According to my outline, there are about ten more chapters in this story, plus or minus a couple. We're in the home stretch...

More Than Blood Can Stand

Chapter 33: Resolve

Aang hurt everywhere.

Literally everywhere. And especially his left chest.

He put a hand up to press on it and groaned. He had assumed that after a good night's sleep, he would feel considerably better. But maybe injuries were like an extra-long training session, where the worst of the pain hit a day or two later.

He sat up, wincing, and looked around. Appa was still flying over water. Had he flown all night? Poor guy. He deserved a long rest after this.

Just over the horizon, back-lit by the rising sun, were two distinct landforms. He wasn't all that great with maps, but he assumed they must have reached the outer Fire Nation islands.

Despite the circumstances, a thrill of excitement raced through him. He hadn't been to the Fire Nation in over a hundred years. He remembered visiting Kuzon and the other hotmen, dancing to some hot beats, and challenging each other to eat tons of super spicy foods. Fun times.

Then, like a bucket of ice water to the face, he remembered that Kuzon was dead. Like all his other friends. He wished with all his being that he had just one of them to talk to, that he wasn't the only one left.

"At least I still have you, buddy," he murmured, patting the saddle.

He wandered up to the front, where Katara was holding the reins.

She smiled."You're up. How are you feeling?"

He gave a non-committal shrug and changed the subject. "Looks like we're getting close."

"Yep. If I'm reading this map right, that-" she pointed at the larger of the two islands "-is Roku's island, where his temple used to be."

That seemed like as good a place as any to rest. He sat down next to her, and they lapsed into a comfortable silence.

Appa touched down on the island and barely waited for them to jump off before collapsing in a heap and falling asleep. His soft snores and the gentle lapping of the waves on the rocky shore were the only sounds as the four of them stared at the mangled remains of what had once been Avatar Roku's temple. Lava had nearly covered it, the lava that he, Aang- or was it Roku? - had bent in order for them to make their escape. The volcano was silent now, still and cold. But the island had the feel of a graveyard.

"What do we do now?" Sokka asked.

"We need to find this Piandao guy," Toph began, but he immediately cut her off.

"I need to talk to Roku."

He hadn't known it before now. But there was a whisper in the air, a tingling in his consciousness, that made him feel it wasn't a matter of chance that they were here.

"How are you going to do that?" Katara tugged on her hair and creased her brow. "It's not the solstice, and anyway the temple is destroyed."

He bit his lip. "Avatar Roku said that if I needed to talk to him, I would find a way. I guess I need to figure out that way. I wish I could get inside, though. It would help, I think, to be in the temple."

"Then you shouldn't have destroyed it in your little temper tantrum," Sokka joked.

"What are you three dunderheads talking about?" If Toph's eyes hadn't been vacant and sightless, she might have rolled them. "The temple isn't destroyed."

"You weren't with us," Katara began patiently. "Aang went into the Avatar State and he - or Avatar Roku - or - well I'm not exactly sure how to describe it, but there was a lot of lava and he brought the whole thing down."

"I can see it with my own two feet. The structure is preserved; it's only filled with volcanic rock. Earth, you might call it."

Toph brought her hands in front of her in a wide circle, then lifted up with great effort. The island rumbled beneath their feet, and Aang felt a twinge of embarrassment.

"Earthbending. Right. Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because you've been slacking in your training." Toph's voice was strained with effort. "All day tomorrow, no excuses."

With a final tug of her arms, the earth split with a loud crack. The temple rose up out of the ground, foot by foot until it rested with a shudder on its new foundation.

Toph's hands formed into fists. She made motions like she was punching an invisible enemy, and volcanic rock flew out of the windows and doors. He, Sokka, and Katara ducked as one boulder flew uncomfortably close to their heads. The ground around them shuddered with the impact.

At last the rocks stilled, and Toph dropped her hands and walked towards the entrance as if uncovering a buried building was something she did every day. Aang exchanged a glance with Katara and Sokka, shrugged his shoulders, and followed Toph.

The temple didn't quite look pristine, but it was whole and seemed sound enough. The inside was scarred from the lava, the paint and decorations burned off the walls, and there were occasional gougees in the larger structures that had come off with Toph's earthbending.

When they reached the upper floor of the temple where Roku's statue was located, the doors to the inner sanctuary were torn off. Not that it should have surprised him - he had vague memories of blowing the doors off their hinges while in the Avatar State - but the destruction was uncomfortable to see. Some of the pillars had been split in half, and the ceiling was sagging ominously in parts.

"You really did a number on this place, Twinkletoes," Toph said, laughing. "Remind me not to get on your bad side."

"Yeah," he muttered. "That's probably a good idea."

It was embarrassing to see the damage he had wrought without even meaning to. He hadn't had any control over what he had done. It was as if Roku had used him as a puppet.

The four of them entered the inner sanctuary, which had fared better than the hallway outside. Other than Avatar Roku's statue ignominiously lying facedown on the ground, it had been spared destruction.

Aang stared at the statue, and then up at the ceiling, where the light was entering through the window. "Monkey feathers! Even if the statue was sitting on its pedestal, the light wouldn't hit it in the right spot. What are we going to do now?"

Katara put an arm around him. "Roku said you would find a way, and I know you will."

"Maybe."

Sokka kneeled on the ground next to it."What part of the statue does the light need to hit?"

"Right in the center there." He pointed. "When the light hit there on the solstice, his eyes started glowing and I went into a sort of trance where I talked to him."

Sokka looked up at the window, then at the statue. "Does the statue have to be on the pedestal, do you think, for it to work?"

"What do you mean?"

But Sokka was already three steps ahead. "Toph, help me move this thing."

"Where to, ponytail?"

"Up and to the left."

With her metalbending and lots of frustrated "no, that's too far" and "just a little more up… a little more…" type statements from Sokka, they managed to position the statue in a completely different section of the room, hanging suspended in the air, where the light hit the statue in just the right spot.

Aang had approximately two seconds to appreciate Sokka's genius - he would never have thought of doing that, even if he could metalbend - before the glow from the statue's eyes sent him spiraling into a trance.

He was once more on the top of that dream-like mountaintop, and Roku stood before him.

"I did not expect to see you here again, Aang," he said pleasantly. "After my temple was destroyed, I assumed this space would also disappear."

"My friend figured out how to make it work again," he said proudly.

"Yes, I can see. You went to great lengths to find me here. What is it you need to talk to me about?"

Aang threw his hands up in frustration. "I don't know what to do. Every time I fight the Fire Nation princess or their archers I lose, and if I can't beat them, how can I beat the Fire Lord? And I'm no closer to finding this great-grandson of yours who is supposed to help me, and we've lost Zuko and Mai, who were our only chances of finding them, and we don't have an army, and it's almost the Day of Black Sun, and-"

"And you need my wisdom?"

He took a deep breath and let his head fall into a bow. "Yes. I need your wisdom."

Roku laughed softly and sat down on a grassy spot on the mountain. "Very well. We have all the time we need right now. Let's begin by talking about the Avatar State."

"The only option now is to follow the Blue Spirit," Ling said, slamming his fist into his palm for emphasis. "The Avatar is injured, so he's not a great threat, and we don't know where he's headed anyway."

"We can track the bison-"

"I want Zuko," Azula interrupted Ty Lee. "Not the Blue Spirit, not the Avatar. Other people can find them and deal with them. Zuko is the biggest threat."

"We have to find him first," Ling said. "If no one knows where he is, it's just a wild goose-turkey chase."

Mai had been lounging on the grass in the clearing and doing her best to stay out of the argument. Anything she said would make her more suspicious in Azula's eyes, and she really couldn't afford that right now. She would have to be flexible no matter what they ended up deciding.

But Azula wouldn't allow her to remain neutral. She turned a searing glare on Mai. "So where is he?"

"How would I know," she said. "I haven't seen him since we had that fight. I assumed he would go back to the Avatar." She shrugged. "Obviously he didn't."

Azula scoffed. "You're useless to me."

"So far." Mai lifted a corner of her mouth in what she hoped was a careless smirk, but her insides clenched painfully. She was failing to win Azula's trust. She had to - she must - get Azula to believe her. Otherwise, she could be of no help to Zuko.

"That's unfair, Azula," Ty Lee said. "Mai led us right to where the Avatar was. It's not her fault Zuko wasn't with them, or that they escaped."

Actually, both of those things were her fault, but Mai was heartened by Ty Lee's support. She really was a good friend.

"Oh, I suppose not," Azula sighed. She stood up, crossed her hands over her chest, and began pacing.

Mai, too, began thinking. If Zuko was Blue Spiriting around the Earth Kingdom, did that mean he would miss out on the Day of Black Sun? Maybe that is where she ought to be leading Azula, back to the Fire Nation. If the Avatar recovered and he and his friends managed to meet up with Piandao, there was still a good chance they could defeat Ozai on the Day of Black Sun. If she could maneuver so that she was there, too, it could help tip the scales in their favor.

Or it could do the opposite. Azula and Ling were formidable even without their bending, and Ty Lee was one of the most powerful non-benders in the world. She wasn't so vain that she thought a little bit of deception and her knife skills outweighed the three of them.

What she needed was intelligence and guidance. She needed to speak with other members of the Order of the White Lotus. And she knew of several contacts in the southern Earth Kingdom. If she could draw Azula that way, while still managing to steer clear of him…

She tapped her finger against her chin, as if in deep thought. "You know how Zuko can get. He probably feels betrayed by me." She rolled her eyes and gave a short, nasty laugh. "If he didn't rejoin the Avatar, that probably means he went someplace to sulk by himself, as far away from them as he could. That would put him somewhere down south."

"You're guessing." Azula scowled. "He could have gone in any direction."

She shrugged. "Until someone spots him, any guess is as good as another. We can either pick a direction and try, or we give up finding him right now."

"I think Mai's right, Azula," Ty Lee said, her face unusually serious. "We have no leads, and she knows Zuko better than the rest of us."

"And the Blue Spirit was last seen in that general direction, at the fortress near the Si Wong Desert. We might be able to kill two birds with one stone."

Mai suppressed a shudder. She hoped Ling never found out how accurate those words were to this situation.

But the hard look had finally gone from Azula's face. She was convinced.

Zuko leaned his head back against a tree trunk and closed his eyes, hoping for sleep to come soon.

A shallow cut on his left shoulder burned from where an arrow had barely nicked him, and his right ankle smarted from where he'd twisted it when he jumped off the rope line. Not that he had told any of the others about this. He was the Fire Lord to them. He needed to be capable.

No, more than that. He needed to appear invincible.

He would feel better after sleeping.

If only the others would let him.

"Who knew treason could be so fun," he heard Ha Joon shouting from the fire.

He cracked an eye to view the scene. It wasn't quite revelry, but it was clear that the four Yuyan archers were used to celebrating victories. There had been raucous songs, hearty laughter, and even a bottle of persimmon wine that had appeared, seemingly from nowhere.

Linghua and her parents sat around the fire with the rest of them, not quite participating, but smiling and enjoying the fun.

"Is it really treason, though, if you're following the Fire Lord's orders?" Lee broke into guffaws, obviously very pleased with his wit.

"That only matters if you get caught," Julong said, and the others roared in agreement.

It was too much for Zuko. He stood up and walked further into the woods. He found another tree, slid down it, and closed his eyes, glad to be alone.

"My lord? Is something wrong?"

He almost groaned in frustration, but instead he opened his eyes - again - and gave Ryu an exasperated look.

"I'm sorry." He held up his hands defensively and took a half step backwards. "You probably don't want to be disturbed, but I couldn't help noticing that you haven't been yourself all evening."

"Myself? What do you know of who I am?"

"Not much," he admitted. "But from what I know, you're not usually this…" He paused, apparently searching for the perfect word. "Unhappy."

He could have snapped out an order to leave him alone, or a sarcastic reply about how he was never happy. But for some reason he didn't understand, he answered truthfully.

"I hate this. They're my people, my soldiers. And how many of them did I kill today? It's not their fault Ozai is giving the orders. It's not their fault they were doing their jobs." He ducked his head. "I don't want to slaughter them."

"That's understandable." Ryu sat down across from him. "No one enjoys killing, and especially not their own side. Civil wars are terrible for everyone."

"The worst part is that I was doing this not to undermine Ozai or to win the war, but to break two Earth Kingdom peasants out of jail. How is that justifiable?"

"Technically, since the fall of Ba Sing Se, the Earth Kingdom is under the control of the Fire Nation. You're their Fire Lord, too."

This thought cheered him slightly. "I suppose that's true," he murmured.

"So," Ryu said, rubbing his hands together. "What's the plan now?"

"We need to meet up with the Avatar. We'll be late, but they had planned to stay there for a few days. We should be able to get there before they clear out."

"And what is the plan after that?"

Zuko's lips narrowed grimly. "Then we take down Ozai on the Day of Black Sun."

"It's about time." They both looked, startled, up as Ha Joon flopped down on the ground next to them. "Did I tell you what my sister said in her last letter? She said Ozai imprisoned his own wife."

"Princess Ursa?" Ryu asked, aghast. "What did she ever do?"

"Who knows, but…" Ha Joon trailed off and stared intently at Zuko. "Is something wrong, my lord?"

His hands were trembling, and he was sure his face had drained of color. Mother. If Father had harmed one hair on her head… His breathing sped up, and he saw red.

"We have to rescue her."

"What?" they both said together.

But Zuko was beginning to gain control, his anger giving him focus. "That is our first priority, before we face Ozai. We have to ensure that Princess Ursa is safe."

They looked at each other, clearly not following his logic. It wasn't logical, Zuko knew that. Defeating his father would mean that his mother would be safe again. There was no need to take the extra risk of yet another jail break, which would give his father's forces a warning that he was back in the Fire Nation.

It didn't matter to him. This was his mother. He would not be able to fight his father if he was worried for her safety.

All at once he couldn't wait to join back up with Aang and the others. They would understand why this was a priority. They would help him.

"Come on." He stood up and walked back to the fire. "We have a lot of planning to do before we go to sleep tonight."

The next morning, after sending Linghua and her parents on their way with strict orders to the adults to be careful what their daughter said about the Blue Spirit, the rest of Zuko's group continued north. They moved quickly, covering twice the ground in a day that the Avatar and his group had on foot - the archers had been trained for quick troop movement - and so it took them only two days to reach their destination.

But they had still been too late.

The clearing was scattered with unnatural rock outcroppings, scorch marks, and fallen tree branches.

"There was a fight," Lee murmured, unnecessarily.

Julong bent to examine a particularly well-trod section of the ground. "It looks like it didn't last long before the Avatar's group left."

"Can you tell how long ago it was?" Zuko asked, knowing the others had more experience in tracking than he did.

If it had been recent, there was a chance they could still catch up to them at Jeong-Jeong's camp. But somehow, even before the others answered, he knew what they would say. The whole place had an abandoned feeling to it.

"Two, maybe three days ago," Julong said. He pointed to a footprint in the dirt. "You see how the soil is dry and hard? If it had been a recent fight, it would be darker and wetter than the undisturbed ground. But it isn't. And you see the tree branch here?" He poked it with his foot. "It was obviously brought down in the fight - you can see the blade marks here near where it broke off from the tree - and the edges are already starting to dry out and turn brittle."

Blade marks…

He bent down to give them a closer look. They were three of them, short and deep, puncturing the wood instead of scoring it. Not the kind of mark made by Sokka's machete or boomerang. This kind of mark was made by a precision blade, like an arrow.

Or throwing knives.

So Mai had made it back to the Avatar's group safely. He was surprised at how relieved he was at this thought.

Pushing it to the back of his mind, he stood up and turned to the others. "If the Avatar left here two or three days ago on Appa, we won't catch him before he reaches Jeong Jeong's camp."

"So we meet them there," Ha Joon shrugged.

Julong shook his head. "And what happens if we can't get to the camp before they leave? How are we going to get to the Fire Nation before the Day of Black Sun?"

"It's not like we have other options," Ryu said. "If we hurry we might still make it. And if we miss them, well-" he gave Zuko a sideways glance "-that's one less dangerous situation we have to protect the Fire Lord from."

Zuko's lips thinned. He didn't want to miss out on it. He wanted to be there when his father was defeated, to be there to help the nation heal and reinstate his Uncle as Fire Lord. And he needed to rescue his mother.

Julong was right, they wouldn't make it there on time. The plan had been to find Piandao and enlist his help, which meant they would try to get into the Fire Nation well before the eclipse. He and his archers would need to find another way across the ocean. But how?

"The war balloons," he whispered to himself. Of course.

"The what?" Ryu asked.

A grin began spreading across Zuko's face as he calculated the time it would take to make the trek back to the Northern Air Temple. It was about equidistant to Jeong Jeong's camp from their current location, though over much more difficult terrain. If they pushed themselves, they could still make it.

"We don't have a lot of time," he said, hefting his pack over his shoulder. "I'll tell you on the way."