Author's Note: Writer's block. End of semester madness. Blah.

Also, I believe I stated in the previous chapter that the Avatar descended from the Shinsei. I made a mistake; this is not the case in the story, nor anywhere else I am readily able to name. I did change that part of the first chapter, for future reference.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar, 'cause if I did, The Day of Black Sun would have been screwed up completely, to say the least.

Chapter 2: Birthday Hospitalities

New Omashu was the agreed meeting place of the Avatar and his closest allies, so this was where Aang and Katara were now; they'd been there for the past week or so. Aang and Bumi had been catching up, and Katara, feeling oppressed by the palace walls and annoyed by the maids, often took to stealing away into the city when she had free time (which was often, considering that the only thing to do in the house was sew and admire the tapestries, neither of which Katara cared to indulge in for longer than absolutely necessary).

As the days passed, Aang became more and more restless. He was anticipating Toph and Sokka's arrival, and, for the past three afternoons, he'd stood on the narrow earthen path just outside of the city's great walls; Katara had not joined him, believing that Toph and Sokka would certainly not come early, if even on time, and that missing dinner was an injustice to both their host and her stomach.

It was the fourth evening of Aang's eager anticipation of Toph and Sokka. He stood before the city gates, oblivious of the fact that he was being studied by the single guard on duty. His eyes were intensely focused on the high ledge directly in front of the path, and his mind was in another place entirely; his complete distraction was the reason he jumped when he felt a hand touch his shoulder, though he stilled almost immediately upon the realization of the identity of the person to whom that hand was attached.

"You're a little tense," Katara murmured. She drew her hand away slowly, deliberately; she didn't appreciate the way Aang seemed not to hear her, the way he gazed out into the mountainous horizon with as little intention of leaving as he had of walking off the cliff.

Aang didn't want to go. It would be infinitely more gratifying to see Toph's and Sokka's silhouettes rise in the midst of the mountains, rise upon that cliff ahead of the city, than to see them framed in a doorway crowded by servants. However, he had no way of explaining this to Katara because he had no way of expressing his feelings without the probability of her calling him ridiculous.

The Avatar scrunched his bare toes upon the hard ground of the path, standing as steadily silent as a statue. He wouldn't speak for fear of having an argument with Katara, because if they had an argument, he knew he would lose. All hope of his remaining on the path rested with his being silent.

Katara sighed. Why wouldn't he speak to her? Why wouldn't he defend his reasoning? Perhaps she just wanted to hear him speak, see him do anything. Aang wasn't a somber person by nature, and he was only acting this way because he knew that she wanted him to return to the palace. Of course, that didn't explain why he wouldn't speak, or why he wouldn't join her.

"Bumi's going to be disappointed if you miss his birthday dinner," Katara said, deciding to take initiative. "That's part of the whole reason he invited you here – so you two could celebrate his birthday together. Doesn't leaving him to his own dinner seem a little inconsiderate?" She didn't speak harshly, not wanting to receive an angry reaction. Instead, her voice expressed the purest disappointment.

Aang frowned. "Bumi understands why I'm here," he told her, hoping that she would understand, too. She understood so much, but when it came to something like this – something that seemed so trivial, so utterly ridiculous – she couldn't comprehend his reasoning. His eyes never left the cliff above the city, hoping beyond hope that his friends would appear there.

As though the Spirits heard his plea, two familiar figures rose to the top of the cliff overlooking the city gates. A grin broke his face as he said, "Katara, look up there."

Katara followed his pointing finger to Toph and Sokka, descending now. Toph earthbended a wide, steady earthen path straight to Aang and Katara, and Sokka, becoming more distinct by the second, waved in excitement.

"I knew they'd be here," Aang said, more to himself than to Katara, though she felt the statement was directed at her. Katara said nothing; the bubble of frustration that had risen in her chest when Aang had refused to return to the palace disappeared as happiness took its place.

Toph and Sokka reached their friends and each pair stood for a moment, contemplating each other. Everyone was lost in a moment of sizing the others up, determining how they'd fared since they'd last been all together. Each was healthy and content.

"So… if I'm not mistaken, we have a birthday dinner to attend," Katara murmured.

"I hope you're not mistaken," Toph grinned, stepping forward. "We left a day early and woke up a few hours before dawn this morning so we could make it. Didn't we, Snoozles?"

He allowed himself an expression that rested somewhere between annoyance and cheerfulness, if such a thing was possible. "Here we are, me robbed of my beauty sleep and Toph as insane as ever."

"Well, you made good timing," Aang remarked. "Now c'mon, we have a birthday feast to eat!"

-Sometime Later-

"…So I said to him, I said, 'Well, how would you like it if a fire-breathing panther-bear destroyed your family history!' And you know what he said to me?"

"What?" Toph asked, banging her fist on the table and laughing a little in anticipation for the answer.

"'I'm certainly not to blame if you let fire-breathing panther-bears eat your family heritage;' I think he believes they exist even today. Needless to say, I got past that guy without him saying another word to me except about that panther-bear. But what you might not know is that he felt so bad about making a comment about my great-grandmother, I got total access to the main delivery building! And that, Toph, is when I first got to ride the city delivery system."

"You're a genius, Bumi," Toph told him, grinning as widely as the storyteller.

Sokka raised a skeptical eyebrow. "That's a really elaborate plan just to ride some chutes," he told him.

Bumi looked at the warrior. "Well, sure, I could've just jumped in one whenever I wanted, but I had to ruffle that young man's feathers. He had said the same thing about Aang's great-grandmother…" Bumi trailed off, allowing them all to see why he'd chosen to mess with him. Toph thought Bumi's plan of retaliation was terribly clever, if not utterly stupid in the most positive way.

There was silence around the table for a few brief moments in which Toph took the time to take a few bites of her food. Sokka'd already had seconds (and thirds, and fourths) by the time she'd barely been able to touch her meal. Listening to Bumi distracted all of her attention, and, as the birthday boy, he told almost all of the stories.

Suddenly Toph felt a woman rush to the door. "Wonder what her hurry is," she murmured, gesturing toward the threshold over which the woman was entering.

"King Bumi, I'm incredibly sorry to interrupt your birthday dinner," the woman apologized, approaching the king hurriedly. Bumi waved a hand to gesture that he didn't mind in the slightest. "Sir, you have an unscheduled visitor who says that you invited him…?"

"Ah! Yes, yes… I wasn't expecting him quite so early, but you can let him in."

"Are you sure, Sir? He looks like a really suspicious character, and he refuses to remove his cloak. The guards are sure that he has something to hide."

"Oh, he has something to hide, all right," Bumi replied, still grinning. "Yes, I invited him. He's a part of my private little celebration, and he's here to talk politics with the rest of us. Bring him in."

As though on cue, two guards, one on each side of the mysterious figure in question, brought him in and let go of him. The figure said nothing; Bumi dismissed the servant and guards with another wave of his hand, and they left, albeit reluctantly.

"Glad to see you could join us," Bumi remarked. "You can take off that hood of yours now. They're gone."

The figure removed the hood shielding his face from view. Everyone already figured who it was (and Toph knew beforehand anyway, for his heartbeat and breathing patterns were usually flushed and hurried, and they were always recognizable), but a hush had fallen around the table anyway as the piece of cloth fell back.

"Good to see you, Zuko," Katara said, offering him a small smile. Bumi gestured to the chair beside Sokka for the newcomer, and he took his appointed seat, his figure stiff with wariness.

"You have… sufficient security," Zuko allowed himself to say. "I don't plan on eating, so you can save your dishes, food, and other birthday hospitalities; I'm here strictly on business, as is the reason you invited me."

Toph huffed. "Can't we save politics until tomorrow? It is Bumi's birthday, and besides, we were having fun. Leave it to Sparky to ruin the mood."

"Actually," Bumi said, "Fire Lord Zuko's right. My birthday was as good an excuse as any to conduct political affairs, however secretive; and these are perhaps the most secretive kind, are they not, Zuko?" The king seemed too gleeful about political affairs, and it was obvious that it made the Fire Lord at least a little uncomfortable.

Zuko nodded. "I had to come here, both for security reasons and for the fact that the problem is right here in the Earth Kingdom. We're here to share information, and tomorrow, we'll leave." He gestured to Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph. "We five will travel from here to the coastal city of Kutan. There we'll secure the harbor and, if we're not too late, stop the problem before it begins. If we are too late… we'll have to take the air bison to the Southern Air Temple."

"Wait a second, what's going on?" Toph demanded. "I knew we'd have a new mission, but before we do anything, I think we deserve to know what you're talking about." Aang nodded, and Katara and Sokka followed his lead.

Zuko sighed wearily and rubbed his brow. "It's not as simple as an explanation. I could tell you – I could tell you every single thing I know about the current situation, but it wouldn't be sufficient enough to satisfy your curiosities. Even I… I'm just speculating, Toph." He rarely used her name, and when he did give her that one bit of human acknowledgement, she knew he was serious. He turned his head to gaze at the earthbender, knowing that she could feel the movement through vibrations in the floor but also knowing that she wouldn't react to the gesture. There was an intensity in his eyes, eyes that would have bore into anyone else's and would have had a mind-numbing effect on them but were wasted on a blind girl.

Toph knew that he was giving her a look that was supposed to make her understand, but in a way her blindness made her a hard person because what so strongly affected most people had no effect on her.

"What do you know?" Sokka asked, wanting to calm the tension building up within the room.

Zuko glanced at Sokka for a brief moment, then at King Bumi. "Only as much as I can guess in addition to what's told in stories." Everyone was looking at him, willing him to continue. "There has been a series of deaths between many high-ranking nobles in a short period of time. The nobles' heritages are divided among each nation. My advisors would think I'm making more out of the deaths than I should be, but I think I'm on to something."

At Zuko's pause, King Bumi offered him a solemn but encouraging nod.

The Fire Lord took a deep, shaky breath, and then continued. "My father was well acquainted with very few people. One of these was Kanaye, now a criminal charged with treason…" His eyes diverted to the table. "We never should have done it, never should have gone through with it…"

Toph gasped. "I knew I'd heard that name before! He was the man that your dad kept closer than… closer than any advisor, or almost anyone. They were almost considered friends, before the Fire Lord's death. At least, that's what you said."

"Yes," Zuko agreed. "They were… close, in a manner of speaking. Of course, if someone was close to Father, they were close to Azula. After Father's death, she began the first stages of her rebellion – recruitment. Kanaye was one of the few contacts she had after the war, and he was her source of power, in a way. She was always her own source of power, but he was her contacts, her resources, her everything for the rebellion. She didn't need him to write her speeches, but, with what little wealth that he had kept, he spent money for her plans.

"Before Kanaye became partners with Azula, he was driven over the edge by the death of his family. We… my soldiers killed his wife and teenage son, and the baby girl was taken and slipped into an orphanage somewhere." Zuko had buried his face in his hands. "I don't understand what came over me when I sent out those orders…"

The earthbender stiffened slightly in her seat at the information. "You killed them?" she demanded, rising from her chair. "I… you asked me to find them, and I found them. I found them so that they could be killed." She gulped, her eyes seemingly staring hard at her half-full plate of food. She felt violated, hated the fact that she'd been taken advantage of. She felt used.

"Yes, they were killed," Zuko snapped, inhaling quickly but unsteadily. "Kanaye was spared. It was his punishment: the death of his family. They weren't innocent, so don't think it. They'd each committed one crime or another, and all against the nation. They were to die anyway." His voice became softer as his words progressed, and he murmured the last words with an air of finality. His words, sharp as knives, cut his listeners.

Toph took her seat and found it hard to swallow. Other than the occasional gulp of air, she made no motion to show that she was affected by the news.

"It was inhuman, it was cruel, I'll admit," Zuko told her, his voice losing the sharp edge. "But what I think he's planning is far crueler."

"What… what do you think he's planning?" Katara asked.

Zuko refused to look her in the eye. "Kanaye wants to make the Shinsei rise again," he told her.

"What're the Shinsei?" Sokka inquired, putting an arm around Toph's waist in a feeble attempt to comfort her. He expected her to hit him. She didn't.

"The Shinsei," Zuko said after a pause, giving them an odd look, "are a race of benders that supposedly existed a long, long time ago, even before the Avatar. They're our ancestors, essentially. They can bend all four elements, but no denominations – like, they can't bend blood, or metal or anything. Only pure forms of each element. Also, since they're basically suffering from some form of mind-control – I say that because they have to follow the wishes of whoever awakens them – they don't understand error. If they fail, they don't learn from it, comprehend it… It's not failure. It's just a bump in the road, and they'll keep going, heedless of complications." Zuko took a moment to breathe.

"What's more, they don't have emotions. That part's complicated; they're supposed to be capable of emotion, but it's nearly impossible to access that part of them. The ability to bend each element occupies a lot of their mental function, and so emotion is practically nonexistent. They're sort of like the Avatar, but while Aang can bend all four elements, he is also capable of emotion."

"So it's basically a race of Avatars, except that emotion and fault part?" Sokka continued.

Zuko shook his head, taking an opportunity to lift his eyes from the table. "No, not really. They don't have the Avatar State or chakras that need to be kept flowing, or a special connection with the Spirit World or anything. It's just that they bend all four elements."

"Okay," Aang said, "that's weird. But I want to know how you know all of this – how do you know what Kanaye's planning to do?"

"My father allowed Kanaye access into the royal library. He took some scrolls related to the Shinsei; he probably took some other scrolls so that he could decipher the language, but I don't know about that. I just know that he took the Shinsei scrolls out of our library because I found them in his things – they had the seal of the royal library on them. At the time I figured Father had loaned them to him, but now I realize that he probably stole them all that time ago." Zuko exhaled slowly, wallowing in the regret of not telling anyone about Kanaye's seemingly petty thefts.

Sokka murmured, "I still don't understand how Kanaye's supposed to benefit from this."

"I'm not sure. Legend says – but you know how legends go - that the Shinsei are supposed to consider whoever awakens them as the supreme ruler of everything, so they're supposed to obey him as long as they don't have access to their emotions. With emotion comes choice." Zuko frowned at his audience. "I know Kanaye wants power. I don't know what kind, how much, or what he's willing to do to get it, but I know that's what he's after, and if he was such good acquaintances with my Father and Azula, I'd say he's going for everything – world domination, to be blunt. To do that, he'll have to dispose of a bunch of people, but with the Shinsei, that shouldn't be difficult. I don't even know how many can be awakened, but it doesn't matter – once Kanaye awakens the Shinsei, we'll hardly have a chance against him. That's why we're going to the harbor tomorrow; we're going to try to stop him before his plan even fully starts."

The table was silent, everyone lost in contemplation. Then: "Well, how about some dessert?"

The king smiled eagerly at his guests, hoping that they would indulge in something sweet before heading off into their quarters. Each declined – well, all except Sokka, who always had room in his stomach for one more serving. He didn't smile (why break the somber mood?), but instead simply inclined his head toward King Bumi, who immediately gestured for Zuko to turn up his hood in preparation for further company. Zuko complied.

"Dessert for two, if you please!" Bumi exclaimed.

A maid appeared a moment later. She simply stuck her head through the doorway and said, "Two, you say?" A nod from Bumi confirmed that number, and she was gone again.

A few minutes later, a servant appeared with two bowls of what appeared to be a foreign type of pudding. Both Sokka and King Bumi ate as though ravenous while the rest of the table sat in silence.

"There's one more thing I want to know," Toph said, voice quieter than usual.

Everyone, including the two eaters, silenced; they didn't know to whom she was speaking, as she didn't indicate by looking at her target. "Mm-hm?" Katara prompted.

"Zuko – how come you have to wear that cloak thing?"

The slight tension that had built up in the moments since Toph had spoken was released. "I wear it," Zuko told her, standing from the table, "because I don't want them to know I'm here. As far as anyone outside this room is concerned, I'm taking a temporary lapse in my responsibilities to a remote island off the coast of the Fire Nation. My guards would go crazy if they knew I was here, with Earth Kingdom security – no offense, of course," he added, giving a small nod to the king. Bumi nodded in return, indicating that no offense was taken. "You do have decent security, Sir."

"I understand your guards, son," Bumi told him, a smile blooming on his face. "Earth Kingdom security isn't what it should be – I've been able to sneak out of here six times this month to ride the delivery chutes without being caught! But they are serious about intruders. I suppose it's more difficult entering than leaving."

Bumi, finished with his dessert, stood up. With a wink and a smile to his guests, he gestured toward the hall down which the previous servant had disappeared, and said, "Good night!"