If Chem was being honest with himself, this was really getting annoying. He drummed his fingers on the table of the modest Earth Kingdom restaurant as he waited for his food to be delivered. It was as if he was slowly becoming invisible, fading from the world, and he couldn't find anyone who cared. On top of that, Bo was late. And after Chem had promoted him, too.

The past year had not been good to Chem and his friends. After helping the Fire Lord and the ambassador, they'd scattered, but it was getting harder to gather everyone again. He and Bo had gone to Ba Sing Se, thinking it a good place to start looking for the Lady Mother. They'd lived there for a time before, and she might still have had friends willing to talk. They'd quickly become trapped when the fighting started, and they weren't able to make contact with anyone else from the army, which was especially disconcerting when it came to Fei.

Unable to trust Long and Inara with any of his plans, Chem needed new people to fill those spots. He reached out to Fei, the other tracker, and Bo, who already served as something of a second in command. Fei had been charged with gathering information on people likely to support a deposition of the Fire Lord in the case that the ambassador could not keep her lover under control. Fei and Bo knew more about their operations than anyone else, and now Fei had been out of touch with them.

Chem had to admit that Fei's absence likely had more to do with Ba Sing Se's trouble than Fei himself. The gates to each ring were closed, hoping to contain the worst of the fighting in the middle and lower rings, but the angry mob was too large and the post-Dai Li city watch too small. Chem and Bo were staying in the lower ring, and overcroweded conditions felt even more cramped the longer those gates were locked. Garbage had begun piling up, and angry citizens began throwing rotten food at the stone wall. Crime ran rampant; without more guards to freely patrol the lower ring where many of the criminals lived, there was no way to catch and jail thieves. Once, a man found his stolen vase, a family heirloom he'd insisted, in a young woman's house. He'd beaten her pretty badly, only to find out it was her brother who'd stolen it. The brother retaliated, and guards had to leave their posts at the gate to stop the violence.

The initial attack had happened in the middle ring, but it was the lower ring that suffered the most. Chem had watched as tensions grew and the citizens began banging on the gates, and when the guards tried to stop them, the mob turned on those who alleged they were helping. Shop windows were smashed, stores were looted, criminals disappeared without being detected. People were being arrested for suspicions of sedition, and things turned violent when a guard cracked a young man over the head with a bat. The man died in a pathetic hospital, and blood was demanded. The guard was killed by a sniper in a window. Their weapon had been a pebble, and it flew through his head like a knife through pie.

"Ah, Chem," Bo said, finally arriving and plopping down in the chair across from him. "You wanted to meet with me?"

"Yes," Chem said, his eyes narrowed and hands shoved inside his sleeves. "Half an hour ago."

At least Bo had the decency to look admonished. A waitress came over and took Bo's order.

A call for help had gone out-officially, from King Kuei, unofficially from his council. While the guards fought against an angry mob in the lower ring, other guards fought against an angry and well armed mob in the middle ring. The council feared that the two mobs would join and overrun the city, but in closing the gates, they closed off all travel, all access to medical aid, all access to food. One morning, Chem stepped over four dead bodies just to receive his rations.

Other nations raced to answer the call, sending medical supplies and soldiers that would make up the Civilian Defense Force. They bolstered the ranks of the city watch, and with the combined manpower, they were able to get much of the early rioting under control. As soon as the gates were open, people began to flee the city that had once been a haven to refugees during the war. Chem and Bo left with less than they'd entered, bruised from scuffles, their clothes dirty and torn, and their stomachs nearly empty. They left almost everything behind in that house, selling what they could for travel money. They certainly hadn't learned anything about the Lady Mother.

"This looks delicious," Bo said, rubbing his hands together as his food was laid out in front of him. Much to Chem's chagrin, his food arrived, too, even though he'd ordered it half an hour before Bo ordered his.

"What news have you heard?" Chem asked when the waitress left.

"About the Lady Mother, very little. I was able to track down the woman you lived next door to when you were in Ba Sing Se during the war, and she said she'd received a letter from the Lady Mother from the eastern Earth Kingdom. But that was months before the riots."

Chem waved this away. "She was mistaken. It couldn't have been months before the riot. The Lady Mother would have been in the prison with the Phoenix Brigade."

Bo stopped eating and looked at Chem. "Yeah, but she wasn't, was she? We killed all those guys, got some of our best men killed, and she wasn't there."

Chem watched Bo, the minutia of his face, looking for a tick or a twitch that might give away just how exhausted Bo must be. Because Chem refused to believe that Bo, of all people Bo, who had been his right hand, who had been so confident in the rightness of their mission to restore the Fire Nation's name and ensure that it would never again be abused in the way it had, would start to slip down the same path as Long and Inara. That Bo would dishonor the memory of the fallen by implying that their lives were given for nothing, thrown away. They died honorably, fighting to take their country back from a tyrant. Their blood was on the Fire Lord's hands.

Bo understood what Long and Inara did not: peace is not the natural state of the world. The world tends toward chaos and destruction; the very events in Ba Sing Se proved that. There needed to be strong structure and order. There needed to be rules and laws. And control. There must always be control.

"No," Chem chose to say instead. "No, she wasn't there."

"I saw the letter myself, sir. I wanted to hold onto it, but the lady wouldn't let me. I did write down the address, though."

Bo handed him a slip of paper, and Chem read the address. Opo, in the eastern Earth Kingdom. He would need a map to find it.

"Well, this is a start. It is more than we have had in a very long time." He tucked the tiny morsel away inside a pocket. "We will leave tomorrow."

Bo nodded. "I've also reestablished contact with some of the other officers, and they've still been in touch with a lot of our people."

"So Agni doesn't hate us too much after all."

Chem allowed himself a small smile at this. No, Agni had indeed smiled down on them. The degenerate Fire Lord had finally given his mother up for dead, but the Avatar and his friends took up the search where the Fire Lord put it down. Leading it, of course, was the beautiful noose. It was closing in on time to strike. They might not have the Lady Mother Ursa, but some things could swing in their favor.

"Perhaps we should all gather before you and I head off to little Opo in the eastern Earth Kingdom," Chem said. "We should send some people to the Fire Nation to keep an eye on things. I think we can risk that, now."

"Should we send Long and Inara?"

"And let those treacherous things so close to the Fire Lord where they could spill our plans? Never." Chem waved this notion over his shoulder as if it's very thought offended him. "We might as well tell him what we're planning."

"Then why risk sending our people to the Fire Nation?"

"To whisper in the ear of our jailor so that she may whisper into the ear of the prisoner. I have neglected this part of our plan in favor of finding the Lady Mother, but it is clear that without some strong whispering very soon there won't be a Fire Nation to return to."

With the war over, Chem had hoped he would be able to hear his country slighted less and less. Then help started showing up in Ba Sing Se from the North and the South and various kingdom-states of the Earth Kingdom. But no Fire Nation. Simply sending 100 soldiers could have made a difference, and yet nothing was heard. Such anger and disappointment was spewed; it was the reopening of old wounds on many sides, and as the damage reports were read, the deaths tallied and displayed, salt was rubbed vigorously on those gaping and bloody holes.

Yes, help did finally show from the Fire Nation in the form of medical supplies, soldiers, and healers, but that help was too late. Much of the fighting had died down. What little rise in reputation the Fire Nation may have experienced after the war was tainted. Others might speak with relief, but not Chem. Perhaps he did have his eye on conquest; Ba Sing Se fell once before, and with a weak king sitting on the throne and no real strength behind him, there would be little to stop the city from falling again. Military tactics wouldn't even be needed. All he would have to do is wait for the city to turn to chaos and swoop in like some savior, and the people would all bow to him, and no one would question his 'helping' the Earth King. Only years later would people realize the Earth King had golden eyes and a disfigured face.

No, they would not understand the Fire Lord's actions as part of a pattern. How many of them knew that pieces of the Earth Kingdom still belonged to the Fire Nation? Pieces of the Earth Kingdom outside of those territories that had agreed to remain part of the Fire Nation since they'd been governed that way for nearly 100 years. Pieces of the Earth Kingdom conquered by Azulon and Ozai. Pieces still held captive by this new Fire Lord. He could blame the colonies and the hidden war criminals and the abundance of money on his council all he wanted. He was the Fire Lord. They acted on his will as Chem acted on the Lady Mother's.

It was time to have their little bird sing a pleasant song in her lover's ear.

.O.

They were sitting in one of the dining halls for breakfast like an actual family, and Katara couldn't help but smile. Even so far away from the South, it still felt like she was at home. She looked at Zuko, who was sitting to her left. One of the palace secretaries had just delivered his schedule for the day, and his brow was creased as he looked over the day's plan, his chopsticks forgotten halfway between his plate and his mouth. Belatedly, she had realized he didn't eat any lunch that first day, and Yina said he hadn't had dinner, either. Now here he was, avoiding breakfast.

"No wonder Yina's worried," Katara said quietly, so she wouldn't be heard over the chatter of the others. "If this is the way you eat, I'm surprised you haven't wasted away yet."

He smiled and put the paper down, and when he moved his hand, Katara turned it over so he couldn't sneak any peeks at it during breakfast. He raised his hands in a pacifying gesture, as if to say he wouldn't ever dream of defying her. But they knew each other better than that. She kept a firm eye on that little paper, even going so far as to pull it closer to her.

As Fire Lord, Zuko always got to sit at the head of the table in a special comfy chair with a mockup of the Fire Lord's crown, in the place of prominence, but there seemed to be little order other than that. Toph had moved around three times before settling at a spot in the middle of the table, as if testing the comfort of each chair, even though they were the same. Azula sat directly to Zuko's left, and Ty Lee was close by her. Iroh and Jun, just stopping by for breakfast, were a little farther away, giving the younger generation a bit of privacy, but that didn't mean they were paying any less attention. At the moment, Toph and Jun were having a rather spirited debate about the odds of one person or another winning some upcoming tournament, and Ty Lee was talking to Iroh about flowers and their uses and symbols.

Azula, however, was quiet.

"You should eat a little," Zuko said to her. Like he was one to talk.

It was the first time Katara got to actually watch the two of them together, and it was sweet. Zuko was gentle with her, encouraging rather than harsh. Azula slid a red dish over to him. He picked it up and blew a little fire on the top. Crisping the sugar, turning it a dark brown. Like his favorite dessert. Which he was also eating at breakfast.

Katara put her hands on her hips and stared at the side of Zuko's face because he wouldn't look at her.

"You can't let her eat custard for breakfast—"

"He doesn't let me eat anything, you know," Azula said sharply, her eyes snapping to Katara's face. "I can make my own decisions."

The room got quiet, and everyone turned to them. Ty Lee looked frantically between the two of them, but Katara could tell she was more worried about Azula. She lightly stroked her friend's elbow, her eyes roaming, searching for what she knew to be signs that Azula was stressed or uncomfortable.

"I'm sure she didn't mean it like that," Ty Lee said. Then she looked at Katara hopefully.

"Please," Azula said, accepting the dish from Zuko. "We all know she'd die if there was no one to boss around."

Toph let out a short bark of laughter and slammed her hand down on the table. A habit she must have picked up from Jun. Really, she ought to talk to Zuko about that. She liked Jun and all, but she wasn't the best role model for a seventeen year old girl.

"You're being bossy in your head right now, aren't you?" Azula asked, her head tilted sideways. She smiled like she just made a funny joke.

Katara tried to sputter a denial. The world didn't need to know that Azula was right, but Toph bark laughed again, and Jun was looking all too amused.

"Man, and I don't even have to say anything!" Toph downed the rest of her tea and slammed the cup on the table.

"Play nice. All of you," Zuko said, fixing Katara, Azula, and Toph with firm stares. Iroh chuckled quietly to himself.

"I don't need people to baby me," Azula muttered quietly. "I eat when I'm hungry."

She was looking off at some point away from all of them, perhaps retreating into her mind a little. She absently ate the custard, and when she was done, she only nibbled at her food, but that seemed to be enough for Zuko.

It wasn't until they were in his office, having their meeting with Hau, that Katara even realized it.

"She still won't bend?" she asked, somewhat catching Zuko off guard.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "It's been five years now. After that first year in the asylum, she just won't do it, and I'm not going to push her on it. She still feels like her bending is the cause of all her problems, like if she hadn't been a prodigy, Ozai wouldn't have taken a liking to her, and he couldn't have hurt her by calling her a worthless failure when she couldn't beat me."

It was weird to see someone who'd been so in love with their bending denying it. Katara couldn't ever imagine not bending. She'd do it just because she could, even if it was simpler to perform a task without bending. But then Azula was different. Ozai had bashed it into her head that Zuko was weak and pathetic, so she never considered the possibility that he could get stronger. When they fought during the final battle, she assumed that she was getting weaker, and when Zuko defeated her and Ozai called her a failure and said his greatest achievement was defeated by his greatest disappointment, she'd begun to hate that she was a prodigy. She was also unhinged at that point, so she wasn't thinking clearly.

Hau arranged a few maps on Zuko's desk, for once clear of papers.

"Tell me what you found," Zuko said, pulling her into his lap and resting his hand rather high up on her thigh and giving a firm squeeze.

Hau still looked at them curiously sometimes, as if he couldn't believe that something actually had been going on between the two of them. He'd walked in on them kissing the day they got back from their failed hunt for Ursa. Toph blew the whole thing open to Hau, and true to his word, he'd been testing the waters for them, seeing what people thought, whether they'd accept a marriage outside the Fire Nation, and just how much they could push the nobility to get what they wanted. They'd both been surprised to find that the waters were a lot less hostile than they were expecting. Then Ba Sing Se happened, and priorities were turned elsewhere.

"We ended up going back in time a bit," Katara said, looking at the map. She pointed to the village where Aang encountered the spirit Hei Bei. "She was here for a while. Then she traveled south along this mountain range, here. We have a huge gap in our knowledge of her travels, but we do know she ended up in Ba Sing Se before the coup."

Zuko cringed, and Katara rubbed his shoulder. She knew that Ba Sing Se would forever be a sore spot for him. He laid his head on her shoulder, and Katara hurried on.

"She's mostly travelled in the Earth Kingdom, because it's easiest to hide there. We do know she's never come close to the Fire Nation again, and with good reason. She might be in the southern Earth Kingdom, in a small town, possibly near Gaoling or the Foggy Swamp, or even as far south as Chin."

Zuko blinked blankly at the map, pulling away from her.

"Are you going to tell me that you found all this out in a year? That without me tagging along and fucking things up, the world suddenly opened wide to you and everything was made clear?"

Katara took his face in her hands and forced him to look at her. Interrogating Ozai got them nowhere. He refused to give up anything, and slowly, it became clear that not even he knew where she was all the time. This wasn't before he'd sent them on several stupid, fruitless, and dangerous missions, one of which turned out to be an assassination attempt. They'd come up empty handed every time. Finding the Phoenix Brigade had been the biggest lead they'd ever had, and it gave them a real person to talk to, and physical proof that she'd actually been there.

"Zuko, nothing you have done has been useless or stupid. None of this would have been possible without you. You got us to Chem, and as much of a jerk as that guy is, he cares for your mother in his own bizarre, creepy, fanatical way. Without all the hard work you've done, I don't know that we could have even made it this far."

Zuko still didn't seem convinced, so she pulled him into a hug, and he buried his face in her chest and ran his hands up her back. Katara clucked her tongue, realizing that now Zuko just wanted to get touchy. Not that she was pushing him away. Hau cleared his throat when Zuko's hands were travelling closer to her butt, and Zuko was reluctant to let go.

"Yes, well, moving on, Avatar Aang mentioned something about assumed identities obscuring the path?" Hau asked, frowning and hoping to get the discussion back on track.

"You'll love this," Katara said, playing with Zuko's hair. "She stayed in Opo for a year, where she lived as a married man."

"A what?" His voice was flat, uncomprehending.

"A man."

"My mother?"

Katara nodded.

"When?" Zuko was staring at the map as if it would give up the answers. He was smiling slightly; it was an amusing idea. Katara slapped his hand when it started travelling further up her leg.

"Not recently, I don't think. The woman we've been talking to met with Suki first, and then me. She would have spoken to Sokka, but he needed to stay at the South to help Dad, so that's how Suki ended up going. She said she was a close friend of your mother's and that she played the part of the wife. Much of your mom's travels, we pieced together from Chem talking about his own travels. What this new friend told us matched a lot of what Chem said."

Katara was quiet for a bit, chewing her lip as Zuko and Hau watched her. It had been awkward to meet with this woman in a darkened corner of a tavern at that seedy merchant's pier in the Earth Kingdom. The woman had worn a long cloak with a deep hood that completely obscured her face. To prove she was trustworthy, she'd given out a few private facts and asked Katara to confirm with Iroh that they were true. Three scars that Ursa had: a knife wound on her stomach from right hip to just under her left breast, and two burn marks on her thighs that roughly resembled hands, these from the attack she suffered at the hands of Ozai's generals. The other was that Iroh's wife visited the stall of an old crone who claimed to be a fortune teller, asking the patron to pick an object from a table, and claiming to be able to read the person's future in the object. The old crone had predicted the death of Iroh's wife.

Hearing about the old crone had made Katara's blood run cold. She'd met that old crone, had seen her table of seemingly ordinary objects. She hadn't believed it, either. The crone waited, and Katara picked up a glass dragon without thinking about it; she just thought it looked more expensive than the other trinkets presented. As she studied it, the glass heated up in her hands and exploded, embedding tiny shards in her fingers. The crone's voice croaking out, "so sad, so sad," had haunted her dreams. She knew this crone, and took the shrouded woman's words to be true.

"The woman we met," she said slowly, returning to the present, "said that she was afraid for Ursa. She doesn't believe Chem would hurt her, just that…his words are becoming like poison to the mind."

First, I'd like to thank everyone for reading and reviewing and alerting! You have no idea just how happy that makes me when I get email from this site and it tells me something wonderful like that. Especially last week. We had to work an extra hour, plus work on Saturday, and the week was just so ugh, but those emails made me smile when I just wanted to go home. So thanks! You're all made of sunshine and rainbows!

Witness the return of Chem! Take comfort in knowing he was not winning any fights in Ba Sing Se, and probably had his rations taken away from him on more than one occasion. This is the universe telling him to stop being such a dick. He has not listened. He now feels he has even more of a personal reason to dislike Zuko, since he suffered personally because of the riots. This skews his view on things even more. Yes, there'd be some people who're pissed at the Fire Nation for not coming immediately, but for continuing to be there, and to be thinking about the future, I think would make up for that initial delay. But you can't please everyone.

It may seem like everything is coming together for finding Ursa a lot quicker, but in my mind, that's only logical. They've got an actual person to talk to, no matter how batshit insane he is. Chem spent time with Ursa, and he can offer up connections that they wouldn't have had otherwise. Also, there is a mysterious person (dun dun duuuuuun) who also knows Ursa. At some point, Ursa would be trying to get back, but she'd be cautious, making sure that she's getting back to Zuko, and not Ozai's goons masquerading as Zuko. I just thought it would be amusing if she spent time living as a man to better hide. I mean, everyone's looking for Ozai's wife, not his husband. I lol'd in my head. But seriously, greater freedom and the chance to relax a bit more would be hard to pass up.