Aang was roused in the middle of the night by a knock on the door of his guest bedroom. He rubbed his eyes and leaped off the bed.

"Aang your cat's not going to jump out at me again, is it?" It was Zuko. His speech was a little slurred.

"It's not a cat, it's a lemur, and he went out hunting."

"Out hunting, the one thing you could say to make me feel even less comfortable about that creature," Zuko said.

Aang opened the door. "Why don't you like Momo?" Aang said, personally offended.

"Because it poops and sheds and has claws and tries to touch me. We've been over that," Zuko answered. He leaned in the doorway and rubbed his eyes, which were very dark underneath and very heavy. He looked like he wanted to collapse. Zuko took a deep breath. "I need your help."

"With what?"

"Packing. I mean, unless you wanted to come with me, which I would appreciate."

"Where?"

"Long story," Zuko said. He pushed himself off the doorway and continued rubbing his aching forehead. "Let's go."

They headed down torchlit hallways past the patrolling guards who shot curious side glances at the two of them, but didn't dare inquire. Zuko took Aang up a flight of stares to his chambers and into an off-shooting room with his wardrobe.

"I'd do this myself but I'm just too exhausted to think."

"Do you sleep, like ever?" Aang said, noting the grand bed was still made.

"Not really," Zuko said. "Katara gave me this little potion once. Worked like magic. I slept all night. It was great. And then I didn't wake up the next day in time, I was still sleeping. Missed this appointment I had with the Minister of Finance. He's one of the few people from Ozai's staff whom I kept, because he's the only one who knows where all the old paperwork is kept. It was a hard sell convincing him to stay, because he doesn't think I'm worthy of the job. That proved it to him. He's threatening to quit."

Zuko probably had not told that story to anyone. He didn't actually have anyone around to tell those stories too when his friends were off completing their own responsibilities around the world. Aang realized Zuko hadn't woken him up to help pack but because Zuko needed someone to talk to. As much as he isolated himself, he still needed someone to talk to every now and then. Especially when he was about to do something he might regret.

"Wait, why are we packing, again?" Aang said, still rubbing a little sleep from his eyes. "And why are we doing it in the middle of the night?"

"Oh, sorry." Zuko said. "Because I'm going to Ba Sing Se. Well, first I should tell you, I went to visit Ozai tonight."

"I thought we agreed you weren't going to do that."

"Well, I didn't know what else to do. Azula isn't telling me anything. She hasn't told anything to the servants so they were no help. Who else am I going to ask?"

"Last time you were visiting him, you started to kind of act like him."

"Well, to be honest, it was a pointless trip. I thought perhaps he knew her better than I did. Maybe he'd know if she had friends or connections in the earth Kingdom or the Colonies. Or a lover, even. He doesn't know anything about her. He couldn't name any of her old school mates. She hasn't been adding more information to her letters since I stopped intercepting them. Still pointless paragraphs about the weather. I don't know what I was thinking talking to him. What did I think they were doing those years I spent chasing you? Having a healthy father-daughter relationship built on communication and trust? I'm an idiot, and he told me that tonight. "

"He doesn't know about the kid, or that she was missing?"

"Of course he knows that stuff. Aang you have no idea how... leaky this palace is. I bet those guards we passed have all run off to tell the servants we were walking around. By the time I leave tomorrow the whole city will know I'm gone. He knew how leaky the palace is. Sometimes he would start rumors and scandals on purpose just to manipulate the public. He hears the guards talking, and sometimes they even talk to him. He knows about the kid, about how she went missing, about my grandfather's favorite Eucalyptus tree that was burned down this morning."

"That's scary," Aang said.

"Yeah. And the scariest thing of all, the stuff I need to leak is not leaking. I know nothing about Azula and what happened to her. The only way I'm going to find out anything is to go to Ba Sing Se myself and see if anyone there recalls seeing her. I was hoping maybe you could come with me. First of all, Apa is faster than any of our ships, second, you're better at talking to people than I am, and it's not safe to go a lone. And honestly I'm really terrified about what I might find and I don't... I don't want to find it by myself." Zuko stopped and twiddled his thumbs.

Aang didn't say anything.

"I need to know what happened to her, Aang."

Still Aang looked uncomfortable. "If she finds out you went, she's going to be furious. Like Katara said. She needs to know she has people she can trust and this is... shady."

Zuko began pulling clothes off the shelves and shoving them into the bag without folding them. "Shady? That's the word you want to use?"

"It's... yeah. Shady. Not cool. Sneaky."

"Her past, it affects her. Katara can definitely tell you that. I can tell you that. You should talk to her. As soon as I bring up something from the past she gets all... pensive, and then she gets super tense and defensive and angry. Or more likely what happens is she brings it up, let's something slip. It's on her mind all the time. I can tell. She just let's something slip and then she gets angry when I inquire about it. And to be honest, she's different than she was when she left. There are things she understands that she didn't before." He kept packing. He selected clothes that looked decent, but not auspicious. He wanted to look respectable, but not to attract attention to himself.

"It still doesn't change the fact that it could destroy her if she found out you left."

"Look," Zuko turned and faced him. "In two or three months I'm going to be an uncle, and I have a whole new level of responsibility you don't really understand at this point in your life. She's going to be a mother, and I don't think she really understands that sort of responsibility either. And if she knows where its dad is, or has friends that she trusts, those people might end up being involved iif they get word. And they might just be the same people who hurt her. She talks all day long about how she doesn't want us digging up the past, but I believe the past might just dig itself up. She might dig it up herself. She doesn't have very good judgement."

"She's a lot better at reading people than you are."

"You found her starving, pregnant, sick, living on the streets. She hadn't even thought to put a bandage on her burns. She needs me to take care of her, which means I need to know what I'm dealing with. Aang I need your help. I'd ask Katara too, but she has to take care of Azula. And frankly I know for a fact I'm not going to get her support. But I really need your help, so are you coming or not?"

Aang stared at the bag with it's various odds and ends poking out of it. His eyebrows wrinkled. He really didn't want to answer, but he had to say no. "If Katara couldn't support you, I can't either. I mean, at the end of the day I have to support her, and well... she's right."

Zuko. "No, then?"

"Sorry," Aang said, shaking his head.

Zuko clenched his jaw. "Okay." He got back to work. "Azula's going to ask about me. I don't know, maybe she will, maybe she won't. Tell her I'm on an emergency diplomatic meeting," he said. "Actually don't tell her that, because if the public hears that there will be a panic, like we're going to war, because stuff... you know... leaks. But you'll think of something to say."

"Katara's going to be furious," Aang said.

"She'll understand, I think on some level at least. Hand me those shoes over there. I think those will be good for walking around the city. I'm sure to find someone who remembers her. She certainly causes enough trouble."

Aang gave Zuko the shoes, the sum of all the packing help he'd been woken up for. Zuko shoved them sloppily into the bag and and then tied the bag shut.

"Do you know when you'll be back?"

"Hopefully before the baby comes. I want to be there. I owe her that amount of support at least." he said. "And also to stop her from doing anything stupid with it. I'll write."

Zuko gave Aang's shoulder's a firm squeeze, then grabbed his bag to head down to the dock, where he would ask his men to ready the ship.