Zuko woke up with a start. Maybe it was the food and the damned whale liqueur. Or maybe it was the soft sound of footsteps on the narrow corridor of the airship.

He got to his feet and crept towards the door. His heart started beating faster when he noticed the dark shadow that moved silently towards the sleeping quarters. As the figure got closer, Zuko jumped, pinning him against the wall.

"It's me," squeaked a familiar voice, holding up both hands.

Zuko lowered his arms and stepped back, "A library visit, I presume?" he asked sarcastically. "This sneaking around will get you into trouble some day."

"Yeah, but it's more fun this way," Sokka grimaced, rubbing his neck.

"You want to have a cup of tea?" Zuko suggested. It was another sacred tradition, just like food pranks. When Sokka got caught sneaking, he had to wait to get to Suki.

"I was actually…." Sokka glanced towards his girlfriend's door longingly.

Zuko grabbed his elbow and pulled him into the control room. "Come on, it will be fun, we hardly had time to catch up."

"That's because you chickened out…" Sokka grimaced.

Zuko ignored his friend's protest and set out to brew some ginger tea. Uncle swore it was the best cure against hangover. Then again, according to Uncle ginger tea was the way to world peace too...

He placed two cups on the table and poured the drink.

"It is fun - to be just us, Team Egg without the rest of the world. It got me thinking," Zuko pulled out a large scroll filled with schematics.

Sokka studied the lines. "Looks familiar."

Zuko nodded. "I've been meaning to do something with the old house on Ember Island. A place for all of us. This is the plan the architects drew up for it, but maybe you have some ideas before I order the works."

"Only if it means a standing invitation..." Sokka joked.

"That's the idea," Zuko smiled.

That house always meant home for him. When he returned from his exile, it was a sad, silent crypt of his childhood memories, but Team Avatar changed that. Now as he walked in the empty rooms, he heard their laughter, he remembered the fun times. Those weeks they had spent there before the comet were easily the best days of his life. He would have to consult Azula, of course. The house belonged to her as much as to him. Maybe they could even work together like Sokka and Katara did here, squabbling over names, while rebuilding the ruins of the past into palaces of the future.

"Have you thought about building a tunnel to cliffs over here?" Sokka pointed to west of the island.

It was an interesting idea - it could serve both as a private entrance and an escape route. Zuko was right about asking Sokka. He had an eye for these things.

They leaned over the schematics and did not notice the black shadow cast on the doorway.

-0-


There was a soft caress on her forehead. "It's time to wake up, darling," her mother's gentle voice filtered through the veil of dream.

"Mom, it's too early," Azula moaned.

"It is time. They are waiting for you." Her mother's voice had an urgency to it. She knew that tone; arguing was useless.

She opened her eyes. The full moon shined through the window, illuminating her sleeping quarters. Druk blinked at her, his red tongue flicking over her face.

That was strange. Druk always slept with Zuko.

Azula reached out to scratch the dragon's chin. He grabbed her finger and started pulling on it, flapping his wings frantically. Something was wrong . She put the agitated dragon on her shoulder and tiptoed towards the corridor. From the corner of her eyes, she saw a black shadow move.

There were infiltrators on the airship. She cursed Zuko's carelessness, as she moved towards the control room; her heart beating fast. Without her bending, she felt weak and exposed. As she peeked around the corner, she saw Zuko and Sokka on the floor, unconscious. Two figures clad in black, their faces covered in masks approached their limp bodies.

Azula's mind raced. This might be it - her chance to win. The logical thing would be to go back to bed and wait it out, see how the dice falls. She might wake up as Fire Lord. Nobody would know that she saw what she saw, she would be beyond reproach. It was the smart play.

Except, there was that nagging thing called her heart which screamed that the smart thing was not the right thing. The part of her that knew without a doubt that the price would be too high. She couldn't go back to the palace alone and face the emptiness again. Her mind would crack like an eggshell under the weight of her mother's silent reprimands. She felt Druk's hot breath on her earlobes. The dragon had no doubts, he was ready to attack, to sacrifice himself, even if it meant the end of all firebending.

It was split-second decision. There was no time to think it through, to come up with an intricate plan. She threw her flame-shaped hairpin against the metal wall. The assassins heard the faint clink. One of them ran out of the control room to investigate, while the other stepped closer to Zuko's and Sokka's bodies, hands raised.

Azula hurled herself forward, standing in between the attacker and the unconscious boys. The assassin moved closer, a dagger glimmering in his palm. She felt Druk's sharp inhale and she raised her hand instinctively into a firebending stance. The flames burst out unexpectedly; surrounding them with a wall of fire. It was much bigger than anything Druk had ever bent before and the fire shield that surrounded them, protecting them from the assassin sparkled in blue.

Beyond the flames, she saw a third shadow join the fight. It was Suki, attacking the assassin with fans in hand, who took flight. Azula lowered her arms. She leaned over Zuko and Sokka and checked their pulses.

"They are just unconscious, go…" Azula told Suki.

Suki nodded and ran out of the airship. A few minutes later, she returned with Aang, Katara and Toph. Katara coated her hands in water, working on the boys, her face taut with tension.

Zuko opened his eyes first, grabbing his head with a pained expression. "What happened?"

Sokka's groan signalled that he was awake too.

"There were two attackers. They must have knocked you out with the poison darts. Luckily, Azula spotted them and held them off until I got here," Suki explained.

"Druk woke me up…" Azula interjected. She didn't want them to think that she had been sneaking around.

"Smart boy…" Sokka cupped the dragon's head and blew a kiss on the tip of his nose. Druk flapped his wings happily.

"So you can firebend again?" Katara turned to Azula. They all stared at her.

Azula closed her eyes. She already knew the answer, but extended her palm anyway. She focused on the spark she thought she felt for a moment, but no fire came. Not even a puff of smoke.

"No, I don't think that was me," she said finally, trying not to show her disappointment. She didn't need their pity.

"So Druk can bend blue fire?" Sokka arched his eyebrow, looking at Zuko.

Zuko shook his head.

"So what did just happen?" Aang wondered aloud.

Azula thought back to the words of the energy reader. Zuko had the key. Could it be that it wasn't a move or a form, but somehow her fire ended up inside him?

"In any case," Sokka turned to Azula. "That was really brave of you."

"Yes, thank you, Azula," Zuko added, looking at her warmly. Even Katara's icy glare softened.

Azula pursed her lips. "None of this would have been necessary if you took the precautions I told you to take." She earned the right of a told-you-so today.

Zuko scratched his head, "I just don't understand. How did they know I was here?"

Aang gave him an apologetic look "Was it supposed to be a secret? Because I told it to a few people in Gaoling."

"Why would you do that?" Sokka snapped at the Avatar.

"They wanted to take me to an official tour of the province. I needed an excuse," Aang complained. After a pause he slapped his tattooed forehead, "Oh, I'm so stupid."

Zuko immediately stepped closer, putting his hand on the Avatar's shoulder. "It's not your fault, Aang." His voice was soft and soothing. Azula recognized that voice, it was the same way Zuko spoke to Druk when he tried to calm the dragon.

"I wonder who would want you dead?" the boy's grey eyes sparkled with confusion, as if after everything he experienced, he still couldn't comprehend evil. Azula wasn't sure if she pitied or envied the monk.

She rolled her eyes. "Do you want the whole list? People from the Earth Kingdom, who want to take revenge on the Fire Nation, the Fire Nation opposition hellbent putting father back on the throne, the governors who want to run freely their little fiefdoms, the military who feel they lost their power, the merchants who begrudge the new taxes,..."

"Is this the whole list?" Toph asked sarcastically. "I think you left off the cabbage man."

"It's not a joke, Toph," Katara snapped at the earthbender angrily.

"We'll split up and comb the area for clues," Sokka stepped between the two girls. "Maybe we'll learn something."

-0-


Sokka examined the snow. It looked pristine.

"I don't understand, there should be footprints, unless they could fly," he scratched his chin pensively. Maybe he wasn't cut out for detective work after all.

"Or waterbend," Azula noted.

Sokka stopped in his tracks. Of course, she was right. A waterbender could easily cover up the footprints. It would also explain how they disappeared - they could bend an ice-tunnel. Still, there were only a handful of waterbenders left including Katara and the people who Pakku brought from the North. There was no way...

"You think somebody from our tribe this did?" he asked indignantly.

"There are waterbenders outside your tribe, Sokka," Azula grimaced.

"I guess…" he admitted. "Still..." It was an unsettling thought.

"It's difficult to imagine someone other than us could be the bad guys?" her voice cut like a cold blade.

She was also not wrong. Of course, logically, Sokka knew other nations had bad seeds too. After all, he had seen the Dai Li in action. It was unfair to instinctively blame the Fire Nation, but a hundred years of violence was not exactly conducive to trust building.

He had to remind himself that the Fire Nation had good people too. Zuko, Iroh, Piandao, Ty Lee and Mai were all good. He glanced at Azula. Maybe it was time to put her on that list.

"You were really selfless today. I told you that you have changed," he said warmly. He had watched her closely since she arrived. She was putting on an act but underneath it all she seemed different. More caring, more vulnerable. Maybe Zuko was right to trust her.

Azula gave him a wry smile. "Or I was calculating as ever - and it was all a ploy so you all would trust me."

Sokka had to admit, that was a possibility too.

"Why do you do this?" Sokka sighed.

"Do what?" Her eyebrows arched.

"Pretend that you don't care? You can talk all you want, but I see you. You don't need to be scared of the person you are becoming."

Azula watched him intently, her dark amber eyes sparkling with emotion, but her face remained impassive. She turned away, pretending to examine the white snow.

"Sokka, come here," she exclaimed suddenly.

"Did you find something?" he asked eagerly, his mind returning to the puzzle they were trying to solve.

His gaze followed her finger. There was a small red spot in the white snow.

-0-


Zuko examined the scorch marks on the floor of the control room. They were regular blotches caused by firebending - there was nothing extraordinary about them.

"This won't tell us much," he sighed and got to his feet.

"Are you going back to the Earth Kingdom after this?" he asked Aang who seemed distraught still from the attack.

He shook his bald head. "No. It's time. I'm going home. To the Southern Air Temple."

Zuko shuddered, remembering the last time he saw the place. It was a crypt, an empty shell of horrors. "Aang. Is this really a good idea?"

"I don't know, but it's something I feel I should do," Aang face was determined.

"It's just…."

Zuko didn't get to finish the thought, as Sokka and Azula burst into the control room. "We found something."

Zuko examined the tiny red pai sho tile. There was nothing strange about it at first glance. Then he frowned. "That's weird."

"Exactly," Sokka nodded.

"Why?" Aang looked over his shoulder.

"Because it looks like a pai sho tile, but there is no tile like this in the game," Zuko explained.

"Are you sure?" Suki stepped closer.

"I lived for three years on a boat with a pai sho nut. Of course I'm sure." Zuko replied, annoyed that his expertise was being questioned. He had seen every version of the game that was played in the four nations.

"So someone went out of their way to make a fake pai sho tile. That's crazy," Toph chimed in.

"We just had an assassination attempt and you're calling a fake pai sho tile crazy?" Katara glared at her blind friend. Toph only shrugged in response.

"I just feel like it's an important clue." Sokka took the fake tile from Zuko and wrapped it in a piece of cloth.

"Important or not, we have to return to the Fire Nation," Azula added sharply. Zuko sighed. As much as he didn't want to cut his weekend short, his sister was right. It would be irresponsible for him to linger when he was clearly the target of the assassins. Worse, he could get others in trouble too.

After they packed up their things, Team Egg gathered for a last group hug, before the airship rose up in the sky.

Zuko looked mournfully as the waving figures of Aang, Toph, Sokka and Katara became tiny dots of yellow, green and blue against the white snow. He already missed them.

-0-


One week later

"That's outrageous," Iroh said handing the tile back to Zuko. "Someone using the sacred game of pai sho to work in the shadows."

"That's what your precious White Lotus does, Uncle," Azula interjected before Zuko could make the same point.

"We would never do something as nefarious as..." protested Iroh vehemently.

"...an assassination attempt?" Zuko suggested. The White Lotus seemed to be made of good guys, even if Uncle could not coherently explain what they were supposed to be about anymore, other than pai sho and silly code words.

"I was going to say making a fake pai sho tile," Iroh finished with a slight grin. "I'm afraid, Nephew, I don't know anything about who these people are, other than they have shameful disrespect for the game."

Zuko glanced at Azula. It was another dead end.

"Don't worry about it. We'll figure it out," Zuko smiled at Iroh. He didn't want the old man to worry about him - Agni knows he was responsible for more than one white hair in his beard. Iroh had earned his peace.

"I'm sure you will," Iroh agreed. With practiced movements he poured water over fragrant tea leaves, the aroma of ginseng filling the small study, evoking memories of the Ba Sing Se tea shop, of home.

Zuko pulled out the plans of the Ember Island summer house and spread them out in front of Iroh and Azula, explaining the idea for the renovation.

Iroh nodded thoughtfully. "I think it's a great idea. Young people need to have fun from time to time. And it's time to give new life to that place."

Zuko looked questioningly at Azula. Instead of replying, she turned around the schematics with an unreadable expression, examining all the details, including the sketches added by Sokka.

"I have a condition," she said after a heavy pause.

"Name it," Zuko let out a resigned sigh. Everything always had a price with Azula.

"Sokka is not allowed to call it Team Egg Palace," she grinned.

"Deal," Zuko laughed, relieved.

Druk settled on his shoulder, his scaly tail tickling the back of his neck. Zuko took a sip of his cup. This felt right. It felt like a real family.


-0-

Authors Notes:

Hi! Thanks for making it this far!

This chapter concludes the Eggspedition story - the arc about Druk's birth - which was the first book of a series. I know some story-lines, such as Azula's firebending, or the mystery surrounding the assassination attempt were left a bit hanging. Don't worry. These are parts of the longer arcs connecting the different books and I promise that I will get back to this in the upcoming stories of this series. The next story will focus mainly on Aang and Zuko, but of course others from the Gaang and beyond will appear in it too.

This story is very close to my heart - it's basically where I wish Book 4: Air would have been taken. I have fallen in love with the dynamic of the Fire Siblings, the post-war Gaang moments, and the healing that a small creature, like Druk can bring into the life of a stressed-out teenage Fire Lord. Thanks for those who left comments, I loved hearing everyone's thoughts on the story and the parts that spoke to you.