Slippery Paths

"You seem stressed," Iroh says. "Here, have some tea."

The liquid in the cup glows with pale reflected light not unlike the glow of the moon, but it's not really moonlight. The forest all around this little clearing is luminous, the trees themselves glowing like ghosts beneath the stars.

Aang takes the cup, and can't help but smile. "You treat tea like it's the fix for everything."

"Perhaps I do." Iroh takes a sip from his own cup, and his eyes crinkle with amusement. "I will consider other paths when I finally encounter a difficulty that tea can't solve. I'm sure it will happen someday."

Aang wants to laugh, but his latest problems come to mind all too quickly. Instead, he tries the tea, and finds the flavor to have a touch of sweetness that is indeed soothing. "I just don't know what to do. Governor Hige is still unconscious. Last night, Sokka, Mai, and I put together a list of the people who might be friendliest to us, and I'm going to meet with them today to see if I can get them to help me, but everyone seemed really upset with the way I ended Zuko's Agni Kai. I'm scared that I won't be able to talk to them right."

Iroh nods. "The Fire Nation today is a land that puts more weight on action than words. That can be a good thing, but only when actions are interpreted properly. Without that understanding, it becomes a land that just reflects each person's own biases."

"So what can I do?" Aang finishes his tea.

"Well, young Avatar, we are unfortunately left with having to play by the rules of the game we have joined. Certainly, meet with your potential allies, and I hope you find the words that will bring them to your side. But if that doesn't work, then you must find the action that will provide what the rulers of the Fire Nation want to see, but also guide them to a new view of what we want to show them." Iroh sighs, and puts down his tea. "I know; that's not as specific as you would like. I will think on this, and we can talk again when one of finds the answer."

Aang bows his head, and Iroh bows back.

Around them, the light of the ghost-trees reach a new height of brightness-

Aang's eyes struggled open to find the sun shining down on him through a pair of windows. He tried to move, but he was constricted. Was he trapped? Had had gotten lost in the forest? Was he-

No, he had been dreaming. He was in his room in Governor Hige's mansion on Zenmatsu Island, and the sheets of the bed were twisted around him.

Or had he been dreaming? Had that been a real conversation with Prince Iroh in the Spirit World? Iroh said he could reach people through dreams, and it had been in a dream that he had passed on directions for finding Tyro and Haru's secret Earthbending village.

Aang had thought it was neat, when Iroh first revealed that, but now he just felt uncertain. He didn't really like the idea of getting visits in his dreams from uninvited guests. It made it really hard to keep track of what was real.

But it's not like it made much of a difference right now. Aang still had some tough work to do today, and even though he knew what he wanted, he had no idea how to get it.

But then, Air Nomads didn't let a thing like uncertainty stop them. He untangled himself from his sheets and hopped out of bed. The best way to start the day was with food and friends, and as bad as things were right now, he still had both of those right nearby.


Zhao found that running a security detail wasn't much different than captaining a ship. Yes, all of the duties were completely different, but the nature of the jobs were the same- there was always some little task that needed to be completed, he was responsible for everything even when he was asleep, and disaster was always just one whim of nature away.

Also, he understood maybe half the orders he was expected to execute.

Zhao was making his way through breakfast when one of the soldiers under his command- one of the marines assigned by Prince Admiral Iroh to his mission- came into the apartment in Governor Hige's mansion that Zhao was using as an office. She said, "You wanted to see me, sir?"

Zhao nodded towards the shin-high cage that sat in the corner of the room, as well as the angry creature shuffling around inside of it. "Take that outside somewhere without letting the Avatar or any of his companions see you. Set the creature free, and make sure it doesn't follow you or come back here."

The soldier blinked. "Uh, sir?"

"These are part of a package of orders that came straight from Prince Iroh last night by wire." Zhao polished off the last of his sweet congee. "If necessary, I expect you to give your life to keep the Avatar's group from finding out that we had their lemur in a cage since an obscene hour of the morning."

The soldier bowed. "Sir!" She went over and took the cage by the handle built into the top, prompting the lemur bat-thing within to screech at her, and was soon off on her very important mission.

Zhao had no idea why he had been woken up last night to send some of his soldiers off into the city to buy that cage, or why they had to lure the lemur creature with bits of fruit and trap it while the Avatar slept. But the orders had come from Prince Iroh himself, and considering that they were in response to the report of Prince Zuko's near-disastrous Agni Kai, Zhao felt that it could have been worse.

And, at least, it was now over. Zhao set off to do the morning inspection, and then afterward he should probably make sure that the healer procured for Prince Zuko wasn't a disguised assassin. It would be a bit too humiliating for one of Zhao's most important charges to die because was he was overseeing the temporary capture of a child's pet.


At some point in the night, Zuko had lost his awareness of the pain.

It took him a long time to wake up, but as soon as he started to feel an inkling of awareness, he could not let himself succumb to sleep again. He had to know what was going on. He fought his way back to consciousness, slowly coming into new sensations- soothing coolness against his skin, a sharp but familiar odor, constricting cloths that kept him in place, a whispering whose meaning was just out of reach. At last, he opened his good eye, and looked around.

A man in the robes of a healer was leaning over Zuko, moving hands gripped around small candles over his Qi-lines and whispering a chant. They were in Zuko's room in Governor Hige's mansion. The healer met Zuko's gaze and paused in his chanting to say, "Do not disturb your bandages. I will change them and reapply the ointment later."

Ah, that explained the odor. Zuko was familiar with the Red Ointment used for burns and other injuries. It was made from different mixes of herbs, with the most prominent ingredients giving it a red color. Perhaps if Zuko had taken some more of it with him into his exile-

He nodded his agreement to stay still, and the healer returned to his quiet chanting.

But the exchange was apparently enough to disturb someone. There was a startled movement, and Zuko looked to find Suki waking up in a chair near his bed. Her eyes twitched to take in the scene before settling on Zuko. "Oh. How are you feeling?"

That's when Zuko realized that he wasn't wearing his eyepatch. He tensed at the thought of Suki seeing him like this, but then he remembered that she'd seen his empty socket before. It didn't bother her, apparently. "I'm not hurting. What happened?"

"Avatar Aang saved you. He used his Avatar power to Airbend the flames away, and declared the Agni Kai to be over. Um, you lost, but Gerel submitted to Aang and let you live. So that's good!"

Zuko appreciated her effort, but let his eye drift closed. "I failed. Gerel will never reveal who sent her to Hira'a, now." He had no idea how else to pursue his mother's fate, or to unravel the mystery of why a Weapon of the Fire Nation would be sent to destroy a Spirit Forest. Why risk creating ashlands right here in the Fire Nation? "Well, nothing to do now but continue to help the Avatar. Maybe if I stay watchful, I'll catch something-"

Suki's expression twisted, and Zuko's voice died to let the quiet chanting of the healer fill the space. Something was wrong.

Finally, Suki said, "Aang is going to need help, once you're recovered. They said your burns should heal without scars if you keep them clean and use plenty of ointment, and in a few days you can-"

"What," Zuko interrupted, "is the problem with the Avatar?"

Suki winced. "Saving you- it kind of upset a lot of the Governors. Aang is going to try to meet with some of them today to see if they'll support him, but if things don't go well, he might have to leave the Fire Nation as an enemy."

Oh.

So Zuko hadn't just failed at finding his mother. He had ruined Uncle's plans as well.

He could have let the mysteries about Mother go. He could have tried to handle it like Azula instead of declaring an Agni Kai.

But no, he couldn't. Not as he was. He knew himself that well, at least.


For once, Mai had gone into a meeting with a bunch of stuffy nobles and administrators with no fear whatsoever of being bored.

That was not the good thing she would have expected before getting caught up in Aang's life.

The others were already gathered when Mai and Aang arrived in the mansion's dining room. A line of ten people in red silks kneeled in a row on the same side of the table, ages ranging throughout adulthood but all of them wearing an expression of disapproval that reminded Mai of her parents. She wondered briefly what Mother and Father would think of Aang, if they ever met him.

(They'd probably either sell him out to Azulon or else urge Mai to marry him, depending on whose side they were supporting at the moment.)

Sokka and King Toph had wanted to come along to this meeting, and Mai would have welcomed their practicality, but there was no helping it. Last night, Aang had sent a written request for a conference with the ten governors who he guessed would be the most receptive to Avatar-groveling, and the reply specified that he and his Weapon advisor were welcome to an audience. She supposed that no one wanted to tell a Weapon she wasn't welcome, but bringing along a pair of extra (foreign) advisors probably wouldn't be the best way to kick things off.

When she and Aang had taken their places kneeling on the opposite side of the table from their hoped-for allies, Governor Leiko (the lady who had brought frozen sugar treat delicacies for the big welcoming banquet the other night) began by sliding a piece of paper across to Aang. "These are the names of everyone challenging you to an Agni Kai, Avatar. These include governors, merchants, nobles, and several servants and bodyguard acting as proxies for masters who aren't Firebenders."

Mai, of course, kept her expression blank, but she did start calculating angles on various critical tendons for all of the ten governors on the opposite side of the table.

Aang just blinked. "Um, can you say that again?"

Leiko tapped a single finger on the sheet of paper. "This is actually the easy way of handling things, Avatar. My compatriots and I wanted to give you a fair chance to address our concerns, and what better than testing your attunement to the Great Element?"

Aang leaned back and scrunched his nose. "Um, I can think of all kinds of better ways than challenging me to death duels. Look, the reason I asked to meet with you is because I think we can talk this out. If I could just explain and get us all on the same side, then we could go to the other governors and maybe fix this before anyone gets too mad."

Mai had to suppress a wince. A few days of hanging out in the Fire Nation had apparently not made Aang into a master politician yet, given how he just went and announced his agenda. But then, he had been hanging out with Zuko and Toph, so of course his sense of subtlety would have atrophied. To be honest, Mai herself probably wouldn't do any better. She'd just sound bored while being blunt, but at least she'd be self-aware about it.

Leiko actually smiled. "That's the hard way you're describing, Avatar, and you'd never convince everyone. But if you win Agni Kai matches against your challengers, then the truth and justness of your actions in Prince Zuko's favor will be unquestionable. And such a display would win you quite a bit of favor."

"But I'm not a Firebender!"

Mai said, "The Avatar means that while he definitely has the ability to Firebend, his training has only just begun and accepting an Agni Kai at this point would be an insult to the challenger."

Aang nodded. "Yeah, that."

Leiko dipped her head in an acknowledgement. "Then we seem to be at an impasse. Lady Gerel might have accepted your interference, but how can we see it as anything but disrespect for our culture? The Fire Nation admires strength, Avatar Aang, and not only did you stop a contest of strength meant to settle issues of honor, you did so on behalf of an ally who shown a considerable lack of strength so far."

Aang's frown reflected how Mai would have reacted, if she were in the habit of wearing her emotions on her face. He said, "But he finished that quest to find me and bring me to the Fire Nation."

"A point in his favor, yes." Leiko looked around at the other governors, and didn't speak again until she had gotten nods from each of them. "However, Prince Zuko was banished in the first place when his cowardice ruined his father's bid to conquer Ba Sing Se. While he was clever in bringing you to the Fire Nation without violence, it's still clearly not what the Fire Lord meant. And now losing this Agni Kai with such a poor showing-"

"Against," Mai interrupted, "a Weapon of the Fire Nation."

Leiko continued, "A show of strength is needed from your faction. The Fire Lord is strong, and he has no compunctions about projecting that strength."

Mai looked over at Aang, and found him staring at the paper with all the names of his challengers. His shoulders sagged, and she didn't miss the moisture accumulating at the corners of his eyes. He must have really thought he could fix this problem just by talking.

But then, he'd only been in the modern Fire Nation for a few days now.

Mai reached out and took the paper away from him. She noted that there were two columns of names. "There are too many challengers here to properly accept any offers. The Avatar needs time to review each name, decide which if any will offer an honorable opportunity to settle this issue, and then prioritize the matches he accepts. I suggest we end this meeting, and the Avatar will send further word when the time is appropriate."

Leiko gave a short bow. "That is reasonable. Thank you for hearing our words."

Mai bowed back. "Thank you for giving us the opportunity to listen." Jerk. She rose and pulled Aang along with her.

She had hoped he would stay quiet until they got back to their rooms, but they were barely out in the hall before he said, "I'm not really going to fight all those people, am I?"

"I don't know. I just said that to get us out of there without insulting those morons." She let go of his arm. "I'm your expert on Fire Nation culture, not a politician."

Aang actually perked up at that. "Maybe we can talk to Zuko about it! Princes are politicians, right? Maybe he'll know a way to get out of fighting. Just because he chose to get into a stupid fight doesn't mean he had to, right?"

Mai decided not to say anything. Let Zuko be the one to disappoint him.


It was a warm, gloomy, rainy day, and Katara loved it.

A bell clanged to signal a break in the work shift, and Katara closed the latch on the equipment box she had been restocking. Out here on the deck of the Fire Nation warship, light raindrops- so small that instead of falling they were driven sideways by a breeze- tickled the skin of her face and hands. She risked a brief look up at the sky, but there was no emptiness to worry her. A sprawl of gray clouds extended out in all directions, hiding even the position of the sun.

It was fairly light weather, out here on the ocean. Katara still hadn't experienced a true storm yet, but this kind of rain was welcome. Even working, she could practice feeling the water around her, letting her senses extend through her soaked clothes and out to the rain-filled air while she focused on whatever task was at hand. Master Pakku was still training her with the blindfold and the pool, as well as teaching her the Waterbending forms of the Northern Water Tribe, but Katara wasn't going to just rely on him. She wanted this for herself, and would pursue it with all her strength. She would bring the element of water into her heart.

For now, though, it was time to rest.

Katara passed back into the interior of the ship. Since getting out onto the open ocean, they had sailed north on a task for Prince Iroh. With no witnesses around, all of the Waterbenders were now allowed above decks during the day, and Katara had been happy to move to a day shift. Although the moon was a comforting source of power, she didn't want to have to rely on darkness. She wanted to build up the strength to face the bright sky of the day, and maybe go outside one day without a hat on.

Then she would have finally escaped from that cage on Crescent Island.

Plus, Ty Lee much preferred the day shifts, and Katara wanted to accommodate her friend.

Katara reached the stockroom that had been converted into their cabin and opened the door. "Hey, what did you bring to eat today?" Ty Lee was working in the ship's galley, and she had taken to bringing food back to their cabin that they could share while they talked and enjoyed a break from the otherwise all-male crew. Katara was hoping that today there was-

-there was-

-there was a young man standing in the cabin.

Ty Lee was standing next to him, and she whirled in a flutter of her Airbender nun robes to face Katara with wide eyes. "Oh, uh, hi! I didn't know the shift had ended. Um, I, uh, this isn't what it looks like!"

Katara frowned. "Really? Because it looks like you have a stowaway in our cabin who nearly got me killed once. Right, Jet?"

Jet- for it was indeed him- winced. "Your name is Katara, right? I really am sorry for that. If there was any other way to make sure the Avatar got safely off of Crescent Island, I wouldn't have-"

"Don't care," Katara interrupted. Apologies were nice and all, but she very clearly remembered how this guy had drawn swords and blocked her way onto the ship Sokka had brought to Crescent Island, preventing her and all of the other newly-freed Waterbenders from escaping the exploding volcano. Jet had declared that no one would be leaving until the Avatar was safely aboard the ship, and the fact that he had changed his mind when that Firebender girl had attacked and acted as rearguard for their escape didn't make up for the first impression.

At least, not for Katara.

Ty Lee, though, sighed with relief. "Oh, good. I thought you assumed he was my boyfriend or something."

"No, I recognize him."

"He's not my boyfriend, for the record."

"Okay."

"I don't even have a boyfriend."

"I figured."

"I'm not dating anyone."

"Ty Lee-" Katara stepped fully into the cabin and closed the door. "I want a real explanation for this. Please, tell me why Jet is here."

"Sure." Ty Lee smoothed out her robes and shrugged. "It's not much of a story. I noticed that some of the food supplies have been going missing, and I was afraid that it was some cute elephant-rats, and if someone saw them, they'd get tossed overboard or hurt or something. So I went looking the other day in the really deep parts of the ship, and I heard sounds that definitely weren't little feet skittering, so I-"

"So you found a stowaway," Katara cut in.

"Yeah."

Jet gave a little laugh. "She gave me a good chase, but it made sense when I realized she's an Airbender." He turned a smile on Ty Lee. "Good thing you're just as kind to Earth Kingdom spies as you are to elephant-rats."

Ty Lee rolled her eyes but smiled. "See, Katara? He's working for that cute King Toph. She sent him to look out for us on our mission, since we don't really know all that much about this Master Pakku guy, so-"

"No, he isn't."

Ty Lee blinked and looked at Katara. "I thought we just met Master Pakku?"

Katara groaned. "I meant that Jet isn't working for King Toph. Well, he was, but she wouldn't have sent him like this in secret. We're probably in more danger with him here than if it was just us."

Jet stepped forward. "Katara, I-"

She snapped an arm out towards him, and all of the water soaked into her clothes and beaded on her hat jumped out into the air and flew towards him. It wasn't a lot of water, but it was enough to knock him back against the wall with the porthole, and as he slipped to the floor, Katara breathed and lowered her hand, freezing the water so that he would be wrapped in a band of ice. He could probably break through it, but it would delay him for a crucial moment if he tried to attack.

Katara put her hands on her hips and leaned over him. "My brother told me all about you. About how you pretended to be a friend, but you were secretly terrorizing Mai in a blue goblin mask. He told me how you were found out and thrown in a brig, but you broke out and killed your former friends so that you could control whether Aang got safely off of Crescent Island. I want to know the real reason you're here."

Ty Lee actually growled as she stepped over to stand beside Katara, glaring down at Jet the whole time. "You were mean to Mai, huh? I don't think I'm your friend anymore."

Katara nodded with satisfaction.

Jet shivered, but managed to put his smile back on. "Look, I won't deny that I've done some hard things. My homeland was conquered by the Fire Nation. Firebenders killed my parents. I've seen people oppressed and tortured and made into slaves. So yes, I've fought back as hard as I can. Your friend Mai was lying to the Avatar at the time, and I was briefed that she was tied with the Fire Nation's Royal Family. I was told that the Avatar might be the world's only hope, so I when I had to choice between hurting some good people or making sure that the last hope survived his mistakes, I made the practical decision. I don't feel good about everything I've done, but I never made those decisions without knowing what they really were."

Katara glanced over at Ty Lee. The other girl's gray eyes and white-gold robes revealed no clue about her Fire Nation origins. Katara had no desire to argue with Jet, not after having lived the last decade of her life in a Fire Nation cage, but she would never trust such an extremist. "None of that explains why you're here."

Jet nodded. "I didn't just come up with the idea of putting on a blue goblin mask. The same people who told me about Mai's background gave me that mask. I was part of a- well, it's basically an Earth Kingdom resistance. Or that's what I thought. The Blue Spirits are warriors who work for a group of wise men called the White Lotus. The master of the White Lotus is a powerful, sacred man. He sends orders to the Blue Spirits in dreams, directing us to preserve balance and save the world from the Fire Nation. He sent me to investigate a hidden village where fugitive Earthbenders were finding shelter, and while I was there he told me that the Avatar would be coming soon, and that I should protect him at all costs."

Katara's jaw was hanging open. Dreams? But from what Aang said, that was how Prince Iroh contacted him! So- so Prince Iroh was the leader of a secret, extremist resistance against the Fire Nation?

Jet continued, "When I was captured by Fire Princess Azula, the White Lotus sent help to rescue me. I was saved by a group of Waterbenders- the same Waterbenders who eventually showed up to help the Avatar at the Ba Sing Se ashland. I was assigned to work with King Toph at the time, but now I wonder if I wasn't just there to watch for the Avatar's arrival again."

Katara stepped back and crossed her arms. "And now what? Aang went to the Fire Nation."

"Yes. I was probably supposed to go with him, but I started taking sleep draughts every night after that Commander Zhao arrived with this whole crazy deal. I didn't want to risk dreaming. If Prince Iroh is the one in charge of the Waterbenders, and he meets with the Avatar in dreams, then he has to be the master of the White Lotus, right? All this time I've-" Jet's face grew tight. "I've been working for the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation."

Ty Lee's eyes went wide, and she started to say something, but Katara quickly held up a hand to stop her from speaking. If she knew Ty Lee, then the other girl was about to let slip something that would give her away as an old friend to the Fire Nation's Royal Family.

Once she was sure Ty Lee got the message, Katara moved her hands outward to melt the ice holding Jet in place, letting the water splash to the floor. "So you snuck aboard to find out what's really going on. Me and Ty Lee being here is a coincidence."

Jet nodded, sitting in his puddle. "Down in the brig, they have that guy who summoned the monster at the Ba Sing Se ashland. Long Feng is his name. Most of the crew doesn't even know he's aboard. I don't like it when Fire Nation princes are keeping secrets. I want to find out what's going on. I want- I need to find out what I've really being working for all this time."

Long Feng was on this ship?! Master Pakku had to know about it, right? There was a Fire Nation captain and crew, but Pakku was the one getting orders from Iroh and acting in charge. Could the Fire Nation soldiers be hiding it from him? Was there a way Katara could find out? Her first instinct was to go ask Pakku directly-

No. There was no way that was a good idea.

"Okay," Katara said. She looked again at Ty Lee, and while those gray eyes were strong and supportive, they offered no answers. Katara took off her hat and threw it on the bed, and then turned once again to Jet and pointed at him. "I still don't trust you. You are to stay away from me and Ty Lee, or I'll throw you overboard myself. You don't come near us, you don't try to send or leave us messages. If you get caught by the rest of the crew, we'll say we don't know you. If you try to claim anything about us, I'll do whatever it takes to prove that we have nothing to do with you. Do you understand?"

The beginnings of a smile twisted the corner of Jet's lips. "But you're not going to stop me if I behave."

Katara sighed. "For what it's worth, Sokka believed that you really were trying to help Aang, in your own disgusting way. I won't tolerate anything Sokka wouldn't. But maybe you can be useful." She turned to Ty Lee. "Would you please help sneak him out of here? And pretend that elephant-rats really were eating that missing food?"

Ty Lee nodded. "I'm with you."

"Good. Thanks." And they would definitely be speaking more about this later, once they were alone and had the time.

Katara just hoped she was doing the right thing.

It seemed that Sokka and Aang and Mai and all the others needed her sooner than she'd expected.


Aang walked into Zuko's room and gave his biggest smile. "You're looking pretty good! Aside from all the burn marks, I mean. But they'll probably heal cleanly, so that's fine." Then he remembered the scar on Zuko's face and the missing eye. "Uh, I mean-"

Mai saved him once again by holding a hand out in front of his face. "Aang means that it's nice to see you not dead. And I suppose I agree."

Suki, sitting over by Zuko's bed, groaned. "Don't you ever just relax and act human?"

Aang tensed, afraid that an argument was about to break out, but Mai just said, "This is me relaxed and acting human. I'm pretending when I smile and speak politely."

Suki sighed.

Zuko, lying down with some pillows behind his back to prop him up, made a dismissive gesture. "Well, uh, I'm glad you both came."

"Great!" Aang skipped over to Zuko's bed. "Are you comfortable? Are they giving you good medicine?"

Zuko nodded. "This ointment they're putting on me is very good for burns. It takes away the pain and promotes healing. The bandages just need to be changed a few times a day to prevent infection." He reached his hand up towards his face- towards his eyepatch- but then shook his head and let his hand fall again. "I'm being treated well. And I owe my survival to you, Avatar."

Aang smiled. "Thanks, but we don't know that Lady Gerel really would have killed you. I just didn't want to see you getting hurt."

Zuko pushed himself up so that he his face was level with Aang's. "No, Avatar. Gerel unleashed great power, and there was a good chance I would have been too injured to recover before she even realized it. My life was in real danger, and it was your assistance that ensured my survival." Aang was about to try to brush it off again, but Zuko continued, "After our past conflicts and what I've cost you, that you acted against your own best interests to save me is a great gift. You have an honor worthy of respect, and I regret even more now the way I tried to treat you."

Aang had to break Zuko's gaze, and he twiddled his fingers together out of a need to move around in some way. Zuko's words were really nice, but Aang didn't think they were true. Yeah, he didn't want Zuko to get hurt, but there had been that confrontation he witnessed between Mai and Heiyaoshi, where Mai threatened to kill the other Weapon if Zuko died. And there was Zuko's part in Prince Iroh's plan to set the Fire Nation on the right path. Aang didn't think his own motives could be very pure with all those other concerns in his mind, especially when it was the fear for Mai that had pushed him into the Avatar state.

All he could say was, "That's too much."

Once again, Mai came to his help, stepping over and dropping herself into a free chair. "If anyone wants to return the favor, Aang has officially been handed his own Agni Kais. Everyone offended by his jumping in has issued a challenge."

Zuko blinked. "They can't do that! All those matches for the same offence? That's not right!"

Mai nodded. "But there's no one who was technically in charge of your Agni Kai, so it's a free-for-all. Gerel isn't making a challenge, so she can't represent everyone's problems. This is Governor Hige's mansion and so he owns the Agni Kai grounds, but he's been out of it since the Disciple of the Third Eye tried to blow us up. Lord Zhao is in charge now, I guess, but he's staying out of things. So there's nothing stopping everyone from stepping all over each other to challenge Aang."

That was interesting. Aang rubbed a hand over his scalp as he thought. "So could we get a magistrate or someone to sort everything out?"

Zuko leaned back into his pillows again. "Probably. But then you'd still have to fight at least one Agni Kai, and all of your challengers would get to pick a representative. What if they pick a Master? Gerel probably wouldn't do it, but she's far from the only dangerous Firebender out there."

Mai nodded. "It's classier than I expected of everyone. It's still an assassination attempt, but it's a very neat and legal one. I guess some of them really do like Aang."

Suki snorted. "I'd ask if you're joking, but if Zuko's sister is what these people aspire to be, then I can believe it."

Aang couldn't help but shudder at the thought of the Blue Fire Girl who had thrown lightning at Appa. "With my luck, they might even pick her to fight me."

There was real pain in Zuko's voice as he said, "And she might do it, too. No, we need to find another way around this problem. I'll have to think about it. I don't- I'm not really good with politics like this."

So much for Zuko being a trained politician. Despite all the trouble, Aang couldn't help but smile. "It's almost like we're a bunch of kids in way over heads."

Zuko grimaced. "I'm almost eighteen! I've been of age for a year now!"

Suki smirked. "On Kyoshi Island, we come of age at sixteen. So I might not be quite seventeen yet, but we've been adults for the same amount of time. We're contemporaries."

"Ah," Mai drawled, "the fascinating complexities of international cultures. I don't suppose Aang being a kid will help us with the Agni Kai situation?"

Zuko shook his head.

Mai stood up from her chair. "Well, then, I'm bored. I'll see you all later."

Aang shuffled over to block her path. "You're not upset because you and I are the only kids here, right?"

Mai regarded him with narrowed eyes. "Who says I'm a kid? I don't recall telling you my Dawning Day." Then she brushed past Aang and left.

Huh.

Mai could be seventeen?

He turned back to Zuko and bowed. "Um, I should go with her. I'm glad you're doing okay. Get better soon!" Then he dashed out after Mai.

She was waiting for him out in the hall, leaning against the wall. "Don't worry, I wasn't leaving you."

"Oh, good." Aang straightened his clothes and did his best to look like he hadn't just been running. "I mean, I knew that."

"I was just teasing you, you know."

"Of course." Aang wasn't sure if that meant she was kidding about being of age, and wasn't sure he wanted to ask. He still wasn't quite thirteen yet, and Air Nomads didn't draw a clear line between childhood and adulthood like the other nations did. Age wasn't as important as earning arrow tattoos, or securing the chance to lead a Reflection Gathering, or having a sky bison partner becoming a parent. Aang had his tattoos, but those other opportunities had been lost with all the other Airbenders. Maybe he could adopt a home and come of age in that culture. He liked the sound of Kyoshi Island making people adults at sixteen-

No, wait, first he had to get through this Agni Kai business. Then he could think about how to twist laws to his benefit in other ways.

Mai poked him. "You okay?"

"Yeah. I just- there's a lot of things that I need to think about."

Mai stared at him as she ran a hand through her hair. "Don't they say that the best way to come up with new ideas is to get your mind off of them for a while?"

"Do they? Monk Gyatso liked to take breaks." Aang frowned as he thought back to how Monk Tashi got mad at Gyatso over a little thing like letting Aang play some Pai Sho after finishing his practice, and High Monk Pasaang even wanted to send Aang away to the Eastern Air Temple over it. "But the other Elders didn't really like that."

"Well, I don't know, I think I just heard it somewhere. Either way, I'm saying we're taking a break right now. I'm going to show you how Ty Lee and I used to have fun when all everyone wanted to talk about was death duels and the fate the world."

Aang blinked. "Those are common topics in the Fire Nation?"

"I don't know." Mai grabbed him and began walking. Aang let himself be pulled along through the mansion hallways. "I didn't really do much listening. Do you want to go have fun before dealing with all this stupidity or not?"

Aang grinned. Yes, he did.


Mai clamped her legs on the edge of the roof, and stretched backwards so that she was dangling upside-down above the street vendor. Had her hair not been contained in a bandana, it would have been spilling all over the man. While he stirred one of his heated pots, she grabbed several pouches of fire flakes and threw them one at a time up onto the rooftop above her. She did this without sound, the vendor unaware of her presence.

He turned and leaned to work the billow on the cooking fire contained beneath his little stove-stall, and while he was out of sight, Mai grabbed three sticks of sugared fried-dough balls, holding them between the fingers of her left hand. With her right, she reached up past her tied-off shirt to her belt to get enough coins to pay for the stolen food. Before she could quite get them, she heard the vendor moving again, and quickly did an abdomen-crunch to lift herself above his rising head.

Come on-

Come on-

The vendor turned his head and called out to someone, raising his hand in greeting, and Mai took the opportunity to grab the coins. She dropped them into the man's raised hand, and before he could get over his surprise, she pulled herself back up and climbed out of sight onto the rooftop.

Ha!

She still had the touch.

Standing in front of her on the rooftop, Aang was looking at her with a mix of awe and horror. Like her, ee was dressed incognito as a peasant of Inawaka, his bald head covered with a bandana, but his shining eyes were all Airbender. "And why couldn't you have just climbed down and bought the food the old-fashioned way?"

Mai handed Aang the sticks of fried-dough balls, and then recovered her bags of fire flakes from where she had thrown them. "Because when I did this with Ty Lee, we didn't bother paying. The whole fun of it was the stealing. But you don't like that-"

Aang frowned. "That guy works hard to make and sell that food!"

"And thus my interesting way of making a purchase." Mai got back to her feet, opening one of the fire flake bags, and she had to resist the urge to dust herself off. There would be no point in these clothes, a simple set of pants with worn knees and a short shirt that had seen better days. She had bought the clothes from a servant girl working in Governor Hige's mansion, since she and Aang could hardly go have some real fun down in the harbor city if they were worried about looking nice.

She did take a moment to take off her bandana, though, and let her hair fall loose down her back.

Mai and Aang walked along the rooftops as they ate their snacks. This was what she and Ty Lee had done as kids when they absolutely had to get away from their homes. Up on the rooftops, they had been invisible, separate from everyone else in the Caldera. They had felt that way anyway, Ty Lee with her identical sisters and Mai with the parents who wished she'd been born mute, so bringing the feeling to life was a nice escape. And, of course, if they didn't have a taste for a bit of mischief, they never would have become friends with Azula.

"Hey," Aang said through a mouth full of sugared dough ball, "what's that?"

Mai turned to look down at the street, and found people gathering at a corner. There was some display going on at the center of the crowd, three people in masks and bright clothes moving around-

Oh.

One of the masked people called out over the buzz of the crowd in a high voice, "The only escape from my realm is a demonstration of skill!" The performer then swished her robe around to evoke the movement of smoke, a clear sign that she was meant to be a ghostly spirit.

One of the other tree performers pointed at her. He wore the mask of a wolf. "Very well! Take on the form of a body, that I might chop it up and feed it to the birds!"

The crowd gave a little cheer at the promise of bloody violence.

Mai threw a glance at Aang. "It's a Spirit Play. A little supernatural drama for the masses."

"No," the Ghost Woman said once the applause died down. "I will not let you sully my form with the wretched steel you stole from the humans! You have brought a friend into my realm, and he will be your undoing. Demonstrate your skill with an Agni Budokai!"

The crowd gave a collective call of, "Oooh."

"No," the Wolf Man groaned. "I will not draw steel against my beloved friend!"

"Don't worry," the friend said. He was wearing a mask that looked like some kind of rodent. "I trust your skill! Let us Agni Budokai!" Then he stuck his thumb in his mouth and made a loud sound like a sky bison breaking wind.

The crowd laughed. Bodily functions were always a popular form of entertainment.

The laughter rose as the two masked men began stabbing at each other with fake swords, the metallic paint on the wooden blades glinting dully in the sunlight. The Rodent Man dodged his companion's blade with exaggerated contortions, but when he stabbed back, the Wolf Man evaded the thrusts with something approaching real skill.

It was an ugly, unprofessional attempt at depicting an Agni Budokai, but this was a Spirit Play on the street, not the Solstice Feature of the Ember Island Players. Ash, even the Players' Late Summer Farce always had better fight choreography.

And even though this was just a Spirit Play, Mai was a bit offended. After what she went through with Ty Lee-

But before the Agni Budokai could reach its conclusion, there was a piercing whistle, and Mai saw a pair of Home Guard soldiers pushing their way through the crowd. The woman in the lead called out, "Let us pass! This is illegal superstition! You're under arrest!"

The crowd began dispersing and the guards picked up their pace, but the actors used the new gaps between the people to make their escape. With a skill that belied their early display, they flipped and jumped and twisted around the fleeing members of their former audience, moving quickly down the street and shedding their cheap costumes.

They might have even made their escape if another pair of Home Guard soldiers weren't coming from the opposite direction to cut them off.

Oh well.

But next to Mai, Aang gasped. "They're going to get caught!"

This again? Saving Zuko yesterday wasn't enough?

But no, it wouldn't be for Aang. He wanted to save everyone, even if it put him in danger.

And while Mai knew she couldn't stop it, she did have it entirely in her power to really mess up anyone who tried to hurt Aang. "Come on." She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the edge of the rooftop. "Kick up some dust to cover me." Still holding onto him, she jumped, and he floated them both down to the ground on a cushion of wind. She let go of his hand and threw herself into the crowd right at the point where the new soldiers were about to tackle the fleeing actors.

Then the winds picked up, and a wave of the dirt and dust and filth that had accumulated on the street across the ages swept over the scene. Mai had just enough time to get a fix on everyone's position before everything was lost in a miniature sandstorm.

She closed her eyes and got to work.

A shove here.

A jab there.

Grab the ankle-

Whoops, she got a handful of foot instead-

Eh, same difference-

Lift and flip-

Duck for a sweeping kick.

And then run like her lovely long hair was on fire.

When the dust settled, the actors were gone and the two soldiers were lying in the street groaning. No one seemed to be taking any notice of Mai, so she began walking along like she hadn't just assaulted members of the Home Guard, and retrieved her last bag of fire flakes from her belt.

She just took her first bite as Aang stepped out of the crowd to walk at her side. "So," he said, "that was fun."

Mai shrugged, but didn't disagree.

"Hey, what's an Agni Budokai? It sounds like an Agni Kai."

Mai couldn't help but think back several years, to black clothes and pounding drums and the smell of fire on steel and Ty Lee's body contorting around her. She popped a few fire flakes into her mouth to distract herself. "They're kind of similar. An Agni Budokai is a- a sort of demonstration."

Aang nodded. "The play used it as a demonstration of skill. They were using swords."

Mai rolled her eyes. "That was junk. A proper Agni Budokai is done with weapons that are on fire. The blades are doused in oil and lit."

Aang's eyes grew wide. "And people have a fight like that?"

"No." She felt her heart speed up at the thought. She had pretended, at the time, not to be concerned, but- "It's not a fight. It's a demonstration. The whole point is to not hurt your partner."

"Ohhhh. So those guys were stabbing at each other and missing on purpose. Um, besides them just acting, I mean."

"Exactly. In a proper Agni Budokai, there's a drummer who calls the movements. Depending on the exact kind of drumming, each participant has to strike in a certain way. A call for a stab, for example, or a diagonal slice. It gets pretty complex. You have to do the strike properly, at the same time your partner does their strike properly, and you can't touch each other with the flaming blades. It gets- it gets pretty close. There are always burns, but as long as there are no cuts, the participants pass."

"Wow. How fast does the drumming go?"

Mai popped the last of her fire flakes into her mouth, and then raised her fists and mimed beating at something fast enough to make her fists into blurs.

"Huh," was all Aang could say to that.

Mai wasn't in the habit of revealing things she didn't need to. She certainly didn't like talking about things that actually scared her. But this was Aang. "I- uh, I was fourteen when I completed an Agni Budokai with Ty Lee."

Aang stopped short in the street. "You what?"

Mai stopped as well. Aang didn't seem inclined to get moving again, so she tossed her empty fire flakes bag to the ground and leaned against the building beside them. "I did an Agni Budokai with Ty Lee. She wanted to complete one for her thirteenth birthday. She was- well, it was a family drama thing for her. She thought we were good enough to do it, so she begged me to help her. It took a lot of practice, but we managed it. Did it in front of all the guests at her sisters' birthday party. I think that's when Bangfei fell in lust with her."

Aang smiled. "Heh. That must have been amazing. But why? You said family drama, but- well, what did it really accomplish? People had to know you were already really good."

Mai snorted. "Oh, they did. But completing the Agni Budokai was what got us made into Weapons of the Fire Nation. Even though we were thirteen and fourteen, we proved we were adult enough to become soldiers. It's like what Zuko said about an Agni Kai, yesterday. People make a big deal about fire being involved. It's how warriors who aren't Firebenders can prove that they embody the spirit of fire or whatever. Ty Lee and I got in there, risked our lives and each other, and managed not to hurt each other. The whole point is to do it with a friend, like in the play, to show what you're willing to risk. And then you show that you're strong enough that it doesn't matter. In other words, anyone who does an Agni Budokai is a jerk, but a jerk who has to be taken seriously."

Aang didn't say anything. His gaze was unfocused, and he didn't seem to be listening.

Mai poked his face. "What is it?"

He blinked, and his gaze focused on her. "What if- what if I did an Agni Budokai? Would that show everyone that they don't have to fight me in an Agni Kai?"

Mai nearly fell over.

Aang?

Do a performance with flaming weapons where he and a partner all but tried to kill each other? She couldn't picture it. Hadn't she just said this was a thing jerks did? Mai herself was awful enough to risk stabbing Ty Lee, and she had taken a certain perverse pleasure in imagining her parents' reaction if Ty Lee maimed or killed her. Even Ty Lee had a mean streak, using the whole thing to stand out from her sisters and dragging Mai into what amounted to a temper tantrum.

Aang wasn't like that.

And now he was turning his pleading eyes on her.

No, he wasn't a jerk. But he'd risk himself to keep people from getting hurt. If doing this would mean he didn't have to fight an Agni Kai or mess up Prince Iroh's plan-

But he'd be risking someone else, too. And that's when she understood.

Mai kept her face blank. "You think that since I did one, I can do it again."

Aang blinked. "Couldn't you?"

"Of course I can. I was only fourteen at the time. I'm twice as good now." She leaned down so that their noses were almost touching. "You're a good martial artist, Aang, but do you think it's enough to be in the right place when I throw a knife?"

He nodded.

She held onto his gaze without blinking. "And can you swing a burning staff precisely enough to warm my face without cracking my skull?"

He jumped backwards.

He was right. An Agni Budokai would solve their problem. But that was only if they did it right, and did it successfully.

She straightened to her full height. "If you want to do this, I'll help you. We'll need time to practice, but they'll give it to us. If you want to do this, I promise you'll get my very best."

Aang breathed in.

Aang breathed out.

He said, "Do you think I can do it?"

If she said no, this would be the end of it.

But she couldn't lie to him on something this important, not again, not after Crescent Island. "Yeah. Of course you can."

He gave a single, slow nod. "Then I think we're going to do an Agni Budokai together."

Ash. "Well, have fun while you can today. This is going to take lots of learning and practice, if we don't want to get hurt. And if we succeed, we're going to impress a lot of people. By the time we're done, you're going to be a real man, Avatar Aang."

He blushed.

Better to make a joke of it while they had the chance.

TO BE CONTINUED