Zuko pitched a tent to sleep for the night. He was one day away from Ba Sing Se. He needed to negotiate for a sky ship for this trip the next time he did it. He had run out of food and had to scavenge until he could find a town. Thieves had tried to take his ostrich horse, twice.

He woke up when the birds started squawking. Time to get to Ba Sing Se. He got on his ostrich horse and rode for hours until he reached the city walls. He produced a residence permit issued by King Bumi.

"Welcome back Prince Zuko."

The worn down prince needed to get to his accommodation and a bath before he met with the King. He was on his way there when he heard a familiar voice.

"You look like hell Sparky!"

"Toph?"

"In the flesh."

Lo and Li approached. "Queens do not call Princes Sparky," Li chided.

"This one does."

Zuko chuckled. They must be driving her crazy. "Lo, Li, good to see you."

"Prince Zuko, I hope all is well with you."

"It will be, once I get a bath."

"We won't keep you."

"But I want to bother him," Toph complained.

"How about we invite him for dinner?"

"We can teach you how to roast a chicken."

"Work!"

Zuko laughed. "I would love to have dinner with the future Earth Queen."

"I might bury you in the ground."

"We'll see you at 7:30, Prince."

Zuko made it to his apartment and got in the tub. "I feel so gross!"

Eventually, he had to get dressed and start preparing his report for the Earth King.

Aang had been dealing with looters all day. They were targeting merchants trying to bring their goods into the city. With Toph off the police force, the city's officers had grown lazy, giving Aang the job of cleaning up the place. He caught two rival groups of thieves today, just to wonder if he should have let them take each other out.

They cursed and yelled threats the whole way back to jail, but Aang paid them no mind. "I've been threatened by scarier people than you."

After delivering them to jail and turning in his incident report, he was ready to take a hot bath and maybe get some takeout. He was surprised when he got home and saw Toph cooking.

"What are you doing?"

"Trussing a chicken."

"Why?"

"So it cooks more evenly and the juicy parts don't dry out."

"Um cool?"

"Sparky's coming for dinner."

"He finally made it back."

"Yeah and in one piece."

"That's good."

Lo and Li started telling Toph what to do for the side dishes.

"I have to make sides!"

Aang decided to sneak out of there before ...

"Not so fast. You get to help me."

Aw! "What do you need me to do?"

"Peel those vegetables."

Aang grabbed a paring knife. He needed to start airbending straight to his room when he got home from work.

Sparky arrived a few minutes before 7:30. He had an interesting afternoon at the palace. Most kings grab the report and toss you out, but Bumi seemed less interested in the report. "My advisors can read that. I want to know about your experiences in the different cities."

Zuko explained the differences he found in the big cities and the small towns. As expected, the small towns were much more communal. They watch each other's kids and run the schoolhouses together where the cities are more bureaucratic. He thought the smaller towns could use more supplies, like books or a public library and didn't necessarily need to become more like the big cities. "They could use more resources, surely, but they know how to use what they have. I think they need things more than they need people to guide them."

In between the towns was another story. "There are just a lot of bandits and the small towns don't have the manpower to try and police those dead zones."

"Would you suggest a special police force of some kind?"

"That might work for now, but what I think they really need is better transportation. It's hard to get from town to town, which is why these dead zones exist and why criminals hide there. With bigger, wider roads and some trains, you'll get more people living there and they will be better able to develop their own police force." Zuko wanted to use Ba Sing Se's road and train system as a model for the country, really connect the kingdom on the ground. "It would also be useful in future wars," Zuko pointed out.

"So it would be?"

After speaking to him for a few hours, Zuko had to go get ready for the dinner and now he was here.

Aang hugged him. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"Not since the Kingdom almost collapsed on itself."

"Well, hopefully, that's the last time Azula invades Ba Sing Se."

"Although she is quite good at it."

"So how is your sister doing?"

Zuko shrugged. "Haven't heard anything, so I assume it's normal."

The friends caught up over dinner.

Toph was slowly losing her mind trying to become "a lady."

Aang learned to keep his mouth shut.

The three friends decided they should meet up more frequently.

"How long are you here for?"

"Uncertain." At some point Bumi would have to start trying to figure out what he wanted to do with the Kingdom, work with the Council and his advisors to produce a plan. Zuko would be apart of the plan, but until the King made some decisions, it was unclear what he would be doing exactly. "A while I guess?"

"How's Suki?"

"She's good." The Island is really nice again now that there is no more war.

Sokka had sent letters to Aang and Iroh about the search for Azula's mother. He wanted to write to Zuko but had no idea where he actually was. He asked his sister who said, "um he's travelling around the Earth Kingdom or something."

"Do you remember where?"

She shrugged. "I might not have asked."

"Didn't you want to know?"

"As long as he's not in trouble, does it matter where he is?"

Sokka would never fully understand the hands off relationship the siblings had with each other. He knew they weren't close as children, but it seemed like nothing would bring them together again. They would be allies from a distance at best.

He included in his note to Iroh, "if you see Zuko, tell him I'm forming a search party for his mother. I think I know where she is."

The older prince got the letter and was surprised. He was able to find her? Zuko couldn't get anywhere.

He wondered when Zuko would be back in Ba Sing Se and there he was, walking into his teashop.

"Zuko!"

"Uncle!"

The two men hugged. "When did you get back?"

"Yesterday, but I had to work and I was all dirty and needed a bath and …"

"Well it's good to see you now. Tell me of your travels."

Zuko told him about Kyoshi Island and Omashu and all of the small towns he visited from Omashu to Ba Sing Se. He also described his fights with bandits.

"Does the Blue Spirit live?"

"He's on hiatus."

Iroh had not that much to report. Once the city was up and running again, business got a good burst. Apparently, people found just sitting and enjoying a cup of tea very nice after all of the fighting and disruption to their lives. Iroh hadn't told Zuko of the letter at first because he knew his nephew would run out the door once he got the news.

"I got a letter from Sokka."

"Really, what did it say?"

"He's starting a search party to look for Ursa. He thinks he knows where she is!"

"WHAT? WHERE!"

"He thinks she's in her hometown Hira'a. He wanted to tell you, but he didn't know where you went."

"When are they going? I gotta go." Zuko was ready to run.

"Calm down for a second."

Zuko couldn't. "He really found her?"

"He thinks she did. He can't no for sure until he goes."

"Until we go. I gotta go with him."

Aang had also received his letter and read it to Toph.

"A search party, that sounds way better than training to be a queen. Let's go!"

She was excited to get dirty and possibly rough up some bad guys. Lo and Li offered to go with them, but Toph said, "NO! I mean no thank you. Why don't you take a vacation on Ember Island until I come back?"

"We'll be ready to resume your training."

"I know you will be," she grumbled. This vacation would be short-lived.

Zuko, Iroh, Toph and Aang flew to Captial City on Appa. The search for Ursa would begin soon.