"D'you think I should take my war paint?"

Zuko closed his eyes and counted to ten. "I don't care, Sokka. Whatever you have room for in your pack is fine."

"Yeah, but will I need it?"

"Maybe." Every second they spent preparing only brought more questions to Zuko's mind. Would Sokka really need his war paint? Perhaps the better question was, would they need anything war related at all? He was becoming more and more worried that they would, because this entire war was happening because the Avatar was gone. Now that he was back – maybe, Zuko reminded himself, maybe Aang was the Avatar – there was bound to be some kind of ruckus.

Sokka went on sorting his things, while Zuko rolled his spare parka as tightly as he could and tied it with strips of rawhide. Gran-Gran had been surprisingly okay with their idea, and though Zuko couldn't stop worrying about who would make sure they had food and who would stock up the firewood supply for the blizzard months and who would repair the igloo when it started to leak again, she was currently busy wrapping enough seal-blubber jerky to last them both a year.

When he was finally ready, he stood up and went over to her, watching as she packed spark rocks, salt, and the basics for any sewing repairs they (meaning Zuko) would have to do.

"Are you sure about this?"

Gran-Gran smiled gently. "I will miss you both. But you and your brother are not the only strong people in the Southern Water Tribe. We will be fine." She closed the pack and handed it to him. "Zuko, you cannot come back once you find the airbender."

"I know," he said quietly. "They'll only come again to look for him, and this time it could be worse. I don't know where we'll go, though."

"I should think that would be an easy decision. Don't you need to master your bending?"

Zuko stared at her. "You really think we can make it all the way to the North Pole without getting caught?"

"If you and your brother cannot, no one can."

At that he had to fight a smile of his own. "Somehow I think sneaking past the entire Fire Nation armada is going to be different than sneaking past you for snow cream after bedtime."

"Perhaps. But you and Sokka are strong, and quick on your feet. You have good instincts, and as long as you both trust each other, little can stand in your way."

It was solid, practical advice, but it was also the most sentimental thing his grandmother had ever said to him, and he was horrified to feel a lump in his throat that seemed to match the mistiness of her eyes. Abruptly he turned to heft the food pack onto his shoulder.

"We should get going," he called to Sokka, who nodded and slung his own over-stuffed knapsack onto one shoulder, and immediately was pulled into a sideways slump with the weight.

"All right! Let's go rescue the Avatar!"

Zuko bit back a curse when the needle burrowed into his finger for the fifth time. Served him right for letting his mind wander; he was a sloppy sewer at best, terrible at worst.

Sokka, barelegged and irritable (not that Zuko could blame him; it might not be cold enough to freeze water midair but it definitely wasn't warm), fiddled with his whale-bone necklace.

"How's it coming?" Sokka asked in a trying-too-hard-to-be-cheerful-to-actually-sound-cheerful voice.

"Fine," Zuko answered shortly. He pushed aside the urge to throw the pants off of Appa's back, and made another patient, lopsided stitch.

Appa rumbled, soft and low. Zuko glanced up at Aang, who hadn't said a word since their escape from the Fire Nation ship and the fire-throwing, sociopathic demon now known as Princess Katara. In some ways he was glad; false hope would have been almost harder to overcome than the bleak outlook Aang was exhibiting right now. But no twelve year old kid should have that kind of slump to his shoulders.

Sokka's pants landed on his head, but Zuko ignored his squawk of protest and climbed down to sit between Appa's horns.

"How much further?"

"Just over that ridge," Aang pointed. His voice was quiet and subdued.

Zuko peered into the fog, mist swirling around the rock crags below, and cleared his throat. "Listen, Aang, I – I'm not sure what we're going to find. But – "

"Why would she lie?" Aang interrupted, still in that sad little voice.

Zuko faltered. "I…I don't know, I – "

"Exactly. She had no reason to lie. I could tell she didn't want to tell me. She looked….she looked almost sorry. Like she cared."

That was one possibility Zuko felt comfortable with ruling out entirely. "Aang – "

"I…I know that even if she lied, things aren't going to be the same as they were when I left. It's been a hundred years. But….I just need to see. For myself."

Zuko nodded. "Okay."

Appa landed in an abandoned courtyard, littered with small piles of rubble and clumps of weeds sprouting up through cracks in the pavestones. Aang stood perfectly still, and looked in every direction for several long minutes before he sighed.

"She wasn't lying." He sent one last mournful look down at a lower balcony, one that had several roomy caves around the edges. "Let's go."

"Wait," Zuko said. "Is…is there anything you want to see if you can take with you? Did you leave any of your stuff in your room?"

"Monks don't have many earthly possessions," Aang spread his arms. "This is all I have."

"Nah," Sokka threw an arm around Aang's shoulders. "You got us now, buddy."

A ghost of a smile flitted across Aang's features before disappearing. "Thanks, Sokka."

Zuko turned to climb back into Appa's saddle, when Sokka stopped him.

"Hey, look at this."

There was an arched opening to their left; it was dark and inconspicuous looking, but Sokka inched closer, peering at the ground.

"Someone was here recently."

Aang's eyes widened. "Are you sure?"

"He's the better tracker of the two of us," Zuko shrugged. "Although…Sokka, you're used to tracking in snow, are you sure?"

"Positive. Look." He pointed. "These footprints…they don't match."

"Uh…match what, exactly?"

"Anything. The Fire Nation armor that would have been in use a hundred years ago has been updated a lot, but their shoes are exactly the same, and these don't have the pointed toe."

"Okay…" Aang said slowly.

"But they don't match your shoes either," Sokka added, and sure enough, the simple slippers Aang wore were too rounded for the dusty marks left on the stone.

"So…not airbender, not Fire Nation…then what?" Zuko glanced around worriedly.

"Dunno. Let's go see."

Together, he and Sokka pulled their machetes from their belts, and Zuko made sure Aang was close behind as they crept down the tunnel. It stank of mold and rotten fruit, but it came out in a wide cavern that in turn opened up onto one of the many balconies on the cliffside.

"What is that?" Zuko peered at the odd pile on the floor, in the center of the room. There was an ornate box, resting beside a large ceramic dish that was full of ashes. Sitting behind that was a piece of parchment stretched out in a bamboo frame. He couldn't read the writing; it was in some language he didn't recognize, but Aang sighed and knelt in front of the display.

Zuko and Sokka watched in silence as Aang opened the small chest to reveal several scrolls, yellowed and covered in cobwebs.

"Airbending scrolls," he said quietly. "At least something survived."

For several long minutes they stood, Zuko and Sokka too familiar with grief to say anything; finally Aang scooped up the box and turned to go, only to jump in surprise and gasp.

Zuko whirled, expecting to find the demon Princess behind him, but instead he found himself looking down at a small, white and brown furry oddity that had big green eyes and even bigger ears. It chirped excitedly at Aang, then jumped up to curl around his shoulders.

"Uh…what is that?" Sokka leaned closer, then yelped when the creature made a swipe at his nose.

"It's a winged lemur," Aang smiled and scratched behind its ears. "Looks like something survived after all, huh little guy?" Happy chirping sounds. "I'm gonna call you Momo. How's that?"

Zuko blinked. "Momo."

"Uh-huh." Aang rummaged in his bag before pulling out a piece of dried mango. "Momo the flying lemur."

Zuko stared for a minute before he shrugged. "Okay. You ready now?"

Aang looked around one last time, but he didn't look quite as sad now with Momo perched atop his head. "Yeah. I'm ready."

Zuko watched him walk over and introduce their new pet to Appa; after a minute he knelt and dug an old piece of hide out of his knapsack, and a lump of charcoal. Carefully, he copied down the strange writing on the little memorial written in the foreign language. Hopefully at some point they would find someone who could translate it for them.

"C'mon," Sokka clambered over the saddle rim. "I'm starving, and there's not gonna be any meat here on a vegetarian island."

Zuko rolled his eyes, and followed.

/

Meditation, for lack of a better description, absolutely sucked.

It had always been her least favorite part of training, always boring and dull. She really didn't see the use for it, at least until she told her Uncle as much about six months ago, when they had first set out to sea. Uncle had given her a look of such profound disappointment that part of her had wanted to crawl under her chair.

"Princess," he had said, "Meditation is a crucial piece of mastering any art, but none more so than firebending."

Somehow she had found the audacity to roll her eyes. "I can't think of one successful firebender who spends his or her time meditating."

"Perhaps not," Uncle eyed her again, then more sorrowful than rebuking. "But your father has never meditated a day in his life. Are those the footsteps you wish to follow, Princess?"

Katara had somehow managed not to storm away, but she hadn't spoken to him for almost a week afterwards. On the last day of her silent tantrum, she had finished her lunch, excused herself, and lit the candles in her cabin before sitting lotus-style on the mat. She had forced herself to spend two hours there, inhaling and exhaling, focusing on those little flames and feeling the hum and flow of energy that her breath gave them.

It was still boring. But she hadn't missed a single day since then.

In. Out. Brighter. Dimmer.

The ship suddenly lurched, and she put her hands out to steady herself. She sighed, not knowing whether to be grateful or irritated that the mood was ruined, but ultimately she got up and went topside to check.

"Princess!" Captain Jee hurried over. "Storm clouds, on the horizon."

She squinted at the dark clouds and brushed her hair out of her eyes. "Make sure everything is tied down - topside and below. And that crack we noticed yesterday morning needs to be sealed."

"Yes, Princess." Jee barked her orders, soldiers scurried across the deck, and Katara approached her uncle, who stood at the railing watching the storm.

"It's likely to be a bad one," she said quietly.

Uncle nodded. "I knew it was coming. I could feel it in my bones this morning at breakfast."

There was once a time when Katara would have scoffed at the idea of predicting weather based on nothing but aches and pains, but not anymore. To her surprise, she found herself agreeing with him instead.

"I felt it too."

Uncle turned to her with gentle amusement. "My niece, your bones are not nearly old enough to feel the changes in the air."

Katara suddenly wished she had kept her mouth shut. She swallowed, and raised one shoulder indifferently. "Not my bones."

Uncle understood immediately, and his eyes darkened when they flicked down to her neck, where the high collar of her cold-weather armor hid the worse of the scar from view.

She cleared her throat. "Anyway, the crew is battening everything down. I suggest we remain inside until this passes over."

Uncle, his eyes now sad more than angry, nodded and followed her below deck.

/

"What's an elephant koi?"

Aang held his arms out full length, gesturing dramatically. "It's a huge fish, huge! And they're really safe and gentle, and beautiful, and they have these big fins on their back that are really easy to hold on to, and – "

"Whoa." Zuko waved one hand. "Why would you ride one of these things?"

Aang blinked. "Um…because it's fun?"

Sokka poked Zuko in the ribs. "Don't be such a stick in the mud."

"Fine, then you go ride the giant fish with him."

"Mmm, see, I would, but," Sokka picked his fingernails with faked indifference, "I'm not a waterbender. You'd definitely be the better option of the two of us, in case something goes wrong."

"Nothing's going to go wrong," Aang insisted. "Elephant koi are really gentle."

"They're also really big," Zuko muttered. He dug one toe into the sand, peering out over the bay and trying not to picture himself being flung against the rocks by a giant sea creature.

"All right," he sighed finally. "Let's get this over with."

Aang beamed, and tugged off his robes. Zuko reluctantly did the same; there was snow around the bases of the trees, so the water wasn't going to be pleasant. But it would be more bearable if he had warm, dry clothes to change into after, so just his trunks would have to do.

Bearable, however, wasn't how he would have described the water once he actually jumped in.

"Holy – "

"Come on, Zuko! We have to get out into deeper water!"

He grit his teeth to keep them from chattering. Every stroke through the water felt like needles were pricking his skin. He could hear Sokka laughing on the shore, and wished he knew a bending move that would create a tidal wave or something to drag his idiot brother in, too.

Finally Aang determined they were out deep enough, and for several minutes the two of them tread water, waiting for….well, he didn't know. He didn't want to know. This wasn't even his idea.

"Look!" Aang cried, sounding far too cheerful for someone who was swimming in freezing water wearing only trunks.

Zuko stared at the enormous, golden fin that was approaching them. "Uh –"

"Come on!" Aang positioned himself, while Zuko copied him and tried really hard not to panic, because he hadn't really anticipated "huge" being at least sixty feet over his head. And that was just the dorsal fin.

It came closer, and they reached out to grab hold, and suddenly Zuko's stomach wrenched in protest of being yanked out of the water.

He managed to squint his eyes open once all the jostling seemed to be over, and found he was standing on the koi's back, which was covered in gold scales. Aang was gripping the fin behind him, laughing his head off, and to Zuko's surprise, he found himself smiling too. It was kind of fun – the wind whistling past him, the sun making him a lot warmer.

At least, until the koi decided it was tired of the surface, and leaped out the water to dive.

Instinctively Zuko let go, an action he immediately regretted when he hit the water, hard.

Coughing, he glared at Aang, who looked guilty but also like he was having a blast.

"Fun?"

"Well, until they do that," Aang nodded. "I forgot, I guess. It's been a while."

Zuko's back and shoulders were still stinging considerably, but more than anything else he wanted to be out of the water. It felt kinda wimpy, a guy from the South Pole being unable to tolerate warmer waters, but he'd had his fill recently of swimming in subzero temperatures. Sue him for preferring dry ground for a little while.

Once they made the shore, though, Zuko's discomfort was forgotten.

"Uh…where's Sokka?"

Aang peered around the trees. "Maybe we came back to the wrong part of the beach?"

"No, look our clothes are still here." Zuko picked up his pants, turned to look for his brother in the other direction, and immediately yelped and fell down on his butt, having lost his balance in an attempt to get away from the razor-sharp golden fan pointed at his face.

He stared, still dripping wet and mostly naked and holding his pants in his lap, at the five warriors surrounding them. This had to be a dream. It just had to be. No one person could have this many bizarre and ridiculous things happen to them in such a short amount of time. It just wasn't fair.

"Uh –"

"Who are you, what is your rank, and how long until the first ship arrives?"

It was then that he noticed every single one of these warriors was a girl. And despite the probably-lethal situation, he couldn't help but smirk.

"You think this is a joke?" The leader crouched down in front of him, and he swallowed. That fan was really sharp looking. And its wielder was especially angry looking, a fact that was not helped by the war paint and armor.

"No, no, I, uh – I just…my brother probably won't be very happy when he learns a bunch of, um, lady assassins took all three of us down. Unless you've killed him already?"

Unless he was imagining things, one corner of the girl's mouth twitched, like she was fighting a grin. "Not yet," she said stiffly. "Though I can't say it hasn't crossed my mind."

"What about you?" one of the other girls asked.

Zuko tried very hard not to blush, but of the five girls surrounding him, only the leader still looked like she wanted to kill him. The others were…well. They were just staring, and he was still mostly naked. So.

He cleared his throat. "Wh-what about me?"

"You don't seem surprised that a bunch of lady assassins took you down."

"An equally scary and much tinier lady assassin gave me this black eye, and the spectacular bruise on my ribs," he rolled his eyes, "so I think I can believe a victory when the odds are in your favor."

The leader narrowed her eyes. "Hm."

There was a heartbeat or two, and he cleared his throat again. "Uh – look, not that I'm not feeling at all threatened here, but do you think maybe I could put my clothes back on while you decide whether or not you're going to kill me?"

A real, genuine smile cracked the leader's war paint, and she helped him to his feet. "Sorry," she said. "Kyoshi Island has stayed out of the war so far, and we'd really like to keep it that way. Anyone who we think might be leading the Fire Nation to us is our enemy."

He shrugged, wringing out his hair as best he could before pulling his parka on. "I understand. But trust me, we want to stay off the Fire Nation's map as much as you do." He paused, suddenly realizing something. "Um…Aang?"

"Aang? Who's Aang?" The leader quieried.

"The kid, he was with me, he talked me into riding the elephant koi – "

"At this time of year?"

"Oh, shut up, he's twelve, what was I supposed to do?"

"Well, I don't know, maybe be the grown up – "

"He did the sad eyes thing – "

"Hey."

Startled, they both turned to see Sokka, bound tightly in ropes and looking supremely annoyed. "As cute as your banter is, maybe you could save yourselves some time and look that way." He jutted his jaw towards the bay, and Zuko turned, only to have his third – fourth? honestly he'd lost count – mini heart attack of the day.

"Aang!"

The elephant koi were back, and Aang was riding them again. He waved manically with one arm. "Hey, Zuko! Watch this!"

He started using his bending to do flips and tricks over the dorsal fin. Zuko heard a muffled swear from beside him.

"Is – he's airbending?"

No point in denying it now. "Yeah. He's the Avatar."

The leader stared at him, slack jawed, before nodding. "Sure. Okay. Why not?"

"Believe me, I've asked myself that a lot lately."

It took a while, but they finally managed to get Aang back on dry ground. He bended himself dry, and dressed and bowed to the warriors. "Hi! I'm Aang."

The leader eyed him up and down, before apparently deciding that evidence was evidence, and shook his hand. "I'm Suki."

"Nice to meet you."

"Um, hello?" Sokka tugged at his bonds and whined, "Zuko, they won't let me go."

Zuko snorted. "What do you want me to do, make them?"

"You're a waterbender – "

"An untrained waterbender."

"And you always win our wrestling fights at home – "

"Yeah, but then they will beat me, and then we're both tied up for being idiots."

"But I didn't do anything," Sokka pouted. "I'm not gonna try anything, either."

Zuko sighed, and glanced over at Suki. She rolled her eyes.

"Fine."

The moment he was free, Sokka glared at his captors. "I still think you had a bunch of guys helping you."

Suki's jaw tightened. Zuko quickly said, "Um, is there any place we could get some food? And Aang's flying bison is around here somewhere, too."

Suki, apparently having decided to ignore Sokka's death wish for the time being, smiled and nodded. "Sure. This way. The villagers will be really excited to meet the Avatar."

(Just so they knew whose side he was on, Zuko made a show of smacking Sokka upside the head as they followed their new lady assassin friends down the trail.)

/

Katara gnawed on her lip, a bad habit she'd picked up out here at sea.

"We're out of tar, Princess," Jee quietly said.

She sighed, knowing that the deep gauge in the ship's hull wasn't going to vanish the longer she glared at it.. "Very well. Where's the nearest supply?"

"Kyoshi Island. Just two days away. We should be able to hold it until then."

"Good. We'll need everyone to pull some double shifts, for security but also to have someone down here around the clock to keep an eye on it."

As always, Jee nodded and went off to relay her orders. He was always respectful, but had a way of asserting his years of experience that never made her feel unsure. He tried to be an asset to her, not a chaperone, and in some ways she knew her short time on this voyage had been made much more tolerable because of him.

She sighed again, and went below deck to change. The storm had left an unseasonable heat wave behind, and the air was thick and muggy. She felt much better in a short sleeved tunic and cropped pants, with her hair in its usual side braid.

Pausing in front of the mirror, Katara fingered the front of her neck. It wasn't the worst of the scar, that part was hidden by her hair, but it was gruesome looking all the same. She was aware that her crew knew the story of her scar, how she'd received it, and she was also aware that was probably the main reason she had zero disciplinary issues on board.

It was rather odd, at first, the sneaking suspicion that people seemed to actually like her here, but she'd grown used to it. And it wasn't like any of them were overly affectionate anyway. She just knew it would be rare otherwise for a girl her age to be in command of a crew like this, and still have it run as efficiently as they did.

At least it's good for something, she thought. Her fingertips traced the puckered, red skin, before she yanked them away and decided not to worry about it. So she had a scar on her neck. So what? It was hot outside, she wasn't about to roast herself alive wearing winter clothes just because they had a higher collar that would cover the scar completely. No, best to just be comfortable, and deal with the shocked looks and whispers later.

She actually didn't get that many stares, but Katara would have preferred those over the look on Uncle's face when he spotted it. She wasn't sure why – he looked devastated, like just the memory of that day was unravelling his soul, piece by piece. Her memories of the days following the Agni Kai were vauge – pain had a way of both dulling and sharpening your senses, so that you remembered very little, but still very vividly. She knew he had been at her bedside in the infirmary nonstop, and he had been the one to tell her of her father's final sentence.

He had also been the one to pretend he didn't see her cry after.

She shook herself out of her thoughts. Memories would only offer you so much good before they turned bitter. And her memories never had much besides bitter to offer anyway.

Katara took a deep breath, and turned to the control house to check their heading.

/