A/N: Whoo! Look, it's an update, and it hasn't been several months! LoL! I know it's short again, but I'm trying to make up for not updating for so long. Thanks for the lovely reviews, they make me happy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own mind.
It might have been fifteen minutes or more before Zuko heard uncle call down to him from the newly opened hole in the cliff. His head jerked up from where he'd let it fall as he was pondering how the old man would navigate the sheer cliff face. A certain measure of relief flooded through him as he saw the care worn face of the old general. "Uncle!" he cried, "it's so good to see you!" Iroh stood carefully in the entrance of the hole he'd blasted, leaning on the still-warm rock. "I am pleased to see you doing so well Prince Zuko" he called down in reply. There were a few moments of silence before he spoke again and the boy waited impatiently for him to continue. "I…" he paused once again and seemed to take a deep breath, "I am weak right now; I cannot make the climb to the foot of the cliff. The drop is too sheer and the stone too smooth." Some of the strength his small rest had gained him depleted, Iroh gave a small sigh and folded his legs under himself and sat down cross-legged on the stone. "But uncle there has to be…" Zuko started to speak and was interrupted. "There is no other way out." The old man was tired and his head began to ache. "Zuko, if I go back I will die of starvation in the caves." "No uncle!" That prospect was wholly unacceptable. "There has to be way!" Zuko felt his eyes began to sting and he blinked rapidly and steeled his will, he was no weakling, he would not cry in front of his uncle. No, no he would not! "I won't give up! You can't give up either, I won't let you..." The impassioned shout became a partial sob as he spoke, his treacherous emotions betraying him. Iroh, former general of the Fire Nation smiled gently; how the boy had changed in the last few weeks. The general had lost his own son, but down there at the bottom of the cliff, broken and damaged but not beaten, was a boy who needed him, a boy whom he realized could never be closer to a son than if he had actually sired him. "You are right," he called back, "there has to be a way, and we will find it together." Zuko took a deep breath that caught in his throat but he ignored it and took another one, this time it was smooth. They would figure it out somehow; maybe uncle could learn how to use fire to fly with like that horrible sister of Zuko's had managed to do. He almost chuckled at the thought of the old man flying around like a bird, now that would be something to see. "Uncle, do you think you could use fire to fly with like Azula can?" The old man gave a short burst of exhausted laughter, "well, maybe if she teaches me how she managed to channel it in such a way, it would be simple." He shook his head. "On my own and resource starved I doubt I could perform such a feat." Down below, Zuko hung his head, mentally berating himself for coming up with such a ridiculous idea in the first place. This was uncle's life they were talking about; he needed to get it together!
He looked back up where uncle was sitting and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. The old man had his right arm out in front of him, hand with palm facing out, and was channeling a small spear of fire that was shooting from the center of his hand. "What are you doing?" he called in confusion. "I'm just testing something" Iroh replied. "There is some merit in your suggestion if I can just…" his voice trailed off as he lapsed back into concentrating on the growing spear of fire shooting from his palm. Zuko watched with interest as the flame grew longer and slightly wider, it was probably several feet long by that time, and he could faintly hear the hissing sound it made. As he watched, his uncle moved his left arm out in front of him, parallel to the right, and suddenly there was a small flame in the palm of that hand as well. He stared in fascination as it, too, began to grow as the right one had. The flame in Iroh's right hand had stopped growing at about 10 feet from his hand, and in a short amount of time the flame in his left had grown to about that length as well. The man was able to keep them even but unable to lengthen the jet. He let the fire go and dropped his hands into his lap with a huffing sigh; just that small effort had tired him more than he wanted to admit. Zuko called up from below, "did you think of something uncle?" Iroh shook his head, "I had a thought, but in my weakened state I am unable to marshal enough power" he replied, knowing he was about to be forced to answer the question his nephew would ask. Zuko asked. "What were you attempting to do?" Iroh hesitated a few moments before answering. "I had thought if I could shoot a strong enough, long enough jet of flame from my palms I might be able to slow my descent enough to drop safely to the ground" he explained, "currently I am only able to achieve about 10 feet of flame, which is not enough to provide me with a landing I can survive." Iroh wished he could be a little more optimistic to his nephew, the boy was clearly worried and upset, and he was powerless to change the situation. He finally started to feel the full effects of his current predicament and began to know despair for the first time since he had thought Zuko dead. Despair turned to anger and he seemed to feel as if the anger would burn him alive.
Silence reigned again for several minutes. After awhile Zuko went to sit once again on the outcropping of rock, his leg and arms having begun to feel quite tired. Laying his crutches to the side he dropped his head in his hands and groaned. He could think of nothing that would help uncle, and he knew they would eventually run out of time. He tried not to think about it, but it had taken up residence in his head like a persistent rat, gnawing away at his self control and leaving behind fear and anxiety in abundance. All of a sudden he heard the familiar hiss and roar of fire bending and his head shot up and he stared as he watched several balls of flame shoot into the sky in rapid succession. His gaze shot over to uncle and he watched in surprise as the fireballs changed into a single jet of flame that reached much further than the previous ones he had been attempting. Just as quickly as it had started, the fire was gone, and the old man sat hunched over as if in defeat. "Uncle!" Zuko yelled, "are you ok? What's happening?" Iroh slowly raised his head. "I'm sorry Zuko, do not be alarmed, I am fine." Zuko frowned but said nothing. He felt as if time were standing still, either that, or running out. He couldn't decide.
In the distance they heard what sounded like a massive displacement of air in the sky and both craned their necks to look upwards to see what could be making such a sound. They didn't have long to wait. At the moment he saw what it was Zuko snatched his crutches and stood up as fast as he was able, moving quickly behind a large tree at the edge of the clearing. Iroh simply scrambled to his feet and stared in utter shock at what might be his, and possibly their, salvation. Either that or they were in big trouble. Floating down slowly with his passengers staring over the sides of the saddle at the unbelievable sight they were seeing was the avatar's all-too-familiar wind bison, Appa. For just one moment the former general wanted to close his eyes like a child and pretend it wasn't happening, and when he opened them, it would all be over. He sighed. He was behaving ridiculously for a grown man well on in years. "General Iroh!" A voice cut through the evening air like a knife. It was the young man with no bending; "ah yes" he thought, "Sokka". "A good evening to you all; what brings you to this neck of the woods? How did you find us?" It was the girl who answered, glaring at him. "We wanted to know why there were fire nation in the forest, we saw your fire." Iroh gave a small chuckle. "Aha, I was just blowing off some steam, so sorry to have interrupted your flight. However…" he hesitated "there is a certain issue you could greatly assist me with. I would be most grateful." Sokka sneered at him. "Why would we help you, you're Zuko's uncle, and you've been after Aang. You've caused us a lot of trouble, besides, how do we know this isn't a trick?" "Yeah" Katara added, "fire nation can't be trusted." Iroh began to worry, this was not going well. Then he had a thought. "Well, I were going to spring some kind of elaborate trap don't you think I'd be wearing a little bit more clothing? Not to mention the fact that I'm sure I must look quite ragged." For the first the avatar himself spoke up. "You know guys, he does look really ratty, I mean he's practically half naked and looks like he hasn't been in front of a mirror in months. Maybe he really needs help." Katara glanced at him with what looked like a pointed glare and Aang shrank back slightly and closed his mouth before he said anything else. "Maybe, just maybe, we will listen to your request. Make it quick, we're busy you know, trying to save the world from your fire nation." It was something at least. Iroh quickly nodded. "I have become stranded in this cave; it is probably 200 feet from the ground below and I am unable to climb down. Would you be so kind as to ask your friendly flying bison to give me a lift to the ground? I would be eternally grateful." The three travelers looked at each other and once again Sokka was the first to speak. "This really sounds like a trap. You want us to land; you could have an entire army waiting at the edge of the forest, ready to capture us." Attempting to keep his frustration in check Iroh nodded sagely. "Yes, I could. However, I don't. Besides, what are the chances of my being in this situation and looking like I do with an army down there hiding in the hopes that you will pass by this way? It seems considerably farfetched to me." The three looked at each other again and Katara spoke. "Give us a minute." Then to Aang "take Appa up where he" she jerked her head in Iroh's direction "can't hear us". Instantly they were rising and within a very short amount of time were several hundred feet above where they had been moments before. "I don't like this Katara" Sokka frowned. "I know; me neither" she replied. Aang spoke up again. "I think we should do it." They both pinned him with a glare. He held up his hands as if to defend himself. "I know, ok? But come on, you saw him, do you really think there's an army down there? I mean, really? As he said, what are the chances?" He shrugged, "besides right now he really just kinda looks like a tired old guy." Katara pursed her lips. "That could be, but what I want to know is, where's Zuko? Why isn't he with the old man? That's more suspicious than anything else." Sokka nodded emphatically. "She's right" he agreed. "He could be waiting down there to attack us the moment we reach the ground, and General Iroh will already be in a prime position. I'm sorry Aang, but I don't think we should help him." Katara nodded, "I'm with Sokka on this one Aang, I'm sorry." The avatar sighed. He didn't think the old man was lying, but he couldn't convince Sokka and Katara just on his feelings. Just then he had an idea. "Wait Sokka!" "What?" Aang spoke excitedly "if we have the old guy have Zuko come out then they can't spring some kind of trap on us can they? Katara you said you were worried about him being suspiciously missing, so just ask him to come out and then we can help him!" The avatar looked particularly pleased with himself for coming up with a solution that he considered to be safe. Safe enough anyway. Katara sighed "Aang…" Sokka made a humming sound in his throat. "I hadn't considered that but come to think of it, he has a point. Besides, honestly, I'll feel a little better knowing where Zuko is myself. If he's here, he's not wherever we're going and can't get there very quickly." He nodded emphatically "I'd much prefer him to be out here in the middle of nowhere than chasing us. The only way to make sure of that is to see him." The girl sitting next to him glared at her brother but eventually his logic won out. "Fine. We ask to see Zuko and if he shows up then we'll take the old man down to the ground, if not, he can rot in that cave for all I care." She crossed her arms over her chest in a small act of defiance. Aang grinned and instantly Appa was losing altitude back to where Iroh was more or less impatiently awaiting his fate.
A/N: I'm sorry about the cliffhanger…almost! Hehehe! Oh, btw, Breyannia, I wanted to make a special note; I had no idea how I was going to get Iroh off that cliff until I read your review of my last chapter. :) It gave me a great idea that I'm really going to have fun with, so thank you! (Questions will be answered, in time!) ;)