Sokka pressed cold, cold fingers against the old wood table; it was only at the ominous creak that he leaned back. "What is this, Zuko?" He kept his voice level, but it was not without an effort.

"A story," Zuko murmured, before snapping the scroll he'd been studying shut. "An ancient one. And- I need help, Sokka." He grimaced, but continued. "Nobody else could know, not with something this dangerous… I didn't sleep for over two weeks when I first came across this place."

Because spirits are strongest at night.

Sokka rubbed a chilled hand against his arm. "I never thought that the… the Aethers are- or could be- our enemies."

"Aethers. As good a name as any, I guess. Did you think they would be our friends? Aethers… well, you know the stories better than anyone." When Sokka didn't respond, Zuko frowned. "Or maybe not."

"What are you talking about?"

"Our stories- bedtime stories- don't put Aethers as heroes. Ever. They're usually like… gods? Cruel, and something we can't pass judgment on." Zuko said quietly. "Something we can't hope to understand." He closed his eyes for a brief moment, before smiling thinly. "I think, Sokka, we're going to have a wild ride trying to keep this under wrap."

Don't joke. The words were almost spoken, before Sokka saw the tense shadows under Zuko's eyes, and the not-quite-hidden shake in his hands from exhaustion. I'm betting if he doesn't try to lighten his load, he's going to crumble under the weight.

And it wasn't like he was any stranger to dealing with stress with laughter. So, instead, Sokka said, "A wilder ride than we can imagine."

Zuko smiled slowly.

"I'm not going to be here for some time," Zuko said as they wound their way back to the surface.

Sokka frowned. "Why?"

"My mother," Zuko said curtly. Then, softening a little, "You know I've been searching for her for a long time. I asked June to keep an ear out for any new trackers, and she sent me a hawk a few weeks back. A new one has popped up at the edge of the Si Wong desert… I'm leaving to search for her."

"The tracker or your mother?" Sokka asked dryly. I'll bet a hundred gold pieces that he started to think about calling me as soon as he learned about this 'new tracker.'

"Hopefully, both," Zuko retorted, just as dry. "But as it stands, you're going to need to hold this very, very classified information under wraps. You're not going to be able to enter the cavern, and I'm not letting you take the scrolls out, either. Just… remain normal." At Sokka's subtly disbelieving brow, Zuko nodded. "It's a lot harder than it looks, Sokka. So try to remain normal, and keep your men spreading the goodwill for the goodwill of both our countries."

Sokka shook his head, and followed his friend to the castle proper. "By the way," he called to Zuko's back, "have you thought about what to tell Aang?"

Zuko froze, then turned around slowly, like a man facing execution. "Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing." At his frown, Zuko elaborated. "Nothing yet, I mean. Aang isn't ready for this. He's a kid, Sokka. He- Dammit, he can't even firebend properly. We can't tell Toph because this information is too scary to say aloud. And-"

"And we can't tell my sister because she'll go berserk." Sokka whispered. The true horror of what he'd read still hadn't hit; he expected that blessed numbness would last until he slept, and then he'd see exactly what Zuko meant by not sleeping for weeks on end. "Oh, my-" Cutting off the oath, he moved forward and caught Zuko's shoulder. "What are we doing, Zuko? We're kids- not adults. We're not supposed to-"

"I'm the Fire Lord." Zuko's eyes could have frozen fire. "This is what I have to do, Sokka. If you can't deal with it-"

Sokka knocked his defensive hand away. "Don't be an idiot, Zuko. That's not what I meant. But I mean- why haven't you spoken to your Uncle?"

"Uncle Iroh still believes in spi- Aethers." Zuko's voice was disgusted. "And he knows exactly how much I despise them. Any such- cache," he waved his hand behind him, at the lava fields below, "would be met with skepticism and, honestly, I don't want to waste the energy trying to convince him."

Whoa. That's a lot of anger pent up there. Wonder what happened?

Distraction time.

"I have a couple questions," Sokka told him quietly.

"Of course there are." Even Zuko's sarcasm sounded completely exhausted.

"Well- why doesn't everyone know?"

"Know what?" He frowned. "About the Face-Stealer's people?"

Sokka tilted his head.

"Well, you've gotta remember, this was a hundred thousand years ago. Not a lot of things survive at that age. But- and remember, Koh was pissed off- some stuff do. And there are no records dating that far back. No one knew why, but I pulled some of the newest stuff together, and, well, we don't really have hard evidence."

"But?" Sokka asked carefully.

"But, there is a lot of stuff I can infer. And my thoughts? The people destroyed each other. Koh was furious, and his power might have been really, really lessened, but it wasn't broken, not like Neimenuvan thought, or hoped. Because people were always dying, and Koh got power from that."

Sokka tried to imagine that, Koh whispering in each ruler's ear about how great they were, and how brilliant, and how much better than everyone else, and constantly pushing for war, and then looked back at the small cache and shivered. Then he tried to think about a time when the spirits dictated everything, and only a prince without loyalty was able to beat them back.

Sokka shivered some more.

"I didn't just take it from here." Zuko added grimly. "I went to Ba Sing Se, because according to the maps, the oldest settlement in the world should have been about there. And there are caverns beneath caverns beneath caverns, but if you go below them all," and here Zuko paused, eyes crinkled in worry, "if you go below them all, you'll find a city. It's buried underneath miles of stone, and I'd never have found it without the maps. But it's there- and it's completely leveled.

Sokka inhaled, feeling like there was a twig stuck in his chest. Zuko went on. "Like someone wanted it destroyed. Gone." He spread his hands on the table, careful as a hunter who has his prey in sight. "And the most interesting thing? It just pops up. There aren't any tents or anything, just brick houses and mortar and everything like that. Sokka, those were the first houses, and they came from people who knew how to build them."

He nodded helplessly. Zuko sighed, burying his face in his hands. "We need a plan." He looked up, met Sokka's eyes. "A good one."

Sokka nodded hopelessly. "I'll have some time, though, right? While you're gone, I mean."

"Yeah."

"Then, I'll come up with a plan." Sokka said. "And while you're gone, I'll keep this under wraps."

Zuko frowned, then said, quiet, "I'm going to need to be back in a month's time. Winter Solstice is coming, and that's when the spirits are strongest- I don't know if they'll be able to take the knowledge from us again."

"And that would be bad."

"Yes," Zuko said flatly. "Very bad."

"Then we should get cracking, shouldn't we?" Sokka muttered as they emerged into the study.

This is another example of procrastinating to the last minute... I wrote this on the second of January, but didn't edit it until just now. And, on that note- I'm looking for a beta. If anyone is, or knows, a beta who is free, used to irregular updates, and helpful in assiting a random, weird person- please, please let me know. I am just coming to terms with the face that it really helps to have another person telling me that 'a' doesn't make sense, or 'b' could be phrased differently...

I have also finished a rough outline of where I want this story to progress. Be proud; this happens to be the first time I have done so. I am- hopefully- going to be able to continue this story and not hit writers block:)

For any of my Harry Potter readers, I will be fleshing out a partial outline for both Caelia and Carina within the month; expect updates before March.

Reviews, as always, inspire me!

- Dialux