AN: Yo, got to thinking on the Son of Air concept again... wasn't entirely sure what to do with it or where someone would go next with it. But outlines only ever get me so far and I found myself typing this up on and off over the course of the last couple weeks while picking away at... I think five other fics. Something like that. Bottom line is this is what got finished first. So another Son of Air chapter. Which left me even happier with the concept and less sure of where the hell I or anyone willing to adopt it would go from here. Hope you all like.

{}{}{}{} Iroh

I cradled the teapot in my cupped hands as I sat cross legged on a cushion, back against the wall of the bridge, pai sho board in front of me.

Lieutenant Jee was staring resolutely out over the water and Zuko paced the deck with all the silent grace of a cat burglar rather than the furious stomp of a komodo rhino. Truly the greatest sign of his agitation. Zuko snarled and stomped when he was angry or frustrated, but confusion, fear, uncertainty? Those emotions put him on edge and set him to silently creeping. It was in some ways Zuko at his best, but also his most unpredictable.

I pushed my thoughts and emotions aside forcefully putting all my focus on gently raising the temperature of the water one degree at a time until it was the perfect temperature for brewing tea. It was an old ritual from my days as a General when I needed to clear my mind to confront a particularly complicated problem.

With a nod I placed the pot on the pai sho board and began to gently stir in the matcha powder. When that was done, I poured three cups placing each on the board with a distinct click.

In the silent room it was enough to get Zuko and Lieutenant Jee's attention. With a silent nod the Lieutenant crossed the deck and collected his cup before looking out another window. Zuko took a moment to breathe deeply before sagging into the cushion across from me and cradling his cup in his hands.

I waved a hand towards the board. Zuko hesitated a moment before shaking his head. Not surprising, though that he would even consider a game was an interesting divergence.

For some time, we all simply sipped our tea in silence.

"Uncle, what law would condemn Private Tem to a slow death by roasting in the Black Iron Dragon?" Zuko looked so very much older than his mere fifteen years as he asked that question.

I closed my eyes and breathed deep as I gathered my thoughts.

"When my father realized that some Airbenders had escaped the massacre at the temples he was furious. He decreed that the Fire Nation, by act of destroying the Air Nomads as a people had conquered them, and by rights all descendants of Air would thereafter be considered citizens of the Fire Nation. He further decreed that as citizens of the Fire Nation their very existence was in defiance of the order that they be wiped out." I opened my eyes to return Zuko's horrified stare with my own dead eyes. "He decreed that the only honorable thing an Airbender could do was to take their own life. Any who defied this decree would be considered guilty of high treason, and cooked alive. Any who aided in furthering the blood of Air were to be considered equally guilty."

"Whole families have been executed together." Lieutenant Jee's voice was hollow. "No wonder he never spent his shore leave like the rest."

"Indeed." It was more restraint than most young Sailors would ever be capable of, but the young man had great motivation and honor. "But not often. Whatever descendants of Air are still loose in the world have learned to hide more thoroughly than even quilled chameleons. The military maintains a list of likely hiding places, but none are environments our nations tactics are well suited to attacking. And we suspect many have learned to blend in amongst the less defended towns and cities of the Earth Kingdom. They have been known, on rare occasions, to take the field of battle against us, but often no more than two or three in a generation, and often only a time or two each before they are killed or vanish once again."

Zuko absorbed that information in silence before pouring himself a second cup of tea.

"How have I never heard of this?"

"The last time an Airbender was caught you were only six. Your mother refused to attend the execution and made it very clear that neither you or your sister would be attending either. I was away on campaign at the time, but from what I later heard, your mother shook dust from the rafters with how strongly she objected."

Zuko's eyes slipped shut as a small pained smile graced his lips for a bare moment.

"I remember that fight. Never knew what it was about, but I remember sneaking halfway across the palace and hiding in one of the unused diplomatic suites."

I fought to keep my own face neutral. Hearing some of the less than flattering bits about Zuko's upbringing was always a trial. I had been away, unable to support or shield him, and while his mother tried… it hadn't been enough. That was no fault of Ursa's, but it was the truth just the same. That Zuko, even at the age of six, had felt it prudent to hide so far away from his fighting parents spoke greatly about his instincts. The scar on his face certainly proved that much.

Or perhaps I was reading into things too deeply. No child wanted to see or hear their parents fight. Slipping away was natural. Growing up in the palace simply gave Zuko more places to hide. At six and four I doubted Ozai had yet chosen a favorite, but I could never be sure. What few stories I could draw out of Zuko failed to make things clear.

"Uncle, what do we do? If we don't turn him in and father learns of this…" Finally, Zuko's mask of calm shattered as he snarled, fire sparked along his hands as he stood, spun, and began to pace again. His steps were still near silent but his arms, trailing fire, lashed about as he spoke.

"If being an Airbender is high treason and we let him go or hide him we are all guilty of high treason as well. While I doubt we would all fit into the Black Dragon I wouldn't put it past Azula to try, or to simply go through the crew one by one!"

Lieutenant Jee snapped around to stare wide eyed at Zuko before turning just as quickly to me with the unasked question written plainly across his face. I dipped my head in confirmation, but kept my focus on Zuko.

"Father wouldn't…" Zuko trailed off and I could clearly see the fight within him as tension rippled down his back and one hand reached up to trace the edge of his scar. Blowing out a breath I chose to spare him the pain of needing to ask what was on his mind.

"For one or more of the Royal family to commit high treason, no matter how dubious that treason might be… Prince Zuko, such an act could threaten civil war for our people. And with all the world our enemy a civil war would be an unacceptable risk. It could see the whole nation at each other's throats, and our borders left vulnerable. Even just the threat of such could destabilize things. The Fire Lord would have no choice but to act decisively."

"Agni." The near broken utterance was not respectful, but a lecture on proper respect for the spirits could wait for another day. "He saved us from that ambush, Uncle. I doubt it would have killed us all, but some of us…" With a snarl Zuko resumed his pacing. "The man deserves better than a quick death."

"What he deserves and what we can give him may not be the same thing, Prince Zuko." Lieutenant Jee spoke up. "Several of the men have families to think of and a debt of honor or no, they won't want to risk leaving widows and orphans behind, not for one man's sake."

A fair enough observation. While every soldier of the Army and Navy were prepared to give their life for the Fire Nation, that was not the same as being willing to commit high treason for the sake of one man. Even one who had saved their lives.

"Should it come to it then I will personally neutralize Private Tem as he attempts to escape. His body will be given to the flame and burned in a proper pyre before any can give the body a closer examination."

Tension went out of Lieutenant Jee's shoulders, but his grimace spoke to just how distasteful he found the prospect.

"That's a plan Uncle but it isn't a plan I like." Zuko spoke as he finally came to a stop looking out over the deck of the ship.

"I will endeavor to find a better plan, Prince Zuko, but for now it will serve as a contingency."

"... The Avatar needs to master all four elements."

I blinked and gave my Nephew the full focus of my attention. Whatever this was it promised to be unconventional thinking.

"Either the Avatar is over a hundred years old and has likely mastered all four elements or…"

"Or what Nephew?"

"What if the Avatar didn't survive the raid on the temples?"

The Captain and I exchanged glances.

"Then he would have been reborn into the next element of the cycle, water."

"But we haven't seen a Water Tribe Avatar."

My eyes narrowed as I attempted to follow the leaping train of thought my Nephew was spinning.

"The Avatar is the Spirit of the World or the host of the Spirit of the World at any rate." Zuko waved me off as I opened my mouth to clarify. "One who has the favor of the spirits has luck, but luck can only take someone so far. And the world has been at war for a hundred years."

"What are you thinking, Nephew?"

"Isn't it possible that the Avatar died during the raid on the temples? Elders and children, right? He would have been twelve. A Child. And we just heard from an actual Airbender that the children stayed at the temples."

I leaned back and took a long sip from my tea.

"The Avatar would need to reincarnate as a Waterbender. Alright, but we've been at war with the Water Tribes for almost as long. The North is too well defended, but we've raided the South for a long time. What if they didn't get a chance to grow up? What if they were killed in a raid before they even realized what they really were?"

"Then the Avatar would be reborn of the Earth." I was beginning to see the point towards which Zuko was driving but it never hurt to hear the words spoken aloud.

"And we've been at war with them. Earthbenders are killed in action all the time. Next would be fire. How many of our own benders have died in the war? Would anyone even dare admit they were the Avatar for fear of what we might do to them? If they even found out? I know there are ways to know, but would anyone even know to look?"

"An interesting thought, Prince Zuko, but I fail to see the relevance to the situation at hand? Unless you intend to try and convince your father that Private Tem is the Avatar based on one element alone?"

"Do we know that he isn't?"

That question more than any other stopped me cold.

"Uncle, think, all this time I've been thinking that I was preparing to fight someone who had mastered all four elements. Instead, we could be looking for someone from any of the four nations. The Avatar could be a soldier in our own Army or Navy for all we know. We don't have an age, a nationality, a bending style they would have started with…"

Lieutenant Jee scowled into his teacup. This was not a positing that soldiers would volunteer for. This was a dead end for a military career, and people had been assigned. It was widely considered to be a fool's errand among the crew, for who really expected a teenage Prince to stop the World Spirits host? Now what was already a fool's errand and a hopeless search seemed all the bleaker.

"Do you intend to attempt that argument on your father? That Private Tem is an Airbender and thus likely the Avatar?"

The look which Zuko graced me with clearly asked if he thought I was entirely insane.

"Of course not. The Avatar actually serving on my ship for more than a year, and then surrendering immediately once his bending was revealed? Uncle, no one is that lucky, let alone me."

Ahh, a fair point.

"Then what are you suggesting Prince Zuko?"

"... I need to know how to fight an Airbender." Zuko's right foot began to tap against the deck. "Private Tem likely isn't a master, but he knows some Airbending and I need to know how to fight that. More than that though, I need a better way of hunting for the Avatar. One ship to scour the world… It just isn't going to be enough. If Private Tem were to escape, and coincidently go searching for a master Airbender he could learn from…"

"You want to recruit him to spy for you?" Captain Jee asked, at least half stunned, which put him slightly ahead of myself. "Prince Zuko with all due respect. The man might like us personally but he's an Airbender, our people slaughtered his ancestors. I highly doubt he wants us to win this war."

"If I don't capture the Avatar Azula is the heir." Zuko's voice was perfectly level. "You know her reputation, Lieutenant. I can promise you that she is worse in person. How much do you want to bet he'd rather have me on the throne instead of Azula? Especially if I gave my word to repeal the decrees which demand Airbenders be executed?"

I cupped my chin in my hand and thought. Truly a quiet Zuko was indeed the most unpredictable.

"It would not be enough." I finally spoke into the silence. "Your father is healthy and a strong bender. He likely has many decades ahead of him, and even if you are acknowledged as his heir again, my brother will only leave the throne in death. Decades in which anything could happen, decades in which Private Tem would still live in fear of his life. As would any other hidden descendants of air. It is an interesting thought, Nephew, and it might well snare his loyalty at first. However, given time to think it becomes all too likely that he would realize those same issues, and choose to simply vanish instead."

With a snarl Zuko punched the nearest bulkhead, a small bloom of flames scorched the steel lightly.

"...I need to think. We all need to think. I don't want that man executed. I don't want him killed escaping. He deserves better, and I need all the help I can get if I'm going to have any hope of capturing the Avatar. We'll sleep on it, and talk again in the morning."

Without a backward glance Zuko stomped from the bridge. Lieutenant Jee gave me a polite nod before setting down his cup and retreating to his bunk. Left alone I savored the remainder of the pot of tea, and idly rolled my white lotus tile across the pai sho board. We certainly were in need of a plan, and we needed one fast.