Hey guys, welcome back! We are going to pick up right where we left off in the last chapter, with Iroh and Bumi. What is Bumi's plot? Find out here. Enjoy!

"I want you to help me kill Ghul and make me King."

This was one of the last things Iroh expected to hear. "What?" he asked in surprise. "You want me to kill him?"

"No, I want you to help me kill him." Bumi corrected, smiling as if he had asked for something as innocent as helping garden instead of planning murder.

"Uh, thanks for the offer, I guess, but maybe you are asking the wrong person to help you." Iroh said. "I don't really have any power here."

Bumi scoffed at that. "You can't fool me, young Prince. You are smart, and resourceful, and your identity can give you power if you use it wisely. I am sure you will be plenty helpful when the time comes."

Iroh decided that he wouldn't get anywhere continuing that line of thought. "So why do you want to kill the king? And how would you take his place? Are you royal?"

"You've seen what the city is like. The people are starving. The police are cruel and evil men, on the king's payroll to maintain his iron fist. Thieves and murderers are common, and good men are leaving for dreams of a better city, not realizing that Ba Sing Se isn't much different. But it wasn't always like that here. Things were good under the previous king, Ghul's father. But his son was spoiled by his father, and Ghul became greedy and merciless as he grew older. That is one of the tougher things about being a parent, you see. You must find a middle ground. You can't give a child too much, or they turn out like Ghul, pampered and temperamental, so expectant and wanting. He doesn't know what it is like to earn something. But on the other hand, a parent can also-"

Iroh cut in. "They can also neglect their child and leave few, if any, connections."

Bumi nodded. "Exactly right. That can leave a wild card of a child. Many things could happen. They could become independent, able to care for themselves from an extremely early age. They can become resentful and untrusting. They can become weak, alone and desperate. And sometimes, but very rarely, they can accept it and become grateful that they are past it, understanding what their loneliness is and determined not to give that to their own child."

Iroh just nodded.

"But to get back to the subject, what was the other thing you asked me? Why would I be able to take his place? Well you see, Ghul happens to be my cousin."

"Interesting." Iroh commented. He had not guessed that Bumi was, like himself, of royal blood. Iroh felt a slight connection to him now.

"If I am able to kill him, then the throne is free and I am one of the prime candidates to take his place, along with a few relatives. But I don't consider most of them any threat, and the others shouldn't be too hard to draw in line."

"You really plan to do this, don't you?" Iroh asked. "Kill your cousin and become the ruler of this city."

Bumi sighed. "Yes, I do. I know that what I am planning is horrible. I will be killing my own cousin and potentially more. But you must understand, I have no wish to rule. I don't want to be bothered with all of those frivolous rules and duties. I am only doing this because I love this city. I was born here, I have lived here my entire life, and I need to protect it, whether the threat be from the outside or the inside. I'm not doing this not for the power to rule, but for the power to set things right."

"But is murder necessary?"

"Maybe. I'm hoping not, but I am ready to do what's necessary for the sake of Omashu."

Iroh pondered over this. "Do I have your word that if you become King that I am free to go?"

Bumi smiled his toothy grin. "Of course. I'm hoping this can be a long lasting friendship between us, actually. It's easier to work with your enemy when they happen to be your friends." Bumi held out a hand. "So do we have a deal?"

Iroh was both tempted and frightened by this. If he did this, he was putting his faith in this man, who had already proven to be quite crazy. Could he be trusted? And could his plan even succeed? There was no telling. But this was the only thing that had gone his way since he had been captured. It might be the only chance he got.

Hoping he wouldn't be regretting it, Iroh shook Bumi's hand.

"Good." The grizzled old man said. "Good."

Ozai had been following General Sha quietly, hoping that the more experienced tracker could lead him to where Iroh was so that Ozai could save him. So far it had gone well. He had kept a good ways back, moving from tree to tree to stay out of view in case the tall Firebender happened to turn around. It had been working for the past few hours, and he had only stepped on a few branches, so he felt that it was going very well.

"Father would have never expected me to make it this far." Ozai muttered smugly, slipping to another thick tree as he followed the figure in the distance.

As well as he had been doing, Ozai had to admit that this was pretty hard. It was dark, so he kept stepping on things and making noise. Thankfully, Sha didn't ever hear it. But the worst part was that Ozai wasn't the only thing making noise out here. Occasionally he'd hear a howl, or rustling, all sorts of things, and they had him scared to death. In fact, the only thing that didn't seem to make any noise was Sha. It was obvious how skilled he was at this, moving silently through the darkness with only his torch to protect him. But he never broke stride, never even paused to drink. He was a silent machine, gliding over the crinkly leaves like they weren't even there. Honestly, if Ozai wasn't within eyesight of that torch he was sure that he would be dead by now. Even the animals were scared of Sha.

Suddenly the General stopped. Ozai had taken a few steps before he realized, then froze. What was it? He dared not breathe in fear of giving away his presence.

"Ozai, come here." Sha called out. "You are going to want to see this."

Ozai was shocked. How had he known? Ozai had been quiet for the most part, and he had been super careful.

He sighed. It didn't really matter now how he had been caught, just that he had. It was such a shame that he had been found out. How would he save Iroh now? Sha would surely make him go back to the Fire Nation. Ozai meekly approached the powerful General, expecting a scolding.

"Look over there." Sha said without looking at Ozai, pointing. "Do you see it?"

"See what?" Ozai asked, squinting into the darkness above. It was near impossible to see anything at all. What did this have to do with disciplining him?

"Ahead of us. On the ground." Sha replied. "Go ahead and approach it if you need to."

Ozai hesitantly took a few steps forward. There were a bunch of dark shapes among the trees. It looked like rocks. Was this what he was supposed to see? What was so special about those?

Then he saw what Sha had wanted him to see. He gasped. "Th- There's a body!" He yelped.

Sha nodded. "Indeed it is. From what I can tell he was killed recently, and the boulders around him suggest that it was Earthbenders. But I have no idea why so many would be needed." He shrugged. "Just goes to show how dangerous it is out here. You should be careful out here, Ozai." With that said he started walking again, as though finding a body in the woods were just a vague surprise.

Ozai couldn't believe this. It was a kid, maybe just a few years older than himself. He was dead, with all sorts of bruises all over. Blood pooling out of his mouth. It made Ozai feel like he should vomit.

"Wait!" he said, hastily catching back up with Sha. "You aren't going to send me back?"

"You were not a part of my orders." Sha replied. "Just your brother. It makes no difference to me where the hell you are as long as you don't get in my way."

"So I can come with you?" Ozai asked hopefully. Maybe his mission to save Iroh was still on.

"Whatever you want to do." Sha said. Suddenly he stopped and turned to look at Ozai for the first time. He smiled, a strange look in his eye. "But I have to wonder how safe you really feel with me." He laughed, a chilling sound. "Not all of the beasts out here are animals."

Mylo knew she wasn't alone in the silent misery she had felt since Satsudi had left. Nile wasn't subtle in his anger, filling the void of noise with general insults towards Zarai and Satsudi, most of which were pointed towards his friend and based around cowardice. But every now and then he would run out of words and he would just look… lost. Afraid. Mylo knew exactly what he was feeling, because her friend's absence on their quest was hurting her as well. Even Fai seemed agitated, so unlike his usual aloof self. Only Jeong Jeong seemed unaffected by Satsudi abandoning them.

"I swear I'm going to kill him when we get back." Nile said harshly. "You with me, Mylo?"

"Yeah, I guess." Mylo answered, trying to ignore his words for the most part. She had her own feelings to sort through.

Why hadn't he said anything before? That might be what hurt the most. Not him leaving, but him never telling them how he felt. Why had he never trusted in them, never confided in them? They were his friends, yet he wanted to drown in his own misery. Who would choose that? Why would anyone ever choose that?

But then again, Mylo herself was keeping plenty of secrets, even from trusted friends. But still, she wished Satsudi had just said something. At least, before it was too late. But now he was gone.

Suddenly they heard a shout from Jeong Jeong up ahead. They all rushed to catch up, and found him at a clearing. No, not just a clearing. It was… a road.

"I think this is it." Jeong Jeong said. "The road to Omashu."

"You sure?" Nile asked. "It could easily be to any other city."

"What other city?" Jeong Jeong challenged. "There is nowhere else that this could lead."

"Chill, I'm just saying that you can't just assume that it's Omashu. I'm not saying you are wrong." Nile said.

"Either way, this has to be where they took Iroh." Mylo reasoned. "He is this way."

"So all we have to do is follow this road and we will find him." Nile said.

"And possibly hundreds of Earthbenders." Fai reminded them.

Nile rolled his eyes. "Great."

Mylo took a deep breath, then said, "We have our goal. We have our trail. Let's move out."

This chapter, was if anything, just a moving-characters-where-they-need-to-be kind of chapter, so sorry if it was somewhat boring to anyone. I enjoyed writing it because of the little character moments, but that's just me. Uh, I can't really think of much else to say, so I guess I'll see you next time. Be sure to fave and follow if you liked it, and leave a review with your thoughts (that's an order, not a suggestion. Do it!). Lastly, thanks for reading and be sure to join the dark side (we have cookies!)