Zuko's main impression was of yellow. Yellow, molten orange, heat, and pressure. And someone was looking at him, someone curious.

"Hi?" said Zuko tentatively. "Err, Zuko here?"

Strong impression of yellow. And curiosity. And loneliness, and... where had he been for a long time?

Um. "Have we met?" said Zuko.

Images of people. People wearing a very familiar hair ornament. And then a lack of people.

"I'm new. I've only been Fire Lord for two months," said Zuko. "Are you the volcano spirit Huang?" That would explain the yellow.

An image of a very familiar volcano towering over Caldera.

Oh okay. So he was in contact with the spirit of the temple. And it was friendly, but really really weird.

"Glad to meet you," said Zuko. "I hope you don't mind that we're in your temple for a bit? I didn't intend to come here, but I didn't get much say in the matter."

Loneliness and happiness to talk to pimple... what?... no, those little tiny figures were people, seen from the perspective of a giant volcano. Okay. Zuko wished he had Aang here. Or Fire Sage Daiki. Spirit weirdness was weird.

Feeling of rejection, hurt. Did Zuko not like volcanoes?

Did volcanoes make puppy eyes? Because Zuko swore he could feel puppy eyes.

"No! You're a very nice volcano, and I was sort of planning to come and say hello soon." Zuko wished he had Aang with him. He'd be willing to bet the Avatar could help him communicate better with Huang. Who was clearly feeling neglected.

Excitement, and an image of Zuko and the Avatar sitting meditating side by side in the temple.

"Okay," said Zuko. "If I can get the political mess I'm caught in sorted out, I'll try and get Aang to come visit. He'll be glad to meet you, and might be able to talk to you better than I can. But I'm a prisoner, so I can't do that right now."

Confusion. What was 'prisoner?' Royal hair ornament. Confusion.

Zuko wondered how to explain regencies, being underage, and human power struggles to a volcano spirit.

Startlement. An image of a man holding a toddler, then of Zuko, then of a toddler-size Zuko and a sense of confusion. And Uncle sitting in his cell, refusing to look at Zuko. What did that have to do with the others? Had something happened to Uncle? He was supposed to be safe in the Earth Kingdom! Wait a minute, he looked exactly like the first time Zuko had visited him in prison. Was that a memory?

Was Huang reading his mind? Badly? "I'm not a little kid," said Zuko. "I'm nearly seventeen. But some of the military officials don't like my policies, and they kidnapped me. They're going to run the Fire Nation into the ground trying to fight the entire rest of the world. Which we don't need to do! And they're hiding me in your temple so my friends can't rescue me."

Confusion. Uncle in prison, and Zuko sitting meditating in the temple with no bars.

"Not all prisons have bars," said Zuko. "I don't know how to get out of the tunnel system, and the guards would stop me if I tried."

Upset. More confusion. Images of assorted events from the past two months, and the Dai Li and the green circling light, fear anger fear helplessness.

Indignation not Zuko's own. Temple not prison. Rude.

"Yes," said Zuko, trying to force the images of whirling green and dark away, "but I didn't exactly choose to be here."

Agreement. A sense of determination. Image of lava... a circular lake of lava between two peaks... was that Caldera... "No!" cried Zuko. "Don't, you'll kill so many people and none of this is their fault! I just need to get out of here, and get to my friends, and I can fix this mess. Don't destroy the city!"

A considering pause, then a sense of determination. Images of an unharmed Caldera, the underground temple shaking, lava, Zuko and Aang sitting meditating, and Zuko and the guards running along a path to the surface, an anthill, and a broken green glass lantern. All jumbled together in rapid succession.

Toph woke when the ground shook slightly. It wasn't the first time she'd felt an earthquake in the Fire Nation, nor was it the strongest, but they always woke her up. She turned over in her earth tent, grumbling. Then the earth shook again, and she sat up. Small tremors, very localized.

"You awake?" said Katara, as she sat up as well. "What's going on?"

"Earthquakes," said Toph. "And here comes number three now. That's weird."

"What's weird?"

"They're all in the same spot. About a third of the way up the volcano we're standing on."

Katara went still. "This volcano is awfully close to Caldera."

Toph opened the two earth tents to the skies, and yelled "Everybody up! We've got earthquakes and maybe a volcanic eruption on the way."

A muffled complaint of "Oh no, not again," came from the boys' former tent.

"Does this happen often?" said the Fire Sage they'd picked up yesterday.

"Third time," said Aang, already moving about. "It's like we're volcano-magnets or something."

"This wasn't planned or predicted by the Fire Sages," said the Sage. "Huang's been neglected for too long, but there's been no sign it was about to do anything. This shouldn't be happening! It's the other one we've started to worry about. Are you sure it's not just a few earthquakes?"

"Should we warn Caldera to evacuate?" said Katara, hoisting her bedroll and heading for Appa.

"Don't forget Harbor City," said Iroh, picking up both his own bedroll and the Sage's. "They're downhill."

"Don't know. Need to get closer," said Toph, scooping her own messy bundle up. A bag of nuts fell out. She stomped the ground, which trembled, and the bag ended up the nearest tree. Nuts. She headed for Appa. "I wasn't with you for the other volcanoes, remember?"

"How long do we have?" said Iroh. "You can't evacuate Caldera in an hour, not with the limited paths over the rim."

"The tremors seem really localized," said Toph, dumping her stuff into Appa's nearest saddlebag on top of the pots and pans. Katara could yell about that later. "Twinkletoes and I can probably control things, at least for now." She scrambled up on Appa.

"Toph, where are we going?" asked Aang, from Appa's head.

"40 degrees west, and about two miles away," said Toph.

"Right," said Aang. "Hold on. Appa, yip yip!"

Shyu gave an undignified yelp as the bison sprang into the sky. Newbie.