Zuko ran down the palace hallway, passing a few guards on the way. It seemed as if the entire palace was playing head games with him.

"What's going on? I know this place like the back of my hand, and I'm running in circles!"

Zuko froze as he felt an icy hand stroke the back of his neck. When he looked around, he noticed that he was no longer in the palace hallway, but had found his way into a large, open room that was completely empty besides him and the person behind him touching his neck.

"Don't be afraid, little prince." the smooth female voice said. "It's not my job to kill you yet. I've just been ordered to take that little war declaration off your hands. You can trust me."

"If there's one worthwhile thing I was taught, it's that you can't trust a person who says 'Trust me.'" Zuko said.

"Aw. That's too bad." Reigo cooed as she walked around to face Zuko. Her face and body had gotten younger, so she was about Zuko's age. Her long, white hair was done up in a girlish ponytail, and her eyes were large and dull. "Are you sure there's no other way I could…entice you… to let me see that itty-bitty note?"

Reigo pressed her body against Zuko's as the words 'entice you' escaped her grinning lips.

"In case you don't know, I have a fian-"

"Ischi Bei Fong. You proposed to her earlier today."

"How do you know that?"

"I have my sources. She doesn't have to know about us. Just a one-time trade. That little note for my…services."

Reigo undid the top button of her shirt and batted her eyes.

"Look, I don't even know who you are, and I can have you arrested for trespassing on palace grounds." Zuko said stalwartly. "Not to mention I am getting married, so I am offended that you'd attempt to-"

Zuko stopped as Reigo leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips. His eyes widened momentarily, then they dulled and diluted. Zuko and Reigo held the kiss for a long time, with Reigo stroking Zuko's hair, and Zuko caressing Reigo's hips, against his own will of course. Reigo reached for the note that Zuko's grip was steadily loosening on.

"Lady Reigo, we've searched the entire palace but we haven't found-" started a man as he entered the room with another man, but stopped when he saw what was going on.

Zuko's eyes became sharp again and he pushed Reigo away, clutching the note tighter.

"You idiots! I almost had it!" Reigo yelled, glaring daggers at her two teammates.

"I-I apologize, milady." the man said.

"I'll think of a suitable punishment later."

"Evil succubus!" Zuko spat. "You made me betray my betrothed! You will pay!"

Bestowed with a new energy from his rage, Zuko charged and fired a large fireball at Reigo.

The snowy-haired Shadowbender swept her hand in front of her and her shadow rose into the air and swept in front of her, absorbing the fire like a black hole absorbed light.

Zuko fired several more fireballs in quick succession. Reigo quickly sunk into the floor, turning into a shadow. The fireballs hit the floor and scorched it, but the shadow was not touched.

"Silly Zuko. You cannot harm shadows." Reigo said, slithering across the ground and spiraling up Zuko's leg. "But, the shadows can most definitely harm you."

Zuko gasped at the clammy, oily feel of the shadow against his skin. The clammy feel turned as rough and gritty as sandpaper, when Reigo reached his neck and froze.

"Drop the note, Zuko. I don't want to do this." Reigo said.

"You're bluffing. You said yourself that you couldn't kill me." Zuko croaked.

"Who said I was going to kill you?" Reigo asked, becoming fluid and clammy again on Zuko's neck. She slid up his chin and passed between his lip, sliding down his throat.

"Ack! Get out of me!" Zuko yelled. His stomach began to rumble, then a spike of pain flashed through his intestines.

"Your guts are fun to twist and churn." Reigo said with an evil tone. Zuko clutched his stomach and fell to the ground, the pain in his stomach intensifying. Zuko was actually afraid that he would black out.

"Somebody…help me…" Zuko wheezed.

"Sorry, Zuko. But there's nobody around to hear you scream. Now, drop the note or it'll get really messy in here."

"I'll…never give up this note."

"Suit yourself, little prince." Reigo said.

Around Zuko, the shadows of everything that had a shadow rose off of the ground like paper and became three-dimensional blobs of oily slime. The shadow blobs flew into Zuko's mouth and he was forced to swallow them. They tasted like acid and felt like razor blades falling down Zuko's throat.

The shadow blobs didn't sit well in his stomach. All of the shadow substance began to churn and spin around, causing Zuko much pain.

He began to pant, his vision fading.

"Please…please stop!"

"Put the note down and your pain will end."

"Alright. I'll give you the war declaration! Just get out of me!" Zuko screamed, throwing the note on the ground in front of him.

His stomach lurched, and Zuko proceeded to throw up all of the shadows that flew into his mouth. The acid taste lingered in his mouth, but Zuko was relieved to have it out of his stomach. The last shadow to slide out of his mouth circled the ground in front of him, then rose to form Reigo.

"Thank you for understanding, young prince." Reigo said, grabbing the letter. She glanced out of the window and saw that the sun was beginning to rise.

"We must depart. I apologize again for resorting to such draconian methods, but I promise that you won't regret this in the future." Reigo said as she shoved the letter in her pocket and sunk into a shadow with her two partners, slinking out of the window and into the diminishing darkness again.

"'I won't regret it in the future.' Ha! I don't regret it now." Zuko said, taking another sheet of paper from his pocket. It was the war declaration.

"I wonder what that crazy witch will do when she realizes that she took my proposal letter." Zuko said, standing and trying to walk. He was far too tired to trudge all the way to his father's chamber, so he just stopped at his room and painfully crawled into his huge bed. He closed his eyes and sleep overcame him instantly.

000

"Zuzu… Zuzu… Wake up, Zuzu…"

Zuko slowly opened his eyes and met the four golden glowing eyes of his adopted twin sisters.

"Wake up, Zuzu! You've been sleeping all day!" one young girl yelled, shaking Zuko's head.

"Twi, Su Li. What do you two want?" Zuko asked sleepily.

"You missed breakfast, and Mommy told us to wake you up so you didn't miss lunch."

"Tell 'Mommy' that I'm not feeling well right now." Zuko said.

"Alright, fine. But we're not bringing you any soup or crackers." Su Li said, jumping off of Zuko's bed and running out of the room with Twi following.

'Why do I feel like I'm forgetting something?' he thought as he laid his head back on his pillow. His eyes shot open as he realized what it was.

'The note! I completely forgot!'

Zuko looked around and didn't see the note anywhere.

'Did Reigo come back and take it while I was sleeping? Oh, man! This is horrible! Now Father won't know about the Fire Fountain City attack!'

000

"Hey, Twi, what'cha got there?" Su Li asked her twin sister as they walked down the hall.

"I found this on Zuko's floor. It's from the Earth Kingdom and it's weird. It's from this girl named Ischi Bei Fong and it says something about Shu Jing." Twi said.

"Lemme see." Su Li said, taking the paper from Twi's hand. She gasped as she read it.

"Dum-dum! This is a war declaration against the Fire Nation. We have to tell Daddy about this now!" Su Li said, breaking into a sprint.

"Daddy, daddy!" Su Li called as she entered the Fire Lord's chamber.

"Yes, girls? What is it?" Houja asked.

"We found a war declaration against Shu Jing from the Earth Kingdom!"

"What? Let me see it." Houja said. Su Li gave him the note and Houja frowned as he read it.

"Bure must be trying to confuse me by using his daughter to write total gibberish. We have to get you two and Zuko out of the city."

"Why do we have to leave?"

"Shu Jing is in close proximity to the capital. If they seize that city, the next stop will most definitely be New Zuko."

"Well, where are we going to go?"

"Fire Fountain City is the best place. It's mostly industry and they'll never think to look for the Fire Lord and his family in an industrial metropolis." Houja said. "Go alert your mother and your brother. We're leaving as soon as we can."

The twins nodded and ran off. Houja gathered what few things he had in the chamber and exited as well, toward his private quarters.

000

"Zuzu! Zuzu! Zuzu! Zuzu!" Su Li screamed in Zuko's ear.

"What? What do you want?" Zuko yelled back.

"Guess what! We're going on war vacation!"

"War what?"

"Daddy says to keep us safe from the mean Earth Kingdom, we're going on vacation."

"Going…where, exactly?"

"Fire Fountain City!"

'Oh, hell no.' Zuko thought, his jaw falling to the floor.

"Is Father sure that FFC is a good choice to go?"

"He said that it's perfect. And we're leaving ASAP, so get ready and get all of your essentials!"

Su Li poked Zuko's nose, then ran out of the room again.

'Oh no. This is bad. This is very bad.' Zuko thought. 'I can't tell Father not to go to FFC or he'll get suspicious and ask me about it, and without either note, I can't hold up my claim. I guess all I can do for now is let the chips fall as they may. I have a bad feeling about this.'

Zuko reluctantly began to pack up his things.

000

Meiya walked with her father, Naga toward a large, wooden building. Meiya could hear chattering from within the building. When she entered, she looked around with interest at the flying .

"This is the flying lemur nursery. Whenever Air Nomads begin traveling, it has become tradition for them to take an animal companion, and since the Sky Bison have become extinct, the new norm is to take flying lemurs." Naga explained.

"But how will I travel?" Meiya asked.

"All will be explained in due time. Right now, you need to choose a lemur to travel with you."

Meiya looked around at the lemurs flying around and chattering at her. One in particular caught her eye. It was perched on a branch that jutted inside the building, staring right at her.

"I think I want that one." she said, pointing at the lemur.

"Once again, showing traits of the Avatar. That lemur in particular is a direct descendant of Momo, Avatar Aang's flying lemur."

"Interesting. No wonder I felt attached to it." Meiya said. The lemur that she chose flew and landing on Meiya's shoulder, licking her face. Meiya smiled.

"Stop it. That tickles." she said.

"Hey, you smiled." Naga said.

"Hm?"

"That was the first time I've seen you smile in a long time, Meiya."

"Really? I didn't even notice."

"Our next step is giving you the Sky Bison." Naga said, turning and walking out of the lemur nursery with Meiya tagging close behind. While she walked, she talked to the lemur.

"I think I'll name you Kisi." she said, tickling its head. Afterwards, she began to think about what her father had said only moments ago.

"Sky Bison? You said that they were extinct."

"You'll see what I mean soon."

Meiya and Naga entered another building, and the young Avatar gasped.

"Is that-"

"An airship. Your airship."

Meiya stared at the large wooden contraption sitting before her. It had four, thick landing gears on each corner of it. The 'head' was almost cone-shaped, with two horns emerging from near the top of it and an arrow extending from the top of the cone to the tip. The body was bulky in build with the airship controls on its back, there was also a storage hatch that led inside the ship. The rear of the airship had a large, flexible 'tail' with holes on the under side and topside of the tails.

"This is the Sky Bison. It's a powerful airship designed after the animal guide of Avatar Aang, but many times as powerful. It's yours."

"This is amazing!" Meiya said, jumping onto the airship's back and admiring it's design and features.

"When do you want to leave to learn Waterbending?"

"Immediately! I can go right now!"

"Hm hm. I thought that you'd say that. You must travel to the Northern Water Tribe. The very fact that you're there will tell the tribe everything. I'm sure that you'll find a Waterbending teacher there."

"Thank you, Father! Thank you so much! But, when will I see you again?"

"Once you finish your training and end the growing feud between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation. We'll welcome you back with open arms."

"Thank you once again. Goodbye, father." Meiya said, climbing onto the Sky Bison and jumping at the controls. She found that the flight controls were more simple than she thought. Once she got the handle of it, the pulled the flight clutch back, causing a blast of air to shoot from the holes on the bottom of the tail and making the Sky Bison lift up.

Using a wooden joystick, Meiya was able to direct the wooden airship outside and lift it higher into the air.

"Ah! How exhilarating!" Meiya said.

"I'll say." said a familiar voice. "Oops!"

Meiya squinted, then stuck the clutch in autopilot and walked back toward the storage hatch.

"Kohi!" she scolded, throwing the hatch open to find her own personal annoyance sitting in the hatch and smiling at her.

"Sorry, Meiya, but I just had to make all of my mistakes up to you. So I'm tagging along, to owe you."

"I didn't ask you to do that! You can't join me on this!"

"Well, you can't save the world alone! Avatar Aang didn't!"

Meiya thought for a moment. "I'm stuck with you, aren't I?"

"Yep!" Kohi said with a cheesy grin.

Meiya sighed and too the controls again.

"Just don't bug me too much. The only reason that I'm not pitching you off of this thing is because I'm in a really good mood."

"Yay!" Kohi said, climbing out of the storage hatch and looking over the side of the Sky Bison.

"The sunrise is pretty."

"Hm. It is, isn't it?" Meiya said.

000

Khole was riding on the back of the great white whale shark again, northbound.

"The Earth Kingdom City of Omashu, where I can start learning to tame land beasts, Master Rodik says. Did'ya hear that, Majesty?"

The whale shark moaned and nodded its head as it swam.

"Now, according to this map, I'll have to cross the Fire Nation city of Fire Fountain in order to find the Omashu mainland. I hope the natives are friendly." Khole said as she relaxed on Majesty's back.