In the middle of the night, minutes before the Team would've fallen to sleep, a hawk flew to the campsite, landing on Sokka's head.

"Okay," Sokka said. "Why is there a bird on my head?"

"It likes your ponytail." Shinji said dryly, taking the letter out of the hawk's backpack. "Hey, Zuko sent you a letter, Aang."

"What's it say?" Aang asked.

"That Azula broke out of the insane asylum." Shinji said. "Hm. Azula, his sister. Is that bad?"

"Duh. It's terrible! Don't you know anything?" Toph asked.

"I didn't keep up with current events when you were saving the Earth Kingdom." Shinji admitted.

"Why not?" Sokka asked.

"When you're dying and have no future, the future doesn't mean anything." Shinji said.

"You're depressing." Sokka moaned.

Shinji shrugged, and Aang grabbed the letter from his hand, reading it quickly.

"What are we going to do?" Aang asked.

"I don't even know who Azula is." Shinji said. "But I would like to learn firebending, because I have a feeling she's going to attack us."

"How?" Sokka asked.

"She's insane, and you seem worried." Shinji said. "And, if she asks anyone who is around you, they'll say I am."

"Are you sure you're not over thinking this?" Katara asked.

"The prepared survive." Shinji said.

"Coming from someone who was being killed by a plant..." Sokka muttered, then rolled to the side.

Shinji looked at him oddly. "What?"

"Oh. Right. Can't shoot fire at me." Sokka said. "So, we're going to Zuko's?"

Shinji nodded. "I would appreciate getting my firebending back. I hate not being able to..." Shinji noticed Sokka's glare. "Sorry."

"Oh yay, we get to sleep over at Zuko's!" Toph said. "I bet his palace has metal floors. I can't see out of them as well as normal rock floors."

"It might be fun." Shinji said.

"I swear I just heard Katara, not my boyfriend." Toph said.

"Hey, that did sound just like something Katara would say!" Sokka said, smiling.

"Boyfriend." Shinji smiled. "Does that mean I get to call you my girlfriend?"

Toph blushed brightly. "Um..."

"Silence is a yes." Shinji said, then "That sounded much too creepy."

"We'll head out tomorrow," Katara said. "Make sure to get some rest."

Shinji's smile withered when he heard a twig snap, and he whirled around, looking into the darkness.

"Who's there?" Shinji asked when, suddenly, a chunk of earth flew at his head. Toph barely grabbed it, keeping him from getting hit.

"What, are you blind?" Toph asked.

"Halfway." Shinji said, barely dodging another rock. He quickly measured the angle and grabbed Sokka's club, a replacement made after losing one of his other ones, and ran into the darkness, keeping low to the ground. A fist-sized rock flew at Shinji, and Shinji swung the club, smashing the rock.

"That's my club!" Sokka said.

"He's pretty good." Katara said.

Shinji jumped over another flying rock, noting that the hidden attacker was moving. Or, rather, running. Shinji ran to the right faster than he previously ran, smashing into the attacker and landing on top of him. Shinji put the club to his throat, or, rather, where he hoped his throat was, unable to see anything in the night. Shinji heard a choking sound, and he loosened his hold, not wanting to kill his attacker.

"Aang, give me some light." Shinji said once the others had found him. Aang held up a hand, surrounding it in fire.

"A girl?" Shinji asked, surprised. It was, in fact, an eleven-year-old girl. Shinji was so surprised that the girl was able to hit him with a rock, sending him flying back. Toph quickly knocked her out and ran to Shinji's side. Shinji, his lip busted and his nose bleeding, said "Ow." before blacking out.