A/N: Much thanks to Firelord Lionheart, who beta'd this for me.

Chapter One – The Offer

Crouching in the bushes in front of one of the broken pillars on the terrace outside the entrance to the Western Air Temple, Zuko watched as the Avatar glided down to land beside the fountain, followed by his bison. As the Avatar's friends climbed out of the bison's saddle, he heard the Avatar talking.

"Oh, you're going to love the all-day echo chamber," the Avatar said.

Leaving the cover of the bushes, Zuko walked out to where he would be seen clearly once the bison moved out of the way. He was as nervous as hell, but he knew he had to do this. He had to join the Avatar's group. He just didn't know if they would be willing to accept him. He knew that he'd be hesitant to accept someone who had done to him everything that he had done to the Avatar and his friends.

But the Avatar did need a firebending teacher. Other than Uncle Iroh, he was probably the only firebender in the world who would be willing to teach the Avatar right now. They'd have to be crazy to refuse his offer of teaching. If, at the beginning, that was the only reason they accepted him, so be it. Hopefully, as time went on and he showed them that he could be trusted, they'd accept him for himself as well.

"I think that'll have to wait," he heard a female voice say.

As the Avatar's bison moved to the side, he saw the Avatar and his friends turn toward him, the expressions on their faces changing from surprise to anger as they recognized him.

"Hello," he said, raising his arm in greeting, "Zuko here."

Warily, Zuko watched as the Avatar raised his staff into an attack position, his friends also shifting their stances in preparation for an attack.

"Hey, I heard you guys flying around down there, so I just thought I'd wait for you here," Zuko said.

On his right, the Avatar's bison took a step toward him, growling. Taking a cautious step away from the bison, Zuko covered his face with his arms as the bison licked his back. Lowering his arms, Zuko noticed the surprised expressions on the faces of the Avatar and his lemur as the Avatar lowered his staff slightly while the bison proceeded to give his face an affectionate lick.

Wiping his face with his arm, Zuko continued, "I know you must be surprised to see me here."

"Not really," the Water Tribe warrior said, "since you've followed us all over the world."

Shifting uncomfortably, Zuko said, "Right… Well, uh…anyway, what I wanted to tell you is that I've changed and I, uh, I'm good now. And, well, I think I should join your group.

"Oh, and I can teach firebending…to you," he added, pointing to the Avatar, who lowered his staff further in confusion. "See, I, uh…"

"You want to what now?" the little earthbender said. It was the same voice that had said that they'd have to wait to see the temple. Looking at her pale, unfocused eyes, Zuko realized she was blind.

That would explain how she knew I was here, Zuko thought. I was being as quiet as I could, but her blindness has probably sharpened her other senses well enough for her to hear me anyway.

"You can't possibly think that any of us would trust you, can you?" the waterbender asked as her brother raised his fist. "I mean, how stupid do you think we are?"

"Yeah," the warrior said, "all you've ever done is try to hunt us down and capture Aang."

"I've done some good things," Zuko said defensively, walking forward. "I mean, I could've stolen your bison in Ba Sing Se, but I set him free," he continued, thrusting his arms toward the bison. "That's something." As he finished speaking, he was surprised to feel something large and wet travel up his back before he realized that the bison was licking him again.

So far, so good, he thought. At least I'm doing better than in my practice session.

"Appa does seem to like him," the little earthbender said as the Water Tribe siblings turned toward her briefly before angrily turning back to Zuko.

"He probably just covered himself in honey or something so that Appa would lick him," the warrior said. "I'm not buying it," he finished, swiping his arm to the side.

"I can understand why you wouldn't trust me," Zuko said, turning his head to the side, "and I know I've made some mistakes in the past."

"Like when you attacked our village?" the warrior asked.

"Or when you stole my mother's necklace," the waterbender added, "and used it to track us down and capture us?" She stepped forward, her fists clenched in anger.

"Look, I admit I've done some awful things," Zuko said. "I was wrong to try and capture you," he continued, lowering his head and pressing his palm against his temple, "and I'm sorry that I attacked the Water Tribe. And I never should've sent that Fire Nation assassin after you. I'm gonna try to stop him."

"Wait," the warrior said, unsheathing his boomerang and brandishing it at Zuko, "you sent Combustion Man after us?"

Oh, shit, Zuko thought. Of all the things I could have said, I just had to mention that. So much for things going well. "Well, that's not his name, but…," he said aloud before the warrior cut him off.

"Oh, sorry," the warrior said sarcastically. "I didn't mean to insult your friend."

"He's not my friend," Zuko said heatedly, raising his voice.

"That guy," the little earthbender said, pointing an accusing finger at Zuko, "locked me and Katara in jail and tried to blow us all up." She finished by angrily swiping her hand down.

Zuko closed his eyes briefly before opening them again and turning his head toward the Avatar. "Why aren't you saying anything?" he asked the Avatar. "You once said you thought we could be friends." Zuko shrugged. He may not have been open to the idea at the time, but Zuko was certain that the question had been asked out of genuine interest. The Avatar looked down to the side, a thoughtful expression on his face. "You know I have good in me," Zuko finished.

Zuko watched as the Avatar looked up at his friends and saw the warrior shake his head. The Avatar turned back to look at him before saying, "There's no way we can trust you after everything you've done. We'll never let you join us."

As Zuko tried to process his surprise at this unexpected rejection, the waterbender added, "You need to get out of here now."

Closing his eyes again, Zuko gathered his courage before opening them again and looking at the group with determination. "I'm trying to explain," he said, raising his arms in frustration and stepping toward the group, "that I'm not that person anymore." He continued toward the group until the warrior took a step forward and thrust his boomerang out warningly.

As Zuko stepped back, the warrior said, "Either you leave or we attack."

Zuko was aghast. He had known that it would be hard to get the Avatar and his friends to even accept him and that they might never fully trust him, but he had at least thought that they would be willing to call a truce for the sake of teaching the Avatar firebending. Desperate, he decided to try one last time. "If you won't accept me as a friend," he said, getting down on his knees and bowing his head, "then maybe you'll take me as a prisoner." As he finished, he raised his arms out in front of him, offering them to be bound.

"No, we won't!" the waterbender said angrily, reaching for her waterskin.

"Katara, wait!" the Avatar said, reaching out and placing a restraining hand on the girl's arm. Turning back to Zuko, he asked, "Do you really mean that?"

Keeping his head bowed, Zuko swallowed down a lump in his throat. "I'll do whatever it takes for you to accept me," he said hoarsely.

"He means that, Twinkletoes," he heard the little earthbender say. "He's completely serious about that offer."

His head still bowed, Zuko heard the Avatar sigh. Please, he thought, please accept this offer. Zuko didn't know what he would do if they even rejected having him as a prisoner.

After what seemed to be an agonizingly long time, although it was probably less than a minute in reality, the Avatar spoke again. "All right," he said. "Toph says you're serious about your offer, so we'll accept you as a prisoner." Reaching down, he untied the belt around his waist and stepped toward Zuko.

"Aang," the waterbender said, "are you sure this is a good idea? What if he tries to escape?"

"He's serious about this, Katara," the Avatar—Aang, Zuko reminded himself. His name is Aang—said. "He offered himself as a prisoner, so I highly doubt that he'll try to get away from us. Besides, I don't know about you, but I'll feel a lot safer here knowing that we've got him locked up in some room here than I would knowing he's out there, but not knowing where he was."

"I suppose you're right," the waterbender—Katara—sighed.

Stepping forward again, Aang walked over to Zuko and bound the prince's wrists tightly with his belt.

Raising his head again, Zuko was slightly surprised to realize that his cheeks were wet. He hadn't even known he was crying. Looking Aang in the eye, he rasped, "Thank you."

"What are you thanking me for?" Aang asked.

"For accepting me in any way," Zuko answered, "even if it is only as a prisoner."

"I'm only doing that because Toph said you meant it when you said you'd do whatever it takes to be accepted," Aang said.

So Toph is the little earthbender, Zuko thought. "What does her verification have to do with it?" he asked, puzzled.

"She can tell if someone is lying," Aang said. "Since she said that you were being honest, I knew I could trust your offer."

"Enough chit-chat," the warrior said, coming over and roughly hauling Zuko to his feet. "Let's get Prince Jerk locked up so we can get on with more important things."

Zuko bit back a protest as the warrior called him "Prince Jerk". He knew that even the small acceptance he had gotten was a grudging one and he was not going to jeopardize it by objecting to something as trivial as an insulting name. Besides, he had to admit that there was a certain amount of truth in the name. He had acted like a jerk in his previous encounters with the group.

"Sorry, Sokka," Aang said.

"So where would be a good place to keep Prince Jerk?" the warrior—Sokka—asked.

"One of the meditation cells would probably be safest," Aang said.

"Do any of them have a lock?" Sokka asked.

"No," Aang said. "But Toph and I can just earthbend some rock to block the doorway."

"Lead the way, then," Sokka said, gesturing expansively. Aang started off toward one of the walkways leading off of the terrace and Zuko quickly fell in behind the young airbender, with Sokka right behind him, Katara and Toph following Sokka.