Another training session was done, and Zuko was pleased enough with Aang's progress after a week. Well enough that he felt he could leave the Avatar alone for a few more hours to practice by himself. A dozen candles scattered around the room, he'd told the boy to practice lighting them with casting small flames, both from a standstill and while in motion.

Aang would be another prodigy, he was sure. Even better than Azula, but surprisingly he wasn't bitter about the idea of being beaten by his pupil. After all, no firebender could hope to match the power of a fully realized Avatar when you got right down to it. Heading back towards his room, he heard the clattering of rock a few chambers over, and stopped to take a peek. Toph was practicing, turning fallen block of the temple into fragments of rock and turning them into a deadly spray, then reforming it into a massive boulder.

He watched, remembering that Uncle had advised him to watch and learn from other elements. A move from the waterbenders had already saved his life once. He almost wished he'd seen the look on his father's face. It must have been infuriating for Ozai to realize that his embarrassment of a son who'd chosen the ways of "tea and failure" hadn't been eliminated. Not only that, said annoyance had even beaten him with a technique he didn't even recognize. If he thought Katara would actually listen, he might get to tell her about his newfound appreciation of her art someday.

But for the time being, who knew what earthbending might have to teach him? After a few moments, Toph called over her shoulder, letting the boulder settle. "Quit gawking at me, Prince Charming. Either get in here and talk to me, or leave."

Embarrassed, he slipped into the room. "I'm…uh…not really a prince any more." Not after telling his father that he renounced him and everything the Fire Lords had stood for over the last century, and that he was leaving to join the Avatar. His prospects as Crown Prince were pretty slim, he was sure. As for charming; that applied only if tongue-tied and awkward" now qualified.

She gave a snort of amusement, turning towards him. "OK. Hothead? Flamebrain? Sparky? Or maybe what Snoozles called you when I joined up. 'Some angry freak with a ponytail who's tracked us all over the world'."

At least that was better than "Zuzu". Anything was better than that. He was surprised Sokka hadn't mentioned his scar and wondered if Toph knew about it. If not, he considered that a small bright spot. "I lost the 'ponytail' months ago." Too bad he hadn't remembered cutting his hair and symbolically cutting his ties to the Fire Nation when it had really counted. "And I got rid of the angry part too…I think."

"You don't really have much of a sense of humor, do you?"

Now he understood this game. She was going to keep poking him verbally until he responded. At least it seemed a lot more good-natured than Azula's viciousness. He gave it a try. "Humor? That's not standard issue for Fire Nation boys. If we laugh we might—um—actually be mistaken for human beings."

"Better!" She gave him a nod of approval. "You might break the mold yet." With a stamp of her foot, she raised a short, flat-topped pillar of stone and gestured him to it. "Have a seat, Sunshine." She beamed at him in satisfaction.

He sighed to himself at that. "Sunshine" it was, apparently. "How are your feet?"

"Sweetness took care of 'em," it took a moment to manage to translate that to "Katara". "I'm back to normal. No worries." As he absorbed that with relief, she immediately threw the next question at him. "So how's Twinkletoes' training going?"

"Fine, just fine," he said, much too quickly.

She stared at him with her clouded eyes. He still felt like she could see right through him. "You know, your sister's a much better liar than you."

Azula always lies. He remembered her at the beach trying to deny that Ursa's opinion of her had mattered. She'd told so many lies that he thought she couldn't even recognize truth any more. "Guess that's a compliment. Azula's had a lot of practice."

"You and Twinkletoes are probably the two worst liars I've ever met," she continued cheerfully. "Surprising for someone who grew up in the snake pit you did. So what have you got him up to?"

Something about her invited his confidence. Maybe it was her blunt honesty, maybe the fact that she hadn't been with Aang since the beginning and didn't carry as much of a grudge against him. "I've got him in a big hall trying to light candles from various distances. It's good for his control. And you can use a small bolt to burn a hand or snap a bowstring and disarm your opponent instead of just torching him. Sheer power isn't everything." That had been a hard lesson for him to learn, but Aang seemed eager when Zuko had explained the idea. Small wonder: the idea of fighting with the intent of hurting anyone bothered the Avatar intensely. And that was part of the problem.

"Nice party trick too. Bet the girls love it." He allowed himself a laugh at that, although it brought memories of Ba Sing Se again. Happier days, now that he thought back on them. But he couldn't hide forever as Li, and the Earth Kingdom could never be home. "But…?" Toph prodded him.

He sighed, shaking his head and leaning against the column at his back. "But that's for taking down actual weapons. It's going to be useless against another firebender...like my dad."

"Mmhm." She kicked up another stone seat across from him and sat down, dangling her feet off the edge. "So talk to Auntie Toph, Sunshine. What's keeping you from teaching him more useful stuff?"

"Him."

She gave a discreet cough. "You want to be a little more specific with that?"

"He hates firebending. He hasn't said it, but I can tell." The reluctance whenever attacks came up, cringing when Zuko urged him to be more aggressive.

"Your people did kind of wipe his out," Toph pointed out. "And even you haven't exactly been different from that until recently." He glared at her before realizing it was pointless; she couldn't see it. Stupid.

"Airbenders fight defensively. All the time I was chasing him, he'd never strike me first, would try to just run. But the only firebending defense is starting on the offense and staying there. And so far he won't deliberately attack someone."

"At least he's not playing airbender on you and running away from firebending. He tried to just ignore the problem when we couldn't think of anyone to teach him."

"He's going to have to face my father and fight, and accept that only one of them will survive. Nothing else is going to defeat the Fire Lord."

She stared sightlessly at him a long moment. "We've taught him more than bending, you know? He started by just avoiding his problems like an Airbender. Sweetness taught that sometimes you confront the obstacles by redirecting your efforts. I almost started ripping my hair out, but I finally taught him how to stand his ground. And you…now it's your turn. The last step: he has to learn to think like a firebender when it's needed. And that means?"

"Confront the problem head-on and beat it."

"You're not as dumb as they like to think, are you? He needs all of it to win: the airbender's compassion, waterbender's adaptability, earthbender's persistence…and firebender's courage."

He shook his head. "I think he's too afraid. Fire Nation mindset is totally contrary to that of the Air Nomads. And he's lost his people already. If he accepts firebending …he might lose being the last of his nation."

"Come on. We all gave up something to take this quest. Even you did."

"I did it because I had to make things right."

"You just rejected your entire country and its ideals, probably threw away your chance at the throne of the Fire Nation, and knowingly agreed to fight against your own family…to help save the world. Give yourself somecredit. Hey, I will."

"Thanks." It still surprised him that it stung a little to hear it spelled out so clearly what he'd lost. The Fire Nation had been deceived and led astray by the Fire Lords, yes, and they'd done dark things in consequence. But he still loved his country and its people fiercely. He was a son of the Fire Nation, and it would always be home until the day he died. He wasn't sure there was any place there for him after this, and that maybe hurt most. "Um…and you?"

"Pff. I guess I don't compare. I just gave up being smothered to by my parents. She'll need a husband to constantly look after her, poor little blind girl, so good thing she's a Bei Fong and can buy one, right?"

"You're Toph Bei Fong?" He stared at the dusty little earthbender with her drab clothes. Even he'd heard of the fabulously wealthy family, part of his lessons on the powers of the other nations. He had some fellow-feeling, he realized wryly. Who'd have ever thought that Li, the shop boy in the apron and drab Earth Kingdom peasant clothes, was a prince of the Fire Nation?

"Ah, but you beat me," she said with a satisfied snicker. "I'm only the Earth King's cousin."

"Fourth in line for the throne, though," he said. "I think."

"Third now. Cousin Feng died."

"Sorry. In the wars?"

"No, he drowned in his koi-crab pond after drinking too much plum wine. But he was a jerk anyway."

"So's my father," he offered tentatively.

"I kind of figured from the whole 'shamed and banished until further notice' thing."

He groaned. "You heard about that?"

"Sunshine, everybody knows. Outside your borders, we all pay pretty close attention to what's up with the Fire Lord's heir. It gives us an idea what to expect when the current one croaks."

"Oh." He hadwondered why Earth Kingdom peasants had heard about his banishment. Apparently they'd failed to mention his scar as part of the story: small mercy. He wouldn't have been able to hide anywhere if they'd known about it.

"So what did you do anyway…toasted Daddy's favorite pet or something?"

"No." He said it more harshly than he intended, but it was something he didn't want to talk about just then. "I didn't deserve what he did to me, but I guess the whole world can say that about Fire Lord Ozai. Leave it at that."

"Have it your way. Your uncle's a much better guy anyhow. And he cares about you."

"I know," he said it with a sudden lump in his throat. "I've got a lot to make up to him…when I find him."

"My suggestion? Start with an apology. He'll see what you've done now and know the kind of person you've become. And he'll be proud." She gave him a sly smile. "Probably offer you some tea while he's at it."

"Probably." If Uncle Iroh could forgive him, he swore he'd never say a word against tea again as long as he lived…or Pai Sho, for that matter.

"Anyhow, Twinkletoes is the Avatar. He's got sacrifices to make too. He's destined to restore balance to the world by giving up allegiance to any one nation and its people. So go at it like you're meant to, like a firebender. Direct and with force—make him see. You may not have been big on sense, but I don't think any of these guys ever faulted your sheer guts." She grinned cheekily at him. "Or your stubbornness, it sounds like. You sure you're not part earthbender?"

"Katara's going to love it," he couldn't help remarking, trying to keep his tone nonchalant. "I give it about five seconds of me trying to force a fight before she comes charging out all ready to maim me."

"She has no idea how other elements work; kept trying to tell me that I was pushing him too hard and that I needed to give him 'gentle encouragement'. Ha! Like that would work. She's been spying on you, you know."

"Spying where?" He stared at Toph, with a sudden paranoid vision of Katara standing over him in his sleep or the like.

"Training. You think she's going to let her dear Twinkletoes be left alone when there'sfire being thrown around? Not to mention that you kept trying to kidnap him in the past. No offense, I'm just saying."

"Oh, that. Yeah, I was pretty sure she was watching." To have it confirmed was neither here nor there to him. He'd started to just ignore her, and was determined to not let her presence affect his lessons. Also, he was trying to keep her thinking he was clueless: let that knowledge become his advantage.

Toph had a strange expression on her face, almost suspicious. "What did you think I meant?"

"Nothing, nothing."

"Bad liar," she reminded him. "Although to be honest, she's sneaked into your room and been through your stuff too."

"I knew that." He'd found a few things out of place and knew it was Katara. Aang was probably too friendly to rummage through another person's things without invitation. Sokka really didn't seem to care one way or another. And while he could imagine Toph being a brat and freely "borrowing" from people, nothing was missing and too much care had been taken to try and replace things where they'd been. That tidiness ruled out the bison and the lemur as well, he thought with a roll of his eyes.

Ergo, that left the waterbender. He was half-surprised she hadn't just stolen his broadswords and dagger and claimed she was doing it to help protect Aang. She was bold, he'd give her that. All right, he was no hand in practicing subtlety himself, but years of seeing the deviousness and manipulations at the Fire Lord's palace made him familiar with it. "She's pretty obvious in everything she does. Clear as water." He waited, pleased at his joke.

Toph gave a quick groan and shook her head, locks of black hair flying. "Nope, keep trying on the humor. In any case, it's your choice." She leaned forward as she spoke, her voice so soft he had to strain to catch it. "Now, you can be a good boy, keep Sweetness happy and let Twinkletoes off easy." Her face almost in his, she barked, "Or you can do your job!" Piece said; she sat back, arms folded. She was right, he admitted. He'd known it all along.

"I have a few days to think, because this definitely needs a plan. He still has some basic control lessons to master first. Then…"

Toph nodded with a satisfied smile. She couldn't see it, but he smiled back. He had to admit he actually liked the little earthbender and her honesty. "Good luck. You're gonna need it. So sound the charge, Sunshine."