Prologue
-The Avatar was flying to Omashu.
-Nothing special about that, he'd done it often enough in the past two years. After all, it was a grand, important city, not to mention the home of his oldest friend, the Mad Genius.
-Truth be told, he was the only reason the airbender was on his way there now. He needed a timeout. And who better to provide that than one of the oldest, cleverest, and, let's face it, mad, men on the planet.
-This trip was different from the previous ones though.
-First, he was alone. No Katara, no Toph, no Sokka. He'd even left Appa and Momo behind, only taking his glider with him.
-Second, he was in an unusual somber mood, so much so that his friends would have called it alien.
-Third, for the first time since Sozin's Comet, he didn't know what to do when he arrived at his destination.
-He just knew that he needed advice, or a distraction or anything, to make him feel better, and Bumi was the first person to come to his mind. Usually, his younger friends would have been the obvious choice, but in this case that would have been beyond awkward.
-Aang sighed as he watched the city's outer walls pass beneath him. Not even the sight of the strange paranoid man, who always clutched his cabbages protectively when he saw him, managed to cheer him up.
-Naturally, he headed straight for the palace at the top of the circular city. The guards only bowed briefly when he flew by, the Avatar visiting their king was not an uncommon event.
-Somehow, though Aang wasn't sure how that was possible, Bumi seemed to have known of his coming and was waiting right outside the palace doors, dressed in one of his usual extravagant outfits. That sight did manage to bring a small smile to his face.
-Without a word, Aang snapped his glider shut and hugged his friend in a firm embrace. Bumi returned it with a strengh that would have been surprising to anyone who didn't know that Bumi was hiding a well trained body under those loose robes. As it was, this was just what Aang needed.
-"Thanks, Bumi.", he said.
-"No problem at all, Aang", the King of Omashu returned, a familiar glint in his eyes.
-Aang collected himself, breathed out and said: "I need to talk to you. And - this might sound crazy-" Bumi chuckled at that, "but I think I need your advice.