A/N: Warning, Azula shows up later. This is never good. It may, in fact, be Nightmare Fuel. Your Mileage May Vary.

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There shouldn't be lightning with this storm, Hakoda thought, calculating exactly how fast he could get to and douse the coals. But you couldn't prove it in here.

His children were quiet, feeling tension sing in the air. Toph was on her feet, still but ready.

Iroh was just as still, gaze fixed on a startled airbender. The stillness of a leopard-shark, the moment before the strike.

Firebenders make their own fire. Dousing the coals won't even slow him down-

"I wonder," Iroh said, very quietly, "precisely how well you did know Kuzon."

"Why would you say that?" Aang gulped. "He was my friend."

"I wonder," Iroh stated, just as quiet, "because to say what you said to my nephew, to imply that from the moment you met, you intended to treat him as if he had no honor - that, is either ignorance, or malice." Gold eyes burned, steady as flame. "Which is it?"

"He was attacking us-" Katara started.

Iroh's glare cut like shattered flint.

But in that breath the airbender rallied, and faced Iroh with a set jaw. "He attacked the village. I'm not going to say I'm sorry I lied to him. I'm not. Kuzon would tell you Zuko was the bad guy."

"Would he?" Iroh wondered. "And what would he say about Pohuai Stronghold?"

"Um... where?"

"See?" Katara settled her shoulders, satisfied. "Zuko would never rescue anybody."

Hakoda's eyes narrowed. Was it his imagination, or had Aang actually flinched?

"Oh, Twinkletoes," Toph said, dead level. "You better come clean on this one. Frozen frogs and all."

"It's not like he did it to help!"

Katara's smile slipped.

"Frozen frogs?" Hakoda raised a brow at Sokka.

"We got sick after that typhoon," his son shrugged. "I was talking to people who weren't there; Katara was kind of out of it, too. Aang went to get help, came back with frozen frogs for us to suck on. Gross, but effective." Sokka eyed Aang. "So what else happened?"

Aang winced. "I got caught, okay?"

"You got caught?" Katara said uneasily. "By the Fire Nation?"

"Well - Zhao came after me with these crazy archers in facepaint! They shot through wind at me, they shot through ice - I jumped off a cliff and they just kept coming, shooting arrows with ropes, and they had nets, and... they caught me." Aang gulped. "And Zhao had me chained up, and I knew you guys were in trouble, and I was trying to get loose, but I couldn't - I didn't know it was him!"

"You didn't know it was Zuko?" Sokka said, amazed.

"He was wearing a mask, and using swords, and he didn't firebend at all - even when there were guards all over us! And we got out the gates because Zhao said he needed me alive, and he had swords at my neck and - I didn't know! Not 'til the archers knocked him out. And I took the mask off, and... even if it was Zuko, I couldn't leave him there. I didn't!"

"Fortunate for you both," Iroh said dryly. "I would not have appreciated rescuing my nephew from Zhao's clutches." He grimaced. "I doubt there would have been anything to rescue."

"He rescued you," Katara said numbly. "Zuko rescued you?"

"No wonder Zhao tried to kill him," Sokka realized. "Zuko got you right out from under his nose? That must have stung."

"It was not the first time Zhao lost to him," Iroh smirked.

"It doesn't change anything," Aang said, determined. "You know he didn't do it to help. He did it because if Zhao got me first, he couldn't go home. Where's the honor in that?"

Iroh sighed. "You see the Fire Nation as those who murdered your people. And many did. But I know of one who saw the storm-clouds gathering, and did his best to warn you all."

"Kuzon," Aang breathed.

Iroh inclined his head. "He came to Gyatso. It must have been soon before the comet came.... Gyatso told him not to stay and fight, but to flee." His gaze rested on Aang. "You had vanished, and what Gyatso wished most of all was that one ally would survive to search for you, and give you aid. And Kuzon did search for you. For the rest of his life. Until... I was on campaign in the Earth Kingdom; I do not know what finally was one transgression too many for Fire Lord Azulon. But the outcome was... fatal."

Aang twisted away, gray eyes leaking tears. Katara hurried to his side, turning an angry look on the firebender.

Iroh gazed back, unimpressed. "Kuzon has a daughter."

Slowly, Aang looked up.

"Lady Kotone is in her eighties, but for a firebender of her strength, that is not old," Iroh went on. "She rules Byakko with her husband, to this day. I would have advised you to go there, for she remembers her father's quest, and would have honored it."

"Would have?" Sokka said, uneasy.

"Lady Kotone also has children," Iroh said plainly. "And one of the younger daughters - I suspect, partly to buy Byakko protection from Azulon - was given in an arranged marriage. As is common, among firebenders. We are jealous as dragons of our powers, and Sozin's line is most jealous of all."

He can't mean- Adding up what Iroh hadn't said, Hakoda winced. And bit back curses that would have turned the air blue.

Sokka was only a few breaths behind him. "Oh, man...."

"What?" Aang asked, eyes heavy with weary nerves. "What'd you do to Kotone's daughter?"

"Nothing," Iroh said bluntly. "Save stand as her friend, and her brother, when she would allow me."

"Her brother?" Aang said, bewildered. "What'd you do, adopt her? Kuzon said families do that for heirs, but your family's got heirs, you've got-" He cut himself off, paling.

Iroh nodded once. "If you were to seek aid in Byakko now, Lady Kotone would ask you how you have treated her grandson. I do not think she would like your answer." Heading for the door-flap, he paused. "For one who badly needs any ally he can find, you seem most determined to throw them away."

Rain swept in through the gap, and he stalked out of sight.

"He's Kuzon's-?" Aang leaned on Katara, shaking his head. "He can't be. Zuko's not - he just can't be."

"Ally?" Sokka was sputtering. "Where does he get off- Wait a minute...."

"An honorable opponent," Hakoda said grimly, looking at Toph. "And Azula wants them both dead."

"Yeah," she winced. "I think that's what Uncle was trying to get at."

"Then why not just say it?" Hakoda said, exasperated beyond all measure. Fire Nation!

"Because she's Zuko's sister." Toph's face scrunched up for a second, before she swallowed angry tears. "You didn't hear what I heard, before Zuko blocked that lightning. He promised their mom he'd protect her. Even if she tried to kill him... Zuko promised."

"Would one of you stop talking and make sense?" Katara demanded.

"Fire Nation customs," Sokka said practically. "If two people are trying to kill each other, and somebody worse comes along, it's okay to work together. Even if you're going to go back to killing each other later."

"Except you can only do that if both sides have honor," Toph said bluntly. "Sock him in the gut next time, Aang. It'll hurt less." Her fists clenched. "And you knew it! Uncle's right. You hurt Zuko, you blow me off when we're trying to train, you hung around doing nothing in Ba Sing Se while Katara was twisting her head up in knots, you don't listen to Sokka unless you don't have any ideas - you are trying to kick us out. Why? It's our fight, too!"

"Well, it shouldn't be!" Aang snapped back. "I'm the one who started this. I ran away, remember? Like you ran away. Only I let a war get started, and Kuzon's dead, and everybody's dead, and it's all my fault!"

"Aang," Katara whispered, heartsick, "it's not, it's really not...."

"Make room," Hakoda said quietly. Moved in, and scooped up the thin little boy. So light, to carry so much hurt.

Aang stiffened. But didn't break free, as Katara and Sokka crowded in, and even Toph let out a relieved breath and skipped over into the hug.

"It's all right to cry," Hakoda said gently. "Even men cry, when it's too much." The fate of the world, a century of war... that's too much for anyone. "Aang. I don't know much of spirits, and I know even less of the Avatar. But I know you. You, Aang, the airbender who's saved my children's lives. That's the young man I mean to help." He smiled into disbelieving gray eyes. "Do you have any idea how many people the Fire Lord's ticked off? It wouldn't be fair to leave them out of the fight."

"That's what I'm saying!" Sokka grinned. "Airbending's all about deflecting attacks, right? Like a shield. So, let us airbend for you. So you and Toph and my sister can kick his butt."

"But - I have to - Roku said," Aang stammered.

"Roku never said you had to do it alone," Katara said, determined. "We found you, Aang. If the spirits just wanted you to do it by yourself, why didn't you wake up decades ago?" She touched his face. "They knew you'd need help. They knew you'd need us."

"But you could get hurt," Aang gulped. "You could...."

"We know that, dummy." Toph's words were rough, but her grin was honest as good ice. "Airbending's about freedom, right? So you've got to let us be free. We're coming, Twinkletoes. This isn't a rumble match, or any kind of honor duel. This is us against the Fire Nation. And we're gonna win it."

Tears were trickling. "The Avatar's supposed to protect the world," Aang whispered.

"Given what I've heard of the Hei Bai spirit, and the Northern Air Temple, and a certain earthbender rebellion," Hakoda winked at his daughter, "no one said the world couldn't help."

That brought the tears, flooding free at last.

Shoulder damp, Hakoda stepped out of the tent, drinking in the clean wind of a storm passed. The youngsters could look after themselves for a while, Aang sleeping the sleep of a man who'd finally shared his burdens with family. And Katara promised she'd try her new healing technique, very carefully, as soon as the moon was high, so.... Oh. Not good. "Trouble?"

"Not... exactly." Pale, Bato swallowed. "They didn't make trouble. Zuko tore out of camp like an arctic rooster with his tail on fire-"

"Zuko?" Hakoda interrupted, startled. What did the Fire Nation prince have to do with anything when his family was finally....

Anger stirred, like the first waves warning of storm. Shoulders stiff, Hakoda jerked his head down the shoreline. "Come on."

"What are we doing?" Bato asked.

"Getting away from my daughter."

With a drawn-out whistle, Bato followed.

Past the ships. Past the last tents, and fellow warriors on watch. Hakoda nodded, and exchanged a few words, but kept going. Testing himself, angry, reminding himself of his duty as a chief, which included keeping track of a-

Reluctant ally.

Hakoda crossed a few more yards of sand, and sighed. "I think this is far enough."

"Far enough for what?" Bato said, exasperated.

"To think," Hakoda said grimly. "I forgot about Zuko."

"You what?" Bato choked.

"Aang was upset," Hakoda said dryly. "And so was Katara. And nothing else mattered but putting their world back together." He shook his head. "Firebenders and earthbenders need to be close to what they're bending. It seems waterbenders are the same."

"She... spirits." Bato winced, looking away. "You can't let her do this, Hakoda."

"No, I can't," Hakoda agreed bleakly. "The Avatar may be the world's hope, but he is not the whole tribe. If I can't think clearly enough to remember the firebender Aang just insulted, someone's going to get killed." He eyed Bato. "You let it wait this long. I assume the prince didn't take insult as an excuse to breach the truce?"

Bato shook his head. "He tore out, and Teruko went after him. But all he did was get away from the camp-" Bato stopped. Looked around where they were, and peered into the distance, fingers sculpting locations and distances. "You know, I think he went about this far."

Hakoda took that in, and nodded slowly. "I owe that young man an apology."

"Apologize?" Bato said, aghast. "To him?"

"I didn't say I wanted to," Hakoda said ruefully. "But if this is what he's been up against to face my children, and he still hasn't tried to kill them? He has a better hold on his temper than Sokka thinks."

Bato was shaking his head. "That's Sokka and Katara!"

"And I love them," Hakoda said levelly. "But Katara stood behind Aang, and made us stand behind him, when he cut Zuko so deeply with words Iroh lost his temper. After Zuko stood between us and a fate even worse than the Fire Lord."

"What?"

Hakoda looked into the deepening night, gathering his thoughts. Trying to remember what had happened, not what he had felt. "He's very gentle, healing," the chief said thoughtfully. "I wish we'd had him talk to Asiavik before Katara did."

"Gentle?" Bato sputtered.

"Like a zebra-seal with her pup," Hakoda shrugged. "All teeth and snarl, but he was trying not to draw blood. Even when she goaded him...."

He tried to draw the healing for his friend, clear as a story-knife's symbols in the sand. The singing tension in the air, like a raven-wolf making itself small to approach an orphaned fledgling. The way Zuko's words had dipped into water, giving shape to the delicate battle they were waging for Aang's body and mind. The green-and-gold strength of high summer that had wreathed the prince's hands; the slow-breathed stillness as those hands moved, steady and patient as melting ice....

Hakoda paused, frowning. "It's not like Katara's healing. I don't know if it's his training, or the fire.... She can heal and talk, and I would guess she can fight. Zuko... all that seems to reach him is the fire and the wounds." He drew memory closer, seeing the sweat on Katara's face, knowing his daughter would never give ground in the face of an opponent. Yet she'd stopped, trying to hide her trembling. While Zuko had moved smoothly on, drawing out veil after veil of the stars' own colors to work patience and flame into flesh. Until Iroh had seen something - a flicker of flame? A bead of sweat? - and moved.

Hakoda blinked, Iroh's words sliding into place like the block of snow outlining an igloo's base. "That's why Azulon didn't want him as heir!"

"Hakoda," Bato sighed. "Back up-"

"-And start from the beginning," Hakoda echoed the old refrain. "We've been thinking of the Fire Lord's son. We know what Ozai's done to the Earth Kingdom. But Zuko says he's not part of the war."

"Exiled with his uncle these three years," Bato recalled, thinking it through. "And it's said Iroh stopped fighting after Ba Sing Se...." He stopped cold. "Tui and La. You think it's true."

"He stopped Azula in the desert, he told the Avatar how to find dragons to teach him - spirits, he tried to protect the Moon," Hakoda breathed. "Even if stopping Zhao destroyed the entire invasion fleet!" He glanced at that silver glow, shaken. "What if he is telling the truth, Bato? What if he does want to stop the war, just as much as we do?"

"So what if he does?" Bato shrugged. Not objecting, Hakoda knew; just poking at the crazier parts of his friend's crazy ideas, to bring them down to earth. "He's in this for his nephew. Any man can see that."

"His nephew, who loves him like a son," Hakoda said quietly. "Who sees us - not Katara, but the rest of us - as honorable opponents." He let out a slow, angry breath. "Which is more than the Avatar's willing to do."

Bato looked at him soberly, gauging his seriousness. "What happened?"

Hakoda smiled without humor. "Did you know Aang believes none of his people were ever evil?"

"...How did that come up?" Bato asked faintly.

"You know how we deal with those not named. Apparently, firebenders do something similar," Hakoda said plainly. "Only they call it an Agni Kai, and they do it where everyone can see."

Bato shuddered in distaste. "Well, it's obviously not working."

"And would our way work, if one bad chief had the right to watch everyone dealt with?" Hakoda pointed out.

Bato paused. For a long time. "Oh, Ocean have mercy."

"That's what Zuko says Kyoshi did to his people," Hakoda said grimly. "That's what he stopped Aang from doing to us. And the Avatar wants to. Because Aang believes we're good people, and good people don't kill each other."

"We're good people because we deal with evil!" Bato sputtered.

"You know that. I know that. Zuko knows that. Aang?" Hakoda shook his head. "Zuko shielded us, Bato. He stepped between our tribe and the spirit of the world, and he didn't even think about it." He glanced back toward the camp. "He and his may have killed Ilaq and the others. But whatever he's done, whatever crime he committed to get himself exiled... that young man just saved more than our lives. He saved our people." Hakoda winced. "And I let him walk away bleeding."

Bato grimaced. "How bad is it?"

"Aang implied Zuko had no honor," Hakoda said levelly.

Bato swore, low and heartfelt.

"It gets worse," Hakoda said dryly. "When Zuko attacked our village? Aang promised to go with him, if Zuko promised not to hurt anyone. He lied, Bato. He always intended to escape. Sokka and Katara showing up wasn't a reason. It was just convenient."

Bato swallowed hard. "And Zuko didn't turn around and slaughter the whole village?"

"Lucky for us chasing the Avatar was more important than Fire Nation military policy, isn't it?" They'd both seen more than enough of that. The Fire Nation had a strict policy on rebellion: do it, and die.

"So the most powerful bender in the world lies when it suits him." Bato shuddered. "I thought it was just because he was afraid to lose Sokka and Katara. The boy didn't have anyone else; I didn't like it, but I could understand why. But it wasn't just once, was it?"

"Apparently Air Nomad elders knew when people lied," Hakoda stated. "But we don't. I wonder how old Aang was, when he learned other nations couldn't tell?" I wonder how many lies he's told. He's twelve, he's alone, he's afraid - but Sokka's right. Someone needs to tell Aang he can't get away with this.

Sokka was right... and hate it though he might, it looked as if Zuko was, as well. For all his power, the Avatar had less of a grasp on hard reality than Sokka had had at eight.

Or, as the prince would put it, Hakoda thought wryly, the Avatar is an idiot.

But Katara - spirits, his daughter was old enough to know better. She did know better. She was a trained waterbender, wasn't she? "I need to talk to my daughter. At noon."

Bato frowned; then, reluctantly, nodded. "Waterbenders are stronger at night... she's not going to like that."

"She'd like what I really want to do even less," Hakoda said wryly. "Water's the enemy of fire. When Zuko's angry with her - I can think."

Bato gave him a look askance. "Noon's good."

Well. That's the children settled, Hakoda thought. Time to see what an adult can mend. "So Zuko got clear long enough to cool down? Wise. How did the rest of his people take it?"

"They're not happy," Bato stated. "Hakoda... he didn't just stay out there cooling down."

Hakoda raised a brow, curious.

Bato shrugged a little. "He... it didn't look like bending. More like a story-dance." He swallowed, shivering a bit. "One of the heartbreakers."

Unsettling. But not nearly enough to spark this reaction. "And then?"

"Then... the rain caught fire."

Heart in his throat, Hakoda spun to look at the camp-

"Not here," Bato said hastily. "Just... around him. About ten yards or so. It all hit water or sand. Nothing burned."

Good. In a way. "The rain was burning?" Hakoda choked out. Everyone knew rain damped firebenders, how in the world-?

"Looked like," Bato said seriously. "Mind you, none of us got close enough to be sure."

"Teruko-"

"Just stood in it," Bato shrugged again. "Guess that armor's good for something... weird thing was? She looked surprised. But happy about it." He shuddered. "Spirits, if they can turn the rain on us...."

"I don't think most of them can," Hakoda said thoughtfully. Fitting together pieces of honor, and surprising mercy, and a will that would stand against the spirit of the world himself....

To protect us, his enemies, from something that would destroy us. Because that is what an honorable firebender does, for an honorable opponent.

Hakoda let out a slow breath. "I don't want him harmed."

"Rain on fire?" Bato said pointedly.

"I didn't say it would be easy," Hakoda said frankly. "But if we're not trying to kill him - I don't think he'll try to kill us." He looked over the ships, judging how well resupply was proceeding by their depth in the water. "I think Aang may be well enough to move soon. If so, we should consider leaving. I don't think I want to linger here if the Fire Nation is controlling the Eastern Lake."

"Good point," Bato nodded. "Spirits. If Azula's there, I'm glad I'm not in Ba Sing Se."

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This is bad.

Pulling a thankfully quiet Jinhai along by the hand through the unsettled Outer Ring, Shirong judged the thinning scatter of restless refugees around them, the growing darkness of curfew, and the dark armor riding komodo-rhinos down the street. And grimaced. We're not going to find a better place. "Stay behind me."

Wide-eyed, Jinhai nodded.

Another breath, and they slipped into an alley. Casual. Almost subtle. But more than enough for the hard-eyed men still on the streets to know they were up to something.

Can't be helped.

Nor could the knife in the grip of yet another smirking alley weevil-rat, quick to grab an opportunity even in the midst of invasion. "Give me your-"

From the breath, the scrolls said. Shirong breathed and punched, knowing it wasn't smooth, wasn't quite right-

The stuttering bloom of fire was enough. Shrieking, the man bolted out past them.

"Um," Jinhai gulped. "Aren't those soldiers going to-?"

"Yes," Shirong grinned wryly. "But they'll be looking for a firebender." Planting his feet in stance, he flipped the street over. And them with it.

Ow….

Wincing, Shirong swayed on his feet in the tunnel. Breathed deep, and braced himself, waiting for the dizziness to pass. Amaya had said a few more days would see him right, but a little light bending should do no harm. And they all needed information, and he and Jinhai both needed sun, and given the Dai Li would be looking for him alone, and not with a young child….

"Amaya's gonna yell at you," Jinhai said firmly.

Shirong blinked at the glowing green light from the crystal Jinhai had taken out of his pouch. Practical kid. "Probably." He winced again. "We don't have to tell your father quite how close that was, do we?"

Jinhai looked dubious. Glanced back into the tunnel. Behind him, Shirong suddenly realized.

"Exactly how close was it?" an irritated Tingzhe Wen said dryly.

Bending his head, Shirong had to laugh.

And whirled, chains striking out like lightning.

"Dad!"

"That's not your father," Shirong said sharply, keeping himself between the boy and the chained spirit. "He's waiting for us in the Middle Ring, remember? There is no way he could be here." And if he is, I'll apologize. Later. "Shed that form! Now!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," it said silkily, false glasses gleaming. "Come, now; let's be civilized and take these off…."

"You're not Dad." Pale, Jinhai hid behind Shirong.

"No," the Dai Li agreed grimly. "It's a trick some spirits use. Find someone you want, or someone you fear, and take their form…." Shirong narrowed his eyes, catching the flicker of a smirk over the borrowed face, the faint bulge of a scroll tucked up one wide sleeve. "And for this one it was easy, because it was already pretending to be a scholar." Shape-shifter. Couldn't resist playing with us. After knowledge- "Fox!"

It shivered, and glared at him.

"Fox," Shirong declared, certain of his ground. "Servant of Wan Shi Tong. You've got a lot of nerve. The Walls may be down, but the Earth King still holds the hearts of his people. You have no right to take knowledge not freely offered." He drew in a breath. "As Dai Li and loyal servant of the Earth King, I order you to release that form!"

Borrowed lips smirked.

"Um…." Jinhai shrugged at the obvious. "It's not working?"

"Release me now, and my lord may forgive your transgression," the fox chuckled.

"Release you?" Shirong said with deadly precision. Fire licked at the core of him, hungry to attack; spirits, he could feel the chains getting hot. "While you hold the form of this boy's father, draining his strength? I don't think so."

"What?" Jinhai almost dodged past him, keeping back only at a warning clank of chains. "What's it doing to Dad?"

"Amaya should be able to handle it," Shirong said firmly. "If a fox steals your form, you're usually bedridden with a fever. It makes things… easier for them." He eyed his captive. "If you won't recognize my authority-" and spirits, why is that not working? "-there's only one person who can render judgment." Reeling in the chains, he stooped, and pulled his furious captive across his shoulders.

"Ruffian! Unhand me at once!"

"Not yet," Shirong smirked. "We're going to see the king."

Oma and Shu, thank you for making me obsessed with the lost and the forgotten. He knew the hidden tunnels and back ways of Ba Sing Se; not in as much detail as Mushi's odd group of allies did, but in more breadth than any one of them. His shoulders ached like blazes, but they found their way back to the refuge caves before he had to put the chained fox down.

"Halt! Who goes there?"

We only got thirty feet past them, Shirong thought whimsically, rapping his restive captive on the nose with a few links of iron. They're getting better. Not that he could really blame General How's surviving men for missing them. They literally hadn't been trained to face Dai Li. And soldiers… well, soldiers on the Wall didn't have to think in terms of subterfuge. Wall, stones, and Fire Nation in obvious uniforms. No sneaking involved.

No wonder Princess Azula went through them like a hot knife through butter, Shirong thought. "I have an entity that requires the Earth King's judgment."

"An entity?" The taller of the two soldiers rolled his eyes. "You Dai Li really think you're something… we'll take charge of the prisoner-"

"It's not a prisoner! It's a fox!" Jinhai blazed. "And it's making Dad sick, and we've got to stop it!"

"A fox?" The soldier smirked, ignoring his older partner's hissed warnings. "Look, kid, I don't know what you're doing hanging around one of his kind, but foxes are just- mmph!"

Finally having gotten a hand over his partner's mouth, the older guard glared at them. "Mushu, use your head for something besides a place to hang your helmet. When a Dai Li tells you something's not a myth, it's not." He jerked his head toward the inner caverns. "Take it, get out of here, I don't want to know."

Smart man, Shirong thought wryly, managing an abbreviated bow.

"Why doesn't he want to know?" Jinhai wondered as they walked on past.

Nothing quite so shrill as a curious six-year-old, Shirong smirked, catching the guard's twitch out of the corner of his eye. "Most people think if they stay away from the spirits, the spirits will stay away from them."

"Oh." Jinhai frowned. "Does that work?"

"Only as long as the spirits want it to."

Sputtering erupted behind him.

Cheered, Shirong forged forward.

The tunnel opened up and outward, ceiling soaring up to give at least the illusion of not being trapped under tons of rock. Water flowed in shaped aqueducts along one wall, and a slight breeze told Shirong someone had made sure to open tunnels to let this ancient refuge breathe.

And there were people. A startling number of people.

Has it only been a few days?

He was still astounded by the breadth of Amaya's network, run right under the Dai Li's noses. Granted, her Fire Nation refugees seemed to be naturally closed-mouthed, and they'd all known the consequences if they were caught... but still. Decades, she'd been hiding them in the Outer Ring. And not only had not one talked, a fair number seemed to have hung onto the sharp wits and grim determination that had gotten them to Ba Sing Se in the first place. Like the Wens, they'd grabbed their families, made off with a surprising variety of supplies, and bolted.

And they hadn't come alone. As he and Jinhai made their way deeper in, they passed not only quiet refugee family gatherings, but worried neighbors' families, no few panicked university students and professors, and... well, at least three pairs of teens, various annoyed family members in tow, trying to explain to startled boyfriends and girlfriends exactly why their beloved's impulse was to rescue first and explain later. Without mentioning who - or what - they really were.

Not mentioning it where our loyal soldiers can hear, at least, Shirong thought ruefully. That won't last. Scattered in the farmlands and the Outer Ring, they could blend in. Grouped together? Even Kuei's going to notice something eventually.

Well. At least this little annoyance should be good for a distraction.

If I can find him before my back gives out... where is he.... ah. One knot of guards. One harried young Agent Bon. And one Earth King, looking dubiously at a sword-smith explaining the realities of the invading army having seized the armories with liberal use of a hammer and a hunk of good iron.

"Forging takes time, your majesty," the smith growled, waving iron like an odd gray strand of light bamboo. "It takes time, it takes coal, it takes air - this isn't the Fire Nation. We forge by hand. That's the law. We don't have foundries to poor steel. Why do you think the bastards up there have spears, not swords? You can't just pour a sword in a mold! But spearheads? Arrowheads? By the tons. So long as the walls held 'em, we could keep up, but now-" The man cut himself off, staring at wrapped chains.

"Your majesty." Shirong dumped the fox on the ground, chains and all. "I require a ruling."

Kuei blinked. "On Tingzhe Wen?"

"That's not Dad!" Jinhai yelled. "You stop hurting him, now-!"

Shirong snagged the boy in one arm before he could complete that sharp motion, feeling a wash of heat even through his robes. But no sparks, thank the spirits. "It's not Professor Wen, your majesty. It's a fox."

"A knowledge spirit?" Bon swallowed, and made sure he was between the Earth King and chains, obviously hunting in memory for the correct procedure. "Why haven't you forced it out of that form?"

"I tried. It didn't work." And he had the faintest of suspicions why, yet... it couldn't be. He was a loyal Dai Li. He was. "But my bending's still weak, which means I'm not exactly a force to be reckoned with against spirits." Shirong gazed at Kuei. "But you are."

"Me?" Kuei said faintly, eyes round behind his glasses.

"You've been trained for this, your majesty," Shirong said firmly. "You are the guardian of the spirits of Ba Sing Se, both of your people and the city itself. And this spirit-" he eyed the fox, not liking how it sneered back, "-has walked where it was not invited, and delivered harm upon one of your loyal subjects."

As he'd hoped, the formal phrases stiffened the king's shoulders, and Kuei gave him a short, regal nod. The Earth King frowned at the fox, eyes dark with displeasure. "Undo the harm you have wrought on Tingzhe Wen, and explain yourself!"

Poof.

Shirong dove and snatched the scroll, before the fox's jaws could close on it. Around them he could hear gasps and at least one shriek, as a sandy-red fox twisted in chains that had seemed to hold a man.

"Oh," Kuei said faintly. "Oh, my... what is that scroll?"

"A letter," Shirong said, surprised; unrolling enough to read the salutations. "An old one. To someone... visiting Ba Sing Se." Oh my, indeed.

"Someone?" Kuei said pointedly.

"A Fire Nation noble," Shirong admitted, lingering over that elegant, exquisite precision of address before he unrolled it to skim the contents. "Almost half a century ago, by these dates. Better times...."

-Your clan longs to see you home, Father. You should see Ursa pull herself up to try her first steps; she concentrates so fiercely! It's as well none of us bend this early, or she'd have set afire every tripping carpet. And you know how Shidan is when fledglings start walking on two legs; panicked as a lion-dog who's fostered a kitten-owlet! Yes, he's still like that, after all our children....

Shirong stopped. Ran his finger back to the top of the scroll, making absolutely certain of the names.

Kuzon. Kotone. Shidan. Ursa. Byakko.

"Jinhai," Shirong said, through what seemed a great roaring in his ears, "take this. Keep it safe."

Wide-eyed, the boy hugged the scroll close. "It's important?"

"Very important," Shirong said levelly. There was a good reason not to squash the fox into jelly with a pair of rock walls. He was sure there was. He just couldn't remember it. "It's Lee's."

The fox snarled.

"Apparently someone wants it," Kuei said plainly. "So I fear your master's claim must be denied." At his guards' start, the Earth King sighed. "Now what?"

"None of the rest of us can understand it, your majesty," Bon shrugged, trying for nonchalant. "We all know your dynasty stands between us and the spirits. We just don't usually see it."

"...Oh." Kuei swallowed hard. "Well. This could just be a mistake. He said his master has a right to unwanted knowledge-"

"He's lying," Shirong said bluntly. If the scrolls we have are right; Oma and Shu, let them be! "Wan Shi Tong is a collector of knowledge. He'll take it any way he can get it. But he's a spirit, and this is human knowledge. He has no right to that unless someone gave it away."

The fox wrinkled its lips at him, and barked.

"It belongs to the Avatar's friend," Kuei said, troubled, "and the Avatar's friend stole from his master. He claims this is just recompense?" Kuei nudged his glasses. "That seems fair...."

The fox quivered in anticipation.

"Then that's a lie, too," Shirong said dryly. "Wan Shi Tong's a lot of things, but fair isn't one of them." He kept himself between Jinhai and any flash of white fangs. "Did Lee steal from Wan Shi Tong?"

A rumble.

"A Water Tribesman stole, and the Water Tribe must repay," Kuei said doubtfully.

"Did Lee, of the Northern Water Tribe, and some say the Foggy Swamp, steal from Wan Shi Tong?" Shirong said, voice edged with all the dire precision he'd honed on two decades' worth of spirits.

"Lee's not really Water Tribe," Kuei said grimly. "You know that."

"Yes, he is," Shirong replied. "It doesn't matter where he was born, your majesty. Amaya claims him as kin. He is of her tribe." The agent couldn't help but chuckle, some of anger's clutch loosening. "Which would probably drop their chief and half the waterbenders dead of apoplexy. So it's just as well they don't know. Yet." Oh, to be an ice-fly on that snowy wall.

But he could think again, and so he could realize the fox was studiously silent. "So it wasn't Lee," Shirong nodded to himself. Prince Zuko had as dire a respect for the spirits as any battle-scarred Dai Li. He wouldn't have crossed the Great Owl willingly. In fact, of all those Shirong had seen near the Avatar, the only one who might be reckless enough to try something that suicidal.... "It was Sokka, wasn't it?"

Silence. A soft growl.

"He claims," Kuei said skeptically, "the Avatar owes He Who Knows Ten Thousand Things."

"Then collect from the Avatar's hide," Shirong said darkly.

Somebody choked. "You want to say that to Wan Shi Tong?"

"I'm not saying it to him. I'm saying it to one of his servants," Shirong shrugged. "And the Earth King, who is honored throughout the Earth Kingdom, including the Si Wong desert, has every right to be so forthright to one who has dealt harm to any of his subjects. Which Professor Tingzhe Wen certainly is." He eyed the fox narrowly. "If the professor had been on the surface near occupying troops when you took his form, and not below ground, that fever could have put him at risk of his life."

The fox did not look one inch repentant.

Whatever Kuei heard stiffened his shoulders, and he stalked right up to the chained muzzle. "You dare hold one of my subjects accountable for an outsider's actions? Simply because he, too, tried to help the Avatar?"

For the first time, the fox looked uneasy.

"The world has been out of balance for a hundred years! It's the duty of every righteous citizen - no, every human! - to try to restore that balance. And every spirit!" Kuei's hands folded into unpracticed fists. "And you would pursue a petty revenge, against one of those trying to end this war?"

The fox whimpered.

"I believe your master has forgotten whose tomes contributed to his library," Kuei stated, eyes hard as flint. "We shall see that he remembers it."

Almost against his will, Shirong found himself drawing back a step. He could feel something in the air, in the ground; like a landslide, moments before it let go....

"We find you and your master, Wan Shi Tong, have behaved with contempt to us, and to our people! We find that you have done us harm; willfully, pettily, and with full knowledge of our desperation, beset by enemies! We find that you have cast aside the virtues of civilized creatures. And so, we render our judgment!"

The fox was shaking in its chains, eyes wide and wild. Shirong held his breath. It was said the Earth King's line descended from ancient shamans, but spirits....

"You, your master, and all his servants are hereby banished from our lands," Kuei decreed. "Your master may petition Oma and Shu. Should they decide his punishment is enough, we shall revisit our judgment. Until that day - begone!"

Chains fell through empty air, clattering on stone.

"Oh...." Kuei wobbled.

"Your majesty." Shirong abandoned his chains to steady the pale young man in royal robes. "That was... I'm impressed."

"I didn't know I could do that," Kuei said shakily. Blinked, and looked across the cavern. "W-what in the world...."

Incredulous, Shirong let Kuei lean on him. It wasn't just the guards, and Bon; all of whom he'd expected to see on their knees, given their king was pronouncing judgment. No; there were hundreds - spirits, over a thousand! - with bowed heads, grass before the gale of the Earth King's command.

Grass... and the great mountain pines, Shirong thought, seeing all Amaya's careful plans undone in one instant. For every Earth Kingdom soul was prostrated, but every Fire Nation refugee....

Honor to a lord not your own, Shirong read in those bended knees. Oh. Damn.

Jaw dropped, Kuei turned to stare at him.

Shirong cleared his throat. "We can explain."

Kuei raised a brow. Stepped away, toward the sword-smith on bended knee. "Who are you?"

The smith ducked his head. "I'm called Pei, your majesty."

"I didn't ask what you were called."

The smith opened his mouth... and, slowly, closed it. "Maeda," he said quietly. "I was born Maeda, of Hinokawa."

Kuei swung around toward Shirong, obviously shaken. "And you can explain this?"

"I never said you'd like it," Shirong said dryly. "Your majesty-"

"Daddy!"

Shirong had to smile, as Jinhai hit his father with the force of a small fireball. And yes, there was Amaya looking serious, and Meixiang swooping in to help catch her little boy....

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kuei finally see Meixiang. And blanch.

No. I can still fix this. "Your majesty," Shirong said impulsively, remembering his king's long hours in the palace library, "do you remember the story of the lion-dog and the cricket-mouse?"

Kuei blinked, and slowly nodded. "Why should I spare you, who are my prey?" he said softly. "How can such a little thing as you ever help me in my hour of need?"

"Ba Sing Se is caught in the great net of the Fire Nation," Shirong stated. "These people, all of them, are here because they fled that army. Trust them. They will help."

"You trust them," Kuei said thoughtfully.

"I have personal reasons," Shirong admitted, trying to calm his suddenly racing heart. "Lee saved my life. More than once." Oh spirits, he knows.

No. Kuei couldn't possibly know. Paranoia might be part of the Dai Li job description, but there was no way in the world the Earth King could know he was a firebender.

I hope.

Spirits, he was tired. And just... unsettled, in ways becoming ever more frighteningly familiar. Not that he had any idea what to do about them.

Amaya. I've got to talk to Amaya.

Duty first. His own heart later. "Your majesty," Shirong said formally, "if it suits your wishes to call for your current military advisors, I would like to make my report."

---------
Tingzhe paced the length of the rough family room he and Jia had shaped, building a private family shelter among the host of other earthbent enclosures. Thank the spirits Amaya was staying with them, to "teach" Jinhai. No one questioned that the healer would need privacy for her patients, and who could blame the Wens for shaping their own shelter along with hers?

When it's actually we who need the privacy, Tingzhe thought wryly, looking over his family. Jinhai was napping on a cushion, a pot of water abandoned to cool on a stone table. Suyin - and, surprisingly, Jia - had their heads buried in one of the books smuggled down by the university, lost in a great battle against waegu in the Western Lake. Min... was an absence, but at least word was coming down that he was all right. And Meixiang... well, Meixiang looked exceedingly proper, wafting a hint of incense over the family tablets in their makeshift altar alcove. Frighteningly proper, considering what she'd proposed.

Propriety is the only shield we have left, Tingzhe thought soberly. I've no idea what the Fire Nation folk here would do about a young firebender. Much less my own people! And considering Shirong.... "Are you certain he'll come?"

Arranging three cups before the small altar, Meixiang nodded. "He'll come for Amaya, at least. You saw how he looked." She regarded him steadily. "Love. Do you want to do this?"

"You made a good argument that it's necessary," Tingzhe said plainly. "He's a good man, and he needs help."

"But it doesn't have to be our help," Meixiang said soberly. "Sooner or later others will find out he's a firebender. Another family could do this more... conventionally. You wouldn't have to...."

"I have no intention of doing this because I have to," Tingzhe stated. "I am doing this because he is a good man, against all odds. And I would be much less than that, if I turned him away." He crossed the room, taking her hand in his. "And because you are my wife, and I want our children to be ours. Not torn between. Not hiding." He smiled. "At least, not from us."

Meixiang smiled back, and reached up for him-

"Don't watch!" Jia whispered.

"I'm not watching!" Suyin protested. "Jia!"

Hands still entwined, Tingzhe joined his beloved in rueful laughter. "Hold that thought?" Meixiang murmured.

"I suppose we must." Shaking his head, Tingzhe turned toward the sound of irritable voices... or rather, one raised voice, and one trying to soothe what didn't want to be soothed.

"-Look, just - do something to quiet it for a while!" Shirong's voice neared the curtain and set of raised rock screens currently serving as a front door and entryway. "I have to do my job, we're at war-"

"And were you just a Dai Li serving under Long Feng, I might give you exactly what you ask for," Amaya said tartly. "But you are not. And we're not at war, we're hiding. Which means I can, and will, take the measures needed to heal you properly. Tui and La - that was a fox! What if you'd been a breath slower? What if it hadn't been alone? In."

"I'd like to know how that fox found you in the first place," Tingzhe said dryly, as the scowling agent rounded the last screen. "It's a very large city up there. What are the odds?"

"Better than average," the agent admitted, as Amaya followed him in. "Lee healed me. And any bending leaves a mark the spirits can read."

"What he's not saying is, given what Lee healed him from, he glows," Amaya said plainly. "If that fox were looking for anything connected to Lee, it couldn't miss him. Jinhai is the only other person in this city who might draw it as strongly." She gave Shirong a stern look. "So if you won't take proper care for yourself, at least think of him."

Looking at the sleep-mumbling young boy, Shirong drew a deep breath. Covered his face with his hands, and let it sigh out. "Forgive me. I'm just - it's - spirits, how do they stand it? I feel as if I'm going to jump out of my own skin-" He cut himself off.

"Or set something on fire?" Meixiang finished. "Sit down. Breathe. You're safe."

"No one's ever safe," Shirong muttered. But sat.

Suyin swallowed, letting Jia have the book. "Lee said his temper was his problem."

"It is," Meixiang nodded. "Lee has a dragon's rage. What he must fight every day to contain it, I can only imagine. But all firebenders have a temper. To someone who grew up solid as earth, I imagine it's quite a shock."

Shirong gave a strangled laugh. "That's one way to put it." Straightening his shoulders, he leaned back a little on the stone bench. "So how does Lee fight his?"

"He meditates," Tingzhe answered. And waited for the explosion.

"He meditates?" Shirong repeated, incredulous. "He said most firebenders do, but.... Are we talking about the same young man? Lee? Snarls at Dai Li, glares down the Earth King over a bear, jumps deliberately into a haima-jiao's reach? And you want me to believe he meditates? When a spirit's not trying to eat him?"

"Think what he'd be like without it," Amaya said wryly.

Shirong paused. Paled. Shivered a bit, and looked over them all. "Lee meditates."

"You should hear Jinhai whine about it," Jia smirked. "Lee won't teach him anything unless he shows he can breathe, first." At her mother's look, she ducked her head. "Well, he does! 'I have bad habits, you need to have good ones'. Lee doesn't let him get away with anything."

"Which is not always the best way to learn," Tingzhe mused. "But we are not yet somewhere we can afford for Jinhai to make mistakes." He regarded the agent. "I can show you the proper form. Lee was very insistent that I know, in case... something went wrong."

Reluctantly, Shirong nodded. Glanced at Amaya. "But it's not just temper. If it were only being angry I wouldn't be asking for help. It's - spirits, I don't even know myself anymore. My heart moves and my mind scrambles to keep up, I'm not like this, I-" He took a breath. "I knew, when I saw it, exactly why your hidden folk knelt like that. I knew. And I've never...." His hands trembled, fisting on his lap. "Kuei's... not mine. I've served as a Dai Li for two decades, and I can't feel that he's... how could I do that?"

"Loyalty isn't logic," Meixiang said gently. "It's like love. You can choose who you associate with. You can keep people at a distance, long enough to know if they're worthy of a closer look. You can decide what you will do, if you feel that first pull toward another's fire." She smiled at her husband. "But sometimes you meet someone, and you see they embody all the virtues you've been raised to hold as sacred and honored. And you know."

Tingzhe gazed back, devoutly hoping he wasn't blushing like a schoolboy. He'd been a far younger scholar when he'd first met a beautiful young refugee whose calligraphy was clear, clean, and fast enough to win her a job as a library scribe. Younger, but not a young man, and painfully aware of how many wealthy students strutted like peacocks to catch Meixiang's eye. And also aware that he was a teacher of the university, and it would never, ever be appropriate to even seem to be pressuring a young lady who also served that institution....

The first go-between's letter had been like solstice dawn.

"On the purely practical side," Amaya put in quietly, "Lee is a very strong firebender. And he was there when you needed him." She paused. "And when I heal you... I can feel you're an orphan. Either they're dead, or they've kept apart. There's no one left to care what happens to you."

"The war took most of my family," Shirong said bitterly. "And go near the ones left, with my luck? I'm not that cruel. What has that got to do with anything?"

"We need clans," Meixiang explained. "It's horrible, to be unclanned. Loyalty to a lord helps, but without family? We're alone. We're threatened. We're afraid." She regarded him steadily. "And when you're afraid and angry.... Shirong, let us help."

"Help?" the agent said warily.

"They've discussed it with me," Amaya nodded. "In my opinion as a healer of spirit-wounds - it can't hurt. And I think it could help."

"What could?" Shirong said, even more wary.

"Mom and Dad want to adopt you," Suyin blurted out.

Shirong blinked.

"You're already living here anyway," Jia said bluntly. "You're a firebender, Jinhai's a firebender - it'll be a lot easier to hide that we're weird if we're all weird together."

"Jia," Meixiang sighed.

"Well, it's true," Jia said defensively. "Think about Min, Mom! He tries to be like the other guys, but he's not. And I don't know if that's you, or Dad, or both. You know how many other fathers teach their daughters earthbending? Not many. Most boys Min's age? They can trap a girl if they want to, and they know it. So we never, ever go with boys alone. Min's polite. Maybe he thinks that's a bad thing now, but if he can keep his head a little longer? Smart girls are going to be pounding down Dad's door with matchmakers and go-betweens. If their parents are smart enough to let them."

Shirong chuckled. "They may be too late."

Tingzhe thought of an expressionless girl with hurt gold eyes, and shook his head. Like father, like son, they say.

Well. If that were true, Meixiang's proposal had even more merit than he'd thought. "Apparently this is a matter of instinct and emotion, as well as conscious thought," Tingzhe stated. "Firebenders need a clan; you and Jinhai are firebenders, and you have no family. Meixiang has suggested we create a clan, for both your sakes." He gave the agent a wry, sad smile. "You don't mind being our younger brother, do you? I lost mine on the Wall years past, and Meixiang lost... everyone. She knows your pain."

"Create a clan," Shirong repeated, stunned. "Is that possible?"

"We are born of war, as well as fire," Meixiang said soberly. "Every educated woman is taught this ritual. In case there are no survivors, of you or your love's people, and everything must start over." She raised her chin. "Though I am amending it. My husband is of earth. We will be earth and fire. None of my children should ever feel they have nowhere to go." She winked. "I promise, it'll only hurt a little."

Shirong looked at her, and the wine, and the clean blade wrapped in silk by the cups. "How long will this take?"

"Not long at all. It was meant for emergencies." Standing, Meixiang held out her hand.

Shirong considered them both a long moment more. Nodded, and crossed the room to join them by the altar.

Expectation makes it worse, Tingzhe thought ruefully, wincing at the sting as Meixiang pricked his finger, letting three drops fall into his cup of salted wine. Shirong, and then herself, and then she picked up each cup in turn, pouring and swirling and pouring between them, until no one knew which cup had begun where, and the rich summer scent of grapes hung heavy in the air. The prayer was already written, two precise copies in Meixiang's fine hand; one for the family to keep for Oma, Shu, and Guanyin, the other set afire for Agni with the touch of a match.

Ashes crumbled into their cups, and Meixiang sighed, relieved. Handed a cup to each of them, and raised hers high. "My brother, my husband - to Wen!"

"To Wen!" Tingzhe echoed, trying to ignore the gnawing feeling of stepping off a cliff. This was for his wife, his children, and a good man who was beginning to be his friend. Certainly, there was no reason to-

Blood and wine and salt, and the world crushed him.

"...Tingzhe?" Meixiang's voice, a breath from panic. "Oh Agni, I'll never forgive myself if you-"

"Ow," the professor managed, very precisely. Blinked at the ring of faces around him. "What on earth am I doing on the floor?"

"You all drank, I sensed something, and then...." Lifting a water-gloved hand from his head, Amaya frowned. "How are you feeling?"

Letting Meixiang help him to his feet, Tingzhe considered that. He knew this feeling. From earthbending. A sense of pressure, of being leaned on... and yet with that, came the oddest sense of strength. Support. Connection. "Like the keystone in an arch." Breathing in that strength, he opened his arms to his family.

Children swarmed him, and Tingzhe felt whole.

Min isn't here. He breathed out. But we will find him.

He opened his eyes at the touch of a hand warm as Jinhai's, but far larger. "Welcome home."

Entangled in family, Shirong looked utterly bemused. "I... thank you can't possibly be enough."

"You're among clan," Meixiang said gently. "You are always welcome among us." She swallowed. "Oh Agni. I missed this."

"My head feels all tingly," Jia said shakily.

"You'll get used to it."

"It's kind of like having Lee here," Suyin said thoughtfully.

"Yes," Meixiang nodded. "A clan holds your loyalty safe. Like a good lord. We protect each other. And so we do not fear our loyalty will be seized by one unworthy of it; for our clan watches for danger when we falter, and fights when we can fight no more." She looked down at the sleepy little boy clinging to her waist. "Jinhai?"

"So if Uncle Shirong's all better," he yawned, "can we go to sleep now?"

"Excellent idea," Tingzhe concurred.

Though it was a bit more complicated than that. There was an altar to clean, children to sort out and tuck into bedding, one still-stunned agent to get sorted out as well....

And one waterbender to grab for a quick whisper, before she sought her own bed. "I thought you said you'd considered what might happen!" Tingzhe hissed, keeping his voice low.

"I did. At least, what I'd seen of Agni's interference," Amaya said plainly. "I didn't realize that other spirits might be just as sympathetic."

"What?"

Amaya smiled wryly, humming a few bars of the catchiest, most annoyingly frustrating song that had ever gotten stuck in Tingzhe's head.

Two lovers, forbidden from one another. A war divides their people....

---------
Cold floor, Min Wen registered, blinking. Wait, shouldn't be on the floor, was on spy duty on the audience chamber, watching the Fire Princess-

Inhumanly wide gray blinked at him. Giggled, close enough to feel warm breath across his nose.

"Gaah!"

Ty Lee flipped off her hands and onto her feet, still grinning as he scrambled back as far as the hidden nook in the wall would let him, trying to calm his racing heart. "Oh good, you're okay!" She looked him up and down, and - impossibly - brightened further. "Better than okay! That's great!"

"Geh?" Min managed, trying to wriggle free of an insanely flexible hug.

Ty Lee let go, turning her smile down to moon-bright from blinding. "Your aura. It's so much brighter! Wherever your family went, they must be okay."

"How would you know if my family's-" Words died on Min's lips.

My family's okay.

Not just words. He was sure of it. Somehow.

They're okay, and they miss me.

Solid earth under his feet. A warm hearth. Home.

Min stood up, nerving himself. Ty Lee was the enemy, even if she was Mai's friend. But still.... "Do you know what just happened?"

"Sure," Ty Lee said perkily. "I just found out why Azula can't pull you and Quan in. It's been bugging her."

Erk. Min swallowed dryly. Oh, this is not good, really not good-

"It's funny. And a little sad." Ty Lee shook her head. "Zuko came into the palace a couple of times, didn't he? And you both met him."

"Agent Quan already told the princess we didn't know who he was," Min said carefully.

"Oh, you didn't know know," Ty Lee nodded. "But you knew." She patted pink ruffles over her heart. "That's why it's sad. He'd dead now, you know."

He couldn't have just heard what he thought he'd heard. He couldn't have. "...What?"

"He got in Azula's way. He helped the Avatar's friends, instead of her. Against the Fire Lord's orders." She shrugged, a fluid flow of movement. "Zuko's a firebender. He's not like Mai, who can get better. He's dead."

Min looked into cheerful gray eyes, and felt chilled. "And you don't care."

"I said it's sad." For a moment, she glanced down. "But he got in Azula's way. That's what happens."

For a moment, Min tried to picture that. Tried to imagine what it must have been, to have for your sister... someone who made things happen.

"She tried to make it quick," Ty Lee went on. "But I guess he picked up General Iroh's trick.... I feel sorry for him. Lu Ten died here, and now he had to watch it happen to Zuko, and traitors' deaths are awful. Poor General Iroh."

There wasn't room to get away. He edged back anyway, longing to bend his way out rather than stay.

I've got orders. Agent Quan's counting on me to help watch Azula. I have to.

And there Quan was. Mai behind him, he approached Azula as she sat on the royal throne, gold eyes glittering above her robe of Earth green. Bowed, stiffly, barely glancing at silent guards. "You sent for me, your highness?"

"You're still here," Azula mused. "I have to wonder. Is that bravery? Or stupidity?"

"You could consider practicality," Quan said levelly. "You hold the Dai Li. Where could I possibly run that you couldn't find me?"

"What a coincidence," Azula said silkily. "I was just wondering the same thing."

Even hidden by stone, Min shivered.

"Ba Sing Se is truly a marvelous city," Azula mused. "Above and below. Do you know, I've been questioning the Dai Li, and no two of them come up with the same map?" Her gaze sharpened. "Where is Agent Shirong?"

"I don't know," Quan said levelly.

"And here's the interesting part," Azula said thoughtfully. "I believe you. You don't know where he is. No one knows where he is. So tell me. In an organization that obeyed the will of one man, where every Dai Li works with a partner, why does no one know where this man might have gone?"

Quan let out a slow breath. "Your majesty. Shirong hasn't worked with a partner in years. He has... bad luck. It's safer to keep your distance."

Azula's eyes narrowed. "Benders make their own luck, Agent Quan."

"Maybe firebenders can," Quan said levelly. "We're not that skilled."

"You could be right," Azula said casually. "It would certainly explain my brother. And I have a great deal of interest in explaining my brother, Agent Quan. He may have been a traitor and a failure, but my father will still expect a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding his death."

"His death?" Quan's eyes were cold. "Did you kill him, your highness?"

"He killed himself, and you know it," Azula said levelly. "My brother always was an idealistic fool." Gold gleamed. "What I want to know is, how far did he spread his poison? How did he do it at all without the Dai Li realizing exactly what he was?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, your highness."

"And we were having such a civilized conversation," Azula sighed. "Don't start lying to me now. Fire is loyalty and life; the Dai Li well know that, having broken so many of the Fire Nation to die. My brother healed Shirong; Shirong chose him over Long Feng." Lethal red nails tapped the arm of the throne. "Don't tell me you never connected the dots."

Out of the corner of his eye, Min saw Ty Lee's jaw drop. In the audience chamber, Mai went still.

They didn't know, Min realized. Whatever Azula's talking about, they didn't know. And just what was she talking about? She couldn't mean what it sounded like....

"Your healers can touch a man's loyalty," Quan said, half to himself. "I'm surprised the Wall didn't fall decades ago."

"You're not that innocent," Azula smiled coldly. "You know exactly why the Fire Lord can't leave anyone with that power alive. So I'll ask you one more time. Who else did my brother heal? Besides the stupid bear." She sniffed. "I knew the Earth King was blind to his people's worth, but to miss my brother firebending in front of him-"

Quan smiled bitterly. "He used hot water."

Elegant nostrils flared. "What did you say?"

Quan met her gaze squarely, grimly amused. "I'm saying, your highness, that you're not the only one who can use a disguise. No one noticed your brother because he made himself look like what he was; a refugee and an outcast, fleeing the Fire Nation. No facepaint, no weapons, no brave uniform. Just a waterskin and a firepot, and a story thin enough we all knew it was a lie. But we never came near the truth. After all, we know what the Fire Nation teaches about lesser elements. What great name would ever pretend to be a waterbender?"

Gracefully, Azula stood. Took a few steps down the dais, until her gaze was level with Quan's.

And smirked.

Spots flashed in Min's vision. He gulped air, making himself breathe.

"You really don't think you're the first person to try to goad me into killing him, do you?" Azula said, gently chiding. "Though I am impressed. A man in so much pain, so lost without the commander he was loyal to. And you're still standing." She shook her head slightly. "Someone must have given you hope. How very... cruel of them." Her voice hardened. "Ty Lee. Bring him."

"Do you want to walk?" Ty Lee said brightly. "Or, you know...." She wiggled her fingers.

"Walk," Min managed to get out. "I'll walk."

It felt like walking into acid. His heartbeat drummed in his ears, and all he could see were eyes. Dark brown, full of pain, made fresh by the realization there was something left to lose. Gold that should be his enemy, that he knew never would be again, shadowed by the same horror. And in front of him....

Gold as the sun, and far more pitiless. "You're not human," Min whispered.

"My, my. You have met my brother." Azula smiled, as if at a fond memory. "Do you know, he tried to tell people? But - well, you know, sibling rivalry. Fire Lord Sozin's line is the blood of heroes. Why, just look at all we've done for the world." She focused on him. "Where is your family, Trainee Min Wen?"

The only way to keep a secret from her, is not to know it. Spirits, if he lived through this, he was going to listen when Dad told him I told you so. And he was going to like it. "I don't know," Min got out. And didn't try to hide how his voice shook.

"I suppose it doesn't really matter," Azula mused. "After all, I don't need to find them. They'll find you."

Min froze. Swallowed, and made himself look at her. "My father's a historian at Ba Sing Se University. He knows what the Fire Nation can do. And he never wanted me to be Dai Li. He won't come."

"Yes he will." Ruby nails slashed out, caught his chin in a clawed grip. "You may call yourself an earthbender, but I know what you are. I can feel you."

Fire. Spirits, it felt like he was burning from the inside out, she was too strong, he couldn't bear it-

Help me!

A surge of strength, shielding his faltering heart. Min blinked. Breathed.

Gazed back into gold eyes, like staring into the face of an avalanche. If I'm going to die - spirits, let me do it standing.

"The strength of a clan," Azula said dryly. "My uncle left quite a mark. I'll have to speak with him about that, when I see him. It's so rude to create a line of loyalty that avoids the Dragon Throne. Why, even the Avatar would have said it was treason." Stepping back, she waved to the guards.

He managed to deflect the first stone gloves. But not the tenth.

"I asked for an assurance of your good behavior, Agent Quan," Azula stated, looking at the man now all but strangled in iron chains. "I think I'll take this one."

"What makes you think I care what happens to one boy?" Quan said coldly.

"You should." Azula raised a hand; a teacher, instructing a particularly slow pupil. "You have a firebender's killer instinct. And their weakness. You need to be loyal. And Long Feng is dead. You'd never stand against me... unless you were drawing strength from somewhere else." She nodded at the guards. "Mai. See that he's taken back to his quarters. I think the agent needs time to reflect on his duties. And his loyalty."

Stone shut behind them, and Min gulped. "Agent Quan will never betray our city. It doesn't matter if you kill me." Oh, damn, that was stupid-

"Oh, I have no intention of killing you."

Min stared at her, chilled to the bone.

"Fools believe in spirits. I believe in power." Azula smiled at him, gently chiding. "You really should meet my father. From the moment he knew I was his true heir, he taught me about the inner fire. How to seek it. How to use it. And how to know how others arrange theirs. You think you're Dai Li? Then you're not loyal to my uncle. Which means, at your age, it must be one of your parents." She shrugged, as if it were of no importance. "I'll have to kill them both, to be sure."

He didn't want to move. He didn't want to breathe.

"Then your brother and sisters," Azula went on, still smiling. "You're old enough to head a clan, after all. We can't have that. I wonder; should I give you a few days with them, first? Let you feel everything you were born to feel, everything you long to protect, before I take them away?"

Somewhere, Min found the will to whisper. "Monster...."

"Oh, you haven't even heard the best part!" Azula smirked. "Which comes when I leave you alive. And alone. With no one to be loyal to... but me."

No. Spirits, no.

"Take him out of my sight." Azula turned away, and shrugged at Ty Lee. "Well, that was fun. How's the rest of the occupation going?"

---------
The minute Huojin walked into the station and saw red-and-black armor, he knew it was going to be a bad night.

Fair's fair. The whole city's having bad nights. Ever since they brought the Walls down... spirits, I never thought that would happen.

Which was one reason why he and his family were still living aboveground, instead of vanishing like so many others. They'd made preparations. The Wens were holding a bunch of supplies for them for when they finally did bolt. But someone needed to be eyes and ears in the city as long as possible... and his fellow Guards needed all the help they could get.

He hesitated going past the soldiers to join the rest of the ghost watch. Who wouldn't? But Captain An Lu-shan was there by a cold-faced, salt-and-pepper haired Fire Nation sergeant; grumpy and grim as Huojin had ever seen him. Damned if he'd let the captain down now.

The intruder waited as a few stragglers filtered in, hand on a stack of papers that looked suspiciously like the station's personnel files. "Is this everyone, Captain?"

"Yes," Lu-shan said flatly. "We can call roll, if you like."

"That won't be necessary tonight," the soldier stated. "Tomorrow. So anyone who might have had unavoidable business elsewhere has a chance to hear we're not inclined to roast you all alive."

Huojin squinted, but still couldn't tell if the man was joking.

"I am Master Sergeant Yakume," the Fire Nation soldier announced to the crowd of Guards. "I've been detailed here to ensure the laws of Ba Sing Se continue to be enforced, as they have been in the past."

Huojin raised an eyebrow.

"This isn't my first such detail, so I'll clear a few things up right now," Yakume said grimly. "I don't like you. You're Earth Kingdom. You have habits and customs I, and all of my people, find offensive at best. On the other hand, I am well aware you find us unnatural, and you tell your children to behave or the firebenders will roast and eat them. That, is false. We are not murderers, we are soldiers. If I had my way, no child would ever be on a battlefield." Gold eyes swept them all, measuring and grim. "We are also not fools. Anyone who hides behind a child to perform acts of sabotage or sedition is condemning that child to death with them. Do we understand each other?"

You could have heard a pebble drop.

"Good," Yakume said quietly. "Do not interfere with soldiers performing their duties. It's been a long siege, and no one is in a good mood. However. Any incident of law-breaking by our soldiers, you will report to me. And I will deal with it. I have a wife and children in the colonies; anyone who lays disgraceful hands on a civilian is not worthy of his uniform." Another sweep of gold eyes. "I don't like you. That doesn't mean I hate you. Keeping the peace is a hard and thankless job, and anyone who does it well has earned some respect. Do your jobs, use your heads, and we'll all go home at the end of the day."

He's good, Huojin thought, watching carefully as the master sergeant inclined his head to the captain, and stepped out of the way of the station's business. Just keep doing your jobs, never mind us taking over.... Heck, we let the Dai Li run us, what's the difference besides the uniform? That's what a lot of people will think, until it's too late- uh-oh. The captain was beckoning him over to them. And he couldn't pretend he hadn't seen it.

Keep it together. Huojin took a deep breath, and walked over to his captain. "Sir?"

Yakume held up a ribbon-bound bundle of papers. "I believe we need to talk."

Funny, how the interrogation room always looks different from this side of the table, Huojin thought whimsically, as Yakume laid his file bundle down between them. The master sergeant didn't look upset... well, not more than he had already. And Huojin still had his sword. But.... This is not good.

"I understand you're acquainted with Healer Amaya," Yakume said plainly.

"So's half the Lower Ring, and a lot of the farms," Huojin answered, just as blunt. "She's been here... almost thirty-one years now, I think. People know her."

"And they'd be willing to protect her." Yakume's gaze was level.

"I haven't seen her since the clinic got closed," Huojin said plainly. "I thought the Dai Li got her. She always worried about them. She knew the war was out there." He shrugged. "If they don't have her, I hope she's okay."

"Hmm." Yakume nodded slightly. "And have you seen these men before?"

The wanted poster was a shock. Huojin didn't try to hide it; just pulled the paper closer to study the portraits. So that's General Iroh, topknot and all. And.... "Kid looks a lot more human with hair." He met Yakume's gaze, deliberately. "If you have the Dai Li reports, you know I know them."

"Tell me anyway." From the chill in Yakume's eyes, it wasn't a suggestion.

"Not much to say," Huojin said bluntly. "I rotate onto the docks at least a few days every other week. Captain Lu-shan likes to be sure we're all familiar with different trouble spots. About a month back, I spotted a ruckus over at the incoming desk, with these two in the middle of it. The kid healed a woman on the ferry, and the bureaucrats were frothing at the mouth 'cause he saved a life without a license." Huojin rolled his eyes. "They looked about done in, and to be honest? Kind of scared. So I cut a little red tape and took them straight to Amaya. She decided he was good enough to train, his uncle got a job making tea, and that's pretty much what I know about them."

Was it his imagination, or had gold eyes creased with a little humor when he mentioned Iroh and tea?

If they had, it was gone the next instant. "I'd hardly call Prince Zuko a kid," Yakume said coldly. "And you," he tapped the poster, "are not surprised."

Oops. "No, Master Sergeant," Huojin said, trying to salvage what he could. "The Avatar's little bunch described the prince pretty... vividly."

Gold eyes fixed on him, razor-sharp. "You knew Prince Zuko was in the city before Princess Azula overthrew Long Feng."

So that's the story? Huh. Might even be true. "Yes, I did."

Yakume studied him. "And you didn't have him arrested."

"He didn't break any laws," Huojin shrugged.

Yakume raised a skeptical brow.

"If there were a law against being Fire Nation in Ba Sing Se, your whole army would have warrants out on them," Huojin said wryly. "It'd be stupid, but somebody in the government would be brainless enough to pull that. But there's not. He was a healer's apprentice. He wasn't any trouble. Well... not much," Huojin amended, thinking of Lee's terse account of dumping Jet the fanatic off a bison, hopefully far from Ba Sing Se.

"None of which would have mattered if you'd told the Earth Army he was here," Yakume observed.

Good point. Damn. "Well, I guess the Avatar just caught me on a bad day," Huojin snarled. Jerked a nod toward his file. "You've read that? Then you know Amaya picked me up off the streets. I was six, I was alone, my parents were gone, and I was about one hungry night away from getting mixed up with bad, bad people. She faced down a crowd of those weevil-rats and got me out of there. She helped me grow up, into the Guard. She was at my wedding, and she's Auntie to my daughters. I love that woman. And now she's gone, and the whole Wen family is gone, and my wife and kids just barely got out before the Dai Li crashed down on the Wens. Because the Avatar decided to tear through Ba Sing Se to get his bison back." He waved an angry hand toward the wall, and all the Outer Ring beyond it. "You've been out there. You've seen what it's like. Life is hard down here. We get the refugees, and there aren't enough jobs, and most of the good men go fight on the Wall. Which leaves us between good citizens and the scum. The Avatar's out to save the world? Oma and Shu, we could've used a little saving down here!"

Yakume was carefully silent.

Damn temper. Huojin yanked it back by his fingernails, taking a minute to just breathe. "I didn't know Prince Zuko. But I damn sure knew Lee, Amaya's apprentice. Who saved my neck in a dark alley when a ninety-nine-year spirit tried to eat me. Who stood between rocks and my kids, when a bunch of brainless noble earthbenders started throwing their weight around because they could." He shrugged. "And the Avatar ticked me off."

"Hmm." And that was a smile, faint as dawn's first light. "I see."

"Master Sergeant?" Huojin said warily.

"Try not to have any more bad days," the soldier advised. "That will be all."

I missed something there. I just know it.

Huojin was still puzzling over that as he headed back to his desk, halted only by the captain's somber look. "Well?" Lu-shan asked.

"He wanted to know about Amaya's apprentice," Huojin said frankly.

The captain frowned. "You're still calling him that?"

"It's what the kid I knew was, sir." Huojin shrugged. "If the war hadn't gone this way, he'd still be here. Helping."

For a moment, the captain looked as if he'd swallowed a live catfish-eel. Shook it off, and warily waved him back to work.

Pausing by his desk, Huojin checked that there wasn't any new paperwork that needed seeing to before he met up with the rest of his patrol for the night. And took a moment for one frustrated thought.

Damn it, Lee, where are you?

---------
Out at last, Teruko thought wryly, watching over her younger charge as he burrowed further under his blankets. The heat in their expanded shelter was gentle, nowhere near the stifling heat the prince's illness had required, but he finally looked like he'd shaken off the shock. Though having one lump of huge dark feathers curled up alongside him might have something to do with that.

Better you than me, the marine thought frankly, as Asahi's quiet snores buzzed in the air. Literally; the prince's reflexes apparently categorized the ostrich-horse as safe. Another human being wouldn't be so lucky.

And what that told her about the prince's life so far... she didn't like it. At all.

Satisfied there were enough marines between Zuko at this end and the shelter door at the front to at least have a chance of catching him, Teruko retreated toward the door, stopping at the desk-like nook Toph had shaped. Where her second charge studied maps, tracing possible paths through the water to Ba Sing Se. "General." She kept her voice low; no need to spread this beyond clan. "Why doesn't the prince know what he is?"

Iroh arched a gray brow at her. "What he is, Lieutenant?"

"Byakko, sir. I know the stories." She eyed him. "You and I both know, the Avatar knew the Shidan we know. Just - not on two feet."

"I had thought it was only a legend," Iroh said quietly.

She couldn't help it; she stared at him. "Sir. He stalks. He was a difficult birth. He's got nails steel won't scratch. A temper so bad he loses words. Agni, I'd lay odds he didn't even bend until he was six!"

"Eight," Iroh said frankly.

"Orochi's eight drinks," Teruko swore. Worse than I thought. Way worse.

Iroh was watching her very carefully. "My brother believed this meant Zuko would never be a powerful bender."

I don't believe it. The Fire Lord's an idiot. "Sir... dragons take a long time to grow up." She shook her head, feeling as if someone had yanked a rug out from under her. "Eight. Agni, it's a wonder the kid didn't hatch."

Iroh nodded slightly, as if she'd confirmed something he'd puzzled out. "You have some experience with late benders?"

"Sir. There are no firebenders recorded as having first bent later than five in Byakko," Teruko said steadily.

"I see," Iroh murmured. "Of course, the government ceases to examine children past the age of five. For those few who do bend late are usually brought to official attention by their parents, so they may catch up with their training as soon as possible."

"So I've heard, sir-" Teruko whirled toward the wall, fist up and ready.

"Whoa! Truce," came the tense whisper. Sand parted like falling water, and Toph stepped free. "I was just coming to check up on Sparky."

"In the middle of the night?" Teruko hissed.

"Oh, how awful! I can't see a thing!" Toph smirked.

Teruko smacked herself in the forehead.

"It is all right." Iroh raised his voice, just enough for nervous marines to hear and stand down. "Toph is free to visit as she wishes." He lowered it again. "Should I ask how much you have heard?"

"Um... well...." The little earthbender leaned to listen the prince's way, and swallowed hard. "Dragons? You're... dragons?"

Teruko frowned at her. "You sound like you believe it."

Toph tilted her head, then held out a hand. "Wrist. Gimme."

Teruko shrugged, and let Toph wrap fingers above her hand, under her armor. It was always a little weird, touching someone from another nation. They just weren't warm.

"You're hot," Toph said plainly. "Not a lot, but - if I was this hot, Mom would have me in bed with soup. But you're not sick. And... your pulse is slow. It's one of the things that fooled me about Sparky 'til I had a chance to listen to him. When he's scared? He feels like Sokka, when Snoozles is just a little worried. He had to be telling us about Azula or smack in the middle of a dozen Dai Li before I felt it really pick up. Little animals have fast hearts. Big ones are slow. It's like... you're a lot bigger than you really are." She let her hand slip down to grip Teruko's fingers. "And what you said about rocks... whoa."

At the general's intrigued look, Teruko shrugged. "My clan's ancestor is a lot farther back than the prince's, sir. But I come by the temper honestly."

Toph was feeling her nails, pressing her own fingers against trimmed edges until they dented skin. "So... Zuko doesn't know this is weird, because for you guys, it's not."

"And because, it would seem, no one who knew of his heritage told him," Iroh nodded.

"We better tell him something, sir," Teruko said bluntly. "And make him believe it. He was out there doing fire-rain."

Iroh blinked. "Oh dear."

Toph grinned, eager. "You can make rain burn?"

"Frost, no, I can't," Teruko admitted. "But Byakko knows how to do it."

"As I understand it, the water does not actually burn," Iroh informed the girl. "But lightning and fire are kin, and falling from the sky, all rain carries a whisper of lightning. It is that a bender seizes, to flare into fire."

"So... you can't do it either," Toph said thoughtfully. "Uh-oh. Does Sparky know?" She paused, and shook her head. "Nope, he'd have flattened the whole camp if he did, right?"

"I would like to believe he would show restraint, even in such distress," Iroh said heavily. "But I fear you are right. Did he know, his words to Aang would have been far more painful."

Teruko looked between them, unsettled. "Wait. If you didn't know he was a dragon-child...."

Iroh weighed her in his gaze, and released a quiet breath. "Do you believe in ties that can hold even beyond death, Lieutenant?"

Teruko's eyes widened. "You mean, like when Usagi was trapped by the oni-wife, and Lord Mifune's ghost cut her down to save him?"

"You guys have got to tell me these stories," Toph breathed. "Mom always said ghosts were just cold spots and rattling windows and dreams, and maybe a shadow that kept you from stepping on a snake."

"As are most of ours," Iroh nodded. "It is rare that a ghost has power enough to touch our world. Though I have heard of a few. But other stories claim there is a way to return to those who have desperate need of you. Though it is a grave risk. For one forgets... and who can say if the spirits will pierce the veil, and grant even a hint to tell you why you are caught in a web of fate you do not remember weaving?"

Teruko sighed, feeling a deep sympathy for the prince. Dragon-child or not, anybody would want to beat their head against the wall if their teacher kept springing stuff that indirect on them-

He's the prince's teacher. And he doesn't know Byakko forms... and the prince does....

Teruko sat down on sandstone, not sure her knees would hold her. "He... came back? To this life?"

"My nephew has always been brave," Iroh said quietly. Smiled, bittersweet, at Toph's confusion. "The Fire Sages say that before one chooses to leave their rest in the spirit world, they are warned of where their choice may lead. Not of all, no spirit knows everything... but of likely outcomes. And of pain."

Toph gulped. "So... Kuzon knew?"

"Enough. Yes."

Teruko felt like gulping herself, marine discipline or not. Kuzon died almost eighteen years back... and the prince is... oh, Agni. "Are you sure?"

"Spirits can lie," Iroh said wryly. "But given that in the spirit world Gyatso claimed my nephew promised to find Aang and drag him home, and in the midst of his fever my nephew called for his uncle, Kuroyama of Byakko...."

Who'd been dead near a hundred years now. Teruko swallowed, and tried to still shaking hands.

"Yeah. Fever." Toph scowled at the general. "You going to tell me about that now? Or do dragons and lightning just not mix?"

"It was the dragon, not the lightning," Iroh hesitated. "Toph. I meant what I told you. Those of other nations are often horrified when they learn of this. And, worse than horror, there is... pity."

Toph cocked her head, and moved in for a hug. "You're good people, Uncle. Maybe I can't bang that into people's heads yet, but I'm not ever gonna feel sorry for you."

"I pray you are right." Iroh sighed. "In the desert, I told you my nephew was still loyal to his father. To aid you and rescue Appa, he tread on the very edges of that loyalty; it is a prince's duty to prevent military disasters, if he can, and allowing Long Feng to unleash the Avatar on our siege would have been that." He paused. "To save your lives from Azula, who he knew acted in Fire Lord Ozai's name... he broke it."

Teruko shivered at the very thought. Agni, even if you knew down to your soul what you were doing was right.... I'm not sure I'd have the guts.

Toph was silent, toes curling against the floor as she paled. "You mean... it didn't matter if she zapped him. Just helping us, helping Aang... oh, Sparky...."

Iroh held her as she shivered, biting her lip not to cry. "It is over now. You helped us, and he lived."

"And I thought truce was bad," Toph gulped. "When you guys say loyalty...."

"Ah, yes. We mean the bonds of fire and spirit to one's clan, one's lord, and one's followers," Iroh nodded. "For what you mean by loyalty in the Earth Kingdom, we use several words. Coin-hire, for employer and employed; in which category, I am sad to say, some of your army falls. Love of country; that is something we both understand. Discipline, for those in a chain of command. There is friendship, alliance...." He lifted a shoulder, and let it fall. "I could go on for quite some time."

"Please don't, sir," Teruko groaned. Thought, for a lip-nibbling moment. "Toph... loyalty is having somewhere you belong. And people you'd walk through fire for." She grinned. "Though for some of us, that's easier than others."

"Only if we do something awful to someone we care about, it doesn't kill us." Toph shuddered. "You've got to tell Aang."

"And what should we tell him?" Iroh said softly. "That we are, in truth, what Katara names us? Inhuman monsters?"

"...I don't know," Toph admitted. "I have to think about this. But we've got to figure out something. Aang still thinks things are okay." She tapped her toes on stone. "So how do I find Byakko?"

"You wish to visit Lady Kotone's domain?" Iroh asked, outwardly mild. "I was not exaggerating. Zuko is her grandson. She will not be pleased."

"She won't be glad to see Aang," Toph shrugged. "Maybe she won't want to see me, either. But if I tell Shidan Aang's back.... It's worth a try." She pointed at Teruko. "And I want to see those rocks of yours."

Smart kid, Teruko thought, approving. And stubborn. "You know, sir, if they want to get there quietly, rocks would be the way to go. If they walk around asking for Byakko, people would wonder. But if they ask what's the best way to go see Mount Shirotora...."

"It is a wonder in any season," Iroh nodded.

"Fire Nation people go to see a mountain?" Toph said skeptically.

"A mountain tall enough to have ice on top," Teruko stated. "That's something special." She lowered her voice, and leaned close. "And if the mountain really, really likes you... you might see the yamabushi."

"The mountain sages?" Iroh glanced at her, intrigued. "I had thought their order all but extinct."

"They've been up there over a thousand years," Teruko shrugged. "Not a lot of people join them, but they get by. They're weird, but if it weren't for them, we wouldn't still have fire-rain. They saw Kyoshi's storm coming. It wasn't much time... but we got some people to higher ground." She shrugged again, and tried not to hold her breath.

Toph started to say something, then stopped. Thought. Pursed her lips, and let out a slow, amazed, "Huh." Smirked. "So Sparky comes by the sneaky honestly."

"You better believe it," Teruko grinned. "Um. No offense, General. I'm sure you can be stealthy. When you want to be."

"I begin to believe I am in the presence of masters," Iroh mused. "And to speak of masters...." He raised a brow at Teruko.

"Not sure I can give you a good estimate, sir," the marine answered frankly. "I was still a kid when he died. But he trained Lady Kotone, and I know she's good."

"You want to know how good a bender Kuzon was?" Toph frowned. "You're a general. Can't you just look up his record?"

"Even if I had access to more of our records than are kept on Suzuran, Kuzon would not be in them," Iroh said frankly. "As lord of Byakko, with so few living kindred, he managed to avoid going to war. Directly, at least. He was in... intelligence. Kuzon traveled throughout the world, and Byakko has many trade contacts, and the Fire Lord sought information from all of them. And I will not say that information was not harmful as any fire." He smiled ruefully. "Yet given what I know now, I suspect not all the information the Fire Lord sought reached him. And that, likely, is what finally brought Kuzon's death." Iroh stroked his beard. "Still. He was ninety-eight, and as hale as I am. Which is very nearly information enough."

Toph frowned. "Huh?"

Iroh blinked. "Your teacher did not mention how benders age?"

"The guy my parents thought was tutoring me? Thought I could barely move rocks," Toph said, disgusted. "My teachers were badger-moles."

"Ah," Iroh said, very quietly. "Well. Strong benders move their chi, and smooth its flow; I have let my discipline slip these past few years, which I must remedy.... If we are diligent, and practice, and if nothing kills us - we can live a very long time. Not so long as legend says of the Avatar, who tales grant half a millennium or more, but long. My grandfather, Fire Lord Sozin, was a hundred and fifty-three when he died; and I think that was of grief and loneliness, more than age. Without our cousins of the waves to learn from, we of the Fire Nation are unbalanced, and few reach so many years. But Kuzon would have been among them."

"So... really good," Toph concluded. "Why's it matter? Zuko doesn't remember any of it."

"Yes he does," Teruko said soberly. "Fire-rain's a Byakko form. The prince didn't know what it was, and he doesn't know how he knows it - but he does."

Toph thought about that. And smirked.

"This is not amusing," Iroh said sternly. "It is not wise for a bender not to know what he is capable of-"

"You're thinking like a firebender, Uncle," Toph said gleefully. "Try some earth and water. Listen. And wait for the punch. Who's Sparky's biggest problem? The one that's not in this camp?"

Iroh paused. And, quietly, began to laugh. "I see."

"Yep. Crazy blue fire thinks she knows everything?" Toph locked her fingers together, and cracked her knuckles. "Let's see her fight this."

---------
Xiu looked at the unholy trap the general's aide had lured her Pai Sho pieces into, and glared.

Across the board, almost backed up to the army tent wall, graying Sergeant Bo grinned cheerfully at her. "Another game?"

"Not until I figure out how you slaughtered me in this one." Xiu studied the field, retracing moves in her mind. The chariots, and then the ship-tiles, and that weird move with the lotus....

"Ah, a break's good anyway," Bo nodded, standing up to stretch with a yawn, before dropping back down to poke through the chest he'd been sitting on. "Have to do something nice for your boyfriend for letting me do him a favor. We don't get many pretty girls to game with around here." He dropped her a deliberate wink.

Xiu tried not to roll her eyes too obviously. The sergeant was harmless; she'd met enough men like him to know. But that didn't mean he wasn't enjoying the view. "So why are you doing him a favor? There's some kind of meeting going on, right?" And Huizhong was in the middle of it; why did she have a bad feeling about that? "Shouldn't you be with General Gang?"

"Well... that's a story," Bo shrugged, sorting through scrolls. "See, it looks like I'm retiring."

Xiu ran that through her mind a few times. Looked up from the Pai Sho board. "You and the general had an argument?" A bad one.

"Something like," Bo nodded. "Now, don't get me wrong, General Gang's a pretty good man. But the war - eh. It's not going so good. I hear you're Tzu's daughter? Good man. So you know, when a soldier thinks his back's to the wall, things get... dicey." He lifted a still-dark brow at her. "Ever hear of General Fong?"

Xiu frowned. "He holds a fort up north, doesn't he?"

"Yep. Welcomed the Avatar back from the North Pole after the Fire Navy went sploosh," Bo told her. "People say the Avatar was training there a while, getting ready to help us invade the Fire Nation. Then? I don't know what happened. Something went wrong, the whole fort got wrecked, and the Avatar's bunch took off for Ba Sing Se." He shook his head. "Now, General Gang, he thinks it was worth it, if the Avatar gets set to do the same thing right on top of the Fire Lord. Me? I kind of wonder." He shrugged. "So, looks like I'm going to get reassigned somewhere quieter. But before I do... here's what you're looking for."

Xiu's eyebrows rose, as she picked up just one of the score of scrolls Bo was placing on the game board. "This... there's all this?"

"Wouldn't see most of it in one place, but as soon as word got out about what happened at the North Pole? The general asked me to find out what else an Avatar can pull off, mass destruction-wise," Bo stated. "So. You wanted to know if Avatar Kyoshi ever hit the Fire Nation so hard, their ancestors felt it? Yeah. Oh, yeah."

Swallowing hard, Xiu started to read.

She had to put her head down after the third scroll, and just breathe. I'm not going to cry. I'm not.

"Bad idea, being home to the pirates that killed one of the Avatar's kids," Bo shrugged. "Bad idea."

Xiu shivered. "Oma and Shu...."

"Funny thing is? I've met a few Fire Nation guys," Bo said thoughtfully. "The good ones? Sweetheart, you wouldn't believe how important family is. Pirate raids are one thing; they think lords should be strong, and anybody who can't protect his people is asking for it. But a mom after the guy who killed her kid? Do not mess with a Fire mother. They kill you. And if they're feeling nice, they do it quick." He looked aside, into the distance. "So I gotta wonder. What would've happened, if Kyoshi hadn't let the Earth King handle yelling at the great names? He hated the Fire Nation, and history says he was a stuck-up royal bastard, and...." He shrugged. "What if she hadn't? What if she'd just gone over there like a mother, and asked?"

Xiu stared at him. "So... you're retiring."

"Getting transferred. Guess it's pretty much the same thing." Shuffling through the pile, Bo came up with a simple letter-scroll. "You know, we've got a lot of these. Don't think the general would mind if you gave this one to Chief Hakoda. I hear his kids know the Avatar. Bet they'd kind of like hearing how another airbender saw stuff."

Almost against her will, Xiu reached out. Closed her hand on old paper, and wet her lips. "Why?"

"Same reason I'm in here looking after you, lady," Bo said bluntly. "By now? Whole camp knows you were friendly with Hakoda. And the Fire Nation kid."

Xiu tried to keep her face calm. "I didn't know who they were."

"You didn't. Too bad for them, that weasel-mink Xiaobo did." Bo laid a tattered poster beside the scrolls.

Xiu looked at inked faces, and felt her heart sink into her sandals. He's... Lee is....

"The Fire Lord's son, and the Dragon of the West," Bo said soberly. "General's hitting them right after dawn."

---------
A/N: You may notice that the only Fire Nation person in the audience chamber when Azula pulls this on Min is Ty Lee. There's a reason for that. By Fire Nation standards, she's just threatened him with mind-rape. A literal fate worse than death.

Teruko's mention of Usagi and his lord's ghost - this is from an Usagi Yojimbo comic. (Which is also, definitely, not mine. Darn.)

A bit of clarification for chapter 28... and, all my fault, here's a bit of personal culture clash I hadn't realized I'd written in. Way back when Zuko was talking to Tingzhe, he didn't say that he lost eleven men to the Avatar. He said he had to count them because he didn't know all their names - which he didn't, having been rather estranged from the crew until "The Storm". I'm too familiar with the military history use of the term "casualties" - which means people injured, and possibly taken out of the fight, but does not necessarily mean death. With one historian (Tingzhe) and one military commander (Zuko) talking to each other, they each understood what the other meant.

This fic makes liberal use of Hanlon's Razor. "Never attribute to malice what can equally well be explained by stupidity." One act of violence in 1914 left over 8 million dead. And the results of WWI (I recommend looking into the Treaty of Versailles) eventually triggered WWII. Which has repercussions even today.

There are no excuses. There are reasons, but no excuses.

And because a lot of people have asked... Shirong is based off Michael Archangel. From Airwolf.