Whoa. I'm past 21,000 hits already. It's crazy! Hope everybody is doing well in this boring time of January: although if anybody has a birthday in January, happy birthday!! So, on with the show. Thank you for all of the feedback on the last few chapters. It's great! Disclaimer; I don't own Avatar. As a matter of fact, I don't own much at all, so yeah. You know. Have fun.

Chapter 26

"Dad! Dad! Catch me!"

"Where are you-AH!" a man in his thirties turned sharply, in time to stretch out his sturdy arms and snatch the little boy who came hurtling from the branches of a well-groomed tree.

The boy was seized in giggles as he squirmed in his father's arms, trying to touch the ground and bolt. No luck! His father, who by the boy's estimate must have been the strongest man in the whole world, held him fast.

"Ah ah, Lu Ten. Now it's your turn to find me."

The boy turned and looked up into Iroh's face and smiled: Dad's dark hair was all pushed over to one side, and there were a few leaves in his beard. "But I just thought of a really really good spot!"

His father shrugged.

"Don't worry: I don't fit many places, you'll find me quickly. I'm very bad at hiding."

Lu Ten shook his head. "Nuh- uhhh. Mom says you're a master of disguise when you need to go to a banquet."

"Oh no…" Iroh looked Lu Ten in the eye, glancing around before whispering, "You didn't tell Mother about my disappearing-and-avoiding-people power, did you? I told you, that special ability is our secret."

Lu Ten whacked his father in the shoulder. "Dad, you're so goofy."

But of course, Dad was lots and lots of things besides. He was really brave, too. Sometimes not really even Dad. Lu Ten loved to listen in on the tales of his father's war victories, loved to swell with pride at his heritage, but sometimes…seeing Dad in his armor, in the war room, planning, sparring, it was like seeing a different person. Lu Ten, at his age, kept the two personalities separate.

Iroh disheveled his young son's hair playfully, finally setting him down. He realized, glancing up at the sun, that his father would be expecting him for a meeting.

"Now, we're not going to tell Mom about me letting you climb these trees, are we?"

Lu Ten cocked his head to one side. "Why not?"

Iroh looked up at the delicate tree and down again at his son, inspecting the damage to both the blossoms and his son's clothing. Neither were very noticeable, thank the spirits. "Because Mom doesn't like it when you go climbing around in the trees."

No, Kazah certainly did not. She behaved as though the boy were made of blown glass. Nothing quite on earth like a patient woman's temper.

"Dad?" Lu Ten asked, as Iroh took his son's hand and began to walk out of the garden.

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask Uncle Ozai to play with me?"

"Ah, he's busy." Ozai had just reached his seventeenth year, an occasional "playmate" and idol of Lu Ten, now preoccupied at all hours by Azulon's order.

"Oh. What's he doing?"

"He's training his firebending."

Lu Ten made a face, twisting his round little features. "Blah. Doesn't it ever get boring?"

"Oh no, learning is wonderful. Always."

"Yeah, but Uncle Ozai still can't play with me….can he show me what he learns?"

Lu Ten looked up imploringly at his father, up, up, up. So tall!

Iroh's happiness spilled over as he looked down into his son's face, a mixture of his wife's eyes and chin, Iroh's nose and hair, perhaps. The Fire Prince smiled back.

"I'll tell you what. If you pay attention in your studies with the scholar…"

"Who told you I wasn't paying…."

"Your mother, of course. But here's the deal: you do well, and you and I can start doing some firebending training for ourselves. Sound good?"

Lu Ten's face lit like a beacon, filled with wonder. Firebending? Like Dad? Like Ozai? He jumped up a bit and ran off, to find the scholar and learn whatever stuffy boring history he needed to. He would be a warrior!

Iroh looked after his son's retreating back, a smile still lighting his face. At that moment, his entire heart was full of that one little child, brimming with his laughter and his ways. How could he ever love another child as much? Iroh figured, then, that he couldn't: that sort of unconditional, complete love found a man only once in his lifetime, if at all.

But decades later, he watched a young man with a scar, a past that would have broken anyone else to pieces and a heart of gold, instruct and duel the boy that was to free the world. And as he listened to him, conversing with the waterbender who was his former enemy, thinking of how the boy had learned and changed, Iroh knew he had been wrong.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Jin had her head in her hands, still trying to steady herself and absorb the shock of yesterday. She had been fine for a while after Jet had exploded, about the firebender with the scar, the one masquerading as a refugee to "infiltrate the city." But looking down into her breakfast this morning, it had reminded her mundanely of her date. And she had broken.

Lee, a firebender. A firebender! A murderous, monstrous, cold-hearted firebender. And it made sense, despite her urgent wish for it not to. Anything but that, to unmask the boy who had made her blush so, who had made her heart speed itself. Who had kissed her, there by the fountain.

The fountain, whose lanterns had been lit within a few minutes after he had said huskily, almost a whisper, "Close your eyes…" Lee…

You know, that's probably not even his real name, Jin thought bitterly, rubbing tears from her eyes. She felt like a complete fool, there with Smellerbee sitting across from her, studying her. The girl, though trying, was rather unsympathetic.

"Sheesh, you're still leakin' everywhere? C'mon, it's not that bad." The little girl offered a handkerchief, which Jin buried her face in, inhaling its soft scent to calm herself. Why am I crying? I knew him for such a little while….

She couldn't explain it. But something had been hurt. Jin hated being lied to, more than almost anything else in the whole world.

She stopped her crying abruptly, as she heard footsteps coming into the room behind her.

"Bee, is she alright?" Jet said, raising an eyebrow. What was she carrying on about? Lee, that miserable firebender who had gotten him in trouble in the first place. Who had messed him up, in all his plans of starting over.

But he did feel bad for the girl, her hair un-plaited as she was crumpled up there. What had Lee been to her? But he thought he knew the answer, and it fueled his hatred more. Liar.

Jin dragged in a breath.

"Okay. Okay, I'm alright now. All better." She sniffled and stood, noticing that her dark hair was undone, pulling it back from her wet face. She sniffed again.

"Better? Really?" Smellerbee asked without wanting an answer.

Jin nodded, stepping out of the small room that served as the quarters for Smellerbee and herself, walking towards the tiny kitchen. This apartment was far too small for all of these people, even if Gen and Tao were staying somewhere else. Hiding out was never too comfortable.

"Do you want something to eat?" Jin asked, although she was already taking out things to start, moving with a sort of obsessive urgency.

Jet thought. "That would be fine."

Jin started the fire with a few strikes of the spark rocks, and placed the kettle over it. She looked over at Jet.

"So…" she sniffed one last time, trying to distract herself.

"So what?"

"What did you want to do?"

That was, of course, a difficult question to answer. What was he going to do? Not get arrested, that was what. And how was he to resist the Fire Nation, now that the troops had arrived here? He had had urges to simply give up many a time, as he had been trapped in that cell, but he needed to remind himself of who he was. He was a Freedom Fighter: freedom wasn't something that was going to just get handed to him.

Jet walked over to the grimy window, looking down into the street. There was a small, shrubby plant potted there, slumped over and withered. To Jin's bafflement, he tore off a leaf and its stem, placed it into his mouth, and chewed the end thoughtfully. His gaze was sort of distant; looking into the fire Jin was cooking over and going through his memory.

Outside, a battalion of armor-clad boots stormed past, red glinting in the sun. And Jet raised one sharp, angular eyebrow. He had hit something, and he allowed one of the first smiles he had worn in many weeks.

"You know, there was the very interesting guy in the cell across from us. Seems as though his men stabbed him in the back when the Fire Nation took over."

Jin turned to him, frowning, as she put a cup in front of him. "What about him?"

"Oh, he's a complete snake. Oily double-crosser. But you know the saying: any enemy of my enemy….."

……………………………………………………………………………………………...

"Well, what are we going to do?"

"What?" Katara asked, spooning the rice porridge into Sokka's bowl. He looked at it distastefully for a moment before digging in. Bland, but not as bad as it looked.

They had left the mountains behind them several days ago, now traveling over relatively flat forests and fields. More populated areas, really. A miracle someone hadn't spotted Appa yet. Maybe they had…

"What are we gonna do in the next city? I doubt we're going to have as much help as we did in the last one."

"Help?!" Toph and Suki both exclaimed in unison. Suki looked over at Toph, letting her finish the thought. Toph's face twisted.

"We got ratted out. We could have been killed: that's what happens when you trust people…" Toph's attention was turned to her own bowl as Katara served breakfast.

"Regardless, we need some kind of plan," Aang said, as he dipped into the porridge and scattered some spice on it.

"We don't know what the city is even like."

"Well, it's a port," Iroh broke in, having traveled very briefly there. Unfortunately, there were no old friends to call on in Katsu. "There'll be a lot more Fire Nation civilians living there. Big trading center, which means that foreigners aren't uncommon. We have that on our side, at least."

"What else?" Aang asked, leaning in to serve himself more. This was good stuff.

"There's a network of coal mines not far from it. Biggest mine in the entire Earth Kingdom: the ships restock their supply there."

"Coal? That close to the ocean?" Sokka asked.

"Yes."

Sokka, the idea man, kept brainstorming while trying to stomach the meal his sister had made. She got points for effort, lost a lot for the end product.

"The city is very crucial to the Fire Nation," Zuko spoke up.

It was the first time he had said anything all morning, and everyone was a bit surprised. It would take a while for them to get used to hearing Zuko's voice and not taking a fighting stance. "Keeps the resources close to home, a point to stop at before the ships head out into the open ocean."

"Ah, a valuable asset," Sokka thought out loud. Zuko glanced over at him.

"That's what I just said…" And he cut himself off on the verge of an insult. For some inexplicable (and highly unusual) reason, Zuko had ceased calling him "Buffoon". Maybe to reciprocate the dropping of "Scarface." Sokka wasn't sure, but he kept his train of thought moving.

"Dad said that the guy who runs the city is kind of a whack."

"Like we never meet those," Toph rolled her eyes and turned to where she sensed Iroh's mellow, full vibrations. "Know him?"

"Ah, I've heard of him. He's only recently come into power, within the past few years. Zian, as I recall. I wasn't aware that he was a "whack", as you say."

"As if Father would allow imbeciles to stay in power in such an important city," Zuko snorted. He turned his nose away from the foul-smelling, rough portion that lay hot in his bowl. He would rather starve.

"Well, you never know," Sokka shrugged. So how could they do the most damage to the Fire Nation at this place? Start with the facts: it was a big, important port where many of their ships resided. It was too good an opportunity to pass up, definitely.

And then he began to think. By now, all the troops that were going to Geming would have left by now: it wouldn't take a few weeks for the news to travel both ways, and the response would be immediate. He already knew that the Fire Witch had summoned forces into Ba Sing Se, so that was where another chunk of the army would be.

And suppose, just suppose, that the Fire Nation Navy in this corner of the world were to hit a… problem? It took a fair amount of coal for a ship to get even across from the Earth Kingdom to the Fire Nation. So what if there were no more coal?

"How big are the mines, did you say?"

"Huge. They go on for miles. It takes hundreds and hundreds of slaves just to work it."

"Slaves?"

Iroh nodded, looking saddened. "Yes. Human trafficking is another bloodline of Katsu's wealth."

Katara's jaw hardened as she frowned, and Aang felt another prick to his spirit. How many had been suffering in all the time he had been away? How long had they been asking for help and not receiving it? Not for much longer, he assured himself.

"I just thought of something," Sokka said, cracking his knuckles. Strange that he announced it so coolly.

Katara waited for Sokka to continue: he was on a roll recently, in his own way. Spirits, he could be smart sometimes. Why did he not think before he acted half of the time?

"Alright," Sokka huffed, gearing up for his speech. "These coal mines are real important, right?"

Katara nodded, as well as Aang. Toph appeared to be deep in her own thoughts.

"So the Fire Navy ships need constant fuel, right?"

"Pretty much, especially if you need to get somewhere fast," Iroh offered.

"Oh, but they're not going to go anywhere," Sokka smiled deviously.

"And why is that?" Suki prompted, smiling knowingly at him.

"I say we destroy the mines. All the ships there to fuel up will be immobilized, and they'll probably have to ask for backup of some kind. What do you think?"

"Destroy them, huh? How would we possibly do that?"

"Shhhhh! Haven't thought that far ahead yet."

"Well," Katara continued, "we would need a way to do it: I'm just saying."

"I'm thinking," Sokka grumbled. "I'm thinking. Gimme a break. It's your turn for ideas anyway."

"But even if we collapse the mining tunnels, couldn't the Fire Nation just bring in some earthbenders to fix it?" Toph asked, fiddling with her own rocks in the dirt. Boy, Meathead sure sounded excited. Too bad the plan was half-baked.

Yes, that was a problem.

"I wonder how many waterbenders the Fire Nation can get their hands on," Katara commented casually.

"Why?" Aang asked. Katara grinned.

"Remember when we were with Jet, how we pulled out the water from underground?"

Aang nodded, keeping his eyes fixed on her face and watching the emotions on it.

"So how about, Sokka, we flood them as well? I doubt the Fire Nation can ship in a load of waterbenders from the North Pole as easily."

"So you're saying…."

"Aang and I bend the underground water and flood the mines in some areas, and then we can blast all the entrances shut as it fills up. So once the earthbenders get through…."

"Hmm. Not a bad idea," Sokka commented thoughtfully.

"Better than the one we had before, which was to just go in there and snoop until we found something," Suki yawned, standing. It had been a very long night, but they needed to keep going if they wanted to reach Katsu by nightfall at least. They had a lot of work ahead of them, that was for sure.

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"General Ezar, so good to see you. It took you over a month, but you managed. " The cold voice came, echoing around the throne room. The man stiffened in fear for a moment, and reminded himself to bow, dropping his head as though fascinated by the marble floor.

He distinctly remembered being told, by those among his men who had met with Ozai's favored child before, to avoid the girl's eyes.

"I am at your service, princess. Forgive the delay. We were heading towards Omashu originally, and received the message. Accept my sincerest…" He said, trying to put the right tone on it. She cut him off.

"Spare the pleasantries: you don't want to be here any more than I do, so we should settle these affairs and be on our way."

The tone in her voice could have sliced flesh. Ezar winced, letting his eyes flicker up for just a second to see her there, in the Fire Nation colors once more, arms folded behind her. How could one so young have so much power? It astounded him.

"I am going to depart for the Fire Nation tomorrow. I have good reason to believe that the Avatar is going to move on our capitol in a month's time or so, when an eclipse is supposed to occur."

"An attack on the Fire Nation? Princess, do you not think that our services are more needed there?"

"Are you questioning me?" Steel. Pure, cold steel like a blade.

"No, not at all, Princess. I was just wondering."

"Very good. I need you to stay here and keep order in the city. We have tried for 100 years to obtain it; the price of your failure, I assure you, will be your untimely demise."

Ezar gave a curt nod, and a thought crossed his mind.

"And is your Prince brother going to accompany you?" True, he had not seen the boy since his arrival. All of the men feared Zuko far less, if at all. The princess made a strange sound in the back of her throat.

"My brother seems to have switched alliances, General. I can wish him a swift execution once he is captured along with the Avatar."

Ezar was in shock, but not as much as he was when he finally stood and got a look at the princess's ivory pale face. Ivory pale, with a lash of fire and burn tissue running down the side. She met his gaze and allowed him to look upon it for a moment.

Now, who could have possibly given her that?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Follow her" the water boy had demanded quietly, after the waterbender girl's footsteps faded and they watched her enter the city gates.

Sokka had been half-rabid, adamantly opposed to his little sister entering Katsu alone for any reason. Going to get maps of the terrain (so they could plot themselves correctly) and some Earth Kingdom clothing were far from good explanations. The clothing was for purposes of "blending in", she said. Just to stick out a little less. And Katara said that no one would look twice at a young woman shopping for things, if she could switch her Water Tribe clothing as soon as possible. She had wished them all well, and hurried off, joining inconspicuously with a large caravan of traders that were entering now. And her brother had shoved Aang and Zuko from behind and hissed something.

"What?" Zuko asked.

"Follow her. Stay as far back as possible and kill anybody who even looks at her wrong."

Aang agreed immediately, flicking open the glider and getting a few steps running start. He lifted noiselessly and vanished over the city wall, nearly impossible to spot in the dark sky. Zuko was less willing, and glared at Sokka.

"Why don't you?"

Sokka glared, and chose love of his sister over love of his pride, and a want to protect her over his dislike (but not quite utter hatred) of Zuko. He cleared his throat.

"Because you guys'll be a better match against a firebender, and two is better than one. Now will you go already? They're going to shut the gates."

"Go, Zuko," Iroh also whispered. Zuko muttered and darted forward, nothing more than a slip of a shadow as the last of the trading carts entered, and the massive gates shut behind them.

The city was rather unimpressive; much like any other city Zuko had ever been in. And there was the repeating memory, of sneaking around a city with the waterbender in the darkness. Hadn't he been here before?

He sighed and slipped into an alley, up the side of the apartment building like a spider, balancing on the ridgepole of the roof as he kept a keen eye on that bright spot of blue as she went into one of the shops. He scanned the skies for the airbender. Nothing. Balancing there, immune to the strong winds from the sea, his face nearly went into a smile. His days as the Blue Spirit would serve him well.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

And two hours later, he was very bored indeed. He had spotted the Avatar from across the street a handful of times as he sauntered along the rooftops, but only fleetingly.

Why had he allowed himself to be pushed into this? As had been clearly demonstrated many times before, the waterbender could take perfect care of herself. She did not require any assistance whatsoever, and Zuko was tempted many times to simply forget about it and leave her to her business. But then the slight chance of something actually happening rose up in him. Did he care? Why did he not just assume the Avatar would handle things? He wasn't sure, but he stayed on her trail.

She was a fair bit harder to spot, garbed in greens and browns, and he would occasionally lose sight of her for several blocks. But before any sort of anxiety could set in (and why would it?) he would sight the long braid again and continue this little chase.

Finally, with a bag slung over her shoulder, she made the turn to take her back out towards the gates, much to Zuko's relief. He was wondering much longer this would last.

He made a random observation about the way she walked, how large and unfeminine her stride was, taking strong and slightly bouncing steps, moving quickly as she could. Not the walk of a lady of the court, that was certain.

It was strange how little grace their was in her when she wasn't bending, but he supposed that that was just her lot. Better to be coordinated when someone was trying to kill you than when one was walking along on a shopping trip.

Lost in his thoughts, Zuko was surprised to hear a voice float up on the wind, followed by a reply.

"You there, girl, who are you?"

"Me? No one."

Zuko leaned over the edge of the roof and saw the men standing there, about two dozen armed escorts for the man who was at their center. He looked to be about middle age, rather short and strongly built, dark hair done up. He was wearing the strangest mashing of cultures Zuko had ever seen, all in colors that were terribly hard on the eyes, and a wry expression. One of the soldiers turned him.

"She won't say, Sir."

"Tell her that the Great King Zian demands it, if she wishes to keep her tongue," the man shrugged back. King Zian? The leader of this miserable city? Zuko's eyes flickered away from the scene to see the airbender touch down across the street, who gave him a little wave of acknowledgement and readied himself to spring.

Katara, not needing a secondary source, bowed slightly. "No, I would rather not. Now if you'll excuse me…." And she whipped hastily around to leave.

"How dare you turn your back on me, you little peasant brat! Arrest her, will you?" His tone was so lofty and snobbish that Zuko was amazed that he was taken seriously, and he watched with a bored expression as two of the larger members of the party stepped forward.

Ah, mistake number one.

THWAP!!

And they paid for their mistakes dearly, as he watched the girl pivot and strike the two hard in the face, the silver stream of water weaving about like a ribbon as it shot forward.

"Hey!" Another man cried out, pulling a sword and hefting it above his head. Mistake number two. A tight twist of her arm at the elbow, and the water made a spiral that hooked the sword from his grasp and sent it into a wall with a clang.

Unfortunately, the airbender did not find the whole thing nearly as amusing, and there was a strong current of air that blew the disarmed one off his feet. The rest stayed rooted as the boy dropped down to the waterbender's side.

"Aang?!!?" Katara exclaimed. "What are you doing?"

"Saving you, I think," he replied.

To his right came a large guy armed with a spear, which he locked into the monk's staff and kicked a blast of fire under the contesting weapons. Aang shouted wordlessly as he leapt to avoid it, but the man only cut a long swipe of flame through the air above Aang as well. Think of training, think of training….

Aang snatched the flame as it traveled a few inches from his head, turning and pushing it into a cyclone that enveloped the solider as he stumbled backwards, brushing the inferno away. Up on the rooftops, his teacher unconsciously nodded his approval.

And that was when Zuko heard a slight and ominous sound, the brush of an arrow's fletching trained on the boy's center back as the archer let it loose.

Shooting someone from behind? You should be ashamed to call yourself Fire Nation.

That was the last thing Zuko really thought of before the arrow exploded like a firecracker in mid-air, and the archer watched a shadow pull free of the others overhead and leap down among the King's Guard with a wail of steel being drawn.

Katara gaped as she saw Zuko as well. What, had everybody come with her? Did Sokka think she was that incompetent?

I'm gonna kill him for that, she growled inwardly. Another roar of fire came at her, from the man she was grappling with. These ones didn't seem your run-of –the mill soldiers: they knew what they were doing.

Katara dodged, calling water to her from a rain barrel to shield herself from the blaze, pushing the whole mass outwards with a grunt. The man held his ground and split it with a slice of fire, manipulated to mimic the shape of a sword. She looked over at Aang, and wasn't in time to see it happen.

The firebender Aang was dueling, one hand lashing out like a snake striking, jabbing the boy through his defenses in the right shoulder. Katara had seen that enough to know what it meant, and berated herself as she pushed through to get to him…

Of course. Why would Ty Lee be the only one who knows how to…

She watched the Avatar's right side slump, obviously to his shock, but he shifted his weight to his left, reached out with an angry expression and shot a flame out at the man…only to be jabbed in the forearm and have the left side fail him as well. What was going on?

The man, now with the limp boy at his feet who was glaring angrily up at him, snatched Aang up by the collar and drew a blade, pressing it to the child's throat.

"If I may have your attention!" he shouted. He already had Katara's, and when Zuko noticed he lowered his swords, dissolved the flame around him.

"Ah, this turned into quite an exciting night walk," the man who called himself Zian chuckled.

There was stillness in the less traveled street as the two sides regarded each other with baited breath.

"Whatever he says, don't listen to him!" Aang shouted at Katara, who was glancing from the man's cold face to Aang's wide-eyed and pleading one. She bit her lip.

"Now," the man said, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to arrest you three, by order of King Zian and the Fire Nation. And if either of you take one step astray, this one is going to take an unscheduled trip to the Spirit World."

Katara stared at the steel of the knife, desperately trying to think. She knew that the knife would move faster than her water could reach it, knew that the damage would be irreparable, and knew that she had to protect Aang at any cost.

And she let her water fall to the ground, spreading in a pool around her feet as she offered her wrists out for cuffing. The knife was still held to Aang's throat, and would remain there.

But what about Zuko?

Her heart plunged. Zuko's face was ambiguous in the matter, and a dread filled her throat. Had he really turned? This was so similar to the nightmare that had happened down in the caves in Ba Sing Se…Does his loyalty go that far? He could just strike them down now, he doesn't care about Aang or me, he just cares about revenge on his…..

Zuko gave Aang a quick look, gathering in his student's predicament. Katara shot him as meaningful a glance as possible, as the firebender managed to lock eyes with her and read something there.

And he too threw down his weapons.

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A/N: Oh, there we go. Boy, things never work out for these guys: in the show, too. How was that? I was sick today, home from school. And yes, I am crazy with the updating. What can I say? It's fun. I usually write late at night to fit in the time. See you in 27