Somewhere in the Fire Nation, 100 AC

Lu Ten laid on his back, hands behind his head, smiling up at the sky. It was nice and quiet all around him, the only other being in his close surroundings was Appa, who was dozing peacefully a few feet away from him. Earlier this day the teenagers had found a secluded hot spring and decided to spend the day in it. He himself had declined the offer, his hands were still bandaged, and he didn't want the bandages to get wet, however refreshing the spring might be.

There were walls all around the spring, so he wasn't worried about their safety, at least not as worried as he was usually about it. So, he just laid in the sun thinking about different topics and enjoying peace and silence as long as it lasted.

Old memories appeared before his eyes, his father, himself and his baby cousin on Ember Island. Back then Zuko had really been just an infant, about two years of age. It was the year when Azula was born, so his uncle had asked them to take Zuko with them when they were spending almost a whole month on the Island. He remembered how his father had tossed the toddler around, making him laugh and squeal, but also, careful enough to not let him fall. Lu Ten remembered how he, thirteen by then, had carried his little cousin to his very first beach visit. How fascinated the child was. He had to keep him from running straight into the sea. Then he showed him how to build sandcastles. A little while later his father found them under an umbrella, his baby cousin sound asleep on his chest, his thirteen-years-old self too afraid to move a single muscle not to wake the infant.

His thoughts shifted to the present; he still couldn't move his head around the fact that his baby cousin should have betrayed Lu Ten's father. It seemed so unlikely to him, but then again, who knew how the boy had changed in the last seven years. He wondered how he himself might have changed in that time as well. Would they still get along? Maybe if you have a really good reason why you got my father imprisoned, Baby Cousin, he thought.

In the evening hours the teen group came back to the campsite, and they told him very excitedly about the hot spring and how much fun they had. Lu Ten listened silently, sipping his tea and smiling at the teenagers. This day of rest had been needed, he understood that. It had been good for all of them, refilling their energy for a moment. They would need it soon enough.

Before he went to sleep, he looked at the picture he had taken from Jeong Jeong's house. He missed being with Lian. He wondered how everything would have changed, him, her, their relationship, if the spark that was once there would still exist or if they drove too far apart to fix their marriage. He sighed and put the picture back into his luggage. Laying in his sleeping bag he thought, when this is all over, I'm going to take you to Ember Island, you and our child, I promise.

Later that night he and the others were wakened by the blind earthbender. She sat upright in her sleeping bag, a hand on the ground, "Guys, you're all gonna think I'm crazy, but it feels like a metal man is coming."

Lu Ten saw something from the corner of his eyes, a light. Something was reflecting the moon light at the top of the hill. Then it became clearer, a hand, a metal hand. It belonged to a seemingly very tall and very muscular man with somehow tanned skin. The man moved somewhat, and a concentrated beam shot towards them. Luckily Aang was quick to react and made a blockade with earthbending. It exploded, as Lu Ten was still staring at the man. Never had he seen something like that. His trance was broken when he was rattled by the explosion's pressure wave.

Quickly he and the others got to their feet, Toph immediately beginning to earthbend at the figure, shaking him and creating more blockades. But they were short lived as another attack shot through them. While Aang dodged the next attack with airbending and Katara sprang into action, Lu Ten grabbed their belongings and mentioned for Sokka to help him. He had no idea how to defend against such an attack, so the best thing was to get away.

As the fight went on and explosion after explosion hit, Lu Ten suddenly remembered something. A clear day, him and his men fighting at the first inner wall of Ba Sing Se. Then an explosion near him. He was sure it was none of his men, but how should the earthbenders do that? Also, there were quite a number of Earth Kingdom soldiers fighting them. Would they sacrifice their own people like that? And the sound of the explosion, the sound was what caused the memory to flare up. That distinct sound. Suddenly he felt enlightened, something had become clear to him. Walls usually do not explode on their own. He was from one moment to another sure that it was this assassin, or someone like him, who blew up the wall back then. Another explosion caught him out of his thoughts.

He heard Sokka panicking, "This is crazy! How can we beat a guy who blows things up with his mind?"

Aang answered, "We can't! Jump on Appa! I'll try to distract him!"

Sokka turned to Lu Ten as the Avatar sped off, "Lu Ten! Are you just letting him go like this?"

Lu Ten's expression was very serious, "Sokka, he's right. This assassin is most likely after him, and no one of us is faster or better at evading than him. For now, just do as he says and get on the bison.", he tried to concentrate while his own mind was racing. They all climbed on the bison while Aang was distracting the assassin. Lu Ten saw rock pillars move and go down in the distance.

Quickly they flew towards that sight and caught Aang mid-air. As they sped away Aang and Katara held each other until Aang said, "I'm okay."

"Well, that was random.", Toph threw in.

Lu Ten shook his head, his face sporting a grim expression, "I don't think so. You don't just wander around blowing up random people. I think he knows at least who Aang is, and he has an interest in killing him.", they all fell silent for the rest of the flight after that.

A few days later the group was awakened by an energized airbender. Aang told them that Roku, the former Avatar, had visited him in his dream and told him to meet him at the summer solstice on his home island to learn about his relationship with Fire Lord Sozin. Everyone looked questioningly at Lu Ten for a moment, but the firebender just shrugged his shoulders, "I don't really know about what relationship my great-grandfather had with Roku, don't look at me like that. But I know the way to Roku's Island."

Thus, they got on Appa in a good mood, Lu Ten assisting Aang in finding the right island. At some point the Avatar noticed his firebending master looking off into the distance. "Hey, Sifu Hotman. What are you thinking about?", he asked in a bright, curious tone.

Lu Ten seemed startled for a short moment, "Oh, sorry. My mind just trailed off for a second.", and as he saw that the air nomad was by no means satisfied by this answer he added, "Tomorrow is the summer solstice. It is the sixth anniversary of Lian's and Jeong Jeong's escape attempt. I just wonder if it worked out like they planned or if something happened to them. I mean, you met Jeong Jeong, but Lian was not with him, and apparently the child was not with him as well. So, I'm just worried what could have happened."

Aang looked at him compassionately. He reached over and laid a hand on Lu Ten's arm, "Don't worry. When this war is over, we'll help you find them.", the young Avatar smiled reassuringly at the firebender, who returned the smile, somewhat unsure.

Soon they reached the island they were searching for. As they descended from the bison, there was hardly anything seen around them, the ground was almost black from ash and no building or plant was seen. Katara was confused, why the former Avatar would call them there, "But, there's nothing here."

Toph knelt down and corrected her, "Yes, there is. An entire village, hundreds of houses… all completely buried in ash.", that gave at least Lu Ten an idea what happened to Roku's home. It must've been the volcano. But he kept the thought to himself.

The team set up camp on the island, while Aang prepared himself for tonight's events. In the evening he sat down on a rock and began meditating. Lu Ten decided to meditate as well, as there was hardly anything they could do right now and didn't want to disturb the monk. The others were sitting not far from him, all in reach for Aang, in case something happened.

A while later he heard something, he raised an eyebrow, but did not open his eyes. He heard the Avatar move and opened one eye for a moment. The boy stood up, eyes still closed, squatted and groaned before smiling. Lu Ten grimaced before straightening his face and returning to his meditation. He heard the teenagers behind him whisper. A seemingly disturbed Katara asked, "Do they have bathrooms in the Spirit World?"

Her brother answered, "As a matter of fact, they do not.", Lu Ten thought about if he should laugh or cry about this. He decided to stay indifferent in his meditation, even in the face of such a lack of dignity. He sighed almost silently, but it was enough to remind the siblings to stop talking.

In the early morning hours Aang woke up from his visit to the Spirit World and began to tell the rest of the team what Roku had shown him, that he was once Sozin's best friend, but that what they became tore them apart until Sozin's final treason on this very island. Lu Ten listened with mixed feelings. He knew that he was not responsible for Sozin's actions, yet in theory, he was still this man's heir, his flesh and blood. Unnoticed by the teenagers, he sighed and shook his head slightly. In this moment he decided for himself that he would do anything to redeem his own, his family's and his nation's sins and do whatever necessary to help restore balance to the world. And he would protect Aang and the other teens, like he promised himself before, from anything he could, at any cost. He felt, he owed this to them, to the world. If the descendant of the man who destroyed the balance of the world should perish to keep the last hope of restoring that balance alive, then so be it.

His thoughts had somewhat kept him out of the group's conversation at this point. He heard the waterbender ask, "You mean, after all Roku and Sozin went through together, even after Roku showed him mercy, Sozin betrayed him like that?"

Toph threw in, "It's like these people are born bad.", and remembering that Lu Ten sat next to her, "No offense, Sifu Hotman. I didn't mean you. You're the exception."

Lu Ten gave her an annoyed glare, "Thanks so much, Toph.", he said sarcastically.

Aang cut in before the situation could get more awkward, "No, that's wrong. I don't think that was the point of what Roku showed me at all."

Sokka shrugged his shoulders, "Then what was the point?"

Aang looked at the group, "Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Sozin was, right? If anything, their story proves anyone's capable of great good and great evil. Everyone, even the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation have to be treated like they're worth giving a chance. And I also think it was about friendships."

Toph walked over to the monk, "Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?"

The boy took the earthbender's hand in his, "I don't see why not."

Katara walked over and took Toph's other hand, Lu Ten following her, taking Aang's hand, when Sokka interrupted the peaceful scene, "Well, scientifically speaking, there's no way to prove that…"

The waterbender looked at her brother, clearly annoyed, "Oh, Sokka, just hold hands.", earning a chuckle from everybody else as he followed her orders.

Somewhere in the eastern Earth Kingdom, 100 AC

The boy awoke with the first rays of the morning sun as he usually did. Stretching his small body, he got up and sneaked out of his room. He knew, since his grandfather moved in with them, he wasn't the only one to wake up early anymore. Carefully not to be heard or seen he sneaked towards his mother's bedroom. If he was lucky, he could sneak under her sheets for a moment and cuddle into her warm, sleepy embrace for a moment.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he wanted to pass the kitchen. He saw his mother's figure already standing there and his grandfather sitting at the table. A wonderful smell filled the air. Suddenly both adults looked at the child a little bit surprised, but then both smiled at him. He smiled back at them, a bit sheepishly, before his mother stretched her arms out to him and he ran up to her. His grandfather laughed wholeheartedly at his grandson.

"Good morning, Mommy!", the boy smiled, his voice muffled by his mother's dress, "Why are you all already up? And what is smelling so good?", his curiosity had by now the better of him.

He broke away from her embrace to look up into her black irises. She smiled at him, black hair framing her face, with just a hint of sadness and tears behind her eyes, but as he noticed, it was less than usual. She ran a hand through his short, black hair, "How could I ever forget my little firebug's birthday?", his gaze shot up, he had forgotten it himself.

Then he looked over to the oven, "So, what smells so good is a cake?", his mother nodded and then laughed when he hugged her even tighter than before.

He heard his grandfather chuckle. Looking over to him, he saw the old man smiling at him, then motioning for him to come at him for another hug. He ran up to him and threw his arms around the tanned man while his mother took the cake out of the oven. While his grandfather ran a hand through the boy's hair, he said, "Happy Birthday, Taiyo.", then he broke the embrace, but still held the boy by his shoulders, looking at the boy's small body, then back into his amber eyes, "My, my, how you've grown. And now you're already six years old. I feel like it's been yesterday when I first held you."

By then his mother had put the cake on the table and put a candle on top of it. His grandfather ignited it with the tip of his finger, "Now, grandson, what do you wish for your birthday?"

Taiyo pondered for a long moment. Then his face lit up, "I wish… I wish Dad could be here.", he said before blowing out the candle. His mother's eyes widened for a moment, then she smiled at her son, tears in her eyes.

She went over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "I wish so too, Taiyo."

An idea shot through the boy's head, without a word he ran out of the kitchen and into his mother's bedroom. The adults looked at each other in surprise. What was that little energy bundle up to? They heard him search for something, before he came back carrying an object. The boy leaned over the table and put what he was carrying on it. It was a portrait of a man, a slight smile on his face, light eyes, black hair bound in a top knot and short sideburns of the same color. Taiyo smiled at his family, "Look, Mommy, there he is."

Fire Fountain Town, Fire Nation, 100 AC

A few days after the events on Roku's Island the group set up camp near a small town. Lu Ten remembered its name, Fire Fountain town, what he didn't remember was the atrocity of a statue at the main square. It was an enormous depiction of his uncle, made of metal, shown roaring with actual fire coming out of his mouth and fists. What a waste of energy the prince thought, while carrying some groceries.

When he got back to the camp, he saw that Aang was training with the other members of the group. The monk had his headband tied over his eyes as a blindfold and the girls were throwing various attacks on him. He smiled over at them as he saw Aang dodging the attacks with ease.

He stored the groceries away when he noticed that obviously the training was over as the girls were screaming and bending at each other. Worriedly he walked over, hearing Katara yell, "Oh sorry. Did I splash you, Mud-Slug?", the argument was already bad when they called each other names like this.

Before he could intervene, he heard Sokka screaming, "Sneak Attack!", he had already wondered where the boy had been. Aang stopped him with earthbending without even looking at him, Lu Ten couldn't help but smirk at the Water Tribe boy's face.

He knelt down beside the boy, "You know, Sokka, if you want a sneak attack to work out, you probably shouldn't yell about it like this.", the teen sighed defeatedly as a response. Lu Ten held out a bandaged hand, helping Sokka back onto his feet.

Then his attention shifted back towards the, by now mudwrestling, girls. They both shouted something about mudpies. Lu Ten sighed and walked over to a seemingly helpless Avatar. Aang stood between the two female benders, "Uh guys, I thought we were supposed to be training me.", they didn't really notice him at all though.

Lu Ten stepped in between the two decisively. With his voice raised he glared at both of them, "Enough! You're supposed to be Aang's masters, not infants to be taken care of."

Everyone was silent for a moment before Katara straightened herself and brushed a little bit of the dirt off of her dress, she turned towards the young Avatar, "Very well, pupil. I believe we've had enough training for today.", then she headed towards the camp. Leaving the rest rather astonished.

When she was out of sight, Toph smiled, "While Katara cleans up, let's go have some fun!", she exclaimed while earthbending the mud off of herself. The other two teenagers followed her in an instant.

Lu Ten was not so sure about what she was possibly up to, but for the moment he was reduced to raising an eyebrow at the small group and reminding them to be careful, earning himself an annoyed, but unisono, "Yes, Dad."

He thought about what he should do now with the rest of his day. Returning to the camp was an option, but then again, he wouldn't want to run into Katara in her current mood. He was in a rather grumpy mood himself now and a possible argument wasn't going to help anybody. He could go after the other kids, but then he would really lose his face in front of them. And he still didn't like that undertone in Toph's voice. He asked himself what his father would do now.

A thought shot through his head. With newfound energy he went back to the campsite, but only to get his cloak and a few copper pieces and headed towards the town. He walked the streets for a while before he found a buzzing tea shop. Lu Ten hid his face under his cloak and sat down on a table. He ordered jasmine tea, just out of habit. It was not as near as excellent as his father's tea, not even as good as his own or the one he had in Ba Sing Se, but then again, the tea was only half of the reason he was there. The main reason were the other guests, no one in particular, but what they talked about, what rumors were travelling at the moment. Quickly he got engaged into a broader conversation among the tables.

"You know,", a middle-aged man whispered to him, "there's a rumor, the Avatar might still be alive.", he raised an eyebrow at him and said, "You can't believe everything people say. Why should the government lie about this?", the man just shrugged his shoulders.

Another man said, "I heard that the Fire Lord is fuming in anger, because a rumor says that the dead prince Lu Ten is sighted more and more often. Some even say that he's actually alive and will someday reclaim the throne that is rightfully his, so no wonder the current Fire Lord doesn't like the idea. Would be nice though.", Lu Ten smiled at him, thinking to himself, indeed, my friend. This would be a great prospect. The man continued, "He sure was popular back when he was alive, and maybe even more so after his tragic demise. If he should somehow be alive and return, it would be like some stuff out of an ancient legend.", he swooned with a distant, entranced look in his eyes.

Lu Ten chuckled at him and ordered more tea. He only left the shop at sunset. He had learned a lot today, some things more helpful than others, but it sure could prove useful at some point. As he walked back to the camp, he thought about what some of the men had said, if I should return and retake the throne that is rightfully mine, he shook the thought out of his head and reminded himself to focus on the most important thing right now. Helping Aang restore the balance of the world. End this war. What would become of him, of his family, of the throne, was not that important.

As he reached the camp, he could hear the girls fighting again, he could make out Katara's voice first, "You know what? It doesn't matter. These scams put us all at risk, and we don't need that. We've already got some third-eyed freak after us.", Lu Ten raised an eyebrow, scams? What did Toph do?

Sokka tried to distract the group, throwing in, "Speaking of that "third-eyed freak", I think I've come up with a name for him. What do you think of "Sparky-Sparky-Boom Man"? Just think about it.", he looked around the silenced team, "Lu Ten, what do you think about it?", the Water Tribe boy tried to save the situation.

Lu Ten thought about it for a moment, "Not bad, but honestly, a bit too long. Consider calling it out when he appears, before you'd warned anybody, he'd blow them to shreds.", he said in a nonchalant tone, "It'd need to be a little catchier.".

Meanwhile the girls' argument was still ongoing. Katara snapped angrily at the earthbender, "We have enough money! You need to stop this!"

Toph retorted just as angry, "I'll stop when I want to stop and not when you tell me!", she then walked a bit away from the group, sat down and created an earth tent around herself.

Sokka stood up, grabbing his sword and a bag of money. Lu Ten wondered what he would do about the argument, but the boy just said, "Speaking of money, I'm off to spend some. See you guys later.", the firebender looked at the young Avatar questioningly, who just shrugged his shoulders.

A few hours later Lu Ten had just finished a firebending training session and walked back to the group, a bit tired from the exercise. He smiled at them all being gathered in one place without someone fighting. Apparently Sokka had returned from his shopping trip. A bird, a messenger hawk, sat on his shoulder.

The Water Tribe boy turned towards the firebender with a smile, "Hey Lu Ten! I just bought this messenger hawk, I named him Hawky. I think, he can be of great use. But we just wondered, how do you use them?", just as he said, the hawk and Momo the lemur started fighting, chasing each other around the boy's neck, causing him to raise his voice, "Hawky! Be nice! Bad Hawky!"

Lu Ten couldn't help himself but to laugh at the boy and his failing attempts to calm the animals down. Then he walked up to him and caught first Momo, pulling him away and quickly handing him to Aang, then the hawk. He offered the animal his arm to sit on and looked at the animal, stroking its chest, "There, there, no need to fight.", he told the hawk to calm him further down. When he was sure the animal wouldn't pursue anymore fighting with anyone, he turned to Sokka, "Indeed, he can be a great asset. It works pretty simple. These are highly trained animals. You tell them where to go, for example, Caldera, Private Residence of Iroh, Dragon of the West, and it will fly there. It works in part even with ships, as long as you know more or less where the ship is going to be. But it doesn't work to just tell it a person's name, it needs to be a place. Understood?", Sokka nodded, "Thanks, Lu Ten."

The next day Lu Ten was dozing in the mid-day heat next to Appa. Between them a quiet but strong friendship had bloomed. From a small distance he suddenly heard voices raising, he sighed. The girls were fighting again. He thought about to just do nothing about it. Not my cup of tea, he thought. But then he remembered that their group was small, and they needed not to split up. He groaned as he got up and walked over to them.

Katara was holding a piece of paper in front of Toph, she shouted at Toph, "It's a wanted poster of you! "The Runaway!" Is that what you're called now? Are you proud of this?", Lu Ten was surprised. This was not good. Any of their faces on a wanted poster was a small catastrophe. They needed to go, now.

Toph shouted back at Katara, "Where did you get that?!"

The waterbender tried to go over that, "It doesn't matter where I got it. The fact is-"

The earthbender pointed a finger at her, "You went through my stuff! You had no right!"

"Your stuff was messy and I was just straightening up, and I happened to stumble across it!", Lu Ten raised an eyebrow, Katara was not a good liar. She just was not, and she should've known that, especially when dealing with Toph.

"That's a lie! You're lying, Katara!", the younger girl shouted angrily.

The waterbender shoved Toph's pointing finger out of her face, and the younger girl began to walk away, "Fine! It's a lie! But you've been so out of control lately, I knew something was up! I knew you were hiding something, and you were! Don't you walk away from me while I'm talking to you!"

The earthbender turned around angrily, "Oh, really, Mom? Or what are you going to do? Send me to my room?"

"I wish I could", the older girl said agitatedly.

"Well, you can't! Because you're not my mom, and you're not their mom!", Toph exclaimed, gesturing towards Sokka and Aang, who were sitting on a ledge not far away.

"I never said I was!", Katara tried to come up with an angry response, but Lu Ten could feel her arguments crumble.

Toph had no mercy with her, "No, but you certainly act like it! You think it's your job to boss everyone around, but it's not! You're just a regular kid like the rest of us! So, stop acting like you can tell me what to do! I can do whatever I want! Besides, if anyone here has the right to act like a parent it's Lu Ten, at least he is one!"

Lu Ten gulped, he didn't want to be thrown into the argument like that, "Girls, please, just –", he started, but was quickly interrupted by an angry waterbender.

"You stay out of this. I don't act that way! Sokka, do I act motherly?", she took a sharp turn towards her brother, who visibly jumped.

The boy took up his hands defensively, "Hey, I'm staying out of this one."

She turned to Aang, "What do you think, Aang? Do I act like a mom?"

The airbender rubbed his eye, "Well, I, uh-"

Katara interrupted him, "Stop rubbing your eye and speak clearly when you talk!", that even made Lu Ten jump. Suddenly the boys sat straight.

Aang answered, "Yes, ma'am."

Then her glare wandered to Lu Ten again, she said nothing, but looked at him, seemingly demanding from him to step in and tell her she wasn't acting motherly. He sighed, his honest opinion would probably not do any good, so he just said, "Look, my own mother died at my birth, I don't really have the experience to tell. What I do think is that it is time you two stop arguing that much. That wanted poster is a serious thing. In my opinion we should get away from this town as soon as we can, before we attract even more attention.", but his argument didn't find the way into the girls' ears, apparently. Soon they reengaged, ending in both angrily walking away. Lu Ten sighed, why do teenagers tend to be that complicated?

Later he saw how Aang and Sokka tried to console the girls by writing a letter to Katara, saying it was from Toph. What they hadn't thought of was that, obviously, Toph couldn't write, or read, not that it would be truly fixing things anyway, even if that part would've worked. Lu Ten shook his head and walked over to the boys. He sat down next to them.

Aang turned to him, "Hey there, Sifu Hotman. Maybe you can help us out. We tried to make Toph and Katara stop arguing, but we failed. Do you have any idea?"

Lu Ten thought about it for a long moment, "Talk.", he said, shrugging his shoulders.

Sokka let his head fall into his hands, "But they won't talk to one another at all. And if they do, they're just making it worse."

Lu Ten shook his head, "No, what I meant was that you talk to them. You, Sokka, know Katara better than anyone here. Go over to Toph and try to make her understand Katara's position, at least a little. Maybe this will help. I can't guarantee it though, I'm sorry. When I'm honest I think, Katara is right. While I can understand your fascination with quick money, these scams could prove fatal to our mission, the wanted poster only strengthens that. And we cannot let the invasion fail because of this. Though, I have to admit, Katara sometimes has this commanding attitude that can really get on your nerves. No offense, but I'm seriously not her child and neither is anyone else, and even if, she would have had no right to boss even a child around like this."

Sokka pondered about this for a minute, then he stood up and brushed the dirt off his clothing, "Maybe you're right. Okay, here goes nothing.", he said, walking in the direction where Toph had disappeared.

Aang sighed and looked at Lu Ten, "Do you think it'll work?"

"I hope so.", the Fire Nation prince said.

In a more curious tone Aang asked, "And what are we going to do now?"

Lu Ten smiled at the monk, "Guess what? You've been slacking off from your training these last days. We'll start with twenty hot squads."

When they got back to the camp, they found Sokka dozing. The girls were nowhere to be seen. Worriedly they asked the boy about it, and he explained that they wanted to pull off some scam together. For a moment Lu Ten and Aang stared at him, wide-eyed.

A few hours later the young Avatar turned to his friends, "Do you think this scam of theirs should be taking this long?"

"I was just wondering the same thing. We'd better check it out.", the Water Tribe boy said, standing up. Turning to the animals he said, "You two behave. Appa's in charge."

Thus, the three of them headed off to the city to search for their companions. They found the town abandoned. Lu Ten shivered, this was not good at all. "This feels like a set up.", he hissed quietly to the teens, "You should be ready to run or fight."

"Where do you think they might be?", Sokka asked.

"Where do you think anyone is?", the airbender answered. Then they suddenly all heard somebody inhaling. Quickly Lu Ten grabbed the boys by their collars and pulled them behind the statue of his uncle for cover. "It's Sparky-Sparky-Boom Man!", Aang exclaimed.

"You know, I'm starting to think that name doesn't quite fit.", Sokka said, almost totally calm, which caused Lu Ten to raise an eyebrow at him. Another blast hit the statue as the assassin jumped down from a rooftop. And then another. They barely managed to dodge it but were sent flying though.

The small group ran through the empty streets followed by explosions. "This guy is too good! He shoots fire from his brain!", the Water Tribe boy said.

Aang looked over to Lu Ten, "We should split up. He can't chase all of us.", earning him a nod from his firebending teacher. Aang then sped off over the rooftops, past the assassin, while Sokka ran right and Lu Ten ran towards the assassin when he saw that an explosion sent Aang flying into the metal statue. Anger washed over him, you're not going to get him, no way, he thought as he pummeled the assassin. They rolled a bit together before first Lu Ten, then the assassin got back upon their feet, both breathing heavily. A thought shot through Lu Ten's brain, maybe, this was an incredibly stupid idea.

Still regaining his breath, he asked in a raspy voice, "Hey, whoever you are, you don't happen to have been to Ba Sing Se, seven years ago, roughly?"

The assassin looked at him with a grim expression, then his eyes widened for a moment and his mouth turned into a smirk. With a voice full of hate he said, "So, the rumors are indeed true, and the little dragon got away. What a pity. Let me correct my mistake.", he inhaled again. Lu Ten was too close to evade it. He knew, this would probably kill him. The something shot through his vision. Suddenly ice enclosed the assassin's head. Behind him stood the whole teenage group. Lu Ten smiled at them, relieved, and ran up to them.

"Let's get out of here!", Toph said as they began running away. She shot a boulder at the assassin, who had freed himself of the ice. They heard explosions behind them as they made their way.

While they were still running, Sokka had an idea, "Hey, I got it! The perfect name for that guy: "Combustion Man!"", causing everyone to chuckle.

"Good job, Sokka. Now let's get out of here before Combustion Man catches us.", Toph reminded him.

"See? It fits so well!", Sokka exclaimed happily.

Later they packed their things and flew to a new camping spot. Lu Ten just rolled out his sleeping back as Toph approached him. "Hey Sifu Hotman. I kind of, need your help with something."

He smiled at her, "What is it, Toph?"

She pulled a piece of paper out, "I need you to write some things down for me. I want to send my parents a letter, so they don't worry so much. I thought you're good with words and most likely have the best-looking handwriting here, so…", she trailed off.

He smiled and waved for her to sit next to him, "No problem, I'll be happy to help.", a little while later they fastened the holder on Sokka's hawk and sent it off towards Gaoling.

Somewhere in the eastern Earth Kingdom, 100 AC

Taiyo looked at the money in his hand. It had been part of his birthday present. His mother told him he could spend it however he liked. He pondered over the decision for a long time now. There was something he wanted to try but was unsure if it would make sense. His grandfather had told him that it was unlikely that his father was still alive, but not impossible. And his mother believed in it, he knew that. And she was always right, always. So, it had to be true.

There was a merchant coming to their village every few weeks. He was currently not there but would come soon. He always carried messages to the next post stop for them. There the letters would be strapped to messenger hawks and sent to their destinations. The money he had was enough for one letter. Sending messages was expensive in war times.

So, he sneaked into his mother's room one day when he knew she was working and got himself a piece of paper, some ink and a brush. As careful as he could to write readably, he began writing, but stopped after the first word. An unsolvable question popped up in his head. He never met the man. Should he call him 'Dad'? Would he be allowed to do that? Or should he write 'Father'? In his mind he always called him 'Dad', same went for his dreams when he imagined meeting him. 'Father' felt foreign in his head. So, he began writing again, "Dear Dad, …"