What Goes Around Chapter 1: Sowing Seeds, an avatar: last airbender fanfic

A/N: This is the sequel to Letters from the Past and it will probably make more sense if you go read that one before this, but it isn't required. Just highly encouraged. ;) For anyone wondering why this starts out when it does, stay tuned! All will be explained as we progress through the story.

Chapter 1: Sowing Seeds

Eight years after the Avatar disappeared

The wind drifted peacefully over the field, rustling leaves on bushes and a few stray trees as it went. It caused the flaps on the tents grouped near the edge of the field to quiver in their restraints, wanting to fly free. The sun shone gently down on the encampment, bathing everything and everyone in a soft golden light. Scattered clouds drifted across the blue sky, adding to the peaceful scene.

Kuzon, sitting atop an eel-hound, pack firmly tied to the saddle in preparation for this last journey, took a deep breath, and exhaled it in a long sigh.

"Do I really have to go back?"

Bumi glanced over to the young man from his perch on his own eel-hound some ten feet to Kuzon's left. He stifled a grin, somewhat successfully, and attempted to sound sympathetic.

"You really have to, Kuzon. At the very least, your parents deserve to know you didn't get yourself killed with all of your foolish actions these past two years."

"My foolish actions? Just what happened to the crazy Earthbender who goaded me into at least half of them? I thought he was around here somewhere…" Kuzon eyed his friend pointedly. Bumi just shrugged cheerfully.

"Not a clue. You'll have to let me meet this Earthbender someday. If he can convince you to do things you don't want to, he's got to be worth meeting."

"Got a high opinion of yourself, I see."

"Oh, I talked you into those foolish actions? Surely not me! I would never urge my friend to risk life and limb in an attempt to bloody the collective nose of the Fire Nation!"

"No," Kuzon acknowledged with a wicked grin. "You only encourage friends to risk life and limb if it will break the collective arm of the Fire Nation. And maybe a leg or two."

"Where's the point otherwise?"

"Maybe the point's keeping alive instead of getting killed?"

"All life has a little risk in it!"

"A 'little risk' doesn't include purposely baiting a Fire Nation patrol you knew was looking for an excuse to start a fight."

"Aww…but then I'd never get to see you act like an army officer again, Captain sir!" Bumi grinned unrepentantly. Kuzon glared at his friend.

"Quit calling me 'sir'! I'm not an officer. I'm not even in the military!"

"But it's so-"

"Boys." Kuzon and Bumi jerked around on their respective mounts at the authoritative voice. "I would have thought bickering to be the last thing on your minds today."

The old man who walked up to them was weathered and bent slightly with age. His clear brown eyes were still sharp however, and secrets seemed to lurk just out of sight in their depths. He kept a firm grip on a wooden cane, but both Kuzon and Bumi knew the old man used it more for whacking some sense into young men than for support while walking.

"Master Chen," the young men chorused.

"Kuzon, Bumi." One lone gray brow lifted. "Neither of you answered me."

"Well, you see," Bumi started. "Our bantering and bickering is simply-"

"-the way we deal with unpleasant events," Kuzon finished. They both grinned impishly at the man, who rolled his eyes.

"I think I preferred it when the two of you were brooding and out for revenge. At least then you ganged up on unsuspecting Fire Nation patrols, not on your allies."

Kuzon's smile disappeared as Bumi's became fixed and fake. The Fire Nation young man turned serious. "I don't prefer that. Bumi and I owe you more than we can repay, for helping us out of that mindset."

"We'd have gotten ourselves killed otherwise," Bumi said quietly. "And we'd have broken our promises to Amihan and Aang." He glanced away briefly, before turning back with a grin. "And I never would have gotten so good at my bending without your help, Master Chen."

"Yes, well," Chen huffed, a slight red tinge coloring his face. Kuzon and Bumi both politely declined to notice. "You both had better get moving. You'll get left behind otherwise."

"Not like we haven't made do before," Bumi pointed out. Kuzon snorted.

"Yes, but that was before we got our faces plastered all over Fire Nation wanted posters."

"You mean, after I got my face plastered on those wanted posters. You were just the hapless loyal, Fire Nation native who got caught up trying to bring enlightenment to his poor, backwards, barbaric Earth Kingdom friend."

Kuzon made a face at Bumi. "I'm well aware of the story we spread, thank you. I don't want to have to repeat it back until I have to. Thanks very much."

"Then keep your mouth shut and your eyes open as you travel, Kuzon, and you won't have to any more than necessary," Chen admonished, and Kuzon nodded. Bumi pouted, but left off teasing his friend. Chen reached into the pocket of his robes, withdrawing two small, circular objects. "This is generally not done with people as young as you, for the obvious reasons. Hot-heads are not welcome to such big secrets." Kuzon and Bumi exchanged embarrassed smiles, remembering their early encounters with the older man standing before them. "However, both of you have proved beyond doubt, that while you both have tempers, no secret of true import can be drawn from you even under extreme duress." Chen tossed a single object to each young man. White flashed in the sunlight as they were caught.

"Is this…" Bumi started, staring at the Pai Sho tile he held.

"You really mean for us to be…" Kuzon attempted, gaze split between the White Lotus on the tile and the old man standing near to his mount.

"Yes. We really mean for you two to be members of the White Lotus. Those tiles will declare your loyalties to those with the proper knowledge. Keep them with you at all times and replace it as quickly as you may if it is lost." A piercing glare informed both boys the tiles had better never be lost before Chen's eyes softened. "Should you ever need help, especially you, Kuzon, do not fear to use that tile. We have allies in all the nations and we are ever growing larger. You will find allies no matter where you go."

"Thank you," Bumi and Kuzon chorused, bowing as well as they could from their mounts. Chen turned a stern glare on both boys.

"Now, get going! Honestly, young men these days. Never a thought for the time of others. Those caravans can't wait forever, you know…" Still grumbling, Chen stalked away. Bumi and Kuzon exchanged amused glances.

"I'm going to miss him," Bumi said, grinning.

"I will too," Kuzon agreed. Bumi took a deep breath and turned his eel-hound towards the south.

"Well, I'll see you when I see you. And it had better not be because I've got to come rescue you from the Boiling Rock!"

Kuzon snorted. "Just make sure the next time I see you it's not to identify the remains of the idiot bender who took on a whole patrol of firebenders by himself."

"Hey, you're the one who did that, not me!" Bumi retorted, eyes shining. Kuzon grinned.

"You're not fireproof."

"Neither are you!"

"But I can control it and keep it from burning me."

"Dodging works just as well, you know."

"Just go, you insane earthbender."

Bumi cackled with glee and kicked his mount into a run, darting in a few circles around Kuzon before stopping facing the south once again. Kuzon simply rolled his eyes at his friend's antics.

"I meant go join your caravan to Omashu," he drawled. Bumi grinned.

"I have to tease you at least once more before we go our own ways," he said cheerfully, before sobering. "Be careful Kuzon."

"I will so long as you will," Kuzon challenged. Bumi nodded sharply and saluted, grinning.

"Yes, sir!" He spurred his mount into a run and started the long journey to catch up to the caravan that would take him to Omashu. Kuzon groaned and yelled after him.

"Quit calling me sir! I'm not an army officer!"

Bumi's response floated back on the wind, accompanied by the sound of cackling laughter. "But you acted like one so well!"

Kuzon shook his head and spurred his own mount towards the east and the ports. He would meet the trading ship that would take him back to his home there, in two days time. "Spirits keep you safe, Bumi," he whispered.

As Kuzon began his journey back to the Fire Nation, he clutched the White Lotus tile close to his chest, feeling hopeful for the first time since his father had told him of Sozin's plan to annihilate the Air Nomads.

A week and a half later, just outside of Kuzon's hometown

"I'm telling you, he's a traitor!"

"He was a hotheaded kid last he was here, and I've heard nothing of a peasant being declared a traitor," sneered the army captain. The small, wiry Fire Nation man standing before him growled and visibly restrained himself from yelling again. He took a deep breath.

"Captain Yavuz, I'm aware that there is no proof but what I've seen, but I'm telling you the truth! He was friends with the Avatar! He's already suspect."

"There were always Air Nomads darting in and out of the outlying islands, Amin, how would you know if Kuzon ever came into contact with him?" A suspicious glare settled on the shorter man. "Unless you knew the identity of the Avatar before Fire Lord Sozin's attack…"

Amin paled slightly, and then colored in affronted pride. "No! No, I never knew until recently. It was the boy, the one who'd obtained near master level by the time he was eleven. Please I swear…"

"And how would you know enough of their bending training to know when a child of theirs was near mastery?" The suspicion had only increased. Amin couldn't seem to find his voice now, any offended pride quickly receding in disbelief and a little fear at his accusation turning back around on him.

"Captain!" The army officer snorted and turned slightly away from the would-be informer, acknowledging his subordinate's call. "A man matching the description we were given has just sailed in with a merchant ship. We've detained him at the shipping master's office off the docks. Should we bring him to you for questioning?"

"No. I will see to him myself," Captain Yavuz ordered crisply, before turning back to the incredulous Amin. "We shall see how your story holds up. Stay here while I interview the boy. I'll be back to deal with you." With that last comment, part statement, part threat, Yavuz turned on his heel and left the army station.

Let's see how much you've changed – or not – in the two years you've been gone, boy, he thought, absently rubbing at a jagged scar above his left eye, legacy of a fight Kuzon had started almost three years ago now.

Kuzon very determinedly kept his hands from straying to the Lotus tile in his pocket as he fidgeted slightly in the Shipping Master's office. This interview was a routine part of the customs check for citizens who'd been traveling for extended periods of time. The army lieutenant had told him that. Even though the lieutenant had been giving him strange looks since Kuzon had gotten off the trading ship. He didn't have any reason to believe he was in trouble, and anyway, he didn't want anyone to know the tile was important to him. They might take it then, and he'd have to buy a whole set of the stupid Pai Sho tiles to get the Lotus again otherwise it'd look suspicious.

"Have I done something wrong, Captain?" he asked politely, hoping fervently this wasn't the same man who had been posted here two years ago. He surreptitiously searched the man's face, and internally winced. Yup. There was the scar over the man's eye, from a fall into a broken stall in a fight Kuzon had instigated.

Just perfect. I come back and get accosted by a guy with a legitimate grudge against me. Just my luck.

"Where have you been the past two years? Kuzon, isn't it?" the captain asked, the glint in his eye indicating he did indeed remember the young man standing before him. Kuzon shrugged.

"I needed to get my head on straight, sir. And I was only causing trouble for my family by staying while I tried to do that. I left to give them some peace, and since I've gotten my head straight now, I thought it'd be a good idea to come back home and make sure my family wasn't too worried about me."

"Your…issues from two years ago wouldn't have had anything to do with being sympathetic to the Air Nomads, now would it?"

Kuzon kept his face puzzled and allowed only a small hint of the pain he still felt to show on his face. That he'd been friends with at least two Air Nomads was no secret, it'd be more suspicious if he didn't have some sort of negative reaction to so blunt a question.

"A bit, sir. I was twelve when the Fire Lord commenced his great plan." No one spoke of it as genocide, not in the Fire Nation. "So I didn't really understand just what was happening until recently." Oh, how true was that. Ironic really, how much he could say that was the truth, and still come across as perfectly loyal sounding to these army officers. He glanced down and to the side. "One of my best friends as a kid was an Air Nomad named Amihan. We were going to spend some time together after she finished her training visit to the Western Temple, but she never got the chance."

"That made you angry," was the only response he got. He took the cue to elaborate, but chose his words with even more care.

"I suppose, Captain, that you could say I was furious for a long time." Kuzon kept his eyes focused on the ground, as if he were ashamed of his actions. "I took out my pain at losing a friend on those around me and people I knew hadn't had a thing to do with the actual enforcement of Fire Lord Sozin's great plan, but…" another shrug, "I was just twelve, and my parents tried to talk sense into me, really they did, and it just never took."

"Until now."

"Well…" Kuzon rubbed at the back of his head, ruthlessly suppressing a jolt as he realized Aang had done that when he was embarrassed. "I went to see another friend from my childhood, sir." He glanced down again, keeping to his role as a reformed trouble-maker. "In the Earth Kingdom. And…" He swallowed, knowing it looked as if he were having trouble admitting to a fault, but in reality he was having to swallow the bile that wanted to rise in his throat at the lie he was about to tell. "Bumi started to blame me for what happened to our friends. And I told him that the Fire Nation was only trying to help the other nations advance and…well, it didn't end well, sir."

A snort from the captain. "You can't expect an Earth Kingdom peasant to understand the greatness of Fire Lord Sozin's vision. That's why we have to help the other nations forward into progress."

"Yes, sir." You pompous idiot. "I understand that now."

"Good." The captain's eyes softened just the slightest bit. "Go home, Kuzon. I'm sure your family will be glad to see you again."

"Thank you, sir," Kuzon said gratefully, and bowed in respect before he picked up his travel pack. Just as he was turning to go, he was grabbed from behind and spun around.

"You liar! How dare you!" Furious golden eyes bored into his own, and Kuzon reacted on instinct honed in far too many battles for someone of his age. He tightened his grip on his pack, instead of dropping it, and swung it with all his might into the face of the threat before him. As the man staggered back to avoid the full force of the pack, Kuzon shot a short, intense burst of fire at the man's feet, knocking him further off balance, and into the nearest wall of the office.

Blinking, Kuzon realized what exactly he'd done and sighed internally. He'd really been around Bumi too long. Though Fire had the reputation of attacking first and asking questions later too.

"Um, Captain…?" he asked, not sure if he should be apologizing to the Captain or demanding an explanation. Kuzon was saved having to figure it out by the army officer's furious glare at the young man's attacker.

"Idiot! I told you to stay at the station!"

"But Captain, he's lying to you! I knew he would, traitor that he is. I couldn't let you be taken in, sir!"

"I have had ENOUGH of your alarmist tendencies!! Show me proof, or leave my sight!"

"Captain, I told you, I have only what I have seen and heard-"

"And what I have heard so far is an idiot sensationalist peasant trying to impair the fresh start of a loyal Fire Nation citizen. You disgust me."

The man on the ground scrambled to his feet, blotchy with anger. He pointed a shaking finger at Kuzon. "He was friends with the Avatar! That boy that used to come here with the Earth Kingdom boy! He was the one. He'd almost gotten mastery by the time he was eleven! I heard them speak about it."

Kuzon's eyes widened in spite of his best efforts to control his reaction. The captain sighed and turned towards Kuzon. "Well, boy? You've heard what you were detained for. Care to refute his statement?"

Apparently his wide-eyed fear had been taken for astonishment. Good. Kuzon took a deep breath to steady himself and was just as surprised as anyone when a laugh escaped him.

Go with it, Kuzon, he told himself, really letting the laughter out now. It was cathartic.

"Aang? You think Aang is…was…the Avatar?" Kuzon shook his head. "Aang was always running to tell someone every time something exciting happened to him. He wouldn't have been able to keep something like being the Avatar from me and his other friends. He'd have said something, even if he didn't say it outright." Kuzon rolled his eyes. "As for Aang nearly being a master by eleven…I don't know what conversation of ours you overheard, but he was excited because he'd attained the next level in his training, not because he was almost at full mastery. Aang had been trying to perfect a move for the past month and he finally got it."

Kuzon bent to pick up his pack and he knocked dirt off of the straps and body. He swung the bag over his shoulder and bowed to the Captain again. "Sir, with your permission, may I return home now?"

"Go, Kuzon. Just don't start any more fights, understood?" The Captain's eyes glinted as he tapped a finger near the scar above his eye. Kuzon flushed.

"No, sir. I won't."

I could wish some of my men sorted themselves out as quickly as that young man has, Yavuz thought, with an odd feeling of pride. He'd understood, as much as he was able, Kuzon's fury over the deaths of his Air Nomad friends. He had only been a boy, and to boys, great plans for the advancement of the world meant nothing next to the pain of losing a friend forever. That much anger and grief had needed an outlet; the young boy had just chosen a poor one. And no matter how he tries to hide it, he still hurts over that.

But he'd managed to control his rage and allowed common sense and reason to penetrate his thick skull. It was more than some men twice his age had been able to do.

"Captain Yavuz, I really must protest!"

A scowl descended on the older man's face and he shot a deadly glare at the idiot that had ruined his morning.

"Lieutenant, take him to the station and throw him in a cell. I find it very suspicious Amin knew exactly when Kuzon was going to dock with his ship, and his knowledge of Air Nomad practices is rather…worrisome." Amin paled and open and closed his mouth, not even able to dredge up a single word of protest. Being accused, even indirectly, of being a traitor, had not seemed to occur to him except in the abstract sense, and the reality robbed him of his ability to speak.

"Yes, sir!"

Ah…Yavuz thought, listening with satisfaction as Amin finally started voicing his protests. Loudly and interspersed with loud cries of "I was telling you the truth! Kuzon's the traitor, not me!" One less malcontent on the streets stirring up trouble.

Kuzon paused at the lane that led to his house and took a few deep, steadying breaths.

Okay. Hurdle one cleared. Captain Yavuz is on my side. Golden eyes regarded the peaceful house before him. Now, I just have to find a way to not lie to my father and mother about what I've been doing for the past two years and keep them safe at the same time.

"Yeah, sure, why not?" he muttered with some humor. "I'll just dig out my old plans for a fire-bending glider and make that functional while I'm at it, why don't I?"

Kuzon squared his shoulders, took another fortifying breath, and strode towards his house.

I can do this. I'm not alone, not anymore.

One hand firmly clasping the White Lotus tile in his pocket, he called out a merry greeting.

"Father! Mom! I'm home, I'm back!"

A/N2: Now, just a technical world-building type note. The Avatar-verse has no official calendar as devised by its creators. This fact has annoyed my beta, Caelum Blue, and myself to no end since it messed with certain aspects of long term fics we're working on. Caelum got fed up with vague notions of time and seasons before I did, and went on a researching spree that gave us a working calendar, which has since been incorporated into our fics. The Avatar-verse calendar I'm utilizing is based off of the old Chinese calendar and a week is ten days. So, the week and a half Kuzon takes to get back home is fifteen days, not nine as it would be for a calendar based on a seven day week. All credit goes to Caelum for her hard work! You can find a link to the document explaining the calendar (and the calendar itself!) on my profile page.

Tell me what you guys think with that nifty review button, please!