Setting: The war is over. Zuko still hasn't found out where his mother is. Only one person can help him, but who? Twist at the end...

The Girl in the Marketplace

I was happy. I didn't know if I had ever felt that way before, but I was really, truly happy. I knew why. It was finally over, all of it. My months in isolation, my being on the run, it was all done. Uncle had finally forgiven me, and so had Mai. She loved me now. Aang and Katara were happy together, Suki and Sokka were with one another, and my father was in jail forever. Everything was perfect.

Well, almost.

There was a hole. A deep, dark hole in my chest that I knew would never go away. I slowly approached the gray, cylindrical building for what seemed the thousandth time, and walked down the damp, moldy hallway, almost mechanically, the red lights on the wall making the silence even more ominous. The only sound I could hear was the steady clack-clacking of my shoes on the stone floor and the gentle snores of the guards by the cell door.

"I'm here to see my father." I mumbled, and walked past him without waiting for a response, not that I got one. I banged on the bars.

"Why are you here?" he, my father, growled.

"To ask you the same question that I have been asking you for the past two weeks." I answered.

He chuckled. "Do you ever give up?" he asked.

"Do you?" I challenged.

"Hm." he said, smiling. "Save your breath. I don't know."

"You're lying." I said through my teeth. I was angry, but I wouldn't let him control me by holding back valuable information. I'd squeeze it out of him if I had to.

He laughed. "You think I know? When I banished her, I didn't tell her where to go. I just told her to leave, to get out and go to a place where I wouldn't have to touch her, let alone be able to. As much as you may doubt it, I loved your mother, too. After that, she vanished." he said, his face calm, his voice even. I realized that he was telling the truth.

"You son of a –"

"I suggest you be a bit nicer." he said, cutting me off. "I may not know, but someone else does." After that, he refused to answer any of my demands.

I left angrily. Who did he think he was? I could have had him killed! Then again, he knew I wouldn't be able to do it as long as I didn't know where she was. If I killed him, that information would be lost forever. Still, it would have been funny to see him begging for my forgiveness as I had tried to do four years ago…

I approached the palace and noticed Toph sitting alone on one of the many courtyard benches.

"Hi, Zuko." she said as I sat next to her. "You feel frustrated."

"I am." I answered. I wondered if I would ever get used to the way that Toph never looked at you when she spoke. "I went to visit my father today. I thought that maybe…"

"Again?" she asked. I frowned. Was it Interrupt Zuko Day? "You do realize that this guy isn't going to budge."

"Well, he actually responded today." I answered.

"Really? What did he say?"

"That's what's so frustrating!" I explained. "He said that I had better be nicer to him because he wasn't the only one who knew where she was."

"To hell with being nicer to him." Toph said. "Any idea who he could be talking about, though?"

"Not a clue. Definitely not Azula."

"Yeah. She's so cuckoo that she can't even write her own name without throwing a temper tantrum!" We laughed. "But seriously." she continued. "You have no idea?"

"Nope. And my head hurts." I said.

"Well, maybe a walk around town will help you think again. Wanna come?" she asked. I nodded.

"Sure, why not?"

"Hey, Zuko. I'll be over there, arm wrestling, if it should be the case that you need me." Toph called. I looked up from the bracelet that I wanted to buy for Katara and nodded. Classic Toph, always chasing after guys to beat at something.

I handed the vendor the money and walked towards home. I relished the chance to be (relatively) normal. Surprisingly, very few people knew what I looked like. Unlike my sister, I didn't parade through the streets with an endless string of caravans, luxuries, and people wanting to wait on me. When I did go out, I wore the uniform of a classy general. Heck, I didn't even have a name. I was just "The General", and my scar was a battle mark.

I passed an inn. It seemed like there was an argument going on inside. Suddenly, a plate crashed through the window. I ducked quickly, my reflexes kept sharp with daily practice. I turned, just in time to hear yelling and see someone being thrown out into the streets.

"…and don't you show your face around here no more, ya here? I won't have no thieves in my house, 'specially none the likes of you! I don't wanna wake up with half my years earnings done up in yo' pocket! Go 'n steal from another poor soul, you Raggedy Ann, n' leave my ol' self in peace!" he screamed, slamming the door. She sat still a moment. I watched as a wide grin spread on her face. She reached into the small bag that was hanging over her shoulder, by her waist, and pulled out something… shiny, and… small. Something that looked a lot like a gold coin.

"Silly old man." she muttered, and pulled out more coins. I watched as she recovered twenty four more of the valuable tokens and inspected them. I walked over to her and leaned on a wall. She didn't seem to notice me.

"Twenty five hundred gin. That ought to keep me full for weeks! Not to mention the first class service I'll be getting in the Earth Kingdom inns! Of course, I may need to pay two of my precious coins for passage to Ba Sing Se, but it'll be worth it! Anything to get away from here." she mumbled.

"Planning to escape?" I asked. She dropped the coins, startled at my sudden appearance, and they rolled all over the ground. She hastily began to collect them. I picked one up and toyed with it. Only small business owners and nobility had this kind of currency. She counted them in her hands.

"… twenty three, twenty four…" She stopped and looked up at the money in my hand. Finally defeated, she stood, brushing herself off, in effect actually only making herself dirtier. She cleared her throat and held out her hand.

"General?" she asked. I looked at her sternly. She gave me what was most likely the most honest smile she could manage.

"They're all… beneficially acquired?" she tried. I shook my head, pointing to her satchel. She groaned and handed it over to me. I placed the gold inside with the rest of the things, including a pair of silver chopsticks, a silken hair-tie, a bronze cup, and the rest of the money.

"I see you appreciate the finer things in life." I said, covering the opening with the sorry piece of cloth that dealt as the closing mechanism. "And I'm not a General."

She looked at me for a moment, the burst out laughing.

"What? Did you go into the wrong closet, admiral?" she mocked.

"I'm actually the Firelord." I said, annoyed.

"Right. And I'm the Earth King." she answered. She turned away. "I hope that you realize that because of you, I just got my butt kicked for absolutely no reason. And, since I have no reason to believe that you'll return my belongings, I don't see why I should stay. See ya 'round, 'Firelord'." she teased, making air quotes around my title, then waving at me. She was beautiful, I'll admit. She had the same fair skin and ebony hair that I did, but she was frailer, more fragile in a way. I guessed that small rations had slimmed her down. Then again, with the money that she had just stolen from that nasty old innkeeper…

I looked down and realized that I was still holding her purse. I honestly had not intentions of keeping her things. However, as I turned to call to her, she had vanished without a trace. I realized how stupid I was. How could I have called her anyways, without knowing what to call her by?

I went to the marketplace everyday in hopes of finding the mysterious girl again. I wasn't having much luck. No one knew her name. However, everyone knew who I was talking about as soon as I said "small red bag". It seemed like she had garnered quite a reputation as a petty thief.

Finally, I managed to find some guy that knew where she was. For a hefty sum, he told me that she worked at the meat vendor's every once in a while in hopes of getting some food, although he hadn't seen her there for a while. Sure enough, as I approached the stand, the vendor pointed to the back. I walked around to see her trying to chop wood.

"Here, let me help you." I said. She jumped, dropping the ax to the floor.

"Stop sneaking up on me." she hissed as I chopped up the wood in one smooth motion.

"I didn't mean to startle you." I answered, carelessly wiping the sawdust off of my hands and onto my uniform.

"That's alright. Hello General."

"Hello. You forgot your things."

"I know."

"You look hungry."

"I am."

"Would you like to join me for dinner at the palace?" I asked. She smiled skeptically.

"Wow." she commented. "You're really getting into this 'being the Firelord' thing. However… I would enjoy a nice meal… very well. Show me this… palace of yours. But first…"

With that, she vanished inside the butcher house. A few moments later, she emerged in a simple peasant dress, red with a golden waistband. Her hair was a bit more… managed, and her face was free of dirt.

"Impressive. Did you… beneficially acquire… that dress, too?" I asked. She laughed, and took my arm as I offered it to her. We walked up the winding path that led to the plaza in front of the palace gate.

After walking a while in total silence, I realized that I still didn't know what to call her.

"Say… what's your name?" I asked, turning a bit red. She smiled.

"I'm Ping." she said. I laughed.

"Ping? It sounds more like a pinprick than a real name." I scoffed. She frowned.

"Well aren't you quite high and mighty?" she asked. Insulted at my comment, she unhooked her arm from mine. "I'm sorry I don't like the name my grandfather gave me! What's wrong with wanting to be different from all the other royals?" she asked. Her face scrunched up as she realized that she had said too much. We stopped walking and I turned to face her.

"You're royalty???" I shrieked.

"… maybe?" she answered.

"Not buying it." I said. We continued to walk.

"How?" I asked.

"How what?"

I huffed. "How are we related?" I said emphasizing the 'related' part. For all I knew, this girl (that, I realized, I was slowly beginning to fancy) could be my cousin or something!! "I mean, if you're royalty, how did you end up like… like…"

"Like this?" she finished. "A low-down, dirty, petty thief that has nothing to her name but a peasant dress, a few knick-knacks, and a couple of hundred gin that she… uh… beneficially acquired?"

"That's not what I meant, but –"

"Yeah, I know. Anyway, believe it or not, my grandfather used to be a Dragon." she said. "He was Sozin's nephew."

"Excuse me?" I asked. She nodded.

"General Pian-Ho, the Dragon of the North. When he married my grandmother, he was well prepared to give my unborn mother anything that she could wish or. But, as complicated love triangles go, nothing seemed to work out in the end, and she decided to marry beneath her. Then, I was born. My grandparents took pity on their half-breed granddaughter and paid for my education at the Royal Fire Academy. I trust you've heard of it? You've most likely attended."

I nodded, astonished. Only the most elite of Fire Nation nobility went to that school. "But what happened?" I asked. She shrugged.

"I dunno. I guess… I couldn't stand all of the fakeness and lying and overall superficial environment in which your popularity depended on how much money you had. So I… dumped my education and took to the streets after my parents died. I want to go the Island of Ming Long Shi."

"The Isle of Eternal Happiness?" I asked. "But isn't that just an old folk legend?" I asked. She shook her head.

"It's not. It's real, I've seen it! Well… not technically. I have a map that leads there, though. It's been passed down from generation to generation. After my father died, since I didn't have any brothers, I inherited it, so to speak." she answered.

"That's why you want to go the Ba Sing Se!" I exclaimed.

"Kinda." she answered. "When my parents passed, my best friend and I made a pact to find Ming Long Shi together. We decided that the first step would be to go the city. But the day that we decided to go, we got separated, and she went while I stayed. So now, I'll go to the rendezvous point and we'll meet."

"And if it doesn't work?" I asked.

"Grandparents." she answered. I nodded.

"Cool." Silence. "But… why did you leave? you could have been really powerful!" I argued. She blinked.

"Oh." she said to the change of subject. "Yeah, I could've, but when I look at how happy my mother was with my father, the man that she chose, and when I look at the relationship between my grandfather and my grandmother, I can't help but to wonder why anyone would choose power over love."

"I see…" I mumbled as we approached the gate. My chief butler ran towards us.

"My lord! I see that you are back from you stroll about town. Is this the… special guest?" he asked tentatively. Ping gave a low whistle.

"So you were telling the truth!" she muttered. I grinned, then turned back to the expectant man.

"Ping Pian-Ho is my personal dinner guest. See to it that she is taken proper care of." I said sternly.

"Very well, my Lord. I was also told to inform you that Avatar Aang, Katara and Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, Toph Bei-Fong, and Suki of Kyoshi Island are here and awaiting your presence."

I turned to see Ping's reaction. Her eyebrows were raised as if to say "the world is just full of surprises, isn't it?" I nodded at her and she dutifully followed my servant.

After a charming dinner with all of my friends, Ping retreated to her room. Two days later, she left to Ba Sing Se. I gave her a messenger hawk and papers to get her a ship for her and her friend.

Three weeks later, I received a message via messenger hawk.

Dear Friend,

Thank you times the power of one thousand suns for the resources that you supplied for me and my friend to make our journey to Ming Long Shi more pleasurable. A word of advice to you about your future endeavors. Never believe that something is impossible. Know that I have experienced blistering heat on a ship barely fit for a stowaway and hardly inhabitable. I have spent hard days at sea without food; most was lost during a storm. But on the day that I was sure we would die, I spotted land in the distance.

Upon stepping off the metal prison, I found myself to be in paradise. Sweet fruits adorn the trees and caves give us shelter. From where we are situated, we can see everything on the island, every movement, hear every sound. It's really quite primitive, the way that we live, but it is worth it. Everything works in perfect harmony, without the constant fear of trouble that comes with our society. The sky is crisp and clear, not a particle of coal in the air. The fish are delicious and fulfilling. At times, I find myself wishing you here with me. But you have you duties, and I have mine.

It is in these moments that I realize: I have found Ming Long Shi. It is everything that I have ever imagined, but better in the sense that it is real. Tell no one of this place. Part of its magic is the fact that it is unknown to the world, an evanescent, capricious mystery. Somehow, I feel that I was meant to be here.

I trust in your secrecy.

Forever yours, yet always hidden,

-Ping

The handwriting… it was too familiar…

Then it hit me like lightning.

… mom.

FIN

Have you guessed who Ping's friend is? -nod- the one and only. This story is dedicated to all those that believe in Ming Long Shi, or any other place as magical. Never stop hoping, and everything will turn out just fine.

~Sweep