Iroh flops back onto his makeshift raft of driftwood, held together by seaweed and strips of cloth from his pants. His body is sunburnt. He had been sure, so sure, that he would be able to find Zuko. But he hadn't. It was as if a spirit had whisked him away. Perhaps, Iroh would reach land, only to hear that the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe had demanded a ransom for Prince Zuko. Iroh hated to think of what his brother would do if that happened. A chill goes through his body, despite the blistering sun. Spirits… he would not let that happen. No, Iroh would return to land and find Zuko. If he didn't take care of Zuko, who would?

/

Yue enters the shelter after dark. Zuko is staring at her.
"Where have you been?" He demands.
"There was a banquet, I had to stay." Yue grabs a piece of bannock and hands it to Zuko. "They're not as good as the other ones, I didn't have time to go back."

A/N: I just realized that I forgot to mention Yue deciding to skip going back to see Mrs. Huemodo in the last chapter because she probably would have seen her at the banquet but wouldn't have gotten bannock from her then?

"Thanks," he says roughly, taking it.
Yue nods. "I also got a razor."
"What for?" He asks, biting into the bannock.
Yue gestures at his head. "Your, um, hairstyle. I thought you might want to maintain it."
Zuko runs a hand through the longer stubble on his scalp. "Yeah." That was all he said.
"The banquet was nice," Yue offers, like she's trying to start a conversation. "Most of my people thought I was dead so I was able to reassure them."
"My people think I'm worthless."
"Oh I'm sure…" Yue begins. How are you supposed to answer something like that? Yue could see how Zuko's people would dislike him, at the very least. But then again, she didn't know what the Fire Nation did or didn't like other than liking to go to war for apparently no reason.
"I was banished from the Fire Nation. They think I'm a joke."
Yue swallows. "I don't know what you want me to say."
"I don't want you to say anything. Just leave me alone and shut up about how you're such a perfect princess. Probably a waterbending prodigy too." Zuko grumbles.
Yue crosses her arms and stomps her foot. "I have only been able to waterbend for like, a week! And I can't tell anyone about it because that's not supposed to be possible and they wouldn't teach me how to waterbend anyways!"
Zuko bolts upright. He's too angry to process what Yue has just told him. "That's ridiculous! Then your people don't really care for you at all!"
Yue gasps. "Monkey feathers!"
Zuko narrows his eyes. "And of course you're friends with the Avatar." He had heard the airbender say that expression several times just before managing to escape from him. He had never heard anyone else say it before.
Yue is about to angrily retort that she is not, in fact, friends with the Avatar but is friends/crushing hard on the Avatar's friend Sokka, but she stops herself. "I've barely talked to the Avatar." She sniffs.
Zuko clenches and unclenches his fists at his sides.
"I think that I'm going to go for a walk." Yue drops her bag in the middle of the floor, spins on her heel, and leaves. Zuko throws himself onto his blankets.

/

Iroh had fallen asleep by accident. He is woken by a rumbling sound, coming from the water. Groaning, he slowly opens his eyes. Land. Green, lush, beautiful land. Iroh looks suspiciously from side to side. It appears to be an island. Iroh looks behind him. Water, endless water. Cautiously, Iroh paddles closer to the island. He reaches out and presses a hand to a tree. It certainly feels like a tree. Giddy, Iroh jumps aboard and pulls the raft up with him, in case he needed it later.

Leaving his raft by the shore, Iroh sets off to explore the island, deciding to head towards the top first. He relishes the cool shade. Birds chirp from the trees, singing their sweet songs. Some of the trees have colourful fruit hanging from them and there are berry bushes along the way. Iroh is perhaps a bit less careful with eating the fruits and berries than he ought to, considering his limited knowledge of them. Luckily, Iroh didn't appear to be experiencing any weird side effects yet.

After about ten minutes of walking/eating, Iroh reaches the top of the island. Iroh is now confused. There is a strange, hexagonal pattern laid onto some kind of surface. Iroh bends down to touch it with his index finger. It feels… hard. He raps on it with his knuckles. It makes a hollow sound, but not that large of a hollow sound. Iroh takes a tentative step onto the surface. It holds under his weight. It doesn't feel like it had shifted at all. Iroh walks around the strange surface, examining the pattern. It almost just looks like a shell was buried in the earth there by someone. But who? And why? These are questions that Iroh thinks best to ponder after some more food and water and a good nap in the shade.

/

Zuko paces the shelter. Yue just walked out. Zuko was normally the one who did that. He huffs. This whole situation was so stupid. Tomorrow. Tomorrow he would leave and his wounds and aching muscles would just have to deal with it. He would leave the blue-eyed, white-haired, mysterious princess behind and go capture the Avatar. Next time, for sure, he would be able to hold onto the slippery airbender. It would be more difficult now, as the boy had learned to waterbend now and his companion, the water tribe peasant, had also found a master. Zuko would have to find the Earth Kingdom next, and figure out where the Avatar would go for a earthbending master. Ba Sing Se, most likely: the capital. Zuko had never been but he had heard the stories about General Iroh, Dragon of the West, and his near conquer of the great city. He was only stopped by the death of his son, Lu Ten. Zuko barely remembered his cousin anymore, but the memories he did have were happy, full of light and laughter. Zuko had never heard a whisper about either Lu Ten or Ba Sing Se from his uncle.

Zuko wonders if he should find his uncle before heading to the Earth Kingdom. At least, he should find a way to send a letter to him. That presented another problem; how to sign the letter. After all, Zuko was supposed to be dead, wasn't he? The whole reason that Zuko was pretending to be dead was now also dead: Zhao. Zuko flings open the cupboard doors, grabs a piece of seal jerky, and angrily tears into it with his teeth. He begins to pace. He hates the way his muscles are still aching after doing some firebending forms earlier that day.

Glancing outside through the cracked door, Zuko sees the princess encased in what looked like a water bubble. Melodramatic, much? Zuko doesn't understand her. She can clearly waterbend, yet doesn't know how to use it for healing, despite saying that only female waterbenders are taught to heal and aren't allowed to fight. Based on the way that the princess moved, Zuko doesn't think that she could fight either. She has no muscle, no fortitude other than whatever is in her mind. In any case, Zuko doesn't think that he would accept the weird healing that waterbenders apparently could do, that somehow also made the water glow? It isn't natural, thinks the firebender.

/

Yue breathes in deeply. She had had such a long day only to be verbally assaulted by a Fire Nation prince who really, really ought to be thanking her! Yue catches herself. That was rather prideful of herself. She didn't heal and help people with the expectation of being thanked or rewarded. But, she certainly didn't do it in order to be yelled at! Yue exhales long and slow. There is a protective shell of water around her. Yue isn't quite sure what she's doing, yet somehow *gestures vaguely around her*, this was happening.

So much of her time was spent being worried about the Fire Nation prince and her people that Yue's meditation habits only managed to keep her from spiralling into her own day-to-day anxiety, barely making a dent into the whole "fused with Tui" thing. Yue needs the world to stop for a good six months so she can catch up. Sigh.

/

Iroh considers using his firebending in order to fly up above the tree canopy in order to get a better look at the island but thinks that that is best left for after he's regained some more energy and can think about the weird markings he is standing on. He lies under a nearby tree and covering his face with an arm, drifts off into a restful sleep.

/

The eyes watching Yue disappear behind the water tribe city have decided to find her in the morning. Hahn's pride and hurt at being decieved by the princess, his fiancée, almost made him charge up after her, demanding answers. But, his father was always telling him that he needed to learn to be discreet and bide his time, so that was what Hahn decided to do. Wait. Wait and see.

/

Iroh wakes up from his nap some hours later with a loud yawn, the sun in his eyes. With a grunt, he hauls himself to his feet and decides that it is time to get his bearings right again. Iroh squints at the sun. It is NOT where is should be, and was, before he had gone to sleep. The sun had been in the West behind him when he had gone to sleep, and now it was in front of him, which meant that either Iroh, the sun, or the island had shifted positions somehow while Iroh was sleeping. Iroh knows that he doesn't sleepwalk, and he knows that the sun doesn't move, but he also knows that islands don't move. Something is weird and Iroh is going to figure out what it is.

A/N: Another chapter! Honestly, I was going to have Hahn confront Yue and Zuko in this chapter but I wanted to have them interact a bit more before they get ripped apart and the whole Iroh stuff ended up taking up enough space to fill out this chapter so oh well. I assume that everyone knows where Iroh is but can anyone guess why?

Please let me know what you think, ideas and contructive criticism are always wanted:)