"Avatar Aang, the Fire Lord will see you now."

Aang nodded and followed the Royal Guard into the cavernous throne room, he'd been in here once before, on Zuko's first day as Fire Lord, and it still awed him. At the end of the hall, Zuko was sitting on his dais, surrounded by flames, and for the briefest of moments, Aang had a flashback to his battle with Ozai. He imagined the tyrant seated on that very same dais, cackling evilly as the Earth Kingdom burned...

But thanks to Aang and his friends, that scenario never came to pass, he reminded himself as he tried to calm his lingering fear. Ozai had been dealt with and was no longer a threat to anyone. Zuko was a different kind of Fire Lord. Aang wouldn't have believed that just a couple of years ago, but the teenager who had once hunted him to the ends of the earth had changed remarkably since then, and now Aang counted him as one of his most trusted friends.

Zuko stood up when he saw Aang approaching, it wasn't customary for the Fire Lord to address a visitor face to face, and Aang would have respected that rule, but Zuko was having none of it, he climbed down to Aang's level.

"I've never liked this setup, it's too intmidating," Zuko complained.

"No it's not!" Aang replied quickly, trying to reassure his friend.

Zuko rolled his eyes. Darn, he must have seen me tense up just now. "Well okay, maybe it's a little intimidating."

"One of these days I'm gonna change it. But enough about that, it's great to see you again." Zuko said with a sincere smile.

"It's good to see you too. How's the whole 'being the Fire Lord' thing going?"

Zuko looks down at his robe, sometimes it's as if he's still getting used to this himself. "Well, as you might guess, it's challenging being the youngest Fire Lord of the last few centuries."

"Yeah," Aang sighs, "just like it was challenging being a 12 year old kid who had to end a hundred year war, defeat the most powerful man in the world, all while being chased constantly by, uhhh...well, you, no offense."

"None taken, and sorry about that by the way."

"All water under the bridge, am I right?" Aang laughed awkwardly. "So...you were saying?"

"Oh, right. Well, since we're at peace now, I've decided to take steps towards demilitarizing our nation for first time in a hundred years. The draft is going to stop, service in the army is now voluntary. We returned the colonies to the Earth Kingdom too. We're also going to overhaul our education system. No more propaganda about the glorious crusade of Sozin and the righteous war of Ozai. If the Fire Nation is going to heal, we're going to have to face up to what we've done and forge a new path forward."

"That's great Zuko, you're doing so much good already," Aang said, genuinely impressed by the new Fire Lord.

"Thank you. So, what brings you here, anyways?"

Aang suddenly felt extremely nervous. What he wanted to ask Zuko seemed so...trivial, silly. He might get laughed out of this throne room for all he knew. Oh well, he thought, here goes nothing...

"Well...it's a long story, but here's the short version," Aang took a deep breath. "After Azula sort of killed me with her lightning attack in Ba Sing Se, Katara brought me back with some spirit water. Then we went undercover, since, you know, everyone assumed I was dead. So we ended up at this small town on one of the Fire Nation's islands, where I accidentally enrolled in Fire Nation school. I wasn't there very long, but I made some friends and met this really nice girl named Onji. Anyways, on our last day there, I threw a secret, and possibly illegal, dance party for the whole school, and it was great, we even managed to book the Flamey-O's! But then the headmaster showed up and we had to get out of there. I didn't even get to really say goodbye to her..."

Zuko stared at Aang for a few moments, that was a lot of information to take in at once. "Uh, okay. So what did you need help with?"

Aang fidgeted with the sleeve of his robe. "Remember that girl I was telling you about? Her name's Onji, she was really kind to me, even though I was just a lowly colonist- um, I mean, was pretending to be a lowly colonist, that is. And...the thing is I like her, and I haven't stopped thinking of her since we left, but...my Fire Nation geography is pretty rusty, I have no idea how to get back there. I was wondering if you would help me find her?"

"Oh," Zuko said, clearly caught off guard by Aang's request. "I- wasn't expecting that."

Aang hung his head. "It was a dumb thing to ask, I know you probably have more important things to do-"

"No, it's not that. I guess...well I guess I just always assumed you and Katara were a thing."

"I thought that once too," Aang admitted, "but she didn't feel the same. It took some time for me to move on, but I think I'm ready now. Plus...the monks used to tell us that everything happens for a reason."

Zuko nodded. "All right, I'll help you."

"Really? Wow, thanks Zuko! I mean, uh, your assistance is greatly appreciated, your Royal Flameyness sir." Aang made a show of bowing courteously, which got a chuckle from Zuko.

Zuko had a hand on his chin, as if deep in thought. "If we're going to find Onji, we'll have to go to this school of yours, and I think I know which one you're talking about."

"You do?"

"Yeah. They had a repuation as being one of the strictest schools in the Fire Nation, and that's saying something. Quite frankly I'm amazed you survived."

Aang shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. "That makes two of us. So...when do we head over there?"

Zuko brushed down his robes. "How does now sound?"

Aang flinched, taken by surprise by Zuko's suggestion "Wait you mean like, now now?"

"I'm supposed to go there in a few days anyways, I wanted to have a little chat with the headmaster about what he's been teaching those kids. Might as well surprise them with an early appearance. You came here on Appa, right?"

"Yeah," Aang comfirmed.

"Then our ride's arranged...only if you're ready though."

There were a flood of emotions running through Aang at that moment. Excitement knowing that soon he would see Onji again for the first time since that fateful night. Anxiety as his doubts started to pile up. What if she didn't remember him? Or maybe she was mad at him for getting her in trouble with the headmaster and then ditching her. What would she say when she found out that the Avatar and Kuzon were one and the same? But he had come this far, and he really wanted to see her again, no matter what her reaction to him was.

"I'm ready."

And with that, the Avatar and the Fire Lord set off on their journey, an uncertain fate awaiting them.