Authur's Note: I am so, so sorry for how long this has taken. Life got crazy and muse died. But the story isn't dead. I will continue to post chapters, though I can't promise how often they will come. I am going to try and keep there from being more than a month between chapters, but we'll see. I should have more time this Winter break at least.

Also, please be aware that this chapter has a lot of recap in it.

Iroh couldn't help but wonder on his current situation. Here he was, sitting in his tea shop with his son sitting next to him, a blind earthbender beside him, and the Avatar and his companions across from them. Clearly, fate had more in store for them. He couldn't think of any other reason that would bring the Avatar right back to their doorstep. Considering the full truth of Zuko's ancestry he supposed he couldn't really be surprised. No descendent of both Sozin and Roku (something he should probably inform Zuko of sooner rather than later, come to think of it) could be forgotten by fate. That would be too much to ask. Pushing such introspective thoughts to the side for the time being he refocused on the strange gathering of children around the table with him, noting with some pride how quickly they had taken to the tea and cakes put in front of them.

"Now then," he started off reasonably, drawing the eyes of all five children to him "I'm sure you three are quite curious about how we got here, but how about you share with us your tale first. I'm sure it's far more interesting than ours. And I would love to know how it is you came to having young Toph with you on your way out of town." He watched as the young Avatar and his two Water Tribe companions shared looks before focusing back on him.

"Well," Sokka began "You know we needed to find an earthbending teacher for Aang, since he's got waterbending pretty well down, though Katara is still working with him on it some most days." Iroh nodded easily as he scanned over the group. He was starting to get an idea about why Toph was with them at least. Sokka nodded as well before continuing. "Well, we made it to the Earth Kindom and figured we'd make our way to Omashu to get Bumi to teach him." Here the young man paused, seeming to notice the somewhat somber expressions on both Iroh and Zuko's expressions. "Yeah, well, I guess I don't need to tell you that things didn't go quite as planned, but before we even got there we ran into an Earth Kingdom general who had a different idea on how to beat the Fire Nation. He wanted Aang to get access to his Avatar State and use that." The young man paused again, glancing at Aang, which made it rather hard to miss the clear grimace on the young Avatar's face. Sokka grimaced as well before shaking his head.

"Let's just say it didn't go well," he finished "Either way, we left there and made our way to Omashu. As you seem to know, it's been captured and renamed 'New Ozai'." Sokka scowled, clearly making quotation marks around the new name of the city. Iroh couldn't really blame the boy. "We managed to make it inside but when we finally caught up with Bumi he said he didn't want to escape and he couldn't teach Aang. Said something about...um..." he looked over at Aang in question.

"He said I needed to find someone who would listen and wait," Aang supplied simply before looking at Toph with a grin "And we have."

"Right," Sokka agreed with a nod "That." He paused and grimaced before looking at the two firebenders, though focusing more on Zuko. "Oh, by the way. We ran into your crazy sister and her friends." Iroh couldn't help it. He froze, his breath catching in his chest for a moment. That little bit of information hadn't reached them yet. Beside him, Zuko wasn't faring much better, his good eye widening in something close to horror.

"Azula?" Zuko asked, voice strained "You ran into Azula?! In Omashu?!" The four other teens blinked, clearly surprised by the reactions.

"Yes?" Sokka agreed, looking uncertain. And a little more worried than he had been earlier. "Her and her two friends. One with knives and one that could turn off Katara's bending."

"She could what?!" This time it was Toph that cut in, sounding utterly horrified.

"Ty Lee," Zuko agreed with a slight grimace "Ty Lee can block chi points, which makes it impossible to bend for a little while. She's...a pretty nice girl actually. At least she was last time I saw her, but she follows Azula's every word. Not that I blame her. Azula is terrifying." He shook his head "The knife girl is probably Mai. The three of them have been pretty close since we were kids. Mai and I were actually engaged for a while."

"You were engaged to crazy knife girl?!" Sokka repeated, looking shocked. Beside him, Katara and Aang looked rather confused as well. On the other hand, Toph looked unsurprised. She was high class as well, so Iroh imagined it wasn't as big of a deal to her.

"Mai isn't that bad," Zuko protested "She's...a bit easily bored and, again, quick to obey Azula, but still. I didn't mind being engaged to her too much, not like it matters now. I'm pretty sure that ended when I was banished." He shook his head, dismissing that train of thought. "Anyways. That doesn't matter. If the three of them are together and out and about then things could get really bad really fast. Do you know what they were there for?" Once again the three who had been in the city exchanged looks before shaking their heads.

"We didn't exactly stop to ask questions," Sokka pointed out "We were too busy running for our lives."

"Actually I think kife girl, Mai right?" Aang looked at Zuko for confirmation and, upon his nod, continued on "I think Mai was living there with her family. We ran into her baby brother too. No clue about the others though."

"Does it matter why they were there?" Katara asked, "They caused us a bunch of trouble either way."

"It matters," Iroh cut in grimly "Azula is as brilliant as she is cruel. She is also very focused. Once she sets her mind on something she won't stop until it is done. If her goal is your capture or destruction she could cause you a great deal of trouble."

"Way more than I did," Zuko cut in "Azula has always been the better bender and the better analyst. And Mai and Ty Lee aren't slouches either. They may not be benders, but they're still incredibly dangerous in a fight and the three of them work well as a team." This news seemed to unnerve the three youngsters who had fought against the dangerous girls, if their exchanged look was anything to go by.

"Well," Iroh spoke up again "There's nothing we can do about that now. We just need to keep an eye on things and you youngsters need to do your best to stay alert and aware. Just to be safe." Thankfully, this earned a collective set of nods. Their expressions also told him that they were taking his advice seriously. Good. "What happened next?"

"Right," Sokka seemed to shake himself for a moment before continuing on with their story. "We still needed to find Aang an earthbending teacher so when we ended up here we heard about the Earth Rumble and that sounded like a good place to find a teacher, so we went there." Iroh had to bite back a chuckle at that. The Earth Rumble being a good place to find a teacher? He couldn't say he would have thought the same, but it seemed it had worked out for them. Aang nodded, bringing Iroh out of his thoughts as the young Avatar took over the story.

"We ended up having to find Toph at her house and talked with her parents for a while. Toph didn't want to help us at first, but then we both got captured and-"

"You got what?!" Zuko cut in, eyes darting over to Toph in visible concern.

"Chill your flames Sparky, I'm fine," Toph rolled her eyes as she bumped against him "They didn't hurt me. My dad came and paid the ransom to get me free and then I knocked out the rest of the Earth Rumblers so Twinkle Toes here could leave too." She grimaced a bit, causing Iroh a bit of concern. And Zuko too, based on his expression. "My parents didn't like that too much. They wanted to add more restrictions. So I left."

"I thought you said they changed their mind!" Sokka squawked, sitting up straighter, which caused Toph to roll her eyes again.

"Yeah, well. I lied. Get over it. I didn't want to stay and you lot were leaving. Even if you don't take me with you I'm going to head off for a while. And you need an earthbending teacher so," she shrugged "Take it or leave it." Sokka and Katara clearly didn't like the idea and the two Water Tribe siblings exchanged uncertain looks, but Aang cut in before they could say anything.

"Of course you can come with us!" the young avatar told her with a bright grin "And maybe after you've been away for a while your parents will calm down and things will go better with them."

"Yeah, maybe," Toph didn't sound convinced, but she seemed willing to let it go. There was a couple beats of silence before Katara spoke up.

"Well, that's settled then," the young woman said firmly, seeming to settle her brother with her words as well. That said she turned to look at Iroh more fully. "We've told you our story. I would like to hear yours now if you don't mind."

"It's certainly nothing as adventurous as yours," Iroh told the children with a small smile "But if you're sure you want to hear it..." he trailed off as he got a set of quick nods in reply.

"And I want to hear all of it," Toph cut in "I'm missing all sorts of pieces here."

"I'm not sure we have time for the whole story," Zuko put in with a small frown "Not if you're all going to be out of town before your parents come looking for you." Toph visibly scowled at this before slumping.

"You're probably right," the young noblewoman huffed, clearly not happy about it.

"We'll start with how we got here," Iroh decided "Maybe we can tell you the rest at a later date." He was starting to get the idea that this wasn't going to be their last interaction with the Avatar and his friends. Especially not if young Toph was going to go with them. In fact... As the group settled back to listen again he allowed his eyes to flicker to his son for a brief moment, taking in the unhappiness lingering underneath his polite posture. That made sense...his closest friend was about to leave...that was something to think on, but for now. Turning to look back at the other children he gave them a warm smile. "I'll start with us leaving the North Pole, yes?" Another set of nods had him sitting back and picking up his tea, warming it slightly with barely a thought.

"Alright, things were fairly calm once we left the North Pole..."