Disclaimer: I don't own Atla

Chapter 9

After a few hours of walking, Lenetta and Iroh heard and felt rumbling, they looked behind themselves and noticed a tank train coming. They gasped and jumped out of the way to hide in the flower patch. They looked over and noticed Zuko had done the same thing.

After it passed he jumped back on and began following the tank train. Lenetta looked over at Iroh, "Why is he following that tank train, it could just lead to trouble?"

"I think that his sister Azula is on that train and he probably thinks the same thing.", Lenetta nods in understanding. "But why would he go to all this trouble to follow her?", Iroh got a sad look in his eyes.

"They never had the best relationship, they're father Ozai always pitted them against each other so he's more than likely following her for the fight.", Lenetta nodded with a sad look.

oOoOo

After some more walking they got to a forest where an unknown person noticed their presence. A rock slammed into Iroh knocking him to the ground, Lenetta called out his name assuming a stance.

She saw a young girl with black hair and milky white eyes suddenly pop up over the rock. Is she blind!? Iroh looked and noticed her too after moaning about his tailbone he grinned and stood up.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, you can come on down.", Lenetta dropped her stance and Iroh's silent insistence and her heart rate calmed. She didn't know the girl could sense this and she jumped down from the rock.

"I'm Iroh and this is Lenetta, we were only traveling.", Iroh points to himself and Lenetta with a calm look on his voice making sure he seems as non-threatening as possible. The girl looked up with a blank stare, "I'm Toph.", Iroh bowed at her, "Pleasure to meet you Toph.", he placed a hand on her shoulder. Lenetta watched a bit surprised considering he had just been attacked by this girl.

"Would you like to join us for some tea?", Iroh asks still with that same calm look. Toph nods and they all walk off together.

oOoOo

They were all sitting up in a rocky outcrop as Iroh poured three cups of tea and grabbed intending to give it to Toph. " Here is your tea." She stared blankly at the ground and then reached over and took it.

"You seem a little too young to be traveling alone." She took a small sip before she replied snarkily. "You seem too old to travel." Lenetta snickered slightly and Iroh full on belly laughed. "Perhaps I am."

"I know what you're thinking...I look like I can't handle being by myself." She says casually.

"I wasn't thinking that.", Iroh replies.

"Yeah, who could think that with your awesome earthbending skills." Lenetta tells her trying to make her feel better.

Toph smirks at that, " Thanks Lenetta but he wouldn't let me pour my own cup of tea." Lenetta looks over at Iroh.

"I poured your tea because I wanted to and for no other reason." Iroh replies, taking a sip of his own tea.

"People see me and think I'm weak. They want to take care of me, but I can take care of myself, by myself." Toph was looking out to the surrounding land but she had a bit of bitterness to her voice.

"You sound like my nephew, always thinking you need to do things on your own, without anyone's support. There is nothing wrong with letting the people who love you help you. Not that I love you, I just met you." Lenetta and Toph laughed at that.

"Where is your nephew?" Toph asks. Lenetta tears up slightly, looking down, clenching her tea cup tightly.

"We've been tracking him actually." Iroh replies and Toph looks over at him and Lenetta, she notices Lenetta's increased heartbeat at that question.

"Is he lost?" Toph asks carefully. Iroh looks away sadly.

"Yes, a little bit. His life has recently changed and he's going through very difficult times. He's trying to figure out who he is and he went away." Lenetta quickly wiped some tears that had gotten through away, hand trembling slightly as she did so.

"So now you're following him." Toph says this as more of a statement than a question.

" I know he doesn't want me around right now, but if he needs me. I'll be there." Iroh brings an arm around Lenetta's shoulders gently and he looks at her smiling. " We both will." Lenetta smiles back nodding.

"Your nephew is very lucky, even if he doesn't know it." Toph says as she gets up to leave."Thank you."

Iroh smiles at her. "My pleasure. Sharing tea with a fascinating stranger is one of life's true delights." Lenetta chuckles lightly at that.

Toph smiles as well. "No, thank you for what you said. It helped me." She takes a couple of steps forward.

"I'm glad." Iroh watches her start to leave but she stops and turns back around.

"Oh and about your nephew, maybe you should tell him you need him to." She turns and walks off as Iroh ponders her words. He and Lenetta sit there a bit longer and continue sipping they're tea.

oOoOo

After they finished, they followed the tracks until they got to the town of Tu Zin where they saw a fight going on. It was between Zuko, Azula, and a young boy with airbending tattoos. Lenetta realized that was the Avatar and Zuko and Azula were locked in a fight with him.

After the trio disappeared in a building Zuko crashed through a building. He lay on the ground unmoving as Azula and the Avatar continued their duel. Lenetta and Iroh rushed forward quickly.

Lenetta collapsed to her side beside her fallen friend praying to Yue he wasn't dead. Please be alright! Please don't be dead! She pressed her two fingers to his neck relieved to find a pulse. She shook him gently and Iroh took his other side.

Zuko opened his eyes groaning softly. As his vision cleared he noticed Lenetta and Iroh were sitting beside him. "Uncle, Lenetta?" He asked, he was surprised to see them there. They both looked relieved. "Get up." His uncle demanded. He took his uncle's hand and Lenetta helped him stand.

Lenetta noticed other people had joined in the fight while they had been distracted, a teenage boy and girl and Toph was with them. She was surprised to see Toph there. Huh, she must be the Avatar's earthbending teacher and the girl must be his waterbending teacher.

The three of them joined in the fight on the Avatar's side, all of them with the same goal to take down Azula. Iroh uses his belly to knock Azula off her feet and they join the line of people surrounding Azula.

Azula backs up as her enemies surround her. "Well look at this. Enemies and traitors all coming together. I'm done." She raises her arms in surrender. "I know when I'm beaten. You got me. A princess surrenders with honor."

None of them back down as they all remained poised to attack. Iroh notices Toph among the Avatar's group and is a little bit surprised himself. Suddenly he's overwhelmed with pain and he falls to the ground with a scream. His chest badly burned. Lenetta looks wide-eyed as Zuko lets out a horrified cry

No no no, was all Lenetta could think as she and the others sent their respective elements a boomerang being among them. She gets away with a shield of fire however which leaves behind some smoke.

Lenetta and Zuko rush over to Iroh. Zuko groans in anguish at the scene unfolding before him. Iroh groans in pain and Lenetta sobs softly at the sound. She inhales sharply as she hears footsteps, Zuko looks back at the group watching them with sad looks, "Get away from us!" Zuko shouts angrily.

"Zuko, I can help." Says the waterbender girl. Lenetta gasps softly as tears flowed down her cheeks. She can see Zuko's about to bend at them and she reaches out to grip his arm. "Please Zuko let her help him." She sobs out squeezing his arm. Zuko looks between her tearstained face and his uncle's pained one. What if she hurts him after everything that happened before.

"I won't let her hurt him." Lenetta squeezes his arm reassuringly. He looks into her eyes and she looks right into his. "You promise?" He asks looking for signs of deception but only finding sincerity. "I promise." She tells him firmly and with much sincerity.

He nods and she nods at the waterbender. Lenetta takes Zuko by the shoulders and leads him away to give the girl some room. The girl takes some water from her waterskin and places it over Iroh's chest, water glowing as it did its job.

Zuko stiffened as the water glowed and Lenetta rubbed his arm reassuringly. He looked into her eyes and she told him silently it was ok. Zuko relaxed slightly but remained tense. The girl removed the water and he looked much better but was still unconscious. The waterbender stood up bending the water back into her pouch.

"He'll be alright, he just needs to rest for a couple of days." The girl told them. Lenetta walked over to her. "Thank you so much." Lenetta gave her a grateful smile. The girl nodded, smiling back. "Well if you need us for anything, we'd best be on our way." The boy with the boomerang announced. "Thank you, but we can take it from here." Lenetta told them gratefully. Zuko nodded to them too, he was grateful to them. They nodded and then they walked off.

Lenetta and Zuko each grabbed an arm and put it around their shoulders. They would come back for their stuff after they found a safe place. Once they found their safe place and got all their stuff into their new safe place they fell asleep to the sound of Iroh's steady breathing