Iroh pushed against every door he came across, and at this point he had gotten so tired and irritated that all he was doing was giving the various metal portals a mild shove while walking continuously in a trance. The Fire Palace really didn't need to be this big, thought Iroh. One could easily chop off the east wing and no one would even notice. It's just so much unnecessary exercise, when in practice all a ruler needs to do is sit in a throne and get fat. All the rest is just for show. Though on the other hand, and to his everlasting regret, you can't really get fat on the Fire Lord's throne.

Strength is the most important hallmark of a Fire Lord, and the frequent demonstration of it the key towards maintaining power. Administrative capability, devious power-plays and having piles of money are all secondary to brute, physical force. It was a rat-race Iroh ultimately lost in, due simply to how much better Ozai was at demonstrating strength than himself. Iroh was conscious that he was well-regarded during his time, a tactical genius and formidable warrior (apparently. He liked to think he didn't pay attention to that kind of stuff). But Ozai? Ozai was a monster. He's only a few years younger than Iroh and yet has never ceased seeming capable of crushing girders in his bare hands. Iroh could never have hoped to compete even if he felt inclined. Ozai was stronger, single-minded, and most importantly he actually had a gene-pool.

Ozai's children. One made him shudder, the other made him utterly miserable. He hoped they'd have a wonderful time together. The freaks.

Iroh was so absorbed in his thoughts that it was some distance down the tunnel before he realised that one of the doors behind him had given way when he pushed. He turned back to test each one out, and the third one back seemed to creak back a little more. There was barely more light than in the tunnel, but then it was night-time. The door was noiseless as Iroh pushed it open, presumably a consequence of its construction. No sense in making a secret door that creaks.

Iroh poked his head through the door and looked around. As his eyes became accustomed to the darkness he could just see the corners of a large bed, around which were vast acres of space, interrupted by the odd indefinable object or two. He was only able to make out that much thanks to the reflective glint of some strange pattern along the walls, which seemed to be lined with gold. Iroh was unfamiliar enough with the room to know exactly what it was: the Fire Lord's bedroom. Ozai never let Iroh anywhere near the place, and he had been bored enough to know most other places in the Palace. Especially the kitchens. Damn, his thinking was being hijacked by food.

It wasn't too his liking, principally because it was so sparse. If Iroh had become Fire Lord, he would have been sure to put in as many cushions and tables as the Royal finances could afford. At times the Dragon of the West had felt that he might as well have had the room anyway. It wasn't as if his brother ever used the place. He was too busy sitting on his throne and looking hard. But why here? Why did Xizai's tunnels lead him to this room? It was an excellent opportunity, to be sure, but considering how well-guarded his brother kept the place Iroh was better off heading back into the tunnel again.

Before Iroh decided on his course of action, there was a movement in the shadows, and he noticed almost immediately the sharp, glimmering object flying towards him. With no time to duck, Iroh instinctively grabbed the thing, and found his hand wrapping itself around some form of handle. He stared confusedly at the blade, until it reflected a pillar of light that suddenly streamed into the room.

"Uncle?" spoke a voice, and Iroh turned to see his nephew, staring at him from the open door to the bedroom in incomprehension. Their eyes locked for the first time since the Old City, and Iroh saw in Zuko a conflicted, hurt, tempestuous and uncertain young boy. But he couldn't see his son.

"Zuko! Ty Lee told me about the plot," Azula rushed in from the right of the door-frame, accompanied by the sound of heavy boots from a dozen or so soldiers, not that she ever really needed them, "looks like our wise and honourable General Iroh isn't above assassination when things don't go his way."

Iroh knew this performance was for Zuko's benefit. He could try to explain that this was a set-up, that it wasn't what it looked like, that the poisoned knife in his hand was planted there, that Azula was behind all this, that Zuko must know, deep down, that he'd never do such a thing. But, their eyes locked for all this time, he couldn't bring himself to do any of these things. This whole charade was beneath him.

Iroh broke his eyes away in disgust, and violently flung the knife down, embedding it in the floor. He raised his hands, allowing them to be handled by the approaching guards and fastened behind his back. Marched out, he didn't even look in Zuko's direction. He'd lost all interest in the machinations of the Fire Nation royalty, lost interest in the Fire Nation, and lost interest in the world, and everyone in it.

Zuko, on the other hand, couldn't take his eyes off Iroh's back until he had disappeared around a corner in the vast, vaulted corridors. Azula placed a hand on Zuko's shoulder.

"You see now, Zuko?" Azula comforted in that uncomfortable way only Azula knew, "the path your Uncle walks down is a path of treachery and disloyalty. We're all part of a family, brother, and we need to stick together. Thanks to you, this plot was foiled. See what we can achieve together? See what becomes of those who don't?"

Zuko continued staring at the empty space his uncle disappeared from, contemplative. He sighed almost noiselessly, and shook Azula's hand off of his shoulder, walking speedily back to his room without a word spoken. Azula smiled, and turned into the Fire Lord's bedroom as soon as Zuko was a respectable distance away. The Fire Princess strode confidently before the colossal bed and spoke amusedly, "good work, I never even noticed you were in here."

"I needed something to keep me occupied," Mai spoke, revealing herself. She seemed to have stepped out of nothing, and even in the light of corridor she felt like she was only half there. Azula's smile spread even wider.

"You sure it was boredom, or something else that got you interested in playing with sweet little Zuko?" Azula questioned, glancing towards Mai without turning her head. Mai slunk back, her red cheeks giving some colour to the blackness she inhabited.

"What do you want with him, anyway?" Mai attempted to hide her flutter of emotion with a small dose of irritation, "do you really expect him to buy all this?"

"Not really," Azula kept her grin, looking past her shoulder into the corridor behind her, "he's wizened up a lot these past months. I expect him to turn against us sooner or later. I just want to make it hard."


The batch of trees the group was hiding in sat near the foothills of a large mountain range, the next stage of their journey. It was eerily convenient that the Earth Army base lay in the precise direction they were headed towards, but they couldn't continue counting on that kind of luck…if luck was the appropriate word for such things. After their escape, they'd managed to flee a considerable distance under the cover of night, but they'd needed this patch of wood to conceal themselves and rest after last nights' excursions. It wasn't much, but it was sufficient for the purpose. Both Appa and Momo were taking the opportunity to grab some sleep, while the others buzzed around in frenetic activity.

"That was way too close," Katara gathered up what materials they could and stuffed them in her satchel bag. Without Appa's mount they were obliged to carry all their supplies on their own persons, and even two days' supply of food was tiring to carry along with the numerous other things they needed to travel with. They couldn't last long like this.

"I'll say," Toph sat with hands clasped around knees, not helping with the packing, as usual, but taking this series of events with a little more humour than the rest of them, "one day on the run in this 'brave new order' and we all nearly got rock-sandwiched."

"It's getting impossible to get all the way across the Earth Kingdom at this rate, while everything with a frikkin' heartbeat seems to want a piece of us," Sokka was helping to pack, but frequently interrupting himself to bitterly complain at the world, fate, and his stomach, and out of the corner of his eye saw something else to run to the edge of the treepatch and complain at, "yeah! How about you!? You want some too, you jerks!?"

Sokka was yelling at a couple of elder shepherds leading a small batch of hippo-cows along a small dirt path, who looked up with some confusion towards the yelling water tribe boy. One broke out in astonishment at what he saw behind Sokka.

"Look! It's the Avatar's bison!" the first shepherd pointed.

"Get 'im!" the second shepherd began running towards the group.

"I saw 'im first!" the first shepherd tripped the second up and struggled forward towards the woodpatch. Sokka would have raised the alarm but the whole kefaffle looked so utterly inept that he felt himself insulted by their incapability. He turned back towards the group and felt himself utterly drained of all sense of humour.

"I think we need to change our plan," Sokka spoke monotonely, "Katara's claim that Aang was dead…good thinking, by the way, sis…may get the Fire Nation off our backs a bit, but there are still other things we need to deal with."

"We need to get the King to a place of safety, it's too dangerous having him with us," Katara suggested, before holding her hands out in recognition of Kuei's presence, "uh…no offence, Your Majesty."

"None taken, I assure you," the King had attempted to make himself useful, but without Bosco by his side he was utterly rudderless, "I don't think I'm going to be of much use to you."

"No! You're a great help to us…" Katara reassured…unreassuringly, "but if the Earth King gets captured again and we're not able to save him, then all chances of freeing the Earth Kingdom disappear."

"I don't think Sokka means just the Earth King," Toph stood up and wandered over to the assembled meeting.

"What are you talking about?" Katara questioned, turning momentarily to Sokka, who seemed dour yet determined.

"She's talking about Appa," Sokka said level-voiced.

"What!?" Katara was taken aback, "we can't leave Appa!"

"He's a total liability!" Toph complained, "wave something hot in front of his face and he goes berserk! How good do you think he's going to fare in Fire Nation territory? He doesn't even recognise Aang anymore!"

"How can you say that!?" Katara appealed, "we spent a month looking for him! Aang! You can't let them say this!"

"It's alright, Katara…it's true," Aang was facing away from the rest of group, kneeling down over a pile of nuts he had spent some of the morning sorting through for something edible. Seemingly finished, he stood up with a bag of nuts in hand and walked towards Appa's sleeping body, placing a small, fragile hand on the bison's forehead, "something must have happened to him during those lost days. He's angry and confused at all the changes going on. We all are, in a way, but him more than we realise. He needs to be somewhere safe and stable…"

"Listen, I love the big fluffy monstrosity as much as anyone else here," Sokka attracted Katara's attention, "but it's for his own good. He's a great big signpost wherever we go, anyway! If we keep dragging him around with us, eventually we're going to run into people with a lot better rope."

"I lost him once," Toph interrupted, "I don't want to lose him again. He's going to be much safer if he isn't around…us."

"I…I guess you're right," Katara conceded to numbers, looking back at the red-clothed, fuzzy-haired kid, "but…Aang…don't you…"

"It's okay, we'll all know where he is," Aang petted Appa's brow, "he'll have someone to keep him company at least, won't he, Kuei?"

Kuei had sat down and listened to the whole conversation, believing he'd managed to get the gist of it, and took a while to recognise that it was his name Aang had said, "oh! Oh yes! Of course he will…he is house-trained, isn't he?"

"There we go, another animal to call your friend, Your Majesty," Sokka grinned, and the honest, joyous smile that crossed Kuei's face was indication enough that he'd grasped the right straw. While watching the Earth King's expression, Sokka picked up a stray sentence spoken to the shepherds still making their haphazard way towards the patch of wood. Sokka turned back to the two elderly men and asked aloud, "what did you say?"

"I said we couldn't hope to capture you by ourselves because you're a bunch of bending masters and a military genius," the first shepherd called to Sokka, "so we're going to go and tell some soldiers to come and get you! …uh…you…fiends…"

Sokka felt light-headed at this statement, and at that moment there was more smile than face on his expression. He dreamily recounted, "I'm…I'm famous…"

Sokka was abruptly swung around, and after a moment of dizziness saw that Toph was holding a stance and looking annoyed, "calm down, military genius boy, we still need to find out where to park this living mound of flying fluff."

"The Northern Water Tribe?" Katara suggested, "they'd take good care of the King as well…"

"You heard what the General said! Carrying five people across li and li of ocean with both Fire and Earth Navies between us and them?" Sokka asked rhetorically, "not a chance. And that's even before we touch on how exactly we're supposed to get back."

"But…where else can there be?" Kuei wondered out loud. A silence hung over them until an almost audible 'ding' came from Aang's thought processes.

"The Northern Air Temple!" Aang said excitedly.

"The Gliders! Of course!" Katara shared in the excitement, "they've got to be able to help us! They're only half a day's travel from here!"

"Who're the Gliders?" Toph asked sceptically. Momo had been awakened by the burst of excitement and crept exhaustedly to the side of Appa's back.

"A group of refugees led by a Mechanist, who made their home in the temple," Sokka elaborated, "We helped defend them some months back. They've invented all kinds of cool flying machines."

"Oh…great…" Toph attempted to drum up some enthusiasm, and manifestly failed, "…flying."

"Both the Earth King and Appa will be safe there, and we can walk down into Fire Nation territory," Aang explained, "Appa will feel right at home, won't you boy?"

Aang was stroking Appa's head, and Momo, who had crept over the fringe of Appa's brow, seemed to be joining in. The moment made them pause. They could feel the small family of the Air Nomad, the last of its kind in all the world, breaking up in front of them. The decision had been made, and this would be one of their final moments together for a while. The silence allowed Aang his moment. But they couldn't tell if he was taking it.

To Be Continued…

Avatar: The Last Airbender Concept and Characters © Nickelodeon 2005-06