Aang sighed deeply as he sat with crossed legs looking down the hole where they had put the three fire nation soldiers they had ambushed and stripped for armour.

Now all three off them were sitting down there in what all these soldiers apparently wore under the armour. This plain black clothes that looked like it might be cotton.

Then Toph came marching in. "Foods ready." she proclaimed as she put three out of the five bowls on the ground and then stamped her foot on the ground making a little elevator sending the bowls down to the prisoners.

"Yo thanks!" A prisoner shouted.

"Hey!" Another exclaimed. "That's the Avatar. I don't think we are allowed to speak them or thank the people who caught us."

"Dude this is the first warm meal I had for two months and we are kind of screwed anyway." The first one commented.

"We're not going to hurt you." Aang assured as he looked down.

"yeah our commanding officer wont be very happy that we allowed to let ourselves get captured." The soldier replied. "They'll put us on latrine duty for like a month." he groaned.

"You could also…" Aang commented as he laid down on his stomach with his bowl looking down. "Not go back." he suggested.

All three soldiers looked up at Aang.

"What?" Aang asked.

"Dude the punishment for letting yourself get captured is latrine duty. The punishment for deserting the army is death. I'm good."

"Yeah."

"Me too."

"Wow that sucks." Toph commented as she sat down with crossed legs. "Why would you even want to be in that kind of army anyway?"

The three soldiers kind of shrugged.

"At least tell me the pay is good." Toph asked.

That made one of them laugh. "Pfff. My payment is that they wont burn down my parents farm."

"I get two coppers a week… But I haven't really had any pay out for a while."

"There isn't even a dental plan!" The third one complained.

"Would you shut up about that dental plan?" The first one asked.

"Oral hygiene is very important you know!" The third one said importantly. "And there are a lot of soldiers who neglects to brush teeths. Zhu!"

"What? I brush my teeth!" The second one exclaimed.

"Ones every third day isn't enough!"

"Yeah!" Aang exclaimed. "I brush my teeth twice a day and floss! It's very important. Monk Gyatso said so too!"

"See!" The dental obsessed one exclaimed. "Even the avatar agrees!"

The other two soldiers glared at him but finally started to eat their soup which was finished all the soon and they sighed.

"Anything I can get you guys?" Aang asked innocently as the bowls was brought back up.

"Do you have playing cards or something?" Soldier one asked. "It's boring down here."

"Sure. I'll try to find some." Aang grinned. "Just a sec!"

The three fire nation soldiers were left kind of looking at each other.

"You know… for a way to powerful maniac who massacred an entire fleet at the north pole. The Avatar seems kind of… Nice."

"Shut up Zhu." Was the reply from the others.

After a long search. Finally Sokka and his team just had to admit. Zuko wasn't in the palace. Azula had put him somewhere else.

And according to Iroh. Azula had made sure the two were separate on purpose.

So where could he be? If Sokka were to guess. Probably somewhere under ground. With the Dai Li under her control Azula did have access to top notch earth benders and they already knew of the secret Dai Li chambers under ground.

If Sokka were to guess. Zuko would be there… But also Zuko was probably highly guarded. And ones they bust him out, they would be discovered….. And they would have to leave. This city was under occupation now and the moment they were discovered they could no longer stay.

Sokka swallowed as he tried to find out how he could break his revelation to the others. Basically they could only free one person and then they would have to flee.

And that person… Had to be Zuko.

He did not want to be the person to inform Zuko that they were leaving his uncle behind. They had already done it ones before and Zuko had been very upset even then. When none of them had a choice.

Sokka didn't want to be the one to break this to anybody in their group. They had all grown very fond of Iroh very fast.

He had been so nice to all of them. Always supportive, always willing to listen and never got impatient at all.

Always wanted to make sure that every body had eaten and were well rested. Never complained himself and always thanked them for their kindness.

Yeah… Sokka didn't like the idea of leaving him in Azulas hands either…. Like Suki…. What was he doing?

Finally they made it back to their hide out where Toph was sitting at the hole pouting.

"Hi Toph." Sokka said as he pulled off her helmet.

"Hi." Toph replied as she turned up towards them. "How did it go?"

"We found Iroh." Katara informed as she and Zhau-Li took off their helmets too. "But no Zuko." she glanced down. "Where's Aang."

At that Toph pointed down into the hole and they all looked down to see Aang sitting down there playing cards with the three fire nation soldiers.

"Hi guys!" Aang beamed as he waved up. "These guys are teaching me how to play 'Knock out whist!' You need to be four people specifically so I decided to help them out! It's a lot of fun."

"I can't play." Toph muttered. "Cause I can't see what's on the stupid cards."

"Oh… Cool… I guess." Sokka blinked.

"Sorry guys" Aang grinned at his new soldier friends. "I need to go up for a meeting"

"Take your time." One of the soldiers shrugged. "It's not like we have anything to do down here."

And Aang grinned as he jumped up in a flurry of wind making all the cards fly in all directions inside of the hole making the soldiers curse.

"Sorry!" Aang called down and then turned back to the group. "You guys found anything?" he asked.

"Just Iroh. He seems to be doing okay though." Katara said. "His greatest complaint was he didn't have any tea."

"Well, I'm glad he's okay." Aang said only for the three to look down. "What?" he asked.

"We must concentrate on Prince Zuko." Zhau-Li said. "Iroh said so too. Prince Zuko must be our first priority."

"oookay." Aang said. "So we free Zuko first and then Iroh right?"

Sokka wet his lip. He had to say it… and it sucked. "Ones we freed one we will have been figured out. It'll be unlikely we will have time to free the other."

Aang was silent. So was Toph and Katara.

"What?" Aang asked.

"Sokka… How can you." Katara began.

"You heard Iroh." Sokka said. "He's not in life danger. But Zuko is. You think Iroh would ever forgive us if we compromised Zukos safety for his?" he ased.

"You think Zuko will forgive us if we leave Iroh behind?" Katara asked.

"It doesn't matter." Zhau-Li stated. "The fire nation needs Prince Zuko. Our lives are unimportant next to his."

"Hey that may be how people speak in the fire nation. But not in the water tribe!" Katara said. "Everyone has equal worth in our tribes!"

"Katara!" Sokka spoke up and earned her looks. "I hate it too. I really do." he said. "But he's right. Our goal is to remove the current fire lord and put Zuko in his place. We can't do that if we don't have a Zuko." he said. "Once that is done though. Zuko can free every body. We need to keep our eyes on the goal."

Katara halted then looked down. "Right… I just."

"But you don't even know where Zuko is." Aang whispered.

"I know where he is."

Everyone swirled around, raising their weapons and their bending as a new person stepped out from the shadows.

A girl, wearing a dress with long sleeves. Her long and shiny black hair arranged in two buns. Her face sharp and her eyes narrow like a cats as she looked at them.

"You… you?!" Sokka gasped.

"Azulas friend!" Katara gasped as she popped open her water sack. "How did you find us? What do you want?"

The girl sighed. "My name is Mai." she said. "Zuko told me you might be back in town. That he had ensured an alternative way in. Then I went to your old house and followed your tracks."

"Zuko told you?" Sokka asked. "What did you do? Torture him?"

Mai glared at Sokka. "I would never do that to Zuko."

"You have a funny way of showing that." Katara commented. "Considering how you attacked us!" he said. "And is friends with his crazy sister who wants to kill him!"

Mai glared at them. "Why do you think I am here you morons?" she asked. "All I need you to do. Is to take Zuko and go."

Stunned they all looked at Mai. "What?" Aang asked.

"So do you want to hear where he is or not?" Mai asked.

They all halted then looked at each other.

"I don't know guys." Sokka said. "It might be a trap. We can't trust her."

"ahem!" Toph cleared her throat. "Human lie detector! Right here!" she said. "Lady! Tell the truth and do it now. I will know if you are lying!"

Mais eyes narrowed.

"Do you honestly want us to rescue Zuko?" Toph asked.

Mai glared at her, then opened her mouth. "Yes." she said.

"Truth." Toph said.

"Okay…. Why?" Sokka asked.

"That doesn't concern you." Mai replied. "Take Zuko, leave and be thankful. Is that really so hard?"

Aang swallowed as he stepped forward. "Thank you. We are grateful that you would help us."

"I am not helping you. I am helping Zuko." Mai simply stated. "And when you get him out of here. You better make sure that asshole will be all right."

"You…" Katara blinked. "You care about him." she realized.

If looks could kill. Katara would have been murdered in that second as Mai glared at her.

"Listen." Mai said. "I am going to tell you where Zuko is. And I will only tell you once." she said. "Then I am going back to Azula to have dinner with her. If you go in while I am with Azula, she wont be able to know I had anything to do with it."

"You… You want to go back to Azula?" Sokka asked. "Why? You can come with us!"

"Because if I betray Azula my family goes to prison." Mai said. "My little brother is just two years old and they will take him and put him in an orphanage while my mom goes to prison. Do you think Ty-Lee and I want to follow every whim that crazy bitch have?" she asked. "She threatened to burn down the circus Ty-Lee has been traveling with. And she would do it! We all ready know she would. Nobody follows Azula because they want to!"

There was stunned silence as they all looked at Mai who had worked herself up.

Then Mai seemed to realize as well as she stood up, straightening up her back. "Take Zuko… and leave." she asked. "Just. Leave this stupid place."

Aang nodded. "We will." he said. "And… Mai. If you ever change your mind. We wont turn you away. We owe you now."

"If you just make sure Zuko is safe. You owe me nothing." Mai replied evenly. "Now. Listen closely. Like I said before. I will only tell you this once!"