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T oph. I've always felt that her story was very unresolved. I've written a series of oneshots about her (called Chronicles of the Blind Bandit) and this retelling will put a bit of focus on fleshing her out as well. This is Toko, though in the timeframe of the show, their relationship will NOT be romantic, for age difference reasons.

Oh, and Yue makes a few appearances as a Spirit, for fans of her. ;) 

I hope you like my interpretation of Ty Lee. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated! I thrive on well-thought out reviews. I am ALWAYS willing to take on a beta reader Sifu, too, if anyone is interested!

Addition, for 2020: This story has been up on FFN since the Avatar glory days. I figured since the new Netflix series is coming out, I should do all the legwork of getting this cross-posted to AO3. My username and the story title are the same. You are always welcome to read advance chapters over there! 

Also, please bear with me these first two chapters. To offset their copy-and-paste nature, I worked to insert things that you 'didn't' see happening behind or between the scenes.

And at the end, it might be very helpful to recall a certain quote from a very infamous brown and black lion. ;)

"I'm really happy here. I mean, my aura has never been pinker." –Ty Lee

Ty Lee,

Princess Azula gave me your address today. How could you just run off like that? You didn't tell any of us when you were leaving? Lin is absolutely heartbroken. You didn't even ask me for any money. Are you doing all right, Ty? Please write back.

Your Loving Sister,

Weici

l

Dear Weici,

I'm so, so sorry. You know why I wanted to leave, though, Wei! I just didn't tell you when I was going because I don't think I would have been able to go through with it if all of you got upset beforehand. You wouldn't believe it here! There are people that have been everywhere! All the way from the Great Divide to the Batola Mountain Range, and the ringmaster says we're going to be skirting the Si Wong for the next season. There's this girl who's been showing me around, she's a colonial and she juggles fire but she says she's never had real lessons or anything because her family couldn't afford it. And guess what? I have to buy my own food sometimes! Can you imagine? I mean, I knew I'd have to dress and do my own makeup and stuff, but sometimes I have to cook too! This really nice old lady who reads fortunes- she reminds me a lot of Auntie Ryu- she showed me what to buy at the market and how to haggle . . .

The stream-of-consciousness litany went on for several pages, describing her first days at the circus.

At the end, it was signed,

Lots of Love,

Ty Lee

l

Dearest Ty Lee,

I'm glad to hear you're settling in so well. Remember, you really must make an effort to remember peoples' names- I know you're being sweet, but it would be extra nice if you did them that courtesy. I'm sure it will be like the first day at school- you'll get them gradually. Please be careful, too! I'm glad you like it there, but stay on your toes, it can be dangerous! But what am I saying? You'll be perfectly fine. You did teach Yunru and Meili chi blocking better than that instructor did. Ha, little sister, my servants have tried to teach me a thing or two about cooking, but mostly I think you'll just have to fend for yourself. Any advice I give is likely to bring you more trouble than good. I've passed your letter along to everyone, and I must say some of them quite liked the descriptions of the lemurs! And I'm sending money, I always will, when I can! We'll all be rooting for you. Good luck and best wishes from the Capitol. My husband sends his regards as well.

Your Loving Sister,

Weici

"Ty Lee, could that possibly be you?"

"Azula!" Ty Lee gracefully bent out of her handstand and twirled into a prostrate position. After observing the formality she rushed up to her old friend and hugged her. "It's so good to see you!" How long had it been? They had graduated in the early summer, and it was early spring now. It had been almost two years. She wondered why Azula hadn't told her she was coming.

"Please, don't let me interrupt your-" the firebender raised an eyebrow- "whatever it is you were doing."

Ty Lee languidly flipped over backwards and resumed her yoga exercises, observing the fire princess's beige aura- she was always the one to like order.

"Tell me, what is the daughter of a nobleman doing here? Certainly our parents didn't send us to the Royal Academy For Girls to end up in-" Azula glanced disdainfully around at the shabby disarray that made up the furnishings of the traveling circus and spotted a platypus bear being manhandled by three attendants- "places like this."

It just wasn't 'fitting.' That's why the beige had appeared- it was her inability to understand. Ty Lee saw her own aura fade slightly and she frowned.

"I have a proposition for you." Azula said casually as she examined her nails. "I'm hunting a traitor. You remember my old fuddy duddy uncle, don't you?"

"Oh yeah." Ty Lee smiled warmly, remembering the old man's serene blue halo. "He was so funny."

"I would be honored if you would join me on my mission." Azula told her.

"Oh. I uh- would love to-" Ty Lee's silver eyes nervously flitted around and she once again flipped to her feet. "But the truth is, I'm really happy here. I mean- my aura has never been pinker." She gave a wide smile and her pink's intensity momentarily increased, thinking of all her fans. The traveling show wasn't luxurious, it wasn't extravagant, but she had honestly made it her home.

"Well," Azula sighed, "I wouldn't want you to give up the life you love just to please me."

Ty Lee could immediately tell she was lying. The tan surrounding her had, predictably, turned to orange.

Ty Lee inclined her head in a small bow, trying to infuse all the quiet gratitude she could into her few words, hoping that Azula would change her mind, but knowing that she wouldn't. "Thank you, Azula."

She pulled one of her feet in a vertical position above her head as Azula walked away.

"Of course," Azula said over her shoulder, "before I leave, I'm going to catch your show."

Ty Lee flinched. She didn't have to turn around to know that the orange around the princess had flared menacingly. The color of control.

"Uh, yeah, sure, of course." Ty Lee didn't react fast enough to mask the uncertainty in her voice.

"We are deeply honored to have the Fire Lord's daughter at our humble circus." The ringmaster proclaimed.

"Deeply honored, and deeply frightened." Ty Lee muttered under her breath as she balanced on one hand. The man's smoky gray aura, which extended a good three feet out from his body, was visible even from where she was.

"Tell us if there's anything we can do to make the show more enjoyable." He told the Fire Nation princess.

Ty Lee couldn't hear what they were saying next, but it couldn't be anything good. Azula's orange had gained a shade of red, and the ringmaster's gray aura was gradually adopting a sickly green hue, his fear for himself battling with his fear for his performer.

Ty Lee started to sweat when he caught the net on fire. Then all hell broke loose. What was she thinking, letting out all of those animals? The red of their auras mingled with the red of the tent, and Ty Lee felt like she was going to faint- the negative energy was more oppressive than the heat. She wobbled precariously on the tightrope.

A vulture griffin roosted on the near platform. Its feathers were raised, muscles tensed, wings half-cocked, as it looked down at the din below with a bald head. His tail twitched erratically from side to side. It was obviously distressed, but its aura was a very diluted red, which meant there was a great deal of fear, not pure aggression. Maybe it would remember her?

She unfocused her eyes and turned her attention to her own aura. Blue. She thought. She had to shut all this out. Pure, sky blue. She searched for her point of balance on the tightrope: her own center of gravity was very familiar, like a long-time friend (or rather, like a friend that wasn't trying to threaten her). Once she centered her body, the connection to her mind ran straight as an arrow. This was just another lesson, no different than all the exercises she practiced. "Can you trust me, big fella?"

She bent her arm and launched herself off of the wooden conflagration that she was balancing on, and it tumbled down into the burning net.

She deftly caught the tightrope and swung herself into a squatting position, two hands and two feet firmly planted on the wire. Any other performer wouldn't have dared to leap towards a vulture griffin with such suddenness, but because she had effectively "told" it she meant no harm, it simply turned its sunken neck toward her instead of attacking in surprise.

She stood and tiptoed the rest of the way to the beast. "You really are ugly." She whispered with a mischievous smile and a chuckle. "But you have a heart of gold." She rested her hand on the white feathery shoulder. "Actually, an aura of blue, but who's counting?" The creature's aura had taken on her color. Its feathers had relaxed, and its wings were now completely folded, despite the turmoil below.

Ty Lee sat in her dressing room waiting for Azula. She usually felt like examining her immaculate appearance in the mirror, but tonight she had to compose herself, and all her thoughts were turned inward. Hers was a delicate balance between vanity and spirituality.

"What an exquisite performance." Azula pronounced from the doorway.

Performance? She shook her head mentally. The rest of the night had consisted of the acrobat and various handlers rounding up the animals Azula had let out.

The princess tossed a bouquet of expensive black flowers onto a table as she entered. The beautiful blooms were as good as a thrown gauntlet, as if daring the acrobat to resist her will. "I can't wait to see how you'll top yourself tomorrow," she said, still playing the game.

"I'm sorry, Azula, but unfortunately there won't be a show tomorrow." Ty Lee said with practiced calm.

"Really?"

"The universe is giving me strong hints- that it's time for a career change." She placed her ornamental crown on its hook and turned to face Azula. "I want to join you on your mission." Ty Lee lied.

"So you have to leave, just like that?"

"I have two hours to pack before the ship sets off." Ty Lee answered the familiar voice softly without turning around as she picked around her small room half-heartedly.

The girl now standing in the doorway was a good deal older and taller than Azula. Her tan skin tone clearly marked her as a commoner- not because all nobles were pale but because she had obviously gained many of her freckles from spending long days working out in the sun. "Well, you did tell me you were friends with the princess, but to be honest, I didn't really believe you."

"That's okay." Ty Lee said.

"So is it true? That she can make blue flames?" The juggler raised a hand and looked into her own fire speculatively.

"Yeah."

The other girl whistled appreciatively. "Not even the Firelord has figured out how she does it?"

Ty Lee shook her head. She opened a drawer and pulled out a small sheaf of papers, folding them up in a binder and stowing it in her growing package. There had been three handwritten copies of the letter she sent her sister two years ago.

The top of the sheaf read:

Sounds interesting there, Ty! I would have come with you just because of that but sleeping in a room that's ten by ten square doesn't sound too fun at all, or having to move every few weeks. Do you really not have a bath, only showers? How can you stand that? And you have to make your own food? And walk everywhere? (if you're even in a town worth exploring, that is) Will you miss the carriage rides? Plus I've heard it gets ridiculously cold some of the places you're going. Try to write me every once in a while so I don't have to immolate myself out of boredom, please.

Separated from the rest of the letters were short, direct notes, with a royal seal, which had been repeated identically several times over.

Ty Lee, are keeping up with your combat training?

"You know, the ringmaster is going to start treating the animals the way he did before once you're gone. I think old Susa and the like are pretty safe." She tagged off the name of the ancient and docile elephant mandrill, "but Yenu? Or Irako? They're in for it."

Ty Lee sighed. "Irako has improved a lot, though," she responded, talking about the vulture lion she had calmed. As she had gradually learned, the ringmaster was cruel, there was no doubt about it. He worked the people almost as hard as the animals. Acts had to be perfect and polished- unless they of course, included animals- then they were praised if they were daring and impromptu. Despite the effort he put into giving the circus a glamorous front, he made shady deals- rumor was that he would even trade with the likes of sandbenders if they had a bargain he was interested in. He took in people from all backgrounds, treatment weighing on whether he thought you were a "real" Fire Nation citizen or not. Had you lived in the homeland? Had you served in the army? Were you of noble blood? He paid wages in order of rank- those from the highest-up families got the most money. Ty Lee had realized somewhere in the middle of her first year that she was not taking the brunt of his abuse.

"Hey, by the way, thanks." The girl said quietly. "For everything." She pulled out a sack full of coins and thumbed through them. "You're sure you don't want any of it back?"

Ty Lee smiled and hugged her. "Absolutely, Rila."

The agile girl moved about the deck of the ship flat-footed, which was unusual for her. She normally took dainty steps, but on the sea her finely tuned balance was thrown off slightly. Her poise was so natural when the ground under her was solid and unmoving. She began to miss her 'old friend,' her center of gravity. But Azula had promised that they would be traveling by land after they arrived at their destination. The Fire Nation circus the princess had retrieved the acrobat from traveled throughout the Earth Kingdom colonies. Therefore, setting out from a southern inlet near Gaoling and now rounding the peninsula of Chin Village, it wouldn't take long to get to the newly captured Omashu.

"Mai's father has been appointed governor. I doubt his competence, however." Azula rolled her eyes as they made their way down a corridor towards the deck. "Father always said we ran out of good administrative material with the expansion of territory on the Acjan region. They have to be the smartest and the toughest to deal with Fong to the southwest." She shook her head. "It is simplyunbelievable that man can hold a base so close to the Fire Nation. Needless to say, Omashu is still a pretty dangerous place too, with all the rabid Earth Kingdom scum around- I'll bet old 'Governor' Tont isn't complaining about Mai's skills now."

l

Instead of sending Mai to live in student housing at the boarding school, her parents moved to the Capitol with her, into a second house that, by its proximity to the palace itself, proclaimed their high status. Ty Lee thought it was sweet that they would do that for their daughter, but the other seven-year-old quickly tried to put a damper on her enthusiasm.

"They only did it to keep an eye on me." Mai pointed out sourly under her breath on the way to Arithmetic one day.

"Oh, I'm sure that's not right, Mai!" Ty Lee gabbed. "Cheer up! You have a house all to yourself!" she exclaimed excitedly. She had never had anything completely to herself- even here she saw her three of elder sisters regularly between classes. This was the first time she had gotten any separation from them at all. Throughout her first grades the little girl would be torn between freedom from suffocation she had left behind and uncomfortable exposure to the unfamiliar in school. Sometimes she sought out her older siblings for advice, or to just have a little piece of home again. Sometimes she reveled in being apart. Sure, she loved them; her roommate back at the dorms was nice too. But the idea of living by yourself was fascinating to her. "Can I come over?"

"I guess." Mai sighed.

Of course, once they had made friends with Azula, Mai's abode paled in comparison. One of the few times they did go to Mai's house after that, it was a matter of business. You see, when Mai revealed her unique hobby, initiated at the palace, her parents disapproved at once. Shuriken were not something to be handled by noble lady.

But a visit from the princess herself quickly changed the political sycophants' opinion.

l

"So 'Zula, this is your first time out of the Fire Nation?" Ty Lee asked.

"Yes. Makes me want to go crawl home and take a good scrub, the people here." Azula replied dryly.

Ty Lee giggled. "Oh, they're not that bad."

l

"So you're an earthbender?" Ty Lee asked the middle-aged man. "Nice to meet you."

His hand jerked and he dropped the pole he was in the middle of putting up. "Shhhhhh!" He put a finger to his lips and waved the other hand to silence her. "How'd you know that?" He looked around nervously as he bent over to pick it up again and prop up the sagging canvas overhang. "I d-don't even look like a- you know." It was true. The tent-pitcher didn't have the stereotypical build. He was lanky and wiry-muscled, not thickly set. "You're that new girl, right? On the tightrope? Who told you? Who knows?"

"It's in your chi," she explained. She could sense its movement in people: that was the reason she was so gifted in Kyusho Jutsu, chi blocking. "My jutsu sifu told me that earthbenders-"

"Stop saying that word!" He hissed, cutting her off.

"Why?"

"It's- just listen, you can't tell anyone all right?"

"Why?"

"'Cause if word got to the ringmaster he'd kick me out."

"Why?"

"'Cause-" he gave an frustrated breath at her pestering repeats- "'cause he just would, okay? And I don't want to stir up trouble, I swear, I just want to do my job."

"Okay."

"Thanks- um . . .?"

"Ty Lee."

"Ty Lee. I'm Poshu."

l

"So how have you and Mai been, Azula?"

"All right, I suppose. I've been training, commanding and drilling ranks of internal troops." She shrugged. "Mai hasn't moved back out of the Capitol, until now that is. You got news about that tour she took of her uncle's prison."

Ty Lee giggled. "She told me. I bet that took some talking to her parents as well."

The princess rolled her eyes. "Yeah." She put on a mocking tone, "'That's no place for a lady, it's too dangerous for our delicate little flower.' Please. The only thing worse than Tont is his wife."

"I haven't seen you guys since Hira's graduation." Ty Lee said thoughtfully as they climbed a set of stairs into the open air. Hira was a year younger than Ty Lee, and the acrobat had gotten leave last year to travel to see her little sister finish her time at the Academy for Girls.

Azula gave a sardonic smile. "You have a lot of those to attend, don't you?"

"Yeah. Lin is next. But two years after that, after Jia, I'll be done- Wow." She paused in realization. "It's hard to think of her as that old. She's already ten now. And you're fourteen now, aren't you?" She asked eagerly. She would be fifteen by the summer solstice, Mai was fifteen recently already, but they had all been in the same grade because Azula was placed a year ahead.

"Not that age really matters. It's talent that gets you places." Azula appropriately remarked as they emerged. "Speaking of which, I have something to show you, Ty Lee. It's a very advanced form of firebending."

The princess reached the middle of the metal platform and held her hand out to the other girl who had been following closely in a gesture to move back. Ty Lee puzzled at the slight green sheen that appeared in her aura- was she really worried about hitting her? She backed a few paces and her eyes widened slowly at the massive energy buildup. She realized that whatever this was was not the quick, familiar flow of energy from the stomach, the "sea of chi," to the hands, that was usual for firebenders.

The hair stood up on Ty Lee's neck and unease began to gnaw at her own "sea of chi" as negative and positive energies were gradually forced apart, creating a pulling and tugging sensation around Azula.

And then- the firebender's aura disappeared.

As an erratic string of light burst from her two pointed fingers, Ty Lee stumbled backwards and caught herself on the railing of the edge of the ship, unable to make a sound but feeling as if she should be shrieking.

The princess raised a groomed eyebrow at the acrobat's reaction.

Then she smiled and her aura returned, orange.

"A-Azula- y-your-"

"I'm a lightningbender." The princess said proudly, misjudging the source of Ty Lee's shock.

"Well y-yeah, but- your aura it- it was gone."

Azula tilted her head slightly. "Really? Interesting." She said lazily.

"Lightning," she informed her, "requires complete peace of mind to conjure, Ty Lee. I can't be feeling anything when I separate the energies. Fire is fueled by anger." She nodded her head. "But lightning is fueled by a disciplined mind."

Ty Lee quickly tried to digest this information, but her stomach was having none of it. The pool of energy was doing somersaults that put to shame all the other acrobatics of the girl in which it resided.

"T-Then you must need t-to meditate as much as I do . . ." she said weakly, trying to recompose herself.

Azula nodded. "Yes, it's like sweeping out an attic- you've got to get all the useless junk out."

Ty Lee wasn't sure what to say about that.

"You, know, I really can't comprehend-" Azula began airly as she circled her predatorily, a hard edge creeping into her voice, "why you like it here so much Ty Lee. You say the people 'aren't that bad?' Please."

A weight settled in the pit of her stomach now, squashing the nervous flutter, but solidifying into dread.

She had said that her aura had never been pinker.

She had essentially said that she was happier there than with Azula.

The firebender came to a stop in front of her. "The people here," she continued viciously, "are primitive. Even the Fire Nation citizens from the colonies are still beneath you. You need to remember where you're from- and what your legacy is, instead of spending time with people who are below your status."

The subtext was ringing in her ears. 'You left me and Mai. And then you had the audacity to say something like that? To refuse me?'

Azula leaned in closer. "I'll leave you to ponder that, Ty Lee."

As she was making her way down to her room she overheard a hushed conversation.

"I'll bet she thinks she can 'command the tides.'. You know what, princess, I've navigated the sea for nearly forty years. I've watched it take out some of our best, even before the Ocean Spirit went on his little rampage in the North- and I had to go through that, too." He made what was unmistakeably a shuddering noise. "Ships smashed like they were paper, men screaming. He and the moon command the friggin' tides, not you little-miss-full-of-yourself."

A softer-spoken tone answered, "And then she acted surprised when we had to drop the anchor in mid-sail. Like I would say that we shouldn't pull in for no reason? Like I made up a swift cross-current just for kicks? Impatient. Really, putting of us all in danger just so she can-" the words suddenly became thin and strained and were punctuated by small pants of pain- "get somewhere- a few hours- ah- or so- ah- earlier? Damn, we might have all ended up 'smashed against the rocky shore' on her whim." The last part was muted, as if he was bearing his teeth.

"Had no right to do this to you, either, by Agni. If I know anything, it's that the Dragon of the West wouldn't have come quietly, regardless. He knows good and well that his brother wants his head. Of course, now he has a legitimate excuse for it. How could a royal ever turn traitor . . . What's the world coming to?"

Ty Lee slowed. She knew she probably couldn't walk past the hall they were in without them seeing her, but she didn't want them to think she had been eavesdropping. She backtracked and began to whistle nonchalantly to alert them of her presence. Her merry tune faltered as she laid eyes on the source of the second voice.

His entire arm and neck were bandaged, and across his upper torso as well. He had obviously begun to peel the cloth off of his wrist and was halfway up his bicep, his face twisted into an ugly grimace. The skin exposed was raw and shiny.

The other man, who held fresh replacement strips, in addition to what was presumably a map rolled up under his arm, acknowledged her. "Ah, hello there, m'lady."

She blinked, trying to tear her gaze from the streaked red forearm. "H-hi."

"Captain here's-"

"I'm not the captain any more."

"You still are to me." He rebuked assertively. He muttered something that sounded like "-hasn't been on this ship for nearly as long as you-"

He turned back to Ty Lee. "As I was saying, Captain here is treating a pretty bad burn. Wouldn't want you to watch that now, hmm? Move along." His inflection was gruff, but had a faint undercurrent of kindness.

Ty Lee quickly nodded wordlessly.

"Don't worry, we'll get it properly healed next stop. She'll be gone by then." The first man said as she moved away.

"What can I say?" The ex-captain replied ruefully, "Apparently even small mistakes can land you in deep water."

Several hours later, a litter carried Azula towards the center of Omashu, and Ty Lee walked along beside. A girl with sleek black hair awaited them as the procession halted and Azula stiffly climbed down.

"Please tell me you're here to kill me." Mai joked in a deadpan voice as she inclined her head respectfully to Azula. She smiled a bit and the two girls chuckled.

Ty Lee watched the spark of kinship, yellow-green, that flickered across the two. Mai's aura was as muddled as ever: hers was a different gray than fear. Fear was translucent, like all the other colors; it came and went. Her gray, however, was almost always present. It was opaque and obscuring. She saw the same thing occasionally with Azula, too. Ty Lee rushed up to Mai and gave her a hug. If anything, the aura around the elder friend had become even more depressing. Ty Lee didn't know how long she could keep with such company before both of the grays enveloped her. She always had to keep up a chipper attitude to negate their effects.

"I thought you ran off and joined the circus." Mai said as she put a hand to her back. "You said it was your calling."

Ty Lee stood back from her and observed the slightly darker green tint cross her friend's shell. Concern. "Well, Azula called a little louder." Ty Lee replied, effectively quashing the sarcasm that tried to slip into her voice.

"I have a mission." Azula cut in. "And I need you both."

"Count me in. Anything to get me out of this place." Mai glared up at her mansion home, her aura darkening.

Azula began to walk up the steps as she talked. "Our targets are my brother and uncle."

Mai's aura changed green at the word "brother."

Ty Lee voiced her friend's concern when it was obvious that she wouldn't do it herself. "Azula? When you say Zuko is a target-"

Azula stopped. "He's on the run with a self-pronounced traitor." She said flatly, offering no more explanation.

Mai stared at the ground deferently. "But he has- he has been pursuing the Avatar, which was what his father asked him to do, right?"

Azula's orange aura sharpened and Ty Lee winced at the spike of negative energy.

Mai's voice was barely audible. "Could he join us?"

Azula observed her for a long moment.

"We'll see, Mai. If the opportunity presents itself, perhaps . . . but I doubt he will take kindly to the old fuddy duddy's death or imprisonment."

This time Ty Lee's aura flashed green. That pretty blue aura, erased-

She fought to control her expression.

"But first things first. Father has requested that I check on the sorry state of this occupied city."

"Sorry is right." Mai grumbled. "The rebels have got my little brother as a hostage. Cowards. When their assassination attempts don't work, they pull underhanded crap like this. At least with the former I was mildly entertained."

Ty Lee suppressed a shudder. Did it sound like- Did it sound like she was glad she and her parents were being attacked? She stole a glance toward Mai. When people talked about feelings in the abstract, their auras usually didn't always change to match their thoughts. The gray remained firmly in place, betraying nothing, and she couldn't shake the feeling on the interpretation of her words.

Azula reached the ornately wrought door which two guards pushed obligingly open.

"Princess!" the governor, Mai's father, exclaimed with forced enthusiasm, "What an honor it is to have you here!" He bowed as he walked. "May Agni shine upon you and light your wa-"

"Yes, yes, just get to the point." Azula said drolly. "My friends and I have more important business to attend to than to dither around here." She reached the main red-adorned throneroom of the former earth kingdom palace and sat in the governor's chair.

The governor and his wife knelt before her.

"I apologize." He began. "You've come to Omashu at a difficult time. At noon, we're making a trade with the resistance to get Tom-Tom back."

"Yes, I'm so sorry to hear about your son."

Ty Lee, however, saw no green in her aura whatsoever.

"But really, what did you expect by just letting all the citizens leave?" Her red aura intensified as she stood and voiced her disapproval for the evacuation of sick Earth Kingdom natives she had been briefed on. "My father has trusted you with this city, and you're making a mess of things!"

The Governor prostrated himself. "Forgive me, princess."

"You stay here." She quietly commanded him as she stepped down from the throne. "Mai will handle the hostage trade so you don't have a chance to mess it up."

Ty Lee and Mai stood to follow her out.

"And there is no more 'Omashu.' I'm renaming it in honor of my father, the City of New Ozai."

The three Fire Nation girls made their way to the rendezvous point, a construction site where they could lower their "half" of the trade, the former king of the Earth city. He was tightly bound in a crate which resembled a large metal coffin.

Ty Lee looked out at the three rebels who had come to meet them.

She missed the initial exchange of words between them and Azula, because even this far away, she could see their auras as clear as day. She briefly wondered if the one in the front could see auras, too, because he was wearing an ensemble that, like hers, matched his own energy. He was yellow. An intense yellow! Such a free-spirited, joyful, playful aura! What was he doing in the middle of a hostile negotiation like this? And the girl was a beautiful, invigorating green. The last one, the tallest, holding Mai's brother, was, more appropriately for the situation, emanating beige.

She came back to her senses as Mai walked forward and said, "The deal's off!"

The crane began to lift the "coffin" away, and Ty Lee registered that they were going after Mai's brother without trading, which is probably what Azula had been planning all along, anyway.

The yellow boy darted forward with speed that she might have envied and Azula shot a massive blue blaze at him. Ty Lee's jaw dropped in astonishment as the boy sprang into the air and his chi exploded from his chest, swirling in all directions. He kicked off of the construction beams and opened what looked like a giant orange fan.

Ty Lee heard Azula whisper, "The Avatar. My lucky day."

"So that's what airbending looks like!" Ty Lee gasped in amazement.

"Come on, Ty Lee!" Mai admonished, sprinting towards the other two.

"Oh, yeah, right. Coming!" Ty Lee ran after her friend and quickly overtook her.

The girl's aura swelled, turning a muted red. The chi around the middle of her back stood out to the acrobat. A waterbender! Sure enough, the energy swept out into a tendril of the liquid. Wow! Ty Lee couldn't help but smile. Two bending styles she had never seen before in one day! Maybe this would be just as interesting as the circus.

She jumped lightly out of the way as the girl swung the water out at her. She zigzagged around her, moving towards the boy and trusting Mai to keep the waterbender occupied. They really did need to get Mai's brother back, regardless of the comfortable feeling her initial impressions had created.

She landed a blow on the boy's leg, knocking him on his back so he wouldn't crush the toddler he was carrying. But then something grabbed her ankle and yanked her off her feet. She flew through the air and landed hard on the wooden platform, momentarily dazed. "What-" she looked down at her ankle and saw that it was wet. Water could do that? It had felt as solid as a rope. She got to her feet and fixed the waterbender in her sight, testing her knees to make sure nothing was sprained before sprinting towards her. The dark-skinned girl's back was turned again- she was engaged with Mai. Ty Lee quickly jabbed her hand into each of her biceps and the water fell from her hands as her bending chi was cut off.

Mai smiled. "Not much without your bending, are you?" She ran and locked an arm around her, putting a blade to her neck. "Now where did he go with my brother?" she said evenly. The boy had disappeared.

Ty Lee's skin tingled as she sensed the approach of a gigantic collection of energy.

"M-Mai-" she started-

But too late. Utterly astonished for the third time that day, she watched a huge furry horned animal rise in the air and come to rest on the platform.

"What in the world-"

"Hey!" The boy shouted, riding astride its neck. "Let her go!" He addressed Mai, who still had a tight grip on the waterbender.

"You give my brother to my friend right there-" Mai nodded towards Ty Lee- "and I will."

The boy made a face. "Fine, then!"

He slid down the beast's flat tail and walked towards Ty Lee, who was now standing next to Mai.

The boy handed her the child.

She released the girl.

Ty Lee and Mai skirted away as the huge creature shifted and the wooden boards under it bent and splintered. "What is that thing?" Ty Lee called up to them as the blue-clad pair settled onto the creature's back. The boy answered her smugly in clearly enunciated syllables. "He's a Giant. Flying. Bison."

"He's amazing." Ty Lee said.

"Yes. Yes he is." He replied.

"Enough chatter!" Mai flung several arrows at them and the waterbender summoned ice to block them.

Suddenly the tail was lifted and the creature kicked off, knocking Mai backward and leaving Ty Lee standing.

"Yes, I've read about that. The Avatar's steed." Azula crossed her arms as she listened to the girls recount the fight, beige aura hungry for information. They made their way back towards the former Earth palace. "That and the bender are the top threats then. We need to be rid of the waterbender at the first opportunity. I'm not sure how to deal with the bison, and the order for the Avatar has been changed. He is no longer to be captured alive, after what happened at the North Pole." She paused. "I really have a hard time believing it was the same kid people talk about, though. All he did today was avoid me."

"Cowards." Mai repeated. "All of them. Won't stand and fight."

When they reached the governor again, Ty Lee handed him back his son, and his wife wrung her hand and hugged Mai. "Good job, good job, you showed those nasty hooligans who's boss-"

"Now," Azula waved her stream of thanks silent. "I was not given very specific stats about the spread of this disease. If we have a mass epidemic on our hands, we need to act. We've lost every single potential worker for the factories to be installed here, but that's nothing compared to what they could do to the population if they travel too far. Are there any medics here?"

Two people of the gathered dozen, a man and a woman, raised their hands slowly.

"I want a scholarly description, immediately. As well as your timetable of infection."

The man scurried away to retrieve records.

"What percentage of the Earth Kingdom people had it a week ago?" She questioned the woman.

"None- t-that we know of, that is. We were only informed of it . . ." she rubbed at her chin. "-today."

"This afternoon, when everyone was sent away? What percentage had it then?"

"We didn't take a measure . . ."

"How many of our soldiers have contracted it?"

"Um, none, princess."

"None? I was informed that much of the population was afflicted. Do your soldiers not have daily contact with these-" she she shuddered slightly in disgust- "-people?"

"Well, we are now- post-tulating . . ." she tripped over her words, "it was a disease- from the Fire Nation- they had no immunity to . . ."

"Ah, like the breakout of the Wenua sickness in 35 ASC." She nodded thoughtfully, using the time indicator that became popular thirty years After Sozin's Comet. "So please explain to me, if it was a disease that we are immune to and they aren't," she in a deadly, almost whispered tone, "why exactly have they all been driven away?"

No one answered. It was if all the air had been sucked out of the room.

Ty Lee, standing a few paces away from the princess, looked around at all the gray auras and wondered at Azula's mere presence inducing the color so steadfastly. All of the people here, excluding Mai's parents, had never even laid eyes on her before, had they?

Azula resumed slowly, "This might prove to be a very useful tool if we are immune. Think of being able to send two or three men to infiltrate a camp and having the entire company sick by morning?"

She zeroed in on the woman again. "What was the mortality rate?"

" . . . n-none found dead yet, princess . . ."

The man finally returned, flushed and tight-lipped.

"And?" Azula demanded.

"P-princess, we don't have any entries matching the name . . . pentapox."

"Pentapox?" Ty Lee giggled. "Like a pentapus?"

Azula pinched the bridge of her nose.

Hard.

Chapter Text

"[I]f you have any illusions about employing that brutish savagery that passes for bending among you people, forget them." –Haru's off-shore Warden

"I don't believe in auras." -Mai

The clop clop clop of dragonmoose hooves sounded in time to the jostling of the carriage. Azula had ridden a litter out of the city, but now the three girls were traveling to a Fire Nation outpost where their mode of transportation for their mission, a coal-powered mass of metal with two compartments: one "engine" and a "passenger" car awaited. The parts for it might be manufactured in New Ozai soon. But even if construction of the huge steel processing factories was finished in five months as planned, the pieces would need to be put together outside the city in flatter and more open places like this where they could be maneuvered.

"Your father is a complete moron, Mai." Azula fumed.

"Koala-sheep wool pulled right over his eyes." Mai agreed limply.

"I swear, I do not have time to oversee every crisis that comes up-" Azula continued at a slow, brooding pace, "and to find out that this one was contrived? Now all we have are the prisoners. And then his plan for pursuing the rebels seems haphazard at best. If they make it to past the Waybe River he'll lose them to Fong. Like we need that camp growing any." She tapped a finger on the molded oak frame of the window agitatedly, watching it turn black at her heated touch. "The thirtieth division may have been able to intercept them a few months ago- they were right in their path, but when their prison rig was destroyed their escaped prisoners reclaimed their mining village and Fong backed them up. We've been effectively pushed out of that area."

"And my dad probably would have kept me from going on that recapture mission too." Mai said. "Force me to stay in a now empty city? I didn't think it could possibly get any worse. Before they left at least I could sometimes watch the squabbles. People here fight about the weirdest things." She gave a small, sneering smile. "This old guy was yelling at another one for having wood floors in his house."

"Oh! He was probably a bender then." Ty Lee observed.

Azula and Mai gave Ty Lee a twin what-are-you-talking-about stare.

"Earthbenders always like to be touching their element." She shrugged. "So they take more notice when they're standing on something besides stone."

"I suppose that's their excuse for running around in bare feet like animals. Just how many of those did you see while you were traveling, Ty Lee?" Azula questioned, "I've heard in few of the colonies they are sometimes actually allowed to live alongside Fire Nation citizens."

"Most of the time they're in separate neighborhoods." Ty Lee said quietly to her feet.

"There was a firebender in my dad's guard who was found out to have an earthbending father." Mai said. "Can you even picture it? Marrying one of them?" The dark-clad noble and the princess made faces at each other.

The carriage hit a bump and all three of them were thrown a few inches into the air. To the superstitious Ty Lee, it was almost as if the earth were purposefully chastising their mockery.

"This is the very cutting edge of technology princess!" War Minister Qin proclaimed as he presented the invention. "But are you sure you want to use such a prototype? We could outfit you with a much safer vehicle easily-"

"I've read the percentages." Azula said dismissively as she paced all the way around it. "They are nowhere near as abysmal as the war balloons."

"A-ah, yes- well-" he tugged at his collar. "We are working to improve those . . . "

"I suppose I can give you a little leeway on that, seeing as you had to start with a design from a heathen. I think our own home-grown inventions are much more operational. Ba Sing Se will soon find that out as well." She halted. "I expect this tank to be ready to go in five days." She then addressed Ty Lee and Mai. "Now, we need to set up an outline for your mongoose dragon training schedule- the instructor should be here in half an hour . . ."

When the allotted time had elapsed, the two girls waited for Azula as she made last-minute preparations. During their stay, Ty Lee had been much more accustomed to temporary-type lodgings than Mai, but they had fidgeted in unison while making their way around the tents and barricades. War veterans' eyes often traveled places they had no right to; those of the predominantly male company that didn't make inappropriate noises and comments under their breath, simply stared at them out of overt curiosity. They obviously weren't female soldiers- they'd have uniforms if they were. All of these reactions were only partially mitigated when accompanied by the princess, who ignored them with seemingly practiced ease.

Even later, when word had obviously spread about who they were, they still got glances and questioning looks- perhaps even more so.

Ty Lee twitched in surprise when she heard the voice at the opposite end of the tank start out, "So, you're after the Avatar, eh?" Sometimes she could sense people coming- but only when she concentrated.

Three men stood side by side, scrutinizing them with less lewdness, but more skepticism.

The one on the right had a patch on his right eye. Ty Lee wondered if Mai was reminded of Zuko as well. Had he lost that eye? "You know, I've run into the Avatar twice. West of Serpent's Pass, last winter. Spearheaded a mass murder attempt using a flood. Funny thing is, that was an Earth Kingdom city- only about ten, fifteen percent Fire Nation. You can bet we smoked out all his little accomplices in that forest after that. Then I saw him near here this spring, before he disappeared into the mountains and we sealed him in. I still don't know how he got out of there, seein' as word is he doesn't know earthbending yet. Everyone asks me about him. And I still really don't know much besides he's a little kid."

"So he was talking to me." The one on the left, a good six feet tall, leered down at them, "and I said, well, now, I know why they're sending little kids after the most important objective in all the Fire Nation. It all adds up now."

"Just ignore them, Ty." Mai muttered.

"So, did you just arrive from your cushy manors?"

Ty Lee caught sight of Azula behind them and she started a greeting, "H-"

But Mai put a hand on her shoulder. "No, wait. This should be good." She whispered in her ear.

Azula came to a stop, still unseen, as the middle one drawled jauntily in a thick accent. "You girlies evur seen a mans' guts spewed out crushed under'a rock? Wouldja like t'see Gimpie's eye, here? Y'know some of them dirtslingers have the darndest accuracy."

"What? Nothing?" Leftie prodded, obviously the passive-aggressive leader of the bunch. "I guess the little princess didn't teach them how to make conversation. Does she still play with dolls? That's always a good way to practice."

"I tink they're jus' shy." The middle one crossed his arms. "It's a big ol' sciry worl' when you're not bein' fed fruit tarts all d-"

"Gentlemen."

They went silent at the three deliberate syllables and slowly turned. "I would greatly appreciate it," Azula began in a casual tone, "if you did not harass my subordinates." She lingered over the word ever so slightly.

"Yes, princess." They all bowed. Eyepatch and middleman were rigid, but leftie was calm.

"Goo'day and good luck." Middleman offered shakily. They began to retreat-

"You." Azula pointed with a single long nail.

Leftie didn't have to look to know she was talking about him.

"Here." She directed the nail to the ground in front of her.

He strode to the spot. Her head didn't even reach his shoulders.

"The next time I want advice on how to make conversation," she said in a low voice, "I will consult someone who can construct his insults based on ability, and not some twisted ignorant notion of aesthetic shallowness."

She glared up at him for a moment more. "Ty Lee, what does his aura look like?" She asked, resuming a conversational tone.

"Are you serious?" Mai rolled her eyes in disbelief at the question.

The man's outline was burning a faint red, but Ty Lee had a feeling that a different color was the only thing that would appease her. Not wanting any trouble, she breathed out, "It's gray. The see-through kind."

He gasped as the princess punched him square in the solar plexus. Azula was not as physically strong as many of the soldiers here, it was very true, but she had not only trained her bending. For her height and age she had inordinate force. Coupled with the explosive impact of the superheated air, cushioning her fist, the blow sent him flying. Cerulean flames licked his arms, burning away the cloth parts of his sleeves and lancing across the skin.

The man landed on his back with a moan. She walked nonchalantly over to his side, hoisting his torso up by his breastplate into a sitting position. She put her nose inches from his and hissed, "I don't care if you are Admiral. You will not make passes at the heir apparent."

"I think, ladies," she addressed the two figures, "that his friends here would like a demonstration of your abilities as well." Azula turned her head and seemed to flash the acrobat a wordless golden warning. Why were you lying to me? I can read people better than that.

Ty Lee didn't realize she had grabbed hold of Mai's sleeve in startled reaction to the sudden blow until that moment. She quickly released and exchanged a glance with the other girl.

"It's just like my uncle says." Mai talked to herself. "Don't take any crap from anyone." She might have been startled as well, but if she was Ty Lee had missed it. She loosed two throwing stars that went whistling a hair's breadth past each of Middleman's ears and then one stilleto that embedded itself into his shoulder. He cried out and dropped to a knee.

Ty Lee's own knees suddenly felt very weak. Why were they injuring their own? Her thoroughly scattered and splintered thoughts tried to coalesce, and failed.

"Ty Lee. We don't have all day." Azula pushed the man onto his back again and he grunted loudly as he hit the ground.

At that, the acrobat seemed to gain coherence. Did it matter? Just do what she says.

She bounded forward as if spurred on by the expression of pain and struck Eyepatch where his shoulder and neck met. He crumpled like a ragdoll.

"Now." Azula straightened, "Where is the engineer?" She strode over to her "subordinates" and said under her breath with a smirk, "The first two were a nice touch, Mai."

Two days later, the girls clambered out of the tank, on a stop for supplies.

Mai sighed with relief. "I don't know how much more I can take. It makes you so stiff, riding in that thing."

Ty Lee stretched sideways, pulling at one wrist with her other palm. "That's for sure."

Azula rolled her head on her shoulders. "Well, it's the only thing fast enough. In all probability we'll be running out of fuel just as we reach them regardless. The one advantage we have is a tireless machine. We all need to get some sleep while we're here. If my guess is correct, we're going to catch up to them around nightfall, and I intend on forcing them to travel without getting any rest. They'll be exhausted once we finally catch them." She smiled wickedly. "At any rate, you can blame the big brute for your discomfort."

Ty Lee frowned a little to herself. From what she had seen, the Avatar's air bison had an extremely well-developed aura, nothing like the mongoose dragons she and her friends rode. She gazed at one of the scaly creatures, which didn't reciprocate the gesture. She had noticed that reptilian animals almost always were less- well, emotional than others.

Besides, the reason people used komodo rhinos and mongoose dragons was because they obeyed commands without question. Other animals needed your trust. She smiled as she remembered the ostrich horse she had occasionally ridden at the circus, and a pang of regret hit her. She wanted to be back in the spotlight, hearing the reverent ahhs and oohs from the crowd . . . Why was she here?

She looked around at the Fire Nation war camp- the third one so far. Her aura immediately dimmed. It was so depressing, seeing all the drawn faces. Did any of these people really want to be here, either?

That night, just as predicted, the tank began to slow down. Azula leaped onto the back of her dragon. "This is it girls. Showtime."

Ty Lee and Mai followed suit and the large metal door folded open. The terrain had changed; the last time they had stopped there had been forest all around. Now Ty Lee looked up at the face of a steep rocky incline. At night she could hardly see auras at all, although the lack of light didn't seem to impede her chi sensing. Distance usually muddled both of her senses considerably. But it was odd, she could see the yellow just as clearly as the first time. Was it because he was the Avatar?

Their auras were so pure and bright, and Azula wanted to-

She clenched her jaw and tried to banish the thought. There was nothing she could do about it.

In a flash she and the other two girls were riding up the winding cliff face. She almost yelled as rock suddenly jutted up in front of them, gripping her legs to the leather of the lightweight saddle tighter. But she let out the breath as the mongoose dragons simply bended and adapted to the sudden obstacles, moving swiftly over them. The instructor hadn't been kidding when he said nothing phased them. You give them a direction, and they would keep toward it no matter what. She had to admit, they were impressive creatures, if unnerving. She did her best to remember the brief round of lessons, how to distribute her weight to aid the side-to-side motion of their quick-crawling gait. More rocks continued to punch out of the ground- Azula had told them an earthbender was traveling with the Avatar now.

And if the huge earthen wall that just appeared out of nowhere was any indication, it was a powerful bender. She prepared to reign in her mount, remembering that they couldn't scale a 90 degree angle, but then she sensed Azula's gathering chi. The firebender unleashed a lightning bolt that blasted a hole in the wall, and they clambered through. She looked up to see a small figure rise on a column of earth, and then the Avatar and his friends were already aloft.

Azula let out one more attack before stopping. As Ty Lee watched the floating animal recede to an impossible distance, she could swear that she could still see yellow against the dark. Azula wheeled her dragon around and the other two followed; right before they reached the tank again Ty Lee looked over her shoulder. She had the oddest sensation- that she wanted the yellow to return. Come back! The almost-thought, the partial-plea came unbidden. The blank, unreplying sky made her shiver.

The next time the tank halted, they had come to a river that was filled with what was unmistakably fur from the flying bison.

Azula, beige aura pulsing, had quickly ascertained that something was amiss. There was a fur trail that led away from the river, but she said, "The Avatar is trying to give us the slip," and pointed towards some trees whose tops had been splintered off. "You two head in that direction and keep your eye out for the bison. I'll follow this trail."

Ty Lee and Mai swerved in and out of the trees on their reptilian steeds, and sure enough, the bison came into view, flying dangerously close to the treeline. Ty Lee sadly watched the creature dip and wobble. Azula had been right. He was exhausted.

He continued to sink through the air, snapping off tips of trees, then skimming across a river, until he finally plowed into the ground on the opposite side.

Ty Lee leaned forward as her dragon reared on its hind legs to dart across the water. Yes, these things were definitely versatile. But it couldn't avoid the waterbender's wave coming towards it. It was engulfed and Ty Lee had to spring from its back, knowing that the creature would be fine, just a little dazed. Just because they skimmed across the water didn't mean they didn't know how to swim.

She caught a tree branch, leaping from trunk to trunk, trying to ascertain the best angle to approach from. She finally landed with a flip and sprang towards the waterbender. The dark-skinned girl was faster on the uptake this time, avoiding her probing fingers narrowly but effectively.

She was vaguely aware of Mai, also attacking the waterbender, until the boy intervened and blocked her onslaught with his club. Then Mai ran after the girl, leaving Ty Lee to deal with the boy. He was slower, and she easily shut down his head-on attacks. After she disabled both his arms and one leg, he used his head to block her next jab. She probably would've acknowledged that as resourceful, except that she was annoyed at the pain that throbbed through her knuckles.

He bounced away from her on one leg towards the waterbender, who was still dodging stilettos. Ty Lee almost laughed when he finally fell over. It was just too funny.

The waterbender didn't have the same reaction. When she caught sight of him she pulled a sheet of water from the river behind her, directing it between him and her assailant. Mai dodged, thinking that the mass was an attack directed at her, but it only solidified into a wall in front of him and she seized the opportunity to strike while the other girl was occupied.

The flying arrows clipped the bender's bare arm. "Rrrrrrr-"

"Stupid! Watch yourself, not me!" The boy admonished from the ground.

"Yeah, say that when you're full of knives, Sokka!" She retorted as she trotted over toward him. They were both in between Mai and Ty Lee now. In getting closer to him, she was getting farther away from the river, and as she stepped she drew her element after herself. "Ah, now two on one. Isn't that nice? Of course-" she covered her arm with a little bit of water as she talked-

Ty Lee watched, spellbound, as the water glowed and the disturbed energy around her injury smoothed out. She had heard that waterbenders could do that!

"-you can't both attack me at once, now can you, unless tall dark and sharp right there wants to risk skewering you, Smiles." The bender continued.

"Nice try, savage, but I can fight close range too." Mai replied, unsheathing small handled daggers.

They both rushed her. She had nowhere to go because she apparently wasn't going to leave the boy. She parried attacks with ice, but her technique wasn't mean to stay in place, it yearned to move and dodge and twist. The chink of solid water meeting metal and the sharp exhales as she lashed out with a whip to keep them at bay gradually grew in frequency until finally Ty Lee managed to hit one of her hips. She staggered, fighting to maintain balance. But once that loosened openings the acrobat quickly reached her arms. She fell onto the grass, still kicking and seething with her good foot. "Freezing- Fire- Nation-! What is this, anyway! Last time I couldn't bend, and now I can't even move?" She continued to rail at them.

Ty Lee opened her mouth to explain, but Mai cut her off. "Please, Ty Lee, like it's going to matter."

At that moment it felt like the waterbender had somehow frozen her insides. Her friend was fingering the knife she held, staring at the girl. "Azula did say that she was the first priority." She whispered. Her aura was shifting from color to color in indecision. First red, then dark blue, then gray, progressively blacker-

"Katara, shut up." The boy said suddenly, gazing at Mai with double her intensity. "You know if you take us a prisoners, Aang will follow you to the ends of the earth to get us back. If your friend doesn't succeed in capturing him, he'll come to you."

"Sokka, what are you d-"

"Katara." He said in a sterner but quieter voice, his beige now making way for turquoise. "Being a prisoner is much better than the alternative."

The waterbender, chastened, looked at Mai and then Ty Lee, gray seeping into the air around her, replacing the belligerent crimson.

"M-Mai, maybe we'd better just leave them. We should go help Azula, right?" The pink-clad girl asked meekly.

"Ty Lee, just go get the dragons." Mai instructed. "I'll take care of this."

The voices all collided at her statement, running over one another and ratcheting the already tense situation tighter.

"If you can only keep one of us, take her." The boy continued harshly. "She's better friends with him. More important to him."

"Now I'm going to tell you to shut up, Sokka-"

'M-Mai just come on-"

"If it's going to happen i-"

"-playing hero-"

"Mai-"

Muscled coiled all around in response to the overlapping and conflicting sounds.

A sudden motion and a knife slid from a hand.

But it dropped to the ground.

"Ty Lee, what did you do that for?" Mai's normally composed voice now growled. She put a hand to her shoulder and her limp arm.

"I-I don't know." She had seen her draw back, and she had reacted.

Mai took hold of the acrobat with her still-functional arm and led her a few paces away. She said to her under her breath, "Ty Lee, I know I always tell you that you should think before you act, but this isn't one of those times."

"A-are you really that scared of her, Mai?" Ty Lee asked softly. "That you would . . ."

"Scared?" Mai narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"You're afraid of what Azula will do if you . . . we . . . fail . . . aren't you?"

"Of course she's scary. But don't be ridiculous, Ty. She didn't do anything to us when we 'failed' to deal with them last time."

Ty Lee wrung her hands. "I guess . . ."

"Now she definitely would do something if she knew what was going on here." Mai said sardonically. "But it's not like I'm going to tell her that you tried to stop me, okay?" The green that appeared around her gave Ty Lee a small measure of reassurance.

"Hey! Maybe she doesn't buy into your whole 'rule the world' thing, Pointy!" The boy interrupted, not being able to hear their conversation.

Mai's face went blank but her aura turned an annoyed red. "I don't need some backwater smartmouth telling me about my country, thanks."

"So you're going to listen to her, then, Smiles?" The girl joined in. "Is she berating you for even considering what you're doing might be wrong?"

That wasn't what was happening, was it? Ty Lee was thrown back into confusion as she looked at the still practically helpless pair. Mai was reassuring her, but for what?

Suddenly there was a roar and the two Fire Nation girls turned to see the bison barreling toward them.

"We wasted too much time. That blasted thing has woken up." Mai said hurriedly, as she and Ty Lee sprinted away.

Air once again was forced out at them. Mai was lifted but Ty Lee was caught in a side eddy; she landed on the grass, crouching into a roll. There was a loud splash as the shiruken wielder landed in the river.

The beast growled at the place where Mai had been and stepped towards Ty Lee as she sat up.

When he came to a stop, he leaned over her, his warm breaths bathing her legs and waist.

This was so weird. She should at least be somewhat afraid. Her talent with animals by no means always guaranteed her safety. But the bison seemed to carry some of the boy's yellow with it, and Ty Lee, remembering the odd occurrence of the night before, was instead immediately filled with completely irrational relief.

Before she had realized what she doing, she held out a hand, palm forward. He nosed into it, as if it were perfectly natural, as if it had rested on his wide snout many times before.

"Hey Appa! Tell her to come over here and undo whatever this is!" Katara yelled exuberantly.

He pulled back and ambled to the waterbender, and looked back to Ty Lee inquiringly, as if to say, "Well, why aren't you?"

This wasn't right. She shouldn't want to help them so much, should she? She kept comparing Mai's duller green to the girl's- Katara's, and wondering . . .

It was completely ironic. She had told Azula facetiously that "the universe was giving her hints" for her to join her, and yet, here it was, seeming to do the exact opposite. Mai would laugh at her. The acrobat's time at the circus had made her forget she had stopped talking about auras around her long ago.

"Come on!" The boy said impatiently.

She looked over at them. They seemed to think that their hushed conversation had involved her somehow refuting Mai on their behalf. Was some small part of her wishing it were true? She thought of all the camps they had been through. Even her friends' stolid auras had been slightly affected by the alternating dreary and high-strung atmosphere. It seemed incredible that one person could put an end to all of it. Another wave of nostalgia hit her, less intense than the one before, but still sharp.

l

A eclectic group they were, a pink-clad thirteen year old, an old woman draped with beads and red shawls, a spry man wearing a tight-fitting vest over his bare chest, and a young woman idly fondling sparks. They were lounging on boxes, munching on sandwiches and fire flakes.

"Did you see that old bean almost wipe out during his clown act? You'd think he would've learned by now not to trip over his own costume." Poshu shook his head.

"I foresee a terrible fate involving a large bow tie and raspberry-apple colored pants." The gray-haired woman waggled her fingers mysteriously and her cheap rings glinted in the sunlight.

Everyone laughed heartily at her mock-serious expression.

"Shut up, Madame Ona. We all know you just blow hot air for the customers." Rila teased. "You led Ty Lee on for a long time. That was kinda mean, you know. She's the real psychic around here." She winked at her.

The aged fortuneteller-actress gave a toothy grin, which in actuality was missing quite a few teeth. "Ah, but they eat it up, dear. Doesn't matter if it's true or not."

"And besides, she doesn't have the creepy persona to match." Poshu joked.

They continued to chat for the next hour, until the younger girls' respective rehearsals drew them apart. This was their ritual, established effortlessly. They enjoyed each others' company, whiling away their free time. They lived in the present because everything rearranged regularly. Pick up and move next week, so savor being here now.

l

In those moments, she forgot the insistent reminder letters, tucked at the back of the drawer; the most she had had to worry about was what shade of eye shadow she would wear for her next performance. Why couldn't everything just go back to being that easy?

So much had happened in a short time-

Doubt crept back into her. What if she did make that small mistake? Was she just one step away from ending up just like the men Azula had punished?

l

"Even small mistakes can land you in deep water."

l

Wasn't she already on thin ice for going to the circus in the first place? How much more would it take before the princess' patience wore thin? Could she willingly go back to the den of the dragon?

The girl snapped her out of her reflection. "Well? Are you just going to sit there?"

"Actually, I can't . . . unblock you." Ty Lee admitted sheepishly as she stood and brushed blades of grass off of her pants.

The boy- was his name Sokka?- groaned. "Wonderful."

"Where are your other two friends?" The acrobat asked. Would Azula be able to handle the Avatar and the earthbender?

Katara frowned. "Well, one of them actually left."

"They're both gone." Ty Lee looked around, confused.

"No, I mean, she left our group."

"Why?"

"'Cause Katara was a total sea prune." Sokka teased.

"I was not!"

"You're right, you were more sour than a sea prune. I don't think the name Sugar Queen does you any justice at all."

Ty Lee smiled bemusedly at their banter.

Katara growled in frustration at the gibes and took a different tack. "Well, I guess Aang should be able to find us, right?"

"Is he the yellow one?"

Sokka chuckled. "Well, his skin's not yellow."

Ty Lee shook her head. "Oh, no, sorry, slip of the tongue. I meant that he has a yellow aura. A really bright one."

At their confused looks Ty Lee chewed on her lower lip. Would they believe her? "See, auras are-"

"Gran-Gran used to tell us stories about people who could see them." Katara said thoughtfully.

Sokka raised an eyebrow. "Mmm. Do they always match people's clothes?"

Ty Lee laughed. "No. But I like the color pink because I like the way I feel whenever my aura's bright pink."

An unspoken communication flew from the girl to her brother. "You don't believe her." She accused aloud. Ty Lee then recognized the sardonic tone of his previous question and the incredulity on his face. Well, this wasn't the first time someone hadn't believed her, and it probably wouldn't be the last. Though something about this case particularly made her aura teeter on the edge of a dim, doleful blue.

"No, I tend to suspend belief until sufficient proof is presented-"

Katara rolled her eyes. "Sokka, really. Please excuse him. He's a bullpig-headed-"

"-guy who believes in scientific inquiry!" He interrupted in an annoyed whine.

The waterbender ignored him. "So what color are ours?" she asked, interested in Ty Lee again.

The acrobat stepped towards her, drawn in by her warm reception. "Well yours is a simply gorgeous shade of green."

"What does that mean?"

"It's the color of an especially nurturing and caring person." Ty Lee said admiringly, aura pinking again. "And I think it might be especially intense because you're a healer."

"And what about mister non-bender, here?" Katara asked.

Sokka huffed.

"You're dominant color is turquoise. But right now it's dark green- who are you jealous of?"

Katara snickered and Sokka looked at her with a scowl and narrowed eyes, and said sarcastically, "Well this has been a nice chat, dearest sister-"

No wonder their interaction seemed so familiar. They were siblings. Ty Lee almost giggled again at the thought of her sisters. Whether in Meili's house or her parent's house in the Unshiri Province during the summers off from school, she could always expect several sets of back-and-forth like this.

"-but we need to figure out who we're going to go after. Ty Lee," Sokka said, beige ousting the green, "did the third girl-"

"Azula."

"-did she follow Aang?"

She nodded.

They exchanged nervous glances. "Surely he wouldn't stay and fight her in his condition?" Katara asked worriedly, now copying her brother by rolling upright, trying to flex her paralyzed leg.

"I don't want to chance it." Sokka took on his solemn, commanding voice again. "Toph's not in any danger that we know of. But we need to make sure Aang's all right."

"Oh!" Ty Lee's face lit up. "There it is again. Turquoise. The sign of a good leader."

Sokka paused only for a moment before tentatively smiling at her.

Now that the acrobat had a close-up look at Sokka, she noticed something she hadn't before. Peoples' primary energy, that traveled along their trunk, usually moved upwards, exiting the top of their head. But she could almost say that a little bit more chi was being let off than was in his body. What in the world did that mean?

"What are you staring at?" He asked.

She blushed slightly. That hadn't been the only reason she liked looking at him. She tried to describe the phenomenon.

"Well, I don't know-" he began-

A small animal zipped over to him and landed on his shoulder. "Hey, pfft- Momo! Get your tail out of my face!"

"Awww! What a cute lemur-bat."

"You know what he is?" Katara asked.

"Well, yeah. They have them at the circus. Come here, sweety." She rubbed her fingers together invitingly.

He raised his ears and looked to Appa.

The bison chuffed encouragingly.

"Oh!" She exclaimed as he glided forward, taking hold of her offered wrist and agily climbing up her arm. He reached out and tugged gently at one side of the loose bangs of her hair with puzzled concentration, as if he were trying to determine what it was doing covering her forehead.

Sokka stood shakily. "I think I can get around now. Ty Lee, will you help me with Katara? We need to get moving as fast as possible."

"You ready to fly, Appa? Even if we aren't quite?" Katara asked.

The bison gave a loud affirmative grunt.

Ty Lee looked back to the river one last time. Was she going to go through with this?

She stood determinately, and the lemur took off from her shoulder, landing on one of the bison's horns. He made a gurgling assessment and the bison murmured back in agreement, sealing their sanction of the newcomer.

Ty Lee and Sokka each held Katara under an arm and placed her on Appa's tail and he lifted them obligingly. Even with that assistance, it was a struggle to get her over into the saddle, but they managed it.

"Yip yip!" Despite his enthusiastic response to Katara's exhortation, Appa took off wearily.

"He must be really, really tired. His chi is so sluggish." Ty Lee leaned over the saddle and stroked the soft white fur. It was still a little damp.

Katara gazed curiously at her. "You can see that in his aura?"

"Does Appa even have an aura?" Sokka asked. Appa groaned, as if in protest.

Ty Lee nodded. "Oh, yes. Animal's auras aren't quite as pronounced as peoples'." Momo hopped up onto her lap and she began to pet him. "But they are definitely there."

"So, um, Ty Lee, that thing about being a turquoise leader- you weren't just making that up?" Sokka's brow furrowed with uncertainty.

Ty Lee blinked. "Of course not. Turquoise is very different from orange, which is what Azula is."

"What?"

"Both of them are commonly found in leaders. Orange means you want to control people and have power. But turquoise means you want to organize and direct people, and look out for them. That's what Auntie Ryu always told me."

Sokka beamed and coaxed Appa on with the reigns.

They soared over the landscape, and even from a distance they could spot the tiny blue flames sharply contrasting with the orange of the rock.

"Looks like there are buildings down there." Katara squinted, now shaking her still-tingling arms and fingers.

"An abandoned town." Sokka observed. Beige now appeared around him.

"What was he thinking, fighting her? He should have just flown away." The concern in her voice was matched by the enhancing of her emerald aura.

The blue flames increased in size as they go closer. Ty Lee's own aura was rapidly turning from pink to gray.

"We need to keep Appa out of sight." Sokka turned the huge head and his aura mingled between turquoise and beige. The combination of taking charge and strategizing. "He's too tired- he'll be in danger."

Appa landed and collapsed on the dusty ground.

"C-can I stay here?" Ty Lee stammered.

"What? You need to help us if you're going to stay with-" Katara started-

"Seriously, Katara, are you going to start lecturing people again about 'pulling their own weight,' after Toph?" Sokka cut her off. "Let's just go. Aang needs us."

Katara quickly shut off whatever snappy response she had planned at the mention of Aang's name and the two siblings ran between buildings.

Appa was already snoring softly as they left.

Ty Lee patted his back. "That's right, get some rest." She said smoothly. She strained her ears to hear any clue of what was going on. What sound might have echoed in the empty place was drowned out by the roaring of fire.

Suddenly there was a loud explosion and Appa started to his feet, tossing her from the saddle. She landed on her hands and in a half-handspring was upright again.

Appa rumbled apologetically.

"That's all right. You just can't get a break, can you, buddy?" She said seriously. She ran down an alley and peeked around the edge of a building to see what had happened.

She saw several figures, many different heights, one on the ground and one kneeling. She squinted, then closed her eyes, getting a reading on each of them. She confirmed that Azula wasn't there. One was Sokka, one was Katara, one she didn't recognize and two-

Her eyes opened in surprise as an arc of firebending shot out of the kneeling figure. Could that really be-

She jogged out towards them.

"Katara, look out!" A voice shouted and an earth column came out of nowhere, sending her sprawling.

"Toph, no, she's on our side!" Katara said back to the earthbender.

"What?"

"It's fine, Toph." She repeated, coming to Ty Lee. "You okay?"

"Katara, you really need to get over here, more." Toph insisted, taking a step back towards Iroh, who had not long before been serving her tea.

"I-I told you to just go." Zuko mumbled as he stood defensively, legs spread apart.

"Don't be an idiot." Toph snapped, sinking into a stance in response, glaring at the ground.

Flames spurted at his fists. "Say that to my face."

Her blind seafoam eyes turned upwards. "I don't know who you are, but if you care about him anywhere near as much as he cares about you, you'll let the damn waterbender heal him."

Zuko blinked rapidly, utterly dumbfounded at the complete stranger's discerning words, and the flames winked out.

Katara brought her water to her hands and made a silent questioning gesture. He nodded hesitantly and hovered over her as she knelt and the water glowed.

Ty Lee was completely oblivious to all of the conversation, and she was beginning to tremble. Sokka noticed her reaction and asked, "Ty Lee? Are you all right?"

She shook her head, now swaying unsteadily.

He rushed to her and took hold of her wrists. "Ty Lee, what's wrong?"

She managed to get the words out in a strangled whisper before she fainted.

"Z-Z-Zuko's au-aura."

Chapter Text

"'Zuko had shown shameful weakness. As punishment he was banished and sent to capture the Avatar. Only then could he return with his honor.'

'So that's why he's so obsessed. Capturing the Avatar is the only chance he has of things returning to normal.'" –Iroh and Lieutenant Jee

"Azula, what's going on? Mai isn't here today, and everyone's saying . . ." the eleven-year-old peered fearfully around the lawn of the Academy at the groups of students, who were clustered unusually tightly together, indicating that hot new gossip had taken root over the weekend. All eyes had been on the princess as she arrived, but no one was brave enough to approach her, and certainly not ask for conformation. "Everyone's saying something happened to Zuko," she continued plaintively, " . . . Is it . . . is it true . . . ?" She clung to the princess' arm.

"Ty Lee, please." Azula said impatiently as she pried her unwanted grip off.

The princess faced her hungry-eyed peers and with all the poise of a royal proclaimed loudly, "Prince Zuko is indeed leaving the Fire Nation, as soon as he is able. He has disrespected the Firelord and has been duly punished. I expect not to be bothered about details," she finished crisply.

There were several noddings and quiet acknowledgements at her word, and the groups migrated towards the white marble entrance to the main building. As multiple conversations started simultaneously, an eruption of sound flowed through the air and clattered off the hard polished surfaces of the inside. She continued to herself in a normal voice as she rolled her eyes, "No doubt I'll have to say something similar at the Boy's Academy tomorrow."

Ty Lee stood, bewildered. "Why?"

"Does it matter? This means I will be Firelord."

"W-well yeah, but Mai-"

"You don't want me to be Firelord?" Azula narrowed her eyes.

"O-of course!" Ty Lee squeaked. "You're the smartest person in either of the schools- you know Yunru is so jealous of you."

"Really?" Azula said, distracted at the mention of Ty Lee's next oldest sister. "She doesn't act like it."

Ty Lee nodded her head vigorously. "But she still likes you a lot, really. You know people can still like you even if-"

Azula started after the rest of the students, obviously expecting Ty Lee to follow her as she usually did and continue her sycophantic babble.

"B-but wait . . ." Ty Lee said timidly as she jogged after her. "Why does Zuko have to go? You can be Firelord anyway, right?"

"Pick up the pace or we're going to be late for class."

"I mean, Master Iroh has been here while . . . the Firelord is in charge . . ." she trailed off uncertainly.

Azula rubbed at her temples. "You are so naïve, Ty Lee."

l

Ty Lee hung somewhere between the sea of unconsciousness and the sky of awareness for a moment as real voices reached her ears.

"Zuko, I'm asking you to try and let go of your shame." It was familiar. Something about blue . . .

"But I don't feel any shame at all! I'm as proud as ever." Her thoughts wavered at the sound of the anger.

"Prince Zuko, pride is not the opposite of shame, but it's source. True humility is the only antidote to shame."

"Well, my life has been nothing but humbling lately."

There was a pause.

"Why do you treat them as if they are friends, uncle?"

"They are friends, Zuko."

"What are you talking about? How can you say that?"

"Zuko, you've seen what this war has done to the Earth Kingdom. You know that it is right to help the Avatar."

Heat beat at her face and Ty Lee's eyes fluttered open in alarm. "Wha-" She saw fire and she yelled as she closed her eyes again and threw up her arms defensively, heart hammering.

"Ty Lee?" Iroh put a hand to her shoulder. "Are you all right?"

She quickly scanned the decrepit building. "The- f-fire-"

"As you know, my nephew tends to overreact." Iroh sighed, settling next to her. "I believe it has gotten significantly worse since you have seen him. I'm sorry you had to awaken to such a display."

She blinked wearily. "What- where am I? Is that you, Master Iroh?"

The old man chuckled. "Please, I've told you before to just call me Iroh."

He met her eyes and she sucked in a small, awed breath as his aura turned from bright blue to white.

"You always did have a strong connection to the Spirit World." He observed.

"And so do you." She had only met one other person before who could produce a white aura- Auntie Ryu's father. It was still something that amazed her. It seemed to make her heart jump of its own accord.

"I met a young woman recently who did as well." He looked away and rested his head back against the wall. "She was very brave." He whispered reminiscently. "I suppose that's why they trust me, even though they shouldn't, by any means. Because I stood up for her."

Ty Lee raised her gaze to his. "They? The Avatar and his friends are still here?"

"Of course. They wouldn't leave you behind."

"They only just met me."

Iroh smiled kindly. "I think you have read them well enough to know that they form bonds quickly." He turned back to her. "I've asked Zuko to join the Avatar. But . . ." He paused. "As you may have realized, good is easier to see for some-" he tilted his head knowingly at her- "and harder to see for others. And my nephew has a particularly heavy handicap."

She looked down and began to fiddle with her braid anxiously. "Three years, Master Iroh? Three years he's been like this?" She implored the old man quietly.

Iroh's aura shifted to a dark shade of blue. "Yes."

"Then you can see-" she faltered- "h-how twisted up his energy is?"

"Not in the same way you can, but I've been with him far too long to not understand."

He gave a tortured sigh. "I fear being around the Avatar like this is crushing his spirit even more. The boy is within reach, but there is nothing he can do to get him back to the Fire Nation. He feels so powerless."

"Ty Lee!" Katara poked her head through the doorway. "You're awake!"

"Yeah." She said tiredly.

"Good, 'cause we were just about to make dinner. Can you make us a fire, sir?"

Iroh got stiffly to his feet with a popping of old joints. "Of course. And how many times do I have to tell everyone they can just call me Iroh?" he said in a jovial voice.

Katara smiled awkwardly. "I'll try." She walked to Ty Lee and warmly offered the girl a hand to help her up.

"Where did Zuko go?" Ty Lee asked.

"That way, I think."

Ty Lee followed her direction, walking through the maze of buildings and closing her eyes periodically to cast out for his chi. Finally she sensed him and recoiled internally at what she encountered.

"Zuko?" She said quietly, rounding the corner of what used to be a barber shop.

"So you helped them?" He asked gruffly, standing and facing her confrontationally.

She ignored his question and rushed to him, flinging her arms around his stiff, surprised torso and burying her cheek into his chest. "Zuko! I can't believe it's really you! You know I never thought I would see you again after-" she stopped, pulling back just enough to look into his troubled eyes.

They both looked away and there was a long silence as she released him and placed a hand just above her elbow, gripping her arm awkwardly.

"My uncle and I are leaving as soon as possible." He whispered.

"What? Why?" She asked, almost pleading.

"You know why. I can't be here, with the Avatar- this- this is just too screwed up." He ran his hands across his newly-grown short hair.

"I could almost say the same thing." She chuckled half-heartedly. "But at the same time-"

"GUYS! Dinner!" Katara shouted.

"Will you at least come and eat?" She asked teasingly.

The response, a doleful, pained gaze, took her smile away.

As it got dark, the whole group sat around the fire, except for one.

"Zuko, please come and join us." Iroh called to his nephew, who had set up a separate fire farther off.

"No."

Toph pointed her arm towards Zuko and in a sweeping motion moved the earth under him. He zipped towards the bigger fire and came to rest next to Iroh. They both blinked in surprise.

Toph resumed eating nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened, but a smirk played around her mouth.

"Want some, Ty Lee?" Sokka offered her the leg of a jackalope he had caught.

She pressed her lips together at the sight of the mostly intact limb, trying not to imagine the creature it had belonged to. "Oh, I-I don't think so, sorry."

"Still a little woozy?" He asked kindly.

"Well, yeah, maybe I am . . . but I'm a vegetarian."

"Really? Me too!" Aang grinned.

"Are you serious?" Sokka waved his arms above his head. "I still can't wrap my mind around this concept of no meat."

"Well, when I joined the circus I had to begin eating meat again occasionally because you never knew what you were going to get on the road," she admitted in embarrassment. "But since I've been with Azula she's provided me with what I need."

"That's good of her." Aang chirped happily as he dug into an assortment of nuts and passed some to Ty Lee. "You can always find something to like about someone."

"You always are the one to look for the best in people, Aang." Katara rolled her eyes, but smiled at him affectionately.

The voice of the prince cut into the light-hearted conversation like a rusty knife. "And while you're busy looking for the best in her, she'll shoot you through the heart with lightning."

There was a strained silence.

"This is just too weird." Katara said softly as she shook her head. "For so long, when I've pictured the face of the enemy, it was your face."

Zuko stood swiftly, dropping his half-eaten bread on the ground. "Yeah, it kinda gets stuck in your memory, doesn't it?"

Katara's eyes went wide and a hand went to her mouth. "No, no, that's not what I meant-"

But he was gone before she had finished her sentence.

Sokka stared after him, a half nibbled leg poised and mouth open. Then he turned to his sister. "Wow, Katara. Nice."

"I didn't . . ." she put a hand to her forehead- "mean it like that- it's just-"

"I think it is time you all learned about my nephew's affliction." Iroh said solemnly.

"Affliction? That sounds like present tense. That looks like a very old burn." Sokka observed.

"Trust me when I say, that there is still pain there that's every bit as real as the day the fire touched his skin." Iroh replied morosely.

Ty Lee took a rattling breath. "I can- see it." She whispered. "I've never encountered a hue of red like his. And it extends so far out from his body, it's like it isn't even a part of him. And his chi is blocked up around-" she closed her eyes and put her hand to the left side of her face- "and around his throat and stomach." She moved her palm to the respective places.

Iroh nodded sadly. "Yes, I believe what you are seeing are his chakras."

"Chakras?" Katara asked.

"They are pools of energy in the body, that can be blocked by various emotional turbulence." Iroh explained. "And as I said, it is time you all knew what happened to him."

They all waited patiently as Iroh shifted into a more comfortable position and took a deep breath. He had told the same story to Zuko's crew a few months before.

His resonant voice wove a terrible spell. Ty Lee and Katara wore similar bereaved expressions as he talked, though one was fresh while the other one was more hollow with resignation.

"He knelt before his father in the arena. I still remember his words as clear as day. 'I only have the Fire Nation's best interests at heart. I'm sorry I spoke out of turn. I meant you no disrespect. I am your loyal son. I won't fight you.'"

"But my brother was not deterred. That's when he-" he stopped, unable to continue.

"When he what?" A small voice broke the large silence. Toph had sensed the understanding tension that had gone around the circle.

Everyone's heads turned to her.

"That's right." Sokka said wonderingly. "You haven't- seen his face."

Toph made a face. "Yeah, I've never seen anything, Genius."

Nervous glances flitted around in all directions.

"A-around his eye." Katara started bravely, "He has a really bad burn."

"Apparently inflicted by his father at this- what did you call it, Agni Kai?" Sokka asked Iroh.

Iroh's mouth tightened. "If it can even be called that."

Toph blew some hair out of her face and crossed her arms. "So that's why he was so annoyed about the comment about his face. You sighted people put a lot of stock in faces, don't you?"

"Could you for once in your life be a little sensitive, Toph?" Katara demanded. "It's not just about the scar, it's about how his father treated him. Your parents didn't send you away. You came because you wanted to."

Toph drew herself up in outrage. "Believe it or not, I do understand, Queeny! If my father were powerful enough to crack a couple of my ribs, I'd be horrified if he actually did it." Broken ribs were the most common injury among earthbenders. She leaned back again once she had effectively crushed that tangent and questioned, "So he has a ponytail, and a burn on his face?"

Sokka laughed nervously, remembering his comment to her about an 'angry freak with a ponytail.' "Actually, he's cut his hair now- and grown some out." He told her.

"That's very descriptive, thanks." Toph remarked sarcastically.

"The topknots we wore were Fire Nation hairstyles." Iroh offered. "They shaved his head to treat the burn," he paused - "And when it began to grow back he cut it again, saying that he would wear it that way as long as he was banished."

"Kinda self-abasing, isn't it?" Sokka said sadly, unconsciously running his hand down his head towards his own 'wolftail.' "You know, I could technically grow mine out now," he commented, "since I've finished the ice dodging ritual. But I don't want to until I've done it with-"

"-dad." Katara finished for him, meeting his eyes and smiling encouragingly.

There was a pause and many of them resumed eating.

"So wait a second," Toph said incredulously. "What kind of crazy Nation do you guys run? Zuko was banished just because he spoke out of turn?"

"Well, no, not technically. He was banished and ordered to remain marked for refusing to fight. It was a very harsh punishment. Uncalled for. And I should have-" Iroh drew a sudden, defiant breath and the campfire swelled. Ty Lee latched onto to Katara in surprise, turning her face away. The waterbender patted her arm reassuringly as he let the air out slowly and ground his teeth together. The fire gradually returned to normal. ". . . well, . . . His father gave him an impossible task- to capture the Avatar."

"It's not nearly as impossible as we'd like it to be." Sokka joked with a wry expression.

Iroh chuckled darkly. "It was years ago, before he appeared."

They all turned to the one in question. Aang was the only one who hadn't yet said anything. The nomad's only motion since Iroh's awful narrative had been to wipe a single angry tear that slid down his cheek. He hadn't touched any more of his food either.

"I believe-" Iroh began, reigning their attention back in, "the chakras you sensed in Zuko, Ty Lee, were the Fire chakra and the Truth chakra."

Iroh laid a hand on his stomach. "The Fire chakra is the source of energy. Firebenders are most attuned to it. It deals with power, and is blocked by shame."

He raised his chin and pressed his fingers into his beard. "The Truth chakra, in the throat, is blocked by lies."

Aang suddenly stood and strode away, his face still drawn and serious.

"Let him go." Iroh put a hand up to stop Katara, who had risen in concern.

"Zuko?"

Zuko was sitting with his knees to his chest. He shifted his head away from the young airbender.

"What do you want?" he said in an utterly defeated tone.

"Your uncle- told us about what happened."

Zuko closed his eyes.

"I want you to know- that it's not your shame to bear."

"What?" Zuko turned his head, only the scar showing, and the damaged eye fixed Aang in its gaze.

"I never met my father, Zuko. But I met other children in the other Nations: I think I mentioned Kuzon to you once. I saw their fathers were the same to them as Monk Gyatso was to me. Gyatso was, in effect, my father."

"A father is a loving, nurturing person. A person that will support you no matter what. Who wants the best for you. And the man that Iroh described to us, he doesn't deserve to be called your father." Aang's grip tightened on his staff.

Zuko's single golden eye was still.

"He should be ashamed of what he did. To take everything he was supposed to be and throw it all away. He hasn't earned the title, Zuko. So there shouldn't be anything in you that desires his approval or his acknowledgement."

"He should be the one begging your forgiveness. The shame isn't yours, Zuko." He repeated. "It's his."

Silence. The eye held Aang for a long time before turning away again.

Chapter Text

"Sorry, Snoozles. We'll do our earthbending as quietly as we can." –Toph

When Ty Lee woke the next day, she noticed that Aang was already up. The rest of their group was sleeping peacefully.

She stepped quietly, stretching her arms behind her back and heard Iroh snoring softly. Zuko was nowhere to be seen either. She remembered Azula saying something about firebenders always rising with the sun. She smiled at the retired general. Maybe not old firebenders.

She walked out of the old abandoned streets, meaning to find a place to do some warm up exercises, but then she spotted Aang, sitting cross-legged on the dry, flat ground.

She drew in a long, careful, silent breaths, not wanting to disturb him. She didn't know how long she stood there, simply watching. His aura was golden. It competed for brilliance with the rising sun in front of him. Much of his chi flowed seamlessly in and out of his surroundings and-

"Hey Twinkle-Toes!"

The aura chafed red as the boundaries of his body were yanked back into place.

"Are you ready to be an earthbender?"

"Yes, Toph." He said with exaggerated patience as his normal yellow hue returned.

"I'm coming, too!" Katara shouted as she braided her hair.

"Whatever props up your mining shaft." Toph said.

Ty Lee wanted to go, but she had something to do first. She watched them depart and then set out to find Zuko again. She found him sitting on the ground alone, just as Aang had been, though his energy was nowhere near as peaceful. Apparently the monk could rebound from a night like the last one, and deliberately so, but the prince was having difficulty.

"Come on, Zuko. I know what you need!" Ty Lee flashed a wide grin at him as she grabbed his arm and tugged. "You need to come ride Appa."

"Stop it, Ty Lee."

"Come on, I'm not just going to let you sit here and stew."

He continued to resist.

"Don't make me block your chi."

He growled and let her pull him along.

"Sokka!" she called. "Sokka!"

"Yeah?"

"Where's Appa?"

"Over here. I think he's feeling a lot better." The boy kept a straight face. She had told him about her plan.

Ty Lee nodded. "Yep, his chi is churning up a storm now."

The bison turned his head towards them as they approached but did not make his usual welcoming sound. He showed his teeth at the prince and took a step backwards with three of his legs.

"No, Appa." Ty Lee chided him. She laid a hand on Zuko's shoulder. "You've got to give off some positive energy." She informed him.

Zuko's face folded in annoyance.

"That's not positive."

"I know there's gotta be some in there somewhere." Sokka wheedled.

If there had not been a huge furry monster within striking distance Zuko probably would have started yelling and flaming. As it was, he just said, "If it doesn't want me to ride it, then . . ." He tried to wrench free of Ty Lee's grip.

"It is a he. His name is Appa. Try introducing yourself."

"Are you serious?"

"I'm one hundred percent serious." She said cheerfully.

"Appa, is it?" The bovine snorted contentiously in response. "Well, you really have no reason to trust me, now, do you? I've chased you across the entire world. And you have been the biggest pain ever."

The corny reference wasn't intended as a joke, but Ty Lee and Sokka snickered just the same.

The lemur was resting on the huge bison's head, watching the proceedings passively.

"What about you, Momo?" Ty Lee appealed to him. She brought a forearm up and he alighted on it.

Momo stared at Zuko for several seconds and then chirped at him.

Zuko stared back.

Momo made the noise again.

"Hold out your hand." Ty Lee told him.

Zuko raised his hand, palm down. The lemur sniffed it, then examined it carefully from all angles, glancing from his knuckles to his face. He folded his large ears backwards and cautiously brought his head under the hand, pressing up against his fingers. Zuko moved them hesitantly over the short fur, and Momo purred and rubbed against him, ears coming back up with confidence.

The lemur then turned to the bison and twittered at him. He growled defensively.

Momo leapt down and came to rest in front of the bison's face, admonishing him with increased volume and urgency, tiny arms flailing in emphasis. The bison finally moaned resignedly and took a large step towards Zuko. The teenager's body went rigid and his face went from surprised to afraid very fast as the towering beast loomed and came to rest inches from him, examining him with one critical brown eye. The bison then faced him head on, and blew a gust of air through his nose, as if still unimpressed, but acquiescent.

"Well, now that we have that settled," Ty Lee nodded. She sprang up to the bison's saddle with much less ease than Aang, but achieved it nonetheless. "Come on!" She waved to the two boys.

Appa turned and lay down so that the less nimble pair could clamber up his side.

He pushed off with his tail and they rose, the landscape folding out beneath them. There were a few sparse clouds, and they threw their slight shadows over the marble mish-mash of hard rock and soft green.

"This is how you travel all the time." Zuko said pensively, gazing out into the expanse.

"Yep. You get used to it." Sokka said with a smile. "But it never ceases to be amazing."

They flew around for a short time, and then heard yelling echoing off the geologic formations.

"Keep your knees high, Twinkle-Toes!"

"Sounds like Toph's putting Aang through the ringer." Sokka squinted down.

Ty Lee leaned over the saddle. "Can we go see?"

Sokka shrugged and steered Appa downwards.

"-Instead of moving a rock, you're going to stop a rock." Toph was saying. "Get in your horse stance!" She bellowed.

Aang obliged.

"I'm going to roll that boulder down at you." She pointed up to a cliff with a "slide" carved into it.

"If you have the attitude of an earthbender, you'll stay in your stance and stop the rock. Like this." She demonstrated a motion with her hands flat.

Then she moved up the steep outcropping with the help of carved steppes, pushing herself upward with thrusts of earth under her feet.

Ty Lee was gripping Sokka's shoulder tightly, one fist held at her mouth. "What is it?' He asked her.

"Aang's really afraid." She said.

"I'm sure he'll be fine. He is the Avatar, after all."

She nodded fearfully.

Toph rolled the boulder down at him, and it rumbled menacingly down the canyon wall. Just as it reached him, Aang dodged into the air.

Toph came stomping down the cliff and Ty Lee winced.

Aang looked down at the ground in shame. "I guess I just panicked. I'm sorry."

Toph prodded him in the chest and he fell to the ground.

"Yeah, you are sorry. If you're not tough enough to stop the rock, then you could at least give it the pleasure of smushing you instead of jumping out of the way like a jelly-boned-"

"To-oph, stop being so meeeean." Ty Lee interrupted girlishly. "The blue is worse than the gray." She said to herself. "I think I've seen something that will help. Earthbenders draw their power from the base of the back." Ty Lee explained as she put a hand to her bare skin of the spot. "When people are afraid, their aura turns gray, and their chi concentrates around there. When you're fighting, Aang, the chi diffuses into the air. But when Toph fights-" Ty Lee gestured to the little girl- "the chi in her back channels down her legs and into the ground."

Katara gasped excitedly. "Of course! Fight or flight!" She nodded. "Aang, Earth is the opposite of Air. Toph's right. They're different attitudes, and Ty Lee says they're different movements of energy, too."

"Try focusing on moving the chi from your back into the earth." Ty Lee advised, walking away from them.

"And for goodness sake, think about standing your ground." Toph braided.

"All right." Aang bent his knees again and closed his eyes, trying to get a feel for the flow. He stood there for a few minutes before starting- "Okay, now what do I-"

Without warning Ty Lee came at him in a dead sprint and he raised a hand, a column of earth intercepting her. She skirted around it and another one rose beneath her, flinging her ten feet into the air. She landed on one of the nearby outcroppings. "There you go! Your chi reacted to the attack almost like hers would have."

"Awesome!" Toph pumped a fist in the air. "Those were some pretty sloppy moves," she said, referring to his impromptu reactions. "But there's no doubt: You're an earthbender, Twinkle-Toes!"

A wide grin spread across Aang's face.

"Whoohoo! I'm-" Aang gathered himself up- "an earthbender!" He sprang from place to place eagerly, ricocheting lightly off of various rock projections as Toph shook her head, smiling in amusement. "What are you doing? You've got to keep contact with the ground."

"He's just so excited." Ty Lee giggled, his mood thoroughly infectious. She cartwheeled across the ledge she was on and jumped up down to a shorter rocky platform. "Sometimes you just have to let it out!" She dove and flipped, one foot catching another narrow ledge before propelling herself upward again.

"Hey, that's pretty good!" Aang called, perched higher up, laughing.

Toph crossed her arms. "Great, just great, it looks like we have another Twinkle-Toes on our hands."

Chapter Text

"Even though I was born blind, I've never had a problem seeing." –Toph

Aang's earthbending instructor 'watched' her pupil and his bubbly cohort hop from place to place, allowing them their time to revel. After all, he had worked very hard today. But after a while she shouted up at her, "You're making me dizzy disappearing and reappearing on your hands like that, you know! Usually people just stay on their feet!"

Ty Lee nimbly stepped down to her level. "Sorry. Wait . . . what?"

"Toph," Aang said as he floated down after, "She doesn't know how you see."

"Oh, right. Well, here's the way it works, Twinkle-Toes number two. I feel vibrations in the earth through my feet."

"So you can't see someone when they're in the air?"

"No. But as you could guess, I've gotten pretty good at judging angles. And making a rock wall doesn't exactly require rat-viper strike precision." She paused. "And I can see earth when it's airborne."

"And you can see Katara standing next to you?"

"Yep."

"Even though she's not moving? Not sending any vibrations?"

"I can see her heartbeat and her breathing. It's enough."

Ty Lee cocked her head curiously. "How far away can you see people?"

Toph put a hand to her neck and rotated it lazily. "Oh, I dunno, if I really concentrated maybe a few miles."

Ty Lee's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You can feel someone's heartbeat from miles away?"

Toph blinked for a minute. "Well, no . . ." She rubbed the hand at her neck, thinking. "Peoples' heartbeats fade when they get further away. After that, I can just- feel them."

"Even when they're standing still."

Toph nodded.

"So what vibrations would you be sensing?" Katara asked, puzzled.

Ty Lee put her hand to her chin, smiling thoughtfully. "Their form is still. But something inside them still moves, doesn't it?'

"Yeah. That's kinda right."

Ty Lee nodded. "I think you're sensing chi."

Aang slapped a hand to his forehead. "Of course! Toph, you once said that you could feel ants walking."

"Yeah."

"There's no way they could physically move the earth enough for you to pick up on it. Ty Lee's right. You're sensing chi, too. Everyone is connected to the earth when they contact it- so you're able to read it through your bending. And you're able to see chi, too, then?" Aang asked the acrobat. "But with your eyes?"

Ty Lee tilted her head. "Well, auras I can only see with my eyes. But chi- well, I don't . . . see it exactly. If I close my eyes-" she did so and frowned slightly- "I still can place where it is. I can piece together a picture of things."

"Just like Toph."

"Though I don't think I have the range she does." She studied her again. "Earthbenders probably appear the most vivid to you, right? They're the easiest to read?"

"No. They're the same as everyone else."

"Oh. That just must be something I can do, then. I can see bending centers in all of you." She looked around at them. "Except Sokka, of course."

Sokka ducked his head in annoyance.

Aang stretched. "Well, it's starting to get dark, Toph, so I think we should head back."

"I thought it was getting slightly colder." She replied.

Aang bowed to her. "Thank you for today, sifu." And then he turned to the acrobat and smiled. "And sifu Ty Lee."

She laughed. "No problem."

"Hey everybody, we brought Appa." Sokka gestured up to him. "If you want to fly back."

"You know I'm better walking." Toph said, demonstrating her opinion by setting off on her own.

Aang bounced over to Zuko. "So Appa let you ride him?"

The teen looked down at him for a second. "Um . . . yeah."

Aang smiled. "That's great!" He sauntered over to his large friend. He rubbed his head and crooned, "You're such a good bison." He swirled onto Appa's back and gestured for everyone to get on.

Katara and Zuko climbed up to the saddle, but Ty Lee grabbed Sokka's arm. "Could you walk back with me?" She asked him.

Sokka glanced up to Aang and then back to her. "Sure."

Appa rose and Ty Lee and Sokka started after him. Toph was already far in front in front of them.

"I'm sorry about the comment about your chi." Ty Lee said penitently, clasping her hands behind her back.

"It's fine."

"Not according to your aura, it isn't."

Sokka glared sideways at her.

"I'm not a bender either, you know."

"Yeah, but you still have pow-ers." He said goofily, waggling his fingers back and forth.

She giggled and he smiled at her reaction.

"And you can do that-" he made imitative jabs with his hands.

"Well, you could learn that, too. You'd just have to do it-"

"'Blind?'" He made air-quotes with his hands, moving his head equally as goofily.

She giggled again. His expression was so precious. "Yeah."

"Wouldn't be the fist time I learned to fight from a girl." Sokka muttered dejectedly.

"What?"

"Oh, um, nothing."

Ty Lee puzzled for a moment at the sudden tumult in his energy, but then continued with what she really wanted to say. "Thanks for ganging up with me on Zuko." She said seriously. "To think he use to turn my aura dark green-" she shook her head.

Sokka turned to her in surprise. "Did you just say you were-" he stuck a finger in his ear and twisted. "-jealous of Zuko?"

Ty Lee sighed. "Mai was the first person I was really friends with, Sokka. And you know why? Because I saw her aura, and I wanted to make it brighter. But you know what always turned her aura the pinkest? When Zuko smiled at her." Ty Lee admitted. "That's all it took. I would spend time with her, go to theater shows, train with her. But the thing that always improved her aura the most, was Zuko."

"When I met her, I knew that a strong aura could help a person. But it works the other way around, too. When Zuko left, I could feel her draining on me during that year. I hated to leave her like that, when we graduated, and yet, at the same time, I desperately wanted to." Ty Lee stared up into the darkening sky.

She glanced over at Sokka to see a troubled expression looking straight ahead. "What?"

"It's just . . . I feel sorry for the guy, don't get me wrong. But I can't shake the feeling that the only reason Zuko's putting up with all of this is that he wants to figure out a way to get Aang. We're staying with him because his uncle has asked us to, but I'm just not sure."

Though he couldn't know it, Toph's expression had changed at his overheard words.

Chapter Text

"Your nephew is very lucky. Even if he doesn't know it." –Toph to Iroh

Once Toph got back she could feel that once again, Zuko had found a spot to sit by himself, away from the others.

"Those two Twinkle-Toes are pretty kooky, aren't they?"

He didn't say anything.

"All the talk of positive energy, and to me they were really just annoying." She tried again.

Nothing.

She shifted her weight. "You know, everyone says you have a scar." She shrugged her shoulders a little. "But for what it's worth, you sound like just another person to me."

Still nothing.

"Will you please say something?" He wasn't even shifting position.

"What do you want me to say? Thank you for being blind?"

Now she was silent. She turned away.

"Oh, Agni, come back-" She 'watched' behind her as he got up and faced her back. "I'm sorry, alright?"

She turned back around and smiled, arms crossed. "Oh, so you do have a heart."

He growled.

"As I was saying, you sound like just another person to me . . . The only thing that distinguishes you is that awful temper. You have an even shorter fuse than Sugar Queen."

"Arrrrgh." He sat back down, hands curled at either side of his head in frustration and facing away from her. "You're worse than my sister."

Toph stomped in offense. "Say what?" The earth rumbled beneath him and he steadied himself with his palms flat on the ground.

"Always taunting me." She felt him tense.

She was quiet for a moment.

"You were supposed to rise to the bait and tell me I have no business talking about having a temper," she joked, and then paused. "And unfortunately I can't even tell if you're smiling."

"Will you just leave me alone?"

Apparently he wasn't.

"Do you really want to be alone, Zuko?"

Silence.

"I spent my whole life alone, holed up in a house that was more of a prison than a home." Toph said sourly. "I know this probably isn't what you expected. It's probably the last thing you expected. But these guys are willing to reach out to you, too. Your uncle knows it. And so should you."

She chuckled lightly to herself. "Twinkle-Toes has even done something uniquely special for you."

"And what is that?"

"Aang is a total pansy, Zuko. He doesn't get mad unless it's something really important. I heard what he said about your father- I wasn't trying to listen in, I swear, but it's hard to shut out a tone like that." She said seriously. "And I also don't want you to think that he was saying that just because he doesn't want you chasing him anymore. He said it because he meant it."

"He once said he was willing to be my friend." Zuko muttered. "It's kinda hard to believe that offer still stands, considering."

"I already told you, he's not one to hold a grudge."

"Then I suppose it would be petty of me to hold a grudge."

"Against him?"

Silence.

"So you're mad at him because you haven't captured him yet?"

"I don't know." He said evasively. A lie. His heartbeat told her yes, yes he was.

"If you could take him back to the Fire Nation right now-"

His heartbeat grew more insistent, as if hopeful, affirming her suspicion.

"I don't believe you." She pointed an accusatory finger at him. "You're looking for the approval of the man who has been condemned by the softest of the softies, and you're ignoring the man who has really earned the title father."

"What do you know about me?" He stood again and whirled to face her. "You met me one day ago!"

"Tell me that I'm wrong, then."

Silence.

"Tell me that you want to go back to the Fire Nation. That what they are doing to my country," she placed her hand at her chest, "is justified."

Silence.

And now she began to understand that the rising heartbeat wasn't falsifying anything, it was only telling her of the conflict that was going on in him, as he angled his head away.

"Tell me that you don't care about Aang, and you don't care about your uncle."

"I don't care about the Avatar." He denied through gritted teeth.

"You're. Lying." She said plainly. "If you weren't  lying I would earthbend you into the next city-state." She punched downward and a slab of rock twice his size jutted up next to him. She watched with satisfaction as he jumped backwards in surprise, disappearing from her 'sight' for an instant. "Even if it would mean making your uncle go and fetch you."

She forced the earth back into place and began to walk away, amused that his blood pressure could shoot up any higher. In a slightly sing-song voice she said, "Good night, Dragon-boy . . . "

Chapter Text

"You're the idea guy." –Aang to Sokka

Sokka and Ty Lee arrived back at camp last. They saw Iroh, who was stroking an ostrich horse.

"Did you find a good place to graze today?" Sokka called to him.

Iroh turned to him. "Yes. I think he quite enjoyed it."

"Well," the boy suddenly addressed him as a private would a general. "we did a surveillance sweep today. And we didn't spot Azula or that machine."

"Wait . . . surveillance?" Ty Lee asked in surprise. "That flight with Zuko . . . ?"

"Yeah," he said, nodding to her.

She chuckled. "You're so devious."

"What?" He shrugged. "I thought it would help Zuko, too."

"What are you talking about?" Iroh asked.

Ty Lee turned to him. "I told Sokka I wanted to take Zuko riding on Appa because I thought it would make him feel better. But Sokka apparently had other uses for the flight."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." He tilted his head. "And here I thought you could read minds."

She laughed. "Not exactly."

"So Ty Lee," he said, keeping his martial air, "What do you think Azula's next move is?"

Ty Lee's face fell.

"You okay?"

She focused on the ground.

"Hey, I'm sorry-" he put a hand to her shoulder. "but if you really want to help us-"

She shook her head, tight-lipped. "It's not so much that." She referred to her official loyalty, though it sounded like that was bothering her as well. "It's j-just . . . I-It's just- Azula . . . and Mai . . ."

She was rapidly unraveling. Could they possibly be the same girls that she had spent afternoons playing Hide and Explode with? What had the years apart done to her old friends?

"I-I never wanted to get involved with the fighting," she whispered to herself. "W-we learned war history and events in school, and I-I hated it. Weici told me to finish, to get the degree- that I should have it. B-but I wanted to just take my own path . . ." She suddenly looked up to them. "N-not that I'm not glad to be here with you guys, it just seems like . . . I've gone through a giant whirlwind and-"

She sighed.

"Rest assured, dear, you are in good hands." Iroh said gently.

She smiled at him, a genuine smile, despite her words. "I-I know, Master Iroh."

She took a slow breath, steadying herself, suddenly sorry that she had neglected to do her meditating and warm up that morning, although she didn't regret watching Aang either. Finally she answered Sokka's question. "I don't see why she hasn't come back to attack us again, Sokka." She paused. "Well, no, that's not right. She saw us all together and the only fighter she has with her is Mai."

"Something I have told Zuko," Iroh nodded, "is that we are far safer traveling in a larger group like this."

Sokka addressed Iroh again. "As I told you, I want to keep moving. But now that we have an earthbending teacher and a firebending teacher," he inclined his head respectfully, "for Aang, we don't really have a destination any more."

Iroh stroked his beard. "Well, my nephew and I actually have a loose end to tie up." He patted the two-legged steed and it snorted.

"Aren't you just going to sell it?" Sokka asked. "We could use the money."

Iroh frowned deeply. "Unfortunately it needs to be returned to its rightful owner."

Sokka furrowed his brow. "You didn't- buy it, did you?"

Iroh shook his head. "My nephew has many things to learn. And owning up to his mistakes is one of them. I believe it's time for him to face her."

Ty Lee and Sokka exchanged glances, not knowing who he was talking about, but also not wanting to ask.

"Where?" Sokka asked instead, pulling a map out of his pack and unrolling it in his hands.

Iroh pointed.

Sokka whistled. "That's really far north."

"It was one of the first places we stopped after the North Pole. Also-" He moved his finger southeast, much closer to where they were. "My nephew has just requested that we make a stop before heading to Onto," he said, using the name of the city where Song, the owner of the ostrich horse resided.

"If we were flying we could maybe get there in a few weeks. But it'll be much longer riding." Sokka observed.

Iroh folded his hands inside his sleeves. "Hmmm."

Sokka yawned and stretched. "Well, I guess we'll have to sleep on it. We'll convene the whole group to talk about it in the morning." He stowed the map away again. "G'night, guys."

The ostrich horse whinnied.

Ty Lee smiled at the animal and began running her fingers through its feather-fur, thankful for an aura that couldn't be burdened by thoughts like hers. Energy always seemed to work both ways . . . "You're a lot bigger than the guy I used to ride," she said reminiscently.

"Ty Lee?" Iroh asked.

"Yes sir?"

"I have wanted to resume Zuko's training. But I know he is still very . . . unstable. Will you tell me if he . . . improves?"

Ty Lee nodded, smoothing the feather-fur back into place where she had ruffled it. "I will, Master Firebender. I think you're right. He needs a break."

"And I have no doubt that the journey you-" Iroh patted the stolen ostrich horse again, "-will take us on will help him."

Chapter Text

"You're not soldiers. You're bullies. Freeloaders, abusing your power. Mostly over women and kids. You don't want Lee in your army. You're sick cowards messing with a family who's already lost one son to the war." –Zuko, Book 2 Chapter 7, Zuko Alone

The next morning, the prince was sitting on an old wooden porch, one elbow resting on one knee and the other leg straightened. Iroh had to admire his ability to sit completely still- if he so much as twitched the old timbers would probably creak like badgerfrogs during mating season.

Iroh was sitting on the ground next to him, not wanting to invite the imagined cacophony that would accompany his weight making contact with the boards.

As the rest of the Gaang gathered, Zuko's discomfort seemed to increase proportionally with the number of people. The boards under him did indeed squeak quite a lot.

Sokka told the rest of them about what he and Iroh had discussed. "So then, we have to decide who's going to ride the ostrich-horse." he finished.

"I would like to." Ty Lee said, bringing her forefingers together sheepishly. "But everything will go faster if the lightest person rides."

"Fine with me." Aang nodded.

They all packed up their meager belongings they had and set off, aerial bovine moving to keep pace with the avian-equine.

The town Zuko steered them towards was tiny, not much bigger than the abandoned settlement they had left behind. As soon as the few onlookers saw the tattoos on Aang, the tired and barren little place suddenly came to life. People poured out into the dusty streets to greet the Avatar.

But a different pulse, almost as quick as the enthusiasm, traveled through them as the prince dismounted from the huge beast. One of recognition. And one of hatred.

"What are you doing back here?" A man wielding two earthbending hammers demanded angrily.

Zuko stood silently for a long moment. He squared his shoulders, tilted his head upwards and stared down the one who had, a week ago, driven him from this town. There was no doubt he wanted to be there, but now that he had arrived, he seemed unsure of what to say. The people would never acknowledge his judgment of the man who stood before him and his lackeys, however true it was . . .

Aang glanced between them and turned to walk back to the firebender. He put a hand to his shoulder. This simple gesture sent yet another wave of reaction through the throng- what was the Avatar doing with this Fire Nation outcast?

Zuko watched their surprise with an unreadable expression and Aang fixed him with an encouraging gaze. "You came here to tell these people something, Zuko." He knew. He could see it in the determined stance of the prince.

Zuko didn't look at the airbender, but he did seem to take strength from him. Fire did need air to burn. "When I left, I was trying to remember who I was. I told you all that I was prince of the Fire Nation. Heir to the throne. And maybe I am."

"But that's not all of who I am. I am now a refugee. I am someone who is weary of seeing what the Fire Nation has done to this country. I've heard the justifications. And I don't believe them any more."

Toph turned her ear toward him slightly as she recognized her own words repeated. It was as if he were answering her questions from the night before.

"I've scoured the Earth Kingdom for years while looking for the one I thought would give me passage home." His golden eyes met Aang's for a second but he quickly looked back out again, as if he still did not quite believe their proximity. "What I tried so long to deny- that the things I encountered weren't matching the things I was taught. I have seen the inside of the Fire Nation, the lies it feeds its citizens. We are told that our Nation is sharing its greatness with the world through this war. But all the war does is spread fear and hatred. I am someone who wishes for my Nation to be respected, as an equal, not feared as a tyrant."

Neither Aang's gaze, nor his hand had left the prince as he talked. But now he looked in concert with him at the gathered people. "And I am going to help him bring on this change."

Murmuring bubbled up. The Avatar was going to help the Fire Nation? It seemed so backwards.

A boy came pushing through the crowd, his mother trying to hold him back by the wrist. "Let go!" he shouted. He wrenched free of her grasp and ran up to Zuko. "I believe you." He crossed his skinny arms. "and those bullies haven't gotten any better since you've left, either," he muttered.

"Bullies?" Aang asked.

"The soldiers." Zuko whispered to the monk. "They lord over the people here." Then he asked louder, so everyone could hear. "Do you know any Earth generals who are looking for new recruits? This guy has some real talent." He nodded to the earthbender.

Aang caught on quickly. "Why yes," he said sarcastically, "I think General Fong would simply love to have someone of such high caliber."

Aang pointed to the man and barked, "You there, what's your name?"

The man paled. "G-Gow."

Aang put on a show, played his role well. He puffed out his chest and thunked his staff into the ground like a sage, taking on a deep play-voice to match. "I decree, by the authority vested in me by the Spirits, you will serve your country by traveling to General Fong's base. Tell him that the Avatar sent you, and give him my warmest regards."

By the end of his theatrics, it was all Katara and Toph could do to keep from bursting out laughing. Toph's gut was twisting because of Aang's performance. But Katara had extra reasons to be tickled because she had actually met General Fong, and knew that he and Aang were not on the best of terms, namely, that he had tried to force Aang into the Avatar state and Aang had destroyed half of his base. So "sending him his warmest regards" was quite frankly hilarious. They managed to contain themselves long enough for another sound to drown them out:

A cheer went up, echoing off the sides of the canyon walls surrounding them. The people were ecstatic to see their oppressor gone. And if he challenged any of them for the reason of their excitement, they could always tell him that they were just congratulating him for getting promoted. It was a win-win. Or rather, two wins, and one loss for him.

Gow himself blinked in surprise.

"Hurry up!" Aang snapped mock-irritably.

The man scurried away and returned twenty minutes later with his own ostrich horse and supplies. He was efficient, and trained as a soldier, even if he never really had put the skills to work before.

He was given a hearty sendoff, an ovation fit for a true warrior. And as he disappeared over the horizon, people began to laugh. They started to spontaneously prepare for a celebration, even though their foodstuffs were meager. Actually, the thing they seemed to have most of was rye whiskey. But all of the visitors declined politely.

Out in the streets, a simple band began to play, composed of three stringed instruments, one with a bow and two played with fingers. They sawed out a continuous ribbon-like melody and a pluckier, bouncier accompaniment. Iroh lent his musical talents to their performance, his throaty voice meek among the men whose volume was supplemented by alcohol.

Ty Lee put on a performance as well, twirling and flipping to the rhythm, uneven though it was. The people whistled and egged her on- they had never seen such a show.

Katara and Aang were busy spinning stories of their adventures to a gathering of rapt, wide-eyed children. Aang was animated, jumping lightly from place to place and sending out small gusts of air, earning giggles and delighted gasps. Toph contributed occasionally, but even when she was silent for the events she had not been there for, she secretly knew when they were "embellishing" parts of their information. Zuko was silent throughout. He very much appreciated that they left his name and title out of their stories- only referring to him as "a fire nation soldier" who was after them. A smile even tugged at the corners of his mouth when Aang delivered a particularly enthusiastic rendition of his rescue by the Blue Spirit.

"It's like you all have history." Toph teased under her breath to him. "I kinda feel left out."

He smirked.

One by one their audience was abducted by fretting mothers as the afternoon turned to night. Lee was the only one left, remaining defiant to the last. His mother, Sela, began to scold him. "Come on, Lee. You've got to get to bed."

Lee tugged at Zuko's hand and smiled up at him. "Do you want to come see the finished roof?" Zuko had worked with the boy's father on the family's barn roof while he stayed with them.

"Sure." Zuko replied.

Toph, Aang, and Katara stayed in town to get something to eat and rejoin the others while the boy brought Zuko back to his home. The various swine-hybrids were not as noisy as he remembered because they were less active at night.

Several of the cow- and sheep-pigs ambled up to the fence, however, gazing sleepily at the tall boy.

"They recognize you, y'know." Lee said. "They're a lot smarter than they look."

"Once you show him the roof, it's bedtime, Lee." His mother warned.

"All right, all right." Lee huffed. He gestured for Zuko to help him with a ladder and they got it set up against the barn. Once he caught sight of the patch of crooked nails Zuko smiled slightly as he remembered his own difficulty with patching the roof.

"I did it all by myself." Lee declared proudly.

"Good job."

"Lee!"

"Fine, fine, I'm coming!" He stamped down the ladder and his mother bustled him into the house. Zuko continued to sit on the roof, gazing back out at the town which was now lit up by small standing torches. He saw a tiny figure rise and then fall. It was Aang, coming towards him, growing larger by leaps and bounds.

The airbender easily floated up to the roof and settled on his right. "They didn't have much in the way of vegetarian food." He told Zuko.

Zuko didn't reply.

"So did you get what you wanted, Zuko? 'Cause it's sure been fun for us, but we came here for you." The boy smiled.

"I think I did." Zuko said, still looking outward. "Thank you . . . for supporting me."

"Really, I should be thanking you. What you said- it made me realize something." Aang crossed his arms over his knees and followed his gaze.

"My first firebending Master . . . He was ashamed of his heritage, and his Nation. But you hold a hope that they could be something better. He seemed like he had given up on fire, discarded it as destructive and violent. But you haven't. And that's made me realize, that I shouldn't give up on it, either."

He paused. 

"Balance involves all the four elements, and all the four Nations." Aang went on, "And that means, as the Avatar, I have to be involved in improving all of them. Even the aggressor. And I can't write off any of them."

After it was apparent he wasn't going to get another response, the twelve-year-old observed, "So you made a friend? " He glanced back to the house.

"Yeah." Zuko said, and after another long pause, continued quieter, "I used to be a lot like him, once. A lot like you."

More carefree. More joyful. 

Aang glanced sideways at the unscarred side of the prince. He wanted to say something in reassurance, something hopeful, but as he sat there, he realized that his presence, his simply hearing him, would suffice. That in saying the words, the elder boy had finally grown accustomed to him. So he looked on as well, letting the comfortable silence grow and flourish.

Chapter Text

Pre Scriptum: I know I should probably give a good reason why I would quote the dreaded movie. So, uh, to that end, here's a link to my comical AND blistering review of it.

https://www.deviantart.com/metellastella/art/Last-Airbender-Movie-Review-176956939

"I'm scared. Don't make me any more scared." –Yue, The Last Airbender

"I think about her all the time."-Sokka, Book 2, Chapter 4: The Swamp

Ty Lee was bouncing from anticipation. This was going to be the first time she would see her friend's firebending lesson!

"Aren't you excited, Mai?" She tugged on the slightly taller girl's sleeve.

"It's better than sitting at home." The other replied.

For all the enthusiasm the reserved seven-year-old lacked, the girl in the brown braid made up for, fidgeting like someone her age should.

Azula marched out onto the arena and bowed to her master. The man bowed back. "Good day, princess, I see you've brought friends."

"Yes." Azula replied.

"All right. We're going to practice what we did yesterday. Recite for me, please."

"The root is only to be broken when a sure footing is guaranteed."

"Very good. Demonstrate." The man dashed towards her and after several feigning strikes kicked properly. The princess rotated gracefully out of his way, in almost a pirouette. Continuing with his momentum he thrust his other leg out, and this time Azula jumped into the air to dodge, landing solidly, one leg straight.

"Excellent, princess. Why did you not jump from the first attack?"

"My left foot was not aligned, and I would have landed off balance."

"Let us continue."

He launched another series of attacks at her, none of which connected. Only once did she make the wrong decision and stumble, but she quickly recovered herself.

The instructor stopped then and made her describe in detail what had gone wrong with the move. Then she was asked to repeat the same angle three times.

By the end of the lesson the man was panting slightly from the exertion of keeping up with her tiny agile form.

"All right, princess. Now offensive exercises and we will be done for the day."

She smiled. She took up a slightly higher stance and began working through the katas while the man looked on. She would spar offensively with him in the next lesson. This day had been devoted purely to defense.

Ty Lee gasped and cooed at her friend's artful display. Azula at first thrust blasts into the air with speed and precision, but then the style changed. She also pulled and caressed the flame slowly as it floated in front of her, rocking back on her heels and sweeping it sideways. When the princess was finished, she was excused and she strutted over to her two companions.

She lit a flame and began to toss it from hand to hand. "What did you think?"

"Isn't it dull doing the same exercises over and over?" Mai droned.

"You should come next time, it will be much more exciting." Azula nodded.

"It's so pretty, Azula!" Ty Lee squealed, watching the red light go back and forth.

Azula cocked her head slightly, as if this were not quite what she wanted to hear. "It is, isn't it?" She flicked the fire a little closer to the pink-clad girl's face. Ty Lee jumped back. "Y-yeah." Her smile returned from momentary relapse.

l

A much taller Ty Lee was rolling around in her sleep, muttering to herself. "No, stop it, Azula . . . no . . ."

A hand brushed her shoulder.

"What!" She sat bolt upright.

"Ty Lee?" Sokka's voice came to her.

"W-what?" She looked around, and was faced with the by now familiar sight of the Gaang as they slumbered. They had gotten several sleeping mats from the town they had stopped in, but like the nomad, she had found she liked resting on Appa more. He had obligingly let her sleep on his tail, the roomiest surface, while he lay cradled by one or more of the bison's limbs. How many days had it been now? It seemed like everything was beginning to settle down into a routine. Sokka had figured out quickly that they had to be extra careful with putting out campfires, as the benders could make embers flare if they took an especially large breath, even while unconscious. And it looked like, unfortunately, that had happened tonight. She spied the offending speck very near where her arm, which had fallen off of the furry mattress, had been, and felt a small twinge on her wrist.

"Are you okay? Were you having a bad dream?" Sokka hadn't noticed it.

She averted her gaze. "Y-yeah, I think s-so." She surreptitiously patted it down with the ball of her foot. She supposed she would ask Katara to heal the minor injury in the morning.

The hand came away and the voice grew serious. "Ty Lee, you were saying something about Azula. Did she ever . . .?"

Ty Lee's head snapped up. "No, no! Sokka, she's never hurt me!" The words spilled out in a rush. "Really, she never has. B-but . . . she would always make sure that . . ." she sank back down onto her side and tucked a hand under her head. "That I knew she could. At any time."

There was silence.

"When I learned how block chi, she had me spar against other benders." Ty Lee recalled slowly, "and then she would fight the same people in her lessons, and defeat them . . . soundly."

Sokka's jaw tightened as he listened to the description of the psychological bullying.

"You going to be able to get some sleep?" He asked.

She nodded, sliding a foot into a more comfortable position.

He lay back down.

"Sokka?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you so sad when you see the moon?"

This time he sat bolt upright.

"You're aura matches the sky when you look at it." She rolled to her back and faced the dark blue dome.

He opened and closed his mouth several times.

She sat up again, curiosity piqued by his quiet.

"Well . . . I guess I should tell you . . ." He settled into a cross-legged position. "You know how Katara and I took Aang to the North Pole to learn waterbending?"

"Yeah."

"Well . . . while we were there, there was this girl-" he hesitated, remembering Ty Lee's jealousy of Zuko, wondering . . .

"Yes?"

"-who I liked. A lot. And she- liked me too . . . But she was in an arranged marriage."

Ty Lee's face fell. "Oh. I'm glad I won't have to deal with that sort of thing."

"Hmmm?"

"Well, I mean, it happens all the time in the Fire Nation. Marriages arranged for political reasons. My two older sisters have already . . ." she paused. "Well, I'm interrupting your story."

"Oh, right. Well, I found out the guy she was engaged to was a real jerk. He was so self-centered and obnoxious and- urrrrgh." He brought his hands to his head in frustration. "But, well, none of it . . . mattered . . . after-" He sighed and spun his wrists around, as if trying to convey something. "It's actually, kinda hard to explain. The fire nation commander, Zhao, wanted to slay the Spirit of the Moon, Tui. And you know-" his jaw set again, "it always really bugged me how such a powerful Spirit could be such a small . . . I mean-" he cleared his throat. "Well, anyway, point is, he did get a hold of the Spirit. And he actually did-" he winced, "-do it. And the moon went dark."

"So that's what that was!" Ty Lee exclaimed. "About three months ago, right?"

He nodded.

"I thought someone had spiked something I drank." She shook her head.

In spite of himself, Sokka snickered.

"Well, I mean, first the moon goes red, and I feel really dizzy. And then it comes back, and then it's just-" she crossed her arms in an 'X' and spread them apart again. "-gone. And then everyone's auras are blazing like bonfires even in the darkness, and . . . I swear, I could feel angry energy coming from the sea. From nearly a hundred miles inland. It was the scariest, weirdest thing ever. I slept in Rila's room for a week after that. But wait-" she paused. "-if he killed the moon-" she looked up to the white orb.

"Well, see, that's where Yue comes back in."

"Yue? That's her name?"

Sokka's frowned. Had he not mentioned that earlier? "Yeah. See, the moon spirit gave her a little bit of its life when she was born as a sick baby. So when it died, she . . ."

"Brought it back?" Ty Lee's eyes went wide.

He nodded half-heartedly, resting his hands on his knees. "She's the moon spirit now."

"Wow." she said simply, extending her legs and leaning back on her own hands, staring into space. "Oh! Of course! That's why you have the extra chi!"

l

Now that the acrobat had a closer look at Sokka, she noticed something she hadn't before. Peoples' primary energy, that traveled along their trunk, usually moved upwards, exiting the top of their head. But she could almost say that a little more chi was being let off than was in his body.

l

It's . . ." She sat up again reached out to put her hand right above his head. "It's hers," she whispered gently.

Sokka froze.

Could he really, literally be carrying a piece of her with him?

"I-I promised her father I would keep her safe during the invasion, but-" he looked away and took a large breath, ". . . I couldn't protect her . . ."

"You don't blame yourself for it, do you?"

"I . . . I try not to."

"I'm so sorry, Sokka." She laid a hand on top of his.

At an unspoken cue, they both retreated back into their dreams, which sometimes gave them reprieve from their memories, but also sometimes brought them back afresh.

Chapter Text

"My dad changed his mind. He said I was free to travel the world." –Toph, Book 2 Chapter 6, The Blind Bandit

"I've found lost civilizations all over the Earth Kingdom, but I haven't managed to find the crown jewel . . ." -Professor Zei Book 2, Chapter 10: The Library

"You know, back in my tribe, I'm kinda like a Prince myself. " -Sokka, Book 1, Chapter 18: The Waterbending Master

"Great Spirits, flying is so boring." Toph moaned.

"Mental note-" Ty Lee said chipperly, "to make Zuko feel better, take him flying. To make Toph feel better, cease flying." She winked at the prince.

"Right now, I have to agree with Toph." Zuko said. "Sight doesn't do you any good when there's nothing much to look at." They all glanced out into the endlessly repeating dunes of the orange-yellow wasteland. They were traveling through the Si Wong Desert, much to everyone's chagrin. It was the shortest way to Onto, taking up much of the middle of the Earth Kingdom, and Sokka and Iroh had also pointed out the advantages of traveling through somewhere with little to no Fire Nation presence.

"I know what we can do to keep Toph entertained." Katara quipped. "Ty Lee, you've told Sokka and me about our auras. Why don't you tell us about Toph's?"

Toph pointed to the waterbender. "You had better be thankful there's no earth for me to bend up here, Queeny. Who knew you could be so nosy?"

"A bit defensive, are we?" Katara said, hands on her hips.

"Whatever I feel, I'm sure you would understand, Twinkle-Two. Didn't you say you run away from home, too?" She paused. "You joined the circus." She grinned. "And I joined these guys. Not much different, right?"

"Meaning?" Katara narrowed her eyes.

"It isn't like a three-ring around here?" Toph joked.

"So you ran away. Is that why you're holding onto so much negative energy?" Ty Lee tilted her head.

Everyone looked to Toph, who, for once, looked like she didn't know what to say.

"Wait a second." Katara's eyebrows shot up. "You told us your father let you come! You lied to us?"

"I was glad to be out of there. And you were glad to have me."

Katara huffed. "So you used us to sneak behind your parents' back!"

Toph shrugged dismissively.

"Ty Lee, you didn't trick your parents like that, did you?" Katara demanded.

"No . . ." Ty Lee chewed her lip. "First I told my sisters I was going . . . and I told my parents, too. It wasn't 'an appropriate career choice.'" She spelled out the phrase reluctantly and warily as if it had been wielded against her many times. "They didn't send me any letters when I left either."

"For two years?" Katara asked quietly.

"Six isn't much different than seven, is it?" She replied just as quietly. "But I got to see exciting places. I got to be unique. I got to be me."

Toph nodded. "My parents wouldn't let me be me."

"It's not like you gave them much of a heads up." Katara fumed. "You could've at least showed your teacher what you could do-"

Toph stood, something she never did on Appa. "Butt OUT, Sugar Queen! I guess you and your parents got along perfectly, right?"

Only Sokka knew why the silence that followed was so charged. He was steering Appa, sitting on his neck. He turned his head back on the group. "Hey, hey," he said, "I think the desert is getting to us a little bit-"

Katara waved him off. "Don't worry big brother, I'm going to be the mature one. She doesn't know, so there's no reason I should be mad." Her unconvincing words did nothing to relax her tightened fists, however. And although she had no intention of any physical attack, her next words might as well have been a blow to the stomach. "Our mother is dead, Toph."

Incredibly, for a second time, it looked like Toph didn't know what to say.

"She was killed in a Fire Nation raid several years ago. And our father is out fighting, assisting the Earth Kingdom, by the way." Katara continued scathingly to the earthbender.

Sokka picked up her thread like the reins he was holding and tried to 'steer' the conversation in a more friendly direction. "So when we found Aang, we wanted to go with him. And once our Gran-Gran found out he was the Avatar, she actually encouraged us to go- And heeeey-" he spread one arm amicably, "here we all are, maybe a little irritable from the heat, but we enjoy ourselves, right?"

"Riiiiiiiight?" He niggled at the silence.

Toph gave a signature hair-puff and sat back down.

Katara smiled a bit, amused by her brother's attempt to diffuse the situation. "Practice a bit more, Sokka, and I think you'll be as good a peacemaker as Aang." She glanced over the side of the saddle to see the young monk, smile widening. From that height, his and the ostrich-horse's forms made strange shapes because his clothes matched the sand around, and the dark patches where the feather-fur showed through undulated back and forth under his half-cloak and sleeves.

"Hey." Katara said. "There's someone down there."

Everyone else looked to see a man frantically waving his hands back and forth, trying to get the airbender's attention. He must've been shouting too, but he wind carried his voice away.

The ostrich horse slowed as Aang noticed him.

"I think he's stopping, Sokka." Katara told him.

Sokka pulled up on the bison's reigns. "Does he want us to come down?"

"We might as well take a break!" Toph said, jumping at the chance to get out of the air, and out of the hot water that the waterbender had boiled her in.

Sokka directed the bison's decent, and the man, whose clothes matched the sand closer than Aang's attire, rushed up to Appa and immediately began to exclaim excitedly. "My word! This is incredible! An actual sky bison! I thought they were extinct long ago!"

"Everyone, this is professor Zei." Aang gestured to the man. "He's searching for-" he scratched his head- "a library, right?"

"Created by the Knowlegde Spirit Wan Shi Tong." The professor closed his eyes and nodded dreamily.

"Is this library underground?" Iroh asked, eyes narrowed.

Zei nodded. "I suppose it could be."

Iroh stroked his beard. "I think we should accompany you."

The professor's face lit up and he clasped his hands together. "Really? That would be splendid!"

"Why?" Sokka asked Iroh.

"At the siege of the North Pole, Admiral Zhao told me he discovered the identities of Tui and La in an underground library. I think it is worthwhile, Avatar," he turned to face Aang, "to find out how this Spirit would allow someone like Zhao to gain such valuable knowledge."

Aang nodded.

"Well," Sokka said, "this sounds exciting. But first," he threw his hands in the air, "let's eat. It's lunchtime."

Everyone sighed in annoyance. "Don't you ever think about anything other than food?" Toph asked.

"Yes." Sokka retorted. "I think about plans and-"

"Whatever." Toph brushed him off.

As they settled down, Iroh commented under his breath to Sokka, "That was an admirable intercession, by the way. Even I have qualms about trying to get between two quarreling women."

Sokka laughed softly and nodded. Then he looked from him to Zuko.

He observed loudly to the prince, "You kno-ow, you and your uncle are the only ones who haven't gotten condescending nicknames." He snuck a furtive glance at her- "Maybe Toph's losing her touch-"

"Or maybe-" Toph flicked her wrist casually, bending and depositing sand into Sokka's lunch. "-you need to watch your munchies."

"Heeeey!" He screeched, indignant that his food could be desecrated so.

The professor pestered them with questions as they ate. All of them were from separate Nations, so the exuberant anthropologist might as well have been a kid in a diversely stocked candy shop. And in all actuality, he seemed to draw sustenance from the knowledge just as surely as they were being nourished by the food. His notebook overflowed with notes of their responses. Aang, of course, received the bulk of the insistent grilling, but his attention happened to end on this:

"So, there is a large age gap between you and the rest of the children at the South Pole," he was reading off some of his scribbles.

Katara nodded. "We were pinched for resources for a while, Gran said. But after her husband died, the new chief needed to have children, so we were the only ones born then. Part of the reason we had so many younger kids was to replace the men that left."

"Planned births . . ." he mused, "Only a select few communities could come to such weighty decisions so easily."

"We're all like extended family." Katara smiled.

He checked over more of the paper. "And you say- that the Northern and Southern water tribes have resumed contact! How perfectly marvelous! They stopped communicating about two decades into the war, you know, with the Fire Navy controlling the seas. Both have periodically jumped in and pulled out of the conflict, but never really committed-"

"Our dad has committed." Sokka rebuked. "He said he's not backing down until the war's over."

"Ah, and when did he set out?" Zei asked, flipping a page.

"I was nine, so . . . six years ago."

Zei nodded passively, jotting quickly. "I see, I see."

Her brother locked onto Karara's matching blue eyes sadly. "So he didn't help at all . . ."

" . . . until after Mom died." she finished in disappointment. Doubt seeped into him. Would they still have their dad with them if she hadn't passed away? Katara looked away from him and made an attempt to salvage the solemn turn the conversation had taken. "But professor, the ease of exchange between the tribes hasn't diminished. You wrote down than our grandmother married the chief of her time, but that she was from the North Pole, right? It wasn't so much as mentioned to us. It was just natural."

"I hate to burst your bubble, sis." Sokka replied slowly. "But how do you know it wasn't an intended secret? Why did it never come up? We never talked about the Northerners much at all, outside that, either. I might be able to understand their not sailing all the way across the world to help against the raids . . . and Chief Arnook was pretty okay with me, but Hahn and some of the other guys definitely saw me as a 'Southerner,' not one of them. "

The two shared one more intense glance, the contrast between their personalities forming a little bit of a gulf. Katara the optimist, and Sokka the "realist."

Zei surreptitiously closed his notebook, sensing the atmosphere his questioning had brought on.

"I guess we have some things to ask her and dad." Sokka concluded with a small sigh.

"Yeah." Katara agreed, crestfallen.

Zuko interjected incredulously, "So wait, your father- he took all the men and left the women and children undefended?"

"I was there." Sokka countered.

"Well you aren't now." Zuko pointed out off-handedly.

The two teens were obviously recalling their first meeting. The firebender had defeated the tribesman easily. The latter's face fell in annoyance. And now he wanted to accost and question his father, their chief, and accuse him and Sokka of the some disloyalty, too? That wasn't going to happen.

"If we hadn't had the sanction of our elder, we wouldn't have left," he asserted heatedly, jaw setting.

Zuko suddenly grew serious. "What was keeping anyone from just swooping in? What if it had been someone- y'know, . . . worse than me who came?"

"Worse than you?" He smirked. "As it was, you were headed directly towards us, full steam. If Aang here-" Sokka gestured to the airbender, who looked caught off guard by being suddenly dragged into the argument- "hadn't put on his little light-show, you never would have found us. We would have spotted your smokestack long beforehand and been packed up and out of there. The small size of our village is an advantage. One that we've intentionally kept in place-" Katara made an assenting noise, referring to her earlier explanation, "Our home changes shape as ice recedes and moves forward. A lot of the perimeter is a maze of islands, though you'd never be able to tell from most outsider maps, because frozen seawater connects them the majority of the time. Gran and I did a lot of work to make sure we were well concealed from the main sea currents. To make sure we stayed on secure ground or ice shelves, too."

The persistent scribbling of the boar-q-pine quill in Zei's hand resumed and ceased after a few moments and he nodded. "Most impressive feats. Especially without trained benders to assist."

Chapter Text

"If you're going to lie to an all-knowing Spirit-being, you should at least put some effort into it." –Wan Shi Tong

"Oh, wow." Ty Lee exclaimed, hand over her mouth. To everyone else, Wan Shi Tong was only static black and white. But to Ty Lee, he was a mercurial conglomerate of colors.

Everyone was relieved to be inside out of the oppressive heat of the Si Wong. However, quite a few of them had shivered when they finally got into the library. It wasn't so much that the temperature was very low. But the combination of the eerie green lights and the receding darkness all around was enough to send your skin crawling.

"Are you the Spirit who brought this library to the physical world?" Sokka asked the giant ebony barn owl.

"Indeed. I am Wan Shi Tong, he who knows ten-thousand things. And you are obviously humans, which by the way are no longer permitted in my study."

"What do you have against humans?" Aang piped up.

Wan Shi Tong leaned down towards him. "Humans only bother learning things to get the edge on other humans. You think you're the first person to believe their war was justified? Countless others before you have come here, seeking weapons or weaknesses or battle strategies."

Iroh folded his arms inside his sleeves. "Then you believe everything is relative, Wan Shi Tong? You do not believe there is any absolute right for us to strive for?"

The owl's white face turned to him. "Iroh Spiritwalker." The sarcasm in his voice rustled like a wolf-bat's wings. "What an honor it is to have you at my library. And what a prime example of relative truth." A taloned foot stepped forward. "Was it not just six years ago that you laid brutal siege to Ba Sing Se?"

Iroh's face grew solemn. "And the Spirits showed me the error of my ways. I am in service to the Avatar now. You question his authority? You question his motives?"

"The Avatar is as human as anyone else."

"So you think we should do nothing?" Iroh demanded quietly. "You think that it is right to simply let Ozai-"

"I know," The owl's feathers stood on end, "that unless you are here for the sake of curiosity, and not advantage, I do not want you here."

"Then you still deny-"

"Let me give you another example of relative truth." Wan Shi Tong boomed at the retired general, cutting him off violently. He moved swiftly to Zuko and bent down, deep jet-black almond eyes boring into him. "Your uncle is still quite a capable combatant, prince. He felled Zhao's men at the North Pole with ease that befits a much younger man, fended off an entire squadron of your sister's. He has begun conditioning himself again to train the Avatar. But tell me, where was all his strength in the months that you struggled to capture the boy, after he emerged from his slumber? His allegiance was always to the Lotus. He never meant you to return home. He has betrayed you. And you have not forgiven him. Have you?"

Zuko's eyelids grew heavy . . . . His uncle had never fought the Avatar with him, for so long he had labored, and his uncle had never truly wanted him to succeed . . . the weeks of pouring over maps, the sleepless nights he had spent, were all pointless to the general . . . he had always meant for the Avatar to stay free . . . Everything that had gone through his mind right after the waterbender had healed his uncle and he had implored him to abandon his father's mission, abruptly came rushing back to the surface- As the Spirit talked the words swelled and morphed into a torrent of his own resentment that flooded him once more-

It wiped everything out, overloading his senses, suffocating him-

"You have not forgiven him, have you?" The answer pressed in on him- the bitter word formed in a snarl at his mouth- No.

But before he could get it out . . . something rose up that had beaten back the same force before . . .

. . . "If you care about him anywhere near  as much as he cares about you , you'll let the damn waterbender heal him." . . .

. . . "I don't believe you. You're looking for the approval of a man that has been condemned by the softest of the softies, and you're ignoring  the man who has really earned the title father ." . . .

Her voice echoed through his head . . . as the memory of her conviction filled him, he was sure again, he knew, he did not want to hate his uncle, he did not, he did not, he did NOT-

He struggled against the anger, he fought it, but it fought back, incensed that he could resist-

Suddenly the great owl was blown backwards, toppling a bookshelf and sending white pages and black feathers flying. A tall wiry man in deep red robes had appeared, a knobby hand extended towards him. He was wreathed in yellow fire and his eyes glowed blue-white. "NEVER DID I THINK A SPIRIT COULD BE SO PETTY- TO LASH OUT LIKE A CHILD WHEN HE IS FACED WITH BEING WRONG." The outrage in his unearthly voice reverberated throughout the library.

The aged bender floated towards the owl, robes billowing and pages from rent books whipping and spinning around him, catching fire. "The Spirits appointed me to keep balance in this world, Wan Shi Tong. And I do not take my duties lightly. YOU WILL ACCUSE- ME- OF- CORRUPTION- NO- LONGER."

The owl stirred, getting slowly to his feet. "I a-ask your forgiveness, Avatar." He lowered his head in deference. "Please accept my humble apology."

The man's eyes returned to normal and the flames subsided as he slowly lowered to the floor. "And you will not torment my kin." He turned and walked as if he were solid, and came to stand in front of Zuko. The prince was strangely reassured as he looked up at him, even though he had never seen the man before. The rest of the anger subsided, draining out of him as he met his gaze.

"Zuko," Iroh explained, "This is your great-grandfather, Avatar Roku."

Katara and Sokka gasped.

Roku laid a hand on Zuko's shoulder. "I do not blame your uncle for not telling you about me sooner, grandson. You see, he has seen the same conflict in you that he saw in himself. Loyalty to the Fire Nation, and loyalty to the world. He did not want to force this on you. He wanted you to choose this path for yourself. And you have. You wonder why you have formed a friendship so quickly with someone you thought to be your enemy. It is because we are bound together. Please, do not hold it against Iroh. He has only your best interests at heart."

Zuko nodded once. "He always has."

Roku beamed at him with pride and embraced his great-grandson.

The past Avatar then went to Iroh. "Thank you, Spiritwalker, for taking such good care of him." The Dragon of the West bowed deeply.

Roku's form wavered and shifted like fog. Aang reappeared, unusually aware for coming out of an Avatar episode, smiling softly.

Zuko rushed to Iroh and threw his arms around him. "Uncle, I'm sorry." Now, as if a tide had shifted, the other side of his memories washed over him, the days of snubbing his uncle, the countless times he had yelled at him, had taken him for granted . . .

Iroh man returned the hug, tracing soothing circles on his back. "It's all right, nephew."

Ty Lee was cowering behind Sokka with her hands on his shoulders, still reeling from the intense and sudden change from negative to positive energy. She had her eyes tightly closed, thoroughly disoriented from the powerful Spirits' heated exchanges. "D-does this sort of thing h-happen often?"

"To us?" Sokka qualified. "Yep."

Chapter Text

"Yes, yes, I know you fear the Spirits, Iroh." –Zhao

"The Spirits gave me a vision when Yue was born. I saw a beautiful, brave young woman become the Moon Spirit." –Chief Arnook

Wan Shi Tong spread his wings and the shelves that had been knocked over rose and set themselves upright again. Several fox assistants converged on the group, collecting and replacing all the scattered books.

"I'm sorry about that." Aang said sheepishly, eyeing all the tattered pages.

One of the foxes glanced up at Aang, acknowledging his apology with a woof. Wan Shi Tong, however, stood stoically, giving no indication that he had even heard him.

As they worked, Iroh told everyone the story of Avatar Roku and Firelord Sozin.

The foxes then began to disperse, but one stopped in front of Ty Lee, cocking his head and sniffing at her. "Hey, there." She scratched it behind the ears. It wagged its tail and leaned into her fingers.

When she pulled her hand away the fox turned its attention to Sokka, gazing intently at him.

"What?" He asked.

The fox bowed, one paw extended towards him.

Sokka raised his eyebrows. "Well, thank you, I think." He looked to Ty Lee. "Any idea what that's about?"

She rubbed her chin. "I dunno."

"You have a strong spiritual connection to canines, I believe, young tribesman." Wan Shi Tong observed.

"Oh, well, yeah. That makes sense." Sokka said, recalling his tribe's headpieces and various other traditions. "Our people worship the eel-wolf. It's too bad they're all extinct."

"That's right. There weren't any eel-wolves in the Southern Tribe while we were there." Aang recalled. "They were the Water Avatar's spirit animal guardian. They're all gone?"

The fox yipped in disagreement and shook its head.

"Eel-wolves?" Iroh intoned. "There is a sizable population of eel-hounds guarded by the Order of the White Lotus." He paused. "I believe I remember hearing that they are descended from the creatures you are talking about."

"You are correct." Wan Shi Tong supplied. "There are several different varieties of them now, each bred for different purposes. Some of them have been streamlined into more reptilian forms for speed through water, and warmer weather. Some of them, for whom they have been renamed, can track people almost as well as a shirshu. Some of them retain more of their archaic features- they used to resemble my mammalian assistants more," He indicated one of the foxes with his wing, "with fur to withstand the harsh climates of the South Pole. The story of their near-genocide coincides with the onset the war, actually."

Everyone was absorbed into Wan Shi Tong's words now.

"The Moon and Ocean reside in the North and the eel-wolves used to reside in the South, an equivalency of sorts. But when hopes of a Water Avatar returning were waning thin, and the Fire Nation raided the Southern Tribe, the people gained a growing sense of abandonment. The eel-wolves were a cruel reminder of the Avatar that everyone wanted, but that never appeared. As bad luck would have it, a quirk also began to arise, that produced eel-wolves without fur, and made them resemble the Fire Nation's reptilian komodo-rhinos, dragons, and mongoose-dragons. The people took this as a bad omen, and in their fervor killed off all but a few of them. The elders of the Southern Tribe recognized the need for them to remain, however, and delivered all of the surviving wolves to the Order of the White Lotus for safe-keeping. With their disappearance, the elders proclaimed them extinct, and built off the people's guilt to reinstate their position as respected and Spirit-favored, devising customs that would reinforce this. The Order agreed to bring the creatures back to the Southern Tribe when the Water Avatar reappeared."

As the owl talked, Aang hunched his shoulders sadly. "Yet another thing that I have caused with my absence."

Katara laid a hand on his downed shoulder, giving him a look that obviously said, We've already been through this. You can't blame yourself for these things.

"So what is the Order of the White Lotus?" Zuko asked.

"The Order is society that stretches across all the boundaries of the four Nations." Wan Shi Tong's voice radiated with deep respect. "They have for generations withstood war and political strife to exchange knowledge and philosophy."

"If you hold them in such high regard," Iroh raised an eyebrow, reading Wan Shi Tong's tone, "then why did you feel the need to act so hostile towards a Grand Lotus?" he asked, referring to himself.

"The society is not a fighting force, Spiritwalker." he rumbled. "And yet I read that your intentions lead you to call upon them, if you see the need. I still do not appreciate knowledge being used to battle." He glanced at Aang. "Although I suppose I have no choice in the matter when the Avatar asserts his will." He finished resentfully.

Aang looked to the floor in shame.

"You wanted to ask me something else." Wan Shi Tong said tersely to the retired general.

"Admiral Zhao-" he began-

"I fear that is another reason you induced so much negative energy within me." The owl talked over him. "I always thought that was not one for discrimination. But apparently even I am prone to holding grudges against nationalities. And normally I would simply let your curiosity foment. But I believe it is also the Avatar's will for me to tell you." He said barbarously as he once again glanced at Aang, who still hadn't looked up from the floor.

Katara marched up to the owl indignantly, fed up with his animosity. "Could you lay off?" she growled up at him. "For one so knowledgeable, you should be able to understand that Aang is freezing sorry for what happened. And he's an air nomad, for Spirits' sake. They're peaceful people. He doesn't like the fighting any more than you do."

Wan Shi Tong blinked at the 'firey' display from the waterbender.

He then looked back to Iroh and waved a wing. "Follow me."

He led them down several corridors, and his footsteps grew more hesitant as they proceeded. They came upon a large room, hung with a Fire Nation banner. All that was in it were huge piles of dark ash. Everyone was silent at the sight. It felt a little like a grave.

The giant raptor talked quietly to Aang now. "I wield a great deal of power, Avatar." He drew himself up, neck elongating at the statement, half-unfurling his long cloak-like flight feathers and opening his pointed beak. "But . . . I am mortal." The bird's gaze was momentarily swallowed by the empty husk of a room as he shrank back again. His sorrowful confession hung in the air.

"He came here, and I gave him the same warning that I gave everyone. Leave, or be exterminated. He obliged quickly. But then he came back with an entire battalion of soldiers." For once the huge owl would not turn his piercing gaze to anyone, he only faced downward, and even with his great size, as his story wound out, he seemed to grow less intimidating, he seemed to shrink even more, to collapse in on himself.

"They began to- to burn this section on the Fire Nation, and while I fought with them, he slunk away and ferreted out the scroll on the Northern Water Tribe. As soon as he left I could sense the knowledge he had taken, but I was . . . unable to go after him."

"After that I swore to myself again that I would not let any other humans in, and I must admit, Avatar, I was angry at you for being absent from the world for so long. I have behaved disgracefully, and I believe I must apologize again." He finished meekly, glancing in turn to Iroh and Katara as well.

Aang walked to him, standing just a few feet away from the large claws and looked up into his downturned face. "I don't blame you for holding on to your pain." He could sense the owl's grief as acutely as Ty Lee could. "But if I win this war, will you please un-bury your library and allow people to come again? I know that your tomes can become a beacon for the gathering of minds in a time of peace."

The owl angled his head away, as if considering his words. He scanned the ancient shelves behind him that were still intact, lost in thought.

"I would love for my students at the University to come and see this magnificent collection, Knowledgeable One." Zei bowed to him.

"Isn't that what you wanted, Wan Shi Tong?" Ty Lee asked gently. "For people to come and learn? Isn't that why you built this library? Is . . . is that why you became mortal?"

The owl couldn't smile, but his voice did grow warmer. "Ah, Spiritseer. I did indeed cross over from the Spirit world because I wanted to share my knowledge." He readjusted his wings and took a large, regretful breath.

"Then you will let them come back if I restore balance?" Aang asked him again.

Wan Shi Tong puffed out his chest and nodded. "Yes, Avatar."

"Toph was even trying to show me a technique that can make rock out of sand- perhaps she could make a path to this place." Aang mused to himself.

The group inside spent the next hours perusing shelves eagerly, and Iroh and Sokka compared invasion strategies. Iroh, unfortunately, had not had contact with naval information for a month, so he wasn't up-to-date on the positioning of fleets. Also, he had specialized in land combat when he was a general. But, he could give insight nonetheless.

Sokka was ecstatic when he unearthed a bit of information with aid of a special astronomical-prediction mechanism- that there would be an eclipse before the comet arrived.

Aang was wandering around the domed room, observing the artificial stars and running his hand along the painted night sky thoughtfully.

"Aang?" Ty Lee said, "Your aura is turning white." She cringed slightly. "A-are you going to revert to Roku again?"

Aang looked up to where the representational moon covered the sun. "No, I think . . . I'm being called to the Spirit World." He sat down where he was and put his fists together.

"The Spirits . . . What did you say about the Spirits, uncle?" Zuko asked. "You said they 'showed you the error of your ways?'"

Iroh sighed. "Yes, well . . . my journey to the Spirit World is what led me to the Order, actually." He closed his eyes and bowed his head. "When Lu Ten died during the siege of Ba Sing Se, I cursed Mahimata, the Earth Spirit. I was whisked away from my body and she came upon me in a rage, intending to wipe out the man who dared to attack her people and defile her name. But Agni, the Sun Spirit, intervened on my behalf because I had faithfully carried the secrets of his remaining children, the dragons. They, like the eel-wolves, are believed to be extinct."

"They aren't?" Zuko asked, surprised.

"No, but there are only two in existence. Two I met."

"So you tricked grandfather into believing you slayed a dragon?" Zuko hadn't even been born when his uncle had presented his prize, supposedly triumphant.

Aang had opened his eyes again and fixed his eyes on the retired general with faint alarm. "Why would you need to slay a dragon in the first place?"

"When the dragons refused to assist the attack on the Air Temples, Sozin began the practice of hunting them." Iroh told him. "The body I presented to my father had been preserved by a people who revered them- The Sun Warriors."

"So you burned it enough so they couldn't tell it had already been dead." Zuko finished off the thought with awe. "And Agni saved your life for it."

Iroh nodded. "Instead of destroying me, the Earth Spirit gave me a vision of the unity of the world: of how the sea and moon created the tides and currents that spread heat from Agni. Of how the combination of earth and fire in my own country produced such fertile soil from volcanoes. And how the grief of the people of the Earth Kingdom matched my own. I wandered for a long time after that, not only to mourn for Lu Ten, but also to completely absorb the immensity of all my past wrongdoings. The Earth Mother was still able to cause me a great deal of pain. But Agni insured that it was a constructive pain, pain that put me on the right path."

"So that's where you were." Zuko said softly. "When you didn't come home after the battle."

Iroh touched his nephew on the back. "I feel as if I owe you an apology, too, for not returning right then."

"Everything definitely got better when you were there." But then he shook his head. "But you needed to deal with it, uncle. I understood why then, too. Really."

At their story's conclusion, and the following silence, Aang's tattoos began to glow.

He found himself standing in what no longer was simply a representation of a sky. He felt as if he were standing, but he was floating, his semi-transparent form reflecting the various shades of blue cast by the night and the day. The metal gears had now been replaced by real celestial bodies that slowly drifted around him.

Roku likewise 'stood' with his dragon, Fang, and another man, wearing a polar bear headpiece, was next to him, hand resting on what Aang recognized as an eel wolf. It had turquoise fur with white markings, and its thick tail, although the actual flesh tapered, got bushier down its length, like the tail of a shirshu. It had short, pointed ears, a long rounded snout, and small razor-sharp teeth. Its neck was not as proportionately as long as its tail and lanky legs, which ended in blunt claws. Its eyes were dark and intelligent.

"Greetings, Aang." The man in blue said. "I am Avatar Kuruk, and this is my companion, Zburator."

He continued, "We are here to tell you that you will not need to worry about raising an army. You will be traveling to the Fire Nation during the eclipse. But it will not be for battle."

"What? Why?"

"The Spirit of the Moon has told us."

Yue flickered into existence next to him. "Hello, again, Avatar."

Aang grinned goofily. "I guess you would know about the eclipse, Yue."

She folded her hands in front of her and laughed lightly, with her gown's tresses wrinkling and shaking to her mirthful rhythm. "I do not know as much as I would like to, Aang. My soul is still in the process of merging with my new station. All of Tui's memories were scattered when she was killed. It is a very odd sensation, as they gradually come to me, because it's like I'm gaining something back that I lost and taking on something new at the same time."

"But what Kuruk said is true. Agni, Tui's brother, forewarned her of her fate at the hands of Zhao. That was why she knew to bless me with some of her life- and why my father knew my destiny. She wanted to do something in return for Agni, but I do not know what. I have gathered, however, that it involves you during the joining of the sun and moon. And that she would prevent history from repeating itself."

"Well then, I will tell the others that we won't mount an attack." He breathed out in relief. Sokka's excited talk of battle unnerved the monk a lot more than he let himself admit.

"Good luck, Aang. And tell Sokka-" she swallowed, "that I miss him. But I'll always be with him." She smiled slightly. "And I think he knows what I mean."

Aang nodded.

Sokka at first objected fairly strongly to the passive missive. But when he heard who the bearer of the message was, he seemed to forget about his initiative and adopt a more somber, reserved attitude for the rest of their stay.

Outside, Toph was using the very altering technique Aang had mentioned before to coalesce sand and ground herself. Sandbenders had swarmed in on her and Appa.

She quickly realized that creating a solid island of rock was creating more problems than it solved. She tried to break pieces off and shoot them at the benders, but her 'sight' was favoring the rock and cutting her off from 'seeing' through the rest of the sand. She quickly dispersed the new sandstone and sank her feet back into the soft medium, turning over the top so her bare soles wouldn't be burned by the hot surface. She tried to focus and extend her muddled sense outward, steeling herself against Appa's terrified, voluminous bellows. "I'm trying, buddy, I'm trying . . ."

She couldn't see what was happening to Appa, but she did see . . . There! Two benders coming at her, whipping up whirlwinds. As she closed her eyes to keep out the grit, she smiled. They were used to fighting people who were 'blinded' by this technique. She shoved experimentally at the sand. She recalled the method she had used to handle dust before, spreading her fingers and slicing at the two benders. She smirked at their surprised shouts.

Even with her dulled senses, she could feel the huge whumpf as Appa was forced to the ground. What were they doing to him?  She waded through the sand, adjusting a technique she used for sinking into the earth to move it fluidly around her knees and propel herself forward.

"Oh no, you don't!" With more confidence this time, she heaved sand at three benders on one of his flanks. They scattered, blocking her attacks, and regrouped on her. She swung back and forth on her wave of sand, trying to evade their volleys, as they quickly copied her mode of movement. Soon the sand was churning like the ocean and arcs of the grains were whizzing through the air. Sand moved a lot faster through the air than rock. She gave a small yell of surprise as she took a glancing hit across one of her forearms.

Appa moaned once in concern, and then, as soon as he had gotten to his feet again, bellowed a warning. Not even questioning how she understood him, she submerged herself completely and she felt him spin around above her, knocking her several opponents off their feet. Then he took to the air and bellowed again, reassuringly, as if to say, Thanks for the save. I've got this handled now.

She pulled herself back out of the ground as she felt a pressure further off and heard the splintering of wood. The sandbenders began to converge on their other remaining vessel to escape the enraged beast.

Appa landed again, grunting in satsfaction, and Toph curtsied to him. "We make a good team, Sir Moans-A-lot."

Appa bowed back to her with his front feet and roared triumphantly.

Chapter Text

"What could you possibly do for a country of depraved little fire monsters?" -Sokka, Book 3, Chapter 2: The Headband

A figure stood, silhouetted against the dunes, illuminated by white starlight. He began to move and shift, swiping two swords back and forth silently.

"You're holding them all wrong."

Sokka started and dropped the twin blades. "Oh- uh- um-" he stammered.

"Pick them back up."

"You're not . . . mad?" he asked the temperamental bender incredulously.

"If you wanted to learn, you should've just asked." The firebender walked towards him and retrieved the fallen swords from the sand, brushing the abrasive grains from them with care. The boy named Lee had purloined his swords as well. What was so fascinating about them, anyway?

However, he was finding that he liked teaching as much as performing his craft. He bent down and began carving the air with fluid, interchanging actions, telling Sokka the similar lecture he had given to the boy. "These are dual swords. You can't think of them as two different weapons. They go through the same motions. They're just opposite halves of the same whole."

He offered the handles back to Sokka, who began to copy his movements.

"A little tighter in the wrist there. See how they take the same path? Step a little wider." Zuko instructed him patiently. "You know, it might be easier to get footing once we're out of this desert and on more solid ground."

Sokka lowered the swords. "Yeah, well, it's not like I can get my own pair, anyway."

"I don't know." Zuko shrugged. "You can get secondhand swords. Or offer to work in a smith's shop for a while. Aang will certainly have his hands full with earthbending and firebending."

"That would be nice." Sokka fitted the matching halves together and looked down their length, examining them. "When did you get them?"

"I started exclusively using the dao during my first year in exile. I started swordsmanship as a hobby a lot earlier, though, after my uncle gave me a scimitar. But I picked up on it so quickly, and it came so much more naturally than- it was a nice change from-" he frowned a little- "my firebending teachers who picked up on nothing but the absence of perfection."

"Wait. You've never had them with you before, though." Sokka said quizzically. "Not while you were after us, at least."

"Well, I didn't want to . . ." He looked away evasively. "In the Fire Nation . . . traditional weapons . . . are looked down on . . . after bending."

"Oh." Sokka eyes narrowed. "Can't say that's not a common sentiment elsewhere too. Know what we're called in the Earth Kingdom? Ordies." He spat out the shortening of "ordinary" with contempt. It was as good as a cuss word, depending on who you were talking to.

"But my uncle always told me that it was a petty distinction, that it weakened our fighting forces to favor only bending."

"'Cause we all know we want to improve the Fire Nation." Sokka muttered sourly, repeating Aang's sentiment mockingly.

Zuko tensed slightly at his hostile tone. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Please. You have turned against your own and you have to ask me what I mean?" He questioned, in all blunt seriousness. His face went stony as he held out the blades to give back to him.

l

It was well into the dark season of the year at the South Pole. The ground was only illuminated by white starlight. The sun wouldn't rise for several more months.

Sokka's grip tightened on his sister as they watched the green and purple patched ships approach.

Would Hakoda be in one of them this time?

For every time he wished dad would return, his stomach lurched at the thought of his coming home in one of these boats.

Motionless.

Cold.

The fire at the blubber-oil wick of his lanturn sputtered momentarily, as if drawing attention to itself.

Here I give you light.

Here I give you life.

But out there, I take it away.

The men who came home in these ships, were to be anointed by Kanna, and sent to the sea.

These men, who were extinguished by one element, came home to take reprieve in their native, opposite one. Their proper resting place would always be here.

"Ay-ya- ah -ha hu hay

May the eel-wolves guide your way

May your spirit finally lay

Down its burden 'neath the waves

Ay-ya- ah -ha hu hoh

Th'ancient coil-ed beasts of old

They will hear your stories told

Now unwind your weary soul  . . ."

The slow, pounding trochaic verses of the dirge, accompanied by beats from sealskin drums, continued long after the ships had passed back out of sight.

For every time he wished his father would come home, he also gave thanks that he did not come home.

And blessedly, Hakoda never disappointed him.

l

At his allegation, Zuko looked away. The words of Gow, the Earth Kingdom soldier, came back to him. "You boys hear what the Fire Nation did with their last group of Earth Kingdom prisoners? Dressed them up in Fire Nation uniforms and put them on the frontline unarmed, way I heard it. Then they just watched."

"All I can tell you is that I'll try my best to change my Nation." Zuko said quietly as he took the blades.

They were silent for a moment.

Sokka's eyes wandered back to the swords. "I do wish I could learn some different techniques. Then I wouldn't feel-" He stopped.

"What?"

"So useless. I mean-" he sighed. "I want to be a great warrior, like my dad, y'know?"

l

Hakoda's thick boots crunched into the freshly fallen snow as his son tagged along behind him.

"In two weeks?" The boy asked.

"Yes."

A woman with twin braids sticking out of either side of her parka hood approached them. "Chief," she bowed respectfully, "I want to go. I have no children to take care of here. I know my husband would not want me leaving, but-"

Hakoda's face grew weary. "Your husband would not want you risking your life after he gave his."

"Please," The woman said, "his memory lingers here, haunting me. I can become a fighter. Would I not still be honoring him, continuing his legacy? I can do it. I want to do it. I will work just as hard-"

"Battle is no place for women, Nakasa. You will stay. And that is my final decision."

She looked back down and her shoulders sagged.

"My mother encouraged you to ask, didn't she?"

"Why are you always trying to tell dad what to do?" Sokka asked his grandmother as they sat in their igloo.

She looked up from the patterns she was busy carving into a turtle-walrus shell. "What?"

"You're always trying to run everything." The little boy continued petulantly. "But he's the chief."

"You do not think I can provide insight, little one?" The eldest member of the tribe gave a small smile.

"Insight, maybe," he repeated carelessly, "but he's in charge. If he says Nakasa can't go, she shouldn't."

Kanna sighed. "Sokka, I'm not going to argue with him any more,  not because I think it's right to exclude her," She put down her tools and scooted closer to him, hugging him gently, "but  because I don't want to have the last of my son's time here marred by strife."

"I'm coming with you."

"You're not old enough to go to war, Sokka, you know that."

"I'm strong! I'm brave! I can fight! Please, Dad!"

"Being a man," Hakoda told the young boy, "is knowing where you're needed the most, and for you right now that's here, protecting your sister."

"I don't understand."

"Someday you will."

But right then, he felt as ineffectual as a woman.

l

" . . . I promised him I would keep Katara safe." He snorted bitterly to himself. "But Katara is amazing. And I'm just me."

"I could say the same thing about Azula." Zuko shook his head. "I don't know what she did with my father when he was training her, but it scared the fire out of me."

Sokka raised an eyebrow.

"She began training with my father when she was still really young, in addition to her other tutors." Zuko murmured, almost to himself. "I was the elder son. But if I had said anything about it, I would have ended up with this a lot sooner." He pointed to his face. "Even back then, I wanted to live with the illusion that he would ever really consider me his heir."

There was a moment as Sokka shifted nervously.

"Well, let's just say . . . that I can identify with wanting to please a father. Even if you have the worst one in history."

Zuko relaxed slightly and their eyes met briefly before returning to the sand.

The two teenagers then returned to the group to get back to sleep. The Si Wong was as harsh as the tundra, in its own way. Both landscapes were unforgiving as Sokka's accusation. But the quiet breeze that rolled down the hills gave promise for a little understanding between the two boys.

Chapter Text

"It's hard to tell before their giant teeth and horns grow in." –Aang

Predator and Prey. Hunter and Hunted.

The Water Tribe native crouched in a tree, poised and ready for his wily prey. His pitiless eyes gazed down upon his victim.

"You're awfully cute, but unfortunately for you, you're made of meat. . . Just a bit closer-"

"HAAAAA!" He leaped from his hiding place with the mighty warrior's cry and-

. . . . . got stuck.

Sokka squirmed back and forth. How exactly had he gotten up to his elbows in earth?

The little brown big-nosed animal could not answer this question, but it nonetheless peered at him with curiosity.

"You are one lucky meat creature." Sokka said flatly.

The meat creature's tail wagged, as if affirming its good fortune.

After a while, it had found the sparse hair on the would-be hunter's head irresistible and it climbed up on his head.

"You probably think I deserve this, don't you?" The cub looked upside down at him with big black eyes. "Look, I'm sorry I hunted you, but that's just the natural order of things! Big things eat smaller things, nothing personal! But this time it didn't work out that way."

The cub gave a wide blunt-toothed yawn, unconcerned with the musings on the organization of the universe, and circled like a fox-lynx would before settling down to take a nap.

"I admit it. You're cute." He paused. "Okay, you've convinced me. If I get out of this alive, it's a comically correct vegetarian existence for me. No meat. Even though meat is so tasty."

As if now inspired and galvanized by his words, the cub hopped down from his perch and trotted off.

It returned with an apple, an induction to his newfound life path.

"Hey! It looks like my karma is already paying off!"

It rolled it towards him.

"That's okay! I got it!" Sokka tried to reach the apple, but to no avail. The apple had stopped about a foot away, out of reach. A bad omen.

The cub soon found that his hair was not only a comfortable bed, but an incredibly entertaining toy. He began to tug at the wolftail.

"Okay karma person or thing, whoever's in charge of this stuff, if I can just get out of this situation alive, I will give up meat and sarcasm. Okay? OW!" The wolftail had now become a disorderly array, really more like a boar-q-pine's quills. "That's all I got!" he implored to the sky. "It's pretty much my whole identity! Sokka, the meat and sarcasm guy! But I'm willing to be Sokka the veggies and straight talk fellow-"

"You really mean that?" A giggle sounded.

"Oh, uh, Ty Lee? Um . . ."

She stepped lightly towards him, hands held behind her back. "'Cause I kinda like the sarcasm."

He laughed. "Well, it's good to be appreciated."

"And who's your friend?"

"His name is Foofoocuddlypoofs."

Ty Lee smiled. "Foo Foo. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Though how you tolerate Sokka's company I will never know." She picked up the cub and nestled him in the crook of her arm.

"Ha. Ha. I thought I was the sarcasm man around here."

"Well, if you're keeping that trait then I guess you have to stick to your promise of giving up the other." Her silver eyes sparkled with mirth.

"Well-" he stuttered, "I- um-"

"You don't want to, do you?" Her face fell slightly.

He waved his hands as much as the crevice he was wedged in would allow. "Look, it's not that I don't respect your and Aang's decision . . ."

"Hmmmm." She put on a show of studying him intently. "I suppose, technically you promised to give up sarcasm after you promised to become a vegetarian. So the promise to become vegetarian . . ."

"-could be sarcasm?" His voice rose hopefully.

She gave a high, tinkly laugh at the utterly relieved look that graced his features and absently rubbed the head of the cub in her arms.

But her amused laughter was interrupted by a not-so-amused snort of the cub's mother.

She had been so wrapped up in their banter she hadn't even noticed the approach of the malignant presence.

"Oh Spirits." Sokka said, color draining from his face.

Ty Lee didn't move, side facing the animal, knowing that turning towards it would be a challenge. She fended off tension in her own voice. "Sokka, you've got to calm down." She said, reassuringly. "You're energy's pulsing too much. Think . . . well, I think of blue, 'cause that's the color your aura needs to be. But anything that settles you down."

"So you're telling me you have a power that can make that thing go away?" He tried to talk calmly as the hulking animal pawed the ground and growled menacingly.

"I'm not sure." This was not the tame vulture griffin at the circus.

Sokka shut his eyes. "I think blue will do fine for me, Ty Lee . . . it's where I was raised, after all . . ."

Ty Lee slowly lowered the cub to the ground once its own energy had settled a bit and the cub's yellow aura expanded joyfully at the sight of its mother. It skipped to her side, but the red around the huge beast wasn't diminishing.

It wasn't working. Ty Lee was fighting back panic. She didn't have nearly enough raw power to-

The moose-lion's aura blazed in warning a moment before it charged.

She bolted to meet it.

"Ty Lee!" Sokka opened his eyes when he felt the whoosh of her disappearing feet.

Everything was moving in slow motion. The thing towered over her small, slight figure as they drew closer together. She jumped with just enough height to flip forward, sailing between the huge antlers, and ram her heel, straight-legged, into the base of its firm, muscular neck. Too firm.

She pushed off as hard as her aching knee would allow and landed behind it. She wobbled. The impact had done as much damage to her as it. It continued to amble forward stubbornly, claws digging for traction. If it didn't get them into the boy, it would crush him if it fell forward.

She spun and thrust a whole fist into its thigh, then, still moving along its massive side, went for its shoulder, which would hopefully take it down. It lashed out sideways with both one antler and a claw, and she managed to duck, but as her other fist made contact it caught her calf with its swipe. It teetered towards the now-numb side she had attacked, and she managed to scramble away before it fell on top of her.

"Ty Lee!" Sokka's voice rose an octave at the red gashes. "It's fine." She managed to get out through small gasps. "She didn't get the tendon." The Achilles tendon. She struggled to her feet and took a few tentative steps.

"Wait! You need to bandage that!"

"I've got to go get help, Sokka." She said in a clipped, pained voice. "You're still stuck. She's not going to stay down long."

"IT just sliced you up, and you have the gall to call it a SHE?" His voice cracked shrilly.

She faced him for a split second, eyes steely grey and determined. "Yes."

She ran, if stumbling along with a bloody calf and a hyper-extended knee could be called running. Urgency still emblazoned her every move.

Toph, predictably, saw her coming first. "Katara! Get over here!"

The two benders hurried to her as she finally let herself fall. "Toph, you have to go get Sokka!" Ty Lee pointed back, and her chi did something it had never done before. It flew from her hand and hurtled through the air, reaching Sokka and illuminating him to the blind girl.

"Whoa-" Toph breathed, stunned.

"Go, Go!" Ty Lee urged her, equally as shocked but more alarmed at the prospect of the moose-lion struggling back to its feet. The earthbender took off.

"Now, let me see that." Katara leaned over her towards the red that was starting to harden and darken on her leg.

"If you d-don't mind, Katara, I'd rather y-you did my hands f-first." She held out her fingers and Katara noticed that they had turned purple and swollen- broken knuckles. The waterbender immediately immersed them in water.

"What happened?"

"T-that's what I get for punching s-something with muscles as h-hard as rock."

Katara had her healing hands full. Ty Lee had put all the force she could muster into her blows against the moose-lion, nearly shattering her hands and causing minute stress fractures in her arms and leg. Ty Lee explained to her what happened.

"Your fighting style is designed specifically to deal with humans." Katara observed as she moved water slowly from her hand to her shoulder. "It wasn't meant to take down something like that."

"N-nope." Ty Lee answered, focusing on her answer to ward off pain, now that the adrenaline and endorphins were wearing off. "B-but since I can sense chi, I could at least tell the points I needed to hit. Most people who learn the technique just have to memorize where to strike on people. L-lucky, I guess."

"Luck," Katara repeated, "and pluck," she rhymed as she finished her second arm. "The messes my brother can get himself in." She shook her head in exasperation as she started on her leg. Ty Lee tried not to move too much as she giggled.

"There. I think that should do it." Katara offered her a hand and she stood.

Sokka came pounding through the trees, shouting like a madman. "Ty Lee! Ty Lee! Are you okay?"

Toph came after him, grumbling. "'Thanks for bending me out of the ground Toph.' 'Hey, no problem, Sokka.'" She carried on the mock conversation in annoyance.

Ty Lee turned to him. "Are you okay?" she replied.

Sokka skidded to a halt in front of her and looked her up and down. "D-did Katara . . .?"

"Yeah." Ty Lee was caught by surprise as he flung his arms around her. "Spirits, Spirits . . ." he muttered in agitation, eyes shut tightly.

Ty Lee returned the hug. "I-I'm all right, Sokka." She released him, but he continued to cling to her, eyes still closed. "I-It was happening a-all over a-again," he whispered, "I-I couldn't d-do anything t-to protect y-you . . ."

Her eyes widened as she remembered the moon spirit.

"It's all right, Sokka," She once again embraced him and began to rub at his back and murmur to him softly, reassuringly. "It's okay . . . I'm fine, ssshhh, everything's all right . . ."

Katara had averted her gaze self-consciously, but Toph had no such ability. Her pale skin colored as their energy twined around each other, her chi flowed soothingly against him, and his frantic heartbeat gradually slowed.

"Y-you're sure you're okay?" He asked her one last time as he pulled back.

Silver eyes met blue ones and he flushed as well, just then really registering their close proximity.

"Sokka, my aura has never been pinker."

Chapter Text

"I will always be with you." -Yue

"Love is a form of energy, and it is all around us. Love that past ones have for you and you for them does not leave the world. It is reborn in the form of new love." –Guru Pathik

The professor wandered the corridors of the library, picking up book after book and reading for hours on end. Underground, in the deep parts of the structure, there was no night and day, only the green crystals, and he would have to squint to be able to see text, unless he ferried his materials to the upper levels.

Wan Shi Tong had informed him that a certain fox, named Peto, would be bringing him food, and that he would certainly know which fox he was.

The great owl had made it clear that until the Avatar had successfully defeated the Fire Lord, his library would remain a secret, and Zei obligingly stayed to wait. He declined the Avatar's offer to bring him back out of the desert. Where would he go, anyway? He had left Ba Sing Se University for the very reason of censorship, and now he was up to his nose in the most extensive, detailed, and unabridged collection of information anywhere.

Zei literally hadn't seen the owl since the Avatar and his company had left weeks ago, and he simply told himself that there was no reason the reclusive bird should be obligated to spend any time with him. But he wondered occasionally if he was still altogether welcome.

He had met Peto shortly after the owl had left him to his own devices. The fox was exactly the same color and size as all the others; the only difference was that he had six tails. He had grown quite attached to the professor, following him around. Other foxes occasionally joined him as well, interested in the new company of the place that had stood empty for so long. All the spirit canines could read; the scrolls they filched from the outside world were as often as not their choices of what to bring to their home. The head kitsune had tried to demonstrate his favorite sections and topics to the man.

But Zei was on a very specific line of investigation.

Right now he was settled, stroking Peto absently with one hand as he poured over a volume about the air nomads' customs of traveling. His own notebook lay around him, many pages spread out across the floor. Indigo ink made boxes and brackets around the older black characters. He had been diligently copying Aang's tales onto more permanent scrolls, organizing and converting them from shorthand to proper prose and cross-referencing to books he ferreted out.

During winter, the book outlined, was when most of them left their high-altitude temples, seeking warmer climates, but without fail they always returned to stay by summertime and their native season, fall-

He tapped a finger on the word "summer," frowning sadly.

He nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of the owl's harsh voice. "You will have to put all these back when you are done." He waved a wing, indicating the several books neatly stacked around the professor.

Two spirit foxes, nearby, one with two tails, dipped their heads, as if acknowledging an order. But Peto growled disapprovingly.

"I don't want you to do it anymore, Peto. He must do it for himself."

The professor put his hand on the fox's shoulder blades and rubbed him. "It's fine, Peto. I don't mind." He stood and bowed respectfully to Wan Shi Tong. "I am simply honored to be able to read them."

But the kitsune continued to glare after the owl as he gave no acknowledgment to Zei's gesture and left.

The Gaang, for its own part, was glad to finally be out of the Si Wong. They had relished the abundant flora that had been missing, spending much more time on the ground and Aang had resumed his training in earnest.

Iroh, in preparation for becoming his third Master, was observing the Avatar's lessons. After giving Zuko a lecture about learning from other elements to strengthen and expand his own bending skill, he had convinced his nephew to watch as well.

Aang continued to struggle with earth, a few times even losing his root completely and having to dive out of the way of oncoming assaults much like his first lesson. Toph at first was still very abrasive in reprimanding him, but gradually became a bit more understanding at both Ty Lee's and Katara's insistence. Changing a fighting style that you had used for your entire life- despite how short the life was- was difficult.

"None of us could really remember a time when we couldn't at least sense the air around us." The monk was saying, talking about his single-gender, communal pre-iceburg experiences.

The five benders of the group were gathered together as Aang took a break, wiping sweat from his brow. The new surroundings had proven a different sort of challenge. His sifu wasn't impeded at all by the grass that was sandwiched between her feet and her element. For him, however, it was just another obstacle he was having to adjust for.

"Well, actually," he amended, "there was this one boy- Jinju- he said he could." He frowned. "Some of the others were really mean to him after he told us." he rubbed his neck self-consciously. "But Rychen always made sure that no one said anything mean when he was around. He kinda like the unofficial leader of our class. Anyway . . . even small breezes- now, sometimes we didn't get that down until we were, like, five."

Katara nodded. "I'd say I started to bend when I was six- reliably, I mean. Before that I had sometimes been able to move water, but not always right when I wanted to."

Toph smirked. "Please. I started bending when I was three."

Katara scowled at her.

"You might be a special case, though." Aang laughed. "Bumi said he really started bending when he was five, too."

"Firebenders start out by influencing other flame." Iroh said. "That usually happens a while before they can produce their own. Sometimes the gap can be up a year or so. I seem to remember one of Ty Lee's younger sisters- Hira, being very upset that she couldn't make her own fire. Ty Lee asked Azula to try and help her."

"I wonder how Ty Lee and Sokka are doing." Aang said idly.

Sokka had showed little to no interest in watching Aang. He had his own training to begin- namely, Kyoto Jutsu. He had taken Ty Lee up on her offer to teach him. He was actually a lot more serious about improving himself than most of the group gave him credit for, just like back at Suki's dojo.

"When you strike on the limbs," the acrobat was explaining to him, "it's better to use straightened fingers." She made chopping motions with her hands- "and when you strike anywhere on the trunk of the body, it's better to use knuckles, because those are larger passageways of chi."

"Okay." Sokka nodded.

"You want the blows to be hard, but you should try to push your target back as little as possible, because then you'll have to readjust to find the points again. The more quick and precise you are, the less they move and the less guessing you have to do. The chi from benders has multiple points that only cut off bending and not movement . . . and chi from non-benders has the same points . . ."

She coached him through each of the points, and he attempted to strike her arms to make them go limp. After several tries, he was getting frustrated.

"I might just not have it in me, Ty Lee. Can we just spar?"

In truth, Sokka the warrior really was itching to prove himself after losing to her before. The first time he had been carrying a baby, so he excused himself for that. The second time, he had still known very little about her style. But he did know now, where she would be aiming for, and he thought that, combined with his hand-to-hand experience with Suki, he would be able to at least hold his own.

"Think you can beat me again? It's time for a rematch, anyway." He challenged.

The cheerful girl, however, was completely oblivious to the boy's prideful provocation, meant to get a rise out of her. She just smiled and shrugged. "Okay."

So when they faced each other and she began her onslaught, he was satisfied when he could block her thrusts. She danced around him, still much more agile, but he fended her off with a solid footing and a sure placement of hands. But as he caught the outside of her hands with his forearms and diverted them, he suddenly thought, wait, so how am I going to stop her? He couldn't just keep blocking. Eventually she would find an opening.

As he pondered this he studied the way she could come to a dead stop next to him and try a volley of thrusts. Once she was that close, he realized, she expected to land at least one blow. The weakness in her form lay in her subsequent retreat, then.

" . . . you should try to push your target back as little as possible, because then you'll have to readjust to find the points again. The more quick and precise you are, the less shifting they do and the less guessing you have to do."

Maybe her ability to sense chi didn't put as big a handicap on her for moving targets, but it would have to be slightly more difficult. The question was only whether he could pull off trying to dart around like her. He started taking slightly wider steps, and suddenly, as he parried one of her arms upward, he leaned to the side and hooked his left foot around her left ankle, yanking forward. She stumbled with a startled squeak. He then grabbed her wrist and pushed forward, furthering her backwards momentum and she landed on the ground on his left beside him. It wasn't a complete pin, but it was something.

"Ha! I got you!" He proclaimed triumphantly as he let go of her.

"Yeah! That was good." She said brightly as she sat up.

Did she not get that she had just been taken down?

But she simply smiled at him. She was not being competitive. It was a little disorienting for him, who was used to his abilities being belittled by benders- well, one bender in particular- a certain twelve year old. And the last time he had trained hand-to-hand, well, that girl had still been trying to win somewhat of an ego war. It was kind of like leaning against a wall, expecting it to stay in place, and have it fall in on you.

"Want to go for another round?" She asked in a conversational, not confrontational, voice.

"Sure."

They ended up doing two more rounds. The second time, she paralyzed his arm but he kept going. The third time, she managed to paralyze his leg and he called 'uncle, uncle,' waving a hand, knowing that he couldn't manage with just one appendage.

When they took a break, he padded over to where he had set down his boomerang, club, and bag and took out some small chips of cured meat to snack on.

"I still can't believe you went back to that Mooselion to make sure it was all right, I mean, after what it did to you." He commented.

"She was just trying to protect Foo Foo, Sokka." She teased. "But in a way you're right, I didn't have to. She was a tough old girl." She said it with a hint of pride.

He laughed at her tone. "And I'm supposed to respect that about her?" He turned over the food in his hands. "She was so huge . . . she might have fed the village for a month." He said to himself.

l

A young Katara was busily working at a hide, the scritch scritch of her whalerib scraper becoming more and more pronounced as she cleared away excess fat from the sheet. She glanced over to her brother, who was sectioning off blubber and meat, wearing thin working gloves that he didn't mind getting stained with blood. He would have to stop and dry his hands and the gloves themselves soon. Working with soaked material for any unreasonable amount of time meant frostbitten hands.

Around them, women and children were similarly engaged, deconstructing the rest of the large carcass. Slabs of meat were being hung up and prepared for curing, bones were being washed and dried. By his estimation, it would last them all two weeks.

It was a familiar scene, except for one thing.

Katara set her tool down. Even then, her voice had already gained hints of maternal tendencies. "You know, you should take a break, Sokka," she admonished.

"Don't be such a worrywart." He replied, unusually tersely.

In this first major hunting trip- since their father and all the men had left- five of the middle-aged women of the tribe had accompanied him to go after the turtlewalrus. They were aggressive and extremely difficult to kill because of their shells, but their fat had the highest oil content for burning wicks and they were easily the most delicious thing to eat in the whole South Pole. Sokka had always been perfectly comfortable playing subordinate to the men when they went out to hunt. Now that they were gone the remaining female adults necessarily had to step up and take their place, it just didn't seem right. He couldn't say what the difference was. Besides that they were women.

She frowned. "Why does it bother you so much, Sokka?"

"I don't know . . ." the little boy couldn't figure out how to say the words. "it just . . . they shouldn't have to help."

"It's just like Gran-Gran says, Sokka." Katara lectured. "When a pack of polarbeardogs hunts, they don't leave the girls behind. They all do their share."

Sokka didn't reply.

"-and you can't expect to do it all by yourself, right?" She stood and moved over to him. After all, not one person was in their individual tents, and no one would be until all the tasks were finished. "Right?" She took his knife and set it down, hugging him. "We all have to do this together."

l

"Hey Sokka?" Ty Lee asked.

"Hmmm?"

"Will you tell me about the Poles? I've only seen snow twice before. Aren't they completely covered with it?"

The nobleman's daughter fired volley after volley of questions at him, unacquainted with his simplistic way of life. She had heard little if anything about the ways of the Water Tribes, but she was sure that the people of the Fire Nation thought of them as savages. Maybe, she found herself thinking, she had believed that once, too. She hadn't really thought about it, up until now. But now she did remember that the Academy had definitely had a less than stellar representation of them.

He launched into a description of the South, with all the young wide-eyed faces, and the magnificent city of the North, with roads of water and towering ice buildings. Her silver eyes shone at the fanciful descriptions, but her face fell sadly as he made clear the discrepancy between the two Tribes. But then he went back to talking of home and all the fun he and Katara used to have together, even when their parents were gone. Topics stayed neatly out of his method of procuring food. Her queasiness from the first time he had offered her something to eat had not abated in the least.

"So Sokka, do I look good in blue?" She asked finally, fiddling with the hem of her outfit which displayed said color.

She had been wearing many of Katara's sets of clothing since she had joined with them, only having the one pink outfit on her person. She had also gotten hold of changes of clothes in a few of the small towns they had stopped at, but they were a dull tan and Katara had insisted that she instead wear her vivid tribal garments instead. The two girls, who were rapidly becoming very close, had tittered over plans to get her some of her own outfits when they got to Onto.

He blushed and swallowed. "W-well yeah."

He felt like he was melting under the smile now.

After that he somehow already knew that he had no chance of keeping a clear mind and fending her off any more when they stood again and resumed training. It still kind of took him by surprise when he ended up numb on his back, though.

He chuckled up at the sky. "You know, this is so weird, because this doesn't feel the same as when that bounty hunter paralyzed us."

"What are you talking about?" She asked, bending over to peer at him with silver interest.

"There was this woman who rides a big mole-creature-"

"A badger-mole?" her eyebrows knitted together.

"No." He would have face-palmed at the mere memory of the 'song-loving' beasts and his musically-inclined nomad companions had he not been chi blocked. "This thing had a really long tongue like a whip that stuns you."

"Oh! A shirshu! You've seen one?" She exclaimed delightedly, fists squeezed together under her chin.

"Yup. And when it paralyzes you, you can't feel anything. But this," he nodded down towards himself, "is different 'cause I can feel all the grass under me."

"Oh really . . ." she smiled slyly, kneeling and leaning in closer to him, her eyes half lidded. "Can you feel this . . .?" but then she stopped, face inches from his.

"Your- your energy is still constricting." She whispered sadly.

"W-what?" he asked, breath coming quickly and shallowly.

"Around your h-heart." Her voice wobbled, "And the center of your back."

She was seeing the Air Chakra, of love, still blocked by grief. Sokka was still grieving for Yue, after hearing about her in the Library.

And the Water Chakra, of pleasure, still blocked by guilt. His thoughts were still spinning around Suki because he was using her fighting style.

"Can't you," he said hesitantly, "ya know, tell if . . ." Could she tell by his aura whether he was in love? " . . . I like you?"

She sighed, running her hand down her braid. "Well actually . . . when we were at the Academy, girls dated sometimes. But there were so many different colors- there was green and dark green and pink and purple and even sometimes orange . . ."

l

Bouquets of fire lilies, each wrapped in their own cover of lace which would be discarded within a few days lay in a pile on the dressing room table. Eight figures bumped into each other occasionally- but that was less a function of the spatial volume of the room and more of the time. Several highly polished mirrors, rimmed with extraneous and overblown twisting metal designs that did nothing to assist their function were set up at different angles around a short podium, where a sixteen-year-old stood in a red dress. Two servants were busy pinning up tresses at her sides and no less than six girls who had the exact same mousy brown hair were crowding around her. Several of them, including a certain eleven-year-old, were chatting excitedly.

"The wedding is going to be gorgeous, Meili."

"Can I do your hair, please?"

"Do you like your new house?"

"Oh my gosh, he's so handsome, Meili."

The thirteen-year-old of the group suddenly said loudly, "But you don't love him!"

Everyone went silent at the accusation.

Meili turned from her reflection. "Yunru, we've already been through this. Why does it matter? He's been very kind to me, and he's a good friend of the family. Father is so happ-"

"Yeah, yeah." The other girl frowned. She was leaning against the wall, away from the rest, watching the proceedings with her arms crossed in disapproval. "Whatever dad says, right, sis?"

Meili turned away.

l

"You're running through so many colors right now-" the acrobat glanced around him, "and-"

She shifted from her knees to sit properly to wait for the blocks her jutsu had inflicted to clear, folding her hands on her lap, giving off silver melancholy. "It looks like . . . I'm just making it worse," she murmured dejectedly.

He closed his eyes. Why was it so- second nature to tell her about Yue, but when he thought of telling her about Suki he cringed?

Maybe it was because Suki was still out there- well, within the realm of the living, so to speak. Maybe it was because he had never sorted out his feelings towards the Kyoshi warrior. He had forgotten her so easily at the North Pole, even though he had thought about her frequently before then. But maybe that was just because she had such a big impact on him- after all her village had been the first he had seen outside his own, and she the first girl his age he had even been on talking terms with.

She had given him a clear message that had somehow resounded where his sister's and grandmother's years of insistent wheedling had simply bounced off-

l

"I treated you like a girl when I should have treated you like a warrior."

"I am a warrior. But I'm a girl, too."

l

But had he ever really considered going back to Kyoshi, just for her, before the North Pole? Had he even been thinking about what he would do after the war? He wasn't even thinking about that now. When they had gone to Kyoshi the second time, gathering evidence to prove Aang's innocence to the people of Chin Village, he had wanted to see her again. And he had been disappointed when she wasn't there. But he hadn't dwelt on it. He thought more about Yue more than anything else. What if Suki settled somewhere else, now that she was gone? What if he never saw her again? Did she expect him to look for her?

And Yue . . . was he ready to let her go?

The condition of his body seemed to parallel his thoughts. He was stuck, unable to make any move. But as the operation of his limbs gradually trickled back into him, his thoughts seemed to parallel that as well.

He knelt, gently cupping her chin, and pulled her towards him.

Her hands found his shoulders and he leaned into the kiss, running his fingers along her jawbone. His other hand came to her back, and a tingle went through it. He pulled away in surprise.

She smiled. "So you could feel it then, that collection of energy in the middle of the back? Yours is flowing better now, too." She softly formed her mouth around his and put her hand at the same place on him, and it felt as if the contacts had suddenly become fluid, as if there was no division. When she came away he immediately wanted the sensation to return.

"Y-you did s-something." He stuttered. "It kinda felt like . . . when I was stuck- I felt you then, too."

"Yeah. With meditation you can learn to control the chi in your body to some extent. But I had never done anything like that before." She smiled. "I made it travel really far."

"So you really do have powers," he purred in a low tone as pulled her in closer again.

Chapter Text

"'I once had a long conversation with the guy- and all he would talk about was you.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, and it was kind of annoying.'

'Oh, sorry . . .'

'But it was also very sweet.'"

-Toph and Zuko, Book 3 Chapter 17: The Ember Island Players

"Fire can be dangerous and wild. So as a firebender, I need to be more careful and control my bending so I don't hurt people unintentionally." -Zuko, Book 3 Chapter 12: The Western Air Temple

"So when I try to take Aang to train, you object, but you tell Iroh to take him." Katara spat to Toph. "He's barely even started earthbending."

"Aang's pretty much mastered waterbending, Queeny. I heard you say it yourself a few weeks ago."

"Listening in on us again-"

"And it's important that he learn firebending as soon as possible because he's going to be fighting firebenders. Duh. Who knows when we might run into more of them?"

Sokka rolled his eyes. Would the bickering never end?

In the vast library, Zei was a tiny figure. He was fast asleep, head propped against one of the hard shelves. In his eagerness, he always read until his eyes drooped, and fought sleep until his body forced him to shut down.

Peto was curled up next to him, and an ear twitched. He raised his head groggily to see Wan Shi Tong standing over them.

But as soon as he saw the fox stir the giant avian had started to move away.

Peto wiggled out from under Zei's arm and yipped at his master.

"I was just . . . passing by." The owl said dismissively over his shoulder, executing a stiff ninety degree angle his neck easily achieved, displaying only half of his face.

The fox snorted lightly. The Spirit was lying. He had been standing there for some time, watching over the professor.

"Wrrrrruff," he accused.

"Hmpf." The owl's head turned away again.

The fox scampered towards him and stood in his path. He barked and whined, making a request.

"All right." Wan Shi Tong relented. He lifted his wing and the professor rose from his place. Several cushions appeared under him and he was lowered back down.

The fox smiled knowingly up at the owl.

Wan Shi Tong, maintaining a disaffected air, brushed past him and disappeared into the darkness.

The three firebenders were absent. Iroh had insisted on Zuko teaching Aang the first steps of their craft, because 'The best way to really learn something is to teach it.' But first, he inquired of Aang's previous experience with their form.

"My first master was Jeong Jeong." Aang told him.

"I cannot say I know him well." Iroh said, a hand at his chin. "I believe he served in the eastern Earth Kingdom before he left the army. That was maybe- fourteen? Fifteen?- years ago . . ."

"He seemed to think that fire was inherently . . . well, evil." Aang said quietly. "But . . . in my time, the Fire Nation was just as peaceful as the next Nation."

Iroh bowed his head sadly. "Unfortunately, today it is widely believed in our country, and by extension the other Nations, that only anger and aggression, the desire to destroy, can fuel flame. I believed this as well, before I met Ran and Shao, the dragons."

"They showed me that fire is the force of life." He stated. "It responds to your desires and your purpose. Any kind of passion or conviction will do, if powerful enough. Later, I did my best to spread this idea in the Order without compromising the dragons' secrecy. The Order is supposed to be a rallying point of unity- where people who know nothing about each other can come together with confidence, under one guise, one trust. But sometimes even it has its inner conflicts."

At this statement, Aang winced. He was supposed to be the being where all the elements came together. But he had his own inner conflict as well. "Sifu . . .?" he said timidly.

"Yes?"

"I-I don't know if I'm ready to . . . When I first handled fire . . . I . . . burned Katara. Pretty badly."

Iroh's brow furrowed, deep in thought. "Were you very angry at her?"

Aang's head shot up, eyes wide. "No. Not at all." He almost pleaded. "I was just really excited to firebend."

"Hmmm." Iroh closed his eyes, further retreating into his contemplations. "Was it not your own fire you were manipulating, then?"

Aang cocked his head. "Well, it was set by Jeong Jeong. But I . . . was holding it, if that's what you mean."

"I see. Does she have any scars?" He asked gingerly.

Aang colored slightly. "N-no. She healed herself. In fact, that's when she learned to heal."

"Oh!" Iroh's face lit up as if something had clicked into place. "Truly amazing."

"Yeah." Aang smiled. "She's a great healer."

"And that's why she was burned." Iroh said matter-of-factly.

Aang's face fell. "What?"

"Remember what I said. Fire is the force of life. It comes from you. It responds to your desires and your purpose, your intentions, your spirit, more so than any other element. While it is true that fire has some force of its own, when it is under your control, it is very much a part of yourself."

He summoned his own flame and extended it between his hands, accordion-style. He stroked it with one hand, and it followed his fingers like a lithe fox-lynx arcing its back. "Zuko?"

The prince walked to him obligingly and outstretched a hand passively towards the flame as the Dragon flung his palm out and it sprang forward-

-and the blaze rubbed against the teen's skin harmlessly.

Aang gasped.

The elder firebenders both smiled at his reaction.

"If we do not burn ourselves with our flame, would it not make sense that we also do not burn those closest to us?" Iroh asked as the flame receded from Zuko's arm.

"This property can be expanded with practice as well. Masters, if properly trained, can channel flame into only concussive blows, not causing burns at all, to anyone, even in the heat of conflict- this means their mindset of attack is not as aggressive." He sighed, moving his own hand through the fire, which now had reverted to a simple palm shape. "But now, with our warlike culture, this is nowhere near as prized or valued a skill as it once was."

Now Aang's brow furrowed. "But wait. Jeong Jeong said that I might destroy things I love if I did not stay in control. And- I- I did-" He deflated, the memory coming back to him again.

"If completely blind anger was fueling your fire, that might've been the case. But see, he only perceives physical control of the flame. Controlling the essence of the flame is different, and to some extent, inherent. The outcome of any contact is partially determined by your spirit and the spirit of the one it comes into contact with."

"Now-" he erased the fire with a flick of his wrist, "I asked you if you were handling the flame- instead of influencing some other source of flame- because fire you create yourself or have complete sway over is more likely to exhibit this restraint. Under most circumstances, I would expect that your own fire would never burn Katara severely, just a hunch." He winked. "But even if your energy had fully suffused the flame he created, I am telling you that Katara was burned because your spirit read that she could handle the injury, even if she was not aware of it yet. In fact, it's purpose might have been to reveal her ability."

Aang's mouth hung open.

As Zuko demonstrated to and trained Aang, Iroh could tell the difference in his nephew's fire, and in his motions. He had watched this boy, as his flames sputtered with grief at the loss of his mother, grow into an adolescent whose flames gradually began to surge and jerk with rage. But now, his flame demonstrated the spirit of a confident man. Even if not a fully realized Master, teaching the Avatar was what he was meant to do.

Several hours later, the three firebenders returned to find only two people awaiting them.

Ty Lee was lying limply across Appa's neck on her back, demonstrating her reverse flexibility as she reached down to scratch his ear. Toph was "cloudgazing," with her hands tucked up under her head and knees bent.

"It is good to see someone getting a little rest." Iroh commented cheerily. Everyone had been training fairly hard. He himself had been gradually whittling away at his girth, inspired by the intense regimen of the youngsters.

Ty Lee rolled over onto her stomach. "Oh! You must have had a good session. All of your chi is moving so- freely."

"Yup." Toph agreed.

"Knowing the true nature of elements does that." Iroh replied sagely. "Where are the others?" he asked the two girls.

"Katara and Sokka went to go fishing." Ty Lee said. "Sokka said I probably wouldn't want to watch them . . . prepare the fish. So I stayed behind."

"I know!" Aang said. "You can come with me to gather, then- I'm sure there are some leechy nut trees around here somewhere and who knows what else."

"You probably have a little more than an hour before it gets dark." Iroh said, looking up to the sky. "I will join you- perhaps I can find some tea ingredients as well."

"Uncle," Zuko groaned, "do we really need a repeat of the White Jade, or White Dragon, or whatever it was-"

"Don't worry, nephew, I'll stick to what I'm absolutely sure of. Camellia it is."

"Well, we are going back towards the healers that tended to you before." Zuko said dryly.

Ty Lee found herself learning of another simple way of life as she walked with Aang. The monks had extensive knowledge of vegetation from all around the world. The young boy had really only absorbed a very little bit of it, but to her, who had always only had contact with agricultured food, whether on expensive china plates or crude tin traveling dishware, it was fascinating. She listened to her two-year junior with respect.

She also asked Iroh about chakras, which she wanted to know more about. Aang also listened with interest. Ty Lee confirmed to him that what she was seeing in people was not simply chi 'flowing' and 'not flowing.' The chakras could be more open or more closed, in various degrees, depending on the person. She was surprised to find out that there was an actual state where someone could have completely free-moving chi- everyone she had ever come into contact with had some sort of eddy in their energy, even if minute.

"I believe that someone may only be able to achieve this state with the guidance of either a Spirit itself or someone who has already reached it." Iroh mused. "Ty Lee, have you always been able to track chi?"

"As early as I can remember." She replied. "Although it's-" she paused. "It's seemed to gain even a bit more clarity since I have been with all of you."

"And you do not have completely opened chakras, either."

"No. I do meditate a lot, but I've never totally unblocked them."

"Hmm, so then maybe the 'sight' is not reliant on having the chakras open, although I'm sure I have heard that opening them sometimes gives the sight . . ."

When that conversation was exhausted, Ty Lee and Aang began trading stories about different animals they had seen.

"Penguins are lots of fun!" he told her. "And they're a lot more tame than some things I've tried to ride." He laughed. "Like the Unagi."

Ty Lee gasped, "The Unagi? I thought that was just a myth."

"Oh, no, trust me, it's quite real. And-" He looked up to the sky. "You said you've seen lemurbats before?"

"Yeah, lots."

"There was this pirate who tried to get me to trade for Momo. I guess I didn't really think about the fact that he knew what he was."

l

"I've never seen such a fine specimen of lemur. That beast would fetch me a hefty sum."

l

"I hope there are bison left, too," he whispered sorrowfully.

"I'm sure there are! We'll look for them one day." She reassured as she flipped forward to walk on her hands. Wanting to distract him from his sudden downturn in mood, she said, "I think the most beautiful animal back at the circus is probably our ligerdillo."

"You mean a tigerdillo?" Aang asked.

"No, see, he's a cross between a tigerdillo and an armadillo-lion."

"Oh, wow. I didn't know that could happen."

"They all spend so much time in the water. Snoozles, Queeny, and Twinkles." Toph griped to Zuko. She had not moved from her place and he was sitting across from her. "I hate being around the stuff. Any time I don't have completely solid ground under my feet-" She tapped one of her heels on the grass.

"Oh, well, I can't say I'm completely at home in water either," the firebender replied. "And I don't know if sailing for all that time and fighting against the sea has improved my relationship with the element at all." he muttered sarcastically.

She laughed. "Yeah, I'd hate going on a boat."

"But I can't argue with the fish they always bring back," she said after a pause. "I do love fish. Granted, I wouldn't refuse some pan-seared garlic-topped filet with roasted peppers," the heiress finished.

"It's been a while since I was served a meal like that," the prince replied wistfully.

"But I don't mind it so much." Toph said. "There's a kind of- it kind of tastes better sometimes, that it's fresh from the river."

Zuko hummed and nodded thoughtfully.

"And it's definitely worth being rid of all the hovering attendants."

The scarred teen raised his single eyebrow. "Attendants?"

He appraised the casually positioned girl with new attention. Her posture said nothing of a high-class upbringing. Certainly the outfit she wore wasn't representative of nobility? He didn't know Earth Kingdom styles thoroughly- the garments were as diverse as the people themselves- but now that he thought about it, her clothes did look higher quality than most of the citizens he had encountered. And she did have the pearly pale skin of someone who definitely hadn't known labor.

"Yeah, I like being outside," She was replying to his query. "Having my own space, with no one breathing down my neck."

"I spent my whole life alone, holed up in a house that was more of a prison than a home." She had said to him.

Zuko tilted his head upwards, following her 'gaze,' as he remembered how much he liked to sneak out of the palace when he was young. He had had a fox-lynx when he was very little, and he would bring it outside, having shed his best clothes and adjusted his hair so no one would recognize him.

l

"I used to be a lot like him once. A lot like you." he had said to Aang.

More carefree. More joyful.

l

Toph returned to her original train of thought. "And I'm impressed that these guys know so much about surviving, I mean, if left on my own, I'd just have to get food by earning money."

"Yeah, they do know a lot . . ." The Fire Nation noble thought about his induction to the humble refugee lifestyle with a frown. He had been so frustrated back then, not knowing what to do, how to make the wilderness work for him. He was- to use a bad pun- like a fish out of water. But the watertribe siblings and the nomad seemed to coax the most unexpected things out of the surrounding landscape- spitted badger-raccoons, succulent fish, pungent flavored grasses, thick tubers . . .

"See these long trains of leaves, right here, with the diamond shape?" Aang pulled at a thin vine. "If you strip off the tough ends like this, they're really good in stews."

"Oh, okay." Ty Lee watched him carefully. "Hey Aang, have you thought about giving the ostrich horse a name?"

"Besides Slowpoke?" Aang teased. The animal was magnitudes slower than Appa.

He finished removing the stems of the leaves and began to stuff them into a pouch.

Zuko ran his hand through his hair in agitation. Had he possessed half of their skills, maybe he and the ostrich horse wouldn't have been starving, and before that he wouldn't have . . .

"Whoa, Lizard, your pulse just went crazy. You alright?"

"I'm fine."

She turned her head towards him, useless though the motion was. "No you're not. What's the matter?"

"It's nothing."

She sat up and smirked. "Am I going to have to throttle it out of you? Just tell me."

He stood. "I said it's nothing." he mumbled, turning to walk away, to where precisely he didn't know, but-

An earthwall rose up to block him. She was not going to lose this battle of wills. "Come on, stop being so-"

Zuko spun on her and snapped, "It's none of your business what I've done, okay?"

Toph frowned.

She stomped towards him and raised herself up on an earth column to bring her sightless face up to his level. "Listen," she poked him in the chest, "I sat through the Twinkle-Queen rendition of all your little adventures- of what you've done." she said, reminding him of the stories the two had told back at the town where they had stopped for Zuko. "You attacked them several times. You threatened people. You did some damage. But despite all that, you're still here with us, aren't you? I can tell that whatever this is, you obviously feel bad about it. I'm not going to judge. So just tell me."

A moment passed before he answered her. "You know why we're going to Onto, right?"

"To return the ostrich-horse you stole."

"Yeah. And I stole a lot of other things too, okay? Things that I can't give back because they're lost or used up or whatever. Not to mention I don't even know the people I stole all of it from-" he threw his hands up in exasperation. "I just didn't- I just didn't- know what to do with myself after we were marooned at the North Pole. I didn't have any of the knowledge all of them have."

l

Iroh had told him, "To be honest with you, the best tea tastes delicious whether it comes in a porcelain pot or a tin cup. I know we've had some difficult times lately. We've had to struggle just to get by. But it's nothing to be ashamed of. There is a simple honor in poverty."

l

"And that's when I left my uncle." Zuko continued quietly.

Toph listened to him carefully.

l

"So where is your nephew?" she had asked Iroh as they drank their tea.

"I've been tracking him, actually."

"Is he lost?"

"Yes, a little bit. His life has recently changed and he's going through very difficult times . . . he ran away . . . I know he doesn't want me around right now. But, if he needs me, I'll be there."

l

So this is what he had been talking about.

"I stole all of those things, and when he tried to stop me, I left him. I thought I needed to be on my own. To find my own way." Zuko said.

l

"He's trying to figure out who he is . . ." Iroh said.

l

"I'm here because when I left, I was trying to remember who I was." Zuko had told the townspeople. "I told you all that I was prince of the Fire Nation. Heir to the throne. And maybe I am."

"But that's not all of who I am. I am a refugee. I am someone who is weary of seeing what the Fire Nation has done to this country . . ."

"It was really sad-" Aang said solemnly, "they had Flopsie- he's King Bumi's gorilla goat- they had him chained up to this big wheel and he looked kind of underfed to me."

"Oh." Ty Lee sighed.

"But I got him out."

"Well, you know your uncle's not mad at you." Toph said, lowering herself and the confining wall behind him. She sat back down and patted the ground next to her in an indication for him to join her again.

Zuko smiled faintly. "Yeah, I do." She had no idea. It was very obvious there was no anger in the Master's fire that had brushed over his hand. The very reminder he had gotten earlier during the lesson had probably triggered his guilt over leaving his uncle.

"And you can't do anything about all of that stuff, now, Dragonboy." Toph dismissed his thievery. She lay back down and folded her hands behind her head once again after he had re-joined her on the ground. "You just have to focus on what you can do."

Zuko's face fell. "The girl we- I- stole him from was really nice to us." He said sullenly. "And I don't know how she's going to take our coming back. She'll probably be angry."

"Listen, the important thing is you are bringing it back. And maybe she'll hate your guts." She made a careless motion with her hand. "But at least you'll have returned it." She snorted. "Great Mahimata, what with all your fuss, you'd think you had killed a man or something. You need to lighten up. Take a page out of the Twinkles book."

"Oh, and have you ever seen singing groundhogs?" The first Twinkle asked eagerly.

"No!" The second Twinkle grinned. "But that would be a great circus act!"

At her comment, Zuko did manage a small, close-mouthed chuckle. "Which one?"

She smiled back. "Either." She shrugged. "Both."

Chapter Text

"I'm just glad we finally have another girl in the group because you two are disgusting." –Katara, Book 2, Chapter 8: The Chase

The Gaang was finally standing on the outskirts of Onto. They had flown (and Aang had ridden) for nearly a month since picking up the three newest members. They had first crossed the Waybe River, which, if Ty Lee had remembered, was the mid-continent river that the fleeing citizens of Omashu had to cross to escape their pursuers. After they had cleared the next east-to-west flowing river, they could begin to follow along the north-south running river that Onto would be adjacent to. It was part of the waterway that traveled all the way from the Northern Sea, through two lakes separated by the Serpent's Pass, and down into Chameleon Bay, bisecting the Earth Kingdom continent.

They had skirted Gaipan, the village Jet had attempted to flood, and to their horror, the Freedom Fighter's camp was now utterly destroyed. Several trees were sawed off and bits of charred wreckage of the once-beautiful and expertly balanced tree houses littered the forest floor. Would they ever find out what happened to the band? Was there anything left to find?

Katara had been in a state of restlessness for nearly a week after that. The memory and uncertainly nagged at her. Were her last words to him the permanent last?

l

"Jet, you monster!"

l

As a result, she had clashed with Toph a lot more than usual. Small things the girl did became increasingly aggravating. She was a little more composed now, though.

After Gaipan they had pushed along reluctantly and glimpsed the Ruins of Taku, nestled among the low mountains to the west, where Aang had sought out the help of the herbalist and returned to the Water Tribe siblings with frozen frogs.

Onto itself was composed of a dense marketplace located right on the river, but the rest of the town branched out into the outlying fields, so though it was fairly spread out geographically, its population wasn't overly large. Iroh, Zuko and Aang planned to take Appa to search out the small pocket of houses where Song resided, while the others went to the main part of the city.

"So." Sokka clapped his hands together as he talked to Iroh. "I guess we're going to split up, right? You and Aang and Angry Boy here can go take Fluffy back to whoever, and Ty Lee, Katara, and I are going to go find some jobs to work while we're here. I figure we're okay for, say, -three or four days?- before we need to move on again. Toph, since you are still training Aang you should go with-"

"Actually," Katara interrupted, "Iroh told me there's a pretty nice public bath in town. Ty Lee and I were talking about going before we go to look for a seamstress' place to work. Would you like to come, Toph?"

Toph frowned slightly at the waterbender, likely leery of a veiled insult given the past few days. "I don't think so. I'm not that into scrubbing, thanks. If you want to get all fancy, then don't drag me into it."

"Are you sure?" Ty Lee asked.

"Yes." Toph repeated, irritation clearly surfacing.

Katara pouted mockingly. "Well then, Little Miss Traildust-"

"Hey, remember that this earthbender controls your bathing curtains!" Toph retorted.

Toph would often section off lakes with rock walls so that the respective members of the group had privacy.

"But wouldn't it be good to get an actual-" Katara stopped short. "Wait a second, if you see through the ground . . ."

There was a long, awkward pause.

"Yes?" Toph said impatiently.

"C-can you . . .? While we're . . .?"

Toph snorted at her discomfort. "In case you haven't figured it out Queeny, peoples' vibrations are the same to me whether they have clothes on or not."

Everyone's faces went red and there were several uncomfortable coughs and shifts of weight.

"T-that is . . ." Katara stuttered.

"What?" Toph cut in, voice rising. "Strange? Weird? I'm a freak, right?"

"That's not what I was going to say!" Katara shouted defensively.

Ty Lee stepped between them. "Guys, calm down. And Toph, I know what you mean."

The awkwardness in the next stretch of silence was even more pronounced this time.

"Whatever." Toph said finally, not accepting the metaphorical olive branch. "Otherworld forbid there be a girl who doesn't feel like getting dolled up. So weird, right? You two pussy-peacocks can go preen. Call me when you feel like doing something that's actually useful!" She stomped the ground, sending everyone wobbling.

"Fine, then! Sheesh. Arrrrgh." Katara threw her hands over her head. "We were just trying to be nice! Come on Ty Lee. Sokka."

The two in question followed the irate girl hesitantly.

"I like that place." Ty Lee pointed to a quaint-looking shop. A dreamcatcher sporting red, green, yellow, and blue iguana-parrot feathers dangled next to a slightly crooked sign marking it as the working-place of a seamstress in scratchy, almost illegible letters.

"Oh yeah." Katara nodded. "That looks like a good place to get some outfits. Not too high-brow or mainstream- the owner might be flexible in discounting some clothes for you."

"And Katara, I think I'm definitely going to have to get something green. It really is a nice color." She poked playfully at the waterbender whose aura often bore the said color.

Katara pushed her hand away in good humor. "Didn't you say your sister Weici showed that color a lot too?"

"Mmmm hmmmm."

Sokka, who was walking a little ways ahead of the girls, tapped a nearby man on the shoulder. "Hey, is there a butcher who's looking for help anywhere around here?"

The man rubbed his chin. "Yeah, I think so. Four or five blocks over that way."

"Oh no." Sokka said.

"What? Isn't that good?" Katara asked, coming up next to him.

Sokka pointed. "Suki."

Indeed, two viridian-clad warriors were sidling their way through the marketplace, arms laden with goods. They weren't moving toward the trio, but Sokka nonetheless swiveled his head back and forth, as if he wanted to bolt out of view quickly. "Uuuummm. Why don't we-"

Katara grabbed his arm. "Hey, you gotta face her some time."

Sokka gave her a questioning look. "Y-you . . .?"

"Yes, I do know about you and Ty Lee, big brother." Katara said sardonically. They hadn't exactly announced it to the rest of the group.

"Y-you told . . .?" he began to Ty Lee.

"It's not exactly hard to tell, anyway, Sokka." Katara cut him off. "Now stop being a chicken-pig. Suki!" She called, waving to her and her companion. "Good to see you!"

The two warriors quickly spied them and changed direction.

"B-but I didn't t-tell-" Sokka's eyes darted to Ty Lee as his incoherency increased.

"Spirits, Sokka, you didn't tell her about Suki?" Katara said under her breath. "Ty Lee," she said into the acrobat's ear, "This girl kissed Sokka once. Promise me you won't flip out? No pun intended."

Ty Lee blinked. "Ummm. Okay."

"Katara! Sokka!" Suki smiled. "Hey! I don't know if you remember my second in command, Tacha." She nodded to her companion.

The other girl bowed as much as the wax-paper packages in her arms would allow.

"I think Sokka has something to tell you, Suki." Katara prodded her elbow into his ribs.

Sokka was beginning to look very much like an aquatic eel-fish that was floundering in open air. "Well see . . . I'm kinda involved with . . ." His eyes moved to the acrobat. "Ty Lee here."

Suki's face fell.

". . . you know Katara meant well." Iroh was finishing to the young earthbender as he steered Appa, scanning the landscape below.

"Yeah, yeah." She said dismissively.

"She was-"

"Look," Toph cut him off, "Do you have any idea how much my mom fussed over me being 'clean and presentable?' I'm not going to take it from her, too! I don't care if it was some obscure way of her trying to 'include' me in something!"

He sighed, reluctantly letting the matter drop.

"Ah! I do believe that's the place!" He exclaimed after a few minutes.

They descended and Iroh directed the bison several hundred yards short of the gathering of houses and pond that indicated their destination.

Aang, in the outfit he had gotten in Gaoling, came trotting up on the equine-avian. As Zuko, Iroh, and Toph got down from Appa, he vaulted off of the side of his own temporary mount and brought the reins over the long beak in order to lead him. He glanced around at the surrounding trees, which would conceal the giant bison. "Sometimes I really wish I could just fly Appa into towns like I used to, instead of having to hide him."

l

Twenty sky bison moved placidly through the abundantly clouded air. Three were much larger than the rest, marking the elder chaperones of the collection of nomads.

"Hey look!" One of the boys in front shouted. "We're here!"

Momentarily veiled by the cumulus cover, the conical layout of Omashu slipped into view. At the sight the bison calves were suddenly bucking and baying, sensing the excitement of their eager riders.

"I'll race you, Rinchen!" a bare-headed Aang called.

"You're on, Aang! Don't think that youngling can beat my trusty old steed." He said sarcastically. His bison was only two years older, but the difference was easy to spot.

Aang laughed at the hyperbole. "To the flag posts, then!"

At the top of one of the privately used mail shoots there were four flags that sported the insignia of noble houses. It was a well-known spot to all of the boys.

"1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . GO!"

At the exclamation several more than two peeled out. Everyone recognized the game. The last burst of energy in a long trip was the best part. The wind riffled through their clothes and their stomachs plummeted out from under them. The exhilaration never got old, no matter how many times they did it. Whoops and hollers sounded from all around.

Below, Earth Kingdom people paused in their daily tasks to behold the sight of the wingless beasts whizzing through the air, with the three larger ones trailing behind. Many waved enthusiastically in greeting. Children ran after them, laughing, chasing the shadows cast over the streets.

l

Zuko almost looked a little alarmed at the airbender's statement. "You know we can't advertise our presence-"

"Yeah, yeah." Aang said quickly. "I know why I can't." He shook his head, as if trying to rid himself of his century-old thoughts, and banish the fresh surge of grief. "That doesn't stop me from missing it, you know?"

Appa grumbled.

Aang frowned, obviously interpreting the bison's disgruntlement of being deprived of his rider. They were all each other had left of that time, after all. Maybe that was the reason he had been feeling rather down lately, too. The sight of the Freedom Fighters former headquarters certainly hadn't done anything to improve his mindset. One more group of people he had failed. At one new, simple, thought, however, he smiled hugely. "I'll be riding you again after today, buddy."

Appa let loose a louder cry and took two steps closer, spooking the ostrich horse. It squawked and yanked the reigns from the airbender's hand, coming to a stop a few yards away and promptly thrusting its head into the ground.

Aang chuckled, "Hey, don't take it out on him, Appa." He approached the animal slowly and patted it, trying to coax it back up. "We'll be back soon. Meanwhile me and Zuko are going to sport our matching hats." The boy gave an ornery wink and ran a forefinger and thumb proudly along the edge of his Earth style hat he was wearing.

"Hmp." Zuko snorted, unamused at the antics, as he dug his own hat out of Appa's saddle bag. "They don't exactly match, Aang."

"Whatever, they're the same style." Aang continued unabashedly. "And for the same purpose."

Both were wide-brimmed coolie hats, one that Zuko had worn since being marooned, and one that Aang had had since his visit to Toph's home town. Zuko's was plain, made of straw, and Aang's was painted with green stripes. Of the Gaang, Aang, Iroh, and Zuko were the ones with hefty prices on their heads, which could easily be sought after by Earth Kingdom people and Fire Nation people alike; gold knew no boundaries. Zuko and Aang were the most easily distinguishable. At Iroh's suggestion, Aang had gotten a long-sleeve shirt to go under his black and green outfit, to cover his arm tattoos. Zuko had gotten his hat to partially conceal his scar in the first place, and Aang's hat likewise covered his arrow.

As they had visited towns, the prince and his uncle had taken the time to point out to him just how low-key he needed to stay. Zuko even once mentioned that Sokka and Katara could stand to lose the uniquely-colored clothes that stood out so much, at which point Sokka put his foot down and refused to relinquish his heritage at the demand of some pompous Fire Nation boob.

The conversation about it had ended promptly after that.

"If you two ladies are done discussing fashion," Toph said lazily, "can we get a move on?"

"Sooooooo . . ." Ty Lee asked Suki, "You're from the South Pole?"

After a pause, Suki shook her head. "No. We're from Kyoshi Island. It is pretty far south, but it's part of the Earth Kingdom."

"Oh." Ty Lee gazed at her quizzically. "You have blue eyes, though."

Katara smiled a bit at both of them. This sounded promising. Civility would prevail.

"Wait, what?" Sokka said. "She has green eyes."

Suki scowled just slightly. "I do not."

Katara resisted the urge to slap a hand to her forehead. Why couldn't her brother just keep his big mouth shut?

Sokka apparently realized he had stepped into some hot water, too, because he swallowed.

They walked along, the prince, heiress, ex-general, and Avatar, as naturally as if they were simply ordinary travelers.

As they passed the medical building where Iroh had been treated and drew closer to the small house, Zuko stiffened gradually with apprehension.

"Relax, Lizard." Toph commented.

Song's mother was out on the porch, sweeping. When she heard the creak of her gate swinging open, she looked up and immediately her eyes went wide as she caught sight of Zuko and Iroh. She raised the broom horizontally to chest level, as if to defend herself.

Ty Lee put a hand to her chin. "Wait. Kyoshi. I've heard that name before."

"The island is named for one of Aang's past lives." Katara told her. "She was the most recent Avatar of the Earth Kingdom."

"And her fighting style-" Tacha carefully shifted what she was carrying and freed a hand to unfold one of her fans proudly, "is what we model ours after."

Ty Lee had unintentionally rescued her boyfriend with her musing. The obvious relief on Sokka's face as he released a held breath was now making Katara want to snicker.

"They're beautiful." Ty Lee smiled at the golden fan. But then she leaned forward and cocked her head curiously. "Fans . . . for an earthbender?"

"Yeah. Is there something wrong with that?" Suki raised an eyebrow.

Ty Lee paused for a moment. "Oh, no, I guess not." she pulled back and nodded. "It actually makes sense."

"Why?" Tacha asked.

"Well, earthbending is hard for Aang because it's his opposite, right?" Ty Lee asked Katara.

"Yeah."

"So Kyoshi probably had trouble learning her opposite, too," Ty Lee went on, "So she chose a weapon that would help her with airbending."

Even under her alabaster makeup, Suki somehow managed to turn brick red.

Katara would've bet everything she owned that Sokka would be the one to ruin this. But apparently not.

"Are you saying the creator of our island lacked bending skills?"

Ty Lee literally leapt backwards at the acidic words. "N-no, I-I-"

"That's not what she meant, Suki." Katara said seriously.

Suki took a breath and turned her glare to Katara for a minute before turning her lazer-sharp gaze back on Ty Lee.

She scanned her attire which matched Katara. "Are you from the North Pole, then?" she asked stiffly.

"I'm from the Fire Nation homeland. I've been in the colonies the past two years, though."

Suki and Tacha looked like they hadn't registered any bit of the second sentence.

Song's mother glanced around hurriedly at the neighboring houses, as if searching for some support. "I'm gonna start yellin' if you're not off my lawn by the time I count to ten!" She said vehemently to the intruders.

Song rushed to the door at the sound of her mother's panicked voice. "What is i-"

"Hey." Aang took off his hat, revealing his primary arrow. "They're here to return what they took. No need to-"

Song's eyes went wide this time. "The Avatar!"

"You what?" Tacha dropped everything. A loaf of bread spilled out of its wrappings, the string on other items holding up when they bounced off the ground; she fell into a stance and brought the fan she had already opened in front of her, eyeing the Fire Nation girl warily. "You guys are traveling with one of them?"

"And you-" Suki incredulous gaze shifted to Sokka. "You're with her?"

"Well, yeah, but she's not-"

"Are you even sure it's safe?" Tacha took a step backwards, bristling.

"Guys, guys," Katara made a calming gesture with her hands. "It's fine, really."

There was a long pause as the two Earth Kingdom warriors met each others' eyes. Tacha's look was questioning, waiting for orders, and Suki's was indecisive as she looked from her subordinate to the three people and back. "And Aang has OKed this?" Suki asked tentatively.

"Yes. Yes he has." Katara said quickly.

"Well . . . I guess we have to trust the Avatar's judgment." Suki nodded slightly to Tacha.

The other girl reluctantly stowed her weapon and began to collect what she had dropped. She muttered something about eating the bread that had gotten dust on it herself.

"Don't be silly." Suki shook her head. Her gaze fell on Ty Lee as she continued absently, "It was an accident. A little dirt never hurt anyone, anyway." Her stare didn't quite match her placating words.

Katara reprehended herself silently as she noted the reactions. She hadn't even thought of the difficulty with the acrobat's nationality. The two girls had no doubt spent a long time picking up and patching up the burned mess Zuko had left behind on Kyoshi. And who knew if they had fought anyone between then and now?

Song threw open the door in excitement and rushed out towards Aang, but her mother caught her arm. "Wait a second! Be careful, Song." She frowned at Iroh.

Aang, not liking the way this was going, indicated the equine-avian, and asked, "So, where should I put him, miss?" His foreboding only increased when the woman didn't acknowledge him.

She hadn't taken her eyes off the ex-general. "We know who you two are, now."

"S-so Suki, what are you doing here?" Katara asked, trying to pick the conversation back up.

"We're escorting some refugees to Ba Sing Se. In fact, we have to be going; we're leaving today." Suki replied, a little too briskly to be polite. She glanced to Sokka one more time, and without saying goodbye, jerkily motioned for Tacha to follow.

Sokka turned to his sister accusingly as soon as they slipped out of sight. "Great. Just great, Katara. Now she hates me."

"She doesn't hate you-" Katara started-

"I'm sorry." Ty Lee mumbled. "Yunru always said I never thought before I talked."

"From what you've told me, your sister wasn't very nice to you." Katara said at the mention of the name. "Listen, it's O.K.," she in a loving but condescending tone, beginning a gentle lecture. "Maybe we just shouldn't be telling people where you're from, all right?"

The acrobat bowed her head bashfully, accepting the patronizing easily. "I'm sorry." She repeated.

Katara laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It's not your fault."

Sokka pinched the bridge of his nose. "No," he said sarcastically to his sister, "It's yours."

Katara gave him an, 'are-you-really-going-to-pull-that' look.

He rolled his eyes. "I'm going to go find the butcher. If I'm lucky, he won't mind adding some dark meat to his stock." He drew an index finger over his own tan neck in a slicing motion.

Ty Lee went almost as white as the Kyoshi Warriors' painted faces.

"That's sarcasm, sweetie," Katara told her quickly, shaking the stricken girl's shoulder a little. "Just sarcasm."

"Song, go back in the house." The woman instructed sternly.

"I won't leave you here with them." She replied quietly.

"Let the boy go." The woman said, clearly addressing Iroh.

"What?"

"I don't know what kind of trick this is, but you'll let the Avatar go, or I'm going to raise hell." She turned to Aang and brandished the broom. "Run."

Aang carefully led his mount forward and tied its reins to the sidepost of the porch. "I'm here of my own will, miss, and they're here with me."

"Man, what did you guys do to them?" Toph muttered under her breath to Zuko.

"It's not what we did, it's who we are." He muttered back.

"I'm afraid it is what we have done, nephew. Or rather, I." Iroh supplied gravely.

"Stop whispering to each other!" She pulled out several fliers that were tucked in her pocket. "What, may I ask, is the Avatar doing with the Dragon of the West?"

"He's my sifu, actually." Aang responded. "And my friend." He added.

"Your friend." The woman repeated sneeringly. "Hm."

"So is this what I have to deal with?" The woman went on, "A foreign power play going on right in my sleepy little neighborhood? The brother of the Fire Lord strikes a deal with the mightiest person on earth to gain back his stolen title. And you even have him convinced that you're his friend. Well played, Reptile, well played. After you failed to fell a city of cowardly refugee squatters you turn your sights on something a bit more ambitious, I see."

"Hey!" Toph suddenly interjected, "You know what, lady? We're not a bunch of naive little kids. We know what's what."

For the first time she really fixed her gaze on the small earthbender. "And you are . . .?"

"I'm Toph Bei Fong. And I'm getting sick of this whole ringer thing. If you don't want us here, we'll just leave the stupid smelly bird-horse and go."

Back at the public bath, Katara and Ty Lee had finished their showers and were wrapped in towels, sitting together and wringing out their hair. At their feet was a large but shallow pool of warm water. The employees and helpers had told them that sometimes travelers simply came in to soothe their feet this way. Katara had commented that she was glad they had means of transportation other than walking.

Behind them, a shelved wall was radiating dry heat by means of several wood fires burning in each slot. Only about a third of them were in use, however. The demand didn't fill all the spaces until the temperatures of winter rolled around.

"You and Toph generate a lot of negative energy, you know." Ty Lee was saying.

Katara sighed in exasperation. "She really is an incredible bender. Really. But that shouldn't mean that she gets to be a jerk all the time. And is it too much to ask for her not to pick her nose –or her toes!- in front of us?"

"Well . . ." Ty Lee swirled the tips of her fingers around in the water a bit. "My sister Meili was always trying to get us to behave perfectly and be fine ladies and all of that. But, at least with Yunru- the harder she pushed, the more she seemed to push back, you know?"

Katara rolled her eyes.

"I mean, I didn't like most of the workers at the circus at first because they all stayed really grimy." The girl delicately wrinkled her nose. "Not the other performers, but the guys who set up the tents and stuff. But after a while it didn't seem so bad. I even made friends with Poshu, before he left."

"Bei Fong? The Bei Fongs?" Song asked.

"Gaoling, the whole sha-bang." Toph replied sourly.

"What are you doing this far north? And with no escort?" The woman cocked a disbelieving eyebrow. "How-"

"I'm watching an animal being handed off to a couple of ungrateful rubes, is what." The heiress cut her off.

"Toph-" Iroh reprimanded.

"No, Iroh." Toph, using his real name and not her usual affectionate moniker, "Sokka put you through this kind of questioning when you joined us. And we believe you. If they can't, then we just have to move on and forget about it."

"Twinkles, you and I have earthbending to work on, and I'm sure the two Sizzles here can find something better to do than be yelled at. So hop to it."

Aang looked back at the two women sadly before replacing his hat and following his second sifu's request.

The woman implored to his back, "Please understand I mean no disrespect to you, Avatar. You have already done a world of good. We have heard the stories of the Siege of the North. You are a hero." She stated glowingly. "Trade here has flourished since then, without so much interference from the Fire Navy." She paused. "Even if this whole town goes up in flame later for my insolence . . . It would be worth becoming a refugee again, and having to search out another place we can freely offer our services to the cause . . . if you realize what you're doing. Keep your eye on the Dragon." She warned.

Aang didn't turn around.

"We won't tell anyone you're here, though." Song added softly. "And thank you." She laid a hand on the ostrich-horse's neck.

The four moved away, back through the gate, and started down the path again, led by the smallest, impetuous member.

Katara suddenly looked over to Ty Lee with a searching expression. "You know, I really . . . I mean, . . . can you tell if she misses her parents?"

"A Bei Fong?" the Fire Nation prince echoed incredulously as they stepped. "You're a Bei Fong? And we weren't informed of this 'till now, because . . .?"

"You didn't ask." Toph answered bluntly.

"How did you come to be here, then, Toph?" Iroh asked curiously.

"Why does it matter?" She deflected his question.

"You're from one of the wealthiest families in the Earth Kingdom, with one of the few intact spheres of influence independent from the Fire Nation."

"Yeah, my folks would like to think of themselves as royalty, like the king in Omashu, or that Fong guy in the west." Toph said sullenly.

"General Fong is royalty?" Aang asked.

"Not strictly speaking." Iroh said.

"If he had enough of a big head people would call him King in a heartbeat." Toph continued. "Since the King of Ba Sing Se withdrew its outside support for the war almost twenty years ago. I mean, think of what all those people could do to turn the tide. That's one thing I have to agree with the old windbag back there on." Toph snorted. "Cowardly refugee squatters . . . couldn't have put it better myself."

"The Kingdom has always been fragmented and hard to rally." Iroh pointed out.

"The Gan Jin and the Zhang wouldn't even unite to fight us." Zuko added.

"You guys know about those two clans?" Aang asked in surprise.

"Had a run-in with them, yeah." The prince said sarcastically.

"We helped them cross the Great Divide. They're working together now." Aang nodded proudly.

"But there are clans like that all over." Toph butted back in. "That won't get along. They each pick rulers that suit them best, too."

"As with Fong, you will find that the People of the Earth are much more concerned at this point in efficacy of leaders rather than bloodlines." Iroh agreed.

"They were always that way, though, weren't they?" Aang mused. "Bumi wasn't a prince when I knew him. He was just an average guy. He must have simply been the best leader they had, and got promoted."

"Kind of haphazard way to run things, if you ask me." Zuko observed.

"Oh, yes, because blindly following a psychotic tyrant just because he's descended from some 'super special' family-" She stopped suddenly, as if she realized what she was saying. "Sorry, Dragon, Lizard. Didn't mean it that way."

Neither replied for a moment.

"It is clearly a mix of the two with the Bei Fongs." Iroh said finally. "They were born with money, but they have used it well. The militia they have raised has kept Gaoling out of trouble."

"Oh yeah, they're just the People of the Century." Toph grumbled under her breath, hardly audible to the others.

"You do realize that was a compliment?" Zuko asked.

She rounded to face him. Or rather, to square her body with his. "Just because I insult your family doesn't reflect on you, and just because you praise them doesn't have anything to do with me, okay?" She yelled. "We're both separate people from them!"

She suddenly bent her knees and the ground dipped and gave way under her, then, like rubber, snapped back up and sped her away following the long strides of her legs, leaving the three males staring after her.

"What did I say?" Zuko asked, mystified.

"The place you use bending-" Ty Lee pressed her hand to her own back. "She gets a lot of collected energy there."

"The Water chakra? So she's guilty for tricking them?" Katara asked.

She shrugged. "Like I told Sokka once, I can't read people's specific thoughts."

"That's probably what it is." Katara said quietly. She adjusted her towel and leaned back on her hands. "So, you and my brother, huh?" She asked casually at the mention of his name.

"Yeah." Ty Lee smiled.

"Iroh probably knows. Toph, too. I'm not sure about Zuko. The only one who probably doesn't have any idea is Aang." She laughed lightly. "So has the thickhead actually learned any chi blocking, or have you two been too distracted?" Katara leaned in teasingly.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Ty Lee responded, almost whining, but completely honest. "We have been working. But it's hard! Weici tried at it for months and months but she never did get the hang of it."

Katara shouldered a tone that made her sound a little more like the parent she often acted like. "I've noticed Sokka's really tired lately- as if he's been missing sleep," she said pointedly as she raised an inquiring eyebrow.

Ty Lee flushed brilliantly at the insinuation. "I-It's nothing like that, Katara! I have nightmares s-sometimes and he-"

"Nightmares?" Her eyebrows furrowed now.

"Y-yeah. Well," Ty Lee ran her fingers nervously through her hair. "See, I'm just really scared of fire . . . well, more than usual lately . . . I have bad dreams about it. Sometimes Sokka wakes up at night and stays up with me." A faint smile flitted across the acrobat's lips for a second. "But we're not- y'know doing that." Her flush returned full force.

"I believe you. It's him and his thick head I'm not sure I trust. Don't let him push you around, 'K?"

Ty Lee nodded.

"And I can always smack a little sense into him if you need me to." She winked.

The three firebenders reached Appa again, but the earthbender was nowhere to be seen.

"Zuko, can you drill with Aang?" Iroh asked his nephew.

The prince nodded.

Iroh clasped his hands behind his back and strolled away, whistling "Four Seasons" nonchalantly to himself. Most of the terrain was at a forty-five degree angle, but there were flat paths cutting through regularly. He meandered along, up two switchbacks. But then he ran across a place where the trail had been thoroughly washed out. He looked it up and down for a moment, then proceeded to climb down the steep depression. He stumbled a bit and loose stones cascaded down after being disturbed.

"You're going to kill yourself, you know."

A large solid slab of rock extended just below him and he stepped down to it.

Smiling, he looked back up to where he had turned off. "Ah, but then that's how life works. You can't always depend on the clear road to be there."

The little girl crossed her arms and shook her head. "Don't get all expansive on me, Dragon. You just came out here to nag me about the way I was acting, didn't you?"

Iroh sat on the constructed ledge, facing away from her. "No."

He didn't say anything else, and for a minute the girl stood there, and then turned and took a few steps away. But then she paused, turned again, and stood for another few minutes.

"I do, however, infer that since you came to me, and are not leaving, you wish to talk about something." Iroh said passively.

"Oh, you're devious." Despite herself, Toph smiled a bit.

She lowered herself easily, skating down the hill.

"They're good people." She said simply.

"Your parents."

"Yeah."

"Aang gave me and my nephew a brief synopsis of how he met you." Iroh told her. "It must have been quite a feat, keeping you a secret."

"You have no idea." Toph said sadly. "The amount of bribes that had to cover all the guards, all the servants, all the doctors that they pushed into constantly checking me. It probably wouldn't have even worked, either, if they didn't have the kind of power to easily jail people if they felt like it."

"The proverbial donkey-emu." Iroh replied. "A rewarding carrot in front and a punishing stick behind."

"When you guys were prying about them . . . and talking about them . . . I guess . . ." She sat down and tucked her legs up under her. "It was like, in my mind, you all were saying over and over again, 'How could you have done that to them?' I just threw everything they did away. They would have been better off using that money to support Gaoling's defense."

Iroh only nodded.

"I understand why they did it. They're known all over. By allies. And enemies." She gave a weak snort. "Not that you and Lizard are enemies, but the fact you two- royalty- even recognize my family's name . . ." She shook her head. "We're in a war, after all." Her voice broke slightly. "C-can you imagine the r-ransom they'd pay for me?"

"So what about you?" Katara asked Ty Lee. "Do you miss your family?"

"Yeah, a little."

"Toph had a fight with her parents before she left. I guess you patched things up though, since you said you'd visited them once since you went to the circus, right?"

"Not exactly . . . " Ty Lee sighed as she looked down. "Well . . . it's just, things have never been that easy with my parents. For any of us."

l

A cry of a newborn infant rang through the halls of the Fire Nation manor in the Unshiri Provence.

The mother, propped up on cushions in a lavish red-curtained bed, cradled the tiny newcomer with a great deal of anxiety. "Shhhh, Jia, shhhh . . ."

The four nursemaids around her, too, were on edge and they fiddled with the corners of their aprons, muttering to one another fearfully.

It had been a harrowing delivery. The child, however, was healthy and lively, looking around with gradually open silver eyes as its cries tapered off into sniffs. The woman looked very exhausted, but she would be perfectly fine, with a few days rest.

So this wasn't the source of their distress.

". . . I'm sorry, sir." One of the maids was saying. "But she really shouldn't have any more. As you know, she passed the proper age several years ago-"

"Of course not . . . But- A SEVENTH?" If the man were a firebender, he would have been gushing the element in frustration and desperation. "A SEVENTH? Not a single son! How COULD this even-" he continued to rant until the baby began to cry again at full volume.

Six more sets of silver eyes were peeking through the heavy oak door to the room that was cracked open. They had come to see their new sibling. The second elder of the group, with half of her hair pulled back in a topknot, began to talk insistently and reassuringly to the others. "Come on, come on now." She tugged at shirtsleeves, and pressed gently between shoulder blades, shooing all of the smaller girls away. "We'll get to see her later, okay? It's going to be all right. Meili? You should come too."

The tallest girl had remained at the doorway, a distant look fixed into the room. "Father doesn't mean to be angry," she said timidly. After a pause, she obeyed the request and plodded up to her. "Weici, you know that, right?"

Weici gave a slight nod.

Another girl darted around the shepherding arms and took up the place Meili had vacated. "I'm not going anywhere, Wei."

"Yunru . . .?" Meili blinked questioningly down at her, trying to smile as she sidled away. "That's r-right. He'll be b-back to himself in no t-time-"

"Shut up, Meili!" The child said abruptly, and all the others winced in surprise. She seemed to enjoy their startled reactions, commanding the attention of the space. "Don't be a baby. You're the oldest, for crying's sake." She thrust her chin up at the gaggle of her sisters, "He doesn't scare me."

"Yunru, there's nothing to be scared of." Meili chided, "And don't be so rude-"

"You're not the boss of me."

Meili opened her mouth to respond-

"Meili, just leave it." Weici cut into the bickering. She resumed murmuring comfortingly and steering the remaining three away from the noise of the little wail that didn't quite cover up the masculine voice coming from the room.

" . . . we've been trying for all this time! By AGNI, think of what we're going to pay in dowries? And no one to continue the family name! What are the odds of having so many girls in a row? . . . "

l

As Ty Lee spoke in hushed tones the water in the bath began to steam and slosh around the waterbender's ankles. "So you were just . . . one less dowry for them to shell out. They were only too glad to disown you when you left." She paused and unclenched her fingers, and the water gradually stilled, but her phrases were far from steady. "Never— Don't ever for one second think— . . . Ty Lee, look—look at me."

The other girl raised her morose silver eyes to her fierce cerulean ones.

"Don't ever for one second think that's even remotely true," she finally managed to say. "You aren't just another dau- . . . My gran-gran, she was fed up with expectations and constraints too, and she left her home. It took a lot of courage for her to do what she did, and I see a courageous girl in front of me, too."

She opened her arms. "Come here." The acrobat leaned into the hug gladly.

When the waterbender could finally speak again her words were soft. "They don't know what they lost, Ty."

"I know they must be worried sick about me."

"I'm sure they are."

Toph scooped a handful of the hard-packed earth as easily as someone else would a handful of rice, and split it once, again, and another time. "But I meant what I said to them. I love fighting. I love earthbending."

Iroh hummed speculatively. "You use the two terms as if they were synonymous."

"Huh?"

"Fighting. And earthbending. Your relationship to the earth is by no means limited to the way you use it in combat. It is much deeper and richer than that."

The girl tilted her head noncommittally. "I guess . . ."

"It is used in amazing ways. I have seen benders, who could read the soil- knew it so well that they could say which plants would flourish in a given plot, and grow five times the amount of crop than any guesswork could manage."

"Where? When did you see them?" The girl asked curiously.

"Ah, well, I was traveling incognito, just landed off the coast of-"

Suddenly she sat up ram-rod straight. "You're lying." She said in absolute disbelief.

"W-what?"

She set down the earth she had been fiddling with. "I can tell when someone lies. Your pulse quickens. Your energy goes to your neck."

"Of course." Iroh whispered. "The Truth chakra."

She turned her ear toward him expectantly. "Well, are you going to tell me the actual story, then?"

Iroh rubbed at his temple nervously. "As prince I was obligated to visit and evaluate colonies, and-"

"And what?" she prompted when he stopped.

"Many places, earthbenders are captured and imprisoned. And their talents are sometimes left to fallow. But other times . . . they're . . . enslaved. Let's just say that these particular benders did not possess prowess in fighting, and had to endure much-" he pressed his lips together- "physical abuse. They might have died without the merit of those skills. But depending on who you talk to, a life serving up resources to alien people might be worse."

She scooped another section of earth of it and began to work it apart again. "They weren't women, by any chance, were they?"

His heartbeat gave him away to Toph. His accompanying deep grimace would have sufficed for anyone else.

"You know I don't like it when people want to protect me from things." She said solemnly. Even if those things were ideas he wanted to keep from a twelve-year-old. "If my folks had had it their way, I wouldn't know anything about what was going on outside our little province, outside the house, even. But with hearing like mine, you pick up on things pretty quick."

"Back then, I was simply absorbed in checking over quotas." Iroh whispered dolefully. "My past casts a long shadow." He gaze fell in the direction they had come from, where they had left Song and her mother. "She was absolutely justified in her cautious attitude."

"I know." She gave a small sigh. "But that didn't make it any less annoying."

"And I didn't mean to deceive you, Toph . . . I just . . ."

"It's fine, Dragon." She turned so he could see her reassuring and forgiving smile. She was done dragging him over coals. "So, um, were you going to tell me anything else? About earthbending, I mean?"

"Ah," he cleared his throat noisily, and he resumed his former volume, seeming to greatly appreciate in moving on as he picked his tack back up. "It is used to create. You have not been to Omashu, nor Ba Sing Se, nor the Air Temples. Somehow I think that you would be able to appreciate their construction in a more intimate way than anyone else . . . I believe experiences you need are out there."

Toph spun small pieces of dirt around her outstretched fingers in endlessly varying paths, creases appearing at the top of her nose. She collected them all together into her palms. "So . . . what I did was right?"

"I can't think of anything else worthier than setting out to do your part in this conflict." He said gently. "But . . . I would ask you . . . you were very celebrated as the Blind Bandit . . . but I want to make very sure you realize that what you're proposing to get involved with . . ." the ex-general took a pregnant pause, full of decades of military experience, ". . . isn't match fighting. There is very real danger."

Abruptly she closed her fists, vehemently crushing what was left of her project to a fine dust. "So now you're telling me I'm not good enough? That I'm like those women- who probably didn't get to train because they were told that their place was out in the fields, not on the front lines!"

Iroh's mouth hung slightly open after her tirade, golden eyes blinking rapidly. "That's . . . not . . . what I meant at all. I only say that because . . ." He trailed off. "Because I lost a child to the war."

Suddenly she regretted her sharp tongue. "Dragon, I'm s-sorry- it's just . . . there's only so much 'you're a defenseless blind girl' you can take before it starts to-"

"Before it starts to worm its way into your perception of others' intentions?" He finished. "It's all right."

She slowly brushed her hands clean of the powder.

"I always fear that . . ." he was whispering again. " . . . that I did not adequately prepare him. And that the confidence I gave him was his undoing."

There was another beat before she responded. "So I shouldn't just charge in blindly." The blind child punned quietly.

He gave the tiniest of smiles.

Chapter Text

Previously . . .

"'. . . I've navigated the sea for nearly forty years. I've watched it take out some of our best, even before the Ocean Spirit went on his little rampage in the North- and I had to go through that, too . . . Ships smashed like they were paper . . .'"

"I swear, I could feel angry energy coming from the sea. From nearly a hundred miles inland. It was the scariest, weirdest thing ever. I slept in Rila's room for a week after that."

"Funny, what invisible strings connect us all." –Guru Pathik

Aang caught a glimpse of Iroh and Toph winding their way back down the hill as he trained with Zuko. They were still a good ways away, making elaborate hand gestures, looking like they were discussing something pretty intently.

He returned his focus to his current kick and after a few more minutes, he finished off a form and observed to the prince, "You know, after earthbending, firebending is almost easy. It's like it's familiar." He spread his feet far apart and sprang with an airbending-enhanced touch-off, repeating the fire form ten feet higher, landing in exactly the same position. "I need a wide stance, yeah, but once I get that, I can still leap like I usually would." Firebending was the next most aerial style, he had found out quickly.

Although it might seem that airbenders have a 'higher' lung 'capacity' than average, when Aang used his enhanced blowing technique, what was actually happening was additional air from behind him was following the path his breath made. The breath was still the single source of control- and it had been relatively simple for Aang to tweak this for fire production. A few times he had even ended up airbending and firebending at the same time- and had to work to separate them to get the full effect of the fire.

"And they both rely heavily on breath, too." Zuko agreed.

"-not on the muscles." A new voice finished.

Iroh and Toph had reached them.

"But then again, even earthbending isn't that reliant on strength." The small girl said. "After all, I didn't whip you into shape in one day, did I Twinkle-Toes? The main thing is that you had to change the way you were thinking."

Aang raised an eyebrow. "True."

"Earthbending, although it is the most physical of the disciplines, is still governed by energy." Iroh nodded. "For example, waterbenders take control of their element in turns, often using the same material for a return attack that was directed at them in the first place. In fact, half of the fight can be determined by who can push the other's energy out quicker. This usually proves too cumbersome for earthbenders."

"Trying to slow down or redirect something that has so much of its own momentum is counterproductive." Toph shook her head. "But that doesn't mean it can't be done." She stomped, raising a boulder. She pointed, making a natural marker a few yards away. "Go there, Twinkles."

Aang obediently trotted over.

"Now, try to push it to me." She backtracked several steps.

He extended his hands towards it, tensing, and it stayed floating between them.

A few minutes passed as she lazily stood, with one hand thwarting his attempt.

Then she sank into a stance herself and it began to drift towards him, even as he was obviously resisting.

"Come on, Twinkles. You have to get completely into it."

Aang slid a foot back and straightened his spine. "Focus."

"Right."

A few times it moved towards her, but overall it ended up a foot from him.

"That will get better with practice." Toph said. "Iroh and I were comparing notes- and he suggested this exercise to deepen your feel of earth, even though it's not very useful as a fighting technique."

"Don't be so hasty, Toph." Iroh admonished. "There is no rule that says that's so. And it is always helpful to understand the underlying traits of all four disciplines as they relate to each other. Firebending and waterbending are similar in this respect at least: It is absolutely crucial to seize control when faced with someone of their same bending. Firebenders, when they divert or block, even hand to hand, are actually taking control of others' attacks."

"Even though they're opposites." Aang mused.

"Which is the next point." Toph smirked triumphantly. "Earthbending and airbending are similar in what way?" She tested him.

"We both pull a lot of independent material." He realized. Blocking earth was a physical imposition. And in airbending he had always been taught to take existing circumstances and adapt to them, not change them. "In conventional dueling I wouldn't turn to seizing control of another airbender's-" His throat tightened and his pulse quickened wistfully at the thought of ever encountering another airbender.

"You all right?" Toph asked, reading his distraught reaction.

Far away, a man was eagerly skimming a small leather-bound book.

Headings and inserts popped out in bold.

The different Air Nomad Temples sometimes disagreed on how early young monks should venture from their homes.

It is believed that the bending ability in one hundred percent of the monks, as opposed to the fractional distribution of other populations and their focus on spirituality were partially due to four Entities that resided in each of the Temples.

The practice of separating females and males-

A small sand-colored fox suddenly skittered around a bookshelf and came to a halt in front of him. It began to whine and paw at his arm, several tails thrashing up and down urgently.

Professor Zei looked up from his reading. "What is it, Peto?" he asked. The fox caught hold of his shirt with his teeth and pulled. "All right, all right, I'm coming." The professor stood and stretched, once again feeling the knots that accumulated in his body as he submerged his mind in studying. The kitsune's anxiety seemed to increase at his unhurried motions; he disappeared back around the shelf. Unease crept up to nestle beside the professor's physical discomfort.

He jogged after the fast fox, who periodically poked his head back around bookshelves to make sure he was keeping up.

A huge black form was standing in the middle of the underground library, eyes closed. Nearly every one of the Knowledge Seekers was gathered around him, silently watching their Master.

The professor rushed up, and several foxes skirted out of his way. He addressed several of them quietly. "Sorry, Scitor, Capto, Quaero . . ." He craned his head up towards the owl. "Is something wrong?"

"No." Wan Shi Tong replied. "My Opposite is sending for me."

"I'm okay, really." Aang said for the second time as he copied Toph's movements to shift three small boulders at once. "I think you kind of owe Zuko an apology, though, Toph. You did yell at him, remember?"

She blew a bit of the hair out of her face. "Poor Dragonboy can't take a little venting, huh?"

"I can take whatever you can throw at me." The prince replied defensively from the sidelines of their workout.

She signaled to Aang to throw the rocks and his flew forward, but hers went in a different direction, towards the firebender. He leapt out of the way and exclaimed angrily, "I didn't mean that literally!"

Aang laughed.

Zuko, further instigated, said snidely to the earthbender, "So when I want a moment alone, you stop me in my tracks, but then you see fit to just snap at me and roll off?"

"When did this happen?" Iroh asked.

"Lizard here got in a twist about leaving you and stealing a bunch of stuff. And I guess you were right to angst about the ostrich horse, but not for the reason you thought." Toph snorted at the irony, raising five boulders this time, and Aang lifted four, the fifth one straggling behind the others.

"Do you think they would have been more receptive if they hadn't found out our identities, uncle?" Zuko asked.

"You can't live in the 'if's."

Not in the least hindered by the conversation, Toph sent the five boulders forward, but Aang was stuck with three going, and two still. "Arrgh."

Wan Shi Tong spread one wing. "Come now, out of the way."

The foxes cleared a place for him. Peto gave a few barks and most twitched their ears towards him, then ran off to resume tasks they had left. Some picked up abandoned scrolls; some leaped over the banister and disappeared into the inky depths of the floors below.

Peto then walked beside his Master and yipped imploringly, standing on his hind legs and peddling his forelimbs.

"No. He cannot go." The owl shook his head.

Peto turned to his few remaining fellow foxes, repeating his argument with fervor.

They began to bark back and forth, nodding in support.

"Fine." The great raptor said in exasperation. "I will take him with me."

"Me?" Zei asked.

Peto gazed at him as if to say, "You."

"If you must know, Dragonboy, I feel bad for tricking my parents. And I'm sorry that got dumped on you, okay?"

He made a small accepting grunt. "All right."

"I guess we both have serious family issues."

"No kidding."

"Though, as far as I know, my father hasn't sent anyone after me," she said sarcastically.

"Your opposite, huh?" Zei asked. He surveyed the plain that had appeared before them. The lush, long-stalked bright green hay was definitely in stark contrast to the desert they had left behind in the Material World. Buds dotted the tips of most of the plants. Suddenly the petals all opened and Peto tugged on his sleeve again, pulling him to his right and pointing with a paw.

On his left, he saw an amorphous mist inching along, brushing against the tips of the opened flowers. They released what looked like pollen into the air and it absorbed it.

"Peto is right. Don't touch those." Wan Shi Tong warned sternly.

"What are they?"

"Next lives, preparing to re-enter the world."

Zei looked down and noticed that the grass under him was withering. "Am I doing something wrong here, too?"

"No, it's just-" Wan Shi Tong began-

"Wan Shi Tong! Wan Shi Tong! Here I am!" A small girl was waving her hand energetically to draw their attention. Her long-sleeved robe matched the hue of the plants so perfectly that it was hard to tell where the rest of the green and her form began. Her skin was a papery, ghostly white. Her hair, an intense blonde, rippled vibrantly and her laughter pinged like the gossamer wings of a hummingbird-beetle. "Good to see you!"

The effervescent little sprite skipped through the air up to the huge avian, bare feet brushing the tips of the grass like the soul, swinging her hands back and forth. Her large crystal-blue eyes, the same color as the inside throats of the flowers, took him in for a moment. "It's very nice of you to come to my call, Mighty One."

She nodded to the professor. "Hello, human. I am Thel, Keeper of Innocence."

"And I also had to remind your uncle here, that I'm not a sheltered little baby."

"Neither are you a crusty and withered old veteran." Iroh returned, voice colored with amusement.

"And that's another thing, Lizard, you may win in the family-issue battle, but your uncle can out-angst you, so I don't want to hear any more whining about all the 'bad things' you think you've done."

"Hello?" Aang said, waving a hand, "Earthbending Instructor needed here, guys."

Katara and Ty Lee had donned their blue outfits once more and were headed back towards the shop Ty Lee had pointed out earlier.

"Sokka seemed to like that butcher guy. I hope we find someone as accommodating as him." Katara said.

Ty Lee chuckled. "When Yunru first told us where meat came from, I thought she was playing a trick on us. That's the kind of thing she would do."

The dark-skinned girl, who had spent countless hours curing and preserving kills, raised an eyebrow. "How could you not know where meat comes from?"

Ty Lee shrugged. "You know. It's brought to us already prepared . . . "

l

It was sweltering under the summer sun of the Fire Nation.

That didn't daunt the nobles who were hosting, however. The luncheon was huge, laid out for hundreds of people. All of the children were expected to be on their best behavior.

An eight-year-old Ty Lee, sandwiched between all her sisters, straightened out her elaborate dress, which had far too many layers for anyone's taste at this temperature. They had all loved looking at the frills and the lace and cooing and gushing over them when they were on the hangers, but once they were on and everyone outside, it was suitably torture.

Of course, the only one outwardly complaining was Yunru.

"We all look like identical dolls." She said through clenched teeth.

"Yeah!" The seven-year-old on Ty Lee's other side piped up happily, not catching on to her tone. "Just like when we play!"

"Shhh, Hira, not so loud." Weici said kindly.

"Oops. Sorry." The little girl ducked her head slightly.

"I hope they don't overcook the beef again." Yunru muttered. "I'd almost rather have it walking around and still mooing than-"

Four smaller faces squinted in confusion at her statement.

"Huh?"

"What'd you say?"

"Walking around?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Yunru, that's not suitable discussion at the table." Meili whispered heatedly.

Yunru, however, already had mischievous silver in her eyes and turned to her next youngest sister. "Don't you know, Ty Lee? Beef is made out of a cowpig. After it's  dead. "

Four small distressed gasps answered her.

"Cowpig?"

"You're lying!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Liar!"

"Shhhhh!" Meili glared. "Stop stirring them up!" She rapped her knuckles briskly on the surface. All the younger girls immediately went quiet at the gesture from the eldest.

Yunru returned her gaze smugly.

Waiters leisurely strolled down the tables, placing platters in the center. Serving knives and forks were laid out beside the thinly sliced beef. The four youngest were served while the other three helped themselves.

Weici and Meili took serving spoons and ladled lentils and rice on their plates, not touching the main course.

"Wait." Ty Lee said, now observing them with a new, closer eye. Careful to keep her voice down, she asked, "That's why you guys don't eat it, isn't it?"

"Well, it also helps you keep weight off." Weici pointed out. "Stay thin and pretty."

Meili nodded.

"So you can be a perfect little figurine, too, now." Yunru mocked bitterly. "A laaaa-dy." She took a bite out of her own beef, purposefully facing Meili and chewing with her mouth open for the first few bites.

"Yunru, so help me-" Meili began-

"So . . ." Hira tugged on Ty Lee's shirtsleeve, drawing her attention away from the ensuing clash. She had pushed her plate away; she spoke in a distressed whisper. "It really is cowpig?"

l

"Wait, wait, wait." The South Pole native said, her look becoming even more incredulous. "Stay thin?"

"Yeah."

"That's considered beautiful in the Fire Nation? Huh. Weird. A healthy woman is one who puts on weight. I mean, when I stop growing and using up my intake, I think I'll be really pretty once I fill out a little." She nodded down at her own slim body, mentally comparing it to the hardy, statuesque women of her home.

Ty Lee looked rather puzzled.

"But I guess . . ." she suddenly became thoughtful. "I guess we have to keep warm, so it might not be the same." She looked to her left. "Hey, isn't this the place?"

Ty Lee's head shot up at the sight of the shabby seamstress' shop. "Yeah!" She flounced up to the door and crossed the threshold, smiling widely.

The main room had three spinning wheels, one loom and two exitways that were draped instead of having doors, giving glimpses of the rest of the building.

The disarray inside was overbearing, to say the least. Nothing was sorted by any kind of system that the waterbender could identify, color, style, or stages of completeness. Pinned together garments were tossed haphazardly next to ones with finished seams. String and rolls of fabric were sticking out all around, stuffed into drawers and propped up against the wall. The smother of offending clutter gave the impression of the place being much smaller and more cramped than it already was.

Ty Lee stretched her arms above her head and gave a contented sigh. "The energy's so nice in here."

The Keeper of Innocence addressed the owl again. "So, Peto convinced you to bring him, did he? I think he is about to earn more of his tails, is he not?"

"He is persistent in his ends." Wan Shi Tong said dryly.

Peto grinned.

"I'm afraid I cannot stay long in your presence," She curtsied to Zei, "as it saps my strength, but I am nonetheless happy to meet you."

"Is that what's going on with the grass?" The professor asked the Spirit. The stalks around him were very brown by now, and keeling over. "I'm sorry for that."

"Grass?" She tilted her head curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Remember humans' psyches have to visually interpret the Spirit World through what they are familiar with." Wan Shi Tong told the Otherworld Spirit.

"Oh, yes, that's right. It's been quite a while since I've had a human visit. So, what are you seeing, exactly?" She asked the professor.

"Flowers. And they're dying around me." Zei said sadly.

"Oh, they will-" she blinked for a moment, considering. "-they will grow back, I suppose is how it would appear to you. The disruption is only temporary, don't worry."

Peto rubbed against him reassuringly, nudging his hand with his nose.

At this she brightened. "Peto, it really is so good to see you again, too."

The fox crouched and happily pounced up to her. She hugged him tightly and he licked her face.

"I am glad you sent them to me." Wan Shi Tong said sincerely.

She nodded. "You needed company, holed up in that place, my friend."

She turned to Zei again. "Innocence and Knowledge are oftentimes opposed. But not always. A sense of discovery can remain new, even with experience." She beamed at him. "You for instance. Your childlike wonder at learning new things. That's why Wan Shi Tong built his library, Professor. Not just because he liked the knowledge itself, but because he liked the human's thirst, their curiosity. Even when they are so blind compared to Spirits, still they seek to understand," She released Peto and laughed again as she floated upward, curling her toes and whizzing around him, arms spread wide, and parts of the plants seemed to blend and follow the hem of her dress.

Then she rose up to the owl's face and grew quiet. "Even a Spirit can lose his faith."

"Energy, hm?" Long, spindly fingers pushed aside the drapes. A woman appeared, bent over with age. She wore a deep forest-green robe with lime inlays along the sides that displayed the usual trapezoidal symbol for earth, with the swirl in the middle. All the sides of the shape were present, but extra atypical embroidery waved around the straight pattern. "You like what I've done with the place? That would make you a Spiritseer, then, wouldn't it, dear?"

Ty Lee nodded.

"Haven't seen another one in quite a while," the elderly seamstress mused. Her hazel eyes were framed neatly by deep, craggy creases as she examined the two girls.

"What does that really mean, anyway?" Katara asked. "What is a Spiritseer? I mean, we could all see Wan Shi Tong and Hei Bai, and they were Spirits."

"Oh, Spiritseer is a blanket term, young lady," she replied. "When in fact the blanket is not a single material, but a quilt. We are actually all quite different."

Katara waited for her to continue, but instead she walked along the dressers, plucking at various bits of string. Occasionally she would look back at them and her gaze would move as if following a path.

"We're here to try to find work." Ty Lee began cheerfully.

The woman didn't answer for a moment, continuing her strange actions.

"Do you need any help for a few days?" Ty Lee asked, a little more hesitantly.

"Huh? Hm? Oh, yes, I think I can put something in order for you."

"There are definitely some things that could be put in order around here." Katara muttered. "By the way, you didn't really answer my question . . . "

"Do either of you know how to spin yarn?" The woman asked, as if she hadn't heard her. "Need cotton . . . Spinning is a little bit more frustrating than stitching, mind you. Nowhere near as fulfilling as weaving, either, but that's a tad advanced . . . I think it's what you need to do . . ." she was almost talking to herself as she picked out three balls of yarn.

"What we need to do, or what you need done?" Katara asked.

The lady hummed a little to herself, cradling the soft spheres and winding and unwinding string around her fingers. "Oh, either way." She carefully scrutinized what she had collected and turned toward the girls.

"So is that what it should look like when we're done?"

"Oh Mahim, no, child. This is koala-wool." She tottered over to them. "I just like the feel of wool better, don't you?" She held out one of them as if to let them touch it, but then tossed it over her shoulder. "Ah well, can't be helped. It's hot and I don't start working with it for a while." She wandered away again.

Katara muttered behind her hand to Ty lee. "I think she's a little 'unraveled around the edges' if you know what I mean."

Ty Lee tilted her head. "What?"

Katara shook her head. "Never mind."

Thel went on as she swirled around Zei again. "Your new student bursts with questions, Wan Shi Tong. And yet you have brushed him off."

Her shockingly blue eyes gazed steadily at him. "Ask him now, that which you most want to know."

Zei looked around at the surrounding dead stalks again. "Are all the Air Nomads really gone? Are there none in hiding?"

Wan Shi Tong sighed deeply.

"Yes, as it stands now, there is only one."

The seamstress, approaching them again, pinched the sleeve of Katara's outfit. "Oh, now, this is sealskin, is it not?" She squinted into the girl's face. "You Water Tribe, then?"

"Yeah."

"I'm Yoora." She shook her hand with a feeble grip. "Pleased to meet you."

"I'm Katara."

She turned to the acrobat and shook likewise.

"I'm Ty Lee."

"You're from the Fire Nation, dearie?"

Katara looked down at the other girl's blue outfit and started, "How did you know-"

"Um-" Ty Lee faltered, unsure if she should tell the Earth Kingdom lady her birthplace, now that she had been newly chastised by the waterbender after the encounter with Suki.

"Now I wouldn't go spreading it around, but you're perfectly fine here. Any companion of the Avatar is welcome in my shop. And-"

"Wait a second, is this Spiritseeing stuff telling you all this?" Katara pressed.

"It's bad manners to interrupt, dear." The seamstress said absently. "Now, we're going to start you on the 5-point spinner . . ."

"Your presence has done more for him than you know, Zei," Thel said gently, "even in this short time. He has been rejuvenated by your enthusiasm, and you share a connection already. Never let him tell you any differently. But now-" She touched the giant owl at the downward peak of his heart-shaped face. "I have a task for you, Knowledgeable One. Someone is missing from my domain." She cast her eyes out into the field, where several souls drifted, harvesting the strange dust. Several disappeared and more arrived just in the moment she took to pause.

He blinked as her fingers shone a bright white.

"Ah. That is a long way to go, Innocence Keeper." He said hesitantly. "And I would have been adamantly unwilling to fulfill that task but a little while ago."

She nodded. "I had to wait on you."

Wan Shi Tong lengthened slowly into his wyvern form.

Peto hopped up onto his back and whined for Zei to follow.

"W-where are we going?" Zei asked.

"Come. I will explain on the way."

Twenty or so minutes after the two girls began spinning, Yoora exclaimed without any sort of indication, "Oh! You were asking about the strings, weren't you dear?"

Katara looked up at her. "Which strings?" She looked down at what she had completed already.

The woman chuckled, "The ones that thread from you to other people, of course. With you two, I've never been able to see so much without contact before."

"So you have to be touching someone? Not like Ty Lee."

"You mean you can see things all the time?" The woman asked the acrobat.

Ty Lee nodded.

"Ha! Just like my cousin. Well, I'm getting a little taste of that today. I could see the Avatar the minute you two stepped in here. It is so exciting to know he's so near. By the way he's running and jumping about I'm sure he's training, correct?"

"So that's how you knew Ty Lee wasn't Water Tribe."

Yoora bobbed her head. "Yes, and, you have so, so many connections. The strange thing is almost all of them seem to go one way."

"Maybe that's because she's a performer?" Katara offered.

"Oh, I see. Many people have 'met' and remember you, but you do not know all of them . . ." Yoora narrowed her eyes in concentration. "Both of you are bound very tightly to the Avatar, albeit in slightly different ways." She gave what could only be considered a coy glance to Katara, and the girl blushed.

Ty Lee's face lit up as she caught on. "You like him?"

"Well . . . I don't know." Katara bit her lip.

The old woman looked up to the ceiling, blinking like a cat-owl. "Another Spiritseer- or Spiritwalker, perhaps, as well? And-" she frowned a little, digging lines further into her face. "The last one, he's much fainter but-" she smiled slowly. "You are both bound to him just as tightly, though the roles are somewhat reversed." Her eyes re-focused on them. "Never been able to see this much with no contact." She repeated. "May I get a better look again?"

Ty Lee offered her hand a second time.

"Just keep spinning, dear, I don't need your hand particularly." She laid her own hand on her shoulder. After a few moments her expression had gradually fallen more and more and her eyebrows knitted together. "Oh my."

Ty Lee fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Many of those that you love you also draw a great deal of strife from."

l

A ten-year-old sat in a thickly carpeted room. There was no furniture excepting a few chairs against the walls. It was one of many she could have chosen- after all the mansion had twenty different ones. There was a hard-floored one on the third level where she and several others practiced dance steps with Meili. But this one was much more comfortable for stationary yoga. With one leg extended and one knee folded, she bent over to place her entire hand across the bottom of the far foot, face relaxed. She would have liked to take a day or two to unwind after the stresses of exams but unfortunately-

"Ty Lee, Ty Lee, Ty Lee!"

-home was never quiet for long.

"Ty Lee! So did you like classes? Was it hard? Whatcha doin'?" The younger girl dropped to her hands and knees and looked at her sister's newly scrunched face, energetically badgering her with questions.

"It was fine, Jia. I'm trying to center myself . . . " Ty Lee said tiredly, not feeling like explaining what that meant.

"Hey guess what, guess what," Jia went on; the six-year-old was completely oblivious to her sister's annoyance, "Mom bought me an outfit that looks just like yours! Look, look!"

Ty Lee reluctantly cracked open an eye to see a pink ensemble that did indeed look a lot like the one she, Meili and Hira had taken to wearing. Even the square collar was the same.

"And I dress all by myself, now, too, Ty! None of the maids have to help any more! Isn't that cool!"

"It's not a big deal, okay, Jia! Just go away!" Ty Lee snapped suddenly. "Why don't you get your own kind of clothes instead of copying all of us!"

The child's stream of words was cut off and she stared at her, hurt welling in her silver eyes.

Ty Lee's own eyes softened. "Jia, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

But the girl had already risen from her place and bolted for the door with most of the agility of her older sister.

Ty Lee stayed in the same position for several minutes, then released her foot and switched to the other, shaking her head moodily.

After about a half an hour a new hand placed itself on the curved, burnished handle of the door, which had been left ajar. Its counterpart held a wide, soft-bristled brush.

Ty Lee looked up and with a resigned air sat up straight, Indian style.

Her older sister walked wordlessly into the room and knelt behind her, unwinding her braid. It was a semi-ritual- sometimes, when there was a problem, Weici would come to whoever needed advice- or in some cases chastisement- and undo what ever hairstyle they had up at the moment- braid, bun, topknot, or ponytail, and begin to comb before asking her questions.

She was going to beat around the bush a little this time.  "I guess I should maybe join you stretching. That ride was killer, as always." She joked.

It was almost a week's trip from the Capitol- with coaches going over potholes and gravel roads. The rough battering all day long did a number on all the girls. It was a wonder any of them could sit down properly when they finally arrived.

Ty Lee nodded, but quickly stopped in order not to hinder the comb that was still moving against her head. "I bet they don't envy me."

"I bet not." Weici said. "You and Mai still get caught between them sometimes?"

The only answer was a resigned sigh.

After a few more moments her sister finally addressed the issue at hand. "So you yelled at Jia? That isn't like you, Ty."

"I didn't mean to, Wei, it's just that . . . At school, everyone knows who I am. They know I'm Ty Lee. Not Meili, not Yunru, and not Hira." She left off the name of her present sister and her youngest sisters, Lin and Jia, who hadn't started at the Academy yet. "But here, we're all just 'one of the girls.'"

"Because you're friends with the princess?" The elder confirmed. "They all know you there."

She buried her face into her hands in frustration. "But no one in town knows the difference. The servants hardly do." She didn't even touch on the subject of parents; that was too painful to even bring up. Fine, maybe she could deal with people who were simply paid to wait on you, but your own parents mixing you up all the time?

"You and Lin call this negative energy, right?" Weici smiled sadly, pulling the trapped bangs out from under her sister's fingers.

Ty Lee sighed again. Lin could see auras as well. It was lucky that her own abilities were more fine-tuned to chi, or else she might have harbored stronger resentment against the second youngest, through no fault of her own, for encroaching on something that she could trust was hers, and only hers. Even the way Weici had said their names on the same breath annoyed her. Even when she was being nice, it seemed to always be 'You and someone, you and someone,' never just 'you.'

As if on cue, the elder said, "Yunru seems to take it so personally, the name mix-ups. I didn't realize it bothered you, too."

She had always been perfectly fine with fitting in, with blending in seamlessly to the chipper and ebullient little community of her siblings.  Until her next oldest sister's constant earworms finally burrowed into her head, and the notoriety at school became a norm.  She was the type of person who could float- thoughtlessly, shallowly, blissfully. Frankly, it had taken some powerful forces to wear her down to this point. In a way, she was having to come to terms with the loss of something. N ow that a genuine desire for an identity had taken root, there was no way to get it out.

Ty Lee threw up her hands and exclaimed despairingly, "I'm not even original by wanting to be different!"

The elder broke out into soft chortling triggered by the oxymoron in her statement. She quickly tried to stifle her amusement with her hand over her mouth.

"Weeehh-hheeei." Ty Lee whined, turning to face her. "It's not funny!"

"I'm sor-rry, I'm s-sorry," She was obviously sincerely trying to stop, to quash out the tickled quaver of her voice. But the two pairs of silver eyes met and the younger sister couldn't help but crack up. Weici was a wellspring of positive energy. Most of her sisters were.

The two girls laughed for a good three minutes, their mirth feeding off each other. Every time one would regain breath, they'd catch sight of the other again and sink back into another round of laughter. After a hearty stage of giggling, the fit finally abated.

Ty Lee unfolded her legs after they settled down, very much invigorated by the release of tension. She and her siblings could all bounce between moods so fast, it often sent others reeling. She rolled forward on her feet in one easy motion. And couldn't she be a source of positive energy, too, despite all of this? If only she could focus on how much fun they always had together. She was a highly, highly social creature, after all. "I'm going to go find Jia to apologize."

l

Yoora stepped to Katara next, repeating the procedure. "Mmmmmm."

Katara's heart suddenly leapt to her throat and she fumbled with what she was doing. "C-can you . . . can you see where my dad is?"

"Well I should hope so. You Water Tribe are certainly all very close-knit, if you don't mind the expression."

Katara shook her head. "O-of course not." She smiled at Ty Lee. "We could go see our dad when we leave!" She fisted the string she had created excitedly. "Let's keep it a secret for now, we'll surprise Sokka with it!"

Ty Lee smiled back. "You really like your dad, don't you?"

Katara's face fell. "Oh, yeah, I'm sorry, I didn't think of your dad . . ."

Ty Lee shrugged. "It's okay. I don't hate him. Really. It was just complicated . . ."

l

" . . . and Yunru, why- why in the world would you do this to your hair . . . ?"

Yunru squirmed under her father's abashed scrutiny. "I cut it. Is it really that important?" She fingered the strands. They were much too short to be considered feminine at all. She couldn't even pull them back in any sort of arrangement. The hasty work of self-applied scissors was uneven, but there was definitely an intended slope to the zigzag pattern of the ends. With her other hand she rubbed self-consciously at the thin, cheap cotton pants she had thrown on that morning.

He stumbled clumsily over his words. "Y-you look like some peasant who can't take care of themse-"

"I got into advanced classes at the Boy's Academy!" Yunru blurted. "And seriously? This is what you want to talk to me about? This is so ridiculous." She stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

"What has gotten into her?" Her father asked quietly of the three remaining siblings, Weici, Meili, and Ty Lee. "I find her traipsing about the house in those old rags and-" He moved his hand in a slow, incoherent gesture.

"We'll go talk to her, Father." Meili said. "She shouldn't be so disrespectful."

The three hurried after their sister, but Weici caught Meili's arm. "Maybe you should just let Ty Lee and me handle this. You know she won't respond to you well."

Meili huffed. "Fine." She put her hands to her hips and snorted vainly. "She's always taken this all out on  me  since she has never has the guts to actually say anything to him. I guess I should be  thanking  her or something."

"But you still don't like seeing father upset." Ty Lee said meekly.

Meili shook her head. "No. He doesn't deserve any of this. She always acts like such a  child. "

They found her shut up in one of the study rooms. Her nose was buried in a history book, and she sat at a high desk and straight-backed cushioned chair, all three of which looked much too big for the young girl.

"Yunru." Weici said softly.

"Guess I've circumvented your weird little hair-fixation-therapy." Yunru said sourly, not looking up. "And before you say anything, of course I have to go apologize to him. He does control everything."

"He pays for everything, yes." Weici replied. "Your tuition, your board-"

"I know, I know. Leaving aside the fact that he thinks learning to hold a teacup properly is more important for us. As soon as I graduate I'm out of here. My thirteenth birthday will be here before he knows it. And then I'll be out of his hair." She snorted slightly at her own joke, and Ty Lee giggled.

She shot her a venomous look, and Ty Lee quickly straightened her face.

"You always paint him like the bad guy." Weici implored her. "When he could just as easily teach you the basics of reading and writing and be done with it- he isn't obligated to send any of us to the Capitol for school."

Yunru massaged her forehead agitatedly. "It's not about the money . . . heh, but in a way it's still basic economic theory." She chuckled darkly. "The more silver you have, the less it's worth. He doesn't really value any of us. Well . . ." her brow furrowed, "Maybe you and Mei. But only 'cause you  try  so Agni-scorching  hard ."

She finally looked up to her, silver eyes flashing in resentment. "And do you and Meili even  listen  to yourselves when you  defend  him? You make it sound like it's  our  fault, or something. For being burdens. For being girls."

"That's not what I-"

"It's not what you want to say."  Yunru stiffly looked back down into her book. "But it's what you really think. And until you figure out that it's not your fault, you're going to be stuck in the same lazy rut as Mei. Just because we're nobles doesn't mean we can't stand on our own like other women. Ever since the middle class gained access to the Royal Academy- they've made more use of it. The best education anywhere in the entire world- and they appreciate it more than you do-" she said angrily, "because they have to earn it."

"It's your prerogative if you want to aspire to be like people lower than you. I'm only asking that you keep some semblance of politeness to your Father, who makes it possible in the first place. As for us, our duties to our family's reputation take precedent over everything else."

"You just cling to that, Wei. Be a pampered little dependent. See if I care."

" You always make marriage sound like the end of the world," she replied bemusedly. "Seriously, when are you going to stop being so melodramatic? It's unbecoming of you. You're better than this."

Yunru rolled her eyes at the backhanded compliment.

"Well, we know that no one's ever going to mix you up with the rest of us again, don't we?" Ty Lee smiled understandingly as she tucked her own bangs behind her ear. "You could have asked one of us to do it for you, Yun. Maybe it would have turned out bett-"

"And who asked you your opinion?" Yunru cut her off. "I'll bet you don't understand half of what we say, with your grades. Why don't you go play with Hira or something within your comprehension?"

"Yunru!" Weici scolded as Ty Lee's face crumpled. She stepped over to her. "Don't listen to her, Ty." She spoke quietly back to the seated girl. "We all know why you're mean to her and Hira." It was the same reason she had cut her hair. "But it's no excuse."

"Guess I'm going to go change and grovel or something." Yunru grumbled as she clapped the book shut, pointedly ignoring her comment. "Because like it or not, I'm still a dependent right now."

She brushed past her younger sister.

Her head passed by a few inches shorter than Ty Lee's.

l

"Seppen," The seamstress said suddenly in a scolding tone, "put that back. We have company and I don't want you making a mess right now."

Katara and Ty Lee followed her gaze to see a scrawny white cat, looking very chastised, place a lime ball of yarn in his mouth back into a basket and meow forlornly.

"Yes, yes, I know. But if you won't pick up after yourself-"

He put a paw over his face in embarrassment.

"You know I don't mind, it's just that-"

He mewed meekly and took a stray thread in his mouth and placed it next to the ball.

"Really? You will?"

The feline's lean face, which had a tan patch in the shape of a "Y" over its eyes and down its nose, and a thin beard and mustache, was very solemn as he nodded.

"All right, then."

Seppen gave a sonorous purr and then took the yarn back out, rolling it across the floor.

"That's nice of him." Ty Lee commented.

"It's not as if this place could get much worse, anyway." Katara muttered under her breath.

Wan Shi Tong and his two companions stood on the edge of a huge gorge. The rock face was artificially smooth- well, that was the adverb he would use to describe it, Zei thought to himself. But although the surface itself was featureless and austere, it bent back on itself to form sterile-looking spikes and corners.

Peto hopped down ledges, sniffing and searching for something.

"Can he actually smell, here?" Zei asked Wan Shi Tong.

"No, but he has other senses. He's going through the motion because he's accustomed to doing so." The owl replied.

The fox lifted his snout, looking for all the world as if he were scenting the air. Then he scampered further, placing his paws carefully and investigating every surface he could safely reach without catching himself on the sharp surrounding features. Finally his ears perked and he barked to his Master, tails wagging with discovery.

"All right, then."

Once again, Peto stepped up the side of the cliff to sit on his Master's back, and Zei did likewise. The great wyvern glided down, carefully steering clear of mesas and outcroppings.

An ear-splitting scream rent the quiet, making Zei reel backwards. He lost his grip on the raptor's feathers and toppled down his back.

"Careful!" Wan Shi Tong braked abruptly, catching him expertly by his shirt ruff with one claw.

"S-so, the l-laws of physics s-still ap-pply?" A wide-eyed Zei looked down at the drop he had narrowly avoided.

Wan Shi Tong chuckled. "To an extent."

The source of the scream came into view as he rounded a canyon wall.

A stout Spirit with what seemed like scaly metal plates of armor stood at ease. The rusty plates twitched up and down subtly, as if very much alive. The whip he carried, too, swished and writhed of its own accord. He turned his face up to them, small eyes glowing deep red. His mouth wasn't visible, and his voice seemed to simply emanate from somewhere around his middle. "Wan Shi Tong. Are you here to witness this human's punishment? We have to give him breaks between or his mind adapts to it, you see."

"As tempting as that sounds, I am, in fact, here to relieve you of your duty." Wan Shi Tong replied, still maneuvering downward, long tail swishing back and forth.

The Spirit snickered. Behind him, a man was suspended from large, crisscrossing spikes piercing him everywhere. He was limp and quivering.

"That's Admiral Zhao?" Zei whispered.

Peto's hackles rose and his tails puffed out.

The Spirit brought the whip up, but instead of striking, the tip simply snaked forward to the former admiral's face and touched him between the eyes. Zhao's scream seemed to warp the very space itself as the straight lines of the rock face abruptly twisted. He jerked back and forth, desperately trying to pull away, causing the spikes that were holding him to slice viciously. What showed was not tendons or muscles but a musty sludge that oozed and dripped to the ground in thick puddles. Even as the bizarre gore showed, he healed. The wounds opened, closed, and reopened again in a grotesque repetition.

The black raptor set Zei down on his feet. As soon as he had landed himself, he snapped his beak and the whip came away from Zhao.

"By what authority do you command me, Wan Shi Tong?" The Spirit's armor became more animated and it sparked and clinked with indignation. "La has sentenced him, and he will decide when- or if, he is to be freed."

"He did not know the severity of his crime," he asserted.

"The Spiritwalker warned him not to interfere with us." The armored Spirit replied unsympathetically.

"Iroh understood the balance. If he had slain La, you would be able to rightfully torture him." The wyvern arched his long neck, spread his talons, and beat his wings, and the spikes disappeared. Zhao crumpled on the ground and was completely still as the sections of his ravished body slowly recovered. A shimmering mist seeped from him and rose, like an inverted dye-drop. He gave a deeply relieved moan as it came away from him.

"You will have to face La, Wan Shi Tong." The Spirit declared flatly as he stalked away, plates jangling with each step.

"I will speak with him, do not worry." The owl said calmly as he straightened again. He looked to his side to see Zei bent over, face pale and lips slightly parted. His stomach heaved.

The owl sighed. "You're not able to throw up here."

"That doesn't- make me feel- any better." The thoroughly mortified man gasped.

The owl curved his neck towards him. "Then perhaps this will help."

He brushed his long flight feathers over Zei's forehead, and the man straightened and breathed more easily. He blinked several times. "What did you- do?"

"I erased your memory, but not your understanding. You did not need to witness that. No human does, I suppose."

Zei screwed up his eyes. "That is . . . so strange. I remember my revulsion, but not what happened to him." He bowed. "Thank you."

"It is nothing." He replied brusquely. "Perhaps one day . . ." he stopped.

"Hmmm?"

"Never mind."

The form that had detached itself from Zhao slithered through the air. The three stepped aside to give it a wide berth.

"So that's-"

"His next life, yes. Thel will be waiting for it."

It picked up speed, flying away from them.

"It is in for a rough road yet, but at least it is not chained down here any more, forced into stagnancy. A very cruel and unnatural punishment, though not wholly unexpected."

Below, Zhao was getting to his feet. He looked up, wide-eyed at the owl, and opened his mouth as if to ask-

"I will give you no direction from here!" The black raptor roared preemptively, brandishing his wings angrily.

Zhao blanched and stumbled, falling to the ground several times in his haste to get away from the draconian figure, going the opposite direction of the liberated mist.

Wan Shi Tong folded his wings and gazed after him long after he had disappeared from sight before saying absently, "Thel reminded me that ignorance is a type of innocence. And she asked that I intervene."

"And you didn't want to?"

"No. I didn't." He rumbled. "But I can't argue against her logic. As much as I hate to admit it, he did not have the knowledge to warrant such punishment, only the vainglory ingrained by his Nation." He paused. "I suppose I can rest easy knowing that he still has much hardship to endure here, and in his next life as well."

"The Spirit World is superimposed on this world." Yoora was saying, after more prompting from Katara. Holding a conversation with the spacey woman was proving somewhat difficult. "And there several smaller planes between the two as well."

"Auntie Ryu would say layers in a cake," Ty Lee chirped.

"Some times and places, the cake is squished together." Yoora took up her comparison easily, chuckling again.

"Like the solstices. Or Spirit dwellings." Katara reflected.

"We ourselves exist on all the planes at once, even though when we are alive, it is mostly the Material. They say that Spiritseers' past lives chase after their souls shortly after they are separated, unwilling to let go, and spend their time following along a close orientation in the Spirit World that coincides with this one." She shuffled over to the loom, which sported a half-finished tapestry. She traced a finger down one column of stitches. "See how the string itself changes. But often times, patterns in history repeat. We are strung along sometimes by our family's past, as well as our past lives. One is like the descending pattern. And the other is like the specific color of a string, reappearing after it weaves under."

Suddenly Peto tackled the professor, and he fell to his hands and knees. A small foreleg pressed down on the back of the head, forcing him down further, and the small kitsune growled into his ear as he curled around his several tails tightly around his head. Oddly, he couldn't really feel the touches or the fur, but they were there just the same. Zei followed the wordless instruction and warning trustingly, prostrating to the ground and holding still. At least he didn't have to worry about suffocating, he thought wryly into the newfound blindness. He actually thought this fairly logical; if he shouldn't have seen Zhao's punishment, maybe there were other things he shouldn't behold as well.

A voice sounded that made his blood run cold. If he could have felt blood running under his skin at the present moment, that is.

"Wan Shi Tong. My old student. How are you?"

"So Spiritseers are more sensitive to those parts of us that are above the material plane." Katara said. "And they're more in sync with their past lives, usually?"

"The ones who are born Spiritseeing, yes. Other times visits to the Spirit World, or training, can put you in touch with the higher planes."

"Because the Avatar isn't the only human who can go to the Spirit World, either." Katara shook her head.

The old woman grinned crookedly. "I can't say my cousin or I have done anything near as that exciting, though."

"He's just the one who has most ready access to it?" Katara asked about her airbending friend.

"Oh, and I think he is a little less constrained by the space between him and his lives, dear. They don't have to follow him around. They can be anywhere in the Otherworld they want to be, and still they are bound tightly to him."

"What brings you this far afield?" The giant raptor's voice questioned the new presence cautiously.

"Ah, now, what kind of greeting is that? Reverence for your elders, Young One, is the most basic of courtesies." No true irritation was present in the statement, only a detached nonchalance.

"My apologies, Most Ancient and Knowledgeable Sifu. I have forgotten myself."

"You have evidently chosen to forget so much of what you have learned, as well. Reconsidering, are you?"

Peto growled again, but it was muffled, as if he had his mouth closed instead of in a snarl and shifted around Zei to stand on his shoulders. He tapped a paw on his neck, allowing him to stand, but kept his tails firmly in place around his head.

"You must control your pet, Wan Shi Tong. I am not hunting now, but am quarry."

"You cannot blame him for harboring grievance, Teacher," the owl replied.

"Mmmm." It paused. "Will you answer my query?"

"It is true that humans are selfish. Kyoshi did not raise a finger against Chin until he threatened her own homeland. Kuruk neglected his duties, and then almost abandoned them altogether to pursue his wife. Humans are very violent as well. Yangchen learned that sometimes this was the only way people would respect her authority." He paused. "But are Spirits not guilty of the same extremes?"

"Ha. You so desperately wish to be a Spirit of Knowledge and Logic, and yet you yourself are governed by emotion as well. Poor Little One, it is never to be, is it? You still carry resentment against the one who tricked you, and you grow attached to this lowly human with each passing day. In a different series of events you might have killed the Avatar yourself, sheerly out of spite. How ever will you be perfect?"

As it talked there was rhythmic scuttling of something moving against the hard surface, drawing closer.

Peto let out a more ferocious, but still muted, growl. He flattened himself further against the professor.

"Your mistrust cuts me to the quick, kitsune." The voice mocked with feigned hurt. "I am simply curious. Where is the harm in simply seeing a face?"

"So Yoora," Katara asked, "You mentioned your cousin was a Spiritseer too? What does she see?"

"She can see all sorts of sickness." Yoora replied in her tinny voice. "Says she can almost taste it on the air. What kinds, and what to give for them. She thinks she was a waterbender- a healer in a past life."

"Really? That's an odd coincidence."

"What is, dear?"

Katara raised an eyebrow. "'Cause I'm a healer . . . ?"

"Oh, you're a bender?"

"You couldn't tell with that . . . Spiritseeing?"

"No."

Katara's mouth twitched. "Oh, right. 'Quilt, not blanket.'"

"What in the world are you talking about?" Yoora looked at her foggily. "We're only spinning string right now, dear. Do you want to make a quilt?"

"No- you made that comparison before when-" She gave up in the middle of her statement when her listener's look didn't display any comprehension. "Anyway-" She chewed over what she had said for a moment. "I knew not only the Avatar is reincarnated, but I didn't know other people could carry traits of their past lives."

"You know, I could swear," Aang panted as he sparred with Toph, "that that boy I was talking about before, Jinju? Remember?" He raised a wall, enduring a flurry of stones, "That had trouble with airbending? Now that you pointed out the similarity between earth and air, it's almost like-" he broke a section of it off- "he was an earthbender trying to learn airbending. And he liked to stay dirty, too." He taunted.

Toph smirked, swatting away his attack. "Hey, Twinkles, take it from somebody who has to use her nose as well as her ears all the time since these are useless-" she stretched her eyelids, making a face, "Good, clean dirt doesn't smell bad. But you know what does? Sweat!" As she talked she stomped, but the two different attacks came from behind him, and he almost didn't block in time- "And I'm going to make you reek! Besides, you have enough breath to talk? I'll give you dirty! You'd better watch out!"

Yoora babbled happily. "What sealed the deal for my cousin is when she met a waterbender. And well-" She placed all the tips of her fingers against one another. "First of all, do you know, that men and women have different relationships to the elements?"

Katara's jawline became hard. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, this interesting little tidbit she learned from the waterbender she met- certainly no man could share the feature- that a certain monthly cycle followed the Mistress Moon's waxing and waning. I don't think you are too young to know what I'm talking about, are you, dear?"

A blush slowly crept up Katara's neck again.

"Here in the Earth Kingdom, most of our sacred priests are women. Because allegedly, they have a more attuned connection to our Earth Mother, Mahimata. That is what I thought of the moment I heard about the waterbender. Now that is some interesting stuff, no?"

Katara nodded sheepishly.

"I think the sages in the Fire Nation are all boys." Ty Lee observed.

"I've heard that." The old woman nodded. "Agni himself is male, as well, so the legend goes." She clucked her tongue. "My cousin, I bet, would love to meet you. We do have more Water Tribe trickling through since the trade routes were opened up . . . But she won't move over here. I worry about her, sometimes, out at the Ruins of Taku all alone."

Katara fumbled again with her work, and the string snagged. "R-ruins of Taku? Y-your cousin doesn't . . . ever p-prescribe . . . frozen frogs, by any chance, does she?"

"Ah yes."

Katara gave a Sokka-worthy face-palm.

"Peto." The owl instructed.

The tails slowly let up on their constriction and the professor gasped, eyebrows shooting up and mouth hanging open.

The enormous centipede-like creature gave a many-layered, spine-tingling laugh. "A most expressive one, this." The black-haired human face at its head said. "Were you not under protection, I would be most fortunate to take up your countenance." The upright portion of its body swayed back and forth slightly. "I am Koh, Snatcher of Visages."

Wan Shi Tong was almost between him and the face-stealer, back in his original form with the white eyespots on the back of his head visible again, instead of the two feather-tufts.

He turned back towards the black owl. "The Avatar came to visit me as well, recently." The professor started as the face of the centipede winked to give way to that of a tawny owl's, with light jade eyes. "I spoke to him with this very same face. I hardly think he knows the significance of it."

"Just because your ability once served a purpose, does not excuse all the harm you have done."

"I will take the retribution as it comes, Young One." The face-stealer replied lazily.

Thundering barks echoed off the rock face and Zei jumped closer to the owl, now thoroughly unnerved. He looked up just in time to see a long, turqoiuse form flashing down the canyon, with so much similar movement as Peto had done previously while seeking out Zhao, except in fast-forward, before the owl had folded a wing around him.

He was swept off his feet and and carried a distance before being released from the dark envelope of feathers.

The sleek, turquoise-furred mass of sinew had already reached the face-stealer by now, and its blue-clad rider expertly clung to its neck, thrusting a heavy whale-jaw spear at their adversary. Watching shakily, the professor's mind sorted out the necessary information to label these as Avatar Kuruk, and his mount Zburator. Had he not read about his wife's abduction and the Spirit responsible? But he had seen no illustrations or descriptions of the Spirit.

The serpentine canine was snapping and lunging at the centipede's segmented body. The insectoid responded in kind by twisting and turning out of its way, trying to keep its face trained on the long snout and small eyes, waiting for any sign of a lip curl or furrowed brow. But Koh ended up snarling instead as the eel-wolf caught hold of two of his legs. He dragged the opposing three across the canine's side. It gave a sharp yelp from the scratches and the man braced the spear to thwart the eight arms from closing in around the eel-wolf's pain-displaying head. The insectoid thrashed, throwing the canine off, and grappled, trying to pin the human and wrench away his weapon.

The canine came at him again, barreling into his side and knocking him off the former Avatar. The face-stealer squirmed swiftly away, taunting over his shoulder. "Ah, such fun it is to be both the cat and mouse. But you have other duties to attend to, here."

The Water Tribe man sat up, and the canine curled around him, whining concernedly. "I'm all right." He assured and patted its neck with a thankful thump. They watched the face-stealer retreat with their backs to the professor and the owl.

Finally Zburator turned in his place, and the man stood. "That you would simply stand by is beyond me, Wan Shi Tong."

"I have my own charge to watch, Avatar."

Peto touched the professor in indication.

"And my Sifu may be but a shadow of his former self. But the fact remains that I learned much from him, as so many humans and past lives who are stalwart enough do." There was something distinctly wrong with the owl's voice, Zei thought. When he moved his gaze away from the impressive sight of the eel-wolf and looked up to the raptor again, he was convinced that surely his body back at the library would have a heart-attack.

The owl's white face was gone.

"That is all very fine talk," Kuruk snapped, "when you have nothing to fear!"

An acknowledgment came from the now blank black head. "It is true, that a Spirit is not killed by his ability. But his victims are not marred in any way in spirit, either, at least. There are worse things."

"So my wife's next life was unimpeded," Kuruk replied angrily, "He still cut her current one at the time short. A life that she will not get to live. As with all the faces he has taken."

"And I made no move to defend him, either, did I?" Wan Shi Tong replied impassively. "Murder is murder."

At this statement Kuruk unexplainedly tensed up, twisting his hand around his spear apprehensively. "And now you wish to see my Father Spirit?"

Katara and Ty Lee joined up with Sokka again, as the rest of the town disgorged its working masses at the end of the day. The two girls had been telling him about their conversation with the old seamstress.

"Spirit World, huh?" Sokka scratched his chin. "I went to the Spirit World once."

"Really?" Ty Lee asked.

"Yeah." He suddenly puffed himself up proudly. "Got snatched right up by this big, ferocious six-legged-"

"It was a peaceful panda forest spirit." Katara corrected with straight face.

"Heeeeey! Not when it grabbed me!" Sokka protested. "Let me tell the story!" Katara giggled as her brother swatted at her.

He slung one arm around Ty Lee's neck, and spread his other hand dramatically. "So there I was, watching little Aang cower in front of this weirdo, ginormous, razor-fanged beast! And I had to save him of course . . ."

Zei was moving again, riding atop the black avian. Again, he was listening to information Wan Shi Tong disseminated. This time however, the voice he was hearing was strangely disembodied and he watched their escort down below, sprinting over the surface of this world.

"I'm surprised an Avatar would be trying to kill a Spirit at all." Zei said. "Is Koh so unimportant to the Balance that his passing would have no consequences?"

"If Kuruk were to succeed, there would be no dire repercussions." Wan Shi Tong told him. "Koh was here before the split between the worlds. Before the Avatar. Spirits would come to him when they wanted to change their form. It used to be, that all beings communicated emotions and thoughts to each other directly. But when humans were created, they did not share this ability, at least not to the extent of pre-existing spirits, and thier form changes- what you know as discreet but sequential lives- operated differently from anything that had come before. Other spirits took on expressive faces, as well, because they liked the idea. Koh in particular became fascinated, entranced, and eventually obsessed with the physical mechanism for conveying emotion, expression. He began to collect the prized faces, and take them before Spirits were prepared to morph- abusing his position. They were forced to avoid and shun him, and in retaliation, alternate means for change were forged. His appetite for new ones now only grows and feeds off of itself. His original function is now obsolete, and he is simply a parasite."

"B-but an owl's face doesn't display emotion." Zei puzzled as he stroked Peto thoughtfully. The canine had been very subdued throughout the entire flight, not shifting or even swishing his tails. "Why would he want it?"

"On the whole he is never satiated. He collects any sorts of faces he can, now." The raptor explained. "Because he does not have as much access to living humans since the material world has rifted farther away. He cannot go after the faces of past lives that dwell in the Spirit World, only if they come to him first, as Kuruk has done- he puts himself in peril of vanishing entirely with every attempt on the facestealer's life. That's why he was outraged that I did not assist him."

"And wait." Zei said. "Someone has to show emotion to him for him to be able to take their face, correct? So how could he take yours?"

The white eyespots on the back of the bird's head didn't reply for a while.

"Remember that I said, Spirits can convey emotion to each other. We can also withhold it. With ones who do not have moving faces, all that has to take place is the exchange of emotions."

Peto rose from his place and walked up the bird's neck, burying his head into his feathers comfortingly.

Three each of his six tails touched the two eyespots, and the small feathers melded together, becoming smooth. He whined in frustration.

"Thel should be able to help, Peto." The owl reassured him. "Do not worry. Sight itself is not as necessary to us, you know this."

The kitsune went back to Zei, putting his head on his paws and downturning his ears dejectedly.

"I envy the facestealer in many ways," Wan Shi Tong admitted, "because he still holds so many more secrets than I. I cannot say he has re-earned my respect, however. Pity, yes, because he is consumed by greed, and would not be mourned if he passed, despite his status as one of the oldest and wisest Spirits. He has even become self-destructive to the point of inciting the Avatar himself. And I think when he felt that it was not respect, but pity coming from me, he went back on his word of not hunting. He has another piece of me with him now, to remind him of just how far he has fallen. The first one I gave to him willingly. The tan face he showed you is from many centuries ago, when I first crossed over to the Material World."

"So Hei Bai was hurt by the burning of the forest here, he's connected to it, even though he lives in the Otherworld." Ty Lee said as Sokka finished his over-embellished tale.

"That about sums it up." He nodded and kissed her on the cheek.

"All the ash was icky," Katara grimaced, "But you should have seen Aang when he was comforting Hei Bai," she smiled, "It was so cute."

"But Katara's the one who knew the right thing to say." Sokka waggled his eyebrows. "Even if you did hit him in the head with an acorn."

"Renewal is the way of the world." Katara replied sagely. "Life persists, even in adversity."

Her brother smiled. "My sis is so wise."

"Oh, and tonight I'm going to test my hypothesis." Katara lectured to her brother jokingly, "I think Iroh and Toph know about you two. And Zuko and Aang are all ignorance and bliss."

"Okay then." Sokka waved a hand dismissively.

At dinner, Katara clanged her spoon on her pot, told everyone she had something to say, and much to the chagrin and embarrassment of her brother, danced around the topic with eloquent phrases and finely crafted words, long-winded and falsely heartfelt testimonies about how her sibling had 'grown up so much from that cute little boy she used to coddle' and how he had 'reached another stage in his life.' Her motherly braggadcio dragged on for quite some time while the rest of them ate.

Toph was sniggering continuously, unable to down any of her food, as she read Sokka's uncomfortable fidgeting. Iroh was managing to contain himself, but allowed a quiet chuckle every now and then. Zuko just watched her as if she had grown a second head, and poor Aang looked as lost at her strange behavior as a polarbeardog in the Si Wong.

When she went up to him to pinch his cheeks, however, that was the last straw.

"Ty Lee and I are together!" He yelled, staving off her hands after he had set his food down. He draped his arm around the acrobat again to illustrate his point. "Okay? My sister is acting like a lunatic because Ty Lee and I are together. Well, actually, she is a lunatic-" -She snorted back- "-but that's not the point-"

"Surprise, surprise. Ty Lee can land a boyfriend." Zuko drawled as he rolled his eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The acrobat pouted as Katara went to sit down again.

"Please." The older boy scoffed. "When the guys at school weren't making fun of me for lagging behind my little sister, they were asking me if your sisters were 'available' or 'interested.' Why should it be any different with you?"

"It's not as if we could date anyway." Ty Lee murmured introspectively. " . . . Hira, Lin, and Jia still can't . . . Meili and Weici would have rather died . . ."

"Yeah, well, just because you all were too high class for anyone your parents hadn't handpicked or approved doesn't mean the talking ever stopped."

Ty Lee looked away, frowning sadly.

"Could you stick a sock in it, Firebreath?" Sokka snapped as he rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.

"Oh, sorry." The other teenager reacted to his animosity. "You just didn't have to put up with, 'Damn, that Weici's hot.' All. The. Time. 'She should have come to the Boy's Academy, if you know what I mean.'" His exasperated mocking impersonation was topped off with an overblown elbow-nudging. Ty Lee seemed to shrink as he talked, "End-less-ly. 'If only that Yunru weren't so weird, I would jump her bo-'"

Sokka chucked a stray piece of wood aimed at the prince's head to shut him up and he was forced to duck.

Zuko stood rebelliously, food forgotten.

"Simmer down," Toph joked to the prince. "He's just being protective."

Katara snickered at her brother. "Oh the irony."

"What?" Sokka asked.

"You wouldn't have minded talk like that before you and Ty Lee got together, Mr. Ladies Man."

"Let's discuss something more interesting." Sokka rebuffed her comment. "Like the wonderful meal that I got for you guys-"

Ty Lee whispered something.

"Hmmm?" Sokka turned to her.

As Zuko sat down again, she lifted her head to pin him with an uncharacteristically steely glare. "Don't you ever talk about any of my sisters that way again. Got it?"

The scarred boy, stunned, stared at her.

"Ouch." Toph quipped. "Twinkle-Two, One, Lizard, Zero."

After an appropriately awkward pause, Sokka began, "Sooooo guys. . . The butcher actually gave this to me because he had an overstock and it would have gone bad otherwise. He's a friendly guy." He picked his serving back up.

"What is it?" Zuko asked, probably wanting the conversation to turn away from him.

"Hippo-Cow Tongue."

The reactions were swift and immediate. There were several 'ewwww's and 'hurf's with puffed cheeks, including the two who weren't partaking. Zuko actually spat out the bite in his mouth, coughing and muttering something about weird Earth Kingdom dishes.

"Don't go dissing my country's cuisine, Dragonboy. You guys are all weenies." Toph, the only one who had gone right on chewing, accused.

The Water Tribesman added indignantly, taking a bite of his own. "Afther ahll, it's good, in' it? A li-ille tough, maybah, but good. Noaw liver, that stuff's narsty."

"You'll eat something's tongue, but not its liver?" Toph teased him, "That's a strange meat bias. Not too big on 'brains' myself."

He swallowed. "Awww, come on, they're so gooey and deliciou-"

"I'm going to go take a walk." Aang declared, as he stood swiftly, looking more than a little green around the gills.

The airbender strode along, kicking at pebbles absently.

Even when he had gotten far out of earshot, he kept going for a while at a not-quite-hurried, but not-quite-easy pace.

Finally he came upon a huge tree, reaching for the sky with an unusual fervor by towering over its forest-mates.

He launched, ascending it in several light, well-placed bursts. He sat balanced on a thin branch, at the very top where they were close enough together for him to drape his arms over the next one up.

Abruptly there was a rustling below him. The acrobat made much more noise than he did as she swung on each branch and released, flipping upwards. "I wasn't exactly liking the conversation, either." She joked as she stopped a few yards shy and peered up at him. "Hey- wait- are you crying?"

He sniffed. "Yeah . . . but not about that." He dug the heel of his hand and his sleeve cuff into his eyes, shaking his head.

Ty Lee settled on her larger and more stable branch. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Aang ran his hands across his elbows, in thought. The first thing that came to him was that only Ty Lee could follow him into a tree like this. He smiled half-heartedly. But then his mind was dredged back to the reason he had sought the comforting proximity to his native element in the first place. "There was this woman Toph and I met earlier today . . . she said I was a hero for rescuing the North Pole." He rested his chin on the slender branch, partially concealing his face between his arms. "And maybe it did help this town, freeing the river for trade. But . . ." he broke off a small, tender twig and let it fall away, watching it drop towards the ground, then looked at the place where it had been wistfully, "some awful things happened. 'Hero' just doesn't fit, regardless." He left it at that.

l

The cascade of emotions receded much too suddenly, leaving him spinning.

As the Ocean Spirit deposited him on the outer wall of the white city, Aang clutched at his head.

His eyes fluttered open, and he was met with the wake of the freshly finished onslaught, the tattered wreckage of the Fire Nation destroyers. The few remaining flecks of black snow nearby in the dark night sky very nearly obscured the very different black flecks floating in the water at a distance.

But he knew they were out there.

Bodies.

Soldiers.

People.

So many lives.

Gone.

He fell to his hands and knees, willing himself not to shake, but it was no use. His lean frame was soon wracked by sobs, over and over again. He didn't know how long he was there like that, grieving the crews of the Fire Navy, pouring out the remnant of his already drained strength into tears.

"Aang!"

His head jerked at the sound and he sucked in a noisy, clogged breath.

Katara was coming. At the speed she was going, she was slipping and sliding on the icy surface. She actually skidded on her knees for the last short stretch.

"Aang, your hands!"

That was the only warning he got before she had ripped off her gloves and snatched his hands up.

He gazed dumbly at his own fingers, which had long since begun to take on a sickening blue tint supporting his weight against the chill of the ice.

He hadn't even noticed.

"Didn't know . . . where you were . . . it disappeared . . ." Katara panted fearfully between breaths as she worked to heat them with warm exhales, " . . . didn't bring you . . . back to the . . . Spirit Oasis . . ." She tucked them under her chin, curled knuckles pressed to the top of her throat, and at the contact she shivered a little more than she already was.

He couldn't even enjoy the sensation, not only because his knuckles were completely and totally numb, but because he couldn't bear to have her touch him.

Not after what he'd done.

He swiftly pulled away and tucked his hands under his arms to warm them himself, new tears coming at the stinging sensation in them and his face. He actually found refuge in concentrating on the pain, eyes unfocusing as he tried not to think of another reason she was probably shivering in the first place. The bodies inside the city she had undoubtedly passed on the way to him, the footmen that had not bowed to the Ocean Spirit.

Drowned.

With a flick of a watery hand.

They would be drifting along the canals, following the direction of the manmade currents towards the sea . . .

A tingling on his cheeks made him jump. It took him a second to figure out that tears were being thawed and the water was being bended away so it wouldn't continue to freeze against his face.

After that was done she tried to put a hand on him and draw him closer to her, but he pulled away again.

"A-all those p-people . . ." he croaked weakly.

"That wasn't you." Katara asserted quietly. "It was La."

He only curled in tighter on himself, beginning to rock back and forth.

"I-I'm n-not s-so s-sure K-Katara."

He recalled the determination in his declaration as he faced the approaching fleet.

"I wasn't there when the Fire Nation attacked my people. I'm going to make a difference this time."

The fiercer and deeper determination that had overcome him as he stood in the Spirit Oasis, soon to have La circling around him.

"No. It's not over."

"I-I was t-thinking about the other n-nomads . . . " he swallowed. "a-and h-he was thinking a-about Tui . . . a-and our r-rage it . . . kind of . . ." He broke off and made a long, mournful sound deep in his throat. "it kind of merged together. I didn't know if I was myself, or if I . . . I don't think I was trying to hold him back . . . I b-barely knew what was happening, Katara. It was-" The sound he made next was of a terrified child, a tiny whistling that pushed its way out of his nose.

This time he didn't resist as she wrapped her arms around him. He couldn't; he was just too exhausted. He collapsed into her, and every fresh wave of tears was bended away again by the ungloved hand.

When he finally stood and made his way slowly back to the center of the city, she followed along several strides behind him. A dim light along the overcast horizon hinted at a bleak morning.

The silence and the distance between them wouldn't be breached again for a while yet, until the light was fully come upon the pole, and the awful aftermath within the walls flushed away.

l

"Father Ocean, they are here." Kuruk announced gravely to the two Koi of the pond. "I will guard the entrance so you are not interrupted."

The ebony fish swam to the side of the water, gazing at the three travelers for several minutes as water pumped in and out of his slitted throat.

"You must include the human in this discussion, La." Wan Shi Tong replied to the silence.

The fish turned slightly to Zei, and away again.

"I petetion again." The faceless owl repeated. "My Opposite has advised me thus. You know the importance of that kind of bond."

The fish glanced at the white koi, which was hanging back.

"Very well, Knowledgable One." La finally acquiesced in a ponderous, flowing tone. "Know, human, that not even my children here have ever heard me."

"It is a great honor indeed." Zei bowed at the waist.

"Kuruk memories tell me that you have laid eyes upon Koh with surprise and fear on your features. Another rare occurance. Tell me, Owl, do you intend for him to become a Spirit, then?"

Wan Shi Tong paused before saying, "I think he can earn it."

Zei's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "W-what?" He sputtered. "Y-you want me to become a Spirit? . . . Wait, I can become a Spirit? What-"

"Enough. That is not the issue at hand here." The Ocean's voice streamed smoothly. "Do you care to explain why you have overturned my judgement of the Moonslayer, Owl?"

"Do not pretend I am at fault here." Wan Shi Tong replied. "The human aside, the Material World has rarely seen such carnage by a single entity. I thought we left that kind of chaos behind long ago, when we invested the direction of the world to the Avatar."

The fish replied vehemently, "This was inevitable the moment the Avatar stepped into my presence, Owl. Do you know what kind of torment we endured, as my wife's children were ripped from their homes in the South, and we were powerless to aid them? As I watched the Avatar sink into my depths, and he floated for decades, as he was in sight, and yet out of reach?"

"And revenge against a single human makes up for such egregious misfortune?" Wan Shi Tong inquired. "Flooding my counterpart's field with souls reverses what has already been done?"

"I suppose I should be ordering Zburator and his Master to take you to the stocks, then, Owl?" The fish demanded, voice swelling. "For it is under your watch that this was allowed to happen, that her identity was discovered. So far from your source of power, it would be only too simple for him to overwhelm you."

Peto shrank against his Master.

"I did everything I could." The owl's voice became ragged and he rustled his wings nervously. "If I could travel from my dwelling, without becoming weaker, I would have chased him to the ends of the earth, I swear."

"Cursed confinement." The Koi agreed. "A mortal Spirit's nightmare."

There was a moment as the water in the small pond lapped, and the fish swam back and forth, the aquatic form of pacing.

"What a sad state of the world, when even the Spirits are at each other's throats." It slowed. "Forgive me, Knowledgable One. It all just seems like a sick joke, that the Avatar would be suspended for so long in a place that is me, my essence, and yet my choice of mortality prevented me from breaking him free." It spun to face its companion. "And this might have all been avoided, too, if Agni had chosen to stand by and guide his people, like us, instead of staying in the Otherworld."

"Perhaps." Tui replied timidly. "But what could have been will only eat at us, if we let it. The Sages turned away from him, and that is how history will stay. We must simply move forward." She brushed against him tenderly. "You still have not promised me that you will not interfere with the meeting of the Sun and Moon."

"The Sun Spirit has much to answer for." La replied evasively.

"So, too, do you." The faceless owl interrupted. "And you owe him your counterpart's life."

La swam away from Tui, rounding the pond again.

"As much as my presence has aggravated you," The owl began, "Thel has also asked me to thank you for fulfilling her request."

Tui responded gently. "It was I who implored the Avatar to protect my people, and I would not allow him to bear the full guilt for something that he would have never embarked on his own. La and I pushed him too far. Even when I was human, we had the same agenda."

"If what I understand is correct," Zei inquired quietly, "it is a wonder that the Avatar can even manage a smile at all any more, with his people wiped out, and this battle hanging over his head."

"Thel has taken a special interest in him," Tui confirmed, "as he has endured too much for any child to bear. She and La have relieved him of as much of the self-blame as they possibly could."

"By our influence, when he re-experienced the battle in sleep, he saw himself outside himself." The black koi said, "And thus was able to rightfully detach himself from the action. Still he grieves, but for his people, and for lives lost, not lives he has taken."

"If he were ever to truly believe he had commited such violence as his own decision, he would be unable to fulfill his duties." Tui finished sadly. "Unable to continue, even."

"The boy I met was not broken so." Zei gave a small smile. "He was boisterous but kind, and quite a delight to be around."

The fish came together again for a moment, matching each other's movements. They spoke together, voices flooding the space. "So young and tender a Balance Keeper, it was our turn to Balance you."

Tui came to the very edge of the pond, speaking to the owl. "I believe you can leave with no bad blood between us, Knowledgable One?"

"Until the meeting of the Sun and Moon, I'll bid you farewell." Wan Shi Tong replied.

Ty Lee said to Aang, "Well, I know that whatever happened, if it was scary for me, while I was so far away- and it was- it must have been really, really scary for you." She paused. "And I would come and give you a hug, but I don't think that branch would support both of us."

At the jest the small boy gave a slightly strangled and pained chuckle.

The flight back to the Thel's soul field was a quiet one.

When the bird touched down, the girl was waiting for him.

This time she stood on the ground instead of flying, rooted like the plants around her, and exactly their height.

"Come here. Let me see."

He obligingly bent down towards her.

The little girl ran her small hands all along the scarred surface.

Scarred, in a way, yet featureless. Without the clean-looking white heart-shaped patch, the dark head looked, not necessarily menacing, but still undesirable.

"I think I can assist you, my dear friend, but only if you are ready to let go of your anger. You have faced the Moonslayer. Can you renew the curiosity and positive passion you once boasted for your beloved Knowledge? Are you ready to take on the world again? To welcome people back to your home?" She gently guided his head into a front-bowing angle and laid her palm on the back of it. In this position, it was above the two white marks, but if he were upright again, the placement would be below them. "Let's find out."

She began to murmur softly and melodiously,

"What, for you, may I affix,

Creature of the Air, with Wings of blackest Onyx,

Buried deep in the Earth, who in the mirroring dark hoped to turn to Stone yourself,

Where the land is parched of Water, and the Fire of sunlight does not delve?

My everlasting duty is to you, even when you stray

I, who see Life, in its own places and ways,

Sprout up, healthy, from newly scorched ground ash-dry,

And rise up, gladly, to soar even in a cloud-wet sky."

At the last two earnest lines of the incantation, swirling patterns began to "Sprout up" on him, radiating from the two marks, carving white through black. The albino vines branched and spread down the length of his back and tail. At the same time they crept over his shoulders onto his chest, and, still moving, "scorched" into tiny, almost floral bursts at places. They went across the solid parts of his wings, to the sides past his thumbs, the alulae feathers, painting delicate stripes across the vanes of his flight shafts to "soar" to the very tips.

At "wet" the eyespots themselves grew moist and blinked with new sight. And when she took her hand away, there was a white beak where it had been, matching the now-permanent patterns decorating his entire body.

The owl stood straight and rotated this face forward by the one hundred-eighty degrees, puffing out his feathers and shaking his head from side to side, opening and closing his freshly formed mouth.

She walked around him, admiring her handiwork. "So depart. And always remember that Innocence, while it can be lost, can also be found again, in many ways."

He dipped low, spreading his wings flat across the ground in a regal sweep. "Every gratitude, My Balancer, Innocence Keeper."

Back in the Material World, two people still perched in a tree. The lower down of the two bent a knee to chest level, lifting one foot and then the other, to stand up.

"You're not a mover." Ty Lee observed.

"A what?" Aang asked down at her.

"It's something Meili always used to say. Some people will find a place to stay still and quiet when they're upset. But a mover will want to move, to actively work off the negative energy. I do it both ways, about the same amount. I didn't used to, though."

l

Meili was a completely different person.

Firstly, when Yunru wasn't around.

Secondly, when she wasn't under pressure.

Thirdly, when she was dancing.

The beautiful wooden flooring of the room was cleaned so well that it was partially reflective. Ty Lee and three others watched their eldest sister demonstrate a maneuver gracefully and effortlessly. She bent her knees and swept one foot out, completing a half-spin and then cleared the floor entirely.

"Come on, Weici, you know this one." She encouraged, smiling.

Her next youngest sister tiptoed shyly over to her, repeating the movement.

Next was Ty Lee.

Then Hira.

Their mother sat at one end of the room, with two toddlers on each knee. "You two will be doing this before you know it." The three watched the lessons contentedly.

"I think you'll be able to start flips, soon, Ty!" Meili crowed.

"R-really?" The young girl's silver eyes shone with anticipation of the aerial feats.

Weici tussled her little sister's hair affectionately.

The female noble continued to talk to the two little ones as the line of four performers worked. "You'll be civilized and cultured. They don't allow just any common children to dance. The schools don't allow it. It's your privledge as members of our esteemed family."

"It's a shame, really." Meili said idly as they took a short break. "Do you think they might let them, one day, Mother?"

"I certainly hope not. And the way they have all the boys and girls going to the same building together? It's positively scandalous." She shook her head. "I'm glad I convinced your father to send you all to the Capitol. But when my mother was your age, no girls went to the Boy's Academy because of some silly cowhogwash about how classes were better there. Why have separate schools in the first place if you're not going to enforce it one hundred percent? We don't need to stoop to the level of peasants. Ah well, it's better than nothing."

"Where is Miss Ryu this week?" Hira asked. "I like learning from you, too, Mei, I just wondered."

"Her father is taking sabbatical from Roku's Temple. He's-"

"A sabba-what?" Hira puzzled.

Meili chuckled. "He's taking a little vacation. He's visiting her, so lessons are canceled for a little while. And call her Auntie. She likes it when her students do that."

"Okay." Ty Lee and Hira said together.

"Hey, why doesn't Yunru ever come to the lessons, Mei?" Ty Lee asked her surrogate instructor.

"She just doesn't want to." Meili replied, shrugging. "Now let's start again."

The other three followed suit, eager to continue.

Through the years stress would roll off all of them, relinquishing its weight when they sprang, leaped, twirled, all after one another. Meili would come alone whenever she was feeling bad. She was a 'mover.' Yunru wasn't. This Ty Lee, who hadn't yet seen anything wrong with being a copy of the two dancers she admired so much, couldn't help thinking that maybe spending a little time in this room would help her grumpy older sister. It never happened. And later, she would take up yoga, and find the benefits of stilling the body and turning a critical eye inward. But for now, she enjoyed losing herself in the motion of the steps.

l

"Maybe you should try moving, instead. Change it up." She dropped to a lower branch, touching off again and swinging on another. "Come on! Jeranimo!" She flung herself from the tall tree, freefalling down for a breathless minute before catching a limb of a shorter one and swinging again.

The airbender immediately felt so much lighter, watching her raw, simple enjoyment. Ty Lee just seemed to have that effect. How could you continue feeling dragged down watching that? "Ha! Watch this." He wrapped his hands around the tip of the tree, swaying the pliable trunk back and forth until he had gained enough momentum to thrust out his feet and hang freely, changing his hands fast on the small branches so that he could spin around and make it bend more. Once it had reached a point where he had the trunk going in the biggest circle possible, he stopped himself and allowed it to snap back straight. It slingshotted him across the sky.

"Whooooooaaaaa!" Ty Lee exclaimed.

He tucked his arms and legs to minimize drag. This active commune with his element was indeed both a balm and a boon. He hadn't really simply airbended for the heck of it much since he had started training. Would any of the elements he was learning afterward ever be as inspiring, as natural and comfortable, as his nascent one? He hoped so. But for now, he enjoyed it slipping by him, seeming to strip and scrub him of his worries.

He started to descend, so he spread his arms then, gathering air under him. He alighted on another branch and waited for her behind, trying to catch up to him through the canopy.

"Want to see something even cooler?" He called back.

"What?"

He floated to the ground, bending air around him to sprint off at his full breakneck pace, leaving her goggling.

After he had covered a good bit of distance, he used the same slingshot method to propel himself back to where she was.

"That." A smile slowly spread across her face. "That was so awesome."

He lifted upward again, returning the expression. "You can't catch me." He boasted playfully. "But I'll go easy on you." He flew off once more, darting through the trees, and she chased after.

And thus it went, the pattern of spontaneous, uncomplicated revelry.

And maybe, the trills of their combined laughter sounded just a little bit like-

-the gossamer wings of a hummingbird-beetle.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

"It's only a matter of time before I run into Azula again. I'm going to need to know more advanced firebending if I want to stand a chance against her. I know what you're going to say: she's my sister and I should be trying to get along with her."

"No, she's crazy, and she needs to go down." -Zuko and Iroh, Book 2, Chapter 9: Bitter Work

"Have I told you how I had to change my name at the circus?" Ty Lee chuckled.

"Change it? Why?" Zuko asked.

Sitting in a circle, the three 'traitor' Fire Nation natives were an odd sight to see, sitting in the middle of the grassy field. Ty Lee still wore one of Katara's spare blue dresses. And the other two wore clothes, that, at one time, would've been unthinkable to get grass stains on.

"Well, the pronunciation was the same. But because we visited so many of the colonies, the ringmaster suggested that when we went there, I'd have to spell it the Earth Kingdom way," she explained.

"Why would that matter?"

"He changed it on the posters for the different areas."

"Wait, really? He commissioned an artist to do all that work over?"

The acrobat nodded. "He claimed that when he did that, Earth Kingdom citizens were more likely to come."

"That makes sense, I guess," Zuko nodded thoughtfully.

"So," Iroh rubbed his beard. "If you weren't spelling it like your sister, Meili, T-A-I-L-I, how is it spelled in the vernacular?"

"T-y L-e-e."

"Hm."

"In fact, whenever I think of my name now, I hardly ever slip back into Taili. I even sometimes think of her name as M-a-y L-e-e. And Mai as M-a-y."

"Did you apply for dual citizenship?" Iroh asked.

"Yep!"

"So I imagine it came in handy then, too."

"Since I'm not a bender, they were much more flexible to the idea."

"What about the earthbender at the circus?" Iroh asked.

"Poshu? He's hidden his bending since he was little, since both of his parents were firebenders. On all of his documents he's listed as a nonbender."

"How unfortunate," the retired general sighed.

"Well, you know, some people aren't quite as attached to bending as others," she pointed out. "Rila didn't really care one way or the other. I've mentioned Rila before to you guys, too, right?" Ty Lee asked.

"Uh . . ." Zuko scratched his head.

"She was a firebender performer. You were very close." Iroh recalled.

"Yes! She claims that if her bending went away, she wouldn't miss it that much. It's just a means to an end. But can that even happen?" she asked the older firebender.

"Very rarely. Usually firebenders have to let off chi energy. But I suppose if your connection to fire isn't that strong, then it may leave you. According to what the White Lotus has educated me on, though, you can always get it back."

"That's good to hear. I've encountered stories where bending gets much weaker, but not totally gone! That sounds awful," Zuko shook his head.

"I wonder if such a person could legally be considered a nonbender," Iroh speculated.

"Probably," Ty Lee nodded, "I mean, since birth certificates are all the same, and have to be added onto once someone demonstrates they're a bender . . . if someone did all the right moves, but nothing happened, then functionally . . . well, I don't know for sure, obviously. But it would make sense."

"I knew many nonbenders in the army who used bending forms to fight," Iroh said. "The styles may have arisen due to the reaction of the elements and the flow of chi," he winked at Ty Lee, who could sense such movements of energy, "but the katas are useful in and of themselves, too."

"Maybe Sokka should do that," Zuko suggested.

"Maybe he would take to it better than chi blocking," Ty Lee agreed.

"Did you teach anyone at the circus those techniques?" Zuko asked.

"Azula told me not to."
|

"Can you please not firebend around the animals?" Ty Lee asked meekly.

Rila crossed her arms. "They're trained to jump through flaming hoops. What's the problem?"

"Just because they can doesn't mean you should make them do something unpleasant when they don't have to," the pink-clad girl pointed out.

"Ugh, fine."

It was still pretty early on in the girls' relationship, and the disowned noble was not sure the commoner quite liked her. The other girl seemed friendly enough, but after being immersed in both the Girls' Academy and her sisters, and suddenly being deprived of so many close bonds, Ty Lee was a little desperate.

"I'm not trying to criticize," she said quickly. "I'm sure you didn't mean anything by it. It didn't occur to you . . . that's all right."

Rila eyed her.

"Um . . ." the acrobat paused after her placating. "So . . . since it's our day off, would you like to go into town? Maybe you can show me around, since you've been a performer for so much longer . . . I'm sure you know all the best spots to hang out. This isn't a new place on the route, right?" Ty Lee tested.

"No, it isn't. I guess, if you want."

The older girl led the runaway through the streets. She pointed out places she had been, and places she had heard good things about. She talked about what areas to avoid.

But, apparently even that wasn't going to keep them safe.

Several men burst from an alleyway, one grabbing the firebender's wrist.

Although she had no formal training, the girl nonetheless reacted, shooting a hasty fireball.

"Aw shoot, they're benders."

They took several steps back, but Ty Lee, unfazed by an attack because she had been training with Azula since she was little, said, "I'm not a bender."

They all hesitated, and Rila hissed, "Sweet Spirits, Ty Lee, you did NOT just-"

One of the men made for the acrobat, and she had him on the ground before anyone could register what had happened.

"What the-? I can't move!"

The rest of them fled, and Ty Lee tilted her head. "Well that's not very nice of them to leave you like that," she said to the paralyzed would-be thief.

Rila seized her by the shoulders. "What is WRONG with you? Don't talk to him!"

"Why not?" the flouncy girl asked.

"He just tried to rob us!"

"Yeah. And I beat him." She shrugged. "No harm done."

"No ha- You-" she put her hands to her head. "You aren't- even mad?"

"Should I be?"

"YES! Yes you should!"

He piped up from the ground. "If you're not mad, no reason to-"

"We most definitely ARE going to report you, you creep!" the firebender yelled.

Ty Lee nodded. "Yeah."

"I thought you would've freaked out," Rila studied her. "Didn't you say you used to be a noble? Aren't you guys under guard all the time? I thought being on the streets would be unnerving for you . . ." She looked at the greenhorn performer with new intrigue.

As they went to find an executive enforcer, Ty Lee told the other girl of her combat training.

"Any chance you could teach me that? Seems . . . well,  kinder  than firebending, not to mention somebody can still attack you even if they're burned."

"I'm sorry. My master gave me permission, but someone with . . . higher authority . . . told me I shouldn't be giving out all my techniques, because then more people could learn how to counter it . . ."

"Higher authority? What do you mean?"

Ty Lee didn't want to say she was friends with the princess. At least not this early in the game. She knew people would start treating her nicely just because of that. And she wanted to be appreciated on her own merits, for her own personality.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I can't tell you. Please don't be angry," she said pitifully.

"Ooooo, mysterious."

To the acrobat's relief, the firebender seemed further intrigued, and not put off.
|

"Honestly, I really would've liked to teach her, so she could be safer," Ty Lee said wistfully in the present. "The other performers, too, especially the girls and women. But if Azula had come for a visit, and it had gotten around to her that I disobeyed . . ."

Both of the ex-royals nodded in perfect understanding.

Zuko growled. "So even when she wasn't present, she still managed to make people more unsafe. Figures."

Ty Lee made a face.

"Oh please, are you going to tell me that she's just a big old platypus teddy underneath it all?" the prince asked his childhood playmate and pranker.

"No! Nothing like that . . ."

"Wonder how many people she's hurt already, now that she's 'off leash.'"

"Zuko, please . . . just don't." Ty Lee begged.

"Why? It's only the truth."

Iroh stepped in. "When truth hurts, Zuko, it should only be wielded when necessary, or unacknowledged. It is neither of those things right now."

He closed his eyes. "All right."

"I was stupid to think I could help her," Ty Lee said tearfully. "I was stupid to think I could help Mai."

Zuko shifted.

"Rila had to drag me out of being so naive. The kids at school always called me an airhead. Meili and Yunru were right, I am the stupidest sister! I was stupid to think that I could make a difference!"

"Wait now," Iroh said sweetly. "Dear, smarts are not the only important thing in the world. The heart matters quite a lot. And if being kind to an attacker is one of your biggest 'faults,'" he used air quotes with his fingers, and said it with a good dose of amusement, "then in my estimation, you are quite a valuable person indeed."

She sniffed, but smiled. "T-Thank you."

"And if I can chime in," Zuko said, "A lot of the time, the only situation Azula even remotely acted like a human being was when you were around."

A good ways away, the two youngest members of the group were still earthbending.

"Hey Toph, I was thinking. When our training session is over, maybe you should head into town for a little while. Let me talk to Katara about my injury I got while we were practicing. I'll handle her."

Toph first looked indecisive, then shifted to resolute. "I can weather whatever she's got to say."

The conflict-averse pacifist sighed. "I know you can, Toph. But why go through something unpleasant when you don't have to? Wait for her to cool down. And it's not just about you, you know. Everyone gets set on edge whenever you two fight."

She pouted and puffed her hair upwards.

He had noticed that Toph was spending less and less time around the waterbender if she could help it. He didn't like the rift forming between the two girls, but at the same time, he had heard enough that he figured it was pointless to try to get them to get along before they were ready to. He felt as if his upbringing among the monks had not only made him ill-suited to adapting to war, but even ineffective when it came to verbal conflicts, too. He was a fish out of water. Or an airbender underwater, maybe.

When the monks had traveled, they had often served as third party mediators to people, but he hadn't been officially introduced to those skills yet, being so young. There were probably so many things he wasn't carrying forward, despite being a survivor. He was really glad to have Iroh join the group, because having an adult around made him feel less like a runaway child. He had perpetually had that thought recur to him.

Toph seemed to revel in being a runaway, and Ty Lee.

But his experience with such things still dug a furrow through his heart.

If he hadn't acted out, and stayed, would he have made a difference? He might've hurt other airbenders in the throes of the Avatar state. The elder monks may have pushed to evacuate him altogether. In that scenario, he hoped one of them would've come with him, if so. Even if it wasn't Gyatso.

So many times he would've liked to consult someone more experienced than he was, not just for bending instruction, but interpersonal advice.

The older firebender was like his mentors in many, many ways. He hadn't expected the retired general to be so laidback and gentle, like they were.

When it wasn't a relief . . .

. . . it stirred up fresh waves of grief.

"Earth to Aang. Are you that upset over a little scuffle?" She slid a foot, reading him.

"No!" He reviewed some of his thoughts. They were basically the same as the last time they had had to pause while discussing training. No point in re-hashing them, right? If he talked about every time he missed the monks, they would probably all be sick of it.

"I'm sure Iroh would agree not to go charging into a fight if it wasn't necessary," Aang tried the reasoning on Toph.

Invoking the man that she herself seemed very attached to, Aang thought, might be a good strategy.

The Water Tribe siblings had just sort of adjusted to his presence. They weren't indifferent, but they also hadn't latched onto him. Sokka occasionally treated Iroh as if he were following battle cues from tribesmen, as someone low on the totem pole of authority, if had he aged up enough to join them.

Toph, on the other hand, since she had met him on her own, and didn't have any parental figures that she truly respected, was reveling in the novelty of affection shared with someone she respected.

She stomped, wise to his ruse. "I'm not always gonna do what he says, you know."

Aang winced. "Yes. I know."

Toph didn't do one thing she didn't want to.

Both of the kids stared each other down for a moment, or as much as a blind girl could stare.

Neither of them technically had siblings, but he had something that was pretty much a very large family. She wasn't used to bending on anything. The isolated heiress had never had to share, defer to an older child, nor guide a younger. But he was at least well-versed in all of these dynamics. The older firebender boy, and the two real siblings, they all fit into his experience just fine. But she seemed eager to pick fights.

Maybe, even interacting with other kidsthat way was still novelty, to her.

Interesting and fresh, just like everything else.

"And if I did decide to slink off with my tail tucked, like a wimp, what would I do in town, anyway? I don't fancy getting jobs like you guys. I couldn't show up regularly anyway, because we need to train," she pointed out.

"Oh I'm sure there's some mischief you could get up to," Aang challenged.

She chuckled. "Yeah, probably." She paused. "You know, when Iroh was talking to me the other day, after I snapped at Zuko? He mentioned earthbending's role in architecture. I'd never thought to pay much attention to buildings before. But maybe that could be something to try out."

He nodded. "Could be interesting," he said sincerely. "And far out of reach of my current earthbending skills," he added sarcastically.

"Sounds right. No objections from me," she ribbed him.

Aang put his hand over his heart. "Oh you wound me," he joked.

"Liar," the other earthbender teased back. "Didn't even have to use my feet for that one."

They both laughed.

"Earthbending did turn out to be why Poshu left," Ty Lee said. "He was afraid of the step up in security and scrutiny when news got around that the Avatar had returned. Even before he told me what was churning up his chi, he was acting differently. I mean, to be fair, everybody was. We were all afraid of somebody wrathful, who would destroy the Fire Nation for conquering."

"And it turned out to be a twelve year old with a penchant for making flower crowns," Zuko said sardonically.

She laughed so hard and long that she hiccupped. "Y-yeah! He's great! But we had no way of knowing that!"

She thought back to the men that Azula had punished for being prejudiced towards her and Mai. "I think a lot of people still believe that, actually." He had said something about Aang heading up a mass murder attempt, which had to be a fabrication. Azula wasn't the only noble or military leader who used lies, as the chi reader could full well sense. He had believed it himself, but obviously a lie could appear as truth to a secondary person who had heard it from a primary source. Or perhaps it was a misunderstanding? she thought hopefully. The more Fire Nation people who understood what Aang was like … well, maybe with how committed people were to the cause, it wouldn't make that much of a difference to their fights, really. But civilians could be less afraid. She wished she could send letters to the other performers, to assure them. But if such letters got intercepted, they might get in trouble because of suspicion of disloyalty. Still, it nagged at her. The soft-hearted girl didn't want her people being afraid.

The princess, on the other hand- "There was this man who Azula-" she stopped. She glanced at the ex-prince, and back down to her crossed feet.

"She burnt him," Zuko said matter-of-factly.

She was silent.

"Sorry, I said I wasn't going to be that way," the firebender backpedaled.

"I guess it doesn't count for anything that she never burned anyone at the Girls' Academy," Ty Lee said quietly.

"No." Iroh said seriously. "She was still a princess, after all. Treating other nobles with respect goes with the territory. She was unnecessarily rough with her sparring opponents, and the servants, well . . ." he shook his head.

"She wanted to," Ty Lee said even more quietly.

Both of the firebenders blanched.

Zuko opened his mouth, but shut it again. All that meant to him was that she could have refrained elsewhere, and that she wasn't as subject to her own whims as she pretended sometimes.

|
"I can't help it. I just get angry."
\

A lie.

Why was he surprised?

It didn't earn her any points to keep from hurting people. The idea that Ty Lee might think it did . . .

Well, he wasn't going to go back on his word. He wasn't going to keep pressing about it.

Why would she lie to him about it, though? Did she value his opinion on her that much . . .?

"Anyway. The two men she punished while I was with her . . . one didn't deserve it, from what I could tell. But the other . . . well, you could almost say it was a good thing she didn't decide to carelessly strip him of his rank right then and there."

"I must admit, I was surprised to hear that my brother had approved of her taking you two on this mission," Iroh said slowly. "With all the assassins, experienced masters and generals at his and her disposal, dragging into it such a sweet person as yourself, in particular, seemed all the more cruel."

"Azula probably didn't want any underlings that made her feel in any way inferior," Zuko said darkly. "Her pride wouldn't stand for it."

"Ah," Iroh's gaze went to the sky. "Impeccable analysis, nephew."

"I may not know how to work people as much as she does. Nor got as excellent marks in school in comparison. But Azula herself? I know her, more than I'd like to, at present."

"Might as well look on the bright side," the old man said with sincere optimism. "We've got one of Sun Tzu's primary warfare principles working for us, at least. 'Know Your Enemy.'"

"Wait." Ty Lee said, turning back to Iroh. "When you mentioned assassins?  We were supposed to take Aang alive. Maybe that's why she picked us."

"Flinging knives at someone isn't inclined to keep them alive," Zuko's mouth hardened. "Though I guess, to her, if he had a few holes poked in him, no big." The firebender growled, and fire spurted from his mouth, making the acrobat scoot a foot away from him.

"Sorry," he said roughly. "It just infuriates me that I might've been all right with that a short while ago. Now picturing it makes me want to put Jeong Jeong's opinions to good use and fuel my fire with that rage."

He looked to his uncle, as if expecting to be chastised for such thoughts.

The older firebender, though, shrugged. "If that keeps the Avatar-" he paused, corrected himself, "if that keeps Aang safe, then maybe I shouldn't say anything about it. I do care about just the boy himself a great deal, too, nephew." He took on a tone that reflected his military experience, "And even if he weren't the Bridge Between Worlds, and the current Avatar were a Water Tribe or an Earth Kingdom citizen, he'd still be a valuable asset to us. If we were organizing like a unit, he'd still be in the running for most important. Practically no one knows how to fight an airbender. Not dissimilar to Azula's admonitions about keeping chi blocking secrets," as he compared himself to the other scheming royal, Zuko gritted his teeth. "And, he's the last of a bygone race. A culture I much loved learning about from the Order."

He considered his younger relative for a moment more. "Have you been beating yourself up for chasing Aang, Zuko?"

He looked away.

"Maybe that's one reason you can't do lightning yet," his master said gently.

Zuko didn't reply.

"If it makes you feel any better," Ty lee scooted closer again, laying an arm on his shoulder, "After our initial run-in with Aang, she instructed Mai not to engage him specifically, unless the situation really called for it."

He nodded.

"So, I wonder if she's found another chi blocker?" Iroh had shifted back to planner mode.

"I would guess so," She wasn't the only one skilled in the technique, after all. And, at the time of being torn away from the circus, she had attempted to console herself that there was a reason Azula had picked her instead. She wouldn't bring it up with the current mood, but . . . perhaps Azula even gone to bat for the decision with the Fire Lord.

Her gray eyes moistened a little. "Is it silly to be sad that I'd be replaced?"

Zuko opened his mouth again, and, thankfully, had the foresight to shut it again.

Iroh replied instead, "You can't always control how you feel. Even with meditation."

Ty Lee nodded. "But you're right too, that I should do a better job of letting go, if I can."

"For you, the idea of fighting for the Earth Kingdom in general wasn't that big of a leap, right?" Zuko asked her curiously. "Like it has been for me. If you already considered yourself a citizen of both, and even used EK spelling."

She shrugged. "I guess. I didn't think of it consciously that way, but yeah. Since I only paid attention to classes enough to pass, maybe all the talk about how other Nations were inferior didn't really sink in, either."

Iroh laughed robustly, hands on his big belly. "Never thought being an 'airhead' would be a virtue, huh?"

She didn't join in the laughter, pain passing over gray eyes at the term used against her.

"Are you all right, my dear?"

She fiddled with her braid. "I just thought of . . . is that meant to be derogatory towards airbenders? By comparing people to them? That would be pretty sad."

Iroh's brow furrowed. "You know, I don't know. I wonder if anyone in the Order could trace the origin of the term. Or Wan Shi Tong?"

"I'll bet it is." The younger bender bristled on behalf of the boy again. "I know it's a lot to hope for, that we wouldn't just beat back Father and Azula, keep them from expanding . . . Maybe even after the comet crisis is averted, we could work at it . . . If we manage to take the Fire Nation back over . . . " the ex-prince said strongly. He gushed a few flames again. But this time, it was less with anger, and more with positive passion. "There are going to be a lot of changes."

Chapter Text

"I'll roll your whole head!' -Toph, Book 3, Chapter 11: Day of Black Sun, Part 2

Toph took Aang's advice, and strolled into town. Extending her bending sense out further, and taking her focus off the moving shapes of people, she began examining the foundations of houses.

She came upon a construction site, and decided that 'getting up to a little mischief' advice might be followed, too, even though he probably hadn't meant it genuinely. She ignored the surprised yells and words to warn her off.

But finally, they were beginning to surround her to corral her, and one man in particular stepped forward, which she could tell by their body language, the way heads turned towards him, he was probably the boss of the operation.

"Hey, uh," she shrugged, with a wide grin. "I think you have some soft spots in the foundation you're setting here." she lied. "Want me to help you?"

She had no idea what the reaction would be. Maybe he'd actually take her up on the offer, and she could learn something? Doubtful. This wasn't like the butcher, with Sokka, or the seamstress, with Katara and Ty Lee. This type of work, you had to be trained and qualified for.

He grabbed the girl by the wrist and pulled her away from the circle of people.

"Let go!" she exclaimed.

He ignored her.

"Hey! I mean it!"

He didn't release.

He continued to pull her along.

They were getting further away, out of earshot.

"Hey asshole," the girl growled, "If you do not let me go this instant, they're not gonna be able to piece you together again, hear me?"

"Who the fuck are you?" he hissed under his breath. "What kind of little kid waltzes up to an active construction site, past signs to stay clear, refuses to go back when the men tell her it's dangerous? And curses? Where do you get off telling someone with three decades of experience that they're doing their fucking job wrong?"

"I'm going to tell you exactly one more time," the powerful earthbender said in a deadly tone. "Let. Me. Go."

"Why, so you can go running off to mommy and not get in trouble?" the man demanded.

Her hands, whose grip strength had been honed by years of battering stone into submission, were swift and not merciful. With the one that was free, she made a vice on his forearm, five pinpoint bruises that dug into the soft flesh so hard that he yelped, and reflexively slapped at her shoulder.

Further incensed, she spat, "How dare you hit me you shithead!"

Still with the strong grasp, she turned the arm outwards, wrist facing upwards.

"What the-" he tried to pull away, but she held him fast.

He yanked again, but she was immovable as her element.

"How are . . .! How are you doing that?"

"That is none of your concern," she said, with a deadly grace that was a hybrid of her polished, proper upbringing bubbling with menace that was built out of the toughness of an Earth Rumbler.

"What is your concern," she went on, "Is that if you do not do what I say, when I say it, you will find this arm of yours dislocated. Do you understand?"

"What? Just- just let go."

"Hm. You didn't seem too intent on letting go when I asked you. Nor when I shouted. Nor when I warned you. So you're about to eat the bitter fruits of the bitter seeds you have sown," the poetic line again reflected her days cooped up and reciting flowery lines to her tutors, but with an underlying threat of gritty violence that she was all too happy to back up.

Now that she was back in control, she had slipped out of cursing in anger and fear, and she was enjoying herself, like a cat with a mouse at its mercy.

Her grip tightened down even further, like a wench with a tonne needed to move, and he yelped again, squirming.

"Are you going to yell for help?" she mocked him with a sightless leer. "Have someone rescue you from a 'little girl?' I would enjoy that immensely, by the way. Feel free."

"You're a bender, aren't you?" he asked, swallowing in fear.

"Oh. The ordie peasant has rubbed his two sad brain cells together to solve a timeless mystery."

"Peasant?" his brow furrowed. "A-are you nobility? I'm sorry, miss! If I had known, I wouldn't have-"

She sank his feet into the earth, and pushed. The strain on his ankles caused him to cry out yet again.

"Am I to understand, that if I had been a low class child, you, a grown man, would've pulled me into an alley, apropo of nothing, out of earshot of other adults?" she said in the same wickedly polite tone that Azula might've envied, "The more comes out of your mouth, 'sir,' the more I am inclined to stop holding back."

"What? What? No! It's not like that," he shook his head furiously, "I'm not a monster!" he pleaded.

"I would be able to tell if you're lying, with my earthbending, if I hadn't terrified you so much," she groused. "I was rather enjoying feeling your heartbeat speeding up."

"What? What on Earth are you talking about? Sweet Mahimata! Are you insane?"

She breathed out. "Though, if I did read this all wrong, I'm probably not doing earthbenders' reputation any favors, hm?"

"Uh . . . uh . . . I mean, not all earthbenders are like that," the nonbender said, meek as the metaphorical mouse she had been picturing.

She loosened up her grip, but still held him. She waved her other hand, and the earth reordered itself into a natural plane under his feet.

"Oh thank you," he breathed out himself, in relief. "Heh, well it's . . . actually pretty nice to know some piece of shit might mistake you by your appearance and get his ass handed to him."

"Haha! Well. Maybe I don't need to 'read' you. That sounded pretty genuine to me," she lapsed back into her normal voice she used with the Rumblers. It wasn't quite the same as the one she used with the Gaang. It had a stronger undercurrent, more towards alto than soprano.

In the same way that people naturally mirrored those they talked to, picked up accents when living in a place with a different one, and even could begin talking like a 'peasant' when not around other nobility, she was unconsciously shifting in and out of her vastly varying life experiences.

Like the facets of a singular diamond, with light entering at different angles.

"Oh shit," she said jauntily. Now, the cursing was friendly. The type of word that would come out when people got off from work to hang out, and didn't have to hold back their language in their day job. "I didn't bang you up too bad did I? Shit, shit. I have a friend who's a healer. So, uh, if you need it . . ."

The man flexed his arm and hand. "I think it'll be ok. So, did your family employ someone from the North Pole as an attendant? That sounds interesting."

"Haha, oh no no. The only waterbenders around my neck of the woods are the Swampbenders, and my parents would rather die than allow them in their nice clean house. I think my mom would literally faint." She guffawed.

The little girl brushed a tiny thumb gingerly over his wrist. "Man, I can't even see bruises." Her hands were only just beginning to show callouses from her training with Aang. When she was at the house, she had to carefully keep her palms from toughening up, or her parents would start to fret and give her lotions, and grill her about what she had been doing to 'ruin her nice soft skin'. She couldn't see the callouses on her own hands, either. "I wonder what they're like."

"Wait, you're blind?"

She laughed. "Yup."

"So no wonder you didn't see the signs."

"Well actually, I would've rolled up whether they were there or not."

She explained how she saw through the earth.

"That's fascinating! I had heard of waterbenders who could close their eyes and locate pearls to sell, but I didn't know earthbenders could do stuff like that! Being totally submerged in your element is way different from having contact with just soles. Being submerged in earth is . . ." he rotated one of his sore ankles, "obviously not very pleasant. Even sand would be totally not nice. I suppose mud might not be too bad, if you knew how to get yourself out of it. But, heh, what would you use it for? What would you be looking for? When a waterbender senses which oysters have pearls in them or not, it saves a whole lot of work prying them open, like nonbenders have to do."

"Whoa! I had never heard of that!" the girl exclaimed in delight. "Wait till I tell Katara."

"Katara? That doesn't sound like a Northerner name."

"Do the different tribes have different names?"

"Oh yes, of course! I don't have a whole lot of experience with that, but some Southerners passed by here several weeks ago, and they all sounded different. You sound like an EK Southerner, yourself, miss."

"Nah, quit it with the 'miss' thing, bud. I'm just a regular old joe when I'm not in my house."

"Um . . .? All right . . .? Wouldn't that be 'plain jane,' hm?" he tentatively joked.

"Nah. Joe's fine," she laughed. "More my vibe."

"A child who's just 'one of the guys,' huh. Hope you don't walk up into any bars demanding adult things. Like you did just now. What in Spirit World's name . . . And I thought I'd seen everything. Southern nobility must act differently than around here. Cursing? I don't think I've heard so much as a quiet little 'hell' or 'damn' pass the lips of a single-"

"Oh no, I am one of a kind. Nothing to do with where I'm from, geographically. I would give you the whole story, but, meh." She thrust her thumbs into her belt. "And really, I'm super sorry about how I acted. Man, I even used a slur against you. Two of them really, if you count 'peasant.' Shitty of me. I guess I say peasant sometimes with no ill will, like, it's just a neutral designation, but that time, well." There were many facets to the usage of words. Just like the cursing. "It was definitely an insult. I totally would NOT have threatened and handled a nonbender that way if I thought you didn't deserve it!"

"Hm."

"Have you been threatened by a bender like that before?" she asked in concern.

"Um . . . well yes."

"Dude! Dude, I'm so sorry. Really." The little bender patted his forearm, and grasped his hand briefly. The softness she didn't show much came into play. Although she didn't use the tone of her mother, and it was more reassurance of an ordinary little girl, or boyish girl, it was nonetheless genuine. "That's terrible. Ach. Man, and me going and stepping in it like that. Power is corrupting, I guess." The power dynamics here, of age, nobility, training, and gender, were really flipped around from what you'd expect. "You sure you good without healing? Of course, Katara would take a piece out of my hide if she heard I hurt someone else after Aang, but I would totally put up with that for you."

"You make a habit of hurting people?" he shied away from her a bit.

"No! No, you got me all wrong. Guess mistaken impressions are going around today. We were training. It just happens sometimes. And she is really good at it, too. You'd be as good as new."

"Uh, thank you. But, like I said. No harm done. Or at least, no appreciable harm."

He paused.

"Though, I have to kind of ask a similar question that you did about the low class thing. What if I had been a bender? What would you have done?"

"I probably would've just straight up let loose on you, honestly. If I knew you could handle it. But see, I could tell by your gait you had never done a squat in your life, haha. You've maybe put a little muscle on your shoulders from carrying around stuff, but it's like super obvious to me when someone's done yoga or training. Their balance and steadying themselves. I coulda pulled you over, with a lot of effort on my part. Whereas someone who does, even non-combat stuff, would've resisted more naturally. Core muscles and stuff. I knew which of my attendants was which, because, being blind, I was pulling on sleeves and leaning into people a lot. So even if you were a bender that just didn't put it to use, I wasn't gonna go all out."

"Ha, if that's you being 'merciful,' I don't want to be on the receiving end of you when you're pissed."

"I was plenty pissed. I just figured I'd have to hold you in place until somebody could haul you off. And if you were hurt in the process, I wasn't gonna give one shit. In fact, yeah, like I said, I was enjoying it- if you think about it, kinda sadistic."

"Yes, definitely. But uh, I guess, still understandable in a small sense."

"You're actually incredibly lucky. See, my 'teachers' weren't too big on gradations between 'smash' and 'disable without harming.' Like most bending masters. Those facets of stone just weren't something they 'told' me about. I took it upon myself while I was . . ." the child briefly considered whether she should bring up sneaking out of her house to an adult. That facet of this interaction was interesting between the status and bending ones, too. "uh, 'learning,' to also 'observe' nonbender training in how to take control of a person's movements hand-to-hand and other masters doing lighter bending. Self-defense was a pretty HUGE concern for me, given I was . . ." around adult men four or more times her weight who were strangers "interested in staying safe. But, like, I had also seen what earthbending could do to a person if it got out of hand, so even for somebody who had the worst possible intentions, best to learn stuff that wouldn't put a hole in somebody's head if it wasn't necessary."

She never had really felt safe at the ring. But, that was the risk she took.

Even when lounging around, being around them was tense. Men tended to tussle with each other in friendly ways, put each other in loose headlocks, slap backs, push each other, that sort of thing.

With zero experience 'seeing' that, raised by a noble father that would rather commit suicide than lay hands on a lady especially, it had taken the little girl a long time to figure out that what they were doing wasn't aggressive. Or at least, not aggressively intended, only a type of rowdy physical affection.

She stuck out like a sore thumb.

By the time she had claimed the title the first time, she felt left out, but at the same time, what are you going to do, ask a thirty year old man to let you 'join in on the fun' when all of your survival instincts squirmed at the idea?

It was lonely.

It was almost as lonely as the mansion.

She had a feeling that, even when she was full grown, with that experience of sort of being in 'danger' all the time, she wasn't going to be able to be rowdy with guys as an adult, either. Now, Sokka and Aang and Zuko? Absolutely. But casual buddies? A group of men at a bar? Not a chance.

Some women did that, she had observed while she snuck back and forth. And someone might expect that of her. But, they wouldn't know the whole story.

Even when she had a sense of security firmly in her grasp, that she could fend one of them off should they get any ideas, it was still just . . . plain uncomfortable.

She gestured to him. "And it's especially good that I decided that early on, that I wouldn't kill someone over that. Even if I were tempted to. When I was 9, I was dead set and convinced I was gonna become a secret vigilante. It just seemed the most natural thing in the world. When I got a little older, since I had so much time to myself, because I was impossibly isolated, between my lessons, and snooping on my parent's handling of crimes in my town, I started thinking about the more serious logistics. Unfortunately, I have plenty of financial resources that would post a bail for me, and lawyers? Psh, no problem. You know, you're totally right about the mandhandling of lower class people, aren't you? No one in their right mind would touch a noble who could make their life a living hell. My dad would be up your ass. But somebody with bad intentions attacking some nobody, or especially a beggar who not many people knew or whatever. Ugh. It's messed up, the more I think about it. It's just that my intentions as a vigilante wouldn't be quite as bad, I guess? And Xin Fu would say stuff to me like 'Eh, a bender can get around the law, even without money to bribe people.' Even though he was referring to gambling and stuff, not talking about murder in particular. They do say 'celebrities can get away with murder,' and what are nobility but celebrities that haven't really earned the fame? Man, you are one lucky bastard."

He gulped.

"Well, in one way," the man held out a palm, "I'm glad that our element is the most lethal. Even without the intent. Because we're the strongest. But, it doesn't help the Fire Nation see us as anything but backwards brutish people, either. Almost can't even blame them. Is an earthender supposed to feel bad if they do roughly the same movements and amount of force, but hurt people worse? I almost think it mentally conditions you to be a little less empathetic by default. It almost has to."

She shrugged. "Dunno. Sounds accurate to me."

"Paired with your scary smarts . . . heh . . ."

"Dude, I really don't mean to be intimidating here. Like, I appreciate that when I'm fighting in the ring, but uh, it's so freakish to be talking to an ordinary person who doesn't see me as this helpless little blind girl. Even though I hate that, I also kinda hate being the big bad bender too. Ugh. Why can't my life ever just be normal."

Well, she guessed it would be 'boring' if it were normal. She definitely wouldn't trade her merry band of misfits for anything! But, was one scrap of normalcy too much to ask?

Like, wasn't there a happy medium between getting pitying looks and somebody cowering like this poor guy?

He said, "I bet the relations between waterbenders and their nonbenders aren't as tense. I know for a fact, a lot of earthbenders who have hurt people badly envy waterbenders."

The idea of envying Katara was so ludicrous that she nearly burst out laughing.

Nah, she was just fine with being lethal. In concept, anyway. She hadn't just hopped atop Appa without the expectation that she might kill someone. That's just the way war was.

Aang may have spent lots of time verbally fretting to the Gaang about people getting hurt, and she found it kind of sadly cute, she felt a little bad for him, but she herself was under no illusions.

Unlike using many facets in evaluating the threat and dealing with one measly outclassed, untrained nonbender here, if anybody got hold of Aang, she definitely wasn't going to be pulling any punches.

Speaking of.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Um . . .? I guess? I mean, I only just met you. Kind of early to be asking favors."

"It's a good one. Tell me truthfully, are you good at keeping secrets? Like, I know some people kind of have loose lips, and whatever, if you've got no filter you don't, or if you're forgetful. But, like, can you? Are you the other type?"

"Um, yes. I would never betray a confidence!"

"Seems like you're telling the truth."

"It's not so much that I'm worried about, as what if it's something that I'll feel compelled to tell for moral reasons? No offense, but, uh, you're coming off as a shady character. No clue who 'Xin Fu' is, but . . . Casually talking about crimes, and hurting people, and murder. I don't know what you're doing here. Alone. No entourage as is usual for nobility. And, though I can see why you hurt me, those skills could easily enable you to . . . well . . . I mean, the gang leaders around here are all benders. They have bender underlings in addition to non, sure. I could even see them try to recruit someone like you, who could act as a spy to the upper classes. It wouldn't even necessarily have to be anything real bad, you know . . . just smuggling some goods to avoid paying tariffs, that sort of thing . . ."

"Hm. Well, though you've given me plenty of fodder for adrenaline daydreams I'd never act on . . . Hell, that might've been me if I hadn't been snapped up by my current found family. Yikes. I am a thrillseeker and adrenaline junkie, no doubt. And if the fracture between me and my parents kept widening . . . Let me try to explain here. I am . . . what would be a way to put it . . . I guess it is a little like a secret mission, to help end the war."

"Well, in that case, no. I'm a civilian, mi- I mean, buddy. It's weird to call a little girl that. Um. Ha. You're quite the interesting character. I don't want to get caught up in any of that if I can absolutely help it. Besides, some ash crawler might capture me and torture it out of me, or something. No, no. Keep it to yourself."

"Ash . . . crawler?"

"Firebender."

The little girl's face fell.

The derogatory term reminded her just where she was.

"Yeah, maybe you're right, this isn't the place to be blabbing about my 'entourage'" she used the word mockingly. "They're all pretty . . . diverse, let's say." She snickered.

"If there's a waterbender among them, then yes! And from the other side of the world to boot! Maybe some people from the colonies?" he caught onto her words. "Oh. You have a colonial here? Mixed family, perhaps? Well, not his fault if someone marries one of them I guess," he said, but with a tone that implied he didn't approve. "I guess, that might come in handy if you wanted to infiltrate fire troops, so, I get it."

She was silent.

Silence was definitely the 'better part of valor,' here.

It was strange to feel alienated from her own Nation.

She had been enjoying this conversation.

She didn't often interact with townspeople when the Gaang stopped, because her blindness made it awkward.

She sighed.

Yet another facet of the difference between her and this new person, that, on an ordinary day, kept her feeling like that isolated little kid locked up in her gilded cage.

Still, she was glad she had taken Aang's advice. She might even mill around and watch the building process, from a 'safe' distance. Not that she was ever unsafe, she thought haughtily. She was the master.

She was the queen. Given what Aang had told her about Bumi, who became king even not being a prince when he was young, it was totally not out of the realm of possibility that she could win the favor of some city-state and literally be declared a fiefdom queen.

Ha, realm.

The unintentional pun amused her.

So many ways her life could have gone, had her destiny not dropped into her lap. Some of those paths were pretty rough and potentially irrevocable ones.

Nothing like an ordinary person ascending to a throne by popular approval could happen in the Fire Nation or the Water Tribes. Nor the Air Nation, when it had existed.

She loved her little rainbow diamond facet collection of nations so much, she figured she should try not to let the outer social isolation over blindness bother her too badly.

Again, if anybody got hold of Zuko, shared nation with his captors or not, she wasn't going to be pulling any punches.

But the thought of that made her a lot sadder than the first version of the idea.

"Well, despite this little mishap, you've been very good company," she said in her nobility voice, withdrawing emotionally from the situation. Her playful, rowdy tone was gone. That facet's light faded. There was a certain chillness to the words, though not unfriendly. "I fear I must bid you goodbye, kind sir. Good luck with your construction."

Chapter Text

Toph sought out Iroh immediately after she had left the man. She realized she hadn’t even asked him his name, which was pretty rude, her mother’s voice admonished her, but she brushed that aside. She had bigger worries. 

The little girl tugged on his sleeve, indicating for him to come with her, and away from Zuko and Aang, who were chatting nearby. 

“Mmm?” he made a questioning noise, but she shook her head. She wanted to be away from Zuko for a particular reason. She only wanted to talk to him. 

He walked with her until they were perhaps twenty feet away, and she began talking, but didn’t stop moving, either. She kicked absently at the ground. 

“Iroh,” the girl said in a more serious tone that neither matched her normal little kid voice, nor quite the officious nobility lilt, either. “I need you to tell me something, really truthfully. I mean, I know you can’t keep anything from me, but I don’t want you to even try to soften it either, all right?” 

“What’s going on?” He didn’t like this. His voice was guarded. 

She walked for several more minutes before speaking again. 

“A guy grabbed me today,” she began, and she could see his heartrate shoot up. “It wasn’t-”

But the deep-voiced man had already started in on, “WHAT? Are you all right? Who would have the nerve to-! Such scum should not walk the earth! I swear if I had been there-”

He was so loud, she was afraid he was going to make Zuko and Aang come running.

Then he stopped, but his heartrate wasn’t slowing down at all. It thundered in the little girl’s senses. 

“Iroh, it’s all right. It was a misunderstanding.” 

But that did not do anything for his heart. His breathing was getting erratic. 

For a moment, Toph feared that he might have a heart attack. Per his training, he was no longer overweight, but did that erase the risk , if it was so recent? She had no idea. She also had no idea what a heart attack looked like, having never witnessed one. But she had definitely never seen anyone this strung out. 

“Are you all right?” she stepped to him, and put a hand on his side. “Iroh, take it easy.” 

He tried to take a breath, but judging by the groan it sounded painful.

“Iroh, oh Mahimata, are you having chest pains??” she squeaked. 

He shook his head. “N-no, nothing like that. I just . . .” He took another labored breath. 

He sobbed once. 

“Oh, oh,” the little girl said. “ I’m ok. I’m fine! I wasn’t even in any real trouble. I swear . I’m not softening it or downplaying it.”

He seemed like he was trying to stop another dry sob, but it shook him anyway. 

“I’m just . . . thinking about my son, Lu Ten.” Iroh finally whispered. “The last time I saw him, I just as casually said goodbye to him as if it were another ordinary day. He wasn’t supposed to . . .” he trailed off. “His maneuver wasn’t supposed to put him in harm’s way. I didn’t get to properly tell him . . . how much he meant to me. The idea that I might’ve just seen you off this morning without so much as hugging you, it,” his heartbeat sped up again. 

“Well c’mere then,” she opened her arms, and he swept her up. 

That finally seemed to make his heart race a little less. She didn’t let him go until it was back to normal. 

“I’m sorry. Maybe we should just go back. You don’t need any more stress after that,” she said softly. 

“No. Please. Tell me what’s on your mind.” 

She chewed her lip. 

“This guy and I were talking afterwards, and I was picturing having to save Aang from some Fire Nation people. And then I pictured saving Zuko from some Earth Kingdom people, too, and I . . .” she scratched at her arm nervously. “I want you to tell me. Do I seem biased towards you and Zuko, in any way? Not super aggressive, like that girl- I think Zuko said her name was Song?- and her mom. Not like them, but like subtly?”

She recalled the ring in Gaoling, and the ‘boos’ that accompanied the Earth Rumbler impersonating someone from the Fire Nation. 

That was normal, at that point in her life. 

She recalled the man’s words from earlier. 

People didn’t used to talk like that, Aang would say with a sigh sometimes. 

His heartbeat would quicken. Odd that sorrow could spur on the pulse. You would think it would slow it. 

But stress dragging you down made your body tense up . 

Whenever they would hear anything like it, the Water Tribe siblings had no heart reaction whatsoever, nor herself, but the already-pressured airbender boy was a different story. 

Besides, some ash crawler might capture me and torture it out of me, or something. No, no. Keep it to yourself."

"Ash . . . crawler?"

"Firebender."

The little girl's face fell.

The derogatory term reminded her just where she was.

She had a feeling she would be joining Aang in that particular physiological reaction, after today. 

Her questioning of the elder firebender was only for the present. 

Iroh tilted his head, and thought. 

“No, I detect much more latent hostility from Sokka than anything. He and Zuko butt heads, like that disagreement they had about all three of them wearing blue, with Ty Lee.” 

“And then that argument over Ty Lee’s sisters. Hm,” she shifted. “I just thought that was boys being boys. And, in many cases, me too.” She snickered. 

“It may be, for all I know. Not like I’m going to question him on it. He has every right to be uncomfortable around us.”

“Even if that’s the case, I’m sure he’ll settle into it more,” she waved a hand dismissively. “For me, I was thinking . . .” she fisted her hands. “I was thinking about how I didn’t feel as bad at the idea of . . . killing a Fire Nation soldier as somebody from my country,” she admitted. 

She sensed him tense. He didn’t respond. 

“I mean, they’re enemies, yeah, but anybody who came after Zuko, or you, would be my enemy no matter what goals we might share,” the earthbender said bluntly. “So, what, am I going to adapt to the idea? Aang said General Fong endangered Katara. There are splinter groups in the EK, and people Aang has met who are hostile to the Avatar. You never know. And of course there are people who will take Fire Nation money. I find myself wondering . . . Would I even have thought to make this comparison, if you two weren’t here?”

The man considered her words for a few moments. 

“Regardless, that has nothing to do with your relationship to me or Zuko. Your worry about, er, ‘disregard’ for Fire Nation people . . . I appreciate that you’re trying to be conscientious, and questioning yourself, but I don’t think you should.” 

She nodded. 

She hadn’t even wanted Zuko to overhear. She thought Iroh would be more objective, mature, and less personally offended. 

And she was glad he seemed to think there was nothing amiss. 

“It’s kinda weird . . .” she widened her stance slightly. “Whenever Aang talks about fighting with earthbending, he always seems so concerned about the damage it could do to somebody. And that’s holding him back a little, from bonding with the element. He promises me that he’s trying to get around that mental block. And yet, here, faced with these two possibilities, I suddenly . . . at least kinda get what he means. But I don’t want that to interfere with my focus or my determination.” 

“Your journey is your own,” the wise old man said. 

She explained a little more, and repeated what the guy had said. 

“I almost think it mentally conditions you to be a little less empathetic by default. It almost has to."

“Hm,” Iroh rubbed his beard. “I can’t say that many White Lotus members don’t think precisely the same thing about fire.”

“Oh man.”

“Some of them are even nice about it.” He rolled his eyes. “‘You can’t help being born with an inherently violent element. Why should I hold that against you?’ Said with a smile. I rarely know precisely how to respond to that, so I just try to be courteous,” the gentleman said. 

“Well,” the kid punched a fist in the other hand. “Before that guy mentioned it, I might’ve responded with ‘take a hike,’ but I guess since I was already feeling bad for roughing him up by mistake- Heh.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I had him shaking in his shoes. I guess maybe that’s thrown me off, too. When you’re matchfighting and the other guy is ready to take a hit from you, that’s one thing. But when you’ve got someone at your mercy who is in no way prepared to defend himself, that’s a whole other deal.” 

“So you want to regain your sense of equilibrium.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think a training session would help?” 

“I kinda don’t think so, no. I was hoping talking would.”

“I see.” 

“And this is unrelated,” she shrugged. “But this encounter I had with this guy, it also got me thinking about how people of my status are more insulated from violence.”

“Yes, Ty Lee’s companion at the circus was confused that she was used to it.”

“People fear the repercussions of people with power. And yet, at the same time, my parents kept me a secret because they knew I could be under more threat from other specific kinds of people who spied a weakness they could exploit. It’s . . . oxymoronic.” 

He snorted. 

She put a hand to her head. “I feel like my brain’s been tilted. These are not . . . revelations, exactly, but it’s just, a lot of stuff to process.” 

“Well I will listen to you as long as you need to talk,” Iroh said warmly. 

“Thanks.” she said sincerely. “To relate to someone sort of like I did with the guys back home, it was like being in a time warp. He seemed thrown off by it, too,” she chuckled reminiscently. “And there’s this other thing about appearing helpless versus appearing threatening . . .”

The old man listened to the girl for a good hour, as she deconstructed the experience further. 

They wandered to other topics as well, but the main thing was, she was particularly glad to have a listening ear, after being almost . . . invisible for her entire life. 

Chapter Text

"The universe just loves proving me wrong, doesn't it?" –Sokka, Book 3 Chapter 1: The Awakening

Another day passed, and Toph went to visit the construction site again.

The boss did grudgingly let her observe the proceedings closer, and even opted to pay her a small fee for bolstering safety by having another pair of 'eyes' on everybody, but it wasn't anything like a real wage.

At the end of work hours, after she had said her goodbyes to the overseer, Toph was caught up in a throng as she made her way back towards Appa and camp.

She was still paying more attention to the buildings per Iroh's suggestion.

Even if she hadn't been, though, there were certain limitations to her 'sight.'

Despite what someone might think, given her amazing senses, as her feet moved the press of people blurred in her 'vision' the same way multiple murmurings in a loud room passed over ears, indistinguishable from each other. Unlike someone with vision, who could more or less make out each individual shape. Had she stood still or really concentrated, perhaps she could detangle every single limb, every footstep, 'see' everything clearly. As it was, she was simply walking, and she thought she had no need to be completely aware of her surroundings.

That's why she was startled when suddenly she couldn't see at all.

A hand had whipped out and yanked her off her feet by the collar. One arm wrapped just under her neck, the other pinned her own arms and waist crushingly against a muscular side.

"Hey! Let me go!" She tried to thrash. The man wove back and forth, and she felt each jarring impact and heard each yell as he pushed past people. Was this guy Fire Nation? No, couldn't be. Just a plain thug? Had he seen her earn the money back at the construction site? What did he want . . . !

The little girl cursed in her head. When her teacher had brought up the topic of lessons geared specifically towards self-defense, odd for a man who usually gave so much weight to direct and aggressive attacks, Lord Bei Fong had dismissed the idea and simply relied on guards to keep her safe- thinking she was too 'weak' to get any good out of them anyway.

Yes, she had attempted to teach herself a good deal, but listening in and watching from a distance could only do so much, and here she hadn't even had a chance to attempt to defend herself.

As decorated as she was, the fights she engaged in weren't physical strength-to-strength contests. She was still just a little girl. The arms weren't budging.

Had she been facing him across an earthbending arena, she would have been unimpressed by the fact that he was nearly three times her size.

It would have been of no consequence that his arms were twice as thick as hers.

Her feet waved in the air.

Cut off from her element.

Cut. Off.

She was blind.

She was blind.

She was actually blind.

Toph Bei Fong then did something that she had never done before.

A few minutes earlier, Sokka, Katara, and Ty Lee, who had gotten off work, were strolling through the market on the way back, casually perusing stands full of fruits and vegetables.

"Not you again!" A panicked voice caused them to turn and see a man with a cart full of cabbages. He had his arms spread backwards protectively and stared right at them with terror written on his scrubby features.

"Do we know you?" Sokka raised an eyebrow.

"You're the hooligans who are always defiling my precious cabbages! Always running and jumping and-"

"Well," Sokka shrugged, "we're not in any danger right now."

The man continued to glare at them suspiciously. It was obvious he wasn't going to let them anywhere near his produce, so they moved on. Suddenly they heard yells for help.

"Was that Toph?!" Katara's neck whipped in the direction of the sound.

Ty Lee quickly leapt to the top of the cabbage stand, and, with all the grace of her former circus acrobatics, leapt over to a roof nearby to get clear of the busy crowd, and sprinted flat out along the pitched point of the building.

She called loudly as she dashed, "You jinxed it, Sokka!"

With the quick application and removal of her weight, the stand wobbled precariously. The man steadied it with one arm, catching a few stray light-green heads with the other, and grumbled loudly.

The water tribe siblings followed the swift figure, as much as they were able with having to weave around the market-goers and carts. "Sorry," the avocational scientist panted apologetically, even though the Spiritseer was too far ahead to hear him, "Unlike you, I don't know- how this- universe- karma- whatever- stuff works-"

When she called out the man pressed his upper arm tighter against her neck.

"Shut up, Bandit." he hissed in her ear.

"Xin Fu?" she exclaimed, recognizing the Earth Rumble Announcer's voice right away. Embarrassment and anger made her face hot. "What are you doing here?"

Another voice, judging by the huffing, moving alongside them, answered. "Your parents want you back, Toph. So be a good little girl and stop squirming and yelling."

"Yu?"

"That's Master Yu." Her former earthbending teacher corrected indignantly.

Toph snorted and returned haughtily, "Tell Greaseball here to put me down, and I'll show you who the master is."

She struggled anew, but he held her cinched securely. "I don't believe my dad sent you two poodlemonkeys after me." She ground her teeth in frustration and outrage.

He burst into a full sprint- he must've found an open street.

She heard chains rattling. Would they shackle her once they got clear of the town? If they got her in a wooden wagon or a metal chamber, she would be literally powerless. But if she could take advantage of the transition-

"Toph!"

At the sound of Ty Lee's far-off voice Toph suddenly snapped to attention with a new idea. Ty Lee's fighting technique cut off chi flow at critical points- bottlenecks of energy. It was dependent on close-range and contact, unlike her earthbending. Normally she wouldn't have given it a second thought. Why go through the trouble of getting close enough to use Kyoto Jutsu when you can hurl rocks at someone with space to spare? Could she manage that, though? The small earthbender stopped struggling as soon as the thought formed. As much as she absolutely detested relaxing in his grip, she had to concentrate to remember what the rivulets of energy looked like now that she couldn't see them through the earth. She needed a place that she could reach with her heels.

"I'm not going back until I decide to, Xin Fu." She declared as she brought her legs outward, heels together, bent her knees, and swung them backward to strike at a spot on the side of his leg-

No dice.

In the same continuous motion, she crossed one ankle over the other to put more force behind one heel instead of using two-

Nope-

She quickly tried again, for a spot in the middle of his quad-

Nope-

Adjusting awkwardly, she managed to make the next strike hit almost dead front, barely above his own knee, timed to counteract the forward motion of his stride-

Bingo.

He grunted as his leg buckled slightly.

She twisted around once more and he stumbled, unable to compensate for the partially disabled leg and the lopsided weight he was carrying. He fell towards the side- he was going to crush her legs under him- but she brought them to the front and he landed hard on his hip and shoulder, his arms still loosely around her.

At last she touched the earth. Now she was in control again. She landed on her two feet and one hand. The instant she made contact she jerked the other hand, summoning a sideways pillar to shove him roughly away from her. Yu, braking and turning quickly, tried to trap her in two slabs of earth as she was still horizontal, but she angled her free elbow outwards preemptively and shattered one of the pieces. Before she sprang to her feet she kicked the other piece sole-first at Xin Fu, who lowered his shoulder to absorb the blow because he had only by then gotten to his knees.

Yu continued to try to trap her, but she neatly avoided every pincer movement, scooting flat-footed in a zigzag pattern as she did at the Ring. She flung out her fists, sending a trail of underground attack at him.

Xin Fu was now standing as well, but was fumbling with the uneven footing. "What did you . . . do to me?" He smashed his fists into the ground angrily in lieu of stomping. Small boulders rose and he punched them at her. She ended up receiving them just a second after Yu blocked her opposite-direction attack. She caught each one, hurling them at both of her opponents in alternation, another technique she had used against them before. Yu easily dodged, but several caught Xin in the stomach and he doubled over.

"Toph! You're okay!" Toph felt Ty Lee's familiar springing footsteps come to a halt near her.

"Never better." Toph said dismissively. Simultaneously she sensed Ty Lee take a step forward, as if to join her, and several bystanders copy the action, shouting at the would-be kidnappers.

"NO!" Toph called. "Everybody, this is my fight."

The ground that had been disturbed by her initial attack still formed a ragged line between them, and the other earthbending master pushed the flat of his hands against the mass. It doubled back on itself like some sort of strange disjoined rat-viper and converged on her. Instead of getting to constrict her, however, she shot upwards on a rock pillar and it wrapped around it instead.

There was a moment of struggle as he moved his hands up, trying to get it to follow her. It would have been a good strategy, forcing her to jump through the air to get away and leaving her open to another attack, but unknown to him, she had been practicing spreading her energy into earth with Aang. It was too close to her and she had already absorbed it into her own column, taking charge of his weapon.

It wouldn't have worked on earth flying at her, but touching her own earth, it was a cakewalk.

Yu gasped in surprise at the unexpected chi control and brought a wall up as she rocketed forward on the now enlarged platform, but in vain. The resulting crash threw him onto his back.

"Well whatdayaknow, that little waterbending trick did come in handy." Toph said in self-satisfaction as she trapped him and Xin Fu with the technique he had attempted to use on her.

"Now, Twinkle-Two, you can block them. You can do it better than I can." Toph kept her midair-grip tight on the two as they struggled, attempting to free themselves from their element.

Ty Lee instructed her to move bits of earth aside. Toph let up on the pressure as soon as they were both limp and walked closer to them.

"Earthbending isn't a contact sport, you know, Xin. But I guess if you couldn't beat me in competition legitimately, you had to try some other way. I thought you of all people would respect the rules. But, outlaw to the finish, I guess. Guess being drunk on gambling finally got to you."

"You arrogant little bi-"

Toph backhanded him hard across the face.

"Hey! What's going on, here?!" Five men were rushing towards the scene of commotion. Toph judged by the authoritative tone the question had been shouted in, the way people obediently skirted out of their way, and their additional weight that may have meant armor, that they were Earth Army soldiers. Three of them carried earthbending hammers, she was pretty sure.

"Attempted kidnapping, sirs." Toph called, then under her breath muttered to Yu, "Attempted and failed miserably."

"It's not kidnapping if we're taking you back to your parents." Yu hissed.

The little girl took on a sickly-sweet voice and interlaced her hands. Her insincere nobility tone combined with the feigned sweetness. It was just like when Aang first met her, and she called out for her guards. Had the blind bender known the gesture, to bolster the 'lie,' she would have batted her eyes innocently. "And whom exactly do you think they're going to believe?"

Chapter Text

The expanded Gaang gathered around a campfire for dinner that night, this time an assortment of food that they had bought instead of gathered. There was much more bread going around, as that was one thing they had not been able to procure for themselves. Everyone was talking except for one. The flames sparked and popped, seemingly mirroring their merry chatting.

Iroh cleared his throat. “I have something for you, Sokka.”

Sokka turned to him curiously. “What?

Iroh reached behind him into a bag and pulled out a sheathed sword. But upon closer inspection, the handle actually split in two. They were almost exactly like the ones Zuko carried, except the holster was green, emblazoned in bronze with the Earth Kingdom symbol, the small square within a larger circle.

Sokka’s mouth hung open in surprise. “A-are you serious? How . . .?”

Zuko’s golden eyes glowed knowingly in the firelight. “My uncle has connections .”

Sokka was speechless as the retired general handed him the swords. They weren’t new- the green wrappings around the handles were well worn and the metal was nicked and scratched in places. But to the Water Tribe boy, they seemed priceless.

“T-th-thanks!”

“It is nothing.” Iroh smiled. “Zuko’s the one who gave me the idea.”

Several phrases went around the circle.

“Ooo, they’re nice.”

“They’ll serve him well.”

“Cool!”

Everyone was quiet at the shiiiiiiiinng as he unsheathed them.

“They sound cool,” Toph commented tersely, finally understanding what they were talking about.

Yet another thing sighted people could pick up on that she couldn’t.

As conversation resumed, the thread of interest turned towards the Earth Kingdom heiress. She replied to their questions about the two men in short, clipped syllables, her ridicule of them containing more acid, more bitterness than her normal taunting.

She stood stiffly. “Well, I’m going to bed early.”

“Okay.” Sokka said cheerfully and dismissively. As she walked away he turned to Zuko. “You up for giving me a few lessons before we turn in?” He asked him eagerly.

“ So -kka!” Katara hissed. She could tell at once that her brother had been all but oblivious to Toph’s distress, absorbed in his new gift. Her blue glare was icy.

“Whaaa-aat?” Sokka moaned, unaware of what had drawn his little sister’s ire. He returned with a why-the-heck-are-you-ruining-my-awesome-moment look and stalked away with the firebender.

Katara rolled her eyes. She could chastise him later.

She wasn’t surprised that Zuko, being very quiet and wrapped up in his own troubled thoughts much of the time, hadn’t picked up on it. She could excuse that to herself. But Sokka really should have. Besides, she felt sort of responsible for him, being his sibling- cum -mother-figure.

She, with the remainder of the group, Aang, Iroh, and Ty Lee, exchanged glances. All thoughts were obviously turned to the master earthbender.

“Do you think it’s something those guys said to her?” Aang asked.

Ty Lee bit her lip. “The way he was carrying her . . . you remember how I said that she channels chi generated by fear into the earth?”

They all nodded.

“Well . . . I’d guess it had nowhere to go when . . . she had no contact to the ground.” Ty Lee said sadly.

Fear. was all Katara could think. Brave, bold, brazen Toph had felt . . .

She stood quickly, instinctively. “I’m going to go talk to her.”

The other three regarded her somberly.

“If you think you should.” Aang smiled a bit and nodded encouragingly.

“She’s very red right now.” Ty Lee warned. “Maybe now’s not the time.”  

The waterbender nodded but ultimately put aside this observation. That wasn’t going to keep her from trying to help.

Ty Lee shook her head. “Energy’s all wound up in her stomach.”

Shame. The thought was not as simple and immediate as the first. It didn’t carry urgency, personally, to Katara. She made her way to the earth tent Toph had set up, which was much farther away than usual, and sealed up tight.

“Toph? Are you okay?”

 Silence.

“Toph . . .?”

“I’m fine, Katara.” came the hard voice from within the hard rock.

“Are you sure y-”

“I said I’m FINE!” Toph snapped, “And I know you probably talked to Ty Lee. Don’t you dare say anything about my aura, ‘cause I don’t even know what colors are! ”

There was a thump as she pounded a fist or a heel into the ground. It was impossible for Katara to tell which, though Ty Lee could have ‘seen.’

“Ty Lee and I may share my chi sight, make it not so cool and unique, but I could never see auras even if I wanted to,” she grumbled. “I’m not even sure I understand what’s going on with them in the first place. How they work. She not only sees, she sees more than everyone else. We’re total opposites.”

“You know, Ty told me she had this problem with her little sister Lin, too. She was angry that Lin could see auras like she could, because she wanted it to be just hers.”

“Whatever! I don’t care! ”

“ What meets the eye doesn’t matter. The colors aren’t what’s important.” Katara said. “It’s the feelings they indicate. Please, Toph. Please come out and talk to me.”

The partition remained. “I don’t need you mothering me, Katara. I’ve had plenty of years of that.”

“W-what?” She stammered back.

“I said I don’t want your nosy, whiny, obnoxious mothering!”

Katara looked as if she had been slapped. “F-fine, I-I’m not your mother. I-I’m y-your friend ,” she said gently, “Who just wants to hear about what’s wrong-”

“ You want to know what’s wrong with me? ” Her small voice crescendoed as she let the rock curtain fall. She was on her knees, her head inches beneath the angled earth, her hands balled into tight, furious fists. The hair hanging over her face now gave her a feral appearance. “ You. ”

Toph shoved her backwards with an earthen conveyer belt and she ended up on her stomach on the ground.

“ I told you .” The jaggedness of the rock now manifested in her voice, cutting into the waterbender. “ Stop with the act. I don’t need you to mother me. ”

She picked herself up, pain of the small scratches she had sustained less biting than the pain she felt for both herself and the earthbender. She backed away despondently.

“Now go clean up dinner, pat them on their heads, and fuss over them, or whatever you always do. Leave me out of it .”

Toph hurled a new side of her tent back in place with a loud BANG of stone meeting stone.

The waterbender retreated to the group, grumbling about the two older boys apparently missing the signs, but also quietly admitting that she should have heeded Ty Lee’s warning as she healed up her minor abrasions. 

But after a while Iroh approached and lowered himself to his knees in front of the triangular prism.

“Katara is very worried about you, Toph. We are all very worried about you.”

“ Just what I need, a pity fest. And what makes you think I want to talk to you? If you hadn’t suggested looking at buildings instead of people, maybe I would’ve caught on to Xin. If you hadn’t given me that little pep talk about there being ‘very real danger’” she uttered scathingly, “I wouldn’t have freaked today.”

He didn’t reply.

He reminded himself, that despite her amazing talents that enabled her to stand toe-to-toe with adults, she still was just a twelve year old.

Laying blame like this was childish, perhaps.

Pushing Katara away was childish, perhaps, but she was a child.

And she bore a weight responsibility that no other child had in history, either.

Aang’s crushing burden was much heavier , but hers was just as unique.

Katara had been alongside another master. Toph was alone.

A solitary stone.

“I’m the champion of the Earth Rumble, I’m SIFU to the AVATAR- ”

“ -and I panicked, I panicked and I screamed like a little girl! ” As if enraged by the biting irony of the statement, obviously osmoted from predictable places, she slammed a palm into the ground, sending one of the side walls of her shelter from its position. It flew apart, breaking into several sharp pieces and leaving her vulnerable to the air outside but not visible, save for a brief view of her hand.

Other preteens could shut out their parents and siblings over small slights which were unjustified, and that was just a normal part of growing up. This was much more wide-ranging. A huge situation. So, this was natural. He might not be able to bend this stone to his will, lovingly. And that was all right. The wise old man knew from experience with three other little girls in the palace he oversaw.

Sometimes people couldn’t be reasoned with, especially young ones.

Sometimes they just had to be given space. And time.

There was a pause nearly as jagged as the fragments as Iroh absorbed her words, and matched them to Ty Lee’s observations. Toph wasn’t still afraid- far from it. She simply hated that she had shown fear in the first place. Her yell had been an insult to her strong image of herself.

“So similar.” Iroh murmured.

“ What is?”

“The chakra of earthbenders, if you remember, is interrupted by fear. Some earthbenders will go to any length to deny fear, to quash it with sheer will. The chakra of firebenders is interrupted by shame. Quite often the two ends intersect. By building a wall, and tricking yourself into thinking that you have no fear, you are protecting your pride.” he finished. “But you’ll find, that no matter what the element, sooner or later a person must recognize, honor, and give fear its proper place, as a perfectly human and perfectly acceptable expression.”

Silence.

“Running up against one’s limitations is often a difficult thing to face. But you’ve always advised everyone to face things head on, haven’t you?”

Silence.

“Do you remember what I said when we first met?”

l

Out on the cliff, sipping tea, they had not known each others’ stories. Nevertheless, he had given her advice that, at the time, she had said was very helpful.

“You sound like my nephew.”

Like the firebender. Prideful and headstrong.

“Always thinking you need to do things on your own. Without anyone’s support. There is nothing wrong with letting people who love you help you- Not that I love you- I just met you.”

l

“I think the only difference now, is that I do care for you.”

Silence.

“Toph?”

But he still got no reply. 

He lifted himself from his position and folded his hands inside his sleeves.

Retreat was ‘the better part of valor’ here, the ex-military man thought.

Later that night . . .

“Uncle?”

 “Yes, Prince Zuko?”

“Um . . . do you . . . think she’s all right?”

Chapter Text

The next couple of days were tense. 

It was usual for Toph to get up later than everyone else, but pretty much every single member, including Zuko, could tell that she was avoiding everyone with it, this time. 

She also paid for her own lunches and dinners now that she had some of her own money, and stayed out from camp longer than Aang’s sessions, and he didn’t divulge what went on, for fear she’d be irritable if he ‘blabbed.’ 

The direct morning after, Katara gave Sokka another earful on the way into town even though she had already intercepted him on the way to bed. 

Finally, he snapped, “I just think you still feel bad for yelling at her when she first joined the group.” 

Katara and Ty Lee exchanged a glance, and the acrobat made a conscious effort not to move her eyes around the other girl’s outline, so as to not make her feel even more exposed. 

They split off, and the waterbender started grumbling about ‘how was she supposed to surprise Sokka with dad’s whereabouts when the mood was so sour.’

The other girl didn’t reply, just listened.

The second day, Aang and Zuko were doing some basic exercises, and the older boy finally said, “Y’know your fire will flow better if you get whatever it is off your chest.” 

Aang fumbled his form and pinked, including around the ears.

“She didn’t actually tell me anything,” the monk revealed meekly. “In fact she- didn’t exactly yell at me, but she did tell me off. I didn’t even bring it up. She just said . . .” he trailed off. “I missed a block, and I’m pretty sure I caught, ‘well with the teacher you have, not a surprise.’ Wasn’t totally sure. But I went in to reassure her, and well, that ended up . . . bad. I think she’s having a crisis of confidence.” 

“That does make sense,” the other firebender slumped. “Iroh wanted to respect her privacy too, but I got that impression. I don’t think it’s just that, though.” 

“No?” 

“You grew up communally,” the ex-royal said cautiously, as if he were afraid of offending the nomad, too. “But when you grow up like we did, you have a big room all to yourself you can go and hunker down for a while in. I’m not saying it’s good or bad- I’ve seen siblings bunk together in the EK and such. But if you’re used to having that, and then it’s taken away, it’s rough. The ship was a downgrade for me- sure I could go have private time in my cabin, but it was slightly claustrophobic. Same thing with Ty Lee and the cramped quarters at the circus- already an adjustment. Then we’re out here where you get practically no alone time that’s not out in an open space. But we got those in-between stages at least. Toph has been thrust out here with no prep. Maybe she would’ve been fine if something like this hadn’t happened. But dealing with something upsetting and lacking that space, it takes a toll on you.” 

“Maybe we should have Iroh suggest she get a night at an inn?” the conscientious boy suggested.

“I don’t think we can spare the money,” the more pragmatic of the two pointed out. 

Aang stared off into space for a while. “I get what you mean,” the meditator allowed, “but having us all centered is pretty crucial if we’re going toe to toe with soldiers.”

Zuko opened his mouth, and then closed it. 

“And normally I don’t think that would have even occurred to me but . . . Katara once commented to me how I made duels look so effortless,” the boy puffed up proudly at relaying the compliment. “But that’s largely due to quieting my mind. Staying unruffled is half the battle.”

Zuko nodded. 

“So. However that happens to be facilitated best,” he pressed on, “is what we should go with.” 

“Let’s consult Iroh.”

He nodded.

Sokka’s apology the day before, when he came home from work went just as poorly. 

Despite having bought food Toph liked, he wasn’t aware she had already eaten. Maybe if she hadn’t divvied up herself from even the meals, it would’ve been received better. But such was fate. 

The two boys conversed with Iroh, but he said to just let it lie. The girl needed to adjust to her new reality, not fall back to old habits that weren’t going to serve that well. 

It may have been the wrong call, for all he knew. Maybe it was because he was nervous about her going into town alone again, because she’d probably insist on it. Maybe, on the other hand, it was a prudent precaution. She’d already caused a scene and the group didn’t need anymore attention brought to itself. She wasn’t terribly well behaved and heaping on strangers being tactless about her condition wasn’t the best situation to invite, either. No, far too many potential complications, although he didn’t bother the two boys with any of those worries. Aang was right, after all, they all needed to stay as centered as circumstance would allow. 

They accepted his decision with no pushback. 

Zuko because he had up-close, firsthand knowledge of his wisdom, and was doing his best to walk in his footsteps, and Aang simply because the pacifist wasn't keen on causing any more strife.

Ty Lee and Katara got done with their tasks early when it was nearing the day to leave. 

Ty Lee had had a spate of fitful sleep the night before, and said she wanted to sit for a while before heading back. Katara offered to stay with her, but then her stomach growled and the acrobat winked. “Looks like your third chakra has other ideas.” 

The waterbender laughed and shrugged. “If you’re sure.” 

As she neared the outskirts of town, a sense of unease crept up on her. There had been some more talk amongst the group (and some more snark shared between Zuko and Sokka) about not standing out. She probably should have waited for Sokka. Heck, for his own protection for that matter, as a non-bender. Maybe the three shouldn’t have split up at all in the first place, or chosen locations that were next door to each other? She was alone, and it was nearing dusk. Sure she was a master waterbender, but much of the EK was very dry, and this place was no exception. She decided she’d take a slightly longer trek to stay along the river. 

It even occurred to her, that none of the group should probably go out alone, without either Ty Lee or Toph’s senses to pick up on any incoming trouble. Iroh may be a perfectly capable war veteran, but he wasn’t invincible either, and all it took was for someone to recognize him, or even at a base level take offense to the golden-bronze eyes. Something she didn’t even want to see. 

That thought proved prophetic. 

Ty Lee got back to camp, but no one had seen Katara. 

Iroh wasn’t anywhere to be found, either. 

Immediately the entire group set to find out where Toph had gone off to, as a priority, and Aang found her first, explaining the situation from up in a tree so she didn’t have the chance to toss any fist-sized rocks or smaller stones at him in indignation. Probably overkill, but better prepared than under-prepared. 

Swearing, the earthbender dug her feet in extra hard, scanning the landscape. The river of course got in her way. 

“Good-for-nothing nothing water-”

She shouted instructions to Aang to get her over the obstacle, and the Avatar, shaken up by his undisputed best friend going missing, didn’t think before he acted. He made an ice bridge, which prompted more berating from the barefoot girl.

Finally Zuko cut in, “Ok, everyone take a breath.” 

Everyone did . . . except . . .

“ This is not the time to- ” 

“It is exactly the time to.” The oldest among them barked. “We need to focus , not be biting each others’ heads off!” 

All heads swiveled back in Toph’s direction. 

She was puffed up, and clearly wanted to retort, but then deflated. “All right.” 

After a good pause, everyone regrouped. 

Everyone with shoes crossed Aang’s newly minted landscape feature, and after struggling for a moment in tandem, he and the other earthbender got the shifty bottom to rise up solidly enough for her to cross, about calf-deep. 

After they had gone a little further, Ty Lee stiffened up.

“ Firebenders ,” she whispered in a hiss. 

Immediately everyone drew weapons, or elements. 

“Wait a second,” Aang sunk the tip of his staff down a little.

“That’s Jeong Jeong’s encampment.” 

There was some more furious whispering among them, after Toph and Ty Lee were up to speed- and more observation had confirmed this was indeed their new location- about the question of whether to approach with an attack or just walk up. Sokka firmly believed Jeong Jeong had finally gone off the deep end, or else had given up on trying to tough it out in the wilderness and thought a reward and pardon would be in order for roping a waterbender. Zuko said dryly that being stuck out here after having an officer’s quarters and everyone at your beck and call could indeed drive someone mad, which Toph snickered at. 

Sokka grumbled. 

“Can you sense her, Toph? Is she hurt?” Aang asked. 

“Nope, Twinkles. I think they’re concealing her on purpose. But none of the guys seem injured , which you’d expect if Katara had put up a fight. Do you think she’s spacey enough that she lost track of time?”

“Surely not.”

“Or maybe she didn’t even think of us worrying,” Sokka said tersely. “Or they could’ve tricked her.”

“Or maybe they were planning on coming to see us,” Ty Lee said hopefully.

“What, with a list of demands?” Sokka snarked. 

He took a long breath. “OK, this is what we’re going to do. Aang, you walk in. Act like it’s only you. We’re going to position ourselves in the surrounding brush. So at least the rest of us can have the element of surprise, just in case things get thorny. All right?” 

Everyone nodded.

“Weird to be in charge again,” Sokka mused. 

“In charge?” Zuko questioned. 

“Yeah before Iroh dropped in with us, I was,” Sokka gestured to himself, and out to the rest of the group. 

“You mean to tell me you were . . .” he was dumbfounded, “Not the Ava- I mean Aa-”

“Ok I am SO not in the mood for your nonsense,” Sokka growled. “Execute plan, everyone. Now .” 

They fanned out, and somehow Toph wound up near Ty Lee. 

The earthbender was stiff as a board, and radiating a mix of red and gray, naturally. 

Instead of commenting on her state, though, Ty Lee merely said, “I hope she’s ok.”

The earthbender curled her fists even tighter.

“I do not want that to be the last thing I said to her.” 

As he approached the men, Aang of course was waylaid by thoughts about how . . .

Well, the meditator was fairly sure he was being irrational. 

But then again, Iroh wasn’t necessarily correct . . .?

A fresh wave of guilt accompanied the thought, 

Perhaps Jeong Jeong was protecting Katara from him. 

Chapter Text

Previously . . .

“The Earth Mother was still able to cause me a great deal of pain. But Agni insured that it was a constructive pain, pain that put me on the right path.”

“Ran and Shaw . . . showed me that fire is the force of life . . .”

 “The Order is supposed to be a rallying point of unity- where people who know nothing about each other can come together with confidence, under one guise, one trust, but even it has its inner conflicts.”

  “He’s barely even started earthbending.”

“. . . it’s important that he learn firebending as soon as possible because he’s going to be fighting firebenders .”

What Meets the Eye

“Before learning firebending you must learn water and earth. Water is cool and soothing, earth is steady and stable . . . But fire will spread and destroy everything in its path . . .” 

“ . . . he couldn't take the madness any more . . . Some say he's mad- But he’s not! He’s enlightened . . . ”

“. . . fire brings only destruction and pain. It forces those of us burdened with its care to walk a razor's edge between humanity and savagery. Eventually, we are torn apart . . .” –Book 1 Chapter 16: The Deserter

“Basics, Zuko! Break his root!” -Iroh

“That’s it? Your father raised a coward.” -Zhao

 “Next time you get in my way, I promise, I won’t hold back.” -Zuko

“No, Prince Zuko. Do not taint your victory . . . 

Even in exile, my nephew is more honorable than you.” -Iroh

- Book 1 Chapter 3: The Southern Air Temple

  “Because understanding the struggle between your two great-grandfathers can help you better understand the battle within yourself. Evil and good are always at war inside you, Zuko.

It is your nature, your legacy.”

-Iroh, Book 3 Chapter 6: The Avatar and the Fire Lord

Thankfully, none of the kids’ fears were realized. Jeong Jeong told them all he had been testing them. He didn’t post scouts on purpose, and wanted to see how they’d respond to an emergency. He hadn’t been there to observe everything they had been through before and after meeting him. To him, they were just a bunch of kids. The soldier was nothing if not pragmatic. 

Toph went to locate Iroh sitting near a hot spring, basking in the heat like a fox-lynx would on a sunny day. 

At first he looked a little sleepy and unfocused, as if he had been pulled away from slumber. 

Nobody had disturbed him in the middle of allotted time before, and all the kids, most of all Toph and Ty Lee, were getting some weird sense from him. 

Ty Lee whispered to her, “You feel that?” 

“He’s like a bear that’s been woken up early from hibernation,” Toph replied under her breath. 

“Heh.” 

“Not a joke.”

Ty Lee’s resultant bright smile faltered, not entirely expecting that. 

Then of course her mind filled in that Toph had very up close and personal, firsthand experience with wild animals. 

Maybe he was resentful of upsetting all the kids he was now in charge of. 

But, if that was it, he didn’t say it. 

As the conversation progressed, his bronze eyes got sharper and sharper, until they were rapt. 

“So. General Iroh.”

“Retired.” Iroh pointed out politely enough. To the girls however, the man might as well have been growling. His energy said what his words didn’t. 

Jeong Jeong narrowed his eyes. “No one is ever truly retired or divorced from our terrible career, general. We can try to run from it, yes, but it never leaves us.”

“But surely you will not be offended if I call you by your true title, Deserter.” Iroh put a fist to his palm and bowed respectfully.

Jeong Jeong’s nostrils flared slightly. He was clearly not placated. “Deserter. A name I earned well before the Siege of Ba Sing Se, general. I would be counting your swift inclusion in the higher ranks of our brotherhood as a blessing. But surely the confidence invested does not allow you to twist the Avatar Cycle to your fancy?”

Iroh raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

 “To offset the ferocious impulses of our own element, the Avatar must have the first three to balance it. Yet the Order tells me he has begun fire, with earthbending progressing at the same pace.”

Iroh paused for a moment. “By your reasoning, Roku would have started out vicious, and become less so as he learned. Kyoshi would have become temperamental in her second stage of training, and so forth,” he said calmly. “Do you believe that?”

“I believe it’s Destiny that an airbender should be the one to halt the insane mission of our Nation.” Jeong Jeong claimed quietly. “As he takes on fire last. Kyoshi is well-known for her, shall we say, enthusiasm for battle. I find it likely she never shed that disadvantage.” 

“Have you studied other earthbending Ava-”

He plowed ahead. “And interrupting the progression of the elements is a severe oversight, to speak directly to the point.”

“The order of teaching is conventional, yes, but you don’t think that the unusual circumstances allow for adaptation?”

Jeong Jeong casually lighted a hand, staring into the part of himself that appeared. He mused, “ . . . So this is the train of thought you put behind corrupting the Bridge Between the Worlds.”

“Are you questioning my uncle’s honor? ” Zuko interjected, bristling.

Jeong Jeong laughed, an empty sound with no mirth. “Honor. What an absurd notion for the likes of monsters. Brutality. Cruelty.” His voice rose slightly, growing expansive. “ These are what we have masqueraded as honor for a century.” 

Around him, the men nodded and talked over one another in response to his words.

“We are a sinful people . . .”

“A broken line . . .”

“ . . . infernal  . . .”

“. . . heinous . . .”

“. . . fiendish . . .”

“. . . vile . . .”

“Hmmm. Come, then. If it is to be a question of honor, as the boy so naively suggests, how would we resolve such an issue?”

“An Agni Kai? ” Zuko exclaimed, mismatched eyes going wide. He looked to Iroh.

 “You can’t mean that, Deserter.”

“Are you saying that you will give him over to my instruction, then?”

“What? Shouldn’t that be my decision?” Aang asked, confused.

“The Avatar was always to be taught by the most skilled Master,” he murmured, revealing another discerning reason for the competition. “Sozin’s father taught Roku. Ideally you would be learning from the Fire Lord himself, I suppose,” he deadpanned morbidly.

“Don’t joke about things like that.” Zuko was bristling even more now, as he spread his feet and tightened his shoulders, imagining the boy at the mercy of his father.

What if he had taken a page out of Azula’s book and tried to convince the airbender into coming to the Fire Nation with him? If he had stopped to think about how a twelve year old ended up in the ‘wrong’ time, or picked up on the fact that he didn’t know a war was going on, it might’ve been all too easy to merely lure the naïve little boy into the palace.

With any luck, he would’ve been treated as an ‘honored’ guest, as if there was nothing amiss. Perhaps post sentries to make sure he didn’t leave, but with him none the wiser. Disappear his bison, and claim some crazy person kidnapped him and that they were ‘working on it.’ 

Would Ozai offer to be his master? Would he demand Zuko leave Iroh in the Earth Kingdom, suspicious of his brother’s possible overthrow? Would the Fire Lord know enough about monks to ‘soften’ his lessons to manipulate him into thinking everything was fine?

He knew how his father and sister’s minds worked.

He hadn’t thought about this while he chased the Avatar, but having the boy close beside him now, he realized it was also likely Ozai would have imprisoned him immediately, and disfigured him some way, so that the next Avatar wouldn’t appear, so that he was alive, but not a threat.

Jeong Jeong smiled thinly and crookedly. “It’s written all over your face, your fear of your own Royal line. And yet you both presume to guide the Guardian of the World? What a farce.”

Zuko’s mismatched eyes did their best impression of fire, burning into the other master.

The glare had no effect on Jeong Jeong.

There was a tense pause.

“But the circumstances are unique.” He repeated Iroh’s phrase. “Even if I lose, I would contend I should instruct you, Avatar.”

“And,” although incensed, Zuko breathed out slowly, with no fire accompanying it, “I think it’s a gross assumption on your part,” the prince intoned fake-politely, “to assume that Uncle is a lesser master than my father, ” the sentence devolved into a vehement growl.

“It is moot, regardless. The only thing relevant is that his brother has not given me an answer yet.”

Iroh, instead of addressing the challenge, returned his musing. “Of course our Nation houses monsters. But brutality and cruelty is what the war has done to us. Not who we are.”

“Nonsense.” His rough voice scratched out phrases as if carving them laboriously into heartwood with a dull knife. “This is what we are doomed to struggle against. The urge to burn . To give into our most bestial desires. Just as the creatures who heaped this heavy yoke upon us. The creatures of your namesake.” The Master leveled at the Dragon.

Iroh’s voice lost some of its cordiality. “You would do well not to speak ill of the dragons.”

“I will name those who cursed me. And though I would praise you for slaying one . . .”

Iroh’s face didn’t change, revealing nothing.

“It does not free me. I declared my disloyalty to the royals decisively once. Here, I am all too happy to do it again,” he said in a voice devoid of anything resembling joy, “In a more concrete fashion.”

“Do you question my loyalty to the Order?” Iroh asked.

“Not exactly, Dragon. I am fairly confident that you harbor genuine resentment against your brother for stealing the throne from you. So at the very least you ally yourself with us genuinely against him.”

Zuko started, “That’s not what this is abo-”

Iroh held up a palm to quiet him.

Jeong Jeong went on, “I think, the primary issue at hand here, is that, family line can determine either Destiny or character traits. It is your nature, your legacy. Especially you, Dragon, without the balancing influence of Roku in your blood. Two sons of Sozin cannot help but have a warped view of the elements.”

The next silence was deafening.

He motioned for them to follow.

Iroh fell into stride behind him and the Gaang petered after hesitantly.

Cold stares from the small surrounding throng dug into them as Jeong Jeong led to a clearing in which the short grass had been charred and singed. A temporary training ring.

 “You see how we cannot even practice our art without leaving a gruesome mark.” Jeong Jeong smirked. “I should stop calling it an art. Art is beautiful. This-” he swept his hand out in indication- “is an abomination.”

“All bending is an art.” Iroh said. “Every child, when they first influence fire, recognizes this-”

Jeong Jeong whirled to face him, a manic gleam in his eye. “ And then those children grow up! And they learn the true nature of the element they wield. The truth -”

More words the surrounding men, matching their previous ones, swelled.

As the voices melded, Jeong Jeong stepped backwards into the burned meadow, carefully placing his boots to crush the black ashen patches and not the green, holding Iroh’s gaze.

“So come into combat, Western Dragon. It is our nature. ” He mocked. “To fight to dominate. To consume everything and one another .”

Irate murmurings traveled across the strip of onlookers yet again, echoing him.

“-the truth-”

“-the way-”

“-the enlightenment-”

 “-the knowledge-”

“-that fire is nothing to be desired.”

“-an abomination.”

“-that it is the darkest of the elements.”

As the voices melded, Iroh stood and considered the other Master.

Zuko glanced over at him again.

He recalled when the retired Dragon had roared in rage at another firebender, Zhao.

“ Whatever you do to that Spirit , I will release on you TENFOLD! LET IT GO--- NOW! ”

Was he that angry now , just hiding it in true nobility fashion, trying to keep up some semblance of composure?

What was going on in the Spiritwalker’s mind?

Was insulting the sacred original firebenders and delighting in their slaying in the same vein as threatening a Spirit?

“You would do well not to speak ill of the dragons.”

Had that been a crack in his façade?

His uncle was rarely ever this serious.

l

The retired general had on a wide smile today.

Zuko groaned inwardly at the familiar sight. No doubt he was planning something “fun” to distract him with during the stop for supplies. Months and months at sea and his uncle never seemed to grow weary of the repetitive days of fruitless searching. Truthfully he was burned out, and was very relieved to get off the vessel, but he wouldn’t let his uncle know that.

After excusing all the men, his uncle dragged him around town, fervently admiring every bauble and trinket that was flashed at him. But eventually, he led Zuko to the outskirts, where he simply picked a patch of ground and sat.

Zuko, confused, examined their surroundings. A field extended for the better part of two miles before hills began to subtly interrupt the landscape. Every few feet of both the flat and inclined surface was completely covered with stones. Was this some odd Earth Kingdom ritual? Runes? Some were large, and crudely carved; some were small and plain. At some parts, there was almost a pattern to the way they were laid, but others seemed completely haphazard. Why had they wasted so much land with the strange decoration?

Frowning, he sat down next to his uncle, who had closed his eyes.

Whatever. He sulked. He didn’t care about the crazy workings of this country. He just wanted to go back home. Desperately.

After nearly an hour, however, his resolve was crumbling and his curiosity got the better of him. “Uncle, what are those stones for?”

His forehead furrowed in response and did not loosen after he had explained. “This is a graveyard. The names of the people are buried a few inches below the surface, in stone against the dirt. Only a skilled earthbender can read them, with the contrast between the two materials. But family members know where in the field their kin are laid. Each of the aboveground stones marks a buried soldier.”

Zuko suddenly felt very small, swallowed up by the ever-reaching expanse. Goosebumps rose on his arms as he realized that whether they were in straight lines or curved ones, or none at all, there was always space enough for a grown man between each. A hefty pit formed in his stomach. But then some of his indignation returned, lightening it. Nothing like this existed in the homeland. Cremation was standard for every citizen, and with that procedure done only the few wealthy enough to pay were put in an underground mausoleum or a catacomb in natural caves. The Fire Nation archipelago had no room to squander like the Earth Kingdom. He latched onto this detached and analytical train of thought, wanting to push away the initial cold, uncomfortable reaction. “Why would they use so much arable space, anyway? It’s so inefficient.” In a few words he neatly summed up his Academy-bred opinion of the indigenous people.

“They, like us, seek unity with their element when they pass on.”

“They rot .” The younger royal wrinkled his nose. “What kind of custom is that ? Such a barbaric, disgusting-”

“ Zuko! ” Iroh barked.

The younger firebender flinched so badly at the impassioned reprimand of the normally quietly speaking man, that he had to catch himself on one hand.

In a low, severe voice his uncle vowed, head still bowed, “Zuko, I will not allow you to slander the deceased.”

“They are our enemie-”

The searing gold-bronze gaze caught him, effectively cutting off his words with only his presence of will. Zuko at that time, as indoctrinated as he was, could do nothing to identify the cause of such a change. His uncle could be so cryptic sometimes.

Iroh went to work clearing this up.

“The Spirits tend to all, not just us. This place is sacred. Just like our ash-filled urns,  prince. They are to be afforded the same respect as any other who has passed on . . . ”

l

He could be downright frightening when he put his mind to it.

Surely that . . .

Surely that didn’t have anything to do with being descended from Sozin.

Right? the teen reasoned to himself.

His first instinct was to refute Jeong Jeong. To defend at the very least his own reputation. And he felt the natural urge to defend his uncle, too. But, he logically couldn’t deny the other master’s resentment against the general and the royal line. This war had ruined his life.

How could he blame him?

At the same time, Toph’s words came back to him.

“Just because I insult your family doesn’t reflect on you, and just because you praise them doesn’t have anything to do with me, okay?” she yelled. “We’re both separate people from them!”

He could guess that the earthbender was currently thinking that.

He had gathered from his time in the EK that this was an outlook that, while perhaps not unique to her, was less common. Family ties and tradition were taken seriously here, too. 

The Fire Nation native had to do a lot of unlearning, and ironically the earthbender had muddied the waters, as he had to parse her attitudes from the rest of the country. She bucked convention, but upon meeting her he had had no way of knowing that. 

Maybe the reason she hadn’t spoken up, was because, with the added issue of the elements and the dragons, she felt she was out of her depth?

Yet, it couldn’t be denied that children often took after their parents, either. And hidden traits skipped generations. He had never laid eyes on Sozin himself. But the family portrait did show some similarities. Did elders who met Iroh see his grandfather in him?

For the views of the elements, neither of the current men were speaking falsehoods, for the earthbender to read, he could assume. They each believed their view was correct.

He wished he could think Toph’s way. That his own identity had little or nothing to do with Ozai. But wouldn’t that also mean distancing himself from his uncle, who was of the same blood? He wanted to share that closeness.

He didn’t have anything against people who were adopted, but to him, it just wasn’t the same.

Iroh finally stepped backwards silently and kneeled also, removing his shirt. A few of the firebenders of Jeong Jeong’s group began to shoo the members of the Gaang back and others scurried away to gather some props to set up for a makeshift Agni Kai.

Aang sidled up next to Zuko and asked uneasily into his ear, “Are they really going to fight because of me ?”

Zuko met the younger boy’s large, troubled gray eyes.

The crease in the ex-general’s brow, the acute bronze-golden irises contemplating his challenger, had all made for an unusually stringent demeanor. But the fact that he took this seriously was out of respect for the other Master. Zuko had disrespected his father a second time in this way, being too emotional. Refusing a challenge was one of highest insults a firebender could pay to another. None of this was cause for the monk to be upset. Zuko laid a hand on the young Avatar’s shoulder. “It’s only a duel , Aang.”

The airbender’s gaze made an unmistakable slip towards the teen’s left.

He grimaced in response and Aang quickly looked down bashfully.

“That’s not always how Agni Kai is.” Zuko tried to explain further without his throat closing up too much. “The defeated can be marked, or kil-” his voice caught. “They can be, Aang. But what happens- and the outcome- is determined by who is fighting. Every one is different. Do you think my uncle would do something like that?”

“No-” Aang spilled quickly, “of course not- that’s isn’t w-what I thought at all- I’m s-sorry-” he tripped over his words, now even more distressed. He shied away from the older boy’s hand.

Zuko, however, re-caught his shoulder. He hadn’t intended to accuse him anything. “That’s not . . . what I meant. It’s all right, Aang. Really .”

At the same time, his own unease redoubled.

The surrounding men set up lines by thrusting stakes into the ground, holding down ropes that outlined a rectangle around the two White Lotus Masters. They draped ragged red blankets around both of their shoulders. Zuko bristled yet again as he thought he saw them whispering nastily to Iroh, whose countenance remained stern and composed.

They stood and faced each other, the cloth fluttering from their height.

Jeong Jeong swept one last glance over the fellow retired militant and then likewise swept his hands bilaterally, creating twin firewhips. “ Oh Great and Righteous Dragon ,” he cried shrilly as he whipped one line, “should I spin tales of all our deeds ?” and then the other, “Of all the lives we have destroyed? Of the fearsome respect we garnered as Earth Kingdom bugs-” his voice cracked at the common supremacist rhetoric against them, “were crushed beneath our onslaughts? We have drunk from the same poisonous fount! ”

Iroh deflected the whips away with sharp movements of flattened hands, palms glowing. Once, twice, three times, four times . . .

Jeong Jeong’s semi-solid weapons dissolved and he stood, awaiting his answering attack. But the Dragon didn’t move. The scarred Master continued in a slower, more brooding tone, “A poisonous and potent draught . . . that still haunts me . . . ” He was breathing heavily, but clearly not from the small physical exertion. He brought his hands together, steadily gathering his chi.

“I know.” Iroh replied. “But the tighter you hold onto it, the more venomous it becomes. You must begin to let it go at some poin-”

Jeong Jeong gave an outburst of what was almost a cackle he angled his arms downward and sent the long blaze careening towards the Dragon.

Iroh intercepted it with his forearms and diverted it continuously to his left as if they were parallel rail lines for a trolley.

At their words the pacifist airbender was becoming stressed again, and Zuko patted his shoulder comfortingly.

“I dueled someone else once.” Zuko’s voice suddenly became very sober as he remembered Zhao and his fate. He wished he had been able to save his fellow countryman from the foreign spirit. “And he was fine afterwards, Aang. A little bruised, maybe.”

Aang responded not to the boy’s words, but to his expression and tone, misreading the guilt. “You know, if you did something to someone, Zuko, you could tell me.”

The older boy suddenly rounded on him. “ I didn’t do anything to him! ” he almost growled.

Aang jumped back, startled.

“Sorry . . . It’s just . . .” He looked back out into the field. “I didn’t do anything to him. But later, he . . . died. I was there, reaching out to him. And sometimes I feel like that there was something I should have been able to do.”

This time Aang was the one who laid a hand on the other firebender’s shoulder.

“I wanted to.” Zuko murmured. “I wanted to mark him. But I’m glad I didn’t. Especially now.”

Would Iroh have to fight the same impulse?

These were much higher stakes and weighty issues than his own duel with Zhao!

Was Jeong Jeong right about them? 

Firebenders in general, or the royal line?

Back in the ring, Jeong Jeong thrust his fists out again, sending a large orb of separate flame at his opponent, and darted diagonally across the field, following up with several smaller punches.

As Zuko watched Iroh, he couldn’t help but think that he looked like an earthbender. His training since joining the Gaang had sculpted him into a shape that he had probably not been in since his army days. But it was not only in physique that was reminiscent of the usually muscular men of this country, but in shattering the attacks with a heavier stance and not as much movement as his adversary. He was waiting him out. But he couldn’t shake the prickling feeling that something looming in the way the huge man was holding back was much more threatening than the other firebender’s full-on assaults.

He sent his own weighted steps back, and his flame, instead of falling downwards in the usual firebender sweep, soared upwards as if taking energy from the ground beneath.

Jeong Jeong dodged and then abandoned far-off attacks. He sprinted in on the offensive, forcing the larger man to backstep and sidestep. The Dragon slashed across his torso and the other seemed to push off of his fire with his wrists, now visibly sweating as a few embers flecked across his face. He brought the flame back with his hands and with the momentum he leaned back, bringing a leg into a spinning kick.

Then Iroh’s technique began to match Jeong Jeong’s more closely, springing steps retreating from him in a roundabout pattern, spinning and avoiding instead of fighting directly. They both used the rounded motions of their straightened limbs, like a metal artist’s compass drawing graphite circles, to alternately push forward rapidly and fall back again, and the prince found himself marveling firsthand at just how many things firebending and airbending had in common. Not only in the fleet movements, but in the shapes of the arcs and circles as well. “You’re seeing that too, right?” He whispered reverently to Aang. “The airbending?”

The younger boy nodded. “And earth, before, I think,” he replied, equally as spellbound.

Iroh had many times advised Zuko on combining the other three Nations’ styles into his firebending.

It appeared that, admiring airbenders’ style so much, or possibly envying them to the point of pain, Jeong Jeong had done the same.

The Dragon’s weight suddenly shifted in a new way and he was moving mercurially, latching onto the other’s flames and using them to block. It wasn’t waterbending- he couldn’t redirect the fire fully, especially in such close quarters- and it didn’t have physical momentum of the other element. But Jeong Jeong’s flames were clearly becoming his own in the same way the liquid responded to switched influence.

Beside him, Aang suddenly said in a tiny voice, “That was me, wasn’t it? I had only just begun to get a feel for water. I don’t remember it that well at all. But. When I was joined with the Ocean Spirit. La. He . . . he took Zhao.”

His silver eyes filled with water.

The quiet Zuko didn’t bother replying, he just pulled the younger boy into a loose side hug.

Jeong Jeong was caught off guard by the waterbending approach, hesitated, and stepped backwards, giving the Dragon more space to bring the combined flames he harnessed to bear. Jeong Jeong just managed to swipe the burst away from himself, but now he was severely off balance.

At this point, Zuko’s objective mind was satisfied that there was only a little bit of force necessary to end the duel, but the same prickling instincts contradicted it, that something else entirely was afoot.

Iroh’s gaze was stony as he leapt forward and Jeong Jeong regained his balance by catching one foot solidly, facing sideways, and their respective attacks met each other head-on.

Surprised gasps rose as the surrounding audience saw what was happening.

Both benders opened their jaws, competing flames clashing. It was a sheer force of will that kept both of the spouts flowing.

As Jeong Jeong’s waned, he ducked his head and formed his hands in a wedge to stave off the oncoming fire. He held the position tenaciously, gritting his teeth as he was pushed backwards inch by inch.

No matter his immense skill, there was no way he could sustain something like that, Zuko thought frantically. He himself had once passed out just holding a large two-hand flame for too long, trying to extend his endurance. Had irrationality taken over? What was he doing?

Just then Iroh moved his hands swiftly into his own torrent, bending chi keeping the fire away from his own arms, and broke the other firebender’s resisting posture. Jeong Jeong screamed as the flames engulfed him.

The cries of the young ones sounded all at once.

“UNCLE!”

“SIFU!”

 “NO!”

  “DON’T!”

“IROH!”

“STOP!”

-Aang’s grip became a vice, digging into his shoulder-

-Horrified gasps from the others rebounded their shock-

-but the attack didn’t let up-

It wrapped around the man, sections turning emerald and violet, interlacing and interweaving as the scream of surprise stopped.

Then the fire moved outwards into a tall ring, cycloning around the two firebenders and obscuring them. After several seconds the wall peeled back to reveal a kneeling, uninjured Jeong Jeong and a straightened Iroh. His head was tilted back slightly and his eyes glazed over. As the unconventional flame danced around them, his voice took on a double tone, one pitch rough and the other even harsher.

“We bid you no longerr bessssssmirrrrch the name of ourr noble element, trraveling the landss as a False-ssssssss Prrrrophet! Ye who have been cleanssed by this fire’rrrr, TELL THEM what you have sseen.”

Jeong Jeong stammered as he prostrated at his feet. “T-the dragons . . . t-they are a-alive! T-they speak through h-him . . .”

Multichromatic light continued to burn in the stout man’s palms, thin tendrils swirling up and around his arms.

“At Agni’ss command thiss flame comess here, thrrough one we have touched. Givessss uss these human wordssss and voice-ssssss.” 

The bi-tone swelled,

“The time will come, when thiss titled Drragon, as the rrebirrthed SpiritChild of Agni and Mahimata, will help lead the worrld in its peace-ss. The pact between the Ssssun Sssspirrrit and the Earrrth Motherrr shall be furrrtherrred”

He glanced over to Toph.

“and the betrrrayal of the Fire-rrrr Avatarrrr at the handssss of the Fire’rrrr Lorrrrd rrrressssolved!”

The boys met each others’ eyes for a last time, both smiling.

“Sso much have you endurred. Now be rrelieved. Yourr penance’ss be done. No element iss in itsself good orr wicked, norrr will it everrrrrrr be! Only those’ss who wield them determine theirrr nature’rrrrr. The firrsst of ourr sstudentss knew thiss. Know the Trruth, and we tassk you to share’rr it.”

  “Now RISE, sson of fire’rr”

-suddenly the ring exploded outwards-

“and neverr again”

-burnless fire collided with everything, flesh and plant alike, throwing wild, undulating shadows and rustling clothes and leaves-

“bow yourr head in sshame only forr what you ARE’RR!”

Chapter Text

As fire flew out with impossible swiftness in all directions, everyone reacted differently.

Toph, able to sense Iroh’s positive intentions in his chi and his flame, was utterly unconcerned as it washed over her.

Aang and Zuko each instinctively raised their arms to block.

Even though the Master’s control in not burning people might’ve occurred to the boys, it was just a gut reaction to the visual wall of mostly orange and red barreling at them.

Katara, likewise, in a split second had her water pulled out in front of her. Unlike other liquids, which contracted when they became solid, water expanded due to some force that she was sure Sokka would help some scientist work out the physics for one day. What it meant to her, was that an ice shield gave her more coverage.

Sokka threw himself in front of Ty Lee.

He had his back turned, closed his eyes, and he didn’t notice Toph, from a different angle, make no motion to protect herself.

He was operating on pure instinct.

He had nearly been panicking at the weird way the Spiritwalker’s voice had projected out from his mortal body, and the tribesman barely registered his words at all.

He fully expected a cascade of fire to rip into him.

He had knocked her into a sitting position, and he crouched, falling onto his knees.

The girl in his arms was shaking uncontrollably, and as the moment passed, he opened his eyes, realizing that he was not, in fact, going to be burned to a crisp.

But Ty Lee’s heartbeat wasn’t slowing like his. It was speeding up.

“Ty? Ty, it’s all right.” He patted the back of her neck, but that didn’t appear to be helping.

Slightly dazed, Zuko muttered beside him, “Wow . . . I feel . . . really . . . really . . . energized? ”

Aang whisked himself away. The airbender went twenty feet in the air and shot out at a speed that left Katara worriedly calling after him.

The acrobat continued to deteriorate. She couldn’t breathe. She gripped Sokka tightly as her throat closed up.

Her silver eyes were wide. 

“Ty, Ty, snap out of it!” the boy had no idea what was happening.

In another few heartbeats, Iroh was at his side.

“Let go of her,” the man commanded gruffly, and the boy was loathe to comply.

A huge hand gently but firmly gripped his shoulder. “Sokka, listen to me. It might take her ten minutes or more to snap out of this. Let me talk to her. I know what to do.”

Placated, he reluctantly released.

The man instructed him further, “Get a piece of fruit from Aang’s bag. Cut a small piece out of it.”

Iroh sat cross-legged in front of the girl.

“I know it’s probably been a while since this has happened,” he said slowly and melodiously. “Concentrate on my voice, Ty Lee. Just like you did then.” He took a breath, and his sentences slowed even more. “You. Are. Safe. There is no danger here.”

She nodded, but her breath was still erratic and she shuddered.

 He repeated the two phrases five more times.

 His voice dipped even further, aiming to lull her. “Breathe as best you can. Now, do Ardha Matsyendrasana, my dear.”

She relaxed one leg in a typical cross legged fashion, but pulled her other ankle all the way across her body, until it was resting against her opposite hip.

 The yoga position also required the closest elbow to hook in front of the upright knee, deepening the twist of the spine.

“Feel the stretch of your muscles. Feel the earth beneath you. Let these sensations ground you. Remember. With yoga. Your root is not only through your feet.”

She nodded, breath was still coming sharp and fast.  

“Now, enter the total position. Purna Matsyendrasana. Only briefly, you don’t want to hamper your lungs any more than necessary. Release the stretch, just as slowly as always.”

She twisted even more, until her shoulders were almost facing completely backwards, and her hips remained facing forwards.

The air still stuttered in and out of her chest, but it was getting better.

She rotated in a measured, careful way.

“Now you are back to Ardha Matsyendrasana. Good.”

Sokka returned with the fruit, and Iroh guided him to give it to her.

“Concentrate on the sweetness. Concentrate on your surroundings. Your mind resists, wanting to pull you into its fears. But, observe your feelings, don’t get sucked in. Just like in normal practitioner fashion. Do you still use the wooden floors of your dance studio as a visualization in meditation?”

She shook her head.

“Alright. Whatever you use presently, picture it now.”

She breathed deeper.

“Whenever you are ready, switch your feet.”

After a few minutes she slowly released the twist again and repeated it in the other direction.

Sokka looked out at Jeong Jeong and his men. Several of them had flames dancing around their heads, in the many different colors. A few, including their leader, had stray bits lingering around scars. There was no physical change in the damaged skin, but some were leaking silent tears.

Had Iroh used the word ‘cleansed?’

They looked relieved. Unburdened.

For some reason . . .

It irked him.

He should be used to weird spirit stuff by now, right?

He remembered back at Wan Shi Tong’s library,

Ty Lee was cowering behind Sokka with her hands on his shoulders, still reeling from the intense and sudden change from negative to positive energy. She had her eyes tightly closed, thoroughly disoriented from the powerful Spirits' heated exchanges. "D-does this sort of thing h-happen often?"

"To us ? " Sokka qualified. "Yep."

He was so cool about it then.

What was different now?

Something about their expressions . . . 

The tribesman then looked back at the still struggling acrobat, took Zuko aside a ways, and muttered under his breath, “So this has happened before? ”

Zuko nodded. “She had to train herself up to the point where she wouldn’t have this reaction when going up against firebenders. At first, I questioned Azula on why she should even need to train to fight firebenders, given that she would be fighting for the Fire Nation. My sister very presciently suggested that they might need to fight rebellious colonials . . . or traitors. ” He motioned mockingly to himself. “Azula had earthbender prisoners shuttled in as well, to give Ty Lee experience against the element. If they followed all her instructions to the letter, didn’t threaten Ty Lee too much until she was comfortable, Azula would repay them with shorter sentences.”

“And if they were unruly?”

“Same fate as any servants who got underfoot. Actually . . . no, in that case, it was much worse. Blue fire is hotter than regular fire.”

“You fought earthbenders this way, too?”

Zuko sighed. “Yes. They were much rougher on me. At my father’s request.”

Toph sidled up to them, clearly having overheard. “Well, your sister’s threats or not . . . I might’ve played obedient blind girl for lower stakes things than facing an enemy royal, but she or your dad would just have to lose you early. I would’ve made short work of you and Ty Lee, Dragonboy.”

“Yeah, probably.” He snorted.

Then she said, with a much different tone, “Guys, should we even be asking her to help us?” she whispered, uncharacteristically quiet and concerned about her fellow Spiritseer, “We can’t have her energy doing this when we’re in the middle of a fight.”

“Doing what? What did it look like?” Sokka asked curiously.

“Well, obviously her chi clenched at the base of her spine. You should know that, given what Iroh has been saying about chakras.”

“Sorry I’m not too interested in the mystical,” the avocational scientist said mockingly. “If that would help me calm her, I’d be interested,” he analyzed, “but it doesn’t seem to serve much purpose.”

Toph shrugged and relented. “Fair enough.” 

Sokka eyed Zuko again. “So wait, Iroh wasn’t there before his son’s death. He was out fighting. Who took over to do this whole calming business when he wasn’t there?”

“Often, it was me. Azula wasn’t too good at warm fuzzies,” he drawled. “Neither was Mai, unfortunately.”

“No offense, but it’s hard to picture you being good at that, either.”

“It was before my mother disappeared,” the prince said, barely audible.

“ . . . oh.” He laid a hand on his shoulder. “My bad.”

Toph, in a rare show of non-mildly-violent affection, gripped and hugged the prince’s forearm. “I bet you were a real nice kid, Dragonboy. Not like me.”

“You weren’t?”

“I’d really rather not get into it.”

“All right.”

There was a pause.

“ Obviously having the cartilage in my ear completely destroyed by heat didn’t help my temper either.”

Both of the others winced.

Sokka patted him. “Katara was nicer before mom died, too. I don’t know why it didn’t have that effect on me, but I get it, regardless.”

Toph slid a foot out, releasing Zuko. “Speaking of. She ran after Aang. I wonder if she can find him without me guiding her? That kid can move as fast as lighting. And if he’s in a tree, like he usually does when he gets upset, even I can’t locate him.”

“Well, as much as I won’t like having to deal with my sister if her maternal instincts are thwarted like that,” the tribesman said, “I’m still just glad Ty Lee’s gonna be all right.”

“Same.” Toph said.

“Yes, she will be,” the prince confirmed. “She may not be stubborn in the exact same manner you are, Toph. But. In her own way, my old friend, as long as I’ve known her, she’s been pretty darn determined. You had to be if you struck out on your own a continent away with no support from your parents,” the ex-prince said proudly, “and opted to be around my sister, and deal with this. ”

Chapter Text

“Fire Nation! Those evil savages make me sick! They have no respect for- What? I'm not allowed to be angry?” – Sokka, Book 1, Chapter 7: The Spirit World, Winter Solstice Part 1

“‘I’m so used to people worshipping us.’

‘They should.’”

-Azula and Ty Lee, Book 3, Chapter 5: The Beach

“You guys are not prettier than us.” –Ty Lee, Book 2, Chapter 16: Appa’s Lost Days

“The sixth pool of energy is the Light chakra, located in the center of the forehead. It deals with insight and is blocked by illusion. The greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation. Things you think are separate and different are actually one and the same.”

-Guru Pathik

What Meets the Eye

Sokka really, really wanted some alone time with Ty Lee after all that.

When she had recovered, she agreed wholeheartedly.

But it turned out, it wasn’t what she was expecting.

After they had found a secluded spot, he stalked back and forth angrily. “He thinks throwing around a bunch of ‘special-special’ fire, magicky-rainbow junk suddenly makes everything the Fire Nation has done all right-”

“That’s not what-” Ty Lee followed him, trying to catch his eye to speak to him.

“Well I don’t buy it.”

“Sokka-”

He turned to face her for a second. “And I suppose you think everything’s just peachy , right? Because you see ‘pretty little rainbows’ every day, around people!”

At the scathing words she dropped her hands and just returned his gaze numbly for a moment. Had he really just said that?

He resumed pacing and muttering.

“Sokka why are you acting like-” She finally landed a hand on his shoulder, but she quickly recoiled as he rounded on her.

“Do you know I can’t even remember what my own mother’s face looks like? ”

Silence.

His expression changed, as if just realizing what he had blurted.

Ty Lee couldn’t shoo away the impulse to draw him closer. She brushed her lips against his cheek, trying to calm him. “Baby, I’ve never seen you this red.” He didn’t pull away. He even seemed to unclench a bit. 

“ That’s why I was so mad about those guys looking relieved,” he said introspectively. “I don’t feel like they deserved it.” He crosses his arms. “They don’t.” 

She traced a small circle on his forehead. “Can you feel that trapped energy right there? You know, when Mai and Azula talked about anyone from the Earth Kingdom . . . they’d get that too-”

He seized her upper arms almost roughly and she gave a little yelp of surprise.

“You. Did. Not. Just. Compare. Me. To. Them. ”

She blinked, then whispered. “It’s getting worse.”

“That fire-spitting bitch -”

“Please don’t call her that . . .” she murmured a little stronger.

“What? What else am I supposed to say? ” He implored honestly, holding her in place. “She bullied you until you had nightmares , Ty! Your so-called friend! ” His eyes flashed protectively. “And now you had that- that whatever it was! ”

“Yes, s-she did,” her voice wavered. “a lot. But I was always afraid of fire- and I never had any nightmares until-” She stopped abruptly and looked down.

“Until what?”

“Until . . . I . . . I left her.” She finished defensively. “When we graduated.”

He studied her for a second. “You can’t possibly feel guilty for that?”

She didn’t respond.

“I don’t believe this.” He finally released her, though she found that now, even with the uncomfortable grip, she didn’t want him to.

“How could you not let go of her,” he said flatly, “Even after . . . !” he made an incoherent gesture with his hands.

She bit her lip. “There are circuses in the Fire Nation. I thought about auditioning for the Ember Island players. They do plenty of acrobatics.”

“Well then what made you grace the lowly Earth Kingdom with your presence?” the sarcastic boy snapped.

Again she didn’t respond. 

“You were running from Azula.” 

“ No! ” She stamped her foot. “I told you Mai’s aura after Zuko’s public humiliation was worse! But that’s not the main reason I left, either.” She paused. “Katara’s told you about how I was disowned, right?” 

“Another thing to add to the pile of rubbish the Fire Nation makes a habit of.” 

She drew herself up and poked him in the chest. “Like your tribe wouldn’t care one bit if you decided to abandon them!”

“That’s not the same! ”  

“I’m not saying it’s exactly the same. I’m just trying to get you to understand .” 

“You’re defending your family for being rich, snobby assholes!” 

“I’m saying it’s more complicated than that. Stop oversimplifying things!”

“ You stop making stupid comparisons!” 

He huffed. 

“We’re nothing like them. We’re different, by La.” He shook his head. “And you have the audacity to feel bad for leaving them and that bully behind.” 

“I feel what I feel!” she replied hotly. “Just because I maybe wish . . . I shouldn’t feel that way . . . Just because I could see it . . . just because I can feel the guilt pooling in my chakra doesn’t mean I can just magically make it go away! I can work on it, in meditation, but-”

“Look! . . . just . . .” He shuddered at the memory of overwhelming, multi-colored flame. “I’ve had enough of mystical trickety-tricks and rainbows for one day.”

“Stop saying that!” She pressed her lips together.

There was a pause.

“Do you want me to apologize?”

She blinked. “W-will you?”

He stared her down and she stared back equally as hard. 

“You can see it, right?”

“Hm?” 

“That chakra at the back. For guilt.”

Hadn’t she just said that? She turned her head slightly to the side, not sure what he was getting at.

“So why should I apologize when you already know I feel bad?” he asked snarkily. The clever boy analyzed with most of the maliciousness of a certain former playmate of hers. “What’s even the point to miss knows-it-all?”

She clearly got the message of the peculiar sarcastic insult and backed away, frowning. Even though he was guilty, he was still being mean?

l

A student went flying, spilling books out onto the floor of the Academy for Girls.

The princess leered down at her. “You know, you really must watch where you’re going.” Her foot, which had previously been in the classmate’s path, returned to its place beside the other.

“So clumsy.” Mai added blandly.

“And let me tell you, honey, if you keep your uniform like that-” Ty Lee lectured in a supercilious and prissy tone as she waved her finger, gesturing to the shirt which was untucked, “then you’re going to get thrown out real quick. They don’t tolerate sloppiness around here.”

The girl in question kept her gaze on the floor and off her three harassers and picked up the first volume without comment. 

Two professors watched the unfolding events with a relaxed, accustomed air. No one questioned royalty. No one who didn’t want the Fire Lord to boot them out of their hard-won positions at the Academy.

The girl finished collecting her things and scurried away.

Ty Lee tossed her bangs back conceitedly. “Hm.”

 “Nice finish, Ty Lee.” Azula said quietly with a conspiratory smile.

“Thanks.”

Later, her two friends had gone home for the day, to their respective dwellings in the Capitol. The acrobat sat in her dorm room, chewing on a boar-q-pine quill as she looked over a chart that covered the entire desk, spilling over the sides. Weici was craned over her, tracing her finger along the parchment and giving tips on how she had passed the difficult class- Astronomy- when she took it.

Finally Ty Lee made some last notes and began to fold it up. “That’s enough for today, Wei. I’m going to go to bed. See you in the morning?”

“Okay . . . but Ty.” Weici took it out of her hand. “I think we need to talk about something else, too. I’m glad you like your friends, but-”

“You’re just jealous.” Ty Lee cut her off.

“What?”

“You’re jealous that I get to be her friend. All of you are.” Ty Lee repeated. “I’ve seen the green. And not your usual kind. So no , Wei, I’m not going to talk about it.”

After her biting accusation and snub Weici mumbled angrily. “That’s right. You know everything, don’t you? It never bothered you when we were a little jealous of your being better at dance lessons. Why is this different?”

“Give it.” The preteen grabbed the starmap back with a huff and stood up. “And let me go to sleep.” She steered the taller girl to the exit.

Standing in the doorway, Weici looked at her directly. “I never knew you had a mean bone in your body until you started hanging out with them.” She turned away, but before she was out of earshot, added, “Yunru always felt like she had to be nasty to stand apart from the rest of us. I guess you feel that way, too, don’t you?”

Ty Lee shut the door.

She was not her sisters. There Weici went again with the comparisons . She and Yunru were different, and separate, Agni-as-witness, she thought stubbornly. “Don’t bother coming back here unless it’s to talk about the Five Torch constellations,” she ordered just loudly enough to be heard through the barrier.

She flopped down on her bed on her stomach.

She didn’t like the sensation concentrating in the front of her head, or in her back, but she didn’t know how to stop them, either. Before she passed away, Auntie Ryu had told her some things about auras, but she couldn’t tell her anything about the other weird invisible stuff she felt. Weici was wrong- she didn’t know everything. She wished she did. That comment had just upset her further. She’d like to learn about the different colors for crushes, for example, but she couldn’t get close enough to any other girls to talk about them, and Mai, as secretive as she was, wasn’t forthcoming. Not that she could bring up auras around the stoic skeptic anyway.

She teared up at that thought, and got off the bed, not wanting to ruin her sheets with crying again.

Rainbows and bright colors were not Mai’s aesthetic even when they weren’t mystical.

Gray and black reminded Ty Lee of the feeling of fear and evil intent.

Dark colors reminded her of all the times people felt terrible. And it made her feel terrible.

Mai fundamentally could not understand that.

Refused to understand it, even.

Azula could occasionally be wheedled into wearing pink, orange, yellow.

Ty Lee understood why blue and green were off the table, given their associations with other Nationalities.

Purple was acceptable, but Azula preferred it on the redder, wine-colored side of things, instead of lavender or periwinkle, which threw off the acrobat completely. Purple was usually one of the most positive colors. Red was usually one of the most negative.

So she just didn’t press about it.

And Weici didn’t understand, even though she had tried to explain this other issue to her, too. Ty Lee couldn’t stay glued to the princess’ side one hundred percent of the time. Whenever she walked down the halls on her own, a lot of people glared at her, even before she had joined in on the taunting. Now it was to the point that, if she let up at all, if she didn’t contribute, and stay tough, then everyone would walk all over her.

Wait.

That was only how it started.

She had even almost stopped trying to be nice to students when not part of a flanking duo.

She was feeling crummy for sometimes acting like she was better than her siblings. But that guilt, paradoxically, only seemed to feed off of itself and make her interactions with all of them worse. Hira was hardly talking to her right now. And now she had actively turned away another one of them.

Wasn’t she better than all of them, though? The return thought came indignantly. She was well on her way to becoming prime companion to the princess. Mai didn’t do enough schmoozing for Azula’s taste, and Ty Lee didn’t even need to lie or fudge the truth at all to compliment the princess at every turn. She admired her. In fact, though she hadn’t chosen a weapon yet, she was training with her, and even helping her, because of her own athletic talent. Weici was always trying to run everyone’s lives . She was being a busybody! . . . right?

Who was Weici to criticize her, anyway? She let Meili get away with things. And ugly little thought blossomed: she was showing favoritism just like father. Suspicion followed. Maybe the eldest sisters were closer to each other than any of the others. Though they tried to be a family, strong jealousy ran its course through all seven of them against any of their siblings for various things at once point or another, and here it was again. One thought another was prettier, one thought the other was smarter, one thought another had better but undeserved political status, one thought the other received more gifts and jewelry, the list went on.

Ty Lee was flourishing under the recognition and acknowledgement of her peers- she occupied a top spot she wouldn’t have been able to get any other way. She could be nice. She liked being nice. She felt crummy for picking on people too . . . and yet . . . How could negative energy feel almost . . . good , sometimes? Was this how Azula felt whenever she’d threaten her, too? Just because she saw things differently from everyone else didn’t mean she was automatically immune to pettiness. Dark blue and gray and red auras could be . . . something she wanted to see. Sometimes. Slipping into being a stronger girl was getting easier and easier.

Besides, that girl today wasn’t a random victim. Random wasn’t her friend’s style. The princess didn’t do anything that wasn’t precisely calculated. She kept a mental tally on every student. She had disrespected her a few weeks before, and she should have known better.

She buried her face back into her pillow.

She wouldn’t cry this time.

Instead, she focused on her anger. 

Though Ty Lee still loved her, she definitely did not want her sister here right now.

She just didn’t want to hear any of it.

l

 She retreated a few more steps further from Sokka. He had turned his back to her. Maybe they both just needed some time to cool down, she considered.

She left him to his thoughts.

Chapter Text

After Iroh was done with Ty Lee, he left to find Aang. 

He passed Katara, assuring her that he could tend to the boy. He gave a conspiratorial wink and said, “Being a Spiritwalker, I’m better equipped to find the elusive Avatar than either my nephew, despite his previous fervor, or yourself.” 

Katara saddened. The joke didn’t have the intended effect. 

“I think Ty Lee could benefit from your company while I search. The boys and Toph, I’m sure, are sympathetic, yes. But not as effective as yourself.” 

She looked up at the thick canopy of forest, then back at him. 

She looked like she wanted to object. 

Nevertheless, she left him to his wandering. 

Just as Toph had said, though it had been out of his earshot, he found Aang in a tree. It was routine. Sometimes he would meditate up there, leaning his torso against the trunk and straddling his legs on either side of an oak-birch branch big enough. 

After some coaxing, Aang swooped down, and landed much harder than normal. 

A few tears rolled down the boy’s cheeks. 

“Aang?” Iroh lifted a hand towards him, as if to pull him into a hug. 

“ Don’t touch me. ” the monk said sharply. 

Iroh’s bronze eyes blinked in bewilderment at the harsh reprimand from the lighthearted airbender. 

“Are you all right? ” the fatherly man asked with a tinge of panic. 

The boy was silent. 

His silver eyes cut into him. 

“You . . . having all that fire coming at you and engulf you, scared you too.” Iroh whispered. “Even if your reaction wasn’t as bad as Ty Lee.”

The young monk closed his eyes. 

“Aang,” the man said with a choked noise, “I am so, so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” But the words were not forgiving in tone. They were hard. They projected ‘I understand this, but my feelings are very different from welcoming you back into my space right now.’ 

“What can I do to make it up to you? To make you feel better?” 

Aang’s shoulders screwed up. 

“Just . . .”

He breathed three times. 

Iroh recognized how he expanded his diaphragm as far as it would go, sucking in all the life-giving air his lungs could stand, and then releasing slowly like a leaking helium gas tank. 

The words from tutors from his own boyhood spoke to him, 

‘Picture you are drawing in the prana, the life force around you, and with each breath out, imagine you are cleansing yourself of fear and weakness.’ 

“You don’t normally act angry or forceful like Zuko,” the airbender analyzed. “But you do have your rare moments. If you could just . . . be extra quiet for the next few days, that would be a spiritsend.”

“Of course. I will be totally silent, if that’s what would help.” 

The monk relaxed further. 

“And I’ll do that for Ty Lee, too.”

“No.” The airbender shook his head. “Don’t.” 

“Why not? I don’t mean to make your ordeal sound trivial, but hers was much worse.”

“That depends on how you define ‘worse.’” The monk opened his eyes and gave him a strained smile. “Ty Lee sees you as the father she never had, Iroh. Exactly the same as Zuko, and Toph. I had my own gurus, so although I do try  to see you as a parental figure, it feels as if I am betraying the dead by doing so.”

The words dropped on him with all the force of the boy’s ten ton bison slamming into the ground. 

Tears gathered in the old man’s eyes. 

“It’s not your fault,” the monk said again, much gentler this time. “I want to like you, Master Iroh. But, the man that you, as a boy, kowtowed to as respect to an elder? He brutally murdered my elders.” 

Iroh couldn’t breathe.

“Katara complains at me how ‘ Zuko reminds me of my dead mother, and how am I supposed to deal with that,’ well.” The preteen laughed harshly. “I have to go meditate after she says things like that, or I will end up saying some very nasty things to her. She is like a noblewoman who complains that it is too hot, while fanning herself. I am the peasant out in the fields, toiling away to serve her up her dinner plate.”

Iroh was convinced that he was having an out of body experience. Seeing the cheerful boy so bitter. He hadn’t felt this completely flattened by confusion since Mahimata, the Earth Spirit essentially mentally tortured him. 

“Nobody seems to understand exactly how much pain I’m in.” The boy went on in a monotone. “When we started our journey, I would cry almost every day, as a normal person grieving their entire extended family’s death would. Sokka totally understood. He’d hug me, and rock me. Grieving periods for one person are usually about at least a year, the monks would say. We had a couple of elders join the Spirit World, during my lifetime. So. If we were going to do some simple math here, how long would I need to grieve just every single one of my boyhood playmates, aside from an entire population of my people?”

Iroh was beginning to feel faint from lack of oxygen. 

“Katara could not see me like that. It drove her insane. She’d let Sokka handle it. And I didn’t understand why at the time. I was hurt. I was beyond hurt. She acted so motherly all the time, and then when I needed her most, she abandoned me? I didn’t say anything to Sokka about it. I just cried. And tried to do what the monks said, look for the gratitude in the situation. A way to look at things from a positive angle. Impossible task, surely. I’d like to see the Mechanist be good enough at problem solving to unravel that one. After several meditation sessions, I finally ferreted out a way to look at it differently. This was ‘good.’ His macho attitude didn’t extend into berating a younger boy to ‘be more manly’ as you might expect.” 

He repeated the deep breaths. 

“Because, if both of them, my new family, had been unable to comfort me, I would’ve just said forget all this, it's time for the next Avatar to be born. They can handle it.” 

The stab through the veteran’s heart was more painful than any weapon or bending that had ever gotten through his defenses and sliced into him. 

“Katara saw me as the savior to the world,” the monk said distantly. “So, not only was she hurt by my pain, because her empathy is strong. Every time that would happen, she would think that the world was lost, that we really couldn’t do it. I was too broken to be able to do this. Later on, she said, ‘ Aang, we can just run away. You are only one person. You can’t solve this. There’s too much history. Too many people involved. I’ll bet my soul to some wicked spirit, that when the Avatar was established, the elder spirits never expected him to have to do something like this!! This was all a mistake. A slip of Fate. Surely, we need to just let you talk to them, and they’ll say the same thing!’ ” 

“I was very tempted by that offer,” the Bridge Between the Worlds said ponderously. “What if I just found some secluded spot for a couple of weeks, in order to go into deeper meditation trance states, and negotiate my way out of my responsibility? Were the spirits that merciful? Maybe.” 

He clenched up.

“Maybe I should ‘have faith ’ that the spirits would be fair to me, a poor little boy who did nothing to deserve this.”

Several more breaths, and Iroh could feel the wind around him reacting this time around. 

“I had a dream, where Roku spoke to me. He apologized for how he acted. That I needed more empathy from him, too. That he was not just my Guide, but also my elder who loved me. ” 

A loud sob escaped him, and his element whooshed in response. 

“And now, when I sleep, I am in his arms. Like a baby who sleeps next to their mother. Sokka doesn’t have to do it so much, although he is still completely willing, and reminds me daily. Katara has gotten a little better.”

His next breath out was like a release valve, preventing overload from a too-full tank. 

“Nowadays, Roku murmurs things to me like, ‘It’s ok if you fail, Aang.’ ‘Just try your best.’ ‘That’s all any of us can ask from you.’ ‘You won’t be penalized by the Spirits.’ ‘You won’t even hear a harsh word from any of us Avatars.’ ‘And we most certainly will be there to comfort you.’ And I try not to imagine that happening. For Sozin’s comet to be used to its fullest, and my being too injured to keep fighting, so I have to flee. I try, during my meditations, to rein in that all-encompassing, all-too-likely scenario. Meditation is meant to quell anxiety after all,” he said a bit bitterly, “and all its attendant visualizations. I guess I am just lucky that, although my anxiety is centered on the entire world, I also have more powerful meditation states than the average person as well. It is suited to the task.” he said flatly. 

His silver eyes glanced around his surroundings. 

“Had I been born somewhere else than the Air Temples, where meditation was not taken so seriously, I’m not sure what mental state I would be in. I could be catatonic, for one. I’m sure I would’ve hurt or killed people in fits of rage by now, Avatar Spirit involved or not.” 

He paused.