Aang was the first to rise, and helped himself to an apple Momo brought to him. Momo scurried to Aang's shoulders, carrying another apple for himself in his petite paws. Aang would have liked to chuckled, but he was actually rather occupied with deeper thoughts.

He had a feeling like they hadn't lost that girl in Omashu. She was following, almost as dangerously close as Zuko had.

Was Zuko even chasing them any more?

And where in the world was Aang going to find an earth bending master skilled in neutral jing? Those willing to teach Aang were few and far between.

xxx

"Want some breakfast? I didn't think you had any, so here's some bread if you want it." Haru offered.

Zuko rolled over, his body aching. How did people live in such squalor?

"Thanks," Zuko said, taking the bread in Haru's outstretched hand.

Sometimes it paid to do the good thing.

"We should get going now," Zuko said around a mouthful, rising to his feet.

"Yea. Good idea."

They gathered their packs and set off companionably (or not so companionably in Zuko's case). Haru began chattering immediately.

"So I was thinking about the earth bending tournament. I would really like it if you came and watched me!"

Zuko decided that honesty would be the best to answer Haru's question, "Actually, I can't. My uncle is very sick, and he needs medicine as soon as possible."

Haru sobered, "Why didn't you say so before? Come on, let's pick up the pace."

Zuko smiled, catching himself off guard, "Nishe isn't too far ahead. We should make it in a few hours."

Haru grinned back, pleased to see that his companion was capable of smiling at all. They rounded a curve in the road. Zuko's smile vanished at what his eyes now took in.

There was only one other place in the whole of space and time that he'd rather not be, and he'd been there before: an Ag Ni kai with his own father.

xxx

"Man, I cannot get that song out of my head!" Sokka complained.

"What song?" Aang asked, still munching on his breakfast.

"That song the nomads sang, the one about the cave legend!"

"Serves you right," Katara replied smugly. "For not letting us fly."

"Yea, Sokka, I really wish you would have let us fly," Aang said numbly, staring at the terror that had just stepped into their camp beside the road.

xxx

"Hey! Guess who these people are, Li!" Haru exclaimed, pointing to Aang, Katara, and Sokka.

Li didn't guess; he also didn't have to.

He gawked at the blue-arrowed child staring right back at him.

If this had happened a month ago, Zuko would have dropped his pack, thrown the girl and her brother aside, who were now in an attack- ready stance, and struck the avatar down. He would have finally had him, and his men would have escorted him back to the ship. But this was not a month prior. This was now.

A thought came to Zuko; it slithered, unwelcome, into his mind, awakening the prince to a horror he wished didn't exist: he owed the avatar his life, doubly.

He'd seen the arrow only seconds before it stuck his masked face. He'd fallen backwards, releasing the avatar from his steely grip. The ground rushed to meet him outside Zhao's fort. He had known that once Zhao picked him up, he would be taken to his father, where his punishment would most welcomingly be death. But when he woke, he was looking upward at a dappled leaf canopy. The boy had saved him, for no apparent reason.

And Zuko had repaid him by trying to bring him down.

The girl had bested him at the North Pole, and his face had met the ice with a force strong enough to render him unconscious. He had expected to wake up covered in snow, alone, and frigid. Instead, he had woken up warm, with his arms firmly clamped to his sides. The avatar had, once again, saved him from certain death.

Zuko drew away from the avatar's party.

A life for a life, no harm would come to the avatar this day. Besides, Iroh was lying untended in the woods waiting for Zuko's help.

"Haru! What are you doing with him?" Katara asked, not letting her eyes stray from the fire bender that had crashed their midst.

"Who, Li? Oh, we were both heading to Nishe, and we decided to travel together. Li, this is the girl I was-."

For the third time in his sixteen years, Zuko turned from the avatar, once protect his men, and now twice to recover his uncle. The price he paid for family was grave at times.

xxx

The four friends watched him race away. Aang looked at Katara, who looked at Aang. Haru scratched his head. And Sokka looked at Momo and laughed.

"Ha! We scared him off!" he shouted triumphantly.

"I don't understand." Haru murmured, "Why did he run off? Maybe you intimidated him, Aang."

"Why did you call him Li?" Katara asked.

"That's his name. He was going to Nishe to get medicine for his uncle."

"Iroh?" Aang asked. "Iroh needs medicine?"

Haru shrugged, "He didn't say his name, only his uncle."

"His name is Zuko, and he's been after Aang since we came from the South Pole," Sokka said, sheathing his boomerang.

"Zuko?" Haru gasped, "As in the fire nation Prince Zuko?"

"But why did he leave?" Aang asked, staring at the empty road ahead of them.