Roku's temple was cracking, stones shuddering under the strain of tremor after tremor as molten rock flowed in. Zuko backed up, looking around frantically. He had to get off of this island. Someone shook his shoulder, calling his name...

Zuko pushed the hand away, groaning and opening his eyes to a still-dim room with barred windows. The hand had belonged to one of the night guards – Kenji, Denji? Denji, that was it. And the sun hadn't even peeked over the horizon yet.

"What?" mumbled Zuko as he turned over. "It was just a stupid nightmare."

"Fire Lord, you've got to wake up and come with us," said Denji.

"The palace is under attack," said Hikari, the other night guard. "We're taking you somewhere safe."

Zuko sat up suddenly, steadying himself with one hand. Stupid dizziness. Had they started drugging his food? "Under attack? By whom, why?" Could it be the Gaang? They came for me? He tried to add up the days since the coup. Maybe, if they came straight here at top speed...

"Don't know, but we're to get you to safety." The guards grabbed him by the arms and hoisted him to his feet, then shoved a pair of boots and a shirt at him. At least the dizzy spell had passed. As soon as he was fully dressed, they threw a dark cloak over his shoulders, and pulled the hood up.

Zuko squirmed out of their grasp, pulling free long enough to get a look through the window in case it was Appa with his friends. Was that something large and white on the tower? Between the angle and the light inside the room, he couldn't tell. The guards grabbed him again. This time they stuck a metal gag on him before frog-marching him into the corridor.

"Stop fighting, you'll get yourself kidnapped and Agni knows what they'll do to you this time!" whispered Denji.

Zuko choked on the gag and a fit of hysterical laughter. Like he wasn't kidnapped already!

Qin couldn't be taking him away to have him quietly killed; that would be stupid. He'd destroy his one claim to legitimacy. And if he thought Azula would be easier to handle, he was an idiot. But Qin could take him somewhere the Gaang would never find him. Zuko looked around frantically, trying to figure out some way to get away from the guards. He could try to firebend and run for it, but he didn't want to hurt them. They thought they were doing the right thing. And just how well would his bending work if he tried?

"Fire Lord?" came a familiar voice from the left.

"Ryu? Praise Agni! You're early, but we need you to help us get the Fire Lord out of here," said Hikari.

"Right," said Ryu. "Why the gag? Did he cause trouble?"

"Yeah, and we just didn't have time to deal with it," said Denji.

They hustled him through the servant's passages. When they reached the door into the lava tunnels, Zuko's eyes widened, he tripped the two holding him, and tried to run for it. They tackled him before he'd gone ten feet, and when they hauled him back up, they blindfolded him and bound his hands with metal. In the tunnels they weren't likely to run into anyone who'd complain.

They walked and walked. It got steadily hotter. Were they entering the lava tubes? Zuko couldn't ask while gagged. He leaned on the guards controlling him. "You can rest soon," Ryu told him. "Just lean on me and keep walking."

More walking, then another voice he didn't recognize talking about lava tunnels. Hot gusts of air blew around them. "The area we are entering is very dangerous," said Ryu. "You must not attempt to run. If I remove your bonds, can I trust you not to try to escape for the next hour?"

Zuko hesitated.

"Kid, if you try and escape, you'll almost certainly die. If you're still blindfolded and bound like this, you could still fall and die from that, too. Can I trust you not to do something stupid?"

Zuko nodded, though seriously, kid?

"Good," said Ryu, and removed the gag and the blindfold. "I want your word that you won't try to escape until we get where we're going."

He was standing before an active lava tube. The lava glowed, bathing everything in dim orange light.

"You have my word of honor that I will not attempt to escape or kill myself in the next hour," said Zuko.

"Good," said Ryu, and removed the cuffs as well. "That will make everything so much easier."

There was a stranger with them, wearing Fire Sage robes. He was bending heat away from a small section of the lava, carefully shaping it into one of the small stone boats used to cross active lava flows. One of the guards was bending the worst of the heat away from their little group. Zuko leaned forward, trying to see what the Sage was doing. He'd only been on one of the lava boats a few times, all but one of them before his exile. He'd always kind of wanted to try making one himself.

It looked somewhat finicky, but not intrinsically all that different from the heat bending Denji and Hikari were doing. Speaking of which... he should probably help. He didn't want to get heat exhaustion or burns any more than the others did. It would let him see how his bending was now, too.

Zuko raised one hand pointing behind him and lowered the other in front, pointing his fingers and getting ready to channel the heat. He could feel it travel along his chi paths – a little like redirecting lightning, actually, although not nearly so intense. It was sputtering a bit. He'd better be careful, or the heat might go into him instead of the air behind him.

"Thank you," said Ryu. "I never actually learned that technique."

"It's not that hard," said Zuko. "You aren't creating the energy, just channeling it. It runs from your front forefinger to your rear one. Training, not raw power. You have to make sure it stays in the channel, or it could overheat or burn you. And remember to check where you're aiming the waste heat. You could burn something by accident, otherwise."

Ryu took up the stance, but did not actually bend, frowning in concentration as he watched Zuko. Zuko was a little surprised he was willing to try it so soon, but then, it was very hot... Ryu's stance was solid, and the heat plume would come out in the right place. "Good," said Zuko. "Now run through the moves without bending."

Zuko watched carefully, and relaxed. "That looks good," he said.

With everyone bending heat, it didn't feel nearly so hot.

The boat was soon ready, and they all climbed in. He'd never been this far into the maze of lava tubes that ran from the paired volcanoes, underneath the Caldera, and down towards the harbor. The heat in the boat was even fiercer, and if they hadn't been bending it away, they would have been severely burned. Ryu gingerly rowed them, while the Sage kept the boat and oars from melting back into the thick orange of the lava, and Zuko and Denji took turns keeping everyone from overheating too badly.

They traveled that way through several passages, including an empty one where they had to pick up their boat and carry it for about 20 feet across solid stone. After carefully cooling it first, and cooling the stone so they could safely walk on it... the boat was heavy, but still easier than bending an entirely new boat.

As they lowered the boat back into the lava and prepared to step in, Zuko bent heat again, and pain flashed through his nerves. Zuko released the energy, and panted, swaying. He was covered in sweat. Ryu grabbed him before he could fall. "No more bending for you, I think," he said. "You're sick. We can manage this without you, and we can't have you hurting yourself. Are you all right?"

"I will be," said Zuko. "I just got a second of backflow, and I'll have a sore arm for a couple of hours."

"And you're overheated," said Ryu, feeling Zuko's forehead. "Let me fix that before you collapse from heat stroke. You should have stopped sooner. It's our job to protect you. You need to let us do that."

"I'm not a helpless child," snapped Zuko. Then he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "But you have a point."

The lemur's illness caused an instant uproar that was going to give Toph a headache.

"Momo!" cried Aang. "Katara, what's going on?" His weight shifted towards Qin. "You just poisoned Momo, didn't you?"

"Dr. Chimon, please come and examine the flying lemur for poisoning," said Iroh.

Chimon pushed past Toph and Sei, kneeling over Momo next to Katara. "Tell me exactly what happened," he said.

"Poisoning a lemur, that's low," Toph said to Qin. "Of course, you were actually trying to kill Aang, weren't you?"

"I haven't poisoned anyone," said Qin.

His heart rate was faster than normal, but with everything that was going on and next-to-no baseline for Qin, that didn't mean anything. It wasn't like he would have poisoned anyone with his own two hands anyway. Stupid exact words.

"The roachrats are mildly poisonous. We don't normally have them in the palace, but with the shortage of staff lately..."

"That's a flat-out lie!" cried Sei. "We haven't had ratroaches get into the stores for the past eight months. There's no way the..." she frowned at Momo, "... your pet ate one."

"And we saw him eat a cookie," said Aang, shifting a little away from Momo. He pointed at the servant. "What's your name? You saw Momo eat it too."

"I err..." The servant looked frantically between the Avatar and the Regent, panic written on her face.

"The lemur is awake, and his heart-rate and breathing are steady," said Chimon. "I am not familiar with his species, and I'd like to keep an eye on him..."

"Will he be okay?" asked Aang, sagging with relief.

"It's definitely not roachrat toxin – but I can't be certain exactly what is going on. Are you certain there was nothing wrong with him before he ate the cookie?"

"He was fine," snapped Katara and Aang together.

"I see," said Chimon. "In that case, the fact he's already vomited it up and is now awake is a good sign. How long has it been since he ate it?"

"I don't know, maybe half an hour?" said Katara.

The doctor frowned.

"Fix him," Aang told the doctor and Katara. "Please," he added hastily.

"Well, obviously we're going to try," said Katara grumpily. "He'll probably be okay, but I'm going to need to keep an eye on him."

"Why were you trying to drug us?" said Toph loudly.

"I did not drug your lemur," said Qin, spreading his hands wide in denial, "You must remember that there are many here who do not like the Avatar, or Prince Iroh. And some now blame you for the Fire Lord's condition. Did you send the Dai Li agent?"

"Why would we hurt Sparky?" said Toph. "He's our friend. Look somewhere else for your conspiracy – I suggest a mirror."

"You might want to work on your security," said Iroh, "if parties unknown can slip unpleasant things into the food at will. As for the Dai Li agent... we have no motive to harm Zuko, and no control over the Dai Li. Whatever happened to Azula's 'souvenirs', by the way?"

"A couple are in custody, three more were killed," said Qin.

"So you've several Dai Li still on the loose in the Fire Nation, running from the government and with no known master." Iroh cocked his head at Qin. "Why are you blaming the Earth Kingdom for the current mess? It's far more likely one or more fugitive agents found local allies. Have you questioned former High General Bujing? He and my nephew have never seen eye to eye."

"General Bujing has barely left his mansion on Trimountain Island since Zuko became Fire Lord. His retirement is genuine, and he has no involvement in anything suspicious," said Qin. "And even if the Dai Li agent had been brought here by Azula, he likely reverted to serving his former master on her fall."

"Long Feng?" said Iroh. "Long Feng is in prison."

"No, not Long Feng. The man who replaced Long Feng in manipulating Kuei." Qin was enjoying this. "Which as far as my spies can tell me, appears to be you."