Ursa ran towards the platypus bear, arms flailing. She didn't even know what she was doing-Ursa only knew she couldn't let the bear get that little boy.

"Get away from him!" she yelled, pulling out her bow and arrow. She knocked the bow and skidded to a halt. "I said get away!" Ursa drew back the bowstring, fixing her eyes on the bear's shoulders.

The creature looked up and gazed at her with small beady eyes. Ursa drew in a sharp breath and let the arrow fly. It hit the bear in the flank, and the creature roared with pain. The former Firelady glared at it threateningly, and the platypus bear quieted. It turned around, loping off into the desert. Ursa let out a relieved sigh and walked over to the small child, knocked out by the platypus bear, on the desert sand.

Ursa reached down and scooped the boy up in her arms. She lugged him to her campsite, straining not to drop him. When they finally arrived, Ursa set the child down, panting heavily. She mopped his forehead and leaned back on a tree, waiting for him to wake up.

XXX

Ursa awoke with a start, feeling guilty for dozing off. She noticed that the boy she had saved was beginning to stir. She walked over to the boy carefully, cautious of startling him. "Here, take my hand." Ursa reached out her hand, and the small boy reached up to her. "I'm Ursa. What were you doing out here by yourself?"

The boy took a deep breath. "I'm Lee and I'm looking for my friend Zuko. Thank you for saving me. Have you seen a black haired boy with a scar recently? That's him-Zuko, I mean. Do you know where the nearest town is? I need to get some food." His story came out in a jumble.

Ursa blinked. "Your looking for Zuko, too?" she asked, shocked. "So am I! I haven't seen him, but I was hoping to find him in Ba Sing Se."

The smile on Lee's face disappeared in an instant. "Ba Sing Se!" he cried despairingly, "But I'll never be able to get there on my own!" Lee fell to the ground, hopeless. "And I can't go back, not now! My parents will be so angry with me…" The child shook his head, obviously ready to give up.

An idea popped into Ursa's head. "Why don't you come with me? We're both looking for Zuko, and I have a ride." The woman gestured towards her ostrich horse. "That is, if you want to come…"

A grin slowly grew on Lee's face. "Really? I could come with you? That would be great!"

Ursa nodded happily, and led Lee over to her ostrich horse. She boosted him up, then threw a leg over the saddle and snapped the reigns. "Lee, you should probably know that if we're going to be searching for Zuko, you're in for one wild ride…"

The beam on Lee's face was answer enough.

XXX

Katara yawned as she sleepily tried to start a fire. The early morning was damp; this was one of those times Katara wouldn't have said no to a Firebender. The waterbender pulled out her flint and struck the stone. Sparks flew, and one landed on her small pile of kindling. Katara quickly bent over and desperately tried to blow the sparks into a flame, but it was no use.

Frustrated, the waterbender rose up and sat back on her heels. "Having trouble with the fire?" Sokka's voice sounded from behind Katara.

"I think that's obvious," she snapped, whirling around.

"We have bigger problems." The warrior stretched and yawned loudly. "You know that firebender, Iroh? He was captured by Azula. I think we should go back and rescue him."

Katara stared at Sokka like he had bugs coming out of his ears. "Are you crazy? Will all those Dai Lee crawling around, it would be a suicide mission!"

"But we have Toph, and you aren't too bad a bender yourself." Sokka pointed put.

"Always the voice of reason, aren't you?" Katara muttered. "Well, even if we do have Toph and me, how will we get in the city? It would be way too difficult."

"We can fly in on Appa at night, so no one will see us. Ba Sing Se is such a large city Azula and Zuko won't have it completely under their control yet, so they'll probably be off giving speeches or something." Katara had to admit, Sokka's plan was certainly well thought out.

"It does sound like a good plan," she admitted, "and Aang will be able to stay with the earth king, so we don't need to bring him. But I want to make sure Toph thinks it's a good idea."

"Of course I think it's a good idea." Katara turned around to see Toph standing near the campfire. "Aang needs a teacher, and Iroh makes great tea."

Katara sighed. "Okay," she agreed, "but let's try to avoid Azula this time."

XXX

"Zuko! Where are you? We have to go give speeches!"
Zuko didn't respond to his sister's call, he just kept staring out at the city of Ba Sing Se, elbows propped on his window sill. Azula could go give speeches until she was blue in the face, but hewas not coming with her.

"I said we're giving speeches. Come on, we have to go now." Azula appeared in Zuko's doorway, an annoyed look on her face. "Didn't you hear me?"

"I heard you." Zuko tried to make his voice sound as cold as possible.

"If you heard me, then, you'll know I said it's time to go." Azula began to walk out of Zuko's room, but paused for a moment just outside the doorway. "Fine then. You never were any good at speeches, anyway." Azula whirled around and marched downstairs.

Once Azula had left the palace (Zuko wanted to be safe) the prince flopped down on his bed and grimaced. Azula is just as bad as I remember her…only worse.

The firebender rolled over and stared up at the ceiling. This was, by far, the most boring day of his life. Even the time Uncle had educated him on the many aspects of tea had been more exciting then this…

Uncle. Zuko remembered the look on Iroh's face when he had been betrayed by Zuko. Azula said Uncle had betrayed him; Zuko thought of it the other way around.

Suddenly, a piercing shriek sounded form outside. Zuko jumped up from his bed and sprinted downstairs. "What happened?" he yelled, skidding to a halt just outside the palace.

Azula looked up at him, amber eyes glinting dangerously. "Uncle happened. He escaped last night. You wouldn't know anything about this, would you, Brother?"

Zuko slowly shook his head. "I don't know how he got out, Azula. Uncle has many ways to escape we don't know off." The firebender secretly suspected Iroh had been helped by the Order of the White Lotus, but he wasn't about to tell that to Azula.

Azula glared at him. "Well, if you're sure, I better go give speeches." And with that, Zuko's sister stomped off.

Zuko slowly walked up the stairs to his room, and shut the door tight. When one of the servants saw him leave the palace a few hours later, she thought it was strange that he had a pair of broadswords on his hip.

And a blue oni mask in his hand.

The blue spirit returns! Be sure to review….even you guys, flamers.