A/N: Nope, still don't own anything. Certainly not the dialogue from various episodes, as some of it pops up in here.
------
Never, in all my days, did I think I would be longing for a bandit attack, Iroh thought ruefully, leading their way aboard the ferry. Zuko was a silent shadow in his wake, face empty of everything but cold determination.
He'd seen that look before. Three years ago, after Zuko had read the terms of his banishment.
He did the right thing. He did the honorable thing. And again, all he has for it is loss. Iroh tried to keep his face pleasant, even as his heart ached. Zuko was forbidding enough for the both of them. And this time, I am the one who has dealt the blow.
Never mind that he had not laid a finger on his nephew. Wounds to the heart went far deeper than mere scars.
I wish he would yell at me. Spirits, I wish he would set something on fire.
Nothing. Only terse replies when he must, and silence whenever it was possible. Like a warrior with his death-wound, holding his peace so his comrades would not break and die.
There is nothing I can do, Iroh decided, heart heavy. Not here. Not now.
Well… nothing serious. But then, perhaps serious was not what his nephew needed.
Grinning to himself, Iroh plotted.
------
That, has to be the most ridiculous hat this side of the Western Sea, Zuko thought blankly. A lone, rough-edged thought, crashing through the numbness of where's the next attack and she's gone, it's not fair, it's never fair. He would have been just as happy if it crashed right back out again, and left him numb and bleeding.
But this was Uncle. Uncle doing something that looked completely, utterly insane. Which meant it was time to duck. Or at least start distracting like hell.
I am in no shape for this.
Didn't matter. He had to try. "Look around," Zuko managed roughly. "We're not tourists." Desperate to shut down the conversation, he raised the wooden bowl of supposed lunch to his lips-
Sniffed, fingers feeling the lukewarm heat from the brown liquid, and abruptly dumped the whole bowl over the side.
"Lee," Uncle sighed.
"I'm not spending the next week chained to a latrine," Zuko growled.
Uncle Iroh blinked then, and sniffed his own bowl. "I admit it is not pleasant…."
"It's - not the smell." Reluctantly, Zuko curled his fingers over the rim of Iroh's bowl, feeling the faint warmth above the liquid. "Something in it doesn't feel right."
With a thoughtful frown, Uncle tossed his own bowl over the railing.
"But - what-" Zuko managed.
"I have survived spoiled food before, during the war," Iroh said gravely. "Hunger is unpleasant, but not fatal. If something in the energy of that is amiss enough that you sensed it, I do not feel inclined to trust to luck."
"Huh," a low voice chuckled. "Knew the food was bad, but not that bad."
Zuko refused to flinch. He'd heard the trio of teenagers coming, but he'd hoped they'd just walk on by.
Like I'd be that lucky.
Armed teenagers. Joy. A thin, small one with red striping on pale cheeks, like a Kyoshi Warrior gone feral. A taller, silent boy with a bow. And in front, messy brown hair over sly brown eyes and a chewed stalk of dry grass….
Leader. With an attitude. Great. Just great.
"My name's Jet, and these are my freedom fighters, Smellerbee and Longshot."
Would-be guerillas. Even better. Meaning they probably knew what Fire Nation looked like. Or thought they did.
Let's hope they look for uniforms. Deliberately, Zuko looked over the lake.
"Hey," Smellerbee said.
Damn. Be polite. Keep the cover. "Hello," Zuko replied, not looking back.
"So… waterbender, huh?"
Calculating. Jet's voice was pure calculation, hidden under devilish charm. It raised all the hackles on Zuko's neck. "So?" he said coolly.
"Don't usually see that in the Earth Kingdom." Jet's voice was lazy and watchful. Waiting.
Damn it! They don't even think I'm a firebender, and we're already screwed-
"Yes, it was quite the surprise, when we discovered what was happening," Iroh stepped in smoothly. "We hear there are waterbenders in Ba Sing Se. With luck we will find one, so there will be no more… er, random mishaps."
"Did some damage, huh?" Jet smirked. "You sound like our kind of guy."
If you're into random damage, I'm not the guy you're looking for, Zuko thought, giving them a dark glance.
Either blind to the hint or deliberately ignoring it, Jet stepped closer. "Here's the deal. I hear the captain's eating like a king, while us refugees have to feed off his scraps. Doesn't seem fair, does it?"
Life's not fair, Zuko thought dryly. Armed, no adults with them, no one as sane as even Sokka in the bunch, and mad at the world. He definitely needed to put distance between himself and these idiots.
"What sort of king is he eating like?" Iroh wondered.
…Argh.
"The fat, happy kind," Jet said sardonically. "You want to help us liberate some food?"
Smug, charming, and knows how to find people's weak spots. Zuko stared over the lake, and nodded. "I'm in."
I want you where I can see you.
------
"I'm sorry, Uncle," Zuko said, voice low enough that none of their fellow passengers would hear him through the joyous laughter as Jet handed out food. "He thinks he knows something-"
"And the best way to be certain he looks no deeper, is to allow him to think you are firmly in league with him," Iroh nodded. He'd noted the rebel's charisma as well; confined as they were with a ferry full of refugees who feared the Fire Nation, Zuko had every right to be wary. "Well. A meal was part of the passage price. We will be in the city soon, and able to shake him from our trail."
Longshot and Smellerbee neared, and he could say no more. Only smile, and grip his nephew's shoulder briefly.
We do what we must. But I am glad to see it bothers you.
And glad for a purely selfish reason, as well. His nephew's gaze had cleared, focused on the dangers of the present, rather than the pain he still suppressed. Apparently, furtive dealings did Zuko's spirits good.
Well, and why should they not? I know of many who specialize in covert missions. But has any other firebender ever infiltrated the North Pole?
Like healing, it was a dubious skill for a Fire Nation noble to claim. But unquestionably useful, so long as they remained fugitives.
I wonder. Is there any way he can put such skills to good use? Something I could encourage freely?
Something to think on, as he exchanged polite nods and dug into the bounty with his nephew and the two young rebels. A better meal than he'd had in some days, truth be told. Particularly once Zuko slipped a few tea sweets out of his sleeve when no one was watching. No longer graceful, outlines of maple leaves and cherry blossoms blurred by squishing, but still a lovely contrast to plain hot water. No tea, unfortunately. Well, one couldn't expect everything.
Food, drink… yes, we should have some conversation as well, Iroh decided. If only to keep Jet convinced waterbending was Lee's only secret. And in truth, he was curious. "So, Smellerbee. That's an unusual name for a young man."
"Maybe it's because I'm not a man. I'm a girl!" Obviously irritated, she stood and stalked off.
Oops. "Oh, now I see!" he called after her. "It's a beautiful name for a lovely young girl!"
Zuko's face didn't so much as twitch. Iroh wasn't sure if that was lack of surprise, unusual self-control, or simple teenage hunger overriding the brain to the point that his nephew wouldn't have cared if Smellerbee were a uniformed platypus-bear, so long as she didn't grab for his bowl.
Teenage firebender, Iroh reminded himself wryly, as the silent Longshot caught his young lady friend and didn't have a conversation. Hunger is most likely.
Drifting on the polar seas had been bad enough. Hunted as fugitives, only able to pause in one place long enough to gain meager supplies before prudence advised they move on… he could afford to lose the weight, but his nephew was too lean to be healthy.
Even if he were not bending, I think he may have grown an inch, Iroh thought ruefully. Late bloomers ran at least as strongly in Sozin's line as prodigies, but no one had ever convinced his brother of that. I had hoped he would take more after me than Ozai, but this is not the best timing.
Jet sat down with them, still caught up in the excitement of the crowd's adulation. "From what I heard, people eat like this every day in Ba Sing Se. I can't wait to set my eyes on that giant wall."
"It is a magnificent sight," Iroh agreed. And a terrifying one.
Jet raised a bushy brow. "So you've been there before?"
"Once," the retired general admitted. "When I was a different man." If events had been different, if he had been different….
If I had not been the Dragon of the West, would Zuko still be alive?
He doubted it. He very much doubted it. Zuko was stubborn and resilient and persevering, but the odds had been stacked too heavily against him for any young prince to survive. Much less succeed.
Now, if he could only convince Zuko of that.
"I've done some things in my past that I'm not proud of," Jet said in a low voice. "But that's why I'm going to Ba Sing Se, for a new beginning. A second chance."
"That's very noble of you," Iroh said thoughtfully. I think you even believe it. Whether or not the boy could hold to it - well. Theft from the captain was not a promising start. "I believe people can change their lives, if they want to." He looked at his nephew. "I believe in second chances."
Too late, he realized how Zuko might take that. Capturing the Avatar is not a second chance, nephew!
But he couldn't say it. Not with Jet studying them both.
"So what'd you do to a waterbender?" Zuko said levelly.
"What makes you think I've even met another waterbender?" Jet smirked.
Zuko gave him a hard, flat look.
Iroh recognized it. From mirrors. That was a general's look.
You're trying to look clever. I'm so impressed. Get your head out of your ass and start giving me straight answers before I feed you your insignia.
Of all the tricks of command he'd tried to teach his nephew, why did that one have to stick?
"Nothing you need to worry about," Jet said at last, not smiling. "She and her idiot brother and that kid…. You're more realistic than she'll ever be." He snorted. "Like the Fire Nation didn't do enough to the South Pole already. Maybe that's why they got away with it."
Iroh's eyes widened, and he couldn't help but glance at Zuko. Who had gone very, very still.
Katara.
It could be another waterbender. But Southern Tribe, with her brother? He doubted there was another bender left that far south, after the Sea Ravens had done their butcher's work.
If this young man had managed to draw that young lady's ire, he had a great deal to make up for, indeed.
Well. One could say as much for my nephew.
No, that was not fair. Prince Zuko's quest forced him to be at odds with the young waterbender, so long as she defended the Avatar. This young man, who claimed to fight for freedom - meaning, most likely, against the Fire Nation - what, exactly, could he have done?
Whatever it was, Zuko is right. We will be better off away from this boy.
------
Morning. No place to practice katas, not with so many people. But it was misty enough that Zuko could almost pretend to be alone, as he stood at the prow and practiced his breathing. In, and out. In. And out.
He'd lost breath control against Azula, that awful day she'd tried to lure him into chains with promises of Father's forgiveness. Lost his breath, lost his temper, lost the battle.
I'm not going to let that happen again.
He couldn't work on stance. Couldn't even run katas without fire, not with so many eyes. But he could breathe.
…Or he could, if one charismatic annoyance weren't trying to pad up behind him from his bad side.
You want people to trust you, but more than that, you want to be in charge. So you can't help twisting the knife, with little things you think people won't notice. And I bet most of them don't. I bet your little band thinks you're gold. I bet Katara liked you too, until you did something stupid.
Azula would eat you for lunch.
"You know, as soon as I saw your scar, I knew exactly who you were."
Oh, hell.
He'd kept his head when the Ocean Spirit had tried to drown him. He was not going to panic now.
A breath, and he glanced at Jet warily.
"You're an outcast, like me," Jet went on, standing beside him. "And us outcasts have to stick together. We have to watch each other's backs, because no one else will."
An offer, blatant as a dagger wrapped in silk.
Join up with me. Or don't, and leave me wondering why.
Damn it, Uncle and I never worked out what to do if someone wanted us around!
"Is there a healer on board?"
One of the crew, eyeing Jet's hook-swords narrowly as he kept a grip on a sweating refugee man.
Now what?
"Please!" the refugee blurted to the deck at large, littered with people still mostly asleep in the mist. "My wife - there's so much blood - is there anyone-?"
Jet forgotten, Zuko ran for his kit.
------
…I smell like blood.
Wearily, Zuko sat back away from his patient, as the husband hugged and kissed his still-pale wife with a flood of tears. "Make sure she gets all the water she wants to drink," he told the phlegmatic gray-haired aunt beside him. "Tea would be better. Boiled water. She got sick off that slop from yesterday. Wouldn't have mattered, if she hadn't been…." He groped at air, unable to find the right words.
"Torn up from the birth," the aunt nodded, cradling a small bundle of person that had slept through the whole thing. "Three weeks ago. I thought she was fine." She grimaced. "She swore she was fine."
"Fresh meat," Zuko went on tiredly. "Fish, if you're sure it's fresh. She's healed, but she needs to build her blood back up." He frowned. There was something he was forgetting, he knew it.
"Salt," Uncle Iroh said firmly, appearing in his field of vision. "Her blood is thin enough. Nursing the little one will make things worse, if she does not have enough." He smiled, and offered a steaming cup. "She's not the only one who could use some, it would seem."
"Mmph?" Zuko managed, half of it already downed. Sweet, with a little salt; where had Uncle gotten it?
"We've reached the docks." Iroh still smiled, but his eyes glanced toward the direction of the ramp. "And we appear to have drawn some attention."
…Damn.
------
"We're not from the Foggy Swamp!"
"Of course you're not, Mr. Lee," the customs lady said dryly, re-stamping their papers with enough red ink to make them bleed. "No one ever is."
City Guard Huojin watched the old gentleman - Mushi, if the info Amaya had gotten from certain contacts was right - whisper something into the furious teen's ear, and had to stifle a laugh. Given that sparkle of pure mischief in the genial face, that was probably go with it, Lee. Which wasn't at all what you'd expect from an Earth Kingdom refugee… but made far too much sense, given what they actually were.
Amaya's refugees always had a story to tell. These two looked to be more interesting than most.
Making his way over to the booth, he cleared his throat. "Is there a problem, Ma'am?"
"No, no problem," Mushi said swiftly, looking innocent as a pygmy puma kitten. "We were only distracted by such a rare loveliness." He turned back toward the official, smile charming as an antelope-fox. "May I just say that you're like a flower in bloom, your beauty intoxicating."
Mole over her eyebrow and all, she smiled. "You're pretty easy on the eyes yourself, handsome. Raorrr."
I'm going to die laughing. Right here, right now, Huojin snickered to himself, as the teen looked like he wanted to drop dead of pure mortification. No, keep it together, they're probably scared stiff under the bluff.
"But it doesn't get you out of the facts!" She jabbed the handle of her stamp Lee's way. "Unlicensed healers cannot practice in Ba Sing Se! Waterbenders or not!"
Whoa, whoa - what? Huojin thought.
"She was bleeding to death!" Lee defended himself.
"And the ferry was not quite in Ba Sing Se," his older relative interposed smoothly. "Surely, now that we know the law-"
"Rules are rules! Rules maintain order. Like it or not, there has to be an investigation!"
"And hold up the line for how long?" Huojin pointed out. "Probably all day, if everyone on the ferry has to be questioned. That's an awful way to welcome good citizens trying to make a new life in our city. If they weren't docked, he didn't break the law."
She scowled, and opened her mouth-
"What he needs is a license," Huojin went on, before she could quote chapter and verse at him. "I'm due to go off-shift soon anyway. I can escort them to Healer Amaya, and she can examine his training. I'm sure she'll summon the proper authorities if there's a problem."
"Well… I suppose that would be acceptable…."
"You are as gracious as you are lovely," Mushi smiled. "We will not forget this kindness."
"You'd better not," she said dryly, adding final entry stamps before handing the papers back. "You're just lucky you caught me on a good day."
"Immensely fortunate," Mushi declared, bowing. The teen swallowed, but followed his lead.
Awkward bow, and he has to stop his hands from shaping the Flame, Huojin observed. Mushi can pass, but that poor kid can't have been outside the Fire Nation more than a few months.
…And he's a trained fighter. Who's already messed with the wrong firebender. Oh boy. Amaya's going to have her work cut out for her with this one. "If you'll follow me, gentlemen?"
As he escorted them onto the train, Huojin felt eyes on the back of his neck, and glanced back. Lone teenager. Hook swords. Brown eyes dark and suspicious and angry.
Hell. Hope he didn't get a look at their eyes.
Thank the Spirits Ba Sing Se's so big. Odds are, this is the last he'll ever see them.
He led them into one of the emptier cars, and sat on the outside edge of their bench, trusting his uniform to keep other passengers at bay. "I'm Guard Huojin. I hear you're travelers from far away... and that you've had a touch of heatstroke."
"What?" Lee asked warily.
"Yes, we are," Mushi plainly, relaxing. "Where are we going, really?"
"Healer Amaya's," Huojin said frankly. "We're old friends. Took me in when I was six, for a while. She's good at helping people make a clean start."
"Oh?"
"You'll see when you get there." Huojin smiled, taking those odd gold eyes. He'd seen plenty on those Amaya helped over the years, but they were always startling.
Especially Lee's. Most Fire Nation gold still had a hint of hazel in it. Lee's were paler. Purer.
And he's a waterbender?
Well. If that were true, the kid had a really good reason to run. Way better than most of those who ended up on Amaya's doorstep.
Better than the reasons you know about, Huojin reminded himself. When it's honor, you know they don't like to talk about it.
"I'm not going to tell you you're safe now," Huojin said in a low tone, as the car began to fill up with refugees. "But you got this far, and that's no small thing. I did, too, but I can't take the credit. I was six. My parents were the brave ones."
As the train left the station, Mushi raised a curious brow, but obviously refrained from asking. Lee, though-
Lee stared at him, just for an instant. As if he could stare right through Earth Kingdom green eyes to-
Shaken, Huojin looked away. Oma and Shu. What was that?
Nothing to do with Oma and Shu at all, he feared.
Loyalty. Damn loyalty.
His parents hadn't had time to teach him much about where they'd been born, but they'd taught him enough. And he'd pulled up more from Amaya's refugees. The ones who made it… and the ones who didn't. Couldn't.
He was thirty-six. Good job, loving wife, two joyous little daughters, good friends. And yet every once in a while, he got ambushed by the feeling of something missing.
"You don't have a loyal lord, Huojin," quiet Meixiang Wen had told him, one of the times he and their fellow hidden folk got together to discuss things her earthbender husband didn't want to know about. "Some of us have, and left them; some of us were told to run. You've never had the choice, or the order." She'd had to stop, then, and look at him with a mother's worry. "I hope you can bear it. Most of my children are all earth, but Jinhai…."
Yeah. The boy was game enough, and cheery, but definitely took after his mother in more than build. Meixiang's other children hadn't needed Amaya's help to hide. Jinhai had.
Just like these two would.
Why does this kid get to me?
They hit the Lower Ring before he could puzzle it out. The train stopped, and he rose, brusquely gesturing for them to precede him. Have to make this look official.
Besides, twitchy as Lee was, he sure didn't want the kid behind him in a closed space.
He could have found his way to Amaya's clinic blindfolded. Not the best part of the Lower Ring, sure, but far from the worst. And not much to look at on the outside. But looks were deceiving. Most people didn't have their own private well. Amaya did, thanks to some of her grateful earthbending patients working together to dig down to pure, fresh water.
That wasn't all they'd dug. But so far, even the Dai Li seemed to believe Amaya's underground hidey-holes were just esoteric treatment rooms, good for compounding light-sensitive medicines and treating soldiers whose nerves had been shattered by too much time on the Wall.
Let's hope it stays that way.
Huojin knocked on the clinic door, and ushered them in without bothering to listen for an answer. "I found them, Amaya."
"Thank you, my friend." Graceful in a lightweight, long-sleeved indigo dress, the graying Water Tribe woman stroked a last bit of glowing water along what had been a carpenter's broken arm. "Choose your next tavern game more carefully. Wrestling with earthbenders never ends well."
"But he was such a skinny guy!" her patient started to complain. Caught her look, and snorted. "Sure. Don't mind the paying client. Charity comes first."
Lee bristled, eyes narrowed, mouth a thin line as Mushi put a hand on his arm.
Great. Fire Nation temper, in spades. "This is official Guard business," Huojin said levelly. "Mister…?"
The man forced a smile. "Actually, I was just leaving. Sir."
"I'm sure you were."
"You enjoyed that," Amaya chuckled ruefully, after the man had scurried out.
"When you've got a temper, use it for a good cause," Huojin shrugged. "Besides. You've had a lot of charity cases this year. We don't want people connecting the dots."
"We're not-" But Lee's burst of temper died half-formed, as the teen looked between them, good eye widening. "We're… not the only ones, are we?"
"I suspected as much," Mushi said thoughtfully. "Interesting."
"And something better not spoken of here," Amaya said politely. "Come with me."
She led the way underground, stone steps twisting and turning so none of the lower chambers were visible from above, and even sound barely carried. Huojin brought up the rear, quietly ready for anything. Amaya's help was effective, but sometimes - traumatic.
Hope the kid's not a runner, Huojin thought practically, standing where he could move between them and their gear as Amaya charmed them into putting it down. Normally, he wouldn't take a kid Lee's age with dao seriously. Teenagers generally didn't know how to use one sword well enough to bother him, much less dual blades.
Normally. But this kid had made it all the way from the Fire Nation to Ba Sing Se. He wouldn't be here if he couldn't use what he was carrying.
Lantern-light glowed over Amaya's sober face as she gestured for her guests to sit in simple wooden chairs, then sank into her own. "I don't know your names," she began simply. "With luck, I never will. You are Lee and Mushi. And there is a reason for that."
"The Dai Li, or Azulon's list?" Mushi asked soberly.
"Azulon's what?" Lee asked, uncertain.
"You would not have heard; our family never earned such unpleasant attention," Mushi said gravely. "Let us say, it is known the Fire Lords keep lists of those to be dealt with permanently. Yet what is less known is that some seem added with no act of treason or disfavor to their name. And, I have heard, some few of those have not been found. Alive or dead." He raised a questioning brow at Amaya.
"The Fire Lord has no power here. But the Dai Li…." Amaya inclined her head. "Whatever you know, is likely wrong. They are skilled earthbenders, swift and silent. They protect their city, far more than its walls could ever do. And they protect it from itself… by silencing all talk of the war within these walls." She hesitated, blue eyes full of sorrow. "I've tried to help some of those they have taken. What they do to people, to their very spirits… I was Northern Water Tribe. I know what the Fire Nation tried to do to my people, eighty-five years ago. But no one deserves that." She looked at them again, gaze alight with fierce determination. "And you are Fire Nation. You are the war. If they find you, even if they let you live… you wouldn't be yourselves anymore."
"We are not the war, Lady Amaya," Mushi said plainly. "I will not lie to you; I was a soldier, once. But that was many years ago. And my nephew is innocent."
"Uncle!"
"Well, you are. Technically." Laughing gold eyes turned serious. "If this is so, Lady Amaya, then I thank you for your truthfulness. Allow us to find shelter for the night, and we will trouble you no more."
"Planning to run again?" Huojin put in.
"We don't have a choice." Lee's voice was grim. "I knew this was a trap."
"And in a funny way, that's what makes this so safe." Huojin shrugged, eyes sober. "I told you, she took me in. After she found me." Spirits, I don't want to say this. But - the kid looks like hell. If they run again, they're not going to make it. "After the Dai Li caught my parents."
Twin golden gazes burned into him. "You were born of the Fire Nation?" Mushi asked, thoughtful.
"In the colonies," Huojin nodded. "If you want to make it here, you can. Just keep your heads down, and let Amaya help you."
Mushi inclined his head, and looked back toward Amaya. "How?"
"I can't tell you, until I'm sure the Dai Li will never know," the healer said plainly. "All I can do, is ask you to trust me."
"A grave request," Mushi said quietly. And nodded. "What must we do?"
"Uncle, you can't!" Lee protested.
"Sometimes, one must take a leap of faith." Mushi gripped his nephew's shoulder gently, and regarded Amaya with a level gold gaze. "Shall we begin?"
Faith, right, Huojin thought wryly. But you're still giving the kid a chance to run if things go wrong. Spirits. What had these two been through, to have that level of unthinking trust in each other?
They got here. Whatever it was, it was bad.
Amaya stood, and coaxed a ball of water from a pitcher with a wave of her hand. Kneaded it with her fingers, until only pure water remained. "Close your eyes. This is a delicate technique."
Huojin made himself stay calm and steady as Amaya cupped Mushi's brow in glowing hands. It'd been years, but he still remembered how it had felt, cool water seeping into every nook and cranny of self-
And carefully, gently, lifting a paper-thin layer of it out and away. Changed.
This is Huojin, had been the not-quite-words in his mind. Let him be your sword and shield. An innocent citizen of the Earth Kingdom. Let him breathe. Let him be.
He'd worn Huojin as a second skin so long, it was hard to remember he'd ever been anyone else. This was home. These were his people.
But the first few days - it's hard. I hope Mushi is as level-headed as he looks.
Amaya lifted her hands away, and Mushi shivered slightly. "A most curious technique," he mused, eyes still closed. Frowned slightly; lifted a hand and let it fall, in a sway of motion that flowed from arm to arm. "Ah. Not a blockage. The energies are merely a bit unsettled."
"You can sense that?" Amaya's brows climbed. "It's the influence of water. It will calm within a day or so, as your chi adapts."
"Hmm. And what does that mean, precisely?"
Huojin kept a frown off his face. Amaya didn't usually explain this part while they still had somebody untreated in the room.
She's trying to calm the kid down. Hope it works.
"It means what it means," Amaya said simply. "Healing touches the spirit as well as the body. I ask water to accept you. To protect you. And I ask your energies to accept it." She smiled, looking into memory. "I met an… interesting teacher, on my journey from the North. I never thought I would use his gift to help those of the Fire Nation. But you're running from the war. How can I not help heal those sick of all this death?"
Mushi inclined his head. "We are grateful for your care." He blinked, finally, and looked at Lee. "Nephew-"
The kid exploded.
Huojin had expected a dash for the stairs; a grab for the dao. Spirits, he'd even - a little - expected slack-jawed shock. Though not really, Lee was wound too tight and balanced on his feet too well to let bad situations paralyze him for even an instant.
He did not expect the sizzling arc of flame that snapped straight at Amaya's head.
Oma and Shu. He's a firebender!
Huojin grabbed for him anyway. He was taller than the kid. Older. Stronger. And pin most bender's arms, they were done for. Granted, he was going to end up with bruises; the kid was mad as a wet pygmy puma and wanted to kill something-
He was never able to work out exactly what happened next. Somewhere in there was a head-butt and an elbow-jab and a hook of an ankle around his knee to hit a spot that made his leg collapse like flicked tiles, and - Koh's lair, the kid could kick fire with his feet-!
…Ow.
But he'd held on just long enough, and Mushi moved in with a tricky series of strikes that kept Lee busy for a few seconds-
Just long enough for Amaya's shirshu dart to kick in. Gasping, the kid went limp.
Not letting go, Mushi glanced back at the healer. "Do you wish to tell me why my nephew tried to kill you?"
"Tried to kill her?" Huojin muttered under his breath, getting to shaky feet. Damn, Lee fought dirty.
"If my nephew had meant to harm you, Huojin, you would already be dead," Mushi said bluntly.
Say what? Ex-soldier, yes. He could believe Mushi had trained Lee to fight. But to be sure he would kill….
Oh, hell. Lee's… but even the Fire Nation doesn't put kids on the front line! What happened to him?
"Amaya was his only target," Mushi went on. "Why?"
Sighing, she swept a ball of water into a frozen sheet in her hands, making a rough mirror. "This is why."
Mushi looked, and went very still.
Remember what that's like, too, Huojin thought, sympathy outweighing even shock and bruises. The first time you looked, really looked, and saw green instead of gold…. Feels like the world went tilt.
Some people screamed. Others cried. Most, Amaya had to sedate to sleep it out; one reason she had shirshu darts on hand.
Mushi? Tough as steel. He only looked, and let out a slow breath. "I see." He knelt then, and cradled the silent teen close. "Work swiftly. My nephew has been struck by a shirshu before. He has built up some resistance. And the inner fire can be used to rid oneself of poisons, if one is determined. I have no doubt he is attempting that as we speak."
"No." Weak; almost soundless from the venom. But clear. "Don't do this."
"This is our best chance, nephew." Green held gold, with all a father's worry. "It does not hurt-"
"I can't. I won't! I'm not a traitor!"
Setting his jaw, Huojin swore silently. Spirits. The kid is screwed.
Not just Fire Nation, firebender. The loyalty that just tweaked Huojin, or made someone like Meixiang scared and sad, was part of this kid's life. Literally.
Fire Nation traitors died. Amaya tried, but some of her refugees couldn't make it. Not, didn't want to. Couldn't. A firebender….
"It is not treachery to live, nephew!" Mushi held on tight. "I could order you, as your teacher. I could command, as your elder. But I beg this of you! Live. Live, and make your own destiny!" His voice dropped. "I need you, nephew. I do not think I can survive the loss of another son."
"Thought she'd killed you. Thought-" Lee's eyes slipped closed, tears running from the good one. "…Do it."
Water in hand, Amaya held back. "You're a firebender. Water is your opposite. This could kill you!"
"It did not kill me," Mushi said bluntly.
Two firebenders? Huojin thought, stunned. How? Why?
"And what pursues my nephew will be his death, if you cannot aid us. We have no choice." Mushi laid a hand against the scarred cheek. "Do not fight. Flow with it. Let it carry you. Remember what you told me of the turtle-seals. You found a path then. Find one now." Looking at Amaya, he nodded.
Face pale and drawn, she laid glowing hands on Lee's head. Huojin held his breath, seeing her hope, her determination-
And her utter despair, as Lee's heart stopped.
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A/N: Okay, so the whole "spiritual metamorphosis" idea in canon bugged me. Especially given the results in Crossroads of Destiny. I have something different in mind. Very different.
…Hey, Aang can't be the only person who ever got Really, Really Lost at sea. (Insert Evil Writer Grin here.)
And I have to admit this particular bunny has bugged me ever since my brain latched onto the whole "the Avatar is the only person who can master all four elements".
