Iroh never forgot the story about the origins of firebending. It became his favorite out of the many that Vailea had, and would continue to tell him in the course of their friendship. He liked it simply because it was about firebending, and he loved the way Vailea's face would light up every time she told him the story. It was one of those times when she took on the persona of a much older, much wiser storyteller. Yet it also bothered him that Vailea had such a negative view of firebenders, and Iroh's firebending in particular. Whatever her attempts to be cryptic, Iroh knew Vailea had meant for him to represent the moral man in her story. He was the firebender who had not yet been tempted by the greed and lust of his powers, but could eventually succumb. It bothered him that Vailea didn't trust his strength. Iroh loved firebending for how it made him feel, not for the power it could bring him. He was going to be Firelord after all, how much more power could he gain through firebending?

Vailea was Iroh's best friend, but sometimes she was so self-righteous. She acted like she knew more about Iroh than he himself did. She assumed that just because he enjoyed firebending, that he would end up like the character in her story. Why was she always so fearful of firebending anyway? She lived in the Firelord's palace! There were firebenders everywhere; Iroh had hoped she would have been used to it by now. But Vailea continued to be skeptical of the benders, and she was unlikely to drop the habit.

"Iroh!" Vailea called to him in her usual loud, booming voice. After her uncharacteristic quietness during the full moon, it hadn't taken long for Vailea's true nature to return. She and Iroh generally regarded that one evening as a break in reality. Iroh never spoke of it because he was worried that it would bring back Vailea's hostile emotions, and he was thankful that she seemed to agree with ignoring the event all together. It had been several months since that outing, and the only part of the evening's events they discussed was the legend of firebending. Iroh had asked her whether the story was true, and she had (characteristically) avoided answering it by posing another question. "Do you think it's true?" She had responded. He hadn't made up his mind on that one yet.

"Hello Lea," Iroh turned to smile at her. Despite her flaws, she was still his best friend. Her strengths outweighed her faults any day. She was self-righteous, loud, obnoxious, headstrong, stubborn…and Iroh liked her that way.

"My father is coming home today." She said excitedly, still panting from running down the long hall to greet him. Her father, General Junren, had been away from home during the past few weeks. He had been sent on a short mission, but Iroh hadn't been told where. All he knew what that Vailea had been suspiciously excited ever since her father had departed in early spring. Iroh's father left on war related business all the time, and he was never this enthusiastic.

"That's great Lea," he said honestly. It was great.

"Do you want to come with me to the docks to greet him?" She asked hopefully.

"I have—" Iroh was about to say that he had Professor Lee's lesson in half an hour, but the Ancient Scrolls were no more fascinating than the Forgotten ones. He had no interest in them. "I have no problem in coming." Iroh quickly corrected himself, and Vailea beamed.

"Are you sure you don't have classes?" She asked skeptically. That was a stupid question. Of course he had classes. Iroh always had classes. He was always being dragged off by Madam Ima to his various commitments. Iroh thought she secretly reveled in his unhappiness.

"No." He said casually. The lie came easily to his lips. Whether she had intended to or not, Vailea had taught Iroh how to be a better liar. It wasn't that she lied all the time, but Vailea always knew the rights words to use if she needed to get the two of them out of a sticky situation. It was a useful skill to have when you wanted to fabricate an alibi.

"Perfect," she said. "I'll get us past the guards."

As it turned out, Vailea never had to use her talents to outsmart the palace guards. Three hours past noon was the customary changing of the guards, and the new officers had yet to take their posts when Iroh and Vailea walked by. As a result, they had a clear shot to the harbor. Of course it was routine for Iroh to wear a cloak outside the palace. Whenever the two escaped into society, Iroh made sure to cover his face. They couldn't afford one person to recognize him as the prince and return them to the palace (where they would face almost certain punishment). Iroh hadn't been recognized yet, and he hoped his luck would continue.

"Ohhh," Vailea cooed as they passed a merchants stall. Vailea loved bargain hunting. The first time she and Iroh had been to market, the merchant Vailea tried to buy from wouldn't accept her money. 'What makes you think we'd accept that kind of money here?' He had asked angrily. Vailea had had retorted with 'It's money isn't it? What kind of merchant doesn't accept money?' An argument had ensued, and Iroh had had to drag her away from the stand still yelling. He often wondered what kind of money she had that the merchant wouldn't accept, but she had stored it away before he could get a better look.

One might have thought that that incident would have been embracing enough to keep Vailea away from shopping, but it was completely the opposite. Every time they went out together, Vailea couldn't help but bring home at least one piece of useless junk to add to her collection. 'I like things.' She had said simply. Vailea especially liked items that were from foreign ports—treasures she called them. Her reasoning was that 'You never know who last owned them.'

"What's that?" She asked the man in the stall as she pointed to an exotic headdress. It was practically dripping feathers and fur.

"Lea, we don't really have time for this." Iroh cut in.

"Sure we do." She retorted. "My father's ship won't be in for a while. Not having to sweet talk our way past those guards cut our escape time in half."

Iroh sighed in annoyance. He hated shopping. It was boring and always took forever.

"Come on Iroh," Vailea said in response to his sigh. "The only thing better than finding what you're looking for, is finding something you weren't looking for at a great price!"

"I hear that!" The merchant agreed as he pulled down the headdress. "This beauty is authentic Northern Water Tribe ritual garb. It's 20 gold pieces for a treasure this rare, but I guarantee it's worth every bit of the cost."

Vailea's eyes widened. She reached out to touch it, but the Merchant recoiled. "I'm sorry little lady. Unless you're buying it, I can't risk letting anyone's fingers besmirch this rarity."

Vailea nodded, and quickly began digging in her bag for the money necessary.

"Lea," Iroh complained. "Lea it's a waste of money. When are you ever going to wear it?" He looked at the barbarian headdress in disgust. Who would want to wear something that furry? "Lea even if you do buy it, my grandfather is never going to let you wear a ritual Water Tribe garment. He's the—" Iroh paused. It probably wasn't best to mention that his grandfather was the Fire Lord when they were trying to be discreet. "Well you know who he is, and he doesn't like it when stuff from other nations soils his living space."

"It's not going to soil anything." She cut back caustically. "If he doesn't like it, then we just won't tell him about it." She said, pulling the necessary coins out of her bag and handing it to the merchant. "I like it, and I'm going to buy it."

The merchant handed Vailea the headdress, and she put it on right away. She glowed in it. The thing itself made her look like tiny bear with feathers stuck in its brain, but she was so happy to have it on that her entire being glowed with excitement. "How do I look?" She asked, posing with a hand on her hip.

"Kind of like a bird that ran headfirst into a bear." Iroh said sarcastically. "You pull it off very well though."

She laughed and pulled the headdress into her arms. "It was a good buy then." She said, still smiling. "Hey, would you like to try it on?" She might as well have phrased it as a statement because she stuck it on Iroh's head all the same. He teetered a bit, the headdress felt much heavier than it looked. Of course he looked ridiculous. There was something about the grandson of the Firelord in traditional Water Tribe garb that didn't sit well with the universe. "Pose!" Vailea ordered.

Iroh did as he was told; making the same outlandish pose that Vailea had made a minute earlier. The only difference was that Iroh pouted his lips like the Geisha's he'd seen painted on posters. Vailea went into hysterics. "You have such a sense of humor Iroh." She said. "You should show it more often."

He handed the headdress back to Vailea. Because of its size Vailea couldn't fit it into her bag, so she carried it in her arms. This resulted in many unwanted stares and sideways glances from the buyers and sellers in the bazaar. Vailea only smiled dreamily, happy with her purchase. Whether she was ignoring their curiosity or really oblivious to all the strange looks, Iroh could not tell. All he knew was that the combination of her father coming home and the new headdress had put Vailea in a scarily good mood. In fact, she hadn't been in a mood this good in a while. Maybe he could take advantage of it.

That's when Iroh made the decision. He wanted to do something bold. He wanted to ask Vailea a question that had been burning inside him ever since they met. He wanted to know more about her. Vailea was his best friend, and he didn't even know where she came from. He knew almost nothing of her life before meeting him. It wasn't fair, Iroh had convinced himself. Vailea knew so much about him, but he knew so little about her.

"Lea," he began cautiously, minding her temperament. "I was wondering if you could tell me something."

"Sure. What is it?" Vailea's pleasant mood was holding, this was a good sign.

"I just wanted to know…Where did you used to live? Was it at a port? Was it near a marketplace near this one? Was it in a Fire Nation colony?" Iroh continued to mumble. He thought maybe if he got all the words out fast enough, Vailea would be too overwhelmed to yell at him. But when Iroh looked up, she had stopped a few paces back. "Vailea?" He asked uncertainly.

At first she didn't respond. "I thought I told you not to ask me that." She said. It was not an angry voice, or even a sad voice. It was what it was, a statement.

"Yeah I know." Iroh continued. "But it's just; I don't even know where you came from. I know hardly anything about you." He saw the barbarian headdress in her hands. Vailea was peculiar in so many ways; he just wanted to know why.

"That's not true." Vailea shot back. "You know a lot about me. You know my favorite color, my favorite food. You know—"

"But anyone could figure that out." Iroh said, interrupting her. "Lea how can I get you to trust me? I want to get to know you better, and I want to understand you. I want to understand why you have to buy every imported item that comes through the docks."

"I like things." She repeated the old reasoning.

"No you don't. You don't let your father give you expensive combs or perfumes even though he can afford it. You don't like all the gowns and dresses they put in your closet." Iroh was speaking quickly again. He wanted to get to the bottom of this. It had been burning inside of him so long; the questions had finally blasted like fireballs out his mouth.

"Iroh," she said in a whisper, careful that no one nearby could hear the prince's name. "I'd tell you if there was anything to tell." She sighed. "If I do tell you, will you stop nagging me about it? Will you stop bringing it up?"

"Yes!" Iroh said a little too loudly.

Vailea rolled her eyes. "Before I lived here I lived with my mother in the south. We were happy together, and one day my father came. He and my mother decided that I would have more opportunities if I went to live with him in the north. So I did." She finished simply.

Iroh hesitated. Somehow this was not the answer he had been expecting. Iroh couldn't image that a person like Vailea could have such a simple back story. He had expected her to come from some extraordinary place in a land he had never heard of. Well, maybe that was a little farfetched, but he still felt ill at ease with the notion that Vailea could comprise her entire life into a few short sentences.

"Is that all?" He asked.

"Yes."

"What about your mother. What ever happened to her?"

"I thought you promised to stop nagging me if I told you." She scowled.

Iroh was about to argue, but a whistle sounded. The call meant that a new ship was docking. Vailea took Iroh's hand; knowing exactly whose ship it was. Iroh followed in a daze. He couldn't shake the feeling that Vailea was still keeping something from him. He knew he couldn't ask more now, but he would find out later.

"There he is!" Vailea pointed to her father, who was walking onto the dock. Several other women stared it him, but for strikingly different reasons. General Junren was young, successful and handsome. He usually attracted some sort of female attention, but today he only had eyes for his daughter.

"Vailea," He headed straight for her, and lifted her up into his arms. "I missed you." He said, and it sounded perfectly genuine. As far as Iroh knew, Junren had no other children besides Vailea. He had no wife and no other family living in the palace. Vailea was his whole world.

"Father, you remember…" She leaned over to whisper 'Iroh' in his hear. They were still hoping that no one would recognize the prince.

General Junren turned to look at the small hooded boy. Iroh smiled sheepishly, and bowed as was customary.

"He shouldn't be here." Junren said immediately. "Vailea did you bring him here with you? Vailea, you can't do that. What if he'd gotten hurt, or kidnapped, or killed?" Junren was frowning now, and by this time he had set Vailea down. She was frowning too.

"Father it wasn't like we were leaving the town. We just wanted to come see you. I missed you, and Iroh came to keep me company." She explained.

"Sir, I wanted to come." Iroh said in as sincere a voice as he could muster. He observed that General Junren looked much less handsome when he was frowning. He appeared so serious with furrowed brows.

Maybe it was his sense of duty towards the Fire Lord that had him worried about Iroh. Even so, Iroh felt a bit resentful that another person was trying to cage him within the iron bars of the palace. Ironically, his daughter had been the first to show him how to be free. She had taught him how to escape both within and outside the palace walls. Once Iroh had tasted this freedom, he always had trouble turning back into confinement. Being free made him feel at ease with the world.

"We have to get him back to the palace." Junren said simply. "We'll have to tell the Fire Lord where you've been."

"No we don't." Vailea argued.

Iroh decided that Vailea must have gotten her sense of adventure from her mother. Despite being a General, Junren seemed to under appreciate the art of 'getting away'. He appeared a man of order and planning. Although Iroh had been raised to accept the same disciplines General Junren was displaying, he had gradually grown away from them. Planning and discipline was necessary sometimes, but everyone should experience the thrill of spontaneous adventure.

"Yes we do. It's the responsible course of action. Let's hurry you back, both of you." General Junren called a few last orders to the sailors who had accompanied him on the voyage before herding Iroh and Vailea back to the palace.

Authors Note: URG. This chapter was done on Wednesday, but every time I tried to submit it wouldn't let me. They would tell me there was an error and send me to a support website that my computer claimed 'does not exist'. So, now that I've finally been able to get the chapter up…

Not my favorite chapter, but I wrote it over the course of a few days…so I couldn't get into the flow that I usually do. If you're reading this right now, I would appreciate any feedback about this chapter or the story in general (many thanks to 'TheTwilightRurouni' for all the positive feedback and constructive criticism). I always like receiving comments; it makes me want to get chapters out faster when I know I have an audience. Anyway, I'll try and get the next chapter out as soon as possible!