Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar.

Chapter Thirty-Three; Move Out

"…and these are the schematics for their final defence. As you can see, they are in serious need of updating. But we all know Ba Sing Se has a policy of non-interference which, alas, seems to have crossed over to their internal policies as well."

The speaker looked around at the assembled commanders; ten or so division heads and just under forty squad leaders. His gaze rested briefly on the scarred firebender but he moved on quickly, disturbed by the expression on the young man's face. Bad memories, perhaps?

"Now, does everyone understand their tasks? Good. This meeting is adjourned. Kana, Li, I need to talk with you."

Katara and Zuko looked at one another and shrugged. An agitated murmur from some of the squad leaders started up, quickly silenced by a heated glare from Jet. He gave Katara and Zuko a sloppy salute, and herded the last stragglers out of the room.

"What do you need, Commander?"

The man sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He looked up at them tiredly.

"You know of the situation in Ba Sing Se?"

Katara nodded, spreading her eyes open with her fingers and putting on a sing-song voice.

"There is no war. There is no war."

She had an intense loathing for that place ever since the last two spies had returned convinced that the war didn't exist. They'd had to be corralled away from the other soldiers and each other after a passing comment had sent them into a near berserker-like rage. Further experimentation had shown that the words 'resistance' and 'rebellion' set them off. The injury count had been high, and even with her healing abilities, they had lost men.

"Yes. What I am about to tell you must not leave this room."

Katara and Zuko looked at each other, then back at him and nodded.

"It won't."

"Good." He paused for a moment, absentmindedly shuffling the scrolls on the table. "We have recently found that the king is not the one making the decisions. He is a mere figurehead. The one with all the power is the cultural minister, a man called Long Feng."

"What has this got to do with us?"

"I intend on telling the others soon, so that we can put a strike team together and sort it out. I am telling you now so you will know in case everything here goes under. We have been building up our forces, but we will need inside help if we are to win this war."

Abruptly, he stopped his incessant fiddling with the papers and looked at them with sharp green eyes.

"I need you to get the Avatar into the Fire Nation."

OoOoo

The walk back to their quarters was made in silence, neither one of them willing to speak. It wasn't until Zuko had shut and locked the door that they let their masks drop.

"Fuck," commented Zuko before he collapsed backwards onto the bed, bouncing slightly as he came to a halt. Katara joined him, propping her chin on her hands.

"I agree. But-"

"Yes?"

"We can't exactly back out now. They need us. I don't like it any more than you do, but we're the only ones with any chance of succeeding. We know how the Fire Nation works."

"Yeah, I guess." Zuko rolled over to face her, his nose almost touching hers.

"So…" he breathed. He began to reach towards her when she suddenly sat up, purposely not looking at him.

"We need to be serious. We've only got a week to think this through."

"I am being serious. You need a- distraction," purred Zuko, coming up behind her and pulling her backwards into his embrace.

OoOoo

Surprisingly enough, it wasn't Sokka who had the biggest objections towards travelling to the Fire Nation. Sure, at first he thought it was a very bad idea indeed, but he warmed up to it quickly when he realised that there were plenty of good points- such as beating up fire nation soldiers, realising Aang's destiny, beating up more fire nation soldiers, bringing balance to the world and… basically beating up fire nation soldiers. He spent several minutes extolling the virtues of the plan, until it ended up sounding like he was the one to think it up.

No, the one with the problem was Iroh.

He never actually said anything, but after many years of interpreting his cryptic comments and proverbs, Katara and Zuko knew when something was up. It was the evening before the day they were due to leave before they were finally able to corner him. He was in his room with an open rucksack on his bed, clothing strewn everywhere. He was holding two tunics up, and seemed to be deliberating between them when they walked in.

He dropped the clothing on the bed, and attempted a cheery grin, but it just came out flustered and unsure, so he stopped quickly. Katara frowned slightly, coming forwards and gesturing at the piles of clothing around the room.

"Iroh, aren't you ready? We're leaving tomorrow, and you haven't packed anything."

Iroh shrugged helplessly. "I know. It's just so hard to choose what to take. For all I know, I'll never see these things again."

This time it was Zuko's turn to frown. "Uncle, I've known you my whole life. You had tonnes of clutter on the boat, and you didn't mind all that much when it exploded. We've both noticed you're worried about something, and I can't believe it's just about what you want to take with you when we leave. What's the real problem?"

Iroh sighed and sat down heavily on the bed, artfully avoiding the piles of junk. He sighed again and rested his head in his hands briefly before looking back up at them. They sat down together as he began to speak.

"I am not entirely sure where to begin…

"The Fire Nation is my home. It always has been and always will be. The mountains, volcanoes, the beaches, the temples, the palace… The people as much as the places. It is my home, where my heart resides. Where my loyalty is.

"This may sound like the ramblings of an old man, but… I am afraid of what I could do. I no longer have Lu Ten to hold me back- and even with him I was ruthless. My near-conquer of Ba Sing Se shows me that. I- I am scared of the part in me that does not hold back, does not want to hold back."

There was silence at Iroh's confession. Zuko moved swiftly, kneeling in front of his uncle. Katara did the same, both of them taking one of his hands in theirs. Iroh smiled slightly at the unexpected gesture, squeezing their hands lightly. Zuko looked his uncle in the eye, his gaze unwavering as he spoke.

"We all have our demons to face. I am scared of the prince in me- that I will not be strong enough to withstand the lies my father and Azula will tell. I know those demons have been overcome and no longer trouble me, but their shadows still linger."

"I'm afraid too," said Katara. "There is so much that has been done already, but the things ahead are even bigger and more frightening. The Fire Nation is more my home than the Pole ever was; but there is so much that I cannot do there because of what I look like. I am scared of the little girl in me, the part that only wants to run away and hide." She dropped her gaze from Iroh's, absorbed in her own world for a moment. She looked up again suddenly, a wry smile on her face.

"But I have no doubt that we'll get through it. We always seem to."

Iroh sighed.

"But what if this time, it truly is too great a burden to bear?"

"Then we fail." Zuko's voice was harsh with the truth that none of them wanted, but all needed to hear. "But not this time. Sometime, yes, we may fail. But it will not be this time. Not as long as we have each other."

They held each other's hands tightly, buoyed by Zuko's words, drawing strength from each other.

Yes, someday they would fail. But, hopefully, that day was a long way off yet.

Sorry for the longish wait (again), but I'm making up for it with a longer-than-normal chapter.

aand the grand master plan is revealed! we're going to the fire nation, the fire nation, the fire nation...

On a different note, who else thinks that the new series of Avatar rocks? Sokka is just too funny XD