Author's Notes: Thanks for the encouragement and reviews everyone. It really means a lot, and I may just be able to see this thing through. Hopefully this will be finished before the Avatar manga prequel comes out next year. Did you guys hear about that? It supposed to come out a month before the movie. I'm kinda excited, are you? Anyways on with the chapter!

Everyone warily eyed the Fire Lord. Aang walked over to Iroh and looked over his shoulder to confirm if the seal was genuinely the Earth King's. He frowned, disappointed that the situation came to this.

"He's insane!" Toph exclaimed, flaying her arms in the air.

Zuko concurred, "This calls for war!" He pounded his fist on the table, hard.

Iroh looked at his nephew gravely. "No. Even if the entire nation wished it, we cannot afford to be in a war again. The Fire Nation will surely fall."

Azula gave everyone a look of resolution. "Then it's settle then, turn me over to the Earth King." Before she could give anyone else a chance to reply, she swiftly walked away. However, Sokka would not be cast aside and followed her. He grabbed her by the arm and forced her to turn around and face him.

"What do you think you're doing?!" he dared to yell at her. "You're just going to hand yourself over to him?! What's wrong with you?!"

Azula glared at him, offended. "What's wrong with you?!? This is our son's life on the line! Or have you forgotten? His life is worth than mine!"

"That's not true!" Sokka shook her. "The Azula I knew would have fought back!"

She looked away, and she refused to defend herself because she knew he was right. She would have burned Ba Sing Se--even the entire Earth Kingdom to have her son back. She would not have handed herself over. Seven long years have changed her. "If it had been anyone else but a monarch of a nation...I would have."

"That wouldn't have mattered before!" he harshly pointed out.

"What he's asking is simple: me for our son." Azula pulled herself out of his grip and walked away, leaving Sokka defeated. He turned around to rejoin his friends when he saw Mai standing there in front of him.

Her expression was bored as she asked him, "May we speak for a moment?" He gave her quizzed look; he and Mai barely spoke to one another--she wasn't as approachable as Ty Lee after all.

He nodded, allowing her to lead him to where ever she deemed fit for a private conversation. Mai walked with an air of grace he noticed, and no doubt about it, her upbringing was a contribution. After all, Mai was still nobility. Although Azula's walk stood out to him more in that she walked with not only an air of grace--but authority and her hips swayed like a temptress.

He banished those thoughts from his mind when he was reminded that his son was missing, and the woman he loved was willingly walking into the dragon's nest. Sokka found himself in a small room where a couch and table stood in the middle.

Without preamble, Mai stated, "Tai Shan is Azula's life."

He growled in frustration for Mai pointing out the obvious and sat down on the couch. "I know that. And he's been mine since he came into my life."

Mai sat down across from him. "Really? Obviously not."

He glared at her. "What are you talking about? I would give my life for that boy!"

"Yes," she continued to look unfazed by his growing irritation. "But not enough to sacrifice Azula's life. So it's apparent that Tai Shan alone isn't your life."

Sokka bit his tongue. He didn't feel the need to point out that his love for Tai Shan and Azula were like apples and oranges. He didn't want to live in a world without either of them. Humans need both water and air to live, just like he needed Azula and Tai Shan in the world alive and well for him to be okay--even if it meant he couldn't be with them.

"But you're failing to see things her way," Mai sighed, seemingly exhausted at trying to spell "obvious" things out. "If you were in her situation--you would gladly lay down your life for your son, even though there was your grandmother, father, and sister to worry about--maybe even Azula."

Sokka frowned thinking, for someone who sported a bored look everyday and spoke very little--she sure was wise.

"That's how Azula feels," Mai concluded. "She almost died bringing Tai Shan into this world--and she would be damned if she allowed her son to die because of her."

Sokka felt like he had been struck. A horrible, dark feeling consumed him--the idea that Azula could have died giving birth to his son, and he wouldn't have been there with her-; the feeling that she could have left the world of the living and he would have never found out; the feeling that she could have died and her last memories of him were of him being furious with her. "W-what?" he choked out. By the time he was able to speak, the consort princess was headed out the door.

The young woman halted and turned her head toward him, giving him a sympathetic look. "It had been a difficult pregnancy...the doctors weren't sure that she would pull through, hence the letters she wrote in case it came to that."

His blue eyes stayed glued to the floor. He was a failure in many ways: as a protector, as a father, as a warrior...the list seemed to add on and on.

"Not my concern?" Aang gave the letter a second look.

Toph huffed furiously, "The hell it isn't!" The Bei Fong heiress couldn't believe what she heard when Aang read the letter out loud from the Earth King. He demanded that the Avatar stay out of his current conflict with Princess Azula because it wasn't his concern.

"Peace between the nations is my concern," Aang pointed out as he grabbed an ink pen and dabbed it in the black liquid next to his parchment. "This isn't like the Earth King at all."

Katara frowned, agreeing with the Avatar. She bit lip in worry wondering what could have possessed the king to take this route. He certainly didn't favor Azula in anyway, but he was not the type to involve a child. She noticed that Sokka and Azula were gone for a long time, and she could only hope that they weren't quarrelling with one another again.

Meanwhile Ursa wanted more than anything to comfort her daughter, but she knew Azula would never accept her--even in grief. She acknowledged that she wronged her daughter, that she did unintentionally play favorites--just as her husband did.

Iroh and Zuko were both devising a plan, when Azula walked in. Sokka followed her shortly. Her eyes were blazing when she told her uncle, "I'm leaving."

"Don't be so hasty!" Zuko yelled. "There could be another way."

"War or retaliation is not an option apparently, so what else is there?" she asked bitterly. To her, waging war was worth getting her son back---but her family thought otherwise. "I'm going and you will not stop me!"

"I'll go too," Sokka said.

"We all will," Katara added, implying herself, Aang, and Toph.

Zuko looked at Mai before saying he would go too. He had to know how the Earth King could go back on his word. He wished that if the other nations knew how the Earth King really was---an untrustworthy man--that they would side with his family and help them retrieve the young prince back. However, Azula was never someone the world favored, and he doubted the other nations would help her.

Everyone went their separate ways to prepare except for Ursa and Iroh, who looked at each other with grave expressions. Ursa tried to hold her calm composure, "I feel so useless. I feel like I'm allowing my daughter to be murdered." The senior princess felt a jab in her heart. Why had she been able to save Zuko from a certain death but not her daughter?

Iroh placed his hand over hers. "I have faith that they can do what we cannot. Don't worry---I'll think of something."

"What's the plan?" Toph asked as she walked down the hall with Katara and Aang.

"We talk to him," Aang answered vaguely.

"We can't just walk in there without a plan," Katara pointed out. "It would seem our childhood luck is running out."

They turned left where they headed outside. They needed to prepare Appa for the long flight--especially since they were going with a big group.

"Talking to him is a plan," Aang said, convincing himself rather than her. He exhaled, tired and lost. He felt like he was fighting an endless war, and it didn't help that his friends were always getting hurt. When Aang lost Appa, he was devastated--he could only imagine how Sokka felt.

"That's not a plan!" Katara's voice rose. "What if that doesn't work? What if he doesn't hear us out? You can't possibly mean that you have no backups."

"I'm still thinking," he told her. He studied the saddle and became skeptical that it could hold all of them. Additionally, Appa tired easily when there was added weight, and it was imperative that they arrived in Ba Sing Se as soon as possible. Coincidentally, Sokka joined them and told them that Azula and Zuko were going to use a zeppelin. Although Sokka did not voice that it was a wise decision on the prince and princess's behalf. Zeppelins didn't need to rest like Appa did and could go on all night--as long as someone piloted it.

"Good," Katara bitterly spat. "We don't want her with us anyway. She's nothing but--"

"Katara," Sokka warned. It wasn't the time for her to voice out her grudge against Azula.

"Maybe you and Toph should ride in the zeppelin," Aang said kindly. While Toph remained a poker face, Katara fumed. He tried to reason with them, "If we do fight, it would do us no good having allies not trusting each other. The enemies will use that against us, it's a weakness. You two need to at least learn to be civil toward Azula--that way you can fight competently side by side."

"Hey this goes both ways Aang!" Katara yelled. "It's not like Azula--"

"Enough," Aang rubbed his temples. He looked to Toph who he hoped would be more compliant in his request, but Toph was never the type to do something she didn't want to do. He knew that she knew that he merely wanted to help her, but in the end, it was Toph who would decide if she would take it or not. "I know it's not easy, but don't you believe in second chances? The Fire Lord got a second chance and look at him now? He's a great man."

"Give second chances, Aang, not third chances. I'm tired of giving chances to people like them--they don't deserve it!" Katara would not relent. She had reached out to Zuko in Ba Sing Se, and in the end he assisted his sister in taking over; she gave Azula a chance, and she ended up playing them like fools and hurting Sokka. It was easier to accept that those two were a lost cause.

Sokka glared at his sister. He loved her, but this was unacceptable. "She just lost her son! This isn't the time to be petty!"

Katara flinched back, startled by her brother's cold voice. She doesn't recall Sokka ever yelling at her like that before. She looked away, afraid to admit that she was wrong. Her brother and Azula's son were missing, and now's not the time to be cruel toward the mother. She couldn't possibly know how her brother and Azula were feeling at the moment, and it would be best if she kept her mouth shut.

"Take Aang's suggestion," Sokka bit out.

Toph was always the level headed one and the reasonable one. She faced Sokka's direction, "Will do Meathead. Sweetness and I will give you and Aang your 'guy time.' It's been a while after all." She placed her arm on Katara's shoulders and pushed her away from Aang and Sokka.

"I'm going too," Mai told her husband.

"No," he replied.

"Yes," she voiced with determination. "I am."

He looked back at her and stopped everything he was doing to walk toward her. He placed his hands on her and gave her a pleading look. Usually he would give anything she asked of him, but this time he would have to step his foot down--and although that never stopped her before--he hoped this time it would. "No Mai, I can't risk it."

"You aren't risking anything--I am," she replied. She knew she was giving Zuko a hard time, but she refused to stand by the sidelines and do nothing. Whether he liked it or not, they were in together---until death parted them. When they married, they made that promise to each other. "Just because I'm your wife, Zuko, doesn't mean I've gone soft. I can take care of myself--without your help."

"I know that," he said exasperatedly. "I have no doubt about that. But think of the baby." He brought his hand to her flat stomach where he knew in a few months he would either have a boy or a girl.

"I can take care of it---"

"Mai please," he kissed her softly on her forehead. "I need you to stay here. I need to make sure you're safe--I can't be worrying about you."

"Then promise you'll come back." Mai realized it was futile arguing with him, and he was right---it was risky and she didn't want to do anything that may harm her unborn child. Therefore, she made him bargain because it was the only thing she could do to ease the dread of being left behind and wondering endlessly if Zuko was going to be all right. She hoped that he would come back to her, and they could finally made it known to their family, friends, and the country that they were going to have a child.

Making a promise he couldn't keep wasn't appealing, especially a promise to his wife. He had failed so many people in his life: his parents, his uncle, and his sister--he didn't want to add Mai and the child onto the list. However, it was apparent that she needed some form of comfort. However, because he couldn't bring himself to voice the promise, he nodded his head instead.

Author's Notes: Reviews, encouragements, and critics are always welcomed! Anyway, I tried to make this as long as possible but I find I couldn't, so I hope that five pages are okay for now. For updates and fanfic information, the top of my profile is where to go. I usually update it after updating a fic of mine.