Waiting was boring and pointless. Toph amused herself by making creases in the metal floor of their prison and straightening them out, her fingers molding the material as if it were clay. It was surprisingly easy now that she figured it out. It was crazy that nobody thought of it before. You just had to ignore the big blotches of darkness of the metal and concentrate on the tiny grains of mineral embedded into the material. It was a bit like being blind; concentrating on not seeing was how one was truly unable to see, but focusing on the small pockets of sensations and vibrations in the endless nothingness helped make sense of the world.

She had no idea how long Zuko's been gone. The guards came earlier to take him for questioning. It was kind of offensive that the Dai Li agent wanted to talk to him first. As if a Fire Nation prince was somehow more important than the greatest earthbender who just figured out how to bend metal. You'd think they would want that knowledge. Well, ok, they didn't know that Toph knew. But still...

The damp rotten smell of the prison penetrated her nose as the cell door opened with a loud creak.

"Zuko?"

A loud, derisive snort was the response. "I'm sorry it's not your boyfriend. Just lunch. Though if you ask me, we shouldn't bother feeding a sewer-possum-rat like you."

"He's not my boyfriend," Toph snapped back angrily. How dare this idiot?

"You should be ashamed of yourself - consorting with the enemy. Traitor," he spat.

"I'll make your head consort with a rock, you idiot," Toph snarled back at him. If he thought she was going to be intimidated, he had no idea who he was facing. The Blind Bandit didn't become Earth Rumble champion without picking up some pre-match trash-talking skills. "He's not like that."

"They are all like that. You let them close and you get burnt." Toph felt something hot pouring into her lap, burning her thighs.

"Ouch," Toph cried out in pain. "Watch what you're doing, bampot."

"Sorry, my hand must have slipped," the guard sniggered on a voice that sounded like he was not sorry at all. "If you can't stand the heat, you shouldn't get close to the fire. It doesn't matter. I'm sure the Dai Li will take care of you."

What a dumb-stick.

"At least I won't have to smell your stinky breath anymore. It's worse than the bottom of the latrine."

The guard huffed. "I see your mouth is just as filthy as it was. But look at you. Nobody misses you. Nobody is coming to find you. Here, inside the metal cell, you are nobody. You are nothing. Just a helpless, filthy, ugly, blind little street-urchin."

The metal door closed shut with a bang.

Toph exhaled furiously. She itched to shove a big metal ball into the guy's mouth just to shut him up and show him how wrong he was about her. But she had promised Zuko that she would not make any trouble. It was a promise she had already regretted. Who needed a plan? It was always the same anyways. Smash their heads, punch them in the gut until they couldn't get up.

Her stomach was painfully empty. She tapped her hand around the floor for the bowl to find out if there was anything left in it. She found it upside down and empty. The spilled soup spread over the cold floor in a thin, disgusting layer of wet grease. She wiped her fingers into her clothes.

After making her way to the opposite corner, she punched the metal then straightened it again and again. This idiot. He will see. They would all see what she was made of. His words didn't matter.

Still they cut deep inside her stomach like sharp stones, making it hard to breathe.

What if it was true? What if nobody missed her?

She wondered what her parents were doing now that they didn't have to spend so much time and energy hiding her from the world. Was her mother feeling sad and scared that she was all alone out there? Was her dad angry and ashamed? Were they talking about her at all? Or more likely they just went on pretending that she never existed. A lot like Toph was pretending not to notice the tear that was pooling in the corner of her eyes.

-0-

Thirty-two steps. Right turn. Forty-five steps. Left turn. Zuko tried to commit to memory the layout of the prison.

Knowing your battlefield is the first step to a successful battle, Prince Zuko. It was one of the things Iroh used to say under the pretense of trying to teach Zuko how to be a good leader. The vily old man was just probably sick of having to get Zuko out of trouble that somehow always seemed to find him.

The stone shackles dug into the skin of his wrists and legs and the blindfold over his eyes made the recon quite difficult, but Zuko kept counting the steps and the turns. After two more left turns, they came to a halt.

Zuko let out a surprised yelp when the ground started to sink under his feet. He was so sick of earthbenders and their stupid tricks. They were going down, but Zuko had no way of knowing how far. He fell to his knees when the rock came to a sudden halt. Rough hands grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved him forward. There was a loud rumbling of rocks, like a wall crashing and someone ripped the blindfold from his eyes. Zuko blinked into the blinding light. The contours of a man with a hat like a bizarre mushroom appeared in his line of vision. The Earth Kingdom had the worst hats. Zuko knew that from personal experience as he had been forced to wear them while his hair was growing out.

The man stepped closer, towering above him threateningly. Well, it's not like he hadn't stared down scarier people.

You mean Dad? - Shut up Azula.

Zuko let out a controlled breath to get rid of those treacherous thoughts. Azula even in his imagination knew how to be as annoying as possible. Zuko could not waste his energy fighting off her lies, he had to keep his composure. He was the Fire Prince and it was his duty to show these people he wasn't scared. He straightened out as much as the stone shackles allowed him and put on his scariest scowl.

"Prince Zuko," the Dai Li agent snarled. "I have to say, I never imagined finding you here, in a dusty corner of Earth Kingdom."

That was one thing they agreed on. Zuko had never in his worst nightmares thought he would end up here. But the agent didn't need to know this, so he kept his mouth shut, in accordance with the rules of the Military Handbook.

"I wonder what you have done to have fallen so far from grace," the agent continued, circling slowly around Zuko like a predator.

Zuko kept his gaze defiantly on a spot on the opposite wall and didn't say anything.

"But a disgraced prince is still a prince. I'm certain the Grand Secretariat will find good uses for you," the agent continued. Zuko tried in vain to recall his lessons on Earth Kingdom government to figure out who the agent might have been talking about. Those school lessons were so long ago. Another lifetime almost.

I would remember it, Zuzu. - Of course, you would. Care to share? - That would be cheating, wouldn't it?

Zuko shoved the image of his sister's taunting smile away. It didn't matter who the Grand Secretariat was. "You are wasting your time. My fa.. The Fire Lord will never negotiate," he said coldly to the agent. He was certain of that.

"He must not care for you much if he lets his only son starve in enemy lands," the agent shrugged giving Zuko a pointed look.

He's right you know. Dad would be happy to be rid of you, Zuzu. You are such an embarrassment. Look at you, captured by some dirt-bending peasants.

"You don't know anything," Zuko exclaimed angrily, hating the wetness of his own voice. "I'd be honored to die to serve my country."

"So dramatic," the agent said with a mocking smile. "But you see, we have very different plans for you."

The agent walked very slowly to the desk. Zuko followed his movements with his eyes, noticing for the first time his dao swords propped up in the corner. The agent came back with a familiar blade, pulling it's sharp point lightly across the scarred skin on Zuko's face. Not enough to make it bleed, but enough that Zuko had to close his eyes and swallow hard to stop himself from trembling. The sensation teleported him back again to then, to his dark little cabin on the ship lying curled up on the bed, crying in pain every night as Iroh took off the bandage and worked patiently to remove the dead, burnt skin.

"Where did you steal this?" the agent waved the dagger in front of his eyes.

"I didn't steal it. It was a gift." Zuko scowled. How dare this nobody accuse him of being a thief.

But you are, aren't you?

"You have many friends in the Earth Kingdom, I presume?" The agent chuckled slightly, full of sarcasm.

Zuko didn't like the idea that the Dai Li would think of him as a common thief. A Prince of the Fire Nation acted with honor and it was better if these people understood that too. "Uncle gave it to me when I was just a boy."

"The Dragon of the West must be very fond of you to give you such an exquisite present." The triumphant glimmer in the agent's eye made Zuko realize that saying too much was a mistake, but it was too late to take the words back. He bit his lips.

"So where is he?"

"I don't know," Zuko shrugged.

"You were traveling together before." It wasn't a question. Clearly, the Dai Li had spies in the harbours and kept tabs on their activity.

"We were split up. I have no idea where he is," Zuko repeated more firmly, grateful that it was the truth. This was his mess and he didn't want Iroh dragged into it.

"Maybe this will help you remember." The agent turned his hands upside-down, his fingers curling inwards like claws of a beast. Zuko recognized the bending move from his sparring sessions with Toph and braced himself as the shackles squeezed tighter and tighter until it felt like his bones were about to be crushed.

"I don't know," he said between gritted teeth. "And even if I did, I'd rather die than tell you."

The agent increased the pressure and looked on impassively as Zuko fought off tears of pain. After a long, silent moment, he loosened the shackles. Zuko collapsed on the floor, his arms and legs numb from the cut-off circulation.

"Doesn't matter. You see, Prince Zuko. I'm sure we can find a way to get him to come to us instead," the agent noted.

"He's smarter than to walk into your little trap willingly," Zuko retorted, panting still heavily from the pain.

Sure, our dear Uncle Fatso is so clever. Unless he feels like taking a bath. Or has an overwhelming need to drink silverleaf tea. Or he lost his favourite pai sho piece. Zuko closed his eyes. Azula was always lying, but that didn't mean she was always wrong.

"Who said anything about a trap?" the Dai Li agent scratched his chin thoughtfully. "A trade. Your life for his. Or you think he'd refuse?"

Zuko felt icy cold hands of fear gripping his insides. No, Uncle wouldn't be that stupid to try to bargain with the enemy. Zuko wouldn't want him to. He had to know that.

You can't ask me not to try to save you, Zuko. You know that ever since I lost my son … - Don't say it, Uncle. Please don't. You shouldn't. I can't - I think of you as my son. - But I'm not. - To me, you are…

Even if it was true (of course, it's true) that was between him and Uncle. Zuko tried shoo Iroh's gentle eyes away from his mind and keep his features under control.

The agent continued, "Imagine what a victory it will be for the Earth Kingdom to bring the notorious general with so much blood on his hands to justice, right in the middle of Ba Sing Se, where he always wanted to be. You know what we do with war criminal ash-makers? We first crush their hands and feet, so they cannot bend anymore. Bone by bone, knuckle by knuckle. Then we start breaking all the other bones…"

Zuko wanted to cover his ears like when he was a child and the bed-time story came to a scary part. But he wasn't a child anymore and his hands were shackled anyways. "I have nothing to say to you," he managed to breath out.

"You've already said more than enough," the agent gave him a malevolent grin. "Take him back to his cell," he called for the guards.

The blindfold in place, they retraced their steps to the cell. Zuko stumbled along numbly. He had thought the Dai Li would want him to write to his father. To beg to be saved. Not in his worst nightmares did he think that they would want to use him to get to Uncle. Who was out there alone in the wilderness. This was his fault. Again. Because he was too proud and stubborn to admit that Iroh was right about not stealing. He went off on his own in a tantrum and managed to put not only himself at risk, but also Uncle. Father was right. He was a failure. How could Uncle refuse to see that?

The cell-door opened and the guards pushed him inside, locking it again.

Toph bent the shackles off of him. "So what happened? Do you have a plan?" she asked excitedly.

"I don't care about plans. We need to get out of here," Zuko whispered nervously in case the guards were eavesdropping.

Toph lowered her voice. "I told you. But what happened?"

"My uncle, I need to find him right away," Zuko explained.

"The old teapot-guy?" An indulgent smile appeared on Toph's lips.

"You know Uncle?" Zuko asked surprised. Everyone in the entire world seemed to know Uncle. Every tea-merchant in every harbour. Old fortune-teller women. Ladies of dubious reputation with heavily painted faces. Music instrument makers. Everyone. But Toph?

"I've met the guy. I knocked him over and he made me tea." Yep, that sounded like Iroh. "Actually, on the same day that I met you. I'm sure he's fine. He didn't seem lost at all. In fact, he said he was tracking you in case you needed help."

Of course, he would know that Zuko was going to get himself into trouble. So he could burst in and save him and not even say I-told-you-so, but just give one of those silent looks that said told-you-so anyways. Except, they had been in prison for three days. And Uncle didn't burst in to save them. Which could only mean one thing.

"Then he's already in trouble."

A/N: Oh, sorry that this was a bit of wait. I was off on holidays thinking I'll write loads. As it turns out, hiking in the sticks is tiring business, and also it feels good to unplug and stare at the starry night instead of my computer. But now I'm back and should be back on a biweekly or so updating schedule.