ty Lee, surprised at her outburst. This wasn’t like her at all.

The woman took no offence, smiling benignly. “I had business in a small village over that way.” She pointed. “I’m afraid it kept me a little longer than I’d intended.” Her smile widened. “My name is Hama. You know, I have an inn in the town nearby, and you children are more than welcome to stay with me for as long as you’d like.”

Chapter Text

It turned out the others were also maybe regretting their hasty decision to leave those comfortable beds at that inn, because everyone had jumped at Hama’s offer. Except Ty Lee, who had been stubbornly resistant, only giving in when she realised she would be left behind on the supposedly ‘creepy’ mountain.

Azula dragged her aside on their walk into the nearby town, as their hostess chatted with Yue. “What is your problem?”

She shivered. “Her aura is all black.” She waved her arms frantically. “It’s the blackest black I’ve ever seen!”

Zuko rolled his eyes, and he knew Azula did too, even though he couldn’t see it. “Really, auras?”

“I knew you wouldn’t believe me! But I’m telling you, she’s bad news!” She shook her head, scattering rainwater from her braid. “And why wasn’t she wet?”

“What are you talking about?” He turned to stare at her, then pointed at Hama. “Look at her – she’s soaked!”

He’d never even known that Ty Lee could scowl; the expression looked weird on her face. “Yeah, but she wasn’t when she first walked out of the trees!”

This time he did see his sister roll her eyes. “So what? She probably knows the woods really well. Enough to know where the thickest trees are.”

Zuko nodded. “That’s why she’s out so late – she’d have to stay off the road, and it would really slow her down.”

Mai, pressed up against him in a shameless attempt to use their relationship as an excuse to keep herself warm and dry, added, “And now she’s taking the quickest route, so she’s getting soaked.”

“Exactly!” Azula agreed. “She’s probably giving herself pneumonia for our sakes.”

“Guys, please!” She stared between them, begging them to listen, before sagging as she realised that they weren’t going back to sheltering under a tree because she’d had some weird feelings. She would feel better once they were inside, warm and dry.

Though he could do something about that in the meantime.

He held out the arm not currently occupied with his girlfriend. “Come here. Let me dry you off a little.”

But she scowled again, shaking her head, and stomped – actually stomped – away from them.

Zuko sighed. Ty Lee was so ridiculous sometimes. Hama was just a nice old lady. Even if she had nefarious intentions… well, look at her; what was she gonna do? Shake her fist at them? Hit them with a cane? And they outnumbered her five-to-one (six, if you counted Momo). Besides, it was just for one night.

They would be fine.

⁂

A night of good sleep had done wonders for Azula’s mood. The others’ too, judging by the smiles and relaxed air as they all stepped out of their rooms. Though Ty Lee was still sulking. Oh well.

The inn was well-kept and clean, with soft beds. And nobody else happened to be staying at the moment, so they’d each gotten their own room to themselves.

And Hama had been polite, but not obnoxiously obsequious. It would still be a good idea to look out for any signs that she might report their presence to the authorities, but he felt like they could trust her. He’d never known any of his grandparents, but from what Sokka and Katara had told him of their Gran-Gran, he thought this is what they must be like.

That thought was reinforced when they came downstairs to breakfast and found her waiting for them with a huge breakfast all laid out, just for them.

They tucked in happily as their hostess bustled around the kitchen, humming. In a moment of madness, she proposed staying here for a day or so before travelling on. The trail they were chasing was already five years cold, and wherever mom had ended up, she probably wasn’t going anywhere soon, so it wasn’t as if they were in a particular rush. Sure, she wanted to find out where she was (if she was angry at her daughter). But it wasn’t as if staying here for a tiny bit longer would kill them or anything.

Everyone agreed. Except Ty Lee, who had only picked at her breakfast and was stubbornly insisting that they needed to leave.

“What, because of some aura nonsense?” sneered Zuko.

“It’s not nonsense!” She turned to Azula, looking pleadingly at her. “Come on, don’t you want to find your mom?”

Maybe Ty Lee was right… They could take a day off once they had answers, not before…

And then Zuko, trying to do a (terrible) impression of Ty Lee, flailed his arms around, knocking a jug of water to the floor.

“Oops! I’m sorry!” he babbled, picking up the jug, which was wooden, so at least it hadn’t shattered. But its contents had spilled all over the floor…

Only to stream right back into the jug again as Hama walked in, making a gesture similar to the movements of the waterbenders she’d seen in the North. “There, see? No harm done!”

“You’re a waterbender!” gasped Yue. “But what are you doing here?”

Hama smiled, but it was tainted with sadness. “Unfortunately, it is not a happy tale…”

She told them all about how she came from the South Pole, her village, her whole tribe, raided over and over again by the Fire Nation, until she too was dragged away and thrown into a prison to rot.

(Zuko was right; they’d done horrible things to the world.)

Eventually she alone had managed to escape, the last waterbender of the Southern Tribe.

“No,” Zuko told her. “There’s another one. She’s the same age as my sister here.” He indicated Azula.

Hama looked much more cheerful. “How wonderful! Perhaps I can find and train her.” She turned to Yue. “Is she a friend of yours?”

“A little, though she was only in Agna Qel’a for a short time, so I sadly did not have as much chance to get to know her as I would have liked.”

“Or her brother,” Zuko teased, causing Yue to blush.

But Azula’s attention was caught by Hama, who looked furious. Why did the room suddenly feel cold? But it passed so quickly, she was sure she must have imagined it. “You’re from the North?”

Hama’s tone sounded… betrayed. No, that was silly; she was just disappointed, that was all. Obviously, she’d hoped for someone from the same tribe as her, maybe even the same village, who she could share old stories with, and maybe ask if anyone she used to know was still around.

“Yes,” Yue answered, looking a little confused by the shift in the innkeeper’s demeanour. “Um, I’m actually their princess…”

But Hama smiled again. “Oh, how interesting. I used to have a friend who came from there. You’ll have to tell me all about it. I’m sure it has changed a lot in the decades they’ve stayed apart from us.”

There was something strange in her tone… No, it was just Ty Lee’s weirdness affecting her. Of course this woman must be having a lot of complex emotions at meeting someone else from the Water Tribe, and having to talk about her experiences. Not everyone had Azula’s careful training in controlling emotion, after all.

“And how did you even know Yue was Water Tribe, huh?” asked Ty Lee.

“I heard you talking last night, while you were sheltering under that tree.”

She saw Mai roll her eyes at Ty Lee.

“I’m so sorry about my friend,” Azula told her. “I think she lost her manners somewhere on our journey.”

“It’s fine, really. But why are you kids just wandering around like this? Surely there’s a story there? I think I just heard you say you’re looking for someone?”

“Yeah,” Zuko replied. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen her?”

A remote chance, as this town was out of the way of where she’d been headed. But perhaps she had hitched a ride from some helpful merchant who had been travelling here and looked around to find someone to take her the rest of the way. And an innkeeper would probably know who to ask.

“Well, I couldn’t say without knowing what she looks like.”

Zuko began describing mother in the most unhelpful ways possible that managed to make her sound exactly like everyone else, while also seeming nothing like her.

They needed a portrait to show her, but they were all upstairs, and she was too full of food to even think about getting up. Where were servants when you needed them?

Wait, she might not have any servants, but she did have a helpful lemur!

“Momo, please go to my room and bring us a portrait to show this nice lady.” She made sure to emphasize the word ‘portrait’, hoping he would get the message.

Momo flew off to do her bidding, returning a minute later with a scroll clutched triumphantly in his little paw.

Unrolling it, she was happy to find that he had collected a portrait and not a map or something else. But it was clear that Momo had chosen randomly. They’d brought several different ones in case they’d needed to split up to question people. This particular picture was one they’d avoided using, since it was a family portrait, and father was obviously easily recognisable, as was the royal regalia they were all dressed in (they could keep a careful thumb over one royal headpiece, but it was impossible to hide four at once). But they were fine here; Hama was Water Tribe, and if she reported them to father, he would throw her back in prison.

Hama squinted at it, and Azula swore she saw a flash of recognition. Her eyes flicked to father, and she frowned intensely for a moment, before the expression disappeared, and her face contorted into an intensely thoughtful expression.

“You know, I could swear I have seen her.”

“Really?” Zuko leaned forward. So needy. (She absolutely was not doing the same thing.)

Hama held her thoughtful look for a little longer, before shaking her head, sighing. “It’s no good – I just can’t place her. My memory isn’t as it was.” She smiled brightly. “But it’ll come to me, I’m sure!”

“Oh, I know that feeling,” Yue said, trying to empathise with her compatriot. “You just can’t think of something, and then it hits you in the middle of the night, out of nowhere.”

Hama looked at her, and it must be Azula’s imagination that her smile looked a little stiff.

“Exactly, my dear. And I assure you, it only happens more as you get older. But if you stick around, I’m sure I will remember.” She stood and began collecting the now-empty plates and dishes. “Now, why don’t you kids go out and explore the town. But do make sure to come back before dark; it’s full moon tonight, and all sorts of strange things happen under a full moon here.”

That sounded concerning, but as they got up to leave, she was smiling. So it couldn’t be that bad.

~5 years ago~

“Mom, what’re you doing?” mumbled a sleepy voice.

Ursa whirled around, quickly hiding the knife she had just collected up her sleeve. She didn’t have enough ingredients left to brew another dose of poison, but a sleeping draught was a simple thing, something to keep him down long enough for her to punish him for manipulating her, putting her through hell and using her as his tool (she had spent horrified hours thinking that one of her children was about to die, had killed a man). And with this knife, his sleep would become permanent.

Zuko was sitting up in bed, blinking sleep from his eyes.

“It’s fine, my darling. Don’t worry.” She was about to add that he should go back to sleep…

But… perhaps she should say something to him, now that he was awake anyway? She had already murdered the Firelord, and was now about to murder one of his sons; she will surely be executed for her actions tonight.

This will be the last time she would ever see her son.

She approached the bed, kneeling beside it. “Zuko, please, my love, listen to me.” She took a deep breath, trying to hold back the tears, and then reached for him, pulling him into a hug, needing him to understand all the things she that wanted to say but didn’t have the words for. “Everything I’ve done, I’ve done to protect you.”

She wanted to say more, much more, but she couldn’t think of anything, too consumed with what she had done, and was about to do.

“Remember this, Zuko. No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are.”

Letting him go was painful, but she couldn’t stay.

Passing Azula’s door, she thought about saying something to her, if only to explain that she wasn’t angry. It was a cruel prank that she’d played on her brother, but nowhere near as cruel as the one her husband had pulled on her when she had gone to him to confirm the story, insisting that it was absolutely true, and that the only way to stop it was if Azulon himself was dead. Giving her a choice between her father-in-law and her son.

A choice that had she had only discovered to be a lie too late, when Azulon, having already drunk the poisoned tea she had brought him, and assuming that she was trying to curry favour and get it commuted to something else, had told her what Ozai’s real punishment was. He warned her that the punishment was Ozai’s and Ozai’s alone, but if he thought she was interfering, he wouldn’t hesitate to punish her too; she had, after all, served her purpose to the family. (Maybe she didn’t entirely regret his death.)

Azula’s words to her brother seemed laughably childish now.

But her daughter was too smart not to figure out that something was wrong from her mother waking her in the middle of the night to say… what? What would she even say?

She continued on down the corridor, heading for one of the reception rooms, where she knew there would be tea supplies.

Her hands shook as she prepared the tea. Murdering the father-in-law who she barely knew, who treated her with contempt, was one thing.

But her husband, the father of her children, the man who she had seen as a partner, who she (had? perhaps still?) loved?

Was she strong enough to do that?

But she had to be. For her children. For them, she would do anything.

~present~

She jerked awake, her chains rattling. Something had woken her, but what-

Hama was here.

But something was wrong. She could see daylight down the corridor, just for a second before the door was slammed shut. She never came in the daytime. What was…

Hama’s attention snapped to her like a compass needle finding north, and for a moment she looked furious, before that was replaced by a wide smile, one which contained not a trace of warmth.

She stalked towards Ursa. “Well, well, well. It turns out I’ve been keeping a very special guest.” She spread her arms wide in an exaggerated parody of welcomeness. “It seems that I’ve been hosting no less a person than the Firelady herself!”

There was shocked muttering from some of the other prisoners.

Ursa didn’t ask how she knew; Hama liked having power over people in any way she could, even if it was by forcing someone to beg her for answers. She didn’t bother denying it either; however her identity had been discovered, the woman seemed certain of it. Instead, she formed her face into an expression of bored indifference, a perfect imitation of the one her husband had worn often.

(Judging by the look on Hama’s face, her imitation was just as infuriating as the real thing.)

“Technically, I am not the Firelady. I am merely the wife of the man who is now Firelord.”

(How he had managed to get the will changed, especially on such short notice, was anyone’s guess, but he had. Hopefully that would finally have satisfied his ambition, and he would have eased up on the children a little.)

She shrugged as much as her arms, weak from lack of movement, would allow. “I certainly don’t recall a coronation.”

Perhaps it was a bad idea to antagonise her, but she was long past caring.

But then she smiled. “Don’t you want to know how I know?”

Ursa gave another bored (attempted) shrug. “I’m sure you’ll tell me regardless.”

Another flash of anger, which quickly disappeared. Ursa didn’t like that; Hama never took threats to her authority this well.

“Oh, I will.” She smiled. “You see, I have some new guests at my inn. A pair of teenagers; a boy, who can still firebend, and a girl, who looks so much like her mother. And some friends of theirs.”

Ursa went cold. “No…”

“They’re looking for their poor mother, who has tragically gone missing.” Her smile grew sharper. “And being the kind person that I am, I’m perfectly happy to help out.”

Ursa’s façade was gone. “Please, don’t hurt my children! You can do anything you like to me, but leave them alone, please!”

She tutted, mockingly, shaking her head. “Oh, my dear. Didn’t you learn in the palace that you can’t make a bargain when you have nothing to offer? I can already do whatever I like to you, and I will. Just as I will do whatever I wish to your children, and their worthless friend.”

Rage flooded Ursa. “You witch! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you if it’s the last thing I do!”

Hama merely laughed at her, turning to leave.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “It’s a full moon tonight. You’ll be reunited with your children soon enough.”

Chapter Text

The town was perfectly pleasant, but not enough to be sickening. (Though Zuko and Mai were doing their best to spoil it by walking around hand in hand and exchanging soppy glances.) But, as they walked around, a weird atmosphere seemed to descend upon the town. There was a sort of tension in the air, and as they got into mid-afternoon, people started checking the position of the sun, as if scared to see it disappear.

“What’s these people’s deal?” complained Mai.

“I told you-” Ty Lee began.

“Yeah yeah.” Mai flapped a hand dismissively. “Creepy mountain and weird auras. We get it.”

“Guys, I’m telling you-” But she gave up, realising that none of them were listening.

Momo, perched on Azula’s shoulder, tugged at her hair and pointed at a fruit stall. “Oh, is someone hungry? Come on then.”

They walked over to a nearby fruit stall. "Half a pound of appleberries, please. Oh, and do you have any peachplums?” They might as well have a snack themselves.

“I can do you the appleberries, but I’m afraid I’m out of peachplums, and not likely to get any more for a few days.” He paused while weighing the berries, shuddering. “I’ve lost two delivery boys in those woods already.”

Yue frowned. “They get lost? But aren’t there roads and trails to follow?”

“New around here, huh?” He peered at them, and they nodded, hating to admit they were new (and therefore exploitable) but they’d clearly already given themselves away. “Well, people go missing during full moon.” He must have picked up on their scepticism, because he added. “And it ain’t just them getting lost, neither. I’m talking experienced hunters and trappers and travelling merchants and delivery boys who damn well know how to read maps and signs. People go into those woods, and they don’t come out.”

“And it’s only on full moon?” Zuko asked.

“Yup. You kids take my advice and stay inside tonight, you hear?” He handed over their appleberries, weighed and packaged. “That’ll be 3 coppers.”

He looked down at the coin Zuko handed him. “That… is a bit more than 3 coppers…”

“Uh, some extra for good advice?”

⁂

As soon as they’d walked away, Ty Lee burst out with, “I told you the mountain was creepy!”

“Yeah, but you also said Hama has a weird aura, and she’s obviously fine.”

“Maybe we should figure out what’s wrong?” said Yue. “People seem really worried.”

“They’re probably just being superstitious.” Azula scowled, waving a hand dismissively. “A few people disappear because they did something dumb like, I don’t know, tripping on a tree root and falling into a crevasse or whatever, and everyone panics.”

“Yeah,” said Zuko. “But what if it’s a criminal gang of some kind? They’re our citizens; we should be upholding the law. Or something.”

“Ugh, fine.” If it was something like that, the ruffians in question should know this sort of thing was not to be tolerated, thank you. And attacking some raiders would be fun.

⁂

After asking around a little, someone told them that the person to speak to was Old Man Ding. Apparently, he was the only one to have seen whatever it was (the townspeople insisted it was a spirit; it took a lot of restraint on Azula’s part to not roll her eyes) and managed to get away.

They found him boarding up the windows of his house; it seemed he was taking no chances.

“Uh, hello?” Zuko called out.

The man whirled around, brandishing his hammer, only to relax when he saw who was – or, probably more like who wasn’t – addressing him.

He sighed. “Can’t you kids see I’m busy? Full moon tonight, and I ain’t gonna give that moon monster another chance to grab me, no thank you.”

Well, that saved them the trouble of asking if he was Old Man Ding.

Mai raised an eyebrow. “Moon monster? What, like the Moon Spirit or something?”

“Tui would never do such a thing!” Yue snapped, folding her arms.

What was going on? Why were the most easy-going members of the group losing it? Please tell her this nonsense wasn’t contagious.

Mai raised an eyebrow. “Okay, okay. Not the Moon Spirit. Whatever.”

Azula took control of the conversation; it was generally for the best. “Well, whatever it is, that is actually what we wanted to ask you about. What did this ‘moon monster’ look like exactly?”

He shook his head. “Didn’t see nothing at all. I just felt something come over me, all of a sudden. It was like I was possessed. Forced me to start walking.” He pointed at the mountain with his hammer. “I tried struggling, but I couldn’t do anything, aside from maybe move my head a little. My body just kept on walking like I was a puppet.” He shuddered. “And then I was walking into a cave. Well, I thought that was it. So, I looked up at the sky, one last time. And just that moment was when the sun started to rise. Just a glimmer on the horizon, and maybe that’s what did it. But I was suddenly free!”

He wiped his brow.

“Well, let me tell you, I did not stick around! Ran all the way back into town, and don’t even think about going outside at night after that, no matter what.”

“And did anyone go to check the cave?”

Ding stared at Zuko in horror. “After what I told ‘em? Are you crazy?”

“But if they sent soldiers-?” Ty Lee began.

Ding barked out a laugh. “They already tried that, once, years ago, back when enough people started going missing that it became too much to pass off as a few people running away from home or getting lost. The guy who was the Captain of the Town Guard back then, he had guards patrolling the town one night. But…”

“…They were never seen again?” Mai finished.

He shook his head. “Oh no. They guards were fine. They patrolled, and all swore they didn’t see a thing. But when the Captain went home in the morning, his house was empty. His wife, daughter, their cook. Even their pet iguanadog. All gone.” He fixed them with a severe look. “So no, nobody thought it was a good idea to go poking around that cave. Not even at noon during a new moon.”

Okay, now Azula was definitely intrigued. And annoyed. How dare some… whatever-it-was… think it could just steal people who were hers. And she could tell from the look on Zuko’s face that he was thinking the same thing.

“Can you draw us a map to the cave?” she asked.

He stared at her in horror. “You don’t want to go up there?! But-”

“Yes, yes, dangerous to our loved ones. You’ve done an excellent job of explaining that. But we don’t know anyone here, and if it tries going after our dad, well it can have him.” She smiled at him innocently. “Besides, we’re obviously not going to go up there right now. Of course not. That would be crazy.”

After some persuading (which involved the handover of a few gold coins and pointed hints about how much steel plating he could buy for his windows), he reluctantly agreed to draw them a map.

As he handed it over, he asked her, “You’re sure you’re not going up there with a full moon due?”

She gave her most reassuring smile. “Of course not. You’ve made the dangers very clear.”

They walked away, leaving him to his preparations.

“We’re going there now, aren’t we?” Mai asked, sighing.

“Of course we are.”

Zuko did not like this. Wimp. “But, the full moon-”

“It’s fine. I just want to look.” She indicated the drawing Old Man Ding had produced, and then pointed at the position of the sun. “It’s not that far. We’ll be there and back before it gets dark. And then we can make proper plans.”

He nodded, reluctantly. He’d had the same tutors giving the same lessons in tactics she had (plus a couple of dull years with a once-great General). So he should damn well know the value of scouting out the terrain before making battle plans.

“Fine. Just to look.”

Azula turned to Yue. “It might be best if you wait back at the inn though. It doesn’t seem like this thing attacks outside of a full moon, but if something does-”

But Yue was folding her arms, a firm expression on her face. “I’m going.”

“But-”

“I. Am. Going.”

“Okay, fine. You’re going!” She threw her hands up in defeat (a rare thing for her). “But don’t complain if we need to drag your sorry self out of danger!”

⁂

Unfortunately, Old Man Ding’s art skills and mapmaking ability needed some work. A lot of work. After stumbling through the woods for hours, the sun was almost down by the time they actually found the cave, Zuko having been giving increasingly frantic updates about how close the sun was too setting the whole time.

“Okay, here we are,” said Ty Lee. “We’ve seen it; now let’s go!”

“But we’ve come all this way…”

“Azula, we have a few minutes before sunset, at most.” Zuko actually tried grabbing her and pulling her after him, but she shrugged him off.

“If we only have a few minutes, then we’re not going to make it back to town anyway,” she pointed out. “So, we may as well be here.”

“You really think we’re better off walking into its lair?”

She rolled her eyes. Of course they were. Whatever it was would not be expecting them, and attack was always the best form of defence.

But before she could head into the cave, Yue marched past her.

“Come on,” she called over her shoulder. “What are you guys waiting for?”

She pushed away her surprise and hurried to catch up. She was not going to be beaten by another princess.

She heard a groan of frustration from her brother, and a loud sigh from Mai. But she still heard footsteps following her, and the glow of a flame lit the cave mouth from behind her.

And before her. She raised an eyebrow.

“Must have been a storeroom at some point,” commented Zuko, examining the door.

“Clearly, it’s getting more recent use,” Mai noted, indicating the lit torches. “Why would a spirit, especially one that seems to have a grudge against Fire Nation citizens, bother with torches?”

Why indeed. “Let’s find out,” Azula said, stepping forward and reaching for the handle.

“Oh, come on, it’ll just be locked.” Ty Lee begged. “Let’s just go and we’ll come back tomorrow with Mai’s lockpicks!”

“Actually, I brought my...” She trailed off as the door opened at Azula’s touch.

Not seeing any point in subtlety (when had he ever?), Zuko stepped forward and kicked the door open.

More torches lit the large space beyond, revealing dozens of people chained to the walls, some of them barely more than skeletons.

“The missing townspeople!” gasped Ty Lee.

One of them, a woman hanging from a pillar in front of them, began struggling frantically against her chains. “No!”

Azula felt a flash of horrified recognition. They’d wanted to find her, but… not like this. “Mom!”

“What are you doing?!” she cried. “Run! Get out of-”

The door slammed shut behind them.

“Well, well, well,” said Hama, as she stepped out of a shadowed corner next to the door. “I didn’t expect it to be that easy. So nice of you to save me the trouble of coming to collect you.”

Chapter Text

Her children were here. They were actually here. They’d both grown so much, but she could still recognise them easily. She’d ached to see them again. But not like this. Not in this spirits-forsaken place.

(Wait, what was that on her son’s face?)

Their friends were there too. She recognised Mai and Ty Lee, though the white-haired girl was new to her.

Ty Lee immediately leapt towards Hama, poised to strike, only to jerk to a halt, mid-step. She grimaced, head shaking and neck muscles straining as she tried to move, but found, as Ursa and many others had before her, that she was held fast.

Zuko, face cold with anger, resembling his father more than ever, moved his hands in circular motions, lightning sparking on his fingertips (so it really was true; he could still firebend), and Ursa felt a thrill of hope; she’d seen Ozai generate lightning using the same technique, and he was fast. Hama probably wouldn’t even know about lightningbending and the surprise should be enough…

But she had underestimated the witch (not for the first time).

Azula’s whole body suddenly seized up and she marched forward to stand directly in between her brother and Hama. He stared at her in horror, fighting for control of the lightning he was holding, as both it and his sister struggled to break free. The lightning was only building the longer he held it, and her breath caught in her throat as she wondered if her daughter was going to die at his hands of her son…

A flying lemur launched itself from Azula’s shoulder, only to fall to the ground whimpering, its wings paralysed.

“Leave my daughter alone!” she cried, struggling against her chains. A futile gesture. But her desperation to reach her children gave her strength, and with shock, she felt the chain jerk as a screw holding it to the wall loosened ever so slightly…

With a roar, Zuko turned and directed his pointing fingers towards the wall instead, before slumping, exhausted by the effort, as the blast made a scorched dent in the wall.

“Why are you doing this?” asked Mai, the face that Ursa had always remembered as being so still and serious now alight with fear.

“Why?” Hama snarled “Why? How dare you ask me why!”

Azula and Ty Lee’s limbs bent into uncomfortable positions, as if they were pieces of paper that were being crumpled up. Ty Lee seemed to bear it better, with her greater flexibility from all her acrobats practice, but even she would have limits. Ursa struggled harder, trying to break free; the chain moved again another fraction of an inch. Hama unclenched her hands after a moment, and the two girls were able to breathe for a moment, but they were still in her grasp.

“You people came to my home, raiding us over and over and over again, taking more and more of our benders each time, until I was the only one left. And then, you took me too. You threw us all into prison to rot.” She let out a bitter laugh. “Not that we would have rotted, with how dry the air was kept, and how little water we were permitted by our gracious hosts, and our hands chained before we were even allowed that!” She grinned. “But I learned, oh yes, I did. I found that there is water everywhere, if you look for it. In animals, in plants, in people.”

Azula was suddenly bent sharply backwards.

“Stop, please!” she cried, continuing to pull at the chains. She had to get free! Please, Agni, her children needed her!

“But these people haven’t done anything to you!” Zuko, tried. In vain, probably, still so stubborn and refusing to give up. But at least the pressure on Azula seemed to decrease a little, and she was able to gasp a few desperate breaths. “I accept that what happened to you was wrong, and… and I apologise on behalf of my nation, but… Why not attack soldiers? Why not go for the Southern Raiders who kept raiding your tribe even after you were captured? Why not go to the palace itself and strike at Firelord Azulon for ordering the raids?”

“I don’t have to explain myself to you, boy!”

“And what about Yue?” he pushed on, ignoring her snarl, indicating the white-haired girl, who had been staying carefully out of the way, seemingly not a fighter. “She’s Water Tribe too!”

Ursa wondered for a moment of that would be enough; surely one of Hama’s own would be able to get through to her.

But it seemed that Hama’s rage extended beyond the borders of the Fire Nation.

“Her?” she sneered in contempt, rounding on the poor girl. “Northern scum! You’re the worst of all! Your people did nothing to help! You watched us be slaughtered and captured from behind the safety of your walls, seeing us only as collateral, as a sacrifice to slake the Fire Nation’s bloodlust enough that they may leave you alone!” She grinned. “Well now we’ll see how they like it when I send them the mangled remains of their princess in a box.”

“I’m sorry!” she pleaded, tears in her eyes. “Please, I swear I didn’t know!”

“But, of course, they came for you eventually.” Her voice was perfectly pleasant, almost sickly sweet; Ursa didn’t trust it. “Tell me, is it true that all they did was take you hostage? Just one person, and left the others alone? Even the benders?”

“I- Yes, but-”

“And look at you. Well-treated. No having wasted away in a prison. Making friends with the ashmakers! So, even when they did conquer you, you were spared the blood and pain and loss! Because you were allowed to make a deal!”

Ursa, still pulling on her chain, wondered if Hama would have accepted a deal even if it had been offered, but managed to bite her lip to stop the words getting out.

“But… But different people were responsible! And you’re torturing the person who offered that deal!” She pointed at Azula, still contorted into a painfully uncomfortable position.

Hama laughed; there was no humour in it. “Oh, believe me, I’m just getting started! Now that I have an almost complete set of Fire Nation royals, I am going to have some fun with them. And once I am done, I will send what’s left of them to the Firelord, that he may weep over his lost family!”

Despite the situation, Ursa burst out laughing at the very ridiculousness of the concept, and she heard her children joining in, though awkwardly in Azula’s case.

“You really don’t know him at all, do you?” she spat out mockingly.

Yue snorted in a manner that completely went against her introduction as a princess. “I barely even met the guy, and he didn’t exactly scream ‘family man’.”

And then, pain. Ursa’s whole body bending in ways it was never meant to… She screamed, and could hear others around her screaming too… Her son, for sure – his voice was the most distinctive – and her daughter. She thought maybe the other children as well, but she couldn’t be sure. Her chains loosened further; just a little more…

“STOP!” said Yue. Except… it wasn’t exactly her voice.

Suddenly the hold on her relaxed, and she would have sagged to the floor if not held up by her chains. Trying to catch her breath, she looked to her children, needing to know they were unharmed (so far). They were standing next to each other, both in firebending stances, even though in Azula’s case that was reflex. Ty Lee and Mai getting into defensive positions at their side, ready for anything. But Yue…

Yue was floating a few feet off the ground, her eyes and hair glowing pure white.

She blinked and would have rubbed her eyes if she’d had her hands free. What was happening?

“What?” snarled Hama. Ursa saw her flexing her hands and braced herself… but nothing happened. She stared at her hands in confusion. “What is happening?”

“I have removed your bending.” The voice seemed to have echoes. “You cannot use it to harm others anymore in a misguided quest for revenge that has blinded you even to the cause that you fought for.”

Hama continued trying to bend, her movements becoming increasingly frantic as her rage and frustration grew. “No!” she screamed. “You can’t do this!”

“I can. And I have. I try to avoid interfering with the lives of mortals, and it pains me to withdraw the gift that you have been given, but you have left me with no choice.”

Hama stared at her hands as she continued flexing her fingers uselessly, looking much smaller than she had been, before staring up at the shining girl. “But… without my bending, I… What am I supposed to do? Where do I go?”

Not-Yue looked sad for a moment. “Go home, Hama. There are those who still remember who you once were, who miss you.” She added, in a somewhat less-sympathetic tone. “And if I were you, I would go before these people are unchained, for I do not think that they will be gracious or merciful.”

Hama glanced around the cave, seeing the rage on the faces of prisoners she had held captive and tortured for years. Her gaze caught Ursa’s for a moment, and she actually flinched.

Still, she hesitated, perhaps thinking she might be able to plead her case (either with the prisoners or the spirit speaking through the girl, and Ursa did not rate her chances with either). Perhaps wondering if there was a way to turn this to her advantage somehow. Or maybe simply reluctant to let go of this life she had built for herself through the pain of others.

The lemur, able to fly again, swooped at her, clawing and biting, forcing her decision. She fled, hands over her head in an effort to protect herself.

Azula took a few steps forward, clearly wanting to pursue, before visibly collecting herself and turning away.

“Mai!” she called, dashing to her chained mother; she rested her head on her daughter’s shoulder as Azula put her arms around her. The last time she’d seen her daughter, such a position would have been impossible without contorting herself; she had missed so much, had missed her little girl growing up…

Her friend joined her, pulling a set of lockpicks out of her clothing and getting to work on Ursa’s manacles.

“Wait!” Zuko called out. Ursa raised her head as Azula and Mai turned to look at him, but he wasn’t looking at them, though his body had turned slightly, angled in her direction as if of its own accord. He threw her a quick, desperate glance, before shifting his attention back to Not-Yue, whose glow had been fading, but now redoubled, and Ursa braced herself, wondering if it would be displeased at any kind of command. “Who are you?”

“And what have you done to our friend?” Azula demanded.

She – it? – considered them for a long moment before answering. “I am Tui, the Moon Spirit. And your friend is quite alright; I am merely speaking through her. Why do you ask, Children of Fire?”

Zuko swallowed, then bowed. “Look, I know I don’t have any right to ask anything of you, considering what my people have done to yours, and this isn’t even your problem really, but… you’re the only spirit we’ve had the opportunity to ask, so um…”

“You wish to know how to restore firebending?”

He lifted his hands, despairing. “I feel like I’m supposed to just know, but I don’t!”

Tui-Not-Yue stared at him for long moments before answering, and Ursa wondered if she was going to smite her son from existence. She tried to silently plead with Mai to continue picking the lock (though there would be nothing she could do even with her hands free), but the girl was as transfixed by the scene as her.

“This is a journey you must walk for yourself, Child of Fire. I cannot help.” But then, in a voice that lacked some of the echo, that sounded a little more like the girl than the spirit… “All I can say is that you must first fix your own firebending before you concern yourself with that of others. Seek the truth at its source and you shall find it. Then find the bridge and join together with the other nations under the light of the Great Comet to restore the honour of your own.”

Before they could ask her anything more, the glow faded, and Yue sank to the floor. Ty Lee ran forward to catch her.

As if a thread holding him away had been cut, Zuko dashed forwards, just in time to help Azula catch her as the lock gave way at last and she collapsed into their arms. They sank to the floor, her arms around them, as she sobbed, “My babies, oh, my babies. You’re here. I can’t believe you’re here.”

She began kissing each of them on the tops of their heads, like she had when they were little, over and over. They were much too old for that now, but neither of them even tried to stop her.

Eventually though, she had to pull away (but she didn’t – couldn’t – let go of them). It hurt, but now that she could see her son’s face properly, a horrible suspicion was forming…

“Zuko…” She removed her arm from around him, raising a hand to brush against the edge of that scar.

A scar that was so clearly a wound from firebending, and a deliberate one at that. Someone had placed their hand over her baby’s face and burned him. And only one person would dare.

She didn’t say anything else; she didn’t need to.

Zuko pulled her back into the hug. “Mom, it’s okay. We’re okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

Chapter Text

By the time either she or Zuko felt able to let go. Mai had freed most of the prisoners (with some help from Momo). Ty Lee and Yue were nowhere to be seen.

“They went into town to get help,” Mai said, seeing her looking around.

Good call. Some of those people had been chained up for so long there was no chance of them being able to walk all the way back into town under their own power. The more mobile amongst them were helping the others stand and getting outside, where she could see moonlight streaming through the doorway, though she doubted any of them would go much further than the cave mouth, both because of inability and because of concern for walking through the woods alone, even with the danger supposedly having passed.

Outside sounded really good right now. It would probably sound even better for her mother.

“Come on. Let’s go outside.”

Together she and her brother helped their mother to her feet. She insisted on trying to walk herself, but stubbornness could only get her so far though, and she stumbled as soon as she was outside; they ended up having to help her. They sank down onto the grass to let her rest and sat staring up at the moon together.

The air wasn’t that cold, but she felt her mother shiver. Zuko must have too, as he directed his fingers at a small bush in front of them, setting it on fire. There was a small gasp from the people watching, and everyone gathered around, though they kept a respectful distance.

She wanted to apologise; even though Ursa seemed happy to see both of them, she was surely disappointed in her daughter for being the cause of all this.

But she didn’t want to spoil the moment. She wasn’t ready for that yet.

Momo scampered out of the cave and snuggled up next to her.

“Well, hello.” Ursa smiled at him and reached out to stroke his fur. “Who is this handsome little fellow?”

“That’s Momo,” Zuko told her. “He kind of belongs to the Avatar, but he’s been sticking with us.”

Ursa paused in her movements, much to Momo’s disappointment. “I’m sorry, did you say, ‘the Avatar’?!”

“Uh, yeah. Turns out he’s not dead after all. Just got frozen for a century.”

The other prisoners had been discreetly pretending not to be able to hear them. This was shocking enough for them to abandon the pretence though.

“He’s really back?” an old woman asked. “I thought that was a story.”

“Ha!” barked out a boy not much older than Zuko. “Thought the moon monster was a story too!”

Zuko nodded. “He’s really back. I, uh, travelled with him for a while, before… uh… before we got separated.”

This was met with consternation. “He’s here to destroy the Fire Nation!” cried one woman in despair. “First our bending, now… everything else!”

“No, no!” Zuko pulled away from their mother enough to allow him to hold his hands up. “He’s nice, really! And he used to visit the Fire Nation before the war and really liked it! He wouldn’t destroy anything!”

She wasn’t so sure about that. Even if he’d been as nice as Zuko seemed to think he was, he would probably have changed his mind after Zhao’s attack on the Northern Water Tribe, and he’d probably have seen something to make him angry since then. From the look on her brother’s face, he had his own doubts.

“You travelled with him?” was mom’s question.

He nodded, looking a little uncertain. This was a reincarnation of her grandfather, but she’d never expressed even a hint of disloyalty with the Fire Nation and the war it had been waging on the rest of the world.

There was so much they needed to tell her. And perhaps Zuko was as worried as she was about how mom would take it. Silly. She was always happy with him.

Mai emerged at last, helping the last few prisoners. She looked as if she wanted to say something, but hesitated, and instead bowed toward Ursa, before sitting silently nearby.

“Mai?” she said, smiling. “Look at you! You’re so tall now!”

Mai acknowledged that with a nod.

“Still as talkative as ever, I see!”

And then she turned her attention to Azula. “But it’s not like you to be this quiet. Are you alright? Did that woman hurt you?”

Her body still ached, but she wasn’t going to admit to weakness. And it was nothing compared to what mom had gone through. (All because of her.) She had no right to complain.

“I’m fine.”

Her mother’s arm tightened around her, pulling her in even closer; she didn’t believe her. (Because she knew what a liar Azula was. Why would she believe anything her daughter said?)

She stroked Momo’s fur, not wanting to look at her mother’s face, surely full of disappointment.

They stayed like that for a while, until the stillness of the night was disrupted by the stomp of marching feet, and the clatter of wheels.

A procession was making its way up the mountain towards them, Ty Lee and Yue at its head. There were town guards, armed to the teeth, as well as townspeople driving carts pulled by ostrich horses.

“Sorry we took so long!” Ty Lee called out breezily. “But you would not believe how hard it was to get people to even look out their windows! I had to make such a racket, then yell at the top of my voice that it was that creepy Hama all along and she was gone now because my good friend here is personally friends with the Moon Spirit and sent her away.” She sighed. “And even then, I had to tell them it was literally a royal decree to get them to actually come up here!”

“It was really her, the whole time?” asked the Guard Captain, clearly nervous but trying not to show it.

“It was,” Zuko told him. “But she is gone now, thanks to the Moon Spirit, and our good friend Princess Yue,” he made sure to emphasize her title, probably in the hope of a diplomatic incident being enough to put people off any kind of anti-Water Tribe retaliation. “She can’t hurt anyone else.”

“You can go and look.” Mai pointed at the cave. “There’s nothing in there now except chains. She’s long gone, and good riddance.”

The man steeled himself, before signalling to some guards to follow him in.

The townspeople began moving amongst the freed prisoners, handing out food and water and blankets. There were a few tearful reunions between people who thought they would never see each other again.

A few healers moved about, checking on people and treating the worst afflicted. One of them approached Ursa, and Zuko and Azula reluctantly pulled away so she could work, watching the assessment with bated breath. What if they’d got her back, but she was too badly hurt and died anyway…?

The healer pronounced that their mother was simply malnourished, dehydrated, and weak from lack of movement, and would be fine with time and care; they could breathe again.

The healer moved on to Zuko, who tried to protest. “No, it’s fine; I wasn’t held prisoner.”

She bowed. “I understand, Your Majesty,” she said, nervously. “But I understand that all of you were taken over by this woman, and if you were to suffer consequences for this, it would be on my head for failing to check.”

Zuko, ignoring the advice engraved on his knife, gave up without a fight. The examination basically just consisted of her poking him in a few places, bending various limbs and joints, and asking if any of those actions caused any pains. Zuko answered in the negative each time, and didn’t seem to be lying, unless he’d become really good at it all of a sudden, which she doubted.

Azula tried to put up more resistance than him, but her mother frowned at her. “Please, Azula, you know it’s important to listen to the healer.”

Her mother was smiling, but the rebuke still stung. She was disappointing her mother again already.

She allowed the examination to proceed, only nodding or shaking her head when required to give a response, because she’d probably say the wrong thing somehow.

The guard captain emerged from the cave and approached them. He bowed. “Your Majesty, we have checked the cave and confirmed that it is empty. With your permission, I will send a team of my best men to hunt down the person responsible.”

Zuko so clearly wanted to give that permission (he wasn’t a complete idiot and could feel how pitifully thin and weak their mother was, just as she could), and she wanted him to give it, to have her hunted down like an animal. Hama had hurt their mother, had kept her from them! Had tried to trick them. (Had succeeded in trucking them! How had Azula been so blind, allowing herself to fall for some helpless old lady act?) She must pay dearly for what she’d done! She wanted to go after her… But she had the stupidest idea that something would happen to her mother if she wasn’t there.

But then he glanced at Yue, and closed his eyes. “I would love to,” he said, before reopening his eyes and staring around at the people gathered in the clearing. “But the Moon Spirit was clear that she should go home.” He sighed. “I suppose that is fair; the Fire Nation brought her here in the first place. It should be her own people who get to make the final decision what to do about her.”

“Your Majesty, I don’t want to question your judgement, but-”

“It’s not my judgement though.” He pointed up at the moon. “It’s hers. Are you going to argue with a spirit? Because I’m not. Without her bending, she’s just the old woman she pretended to be.”

Much as she knew he was right, she wanted to argue. “But we can’t do nothing!”

He mother’s arm tightened around her, though whether in agreement or reproach, she didn’t know. (Probably the latter.)

He sighed. “I’m not going to let it go entirely. I will make sure that the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe is informed, and it will be his decision what to do with her. I don’t know him, but-” He hesitated, looking unsure for a moment, before recovering. “His children speak well of him, and he doesn’t seem like the type who would tolerate someone who could put his family in danger. I will defer to his judgement on the matter.”

He gave a firm nod to the captain, who bowed, this time seeming to accept the order now that he knew someone would be watching for Hama.

“Very well,” he said. “Though I would like to make sure that the town is tightly patrolled until we are sure she has left the area.”

“That sounds reasonable. Please assign guards as you think necessary for that.”

The man bowed and left to confer with his guards.

As soon as he was gone Zuko slumped against his mother. “Zuko, what’s the matter?”

“People expect me to act like a Firelord, but I don’t know how!”

She removed her arm from around Azula to hug Zuko properly. Because he needed her way more than she did. Azula didn’t matter.

“But you did really well,” she told him reassuringly.

“But that’s just it. I don’t know how to be Firelord, so I acted like dad would. I wasn’t really me.”

Ursa pulled him in closer, resting her cheek on the top of his head. “Oh, my darling. You did not act like him at all. I know for a fact that he would not have accepted the Moon Spirit’s judgement, and would have shown no mercy towards her. And I cannot say I would have disagreed with him doing so.” She stroked his hair. “You may have imitated his way of acting, but you were still very much yourself, Zuko. And I am proud of you.”

Azula sat to the side, forgotten. Why had she expected anything different?

⁂

They were given pride of place in one of the carts. In fact, they almost ended up having one of the carts to themselves, even though everybody else would struggle to fit in the others. Zuko had to insist that they were more than willing to share.

“Okay,” said Mai to Yue, as soon as they were all seated in the cart. “What was with all… that?”

Azula would dearly like to know that too. “Yes, you never said you could do anything like that!”

Her voice came out sounding more accusatory than she’d intended, and she half expected to earn more disappointment, but mother was quietly resting her head on Zuko’s shoulder (of course she’d chosen him), and said nothing to her (because she didn’t care about her).

Yue looked faintly embarrassed. “I actually didn’t know that my connection with Tui allowed her to do that.”

“How do you even have a connection to a spirit?” she asked.

“Because I owe the Moon Spirit my life.”

“Huh?” asked Zuko, stupidly.

“When I was born, I was sick. I didn’t even cry. My father says it was like I was asleep, and nothing the healers tried could wake me. Desperate, he brought me to our Spirit Oasis, under a full moon, and begged for the spirits to save me, and the Moon Spirit answered. My hair turned white, and then I opened my eyes and cried for the first time.”

“Just like that?” asked Mai. “The spirit didn’t ask for anything in return?”

“No, nothing.”

“Huh.”

Azula didn’t know what to say to that. The idea of a father who would beg the spirits so hard to save his child’s life that one of them would listen sounded more fantastical that the Moon Spirit speaking through one of her friends.

⁂

They ended up back at the inn, for want of anywhere else to go. Of course, if they’d even hinted at needing somewhere to sleep, she was sure people would have fallen over themselves to offer them rooms. But she didn’t want to deal with that right now. And there was enough room at the inn for them to be able to stay together.

Besides, it wasn’t as if they were superstitious.

Though that didn’t mean they had the place to themselves. Most of the freed townspeople were able to go back to their own homes, but a few had been imprisoned for long enough that living arrangements had changed in the meantime – people had moved into supposedly-abandoned properties, grief-stricken families had moved away and sold their house, and lodgers were renting supposedly-empty rooms – all of which would need to be untangled, but nobody felt like doing that right then.

So the inn was now a hive of activity. Not that it felt like it to her, curled up on a bed together with her mother and brother. Stupid, to share a bed with their mother like they were babies. But none of them had even thought about sleeping separately.

Azula blinked her eyes open, then yawned and stretched. Afternoon sun streamed through the curtains. She should get up. Just because she had only gone to bed with the dawn, that was no reason to sleep in…

But instead, she pressed herself closer to her mother. (Against her back, of course. Because she was facing Zuko. Of course she was.)

At least she had Momo, who was snuggling into her arms. That was something at least. She stroked his fur, gently, but still managed to wake him. He didn’t seem to mind though, leaning into her touch.

Eventually a yawn, followed by a groan, announced the waking of her brother. “Morning,” he muttered.

“Afternoon,” she corrected, irritably. “You’d think someone who could still firebend could tell time.”

He rolled his eyes. “It still counts as morning. Why do you always have to be like this?”

A faint groan as their mother woke. “Come on now, both of you.”

Zuko apologised, of course.

“Whatever,” she muttered.

She could hear the clattering of pots from the kitchen downstairs. Her stomach growled with hunger at this reminder that food existed.

Zuko got out of bed and did his best to smooth down the creases in his clothing. Mother tried pushing herself upright, and he leapt forward to help her sit up, moving one of the pillows so she had something to rest against. (Always so perfect and helpful. Mother’s favourite.)

“I’m going to get us something to eat,” he said, opening the door.

“That sounds lovely,” mother said. “And why don’t you ask if they need any help? They would probably appreciate having a firebender to help with cooking.”

Zuko blinked. “Huh, I didn’t think of that.” He smiled. “Good idea, mom.”

Momo, hearing the word ‘eat’, leapt out of her arms, leaving them empty, and flew over to land on Zuko’s shoulder. The door closed behind them, and then mother turned to face her. She reached over and stroked Azula’s face.

“All right, what is it?” she asked, staring into her daughter’s face with a worried expression.

“What is what?” Azula looked away.

Gentle fingers pressed against her cheek, turning her face back.

“Azula. We’ve been apart for so long, and you’ve changed so much.” A pause, and she swallowed, closing her eyes. “I’ve missed so much.” She opened her eyes again. “So maybe you being too quiet is just part of you growing up. But somehow, I don’t think it’s that.” Her thumb stroked Azula’s cheek. “Please, tell me what’s wrong. If that witch injured you, then I will go-”

“I’m sorry!” she blurted out. Then she squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

(She was not going to cry. She was not.)

Mother’s other hand was suddenly gripping her shoulder tightly, as she leaned down to stare into her daughter’s face. “Sorry for what? Azula? What’s wrong?”

She sounded terrified. Azula tried to get herself under control; a princess must always be calm and collected.

She must be perfect.

She sat upright, kneeling on the bed, looking down, showing humility. “I’m sorry for making you leave. If I hadn’t told you that story abou-”

She was pulled into a hug so tight she could barely breathe.

“Azula… Azula, my darling. You have nothing to apologise for. Nothing.” There were tears against her neck, and her mother had to take a breath before continuing. “What happened was your father’s doing, not yours.”

“But-”

“But nothing.” A hand stroked her hair, soothing. “I went to him to ask the truth about what you had told me, because while it sounded unlikely, your grandfather was not a kind man – it really isn’t surprising your father turned out the way he did. So, I went straight to him. And he told me that it was absolutely true. I still didn’t want to believe it, but oh, he gave the performance of a lifetime!”

She was silent for a while, and Azula might have thought she had fallen back asleep if she couldn’t feel the tension in her body. “He acted as if he was so conflicted by what he had to do. That he was reluctant to kill his own son, only what choice did he have but to obey his Firelord.” Another pause. “And if he did not do it, then Azulon would, and he would be sure to make it slow and brutal. The only option was to ensure he was not around to see the order carried out.” A breath, and then she gave her daughter a determined look. “So, I did what I had to; I killed him, and I did so myself.”

Azula pulled away, staring at her mother in shock. “You killed Firelord Azulon?” She couldn’t believe it. She’d assumed father must have done it, just with her help. “But… how?”

Ursa smiled. “Before I married your father, my life was very different. My family was nobility, but because of my grandfather-”

“So, you’re really the granddaughter of Avatar Roku?”

“So, you know about that, hmm?” Azula nodded. “Yes, because of him, my family was shunned. And social status counts for very little when you need to put food on the table. So, we had to earn a living. I trained as a herbalist.”

“You poisoned him?”

She smiled, though it was slightly bitter. “I did. Something tasteless and subtle. But before he died, he told me about what he really had planned for your father.”

“So you went to kill him?” She still wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

She nodded, and her fingers twitched slightly against Azula’s back. “It was painful to do that. But, to use my love of my children as a means to manipulate me…” Her face hardened into a grimace. “If he had just told me the truth, asked me for help, I would have done it.” An angry shake of her head. “Did he think I didn’t care if he died? That I wouldn’t act to spare him? My own husband, for Agni’s sake!” A bitter smile. “But no, he’d rather terrify me, let me think that my own child was about to die horribly, use me as a tool!”

She shook her head, sighing. Azula wanted to say something, but what?

“And I had just killed the Firelord! People had seen me entering his chambers! People knew I had served him tea!” She shuddered. “The poison was undetectable, and he was old, but it only takes one person to raise suspicions. I was so sure I would be executed, that he would deny all involvement, leave me to take the blame. So, I acted. I made some more tea.”

Azula remembered the strange tea she’d drunk, and she pulled away slightly. “That tea… it was poisoned? But… I drank it!”

Ursa shook her head. “No, I didn’t have the time or ingredients to make another batch of that. All I could manage was a sleeping draught. I had to use another means to end his worthless life.”

Azula’s eyes widened. “Zuko’s knife! That’s why it was there!”

He mother smiled. “My clever girl. Yes. But there was no chance of me striking while your father was alert and ready. So I had to ensure he was neither of those things. But you got your cleverness from your father, and he was suspicious. He expected poison; he wasn’t going to drink anything I brought him. Not without a taster.”

Azula went cold. Colder than when her inner flame had gone out. “He… he thought that was poison. But… he made me drink it…”

Ursa pulled her back into her embrace. “He did, and I’m so so sorry, my darling.”

“But if it wasn’t poison, why didn’t you want me to drink it? Why were you so angry at me?”

“I was angry at your father, not you. And I’d chosen a dose large enough for him. My little girl, so small, if you had drunk the whole cup… it would have killed you.”

Azula remembered how tired she’d been, just from a few small sips. She had barely made it out of the room. If she had drunk the whole cup… Her mother was right. She shuddered, and her mother’s arms tightened around her.

“So you drank it instead.”

She nodded, though it hadn’t been a question.

“And you tried not to, but…”

She remembered her father’s arm around her, only now, wrapped in her mother’s embrace, realising how cold and stiff it had been. And in his other hand…

“Yes,” Ursa pulled back a little to look at her, stroking a hand down her cheek. “I drank it to protect you.”

“But…” She began shaking. “But why?”

Her mother stared at her, mouth open, before she could answer. “What do you mean, why?”

“But… you love Zuko. Not me! I can’t seem to do anything right!”

“Oh, my darling. I might have taken issue with your behaviour sometimes, just as I do your brother’s when he misbehaves, but that has never meant I love you any less. Your behaviour is not who you are.”

But… father only loved her when she was perfect.

((Father was wrong.)

“But… who am I?” She realised she was crying. Acting like a baby.

She was pulled in for a hug again, tear-stained face pressing into her mother’s hair. “You are my beautiful, clever, talented, fierce, stubborn girl. That is who you are.” She tightened her grip. “And you always will be.”

“Even when I’m bad?” Her voice was all stupid and choked up.

“Even when you’re bad.” A kiss was pressed onto the top of her head. “Even when you say mean things to your brother to scare him. Even when you say your uncle shouldn’t come back from the war. Even when you put a piranha-lizard into someone’s bed.”

“Even if I’m a monster?”

“You’re not a monster, Azula.” The arms tightened around her. “And even if you were, I would still love you.”

She really began crying then, hard. Like a baby. Mom just held her, stroking her hair and back, and making soothing noises that reminded her of the lullabies she’d once hummed.

 “I just- I just want you to be proud of me.”

“Oh, my darling. I’m already proud of you. And I know I will continue to be.”

Chapter Text

She stayed cuddled up with her daughter just as she once had, before Azula had become convinced she needed to listen more to her father. Until Zuko finally came back with their breakfast, followed by Mai, Ty Lee and Yue, all of them carrying trays piled with food. Azula pulled away, never wanting to look weak. Ursa was reluctant to let her go, but she had to so they could eat.

(She wasn’t entirely alone though; the lemur flew straight back to her side, curling up next to her, which she reacted to happily, with no attempt to act aloof.)

“I’m sorry it took so long,” he apologised as he set his tray down on the bed, pulling up a chair to sit next to it and grabbing a bowl. “I was just going to help with cooking and grab something for us. But it seemed like everyone wanted to talk with me. The Guard Captain still wants to send someone after Hama. And then the Mayor wanted to talk about building a statue of Yue in the town square.”

“But I didn’t do anything!” she protested.

“Well, as far as they’re concerned, you’re best friends with the Moon Spirit and vanquished evil from the town.” He shrugged. “There are worse reasons to build a statue of someone.”

He paused long enough to eat a few mouthfuls of rice. “And then there was some woman who wanted to know where she was supposed to live, because someone bought her house after her supposed death, and another whose husband married someone else. So, I suggested they work together to run the inn. And then…”

“We had to rescue him,” said Mai. “I bet we won’t get a statue for that though.”

“Mom, they think I’m Firelord!” He stared at her, terrified. “But I’m not! And I can’t do anything for them!”

“You’re not?” she asked, surprised.

Hama had referred to her as ‘Firelady’ and her husband as Firelord when taunting her. And of course, there was no way her husband would relinquish power unless he had to. But the loss of firebending might have meant he’d had to; better to rule through a proxy you could control than to not rule at all. And the way the townspeople had spoken to her son, addressing him as ‘Your Majesty’, had led her to assume this was the case.

He shook his head. “No, I’m not! Father is still Firelord! I don’t have any idea what I’m doing!”

She reached for him and pulled him in for a hug. “It seems like you’re doing just fine, Zuko.”

“You could just tell them you’re not Firelord?” suggested Yue.

Zuko sighed, pulling away to sit upright; she let him go, reluctantly. “I don’t know. They seem really convinced. I feel like I’d be disappointing them by telling them they’re wrong.”

“It’s not even as if you have the crown,” noted Mai.

“Uh…”

Azula narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean, ‘uh’?”

“Well, actually I do have it?”

He reached down and pulled his bag out from under the bed. Rummaging around, he pulled out a cloth bundle, and unwrapped it.

The crown gleamed golden in the afternoon sunlight, and they all stared at it.

“Why didn’t you say you had it?” Azula asked, pausing in giving fruit to Momo (much to his apparent displeasure).

“To be honest,” he said, shrugging. “I just sort of forgot about it? It was just… kind of there? When I went to see father before we left? And it wasn’t as if he can wear it anymore, so I grabbed it and threw it in my bag.”

“I still can’t believe you just forget you have the crown, just sitting there in your bag,” commented Azula.

“We’ve been pretty busy!” Sunlight flashed off the crown as he swept his arms out in a wide gesture, trying to indicate the town, or perhaps the whole nation.

Ursa was more concerned by him ‘going to see Ozai’ before they’d left. When had that happened? Had that been when Zuko had been wounded? When the nation had lost its bending? Because it must have been him who had done that. But that would have been years ago. Had her children been wandering all this time?

(Before, she’d been conflicted, but if he really had done such a thing, then she would definitely kill him, without hesitation.)

“What do you mean you went to see him?”

To her surprise, he grinned, and Azula actually let out what could only be described as a giggle. The others had similar reactions. Even Mai smirked a little.

“Oh, yeah. Well…”

The story was not what she’d expected, and within minutes she was laughing too. Oh, to see his reaction when he woke up and found his hair gone! (She tried to ignore the memory of how it had felt beneath her fingers; even though they’d had servants, he’d preferred to have his hair brushed by her.)

“But what made you decide to leave?”

She was expecting the harrowing story of how he got that scar, bracing for it, but not wanting to hear it. (But she had to, needed to!).

But what she got was: “You.” And it was Azula who had answered.

Because she had admitted the truth of that night to her brother – or at least, what she’d known of it – and they’d both realised they needed to leave. Because Zuko had learned that his father had only ever seen him as a tool for his use. Though Ozai had tried to convince him otherwise by showing him off and acting like a decent father when he’d returned home, after he had been away…

Eventually, he realised he needed to tell it in order. (Or rather, Mai and Azula began pointing out – to various degrees of politeness – how confusing the story was getting. And Ursa’s questions were becoming increasingly confused as she struggled to get a handle on what she was being told, and place it somewhere in the timeline of things she’d missed.)

It began with an Agni Kai. Well, a meeting, that led to an Agni Kai. One he refused to fight, but his refusal was not accepted. (She absolutely was going to kill him!) Waking up on a ship with his uncle, to pain, a face wrapped in bandages, and an uncle’s explanations. Then to a group of old men wanting him as a puppet, another escape, and then an island where he had stayed hidden for two years, training and learning.

(“But what about you?” she asked her daughter.

“I was fine,” she said. “He didn’t care about me anymore.”

She wanted to say something, but she knew better than to push her daughter to show vulnerability with people watching.)

And then the Avatar came.

“Uncle insisted I go with them, and well, there was no option to say no…”

Travelling through a world ravaged by a war that was supposed to have brought civilisation, but had only brought destruction, wanting to tell them who he was, but worried about how they would react, as he tried to avoid giving himself away to either the Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, or his uncle’s former friends.

Arriving at the Northern Water Tribe, assuming that this would be the one place he could be away from the Fire Nation, only to find out that he was very wrong.

“It made sense that they would use me as a hostage, but… I really thought they were my friends. Even after all the things they said. But they wouldn’t even look at me. They hated me.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Yue told him. “They seemed pretty concerned.”

Zuko did not look convinced.

(“And of course it was on me to rescue the stupid idiot.”

“Calling me stupid is redundant if you’re also calling me an idiot.”

“Yeah, but you are extra stupid, dumdum.”

“I can’t believe you just called me ‘dumdum’! What are you, seven?”)

Her clever daughter had found a way to turn the situation to her advantage. Ursa wanted to tell her how proud she was, but it seemed rude to do so with the Water Tribe Princess sitting right there. She reached out and draped an arm around her shoulder instead.

Zuko had gone home half expecting to be executed when he got there, only to find something perhaps far worse.

(“I thought he loved me, mom!” There were tears in his eyes. “I thought he actually cared!”

“Oh, my darling.” She pulled him into a hug. “I don’t think he even knows how. Not properly.”)

Both of them had struggled. Zuko at last able to live up to his father’s standards – or so it had seemed – and scared he would lose it at any moment. Azula for the first time in her life unable to do so, and so scared he would find out.

Eventually, the truth had come out.

(“We left. We had to come find you. We just had to… I thought you’d abandoned us, but you hadn’t…”)

Following a years old trail (Had she really been in that witch’s clutches for five years? It somehow had felt both longer and shorter than that…), moving from island to island, asking people, looking for someone they were scared they would never find.

Their ending up at the inn had been a fluke; if anyone had seen Ursa venturing into the woods on foot, then they had not mentioned it, and being in possession of a war balloon…

(“I’m sorry, a what?”

“Oh, yeah, that happened while you were… Well… It’s really interesting. It turns out that…”)

…they had intended to travel straight to the town that she’d actually been heading for. But they had ended up in the woods anyway. And like her, they had foolishly believed the promises of a seemingly harmless and kindly old woman.

Most of them, anyway.

(“I hope you guys know that I’ve been working on a special ‘I told you so!’ dance.”)

And then, led by concern for their people, they had tried to investigate the rumours of spirits taking people.

And they had found her. Against all the odds.

“Okay, so now what?” asked Mai. “We found your mom, and she’s not dead like Ty Lee thought-”

“Hey! Don’t even tell me you weren’t thinking it even a little!”

“So, yay, we did it. Go us. But what now?” She shrugged. “Do we just… go home? Because I don’t think we’d get a warm welcome.” She thought a moment and added, “And not just because of the whole lack of firebending thing.”

“Well, I certainly want to,” said Ursa. “I have a few things I would like to say to my husband…”

“Maybe that’s it though?” said Ty Lee, thoughtfully. “The lack of firebending, I mean. If you have the crown, you can declare yourself Firelord. And that’s supposed to be what will fix everything.”

“Oh, sure,” said Zuko, rolling his eyes. “I’ll just walk up to the palace wearing the crown and dad will just graciously let me take the throne! Sure!”

Azula matched his eyeroll. Why did he have to be so dramatic. “Nobody said anything about giving him a choice, stupid. With all the peasants who already seem to think you’re Firelord, we could gather a small army along the way if we asked enough people to help us make it official.” She took a sip of her tea. “And while father did his best to weed out dissent in the court, there was only so much he could do, and I don’t believe he was able to do anything about the army or domestic forces. I doubt many will even bother putting up a fight.”

“But some people will fight,” Yue pointed out. “Either because they’re loyal to Ozai, or simply believe it’s their duty to follow the orders they’ve been given even if they’d rather defect. Not to mention people getting caught up in the fighting because the street they live on just became a battleground.”

“And what if that isn’t enough?” asked Mai. “The whole idea that Zuko being Firelord will magically just fix everything is just a dumb thing people made up to make themselves feel better about losing their bending. It’s not as if Agni himself made an official decree or whatever.”

Zuko was nodding. “Yeah, a lot of people didn’t even believe I had my bending still. Sokka and Katara thought it was some story to scare people with. There were all sorts of rumours.” He winced, and added. “And I don’t think it’s just about father. I saw so much while I was travelling. The Fire Nation has been doing awful things to the world for decades now. That Agni Kai was just the final straw.”

“Why don’t you try?” suggested Ty Lee. “You have the crown right now. And both of you were at your dad’s coronation, so you know how it goes. Plus, I bet Azula knows all the words to every single coronation speech in history.”

They all looked at each other and then shrugged.

Zuko got up and handed it to her – apparently being the adult in the room made her the High Sage – before kneeling down, facing away from her.

She raised the crown, but stopped, having no idea what she was supposed to say. She very much had not been present for her husband’s coronation (though she absolutely intended to be there for his funeral). She glanced at Azula who, quick on the uptake as always, got the hint.

“It’s not really anything fancy.” She coughed, more to signal that she was about to make a speech than because she had a blockage of any kind in her throat, and Ursa held the crown above her son’s head. “As was… As was not your wish, you are now succeeded by your son.” Azula waved a hand at her, and she placed the crown into his hair. “Hail Firelord Zuko.”

Zuko stood, turning to face them. He raised his hands, instinctively reaching up towards the crown, before realising what he was doing and snatching them back again, holding them at his sides. “Uh, thanks.”

“Very inspiring speech,” commented Mai, clapping politely.

“Thanks, you’re so supportive,” he said drily. He looked at his sister, raising his only eyebrow. “Well?”

Azula held out her hand, palm up, staring at it. Her face screwed up in concentration, but nothing happened, she slapped her hand back down onto the bad, frustrated.

“Well,” Ty Lee said brightly, as always trying to look on the positive side of things. “At least we found out now that it didn’t work, instead of in front of a huge crowd on the Coronation Plaza.”

Ursa did not even want to think about what would happen in that situation.

“There must be some way though,” Zuko grumbled. “I can’t believe I would still have my bending if there wasn’t a way to bring it back. If he’d meant to take it away forever with no chance of it returning, he’d just take everyone’s and have done with it.”

Azula thought carefully. “What about what Yue said in the cave, that seemed like something?”

Yue just looked confused. “I said something?”

“Well, Moon Spirit-You anyway.”

“Do we even know it’s good advice though?” asked Mai. “Would the Moon Spirit really be happy to help out followers of the Sun Spirit who have been kind of killing her followers for a century?”

“She seemed pretty angry at Hama,” Ty Lee said, face screwed up in concentration as she considered the interaction. “And not just because she attacked one of her own. I think if it had just been that, she’d have left her with her bending and just told her to go home.”

They all nodded. Ursa wished she could remember more, but she’d been too focused on trying to break out of her chains so she could help her children.

“Well, either way, it’s the only lead we have,” said Azula.

“Okay, well what did I say?” asked Yue.

“That I should fix my own bending first, before worrying about others, and that I should seek the truth.” He frowned. “And then there was something about going to a bridge and joining together with other nations.”

“She said ‘find the bridge’,” Azula corrected him. “Not that we need to go to it.”

“Sounds like the same thing to me. And that still doesn’t help us; there are lots of bridges!”

Ursa, sensing a fight brewing, tried to mediate. “Let’s take this one step at a time, perhaps. How about we concentrate on the first part for now?”

“Okay, but I don’t need to fix my bending!” Zuko protested. “It’s fine!”

Azula snorted, and he glared at her. “It is! Even father admitted it! Any time he had any kind of criticism while giving me firebending instruction, it was stuff like how a fireblast could be a lot more powerful if I had placed my feet slightly better. Or I wasn’t quite fast enough. Or I could only pull off lightning bending some of the time.” He ran a hand through his hair, pulling his topknot – and the crown attached to it – askew. “I don’t know, guys. I don’t want to make assumptions, but I really don’t think Agni cares that much about my lightningbending being less than perfect. Even if some people might.”

Azula tossed her head, ignoring the dig, as she finished the last of her rice.

“Very well,” said Ursa. “But despite what your father might think, he is not the be-all and end-all of firebending knowledge. Perhaps there is more to know?”

Zuko shook his head in confusion, and her hands itched to fix that topknot, but she let it be. “What more is there? Uncle taught me while we were on Kyoshi Island, and the only new thing he taught me was his lightning redirection technique.”

“That might be something,” said Mai. “Where did he learn that?”

“He said he figured it out by watching waterbenders and adapting their movements.” He shrugged. “But I don’t see how that would help. I get there’s value in learning from other nations, but it still seems kind of odd to fix firebending by trying to make it more like something else.”

“And which bending style would you pick anyway?” Azula muttered. “They’re all completely different from each other.”

Yue’s eyes were distant, thoughtful. “What about learning from firebending?”

“Weren’t you listening?” snapped Zuko. “I already have!”

“Zuko,” she told him, firmly. “Your friend is trying to help.”

“Fine. Sorry.” He sighed. “But I have learned from firebenders. Several of them. My father, my uncle, and a couple of instructors as a kid after my father decided he was too busy to teach me himself.”

“I don’t mean that. It’s just…” she paused a moment, trying to form her thoughts into the proper words. “Well, the Fire Nation has very much lost its way, though that’s perhaps a polite way of putting it. Maybe that applies to bending as well?”

Azula’s expression became thoughtful. “There are documents that talk about Firelord Sozin’s style of firebending supplanting all other styles, mainly due to it being more combat-focused, which of course is a priority in a war.” She shook her head, dismissing the thought. “But from the references that I could find, the other styles weren’t that different. Just focused on different things, like blocks, or control, or speed, or stamina.”

Yue tried again. “Well, how about going further back. Where does firebending come from? What were the first firebenders?”

“The sun,” Azula told her. “Which doesn’t help us much unless Agni decides to drop by and say ‘hi’ like the Moon Spirit did.”

“And the first firebenders were dragons,” Mai pointed out. “Who are all, kind of, well. Dead.”

“What about the Sun Warriors though?” asked Ty Lee. “I loved learning about them! They sounded so interesting.” She pouted. “But my stupid history teacher was more interested in telling us about the Great March of Civilisation for the 800^th time.”

Zuko frowned, then reached into his bag again and pulling out the map. “The site of their civilisation is pretty close to here. We could probably make it in a day if we really pushed the balloon.”

“You think we’re going to learn something vital from some old ruins?” Privately, Ursa shared her daughter’s scepticism, but avoided saying so aloud.

Zuko shrugged, glaring at his sister. “I don’t know! Maybe there’ll be some mural or inscription with helpful instructions or something!”

Mai shrugged, twirling a chopstick between her fingers. “It sounds horrifically boring, but do you have a better idea? Because I’d love to hear it.” She cocked her head, thoughtful. “Unless it’s even more boring. In which case, please keep it to yourself.”

Well, Ursa thought, at least Ty Lee looked happy.

Chapter Text

Going to a bunch of ancient ruins was clearly the dumbest plan Zuko had ever come up with (which was saying something). But whatever. It was a place to go that was away from people. While it was nice to be appreciated and adored by one’s subjects, they’d been so crowded with offers of help that it had been hard to think properly. And if Momo got fed any more fruit by townspeople amused that he had struck the final blow, then he would end up too fat to fly.

So, sure, a history field trip to an extremely remote abandoned civilisation was pointless, but at least it would give her space to think while the others stared at old buildings.

Her scepticism lasted until a tripwire nearly sent Ty Lee into a spiked pit, saved only by her reflexes and acrobatic skills.

She and Zuko bent to examine the trap.

“This booby trap must be centuries old, and it still works.”

She rolled her eyes. Really, how had this idiot survived?

“Zuko, look at it. Does that look centuries old to you? It would have worn away by now if it had.” She pointed at where it was fixed to the walls. “And look! No rust, or any kind of wear and tear that suggests it’s been exposed to the elements for any length of time? No.” She stood, brushing dust from her knees. “This is new.”

She eyed the distant building that looked like a temple with new interest, before stepping back a few paces, then dashing forward, pushing herself off the wall to boost herself over to the other side, where Ty Lee waited, Momo swooping after her.

Zuko followed her, leaping and running across the wall as easily as if it was the ground.

“Well, whenever it was put here,” he grumbled, as he landed next to her. “People don’t make traps unless they’ve got something worth protecting.”

Well at least he wasn’t without all sense.

Her newfound interest deflated a little as she looked over and saw her mother, Mai, and Yue still on the other side. Mai could manage that with no issue, but Yue had no chance, and even if her mother could, she was still weak from her long imprisonment. Walking was still a struggle for her.

Splitting the party was a bad idea, but it seemed they had no choice.

“Perhaps you should wait here. We’ll come back as soon as we find anything,” she called across.

Only, they didn’t know how long that would take.

Mai rolled her eyes and pointed at the trap. “You know you could have walked between the spikes, right?”

Oh.

Momo patted her head reassuringly.

⁂

They headed straight for the large structure in the centre. If anything valuable or useful (or both) was here, that would be the likeliest place. It was the grandest building, built in a prominent position, and was surprisingly intact compared to the rest of the place. One would almost think it had received some sort of maintenance… If it turned out to be empty, they would just have to work their way through the rest of the ruins. There were a few others that were nearly as prominent. But nearly didn’t count, as her father had taught her.

They paused at the mural. Azula raised an eyebrow. “Well, so far we’ve learned that dragons breathe fire at people they don’t like. Very educational.”

“He must really have pissed them off,” Mai commented.

“He seems surprisingly happy about it though,” said her mother.

They continued on over a bridge, only to meet their match in a pair of doors shut fast. Mai examined them, but could find no lock to pick.

“Wait,” said Zuko, and she looked round to see him examining the floor, of all things. Then she noticed it too. Tracking the beam of light to its source, she found a red gemstone, identical to the one positioned above the door.

“It’s a celestial calendar,” Zuko announced, at the same time as she figured it out. “Just like the Fire Sages have at their temples. I bet that sun stone opens the door, but only when the sunlight hits it at the right angle…”

“On the solstice,” she finished for him. Great, that was all they needed.

There were groans from the others, echoing her sentiments, but Zuko was looking intrigued.

He unsheathed one of his swords and held it out, angling it to catch the sunlight. “Let’s see if we can outsmart this thing.”

Azula couldn’t help herself. “You versus a rock? I don’t know, Zuzu. Perhaps you should pick an easier target?”

“Ha ha,” he deadpanned, turning the blade until he found the right angle, and… Nothing.

She had just opened her mouth to point out that he was clearly doing something wrong, when the doors shuddered open.

Well, whoever was hanging around here would definitely know they were here now. Oh well, not like they’d been trying to be that subtle.

She blinked in surprise as they walked inside. Statues in a temple weren’t entirely unexpected. But normally they were posed in a dignified, stoic manner. Dynamic poses were unusual.

“It says ‘Dancing Dragon’,” said Ursa, reading from the inscription at the base of the nearest statue to the door.

“Is this a firebending kata?” asked Mai, looking round at the circle.

Zuko shook his head. “Not one I’ve ever seen.”

He stared questioningly at her, and she scowled, wanting to tell him that of course she knew what it was. But she couldn’t. “Don’t look at me. I don’t know it either.”

“Perhaps you’re supposed to learn it?” suggested Yue, who was walking slowly around the edge of the ring, peering curiously at the statues.

Azula scoffed. “What’s the point of one kata?”

“You did come here to learn something about firebending,” her mother reminded her, as she sat down against the wall, looking exhausted. Momo jumped off her shoulder and went to curl up on her mother’s lap.

“Yes, but-”

“Ooh! Guys, look!” Ty Lee squealed.

They turned to find her imitating the pose of one of the statues.

Azula sighed. “Ty Lee, we all know you can pull off even crazier poses than that, so what’s the big de-”

“No, look!” She nodded down at the foot still placed on the floor.

Azula frowned annoyed at this distraction, then her eyes widened. The stone had shifted under her friend’s foot, but it didn’t look as if it had done so because it was loose – it had stayed flat. Like a button being pressed.

Ty Lee placed her other foot back down, but remained on the spot, and  the panel raised again, even with her weight still on it.

Azula began walking around the ring of statues, glimpsing Zuko doing the same on the other side. Looking closely, she could see all the other statues had similar panels in front of them. It was probably a bad idea; they’d already encountered one trap, and she was surprised not to have come across more… But she really wanted to see what would happen.

She raised her eyebrow at her brother questioningly, and he nodded.

“I don’t see what the point of this is, but why not?”

The others moved to the edges of the room.

Ty Lee, as always, tried to be positive. “Even if it doesn’t actually do anything, you’d have learned a new kata.”

Yeah, one that she couldn’t use! (Might never be able to use…)

Still, she moved through the forms, trusting that her brother would be doing the same, hopefully competently (the poses were right in front of him, for Agni’s sake; even he couldn’t screw this up). It seemed he had though, and perhaps it was all the firebending practice they’d had as kids, before she’d gotten so good that she’d been moved to separate lessons, or perhaps the weeks of swordfight rehearsals, but they managed to stay in sync, meeting their fists together and forming a perfect arc.

There was another rumbling noise, though less loud than the opening of the door, and a hole opened in the centre of the floor. As they looked at it, wary, a pedestal rose from the hole, a golden egg resting on top, glinting in the sunlight.

“Well,” said Mai. “At least it did something.”

“Yeah,” said Ty Lee. “But it’s not exactly what I was expecting. What is that thing?”

“Some kind of mystical gemstone,” said Zuko, walking towards it.

“Wait, guys! What if it’s another trap!”

Azula rolled her eyes, brushing off Ty Lee’s concern as she joined her brother in approaching the mysterious item.

“Azula, Zuko, stop!” called their mother.

The only warning she got was a swish of fabric and a movement of air, and then some sharp jabs to her shoulders left her arms hanging at her sides. Looking around at her friend in betrayal, she found her brother similarly afflicted. Ty Lee was standing there, hands on hips.

“Guys, seriously. First rule of exploring ancient ruins: Do not touch the mysterious shiny item that practically has a huge ‘please take me’ sign on it!”

“Oh, come on! We were clearly supposed to get this thing. We had to do some stupid dance to get it to pop up! And it was locked away in a chamber that can only be accessed on a solstice.”

Her mother pushed herself to her feet, walking towards them slowly.

“Look,” she said, reaching out to place a hand on both their (useless) shoulders. “We’re here to find out about firebending and anything useful relating to that. Ancient knowledge and wisdom.” She nodded at the egg-shaped object. “How does that help?”

“Well, what are we supposed to do?” grumbled Zuko, twitching his shoulders in a vain attempt at getting his arms to start moving. “Just leave it?”

That got a raised eyebrow from Mai, and then a sigh. “Sure. Why not.” She waved a hand towards the doorway. “We already know somebody has been out there setting traps. They’re going to come investigate.”

“And we can ask them for help,” said Yue. “I’m sure they’ll know their way around. And if they’re more concerned about protecting a gemstone, they might not mind sharing some knowledge if it’ll make us leave.”

Mai shrugged. “Well, I wasn’t thinking about asking nicely. But sure.”

“And, maybe the egg is important,” suggested Ty Lee. “But the sun is supposed to hit it just right.”

She pointed towards the entrance, where the sun was streaming through, but stopping just short of the pedestal.

“But if the room is only meant to be open on the solstice-” Zuko began.

“Then I’m sure you can figure something else out, just as you did to open the door, my clever boy.” She ruffled his hair.

“Mom!” But until the chi-blocking wore off, he couldn’t do anything to stop her.

She hated to agree with their paranoia. But it was kind of suspicious that they’d only encountered one trap. And it had been one that would only have worked on a lone traveller who was particularly stupid. Even if Ty Lee had landed on those spikes and bled to death horribly, the rest of them would have been able to continue onwards just fine. Yet the amount of engineering that had gone into its creation suggested that someone had been extremely concerned with protecting the secrets of this place.

It could simply be that the spike pit was the only one of the ancient traps to remain, and whoever was squatting in these ruins was simply making use of what they had.

But still, caution was best.

Perhaps it was a test of some kind. Since it had popped up at the end of a firebending kata, maybe you were supposed to firebend at it to prove how powerful your fire was, and if it was powerful enough, it would open up, or do something. But even Zuko couldn’t firebend right now, so they would have to wait until the chi-blocking wore off.

Besides, it wasn’t as if they were rushing off anywhere. Even if they did pick up the dumb egg right now and nothing happened, it would only be sitting in one of their bags while they ate, slept and explored the rest of the ruins. So, it may as well stay where it was.

“Fine. It’s there now. Let’s see if anything happens to it.”

⁂

They set up camp outside the doors. It had enough elevation to give excellent views of the surrounding city, and anyone coming to investigate the door’s unscheduled opening (or steal the treasure they’d potentially uncovered) would have to go through them.

By the time the chi-blocking wore off, she was hungry, and once they were done eating, nobody felt like exploring anymore, though there was still daylight left. Mom was exhausted and needed to rest, and neither she nor Zuko wanted to leave her behind to explore. She would definitely slow them down, but so be it.

She took first watch that night, before handing it off to Yue, but it felt as if she had no sooner gotten to sleep than her friend was shaking her awake. Ugh, if she was flinching at shadows or something…

“There are people in the city. Coming this way.”

That woke her up.

“Where?”

Yue pointed. “Down there, by that huge column next to the square building.”

At first, she couldn’t see anything, and then, in a gap between buildings, a glimpse of torchlight. And as she kept watching while Yue woke the others up, the moon emerged from behind a cloud, kindly illuminating a figure darting across a street.

More than one person then.

“So, what do we do?” asked Ty Lee, stretching.

“We wait,” replied Zuko, before she could answer. “It looks like they’re heading this way anyway. And going down to meet them head-on is a bad idea. We don’t know how many of them there are, and there’s probably more traps like the one we ran into yesterday. Even if there aren’t, this place looks like a maze. Not really smart to chase an unknown enemy around unknown terrain that they know well.”

He was saying exactly what she’d planned to say, but she wasn’t about to be upstaged, so before he could say anything more, she added, “Meanwhile, we have a defensible position with good views. So, we wait.”

⁂

He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting. A criminal gang, perhaps. People who had moved away from the Fire Nation due to its limited space, or dislike for its current Firelord. Or maybe refugees from the Western Earth Kingdom.

He definitely hadn’t been expecting Sun Warriors. Actual Sun Warriors.

They weren’t pleased to have guests, that was for sure.

“We weren’t trying to steal your stupid sun stone!” snapped Azula, folding her arms and glaring. “Look! It’s still there! We didn’t even touch it!”

Seeing the stone was still there helped, but they still weren’t exactly welcoming. (His sister’s attitude probably wasn’t helping.)

“Please! We came here to learn about the origins of firebending.” He held his hands out and lit a flame in his palms.

This was met with shock from the gathered warriors, and the air filled with muttering. A skinny, ratweaselly-looking man stepped forward to stand beside the Chief. “So, you’re the one who took our bending!”

They suddenly found themselves surrounded by a circle of spearpoints, and the Chief’s glare only grew more furious.

He swallowed. He’d never been great at talking his way out of stuff, and with the mood his sister was in, he wasn’t sure she wouldn’t make things worse.

Ursa was suddenly stepping in between him and the Chief, getting right in his face. “How dare you!” she snarled, jabbing at his chest with a finger. “It was his father’s actions that led to this, not him! The asshole burned him! In public! And nobody did anything!”

“Mom!” He really wished the ground would swallow him up. There was never an earthbender around when you needed one.

He stepped forward and gently dragged her off. “Look, I’m Zuko, the… well, I guess I’m Firelord? Sort of?” Everyone seemed to think he was, and people had been pushing him towards this grand destiny that he supposedly had, and he had put the crown on and everything. But what was he? Really? He cleared his throat, trying to sound more confident and decisive. “I was… uh after consulting with a spirit, I have come to learn the truth about firebending, in the hope of restoring it.” He paused a moment. Nobody was laughing or trying to kill them (or asking which spirit), so he took another breath and continued. “I never imagined the Sun Warrior civilisation was secretly alive, and I’m sorry you lost your bending. I’m sorry everyone did. But I swear, I didn’t choose this. I am humbled to be in your presence. Please, teach me. And my sister.”

Just because Azula didn’t have her bending didn’t mean she shouldn’t learn so she had the knowledge for when it came back.

He bowed, and thankfully Azula took the hint and bowed too. The others followed suit, his mother the last of all, reluctant to let the Chief’s accusation go.

When he looked up, the Chief was staring at him in a manner that was… not exactly what he’d call friendly. But at least less hostile. Slightly less.

“If you wish to learn the ways of the Sun, you must learn them from the masters Ran and Shaw.”

He exchanged a glance with Azula; she looked intrigued. They’d come expecting to have to dig through relics. But it seemed that there were actual masters to teach them. “And they can teach us what they know?” she asked.

“When you present yourselves to them, they will examine you. They’ll read your hearts, your souls, and your ancestry.” He scowled down at them both, and for once Azula looked just as worried as him. “If they deem you worthy, they’ll teach you. If they don’t, you’ll be destroyed on the spot.”

Azula frowned, looking sceptical. “How?”

“In fire.”

Chapter Text

Whoever these mysterious masters were, they didn’t work at night, so they had to wait until the next day for their lesson. Zuko was so nervous, he was amazed he got any sleep.

Before going to meet the Sun Warriors, he placed the crown in his hair. He didn’t know if that would be making a good impression or damning him before he even opened his mouth. Whichever it was, Azula decided to go along with it, digging her own royal headpiece out of her pack and putting it on.

The Chief made no comment beyond a raised eyebrow, giving no indication as to whether the two of them had just placed targets on their heads. He quietly led them up to the highest level of the structure, where a small fire burned under a small dome.

The other Sun Warriors surrounded them, arranging themselves in concentric circles. Their mother and friends sat at the back (Momo had been extremely disappointed at being left out, but neither of them wanted to risk him annoying the masters somehow.)

“If you are going to see the masters,” the Chief began. “You must bring them a piece of the Eternal Flame. This fire is the very first one, given to man by the dragons.”

It… looked pretty unimpressive for that.

Perhaps the Chief had heard his thoughts, because he quickly added, “We have kept it going for thousands of years.” He glared at Zuko. “As you can imagine, this has proved… challenging lately.”

Oh, right. Yeah.

“You will each take a piece of it to the masters, to show your commitment to the sacred art of firebending.”

His hand raised before dropping again as he grimaced. He stared into the fire a moment, then turned to face them. “This would normally be the part where I hand you some of the flame, but I cannot.” He stepped aside. “You must reach towards it, and call some of it to your hand.”

Zuko walked up to the fire and nervously held out his hand, summoning a small amount of the fire to him. To his relief, he didn’t screw it up by pulling too little or two much or somehow managing to extinguish the Eternal Flame.

“This ritual illustrates the essence of Sun Warrior philosophy. You must maintain a constant heat. The flame will go out if you make it too small. Make it too big and you might lose control.”

This wasn’t anything he didn’t already know. Maintaining a constant heat was essential to meditation – and keeping the flames around the throne going. He could actually make the flame pretty big without losing control, he was sure. But best not to test that; it seemed like these masters must be sticklers for things being done just so, and the last thing he wanted to do was screw up the opportunity to get firebending back for everyone because he had to show off and ended up annoying some grumpy old man.

Azula stepped forward, then hesitated. A frustrated expression swept across her face, and she gestured at the fire. “How am I supposed to get any?”

Of course, she couldn’t pull any fire out of the Eternal Flame any more than the Chief could; he’d have to do it for her. Repeating his motion, with more confidence this time, he summoned some fire… and then hesitated. Could she even carry the flame? It seemed like it was magic in some way, so perhaps… But as he moved it closer to her outstretched hand, he saw her flinch. Just a tiny bit, but it was there.

He drew the fire away again.

“What are you doing?” she snapped. “I can handle a stupid flame.”

“Do you want to never be able to use your hand again? Because I don’t think you understand just what a burn can do.” He waved the hand not holding the flame at his face.

He turned to the Chief. “What about my sister?”

“Perhaps your sister should sit this out; only a firebender can do this.”

“If she doesn’t then I won’t.”

The man’s face twitched. He obviously wanted to tell them to suit themselves, and if they weren’t going to do this properly then they could leave. But it was obvious that the ceremony had already had to be modified to account for the Sun Warriors’ lack of bending, and if there was a chance this could return his bending to him…

“Fine,” he almost seemed to spit out at last. “She can still present herself to the masters, but it is on her if she displeases them by going without an offering.”

The thought of things going wrong because these masters were unhappy with Azula was terrifying (and the idea of someone being unhappy with Azula’s performance was still a strange thought).

Maybe he should leave her behind? She could always come back and do it later. But she would never let him forget it if he did that, and Azula’s bad side was not a fun place to be. And having to go back later when she was here right now seemed like a huge waste of time.

Besides, there were two masters. It seemed fitting to go as a pair.

But what were they supposed to do? She couldn’t carry a flame in her hand like he could.

Wait, that was it!

“Here, give me your hand.”

Frowning, she reached towards him. “No, your left hand.” Her frown shifted from one of puzzlement to annoyance, but she still did as he asked, and was smart enough to figure he wanted it palm up.

He placed his right hand – the one carrying the flame – over hers, and linked their fingers, so the flame was technically held in both their palms. “There.”

The Chief looked sceptical, but said nothing. Ratweasel Guy was not so restrained. “You really think the masters will be happy with such an insult?”

At least the Chief glared at someone other than him for a moment.

“You will take your flames up there.” He pointed to a large mountain a little way outside the city, its jagged twin peaks giving it the appearance of some large horned animal. “The cave of the masters is beneath that rock.”

Well, that part didn’t seem too difficult.

⁂

“Stop walking so fast! The flame is going to go out!”

“The flame is fine. You’re just walking too slow!”

“Excuse me, I am walking at the perfect speed. It’s not my fault you have longer legs than me!”

“Who are you and what have you done with my sister? I thought you were the best at everything?”

“Fuck you.”

“Ooh, that was some un-princessy language.”

“I’ll give you un-princessy language, Firelord Jerkass!”

The flame flickered as she shoved him, and they both paled, but luckily it didn’t go out.

“You need to be more careful!” she snapped.

He wanted to snap back that it was her fault, but they’d already had one close call from them fighting, and next time they might not be so lucky. Best to just go along with what she wanted; he did have years of practice at that.

He slowed his walk as well, just a little.

A sniff. “That’s more like it.”

“We’re going to be late.”

“Of course we won’t. Royalty is never late. We arrive exactly when we should; if other people show up too early, that’s their problem.”

“Yeah well, these wise and mysterious masters might not think that way.”

“Relax.” He saw her roll her eyes. “Chief Sun Worrier never said anything about a time limit.”

“Sun Warrior,” he corrected.

“I said what I said.”

⁂

It hadn’t looked that far when they were in the city, but they’d underestimated how long it would take to get through the maze of streets, and the terrain surrounding the city was unexpectedly steep. Especially trying to do it while holding hands and while maintaining a steady flame. It had been early morning when they’d set off, and it was well into late afternoon by the time they reached their destination.

The Sun Warriors (plus their mother and friends) were already waiting for them. (Seriously, had there been a shortcut? Ugh.) They were gathered on a circular plaza built on what must have been a caldera, jagged edges of the mountain surrounding it. Beyond the gathered warriors, some sitting, some standing, a stairway led up to a bridge connecting the two highest points, the sun beginning to set between them.

(It was so perfectly set up to frame the setting sun, and Zuko felt himself relaxing a little. He’d been beginning to worry that they’d taken too long getting here, but it seemed it was deliberate.)

The Chief approached them, nothing in his face giving away whether or not they had done well so far.

“Facing the judgement of the firebending masters will be very dangerous for you. Your ancestors are directly responsible for the dragons’ disappearance. The masters might not be so happy to see you.”

“I know I wouldn’t be,” sneered Ratweasel Guy, still lurking at the Chief’s side.

“I don’t think you’ve ever been happy in your life,” Azula sneered back.

Ignoring them both, the Chief slammed his staff into the ground, which was clearly a signal to the others to begin. The two warriors who had been accompanying him stepped back, as he made a gesture that looked like he was trying to pull their flames towards him. Zuko wondered for a moment if that was some cue, and he was meant to do something. He turned to glance at Azula, who always seemed to know this stuff, but before he could search her face or any hints, the Chief stepped away, spreading his arms wide, as if handing something to each of the other two, before stepping back. They whirled their arms before pretending to throw something. The warrior standing nearest them in the circle held his arms out, then began swirling them in a circular motion, then the next one did the same, then the next…

It took Zuko way too long to figure out that they were doing their best to imitate firebending. The warriors were probably meant to be creating circles of flame in front of themselves, but it was hard to be sure beyond that. Were the circles connected to each other in a chain of loops? Or were they separate, a circle of circles? Or should each appear one at a time before the next warrior took the fire?

Eventually all the warriors around the plaza had performed the movement.

There was a pause. The Chief gave him a Look.

Oh, right. Probably with firebending it looked more final and obvious., but here it… lacked a little something.

The two of them stepped forward. “We’re ready to meet these masters,” he announced, in as confident a tone as he could manage.

The Chief raised his arms wide. “Chanters!”

The warriors with drums in front of them begin beating out a steady rhythm, as others began chanting. Those who had been ‘firebending’ remain in position, as those kneeling and without a drumkit bowed repeatedly.

The Chief and his two lackeys stepped aside as Zuko and Azula reach the foot of the steps.

They both stared at each other and took a deep breath before ascending. No going back now. (As if either of them were ever going to do that!)

The drums continued to beat behind them… At least until they reached the top. The silence was almost deafening, but he refused to feel nervous.

A voice from below, amplified somehow, bellowed, “Those who wish to meet the masters Ran and Shaw will now present their fire.”

They were probably supposed to each turn and face the caves – presumably there was one master waiting in each cave. After a silent conversation via eyebrow raises and facial expressions and arm twitches, they settled upon bowing and presenting the flame to each cave in turn, before holding it above their heads, then in front of them, facing the setting sun.

Evidently that was sufficient, because a horn sounded from below.

They waited.

There was a rumbling noise from one of the caves, they braced themselves… but nothing came. Was this a test of some kind? He shared a look with his sister, but for once she wasn’t even pretending like she knew what was going on.

Perhaps the rumbling was a sign they were meant to go into one of the caves? If so, were they meant to choose that one, or the other one?

Except no, there was a rumbling from the other cave now.

And then a dragon flew out of one of the caves and began to circle them.

But… dragons were extinct! Uncle had sworn that he’d killed the last one! He wanted to dismiss it as a hallucination, but the flame was extinguished as the two of them were buffeted by powerful winds as it passed, nearly knocking them off their feet. He watched it, marvelling at it. How the light of the setting sun played across its scales.

(No wonder these masters could still bend. Agni hadn’t taken bending from the dragons.)

(Hold on, masters…)

He turned to look over Azula’s shoulder at the other cave, just as a blue dragon flew out and joined its fellow circling them, forming an elaborate pattern of twists and turns as they mirrored each other. But they showed no signs of interest towards the two teenagers.

“Quick! Do that stupid Dragon Dance thing!”

He stared at his sister, confused. “What about this situation makes you think they want us to dance?”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, they obviously want us to do something, and do you have any better ideas?”

“Fine.” If nothing else, maybe the masters would avoid eating them out of sheer pity at how ridiculous they were being.

He moved into the first position, and began moving through the dance, or kata, or whatever it was. Behind him he could sense his sister doing the same, the two of them moving in perfect sync. This was no different to any other firebending practice they’d had as kids. But here he was determined not to screw up. There was much more riding on this than father’s approval (and what they sought was probably more easily obtainable).

And the dragons responded! He was focused on the moves, and trying to keep in sync with his sister behind him, but he could see the red dragon changing its flight pattern, and its movements and head positions seemed to mirror his own…

As soon as they ended the kata, the dragons also stopped moving, hovering on either side of the bridge. The red dragon’s face was only a few feet away, and it seemed to be staring into his soul. It snarled at him.

Your ancestry will be judged.

He really regretted wearing the crown now.

It rested its weight on the bridge, still staring at him.

And then it began breathing fire at him. He flinched back, holding his arms up defensively, though he knew there was no way of blocking this much flame. Azula’s shoulder bumped into his back as she did the same reflexive action, with even less chance of success.

But… he didn’t burn, and when he lowered his arms and looked, he found they were in the eye of a whirling vortex of flame formed of an unimaginable variety of colours. He stared at it. mesmerised.

There were no words, but there didn’t need to be. So much of what he’d been taught about firebending was wrong. It was warmth and life and energy, not power and destruction and rage.

And he saw himself at the Great Fire Temple, the altar lit not just with the candles and lanterns, but also from an orange glow from the sky itself, shining through the ornate window in the ceiling. And Aang was with him…

The vision faded, lost once more in the swirling fire.

“I understand.”

The flames slowly dissipated, revealing the dragons below the bridge, staring up at them for a moment. And then they leapt up, mighty wings beating as they soared in another circle around them, before shooting back into their caves.

“Their fire was beautiful,” he said as they descended, still slightly breathless with awe. “I saw so many colours. Colours I’ve never imagined.”

“It was… perfect.”

The Chief was waiting for them at the bottom of the steps. “Yes, they judged you, and gave you visions of the meaning of firebending.”

“I can’t believe there are still living dragons! Our Uncle Iroh said he faced the last dragon and killed it. And nobody’s encountered one since.”

“Ugh, I bet he didn’t even meet a dragon,” muttered Azula. “The old fool probably just saw some big lizard he thought was one.”

The Chief shrugged. “I could not say. If he did kill a dragon, even if it was not the last as he assumed, then the spirits will surely punish him for his crime.”

“I think they already did,” Zuko whispered.

“Never mind him. I can’t believe we’ve been lied to this whole time!” she snapped. “All this time, my instructors – even father – told me firebending was about destruction. But it’s really… energy, and life. And it’s so much more than I was taught. They were holding me back!”

“Yeah, it’s like the sun, but inside of you.” It was a stunning revelation. “Do you guys realise this?”

That got him an unimpressed look. “Well, our civilisation is called the Sun Warriors, so I thought that would be obvious.”

Oh, right. And it didn’t seem as if being judged as worthy by the masters had improved his opinion of them.

“I know what I have to do. For so long, I’ve run from my destiny, and people have suffered. It’s time for me to do what’s right, to find my purpose. I have to help end the war my family began, to bring about a new era for the Fire Nation, a more peaceful one.”

He blasted flame into the air. Then another. It felt… better than before. The flame seemed warmer, more responsive.

There was a squeal next to him, which was weird, because he hadn’t done anything that impressive…

Wait, next to him?

He turned to look, and yes, that sound had come from his sister. As he watched, she bent a flame into the air. And then another, bright orange cutting through the air.

She could bend again!

“It can feel it! I can feel my inner flame again!” He hadn’t heard her show that much excitement about anything since she was little.

As he watched, she bent again, and this time held the flame, concentrating. Gradually, it shifted to her usual blue.

He couldn’t help himself; he threw himself on her, wrapping her into a hug, extinguishing the flame.

“Ugh, what are you doing?” she grumbled, but she accepted the gesture, wrapping her arms around him in return.

He pulled back after a moment, and they grinned at each other. “I don’t believe it!” he said. “We did it! Firebending is restored!”

“No.”

They turned to the Chief, who was glaring at them. Glaring, and not firebending, even though you’d think after going without for a few years, he’d be desperate to bend again… And none of the other Sun Warriors were either…

Oh. So that was why the Chief was still pissed at them.

“I’m sorry,” he tried. “Look, I can fix this, I promise, there’s just more I need to do. Agni told me! Uh, I think he did, anyway?”

The Chief looked deadly serious. “Now that you have learned the secrets, and you know about our tribe’s existence, we have no choice but to imprison you here forever.”

Wait, what? He still had to restore everyone’s firebending! Not fair! Just because-

He smirked. “Just kidding.” And then, “But seriously, don’t tell anyone!” Another glare. “And get out of here. Now.”

⁂

Despite the Chief’s firm goodbye, they couldn’t exactly go anywhere right now. By the time they got back into the city where the others were waiting (this time using a much shorter route), it was fully dark, and they had no destination in mind.

The Sun Warriors grudgingly accepted that they were stuck here for another night, and left them alone, though he was sure they’d be watched. (He also noticed the door to the Sun Stone Chamber was now closed, and things would probably not go well for them if they tried reopening it, even if they just wanted another look.)

Over a hasty supper, they did their best to figure out where they needed to go next.

“Okay,” said Ty Lee. “So, you found out the truth about the source of firebending and fixed your own. What was the next part?”

“I think I’ve figured that out actually,” Zuko told her.

“Really?” said Azula, eyebrows raised.

“There’s no need to sound so surprised,” he muttered.

“’Find the bridge and join together with the other nations under the light of the Great Comet to restore the honour of your own’,” Mai quoted.

“Yeah, and while I was having fire breathed on me, I had a vision where I was at the Great Fire Temple, with Aang.”

“He doesn’t look much like a bridge,” said Mai.

“But he is,” Yue told her. “The Avatar is the bridge to the Spirit World.”

“So, ’Find the bridge and join together’. It sounds as if you have to gather a group of people from the other nations, including the Avatar, and go to the capital together,” Ursa said, looking thoughtful. Or she could just be tired/ She hadn’t really had much of a chance to rest since they’d rescued her from that cave, and they’d walked all the way through an ancient city involving a lot of stairs today.

“So, we have to find a whole crowd of people?” asked Mai. “That sounds tiresome. And futile; I’m not sure how happy any of the will want to come along with us on a trip to the Fire Nation.”

“I don’t think we’d have to. The Avatar must have an earthbending teacher by now,” said Azula, stroking Momo’s fur. “Unless he’s even lazier than uncle. So when we find him, we’ll have everyone we need.”

“So,” said Zuko. “I have to find the Avatar to restore the honour of my nation.”

“And you have to do it quickly,” Mai reminded him. “Because the Moon Spirit said it had to happen during the Great Comet? That’s what Sozin’s Comet used to be called, right?”

“That’s not for another month though,” Ty Lee chirped. “We’ve got ages to find the Avatar. We can totally do it!”

“’Ages’, she says,” muttered Zuko. “He could be anywhere in the world!”

“Where do we even start looking?” asked Yue. Though her wording was concerned, she remained as poised as ever, her tone calm, as if she was completely unmoved by the enormity of the task.

Azula unrolled the map and they all leaned in to look.

“What about the Western Air Temple?” asked Ursa. She tried to tap it with her finger, but it took a few attempts to hit the right spot. Yeah, she was definitely exhausted. “He must have spent time there once.”

It sounded stupid but…

“It’s isolated and out of the way, he’d know the terrain, and there’d be plenty of earth and water around so he can practice those things.”

“Oh, come on,” snapped Azula. “There are probably hundreds of places around the world where he can practice in pea-”

Just then, Ursa collapsed. He and Azula caught her before she hit the ground and laid her in her sleeping bag, moving it closer to the fire.

“I’m not much of a healer,” admitted Yue. “But I think she’s okay. She just needs to rest.”

“Another advantage of the Western Air Temple is that it’s pretty close to here,” noted Mai.

“We’ll go there, look for the Avatar. If he’s not there, we’ll rest there for a few days and then try somewhere else.”

“But we only have a month,” said Mai. “It’s not that I’m not worried about your mom, but can we afford the wait?”

“I don’t care!” he shook his head. “My mother is more important than firebending! If Agni takes my own bending because I fail, simply because I didn’t want my mom to die, he can have it.”

“For once, we agree on something,” muttered Azula. She sighed. “Western Air Temple it is.”

“For what it’s worth, guys,” said Ty Lee. “I have a real good feeling about the place.”

“Well,” said Azula, as she rolled up the map. “I hope if there are still Air Nation people secretly still alive, they’ll be less angry at us than these guys.”

Chapter Text

Really, Sokka thought, as they walked past a pile of icy rubble that had once been a building, things could have gone a lot worse.

Sure, Commander Sideburns (who had been promoted to Admiral Sideburns, apparently) had managed to not only infiltrate the city, but got into the Spirit Oasis itself, intent on killing the Moon Spirit and ending waterbending. And sure, Katara had gotten injured trying to defend a magic fish, which had caused Aang to go into the Avatar State, devastating a large section of the city and making the guy the late Admiral Sideburns, leading to a massive amount of guilt once Katara had managed to talk him down.

But the spirits were fine, Katara’s injuries had already been fixed by healers, as had anyone else who had the misfortune to get hit by debris in the chaos, as far as he could see, and the buildings would get repaired in no time at all. The only long-term consequence was a dead Fire Nation Admiral (did that make him an ex-ex-firebender?), which was a good thing in his book. Plus, he would bet anything the whole invasion was that guy’s idea, and the Fire Nation ships would likely retreat without its main instigator, if only to figure out what to do next. Aang didn’t see it that way, but eh, he’d come round.

Their next step was to speak with Chief Arnook. Now that the danger had passed (and he’d had time to think about the problem), they could maybe talk him round on the subject of Li. Or Zuko, whatever. Sure, it hurt having been lied to and he still felt kind of betrayed by that, but…

He’d liked the guy. A firebender. He’d been friends… with a firebender. And not just any firebender; their actual prince. The son of the Firelord himself. His brain was still struggling to process that a little. And okay sure, maybe the guy had lied about his name and his family, but Sokka didn’t think he was capable of keeping up a complete 24/7 pretence of his whole personality or something like that, and both Katara and Aang agreed. (And on a practical level, Aang did need a firebending teacher. Maybe.)

Yue had promised to help in any way she could, which was a bonus. (Maybe her father would see him as a hero, for helping to defend the Moon and Ocean Spirits? Ha! Stupid Hahn hadn’t done anything like that!) So, they’d sort this mess out, and Aang and Katara could go back to mastering waterbending, and he could spend time with Yue, and maybe ask Li- that is, Zuko what the Fire Nation was actually like. (Know your enemy, and stuff like that.)

So yeah, as far as he could see, things could have been way worse.

And then they’d reached the palace, to be greeted by an even-more-grumpy-than-usual Pakku telling them they needed to be gone. Because their sort-of-friend had a sister, who had brazenly walked in, broken her brother out, and taken Yue as a hostage.

They even had Momo.

Really, if he hadn’t been so worried about Yue, he’d be admiring the audacity.

He’d assumed the danger was over, and he’d been right, but also wrong at the same time.

The Fire Nation had successfully conquered the Northern Water Tribe.

And, as they were very pointedly told by Pakku, as soon as the Fire Nation had Yue secured, they would immediately make use of their hostage to demand the handover of the Avatar.

Aang was his friend, but he couldn’t imagine saying no to that, knowing that Yue could get hurt… And from the look on the kid’s face, he had no wish to put the Chief in that position.

“But what about Aang learning waterbending?” asked Katara.

Pakku grimaced, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I would prefer at least a few extra weeks, but I consider you of acceptable standard.” (Damn, that was high praise coming from him, Sokka thought to himself.) “Avatar Aang could use more work, but I am sure you are up to the task. I've had some advanced scrolls sent to your residence that you can take with you and peruse at your leisure. Now, go!”

⁂

That had been a definite downer, but he was not about to admit defeat; they would get their friends back, somehow.

And hey, one element down! (Mostly.) And now they were speeding towards Omashu (okay, maybe ‘speeding’ wasn’t the right word, as it was halfway across the Earth Kingdom and Appa had to pace himself so he didn’t fall out of the sky from exhaustion, killing them all), so Aang could ask his old friend to be his earthbending teacher. Sokka wasn’t sure about the idea of being subjected to Bumi’s brand of crazy for an extended period of time, but hey, at least Aang had cheered up a little.

⁂

Except that Bumi said no, insisting that Aang’s teacher should have ‘neutral jing’ or whatever (sounded like an excuse to him), and Aang went back to being unhappy. Sokka and Katara’s feelings were a little more mixed. On the one hand, no crazy, but this meant Aang still needed to look for an Earthbending teacher. And the Earth Kingdom was huge.

Maybe Ba Sing Se? Just repeat their tactic for learning waterbending: Go to the big city, tell its leader that the Avatar needs a bending teacher, and have him give you his best guy. (Hopefully a less grouchy one this time.)

But in the meantime, they could rest, which they badly needed. They’d left Agna Qel’a in a hurry, and while Appa had done most of the work getting here, it was reall hard to sleep in the saddle, so they were in need of a few nights’ sleep. Luckily, while Bumi might insist he wasn’t right for the position of Avatar’s Earthbending Teacher, he was happy to host them for as long as they wanted.

He also filled them in on a few things about their friend. Like how it was that scar on his face that had basically caused the whole ‘No More Firebending’ thing. Because his father had set his face on fire. For no reason. Okay, actually there was a reason, but it was a stupid one.

Wait, hold on… his dad set his face on fire… and they’d just taken him back… What was going to happen to him? Bumi brushed off their concerns. “Ozai is many things, but he’s not stupid. His son is useful to him. He’ll be careful to treat him well.”

So, they spend a few days relaxing. A little bit of relaxing anyway; they couldn’t stop entirely. Sokka did his best to plan some kind of rescue mission to get their friends back (not easy when he knew nothing about the Fire Nation and couldn’t account for what an unknown member of their party might be able to add beyond ‘throwing rocks’), while Aang and Katara practiced waterbending some more, and Aang did his best to talk Bumi round.

Good luck. Rock was stubborn.

Naturally, it was Sokka who came up with the useful lead. He’d been chatting to some soldiers, hoping they could give him useful info about the Fire Nation, but they’d seemed way keener to talk about some sort of fighting tournament that was coming up soon. He’d been about to steer the subject onto what he wanted, but then he realised that this was about fighting with earthbending.

The perfect place for Aang to find a teacher!

“So, where is this Earth Rumble happening? And when?”

⁂

And that should have been simple. Sure, they’d have to fly over the half of the Earth Kingdom they hadn’t already flown over yet, but at least they’d had a few days of food and rest, and were relieved of the imminent stress of wondering what Bumi would think up for entertainment next. And Sokka had a plan!

He had put together a travel schedule to make sure they got there on time, and had also compiled a list of ideal candidates who would be fighting, as recommended by people in Omashu that he’d asked. A nice mix of seasoned fighters and up-and-comers having their first big match, he thought.

He was already enjoying this Earth Rumble and it hadn’t even started yet.

They made it over the small section of the edge of the Si Wong desert they had to pass over with no problem; didn’t even need the extra water Sokka had made sure to pack just in case.

He’d assumed the next tricky part would be the mountains north of Gaoling, what with having obstacles to avoid and Appa might collide with one while tired or something.

But no, it was the swamp.

The creepy, creepy creeeeepy swamp. That had made him see things.

No, it had made him think he saw things. Of course he thought he saw Yue, and L-Zuko, and maybe they would still be safe if he’d been there. Though he didn’t know any of the other girls they walked away from him to talk and laugh with, any more than Aang knew the girl he claimed to have seen, or why she’d had a flying boar-pig with her…

But that didn’t mean anything! It was just swamp gas! And he was hungry! Obviously. And that tornado that had brought them here was clearly just weather. He was a man of science, and there was no way anything supernatural was going on. At all.

⁂

The Earth Rumble had been so exciting, Sokka had almost forgotten they were there to find Aang an earthbending teacher. Based on the enthusiastic descriptions he’d heard in Omashu, he’d picked out the Big Bad Hippo as his favourite, but he turned out to be defeated easily. His attention then turned to the man who’d defeated him. The Boulder was awesome, and probably wouldn’t even need to teach Aang anything – they could just send him to the Fire Nation and he’d snap the Firelord in half like a twig.

But against his advice, Aang went with a tiny blind girl. There was just no reasoning with some people.

⁂

Aang seemed to be regretting his choice pretty quickly. Toph was an even tougher teacher than Pakku. He hadn’t thought that was possible.

And when he wasn’t being pounded with rocks, Katara insisted on making sure he kept up his waterbending lessons too. She was at least nicer about it, and let Aang take plenty of breaks and skip lessons when he insisted that he wasn’t up to it today, but that kid still found himself with a strict training regimen.

Sokka would happily trade places with him, even if that meant having Toph throw rocks at his head. They were camped out in the mountains north of Gaoling, which contained plenty of rocks for an earthbender to play with (and some nice flowing streams for his sister), and was remote enough that they didn’t have to worry about being seen and reported to the Fire Nation (earthbending didn’t really go in for subtlety much).

But unlike the benders, he didn’t really have anything to do. He hunted, and practiced with his club and boomerang, tried to do something about those Fire Nation infiltration plans now that he could account for what Aang’s earthbending teacher could bring to the party (but didn’t take up much time as he still didn’t have anything to work with; he needed information about the Fire Nation, damnit!), even gathered fruit and plants for Aang to eat, just for something to do. But he spent a lot of time bored out of his mind.

So when, at around the almost a month, Aang begged for them to take a break to go visit the Misty Palms Oasis, which was just beyond the mountains, at the edge of the desert, he jumped at the opportunity for even some mild excitement and announced that everybody got to pick a vacation idea. It had certainly looked impressive on the map, and Sokka could use something interesting.

But what they found was… not as advertised. The pristine natural ice spring that Aang had described and the pleasant town depicted on the map was gone, replaced by a run down village surrounding a tiny ice spring only a few feet high. And some of these people looked disreputable enough to sell them to the Fire Nation without a second thought.

Still, they were here now, may as well grab something to eat and drink before hopping back on Appa and picking out their next disappointing destination. And getting out of the heat for a bit would be nice.

Though he regretted that choice as soon as they walked into the bar. It had a distinctly shady air (and not just because it was out of the sunlight), and the patrons seemed to stare at them. Damn, why hadn’t they thought to wear disguises, at least give Aang a hat to hide his tattoos…

Too busy worrying, he walked into someone. Literally. At first, Sokka paid more attention to his drink (this place was so hot! How did these people manage?!), and the map that the man had with him, which was a little bit more up-to-date than theirs, though it didn’t show the Fire Nation, so no good for figuring out how to get their friends back. But then he started talking about a spirit library in the middle of the desert that contained all of human knowledge in it or something.

If it really did have books from all over the world, then it would definitely have information on the Fire Nation! There was sure to be something to help him figure out how they could maybe rescue their friends. There had to be a way of finding out where and getting them out.

What’s more… He’d liked Zuko. They’d been friends. How come he hadn’t been all ‘burn-everything-down’? Did that mean there were other people from the Fire Nation not like that? Aang seemed to insist that was the case. So what made them go all murder-y? And how could he make that stop?

“Ooh! My turn! I’d like to spend my vacation at the library!”

Chapter Text

“So,” said the giant owl spirit, right in his face, so close he could see his own reflection in its eyes. “Who are you trying to destroy?”

He smiled nervously. “No-one! Really, no destroying here! Honest!” Shit. He sounded like he was lying. He grinned in an effort to look more sincere. “We’re not into that.”

The spirit did not look convinced. “Then why have you come here?”

He cleared his throat, attempting to seem more confident in what he was saying. “I- look. It’s just that… I want to learn about the Fire Nation.”

The eyes in front of him narrowed in angry understanding. “Ah, so that is who you wish to destroy.” He opened his mouth to protest. “Do not even try to deny it; I do have some knowledge of events that pass within the human world.”

“No! Okay, yes, a little bit. But not really.” The owl seemed to be even closer to him though Sokka swore it hadn’t moved; he had to go almost cross-eyed trying to look into its eyes. He stepped back a pace and tried again. “Look. It’s true that the Fire Nation has done terrible things to us. They raided us over and over again, and now our sister is the only bender we have left, and they killed our mother. I do hate them. A lot, but…”

He paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. “We had a friend, who joined our group, and he was Fire Nation, and he was actually… alright. He even agreed with us that what the Fire Nation was doing was bad. And then he turned out to be their prince, and it turns out that the Firelord is awful even to his own family. But he got dragged back there, him and another friend of ours, and we need to get them back somehow. And… Aang here… Uh, he’s the Avatar, by the way.”

The was a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye that might have been Aang waving, but he didn’t dare look away. “He keeps telling us that there used to be good people in the Fire Nation, and… maybe there still are? People who also want the war to stop, who, uh…”

He felt like he was rambling, and he trailed off, sighing. “I don’t know. I still hate them so much, but… I just want to find out more about the place, okay?”

Wan Shi Tong stared at him for a long long looooong moment, as if he could see into Sokka’s soul. And then slowly, his face pulled back a little from Sokka’s, and his expression seemed to relax (as far as he could tell, anyway).

“Well, it is good to see some humans actually understand the value of knowledge for knowledge’s sake.” Then he sighed, looking regretful. “Unfortunately, I do not know how much you will be able to discover. Alas, the last human visitor I allowed to enter this place was nowhere near as altruistic in his motivations, and felt others would have the same mindset, so he destroyed the section containing books about the Fire Nation, lest someone else try the same tactic.”

“No!” he heard Professor Zei exclaim behind him in horror, as well as a “What?!” from Aang, and a gasp from his sister.

He sagged. “So there’s nothing.”

The spirit twitched his wings in a shrug, tilting his head in what seemed to be a conciliatory gesture. “I would not say that. The section of the library specifically devoted to the Fire Nation and related topics was destroyed, but there will still be books with chapters covering the Fire Nation, or which discuss it within the context of world history or geography. The Knowledge Seekers will do their best to find things, but you may have to prepare yourself for a lot of walking.”

Okay, that was something…

“Very well.” Oh, thank La… “I will let you peruse my vast collection, on one condition.” Oh no, what now? “To prove your worth as scholars, you have to contribute some worthwhile knowledge.”

Zei stepped forward and presented the spirit with a book, which it seemed impressed by, as Sokka wracked his brain for something he could offer. There must be something – he knew all sorts of stuff. But right now, he couldn’t think of anything. At least Aang looked equally lost.

Katara offered up the waterbending scroll she’d taken from those pirates, which was also met with acceptance. Aang’s face suddenly brightened, and he pulled out the wanted poster of himself. That was met with considerably less enthusiasm than the previous two offerings, but it was accepted, so the bar for what counted as knowledge seemed pretty low.

Sokka frantically dug in his bag. He must have something. But all he could find was a water bottle, some jerky, and a piece of string, and the spirit was giving him its full attention once more, waiting.

“Um. Oh, great spirit. Check this out!” He pulled out the piece of string and quickly tied it in a knot. “See?” It was staring at him, even more deeply unimpressed than he had been with Aang. “Uh, this is a knot I came up with myself. It’s designed to hold multiple things at once, as you can see from the loops, and it stays tied, but if you tug on it just right…” He pulled on it, to demonstrate the knot unravelling. “It’s easy to undo, even in mittens, or if the string gets frozen up. Uh…”

He redid the knot, and held it up to the spirit, grinning nervously. Maybe he should have used the jerky. He could probably have explained the curing process…

“Hmm…” And then the string was gone, vanished in the sweep of a wing. “Enjoy the library.”

And then he was gone.

⁂

Aang was content to read whatever, and Katara and Zei both picked particular sections to browse (waterbending and anthropology, respectively). But the stuff Sokka wanted was widely scattered, and the place so huge, so he settled at a table close to where Katara and Aang were, and asked the Knowledge Seekers to bring him anything about the Fire Nation. At first the creatures didn’t move and just flopped their ears down and made a sort of twitching motion that he eventually figured meant they were unsure where to look.

“Uh. Focus on the people, maybe? And the geography of the place. No history though.” It wasn’t like he needed a history of the war, and anything super old wouldn’t be relevant anymore. Although… “Oh wait, unless it’s stuff about just before the war started.” He waved a hand. “Beyond that, surprise me.”

They rushed off to obey, heading in different directions, before returning, and books and scrolls quickly began piling around him.

He had just started reading an account by some guy from the Earth Kingdom who had travelled around the world just before the start of the war (some of the world, at least, as annoyingly he’d skipped the Water Tribes; that was something else it would be good to learn about), when there was a rumbling from above.

“Uh, is that normal?”

Please tell him this place wasn’t going to collapse or something?

He, Katara and Aang sprinted back to where they’d entered the library (no sign of Zei; he probably hadn’t even noticed). But nothing seemed wrong; they could still see sunlight shining through the window.

Wan Shi Tong flew out of the shadows and out of the window, looking annoyed.

“I’m going up for a look,” he announced, grabbing the rope and climbing up. Katara joined him, and Aang flew up on his glider.

They emerged in time to see some of the sandbenders they’d run into back in town scooting off on their sand-sledge things, as Wan Shi Tong landed in front of Toph, towering over her. (Somehow he forgot how small she was.)

“How dare you damage my library!” Wow, he’d thought the guy was angry at him back when he’d thought Sokka was up to no good. No, this was him angry.

Katara rushed forward. “Please! I’m sure Toph didn’t mean any harm!”

Toph shoved her aside. “Oh, I meant harm alright! Those jerks were trying to bison-nap Appa!”

Aang gasped and ran to his friend to stroke his fur soothingly. (Sokka wasn’t sure if he was trying to comfort Appa or himself.)

Wan Shi Tong seemed to relax, but only very slightly, his eyes still narrowed in suspicion as he surveyed them. “You know this person?”

“This person is blind, not deaf.” She folded her arms, giving a pretty effective glare for someone who couldn’t actually see what she was glaring at. “Yeah, they know me. I’m Toph, the World’s Greatest Earthbender. Who are you?”

Trust Toph to pick a fight with a spirit. “I am Wan Shi Tong, he who knows ten thousand things. Now, why were you damaging my library?”

She smirked. “Huh, guess that ain’t one of the ten thousand things you know!”

“Toph!” hissed Katara, terrified.

Maybe that finally convinced Toph that she may have bitten off more than she could chew for once in her life. “Oh, fine, I’m sorry, okay!” She threw her hands up. “But what was I supposed to do? They just showed up and tried to take Appa! And there’s only one source of stone around here!” She rolled her eyes. “Look, I’ll fix it, alright?”

And she turned around and planted her feet, moving her arms in sharp, firm gestures, directing the pieces of stone back to where they’d been torn from and smoothing them down so you couldn’t even see any cracks.

“Hmm… Impressive.”

“I know, right?”

Aang stepped forward. “Please, Toph was only trying to help!”

Wan Shi Tong glared down at her for a moment, before slowly relaxing, ruffled feathers smoothing back into place like the repaired stonework. ”Very well. But why were either of you left up here? The sun is dangerous to stay out in too long for humans, and air bison can be stifled by their thick fur in desert heat, even with airbending to cool themselves off.”

“Well, it’s not like we could get Appa inside,” Sokka said, pointing at the tiny window. “And Toph, well…”

She waved a hand in front of her face. “Not much point me being inside, is there?”

“There is still the issue of being in the shade. And I would be perfectly amendable to reading things to you regarding a topic of your choice.”

“Wait, hold on,” protested Sokka. “What about the whole thing with giving a piece of knowledge to get in?”

Seriously, he’d had to stress over a piece of string, and Toph got in free after insulting him?

“I am sure that will be no problem. I would be most interested to understand how she seems to see the world with such apparent accuracy with no vision.”

“Sure thing, Birdy.”

“But that would leave Appa out here alone!” Aang protested “What if the sandbenders come back for him?”

“It’s quite simple; he can come inside.”

Somehow, Appa fit through the window. He had no idea how and it made his brain hurt just watching it, let alone trying to figure it out.

⁂

They spent all day reading, and most of the next, until Toph grumbled that she was bored (because while it was great having someone read interesting stuff to her, she preferred doing things) and they decided they’d better leave before she started rearranging the library and pissing their host off.

It wasn’t like they’d found much that was super useful. Well, okay. He hadn’t. Aang had discovered some old texts about his culture, stuff people hadn’t bothered to teach hm because he was a kid and they’d figured there was plenty of time once he was older, as well as a bunch of stuff about lion turtles and dragons and other large and extinct animals. Katara found out plenty of stuff about Southern styles of waterbending. Toph mainly wanted stories.

It wasn’t nothing, he supposed. A travelogue where the author talked about the people she’d met, all of whom seemed completely uninterested in setting people on fire, and there’d been a lot on Fire Nation ideas of hospitality, and interesting cultural events. Which might be useful when they infiltrated the place, if they weren’t too outdated.

There was also a political book published shortly before the start of the war that looked into relations between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation, written by an Air Nomad from the Western Air Temple who had essentially had a front row seat. It was horribly fascinating watching how things had gone, like watching an ice dodging session gone horribly wrong. Tragically the author seemed to think that Sozin would be satisfied with the colonies he had already.

The weirdest one of all was a book from about 150 years ago, detailing the lives of what it termed “people of note”, with several illustrations, including one of Firelord Sozin and Avatar Roku, who it claimed had been best friends, before having a falling out. (The book didn’t go into detail about what that ‘falling out’ had entailed, but Sokka could take a wild guess that Roku just sensed the evil and left.)

But the only book that would be helpful in figuring out a rescue plan was the one on architecture with a chapter on Royal Caldera City, including a street map – and the location of the Capital Prison! He committed it to memory, hoping the place hadn’t changed too much in the 200 years since it had been written.

It was something, at least; he now knew more about the place and people in general, which might prove useful.

It was time to move on.

Toph wanted to go back to the mountains to resume throwing rocks at Aang. But nobody else seemed as keen. They’d stayed in one place for far too long, and he was pretty sure that at least one person in that bar had reported their sighting of the Avatar (Toph grudgingly agreed, saying that people had definitely been shifting their weight towards the group). Or maybe even before that – for all they knew, some less-than-honest traveller spotted them while passing through the mountains, and they could be crawling with Fire Nation soldiers or spies.

Best to get away from here.

But where to? He was tempted to go straight to the Fire Nation to rescue their friends, but he didn’t feel like he had enough intel to form a proper strategy yet.

They needed somewhere defensible, where they didn’t have to worry about the Fire Nation finding them, while Aang continued learning waterbending and earthbending, and he looked for more information.

Looking over Professor Zei’s map, his eyes caught on Ba Sing Se.

“What about there?” he asked, pointing.

“Ah, yes, you should definitely visit the library at Ba Sing Se University,” said Zei. “Of course, it pales in comparison to this one, but it has many interesting volumes – and it still has a Fire Nation section.” He frowned. “Though it is rather sparse.” He seemed to shake that thought off. “Of course, they don’t normally allow just anyone entrance; you have to be faculty or a student. But I’ll write you a letter to show them, and they’ll happily let you in.”

“It would be interesting to visit,” said Katara. “And it’s probably a good idea for Aang to introduce himself to the Earth King. Especially since you visited King Bumi twice. He might see that as a bit insulting.”

“But Bumi is my friend!” Aang pointed out.

“Trust me, Twinkletoes. Rich people don’t care about that. There’s a way that things are done, and if you visit one king and not another, it looks to him like he’s being ignored.”

“I guess.”

Ba Sing Se it was then.

Chapter Text

Despite its reputation as an impenetrable city, getting in was super easy. They flew in on Appa – minus Zei, who wanted to spend more time browsing the Spirit Library, but did provide them with the promised letter of introduction to his faculty contacts – and landed right in a palace courtyard.

Which… was probably not the best idea, come to think of it; they should maybe have picked somewhere just outside the gate and knocked politely. Oh well, too late now. Still, they should probably try to follow protocol or whatever from now on…

Except Aang just went marching inside, announcing himself as the Avatar with a gust of wind that left no doubt that he was telling the truth, and the guards just sort of looked at each other and shrugged, because this was clearly an important person, and someone at the gates must have let him in, and they could be executed if they insulted him… And there was Toph, who knew exactly what to say. Yes, of course they were meant to be here; they were very important people, don’t you know.

And somehow they ended up being ushered into a grand room, with a guy seated on a golden throne (and… was that a… bear? Not a platypusbear. Or an armadillobear. Just… a bear…? Okay, never mind… Focus on more important things…) and a court official, who introduced himself as Long Feng, Grand Secretary of Ba Sing Se and head of the Dai Li (whatever that was).

They were all pretty much focused on making a good impression. This was a formal introduction with a monarch after all. Aang toned down his usual exuberance, and Toph was the perfect picture of all the grace and manners her parents had instilled in her. Katara did her best to copy Toph. Sokka stayed silent other than introducing himself, terrified he’d screw up somehow if he let himself talk too much (imagine if he ended up pulling off a daring rescue of Yue only to have her father still think he was unsuitable for a son-in-law because he’d completely embarrassed himself in front of the Earth King and proved he wasn’t cut out for royalty).

To his relief, Long Feng handled most of the talking, welcoming them to the city, expressing what a huge honour it was to be in the Avatar’s presence etc etc, and wishing them good fortune with their future travel plans.

The Earth King introduced them to his bear, Bosco (they made admiring noises), and made a couple of lame jokes, like how he hadn’t met an airbender before, and hoped they’d all had a pleasant journey, and they smiled politely. He even offered them a house in the Upper Ring, where they could stay as long as they liked, which was nice of him. Long Feng’s face sort of froze at that, but then he chimed in to offer them a guide to show them around and make sure they didn’t get lost.

Wow, these people were so nice!

And then that was it.

He let out a sigh of relief as they were shown to a room where their guide would collect them.

Wow, Zuko’s comment about how marrying royalty was basically a job made a lot more sense now.

⁂

The house was great, and their guide, a woman named Joo Dee who smiled more than Aang did, was very helpful.

Aang continued with his earthbending lessons and waterbending practice, and Sokka visited the university’s library. Unfortunately, Zei hadn’t been kidding when he’d said there wasn’t very much in the Fire Nation section. And they didn’t have much of anything from within the last hundred years that even mentioned the Fire Nation. He tried asking the librarians about that, but they always seemed to be really busy and never able to answer him.

Maybe there was some stuff he wasn’t seeing? He didn’t get too much chance to look, because Joo Dee kept dragging them to cultural events (“There is far more to our great city than what you can find in books!”) and refusing to take no for an answer. The stuff she chose to show them seemed designed to bore them to death (it was almost like she was trying to drive them away from the city or something!), but he was determined to show that he could act cultured – what if Joo Dee reported their reactions to the Earth King, and word made its way back to Yue’s father? He was determined to show that he wasn’t just some uncultured peasant. And that poetry workshop had been unexpectedly fun.

And tedious culture aside, it felt good to not have to worry about the Fire Nation finding them. This was the one place in the Earth Kingdom where they were guaranteed to be safe. It actually felt weird to not need to be on his guard the whole time, and he was almost enjoying the novelty.

Still, they didn’t want to stay here too long. As nice as this place was, they had stuff they needed to do, & he wanted to use his time here wisely. He looked over their map, trying to figure out their next move. Perhaps they could sneak into one of the Fire Nation colonies? Much easier than infiltrating the Fire Nation itself, and they might have more up-to-date information by sneaking into government buildings.

Not that Aang’s map showed the colonies. Then again Zei’s hadn’t shown them either. Probably the Earth Kingdom was trying to pretend they were still theirs.

And then Long Feng was nice enough to send them a message, via Joo Dee, to say that dad’s fleet was currently anchored in Chameleon Bay, and didn’t they want to see him? Perhaps they should all go!

It did seem like a great idea. They could stay with dad, sail with him for a while.

But Toph refused to spend any time on a boat (“A piece of wood? Floating on the water? No thank you!”), and Katara wanted the chance to see him with just the two of them. Sokka had to agree; he had a lot he wanted to say to dad, and it felt like it should be something just for them.

⁂

It was great to see dad again.

(He almost cried when dad hugged him. Manly tears though. Obviously.)

And, he had news!

Apparently, some Earth Kingdom commanders kept him in the loop with stuff, so he gave them updates on the course of the war. And the big update was that Prince Zuko, the world’s last remaining firebender, was back in the Fire Nation, and the Firelord was doing his best to make sure that everybody knew it.

(Clearly, he hadn’t tried hard enough. Then again, they had actively been trying to avoid the Fire Nation, and it turned out that had its downsides.)

“Zuko’s okay?!” Katara blurted out, much to dad's and the crew’s confusion.

“But what about-?” he tried asking.

Nobody seemed to hear him. “You… know him?” asked Dolruq.

“Uh, yeah?” said Sokka, maybe a little defensively (people were giving them looks that were equal parts suspicious and confused). “He travelled with us for a while.”

“Bato met him!” Katara said, pointing at the guy.

“I did…?” His eyebrows rose, then relaxed in understanding. “Wait, you mean that scarred kid? You said his name was Li.”

“He didn’t tell us who he was,” said Katara.

“Yeah, might have had something to do with us saying we really hated firebenders and the Fire Nation a lot.”

A few of the men smirked a little at that.

“What’s he like?” dad asked, looking serious.

They gave a quick rundown of their adventures with Zuko.

“But where is he being held?” Katara asked. “That’s what we need to know.”

“As far as we know, the palace.”

The last thing their dad had heard was that Ozai had planned some big display to show his son off to the world, but there’d been nothing since.

He expressed concern about that, but Bato reassured him. News travelled slowly. It had to make it out of the Fire Nation, either through official channels, or unofficial ones, and then passed on through gossip or the Earth Kingdom’s intelligence network until it reached them.

“It’s nice to not be the last to know stuff for once,” said Vakkiq, grinning at him.

“Well, speaking of knowing stuff, what about Yue?”

Nobody was sure, but all signs pointed to the palace too. It was standard with political hostages that they be housed in comfort, lest there be any risk of them being lost because of something stupid and preventable like pneumonia caught in a cold cell or food poisoning from prison rations. It also made it much easier to keep an eye on them, as well as being more convenient for showing them off during social occasions to prove you still had them.

According to one of their Earth Kingdom sources, their spies had intercepted a letter from the Princess, written to her father, saying that she was safe and well-cared for, with an addition by Ozai that this could be withdrawn under any circumstances. A pointed hint regarding any potential rescue attempts.

Sokka and Katara both let out long sighs of relief. Bumi had been right; their friends were safe.

He grinned. “Hey, dad. Did Bato tell you about my successful and flawless ice-dodging?”

⁂

“Hey, cool, you’re back,” Toph greeted them when they returned a few days later.

“Yup. How’s it been here?” he asked, dropping his bag on the floor. “Did you guys get up to anything interesting?”

“Twinkletoes is getting a little better at using earth sense, but that’s about it,” she reported, waving her hand. “Oh, and I think we annoyed Joo Dee somehow.”

“Toph!” Katara said. “What did you do?”

She held her hands up in protest. “Hey, don’t look at me! I didn’t do anything! She just showed up the morning after you guys left, and got all weird as soon as she saw us.”

“Weird, how?”

Aang was the one who answered. “She actually stopped smiling for a moment.”

Sokka tried to picture a non-smiling Joo Dee and completely failed.

“And she didn’t say why?” asked Katara, with a look on her face suggesting she was trying to build the same mental image.

“Nope,” said Toph, lying back on the floor and resting her head on her arms.

“Well, she did say she didn’t expect us to still be here.”

“Maybe they were expecting to do a full clean while we were away?”

“But we’ve only been here a week, & we’ve kept the place really nice,” Katara pointed out (with only the tiniest hint in her voice to suggest that maybe some people were doing more to keep it nice than others).

“I don’t know. You should see my mother’s standards of cleanliness, Sweetness. Makes you look like a slob. But for what it’s worth, I didn’t get the sense that she was angry.”

Oh well, Joo Dee seemed like a strange woman in general.

“Well, anyway, we learned a few things about where Yue and Zuko are being held…”

Chapter Text

Knowing that Zuko and Yue were getting to hang out in a nice palace and being treated well took a lot of pressure off a rescue plan. Sure, they were still imprisoned, and he was sure Yue was terrified and freaking out, but at least they weren’t in active danger, so long as they were useful to the Firelord.

So, he could afford to relax a little. He resumed his research at the university library, and a bit of digging yielded some things about the Fire Nation and its culture (pre-war and therefore almost certainly outdated, but he’d take what he could get). There were books on geography with decent maps of the islands, and some of the stuff in the architecture section might be useful – things like typical layouts and construction of Fire Nation homes, and plans of some notable buildings, though none of them were the palace itself. He was starting to feel like he’d be able to figure things out from here once they actually got to the Fire Nation. And maybe if he looked hard enough he’d find even more.

So yeah, things were going well, he thought.

(Although when they walked into a teashop to see Zuko’s uncle behind the counter, happily serving a group of smiling customers, they hastily backed out again; none of them wanted to explain to him how they had lost his nephew.)

Toph got a letter saying her mother was in the city and wanted to see her. She set off with a smile on her face, and when she didn’t return by nightfall, they figured that it was just her mother still being a little over-protective and Toph deciding to humour her.

Nope.

“So how did it go?” asked Katara when she stomped through the door the next morning. “I was thinking we should invite her over for-”

She caught sight of the expression on Toph’s face and stopped.

“She wasn’t there. The letter was a trick.”

“What!” exclaimed Aang. “No! Who would pull a prank like that?”

“It was those two bozos. They trapped me in a metal box and kidnapped me.”

“What?”

“Nah, it’s okay. I un-kidnapped myself.”

“How?”

And then she crumpled Sokka’s boomerang up like it was paper.

Because that was a thing she could do now apparently.

⁂

He saw what the others had meant about Joo Dee.

“Hello! I was so sorry to hear about your friend. Maybe you should go-”

And then the smile fell from her face as Toph walked in. Just for a moment, but when someone smiled all the time like that, it was really noticeable when they stopped.

“Oh hey, Smiles! What ya got planned for us today?”

The smile returned, though maybe it was his imagination… but it looked more like a grimace. “I was just going to say…” A pause. “Maybe you should all go and check out the excellent market that is being held today in Yosai Square.”

Ooh, shopping! That did sound good.

⁂

So, they were gathering intel, Toph had superpowers, and he had a cool new pair of boots he got from the market. (“Perfect for travelling!” Joo Dee had exclaimed.)

And then things got even better when Suki showed up with a couple of Kyoshi Warriors in tow!

He was excited, of course. But… not as excited as he should be. Shouldn’t he feel bad about having completely forgotten about her in favour of Yue. Because he didn’t. But he should feel bad, shouldn’t he? He felt conflicted over how he didn’t feel conflicted.

They’d been working at a nearby pass, protecting travellers making the journey to Ba Sing Se, and as soon as they heard that the Avatar and his friends were in the city, they came right on over. They hadn’t expected to get in.

“They’re really strict about documents,” Suki told them. “Trust me, we’ve seen people get rejected over ridiculous technicalities with their passport.”

“We made it onto the ferry because of our jobs,” added Akami, “But we expected to get turned away when we got here.”

“But as soon as we said we were here to see the Avatar, and that we were friends of his, they couldn’t get us here fast enough,” said Keiko.

“Yup,” said Suki. “Some guy named Long Feng, who seemed to be super important, was even waiting to greet us at the station in the Upper Ring, saying how it was wonderful to have travelling companions of the Avatar as guests, and he was sure we’d be off on more travels soon.”

“He almost made it sound like he wanted to get rid of us!” laughed Keiko.

Suki snorted. “If the rich people we saw getting on the ferry are any indication, I don’t think rich people capable of actually saying what they mean.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s like they think it’s impolite or something.”

“You ain’t wrong there,” said Toph.

“Hey,” said Suki, looking around, then frowning. “Where is Zu- Uh, Li?”

⁂

Suki approached him later, alone, as he was outside looking up at the stars. She looked different without her makeup. Pretty. Was she prettier than Yue? He wasn’t sure. And it probably didn’t matter.

She stood next to him, posture rigid. “Okay, what is it?”

“Uh, what is what?” he asked, urning his gaze back to the sky and hoping she wasn’t talking about what he hoped she wouldn’t talk about.

“I thought you’d be happy to see me,” she told him. (Oh, it was what he’d hoped it wasn’t about. Damn.) “But you’ve barely even looked at me. Don’t you want me here?”

“No! It’s not that!” Shit, what was he supposed to say. “It’s great you’re here! It really is!”

“There’s a ‘but’ coming, isn’t there?”

Nothing else for it. It was like charging into battle. Only much scarier. Okay, just be smooth. “It’s just… Well, we kind of… Uh…” Not smooth at all, Sokka. Pull yourself together! “But we barely know each other, and… um. Well, I met someone else.”

She drew back, eyebrows pinching together.

“I see.”

“I’m sorry, okay?”

She sighed. “No, it’s fine. You’re right, we didn’t spend much time together. And I kissed you, without asking if you even felt the same. I made assumptions, and I’m sorry.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” he wasn’t sure if it counted as mixed signals if he squeezed her shoulder, but he did it anyway. “You’re a great girl, and whoever ends up with you will be a lucky guy.”

She smiled at that, and they stood watching the stars for a bit. Sokka still couldn’t get over how completely different they were to the constellations above his home.

Suki broke the silence. “What’s she like?”

“Uh… She’s beautiful, and graceful, and polite…”

“All the things that I’m not.”

“Hey, don’t sell yourself short! Though I don’t know if I’d call you polite…

“Hey!” She punched him in the arm.

“Ow, hey! That was a compliment!” She smiled at him, and he grinned back. “I’ll say one thing you have over her; she can’t fight at all.”

“Not even a little?” Suki raised her eyebrows, sceptical of anyone unable to fight in a world at war. “Not even basic self-defence?”

“Nah,” he waved a hand. “She’s a princess, so she has guards for that.”

“Well, I’m definitely not a princess.”

“I’m sure you could be if you wanted.”

“How?” She tilted her head, smirking. “Hmm… I suppose I could marry Zuko.” She giggled. “Though I don’t think his dad would approve!”

He laughed. (It was good that they both could, considering how this conversation had started out.) “That just makes it better! Though he did mention having a girlfriend back home.”

They had Zuko’s bag with them, with the heart-shaped rock in it. He wondered, had she been waiting for him when he went back to the Fire Nation? Would he want to leave when they came for him?

“Oh, yeah,” she said. “He talked about her a few times.” She nudged him. “I was joking, anyway; I’m pretty sure I’d hate being a princess.”

“Yeah, being around royalty seems pretty stressful.”

“Having second thoughts?”

He thought about it. “Nah, she’s worth it.”

⁂

So, yeah, everything should be great, but…

But things started getting weird. Okay, technically, when he looked back on it, things had always been weird since they got here. But little bits of weirdness started adding up.

There was the way Joo Dee seemed surprised they were still here after they’d received messages that sent them out of the city. (Hold on, had they known Toph had been kidnapped…? Nah.)

There was the way the university librarians were weirdly evasive. They’d either rush off, claiming some important task, or be unable to answer. At first, he’d just shrugged it off; they were probably busy people. Even when the librarian he had tried asking had just been sitting doing nothing before he walked up and asked. Hey, maybe he’d reminded them of something super important! And maybe the ones that couldn’t give an answer were just new, or had a different speciality. But then one day a guy had had to run off, claiming an urgent bathroom break, only for Sokka to spot him a minute later, happily offering advice to somebody on researching agricultural techniques with no sign of any urgency and having had no chance to deal with his alleged problem.

He thought it might be from him being an outsider (maybe Zei’s word wasn’t enough). But when he happened to get chatting with one woman about astronomy, she happily showed him useful scrolls they had on the subject, and even directed him to a professor with interesting new theories.

It seemed like it was just asking for information about the Fire Nation, or the war in general.

And not just the library; Katara mentioned that she had tried chatting with their neighbour, and the conversation had been perfectly pleasant, up until she’d mentioned how hard the war had been on everyone, and he had suddenly fled inside, slamming the door behind him.

“There is no war in Ba Sing Se,” he’d said.

He’d heard that said a lot and had assumed it was some sort of phrase to ward off bad luck. As in, ‘Hey, this city was so lucky to survive that seige a few years ago; maybe some of that luck will rub off on me!’. But it began to take on an almost creepy tone.

Meanwhile, Toph was working really hard on making sure Aang learned to use her earth sense, even making him walk around blindfold a lot of the time, until he could navigate without sight as easily as she could. And both of them began noticing how many Dai Li agents hovering around.

That wouldn’t necessarily be that weird – of course there’d be people responsible for protecting the city’s cultural heritage around the city.

But they were weirdly hard to pick up. Almost like they were trying to hide their presence…

And come to think of it, how did they protect the city’s cultural heritage? Joo Dee acted as their guide, and he’d seen other women showing other people around, and they didn’t seem to run any events or educational projects.

So, what did they do?

But still, he kept putting it down to paranoia. Maybe it was some kind of weird city people thing.

And then they all decided to visit the Lower Ring. The four of them hadn’t seen it yet, having flown in on Appa, but Suki, Akami, and Keiko, had travelled through the city on the train and seen the other rings through the windows. Aang seemed confused at the idea of dividing people up based on economic status, and Katara seemed to think it was unfair. Sokka and Toph didn’t see it as any of their business, but the idea of being a bit rebellious and going somewhere they weren’t meant to (it wasn’t technically off-limits, but Joo Dee seemed determined to either keep them confined to the Upper Ring, or get them out of the city entirely.

They perched themselves on a low wall, eating the snacks they’d just bought from a street vendor, when they heard voices.

“Come on, snap out of it!”

The girl’s tone sounded frantic. Katara and Aang, who could never not help someone in trouble, dashed over to help, with the rest of them following, finding a group of three teenagers.

“Hey, are you guys okay?” asked his sister.

“I’m fine!” protested the boy with shoulder armour.

“No, you’re not!” protested the girl. She turned to them, eyes wide in desperation. “Please! Something is wrong! He’s not acting like himself!”

Aang opened his mouth, probably to ask what she meant, when Toph held up her hand. “Guys, couple of Dai Li agents heading this way from the north.”

The girl exchanged a glance with the other boy. “We live nearby. We can go there?”

⁂

The girl – who introduced herself as Smellerbee – did the talking, introducing the others as Jet (the apparently crazy one) and Longshot (the quiet one), explaining that the three of them had all lost their homes and families in the war, drifting for a while until they had each decided to come to Ba Sing Se, meeting up with each other along the way.

“Things were fine at first. We found work, a place to live.” She waved her hand around the small room. “We were building new lives for ourselves. But then Jet… He became convinced that there was some sort of Fire Nation conspiracy going on.”

“No, I didn’t!”

“See! This is what I’m talking about! Just ask Longshot – I’m not making it up!”

Longshot gave a firm nod.

Sokka exchanged a glance with Suki. “How about you tell us exactly what happened?”

Smellerbee explained that Jet had quickly noticed that any time he brought up the Fire Nation, or even implied that there was a war on (which was often; losing your home and family was the sort of thing that left an impact on your conversation topics), the other person would change the subject, or flee. Sokka guessed he had heard “There is no war in Ba Sing Se!” a lot.

He had also noticed how scared people were of the Dai Li, and how they didn’t seem to do anything except snoop around and keep people in line, even though there were City Guards for that.

He came to the conclusion that it must be a nefarious Fire Nation plot of some kind. Sokka couldn’t fault his logic, based on the available evidence.

“He became obsessed! I told him to stop, but he just wouldn’t listen!”

His role as a delivery boy had taken him all over the Lower Ring, at all sorts of hours, giving him ample snooping opportunity.

And then one day he’d gone out to do some surveillance… and not come back.

“And then, a few weeks later, we just ran into him on the street, and he was… different. At first we thought maybe it was a trick to throw the Dai Li off the scent. But it’s been a week now, and he’s still acting like this!”

“But I’m acting like myself! I don’t know anything about a conspiracy!”

Toph frowned. “I don’t get it; they’re both telling the truth.”

“That’s we- Wait, how can you tell?”

“I can feel their breathing and heartbeats. When people lie, there’s a physical reaction. But both of them are telling the truth.” She shrugged. “Maybe it’s just because we’re on floorboards, but I don’t think so; the walls are stone.” She knocked on the wall right next to her. “Their reactions are muffled, but I can still sense them.”

“That’s impossible,” said Katara.

It sounded that way, unless… There was only one explanation. “No, it’s not. Toph can’t tell who’s lying because both think they’re telling the truth.” He pointed at Jet. “Jet’s been brainwashed.”

“That’s crazy! It can’t be!” He stared around at them, panicked. “Stay away from me.”

“Hey, Jet,” said Suki. “What do you think about the war?”

The panic vanished and he smiled. “There is no war in Ba Sing Se.”

“Okay, yeah. Weird.”

“Definitely something up there.”

“They must have brainwashed him somehow,” said Sokka, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“But how are we supposed to fix it?” wailed Aang.

“Try to think of something from your past that triggers your emotions?” suggested Toph.

“The Fire Nation,” said Smellerbee. “Remember what they did to your family.”

“Close your eyes,” Katara told him. “Picture it.”

Jet closed his eyes, and sweat broke out on his face as he struggled. Then his eyes snapped open again and he shook his head, terrified.

“No! It’s too painful!”

“Maybe this will help.” She stepped behind him, pulling water from her flask and placing her hands on either side of his head. The soft glow of her bending lit the room as she worked.

Jet’s eyes stayed closed as she stepped back again, and when he opened them again, he looked… different. More intense.

“I remember! I was investigating them! I knew there had to be something linking them to the Fire Nation! But they got the drop on me. Knocked me out, and when I woke up, I was underground, and… there was a guy with a lamp, and he kept… talking at me.”

“We have to do something!” Aang declared, jumping to his feet.

“Okay,” interrupted Toph. “But why?”

“But the Fire Nation…” began Jet.

Sokka shook his head. “It’s not them. If the Fire Nation had any kind of control here, everyone would know about it; those guys do not do subtle.”

They really didn’t. From what he’d learned with all his research, even pre-war Fire Nation culture was all about making a huge deal out of everything.

“If it’s the Dai Li, then it must be Long Feng who’s behind this,” said Katara, looking thoughtful. “But why would he do that? What’s the point in stopping people talking about the war?”

“Control,” said Suki, looking deadly serious. Which was actually kind of hot, and now he felt like a traitor to Yue thinking that. “Keeping everything running just how he wants it. War is chaos; it threatens that.”

“But he’s the King’s advisor; he’s one of the most powerful people in the Earth Kingdom,” said Katara. “He has plenty of control already.”

Sokka snorted. “Guess that isn’t enough for him.”

Aang was looking thoughtful. “I bet the Earth King doesn’t know. Remember the way he talked when we met him? He was acting like the war wasn’t happening. I thought he was just joking around, but maybe he wasn’t.”

Toph waved her hand to get their attention. “Okay, but I repeat my earlier question: Why?”

“But if the Earth King doesn’t know-” protested Aang.

“Firstly,” said Toph, holding up a finger. “We don’t know that. He seemed like an idiot, so maybe he doesn’t, but he might still know and be fine with it. Or, he might not know, but not care even if he does.” She held up a second finger. “And secondly, even if he doesn’t know, how do we convince him that this is happening? We might have an eyewitness account, but it’s from someone who doesn’t exactly scream ‘upstanding citizen’. No offence.”

“None taken,” Jet replied with a smirk.

“When you get right down to it, all we have is that the Dai Li like to walk around the city a lot, people are a bit touchy when we ask questions, and Joo Dee is a little too happy.” She jerked a thumb at Aang. “If we start making out like being too positive is sinister, this guy here is gonna be under way more suspicion than she is.”

“But if we talk to him, and we just explain…”

She sighed. “Explain what, Twinkletoes? That there’s a war been going on for a century that he completely missed? That the city was under siege for two years and he had no idea? That the guy he trusts most in all the world is a liar and we, some complete strangers – who are kids, and grown-ups never listen to us even when we’re right – are telling the truth, honest?”

“Uh…”

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.”

“And what exactly can he do?” asked Suki, thoughtful.

“He can arrest Long Feng!” said Aang.

“Yes, but then what? Do you think the Dai Li will just be fine with that? Or do you think that they’ll try to take over for real? They might even tell the Earth King they’ll stop, but just keep going.”

“But we can’t just leave!” Aang protested.

“Sure we can, Twinkletoes. Easy. We just get on Appa and you say ‘Yip Yip!’ and we’re outta here.”

“But we need to do something!” protested Jet.

“I agree that it feels wrong to leave the situation like this,” said Suki. “It feels like letting Long Feng win. But maybe the best way of fixing things is what you were doing already – ending the war.”

Aang scowled. “How does that help?”

Sokka’s first instinct was to echo that, but then he thought about it… “No, she’s right. If there really is no war in Ba Sing Se, what’s he going to use to control people? Even if he finds something else, it’s never going to be as big as that. And people won’t be forced to stay here to keep safe from the Fire Nation anymore; they can just leave.”

“Meanwhile, if we try to take him down directly, there’s no way he won’t go down without a fight,” said Katara. “And with the Dai Li, he’s got an army backing him up.”

“Exactly,” said Suki. “Sometimes the best strategy is more long-term.”

“I love it when you talk strategy!” Sokka told her.

“You’re really just gonna leave?” said Jet.

“We told you, we-”

“Okay, but what about us?” asked Smellerbee. “It’s only a matter of time before Jet gets in trouble again.”

“Hey! I can stay out of trouble!”

Longshot turned his eyes ceiling-wards.

“Longshot’s right. They must have done some amazing brainwashing to make you capable of that.”

“You guys could come with us?” Aang offered.

“No. Why should we go anywhere with you?” Jet demanded.

Aang opened his mouth to try talking him round, but Suki grabbed him and subtly shook her head. Why was she against them coming? They could always do with more people. He heard her mutter, “Zuko,” into his ear.

Oh yeah, good point. Jet didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would just listen when they tried to tell him, no, this firebender was good, actually. A few months ago, Sokka would have agreed with him.

They’d spend more time battling him than any soldiers the Firelord sent to fight them.

Aang thought for a moment, then a wide grin broke out on his face. “I know just the place! Omashu! It’s got walls too, and their king is a lot more fun.” After a moment’s pause, he added. “We can even take you part of the way, at least across Full Moon Bay, so you don’t have to deal with the ferry.”

“Or the pass,” added Suki. “And Keiko and Akami can guide you the rest of the way on their way back to Kyoshi Island.”

“You’re leaving?” he asked. Not sure whether to be disappointed or not.

She shook her head. “Not yet. I’m going to see this through first.”

“So how about it?” asked Aang. “There’s a really cool mail chute system too.”

The three teenagers looked at each other.

“Fine,” said Jet. “But I still think the Fire Nation is involved in this somehow.”

⁂

He wanted to leave immediately, but they had to go back to the house to get their own stuff.

“Guys, Joo Dee is coming!” said Toph.

“Eh, it’s fine,” said Sokka. “Just pretend we’re ou- Katara, what are you doing!?”

“Hello there, Joo Dee!” Katara greeted her with a matching smile. “It’s so good to see you! You know, you’ve been so good about showing off your city’s culture these past few weeks, I want to return the favour by showing you some waterbending!”

“Oh, how interesting!”

“Please, just sit in this chair. Now, I’m going to place this water against your head…”

⁂

Appa’s flying speed was slower that he’d like; for the first part of the journey he’d been carrying so many people: him, Aang, Katara, Toph, Suki, Akami, Keiko, Jet, Smellerbee, and Longshot (plus their bags). The saddle had been pretty crowded. Even after they’d dropped five people off, just on the other side of Serpent’s Pass, the extra load had tired the poor guy out.

Finally, they reached the west coast of the Earth Kingdom. Their destination was just across the sea!

But then Aang begged to go northwards, to the Western Air Temple. Please, honest, it wasn’t far!

Sokka wanted to tell him that this was just a needless detour. But he was making isopuppy eyes at him, and Suki pointed out that it would be good for Appa to have a few days to rest and recover before flying into enemy territory.

And he did need to put the finishing touches on his rescue plan…

And it would be good to scout it out as a place to run to if things went wrong…

“Ugh, fine. But just a few days. No more!”

Chapter Text

It was probably just as well he’d let Aang talk him into taking the detour; Appa had barely made it over the sea between the Earth Kingdom and the island where the Western Air Temple was located, and that was much closer than the nearest Fire Nation island. Having to walk the last mile or so had felt slow and tedious after being used to flying, but it was better than ending up in the sea.

Yeah, the poor guy definitely needed a rest before they continued.

The bison had grumbled a little when Aang asked him to take them into the temple itself, but it was necessary, because those crazy Air Nomads had built the damned place upside down on a cliff.

At least that meant they would be left alone here. Guaranteed!

⁂

Sokka picked the first room inside the building (easiest to get out in an emergency), and returned to the terrace, quickly joined by Aang, who had picked the room opposite his.

They sat by the pool, chatting as they waited for Katara, Suki and Toph to pick somewhere already. Momo fluttered down from an upper terrace and landed beside Aang.

“Maybe I should help Katara find a room?” he asked, looking towards the entrance.

“I’m sure she can manage,” he said, waving off his friend’s weird concern. “Okay, I don’t want to stay here longer than we have to, but it’s important to take time to prepare before heading into hostile territory to rescue our friends.”

Momo jumped onto Aang’s shoulder and pointed at one of the other pagodas. “Oh, hey, buddy. Don’t worry, we can explore later.”

He patted Momo on the head and resumed listening to Sokka.

“But for now, relax. This is our chance to rest and regroup. We’re safe here, in this completely abandoned…” Momo scampered over and prodded at him, once again trying to point at something. “Momo, stop it!”

“Uh, who is Momo?” asked Toph, emerging from the pagoda.

“Oh, he’s a winged lemur,” Aang told her, brightly. “But I sent him to- Oh.”

Oh, wait.

“What is Momo doing here?” asked Suki, emerging from the doorway behind Toph.

Toph straightened suddenly, eyes wide. “Uh, guys? It’s not just him. There are people here!”

She pointed over in the direction of the next pagoda, just as Momo had, and Sokka turned to see…

“Yue!”

She was wearing red clothing now, but there was no mistaking that hair.

She must have been on the other side of the pagoda before. He was about to wave to her, even as he wondered what she was doing here. And then another girl ran around the corner after her, obviously poised to strike. She leapt at Yue, but the princess managed to dodge. There was no way she’d be able to keep it up though; she was no fighter.

He grabbed his club and ran over the stairway connecting the two buildings, his mind racing. She must have escaped somehow! And now the Fire Nation was trying to recapture her!

“Isn’t she one of the people we’re here to rescue?” asked Suki as she ran after him.

“Yeah, she’s my-” Oh, he really hoped this wasn’t going to be awkward.

He reached the other platform, and the other girls seemed to notice them for the first time, the agile girl in pink turning to look at him.

“Oh hey,” she said. “We were just about to go looking for you guys!”

Oh, they were, were they?

He launched himself at her before she had the chance to attack, knocking her to the ground.

“Sokka!” he heard from behind him.

“Don’t worry, Yue! I’m here to save you!” A little sooner than he’d expected to, but okay. And he got to look super brave in front of her by taking on a fearsome attacker!

“Hey, get off of me!”

The girl wriggled beneath him, trying to get free, but he wasn’t about to let the Fire Nation get Yue again.

“Sokka, no!”

He raised his club. “How dare you try to-?”

And then he felt a jab at one shoulder, and then another, and his arms just… stopped working, causing him to drop the club and allowing the girl to wriggle free and somersault to her feet.

He turned to face the second attacker, not even sure what he could do… Only, there wasn’t one. Just Yue, looking slightly embarrassed, and the others joining them on the platform and staring at her.

“Yue?!” asked Aang, shocked.

She smiled apologetically. “Uh, sorry? But you wouldn’t listen, and you were going to hurt Ty Lee.”

“You two know each other?!”

“Sure do!” said Ty Lee, with a smile that put Aang to shame, as she put an arm around Yue.

He tried to move his arms, but they both hung limp at his side. “What did you do?”

“She chi-blocked you! Don’t worry, it’ll wear off!” She turned to Yue. “See, I told you you could do it!”

He was about to respond, when Katara came running over the bridge. When she caught sight of Yue, the water she’d been pulling from her flask fell to the ground with a splash.

“But we were going to rescue you!” he blurted out, stupidly.

“Uh, sorry?”

“I suppose there’s still Zuko though,” said Suki.

“Um, actually…” began Ty Lee.

As if on cue, he stepped round the corner. “Hey, are you two-”

And then he stopped.

There was a long moment of silence.

Toph jerked a thumb at Zuko. “I’m guessing this is the other person we came to rescue, right?”

“You were going to rescue me? But I thought you hated me?”

“Of course we didn’t!” chirped Aang. “I even sent you Momo to keep you company!” He held up the lemur, who waved.

“Oh.” He frowned. “But… you wouldn’t even look at me…”

“Hey, give us a break,” said Sokka, trying to hold his arms up but of course failing. “Suddenly finding out that the world’s last firebender had been travelling with us the whole time? Bit of a shock, you have to admit. But you’re still our friend, idiot!”

“Hey!” Another girl stormed round the corner. “Nobody is allowed to call my brother an idiot except me!”

“And Mai,” added Ty Lee.

Zuko’s sister gave a disgusted scowl. “Ugh, fine. Mai too. But no-one else!”

“We were going to talk to Chief Arnook as soon as things settled down,” Katara told him. “But by the time things did, well, you and Yue were both gone.”

“Yeah, thanks for the distraction by the way. Very helpful.”

Aang visibly deflated at her words; Momo scrambled up his arm to his shoulder and patted him on the head, and Katara rested a hand on his shoulder.

“Azula,” said Ty Lee. “That wasn’t very nice, was it?”

“Okay,” said Sokka, still trying to get his arms to work. (Wait, did one of his fingers just twitch there?). “But how are you here? You went back home, and then you just… left? And the person who took you back also left with you?”

“Uh, yeah,” said Zuko, awkwardly. “That’s pretty much it.”

“This isn’t that Hahn guy, is it?” asked Azula. Sokka didn’t think he’d ever been so insulted in his whole life.

“No, that’s Sokka. I told you about him.” Yue had been sharing intel about him with the Fire Nation? The betrayal!

He was swept with a critical gaze; it seemed she did not like what she saw, giving a dismissive sniff. “You could do better.”

“Hey!”

But Yue smiled at him. “I think I’m doing alright.”

(Wait! She wasn’t wearing her betrothal necklace!)

He was not blushing. Mighty warriors didn’t blush.

“So have you been hiding out here the whole time?” asked Toph.

“Uh, no. We were looking for our mom.”

“You took your mom with you?” asked Suki.

“No, she had disappeared so we went to look for her.”

“We had to rescue her from a crazy waterbender,” Azula added.

“But Katara’s been with us the whole time,” Sokka made the mistake of saying.

Now his arms didn’t work and he was soaking wet.

“Hey now.” Azula stepped forward. “I can help with that.”

And then she just… lit a flame in her hand. One that burned blue. They all stared at it.

“What… But… Firebending is back?” Aang stammered.

“Oh, no,” Zuko told them, waving his hands as if dismissing the thoughts. “We just figured out how to get hers back.”

“With a little help from the Moon Spirit,” said Ty Lee.

Katara stared at her. “You guys met Tui?”

“Yeah,” Ty Lee told her, as she pulled Yue in for a hug. “It turns out that your girlfriend kind of knows her.”

Yue smiled shyly.

Uh, okay.

“Is that why her fire is blue?” asked Suki.

“Oh no,” Zuko answered. “She was always able to make her fire do that. It burns extra hot.”

Azula walked towards him, smiling. “Now, hold still.”

He really did not trust that smile. Or the flame in her hand. But Yue was also smiling at him. He had to look brave in front of her. And Azula wouldn’t do anything in front of her, right?

Steam rose from his clothing as he was enveloped in a cloud of warmth, and no immediate murder attempts happened. He did his best to relax…

Azula leaned forward and whispered in his ear. “If you break her heart, I will burn you so thoroughly there will be nothing left but ashes. Got it?”

Her smile didn’t so much as flicker, but her eyes were deadly serious.

He swallowed, not sure if the grin he plastered onto his face was to impress Yue by showing her how relaxed he was in the face of firebending, or a futile attempt to deny that he found this threat intimidating.

“Heh. Got it.”

She continued drying him off. He continued to be totally relaxed.

⁂

Zuko and Azula went to fetch Ty Lee and Yue, and came back with a whole crowd of people. Great. Mai sighed.

Oh well, at least these seemed to be the people they’d been looking for, which saved them a lot of effort and had cheered Zuko up. He’d spent the week they’d been here worrying about how exactly to find them (or at least, any free time he’d had, which wasn’t much, since Azula was demanding he teach her all the firebending he knew, determined to make up for lost time), growing increasingly frantic as waiting for his mother to recover ate into the time they had. Though when Ursa had insisted that she was fine and ready to travel, both he and Azula had insisted on staying a few more days. Which had turned out to be just as well, by the looks of things.

She grasped his hand as he sat down next to her, relieved; he smiled back at her.

Yue sat next to the boy, Sokka, though Mai noticed one of the girls, Suki, eyeing her curiously in a way that she hoped promised drama.

After introductions were shared, they all sat down as Ursa began preparing food.

“Mom, are you sure you can manage?”

She smiled. “I’m fine, Zuko. Really. I’m feeling much better now.”

She still looked pretty tired, but it wasn’t as if it was anything difficult to make (and Azula was doing the actual cooking itself anyway), a stubborn set to her face that suggested she wasn’t going to let her son boss her around – Firelord or not – and Zuko conceded defeat. Even he knew this was a losing battle.

Instead, he began talking, regaling his friends with the epic tale of his adventures.

⁂

Predictably, they loved the part about Zuko giving his dad a haircut and stealing the crown.

“Isn’t hair a super big deal to you guys?” asked Toph, who was clearly blind, but didn’t act it at all.

“Yep!” said Ty Lee, giggling.

They were less enthused to learn about Hama.

“She used waterbending to do what?”

“Yeah, turns out the human body is mostly water.”

Katara looked faintly ill.

And the water siblings were both extremely unhappy to learn what had happened to her.

“What do you mean you sent some crazy lady to live with us?”

“I didn’t send her!” Zuko protested. “Tui did! I wasn’t in a position to argue! And look, I’m sure your dad can handle it.”

“And maybe she’ll be different when she gets home,” suggested Ty Lee. “The Moon Spirit said there were people who still remembered her, so maybe she’ll be happy to see people she knows.”

Neither of the pair looked convinced.

“But if he decides she’s still dangerous and can’t stay, then we don’t want her back here,” Zuko warned them.

“Speak for yourself,” muttered Azula, lighting a flame in her palm, the look on her face making it very clear that her reasons for wanting Hama back weren’t ones the woman would like.

“So, uh, you’re kind of the Moon Spirit?” Sokka asked Yue, looking nervous.

She smiled. “Only sometimes.”

They’d left the telling to Zuko, with the odd contribution here and there, but once they got to their quest to learn about the origins of firebending, Azula smoothly took over. The Sun Warriors had been very clear about not telling anyone that their civilisation was still around and that dragons still existed. And sure, maybe the Avatar might count as an exception, but there were way too many people here. But Zuko wasn’t the best liar – he wasn’t completely incapable if he’d had time to prepare a good story and plan, but he was horrible at coming up with something on the spot.

Azula, however, was an excellent liar. Mainly because she chose a carefully edited version of the truth.

“So, you got your firebending back just by going to this one old city?” the Avatar asked, frowning.

“It is an extremely ancient and important city, esteemed by the earliest firebenders,” Azula informed him haughtily. “And, I am extremely good and clearly deserving of having my bending back.”

“And Zuko helped!” added Ty Lee, a dangerous tactic, trying to join in an Azula lie, but it didn’t seem to spoil things, so Azula didn’t glare. “They worked together.”

Their audience absorbed this, frowning in thought rather than disbelief. (Toph leaned forward, pressing her feet into the stone, seeming to stare at Azula, but then sat back, eyebrows raised and shrugging, and Mai could spot no indication that she had figured it out.)

“And then we came here so mom could rest!” Zuko added hastily. “So, what about you guys?”

Mostly nothing. They’d left – or rather been kicked out of – the Northern Water Tribe pretty damn quickly, before Azula had had a chance to secure her captive and demand the Avatar be handed over. Then they’d wandered across the Earth Kingdom, passing through Omashu (which sounded boring), and a swamp (even worse), to get to a tournament of earthbenders throwing rocks at each other (ugh). Then they’d hung around in some mountains throwing rocks at each other, before going to the desert (definitely boring), to find a library (okay that actually sounded interesting). After that they’d gone to Ba Sing Se (creepy, and therefore not entirely boring). Oh and one of them had learned an entirely new bending technique.

“I’m sorry, did you just say you could bend metal?”

“Sure thing, Sparky. You are talking to the greatest earthbender in the world! Gimme that crown and I’ll show you.”

“NO!” came a chorus of voices at once.

After that they’d got bored of the city and left. Right when things sounded like they’d been getting interesting.

“We were obviously going to go straight to the Fire Nation to rescue you, and I had an amazing plan. But someone insisted we stop here.”

“But Appa was tired!” Aang grinned and waved a hand at them. “And look, that someone was right to come here!”

“And what was this plan, exactly?” asked Azula, eyebrow raised.

“Uh, well. It was still in the early stages, so I can’t really show-” Momo landed on his shoulder, brandishing a scroll in his tiny fist, and dropped it into his lap. “Momo, where did you get that?”

“I’ve been training him to retrieve things. He’s doing great.”

“He doesn’t always know the difference between similar things though,” Yue pointed out.

“No, but he does very well most of the time,” Azula said, adding, “Yes you doooo!” to Momo, who had fluttered over to her, anticipating attention or a treat. He received both (a head scritch and a piece of fruit). “Well, did he?”

Sokka unrolled it, the movement of his hands still awkward, the chi-block only just having worn off; Yue had done an excellent job. “Uh… Oh, wow yeah. This is it.”

She stood and walked over, Momo perched on her shoulder. “Well, let’s see it.”

“I’m not sure I should show you…”

Azula grabbed it. “Lemme see.”

“Obviously, it’s in the early stages, but I’ll think you’ll find that-”

“Hmm, well, that wouldn’t work for a start.”

“What?”

“Or that.”

“Hey!”

Suki walked over and squinted at the map. “You can read that?”

Sokka gasped and clutched his chest. “Suki! Not you too! The betrayal!”

“I can read it just fine.”

“Thank you, Yue.”

“Really, you expected to get into the palace disguised as servants?” Azula shook her head.

“What’s wrong with that? Servants would go in and out of the palace all the time!”

Azula snorted. “Not as much as you’d think; they have quarters there, so would only leave on free days or if they have errands taking them outside. And do you really think the guards don’t know their faces?”

“Oh.” Sokka slumped, but quickly rallied. “And I suppose you’d be able to come up with something better?”

“Actually, yes.” Yue and Suki leaned in as she pointed at the wall around the palace on the (very rough) map of the capitol. “Your best option would have been to wait until after midnight, just before the guard changes – the point in their watch when they’d be least alert – then enter over the wall to either the north or the south – I would suggest north; there’s a lake there, so no houses full of witnesses. Of course the guard are aware of that and post more patrols on that side, but you would have your earthbending friend-”

Toph interjected with a, “That’s me!”

“-to warn you of their presence. Zuko tells me you fight using a boomerang; this would presumably make you skilled at using grappling hooks, allowing you to climb the sides of the building and enter through an upper balcony even without the aid of the Avatar’s airbending. From there you would have to wing it, as while guard rotations are predictable, servants and nobles are not, but Toph’s earth sense would give you an advantage, and I’m sure you could evade detection for long enough to-”

“Uh, Azula dear, should you really be telling them all this?” asked Ursa, uncertain.

Azula waved a hand airily. “Obviously we’ll get it all changed when we get back.”

“Well, whether you make changes or not, no more discussion of breaking into anywhere until you’ve finished your dinner,” Ursa told her, as she began doling out the food with the help of Katara.

Sighing, Sokka rolled up his plans. “Oh well, it’s not like we have to rescue anyone.”

Yue smiled at him. “I’m sure you’d have done just fine.”

Azula sighed, but said nothing, which Mai thought showed marvellous restraint.

⁂

“Okay, so speaking of plans,” said Toph, once they were done eating. “What’s our next move? Are we staying here while Twinkletoes masters all the elements, or whatever?”

Mai had no interest in staying here that long, even if that was an option.

“We can’t wait that long,” said Zuko, shaking his head. “I have to get back to the Fire Nation to restore firebending, on the night of Sozin’s Comet. And, uh… I kind of need you guys’ help with that…”

“Sure!” said Aang. “What do you need?”

“The Moon Spirit told us what we needed to do. She said, uh…”

Azula cleared her throat, taking over. “She said, ‘You must fix your own firebending before you concern yourself with that of others. Seek the truth at its source and you shall find it. Then find the bridge and join together with the other nations under the light of the Great Comet to restore the honour of your own.’ Simple.”

“Obviously, we’ve done the first bit,” said Zuko. “The whole ‘seeking the truth at its source’ thing. We went and learned about the origins of firebending itself, and how a lot of what we were taught about it was wrong. And Azula got her bending back, but the- Uh, no-one else did.”

“So now we just have to do the rest of it,” said Ty Lee. “And that’s where you guys come in.”

“Okay, joining together with the other nations seems like it’s covered,” Sokka noted. “We’ve got people from the Earth Kingdom, Water Tribes, and an Air Nomad.”

“So, we just have to find a bridge?” asked Katara. “And then what? Stand on it?”

“Uh, guys?” said Suki.

“I could make a bridge, if you want,” Toph offered.

“It says ‘find the bridge’ though, not make one,” Katara pointed out.

“Guys?”

“Which is kind of weird, when you think about it,” said Sokka, rubbing his chin in thought. “It doesn’t tell you to go to this bridge, or do anything.”

“GUYS!” shouted Suki. They all turned to stare at her. “Not to interrupt but… Isn’t the Avatar supposed to be the bridge between the human and spirit worlds?”

Ugh. Spoilsport. Mai had been wanting to see how long it’d take them.

“Uh…”

“Oh, right. Yeah.”

“So, what?” asked Toph. “We just march in there while the comet is passing and that’s it?”

“Kind of,” said Zuko. “I had a vision while I was… uh… in the Sun Warriors’ city. I was in the Great Temple, in Royal Caldera City, and Aang was there. So that’s where we need to go.”

“Oh, okay,” said Sokka, looking a little disappointed. “That sounds… really simple, actually…”

“I’m sure my dear husband will do his best to complicate things,” muttered Ursa.

Toph smacked a palm with a fist, her grin promising mayhem. “Oh, I hope so.”

Azula got to her feet, stretching. “Well, that’s enough chit-chat.” She kicked her brother. “Come on, training time.”

He groaned. “But I haven’t seen my friends in ages!”

“Yeah, and now you’re all caught up. Meanwhile I have three years of firebending lessons to catch up on. Let’s go!”

Aang bounced to his feet. “Ooh! I’m coming too!”

“Sure, whatever.”

Might as well train; it wasn’t as if they had anything else to do for the next few weeks. Everyone else seemed to agree, getting up and splitting into groups.

“Hey, Yue, do you want to train with us?” asked Suki. “It looks like you have a knack for that sort of thing.”

Sokka rubbed his shoulder. “I’ll say.”

“Oooh! Great idea!” said Ty Lee, leaping to her feet and waving energetically. “Can I come too?”

Suki laughed and waved her over. “Sure! The more the merrier!”

“What about me?” asked Sokka.

“I guess,” said Suki, slinging an arm around Yue’s shoulders and smirking. “If you think you can keep up!”

Ty Lee turned to look back over her shoulder. “Hey, are you coming, Mai?”

She shrugged. Zuko’s stories of training with them had sounded interesting. “Sure, why not?”

There was a yelp from behind her, and she turned, a knife sliding out of her sleeve.

It was Ursa, staring at Katara in horror as the water she’d been pulling from her pouch splashed onto the stones.

“What did you do?” snarled Azula, storming back towards them, Zuko on her heels.

Aang airbent himself into her path. “Wait, this must be a mistake! Katara would never hurt anyone!”

“I didn’t do anything!” Katara pleaded, hands raised defensively.

“I’m sorry,” said Ursa, arms wrapped around herself. “It was the water. Just seeing it moving on its own like that…”

She shuddered, and Zuko and Azula ran back to her side to crouch on either side of her.

Katara’s confusion turned into understanding. “Oh. I’m sorry. I never thought about anyone being scared of waterbending before.” Her eyes flickered to the two firebenders. “But I guess I can understand.”

She looked over to where her brother, Suki, Yue, and Ty Lee were standing, took a step towards them, then hesitated. She wanted to follow them, but thought she might get in the way, Mai guessed.

“C’mon, Katara!” Aang said, cheerily reaching out to grab her hand and pull her along. But she snatched her arm back.

“Aang, you’re going to practice firebending,” she pointed out.

Speaking of bending styles that made a lot of people nervous.

“Oh, right. Yeah.” He sagged, looking way more disappointed than you’d expect over not getting to practice in the same general vicinity of a friend.

Zuko and Azula got up, but Zuko looked hesitant. “Maybe we shouldn’t practice at all?” he suggested. “I don’t want to leave mom alone…”

“I’ll stay,” she volunteered, waving Zuko and Azula away. “Go train.”

They both needed to, and she could practice throwing her knives just as easily here as anywhere else, without bothering Ursa. They were stuck here for another three weeks; she’d have plenty of time to spar with the others later.

He smiled and jumped forward to hug her. “Thanks, Mai. You’re the best.”

She kissed him, even though she knew it embarrassed him when she did that in front of his mom. “I knew that already,” she told him, pulling away. They she gave him a gentle shove. “Now go, idiot.”

Katara seemed about to follow her brother, but Toph marched forward, looping an arm through hers. “C’mon, Sugar Queen. You can come with me.” She jerked a thumb upwards. “I’m going up top because I don’t think Twinkletoes will be happy if I wreck any of these buildings.”

Aang looked relieved. “Thanks, Toph. I really appreciate that.”

The not-wrecking-buildings part, or the distracting-Katara part, or both, Mai wasn’t sure.

She smiled. “That sounds great.”

Momo flicked his ears, considering his options, before realising where he was most needed, curling up in Ursa’s lap, enjoying the petting he got as the two of them watched Mai throw knives.

⁂

Zuko squinted at Sokka’s detailed invasion plan, trying to make sense of it.

“So, now that we have accurate maps – thank you, Azula – I propose we land here-” He poked the paper with a stick. “At the palace, and then infiltrate by-”

“Wait, the palace?” Zuko shook his head. “No, I told you, the vision I had while- while in the Sun Warriors’ city, showed me at the Great Temple, praying to Agni.”

Sokka face screwed up in disdain at this questioning of his Plan. “Uh, no. We’re planning an invasion. You win an invasion by seizing the power base. That’s the palace.”

He tapped the diagram with his stick again, for emphasis.

Zuko shook his head. “If this was a straight up invasion, sure. But our goal is to restore firebending.”

“And Ozai will probably be waiting in the palace, behind a bunch of walls and guards,” Mai pointed out. “The temple is relatively unguarded. It’s just some old men who are nothing without their firebending, and maybe a few guards that are more for show than anything.”

“And the Fire Sages are loyal to the Firelord above all else,” Ursa said. “But their authority primarily stems from their bending; they’ll probably allow Zuko to enter if they think there’s even a chance that they might get it back.”

“I don’t know,” said Suki. “I still think that it’d be smarter to take Ozai out first, while he’s relatively vulnerable, rather than give him his bending back and then try to fight him.”

“But we’d have to fight our way through those guards to get to him either way,” Ty Lee pointed out. “I think we’d actually have an easier time of it with firebending restored.”

“You think giving them their bending, which they can use as a weapon against us, will help?” Yue asked, eyebrows rising until they were practically at her hairline.

“Yeah, I’m with Mooncake on this one,” said Toph.

“Maybe for some, but I think more will support us if they know Zuko was the one who got them their bending back.”

“She has a point,” said Katara, nodding in agreement. “If the stories we’ve heard are any indication, nobody knows if bending can really be restored. They might not believe Zuko if he tells them he can. But if they have their bending back, anyone who was unsure about where their loyalties should lie would probably choose Zuko.”

“Also,” Ty Lee added. “It just feels the right way to do things, and I would like to remind you all that I was 100% right about Hama.”

“You’ve already reminded us about that,” grumbled Azula.

“I did. And I’m going to keep reminding you. Forever.”

Sokka looked around the group, and seeing that most people were nodding, he sighed. “Fine. But I still think my plan will work.”

Azula sniffed. “Maybe with extensive modifications.”

Ursa decided to intervene. “Both of you have good ideas and I’m sure we’ll manage just fine. Now, all of you need to get some sleep. Whatever happens, tomorrow will be a busy day.”

There was some grumbling, but everyone did as she said.

Chapter Text

Ozai looked into the mirror, examining his appearance. His keen eyes picked out small details that bothered him. The shine of the products fixing his too-short hair in place. The shape of his topknot, half formed from cut hair from other people, unworthy to be on his head. The way the afternoon sunlight gleamed on the metal of the replica crown seemed wrong. The stub of his beard looked ridiculous.

But it would have to do. And he at least looked extremely impressive from a distance, so the common rabble would be none the wiser.

And after tonight, it wouldn’t matter. Tonight, under the light of Sozin’s Comet (soon to be renamed Ozai’s Comet), his bending would be returned to him. The Fire Sages had assured him so. They’d brought a prophecy. “The Firelord shall rise under the comet’s light, and the Fire Nation shall rediscover its purpose.”

It was all so clear to him.

He smoothed down a few annoying strands of hair that had resisted the efforts of the hairdresser (he would have the man banished first thing in the morning, as soon as this was over).

He strode through the halls of the palace, encountering few people on his way. But he could hear their whispers, their doubts. Treasonous words that were snuffed out whenever he whirled around and tried to identify any of the speakers.

His fault that firebending has been lost, the whispers say. His fault that the war has become a disaster, with the troops slowly being driven back from territory they’d claimed decades ago. And look how his own family has betrayed him! His wife, his brother, his children, all gone. Unlovable, unworthy…

Snarling, he whirled around, but saw only an empty corridor. Enraged, he struck at the only available target – a vase on a plinth right next to him. The sound of it shattering on the floor was loud in the silence. He was alone.

It was like being a child again; everything was his fault, and his best was never quite good enough.

Well, he would show them. Tonight, anyone who had ever doubted him would burn.

⁂

The sun was just beginning to set as the palanquin arrived at its destination. He ascended the long stairway to the top, and looked out over the harbour, breathing in the salt air.

He had considered the Coronation Plaza, but after some consideration, had decided that this was better. He was (had been) far more powerful than any other firebender, and that power would only increase under the influence of the comet. The height of the tower gave him more than sufficient distance to firebend without risking setting any buildings – or people – on fire (not that the destruction and death bothered him, but then the plaza would be utterly unusable for anything else for Agni knew how long, and it was hard for one’s audience to properly appreciate your magnificence when they were on fire). The demographics of his audience mattered too. He felt he had done a good enough job stamping out dissent in the court, but he could not be everywhere. The people must see their Firelord. The lower classes must be reminded of his power.

It also seemed appropriate to face out to sea, as if displaying the return of his bending to the world. Not that they would be able to see of course, but it was the look of the thing.

And, with firebending restored, he would unleash his full wrath upon the world. He would hunt down his traitorous son, no longer special and unjustly favoured. If he was lucky, the boy would come to him. Though he doubted it; the boy was a coward.

He went back inside, where a tea set was waiting, and sat down to wait.

⁂

Appa landed heavily in front of the Great Fire Temple, then immediately slumped, throwing Sokka, who had got to his feet to climb down, onto the street.

“Hey!”

“Sorry, buddy,” said Aang, patting the bison’s head. “That was a lot of people we made you carry. But you can rest now.”

The others slid or jumped down and looked around. People stared at them through the open gates, but nobody approached, either to show support or resistance. Perhaps because they were unsure who to ally themselves with. But more likely they felt that the Fire Sages should handle this.

“This is the place? Sokka asked, eyeing the Great Temple as he brandished his boomerang to make sure nobody had any bright ideas about trying to be a hero.

“It is,” Zuko confirmed.

“I still say that we should strike the palace first, take Ozai out, but okay.”

“Yeah, we’ve been over this,” he said. “Now come on.”

But those scant few seconds had cost them. A trio of guards came marching through the gate, their leader pointing at them, as if someone needed to point out the giant bison surrounded by teenagers.

“Arrest him!” the captain roared, starting forward. Then he stopped, realising that nobody was following him. “What are you doing? I gave you an order!”

The guards looked at each other, shuffling awkwardly. “Uh, he’s the Firelord?” one of them pointed out.

“Firelord Ozai is our glorious ruler!” he snarled at her. He pointed at Zuko. “Does he look like Firelord Ozai to you?”

“Actually, he does, a little bit,” Ty Lee piped up. “Except for the scar, obviously.”

“And the facial hair,” added Mai.

“There is a definite resemblance,” Yue said, nodding.

The captain’s eye twitched, and he stepped back towards them, sword aloft. “How dare you-”

Blue flames shot over his head, singeing his topknot. His jaw dropped, and there were gasps from the people watching.

“But… Princess Azula!” the man stammered. “You can firebend?”

Zuko put an arm around his sister, pulling her closer. She stiffened with annoyance, but did not push him away, understanding the importance of showing a united front. They were already asking people to go against the ruling Firelord; no point complicating things by having the people doing the usurping at odds with each other.

“Yes, she can,” he told them. He tried his best to sound confident. “And I can get everyone else’s firebending back too if you’ll just let me past.”

He hoped he could anyway.

He snarled. “I was never a bender in the first place, so your empty promises mean nothing to me-”

He was cut off by the other guards tackling him from behind and pinning him to the floor.

“Speak for yourself, asshole!”

“C’mon,” said Sokka, dragging Zuko away. “Before anyone else tries their luck.”

They ran up the steps, but Fire Sages emerged from the entrance to block their path.

“I suggest you move, if you want your bending back,” Zuko told them.

“We obey the Firelord,” one of them declared.

Zuko wordlessly pointed at the headpiece in his topknot.

The High Sage’s hands twitched as he glared at them. “I never crowned you. You cannot be the true Firelord.”

He opened his mouth to reply, but his mother stepped forward, placing on a hand on his shoulder.

“Now, Zuko. These wise gentlemen are quite right. The institution of Firelord is a sacred one, and they would never ever think of interfering in the succession. Would they?”

She smiled.

The High Sage’s face went through a whole series of expressions in the space of a few seconds, ending in a scowl.

“Are you really going to dredge up what happened that night?” he asked. His face twisted into a sneer. “I’m sure there are a few things I could tell people.”

Ursa stared him down. “I’m sure there are. Look me in the eye and ask me if I care.”

He looked away, but still tried to argue. “I refuse to-”

“Of course,” said Azula, sauntering over and draping her arm over his shoulder. “If you want to continue your lives without bending, then that is up to you.”

She lit a flame in her hand. The sages stared at it.

One of the other Sages stepped forward and whispered something into his ear; Zuko caught something about “prophecy” and “Firelord”.

“Please,” said the High Sage after a long moment. “Follow me.”

They stepped forward. “But not them!” He pointed at Aang and his friend. “Fire Nation only!”

Zuko glared. “They’re my friends! They come too, or I don’t go in at all.”

Aang placed a hand on his shoulder. “Zuko, it’s fine. It’s important to be respectful of a temple’s rules.”

“Even if they’re stupid rules?” asked Katara, scowling at being denied.

Sokka opened his mouth to say something, only to gag as a cloud of incense drifted out from the doorway. “Ugh, no, don’t worry about it.” He coughed, waving a hand in an attempt to disperse the smoke. “We’ll guard the door.”

He didn’t want to leave his friends; it didn’t seem fair. But the sky was lit up with the glow of the comet. He needed to end this before the comet passed. Katara’s suggestion that they delay making a move for as long as possible to prevent the newly-restored firebending soldiers in the Earth Kingdom from being able to take advantage of its power was a good one, but he and Azula still needed the boost it gave them to defeat their father. (Even though he would be similarly advantaged, after some heated – pun very much intended – debate, they’d concluded that they needed the comet. Working together, and using their new knowledge of firebending, would hopefully give them enough of an edge.)

But it meant they were cutting things fine.

He sighed. “Fine. But Aang is coming too. Agni himself said so. I had a vision, and everything.”

⁂

Zuko lit the lamps as he made his way through the temple, accidentally overdoing it and destroying the first few, still unused to the boost that the comet brought. He quickly adjusted though, by the time he reached the room at the centre where the altar was located, he had enough of a handle on how little he needed to light them.

He approached the altar, lighting the candles on it, and took a stick of incense, using one of the candles to light it (no point going overboard and screwing up) and placing it in the holder; the others followed suit.

The others prostrated themselves on the floor, but Zuko and Aang remained kneeling upright, staring at the mural behind the altar; two dragons flying in a circle around a sun. (The Fire Sages gathered around them, and he tried to ignore the feeling that they were being surrounded.) He should definitely say something. Fuck, he was so bad at this.

He lit a fire in the offering bowl, and breathed.

“Mighty Agni, I promise you that I will restore the honour of the Fire Nation. I know it will be challenging; a hundred years of fighting has left the world scarred and divided, but with the Avatar’s help, I swear I will do my best to get us back on the right path, and begin a new era of love and peace.” He took a breath, trying to keep the flames steady. “Just, please give my people back their bending? I know they can do better with it, if they’re given the chance.”

He bowed deeply, prostrating himself along with the others, waiting, hoping…

The fire in the bowl, and the flames on the candles and in the lanterns, all blazed, almost touching the ceiling. The room seemed to fill with golden light, which should have blinded him, but somehow didn’t. He felt warm, and truly alive…

And then the feeling faded, and he was back in the temple once more, the flames burning normally.

“So, did that work?” asked Azula, sounding more uncertain than he’d ever known her to. “Because if all that was for nothing-”

A whoosh from off to one side, and he turned to see the Sages happily blasting flames into the air, looking more like delighted children than dour old men.

And then there was another noise to his left, where his mother knelt, and a gasp. He turned, to see her bending a flame into the air, then flinching back, extinguishing it.

“But… Mom?” he stammered. “You can’t firebend?”

She stared at her own hands. “It seems I can now.” She looked up at him, terrified. “Zuko, what…?”

He reached for her and pulled her close, not sure what else to do; he was used to his mother being the one to reassure him, not the other way around. He couldn’t imagine what it must be like to go from being a non-bender to feeling the full power of the comet flowing through you. It was a lot for him, and he had never lost his firebending. Azula had freaked out a little, which said a lot.

There was a squeal from behind him, & looking around, it was clear that it wasn’t just her. Ty Lee was sending flames into the air, a delighted smile on her face. Mai, next to her, shot a flame out of her hand, and jerked back, shocked, and actually shaking a little. Aang was at least careful, still wary after that accident that had burned Katara, but there was still too much chance of something going wrong.

“Okay, everyone stop firebending until the comet is over! No offence but except for Azula, none of you can handle this.”

Everyone stopped. Except Ty Lee. “Oh, come on, this is f- Oops!”

A cloth wall hanging caught alight. Zuko hastily put it out.

“Does that mean everyone in the Fire Nation has firebending now?” Aang asked. “Or any non-bender?”

Zuko shrugged. “Don’t ask me. It’s not like spirits give an instruction manual.”

Aang sighed in understanding. “Tell me about it.”

There was a distant shout. “Hey-” Sokka broke off in a coughing fit.

“Not to sound impatient,” shouted Suki, “But are you guys done? Because the temple just lit up in a huge blaze of light. Kind of noticeable.”

They all rushed outside.

Sokka was staring at the gate, obviously expecting an attack, though he waved to acknowledge them.

“Okay, so firebending back for you guys now?” asked Toph, not looking at either them or the gate, because she didn’t need to.

“Yep,” he answered. “Also, weird question, did any of you guys get surprise firebending?”

Sokka turned around at that. “Uh, no? Why would that happen?” A horrified look crossed his face. “Oh, Tui, please tell me that isn’t something that can happen?”

“Relax, idiot,” Azula told him. “If it was a possibility then it would have happened already.” She turned to survey her mother and friends. “It must just be Fire Nation non-benders.”

“I know we’re all supposed to be good friends now and stuff, but I’m not sure I like the idea of the whole Fire Nation having bending.” Sokka grimaced. “Seems to be going too far in the opposite direction.”

Toph shook her head. “I don’t think so, Snoozles. There are people out there who aren’t even trying to bend, and you’d think they’d be bending like crazy if they could.”

“So, some of you couldn’t bend before?” asked Suki.

He shook his head. “Mai, Ty Lee, and my mom couldn’t.”

“Agni has blessed you for being in his presence,” announced the High Sage from behind him (Zuko, who had forgotten he was there, did not jump.), in a tone that could have been reproachful or worshipful.

“So I could have ended up a firebender if I’d gone in there?” asked Sokka. He dropped to his knees and raised his arms towards the scent drifting from the open door. “Thank you, stinky smoke!”

He began coughing.

“Get up, idiot,” Katara told him. “We still need to deal with Ozai, remember?”

“Oh, shit, yeah.” He jumped to his feet and whirled back round to face the gate, boomerang in hand. “Don’t worry, I’m ready.”

But Azula shook her head. “He won’t come to us.”

Suki looked sceptical. “But he knows where we are.”

“No,” said Ursa. “Azula is right. He might send troops after us, and if he happens to come this way anyway then he’ll be more than happy to challenge us, but he’ll see chasing after us as giving us power over him.”

“So if we stay here any longer we’ll get to fight waves of bozos coming for us?” asked Toph, grinning. “Fine with me.”

“Uh, I’d rather not,” said Zuko, wincing. “I don’t really want to hurt my own people if I don’t have to.”

“Looks like we have to go to him then,” said Sokka.

Zuko turned to the High Sage. “Where is my father?”

He looked a little reluctant, still torn over the whole ‘two Firelords’ issue, and clearly disliking being ordered around by a Water Tribe teenager, but he answered easily enough. “He’s at the plaza. We had a prophecy that the Firelord would restore firebending tonight, and… uh… he assumed that was him. He decided to make a huge spectacle out of it.”

“Thank you,” Zuko told him, nodding. The Coronation Plaza, of course. That made sense. A large space that would allow for some impressive firebending under the comet’s light, and an audience to witness it.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go.”

He went to march back towards Appa, but Mai was having trouble keeping up with him. Looking at her, she seemed pretty out of it, and when he surveyed the group, Ty Lee and his mother looked no better.

Katara seemed to have noticed the same thing. “Are you guys sure you’re okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” Mai insisted.

“If you’ll be fine, that means you’re not fine now,” Yue pointed out.

Mai scowled. “Oh, come on! It’s just a figure of speech. I’m just-” She waved a hand, and a wave of flames spread out, nearly hitting Sokka; Azula quickly put them out.

“Um, oops?”

“Perhaps some people should stay here?” Suki suggested.

Zuko and Sokka shared a look. One thing they’d all definitely agreed on when coming up with the plan was not to split the party. But anyone with any degree of warrior training knew that a weapon you didn’t know how to use but your opponent did was more likely to be used against you. A group of new benders who couldn’t control their bending were a liability.

At least nobody was left on their own.

“Is it really a good idea to leave them here?” muttered Sokka, to avoid being heard by the Sages. “I don’t trust them.”

Zuko wanted to defend the Sages, but… yeah. They’d switched loyalties pretty fast, and only to get their bending back. Who was to say they wouldn’t have a change of heart as soon as he was out of sight?

“What if we stayed with Appa?” Ursa suggested. She patted the bison. “You’ll protect us, won’t you?”

Appa groaned, presumably in agreement.

“How are we going to get there without Appa though?” asked Aang.

“The Coronation Plaza isn’t far,” Zuko told him. “We can walk from here.”

“I’ll stay with them,” Yue offered. “I’m still not good enough at fighting to help against Ozai, so I think I’m better off here.”

He kissed Mai, not caring that his mother was watching. “Don’t do anything stupid,” he told her.

“Shouldn’t I be telling you that?”

“And don’t try using your bending yet. None of you. Me and Azula will teach you, I promise.”

Sokka stepped towards Yue, ready to say something. She smiled at him, and he blushed. “I- just… Well, that is, Yue, I… Uh, stay safe, okay?”

“Inspiring speech,” muttered Azula.

She smiled, kissing him. “You too.”

“C’mon,” Toph demanded. “We don’t have time for you lovebirds to gawp at each other all night.”

Wasn’t Earth supposed to be patient?

“Wait!” said Zuko. “One last thing.”

He held out his knife to his mother. “Here, take this, just in case.”

“And this,” said Azula, lifting Momo up and placing him on Ursa’s shoulder.

She fixed the lemur with a stern look. “Show no mercy to anyone who hurts her, understand?"

Momo nodded.

“Come on,” he said, squaring his shoulders. “Let’s end this.”

⁂

Despite his confident assertion that the plaza was close, he’d been half expecting to encounter some resistance on the way that would slow them down. Toph didn’t help matters, deliberately calling attention to them.

“Make way for the Firelord and the Avatar! Make way!”

But people had stepped aside, staring at them. Zuko and Aang waved awkwardly.

The few people who hadn’t moved quickly enough had been moved by Toph, the stone of the road they were standing on sliding them out of their path.

But once they reached the plaza, there was no sign of father. The only person on the stage was a Fire Sage, praising Agni in front of a modest crowd.

Zuko stormed up to him as Sokka and Suki brandished their weapons as if they half expected Ozai to jump out from behind a column. “Where’s my father?”

“He’s not here, Your Hi- Majesty. As far as I know, he is still down at the harbour.”

Zuko groaned, slapping a hand over his face. “The High Sage must have been talking about the Royal Plaza.”

“But that’s miles away!”

He shared his sister’s frustration. It wasn’t an exceptional distance, but it would still take longer than he’d like, and they’d be tired when they got there and had to face Ozai. And while that might mean the comet would have passed by then, so he wouldn’t be able to benefit from its power, neither would he and Azula. Maybe if they ran back to Appa and flew…

“How do we know he’s even telling the truth?” asked Sokka, suspicious. “They’re probably sending us on a wild chickengoose chase!”

Zuko didn’t think so; maybe he was bad at this sort of thing, but the man was even older than the other Sages, and looked genuinely bewildered. A glance at Azula showed her shaking her head.

“My feet say he’s telling the truth, Snoozles.”

Sokka relaxed; they’d all learned to trust Toph’s judgement.

Zuko sighed; he’d really been hoping it was a lie and father was lurking somewhere closer.

He was about to suggest that they make their way back to Appa, when loud cheering broke out from the crowd below. Looking out at them, he saw that since they’d arrived, the crowd had grown, and more people were pouring into the plaza.

He moved into a defensive stance, but then the shouting of the crowd coalesced into a shout of, “Hail, Firelord Zuko!”, and he could see people waving with excitement.

He waved back, awkwardly. Okay, this was fine. But they really needed to go… He stopped waving, ready to turn and go. But the crowd must have mistaken his gesture for a command for silence, as a hush began spreading through the crowd.

Fuck. They wanted a speech. He needed to go; they had to remove father from power. And if he left now without acknowledging the crowd, right after showing up, he’d look like an idiot. Uncle had been very clear about the need for royalty to project authority. And father seemed to have lost support pretty quickly once that aura of invincible power had worn off.

And while they might have their firebending back, he was about to announce the end of the war and the rehabilitation of the Avatar’s public image from ‘Public Enemy No.1’ to ‘Actually A Really Nice Guy, and he wasn’t sure how popular those things would be. He couldn’t afford to alienate people.

They could defeat Ozai only to have everyone immediately overthrow him simply for running away from his first public speaking engagement like a coward.

He didn’t have time to make a long speech, but that was fine. Something short and snappy and inspiring with only a few words.

But… what?

This was almost as bad as facing the dragons. Wait, that gave him an idea…

“Azula!” he hissed. “Let’s do the Dancing Dragon!”

“Oh, come on! Is that your answer for everything now?”

“Would you like me to make an unprompted speech instead?”

“…fine.”

If he gave them a royal display of never-before-seen firebending, hopefully whatever hasty speech he came out with afterwards wouldn’t cause a riot.

⁂

The sky was already red with the light of the comet when Ozai stepped back out onto the balcony. The harbour below was now packed with people, the crowd overflowing onto boats after they’d run out of space on the plaza itself.

His audience awaited.

He spread his arms wide, welcoming them to worship him.

“People of the Fire Nation, we have suffered, these last few years!” And no-one had suffered more than him! “Suffered from a cruel injustice! But as I have been promising you, our deliverance is at hand! Tonight, I shall rise from the ashes of this humiliation, like a phoenix! All will fall before me, as the world shall be reborn in fire, as I shall be reborn as the supreme ruler of the world!”

The comet’s light filled the sky; he focused inside himself, but the void was still there, empty of fire, empty of anything. No matter. He simply had to be patient, after all. The Fire Sages had promised. And how could Agni deny his most skilled and powerful representative his gifts?

So, he waited, arms still spread in anticipation.

Yet still nothing came…

He was too far above the crowd to see if people were fidgeting with impatience, but he didn’t much care. So what if a few peasants couldn’t handle having to wait a little? They would see soon enough!

Everyone would see!

(His father, his brother, they never had. But he didn’t need them. He didn’t need anyone!)

And then, a blaze of golden light from the caldera!

Agni had answered. At last, his power would be restored!

Chapter Text

He had expected the light to centre upon him, but still, the caldera made sense. Of course Agni would centre his power on the palace, a symbol of the Fire Nation’s might! That still meant that his Fire was restored, of course!

But when he concentrated, he found that his inner flame was still unlit.

(Empty, so empty, nothing to fill the void inside him…)

If he just waited… A little longer…

And then a flash of orange from below caught his eye. And then another, and another. There were people (peasants! nobodies!) with fire in their hands!

Yet nothing for him. He tried, tried so hard to bend, but nothing came. (He could almost feel his father sneering down at him. “Nothing like your brother. You’ll never amount to anything.”)

“No! I’m better than you!” he snarled. “I’m better than all of you!”

“Your Majesty?” asked one of the guards behind him.

He snarled at the man, but otherwise ignored the interruption.

A trick! That must be what it was! Someone had brought some spark rocks, that’s all, and a few circus performers who had adapted their acts to do tricks with fire not created by themselves were showing off and trying to steal attention away from him during his moment of glory!

(That was it. That must be it. What other explanation was there, except…)

He would have them executed for such disrespect!

He drew in a breath, ready to order the guards, but let it out again after a moment’s thought. His Fire would come back (it would!), and when it did, with the full power of the comet behind him, he would burn the whole crowd. Even those who were not making fire; the fact that they were allowing others to do so was a sign they were abetting treason, and that could not be allowed.

So he remained in position, silently waiting (hoping).

But still nothing. Nervousness attempted to creep in, and he pushed it down. He would not be weak!

And then, as he turned his head, surveying the crowd below (so many fires held in hands… how could they do that without bending?) he caught another flash of orange in the corner of his eye. He turned. The guards extinguished their flames, but not fast enough.

Ozai stared. There could be no denying it. The guards could bend again. Even if those had been cheap circus tricks (and even if they’d dared to play with such things while on duty), the fact that they’d been able to extinguish them with a thought…

How.

How did they have their Fire, but he, the most deserving of all, the one who had worked the hardest to prove himself, did not?

How dare they have theirs when he did not!

He opened his mouth to order their immediate execution, when suddenly a woman staggered out onto the balcony. He automatically (stupidly) got into a bending stance, as did the guards, traitorous as they were, before relaxing upon seeing that she wore the uniform of a palace messenger, and the ‘weapon’ she carried was a rather rumpled-looking hawk, awkwardly bundled under one arm.

He had stationed some messengers with hawks at the bottom of the tower, in the event that he needed to send out a proclamation, but he hadn’t expected to receive any messages.

She bent over for a moment, trying to catch her breath, before bending lower in a bow.

“Your Majesty! An urgent message from the palace!”

She handed him the paper clutched in one hand, then seemed to notice the hawk she carried, muttering apologies as she let it go. Ozai barely noticed the bird flapping up to perch on her shoulder and attempting to preen its ruffled feathers, too intent on the note in his hand.

It was short and hastily scribbled, lacking the beautiful calligraphy that even the simplest missive normally had. It actually took him a few moments of squinting to make out what it said (whoever wrote it would be added to the list of planned executions).

The Avatar’s bison had been sighted coming in to land near the palace, with a group of people on its back.

One of those people was Zuko, wearing the crown, as if he had the right to.

As furious as he was at this news, there was a hint of relief at the heart of it. That was it! That was why his bending had yet to return! He must remove this threat to his authority first!

Without a word to the messenger or guards, he dashed through the door and down the stairs, not remotely caring at how undignified it was. He had to make haste! He could collect himself in the palanquin.

He snarled at the palanquin bearers to move at triple speed and all but threw himself into the conveyance. And the bearers were obedient, the palanquin making excellent speed… At least at first.

But soon, the already-jerkier-than-usual ride became turbulent, as the palanquin attempted to manoeuvre through crowds of people thronging the streets. He ground his teeth, frustrated at the delay, doing his best to ignore the orange glow coming through the curtains. It was just the light of the comet, that was all. Which didn’t explain the way it shifted, and the flickering of the shadows it cast…

The progress slowed so much that Ozai swore he could move faster if he crawled his way there.

“Faster! Or I will have each of you, and your entire families executed!”

He had to practically shout to be heard over the buzz of the crowd, but they evidently heard him, and picked up their pace, but he still was not moving even close to as fast as he’d like. He ground his teeth in frustration.

He concentrated on trying to feel for his inner flame. It had to be there. Had to be. Perhaps if he just focused hard enough, pushed himself…

Nothing. Nothing at all.

He had to get back to the palace. Secure his throne, at all costs!

“What are you fools doing?” he bellowed. “Move!”

No response, and the palanquin’s progress remained slow. Angry, he yanked the curtains aside and poked his head out. The street was crowded, and people barely seemed aware of the approaching palanquin enough to get out of the way, too busy firebending. (Firebending! Why them, and not him?) The troop of guards preceding him were shoving them aside, but nowhere near fast enough for his liking.

He was about to demand that they begin cutting people down if they weren’t moving fast enough; he was sure that people would get the hint pretty quickly and clear the street entirely. If the peasants weren’t prepared to get out of the way even their fellows died, then that was their problem.

A cheer broke out as people saw him. “Long live the Firelord!”

The guards dashed to stand between him and the excited crowd, people pushing forward, eager to get close to their Firelord.

He forced a smile onto his face, hoping it didn’t look too much like a grimace. They obviously had no idea he did not have his bending back (yet!). And he needed to get back into the palanquin and continue on his way, but this was his opportunity to take control of the narrative. If he could convince them he had his Fire back, allowed them to feel like he appreciated them, they would hopefully believe he had their interests at heart, align with him and not his treacherous son.

And after all the whispers, the betrayals, the adoration in their eyes was like an elixir.

“My people-” he began.

A jet of flame, blasted by a child who looked barely old enough to bend, and had surely never had a second of firebending instruction in its life, hit his robe.

The robe began burning, the flames hot against his thigh.

Frantically, acting on instinct, he attempted to bat the fire out with his hands, only to have to pull them away, agony shooting up his arms. The flames went out. He wasn’t sure if one of the guards had extinguished it with firebending, or if the fire had gone out on its own (silk did not burn well; something that made it an ideal fabric for Fire Nation clothing). But either way, it was too late.

The crowd went quiet, and the street got darker as everyone’s flames went out, their shock acting like a bucket of water, the only lighting from the comet. Everyone stared at him. He tried to gather his thoughts, to say something, but Agni, his hands. He stared at them, horrified. The pain was excruciating.

(A body falling to the floor in front of him, and all the lamps going out. He flexes his hands, trying to call his flames back, but they don’t respond to his call, and he feels emptiness inside, a void that threatens to consume him…)

And then, an explosion.

“He doesn’t have his bending!” shouted someone in the crowd.

Others piped up too.

“What does this mean?”

“Agni has forsaken us!”

“He hasn’t forsaken us though, just him.”

“But why?”

He needed to explain, he could win this. He’d always been good at fighting against the odds. His father had always said he would never amount to anything, but he had worked hard to be the best firebender that he could be, surpassing his brother. The court had heavily favoured Iroh, yet he had built up a base of allies. He had been underestimated due to his secondborn status, yet he had ascended to his throne. He had lost everything when his firebending had disappeared, yet he had held on to that throne, despite seditious talk and attempts to take it from him.

He could do this. (But his hands.)

“Please, I understand that this looks bad, but-”

His voice sounded weak even to his own ears.

Pathetic, his father seemed to whisper in his ear.

And then, from the back of the crowd: “He isn’t even Firelord anymore!” shouted a woman, strident with indignation. “I heard it from someone at the harbour, who heard it from a messenger! Firelord Zuko is up there in the palace right now and Agni has no longer forsaken us!”

“No, wait-!” he tried, still sounding weak.

“That’s not even the real crown!” called someone else. “It’s a fake! My brother is a clerk at the palace and he heard someone talking. Even his topknot isn’t real!”

This was getting out of hand, and he must end it now. He drew himself to his full height. “How dare y-”

A man darted forward, so quick and sudden, that the guards were too surprised to react. Just for a second, but that was enough time for the man to reach over and grab his topknot.

“How dare you!” he roared, pushing him away, pain shooting up his arms as he did so.

He fell away, the guards pushing him back, spear tips pointed at him.

But he had taken Ozai’s crown and hairpiece with him.

There was another pause, one that Ozai, veteran of court intrigue and political battles, knew in his bones was a turning point. He needed to get them under his control now.

“Get him!” someone shouted, and the crowd pressed in.

He tried to step back (weak, so weak) to the flimsy safety of the palanquin, as if he was a child again, believing that a piece of fabric could hide him from monsters.

Fire blasted out of nowhere; he raised his arms in a futile gesture of protection… But it wasn’t aimed at him.

The palanquin burned.

Its bearers fled.

The guards remained, at least. Though he didn’t like how reluctant some of them looked, before their commander barked some orders at them.

“Your… Majesty, I humbly suggest we leave. Now.”

He nodded, though he did not appreciate that hesitation on his title. That had better be down to something catching in the man’s throat…

The guards formed a tight formation around him, those who could firebend on the outside, blocking any attacks, as non-bender guards jabbed their spears forward, pushing people back.

The crowd pressed in around them, and Ozai felt true fear, for the first time since he was a child. Was this how it ended for him? No, no he refused!

And then they were past the edge of Harbour City and onto the road reaching up to the entrance to Royal Caldera City, an entrance that could not be accessed by just anyone; as a place that was home to the most powerful people in the Fire Nation, the road to it was tightly guarded. The crowd was forced to back away, blocked by the guards at its entrance.

He was shoved forward. “Go!” ordered a voice. It might have been the commander of his guard detail, or someone else.

Whoever it was, how dare they touch him!

He turned to glare at whoever it was, only to find his own guard detail backing up the road guards, attempting to hold back the crowd, straining to reach him.

He met the eyes of a woman in the crowd, and had to look away.

The guards were holding them off easily enough, but some of them were looking worryingly reluctant, shooting glances at each other, eyes flickering to the crowd, to their commander, to him. And more people were pouring out of streets and houses to join the mob.

“Go!” the commander shouted.

He staggered on, alone.

He half wondered if he would be stopped at any of the guard stations placed along the road, but none of them did.

None of them stepped out to help him, either.

⁂

People stared at him as he ran down the wide boulevard heading for the palace. That wasn’t in itself unusual; he was stared at everywhere he went. But normally he was stared at with respect, or awe, or sometimes envy, as the Firelord, and before that, as a prince.

Now people stared because he was running – running! – through the city, hair shorn, crown missing, robes burned, hands awkwardly held as he tried to flex his palms and fingers as little as possible, alone.

Nobody approached, but he could hear the whispers, even over the whoosh of flames as everybody showed off their returned firebending.

To top off the list of indignities, he had to shove his way through the crowd gathered around the palace gates, barging his way through with his elbows and forearms. Fortunately, the guards opened the gate without him having to demand entrance. (Imagine if he’d had to beg for entrance to his own palace!)

The servants, guards, and clerks who worked in the palace were too well trained to do anything as insulting as stare, but he caught a few double takes that weren’t quite covered up quickly enough.

He snarled, but continued onwards towards the throne room, where his son surely awaited him. These people’s punishment would have to be delayed for now.

Only, when he got there, it was empty.

Perhaps he had fled, like a coward.

Smiling at the thought, he seated himself upon the throne. Back in his rightful place, having met with no resistance after that initial encounter in Harbour City (which now felt inconsequential – just a few peasants, such a fuss about nothing!), he found himself relaxing.

Taking a deep breath, he again tried to call upon his bending to light the flames around his throne, but the only result was a coughing fit; his run through the city had left him parched.

Calling for a servant, he ordered some tea. After a moment’s hesitation, he added a request for a bowl of water. As much as he hated to admit weakness, his hands were clusters of throbbing agony and it was getting hard to think through that. And he’d caused enough burns to other people to know that immersing them in water was something that needed to be done.

He should probably see the Royal Physician, but he was busy right now. He could deal with a little pain. This was nothing.

Both the things he had requested were brought promptly, proving that people here did still respect him. Good. Dipping his hands in the water, he absolutely did not sigh with relief.

That felt better. His hands still hurt, but he no longer felt as if he was in imminent danger of passing out.

He pulled his hands out of the water (he was not going to be weak!) and sipped the tea, ignoring the spike of pain as he awkwardly held the cup between his burned palms. It was perfect, just how he liked it. Exactly how his wife had used to make it.

He drained the cup, and waved for the servant – still waiting behind him, anticipating his order – to pour another.

He drank it, though he savoured this one a little more. Now that he had a moment to breathe, take stock, he decided that his worthless son was still around somewhere. He would not have fled. There was no reason for him to have done so. Ozai was confident that more people supported him than his son, but it was clear that there were enough treacherous weaselsnakes around to embolden his son, make him think that he had a chance, and he had allied himself with the Avatar. No, he would not waste this opportunity.

So where was he?

He had taken the message saying that Zuko had landed by the palace as meaning that’s where he’d gone, but really, there was nothing to indicate that. A rare mistake on his part, but it was of little consequence. In fact, it had worked out in his favour. Instead of running headlong into a battleground selected by his opponent and probably heavily populated by his supporters, arriving exhausted and at a distinct disadvantage, he awaited him on home ground, where he had done his best to rid himself of dissent, and he had had a chance to rest, soothe his injuries, to plan.

The last time he had impulsively charged into a situation to claim his crown, he had nearly ruined everything. He had been successful in the end, but only through his ability to turn the situation to his advantage when given the opportunity, and his wife’s skills.

And this time, Ursa was not here.

Zuko was probably at the Coronation Plaza, awarding himself a crown he neither deserved nor had earned, probably giving some long, arrogant speech to his supporters, demanding their worship. He would be here soon enough. And Ozai would be waiting. He smiled and emptied his teacup.

If only he could do something about his appearance. His robes were no problem – he had already planned for removing them entirely once his bending returned, gold Agni Kai armbands around his biceps. Practical attire for a Firelord to bend under the light of Sozin’s Comet… And for one ready to do battle to keep his throne from a usurper.

Alas, there was nothing to be done about the disaster that was his hair…

(Look at you, he could hear his father saying. A disgrace.)

His eyes fell upon the bowl of water, and an idea came to him. He pointed at it (or rather, pointed his hand in its direction). “You,” he commanded the servant, not even looking at them. “Use that to smooth my hair down. Make it look presentable.”

Slim, delicate hands dipped into the water, before moving to his head. Massaging his scalp, and smoothing down the hair. He basked in the feeling. Ah, this person knew exactly what he liked.

Nimble fingers combing through his hair, amber eyes meeting his in the mirror, lips curling in a soft smile as they whisper heated promises in his ear…

The throne room suddenly blurred in front of him, and he frantically blinked to clear his vision. Ugh, why did he feel so tired all of a sudden? It was late now, but not exceptionally so, and while yes, he had exerted himself on the way back here, it was nothing to what he could do to himself in training.

Agni, please tell him this wasn’t a sign that his hands were infected?

The room blurred again; he shook his head in an attempt to clear it. The fingers working on his head tightened their grip, scarp nails digging into his scalp. How dare a servant treat him like this?

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

His hair was gripped tighter, jerking his head back, as the disrespectful servant leaned forward to peer over his shoulder. To his shock, the face was familiar, and one he had never expected to see again.

“Ursa?!”

His wife smiled. “Boo,” she said, breath ghosting over his ear.

Pulling away from her, he attempted to rise to his feet, but his legs didn’t seem to want to support him, and he fell forward. Onto his hands.

He yelled in pain and collapsed, sprawling onto the platform.

He managed to prop himself up on his elbows, but it was a struggle.

“What have you done?” he roared. Attempted to at least; his voice was slurred.

She understood perfectly though. Leaning down to whisper in his ear as she carded her fingers through his too-short hair. “What I intended to do five years ago.”

The last thing he remembered as his awareness faded, was his wife’s gentle hand, still stroking his hair.

⁂

Zuko and Azula burst through the curtains into the throne room, the others right on their heels, benders in ready stances, and non-benders brandishing weapons that were probably useless, ready to face Ozai. This was going to be a tough battle, but-

Uh.

“Mom!” he cried, running forward. “I told you to stay somewhere safe.”

“And I did.” She smiled, sadly. “As you can see, I am home, and perfectly safe.”

“But-”

Her eyes glinted with mischief. “It turns out that it is actually pretty easy to infiltrate the palace disguised as a servant.”

Sokka nudged Azula. “Ha, see!”

She didn’t react, her attention focused on her father, lying prone with his head in his wife’s lap, as she stroked his hair.

“Is he, you know?” asked Suki.

Ursa sighed, waving a hand at the blade sitting next to her, sheathed and unused.

“He’s still alive.” She closed her eyes. “I couldn’t do it. Even after all he’s done. I’m a coward.”

Aang walked forwards and rested a hand on her shoulder. “No, you’re not,” he told her.

Zuko felt suddenly empty. He wasn’t sure how much of that was seeing his father like this, how much was relief at not having to fight him, and how much was down to the comet leaving the atmosphere. Perhaps a mixture of all those things.

Azula knelt next to her mother, leaning into her side, still staring at her father. He looked smaller than Zuko remembered him, diminished.

It was over.

It was actually over.

Chapter Text

Zuko stared at the door. Perhaps this was a bad idea. Azula had rolled her eyes when he had announced this visit; this could just as easily be done via a messenger – or not at all, as it wasn’t as if there was nothing in particular that they needed to say.

(Privately, he thought she was scared, but he knew better than to say that.)

But Zuko felt that this was something he needed to do. And he wanted to stand before his father, as Firelord. To say, ‘You didn’t win’.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

His mother shot him an unimpressed look that highlighted her resemblance to her daughter. “I wouldn’t have volunteered to come if I didn’t.” She rested a hand on his arm. “And besides, I don’t think you should do this alone.”

Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open.

The light from the corridor illuminated his father, sitting on a thin mattress, slumped against the wall. He was almost unrecognisable in his prison uniform and with his shorn hair in disarray, and an almost palpable aura of defeat hung over him.

He didn’t acknowledge them at first, until Zuko lit the torches. He raised his head to stare at the flames for a moment, before turning to them, mixture of rage and what might have been fear passing over his face. “Why?” he asked. “Why not me? Don’t I deserve this, more than anyone?”

“So it’s true?” Zuko asked. “Your bending didn’t return?”

Ozai snarled and looked away, clenching his bandaged hands into fists, then hissed in pain as the movement pulled on the burned skin.

Katara had refused to heal him. Aang was trying to talk her round, even though Zuko had asked him to stop; Katara had every right to refuse, and he wasn’t going to pressure her, even though he remembered the pain of his own burn all too well and hated subjecting someone to that, whatever that person might have done.

The burns were nowhere near as bad as his, anyway; with decent medical care (which Zuko intended to make sure his father got – he deserved that much, at least) he should regain full use of them, with minimal scarring.

Ursa sighed, opening the bag she had brought, filled with items from the palace infirmary. “Come here.”

“Don’t you dare pity me!” he snapped, reminding Zuko of a wounded animal, snapping at help because it was unable to distinguish it from harm. “I am fine!”

She glared at him. “Come. Here. If your wounds aren’t treated properly, they’ll become infected; you could lose your hands entirely. And you’ll have to endure pain the whole time. Is your pride really worth all that? Especially when we can see right through you. Stop it. There is nobody around to impress.”

Slowly, with extreme reluctance, he shuffled towards them and reached his hands through the bars. Zuko watched as his mother crouched before him and began unwrapping the – by now filthy – bandages, but Ozai made no move to attack; either he was in even more pain than he let on (perhaps he should try to talk Katara round?), or he was smart enough not to antagonise them when he knew the state of his living conditions depended on their goodwill.

Or perhaps, he was unable to say no to his wife.

He waited silently as Ursa applied burn salve, pretending not to notice the look of relief that crossed his father’s face, knowing it would only antagonise him to have something he perceived as a weakness acknowledged.

Her husband’s hands now wrapped in fresh bandages, Ursa rose and stepped back to re-join her son.

“It’s a mistake,” Ozai declared suddenly, glaring at him.

“What?”

“My bending not returning. It’s… it’s just a mistake, that’s all. I just have to wait…” His voice rose in volume, though it was tinged with desperation. He held his hands up, clearly wanting to grip the bars, but unable to. “It will come back. It will!”

Zuko snapped. How could he still refuse to see, after all this? After Agni had done all but told him to his face. “Look at me and tell me that you deserve to have your bending back.” He pointed at his scar. “Look me in the face, father. You-”

Ursa rested a hand on his arm, stopping him from continuing. “Perhaps I should show him what I’ve learned?”

He took a step back as she sat down in front of her husband, and breathed. The torches froze for a moment, before resuming their burning with a slow, steady cadence unlike natural flames.

And then, in case there was any doubt, she let a flame bloom in her palms.

Ozai stared at it, automatically reaching for it before jerking his arm back as soon as he realised what he was doing.

“What-? How-?”

She smiled at him. “The Sages say Agni has blessed me.” She stared at the flame in her hand for a moment. “I can’t do much right now; I’m still learning the basics.”

“You’re doing really well,” Zuko assured her.

She smiled. “Azula is an excellent teacher.”

“You… You have bending, but I don’t…” His voice was hollow, stripped of any emotion. He reached out again, so mesmerised that, even with his injured hands, he had forgotten that he was no longer fireproof. Ursa extinguished the flame before he could touch it.

“Yes.” She got to her feet, pulling away from him. “Perhaps, as our son suggested, you should think about why that might be?”

⁂

Azula was waiting for them back at the palace. “Well, that didn’t take long.”

Zuko shrugged, trying to pretend it was a simple errand they were talking about. “There wasn’t really much to say.”

“There wasn’t anything to say.”

“Perhaps you should come with me next time?” Ursa suggested.

They both stared at her in horror.

“You’re going to see him again?” Azula asked, incredulous. “Why?”

“Because while some time to think will benefit him, being left entirely alone with his thoughts is a punishment greater than death for him, and I don’t think leaving him to wallow in his own defeat will benefit anyone. And perhaps the man I still remember is still in there.”

Zuko really hoped so. For his mother’s sake, if nothing else.

⁂

Sokka found Yue in one of the gardens, sitting on a bench, a family of turtleducks clustered around her, quacking for more food.

“Aren't they cute?” she asked. “I’ll kind of miss them when I’m home. We have turtlegeese, but they’re not the same.”

He opened a mouth, his speech ready on his lips… Except it wasn’t! How had he forgotten it? He’d rehearsed it over and over and over again in the mirror before going looking for her, but now he was here, it had disappeared, vanished! Poof, gone! Okay, no problem… He’d just make an excuse and walk away... Try again later…

She stared up at him with concern. “Sokka, what’s the matter?”

The turtleucks fled, as if they sensed the danger.

“I- It’s just…” His hands twitched; he twisted his fingers together. “I really like you, Yue. A lot.”

Maybe ‘like’ wasn’t the right word, but he was terrible with words. Plan, yes. Action, also yes. Pictures, yes (despite what anyone said). Words… not so much. That was the problem, at least partly.

Her smile was beautiful, and he allowed her to pull him onto the bench next to her, even though he shouldn’t. This was supposed to be about how he couldn’t be with her.

“I like you too!”

“But… Uh… well…” Now she was looking even more concerned. Maybe even a little hurt.

(He tried not to think about nights at the Western Air Temple, snuggled up next to each other by the fire.)

(He definitely tried not to think of a wave of blue fire heading towards him.)

“Idon’tthinkwecanbetogether.”

Concern transformed into confusion. “What?”

He tried again. “I… don’t think we can be together.”

“But… Why?” She looked devastated. “You said you liked me!”

“It’s not you! I really like you! I just-” He sighed. “I’m making a mess of this, and that’s the problem!”

“I don’t understand.” There were tears in her eyes, but her voice only wavered slightly (because she was actually good at this sort of thing).

He took her hands, staring into her face and trying to will what he wanted to say into her head. Which was clearly impossible and he couldn’t be sure if that was a good or bad thing.

“It’s just… I’ve been watching Zuko trying to be Firelord, and well… it looks a nightmare. Yue, I li- I love you, okay. But I don’t think I’m cut out for royalty. I can’t be what you need me to be.”

“But you’re the son of a Chief.”

He winced. “I know, but… It’s different. The sort of Chief the Southern Tribe expects you to be, and the sort of Chief the Northern Tribe expect you to be seem pretty different, and I don’t know that’s the sort of Chief I can be.”

Then again, even the sort of leader his father needed to be seemed to have changed; he and Zuko had exchanged several letters already, as the new Firelord did his best to figure out a peace treaty with anyone who was willing to speak to him.

“Well, that suits me fine, because I don’t want you to be Chief.”

Even though he was trying to break up with her, those words were like a spear to the heart.

“What?”

“Sokka, I don’t want you because I expect you to be some kind of mighty Chief – I think you can, but that’s beside the point – but because you’re you.” She pulled him close and kissed him. Then she gave him a mischievous smile. “All you need to do is stand there and look pretty.”

“Huh? But who is going to be Chief?”

She gave him a determined glare that he was more used to seeing on Azula’s face. It was kind of scary. (Was it weird that he liked it though?) “I am.”

“I bet a lot of people won’t be too happy about that.”

“That just makes things more interesting.”

“You really have been spending too much time around Azula.”

She tossed her hair back, with a very Azula-like smirk, though it quickly softened into her normal smile.

The turtleducks cautiously crept back and resumed their begging.

“Here,” she said, handing him some food. “Careful though, they can be pretty vicious.”

He grinned at her. “No problem! I’m great with animals. Look.” He held out his hands. “Hey there, duckies, who wants-”

The entire flock jumped on him at once, knocking him off the bench in a scramble to gobble up the offered treats.

Yue giggled; it was like the best music he’d ever heard.

⁂

“Okay, is everyone packed and ready?” asked Sokka.

“Yes,” sighed Katara. “For the millionth time, Sokka. We’re ready.”

Her brother pouted. “I’m just saying, I worked hard on this itinerary!” He brandished his plan at her. “We’ve got a lot of stops to make, and I’ve accounted for the load that Appa is carrying when calculating travel times. I am not turning back just because somebody forgot something.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” Suki asked as she hugged Ty Lee. “The Kyoshi Warriors would be happy to have you.”

“Oh, I want totally want to!” Ty Lee sighed. “But I don’t think you guys would appreciate being set on fire, even if it was by accident.” She grinned. “As soon as I’ve got a handle on my firebending, I’ll be on my way before you can say ‘Yip yip’!”

Appa twitched.

Aang patted his head. “Not yet, buddy.” He turned to Toph, who was standing next to Mai. “Are you sure about staying?”

“Are you kidding? You’re going to two cold snowy places and part of the journey will probably be on a wooden boat? No way! No earth, no thanks.”

“Yep,” said Sokka, unrolling his plan, as if she’d asked. “Our first stop will be Agna Qel’a, so Yue can go home and her dad can see that she is okay. Then, after Appa has a few days rest – and after the epic celebration feast is finally over – we move on to-”

He cut himself off, looking up from the scroll in worry. “You’re still coming with us, right?” he asked.

Yue smiled reassuringly. “Yes, Sokka. I’m still coming. I need to see my father, and my home, but I want to see something of the world too.” Her smile deepened. “Especially your part of it.”

He blushed, then cleared his throat before continuing. “Okay so then we need to stop off at Ba Sing Se, to collect Iroh, because Azula is worried about him for some reason.”

“I’m not worried about him,” she snapped. “I can just see the obvious liability in him living there.”

“He seemed to be doing okay when we saw him,” Aang told her. “The Dai Li don’t seem to know who he is.”

“Yeah, and how long is that going to last when he starts exchanging regular letters with the Firelord?” asked Azula, rolling her eyes. “If he wants to spend his retirement running a teashop, then whatever, but he either needs to find somewhere else, or cut off all contact with his nephew. And I know Zuko won’t like option two, so that counts as an order from the Firelord himself.”

“He doesn’t have to live here if he doesn’t want to,” said Zuko. “I can’t blame him for wanting to stay away from court politics, and he seemed happy on Kyoshi Island. But Azula is right; he’s in danger if he stays. It doesn’t seem like Long Feng will react well to the war ending; he’ll definitely try to use uncle against me if he can.”

“Iroh also conducted a siege on the city for two years,” Ursa reminded them. “If his identity were to become public knowledge, then no amount of apologies and insisting that he’s changed will save him from the wrath of those he hurt.”

“Here,” said Zuko, holding out a scroll. “I wrote him a letter explaining everything.”

Sokka took it, hefting the scroll in his hand for a moment. “That’s a long letter.”

“…there was a lot to explain.”

“But are you sure you don’t want to go home?” Ursa asked Toph. “Surely your parents are missing you?”

“Maybe,” replied Toph, but her folded arms and scowl said she doubted it. Then she grinned. “Besides, it’s much more fun around here – Zuko wants some renovations done on the palace.”

“I found some paintings showing how the throne room looked before Sozin redesigned it,” he explained, seeing the others’ confused looks. “It’s way less depressing, and would give off a much better impression to visitors. Obviously, there’ll be actual architects and decorators involved, but I think it’s only fair that someone from the Earth Kingdom gets to smash the place up a little.”

“Damn right, Sparky.”

“Well, just so you know, you can use one of the scribes if you wish to write to them, so they at least know you’re safe,” Ursa told her.

“Right,” said Sokka, resuming his narration. “Next stop is Kyoshi Island, to drop Suki off home.”

“And Iroh, if he wants to stay,” she added.

“And maybe him too,” agreed Sokka. “Which would lighten the load on Appa. Our final stop would be home of course, but depending on where dad is we might meet up with the fleet and sail the rest of the way back.”

He rolled up the scroll with a snap. “Any questions?”

No response; everyone was too busy saying goodbyes.

“You had better visit,” Mai told Yue, giving the girl a rare hug. “Or we’ll have to come and kidnap you again.”

Yue’s smile took in Azula and Ty Lee as well. “Or you guys could visit me. I’d be happy to give you a proper tour.”

“I highly doubt we would be welcome,” Azula told her.

“You guys let me handle that.”

“We’ll definitely write,” Ty Lee promised her.

Aang airbent himself onto Appa’s head. “Okay, guys! Everyone aboard!”

Suki somersaulted onto the saddle, a move she'd clearly picked up from Ty Lee, while Katara, Sokka and Yue climbed up. “You know,” he commented. “We really need to think about a rope ladder or something.”

Momo, who had been lounging in Azula’s arms, leapt up and flew onto Appa’s back, burrowing in amongst the bags. She reached after him for a moment, before realising what she was doing and snatching her arms back.

Ursa placed an arm around her daughter’s shoulders. Azula scowled and folded her arms, giving a perfect display of reluctance, but didn’t move away.

“Hey! He’s going through the food supplies!” wailed Sokka.

“Momo!”

But Momo evaded Katara’s grasping hands, gliding back down to land on Azula’s shoulder. He pulled something out of his mouth and dropped it into her hand.

“Is that a cherry pit?” asked Zuko, peering at it in confusion.

Azula smiled, and ruffled his fur. “Thank you, Momo, I shall treasure your gift.”

Momo trilled happily, basking in the attention a moment (and ignoring Sokka’s frustrated huffing at this unacceptable delay), before flying back onto Appa, curling up next to Yue.

Aang waved. “I’ll be back soon for sure! I still have to learn firebending.” He grinned, awkwardly. “Though, I think I might stay with the Southern Water Tribe for a while, huh, Katara? You can show me around properly.”

Katara smiled at him. “That sounds great, Aang.”

“Okay, everyone ready? Alright, buddy. Yip yip!”

⁂

They all waved until Appa was out of sight.

“Things are going to be much less chaotic without them here,” sighed Ty Lee.

“For you, maybe,” groaned Zuko. “I have five meetings with ministers today. And paperwork. So much paperwork.”

Mai threw him a smirk. “I could accidentally burn it all. You know, what with me being a new firebender who is still struggling not to set things on fire and all… Haven’t even mastered basic breathing exercises yet, oops!”

“Hey, you’re not doing too bad, you know.”

(Azula muttered something about how Mai would probably be much better if she and Zuko actually got up to any actual firebending in her lessons.)

“Neither are you,” she replied.

He sighed. “I’m not so sure about that. There’s so much to do in order to actually properly end the war and to apologise for all the Fire Nation has done, and I don’t know if I can do it all.”

“Ugh. You’re doing fine,” Azula told him. “Stop moaning.”

Zuko stared at her for a moment, one eyebrow raised. “Did you just… compliment me?”

“Don’t let it get to your head. I’m merely pointing out that you’re not a total disaster sometimes.”

“Aw. I love you too.”

“Ugh.”

Ursa pulled Azula them both into hug. “My babies.”

“Mom!” they both protested, as Toph sniggered at their plight.

“Come on,” she said refusing to let them wriggle away. “Let’s have some tea.”

“But I have a meeting-”

“You’re the Firelord, dear. They can wait. And family is always more important.”