The next morning, they met with the inventor to discuss the details of their departure. Aang bowed to him. "I'm glad to leave this place in your hands."

The inventor beamed. "Thank you! I already have plans for my next project: restoring the statues and paintings in the temple."

Aang looked ready to fly, glider or no glider. Katara put a hand on his shoulder to weigh him down. "Thank you for giving us a place to sleep," she said.

Teo wheeled himself into the room. "Great! I wanted to find you guys before you left. I have a gift." He held a small box out to Aang.

Aang opened the box. Inside was a pair of goggles just like the ones Teo wore when he flew. Aang tried them on and found them to be a perfect fit. "Thanks!"

"He's not the only one," the inventor said. "We are all grateful to you for freeing us from the grip of the Fire Nation. Do you need money? Food? Anything at all?"

"Yes, yes, and maybe," Sokka said.

"That will be arranged." The inventor turned to Sokka. "I've checked, by the way. The temple is stable. But it would not be wise to mine the mountain for any more metal!"

"How are you going to make your inventions, then?" Sokka asked.

"I'll just have to find a new supplier. And rig up a way to lift heavy loads past that cliff out there."

Sokka went to the window and looked out. He must already be thinking of a way to do that. Katara smiled. Her brother was in his element. He never had been before; he'd always seemed out of place. Not able to join the warriors, not able to fit in with the women and children, not able to do any of the things he wanted to do. It was good to see him fit in for once. She would never admit it to his face, but he was impressive with his inventions.

"I told you," she heard Zuko mutter. "Mercenaries."

"I won't judge anyone for taking an unusual career path in desperate times," Iroh said.

Katara joined them. "Why did you insist on seeing the battle?" she asked Zuko. She was pretty sure she knew. But one could never know with him. The most obvious question might have a very interesting answer.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "I felt like I had to."

"Why?"

"I'm going to be in charge of a nation someday. I can't sit back and ignore it while my people fight in battle."

"Your people?" Katara asked. "And who might that be?"

As expected, her answer was deafening silence. Zuko's eyes widened - was it alarm? - before slamming tight again. His already-crossed arms tightened. "What are you even saying?"

Katara shrugged. "You didn't know those soldiers," she said. "But you'd met and talked to and flown with the people living here. I thought that would complicate things for you." She turned and walked away. When nobody was watching, she let out a sigh of relief. She had clearly crossed a line by asking that. The results were worth it, though. He was confused about where his loyalties lay. She didn't know right then how to use the information, but she filed it away in case it was handy later.

The inventor left and Aang excitedly told them it was time to leave the tower. It was time to say goodbye.

.

Various people loaded Appa with supplies and gave Sokka money. Aang, Katara and Sokka waved goodbye from the saddle. Initially, Zuko did not. But then his admirers appeared, their children's voices ringing above everyone else's, forcing him to come down from the saddle and greet them. One of the children hugged him around the waist. "I'll miss you!"

"You don't even know my name," Zuko protested.

"So?" another boy asked.

"I'll talk to my sister," the first one said. "She'll come around."

"Uh, thanks."

"Come back soon!"

"Uh…" Zuko winced. "I'll try."

His admirers didn't seem to get the hint. They took turns hugging various parts of him, then moved on to his uncle. Sokka nudged Aang with his elbow. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"If you're seeing a bunch of kids who think Zuko's the coolest person ever, yeah," Aang said.

"Maybe we're dreaming. Pinch me." Aang pinched Sokka painfully. It left a mark. Sokka rubbed the mark and watched the children. "No, we're not dreaming. They actually like him."

"Do you think that maybe he's only a jerk around us?" Aang asked.

"How could he only be a jerk when we're around? That's like saying Appa grows spots when nobody's looking."

"He's different sometimes," Aang said. "Friendly, even. Both me and Katara have seen it." He turned back around and leaned over the reins. "I wish it could be that way all the time. But I understand why it's not. We're enemies. We're never going to be friends."

Sokka knew denial when he heard it. Aang was trying to sound as if he had accepted that, as if it didn't hurt him. It didn't work.

Sokka wasn't the type to change his mind easily. Generally he needed proof that he could see and touch. But if it made Aang so sad to think otherwise, then maybe the resident firebender did have a friendly side after all. For his friend's sake, Sokka would keep an open mind.

.

A quick check of the map confirmed their suspicions: they were almost at the Northern Water Tribe. It was, at most, a few days away. However, more than one of those days would be spent in one long flight over a vast expanse of water. No ground to sleep on. Nowhere to take a potty break.

"Aang and I could make ice floes for that," Katara said in disgust.

Okay, so it would be possible to take a few potty breaks. But still: no sleep for Appa. That was a problem. Nobody argued when Aang declared that, no matter how much daylight was left, they would land as soon as they reached the northernmost limits of the continent and only set out over the ocean after a full night's rest. Appa approved this plan with a tongue bath for Aang's face.

As preparation for that exertion, Aang let Appa fly at whatever pace he felt like. It was slow; the bison was not in a hurry to fly across a great big icy ocean with no landing place. He snorted as they left the mountains. "It's okay, buddy," Aang said. "You'll stay nice and cool at the North Pole."

Meanwhile, Katara and Sokka fell to speculating about what the Northern Water Tribe would look like. "Have you ever seen it, General Iroh?" Katara asked.

Iroh shook his head no, but added, "It must be a well-defended place."

"They must have a giant wall," Sokka said. "Way bigger than the wall I built at home."

"And lookout towers," Katara added. "Huge ones, with telescopes and alarm bells."

"Everything must be bigger there," Sokka said. "Even the houses are probably gigantic. They might have a palace."

"I wonder what the training area will look like," Katara said, stars in her eyes. "Will there be a lake for us to use? Dummies to practice against? I bet there will be scrolls! We'll have scrolls to study, full of all kinds of fancy moves."

"The armory," Sokka moaned. "It must be incredible."

"Have you ever been there, Aang?"

Aang let go of the reins, trusting Appa to stay on course. He leaned over the edge of the saddle and said, "No, I haven't. The Northern Air Temple is the farthest north I've ever been, and that's because everyone has to go there for flying training."

"Flying training?" Iroh asked. "Please, tell me more. I had no idea you trained in it." Katara and Sokka, too, looked interested. Momo looked around, ears up. Zuko stared over the side at nothing.

"Our stories say that the first airbenders learned from the flying bison," Aang began. "We still do. I mean… Did." He shook it off. "The flying bison don't - I meant didn't - live near us, but they lived nearby. Mothers brought their babies to us every few years. That's how Appa and I met. At that age, I already knew how to fly, but a lot of other kids didn't. It was normal to wait until a mother bison was around to catch you before trying to fly for the first time. I was unusually talented."

"Huh," Sokka said. "I thought you just played around with your gliders until it happened."

"What did you go to the Northern Air Temple for?" Katara asked.

"That's where we learned to fly with our bison," Aang said. "Sky bison polo was a game, but also practice."

"Your culture was very interesting," Iroh said. "I'm glad you convinced the inventor to preserve it."

Katara looked down. "If they lived nearby… What happened to the flying bison when the air temples were attacked?"

Aang laid his head on his arms. "I don't know. Maybe they hid somewhere."

"Yeah," Sokka said. "I'm sure that's it. After we beat the Firelord, we should go look for them."

Aang glanced up at Sokka. He looked serious. In the beginning, Aang had been comforted by similar words. But now he knew that Sokka was just putting on a strong face to help him feel better. There was no compelling evidence that the sky bison were still alive. Their close bond with the airbenders had probably led to their deaths. They might have come to defend the air temples. It was true that Aang hadn't seen the bodies of any bison at the Southern Air Temple, but bison would not have fit inside buildings. Exposed on the mountain for 100 years, even the body of a sky bison would have disappeared. He closed his eyes. Appa, like him, was most likely all alone.

Katara came over and put a hand on his shoulder. "You don't know exactly where they lived, do you?"

Aang shook his head.

"Then how would the Fire Nation? I'm sure Sokka's right. Some of them must have survived and hid. After 100 years, there must be lots of sky bison waiting for new friends. We'll find them after the war."

Aang opened his eyes. Her face was blurry. Unlike Sokka, she probably believed that. And if she believed it, he could too. "Yeah. There must be lots of them. I can't wait to introduce them to the air walkers." Iroh beamed. Sokka gave a supportive nod. Katara settled back against the side of the saddle. A burden Aang hadn't know he was carrying was lifted from him. He wiped away a tear and paid attention to how much love he felt for his friends right now.

He turned back around to check their course. All was well, so he settled back and watched the clouds. He saw one with an interesting shape. "Hey, Katara, doesn't that cloud look just like a pigsheep?"

Katara pointed at a wisp trailing off one end of the cloud. "That looks like a tail. I think it's a cat."

Aang picked up his staff and leaped off Appa's head. He flew up to the cloud and did his best to bend it into shape. He squished the cloud fluff into a thinner shape, then stretched it out so it would look more like a graceful cat than a lumpy pigsheep. He pulled the wisp out into more of a tail, too. Then he flew back to Appa's head to admire his handiwork.

Sadly, he'd gone too far. The cloud was too long and thin. No cat was shaped like that. Aang drooped. He would have to practice his cloud shaping a lot before he could make a cat for Katara.

"Huh." Aang jumped. He hadn't expected to hear that voice, and he hadn't expected to hear it right behind him. He turned around in astonishment. "It looks like a dragon now," Zuko said.

Iroh had gone to sleep sometime during the cloud watching. His snoring was still light. Sokka shook him awake. "You like dragons?" Katara asked.

"Of course I do. Everyone likes dragons."

Aang turned around and watched the cloud. What on earth was going on? First Zuko made them promise not to interact with him. Then he chased down Aang so they could talk. Then he spent the morning silently daring them to break their promise, which they hadn't. And now he was coming to the front of the saddle to join in on a conversation. Were they supposed to avoid interacting with him or not? Aang's hands tightened on the reins. He wanted to demand an answer. But Katara was demonstrably better at handling Zuko than he was, so he left that up to her.

"What about them do you like the most?" Katara asked.

"Their ability to fly. Their power."

She chuckled. "It must have been a real compliment to hear those kids call you a dragon."

"Yeah. It was." Did Zuko sound mild? Unguarded? Even a little…happy? Aang was thrown into turmoil again. it seemed like they could be friends, that they had a connection. Then it seemed like they must forever be enemies, so he tried not to get his hopes up. Then it seemed like they could be friends again. What was he supposed to do with his hopes? This constant swinging around hurt. He squeezed the reins so hard his knuckles turned white. He wanted to turn around and demand that Zuko make a choice and stick with it and stop confusing everyone. But that would be hostile of him, and it would make Zuko clam up. Aang admitted to himself that if Zuko was going to make a choice, he wanted him to choose friendship. So Aang took a deep breath and promised himself that he could endure a little longer.

By now, Iroh was awake. He and Sokka followed the conversation but did not participate. "Do Fire Nation schools teach about dragons?" Katara asked. "Dragons were the first firebenders, right? They would have to."

"I don't know," Zuko said. "As part of the royal family, I had private tutors. I didn't go to the same school as ordinary people."

"Oh. Well, did your tutors teach you about dragons?"

"I have no idea. I've always loved dragons. I read about them on my own whenever I had a chance. I don't remember if my teachers mentioned them."

The cloud passed above their heads. From this angle, it didn't look so much like a dragon. Zuko watched it pass anyway. "What did you learn?" Katara asked. "All I know about dragons is that they're reptiles who can fly, they were the first firebenders, and they're extinct now."

Zuko didn't answer her. He stayed where he was and did nothing. Katara sighed, but quietly, so as not to give up too soon. She said nothing.

"I…thought a lot about them, too," Zuko eventually muttered. His words were shaky, reluctant, as if sneaking out of a cave in the dead of night hoping not to be pounced upon and devoured. Aang risked a quick glance. Zuko's face was flushed and he couldn't seem to look at anyone. Embarrassment? "I…imagined things about them. Made stuff up. I'm not completely sure what I learned and what I…"

"Really?" Katara filled her voice with hope and happiness, eliminated all traces of criticism or disbelief or anything of that ilk. "You know us Water Tribe people: we love stories. What did you imagine?"

"Stuff about…how they lived, mostly. Things people wouldn't know."

"Come on, you can't leave me hanging. How do you think they lived?"

"I think they lived in groups called colonies," Zuko said. His voice had grown bolder, skittering around the landscape with only an occasional upward glance. "I think they're very sociable. They care for each other. They nest together. They, um, share food. Things like that."

"And?"

"And they lay their eggs together, in one place. The eggs don't belong to their parents. They belong to the whole colony. Every adult dragon will look after hatchlings."

"Awww. That is adorable."

"Although -" Zuko's voice had grown even bolder. It snatched up its own prey, reveling in its power, only barely aware that it could be prey itself. "- I did imagine that different dragons have different jobs. Some of them are better hunters. Some of them are good defenders. And some of them are better babysitters than others. Babysitting duty rotates around the colony, but the ones who are really good at it spend more time looking after the eggs than everyone else. And they do most of the parenting, because the baby dragons know their voices the best when they hatch."

"Woah," Katara said. "Knowing voices? Tell me more."

"Eggs aren't soundproof. I think that every animal that hatches from an egg can hear the outside world while they're in it." Something frightened his voice, driving it under the cover of a small rocky ledge. It looked around warily before venturing out again, not as timidly as it had the first time but still very cautious. "So, if they live in groups… The baby dragons can hear the sounds of their colony."

"And each dragon sounds different the way you and I do?"

"Yeah. When they hatch, they listen for the voices they know best."

"Huh. So dragon colonies have designated parents who parent all of the babies, regardless of who laid their eggs?"

"Well, not exactly. Like I said, I think it rotates around the colony. Everyone spends time with the hatchlings. But the hatchlings like and follow around the ones who are really good at it. At night, they sleep with the babysitters and not anyone else."

"Sleep with?"

There was a pause. Aang looked back at Zuko. Surely he wasn't going to stop now! Zuko's eyes moved back and forth, as if he was deciding between different options. "Yeah," Zuko muttered. "In fire dragon colonies, the adults sleep separately, but the babies don't. They curl up next to the adults they like best."

Katara's eyes narrowed. "Fire dragon colonies? Why did you say that just now?"

"Because I imagined other kinds of dragons, too," Zuko admitted. "Water dragons."

"Water dragons?"

Zuko closed his eyes. "Do you know what a dragon looks like?"

"...Not exactly."

Aang turned around all the way and leaned over the edge of the saddle again. "I do," he said. "I rode Avatar Roku's dragon once. It was long and snakelike, with four short legs and a really long, really flexible neck and tail. It had horns, and barbels coming off its nose. And spines running down its back and something that looked like a beard around its face. And wings, obviously."

Zuko nodded. "Picture that," he said. "Now, instead of being snakelike, it has the posture of a turtleduck: resting on its belly with its head up, like a goose." He mimed the curve of the neck with his arm. "Its neck is only as flexible as a goose's neck, maybe less, and the rest of it is as flexible as…a fish. It has no legs, but its wings have moved down to where the front legs would be and become giant flippers. It has no spines on its back and no beardlike thing around its face and no horns. It doesn't even have scales. It has a fin running from its forehead a little way along its neck -" Zuko passed a hand over his forehead and down the back of his head to demonstrate "- and a fin along the top of its tail. Its snout is thinner than a fire dragon's, and on the sides of its face are gills which can flap in and out." He put his hands over his ears and lifted his fingers up to demonstrate this. "And its barbels are really long, hanging all the way down its neck. They can be used like arms."

Katara's eyes were closed as she pictured this. "We have some records and stories about what the Northern Water Tribe is like. Up there, they don't have penguins, but they have turtle seals. It sounds like the dragon equivalent of a turtle seal."

"They're not as slim as a fire dragon either," Zuko added. "A little bulkier around their bellies."

Katara opened her eyes. "How do water dragons live?"

"They nest on sandy beaches," Zuko said. A smile appeared and spread like a sunrise across his face. "Their colonies have as many dragons as the beach can hold at once. Every morning, they wake up and start getting ready for the day. They greet each other. They play games together. Then all of the adults, except for one or two who are the babysitters for the day, go out hunting. They come back in the evening as the sun starts to set. They share food with the babysitters and the babies, and they play together some more. That's really all they do when they're not hunting. When the sun sets, they go to sleep."

He said all this with great energy and vigor. Aang's jaw hung open. He had never seen Zuko so animated. Where had the guarded, defensive, unfriendly jerk gone? The person Aang was looking at now was a dragon expert who knew his stuff, loved his subjects, and loved to tell stories about them. He was friendly, personable, and genuine. In short, he was very cool. Aang knew exactly how those air walker children had felt.

But as soon as he described the water dragons going to sleep, Zuko started to fade. His smile faded and he drew into himself a little, looking down at the saddle. "How do they sleep?" Katara urged.

"Yeah, you said fire dragons sleep alone," Aang said. No! The awesome version of Zuko couldn't be allowed to just disappear! Not when Aang had just met him! "Does that mean water dragons don't?"

Zuko's hands tightened. "When the sun sets," he muttered, in a voice that skittered from cover to cover shaking in terror that it could be killed at any moment, "they gather close together on the sand. Water dragons…can't sleep alone. Their necks aren't built for it. They can only sleep using each other's backs as pillows. If you look at them when they're sleeping, you can tell where everyone is in the colony's hierarchy. The most popular dragons have the most others sleeping on them. You can tell who the best babysitter is, because they have all the babies sleeping on their tail."

He fell silent then, looking down at the saddle. Aang and Katara watched him with soft, gentle gazes. He wasn't describing dragons that really existed. These were dragons he had created in his imagination. Who could create such gentle creatures that never slept alone? Only someone very lonely could have done it. Aang saw before him a vision of Zuko as a child, alone in the dark, closing his tear-filled eyes and wishing himself away to a world of dragons where nobody would ever be unkind to him and he would forever be surrounded by others who loved him and needed him. He'd probably made up all the stuff about designated babysitters because he was good with kids himself. Among dragons, he would be all the more loved for it.

"You were really lonely as a kid, weren't you?" Sokka asked gently.

Zuko's face was red again. "You say that as if anything's changed." He pulled away from the front of the saddle and went back to where he had been leaning over the side of it. He turned his back on them all and stared at the passing landscape in silence.

Aang, Katara, Sokka and Iroh looked at each other. Who had they just met, why was he so frightened, and where had he gone? What could be done to bring him back? What could be done to make him feel safe?

Momo hopped over and curled up against Zuko's leg.