Embers Chapter 36, an avatar: last airbender fanfic

Sitting quietly in a corner of Suzuran's bridge, Iroh sorted and checked lists and contingencies for their task. Part of him longed to be sneaking into the city himself, to play the proper hero and carry out his beloved over his shoulder, fireballs flying, gallantly declaiming his victory.

...Which would promptly earn him Amaya's snowballs down his spine, he had no doubt. Even if she did miss him as much as he did her.

Ah, well. He only hoped she would approve of the general as much as the tea-maker. And as a general, he knew where he needed to be. And it was not sneaking behind enemy lines, like younger and more impetuous souls. It was here; coordinating, listening, and granting the men calming smiles as supplies snaked down into the holds and Captain Donghai's acquaintances joined their plot.

After all, it wouldn't do to have their madness fail due to a lack of attention to detail.

Not quite madness, Iroh reflected. Though I pray Azula will think it is.

Under other circumstances, she'd be right. With the best will in the world, no Fire Nation commander could approach a lord of Earth and expect any fate better than an avalanche loosed upon his head.

But the Earth King knew his nephew, if in other guise. Knew Lee, and trusted him as Bosco's healer. At the very least, Kuei should allow him close enough to listen.

And Kuei should listen, Iroh reassured himself, nodding thanks as a crewman stopped just long enough to update him on the loading. Shirong's report said that the Earth King was informed of our plan. And thought it had merit.

Yet Iroh knew to his sorrow how rulers thought. And what they decided when a would-be ally was out of reach might change terribly when an enemy's blood seemed theirs for the taking.

If so... well. His nephew had faced the Avatar and survived. Zuko would do what he must, to win their people free.

He has the fire to lead, even when all the world seems mad. He has found a purpose worth fighting for. And he is your brother's son. If he has Ursa's kind heart, he has all of Sozin's will.

Which led to a somewhat lighter sigh, as Iroh wished, yet again, he were sneaking along behind Teruko. Kuei's face would be a wonder to behold. And he would miss it.

"Sir?" Seaman Saburo stopped before him; the weathered falconer's face uncertain, for once.

"Only a wish that I could be three places at once," Iroh smiled. "I had forgotten, these past six years, how frustrating a general's task can be. But it goes well enough, for now."

"I'll take your word for that." Saburo hesitated. "Sir. There's a problem."

A problem, Iroh thought wryly a few minutes later, entering a wardroom two levels down. Indeed. "Master Sergeant Yakume," he said mildly, eying the man and his Earth Kingdom companion as they stood in the midst of a half-dozen unhappy sailors turned guards. "It has been some time." He glanced aside at Captain Jee, who looked as sober and determined as Iroh had ever seen him. "Thank you, Captain. I will deal with this."

"Sir." Worry, concern, the ever-tightening pressure of time; all in a look.

"We have a promise to keep to Sergeant Aoi and his men," Iroh pointed out. "I believe the master sergeant will make that safer for all of us. For that alone, I owe him answers. In private." At Jee's reflexive stiffening, Iroh only smiled. "There is still much that needs to be done."

For a moment, Jee looked mutinous. Then sighed, and nodded the guards out. "Don't make me have to explain this, General." Bowing, he left, shutting and sealing the hatch behind him.

"Is he crazy?" the Guard captain burst out. "We could-"

"Die," Yakume said bluntly. "Two of us, locked in with the Dragon of the West? We're dead whenever he chooses." He straightened anyway. "I gave Captain Lu-shan my word I would protect him here."

"It will be honored," Iroh said graciously. "Though if you knew I was here, why bring Captain Lu-shan into peril?"

"He should know the clan who's stolen one of his own."

"Ah," Iroh said softly. "Huojin." He inclined his head to the captain. "The fault is mine. I was my nephew's teacher. And by my own training, I am... resistant, to another firebender's call. I did not realize how strong my nephew had become. Nor how willing he would be to defend those of Ba Sing Se, when he had known them but a short while."

"You're saying you made a good Guard turn traitor by accident?" Lu-shan's fists clenched, and there was a reckless light in his eyes.

"Huojin is no traitor," Iroh said sternly. "Even now he serves the people of your city, with the Earth King's will." I hope. "Fire Nation, yes; he was born so, even as we. But we are not your enemies." He let his gaze rest on Yakume. "Which is why you are here. Is it not?"

"How?" A choked word, as Yakume shuddered with anger and pain. "How could you betray the Fire Lord? Betray your people? You led us across the Earth Kingdom; you held the siege for six hundred days! And then, when we knew the earthbenders would kill us all, you broke it and led us out-"

"And to break that siege," Iroh cut across his words, "I broke my loyalty to Fire Lord Azulon."

Yakume blanched. Lu-shan looked swiftly between them, anger fading into uncertainty, and a certain wary curiosity.

"It was my father's will that Ba Sing Se be crushed," Iroh stated. "No matter the cost. That was his wish; those were his orders, in private, between us. I did not argue, not then. For I had a vision, granted by the spirits, of throwing down Ba Sing Se's walls and conquering it completely." He weighed Yakume in his gaze. "I knew, when I ordered the retreat, it would cost me my life. And perhaps more, to deny the spirits' vision. But with my son, my Lu Ten gone... I no longer cared. So I acted, as a general should, and chose to save my men." He smiled, sad and wry. "Imagine my surprise, days later, when I woke to find I had survived."

"But..." Yakume almost swayed, white with shock. "If those were the Fire Lord's orders..."

"I should have been executed?" Iroh finished for him. "Yes. Once word reached Azulon of my betrayal... I knew my father, and he was not a forgiving man. But events moved in my favor. While I knew my life was forfeit, I also knew the spirits had given me that vision of Ba Sing Se. So I chose to vanish, as well as I could, and devote what weeks I might escape my father's grasp to a spirit quest. To learn why." He laughed softly, not quite bitter. "And Azulon died, and my brother took the throne. And Ozai was never present when our father gave me personal commands. My brother considered me a failure, but not a traitor. So, when I had found the answers the spirits allowed me... I came home." He sighed. "And it was well I did. For I found my brother's wife, Lady Ursa, vanished. On the very night of Azulon's death. And none would say where, or why. And I found my nephew, terrified and alone. Mother gone; father swept up in the glory of being Fire Lord, favoring his dark dragon of a daughter as heir in all but name." Iroh let his eyes narrow, just a flicker of anger showing clear. "Ozai gave him into my keeping, Yakume. A failed heir, to a failed prince. The words were never spoken, but my brother has never needed words to hurt."

"But... the prince is a fire-healer," Yakume protested.

"A gift he perfected only in exile," Iroh said steadily. "A power that belongs to one no longer loyal to the Fire Lord. He survived, Yakume. As I survived." Iroh drew a breath. "Yet if the Fire Lord's forces capture him now, he will be executed. Because he is a healer."

"That's crazy," Lu-shan said in disbelief. "You're all crazy."

"No." Almost a whisper, but Yakume's voice was steady. "It makes sense. Oh, Agni..."

"To break one's loyalty, is to douse one's inner fire." Iroh watched them both. "A healer can feed that fire. Can nurture embers even against the chill of death, until the spirit rallies... or fails."

"Prince Zuko can save deserters." Yakume's eyes were grim.

Iroh nodded. "And once that becomes known, my brother will try to kill his son. Again."

"Again?" Yakume looked ghastly, as if the steel deck had shattered under him into an arctic sea, and he stood on the last icy ledge before the abyss.

"I am curious," Iroh mused, silk over steel. "Does everyone assume my nephew was in a training accident?"

"Don't answer that."

Iroh didn't move as Lu-shan stepped forward; only raised one gray brow, curious.

"I don't like him," the Guard captain growled, jerking his chin Yakume's way. "He doesn't like me, my men, or my city. But so far, he's kept his word. Which puts him way ahead of an oath-breaker and a traitor." Lu-shan's eyes narrowed. "Why should we believe anything you say?"

Iroh winced, but nodded. "You have lived under the Dai Li; you know how easy it is for leaders to shade the truth. Which is more than some folk in the Fire Nation have learned." He sighed. "Believe, or not. I ask only that you look at our actions, and judge them for yourself." He turned to Yakume. "You have always been a loyal soldier. I have no doubt, now that you have seen me, you will report my presence to your superiors. So we will have to hold you both here, until we are prepared." He paused. "If you would then see fit to take into your custody Sergeant Aoi and those others of the crew who would not follow Captain Jee, we will have fulfilled our obligation to good and loyal men, not to strand them amongst enemies. And you will have valuable intelligence... Forgive me, I will be blunt. You will have information that will distract Princess Azula from inquiring too deeply into the specifics of your visit here. I fear you will need that."

"Distract the princess?" Yakume said carefully.

The hairs on the back of Iroh's neck lifted. "Spirits. What has she done now?"

Lu-shan looked between them, and let out an exasperated breath. "It's not what she's done. It's what your boy's going to do. Challenge her to this - Agni whatsis, to win the city back. Which just means we get passed from one Fire Nation heir to the other, so why do you think any of us should even care..." The Guard trailed off, eyeing Iroh. "Only that's not the plan. Is it?"

"No, it is not," Iroh said simply. "If we are fortunate, none of us will meet Azula. Not myself, nor Prince Zuko, nor any of those refugees we are trying to save."

Yakume took a step back; jerked his gaze away, looking at Suzuran with fresh eyes. "You... you can't possibly mean..."

"Our people are more important than any orders," Iroh stated. "I am very proud of my nephew."

"But she's taken his place as heir!" Yakume protested. "He must challenge her!"

"No," Iroh said sharply. "She stands as the only heir, now. The spirits themselves have made it impossible for Prince Zuko to ever become Fire Lord."

"But-"

"Impossible," Iroh cut him off with a slash of a hand, face grim. "Speak with Sergeant Aoi, and you will understand. Admiral Zhao, in his arrogance and pride, set himself against the Moon. He wounded a great spirit, Yakume! And only through a valiant sacrifice was that damage healed. But it does not matter. One of the Fire Nation struck against the balance of the world. And Prince Zuko was there."

"He was cursed." Yakume shook his head slowly, wishing to deny it.

"The Moon herself has set her hand on my nephew, and she will not be shaken off," Iroh declared. "Princess Azula stands as heir. And as heir, she will execute traitors to the Fire Nation." He paused. "By my brother's decree, those who have fled our borders, who have hidden themselves, who wished nothing more than to live as honest citizens safe from the war... are traitors. All of them."

The wardroom seemed to chill. "Civilians," Lu-shan protested.

"It will not matter," Iroh said heavily.

"Guanyin's merciful veil, man - women and children!"

"It will not matter." Iroh stared him down. "Azula has sought her own brother's death since she was six. Do you think she will hesitate to slay other children? She will not."

Lu-shan recoiled. "And you mean to leave that as heir?"

"I intend," Iroh said with the driest irony, "to see what the Avatar chooses to do with her. It is, after all, the only choice the spirits have left me. Or would you have me slay my own brother and his daughter? If I could. I do not think I have the power." He shook his head. "Avatar Kyoshi inflicted the line of the Fire Lord upon our people. It will be her heir's choice if that will continue, and the world face Fire Lord Azula in her turn." He met Lu-shan's gaze, and let the man see deadly gold. "Or do you follow where the Fire Nation has led, and doubt the Avatar?"

Lu-shan glared at him like a porcupine-boar eyeing a rival, and shook his head. "If you've known she was a monster that long, you should have done something years ago."

"Yes," Iroh acknowledged. "I should have. I was proud, and blind, and believed our nation had the right to conquer the world. But even then, I should have." He gazed back. "What wisdom I have gained, cost me my only son. Pray the Earth King's does not cost Ba Sing Se more than it already has." He gestured toward the hatch. "Gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to Sergeant Aoi."

Time, Iroh thought as they warily moved. We have so little time.

Still. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying this. Mastery of details, mastery of men; the knife-sharp brightness of the world, as he tested himself against his enemy's cunning.

I wonder if Kuei is enjoying this as well?

Iroh grinned wryly, thinking of a night years ago, when he'd talked a shaking, bloodied teenager down. If his young nephew had nurtured any last illusions of the glory of war and battle, they had died in a port's back alleys. Kuei's first deaths had only been at his orders, not at his own hands, but... Probably not.

"I think I'm going to throw up," Kuei gulped.

Quietly, trying not to draw attention to himself, Shirong rippled the floor to nudge a wastebasket into convenient range near Bosco's paws. He could have done more for the Earth King, but Quan and Bon were already hovering over the young monarch. And...

The Earth King, Shirong thought, soul weary. Not my king.

Oma and Shu - I asked for help, but I didn't ask for this! I wanted to help our city. I wanted to help... Lee.

His would-be recruit. The young man who'd just walked out of this council room a few minutes ago, with a map and a slightly dazed look. Whom Shirong had trusted above all others, to do what was right.

The Fire Lord's son. Shirong winced. What do I do?

"I can only imagine." Quan's eyes were shadowed. "Conquest is one matter. Voluntarily relinquishing part of the kingdom - I can't feel the spirit of the land, and I feel queasy. Fire Nation, lodged on our doorstep. That's going to be a problem one of these days." He shrugged as Kuei frowned at him. "It's probably worth it now to disrupt the occupation here. But planting born killers by a temple of pacifists? I know no one's liked them since Chin's time, but... well. I can understand why you're upset."

Kuei looked at him for a long moment. Turned away enough to scratch behind Bosco's ears, and looked again.

A little less green, Shirong judged, catching a hint of a rueful smile on Kuei's face. Interesting.

"Agent Quan," Kuei said thoughtfully, "were you listening to the prince? Or me?"

Quan was silent. Bon hesitated, then shot Shirong a speaking look.

"He was," Shirong said ruefully, bowing to that silent plea for rescue. "And if he heard what I heard, he heard plenty of reasons why Prince Zuko's people are going to have their hands full now. But in ten years? Twenty? They could be a force to be reckoned with. Unless something else is going to keep them in check. And while the North Pole is close, the Northern Water Tribe tends not to leave it in large numbers." He paused. "Or at least, they don't now. I think."

"You don't know?" Bon asked, surprised.

"I may know a lot about the Fire Nation, but I haven't read much about the North," Shirong answered. Met glass-framed eyes again. "We don't all study history, your majesty. And there's a lot of history in your library." Shirong smiled wryly. "It's not only possible you know something we don't, it's likely."

"...Oh." Kuei looked chastised. Straightened his shoulders, and took a deep breath. "There's a saying I ran across, in a book from Avatar Yangchen's time. If you want to besiege a city, use waterbenders. If you want to hold it, use earthbenders. If you want to take it, use firebenders. If you want to destroy it..."

He didn't have to finish. Quan absorbed that, and frowned. "The stories say the air monks were peaceful people."

"Yes, they do," Kuei said wryly. "But I find it hard to believe the twenty-first Earth King would have agreed to support the Northern and Eastern Temples in perpetuity out of the goodness of his heart. Just because peaceful people asked him to." He scratched behind furry ears again, letting Bosco lean into his hand. "My ancestors may have been good, evil, or indifferent, but they were never charitable. I've read every agreement binding Ba Sing Se. I have to know what my people are bound to do." He ducked his head a little. "I tried to be a good king."

"Just keep trying, sir," Bon said plainly. "It's a tough job."

"It's a big job," Kuei said quietly. "A lot bigger than I thought." He sighed. "So. I've read agreements, and contracts, and pleas for mutual aid, and... Guanyin have mercy, I've read the terms drawn up when Ba Sing Se crushed an enemy." He paused, eyes troubled. "The words aren't all clear, but I'd swear that time, it was the twenty-first Earth King who got crushed."

Quan hesitated, obviously thinking twice before he spoke. "We watched Avatar Aang, your majesty. He's a very... peaceful person. Most of the time."

"You mean, when he's not brushing aside my army like matchsticks, collapsing parts of my palace, and accusing people I trust of treason?" Kuei said wryly. "By those standards, Princess Azula is a peaceful person. Most of the time." He shuddered.

Shirong cleared his throat. "Your majesty, I think you're both missing the point. The people in the temple today are not Air Nomads. They were Earth Kingdom, and they're now threatened by the Fire Nation. I don't think peaceful is going to be high on their list of priorities." He glanced at Quan. "I've seen firebenders heal. How can I not believe some airbenders could kill? No matter how peaceful most of them might be."

"Pushed to their limits," Quan began.

"We're all pushed there, now." Kuei waved at one of the scrolls on the council room table, that had slipped out from under the various maps and documents he'd used to deal with Zuko. "Look at that report, Agent Quan. Look at it. Our people, dead because of - because of my orders." He swallowed dryly. "I knew it was going to happen. I knew it. But to see it-" He cut himself off. "But I haven't really seen it, have I? You have to get me up to the surface."

"Your majesty," Quan shook his head, "it's not safe-"

"I have to know!" Kuei gripped the scroll, knuckles white. "I was safe in the palace, Agent Quan! While my people were hurt, and dying, and - and worse." He gulped. "No one is to learn mindbending. Do you understand me? No Dai Li is to do this ever again!"

Almost, Quan bowed. Clenched his teeth, and stood, wavering. "Your majesty. Someone has to know."

"There's no reason to ever-"

"It's been invented once, it can be invented again," Shirong cut in. "I'd listen."

Quan nodded curtly. "If someone else learns to bend minds, someone has to be able to recognize it. For your safety, sir. For the world's safety. If you want us to hold it secret, we will. If you want us to never use it again - that is your order, and we will obey. But someone has to know."

Kuei took a deep breath. Eyed his head Dai Li. "We're going to talk about this, later."

By which he obviously meant argue. But Quan bowed. "I am at your disposal, your majesty."

"Then you can find a way to let me see what happened to my people," Kuei shot back. "I don't care if it's dangerous. I need to know."

"Prince Zuko's plan-"

"Might create the best time," Shirong said thoughtfully. "The princess should be very distracted."

Kuei blinked. "They're planning to avoid her."

"I know they are," Shirong said sadly. "Spirit-wounds, your majesty. Lee- Prince Zuko is just as deeply marked as I am. General Iroh is of Sozin's line. Min Wen was dragged through solid rock by a palace specter. And his mother, and Lady Mai, and every Fire Nation refugee who's fled the war, is disobeying the Fire Lord, and so disobeying Avatar Kyoshi." He glanced aside, unwilling to let pain show. "It's a good plan. A smart plan. And for anyone else, it would work like a charm. But they'll be leaving Ba Sing Se and the Dai Li's protection. Which means they'll be drawing malice like flies to rotted meat." He winced. "Lee and Amaya are strong. They know spirits. But-" He cut himself off, aware he'd already said too much.

Silence. Bon looked bewildered; Quan, dubious. But Kuei sighed, and nudged his glasses up with a smile, as if finally admitting something he'd seen all along. "Then it's a good thing there's an expert in hostile spirits going with them."

"There is?" Shirong looked up, relieved. And oddly sad. "Who? I looked over the lists of those evacuating, but I was mostly concerned with the scrolls..." And why were they all looking at him?

"I have read about yāorén, Agent Shirong," Kuei said ruefully. "You need to train in fire, or someone's going to get hurt. And the only firebenders who've offered the Earth Kingdom aid, the only ones I'd trust with one of my Dai Li, are leaving." He smiled a little. "I know you all think I need to be protected. And I guess I do. But I also need to keep an eye on a great name. If I order you, will you go?"

He couldn't speak past the sudden lump of hope. Wordless, Shirong dropped to his knees.

"Get up, Agent Shirong," Kuei smiled. "Your family's waiting for you."

Dragon's eyes, Tingzhe thought, watching that uncanny pale gold blink as Amaya took her hand away from the prince's head. Meixiang, beloved, I could have lived forever without knowing that.

Hard enough to know his wife was of another nation. Though he'd grown to accept that, and cherish it, leaning on her strengths to complement his own. But to know part of her heritage, his children's ancestry, simply wasn't human...

Kneeling as she helped the younger children pack up the last of their household supplies, Meixiang smiled at him.

Tingzhe had to smile back, even as the packing reminded him that Luli and her family were doing the same just next door. As were countless other families, raising an odd murmur like waves against stone that made him want to shiver with the knowledge of time slipping away.

But he set that twinge of fear aside, rolling his eyes slightly toward Zuko's side of the room. Where Lieutenant Teruko was watching Mai like a cat at a weevil-rat hole, Mai was not quite glaring right back, and Min was trying not to look too hard at either of them, for fear of starting a second war.

Meixiang hid a giggle behind her hand, cinching down ties on the light wood chest. "So how did he get that water out of his eyes, Amaya?"

"Kind of by accident?" Zuko said awkwardly. "I was... sick."

Loyalty sickness. In a firebender. Tingzhe murmured a silent prayer. Just surviving, the young prince had likely used up every last bit of goodwill any spirit had felt for him, ever. And then some.

"And when I woke up the next morning... it was just gone," Zuko shrugged.

"You don't seem to have done yourself any harm," Amaya judged. "This time." She gave him a look askance. "But I would sleep easier if you never caught another lightning bolt."

"Makes three of us," Zuko muttered. "At least I did it right." He frowned. "So there's nothing wrong in my head?"

"Physically, no," the waterbender said levelly.

Zuko winced. "So there is something."

"I've never touched a spirit the Avatar has touched. I can't swear it was Yangchen." Amaya looked sober. "But something did try to interfere with you. Tried," she emphasized, as Zuko grimaced. "You threw it off."

"Are you sure?" Desperation flickered in pale gold. "If it was just me - Agni, I'm used to spirits going after me. But you're all depending on me. I have to have a clear head." Zuko swallowed dryly. "And I keep remembering things I can't know."

Mai's head snapped up, alarmed. Swung toward Teruko, dark gold narrowing. "What do you know?"

Caught, the marine glanced over suddenly unfriendly faces. She drew a deep breath, and sighed. "Sir, it's complicated. And you're right; you need to keep your head, and focus on getting us out of here." She chewed her lip. "There's a reason you know what you know. A good one. Maybe Yangchen poked the right place to wake it up. Maybe you just got desperate. But what you remember, sir? It's true. And it's not from Yangchen."

"Then what is it from, Lieutenant?" Amaya's voice was cool, and her hand hovered near her waterskin.

"Complicated, ma'am," Teruko said steadily. "But General Iroh knows." She looked at Zuko. "And Toph knows."

Some of the tension eased out of Zuko's shoulders. "Toph knows?"

"She had that scary little smirk on her face," Teruko confirmed. "She promised she wouldn't mention it, sir."

Amaya glanced at them both, and laughed softly. "You trust her, and Iroh trusts her. I have to talk to this girl."

"Tough as mountains, and sharp as a Piandao sword," Teruko said firmly. "Sokka's not bad, either. If the Avatar's still alive after whatever the Water Tribe fleet's planning, I'd lay odds it's because of them."

"What they're planning?" Tingzhe frowned.

"Katara was carrying plans from the Earth King's generals when I caught her," Zuko told him. "I didn't see them again after I woke up on the beach. Maybe she hung onto them, and gave them to Chief Hakoda. Or..." He shook his head. "Not our problem. Not now. Are you ready? I didn't mean to slow anyone down."

"It's just as well you did." Shirong wove through the standing stone screens, a pack over his shoulder and a tentative smile on his face. "I'd hate to miss the train."

"You're coming?" Min blurted out. "I mean, you should come, you're family - spirits, that's weird - I mean-" Crimson, he searched for words.

"It is going to take some getting used to," Shirong admitted, green eyes alight with humor. "Don't think it will make your lessons any easier. And there will be a lot of them. That specter dragged you half out of the mortal world to pull off that little miracle of hers. Either you train to fight spirits, or you resign yourself to a very short, very unlucky life." He glanced at Tingzhe, just for an instant.

The archaeologist sighed, but nodded. "It's not the life I would have chosen for you," he said plainly, meeting his son's gaze. "But if the two of you can return the Dai Li to what they used to be, and defend our people - I am proud of you."

"Dad." For a moment, Min looked as if he'd step over for a hug. But he rested a hand on Mai's arm instead, careful not to grip anywhere that would impede the flow of knives. "This isn't exactly proper, we don't have a go-between, and we don't really have time- um." He swallowed dryly. "Dad? This is Mai."

"Oh, good luck," Zuko muttered. And clapped a hand to his own face, reddening, as Mai glared at him.

"Really, young man," Meixiang chuckled, standing and dusting her hands off. "What a horrible thing to say about your cousins!"

Tingzhe blinked. Min choked. Jia and Suyin clapped their hands over Jinhai's eyes and ears, staring. And Mai... smirked.

"Cousins?" Zuko yelped.

"Third degree, fraternal," Mai stated, cool as if she were bored. Only the light in her eyes revealed how much she was enjoying watching the prince squirm. "Meixiang quizzed me up and down my family tree until we were both sure."

"Fraternal?" Breath left Zuko's lungs in a rush of relief. "Thank Agni."

"Third degree, I understand," Tingzhe put in, as Jia and Suyin let go of their squirming younger brother. The nobles and merchant clans of Ba Sing Se might marry far closer, after all; and it was rumored some of the desert tribes considered half-siblings a most acceptable match. "But why fraternal?"

"Dragon's blood," Teruko stated. "Sisters' children marrying can be a bad mix. Fraternal works. Third degree is even better." She frowned. "May I ask the ancestry, ma'am? I thought I knew all Byakko's branches."

"We're not of Byakko." Meixiang smiled. "That spirit came to you, Min, because she knew you had the power to help her manifest. That connection to the spirits skipped my generation, but with your father's blood... you have it." She nodded, decided. "My great-grandfather was Fire Sage Gyokuro, brother of Ilah and Momiji. Son of Ta Min, and Avatar Roku."

Zuko turned dead white.

No, no, can't be-

"Breathe, young one." Cool hands against his temples; a familiar, trusted voice murmuring in his ear. "Zuko. Lee. Breathe."

Lee. He clung to that like an anchor in a hurricane. Lee was Water Tribe, was Foggy Swamp; far from noble machinations and the ravages of war. Lee wouldn't care who'd been born of what clan. Not when they were all his people, and in danger.

The evacuation. Azula. Focus!

Breathe. Hold. Out. Repeat.

It felt like an eternity, but eventually he was able to focus on worried blue.

Agni. I hurt.

"You didn't know," Amaya realized, one hand still on his shoulder as she eased back a little to give him air. "Your people are obsessed with family trees. How could you not know?" She rounded on Mai, eyes flashing. "You knew."

"I knew about Momiji," Mai protested. "I knew she was Ta Min's and Avatar Roku's daughter. Adopted out, because she wasn't a firebender. Half the court knew. No one said she had siblings! I didn't know Roku had any other children. Not until Zuko told me General Iroh tracked down Ilah's mother." She glanced at Zuko, and blanched.

Uncle knew. And he didn't tell me. "I have to go burn something down now," Zuko said, very calmly.

At least, he thought it was calm. From the way Teruko and Shirong grabbed his shoulders, and the slash of water whipping about Amaya's hands, they somehow didn't hear it that way.

Could break loose. Don't want to hurt them. Maybe if I just explain? "I really have to," Zuko told them. "Sozin's fault. Probably. But Uncle should have said." Didn't seem to be getting through. "Above Ilah. The tree's blank."

"It's true," Mai said warily, hands full of steel. "Fire Lady Ilah, wife of Fire Lord Azulon. The record ends there." She swallowed. "I always thought it was a boast. Part of the Fire Lords' power. Sozin's line is so powerful, they can choose a wandering firebender for a bride, and never stoop to admit her clan."

"But Uncle knew," Zuko insisted, feeling that fierce clarity seeping away into a gulf of pain. "He found Ta Min. In the records. He knew."

"I suppose he didn't think you'd take it well," Shirong said dryly.

Zuko gave him a look. I have heard some inane things in my life, but that crosses into tarred-and-set-on-fire territory.

"Obviously," Shirong muttered to himself. "Easy. Easy, now. I know you probably blame Roku as much as Sozin for this whole idiotic mess-" He stopped. And winced. "Ah. Yes. I imagine if I had someone whom I considered a congenital idiot in my family tree, I'd want to break a few things myself."

Yes! Zuko thought, thrumming with fury against the hands holding him. Yes, exactly, now if you'd just let go so I can-

Hands holding him. Shirong's, and Lieutenant Teruko's.

Where I lead, she will follow.

I can't dishonor that trust. I can't.

Gritting his teeth, Zuko reached for Lee, pulling water's tribe around him as a shield against the pain of knowing yet another soul he'd trusted had lied.

A boy from the Foggy Swamp wouldn't care about family trees. Wouldn't feel that soul-deep agony of knowing he'd shown disrespect to an ancestor spirit. No matter how much that ancestor deserved it. Lee knew that these people were his tribe; that Uncle, lies of omission or not, was his tribe. And that Roku was not.

He sagged, trying not to just lean against their hands. "You should take over, Lieutenant," he got out. "I'm... not in good shape to command, right now."

"If you were that bad off, you wouldn't be able to talk, sir." Teruko let go. "There's a reason Lady Kotone lets your grandfather handle the idiots she doesn't want alive anymore. He's good at it. But he can keep his temper when he has to. So I know you can, too." She gave him a wicked grin. "I promise, after we get out of here, I'll help Sergeant Kyo's squad pin the general down so you can yell at him."

Oh. Zuko blinked, trying not to giggle hysterically. He didn't think he'd be able to stop. "That's the nicest thing anybody's said to me all day." He blinked again, dragging the pain and all-encompassing white in sight and hearing down enough to think. "Plan. Train. We were going to grab one at night, in the first plan. Now it's day, we figured out a way to still do it but with everything that happened last night there's going to be patrols everywhere..."

Tingzhe frowned. "Should we wait until nightfall?"

"No. Have to move," Zuko said shortly. "Azula's alive, she's smart, and she doesn't just assume things are going fine. She checks. We don't have enough people to fight our way out. If we try, a lot of our people will get killed. We have to move. A good plan violently executed now-"

"-Is better than a perfect plan later," Shirong nodded. "I always did like General Katsu's treatises. Pithy man." He smirked. "As for getting everyone to the train in one piece... I have an idea."

"You're really worried," Ty Lee observed.

Surveying the palace grounds from this bone-breaking height, hands clasped neatly behind her back, Azula tilted her head just enough to watch Ty Lee turn easy cartwheels along the balcony railing. All the fearlessness of air, bouncing back from the morning's terror with a smile as wind ruffled her pink outfit.

Fearless, impulsive, and detached from the world in ways that just weren't healthy, Azula mused. But not stupid. Ty Lee knew what she wanted, from the circus to fighting the cutest guys among their enemies, and arranged her life to get it.

Not stupid, Azula decided. Simply... alien.

"Is it Agent Chan's report?" Ty Lee pushed herself up on her fingertips; grinning, delighted, as a sudden gust of wind made her work to keep her balance.

"Yes, and no," Azula said thoughtfully. Why not bounce her ideas off Ty Lee? The girl had no current reason for treachery, and a sideways viewpoint might be just what she needed. "The Dai Li's reports are part of a puzzle. Or should I say, parts of several, possibly unrelated puzzles."

"Ooo!" Ty Lee twisted, hands now flat on the railing and feet over her head as she looked up. "You mean, like someone dropped three sets of shell-matching games all together?"

Not stupid at all, Azula nodded to herself. "Precisely. In New Ozai, the Earth Kingdom resistance was able to pull off a mass evacuation, and seriously set back our hunt for the Avatar. Yet they had weeks to organize and prepare. Here, we see even more damage, but whoever has Kuei could only have had a few days to plan. No one organizes frightened civilians and stray military forces together that quickly."

"Not even us?" Ty Lee's brows went up in honest curiosity.

Damn. That was a good point. One she must have missed while she'd had a bruised brain. "You're right," Azula admitted. "Just because they're traitors, doesn't mean they're not of our blood. Fire Nation civilians could do it. If they had a lord to rally behind." She paced the balcony slowly, thinking it through. "No great name could have survived fleeing here, but they have had someone to act as a focus. Water can pull almost as well as fire. I doubt she could lead them, but if she had the intelligence to simply say we need sabotage, and stepped out of the way to let them deal with whoever has Kuei... yes. That would work." Another slow circuit. "If she's been hiding them for years, that could also explain her connection to Brush-maker Tu's organization." Who'd left them a deserted shop and bewildered neighbors; she'd had to have men tear the place literally apart before they found the wood-lined escape tunnel. Even then it'd dead-ended in a natural stone grotto under the city, with no trace left to lead them further. "So we know two of our players."

Ty Lee frowned. "Tu's not with Amaya?"

"No." Azula weighed fact and intuition in her mind. "No, whatever Tu's part of, it's organized. And has been for some time. He had code words, hidden compartments, escape routes. Organized espionage. The waterbender's preparations weren't hidden. They simply didn't look like everything they were." What was it Quan had said about Zuko? He'd hidden in plain sight, by looking like just what he was: a desperate refugee. He just hadn't shown everything he was.

Not a plan. A gamble. An improvisation.

No wonder he'd had no trouble passing as Amaya's apprentice. The waterbender must have been improvising for decades.

"Two different operational procedures," Azula concluded. "Two different organizations. One, Water and Fire. The other... probably Earth. There's no love lost in this city for the Dai Li." She looked down at a topiary bear far below, briefly considering what it would look like on fire.

Lovely. But this is no time to indulge myself.

There were still too many unanswered questions. Two loosely allied covert groups could have made last night's mess in Ba Sing Se. And yet...

Three sets, Ty Lee had said. And while the acrobat might have a fluffy grasp on facts, her intuition could shame a general.

Tu's group seemed dug in to watch and vanish; a network of spies, more than anything else. Amaya's traitors had been hiding as ordinary citizens, but they were Fire. Once Mai needed aid to rescue her half-blooded crush, they'd have provided the drive needed to spur stolid Earth into action.

But some of that action didn't make sense. Why steal the royal library? Never mind the reason Agent Chan had given about the Earth King's reading habits; that library was information, pure and simple, and somehow valuable enough for Shirong's rogue band to risk their lives to grab it. For that matter, why steal half a dozen of the other things that had vanished in last night's fires? Weapons, yes, that made sense; but farming tools? Stocks of seasoned hardwood? Ingots of copper and iron? The list went on, and why anyone would risk a good diversion for such plebian supplies-

Suzuran is a supply ship.

Captained by Jee. Who had served Zuko with Iroh.

And if Iroh had already outlived treachery at the North Pole, he would have survived where Zuko perished.

For a moment, she didn't dare breathe. It was like turning a kaleidoscope; suddenly all the stray elements that looked like chaos fit. Beautifully.

"We're caught in one of my uncle's plans," Azula murmured. Slowly, ruthlessly, smiled. "To the train station. We haven't a minute to waste."

"General Iroh's here?" Wide-eyed, Ty Lee flipped off the railing to stand.

"Yes. Yes, I think he is." Azula indulged in a smirk. "We should say hello."

"Captain!" Saburo stopped just inside the bridge hatch, weathered face creased with worry. "Hawks are moving. Palace toward the Army encampment, and heading for the port. Kei and a few of the men are watching, but..."

"There's a limit to what we can see from here." Jee felt a cold chill down his spine, but nodded. "Thank you, Seaman." He glanced at the general. "Sir?"

"I suspect Princess Azula has finished breakfast," General Iroh said dryly. "Most likely, we are discovered."

Jee felt for where the sun was, and gave the general a troubled look. "Sir. Even if the prince is on schedule..."

"Azula's forces will reach us before he can." Iroh stared into the distance, quiet and grim. "Pass the order to begin casting off."

Meaning sailed vessels would go first, to clear each other's way. Suzuran could move no matter the wind, and outrace them all, a lion-dog to guard the koala-sheep. So they would wait. Even so... "Sir. The time."

"My nephew will find a way to reach us," Iroh said soberly. "He must. He cannot go to ground again. Azula has lost a prize she meant to lure in our people to their own destruction. To civilians, and a healer. She will have Ba Sing Se torn up stone by stone to find them. If these ships are taken, we lose our best chance of escape."

"Sir." Jee stood straight. He should carry out the general's order immediately. He should. "If it were only him and Lieutenant Teruko - of course they could make it. But thousands of civilians... and he may not even know anything's wrong."

"Oh, he will," General Iroh said dryly. Gestured toward the harbor. "Our beacon will be unmistakable."

"Don't tug on it," Shirong chuckled, just loud enough to be heard over the clink and clack of yet another train-car of supplies rolling out of their warehouse to link up to the passenger cars. Hopefully, no one would care that far more cars were coming out than could be fit into the building; cars generally had to be lifted by earthbenders up to rail level anyway, so it wasn't unusual for canny Ba Sing Se merchants to move whole shipments of goods underground to get a jump on their competitors. "Leave it alone. You'll ruin all the ladies' hard work."

Zuko scowled, but snatched his hand away from the emerald-tied braid irritating the back of his neck. He wasn't quite sure how Meixiang and her daughters had managed to pin and weave it into his own hair, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know. He definitely could have lived the rest of his life without hearing Min giggle at the results. And as for that wicked gleam in Amaya's eyes as she added her own touch to the indignity...

I'm doomed.

Even if he managed to rip it all out before he got on Suzuran - better yet, burn it all out - he still wouldn't be able to head off Uncle's teasing. Lieutenant Teruko might keep loyally silent, no matter how annoyed she was at temporarily yielding her bodyguard position to Shirong, but Amaya would tell Uncle everything.

The universe hates me.

But Shirong's plan just might work, damn it. So the city was up in arms, with Dai Li and Fire Nation soldiers inspecting every train? Then there would be Dai Li and soldiers inspecting this train. Theirs.

"Everyone knows I won't work with a partner," Shirong had said bluntly, bringing out the uniform with an amused flourish. "So if they see a pair of Dai Li, and they don't see Min, they'll know it's not me."

"I'm not an earthbender," Zuko had protested, as Jia let out an ominous squeal and dove for her beauty supplies.

"No. But you move more like a Dai Li than most earthbenders," Shirong had stated. "If we put someone in uniform who's likely to fall off a roof, who even acts like they're afraid of falling - the game's over right there." He'd grinned. "Given what I've seen you do with ice - what do you think you can do with wet sand?"

Not as much as he'd like. Not without more time to practice, at least. But he just had to look like he was wearing earth gloves. If anyone got suspicious enough to check closer, the game was up anyway.

Not a game.

A game wouldn't terrify him like this. So much could go wrong. So much already had; getting civilians moving wasn't anywhere near as fast as moving troops. And though he'd known that, he'd planned for it-

We're late.

They could push the train faster to make up the time. If they didn't mind attracting every hostile eye in miles. And what earthbenders could do to a train with just a little warning... it wasn't a pleasant thought.

Though that was easier to think about than the memory of screams still ringing in his ears. Children didn't understand risking your life for your people. Children didn't understand war, and choosing lords, and why families who'd always been there were suddenly splitting apart.

Amaya and the herb-healers who were coming had had to dose some of the little ones. Particularly one young girl who'd just turned up in a train car at the last minute, with no parents in sight.

Agni, please let them be on this train. Somewhere.

Much, much easier to go over the obstacles again in his head. Getting out of this train yard; a massive stone edifice where Ba Sing Se's various low-class trains staged, before rumbling onto the sky-high web of stone tracks across the city. Getting across the massive expanse of land between here in the Outer Ring and the harbor itself. Getting past the guards on what was left of the Wall. Unloading at the harbor... spirits, that was going to blow their cover right there. At least all the cars were mostly made of stone, roofed with wood and clay to lighten the weight a bit. If they were quick, their earthbenders could just move whole cars onto various ships-

And the car he was checking suddenly exploded in yells, a spear punching out a window's paper screen in a rush of green flames, blue-green fire impaled on its point.

Hinotama!

Another fiery ball floated out from under the car, followed close by three more.

...So much for being inconspicuous.

After everything else she'd seen these past few days, a pair of Dai Li fighting spirit-flames by a train car warehouse barely made Azula blink.

"Ouch," Ty Lee winced, as one of the agents went down, then slapped a hand on the platform that shot barbed stalagmites up to pierce a glowing fireball.

"I see someone didn't handle a suspicious death or four well." Azula eyed the remaining globes as they seemed to halt and hover a moment, then dove back into the train car. The Dai Li's partner didn't even waste time swearing; just leapt through the burning window after them, murder evident in every line of his uniform.

"Odd place for them," Azula mused, as a horrendous racket broke out inside the car. Usually the creatures lurked by swamps, the better to lure in victims to drown. "How would they lead someone astray here... ah." She looked off the raised stone embarkation platform toward the elevated tracks, and the bone-crushing height between them and the farmlands. Distract the earthbenders guiding the train, and the resulting crash would yield enough dying souls to snack on.

Filthy beasts.

"Maybe we should help," Ty Lee said, troubled.

"We have a general to stop," Azula said levelly, heading to the passengers' platform and the occupation forces charged with inspecting the trains. At the foot of the stairs below, on the north side of the station, a few komodo-rhino cavalry riders were watering bored mounts.

Nothing's happening here. But that's no excuse to get sloppy.

Which was why she was checking every station as she reached it, not simply heading straight for the harbor. Her messages had already gone ahead, after all; and it would be criminally careless to miss some of Iroh's traitors through being impatient.

"Besides," Azula observed, glancing back as the noise started to die and some brave citizen beat out the window-frame, "they don't sound anywhere near dead yet."

Stoic enough to make her wonder if they were dead. Though most likely they were just numb from the invasion. The car quieted, and the younger Dai Li came out - through the sliding doors, this time, brushing himself off with an aggravated bristling that should have filled the air with smoke. The pair of them climbed to the roof, clinging there as the train's earthbenders calmly pushed off...

I know those moves.

"Azula?"

There was a braid, and there was a uniform, and she didn't feel fire, and he was supposed to be dead, frost blacken him, dead, dead, dead!

He's getting away-!

"Get me earthbenders!" Azula snarled, already running for the main stationhouse, Ty Lee racing beside her. "They're on that train!"

"You know," Shirong mused, as a single car bolted from the station and raced toward them, "I was actually starting to feel good about this plan."

"Huh," Zuko muttered, staring at oncoming doom.

"The universe hates us," Shirong sighed.

"Yeah."

"You don't sound surprised," Shirong said wryly.

"No."

"Much as I admire brevity," Shirong glanced at the firebender, "Lieutenant Teruko says it's not a good sign when you can't talk."

She'd said quite a bit more than that, when he'd been patiently explaining to her why she could not cling to her prince's side as a bodyguard while he was impersonating a Dai Li. Much of it in the common speech. Some of it in High Court. A fraction of which was actually repeatable in polite company.

If they lived through this, he had to get her to write those down.

"Can you cut the tracks?"

Shirong almost choked. Cut the rail line? Damage the city, and commerce, and the prestige of the Dai Li-

Stop the very angry firebender coming to kill you? part of him snarked.

Ah. Yes. Good point. "Not from here," Shirong said, already running toward the end of the train, Zuko half a step behind. He could feel the faltering in their speed, as the benders pushing the train saw what was coming-

The train jerked, almost tossing him off before he latched onto the yellow clay tiles of the roof ridge with chi and a twist of his toes, holding him steady.

Lee!

The firebender let himself fall, hitting the roof with an almost casual grab; as if he thought human fingers could somehow bite into green wood shingles-

Crunch.

Imperial firebender, Shirong realized, barely hesitating as he ran for the last, deliberately empty car. His partner could obviously keep himself in one piece, and there was no time. Use your chi to enhance your strength. Damn, that's a nice trick. "Move forward!" he called to the train-pushers, as the cars shuddered again; Tingzhe and his university students in the front of the train, no doubt, trying to find a rhythm most of them had never trained for. "Tell the passengers to get clear! Move at least three cars up, and push from there!"

"But," one of the earthbenders gulped, looking back with eyes so wide he might just jump off the tracks entirely.

Can't blame him, Shirong thought fleetingly, seeing murder in the Fire Princess' tense shoulders. "Move!" he yelled. "Do you want to be somewhere she can catch you?"

That did it. The pair scrambled along the thin ledge of stone around the cars, disappearing forward.

Wish I could disappear my- Guanyin!

Trained reflexes saved him. Barely. He peeled up a long shield of the ridgeline's tiles, and dove to one side. Felt lightning strike home, as if in his own bones-

Zuko caught him by his robes and yanked, pulling him back onto green shingles before he could tumble off the edge.

Fire roared.

For a moment, Shirong could only stare. The other train was still yards away. But jets of blue flame surged from hands and feet as the princess blasted toward them-

Ceramic shattered, and Zuko tossed shards with deadly aim. Azula had to bring her hands forward to blast them away, dropping out of sight.

I didn't hear a splat...

Then he couldn't worry about what he hadn't heard, because pink bounced through the air almost on top of him. Reflexively, Shirong flung out chains, a net that would snare any mortal or spirit that dared get this near-

She dodged them.

Straight into a blinding face-full of wet sand.

Ty Lee was the enemy. Ty Lee would kill him; or take away his bending, and with Azula on the rampage that would kill him. Shirong knew all of that, and still had to force himself to turn away as she tottered near the edge. She just seemed so innocent.

The fireball that seared his hat off was anything but.

Shards and shale - that's cloth washed in fire! If Azula can char that...

"Stay down, Ty Lee!" Zuko snarled. "I don't want to hurt you!"

Scraping sand out of her eyes, the chi-blocker collapsed to her knees with a bone-jarring thump. "Zuko?" she whispered, barely audible above the wind. "But... you're dead."

"Not quite." Azula smirked, flipping up onto the roof to eye them all. "I should have known you wouldn't have the honor to lie down and die."

Honor. Zuko breathed out, slow and controlled, waiting for the word to tear at him. Three years - three long, horrible years - it had ruled his life. Three years, he'd declared to anyone who would listen that he needed his honor back...

I didn't want my honor. I wanted my family.

And wasn't that pathetic, to want what he should have known he could never have?

My family is on Suzuran, and on this train. It doesn't matter what I want. It doesn't matter if she's my sister. Azula will kill them.

Unless they stopped her. Here. Now.

"Walk away," Zuko growled, trying not to let his voice shake. "Just go, Azula. You're the heir now. These people aren't the enemy. Leave them alone."

"They're traitors to Father." Azula shifted into a ready stance, easily as if the wind pressing on them all was just a spring breeze. "There's only one sentence for treason."

Blood drummed in Zuko's ears, and he felt the world narrowing around him. "Did you watch?" he got out through clenched teeth, holding onto words by pure will. "When Mom was a traitor?"

The roof erupted in fire.

Normally, she'd send guards or Mai or Ty Lee in first to soften up her enemies, then take a calculated second strike. Especially against Zuko, who could slip into a white-hot, mindless berserk in the time it took to call him a fatherless bastard.

Normally. But she'd outstripped her swamped Dai Li, Mai was probably somewhere on this train, and Ty Lee looked like someone had broken her. As for Zuko...

Pale gold blazed at her, but his breathing was calm. Controlled. Even as she shot a sizzling blast at him and he moved a grimy hand as if to catch it, the idiot...

Not dirt, Azula recognized in the instant before screams would come. Why is his hand covered in sand?

Steam boiled into the wind, as flames sank into sand like water.

...What?

A shake of Zuko's hand - Zuko's untouched hand, where there should be blisters and charred flesh and screams, damn him, why were there no screams-

Sand rose into a spiral over his palm, like a miniature dust-devil, heat shimmering off it like the Si Wong dunes.

Hot sand, Azula realized in an instant of shocked comprehension. Agent Quan said he could move hot water, if he's learned to do that trick with something else...

Fire against fire, she could take her brother any day of the week. This ground should favor her. She was lighter. More agile. With far more will, and discipline, meaning far more fire.

But if Zuko could bend more than just fire...

It won't matter. It's a trick. A coward's gamble to hide among the masses here. I have no reason to fear him. Ever.

Zuko spun the sand over his left hand, gaze never leaving hers, even as his right beckoned to the roof's flames like the Avatar's annoying waterbender to a river-

Which was when the chunks of stone Shirong had bent out of the car under them slammed at her like Mai's darts, and she was suddenly too busy to analyze anything.

A waterbender, Yakume thought, running through what he'd learned from Sergeant Aoi and his men yet again as they waited in the cool of the station. It doesn't make sense.

"We should be raising the alarm," Sergeant Aoi grumbled. Eyeing any of the seamen who looked inclined to stumble near the platform guardrail, or head anywhere near the straggly crowd of Earth Kingdom farmers. Some of those in the station were finishing up business with the paper-pushers after getting out of the city proper; others were waiting for the next train in. None looked happy to see men in red and black... but so far, they seemed willing to just keep their distance.

"You saw how quick your general cut us loose," Captain Lu-shan grumbled. "I'd say it's already been raised."

Seaman Koki gave him a narrow look. "You would say-"

"I don't care what you think about me, you salt-warped idiot," Lu-shan cut him off, "but the guy who got you off that ship thinks it's a good idea to lay low for a while. I'd listen. You weren't there when the master sergeant brought your princess information about rebels right under her nose. That... young lady... there's something off about her." He rolled his eyes. "And don't tell me. 'The line of Sozin's supposed to be dangerous.' I've seen dangerous. And I've seen flat-out crazy. You don't speak ill of nobles, but I know which bin I'd drop her in."

Aoi glared at him, and cast a glance Yakume's way. Lu-shan did the same, tapping his foot. Waiting.

They were all waiting, Yakume realized with a start, looking away from the mesmerizing stone-pillared rails, and the green fields so very far below. "Captain?"

"Master Sergeant," Lu-shan said dryly. "So far today I've faced down a pair of your marines, followed you on a hunt better left to Dai Li, been held at fireball-point by the Dragon of the West, and had to stand this bunch of sailors on a train ride to the middle of nowhere while your brain's been spinning its wheels. Talk."

Aoi bristled like a shaggy cliffside. But turned a look of quiet entreaty on him, as well.

Yakume sighed, and shook his head. "I've been trying to piece things together," he admitted. "Some of what I know still doesn't make sense. And I would prefer to make a complete report." One he could, hopefully, write up and arrange to deliver impersonally. Giving him time to get clear.

He was loyal to the Fire Nation. Above all else. He wasn't stupid.

I think she might be on the edge. Lu-shan thinks she might be. Which means... maybe, just possibly, she is.

A dark dragon, General Iroh had called her. When no one spoke of the dragon blood in the Fire Lord's line. Officially.

The general had to be wrong. He had to be. The Fire Lords led their nation with honor. It could not be true that Fire Lord Ozai would want... such a creature to succeed him.

Yet if he believed that... the general was wrong. Or lying.

He never lied. Not to us. Not to any of his men.

Though Yakume had known that the general could be a bit... selective with the truth. Especially when he was setting a trap.

And we're the trap.

And... Lu-shan was eyeing him. Again.

"We're a trap for the princess," Yakume explained. "I don't know how, I don't know what the general expects to gain - but we are. Somehow. He's an honorable man, and he and Prince Zuko gave their word... but I know the general. If he turned us loose, he expects to gain an advantage from it." He swept his gaze over the sailors. "Which is why we are not going back to the palace, or even the city. Not yet. Princess Azula is General Iroh's enemy, and I will not bring danger to her doorstep."

Nervously, Koki and the others started edging away from each other.

"It's not that kind of a trap," Yakume said impatiently. "He's more subtle than that, believe me. It's not a weapon. It's not even a person." He glanced down, trying to recall everything he'd heard of every campaign the general had run. "He let us go to tell the princess what we've seen. Something in that information must be dangerous."

"Try all of it, temper like she's got," Lu-shan said dryly. "Dangerous to any poor bastard in reach, anyway."

Yakume felt as much as saw the others jump at the term, and held up a staying hand. "It doesn't mean the same here," he said stiffly. "And the captain has a point. The Dragon of the West may be known for his application of force and mass, but he also knows the value of a well-timed distraction."

Which might be all General Iroh intended. Possibly. If only I could sort out what I do know. "You say the prince is cursed?" Yakume eyed Sergeant Aoi.

"Like I told you. A waterbender." The burly sergeant shuddered. "Agni, that's just not right."

"Hot water," Lu-shan snorted.

Aoi glared at him. "He froze the damn spirit in ice."

Which seemed irrefutable evidence. And yet... "The general said Prince Zuko was a fire-healer," Yakume began.

"Jee talked about fire-healing, too," Aoi growled. "He must've been talking about the general. It was the traitor who was sick on shore. And we all saw the ice."

"And the general agreed with you that-" Yakume winced, and almost slapped himself in the forehead. "No, he implied the prince was cursed. He never said it." The Moon had set her hand on the prince, indeed. Firebender cursed to waterbender, warping his spirit awry? That would make everything make sense.

Except it didn't. The Dai Li had been sure.

"Waterbending is a curse?" Lu-shan eyed them all.

Yakume shrugged. "How would you feel about a Guard who bent fire?"

"...Point." Lu-shan sighed like a far-off volcano's rumble. Glanced toward yet another sailor straying toward the guardrail, and raised a grizzled brow at Aoi.

"Norimichi!" the sergeant growled. "Agni's flames, man, you can stare like a backwater rube later."

"Um, Sergeant?" Still leaning over the railing, Norimichi rubbed his eyes. "Aren't people supposed to ride inside those things?"

Yakume found himself crushed up against the guardrail with the others, half expecting to just see something odd decorating one of the four or five-car trains he'd almost gotten used to seeing-

It was long. Very long. And moving fast, flames blazing and battering at each other as figures in red and pink and green fought on rooftops for their lives. Orange flames... and fierce, lethal blue.

"Oma and Shu, the earthbenders are crazy!" Lu-shan swore.

The earthbenders? Yakume thought. Tore his gaze away just long enough to give the Guard a disbelieving glance.

"Nobody pushes a train that fast!" Lu-shan snarled, as the train screamed along the rails toward the station, figures growing larger with stunning speed. "Even if they start braking now, they'll overshoot us by a mile!"

Yakume stared at the desperate fight. And the length of the train. And the blurs of green, now resolved into Dai Li uniforms-

Only one of the Dai Li was shorter. Leaner. And parried a blast of fire with a slash of his hand.

Yakume made himself breathe, hearing the crackle of flames in the wind. "They're not going to stop."

"Are you crazy?" Lu-shan was staring wide-eyed at the oncoming juggernaut of wood and stone. "Trains always stop-"

The train howled past, an endless stretch of windows and frightened faces and fire.

Bemused, Yakume waved. Especially at the first car, where a pair of earthbenders who looked like father and son were bending the train faster in a distinctly nonstandard fashion. And where light glinted off knives a gold-eyed girl held ready to throw at any who might block their way.

Endless heartbeats later, they were gone.

Staring down the tracks after them, Yakume shook himself. Glanced at Lu-shan, who stood frozen, mouth gaping. "I take it you saw Guard Huojin?"

Speechless, Lu-shan stared at him.

"That's what I thought," Yakume murmured. And had to shake his head in disbelief, wanting to laugh at the sheer audacity of it... and rage, that such wild brilliance blazed for the other side. "Iroh's heir, in all but birth."

"I- but- he-!" Giving up, Lu-shan flung up his hands.

"He was born of the line of Sozin, and he will die of the line of Sozin," Yakume said, trying to keep his voice steady. "Spirits. They burn so brightly."

"You want to get in the middle of that?" Lu-shan sputtered.

"They are great names." Yakume heard the longing in his own voice, and didn't try to dampen it. "Who would not want to follow?" Sighing, he turned toward a very pale Aoi. "I suppose we can stop waiting here... what is it?"

"They're heading toward the harbor," Aoi said, shaken.

Frowning, Yakume nodded.

Aoi shook his head, speaking as if to a new, slow recruit. "They're heading toward the water."

...Oh.

Too slow, Zuko thought. Has to be a feint.

It wasn't.

No time to block Azula's fire-wheel; he slapped it aside with hot sand, bits of earth guzzling heat like a tavern full of thirsty marines. Molten glass snaked out and slashed at his will; he smelled her hair burning, before wind whipped smoke away.

I don't even have to heat it, Zuko thought wryly, in a brief instant she had to deal with Shirong flinging chains. She's doing that for me.

Which was the only thing that wasn't confusing about this fight. He was fighting Azula. He ought to be either scared stiff or white-blind with rage. And - he wasn't.

Worried, yes. Desperate to keep her pressed as far back on the train as he could, away from innocent civilians. If the train sped up, and Shirong could cut a car she was on loose...

But most of all, he was wrapped in a haze of manic glee. Here was an enemy. Here was someone just as deep in the whole Roku-Ilah-Sozin mess as he was. Who carried as much guilt, in the eyes of the world; whose blood every other nation would say was just as torn between good and evil...

As if Sozin was just evil. And Roku was just good.

Katara would say his sister was evil. Toph probably would. Heck, even Aang would.

And you don't get it, you don't get it at all. She believes in the Fire Lord. Just like you believe in Gyatso, Aang. That's why she killed you. That's why she'll kill you again.

And he could fight Azula and still think. It didn't make sense- wait, what was she-

Training said spinning flame kick. A deeper whisper said yes, covering line-of-sight, look out for the-

The fire-charged punch blasted through his flame wall, and he was flying.

Lee!

Thank Guanyin for training, and practicing until he wanted to just fall over and die. Shirong knew exactly how to fling rock gloves to seize and yank a body back to safe ground. Even if that ground was the top of another train car.

He's down, look out for-

Blue flame seared his shoulder; the world went red and black.

It's just pain, damn it!

Shirong stepped into the blow, seeing her smirk, knowing he was out of rock and placed wrong to fling chains.

Never fought drained of chi, have you?

He drove a punch home like a mine hammer, impacting an area cold experience had taught him would drop a woman fast as a groin-shot in men.

She dodged. Most of it.

Shirong saw her pale with pain as she skidded backward, one arm instinctively raised to shield her breast. Then flush with rage, slashing fire with kicks and sweeps to drive him back and kill him.

In that instant, he could see a lifetime.

Noble. Prodigy. Taught by the best. Trained by the best. Always, always the favored, chosen heir.

No one would have dared fight dirty training you, would they?

You're not like your brother, Azula. You never could be.

Though Zuko wasn't quite fighting like himself either. And it wasn't just bending fire instead of water.

He's got the skill to take her, he just doesn't think he can. Second-guessing himself. Damn it, Lee, she's not better than you-

Blue fire surged at him-

Yanked aside, so close his eyes teared, caught in a globe of orange flame.

Stop thinking. Just fight!

It didn't make sense that he could see Azula's moves coming. It didn't make sense that he knew - knew - what a mountain firebender would expect as a reply, and counter it like waves against cliffs. Just didn't make sense...

But the world had stopped making sense at the South Pole. He was getting used to it.

She's good, something in his mind murmured. Not with the fear he should have felt. Simply... accepting. She's very, very good.

But she's young.

Young enough to get caught in the fury of the quick kill, the utter destruction of her enemies. To believe that if someone didn't kill her, it was because they couldn't.

I could kill her. If I were willing to risk both of us dying.

But there was a better way.

Steel lanced through the charred roof, and he grinned.

I'm going to kill him, Azula thought grimly, dodging spearheads as they punched through. Quickly, and thoroughly. This time, I'm going to be sure.

Zuko was avoiding steel just as easily as she was, damn him. Because he was keeping an eye on his surroundings as well. Instead of just on her.

How dare you!

She was the best. The best. Sparring with her brother was supposed to be a laugh, a lark; a way to spit defiance in Ursa's eye, by showing her ghost how pathetic the child she'd chosen really was.

Only Zuko was holding her at bay. And making it look easy.

If you didn't have that Dai Li covering you...

But he did. And if Shirong didn't seem to be skilled at moving any hunk of stone bigger than his gloves, the agent was more than happy to take apart the whole car under them for ammunition, bit by painful bit.

She could wear them both down. She could hurt them. But she couldn't drive them farther.

And if Shirong could cut away enough bits of stone to shear off a car with her and Ty Lee still on it-

No. He won't.

You didn't bring allies to the field, Zuzu. You brought liabilities.

I know your weakness.

Leap and land and slam fire through the roof-

Oh, what lovely screams.

"Out!" Huojin roared, making himself heard over the panic and roar of flames. The stench of seared flesh and vomit swirled through the air, seized at his stomach; he swallowed hard, and tried not to feel. "Everyone move forward!"

They moved. Except for three unlucky bastards who'd never be moving again.

The kids are all forward, the Guard told himself harshly; hauling out one truly unlucky bastard who was still breathing, and never mind the charred skin tearing off on charcoaled wood seats. Amaya could save him, or she couldn't. My girls are forward, with Teruko...

And he wanted to scream because Teruko wasn't here. Because she was following orders, following the plan, and sticking with the cars of women and children. A living firedamp, ready to keep what had happened here from happening there.

If they lived through this, Huojin was going to take all the nightmares he knew this day would give him. Take them, and be grateful. Because his girls were safe.

Teruko, Huojin thought grimly, letting the sliding door tear in the wind as he dragged his moaning burden through the gale between the cars. Other hands reached out, pulling him up. Jia and the other earthbenders to keep the tracks intact if anyone messes with them. Amaya.

Zuko had arrayed benders like living walls, making the cars full of civilians a moving fortress. Deliberately setting the less crucial supply cars last, so if worst came to worst and he and Shirong were killed, earthbenders could cut the train by a third; a mole-skink shedding its tail to survive.

Overkill, Huojin had thought when they'd set it up. Had to be. He'd heard about Zuko's sister, but he hadn't believed it. Sure, Fire Nation soldiers could be horrid, and evil, and slaughter civilians without blinking an eye... but a fourteen-year-old girl?

But you knew, kid. You knew.

And now instead of laughing at the kid for being paranoid, he was desperately praying Zuko had been paranoid enough.

Don't die out there, do you hear me? Don't die.

Not my people!

Zuko swept a wave of fire at her; punched a flurry of fireballs. Saw Azula smirk, and hated it. And hated himself.

I should have known. I should have known.

Azula always got what she wanted. And what she wanted was his attention.

People dying to get it was just sprinkles on the top.

Charred wood gave way under his feet; he leapt as it collapsed, touching down on the roof of the next car and lashing out with a whip of flame to cover Shirong's jump.

Azula dodged it. Of course. But it kept her busy as she landed, just long enough for Shirong to carve out a bit more ammunition.

It kept them busy too; Ty Lee's somersault between the cars wasn't up to her usual grace, but she landed in one piece, twisting Shirong's last chains loose and sending them spinning away. Gray eyes still wide; hands limp, not forming the deadly fists that would punch a foe into paralysis. But still here, drawn in Azula's wake like a leaf in the current.

Leaves burn, Ty Lee.

It was a fight between us, Azula. I thought you had enough honor to hold to that!

But when had she? When had she ever?

You're my sister...

Shutting his ears to the wail of his spirit, Zuko regarded his enemy.

Steady. Breathe, murmured that deep whisper. The world itself is your weapon.

Everything burns.

Firestorm.

Shirong had heard the word from the firefighters of Ba Sing Se, sooty and mourning their dead with hard liquor and harder grief. The devastation of lives and tenements; the howling monster that devoured flesh and wood and even stone, shattering rock like glass. Sometimes there were evil spirits responsible; those were the nightmares that had cost him two partners in as many years, before he'd finally demanded solo assignments. But most of the time, there was only fire.

There's no such thing, Shirong thought, dazed, as only fire.

He was caught in the heartbeats of raging dragons, savaging roof and wind and anything between. Blue flames that roared of pain and lingering death and failure, you've lost, and you'll burn for it-

Orange fire leapt, curled, twisted; never the same twice. No challenges. No threats. It simply was, as if some angry spirit of iron had hammered lava into mist and moonlight.

Even seared and aching, Shirong could not fear it. It belonged. Just as the breath in his lungs, the stone in his hands-

Smirking, Shirong crushed stone to powdered sand, and hurled it into the fray.

Zuko is alive, Ty Lee thought numbly. Zuko can't be alive.

The two facts chased each other through Ty Lee's brain like angry lemurs as the fight and flames moved over and around her. Azula was stronger than her brother. Ty Lee knew it. Her clan elders knew it. The Fire Lord knew it.

But Zuko was alive. Which meant he'd betrayed the Fire Lord and survived.

Her elders said only two firebenders in this century had ever pulled that off. And if Zuko had the strength of Jeong Jeong the Deserter...

Or the Great Betrayer.

She wouldn't think his name. She wouldn't honor the ghost of that creature that had stolen so many of her own kin, a century ago. Stolen them away like the smoke from a pyre; gone, gone, and he hadn't even offered crumbs of truth to those sent to gently question him...

Only slaughtered them, without mercy.

It wasn't right to wish anyone dead, but when her family had told her the bedside tales, she'd always been glad he was.

So she'd never forgotten whose granddaughter Lady Ursa was. Even if Azula acted like she didn't know.

Azula is born of those who bring death to Tengri's blood. On both sides, the elders said. Serve her, that we all may live.

Of course, Zuko was too. But he'd never acted like it. Clumsy, shy; always ten steps behind his prodigy of a sister.

The firebending slicing around her wasn't clumsy now. Wasn't like anything Ty Lee had ever seen, as Zuko swirled glowing-hot sand between them to absorb yet another blast of blue fire. He wasn't sweating. He wasn't panicked. He wasn't even breathing hard.

Breath is chi, and chi is fire, her frozen mind whispered. How can he make fire without breathing?

A deceptively gentle swirl of his hand snaked flames from burning wood to slash at Azula's shins-

Azula parted it with a stomp that roared a backfire in his face-

Zuko spun and leapt, sand spiraling with him to catch flames and glow, spinning the rest of the blow off and away-

He's not making fire, Ty Lee realized. He's letting her make it!

Like the Betrayer. Like Byakko, who still hunted her clan if they dared to sail an inch across waters that treacherous island claimed as their own. She'd never caught Lady Ursa teaching the prince that perversion of firebending, but somehow Ursa must have...

He wasn't fighting to kill because he didn't have to! If he outlasts her-

He can't!

If Zuko were stronger, he should be the heir. But he wasn't, he couldn't be; he was a traitor to the Fire Lord, and if her people followed him they would die. They would die, and Tengri's ways would be gone. And he was twice a traitor, he wasn't even fighting to be heir, not if he'd tried to sneak in and out of Ba Sing Se without ever facing Azula-

And how could he not want to face Azula? How? How could he betray Ty Lee, betray all her people, by finding his strength now, when it was worse than useless? How could he screw up, the way Zuko always screwed up, and leave her people with no choice but to follow Azula? Because even if Zuko was stronger...

He can't be!

Even if he was, he was alone. Against the Fire Lord's armies. Anyone who stood with him was going to die.

No, no, Zuko wouldn't do that! He can't be doing this! He-

Ty Lee didn't have the breath to shout a warning, as the train shot through a tunnel in the Wall. But then, this was Azula. She didn't need to.

Yet Ty Lee had to duck again as they roared out of the darkness, as boulders flung by soldiers on the Wall crashed down on them all. And even from here, she could see Shirong's face light with fierce glee, as he seized hold of flung stone and punched it at Azula in an explosion of knife-sharp shards.

They'll kill her.

They're standing in the Fire Lord's way.

Everyone on Suzuran, everyone on this train... Zuko's going to kill them all.

I won't let you-!

The train's gale howled about her, and Ty Lee moved.

"There are many reasons Sozin attacked the Air Nomads before the Earth Kingdom," Uncle had said once, on Wani's deck. "If you would capture the Avatar alive, we must take him before he masters earth. The union of opposites can be unstoppable."

There wasn't time to duck. There wasn't time to plan. There was only an instant to move, hope no one was left in the car under them, and pray he could block enough of the shards.

Dragon Chases the Moon.

Fire surged from the burning roof; swirling vortices that didn't so much block the deadly shrapnel as catch and whirl it aside-

Most of it.

Oh fu-

Pain.

When you can smell blood, you're having a bad day.

Flat on his face, one hand gripping the charred wood of the roof, Shirong clamped a rock glove onto the semiconscious firebender's arm. Worked at his fingertips, until rock flowed and locked Zuko to the roof beside him, holding against the train's wind.

Best I can do, right now.

He didn't look at the blackened blades of stone that had stabbed through Zuko's last defense, or the smaller splinters piercing his own flesh. They were hurt. It wasn't good. But if he didn't stop Ty Lee now, they'd both be dead.

Oh, lovely. Stop her, when we're surrounded by wind? How?

But the acrobat - the airbender - didn't finish them. Just stood there, pale as parchment. Shuddered, and turned to help Azula-

Who'd already regained her feet, with a gymnast's twist that made it look easy. And a quizzical, calculating expression. "Why?"

"You're my friend," Ty Lee said simply. "And you're smarter than Fire Lord Sozin and Azulon. They hunted my people. You take care of us."

Soul chilled, Shirong tried to match the innocent smile to the words just spoken. And couldn't.

Our innocent bookworm Kuei gave up Earth Kingdom territory to the Fire Nation. To buffer us from this.

If we live, every Dai Li owes him an apology.

If. Oma and Shu. He was bleeding from a dozen small wounds, Zuko wasn't moving, Ty Lee was an airbender with all the train's gale to grab, and Azula was smiling at him in a way that made his spirit want to crawl right out of his flesh.

If I throw the shards back, it will only blind them for an instant. And she's waiting for that. I can feel it.

No, Shirong realized, as Zuko made a choked noise and Azula's lips turned up in a smirk. She wasn't waiting for the agent to move, any more than a man waited for a mosquito-flea he intended to squash.

She's waiting for him to die.

Spirits. And he didn't have so much as a link of chain left. Though he could see one of his chains, caught around a burning rafter yards away; flames wavering the air above it, clinks mocking him as it swung, so painfully out of reach.

"Mother coddled you, but Father respects me," Azula stated, acid amusement in her voice. "I'm going to enjoy being an only child."

Shirong snarled. I'd like to see you breathe molten glass, you little-

Anger blocked the roaring wind from his ears. All he could hear was Zuko's gasping breath... and a jingle of chain.

Metal is earth. Heat is fire.

He rolled to his knees, and pulled.

Searing chain whipped around legs like strangle-vines, tearing girls from the roof with a scream.

...Ow.

Collapsing on the roof felt like the best idea in the world. If only everything would just go away and let him hurt.

But he'd fought spirits that struck with pain and sleep and pure boredom before. Discipline said you didn't lie down and die until you were sure the enemy was dead.

Gathering himself, he looked over the side of the train.

...Not. Possible.

They weren't on the train, thanks be for small favors. But there was a familiar red-and-pink lump clinging to one of the track's stone support pylons.

Even with the train racing away, Shirong felt that gold-eyed rage like a fireball.

"Guanyin, mother of mercy, forgive me," he whispered. "What does it take to kill that girl?"

"More than anybody's got so far," Zuko rasped, pulling in threads of green flame to staunch the worst bleeding. "Help me up."

"Stay still!" Shirong snapped. Spirits, the speed they were moving - and the harbor was so close... "You get up while the train's stopping, I'll lose you for real this time."

"Look at the docks."

The docks? The whole harbor was on fire, what was he supposed to be-

The docks were on fire. So were the ships. Except for red sails already fleeing into the lake... and Suzuran, holding at trebuchet range from shore, lobbing flaming tar at any group of soldiers that seemed to be getting organized.

"They left us," Shirong realized, too stunned to even be angry as their train screamed down the rails' ramp toward the shore. "Oh, Oma and Shu. They left us."

"Think!" Zuko hissed, working out one of the smaller shards. "Earthbenders! I swear water shuts off your brain. We're not stopping this train!"

"Geh?" Shirong managed. Because that was water, deep and deadly and just waiting to suck down an unwary earthbender and drown him. "Lee. Us. Sink." Oh spirits, here it comes-

"Help me up!"

Command, with nothing of fear in it. Shirong moved, as the train left the rails entirely, crunching over flaming guardrails, wood and stone shrieking into spraying waves.

Standing, Zuko spread his hands, left foot stepping forward and out. Brought his hands together, shifting his weight back and spreading hands out with a tattered breath.

Waves surged forward to seize the train, foaming past windows, rousing screams-

Zuko drew his hands back to center, and pushed.

Waves crackled into ice, a curved arrowhead sheet of it spreading from the train's sides, buoying them into the harbor with all the speed and grace of a terrified flatfish.

"We get out of this," Zuko coughed, slumping against him like a summer-wilted weed, "I'm going to teach you about displacement."

Tucked into a niche Agents Quan and Bon had carved out a remnant of the Outer Wall, heart beating like sparrowkeet wings, Kuei watched the ice-winged train slide into the harbor with a thunderous splash. And tried not to fall off the Wall. That- he-

He'd been guarded inside, so he hadn't seen the Avatar and his friends attack the palace. He wondered if it would have felt like this.

No, Kuei decided, awed and terrified at once. Aang had come like an unstoppable storm, even if he'd meant to be friendly. Twelve-year-old boy or not, he was the Avatar. Who could fight the spirit of the whole world?

This wasn't a spirit's work. This was a desperate, human effort, backed by skill and sheer, bloody-minded audacity.

This is something we could do, Kuei realized. If we dare. Or - well, not this, we don't have any waterbenders right now, but- Oma and Shu. He's right. We can fight for the world. We will.

As Zuko was. And it was working. The train wasn't seaworthy. He could see cars listing, and the fires raging on the docks were pouring out enough heat to melt a dozen icebergs. But it was floating. Suzuran was already throwing lines to the passengers, pulling the train close enough for earthbenders to break off sections of car walls and lift stone, supplies, and refugees to the steel deck.

It wasn't smooth. It wasn't pretty. But it was fast, and determined, and-

"I don't believe it," Bon breathed beside him, staring. "They're towing it!"

"They have to," Kuei realized, a dozen bits of books about ships coming together in his head in the face of reality. "Suzuran may look big next to our junks, but she's one of the Fire Navy's smaller supply ships. If they tried to take everyone on board, they'd capsize." He shaded his eyes. "There. They're catching up to the ferries." He couldn't keep a note of wistfulness out of his voice. Everything was blurred by smoke and distance; if only he could see more.

Something rounded and metal tapped him on the arm. Kuei glanced at the telescope, then at Quan's wry, faint smile. "Oh. Thank you."

"Say what you like about the Fire Nation, they do make good lenses," Quan said dryly. "I suppose firebending can be good for something."

"Yes, it is," Kuei murmured, peering through the spyglass at the dangerous dance of steel and wood and ice. Remembering another impossible, audacious plan, embodied in the drill that had punched through Ba Sing Se's Outer Wall, stopped only by the Avatar.

He watched lives snatched out of the water for a few minutes more; sighed, and handed the telescope to Bon, peering at the flames and ash that had been his city's harbor. "I didn't know destruction could be so beautiful."

"Sir-"

"I know. It's horrible," Kuei said soberly. "I wish it'd never had to happen. But there's a certain... stark simplicity in it. Like fine calligraphy." Where every stroke meant something. And the true artist used just what was needed, and not one drop of ink more. "Look at it, Agent Quan." He gestured toward the smoke-hazed shore, where red-armored soldiers were beginning to get the blazes under control. "Prince Zuko decided to evacuate his people, and he did. Princess Azula decided to break our wall, and she did. General Iroh decided to invade our city years ago, and he did." Kuei shook his head, and looked at his chief Dai Li. "Fire Lord Ozai has decided to take the Earth Kingdom, hasn't he?"

"Yes, sir," Quan said quietly, face sober.

Kuei shivered, but tried to swallow the lump in his throat. "Can we stop him?"

"I don't know, your majesty," Quan said simply. "But for our people, for the world... we have to try." He let out a slow, measured breath. "Though I like our chances a lot better now than I did yesterday." He gestured over the harbor. "I'm not a military man, but even I can see Fire Lord Ozai is going to have some interesting choices to make. Reinforce his army here, and tighten his grip on Ba Sing Se? Send forces after Prince Zuko? Or both?" The agent's smile was thin, a razor of dark glee. "And if he does send forces after the prince, how many of them is he prepared to lose?"

"I hate hoping for death," Kuei said bleakly. "Even those of our enemies."

"I said lose, your majesty. I wasn't thinking of death."

"I don't understand," Kuei admitted.

"An earthbender who breaks his deals can die," Quan said, pointing out the painfully obvious. "So can any of the Fire Nation who break their loyalties; and except for that mad hermit Jeong Jeong, firebenders always die." He paused. "I should have died, your majesty. I didn't. Because you and earth-healers brought me back."

And Lee... Zuko was a healer. A fire-healer.

Still, how did that change anything? Nobles ruled; commoners followed. That was the way of the world. Even the Avatar had allied himself with the nobility of the Southern Water Tribe; young Katara might think Long Feng had kept him in the dark about reality, and when it came to the war, she was right. But the Dai Li's leader certainly hadn't shirked his duties when it came to keeping the Earth Kingdom up to date on details of inheritance and succession!

Granted, Lady Bei Fong might come of a somewhat mercantile background. But her title was proper enough. Even if her behavior was a bit... eccentric.

So the Avatar and his nobles meant to lead the world against the Fire Nation. Of course the commoners of the world would follow.

None of which should have anything to do with Prince Zuko. Certainly, he could try to make a claim on commoners of his own nation, but he was an exile. Those in the Fire Lord's army, by definition, weren't. "I'm still confused, Agent Quan," Kuei admitted. "You seem to be implying that... that Fire Nation forces sent against Prince Zuko could disobey orders."

"Oh, yes," Quan nodded. "Disobey, and desert. Probably not the generals, but the lower officers? Yes. Some might."

"Officers?" Kuei protested, disbelieving. "Those of noble blood are chosen to lead. Those who aren't, must follow. It's tradition!"

"In the Earth Kingdom, sir," Bon spoke up. "From what I've heard Agent Shirong say, the Fire Nation is different. They have," he paused, and pronounced the words carefully, "promotion on merit."

"What in Guanyin's name does that mean?" Kuei murmured.

"It's something like the practice among the Dai Li," Bon said cautiously. "If you do your job well, you get a position with more responsibility." He hesitated. "Unless you're as bad off as Agent Shirong, and just too dangerous to put in charge of a team. Which isn't his fault, sir. Long Feng was brilliant to put him as a recruiter. He got to use his skills, and candidates always got a brush with kamuiy malice to test them. Usually, a survivable one."

"Usually?" Kuei said warily. Eyed Bon, trying to focus on what was important. "Agent, if you follow that logic, a commoner could end up an officer!"

Bon froze.

After a moment, Quan cleared his throat. "Your majesty. Up until he retired a decade or so ago... Colonel Piandao, one of Azulon's most frightening swordsmen? He not only wasn't a noble, he wasn't even a firebender."

Kuei blinked. Polished his glasses on his sleeve, and peered at Quan. "That speech of Zuko's. He implied they could choose to stay-"

"No, sir," Quan said firmly. "He said they could choose to follow you. Honorably. Or follow him."

"You mean... commoners can choose their nobles?" Kuei shook his head, dazed. You mean I'm going to keep them? He'd thought those left behind just didn't want to take the risks of the Fire Prince's plan, never mind Zuko's polite, shocking speech. After all, there were a lot of risks. "That's - that's chaos! People are the land. Land doesn't get up and move to follow one lord. Not when he's not even an earthbender! How could any noble sit still and make arrangements with his fellow lords when part of his own demesne is trying to go somewhere else... oh." Kuei leaned against the inside of the stone hollow, eyes wide, feeling the world tilt askew. "They don't sit still, do they? He said they need to fight. If your commoners can just - just leave... Oma and Shu. How could they ever stop fighting?"

"If Madame Wen's story is true," Bon put in carefully, "Avatar Kyoshi made them stop."

Kuei swallowed. Added that to what Zuko had said, and tried to picture what the Earth Kingdom might be like, had Avatar Roku leveled every fortress city and flatly forbidden them to rise again.

Guanyin have mercy. We'd slaughter each other.

Still. Roku hadn't, and it was the Fire Nation trying to slaughter them instead, and- oh. "He's not just a distraction for Azula, is he?" Kuei said, feeling his way around the edges of a truly shocking idea. "Spirits. He could fracture the Fire Lord's whole invasion!"

"I doubt that, your majesty," Quan said frankly. "Fire Lord Ozai picks his generals. And while Fire Nation troops may not believe in nobles, they are loyal to command. It will be a rare person who risks damaging that loyalty, even if they know the prince is a fire-healer. But for the first time in what the Wens tell us is centuries, they'll know disobeying is possible." Another edged smile touched his face. "The Fire Lord is used to the unbreakable loyalty of his soldiers. It's what makes their conquest so deadly. And now... now that loyalty may not be unbreakable after all." He laughed softly. "Take it from a Dai Li, sir. A threat can be even better than a sword."

"That's why you didn't speak against my arrangement with Prince Zuko," Kuei realized. "You knew, just by being out there, they'd help us." He muttered something very unkingly under his breath. "Quan, you have to tell me these things!"

"There wasn't time-" Quan caught himself, and bowed with a sigh. "Forgive me, your majesty. We'll find a way to make time." He swept a glance across the ground below, looking for patches of familiar Dai Li green. "But could we do that underground, sir?"

With a last look at dying fires, Kuei nodded, blinking at the darkness as Bon sealed their hiding place, and then again at the dim green light as Bon opened a tunnel to the stairs leading down. "So how will Prince Zuko's plan affect the Avatar's invasion?"

"I don't know, sir." Quan frowned. "It would help if I knew the plan's specifics."

Kuei felt a queasy uncertainty as they reached the stairs; Bon leading, Quan taking up the rear guard. "You don't know?"

Quan stopped on the topmost stair. "You don't know."

"Well... no," Kuei admitted. "Sokka came up with the idea, and the Council of Five sent word they were about to finish it, before Princess Azula- oh no." He swallowed dryly. "Oh, I... really feel like an idiot. She knows. About the eclipse," he added at Quan's sharp look. "They hadn't finished the plan when I... told the head of the Kyoshi Warriors."

"Ah," Quan said levelly.

"An eclipse?" Bon looked up at them both, incredulous. "You mean they're real?"

"The sun darkens, and day turns to night," Quan told him. "Only I've heard it's even worse for firebenders. They'll be powerless. Even if the Avatar hasn't mastered all the elements, he should have no problem defeating the Fire Lord."

"Exactly!" Kuei beamed. And frowned, still worried. "Though I don't know how they were going to get to the Fire Lord and still give the Avatar eight minutes to beat him."

"Eight minutes?" Quan repeated carefully.

"The eclipse," Kuei reminded him. Glanced between the agents, as their amazement turned to dread. "I know the sun is partly shadowed for a few hours, but it's only dark for... oh no." He felt faint. "Is this one of those things most people don't know about?"

...Was Bon banging his head against the wall?

"Well," Quan sighed, "if the generals did solve that problem, hopefully the answer was in those plans Katara was going to take to you, your majesty."

"So you don't know?" A chill went down Kuei's spine. "I thought part of our plan last night was to get as much as we could of the army loose."

"And we did, sir." Lifting his head from the dent, Bon grimaced. "Princess Azula beat us to them. The survivors say the Council of Five has either been executed, or deported to Fire Nation territory." He paused. "They're gone, sir."

Kuei winced. He hadn't really liked the generals, the few times he'd met them. They seemed to assume he didn't know anything.

...And yes, that was partly true, but how could he fix that if they wouldn't explain what they were doing? And why?

But he hadn't liked them, and that made him feel even worse. Because he had to put their deaths aside, and focus on what he could do for those still alive. "So we have no idea what the Avatar's plan is."

"No, sir," Quan agreed, obviously unhappy. Clenched his fists at his side, and reluctantly forced the next words out. "But we know when it comes to strategy and treachery, the Fire Princess has them all outmatched."

"Except when she gets hit by a train," Bon said dryly.

Quan snorted. "Right. Like we can... sir?"

Absently tapping the jade beads hidden under his cloak, Kuei thought about that. And, slowly, smiled.

A/N: Tai Chi moves for the train escape - Scooping the Sea while Looking at the Sky, and Pushing Wave.

Yes, I enjoyed Speed and Under Siege 2. How'd you guess?

Seriously, ever since I looked at the Avatar world map and saw how fast the Gaang got into the city by train, I've been hoping someone would write a Traintop Battle in Ba Sing Se.

"Cloth washed in fire" - ancient China (and some other areas) made some clothing out of asbestos. Given we see Earth Kingdom soldiers ducking to take flames on that wide hat of theirs, I offer that as a potential explanation for canon.