How could I not use that guy again? Also, first in a bit of looking into Ty Lee's personality and character. The entire show, I always saw Ty Lee doing what she did below at some point, with the same hilarious results. Also, it made sense that at least somebody would have foreknowledge of the Day of Black Sun. If you're the leader of a nation who's cultural bending style is stymied by astrological events, and your culture is more than a couple of years old, you'd damned well better keep track of said astronomical events!

When I wrote this chapter the first time, I ended up having to scrap most of it, because it devolved into crap pretty fast. The new (current) version is vastly superior.


The party was spectacular. While most of Xin Fu's goons had slunk away to lick their wounds, some, most notably the Boulder, joined Toph in celebrating her victory. Aang couldn't help but smile as the defeated champion sang the blind girl's praises in that almost overwhelmingly macho voice. It was good to finally find somebody who didn't hold hard feelings.

Katara stayed nearby. She was often near him, ever since the desert. He couldn't say he didn't like it. She was a comforting presence, a pillar of strength when even he needed to recharge or recuperate. She smiled a lot more, now. Then again, so did Aang. And Sokka? Well, he was amongst the ring ladies talking about his glorious duties as guardian to the Avatar. And, despite how corny and inaccurate he was, the ladies were just eating it up. One of these days, Aang was going to have to ask Sokka how he did that. No reason why, of course...

Also spectacular about the celebration was the length. It cut deep into the night, and was only petering out with the rising of the sun. Sokka had a short while ago wandered off, a grown woman on each arm. For once, Katara didn't object in the slightest. Aang could guess why. For one glorious evening, there was no war. There was no Azula and Zuko. There was no missing Appa. Ty Lee was still missing, but she'd departed before the party started. It was a pity. She probably would have enjoyed it.

Toph came sauntering over, looking every bit as tired as the rest of them. Only, this time, it was a happy tired. She grinned so wide it looked like the top of her head was going to fall off. "Sweetness, Twinkletoes," she acknowledged each with a punch in the arm before putting her feet up on what must have been a very expensive table. "Ahhhh, this is the sweet life, ain't it?"

"Yeah," Aang said. "I can see why you all love your hedonism so much."

"Please, you haven't been this happy since you had that following of fangirls on Kyoshi Island," Katara said gently.

"Who in the what, now?" Toph asked. Sokka wandered back in, looking disheveled, a bit baffled, but quite happy. Toph turned to him. "Oh, and Loverboy makes his appearance. All we need is Annoying One and we'll have a full set."

"Enjoy yourself?" Katara asked snidely.

"Yeah... it turns out they really didn't need me," he said, a bit embarassed. "Ah, well. I learn something new every day."

Sokka walked over to the spot in the corner where everybody's bags had been thrown when the celebration began. There was a spindly old man who sat near the door, a valet, who made sure nothing got missing. Toph made sure of that with an amount of gold which made Aang's eyes pop. She would just throw that sort of money around? She really was rich. Sokka scowled.

"You know, I need my own bag," he said. "Something that screams 'Sokka'!"

"Yeah, because all you scream right now is 'fun and perky', with that pony-tail," Katara laughed.

"This," Sokka said, pointing at his hair and not turning, "is a warrior's wolf-tail. If you want a pony-tail, look at Ty Lee. And you're not one to talk, miss hair-loopies," Sokka chuckled. Katara leaned back. What was wrong with Katara's hair-loopies? "Huh?"

"Are you looking through my stuff?" Toph asked.

Sokka lifted out a barrel shaped cactus, and turned. "What is this?"

"Come on! What is with you people? I don't know! I'm BLIND!" Toph shouted.

"Toph, did you buy a Barrel Peyote in the desert before we left?" Aang asked.

"No," Toph said. Everybody stared at her. "He's holding it right now, isn't he?"

"Yeah, I kinda am," Sokka said.

"Fine. I brought it along in case we need to drug somebody," Toph said. Then she shrugged and added quietly: "Or in case I get bored..."

Sokka shook his head, but he was grinning a bit. While Katara was staring at Toph like a disapproving parent, Sokka slipped it back into Toph's things. Toph smirked, but then stopped, laying a scarred hand to the floor. "Looks like Annoying One is back," she said. Everybody stared at her again. She pointed to one side. "Window."

A few seconds later, Ty Lee swung down through the window, landing next to Toph's feet on the table. Wow, somebody was really going spend days trying to get all the foot-prints off of it. That and the dirt. Aang stood, pulling his staff up with him. "You missed the party," he said, with a wide yawn. She beamed.

"I missed your party," she said. She practically danced in the spot. "I got to see an old friend."

Everybody tensed, on high alert. "Which old friend was this, again?" Sokka asked carefully, finally finding his boomerang case.

"He's an old friend of my family, back home," she said. "He taught me so many things back when I was young. He doesn't teach many people, and he didn't tutor my sisters, either, now that I think about it."

She frowned for a moment, but the moment passed quickly. Everybody calmed when the 'he' pronoun was used. It instantly eliminated the most dangerous 16 year old girl they'd ever met. Sokka shrugged. "Who is this guy, then?"

"Oh, he's a master swordsman, a master bladesmith, a master painter, a master poet, and martial artist," she said.

"Wow, that's a lot of things to be a master of," Aang said.

"He's lived a while and he's got a lot of time on his hands," she said with a shrug. "You'd like him. His name's Piandao."

"You didn't tell this old friend about us, did you?" Katara asked. Ty Lee's face dropped a bit.

"Was I not supposed to?"

Everybody slapped their foreheads at the exact same moment, like a whip-crack in the room. She brightened. "But it's okay! He's got a boat and he's willing to take us to the other side of Full Moon Bay."

"Does anybody else here see how badly this can go wrong?" Sokka asked in Yqanuac.

"No fair! I'm speaking not speaking my language! Why should you get yours?" Ty Lee pouted.

Sokka sighed, tweezing his brow. "Fine. When?"

"He can leave any time," she said, suddenly bright again. The others let out murmurs of approval and began to dust themselves off and pick up their things. When Aang turned, Ty Lee was standing right behind him, a grin on her face. "Um, Aang? Could I ask a favor?"

"You can ask," Aang said. She pointed daintily at his staff.

"Could I see that for a minute?" she asked.

"Why?" he asked, but she just looked so darned hopeful. Finally, he rolled his eyes. "Fine, but don't break it or lose it." She let out a yelp of joy and took the staff, swinging it around like a club for a few seconds, before starting to use it properly. Then, she stopped, pondering. After a moment, she twirled the staff and snapped open the glider. She got an excited look on her face. "Um, Ty Lee, you should be careful with that. Only airbenders are trained in using it. It's an antique and a precision instrum–"

He was cut off when she, laughing like a joyous child, took a flying leap out the window.


"You know," Iroh said. "This isn't so bad. A bit hilly for my tastes, but hardly something I would 'abandon hope' for."

"I've got a feeling the serpent was a metaphor," Smellerbee said. Even Jet gave her a sideways glance at that. "The snake is that which poisons, that which destroys from within. From what I've seen, the path is well named."

"The guards?" Jet said. Smellerbee nodded. Zuko made a note not to underestimate her mind again. They had paused briefly for a late breakfast, but they would be walking again soon. The climate was already getting colder as they moved north. Iroh moved to Zuko and pulled him aside.

"You know what day this is?" Iroh asked in Yqanuac, his tones very serious. More and more the language of the Tribesmen was something of a secret code between uncle and nephew. Few people in this part of the world spoke it, so few could eavesdrop. Zuko shook his head. Iroh reached forward and cuffed Zuko, surprising him. Iroh wasn't usually that way.

"What was that for?" Zuko asked. Iroh's gaze was hard and he now looked every inch a renowned, stern general.

"Today is the day you were supposed to prepare for," he said. "A day which only we know about. A day of Black Sun."

"I thought that was a myth," Zuko said.

"Hardly a myth," he said. "I have lived through several. You must learn to trust other abilities, for when a day such as this comes, only they may save you."

Zuko pondered for a moment, then nodded. "I will remember."

Iroh smiled, then, his fierce demeanor melting away. "I knew you would."

Jet walked over, nodding his head. "Come on. We're almost to the half-way point."

Zuko nodded, and moved with Jet at the front of the short column. It was a short distance, but the way the path twisted back on itself, it was hard to see very far ahead. The walking had been easy, but Zuko suspected something was making it harder than it had to be for so many refugees to bottleneck as they did in the canyon.

Zuko, younger and more fit than most, moved ahead, leaving the others behind. Something wasn't right. He could feel it in his bones. He crested another rise, and turned another corner, and he saw it. The problem. The path switchbacked down and right into the water, only to rise back up again on the other side of an expanse of lake. Zuko moved silently forward, his feet padding against the traveled stone. He could see that there used to be a bridge, there, but it had been destroyed. He moved closer.

"What is going on?" Iroh said, startling Zuko. How had the old man caught up so quickly? Jet also peered at the damage. Perhaps Zuko wasn't as quick as he thought himself. He inspected the charred wood which used to stretch across the gap, now undone within a few bu of the path's end. Iroh ran his hands along the wood, and shook his head. "Oh, this is not good."

"Why not?" Jet asked.

"How long have the people been coming through here?" Iroh asked.

"As long as we've been here, at least. A few weeks," Jet said.

"This bridge has been destroyed for at least a month," Iroh said.

Zuko frowned. "But, what happened to the people who came here?" he asked. Iroh stared significantly at the water. Zuko's brow drew down.

"Wait... you're saying that Gow had them killed?"

"When one cannot drain any more blood from the stone, the stone must be thrown away," Iroh said. Possibly quoted, but Zuko had no idea from where. His questions were forestalled when stone pillars began to erupt from the ground, striking Smellerbee in the chest and knocking her back. Her armor had saved her, and Longshot dragged her battered body back.

"There's no end to it, is there?" Gow said, moving up from a spot hidden by the unforgiving terrain. "Is this going to happen easily, or painfully?" Zuko reached for his twin dao. Jet, his hook swords. Gow smirked, pulling out a pair of hammers. Others began to file around him. "Good. I was hoping painfully."

Zuko glanced at Iroh, who was inching back toward the family. Good man, Uncle, Zuko thought. Keep the soldiers away from those that can't fight. One of them ran at Zuko, but Zuko knocked him down without even drawing his swords all the way, braining him with the hilts. The others glanced at each other for a moment. Jet and Zuko shared a glance, then the battle began.

Zuko moved through them, a spirit amongst men. His attacks disarmed and disabled. A dodge and axe kick to snap a spear. A shallow slice on an arm to drop a sword. A snap of swords to drag a weapon up, before delivering a front kick, hurtling a soldier into the water below. Zuko threw the inferior blade away and looked at Gao, who was gauging the fight.

"These people trusted you, and you murdered them!" Zuko shouted. Gow scowled.

"Trust in one hand, gold in the other. See which fills up faster," he said. And he began to earthbend.

Jet moved through them, a child, yet a veteran. His attacks slashed and slaughtered. A rending slash to the collarbone, leaving a 'guard' lying in his own blood. A twist and slash which bit deep into one's gut. A snap of swords, dragging a weapon away, before driving the spikes of the hilts into exposed flesh, whereupon the guard fell, bleeding piteously, into the water below. Jet flicked the blood off of his blades and stood shoulder to shoulder with Zuko.

Zuko needed the help. Deflecting earthbending without firebending was difficult. Alone, it would have been impossible. But every time Zuko failed, Jet held the line until Zuko recovered. Zuko returned the favor. Gow seemed to get bored of fighting the swordsmen. He pounded the earth with his hammer, calling up a huge stone, which he smashed over Zuko and Jet's heads, directly at the civilians. Zuko's eyes went wide.

But just before it hit anybody, it exploded with a loud bang. Uncle stood there, in a low, earthbending-like stance. Jet looked at Zuko. "You didn't tell me he was an earthbender!"

"That's 'cause he's not a very good one," Zuko said. Technically the truth. Gow turned to the swordsmen again, who pressed the attack. He bent stones at them, and they cut their way through, getting closer and closer to the large, angry man. Jet reached him first, but instead of using bending, Gow just smashed the youth in the chest with a hammer, knocking him back. Zuko leapt forward to protect the 'Freedom Fighter', and got smashed in the hand for his trouble. One of his swords clattered away. He tried to press the attack, but Gow grabbed him by the waist and threw him up the path. Zuko heard something tear as he was thrown. Gow thrust both hammers up in one fist, and a thick wall of stone rose behind the civilians, trapping everybody. He then pushed backward, hurling a barrage of stone as he retreated over what was the lake, but upon an island of his own device. In one hand he had the hammers. In the other, he had the knife Uncle gave him all those years before. He pointed at Zuko and Jet.

"You know, when I first got this assignment, I thought my superiors were trying to punish me," Gow said on his island of stone. "But then, I realized that even the poor can yield costly oils if they're squeezed hard enough."

"You betray everything you're supposed to stand for," Zuko shouted.

"And you murdered those you were sworn to protect," Jet added, hobbling to his feet.

"Money makes a lot of things seem a lot less distasteful," Gow said smugly. He tucked Zuko's knife into his belt, then raised his arms to his sides. "And what are you people going to do about it? You're trapped, and I'm still armed to the teeth."

The answer was like a punctuation mark from the gods. A black arrow sprouted from his chest. Zuko looked back. Dark eyes stared from under a battered conical hat. Considering the distance, Longshot had definitely earned his moniker. Gow wobbled, then fell off the stone, vanishing into the water. Longshot lowered his bow, and Iroh moved to Jet.

"You have to get the others in the canyon through quickly," Iroh said. He laid a hand on Jet's shoulder. "I trust you have the strength to get them through safely."

"You'd better believe I do," Jet said. He noticed his wheat sprig was missing, so he reached into his pocket and grabbed a new one. He looked to Zuko. "I'll see you at the walls of Ba Sing Se."

Iroh moved to the wall, and took his deep stance again before bending a percussion at the wall. There was a blast, and the wall crumbled. The others didn't take it as anything unusual. They probably didn't know too much about earthbending, that there wasn't supposed to be a bang. Jet, Longshot, and a still dazed Smellerbee went back up the path, to guide the rest of the people onward. Taan looked at the water ahead of them.

"What do we do now?" he asked. Iroh got a grin on his face, and opened his hanbok.

"Now," he said cheerfully, "we go for a swim!"


Aang was astounded. The last time somebody besides him tried to use his glider, they fell straight down and landed rough in a pond. Not one of Sokka's prouder moments. But this girl? She was gliding. She didn't fly, not like Aang did, but she soared nonetheless. And she screamed and hollered for joy as she did it. This must be that acrobatics that she was talking about; she'd mentioned her time with a circus, the eclectic skills she'd gathered. Aang never imagined that flight, however rudimentary, would be one of them. She swooped and fell, swooped and fell, laughing and shouting.

Then, she flew straight into the side of a building. Aang's eyes went wide as she plummeted out of sight. He bounded out the window, crafting an air scooter as he did. He zipped along the streets like the winds he so easily controlled, skidding to a stop in front of a cobbler's shop. She was lying on her back, his staff in her hand. And she had a huge grin on her face.

"That. Was. Awesome!" she said. She looked up at him, as he tapped his foot next to her. "Oh, I always wanted to do that. As soon as I saw you go whooshing away on this thing I knew I had to try it someday. Can I do it again?"

"You flew into a building," Aang said flatly. She popped up to a sit.

"Don't worry, I didn't break anything," she said. She hopped to her feet, and handed over the staff. "I didn't even damage your gliding thingy. See?"

Aang couldn't help but laugh at her enthusiasm. It reminded Aang of when he was first given his own glider. Of course, he already knew enough not to fly into the side of the temple. It would have been a much longer fall. Still, he took the glider back and examined it briefly. She must have snapped it closed before she hit; it was in just as good condition as when she grabbed it. "Next time, give me a bit of warning," Aang said.

Sokka and Katara came running from the building they'd been vacating. "Do you really think it's wise to fly over the streets of a Fire Nation city?" he asked.

"Um, I was doing the flying," Ty Lee said, waving a hand.

"What? But I thought..."

"I always wanted to soar," she said dreamily. Toph walked closer, obviously in no hurry. She hadn't seen Ty Lee's little spectacle. She seemed about to say something, but got a very serious look on her face. She bent down, and laid a hand on the ground.

"Guys," she said, "we're being ambushed."

The street exploded into stones, hurled like a whirlwind of destruction. Aang and Toph put them down together, but they smashed a good portion of the surroundings. Aang looked at a nearby roof, and saw the dark skinned man from the Beifong household. The bounty hunter.

"Gahj Muul," Toph Said.

"Bandit," Muul said. "It wasn't wise to fight under the name which has such a sizable bounty on it."

"I kicked your ass before, Muul, and I'll do it again," Toph said, striking a stance. "It doesn't matter how many earthbending flunkies you throw at me."

"Oh, I'm not using earthbending flunkies this time," Muul said. "I've got something special lined up for you."

Aang looked at Toph, but she had a confused look on her face. "Aang," she said, without turning. "Does it make any sense to you that I feel a ship coming up the road toward us?"

Aang turned back, to the way they'd come. A huge man stood alone in the abandoned street, wearing a flaxen tunic and dark pants. His right arm and right leg looked like they were made of metal. And he had a burning eye tattooed in the center of his forehead. Ty Lee saw him, and her eyes went wide. "Guys... RUN!"

The man took a deep breath, then he leaned forward. A sizzling sounded in the air, and loud pops moved toward the group at a terrific speed. Aang leapt forward and raised a wall of earth before that... whatever it was. It struck the wall Aang made, and detonated like a dozen barrels of blasting jelly.

Katara swept the water still lingering from last night's rain into a spike and hurled it toward the man in the street. He took another deep breath, then thrust his face forward again. That sizzling sound cut through the air again, this time the pops sounded until they reached the water. She snap froze it to ice, but that just made the... beam... explode sooner, shattering the ice and blowing out storefronts nearby. Aang grabbed Sokka and Ty Lee pulled along the other two.

"This is crazy!" Sokka shouted. "That guy's blowing stuff up with his mind!"

"It's firebending," Aang said. He didn't know much about that element, but he could feel it when somebody tried to kill him with it. "I've never seen anything like it."

"We should keep running," Ty Lee said.

"Yeah, leave Sparky Sparky Boom Man in our dust," Sokka said.

Toph stopped, frowning at him. "Sparky Sparky Boom Man? You can't come up with anything better than that?"

"Toph, look out!" Aang shouted. Muul had landed in the alleyway, and whipped a spear like protuberance of rock at Toph. Without looking, she kicked up behind her, smashing it to dust. Aang could hear the rhythmic clanging of that metal leg approaching. Aang spun his staff, sending a small tornado at Muul, but Muul just rooted himself in place with his earthbending. The gang started running again, down a side alley. They emerged from it in a produce market.

"Have you got any ideas?" Toph asked Sokka. Sokka gaped.

"And what would I know about men who can combust things with arrow like precision?" he asked. The clangor stopped. He stood at the far end of the alley. He took a breath in. Everybody dived out of the way, and the beam tore into the produce market, detonating and wiping out all of the stalls and carts nearby.

"My cabbages!" came an anguished cry from an older man nearby.

Toph shook her head. "Ugh. I'm sick of this! Twinkletoes, you get the others out of here. I'll keep Combustion Man busy."

"Combustion Man. That's got a good ring to it," Sokka said. He looked at the rest, then back at Toph. He shook his head. "Gah! I'm not going to run off while he kills you."

Ty Lee was yanking on Katara, so she didn't have much to say in the matter. Aang and Toph shared a moment of profound understanding. A nod. Then, they ran off in opposite directions. The clangor was approaching again. Combustion Man appeared at the mouth of the alleyway, at the foot of his sphere of devastation. He looked at Aang and his group. Then, he looked at Toph and Sokka, running the other way. He didn't even bother looking at Aang again, just walking after Toph. Aang stopped. What was this? Combustion Man wasn't after Aang? Everybody was always after Aang! Then, he realized the mistake he was making. He grasped his head. "Oh! I'm so stupid," he shouted. "He's after Toph!"

"We've got to keep running," Ty Lee said, panic plain on her features. Katara finally broke free of her grasp.

"I'm not leaving my brother," Katara said with finality. Aang stared at her. So fierce. So determined. He could do much worse than having friends such as her. Ty Lee was shaking her head, in abject fear. He nodded, and then, they started to run again. This time, into the fray.


Zuko patted the water out of his ears. While he was a fairly good swimmer, the family that was traveling with them was definitely not. It was tiring for all involved, and they had to rest a while on the far bank. The day began to grow dim. Zuko looked up into the sky.

"It has begun," Iroh said.

"What has?" Taan asked.

"The solar eclipse," Iroh said. The sun slowly became blotted out, light vanishing from the day. He nodded. "Come, we must go. We are on the proper side, but we still have far to go."

The family just started moving again when Zuko felt a tremor under his feet. He spun, his hands going to his swords, when an outcropping of stone slammed up and into Uncle's gut, throwing him into the wall which lined one side of the path. "Uncle!" Zuko shouted.

"Keep crying, kid," Gow's voice came from down near the water. Zuko's eyes widened. He was still alive. The arrow had been snapped off near the wound, and he was still bleeding, but he moved forward with the deliberate consistency of a stone eroding. "You may have gotten these ones through, but I've still got a lot of money to make. And I think I'll take it out of the little girl, here."

Gow brandished his hammers, and hurled a stone at Ying. He was trying to smash a pregnant woman! Zuko surged past her, deflecting the rock away with his swords, and got in close with Gow. Gow was sluggish, from blood loss or near-drowning, Zuko couldn't say. But whatever the reason, it was a more even fight. Hammers against swords. And still, he was being pressed back. He couldn't depend on Uncle at the moment.

As the two men fought, a dire, inescapable cold settled into Zuko. He glanced to the sky. It was as though Agni never was. He knew in his soul this was what Father was talking about when he mentioned 'the darkest day'. His firebending was gone, shadowed behind the occluding moon. But Zuko started to smile, because in the darkness, a shadow could move.

Gow, not used to fighting in absolute darkness, was taken aback. Zuko pressed the attack, his blades lighting sparks against steel mallets. But where Zuko was essentially crippled, Gow had no such failings. Even as Zuko gained the upper hand, Gow began to earthbend again. The ground under Zuko's feet turned to mud. He had experience with mud, but it slowed him down. The shadow and the earthbender moved and fought, each trying to overpower the other, disarm the other, destroy the other.

Gow spun quickly, smashing his hammers into Zuko's blade. In order to keep it from flying out of his hand, he spun as well, and managed to dig a furrow along the large earthbender's side. Pain and further bloodshed seemed to ignite something in Gow, and he began to stomp forward, inevitable as nature itself. The shadow faltered. Zuko was forced back.

Zuko knew he couldn't keep up this kind of fight. He was hungry, his body malnourished. His strength would give out long before Gow's. He tried to push through the web of steel that Gow made with his twirling hammers, and slashed at Gow's neck. Gow deflected the slash high, and it tore along his face. But Zuko had overextended himself in his bid to end the fight. Gow capitalized.

A stunning blow to the ribs sent Zuko smashing into the wall. He tried to shake the stars out of his vision. Gow twisted, hurling one of his hammers at Zuko's head. He just managed to deflect it before it popped his head open like a rotten melon. He recovered himself fully, and stepped up, but a woman's terrified scream pierced the air. Zuko focused through the pain. Gow had pulled Zuko's knife and held it to Ying's throat.

"Don't do this, Gow," Zuko said.

"Why not?" Gow asked. "She's just some peasant from nowhere important. Nobody's going to remember her. Nobody's going to mourn her."

"I will remember her," Zuko said.

"Throw down your weapons, or she dies first," Gow shouted. Zuko looked up the path, to where Uncle was just managing to pull himself to his feet. It had been a cruel blow, but Iroh's rotund build had probably saved his life. Zuko stared at the ground for a moment, then sighed. Defeated, he threw down his swords, even as an anger hotter than he had felt in a long time ignited in him. "Good. Nice little peasant. Obey the high, like you're supposed to."

"You're going to get found out eventually," Zuko said.

"Maybe," Gow said, pressing the knife a little tighter. "But when I do, I'll have enough money to buy my way out of whatever charges they put on me. That's the wonderful thing about gold, kid. When you have enough of it, the rules just don't matter anymore."

"You're a sick, sad, hollow man," Zuko said.

"And you're nobody at all," Gow said. Zuko looked at the knife he had pressed to Ying's throat. Ready to murder both mother and unborn child. The characters on the blade still shined. Gow scowled. "What are you looking at."

"My knife," Zuko said. "'Never give up without a fight'."

"Never trust cutlery, peasant."

The world got a little brighter. Zuko looked up. The sun was beginning to peek out again, and a familiar warmth ran through Zuko. "Look at that, the sun's come out," Zuko said, deadpan. "It's a miracle."

Gow turned briefly, looking at Iroh. "Don't try anything funny, old man, or wife-y here gets another smile."

"Hey, Gow," Zuko said, conversationally. He felt that rage boil up. And now it had somewhere to go.

"What?" Gow asked.

Zuko surged forward, letting out a stream of fire from two fingers, slender but blazing hot. It snipped through Ying's hair and slammed into the center of Gow's face. His entire body went rigid, his arms snapping away from his hostage. Ying cried out and huddled down as Gow slipped away from her and landed, still and smoking, on the edge of the path. Iroh shook his head, slowly. All other eyes looked at him. With fear? With relief? He couldn't say. He slowly reached down and gathered up his swords. Then walked past Ying and took his knife.

"You... you're a firebender," Taan said.

"Not a very good one," Zuko said.

"Are... are you a spy?" Yu asked. Zuko shook his head slowly. The sheath for the knife was lost, so he bundled it in rags and slipped it into his belt. He kicked Gow's corpse off the cliff. He thought it would be harder, somehow, to use his fire this way. Maybe it was easy because the alternatives were worse?

"Your burns," Ying said, still huddled on the ground. "And what you did for us... Who are you?"

Zuko looked at his uncle, then back to the refugees. He got a small smile on his face. "I'm just somebody trying to get back home," he said. He turned and went to his uncle. "I'll understand if you don't want to travel with me."

"To Hell with that," Taan said. "You saved my wife's life, and my child. You may be a firebender, but I still owe you more than I can ever repay."

Zuko looked at Iroh. Iroh seemed just as surprised as he was. He turned back, casting a glance over his shoulder. "Then we should get moving. I'm fairly sure Ying would like to have even ground under her feet."


Another loud blast sounded over Sokka's head, and he ducked as a building's facade was blasted down the street. "I think we have his attention," Sokka said. Toph smirked. He knew that while he couldn't see Combustion Man, she could. She turned, facing a wall, and beyond it, the crazy firebender. She punched downward. Sokka turned. Combustion Man was buried to his chest in the road. Sokka took this as an opportunity to start running. Toph joined him. Combustion Man saw them run, though, and his entrapment didn't forestall his ability to blast them with his death beams.

A beam shot past, barely missing Toph as she dived out of the way. It went into the wall of a building, demolishing it. "This is just getting ridiculous," Toph shouted. "If he keeps this up, the Fire Nation's going to declare war on him!"

Sokka breathed deep. They had to figure out some way to get past the guy, but he was relentless. Sokka leaned out of his corner just enough to glance. Combustion Man was slowly hauling himself out of the hole she'd made. Then, the dark guy ran up next to him and stomped him up out of the pit. Sokka winced.

"Looks like Mule has caught up with the action," Sokka said.

"Muul," she corrected. They started running again. The city was vast, but somehow, they just kept coming. The two ducked into a shop, staring warily at the streets.

"What are you doing in here?" the shopkeeper asked. "No loitering!"

"No, we're... ah... shopping," Sokka said, grabbing a green and gold bag from the shelf. The shopkeeper scowled at them. Now there was a woman he had absolutely no desire to flirt with. Still, Sokka forced a grin onto his face. "See? Very nice. Can't fault the worksmanship."

"Can it, Loverboy," Toph said. "We've got incoming."

Sokka looked at Toph, then back to the unpleasant mistress. "You might want to duck."

"Duck? Why?"

She was answered by both Toph and Sokka ducking, followed a few seconds later by paving stones tearing through the front of her store, smashing her displays to bits. She was spitting with rage, but Sokka had more important things to worry about. He got an idea.

"Toph, give me that cactus!" he said.

"Now's not the time for that. And besides, it's MY cactus," Toph answered.

Sokka just dug through Toph's things and retrieved the Barrel Peyote. He put it into the bag he was still carrying, and leaned out the window. Muul was riding a wave of earth which screamed along the streets. Sokka swung the bag a few times to get some velocity, then hurled the cactus, right into Muul's face. It splattered, getting the hallucinogenic juices into his eyes and mouth. More importantly, it was a heavy weight which smashed in in the head unexpectedly. He fell off his wave, crashing down somewhat short of the shop.

Toph got up, looking out at Muul. She turned to Sokka, and kicked him in the shin. "You owe me a psychotropic cactus, Loverboy."

Pops sounded in the air, and Toph grabbed ahold of Sokka. She stamped her feet, and both fell into the stone under the road. There was a shudder that even Sokka could feel, before she popped back up, and Sokka stumbled. The street was detonated, there was no better word for it. Combustion Man stomped closer. They ran.

Behind them, Sokka could see the shopkeeper run out to Combustion man, screaming at him that he'd ruined her business. He just gave her a back-hand with his iron fist, knocking her out. They were running out of places to run, and even Sokka could tell that Toph was running out of steam. Combustion Man just marched, implacable, onward. Toph skidded to a stop, looking concerned. "What is it, Toph?" Sokka asked.

"I can't feel anything," she said. Sokka looked down. The stone flagstones had given way to wood slats. She was blind. Like, really blind. Sokka growled, then ran to her, scooping her up and carrying her. "What are you doing?"

"This means absolutely nothing," Sokka said. "And if you tell anybody about this... yeah I can't really carry through on that threat."

Sokka ran, carrying the blind girl as they moved through the area close to the dock. It was strange. For once, Sokka, un-bending, un-Avatar, un-superpowered Sokka was saving people's lives. He could get used to this. There was a crash at the end of the boardwalk. He looked to the side. He could swim like a fish, but he knew Toph was abjectly terrified of water that went over her neck.

The Combustion Man was about to make the decision for him, but a wave of stone upset him as he was breathing in. He turned, and blasted his death ray down a side street. Detonation. A wave of water crashed over him, Katara skating over its crest. Combustion Man was rooted, and he fired another death ray up at her, but it passed through the water she surfed upon, detonating high in the sky. Aang skated in her wake, blasting Combustion Man with columns of flame. The rolled over him like he wasn't even there.

"Nothing seems to hurt him!" Katara shouted from the intersection. Aang just kept up the pressure, and the Combustion Man tried to pin somebody down, get them into a position where he could death beam them. Ty Lee dropped from a roof near them, shouting.

"Come on! He's a Sixth Focus master! You've got to run!" she screamed. The Combustion Man idly shot a death beam at her, but she backflipped out of the way. Aang and Katara finally got the message, and broke off, heading toward Sokka and Toph.

"What does that mean?" Sokka asked, around a corner from Combustion Man.

"He's gathering an enormous amount of energy in his sixth Chakra," Ty Lee said, panting and sweating. She must have been running hard. She stopped, getting a curious expression. "Why are you carrying the blind girl?"

"Loverboy here's my palanquin," Toph said, as though this were nothing out of the ordinary. The city became strangely darker, for some reason.

"You women are all crazy!" Sokka shouted. Katara surged around the corner, still skating on the planes of ice she called up as she needed. Aang shot in upon an air scooter, but almost stumbled.

"Um, guys, you could have picked a better hiding spot," Aang said. Sokka turned. The alley looked like it went on for a bit, but it came to a dead end, backed on all sides by iron sided buildings.

"Iron?" Katara said.

"What? Did they build this city just so I couldn't bend it?" Toph shouted. Sokka recoiled a bit.

"We could go down," Katara said.

"The Hell you say!" Toph countered. The stomping came close again, and stopped at the mouth of this back alley. It was almost dark as night, despite the hour. The Combustion Man stared at them, then took a breath in. He leaned forward, and everybody flinched for the death beam. Nothing happened.

Nobody looked more confused than the Combustion Man. Aang moved forward with a fire punch, but nothing happened, either. Sokka looked up. The sun was gone. "The Darkest Day," he muttered. It finally made sense. During the darkest day of the Fire Nation, the nation lost territory, because all firebenders lost their bending. It was tied to the sun, and there might as well have been no sun at all! Katara didn't seem to care about the significance of this, though, and pulled up a spike of seawater, which blasted upward through the floor.

"Hold on to Sokka, Toph," she said. And she hauled the entire group onto the flash-frozen surf of the docks, and Aang pushed them along behind her. Toph did exactly as Katara said, clinging to Sokka like a child.

"That's the boat! That's Piandao's boat!" Ty Lee shouted. Katara got the message, and moved toward the ship she pointed to. It looked like every other Fire Nation ship, except it was smaller and it shined silver in the darkness, laughing at the drab ships that vanished completely in the blackness of the eclipse. Katara dumped them onto deck. Aang landed gracefully, she skidded to a stop. Toph and Sokka landed in a pile. Ty Lee bounded off the ice and screamed at a man standing at the gangplank, on the other side of the ship. "Cast off! Somebody's trying to explode us!"

"Explode you?" the older man said. Then he nodded. "Fuomi, full speed!"

The ship belched smoke from its stack, then moved away from the docks. A clangor sounded at the docks. Combustion Man looked at them from the end of the pier. Sokka leaned over the back rail and shouted. "What're you gonna do? Stare us to death? Ha!"

Combustion Man just stared, dwindling into the distance as the ship exited the port at what was probably an unsafe speed. The land pulled away. And above, the darkness began to part, the sun slipping out sliver by sliver behind the moon. Sokka smiled, sauntering back to the fore deck of the ship. "Aang, I've figured something out," he said in his own language. "Something important. It might help us win the War."

"What is it, Sokka?" Aang said.

"Firebenders lose their firebending in the eclipse!" he said. "If we can find out when the next solar eclipse happens, we can invade the Fire Nation and take down the Fire Lord without a fight!"

Aang gaped. "You're right. I could feel it leaving me."

Katara stared at her brother. "Sokka, you may have just saved the world," Sokka was annoyed how surprised she sounded. "We need to get this information to the Earth King at Ba Sing Se!"

Ty Lee leaned into the group. "Whatcha talkin' about?" she asked. Everybody shared a glance, and a common understanding.

"Nothing," Sokka said. "Nothing that matters. I'm just glad I didn't get blown up."

"As I suspect almost anybody would be," the older man reappeared, dressed in long drab robes. He was quite possibly the tallest man Sokka had ever seen, but lanky and easily as tanned as Sokka or Katara. His beard was trimmed very close, and his hair was pulled back from his head. "I am Piandao. Welcome to my ship. Ty Lee told me so much about you all."

Aang nodded, and looked Piandao in the eye. "What do you intend to do to me?"

"Nothing," he said. "What ill will would I bear towards the Avatar?"

The gang glanced amongst themselves. Except for Ty Lee, who just grinned at the older man. "But... aren't you from the Fire Nation?"

"I was born and raised in the Azul provinces," Piandao said. "That does not mean I walk in lock-step with Ozai."

"Fire Lord Ozai?" Katara asked.

Piandao looked a bit annoyed. "That man is no Fire Lord of mine. Come. Have tea. It will be a few days until we reach out destination."

"Why are you helping us?" Aang asked.

Piandao glanced at the horizon, which was now bright. "How could I not?"

Sokka shrugged, and realized he still had a bag hanging from his arm. He lifted it. "Where did this come from?" he asked. Toph frowned, walking aimlessly, possibly blindly, on the ship. Sokka grinned. "Hey, Toph, this bag matches your belt!"


Zuko leaned against a stone. The night was near, and the others were coming soon. They'd made it most of the way across the Serpent's Pass, and found a nice, broad section where the people had hunkered down. Jet moved ahead of the other people, smirking as he came to Zuko's side.

"We did a lot of good today, Lee," he said.

"Not the first time you've said that," Zuko said. He shrugged, then added, "today."

"Yeah, but this time, you've really made a difference in these people's lives. You're a real freedom fighter, Lee," Jet said.

"I'm not fighting for you," Zuko said. "Not for anybody."

"You could have fooled me," Jet said. "I can always use somebody like you."

Zuko turned, staring at Jet. "Maybe I don't have any use for somebody like you."

Jet shrugged. "Fine. Suit yourself. But when the Firebenders come burning into Ba Sing Se, you'll be begging to take my back with your swords."

"We'll see about that," Zuko said. Jet walked away, talking with Smellerbee and Longshot. Ying walked up to him, staring at Jet. Zuko frowned. "What do you want?"

"He really hates the Fire Nation," she said.

"They killed his family," Zuko said. "He's got his reason."

"You're a..." paused, leaning in and whispering. "firebender."

Zuko frowned. Was she going to blackmail him? It would suit his luck. And there was nothing he could do about it, not and still be able to call himself a man. She leaned back, and smiled, light and airy. "So?"

"So you have nothing to fear," she said. "Your secret is safe with us."

A strange weight lifted off of Zuko's shoulders. A smile pulled at his features. "Thank you."

She didn't turn him in. She had all the power in the world over him, and she just let it go. Zuko didn't understand. Iroh moved to his side, still rubbing his sore belly. He stared out over the water as the people poured into the plateau. "You did a very stupid thing, Nephew," he said.

"I know, Uncle," Zuko said.

"You could have jeopardized everything we worked toward," Iroh continued.

"I know, Uncle."

"You could have hurt the pregnant woman," he said.

"But I didn't, Uncle."

Iroh laughed briefly. "I'm glad you did it, even if it wasn't wise. Sometimes, doing the wrong thing for the right reasons is as good as doing the right thing."

"I remember, Uncle," Zuko said. And like other refugees, they waited as the day ended, high above the waters of the Serpent's Path.