AN: You people recommending this story on Tumblr. I love you people. Please collect your complimentary special edition Momo Hats at the door (limit one per customer).

Chapter 27. Interlude: Teo Goes to School

"No!" Sokka shouted. "And no again! And no times infinity, which is an uncountable set of no! ...Or possibly zero, I'd have to double-check that math."

"But there might be airbenders there," Aang whined. Nay: wheedled. With those big Avatar-eyes of his, and a lemur discontentedly perched on his head like it was looking for something it had lost, and—and no! Sokka would be strong.

"We already had this discussion, Aang. We are on a schedule. Do you see this schedule?" Sokka held up the schedule, and hit the back of his hand against the schedule, and pointed to where they were not on the schedule. "We're already behind because you two wanted to get your fortunes told. And I asked, 'Are you sure this is how you want to spend our buffer days? By letting a random old lady spout off highly unspecific life advice?', and you said 'Yes Sokka, we love our magic elements so much that we believe in all magic, please let us study under the wise lines-on-our-palms-bender—' "

"That is not what we said," his sister put in.

"I was paraphrasing, Katara."

"We saved the town!" Aang also put in.

"And if you can show me proof you knew that town needed saving prior to the volcano starting to erupt, I will consider that a valid point. Until then, the point remains that if we want to make our potential kidnapping and/or adoption date and/or catch-the-Avatar-trap with Zuko, we can't go on any more detours. I don't want to have this argument every time you see a Fire Festival poster or hear a campfire story!"

Aang wilted, like some kind of airbending flower who was watered exclusively on hopes, dreams, and time-wasting side-trips. "But Sokka, that guy said his grandpa saw the air walkers just last week. These could be my people. They… they might have survived."

Sokka pinched the bridge of his nose. And then stopped doing that, because it was too soon to be picking up headache remedies from his nephew-to-be. "Aang, look. I know how much this means to you. But if there really are airbenders there, do you want to lead the Fire Nation straight to them? I promise, we can visit on our way back from the North Pole. We'll have ditched our tail by then. If these are some kind of great-grand relatives of yours, we need to keep them safe. And sometimes safe means you have to stay apart. Okay?"

And frankly, if they didn't have time to follow Bato's map and visit the father Sokka and Katara hadn't seen in two years, they definitely didn't have time to visit Aang's potential-relatives-he-hadn't-known-existed. Not when Zuko would be waiting for them, one way or another.

"...Okay."

Sokka hugged his less-adopted-but-no-less-official brother, and Katara did too, and it was a big moment of hugs all around until Sokka broke it off. "And that's all the group hug time we had scheduled for today. Back on the bison, people!"

"You scheduled group hug time?" his sister asked, with all the skepticism she hadn't had for that fortune teller.

"I also scheduled Debating the Schedule Time, but it's an in-flight activity. Come on you two; chop chop, hup hup, yip yip!"

Appa rumbled at this false flying alarm, but fortunately did not take off without them. That would have put a serious crimp in the schedule.

There would be no more totally-unimportant-to-the-course-of-this-war side-trips: the schedule must be obeyed.

Teo didn't scare easy. As the kind of thirteen year old who regularly launched his wheelchair off the side of a towering column of rock made by and for people who'd once been able to fly, 'not scaring easily' was sort of a given. His dad didn't scare easily, either: as the sort of father who attached wings to a small child's wheelchair and gave him a proud push towards a three hundred foot drop, he couldn't be.

But Teo was really scared right now, and he was counting on his dad to… not be. Because his dad was smart and amazing, and he'd think of something.

"Dad? Dad!" Teo skidded to a stop in front of the office door, his hands gripped too tightly on his wheels to shake.

"Not now, Teo," his dad called from inside. "I'm doing a very important experiment, very delicate—"

Teo rattled the handle, but it was locked. "Dad, you have to come quick! I was out gliding, kind of a little further than usual and don't be mad, and—and I saw a Fire Nation camp, a big one, with these crazy tanks and lots of soldiers, and the only thing this far out is us—"

"That's… that's terrible, Teo," his father said. "I'll just put this away quickly, must make sure it doesn't explode—"

Teo really, really wished his dad would stop playing around with natural gas at the least convenient times.

The lock clicked open. While his dad was still muttering about whoops that's unstable and be-right-out, which didn't register with Teo until he'd already wheeled inside and—

—And his dad was standing by his work table not doing an experiment at all, and someone else closed the door behind Teo.

"You must be our dear Mechanist's son," the Fire Nation man smiled. "I've heard absolutely nothing about you. What a pleasure to meet you. Teo, was it?"

"War Minister Qin," his father said. "Please."

"Dad…?" Teo was afraid. More afraid, a colder kind of afraid. For reason he couldn't wouldn't think, but he was his father's son and 'why was there a Fire Nation soldier in dad's office' really had a limited set of answers that his brain was rapidly, too rapidly, stop stop stop flipping through until the most probable conclusion was literally staring in his face. Smiling at him. Teo jerked his gaze away, back to his father. "Dad. What have you done?"

"Smart boy you have, Mechanist. He wouldn't be the reason your designs are late, would he? Children can be so… distracting."

"Please," his dad said. Again. Said it weird, and Teo realized his dad was afraid.

The Fire Nation man set a hand on the back of Teo's chair. And Teo's mind searched through the possibilities, raced through ran through speed through, if he went forward probably the man would be strong enough to stop him but if he went backwards real fast Teo could hit him, take him off guard and give them a chance, and then they could then they could—

(The man was here because his dad had let him in.)

(The soldiers in the woods were there to make sure his dad let them in.)

(If this man didn't come back then the other soldiers would attack, and it would be everyone in danger instead of just him.)

Teo stayed exactly where he was. Sometimes being smart looked exactly like being frozen.

"Here's what's going to happen, Mechanist. You are going to finish the designs. I'll be back for them in a week. Your son—"

"Please—"

"—Is going to come with me. Call it a cultural exchange. The governor of New Ozai has hired all the finest tutors for his own daughter. I hear she's only a year or two younger than Teo here. A boy like your son deserves a proper education. He is the future of the Fire Nation, after all."

"Let me come with him," his dad begged.

"You need the gas for your experiments, and the secrecy of the air temple has been a… beneficial element in our relationship. There's no need to spoil that. The boy will be perfectly safe where he's going, and I'll be sure to see he has a strict minder. Why, I'd say he'd cause more problems if left here, wouldn't you?"

"Teo won't say anything. He's a good boy, a smart boy—"

I'll tell EVERYONE, you're a traitor you're working for the FIRE NATION. But Teo was a smart enough boy not to say that. Maybe not even to really mean it, not if he had a chance to sit and think it through. If he promised not to tell, maybe he could stay. Maybe when people talked about right and wrong what they really meant was what was right for his family—

"We'll be sure he maintains regular correspondence with you, Mechanist. But I'm a busy man; I'll only have cause to stop by with his letters if you have new designs for me…"

His dad was smart. And Teo was smart. And as threats went, there was nothing subtle here.

"Dad," Teo said again.

The man let them hug. But he didn't let dad pack anything for him, because Teo was going to have an accident while flying and that was why he was gone and he was never coming back, that was why the Mechanist was going to spend all day every day locked in his study, making designs with feverish purpose as if working himself to exhaustion would bring his son back.

"Goodbye, dad."

Teo was going to school.

AN: Trivia: Helmsman Kyo was slated to die in the storm chapter. And then I remembered Teo. And I had a thought. Congratulations Teo, you have saved the life of a Fire Nation naval officer. Please enjoy your complimentary trip to New Ozai. Subplot, get!

Replies to guests:

Unnamed, ch 25: Eeeee thank you eeee! That was the nicest comment. I love the Yuyan. They are so so stoic and scary and underutilized in the real show. And I couldn't help but think "huh, how can I make them still exactly like that on the outside but actual real people, too?" And then the fun began… It makes my heart happy that people enjoyed them so much. And thank you for the vote of support. I really like the end I have planned (and the journey to get there), but I am a mildly nervous wreck for actually executing it properly. *tucks your praise under her pillow for luck*

Blair, ch 26: Thank you! I'd read a few one-or-two-chapter dead fics or one shots with younger Zukos… and my brain wanted more. And Google couldn't find me any. So I… made my own? Reading fanfic is the writing fanfic gateway drug.

Love the story, ch 26, First Edition Comment: I am looking forward to Hama with unhealthy levels of excitement. I just… I can't even. Ya'll don't even know. *vibrates with the physical force it takes to not give spoilers* Also we do not mention the movie here, that thing does not exist. *waves incense around to clear out the demons you have raised* *also crosses fingers so hard that the live action is actually good, but is trying so hard not to get her hopes up because the special effects budget needed to come anywhere close to the quality of the cartoon is going to be crazy and also if they just redo the show episode-by-episode there's no way it can compare, so are they doing new things or not? aaahhhh the horrible anticipation-fear* Re your suggestions: keep 'em coming! And no disclaimers necessary! I'm not one of those super-new-uncertain writers who you're going to make nervous with New Ideas Gasp. I have loved all your ideas, but I know the difference between "this is awesome!" and "this is awesome and would work well in this particular story!" But believe-you-me, I will file the ones I don't use away in the plot bunny bin and see if they hop out as another story someday. ;) I really do need to just make an Iroh/Toph buddy adventure one of these days, those two warm my heart… but I keep getting distracted by Zuko/Toph ideas instead, because it comes with Bonus Uncle In The Background. Thanks for another lovely comment, love that you love what I'm doing with Zuko's character, I should really stop rambling now!

Love the story, ch 26, The Comment Strikes Back: Part of me wants to say "you know, that's what having an FF account and getting story update notifications is for", but the rest of me understands the morbid satisfaction of clicking a page repeatedly, and the magical vindication of seeing it update as if summoned by the sheer force of your will. This chapter is a toast to your will. You have dragged it from the internet ether, good job!

m, ch 26: Holy crap your smiley has like fifty-two chins, maybe you need to put him on a diet. Or is he some kind of chin-Hama, locking people up and stealing their chins and stapling them to his ever-growing chin collection, and the children at night whisper tales of the wobbly-chinned shadow that haunts their town? I'm glad you like the story but I'm really distracted by those chins.