Kidah's POV

Zuko's hands are tracing small patterns up and down my back. I inhale deeply, wanting to savor this moment. I stretch lightly in his arms. "Good morning, Princess."

"Mhmm," I grumble into his chest.

"It'll be sunrise soon. We need to get ready to leave," he whispers.

I push myself from him a little and pout. A smirk graces his lips before he moves so quickly, I could barely see it. He takes my bottom lip in between his teeth, causing me to yelp. He passionately kisses the pain away and pulls me back down to the pillow. Zuko's body hovers over mine. "I'd much rather stay in bed with you all day, but we have responsibilities."

I sigh in frustration, "well, I'm pretty damn awake now." He chuckles and climbs off the bed. Handing me my clothes, I take full advantage of my view. As if he could tell, Zuko put his clothes on slowly. I could sit there for hours and watch his muscles strain while he took his shirt off and on.

Blowing out my cheeks, I get dressed too. I sit on his bed and take out my braids, sure they're messed up from a good night's sleep. He sits at the desk and watches as my deft hands skillfully release my long hair. "What if we don't find anything?" he asks with a disappointed look.

"Then, Aang goes into the Spirit World to ask Roku or one of the other Avatars," I say without giving it much thought. Surely, one of them had heard of such an issue with a firebender. "We're going to get your bending back, Zuko." I finish my last braid and run my fingers through my loose hair. "I could always just 'hold out' forever, and you'd be utterly sexually frustrated. You could pull your rage from that," I smirk.

He rolls his eyes and hands me my crown. "I think rage would consume us both if you did that."

I laugh lightly, standing to stretch some more. "Let's get moving, then, before I devour you like the snack you are." His mouth drops a little as I sashay out of the room. I stop in the doorway, but he just stands there, staring at me. "Come on!" I usher him with my hand. He shakes his head lightly and begins to follow me.

A sleepy Aang found his way to us and Appa. I had already gotten a few pieces of fruit in a pack with some water in case we were there all day. Poor guy was not a morning person. He just kind of gave us a wave and bended himself up to Appa. We barely had time to climb aboard before he said 'yip yip' with a yawn. As the sun rose, Aang became more and more awake. He'd point out sea creatures from below excitedly. In the meantime, I just watched the clouds as they formed around us.

"We've been riding for hours." Zuko complains, "I don't know why, but I thought this thing would be a lot faster." I laugh as Appa growls in response.

Aang pats his companion, "Appa's right, Zuko. In our group, typically we start out our missions with a more upbeat attitude."

He looks to me, "I can't believe this."

I shrug, "just relax."

"Don't worry. You'll get the hang of it," Aang calls from Appa's head.

Soon, we reach an island filled with beautiful ruins. Even from the sky, we could see the multi-level elevated platforms, massive step-pyramids, corbelled roofing, and exteriors decorated with sculptures and mouldings. I was filled with anticipation, getting to see this ancient city.

As we descend, Zuko and Aang both lean off the sky bison for a better look, "Whoa!" They say in unison. We land in a grassy valley and begin the trek to the ruins.

"Even though these buildings are ancient," Zuko says as he reaches the first building, "there's something eerily familiar about them. I can tell the Fire Sages' temples are somehow descended from these."

"Ok, we learned something about architecture." Aang starts to walk ahead of us, "Hopefully, we'll learn something about firebending too. The past can be a great teacher."

He suddenly yells in surprise. The ground in front of us drops to reveal a bed of black, deadly spikes. Aang exhales a huge gust of air from his mouth to prevent himself from falling into the trap and propels himself across it, landing rather shakingly on the other side. He struggles to control his balance, flailing his arms about, then pushes himself forward and regains control.

Aang looks at us, frightened, "Zuko, I think the past is trying to kill me."

Zuko kneels down and inspects the trip wire Aang must have hit, "I can't believe it. This booby trap must be centuries old, and it still works."

Aang looks to me for help, "There's probably a lot more. Maybe this means we shouldn't be here."

Before I can say anything, Zuko takes a step back and starts to run up the wall, landing in front of Aang. He dusts himself off, "Where's that upbeat attitude you were talking about? Besides, people don't make traps unless they've got something worth protecting." He turns to me, "Come on, Princess."

I take water from my back and form an ice bridge across the spikes. I slid across it, meeting him face to face. "After you," I bow. Aang giggles beside me, but I can see the pinkish glow on Zuko's cheeks.

We come across a particularly elaborate building. Aang runs and points up to it, "Look. This seems promising." I follow his finger to see a carving of a person in the middle, surrounded by concentric circles of fire breathed out by two dragons on either side of him. "Though I'm not sure what this tells us about the original source of firebending."

Zuko sounds discouraged, "They look pretty angry to me."

The Avatar tilts his head questioningly, "I thought the dragons were friends with the Sun Warriors."

"Well, they had a funny way of showing it." I walk around to observe our surroundings, but couldn't help feeling watched.

"Zuko, something happened to the dragons in the last 100 years. Something you're not telling me."

I hear him sigh, "My great-grandfather Sozin happened." I follow the boys across a stone bridge with dragon protrusions at the side. "He started the tradition of hunting dragons for glory. They were the ultimate firebenders. And if you could conquer one, your firebending talents

would become legendary, and you'd earn the honorary title 'Dragon'. The last great dragon was conquered long before I was born, by my Uncle." My skin prickles at thinking of Iroh doing harm to an innocent.

Aang seems to have the same problem, "But, I thought your Uncle was, I don't know, good?"

"He had a complicated past. Family tradition, I guess." He adds sarcastically, "Let's just move on."

We approach large golden doors, and Aang runs up to them. He pushes with both hands, then looks back to us, "It's locked up."

I circle around them to look for some type of clue. I notice a red beam that flashes across the back of Zuko's head. "Zuko," I call his name to get his attention. He turns to me and notices the light, and I point to the red jewel sitting on top of a column behind us.

"Wait," he smiles knowingly, "It's a celestial calendar. Just like the Fire Sages have in their temples. I bet that Sun Stone opens the door, but only when sunlight hits it at just the right angle, on the solstice."

"Monkey feathers!" Aang calls out, exasperated. "The solstice again? We can't wait here that long."

I watch Zuko as his mind works over their situation, "No we can't." He unsheathes one of his dao swords and lays it in the path of the red beam. "But, we might be able to speed time up. Let's see if we can outsmart the Sun Stone."

He slowly adjusts his sword. The beam of light moves shakily across the doors and successfully hits the Sun Stone. It glows brightly. I smile with pride.

"Nothing's happening," Aang deadpans.

"Just give it a second," I tell him. The ground starts to shake and the door opens.

He picks up his staff, "You know, Zuko, I don't care what everyone else says about you," he nudges him, "you're pretty smart."

Zuko's smile is so wholesome it makes my heart ache. I follow Aang into the temple. He approaches a figure in the dark and gasps.

"Relax. They're just statues," Zuko calls from the other side of the room.

I look around and see a ring of statues in various fighting positions. Aang scratches his head and reads the description at the foot of the statue, "It says this is something called The Dancing Dragon." He lays his staff against the statue, takes a step-back and imitates the crane-posture of the statue. A plate sinks under his feet as he does so. Aang takes a step off the plate to observe it and the plate moves back into position. He looks around at the remaining statues. Understanding dawns on me.

I run to Zuko and grab his arm, pulling him towards Aang, "Zuko, get over here. I

want you to dance with Aang."

He pulls back his arm in shock, "What?"

"Just do it," Aang and I say together. I smile at my friend and pull Zuko to his starting position. He groans at what he assumes are my antics.

"Follow the steps of the statues together," I tell them. Both of them step on the first plate and move on to the next. I watch as Zuko's boot steps on the second plate. He looks up at me, surprised.

"Don't you see?" Aang calls from the next position, "These aren't dance moves. These statues are giving us a lesson. I think this is some kind of Sun Warrior firebending form."

Zuko punches the air, before spreading his arms in a low arc above his shoulders. "This better teach us some really good firebending."

The final pose has them both bending at the torso towards each other. Their fists outstretched beside them. A sound echoes off the walls and a hole appears in the centre of the room. A pedestal with a golden egg-like object ascends from the hole and glints in the light.

Aang raises both arms in victory, "Hurray!" He rubs his head, confused. "Wait. What exactly is that?"

Zuko and I run up to the pedestal, "It's some kind of mystical gemstone." His hands reach for the golden egg. I grab his arm. "Zuko, no! Don't touch it."

He stops, "Why not?"

Aang peaks over my shoulder, "Remember what happened out there with those spikes? I'm kind of suspicious of giant, glowing gems sitting on pedestals right now."

Zuko ignores us and removes the gem stone off the pedestal. "It feels almost alive." He tries to put it back and yells in surprise as a jet of green goo spurts out from the pedestal. It pushes Zuko towards the grating in the ceiling, sticking him there.

"Damn it, Zuko!" I yell trying to run away, but the doors close.

"Oh, no, it's another trap!" Aang says as he backs away from the pedestal that is still flowing green goo.

"Ugh, I can't pull free. It's like some kind of glue." I look up to see Zuko struggling as he calls down to us.

Aang jumps across the goo to grab his staff on the other side of the room. He jumps up on the statue's head and airbends a strong gust of wind toward Zuko in an attempt to free him. The force from the wind only pushes Zuko from his back to his front but he is still stuck.

The goo is rapidly rising. I try to bend it and to my surprise, it works. I push myself up to Zuko to try and pull him down, but Aang's body soon lands on top of mine. The goo traps him around me, preventing me from moving or bending. All three of us are pressed up against the grate.

"I can't move. Zuko, do something!" Aang says in my ear.

"Me? I can't move either!"

I groan in discomfort as the pressure of the goo pushes Aang into me. My breasts push against the grating painfully.

"It stopped." Aang says. I'm honestly surprised he can breathe right now. I try not to think about how awkward this is with his body pressed against mine. I swear if he gets a hard on right now, I will never let him live it down… I think angrily to myself.

Zuko's pinky touches mine, "At least we have air. Maybe if we stay calm we can figure a way out of this."

Hours pass and the sun begins to set. "You guys," I mumble in pain. "I'm not trying to make this about myself or anything here, but… These bars really hurt my chest." I already knew my breasts were going to be bruised. "We've got to do something."

Aang sighs against me, "You had to pick up the glowing egg, didn't you?"

Zuko's voice is full of irritation, "At least I made something happen. If it were up to you, we'd never have made it pass the courtyard."

"Help!" I yell. Aang joins me, "Help!"

"Who are you yelling to? Nobody's lived here for centuries." Zuko chastises us.

"Well, what do you think we should do?" Aang asks.

"Think about our place in the Universe?" He suggests.

"I really want to punch you again right now," I try to make my voice menacing, but it just sounds pitiful and empty.

A few minutes pass before a voice booms above us, "Who is down there?" We all jerk in fear at the sudden noise. A man in tribal gear wearing a Chieftain's hat and warpaint on his face comes into view.

A laugh escapes me, "I knew we were being watched!"

The chief tilts his head at me, "Bring the anteaters up here. Then, bring the intruders down to the front of the temple. We will decide what to do with them there."

Four men appear with moose anteaters that lick us with their long tongues. Soon, my hands are free enough to where I can bend myself loose from the grates. I hold my breasts in my hands and wince. I step away from everyone and take some water to try and heal some of the damage to my tissue. Zuko steps up behind me, still being cleaned by the large animal.

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

Pushing the water back into my canteen, I look at him. "Its not your fault I have breasts," I reply drily. His cheeks blush as he nods. "Lets just go talk to this guy and see if we can keep him from killing us." I give his ass a little pinch as I pass him, so he knows I'm not too mad.